Topic Review
Inventory (Library)
Inventories are the one method that libraries use to determine whether some items in their collection are in need of preservation or conservation activities. A modern inventory might involve examining item by item with a barcode scanner and a laptop, with the objective of adjusting bibliographic and item records in theirs and OCLC's WorldCat databases. Using a laptop and handheld bar code reader will “reduce human error and inconsistencies, while helping to maintain staff concentration and enthusiasm for the project”. Print materials in the digital age, though dramatically decreased in size compared to e-print materials, are still valuable components of a library's collection. Increasing print material's accessibility, and reducing user frustration, make the inventory process an effective tool in improving library service quality. “When library users are unable to find materials in the expected locations, they lose confidence in the library catalog as well as in the library itself”. Missing or mislabeled books have a direct impact on the quality of library services. Maintaining the stacks through inventories and shelf reading can mitigate staff time lost searching for missing or mislabeled items. Libraries have thousands of books; large academic libraries may have millions of books;. Doing an annual (or less frequent) physical inventory with the laying on of hands on each individual item may not be practical for several reasons. It may not be financially feasible, employees required may not have extra time to devote to such an inventory, and there are no financial rewards for the Library for completing an inventory. Problems that are discovered (books in need of repurchase, rebinding, repair, or digitization) may require solutions that are expensive and labor-intensive. Because of these restraints, inventories may not take place for decades, if ever, at large academic institutions. By contrast, complete inventories are often a regular part of the school library media specialist's job at K-12 institutions, where inventory may be a legal requirement that shows that the libraries are accountable for the money they have spent throughout the year. Checking for lost books and materials can be similarly compared to auditing. However, there are alternative options to performing a complete inventory, such as performing a selective inventory. Selective inventory can be performed by circumstance or by data prediction. Physical space is a premium in libraries. Inventorying mini collections before relocating them to their new location presents the library with an opportunity to perform a selective inventory project. An alternative to opportunistic selective inventory projects is Kohl's (1982) assertion that circulation statistics, book search statistics, and ILL statistics can be useful tools in identifying areas as possible selective inventory areas. He writes, “areas in need of an inventory can be identified through the use of predictive data”. Once the objectives for accuracy and methods of measuring have been established “the criteria need to be quantified. An overall measure of the inventory accuracy should be maintained as a management key performance indicator”.
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Topic Review
SYmbolic LinK (SYLK)
Symbolic Link (SYLK) is a Microsoft file format typically used to exchange data between applications, specifically spreadsheets. SYLK files conventionally have a .slk suffix. Composed of only displayable ANSI characters, it can be easily created and processed by other applications, such as databases. Microsoft does not publish a SYLK specification. Variants of the format are supported by Multiplan, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Works, OpenOffice.org, and Gnumeric. The format was introduced in the 1980s and has not evolved since 1986. A commonly encountered (and spurious) 'occurrence' of the SYLK file happens when a comma-separated value (CSV) format is saved with an unquoted first field name of 'ID', that is the first two characters match the first two characters of the SYLK file format. Microsoft Excel (at least to Office 2016) will then emit misleading error messages relating to the format of the file, such as "The file you are trying to open, 'x.csv', is in a different format than specified by the file extension...". SYLK is known to cause security issues, as it allows an attacker to run arbitrary code, offers the opportunity to disguise the attack vector under the benign-looking appearance of a CSV file, and is still enabled by default on recent (2016) versions of Microsoft Excel.
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Topic Review
Greylisting (Email)
Greylisting is a method of defending e-mail users against spam. A mail transfer agent (MTA) using greylisting will "temporarily reject" any email from a sender it does not recognize. If the mail is legitimate, the originating server will try again after a delay, and if sufficient time has elapsed, the email will be accepted.
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Topic Review
Microsoft Store (Digital)
Microsoft Store (formerly known as Windows Store) is a digital distribution platform owned by Microsoft. It started as an app store for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 as the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps. With Windows 10, Microsoft merged its other distribution platforms (Windows Marketplace, Windows Phone Store, Xbox Music, Xbox Video, Xbox Store, and a web storefront also known as "Microsoft Store") into Microsoft Store, making it a unified distribution point for apps, console games, and digital videos. Digital music was included until the end of 2017, and E-books were included until 2019. Some content is available free of charge from the store. In 2015, over 669,000 apps were available on the store. Categories containing the largest number of apps are "Books and Reference", "Education", "Entertainment", and "Games". The majority of the app developers have one app. As with other similar platforms, such as the Google Play and Mac App Store, Microsoft Store is curated, and apps must be certified for compatibility and content. In addition to the user-facing Microsoft Store client, the store has a developer portal with which developers can interact. Microsoft takes 30% of the sale price for apps. Prior to January 1, 2015, this cut was reduced to 20% after the developer's profits reached $25,000.
