Anne Ramsden, Zimin Wu and Dianguo Zhao
The Information Centre at De Montfort University Milton Keynes is carrying out a three year research project known as the ELINOR Electronic Library project, which will work…
Abstract
The Information Centre at De Montfort University Milton Keynes is carrying out a three year research project known as the ELINOR Electronic Library project, which will work towards the creation of a large, indexed collection of electronic texts and images accessible to the students and staff via desktop workstations. The pilot phase will build on the existing information network and use the latest document image processing (DIP) and text retrieval technologies to set up a central and secure location for the data. At this stage of the project, the recommended course texts are not available in electronic formats, so the priority was to assess the suitability of a DIP system for converting printed works into machine‐readable text and image files. Each electronic document will contain a searchable table of contents, abstract, back‐of‐the‐book index data, and, appended to this information will be a folder of image pages. This paper outlines the investigative stages in evaluating and selecting a DIP system, and finally, covers the shortcomings of using a commercial DIP system for electronic libraries.
Zimin Wu, Anne Ramsden and Dianguo Zhao
The electronic library is emerging as the library of the foreseeable future but its user aspect, particularly the usability, requires more research. This article describes the…
Abstract
The electronic library is emerging as the library of the foreseeable future but its user aspect, particularly the usability, requires more research. This article describes the ELINOR (Electronic Library and Information Online Retrieval) developments at De Montfort University from the user's perspective. It firstly shows the main features of the ELINOR user interface which illustrates how a user can find a document in the Electronic Library and subsequently read the retrieved document on the screen. This is then followed by a discussion of the methodology and findings of a user study based on a random sample of eight ELINOR users conducted in the Autumn term of 1993. The user study included searching/reading/browsing tasks and a questionnaire. The former is a controlled experiment designed to gauge objectively the usability of ELINOR by comparing the use of the electronic books with that of printed books. The questionnaire shows the user's subjective reaction to ELINOR. Future work on the user study will expand the sample to include all the first‐ and second‐year students doing the Business Information Systems Course at the University's Milton Keynes campus.
Kathryn Arnold, Mel Collier and Anne Ramsden
In November 1990 Leicester Polytechnic (now De Montfort University) won a contract to provide higher education in the new city of Milton Keynes, against strong competition from a…
Abstract
In November 1990 Leicester Polytechnic (now De Montfort University) won a contract to provide higher education in the new city of Milton Keynes, against strong competition from a number of other higher education institutions in the region. In January 1991 the Polytechnic took possession of a green field site for the new campus from the Milton Keynes Development Corporation. Eight months later in September 1991 the first buildings had been erected, staff appointed, services organized, students recruited and the first courses commenced. This must surely claim to be the quickest ever inception of a new higher education institution.
Copyright is frequently mentioned at library IT conferences as a slight problem to be overcome. Instead, this article affirms that it is a major impediment which affects all…
Abstract
Copyright is frequently mentioned at library IT conferences as a slight problem to be overcome. Instead, this article affirms that it is a major impediment which affects all players in the electronic information chain. Problems are reviewed both from the point of view of information professionals and copyright holders. The author suggests that librarians could take on the role of ‘emulsifier’ in mixing copyright and information.
The ability to manipulate efficiently data for management information is becoming increasingly important. Minstrel, a European Union funded project is creating a software tool…
Abstract
The ability to manipulate efficiently data for management information is becoming increasingly important. Minstrel, a European Union funded project is creating a software tool designed to assist with the acquisition and handling of data on library use. The activity has been developed from a study of decision support and performance measures in European libraries carried out in 1994. The first phase of Minstrel has included consultation with potential users, a specification of functions and investigation of methods for interfacing with potential data sources and decision support tools.
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Ken Eason, Liangzhi Yu and Susan Harker
This paper examines the general value to users of a range of electronic journal functions and their usefulness in the specific context of the SuperJournal Project. For the…
Abstract
This paper examines the general value to users of a range of electronic journal functions and their usefulness in the specific context of the SuperJournal Project. For the evaluation of each of the functions three types of data were analysed in relation to each other and in light of other contextual data: logged data of usage, survey data on user satisfaction, and survey data on the perceived importance of the function. The analysis shows that basic browsing, printing and search make up the core functions of electronic journals; other functions, such as saving of bibliographic data, alerting, customising, links with external resources and communication, serve as peripheral functions. The usefulness of both the core functions and the peripheral functions in a specific service is influenced by various implementation factors. However, it is the realised usefulness of the core functions which determines the use of a service.
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Abdeldjabar Benrabah and Dianguo Xu
The purpose of this study is to improve the control performance of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) inverters with inductive-capacitive-inductive (LCL) filters by proposing a new…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to improve the control performance of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) inverters with inductive-capacitive-inductive (LCL) filters by proposing a new robust current control based on uncertainty and disturbance estimator (UDE).
Design/methodology/approach
The control strategy combines the capacitor current feedback with a UDE-based control to solve robust stability issues in the presence of parametric uncertainties and disturbances.
Findings
This paper provides guidelines for tuning the controller parameters where it is shown to be easy to implement by simply selecting the appropriate feedback coefficient, the reference model and an approximate lumped disturbance bandwidth. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller in terms of resonance damping, tracking performance and robust stability under grid uncertainties and disturbances.
Practical implications
This paper offers a new approach for designing implementable robust controllers for LCL-filtered grid-connected PV inverters.
Originality/value
A new UDE-based current control is proposed to improve the stability performance of grid-connected PV inverters. The advantages of UDE-based control are its simple structure, easy tuning and robustness under parameter uncertainties and disturbances. Simulation and experimental results support the theoretical findings.