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Given the growth in accessible online research literature it is vital that biologists are enabled to find articles with relevant information to support their investigations. This thesis details research aimed at improving the sensitivity of information retrieval to topics which are contained in articles that have a different overall topic. Fetal growth and development (FGD) information contained in articles reporting mouse gene knockout studies was used as the exemplar domain throughout. The research began by assessing the characteristics of the mouse knockout and FGD domains. Two leading domain experts were consulted to develop a definition ofFGD information that could be used as the basis for experimentation. 4 other domain experts then annotated FGD information on a sample set of 20 articles according to the provided definition to verify its presence in the mouse knockout literature and to elucidate topics and words associated with the FGD information. Subsequently, numerical and lexical methods were assessed in separate tests for the purpose of detecting FGD topics in the mouse knockout articles. The numerical methods could not be made to differentiate between the various topics, while the lexical methods were impractical to implement to describe the niche FGD domain. Different passage retrieval methods based on the Extended Boolean model were then investigated for their sensitivity to FGD information within the articles. Passages were defined as either whole articles or the titled sections appearing within articles or as 100-word non-overlapping windows. For each definition, articles were ranked according to their highest scoring passage in answer to a given query. An experimental methodology was implemented to test each passage retrieval method's relative sensitivity to FGD information based on the judgement of domain experts, quantified using the Discounted Cumulative Gain measure. The retrieval method that uses titled sections as passages performed best in 4 ofthe 5 assessed queries. An experimental web-based information retrieval system was developed, based around a relational database which stored a custom corpus of20715 mouse knockout HTML articles, as defined by the MEDLINE database. An automated heuristical procedure to identify passages from sections from HTML articles was developed, which was effective on scientific articles from a large variety of publishers. An examination of the corpus was also undertaken to elicit the domain's characteristics for use in future IR methodologies.

This research examines the relationship between organisational change and information systems development in the case of an effort to implement flexible specialisation in Cyprus. In the centre of this research are the inter-organisational relationships developed in the flexible specialisation initiative and the role IT played in the formation of such relationships. Successively, the kind of organisational changes that take place as well as the driving force(s) of such changes are examined. In order to study and analyse such a complicated socio economic phenomenon an interpretive epistemology was adopted. Analysis of the empirical work draws mainly from theories concerning information systems while insights are drawn from disciplines that have studied organisational change and the concept of flexible specialisation in particular, such as industrial economics, geography and organisational theory. The research method followed is a multiple case study analysis. One case study was conducted in Emilia-Romagna and provides a point for reference for the cases of flexible specialisation in Cyprus, which is the main focus of the research. The case study in Cyprus was conducted over a period of three years, while the case study in Emilia-Romagna was done at one particular point in time. The key contribution of this research is the suggestion that the use of information and communication technologies depends on the complexity of the inter-organisational activities, rather than causing them, as the information systems literature tends to suggest. Furthermore, the case study demonstrates the significance of institutional and cultural factors for the non-emergence of inter-organisational complexity, and subsequent limited role attributed to IT in the flexible specialisation experiment.

The work described in this thesis involves a novel method of substructural analysis, with potential application for structure- property correlation and information retrieval within computerised chemical information systems. A review is given of the development of the concept of chemical structure and its representation, its application in computerised chemical information systems, and methods for correlating structure with molecular properties. A method is presented for derivation of structural features, representing the whole structure, from Wiswesser Line Notation (WLN) by computer program. These features are then used as variables in statistical analysis procedures: in this work multiple regression analysis and cluster analysis are used. This procedure allows for a rapid, convenient and thorough analysis of large data-sets. The type of structural features used may be easily varied, allowing for investi- gation of factors such as ring substitution patterns, group interactions, and three-dimensional structure. The method is applicable to sets of diverse or structurally related compounds. Statistical tests of the results enable quantitative testing of hypotheses. Multiple regression analysis allows a direct, quantitative correlation between structure and molecular property, and subsequent property prediction. It is applied to sets of aliphatic, alicyclic aromatic, and heterocyclic compounds, including sets of highly diverse structures. Properties examined include biological effects, toxicty, pK, thermochemical properties, boiling point, solubility, and partition coefficient. Some of these properties are highly dependent upon electronic and steric effects, and hence upon relative position of substituents, and on three-dimensional structure. Highly significant correlations are obtained in all cases, and the potential for property prediction is demonstrated. Cluster analysis is applied to several sets of structures. Intuitively sensible classifications are obtained, and the potential for both property prediction and information retrieval discussed. Since these techniques involve the widely used WLN, relatively simple COBOL programs, and standard statistical packages, they should be applicable within operational environments.

