WorldWideScience

Sample records for pharmaceutical virtual library

  1. Personal Virtual Libraries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pappas, Marjorie L.

    2004-01-01

    Virtual libraries are becoming more and more common. Most states have a virtual library. A growing number of public libraries have a virtual presence on the Web. Virtual libraries are a growing addition to school library media collections. The next logical step would be personal virtual libraries. A personal virtual library (PVL) is a collection…

  2. State Virtual Libraries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pappas, Marjorie L.

    2003-01-01

    Virtual library? Electronic library? Digital library? Online information network? These all apply to the growing number of Web-based resource collections managed by consortiums of state library entities. Some, like "INFOhio" and "KYVL" ("Kentucky Virtual Library"), have been available for a few years, but others are just starting. Searching for…

  3. Virtual Library: An essential component of virtual education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M zarghani

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Introduction: Library is one of the essential elements of universities which provide some important educational needs of students. Virtual education can not be exempted and virtual libraries are important support for virtual training programs. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the viewpoint of administrators and students in virtual education centers about the virtual library, its role and resources. Methods: This study was a descriptive survey. The research instrument was a researcher made questionnaire that its validity and reliability was confirmed. The study population consisted of 19 virtual training centers in Tehran city. Out of 19 centers, simple randomized sampling was done in five Centers. The sample size was 360 students. Data collection was conducted online and descriptive statistics using SPSS 18 and Excel software were used. Results: The results showed that viewpoints of administrators and students about the mission and services of virtual libraries in some cases were similar and in some cases were different. One of the administrators’ reasons for setting up a virtual learning system was lifelong learning, and lack of knowledge about virtual libraries was the reason for inadequate use of virtual libraries. The best format of virtual library from the administrators’ and students’ viewpoint, was portal document format (PDF. Conclusion: One of the most important function of a virtual library, is lifelong learning and empowering users to provide information and educational needs. The main reason for not setting up a virtual library is t lack of knowledge about it.

  4. Structure-Based Virtual Screening of Commercially Available Compound Libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kireev, Dmitri

    2016-01-01

    Virtual screening (VS) is an efficient hit-finding tool. Its distinctive strength is that it allows one to screen compound libraries that are not available in the lab. Moreover, structure-based (SB) VS also enables an understanding of how the hit compounds bind the protein target, thus laying ground work for the rational hit-to-lead progression. SBVS requires a very limited experimental effort and is particularly well suited for academic labs and small biotech companies that, unlike pharmaceutical companies, do not have physical access to quality small-molecule libraries. Here, we describe SBVS of commercial compound libraries for Mer kinase inhibitors. The screening protocol relies on the docking algorithm Glide complemented by a post-docking filter based on structural protein-ligand interaction fingerprints (SPLIF).

  5. Virtual Reality and the Virtual Library.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oppenheim, Charles

    1993-01-01

    Explains virtual reality, including proper and improper uses of the term, and suggests ways that libraries might be affected by it. Highlights include elements of virtual reality systems; possible virtual reality applications, including architecture, the chemical industry, transport planning, armed forces, and entertainment; and the virtual…

  6. Virtual Library Design Document; TOPICAL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    M. A. deLamare

    2001-01-01

    The objective of this document is to establish a design for the virtual library user and administrative layers that complies with the requirements of the virtual library software specification and subordinate module specification

  7. Finding Information on the State Virtual Libraries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pappas, Marjorie L.

    2004-01-01

    The number of state virtual libraries is rapidly expanding. These virtual libraries might include collections of subscription databases; state weblinks and resources; digital collections of primary source documents; and a state union catalog or links to school, public, and academic library catalogs. Most of these virtual libraries include an…

  8. The USF Libraries Virtual Library Project: A Blueprint for Development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Metz-Wiseman, Monica; Silver, Susan; Hanson, Ardis; Johnston, Judy; Grohs, Kim; Neville, Tina; Sanchez, Ed; Gray, Carolyn

    This report of the Virtual Library Planning Committee (VLPC) is intending to serve as a blueprint for the University of South Florida (USF) Libraries as it shifts from print to digital formats in its evolution into a "Virtual Library". A comprehensive planning process is essential for the USF Libraries to make optimum use of technology,…

  9. Virtual Libraries: Service Realities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novak, Jan

    2002-01-01

    Discussion of changes in society that have resulted from information and communication technologies focuses on changes in libraries and a new market for library services with new styles of clients. Highlights client service issues to be considered when transitioning to a virtual library situation. (Author/LRW)

  10. Library Virtual Tours: A Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ashmore, Beth; Grogg, Jill E.

    2004-01-01

    Virtual tours delivered via the Web have become a common tool for both instruction and outreach. This article is a case study of the creation of a virtual tour for a university library and is intended to provide others interested in creating a virtual tour of their library the opportunity to learn from the mistakes and successes of fellow…

  11. Content Management for the Virtual Library

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ed Salazar

    2006-09-01

    Full Text Available Traditional, larger libraries can rely on their physical collection, coffee shops, and study rooms as ways to entice patrons into their library. Yet virtual libraries merely have their online presence to attract students to resources. This can only be achieved by providing a fully functional site that is well designed and organized, allowing patrons to navigate and locate information easily. One such technology significantly improving the overall usefulness of Web sites is a content management system (CMS. Although the CMS is not a novel technology per se, it is a technology smaller libraries cannot afford to ignore. In the fall of 2004, the Northcentral University Electronic Learning Resources Center (ELRC, a small, virtual library, moved from a static to a database-driven Web site. This article explains the importance of a CMS for the virtual or smaller library and describes the methodology used by ELRC to complete the project.

  12. Data Content Protection for Virtual Libraries Heritage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mihai DOINEA

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents aspects of digital content protection in virtual library systems. The legislation aspects are presented to better emphasize the need of new security mechanisms. Integrated library systems architecture is presented with focus on their main purpose, manipulating and rendering digital content to end-users. The cultural heritage stored in such systems is an important asset that needs to be protected against malicious manipulation. The characteristics of a smart virtual library, supported by an integrated library system, are analyzed and a security model is proposed for implementation, based on its particularities. The model aims to be an interface between the interactions of anonymous users with the Online Public Access Catalog of a virtual library that assures the protection of digital content. Conclusions are drawn to better support the idea of cultural persistence by the use of Information Systems.

  13. Virtual Libraries and Education in Virtual Worlds: Twenty-First Century Library Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bell, Lori; Lindbloom, Mary-Carol; Peters, Tom; Pope, Kitty

    2008-01-01

    As the use of the Internet and time spent on the Internet by individuals grows, and the use of virtual worlds like Active Worlds and Second Life increases, the library needs to have an interactive place and role in these worlds as well as a bricks and mortar space. This article provides an overview of what some libraries are doing in these worlds,…

  14. Virtual Library: Providing Accessible Online Resources.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, Rob

    2001-01-01

    Describes e-global library, a virtual library based on the Jones International University's library that organizes Internet resources to make them more accessible to students at all skill levels. Highlights include online tutorials; research guides; financial aid and career development information; and possible partnerships with other digital…

  15. Automated recycling of chemistry for virtual screening and library design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vainio, Mikko J; Kogej, Thierry; Raubacher, Florian

    2012-07-23

    An early stage drug discovery project needs to identify a number of chemically diverse and attractive compounds. These hit compounds are typically found through high-throughput screening campaigns. The diversity of the chemical libraries used in screening is therefore important. In this study, we describe a virtual high-throughput screening system called Virtual Library. The system automatically "recycles" validated synthetic protocols and available starting materials to generate a large number of virtual compound libraries, and allows for fast searches in the generated libraries using a 2D fingerprint based screening method. Virtual Library links the returned virtual hit compounds back to experimental protocols to quickly assess the synthetic accessibility of the hits. The system can be used as an idea generator for library design to enrich the screening collection and to explore the structure-activity landscape around a specific active compound.

  16. Assessing Library Automation and Virtual Library Development in Four Academic Libraries in Oyo, Oyo State, Nigeria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gbadamosi, Belau Olatunde

    2011-01-01

    The paper examines the level of library automation and virtual library development in four academic libraries. A validated questionnaire was used to capture the responses from academic librarians of the libraries under study. The paper discovers that none of the four academic libraries is fully automated. The libraries make use of librarians with…

  17. The Virtual Library

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valenza, Joyce Kasman

    2006-01-01

    Today's school libraries must meet student needs as both a physical and virtual space. Existing both offline and online, they must offer around-the-clock access as well as instruction and guidance that support the face-to-face interactions of students with librarians and classroom teachers. Although students are often technologically proficient,…

  18. The Personal Virtual Library

    CERN Document Server

    Le Meur, Jean-Yves

    1998-01-01

    Looking for "library" in the usual search engines of the World Wide Web gives: "Infoseek found 3,593,126 pages containing the word library" and it nicely proposes: "Search only within these 3,59 3,126 pages ?" "Yahoo! Found 1299 categories and 8669 sites for library" "LycOs: 1-10 von 512354 relevanten Ergebnissen" "AltaVista: About 14830527 documents match your query" and at the botto m: "Word count: library: 15466897" ! Excite: Top 10 matches and it does not say how many can be browsed... "Library" on the World Wide Web is really popular. At least fiveteen million pages ar e supposed to contain this word. Half of them may have disappeared by now but one more hit will be added once the search robots will have indexed this document ! The notion of Personal Library i s a modest attempt, in a small environment like a library, to give poor users lost in cyber-libraries the opportunity to keep their own private little shelves - virtually. In this paper, we will l ook at the usual functionalities of library systems...

  19. Virtual Libraries: Meeting the Corporate Challenge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DiMattia, Susan S.; Blumenstein, Lynn C.

    1999-01-01

    Discusses virtual libraries in corporate settings from the viewpoint of five special librarians. Highlights include competitive advantage, space and related collection issues, the use of technology, corporate culture, information overload, library vulnerability and downsizing, and the importance of service over format. (LRW)

  20. The road to virtual: the Sauls Memorial Virtual Library journey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waddell, Stacie; Harkness, Amy; Cohen, Mark L

    2014-01-01

    The Sauls Memorial Virtual Library closed its physical space in 2012. This article outlines the reasons for this change and how the library staff and hospital leadership planned and executed the enormous undertaking. Outcomes of the change and lessons learned from the process are discussed.

  1. Helping Students Use Virtual Libraries Effectively.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fitzgerald, Mary Ann; Galloway, Chad

    2001-01-01

    Describes a study in which online behavior of high school and undergraduate students using GALILEO (Georgia Library Learning Online), a virtual library, were observed. Topics include cognitive demands; technology literacy; domain knowledge; search strategies; relevance; evaluation of information; information literacy standards; and suggestions to…

  2. Measuring Effectiveness in a Virtual Library

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finch, Jannette L.

    2010-01-01

    Measuring quality of service in academic libraries traditionally includes quantifiable data such as collection size, staff counts, circulation numbers, reference service statistics, qualitative analyses of customer satisfaction, shelving accuracy, and building comfort. In the libraries of the third millennium, virtual worlds, Web content and…

  3. Virtual digital library

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thoma, George R.

    1996-03-01

    The virtual digital library, a concept that is quickly becoming a reality, offers rapid and geography-independent access to stores of text, images, graphics, motion video and other datatypes. Furthermore, a user may move from one information source to another through hypertext linkages. The projects described here further the notion of such an information paradigm from an end user viewpoint.

  4. A rural virtual health sciences library project: research findings with implications for next generation library services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richwine, M P; McGowan, J J

    2001-01-01

    The Shared Hospital Electronic Library of Southern Indiana (SHELSI) research project was designed to determine whether access to a virtual health sciences library and training in its use would support medical decision making in rural southern Indiana and achieve the same level of impact seen by targeted information services provided by health sciences librarians in urban hospitals. Based on the results of a needs assessment, a virtual medical library was created; various levels of training were provided. Virtual library users were asked to complete a Likert-type survey, which included questions on intent of use and impact of use. At the conclusion of the project period, structured interviews were conducted. Impact of the virtual health sciences library showed a strong correlation with the impact of information provided by health sciences librarians. Both interventions resulted in avoidance of adverse health events. Data collected from the structured interviews confirmed the perceived value of the virtual library. While librarians continue to hold a strong position in supporting information access for health care providers, their roles in the information age must begin to move away from providing information toward selecting and organizing knowledge resources and instruction in their use.

  5. Production of the next-generation library virtual tour

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duncan, James M.; Roth, Linda K.

    2001-01-01

    While many libraries offer overviews of their services through their Websites, only a small number of health sciences libraries provide Web-based virtual tours. These tours typically feature photographs of major service areas along with textual descriptions. This article describes the process for planning, producing, and implementing a next-generation virtual tour in which a variety of media elements are integrated: photographic images, 360-degree “virtual reality” views, textual descriptions, and contextual floor plans. Hardware and software tools used in the project are detailed, along with a production timeline and budget, tips for streamlining the process, and techniques for improving production. This paper is intended as a starting guide for other libraries considering an investment in such a project. PMID:11837254

  6. External Variables as Antecedents of Users Perception in Virtual Library Usage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olusola I. Akinbobola

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Several studies extended the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM by examining the antecedents of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use; the present study looks at demographic aspect of external variables in virtual library use among undergraduate students. The purpose of this study is to identify the demographic factors sex, level of study, cumulative grade point average, and computer knowledge that act as external factors that are antecedents of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. The university management makes a large investment in the provision of a virtual library; investigation of the virtual library acceptance by students is important. TAM and theory of reasoned action (TRA are utilised to theoretically test a model for the extension and to predict virtual library acceptance and usage. In a survey study, data was collected by using a structured questionnaire given to 394 randomly selected participants in a private university. Data were analysed by Pearson product moment correlation, multiple and hierarchical regression. The result of the study is consistent with TAM factors examined for explaining virtual library usage. The extension model accounts for 2.5% variance in perceived usefulness, 2.1% in perceived ease of use, 11.7% - 15.2% on intention to use and 7.2% on actual use of virtual library. Implications of the findings of the study on user’s virtual library training are discussed.

  7. Virtual Libraries: Service Realities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novak, Jan

    This paper discusses client service issues to be considered when transitioning to a virtual library situation. Themes related to the transitional nature of society in the knowledge era are presented, including: paradox and a contradictory nature; blurring of boundaries; networks, systems, and holistic thinking; process/not product, becoming/not…

  8. A rural virtual health sciences library project: research findings with implications for next generation library services*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richwine, Margaret (Peggy); McGowan, Julie J.

    2001-01-01

    Purpose: The Shared Hospital Electronic Library of Southern Indiana (SHELSI) research project was designed to determine whether access to a virtual health sciences library and training in its use would support medical decision making in rural southern Indiana and achieve the same level of impact seen by targeted information services provided by health sciences librarians in urban hospitals. Methods: Based on the results of a needs assessment, a virtual medical library was created; various levels of training were provided. Virtual library users were asked to complete a Likert-type survey, which included questions on intent of use and impact of use. At the conclusion of the project period, structured interviews were conducted. Results: Impact of the virtual health sciences library showed a strong correlation with the impact of information provided by health sciences librarians. Both interventions resulted in avoidance of adverse health events. Data collected from the structured interviews confirmed the perceived value of the virtual library. Conclusion: While librarians continue to hold a strong position in supporting information access for health care providers, their roles in the information age must begin to move away from providing information toward selecting and organizing knowledge resources and instruction in their use. PMID:11209799

  9. Libraries' Place in Virtual Social Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mathews, Brian S.

    2007-01-01

    Do libraries belong in the virtual world of social networking? With more than 100 million users, this environment is impossible to ignore. A rising philosophy for libraries, particularly in blog-land, involves the concept of being where the users are. Simply using new media to deliver an old message is not progress. Instead, librarians should…

  10. The virtual library: Coming of age

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunter, Judy F.; Cotter, Gladys A.

    1994-01-01

    With the high speed networking capabilities, multiple media options, and massive amounts of information that exist in electronic format today, the concept of a 'virtual' library or 'library without walls' is becoming viable. In virtual library environment, the information processed goes beyond the traditional definition of documents to include the results of scientific and technical research and development (reports, software, data) recorded in any format or media: electronic, audio, video, or scanned images. Network access to information must include tools to help locate information sources and navigate the networks to connect to the sources, as well as methods to extract the relevant information. Graphical User Interfaces (GUI's) that are intuitive and navigational tools such as Intelligent Gateway Processors (IGP) will provide users with seamless and transparent use of high speed networks to access, organize, and manage information. Traditional libraries will become points of electronic access to information on multiple medias. The emphasis will be towards unique collections of information at each library rather than entire collections at every library. It is no longer a question of whether there is enough information available; it is more a question of how to manage the vast volumes of information. The future equation will involve being able to organize knowledge, manage information, and provide access at the point of origin.

  11. Virtual screening of compound libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cerqueira, Nuno M F S A; Sousa, Sérgio F; Fernandes, Pedro A; Ramos, Maria João

    2009-01-01

    During the last decade, Virtual Screening (VS) has definitively established itself as an important part of the drug discovery and development process. VS involves the selection of likely drug candidates from large libraries of chemical structures by using computational methodologies, but the generic definition of VS encompasses many different methodologies. This chapter provides an introduction to the field by reviewing a variety of important aspects, including the different types of virtual screening methods, and the several steps required for a successful virtual screening campaign within a state-of-the-art approach, from target selection to postfilter application. This analysis is further complemented with a small collection important VS success stories.

  12. Design of focused and restrained subsets from extremely large virtual libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jamois, Eric A; Lin, Chien T; Waldman, Marvin

    2003-11-01

    With the current and ever-growing offering of reagents along with the vast palette of organic reactions, virtual libraries accessible to combinatorial chemists can reach sizes of billions of compounds or more. Extracting practical size subsets for experimentation has remained an essential step in the design of combinatorial libraries. A typical approach to computational library design involves enumeration of structures and properties for the entire virtual library, which may be unpractical for such large libraries. This study describes a new approach termed as on the fly optimization (OTFO) where descriptors are computed as needed within the subset optimization cycle and without intermediate enumeration of structures. Results reported herein highlight the advantages of coupling an ultra-fast descriptor calculation engine to subset optimization capabilities. We also show that enumeration of properties for the entire virtual library may not only be unpractical but also wasteful. Successful design of focused and restrained subsets can be achieved while sampling only a small fraction of the virtual library. We also investigate the stability of the method and compare results obtained from simulated annealing (SA) and genetic algorithms (GA).

  13. The Human Element in the Virtual Library.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saunders, Laverna M.

    1999-01-01

    Introduces the concept of the virtual library and explores how the increasing reliance on computers and digital information has affected library users and staff. Discusses users' expectations, democratization of access, human issues, organizational change, technostress, ergonomics, assessment, and strategies for success and survival. Contains 35…

  14. Employing Virtualization in Library Computing: Use Cases and Lessons Learned

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arwen Hutt

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper provides a broad overview of virtualization technology and describes several examples of its use at the University of California, San Diego Libraries. Libraries can leverage virtualization to address many long-standing library computing challenges, but careful planning is needed to determine if this technology is the right solution for a specific need. This paper outlines both technical and usability considerations, and concludes with a discussion of potential enterprise impacts on the library infrastructure.

  15. Library fingerprints: a novel approach to the screening of virtual libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klon, Anthony E; Diller, David J

    2007-01-01

    We propose a novel method to prioritize libraries for combinatorial synthesis and high-throughput screening that assesses the viability of a particular library on the basis of the aggregate physical-chemical properties of the compounds using a naïve Bayesian classifier. This approach prioritizes collections of related compounds according to the aggregate values of their physical-chemical parameters in contrast to single-compound screening. The method is also shown to be useful in screening existing noncombinatorial libraries when the compounds in these libraries have been previously clustered according to their molecular graphs. We show that the method used here is comparable or superior to the single-compound virtual screening of combinatorial libraries and noncombinatorial libraries and is superior to the pairwise Tanimoto similarity searching of a collection of combinatorial libraries.

  16. Pacific Islands Climate Change Virtual Library

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Virtual Library provides access to web based climate variability and climate change information and tools relevant to the Pacific Islands including case studies,...

  17. Surfing for Knowledge: Virtual Libraries and Books on the Web

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wicks, Pamela

    2011-01-01

    Virtual environments such as Second Life (SL) may provide a way to connect with today's digital native and increase the readership of the community college student, both in virtual and real world libraries. Many colleges and universities already have a presence in SL. Books and services typically found in a "brick and mortar" library can…

  18. Academic Library Services in Virtual Worlds: An Examination of the Potential for Library Services in Immersive Environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan, Jenna; Porter, Marjorie; Miller, Rebecca

    2010-01-01

    Current literature on libraries is abundant with articles about the uses and the potential of new interactive communication technology, including Web 2.0 tools. Recently, the advent and use of virtual worlds have received top billing in these works. Many library institutions are exploring these virtual environments; this exploration and the…

  19. The Information Needs of Virtual Users: A Study of Second Life Libraries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chow, Anthony S.; Baity, C. Chase; Zamarripa, Marilyn; Chappell, Pam; Rachlin, David; Vinson, Curtis

    2012-01-01

    As virtual worlds continue to proliferate globally, libraries are faced with the question of whether to provide information services to virtual patrons. This study, utilizing a mixed-method approach of interviews, focus groups, and surveys, represents one of the largest studies of virtual libraries attempted to date. Taking a holistic perspective,…

  20. Virtual libraries in Nigeria: dream or reality | Owoeye | Information ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    With the evolution of Information Communication Technology, libraries in the industrialized nations have experienced significant changes in information glut and these have facilitated the growth of “libraries without walls” This paper looks at the development of virtual libraries in Nigeria, its roles and addresses how it can ...

  1. Template-based combinatorial enumeration of virtual compound libraries for lipids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sud, Manish; Fahy, Eoin; Subramaniam, Shankar

    2012-09-25

    A variety of software packages are available for the combinatorial enumeration of virtual libraries for small molecules, starting from specifications of core scaffolds with attachments points and lists of R-groups as SMILES or SD files. Although SD files include atomic coordinates for core scaffolds and R-groups, it is not possible to control 2-dimensional (2D) layout of the enumerated structures generated for virtual compound libraries because different packages generate different 2D representations for the same structure. We have developed a software package called LipidMapsTools for the template-based combinatorial enumeration of virtual compound libraries for lipids. Virtual libraries are enumerated for the specified lipid abbreviations using matching lists of pre-defined templates and chain abbreviations, instead of core scaffolds and lists of R-groups provided by the user. 2D structures of the enumerated lipids are drawn in a specific and consistent fashion adhering to the framework for representing lipid structures proposed by the LIPID MAPS consortium. LipidMapsTools is lightweight, relatively fast and contains no external dependencies. It is an open source package and freely available under the terms of the modified BSD license.

  2. Factors Influencing Virtual Patron Satisfaction with Online Library Resources and Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tyler, Katherine; Hastings, Nancy B.

    2011-01-01

    College students are accessing virtual libraries whether they are on campus or learning from a distance. Academic institutions serving virtual patrons must remain focused on meeting the needs of those library users by continually examining their preferences, their searching behavior, and the information they seek. The purpose of this research was…

  3. Virtual Mirror gaming in libraries

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Speelman, M.; Kröse, B.; Nijholt, A.; Poppe, R.

    2008-01-01

    This paper presents a study on a natural interface game in the context of a library. We developed a camera-based Virtual Mirror (VM) game, in which the player can see himself on the screen as if he looks at a mirror image. We present an overview of the different aspects of VM games and technologies

  4. Factors Influencing Virtual Patron Satisfaction with Online Library Resources and Services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katherine Tyler

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available College students are accessing virtual libraries whether they are on campus or learning from a distance. Academic institutions serving virtual patrons must remain focused on meeting the needs of those library users by continually examining their preferences, their searching behavior, and the information they seek. The purpose of this research was to determine if virtual patrons are satisfied with the resources and services being provided by a university’s online library. Following a web-based survey, demographic characteristics of students were analyzed to determine if any influenced students’ satisfaction. Using analysis of variance, correlation, and descriptive statistics, several demographic factors were found to influence student satisfaction with the library’s online resources: age, gender, achieved educational level, student status, and computer experience. One factor, computer experience, was found to influence student satisfaction with the library’s online services. Overall, students reported satisfaction with the university’s online library resources and services. Comments submitted to open-ended questions regarding areas for improvement to the online library provide library administrators with avenues for development to increase awareness of library services, focus improvement in navigation, and enhance student satisfaction.

  5. Content Analysis of Virtual Reference Data: Reshaping Library Website Design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, Suhua Caroline; Welch, Jennifer M

    2016-01-01

    An academic health sciences library wanted to redesign its website to provide better access to health information in the community. Virtual reference data were used to provide information about user searching behavior. This study analyzed three years (2012-2014) of virtual reference data, including e-mail questions, text messaging, and live chat transcripts, to evaluate the library website for redesigning, especially in areas such as the home page, patrons' terminology, and issues prompting patrons to ask for help. A coding system based on information links in the current library website was created to analyze the data.

  6. CycloPs: generating virtual libraries of cyclized and constrained peptides including nonnatural amino acids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duffy, Fergal J; Verniere, Mélanie; Devocelle, Marc; Bernard, Elise; Shields, Denis C; Chubb, Anthony J

    2011-04-25

    We introduce CycloPs, software for the generation of virtual libraries of constrained peptides including natural and nonnatural commercially available amino acids. The software is written in the cross-platform Python programming language, and features include generating virtual libraries in one-dimensional SMILES and three-dimensional SDF formats, suitable for virtual screening. The stand-alone software is capable of filtering the virtual libraries using empirical measurements, including peptide synthesizability by standard peptide synthesis techniques, stability, and the druglike properties of the peptide. The software and accompanying Web interface is designed to enable the rapid generation of large, structurally diverse, synthesizable virtual libraries of constrained peptides quickly and conveniently, for use in virtual screening experiments. The stand-alone software, and the Web interface for evaluating these empirical properties of a single peptide, are available at http://bioware.ucd.ie .

  7. Users education in the virtual public library. Resources and procedures in the Spanish public libraries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco Javier García Gómez

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available Some Spanish public libraries have sites Web in a new digital work environment. These libraries are already delivered some services in their virtual branches. We are interesting to analyze user education in their sites Web. We are reviewed and tested some digital resources and services for user education in public libraries at World Wide Web. Level developing obtained in this library work is shown in conclusions. Likewise, we contributed some references about public library web sites design focused in user education and library instruction

  8. Are We Ready for the Virtual Library? Technology Push, Market Pull and Organisational Response.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilbert, J. D.

    1993-01-01

    Discusses virtual libraries, i.e., library services available to users via personal computers; considers the issues of technological development, user demands, and organizational response; and describes progress toward virtual libraries in the Netherlands, including networks, online systems, navigation tools, subject classification, coordination…

  9. [The virtual library in equity, health, and human development].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valdés, América

    2002-01-01

    This article attempts to describe the rationale that has led to the development of information sources dealing with equity, health, and human development in countries of Latin America and the Caribbean within the context of the Virtual Health Library (Biblioteca Virtual en Salud, BVS). Such information sources include the scientific literature, databases in printed and electronic format, institutional directories and lists of specialists, lists of events and courses, distance education programs, specialty journals and bulletins, as well as other means of disseminating health information. The pages that follow deal with the development of a Virtual Library in Equity, Health, and Human Development, an effort rooted in the conviction that decision-making and policy geared toward achieving greater equity in health must, of necessity, be based on coherent, well-organized, and readily accessible first-rate scientific information. Information is useless unless it is converted into knowledge that benefits society. The Virtual Library in Equity, Health, and Human Development is a coordinated effort to develop a decentralized regional network of scientific information sources, with strict quality control, from which public officials can draw data and practical examples that can help them set health and development policies geared toward achieving greater equity for all.

  10. Portal to the World: AIHEC Virtual Library Opens Doors for Native Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirby, Jane

    2004-01-01

    The Internet keeps growing at lightning speed. Now, "tribal college" students have a tool to assist them in locating accurate information quickly: the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) Virtual Library. The AIHEC Virtual Library provides a focused entryway into the Internet research field. Librarians report that it supplements…

  11. [Reproductive health: a contribution to the evaluation of a virtual library].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alvarez, Maria do Carmo Avamilano; Cuenca, Angela Maria Belloni; Noronha, Daisy Pires; Schor, Néia

    2007-10-01

    Virtual libraries have been implemented in an attempt to organize scientific information found in the Internet, including the Biblioteca Virtual de Saúde Reprodutiva (BVSR), or Virtual Library on Reproductive Health. The aim is to provide quality information to researchers in the reproductive health field. The current study evaluates the use of the BVSR, emphasizing the users' expectations, difficulties, and suggestions. The study adopted a qualitative methodology. The focus group technique was applied to Internet chat groups through which reproductive health researchers communicated. Users expressed their expectations regarding information, highlighting the lack of time and the need to quickly obtain precise data. Use of virtual libraries for research increases where there is more trust in the institutions responsible for maintaining them. Researchers suggested the following: greater dissemination of the BVSR, publication of an electronic newsletter, and creation of a communications channel between the BVSR and users in order to foster intelligent collective communication.

  12. Virtual screening methods as tools for drug lead discovery from large chemical libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, X H; Zhu, F; Liu, X; Shi, Z; Zhang, J X; Yang, S Y; Wei, Y Q; Chen, Y Z

    2012-01-01

    Virtual screening methods have been developed and explored as useful tools for searching drug lead compounds from chemical libraries, including large libraries that have become publically available. In this review, we discussed the new developments in exploring virtual screening methods for enhanced performance in searching large chemical libraries, their applications in screening libraries of ~ 1 million or more compounds in the last five years, the difficulties in their applications, and the strategies for further improving these methods.

  13. Improving Usage Statistics Processing for a Library Consortium: The Virtual Library of Virginia's Experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matthews, Tansy E.

    2009-01-01

    This article describes the development of the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA). The VIVA statistics-processing system remains a work in progress. Member libraries will benefit from the ability to obtain the actual data from the VIVA site, rather than just the summaries, so a project to make these data available is currently being planned. The…

  14. Virtual Reference Service in Academic Libraries in West Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sekyere, Kwabena

    2011-01-01

    As technology continues to advance, libraries in Europe and America continue to improve upon their virtual reference services by employing new Web technologies and applying them to existing services. West African academic libraries have begun providing resources electronically to their users but still typically lag behind in the services they…

  15. Virtual Multimedia Libraries Built from the Web

    OpenAIRE

    Rowe, Neil C.

    2002-01-01

    Second ACM-IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (JCDL02), Portland, OR, July 2002, 158-159. We have developed a tool MARIE-4 for building virtual libraries of multimedia (images, video, and audio) by automatically exploring (crawling) a specified subdomain of the World Wide Web to create an index based on caption keywords. Our approach uses carefully-researched criteria to identify and rate caption text, and employs both an expert system and a neural network. We have used it to...

  16. The Intersection of Virtual Organizations and the Library: A Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carlson, Jake; Yatcilla, Jane Kinkus

    2010-01-01

    The proliferation of virtual organizations is changing the nature and practice of research. These changes present a challenge to Libraries, as their traditional roles and services do not translate well to virtual organizations. However, virtual organizations also offer opportunities for librarians to participate in shaping the next generation of…

  17. Thematic web portals for different user profiles in a virtual health science library: Bibliosalut's experience

    OpenAIRE

    Páez, Virgili; Font, Mònica; Pastor-Ramon, Elena; Sastre-Suárez, Sílvia; Costa-Marin, Maria

    2016-01-01

    Normally users of a virtual health library have different professional profiles (physicians, nurses, pharmacists...) and/or they are from different specialties (Primary Health Care, Internal Medicine, Oncology...). This poster shows the experience of the Virtual Health Sciences Library of the Balearic Islands (Bibliosalut) of creating thematic web portals, which aims is to improve the experience of our users to browse and query to information resources and services of the virtual library and ...

  18. The Concept of the Virtual School Library.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Butterworth, Margaret

    A library has the capacity to deliver much more than just its locally stored and owned resources. By using telecommunications, information can be sought from online databases and from other pupils in schools across the world. This paper includes: (1) an explanation of the link between "virtual reality" and the "virtual…

  19. Construction of a virtual combinatorial library using SMILES strings to discover potential structure-diverse PPAR modulators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liao, Chenzhong; Liu, Bing; Shi, Leming; Zhou, Jiaju; Lu, Xian-Ping

    2005-07-01

    Based on the structural characters of PPAR modulators, a virtual combinatorial library containing 1226,625 compounds was constructed using SMILES strings. Selected ADME filters were employed to compel compounds having poor drug-like properties from this library. This library was converted to sdf and mol2 files by CONCORD 4.0, and was then docked to PPARgamma by DOCK 4.0 to identify new chemical entities that may be potential drug leads against type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases. The method to construct virtual combinatorial library using SMILES strings was further visualized by Visual Basic.net that can facilitate the needs of generating other type virtual combinatorial libraries.

  20. User Preferences in Reference Services: Virtual Reference and Academic Libraries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cummings, Joel; Cummings, Lara; Frederiksen, Linda

    2007-01-01

    This study examines the use of chat in an academic library's user population and where virtual reference services might fit within the spectrum of public services offered by academic libraries. Using questionnaires, this research demonstrates that many within the academic community are open to the idea of chat-based reference or using chat for…

  1. A rural virtual health sciences library project: research findings with implications for next generation library services*

    OpenAIRE

    Richwine, Margaret (Peggy); McGowan, Julie J.

    2001-01-01

    Purpose: The Shared Hospital Electronic Library of Southern Indiana (SHELSI) research project was designed to determine whether access to a virtual health sciences library and training in its use would support medical decision making in rural southern Indiana and achieve the same level of impact seen by targeted information services provided by health sciences librarians in urban hospitals.

  2. Screening of a virtual mirror-image library of natural products.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noguchi, Taro; Oishi, Shinya; Honda, Kaori; Kondoh, Yasumitsu; Saito, Tamio; Ohno, Hiroaki; Osada, Hiroyuki; Fujii, Nobutaka

    2016-06-08

    We established a facile access to an unexplored mirror-image library of chiral natural product derivatives using d-protein technology. In this process, two chemical syntheses of mirror-image substances including a target protein and hit compound(s) allow the lead discovery from a virtual mirror-image library without the synthesis of numerous mirror-image compounds.

  3. Natural product-like virtual libraries: recursive atom-based enumeration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Melvin J

    2011-03-28

    A new molecular enumerator is described that allows chemically and architecturally diverse sets of natural product-like and drug-like structures to be generated from a core structure as simple as a single carbon atom or as complex as a polycyclic ring system. Integrated with a rudimentary machine-learning algorithm, the enumerator has the ability to assemble biased virtual libraries enriched in compounds predicted to meet target criteria. The ability to dynamically generate relatively small focused libraries in a recursive manner could reduce the computational time and infrastructure necessary to construct and manage extremely large static libraries. Depending on enumeration conditions, natural product-like structures can be produced with a wide range of heterocyclic and alicyclic ring assemblies. Because natural products represent a proven source of validated structures for identifying and designing new drug candidates, mimicking the structural and topological diversity found in nature with a dynamic set of virtual natural product-like compounds may facilitate the creation of new ideas for novel, biologically relevant lead structures in areas of uncharted chemical space.

  4. DELIVERing Library Resources to the Virtual Learning Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Secker, Jane

    2005-01-01

    Purpose: Examines a project to integrate digital libraries and virtual learning environments (VLE) focusing on requirements for online reading list systems. Design/methodology/approach: Conducted a user needs analysis using interviews and focus groups and evaluated three reading or resource list management systems. Findings: Provides a technical…

  5. Facing reality: the growth of virtual reality and health sciences libraries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susan Lessick

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Virtual reality (VR is an increasingly hot tech topic. Because VR may be the ultimate virtual project as defined by this column, replacing the real world with a simulated one, it is worthwhile to pause and reflect on its potential and practicality for health sciences libraries.

  6. La Biblioteca Virtual en Equidad, Salud y Desarrollo Humano The Virtual Library in Equity, Health, and Human Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    América Valdés

    2002-06-01

    Full Text Available This article attempts to describe the rationale that has led to the development of information sources dealing with equity, health, and human development in countries of Latin America and the Caribbean within the context of the Virtual Health Library (Biblioteca Virtual en Salud, BVS. Such information sources include the scientific literature, databases in printed and electronic format, institutional directories and lists of specialists, lists of events and courses, distance education programs, specialty journals and bulletins, as well as other means of disseminating health information. The pages that follow deal with the development of a Virtual Library in Equity, Health, and Human Development, an effort rooted in the conviction that decision-making and policy geared toward achieving greater equity in health must, of necessity, be based on coherent, well-organized, and readily accessible first-rate scientific information. Information is useless unless it is converted into knowledge that benefits society. The Virtual Library in Equity, Health, and Human Development is a coordinated effort to develop a decentralized regional network of scientific information sources, with strict quality control, from which public officials can draw data and practical examples that can help them set health and development policies geared toward achieving greater equity for all.

  7. A virtualized software based on the NVIDIA cuFFT library for image denoising: performance analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Galletti, Ardelio; Marcellino, Livia; Montella, Raffaele

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Generic Virtualization Service (GVirtuS) is a new solution for enabling GPGPU on Virtual Machines or low powered devices. This paper focuses on the performance analysis that can be obtained using a GPGPU virtualized software. Recently, GVirtuS has been extended in order to support CUDA...... ancillary libraries with good results. Here, our aim is to analyze the applicability of this powerful tool to a real problem, which uses the NVIDIA cuFFT library. As case study we consider a simple denoising algorithm, implementing a virtualized GPU-parallel software based on the convolution theorem...

  8. The Problem Patron and the Academic Library Web Site as Virtual Reference Desk.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Daniel; Porter, George S.

    2002-01-01

    Considers problem library patrons in a virtual environment based on experiences at California Institute of Technology's Web site and its use for virtual reference. Discusses the virtual reference desk concept; global visibility and access to the World Wide Web; problematic email; and advantages in the electronic environment. (LRW)

  9. Moving beyond Assumptions: The Use of Virtual Reference Data in an Academic Library

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nolen, David S.; Powers, Amanda Clay; Zhang, Li; Xu, Yue; Cannady, Rachel E.; Li, Judy

    2012-01-01

    The Mississippi State University Libraries' Virtual Reference Service collected statistics about virtual reference usage. Analysis of the data collected by an entry survey from chat and e-mail transactions provided librarians with concrete information about what patron groups were the highest and lowest users of virtual reference services. These…

  10. Social Q&A’s Enlightenment to the Library Virtual Reference Service

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yang Yukun

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available [Purpose/significance] Under the circumstance of Web2.0, the social Q&As, possessing the similar functions of the library virtual reference services, emerge consequently and enjoy tremendous prosperity. Thus, conducting the research of its success could shed light on the sustainable development of the library’s virtual reference services. [Method/process] According to the present-day situation that Social Q&A’s prosperity challenged the library virtual reference service, a literature review of domestic and foreign relevant research was completed. On the base of this review, typical Internet Q&A websites such as Baidu Knows and Yahoo Answers, social network-oriented Q&A websites such as Zhihu and Quora, were selected as the research objects. Then, the paper analyzed the traits of four representative SQA platforms from the perspectives of the Internet interlocution mode, the information organization mode and the user interaction and management mode. In addition, an experiment between SQAs and VRS was conducted as empirical research. [Result/conclusion] Finally, on the base of the research status, the platform investigation and experimental outcomes, the improvement suggestions for library VRS are proposed.

  11. Application of new technologies in the virtual library: Seminars in Turkey, Portugal, and Spain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunter, Judy F.; Cotter, Gladys A.

    1994-01-01

    This paper focuses on the technologies that are available today to support the concept of a virtual library. The concept of a 'virtual library' or a 'library without walls' is meant to convey the idea that information in any format should be available to the end-user from the desktop as if it were located on the local workstation. Discussed here are the background, trends, technology enablers, end-user requirements, and the NASA Access Mechanism (NAM) system, one example of how it is possible to apply existing technologies to the client server architecture to logically centralize geographically distributed applications and information.

  12. INTERNET and information about nuclear sciences. The world wide web virtual library: nuclear sciences

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuruc, J.

    1999-01-01

    In this work author proposes to constitute new virtual library which should centralize the information from nuclear disciplines on the INTERNET, in order to them to give first and foremost the connection on the most important links in set nuclear sciences. The author has entitled this new virtual library The World Wide Web Library: Nuclear Sciences. By constitution of this virtual library next basic principles were chosen: home pages of international organizations important from point of view of nuclear disciplines; home pages of the National Nuclear Commissions and governments; home pages of nuclear scientific societies; web-pages specialized on nuclear problematic, in general; periodical tables of elements and isotopes; web-pages aimed on Chernobyl crash and consequences; web-pages with antinuclear aim. Now continue the links grouped on web-pages according to single nuclear areas: nuclear arsenals; nuclear astrophysics; nuclear aspects of biology (radiobiology); nuclear chemistry; nuclear company; nuclear data centres; nuclear energy; nuclear energy, environmental aspects of (radioecology); nuclear energy info centres; nuclear engineering; nuclear industries; nuclear magnetic resonance; nuclear material monitoring; nuclear medicine and radiology; nuclear physics; nuclear power (plants); nuclear reactors; nuclear risk; nuclear technologies and defence; nuclear testing; nuclear tourism; nuclear wastes; nuclear wastes. In these single groups web-links will be concentrated into following groups: virtual libraries and specialized servers; science; nuclear societies; nuclear departments of the academic institutes; nuclear research institutes and laboratories; centres, info links

  13. Lead-oriented synthesis: Investigation of organolithium-mediated routes to 3-D scaffolds and 3-D shape analysis of a virtual lead-like library.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lüthy, Monique; Wheldon, Mary C; Haji-Cheteh, Chehasnah; Atobe, Masakazu; Bond, Paul S; O'Brien, Peter; Hubbard, Roderick E; Fairlamb, Ian J S

    2015-06-01

    Synthetic routes to six 3-D scaffolds containing piperazine, pyrrolidine and piperidine cores have been developed. The synthetic methodology focused on the use of N-Boc α-lithiation-trapping chemistry. Notably, suitably protected and/or functionalised medicinal chemistry building blocks were synthesised via concise, connective methodology. This represents a rare example of lead-oriented synthesis. A virtual library of 190 compounds was then enumerated from the six scaffolds. Of these, 92 compounds (48%) fit the lead-like criteria of: (i) -1⩽AlogP⩽3; (ii) 14⩽number of heavy atoms⩽26; (iii) total polar surface area⩾50Å(2). The 3-D shapes of the 190 compounds were analysed using a triangular plot of normalised principal moments of inertia (PMI). From this, 46 compounds were identified which had lead-like properties and possessed 3-D shapes in under-represented areas of pharmaceutical space. Thus, the PMI analysis of the 190 member virtual library showed that whilst scaffolds which may appear on paper to be 3-D in shape, only 24% of the compounds actually had 3-D structures in the more interesting areas of 3-D drug space. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Virtual Library Effluent Volume to Soil Disposal Sites Module Specification; TOPICAL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    M. A. deLamare

    2001-01-01

    This document provides the design specifications for each of the modules identified in the Virtual Library. The design specifications include design logic, input and output specifications, validation, and error handling

  15. The Virtual Naval Hospital: the digital library as knowledge management tool for nomadic patrons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Alessandro, Michael P; D'Alessandro, Donna M; Bakalar, Richard S; Ashley, Denis E; Hendrix, Mary J C

    2005-01-01

    To meet the information needs of isolated primary care providers and their patients in the US Navy, a digital health sciences library, the Virtual Naval Hospital, was created through a unique partnership between academia and government. The creation of the digital library was heavily influenced by the principles of user-centered design and made allowances for the nomadic nature of the digital library's patrons and the heterogeneous access they have to Internet bandwidth. The result is a digital library that has been in operation since 1997, continues to expand in size, is heavily used, and is highly regarded by its patrons. The digital library is dedicated to delivering the right information at the right time to the right person so the right decision can be made, and therefore the Virtual Naval Hospital functions as a knowledge-management system for the US Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.

  16. The reality behind the pharmaceutical industry, postmodernity with no mercy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Allan Rodríguez Artavia

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available The following article analyzes the current need in the light of the principles of the (post modernity about the pharmaceutical industry. For its formulation, we conducted a literature review in the databases of the VirtualHealth Library (BIREME, and the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO, where after applying predetermined inclusion criteria, it was possible to obtain a total of 23 items that served as the analysis base. Between the main results obtained in thirteen of the documents analyzed it criticizing the marketing process that has set as standard to follow in pharmaceutical production. In seven of the articles it is argued that by in pharmacological industry, there is limited access to medicines in countries or regions with less purchasing power, as there is reluctance to fund research related to diseases that are not profitable. It conclude that given currently own processes of neoliberal policies and capitalism that surround pharmaceutical production, lost focus on the health of the community, transforming such right in a process of marketing and commercialism.

  17. The Future Role of Librarians in the Virtual Library Environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burke, Liz

    2002-01-01

    Considers the role of librarians in a virtual library environment. Highlights include providing intellectual access to information in any format; evaluating available sources of information; organizing information; ensuring the preservation of information; providing specialized staff to help meet information needs; and the economic impact of…

  18. The use of quality benchmarking in assessing web resources for the dermatology virtual branch library of the National electronic Library for Health (NeLH).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamel Boulos, M N; Roudsari, A V; Gordon, C; Muir Gray, J A

    2001-01-01

    In 1998, the U.K. National Health Service Information for Health Strategy proposed the implementation of a National electronic Library for Health to provide clinicians, healthcare managers and planners, patients and the public with easy, round the clock access to high quality, up-to-date electronic information on health and healthcare. The Virtual Branch Libraries are among the most important components of the National electronic Library for Health. They aim at creating online knowledge based communities, each concerned with some specific clinical and other health-related topics. This study is about the envisaged Dermatology Virtual Branch Libraries of the National electronic Library for Health. It aims at selecting suitable dermatology Web resources for inclusion in the forthcoming Virtual Branch Libraries after establishing preliminary quality benchmarking rules for this task. Psoriasis, being a common dermatological condition, has been chosen as a starting point. Because quality is a principal concern of the National electronic Library for Health, the study includes a review of the major quality benchmarking systems available today for assessing health-related Web sites. The methodology of developing a quality benchmarking system has been also reviewed. Aided by metasearch Web tools, candidate resources were hand-selected in light of the reviewed benchmarking systems and specific criteria set by the authors. Over 90 professional and patient-oriented Web resources on psoriasis and dermatology in general are suggested for inclusion in the forthcoming Dermatology Virtual Branch Libraries. The idea of an all-in knowledge-hallmarking instrument for the National electronic Library for Health is also proposed based on the reviewed quality benchmarking systems. Skilled, methodical, organized human reviewing, selection and filtering based on well-defined quality appraisal criteria seems likely to be the key ingredient in the envisaged National electronic Library for

  19. EULER - A Real Virtual Library for Mathematics

    CERN Document Server

    Jost, Michael

    2004-01-01

    The EULER project completed its work in November 2002. It forms the last part of a very successful project in the specialized but global discipline of mathematics. After a successful RTD project had created the technology, a take-up project has effectively exploited it to the point where its future is assured through a not-for-profit consortium. EULER is a European based, world class, real virtual library for mathematics with up-to-date technological solutions, well accepted by users. In particular, EULER provides a world reference and delivery service, transparent to the end user and offering full coverage of the mathematics literature world-wide, including bibliographic data, peer reviews and/or abstracts, indexing, classification and search, transparent access to library services, co-operation with commercial information providers (publishers, bookstores). The EULER services provide a gateway to the electronic catalogues and repositories of participating institutions, while the latter retain complete respo...

  20. University Library Virtual Reference Services: Best Practices and Continuous Improvement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaw, Kate; Spink, Amanda

    2009-01-01

    The inclusion or not of chat services within Virtual Reference (VR) is an important topic for university libraries. Increasingly, email supported by a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) database is suggested in the scholarly literature as the preferred, cost-effective means for providing university VR services. This paper examines these issues and…

  1. Creating knowledge structures in the pharmaceutical industry: the increasing significance of virtual organisation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salazar, A; Howells, J

    2000-01-01

    This paper explores the specific trend and challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry regarding the exploitation of Internet e-commerce technology and virtual organisation to develop and maintain competitive advantage. There are two important facets of the current trend. One is the rapid development of a complex network of alliances between the established pharmaceutical companies and the specialised biotechnology company start-ups. The other is the rapid growth of internet e-commerce companies dedicated to developing specialised technological platforms for acquiring and selling genetic and biochemical knowledge. The underlying challenge is how big pharmaceutical companies can emulate some of the innovation processes of smaller biotechnology company start-ups, and how they can appropriate and applied new technological knowledge on the development of new drugs. Pharmaceutical companies in order to retain competitive advantage need to continuously monitor all aspects of knowledge management with regard to the R&D and manufacturing process (as well as customer management and marketing). Technological change and organisational restructuring should be aimed at boosting the capacity of large firms to innovate rapidly.

  2. The Role of Virtual Reference in Library Web Site Design: A Qualitative Source for Usage Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Powers, Amanda Clay; Shedd, Julie; Hill, Clay

    2011-01-01

    Gathering qualitative information about usage behavior of library Web sites is a time-consuming process requiring the active participation of patron communities. Libraries that collect virtual reference transcripts, however, hold valuable data regarding how the library Web site is used that could benefit Web designers. An analysis of virtual…

  3. Virtual in-service training from the librarians' point of view in libraries of medical sciences universities in Tehran

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohaghegh, Niloofar; Raiesi Dehkordi, Puran; Alibeik, MohammadReza; Ghashghaee, Ahmad; Janbozorgi, Mojgan

    2016-01-01

    Background: In-service training courses are one of the most available programs that are used to improve the quantity and quality level of the staff services in various organizations, including libraries and information centers. With the advent of new technologies in the field of education, the problems and shortcomings of traditional in-service training courses were replaced with virtual ones. This study aimed to evaluate the virtual in-service training courses from the librarians' point of view in libraries of state universities of medical sciences in Tehran. Methods: This was a descriptive- analytical study. The statistical population consisted of all librarians at libraries of universities of medical sciences in Tehran. Out of 103 librarians working in the libraries under the study, 93 (90%) participated in this study. Data were collected, using a questionnaire. Results: The results revealed that 94/6% of librarians were satisfied to participate in virtual in-service training courses. In this study, only 45 out of 93 participants said that the virtual in-service courses were held in their libraries. Of the participants, 75.6% were satisfied with the length of training courses, and one month seemed to be adequate time duration for the librarians to be more satisfied. The satisfaction level of the individuals who participated in in-service courses of the National Library was moderate to high. A total of 84.4% participants announced that the productivity level of the training courses was moderate to high. The most important problem with which the librarians were confronted in virtual in-service training was the "low speed of the internet and inadequate computer substructures". Conclusion: Effectiveness of in-service training courses from librarians’ point of view was at an optimal level in the studied libraries. PMID:28491833

  4. Virtual in-service training from the librarians' point of view in libraries of medical sciences universities in Tehran.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohaghegh, Niloofar; Raiesi Dehkordi, Puran; Alibeik, MohammadReza; Ghashghaee, Ahmad; Janbozorgi, Mojgan

    2016-01-01

    Background: In-service training courses are one of the most available programs that are used to improve the quantity and quality level of the staff services in various organizations, including libraries and information centers. With the advent of new technologies in the field of education, the problems and shortcomings of traditional in-service training courses were replaced with virtual ones. This study aimed to evaluate the virtual in-service training courses from the librarians' point of view in libraries of state universities of medical sciences in Tehran. Methods: This was a descriptive- analytical study. The statistical population consisted of all librarians at libraries of universities of medical sciences in Tehran. Out of 103 librarians working in the libraries under the study, 93 (90%) participated in this study. Data were collected, using a questionnaire. Results: The results revealed that 94/6% of librarians were satisfied to participate in virtual in-service training courses. In this study, only 45 out of 93 participants said that the virtual in-service courses were held in their libraries. Of the participants, 75.6% were satisfied with the length of training courses, and one month seemed to be adequate time duration for the librarians to be more satisfied. The satisfaction level of the individuals who participated in in-service courses of the National Library was moderate to high. A total of 84.4% participants announced that the productivity level of the training courses was moderate to high. The most important problem with which the librarians were confronted in virtual in-service training was the "low speed of the internet and inadequate computer substructures". Conclusion: Effectiveness of in-service training courses from librarians' point of view was at an optimal level in the studied libraries.

