Connecting and Empowering Library Publishers: An International Knowledge Exchange

The IFLA Special Interest Group (SIG) on Library Publishing was formed to strengthen networks, to exchange knowledge and best practice, and to advocate for and drive further developments in the area. The IFLA SIG held its inaugural mid-term meeting at Dublin Business School at the end of February 2019 which included presentations from library publishing programmes and experts from around the world. Themes explored in the conference included standards, platforms, funding models and societal impact. Please see the conference review by Suzanne Stapleton, University of Florida Libraries, (https://librarypublishing.org/reflections-on-ifla-midterm-2019/). Jane Buggle, Dublin Business School, and Marie O Neill, CCT College Dublin, chaired this conference with the support of Ann Okerson and the IFLA SIG Committee

Interferometric determination of the s- and d-wave scattering amplitudes in 87^{87}Rb

We demonstrate an interference method to determine the low-energy elastic scattering amplitudes of a quantum gas. We linearly accelerate two ultracold atomic clouds up to energies of 1.2 mK and observe the collision halo by direct imaging in free space. From the interference between $s$- and $d$- partial waves in the differential scattering pattern we extract the corresponding phase shifts. The method does not require knowledge of the atomic density. This allows us to infer accurate values for the $s$- and d-wave scattering amplitudes from the zero-energy limit up to the first Ramsauer minimum using only the Van der Waals $C_{6}$ coefficient as theoretical input. For the $^{87}$Rb triplet potential, the method reproduces the scattering length with an accuracy of 6%.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

The Irish Library Publishing Landscape: One Year On

This presentation gives an overview of developments in the Irish Library Publishing landscape since the inaugural mid-term meeting of the Library Publishing Group of the International Federation of Library Associations in Dublin in March 2019, which Marie and Jane co-chaired with the support of fellow organising Committee members and the SIG Convener Ann Okerson. See: https://www.ifla.org/node/92260?og=92037 for the presentations emanating from the Dublin SIG.https://arc.cct.ie/fac_presentations/1002/thumbnail.jp

Subjective Age, Lifestyle Behaviours and Cognitive Functioning in Older Adults: Findings from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA)

Objective: Subjective age has been associated to a number of health related outcomes. The present study aimed to investigate whether subjective age (how younger or old an individual feels) as well as lifestyle behaviours are associated with cognitive functioning in older adults. Method: Data from two waves of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing were used. Analysis was conducted at wave four (2008/2009), wave seven (2012/2015) and longitudinally, participants were aged 50 years and over. Subjective age, lifestyle behaviours – physical activity, sleep, smoking and alcohol consumption and covariates – chronological age, sex, relationship status and education were assessed to predict levels of immediate recall, delayed recall and verbal fluency at both wave four, seven and over time. Results: Overall, the sample felt younger than their chronological age and the discrepancy between chronological age and subjective age increased as age grew. A younger subjective age was associated with engaging in healthy lifestyle behaviours. Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that a younger subjective age was associated with better cognitive function and over time was associated with better immediate and delayed recall. Conclusion: The present study provides further evidence for an association between a younger subjective age and cognitive function in older adults. In particular, the findings from the longitudinal analysis found that even after adjusting for covariates, lifestyle behaviours and cognitive function at baseline the subjective experience of ageing predicted levels of episodic memory

Open access at a crossroads: library publishing and bibliodiversity

The open access movement has gained momentum since the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) first launched twenty years ago. Notably, there has been a drastic increase in the number of open access articles. Concerns have been raised about equality and diversity issues, however, for researchers without an affiliation (e.g. independent, unemployed and retired researchers) and researchers on the ‘scientific periphery’ who are excluded from the gold open access model. This article argues that the gold open access model is destructive to the knowledge production ecosystem by addressing the importance of bibliodiversity and the ways in which library publishing can contribute to sustainable and equitable knowledge production

Novel methodological approaches in loess research – interrogating biomarkers and compound-specific stable isotopes

Löss-Paläoboden Sequenzen sind wichtige terrestrische Archive für die Rekonstruktion der quartären Landschafts- und Klimageschichte. Die Entwicklung neuer, quantitativerer Paläoklima-Proxies könnte in den kommenden Jahren eine neue Ära in der Lössforschung einleiten. Dieser Review-Artikel stellt die Prinzipien, die zugrunde liegende Analytik, und erste Anwendungsbeispiele für einige dieser Proxies vor, welche derzeit entwickelt werden. Wir diskutieren das Potential von (i) pflanzenwachsbürtigen n-Alkanen als Biomarker für die Rekonstruktion der Vegetationsgeschichte, (ii) Aminosäure Razemisierung und Glycerin-Dialkyl-Glycerin-Tetraether (GDGT) Indizes als Proxies für die Rekonstruktion der Paläotemperatur und (iii) substanzspezifischen δD and δ18O Analysen an pflanzenbürtigen n-Alkanen bzw. Zuckern für die Entwicklung von Proxies zur Rekonstruktion von Paläoklima/-aridität. Während wir versuchen, die Leserschaft für die methodischen und analytischen Neuentwicklungen und deren Potential für die Lössforschung zu begeistern, verweisen wir gleichzeitig auch auf die Limitierungen und Schwächen der jeweiligen Methoden. So müssen beispielsweise Degradationseffekte oder postsedimentäre ‚Kontamination’ bei der Interpretation von Biomarker-Rekords berücksichtigt und weiter untersucht werden. Des Weiteren könnte sich die Quantifizierung der unterschiedlichen Einflussfaktoren auf Deuterium- und 18O-Rekords als herausfordernd erweisen.researc