E-Book Rights: Advocacy in Action

E‐book rights advocacy efforts began nearly from the moment the format appeared. The topics have evolved over time but significant issues and the need for ongoing discussion and negotiation remain. To this end, Macalester College published an E‐Book Advocacy Statement in 2013. Since then several libraries have signed on. Most importantly, productive conversations with e‐book providers and vendors have ensued. These conversations have led to a better understanding of the library, publisher, and e‐book provider points of view as well as helped strengthen library/vendor relationships that are rooted in a willingness to deeply engage on these topics while appreciating one another’s knowledge, needs, and realities that may serve as a launching point for positive change. The paper summarizes the statement’s genesis and an open dialog between Macalester and a representative from Ingram’s MyiLibrary discussing the terms of the statement from both points of view. Even though the parties do not agree on all issues, and the library is not actively purchasing e‐books, both have committed to continually learning together so that in time we will both be able to fully meet the needs of our organizations and communities

Let’s Talk About E-Books: A Conversation Between Publishers and Librarians

Publishers, libraries, and content providers are navigating an e-book market that is trying to find it’s footing. Issues like sales, ownership, access, preservation, sharing, acquiring, and weeding are not universally defined. Questions around fair use and copyright are unsettled. All parties need to negotiate ways to sustain themselves economically and provide for their customers without sacrificing core values. This session will have publishers, librarians, and an e-book content provider conversing about e-books. We will also share thoughts on how to move this conversation forward. Publishers have developed a variety of models for providing access to e-books. Some offer DRM free e-books while others have many restrictions on their products. Some e-books can only be used a limited number of times, while other publishers fully transfer ownership to the library with the sale. Each of these models have advantages and drawbacks. Many libraries have promoted various ideas on what they want from e-books. Some libraries are looking into publishing. Others are joining together to advocate for standards. While all of these efforts have merits, there is not a clear single path forward. E-book content providers provide a platform for e-books from multiple publishers to be utilized by people through a wide variety of libraries. This service requires them to have a good understanding of the interests of both publishers and libraries. Publishers, libraries, and content providers need to engage each other in more conversations about e-books. While there are times when our interests compete there is also common ground. Clear expressions of priorities should be made in order to reduce misunderstandings and fears

Child Sexual Abuse and the Impact of Rurality on Foster Care Outcomes: An Exploratory Analysis

Given the cost of long-term foster care placement in both human and economic terms, few studies have specifically explored if any factors help to predict why this vulnerable population spends significantly more time in foster care. The overarching goal of this exploratory study was to use binary logistic regression to investigate whether any child demographic or environmental characteristics predicted the discharge of a child placed in Kentucky\u27s foster care system for child sexual abuse. Results indicated that children in the most rural areas of the state were over 10 times more likely to be discharged from foster care during the federal fiscal year than those residing in the most urban areas. Given this stark reality, a focus must be allocated in understanding this phenomenon. Future research must examine whether the results speak to the necessity of systematic improvement in urban areas or if they are illustrating a unique strength found in rural areas

Joint modeling of wind speed and wind direction through a conditional approach

Atmospheric near surface wind speed and wind direction play an important role in many applications, ranging from air quality modeling, building design, wind turbine placement to climate change research. It is therefore crucial to accurately estimate the joint probability distribution of wind speed and direction. In this work we develop a conditional approach to model these two variables, where the joint distribution is decomposed into the product of the marginal distribution of wind direction and the conditional distribution of wind speed given wind direction. To accommodate the circular nature of wind direction a von Mises mixture model is used; the conditional wind speed distribution is modeled as a directional dependent Weibull distribution via a two-stage estimation procedure, consisting of a directional binned Weibull parameter estimation, followed by a harmonic regression to estimate the dependence of the Weibull parameters on wind direction. A Monte Carlo simulation study indicates that our method outperforms an alternative method that uses periodic spline quantile regression in terms of estimation efficiency. We illustrate our method by using the output from a regional climate model to investigate how the joint distribution of wind speed and direction may change under some future climate scenarios.Comment: 29 pages, 15 figure

Intravitreal Administration of Human Bone Marrow CD34+ Stem Cells in a Murine Model of Retinal Degeneration.

PurposeIntravitreal murine lineage-negative bone marrow (BM) hematopoietic cells slow down retinal degeneration. Because human BM CD34+ hematopoietic cells are not precisely comparable to murine cells, this study examined the effect of intravitreal human BM CD34+ cells on the degenerating retina using a murine model.MethodsC3H/HeJrd1/rd1 mice, immunosuppressed systemically with tacrolimus and rapamycin, were injected intravitreally with PBS (n = 16) or CD34+ cells (n = 16) isolated from human BM using a magnetic cell sorter and labeled with enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP). After 1 and 4 weeks, the injected eyes were imaged with scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO)/optical coherence tomography (OCT) and tested with electroretinography (ERG). Eyes were harvested after euthanasia for immunohistochemical and microarray analysis of the retina.ResultsIn vivo SLO fundus imaging visualized EGFP-labeled cells within the eyes following intravitreal injection. Simultaneous OCT analysis localized the EGFP-labeled cells on the retinal surface resulting in a saw-toothed appearance. Immunohistochemical analysis of the retina identified EGFP-labeled cells on the retinal surface and adjacent to ganglion cells. Electroretinography testing showed a flat signal both at 1 and 4 weeks following injection in all eyes. Microarray analysis of the retina following cell injection showed altered expression of more than 300 mouse genes, predominantly those regulating photoreceptor function and maintenance and apoptosis.ConclusionsIntravitreal human BM CD34+ cells rapidly home to the degenerating retinal surface. Although a functional benefit of this cell therapy was not seen on ERG in this rapidly progressive retinal degeneration model, molecular changes in the retina associated with CD34+ cell therapy suggest potential trophic regenerative effects that warrant further exploration

