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The goal of this study is to revisit and contrast the original data from Volume 19 Number 1, January 2013, 'School Library eBook Providers and Spanish Language Equity: An Analysis of eBook Collections Available to School Libraries.' The original study examined the eBooks in Spanish provided by vendors of library resources to school libraries to determine if there are equitable offerings of eBooks in Spanish relative to the Spanish speaking school population in the United States. The processes in that study were replicated where possible and expanded upon for contextual understanding. Results indicate an increase in the Spanish language eBook options available in this replication study., Introduction When Spanish-speaking students who can read in their native language come into school libraries, it is staff's professional responsibility to meet their information needs (AASL, 2009). The school library [...]

The goal of this study was to examine the collections of eBooks in Spanish provided by vendors of library resources to school libraries to determine if there are equitable offerings of eBooks in Spanish relative to the Spanish-speaking school population in the United States. The results of the study indicated that the top vendors do provide eBooks in Spanish, but the titles comprised a small percentage of their total collections and do not mirror national demographics. Research findings showed that with only one to three percent of eBook titles in vendor's collections available in Spanish, there is a lack of equity in Spanish language eBook titles compared to the national school population of 10% to 17% Spanish speaking children with varying degrees of English proficiency. This lack of equity in Spanish eBooks available for school libraries will be of growing concern as demand for eBooks in Spanish increases with the growing Spanish speaking school population in U.S. public schools., Introduction: Equity for Spanish speaking Students When Spanish-speaking students who are able to read in their native language come into our libraries, it is our professional responsibility to meet their [...]

Objective – To apply the principles of evidence‐based librarianship to the decisionmaking process regarding the cancellation of print serials.Design – Quantitative analysis of local and national data from various sources.Subjects – Data sources included 1249 current unbound print journals, 3465 Medline‐indexed electronic journals, statistics from the Association of Research Libraries and American Association of Health Sciences Libraries, as well as traditional library statistics.Setting – The study was conducted in the Yale University’s Cushing/Whitney Medical Library located in New Haven, Connecticut U.S.A.Methods – Several sources were targeted for data. A three‐month periodical usage study of the current issues of the library’s 1249 actively received print titles was undertaken. Excel‐generated alphabetical listings of titles were used by shelvers to indicate, with a check mark, which issues were shelved during a specified week. The workflow was adjusted to ensure only items under study were counted. Signs asking patrons not to re‐shelve journal issues were posted. Usage data were collected weekly and entered into an Excel spreadsheet where the total use of the journals was tracked. In‐house circulation, photocopy, and gate count statistics were also used. In addition to the survey, SFX statistics for the library’s electronic journals indexed in MEDLINE(3465) were gathered during the same 3 month period covered by the print usage survey. MEDLINE was chosen as the delineating factor to ensure consistent subject coverage with the print journal collection. For perspective and trends, statistics from the Association of Research Libraries and the American Association of Health Sciences Libraries were considered.Main Results – Based on the study’s findings, 53% of the print collection (657 titles) received no use during the study period; 7.1 % (89 titles) were used more than once per month; and 1.28% were used one or more times per week. Further, only 10% (125 titles) of the collection represented 60.7% of the total print collection use. There was also a direct correlation between the drop in patrons coming to the library and the decrease in print periodical use. SFX statistics revealed that of the 3465 MEDLINE indexed titles 14.8% (513 titles) were not accessed at all and 10% of the journals represented 56.8% of all SFX usage. These results were consistent with statistics from the Association of Research Libraries and the American Association of Health Sciences Libraries.Conclusion – Titles that were used the most in print were also used the most electronically. Further, the study revealed that print journals are used only a fraction as often as their electronic counterparts.Indeed, in both the case of print and electronic journals the largest use came from a small number of subscribed titles. Print collection maintenance is more labour intensive and costly than electronic. Consequently, resources spent supporting 53% of the print collection that is not used seriously impacts efficiency. With constraints on acquisitions budgets, funding unused collections does not make sense. Examination of the print serial collection is only part of ensuring effective collections.A s this study has indicated, unused electronic titles are also a drain on resources and further analysis of electronic packages is warranted.

Eva Emery Dye Papers (Mss 1089), 1776-1997 (bulk 1890-1940), 11.5 cu. ft. The Eva Emery Dye Papers consist of correspondence, ephemera, a literary journal, manuscripts, research notes, and scrapbooks relating [...]

This research aims to explain and analyze Indonesia's decision to buy the Dassault Rafale fighter aircraft from France in 2022. It is known that Indonesia will retire its old F-5 Tiger fighter aircraft and its outdated technology. Indonesia's purchase of Dassault Rafale fighter aircraft to increase air defense capabilities, strengthen bilateral cooperation and increase national military capabilities. Several options for Indonesia to choose which fighter aircraft to buy, namely Gripen from Sweden, Eurofighter from Austria, Dassault Rafale from France, and Sukhoi Su-35 from Russia. The theory used in this research is Rational Choice. This study used descriptive qualitative method. In this research, data collection techniques were carried out by collecting data through available literature and library materials, mass media, print media, electronic media, books, journals and related articles, as well as other open sources. The results of this research show that Indonesia's decision to buy the Dassault Rafale fighter aircraft from France was based on two considerations, namely economic considerations where maintenance costs are low, technology transfer, and the potential to increase the national defense industry, increasing independence in the production and maintenance of military defense equipment and political considerations, namely diplomatic relations, regional security and national strategic interests. This choice reflects efforts to strengthen defense and build close military collaboration with partner countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a need for novel chemical matter for phenotypic and target-based screens to find starting points for drug discovery programmes in neglected infectious diseases and non-hormonal contraceptives that disproportionately affect Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). In some disease areas multiple screens of corporate and other libraries have been carried out, giving rise to some valuable starting points and leading to preclinical candidates. Whilst in other disease areas, little screening has been carried out. Much screening against pathogens has been conducted phenotypically as there are few robustly validated protein targets. However, many of the active compound series identified share the same molecular targets. To address the need for new chemical material, in this article we describe the design of a new library, designed for screening in drug discovery programmes for neglected infectious diseases. The compounds have been selected from the Enamine REAL (REadily AccessibLe) library, a virtual library which contains approximately 4.5 billion molecules. The molecules theoretically can be synthesized quickly using commercially available intermediates and building blocks. The vast majority of these have not been prepared before, so this is a source of novel compounds. In this paper we describe the design of a diverse library of 30,000 compounds from this collection (graphical abstract). The new library will be made available to laboratories working in neglected infectious diseases, subject to a review process. The project has been supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust (Wellcome). Author summary: Screening of diverse compound libraries is a powerful way to find chemical start points for drug discovery programmes. There is a lack of such chemical libraries available for neglected infectious diseases and other neglected areas such as non-hormonal contraception. In this paper we describe the