Crossing the Chasm: from Cutting Edge to Practical Application

Presentation to the Capital District Library Council, Albany New York. Audience was public, school, academic, and special librarians. Topics covered: * Trends & buzzwords - Based on LITA's recent Top Tech Trends * Blogging - What is it? Who's using it? See examples of cool library blogs! * RSS - What is it? Why do we care? See examples of how to use it * Wikis - What the heck is a wiki? Why should you care (again)? See examples of how to use wikis * Information Overload - How can I keep up?! Wiki for presentation is available at http://crossingchasm.pbwiki.com/ ; this includes links to all sites shown in presentation.

The Reference Interview: Theories and Practice

The reference librarian's task is to translate the patron's question into one that can be answered with the library's resources. The first element of that task is to know what the patron wants; the second is to know what resources the library has and how to use them. Reference librarians must learn continuously throughout their careers, both because new resources become available, but also because patrons present questions requiring new resources. This article will focus on how to determine what kind of information the patron needs through the reference interview.

Test, Edit, Repeat: Steps to Improve Your Web Site.

Presents ways to improve library Web sites. Description of the Hampshire College library Web site and how it is an integral part of the college's reference service; Usability analysis of Web sites; How to apply what librarians learn from usability analysis; Importance of testing; How to measure success. INSETS: Test Questions; Usability Guidelines.

Citation Searching: Search Smarter & Find More

At the University of Connecticut, we have been enticing graduate students to join graduate student trainers to learn how to answer the following questions and improve the breadth of their research: Do you need to find articles published outside your primary discipline? What are some seminal articles in your field? Have you ever wanted to know who cited an article you wrote? We are participating in Elsevier's Student Ambassador Program (SAmP) in which graduate students train their peers on "citation searching" research using Scopus and Web of Science, two tremendous citation databases. We are in the fourth semester of these training programs, and they are wildly successful: We have offered more than 30 classes and taught more than 350 students from March 2007 through March 2008.

Live Web Usability Lab

The Live Usability Lab provides an exciting format for demonstrating the potential of usability testing to evaluate Web resources from the patron’s perspective. A panel of librarians will use this innovative, interaction-driven method to assess iCONN, to demonstrate the potential and power of user testing, and to engage the audience by illustrating the process with live data instead of canned examples.

The Adjunct Life

The author describes her experiences as a librarian and an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. She enjoys teaching students about library science, and loves her job. She says it can be difficult balancing two jobs, but that the reward of helping create new librarians makes it worth it. It also helps her keep her own skills current.

School of Nursing Class of 1993

Top Row: Kristen Clark, Katherine Grinenko, Shinyi Tang, Troy Tann, Kelly Pasanen, Barbara Loson, Dennis Lake, Lisa Mancuso, Elizabeth Kim, Linda Dengate, Linda Morse, Stacey Horner, Juliet McKeone, Laura Schenk, Corrie Boguth

Row 2: Valerie Straka, Jamie T. Mose, Robert VanCamp, Cary Johnson, Laura Chamberlain, Kenyatta A. Paige, Kevin T. Sprecher, Jean L. Novak, Amanda Sue Niskar, Lisa Oliverio, Rosalyn Baumann, Elaine Schultz, Jennifer Lee Bastress, Kristen Hedge

Row 3: Jennifer Joh, Jennifer Monroe, Marion Tauriainen, Anne Chesky, Michael Fournier, Amy Sebright, Brian Simmons, Ann Luciano, Robin Van Eck, Beth Hart

Row 4: Jacqueline weibel, Dawn Garrett, Vicki McWalters, Malina Rocoff, Holly Medley, Ann Kosky, Tina L. Kessey, Caesanea A. Smith, Michelle Koch, Julie C. Wolf

Row 5: Robin Wygant, Cynthia Nichols, Susan Worek, Sandi Sassack, Timothy Wright, Bridgette Nichols, Kelly Sheridan, Kristin Sirosky, Kathy Kentala, Susan Oslund, Zaleha Williams, Heidi C. Goiz

Row 6: Kathryn Erdmann, Karen Crandall, Darryl Anderson, Karla Stoermer, Janice Lindberg, Beverly Jones, Rhetaugh G. Duman, Elisabeth Pennington, Violet Barkauskas, Laura Stock, Jacqueline Mickle, Catharine Quinn, Laura Nourse

Row 7: Christopher Kelly, Deborah Zolinski, Victoria Buckles, Pamela Brown, Stephanie Macey, Meredith Muncy, Susan, M. Smashey, Laura Welch, Rene Thompson, Sarah Scott, Juliette Lovell, Diane Ferguson, Deborah Ann Dolasinski, Cynthia Zammit, Lorie Malarney