Particularly the past two decades have witnessed the integration of people with disabilities into mainstream society. This is one of the top political issues in many countries. For a long time disabled people have been excluded from mainstream education, employment and various community activities on the grounds of individual disabilities. As a result many of them have been left unproductive and dependent. That society to some extent has a negative attitude towards disabled people cannot be disputed. Until recently all attention to disabled people had focussed on their physical wellbeing rather than on how to integrate them effectively into mainstream society. This negative attitude coupled with less integration has in many respects prevented disabled people from developing their potential and using their ability to live an independent life. In this respect library services for disabled people are regarded as part of the integration of disabled people into mainstream society. Especially public libraries can be seen as the most important institutes for the integration of disabled people into society. The purpose of this research is to identify current problems faced by mainstream libraries for the provision of library services for disabled people and also to present practical solutions that are appropriate to the Korean situation. Although the study covers other disabilities such as hearing and mobility impairment, it is mainly concerned with visual impairment. Visually impaired people are the most disadvantaged in libraries because they are unable to read printed materials.For purpose of data collection, the study relied on literature review, observation and interview. The study is organised into three parts. The first part outlines the background information about the integration of disabled people, the characteristics and difficulties of disabled people, and the development of library services for disabled people from earliest time to the present. The second part presents the findings of research in the areas of physical, technological and human factors. The last part proposes solutions to problems and draws conclusions. The emphasis throughout the study is to create awareness among library professionals in Korea about the need of library services for disabled people in mainstream libraries.

Uninterrupted for forty-five years, from 1558 to 1603, Protestants in England were able to use the printing press to disseminate Protestant ideology. It was a period long enough for Protestantism to root itself deeply in the life of the nation and to accumulate its own distinctive literature. English Protestantism, like an inf ant vulnerable to the whim of a parent under King Henry VIII, like a headstrong and erratic child in Edward's reign, and like a sulking, chastised youth in the Marian years, had come of age by the end of the Elizabethan period. At the outset of Elizabeth's reign the most pressing religious need was a clear, well-reasoned defence of the Church of England. The publication of Bishop Jewel's Apologia Ecclesiae Anglicanae in 1562 was a response to that need and set the tone of literary polemics for the rest of the period. It was a time of muscleflexing for the Elizabethan Church, and especially in the opening decades, a time when anti-Catholicism was particularly vehement. Consistently throughout the period, when Queen and country were threatened by Catholic intrigues and conspiracies, literature of exceptional virulence was published against Catholicism. But just as the press became an effective tool for defenders and apologists of the Church of England, it soon was being used as an instrument to advance the cause of further reform by more radical Protestants. Puritans, Familists and Separatists resorted to the printing press to publicize their particular brand of Protestantism. Puritans, especially, used the press to put pressure on Parliament by arranging the publication of their demands to coincide with the calling of Parliament. Stinging attacks on the established church were met with stout resistance; authors, printers and booksellers often were imprisoned and the literature suppressed. The radicals then turned to secret presses, or to presses outside of England, and continued their onslaught against the "half" reformed Church of England. The bitterness and pugnacity once reserved for the popes of Rome now became, for the dissidents, appropriate sentiments to be levelled at English bishops. Religious polemics, however, though most eye-catching and revealing from the historian's viewpoint because they reflect pressing issues and concerns, were only one aspect of Elizabethan literature. While the polemicists crossed swords, the great majority of authors and translators busied themselves in producing works designed for general Protestant edification. These were the devotional, didactic and exegetical works that went into multiple editions and were in constant demand throughout the reign. Polemical and controversial writings were published from time to time, but works of edification issued from the press in a continuous stream throughout the reign. The constant repetition of Protestant doctrine and attitudes reinforced the Protestant policies consistently laid down by the government. For moral and financial support in publishing their literature, Elizabethan Protestant authors relied heavily upon a relatively small group of persons. The great majority of dedications in Protestant literature were addressed to no more than a dozen or so patrons, and, except for a few, tended to sympathize with moderate Puritanism. Furthermore, the Elizabethan period was a watershed in the history of literary patronage and this was reflected in Protestant literature. Printers and publishers became more important to the author than the patron in getting his manuscript into print and furthering his literary pursuits. And it was a relatively small number of printers and publishers (no more than twenty-five) who bore the brunt of financing the lion's share of Protestant literature. With such a powerful and relatively new medium as print to disseminate ideology, it is not surprising that strong censorship was exercised. From the Queen's Injunctions of 1566, when the Vestments controversy was at its height and offensive Puritan tracts were being published, control of the press tightened as Catholics and radical Protestants became more adept at clandestine printing and at smuggling their literature into the country. Officers of the government, the church and the Stationers' Company worked so effectively together in their "search and destroy" missions for printing presses used in illegal publishing ventures that, by the end of the period, almost all offensive religious literature had to be printed abroad. The role of the printing press in Elizabethan England is comparable to that of television in the 20th century. As television revolutionizes the art of politics, from political party conventions to national elections, so the printing press affected politics and religion in the last half of the 16th century. The most effective way for Puritans, for example, to attack and embarrass the Establishnent -- and for the Establishment to defend itself -- was to use the medium of print. So much more efficient than preaching -- with much less risk of detection -- the press replaced the pulpit as the main instrument of religious education and of religious reform.

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