Developing Quantitative Methodologies for the Digital Humanities: A Case Study of 20th Century American Commentary on Russian Literature

Using scientific methods in the humanities is at the forefront of objective literary analysis. However, processing big data is particularly complex when the subject matter is qualitative rather than numerical. Large volumes of text require specialized tools to produce quantifiable data from ideas and sentiments. Our team researched the extent to which tools such as Weka and MALLET can test hypotheses about qualitative information. We examined the claim that literary commentary exists within political environments and used US periodical articles concerning Russian literature in the early twentieth century as a case study. These tools generated useful quantitative data that allowed us to run stepwise binary logistic regressions. These statistical tests allowed for time series experiments using sea change and emergency models of history, as well as classification experiments with regard to author characteristics, social issues, and sentiment expressed. Both types of experiments supported our claim with varying degrees, but more importantly served as a definitive demonstration that digitally enhanced quantitative forms of analysis can apply to qualitative data. Our findings set the foundation for further experiments in the emerging field of digital humanities.

Tambalacoque. For a formal account of the gist of a scholarly argument

Argumentation as reflected in a short communication from the published literature of botany and zoology is discussed. Trying to capture the logic structure of the argument, however imperfectly, is relevant to information science and depends on a particular goal: namely, to potentially benefit the task of sketching the relationship between bibliographic entries in a better manner than is possible with present-day bibliometric or scientometric practice. This imposes tight limits on the depth of analysis of the text.

Modelling collisions of rail vehicles with deformable objects

This study utilized the latest computing techniques to analyze the driver's cab of a railroad vehicle colliding with deformable objects. It explored the differences between a collision with a deformable object and a collision with a rigid object. It also examined the differences between a collision with a large simple shaped object and a collision with a life-like object. Tools of analysis included vehicle dynamics analysis and finite element analysis.

A case study of the effectiveness of the electronic survey as a research tool for measuring students' experience of e-learning

This paper uses a case study approach to consider the effectiveness of the electronic survey as a research tool to measure the learner voice about experiences of e-learning in a particular institutional case. Two large scale electronic surveys were carried out for the Student Experience of e-Learning (SEEL) project at the University of Greenwich in 2007 and 2008, funded by the UK Higher Education Academy (HEA). The paper considers this case to argue that, although the electronic web-based survey is a convenient method of quantitative and qualitative data collection, enabling higher education institutions swiftly to capture multiple views of large numbers of students regarding experiences of e-learning, for more robust analysis, electronic survey research is best combined with other methods of in-depth qualitative data collection. The advantages and disadvantages of the electronic survey as a research method to capture student experiences of e-learning are the focus of analysis in this short paper, which reports an overview of large-scale data collection (1,000+ responses) from two electronic surveys administered to students using surveymonkey as a web-based survey tool as part of the SEEL research project. Advantages of web-based electronic survey design include flexibility, ease of design, high degree of designer control, convenience, low costs, data security, ease of access and guarantee of confidentiality combined with researcher ability to identify users through email addresses. Disadvantages of electronic survey design include the self-selecting nature of web-enabled respondent participation, which tends to skew data collection towards students who respond effectively to email invitations. The relative inadequacy of electronic surveys to capture in-depth qualitative views of students is discussed with regard to prior recommendations from the JISC-funded Learners' Experiences of e-Learning (LEX) project, in consideration of the results from SEEL in-depth interviews with students. The paper considers the literature on web-based and email electronic survey design, summing up the relative advantages and disadvantages of electronic surveys as a tool for student experience of e-learning research. The paper concludes with a range of recommendations for designing future electronic surveys to capture the learner voice on e-learning, contributing to evidence-based learning technology research development in higher education.

Raman spectroscopy in pharmaceutical analysis

A wide and versatile range of analytical techniques are routinely used, indeed are necessary, in pharmaceutical analysis. Over the past decade Raman spectroscopy has increasingly come to the fore as a valuable member of the arsenal of methods used, from both a fundamental and applied perspective, for the interrogation of solid, liquid and solution phase samples. Advances have occurred not only in instrumentation but also in fundamental techniques and applications. The method holds substantial potential for the investigation of, what are normally considered, problematic or challenging areas of analysis. The aforementioned areas include – but are, definitely not limited too reaction kinetics, pharmaceutical drug discovery, detection of counterfeit/adulterated/illegal drugs, trace analysis and uses for on-line pharmaceutical process manufacturing. This, the first of several articles on the use of Raman spectroscopic techniques in pharmaceutical analysis, provides an introductory overview of the theory of the technique.

