Calming the Tempest: The Benefits of Using Prospero for Electronic Document Delivery in a Large Academic Library

To effectively supplement a library???s collection, Interlibrary Loan departments must strive to produce materials quickly. As libraries acquire more online databases, ILL departments experience a reciprocal increase in article requests submitted. Facing increased demands, how can ILL departments improve and maintain timely and efficient service? The Information Resource and Retrieval Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign responded to this challenge by integrating Electronic Document Delivery to the benefit of library users. This article describes UIUC???s decision to use Prospero for EDD and the trials and triumphs of Prospero???s successful implementation.published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

Eksaptatsioon: ühe bioloogilise mõiste semiootilise kirjelduse poole

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioone.Käesolev doktoritöö modelleerib eksaptatsiooni kui evolutsioonilist nähtust, lähtudes C.S. Peirce’i märgi- ja tuletusteooriast. Selle teostamiseks keskendub esimene osa “Enne eksaptatsiooni: eel-adapteerumine ja Chauncey Wright” mõiste tähendusele ning toob välja selle ulatusliku ajaloolise tausta. Erilist tähelepanu pööratakse C. Wrighti vanade jõudude uue kasutuse printsiibile ning tema intellektuaalsele seosele Darwiniga. Töö teine osa “Wright ja Peirce pragmatismist ja evolutsioonist” uurib Wright’i ja Peirce’i vahelisi sarnasusi ja erinevusi, pidades silmas Darwini teooria epistemoloogilist staatust, nende erinevat lähenemist Lamarck’i teooriatele ning evolutsionismi üldistamist bioloogiast teistesse valdkondadesse. Kolmas osa “Peirce’i evolutsionism: pidevuse ja ikoonilise abduktsiooni roll” käsitleb lähemalt evolutsiooni ning süvendab Peirce’i lamarkismi interpretatsiooni, rõhutades tema füsioloogilist tuletusteooria tõlgendust. Lisaks sellele näidatakse, et taju ning sarnasus on kesksed säärase raamistiku toimimiseks. Neljas osa (“Abduktsioon ja eksaptatsioon”) kasutab mitmeid mõisteid—asendatatvus, viga, kategooriate taju—,et teostada modelleerimist: eksaptatiivsed nähtused võivad järgida tajuliselt tingitud käitumismuutusi, põhinedes sarnasustel maailma üksuste vahel, mida tõlgendatakse ikooniliselt. Viies osa (“Tehnoloogilise arengu ikooniline ja eksaptatiivne loogika”) rakendab eeltoodut tehnoloogilise arengu valdkonnale ja tõestab, et kooptsioon on peamine mehhanism, millel baseeruvad nii abduktsioon kui eksaptatsioon. Kuues osa (“Vereimemise päritolu: evolutsioonilise abduktsiooni juhtum?”) on juhtumianalüüs ning siin pakutakse välja hüpotees, et hematofaagia võis tegelikult välja kujuneda abduktsiooni ja eksaptatsiooni integratsiooni läbi. Seitsmes (“Lõpumärkused juhtumianalüüsi kohta”) ja kaheksas (“Üldised järeldused”) osa selgitavad vastavalt spetsiifilisemaid ning üldisemaid doktoritöö tulemusi.The present dissertation attempts a modeling of the evolutionary phenomenon of exaptation according to C. S. Peirce’s theory of signs and inference. To accomplish this, the first section (“Before exaptation: preadaptation and Chauncey Wright”) focuses on the meaning of the concept and reveals its vast historical background. Special attention is paid to C. Wright’s principle of new uses of old powers and his intellectual relationship with Darwin. The second section (“Wright and Peirce on pragmatism and evolution”) investigates then similarities and differences between Wright and Peirce, especially insofar the epistemological status of Darwin’s theory, their different approach to Lamarck’s account and the issue of evolutionism as a generalization from biology to other fields are concerned. The third section (“Peirce’s evolutionism: the role of continuity and iconic abduction”) further elaborates on evolution and deepens Peirce’s interpretation of Lamarckism by emphasizing his physiological translation of the theory of inference; besides, the role played by perception and similarity is considered central to the working of such framework. The fourth section (“Abduction and exaptation”) exploits several concepts — substitutability, mistake, categorical perception — to set up properly the modeling: exaptive phenomena can follow sensory-driven changes of behavior, based on similarities among world entities that are interpreted iconically. The fifth section (“The iconic and exaptive logic of technological development”) applies what previously achieved to the issue of technological development and corroborates the idea of cooption as the basic mechanism underlying both abduction and exaptation. The sixth section (“The origin of bloodsucking: a case of evolutionary abduction?”) is a case study and puts forward the hypothesis that hematophagy might actually have originated through a process integrating abduction and exaptation. The seventh (“Concluding remarks on the case study”) and eight sections (“General conclusions”) explain accordingly specific and general findings of the thesis

From the Guest Editor

This issue of the OLA Quarterly explores “Accelerated Change”—how the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated and encouraged positive changes in Oregon libraries. Articles illustrate how conditions of the pandemic either created opportunities to implement new ideas, illuminated the need to address known barriers to access, or provided the challenge needed to think differently about the impact of library services. Centering the rebuilding and development of new relationships with users and partners will help libraries assure sustainable services through future global challenges

Approaching a semiotics of exaptation: At the intersection between biological evolution and technological development

This paper recognizes a specific correspondence between biological evolution and technological development and on this basis tries to set up a semiotic approach to the evolutionary phenomenon of exaptation. To do this, the existence of a historical-structural and pragmatic analogy between organs and tools is shown, which in turn implies on a communicative ground the dissolution of some of their traditional distinctive attributes. Finally, a philosophical-analytical approach to natural and cultural functions is applied to define three types of exaptations

Energy-Based Evaluation of Digital Halftones

The purpose of this study was to determine the validity of the energy measure developed by Geist, Reynolds, and Suggs, when used as an evaluator of digitally half-toned images. The energy measure was found to be a valid, useful tool for the evaluation of binary digital halftone quality. Data resulting from the analysis and visual comparison of fifteen different halftones supports this conclusion. Using linear regression, the coefficient of correlation between the energy measure and visual quality ratings was -0.606 using all images, and -0.936 using average results for each halftone method. These figures indicate the strong relationship between image energy and image quality. Although the energy measure was found to be accurate for different halftones of the same continuous-tone image, there is an inherent difficulty when comparing the quality of halftones of different image content. Geist, Reynold, and Suggs\u27 algorithm does not produce values within a fixed range. A simple approximation for normalizing the energy values is proposed and used for the study, but further development is needed to obtain absolute quality rankings using this technique

A Longitudinal Study on the Number of Graduates from U.S. Colleges and University IT Programs

This paper examines the graduation rates for all types of degrees earned by students majoring in information technologies at U.S. colleges and universities. The numbers used in this report are based on graduation numbers reported to the U.S. Department of Education. These numbers show a growth in the total number of graduates between 1995 and 2005 from 103,039 to 187,237 with a peak in 2003 of 240,862. There is a sharp decline between 2003 and 2005. This decline can be linked to major events: the burst of the IT bubble and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. And there is a lag between graduations (completions) and initial enrollments based on the length of time required to complete a program. For a bachelor’s degree the lag is between 4 to 6 years