BOOKENDS September 2023, Volume 7, Issue 1

We are thrilled to extend a warm and hearty welcome to all of you as you embark on your academic journey at Khalifa University. As the heart of knowledge on campus, the Khalifa University Library is here to support your quest for excellence in education and research. Many of you probably participated in the faculty and student orientation and learned about the staff, services and resources we provide.

Key Support Services for the KU Community
•    E-Resources: Our library provides access to a vast array of electronic resources, including e-books, journals, databases, and multimedia materials. Whether you're delving into cutting-edge research or seeking additional references for your projects, our e-resources are just a click away.
•    Information Literacy: Navigating the sea of information is a crucial skill in today's world. We offer information literacy programs and one-on-one consultations to help you develop critical thinking, research, and evaluation skills, ensuring you can harness the power of information effectively.
•    Workshops: Knowledge is most potent when shared. Our library regularly hosts workshops on various topics, from research methodologies and academic writing to data analysis and software tools. These sessions provide valuable opportunities to enhance your academic skills and engage with experts in your field.
•    Research Support: We understand the importance of your research endeavors. Our library team is dedicated to assisting you with literature reviews, and citation management. Our goal is to empower you to excel in your scholarly pursuits.
•    Library as a Community Hub: Beyond resources, we see the library as a hub for the Khalifa University community to connect, collaborate, and create. Our spaces are designed to facilitate both focused study and collaborative work, offering a welcoming environment for group projects and quiet contemplation.

Get to Know Us:
We encourage you to explore our website and visit our physical library locations at SAN Campus Habshan and Main Campus Building E at your convenience. Our knowledgeable staff is eager to assist you in person, by phone, or online. We are here to make your academic journey at Khalifa University as enriching and successful as possible.
Remember, the library is more than just a building filled with books: it's a gateway to knowledge and a partner in your educational journey. We look forward to meeting and serving you, and we wish you a productive and fulfilling time at Khalifa University.

I am interested in social neuroscience and how human cognition shapes our behavior and how it evolves. This journey started whilst still a student studying Genetics of Behavior, Population Genetics and Abnormal Psychology amongst other subjects, including a bit of German literature to add some esoteric spices. Konrad Lorenz loved his geese and showed that imprinting can shape lifelong behavior. On a simpler level, we find eusociality in the insect world of which the Hymenoptera (bees, ants, wasps, etc.) are a good example. If we move to the molecular level, chemicals called pheromones play a role in inter-individual attraction. Then we have thermodynamics of far from equilibrium systems displaying dynamic self-assembly and chemical networks that display similar behavior. Returning to social neuroscience, E.O. Wilson coined the term sociobiology to explain the mechanics behind social behavior such as altruism, aggression, social symbiosis and communication. Social neuroscience tries to understand the role that the many neurons of our brains play in shaping human behavior.

Recently, we published a paper, led by KAIST, on the interactions of two individuals in a debate, and whether arousal and valence can be identified in biosignals. My current work extends this to investigate synchronicity, by exploring the characteristics of biosignals such as EEG or heart rate patterns when two or more individuals interact. This perspective of synchronicity is somewhat removed from the original ideal of Carl Jung, but recent work incorporates morphic resonance as suggested by Rupert Sheldrake, as well as systems theory and chaos theory investigated by Ernst Lazlo. My current focus is interpersonal synchronicity, exploring the interaction between two individuals in the same time and space and investigating this from the perspective of brain or heart functional synchronicity.

Welcome the new additions to our KU Libraries team!

Meera Al Naqbi

Meera Alnaqbi is a Library Information Specialist. She got her bachelor's degree in Finance and Banking from United Arab Emirates University. Her dream was to land a job in a library and gain education experience simultaneously. She joined Khalifa University Library in 2022. She has always been the person who connects people with information and provides them with the resources they need. The KU Library team is fortunate to have her. She is passionate about sharing knowledge and information with students, faculty, and library users.  In addition, she is eager to stay current on the latest trends in library sciences.

Shaikha Almenhali

Shaikha Almenhali is a library information specialist with more than five years of experience working between the incredible book shelves. Shaikha’s main role in the library is to assist with the various library resources, perform all routine library services, and provide advice and assistance to students and staff while using the library. Shaikha is passionate about her job and will always be there with the positive attitude for the help.

William Nathaniel Hutchinson III

Willliam joined KU in April as a Senior Library Specialist and has resided in the UAE for over eight years. He values the country’s technological initiatives, multicultural environment, and its proximity to popular travel destinations. As a native of Miami, Florida (USA) he enjoys running outdoors, cooking, Xbox gaming, and of course, reading.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold
Toshikazu Kawaguchi, trans. Geoffrey Trousselot, Picador Publishing, ISBN 9781529029581

Imagine enjoying a warm, comforting cup of delicious coffee on a cold, rainy day: that's how I felt reading Before the Coffee Gets Cold, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.

