University College Dublin
University College Dublin is a research university in Dublin, Ireland. It has over 1,482 faculty and 32,000 students, it is Ireland's largest university. Rooted in Roman Catholicism, UCD originates in a body founded in 1854, which opened as the Catholic University of Ireland on the Feast of Saint Malachy and with John Henry Newman as its first rector; the Universities Act, 1997 renamed the constituent university as the "National University of Ireland, Dublin", a ministerial order of 1998 renamed the institution as "University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin". In locations across Dublin city, all faculties have since relocated to a 133-hectare campus at Belfield, four kilometres to the south of the city centre; the 2019 QS World University Rankings rates UCD as the second highest ranked irish university. A report published in May 2015 showed the economic output generated by UCD and its students in Ireland amounted to €1.3 billion annually. UCD is ranked among the top universities in Europe.
Five Nobel Laureates are among current and former staff. UCD can trace its history to the institution founded in 1854 as the Catholic University of Ireland, was established as UCD in 1880 under the auspices of the Royal University of Ireland, received its charter in 1908. After the Catholic Emancipation period of Irish history, a movement led by Paul Cullen, Archbishop of Armagh attempted to provide for the first time in Ireland higher-level education both accessible to followesr of Roman Catholicism and taught by such people. In the 19th century, the question of denominational education in Ireland was a contentious one. For many years it had divided the Young Ireland Movement; the Catholic Hierarchy demanded a Catholic alternative to the University of Dublin's Trinity College, whose Anglican origins the Hierarchy refused to overlook. The Hierarchy wanted to counteract the "Godless Colleges" of the Queen's University of Ireland - established in the cities of Galway and Cork; the University of Dublin had since the 1780s admitted Catholics to study.
Thus, in 1850 at the Synod of Thurles, it was decided to open in Dublin - for Catholics - a rival institution to that city's University. As a result of these efforts, a new "Catholic University of Ireland" opened in 1854, with John Henry Newman appointed as its first rector. Newman had been an integral figure in the Oxford Movement in the 19th century; the Catholic University opened its doors on the feast of St Malachy, 3 November 1854. On that day the names of seventeen students were entered on the register and Newman gave the students an address "What are we here for" and prophesied that in years they would look back with pride on the day; the Catholic University opened with three houses: 86 St Stephen's Green, known as St Patrick's or University House, under the care of The Rev. Michael Flannery. To prepare students for entry to the new Catholic University, a feeder school under the guidance of Bartholomew Woodlock and Cardinal Newman, referred to as the Catholic University School, was established.
Among the first students enrolled were the grandson of Daniel O'Connell. Another included William O'Shea who would go on to become a Captain in the British Army and was central to the divorce crises which brought down Charles Stewart Parnell's career in trying to establish Home Rule for Ireland. O'Shea, clashed with Newman and found the Catholic University insufficiently inspiring, so departed after one year to instead attend Trinity. Of the eight original students in Newman's own home, two were Irish, two English, two Scottish and two French. Among them were a French viscount, Irish baronet Sir Reginald Barnewall, the son of a French countess, the grandson of a Scottish marquis, the son of an English lord. Were added to his care two Belgian princes and a Polish count. Many were attracted to the Catholic University on the basis of the reputation of Newman; as a private university, the Catholic University was never given a royal charter, so was unable to award recognized degrees and suffered from chronic financial difficulties.
