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Museums and Museum Studies
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I need it for research for my doctoral student. We would have found an opportunity to visit this place.
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Found some information in English (there's more in Bahasa Indonesia): https://museumofwander.com/national-museum-of-indonesia/
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Dear Colleagues,
Zoological gardens are public spaces in which animal species from the region, as well as from other parts of the world, are exhibited. Therefore, their main function is to entertain society (according to common sense). The ease of finding many species concentrated in a unique place is ideal for the public who visit, providing moments to enjoy and learn about the importance of ecosystem preservation and involving everyone from children to the elderly.
Nonetheless, zoological gardens may also be established for scientific research or animal recovery, in an attempt to energize activities in this place.
Given the current lack of investment in natural history museums, zoological gardens can be used to create scientific collections, both for research and for exhibiting material to the public, as well as raising environmental awareness regarding the preservation of bio-paleontological material and the material and immaterial heritage of humanity. In this way, zoological gardens could offer a suitable space for establishing scientific collections, fitting into the context of a Natural History Museum exhibiting biological, paleontological, ethnographic, archaeological, mineralogical and artistic collections, for example.
Therefore, in this Special Issue, we welcome contributions that address the following topic: “The Management of Zoological Collections in Zoological Gardens and Museums”.
We acknowledge Ms. Gabrielle Diniz dos Santos's contribution to this Special Issue.
Thank you in advance!
Dr. Dimítri De Araújo Costa,
Dr. Flavio de Almeida Alves Junior,
Dr. Karina Massei
Guest Editors
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A partir de cette oportunité, je salue tout le monde, pour ce qui est de ce projet, j'ai pas saisi sa problematique d'autant plus qu'il y'a à travers le monde des jardins zoologiques et botaniques, à l'instar, de ceux de l'europe (france....) et afrique (Algerie, le jardin d'essais), vouliez vous m'eclairer d'avantage....
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Hi all,
I am looking for type material of fossil terrestrial gastropods described by August Reuss. Specifically I want to find the syntypes of Vertigo callosa Reuss, 1849 from the Early Miocene of Tuchorice (CZ). Reuss worked, amongst others, in Prague and Vienna, and parts of his collections (microfossils) were purchased in 1891 by the Natural History Museum in Vienna. However, the mollusks aren't there, and I couldn't find any information on their whereabouts, apart from a few author's statements that the collection "might be lost". It remains uncertain though if anyone actually made a serious effort to locate it.
Any hint or suggestions would be most welcome!
Best wishes,
Thomas
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Dear Marc,
Thanks for the tip! I contacted them, hopefully something will turn up.
Best wishes,
Thomas
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I would like to confirm some information on the type specimens of fishes deposited in the British Museum of Natural History (BMNH) and Australian Museum Sydney.
Thank you.
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I would suggest to email the curators directly
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90% of museum objects worldwide are in storage.
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Here is an interesting reference:
Collections Management as Critical Museum Practice Edited by Cara Krmpotich and Alice Stevenson Free download: https://ow.ly/6jYc50SGW25
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Dear Colleagues,
I'm currently researching the relationships between participation in creative-cultural activities, the mental well-being of individuals and the influence of this link on the individuals' work/study performance.
To do so, I developed a questionnaire which combines already validated and well-known scales into a unique framework.
However, to proceed further with this investigation, I need thousands of answers to the questionnaire to perform statistical analyses properly.
Thus, I would be immensely grateful if you could spend a few minutes of your time completing the questionnaire (https://forms.gle/J5ey26y5nmFbEfhE8) and if you could share your observations and suggestions with me.
Thank you in advance for your precious help!
Regards,
Luna
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Methodologically, efficient questionnaire Luna Leoni ! Success 1
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Maybe I should start my own museum for all my unique ideas. I could be the curator and professor.
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...there's no question about that. Is the viewer's mental horizon sufficient to understand the issues?
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Hi, I've incorporated the use of iNaturalist (via creating projects with the orientation of areas) in specific areas that combine outstanding natural and cultural beauty. Specifically, I developed two different tours in different locales, that include the generation of narratives (based on local legends, historic and mythoplastic, that also connect the story with certain museum artifacts) in the context of treasure hunt through geocaching. Each tour consists of a number of stations where each geocache is hidden containing puzzles and information that once solved lead the participant to a new station until they get to the final resolution of the mystery. During their journey along the different stations, they read the narratives, and they also record biodiversity via iNaturalist and at some point they conduct river measurements with the aid of certain organology and record their results, regarding physicochemical parameters and also qualitative elements of the river, etc. Any ideas on how could I also incorporate citizen science also for cultural heritage as well? I was thinking as a next step of my research to expand, through organizing workshops introducing my elements for developing my two tours, and then having small teams (possibly an educator, museum personel, personel of centres of environmental education, local people), generating their own material about their own region. Further, if any relevant literature cross your mind, please send me, thank you.
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Jens Kleb Sherrie-Lee Evans I would like to thank you both for your answers. In regards to local companies, the last year I ve been thinking to engage local shop owners and companies by incorporating traditional products and even packaging in the treasure hunt. Collecting photos of the 2-3 centuries old stone bridges by the participants would be a great idea. What concerns me is the volume of data, uploading them on a page via a social utility might effectively work. This may work with stories as well, I will be having teams of 4-5 in each of the 4 regions (villages) to generate their own narratives through local legends, history and even mythoplastic stories. However collecting stories together with photos through a page sounds a great idea to start with. I should be able to come up with a research question, thank you!
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For a project I am looking for a Museum collection, that is both well tidied, has high standards concerning preservation and organisation of specimens. It should be open (publicly available search books) and welcoming to visiting researchers. A digital database with preferably openly available pictures should exist. I am looking for a collection state to strive for so to say.
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I am no paleontologist but know your collection quite well. Therefore as first and easy choice I would suggest the Natural History Museum in Vienna (M. Harzhauser). Of course the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt is always worth studying and I remember that colleagues were very helpful with such questions.
Kind regards Gerhard Aubrecht
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Museum specimens sometimes get damaged by accidents, negligence, natural catastrophes, and so on. However, even if damaged, museum specimens can be useful for research. Do you know of published examples were valuable data has been obtained from damaged recent (not fossils) specimens?
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Earlier this year I asked this question because with my colleagues Lenyn Betancourt-Cargua, Andrea C. Román and Gustavo Morejon we were having a hard time finding research about the scientific use of heavily damaged museum specimens to back a short article that we were working on. We found interesting diet items in a damaged snake specimen from the Galápagos:
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Dear colleagues. The management of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle recently decided to relocate the collection to a different place, namely Dijon approx. 250 km away from Paris. While for collection staff a journey of 2 hrs to travel to the proposed site may only be seen as a nuisance by many, the main point is that research teams of the museum will be disconnected from the collection. In their day-to-day work curators and collection staff need immediate access to collections in order to respond to external enquiries in a timely manner. Equally research staff, PhD and master students working with specimens deposited in the collection need unrestricted access to accomplish the tasks of their projects. They all will work in Paris while the collection is in a distant location. Staff of the museum recently started a petition on change.org to nullify the management's decision. They published an open letter in French -courtesy of Alain Dubois (MNHN) an Engish version is attached- detailing their reasoning behind it. Please follow this link and give your support to their plea: https://chng.it/sKR4pLZSdJ Save the Paris Museum collections!
Sauvons les collections du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle!
Keywords: zoology, botany, paleontology, museum
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DONE.
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Industrial and heritage museums around the world serve as important spaces where narratives surrounding oil production are constructed, presented, and contested. These museums offer a platform to investigate the ways in which the discursive politics of oil production are curated, communicated, and interpreted by different actors, ranging from communities to oil companies. My new project will analyse the narratives of progress, power, and national identity associated with oil production and explore how museums portray oil as a symbol of technological advancement, economic prosperity, and national pride. I will be looking at oil museums in Canada, China, Russia, and Scotland.
I am not new to energy politics but have so far struggled to find literature that discusses how museums, whether industrial or heritage-focused, reinforce or challenge dominant narratives about the extractive industries and, particularly, oil extraction. Could you recommend any relevant works?
And if that's your topic, I have more questions for you!
How do museums navigate the balance between catering to different stakeholders, such as local communities, industry representatives, and environmental activists?
What is your favourite example of a museum that has been instrumental in fostering public debate and awareness about the extractive industries?
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Hi Anna
I am really not aware of any museums in Australia, for example, that focus on oil. Whereas there are a number that have a focus on coal mining, usually as part of larger exhibitions on regional history or in the interpretation of former coal mine sites. I imagine the same may be true in the UK, so I wonder if it might be productive to widen your scope a little? A lot of the discussion/papers/conferences etc. around museums challenging or supporting dominant narratives recently have focused on colonialism and de-colonising the museum. For example - What does it mean to decolonize a museum? - MuseumNext https://www.museumnext.com/article/what-does-it-mean-to-decolonize-a-museum/
So, you may need to think laterally to find ideas and examples, about how museums are dealing with contested histories and allowing for multiple voices/versions of the past to be explored.
Hope that helps
Sherrie
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I know printers in the USA, but I want to have other options.
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Excelente, gracias Ricardo Palacios Aguilar por el dato.
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  • How does the usability of the multimodal affect visitors' experience in heritage museum?
  • What are the implications of the use of multimodal for visitors' experience in heritage museum?
  • How to organise types of functions rather than specific features might be key to separate visual patterns from algorithms?
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please refer this link. some viewpoints can be founded.
