025.431: The Dewey blog

United States Census

Data collection for the 2010 United States census is now under way, with the aim of counting every person living in the United States on April 1, 2010.  The Census 2010 home page gives information.  So does the KidsPost story “The 2010 U.S. Census.”

The 2010 U.S. census has questions primarily about population, with one question about housing.  Comprehensive and interdisciplinary works about the 2010 census will be classed as works about population, following the rule given in section 5.7 (B) of the Introduction: “Class a work on two subjects with the subject receiving fuller treatment.” The interdisciplinary number for population is 304.6 Population.

Works about data collection methods of the census are classed in 304.60723 Population—descriptive research (built with 304.6 Population plus T1—0723 Descriptive research).  At T1—0723 Descriptive research are an including note and a class-here note:

Including case studies [formerly T1—0722]; sampling techniques; surveys, questionnaires, field work, observation, interviews

Class here data collection

At T1—0727 Statistical methods is the see reference: “For data collection, see T1—0723.”  Examples of works classed in 304.60723 are Looking for the Last Percent: The Controversy over Census Undercount, Sampling and the Census: A Case against the Proposed Adjustments for Undercount, and Experimentation and Evaluation Plans for the 2010 Census: Interim Report.  What about the geographic aspect, since all the examples focus on the U.S. census?  In the table of preference at the start of Table 1, T1—07 Education, research, related topics (except T1—074, T1—075) appears above T1—093–T1—099 Treatment by specific continents, countries, localities; extraterrestrial worlds.  A basic rule for standard subdivisions is found at the start of Table 1:  “Do not add one standard subdivision to another standard subdivision unless specially instructed.” 

At T1—072 Research is the class-elsewhere note: “Class results of research in 001–999 without adding notation T1—072 from Table 1.”  For works with census results about population of a specific geographic area, the end of the number will vary depending on whether the work deals with a limited time period.  An example of a work with U.S. census results in a limited time period is 1990 Census Snapshot for All U.S. Places.  It is classed in 304.6097309049 Population—United States—1990–1999 (built with 304.6 Population plus T1—09 Geographic treatment plus T2—73 United States plus 09 Historical treatment from add table under T1—093–T1—099 Treatment by specific continents, countries, localities; extraterrestrial worlds plus 049 from T1—09049 1990–1999, following instructions at T1—093–T1—099).  An example of a work with U.S. census results over a long time period is Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790 to 1990: From the Twenty-One Decennial Censuses.  It is classed in 304.60973021 Population—United States—statistics (built with 304.6 Population plus T1—09 Geographic treatment plus T2—73 United States plus 021 Statistics from add table under T1—093–T1—099, following instructions at T1—093–T1—099).  At T1—093–T1—099 is the following note:  “In the table above, observe preference as given at beginning of Table 1 . . . . .” In the table of preference at the beginning of Table 1, T1—0901–T1—0905 Historical periods appears above T1—021 Tabulated and related materials (the latter has the including note: “Including statistics, statistical graphs”); consequently, for works treating a limited time period, such as the results of a single census, notation for historical period is preferred over notation for statistics.     
 

Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da, 1573–1610

“This year marks the 400th anniversary of the painter Caravaggio’s death,” begins the first note on the brief BBC slide show “In Pictures: Caravaggio in the Frame.”  The Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome is holding a major exhibit of Caravaggio’s paintings, Caravaggio (see also “Caravaggio - A 400th Anniversary Exhibition” and “Caravaggio Stands Alone in New Rome Exhibit”).  The New York Times recently ran a story about Caravaggio’s popularity, “An Italian Antihero’s Time to Shine.” Additional information about Caravaggio and books about him can be found at “Caravaggio” (Times Topics) and on the WorldCat Identities page “Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da 1573–1610.”

Works about Caravaggio’s paintings and Caravaggio as a painter are classed in 759.5 Italian painting (built with 759 Historical, geographic, persons treatment of painting plus 5 from T2—45 Italy, San Marino, Vatican City, Malta, following instructions at 759.3–759.8 Miscellaneous parts of Europe).  In the upward hierarchy at 759.1–759.9 Geographic treatment are instructions about classifying individual painters; they have hierarchical force:

Individual painters are classed in notation at country level only. Standard subdivisions T1—074, T1—075, and T1—092 from Table 1 are not added for individual painters, e.g., an exhibition of the work of a Canadian painter, collecting the person's works, and a biography of the painter 759.11 (not 759.11074, 759.11075, or 759.11092, respectively).

