TWU Publications

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An agent-based model and computational framework for counter-terrorism and public safety based on swarm intelligence
Title:
Contributor:
Andrew J. Park (Author), Herbert H. Tsang (Author), Mengting Sun (Author), Uwe Glässer (Author)
Publication Year:
2012-12-23
CIG-P : Circular Interaction Graph for Proteomics
Title:
Contributor:
Christopher K. Hobbs (Author), Michelle Leung (Author), Herbert H. Tsang (Author), H Alexander Ebhardt (Author)
Publication Year:
2014-10-31
Computational approach to predict species-specific type III secretion system (T3SS) effectors using single and multiple genomes
Title:
Contributor:
Herbert H. Tsang (Author), Christopher K. Hobbs (Author), Vanessa L. Porter (Author), Maxwell L. S. Stow (Author), Bupe A. Siame (Author), Ka Yin Leung (Author)
Publication Year:
2016-12-19
"Framing Information Literacy within the Disciplines of Theological Education."
Title:
Contributor:
William Badke (Author)
Publication Year:
2019
Getting Information Literacy into the Academy - Problem and Prospect.
Title:
Contributor:
William Badke (Author)
Abstract:
Keynote address: Information literacy has, for the most part, remained isolated in the domain of the library. Faculty have limited understanding of it and limited time to implement it in the classroom. The time has come to reconsider moving information literacy to the foundation of education alongside of content. Librarians have a vital role in working with faculty to implement integral information literacy within disciplinary instruction.
Publication Year:
2013-06-11
Integrating Library Instruction into the Course Management System for a First-Year Engineering Class : An Evidence-Based Study Measuring the Effectiveness of Blended Learning on Students’ Information Literacy Levels
Title:
Contributor:
Qinqin Zhang (Author), Maren Goodman (Author), Shiyi Xie (Author)
Abstract:
This research examines students in a first-year engineering course who receive library instruction by using a newly developed online module and attending optional in-person tutorials. It aims to evaluate the outcomes of library information literacy instruction using this module combined with in-person help. Results show a significant improvement in information literacy skills from a pre-test to a post-test. Focus group and survey data indicate that most students preferred the self-paced learning style of the online module and that the content of the module helped them to conduct library research for the course. This study also considers best practices for online library instruction. A blended instruction approach provides students with the flexibility to learn from a variety of formats at their own pace and also reduces library staff workload, especially for a large course.
Publication Year:
2015
Modelling intra-annual dynamics of a major marine-terminating Arctic glacier
Title:
Contributor:
Pimentel Sam (Author), Gwenn E. Flowers (Author), Martin J. Sharp (Author), Bradley Danielson (Author), Luke Copland (Author), Wesley Van Wychen (Author), Angus Duncan (Author), Jeffrey L. Kavanaugh (Author), NSERC (Funder)
Abstract:
Significant intra-annual variability in flow rates of tidewater-terminating Arctic glaciers has been observed in recent years. These changes may result from oceanic and/or atmospheric forcing through (1) perturbations at the terminus, such as enhanced submarine melt and changes in sea-ice buttressing, or (2) increased surface melt, in response to atmospheric warming, reaching the bed and promoting glacier slip. We examine the influence of these processes on Belcher Glacier, a large fast-flowing tidewater outlet of the Devon Island ice cap in the Canadian Arctic. A hydrologically-coupled higher-order ice flow model is used to estimate changes in glacier flow speed as a result of changes in sea-ice buttressing and hydrologically-driven melt-season dynamics. Daily run-off from five sub-catchments over the 2008 and 2009 melt seasons provides meltwater forcing for the model simulations. Model results are compared with remotely-sensed and in situ ice-surface velocity measurements. Sea-ice effects are found to have a minor influence on glacier flow speed relative to that of meltwater drainage, which is clearly implicated in short-term velocity variations during the melt season. We find that threshold drainage is essential in determining the timing of these short-lived accelerations.
