Information scraps: how and why information eludes our personal information management tools

In this paper we describe information scraps -- a class of personal information whose content is scribbled on Post-it notes, scrawled on corners of random sheets of paper, buried inside the bodies of e-mail messages sent to ourselves, or typed haphazardly into text files. Information scraps hold our great ideas, sketches, notes, reminders, driving directions, and even our poetry. We define information scraps to be the body of personal information that is held outside of its natural or We have much still to learn about these loose forms of information capture. Why are they so often held outside of our traditional PIM locations and instead on Post-its or in text files? Why must we sometimes go around our traditional PIM applications to hold on to our scraps, such as by e-mailing ourselves? What are information scraps' role in the larger space of personal information management, and what do they uniquely offer that we find so appealing? If these unorganized bits truly indicate the failure of our PIM tools, how might we begin to build better tools? We have pursued these questions by undertaking a study of 27 knowledge workers. In our findings we describe information scraps from several angles: their content, their location, and the factors that lead to their use, which we identify as ease of capture, flexibility of content and organization, and avilability at the time of need. We also consider the personal emotive responses around scrap management. We present a set of design considerations that we have derived from the analysis of our study results. We present our work on an application platform, jourknow, to test some of these design and usability findings

Thermal Instability and Photoionized X-ray Reflection in Accretion Disks

We study the X-ray illumination of an accretion disk. We relax the simplifying assumption of constant gas density used in most previous studies; instead we determine the density from hydrostatic balance. It is found that the thermal ionization instability prevents the illuminated gas from attaining temperatures at which the gas is unstable. In particular, the uppermost layers of the X-ray illuminated gas are found to be almost completely ionized and at the local Compton temperature ($\sim 10^7 - 10^8$ K); at larger depths, the gas temperature drops abruptly to form a thin layer with $T\sim 10^6$ K, while at yet larger depths it decreases sharply to the disk effective temperature. We find that most of the Fe K$\alpha$ line emission and absorption edge are produced in the coolest, deepest layers, while the Fe atoms in the hottest, uppermost layers are generally almost fully ionized, hence making a negligible contribution to reprocessing features in $\sim 6.4-10$ keV energy range. We provide a summary of how X-ray reprocessing features depend on parameters of the problem. The results of our self-consistent calculations are both quantitatively and qualitatively different from those obtained using the constant density assumption. Therefore, we conclude that X-ray reflection calculations should always utilize hydrostatic balance in order to provide a reliable theoretical interpretation of observed X-ray spectra of AGN and GBHCs.Comment: Submitted to ApJ; 16 pages plus 13 figure

Incidence, risk factors and the healthcare cost of falls postdischarge after elective total hip and total knee replacement surgery: protocol for a prospective observational cohort study

Abstract: Introduction: The number of major joint replacement procedures continues to increase in Australia. The primary aim of this study is to determine the incidence of falls in the first 12 months after discharge from hospital in a cohort of older patients who undergo elective total hip or total knee replacement. Methods and analyses: A prospective longitudinal observational cohort study starting in July 2015, enrolling patients aged ≥60 years who are admitted for elective major joint replacement (n=267 total hip replacement, n=267 total knee replacement) and are to be discharged to the community. Participants are followed up for 12 months after hospital discharge. The primary outcome measure is the rate of falls per thousand patient-days. Falls data will be collected by 2 methods: issuing a falls diary to each participant and telephoning participants monthly after discharge. Secondary outcomes include the rate of injurious falls and health-related quality of life. Patient-rated outcomes will be measured using the Oxford Hip or Oxford Knee score. Generalised linear mixed modelling will be used to examine the falls outcomes in the 12 months after discharge and to examine patient and clinical characteristics predictive of falls. An economic evaluation will be conducted to describe the nature of healthcare costs in the first 12 months after elective joint replacement and estimate costs directly attributable to fall events. Ethics and dissemination: The results will be disseminated through local site networks and will inform future services to support older people undergoing hip or knee joint replacement and also through peer-reviewed publications and medical conferences. This study has been approved by The University of Notre Dame Australia and local hospital human research ethics committees. Trial registratio

A survey of the use of school publications to motivate interest in written composition in grades ten to twelve in Massachusetts public schools

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Interpreting the new museology

The museum world has undergone radical change since the 1970s. Political and economic pressures have forced its professionals to shift their attention from their collections towards visitors. Whereas in the past the museum tended to be exclusive and elitist, signs of a progressive opening-up and greater accessibility have appeared. A climate of increasing reflexivity within the profession is identified as a ‘new museology’. The paper draws on data derived from semi-structured interviews with curators and directors from five local museums. I argue that the movement towards a more visitor-centred ethos can be seen as entailing a corresponding shift in the identity of the museum professional, from ‘legislator’ to ‘interpreter’ of cultural meaning. The argument, adapted from Zygmunt Bauman, is that intellectuals are being redefined in a shift from legislator to interpreter. Finally, I argue that this process of transition, as it occurs in museums, is by no means complete. Drawing on Basil Bernstein’s seminal work in educational sociology I propose that museums are also resistant to these forces of change

Aquaculture production survey Queensland 2005-06

Report on Queensland's aquaculture productio

Aquaculture production survey Queensland 2008-09

Report on Queensland's aquaculture productio

Aquaculture production survey Queensland 2007-08

Report on Queensland's aquaculture productio