China's copyright dilemma

At this critical point in its development as a burgeoning market economy ensconced within a socialist political system, China faces a dilemma in becoming a fully‐fledged player in the copyright arena. Over the past two decades, China has made great strides in creating a legal and governmental framework for the administration and enforcement of copyright. But its implementation has left much to be desired, owing partly to inadequate resources of money and personnel, partly to insufficiently harsh penalties for infringement, partly to cumbersome procedures required to bring action against infringers, and partly to a general cultural tolerance for practices that run contrary to cultivating a broad‐based respect for copyright. This article proposes that a balance of pressure and encouragement is likely to have the best chances of success in overcoming these problems and ensuring that China will become fully welcomed into the international publishing community.     

On rubrication of the division <Emphasis Type="Italic">spintronics</Emphasis> in a separate edition of the abstract journal of the VINITI RAS <Emphasis Type="Italic">solid-state physics</Emphasis> (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Electrical Properties</Emphasis>)

The necessity for publishing a separate abstract journal on spintronics, which is a new, rapidly developing branch of physics, is substantiated. The interest in spintronics, which is the study of fundamental processes involving the simultaneous transport of both electron charge and electron spins in solids, as well as the interaction of electrons with a magnetic grating, is determined not only by its fascinating prospects but also the results that have already achieved. The spin and charge “degrees of freedom” open possibilities for the creation of semiconducting devices with parameters that are much superior to the existing ones and also the construction of devices that do not have analogues at present. First of all, this will permit problems of information transmission and processing to be solved in a new way. A detailed rubrication on spintronics is given in order to discuss the possibility of publishing a separate edition of an abstract journal devoted to spintronics.     

Strategien zur webbasierten Multilingualen Fragebeantwortung

Zusammenfassung  Wir stellen eine Reihe von innovativen Methoden zur webbasierten multilingualen Fragebeantwortung in offenen Dom?nen vor. Insbesondere werden neuartige Strategien zur Bestimmung optimaler Antwortkontexte und zur Extraktion von exakten Antworten auf Basis von sprachunabh?ngigen, datengetriebenen maschinellen Lernverfahren beschrieben. Es werden zwei alternative Methoden für die crosslinguale Frageanalyse skizziert mit deren Hilfe für eine Anfrage in einer natürlichen Sprache Antworten in Dokumenten einer anderen natürlichen Sprache bestimmt werden k?nnen. Alle Methoden sind detailliert evaluiert und weisen eine vielversprechende Performanz auf. CR subject classification  I.2.6 ; I.2.7 ; J.1 ; K.3.2 ; D.3.3 ; D.2.2     

Expanding rural primary care training by employing information technologies: the need for participation by medical reference librarians

The use of rural sites to train badly needed primary care providers requires access to sophisticated medical information not traditionally available outside of academic health centers. Medical reference librarians can play a key role in the development of primary care training sites in rural settings. Electronic information technologies, with proactive support from medical reference librarians, can provide current and detailed information without concern for distance from the health science center library. This paper discusses recent developments in technology, describes current challenges to the application of this technology in rural settings, and provides policy recommendations for medical reference librarians to enhance rural primary care training.     

Reconciling rising serials costs, the serials budget, and reference needs in a medical library serials retrenchment program: a methodology

Devising a coherent serials retrenchment plan while maintaining quality reference service is a dilemma faced by increasing numbers of medical librarians. In 1991, the staff of the Shiffman Medical Library, Wayne State University, began to address increasing serials budget reductions that by 1994 amounted to a projected 20% maximum cut. The resulting retrenchment plan combined an ongoing serials use study, faculty and librarian reviews of cancellation lists, and systematic refinements in interlibrary cooperation and document delivery service. The Shiffman plan provides a constructive framework that can be adapted to other medical libraries facing immediate, major serials retrenchment.     

Analysis of the use of reference services in an academic health sciences library

In 1991, the Reference and Information Services staff of the Alfred Taubman Medical Library at the University of Michigan gathered data on the use of the reference desk, including the frequency and types of assistance requested by different user groups throughout the year. Recommendations based on the results of this study led to improved service as well as more efficient use of staff resources.