  5. Improving the Virtual Reference Experience: How Closely Do Academic Libraries Adhere to RUSA Guidelines?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Platt, Jessica; Benson, Pete

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to measure the degree to which academic libraries or library staff members throughout the United States adhere to the Guidelines for Virtual Reference Services provided by the Reference & User Services Association (RUSA). The results of the study were analyzed to identify specific areas where improvement is needed…

  6. Teleporting the library?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Heilesen, Simon

    2009-01-01

    In 2007, six Danish public libraries established a virtual library, Info Island DK, in Second Life. This article discusses the library project in terms of design. The design processes include the planning and implementation of the virtual library structure and its equipment, as well...... as the organizing and carrying out of activities in the virtual setting. It will be argued that, to a large extent, conventions have determined design and use of the virtual library, and also that design has had an impact on the attitudes and understanding of the participants....

  7. Comparative analysis of machine learning methods in ligand-based virtual screening of large compound libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Xiao H; Jia, Jia; Zhu, Feng; Xue, Ying; Li, Ze R; Chen, Yu Z

    2009-05-01

    Machine learning methods have been explored as ligand-based virtual screening tools for facilitating drug lead discovery. These methods predict compounds of specific pharmacodynamic, pharmacokinetic or toxicological properties based on their structure-derived structural and physicochemical properties. Increasing attention has been directed at these methods because of their capability in predicting compounds of diverse structures and complex structure-activity relationships without requiring the knowledge of target 3D structure. This article reviews current progresses in using machine learning methods for virtual screening of pharmacodynamically active compounds from large compound libraries, and analyzes and compares the reported performances of machine learning tools with those of structure-based and other ligand-based (such as pharmacophore and clustering) virtual screening methods. The feasibility to improve the performance of machine learning methods in screening large libraries is discussed.

  8. Touring by Design: Using Information Architecture To Create a Virtual Library Tour.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kittelson, Pat; Jones, Sarah

    2002-01-01

    Describes the development of a Web-based virtual tour of the University of Otago (New Zealand) science library. Highlights include information literacy learning outcomes; information architecture, including information organization and navigation; integrating the tour into course work; and evaluation results. (LRW)

  9. A Survey and Empirical Study of Virtual Reference Service in Academic Libraries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mu, Xiangming; Dimitroff, Alexandra; Jordan, Jeanette; Burclaff, Natalie

    2011-01-01

    Virtual Reference Services (VRS) have high user satisfaction. The main problem is its low usage. We surveyed 100 academic library web sites to understand how VRS are presented. We then conducted a usability study to further test an active VRS model regarding its effectiveness.

  10. The Use of Quality Benchmarking in Assessing Web Resources for the Dermatology Virtual Branch Library of the National electronic Library for Health (NeLH)

    OpenAIRE

    Boulos, MN Kamel; Roudsari, AV; Gordon, C; Gray, JA Muir

    2001-01-01

    Background In 1998, the U.K. National Health Service Information for Health Strategy proposed the implementation of a National electronic Library for Health to provide clinicians, healthcare managers and planners, patients and the public with easy, round the clock access to high quality, up-to-date electronic information on health and healthcare. The Virtual Branch Libraries are among the most important components of the National electronic Library for Health . They aim at creating online kno...

  11. Marketing the Virtual Library

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fagan, Jody Condit

    2009-01-01

    Far more people are familiar with their local public or college library facility than their library's website and online resources. In fact, according to a recent survey, 96% of Americans said they had visited a library in person, but less than one-third have visited their online library. Since everyone agrees that online library resources are…

  12. Virtual Reference Services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brewer, Sally

    2003-01-01

    As the need to access information increases, school librarians must create virtual libraries. Linked to reliable reference resources, the virtual library extends the physical collection and library hours and lets students learn to use Web-based resources in a protected learning environment. The growing number of virtual schools increases the need…

  13. Discovery of potent inhibitors of soluble epoxide hydrolase by combinatorial library design and structure-based virtual screening.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xing, Li; McDonald, Joseph J; Kolodziej, Steve A; Kurumbail, Ravi G; Williams, Jennifer M; Warren, Chad J; O'Neal, Janet M; Skepner, Jill E; Roberds, Steven L

    2011-03-10

    Structure-based virtual screening was applied to design combinatorial libraries to discover novel and potent soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) inhibitors. X-ray crystal structures revealed unique interactions for a benzoxazole template in addition to the conserved hydrogen bonds with the catalytic machinery of sEH. By exploitation of the favorable binding elements, two iterations of library design based on amide coupling were employed, guided principally by the docking results of the enumerated virtual products. Biological screening of the libraries demonstrated as high as 90% hit rate, of which over two dozen compounds were single digit nanomolar sEH inhibitors by IC(50) determination. In total the library design and synthesis produced more than 300 submicromolar sEH inhibitors. In cellular systems consistent activities were demonstrated with biochemical measurements. The SAR understanding of the benzoxazole template provides valuable insights into discovery of novel sEH inhibitors as therapeutic agents.

  14. Defense Virtual Library: Technical Metadata for the Long-Term Management of Digital Materials: Preliminary Guidelines

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Flynn, Marcy

    2002-01-01

    ... of the digital materials being preserved. This report, prepared by Silver Image Management (SIM), proposes technical metadata elements appropriate for digital objects in the Defense Virtual Library...

  15. If You Can Make It There, You Can Make It Anywhere: Providing Reference and Instructional Library Services in the Virtual Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leonard, Elizabeth; Morasch, Maureen J.

    2012-01-01

    Despite the old-fashioned view of the academic library as a static institution, libraries can and do change in response to the needs of users and stakeholders. Perhaps the most dramatic shift in services has been the transition from a purely physical to a combination physical/virtual or even virtual-only environment. This article examines how…

  16. Structure-based virtual screening of molecular libraries as cdk2 inhibitors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Riaz, U.; Khaleeq, M.

    2011-01-01

    CDK2 inhibitor is an important target in multiple processes associated with tumor growth and development, including proliferation, neovascularization, and metastasis. In this study, hit identification was performed by virtual screening of commercial and in-house compound libraries. Docking studies for the hits were performed, and scoring functions were used to evaluate the docking results and to rank ligand-binding affinities. Subsequently, hit optimization for potent and selective candidate CDK2 inhibitors was performed through focused library design and docking analyses. Consequently, we report that a novel compound with an IC50 value of 89 nM, representing 2-Amino-4,6-di-(4',6'-dibromophenyl)pyrimidine 1, is highly selective for CDK2 inhibitors. The docking structure of compound 1 with CDK2 inhibitor disclosed that the NH moiety and pyrimidine ring appeared to fit tightly into the hydrophobic pocket of CDK2 inhibitor. Additionally, the pyrimidine NH forms a hydrogen bond with the carboxyl group of Asp348. These results confirm the successful application of virtual screening studies in the lead discovery process, and suggest that our novel compound can be an effective CDK2 inhibitor candidate for further lead optimization. (author)

  17. Virtual shelves in a digital library: a framework for access to networked information sources.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patrick, T B; Springer, G K; Mitchell, J A; Sievert, M E

    1995-01-01

    Develop a framework for collections-based access to networked information sources that addresses the problem of location-dependent access to information sources. This framework uses a metaphor of a virtual shelf. A virtual shelf is a general-purpose server that is dedicated to a particular information subject class. The identifier of one of these servers identifies its subject class. Location-independent call numbers are assigned to information sources. Call numbers are based on standard vocabulary codes. The call numbers are first mapped to the location-independent identifiers of virtual shelves. When access to an information resource is required, a location directory provides a second mapping of these location-independent server identifiers to actual network locations. The framework has been implemented in two different systems. One system is based on the Open System Foundation/Distributed Computing Environment and the other is based on the World Wide Web. This framework applies in new ways traditional methods of library classification and cataloging. It is compatible with two traditional styles of selecting information searching and browsing. Traditional methods may be combined with new paradigms of information searching that will be able to take advantage of the special properties of digital information. Cooperation between the library-informational science community and the informatics community can provide a means for a continuing application of the knowledge and techniques of library science to the new problems of networked information sources.

  18. Undergraduate Student Use of the Physical and Virtual Library Varies according to Academic Discipline. A Review of: Bridges, L.M. (2008. Who is not using the library? A comparison of undergraduate academic disciplines and library use. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 8(2, 187‐196.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Megan von Isenburg

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Objective – To determine differences in undergraduate studentsʹ use of the physical library and virtual library by academic disciplines.Design – Online multiple‐choice survey followed by focus groups and secondary online survey with open‐ended questions.Setting – Oregon State University (OSU, a land‐grant university with over 19,000 students located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States.Subjects – A random sample of 22% (n = 3,227 of the undergraduate population (n = 14,443, drawn by the registrarʹs office. Distance education and students at branch campuses were not included. From this pool, 949 usable survey responses (29% of the sample were collected. The respondent demographics proved to be reasonably equivalent to those of the total undergraduate population in terms of class standing (freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior and academic discipline.Methods – The study consisted of three phases. In phase one, an email invitation with a link to the four‐item multiple choice online survey was sent to students in the sample population. Results were analyzed using Pearson chi‐square tests to determine goodness of fit between the following variables: class standing and library visits, class standing and virtual library use, academic college and library visits, and academic college and virtual library use.When significant dependence was detected, researchers examined relationships between the specific groups (e.g., freshman and sophomore and library use, and also compared each group to one another using odds ratios and by constructing 95% confidence intervals.Phase two was intended to gather qualitative information from the 275 infrequent or non‐users of the library in focus groups. However, researchers invited the 95 students in this group who had indicated a willingness to be contacted for further study, and only five students participated. The author therefore does not report on this limited data.In phase three, researchers

  19. Discovery of new erbB4 inhibitors: Repositioning an orphan chemical library by inverse virtual screening.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giordano, Assunta; Forte, Giovanni; Massimo, Luigia; Riccio, Raffaele; Bifulco, Giuseppe; Di Micco, Simone

    2018-04-12

    Inverse Virtual Screening (IVS) is a docking based approach aimed to the evaluation of the virtual ability of a single compound to interact with a library of proteins. For the first time, we applied this methodology to a library of synthetic compounds, which proved to be inactive towards the target they were initially designed for. Trifluoromethyl-benzenesulfonamides 3-21 were repositioned by means of IVS identifying new lead compounds (14-16, 19 and 20) for the inhibition of erbB4 in the low micromolar range. Among these, compound 20 exhibited an interesting value of IC 50 on MCF7 cell lines, thus validating IVS in lead repurposing. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  20. Going Social at Vancouver Public Library: What the Virtual Branch Did Next

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cahill, Kay

    2011-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to follow up on the 2009 publication "Building a virtual branch at Vancouver Public Library (VPL) using Web 2.0 tools" and to explore the work that VPL has been doing in the social media space over the past two years. Design/methodology/approach: Following the launch of its new web site in 2008,…

  1. Institutional, Public and Individual Learning Dynamics of the Andy Holt Virtual Library.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peckham, Robert

    The Andy Holt Virtual Library, with a focus on the Humanities and Fine Arts, is free and open to the public, though designed to serve the learning communities within the College of Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of Tennessee-Martin (UT). It also plays a resource role in UT's New College and the Tennessee Governors School for the…

  2. Practice on an augmented reality/haptic simulator and library of virtual brains improves residents' ability to perform a ventriculostomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yudkowsky, Rachel; Luciano, Cristian; Banerjee, Pat; Schwartz, Alan; Alaraj, Ali; Lemole, G Michael; Charbel, Fady; Smith, Kelly; Rizzi, Silvio; Byrne, Richard; Bendok, Bernard; Frim, David

    2013-02-01

    Ventriculostomy is a neurosurgical procedure for providing therapeutic cerebrospinal fluid drainage. Complications may arise during repeated attempts at placing the catheter in the ventricle. We studied the impact of simulation-based practice with a library of virtual brains on neurosurgery residents' performance in simulated and live surgical ventriculostomies. Using computed tomographic scans of actual patients, we developed a library of 15 virtual brains for the ImmersiveTouch system, a head- and hand-tracked augmented reality and haptic simulator. The virtual brains represent a range of anatomies including normal, shifted, and compressed ventricles. Neurosurgery residents participated in individual simulator practice on the library of brains including visualizing the 3-dimensional location of the catheter within the brain immediately after each insertion. Performance of participants on novel brains in the simulator and during actual surgery before and after intervention was analyzed using generalized linear mixed models. Simulator cannulation success rates increased after intervention, and live procedure outcomes showed improvement in the rate of successful cannulation on the first pass. However, the incidence of deeper, contralateral (simulator) and third-ventricle (live) placements increased after intervention. Residents reported that simulations were realistic and helpful in improving procedural skills such as aiming the probe, sensing the pressure change when entering the ventricle, and estimating how far the catheter should be advanced within the ventricle. Simulator practice with a library of virtual brains representing a range of anatomies and difficulty levels may improve performance, potentially decreasing complications due to inexpert technique.

  3. Building a Virtual Branch at Vancouver Public Library Using Web 2.0 Tools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cahill, Kay

    2009-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the work undertaken by Vancouver Public Library (VPL) in an effort to convert its website into a true virtual branch, both through the functionality of the website itself and by extending its web presence on to external social networking sites. Design/methodology/approach: VPL worked with its…

  4. Evaluation of a focused virtual library of heterobifunctional ligands for Clostridium difficile toxins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanhueza, Carlos A; Cartmell, Jonathan; El-Hawiet, Amr; Szpacenko, Adam; Kitova, Elena N; Daneshfar, Rambod; Klassen, John S; Lang, Dean E; Eugenio, Luiz; Ng, Kenneth K-S; Kitov, Pavel I; Bundle, David R

    2015-01-07

    A focused library of virtual heterobifunctional ligands was generated in silico and a set of ligands with recombined fragments was synthesized and evaluated for binding to Clostridium difficile toxins. The position of the trisaccharide fragment was used as a reference for filtering docked poses during virtual screening to match the trisaccharide ligand in a crystal structure. The peptoid, a diversity fragment probing the protein surface area adjacent to a known binding site, was generated by a multi-component Ugi reaction. Our approach combines modular fragment-based design with in silico screening of synthetically feasible compounds and lays the groundwork for future efforts in development of composite bifunctional ligands for large clostridial toxins.

  5. Libraries for users services in academic libraries

    CERN Document Server

    Alvite, Luisa

    2010-01-01

    This book reviews the quality and evolution of academic library services. It revises service trends offered by academic libraries and the challenge of enhancing traditional ones such as: catalogues, repositories and digital collections, learning resources centres, virtual reference services, information literacy and 2.0 tools.studies the role of the university library in the new educational environment of higher educationrethinks libraries in academic contextredefines roles for academic libraries

  6. Construction of Chinese adult male phantom library and its application in the virtual calibration of in vivo measurement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Yizheng; Qiu, Rui; Li, Chunyan; Wu, Zhen; Li, Junli

    2016-01-01

    In vivo measurement is a main method of internal contamination evaluation, particularly for large numbers of people after a nuclear accident. Before the practical application, it is necessary to obtain the counting efficiency of the detector by calibration. The virtual calibration based on Monte Carlo simulation usually uses the reference human computational phantom, and the morphological difference between the monitored personnel with the calibrated phantom may lead to the deviation of the counting efficiency. Therefore, a phantom library containing a wide range of heights and total body masses is needed. In this study, a Chinese reference adult male polygon surface (CRAM-S) phantom was constructed based on the CRAM voxel phantom, with the organ models adjusted to match the Chinese reference data. CRAM-S phantom was then transformed to sitting posture for convenience in practical monitoring. Referring to the mass and height distribution of the Chinese adult male, a phantom library containing 84 phantoms was constructed by deforming the reference surface phantom. Phantoms in the library have 7 different heights ranging from 155 cm to 185 cm, and there are 12 phantoms with different total body masses in each height. As an example of application, organ specific and total counting efficiencies of Ba-133 were calculated using the MCNPX code, with two series of phantoms selected from the library. The influence of morphological variation on the counting efficiency was analyzed. The results show only using the reference phantom in virtual calibration may lead to an error of 68.9% for total counting efficiency. Thus the influence of morphological difference on virtual calibration can be greatly reduced using the phantom library with a wide range of masses and heights instead of a single reference phantom. (paper)

  7. Construction of Chinese adult male phantom library and its application in the virtual calibration of in vivo measurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yizheng; Qiu, Rui; Li, Chunyan; Wu, Zhen; Li, Junli

    2016-03-01

    In vivo measurement is a main method of internal contamination evaluation, particularly for large numbers of people after a nuclear accident. Before the practical application, it is necessary to obtain the counting efficiency of the detector by calibration. The virtual calibration based on Monte Carlo simulation usually uses the reference human computational phantom, and the morphological difference between the monitored personnel with the calibrated phantom may lead to the deviation of the counting efficiency. Therefore, a phantom library containing a wide range of heights and total body masses is needed. In this study, a Chinese reference adult male polygon surface (CRAM_S) phantom was constructed based on the CRAM voxel phantom, with the organ models adjusted to match the Chinese reference data. CRAMS phantom was then transformed to sitting posture for convenience in practical monitoring. Referring to the mass and height distribution of the Chinese adult male, a phantom library containing 84 phantoms was constructed by deforming the reference surface phantom. Phantoms in the library have 7 different heights ranging from 155 cm to 185 cm, and there are 12 phantoms with different total body masses in each height. As an example of application, organ specific and total counting efficiencies of Ba-133 were calculated using the MCNPX code, with two series of phantoms selected from the library. The influence of morphological variation on the counting efficiency was analyzed. The results show only using the reference phantom in virtual calibration may lead to an error of 68.9% for total counting efficiency. Thus the influence of morphological difference on virtual calibration can be greatly reduced using the phantom library with a wide range of masses and heights instead of a single reference phantom.

  8. 2009 Capacity Building For Library and Information Centre

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    discussed the features of digitized/virtual library and information centre and the need for capacity building especially in .... electronic library, virtual reality, digital library, community library .... architecture of the existing information system and ...

  9. The virtual library in action: Collaborative international control of high-energy physics pre-print

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kreitz, P.A.; Addis, L.; Galic, H.; Johnson, T.

    1996-02-01

    This paper will discuss how control of the grey literature in high-energy physics pre-prints developed through a collaborative effort of librarians and physicists. It will highlight the critical steps in the development process and describe one model of a rapidly evolving virtual library for high-energy physics information. In conclusion, this paper will extend this physics model to other areas of grey literature management

  10. Reconfigurable virtual electrowetting channels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banerjee, Ananda; Kreit, Eric; Liu, Yuguang; Heikenfeld, Jason; Papautsky, Ian

    2012-02-21

    Lab-on-a-chip systems rely on several microfluidic paradigms. The first uses a fixed layout of continuous microfluidic channels. Such lab-on-a-chip systems are almost always application specific and far from a true "laboratory." The second involves electrowetting droplet movement (digital microfluidics), and allows two-dimensional computer control of fluidic transport and mixing. The merging of the two paradigms in the form of programmable electrowetting channels takes advantage of both the "continuous" functionality of rigid channels based on which a large number of applications have been developed to date and the "programmable" functionality of digital microfluidics that permits electrical control of on-chip functions. In this work, we demonstrate for the first time programmable formation of virtual microfluidic channels and their continuous operation with pressure driven flows using an electrowetting platform. Experimental, theoretical, and numerical analyses of virtual channel formation with biologically relevant electrolyte solutions and electrically-programmable reconfiguration are presented. We demonstrate that the "wall-less" virtual channels can be formed reliably and rapidly, with propagation rates of 3.5-3.8 mm s(-1). Pressure driven transport in these virtual channels at flow rates up to 100 μL min(-1) is achievable without distortion of the channel shape. We further demonstrate that these virtual channels can be switched on-demand between multiple inputs and outputs. Ultimately, we envision a platform that would provide rapid prototyping of microfluidic concepts and would be capable of a vast library of functions and benefitting applications from clinical diagnostics in resource-limited environments to rapid system prototyping to high throughput pharmaceutical applications.

  11. Communication, Collaboration, and Enhancing the Learning Experience: Developing a Collaborative Virtual Enquiry Service in University Libraries in the North of England

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jolly, Liz; White, Sue

    2016-01-01

    This article uses the case study of developing a collaborative "out-of-hours" virtual enquiry service by members of the Northern Collaboration Group of academic libraries in the north of England to explore the importance of communication and collaboration between academic library services in enhancing student learning. Set within the…

  12. Professional learning of pharmaceutical care in a virtual world

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana MARTÍN SUÁREZ

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available 0 0 1 141 776 Instituto Universitario de Ciencias de la Educación 6 1 916 14.0 Normal 0 21 false false false ES JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Tabla normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-ansi-language:ES; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} The learning of professional skills at University suffers from the drawback of how to reproduce a context similar to reality that with allow students to perform the tasks set them in a “living” way. Here we trained 54 students following the subject entitled Pharmaceutical Care of the Pharmacy degree in Second Life (an immersive virtual world in 3D, simulating common situations in the dispensation of anti-asthmatic agents in the context of a Community Pharmacy. The results of the study indicated that the students had no difficulty in adapting to the virtual platform and they reported a high degree of satisfaction (the mean score obtained was 2.36 on a scale of 0-3. The assessment of professional competencies revealed the high global performance of the group. The activity was hard for the professors, but they considered it an enrichening experience able to open new possibilities in teaching and research.

  13. Encoded libraries of chemically modified peptides.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heinis, Christian; Winter, Greg

    2015-06-01

    The use of powerful technologies for generating and screening DNA-encoded protein libraries has helped drive the development of proteins as pharmaceutical ligands. However the development of peptides as pharmaceutical ligands has been more limited. Although encoded peptide libraries are typically several orders of magnitude larger than classical chemical libraries, can be more readily screened, and can give rise to higher affinity ligands, their use as pharmaceutical ligands is limited by their intrinsic properties. Two of the intrinsic limitations include the rotational flexibility of the peptide backbone and the limited number (20) of natural amino acids. However these limitations can be overcome by use of chemical modification. For example, the libraries can be modified to introduce topological constraints such as cyclization linkers, or to introduce new chemical entities such as small molecule ligands, fluorophores and photo-switchable compounds. This article reviews the chemistry involved, the properties of the peptide ligands, and the new opportunities offered by chemical modification of DNA-encoded peptide libraries. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  14. Virtual Reference Services through Web Search Engines: Study of Academic Libraries in Pakistan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rubia Khan

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Web search engines (WSE are powerful and popular tools in the field of information service management. This study is an attempt to examine the impact and usefulness of web search engines in providing virtual reference services (VRS within academic libraries in Pakistan. The study also attempts to investigate the relevant expertise and skills of library professionals in providing digital reference services (DRS efficiently using web search engines. Methodology used in this study is quantitative in nature. The data was collected from fifty public and private sector universities in Pakistan using a structured questionnaire. Microsoft Excel and SPSS were used for data analysis. The study concludes that web search engines are commonly used by librarians to help users (especially research scholars by providing digital reference services. The study also finds a positive correlation between use of web search engines and quality of digital reference services provided to library users. It is concluded that although search engines have increased the expectations of users and are really big competitors to a library’s reference desk, they are however not an alternative to reference service. Findings reveal that search engines pose numerous challenges for librarians and the study also attempts to bring together possible remedial measures. This study is useful for library professionals to understand the importance of search engines in providing VRS. The study also provides an intellectual comparison among different search engines, their capabilities, limitations, challenges and opportunities to provide VRS effectively in libraries.

  15. Virtual screening and optimization of Type II inhibitors of JAK2 from a natural product library.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Dik-Lung; Chan, Daniel Shiu-Hin; Wei, Guo; Zhong, Hai-Jing; Yang, Hui; Leung, Lai To; Gullen, Elizabeth A; Chiu, Pauline; Cheng, Yung-Chi; Leung, Chung-Hang

    2014-11-21

    Amentoflavone has been identified as a JAK2 inhibitor by structure-based virtual screening of a natural product library. In silico optimization using the DOLPHIN model yielded analogues with enhanced potency against JAK2 activity and HCV activity in cellulo. Molecular modeling and kinetic experiments suggested that the analogues may function as Type II inhibitors of JAK2.

  16. Social Question and Answer Services versus Library Virtual Reference: Evaluation and Comparison from the Users' Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yin; Deng, Shengli

    2014-01-01

    Introduction: In recent years, the introduction of social question and answer services and other Internet tools have expanded the ways in which people have their questions answered. There has been speculation and debate over whether such services and other Internet tools are replacing library virtual reference services. Method: Most previous…

  17. [Primary care resources available in digital libraries in Spanish Autonomous Regions].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Juan-Quilis, Verónica

    2013-03-01

    The Statement by the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (SemFYC) on access to scientific information, highlights the need for providing digital libraries with certain resources in Autonomous Regions. The primary goal is to study the evidence-based medicine (EBM) coverage that SemFYC recommends regional virtual libraries. The regional health virtual libraries were identified and the access provided to health professionals, Internet presence, remote access and resources were studied. The results suggest there is ample coverage in 8 Autonomous Regions. At the top of the list was, Health Sciences Virtual Library of Navarre, the Balearic Islands Health Sciences Virtual Library, and Virtual Library of the Andalusian Public Health System. The present study needs to be extended to the other biomedical sciences, in order to obtain more accurate results. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

  18. Developing a virtual community for health sciences library book selection: Doody's Core Titles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shedlock, James; Walton, Linda J

    2006-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to describe Doody's Core Titles in the Health Sciences as a new selection guide and a virtual community based on an effective use of online systems and to describe its potential impact on library collection development. The setting is the availability of health sciences selection guides. Participants include Doody Enterprise staff, Doody's Library Board of Advisors, content specialists, and library selectors. Resources include the online system used to create Doody's Core Titles along with references to complementary databases. Doody's Core Titles is described and discussed in relation to the literature of selection guides, especially in comparison to the Brandon/Hill selected lists that were published from 1965 to 2003. Doody's Core Titles seeks to fill the vacuum created when the Brandon/Hill lists ceased publication. Doody's Core Titles is a unique selection guide based on its method of creating an online community of experts to identify and score a core list of titles in 119 health sciences specialties and disciplines. The result is a new selection guide, now available annually, that will aid health sciences librarians in identifying core titles for local collections. Doody's Core Titles organizes the evaluation of core titles that are identified and recommended by content specialists associated with Doody's Book Review Service and library selectors. A scoring mechanism is used to create the selection of core titles, similar to the star rating system employed in other Doody Enterprise products and services.

  19. Virtual and non-virtual realities : the changing roles of libraries and librarians

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Klugkist, A. C.

    What is the future for libraries and their librarians? In trying to give an answer to this pressing question we do not deal with utopian libraries of the next century, but with the library and the librarian of the next decade. The emphasis is on libraries within educational and research

  20. A graph-based approach to construct target-focused libraries for virtual screening.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naderi, Misagh; Alvin, Chris; Ding, Yun; Mukhopadhyay, Supratik; Brylinski, Michal

    2016-01-01

    Due to exorbitant costs of high-throughput screening, many drug discovery projects commonly employ inexpensive virtual screening to support experimental efforts. However, the vast majority of compounds in widely used screening libraries, such as the ZINC database, will have a very low probability to exhibit the desired bioactivity for a given protein. Although combinatorial chemistry methods can be used to augment existing compound libraries with novel drug-like compounds, the broad chemical space is often too large to be explored. Consequently, the trend in library design has shifted to produce screening collections specifically tailored to modulate the function of a particular target or a protein family. Assuming that organic compounds are composed of sets of rigid fragments connected by flexible linkers, a molecule can be decomposed into its building blocks tracking their atomic connectivity. On this account, we developed eSynth, an exhaustive graph-based search algorithm to computationally synthesize new compounds by reconnecting these building blocks following their connectivity patterns. We conducted a series of benchmarking calculations against the Directory of Useful Decoys, Enhanced database. First, in a self-benchmarking test, the correctness of the algorithm is validated with the objective to recover a molecule from its building blocks. Encouragingly, eSynth can efficiently rebuild more than 80 % of active molecules from their fragment components. Next, the capability to discover novel scaffolds is assessed in a cross-benchmarking test, where eSynth successfully reconstructed 40 % of the target molecules using fragments extracted from chemically distinct compounds. Despite an enormous chemical space to be explored, eSynth is computationally efficient; half of the molecules are rebuilt in less than a second, whereas 90 % take only about a minute to be generated. eSynth can successfully reconstruct chemically feasible molecules from molecular fragments

  1. Analysis of E-mail Transactions in Virtual Reference Services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Astutik Nur Qomariyah

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Today, the use of traditional reference desk in the academic libraries has been rarely used, thus expanding or even move to a virtual reference service. A minimum level of virtual reference services are provided in the academic library is currently in general is the electronic mail (e-mail. One of the academic library specifically provide virtual reference services via e-mail is a Petra Christian University (PCU Library (refdesk@petra.ac.id.. In such services librarians provide assistance to users in finding information and answer questions. This study aimed to analyze the transaction reference services virtually through e-mail at the PCU Library, with a view of the types of questions based on user background, the writing style of language communication interaction used based on user background, and cultural values are revealed behind the user in virtual reference services (e-mail. This study uses content analysis (content analysis of the transcript e-mail received librarians of reference services began March 10 until June 16, 2015. The results showed that the types of questions asked in reference service virtual (e-mail in the Library UK Petra include: specific search, access online resources, operation of online resources, policies and procedures for services, and library holdings with background the student (PCU and non-PCU, faculty, and librarians. Based on the background of users found that overall more types of questions asked in virtual reference services (e-mail is a problem of access to online resources, and generally submitted by the students. Then, the writing style of the user's language in interaction reference service virtual (e-mail tends to be formal, which includes the word greeting, the message will be delivered, and regards cover, either by the student (PCU and non-PCU, lecturer, or librarians. While cultural values that revealed the background behind the user in virtual reference services (e-mail is obedience, courtesy and

  2. More library mashups exploring new ways to deliver library data

    CERN Document Server

    2015-01-01

    Nicole Engard follows up her ground-breaking 2009 book Library Mashups with a fresh collection of mashup projects that virtually any library can emulate, customize, and build upon. In More Library Mashups, Engard and 24 creative library professionals describe how they are mashing up free and inexpensive digital tools and techniques to improve library services and meet everyday (and unexpected) challenges. Examples from libraries of all types are designed to help even non-programmers share and add value to digital content, update and enhance library websites and collections, mashup catalog data, connect to the library's automation system, and use emerging tools like Serendip-o-matic, Umlaut, and Libki to engage users, staff, and the community.

  3. Changing State Digital Libraries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pappas, Marjorie L.

    2006-01-01

    Research has shown that state virtual or digital libraries are evolving into websites that are loaded with free resources, subscription databases, and instructional tools. In this article, the author explores these evolving libraries based on the following questions: (1) How user-friendly are the state digital libraries?; (2) How do state digital…

  4. ILP-2 modeling and virtual screening of an FDA-approved library:a possible anticancer therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khalili, Saeed; Mohammadpour, Hemn; Shokrollahi Barough, Mahideh; Kokhaei, Parviz

    2016-06-23

    The members of the inhibitors of apoptosis protein (IAP) family inhibit diverse components of the caspase signaling pathway, notably caspase 3, 7, and 9. ILP-2 (BIRC-8) is the most recently identified member of the IAPs, mainly interacting with caspase 9. This interaction would eventually lead to death resistance in the case of cancerous cells. Therefore, structural modeling of ILP-2 and finding applicable inhibitors of its interaction with caspase 9 are a compelling challenge. Three main protein modeling approaches along with various model refinement measures were harnessed to achieve a reliable 3D model, using state-of-the-art software. Thereafter, the selected model was employed to perform virtual screening of an FDA approved library. A model built by a combinatorial approach (homology and ab initio approaches) was chosen as the best model. Model refinement processes successfully bolstered the model quality. Virtual screening of the compound library introduced several high affinity inhibitor candidates that interact with functional residues of ILP2. Given the 3D structure of the ILP2 molecule, we found promising inhibitory molecules. In addition to high affinity towards the ILP2 molecule, these molecules interact with residues that play pivotal rules in ILP2-caspase interaction. These molecules would inhibit ILP2-caspase interaction and consequently would lead to reactivated cell apoptosis through the caspases pathway.

  5. The ecological and construct validity of a newly developed measure of executive function: the Virtual Library Task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renison, Belinda; Ponsford, Jennie; Testa, Renee; Richardson, Barry; Brownfield, Kylie

    2012-05-01

    Virtual reality (VR) assessment paradigms have the potential to address the limited ecological validity of pen and paper measures of executive function (EF) and the pragmatic and reliability issues associated with functional measures. To investigate the ecological validity and construct validity of a newly developed VR measure of EF, the Virtual Library Task (VLT); a real life analogous task--the Real Library Task (RLT); and five neuropsychological measures of EF were administered to 30 patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and 30 healthy Controls. Significant others for each participant also completed the Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX), which is a behavioral rating scale of everyday EF. Performances on the VLT and the RLT were significantly positively correlated indicating that VR performance is similar to real world performance. The TBI group performed significantly worse than the Control group on the VLT and the Modified Six Elements Test (MSET) but the other four neuropsychological measures of EF failed to differentiate the groups. Both the MSET and the VLT significantly predicted everyday EF suggesting that they are both ecologically valid tools for the assessment of EF. The VLT has the advantage over the MSET of providing objective measurement of individual components of EF.

  6. Approaches to virtual screening and screening library selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wildman, Scott A

    2013-01-01

    The ease of access to virtual screening (VS) software in recent years has resulted in a large increase in literature reports. Over 300 publications in the last year report the use of virtual screening techniques to identify new chemical matter or present the development of new virtual screening techniques. The increased use is accompanied by a corresponding increase in misuse and misinterpretation of virtual screening results. This review aims to identify many of the common difficulties associated with virtual screening and allow researchers to better assess the reliability of their virtual screening effort.

  7. Libraries Demonstrate Low Adherence to Virtual Reference Service Guidelines. A Review of: Shachaf, Pnina, and Sarah M. Horowitz. “Virtual Reference Service Evaluation: Adherence to RUSA Behavioral Guidelines and IFLA Digital Reference Guidelines.” Library & Information Science Research 30.2 (2008: 122-37.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elise Cogo

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available Objectives – This study evaluates the level to which virtual (asynchronous e-mail reference services adhere to professional guidelines. Specifically, it addresses the following research questions:1 To what extent do virtual reference services adhere to the American Library Association (ALA Reference and User Services Association (RUSA and the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA guidelines?2 How does the level of adherence to RUSA or IFLA guidelines vary based on request type, user name, and institution?3 Is there a correlation between outcome measures of reference transactions (accuracy, completeness, and satisfaction and the level of adherence to RUSA or IFLA guidelines?Design – Unobtrusive evaluation of researcher-generated queries.Setting – Fifty-four academic libraries in North America.Subjects – A total of 324 queries were sent to the 54 libraries, with each library receiving six different types of requests from six different user names.Methods – Researchers developed two coding schemes for the guidelines (34 codes and 12 attributes for the RUSA guidelines and 33 codes and 10 attributes for the IFLA guidelines. Each of the six user names used represented an ethnic and/or religious group identity: Mary Anderson (Caucasian, Christian, Moshe Cohen (Caucasian, Jewish, Ahmed Ibrahim (Arab, Latoya Johnson (African American, Rosa Manuz (Hispanic, and Chang Su (Asian. The six request types were designed so that three would be answered (questions 1-3 and three would be out of scope and not answered (questions 4-6. The following queries were sent, individualized for each institution: 1 Dissertation query; 2 Sports team query; 3 Population query; 4 Subject query; 5 Article query; 6 Request for a PDF copy. The 324 queries were uploaded into NVivo 2 software, and all e-mail transactions were coded and analyzed.Main Results – Analysis of the 324 transactions from 54 libraries showed the following results:1 Low levels of

  8. Librarians without Borders? Virtual Reference Service to Unaffiliated Users

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kibbee, Jo

    2006-01-01

    The author investigates issues faced by academic research libraries in providing virtual reference services to unaffiliated users. These libraries generally welcome visitors who use on-site collections and reference services, but are these altruistic policies feasible in a virtual environment? This paper reviews the use of virtual reference…

  9. Structure-Guided Screening for Functionally Selective D2 Dopamine Receptor Ligands from a Virtual Chemical Library.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Männel, Barbara; Jaiteh, Mariama; Zeifman, Alexey; Randakova, Alena; Möller, Dorothee; Hübner, Harald; Gmeiner, Peter; Carlsson, Jens

    2017-10-20

    Functionally selective ligands stabilize conformations of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that induce a preference for signaling via a subset of the intracellular pathways activated by the endogenous agonists. The possibility to fine-tune the functional activity of a receptor provides opportunities to develop drugs that selectively signal via pathways associated with a therapeutic effect and avoid those causing side effects. Animal studies have indicated that ligands displaying functional selectivity at the D 2 dopamine receptor (D 2 R) could be safer and more efficacious drugs against neuropsychiatric diseases. In this work, computational design of functionally selective D 2 R ligands was explored using structure-based virtual screening. Molecular docking of known functionally selective ligands to a D 2 R homology model indicated that such compounds were anchored by interactions with the orthosteric site and extended into a common secondary pocket. A tailored virtual library with close to 13 000 compounds bearing 2,3-dichlorophenylpiperazine, a privileged orthosteric scaffold, connected to diverse chemical moieties via a linker was docked to the D 2 R model. Eighteen top-ranked compounds that occupied both the orthosteric and allosteric site were synthesized, leading to the discovery of 16 partial agonists. A majority of the ligands had comparable maximum effects in the G protein and β-arrestin recruitment assays, but a subset displayed preference for a single pathway. In particular, compound 4 stimulated β-arrestin recruitment (EC 50 = 320 nM, E max = 16%) but had no detectable G protein signaling. The use of structure-based screening and virtual libraries to discover GPCR ligands with tailored functional properties will be discussed.

  10. Development and experimental test of support vector machines virtual screening method for searching Src inhibitors from large compound libraries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Han Bucong

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Src plays various roles in tumour progression, invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis and survival. It is one of the multiple targets of multi-target kinase inhibitors in clinical uses and trials for the treatment of leukemia and other cancers. These successes and appearances of drug resistance in some patients have raised significant interest and efforts in discovering new Src inhibitors. Various in-silico methods have been used in some of these efforts. It is desirable to explore additional in-silico methods, particularly those capable of searching large compound libraries at high yields and reduced false-hit rates. Results We evaluated support vector machines (SVM as virtual screening tools for searching Src inhibitors from large compound libraries. SVM trained and tested by 1,703 inhibitors and 63,318 putative non-inhibitors correctly identified 93.53%~ 95.01% inhibitors and 99.81%~ 99.90% non-inhibitors in 5-fold cross validation studies. SVM trained by 1,703 inhibitors reported before 2011 and 63,318 putative non-inhibitors correctly identified 70.45% of the 44 inhibitors reported since 2011, and predicted as inhibitors 44,843 (0.33% of 13.56M PubChem, 1,496 (0.89% of 168 K MDDR, and 719 (7.73% of 9,305 MDDR compounds similar to the known inhibitors. Conclusions SVM showed comparable yield and reduced false hit rates in searching large compound libraries compared to the similarity-based and other machine-learning VS methods developed from the same set of training compounds and molecular descriptors. We tested three virtual hits of the same novel scaffold from in-house chemical libraries not reported as Src inhibitor, one of which showed moderate activity. SVM may be potentially explored for searching Src inhibitors from large compound libraries at low false-hit rates.

  11. Development and experimental test of support vector machines virtual screening method for searching Src inhibitors from large compound libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Bucong; Ma, Xiaohua; Zhao, Ruiying; Zhang, Jingxian; Wei, Xiaona; Liu, Xianghui; Liu, Xin; Zhang, Cunlong; Tan, Chunyan; Jiang, Yuyang; Chen, Yuzong

    2012-11-23

    Src plays various roles in tumour progression, invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis and survival. It is one of the multiple targets of multi-target kinase inhibitors in clinical uses and trials for the treatment of leukemia and other cancers. These successes and appearances of drug resistance in some patients have raised significant interest and efforts in discovering new Src inhibitors. Various in-silico methods have been used in some of these efforts. It is desirable to explore additional in-silico methods, particularly those capable of searching large compound libraries at high yields and reduced false-hit rates. We evaluated support vector machines (SVM) as virtual screening tools for searching Src inhibitors from large compound libraries. SVM trained and tested by 1,703 inhibitors and 63,318 putative non-inhibitors correctly identified 93.53%~ 95.01% inhibitors and 99.81%~ 99.90% non-inhibitors in 5-fold cross validation studies. SVM trained by 1,703 inhibitors reported before 2011 and 63,318 putative non-inhibitors correctly identified 70.45% of the 44 inhibitors reported since 2011, and predicted as inhibitors 44,843 (0.33%) of 13.56M PubChem, 1,496 (0.89%) of 168 K MDDR, and 719 (7.73%) of 9,305 MDDR compounds similar to the known inhibitors. SVM showed comparable yield and reduced false hit rates in searching large compound libraries compared to the similarity-based and other machine-learning VS methods developed from the same set of training compounds and molecular descriptors. We tested three virtual hits of the same novel scaffold from in-house chemical libraries not reported as Src inhibitor, one of which showed moderate activity. SVM may be potentially explored for searching Src inhibitors from large compound libraries at low false-hit rates.

  12. How can the digital library contribute to employability?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karen Harbo

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The DEFF project, E-learning, Information literacy and Library services, supports the education policy ambition of enhancing links between education and employment. The project consortium includes libraries from all Danish universities, university colleges and one business academy. Timeframe for the project is 2014-16. The project understands employability as: In close cooperation with study programmes libraries will strengthen students’ ability to perform independently and critically in a professional context by being able to identify, collect, evaluate, organize and present information via digital platforms. A partnership is made between the digital library (partner libraries involved and the virtual learning environment (educational institutions, based on the above definition of employability. This is done within the framework of Learning Management Systems (LMS and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs. The libraries and academic programmes will collaborate to create e-learning objects based on the relevant digital library systems and information resources. Departments from three Danish universities will contribute by strengthening the project participants’ skills in e-didactics and the development of e-learning objects (SDUUP, University of Southern Denmark, developing a range of flexible concepts for the integration of the virtual library into learning environments (IVA, Copenhagen University and evaluating the project’s activities (E-Learning Lab, Aalborg University. Sustainable results include the training of library staff to work together with academic programmes via the virtual learning environments, the development of flexible concepts for integrating the virtual library with study environments and knowledge on how inputs, created by the project for each study programme, should function.

  13. The library beyond the book

    CERN Document Server

    Schnapp, Jeffrey T

    2014-01-01

    With textbook readers and digital downloads proliferating, it is easy to imagine a time when printed books will vanish. Such forecasts miss the mark, argue Jeffrey Schnapp and Matthew Battles. Future bookshelves will not be wholly virtual, and libraries will thrive although in a variety of new social, cultural, and architectural forms. Schnapp and Battles combine deep study of the library s history with a record of institutional and technical innovation at metaLAB, a research group at the forefront of the digital humanities. They gather these currents in The Library Beyond the Book," exploring what libraries have been in the past to speculate on what they will become: hybrid places that intermingle books and ebooks, analog and digital formats, paper and pixels. Libraries have always been mix-and-match spaces, and remix is their most plausible future scenario. Speculative and provocative, The Library Beyond the Book" explains book culture for a world where the physical and the virtual blend with ever increasin...

  14. Delivering Library Services to Remote Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Casado, Margaret

    2001-01-01

    Discusses library services at the University of Tennessee to reach off-campus and distance education students. Topics include online research; email; library instruction for faculty and students; Web interfaces; fax; telephone service; chat technology; the library's Web page; virtual classrooms; library links from a course management system; and…

  15. CSBB-ConeExclusion, adapting structure based solution virtual screening to libraries on solid support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shave, Steven; Auer, Manfred

    2013-12-23

    Combinatorial chemical libraries produced on solid support offer fast and cost-effective access to a large number of unique compounds. If such libraries are screened directly on-bead, the speed at which chemical space can be explored by chemists is much greater than that addressable using solution based synthesis and screening methods. Solution based screening has a large supporting body of software such as structure-based virtual screening tools which enable the prediction of protein-ligand complexes. Use of these techniques to predict the protein bound complexes of compounds synthesized on solid support neglects to take into account the conjugation site on the small molecule ligand. This may invalidate predicted binding modes, the linker may be clashing with protein atoms. We present CSBB-ConeExclusion, a methodology and computer program which provides a measure of the applicability of solution dockings to solid support. Output is given in the form of statistics for each docking pose, a unique 2D visualization method which can be used to determine applicability at a glance, and automatically generated PyMol scripts allowing visualization of protein atom incursion into a defined exclusion volume. CSBB-ConeExclusion is then exemplarically used to determine the optimum attachment point for a purine library targeting cyclin-dependent kinase 2 CDK2.

  16. Virtual Reference, Real Money: Modeling Costs in Virtual Reference Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eakin, Lori; Pomerantz, Jeffrey

    2009-01-01

    Libraries nationwide are in yet another phase of belt tightening. Without an understanding of the economic factors that influence library operations, however, controlling costs and performing cost-benefit analyses on services is difficult. This paper describes a project to develop a cost model for collaborative virtual reference services. This…

  17. Application Design Library With gamification concept

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nisaul Barokati

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available The library is an effort to maintain and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the learning process. Various means have been used to enhance the library's role in community development. One way is to develop a concept and a different orientation in the management system or the library. The concept in question is gamification. Gamification is a process with the aim of changing jobs or activities that usually go tedious and less enjoyable to be more interesting and fun to do. One approach taken is to reward both virtual and non-virtual that can increase people's motivation to do something, in this case, is to visit and take advantage of the functions and library facilities. This research resulted in a model that features a library application with the concept of gamification. The model can be implemented into an application that will increase visits and activities at the library. Thus the function and the main purpose of the library be met..

  18. Virtual reality for spherical images

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pilarczyk, Rafal; Skarbek, Władysław

    2017-08-01

    Paper presents virtual reality application framework and application concept for mobile devices. Framework uses Google Cardboard library for Android operating system. Framework allows to create virtual reality 360 video player using standard OpenGL ES rendering methods. Framework provides network methods in order to connect to web server as application resource provider. Resources are delivered using JSON response as result of HTTP requests. Web server also uses Socket.IO library for synchronous communication between application and server. Framework implements methods to create event driven process of rendering additional content based on video timestamp and virtual reality head point of view.

  19. Analysis of E-mail Transactions in Virtual Reference Services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Astutik Nur Qomariyah

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Today, the use of traditional reference desk in the academic libraries has been rarely used, thus expanding or even move to a virtual reference service. A minimum level of virtual reference services are provided in the academic library is currently in general is the electronic mail (e-mail. One of the academic library specifically provide virtual reference services via e-mail is a Petra Christian University (PCU Library (ref-desk@petra.ac.id.. In such services librarians provide assistance to users in finding information and answer questions. This study aimed to analyze the transaction reference services virtually through e-mail at the PCU Library, with a view of the types of questions based on user background, the writing style of language communication interaction used based on user background, and cultural values are revealed behind the user in virtual reference services (e-mail. This study uses content analysis (content analysis of the transcript e-mail received librarians of reference services began March 10 until June 16, 2015. The results showed that the types of questions asked in reference service virtual (e-mail in the Library UK Petra include: specific search, access online resources, operation of online resources, policies and procedures for services, and library holdings with background the student (PCU and non-PCU, faculty, and librarians. Based on the background of users found that overall more types of questions asked in virtual reference services (e-mail is a problem of access to online resources, and generally submitted by the students. Then, the writing style of the user's language in interaction reference service virtual (e-mail tends to be formal, which includes the word greeting, the message will be delivered, and regards cover, either by the student (PCU and non-PCU, lecturer, or librarians. While cultural values that revealed the background behind the user in virtual reference services (e-mail is obedience, courtesy and

  20. Analysis of the Paradigm Evolution of Digital Libraries in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tan Sun

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available The authors analyze the developmental framework of digital libraries in China and point out their current demand characteristics, development requirements, and developmental period. They then conclude that it is necessary to start up a new paradigm evolution of a digital library, from a traditional digital library to a virtual digital library. On that basis, they describe in detail several problems and developmental approaches that developing a virtual digital library must deal with, drawing lessons from the prototype DILIGENT.

  1. Marketing orientation in pharmaceutical industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Prošić Danica

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Pharmaceutical companies are major stakeholders in the global health agenda Virtually all drugs used by patients in Europe reach markets through the promotion tactics of a small number of corporations with a tremendous impact on global health. The sector is both fast growing and highly profitable. Effective marketing strategies are a crucial ingredient in making sure pharmaceutical products and profits flow in a virtuous cycle. At first glance, the relationship between doctors and drug companies, as well as advertising practices for over-the-counter medication, appears tightly regulated. According to many consumer organizations, drug promotion in Europe today can be characterized as nice and friendly marketing. This refers to the creation of a false sense of trust that consumers associate with branded pharmaceutical products, as a result of pharmaceutical marketing efforts disguised as genuine corporate responsibility.

  2. Virtual libraries of tetrapyrrole macrocycles. Combinatorics, isomers, product distributions, and data mining.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taniguchi, Masahiko; Du, Hai; Lindsey, Jonathan S

    2011-09-26

    A software program (PorphyrinViLiGe) has been developed to enumerate the type and relative amounts of substituted tetrapyrrole macrocycles in a virtual library formed by one of four different classes of reactions. The classes include (1) 4-fold reaction of n disubstituted heterocycles (e.g., pyrroles or diiminoisoindolines) to form β-substituted porphyrins, β-substituted tetraazaporphyrins, or α- or β-substituted phthalocyanines; (2) combination of m aminoketones and n diones to form m × n pyrroles, which upon 4-fold reaction give β-substituted porphyrins; (3) derivatization of an 8-point tetrapyrrole scaffold with n reagents, and (4) 4-fold reaction of n aldehydes and pyrrole to form meso-substituted porphyrins. The program accommodates variable ratios of reactants, reversible or irreversible reaction (reaction classes 1 and 2), and degenerate modes of formation. Pólya's theorem (for enumeration of cyclic entities) has also been implemented and provides validation for reaction classes 3 and 4. The output includes the number and identity of distinct reaction-accessible substituent combinations, the number and identity of isomers thereof, and the theoretical mass spectrum. Provisions for data mining enable assessment of the number of products having a chosen pattern of substituents. Examples include derivatization of an octa-substituted phthalocyanine with eight reagents to afford a library of 2,099,728 members (yet only 6435 distinct substituent combinations) and reversible reaction of six distinct disubstituted pyrroles to afford 2649 members (yet only 126 distinct substituent combinations). In general, libraries of substituted tetrapyrrole macrocycles occupy a synthetically accessible region of chemical space that is rich in isomers (>99% or 95% for the two examples, respectively).

  3. Virtual Reference Services: Connecting Users with Experts and Supporting the Development of Skills

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Trix Bakker

    2002-04-01

    Full Text Available Virtual reference - a service that allows librarians and patrons to communicate with each other in real time through the Internet by e-mail, chat or instant messaging - is currently a hot topic in libraries. In a way the commercial sector has challenged the reference function by offering Question & Answer services. To librarians this represents a threat and an opportunity. They can benefit from technologies and service models developed for the commercial arena by adapting these to virtual reference applications that will more effectively meet the needs of libraries on the Web. The literature provides many examples of pilots and experiments in taking reference into cyberspace. After an introduction to the in-and-outs of virtual reference, follows a short exposition of a virtual tour in the Netherlands where 7 of the 13 university libraries and the Royal Library have a basic ‚virtual helpdesk’. One thing is clear: virtual reference services are definitely put high on the agenda of the Dutch libraries. The Royal Library is one of the Dutch libraries, which is going to participate with QuestionPoint, formerly called Collaborative Digital Reference Service (CDRS, jointly developed by the Library of Congress and OCLC, which will provide web-based reference service to researchers anytime, anywhere, through an international, online network of member libraries.

