Building scalable digital library ingestion pipelines using microservices

CORE, a harvesting service offering access to millions of open access research papers from around the world, has shifted its harvesting process from following a monolithic approach to the adoption of a microservices infrastructure. In this paper, we explain how we rearranged and re-scheduled our old ingestion pipeline, present CORE's move to managing microservices and outline the tools we use in a new and optimised ingestion system. In addition, we discuss the ineffciencies of our old harvesting process, the advantages, and challenges of our new ingestion system and our future plans. We conclude that via the adoption of microservices architecture we managed to achieve a scalable and distributed system that would assist with CORE's future performance and evolution

Developing Infrastructure to Support Closer Collaboration of Aggregators with Open Repositories

The amount of open access content stored in repositories has increased dramatically, which has created new technical and organisational challenges for bringing this content together. The COnnecting REpositories (CORE) project has been dealing with these challenges by aggregating and enriching content from hundreds of open access repositories, increasing the discoverability and reusability of millions of open access manuscripts. As repository managers and library directors often wish to know the details of the content harvested from their repositories and keep a certain level of control over it, CORE is now facing the challenge of how to enable content providers to manage their content in the aggregation and control the harvesting process. In order to improve the quality and transparency of the aggregation process and create a two-way collaboration between the CORE project and the content providers, we propose the CORE Dashboard

Phylogenetic relationships of the Wolbachia of nematodes and arthropods

Wolbachia are well known as bacterial symbionts of arthropods, where they are reproductive parasites, but have also been described from nematode hosts, where the symbiotic interaction has features of mutualism. The majority of arthropod Wolbachia belong to clades A and B, while nematode Wolbachia mostly belong to clades C and D, but these relationships have been based on analysis of a small number of genes. To investigate the evolution and relationships of Wolbachia symbionts we have sequenced over 70 kb of the genome of wOvo, a Wolbachia from the human-parasitic nematode Onchocerca volvulus, and compared the genes identified to orthologues in other sequenced Wolbachia genomes. In comparisons of conserved local synteny, we find that wBm, from the nematode Brugia malayi, and wMel, from Drosophila melanogaster, are more similar to each other than either is to wOvo. Phylogenetic analysis of the protein-coding and ribosomal RNA genes on the sequenced fragments supports reciprocal monophyly of nematode and arthropod Wolbachia. The nematode Wolbachia did not arise from within the A clade of arthropod Wolbachia, and the root of the Wolbachia clade lies between the nematode and arthropod symbionts. Using the wOvo sequence, we identified a lateral transfer event whereby segments of the Wolbachia genome were inserted into the Onchocerca nuclear genome. This event predated the separation of the human parasite O. volvulus from its cattle-parasitic sister species, O. ochengi. The long association between filarial nematodes and Wolbachia symbionts may permit more frequent genetic exchange between their genomes

Older Adults Living with Cancer: Supportive Care Needs and Utilization of Peer Support Services

BACKGROUND: Cancer is primarily a disease of older adults with sixty percent of all incidences occurring in individuals 65 years and over. Coping with cancer may entail additional challenges for older adults due to co-morbidities, declining mobility, reduced social networks and ageism. To date, the majority of research examining supportive care needs has focused on younger women with breast cancer. Little attention has been paid to older adults’ experience with cancer, particularly with respect to psychosocial support. PURPOSE: The aims of the present studies were twofold: (1) to learn more about peer support services in Ontario, specifically: the type and location of available programs; extent of utilization by older adults; and factors that might facilitate or inhibit use by older adults; and (2) to gain a better understanding of the experiences and challenges facing older adults living with cancer, strategies and resources used to meet these challenges, unmet support related needs, as well as awareness of support services, principally peer support. METHODS: First, peer support services in Ontario were identified through an environmental scan. Subsequently, interviews were conducted with 24 key contacts from a purposeful sample (based on type and geographic location) of 30 of these groups. Next, surveys were administered to participants (n=220) and facilitators (n=39) from these groups to establish a profile of current peer support users and deliverers, and examine the extent to which older adults (age ≥ 65) utilized these services. Finally, a preliminary, in-depth, qualitative exploration from the perspective of older adults living with cancer was conducted through a focus group (n=6) and interviews with 20 older adults. RESULTS: The environmental scan yielded a total of 177 peer support cancer programs across Ontario; predominately group-based (93%). Most were located in urban centers. Few programs targeted colon cancer. In the 30 groups examined, breast and prostate cancer were the most common focus (60%). Group facilitators were primarily female (75%) and most had personally experienced cancer (77%). The male facilitators were older (p <.05) and most likely to lead the prostate groups. None of the programs systematically collected client information. Clients ranged in age from 25 to 91 years (mean = 64 ± 10.7). Many were long-term cancer survivors (average five years post diagnosis). Overall, less than half the clients were aged 65 or older. Clients over age 65 were predominately men (86%; p <.001) with prostate cancer. Almost 70% of program directors and over 90% of facilitators were unaware most individuals with cancer are over the age of 65. Interview participants were recruited primarily through the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS). Not surprisingly, 46% had participated in peer support. Older adults identified several challenges with respect to physical functioning, sexuality, emotional distress, and obtaining information. Participants utilized a variety of resources to meet informational and emotional challenges including, the Internet and the support of family and friends. Accessing routine follow-up care after the transition from ‘patient’ to ‘survivor’ was a significant unmet need. CONCLUSIONS: The findings support the premise that cancer peer support services may be under-utilized by older adults, particularly older women. The reasons for these findings remain unclear although ageism may be a factor. Due to the reliance on a convenience sample, qualitative findings that older adults were generally able to meet their supportive care needs cannot be generalized to all older adults living with cancer. Large organizations such as the CCS need to begin systematically collecting demographic and other information on clientele to enhance program planning and delivery. Further research studies on older adults living with cancer are needed to examine their supportive care needs