Tourism and Community Well-Being: An Applied Approach

This study utilized a grounded, inductive framework to explore the relationship between tourism and the well-being of communities through the integration of three complimentary planning and strategy exercises. Attendees of a regional tourism development conference in Queensland, Australia participated in a “Futures Wheel, Appreciative Inquiry, and Make It Fail” exercise. This was part of a workshop hosted by researchers interested in understanding the current and future relationship between tourism and community well-being. In order to provide parameters for the three-step exercise, Flora’s community capitals framework was applied as a means of identifying components of a community that contribute to its well-being. These exercises benefitted both practitioners and researchers seeking to understand how stakeholders perceive tourism’s impacts on community well-being. This paper demonstrates how the exercises were applied in a workshop setting and presents limited findings based on the analysis of a portion of the data

Star Formation in the Central 400 pc of the Milky Way: Evidence for a Population of Massive YSOs

The central kpc of the Milky Way might be expected to differ significantly from the rest of the Galaxy with regard to gas dynamics and the formation of YSOs. We probe this possibility with mid-infrared observations obtained with IRAC and MIPS on Spitzer and with MSX. We use color-color diagrams and SED fits to explore the nature of YSO candidates (including objects with 4.5 micron excesses possibly due to molecular emission). There is an asymmetry in the distribution of the candidate YSOs, which tend to be found at negative Galactic longitudes; this behavior contrasts with that of the molecular gas, approximately 2/3 of which is at positive longitudes. The small scale height of these objects suggests that they are within the Galactic center region and are dynamically young. They lie between two layers of infrared dark clouds and may have originated from these clouds. We identify new sites for this recent star formation. The methanol masers appear to be associated with young, embedded YSOs characterized by 4.5 micron excesses. We use the SEDs of these sources to estimate their physical characteristics. Within the central 400x50 pc (|l|<1.3\degr and |b|<10') the star formation rate based on the identification of Stage I evolutionary phase of YSO candidates is about 0.14 solar mass/yr. We suggest that a recent burst of star formation took place within the last 10^5 years. This suggestion is also consistent with estimates of star formation rates within the last ~10^7 years showing a peak around 10^5 years ago. Lastly, we find that the Schmidt-Kennicutt Law applies well in the central 400 pc of the Galaxy. This implies that star formation does not appear to be dramatically affected by the extreme physical conditions in the Galactic center region.Comment: 96 pages, ten tables, 35 figures, ApJ (in press), replaced by a revised versio

Relationships among intramammary health, udder and teat characteristics, and productivity of extensively managed ewes

Mastitis is an economically important disease and its subclinical state is difficult to diagnose, which makes mitigation more challenging. The objectives of this study were to screen clinically healthy ewes in order to 1) identify cultivable microbial species in milk, 2) evaluate somatic cell count (SCC) thresholds associated with intramammary infection, and 3) estimate relationships between udder and teat morphometric traits, SCC, and ewe productivity. Milk was collected from two flocks in early (\u3c5 \u3ed) and peak (30 to 45 d) lactation to quantify SCC (n = 530) and numerate cultivable microbial species by culture-based isolation followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS; n = 243) identification. Within flock and lactation stage, 11% to 74% (mean = 36%) of samples were culture positive. More than 50 unique identifications were classified by MALDI-TOF MS analysis, and Bacillus licheniformis (18% to 27%), Micrococcus flavus (25%), Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (7% to 18%), and Staphylococcus epidermidis (26%) were among the most common within flock and across lactation stage. Optimum SCC thresholds to identify culture-positive samples ranged from 175 × 103 to 1,675 × 103 cells/mL. Ewe productivity was assessed as total 120-d adjusted litter weight (LW120) and analyzed within flock with breed, parity, year, and the linear covariate of log10 SCC (LSCC) at early or peak lactation. Although dependent on lactation stage and year, each 1-unit increase in LSCC (e.g., an increase in SCC from 100 × 103 to 1,000 × 103 cells/mL) was predicted to decrease LW120 between 9.5 and 16.1 kg when significant. Udder and teat traits included udder circumference, teat length, teat placement, and degree of separation of the udder halves. Correlations between traits were generally low to moderate within and across lactation stage and most were not consistently predictive of ewe LSCC. Overall, the frequencies of bacteria-positive milk samples indicated that subclinical mastitis (SCM) is common in these flocks and can impact ewe productivity. Therefore, future research is warranted to investigate pathways and timing of microbial invasion, genomic regions associated with susceptibility, and husbandry to mitigate the impact of SCM in extensively managed ewes