Newman left the university in 1857. Bartholomew Woodlock was appointed Rector and served until he became Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise in 1879. In this period he attempted to secure a site of 34 acres at Clonliffe West but the scheme collapsed when expansion of the railway system on the north side of Dublin cut across the site, he turned his attention to expanding along St Stephen's Green and over these years bought from No. 82 to 87. The decline was halted in 1880 with the establishment of the Royal University of Ireland; the Royal Universities charter entitled all Irish students to sit the Universities examinations and receive its degrees. Although in many respects the Catholic University can be viewed as a failure, UCD would inherit substantial assets from it including a successful medical school and two beautiful buildings, Newman House on St Stephen's Green and the adjoining University Ch
OCLC
OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Incorporated d/b/a OCLC is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world's information and reducing information costs". It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog in the world. OCLC is funded by the fees that libraries have to pay for its services. OCLC maintains the Dewey Decimal Classification system. OCLC began in 1967, as the Ohio College Library Center, through a collaboration of university presidents, vice presidents, library directors who wanted to create a cooperative computerized network for libraries in the state of Ohio; the group first met on July 5, 1967 on the campus of the Ohio State University to sign the articles of incorporation for the nonprofit organization, hired Frederick G. Kilgour, a former Yale University medical school librarian, to design the shared cataloging system.
Kilgour wished to merge the latest information storage and retrieval system of the time, the computer, with the oldest, the library. The plan was to merge the catalogs of Ohio libraries electronically through a computer network and database to streamline operations, control costs, increase efficiency in library management, bringing libraries together to cooperatively keep track of the world's information in order to best serve researchers and scholars; the first library to do online cataloging through OCLC was the Alden Library at Ohio University on August 26, 1971. This was the first online cataloging by any library worldwide. Membership in OCLC is based on use of services and contribution of data. Between 1967 and 1977, OCLC membership was limited to institutions in Ohio, but in 1978, a new governance structure was established that allowed institutions from other states to join. In 2002, the governance structure was again modified to accommodate participation from outside the United States.
As OCLC expanded services in the United States outside Ohio, it relied on establishing strategic partnerships with "networks", organizations that provided training and marketing services. By 2008, there were 15 independent United States regional service providers. OCLC networks played a key role in OCLC governance, with networks electing delegates to serve on the OCLC Members Council. During 2008, OCLC commissioned two studies to look at distribution channels. In early 2009, OCLC negotiated new contracts with the former networks and opened a centralized support center. OCLC provides bibliographic and full-text information to anyone. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat—the OCLC Online Union Catalog, the largest online public access catalog in the world. WorldCat has holding records from private libraries worldwide; the Open WorldCat program, launched in late 2003, exposed a subset of WorldCat records to Web users via popular Internet search and bookselling sites.
In October 2005, the OCLC technical staff began a wiki project, WikiD, allowing readers to add commentary and structured-field information associated with any WorldCat record. WikiD was phased out; the Online Computer Library Center acquired the trademark and copyrights associated with the Dewey Decimal Classification System when it bought Forest Press in 1988. A browser for books with their Dewey Decimal Classifications was available until July 2013; until August 2009, when it was sold to Backstage Library Works, OCLC owned a preservation microfilm and digitization operation called the OCLC Preservation Service Center, with its principal office in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The reference management service QuestionPoint provides libraries with tools to communicate with users; this around-the-clock reference service is provided by a cooperative of participating global libraries. Starting in 1971, OCLC produced catalog cards for members alongside its shared online catalog. OCLC commercially sells software, such as CONTENTdm for managing digital collections.
It offers the bibliographic discovery system WorldCat Discovery, which allows for library patrons to use a single search interface to access an institution's catalog, database subscriptions and more. OCLC has been conducting research for the library community for more than 30 years. In accordance with its mission, OCLC makes its research outcomes known through various publications; these publications, including journal articles, reports and presentations, are available through the organization's website. OCLC Publications – Research articles from various journals including Code4Lib Journal, OCLC Research, Reference & User Services Quarterly, College & Research Libraries News, Art Libraries Journal, National Education Association Newsletter; the most recent publications are displayed first, all archived resources, starting in 1970, are available. Membership Reports – A number of significant reports on topics ranging from virtual reference in libraries to perceptions about library funding. Newsletters – Current and archived newsletters for the library and archive community.