An example of a work classed in 759.5 Italian painting is The Complete Paintings of Caravaggio.  Biographies of Caravaggio are classed in 759.5 without T1—092 Persons, e.g., Caravaggio: A Life and Caravaggio: Painter of Miracles.  Exhibitions of works by Caravaggio are classed in 759.5 without T1—074 Museums, collections, exhibits, e.g., Caravaggio & His World: Darkness & Light (“Catalog of an exhibition held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Nov. 29, 2003-Feb. 22, 2004 and at the National Gallery of Victoria, Mar. 11-May 30, 2004”).

Earthquake Engineering

Earthquakes have been in the news recently, especially because of the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, though there have been others; the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 
“Significant Earthquake and News Headlines” list has recently included also earthquakes in Japan, Turkey, Indonesia, the China-Russia-North Korea border region, and offshore USA.  The Dewey blog has previously discussed the most important Dewey numbers for earthquakes, in “Rockin’ San Francisco” and “Java Earthquake” (with an update to the latter in “Provinsi Indonesia”). 

The previous blog entries, however, have not covered all topics related to earthquakes.  A BBC story asks a common question, “Why Did Fewer Die in Chile’s Earthquake than in Haiti’s?”  The answer includes the location of the epicenter with respect to areas of dense population, the greater prosperity of Chile, the Chilean people’s experience with and training for earthquakes—and Chile’s earthquake-resistant buildings.  A CNN story, “In Search of an Earthquake-Proof Building,” begins:

It’s a sobering fact: Earthquakes alone don’t kill people; collapsed buildings do.

But can people engineer buildings that wouldn’t crumble when subjected to the rumblings of the Earth?

. . . . .

In a handful of interviews, engineers who work on earthquake-resistant buildings said current technologies prevent well-designed buildings from cracking when the ground shakes beneath them.

 

The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) has sent teams to Haiti and Chile to learn from the experiences of both countries.  EERI has photographs, reports, and links on its Haiti Earthquake Clearing House and Chile Earthquake Clearing House web sites. The reports cover bridges and port facilities as well as buildings, e.g., The MW 7.0 Haiti Earthquake of January 12, 2010: USGS/EERI Advance Reconnaissance Team: Team Report.

The interdisciplinary and comprehensive number for earthquake engineering is 624.1762 Earthquake engineering.  Here is some of the upward hierarchy:

624     Civil engineering
624.1        Structural engineering and underground construction
624.17            Structural analysis and design 
624.176             Stresses and strains (Deformation)

Works classed in 624.1762 focus on general principles applicable to multiple kinds of structures, and may discuss application to several specific kinds of structures, e.g., buildings, bridges, wharves and piers, dams, buried pipelines, water and wastewater systems, and electrical power systems.  Examples are Earthquake Engineering Handbook, Displacement-Based Seismic Design of Structures, and Dynamic Analysis and Earthquake Resistant Design.

At 624 Civil engineering is the scatter note (a see reference): “For a specific branch of civil engineering not provided for here, see the branch, e.g., construction of buildings 690.”  At 624.1 Structural engineering and underground construction is another scatter note (a class-elsewhere note): “Class a specific application of structural engineering with the application, e.g., structural engineering of dams 627.8.”  Because these notes have hierarchical force and apply to 624.1762, works that focus on applying earthquake engineering principles to a specific kind of structure are classed with the kind of structure.  For example, works on earthquake-resistant buildings are classed in 693.852 Earthquake-resistant construction. Here is some of the upward hierarchy:

690     Buildings
693         Construction in specific types of materials and for specific purposes
693.8             Construction for specific purposes
693.85             Shock-resistant construction 

Examples are Earthquake Design Practice for Buildings and Seismic Design of Reinforced and Precast Concrete Buildings (at 693.1-693.7 Construction in specific materials is the class-elsewhere note “Class construction in specific materials for specific purposes in 693.8”).