Row 8: Janet Ingram, Rosemary Stafford, Diane Mayernik, Thea Picklesimer, Hannah Clark, JoyMarie Bruhowzki, Jennifer Beckert, Elizabeth Bryant, Jennifer Voeffray, Jane Perrin, Sophia Jan, Diana apostolou, Deborah Ruzicka, Liesel Culver

Row 9: Lori Wessman, Nicole Kerridge, Julia Oman, Melissa Naser, Jennifer Cole, Elizabeth Brickman, Detria Williams, Kris Haaksma, Alison Flaskamp, Nela L. Humm, Carol Taylor, Dena Mitchell, Karen L. Domke

Teaching To Trouble: Critical Book Reviews as Pedagogy to Interrogate Education Praxis

How might education professors disrupt traditional curriculum and teaching practices that teach future teachers to label, segregate, and marginalize students with disabilities? The Disability Studies in Education (DSE) approach grounds practice on the perspectives of people with disabilities and challenges practices that isolate and de-humanize individuals. The pedagogy for eliciting critical book reviews using a DSE perspective is described.

An Examination of Parental Engagement During the Middle School Years

The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the previously unexamined phenomenon of middle school parental engagement in a large urban/suburban/rural school district of 209 schools in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Across 22 middle schools serving grades six-eight, this study collected and examined perceptions of the three key adult stakeholder groups – administrators, teachers, and parents – most actively involved in middle school parental engagement as described within the theoretical framework of academic socialization. Their reports of observable parental engagement activities were used to document how district stakeholders operationalize behaviors that represent the five actionable constructs and three themes of academic socialization to determine how the district “fares” in employing academic socialization as a middle school parent engagement strategy. The study also applied quantitative descriptive analysis through a one-way ANOVA to determine the significance of observable variations in actionable constructs between the perspectives of the three stakeholder groups. Finally, the study illuminated, through regression modeling, when confounding factors/independent variables such as race, income, school size, administrator and teacher experience, parents’ educational background, etc., impacted operationalization of academic socialization behaviors for middle school parent and family engagement. Rejecting the null hypothesis, the study found that the three stakeholder groups had statistically significant differences in perceptions of their implementation of activities aligned to academic socialization. This study ultimately illuminated ways in which these adult stakeholder groups share similar and varied perceptions about their engagement actions that support the achievement and maturation of middle school students. Significantly, this study provided key findings that illuminated areas that can be systemically addressed to transform middle school parent engagement practices through applied academic socialization theory into consistent and effective collaborative efforts between the home and school. The process of operationalizing academic socialization was outlined in terms that any school or district can follow to improve programs and practices of middle school parental engagement to serve in the best interests of students during this period of great transition for both child/adolescent growth and development and adult navigation of systems to provide support for students in this unique stage of growth and maturation.

Potential Economic Damage From Introduction of Brown Tree Snakes, Boiga Irregularis (Reptilia: Colubridae), to The Islands Of Hawai‘i

The Brown Tree Snake (Boiga irregularis) has caused ecological and economic damage to Guam, and the snake has the potential to colonize other islands in the Pacific Ocean. This study quantifies the potential economic damage if the snake were translocated, established in the state of Hawaii, and causing damage at levels similar to those on Guam. Damages modeled included costs of medical treatments due to snakebites, snake-caused power outages, and decreased tourism resulting from effects of the snake. Damage caused by presence of the Brown Tree Snake on Guam was used as a guide to estimate potential economic damage to Hawaii from both medical- and power outage–related damage. To predict tourism impact, a survey was administered to Hawaiian tourists that identified tourist responses to potential effects of the Brown Tree Snake. These results were then used in an input-output model to predict damage to the state economy. Summing these damages resulted in an estimated total potential annual damage to Hawaii of between $593 million and $2.14 billion. This economic analysis provides a range of potential damages that policy makers can use in evaluation of future prevention and control programs.