design of such a library of 30,000 compounds (graphical abstract). The aim was to develop a library of diverse chemical matter unlikely to have been screened in these disease areas. The compounds were selected from the REAL (REadily AccessibLe) Enamine library, a virtual library of 4.5 billion compounds. The methodology for selection of the compounds is described, along with a detailed analysis of the physicochemical properties of the compounds and comparison to other libraries that we have assembled. This shows that the library contains hit/lead-like compounds suitable as chemical start points, and whilst it covers a similar space to some other libraries, the material within the library is mainly different to other libraries. Copies of the library will be made available for screening; the process for gaining access to this library is described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim of the study: The current updated meta-analysis aimed to explore the effects of vitamin D supplementation on various parameters in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), using the latest trials available. Material and methods: PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were screened for the collection of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared the efficacy of additional vitamin D vs. the placebo group on NAFLD patients in the last 5 years. Trials included were focused on the assessment of anthropometric and biochemical indices. Results: Our results revealed that additional vitamin D greatly increased serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), and decreased the low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. However, no significant differences were found in terms of triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), c-glutamyltransferase, fasting blood glucose (FBG), homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and Ca2+ levels between the supplementation of vitamin D and placebo. Conclusions: The present study demonstrated the advantageous impact of supplementary vitamin D on the levels of 25(OH)D and LDL-C in NAFLD patients. However, the results failed to provide evidence for the superiority of additional vitamin D in relation to the concentrations of serum ALP, AST, TC, Ca, ?-glutamyl transferase (GGT), TC, FBG, IR and HDL-C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As libraries, archives, and museums make unique digital collections openly available via digital library platforms, they expose these resources to users who may wish to cite them. Often several URLs are available for a single digital object, depending on which route a user took to find it, but the chosen citation URL should be the one most likely to persist over time. Catalyzed by recent digital collections migration initiatives at Indiana University Libraries, this study investigates the prevalence of persistent URLs for digital objects at peer institutions and examines the ways their platforms instruct users to cite them. This study reviewed institutional websites from the Digital Library Federation's (DLF) published list of 195 members and identified representative digital objects from unique digital collections navigable from each institution's main web page in order to determine persistent URL formats and citation options. Findings indicate an equal split between offering and not offering discernible persistent URLs with four major methods used: Handle, DOI, ARK, and PURL. Significant variation in labeling persistent URLs and inclusion in item-specific citations uncovered areas where the user experience could be improved for more reliable citation of these unique resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Collections as data' has become a core activity for libraries in recent years: it is important that we make collections available in machine-readable formats to enable and encourage computational research. However, while this is a necessary output, discussion around the processes and workflows required to turn collections into data, and to make collections data available openly, are just as valuable. With libraries increasingly becoming producers of their own collections - presenting data from digitisation and digital production tools as part of datasets, for example - and making collections available at scale through mass-digitisation programmes, the trustworthiness of our processes comes into question. In a world of big data, often of unclear origins, how can libraries be transparent about the ways in which collections are turned into data, how do we ensure that biases in our collections are recognised and not amplified, and how do we make these datasets available openly for reuse? This paper presents a case study of work underway at the National Library of Scotland to present collections as data in an open and transparent way - from establishing a new Digital Scholarship Service, to workflows and online presentation of datasets. It considers the changes to existing processes needed to produce the Data Foundry, the National Library of Scotland's open data delivery platform, and explores the practical challenges of presenting collections as data online in an open, transparent and coherent manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to understand the current state of the field of special collections library administration in the United States. Using a dataset gathered through publicly available information about special collections directors from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), Independent Research Libraries Association (IRLA), and the Oberlin Group institutional members, the authors explore the educational backgrounds of directors, the types of positions they held prior to taking on their current roles, and the effect of gender on leadership advancement. This article also discusses the similarities and differences between institution types as well as promotions within institutions and across types of institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An intriguing new opportunity for research into the nineteenth-century history of print culture, libraries, and local communities is performing full-text analyses on the corpus of books held by a specific library or group of libraries. Creating corpora using books that are known to have been owned by a given library at a given point in time is potentially feasible because digitized records of the books in several hundred nineteenth-century library collections are available in the form of scanned book catalogs: a book or pamphlet listing all of the books available in a particular library. However, there are two potential problems with using those book catalogs to create corpora. First, it is not clear whether most or all of the books that were in these collections have been digitized. Second, the prospect of identifying the digital representations of the books listed in the catalogs is daunting, given the diversity of cataloging practices at the time. This article will report on progress towards developing an automated method to match entries in early nineteenth-century book catalogs with digitized versions of those books, and will also provide estimates of the fractions of the library holdings that have been digitized and made available in the Google Books/HathiTrust corpus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lack of a local Jewish community did not prevent medieval Swedish clerics and lay people from being interested in Jews and Jewish questions. They bought, translated, read and preached from most of the available textual sources and thus spread the widely available views of the hermeneutical Jew: a cruel, stubborn and ugly person and at the same time a cipher for the entire Jewish people both in biblical times and today. This article gives an overview of the Latin and vernacular manuscripts with anti-Jewish motifs and texts and shows that the main and most common textual models and motifs were available in Swedish libraries and collections, from legends via apocryphal texts to fake disputations – adding up to a relatively complete ‘hermeneutical Jew’. A focus was, as in the rest of Europe, on Passion-related piety, which was the most common form of piety in the late Middle Ages – and usually connected with distinct anti-Jewish features. The fact that we can establish direct and indirect textual and narrative lines of tradition between the medieval codices and modern printed booklets of the nineteenth century proves the long-lasting intelligibility of anti-Jewish stereotypes in Sweden – developed and spread completely independently from the Jewish minority. The medieval perspective thus adds a much-needed nuance to the debate about antisemitism in the North: it did not need any actual Jews; it simply made up its own, based on the general Christian tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cuneiform writing system holds a vast reservoir of ancient literature, encompassing over 3000 years of history. Originating around the mid-fourth millennium BCE and enduring until the late first millennium BCE, cuneiform writing spans various genres such as administrative, legal, medical, and scientific documents, among others. This article introduces a curated