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Topic Review
Clip (Command)
The clipboard is a buffer that some operating systems provide for short-term storage and transfer within and between application programs. The clipboard is usually temporary and unnamed, and its contents reside in the computer's RAM. The clipboard provides an application programming interface by which programs can specify cut, copy and paste operations. It is left to the program to define methods for the user to command these operations, which may include keybindings and menu selections. When an element is copied or cut, the clipboard must store enough information to enable a sensible result no matter where the element is pasted. Application programs may extend the clipboard functions that the operating system provides. A clipboard manager may give the user additional control over the clipboard. Specific clipboard semantics vary among operating systems, can also vary between versions of the same system, and can sometimes be changed by programs and by user preferences. Windows, Linux and macOS support a single clipboard transaction.
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Topic Review
2 × 2 Real Matrices
In mathematics, the associative algebra of 2×2 real matrices is denoted by M(2, R). Two matrices p and q in M(2, R) have a sum p + q given by matrix addition. The product matrix p q is formed from the dot product of the rows and columns of its factors through matrix multiplication. For let Then q q* = q* q = (ad − bc) I, where I is the 2×2 identity matrix. The real number ad − bc is called the determinant of q. When ad − bc ≠ 0, q is an invertible matrix, and then The collection of all such invertible matrices constitutes the general linear group GL(2, R). In terms of abstract algebra, M(2, R) with the associated addition and multiplication operations forms a ring, and GL(2, R) is its group of units. M(2, R) is also a four-dimensional vector space, so it is considered an associative algebra. The 2×2 real matrices are in one-one correspondence with the linear mappings of the two-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system into itself by the rule The next section displays M(2,R) is a union of planar cross sections that include a real line. M(2,R) is ring isomorphic to split-quaternions, where there is a similar union but with index sets that are hyperboloids.
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Topic Review
Social Affordance
Social affordance is a type of affordance. It refers to the properties of an object or environment that permit social actions. Social affordance is most often used in the context of a social technology such as Wiki, Chat and Facebook applications and refers to sociotechnical affordances. Social affordances emerge from the coupling between the behavioral and cognitive capacities of a given organism and the objective properties of its environment. Social affordances – or more accurately sociotechnical affordances – refer as reciprocal interactions between a technology application, its users, and its social context. These social interactions include users’ responses, social accessibility and society related changes. Social affordances are not synonymous with mere factual, statistical frequency; on the contrary, the social normality of primitive forms of coordination can become normative, even in primate societies. A good example clarifies social affordance as follows: “ A wooden bench is supposed to have a sit affordance. A hiker who has walked for hours and passes the wooden bench on a walk along small country roads might perceive the sit affordance of the wooden bench as a function of the degree of fatigue. A very tired hiker will sit on the wooden bench but will not lie down (unless the wooden bench also has a lie affordance). A still fit hiker, however, might not even pick up on the sit affordance of the bench and pass it. The wooden bench is in that case no more than a piece of wood with no further meaning.”
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Topic Review
Nepal Risk Reduction Consortium
The Nepal Risk Reduction Consortium (NRRC) was launched by the Government of Nepal (GoN) and a group of international organizations working to promote the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) in 2009. It exists to bridge the spectrum of development and humanitarian partners in order to support the Government of Nepal in taking action to implement long-term Disaster risk reduction (DRR). The founding members of the NRRC were the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) and the World Bank. Since 2009, new NRRC members have included AusAid, the Department for International Development (DFID), the Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission (ECHO), the embassy of Japan, the US Embassy and the World Health Organization (WHO). The NRRC has developed a Disaster Risk Reduction Action Plan that builds on the GoN National Strategy for Disaster Risk Management (NSDRM). Based on consultations with key stakeholders to identify disaster risk reduction priorities that are urgent and viable, five flagship areas were identified and proposed. Consortium members act as coordinators of these flagship areas together with the relevant Government Ministry. Location: P.O. Box 107 Kathmandu, Nepal
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Topic Review
Asperitas Microdatacenter
A microdatacenter is a small, self contained data center consisting of computing, storage, networking, power and cooling. Micro data centers typically employ water cooling to achieve compactness, low component count, low cost and high energy efficiency. Its small size allows decentralised deployment in places where traditional data centers cannot go, for instance edge computing for Internet of things.
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Topic Review
OpenMAX
OpenMAX (Open Media Acceleration), often shortened as "OMX", is a non-proprietary and royalty-free cross-platform set of C-language programming interfaces. It provides abstractions for routines that are especially useful for processing of audio, video, and still images. It is intended for low power and embedded system devices (including smartphones, game consoles, digital media players, and set-top boxes) that need to efficiently process large amounts of multimedia data in predictable ways, such as video codecs, graphics libraries, and other functions for video, image, audio, voice and speech. OpenMAX provides three layers of interfaces: application layer (AL), integration layer (IL) and development layer (DL). OpenMAX is managed by the non-profit technology consortium Khronos Group.
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