  4. JAMSTEC E-library of Deep-sea Images (J-EDI) Realizes a Virtual Journey to the Earth's Unexplored Deep Ocean

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sasaki, T.; Azuma, S.; Matsuda, S.; Nagayama, A.; Ogido, M.; Saito, H.; Hanafusa, Y.

    2016-12-01

    The Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) archives a large amount of deep-sea research videos and photos obtained by JAMSTEC's research submersibles and vehicles with cameras. The web site "JAMSTEC E-library of Deep-sea Images : J-EDI" (http://www.godac.jamstec.go.jp/jedi/e/) has made videos and photos available to the public via the Internet since 2011. Users can search for target videos and photos by keywords, easy-to-understand icons, and dive information at J-EDI because operating staffs classify videos and photos as to contents, e.g. living organism and geological environment, and add comments to them.Dive survey data including videos and photos are not only valiant academically but also helpful for education and outreach activities. With the aim of the improvement of visibility for broader communities, we added new functions of 3-dimensional display synchronized various dive survey data with videos in this year.New Functions Users can search for dive survey data by 3D maps with plotted dive points using the WebGL virtual map engine "Cesium". By selecting a dive point, users can watch deep-sea videos and photos and associated environmental data, e.g. water temperature, salinity, rock and biological sample photos, obtained by the dive survey. Users can browse a dive track visualized in 3D virtual spaces using the WebGL JavaScript library. By synchronizing this virtual dive track with videos, users can watch deep-sea videos recorded at a point on a dive track. Users can play an animation which a submersible-shaped polygon automatically traces a 3D virtual dive track and displays of dive survey data are synchronized with tracing a dive track. Users can directly refer to additional information of other JAMSTEC data sites such as marine biodiversity database, marine biological sample database, rock sample database, and cruise and dive information database, on each page which a 3D virtual dive track is displayed. A 3D visualization of a dive

  5. On various metrics used for validation of predictive QSAR models with applications in virtual screening and focused library design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roy, Kunal; Mitra, Indrani

    2011-07-01

    Quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) have important applications in drug discovery research, environmental fate modeling, property prediction, etc. Validation has been recognized as a very important step for QSAR model development. As one of the important objectives of QSAR modeling is to predict activity/property/toxicity of new chemicals falling within the domain of applicability of the developed models and QSARs are being used for regulatory decisions, checking reliability of the models and confidence of their predictions is a very important aspect, which can be judged during the validation process. One prime application of a statistically significant QSAR model is virtual screening for molecules with improved potency based on the pharmacophoric features and the descriptors appearing in the QSAR model. Validated QSAR models may also be utilized for design of focused libraries which may be subsequently screened for the selection of hits. The present review focuses on various metrics used for validation of predictive QSAR models together with an overview of the application of QSAR models in the fields of virtual screening and focused library design for diverse series of compounds with citation of some recent examples.

  6. Commuting from Electronic Cottage to Virtual Library.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woodward, Jeannette

    1996-01-01

    Although telecommuting has been found to increase productivity and morale in business environments, libraries rarely consider it. This article discusses telecommuting's potential impact on contact with users, length of employment, job descriptions, budgets, management style, communication, and workflow. This option may help libraries retain older…

  7. Generating "fragment-based virtual library" using pocket similarity search of ligand-receptor complexes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khashan, Raed S

    2015-01-01

    As the number of available ligand-receptor complexes is increasing, researchers are becoming more dedicated to mine these complexes to aid in the drug design and development process. We present free software which is developed as a tool for performing similarity search across ligand-receptor complexes for identifying binding pockets which are similar to that of a target receptor. The search is based on 3D-geometric and chemical similarity of the atoms forming the binding pocket. For each match identified, the ligand's fragment(s) corresponding to that binding pocket are extracted, thus forming a virtual library of fragments (FragVLib) that is useful for structure-based drug design. The program provides a very useful tool to explore available databases.

  8. Virtualization in control system environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shen, L.R.; Liu, D.K.; Wan, T.M.

    2012-01-01

    In large scale distributed control system, there are lots of common service composed an environment for the entire control system, such as the server system for the common software base library, application server, archive server and so on. This paper gives a description of a virtualization realization for control system environment including the virtualization for server, storage, network system and application for the control system. With a virtualization instance of the EPICS based control system environment that was built by the VMware vSphere v4, we tested the whole functionality of this virtualization environment in the SSRF control system, including the common server of the NFS, NIS, NTP, Boot and EPICS base and extension library tools, we also have applied virtualization to application servers such as the Archive, Alarm, EPICS gateway and all of the network based IOC. Specially, we test the high availability and VMotion for EPICS asynchronous IOC successful under the different VLAN configuration of the current SSRF control system network. (authors)

  9. Bibliothekare ohne Bibliothek? Zur Situation der Pharmabibliotheken / Librarians without a library? The pharmacy library situation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gretz, Marianne

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available Despite major economic and organizational changes in the pharmaceutical industry, the Pharmaceutical Library Task Force (Arbeitskreis Pharma-Bibliotheken has been going strong in the Medical Library Working Party (Arbeitsgemeinschaft für medizinisches Bibliothekswesen – AGMB for the past 18 years. However, Task Force discussion topics have moved away from questions about spatial or staffing expansion or building up inventory, and toward themes such as outsourcing, training, technology scouting, and building up comprehensive copyright expertise. While actual physical stock is shrinking or has been eliminated entirely from many company libraries, the everyday working lives of company librarians are increasingly taken up with management of electronic media, in-house marketing and the associated user training, evaluation and use of new technologies, and clarification of complex copyright issues. Widespread know-how, in-depth knowledge of specialist areas (such as copyright, communication skills, networking, cost awareness, adaptability, willingness to learn new things, and demonstrating the value they add to the company are the factors that will secure the future of company librarians, whether with – or, in a pinch – without a physical library.

  10. Where Library History Meets the Future: Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Military Librarians Workshop

    Science.gov (United States)

    2001-04-04

    virtual library study earlier this year (“Virtual Libraries: Meeting the Corporate Challenge,” March 1, 1999) users regret the loss of thinking/meeting...buildings of historic Colonial Williamsburg. Lastly, libraries and librarianship are at a time in their evolution that propels them forward. Libraries...buildings of historic Colonial Williamsburg. Lastly, libraries and librarianship are at a time in their evolution that propels them forward. Libraries

  11. The Virtual Library in Action

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Addis, Louise

    1999-01-01

    The SLAC Library has for many years provided SPIRES-HEP, a 300,000 record bibliographic database, to the world particle physics community via the Internet as well as through clone sites in Europe and Japan. The 1991 introduction of the e-print archives at LANL coupled with the World-Wide-Web (WWW) from CERN suddenly made it possible to provide easy linkage between bibliographic database records and the actual full-text of papers. The SLAC Library has turned this possibility into reality by converting hundreds of TeX source documents each month into viewable postscript complete with figures. These (now more than 20,000) postscript files are linked to the HEP database, and the full-text is rendered universally visible via WWW. We discuss the project, the collaboration of physicists and librarians, what is easy, what is hard, and our vision for the future

  12. The Virtual Library in Action

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Addis, Louise

    1999-07-02

    The SLAC Library has for many years provided SPIRES-HEP, a 300,000 record bibliographic database, to the world particle physics community via the Internet as well as through clone sites in Europe and Japan. The 1991 introduction of the e-print archives at LANL coupled with the World-Wide-Web (WWW) from CERN suddenly made it possible to provide easy linkage between bibliographic database records and the actual full-text of papers. The SLAC Library has turned this possibility into reality by converting hundreds of TeX source documents each month into viewable postscript complete with figures. These (now more than 20,000) postscript files are linked to the HEP database, and the full-text is rendered universally visible via WWW. We discuss the project, the collaboration of physicists and librarians, what is easy, what is hard, and our vision for the future.

  13. A web-based platform for virtual screening.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watson, Paul; Verdonk, Marcel; Hartshorn, Michael J

    2003-09-01

    A fully integrated, web-based, virtual screening platform has been developed to allow rapid virtual screening of large numbers of compounds. ORACLE is used to store information at all stages of the process. The system includes a large database of historical compounds from high throughput screenings (HTS) chemical suppliers, ATLAS, containing over 3.1 million unique compounds with their associated physiochemical properties (ClogP, MW, etc.). The database can be screened using a web-based interface to produce compound subsets for virtual screening or virtual library (VL) enumeration. In order to carry out the latter task within ORACLE a reaction data cartridge has been developed. Virtual libraries can be enumerated rapidly using the web-based interface to the cartridge. The compound subsets can be seamlessly submitted for virtual screening experiments, and the results can be viewed via another web-based interface allowing ad hoc querying of the virtual screening data stored in ORACLE.

  14. Designing Ligands for Leishmania, Plasmodium, and Aspergillus N-Myristoyl Transferase with Specificity and Anti-Target-Safe Virtual Libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia-Sosa, Alfonso T

    2018-01-01

    Leishmaniasis, malaria, and fungal diseases are burdens on individuals and populations and can present severe complications. Easily accessible chemical treatments for these diseases are increasingly sought-after. Targeting the parasite N-myristoyl transferase while avoiding the human enzyme and other anti-targets may allow the prospect of compounds with pan-activity against these diseases, which would simplify treatments and costs. Developing chemical libraries, both virtual and physical, that have been filtered and flagged early on in the drug discovery process (before virtual screening) could reduce attrition rates of compounds being developed and failing late in development stages due to problems of side-effects or toxicity. Chemical libraries have been screened against the anti-targets pregnane-X-receptor, sulfotransferase, cytochrome P450 2a6, 2c9, and 3a4 with three different docking programs. Statistically significant differences are observed in their interactions with these enzymes as compared to small molecule drugs and bioactive non-drug datasets. A series of compounds are proposed with the best predicted profiles for inhibition of all parasite targets while sparing the human form and anti-targets. Some of the topranked compounds have confirmed experimental activity against Leishmania, and highlighted are those compounds with best properties for further development. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

  15. DOLIB: Distributed Object Library

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    D' Azevedo, E.F.

    1994-01-01

    This report describes the use and implementation of DOLIB (Distributed Object Library), a library of routines that emulates global or virtual shared memory on Intel multiprocessor systems. Access to a distributed global array is through explicit calls to gather and scatter. Advantages of using DOLIB include: dynamic allocation and freeing of huge (gigabyte) distributed arrays, both C and FORTRAN callable interfaces, and the ability to mix shared-memory and message-passing programming models for ease of use and optimal performance. DOLIB is independent of language and compiler extensions and requires no special operating system support. DOLIB also supports automatic caching of read-only data for high performance. The virtual shared memory support provided in DOLIB is well suited for implementing Lagrangian particle tracking techniques. We have also used DOLIB to create DONIO (Distributed Object Network I/O Library), which obtains over a 10-fold improvement in disk I/O performance on the Intel Paragon.

  16. DOLIB: Distributed Object Library

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    D`Azevedo, E.F.; Romine, C.H.

    1994-10-01

    This report describes the use and implementation of DOLIB (Distributed Object Library), a library of routines that emulates global or virtual shared memory on Intel multiprocessor systems. Access to a distributed global array is through explicit calls to gather and scatter. Advantages of using DOLIB include: dynamic allocation and freeing of huge (gigabyte) distributed arrays, both C and FORTRAN callable interfaces, and the ability to mix shared-memory and message-passing programming models for ease of use and optimal performance. DOLIB is independent of language and compiler extensions and requires no special operating system support. DOLIB also supports automatic caching of read-only data for high performance. The virtual shared memory support provided in DOLIB is well suited for implementing Lagrangian particle tracking techniques. We have also used DOLIB to create DONIO (Distributed Object Network I/O Library), which obtains over a 10-fold improvement in disk I/O performance on the Intel Paragon.

  17. The World of Virtual Exhibitions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irena Eiselt

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available EXTENDED ABSTRACTSpecial collections of the National and University Library (NUK hide a lot of items of precious value. The Slovenian cultural heritage is stored on paper or on other media as a part of the library’s Manuscripts, Incunabula and Rare Books Collection, Old Prints Collection, Maps and Pictorial Collection, Music Collection, Ephemera Collection, Serials Collection, and Slovenian Diaspora Publications Collection. Only a small part of the treasures is temporary revealed to the public on special exhibitions. The idea of virtual exhibitions of library treasures was born in 2005. The library aimed to exhibit precious items of special collections of high historical or artistic value. In 2008 the first two virtual exhibitions were created in-house offering access to the rich collections of old postcards of Ljubljana at the beginning of 20th century kept in the Maps and Pictorial Collection of NUK. They were soon followed by other virtual exhibitions. At the beginning they were organised in the same way as physical exhibitions, afterwards different programs were used for creation of special effects (for ex. 3D wall. About two years ago it was decided that the creation of virtual exhibitions will be simplified. Files of digitised and borndigital library materials in jpg format are imported to MS PowerPoint 2010. Each jpg file is now formatted by adding a frame, a description … to the slides which are saved as jpg files. The last step is the import of jpg files into Cooliris application used for NUK web exhibitions. In the paper the virtual exhibition design and creation, the technical point of view and criteria for the selection of exhibition content are explained following the example of the virtual exhibitions the Old Postcards of Ljubljana, Photo Ateliers in Slovenia, a collection of photographs Four Seasons by Fran Krašovec and photos of Post-Earthquake Ljubljana in 1895.

  18. Learning Area and Perimeter with Virtual Manipulatives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouck, Emily; Flanagan, Sara; Bouck, Mary

    2015-01-01

    Manipulatives are considered a best practice for educating students with disabilities, but little research exists which examines virtual manipulatives as tool for supporting students in mathematics. This project investigated the use of a virtual manipulative through the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives--polynominoes (i.e., tiles)--as a…

  19. De unas exposiciones a una biblioteca virtual escolar de libros anteriores a 1950. // From some exhibitions to a school virtual library with books before the 1950.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Fusté Bonet

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available (ES La idea surgida en el año 2006 de montar una serie de exposiciones con los manuales escolares antiguos de los que disponía la Associació per a la Recerca Pedagògica TP de Tàrrega (Lleida se convirtió, posteriormente, en una realidad a lo largo de los años 2007 y 2008. Ante la buena acogida de la anterior iniciativa, la asociación aprobó la creación de una Biblioteca Virtual Escolar para poner al alcance de todos los estudiosos de la historia de la educación, así como del público en general, su fondo bibliográfico, tarea que continúan desarrollando en la actualidad. // (EN The idea emerged in 2006 to mount a series of exhibitions with the old textbooks available to the Associació per a la Recerca Pedagògica of Tàrrega (Lleida became subsequently a reality over the years 2007 and 2008. Given the good reception of the previous initiative, the association approved the creation of a Biblioteca Virtual Escolar (virtual library school to make available to all students of the history of education, as well as the general public, its bibliographic, who continue to work in present.

  20. Touring the Campus Library from the World Wide Web.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mosley, Pixey Anne; Xiao, Daniel

    1996-01-01

    The philosophy, design, implementation and evaluation of a World Wide Web-accessible Virtual Library Tour of Texas A & M University's Evans Library is presented. Its design combined technical computer issues and library instruction expertise. The tour can be used to simulate a typical walking tour through the library or heading directly to a…

  1. Copper(I)-induced amplification of a [2]catenane in a virtual dynamic library of macrocyclic alkenes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berrocal, José Augusto; Nieuwenhuizen, Marko M L; Mandolini, Luigi; Meijer, E W; Di Stefano, Stefano

    2014-08-28

    Olefin cross-metathesis of diluted dichloromethane solutions (≤0.15 M) of the 28-membered macrocyclic alkene C1, featuring a 1,10-phenanthroline moiety in the backbone, as well as of catenand 1, composed of two identical interlocked C1 units, generates families of noninterlocked oligomers Ci. The composition of the libraries is strongly dependent on the monomer concentration, but independent of whether C1 or 1 is used as feedstock, as expected for truly equilibrated systems. Accordingly, the limiting value 0.022 M approached by the equilibrium concentration of C1 when the total monomer concentration approaches the critical value, as predicted by the Jacobson-Stockmayer theory, provides a reliable estimate of the thermodynamically effective molarity. Catenand 1 behaves as a virtual component of the dynamic libraries, in that there is no detectable trace of its presence in the equilibrated mixtures, but becomes the major component - in the form of its copper(I) complex - when olefin cross-metathesis is carried out in the presence of a copper(I) salt.

  2. Chemical Space of DNA-Encoded Libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franzini, Raphael M; Randolph, Cassie

    2016-07-28

    In recent years, DNA-encoded chemical libraries (DECLs) have attracted considerable attention as a potential discovery tool in drug development. Screening encoded libraries may offer advantages over conventional hit discovery approaches and has the potential to complement such methods in pharmaceutical research. As a result of the increased application of encoded libraries in drug discovery, a growing number of hit compounds are emerging in scientific literature. In this review we evaluate reported encoded library-derived structures and identify general trends of these compounds in relation to library design parameters. We in particular emphasize the combinatorial nature of these libraries. Generally, the reported molecules demonstrate the ability of this technology to afford hits suitable for further lead development, and on the basis of them, we derive guidelines for DECL design.

  3. SPOT-ligand 2: improving structure-based virtual screening by binding-homology search on an expanded structural template library.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Litfin, Thomas; Zhou, Yaoqi; Yang, Yuedong

    2017-04-15

    The high cost of drug discovery motivates the development of accurate virtual screening tools. Binding-homology, which takes advantage of known protein-ligand binding pairs, has emerged as a powerful discrimination technique. In order to exploit all available binding data, modelled structures of ligand-binding sequences may be used to create an expanded structural binding template library. SPOT-Ligand 2 has demonstrated significantly improved screening performance over its previous version by expanding the template library 15 times over the previous one. It also performed better than or similar to other binding-homology approaches on the DUD and DUD-E benchmarks. The server is available online at http://sparks-lab.org . yaoqi.zhou@griffith.edu.au or yuedong.yang@griffith.edu.au. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

  4. Identification of novel malarial cysteine protease inhibitors using structure-based virtual screening of a focused cysteine protease inhibitor library.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shah, Falgun; Mukherjee, Prasenjit; Gut, Jiri; Legac, Jennifer; Rosenthal, Philip J; Tekwani, Babu L; Avery, Mitchell A

    2011-04-25

    Malaria, in particular that caused by Plasmodium falciparum , is prevalent across the tropics, and its medicinal control is limited by widespread drug resistance. Cysteine proteases of P. falciparum , falcipain-2 (FP-2) and falcipain-3 (FP-3), are major hemoglobinases, validated as potential antimalarial drug targets. Structure-based virtual screening of a focused cysteine protease inhibitor library built with soft rather than hard electrophiles was performed against an X-ray crystal structure of FP-2 using the Glide docking program. An enrichment study was performed to select a suitable scoring function and to retrieve potential candidates against FP-2 from a large chemical database. Biological evaluation of 50 selected compounds identified 21 diverse nonpeptidic inhibitors of FP-2 with a hit rate of 42%. Atomic Fukui indices were used to predict the most electrophilic center and its electrophilicity in the identified hits. Comparison of predicted electrophilicity of electrophiles in identified hits with those in known irreversible inhibitors suggested the soft-nature of electrophiles in the selected target compounds. The present study highlights the importance of focused libraries and enrichment studies in structure-based virtual screening. In addition, few compounds were screened against homologous human cysteine proteases for selectivity analysis. Further evaluation of structure-activity relationships around these nonpeptidic scaffolds could help in the development of selective leads for antimalarial chemotherapy.

  5. Framework for virtual control desk projects

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mol, Antonio Carlos A.; Freitas, Victor Goncalves G.; Espieito Santos, Andre Cotelli do; Aghina, Mauricio A. da C. e, E-mail: mol@ien.gov.b, E-mail: vgoncalves@ien.gov.b, E-mail: mag@ien.gov.b [Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

    2011-07-01

    Through the recent advances of the Brazilian nuclear program, the creation of virtual control desks allows an ergonomic evaluation and technique of the same, even before its physical implementation, reducing costs and time in addition to allow the virtual training of operators. This project intends to develop a 'framework' where the components of a real control desk are available for creating a virtual desk, continuing the project control desk developed at the Laboratorio de Interface Homem Sistema do IEN (LABHIS/IEN). Through the C++ programming language integrated with the OPENGL graphics library was possible to create the desk and it's components, allowing a graphical modeling in 3D (stereo) of a virtual control desk where the operator, with the aid of GLUI user interface library, can choose what and where the components are positioned on the bench, and select the type of desk wanted from the pre-defined templates. Finally, with the control desk mounted and configured, enabling a virtual interaction with operators, making possible to reproduce its functionalities. (author)

  6. Framework for virtual control desk projects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mol, Antonio Carlos A.; Freitas, Victor Goncalves G.; Espieito Santos, Andre Cotelli do; Aghina, Mauricio A. da C. e

    2011-01-01

    Through the recent advances of the Brazilian nuclear program, the creation of virtual control desks allows an ergonomic evaluation and technique of the same, even before its physical implementation, reducing costs and time in addition to allow the virtual training of operators. This project intends to develop a 'framework' where the components of a real control desk are available for creating a virtual desk, continuing the project control desk developed at the Laboratorio de Interface Homem Sistema do IEN (LABHIS/IEN). Through the C++ programming language integrated with the OPENGL graphics library was possible to create the desk and it's components, allowing a graphical modeling in 3D (stereo) of a virtual control desk where the operator, with the aid of GLUI user interface library, can choose what and where the components are positioned on the bench, and select the type of desk wanted from the pre-defined templates. Finally, with the control desk mounted and configured, enabling a virtual interaction with operators, making possible to reproduce its functionalities. (author)

  7. Discovery of novel SERCA inhibitors by virtual screening of a large compound library.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elam, Christopher; Lape, Michael; Deye, Joel; Zultowsky, Jodie; Stanton, David T; Paula, Stefan

    2011-05-01

    Two screening protocols based on recursive partitioning and computational ligand docking methodologies, respectively, were employed for virtual screens of a compound library with 345,000 entries for novel inhibitors of the enzyme sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA), a potential target for cancer chemotherapy. A total of 72 compounds that were predicted to be potential inhibitors of SERCA were tested in bioassays and 17 displayed inhibitory potencies at concentrations below 100 μM. The majority of these inhibitors were composed of two phenyl rings tethered to each other by a short link of one to three atoms. Putative interactions between SERCA and the inhibitors were identified by inspection of docking-predicted poses and some of the structural features required for effective SERCA inhibition were determined by analysis of the classification pattern employed by the recursive partitioning models. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  8. Library Purchasing Consortia in the UK

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Ball

    2001-07-01

    Full Text Available The distribution of library purchasing consortia across the United Kingdom is uneven and sector-dependent. Only higher education libraries show a well developed regional infrastructure of purchasing consortia covering virtually all eligible libraries. While there are clear sectoral disparities amongst the library purchasing consortia surveyed, the size of consortium expenditure seems to determine whether procurement professionals are involved. Thus in those whose spend consistently exceeds European Commission guidelines’ thresholds, the involvement of purchasing professionals is much more likely, and also crucial to the successful navigation of such procedures.

  9. Virtual Reality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newby, Gregory B.

    1993-01-01

    Discusses the current state of the art in virtual reality (VR), its historical background, and future possibilities. Highlights include applications in medicine, art and entertainment, science, business, and telerobotics; and VR for information science, including graphical display of bibliographic data, libraries and books, and cyberspace.…

  10. The Dag Hammarskjold Library Reaches Out to the World.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chepesiuk, Ron

    1998-01-01

    Describes services offered at the Dag Hammarskjold Library at the United Nations (UN). Highlights include adopting new technology for a virtual library; the international law collection which is now accessible through the World Wide Web; UN depository libraries; material available on the Internet; the Optical Disk System, a storage/retrieval…

  11. Discovery of nonsteroidal 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1 inhibitors by pharmacophore-based screening of virtual compound libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schuster, Daniela; Nashev, Lyubomir G; Kirchmair, Johannes; Laggner, Christian; Wolber, Gerhard; Langer, Thierry; Odermatt, Alex

    2008-07-24

    17Beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (17beta-HSD1) plays a pivotal role in the local synthesis of the most potent estrogen estradiol. Its expression is a prognostic marker for the outcome of patients with breast cancer and inhibition of 17beta-HSD1 is currently under consideration for breast cancer prevention and treatment. We aimed to identify nonsteroidal 17beta-HSD1 inhibitor scaffolds by virtual screening with pharmacophore models built from crystal structures containing steroidal compounds. The most promising model was validated by comparing predicted and experimentally determined inhibitory activities of several flavonoids. Subsequently, a virtual library of nonsteroidal compounds was screened against the 3D pharmacophore. Analysis of 14 selected compounds yielded four that inhibited the activity of human 17beta-HSD1 (IC 50 below 50 microM). Specificity assessment of identified 17beta-HSD1 inhibitors emphasized the importance of including related short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase (SDR) members to analyze off-target effects. Compound 29 displayed at least 10-fold selectivity over the related SDR enzymes tested.

  12. Virtual Reality: Is It Real Or Not?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Serap Kurbanoğlu

    1996-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper virtual reality technology and how libraries might be affected by this technology are examined. Virtual reality sets out to address a problem. The problem is that of user-friendliness of computer systems. Needless to say, the current generation of computers still involves a barrier between human and machine. This is keyboard or mouse on the human side, and the screen on the computer side. If computers are really going to become a part of everyone’s normal day to day experiences, they, must allow users to visualise information in a way familiar to them, not the way the computers forces them to. Virtual reality provides such a way. With the increasing amounts of information available in electronic form, it is clear that virtual reality technology will have a profound impact on libraries.

  13. From Medieval Philosophy to the Virtual Library: a descriptive framework for scientific knowledge and documentation as basis for document retrieval

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frances Morrissey

    2001-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the conceptual basis of document retrieval systems for the Virtual Library in science and technology. It does so through analysing some cognitive models for scientific knowledge, drawing on philosophy, sociology and linguistics. It is important to consider improvements in search/ retrieval functionalities for scientific documents because knowledge creation and transfer are integral to the functioning of scientific communities, and on a larger scale, science and technology are central to the knowledge economy. This paper proposes four new and innovative understandings. Firstly, it is proposed that formal scientific communication constitutes the documentation and dissemination of concepts, and that conceptualism is a useful philosophical basis for study. Second, it is proposed that the scientific document is a dyadic con-struct, being both the physical manifestation as an encoded medium, and also being the associated knowledge, or intangible ideation, that is carried within the document. Third, it is shown that major philosophers of science divide science into three main activities, dealing with data, derived or inferred laws, and the axioms or the paradigm. Fourth, it is demonstrated that the data, information and conceptual frameworks carried by a scientific document, as different levels of signification or semiotic systems, can each be characterised in ways assisting in search and retrieval functionalities for the Virtual Library.

  14. Serving online customers lessons for libraries from the business world

    CERN Document Server

    Barclay, Donald A

    2014-01-01

    To compete in the digital age, libraries must provide outstanding customer service to their virtual users. Serving Online Customers: Lessons for Libraries from the Business World is a practical guide to help libraries adopt and adapt the best practices of e-business for their own online operations.

  15. Creating Virtual Exhibitions for Educational and Cultural Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriela DUMITRESCU

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents different tools and mechanisms to implement a virtual exhibition in different cultural areas, such as museums and libraries. Quality characteristics of virtual exhibitions are identified and described. The possibility to create native mobile applications for virtual exhibitions presentation is analyzed. The functional flow of creating a virtual exhibition is presented and discussed. The Seals - History Treasure exhibition is presented and significant historical documents are revealed.

  16. Teaching Public Library Administration through Epistemic Gaming

    Science.gov (United States)

    Becnel, Kim; O'Shea, Patrick

    2013-01-01

    This paper describes the design of an innovative educational experience that took place during the summer of 2011 with a cohort of library science students at Appalachian State University. This group of students, working online in their own virtual public libraries, engaged in an extended epistemic game that required the participants to undertake…

  17. The Personnel, Material and Financial Resources of the Library Systems of 311 Industrial Corporations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson, Eugene B.; Jackson, Ruth L.

    An indepth study of the FORTUNE 500 Corporations' libraries has revealed consistent characteristics across 27 industrial classifications, some of which parallel the divisions of professional associations, such as the Special Libraries Association. Partial profiles of Pharmaceutical, Aircraft, and Food Libraries are given as examples, with the…

  18. From virtuality to reality - Virtual screening in lead discovery and lead optimization: a medicinal chemistry perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rester, Ulrich

    2008-07-01

    Drug discovery and development is an interdisciplinary, expensive and time-consuming process. Scientific advancements during the past two decades have altered the way pharmaceutical research produces novel bio-active molecules. Advances in computational techniques and hardware solutions have enabled in silico methods, and in particular virtual screening, to speed up modern lead identification and lead optimization. Recent successes have proven the power of combining virtual screening with complementary and synergistic biophysical methods, such as X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). This review addresses key issues, challenges and recent improvements of virtual screening methods and strategies. Examples highlighting the impact of an integrated virtual screening and biophysical characterization platform in the lead identification and optimization process are presented and discussed.

  19. LEAP into the Pfizer Global Virtual Library (PGVL) space: creation of readily synthesizable design ideas automatically.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Qiyue; Peng, Zhengwei; Kostrowicki, Jaroslav; Kuki, Atsuo

    2011-01-01

    Pfizer Global Virtual Library (PGVL) of 10(13) readily synthesizable molecules offers a tremendous opportunity for lead optimization and scaffold hopping in drug discovery projects. However, mining into a chemical space of this size presents a challenge for the concomitant design informatics due to the fact that standard molecular similarity searches against a collection of explicit molecules cannot be utilized, since no chemical information system could create and manage more than 10(8) explicit molecules. Nevertheless, by accepting a tolerable level of false negatives in search results, we were able to bypass the need for full 10(13) enumeration and enabled the efficient similarity search and retrieval into this huge chemical space for practical usage by medicinal chemists. In this report, two search methods (LEAP1 and LEAP2) are presented. The first method uses PGVL reaction knowledge to disassemble the incoming search query molecule into a set of reactants and then uses reactant-level similarities into actual available starting materials to focus on a much smaller sub-region of the full virtual library compound space. This sub-region is then explicitly enumerated and searched via a standard similarity method using the original query molecule. The second method uses a fuzzy mapping onto candidate reactions and does not require exact disassembly of the incoming query molecule. Instead Basis Products (or capped reactants) are mapped into the query molecule and the resultant asymmetric similarity scores are used to prioritize the corresponding reactions and reactant sets. All sets of Basis Products are inherently indexed to specific reactions and specific starting materials. This again allows focusing on a much smaller sub-region for explicit enumeration and subsequent standard product-level similarity search. A set of validation studies were conducted. The results have shown that the level of false negatives for the disassembly-based method is acceptable when the

  20. CyberWalk : a web-based distributed virtual walkthrough environment.

    OpenAIRE

    Chim, J.; Lau, R. W. H.; Leong, H. V.; Si, A.

    2003-01-01

    A distributed virtual walkthrough environment allows users connected to the geometry server to walk through a specific place of interest, without having to travel physically. This place of interest may be a virtual museum, virtual library or virtual university. There are two basic approaches to distribute the virtual environment from the geometry server to the clients, complete replication and on-demand transmission. Although the on-demand transmission approach saves waiting time and optimize...

  1. The Legacy of the Baroque in Virtual Representations of Library Space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garrett, Jeffrey

    2004-01-01

    Library home pages and digital library sites have many properties and purposes in common with the Baroque wall-system libraries of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe. Like their Baroque antecedents, contemporary library Web sites exploit the moment of entrance and the experience of the threshold to create and sustain the illusion of a…

  2. Rambrain - a library for virtually extending physical memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Imgrund, Maximilian; Arth, Alexander

    2017-08-01

    We introduce Rambrain, a user space library that manages memory consumption of your code. Using Rambrain you can overcommit memory over the size of physical memory present in the system. Rambrain takes care of temporarily swapping out data to disk and can handle multiples of the physical memory size present. Rambrain is thread-safe, OpenMP and MPI compatible and supports Asynchronous IO. The library was designed to require minimal changes to existing programs and to be easy to use.

  3. Library design practices for success in lead generation with small molecule libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goodnow, R A; Guba, W; Haap, W

    2003-11-01

    The generation of novel structures amenable to rapid and efficient lead optimization comprises an emerging strategy for success in modern drug discovery. Small molecule libraries of sufficient size and diversity to increase the chances of discovery of novel structures make the high throughput synthesis approach the method of choice for lead generation. Despite an industry trend for smaller, more focused libraries, the need to generate novel lead structures makes larger libraries a necessary strategy. For libraries of a several thousand or more members, solid phase synthesis approaches are the most suitable. While the technology and chemistry necessary for small molecule library synthesis continue to advance, success in lead generation requires rigorous consideration in the library design process to ensure the synthesis of molecules possessing the proper characteristics for subsequent lead optimization. Without proper selection of library templates and building blocks, solid phase synthesis methods often generate molecules which are too heavy, too lipophilic and too complex to be useful for lead optimization. The appropriate filtering of virtual library designs with multiple computational tools allows the generation of information-rich libraries within a drug-like molecular property space. An understanding of the hit-to-lead process provides a practical guide to molecular design characteristics. Examples of leads generated from library approaches also provide a benchmarking of successes as well as aspects for continued development of library design practices.

  4. A digital library of radiology images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kahn, Charles E

    2006-01-01

    A web-based virtual library of peer-reviewed radiological images was created for use in education and clinical decision support. Images were obtained from open-access content of five online radiology journals and one e-learning web site. Figure captions were indexed by Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) codes, imaging modality, and patient age and sex. This digital library provides a new, valuable online resource.

  5. Management Matters. Virtual School Library Media Center Management Manual

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pappas, Marjorie L.

    2005-01-01

    In this article, the author describes a management manual she maintained while working as a school library media specialist. She started the manual when she was a student in the organization and administration course in the library science program and kept it current with information gleaned from conferences, workshops, and networking with other…

  6. From Libraries to ‘Libratories’

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leo Waaijers

    2006-04-01

    Full Text Available While the eighties of the last century were a time of local automation for libraries and the nineties the decade in which libraries embraced the internet and the WWW, now is the age in which the big search engines and institutional repositories are gaining a firm footing. This heralds a new era in both the evolution of scholarly communication and its agencies themselves, i.e. the libraries. Until now libraries and publishers have developed a digital variant of existing processes and products, i.e. catalogues posted on the Web, scanned copies of articles, e-mail notification about acquisitions or expired lending periods, or traditional journals in a digital jacket. However, the new OAI repositories and services based upon them have given rise to entirely new processes and products, libraries transforming themselves into partners in setting up virtual learning environments, building an institution’s digital showcase, maintaining academics’ personal websites, designing refereed portals and – further into the future – taking part in organising virtual research environments or collaboratories. Libraries are set to metamorphose into ‘libratories’, an imaginary word to express their combined functions of library, repository and collaboratory. In such environments scholarly communication will be liberated from its current copyright bridle while its coverage will be both broader - including primary data, audiovisuals and dynamic models - and deeper, with cross-disciplinary analyses of methodologies and applications of instruments. Universities will make it compulsory to store in their institutional repositories the results of research conducted within their walls for purposes of academic reporting, review committees, and other modes of clarification and explanation. Big search engines will provide access to this profusion of information and organise its mass customisation.

  7. Standards for vision science libraries: 2014 revision.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Motte, Kristin; Caldwell, C Brooke; Lamson, Karen S; Ferimer, Suzanne; Nims, J Chris

    2014-10-01

    This Association of Vision Science Librarians revision of the "Standards for Vision Science Libraries" aspires to provide benchmarks to address the needs for the services and resources of modern vision science libraries (academic, medical or hospital, pharmaceutical, and so on), which share a core mission, are varied by type, and are located throughout the world. Through multiple meeting discussions, member surveys, and a collaborative revision process, the standards have been updated for the first time in over a decade. While the range of types of libraries supporting vision science services, education, and research is wide, all libraries, regardless of type, share core attributes, which the standards address. The current standards can and should be used to help develop new vision science libraries or to expand the growth of existing libraries, as well as to support vision science librarians in their work to better provide services and resources to their respective users.

  8. CHIPMUNK: A Virtual Synthesizable Small-Molecule Library for Medicinal Chemistry, Exploitable for Protein-Protein Interaction Modulators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Humbeck, Lina; Weigang, Sebastian; Schäfer, Till; Mutzel, Petra; Koch, Oliver

    2018-03-20

    A common issue during drug design and development is the discovery of novel scaffolds for protein targets. On the one hand the chemical space of purchasable compounds is rather limited; on the other hand artificially generated molecules suffer from a grave lack of accessibility in practice. Therefore, we generated a novel virtual library of small molecules which are synthesizable from purchasable educts, called CHIPMUNK (CHemically feasible In silico Public Molecular UNiverse Knowledge base). Altogether, CHIPMUNK covers over 95 million compounds and encompasses regions of the chemical space that are not covered by existing databases. The coverage of CHIPMUNK exceeds the chemical space spanned by the Lipinski rule of five to foster the exploration of novel and difficult target classes. The analysis of the generated property space reveals that CHIPMUNK is well suited for the design of protein-protein interaction inhibitors (PPIIs). Furthermore, a recently developed structural clustering algorithm (StruClus) for big data was used to partition the sub-libraries into meaningful subsets and assist scientists to process the large amount of data. These clustered subsets also contain the target space based on ChEMBL data which was included during clustering. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  9. [Application of the technique of analytical structure of project for the sub-project of websites catalog of the Virtual Health Library-Nursing].

    Science.gov (United States)

    dos, Santos Luís Augusto; Marin, Heimar de Fátima; Marques, Isaac Rosa; Cunha, Isabel Cristina Kowal Olm

    2007-01-01

    This work intents, in a didactic form, to explain the benefits of use of a technique of project management, named Work Breakdown Structure: a graphical tool to identify the main results to be developed in a project. The real examples are applied to a sub-project of the Virtual Library in Health in Nursing (BVS-Enfermagem) to development of the Sites Catalogs. The benefits of graphical visualization for a major agreement between professionals of different expertise are presented.

  10. KVK - a Meta Catalog of Libraries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael W. Mönnich

    2001-07-01

    Full Text Available Over the past years, the majority of libraries worldwide implemented interfaces to allow users to access to their bibliographic databases through the WWW. Usually these interfaces consist of HTML-pages with an embedded FORMS template where the search terms are entered. Thus for the first time it was made possible for the user to access almost every library using only one software: the WWW browser. However, if the user has to search more than one library catalog, e.g. when searching literature for a PhD thesis, he has to access a multitude of catalogs deal with different search forms, different search syntaxes, wildcards etc. This is the case especially for users in Germany. Faced with this situation in 1996, our team at the university library of Karlsruhe came up with the idea to create a virtual catalog enabling our library patrons to search several catalogs simultaneously. The idea was inspired by the successful introduction of meta search engines like metacrawler which perform the same function with internet search engines. So why not try to do it with library catalogs? The idea was discussed, and with support from the faculty of computer science, a prototype was built in July 1996. It proved surprisingly easy to do, so we included not only union catalogs but also bookshops. The meta catalog showed so much potential that we decided not to limit access to our local library patrons but to offer it as a service to the internet community as Karlsruher Virtueller Katalog (KVK, Karlsruhe Virtual Catalog. Once the KVK was announced in several mailing list, the usage peaked within a few weeks and has continued to do so.

  11. Adding a Feature: Can a Pop-Up Chat Box Enhance Virtual Reference Services?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, Suhua Caroline; Fought, Rick L; Gahn, Paul C

    2017-01-01

    Online users seek help from virtual reference services via email, phone, texting, and live chat. Technologies have enabled new features in library websites to help make this service more accessible and effective. This article is an evaluation of an experimental pop-up live chat box on the website of a health sciences library to see whether the feature would enhance virtual reference services.

  12. Combinatorial support vector machines approach for virtual screening of selective multi-target serotonin reuptake inhibitors from large compound libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Z; Ma, X H; Qin, C; Jia, J; Jiang, Y Y; Tan, C Y; Chen, Y Z

    2012-02-01

    Selective multi-target serotonin reuptake inhibitors enhance antidepressant efficacy. Their discovery can be facilitated by multiple methods, including in silico ones. In this study, we developed and tested an in silico method, combinatorial support vector machines (COMBI-SVMs), for virtual screening (VS) multi-target serotonin reuptake inhibitors of seven target pairs (serotonin transporter paired with noradrenaline transporter, H(3) receptor, 5-HT(1A) receptor, 5-HT(1B) receptor, 5-HT(2C) receptor, melanocortin 4 receptor and neurokinin 1 receptor respectively) from large compound libraries. COMBI-SVMs trained with 917-1951 individual target inhibitors correctly identified 22-83.3% (majority >31.1%) of the 6-216 dual inhibitors collected from literature as independent testing sets. COMBI-SVMs showed moderate to good target selectivity in misclassifying as dual inhibitors 2.2-29.8% (majority virtual hits correlate with the reported effects of their predicted targets. COMBI-SVM is potentially useful for searching selective multi-target agents without explicit knowledge of these agents. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Working in the Virtual Stacks: The New Library and Information Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kane, Laura Townsend, Ed.

    2011-01-01

    Thanks in part to technology, the boundaries of library positions are dissolving. It is no longer practical to discuss the profession in terms of traditional library types, and in today's library, the relationship between librarians and technology is stronger than ever. In this informative volume, veteran author Laura Townsend Kane interviews…

  14. A Use of Space: The Unintended Messages of Academic Library Web Sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kasperek, Sheila; Dorney, Erin; Williams, Beth; O'Brien, Michael

    2011-01-01

    Academic library home pages are not only access points to the resources and services of a library, they are virtual representations of the library itself. The content placed on the page, where it is placed, and the amount of space allotted are all choices that send a message about the character of the library, the resources a user should start…

  15. A virtual phantom library for the quantification of deformable image registration uncertainties in patients with cancers of the head and neck.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pukala, Jason; Meeks, Sanford L; Staton, Robert J; Bova, Frank J; Mañon, Rafael R; Langen, Katja M

    2013-11-01

    Deformable image registration (DIR) is being used increasingly in various clinical applications. However, the underlying uncertainties of DIR are not well-understood and a comprehensive methodology has not been developed for assessing a range of interfraction anatomic changes during head and neck cancer radiotherapy. This study describes the development of a library of clinically relevant virtual phantoms for the purpose of aiding clinicians in the QA of DIR software. These phantoms will also be available to the community for the independent study and comparison of other DIR algorithms and processes. Each phantom was derived from a pair of kVCT volumetric image sets. The first images were acquired of head and neck cancer patients prior to the start-of-treatment and the second were acquired near the end-of-treatment. A research algorithm was used to autosegment and deform the start-of-treatment (SOT) images according to a biomechanical model. This algorithm allowed the user to adjust the head position, mandible position, and weight loss in the neck region of the SOT images to resemble the end-of-treatment (EOT) images. A human-guided thin-plate splines algorithm was then used to iteratively apply further deformations to the images with the objective of matching the EOT anatomy as closely as possible. The deformations from each algorithm were combined into a single deformation vector field (DVF) and a simulated end-of-treatment (SEOT) image dataset was generated from that DVF. Artificial noise was added to the SEOT images and these images, along with the original SOT images, created a virtual phantom where the underlying "ground-truth" DVF is known. Images from ten patients were deformed in this fashion to create ten clinically relevant virtual phantoms. The virtual phantoms were evaluated to identify unrealistic DVFs using the normalized cross correlation (NCC) and the determinant of the Jacobian matrix. A commercial deformation algorithm was applied to the virtual

  16. Library Automation at the University for Development Studies: Challenges and Prospects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Edwin S.; Pwadura, Joana

    2014-01-01

    The automation of a library that basically aims at improving the management of the library's resources and increasing access to these same resources by users has caught on so well in the western world that virtually all academic libraries in that part of the world have automated most of their services. In Africa, however, several challenges are…

  17. Evaluation of the Virtual Naval Hospital

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Stoloff, Peter

    2000-01-01

    The Virtual Naval Hospital (VNH) is a digital medical library administered over the Internet by the Electronic Differential Multimedia Laboratory, University of Iowa College of Medicine in collaboration with the U.S...

  18. A rational workflow for sequential virtual screening of chemical libraries on searching for new tyrosinase inhibitors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le-Thi-Thu, Huong; Casanola-Martín, Gerardo M; Marrero-Ponce, Yovani; Rescigno, Antonio; Abad, Concepcion; Khan, Mahmud Tareq Hassan

    2014-01-01

    The tyrosinase is a bifunctional, copper-containing enzyme widely distributed in the phylogenetic tree. This enzyme is involved in the production of melanin and some other pigments in humans, animals and plants, including skin pigmentations in mammals, and browning process in plants and vegetables. Therefore, enzyme inhibitors has been under the attention of the scientist community, due to its broad applications in food, cosmetic, agricultural and medicinal fields, to avoid the undesirable effects of abnormal melanin overproduction. However, the research of novel chemical with antityrosinase activity demands the use of more efficient tools to speed up the tyrosinase inhibitors discovery process. This chapter is focused in the different components of a predictive modeling workflow for the identification and prioritization of potential new compounds with activity against the tyrosinase enzyme. In this case, two structure chemical libraries Spectrum Collection and Drugbank are used in this attempt to combine different virtual screening data mining techniques, in a sequential manner helping to avoid the usually expensive and time consuming traditional methods. Some of the sequential steps summarize here comprise the use of drug-likeness filters, similarity searching, classification and potency QSAR multiclassifier systems, modeling molecular interactions systems, and similarity/diversity analysis. Finally, the methodologies showed here provide a rational workflow for virtual screening hit analysis and selection as a promissory drug discovery strategy for use in target identification phase.

  19. Rambrain - a library for virtually extending physical memory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Imgrund

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available We introduce Rambrain, a user space C++ library that manages memory consumption of data-intense applications. Using Rambrain, one can overcommit memory beyond the size of physical memory present in the system. While there exist other more advanced techniques to solve this problem, Rambrain focuses on saving development time by providing a fast, general and easy-to-use solution. Rambrain takes care of temporarily swapping out data to disk and can handle multiples of the physical memory size present. Rambrain is thread-safe, OpenMP and MPI compatible and supports asynchronous I/O. The library is designed to require minimal changes to existing programs and pose only a small overhead.

  20. Information dynamics in virtual worlds gaming and beyond

    CERN Document Server

    Evans, Woody

    2011-01-01

    Presents a broad examination of the nature of virtual worlds and the potential they provide in managing and expressing information practices through that medium, grounding information professionals and students of new media in the fundamental elements of virtual worlds and online gaming. The book details the practical issues in finding and using information in virtual environments and presents a general theory of librarianship as it relates to virtual gaming worlds. It is encompassed by a set of best practice methods that libraries can effectively execute in their own environments, meeting the

  1. Library science talks

    CERN Document Server

    Le Meur, Jean-Yves; Vigen, Jens; CERN. Geneva

    1997-01-01

    The new interface to the CERN library data base by Jean-Yves Le Meur / CERN-AS I will give a short (hands on) demonstration of the new interface to the whole library database. Emphasis will be given to the new feature allowing any user to build his personal virtual library. A user oriented interface to physics preprint servers by Carlos Loureno / CERN-PPE I will give a (hands-on) presentation of a first version of a tailor made WEB based interface to the preprints kept in the CERN or Los Alamos servers. This interface has already been successfully implemented for the field of high energy heavy ion physics, and can easily be expanded or adapted to other research fields of interest to the HEP community. For the already published papers, a direct link to the published e-journal version is provided (if available). Status of the digital library at CERN by Jens Vigen / CERN-AS I will review the present situation concerning the availability of the electronic versions of scientific publications at CERN and the el...

  2. Bibliotecas virtuais e desenvolvimento de coleções: o caso dos repertórios de sites WebVirtual libraries and development of collections: web sites lists

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eric Leroux

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available A avaliação de sites Web e dos diferentes recursos eletrônicos constitui um campo de trabalho cada vez mais importante para o bibliotecário realizar a gestão e o desenvolvimento de coleções em bibliotecas. Este artigo pretende mostrar como o bibliotecário pode intervir em todas as etapas do processo de criação de uma biblioteca virtual, a partir da elaboração de uma política de desenvolvimento de coleções eletrônicas até a organização ergonômica dos recursos, passando pela determinação, seleção e avaliação dos sites Web.Web sites and various electronic resources evaluation are becoming more and more important for librarians in charge of library collection management and development.This article tries to find out how librarians can participate in all the steps related to the creation process of a virtual library, from writing the electronic collection development policy to organizing the resources ergonomically, as well as locating, selecting andevaluating Web sites.

  3. European pharmacy students' experience with virtual patient technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cavaco, Afonso Miguel; Madeira, Filipe

    2012-08-10

    To describe how virtual patients are being used to simulate real-life clinical scenarios in undergraduate pharmacy education in Europe. One hundred ninety-four participants at the 2011 Congress of the European Pharmaceutical Students Association (EPSA) completed an exploratory cross-sectional survey instrument. Of the 46 universities and 23 countries represented at the EPSA Congress, only 12 students from 6 universities in 6 different countries reported having experience with virtual patient technology. The students were satisfied with the virtual patient technology and considered it more useful as a teaching and learning tool than an assessment tool. Respondents who had not used virtual patient technology expressed support regarding its potential benefits in pharmacy education. French and Dutch students were significantly less interested in virtual patient technology than were their counterparts from other European countries. The limited use of virtual patients in pharmacy education in Europe suggests the need for initiatives to increase the use of virtual patient technology and the benefits of computer-assisted learning in pharmacy education.

  4. Strategic imperatives for globalization of industries in developing countries: an Indian pharmaceutical industry example.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Srivastava, Rajesh; Chandra, Ashish; Kumar, Girish

    2004-01-01

    The annual global pharmaceutical sales have grown over 466 billion dollars, almost 50% of which comes from North America. Among developing countries, India, with 16% of the world population, accounts for only a small percentage of the global pharmaceutical industry. Until recently, India has had virtually no pharmaceutical industry worth the name producing drugs from basic raw materials and it used to rely mostly on the imports from countries like the USA and England for all its requirements of drugs. On the other hand, India has seen a plethora of multinational pharmaceutical companies come and do business in India. This paper develops a matrix which provides a broad guidance to the mid- to large-size Indian pharmaceutical domestic companies, which should embark on the path to global expansion to establish their might as well.

  5. Quantitative structure-activity relationship analysis and virtual screening studies for identifying HDAC2 inhibitors from known HDAC bioactive chemical libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pham-The, H; Casañola-Martin, G; Diéguez-Santana, K; Nguyen-Hai, N; Ngoc, N T; Vu-Duc, L; Le-Thi-Thu, H

    2017-03-01

    Histone deacetylases (HDAC) are emerging as promising targets in cancer, neuronal diseases and immune disorders. Computational modelling approaches have been widely applied for the virtual screening and rational design of novel HDAC inhibitors. In this study, different machine learning (ML) techniques were applied for the development of models that accurately discriminate HDAC2 inhibitors form non-inhibitors. The obtained models showed encouraging results, with the global accuracy in the external set ranging from 0.83 to 0.90. Various aspects related to the comparison of modelling techniques, applicability domain and descriptor interpretations were discussed. Finally, consensus predictions of these models were used for screening HDAC2 inhibitors from four chemical libraries whose bioactivities against HDAC1, HDAC3, HDAC6 and HDAC8 have been known. According to the results of virtual screening assays, structures of some hits with pair-isoform-selective activity (between HDAC2 and other HDACs) were revealed. This study illustrates the power of ML-based QSAR approaches for the screening and discovery of potent, isoform-selective HDACIs.