dataset, CuneiML, featuring 38,947 high-resolution 2D photos of Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform tablets, accompanied by their cuneiform Unicode transcriptions, transliterations, lineart, and metadata. This dataset aims to support the development of machine learning tools for processing and analyzing Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform artifacts - e.g. for automatically classifying genre, provenance, or period from unannotated tablet images. Thus, CuneiML is designed with consistency of format as a primary concern. Specifically, CuneiML is a result of meticulously preprocessing, segmenting, filtering, and re-transliterating data that is available online in the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI) collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Oriental Research Institute & Manuscripts Library, University of Kerala, houses the treasures of ancient knowledge in India. It has come in to existence out of royal interest. The kings of Travancore, as a rule, were valorous as well as lovers of art and literature. Srimulam Thirunal was mainly responsible for the spread of Oriental literature throughout the world. It was he who instituted the department for the publication of manuscripts which in due course grew into the present institution. It is located at Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Its origin goes back to the illustrious Maharaja of Travancore, Swati Tirunal (1829-1846). The institute carries out researches on Indian language manuscripts, major part of which are in Sanskrit. Oriental Research Institute & Manuscripts Library has over 65,000 works mostly of palm leaf manuscripts. Currently the Oriental Institute and Manuscript Library is headed by Dr. R. B. Sreekala, Professor and Head of the Department, Oriental Research Institute and Manuscripts Library, University of Kerala. The paper highlights the techniques used for the conservation and preservation of the rare manuscript collection in Oriental Research & Manuscript Library, Thiruvananthapuram. It further investigates the hardware and software available for digitizing the invaluable collection of manuscripts for the future generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How can novel AI techniques be made and put to use in the library? Combining methods from data and library science, this article focuses on Natural Language Processing technologies, especially in national libraries. It explains how the National Library of Sweden's collections enabled the development of a new BERT language model for Swedish. It also outlines specific use cases for the model in the context of academic libraries, detailing strategies for how such a model could make digital collections available for new forms of research, from automated classification to enhanced searchability and improved OCR cohesion. Highlighting the potential for cross-fertilizing AI with libraries, the conclusion suggests that while AI may transform the workings of the library, libraries can also play a key role in the future development of AI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The document provides information on East Asian libraries in North American institutions for the fiscal year 2022-2023. It includes data on physical and electronic collections, fiscal support, staffing, and public services. The document highlights specific collections and acquisitions at certain institutions and mentions challenges faced by some libraries. It also provides contact information for libraries conducting research on East Asian studies. The document offers a comprehensive overview of the East Asian library collections and resources available at these institutions. [Extracted from the article]

Harlow Gale is often depicted as the first experimentalist in advertising thought. This positioning elides influences which impacted upon his thinking. In this article, we outline Gale's involvement with psychical research and its implications for advertising. These narratives are situated within a genealogy of subliminal processes across advertising and marketing theory from the late nineteenth century through to social cognition studies today. Gale's connection with psychical research, in conjunction with early practitioner reflections on the unconscious, formed the enabling conditions for his major contributions to advertising. Psychical scholarship spotlighted the centrality of the "multiplex self" to human functioning. While psychical framings scaffolded Gale's empirical, conceptual, and theoretical work, it also limited greater engagement with his insights. However, subsequent modifications of advertising theory and practice are underwritten by levels of continuity and discontinuity that facilitate the identification of psychically indebted bodies of thought from Gale's time to the present day. Taken together, these analytic associations provide a substantive reorientation of historical and contemporary accounts of advertising theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Movies beyond the scope of Hollywood and entertainment have shaped notions of race in American culture since the early decades of cinema. A range of nontheatrical sponsors and creators in the US made films to serve practical functions in society—to inform, to organize, to persuade, to promote, etc. The US federal government was a major sponsor of many of these films, which provided American and foreign audiences depictions of race that differed considerably from popular commercial images. For example, Men of the Forest, a film made in 1952 by the United States Information Service focuses on the Hunters, a Black family who owns land and a forestry business in rural Georgia. A documentary of sorts, the film highlights Black life, work, and land ownership in the South in ways not seen in popular feature films of the day. Yet, in the film and others like it, histories of institutional racism are woven into cinematic form and content in ways that are distinct from the entertainment industry. The creators of Men of the Forest omit details of segregation in the South to emphasize the Hunter family as examples of American democracy, a choice suited to the film's Cold War purpose: to counter the anti-American message of Soviet propaganda for foreign audiences. On one hand, by producing and distributing the film, the federal government acknowledged Black farmers and landowners in the Jim Crow South. On the other hand, it avoided the structural inequality surrounding the Hunters to frame their reality as an example of American democratic progress for international circulation. Today, government films like Men of the Forest prompt contemporary reflection on the institutional histories they represent and their evolution into the present. The film and many others are available online due to the digitization of collections from the National Archives, Library of Congress, and elsewhere. With this increase in access, contemporary scholars have the ability to investigate how the federal government and its various internal entities mediated racial ideologies with moving image technologies. As an example of such research, this essay examines Men of the Forest by focusing on the past and present contradictions that arise from its depiction of a Black family with land and an agricultural business in rural Georgia. Two recent events shed light on the histories reflected in the film and their contemporary significance. In 2018, Descendants of Men of the Forest, The Legacy Continues—a documentary created by family members of the film's original participants—contextualized the original production as evidence of the Hunter family's legacy in the community of Guyton, Georgia. Underlying this local effort, Men of the Forest serves as an important historical event and record of the family and the community. On a broader scale, in March 2021, Congress passed a large relief package for disadvantaged minority farmers, intended to help alleviate decades of systemic racism in government agricultural programs. Lawsuits from white farmers and conservative organizations followed quickly, challenging the provision of government aid based on race. In this federal context, Men of the Forest exposes an institutional image of individual success that downplays the structural racism facing people of color, especially those with agricultural livelihoods. Even as politics and legislation evolve, this vision of democracy once exported by the federal government has widespread currency and accumulating effects. The connections between Men of the Forest and these recent events reveal the racial politics at play in government films and the ways in which they take shape in the real world beyond the screen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mutations, which result in amino acid substitutions, influence the stability of proteins and their binding to biomolecules. A molecular understanding of the effects of protein mutations is both of biotechnological and medical relevance. Empirical free energy functions that quickly estimate the free energy change upon mutation (ΔΔ G) can be exploited for systematic screenings of proteins and protein complexes. In silico saturation mutagenesis can guide