JISC Final Report: IncReASe (Increasing Repository Content through Automation and Services)

The IncReASe (Increasing Repository Content through Automation and Services) was an eighteen month project (subsequently extended to twenty months) to enhance White Rose Research Online (WRRO)1. WRRO is a shared repository of research outputs (primarily publications) from the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York; it runs on the EPrints open source repository platform. The repository was created in 2004 and had steady growth but, in common with many other similar repositories, had difficulty in achieving a “critical mass” of content and in becoming truly embedded within researchers’ workflows. The main aim of the IncReASe project was to assess ingestion routes into WRRO with a view to lowering barriers to deposit. We reviewed the feasibility of bulk import of pre-existing metadata and/or full-text research outputs, hoping this activity would have a positive knock-on effect on repository growth and embedding. Prior to the project, we had identified researchers’ reluctance to duplicate effort in metadata creation as a significant barrier to WRRO uptake; we investigated how WRRO might share data with internal and external IT systems. This work included a review of how WRRO, as an institutional based repository, might interact with the subject repository of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The project addressed four main areas: (i) researcher behaviour: we investigated researcher awareness, motivation and workflow through a survey of archiving activity on the university web sites, a questionnaire and discussions with researchers (ii) bulk import: we imported data from local systems, including York’s submission data for the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), and developed an import plug-in for use with the arXiv2 repository (iii) interoperability: we looked at how WRRO might interact with university and departmental publication databases and ESRC’s repository. (iv) metadata: we assessed metadata issues raised by importing publication data from a variety of sources. A number of outputs from the project have been made available from the IncReASe project web site http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/increase/. The project highlighted the low levels of researcher awareness of WRRO - and of broader open access issues, including research funders’ deposit requirements. We designed some new publicity materials to start to address this. Departmental publication databases provided a useful jumping off point for advocacy and liaison; this activity was helpful in promoting awareness of WRRO. Bulk import proved time consuming – both in terms of adjusting EPrints plug-ins to incorporate different datasets and in the staff time required to improve publication metadata. A number of deposit scenarios were developed in the context of our work with ESRC; we concentrated on investigating how a local deposit of a research paper and attendant metadata in WRRO might be used to populate ESRC’s repository. This work improved our understanding of researcher workflows and of the SWORD protocol as a potential (if partial) solution to the single deposit, multiple destination model we wish to develop; we think the prospect of institutional repository / ESRC data sharing is now a step closer. IncReASe experienced some staff recruitment difficulties. It was also necessary to adapt the project to the changing IT landscape at the three partner institutions – in particular, the introduction of a centralised publication management system at the University of Leeds. Although these factors had some impact on deliverables, the aims and objectives of the project were largely achieved

Poisson-de Rham homology of hypertoric varieties and nilpotent cones

We prove a conjecture of Etingof and the second author for hypertoric varieties, that the Poisson-de Rham homology of a unimodular hypertoric cone is isomorphic to the de Rham cohomology of its hypertoric resolution. More generally, we prove that this conjecture holds for an arbitrary conical variety admitting a symplectic resolution if and only if it holds in degree zero for all normal slices to symplectic leaves. The Poisson-de Rham homology of a Poisson cone inherits a second grading. In the hypertoric case, we compute the resulting 2-variable Poisson-de Rham-Poincare polynomial, and prove that it is equal to a specialization of an enrichment of the Tutte polynomial of a matroid that was introduced by Denham. We also compute this polynomial for S3-varieties of type A in terms of Kostka polynomials, modulo a previous conjecture of the first author, and we give a conjectural answer for nilpotent cones in arbitrary type, which we prove in rank less than or equal to 2.Comment: 25 page

The hypertoric intersection cohomology ring

We present a functorial computation of the equivariant intersection cohomology of a hypertoric variety, and endow it with a natural ring structure. When the hyperplane arrangement associated with the hypertoric variety is unimodular, we show that this ring structure is induced by a ring structure on the equivariant intersection cohomology sheaf in the equivariant derived category. The computation is given in terms of a localization functor which takes equivariant sheaves on a sufficiently nice stratified space to sheaves on a poset.Comment: Significant revisions in Section 5, with several corrected proof

The design and relevance of a computerised therapy program for indigenous Māori adolescents.