Publication Year:
2017
My experience with the Ron Bick Lee collection as a young archivist
Title:
Contributor:
Qinqin Zhang (Author)
Abstract:
The Ron Bick Lee collection was donated by the Lee family in Vancouver, British Columbia to the University of British Columbia Library in 2010. Ron Bick Lee was a Chinese Canadian pioneer who moved to Canada from China in 1910 and spent most of his life in Vancouver. He was well known as a successful businessman and a dedicated community leader. As a recent library school graduate, I was privileged to have the opportunity of working on this important collection as an archivist since July 2011 to October 2011. The collection material spans from 1914 to 1994, almost a century long, and it mainly contains Ron Bick Lee’s personal correspondence, certificates presented to him for his community and political involvement, and business documents related to his Foo Hung and Granville Greenhouses business. His correspondence with his families, friends and business partners in China, Hong Kong and North America depicts his vast network across the Pacific Ocean. Working with the collection was a valuable and enjoyable learning process. The physical processing stage was my first thorough encounter of the collection. By rearranging the collection material, I was able to conceptualize the types of the material. In writing the finding aid document, I studied the collection in order to gain a good understanding of the scope and content of the material. The collection material has portrayed the immigration experience of Chinese Canadian in general and Ron Bick Lee’s personal experience as a businessman, a community leader and a family member of his immediate and extended families. As a young archivist whose own life experience has little overlap with Mr. Bick Lee’s, I had challenges of grasping the background of some of his documents, understanding part of his handwriting, and making connections among people in his vast network. However, these challenges motivated me to research more details in and outside the collection for a better understanding of Ron Bick Lee himself as the creator of the collection and the historical and cultural setting he has lived in. Throughout the arrangement and the description stages of the collection, I felt as if I were getting to know Mr. Bick Lee as a person, his meticulous work habits, intellectual curiosity and generous personality. This was probably the most interesting and rewarding part of my experience with the collection. This overseas Chinese rare collection is a very valuable source to explore the Chinese Canadian history in the 20th century. Ron Bick Lee’s remarkable story depicted in the collection gives us a vivid image of a Chinese Canadian pioneer in British Columbia, particularly in Vancouver. Research methodology such as unstructured observation in the scope of qualitative research was employed during the research.
Publication Year:
2012
Research strategies : finding your way through the information fog
Title:
Contributor:
Bill Badke (Author)
Publication Year:
2017
SARNA-Predict - Accuracy Improvement of RNA Secondary Structure Prediction Using Permutation-based Simulated Annealing
Title:
Contributor:
Herbert H. Tsang (Author), Kay C. Wiese (Author)
Abstract:
Ribonucleic acid (RNA), a single-stranded linear molecule, is essential to all biological systems. Different regions of the same RNA strand will fold together via base pair interactions to make intricate secondary and tertiary structures that guide crucial homeostatic processes in living organisms. Since the structure of RNA molecules is the key to their function, algorithms for the prediction of RNA structure are of great value. In this article, we demonstrate the usefulness of SARNA-Predict, an RNA secondary structure prediction algorithm based on Simulated Annealing (SA). A performance evaluation of SARNA-Predict in terms of prediction accuracy is made via comparison with eight state-of-the-art RNA prediction algorithms: mfold, Pseudoknot(pknotsRE), NUPACK, pknotsRG-mfe, Sfold, HotKnots, ILM, and STAR. These algorithms are from three different classes: heuristic, dynamic programming, and statistical sampling techniques. An evaluation for the performance of SARNA-Predict in terms of prediction accuracy was verified with native structures. Experiments on 33 individual known structures from eleven RNA classes (tRNA, viral RNA, antigenomic HDV, telomerase RNA, tmRNA, rRNA, RNaseP, 5S rRNA, Group I intron 23S rRNA, Group I intron 16S rRNA, and 16S rRNA) were performed. The results presented in this paper demonstrate that SARNA-Predict can out-perform other state-of-the-art algorithms in terms of prediction accuracy. Furthermore, there is substantial improvement of prediction accuracy by incorporating a more sophisticated thermodynamic model (efn2).
Publication Year:
2010
Situating Information Literacy in the Disciplines
Title:
Contributor:
Robert Farrell (Author), William Badke (Author)
Abstract:
Purpose – The purpose of this article is to consider the current barriers to situating in the disciplines and to offer a possible strategy for so doing. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews current challenges facing librarians who seek to situate information literacy in the disciplines and offers and practical model for those wishing to do so. Phenomenographic evidence from disciplinary faculty focus groups is presented in the context of the model put forward. Findings – Disciplinary faculty do not have generic conceptions of information literacy but rather understand information-related behaviors as part of embodied disciplinary practice. Practical implications – Librarians dissatisfied with traditional forms of generic information literacy instruction marketing will find a method by which to place ownership on information literacy in the hands of disciplinary faculty. Originality/value – The article offers a unique analysis of the challenges facing current information literacy specialists and a new approach for integrating information literacy in the disciplines.
Publication Year:
2015
A Systematic Approach to Develop a Computational Framework for Counter-terrorism and Public Safety
Title:
Contributor:
Andrew J. Park (Author), Herbert H. Tsang (Author), Martin Bouchard (Editor)
Publication Year:
2015

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