Pollination and other ecosystem services produced by mobile organisms: a conceptual framework for the effects of land-use change

Many ecosystem services are delivered by organisms that depend on habitats that are segregated spatially or temporally from the location where services are provided. Management of mobile organisms contributing to ecosystem services requires consideration not only of the local scale where services are delivered, but also the distribution of resources at the landscape scale, and the foraging ranges and dispersal movements of the mobile agents. We develop a conceptual model for exploring how one such mobile-agent-based ecosystem service (MABES), pollination, is affected by land-use change, and then generalize the model to other MABES. The model includes interactions and feedbacks among policies affecting land use, market forces and the biology of the organisms involved. Animal-mediated pollination contributes to the production of goods of value to humans such as crops; it also bolsters reproduction of wild plants on which other services or service-providing organisms depend. About one-third of crop production depends on animal pollinators, while 60-90% of plant species require an animal pollinator. The sensitivity of mobile organisms to ecological factors that operate across spatial scales makes the services provided by a given community of mobile agents highly contextual. Services vary, depending on the spatial and temporal distribution of resources surrounding the site, and on biotic interactions occurring locally, such as competition among pollinators for resources, and among plants for pollinators. The value of the resulting goods or services may feed back via market-based forces to influence land-use policies, which in turn influence land management practices that alter local habitat conditions and landscape structure. Developing conceptual models for MABES aids in identifying knowledge gaps, determining research priorities, and targeting interventions that can be applied in an adaptive management context.

A grouped P2P network for scalable grid information services

Information services play a crucial role in grid environments in that the state information can be used to facilitate the discovery of resources and the services available to meet user requirements, and also to help tune the performance of a grid system. However, the large size and dynamic nature of the grid brings forth a number of challenges for information services. This paper presents PIndex, a grouped peer-to-peer network that can be used for scalable grid information services. PIndex builds on Globus MDS4, but introduces peer groups to dynamically split the large grid information search space into many small sections to enhance its scalability and resilience. PIndex is subsequently modeled with Colored Petri Nets for performance evaluation. The simulation results show that PIndex is scalable and resilient in dealing with a large number of peer nodes.

An agent-based framework for petroleum information services from distributed heterogeneous data resources

For making good decisions in the area of petroleum production, it is becoming a big problem how to timely gather sufficient and correct information, which may be stored in databases, data files, or on the World Wide Web. In this paper, Gaia methodology and Open Agent Architecture were employed to contribute a framework to solve above problem. The framework consists of three levels, namely, role mode, agent type, and agent instance. The model with five roles is analyzed. Four agent types are designed Six agent instances are developed for constructing the system of petroleum information services. The experimental results show that all agents in the system can work cooperatively to organize and retrieve relevant petroleum information. The successful implementation of the framework shows that agent-based technology can significantly facilitate the construction of complex systems in distributed heterogeneous data resource environment.

Redefining the Academic Library Managing the Migration to Digital Information Services

Academic libraries are faced with a daunting series of challenges brought on by the digital revolution. In an era when millions of books, articles, images, and videos available instantaneously via the web, libraries across all institutional types are experiencing declining demand for their traditional services, built around the storage and dissemination of physical resources. At the same time, new demand for digital information services and collaborative learning spaces promise new areas of opportunity and engagement with patrons. A rapid and orderly transition to “the library of the future” requires difficult trade-offs, however, as no institution can afford to continue expanding both its commitment to comprehensive, local print collections as well as new investments in staff, technology, and renovations. This report illustrates how progressive academic libraries are evolving in response to these challenges, providing case studies and best practices in managing library space, staff, and resources.

Emerging information services for digital scholarship

Trabalho apresentado na conferência Os Desafios das Bibliotecas Digitais realizado na Fundação Getulio Vargas em agosto 2014

Measuring Knowledge Management: A Strategic Approach to Library Information Services

In the study of theoretical trends in Administration, the management of information follows the development of theories of Administration; constant-adaptations are suffered. Information Science area understands and concerns itself with the changes wrought in these endeavour of the knowledge society as new forms of communication and integration. The libraries interact in ways that maximize access to information and facilitate the improvement on their structural environment as strategic approach for your services. The research aims at identifying the requirements and specifications of an information system for knowledge management in the public’s library environment and proposes to achieve a pre-defined structure for the implementation of administration management. The research is conducted with public’s library of the metropolitan region of the North’s Portugal. Portugal libraries are institutions that operate in the social process of their communities reflecting the society and its organic sphere of informational performance. These libraries have developed the organizational theories to make a framework easily for effective management practices and have been using their produced knowledge in the optimization of their actions. In the improvement of systems, theoretical administrative trends become management decisions and result in the ultimate success of the organization. In order to achieve its objectives the study verified an economy based on knowledge management, and its production emphasizes the human capital that permeates the condition of the information in support for the development of communities.

Book Review of “At Risk: Social Justice in Child Welfare and Other Human Services” by Karen J. Swift and Marilyn Callahan, 2009, Toronto: University of Toronto Press

The newest book by Canadian social work scholars Karen Swift and Marilyn Callahan is exemplary of how other disciplines can invigorate social work theory. “At Risk” uses child welfare practice as an entry point for exploring the continuing movement away from addressing needs and towards the management of risk in the human services.

Perceived usefulness of RFID-enabled information services – a systematic approach

Even though RFID technology is currently gaining importance mainly in logistics, usage areas, such as shopping or after-sales enhancements beyond the supply chain are envisioned. Yet, while RFID hits the street it is questioned if it may undermine one’s privacy while providing few customer benefits. Meeting this criticism this paper investigates RFID-enabled information services and the drivers of their usefulness for consumers. The article claims that the more risk one associates with a product the more benefit from RFID-enabled information services is perceived. We show empirically that the nature of product risk provides a useful framework to decide on the types of RFID information services a marketer should offer to create RFID usefulness perceptions and increase technology acceptance.