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I need any type of informations (plan , section...
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Hi, I am based in Malaysia. Therefore, I do not have any information on Dar Jamai Museum in Meknes, Morocco
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I would love to know anyone's thoughts about types of data that would be useful in an open database. I live in the US, and traveling to museums to measure ammonites is not possible for all of the students I encounter or work with.
The database I've started (ammodata.wordpress.com) is similar to Open Dino and not really like Mindat or PBDB, and it makes data easily shareable so that anyone who downloads it has what they need to do a basic ammonite research project, even without access to travel funds, museums, or the best specimens. It mostly has data I myself already have, but I am looking to add coiling and W/D other data as well.
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Katherine Marriott ... please alow me to add some inspiration ...
Molluscabase (Molluscabase.org) is attempting to bring all knowledge on marine and non-marine, fossil and recent mollusca together.
It is primarily based on taxonomy yet in some (recent) families / groups we are already adding specimens and such.
Of what I read above, this might not be entirely what you are looking for in terms of data, but as fossil cephalopods are currently lacking in Molluscabase there might be a future collaboration opportunity here ...
Should you wish further info, don't hesitate to ask.
Kindest regards,
Chris Vos, F. L. S.
Indepedent researcher
WoRMS - Molluscabase editor - Gastropoda
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Hello,
I would like to extract DNA from dried insect museum samples and try to amplify a short mitochondrial gene fragment (short portion of cox1). Reading several articles on this topic, I notice that it is quite common to use high specificity Taq enzyme. However, appears not to be convergence on a specific product or type of enzyme. So I would like to ask for advice, based on your experience, on what might be the best Taq DNA Polymerase and/or best practice for trying to amplify cox1 short fragment from low concentrations and degraded DNA from museum sample extraction (in particular insects).
Just for knowledge, the products that I have seen several times in the newspapers are:
  • Platinum™ Taq DNA Polymerase Catalog number: 10966018,
  • AmpliTaq Gold™ DNA Polymerase with Buffer II and MgCl2 Catalog number: N8080241
  • HotStarTaq DNA Polymerase (250 U) Catalog number: 203203
  • TAQKB Roche KAPA Taq PCR KitCatalog number: KK1014
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Hi Emmanuele,
The reason there is no one recommended enzyme is that there are LOTS that work really well. I'd advise a "hot start" enzyme since that will reduce primer artifacts. I'm also a fan of the ready-to-use PCR mixes (enzyme, buffer, MgCl2, etc. all in one tube). Makes it much easier to have consistent results.
You should have a really robust positive control, test out your primers and cycle conditions on non-precious samples first, and always include a full set of controls.
Good luck!
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Hello,
I am doing a qualitative study exploring early childhood educators attitudes and perceptions in museum education. My sample is N=10, data collection through semi structured interviews and thematic analysis. However, I am not using any of the qualitative approaches, e.g., narrative, action research, case study, ethnography, phenomenology or phenomenography. Can a new researcher do that? According to my tutor that is possible to not use any of these approaches, however after reading several books I understood that is essential a researcher to follow a approach.
Thank you!
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Dear Tsimoura, You must follow an approach, according to your objectives. If those that exist will not support you then you are creating a methodology within your own studio. But this research as I perceive it is a qualitative approach research. Best regards
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Does anybody know how I could go about connecting with other researchers working in the field of books or literary exhibitions, either in museums or libraries (or elsewhere)?
If this is your area of research, please get in touch:
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Thanks everybody for all your contributions. However, I think I didn't express myself clearly enough. What I am trying to do is to get in touch with other PhD STUDENTS working in the field of book and literature exhibitions. I have tried Facebook, Twitter, ResearchGate, and a few dedicated listserves, but it is proving difficult! Thanks in any case. Best wishes, everyone!
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A few years go I photographed a fossil palaemonid(?), Aeger tiluparius, at the British Museum of Natural History. Does anyone know the age of that fossil or species?
Thanks.
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Thanks for those comments Christian Klug Christian and Martin Schmieder. For the record, attached is the specimen in the British Museum.
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Dear Ma'am/Sir,
I hope this message finds you good.
My name is Shruti Gautam. I am based in Vadodara (India). I am currently pursuing research in museums and storytelling as a PhD student from the Department of Museology, Faculty of Fine Arts, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara.
My research focuses on exploring the possibilities of how storytelling can facilitate meaning making in museums with reference to museum objects based on Hindu mythological stories.
As a part of my data collection, I am conducting a visitor survey. It will be kind of you to participate in the visitor survey.
Your insights will be beneficial for me to shape my research.
Please find the link for the survey below:
Thank you for your time and attention.
With kind regards,
Shruti Gautam
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Dear Ma'am,
Thank you very much for participating in the survey. Your response will be immensely helpful for me.
With kind regards,
Shruti
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Knowledge can be produced in many places; business, government, broadcasting, entertainment and many self-organised citizen groups. Universities and museums, however, are often referred to as organisational types whose primary purpose is knowledge. In considering how knowledge functions to benefit society, there are two separate but linked processes namely, the generation of knowledge and the transmission of knowledge. The Humboldt model links the two together as interdependent in the academy where research, as the generation of knowledge, informs teaching which can be considered a specialised form of knowledge transmission.
Museums on the other hand transmit knowledge mostly through exhibition work and informal education programs rather than the structured curriculum of universities. Larger museums will also undertake the generation of knowledge where possible. But most small museums have no, or little, capacity to undertake research. Even larger museums in western nations with neoliberal government agendas are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain a capacity for research. With decreasing government financial support many larger museums have to rely on generating revenue through knowledge transmission activities.
In functional terms should museums be essentially considered as knowledge transmitters rather than knowledge generators? In other words is their most important role is interpreting and communicating knowledge that has been developed elsewhere, such as in universities?
I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this question and any links to pertinent literature.
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I think Museums are the best part to broaden and outlook our knowledge.Specially young generation who are easily to find and know about the past and historical events
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Does the development of online information technologies and the Internet of Things contribute to the popularization of art and culture in society?
More and more museums present their collections of works of art in the form of reproductions published on the Internet. The development of Internet information technologies and the Internet of Things contributes to the popularization of art and culture in society.
Do you agree with me on the above matter?
Please reply
I invite you to the discussion
Thank you very much
Best wishes
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Yes, to a large extent.. and there are many examples of this
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Hi, I'm the founder of "Museo dell'Informatica Funzionante" Computer Museum in Palazzolo Acreide, ITALY and I'm asking how to add it as an institution here. Thank you
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Hello Gabriele, were you successful?
I also want to enter a new affiliation and cannot because the drop-down menu does not have it. When I type in, it will not be saved. I tried many times and also in other sections. It's all based on a pre-entry by ResG it seems, and there is no contact to bring that to their attention.
Changing your institution and department
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  1. Go to your profile
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  4. Select your institution and department from the drop-down menus
  5. Click Save to confirm your changes.
Note: If your institution or department isn’t one of our suggestions, please enter it manually and click Save.
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Colleagues,
A point raised during a discussion with colleagues. As you may know, the higher diversity of plants and animals in the (forest) tropics has been tentatively conceptualized by the Museum hypothesis, with older taxa, different mutation rates, lower extinction rates, larger geographic range sizes than in temperate areas (Moreau and Bell 2013).
Would any evidence exist to suggest that this also apply to viruses, bacteria, parasites ?
Comments, references, suggestions welcome !!
Best,
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Hello Benoit; Here is a generalization that might be helpful. The more species there are in a community, the more symbionts there are. The older a community, the more interactions can develop. I bet that there are more KINDS of interactions in the wet tropics as well as more in total. I attached a very old but very interesting paper that might entertain your thinking. Best regards, Jim Des Lauriers
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I'm looking for an easy and reliable way to highlight the veins of butterfly specimen from different families at a museum while taking pictures of them. Thus far, I've only found ways to do so on living organisms, but I'm pretty sure some kind of thermal filters won't help me here. Does anyone have any kind of experience when it comes to different kinds of lenses or something similar?
Editing the pictures afterwards in order to highlight the veins isn't really an option, since I'll be taking hundreds of pictures.
Thanks for your help
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Would transmitted light from underneath help? I'd say that editing the images afterward might indeed be an option. Perhaps by applying some edge-detection algorithm to them (such as 'canny edge detection' - quite easy in R or Python, or even in Photoshop, which is also able of batch processing your images). This can easily be done to 100s of images - just let the computer run overnight.
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Dear all,
I'm currently writing a concept for the future of our own natural history collection and I'm thinking a lot about the question, what material future scientists might need and what should thus be collected now. When you read through the strategic collection plans of other museums, you'll notice that most of them just continue to collect what they've always collected: who collected butterflies in the past, continues to collect butterflies, who collected birds, continues to collect those and so on. As most of you will know, this results in biased collections: some taxonomic groups are only represented by a small number of specimens while other groups (e.g. coleoptera, lepidoptera) are overrepresented. Wouldn't it be good to open up completely new collection sections in one's own Institution (e.g. unattractive, hard to preserve animals, parasites), rather than only sticking to what has always been collected? I'm really interested in your opinions and literature recommendations!
Best regards, Stefan
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To Bara Mouslim: I think this is exactly what should not happen because you do not need a natural history museum for that (virtual shows, genetic research).
I cannot really answer the initial question of this discussion but I wish to make the following point: many museum collections harbour an incredibly large amount of unidentified material (from old expeditions, for instance). These should be worked up with priority and museums need resources for that.