  6. XML: How It Will Be Applied to Digital Library Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Hyun-Hee; Choi, Chang-Seok

    2000-01-01

    Shows how XML is applied to digital library systems. Compares major features of XML with those of HTML and describes an experimental XML-based metadata retrieval system, which is based on the Dublin Core and is designed as a subsystem of the Korean Virtual Library and Information System (VINIS). (Author/LRW)

  7. Introduction of Electronic Book Ordering with EDIFACT in a Special Library: A Case Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stadler, Peter; Thomas, Martin; Mernke, Ernst

    1999-01-01

    Describes book ordering procedures at a German pharmaceutical library using the Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport (EDIFACT) guidelines developed by the United Nations. Topics include advantages for libraries and for the book trade, changes needed in software, productivity gains, and EDIFACT versus the Internet.…

  8. Mengurangi Kecemasan Pemustaka Dalam Proses Penelusuran Informasi Melalui Layanan Virtual Referens di Perpustakaan Perguruan Tinggi

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Moh Very Setiawan

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Each individual has different capabilities in addressing the information needs they everyone has different disparities in finding and managing information sources. This is related to differences in ability and confidence of each person. This article aims to examine how virtual referens services are provided by college libraries that can help reduce the anxiety of information needs of the user. The study of this article is done descriptively qualitatively by reviewing some literature related to information tracking activities and forms of referens service that can be applied in the college library. The results of this article explain that, to help reduce the anxiety of information needs of the users in information search, including can be done by providing virtual referens service. The form of virtual reference service that can be done in the library of universities such as: research consultation services conducted by Singapore Management University library, live chat and provision of information in the form of a video conducted by University of Kentucky library, a research guide conducted by Harvard University library, ask librarian service, research assistant service and so on.

  9. Similarity searching and scaffold hopping in synthetically accessible combinatorial chemistry spaces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boehm, Markus; Wu, Tong-Ying; Claussen, Holger; Lemmen, Christian

    2008-04-24

    Large collections of combinatorial libraries are an integral element in today's pharmaceutical industry. It is of great interest to perform similarity searches against all virtual compounds that are synthetically accessible by any such library. Here we describe the successful application of a new software tool CoLibri on 358 combinatorial libraries based on validated reaction protocols to create a single chemistry space containing over 10 (12) possible products. Similarity searching with FTrees-FS allows the systematic exploration of this space without the need to enumerate all product structures. The search result is a set of virtual hits which are synthetically accessible by one or more of the existing reaction protocols. Grouping these virtual hits by their synthetic protocols allows the rapid design and synthesis of multiple follow-up libraries. Such library ideas support hit-to-lead design efforts for tasks like follow-up from high-throughput screening hits or scaffold hopping from one hit to another attractive series.

  10. [Application of FT-IR pattern recognition method for the quality control of pharmaceutical ingredients].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horgos, József; Kóger, Péter; Zelkó, Romána

    2009-01-01

    Nowadays infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics have proven their effectiveness for both qualitative and quantitative analyses in different fields like agriculture, food, chemical and oil industry. Furier Transformation Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) combined with Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR) plate is a fast identification instrument. It is suitable for analysis of solid and liquid phase, too. Associated with chemometrics, it would be a powerful tool for the pharmaceutical wholesalers to detect the insufficient quality of pharmaceutical ingredients. In the present study beside the review of the infra red technology, pharmaceutical ingredients were examined with the help of our spectra library.

  11. Virtual reality devices integration in scientific visualization software in the VtkVRPN framework

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Journe, G.; Guilbaud, C.

    2005-01-01

    A high-quality scientific visualization software relies on ergonomic navigation and exploration. Those are essential to be able to perform an efficient data analysis. To help solving this issue, management of virtual reality devices has been developed inside the CEA 'VtkVRPN' framework. This framework is based on VTK, a 3D graphical library, and VRPN, a virtual reality devices management library. This document describes the developments done during a post-graduate training course. (authors)

  12. Optimizing use of library technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wink, Diane M; Killingsworth, Elizabeth K

    2011-01-01

    In this bimonthly series, the author examines how nurse educators can use the Internet and Web-based computer technologies such as search, communication, collaborative writing tools; social networking and social bookmarking sites; virtual worlds; and Web-based teaching and learning programs. This article describes optimizing the use of library technology.

  13. DNA-encoded chemical libraries: advancing beyond conventional small-molecule libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franzini, Raphael M; Neri, Dario; Scheuermann, Jörg

    2014-04-15

    proteins and is likely to become a standard tool for pharmaceutical hit discovery, lead expansion, and Chemical Biology research. The introduction of new methodologies for library encoding and for compound synthesis in the presence of DNA is an exciting research field and will crucially contribute to the performance and the propagation of the technology.

  14. Virtual screening filters for the design of type II p38 MAP kinase inhibitors: a fragment based library generation approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Badrinarayan, Preethi; Sastry, G Narahari

    2012-04-01

    In this work, we introduce the development and application of a three-step scoring and filtering procedure for the design of type II p38 MAP kinase leads using allosteric fragments extracted from virtual screening hits. The design of the virtual screening filters is based on a thorough evaluation of docking methods, DFG-loop conformation, binding interactions and chemotype specificity of the 138 p38 MAP kinase inhibitors from Protein Data Bank bound to DFG-in and DFG-out conformations using Glide, GOLD and CDOCKER. A 40 ns molecular dynamics simulation with the apo, type I with DFG-in and type II with DFG-out forms was carried out to delineate the effects of structural variations on inhibitor binding. The designed docking-score and sub-structure filters were first tested on a dataset of 249 potent p38 MAP kinase inhibitors from seven diverse series and 18,842 kinase inhibitors from PDB, to gauge their capacity to discriminate between kinase and non-kinase inhibitors and likewise to selectively filter-in target-specific inhibitors. The designed filters were then applied in the virtual screening of a database of ten million (10⁷) compounds resulting in the identification of 100 hits. Based on their binding modes, 98 allosteric fragments were extracted from the hits and a fragment library was generated. New type II p38 MAP kinase leads were designed by tailoring the existing type I ATP site binders with allosteric fragments using a common urea linker. Target specific virtual screening filters can thus be easily developed for other kinases based on this strategy to retrieve target selective compounds. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. How can the digital library contribute to employability?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Harbo, Karen; Jensen, Thomas Skov

    2016-01-01

    platforms. A partnership is made between the digital library (partner libraries involved) and the virtual learning environment (educational institutions), based on the above definition of employability. This is done within the framework of Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Massive Open Online Courses......The DEFF project, E-learning, Information literacy and Library services, supports the education policy ambition of enhancing links between education and employment. The project consortium includes libraries from all Danish universities, university colleges and one business academy. Timeframe...... for the project is 2014-16. The project understands employability as: In close cooperation with study programmes libraries will strengthen students’ ability to perform independently and critically in a professional context by being able to identify, collect, evaluate, organize and present information via digital...

  16. How can the digital library contribute to employability?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Harbo, Karen; Jensen, Thomas Skov

    2016-01-01

    The DEFF project, E-learning, Information literacy and Library services, supports the education policy ambition of enhancing links between education and employment. The project consortium includes libraries from all Danish universities, university colleges and one business academy. Timeframe...... for the project is 2014-16. The project understands employability as: In close cooperation with study programmes libraries will strengthen students’ ability to perform independently and critically in a professional context by being able to identify, collect, evaluate, organize and present information via digital...... platforms. A partnership is made between the digital library (partner libraries involved) and the virtual learning environment (educational institutions), based on the above definition of employability. This is done within the framework of Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Massive Open Online Courses...

  17. VO-compliant libraries of high resolution spectra of cool stars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montes, D.

    2008-10-01

    In this contribution we describe a Virtual Observatory (VO) compliant version of the libraries of high resolution spectra of cool stars described by Montes et al. (1997; 1998; and 1999). Since their publication the fully reduced spectra in FITS format have been available via ftp and in the World Wide Web. However, in the VO all the spectra will be accessible using a common web interface following the standards of the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA). These libraries include F, G, K and M field stars, from dwarfs to giants. The spectral coverage is from 3800 to 10000 Å, with spectral resolution ranging from 0.09 to 3.0 Å.

  18. Protocols for the Design of Kinase-focused Compound Libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacoby, Edgar; Wroblowski, Berthold; Buyck, Christophe; Neefs, Jean-Marc; Meyer, Christophe; Cummings, Maxwell D; van Vlijmen, Herman

    2018-05-01

    Protocols for the design of kinase-focused compound libraries are presented. Kinase-focused compound libraries can be differentiated based on the design goal. Depending on whether the library should be a discovery library specific for one particular kinase, a general discovery library for multiple distinct kinase projects, or even phenotypic screening, there exists today a variety of in silico methods to design candidate compound libraries. We address the following scenarios: 1) Datamining of SAR databases and kinase focused vendor catalogues; 2) Predictions and virtual screening; 3) Structure-based design of combinatorial kinase inhibitors; 4) Design of covalent kinase inhibitors; 5) Design of macrocyclic kinase inhibitors; and 6) Design of allosteric kinase inhibitors and activators. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  19. Mobile technology and academic libraries innovative services for research and learning

    CERN Document Server

    Canuel, Robin

    2017-01-01

    In seventeen chapters ranging from A Mobile-First Library Site Redesign to Mobile Technology Support for Field Research to Virtual Reality Library Environments, Mobile Technology and Academic Libraries explores how librarians around the world are working to adapt their spaces, collections, teaching, and services to the new possibilities presented by mobile technology. This is a detailed and thorough examination of technology that's emerging now and how to incorporate it into your library to help the students and researchers of both today and tomorrow.

  20. Virtual drug discovery: beyond computational chemistry?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilardoni, Francois; Arvanites, Anthony C

    2010-02-01

    This editorial looks at how a fully integrated structure that performs all aspects in the drug discovery process, under one company, is slowly disappearing. The steps in the drug discovery paradigm have been slowly increasing toward virtuality or outsourcing at various phases of product development in a company's candidate pipeline. Each step in the process, such as target identification and validation and medicinal chemistry, can be managed by scientific teams within a 'virtual' company. Pharmaceutical companies to biotechnology start-ups have been quick in adopting this new research and development business strategy in order to gain flexibility, access the best technologies and technical expertise, and decrease product developmental costs. In today's financial climate, the term virtual drug discovery has an organizational meaning. It represents the next evolutionary step in outsourcing drug development.

  1. References in the Digital Age: Marketing and Services in Virtual Worlds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Octavia-Luciana Porumbeanu

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available The digital age has brought major changes at the level of the reference services offered by libraries. The emergence of competition, represented by numerous organizations that also provide information services, has necessitated the reorganization of reference services so that they function according to the market laws. In this context marketing has become an essential tool for libraries. They must develop strategies to make sure that users will continue to ask for their services. The number of those attracted to online information services is growing and many traditional users of libraries may be encountered at present in virtual environments where the possibilities for communication and interaction, for sharing information and generating knowledge are clearly better. Many libraries have already taken the step towards the virtual world and offer now assistance and information services in environments such as Second Life where there are possible both games and educational activities.

  2. Cloud-based services for your library a LITA guide

    CERN Document Server

    Mitchell, Erik T

    2013-01-01

    By exploring specific examples of cloud computing and virtualization, this book allows libraries considering cloud computing to start their exploration of these systems with a more informed perspective.

  3. Research on multi - channel interactive virtual assembly system for power equipment under the “VR+” era

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ren, Yilong; Duan, Xitong; Wu, Lei; He, Jin; Xu, Wu

    2017-06-01

    With the development of the “VR+” era, the traditional virtual assembly system of power equipment has been unable to satisfy our growing needs. In this paper, based on the analysis of the traditional virtual assembly system of electric power equipment and the application of VR technology in the virtual assembly system of electric power equipment in our country, this paper puts forward the scheme of establishing the virtual assembly system of power equipment: At first, we should obtain the information of power equipment, then we should using OpenGL and multi texture technology to build 3D solid graphics library. After the completion of three-dimensional modeling, we can use the dynamic link library DLL package three-dimensional solid graphics generation program to realize the modularization of power equipment model library and power equipment model library generated hidden algorithm. After the establishment of 3D power equipment model database, we set up the virtual assembly system of 3D power equipment to separate the assembly operation of the power equipment from the space. At the same time, aiming at the deficiency of the traditional gesture recognition algorithm, we propose a gesture recognition algorithm based on improved PSO algorithm for BP neural network data glove. Finally, the virtual assembly system of power equipment can really achieve multi-channel interaction function.

  4. The National Library of Medicine: 175 Years of Innovation | NIH MedlinePlus the Magazine

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... this page please turn Javascript on. The National Library of Medicine 175 Years of Information Innovation Past ... than 40 years! Today, thanks to the National Library of Medicine, virtually any bit of information ever ...

  5. Darnton's paradigm. Reflections on the social role of digital library

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Capaccioni

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The interest in digital libraries began in the early nineties of the last century, particularly in the United States. At first the argument involved a few computer scientists and some librarian. However, after the first terminological uncertainties ("electronic" library, "virtual" library, etc., digital libraries have become an object of interdisciplinary study and today constitute a research field of LIS. Over the years there has been an evolution of topics and approaches. The earlier prevailing interest was in the management and technological aspects of digital libraries and then emerged the need to rediscover the role of digital libraries in society. This paper focuses in particular on the most recent international debate on the social value of the digital library.

  6. Cataloguing In Special Libraries In The 1990s

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elizabeth Makin

    1996-01-01

    Full Text Available Cataloguing in special libraries has been virtually ignored in the literature since the turn of the century, although there are many books and papers on cataloguing in general. It is not clear why this should be so, since it can be argued that the needs of special libraries are different from those of public, academic and national libraries. Special libraries are primarily interested in the information content of documents in the sense that they have little or no interest in documents except as "packages" in which information may be encapsulated. It is therefore reasonable to assume, a priori, that special libraries would undertake detailed indexing and light cataloguing, perhaps reducing the catalogue to the status of a finding list. This paper reports the results of a survey of current cataloguing practice in special libraries.

  7. Performance Analysis of Ivshmem for High-Performance Computing in Virtual Machines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ivanovic, Pavle; Richter, Harald

    2018-01-01

    High-Performance computing (HPC) is rarely accomplished via virtual machines (VMs). In this paper, we present a remake of ivshmem which can change this. Ivshmem was a shared memory (SHM) between virtual machines on the same server, with SHM-access synchronization included, until about 5 years ago when newer versions of Linux and its virtualization library libvirt evolved. We restored that SHM-access synchronization feature because it is indispensable for HPC and made ivshmem runnable with contemporary versions of Linux, libvirt, KVM, QEMU and especially MPICH, which is an implementation of MPI - the standard HPC communication library. Additionally, MPICH was transparently modified by us to get ivshmem included, resulting in a three to ten times performance improvement compared to TCP/IP. Furthermore, we have transparently replaced MPI_PUT, a single-side MPICH communication mechanism, by an own MPI_PUT wrapper. As a result, our ivshmem even surpasses non-virtualized SHM data transfers for block lengths greater than 512 KBytes, showing the benefits of virtualization. All improvements were possible without using SR-IOV.

  8. Choosing the Right Free IM Providers and Clients for Your Library

    Science.gov (United States)

    Izenstark, Amanda K.

    2009-01-01

    With virtual library services increasing, public services librarians may find themselves with questions such as: What instant messaging services (IM) are available? Which IM service would best suit my patrons' needs? Which IM service best suits my library's technology profile? This column describes the features and functionality of major instant…

  9. Playing games at the Library: Seriously?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cécile Swiatek

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available During the past ten years, libraries have been developing gaming activities from library board games to mystery games and immersive roleplaying games. This article aims at giving a general overview of gaming issues in French academic libraries. General gaming theories are quickly reviewed, basic keys are given about how and why to set up a gaming service and department at the academic library, concrete and recent initiatives are presented. This article focuses on non-virtual and public-oriented games that were already organised in and by libraries. More generally, it underlines how to use gaming activities for promoting organisational innovation. It concludes on the necessity to settle a strategy for gaming activities, to enforce management practices, and on the importance to publicise the initiatives by establishing a public gaming policy and programme, and by formalising communication plans, staff training and knowledge management. The results of this fact study highlight how gaming activities are becoming a new reality for libraries, which requires a proper management perspective.

  10. Innovative public library services - staff-less or staff-intensive?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Johannsen, Carl Gustav Viggo

    2014-01-01

    Purpose – Several recent library innovations seem to make professional and clerical staff superfluous such as automated loan and delivery equipment, staff-less libraries open in 80 hours a week, and virtual services, enabling users to search the library catalogue and make reservations of library...... materials from their home address. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether such developments will necessarily lead to a situation where public libraries become self-service institutions or to what extent self-service and innovative staff-intensive library services can develop and co......-exist. Furthermore, the paper will examine what challenges library leaders face and what they can do, and actually have done, to handle staff resistance and other related problems to the benefit of both the users, the local communities, and also, the staff, in particular, when introducing new and innovative services...

  11. Characteristics of scientific production in Special Education in Virtual Health Library (VHL: a bibliometric study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luciana Pizzani

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Objective: To characterize, through bibliometric approach, the scientific literature in this Special Education in the databases of the Virtual Health Library (VHL. The VHL is coordinated by BIREME - Specialized Center of the Pan American Health Organization whose objective is to promote the dissemination and use of scientific information in health. Method: The research methodology was performed by observing the following steps: a literature review on education special and bibliometrics, data collection from the site of BIREME about the presence of special education in the databases, organization, processing and bibliometric analysis of data collected using the software MS Excel and Vantage Point. Results: indicators produced allow signal that the predominant language of scientific production was the Portuguese and the majority of records were written individually, the themes addressed were psychology and developmental psychology. Conclusion: These bibliometric indicators characterizing the state of the art of scientific literature in Special Education at the various bases Data Bireme and also showed a field of interconnections between Health Sciences and Special Education.

  12. Learning to Provide 3D Virtual Reference: A Library Science Assignment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Megan; Purpur, Geraldine; Abbott, Lisa T.

    2009-01-01

    In spring semester 2009, two of the authors taught LIB 5020--Information Sources & Services to graduate library science students at Appalachian State University. The course covers information seeking patterns and provides an overview of reference services. The course is also designed to examine and evaluate library reference materials and…

  13. Proposal for Implementing Multi-User Database (MUD) Technology in an Academic Library.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Filby, A. M. Iliana

    1996-01-01

    Explores the use of MOO (multi-user object oriented) virtual environments in academic libraries to enhance reference services. Highlights include the development of multi-user database (MUD) technology from gaming to non-recreational settings; programming issues; collaborative MOOs; MOOs as distinguished from other types of virtual reality; audio…

  14. High throughput screening of photocatalytic conversion of pharmaceutical contaminants in water

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Romao, Joana; Barata, David; Ribeiro, Nelson; Habibovic, Pamela; Fernandes, Hugo; Mul, Guido

    2017-01-01

    The susceptibility for photon-induced degradation of over 800 pharmaceutical compounds present in the LOPAC1280 library, was analyzed by UV/Vis spectroscopy in the absence or presence of TiO2 P25 in water. In general, few compounds were effectively degraded in the absence of the TiO2 photocatalyst

  15. The effect of active learning methodologies on the teaching of pharmaceutical care in a Brazilian pharmacy faculty.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alessandra R Mesquita

    Full Text Available In recent years, pharmacists have been involved in expanded patient care responsibilities, for example patient counseling in self-medication, medication review and pharmaceutical care, which require graduates to develop the necessary competences. Consequently, reorientation of pharmacy education has become necessary. As such, active learning strategies have been introduced into classrooms to increase problem-solving and critical thinking skills of students. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance and perceptions of competency of students in a new pharmaceutical care course that uses active learning methodologies.This pharmaceutical care course was conducted in the first semester of 2014, in the Federal University of Sergipe. In the pharmaceutical care course, active learning methods were used, consisting of dialogic classroom expository, simulation and case studies. Student learning was evaluated using classroom tests and instruments that evaluated the perception of competency in pharmaceutical care practice. Furthermore, students' satisfaction with the course was evaluated.Thirty-three students completed the four evaluations used in the course (i.e., a discursive written exam, seminars, OSCE, and virtual patient; 25 were female (75.75%, and the median age was 23.43 (SD 2.82 years. The overall mean of student scores, in all evaluation methods was 7.97 (SD 0.59 on a scale of 0 to 10 points, and student performance on the virtual patient method was statistically superior to other methods. With respect to the perception of competency in pharmaceutical care practice, a comparison of pre- and post-test scores revealed statistically significant improvement for all evaluated competences. At the end of the semester, the students presented positive opinions of the pharmaceutical care course.The results suggest that an active learning course can enhance the learning of pharmaceutical care competences. In future studies it will be

  16. The effect of active learning methodologies on the teaching of pharmaceutical care in a Brazilian pharmacy faculty.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mesquita, Alessandra R; Souza, Werlissandra M; Boaventura, Thays C; Barros, Izadora M C; Antoniolli, Angelo R; Silva, Wellington B; Lyra Júnior, Divaldo P

    2015-01-01

    In recent years, pharmacists have been involved in expanded patient care responsibilities, for example patient counseling in self-medication, medication review and pharmaceutical care, which require graduates to develop the necessary competences. Consequently, reorientation of pharmacy education has become necessary. As such, active learning strategies have been introduced into classrooms to increase problem-solving and critical thinking skills of students. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance and perceptions of competency of students in a new pharmaceutical care course that uses active learning methodologies. This pharmaceutical care course was conducted in the first semester of 2014, in the Federal University of Sergipe. In the pharmaceutical care course, active learning methods were used, consisting of dialogic classroom expository, simulation and case studies. Student learning was evaluated using classroom tests and instruments that evaluated the perception of competency in pharmaceutical care practice. Furthermore, students' satisfaction with the course was evaluated. Thirty-three students completed the four evaluations used in the course (i.e., a discursive written exam, seminars, OSCE, and virtual patient); 25 were female (75.75%), and the median age was 23.43 (SD 2.82) years. The overall mean of student scores, in all evaluation methods was 7.97 (SD 0.59) on a scale of 0 to 10 points, and student performance on the virtual patient method was statistically superior to other methods. With respect to the perception of competency in pharmaceutical care practice, a comparison of pre- and post-test scores revealed statistically significant improvement for all evaluated competences. At the end of the semester, the students presented positive opinions of the pharmaceutical care course. The results suggest that an active learning course can enhance the learning of pharmaceutical care competences. In future studies it will be necessary to

  17. Purpose-Oriented Antibody Libraries Incorporating Tailored CDR3 Sequences

    OpenAIRE

    Bonvin, Pauline; Venet, Sophie; Kosco-Vilbois, Marie; Fischer, Nicolas

    2015-01-01

    The development of in vitro antibody selection technologies has allowed overcoming some limitations inherent to the hybridoma technology. In most cases, large repertoires of antibody genes have been assembled to create highly diversified libraries allowing the isolation of antibodies recognizing virtually any antigen. However, these universal libraries might not allow the isolation of antibodies with specific structural properties or particular amino acid contents that are rarely found in nat...

  18. The Relationship between Cultural Diversity and User Needs in Virtual Reference Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shachaf, Pnina; Snyder, Mary

    2007-01-01

    While the racial diversity of academic library users continues to grow, research on the effects of this diversity remains scarce. This study looks at similarities and differences between non-traditional Caucasian and African American library users through content analysis of ninety-four virtual reference transactions.

  19. Human recombinant beta-secretase immobilized enzyme reactor for fast hits' selection and characterization from a virtual screening library.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Simone, Angela; Mancini, Francesca; Cosconati, Sandro; Marinelli, Luciana; La Pietra, Valeria; Novellino, Ettore; Andrisano, Vincenza

    2013-01-25

    In the present work, a human recombinant BACE1 immobilized enzyme reactor (hrBACE1-IMER) has been applied for the sensitive fast screening of 38 compounds selected through a virtual screening approach. HrBACE1-IMER was inserted into a liquid chromatograph coupled with a fluorescent detector. A fluorogenic peptide substrate (M-2420), containing the β-secretase site of the Swedish mutation of APP, was injected and cleaved in the on-line HPLC-hrBACE1-IMER system, giving rise to the fluorescent product. The compounds of the library were tested for their ability to inhibit BACE1 in the immobilized format and to reduce the area related to the chromatographic peak of the fluorescent enzymatic product. The results were validated in solution by using two different FRET methods. Due to the efficient virtual screening methodology, more than fifty percent of the selected compounds showed a measurable inhibitory activity. One of the most active compound (a bis-indanone derivative) was characterized in terms of IC(50) and K(i) determination on the hrBACE1-IMER. Thus, the hrBACE1-IMER has been confirmed as a valid tool for the throughput screening of different chemical entities with potency lower than 30μM for the fast hits' selection and for mode of action determination. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Fast Facts: Recent Statistics from the Library Research Service, No. 225-231 (July-November, 2005)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lietzau, Zeth; Lance, Keith Curry; Dickenson, Don

    2005-01-01

    Seven issues of Fast Facts from the Library Research Service that cover information from libraries across Colorado are contained in this document. These issues focus on topics from various library sectors and include patron use of AskColorado (a statewide virtual reference service) and the rising use of online services, Colorado public library…

  1. From Commons to Classroom: The Evolution of Learning Spaces in Academic Libraries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karasic, Victoria

    2016-01-01

    Over the past two decades, academic library spaces have evolved to meet the changing teaching and learning needs of diverse campus communities. The Information Commons combines the physical and virtual in an informal library space, whereas the recent Active Learning Classroom creates a more formal setting for collaboration. As scholarship has…

  2. MULTIMEDIA EDITOR OF VIRTUAL PHYSICAL LABORATORY IN DISTANCE LEARNING SYSTEM «KHERSON VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY»

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kravtsov H.

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The questions of modeling the structure of the objects of the system, the design of software modules and technologies for creating the editor of a virtual laboratory are considered. The relevance of the study is due to the lack in existing distance learning systems of support for the creation and use of virtual laboratory work on disciplines of the natural-science profile. The subject of the study is a software module for creating and using virtual laboratory work in a distance learning system. The purpose of the study is the development of a system model and a description of the software development technology of a virtual laboratory for physics for a distance learning system. The information technologies of designing the structure of the virtual laboratory and the main modes of the program module of the editor of the virtual laboratory work are described. At the heart of the structure of the software module "Virtual Laboratory" is the multimedia Web-editor of virtual laboratory works, which is created using object-oriented design technology. The program library of multimedia 3D objects created in the development environment of interactive graphic objects Unity3D. It unifies the process of creation and processing of virtual laboratory works. The basic mathematical package for supporting calculations is the mathematical processor Waterloo Maple. The application of the developed software interface will allow teachers to create laboratory works and use them in their distance courses. Students, in turn, will be able to conduct research, performing virtual laboratory work. As an example, the editor of the virtual laboratory for physics in the distance learning system "Kherson Virtual University" is considered.

  3. On-line interactive virtual experiments on nanoscience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kadar, Manuella; Ileana, Ioan; Hutanu, Constantin

    2009-01-01

    This paper is an overview on the next generation web which allows students to experience virtual experiments on nano science, physics devices, processes and processing equipment. Virtual reality is used to support a real university lab in which a student can experiment real lab sessions. The web material is presented in an intuitive and highly visual 3D form that is accessible to a diverse group of students. Such type of laboratory provides opportunities for professional and practical education for a wide range of users. The expensive equipment and apparatuses that build the experimental stage in a particular standard laboratory is used to create virtual educational research laboratories. Students learn how to prepare the apparatuses and facilities for the experiment. The online experiments metadata schema is the format for describing online experiments, much like the schema behind a library catalogue used to describe the books in a library. As an online experiment is a special kind of learning object, one specifies its schema as an extension to an established metadata schema for learning objects. The content of the courses, metainformation as well as readings and user data are saved on the server in a database as XML objects.

  4. The essential skills required by librarians to support medical virtual learning programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soleymani, Mohammad Reza; Akbari, Zahra; Mojiri, Shahin

    2016-01-01

    Background: With the recent spread of virtual learning programs in universities, especially in the field of medical sciences, libraries play a crucial role to support these programs. This study aimed at investigating the skills required by librarians to support virtual learning programs in Isfahan University and Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This was an applied survey study. The population of the study includes all librarians working in Isfahan University and Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. A sample of 89 librarians was selected by stratified random sampling. Data were collected by a researcher-made questionnaire, the validity of which was confirmed by specialists in the fields of librarianship and information sciences and virtual learning, and its reliability was determined to be 0.92, using Cronbach's Alpha. The questionnaire consisted of 51 items designed to evaluate the librarians' virtual learning skills using Likert scale. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the findings. Results: The findings of this study revealed that librarians had low level of skills with respect to the online reference services, and familiarity with virtual learning environment. They also showed low and average level of skills with respect to their general information technology, communication skills, ability to teach electronic information literacy and ability to create access to electronic resources. The results revealed no significant difference between the librarians of the two universities, or between male and female librarians. However, librarians with educational background in librarianship and information sciences were significantly more skillful and competent than their colleagues. Conclusion: Despite the crucial role of libraries in supporting virtual learning programs, the librarians in Isfahan University and Isfahan University of Medical Sciences had low-level skills to play such an important role. Therefore, it is essential

  5. Reducing systems biology to practice in pharmaceutical company research; selected case studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benson, N; Cucurull-Sanchez, L; Demin, O; Smirnov, S; van der Graaf, P

    2012-01-01

    Reviews of the productivity of the pharmaceutical industry have concluded that the current business model is unsustainable. Various remedies for this have been proposed, however, arguably these do not directly address the fundamental issue; namely, that it is the knowledge required to enable good decisions in the process of delivering a drug that is largely absent; in turn, this leads to a disconnect between our intuition of what the right drug target is and the reality of pharmacological intervention in a system such as a human disease state. As this system is highly complex, modelling will be required to elucidate emergent properties together with the data necessary to construct such models. Currently, however, both the models and data available are limited. The ultimate solution to the problem of pharmaceutical productivity may be the virtual human, however, it is likely to be many years, if at all, before this goal is realised. The current challenge is, therefore, whether systems modelling can contribute to improving productivity in the pharmaceutical industry in the interim and help to guide the optimal route to the virtual human. In this context, this chapter discusses the emergence of systems pharmacology in drug discovery from the interface of pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modelling and systems biology. Examples of applications to the identification of optimal drug targets in given pathways, selecting drug modalities and defining biomarkers are discussed, together with future directions.

  6. One New Method to Generate 3-Dimensional Virtual Mannequin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiu-jin, Shi; Zhi-jun, Wang; Jia-jin, Le

    The personal virtual mannequin is very important in electronic made to measure (eMTM) system. There is one new easy method to generate personal virtual mannequin. First, the characteristic information of customer's body is got from two photos. Secondly, some human body part templates corresponding with the customer are selected from the templates library. Thirdly, these templates are modified and assembled according to certain rules to generate a personalized 3-dimensional human, and then the virtual mannequin is realized. Experimental result shows that the method is easy and feasible.

  7. Functional cloning using pFB retroviral cDNA expression libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Felts, Katherine A; Chen, Keith; Zaharee, Kim; Sundar, Latha; Limjoco, Jamie; Miller, Anna; Vaillancourt, Peter

    2002-09-01

    Retroviral cDNA expression libraries allow the efficient introduction of complex cDNA libraries into virtually any mitotic cell type for screening based on gene function. The cDNA copy number per cell can be easily controlled by adjusting the multiplicity of infection, thus cell populations may be generated in which >90% of infected cells contain one to three cDNAs. We describe the isolation of two known oncogenes and one cell-surface receptor from a human Burkitt's lymphoma (Daudi) cDNA library inserted into the high-titer retroviral vector pFB.

  8. Significant Benefits from Libraries in Web 3.0 Environment

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    pc

    2018-03-05

    Mar 5, 2018 ... Keywords- Web 3.0, library 3.0, Web 3.0 Applications, Semantic. Web ... providing virtual information services, and other services cannot be ... web third generation, definition, beginning, and retrieve system. The study ...

  9. Graphical User Interfaces and Library Systems: End-User Reactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zorn, Margaret; Marshall, Lucy

    1995-01-01

    Describes a study by Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research Library to determine user satisfaction with the graphical user interface-based (GUI) Dynix Marquis compared with the text-based Dynix Classic Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC). Results show that the GUI-based OPAC was preferred by endusers over the text-based OPAC. (eight references) (DGM)

  10. Virtual high screening throughput and design of 14α-lanosterol ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    STORAGESEVER

    2009-07-06

    Jul 6, 2009 ... Virtual high screening throughput and design of. 14α-lanosterol demethylase inhibitors against. Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Hildebert B. Maurice1*, Esther Tuarira1 and Kennedy Mwambete2. 1School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Institute of Allied Health Sciences, Muhimbili University of Health and.

  11. Promoting the Effect of the Qing Dynasty Imperial Garden Architectural Component Library on the Digitalization of Cultural Heritage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jindan, C.; Junsong, Z.; Jiujun, Z.

    2015-08-01

    With the development of computer technology and practical verification, digital virtual technology has matured and is increasingly being widely applied to cultural heritage protection and research. With this advancement in technology, there is pressing need to simplify heritage-related puzzles. Thus the main question that has increasingly become the most central and fundamental problem in heritage digitalization work is how to choose the "proper technology" that provides support directly, accurately and rapidly for the research, protection and exchange of cultural heritage. Based on the principles of "authenticity" and "completeness" found in the Venice Charter in regards to dealing with cultural heritage; this paper proposes the concept of the component library which facilitates the improvement and efficiency of virtual reconstruction, provides a visual discussion platform for cultural heritage protection, virtual scene construction, accuracy assessment, and multi-space-time exhibition; thereby implementing the spirit of tolerance and respect found in the Nara Document on Authenticity. The paper further aims to illustrate the significance of the Qing dynasty imperial garden architectural component library for cultural heritage study and protection, the principles for virtual library construction, use and maintenance of the library, and classification approaches, and also provide some suggestions about making high quality 3D models and effective means for database integration.

  12. Marketing the Library in an On-Line University to Help Achieve Information Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, Jennifer

    2013-01-01

    An entrepreneurial librarian takes the embedded librarian concept one step further at a completely on-line university and markets the virtual library to students, faculty and administration rather than wait for customers to come to the library. York and Vance (2009) make the observation that "one obstacle to marketing an embedded librarian…

  13. Assessment of Virtual Library Resources at the National Teachers ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Information Manager (The) ... In view of the findings, the recommendations made were that Management should acquire and install the adequate information communication facilities that will serve the need of both library and users in its acquisition, organization, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information.

  14. Virtual-reality displaying of workpiece by reverse modeling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu Huimin; Zhang Li; Chen Zhiqiang; Zhao Ziran

    2006-01-01

    The authors first propose a suit of CT data processing system: virtual-reality-based testing of workpiece by Reverse Modeling. For reverse modeling module, the authors propose two solutions: integrating Medical CT Modeling software and using VTK library to develop independently. Then, the authors analyze the required functions and characteristics of CT-based Reverse Modeling module, and the key technologies for developing. For virtual-reality module, the authors study characteristics of CT data and the needs of CT users, and describe the required functions and key techniques as for virtual reality displaying module. The authors still analyze the problems and prospective of development. (authors)

  15. Introduction to Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Volume 1; Basic techniques and concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhatia, Saurabh; Goli, Divakar

    2018-05-01

    Animal biotechnology is a broad field including polarities of fundamental and applied research, as well as DNA science, covering key topics of DNA studies and its recent applications. In Introduction to Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, DNA isolation procedures followed by molecular markers and screening methods of the genomic library are explained. Interesting areas like isolation, sequencing and synthesis of genes, with the broader coverage on synthesis of genes, are also described. The book begins with an introduction to biotechnology and its main branches, explaining both the basic science and the applications of biotechnology-derived pharmaceuticals, with special emphasis on their clinical use. It then moves on to historical development and scope of biotechnology with an overall review of early applications that scientists employed long before the field was defined.

  16. Hierarchical virtual screening approaches in small molecule drug discovery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Ashutosh; Zhang, Kam Y J

    2015-01-01

    Virtual screening has played a significant role in the discovery of small molecule inhibitors of therapeutic targets in last two decades. Various ligand and structure-based virtual screening approaches are employed to identify small molecule ligands for proteins of interest. These approaches are often combined in either hierarchical or parallel manner to take advantage of the strength and avoid the limitations associated with individual methods. Hierarchical combination of ligand and structure-based virtual screening approaches has received noteworthy success in numerous drug discovery campaigns. In hierarchical virtual screening, several filters using ligand and structure-based approaches are sequentially applied to reduce a large screening library to a number small enough for experimental testing. In this review, we focus on different hierarchical virtual screening strategies and their application in the discovery of small molecule modulators of important drug targets. Several virtual screening studies are discussed to demonstrate the successful application of hierarchical virtual screening in small molecule drug discovery. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Your Guide to Meebo Options: Virtual Reference Summer Meltdown and Fall Shakeout

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breitbach, William

    2012-01-01

    Competition in the virtual reference market got really hot this past summer. Recent developments in virtual reference offerings suggest the market is much more dynamic than most people would have imagined a short time ago. With Google's acquisition of Meebo and its subsequent decision to shut down the chat widget service, many libraries scrambled…

  18. User Interface Technology Transfer to NASA's Virtual Wind Tunnel System

    Science.gov (United States)

    vanDam, Andries

    1998-01-01

    Funded by NASA grants for four years, the Brown Computer Graphics Group has developed novel 3D user interfaces for desktop and immersive scientific visualization applications. This past grant period supported the design and development of a software library, the 3D Widget Library, which supports the construction and run-time management of 3D widgets. The 3D Widget Library is a mechanism for transferring user interface technology from the Brown Graphics Group to the Virtual Wind Tunnel system at NASA Ames as well as the public domain.

  19. Browsing Your Virtual Library: The Case of Expanding Universe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daniels, Wayne; Enright, Jeanne; Mackenzie, Scott

    1997-01-01

    Describes "Expanding Universe: a classified search tool for amateur astronomy," a Web site maintained by the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library which uses a modified form of the Dewey Decimal Classification to organize a large file of astronomy hotlinks. Highlights include structure, HTML coding, design requirements, and future…

  20. Ligand efficiency based approach for efficient virtual screening of compound libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ke, Yi-Yu; Coumar, Mohane Selvaraj; Shiao, Hui-Yi; Wang, Wen-Chieh; Chen, Chieh-Wen; Song, Jen-Shin; Chen, Chun-Hwa; Lin, Wen-Hsing; Wu, Szu-Huei; Hsu, John T A; Chang, Chung-Ming; Hsieh, Hsing-Pang

    2014-08-18

    Here we report for the first time the use of fit quality (FQ), a ligand efficiency (LE) based measure for virtual screening (VS) of compound libraries. The LE based VS protocol was used to screen an in-house database of 125,000 compounds to identify aurora kinase A inhibitors. First, 20 known aurora kinase inhibitors were docked to aurora kinase A crystal structure (PDB ID: 2W1C); and the conformations of docked ligand were used to create a pharmacophore (PH) model. The PH model was used to screen the database compounds, and rank (PH rank) them based on the predicted IC50 values. Next, LE_Scale, a weight-dependant LE function, was derived from 294 known aurora kinase inhibitors. Using the fit quality (FQ = LE/LE_Scale) score derived from the LE_Scale function, the database compounds were reranked (PH_FQ rank) and the top 151 (0.12% of database) compounds were assessed for aurora kinase A inhibition biochemically. This VS protocol led to the identification of 7 novel hits, with compound 5 showing aurora kinase A IC50 = 1.29 μM. Furthermore, testing of 5 against a panel of 31 kinase reveals that it is selective toward aurora kinase A & B, with <50% inhibition for other kinases at 10 μM concentrations and is a suitable candidate for further development. Incorporation of FQ score in the VS protocol not only helped identify a novel aurora kinase inhibitor, 5, but also increased the hit rate of the VS protocol by improving the enrichment factor (EF) for FQ based screening (EF = 828), compared to PH based screening (EF = 237) alone. The LE based VS protocol disclosed here could be applied to other targets for hit identification in an efficient manner. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  1. Virtual Reconstruction of Cultural Heritage Artifacts

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Haindl, Michal; Sedláček, Matěj; Vávra, Radomír

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 2015, č. 103 (2015), s. 12-13 ISSN 0926-4981 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA14-10911S Institutional support: RVO:67985556 Keywords : virtual reconstruction * shape modeling * surface modeling * bidirectional texture function Subject RIV: BD - Theory of Information http:// library .utia.cas.cz/separaty/2015/RO/haindl-0447984.pdf

  2. Zweigbibliothek Medizin der Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Münster – vor Ort, online und mobil / Medical Branch Library of the University & Regional Library Münster – local, online, and mobile

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Obst, Oliver

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available The Medical Branch Library is a subject library of the University and Regional Library Münster, and was founded in 1993 as the central medical library in the grounds of the University Hospital. Second only to the German National Library in Cologne, it is the largest medical library in North Rhine-Westphalia. The budget of the library derives mainly from the Medical Faculty. The funding from the university and from tuition fees is used to acquire textbooks. The physical library is used almost exclusively as a place of learning (by students, while the online presence mainly by researchers and physicians. The library offers since 1997 e-journals, since 2003 e-books and media for Smart Computers/Phones. It is using innovative ways for supplying journal articles, such as a virtual library budget and serving Subito for free.

  3. LibraryH3lp: A New Flexible Chat Reference System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pam Sessoms

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available LibraryH3lp is an integrated IM and web chat system designed specifically for Virtual Reference services in libraries. The software was designed for, and is currently used by, a night-time chat reference collaboraton between several large academic libraries. LibraryH3lp is designed for the workflow of chat reference, supporting multiple simultaneous operators and routing to queues of operators in a particular service area. It also supports web page embeddable chat 'widgets', as well as simultaneous gateways to multiple IM protocols. This article discusses the motivation for the development of the software, and provides an overview of LibraryH3lp's features and technical architecture. Parts of LibraryH3lp are available as open source. The complete application is available as a low-cost hosted service, and will eventually be available to be licensed for local hosting.

  4. The Changing Role of the Librarian – A Virtual Library and a Real Archive?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Klugkist, Alex C.

    2001-01-01

    For centuries, the position of the library and the librarian was not under debate. The useful role of the library in society was more or less self-explanatory. And its librarian was an esteemed and valued functionary. In the digital information society however, the library and the librarian

  5. Haven't We Been Here Before? Some Comments on Steve Coffman's Proposal for "Earth's Largest Library".

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGervey, Teresa

    2000-01-01

    Discusses the concept of Earth's Largest Library (ELL), a mega-virtual library based on the Amazon.com model. Topics include who will be included; privacy; censorship; scope of the collection; costs; legal aspects; collection development; personnel management; access; the concept of community; public service; lending policies; technical…

  6. Sharing experiences about developing a regional social science virtual library

    OpenAIRE

    Babini, Dominique

    2004-01-01

    Why and how a Latin American and the Caribbean social sciences network (Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales, CLACSO) started a cooperative open access digital library to disseminate research results (journal articles, books, working documents)

  7. Library goes Anatomy. Anatomische Lehrmedien an der Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg

    OpenAIRE

    Gehrlein, S

    2014-01-01

    Heidelberg University Library is following new paths to optimize the librarian services for medical studies. In close cooperation with the Institute for Anatomy and Cell Biology at Heidelberg University the library is profoundly expanding the anatomical teaching equipment: the virtual dissecting table Anatomage enables medical students to work on life-size, anatomical models in 3D, providing the possibility to prepare for and practice their anatomy lessons. The comprehensive collection of ana...

  8. Virtually embedded the librarian in an online environment

    CERN Document Server

    McCaffrey, Erin

    2014-01-01

    The rise of online education at institutions of higher learning, together with the increasing cost of higher education, lead some to suggest that online (or distance) education will eventually become the dominant form of higher learning. This has particular significance for librarians. This casebook, a blueprint for embedding academic librarians in online environments, from undergraduate to science-based graduate schools to MOOCs is the first to explore how librarians can play a key role in the virtual academic landscape. The authors, academic librarians representing a broad range of colleges and universities, look at the evolution of the embedded librarian from physical to virtual, suggest how to develop and implement unique programs in and out of the classroom, and explain how to scale programs once they are embedded. This book is suitable for professional collections in academic libraries of all sizes and types. It is also suitable for collections in schools of library and information science.

  9. A cross docking pipeline for improving pose prediction and virtual screening performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Ashutosh; Zhang, Kam Y. J.

    2018-01-01

    Pose prediction and virtual screening performance of a molecular docking method depend on the choice of protein structures used for docking. Multiple structures for a target protein are often used to take into account the receptor flexibility and problems associated with a single receptor structure. However, the use of multiple receptor structures is computationally expensive when docking a large library of small molecules. Here, we propose a new cross-docking pipeline suitable to dock a large library of molecules while taking advantage of multiple target protein structures. Our method involves the selection of a suitable receptor for each ligand in a screening library utilizing ligand 3D shape similarity with crystallographic ligands. We have prospectively evaluated our method in D3R Grand Challenge 2 and demonstrated that our cross-docking pipeline can achieve similar or better performance than using either single or multiple-receptor structures. Moreover, our method displayed not only decent pose prediction performance but also better virtual screening performance over several other methods.

  10. Orientation Programs to the Virtual National Libraries in the Arab ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    pc

    2018-03-05

    teaching the strategies of web search engines" and "teaching the standards of .... For example, YouTube is used to market particular services and products. ..... [11] Liu, Q., Lo, P., & Itsumura, H. , Measuring the Importance of Library.

  11. Rapid access to compound libraries through flow technology: fully automated synthesis of a 3-aminoindolizine library via orthogonal diversification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lange, Paul P; James, Keith

    2012-10-08

    A novel methodology for the synthesis of druglike heterocycle libraries has been developed through the use of flow reactor technology. The strategy employs orthogonal modification of a heterocyclic core, which is generated in situ, and was used to construct both a 25-membered library of druglike 3-aminoindolizines, and selected examples of a 100-member virtual library. This general protocol allows a broad range of acylation, alkylation and sulfonamidation reactions to be performed in conjunction with a tandem Sonogashira coupling/cycloisomerization sequence. All three synthetic steps were conducted under full automation in the flow reactor, with no handling or isolation of intermediates, to afford the desired products in good yields. This fully automated, multistep flow approach opens the way to highly efficient generation of druglike heterocyclic systems as part of a lead discovery strategy or within a lead optimization program.

  12. 3D VISUALIZATION FOR VIRTUAL MUSEUM DEVELOPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Skamantzari

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The interest in the development of virtual museums is nowadays rising rapidly. During the last decades there have been numerous efforts concerning the 3D digitization of cultural heritage and the development of virtual museums, digital libraries and serious games. The realistic result has always been the main concern and a real challenge when it comes to 3D modelling of monuments, artifacts and especially sculptures. This paper implements, investigates and evaluates the results of the photogrammetric methods and 3D surveys that were used for the development of a virtual museum. Moreover, the decisions, the actions, the methodology and the main elements that this kind of application should include and take into consideration are described and analysed. It is believed that the outcomes of this application will be useful to researchers who are planning to develop and further improve the attempts made on virtual museums and mass production of 3D models.

  13. A comparison of the use of virtual versus physical snapshots for supporting update-intensive workloads

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Šidlauskas, Darius; Jensen, Christian S.; Šaltenis, Simonas

    2012-01-01

    and one for the frequent and very localized updates. The snapshot that receives the updates is frequently made available to queries, so that queries see up-to-date data. The snapshots may be physical or virtual. Physical snapshots are created using the C library memcpy function. Virtual snapshots...

  14. Your Library Goes Virtual: Promoting Reading and Supporting Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Church, Audrey

    2006-01-01

    According to a November 2004 Pew Internet and American Life Project survey, "87% of those between the ages of 12 and 17 are online...and half of them say they go online every day" ("Teens Forge" 1). They prefer the Internet to traditional libraries because they consider the Internet to be easier to use, more convenient, open 24/7, and full of more…

  15. Are You Building Your Library with the Right Stuff?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abram, Stephen

    1999-01-01

    Outlines technology trends affecting library marketing: change is too slow; education is out/learning is in; the next generation are "NextHeads"; the next generation is different; change cannot be managed generationally; "virtual" is place, not format; communities of interest are not bounded by geography; new brands are…

  16. University Libraries and Digital Learning Environments

    OpenAIRE

    2011-01-01

    University libraries around the world have embraced the possibilities of the digital learning environment, facilitating its use and proactively seeking to develop the provision of electronic resources and services. The digital environment offers opportunities and challenges for librarians in all aspects of their work – in information literacy, virtual reference, institutional repositories, e-learning, managing digital resources and social media. The authors in this timely book are leading exp...

  17. Virtual Generation of Agents against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A QSAR Study

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Besalú, E.; Ponec, Robert; de Julián-Ortiz, J. V.

    2003-01-01

    Roč. 6, - (2003), s. 107-120 ISSN 1381-1991 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z4072921 Keywords : cross-validation * linear models * virtual molecular libraries Subject RIV: CF - Physical ; Theoretical Chemistry Impact factor: 4.444, year: 2001

  18. Virtual Racism Rears its Head: Uncovering Librarian Bias in E-mail Reference Services. A review of: Shachaf, Pnina, and Sarah Horowitz. “Are Virtual Reference Services Color Blind?” Library & Information Science Research 28.4 (Sept. 2006: 501‐20.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wendy Furlan

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available Objective – To examine whether librarians provide equitable virtual reference services to diverse user groups.Design – Unobtrusive method of defined scenarios submitted via e-mail.Setting – Twenty‐three Association of Research Libraries (ARL member libraries from across the United States. All ARL member libraries were invited to participate, with the 23 acceptances providing 19% participation.Subjects – Anonymous librarians from the 23 participating libraries’ virtual e‐mail reference services. Up to 6 librarians from each library may have been involved. Six fictitious personas were developed to represent particular ethnic or religious groups, whereby the ethnic or religious affiliation was only indicated by the name chosen for each user and the correspondinge‐mail address. Names were selected from lists of names or baby names available online: Latoya Johnson (African‐American, Rosa Manuz (Hispanic, Chang Su (Asian ‐Chinese, Mary Anderson(Caucasian/Christian, Ahmed Ibrahim (Muslim, and Moshe Cohen(Caucasian/Jewish. These personas were used to submit reference queries via e‐mail to the virtual reference services taking part in the study.Methods – Five different types of reference queries were developed for use in this study. Three were based on prior published research as they were deemed to be answerable by the majority of libraries. They included a dissertation query, a sports team query, and a population query all designed to be tailored to the target institution. The other 2 queries were developed with participating institutions’ virtual reference guidelines in mind, and were thought to not be answered by the target institutions when submitted by unaffiliated users. They consisted of a subject query on a special collection topic that asked for copies of relevant articles to be sent out, and an article query requesting that a copy of a specific article be e‐mailed to the patron. The study was conducted over a 6 week

  19. Millennials in action: a student-guided effort in curriculum-integration of library skills.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brower, Stewart

    2004-01-01

    By working in tandem with the Coordinator of Information Management Education (IME) at the University at Buffalo Health Sciences Library, students serving on the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Curriculum Committee helped map out a three-year plan for training in library and information literacy skills. Through meetings and e-mail exchanges with the student representatives, the IME Coordinator developed a series of specific course-related instruction and assessment opportunities which would cover tertiary resources, bibliographic searching, evidence-based pharmacy, and advanced information skills.

  20. Know Thy Neighbor: Crypto Library Detection in Cloud

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irazoqui Gorka

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Software updates and security patches have become a standard method to fix known and recently discovered security vulnerabilities in deployed software. In server applications, outdated cryptographic libraries allow adversaries to exploit weaknesses and launch attacks with significant security results. The proposed technique exploits leakages at the hardware level to first, determine if a specific cryptographic library is running inside (or not a co-located virtual machine (VM and second to discover the IP of the co-located target. To this end, we use a Flush+Reload cache side-channel technique to measure the time it takes to call (load a cryptographic library function. Shorter loading times are indicative of the library already residing in memory and shared by the VM manager through deduplication. We demonstrate the viability of the proposed technique by detecting and distinguishing various cryptographic libraries, including MatrixSSL, PolarSSL, GnuTLS, OpenSSL and CyaSSL along with the IP of the VM running these libraries. In addition, we show how to differentiate between various versions of libraries to better select an attack target as well as the applicable exploit. Our experiments show a complete attack setup scenario with single-trial success rates of up to 90% under light load and up to 50% under heavy load for libraries running in KVM.