the design of new experiments or rationalize the consequences of known mutations. Often software such as FoldX, while fast and reliable, lack the necessary automation features to apply them in a high-throughput manner. We introduce MutateX, a software to automate the prediction of ΔΔ G s associated with the systematic mutation of each residue within a protein, or protein complex to all other possible residue types, using the FoldX energy function. MutateX also supports ΔΔ G calculations over protein ensembles, upon post-translational modifications and in multimeric assemblies. At the heart of MutateX lies an automated pipeline engine that handles input preparation, parallelization and outputs publication-ready figures. We illustrate the MutateX protocol applied to different case studies. The results of the high-throughput scan provided by our tools can help in different applications, such as the analysis of disease-associated mutations, to complement experimental deep mutational scans, or assist the design of variants for industrial applications. MutateX is a collection of Python tools that relies on open-source libraries. It is available free of charge under the GNU General Public License from https://github.com/ELELAB/mutatex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2010 special issue and a 2011 article on case studies are being combined with the current special collection into the same online special collection page. Summaries of Articles in Special Collection New Technologies in Construction Engineering and Management Research • Li et al. ([6]) presents a new technology that was not widely available in 2010, when the prior special issue was published. The Second Special Collection on Research Methodologies in Construction Engineering and Management is available in the ASCE Library (https://ascelibrary.org/jcemd4/second research methods). This special collection builds on the January 2010 special issue of this journal to provide researchers with critical insights and updated approaches to rigorously conduct research in construction engineering and management (CEM). [Extracted from the article]

"The Lyon in Mourning" was compiled by Episcopalian minister Robert Forbes between 1747 and 1775 to preserve the personal and collective memories of Scottish Jacobites after the defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1745. The original manuscript, consisting of 10 volumes, is held by the National Library of Scotland and is part of an ongoing project with Simon Fraser University's Research Centre for Scottish Studies and Digital Humanities Innovation Lab where it has been digitized and made available through the library's Digital Collections. The topic of women's roles within the Jacobite cause has been for the most part understudied and, as such, "The Lyon in Mourning" team at SFU is currently mapping the critical terrain of Forbes's representation of female voices. Uncovering women's voices in "The Lyon in Mourning," however, is complex because of the highly mediated nature of the manuscript. By introducing various mediations of women's stories, this article provides an overview of the preliminary mapping of women's voices completed so far. It introduces the roles which Jacobite women play in the manuscript and their active contribution to the Jacobite cause, their witnessing of trauma and their demonstrated resilience in the face of defeat. Apart from Anne Leith, whose letters Forbes painstakingly copied, women's voices in "The Lyon in Mourning" are mediated through the words of men. This article shows, however, that this does not diminish their relevance as these accounts are integral to history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated public library services on the literacy level of users in Kenneth Dike ECentral Library, Awka. Five research questions were used for the study. The research method adopted was the survey method and population consisted of 2543 registered users of Kenneth Dike public library. A sample size of 345 users was used. Mean was used for data analysis. Questionnaires and observation checklist were used for data collection. The study found that the available public library services that can promote the literacy level of users are consultancy services, exhibition and displays, book reservation services which have high mean score above 2.50. The extent of use of the available public library services by users to promote their literacy level are reprographic services, library instruction (user education), and inter-library loan which have high mean score above 2.50. The roles of public library in promoting literacy level of users in Kenneth Dike E-central Library in Awka are teaching of literacy skills, promotion of independent learning, education on lifelong learning, organizing library week, story-talk hour, creative activities or creative writing, book exhibition and book talk which have high mean score above 2.50. The challenges that hinder public library in providing effective services towards promoting literacy level are inadequate financial support, insufficient library materials, and poor library infrastructure which have high mean score above 2.50. The solutions to the challenges that hinder public library in providing effective services towards promoting literacy level of users are adequate financial support, sufficient library materials, and low cost of library materials which have high mean score. This study concludes that the impacts of public library services on promoting literacy level are high as they have the tendency of improving the reading culture of users. The study went on to recommend that sufficient and relevant library materials which include electronic resources be made available for users of public libraries as this will go a long way to enhance each user's literacy level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collection development is a most important process of a library. This process increases the reading materials of the library for the satisfaction of the reader approach. Collection development policy acts as a guide for selecting library materials. It helps to maintain library cooperation and communication between library staff. This process increases the reading materials of the library for the satisfaction of the reader approach. Collection development policies are written statements of goals and evaluative parameters to guide decision-making when adding material to a library collection. A large number of e-resources collection has become a challenge to libraries as a lot of information is now available to the public without having to visit and use the traditional library. American Library Association states that the collection development policies document which defines the scope of a library's existing collections, plan for the continuing development of resources, identify collection strength and outline the relationship between selection philosophy and institutions goals, general selection criteria, and intellectual freedom. In electronic environment collection development policy select tools and processes, set the principles for the management of electronic resources, allocating the budget for buying of e-resources. Due to information technology, most of the libraries are involved in the sharing of the e-resources in many ways. The Collection development policy must indeed be clear whether the collection is in print or electronic form and also it should full fill the user's demand. This article tried to explore the different collection development policies for e-resources. The information provided in this article is based on secondary data. The information available in this article is a general kind of information and it is applicable in all kinds of libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: After the passage of the 21st Century Cures Act in the U.S., the Inclusion Across the Lifespan policy eliminates upper-age limits for research participation unless risk justified. Broader inclusion will necessitate the use of reliable instruments in research that characterize the health status and function of older adults with multiple chronic conditions. As there is a plethora of such instruments, the Geriatrics Research Instrument Library (GRIL) was developed as freely available online resource of data collection instruments commonly used in gerontological research. GRIL has been revised and updated by the Advancing Geriatrics Infrastructure and Network Growth (AGING) Initiative, a joint endeavor of the Health Care Systems Research Network (HCSRN) and the Older Americans Independence Centers (OAICs). Methods: Extensive PubMed literature searches and domain expert feedback were utilized to inventory and update GRIL through the addition of instruments and compiling of instrument metadata. GRIL is hosted on the National Institute on Aging OAIC Coordinating Center website with a platform utilizing Microsoft Structured Query Language (SQL) and an Adobe ColdFusion application server. Tracking statistics are collected using Google Analytics. Results: Presently, GRIL includes 175 instruments across 18 domains, including instrument metadata such as instrument description, copyright information, completion time estimates, keywords, available