Open Access Repositories - maximizing and measuring research impact through university and research-funder open-access self-archiving mandates

No research institution can afford all the journals its researchers may need, so all articles are losing research impact (usage and citations) from would-be users whose institutions cannot afford paid access. Articles that are made “Open Access,” by self-archiving them on the web are cited twice as much, but only about 15 percent of articles are being spontaneously self-archived. The only institutions approaching 100 percent self-archiving are those that mandate it. Surveys show that majority of authors (95%) will comply with a self-archiving mandate

Bipolar querying of valid-time intervals subject to uncertainty

Databases model parts of reality by containing data representing properties of real-world objects or concepts. Often, some of these properties are time-related. Thus, databases often contain data representing time-related information. However, as they may be produced by humans, such data or information may contain imperfections like uncertainties. An important purpose of databases is to allow their data to be queried, to allow access to the information these data represent. Users may do this using queries, in which they describe their preferences concerning the data they are (not) interested in. Because users may have both positive and negative such preferences, they may want to query databases in a bipolar way. Such preferences may also have a temporal nature, but, traditionally, temporal query conditions are handled specifically. In this paper, a novel technique is presented to query a valid-time relation containing uncertain valid-time data in a bipolar way, which allows the query to have a single bipolar temporal query condition

Sources of resistance to foliar diseases of groundnut and their stability in West Africa

Three foliar pathogens, early (Cercospora arachidicola [Mycosphaerella arachidis]) and late (Cercosporidium personatum [M. berkeleyi]) leaf spots and rust (Puccinia arachidis) are a major constraint to groundnut production in West Africa, although their severities vary from location to location. A total of 424 germplasm lines was screened for resistance to these pathogens in Niger and Burkina Faso and resistant lines were identified. Some sources of resistance to early leaf spot reported in India showed variable reactions in West Africa. Differential reactions to early leaf spot at different locations indicated that there may be physiological races of the pathogen. Sources of resistance to late leaf spot and rust selected at the ICRISAT Centre (India) were also resistant in West Africa. Multiple disease resistance was evident in lines ICG 1707, ICG 6330 and USA 63

One-step facial feminization surgery: The importance of a custom-made preoperative planning and patient satisfaction assessment

Background: The availability of more accurate techniques used for transgender surgery has resulted in an increased number of patients requesting facial feminization surgery (FFS). The aim of this study was to present the FFS pre-operative planning of the authors’ male-to-female transsexual patients using photo-editing software, computer-aided design (CAD), modeling, and three-dimensional (3D) printing. Material and Methods: Twenty-five patients underwent FFS between November 2015 and May 2018. They were retrospectively included in this study, and their records were analyzed. Patients’ 3D facial models were printed and used for an accurate preoperative planning and shown to the patients. To assess patient satisfaction, the preoperative, six-month, and one-year postoperative scores obtained using Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) and Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) were compared. The scores following a normal distribution obtained for each patient were compared using a paired t-test. Results: The 3D model preparation mean time was 145±13.2 min. A total of 114 surgical procedures were carried out. The mean operative time was 420±23 min. Patients experienced no postoperative complication. All patients were very satisfied after surgery, with a significant difference between pre- and postoperative scores (p = 0.002; p = 0.03). Conclusion: With use of 3D modeling, surgeons are nearing a custom-made surgery era, especially required for complex procedures such as FFS. We suggest using 3D technology for a more accurate preoperative planning

Spectral and spatial imaging of the Be+sdO binary phi Persei

The rapidly rotating Be star phi Persei was spun up by mass and angular momentum transfer from a now stripped-down, hot subdwarf companion. Here we present the first high angular resolution images of phi Persei made possible by new capabilities in longbaseline interferometry at near-IR and visible wavelengths. We observed phi Persei with the MIRC and VEGA instruments of the CHARA Array. Additional MIRC-only observations were performed to track the orbital motion of the companion, and these were fit together with new and existing radial velocity measurements of both stars to derive the complete orbital elements and distance. The hot subdwarf companion is clearly detected in the near-IR data at each epoch of observation with a flux contribution of 1.5% in the H band, and restricted fits indicate that its flux contribution rises to 3.3% in the visible. A new binary orbital solution is determined by combining the astrometric and radial velocity measurements. The derived stellar masses are 9.6+-0.3Msol and 1.2+-0.2Msol for the Be primary and subdwarf secondary, respectively. The inferred distance (186 +- 3 pc), kinematical properties, and evolutionary state are consistent with membership of phi Persei in the alpha Per cluster. From the cluster age we deduce significant constraints on the initial masses and evolutionary mass transfer processes that transformed the phi Persei binary system. The interferometric data place strong constraints on the Be disk elongation, orientation, and kinematics, and the disk angular momentum vector is coaligned with and has the same sense of rotation as the orbital angular momentum vector. The VEGA visible continuum data indicate an elongated shape for the Be star itself, due to the combined effects of rapid rotation, partial obscuration of the photosphere by the circumstellar disk, and flux from the bright inner disk.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, 1 Anne

Diseases of groundnut in West Africa and their management: Research priorities and strategies

Diseases are major constraints to groundnut production in West Africa. Leaf spots, rust, rosette and seedling diseases are present throughout most of the region and cause substantial losses in yield. Crop growth variability is a major yield‐limiting factor in the Sahel. Aflatoxin contamination is a serious quality problem in the region. Strategies for management of these major diseases are briefly discussed with particular emphasis on the utilization of genetic resistanc