Portals and university libraries

Section 2: Chapter 8Postprin

Cataloguing the World Wide Web: CORC at Edinburgh University

This article examines Edinburgh University Library’s experience of using OCLC’s Co-operative Online Resource Catalogue (CORC). It discusses the project phase of CORC, its functionality, including automatic metadata harvesting and its ability to map between MARC and Dublin Core metadata formats. It also looks at how CORC fits into Edinburgh University Library’s policies regarding web resources, highlighting benefits and concerns associated with the system.Postprin

Online banking customization via tag-based interaction

In this paper, we describe ongoing work on online banking customization with a particular focus on interaction. The scope of the study is confined to the Australian banking context where the lack of customization is evident. This paper puts forward the notion of using tags to facilitate personalized interactions in online banking. We argue that tags can afford simple and intuitive interactions unique to every individual in both online and mobile environments. Firstly, through a review of related literature, we frame our work in the customization domain. Secondly, we define a range of taggable resources in online banking. Thirdly, we describe our preliminary prototype implementation with respect to interaction customization types. Lastly, we conclude with a discussion on future work

Mobile banking customization via user-defined tags

In this paper, we describe on-going work on mobile banking customization, particularly in the Australian context. The use of user-defined tags to facilitate personalized interactions in the mobile context is explored. The aim of this research is to find ways to improve mobile banking interaction. Customization is more significant in the mobile context than online due to factors such as smaller screen sizes and limited software and hardware capabilities, placing an increased emphasis on usability. This paper explains how user-defined tags can aid different types of customization at the interaction level. A preliminary prototype has been developed to demonstrate the mechanics of the proposed approach. Potential implications, design decisions and limitations are discussed with an outline of future work

Parallelism and divergence in immune responses: a comparison of expression levels in two lakes

Question: How do immune phenotypes differ between infected and uninfected wild individuals, and is the effect the same in different populations? Organisms: Threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) from two lake populations on the island of North Uist, Scotland, sampled in May 2015. Methods: For each fish, we recorded length, sex, reproductive status, condition, and parasitic infection. We measured the expression levels of eight genes that act as key markers of immune system function using qPCR, and then examined the relationship between measured factors and immune gene expression profiles within each population. Conclusions: Populations differed significantly in their immune gene expression profiles. Within each population, multiple factors, including condition, reproductive status, and Schistocephalus solidus infection levels, were found to correlate with expression levels of different arms of the immune system

An Assessment of How Plant and Mycorrhizal Communities Have Been Affected Along a Mine-Impacted Watershed In The Northwest Territories

Giant Mine is an inactive gold mine located nine kilometers north of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Giant Mine has been the source of arsenic trioxide for the Baker Creek watershed since it opened over 60 years ago. Although arsenic levels in the creek are above the limits considered to be biologically relevant, there is no concrete evidence that plants and mycorrhizae have actually been affected. This study provides an initial assessment of the impacts mining activity at Giant Mine has had on plants and mycorrhizae in the Baker Creek watershed. Nine sites were sampled around Giant Mine: five sites downstream from Giant Mine along Baker Creek, one site upstream, two nearby wetlands and a distant reference site at Yellowknife River. Sites were distinguished by their level of exposure to the mine; downstream sites were considered the most impacted because they received mine water discharges, therefore having the highest arsenic levels. Two species of plants (Epilobium angustifolium and Phalaris arundinacea) were grown in these soils under laboratory conditions to compare growth responses and mycorrhizal colonization of plants in impacted versus non-impacted soils. A vegetation survey of Baker Creek was also conducted during soil collections in order to determine how patterns in plant species composition differ between sites. Plant roots were also collected to compare levels of colonization among sites to confirm that laboratory results were consistent with those obtained in natural conditions. This study tests the hypothesis that diminished growth and lower mycorrhizal colonization would be observed in plants growing in more impacted soils, and that these results would be reflected in the field through relatively different assemblages of plant species between impacted and non- impacted areas. Results from the growth room study were consistent with this hypothesis. Mean root length of P. arundinacea was 332.99 ± 15.52 cm and 299.75 ± 33.55 cm in soils collected from the upstream site and reference site, respectively, significantly greater than the next highest site downstream from the mine, where mean root length was 155.69 ± 18.01 cm. E. angustifolium only grew larger in references soils where mean root length was 44.41 ± 8.74 cm, compared to the next largest, 11.66 ± 2.68 centimeters, from a site downstream from Giant Mine. Mean mycorrhizal colonization was less than 7% in all samples except in plants from reference soils and from those from a reconstructed channel of the creek; mean colonization at these two sites was 13.44 ± 8.94 % and 18.08 ± 3.35 %, respectively, in P. arundinacea and 29.0 ± 8.79 % and 16.27 ± 10.54 % in E. angustifolium. These two sites were also distinguished from other sites based on different assemblages of plants species, however, opposed to the hypothesis, these were not mycorrhizal plant species that had been excluded from impacted sites. Certain habitat variables exclusive to Reach 4 and Yellowknife River may have favoured the establishment of these plant species, rather than the presence of mycorrhizal fungi. In conclusion, this study has demonstrated disturbed growing conditions along Baker Creek and a reduction in mycorrhizal infectivity; however, it could not relate these trends to patterns in plant species distribution. This study will be the first on the plant and mycorrhizal status of a mine-impacted watershed in Northern Canada, and as such, will contribute to a growing body of work on mine remediation specifically for this region

w-Cycles in Surface Groups

For w an element in the fundamental group of a closed, orientable, hyperbolic surface Ω which is not a proper power, and Σ a surface immersing in Ω, we show that the number of distinct lifts of w to Σ is bounded above by -χ(Σ). In special cases which can be characterised by interdependencies of the lifts of w, we find a stronger bound, whereby the total degree of covering from curves in Σ representing the lifts to the curve representing w is also bounded above by -χ(Σ). This is achieved by a method we introduce for decomposing surfaces into pieces that behave similarly to graphs, and using them to estimate Euler characteristics using a stacking argument of the kind introduced by Louder and Wilton. We then consider some consequences of these bounds for quotients of orientable surface groups by a single element. We demonstrate ways in which these groups behave analogously to one-relator groups; in particular, the ones with torsion are coherent (i.e. all finitely-generated subgroups have finite presentations), and those without torsion possess the related property of non-positive immersions as introduced by Wise

Public and Situated Displays to Support Communities

This workshop will bring together researchers and practitioners working with public displays in communities to share experiences and to identify research themes and issues arising from social and community use of public and situated displays, while increasing awareness of various relevant projects and encouraging collaboration