translations, and a link and reference to the original manuscript describing the instrument. The GRIL website includes user-friendly features such as mobile platforming and resource links. Conclusions: GRIL provides a user-friendly public resource that facilitates clinical researchers in efficiently selecting appropriate instruments to measure clinical outcomes relevant to older adults across a full range of domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Original accounting records relating to early periods of American history of accounting are in ample supply in libraries end archives; but research activity has been only very modest in scope. The major problems facing the researcher are organization of and access to existing materials, also a relative lack of interest in history within the accounting profession and among the general public, and a resulting lack of funds to finance extended historical research. Original records of firms, covering early periods, are abundant in the big public libraries, such as the Library of Congress and the major city libraries such as New York. Materials generally are indexed only alphabetically, by firm name, not by subject matter. This very fact defeats almost every serious effort at researching those materials with regard to accounting development. The major universities also have collections containing original accounting records of early periods These collections generally are better organised and classified than those of the public libraries. Records reflecting history of a particular region of the country are found sometimes in regional universities. For example: Xavier University in New Orleans has interesting records pertaining to the early slave trade. On a country-wide basis, Harvard University and the University of California at Berkeley have the best collections of accounting records. A new edition of the Catalog of Business published by Baker Library at Harvard, is classified by subject matter and permits easy access to the collection for research purposes. This collection comprises about 1,300 sets, over 60,000 items, dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. It includes records related to agriculture, mining, manufacturing, construction, transportation, marketing, financial services, and government. New England firms are emphasized, but other regions of the United States and foreign firms are also represented in the collection. Aside from these universities, the University of California in Los Angeles, the University of Pennsylvania, and New York University, as well as other universities, have significant collections of original accounting records. Early American textbooks on accounting are available in public and university libraries through the country. The richest collections of early texts are found at Boston Public Library (the Bentley Collection), the Kress Library at Harvard, the University of California, and at Columbia University. The Bentley Collection at Boston is perhaps the most complete, including between 500 and 1,000 American texts on bookkeeping and accounting from the 18th and 19th centuries. These early American texts are indexed in the bibliography by Bentley and Leonard. Both the Kress Collection at Harvard and the Robert Montgomery Collection at Columbia University contain approximately 500 early American accounting texts from the 16th through the 19th centuries. The library of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in New York also has a substantial number of early works The American Accounting Association, official organization of teachers and researchers in the field of accounting, sponsored, for the first time, a committee on accounting history during the academic year 1968-69. This This committee is presently inactive, but may be reactivated at a later date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology in libraries has played an essential role in serving today's communities. This study provides an overview of the integrated library systems/software (ILSs) used in libraries in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. It aims to highlight the strengths and possibilities of ILSs and briefly explain their advantages and disadvantages along with the cost of implementation. The data was gathered from questionnaires sent via an online survey and from direct interviews with certain academic libraries over the period of 2019 to 2020. Fifty-three of 67 libraries that fulfilled the study have implemented an ILS. To deeply understand the application, a direct interview with some libraries was conducted to learn the advantages and disadvantages. The result of the study showed that the most used ILSs are SLiMS and INLISlite and other programs like Apollo, Athenium Light, Simpus, Spektra, Jibas, KOHA, and Openlibrary. The budget spent is an average of300 USD. While the ILSs have helped these libraries improve services, IT expertise and adequate resources are needed, especially when the systems present problems. An easy-to-use system that costs less will potentially be used in this area of research. This study will be particularly helpful for any library in Indonesia. These findings may also be generalized to libraries in other countries facing economic and technological similarities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the potential of the Gamified Metaverse as a platform for promoting library services. The study compares the effectiveness of a traditional library program with a Metaverse- based library program in terms of knowledge acquisition and library anxiety. The research also examines students' perceptions of implementing gamification within the context of the Gamified Metaverse platform. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, including pre- and post-test analysis, statistical analysis, and qualitative data collection. The results indicate that both the traditional and Metaverse-based library programs effectively increased the participants' knowledge, with no significant difference between the two approaches. However, the Metaverse-based program was found to be less effective in facilitating interaction with librarians and reducing library anxiety. Additionally, students expressed positive perceptions of implementing gamification in the Gamified Metaverse platform, finding it engaging and motivating. These findings contribute to the understanding of the effect of the Metaverse as a tool for promoting library services and enhancing knowledge acquisition. However, it is not as effective in reducing library anxiety, particularly in terms of interaction with librarians and staff. It should be noted that the platform may have limitations such as high costs and potential side effects of virtual reality, making it more suitable as an additional tool for promoting library services, taking into account its feasibility and potential benefits for specific student populations and larger libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correct identification and proper monitoring are vital components of integrated pest and disease management. The Android application – Smarter Pest Identification Technology (SPIDTECH) – was developed for the digital identification and remote monitoring of insect pests and diseases of rice, corn, coffee, cacao, banana, coconut, sugarcane, tomato, and soybean in the Philippines. SPIDTECH has three main features: the digital identification of insect pests and diseases using a smartphone camera; the digital library that contains images, identification signs, life stages, management practices, and other pertinent information about a pest or disease; and the remote monitoring that enables real-time mapping of reports through user-contributed images and GPS points. The application can identify 71 insects and 63 diseases, while the library features a collection of 104 insects and 89 diseases available in English and Filipino. The identification uses a pretrained Mobile NetV2, a convolutional neural network design by Google for mobile devices. The models were retrained using the pest and disease image dataset collected specifically for this study and logging 55.7–73.3% accuracy. If connected to the internet, devices send image data from the field that are validated and used for model retraining. SPIDTECH recorded more than 7,400 device downloads from March 2019–July 2021 and received 4.8 out of 5 user review ratings. Based on the user-provided registration data in the same period, it has more than 5,600 registered users from 81 provinces with an average user acquisition rate of 266 new users per month. With the current features deployed, the application received more than 8,000 identification requests for different crops. The application has gathered a significant number of users necessary to evaluate the feasibility of the application in assisting in pest and disease identification and remote monitoring for the major crops in the Philippines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Library website is the reflection of library resources, services, and all the things about the library. Library website helps the users to access and utilize the services online. The present study investigates the library's website of the top-ranked 30 law institutes of India, ranked by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in the year 2021. The required content information has been collected through searching, browsing, and analyzing the selected library websites of said Institutes from 1st September to 30th October, 2021.It analyzed the General Information of selected 30 law institute's library websites. The study explored that the selected institute's library services and collection and legal databases, remote access eresources. Information is available on library websites GNLUG 88.23%, UPESD 82.35% and IITK 76.47%. WBNUJSK, JMIND, SLSP, NLIUB, SASTRAT, CUB, NLUJAK, ALIM, LPUP, UPESD, PUC have more than 70%. Maximum institutes having SCC online, Lexis Nexis, and MANUPATR, WESTLAW, Hein Online, JASTOR, legal database. All institutes having References Services, Reprographic Services, reading room services, and WEB OPAC/OPAC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the level of undergraduates' satisfaction and their perceptions towards library resources and services provided by the Science Library, University of Peradeniya. The survey research method was adopted to achieve the above objectives. A questionnaire was administered to 442 undergraduates of the Faculty of Science. 