  1. Second Life: an overview of the potential of 3-D virtual worlds in medical and health education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boulos, Maged N Kamel; Hetherington, Lee; Wheeler, Steve

    2007-12-01

    This hybrid review-case study introduces three-dimensional (3-D) virtual worlds and their educational potential to medical/health librarians and educators. Second life (http://secondlife.com/) is perhaps the most popular virtual world platform in use today, with an emphasis on social interaction. We describe some medical and health education examples from Second Life, including Second Life Medical and Consumer Health Libraries (Healthinfo Island-funded by a grant from the US National Library of Medicine), and VNEC (Virtual Neurological Education Centre-developed at the University of Plymouth, UK), which we present as two detailed 'case studies'. The pedagogical potentials of Second Life are then discussed, as well as some issues and challenges related to the use of virtual worlds. We have also compiled an up-to-date resource page (http://healthcybermap.org/sl.htm), with additional online material and pointers to support and extend this study.

  2. Intelligent web agents for a 3D virtual community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dave, T. M.; Zhang, Yanqing; Owen, G. S. S.; Sunderraman, Rajshekhar

    2003-08-01

    In this paper, we propose an Avatar-based intelligent agent technique for 3D Web based Virtual Communities based on distributed artificial intelligence, intelligent agent techniques, and databases and knowledge bases in a digital library. One of the goals of this joint NSF (IIS-9980130) and ACM SIGGRAPH Education Committee (ASEC) project is to create a virtual community of educators and students who have a common interest in comptuer graphics, visualization, and interactive techniqeus. In this virtual community (ASEC World) Avatars will represent the educators, students, and other visitors to the world. Intelligent agents represented as specially dressed Avatars will be available to assist the visitors to ASEC World. The basic Web client-server architecture of the intelligent knowledge-based avatars is given. Importantly, the intelligent Web agent software system for the 3D virtual community is implemented successfully.

  3. Risk classification and uncertainty propagation for virtual water distribution systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Torres, Jacob M.; Brumbelow, Kelly; Guikema, Seth D.

    2009-01-01

    While the secrecy of real water distribution system data is crucial, it poses difficulty for research as results cannot be publicized. This data includes topological layouts of pipe networks, pump operation schedules, and water demands. Therefore, a library of virtual water distribution systems can be an important research tool for comparative development of analytical methods. A virtual city, 'Micropolis', has been developed, including a comprehensive water distribution system, as a first entry into such a library. This virtual city of 5000 residents is fully described in both geographic information systems (GIS) and EPANet hydraulic model frameworks. A risk classification scheme and Monte Carlo analysis are employed for an attempted water supply contamination attack. Model inputs to be considered include uncertainties in: daily water demand, seasonal demand, initial storage tank levels, the time of day a contamination event is initiated, duration of contamination event, and contaminant quantity. Findings show that reasonable uncertainties in model inputs produce high variability in exposure levels. It is also shown that exposure level distributions experience noticeable sensitivities to population clusters within the contaminant spread area. High uncertainties in exposure patterns lead to greater resources needed for more effective mitigation strategies.

  4. Building a virtual ligand screening pipeline using free software: a survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glaab, Enrico

    2016-03-01

    Virtual screening, the search for bioactive compounds via computational methods, provides a wide range of opportunities to speed up drug development and reduce the associated risks and costs. While virtual screening is already a standard practice in pharmaceutical companies, its applications in preclinical academic research still remain under-exploited, in spite of an increasing availability of dedicated free databases and software tools. In this survey, an overview of recent developments in this field is presented, focusing on free software and data repositories for screening as alternatives to their commercial counterparts, and outlining how available resources can be interlinked into a comprehensive virtual screening pipeline using typical academic computing facilities. Finally, to facilitate the set-up of corresponding pipelines, a downloadable software system is provided, using platform virtualization to integrate pre-installed screening tools and scripts for reproducible application across different operating systems. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

  5. Virtual screening of electron acceptor materials for organic photovoltaic applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    D Halls, Mathew; Giesen, David J; Goldberg, Alexander; Djurovich, Peter J; Sommer, Jonathan; McAnally, Eric; Thompson, Mark E

    2013-01-01

    Virtual screening involves the generation of structure libraries, automated analysis to predict properties related to application performance and subsequent screening to identify lead systems and estimate critical structure–property limits across a targeted chemical design space. This approach holds great promise for informing experimental discovery and development efforts for next-generation materials, such as organic semiconductors. In this work, the virtual screening approach is illustrated for nitrogen-substituted pentacene molecules to identify systems for development as electron acceptor materials for use in organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. A structure library of tetra-azapentacenes (TAPs) was generated by substituting four nitrogens for CH at 12 sites on the pentacene molecular framework. Molecular properties (e.g. E LUMO , E g and μ) were computed for each candidate structure using hybrid DFT at the B3LYP/6-311G** level of theory. The resulting TAPs library was then analyzed with respect to intrinsic properties associated with OPV acceptor performance. Marcus reorganization energies for charge transport for the most favorable TAP candidates were then calculated to further determine suitability as OPV electron acceptors. The synthesis, characterization and OPV device testing of TAP materials is underway, guided by these results. (paper)

  6. Library performance measurement in the digital age

    OpenAIRE

    Conyers, A.; Payne, Philip

    2011-01-01

    Book synopsis: University libraries around the world have embraced the possibilities of the digital learning environment, facilitating its use and proactively seeking to develop the provision of electronic resources and services. The digital environment offers opportunities and challenges for librarians in all aspects of their work - in information literacy, virtual reference, institutional repositories, e-learning, managing digital resources and social media. The authors in this timely book ...

  7. Digital Literacy Skills Among Librarians In University Libraries In The 21st Century In Edo And Delta States Nigeria

    OpenAIRE

    Emiri; Ogochukwu T.

    2015-01-01

    Abstract Libraries all over the world have been faced with the evolving technological advancement globalization and digitization of information. These have led to library automation digital and virtual libraries. This paper discussed the contemporary digital literacy skills DLS among librarians in university libraries the 21st century in Edo and Delta States of Southern Nigeria. The study was guided by six objectives and research questions and one hypothesis. The design of the study is descri...

  8. Understanding on-line community: the affordances of virtual space

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karen Ruhleder

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available Increasing numbers of on-line venues for learning are emerging as virtual communities become more accessible and commonplace. This paper looks at one particular virtual community, an on-line degree programme at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, which offers an M.S. in Library and Information Science (called LEEP. It draws on a framework presented by Mynatt, et al. (1998, which provides a lens for talking about on-line community as a set of affordances. This framework is applied to illustrate the interactions, artefacts, and expectations that shape this community.

  9. Reality Check: Basics of Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brigham, Tara J

    2017-01-01

    Augmented, virtual, and mixed reality applications all aim to enhance a user's current experience or reality. While variations of this technology are not new, within the last few years there has been a significant increase in the number of artificial reality devices or applications available to the general public. This column will explain the difference between augmented, virtual, and mixed reality and how each application might be useful in libraries. It will also provide an overview of the concerns surrounding these different reality applications and describe how and where they are currently being used.

  10. Fast Facts: Recent Statistics from the Library Research Service, Nos. 214-224. February 11-March 31, 2005

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steffen, Nicolle Olivia; Lance, Keith Curry; Lietzau, Zeth; Dickenson, Don

    2005-01-01

    Eleven issues of "Fast Facts" from the Library Research Service cover information from libraries across Colorado. These issues focus on topics from the public, academic, and school sectors. These topics include patron use of AskColorado (a statewide virtual reference service) and the rising use of online services. The "Fast…

  11. Quantum probability ranking principle for ligand-based virtual screening

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Dabbagh, Mohammed Mumtaz; Salim, Naomie; Himmat, Mubarak; Ahmed, Ali; Saeed, Faisal

    2017-04-01

    Chemical libraries contain thousands of compounds that need screening, which increases the need for computational methods that can rank or prioritize compounds. The tools of virtual screening are widely exploited to enhance the cost effectiveness of lead drug discovery programs by ranking chemical compounds databases in decreasing probability of biological activity based upon probability ranking principle (PRP). In this paper, we developed a novel ranking approach for molecular compounds inspired by quantum mechanics, called quantum probability ranking principle (QPRP). The QPRP ranking criteria would make an attempt to draw an analogy between the physical experiment and molecular structure ranking process for 2D fingerprints in ligand based virtual screening (LBVS). The development of QPRP criteria in LBVS has employed the concepts of quantum at three different levels, firstly at representation level, this model makes an effort to develop a new framework of molecular representation by connecting the molecular compounds with mathematical quantum space. Secondly, estimate the similarity between chemical libraries and references based on quantum-based similarity searching method. Finally, rank the molecules using QPRP approach. Simulated virtual screening experiments with MDL drug data report (MDDR) data sets showed that QPRP outperformed the classical ranking principle (PRP) for molecular chemical compounds.

  12. Quantum probability ranking principle for ligand-based virtual screening.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Dabbagh, Mohammed Mumtaz; Salim, Naomie; Himmat, Mubarak; Ahmed, Ali; Saeed, Faisal

    2017-04-01

    Chemical libraries contain thousands of compounds that need screening, which increases the need for computational methods that can rank or prioritize compounds. The tools of virtual screening are widely exploited to enhance the cost effectiveness of lead drug discovery programs by ranking chemical compounds databases in decreasing probability of biological activity based upon probability ranking principle (PRP). In this paper, we developed a novel ranking approach for molecular compounds inspired by quantum mechanics, called quantum probability ranking principle (QPRP). The QPRP ranking criteria would make an attempt to draw an analogy between the physical experiment and molecular structure ranking process for 2D fingerprints in ligand based virtual screening (LBVS). The development of QPRP criteria in LBVS has employed the concepts of quantum at three different levels, firstly at representation level, this model makes an effort to develop a new framework of molecular representation by connecting the molecular compounds with mathematical quantum space. Secondly, estimate the similarity between chemical libraries and references based on quantum-based similarity searching method. Finally, rank the molecules using QPRP approach. Simulated virtual screening experiments with MDL drug data report (MDDR) data sets showed that QPRP outperformed the classical ranking principle (PRP) for molecular chemical compounds.

  13. Web-based three-dimensional Virtual Body Structures: W3D-VBS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Temkin, Bharti; Acosta, Eric; Hatfield, Paul; Onal, Erhan; Tong, Alex

    2002-01-01

    Major efforts are being made to improve the teaching of human anatomy to foster cognition of visuospatial relationships. The Visible Human Project of the National Library of Medicine makes it possible to create virtual reality-based applications for teaching anatomy. Integration of traditional cadaver and illustration-based methods with Internet-based simulations brings us closer to this goal. Web-based three-dimensional Virtual Body Structures (W3D-VBS) is a next-generation immersive anatomical training system for teaching human anatomy over the Internet. It uses Visible Human data to dynamically explore, select, extract, visualize, manipulate, and stereoscopically palpate realistic virtual body structures with a haptic device. Tracking user's progress through evaluation tools helps customize lesson plans. A self-guided "virtual tour" of the whole body allows investigation of labeled virtual dissections repetitively, at any time and place a user requires it.

  14. Getting Real in the Library: A Case Study at the University of Florida

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samuel R. Putnam

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available In the fall of 2014, the University of Florida (UF Marston Science Library, in partnership with UF IT, opened a new computer lab for students to learn and develop mobile applications. The Mobile Application Development Environment (MADE@UF features both software and circulating technology for students to use in an unstructured and minimally-staffed environment. As the technological landscape has shifted in the past few years, virtual and augmented reality have become more prominent and prevalent, signaled by companies like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft making significant financial investments in these technologies. During this evolution, MADE@UF has migrated to focus more on virtual and augmented reality, and we will discuss the opportunities and challenges that hosting and managing such a space has provided to the science library and its staff.

  15. CASES ON COLLABORATION IN VIRTUAL LEARNIONG ENVIRONMENTS: Processes and Interactions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reviewed by Yasin OZARSLAN

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Collaboration in Virtual Learning Environment brings meaningful learning interactions between learners in virtual environments. This book collects case studies of collaborative virtual learning environments focusing on the nature of human interactions in virtual spaces and defining the types and qualities of learning processes in these spaces from the perspectives of learners, teachers, designers, and professional and academic developers in various disciplines, learning communities and universities from around the world. This book addresses the research cases on experiences, implementations, and applications of virtual learning environments.The book's broader audience is anyone who is interested in areas such as collaborative virtual learning environments, interactive technologies and virtual communities, social interaction and social competence, distance education and collaborative learning. The book is edited by Donna Russell who is an Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and co-owner of Arete‘ Consulting, LLC. It is consisted of 358 pages covering 19 articles and provides information about context for characteristics and implications of the varied virtual learning environments. Topics covered in this book are argumentative interactions and learning, collaborative learning and work in digital libraries, collaborative virtual learning environments , digital communities to enhance retention, distance education ,interactive technologies and virtual communities, massively multi-user virtual environments, online graduate community, online training programs, social interaction and social competence and virtual story-worlds.

  16. Scaffold architecture and pharmacophoric properties of natural products and trade drugs: application in the design of natural product-based combinatorial libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, M L; Schneider, G

    2001-01-01

    Natural products were analyzed to determine whether they contain appealing novel scaffold architectures for potential use in combinatorial chemistry. Ring systems were extracted and clustered on the basis of structural similarity. Several such potential scaffolds for combinatorial chemistry were identified that are not present in current trade drugs. For one of these scaffolds a virtual combinatorial library was generated. Pharmacophoric properties of natural products, trade drugs, and the virtual combinatorial library were assessed using a self-organizing map. Obviously, current trade drugs and natural products have several topological pharmacophore patterns in common. These features can be systematically explored with selected combinatorial libraries based on a combination of natural product-derived and synthetic molecular building blocks.

  17. Applying Virtual Reality to commercial Edutainment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grissom, F.; Goza, Sharon P.; Goza, S. Michael

    1994-01-01

    Virtual reality (VR) when defined as a computer generated, immersive, three dimensional graphics environment which provides varying degrees of interactivity, remains an expensive, highly specialized application, yet to find its way into the school, home, or business. As a novel approach to a theme park-type attraction, though, its use can be justified. This paper describes how a virtual reality 'tour of the human digestive system' was created for the Omniplex Science Museum of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The customers main objectives were: (1) to educate; (2) to entertain; (3) to draw visitors; and (4) to generate revenue. The 'Edutainment' system ultimately delivered met these goals. As more such systems come into existence the resulting library of licensable programs will greatly reduce development costs to individual institutions.

  18. New Library, New Librarian, New Student: Using LibGuides to Reach the Virtual Student

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, Sara; Hunter, Dwight

    2011-01-01

    This article examines the virtual pathfinder and its relationship with distance education students. Various topics are addressed in relation to virtual students, LibGuides and collaborative efforts between librarians and teaching faculty. A brief history of the subject guide is presented, advantages and disadvantages of LibGuides are discussed and…

  19. The Pharmaceutical Industry Beamline of Pharmaceutical Consortium for Protein Structure Analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nishijima, Kazumi; Katsuya, Yoshio

    2002-01-01

    The Pharmaceutical Industry Beamline was constructed by the Pharmaceutical Consortium for Protein Structure Analysis which was established in April 2001. The consortium is composed of 22 pharmaceutical companies affiliating with the Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association. The beamline is the first exclusive on that is owned by pharmaceutical enterprises at SPring-8. The specification and equipments of the Pharmaceutical Industry Beamline is almost same as that of RIKEN Structural Genomics Beamline I and II. (author)

  20. Nanodisc-solubilized membrane protein library reflects the membrane proteome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marty, Michael T; Wilcox, Kyle C; Klein, William L; Sligar, Stephen G

    2013-05-01

    The isolation and identification of unknown membrane proteins offers the prospect of discovering new pharmaceutical targets and identifying key biochemical receptors. However, interactions between membrane protein targets and soluble ligands are difficult to study in vitro due to the insolubility of membrane proteins in non-detergent systems. Nanodiscs, nanoscale discoidal lipid bilayers encircled by a membrane scaffold protein belt, have proven to be an effective platform to solubilize membrane proteins and have been used to study a wide variety of purified membrane proteins. This report details the incorporation of an unbiased population of membrane proteins from Escherichia coli membranes into Nanodiscs. This solubilized membrane protein library (SMPL) forms a soluble in vitro model of the membrane proteome. Since Nanodiscs contain isolated proteins or small complexes, the SMPL is an ideal platform for interactomics studies and pull-down assays of membrane proteins. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of the protein population before and after formation of the Nanodisc library indicates that a large percentage of the proteins are incorporated into the library. Proteomic identification of several prominent bands demonstrates the successful incorporation of outer and inner membrane proteins into the Nanodisc library.

  1. Library goes Anatomy. Anatomische Lehrmedien an der Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gehrlein, Sabine

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available [english] Heidelberg University Library is following new paths to optimize the librarian services for medical studies. In close cooperation with the Institute for Anatomy and Cell Biology at Heidelberg University the library is profoundly expanding the anatomical teaching equipment: the virtual dissecting table Anatomage enables medical students to work on life-size, anatomical models in 3D, providing the possibility to prepare for and practice their anatomy lessons. The comprehensive collection of anatomical models and plastinates supports students, in particular, in their preparation for the preliminary medical examination.

  2. MULTIMEDIA VIRTUAL LABORATORY FOR PHYSICS IN THE DISTANCE LEARNING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. M. Kravtsov

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available It’s presented the results of the software module "Virtual Lab" for distance learning system «Kherson Virtual University" (DLS KVU applied to the problems of physics. Relevance of research due to the absence of existing DLS to support the creation and use of virtual labs in the disciplines of science cycle. The subject of this study is a software module to create and use virtual labs in distance learning system. The purpose of the study is a description of software technology of virtual laboratory in physics for distance learning system. It’s described the information technology, which used in design and development, as well as the structure of the virtual laboratory and its place in the DLS KVU. It’s described the principal modes of operation of the program module in the system and methods for its use in the educational process. The basic structure of the software module "Virtual Lab" is a multimedia Web editor of virtual labs, which was created using Object-oriented analysis and design technology. Software library of multimedia 3D objects, which was created in the development environment of interactive graphics Unity3D, unifies the process of creating and processing virtual labs. Basic mathematical calculations support the math processor Waterloo Maple. The developed software interface allows teachers to create laboratory and use them in their distance courses. Students, in turn, will be able to conduct research, performing virtual labs.

  3. Development of CXCR4 modulators by virtual HTS of a novel amide-sulfamide compound library.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bai, Renren; Shi, Qi; Liang, Zhongxing; Yoon, Younghyoun; Han, Yiran; Feng, Amber; Liu, Shuangping; Oum, Yoonhyeun; Yun, C Chris; Shim, Hyunsuk

    2017-01-27

    CXCR4 plays a crucial role in recruitment of inflammatory cells to inflammation sites at the beginning of the disease process. Modulating CXCR4 functions presents a new avenue for anti-inflammatory strategies. However, using CXCR4 antagonists for a long term usage presents potential serious side effect due to their stem cell mobilizing property. We have been developing partial CXCR4 antagonists without such property. A new computer-aided drug design program, the FRESH workflow, was used for anti-CXCR4 lead compound discovery and optimization, which coupled both compound library building and CXCR4 docking screens in one campaign. Based on the designed parent framework, 30 prioritized amide-sulfamide structures were obtained after systemic filtering and docking screening. Twelve compounds were prepared from the top-30 list. Most synthesized compounds exhibited good to excellent binding affinity to CXCR4. Compounds Ig and Im demonstrated notable in vivo suppressive activity against xylene-induced mouse ear inflammation (with 56% and 54% inhibition). Western blot analyses revealed that Ig significantly blocked CXCR4/CXCL12-mediated phosphorylation of Akt. Moreover, Ig attenuated the amount of TNF-α secreted by pathogenic E. coli-infected macrophages. More importantly, Ig had no observable cytotoxicity. Our results demonstrated that FRESH virtual high throughput screening program of targeted chemical class could successfully find potent lead compounds, and the amide-sulfamide pharmacophore was a novel and effective framework blocking CXCR4 function. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  4. An implementation of the SANE Virtual Processor using POSIX threads

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Tol, M.W.; Jesshope, C.R.; Lankamp, M.; Polstra, S.

    2009-01-01

    The SANE Virtual Processor (SVP) is an abstract concurrent programming model that is both deadlock free and supports efficient implementation. It is captured by the μTC programming language. The work presented in this paper covers a portable implementation of this model as a C++ library on top of

  5. 6th Workshop on Virtual Machines and Intermediate Languages (VMIL’12)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rajan, Hridesh; Hauptmann, Michael; Bockisch, Christoph; Blackburn, Steve

    2012-01-01

    The VMIL workshop is a forum for research in virtual machines and intermediate languages. It is dedicated to identifying programming mechanisms and constructs that are currently realized as code transformations or implemented in libraries but should rather be supported at VM level. Candidates for

  6. Too long a road towards the first Slovene law on libraries from 1961

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aleš Gabrič

    2000-01-01

    Full Text Available Until the first Slovene Law on Libraries was passed, public libraries were, in general, parts of societies or committees of political organisations. These circumstances made it virtually impossible to engender a unified plan for the development of Slovenia's libraries. Although the first draft of a law which would bind the administrative agencies to provide libraries inside their districts with financial support, was drafted already in 1951, the revised law was passed as late as 1961. The adoption of the law was delayed, causing a prolonged crisis in the status and funding of libraries, despite the clearly defined solutions to the problem put forward by the librarians in the draft law. Due to the delays in the legal settlement of a number of open issues, the Society of Librarians of Slovenia used the proposed, modern regulations as guidelines in the de¬velopment of Slovenia's larger libraries, without waiting for the new law to be adopted.

  7. Pharmaceutical lobbying in Brazil: a missing topic in the public health research agenda.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paumgartten, Francisco José Roma

    2016-12-22

    In the US, where registration of lobbyists is mandatory, the pharmaceutical industry and private health-care providers spend huge amounts of money seeking to influence health policies and government decisions. In Brazil, where lobbying lacks transparency, there is virtually no data on drug industry expenditure to persuade legislators and government officials of their viewpoints and to influence decision-making according to commercial interests. Since 1990, however, the Associação da Indústria Farmacêutica de Pesquisa (Interfarma - Pharmaceutical Research Industry Association), Brazilian counterpart of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), main lobbying organization of the US pharmaceutical industry, has played a major role in the advocacy of interests of major drug companies. The main goals of Interfarma lobbying activities are: shortening the average time taken by the Brazilian regulatory agency (ANVISA) to approve marketing authorization for a new drug; making the criteria for incorporation of new drugs into SUS (Brazilian Unified Health System) more flexible and speeding up technology incorporation; changing the Country's ethical clearance system and the ethical requirements for clinical trials to meet the need of the innovative drug industry, and establishing a National Policy for Rare Diseases that allows a prompt incorporation of orphan drugs into SUS. Although lobbying affects community health and well-being, this topic is not in the public health research agenda. The impacts of pharmaceutical lobbying on health policies and health-care costs are of great importance for SUS and deserve to be investigated.

  8. Usalpharma: A Cloud-Based Architecture to Support Quality Assurance Training Processes in Health Area Using Virtual Worlds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco J. García-Peñalvo

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper discusses how cloud-based architectures can extend and enhance the functionality of the training environments based on virtual worlds and how, from this cloud perspective, we can provide support to analysis of training processes in the area of health, specifically in the field of training processes in quality assurance for pharmaceutical laboratories, presenting a tool for data retrieval and analysis that allows facing the knowledge discovery in the happenings inside the virtual worlds.

  9. Usalpharma: A Cloud-Based Architecture to Support Quality Assurance Training Processes in Health Area Using Virtual Worlds

    Science.gov (United States)

    García-Peñalvo, Francisco J.; Pérez-Blanco, Jonás Samuel; Martín-Suárez, Ana

    2014-01-01

    This paper discusses how cloud-based architectures can extend and enhance the functionality of the training environments based on virtual worlds and how, from this cloud perspective, we can provide support to analysis of training processes in the area of health, specifically in the field of training processes in quality assurance for pharmaceutical laboratories, presenting a tool for data retrieval and analysis that allows facing the knowledge discovery in the happenings inside the virtual worlds. PMID:24778593

  10. Basic pharmaceutical technology

    OpenAIRE

    Angelovska, Bistra; Drakalska, Elena

    2017-01-01

    The lecture deals with basics of pharmaceutical technology as applied discipline of pharmaceutical science, whose main subject of study is formulation and manufacture of drugs. In a broad sense, pharmaceutical technology is science of formulation, preparation, stabilization and determination of the quality of medicines prepared in the pharmacy or in pharmaceutical industry

  11. Synthetic biology approaches in drug discovery and pharmaceutical biotechnology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neumann, Heinz; Neumann-Staubitz, Petra

    2010-06-01

    Synthetic biology is the attempt to apply the concepts of engineering to biological systems with the aim to create organisms with new emergent properties. These organisms might have desirable novel biosynthetic capabilities, act as biosensors or help us to understand the intricacies of living systems. This approach has the potential to assist the discovery and production of pharmaceutical compounds at various stages. New sources of bioactive compounds can be created in the form of genetically encoded small molecule libraries. The recombination of individual parts has been employed to design proteins that act as biosensors, which could be used to identify and quantify molecules of interest. New biosynthetic pathways may be designed by stitching together enzymes with desired activities, and genetic code expansion can be used to introduce new functionalities into peptides and proteins to increase their chemical scope and biological stability. This review aims to give an insight into recently developed individual components and modules that might serve as parts in a synthetic biology approach to pharmaceutical biotechnology.

  12. SPIDERGL: A GRAPHICS LIBRARY FOR 3D WEB APPLICATIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Di Benedetto

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available The recent introduction of the WebGL API for leveraging the power of 3D graphics accelerators within Web browsers opens the possibility to develop advanced graphics applications without the need for an ad-hoc plug-in. There are several contexts in which this new technology can be exploited to enhance user experience and data fruition, like e-commerce applications, games and, in particular, Cultural Heritage. In fact, it is now possible to use the Web platform to present a virtual reconstruction hypothesis of ancient pasts, to show detailed 3D models of artefacts of interests to a wide public, and to create virtual museums. We introduce SpiderGL, a JavaScript library for developing 3D graphics Web applications. SpiderGL provides data structures and algorithms to ease the use of WebGL, to define and manipulate shapes, to import 3D models in various formats, and to handle asynchronous data loading. We show the potential of this novel library with a number of demo applications and give details about its future uses in the context of Cultural Heritage applications.

  13. Colonel Mustard in the Library with the Knife...Experiencing Virtual Teaming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roebuck, Deborah Britt

    Virtual teaming has come to stay in the fast developing world of communication as it brings more value to customers, saves costs, accelerates competence, and leverages organizational learning. Therefore, students need to be educated about this new type of team and the tools that are available to facilitate communication and to enhance…

  14. Paper analytical devices for fast field screening of beta lactam antibiotics and antituberculosis pharmaceuticals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weaver, Abigail A; Reiser, Hannah; Barstis, Toni; Benvenuti, Michael; Ghosh, Debarati; Hunckler, Michael; Joy, Brittney; Koenig, Leah; Raddell, Kellie; Lieberman, Marya

    2013-07-02

    Reports of low-quality pharmaceuticals have been on the rise in the past decade, with the greatest prevalence of substandard medicines in developing countries, where lapses in manufacturing quality control or breaches in the supply chain allow substandard medicines to reach the marketplace. Here, we describe inexpensive test cards for fast field screening of pharmaceutical dosage forms containing beta lactam antibiotics or combinations of the four first-line antituberculosis (TB) drugs. The devices detect the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) ampicillin, amoxicillin, rifampicin, isoniazid, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide and also screen for substitute pharmaceuticals, such as acetaminophen and chloroquine that may be found in counterfeit pharmaceuticals. The tests can detect binders and fillers such as chalk, talc, and starch not revealed by traditional chromatographic methods. These paper devices contain 12 lanes, separated by hydrophobic barriers, with different reagents deposited in the lanes. The user rubs some of the solid pharmaceutical across the lanes and dips the edge of the paper into water. As water climbs up the lanes by capillary action, it triggers a library of different chemical tests and a timer to indicate when the tests are completed. The reactions in each lane generate colors to form a "color bar code" which can be analyzed visually by comparison with standard outcomes. Although quantification of the APIs is poor compared with conventional analytical methods, the sensitivity and selectivity for the analytes is high enough to pick out suspicious formulations containing no API or a substitute API as well as formulations containing APIs that have been "cut" with inactive ingredients.

  15. HPPD: ligand- and target-based virtual screening on a herbicide target.

    Science.gov (United States)

    López-Ramos, Miriam; Perruccio, Francesca

    2010-05-24

    Hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD) has proven to be a very successful target for the development of herbicides with bleaching properties, and today HPPD inhibitors are well established in the agrochemical market. Syngenta has a long history of HPPD-inhibitor research, and HPPD was chosen as a case study for the validation of diverse ligand- and target-based virtual screening approaches to identify compounds with inhibitory properties. Two-dimensional extended connectivity fingerprints, three-dimensional shape-based tools (ROCS, EON, and Phase-shape) and a pharmacophore approach (Phase) were used as ligand-based methods; Glide and Gold were used as target-based. Both the virtual screening utility and the scaffold-hopping ability of the screening tools were assessed. Particular emphasis was put on the specific pitfalls to take into account for the design of a virtual screening campaign in an agrochemical context, as compared to a pharmaceutical environment.

  16. Prioritisation, resources and search terms: a study of decision-making at the virtual reference desk.

    OpenAIRE

    Attfield, Simon; Makri, Stephann; Kalbach, James; Blandford, Ann; De Gabrielle, Stephen; Edwards, Mark

    2008-01-01

    The reinterpretation of the traditional reference service in an online context is the virtual reference desk. Placing reference services into an online setting, however, presents many challenges. We report a study and analytic framework which addresses support for decision-making during virtual enquiry work. Focusing on specialist law-libraries, the study shows that enquirers do not volunteer important information to the service and that asynchronous communication media and some social obstac...

  17. VMIL 2011 : the 5th Workshop on Virtual Machines and Intermediate Languages

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rajan, Hridesh; Hauptmann, Michael; Bockisch, Christoph; Dyer, Robert

    2011-01-01

    The VMIL workshop is a forum for research in virtual machines and intermediate languages. It is dedicated to identifying programming mechanisms and constructs that are currently realized as code transformations or implemented in libraries but should rather be supported at VM level. Candidates for

  18. Virtual screening using combinatorial cyclic peptide libraries reveals protein interfaces readily targetable by cyclic peptides.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duffy, Fergal J; O'Donovan, Darragh; Devocelle, Marc; Moran, Niamh; O'Connell, David J; Shields, Denis C

    2015-03-23

    Protein-protein and protein-peptide interactions are responsible for the vast majority of biological functions in vivo, but targeting these interactions with small molecules has historically been difficult. What is required are efficient combined computational and experimental screening methods to choose among a number of potential protein interfaces worthy of targeting lead macrocyclic compounds for further investigation. To achieve this, we have generated combinatorial 3D virtual libraries of short disulfide-bonded peptides and compared them to pharmacophore models of important protein-protein and protein-peptide structures, including short linear motifs (SLiMs), protein-binding peptides, and turn structures at protein-protein interfaces, built from 3D models available in the Protein Data Bank. We prepared a total of 372 reference pharmacophores, which were matched against 108,659 multiconformer cyclic peptides. After normalization to exclude nonspecific cyclic peptides, the top hits notably are enriched for mimetics of turn structures, including a turn at the interaction surface of human α thrombin, and also feature several protein-binding peptides. The top cyclic peptide hits also cover the critical "hot spot" interaction sites predicted from the interaction crystal structure. We have validated our method by testing cyclic peptides predicted to inhibit thrombin, a key protein in the blood coagulation pathway of important therapeutic interest, identifying a cyclic peptide inhibitor with lead-like activity. We conclude that protein interfaces most readily targetable by cyclic peptides and related macrocyclic drugs may be identified computationally among a set of candidate interfaces, accelerating the choice of interfaces against which lead compounds may be screened.

  19. The Role of the Access Services Manager in the Virtual Library

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jetton, Lora Lennertz; Bailey, Alberta S.

    2010-01-01

    This article updates a previous article published in 1992 that described the role of the access services manager in policy formation. Since that time, the access services department and mission has matured and evolved to a prominent position within the library organization. Technological changes and innovation in the marketplace of wired and…

  20. Collecting Virtual Reference Statistics with an IM Chat-Bot

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mason R.K. Hall

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available A perennial problem in libraries is capturing accurate statistics. This article addresses this problem with the creative use of Web 2.0 tools: Meebo and AOL Instant Messenger. It describes the development and implementation of an instant messaging "stat-bot" that prompts staff to record virtual reference statistics via IM. Step-by-step guidelines and the perl script are provided.

  1. Virtual OPACs versus Union Database: Two Models of Union Catalogue Provision.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cousins, Shirley

    1999-01-01

    Considers some of the major technical and organizational issues involved in virtual-catalog production, contrasting them with the traditional union catalog approach exemplified by COPAC, an online public-access catalog composed of academic libraries in the United Kingdom. Suggest a method of integrating these two models of the union catalog.…

  2. Novel 3D modeling methods for virtual fabrication and EDA compatible design of MEMS via parametric libraries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schröpfer, Gerold; Lorenz, Gunar; Rouvillois, Stéphane; Breit, Stephen

    2010-01-01

    This paper provides a brief summary of the state-of-the-art of MEMS-specific modeling techniques and describes the validation of new models for a parametric component library. Two recently developed 3D modeling tools are described in more detail. The first one captures a methodology for designing MEMS devices and simulating them together with integrated electronics within a standard electronic design automation (EDA) environment. The MEMS designer can construct the MEMS model directly in a 3D view. The resulting 3D model differs from a typical feature-based 3D CAD modeling tool in that there is an underlying behavioral model and parametric layout associated with each MEMS component. The model of the complete MEMS device that is shared with the standard EDA environment can be fully parameterized with respect to manufacturing- and design-dependent variables. Another recent innovation is a process modeling tool that allows accurate and highly realistic visualization of the step-by-step creation of 3D micro-fabricated devices. The novelty of the tool lies in its use of voxels (3D pixels) rather than conventional 3D CAD techniques to represent the 3D geometry. Case studies for experimental devices are presented showing how the examination of these virtual prototypes can reveal design errors before mask tape out, support process development before actual fabrication and also enable failure analysis after manufacturing.

  3. QR Codes as Finding Aides: Linking Electronic and Print Library Resources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kane, Danielle; Schneidewind, Jeff

    2011-01-01

    As part of a focused, methodical, and evaluative approach to emerging technologies, QR codes are one of many new technologies being used by the UC Irvine Libraries. QR codes provide simple connections between print and virtual resources. In summer 2010, a small task force began to investigate how QR codes could be used to provide information and…

  4. World Wind: NASA's Virtual Globe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hogan, P.

    2007-12-01

    Virtual globes have set the standard for information exchange. Once you've experienced the visually rich and highly compelling nature of data delivered via virtual globes with their highly engaging context of 3D, it's hard to go back to a flat 2D world. Just as the sawbones of not-too-long-ago have given way to sophisticated surgical operating theater, today's medium for information exchange is just beginning to leap from the staid chalkboards and remote libraries to fingertip navigable 3D worlds. How we harness this technology to serve a world inundated with information will describe the quality of our future. Our instincts for discovery and entertainment urge us on. There's so much we could know if the world's knowledge was presented to us in its natural context. Virtual globes are almost magical in their ability to reveal natural wonders. Anyone flying along a chain of volcanoes, a mid-ocean ridge or deep ocean trench, while simultaneously seeing the different depths to the history of earthquakes in those areas, will be delighted to sense Earth's dynamic nature in a way that would otherwise take several paragraphs of "boring" text. The sophisticated concepts related to global climate change would be far more comprehensible when experienced via a virtual globe. There is a large universe of public and private geospatial data sets that virtual globes can bring to light. The benefit derived from access to this data within virtual globes represents a significant return on investment for government, industry, the general public, and especially in the realm of education. Data access remains a key issue. Just as the highway infrastructure allows unimpeded access from point A to point B, an open standards-based infrastructure for data access allows virtual globes to exchange data in the most efficient manner possible. This data can be either free or proprietary. The Open Geospatial Consortium is providing the leadership necessary for this open standards-based data access

  5. Now It's Necessary: Virtual Reference Services at Washington State University, Pullman

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nicol, Erica Carlson; Crook, Linda

    2013-01-01

    While virtual reference services (VRS) are becoming more and more common in academic libraries, implementing and maintaining well-used and effective VRS can be a challenge in the face of competing demands on time, staffing, and funding. Between 2011 and 2012, librarians at Washington State University, Pullman (WSU) have overhauled and reorganized…

  6. Using a virtual world for robot planning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benjamin, D. Paul; Monaco, John V.; Lin, Yixia; Funk, Christopher; Lyons, Damian

    2012-06-01

    We are building a robot cognitive architecture that constructs a real-time virtual copy of itself and its environment, including people, and uses the model to process perceptual information and to plan its movements. This paper describes the structure of this architecture. The software components of this architecture include PhysX for the virtual world, OpenCV and the Point Cloud Library for visual processing, and the Soar cognitive architecture that controls the perceptual processing and task planning. The RS (Robot Schemas) language is implemented in Soar, providing the ability to reason about concurrency and time. This Soar/RS component controls visual processing, deciding which objects and dynamics to render into PhysX, and the degree of detail required for the task. As the robot runs, its virtual model diverges from physical reality, and errors grow. The Match-Mediated Difference component monitors these errors by comparing the visual data with corresponding data from virtual cameras, and notifies Soar/RS of significant differences, e.g. a new object that appears, or an object that changes direction unexpectedly. Soar/RS can then run PhysX much faster than real-time and search among possible future world paths to plan the robot's actions. We report experimental results in indoor environments.

  7. How to Achieve Better Results Using PASS-Based Virtual Screening: Case Study for Kinase Inhibitors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pavel V. Pogodin

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Discovery of new pharmaceutical substances is currently boosted by the possibility of utilization of the Synthetically Accessible Virtual Inventory (SAVI library, which includes about 283 million molecules, each annotated with a proposed synthetic one-step route from commercially available starting materials. The SAVI database is well-suited for ligand-based methods of virtual screening to select molecules for experimental testing. In this study, we compare the performance of three approaches for the analysis of structure-activity relationships that differ in their criteria for selecting of “active” and “inactive” compounds included in the training sets. PASS (Prediction of Activity Spectra for Substances, which is based on a modified Naïve Bayes algorithm, was applied since it had been shown to be robust and to provide good predictions of many biological activities based on just the structural formula of a compound even if the information in the training set is incomplete. We used different subsets of kinase inhibitors for this case study because many data are currently available on this important class of drug-like molecules. Based on the subsets of kinase inhibitors extracted from the ChEMBL 20 database we performed the PASS training, and then applied the model to ChEMBL 23 compounds not yet present in ChEMBL 20 to identify novel kinase inhibitors. As one may expect, the best prediction accuracy was obtained if only the experimentally confirmed active and inactive compounds for distinct kinases in the training procedure were used. However, for some kinases, reasonable results were obtained even if we used merged training sets, in which we designated as inactives the compounds not tested against the particular kinase. Thus, depending on the availability of data for a particular biological activity, one may choose the first or the second approach for creating ligand-based computational tools to achieve the best possible results in

  8. 9th International Bielefeld Conference 2009: Upgrading the eLibrary: Enhanced Information Services Driven by Technology and Economics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Almuth Gastinger

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available Thisarticle reports on the 9th International Bielefeld Conference ‘Upgrading the eLibrary: Enhanced Information Services Driven by Technology and Economics’, 3-5 February 2009, in Bielefeld, Germany. The conference focused on future challenges for libraries regarding the development of information services and infrastructures that meet the changing needs of scholarly communication, collaboration (e-science and publication (open access as well as new requirements regarding teaching and learning (virtual learning spaces. In addition attention was paid to economic conditions and strategic positioning of libraries as a general framework for information services.

  9. THE USE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES OF THE KNUKIM SCIENTIFIC LIBRARY FOR INFORMATION SERVICES PROVIDING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    В. В. Степко

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The article highlights information resources of the scientific library of the Kiev National University of Culture and Arts and characterizes its use in the system of providing librarian and informational services for users. It is proved that the important information resource of the library is website, which provides additional opportunities for users, forming a positive image of the library in the virtual space. The site contains information on various directions of the library’s activities, librarian services, projects and media products. One of the main tasks of the library is formation and presentation on the website of the electronic catalog as a multifunctional bibliographic resource, which is the basis for informational services and the basic information product of the library. The creation of an electronic library continues as the essential element of providing qualitative and effective services to users. The article discusses the functioning of the “Virtual Help” service as an effective form of working with remote users. The authors also consider such an actual direction of the library’s activity as the presentation of the scientific and creative heritage of the university with help of “12 + books of the year” project. The aim of the project is to inform about new editions of university’s teachers published this year and presented in the library fund. The implementation of the patriotic innovation and educational project “Treasures of the Nation”, whose purpose is to study and popularize the elements of the intangible cultural heritage ofUkraine, is analyzed. The booktrails and flash presentations are considered as a means of presenting books prepared by the library staff. The preparation of longreed, a new format for submitting information on the Internet, is also considered. Thanks to the use of Tilda Publishing and ThingLink services, innovative products were created: a complex multimedia story that combined photos

  10. Virtual Ligand Screening Using PL-PatchSurfer2, a Molecular Surface-Based Protein-Ligand Docking Method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shin, Woong-Hee; Kihara, Daisuke

    2018-01-01

    Virtual screening is a computational technique for predicting a potent binding compound for a receptor protein from a ligand library. It has been a widely used in the drug discovery field to reduce the efforts of medicinal chemists to find hit compounds by experiments.Here, we introduce our novel structure-based virtual screening program, PL-PatchSurfer, which uses molecular surface representation with the three-dimensional Zernike descriptors, which is an effective mathematical representation for identifying physicochemical complementarities between local surfaces of a target protein and a ligand. The advantage of the surface-patch description is its tolerance on a receptor and compound structure variation. PL-PatchSurfer2 achieves higher accuracy on apo form and computationally modeled receptor structures than conventional structure-based virtual screening programs. Thus, PL-PatchSurfer2 opens up an opportunity for targets that do not have their crystal structures. The program is provided as a stand-alone program at http://kiharalab.org/plps2 . We also provide files for two ligand libraries, ChEMBL and ZINC Drug-like.

  11. An assessment of collections at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Health Sciences Libraries: drug resistance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bergen, P L; Nemec, D

    1999-01-01

    In December 1997, the authors completed an in-depth collection assessment project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Health Sciences Libraries. The purpose was to develop a framework for future collection assessment projects by completing a multifaceted evaluation of the libraries' monograph and serial collections in the subject area of drug resistance. Evaluators adapted and synthesized several traditional collection assessment tools, including shelflist measurement, bibliography and standard list checking, and citation analysis. Throughout the project, evaluators explored strategies to overcome some of the problems inherent in the application of traditional collection assessment methods to the evaluation of biomedical collections. Their efforts resulted in the identification of standard monographs and core journals for the subject area, a measurement of the collections' strength relative to the collections of benchmark libraries, and a foundation for future collection development within the subject area. The project's primary outcome was a collection assessment methodology that has potential application to both internal and cooperative collection development in medical, pharmaceutical, and other health sciences libraries.

  12. A Prospective Virtual Screening Study: Enriching Hit Rates and Designing Focus Libraries To Find Inhibitors of PI3Kδ and PI3Kγ.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Damm-Ganamet, Kelly L; Bembenek, Scott D; Venable, Jennifer W; Castro, Glenda G; Mangelschots, Lieve; Peeters, Daniëlle C G; Mcallister, Heather M; Edwards, James P; Disepio, Daniel; Mirzadegan, Taraneh

    2016-05-12

    Here, we report a high-throughput virtual screening (HTVS) study using phosphoinositide 3-kinase (both PI3Kγ and PI3Kδ). Our initial HTVS results of the Janssen corporate database identified small focused libraries with hit rates at 50% inhibition showing a 50-fold increase over those from a HTS (high-throughput screen). Further, applying constraints based on "chemically intuitive" hydrogen bonds and/or positional requirements resulted in a substantial improvement in the hit rates (versus no constraints) and reduced docking time. While we find that docking scoring functions are not capable of providing a reliable relative ranking of a set of compounds, a prioritization of groups of compounds (e.g., low, medium, and high) does emerge, which allows for the chemistry efforts to be quickly focused on the most viable candidates. Thus, this illustrates that it is not always necessary to have a high correlation between a computational score and the experimental data to impact the drug discovery process.

  13. News from the Library: Even more prestigious scientific journals on the Library virtual shelves

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN Library

    2011-01-01

    The CERN Library has just acquired the online archives of the Physics journals published by Taylor & Francis.   The highlight of this series of scientific journals is the complete collection of the well-known Philosophical Magazine, published from 1798. This journal includes papers from many illustrious scientists such as Faraday, Joule, Rutherford, Bohr and de Broglie. In 1897, Philosophical Magazine series 5 published the J.J. Thomson’s  famous article ‘Cathode Rays’, where he gives an account of the discovery of particles he called "corpuscles", later named "electrons". A few years later, in 1919, the magazine featured the paper by Rutherford describing the first artificial transmutation of an element: ‘Collision of α Particles with Light Atoms. IV. An Anomalous Effect in Nitrogen’.  Many other important journal titles are included in the archives, such as...

  14. Uji Ketergunaan Layanan Antarmuka Magister Management Digital Library (MM-Digilib Perpustakaan Magister Manajemen Fakultas Ekonomi Universitas Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sri Sugianti

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available A digital library is an advancement of a conventional library. Wider role of a digital library lies in its ability to give support for service via virtual/electronic/digital network. Through its revolutionary presence, a digital library needs a testfor development. One of the tests that can be used is usqge test of interface service of magister management Digital Library (MM-Digilib at Magister Management of Faculty of Economics, University of Indonesia. Based on theformula of Slovin and Nomogram Henry King, there are 8I valid samples out of 651 of master students accessing digital theses at Magister Management Library, Faculty of Economics, University of Indonesia. Out of indicators of usage test - efficiency, effictiveness, ease ofuse and ease ofinteraction of MM-Digilib is in general relatively good. Yet it needs to improve thefunction of Advanced Search in order to assist and shorten time in searching.

  15. News of the Year. LJ News Report: Victories Muted by Money Worries; The Year in K-12 Libraries: School Librarians Redefine Themselves; Publishing in 2002: Few Trends Emerge from a Year of Ups and Downs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Minkel, Walter; Milliot, Jim

    2003-01-01

    Includes three articles: one reviews top stories from "Library Journal" regarding budget problems, salaries and recruitment, privacy, legal issues, virtual reference, electronic books, distance education, special libraries, and scholarly innovation; one discusses school library issues, including layoffs, Internet concerns, and…

  16. Stepwise high-throughput virtual screening of Rho kinase inhibitors from natural product library and potential therapeutics for pulmonary hypertension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Hao; Yan, Ji; Xu, Jian; Fan, Xi-Zhen; Sun, Xian-Lin; Chen, Kang-Yu

    2015-08-01

    Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a devastating disease characterized by progressive elevation of pulmonary arterial pressure and vascular resistance due to pulmonary vasoconstriction and vessel remodeling. The activation of RhoA/Rho-kinase (ROCK) pathway plays a central role in the pathologic progression of PH and thus the Rho kinase, an essential effector of the ROCK pathway, is considered as a potential therapeutic target to attenuate PH. In the current study, a synthetic pipeline is used to discover new potent Rho inhibitors from various natural products. In the pipeline, the stepwise high-throughput virtual screening, quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR)-based rescoring, and kinase assay were integrated. The screening was performed against a structurally diverse, drug-like natural product library, from which six identified compounds were tested to determine their inhibitory potencies agonist Rho by using a standard kinase assay protocol. With this scheme, we successfully identified two potent Rho inhibitors, namely phloretin and baicalein, with activity values of IC50 = 0.22 and 0.95 μM, respectively. Structural examination suggested that complicated networks of non-bonded interactions such as hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic forces, and van der Waals contacts across the complex interfaces of Rho kinase are formed with the screened compounds.

  17. Does brand differentiate pharmaceuticals?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bednarik, Josef

    2005-12-01

    Role of marketing in pharmaceutical industry is increasing and inspiration by successful brands known from consumer goods market influenced pharmaceutical companies enough to switch their attention to branding initiatives. Still there is little evidence that pharmaceutical brands represent anything more than product only. This study aims to explore the area of branding in pharmaceutical industry. Central hypothesis of the research has been that brand and its emotional content differentiate pharmaceuticals as well as rational data derived from clinical studies. It has been tested by extensive review of available literature as well as by primary research focused on drivers of physicians' attitudes towards products and their influence on prescribing behavior. The research has been conducted in the sample of psychiatrists in the Czech Republic. No evidence about pharmaceutical brand exceeding value of product has been found in reviewed literature. Nevertheless, the primary research conducted in the sample of Czech psychiatrists indicates that emotional brand in pharmaceutical industry exists and enables author to draw a model of Customer/product life cycle that describes likely impact of functional, emotional and self-expressive benefits throughout pharmaceutical product's market presence. Pharmaceutical brand is likely to develop differently than the same of consumer goods products--it seems to be built predominantly on long-term positive experience. Marketing role in this process should lie in finding relevant product position and building brand identity compliant with real product capabilities.

  18. Pharmaceutical manufacturing facility discharges can substantially increase the pharmaceutical load to U.S. wastewaters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, Tia-Marie; Phillips, Patrick J.; Kolpin, Dana W.; Colella, Kaitlyn M.; Furlong, Edward T.; Foreman, William T.; Gray, James L.

    2018-01-01

    Discharges from pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities (PMFs) previously have been identified as important sources of pharmaceuticals to the environment. Yet few studies are available to establish the influence of PMFs on the pharmaceutical source contribution to wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and waterways at the national scale. Consequently, a national network of 13 WWTPs receiving PMF discharges, six WWTPs with no PMF input, and one WWTP that transitioned through a PMF closure were selected from across the United States to assess the influence of PMF inputs on pharmaceutical loading to WWTPs. Effluent samples were analyzed for 120 pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical degradates. Of these, 33 pharmaceuticals had concentrations substantially higher in PMF-influenced effluent (maximum 555,000 ng/L) compared to effluent from control sites (maximum 175 ng/L). Concentrations in WWTP receiving PMF input are variable, as discharges from PMFs are episodic, indicating that production activities can vary substantially over relatively short (several months) periods and have the potential to rapidly transition to other pharmaceutical products. Results show that PMFs are an important, national-scale source of pharmaceuticals to the environment.

  19. La biblioteca virtual especializada de los derivados de la caña de azúcar: consideraciones, experiencias y perspectivas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hernández Curbelo, Maby

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, the results of a project for the design and implementation of a specialized virtual library for sugar cane by-products are presented, including initial considerations, an architecture for working in a web environment, and the basic characteristics of software for managing a digital collection. This library supports research into sugar cane by-products and also represents an initial step toward the creation of a specialized virtual centre of information and knowledge for the sugar industry.

    En este trabajo se describen los resultados del proyecto de diseño e implementación de la biblioteca virtual especializada sobre los derivados de la caña de azúcar. Se abordan consideraciones, arquitectura de trabajo en ambiente de Internet y características básicas del software para la administración de su colección digital. Esta biblioteca es soporte para la investigación sobre los derivados de la caña de azúcar y constituye el paso inicial hacia la creación de un centro virtual especializado de información y conocimiento para el sector azucarero.