Lysine and zinc chelate in diets for brown laying hens: effects on egg production and composition

It was evaluated the effects of levels of digestible lysine and chelate zinc combined in the diet for laying on the egg quality. It was used 720 birds, from 48 to 60 weeks of age, distributed in a completely randomized design in a 3 × 5 factorial scheme with three levels of zinc and five levels of lysine, applied into six replicates in the experimental units of eight birds per plot. The levels were: 137, 309 and 655 ppm zinc and 0.482, 0.527, 0.582, 0.644 and 0.732% digestible lysine. It was not observed any interaction among digestible lysine and zinc for the primary variables of fractions and egg composition. Levels of zinc reduced egg weight, suggesting the lowest efficiency in nutrient intake. At the highest dietary concentration of zinc, the addition of digestible lysine coincided with a linear increase in shell weight. However, zinc addition, regardless of lysine level in the diet, resulted in the reduction of egg weight and of the percentage of mineral matter in the yolk, limiting the efficiency of mineral deposition in this fraction of the egg. Concentration of zinc that produced the best results was 137 ppm inasmuch as higher quantities limit the use of digestible lysine, with effects harming composition and egg quality. The study indicates the following requirement for digestible lysine: 0.639% from the 48th to the 52nd week, 0.679% from the 52nd to 56th week, and 0.635% from the 56th to the 60th week. Considering the total period from 48th to the 60th week, the level 0.638% of lysine or the daily intake of 707 mg of the amino acid met the requirement for egg quality of semi-heavy layers used in this study.

An insight into the sialotranscriptome of the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus

Background: Rhipicephalus sanguineus, known as the brown dog tick, is a common ectoparasite of domestic dogs and can be found worldwide. R. sanguineus is recognized as the primary vector of the etiological agent of canine monocytic ehrlichiosis and canine babesiosis. Here we present the first description of a R. sanguineus salivary gland transcriptome by the production and analysis of 2,034 expressed sequence tags (EST) from two cDNA libraries, one consctructed using mRNA from dissected salivary glands from female ticks fed for 3-5 days (early to mid library, RsSGL1) and the another from ticks fed for 5 days (mid library, RsSGL2), identifying 1,024 clusters of related sequences. Results: Based on sequence similarities to nine different databases, we identified transcripts of genes that were further categorized according to function. The category of putative housekeeping genes contained similar to 56% of the sequences and had on average 2.49 ESTs per cluster, the secreted protein category contained 26.6% of the ESTs and had 2.47 EST's/clusters, while 15.3% of the ESTs, mostly singletons, were not classifiable, and were annotated as ""unknown function"". The secreted category included genes that coded for lipocalins, proteases inhibitors, disintegrins, metalloproteases, immunomodulatory and antiinflammatory proteins, as Evasins and Da-p36, as well as basic-tail and 18.3 kDa proteins, cement proteins, mucins, defensins and antimicrobial peptides. Comparison of the abundance of ESTs from similar contigs of the two salivary gland cDNA libraries allowed the identification of differentially expressed genes, such as genes coding for Evasins and a thrombin inhibitor, which were over expressed in the RsSGL1 (early to mid library) versus RsSGL2 (mid library), indicating their role in inhibition of inflammation at the tick feeding site from the very beginning of the blood meal. Conversely, sequences related to cement (64P), which function has been correlated with tick attachment, was largely expressed in the mid library. Conclusions: Our survey provided an insight into the R. sanguineus sialotranscriptome, which can assist the discovery of new targets for anti-tick vaccines, as well as help to identify pharmacologically active proteins.

SSSPM J1102-3431 brown dwarf characterization from accurate proper motion and trigonometric parallax

Context. In 2005, Scholz and collaborators discovered, in a proper motion survey, a young brown dwarf SSSPM J1102-3431 (SSSPM J1102) of spectral type M8.5, probable member of the TW Hydrae Association and possible companion of the T Tauri star TWHya. The physical characterization of SSSPM J1102 was based on the hypothesis that it forms a binary system with TWHya. The recent discovery of a probable giant planet with a very short-period inside the TW Hya protoplanetary disk, as well as a disk around SSSPM J1102, make it especially interesting and important to measure well the physical parameters of SSSPM J1102. Aims. Trigonometric parallax and proper motion measurements of SSSPM J1102 are necessary to test for TWA membership and, thus, to determine the mass and age of this young brown dwarf and the possibility that it forms a wide binary system with TW Hya. Methods. Two years of regular observations at the ESO NTT/SUSI2 telescope have enabled us to determine the trigonometric parallax and proper motion of SSSPM J1102. Results. With our accurate distance determination of 55.2(-1.4)(+1.6) pc and proper motions of (-67.2, -14.0) +/- 0.6 mas/yr, we could confirm SSSPM J1102 as a very probable member of TWA. Assuming the TW Hydrae association age of 5-10 Myr, the evolutionary models compared to the photometry of this young brown dwarf indicate a mass of M = 25 +/- 5 M(Jup) and an effective temperature T(eff) = 2550 +/- 100 K. Conclusions. Our parallax and proper motion determination allow us to precisely describe the physical properties of this low mass object and to confirm its TWA membership. Our results indicate that SSSPMJ1102 may be a very wide separation companion of the star TW Hya.