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I had been updating the old collection list from our museum and I found that there is some clash between family taxon for those three genera, some sources put them under Family Lonchodidae while some under Family Diapheromeridae.
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Hello,
According to the current taxonomy, these 3 genera, Marmessoidea, Lopaphus (please check spelling), Carausius (please check spelling, too) belong to the family Lonchodidae. Necrosciinae and Lonchodinae, formerly subfamilies of Diapheromeridae, are now subfamilies of Lonchodidae (Robertson et al. 2018).
Regards
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Hello everyone,
I am currently writing my master thesis on memorial museums in architecture, and would like to create a new programmatic aspect to museums and a sensorial experience through architecture.
The topic of this discussion revolves around the idea of the future of museums. With the advance of technology and architecture, will the traditional way of building museums change? How do you imagine a visit in a futuristic museum based on a sensorial experience instead of the content its exposing? (Questions from an architectural point of view)
Best regards.
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Hi dear Ella.
You have made a very important and interesting discussion. To begin the discussion, I will provide you with an introduction so that we can draw good conclusions with the discussions that you and other researchers will present.
The future belongs to creative and innovative architecture, and the most basic and best architectural designs and ideas will be implemented in traditional museums. These buildings, which are a place to collect and display old objects, are becoming the leaders in creative and up-to-date views. As we move forward in time, the need for museums to preserve the history we are building becomes even greater, especially with advances in technology and science. In the next five to ten years, we will see a revolution in the form of old museums, and space exploration projects will be implemented around the world, from Budapest to Miami. These buildings will define the future of the museum's architecture and culture. Architectural plans planned for the future represent a pervasive movement of modern architecture using advanced technology, integrating the basic structure with technological advances, and modernizing society.
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before this, I asked a question about the best lighting application in the museum to prevent as many as possible sensitive artifacts from damage and help more in the conservation. I was thinking of Fiberoptic and OLED, but now I read about graphene light and I think it is used now in the UK and not that much popular around the world. so if anyone has an idea and more information about graphene light and its benefit in conservation please help me as I couldn't find many papers about this topic
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Dear Alaa Al Hamed , there isn´t a single and simple description of the best solution for lighting or artworks, such solution would be dependent on the material and properties of the particular artwork on display. Most of the pieces in display at museums were created for enjoying them with our eyes, so with visible light, and therefore any light source able to produce this kind of light spectrum would be useful to see the works in all their greatness. It happens, however, that many light sources produce an extended spectrum, including UV and IR light, these radiations are not visible to our eyes, but they also reach the materials.
Light can trigger photochemical reactions over the materials, pigments, varnishes, etc. Often the main source of degradative effects are the more energetic radiations, in particular the UV wavelengths, and therefore filters could be used to cut that part of the spectrum of your source or well choosing a source able to emit just light in the Visible range, such as LED´s.
IR radiation also can cause damage by photochemical reactions, but also produce heat, that can induce further degradation of the work.
Visible light can also produce photochemical damage, but cutting some part of the visible spectrum would change the appearance of the artwork, so a kind of equilibrium must be applied, exposing the piece under a mild illumination with the broad visible spectrum or exposing it to light for a limited time.
Sometimes the photochemical effect trigged by light need some other component, like oxigen, and therefore if the work can be exposed in a vacuum or in a inert gas atmosphere the effect of light would be lower or not at all.
About the graphene light bulb, it has the benefit of produce light in a tunable way, and mainly in the visible and IR region of the spectrum, which is good news because you don´t need to use filters to cut the UV, and it is said that this light bulb is very efficient, consuming low energy. This saving of energy (money) should be pondered with the price of such light bulbs, I mean, may be some other technology will offer the same kind of light (white light) without the added cost of this new one.
Note: Some artworks were designed to show fluorescence or phosforescence and they could need a excitation light that often lies in the UV, and in these cases you would need such kind of light in your lighting system.
Please have a look to the following links, about lighting in museums and graphene light that I think could be useful for your work:
To see something about light degradation in modern artworks you can have a look to our work too.
Hope it helps.
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There is so much research about Photogrammetry but very little of that research is focus on cultural heritage inside museum settings.
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Hi Heather,
can you clarify if by photogrammetry for conservation you mean applications for a) documenting heritage objects for dissemination/virtual display/augmented exhibition, or b) contactless study and/or vistual reconstruction, or c) identifying and mapping decay, previous conservation interventions etc.? because these are usually different categories of documentation in terms of quality and product requirements.
+1 to Arnadi Murtiyoso 's comment
regards,
Efstathios
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Bonnichen R. Pleistocene bone technology in the Beringian refugium. National museums of Canada. Ottawa, 1979
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This research study explores the role of museum marketing departments during the development and benefit of attracting international tourists. Previous research indicates the trend of the museum's marketing departments, which are increasingly involved in the process of developing the tourist's future image. Interviews with museum marketing professionals at each institution highlight how marketing is shared with the development of best practices for this role, and steps to achieve best practices to attract international tourists. Analysis and discussion reveal increased marketing engagement during the future vision process.
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You can find 16 museum marketing ideas on this link which is shared here with
hope so this is in line with your question raised.
regards
srinivas kasulla
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I am exploring if teacher students usually design field trips during their upper formation. Field trips or outdoor education can be excursions, visits to museums, aquariums, botanical gardens, etc...
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Outside visit with the students in academic scenario, it is the best practice to learn with practicum aspects to participants. Secondly, visit of educational tour is must be a part of curriculum in syllabus for study. In due course every teacher-student should involved to practice manner like history, culture, archaeology and the philosophical outcome. Outside study, visit, incursion etc. is the part of basic knowledge for skill, expertise and experience who responded itself.
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What is the level of compliance to these published standards in textile museums and what is the impact of this compliance on museum budget and infrastructure?
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Sofie Schrey , thanks for the update!
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hey everybody, I am very conflused of how to do so. I have collected data from qualitative interviews, and build different profiles that are visiting museums, based on their motivation. So far so good, but can I also answer some of the hypothesis questions that I have such as:
Connection between childhood visit to a museum with having educational purpose when it comes to visiting museum
Connection between hobby and value of experience
Thank you in advance!
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Th correct way to do it would be regarding of what your research needs to approve and prove. Once the methodology requirements are as per the needs to get your precise results, that could have helped readers to reach the goals and get the valuable information they are in need of, as well as you as a researcher. Assena Rokanova your way of testing through such questions is really interesting.
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I am planning a case-study on inclusion of digital technologies in Indian museums, particularly museums with notable textile collections. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated!
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An excellent project, I suggest in addition to your study on the reproduction of paper documents and photos in the museum with modern technical equipment and archived electronically
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I am an student of entomological field, I am interested to work on DNA barconding of beetles, I have some fresh collection and some Museum specimens as well. I am not much clear that whether Museum specimens are suitable for DNA extraction or not. I will appreciate your kind and valuable suggestions.
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Sergey Viktorovich Pushkin right statements. It really depends on the age of the samples. During my PhD thesis, I was dealing with old alcohol arthropods with an age of 15 to 30 years and it was impossible to extract DNA from them as I was really eager to do that. Instead I used a DNA extraction method to clear these specimens to inspect them under microscope for accurate identification for further biodiversity calculations. Just check the link below:
Maybe it is interesting for you colleagues in soil zoology.
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I have recently extracted genomic DNA from some museum bees for sequencing, and from first look there appears to be some pollen DNA in the extract. I've had a Google but can't find anything solid... Is it possible to carefully remove exterior pollen from the bee without causing too much damage, prior to DNA extraction?
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I imagine that for dry specimens simply putting the bee/sample close to an electrostatically charged rod or plate could remove most dusts and pollens which would end up on the charged surface
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At the museum we are currently dismissing Paradichlorobenzene and Naphtalene.
we are looking for other effective chemical or similar.
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In our museum of zoology, we use sealed wooden entomological boxes. From time to time we lay out the put the plates impregnated reppilentami (we sell them against mosquitoes, mosquitoes, gnats). We have beetles more often, it helps from them. We put stuffed animals in plastic bags with insecticides for a day. Although I must say, we used naphthalene for a very long time - it helped a lot.
In general, to summarize, if the entomological box is hermetically closed, then the pests will not penetrate into it.
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I searching for examples of best museum virtual tours and find out that many of big museums close their virtual tours exhibitions. This is just a matter of expired internet pages or museums dissatisfied with idea of virtual tour?
What pros and cons existed?
What do you think - virtual tours useful or just hollow hi-teak show feature?
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Cultural tourism is a growing sector. It is one of the best ways to discover the cultural heritage and way of life of a region and its people. However, without modernization and digital mediation, this sector can rapidly deteriorate. In this paper, a novel, playful, and informative cultural touristic experience is presented. It consists of a virtual Space Door accessible through augmented reality and leading to a virtual museum built using virtual reality. Evaluation of the prototype was conducted in a real environment to confirm usability, ease of use, and interest of the prototype.
You can follow this paper :
Amazing reading.
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Hello Science World,
Does anyone have advise for the best way to determine if root exposure in museum specimens is due to premortem fenestration vs an artifact of the preservation process (specifically, thinning of maxillary/mandibular bone) when you have a whole toothrow involved (vs clear evidence of pathology in isolated teeth)?
Thank you so much for any advise!!!
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Looks like, this is part of dental forensics
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Definition of information system.
What information systems are used in developed countries and around the world?
What is the specificity of information systems in libraries, archives and museums?