  20. Pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers: Going beyond the gift - An explorative review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Latten, Tom; Westra, Daan; Angeli, Federica; Paulus, Aggie; Struss, Marleen; Ruwaard, Dirk

    2018-01-01

    Interactions between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers are increasingly scrutinized by academics, professionals, media, and politicians. Most empirical studies and professional guidelines focus on unilateral donor-recipient types of interaction and overlook, or fail to distinguish between, more reciprocal types of interaction. However, the degree of goal alignment and potential for value creation differs in these two types of interactions. Failing to differentiate between these two forms of interaction between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers could thus lead to biased conclusions regarding their desirability. This study reviews the empirical literature regarding the effects of bilateral forms of interactions between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers in order to explore their effects. We searched two medical databases (i.e. PubMed and Cochrane Library) and one business database (i.e. EBSCO) for empirical, peer-reviewed articles concerning any type of bilateral interaction between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers. We included quantitative articles which were written in English and published between January 1st, 2000 and October 31st, 2016, and where the title or abstract included a combination of synonyms of the following keywords: pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers, interaction, and effects. Our search results yielded 10 studies which were included in our analysis. These studies focused on either research-oriented interaction or on education-oriented interaction. The included studies reported various outcomes of interaction such as prescribing behavior, ethical dilemmas, and research output. Regardless of the type of interaction, the studies either reported no significant effects or ambivalent outcomes such as affected clinical practice or ethical issues. The effects of bilateral interactions reported in the literature are similar to those reported in studies concerning unilateral

  1. The art and science of data curation: Lessons learned from constructing a virtual collection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bugbee, Kaylin; Ramachandran, Rahul; Maskey, Manil; Gatlin, Patrick

    2018-03-01

    A digital, or virtual, collection is a value added service developed by libraries that curates information and resources around a topic, theme or organization. Adoption of the virtual collection concept as an Earth science data service improves the discoverability, accessibility and usability of data both within individual data centers but also across data centers and disciplines. In this paper, we introduce a methodology for systematically and rigorously curating Earth science data and information into a cohesive virtual collection. This methodology builds on the geocuration model of searching, selecting and synthesizing Earth science data, metadata and other information into a single and useful collection. We present our experiences curating a virtual collection for one of NASA's twelve Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs), the Global Hydrology Resource Center (GHRC), and describe lessons learned as a result of this curation effort. We also provide recommendations and best practices for data centers and data providers who wish to curate virtual collections for the Earth sciences.

  2. Multimodal event streams for virtual reality

    Science.gov (United States)

    von Spiczak, J.; Samset, E.; DiMaio, S.; Reitmayr, G.; Schmalstieg, D.; Burghart, C.; Kikinis, R.

    2007-01-01

    Applications in the fields of virtual and augmented reality as well as image-guided medical applications make use of a wide variety of hardware devices. Existing frameworks for interconnecting low-level devices and high-level application programs do not exploit the full potential for processing events coming from arbitrary sources and are not easily generalizable. In this paper, we will introduce a new multi-modal event processing methodology using dynamically-typed event attributes for event passing between multiple devices and systems. The existing OpenTracker framework was modified to incorporate a highly flexible and extensible event model, which can store data that is dynamically created and arbitrarily typed at runtime. The main factors impacting the library's throughput were determined and the performance was shown to be sufficient for most typical applications. Several sample applications were developed to take advantage of the new dynamic event model provided by the library, thereby demonstrating its flexibility and expressive power.

  3. [Pharmaceutical logistic in turnover of pharmaceutical products of Azerbaijan].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dzhalilova, K I

    2009-11-01

    Development of pharmaceutical logistic system model promotes optimal strategy for pharmaceutical functioning. The goal of such systems is organization of pharmaceutical product's turnover in required quantity and assortment, at preset time and place, at a highest possible degree of consumption readiness with minimal expenses and qualitative service. Organization of the optimal turnover chain in the region is offered to start from approximate classification of medicaments by logistic characteristics. Supplier selection was performed by evaluation of timeliness of delivery, quality of delivered products (according to the minimum acceptable level of quality) and time-keeping of time spending for orders delivery.

  4. Optimization of the pharmaceutical care system for diabetes patients using modern pharmaceutical informatics methodology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Андрій Ігорович Бойко

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Aim. Implementation of pharmaceutical informatics methods in the system of pharmaceutical care for diabetes patients in Ukraine.Methods. System method was used for the analysis of status and reforming the pharmaceutical care for patients with diabetes; program-oriented management at informatization project realization; pharmaceutical informatics in the creation of computer pharmaceutical knowledge bases; methods of data synthesis and summarizing.Results. System analysis of the basic directions of reforming the pharmaceutical care for patients with diabetes in Ukraine was carried out. Ways of it’s of optimization were processed: establishment of specialized pharmacies with implementation of modern information technologies and special postgraduate education for pharmacists. Structure and information providing of computer knowledge base “Pharmaceutical care for patients with diabetes” was substantiated.Conclusion. Based on the regional project “Informatization of prescription antidiabetic drugs circulation in Ukraine” realization, the necessity of establishment of specialized pharmacies providing pharmaceutical care for patients with diabetes was substantiated. Ways for optimization of postgraduate education for pharmacists of the specialized pharmacies by implementation of special thematic improvement cycles were proceed. Computer knowledge base as an effective tool for optimization of pharmaceutical care for patients with diabetes was realized

  5. THz spectroscopy: An emerging technology for pharmaceutical development and pharmaceutical Process Analytical Technology (PAT) applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Huiquan; Khan, Mansoor

    2012-08-01

    As an emerging technology, THz spectroscopy has gained increasing attention in the pharmaceutical area during the last decade. This attention is due to the fact that (1) it provides a promising alternative approach for in-depth understanding of both intermolecular interaction among pharmaceutical molecules and pharmaceutical product quality attributes; (2) it provides a promising alternative approach for enhanced process understanding of certain pharmaceutical manufacturing processes; and (3) the FDA pharmaceutical quality initiatives, most noticeably, the Process Analytical Technology (PAT) initiative. In this work, the current status and progress made so far on using THz spectroscopy for pharmaceutical development and pharmaceutical PAT applications are reviewed. In the spirit of demonstrating the utility of first principles modeling approach for addressing model validation challenge and reducing unnecessary model validation "burden" for facilitating THz pharmaceutical PAT applications, two scientific case studies based on published THz spectroscopy measurement results are created and discussed. Furthermore, other technical challenges and opportunities associated with adapting THz spectroscopy as a pharmaceutical PAT tool are highlighted.

  6. Identification of potential glutaminyl cyclase inhibitors from lead-like libraries by in silico and in vitro fragment-based screening.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szaszkó, Mária; Hajdú, István; Flachner, Beáta; Dobi, Krisztina; Magyar, Csaba; Simon, István; Lőrincz, Zsolt; Kapui, Zoltán; Pázmány, Tamás; Cseh, Sándor; Dormán, György

    2017-02-01

    A glutaminyl cyclase (QC) fragment library was in silico selected by disconnection of the structure of known QC inhibitors and by lead-like 2D virtual screening of the same set. The resulting fragment library (204 compounds) was acquired from commercial suppliers and pre-screened by differential scanning fluorimetry followed by functional in vitro assays. In this way, 10 fragment hits were identified ([Formula: see text]5 % hit rate, best inhibitory activity: 16 [Formula: see text]). The in vitro hits were then docked to the active site of QC, and the best scoring compounds were analyzed for binding interactions. Two fragments bound to different regions in a complementary manner, and thus, linking those fragments offered a rational strategy to generate novel QC inhibitors. Based on the structure of the virtual linked fragment, a 77-membered QC target focused library was selected from vendor databases and docked to the active site of QC. A PubChem search confirmed that the best scoring analogues are novel, potential QC inhibitors.

  7. Design of combinatorial libraries for the exploration of virtual hits from fragment space searches with LoFT.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lessel, Uta; Wellenzohn, Bernd; Fischer, J Robert; Rarey, Matthias

    2012-02-27

    A case study is presented illustrating the design of a focused CDK2 library. The scaffold of the library was detected by a feature trees search in a fragment space based on reactions from combinatorial chemistry. For the design the software LoFT (Library optimizer using Feature Trees) was used. The special feature called FTMatch was applied to restrict the parts of the queries where the reagents are permitted to match. This way a 3D scoring function could be simulated. Results were compared with alternative designs by GOLD docking and ROCS 3D alignments.

  8. A Virtual Research Environment for a Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer (SIMS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiedenbeck, M.; Schäfer, L.; Klump, J.; Galkin, A.

    2013-12-01

    Overview: This poster describes the development of a Virtual Research Environment for the Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer (SIMS) at GFZ Potsdam. Background: Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometers (SIMS) are extremely sensitive instruments for analyzing the surfaces of solid and thin film samples. These instruments are rare, expensive and experienced operators are very highly sought after. As such, measurement time is a precious commodity, until now only accessible to small numbers of researchers. The challenge: The Virtual SIMS Project aims to set up a Virtual Research Environment for the operation of the CAMECA IMS 1280-HR instrument at the GFZ Potsdam. The objective of the VRE is to provide SIMS access not only to researchers locally present in Potsdam but also to scientists working with SIMS cooperation partners in e.g., South Africa, Brazil or India. The requirements: The system should address the complete spectrum of laboratory procedures - from online application for measurement time, to remote access for data acquisition to data archiving for the subsequent publication and for future reuse. The approach: The targeted Virtual SIMS Environment will consist of a: 1. Web Server running the Virtual SIMS website providing general information about the project, lab access proposal forms and calendar for the timing of project related tasks. 2. LIMS Server, responsible for scheduling procedures, data management and, if applicable, accounting and billing. 3. Remote SIMS Tool, devoted to the operation of the experiment within a remote control environment. 4. Publishing System, which supports the publication of results in cooperation with the GFZ Library services. 5. Training Simulator, which offers the opportunity to rehearse experiments and to prepare for possible events such as a power outages or interruptions to broadband services. First results: The SIMS Virtual Research Environment will be mainly based on open source software, the only exception being the CAMECA IMS

  9. Virtual and augmented reality technologies in Human Performance: a review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tânia Brusque Crocetta

    Full Text Available Abstract Introduction : Today's society is influenced by Information and Communication Technologies. Toys that were once built by hand have been reinterpreted and have become highly commercialized products. In this context, games using Augmented Reality (AR and Virtual Reality (VR technologies are present in the everyday lives of children, youth and adults. Objective : To investigate how Physical Education professionals in Brazil have been making use of AR and VR games to benefit their work. Materials and methods : We only included studies that addressed exercise or physical activity using AR or VR games. We searched the databases of Virtual Health Library (VHL and Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO, using the words augmented reality, virtual reality, exergames, Wii and serious games. Results : Nineteen articles were included in the systematic review. The most frequently used device was the Nintendo(r Wii, with over 25 different kinds of games. With regard to the subjects of the studies, four studies were conducted with healthy individuals (mean = 65.7, three with patients with Parkinson's disease (mean = 18.0, three with elderly women (mean = 7.7 and two with patients with stroke injury (mean = 6.0. Conclusion : Many physical therapists and occupational therapists use serious games with AR or VR technologies as another work tool, especially for rehabilitation practices. The fact that these technologies are also used in Physical Education classes in Brazil indicates that electronic games are available and can be a tool that can contribute to the widespread adoption of exercise as an enjoyable form of recreation.

  10. Evaluation of P-Listed Pharmaceutical Residues in Empty Pharmaceutical Containers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), some pharmaceuticals are considered acute hazardous wastes because their sole active pharmaceutical ingredients are P-listed commercial chemical products (40 CFR 261.33). Hospitals and other healthcare facilities have stru...

  11. About the Library - Betty Petersen Memorial Library

    Science.gov (United States)

    branch library of the NOAA Central Library. The library serves the NOAA Science Center in Camp Springs , Maryland. History and Mission: Betty Petersen Memorial Library began as a reading room in the NOAA Science Science Center staff and advises the library on all aspects of the library program. Library Newsletters

  12. Systematic hybrid LOH: a new method to reduce false positives and negatives during screening of yeast gene deletion libraries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Alvaro, D.; Sunjevaric, I.; Reid, R. J.

    2006-01-01

    We have developed a new method, systematic hybrid loss of heterozygosity, to facilitate genomic screens utilizing the yeast gene deletion library. Screening is performed using hybrid diploid strains produced through mating the library haploids with strains from a different genetic background......, to minimize the contribution of unpredicted recessive genetic factors present in the individual library strains. We utilize a set of strains where each contains a conditional centromere construct on one of the 16 yeast chromosomes that allows the destabilization and selectable loss of that chromosome. After...... complementation of any spurious recessive mutations in the library strain, facilitating attribution of the observed phenotype to the documented gene deletion and dramatically reducing false positive results commonly obtained in library screens. The systematic hybrid LOH method can be applied to virtually any...

  13. America's Star Libraries, 2010: Top-Rated Libraries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyons, Ray; Lance, Keith Curry

    2010-01-01

    The "LJ" Index of Public Library Service 2010, "Library Journal"'s national rating of public libraries, identifies 258 "star" libraries. Created by Ray Lyons and Keith Curry Lance, and based on 2008 data from the IMLS, it rates 7,407 public libraries. The top libraries in each group get five, four, or three stars. All included libraries, stars or…

  14. Virtual Winch Prototyping-Design, Modeling, Simulation and Testing of A Marine Hydraulic Winch System with Active Heave Compensation.

    OpenAIRE

    He, Dahai

    2016-01-01

    This thesis is to develop a standard virtual prototyping system for hydraulic winch system including developing a library of standard sub-models of hydraulic system, mechanical system and control system (AHC), and visualizing the simulation and operation of the virtual winch prototyping system. To be more specific: Chapter 1. Motivation and background of winch prototyping is introduced so as to break down the problems and formulate the objectives of this projects. Chapter 2. Theoretical...

  15. Connecting Distance Learning Communities to Research via Virtual Collaboratories: A Case Study from Library and Information Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rebmann, Kristen

    2012-01-01

    This case study reports on patterns of participation in a virtual collaboratory organised around goals associated with the involvement of graduate students in research and writing projects. Traditionally, distance learning classrooms have been devoted to teaching content matter (in a virtual context) yet this case study reports on the use of…

  16. Health information outreach: a survey of U.S. academic libraries, highlighting a midwestern university's experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duhon, Lucy; Jameson, Jodi

    2013-06-01

    As a result of their involvement in a campus health fair, the authors of this paper became interested in the extent to which other academic libraries were engaged in health information outreach (HIO). The authors present the results of a nationwide survey they conducted in 2010 and share a specific example of HIO at their own institution. The authors conducted an online survey of approximately 1700 U.S. general academic and academic health science libraries with the objective to create a broad picture of HIO activity and its context within patron information-seeking behavior. The survey yielded a 21% response rate. Nearly 55% of all respondents indicated that their libraries did not participate in HIO, while 37% indicated that they did. Other responses yielded information on patron usage patterns concerning health information, specific types of HIO that libraries are involved in, and barriers to library involvement in HIO. As libraries' traditional roles and information delivery methods evolve, librarians must do more to provide services that are relevant and accessible to users. Even as virtual services become more commonplace, librarians involved in HIO should consider also increasing their visibility by collaborating with others on campus. © 2013 The authors. Health Information and Libraries Journal © 2013 Health Libraries Group.

  17. Featured Library: Parrish Library

    OpenAIRE

    Kirkwood, Hal P, Jr

    2015-01-01

    The Roland G. Parrish Library of Management & Economics is located within the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University. Between 2005 - 2007 work was completed on a white paper that focused on a student-centered vision for the Management & Economics Library. The next step was a massive collection reduction and a re-envisioning of both the services and space of the library. Thus began a 3 phase renovation from a 2 floor standard, collection-focused library into a single floor, 18,000s...

  18. Performance of machine learning methods for ligand-based virtual screening.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plewczynski, Dariusz; Spieser, Stéphane A H; Koch, Uwe

    2009-05-01

    Computational screening of compound databases has become increasingly popular in pharmaceutical research. This review focuses on the evaluation of ligand-based virtual screening using active compounds as templates in the context of drug discovery. Ligand-based screening techniques are based on comparative molecular similarity analysis of compounds with known and unknown activity. We provide an overview of publications that have evaluated different machine learning methods, such as support vector machines, decision trees, ensemble methods such as boosting, bagging and random forests, clustering methods, neuronal networks, naïve Bayesian, data fusion methods and others.

  19. Virtual Interactive Musculoskeletal System (VIMS) in orthopaedic research, education and clinical patient care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chao, Edmund Y S; Armiger, Robert S; Yoshida, Hiroaki; Lim, Jonathan; Haraguchi, Naoki

    2007-03-08

    The ability to combine physiology and engineering analyses with computer sciences has opened the door to the possibility of creating the "Virtual Human" reality. This paper presents a broad foundation for a full-featured biomechanical simulator for the human musculoskeletal system physiology. This simulation technology unites the expertise in biomechanical analysis and graphic modeling to investigate joint and connective tissue mechanics at the structural level and to visualize the results in both static and animated forms together with the model. Adaptable anatomical models including prosthetic implants and fracture fixation devices and a robust computational infrastructure for static, kinematic, kinetic, and stress analyses under varying boundary and loading conditions are incorporated on a common platform, the VIMS (Virtual Interactive Musculoskeletal System). Within this software system, a manageable database containing long bone dimensions, connective tissue material properties and a library of skeletal joint system functional activities and loading conditions are also available and they can easily be modified, updated and expanded. Application software is also available to allow end-users to perform biomechanical analyses interactively. Examples using these models and the computational algorithms in a virtual laboratory environment are used to demonstrate the utility of these unique database and simulation technology. This integrated system, model library and database will impact on orthopaedic education, basic research, device development and application, and clinical patient care related to musculoskeletal joint system reconstruction, trauma management, and rehabilitation.

  20. Pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers: Going beyond the gift – An explorative review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westra, Daan; Angeli, Federica; Paulus, Aggie; Struss, Marleen; Ruwaard, Dirk

    2018-01-01

    Introduction Interactions between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers are increasingly scrutinized by academics, professionals, media, and politicians. Most empirical studies and professional guidelines focus on unilateral donor-recipient types of interaction and overlook, or fail to distinguish between, more reciprocal types of interaction. However, the degree of goal alignment and potential for value creation differs in these two types of interactions. Failing to differentiate between these two forms of interaction between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers could thus lead to biased conclusions regarding their desirability. This study reviews the empirical literature regarding the effects of bilateral forms of interactions between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers in order to explore their effects. Material and methods We searched two medical databases (i.e. PubMed and Cochrane Library) and one business database (i.e. EBSCO) for empirical, peer-reviewed articles concerning any type of bilateral interaction between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers. We included quantitative articles which were written in English and published between January 1st, 2000 and October 31st, 2016, and where the title or abstract included a combination of synonyms of the following keywords: pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers, interaction, and effects. Results Our search results yielded 10 studies which were included in our analysis. These studies focused on either research-oriented interaction or on education-oriented interaction. The included studies reported various outcomes of interaction such as prescribing behavior, ethical dilemmas, and research output. Regardless of the type of interaction, the studies either reported no significant effects or ambivalent outcomes such as affected clinical practice or ethical issues. Discussion and conclusion The effects of bilateral interactions reported in the literature are

  1. Making Choices in the Virtual World: The New Model at United Technologies Information Network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gulliford, Bradley

    1998-01-01

    Describes changes in services of the United Technologies Corporation Information Network from a traditional library system to a virtual system of World Wide Web sites, a document-delivery unit, telephone and e-mail reference, and desktop technical support to provide remote access. Staff time, security, and licensing issues are addressed.…

  2. Multigroup cross section library; WIMS library

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kannan, Umasankari

    2000-01-01

    The WIMS library has been extensively used in thermal reactor calculations. This multigroup constants library was originally developed from the UKNDL in the late 60's and has been updated in 1986. This library has been distributed with the WIMS-D code by NEA data bank. The references to WIMS library in literature are the 'old' which is the original as developed by the AEA Winfrith and the 'new' which is the current 1986 WIMS library. IAEA has organised a CRP where a new and fully updated WIMS library will soon be available. This paper gives an overview of the definitions of the group constants that go into any basic nuclear data library used for reactor calculations. This paper also outlines the contents of the WIMS library and some of its shortcomings

  3. Synthesis of a drug-like focused library of trisubstituted pyrrolidines using integrated flow chemistry and batch methods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baumann, Marcus; Baxendale, Ian R; Kuratli, Christoph; Ley, Steven V; Martin, Rainer E; Schneider, Josef

    2011-07-11

    A combination of flow and batch chemistries has been successfully applied to the assembly of a series of trisubstituted drug-like pyrrolidines. This study demonstrates the efficient preparation of a focused library of these pharmaceutically important structures using microreactor technologies, as well as classical parallel synthesis techniques, and thus exemplifies the impact of integrating innovative enabling tools within the drug discovery process.

  4. Virtually teaching virtual leadership

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Henriksen, Thomas Duus; Nielsen, Rikke Kristine; Børgesen, Kenneth

    2017-01-01

    This paper seeks to investigate the challenges to virtual collaboration and leadership on basis of findings from a virtual course on collaboration and leadership. The course used for this experiment was designed as a practical approach, which allowed participants to experience curriculum phenomena....... This experimental course provided insights into the challenges involved in virtual processes, and those experiences where used for addressing the challenges that virtual leadership is confronted with. Emphasis was placed on the reduction of undesired virtual distance and its consequences through affinity building....... We found that student scepticism appeared when a breakdown resulted in increasing virtual distance, and raises questions on how leaders might translate or upgrade their understandings of leadership to handling such increased distance through affinity building....

  5. Virtual reality devices integration in scientific visualization software in the VtkVRPN framework; Integration de peripheriques de realite virtuelle dans des applications de visualisation scientifique au sein de la plate-forme VtkVRPN

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Journe, G.; Guilbaud, C

    2005-07-01

    A high-quality scientific visualization software relies on ergonomic navigation and exploration. Those are essential to be able to perform an efficient data analysis. To help solving this issue, management of virtual reality devices has been developed inside the CEA 'VtkVRPN' framework. This framework is based on VTK, a 3D graphical library, and VRPN, a virtual reality devices management library. This document describes the developments done during a post-graduate training course. (authors)

  6. A diversity oriented synthesis of natural product inspired molecular libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauhan, Jyoti; Luthra, Tania; Gundla, Rambabu; Ferraro, Antonio; Holzgrabe, Ulrike; Sen, Subhabrata

    2017-11-07

    Natural products are the source of innumerable pharmaceutical drug candidates and also form an important aspect of herbal remedies. They are also a source of various bioactive compounds. Herein we have leveraged the structural attributes of several natural products in building a library of architecturally diverse chiral molecules by harnessing R-tryptophan as the chiral auxiliary. It is converted to its corresponding methyl ester 1 which in turn provided a bevy of 1-aryl-tetrahydro-β-carbolines 2a-d, which were then converted to chiral compounds via a diversity oriented synthetic strategy (DOS). In general, intermolecular and intramolecular ring rearrangements facilitated the formation of the final compounds. Four different classes of molecules with distinct architectures were generated, adding up to nearly twenty-two individual molecules. Phenotypic screening of a representative section of the library revealed two molecules that selectively inhibit MCF7 breast cancer cells with IC 50 of ∼5 μg mL -1 potency.

  7. The argument for pharmaceutical policy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Traulsen, Janine Morgall; Almarsdóttir, Anna Birna

    2005-02-01

    Pharmaceutical policy is a global concern. It has become a hot political topic in most countries--developed as well as developing--and can be found on the agenda of international organizations such as WHO, OECD, EU, WTO and even the World Bank. Pharmaceutical policy affects everyone in the world of pharmacy and it is therefore imperative that it be understood, discussed and debated within the pharmacy profession and included in the curriculum of schools of pharmacy. This, the first article in a series, argues for the importance of the academic discipline of pharmaceutical policy analysis and the involvement of pharmacists in this endeavour. The aim of the authors is to stimulate an informed and critical appreciation of this field. The authors begin with an introduction to the field of pharmaceutical policy, introducing several important concepts and current trends including: medicines regulation; how pharmaceutical policy is made; pharmaceutical policy as a dynamic process; and the new public health as a global issue. The article ends with a short description of the remaining five articles in the series which will deal with important aspects of pharmaceutical policy. The topics include: economic pressures on health care systems; drug utilization from the clinical viewpoint (rational use of medicines); the impact of pharmaceutical policy on patients and the patient impact on pharmaceutical policy; the professional perspective; and finally the last article which deals with studying and evaluating pharmaceutical policy.

  8. Preference for pharmaceutical formulation and treatment process attributes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stewart KD

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Katie D Stewart,1 Joseph A Johnston,2 Louis S Matza,1 Sarah E Curtis,2 Henry A Havel,3 Stephanie A Sweetana,3 Heather L Gelhorn1 1Outcomes Research, Evidera, Bethesda, MD, USA; 2Global Patient Outcomes & Real World Evidence, 3Small Molecule Design and Development, Eli Lilly & Company, Indianapolis, IN, USA Purpose: Pharmaceutical formulation and treatment process attributes, such as dose frequency and route of administration, can have an impact on quality of life, treatment adherence, and disease outcomes. The aim of this literature review was to examine studies on preferences for pharmaceutical treatment process attributes, focusing on research in diabetes, oncology, osteoporosis, and autoimmune disorders.Methods: The literature search focused on identifying studies reporting preferences for attributes of the pharmaceutical treatment process. Studies were required to use formal quantitative preference assessment methods, such as utility valuation, conjoint analysis, or contingent valuation. Searches were conducted using Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Health Economic Evaluation Database, and National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database (January 1993–October 2013.Results: A total of 42 studies met inclusion criteria: 19 diabetes, nine oncology, five osteoporosis, and nine autoimmune. Across these conditions, treatments associated with shorter treatment duration, less frequent administration, greater flexibility, and less invasive routes of administration were preferred over more burdensome or complex treatments. While efficacy and safety often had greater relative importance than treatment process, treatment process also had a quantifiable impact on preference. In some instances, particularly in diabetes and autoimmune disorders, treatment process attributes had greater relative importance than some or all efficacy and safety attributes. Some studies suggested that relative importance of treatment process depends on disease (eg

  9. Fieldwork Skills in Virtual Worlds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Craven, Benjamin; Lloyd, Geoffrey; Gordon, Clare; Houghton, Jacqueline; Morgan, Daniel

    2017-04-01

    Virtual reality has an increasingly significant role to play in teaching and research, but for geological applications realistic landscapes are required that contain sufficient detail to prove viable for investigation by both inquisitive students and critical researchers. To create such virtual landscapes, we combine DTM data with digitally modelled outcrops in the game engine Unity. Our current landscapes are fictional worlds, invented to focus on generation techniques and the strategic and spatial immersion within a digital environment. These have proved very successful in undergraduate teaching; however, we are now moving onto recreating real landscapes for more advanced teaching and research. The first of these is focussed on Rhoscolyn, situated within the Ynys Mon Geopark on Anglesey, UK. It is a popular area for both teaching and research in structural geology so has a wide usage demographic. The base of the model is created from DTM data, both 1 m LiDAR and 5 m GPS point data, and manipulated with QGIS before import to Unity. Substance is added to the world via models of architectural elements (e.g. walls and buildings) and appropriate flora and fauna, including sounds. Texturing of these models is performed using 25 cm aerial imagery and field photographs. Whilst such elements enhance immersion, it is the use of digital outcrop models that fully completes the experience. From fieldwork, we have a library of photogrammetric outcrops that can be modelled into 3D features using free (VisualSFM and MeshLab) and non-free (AgiSoft Photoscan) tools. These models are then refined and converted in Maya to create models for better insertion into the Unity environment. The finished product is a virtual landscape; a Rhoscolyn `world' that is sufficiently detailed to provide a base not only for geological teaching and training but also for geological research. Additionally, the `Rhoscolyn World' represents a significant tool for those students who are unable to attend

  10. Library 3.0 intelligent libraries and apomediation

    CERN Document Server

    Kwanya, Tom; Underwood, Peter

    2015-01-01

    The emerging generation of research and academic library users expect the delivery of user-centered information services. 'Apomediation' refers to the supporting role librarians can give users by stepping in when users need help. Library 3.0 explores the ongoing debates on the "point oh” phenomenon and its impact on service delivery in libraries. This title analyses Library 3.0 and its potential in creating intelligent libraries capable of meeting contemporary needs, and the growing role of librarians as apomediators. Library 3.0 is divided into four chapters. The first chapter introduces and places the topic in context. The second chapter considers "point oh” libraries. The third chapter covers library 3.0 librarianship, while the final chapter explores ways libraries can move towards '3.0'.

  11. Introducing Virtual Law offices in the Existing Judiciary

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rizul KHANNA

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available With the rise of omnipresent foundation of computing resources over the past years, every IT Setup is expanding their horizons in the Cloud services and related technologies. Cloud provides dynamically scalable virtualized computing resources as a service over the Internet and this key characteristic differentiates it from traditional computing paradigm. It is the application of Cloud and mobile computing technologies for improving communication between lawyers, their clients, and any other person involved. This framework basically digitalizes the existing judicial file system to form an e-library using Clouds infrastructure and using the internet services like GPRS or GSM / CDMA or 3G/4G etc for information retrieval from this e-library after the request has received proper authorization and authentication of the regulatory body. Data is received from both Web and mobile based applications so that each person can access the judicial data anytime and anywhere. For the realization of this system, a web interface is created with e-library serving as the main database and with user-friendly interface to do the above data acquisition and analysis which ultimately gives pace to the slow process of case management.

  12. FilTer BaSe: A web accessible chemical database for small compound libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kolte, Baban S; Londhe, Sanjay R; Solanki, Bhushan R; Gacche, Rajesh N; Meshram, Rohan J

    2018-03-01

    Finding novel chemical agents for targeting disease associated drug targets often requires screening of large number of new chemical libraries. In silico methods are generally implemented at initial stages for virtual screening. Filtering of such compound libraries on physicochemical and substructure ground is done to ensure elimination of compounds with undesired chemical properties. Filtering procedure, is redundant, time consuming and requires efficient bioinformatics/computer manpower along with high end software involving huge capital investment that forms a major obstacle in drug discovery projects in academic setup. We present an open source resource, FilTer BaSe- a chemoinformatics platform (http://bioinfo.net.in/filterbase/) that host fully filtered, ready to use compound libraries with workable size. The resource also hosts a database that enables efficient searching the chemical space of around 348,000 compounds on the basis of physicochemical and substructure properties. Ready to use compound libraries and database presented here is expected to aid a helping hand for new drug developers and medicinal chemists. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. LibAnswers: Analyzing tickets (questions) to improve our library's virtual reference service(s)

    KAUST Repository

    Ramli, Rindra M.

    2017-05-01

    Analyze the questions received in LibAnswers (ticketing system) in order to improve the quality of our virtual reference services. Tickets that were received between June 2015 to April 2017 were analyzed and categorized. It was noted that most questions asked revolved around electronic resources issues as well as circulation/access issues.

  14. LibAnswers: Analyzing tickets (questions) to improve our library's virtual reference service(s)

    KAUST Repository

    Ramli, Rindra M.; Ba-Rayyan, Faten A.

    2017-01-01

    Analyze the questions received in LibAnswers (ticketing system) in order to improve the quality of our virtual reference services. Tickets that were received between June 2015 to April 2017 were analyzed and categorized. It was noted that most questions asked revolved around electronic resources issues as well as circulation/access issues.

  15. Virtual commissioning of automated micro-optical assembly

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlette, Christian; Losch, Daniel; Haag, Sebastian; Zontar, Daniel; Roßmann, Jürgen; Brecher, Christian

    2015-02-01

    In this contribution, we present a novel approach to enable virtual commissioning for process developers in micro-optical assembly. Our approach aims at supporting micro-optics experts to effectively develop assisted or fully automated assembly solutions without detailed prior experience in programming while at the same time enabling them to easily implement their own libraries of expert schemes and algorithms for handling optical components. Virtual commissioning is enabled by a 3D simulation and visualization system in which the functionalities and properties of automated systems are modeled, simulated and controlled based on multi-agent systems. For process development, our approach supports event-, state- and time-based visual programming techniques for the agents and allows for their kinematic motion simulation in combination with looped-in simulation results for the optical components. First results have been achieved for simply switching the agents to command the real hardware setup after successful process implementation and validation in the virtual environment. We evaluated and adapted our system to meet the requirements set by industrial partners-- laser manufacturers as well as hardware suppliers of assembly platforms. The concept is applied to the automated assembly of optical components for optically pumped semiconductor lasers and positioning of optical components for beam-shaping

  16. Integration of fragment screening and library design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siegal, Gregg; Ab, Eiso; Schultz, Jan

    2007-12-01

    With more than 10 years of practical experience and theoretical analysis, fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) has entered the mainstream of the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. An array of biophysical techniques has been used to detect the weak interaction between a fragment and the target. Each technique presents its own requirements regarding the fragment collection and the target; therefore, in order to optimize the potential of FBDD, the nature of the target should be a driving factor for simultaneous development of both the library and the screening technology. A roadmap is now available to guide fragment-to-lead evolution when structural information is available. The next challenge is to apply FBDD to targets for which high-resolution structural information is not available.

  17. Croatian library leaders’ views on (their library quality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kornelija Petr Balog

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to determine and describe the library culture in Croatian public libraries. Semi-structured interviews with 14 library directors (ten public and four academic were conducted. The tentative discussion topics were: definition of quality, responsibility for quality, satisfaction with library services, familiarization with user perspective of library and librarians, monitoring of user expectations and opinions. These interviews incorporate some of the findings of the project Evaluation of library and information services: public and academic libraries. The project investigates library culture in Croatian public and academic libraries and their preparedness for activities of performance measurement. The interviews reveal that library culture has changed positively in the past few years and that library leaders have positive attitude towards quality and evaluation activities. Library culture in Croatian libraries is a relatively new concept and as such was not actively developed and/or created. This article looks into the library culture of Croatian libraries, but at the same time investigates whether there is any trace of culture of assessment in them. Also, this article brings the latest update on views, opinions and atmosphere in Croatian public and academic libraries.

  18. [Logistics in the pharmaceutical service].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stanko, P; Fulmeková, M

    2005-11-01

    The conception of the field of pharmaceutical service defines pharmaceutical service as the basic part of pharmacy, the principal task of which is to provide pharmaceutical care as an inseparable part of providing health care. It represents a set of professional activities of the pharmacist oriented to securing human and veterinary pharmaceutical products and health care products and to optimising effective, safe and quality pharmacotherapy. Technically, pharmaceutical service is an applied discipline, as it makes use of knowledge gained in other pharmaceutical, medical, psychological, social, and economic sciences. Because of its interdisciplinary character it is necessary to extend the theory of pharmaceutical service in such a way so that it may reflect all aspects of its sphere of activity. One of the possibilities is to define the pharmacy premises as an independent functional unit which operates on the basis of valid legal standards in such a way that on the one hand it secures the provision of health (pharmaceutical) care, and on the other hand it maintains its cost-effectiveness. To keep the quality of care of the patient and the economic aspect in balance, it is necessary to define the term pharmaceutical logistics also under the conditions of Slovak (Czech) pharmacy as early satisfaction of the requirements of the patient (client) in the pharmacy premises, which means that the appropriate pharmaceutical product or health care product and the appropriate information must be at the right time in the required amount and required quality in the right place.

  19. Pharmaceutical powder compaction technology

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Çelik, Metin

    2011-01-01

    "Revised to reflect modern pharmaceutical compacting techniques, this Second Edition guides pharmaceutical engineers, formulation scientists, and product development and quality assurance personnel...

  20. Spherical harmonics coefficients for ligand-based virtual screening of cyclooxygenase inhibitors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Quan; Birod, Kerstin; Angioni, Carlo; Grösch, Sabine; Geppert, Tim; Schneider, Petra; Rupp, Matthias; Schneider, Gisbert

    2011-01-01

    Molecular descriptors are essential for many applications in computational chemistry, such as ligand-based similarity searching. Spherical harmonics have previously been suggested as comprehensive descriptors of molecular structure and properties. We investigate a spherical harmonics descriptor for shape-based virtual screening. We introduce and validate a partially rotation-invariant three-dimensional molecular shape descriptor based on the norm of spherical harmonics expansion coefficients. Using this molecular representation, we parameterize molecular surfaces, i.e., isosurfaces of spatial molecular property distributions. We validate the shape descriptor in a comprehensive retrospective virtual screening experiment. In a prospective study, we virtually screen a large compound library for cyclooxygenase inhibitors, using a self-organizing map as a pre-filter and the shape descriptor for candidate prioritization. 12 compounds were tested in vitro for direct enzyme inhibition and in a whole blood assay. Active compounds containing a triazole scaffold were identified as direct cyclooxygenase-1 inhibitors. This outcome corroborates the usefulness of spherical harmonics for representation of molecular shape in virtual screening of large compound collections. The combination of pharmacophore and shape-based filtering of screening candidates proved to be a straightforward approach to finding novel bioactive chemotypes with minimal experimental effort.

  1. Generating Contextual Descriptions of Virtual Reality (VR) Spaces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olson, D. M.; Zaman, C. H.; Sutherland, A.

    2017-12-01

    Virtual reality holds great potential for science communication, education, and research. However, interfaces for manipulating data and environments in virtual worlds are limited and idiosyncratic. Furthermore, speech and vision are the primary modalities by which humans collect information about the world, but the linking of visual and natural language domains is a relatively new pursuit in computer vision. Machine learning techniques have been shown to be effective at image and speech classification, as well as at describing images with language (Karpathy 2016), but have not yet been used to describe potential actions. We propose a technique for creating a library of possible context-specific actions associated with 3D objects in immersive virtual worlds based on a novel dataset generated natively in virtual reality containing speech, image, gaze, and acceleration data. We will discuss the design and execution of a user study in virtual reality that enabled the collection and the development of this dataset. We will also discuss the development of a hybrid machine learning algorithm linking vision data with environmental affordances in natural language. Our findings demonstrate that it is possible to develop a model which can generate interpretable verbal descriptions of possible actions associated with recognized 3D objects within immersive VR environments. This suggests promising applications for more intuitive user interfaces through voice interaction within 3D environments. It also demonstrates the potential to apply vast bodies of embodied and semantic knowledge to enrich user interaction within VR environments. This technology would allow for applications such as expert knowledge annotation of 3D environments, complex verbal data querying and object manipulation in virtual spaces, and computer-generated, dynamic 3D object affordances and functionality during simulations.

  2. Pharmaceutical advertising in emergency departments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marco, Catherine A

    2004-04-01

    Promotion of prescription drugs represents a growing source of pharmaceutical marketing expenditures. This study was undertaken to identify the frequency of items containing pharmaceutical advertising in clinical emergency departments (EDs). In this observational study, emergency physician on-site investigators quantified a variety of items containing pharmaceutical advertising present at specified representative times and days, in clinical EDs. Measurements were obtained by 65 on-site investigators, representing 22 states. Most EDs in this study were community EDs (87% community and 14% university or university affiliate), and most were in urban settings (50% urban, 38% suburban, and 13% rural). Investigators measured 42 items per ED (mean = 42; median = 31; interquartile range of 14-55) containing pharmaceutical advertising in the clinical area. The most commonly observed items included pens (mean 15 per ED; median 10), product brochures (mean 5; median 3), stethoscope labels (mean 4; median 2), drug samples (mean 3; median 0), books (mean 3.4), mugs (mean 2.4), and published literature (mean 3.1). EDs with a policy restricting pharmaceutical representatives in the ED had significantly fewer items containing pharmaceutical advertising (median 7.5; 95% CI = 0 to 27) than EDs without such a policy (median 35; 95% CI = 27 to 47, p = 0.005, nonparametric Wilcoxon two-sample test). There were no differences in quantities of pharmaceutical advertising for EDs in community compared with university settings (p = 0.5), rural compared with urban settings (p = 0.3), or annual ED volumes (p = 0.9). Numerous items containing pharmaceutical advertising are frequently observed in EDs. Policies restricting pharmaceutical representatives in the ED are associated with reduced pharmaceutical advertising.

  3. Nitrification activity and community structure of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria in the bioreactors operated with addition of pharmaceuticals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kraigher, Barbara; Mandic-Mulec, Ines

    2011-01-01

    Pharmaceuticals represent a group of the new emerging contaminants, which might influence microbial communities in the activated sludge. Nitrification activity and Nitrospira community structure in the small-scale reactors supplied with different concentrations (0, 50, 200, 500 μg L -1 ) of the selected pharmaceuticals (ibuprofen, naproxen, ketoprofen, diclofenac and clofibric acid) were evaluated. Ammonia removal was not influenced by selected pharmaceuticals. However, in the two reactors operated with 50 μg L -1 of pharmaceuticals (R50 and R50P), the effluent concentration of N-(NO 2 - + NO 3 - ) was significantly higher than in the other reactors. Nitrospira community structure was assessed by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and by cloning and sequencing of the partial genes for 16S rRNA. Nitrospira spp. were detected in all reactors. The two dominant T-RFs represented the sublineages I and II of the genus Nitrospira. Main shifts were observed in the reactors R50 and R50P, where the T-RF representing sublineage II was much higher as compared to the other reactors. Consistent with this, the Nitrospira sublineage II was detected only in the clone libraries from the reactors R50 and R50P. Our results suggest that the relative abundance of Nitrospira sublineage II could be related to the effluent N-(NO 2 - + NO 3 - ) concentration.

  4. Availability, Pharmaceutics, Security, Pharmacokinetics, and Pharmacological Activities of Patchouli Alcohol

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guanying Hu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Patchouli alcohol (PA, a tricyclic sesquiterpene, is one of the critical bioactive ingredients and is mainly isolated from aerial part of Pogostemon cablin (known as guanghuoxiang in China belonging to Labiatae. So far, PA has been widely applied in perfume industries. This review was written with the use of reliable information published between 1974 and 2016 from libraries and electronic researches including NCKI, PubMed, Reaxys, ACS, ScienceDirect, Springer, and Wiley-Blackwell, aiming at presenting comprehensive outline of security, pharmacokinetics, and bioactivities of PA and at further providing a potential guide in exploring the PA and its use in various medical fields. We found that PA maybe was a low toxic drug that was acquired numerously through vegetable oil isolation and chemical synthesis and its stability and low water dissolution were improved in pharmaceutics. It also possessed specific pharmacokinetic characteristics, such as two-compartment open model, first-order kinetic elimination, and certain biometabolism and biotransformation process, and was shown to have multiple biological activities, that is, immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, antitumor, antimicrobial, insecticidal, antiatherogenic, antiemetic, whitening, and sedative activity. However, the systematic evaluations of preparation, pharmaceutics, toxicology, pharmacokinetics, and bioactivities underlying molecular mechanisms of action also required further investigation prior to practices of PA in clinic.

  5. Availability, Pharmaceutics, Security, Pharmacokinetics, and Pharmacological Activities of Patchouli Alcohol.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Guanying; Peng, Cheng; Xie, Xiaofang; Zhang, Sanyin; Cao, Xiaoyu

    2017-01-01

    Patchouli alcohol (PA), a tricyclic sesquiterpene, is one of the critical bioactive ingredients and is mainly isolated from aerial part of Pogostemon cablin (known as guanghuoxiang in China) belonging to Labiatae. So far, PA has been widely applied in perfume industries. This review was written with the use of reliable information published between 1974 and 2016 from libraries and electronic researches including NCKI, PubMed, Reaxys, ACS, ScienceDirect, Springer, and Wiley-Blackwell, aiming at presenting comprehensive outline of security, pharmacokinetics, and bioactivities of PA and at further providing a potential guide in exploring the PA and its use in various medical fields. We found that PA maybe was a low toxic drug that was acquired numerously through vegetable oil isolation and chemical synthesis and its stability and low water dissolution were improved in pharmaceutics. It also possessed specific pharmacokinetic characteristics, such as two-compartment open model, first-order kinetic elimination, and certain biometabolism and biotransformation process, and was shown to have multiple biological activities, that is, immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, antitumor, antimicrobial, insecticidal, antiatherogenic, antiemetic, whitening, and sedative activity. However, the systematic evaluations of preparation, pharmaceutics, toxicology, pharmacokinetics, and bioactivities underlying molecular mechanisms of action also required further investigation prior to practices of PA in clinic.

  6. A reliable computational workflow for the selection of optimal screening libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilad, Yocheved; Nadassy, Katalin; Senderowitz, Hanoch

    2015-01-01

    The experimental screening of compound collections is a common starting point in many drug discovery projects. Successes of such screening campaigns critically depend on the quality of the screened library. Many libraries are currently available from different vendors yet the selection of the optimal screening library for a specific project is challenging. We have devised a novel workflow for the rational selection of project-specific screening libraries. The workflow accepts as input a set of virtual candidate libraries and applies the following steps to each library: (1) data curation; (2) assessment of ADME/T profile; (3) assessment of the number of promiscuous binders/frequent HTS hitters; (4) assessment of internal diversity; (5) assessment of similarity to known active compound(s) (optional); (6) assessment of similarity to in-house or otherwise accessible compound collections (optional). For ADME/T profiling, Lipinski's and Veber's rule-based filters were implemented and a new blood brain barrier permeation model was developed and validated (85 and 74 % success rate for training set and test set, respectively). Diversity and similarity descriptors which demonstrated best performances in terms of their ability to select either diverse or focused sets of compounds from three databases (Drug Bank, CMC and CHEMBL) were identified and used for diversity and similarity assessments. The workflow was used to analyze nine common screening libraries available from six vendors. The results of this analysis are reported for each library providing an assessment of its quality. Furthermore, a consensus approach was developed to combine the results of these analyses into a single score for selecting the optimal library under different scenarios. We have devised and tested a new workflow for the rational selection of screening libraries under different scenarios. The current workflow was implemented using the Pipeline Pilot software yet due to the usage of generic

  7. Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Journal Homepage Image. We seek to encourage pharmaceutical and allied research of tropical and international relevance and to foster multidisciplinary research and collaboration among scientists, the pharmaceutical industry and the healthcare professionals. We publish articles in pharmaceutical sciences and related ...

  8. The Korean Pharmaceutical Industry and the Expansion of the General Pharmaceuticals Market in the 1950-1960s

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kyu-Hwan SIHN

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available After the Liberation, the Korean economy was dependent on relief supplies and aid after the ruin of the colonial regime and war. The pharmaceutical business also searched for their share in the delivery of military supplies and the distribution of relief supplies. The supply-side pharmaceutical policy made the pharmaceutical market a wholesale business. The gravity of the situation led to an increased importation of medical supplies, and wholesalers took the lead in establishing the distribution structure, whereas consumers and pharmaceutical business were relatively intimidated. The aid provided by the International Cooperation Administration (ICA marked a turning point in the Korean pharmaceutical industry after the middle of the 1950s. ICA supplied raw materials and equipment funds, while the pharmaceutical business imported advanced technology and capital. The government invited the local production of medical substances, whereas pharmaceutical businesses replaced imported medical substances with locally produced antibiotics. After the 1960s, the production of antibiotics reached saturation. Pharmaceutical businesses needed new markets to break through the stalemate, so they turned their attention to vitamins and health tonics as general pharmaceuticals, as these were suitable for mass production and mass consumption. The modernized patent medicine market after the Opening of Korea was transformed into the contemporized general pharmaceuticals market equipped with the up-to-date facilities and technology in 1960s. Pharmaceutical businesses had to advertise these new products extensively and reform the distribution structure to achieve high profits. With the introduction of TV broadcasting, these businesses invested in TV advertising and generated sizable sales figures. They also established retail pharmacy and chain stores to reform the distribution structure. The end result was a dramatic expansion of the general pharmaceuticals market. The

  9. [The Korean Pharmaceutical Industry and the Expansion of the General Pharmaceuticals Market in the 1950-1960s].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sihn, Kyu-Hwan

    2015-12-01

    After the Liberation, the Korean economy was dependent on relief supplies and aid after the ruin of the colonial regime and war. The pharmaceutical business also searched for their share in the delivery of military supplies and the distribution of relief supplies. The supply-side pharmaceutical policy made the pharmaceutical market a wholesale business. The gravity of the situation led to an increased importation of medical supplies, and wholesalers took the lead in establishing the distribution structure, whereas consumers and pharmaceutical business were relatively intimidated. The aid provided by the International Cooperation Administration (ICA) marked a turning point in the Korean pharmaceutical industry after the middle of the 1950s. ICA supplied raw materials and equipment funds, while the pharmaceutical business imported advanced technology and capital. The government invited the local production of medical substances, whereas pharmaceutical businesses replaced imported medical substances with locally produced antibiotics. After the 1960s, the production of antibiotics reached saturation. Pharmaceutical businesses needed new markets to break through the stalemate, so they turned their attention to vitamins and health tonics as general pharmaceuticals, as these were suitable for mass production and mass consumption. The modernized patent medicine market after the Opening of Korea was transformed into the contemporized general pharmaceuticals market equipped with the up-to-date facilities and technology in 1960s. Pharmaceutical businesses had to advertise these new products extensively and reform the distribution structure to achieve high profits. With the introduction of TV broadcasting, these businesses invested in TV advertising and generated sizable sales figures. They also established retail pharmacy and chain stores to reform the distribution structure. The end result was a dramatic expansion of the general pharmaceuticals market. The market for

  10. Pharmaceutical Formulation Facilities as Sources of Opioids and Other Pharmaceuticals to Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluents

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    Facilities involved in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products are an under-investigated source of pharmaceuticals to the environment. Between 2004 and 2009, 35 to 38 effluent samples were collected from each of three wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in New York and analyzed for seven pharmaceuticals including opioids and muscle relaxants. Two WWTPs (NY2 and NY3) receive substantial flows (>20% of plant flow) from pharmaceutical formulation facilities (PFF) and one (NY1) receives no PFF flow. Samples of effluents from 23 WWTPs across the United States were analyzed once for these pharmaceuticals as part of a national survey. Maximum pharmaceutical effluent concentrations for the national survey and NY1 effluent samples were generally effluent had median concentrations ranging from 3.4 to >400 μg/L. Maximum concentrations of oxycodone (1700 μg/L) and metaxalone (3800 μg/L) in samples from NY3 effluent exceeded 1000 μg/L. Three pharmaceuticals (butalbital, carisoprodol, and oxycodone) in samples of NY2 effluent had median concentrations ranging from 2 to 11 μg/L. These findings suggest that current manufacturing practices at these PFFs can result in pharmaceuticals concentrations from 10 to 1000 times higher than those typically found in WWTP effluents. PMID:20521847

  11. Virtual interactive musculoskeletal system (VIMS in orthopaedic research, education and clinical patient care

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yoshida Hiroaki

    2007-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The ability to combine physiology and engineering analyses with computer sciences has opened the door to the possibility of creating the "Virtual Human" reality. This paper presents a broad foundation for a full-featured biomechanical simulator for the human musculoskeletal system physiology. This simulation technology unites the expertise in biomechanical analysis and graphic modeling to investigate joint and connective tissue mechanics at the structural level and to visualize the results in both static and animated forms together with the model. Adaptable anatomical models including prosthetic implants and fracture fixation devices and a robust computational infrastructure for static, kinematic, kinetic, and stress analyses under varying boundary and loading conditions are incorporated on a common platform, the VIMS (Virtual Interactive Musculoskeletal System. Within this software system, a manageable database containing long bone dimensions, connective tissue material properties and a library of skeletal joint system functional activities and loading conditions are also available and they can easily be modified, updated and expanded. Application software is also available to allow end-users to perform biomechanical analyses interactively. Examples using these models and the computational algorithms in a virtual laboratory environment are used to demonstrate the utility of these unique database and simulation technology. This integrated system, model library and database will impact on orthopaedic education, basic research, device development and application, and clinical patient care related to musculoskeletal joint system reconstruction, trauma management, and rehabilitation.

  12. Low-Cost Solutions Using the Infrastructure as a Service with High Availability and Virtualization Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cesar Armando Moreira Zambrano

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the results obtained from the implementation of an infrastructure to improve technological services of email, virtual learning environment, digital repository and virtual library at the Polytechnic Agricultural Higher School of Manabí (Polytechnic School of Agriculture of Manabí, ESPAM, through the use of high availability and virtualization mechanisms to provide more reliable resources. Virtualization is an empowering and cutting-edge technology that is transforming the operation of technological services, but it involves a paradigm shift in serviceoriented information technologies and cloud computing. To execute each of the processes the V-cycle methodology was used as a strategy. Virtualization services empowers companies and institutions by transforming how they operate to be at the forefront of innovation in their services as a technological solution. So the implementation of redundant technology in the ESPAM, has allowed its technological services are always operative, for the benefit of the university community, because if there were failures in the main system or services, the backups will be enabled quickly allowing the systems come into operation immediately.

