Search

The citation impact of academic authors is normally analysed using one or more of the following tools: Scopus (or SciVal, based on Scopus data), Web of Science, or Google Scholar. University ranking tables, such as the THES World University Rankings, also rely on citation data derived from these tools. It is therefore important that citation data compiled by these systems are as accurate as possible. Strathclyde researchers should therefore ensure they maintain their online identities within key research intelligence tools thus guaranteeing they receive academic credit for their research outputs. When an author publishes for the first time they are automatically assigned a Scopus ID (by Scopus - Elsevier) and/or a ResearcherID (by Web or Science – Thomson-Reuters). For name disambiguation reasons, identifying authors correctly can be problematic for Scopus and Web of Science and this can often mean that citations are either omitted or misassigned for outputs that belong to an individual’s publication history. This issue is often compounded by the numerous institutional affiliations authors may acquire during their career which, when combined with challenges surrounding name disambiguation, can make the correct assignation of citations very difficult. Sometimes authors may find that they have several identities within Scopus or Web Science thereby diluting their overall citation impact. Fortunately most of the above noted tools recognise that their data can be inaccurate and all therefore provide functionality such that authors can update data held about their research outputs.

This volume presents the results of archaeological investigations between 1996 and 2005, carried out as part of the Ben Lawers Historic Landscape Project, a multi-disciplinary project based on north Loch Tayside in the Central Highlands of Scotland. Archaeological surveys and excavations formed the core of the Ben Lawers Project, but many other disciplines also contributed to researching this landscape. Some of these partner projects are reported here, while others have been presented elsewhere (Tipping et al 2009), and some have formed part of doctoral research projects (Watters 2007). The results of the 13 field seasons, particularly the nine evaluation and excavation seasons, together with the results of the partner projects, specialist studies and scientific analyses, have provided a body of evidence which permits the story of the land of Lawers to be told. The historical continuum in that story can be used to curate and manage this landscape for generations to come.

Measuring cross-sections at the LHC requires the luminosity to be determined accurately at each centre-of-mass energy √s. In this paper results are reported from the luminosity calibrations carried out at the LHC interaction point 8 with the LHCb detector for √s = 2.76, 7 and 8 TeV (proton-proton collisions) and for √sNN = 5 TeV (proton-lead collisions). Both the "van der Meer scan" and "beam-gas imaging" luminosity calibration methods were employed. It is observed that the beam density profile cannot always be described by a function that is factorizable in the two transverse coordinates. The introduction of a two-dimensional description of the beams improves significantly the consistency of the results. For proton-proton interactions at √s = 8 TeV a relative precision of the luminosity calibration of 1.47% is obtained using van der Meer scans and 1.43% using beam-gas imaging, resulting in a combined precision of 1.12%. Applying the calibration to the full data set determines the luminosity with a precision of 1.16%. This represents the most precise luminosity measurement achieved so far at a bunched-beam hadron collider.

There is overwhelming evidence that a reduction in our salt intake from the current level in most countries of 9–12 g/day down to 6 g/day i.e. a 50% reduction lowers blood pressure and thereby reduces the number of people dying and suffering from strokes, heart attacks and heart failure – the commonest cause of death and disability in the world. Increasing evidence now suggests that salt has a direct damaging affect on the vascular system by increasing arterial stiffness and impairing endothelial function. These effects may be independent and/or additive to the effect that salt has on blood pressure. There is now increasing evidence that small changes in plasma sodium could play an important role. For instance, increasing sodium concentration within the physiological range has been shown to increase endothelial stiffness, reduce nitric oxide release as well as having a stimulant effect on some cell cultures. Clinical studies have shown that every time salt is eaten, even in quite modest amounts, there are changes in plasma sodium in the blood. These are associated with an adverse effect on the vascular system, increasing arterial stiffness and reducing endothelial function. At the same time, studies in patients on hemodialysis have shown that small changes in the dialysis fluid sodium which result in changes in plasma sodium in the patients, do seem to affect blood pressure at least in the short term. These studies are leading to a better understanding of the mechanism whereby salt could affect not only blood pressure but also have direct effects on the vascular system. Public health policies to get the food industry to slowly reduce the large amounts of salt they add to food have been successful in Finland, and are being successful in the UK. Every country should now adopt a coherent and workable strategy to reduce salt intake in the whole population. Even a modest reduction in population salt intake will have major beneficial effects on health, along with major cost-savings.

This paper considers the potential to improve distributed information retrieval via a terminologies server. The restriction upon effective resource discovery caused by the use of disparate terminologies across services and collections is outlined, before considering a DDC spine based approach involving inter-scheme mapping as a possible solution. The developing HILT model is discussed alongside other existing models and alternative approaches to solving the terminologies problem. Results from the current HILT pilot are presented to illustrate functionality and suggestions are made for further research and development.

This article introduces some of the latest developments and trends taking place with respect to library systems, and makes some informed judgements on what the future holds.

Brief outline of SPEIR, a SLIC-funded project (standing for 'Scottish Portals for Education, Information and Research') that will develop an environment to underpin Scottish portals, creating the basis for 'a coherent virtual learning, information and research landscape for all Scottish citizens, collaboratively built and maintained via an agreed country-wide, standards-based, globally interoperable, co-operative infrastructure'.

Brief article describing SPEIR (pronounced "speer"): "Scottish Portals for Education, Information and Research". SPEIR is intended to develop an environment to underpin Scottish portals, creating the basis for: "a coherent virtual learning, information and research landscape for all Scottish citizens, collaboratively built and maintained via an agreed country-wide, standards-based, globally interoperable, co-operative infrastructure".

This brief article describes the early days of the Glasgow Digital Library (GDL), when it was a cross-sectoral and city-wide collaborative initiative involving Strathclyde, Glasgow and Caledonian Universities, as well as Glasgow City Libraries and Archives and the Glasgow Colleges Group.