Federal libraries in virtual space: Current state and prospects

The findings of monitoring virtual space of federal libraries: their websites and social media, are interpreted. The author analyzes search optimization indicators, i. e. website quality factor, website adaptiveness for mobile systems, as well as behavior indicators, e.g. average visit time, number of viewed pages per visit, etc. The comparison of these findings with prior research evidences on increasing quality of information resources under investigation. The efficiencyоf the federal libraries’ activity in VKontakte (VK), one of the most popular mass media and digital platforms, was analyzed with Socstat.ru web-analytics. The federal libraries’ VK communities are characterized by: number of subscribers, total number of posts, number of posts for a time period, average post length, and the average number of posts per day. Federal library user activity factors areal so analyzed; number of responses, average number of responses, average community engagement, and average post engagement. The author insists on the necessity of monitoring of library presence in the digital environment through web-analytics for libraries efficient integration into the single cultural information space.

Impoliteness across social media platforms

This paper responds to the call for more comparative research across online social media platforms (Graham and Hardaker 2017, 808) and examines discourse across two such platforms, YouTube and Reddit. More specifically, it attempts to investigate whether the affordances of these platforms have an impact on the amount and form of impoliteness employed by their users. Data on a highly contested topic (the July 2018 wildfires in Attica, Greece) is studied both qualitatively and quantitatively. First, small but representative samples are qualitatively analyzed on the basis of the two major impoliteness types: implicational and conventionalized, and their subcategories. In addition, swearword keywords extracted by means of corpus analysis tools are analyzed. It is shown that YouTube involves a great deal of (conventionalized) impoliteness (Culpeper 2011a) which could be due to factors such as the total absence of moderation, of post length limit and of detailed personal profiles as well as the presence of videos as stimuli for interaction. Considerably less impoliteness appears on Reddit, whose forum-like nature makes it a place that mostly invites civil interaction. Implicationally impolite (Culpeper 2011a) posts outnumber conventionally impolite ones, perhaps owing to the heavy moderation, the existence of public profiles and the size and coherence of the user community. It is concluded that, due to their characteristics, platforms seem to attract a certain userbase with its own motives and mindset, which in turn shape the impoliteness found within them.

Radiographic Assessment of the Quality of Post & Core Restorations Performed by Dental Students at Qassim University Dental Clinics

Introduction: A post usually made of prefabricated or custom made that is fitted into a prepared root canal of a natural tooth. Core is the foundation restoration which restores adequate coronal anatomy of a vital or endodontically treated tooth. When the post is combined with a core, it provides retention and resistance for an artificial crown. The primary purpose of the post is to retain a core restoration and crown, and also to redistribute the stresses onto the root, thereby diminishes the risk of coronal fracture. The post does not have any role in reinforcing or supporting the tooth. The aim of the study was to assess the quality of the post and core restorations with postoperative periapical digital radiographs performed by undergraduate students at the College of Dentistry, Qassim University.Materials and methods: A total of 421 periapical digital radiographs were assessed. The assessment includes the type of tooth, type of arch, type of post, length of post, the presence of any abnormality in post space, status of the remaining gutta-percha (GP), and if there is any spaces between the end of post and GP. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program (version 23) .Results: Maxillary teeth were the most frequently restored teeth with post (67.2%) and majority of the cases were comprised of premolars (57.2%). Similarly, glass fiber post (89.1%) with taper shaped were the most widely used post. The majority of the post featured a width of one-third of the root (81%). Length of the post with crown: post ratio of 1:3 was observed as the most frequently used (60.8%), whereas those of post length with crown: post ratio of 1:2 (25.4 %) and 1:1 post length was least frequently used (13.8%). 28% of cases were presented with 3 to 5 mm of GP at their apical portion and 61.5% cases reached more than 5 mm. Approximately 5 to 8% of assessed cases revealed the widening of the periodontal ligaments.Conclusion: The performance of students was assessed by the quality of different types of post and core restorations with the postoperative periapical digital radiographs. The qualities of assessed post and core restorations prepared by the dental students were clinically acceptable.

Still Hoping: The Relation of International Auxiliary Languages to Worldview and Perception

Constructed international auxiliary languages (IALs) have been proposed to influence the cultural identities and world perspectives of their speakers. The creation of IALs surged in the late 19th century as a response to rising nationalism; through their sociopolitical neutrality and ease of learning, IALs sought to introduce unity to a divided world. Though IAL adoption remains limited, their speakers still believe that given the ability to spread, IALs could unite our global community. To examine group trends and individual perspectives in how IALs may influence identity and perception, I surveyed and interviewed an online Esperantist community. I also performed close reading of randomly-selected posts on online forums for Esperanto, Volapük, and Toki Pona, as well as the general forum Linguistics and Conlangs. Finally, I analyzed content for six months of posts from the Volapük and Toki Pona forums. Most speakers (68.8%) self-reported that IALs changed their perception and, fewer (34.4%), beliefs. Survey respondents and interviewees cited community membership, broader communication, and IALs’ simplified linguistic features as influences on their worldviews. Accordingly, more years speaking Esperanto, seeking and feeling part of Esperanto communities, and believing the world would be a better place with more IAL adoption significantly correlated with change in beliefs. Different IAL forums statistically differed in their content, interactivity, and post length, which may reflect language-influenced disparities. The results suggest that IALs may affect the beliefs of learners in relation to their community-building properties and widening of communication ranges and impact the perceptions of learners through their unique structures.