Examples of information systems in major libraries, museums and archives around the world.
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At the Arab level, the Koha system is used in the management of libraries.
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My question is about the memory policy. After the rehabilitation at Simon Janashia Museum of Georgia (Tbilisi) you won't find anything from medieval Georgian history. Is it normal?
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The round table is a great idea! I'll be happy to participate in it. Thanks a lot for this initiative.
Yes, of course, I've heard about these planned exhibitions.
I've know about that approximately since 2012, but... :)
I'm also planning an interview with Prof. D. Lortkipanidze and other specialists and I hope it will be successful.
Thank you again for your initiative.
sincerely, G.M.
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Violins does not develop cracks from vibration, but mainly from humidity cycling, gradients and tension buildup from swelling or shrinking from natural variation in the indoor climate. The oldest violins in regular use are about 320 year old and the owenrs and insurance companies are happy to let players use the fine instruments, possibly also because it adds to value and playing them publicly is promotion.
Now does old er wood, like historic instruments in museums, or other wooden objects like furniture, boats, tools, container and other objects used for keeping food etc. react to vibration different from violins or other musical instruments? Is there evidence for crack formation in museum wood objects from vibration?
There are some literature on museum objects like paintings where a vibration dose response on objects are suggested as a risk factor. The hypothesis say that too many vibrations lead to failure. Often without mentioning the hygroscopic effects of almost all natural biological fibres and materials even found in canvas of paintings or even the painting itself.
The question is relevant to the coming construction of a new building at the Viking ship museum in Oslo.
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Dear Anders, dear all, you should start with the question "what is wood"? As a living material, it does not face fatigue as its fibres are modified by the static and dynamic loads (eg a tree growing adapts to dominant winds, the tree at the periphery of a wood are stronger than those in the middle of the forest...). But used as a material, wood dries and some of its components (providing resilience and cohesion among fibres) degrade or vanish, making it more fragile; it comes with a weight loss and a volume reduction (essentially transversally to the fibres). Wood is physically and chemically a complex fibre-polymer composite. Young wood react to humidity and recover partly the original volume, retracting again when drying, hence the variations you can see in solid wood floorings, shutters, doors etc. Older woods are less sensitive but still react to humidity variations and ultraviolet light (Mediterranean sun is degrading wood faster than rain, my house demonstrate it clearly!). Back to the musical instruments, violin makers were very attentive to have the tree cut at the right period, dried carefully before and after sawing the planks, selecting the planks with the right fibre density and pattern to start with a stable and durable basis; then comes the varnish to protect the wood from the daily variations of humidity and exposure to UV, while "breathing" by the internal unvarnished side of the planks, less exposed to light. Still, it ages, but much slower: I guess that properly maintained violins will play right for another millennium at least without showing fatigue fractures! Back to your question, I believe the only scientific response would require microscopy, analysis of its polymer content and average length of its molecular chains etc etc etc. Resilience to cyclic loads would have to be assessed as a function of this chemical degradation. Should you be able to manage with a publication in French, refer to https://tice.ac-montpellier.fr/ABCDORGA/Famille/CHIMIEDUBOIS.html to capture an idea of what is living wood from a polymer chains perspective; however I could not find a decent paper on how to assess the ageing of a sample from a structural perspective, but for sure the more you lose these chemicals the less resilient it becomes! (no mention of the attacks by insects and fungi)
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I"m an anthropologist teaching Design. Some of my work is on academia.edu. I"m affiliated with the National Museum of Kenya and have placed collections of East African material in several museums in the US and Europe. One of my colleagues, Flora Mutere, is working on her PHD about the Railways Musem in Nairobi. I spent some time talking with Yanis Mokri last summer - good guy! You can contact me at pido@africaonline.co.ke . Can you tell me more about your project?
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Thank you for your interest in animal dung as fuel to fire pottery as in my last experiments. I am interested in whether camel dung generate a enough heat in an updraft kiln.
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I´m working at the Natural History Museum of Santiago de Cuba and I´m looking for the best fee collection management software for both zoological and botanical collections. We want no just have our collection properly organize but also make it visible through the world. I´ve been hearing about Specify, Symbiota and Biota and I´m not sure which one is the most efficient or if there is any other who can be better.
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I'd say Biota, wich is one the most used software in Mexico for collection management, as far as I know.
I have been using Paradox and it works really good for me.
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I spent the past few months interning as an independent researcher at the Field Museum in Chicago. Here, I spent my time observing the design procedure that leads up to the creation of a context-focused exhibition. The term culminated with a paper at the end on the nature of objects in such exhibitions. I'm currently looking for places which can help me review, edit, and publish this work. Any direction would be helpful!
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Some journals will accept conceptual papers, i.e. not based on empirical data collection. But you would still need to draw on the academic literature.
Here is my recommended structure for a conceptual paper:
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We have lost all of our dermastids due to fly larvae. After a month we had ham beetles appearing and I was wondering if they would do as good of a job to get rid of meat from bones, so that we can put the specimens in the museum
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Varvara; If there were fly maggots in the fox it was still too moist. The beetles are surprisingly picky. They prefer dried out carcasses...the meat has a texture like beef jerky. Not quite dry enough crack when bent.
Put the foxes in a dry, warm place that is open to the general environment. The beetles will find it. The beetles are cosmopolitan and occur even in the wet English countryside. I've attached a link to an image of the ventral side of the species that you are looking for...Dermestes maculatus.
Cheers, Jim Des Lauriers
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I am modeling the flow of visitors during a working day in a museum.
The main problem is that I don't know how to model in Arena Rockwell the fact that all entities must clear the queue at the end of the simulation, because obviously after the closing time visitors cannot remain inside the museum, but they must absolutely leave.
Some advice?
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Go to, Run -> Setup -> Replication Parameters-> Terminating condition and in terminating condition define "NQ(queue) == 0".
You can add more conditions as per your model requirement.
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I am modeling the flow of visitors during a working day in a museum. The main problem is that I don't know how to model in Arena Rockwell the fact that all entities must clear the queue at the end of the simulation, because obviously after the closing time visitors cannot remain inside the museum, but they must absolutely leave.
Some advice?
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I know, but is there a way to dispose all entities that are in the queues at the end of simulation? and as a result to have number in equal to number out.
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Kindly share you views/opinions/thoughts over the:
  1. Disadvantages,
  2. Drawbacks,
  3. Description
  4. Constraints
in implementing technology in a museum.
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Everything that has advantages is equally has disadvantage as well. I'm working on paper how museum connect with next generation through digital technology which I discovered technology has its limit especially whenever you you use technology to exhibit or display artifacts in museum, the originality and authenticity of the object would not be captured by the visitors.
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Hi All,
at the Museum of Nature South Tyrol, in Bolzano / Bozen, Italy, we're keeping in aquarium for more than 10,5 years 3 American horseshoe crabs Limulus polyphemus.
What is the maximum longevity of American horseshoe crab in aquarium?
Thank you!
Sincerely,
Massimo
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Dear Daniel Taylor,
many thanks for your reply! I didn't know this paper. It is for me very interesting.
Sincerely,
Massimo
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Hello to everyone,
I'm trying to amplify nuclear markers from old museum specimens of beetle (not very old, sampled 10-15 years ago) , I thought on the Wingless fragment, it's obviously a hard work an I don't expect to see much bands in the gels, anyway, anyone have suggestion about how to set the PCR for this goal?
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Thank you for your answers!
I already extracted some mtDNA from those samples, but I think that the nuclear is not well preserved. I did several tries without results.
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Do you now any alternative (and cheaper) method to radiocarbon for biological museum samples datation?
Thank you
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Radiocarbon is probably the most cost effective. See if others are also interested in getting dates from the samples/period - you may be able to split the costs.
Also bear in mind the precision of radiocarbon dating is not always great depending on the period. What kind of samples is it you are looking at?
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I'm interested in working on museum collections for my thesis. However, the common problem I encounter in my study organisms (I work on marine fishes) is that specimens are sometimes not well-prepared (i.e., fins are not spread out enough) or are sometimes contorted. Is there a way to somewhat "relax" AKA soften preserved animals, particularly in wet collections? I've read somewhere about soaking them in water to hydrate their tissues, but I can't confirm if that method is actually used by museum workers in zoological collection. Thanks a bunch!
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I found a couple of discussions you may find useful.
Rehydrating fish specimens
Rehydrating invertebrate specimens
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Hi,
I attach an underwater picture of a colony of freshwater bryozoans. I identified it as Cristatella mucedo. I took the picture in a small natural lake in Northern Italy, in the Province of Bolzano / Bozen.
Please could you confirm my identification?
I tried to fix a colony of this species in ethylic alcohol 70 % and another colony in formalin 10%, but they both fell apart. Could you advise me on the right method for fixing a specimen for the museum's zoological collection?
Thank you in advance for your help.
Sincerely,
Massimo
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Hi Àdàm,
many thanks for your reply! I will try ethanol 90%.
Sincerely,
Massimo
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I want to know the current status of women in the field of museums and is there any conference regarding the same topic?
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Fiquei sabendo deste abaixo., quem sabe voce consegue aproveitar
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Hi: I´m designing a system to activate around 30 lights and 30 music players located in 4 floors of a museum (maximum distance to the estimated position where the system is controlled is about 70 meters, 229 feet).Every music players sends back a signal to indicate when it´s working (I´m not sure get if it can send it via PSI or I2C).
