Economic implications of different models of publishing scholarly electronic journals for professional societies and other small or specialist publishers:Report to the Joint Information Systems Committee Electronic Libraries Programme

This report aims to address the problems which have beset the academic publishing industry for a number of years, namely, escalating output of journal titles and articles, together with spiralling prices as purchasers (mostly university libraries) have attempted to keep pace within tightening financial constraints. The authors examine some of the economic implications of the recent strategies adopted by libraries to try and tackle these issues.The advent of electronic full-text journals affords the opportunity to take a fresh approach, recognising that any risk to publishers in the new electronic age is likely to fall on the small players in the sector, particularly learned societies which are operating on restricted budgets. The report examines the cost implications of moving to an electronic format, as well as describing the advantages to the end user in terms of an enhanced product delivered on demand. Pricing models for electronic journals are reviewed, with recognition that electronic media present opportunities for new pricing mechanisms, covering pay-as-you-view, site licence and subscription. The authors conclude by recommending that electronic journals be made available through a combination of payment by usage and subscription.Far from posing a threat to learned societies and small publishers, offering individual as well as bundles of articles to a world-wide academic community linked to the Internet may well increase demand. However, some form of intervention will be necessary to support the publication and archiving of quality articles with limited current demand in the interests of strengthening scholarship in the future.<br/

It bends but would it break?:topological analysis of BGP infrastructures in Europe

The Internet is often thought to be a model of resilience, due to a decentralised, organically-grown architecture. This paper puts this perception into perspective through the results of a security analysis of the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routing infrastructure. BGP is a fundamental Internet protocol and its intrinsic fragilities have been highlighted extensively in the literature. A seldom studied aspect is how robust the BGP infrastructure actually is as a result of nearly three decades of perpetual growth. Although global black-outs seem unlikely, local security events raise growing concerns on the robustness of the backbone. In order to better protect this critical infrastructure, it is crucial to understand its topology in the context of the weaknesses of BGP and to identify possible security scenarios. Firstly, we establish a comprehensive threat model that classifies main attack vectors, including but non limited to BGP vulnerabilities. We then construct maps of the European BGP backbone based on publicly available routing data. We analyse the topology of the backbone and establish several disruption scenarios that highlight the possible consequences of different types of attacks, for different attack capabilities. We also discuss existing mitigation and recovery strategies, and we propose improvements to enhance the robustness and resilience of the backbone. To our knowledge, this study is the first to combine a comprehensive threat analysis of BGP infrastructures withadvanced network topology considerations. We find that the BGP infrastructure is at higher risk than already understood, due to topologies that remain vulnerable to certain targeted attacks as a result of organic deployment over the years. Significant parts of the system are still uncharted territory, which warrants further investigation in this direction

Ovine Fetal Immune Response to Cache Valley Virus Infection

Cache Valley virus (CVV)-induced malformations have been previously reproduced in ovine fetuses. To evaluate the development of the antiviral response by the early, infected fetus, before the development of immunocompetency, ovine fetuses at 35 days of gestation were inoculated in utero with CVV and euthanized at 7, 10, 14, 21, and 28 days postinfection. The antiviral immune response in immature fetuses infected with CVV was evaluated. Gene expression associated with an innate, immune response was quantified by real-time quantitative PCR. The upregulated genes in infected fetuses included ISG15, Mx1, Mx2, IL-1, IL-6, TNF-α, TLR-7, and TLR-8. The amount of Mx1 protein, an interferon-stimulated GTPase capable of restricting growth of bunyaviruses, was elevated in the allantoic and amniotic fluid in infected fetuses. ISG15 protein expression was significantly increased in target tissues of infected animals. B lymphocytes and immunoglobulin-positive cells were detected in lymphoid tissues and in the meninges of infected animals. These results demonstrated that the infected ovine fetus is able to initiate an innate and adaptive immune response much earlier than previously known, which presumably contributes to viral clearance in infected animals

Continuous Flow Left Ventricular Assist Device Improves Functional Capacity and Quality of Life of Advanced Heart Failure Patients

ObjectivesThis study sought to assess the impact of continuous flow left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) on functional capacity and heart failure-related quality of life.BackgroundNewer continuous-flow LVAD are smaller and quieter than pulsatile-flow LVADs.MethodsData from advanced heart failure patients enrolled in the HeartMate II LVAD (Thoratec Corporation, Pleasanton, California) bridge to transplantation (BTT) (n = 281) and destination therapy (DT) (n = 374) trials were analyzed. Functional status (New York Heart Association [NYHA] functional class, 6-min walk distance, patient activity scores), and quality of life (Minnesota Living With Heart Failure [MLWHF] and Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaires [KCCQ]) were collected before and after LVAD implantation.ResultsCompared with baseline, LVAD patients demonstrated early and sustained improvements in functional status and quality of life. Most patients had NYHA functional class IV symptoms at baseline. Following implant, 82% (BTT) and 80% (DT) of patients at 6 months and 79% (DT) at 24 months improved to NYHA functional class I or II. Mean 6-min walk distance in DT patients was 204 m in patients able to ambulate at baseline, which improved to 350 and 360 m at 6 and 24 months. There were also significant and sustained improvements from baseline in both BTT and DT patients in median MLWHF scores (by 40 and 42 U in DT patients, or 52% and 55%, at 6 and 24 months, respectively), and KCCQ overall summary scores (by 39 and 41 U, or 170% and 178%).ConclusionsUse of a continuous flow LVAD in advanced heart failure patients results in clinically relevant improvements in functional capacity and heart failure-related quality of life

