The View from Somewhere: Institutional Values in Collections Decisions

As educational institutions consider our values and ethical standards in the wake of 2020, libraries need to scrutinize how those values and standards connect with our licensing and purchasing decisions. “Critical Librarianship”, which is based on a foundation of social justice, the belief that everyone deserves equal opportunities and basic economic, political, and social rights, is at the forefront of work being done by librarians across the country. There is an existing body of literature about the contents of the library collections themselves, with respect to issues like decolonization and open access. These collections, used by students, instructors, and researchers, are integral to the learning ecosystem of the university. However, there is little research regarding the specific business relationships we maintain in order to acquire these resources. Are the values of our partners in the publishing ecosystem aligned with ours? What should we do if a publisher makes decisions or takes actions that go against our stated principles, but their content is relevant to the ongoing work of our users? What are the broader implications for our communities of doing business with these publishers? Precisely whose values need to be taken into account when making these decisions? Balancing the needs of our users with the principles of critical librarianship is a challenge faced by all collections librarians. Librarians from Purdue University take a critical approach to identifying the values of their institution at multiple levels, including a newly released Libraries strategic plan, to create a values-based rubric for future collection assessment. This presentation will address these difficult questions and discuss the process of turning institutional values into a tool for collections decisions. We will also discuss the larger implications in education licenses and purchases beyond the library and how this model could be expanded to consider additional business relationships on campus

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth is: A Values-Based Evaluation Tool for Collections Decisions

As libraries and communities consider institutional values and ethical standards, there is a need to scrutinize how those values and standards connect with collections decisions. An existing body of literature about the contents of the collections exists, with respect to issues like decolonization and open access, but little about the business relationships libraries maintain in order to acquire these collections. In this paper, librarians from Purdue University take a critical approach to identifying the values of their institution at multiple levels, including a newly released Libraries strategic plan, to create a values-based evaluation tool for future collection assessment

The Anti-Circumvention Provision of The Digital Millennium Copyright Act

The DMCA\u27s ban on circumvention technology, however, has been the subject of some dispute. In the arms race between encryption and decryption technologies, the anti-circumvention provision seems to have recently won out. The anti-circumvention provision also appears to have altered the contours of copyright law and to have disturbed the balance between protecting the rights of authors and promoting the advancement and flow of information. This Article begins with a brief history of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and its anti-circumvention provision. It then describes the features of the anti-circumvention provision, its exceptions, and the remedies provided by the Act. Finally, it reviews three recent cases that raise important issues that, when ultimately resolved, may permanently affect copyright law

Engaging older adults in healthcare research and planning: a realist synthesis

Background The importance of engaging the community in healthcare research and planning has been widely recognized. Currently however, there is a limited focus on older adults, Canada’s fastest growing segment of the population and biggest users of the healthcare system. Objective This project aimed to develop an understanding of engagement of older adults and their caregivers in healthcare research and planning. Method A realist synthesis was conducted of the available knowledge on engagement in healthcare research and planning. The search methodology was informed by a framework for realist syntheses following five phases, including consultations with older adults. The synthesis included theoretical frameworks, and both peer-reviewed and grey literature. Results The search generated 15,683 articles, with 562 focusing on healthcare research and planning. The review lead to the development of a framework to engage older adults and their caregivers in healthcare research and planning. The 5 stages environment, plan, establish, build, and transition are accompanied with example context, mechanism, and outcomes to guide the use of this framework. Conclusion We have identified a framework that promotes meaningful engagement of older adults and their caregivers. We are continuing to collaborate with our community partners to further develop and evaluate engagement strategies that align with the presented framework.This work was supported by a Knowledge Synthesis Grant from the Technology Evaluation for the Elderly Network (TVN), grant # KS2013-08, which is funded by the Government of Canada’s Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) Program

Data citation in the wild

Consistent attribution of research data upon reuse is necessary to reward the original data-producing investigators, reconstruct provenance, and inform data sharing policies, tool requirements, and funding decisions. Unfortunately, norms for data attribution are varied and often weak. As part of the DataONE 2010 summer internship program, three interns studied the policies, practice, and implications of current data attribution behavior in the environmental sciences. We found that few policies recommend robust data citation practices: in our preliminary evaluation, only one-third of repositories (n=26), 6% of journals (n=307), and 1 of 53 funders suggested a best practice for data citation. We manually reviewed 500 papers published between 2000 and 2010 across six journals; of the 198 papers that reused datasets, only 14% reported a unique dataset identifier in their dataset attribution, and a partially-overlapping 12% mentioned the author name and repository name. Few citations to datasets themselves were made in the article references section. In multivariate analysis, citation patterns were more correlated with repository (with citations to Genbank being most complete) than journal or datatype. Attribution patterns were found to be steady over time. Consistent with these findings, dataset reuse was difficult to track through standard retrieval resources. Searching by repository name retrieved many instances of data submission rather than data reuse, combing the citation history of data creation articles was time consuming, and searching citation databases for the few early-adopter dataset DOIs and HDLs in reference lists failed due to apparent limitations in database query capabilities and structured extraction of DOIs. We hope these descriptions of the current data attribution environment will highlight outstanding issues and motivate change in policy, tools, and practice. This research was done as open science (http://openwetware.org/wiki/DataONE:Notebook/Summer_2010): ask us about it