Cr-39 A New Alpha-Particle Sensitive Polymeric Detector Applied To Investigations Of Environmental-Radioactivity

Some advantages of a new dielectric detector, CR-39, are described in relation to the analysis of concentrations and distributions of α-particle emitters from a variety of materials. The detector provides an economic and versatile approach to many problems and complements conventional methods of analysis.

The Effects Of Reduced Salinity On Colonial Growth And Membership In A Hydroid

The effect of different salinity levels on colonial growth and gonozooid frequency of the hydroid Campanularia flexuosa Hincks has been studied. It is shown that the usual cumulative presentation of growth data tends to obscure evidence of acclimation and other features of importance to an interpretation of adaptations of the growth process to salinity changes. A method of analysis is described that not only demonstrates acclimation, but apparently shows how growth is controlled after disturbance by changes in salinity. One other response to reduced salinity and other unfavourable changes in water chemistry is an increase in gonozooid frequency due to the diversion of resources from the formation of new hydranths.

Effects of formalin preservation on stable carbon and nitrogen isotope signatures in Calanoid copepods: implications for the use of Continuous Plankton Recorder Survey samples in stable isotope analyses

Preserved and archived organic material offers huge potential for the conduct of retrospective and long-term historical ecosystem reconstructions using stable isotope analyses, but because of isotopic exchange with preservatives the obtained values require validation. The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey is the most extensive long-term monitoring program for plankton communities worldwide and has utilised ships of opportunity to collect samples since 1931. To keep the samples intact for subsequent analysis, they are collected and preserved in formalin; however, previous studies have found that this may alter stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in zooplankton. A maximum ~0.9‰ increase of δ15N and a time dependent maximum ~1.0‰ decrease of δ13C were observed when the copepod, Calanus helgolandicus, was experimentally exposed to two formalin preservatives for 12 months. Applying specific correction factors to δ15N and δ13C values for similarly preserved Calanoid species collected by the CPR Survey within 12 months of analysis may be appropriate to enable their use in stable isotope studies. The isotope values of samples stored frozen did not differ significantly from those of controls. Although the impact of formalin preservation was relatively small in this and other studies of marine zooplankton, changes in isotope signatures are not consistent across taxa, especially for δ15N, indicating that species-specific studies may be required. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Synchronous response of marine plankton ecosystems to climate in the Northeast Atlantic and the North Sea

Over the last few decades, global warming has accelerated both the rate and magnitude of changes observed in many functional units of the Earth System. In this context, plankton are sentinel organisms because they are sensitive to subtle levels of changes in temperature and might help in identifying the current effects of climate change on pelagic ecosystems. In this paper, we performed a comparative approach in two regions of the North Atlantic (i.e. the Northeast Atlantic and the North Sea) to explore the relationships between changes in marine plankton, the regional physico-chemical environment and large-scale hydro-climatic forcing using four key indices: the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), the East Atlantic (EA) pattern and Northern Hemisphere Temperature (NHT) anomalies. Our analyses suggest that long-term changes in the states of the two ecosystems were synchronous and correlated to the same large-scale hydro-climatic variables: NHT anomalies, the AMO and to a lesser extent the EA pattern. No significant correlation was found between long-term ecosystem modifications and the state of the NAO. Our results suggest that the effect of climate on these ecosystems has mainly occurred in both regions through the modulation of the thermal regime.

Decomposition of in situ particulate absorption spectra

A global dataset of in situ particulate absorption spectra has been decomposed into component functions representing absorption by phytoplankton pigments and non-algal particles. The magnitudes of component Gaussian functions, used to represent absorption by individual or groups of pigments, are well correlated with pigment concentrations determined using High Performance Liquid Chromatography. We are able to predict the presence of chlorophylls a,ba,b, and cc, as well as two different groups of summed carotenoid pigments with percent errors between 30% and 57%. Existing methods of analysis of particulate absorption spectra measured in situ provide for only chlorophyll aa; the method presented here, using high spectral resolution particulate absorption, shows the ability to obtain the concentrations of additional pigments, allowing for more detailed studies of phytoplankton ecology than currently possible with in-situ spectroscopy.