371 duly filled questionnaires were returned, were then analyzed. The findings revealed that more than 60% of the undergraduates visited the library daily and weekly, while more than 80% of them visited the library for multiple purposes. Regarding the available resources, the majority of the undergraduates were satisfied with the library book collection, periodicals and available magazines. Yet, only 39% and 32% of students reported that they were satisfied with e-resources and audiovisual materials available in the library respectively. Considering the library services, the majority of respondents were satisfied with lending, reference, referral and photocopying services. However, 11% of them were not satisfied, where as 13% of the students were not even aware of online services provided by the library. Further, the findings demonstrated that limited number of computers, unavailability of Wi-Fi facilities, unawareness of the library website, difficulties of accessing the Internet and searching research articles were the main reasons for students' dissatisfaction. However, the majority of the undergraduates praised the library staff for offering an impressive service. The results proved that undergraduates have positive perceptions towards the library and its services. Based on the findings, some suggestions were made to increase user satisfaction and to enhance the library resources and service quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the information seeking behaviour of postgraduate students who are studying in different agricultural science disciplines at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (CCS HAU), Hisar, India. In the study, it was also try to determine what the information requirements of the targeted respondents are, and to determine their awareness of library services available to them currently. For data collection, survey method was adopted with the aid of structured questionnaire. The data were collected over a period of 20 days between January and February 2021. Total 200 postgraduate students, who were studying in different agricultural sciences departments were approached randomly and shared questionnaires to them in the library premises. Out of total 200, 177 valid questionnaires were collected and considered for final analysis, which representing the response rate @88.5 percent. The study found that library & its resources (44.64 percent), and Internet & social media are the two main sources of information seeking for the respondents. More than 70 percent respondents were preferred to search their required information from electronic information resources due to easy to search and use, whereas, around 39 percent of the respondents seeking information for preparing examination and 23.72 percent respondents seeking information for preparing class assignments. About 70 percent of the respondents were quite satisfied with the staff of the library, whereas, 14.12 percent respondents were rated staff behaviour and support as excellent. 50.84 percent respondents were opined that the services and facilities provided by the university library has very effective and plays a very important role in their academic and research work. The outcome of this research would help the similar type of other institutions of the country as well as of other countries to understand the changing needs and behaviour of students and researchers and to develop information resources and services in their premises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ODFM is a data management system that integrates comprehensive omics information for microorganisms associated with various fermented foods, additive ingredients, and seasonings (e.g. kimchi, Korean fermented vegetables, fermented seafood, solar salt, soybean paste, vinegar, beer, cheese, sake, and yogurt). The ODFM archives genome, metagenome, metataxonome, and (meta)transcriptome sequences of fermented food-associated bacteria, archaea, eukaryotic microorganisms, and viruses; 131 bacterial, 38 archaeal, and 28 eukaryotic genomes are now available to users. The ODFM provides both the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool search-based local alignment function as well as average nucleotide identity-based genetic relatedness measurement, enabling gene diversity and taxonomic analyses of an input query against the database. Genome sequences and annotation results of microorganisms are directly downloadable, and the microbial strains registered in the archive library will be available from our culture collection of fermented food-associated microorganisms. The ODFM is a comprehensive database that covers the genomes of an entire microbiome within a specific food ecosystem, providing basic information to evaluate microbial isolates as candidate fermentation starters for fermented food production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In public libraries, especially those in rural settings, it is important that every dime of library funding is leveraged effectively into serving the community. As part of a year-long project beginning in January 2023, we are evaluating item-level cost-effectiveness for each circulating item housed at the public library in Lakeville, Indiana. Through the use of big(ish) data, some custom Python scripting, and machine learning algorithms we hope to answer: How much money is saved by library patrons through their use of the public library's physical collection? How much money is saved by the community through the operation of a public library based on the use of the circulating collection? And are there any non-obvious traits which make an item or title a more or less cost-effective circulating asset? In this column, I will describe the scripts, share initial findings, discuss challenges, and investigate next steps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In academic libraries, the obligation to pay a fine for overdue books is a common global phenomenon. As university libraries try to meet the growing expectations of their users with limited resources, it is important to ensure that the existing collection is available in circulation. This study investigated overdue returns at the BRAC University library, Bangladesh, focusing on the reasons why users returned their books late; students' satisfaction with the current overdue policies; and suggested improvements to the overdue procedures. The study was carried out using a quantitative methodology. Structured questionnaires were distributed to the students and data was collected over a period of 60 days between March and April 2019. Of the 300 questionnaires distributed, 258 were returned, with a response rate of 86%. The primary reasons for users' late return of books were forgetfulness and not completing the task required from the book. It is a positive fact of the study that, most students did not show unwillingness to use the library again after fine had been imposed for a late return; a large number of them managed to pay the fine out of their pocket money. The library's current policies were considered to be satisfactory. The students considered them to be a form of discipline, which made them return items at the appointed time. There was no gender bias in their reactions. Suggestions for improvement included increasing the collection of hard-copy and e-books. The outcomes of this research may help to develop the overdue and circulation policies of academic libraries in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generation of new DNA constructs is an essential process in modern life science and biotechnology. Modular cloning systems based on Golden Gate cloning, using Type IIS restriction endonucleases, allow assembly of complex multipart constructs from reusable basic DNA parts in a rapid, reliable and automation-friendly way. Many such toolkits are available, with varying degrees of compatibility, most of which are aimed at specific host organisms. Here, we present a vector design