Presentations – Presentations from both guest speakers and OCLC research from conferences and other events. The presentations are organized into five categories: Conference presentations, Dewey presentations, Distinguished Seminar Series, Guest presentations, Research staff
Divergent evolution
Divergent evolution or divergent selection is the accumulation of differences between related populations within a species, leading to speciation. Divergent evolution is exhibited when two populations become separated by a geographic barrier and experience different selective pressures that drive adaptations to their new environment. After many generations and continual evolution, the populations become unable to interbreed with one another; the American naturalist J. T. Gulick was the first to use the term "divergent evolution", with its use becoming widespread in modern evolutionary literature. Classic examples of divergence in nature are the adaptive radiation of the finches of the Galapagos or the coloration differences in populations of a species that live in different habitats such as with pocket mice and fence lizards; the term can be applied in molecular evolution, such as to proteins that derive from homologous genes. Both orthologous genes and paralogous genes can illustrate divergent evolution.
Through gene duplication, it is possible for divergent evolution to occur between two genes within a species. Similarities between species that have diverged are due to their common origin, so such similarities are homologies. In contrast, convergent evolution arises when an adaptation has arisen independently, creating analogous structures such as the wings of birds and of insects; the term divergent evolution is believed to have been first used by J. T. Gulick. Divergent evolution is defined as what occurs when two groups of the same species evolve different traits within those groups in order to accommodate for differing environmental and social pressures. Various examples of such pressures can include predation, food supplies, competition for mates; the tympanal ears of certain nocturnal insects are believed to be a result of needing the ultrasonic hearing that tympanal ears provide in order to hear predators in the dark. Non-nocturnal insects - that do not need to fear nocturnal predators - are found to lack these tympanal ears.
Animals undergo divergent evolution for a number of reasons. Predators or their absence, changes in the environment, the time at which certain animals are most active are chief among them. A lack of predators – predatory birds and mammals - for cliff-side nest residing kittiwake caused that particular group of kittiwake to lose their ancestral mobbing behavior, exhibited up until that point for protecting young; the mobbing behavior displayed by the kittiwake is lost when the kittiwake take residence in this area with little threat from predators towards their young. The mobbing behavior was developed to protect ground-level nests containing young from various predators such as reptiles and other birds; the cliff-side nesting area itself was responsible for the kittiwakes losing their mobbing mentality – predatory mammals small enough to fit on the cliff edges along with the kittiwakes and their offspring would not be able to make the climb up while predatory birds would not be able to maneuver near the cliff face while being afflicted by the weather conditions of the area.
Divergent evolution is always coupled with convergent evolution, as they are both similar and different in various facets such as whether something evolves, what evolves, why it evolves. It is instructive to compare divergent evolution with parallel evolution. Convergent evolution is defined as a similar trait evolution that occurs in two otherwise different species of animal as a result of those two species living in similar environments with similar environmental pressures like predators and food supply, it differs from divergent evolution in that the species involved are different while the traits they obtain do not differ from each other. An example of convergent evolution is the development of horns in various species for sparring over mates and territory Parallel evolution is the development of a similar trait in species descending from the same ancestor, it is similar to divergent evolution in that the species descend from the same ancestor, but it differs in that the trait is the same while in divergent evolution the trait is not.
An example of parallel evolution are certain arboreal frog species,'flying' frogs, in both Old World families and New World families having developed the ability of gliding flight. They have "enlarged hands and feet, full webbing between all fingers and toes, lateral skin flaps on the arms and legs, reduced weight per snout-vent length". One of the most famous examples of divergent evolution is the case of Darwin's Finches. During Darwin’s travels to the Galápagos Islands he discovered several different species of finch that shared a common ancestor, they had beaks that differed in shape and size reflecting their diet. The change in beak shape and size was believed to be a result of the lengths the birds had to go to in order to support their change in diet; some Galapagos finches have beaks that are more powerful to crack nuts with. A different type allows the bird to use cactus spines to spear insects in the bark of trees. Another good example of divergent evolution is the origin of the modern wolf.