My idea is to make a SPI or I2C protocol to control the system, but based on this website:
I would have issues with the distance, so I thought to put all together in the control room´s place and send wires only for the audio signals, using buffers on the way to preserve the signal, but I´m pretty sure there could be a better way,
¿Do you know any protocol, device or system that could do this better? I will appreciate your suggestions.
Thanks in advance,
Pablo.
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This isn't my speciality, but perhaps you could use CAT-5 or CAT-6 cable instead (runs of up to 100 meters) and use TCP/IP as the protocol? Over that you should be able to carry DMX and anything else you need to. Hope this might help!
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Free for the first 50 readers:
The relationship between collaboration and innovation in cultural organisations is an emerging topic that has drawn particular attention from scholars and practitioners. The main aim of this study is to assess the role of collaboration in the process of innovation in museum organisations. To achieve this aim, first, we develop a four-domain analytical framework by matching innovation types to cultural production processes to reflect the peculiarities of museum innovation. By applying this framework to the multiple case studies from four Spanish museums, we identify three main motivations (supplementing manpower, compensating for the scarcity of knowledge, improving demand-driven innovation) and four forms of collaboration (teamwork, outsourcing, consortium and conversation) and summarise the different modes of collaboration involved in various domains of production and innovation. An assessment is conducted subsequently to evaluate the effectiveness of existing collaborations in achieving technological and cultural innovation in museums. Finally, a list of implications for museums’ innovation management is presented.
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Thanks a lot. This is interesting paper. I am working in collaboration network.
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After my initial Q&A topic of “what is the future of our Cultural Heritage” of some months ago it is almost a follow-up by asking the next logical question “Would transparency in museum matters stop the illicit trade in Cultural Heritage remains?”
The notion of illicit trade encompasses the purchasing as well as the sale of cultural heritage relics and remains.
People like to hoard things they like and pay for it, whereas there are others who sell whatever they have received in the past by a gift or a purchase. So, CH objects remain in good hands.
However, when it involves public as well as private museums, there are at this moment no ways to get access to what they got, was loaned to them or was purchased from where and when in the past.
What we need is transparency by having a look into the inventory list of every museum in the world. The reason is that there are less exhibited objects above ground than there are in the museum vaults, which no mortal will ever see, discuss and admire. Things have disappeared from the face of the world, but many of them still exist somewhere, but we have no way of knowing where.
The question of transparency is not just a question, because I would like to provide an answer of another type of social behavior that bore fruit until the very present. I have in mind an organization as Interpol that has stored fingerprints of millions around the globe and active collaboration between police forces everywhere can tap into Interpol’s huge database. Criminals can be traced as a result of Interpol’s work.
I suggest that in the footsteps of Interpol an organization will be founded on international level, which will have a data base of ALL museum inventories—large and small--from everywhere, so that we first of all will get a glimpse of what every museum has and secondly, illicit trade in CH goods around the world can be checked if they were stolen from a museum and ended up elsewhere, as well as the new acquisitions of goods in all the countries that will and eventually must be connected with this database.
In a second stage, also antiquarians will be included with their entire inventory so that one would receive a window into legal/illegal transactions from the past and the present.
Of course, as there are sets of fingerprints in Interpol files which are missing in its database, likewise there will always remain CH goods that clandestine will be moved from post to hole. Nevertheless, the newly made database would be a start to keep an eye on the lucrative sales of stolen goods.
Perhaps, even Interpol itself would be highly interested to let share a subdivision of its database so that it—with its super speedy search machines- would get immediate answers on wheel and deal in the antiquity- and Art world.
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Dear Dr
Happy days to you! I hope this letter do not disturbing you!
I am disseminating my discoveries to whole world, see my project attaching file: Nature mechanism- force origin. Which scientific organizations or funding can support me €10000? pleas you could help me for this!
Best wishes to you!
yours sincerely,
Zheng sheng ming
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i have designed an educational framework for ghana museums and monuments board. How do i validate the framework?
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You would have to specify the goals you’d like to achieve with the framework in a precise and measurable manner and then perform measurements to see if your goals are met.
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In terms of Social aspect, how much feasible ‘Internet of Things (IoT)’ would be for Museums in India and abroad?
Through this question, I want to know your thoughts about how much feasible IoT for Museum will be for the peoples and the society. How much peoples will find museums more entertaining, informative and easy access of artefacts to all kind of peoples.
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Very interesting topic
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I´m working at the Natural History Museum of Santiago de Cuba and I´m looking for the best fee collection management software for both zoological and botanical collections. We want no just have our collection properly organize but also make it visible through the world. I´ve been hearing about Specify, Symbiota and Biota and I´m not sure which one is the most efficient or if there is any other who can be better.
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I would also recommend Specify, which is used today here at the Zoology Museum of USP, in São Paulo, Brazil. I'm also still learning about many of its functionalities, but it is fairly customizable, and one can get a lot of help in the foruns and blogs in the site that Lynn shared the link.
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Iam in my second semester.Now assigned work to make a framework for storytelling in the museum and see the development and impact of it on the kids.I need help on this.
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When you use storytelling at the museum, ask the children questions. You will be able to understand what they are interested in. Also, after work, you can give to the kids a little fun tasks based on your story. This will allow you to refine the framework.
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Respected scientific community,
I am describing a new species of fauna and the papers I am citing/ referring to in my manuscript, seem to contain a bunch of comparative materials that the authors have used when comparing with their new species they were describing. Is it necessary to physically study the type/non type specimens themselves that are stored in national repositories and museums? Will referring to the literature that contains their data be considered legitimate? Maybe even collecting some specimens from the type locality or from personal collections?
Thanking You
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Thank you Patricia Solá .
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Social Butterfly by J. Davidoff 2012 in Museum and it won't give me access. Can you help?
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Good morning Ms Witt
According to Robert R Jones book "Museums and the Paradox of Change", your reference probably is: J Davidoff, "Social Butterfly" Museum (91/1), 32. I assume that you are referring to the Museum, the academic journal by the Tokyo National Museum.
You may be able to contact the author and ask him for a reprint / copy of the paper. If the author is affiliated to an academic institution, the paper may already be available from the academic institution's research repository.
Good Luck!
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i mean how can we do it
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I think it's a sacred museum.
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Recently many researchers in the Hungarian Natural History Museum and in other collections uses craniometry with or without mtDNA studies on their same samples. The problem with this, the connection between these two methologies is still debated and good be seen some personal opinion to sort out all these, because it is basically affects the accuracy of scietific results of present Anthropological studies.
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Osteologists in our organisation use craniometry along with other measurements to determine sex and age of the human skeletal material from our various cemetery sites ranging from Roman to 19th century. The costs involved for using mtDNA are prohibitive, given the hundreds of burials being excavated and retained in the museum for research purposes and the costs of curation. Only in special cases, when an unusual burial/group is unearthed is there some additional medium used to determine possible origination (is that what you are asking?).
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Hello,
in 2008 after my epidemiological thesis in biology/ethnomedicine I started the development of the FCMapper. About 2010 I started studying fine arts and worked in the field of Art&Science since then. 2018 I got a one year stipend from the state of Carinthia for developing FCM as an artistc method.
In which kind of fields do you plan to work with FCM in this project? Which kind of scientists and experts will be involved into this project?
It would be great to contribute to a bigger project to bring FCM out of academia - into museums and also public space.
Kind regards, Michael
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cool idea Michael! Allow me to brainstorm a little bit .....
Think of a 3d installation in a museum for example that visualises in real time the satisfation of the visitors. The visitors fill online satisfaction surveys and the 3d installation adapts its form and geometry with respect the FCM outcomes.
Serafeim
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My case is about the Atlanta Braves baseball stadium which is called Turner Field.
This baseball stadium changed from an old-fashioned baseball stadium to a modern baseball theme park with different services like a hall of fame or museum, also interactive games for the visitors skills and knowledge are offered.
One question is:
"Suppose an executive for the Braves wishes to know whether the stadium has caused employees (including ticket takers, parking attendants, ushers, security personnel, team employees,..) to be more committed to the Braves organization than when they were playing in an old-fashioned stadium. What would a potential research design involve and what data collection and statistical tests, do you think it could be useful? Justify your decision. "
Can anyone help me and tell which statistical test/data collection could be useful?
Thanks a lot in advance!
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In the ideal world they had the foresight to conduct a survey before the stadium was changed. You then use the old survey and compare and contrast the outcomes.
As a poor second choice you could look at things like merchandise and ticket sales and ask if the rate at which receipts decline during losing streaks has improved. A more loyal fan base will continue to support the team even when things are not going as well.
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Works of art are an important element of culture in the social and cultural heritage. The achievements of culture, including works of art, should be cherished for future generations, they can not be allowed to be forgotten, and unfortunately it often happens that in the era of current informational technological revolution, the development of new media, in the pursuit of modernity specific aspects of culture, tradition and art they are often interpreted only in the historical dimension.
On the other hand, new information technologies, new online media should be used to promote traditional values ​​of culture and art. For example, websites have been created for many art and culture. Many works of art, entire collections of many museums are digitized in the form of a digital record of reproduction of works of art so as to increase the accessibility of citizens to cultural and cultural heritage.
Does this type of propagation of culture and art on the Internet should be developed?
I think so.
Do you agree with me?
Please, answer, comments.
I invite you to the discussion.
Best wishes
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Fishes collected from Sakhalin in 2000-2002 are available at the Burke Museum. See this website and check the references cited. The database is not currently searchable on the Okhotskia website, but you can search for fishes from Sakhalin on our main fish collection website.