Sleep, Memory, and Learning

“Don't Knock Naps, They Make You Smarter” (USA Today Science Fair) and “Naps Clear Brain's Inbox, Improve Learning” (National Geographic Daily News) are news reports on research by Matthew Walker, University of California, Berkeley.  The research was described in a press release entitled “An Afternoon Nap Markedly Boosts the Brain’s Learning Capacity” but presented at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science under the title “Current Models of Mechanisms of Sleep-Dependent Memory.”  Here is an excerpt from USA Today Science Fair:

In the study, a group of 39 healthy young adults were divided into a nap and no-nap group. Each were given a difficult to-learn task at noon, designed to push hard on the hippocampus, the region of the brain that helps store fact-based memories. Research has shown that fact-based memories are first stored in the hippocampus, then moved to the prefrontal cortex for long-term storage.

Both groups did about the same.

At 2:00 PM in the afternoon the nap group got a 90-minute siesta.  Then at 6:00 PM both groups got a new set of learning tasks. The ones who hadn't gotten any shut-eye did markedly worse. Those who had caught 40 winks did much better and improved their capacity to learn.

Walker says this helps confirm his group's hypothesis, that sleep clears the brain's short-term memory storage to make room for new learning.

The interdisciplinary numbers for sleep, memory, and learning are in psychology.  The interdisciplinary number for sleep is 154.6 Sleep phenomena, e.g., The Mind in Sleep: Psychology and Psychophysiology. The number for memory is 153.12 Memory, e.g., Memory. The number for learning is 153.15 Learning, e.g., Human Learning.   Many works treat memory and learning together; they are classed in 153.1 Memory and learning, e.g., Learning and Memory: Basic Principles, Processes, and Procedures.  According to the rule of application, works about the effect of sleep on memory and learning are classed with memory and learning (see also Introduction section 5.7 [A]).

Works on the physiology of human sleep, memory, and learning are classed in subdivisions of 612.82 Brain. Works that focus on sleep are classed in 612.821 Sleep phenomena, e.g., The Neuroscience of Sleep and The Physiologic Nature of Sleep.  Works that focus on memory are classed in 612.823312 Memory—human physiology (built with 612.8233 Conscious mental processes and intelligence plus 12 from 153.12 Memory, following instruction at 612.8233), e.g., Neural Plasticity and Memory: From Genes to Brain Imaging and Neuroimaging of Human Memory: Linking Cognitive Processes to Neural Systems.  Works that focus on learning are classed in 612.823315 Learning—human physiology (built with 612.8233 plus 15 from 153.15 Learning, following instruction at 612.8233), e.g., The Autonomous Brain: A Neural Theory of Attention and Learning.

Dewey Breakfast at PLA 2010

Please join us for the Dewey Breakfast/Update at the PLA National Conference 2010 on Thursday, March 25, 7:00–8:00 a.m., Doubletree Hotel Portland, Oregon Room.

To keep you up to date with all matters Dewey, we will have presentations on the new WebDewey 2.0 (the development of which is coming along nicely) and on applications of our linked data web service dewey.info (with an exciting real-live demo of how the service has been implemented using mobile devices to support multilingual access into a public library’s catalog). There will also be an open discussion period—bring those burning Dewey questions and suggestions!

If you haven’t done so already, please register for the Dewey Breakfast/Update here. See you soon in Portland!

EDUG survey of applications of the DDC

Our friends over at the Technical Issues Working Group of EDUG, the European DDC Users’ Group, have just let us know that they are conducting an online survey of applications of the DDC to help EDUG to plan its activities and determine priorities for technical development. The results will also be shared with OCLC and the DDC editorial team.

They would like to hear not only from European libraries, but from Dewey users all over the world. The survey questionnaire should only take a few minutes to complete and submit. So if your library uses the DDC in one way or the other, please let them know; your participation in the survey is greatly appreciated. The survey is available at http://www.slainte.org.uk/edugit/edugsurvey/survey.cfm.

Snowstorms have ramifications

A recent blog entry on the abundance of snow received this winter in the eastern United States promised “a subsequent blog entry [to] explore various ramifications of the snow, including specific social services rendered in response to the storms.”  Having spent the past week at a conference in the mild climate of Rome (more on the ISKO conference in a blog entry to come—yet another IOU!) and finding on my return that there’s much less snow still hanging around than when I left, I can’t say that the ramifications of snowstorms are much on my mind.  But a promise is a promise.