Dogs and wolves both diverged from a common ancestor. To further support divergent evolution of dogs and wolves, genomic research was conducted to compare mitochondrial DNA to indicate the presence of shared ancestry. Taking 162 wolves from various parts of the world as well as 140 dogs of 60 different breeds, it is found that dogs and wolves have shared ancestry by how similar their DNA sequences are. Comparis
Royal Irish Academy
The Royal Irish Academy, based in Dublin, is an all-Ireland, independent academic body that promotes study and excellence in the sciences and social sciences. It is one of Ireland's premier learned societies and cultural institutions, has around 501 members including Honorary Members, elected in recognition of their academic achievements; the Academy was established in 1785 and granted a royal charter in 1786. Until the late 19th century the Royal Irish Academy was the owner of the main national collection of Irish antiquities, it presented its collection of archaeological artefacts and similar items, which included such famous pieces as the Tara Brooch, the Cross of Cong and the Ardagh Chalice to what is now the National Museum of Ireland, but retains its significant collection of manuscripts including the famous Cathach of Colmcille, the Lebor na hUidre, the medieval Leabhar Breac, the Book of Ballymote, the Annals of the Four Masters. The Academy defines itself as Ireland's leading body of experts in the sciences and humanities, its mission statement says "The Academy champions Irish academic research.
One of it principal roles is to recognise Ireland's world-class researchers. It supports excellent scholarship and promotes awareness of how science and the humanities enrich our lives and benefit society." The Academy is an all-island independent forum of peer-elected experts, which draws on Members' expertise to contribute to public debate and policy formation on issues in science and culture. In doing this it aims to bring together academia and industry to address issues of mutual interest, it leads national research projects in areas relating to Ireland and its heritage; the RIA represents Irish learning internationally, operates a major research library, is an academic publisher. Election to Membership of the Royal Irish Academy is a public recognition of academic excellence and is sometimes held to be the highest academic honour in Ireland; those elected are entitled to use the designation "MRIA" after their name. The criterion for election to Membership is a significant contribution to scholarly research as shown in the candidate's published academic work.
However some of those elected to membership are not academics at all but receive the accolade in recognition of other contributions to society - these include former public servants, leaders in political and business life, others. To be elected, a candidate has to be proposed and recommended by five Members, selection is made by a rotating committee of existing Members, their names not made known outside the Academy. Presently, up to 24 Members are elected each year divided between the sciences and humanities. Membership is open only to those resident in Ireland. Honorary Membership can be awarded to persons who have made outstanding contribution to their academic discipline, but who are resident outside the island of Ireland. At least two existing Members must recommend a candidate for Honorary Membership. Honorary members are entitled to use the designation "Hon. MRIA" after their name; the Academy is one of the longest-established publishers in Ireland, having commenced in 1787. The Academy publishes six journals: Ériu, Irish Studies in International Affairs, Mathematical Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy Section C, Irish Journal of Earth Sciences and Biology and Environment.
The Academy's research projects regularly publish the Irish Historic Towns Atlas series, the Documents on Irish Foreign Policy, Foclóir na nua-Ghaeilge, the Dictionary of Medieval Latin from Celtic Sources, the New Survey of Clare Island. In 2014 the Academy published the five-volume Architecture of Ireland; the Academy is committed to publishing work which not only influences scholarship, but the wider community, for example Flashes of Brilliance by Dick Ahlstrom, Judging Dev by Diarmaid Ferriter. Both of these publications have been accompanied by either a radio series. During the 1950s the Academy began forming national committees, each relating to a specific discipline. Today the main focus of the Academy committees is to serve as a strategic vehicle for the disciplines they represent, to act as a national forum, providing input into policy, research priorities and issues of public concern, such as climate change, they organise public outreach activities, such as lectures and public interviews, award grants for research and travel.