Examining the Hospital Elder Life Program in a rehabilitation setting: a pilot feasibility study

Background: The Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP) has been shown to effectively prevent delirium and functional decline in older patients in acute care, but has not been examined in a rehabilitation setting. This pilot study examined potential successes and implementation factors of the HELP in a post-acute rehabilitation hospital setting. Methods: A mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) evaluation, incorporating a repeated measures design, was used. A total of 100 patients were enrolled; 58 on the pilot intervention unit and 42 on a usual care unit. Group comparisons were made using change scores (pre-post intervention) on outcome measures between pilot unit patients and usual care patients (separate analyses compared usual care patients with pilot unit patients who did or did not receive the HELP). Qualitative data were collected using focus group and individual interviews, and analyzed using emergent coding procedures. Results: Delirium prevalence reduced from 10.9 % (n = 6) to 2.5 % (n = 1) in the intervention group, while remaining the same in the usual care group (2.5 % at both measurement points). Those who received the HELP showed greater improvement on cognitive and functional outcomes, particularly short-term memory and recall, and a shorter average length of stay than patients who did not. Participant groups discussed perceived barriers, benefits, and recommendations for further implementation of the HELP in a rehabilitation setting. Conclusions: This study adds to the limited research on delirium and the effectiveness of the HELP in post-acute rehabilitation settings. The HELP was found to be feasible and have potential benefits for reduced delirium and improved outcomes among rehabilitation patients.Funded in part by an Emerging Team Grant (ETG 92249) from the Canadian Institutes of Health Researc

Towards effective research recommender systems for repositories

In this paper, we argue why and how the integration of recommender systems for research can enhance the functionality and user experience in repositories. We present the latest technical innovations in the CORE Recommender, which provides research article recommendations across the global network of repositories and journals. The CORE Recommender has been recently redeveloped and released into production in the CORE system and has also been deployed in several third-party repositories. We explain the design choices of this unique system and the evaluation processes we have in place to continue raising the quality of the provided recommendations. By drawing on our experience, we discuss the main challenges in offering a state-of-the-art recommender solution for repositories. We highlight two of the key limitations of the current repository infrastructure with respect to developing research recommender systems: 1) the lack of a standardised protocol and capabilities for exposing anonymised user-interaction logs, which represent critically important input data for recommender systems based on collaborative filtering and 2) the lack of a voluntary global sign-on capability in repositories, which would enable the creation of personalised recommendation and notification solutions based on past user interactions

Religious Identity, Religious Attendance, and Parental Control

Using a national sample of adolescents aged 10–18 years and their parents (N = 5,117), this article examines whether parental religious identity and religious participation are associated with the ways in which parents control their children. We hypothesize that both religious orthodoxy and weekly religious attendance are related to heightened levels of three elements of parental control: monitoring activities, normative regulations, and network closure. Results indicate that an orthodox religious identity for Catholic and Protestant parents and higher levels of religious attendance for parents as a whole are associated with increases in monitoring activities and normative regulations of American adolescents

Aggregating The World's Open Access Research Papers

CORE offers seamless, unrestricted access to millions of research papers from around the world to everyone for free. CORE believes that knowledge can be used for the public good, and the more widely this knowledge can be distributed the better, for everyone

Spectroscopic Characterization of Aqua [ fac-Tc(CO)3]+ Complexes at High Ionic Strength.

Understanding fundamental Tc chemistry is important to both the remediation of nuclear waste and the reprocessing of nuclear fuel; however, current knowledge of the electronic structure and spectral signatures of low-valent Tc compounds significantly lags behind the remainder of the d-block elements. In particular, identification and treatment of Tc speciation in legacy nuclear waste is challenging due to the lack of reference data especially for Tc compounds in the less common oxidation states (I-VI). In an effort to establish a spectroscopic library corresponding to the relevant conditions of extremely high ionic strength typical for the legacy nuclear waste, compounds with the general formula of [ fac-Tc(CO)3(OH2)3- n(OH) n]1- n (where n = 0-3) were examined by a range of spectroscopic techniques including 99Tc/13C NMR, IR, XPS, and XAS. In the series of monomeric aqua species, stepwise hydrolysis results in the increase of the Tc metal center electron density and corresponding progressive decrease of the Tc-C bond distances, Tc electron binding energies, and carbonyl stretching frequencies in the order [ fac-Tc(CO)3(OH2)3]+ &gt; [ fac-Tc(CO)3(OH2)2(OH)] &gt; [ fac-Tc(CO)3(OH2)(OH)2]-. These results correlate with established trends of the 99Tc upfield chemical shift and carbonyl 13C downfield chemical shift. The lone exception is [ fac-Tc(CO)3(OH)]4 which exhibits a comparatively low electron density at the metal center attributed to the μ3-bridging nature of the -OH ligands causing less σ-donation and no π-donation. This work also reports the first observations of these compounds by XPS and [ fac-Tc(CO)3Cl3]2- by XAS. The unique and distinguishable spectral features of the aqua [ fac-Tc(CO)3]+ complexes lay the foundation for their identification in the complex aqueous matrixes