  13. 3D-e-Chem-VM: Structural Cheminformatics Research Infrastructure in a Freely Available Virtual Machine

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    McGuire, R.; Verhoeven, S.; Vass, M.; Vriend, G.; Esch, I.J. de; Lusher, S.J.; Leurs, R.; Ridder, L.; Kooistra, A.J.; Ritschel, T.; Graaf, C. de

    2017-01-01

    3D-e-Chem-VM is an open source, freely available Virtual Machine ( http://3d-e-chem.github.io/3D-e-Chem-VM/ ) that integrates cheminformatics and bioinformatics tools for the analysis of protein-ligand interaction data. 3D-e-Chem-VM consists of software libraries, and database and workflow tools

  14. 3D-e-Chem-VM : Structural Cheminformatics Research Infrastructure in a Freely Available Virtual Machine

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    McGuire, Ross; Verhoeven, Stefan; Vass, Márton; Vriend, Gerrit; De Esch, Iwan J P; Lusher, Scott J.; Leurs, Rob; Ridder, Lars; Kooistra, Albert J.; Ritschel, Tina; de Graaf, C.

    2017-01-01

    3D-e-Chem-VM is an open source, freely available Virtual Machine ( http://3d-e-chem.github.io/3D-e-Chem-VM/ ) that integrates cheminformatics and bioinformatics tools for the analysis of protein-ligand interaction data. 3D-e-Chem-VM consists of software libraries, and database and workflow tools

  15. Information security in academic libraries: the role of the librarian in planning and introducing institutional policies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juliana Soares Lima

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available This study presents a short discussion about the role of the librarian as a mediator at planning, developing and implementing an Information Security Policy in Academic Libraries, by working together with professionals in the field of Information Technology. It also discusses the main virtual threats and some risks that are prone to infect computers in libraries. Based on the current legislation and on some normative documents about information security, it is confirmed the importance of the librarian take part in the main decision-making related to information security, such as planning a consistent Information Security Policy which be able to see the specific needs of Academic Libraries as institutions prone to cyberattacks. The main topics and guidelines to carry out an Information Security Policy are presented based on the results that were obtained through an action research, by visiting libraries to fill in application forms and to compose reports whose content was analyzed. Finally, the study concludes that Information Security Policy must be validated by managers of sectors or departments which the Academic Library is hierarchically subordinate to.

  16. Exploring new ways of working using virtual research environments in library and information science

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sonnenwald, Diane H.; Lassi, Monica; Olson, Nasrine

    2009-01-01

    research environment (VRE) to facilitate the sharing of data collection instruments among students, researchers and professionals; new ways professionals and researchers can collaborate; collaborative decision making in the context of purchasing a library management system; and collaboration among LIS...

  17. Virtual goods recommendations in virtual worlds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Kuan-Yu; Liao, Hsiu-Yu; Chen, Jyun-Hung; Liu, Duen-Ren

    2015-01-01

    Virtual worlds (VWs) are computer-simulated environments which allow users to create their own virtual character as an avatar. With the rapidly growing user volume in VWs, platform providers launch virtual goods in haste and stampede users to increase sales revenue. However, the rapidity of development incurs virtual unrelated items which will be difficult to remarket. It not only wastes virtual global companies' intelligence resources, but also makes it difficult for users to find suitable virtual goods fit for their virtual home in daily virtual life. In the VWs, users decorate their houses, visit others' homes, create families, host parties, and so forth. Users establish their social life circles through these activities. This research proposes a novel virtual goods recommendation method based on these social interactions. The contact strength and contact influence result from interactions with social neighbors and influence users' buying intention. Our research highlights the importance of social interactions in virtual goods recommendation. The experiment's data were retrieved from an online VW platform, and the results show that the proposed method, considering social interactions and social life circle, has better performance than existing recommendation methods.

  18. Computational redesign of bacterial biotin carboxylase inhibitors using structure-based virtual screening of combinatorial libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brylinski, Michal; Waldrop, Grover L

    2014-04-02

    As the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria steadily increases, there is an urgent need for new antibacterial agents. Because fatty acid synthesis is only used for membrane biogenesis in bacteria, the enzymes in this pathway are attractive targets for antibacterial agent development. Acetyl-CoA carboxylase catalyzes the committed and regulated step in fatty acid synthesis. In bacteria, the enzyme is composed of three distinct protein components: biotin carboxylase, biotin carboxyl carrier protein, and carboxyltransferase. Fragment-based screening revealed that amino-oxazole inhibits biotin carboxylase activity and also exhibits antibacterial activity against Gram-negative organisms. In this report, we redesigned previously identified lead inhibitors to expand the spectrum of bacteria sensitive to the amino-oxazole derivatives by including Gram-positive species. Using 9,411 small organic building blocks, we constructed a diverse combinatorial library of 1.2×10⁸ amino-oxazole derivatives. A subset of 9×10⁶ of these compounds were subjected to structure-based virtual screening against seven biotin carboxylase isoforms using similarity-based docking by eSimDock. Potentially broad-spectrum antibiotic candidates were selected based on the consensus ranking by several scoring functions including non-linear statistical models implemented in eSimDock and traditional molecular mechanics force fields. The analysis of binding poses of the top-ranked compounds docked to biotin carboxylase isoforms suggests that: (1) binding of the amino-oxazole anchor is stabilized by a network of hydrogen bonds to residues 201, 202 and 204; (2) halogenated aromatic moieties attached to the amino-oxazole scaffold enhance interactions with a hydrophobic pocket formed by residues 157, 169, 171 and 203; and (3) larger substituents reach deeper into the binding pocket to form additional hydrogen bonds with the side chains of residues 209 and 233. These structural insights into drug

  19. A UNIX-based prototype biomedical virtual image processor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fahy, J.B.; Kim, Y.

    1987-01-01

    The authors have developed a multiprocess virtual image processor for the IBM PC/AT, in order to maximize image processing software portability for biomedical applications. An interprocess communication scheme, based on two-way metacode exchange, has been developed and verified for this purpose. Application programs call a device-independent image processing library, which transfers commands over a shared data bridge to one or more Autonomous Virtual Image Processors (AVIP). Each AVIP runs as a separate process in the UNIX operating system, and implements the device-independent functions on the image processor to which it corresponds. Application programs can control multiple image processors at a time, change the image processor configuration used at any time, and are completely portable among image processors for which an AVIP has been implemented. Run-time speeds have been found to be acceptable for higher level functions, although rather slow for lower level functions, owing to the overhead associated with sending commands and data over the shared data bridge

  20. Accessing the scientific literature. The reality of virtual scholarship.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Birrer, R B; Doherty, M

    1997-01-01

    The age-honored practice of plowing through the Index Medicus in a good medical library to meander through citations for treasured finds is an anachronism. Today, clinicians have the astonishing capacity to bring to bear existing knowledge almost effortlessly. Virtual scholarship makes available up-to-date medical citations and their abstracts. There can be access around the clock on any topic in the office, at the bedside, or from home. Computerized searches of the medical literature promote directed continuing education and may enhance clinical care of patients.

  1. Distributed Drug Discovery, Part 2: Global Rehearsal of Alkylating Agents for the Synthesis of Resin-Bound Unnatural Amino Acids and Virtual D3 Catalog Construction

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-01-01

    Distributed Drug Discovery (D3) proposes solving large drug discovery problems by breaking them into smaller units for processing at multiple sites. A key component of the synthetic and computational stages of D3 is the global rehearsal of prospective reagents and their subsequent use in the creation of virtual catalogs of molecules accessible by simple, inexpensive combinatorial chemistry. The first section of this article documents the feasibility of the synthetic component of Distributed Drug Discovery. Twenty-four alkylating agents were rehearsed in the United States, Poland, Russia, and Spain, for their utility in the synthesis of resin-bound unnatural amino acids 1, key intermediates in many combinatorial chemistry procedures. This global reagent rehearsal, coupled to virtual library generation, increases the likelihood that any member of that virtual library can be made. It facilitates the realistic integration of worldwide virtual D3 catalog computational analysis with synthesis. The second part of this article describes the creation of the first virtual D3 catalog. It reports the enumeration of 24 416 acylated unnatural amino acids 5, assembled from lists of either rehearsed or well-precedented alkylating and acylating reagents, and describes how the resulting catalog can be freely accessed, searched, and downloaded by the scientific community. PMID:19105725

  2. Pharmaceutical compounds in drinking water

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vikas Chander

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Pharmaceutical products and their wastes play a major role in the degradation of environment. These drugs have positive as well as negative consequences on different environmental components including biota in different ways. Many types of pharmaceutical substances have been detected with significant concentrations through various advanced instrumental techniques in surface water, subsurface water, ground water, domestic waste water, municipal waste water and industrial effluents. The central as well as state governments in India are providing supports by creating excise duty free zones to promote the pharmaceutical manufacturers for their production. As a result, pharmaceutical companies are producing different types of pharmaceutical products at large scale and also producing complex non-biodegradable toxic wastes byproducts and releasing untreated or partially treated wastes in the environment in absence of strong regulations. These waste pollutants are contaminating all types of drinking water sources. The present paper focuses on water quality pollution by pharmaceutical pollutants, their occurrences, nature, metabolites and their fate in the environment.

  3. Virtual marketing in virtual enterprises

    OpenAIRE

    Ale Ebrahim, Nader; Fattahi, Hamaid Ali; Golnam, Arash

    2008-01-01

    Virtualization caused tremendous evolution in the economics of marketing channels, patterns of physical distribution and the structure of distributors and developed a new concept that is known as virtual marketing (VM). VM combines the powerful technologies of interactive marketing and virtual reality. Virtual enterprise (VE) refers to an organization not having a clear physical locus. In other words, VE is an organization distributed geographically and whose work is coordinated through e...

  4. PandaEPL: a library for programming spatial navigation experiments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solway, Alec; Miller, Jonathan F; Kahana, Michael J

    2013-12-01

    Recent advances in neuroimaging and neural recording techniques have enabled researchers to make significant progress in understanding the neural mechanisms underlying human spatial navigation. Because these techniques generally require participants to remain stationary, computer-generated virtual environments are used. We introduce PandaEPL, a programming library for the Python language designed to simplify the creation of computer-controlled spatial-navigation experiments. PandaEPL is built on top of Panda3D, a modern open-source game engine. It allows users to construct three-dimensional environments that participants can navigate from a first-person perspective. Sound playback and recording and also joystick support are provided through the use of additional optional libraries. PandaEPL also handles many tasks common to all cognitive experiments, including managing configuration files, logging all internal and participant-generated events, and keeping track of the experiment state. We describe how PandaEPL compares with other software for building spatial-navigation experiments and walk the reader through the process of creating a fully functional experiment.

  5. Implementation of a virtual laryngoscope system using efficient reconstruction algorithms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Shouhua; Yan, Yuling

    2009-08-01

    Conventional fiberoptic laryngoscope may cause discomfort to the patient and in some cases it can lead to side effects that include perforation, infection and hemorrhage. Virtual laryngoscopy (VL) can overcome this problem and further it may lower the risk of operation failures. Very few virtual endoscope (VE) based investigations of the larynx have been described in the literature. CT data sets from a healthy subject were used for the VL studies. An algorithm of preprocessing and region-growing for 3-D image segmentation is developed. An octree based approach is applied in our VL system which facilitates a rapid construction of iso-surfaces. Some locating techniques are used for fast rendering and navigation (fly-through). Our VL visualization system provides for real time and efficient 'fly-through' navigation. The virtual camera can be arranged so that it moves along the airway in either direction. Snap shots were taken during fly-throughs. The system can automatically adjust the direction of the virtual camera and prevent collisions of the camera and the wall of the airway. A virtual laryngoscope (VL) system using OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) platform for interactive rendering and 3D visualization of the laryngeal framework and upper airway is established. OpenGL is supported on major operating systems and works with every major windowing system. The VL system runs on regular PC workstations and was successfully tested and evaluated using CT data from a normal subject.

  6. Virtual Presenters: Towards Interactive Virtual Presentations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nijholt, Antinus; Cappellini, V.; Hemsley, J.

    2005-01-01

    We discuss having virtual presenters in virtual environments that present information to visitors of these environments. Some current research is surveyed and we will look in particular to our research in the context of a virtual meeting room where a virtual presenter uses speech, gestures, pointing

  7. The Library's role and challenges in implementing an e-learning strategy: a case study from northern Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ritchie, Ann

    2011-03-01

      The Northern Territory Department of Health and Families' (DHF) Library supports education programs for all staff. DHF is implementing an e-learning strategy, which may be viewed as a vehicle for coordinating the education function throughout the organisation.   The objective of this study is to explore the concept of e-learning in relation to the Library's role in implementing an organisation-wide e-learning strategy.   The main findings of a literature search about the effectiveness of e-learning in health professionals' education, and the responsibility and roles of health librarians in e-learning are described. A case study approach is used to outline the current role and future opportunities and challenges for the Library.   The case study presents the organisation's strategic planning context. Four areas of operational activity which build on the Library's current educational activities are suggested: the integration of library resources 'learning objects' within a Learning Management System; developing online health information literacy training programs; establishing a physical and virtual 'e-Learning Library/Centre'; developing collaborative partnerships, taking on new responsibilities in e-learning development, and creating a new e-learning librarian role.   The study shows that the Library's role is fundamental to developing the organisation's e-learning capacity and implementing an organisation-wide e-learning strategy. © 2010 The authors. Health Information and Libraries Journal © 2010 Health Libraries Group.

  8. Supramolecular Pharmaceutical Sciences: A Novel Concept Combining Pharmaceutical Sciences and Supramolecular Chemistry with a Focus on Cyclodextrin-Based Supermolecules.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Higashi, Taishi; Iohara, Daisuke; Motoyama, Keiichi; Arima, Hidetoshi

    2018-01-01

    Supramolecular chemistry is an extremely useful and important domain for understanding pharmaceutical sciences because various physiological reactions and drug activities are based on supramolecular chemistry. However, it is not a major domain in the pharmaceutical field. In this review, we propose a new concept in pharmaceutical sciences termed "supramolecular pharmaceutical sciences," which combines pharmaceutical sciences and supramolecular chemistry. This concept could be useful for developing new ideas, methods, hypotheses, strategies, materials, and mechanisms in pharmaceutical sciences. Herein, we focus on cyclodextrin (CyD)-based supermolecules, because CyDs have been used not only as pharmaceutical excipients or active pharmaceutical ingredients but also as components of supermolecules.

  9. The CASPER Virtual Physics Circus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carmona-Reyes, Jorge; Harris, Brandon; Chen, Mudi; Matthews, Lorin; Hyde, Truell

    2013-10-01

    CASPER's Virtual Physics Circus (VPC) is based on the long-running CASPER Physics Circus and is the most recent component in CASPER's ``Seamless Pathway'' educational outreach initiative. The VPC was developed by an interdisciplinary group of physicists, web-designers and educators and employs both web and video game environments to provide students and teachers with engaging, fast-paced educational activities. Access to an integrated curriculum and video library, aligned to both the TEKS (Texas Essentials Knowledge and Skill) and the National Science and Mathematics Standards, is also part of the VPC package. In this talk an initial beta-test of the VPC, conducted for a central Texas independent school district, will be discussed. Future plans for both expansion and translation into Spanish will also be discussed.

  10. Virtual Worlds for Virtual Organizing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rhoten, Diana; Lutters, Wayne

    The members and resources of a virtual organization are dispersed across time and space, yet they function as a coherent entity through the use of technologies, networks, and alliances. As virtual organizations proliferate and become increasingly important in society, many may exploit the technical architecture s of virtual worlds, which are the confluence of computer-mediated communication, telepresence, and virtual reality originally created for gaming. A brief socio-technical history describes their early origins and the waves of progress followed by stasis that brought us to the current period of renewed enthusiasm. Examination of contemporary examples demonstrates how three genres of virtual worlds have enabled new arenas for virtual organizing: developer-defined closed worlds, user-modifiable quasi-open worlds, and user-generated open worlds. Among expected future trends are an increase in collaboration born virtually rather than imported from existing organizations, a tension between high-fidelity recreations of the physical world and hyper-stylized imaginations of fantasy worlds, and the growth of specialized worlds optimized for particular sectors, companies, or cultures.

  11. The Discovery of Aurora Kinase Inhibitor by Multi-Docking-Based Virtual Screening

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun-Tae Kim

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available We report the discovery of aurora kinase inhibitor using the fragment-based virtual screening by multi-docking strategy. Among a number of fragments collected from eMololecules, we found four fragment molecules showing potent activity (>50% at 100 μM against aurora kinase. Based on the explored fragment scaffold, we selected two compounds in our synthesized library and validated the biological activity against Aurora kinase.

  12. SCHOOL COMMUNITY PERCEPTION OF LIBRARY APPS AGAINTS LIBRARY EMPOWERMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Achmad Riyadi Alberto

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract. This research is motivated by the development of information and communication technology (ICT in the library world so rapidly that allows libraries in the present to develop its services into digital-based services. This study aims to find out the school community’s perception of library apps developed by Riche Cynthia Johan, Hana Silvana, and Holin Sulistyo and its influence on library empowerment at the library of SD Laboratorium Percontohan UPI Bandung. Library apps in this research belong to the context of m-libraries, which is a library that meets the needs of its users by using mobile platforms such as smartphones,computers, and other mobile devices. Empowerment of library is the utilization of all aspects of the implementation of libraries to the best in order to achieve the expected goals. An analysis of the schoolcommunity’s perception of library apps using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM includes: ease of use, usefulness, usability, usage trends, and real-use conditions. While the empowerment of the library includes aspects: information empowerment, empowerment of learning resources, empowerment of human resources, empowerment of library facilities, and library promotion. The research method used in this research is descriptive method with quantitative approach. Population and sample in this research is school community at SD Laboratorium Percontohan UPI Bandung. Determination of sample criteria by using disproportionate stratified random sampling with the number of samples of 83 respondents. Data analysis using simple linear regression to measure the influence of school community perception about library apps to library empowerment. The result of data analysis shows that there is influence between school community perception about library apps to library empowerment at library of SD Laboratorium Percontohan UPI Bandung which is proved by library acceptance level and library empowerment improvement.

  13. AFCI-2.0 Neutron Cross Section Covariance Library

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Herman, M.; Herman, M; Oblozinsky, P.; Mattoon, C.M.; Pigni, M.; Hoblit, S.; Mughabghab, S.F.; Sonzogni, A.; Talou, P.; Chadwick, M.B.; Hale, G.M.; Kahler, A.C.; Kawano, T.; Little, R.C.; Yount, P.G.

    2011-03-01

    The cross section covariance library has been under development by BNL-LANL collaborative effort over the last three years. The project builds on two covariance libraries developed earlier, with considerable input from BNL and LANL. In 2006, international effort under WPEC Subgroup 26 produced BOLNA covariance library by putting together data, often preliminary, from various sources for most important materials for nuclear reactor technology. This was followed in 2007 by collaborative effort of four US national laboratories to produce covariances, often of modest quality - hence the name low-fidelity, for virtually complete set of materials included in ENDF/B-VII.0. The present project is focusing on covariances of 4-5 major reaction channels for 110 materials of importance for power reactors. The work started under Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) in 2008, which changed to Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) in 2009. With the 2011 release the name has changed to the Covariance Multigroup Matrix for Advanced Reactor Applications (COMMARA) version 2.0. The primary purpose of the library is to provide covariances for AFCI data adjustment project, which is focusing on the needs of fast advanced burner reactors. Responsibility of BNL was defined as developing covariances for structural materials and fission products, management of the library and coordination of the work; LANL responsibility was defined as covariances for light nuclei and actinides. The COMMARA-2.0 covariance library has been developed by BNL-LANL collaboration for Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative applications over the period of three years, 2008-2010. It contains covariances for 110 materials relevant to fast reactor R&D. The library is to be used together with the ENDF/B-VII.0 central values of the latest official release of US files of evaluated neutron cross sections. COMMARA-2.0 library contains neutron cross section covariances for 12 light nuclei (coolants and moderators), 78 structural

  14. AFCI-2.0 Neutron Cross Section Covariance Library

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Herman, M.; Oblozinsky, P.; Mattoon, C.M.; Pigni, M.; Hoblit, S.; Mughabghab, S.F.; Sonzogni, A.; Talou, P.; Chadwick, M.B.; Hale, G.M.; Kahler, A.C.; Kawano, T.; Little, R.C.; Yount, P.G.

    2011-01-01

    The cross section covariance library has been under development by BNL-LANL collaborative effort over the last three years. The project builds on two covariance libraries developed earlier, with considerable input from BNL and LANL. In 2006, international effort under WPEC Subgroup 26 produced BOLNA covariance library by putting together data, often preliminary, from various sources for most important materials for nuclear reactor technology. This was followed in 2007 by collaborative effort of four US national laboratories to produce covariances, often of modest quality - hence the name low-fidelity, for virtually complete set of materials included in ENDF/B-VII.0. The present project is focusing on covariances of 4-5 major reaction channels for 110 materials of importance for power reactors. The work started under Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) in 2008, which changed to Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) in 2009. With the 2011 release the name has changed to the Covariance Multigroup Matrix for Advanced Reactor Applications (COMMARA) version 2.0. The primary purpose of the library is to provide covariances for AFCI data adjustment project, which is focusing on the needs of fast advanced burner reactors. Responsibility of BNL was defined as developing covariances for structural materials and fission products, management of the library and coordination of the work; LANL responsibility was defined as covariances for light nuclei and actinides. The COMMARA-2.0 covariance library has been developed by BNL-LANL collaboration for Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative applications over the period of three years, 2008-2010. It contains covariances for 110 materials relevant to fast reactor R and D. The library is to be used together with the ENDF/B-VII.0 central values of the latest official release of US files of evaluated neutron cross sections. COMMARA-2.0 library contains neutron cross section covariances for 12 light nuclei (coolants and moderators), 78

  15. [Hospital pharmaceutical practice in prison].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harcouët, L

    2010-09-01

    Since 1994, hospital pharmaceutical teams have been in charge of pharmaceutical tasks in "unités de consultation et de soins ambulatoires" (UCSA), which are hospital consulting care units in French prisons. In 2008, pharmaceutical team in Parisian prisons received 6500 prescriptions and prepared 85,000 nominative bags containing drugs. Prisoners were 1.3% to receive treatments against HIV, 8.2% cardiovascular drugs, 7.2% opioid substitution treatments, and 52.9% psychoactive drugs, including 39.3% hypnotics, 40.5% anxiolytics, 11.3% antidepressants and 12.2% neuroleptics. In prison, the dichotomy between somatic and mental care is marked, attitudes of prisoners about their medicines are complex (important claims, embezzlement, etc.) and it is difficult for law defendants to maintain treatment confidentiality and to prepare prison outing in terms of health. To attenuate the heterogeneity of drug distribution systems in French prisons, we propose pharmaceutical analysis of prescriptions and nominative dispensation, computerization in UCSA in coordination with hospitals, a better contribution of prison medical and pharmaceutical staff in hospital "drug committees" and the redaction of pharmaceutical guidelines. Acting in concert with multidisciplinary medical staff in UCSA, pharmaceutical teams have to develop epidemiological studies to improve knowledge in prisoner's health and also prevention and health care in prison. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  16. Health 4.0 how virtualization and big data are revolutionizing healthcare

    CERN Document Server

    Bai, Chunxue

    2017-01-01

    This book describes how the creation of new digital services—through vertical and horizontal integration of data coming from sensors on top of existing legacy systems—that has already had a major impact on industry is now extending to healthcare. The book describes the fourth industrial revolution (i.e. Health 4.0), which is based on virtualization and service aggregation. It shows how sensors, embedded systems, and cyber-physical systems are fundamentally changing the way industrial processes work, their business models, and how we consume, while also affecting the health and care domains. Chapters describe the technology behind the shift of point of care to point of need and away from hospitals and institutions; how care will be delivered virtually outside hospitals; that services will be tailored to individuals rather than being designed as statistical averages; that data analytics will be used to help patients to manage their chronic conditions with help of smart devices; and that pharmaceuticals will...

  17. How to Mobilize your Library at Low Cost

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marta Abarca Villoldo

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available The W3C defines the mobile web as a web in which users are able to access information from any location, regardless of the type of device used. In recent years, Internet access from mobile devices has grown considerably. This is due to many factors such as technological improvements of these devices, faster data transmission and lower connection costs. This new context has led to the creation of various mobile web tools which offer a variety of features, such as adaptability of web websites, use of QR codes (Quick Response, geolocation tools, augmented reality and RFID technology just to name a few. Technological advances give rise to new challenges. We should face this situation not as a threat or added workload, but as an opportunity to adapt the library to the new demands or needs of our users. This means that some of the services currently offered by the library will have to evolve, for example, with the creation of a mobile website or a mOPAC (mobile OPAC. New services could be offered, such as QR codes embedded in the catalog with bibliographical information, virtual reference through the mobile or geolocation of libraries. This paper will first provide some basic and introductory information on the mobile web. It will then go on to describe some tools used in this area. In some cases, different options will be shown taking into account factors such as cost, for example. The aim here will be provide an overview that will allow a given library to select the best tool according to their functions and their budgets. Finally, a list of library applications will be given, as well as their associated implementation processes in the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV library. The ultimate goal of this paper is to encourage the creation and adaptation of services offered in libraries, placing special emphasis on the idea that a variety of services can be offered with just basic computer skills and a small staff, since in many cases these

  18. How to benchmark methods for structure-based virtual screening of large compound libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christofferson, Andrew J; Huang, Niu

    2012-01-01

    Structure-based virtual screening is a useful computational technique for ligand discovery. To systematically evaluate different docking approaches, it is important to have a consistent benchmarking protocol that is both relevant and unbiased. Here, we describe the designing of a benchmarking data set for docking screen assessment, a standard docking screening process, and the analysis and presentation of the enrichment of annotated ligands among a background decoy database.

  19. Pharmaceutical cocrystals: an overview.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiao, Ning; Li, Mingzhong; Schlindwein, Walkiria; Malek, Nazneen; Davies, Angela; Trappitt, Gary

    2011-10-31

    Pharmaceutical cocrystals are emerging as a new class of solid drugs with improved physicochemical properties, which has attracted increased interests from both industrial and academic researchers. In this paper a brief and systematic overview of pharmaceutical cocrystals is provided, with particular focus on cocrystal design strategies, formation methods, physicochemical property studies, characterisation techniques, and recent theoretical developments in cocrystal screening and mechanisms of cocrystal formations. Examples of pharmaceutical cocrystals are also summarised in this paper. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Research and realization of signal simulation on virtual instrument

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Qi; He, Wenting; Guan, Xiumei

    2010-02-01

    In the engineering project, arbitrary waveform generator controlled by software interface is needed by simulation and test. This article discussed the program using the SCPI (Standard Commands For Programmable Instruments) protocol and the VISA (Virtual Instrument System Architecture) library to control the Agilent signal generator (Agilent N5182A) by instrument communication over the LAN interface. The program can conduct several signal generations such as CW (continuous wave), AM (amplitude modulation), FM (frequency modulation), ΦM (phase modulation), Sweep. As the result, the program system has good operability and portability.

  1. vSDC: a method to improve early recognition in virtual screening when limited experimental resources are available.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaput, Ludovic; Martinez-Sanz, Juan; Quiniou, Eric; Rigolet, Pascal; Saettel, Nicolas; Mouawad, Liliane

    2016-01-01

    In drug design, one may be confronted to the problem of finding hits for targets for which no small inhibiting molecules are known and only low-throughput experiments are available (like ITC or NMR studies), two common difficulties encountered in a typical academic setting. Using a virtual screening strategy like docking can alleviate some of the problems and save a considerable amount of time by selecting only top-ranking molecules, but only if the method is very efficient, i.e. when a good proportion of actives are found in the 1-10 % best ranked molecules. The use of several programs (in our study, Gold, Surflex, FlexX and Glide were considered) shows a divergence of the results, which presents a difficulty in guiding the experiments. To overcome this divergence and increase the yield of the virtual screening, we created the standard deviation consensus (SDC) and variable SDC (vSDC) methods, consisting of the intersection of molecule sets from several virtual screening programs, based on the standard deviations of their ranking distributions. SDC allowed us to find hits for two new protein targets by testing only 9 and 11 small molecules from a chemical library of circa 15,000 compounds. Furthermore, vSDC, when applied to the 102 proteins of the DUD-E benchmarking database, succeeded in finding more hits than any of the four isolated programs for 13-60 % of the targets. In addition, when only 10 molecules of each of the 102 chemical libraries were considered, vSDC performed better in the number of hits found, with an improvement of 6-24 % over the 10 best-ranked molecules given by the individual docking programs.Graphical abstractIn drug design, for a given target and a given chemical library, the results obtained with different virtual screening programs are divergent. So how to rationally guide the experimental tests, especially when only a few number of experiments can be made? The variable Standard Deviation Consensus (vSDC) method was developed to

  2. Nitrification activity and community structure of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria in the bioreactors operated with addition of pharmaceuticals

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kraigher, Barbara, E-mail: barbara.kraigher@bf.uni-lj.si [University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Food Science and Technology, Chair of Microbiology, Vecna pot 111, 1000 Ljubljana (Slovenia); Mandic-Mulec, Ines [University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Food Science and Technology, Chair of Microbiology, Vecna pot 111, 1000 Ljubljana (Slovenia)

    2011-04-15

    Pharmaceuticals represent a group of the new emerging contaminants, which might influence microbial communities in the activated sludge. Nitrification activity and Nitrospira community structure in the small-scale reactors supplied with different concentrations (0, 50, 200, 500 {mu}g L{sup -1}) of the selected pharmaceuticals (ibuprofen, naproxen, ketoprofen, diclofenac and clofibric acid) were evaluated. Ammonia removal was not influenced by selected pharmaceuticals. However, in the two reactors operated with 50 {mu}g L{sup -1} of pharmaceuticals (R50 and R50P), the effluent concentration of N-(NO{sub 2}{sup -} + NO{sub 3}{sup -}) was significantly higher than in the other reactors. Nitrospira community structure was assessed by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and by cloning and sequencing of the partial genes for 16S rRNA. Nitrospira spp. were detected in all reactors. The two dominant T-RFs represented the sublineages I and II of the genus Nitrospira. Main shifts were observed in the reactors R50 and R50P, where the T-RF representing sublineage II was much higher as compared to the other reactors. Consistent with this, the Nitrospira sublineage II was detected only in the clone libraries from the reactors R50 and R50P. Our results suggest that the relative abundance of Nitrospira sublineage II could be related to the effluent N-(NO{sub 2}{sup -} + NO{sub 3}{sup -}) concentration.

  3. Welcome to the National Wetlands Research Center Library: Not Just Another Library-A Special Library

    Science.gov (United States)

    Broussard, Linda

    2007-01-01

    Libraries are grouped into four major types: public, school, academic, and special. The U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Wetlands Research Center (NWRC) library is classified as a special library because it is sponsored by the Federal government, and the collections focus on a specific subject. The NWRC library is the only USGS library dedicated to wetland science. Library personnel offer expert research services to meet the informational needs of NWRC scientists, managers, and support personnel. The NWRC library participates in international cataloging and resource sharing, which allows libraries from throughout the world to borrow from its collections. This sharing facilitates the research of other governmental agencies, universities, and those interested in the study of wetlands.

  4. Pharmaceutical applications using NIR technology in the cloud

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grossmann, Luiz; Borges, Marco A.

    2017-05-01

    NIR technology has been available for a long time, certainly more than 50 years. Without any doubt, it has found many niche applications, especially in the pharmaceutical, food, agriculture and other industries due to its flexibility. There are a number of advantages over other existing analytical technologies we can list, for example virtually no need for sample preparation; usually NIR does not demand sample destruction and subsequent discard; NIR provides fast results; NIR does not require extensive operator training and carries small operating costs. However, the key point about NIR technology is the fact that it's more related to statistics than chemistry or, in other words, we are more concerned about analyzing and distinguishing features within the data than looking deep into the chemical entities themselves. A simple scan reading in the NIR range usually involves huge inflows of data points. Usually we decompose the signals into hundreds of predictor variables and use complex algorithms to predict classes or quantify specific content. NIR is all about math, especially by converting chemical information into numbers. Easier said than done. A NIR signal is a very complex one. Usually the signal responses are not specific to a particular material, rather, each grouṕs responses add up, thus providing low specificity of a spectral reading. This paper proposes a simple and efficient method to analyze and compare NIR spectra for the purpose of identifying the presence of active pharmaceutical ingredients in finished products using low cost NIR scanning devices connected to the internet cloud.

  5. A comparative analysis of dynamic grids vs. virtual grids using the A3pviGrid framework.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shankaranarayanan, Avinas; Amaldas, Christine

    2010-11-01

    With the proliferation of Quad/Multi-core micro-processors in mainstream platforms such as desktops and workstations; a large number of unused CPU cycles can be utilized for running virtual machines (VMs) as dynamic nodes in distributed environments. Grid services and its service oriented business broker now termed cloud computing could deploy image based virtualization platforms enabling agent based resource management and dynamic fault management. In this paper we present an efficient way of utilizing heterogeneous virtual machines on idle desktops as an environment for consumption of high performance grid services. Spurious and exponential increases in the size of the datasets are constant concerns in medical and pharmaceutical industries due to the constant discovery and publication of large sequence databases. Traditional algorithms are not modeled at handing large data sizes under sudden and dynamic changes in the execution environment as previously discussed. This research was undertaken to compare our previous results with running the same test dataset with that of a virtual Grid platform using virtual machines (Virtualization). The implemented architecture, A3pviGrid utilizes game theoretic optimization and agent based team formation (Coalition) algorithms to improve upon scalability with respect to team formation. Due to the dynamic nature of distributed systems (as discussed in our previous work) all interactions were made local within a team transparently. This paper is a proof of concept of an experimental mini-Grid test-bed compared to running the platform on local virtual machines on a local test cluster. This was done to give every agent its own execution platform enabling anonymity and better control of the dynamic environmental parameters. We also analyze performance and scalability of Blast in a multiple virtual node setup and present our findings. This paper is an extension of our previous research on improving the BLAST application framework

  6. Generation and evaluation of mammalian secreted and membrane protein expression libraries for high-throughput target discovery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panavas, Tadas; Lu, Jin; Liu, Xuesong; Winkis, Ann-Marie; Powers, Gordon; Naso, Michael F; Amegadzie, Bernard

    2011-09-01

    Expressed protein libraries are becoming a critical tool for new target discovery in the pharmaceutical industry. In order to get the most meaningful and comprehensive results from protein library screens, it is essential to have library proteins in their native conformation with proper post-translation modifications. This goal is achieved by expressing untagged human proteins in a human cell background. We optimized the transfection and cell culture conditions to maximize protein expression in a 96-well format so that the expression levels were comparable with the levels observed in shake flasks. For detection purposes, we engineered a 'tag after stop codon' system. Depending on the expression conditions, it was possible to express either native or tagged proteins from the same expression vector set. We created a human secretion protein library of 1432 candidates and a small plasma membrane protein set of about 500 candidates. Utilizing the optimized expression conditions, we expressed and analyzed both libraries by SDS-PAGE gel electrophoresis and Western blotting. Two thirds of secreted proteins could be detected by Western-blot analyses; almost half of them were visible on Coomassie stained gels. In this paper, we describe protein expression libraries that can be easily produced in mammalian expression systems in a 96-well format, with one protein expressed per well. The libraries and methods described allow for the development of robust, high-throughput functional screens designed to assay for protein specific functions associated with a relevant disease-specific activity. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Information from pharmaceutical companies and the quality, quantity, and cost of physicians' prescribing: a systematic review.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Geoffrey K Spurling

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Pharmaceutical companies spent $57.5 billion on pharmaceutical promotion in the United States in 2004. The industry claims that promotion provides scientific and educational information to physicians. While some evidence indicates that promotion may adversely influence prescribing, physicians hold a wide range of views about pharmaceutical promotion. The objective of this review is to examine the relationship between exposure to information from pharmaceutical companies and the quality, quantity, and cost of physicians' prescribing. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We searched for studies of physicians with prescribing rights who were exposed to information from pharmaceutical companies (promotional or otherwise. Exposures included pharmaceutical sales representative visits, journal advertisements, attendance at pharmaceutical sponsored meetings, mailed information, prescribing software, and participation in sponsored clinical trials. The outcomes measured were quality, quantity, and cost of physicians' prescribing. We searched Medline (1966 to February 2008, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (1970 to February 2008, Embase (1997 to February 2008, Current Contents (2001 to 2008, and Central (The Cochrane Library Issue 3, 2007 using the search terms developed with an expert librarian. Additionally, we reviewed reference lists and contacted experts and pharmaceutical companies for information. Randomized and observational studies evaluating information from pharmaceutical companies and measures of physicians' prescribing were independently appraised for methodological quality by two authors. Studies were excluded where insufficient study information precluded appraisal. The full text of 255 articles was retrieved from electronic databases (7,185 studies and other sources (138 studies. Articles were then excluded because they did not fulfil inclusion criteria (179 or quality appraisal criteria (18, leaving 58 included studies with 87 distinct

  8. The Majority of Library Clients Still Use Person-to-Person Interaction When Asking Reference Questions. A review of: De Groote, Sandra L. “Questions Asked at the Virtual and Physical Health Sciences Reference Desk: How Do They Compare and What Do They Tell Us?” Medical Reference Services Quarterly 24.2 (Summer 2005: 11-23.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suzanne Pamela Lewis

    2006-03-01

    Full Text Available Objective - To identify similarities and difference in the questions asked at the virtual and physical refernece desks of a helath scienmces library, in order to better undertand user needs and highlight areas for service improvement. Also to retrospectively analyze reference statistics collected over the previous six years. Design - Use study; retrospective study of reference statistics for the period July 1997 to June 2003; literature review. Setting - Large academic helath sciences library in the United States. Subjects - All questions asked at the reference and information desks, plus questions submitted to the University-wide virtual reference service and answered by a health sciences librarian, over a period of one month. The questions were asked by faculty, staff, students and members of the public. Methods - A literature review was carried out to examine the types of information/reference questions typically asked in health sciences libraries both before and after the mass introduction of remote end-user searching of online resources and the establishment of virtual reference services. Next, the reference statistics collected at the University of Illinois at Chicage (UIC Library of the Health Sciences between July 1997 and June 2003 were examined. For most of this period a digital reference service was offered using a listserv address to which patrons would submit email queries. Beginning in March 2003, a formal virtual reference service (chat and email was provided using commercial software. Finally, data was gathered on questions answered by a health sciences librarians, and clients who asked the question, at either the physical or cirtual reference desk, during the month of November 2003 at the UIC Library of the Health Sciences. Library staff completed an online survey form for each question, and if a client asked more than one question, each question was coded individually. Data included: status of client using the service (faculty

  9. Sensorial Virtualization: Coupling Gaming and Virtual Environment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Garbaya, S.; Miraoui, C.; Wendrich, Robert E.; Lim, T.; Stanescu, I.A.; Hauge, J.B.

    2014-01-01

    Virtual reality and virtualization are currently used to design complex systems and demonstrate that they represent the functionalities of real systems. However, the design refinement of the virtual environment (VE) and distributed virtual environment (DVE) are still time consuming and costly, as it

  10. MARKETING LIBRARY SERVICES IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES: A ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    MARKETING LIBRARY SERVICES IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES: A TOOL FOR SURVIVAL IN THE ... This article discusses the concept of marketing library and information services as an ... EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT

  11. A Model of Building Multi-campus Library Education Resourses Network Based on MPLS VPN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    WANG Guang-ze

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available For the problems of most merged schools that it is difficulty to integrate the original library education resources network due to scattered campus,and it is inconvenient to use teaching resources for outwork teachers and students,this paper puts forward the technology of using multi - protocol label switching virtual private network ( MPLS VPN to integrate education resources in multi - campus library. Through setting up security tunnel between the library education subnet,MPLS VPN ensure the safety of data transmission,so as achieve the goal of resource integration,optimization and share,implements the exclusive use for the electronic teaching business of library. Experimental data show that this model has advantages compared with traditional VPN networking.

  12. Libraries and Accessibility: Istanbul Public Libraries Case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gül Yücel

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available In the study; the assessment of accessibility has been conducted in Istanbul public libraries within the scope of public area. Public libraries commonly serve with its user of more than 20 million in total, spread to the general of Turkey, having more than one thousand branches in the centrums and having more than one million registered members. The building principles and standards covering the subjects such as the selection of place, historical and architectural specification of the region, distance to the centre of population and design in a way that the disabled people could benefit from the library services fully have been determined with regulations in the construction of new libraries. There are works for the existent libraries such as access for the disabled, fire safety precautions etc. within the scope of the related standards. Easy access by everyone is prioritized in the public libraries having a significant role in life-long learning. The purpose of the study is to develop solution suggestions for the accessibility problems in the public libraries. The study based on the eye inspection and assessments carried out within the scope of accessibility in the public libraries subsidiary to Istanbul Culture and Tourism Provincial Directorate Library and Publications Department within the provincial borders of Istanbul. The arrangements such as reading halls, study areas, book shelves etc. have been examined within the frame of accessible building standards. Building entrances, ramps and staircases, horizontal and vertical circulation of building etc. have been taken into consideration within the scope of accessible building standards. The subjects such as the reading and studying areas and book shelf arrangements for the library have been assessed within the scope of specific buildings. There are a total of 34 public libraries subsidiary to Istanbul Culture and Tourism Provincial Directorate on condition that 20 ea. of them are in the

  13. Results from the second Galaxy Serpent web-based table top exercise utilizing the concept of nuclear forensics libraries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borgardt, James; Canaday, Jodi; Chamberlain, David

    2017-01-01

    Galaxy Serpent is a unique, virtual, web-based international tabletop series of exercises designed to mature the concept of National Nuclear Forensics Libraries (NNFLs). Teams participating in the second version of the exercise were provided synthetic sealed radioactive source data used to compile a model NNFL which then served as a comparative instrument in hypothetical scenarios involving sources out of regulatory control, allowing teams to successfully down-select and determine whether investigated sources were consistent with holdings in their model library. The methodologies utilized and aggregate results of the exercise will be presented, along with challenges encountered and benefits realized. (author)

  14. The Virtual Resistance Control Strategy for HVRT of Doubly Fed Induction Wind Generators Based on Particle Swarm Optimization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhen Xie

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Grid voltage swell will cause transient DC flux component in the doubly fed induction generator (DFIG stator windings, creating serious stator and rotor current and torque oscillation, which is more serious than influence of the voltage dip. It is found that virtual resistance manages effectively to suppress rotor current and torque oscillation, avoid the operation of crowbar circuit, and enhance its high voltage ride through technology capability. In order to acquire the best virtual resistance value, the excellent particle library (EPL of dynamic particle swarm optimization (PSO algorithm is proposed. It takes the rotor voltage and rotor current as two objectives, which has a fast convergence performance and high accuracy. Simulation and experimental results verify the effectiveness of the virtual resistance control strategy.

  15. Public libraries in the library regions in the year 2009

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milena Bon

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: Regional public libraries were initiated in 2003 to connect professional activities of libraries within regional networks and to ensure coordinated library development in a region in cooperation with the Library System Development Centre at the National and University Library performing a coordinating role. The article analyses the performance of public libraries and their integration in regional library networks in order to find out the level of development of conditions of performance of public libraries.Methodology/approach: Statistical data for the year 2009 were the basis for the overview of library activities of ten library regions with regard to applicable legislation and library standards. The level of regional library activities is compared to the socio-economic situation of statistical regions thus representing a new approach to the presentation of Slovenian’s public libraries’ development.Results: Absolute values indicate better development of nine libraries in the central Slovenia region while relative values offer a totally different picture. Four libraries in the region of Nova Gorica prove the highest level of development.Research limitation: Research is limited to the year 2009 and basic statistical analysis.Originality/practical implications: Findings of the analysis are useful for public libraries to plan their development strategy within a region and for financial bodies to provide for adequate financing for library activities in a specific region. The basic condition for successful public library performance is the even and harmonized development of conditions of performance as recommended by library standards.

  16. Utilization of virtual reality for reading the superheated emulsion detector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Santos Sobrinho, Jose C.; Santo, Andre C.E.; Pereira, Claudio M.N.A.; Mol, Antonio C.A.

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents a method based on Virtual Reality for reading the Superheated Emulsion Detector (Bubble Detector). The proposed method is an alternative to: automatic counters offered by the manufacturers of detectors, since they have a relatively high cost (acquisition, maintenance and periodic calibration), and visual counting of detectors, since it only has an advantage when there are a small number of bubbles. The method starts with the collection of detector's digital images in order to obtain a sequence of images to create an animation that is displayed with the help of Virtual Reality. To this end, it is modeled, using OpenGL graphics library, a virtual environment for visualizing and manipulating virtual detector. It is made, then a calibration of this virtual environment thus ensuring the correspondence of the model with reality. The reading of the detector (bubbles count) is made visually by the user with the assistance of stereo vision and a 3D cursor to navigation, marking and counting the bubbles. The user views a further auxiliary display that shows the three-dimensional cursor position, the labeled amount of bubbles and the measured dose. After testing, the following results were achieved: better precision in counting the bubbles compared with the 10% reported by the manufacturer of the automatic reader; achieving a low cost tool that requires no calibration constant in the process of maintenance and/or lifetime; minimizing the problem of manual counting for large number of bubbles and ease of use, because can be operated by a common user. (author)

  17. Utilization of virtual reality for reading the superheated emulsion detector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Santos Sobrinho, Jose C.; Santo, Andre C.E.; Pereira, Claudio M.N.A.; Mol, Antonio C.A., E-mail: volksparati@hotmail.com, E-mail: cotelli.andre@gmail.com, E-mail: cmnap@ien.gov.br, E-mail: mol@ien.gov.br [Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

    2013-07-01

    This paper presents a method based on Virtual Reality for reading the Superheated Emulsion Detector (Bubble Detector). The proposed method is an alternative to: automatic counters offered by the manufacturers of detectors, since they have a relatively high cost (acquisition, maintenance and periodic calibration), and visual counting of detectors, since it only has an advantage when there are a small number of bubbles. The method starts with the collection of detector's digital images in order to obtain a sequence of images to create an animation that is displayed with the help of Virtual Reality. To this end, it is modeled, using OpenGL graphics library, a virtual environment for visualizing and manipulating virtual detector. It is made, then a calibration of this virtual environment thus ensuring the correspondence of the model with reality. The reading of the detector (bubbles count) is made visually by the user with the assistance of stereo vision and a 3D cursor to navigation, marking and counting the bubbles. The user views a further auxiliary display that shows the three-dimensional cursor position, the labeled amount of bubbles and the measured dose. After testing, the following results were achieved: better precision in counting the bubbles compared with the 10% reported by the manufacturer of the automatic reader; achieving a low cost tool that requires no calibration constant in the process of maintenance and/or lifetime; minimizing the problem of manual counting for large number of bubbles and ease of use, because can be operated by a common user. (author)

  18. Virtual Class Support at the Virtual Machine Level

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Anders Bach; Ernst, Erik

    2009-01-01

    This paper describes how virtual classes can be supported in a virtual machine.  Main-stream virtual machines such as the Java Virtual Machine and the .NET platform dominate the world today, and many languages are being executed on these virtual machines even though their embodied design choices...... conflict with the design choices of the virtual machine.  For instance, there is a non-trivial mismatch between the main-stream virtual machines mentioned above and dynamically typed languages.  One language concept that creates an even greater mismatch is virtual classes, in particular because fully...... general support for virtual classes requires generation of new classes at run-time by mixin composition.  Languages like CaesarJ and ObjectTeams can express virtual classes restricted to the subset that does not require run-time generation of classes, because of the restrictions imposed by the Java...

  19. A standard stellar library for evolutionary synthesis. III. Metallicity calibration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westera, P.; Lejeune, T.; Buser, R.; Cuisinier, F.; Bruzual, G.

    2002-01-01

    We extend the colour calibration of the widely used BaSeL standard stellar library (Lejeune et al. 1997, 1998) to non-solar metallicities, down to [Fe/H] ~ -2.0 dex. Surprisingly, we find that at the present epoch it is virtually impossible to establish a unique calibration of UBVRIJHKL colours in terms of stellar metallicity [Fe/H] which is consistent simultaneously with both colour-temperature relations and colour-absolute magnitude diagrams (CMDs) based on observed globular cluster photometry data and on published, currently popular standard stellar evolutionary tracks and isochrones. The problem appears to be related to the long-standing incompleteness in our understanding of convection in late-type stellar evolution, but is also due to a serious lack of relevant observational calibration data that would help resolve, or at least further significant progress towards resolving this issue. In view of the most important applications of the BaSeL library, we here propose two different metallicity calibration versions: (1) the ``WLBC 99'' library, which consistently matches empirical colour-temperature relations and which, therefore, should make an ideal tool for the study of individual stars; and (2), the ``PADOVA 2000'' library, which provides isochrones from the Padova 2000 grid (Girardi et al. \\cite{padova}) that successfully reproduce Galactic globular-cluster colour-absolute magnitude diagrams and which thus should prove particularly useful for studies of collective phenomena in stellar populations in clusters and galaxies.

  20. Electrochemical biosensors in pharmaceutical analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Gil, Eric de Souza; Melo, Giselle Rodrigues de

    2010-01-01

    Given the increasing demand for practical and low-cost analytical techniques, biosensors have attracted attention for use in the quality analysis of drugs, medicines, and other analytes of interest in the pharmaceutical area. Biosensors allow quantification not only of the active component in pharmaceutical formulations, but also the analysis of degradation products and metabolites in biological fluids. Thus, this article presents a brief review of biosensor use in pharmaceutical analysis, fo...

  1. Pre-fractionated Microbial Samples – The Second Generation Natural Products Library at Wyeth

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melissa M. Wagenaar

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available From the beginning of the antibiotic era in the 1940s to the present, Wyeth has sustained an active research program in the area of natural products discovery. This program has continually evolved through the years in order to best align with the “current” drug discovery paradigm in the pharmaceutical industry. The introduction of highthroughput screening and the miniaturization of assays have created a need to optimize natural product samples to better suit these new technologies. Furthermore, natural product programs are faced with an ever shortening time period from hit detection to lead characterization. To address these issues, Wyeth has created a pre-fractionated natural products library using reversed-phase HPLC to complement their existing library of crude extracts. The details of the pre-fractionated library and a cost-benefit analysis will be presented in this review.

  2. Libraries Today, Libraries Tomorrow: Contemporary Library Practices and the Role of Library Space in the L

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Vogrinčič Čepič

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACTPurpose: The article uses sociological concepts in order to rethink the changes in library practices. Contemporary trends are discussed with regard to the changing nature of working habits, referring mostly to the new technology, and the (emergence of the third space phenomenon. The author does not regard libraries only as concrete public service institutions, but rather as complex cultural forms, taking in consideration wider social context with a stress on users’ practices in relation to space.Methodology/approach: The article is based on the (self- observation of the public library use, and on the (discourse analysis of internal library documents (i.e. annual reports and plans and secondary sociological literature. As such, the cultural form approach represents a classic method of sociology of culture.Results: The study of relevant material in combination with direct personal experiences reveals socio-structural causes for the change of users’ needs and habits, and points at the difficulty of spatial redefinition of libraries as well as at the power of the discourse.Research limitations: The article is limited to an observation of users’ practices in some of the public libraries in Ljubljana and examines only a small number of annual reports – the discoveries are then further debated from the sociological perspective.Originality/practical implications: The article offers sociological insight in the current issues of the library science and tries to suggest a wider explanation that could answer some of the challenges of the contemporary librarianship.

  3. National Libraries Section. General Research Libraries Division. Papers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    International Federation of Library Associations, The Hague (Netherlands).

    Papers on national library services and activities, which were presented at the 1983 International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) conference, include: (1) "The National Library of China in its Gradual Application of Modern Technology," a discussion by Zhu Nan and Zhu Yan (China) of microform usage and library automation; (2)…

  4. Virtual embryology: a 3D library reconstructed from human embryo sections and animation of development process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Komori, M; Miura, T; Shiota, K; Minato, K; Takahashi, T

    1995-01-01

    The volumetric shape of a human embryo and its development is hard to comprehend as they have been viewed as a 2D schemes in a textbook or microscopic sectional image. In this paper, a CAI and research support system for human embryology using multimedia presentation techniques is described. In this system, 3D data is acquired from a series of sliced specimens. Its 3D structure can be viewed interactively by rotating, extracting, and truncating its whole body or organ. Moreover, the development process of embryos can be animated using a morphing technique applied to the specimen in several stages. The system is intended to be used interactively, like a virtual reality system. Hence, the system is called Virtual Embryology.