Please contact me if you have any questions. We also have extensive holdings from the Kuril Islands.
Thank you,
Katherine Maslenikov
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Dear Katherine,
We are very grateful to you for this interesting information. I think we will use these data in our perspective researches any way. Maybe we will connect with you later for better understanding some details.
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Some species just exist in collections and museums which taxonomists separated them based on some morphological differences. How we can certificate them in the nature?
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Thanks very much Mostafa.
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Kindly let me know your sincere and valuable opinion on the limitations/problems/difficulties faced by a museum. This question open to everyone so I request you to kindly contribute by enlisting as many points as you can. Thanks !
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Lack of revenue for maintenance is a big issue.
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Looking for a copy of Upper Paleozoic Anomalodesmatan Bivalvia by Morris, Dickins, and Astafieva-Urgaitis (1991) Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History (Geology), 47(1):51-100. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I need it for a paper I am writing on Mississippian bivalves.
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A fulltext is available in the Biodiversity Heritage Library:
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Should fragmentary Athenian figure-decorated pots be subject to the same due diligence process as complete (or near complete) examples? Are fragments circulating widely in the market? Or are pots being broken to supply the demand?
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outside of a tomb, and not even then frequently, the default state of found pots is fragmentary. At present one of the reasons that certain categories of pot are over represented in our reference collections is that museums are prepared to collect fragments of decorated pot which they wont do with plain wares. If museums cease doing so then we lose the opportunity to expand and up date a valuable archaeological resource. From this point of view a fragment is more valuable than a complete pot since it has an edge that can be examined. Indeed one of my more useful tools in pottery analysis are the pliers I use to break bits off.
In one respect this suggests that criminal elements would be less likely to promote a market where sherds are the norm since that gives specialists an easier time when it comes to detecting fakes. I was recently asked to look at a very good samian copy that was offered for sale, excellent in every respect except it was chipped which revealed it was a modern copy. Due to the chip this took a couple of minutes to determine with a hand lens.
However, it may be that our ideas are conditioned by differing attitudes based on different professional concerns. To me as an archaeologist and pottery specialist I am less concerned as to whether a pot is being broken than with the possibility that it has been looted in the first place. Perhaps the best answer to this concern is to only collect from assemblages that have been properly excavated. Although we still need fragments to be collected as well as the intact vessels due to their greater utility in research.
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I am interested to collect information of presence and identity of bee specimens in museums for understand biodiversity and the change to which they were subject during many years. However, I know that there are many problems with the integration of data.
1st. there are many mistakes and bias of the areas sample and identification of specimens. I know about some programs that can make the revision of the data and detect errors.
2nd. However, I will like to know how if is there a general experience or strategy. How to integrate and analyze the data? I want to know if someone has some experience of what are the best tools or what is necessary to create an integrative strategie. Is actually really necessary an integrative strategy or it is something that is not of much interest?
thanks for your opinion,
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Yes. when you have so many specimens to analize there are different types of errors as bias in the data and identification mistakes. Of course the programs cannot detect if the identification was not correct, but can detect if there are mistakes with the names, they are incomplent or there are many synonyms. The detection of this mistakes will of course help a lot to simplify the work. I know that there are some that do this. The question is how efficient they are? how big the matrices they can analyze? and if they can work efficiently with data from different sources?
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I am doing a research project where i am stuck in mapping the museum object records in CSV format with CIDOC CRM model. I have tried the mapping using OpenRefine but that doesn't help me acheiving my goal. Can anyone help me, how to do the mapping now?
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First step is to highlight the extension (perhaps many will be used) that will be used (CRMSci, CRMGeo, ...).
Then, using Protégé as Babak Ranjgar for instance, find the key anchors for the mapping. Keep in mind that all the data model does not have to be instantiated (it might be tremendous). Annotations properties are made to facilitate definitions and informations encapsulation (Dublin Core Ontology is mandatory).
After that, Jena provides a WIDE set of functions in an intuitive and handy way. But first, you need to very well understand your DataModel/Mapping as Jena does not provide any visualisation tool. It's a rigorous job.
Fuseki and TDB come far after all previous points.
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Since CIDOC-CRM  was created for integrating library, archive and museum resources, why it is not used directly by Europeana and DPLA. Why Europeana and DPLA bother to create new metadata models?
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Hi dear Jinfang
this is somewhat my question too. but as long as i know the Europeana project is a digital library and EDM is metadata model which is enough there, but CIDOC CRM is an ontology. in some papers i read that because EDM is a metadata, it loses the richness of original data.
As I'm also curious to know this matter, Any other answer is welcomed
Thanks.
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I'm looking to use kits instead of Phenol/Chloroform for museum specimens. I have heard about DNeasy/MinElute kits, but am not overly impressed with Qiagen as a company. I'd also prefer something that doesn't require vacuum manifolds and can be done with a bench top centrifuge, or magnetic bead based.
Thanks in advance!
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For pinned insect specimens, I have found that salting out works very well in comparison to kits (I have compared it to DNEasy, MagAttract, PureGene, Phenol-Chloroform). It is super cheap and easy. Colleagues working on various museum specimens have been happy with Qiagen and with a phenol-chloroform-isoamyl spooling protocol. I think every tissue is different and you would do best to test multiple methods in parallel to decide which is best (efficient, reliable, high yield).
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My purpose is to reconstruct 3Ds for arbitrary and complex museum artifacts with the best reconstruction goal, preserving the texture and color exactly. I currently have no hardware (3D scanner) for that and planning to buy. I come to know laser scanner works well with a short range. Would you please suggest me the required lab setup (best equipment, also a 3D printer) instruments for my purpose.
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It depends a lot on the work you have to do. Photometry is useful to cover very large spaces. If the work is of small objects or the size of a person, using a white light scanner will be the best option
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Museums have undergone massive transformations in the last several decades. These changes are said to have made them more democratic, more educational, more interactive. But was something lost in the process? Are these “houses of the Muses” still able to elicit the awe, wonder, and inspiration (sometimes) fostered by the clutter, ecclectism, and relative opaqueness of older museological approaches?
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I just had the honor of working on a $100M project transforming a regional natural history museum from an outdated, carpet-lined-walls-relic to a very engaging, innovative, awe inspiring place. Some examples of things we did to combat the lack of interaction or feelings of immersion was definitely technological. We had virtual as well as physical dig In our dinosaur gallery areas. We had touch screens with listening stations at every dinosaur or diorama, yet we also had long, multi surface interpretive panels with hands on learning incorporated. We always had “interactors” in various characters in galleries engaging with guests, usually with a touchable Teaching tool on hand for visitors. This is was essentially pop up theater. We also resurrected the old diorama with taxidermy, but it was always viewed in the round, with items that visitors were ALLOWED to touch on each side to satisfy curiosity whilst protecting the collection. Each main gallery was also augmented with a “lab” where school groups or the general public could have engaging discussions with the educational team members as well as participate in multiple hands on learning activities that would engage everyone from toddlers to seniors. A lot of sight and sound technology was incorporated into the galleries to augment the artifacts themselves. Immersion was the key word. We even added an ever changing Texas sky above our diorama on a 50 ft. Custom dome with an oculus in which a thunderstorm, birds, or clouds would float past, accompanied by light and sound effects. I think the key is to mix old and new, all age ranges. Have interactive PEOPLE as well as activities. Making the visitor feel a part of the exhibition helped engage all ages, while technology satiated the Tech savvy. We also had 180 degree films with integrated sound and lighting (not quite 4D) that would get audible “ooohs” from museum goers. Everything was rethought and designed to get the visitor closer, emerged, engaged, and educated. It was always on our minds to not create “edutainment” but a truly dynamic and state of the art learning environment.
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What kind of human/environmental/accidental reasons do you think are the main reasons for the destruction & deterioration of Textile-based artifacts in a museum? Kindly quote your answers/opinions with some real examples and photographs (if possible). The question is open for ALL. Please provide your valuable frank opinion.
Thanking you.
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Thank you very much Mr. Alex Roach for your kind response and sharing your valuable opinion about destruction & deterioration of Textile-based artifacts in a museum through silverfish, moths, dermestids. The two live illustrations are extremely informative and shall be helpful in my upcoming research.
Thanks again & Warm regards.
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We are currently developing design specifications for a small building to store archival genetics samples, which are predominantly stored in 95% ethanol. What are some design considerations you would recommend? (temperature, humidity, etc.)
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In our department we store animal tissue in absolute ethanol and temperature is not important but as mentioned above this way of storage is just for dna tests not rna.
In long time storage you have to check samples for evaporated ethanol.
Good luck.
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This is a small specimen of unknown origin kept in the Museum of Natural History in Siena (Italy). I do not manage to identify it properly. I thought it could be Micrelaps muelleri or M. tchernovi, but the scale pattern of the head does not seem to match and the ventral scales should be dark rather than light. The head pattern recalls that of other atracataspidinae snakes but the colour pattern is very peculiar and apparently does not correspond to any other species in this group. Any suggestion?
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It has no collecting data, otherwise it would be easier to identify it (the only thing we know is that it was collected between late 1800s and 1935. The distribution Raheem gave should refer to Micrelaps, but I think this specimen only recalls it for the colour pattern while it probably belongs to a different genus
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At this very moment (2 September; 22h00, local time), the National Museum (MN, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), one of the most important museums of natural history in the world, is burning in flames.