The ramifications of the snowstorms have been many.  Social services rendered have included procuring 4-wheel-drive vehicles to offer emergency transportation to medical facilities and rescuing stranded drivers.  Snow removal consisted first of using snowplows to clear pathways by pushing snow to the sides of roads and subsequently of hauling snow away to out-of-the-way locations.  Events and services were cancelled:  airline flights, social events, sporting events, church services, school.   Downed trees often resulted in downed power lines, with subsequent power outages.   And the list could go on and on. 

Works on emergency transportation services provided in response to snowstorms are classed in 363.349258 Remedial measures, services, forms of assistance in snowstorms (built from 363.3492 Disasters caused by weather conditions plus notation 5 from the numbers following 551.55 in 551.555 Snowstorms, following the instructions at 363.34922–363.34926 Specific kinds of storms, plus notation 8 Remedial measures, services, forms of assistance from the add table under 362–363, also following the instructions at 363.34922–363.34926).  Works on rescuing stranded drivers are classed close by in 363.3492581 Rescue operations in snowstorms (built in like manner, except that the notation added from the add table at 362–363 is 81 Rescue operations).   Works on snow removal as a social service are classed in 363.349256 (built in like manner, except that the notation added from the add table at 362–363 is 6 Control, which is defined as “Elimination and reduction of hazards, of sources and causes of difficulty”).

However, snow removal is more often written about from some perspective other than as a social service.  For example, Traffic and parking control for snow emergencies: a recommended practice of the Institute of Transportation Engineers  and A routing methodology for snow plows and cindering trucks consider snow removal from the perspective of road transportation and are thus classed in 388.312 Highway services    Traffic control, with snow removal mentioned in its including note.  But a work like Let it snow: winter road maintenance products and technology considers snow removal from the perspective of road engineering and is to be classed in 625.763 [Roads, Maintenance and repair] Snow and ice control measures, which is indexed by Snow removal—road engineering.

Cancellations of events are classed with the event.  For example, the cancellation of church services is classed in 264 Public worship; the cancellation of school and the attendant extension of the school year are classed in 371.23 School year, with its note “Class here school calendar”;  airline flight cancellations are classed in 387.74 Air transportation activities and services; and the cancellation of parties is classed in 793.2 Parties and entertainments.

Aquaculture

“Recirculating aquaculture systems cut the pollution and disease that occur in current fish farming operations,” begins an article entitled “Recirculating aquaculture systems: The future of fish farming?”

Inside what looks like a plastic-roofed greenhouse sitting in an old cow pasture are six round, 1,500-gallon tanks (imagine kiddie pools that are eight feet deep), each holding a few hundred rainbow trout. A tangled network of PVC pipes – some as thick as tree trunks, others as slender as pool cues – traces crooked patterns in the cramped space, which is alive with the sound of whirring motors and lots of water, dripping, bubbling, and gushing steadily through the whole convoluted system.

. . . . .

Recirculating aquaculture systems, or RAS, are closed-loop production systems that continuously filter and recycle water, enabling large-scale fish farming that requires a small amount of water and releases little or no pollution.

About 99.75 percent of the water in each unit is continuously cleaned and returned to the fish tanks. Manure filtered from the water during the recycling process is used as fertilizer on nearby farm fields. The nutrient-rich water can also be used to feed vegetables and herbs in large-scale aquaponics systems, which in turn filter the water for reuse.

The comprehensive technology number and interdisciplinary number for aquaculture is 639.8 Aquaculture.  Examples of works classed in 639.8 are Aquaculture: Principles and Practices, Cage Aquaculture, and Recirculating Aquaculture.

The entry 639.8 Aquaculture has the scatter note: “Class aquaculture of a specific kind of animal with the kind, e.g., aquaculture of fishes 639.3.”  Works on salmon farming, for example, are classed in 639.3756 Culture of salmon (built with 639.37 Culture of amphibians and specific kinds of fishes plus 56 from 597.56 Salmon, following instruction at 639.372–639.377 Culture of specific kinds of fishes), e.g., Handbook of Salmon Farming.  Works on aquaculture of tilapias are classed in 639.3774 Culture of Cichlidae (built with 639.37 plus 74 from 597.74 Cichlidae; 597.74 has “tilapias” in the including note,and the Relative Index entry “Tilapias”), e.g., Tilapia Culture.