  5. Microsoft Virtualization Master Microsoft Server, Desktop, Application, and Presentation Virtualization

    CERN Document Server

    Olzak, Thomas; Boomer, Jason; Keefer, Robert M

    2010-01-01

    Microsoft Virtualization helps you understand and implement the latest virtualization strategies available with Microsoft products. This book focuses on: Server Virtualization, Desktop Virtualization, Application Virtualization, and Presentation Virtualization. Whether you are managing Hyper-V, implementing desktop virtualization, or even migrating virtual machines, this book is packed with coverage on all aspects of these processes. Written by a talented team of Microsoft MVPs, Microsoft Virtualization is the leading resource for a full installation, migration, or integration of virtual syste

  6. School Libraries Are Essential: Meeting the Virtual Access and Collaboration Needs of the 21st-Century Learner and Teacher

    Science.gov (United States)

    Darrow, Rob

    2009-01-01

    School librarians have excelled in providing a physical library space that is welcoming, making sure students have an inviting space to access print and digital materials, and developing collections that provide access for all ages of students. In the physical library space services such as collaborating with teachers and consulting with students…

  7. The virtual product-process design laboratory to manage the complexity in the verification of formulated products

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Conte, Elisa; Gani, Rafiqul; Malik, Tahir I.

    2011-01-01

    -Process Design laboratory (virtual PPD-lab) software is based on this decomposition strategy for the design of formulated liquid products. When the needed models are available in the software, the solution of formulation design/verification problems is straightforward, while when models are not available...... mixtures need to be predicted. This complexity has to be managed through decomposition of the problem into sub-problems. Each sub-problem is solved and analyzed and, from the knowledge gained, an overall evaluation of the complex chemical system representing the product is made. The virtual Product...... in the software library, they need to be developed and/or implemented. The potential of the virtual PPD-lab in managing the complexity in the verification of formulated products, after the needed models have been developed and implemented, is highlighted in this paper through a case study from industry dealing...

  8. APPROACHES TO IMPLEMENTATION OF AN INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY. GALENICAL PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ershova Elena Vladimirovna

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available This article reviews the issues associated with development of an integrated quality management system and its implementation into a galenical pharmaceutical company. Recently, the Russian pharmaceutical industry has been developing extensively: pharmaceutical clusters are being formed, new and innovative technologies are being developed. For the enterprises producing galenical pharmaceutical products, which feature low prices and a high level of competition, development and implementation of management systems is a way to prove their competitiveness. The purpose of this article is to review the architecture and the key elements of integrated management systems for pharmaceutical enterprises, develop an integrated management system in terms of the upcoming revision of ISO 9001:2015, as well as to describe the benefits of implementation of such systems. The presented approach is the result of an educational project implemented within the framework of the MBA programme in "Master of Business Administration (MBA" in the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Continuing Professional Education Pastukhov State Academy of Industrial Management.

  9. LIBRARY SKILL INSTRUCTION IN NIGERIAN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    DJFLEX

    www.globaljournalseries.com; Info@globaljournalseries.com. LIBRARY SKILL INSTRUCTION IN NIGERIAN ACADEMIC. LIBRARIES. P. C. AZIAGBA AND E. H. UZOEZI. (Received 10, September 2009; Revision Accepted 8, February 2010). ABSTRACT. This survey was undertaken to portray the level of library involvement ...

  10. Pharmaceuticals labelled with stable isotopes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krumbiegel, P.

    1986-11-01

    The relatively new field of pharmaceuticals labelled with stable isotopes is reviewed. Scientific, juridical, and ethical questions are discussed concerning the application of these pharmaceuticals in human medicine. 13 C, 15 N, and 2 H are the stable isotopes mainly utilized in metabolic function tests. Methodical contributions are given to the application of 2 H, 13 C, and 15 N pharmaceuticals showing new aspects and different states of development in the field under discussion. (author)

  11. Virtual Cultural Landscape Laboratory Based on Internet GIS Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bill, R.

    2012-07-01

    In recent years the transfer of old documents (books, paintings, maps etc.) from analogue to digital form has gained enormous importance. Numerous interventions are concentrated in the digitalisation of library collections, but also commercial companies like Microsoft or Google try to convert large analogue stocks such as books, paintings, etc. in digital form. Data in digital form can be much easier made accessible to a large user community, especially to the interested scientific community. The aim of the described research project is to set up a virtual research environment for interdisciplinary research focusing on the landscape of the historical Mecklenburg in the north-east of Germany. Georeferenced old maps from 1786 and 1890 covering complete Mecklenburg should be combined with current geo-information, satellite and aerial imagery to support spatio-temporal research aspects in different scales in space (regional 1:200,000 to local 1:25.000) and time (nearly 250 years in three time steps, the last 30 years also in three time slices). The Virtual Laboratory for Cultural Landscape Research (VKLandLab) is designed and developed by the Chair of Geodesy and Geoinformatics, hosted at the Computing Centre (ITMZ) and linked to the Digital Library (UB) at Rostock University. VKLandLab includes new developments such as wikis, blogs, data tagging, etc. and proven components already integrated in various data-related infrastructures such as InternetGIS, data repositories and authentication structures. The focus is to build a data-related infrastructure and a work platform that supports students as well as researchers from different disciplines in their research in space and time.

  12. E-library Implementation in Library University of Riau

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuhelmi; Rismayeti

    2017-12-01

    This research aims to see how the e-book implementation in Library University of Riau and the obstacle in its implementation. In the Globalization era, digital libraries should be developed or else it will decrease the readers’ interest, with the recent advanced technology, digital libraries are one of the learning tools that can be used to finding an information through the internet access, hence digital libraries or commonly known as E-Library is really helping the students and academic community in finding information. The methods that used in this research is Observation, Interview, and Literature Study. The respondents in this research are the staff who involved in the process of digitization in Library University of Riau. The result of this research shows that implementation of e-library in Library University of Riau is already filled the user needs for now, although there is obstacle faced just like technical problems for example the internet connection speed and the technical problem to convert the format from Microsoft Word .doc to Adobe.pdf

  13. Interactions and incompatibilities of pharmaceutical excipients with active pharmaceutical ingredients: a comprehensive review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sonali S. Bharate

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Studies of active drug/excipient compatibility represent an important phase in the preformulation stage of the development of all dosage forms. The potential physical and chemical interactions between drugs and excipients can affect the chemical nature, the stability and bioavailability of drugs and, consequently, their therapeutic efficacy and safety. The present review covers the literature reports of interaction and incompatibilities of commonly used pharmaceutical excipients with different active pharmaceutical ingredients in solid dosage forms. Examples of active drug/excipient interactions, such as transacylation, the Maillard browning reaction, acid base reactions and physical changes are discussed for different active pharmaceutical ingredients belonging to different therapeutic categories viz antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, anti-convulsant, antibiotic, bronchodialator, antimalarial, antiemetic, antiamoebic, antipsychotic, antidepressant, anticancer, anticoagulant and sedative/hypnotic drugs and vitamins. Once the solid-state reactions of a pharmaceutical system are understood, the necessary steps can be taken to avoid reactivity and improve the stability of drug substances and products.

  14. Collaborative Chat Reference Service Effectiveness Varies by Question Type for Public Library Patrons. A review of: Kwon, Nahyun. ʺPublic Library Patronsʹ Use of Collaborative Chat Reference Service: The Effectiveness of Question Answering by Question Type.ʺ Library & Information Science Research 29.1 (Mar. 2007: 70‐91.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephanie Hall

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available Objective – To assess the effectiveness of a collaborative chat reference service in answering different types of question. Specifically, the study compares the degree of answer completion and the level of user satisfaction for simple factual questions vs. more in‐depth subject‐based reference questions, and for ‘local’ (pertaining to a particular library and non‐local questions.Design – Content analysis of 415 transcripts of reference transactions, which were also compared to corresponding user satisfaction survey results.Setting – An online collaborative reference service offered by a large public library system (33 branch and regional locations. This service is part of the Metropolitan Cooperative Library System: a virtual reference consortium of U.S. libraries (public, academic, special, and corporate that provides 24/7 service.Subjects – Reference librarians from around the U.S. (49 different libraries, and users logging into the service via the public library system’s portal (primarily patrons of the 49 libraries. Method – Content analysis was used to evaluate virtual reference transcripts recorded between January and June, 2004. Reliability was enhanced through triangulation, with researchers comparing the content analysis of each transcript against the results of a voluntary exit survey. Of 1,387 transactions that occurred during the period of study, 420 users completed the survey and these formed the basis of the study, apart from 5 transactions that were omitted because the questions were incomprehensible. Questions were examined and assigned to five categories: “simple, factual questions; subject‐based research questions; resource access questions; circulation‐related questions; and local library information inquiries” (80‐81. Answers were classed as either “completely answered, partially answered or unanswered, referred, and problematic endings” (82. Lastly, user satisfaction was surveyed on three

  15. Marketing library and information services in academic libraries in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Marketing library and information services in academic libraries in Niger State, Nigeria. ... This study was designed to investigate the marketing of library services in academic libraries in Niger state, ... EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT

  16. Selective dissemination of health information: Bulletins of the National Medical Library of Cuba

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sonia Santana Arroyo

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available The National Medical Library of Cuba (BMN has the mission to ensure the provision of scientific and technology information to the community of professionals that make up the healthcare sector in the country, primarily the Ministry of Public Health, identified as prioritized user of BMN, in order to elevate the quality of care, research, management and teaching, as well as to encourage the finding of new solutions that enable to face health problems in Cuba and in the world. This article aims to describe the making process of the bulletins: Bibliomed, Bibliomed Supplemento, BiblioDir and Factográfico de Salud, which are offered by specialists from Selective Dissemination of Information Service that resides in the BMN area of Customer Service, in order to support the decision making of health managers of Cuba Ministry of Public Health. For this purpose, the paper details scope, content, sections, team responsibility, procedures for preparing and processing the bulletins. Most used sources of information and skills of staff are also presented. Such Informative scientific work strengthen BMN as a paradigm of the cuban medical libraries network, transforming the pattern of a traditional library into a modern library, characterized by an effective knowledge management and development processes in virtual environments.

  17. From virtual environment to virtual community

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nijholt, Antinus; Terano, Takao; Nishida, Toyoaki; Namatame, Akira; Tsumoto, Syusaku; Ohsawa, Yukido; Washio, Takashi

    2001-01-01

    We discuss a virtual reality theater environment and its transition to a virtual community by adding domain agents and by allowing multiple users to visit this environment. The environment has been built using VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language). We discuss how our ideas about this environment

  18. Pharmaceutical virtue.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Emily

    2006-06-01

    In the early history of psychopharmacology, the prospect of developing technologically sophisticated drugs to alleviate human ills was surrounded with a fervor that could be described as religious. This paper explores the subsequent history of the development of psychopharmacological agents, focusing on the ambivalent position of both the industry and its employees. Based on interviews with retired pharmaceutical employees who were active in the industry in the 1950s and 1960s when the major breakthroughs were made in the development of MAOIs and SSRIs, the paper explores the initial development of educational materials for use in sales campaigns. In addition, based on interviews with current employees in pharmaceutical sales and marketing, the paper describes the complex perspective of contemporary pharmaceutical employees who must live surrounded by the growing public vilification of the industry as rapacious and profit hungry and yet find ways to make their jobs meaningful and dignified. The paper will contribute to the understudied problem of how individuals function in positions that require them to be part of processes that on one description constitute a social evil, but on another, constitute a social good.

  19. [PICS: pharmaceutical inspection cooperation scheme].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morénas, J

    2009-01-01

    The pharmaceutical inspection cooperation scheme (PICS) is a structure containing 34 participating authorities located worldwide (October 2008). It has been created in 1995 on the basis of the pharmaceutical inspection convention (PIC) settled by the European free trade association (EFTA) in1970. This scheme has different goals as to be an international recognised body in the field of good manufacturing practices (GMP), for training inspectors (by the way of an annual seminar and experts circles related notably to active pharmaceutical ingredients [API], quality risk management, computerized systems, useful for the writing of inspection's aide-memoires). PICS is also leading to high standards for GMP inspectorates (through regular crossed audits) and being a room for exchanges on technical matters between inspectors but also between inspectors and pharmaceutical industry.

  20. Recognizing misleading pharmaceutical marketing online.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Freitas, Julian; Falls, Brian A; Haque, Omar S; Bursztajn, Harold J

    2014-01-01

    In light of decision-making psychology, this article details how drug marketing operates across established and novel web domains and identifies some common misleading trends and influences on prescribing and patient-initiated medication requests. The Internet has allowed pharmaceutical marketing to become more salient than ever before. Although the Internet's growth has improved the dissemination of pharmaceutical information, it has also led to the increased influence of misleading pharmaceutical marketing. Such mismarketing is of concern, especially in psychiatry, since psychotropics generate considerable revenue for drug companies. In a climate of resource-limited drug regulation and time-strapped physicians, we recommend improving both independent monitoring and consumer awareness of Internet-enabled, potentially misleading, pharmaceutical marketing influences. © 2014 American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.

  1. Impact of the digital revolution on the future of pharmaceutical formulation science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leuenberger, Hans; Leuenberger, Michael N

    2016-05-25

    The ongoing digital revolution is no longer limited to the application of apps on the smart phone for daily needs but starts to affect also our professional life in formulation science. The software platform F-CAD (Formulation-Computer Aided Design) of CINCAP can be used to develop and test in silico capsule and tablet formulations. Such an approach allows the pharmaceutical industry to adopt the workflow of the automotive and aircraft industry. Thus, the first prototype of the drug delivery vehicle is prepared virtually by mimicking the composition (particle size distribution of the active drug substance and of the excipients within the tablet) and the process such as direct compression to obtain a defined porosity. The software is based on a cellular automaton (CA) process mimicking the dissolution profile of the capsule or tablet formulation. To take account of the type of dissolution equipment and all SOPs (Standard Operation Procedures) such as a single punch press to manufacture the tablet, a calibration of the F-CAD dissolution profile of the virtual tablet is needed. Thus, the virtual tablet becomes a copy of the real tablet. This statement is valid for all tablets manufactured within the same formulation design space. For this reason, it is important to define already for Clinical Phase I the formulation design space and to work only within this formulation design space consisting of the composition and the processes during all the Clinical Phases. Thus, it is not recommended to start with a simple capsule formulation as service dosage form and to change later to a market ready tablet formulation. The availability of F-CAD is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition to implement the workflow of the automotive and aircraft industry for developing and testing drug delivery vehicles. For a successful implementation of the new workflow, a harmonization of the equipment and the processes between the development and manufacturing departments is a must. In

  2. PERANCANGAN VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK DENGAN SERVER LINUX PADA PT. DHARMA GUNA SAKTI

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Siswa Trihadi

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available Purpose of this research is to analyze and design a network between head and branch office, andcompany mobile user, which can be used to increase performance and effectiveness of company in doingtheir business process. There were 3 main methods used in this research, which were: library study, analysis,and design method. Library study method was done by searching theoretical sources, knowledge, and otherinformation from books, articles in library, and internet pages. Analysis method was done by doing anobservation on company network, and an interview to acquire description of current business process andidentify problems which can be solved by using a network technology. Meanwhile, the design method wasdone by making a topology network diagram, and determining elements needed to design a VPN technology,then suggesting a configuration system, and testing to know whether the suggested system could run well ornot. The result is that network between the head and branch office, and the mobile user can be connectedsuccessfully using a VPN technology. In conclusion, with the connected network between the head andbranch office can create a centralization of company database, and a suggested VPN network has run well byencapsulating data packages had been sent.Keywords: network, Virtual Private Network (VPN, library study, analysis, design

  3. The Learning Outcomes of Mentoring Library Science Students in Virtual World Reference: A Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Purpur, Geraldine; Morris, Jon Levi

    2015-01-01

    This article reports on the cognitive and affective development of students being mentored in virtual reference interview skills by professional librarians. The authors present a case study which examines the impact on student learning resulting from librarian mentor participation and collaboration with students on a course assignment. This study…

  4. America's Star Libraries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyons, Ray; Lance, Keith Curry

    2009-01-01

    "Library Journal"'s new national rating of public libraries, the "LJ" Index of Public Library Service, identifies 256 "star" libraries. It rates 7,115 public libraries. The top libraries in each group get five, four, or three Michelin guide-like stars. All included libraries, stars or not, can use their scores to learn from their peers and improve…

  5. Pharmaceutical care in Kuwait: hospital pharmacists' perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katoue, Maram G; Awad, Abdelmoneim I; Schwinghammer, Terry L; Kombian, Samuel B

    2014-12-01

    Pharmaceutical care practice has been championed as the primary mission of the pharmacy profession, but its implementation has been suboptimal in many developing countries including Kuwait. Pharmacists must have sufficient knowledge, skills, and positive attitudes to practise pharmaceutical care, and barriers in the pharmacy practice model must be overcome before pharmaceutical care can be broadly implemented in a given healthcare system. To investigate hospital pharmacists' attitudes towards pharmaceutical care, perceptions of their preparedness to provide pharmaceutical care, and the barriers to its implementation in Kuwait. Six general hospitals, eight specialized hospitals and seven specialized health centers in Kuwait. A descriptive, cross-sectional survey was distributed to all pharmacists working in the governmental hospitals in Kuwait (385 pharmacists). Data were collected via a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics including percentages, medians and means Likert scale rating (standard deviations) were calculated and compared using statistical package for social sciences, version 20. Statistical significance was accepted at a p value of Kuwait. Completed surveys were received from 250 (64.9%) of the 385 pharmacists. Pharmacists expressed overall positive attitudes towards pharmaceutical care. They felt well prepared to implement the various aspects of pharmaceutical care, with the least preparedness in the administrative/management aspects. Pharmacists with more practice experience expressed significantly more positive attitudes towards pharmaceutical care (p = 0.001) and they felt better prepared to provide pharmaceutical care competencies (p Kuwait advocate implementation of pharmaceutical care while also appreciating the organizational, technical and professional barriers to its widespread adoption. Collaborative efforts between health authorities and educational institutions, and the integration of innovative approaches in

  6. CCLab--a multi-objective genetic algorithm based combinatorial library design software and an application for histone deacetylase inhibitor design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, Guanghua; Xue, Mengzhu; Su, Mingbo; Hu, Dingyu; Li, Yanlian; Xiong, Bing; Ma, Lanping; Meng, Tao; Chen, Yuelei; Li, Jingya; Li, Jia; Shen, Jingkang

    2012-07-15

    The introduction of the multi-objective optimization has dramatically changed the virtual combinatorial library design, which can consider many objectives simultaneously, such as synthesis cost and drug-likeness, thus may increase positive rates of biological active compounds. Here we described a software called CCLab (Combinatorial Chemistry Laboratory) for combinatorial library design based on the multi-objective genetic algorithm. Tests of the convergence ability and the ratio to re-take the building blocks in the reference library were conducted to assess the software in silico, and then it was applied to a real case of designing a 5×6 HDAC inhibitor library. Sixteen compounds in the resulted library were synthesized, and the histone deactetylase (HDAC) enzymatic assays proved that 14 compounds showed inhibitory ratios more than 50% against tested 3 HDAC enzymes at concentration of 20 μg/mL, with IC(50) values of 3 compounds comparable to SAHA. These results demonstrated that the CCLab software could enhance the hit rates of the designed library and would be beneficial for medicinal chemists to design focused library in drug development (the software can be downloaded at: http://202.127.30.184:8080/drugdesign.html). Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Articles Published and Downloaded by Public Health Scientists: Analysis of Data From the CDC Public Health Library, 2011-2013.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iskander, John; Bang, Gail; Stupp, Emma; Connick, Kathy; Gomez, Onnalee; Gidudu, Jane

    2016-01-01

    To describe scientific information usage and publication patterns of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Public Health Library and Information Center patrons. Administratively collected patron usage data and aggregate data on CDC-authored publications from the CDC Library for 3 consecutive years were analyzed. The CDC Public Health Library and Information Center, which serves CDC employees nationally and internationally. Internal patrons and external users of the CDC Library. Three-year trends in full-text article publication and downloads including most common journals used for each purpose, systematic literature searches requested and completed, and subscriptions to a weekly public health current literature awareness service. From 2011 to 2013, CDC scientists published a total of 7718 articles in the peer-reviewed literature. During the same period, article downloads from the CDC Library increased 25% to more than 1.1 million, completed requests for reviews of the scientific literature increased by 34%, and electronic subscriptions to literature compilation services increased by 23%. CDC's scientific output and information use via the CDC Library are both increasing. Researchers and field staff are making greater use of literature review services and other customized information content delivery. Virtual public health library access is an increasingly important resource for the scientific practice of public health.

  8. The Use of Virtual Reality in Patients with Eating Disorders: Systematic Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clus, Damien; Larsen, Mark Erik; Lemey, Christophe; Berrouiguet, Sofian

    2018-04-27

    Patients with eating disorders are characterized by pathological eating habits and a tendency to overestimate their weight and body shape. Virtual reality shows promise for the evaluation and management of patients with eating disorders. This technology, when accepted by this population, allows immersion in virtual environments, assessment, and therapeutic approaches, by exposing users to high-calorie foods or changes in body shape. To better understand the value of virtual reality, we conducted a review of the literature, including clinical studies proposing the use of virtual reality for the evaluation and management of patients with eating disorders. We searched PubMed, PsycINFO, ScienceDirect, the Cochrane Library, Scopus, and Web of Science up to April 2017. We created the list of keywords based on two domains: virtual reality and eating disorders. We used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses to identify, select, and critically appraise relevant research while minimizing bias. The initial database searches identified 311 articles, 149 of which we removed as duplicates. We analyzed the resulting set of 26 unique studies that met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 8 studies were randomized controlled trials, 13 were nonrandomized studies, and 5 were clinical trials with only 1 participant. Most articles focused on clinical populations (19/26, 73%), with the remainder reporting case-control studies (7/26, 27%). Most of the studies used visual immersive equipment (16/26, 62%) with a head-mounted display (15/16, 94%). Two main areas of interest emerged from these studies: virtual work on patients’ body image (7/26, 27%) and exposure to virtual food stimuli (10/26, 38%). We conducted a broad analysis of studies on the use of virtual reality in patients with eating disorders. This review of the literature showed that virtual reality is an acceptable and promising therapeutic tool for patients with eating disorders. ©Damien Clus

  9. Virtual reality in the operating room of the future.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Müller, W; Grosskopf, S; Hildebrand, A; Malkewitz, R; Ziegler, R

    1997-01-01

    In cooperation with the Max-Delbrück-Centrum/Robert-Rössle-Klinik (MDC/RRK) in Berlin, the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics is currently designing and developing a scenario for the operating room of the future. The goal of this project is to integrate new analysis, visualization and interaction tools in order to optimize and refine tumor diagnostics and therapy in combination with laser technology and remote stereoscopic video transfer. Hence, a human 3-D reference model is reconstructed using CT, MR, and anatomical cryosection images from the National Library of Medicine's Visible Human Project. Applying segmentation algorithms and surface-polygonization methods a 3-D representation is obtained. In addition, a "fly-through" the virtual patient is realized using 3-D input devices (data glove, tracking system, 6-DOF mouse). In this way, the surgeon can experience really new perspectives of the human anatomy. Moreover, using a virtual cutting plane any cut of the CT volume can be interactively placed and visualized in realtime. In conclusion, this project delivers visions for the application of effective visualization and VR systems. Commonly known as Virtual Prototyping and applied by the automotive industry long ago, this project shows, that the use of VR techniques can also prototype an operating room. After evaluating design and functionality of the virtual operating room, MDC plans to build real ORs in the near future. The use of VR techniques provides a more natural interface for the surgeon in the OR (e.g., controlling interactions by voice input). Besides preoperative planning future work will focus on supporting the surgeon in performing surgical interventions. An optimal synthesis of real and synthetic data, and the inclusion of visual, aural, and tactile senses in virtual environments can meet these requirements. This Augmented Reality could represent the environment for the surgeons of tomorrow.

  10. An interactive three-dimensional virtual body structures system for anatomical training over the internet.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Temkin, Bharti; Acosta, Eric; Malvankar, Ameya; Vaidyanath, Sreeram

    2006-04-01

    The Visible Human digital datasets make it possible to develop computer-based anatomical training systems that use virtual anatomical models (virtual body structures-VBS). Medical schools are combining these virtual training systems and classical anatomy teaching methods that use labeled images and cadaver dissection. In this paper we present a customizable web-based three-dimensional anatomy training system, W3D-VBS. W3D-VBS uses National Library of Medicine's (NLM) Visible Human Male datasets to interactively locate, explore, select, extract, highlight, label, and visualize, realistic 2D (using axial, coronal, and sagittal views) and 3D virtual structures. A real-time self-guided virtual tour of the entire body is designed to provide detailed anatomical information about structures, substructures, and proximal structures. The system thus facilitates learning of visuospatial relationships at a level of detail that may not be possible by any other means. The use of volumetric structures allows for repeated real-time virtual dissections, from any angle, at the convenience of the user. Volumetric (3D) virtual dissections are performed by adding, removing, highlighting, and labeling individual structures (and/or entire anatomical systems). The resultant virtual explorations (consisting of anatomical 2D/3D illustrations and animations), with user selected highlighting colors and label positions, can be saved and used for generating lesson plans and evaluation systems. Tracking users' progress using the evaluation system helps customize the curriculum, making W3D-VBS a powerful learning tool. Our plan is to incorporate other Visible Human segmented datasets, especially datasets with higher resolutions, that make it possible to include finer anatomical structures such as nerves and small vessels. (c) 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  11. Libraries and Librarians: Key Partners for Progress in Health Literacy Research and Practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitney, Wanda; Keselman, Alla; Humphreys, Betsy

    2017-01-01

    The field of librarianship has a history of involvement in patient education, general literacy and information literacy efforts. This history and prominent placement in communities make libraries and librarians an excellent resource in advancing health literacy practice and research. This chapter provides an overview of health literacy and health information literacy efforts in US libraries over the past two decades. The chapter begins with the description of the role of the US National Library of Medicine in developing resources, programs, and partnerships serving health information needs of the public. It then overviews special training programs for increasing librarians' expertise with health information and health literacy support. The narrative also presents different models of health information outreach programs in diverse communities, focusing on serving special populations that may suffer from health disparities. The second half of the chapter describes libraries' and librarians' health information response to continuously evolving contexts, mediums, and requirements. One subsection describes librarians' outreach effort with cutting-edge technologies, such as virtual worlds and gaming. Another focuses on supporting patients' information needs in clinical settings. Two more describe how libraries meet patrons' health information needs in the context of disaster preparedness and health insurance market place sign-up. While presenting the information, to the extent possible, the chapter draws upon research and evaluation of the effectiveness of different types of programs. It also discusses enablers of successes, limitations of the existing data, and directions for future research.

  12. [The theme of disaster in health care: profile of technical and scientific production in the specialized database on disasters of the Virtual Health Library - VHL].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rocha, Vania; Ximenes, Elisa Francioli; Carvalho, Mauren Lopes de; Alpino, Tais de Moura Ariza; Freitas, Carlos Machado de

    2014-09-01

    In the specialized database of the Virtual Health Library (VHL), the DISASTER database highlights the importance of the theme for the health sector. The scope of this article is to identify the profiles of technical and scientific publications in the specialized database. Based on systematic searches and the analysis of results it is possible to determine: the type of publication; the main topics addressed; the most common type of disasters mentioned in published materials, countries and regions as subjects, historic periods with the most publications and the current trend of publications. When examining the specialized data in detail, it soon becomes clear that the number of major topics is very high, making a specific search process in this database a challenging exercise. On the other hand, it is encouraging that the disaster topic is discussed and assessed in a broad and diversified manner, associated with different aspects of the natural and social sciences. The disaster issue requires the production of interdisciplinary knowledge development to reduce the impacts of disasters and for risk management. In this way, since the health sector is a interdisciplinary area, it can contribute to knowledge production.

  13. The role of cocrystals in pharmaceutical science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shan, Ning; Zaworotko, Michael J

    2008-05-01

    Pharmaceutical cocrystals, a subset of a long known but little-studied class of compounds, represent an emerging class of crystal forms in the context of pharmaceutical science. They are attractive to pharmaceutical scientists because they can significantly diversify the number of crystal forms that exist for a particular active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), and they can lead to improvements in physical properties of clinical relevance. In this article we address pharmaceutical cocrystals from the perspective of design (crystal engineering) and present a series of case studies that demonstrate how they can enhance the solubility, bioavailability, and/or stability of API crystal forms.

  14. Entrepreneurial patent management in pharmaceutical startups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holgersson, Marcus; Phan, Tai; Hedner, Thomas

    2016-07-01

    Startups fill an increasingly important role as innovators in the pharmaceutical industry, and patenting is typically central to their success. This article aims to explore patent management in pharmaceutical startups. The results show that startups need to deal with several challenges related to patenting and an 'entrepreneurial' approach to patent management is called for. Resource constraints, venture capital provision, exits and other conditions and events must be readily considered in the patent management process to build a successful pharmaceutical venture, something that could benefit the pharmaceutical industry as a whole. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Introduction: Institutional corruption and the pharmaceutical policy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodwin, Marc A

    2013-01-01

    Today, the goals of pharmaceutical policy and medical practice are often undermined due to institutional corruption - that is, widespread or systemic practices, usually legal, that undermine an institution's objectives or integrity. In this symposium, 16 articles investigate the corruption of pharmaceutical policy, each taking a different look at the sources of corruption, how it occurs, and what is corrupted. We will see that the pharmaceutical industry's own purposes are often undermined. Furthermore, pharmaceutical industry funding of election campaigns and lobbying skews the legislative process that sets pharmaceutical policy. Moreover, certain practices have corrupted medical research, the production of medical knowledge, the practice of medicine, drug safety, the Food and Drug Administration's oversight of the pharmaceutical market, and the trustworthiness of patient advocacy organizations. © 2013 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

  16. Library Science Education: A New Role for Academic Libraries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wesley, Threasa L.

    2018-01-01

    Many individuals working in library and information organizations do not hold a master of library science (MLS) degree or other specialized library science credential. Recognizing that this professional gap could be addressed by diversified educational opportunities, the W. Frank Steely Library at Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights…

  17. Integrating systems Approaches into Pharmaceutical Sciences

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Westerhoff, H.V.; Mosekilde, Erik; Noe, C. R.

    2008-01-01

    During the first week of December 2007, the European Federation for Pharmaceutical Sciences (EUFEPS) and BioSim, the major European Network of Excellence on Systems Biology, held a challenging conference on the use of mathematical models in the drug development process. More precisely, the purpose...... of the conference was to promote the ‘Integration of Systems Approaches into Pharmaceutical Sciences’ in view of optimising the development of new effective drugs. And a challenge this is, considering both the high attrition rates in the pharmaceutical industry and the failure of finding definitive drug solutions...... for many of the diseases that plague mankind today. The conference was co-sponsored by the American College of Clinical Pharmacology, the European Center for Pharmaceutical Medicine, and the Swiss Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences and, besides representatives from the European Regulatory Agencies and FDA...

  18. The Effectiveness of Pharmaceutical Marketing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    E.R. Kappe

    2011-01-01

    textabstractPharmaceutical marketing effectiveness comprises the measurement of marketing efforts of pharmaceutical firms towards doctors and patients. These firms spend billions of dollars yearly to promote their prescription drugs. This dissertation provides empirical analyses and methods to

  19. The IRI/LDEO Climate Data Library: Helping People use Climate Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blumenthal, M. B.; Grover-Kopec, E.; Bell, M.; del Corral, J.

    2005-12-01

    The IRI Climate Data Library (http://iridl.ldeo.columbia.edu/) is a library of datasets. By library we mean a collection of things, collected from both near and far, designed to make them more accessible for the library's users. Our datasets come from many different sources, many different "data cultures", many different formats. By dataset we mean a collection of data organized as multidimensional dependent variables, independent variables, and sub-datasets, along with the metadata (particularly use-metadata) that makes it possible to interpret the data in a meaningful manner. Ingrid, which provides the infrastructure for the Data Library, is an environment that lets one work with datasets: read, write, request, serve, view, select, calculate, transform, ... . It hides an extraordinary amount of technical detail from the user, letting the user think in terms of manipulations to datasets rather that manipulations of files of numbers. Among other things, this hidden technical detail could be accessing data on servers in other places, doing only the small needed portion of an enormous calculation, or translating to and from a variety of formats and between "data cultures". These operations are presented as a collection of virtual directories and documents on a web server, so that an ordinary web client can instantiate a calculation simply by requesting the resulting document or image. Building on this infrastructure, we (and others) have created collections of dynamically-updated images to faciliate monitoring aspects of the climate system, as well as linking these images to the underlying data. We have also created specialized interfaces to address the particular needs of user groups that IRI needs to support.

  20. Role of Open Source Tools and Resources in Virtual Screening for Drug Discovery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karthikeyan, Muthukumarasamy; Vyas, Renu

    2015-01-01

    Advancement in chemoinformatics research in parallel with availability of high performance computing platform has made handling of large scale multi-dimensional scientific data for high throughput drug discovery easier. In this study we have explored publicly available molecular databases with the help of open-source based integrated in-house molecular informatics tools for virtual screening. The virtual screening literature for past decade has been extensively investigated and thoroughly analyzed to reveal interesting patterns with respect to the drug, target, scaffold and disease space. The review also focuses on the integrated chemoinformatics tools that are capable of harvesting chemical data from textual literature information and transform them into truly computable chemical structures, identification of unique fragments and scaffolds from a class of compounds, automatic generation of focused virtual libraries, computation of molecular descriptors for structure-activity relationship studies, application of conventional filters used in lead discovery along with in-house developed exhaustive PTC (Pharmacophore, Toxicophores and Chemophores) filters and machine learning tools for the design of potential disease specific inhibitors. A case study on kinase inhibitors is provided as an example.

  1. ANALYSIS OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCHES IN PHARMACEUTICAL PROMOTION GLOBALLY: TOWARDS INTERNATIONALLY DEVELOPING PRACTICALLY-ORIENTED GUIDELINES FOR PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. M. Bahlol

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Purpose. Pharmaceutical industry is transnational and globally important. Many pharmaceutical companies operate their business in multinational and international forms in different countries. Diverse researches from different countries indicated and confirmed marketing promotion importance in pharmaceutical field. Therefore, marketing promotion and its effects are a very important issue that should be globally investigated in real life and evidence context. We oriented our research according to these scientific and practical values.Methodology. We reviewed pharmaceutical marketing promotion researches from more than 25 different countries, e.g., USA, Canada, Italy, France, Russia, India, Egypt and Syria where we employed our knowledge of three widely spread languages, i.e., English, Russian and Arabic. Such language variation supports us with large and variable amount of scientific knowledge, deep understanding and ability of analysis. Some studies investigated average response to pharmaceutical marketing promotion and few studies took into consideration heterogeneity in their effects with respect to advertising medium or drug characteristics.Originality. We investigated empirical evidences of pharmaceutical marketing promotion that can be directed to either consumer or healthcare professionals.Findings. We extracted, gathered and associated information of pharmaceutical promotion globally which oriented us to several evidence and practical facts with regard to employing promotion tools in different definite situations pertinent to main directions; their welfare and health enhancing effects and adverse effects. Practical Implications- Consequently, we developed practically-oriented guidelines for companies concerning pharmaceutical promotion globally ate the end of this paper.

  2. General Maister's Library in the University of Maribor Library: Gaining and Preservation of the General Maister's Private Library in the University of Maribor Library

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vlasta Stavbar

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Rudolf Maister’s book legacy, which is kept in the University of Maribor Library, is the complete legacy of the Maister’s private book collection– the “maistirana”. The Maister’s Library is in the University of Maribor Library possession since 1998, when General Maister’s heirs and the Library signed the deed of donation. 5.945 units of library materials present a special collection, which is divided from the regular library holdings and is kept in a specially designed room. General Maister’s Library is an exception in the University of Maribor Library, since the general practice of libraries is not an exclusive maintenance of the provenience principle and of the original organisation. Because the Maister’s Library consists of materials that are important when researching the Slovene literary and cultural past, it only seems reasonably to strive for the authentic organisation and preserving the library as one integral whole.In order to understand the meaning and the importance of this special library collection for the Slovene cultural heritage, we have to highlight Rudolf Maister as a passionate book lover and as the owner of one of the greatest and the most beautiful private libraries in Slovenia. General Maister started collecting books and organising his collection back in 1912 in Ljubljana; the collection was rearranged thoroughly during the time he was in Maribor; it survived the moves during World War II and after it and it finally found its place in the General Maister’s Library under the patronage of the University of Maribor Library. The rearranging of the shelving system and sorting of the materials patterned after the authentic shelving system in the General’s Maribor apartment took place in 2013. Until then the books were not arranged according to the authentic shelving system. The estimated shelving system reconstruction has reconstructed Maister’s shelving system as authentically as possible, for it is not

  3. Hit Identification and Optimization in Virtual Screening: Practical Recommendations Based Upon a Critical Literature Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Tian; Cao, Shuyi; Su, Pin-Chih; Patel, Ram; Shah, Darshan; Chokshi, Heta B.; Szukala, Richard; Johnson, Michael E.; Hevener, Kirk E.

    2013-01-01

    A critical analysis of virtual screening results published between 2007 and 2011 was performed. The activity of reported hit compounds from over 400 studies was compared to their hit identification criteria. Hit rates and ligand efficiencies were calculated to assist in these analyses and the results were compared with factors such as the size of the virtual library and the number of compounds tested. A series of promiscuity, drug-like, and ADMET filters were applied to the reported hits to assess the quality of compounds reported and a careful analysis of a subset of the studies which presented hit optimization was performed. This data allowed us to make several practical recommendations with respect to selection of compounds for experimental testing, defining hit identification criteria, and general virtual screening hit criteria to allow for realistic hit optimization. A key recommendation is the use of size-targeted ligand efficiency values as hit identification criteria. PMID:23688234

  4. Hit identification and optimization in virtual screening: practical recommendations based on a critical literature analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Tian; Cao, Shuyi; Su, Pin-Chih; Patel, Ram; Shah, Darshan; Chokshi, Heta B; Szukala, Richard; Johnson, Michael E; Hevener, Kirk E

    2013-09-12

    A critical analysis of virtual screening results published between 2007 and 2011 was performed. The activity of reported hit compounds from over 400 studies was compared to their hit identification criteria. Hit rates and ligand efficiencies were calculated to assist in these analyses, and the results were compared with factors such as the size of the virtual library and the number of compounds tested. A series of promiscuity, druglike, and ADMET filters were applied to the reported hits to assess the quality of compounds reported, and a careful analysis of a subset of the studies that presented hit optimization was performed. These data allowed us to make several practical recommendations with respect to selection of compounds for experimental testing, definition of hit identification criteria, and general virtual screening hit criteria to allow for realistic hit optimization. A key recommendation is the use of size-targeted ligand efficiency values as hit identification criteria.

  5. [Bioequivalence studies of pharmaceutical preparations].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vetchý, D; Frýbortová, K; Rabisková, M; Danecková, H

    2007-01-01

    Bioequivalence studies are very important for the development of a pharmaceutical preparation in the pharmaceutical industry. Their rationale is the monitoring of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameters after the administration of tested drugs. The target of such study is to evaluate the therapeutic compatibility of tested drugs (pharmaceutical equivalents or pharmaceutical alternatives). The importance of bioequivalence studies is increasing also due to the large growth of the production and consumption of generic products. Generic products represent approximately 50 % of the whole consumption in many European countries and USA. The search output of bioequivalence study is together with the pharmaceutical quality data of medical product one of the main part of the registration file submitted to a national regulatory authorities. The registration of generic products does not demand complicated and expensive clinical study contrary to original product. The comparison of the original and the generic product via bioequivalence study is suggested as sufficient. The aim of this article is to provide to a medical public a summary about the types of bioequivalence studies, their range, rules of their practise and let them gain their own attitude to this question.

  6. Library usage patterns in the electronic information environment. Electronic journals, Use studies, Libraries, Medical libraries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Franklin

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the methodology and results from Web-based surveys of more than 15,000 networked electronic services users in the United States between July 1998 and June 2003 at four academic health sciences libraries and two large main campus libraries serving a variety of disciplines. A statistically valid methodology for administering simultaneous Web-based and print-based surveys using the random moments sampling technique is discussed and implemented. Results from the Web-based surveys showed that at the four academic health sciences libraries, there were approximately four remote networked electronic services users for each in-house user. This ratio was even higher for faculty, staff, and research fellows at the academic health sciences libraries, where more than five remote users for each in-house user were recorded. At the two main libraries, there were approximately 1.3 remote users for each in-house user of electronic information. Sponsored research (grant funded research accounted for approximately 32% of the networked electronic services activity at the health sciences libraries and 16% at the main campus libraries. Sponsored researchers at the health sciences libraries appeared to use networked electronic services most intensively from on-campus, but not from in the library. The purpose of use for networked electronic resources by patrons within the library is different from the purpose of use of those resources by patrons using the resources remotely. The implications of these results on how librarians reach decisions about networked electronic resources and services are discussed.

  7. PARTICULARITIES OF MODERN PHARMACEUTICAL PROMOTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Юрий Владимирович Тарасов

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Pharmaceutical products market is one of the most saturated consumers’ markets. Characteristic features of it are: high competition, fierce struggle for the customer, specific technologies of promotion. In conditions of globalization and increase in competition both in world pharmaceutical market and in the market of medicines and goods of medical purpose in Russia modern marketing techniques of promotion of the products to the end consumers are the key tools for strengthening market positions – both of producers of pharmaceutical goods and their suppliers, distributors, big whole-sale companies. Among main tools of promotion are: advertising, public relations, stimulation of sales on the market of medicines, personal sales, computer technologies. The article describes different technologies of promotion of medicines: indoor-advertising, hot lines, pharmaceutical exhibitions, packing. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12731/2218-7405-2013-12-1

  8. National transparency assessment of Kuwait's pharmaceutical sector.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Badawi, Dalia A; Alkhamis, Yousif; Qaddoumi, Mohammad; Behbehani, Kazem

    2015-09-01

    Corruption is one of several factors that may hinder the access to pharmaceuticals. Since Kuwait has the highest per-capita spending on pharmaceuticals in the region, we wanted to evaluate the level of transparency in its pharmaceutical sector using an established assessment tool adapted by the World Health Organization. Standardized questionnaires were conducted via semi-structured interviews with key informants to measure the level of transparency in eight functions of the public pharmaceutical sector. The scores for the degree of vulnerability to corruption reflected marginal to moderate venerability to corruption for most pharmaceutical sectors. The perceived strengths included availability of appropriate laws, the presence of clear standard operating procedures, and the use of an efficient registration/distribution system. Weaknesses included lack of conflict of interest guidelines and written terms of reference, absence of pharmacoeconomic studies, and inconsistencies in law enforcement. Findings reveal that few functions of Kuwait pharmaceutical sector remain fairly vulnerable to corruption. However, the willingness of Kuwait Ministry of Health to adopt the assessment study and the acknowledgement of the weaknesses of current processes of the pharmaceutical sector may assist to achieve a transparent pharmaceutical system in the near future. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Strategic Management of Innovations at Pharmaceutical Enterprises

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Honcharova Svіtlana Yu.

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The article is devoted to theoretical and practical issues of the use of the concept of strategic management of innovations at pharmaceutical enterprises. It studies main barriers, which restrict development of Ukrainian pharmaceutical enterprises. It analyses the state and tendencies of development of innovation activity of pharmaceutical enterprises and studies foreign experience of innovation activity. It marks out specific features of strategic management of innovation development in pharmaceutical industry. It specifies the role and advantages of methods of strategic analysis in the system of management of a pharmaceutical enterprise. It considers the essence of “innovation development” and “innovation model of development” notions and analyses their organisational and legal provision. It justifies strategic tasks of the pharmaceutical filed to focus on in order to achieve a breakthrough when building an innovation model of economic development. The article proves that the most important factors that ensure growth of efficiency of pharmaceutical production are: wide application of the concept of strategic management and creation of innovations.

  10. [Chinese medicine industry 4.0:advancing digital pharmaceutical manufacture toward intelligent pharmaceutical manufacture].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Yi-Yu; Qu, Hai-Bin; Zhang, Bo-Li

    2016-01-01

    A perspective analysis on the technological innovation in pharmaceutical engineering of Chinese medicine unveils a vision on "Future Factory" of Chinese medicine industry in mind. The strategy as well as the technical roadmap of "Chinese medicine industry 4.0" is proposed, with the projection of related core technology system. It is clarified that the technical development path of Chinese medicine industry from digital manufacture to intelligent manufacture. On the basis of precisely defining technical terms such as process control, on-line detection and process quality monitoring for Chinese medicine manufacture, the technical concepts and characteristics of intelligent pharmaceutical manufacture as well as digital pharmaceutical manufacture are elaborated. Promoting wide applications of digital manufacturing technology of Chinese medicine is strongly recommended. Through completely informationized manufacturing processes and multi-discipline cluster innovation, intelligent manufacturing technology of Chinese medicine should be developed, which would provide a new driving force for Chinese medicine industry in technology upgrade, product quality enhancement and efficiency improvement. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

  11. Library Subject Guides: A Case Study of Evidence-Informed Library Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wakeham, Maurice; Roberts, Angharad; Shelley, Jane; Wells, Paul

    2012-01-01

    This paper describes the process whereby a university library investigated the value of its subject guides to its users. A literature review and surveys of library staff, library users and other libraries were carried out. Existing library subject guides and those of other higher education libraries were evaluated. The project team reported…

  12. Rheology in Pharmaceutical Sciences

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aho, Johanna; Hvidt, Søren; Baldursdottir, Stefania

    2016-01-01

    Rheology is the science of flow and deformation of matter. Particularly gels and non-Newtonian fluids, which exhibit complex flow behavior, are frequently encountered in pharmaceutical engineering and manufacturing, or when dealing with various in vivo fluids. Therefore understanding rheology......, together with the common measurement techniques and their practical applications. Examples of the use of rheological techniques in the pharmaceutical field, as well as other closely related fields such as food and polymer science, are also given....... is important, and the ability to use rheological characterization tools is of great importance for any pharmaceutical scientist involved in the field. Flow can be generated by shear or extensional deformations, or a combination of both. This chapter introduces the basics of both shear and extensional rheology...

  13. Pharmaceutical Public-Private Partnerships

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bagley, Constance; Tvarnø, Christina D.

    2014-01-01

    This article provides a game theory and law-and-management analysis of for- profit pharmaceutical public-private partnerships, a complex type of legal arrangement in the highly regulated pharmaceutical industry. A pharmaceutical public-private partnership (PPPP) agreement is a legally binding...... and a practical perspective on how properly crafted PPPP arrangements can promote innovation more efficiently than traditional self-optimizing contracts. In particular, a properly framed binding contract, coupled with respect for positive incentives, can move the parties away from an inefficient prisoners...... systems to build and share innovation. When coupled with appropriate attention to the difficult task of coordinating the actions of interdependent actors, a PPPP arrangement can enhance the likelihood of successful commercialization of pharmacological discoveries by flipping the par- ties’ incentives...

  14. Library subject guides: A case study of evidence-informed library development

    OpenAIRE

    Wakeham, Maurice; Roberts, Angharad; Shelley, Jane; Wells, Paul

    2012-01-01

    This paper describes the process whereby a university library investigated the value of its subject guides to its users. A literature review and surveys of library staff, library users and other libraries were carried out. Existing library subject guides and those of other higher education libraries were evaluated. The project team reported regularly to the wider library team throughout the year long investigation and made recommendations. The project served to develop the professional skills...

  15. Occurrence of Pharmaceuticals in Wastewater and Their Interaction with Shallow Aquifers: A Case Study of Horní Beřkovice, Czech Republic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Rozman

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available The application of innovative technologies in water management, such as wastewater reuse, requires a deeper understanding of emerging pollutants, including pharmaceuticals. This study presents a unique pilot site at Horní Beřkovice in Central Bohemia, where wastewater parameters are significantly influenced by the effluent from a local psychiatric hospital, and where the treated wastewater infiltrates into a shallow aquifer over a long period. The survey compared the quality parameters of local wastewater with those of the wastewater in four other catchments with no sources of concentrated pharmaceutical contamination. A total of 10 pharmaceuticals were detected while monitoring a common sewage system, but their number increased 3-fold at Horní Beřkovice. The water quality data revealed the effectiveness of the removal of pharmaceuticals from wastewater at the local sewage treatment plant and tracked the fate of substances that move from the treatment plant into the recharge ponds and then gradually into groundwater. The findings showed a significant decrease in all the monitored micropollutants that remained bound in sediments and in the unsaturated zone. Their passage into groundwater was highly reduced, and they virtually disappear after a few hundred meters in the saturated zone. The only exception is carbamazepine. This substance passes through the treatment technology and unsaturated zone. It systematically appears in the groundwater samples collected about 1 km from the infiltration site.

  16. Technology in the Aid of Delivering Economic Content to Teachers: Virtual Economics v. 3

    OpenAIRE

    John R. Swinton; Benjamin Scafidi

    2012-01-01

    We examine the impact on student achievement of a face-to-face teacher workshop that also provides economics instructors with access to an electronic library of instructional and reference material for their economics classroom—Virtual Economics v. 3 (VE3), offered by the Council for Economic Education. Based on evidence using student and teacher-level administrative data from the Georgia Department of Education and controlling for students’ prior achievement in mathematics, we find evidence ...

  17. Virtual Team Governance: Addressing the Governance Mechanisms and Virtual Team Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhan, Yihong; Bai, Yu; Liu, Ziheng

    As technology has improved and collaborative software has been developed, virtual teams with geographically dispersed members spread across diverse physical locations have become increasingly prominent. Virtual team is supported by advancing communication technologies, which makes virtual teams able to largely transcend time and space. Virtual teams have changed the corporate landscape, which are more complex and dynamic than traditional teams since the members of virtual teams are spread on diverse geographical locations and their roles in the virtual team are different. Therefore, how to realize good governance of virtual team and arrive at good virtual team performance is becoming critical and challenging. Good virtual team governance is essential for a high-performance virtual team. This paper explores the performance and the governance mechanism of virtual team. It establishes a model to explain the relationship between the performance and the governance mechanisms in virtual teams. This paper is focusing on managing virtual teams. It aims to find the strategies to help business organizations to improve the performance of their virtual teams and arrive at the objectives of good virtual team management.

  18. Conceptualizing Pharmaceutical Plants

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Bent Dalgaard; Jensen, Klaes Ladeby; Gjøl, Mikkel

    2006-01-01

    In the conceptual design phase of pharmaceutical plants as much as 80%-90% of the total cost of a project is committed. It is therefore essential that the chosen concept is viable. In this design process configuration and 3D models can help validate the decisions made. Designing 3D models...... is a complex task and requires skilled users. We demonstrate that a simple 2D/3D configuration tool can support conceptualizing of pharmaceutical plants. Present paper reports on preliminary results from a full scale implementation project at a Danish engineering company....

  19. PSE in Pharmaceutical Process Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gernaey, Krist; Cervera Padrell, Albert Emili; Woodley, John

    2011-01-01

    The pharmaceutical industry is under growing pressure to increase efficiency, both in production and in process development. This paper will discuss the use of Process Systems Engineering (PSE) methods in pharmaceutical process development, and searches for answers to questions such as: Which PSE...

  20. The history and library statistics of JAEA library activities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Itabashi, Keizo [Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Intellectual Resources Dept., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan)

    2012-03-15

    The history and library statistics of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency library activity were summarized. Former Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute and the former Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute merged in October, 2005, and Japan Atomic Energy Agency is established. Properly speaking, the library statistics of old two corporations should have been summarized, but statistics of the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute is not yet obtained. Then, although it is stated as the Japan Atomic Energy Agency library, it limits to the description about the old Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute library before 2004. (author)