In addition to the exhibitions open to the public, the MN housed some of the largest and most important scientific collections existing in Brazil. The collections of biological items included thousands of types (insects, reptiles, birds, mammals, plants, etc.).
To the taxonomists (and other colleagues): You could say how many specimens (mainly types) collected or described by you were deposited in MN? And to what taxonomic groups (family or above) these specimens belonged?
[In 2016, a coup d’état turned Brazil in a country with no future. Now, in his final months at the head of the Government, the President Michel Temer wants also to ensure that the country erase its own past.]
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I appreciate colleagues for the comments and for the suggestions.
The Brazilian press (newspapers etc.) is biased and shallow and I don’t take it too seriously. On the other hand, article published yesterday (4/9) in The Guardian had the following title: ‘Brazil National Museum: as much as 90% of collection destroyed in fire.’ At the moment, two considerations must be made: (i) this percentage should vary greatly among the different sectors of the institution (from 0% to 100% of loss); and (ii) the fact is that no one yet knows the extent of the losses.
I don’t work in the National Museum (MN) and I don’t even live in the city of Rio de Janeiro. However, a friend of mine who works at the MN sent me today (5/9) some enlightening information (especially about the biological collections), as can be read below:
(1) The so-called Imperial Palace housed most of the collections of the MN. In this building were, among others, the Department of Entomology (except part of Diptera) and part of the collections of mollusks and arachnids. Total loss: collections of insects, including several hundreds of types (e.g., about 1.300 beetle holotypes), in addition to the collections of mollusks and arachnids (but 80% of the types of mollusks have been preserved, because they were in a building annex). The departments of Geology & Paleontology and Anthropology also stayed in this main building. Total loss: the collection of Egyptian relicts (e.g., mummies) and the social anthropology library. However, some items (e.g., meteorites) are being found and collected. The building still housed an electron microscope.
(2) Outside the Palace are the following sectors: the central library; the departments of Vertebrates and of Botany; a small part of Archaeology and some laboratories of invertebrates. All are preserved.
(3) An annex to the Palace (‘Annex Alípio de Miranda Ribeiro’) was preserved. In this building are part of the the sector of dipterology and the collections of invertebrates (except mollusks and arachnids).
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I ran 48 samples from museum specimens on the MiSeq platform. Unfortunately, each sample has very low coverage (~0.0035x). One of the contributing factors appears to be that the average read size is 38 bp, which may be due to the large amount of sheering present in museum samples.
I was able to extract ~400 SNPs, but cannot produce any supported trees or STRUCTURE results. I know the low coverage is to blame, but I am not sure the minimum coverage that would be usable for an analysis. I typically see papers use coverages of >5x. Papers with lower coverage (the lowest I have seen is 0.5x typically mention that they would like to acquire further coverage).
However, to get that amount of coverage for one sample would require an entire lane of the HiSeq platform, which would provide 30x coverage than the MiSeq. If I went for 0.5x coverage, I could run 10 samples.
Is there a hard rule suggesting the minimum amount of coverage for a phylogenetic analysis? Is running these samples on a HiSeq worth the cost?
My species is Microtus ochrogaster, which has a reference genome (~2.3 billion bp). To prepare the libraries, the EcoR1 enzyme was used in a RAD-Seq protocol designed for degraded museum specimens. The amount of reads per sample varies with some alignment rates between 12 to 80%. Very few of the samples share SNP loci, with each loci missing >85% of the data.
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All samples, mostly skins, were extracted by a previous graduate student (Adams et al. 2017). The DNA for the most part is low-quality and low-quantity. Initially, I tried using Sanger sequencing on multiple loci, but the DNA was too poorly degraded. In the end, I could only get 500 bp of mitochondrial DNA from the samples and no nuclear DNA. In order to get nuclear sequences and additional mitochondrial seuqneces, I followed a RAD-Seq protocol designed for museum specimens by Tin et al. (2014) to build the libraries.
The goal of the project is to determine the validity of the current seven subspecies designation by sequencing samples from across the range of the species. Literature recommends that multiple loci from nuclear and mitochondrial DNA be used in a phlyogenetic analysis like this.
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Looking for inspiring case studies on the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in / by museums!
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I am an ethnoarchaeologist, someone who studies living people to try and expand the kinds of behaviors we may be able to infer about past populations from their archaeological material remains. In archaeology, only some components of past technological systems are preserved, and all artifacts have been modified from their use contexts through a range of activities that result in their being thrown away, broken, lost, or discarded as trash in addition to the effects of geologic processes of burial, decay, and exposure in eroding conditions. I have spent over 30 months performing behavioral observation of Savanna Pumé hunter-gatherers in the low plains (llanos) of the Orinoco Basin in Venezuela (in addition to over 14 months working with Maya agriculturalists in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico). I have linked my observations to the technologies used and found many non-intuitive ways that traditional tools are organized and used. I also have visited 6 museum collections of Pumé artifacts in the US and Venezuela, and can view images from the 2 European museum collections I have not yet visited. I have given a large museum collection (1,311 items) to the Univ. of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Museum collections allow me to see aspects of material culture that are outside of my short lifetime as an ethnographer. They also help me see changes in material culture through time that can begin to approach the temporal scale of how the archaeological record preserves associations between artifacts. Archaeology rarely preserves a short moment in time, most sites represent decades, centuries, or millennia of artifact and sediment accumulations. So the assemblages we find in archaeology are not representative of the same time frame I experience as an ethnographer looking at behaviors in a camp. My museum work has provided some significant insight into this deeper time scale that I cannot experience from my own research alone. I have seen an example of a "mosquito net" made from woven moriche palm leaf fiber (identical to current methods of weaving sitting mats) that was collected in 1886 which contrasts dramatically with what more recent Pumé use to try and decrease their exposure to mosquitoes in this environment with horrendous mosquito populations during the wet season and a range of associated insect born diseases. Currently, the Savanna Pumé have access to second-hand clothing through their neighbors, the River Pumé (who are reliant on a range of horticultural foods and some wage labor, in addition to terrestrial hunting, wild plant collection, and fishing). Some of the very worn clothing they get in trade is used to make and patch "mosquito nets" needed fro their hammocks in the wet season. Cloth is always wearing out, for these nets, or as clothing. The moriche palm leaf fiber example from 1886 indicates an even greater scarcity of cloth in the late 19th century and the use of a very distinctively different kind of technology. While flexible and lightweight, this woven covering would be extremely hot to sleep under, but still preferable to having no protection from mosquitoes and the diseases they carry. Similarly, during my research with the Savanna Pumé of Venezuela, metal used to make the points on arrows was very scarce. For the thin, pointed small-game and fishing arrows they make, pieces of bar steel or nails were scavenged from criollo garbage dumps or traded in from River Pumé with greater access to trade items. Larger pieces of steel to make lanceolate arrow points used for large game arrows was even scarcer. The Savanna Pumé used worn-out machete or knife blades, broken or worn-out shovels, or other pieces of scrap steel that they could find to make these large game arrows. When I started looking at museum collections from 1934 and 1958 I was surprised to find a couple of design features for these lanceolate arrows that at first was puzzling, but I eventually determined was an indication that steel raw material was even scarcer in these earlier time periods. Several examples in collections at the UPENN Museum collected in 1934 and examples in the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), New York) and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology at Harvard University, both collected in 1958, showed these features. Near the proximal portion of these lanceolate points where they insert into the foreshaft, a small horizontal bar was attached to the distal foreshaft that would have prevented deeper penetration of the arrow beyond the point. One example in the AMNH had a rounded mass that is made of wound palm leaf fiber string at the distal foreshaft/proximal end of the point blade. These points were designed not to penetrate any deeper into prey so that if the hunter had a poor shot and the animal was likely to be able to escape, the arrow had a higher probability of falling out and the valuable metal point would not be lost. This feature was especially important in deer hunting, where the success rate was relatively low because of the open savanna environment and the difficulty in getting close enough for a good shot (traditional folks always try to get well within 30 m of their prey with any projectile technology, arrows, spear throwers & darts, blowguns, throwing sticks, or crossbows, etc.). This helps me understand that relative success in deer hunting was also probably quite low a these time periods, and not only a consequence of some additional hunting pressure from Venezuelan criollos moving into this region in the mid-late 1960s using guns. Given that, the scarcity in metal I am able to observe now is not comparable to that seen as late as 1958, resulting in these particular design elements that seem counter-intuitive to the function of large-game arrows. I'm unsure if this is what you have in mind about "intangible cultural heritage". However, the behavioral and economic dynamics behind these design components of artifacts no longer being used represents intangible aspects of cultural knowledge that probably can no longer be elicited from conversations even with older Pumé women and men. If by intangible you primarily mean more symbolic or other less "functional" kinds of uses, then these museum collections also house evidence for continuity in the the extremely frequent (37% of all nights I've been in residence) all-night, 11-hr dances the Savanna Pumé engage in every week. These "ritual" or "religious" dances are part of other important mobility, settlement, and post-marital residence behaviors that promote group-solidarity and a consistent male and female labor force needed in the depauperate environment of the Venezuelan llanos and low food returns these foragers experience. The use of museum collections in my research has allowed me to see these economic constraints outside of my anthropological lifetime and get a deeper temporal view of raw material availability and its influence on technological design for this group of foragers, as well as other behaviors of interest that can be addressed through aspects of curated artifacts and documentation.
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I would be interested to learn whether North American colleagues in particular find that museums are adopting more rigorous criteria before accepting temporary loans of archaeological material. Should the appropriate law enforcement agencies be contacted if suspect material is identified?