The Academy committees are made up of both Members and non-Members, including representatives from universities, research institutions, government agencies and, where appropriate, industry. Science Committees: Climate Change and Environmental Sciences. Standing Committees - Standing Committee for Archaeology. Built in c.1750, the building has some fine decorative plasterwork and a handsome meeting room designed in 1854 by Frederick Clarendon a
Nature (journal)
Nature is a British multidisciplinary scientific journal, first published on 4 November 1869. It is one of the most recognizable scientific journals in the world, was ranked the world's most cited scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports and is ascribed an impact factor of 40.137, making it one of the world's top academic journals. It is one of the few remaining academic journals that publishes original research across a wide range of scientific fields. Research scientists are the primary audience for the journal, but summaries and accompanying articles are intended to make many of the most important papers understandable to scientists in other fields and the educated public. Towards the front of each issue are editorials and feature articles on issues of general interest to scientists, including current affairs, science funding, scientific ethics and research breakthroughs. There are sections on books and short science fiction stories; the remainder of the journal consists of research papers, which are dense and technical.
Because of strict limits on the length of papers the printed text is a summary of the work in question with many details relegated to accompanying supplementary material on the journal's website. There are many fields of research in which important new advances and original research are published as either articles or letters in Nature; the papers that have been published in this journal are internationally acclaimed for maintaining high research standards. Fewer than 8% of submitted papers are accepted for publication. In 2007 Nature received the Prince of Asturias Award for Humanity; the enormous progress in science and mathematics during the 19th century was recorded in journals written in German or French, as well as in English. Britain underwent enormous technological and industrial changes and advances in the latter half of the 19th century. In English the most respected scientific journals of this time were the refereed journals of the Royal Society, which had published many of the great works from Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday through to early works from Charles Darwin.
In addition, during this period, the number of popular science periodicals doubled from the 1850s to the 1860s. According to the editors of these popular science magazines, the publications were designed to serve as "organs of science", in essence, a means of connecting the public to the scientific world. Nature, first created in 1869, was not the first magazine of its kind in Britain. One journal to precede Nature was Recreative Science: A Record and Remembrancer of Intellectual Observation, created in 1859, began as a natural history magazine and progressed to include more physical observational science and technical subjects and less natural history; the journal's name changed from its original title to Intellectual Observer: A Review of Natural History, Microscopic Research, Recreative Science and later to the Student and Intellectual Observer of Science and Art. While Recreative Science had attempted to include more physical sciences such as astronomy and archaeology, the Intellectual Observer broadened itself further to include literature and art as well.
Similar to Recreative Science was the scientific journal Popular Science Review, created in 1862, which covered different fields of science by creating subsections titled "Scientific Summary" or "Quarterly Retrospect", with book reviews and commentary on the latest scientific works and publications. Two other journals produced in England prior to the development of Nature were the Quarterly Journal of Science and Scientific Opinion, established in 1864 and 1868, respectively; the journal most related to Nature in its editorship and format was The Reader, created in 1864. These similar journals all failed; the Popular Science Review survived longest, lasting 20 years and ending its publication in 1881. The Quarterly Journal, after undergoing a number of editorial changes, ceased publication in 1885; the Reader terminated in 1867, Scientific Opinion lasted a mere 2 years, until June 1870. Not long after the conclusion of The Reader, a former editor, Norman Lockyer, decided to create a new scientific journal titled Nature, taking its name from a line by William Wordsworth: "To the solid ground of nature trusts the Mind that builds for aye".