This book is split into four parts, so it's not too long. It takes the reader to a unique café, where people can time-travel, but with the limitation that they must return to the café before their coffee cools. In the stories, we meet four different characters who use time-travel to resolve old arguments, seek answers, or express their feelings.
This book doesn't rush, and it's mostly about characters talking instead of describing things, which I found quite appealing, but it may not be to everyone's taste. Still, I rather enjoyed the stories and the little lessons they offer. It was both touching and a bit sad to see people from different walks of life trying to make things better, even if they couldn't completely fix their pasts. Each character learned from their experiences, and their stories left a mark on my heart.
This book has been on my "to-read" list for some time, and I'm glad that I finally got around to reading it. Kawaguchi's stories are warm and deeply human, making his book feel like a comforting and melancholy embrace for the reader.

Chat GPT is a popular artificial intelligence (AI) tool  developed by Open AI and had its first public launch as ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer) 3.5 in November 2022. At that time, it functioned as a basic chatbot, providing real-time responses to questions on a variety of topics and scientific concepts. Since then, it has increased its functionality to allow the sharing of conversations across multiple platforms (iOS, Android) instead of only using an internet browser. The iOS app version was launched in May 2023, and its Android counterpart was released in July 2023 initially in Argentina, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, the UK, and South Korea. Most recently in August, it has become integrated into Microsoft’s Bing search engine and has released an enterprise version. When this version is connected to an organization’s network, it can learn how to debug computer code, write short essays, and even draft a subject specific email.

To the average person, AI and ChatGPT might seem to be sci-fi magic, but there is a great deal of technology behind its functionality. Artificial intelligence is enabled by machine learning and deep learning. Machine learning can sort through structured data like an Excel file, whereas deep learning can handle unstructured data like text documents, videos, images, and even social media files. In general, this is known as “Weak AI”. This type of AI is the most common and works by detecting patterns to prevent the future. Chat GPT uses deep learning connected to a variety of Artificial, Convolutional (Images) and Recurrent (Alexa, Siri etc.) Neural Networks to provide responses to questions you ask it.

Hopefully this article has provided you with a basic overview of ChatGPT and AI. If you need any articles, books, or multimedia resources about this or any topic, feel free to visit our webpage at https://library.ku.ac.ae. And you can always stop by the library for in-person reference support.

The oldest library in the world dates from the seventh century BC.
The Library of Ashurbanipal in Ninevah, Assyria (now in Iraq), established by Ashurbanipal, King of Assyria (668–c.630 BC), is thought to be one of the oldest libraries in the world. Archaeologists re-discovered the site in the 1850s, uncovering over 30,000 cuneiform tablets on history and law which appeared to have been arranged in a systematic fashion.

There’s a library of smells in France.
The Osmothèque is a library of smells in Versailles, France. Founded in 1990, the Osmothèque is a repository for perfumes and contains over 3,200 scents, some 400 of which are no longer made. The collection is an archive of perfume-making history, and many fragrance houses and parfumiers have kindly donated samples of perfumes, both current and historical, in order to safeguard their formulas.

Isaac Asimov has a book in nearly every category of the Dewey Decimal Classification System.
It’s said that prolific writer Isaac Asimov is the only person to have published books which have been represented in nine of the ten major Dewey Classification System categories. The system was developed by Melvil Dewey in 1873. It’s been adopted by more than 200,000 libraries in 135 countries. The scheme works hierarchically by dividing knowledge into ten main subjects, meaning that books within the same subject group can be shelved together. It’s thought that the only category Asimov failed to produce a book in was “100 Philosophy.”

The Vatican’s Secret Archive isn’t really secret.
The Archivum Secretum Apostolicum Vaticanum or Vatican Secret Archive was created by Pope Paul V in 1612. It contains all the acts passed by the Holy See, plus papal correspondence, state papers and account books. The archive belongs to the reigning pope and when he dies it passes on to his successor. The use of the word “secret” in the title derives from the old usage of the word meaning private or personal—relating to the fact that the archive is, in effect, the private archive of the papacy. The archives have been available to researchers since 1881 and today contain items accumulated in over 600 archival groups (the earliest of which is from the eighth century) on 53 miles of shelving.

There’s a Magician’s Library in New York.
The Conjuring Arts Research Center was established in 2003 in Manhattan, New York. A non-profit organisation, its primary role is as a library for books on magic and related arts such as hypnosis, ventriloquism, juggling and sleight of hand. The library currently holds over 12,000 books on magic in numerous different languages and includes rare texts from the 15th century. The collection is especially strong on early magic, holding over 500 books on magic printed before 1700. As well as books the library holds a number of magic periodicals, has an extensive collection of manuscripts featuring magic methods, and holds some 20,000 items of correspondence between magicians.

Source: https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/culture/books/book-reviews/10-fascinating-facts-about-libraries