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Yes, especially today.
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Dear colleagues,
I am looking for this publication:
Jaanusson, Valdar, 1976. Faunal Dynamics in the Middle Ordovician (Viruan) of Balto-Scandia. In: The Ordovician System: Proceedings of a Palaeontological Association Symposium Birmingham, September 1974. University of Wales Press and National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, 301–326.
Does someone have a digital copy that they can share?
Many thanks in advance,
Hendrik
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Thanks, Anders!
Cheers,
Hendrik
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I am working on a project about the Space Center and can't find this information
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Writing as a former New Yorker...I think they wanted to modernize the systems; the old planetarium, though wonderful, was built in the 1930s, I think. Also, as you are based in the New School, why don't you just contact the museum archives?
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This skin represent an old museum sample (presumably collected in the late XIX century), the label says "Varanus species - British Guyana", but no Varanidae occur in the Neotropics. I thought it could belong to Tupinambis sp. but the pictures I found on the web do not seem to match.
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In the early 1800's some Tegus and Varanids were included in Tupinambis (see Daudin 1802). Based on the locality and characteristics of the skin you have, it is most likely T. teguixin. For the ID I used: Fuchs and Fuchs. 2003. The Reptile Skin: A Key-feature in the Identification of Lizards and Snakes. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main.
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Previously UK's Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks, in A History of the World in 100 Objects. Neil macGregor. The British Museum 2012.
Sacks was discussing the discovery in 1872 of the story of the flood (Noah story but under an entirely different personage, Atrahasis.)As the details are exactly the same, the conclusion has to be that the Hebrews copied the flood story.
Clearly there is a core event behind both narratives.....................................What the ancient texts that tell flood stories do is talk essentially of the great forces of nature being controlled by deities who don't like human beings very much, and for whom 'might makes right'. Now the Bible comes along and retells the story, but does so in a unique way-God brings the flood because the world was filled with violence, and the result is that the story becomes moralised, and that is part of the Bible's programme. This is the radical step from polytheism to monotheism -from a world in which people worshipped power, to the Bible's insistence that power must be just and compassionate, and from a world in which their are many forces, many gods, fighting with one another, to this world in which the whole universe is the result of a single rational creative will. So the more we understand what the Bible is arguing against, the deeper we understand the Bible.
Sacks re-positions the flood as a literary trope, which it is, although possibly true. In the above he makes several historical errors, besides intellectual ones:
1) He claims that the polytheistic gods were continously fighting each other, but such fighting as there was reflected the in-fighting of ancient dynasties. Monotheism reflects Empire institutions, a single stable entity based upon an individual of immense power who has the right of life and death over his subjects. See Book of Job (and feel frightened). Cheerfully, the ancient gods dealt with the cosmos and left humans alone-they were after all the ones sustaining the god's/goddesses' existence through ritual, prayer, and sacrifice.
2) The Epic of Atrahasis shows human-kind were created to help the younger gods, morphing later into angels, with agricultural and building work. In the creation process, the god We-illu is sacrifised and his intelligence, blood, and flesh is added to human beings-infusing thereby divinity within human-beings, creating semi-independent status. Unfortunately, as the human population expands, their chatter and general noise annoy Enlil (in this the chief god) who decides to destroy them. He decides to send a devastating flood to kill them all. Ea or Enki (the clever god) sets out to help them. He tells the wise and good Atrahasis to build an ark, in which are the seeds of life, to save himself, his kin and material creation. Enkil regrets his actions, but is partly angry and relieved when Atrahasis emerges to make a sacrifice. The story reflects on human mortality, but also encourages a new relationship between gods and humankind whereby the gods value human kind more. In the story of Noah, human evil promotes god's decision to send a flood, aiming for a restart or a re-creation. In the first, the fault lies with the gods, in the other with humankind -this Sacks identifies as morality.
This change Sacks considers morality when in fact it serves to redefine power and establish the idea that god can do no wrong. It is a change from multivarious human powers, to one great emperor. It does not concern morality, but power. The story also reinforces the status and power of priests, who interpret god.
Sacks holds that in polytheistic religions the gods worshipped power, but this is far from the case. They worshipped life, acknowledging the fragility of life, and the mutual need of god for human, human for god. The radical leap Sacks sees is one of power, not of justice and compassion-more fully exampled by Enki.
Sack's understanding of polytheism is at fault here; he sees it as many monotheists do, as lacking morality, compassion (surely this is what YHWH lacks, not gods like El?), and fails to see the sheer monstrousness of YHWH's actions-what about persausion, eh? Too complex? Although Sacks underlines god's morality, destroying a violent race, he uses violence himself, thereby insinuating violence into monotheism.
Polytheistic religions had well considered morality and ethical beliefs, of far greater clarity than those of monotheism, which in the end are power-based.
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This is an analysis of the nature of morality, at least for montheistic religions and those who believe in them.
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Hello dear researchers. From the time I started studying mechanical engineering and especially automotive engineering during recent two years, I was wondering what would be the possible destiny of cars benefiting from internal combustion engines.
Do you think these cars would be vanished from the streets and go to museum if the oil wells are depleted entirely?
Do you think the automotive engineers can mitigate all faced challenges about utilizing green cars such as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs)?
The most important question ... Do you trust the statistics who state that oil wells are extractable until 2037 and after that, there would be no oil?
I am looking forward to hearing from you ...
Each reply is kindly appreciated.
Best Wishes.
Yasin Salami
Master student of mechanical engineering.
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Do you think these cars would be vanished from the streets and go to museum if the oil wells are depleted entirely?
Maybe. There are numerous ways to produce liquid hydrocarbon fuels from fossil energy sources other than conventional petroleum. These are more expensive than conventional petroleum, but could become competitive in the face of sustained high prices. Critically, those prices might still be low enough to keep BEVs uncompetitive, especially given the infrastructure advantages of liquid hydrocarbon fuels. See this article by Brandt & Farrell: www.ce.cmu.edu/~gdrg/readings/2007/03/20/farrell_riskofoiltransition.pdf
Do you think the automotive engineers can mitigate all faced challenges about utilizing green cars such as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs)?
I'm not sure HEVs face many challenges other than consumer acceptance, which I think is mostly a matter of cost. Cost premiums will probably fall over time with learning. FCEVs face more fundamental challenges in fuel cell performance and efficiency, and refueling infrastructure. Some of these cannot be resolved by automotive engineers, or by engineers at all: they are business and policy problems.
The most important question ... Do you trust the statistics who state that oil wells are extractable until 2037 and after that, there would be no oil?
I have not seen these statistics, but in general, no, I don't trust them. Reserves have increased over time as new discoveries are made and extraction technologies are improved. It is unlikely that we will wake up one day and find that production has been shut off. A more likely path is that as production gets harder and more costly, consumption decreases and alternatives to conventional fuel will increasingly come into the mix. Those alternatives could be renewable, or could be non-petroleum fossil fuels. Absent appropriate carbon pricing or regulations, I suspect the latter is most likely. In the end, I think we are likely to run out of space to safely dump our CO2 than we are to run out of fossil fuels.
Artur: many things are archaic, but that doesn't stop people from doing them!
Aleš: If in the future we have a large amount of daytime renewables generation, then I would expect electricity prices to be lower during daytime, and that would be the preferred time for people to charge their EVs. Right now, we focus on overnight charging for two main reasons: simplicity of home-based infrastructure, and lower electricity demand at night. This could easily change in the future.
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Hi,
does anyone has experience with taking bird UV photos in field? Do you know about scientific articles that would use UV photography in field? I only found studies conducted on museum specimens. I wonder whether field UV photography was already used in field condiditions and what equipment would be needed? Thank you!
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Hi guys!
Nicely descripted ! Silicon is generally sensitive to UV light, however, there are more factors need to be considered. For example construction of the chip (e.g. size of the cells) or sometimes processing in camera even though you are photographing in RAW. You need to consider wavelength of UV? what is the wavelength of the light which is considered as biological effective by your clade - species? You will not detect UV light with 350 nm by any chip, forget it. Just think about some transition of light which need to be described in detail.
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Museums in town tell about history and culture. We need some interesting media to attract them, giving experience beside learning culture and history. especially for children. Any Reference or Information will be help so much. thank you.
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Naila, I hope that by now you have found lots of references for your task of exploring interactive media for traditional dance. I knew of one motion capture scheme for Greek folk dance; I can't remember its name but I looked for it online and, although I didn't find that one, there are plenty of others. I just Googled 'interactive media in Greek dance' and found masses. The same must apply to other culturally specific dance forms.
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Informal learning was once constrained to places like libraries and museums. At one point in time zoos stood little chance of getting grants focused on informal learning. As STEM has risen in prominence I am wondering how informal STEM learning may or may not have changed the definition of informal learning. Where can it take place? Can it happen in schools and if so, under what conditions would it be considered informal, and finally are zoo, businesses, labs, and universities participating as locations for informal STEM learning and under what conditions? What operational definition are you using to include these former bastions of formal education only.
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If you are interested in STEM informal learning I would suggest reading Falk Rennie, Dierking, Stocklmayer and McComas as well as the authors referenced in their papers. The emphasis on informal learning seems to be that it is often driven by an individual's intrinsic interest in a subject and their own motivation. Falk also emphasizes that an individual exerts a much greater degree of choice and control over their learning in informal education. I believe it is Rennie who breaks down the most critical ways in which informal and formal education differ. Either way - a very good read.