An examination of the long-term CO records from MOPITT and IASI: comparison of retrieval methodology

International audienceCarbon monoxide (CO) is a key atmospheric compound that can be remotely sensed by satellite on the global scale. Fifteen years of continuous observations are now available from the MOPITT/Terra mission (2000 to present). Another fifteen and more years of observations will be provided by the IASI/MetOp instrument series (2007–2023>). In order to study long term variability and trends, a homogeneous record is required, which is not straightforward as the retrieved products are instrument and processing dependent. The present study aims at evaluating the consistency between the CO products derived from the MOPITT and IASI missions, both for total columns and vertical profiles, during a six year overlap period (2008–2013). The analysis is performed by first comparing the available 2013 versions of the retrieval algorithms, and second using a dedicated reprocessing of MOPITT CO profiles and columns based on the IASI a priori constraints. MOPITT v5T total columns are generally slightly higher over land (bias ranging from 0 to 13%) than IASI v20100815 data. When IASI and MOPITT data are retrieved with the same a priori constraints, correlation coefficients are slightly improved. Large discrepancies (total column bias over 15%) observed in the Northern Hemisphere during the winter months are reduced by a factor of 2 to 2.5. The detailed analysis of retrieved vertical profiles compared with collocated aircraft data from the MOZAIC-IAGOS network, illustrates the advantages and disadvantages of a constant vs. a variable a priori. On one hand, MOPITT agrees better with the aircraft profiles for observations with persisting high levels of CO throughout the year due to pollution or seasonal fire activity (because the climatology-based a priori is supposed to be closer to the real atmospheric state). On the other hand, IASI performs better when unexpected events leading to high levels of CO occur, due to the less constrained variance-covariance matrix

Identification of the Target Cells and Sequence of Infection during Experimental Infection of Ovine Fetuses with Cache Valley Virus

Cache Valley virus-induced malformations have been previously reproduced in ovine fetuses; however, no studies have established the course of infection of cells and tissues with Cache Valley virus. To address these questions, ovine fetuses at 35 days of gestation were inoculated in utero with Cache Valley virus and euthanized at 7, 10, 14, 21, and 28 days postinfection. On postmortem examination, arthrogryposis and oligohydramnios were observed in some infected fetuses. Morphological studies showed necrosis in the central nervous system and skeletal muscle of infected fetuses evaluated after 7 to 14 days postinfection, and hydrocephalus, micromyelia, and muscular loss were observed in infected fetuses after 21 to 28 days postinfection. Using immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization, intense Cache Valley virus antigen and RNA staining was detected in the brain, spinal cord, skeletal muscle, and, to a lesser degree, in fetal membranes and other tissues of infected fetuses. Viral antigen and RNA staining decreased in targeted and infected tissues with the progression of the infection

Lead isotopes as tracers of crude oil migration within deep crustal fluid systems

Although Pb, U, and Th may be fractionated between crude oil and formation waters, Pb isotopes are not. This unique property makes Pb isotopes a particularly useful marker of hydrocarbon generation and migration. Here we show that Pb isotopes offer a new vision of long-range (secondary) oil migration relevant to the formation of oil fields. North Sea oils are largely generated from Jurassic black shales, yet their Pb isotopes are mixtures of Cenozoic to Proterozoic end-members. The same observation is made for crude oils from the Paris Basin, the Barents Sea, Libya, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, and Australia. Bulk Pb in crude oil therefore, for the most part, is foreign to its source rock(s). Our high-precision Pb isotope data on 195 crude oils worldwide, the first such data set in the published literature, and 17 Northern European black shales indicate that deep-seated Pb components originating beneath the source rocks are ubiquitous in crude oil. This implies that oil fields are embedded in basinal convective systems of hydrous fluids heated from below. Plumes of hot fluids rise from the lower thermal boundary layer, which Pb isotopes require douse the basement, into the core of the porous-flow convective cell where they dissolve the newly formed hydrocarbons sequestered in the source rocks. The fluids finally unload unmixed formation waters and crude oil at the base of the upper (conductive) boundary layer where they can be trapped in favorable sites. Based on these new insights we argue that Pb isotopes in crude oil constitute a good tracer of oil migration

Global agricultural intensification during climate change: a role for genomics

Agriculture is now facing the ‘perfect storm’ of climate change, increasing costs of fertilizer and rising food demands from a larger and wealthier human population. These factors point to a global food deficit unless the efficiency and resilience of crop production is increased. The intensification of agriculture has focused on improving production under optimized conditions, with significant agronomic inputs. Furthermore, the intensive cultivation of a limited number of crops has drastically narrowed the number of plant species humans rely on. A new agricultural paradigm is required, reducing dependence on high inputs and increasing crop diversity, yield stability and environmental resilience. Genomics offers unprecedented opportunities to increase crop yield, quality and stability of production through advanced breeding strategies, enhancing the resilience of major crops to climate variability, and increasing the productivity and range of minor crops to diversify the food supply. Here we review the state of the art of genomic-assisted breeding for the most important staples that feed the world, and how to use and adapt such genomic tools to accelerate development of both major and minor crops with desired traits that enhance adaptation to, or mitigate the effects of climate change