which allows simple vector modification by using modular cloning to assemble and add new functions in secondary sites flanking the main insertion site (used for conventional modular cloning). Assembly in all sites is compatible with the PhytoBricks standard, and vectors are compatible with the Standard European Vector Architecture (SEVA) as well as BioBricks. We demonstrate that this facilitates the construction of vectors with tailored functions and simplifies the workflow for generating libraries of constructs with common elements. We have made available a collection of vectors with 10 different microbial replication origins, varying in copy number and host range, and allowing chromosomal integration, as well as a selection of commonly used basic parts. This design expands the range of hosts which can be easily modified by modular cloning and acts as a toolkit which can be used to facilitate the generation of new toolkits with specific functions required for targeting further hosts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With the mandate to review all available literature in the study's inclusion parameters, systematic review projects are likely to require full-text access to a significant number of articles that are not available in a library's collection, thereby necessitating ordering content via interlibrary loan (ILL). The aim of this study is to understand what effect a systematic review service has on the copyright royalty fees accompanying ILL requests at an academic health sciences library. Case Presentation: The library created a custom report using ILLiad data to look specifically at 2018 ILL borrowing requests that were known to be part of systematic reviews. This subset of borrowing activity was then analyzed to determine its impact on the library's copyright royalty expenditures for the year. In 2018, copyright eligible borrowing requests that were known to be part of systematic reviews represented only approximately 5% of total filled requests that involved copyright eligible borrowing. However, these systematic review requests directly or indirectly caused approximately 10% of all the Spencer S. Eccles Library copyright royalty expenditures for 2018 requests. Conclusion: Based on the sample data set, the library's copyright royalty expenditures did increase, but the overall financial impact was modest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Mechanical and fatigue behavior of resistance spot welded dual-phase and twinning-induced plasticity steel joints." The special collection on Impact Dynamics for Advanced Aerospace Materials and Structures is available in ASCE library (https://ascelibrary.org/jaeeez/impact dynamics aerospace materials). Chen et al. ([3]) examined the dynamic compression behavior and energy-absorption capability of composites with sinusoidally periodic helicoidal fiber architectures in their paper, "Defense mechanism of bioinspired composites with sinusoidally periodic helicoidal fiber architectures." Gulla et al. ([10]) investigated the low-velocity impact failure behavior of sandwich plates made from composites skins and a foam core as well as the influence of infusion process parameters in their paper, "Impact behaviors of sandwich composites produced by liquid resin infusion: Influences of the process parameters.". [Extracted from the article]

Purpose: The study aims to find out the current scenario of library resources and services viz. collection including infrastructure, staff position, library services available in the private university libraries in the state of Assam, India. Methodology: Physical survey of all the five libraries has been conducted for which a questionnaire was designed. Findings: With the increasing number of library users, there should be adequate number of library staff to maintain all the different collections and services of the library. Private university libraries e-books and e-journals facility is not sufficient to cater the increasing demands of the users. Research Limitations: The study is applied to private university libraries within the geographical barrier within the state of Assam. It is applied only on the basic level library resources and services expected from a library. Practical Implications: It will provide an opportunity to the library authority to fill up the gap in providing their basic library services. The method and technique of the study may be applied to any other libraries where the libraries are managed by library science professional with proper library procedures. Originality/value: The study is itself a unique one as no such study was conducted in the area of private university libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special collection provides a forum for discussion of the recent advances in computer-aided structural integrity and safety of structures and structural components. To ensure the integrity and safety of structures and structural components, computational tools and algorithms must consider a high number of variables that influence the assessment/analysis of engineering problems. The special collection on the computer-aided structural integrity and safety is available in the ASCE Library (https://ascelibrary.org/jpcfev/computer aided structural). [Extracted from the article]

The collection of publications by World Health Organization (WHO) in the Medical Library contains documents published since 1950 to date which has been made available to the library free of charge by the WHO. The collection is very much under-used. A bibliometric study on the collection was carried out with the objective of making the readership and the library staff aware of what is available in the collection, which would indirectly improve the usage. The collection of WHO publications which is available in the Medical Library except periodicals was considered for the study. A head count on the total number of publications under study was obtained. The numbers of items in major subject divisions and in the most popular subject area within these divisions were counted separately. Contents of each publication in the collection were carefully read through in order to identify any specific topic or aspect of health on which the coverage was dominant. Items in monograph series were counted separately. Geographical coverage of contents of the publications was examined. A chronological evaluation of the collection was done by counting items published in each decade from 1950 to 2011. Data thus gathered was analyzed to obtain percentages of publications available in each category with respect to the total number. The results revealed that the collection contained information on various health related topics at national, regional and global levels. Collection needs to be improved by acquiring current publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the Decentralized Image Retrieval for Education (DIRECT) service for the National Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Digital Library (NSDL). DIRECT augments NSDL by providing content-based image-retrieval (CBIR) functionality. CBIR allows the user to designate a query image so that the service can search the library for images of similar content. DIRECT matches images not by text metadata but by the color or texture of the image objects; the matching process does not depend on a match between the cataloger description and the user description. DIRECT is a peer-to-peer service built for decentralized digital libraries. The content-based image-retrieval service is available to all collections in NSDL without imposing new standards or protocols. With DIRECT, NSDL can support images that have yet to be cataloged or have incomplete metadata without adding overhead (expenditure of additional resources) to the collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of journals with embargo periods in aggregated databases designed for academic libraries has increased for the simple reason that the number of available full text journals in these collections has also increased. Misconceptions surrounding embargo periods deduce that embargoes diminish access to information by withholding the current full text from journals, when in fact, embargoes increase access to information for journals that otherwise would not be available in aggregated databases. Embargoes exist for the purpose of preserving a publisher's traditional print and electronic journal subscriptions. Full text databases and e-journals are distinctly different resources. The use of embargoes may be valid in one electronic resource, but not the other. Linking capabilities provide seamless access from embargoed journals with current indexing in databases to the corresponding current full text found in a library's e-journal collection. Embargoed information from a given journal is far superior to no full text information at all from that source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to investigate the antiparasitic and anti-inflammatory potential of pumpkin seed oil in mice infected with Trichinella spiralis by demonstrating its impact on MMP-9 expression and pathogenesis during the intestinal and muscular phases. Results: In this study, 100 mice were divided into five groups: an infected group, a pumpkin seed oil-treated group (1.5 mg/kg BW, administered three times per week), an albendazole-treated group, a native control group, and a pumpkin oil control group. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis of the pumpkin seed oil revealed a broad spectrum of biologically active compounds. The pumpkin seed oil treatment led to a significant reduction in the parasite burden, with a 75% decrease in adult worms and a 66% decrease in encysted larvae. Additionally, the infected animals treated with pumpkin oil exhibited a marked reduction in intestinal inflammation, characterized by a progressive increase in goblet cells. The number of encysted larvae in the diaphragm and muscle tissues was also significantly decreased. Furthermore, pumpkin seed oil treatment significantly reduced MMP-9 levels in both intestinal and muscular tissues, highlighting its potential to attenuate inflammation. Conclusion: These findings underscore the effectiveness of pumpkin seed oil as anti-inflammatory and antiparasitic agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The goal of the present research was to develop a video collection of simulated fires to investigate how people perceive growing building fires. In fire safety science, a critical factor to occupant responses to building fires is the pre-movement period, determined by how long it takes an individual to initiate taking protective action with an incipient fire. Key to studying the psychological processes that contribute to the duration of the pre-movement period is presenting human subjects with building fires. One approach used in previous research is to present videos of building fires to individuals via scenarios. The numerical simulations used to model fire dynamics can be used to render videos for these scenarios. However, such simulations have predominantly been used in fire protection engineering to design buildings and are relatively inaccessible to social scientists. Method: The present study documents a collection of videos, based on numerical simulations, which can be used by researchers to study human behavior in fire. These videos display developing fires in different types of rooms, growing at different rates, different smoke thickness, among other characteristics. As part of a validation study, participants were presented with subsets of the video clips and were asked to rate the perceived risk posed by the simulated fire. Results and discussion: We observed that ratings varied by the intensity and growth rate of the fires, smoke opacity, type of room, and where the viewpoint was located from the fire. These effects aligned with those observed in previous fire science research, providing evidence that the videos could elicit perceived risk using fire simulations. The present research indicates that future studies can utilize the video library of fire simulations to study human perceptions of developing building fires as situational factors are systematically manipulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing the environmental pressures stemming from food production is central to meeting global sustainability targets. Shifting diets represents one lever for improving food system sustainability, and identifying sustainable diet opportunities requires computational models to represent complex systems and allow users to evaluate counterfactual scenarios. Despite an increase in the number of food system sustainability models, there remains a lack of transparency of data inputs and mathematical formulas to facilitate replication by researchers and application by diverse stakeholders. Further, many models lack the ability to model multiple geographic scales. The present study introduces Foodprint 2.0, which fills both gaps. Foodprint 2.0 is an updated biophysical simulation model that estimates the agricultural resource requirements of diet patterns and can be adapted to suit a variety of research purposes. The objectives of this study are to: 1) describe the new features of Foodprint 2.0, and 2) demonstrate model performance by estimating the agricultural resource requirements of food demand in the United States (US) using nationally representative dietary data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2009–2018. New features of the model include embedded functions to integrate individual-level dietary data that allow for variance estimation; new data and calculations to account for the resource requirements of food trade and farmed aquatic food; updated user interface; expanded output data for over 200 foods that include the use of fertilizer nutrients, pesticides, and irrigation water; supplementary files that include input data for all parameters on an annual basis from 1999–2018; sample programming code; and step-by-step instructions for users. This study demonstrates that animal-sourced foods consumed in the US accounted for the greatest share of total land use, fertilizer nutrient use, pesticide use, and irrigation water use, followed by grains, fruits, and vegetables. Greater adherence to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans was associated with lower use of land and fertilizer nutrients, and greater use of pesticides and irrigation water. Foodprint 2.0 is a highly modifiable model that can be a useful resource for informing sustainable diet policy discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This guide outlines general issues in searching for studies; describes the main sources of potential studies; and discusses how to plan the search process, design, and carry out search strategies, manage references found during the search process and document and report the search process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mineral aerosols (i.e., dust) can affect climate and weather by absorbing and scattering shortwave and longwave radiation in the Earth's atmosphere, the direct radiative effect. Yet understanding of the direct effect is so poor that the sign of the net direct effect at top of the atmosphere (TOA) is unconstrained, and thus it is unknown if dust cools or warms Earth's climate. Here we develop methods to estimate the instantaneous shortwave direct effect via observations of aerosols and radiation made over a 3-year period in a desert region of the southwestern US, obtaining a direct effect of -14±1 and -9±6 W m -2 at the surface and TOA, respectively. We also generate region-specific dust optical properties via a novel dataset of soil mineralogy from the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS), which are then used to model the dust direct radiative effect in the shortwave and longwave. Using this modeling method, we obtain an instantaneous shortwave direct effect of -21±7 and -1±7 W m -2. The discrepancy between the model and observational direct effect is due to stronger absorption in the model, which we interpret as an AVIRIS soil iron oxide content that is too large. Combining the shortwave observational direct effect with a modeled longwave TOA direct effect of 1±1 W m -2 , we obtain an instantaneous TOA net effect of -8±6 W m -2 , implying a cooling effect of dust. These findings provide a useful constraint on the dust direct effect in the southwestern United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamic expressions of emotion convey both the emotional and functional states of an individual's interactions. Recognizing the emotional states helps us understand human feelings and thoughts. Systems and frameworks designed to recognize human emotional states automatically can use various affective signals as inputs, such as visual, vocal and physiological signals. However, emotion recognition via a single modality can be affected by various sources of noise that are specific to that modality and the fact that different emotion states may be indistinguishable. This review examines the current state of multimodal emotion recognition methods that integrate visual, vocal or physiological modalities for practical emotion computing. Recent empirical evidence on deep learning methods used for fine-grained recognition is reviewed, with discussions on the robustness issues of such methods. This review elaborates on the profound learning challenges and solutions required for a high-quality emotion recognition system, emphasizing the benefits of dynamic expression analysis, which aids in detecting subtle micro-expressions, and the importance of multimodal fusion for improving emotion recognition accuracy. The literature was comprehensively searched via databases with records covering the topic of affective computing, followed by rigorous screening and selection of relevant studies. The results show that the effectiveness of current multimodal emotion recognition methods is affected by the limited availability of training data, insufficient context awareness, and challenges posed by real-world cases of noisy or missing modalities. The findings suggest that improving emotion recognition requires better representation of input data, refined feature extraction, and optimized aggregation of modalities within a multimodal framework, along with incorporating state-of-the-art methods for recognizing dynamic expressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]