Background: Depression is a major health issue among Māori indigenous adolescents, yet there has been little investigation into the relevance or effectiveness of psychological treatments for them. Further, consumer views are critical for engagement and adherence to therapy. However, there is little research regarding indigenous communities’ opinions about psychological interventions for depression. Objective: The objective of this study was to conduct semistructured interviews with Māori (indigenous New Zealand) young people (taitamariki) and their families to find out their opinions of a prototype computerized cognitive behavioral therapy (cCBT) program called Smart, Positive, Active, Realistic, X-factor thoughts (SPARX), a free online computer game intended to help young persons with mild to moderate depression, feeling down, stress or anxiety. The program will teach them how to resolve their issues on their own using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy as psychotherapeutic approach. Methods: There were seven focus groups on the subject of the design and cultural relevance of SPARX that were held, with a total of 26 participants (19 taitamarki, 7 parents/caregivers, all Māori). There were five of the groups that were with whānau (family groups) (n=14), one group was with Māori teenage mothers (n=4), and one group was with taitamariki (n=8). The general inductive approach was used to analyze focus group data. Results: SPARX computerized therapy has good face validity and is seen as potentially effective and appealing for Māori people. Cultural relevance was viewed as being important for the engagement of Māori young people with SPARX. Whānau are important for young peoples’ well-being. Participants generated ideas for improving SPARX for Māori and for the inclusion of whānau in its delivery. Conclusions: SPARX computerized therapy had good face validity for indigenous young people and families. In general, Māori participants were positive about the SPARX prototype and considered it both appealing and applicable to them. The results of this study were used to refine SPARX prior to it being delivered to taitamariki and non-Māori young people

Evasins: Therapeutic Potential of a New Family of Chemokine-Binding Proteins from Ticks

Blood sucking parasites such as ticks remain attached to their hosts for relatively long periods of time in order to obtain their blood meal without eliciting an immune response. One mechanism used to avoid rejection is the inhibition of the recruitment of immune cells, which can be achieved by a class of chemokine binding proteins (CKBPs) known as Evasins. We have identified three distinct Evasins produced by the salivary glands of the common brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus. They display different selectivities for chemokines, the first two identified show a narrow selectivity profile, whilst the third has a broader binding spectrum. The Evasins showed efficacy in several animal models of inflammatory disease. Here we will discuss the potential of their development for therapeutic use, addressing both the advantages and disadvantages that this entails

Moduli Spaces for D-branes at the Tip of a Cone

For physicists: We show that the quiver gauge theory derived from a Calabi-Yau cone via an exceptional collection of line bundles on the base has the original cone as a component of its classical moduli space. For mathematicians: We use data from the derived category of sheaves on a Fano surface to construct a quiver, and show that its moduli space of representations has a component which is isomorphic to the anticanonical cone over the surface.Comment: 8 page

Exploitation status of infralittoral abalone (Haliotis midae) and alikreukel (Turbo sarmaticus) in the southern section of the Eastern Cape coast, South Africa

Intertidal size-frequency distributions and densities for Haliotis midae and Turbo sarmaticus were examined at 10 sites experiencing varying pressure of human exploitation along the southern section of the Eastern Cape coast, South Africa. Target species' densities and maximum sizes were related both to the numbers of collectors on the shore and to indirect indicators of exploitation such as number of households in the vicinity and distance to the nearest beach access point. For both species, there was variation in density (P < 0.05) and size (P < 0.05) among sites, with densities ranging between 0.03-2.23 m^(-2) and 0.07-4.93 m^(-2) for H. midae and T. sarmaticus, respectively. Maximum sizes ranged between 49.4-153.5 mm (H. midae) and 28.3-104.4 mm (T. sarmaticus) shell length. Population parameters such as mean maximum size and total density were significantly negatively related to exploitation indicators for both species. In addition, densities of sexually mature and legal-size individuals of T. sarmaticus were significantly negatively related to the number of households. However, only for H. midae were densities of subadults significantly negatively related to the number of collectors, suggesting that reproduction of abalone may be suppressed at the most exploited sites. Exploitation of T. sarmaticus tends to be localized near population centres, whereas H. midae is collected over a larger range of sites. Overall, T. sarmaticus is less affected by exploitation than H. midae