Are book publications disappearing from scholarly communication in the social sciences and humanities?

In the social sciences and humanities book publishing takes a prominent role, both in terms of communicating with international peers and with a broader intelligentsia (Hicks, 2004; Verleysen & Engels, 2014). Empirical evidence regarding the evolution of the share of scholarly book publications in the total volume of scholarly publications in a given country is rare. In this study we intend to fill this gap with an analysis of the comprehensive coverage data on the share of peer reviewed book publications (book chapters, edited volumes and monographs) that are available from Flanders and Slovenia for the period 2004 to 2015. We supplement these data with data on peer reviewed book chapters and monographs from Norway for the period 2005-2015 as well as data on all types of peer reviewed book publishing for the period 2009 to 2014 for Poland and 2011 to 2015 for Finland

Are book publications disappearing from scholarly communication in the social sciences and humanities?

© 2018, Tim C.E. Engels, Andreja Istenič Starčič, Emanuel Kulczycki, Janne Pölönen and Gunnar Sivertsen. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the evolution in terms of shares of scholarly book publications in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in five European countries, i.e. Flanders (Belgium), Finland, Norway, Poland and Slovenia. In addition to aggregate results for the whole of the social sciences and the humanities, the authors focus on two well-established fields, namely, economics & business and history. Design/methodology/approach: Comprehensive coverage databases of SSH scholarly output have been set up in Flanders (VABB-SHW), Finland (VIRTA), Norway (NSI), Poland (PBN) and Slovenia (COBISS). These systems allow to trace the shares of monographs and book chapters among the total volume of scholarly publications in each of these countries. Findings: As expected, the shares of scholarly monographs and book chapters in the humanities and in the social sciences differ considerably between fields of science and between the five countries studied. In economics & business and in history, the results show similar field-based variations as well as country variations. Most year-to-year and overall variation is rather limited. The data presented illustrate that book publishing is not disappearing from an SSH. Research limitations/implications: The results presented in this paper illustrate that the polish scholarly evaluation system has influenced scholarly publication patterns considerably, while in the other countries the variations are manifested only slightly. The authors conclude that generalizations like “performance-based research funding systems (PRFS) are bad for book publishing” are flawed. Research evaluation systems need to take book publishing fully into account because of the crucial epistemic and social roles it serves in an SSH. Originality/value: The authors present data on monographs and book chapters from five comprehensive coverage databases in Europe and analyze the data in view of the debates regarding the perceived detrimental effects of research evaluation systems on scholarly book publishing. The authors show that there is little reason to suspect a dramatic decline of scholarly book publishing in an SSH

360 deg Camera Head for Unmanned Sea Surface Vehicles

The 360 camera head consists of a set of six color cameras arranged in a circular pattern such that their overlapping fields of view give a full 360 view of the immediate surroundings. The cameras are enclosed in a watertight container along with support electronics and a power distribution system. Each camera views the world through a watertight porthole. To prevent overheating or condensation in extreme weather conditions, the watertight container is also equipped with an electrical cooling unit and a pair of internal fans for circulation

Isolation and purification of Cu-free methanobactin from Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The isolation of highly pure copper-free methanobactin is a prerequisite for the investigation of the biogeochemical functions of this chalkophore molecule produced by methane oxidizing bacteria. Here, we report a purification method for methanobactin from <it>Methylosinus trichosporium </it>OB3b cultures based on reversed-phase HPLC fractionation used in combination with a previously reported resin extraction. HPLC eluent fractions of the resin extracted product were collected and characterized with UV-vis, FT-IR, and C-1s NEXAFS spectroscopy, as well as with elemental analysis and ESI-MS.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results showed that numerous compounds other than methanobactin were present in the isolate obtained with resin extraction. Molar C/N ratios, mass spectrometry measurements, and UV-vis spectra indicated that methanobactin was only present in one of the HPLC fractions. On a mass basis, methanobactin carbon contributed only 32% to the total organic carbon isolated with resin extraction. Our spectroscopic results implied that besides methanobactin, the organic compounds in the resin extract comprised breakdown products of methanobactin as well as polysaccharide-like substances.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results demonstrate that a purification step is indispensable in addition to resin extraction in order to obtain pure methanobactin. The proposed HPLC purification procedure is suitable for semi-preparative work and provides copper-free methanobactin.</p

mRNA vaccine boosting enhances antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in individuals with antibody deficiency syndromes

Individuals with primary antibody deficiency (PAD) syndromes have poor humoral immune responses requiring immunoglobulin replacement therapy. We followed individuals with PAD after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccination by evaluating their immunoglobulin replacement products and serum for anti-spike binding, Fcγ receptor (FcγR) binding, and neutralizing activities. The immunoglobulin replacement products tested have low anti-spike and receptor-binding domain (RBD) titers and neutralizing activity. In coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-naive individuals with PAD, anti-spike and RBD titers increase after mRNA vaccination but wane by 90 days. Those vaccinated after SARS-CoV-2 infection develop higher and more sustained responses comparable with healthy donors. Most vaccinated individuals with PAD have serum-neutralizing antibody titers above an estimated correlate of protection against ancestral SARS-CoV-2 and Delta virus but not against Omicron virus, although this is improved by boosting. Thus, some immunoglobulin replacement products likely have limited protective activity, and immunization and boosting of individuals with PAD with mRNA vaccines should confer at least short-term immunity against SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Omicron

Symmetric Jump Processes and their Heat Kernel Estimates

We survey the recent development of the DeGiorgi-Nash-Moser-Aronson type theory for a class of symmetric jump processes(or equivalently, a class of symmetric integro-differential operators). We focus on the sharp two-sided estimates for the transition density functions (or heat kernels) of the processes, a priori Holder estimate and parabolic Harnack inequalities for their parabolic functions. In contrast to the second order elliptic differential operator case, the methods to establish these properties for symmetric integro-differential operators are mainly probabilistic.Comment: To appear in Science in China Series A: Mathematic

SARS-CoV-2 booster vaccination rescues attenuated IgG1 memory B cell response in primary antibody deficiency patients

BACKGROUND: Although SARS-CoV-2 vaccines have proven effective in eliciting a protective immune response in healthy individuals, their ability to induce a durable immune response in immunocompromised individuals remains poorly understood. Primary antibody deficiency (PAD) syndromes are among the most common primary immunodeficiency disorders in adults and are characterized by hypogammaglobulinemia and impaired ability to mount robust antibody responses following infection or vaccination. METHODS: Here, we present an analysis of both the B and T cell response in a prospective cohort of 30 individuals with PAD up to 150 days following initial COVID-19 vaccination and 150 days post mRNA booster vaccination. RESULTS: After the primary vaccination series, many of the individuals with PAD syndromes mounted SARS-CoV-2 specific memory B and CD4 CONCLUSION: Together, these data indicate that SARS-CoV-2 vaccines elicit memory B and T cells in most PAD patients and highlights the importance of booster vaccination in immunodeficient individuals