First owned and published by Alexander Macmillan, Nature was similar to its predecessors in its attempt to "provide cultivated readers with an accessible forum for reading about advances in scientific knowledge." Janet Browne has proposed that "far more than any other science journal of the period, Nature was conceived and raised to serve polemic purpose." Many of the early editions of Nature consisted of articles written by members of a group that called itself the X Club, a group of scientists known for having liberal and somewhat controversial scientific beliefs relative to the time period. Initiated by Thomas Henry Huxley, the group consisted of such important scientists as Joseph Dalton Hooker, Herbert Spencer, John Tyndall, along with another five scientists and mathematicians, it was in part its scientific liberality that made Nature a longer-lasti
Trinity College Dublin
Trinity College the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, is the sole constituent college of the University of Dublin, a research university located in Dublin, Ireland. The college was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother" of a new university, modelled after the collegiate universities of Oxford and Cambridge, but unlike these other ancient universities, only one college was established; the college is incorporated by "the Provost, Foundation Scholars and other members of the Board" as outlined by its founding charter. It is one of the seven ancient universities of Britain and Ireland, as well as Ireland's oldest surviving university. Trinity College is considered the most prestigious university in Ireland and amongst the most elite in Europe, principally due to its extensive history, reputation for social elitism and unique relationship with both the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. In accordance with the formula of ad eundem gradum, a form of recognition that exists among the three universities, a graduate of Oxford, Cambridge, or Dublin can be conferred with the equivalent degree at either of the other two universities without further examination.
Trinity College, Dublin is a sister college to St John's College and Oriel College, Oxford. Trinity was established outside the city walls of Dublin in the buildings of the outlawed Catholic Augustinian Priory of All Hallows. Trinity College was set up in part to consolidate the rule of the Tudor monarchy in Ireland, as a result was the university of the Protestant Ascendancy for much of its history. While Catholics were admitted from 1793 certain restrictions on membership of the college remained as professorships and scholarships were reserved for Protestants; these restrictions were lifted by Act of Parliament in 1873. However, from 1871 to 1970, the Catholic Church in Ireland in turn forbade its adherents from attending Trinity College without permission. Women were first admitted to the college as full members in January 1904. Trinity College is now surrounded by central Dublin and is located on College Green, opposite the historic Irish Houses of Parliament; the college proper occupies 190,000 m2, with many of its buildings ranged around large quadrangles and two playing fields.
Academically, it is divided into three faculties comprising 25 schools, offering degree and diploma courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The Library of Trinity College is a legal deposit library for Ireland and Great Britain, containing over 6.2 million printed volumes and significant quantities of manuscripts, including the Book of Kells. The first University of Dublin was created by the Pope in 1311, had a Chancellor and students over many years, before coming to an end at the Reformation. Following this, some debate about a new university at St. Patrick's Cathedral, in 1592 a small group of Dublin citizens obtained a charter by way of letters patent from Queen Elizabeth incorporating Trinity College at the former site of All Hallows monastery, to the south east of the city walls, provided by the Corporation of Dublin; the first provost of the college was the Archbishop of Dublin, Adam Loftus, he was provided with two initial Fellows, James Hamilton and James Fullerton.
Two years after foundation, a few Fellows and students began to work in the new college, which lay around one small square. During the following fifty years the community increased the endowments, including considerable landed estates, were secured, new fellowships were founded, the books which formed the foundation of the great library were acquired, a curriculum was devised and statutes were framed; the founding Letters Patent were amended by succeeding monarchs on a number of occasions, such as by James I in 1613 and most notably in 1637 by Charles I and supplemented as late as the reign of Queen Victoria. During the eighteenth century Trinity College was seen as the university of the Protestant Ascendancy. Parliament, meeting on the other side of College Green, made generous grants for building; the first building of this period was the Old Library building, begun in 1712, followed by the Printing House and the Dining Hall. During the second half of the century Parliament Square emerged.
The great building drive was completed in the early nineteenth century by Botany Bay, the square which derives its name in part from the herb garden it once contained. Following early steps in Catholic Emancipation, Catholics were first allowed to apply for admission in 1793, prior to the equivalent change at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford. Certain disabilities remained. In December 1845 Denis Caulfield Heron was the subject of a hearing at Trinity College. Heron had been examined and, on merit, declared a scholar of the college but had not been allowed to take up his place due to his Catholic religion. Heron appealed to the Courts which issued a writ of mandamus requiring the case to be adjudicated by the Archbishop of Dublin and the Primate of Ireland; the decision of Richard Whately and John George de la Poer Beresf