Perlecan-Induced Suppression of Smooth Muscle Cell Proliferation Is Mediated Through Increased Activity of the Tumor Suppressor PTEN

We were interested in the elucidation of the interaction between the heparan sulfate proteoglycan, perlecan, and PTEN in the regulation of vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) growth. We verified serum-stimulated DNA synthesis, and Akt and FAK phosphorylation were significantly reduced in SMCs overexpressing wild-type PTEN. Our previous studies showed perlecan is a potent inhibitor of serum-stimulated SMC growth. We report in the present study, compared with SMCs plated on fibronectin, serum-stimulated SMCs plated on perlecan exhibited increased PTEN activity, decreased FAK and Akt activities, and high levels of p27, consistent with SMC growth arrest. Adenoviral-mediated overexpression of constitutively active Akt reversed perlecan-induced SMC growth arrest while morpholino antisense-mediated loss of endogenous PTEN resulted in increased growth and phosphorylation of FAK and Akt of SMCs on perlecan. Immunohistochemical and Western analyses of balloon-injured rat carotid artery tissues showed a transient increase in phosphoPTEN (inactive) after injury, correlating to high rates of neointimal cell replication; phosphoPTEN was largely limited to actively replicating SMCs. Similarly, in the developing rat aorta, we found increased PTEN activity associated with increased perlecan deposition and decreased SMC replication rates. However, significantly decreased PTEN activity was detected in aortas of perlecan-deficient mouse embryos, consistent with SMC hyperplasia observed in these animals, compared with E17.5 heterozygous controls that produce abundant amounts of perlecan at this developmental time point. Our data show PTEN is a potent endogenously produced inhibitor of SMC growth and increased PTEN activity mediates perlecan-induced suppression of SMC proliferation.Costell Rossello, M.Mercedes, [email protected]

System-of-Systems Considerations in the Notional Development of a Metropolitan Aerial Transportation System

There are substantial future challenges related to sustaining and improving efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly transportation options for urban regions. Over the past several decades there has been a worldwide trend towards increasing urbanization of society. Accompanying this urbanization are increasing surface transportation infrastructure costs and, despite public infrastructure investments, increasing surface transportation "gridlock." In addition to this global urbanization trend, there has been a substantial increase in concern regarding energy sustainability, fossil fuel emissions, and the potential implications of global climate change. A recently completed study investigated the feasibility of an aviation solution for future urban transportation (refs. 1, 2). Such an aerial transportation system could ideally address some of the above noted concerns related to urbanization, transportation gridlock, and fossil fuel emissions (ref. 3). A metro/regional aerial transportation system could also provide enhanced transportation flexibility to accommodate extraordinary events such as surface (rail/road) transportation network disruptions and emergency/disaster relief responses

Live view of gonadotropin-releasing hormone containing neuron migration

Neurons that synthesize GnRH control the reproductive axis and migrate over long distances and through different environments during development. Prior studies provided strong clues for the types of molecules encountered and movements expected along the migratory route. However, our studies provide the first real-time views of the behavior of GnRH neurons in the context of an in vitro preparation that maintains conditions comparable to those in vivo. The live views provide direct evidence of the changing behavior of GnRH neurons in their different environments, showing that GnRH neurons move with greater frequency and with more changes in direction after they enter the brain. Perturbations of guiding fibers distal to moving GnRH neurons in the nasal compartment influenced movement without detectable changes in the fibers in the immediate vicinity of moving GnRH neurons. This suggests that the use of fibers by GnRH neurons for guidance may entail selective signaling in addition to mechanical guidance. These studies establish a model to evaluate the influences of specific molecules that are important for their migration

Inferring Risks of Coronavirus Transmission from Community Household Data

The response of many governments to the COVID-19 pandemic has involved measures to control within- and between-household transmission, providing motivation to improve understanding of the absolute and relative risks in these contexts. Here, we perform exploratory, residual-based, and transmission-dynamic household analysis of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) COVID-19 Infection Survey (CIS) data from 26 April 2020 to 15 July 2021 in England. This provides evidence for: (i) temporally varying rates of introduction of infection into households broadly following the trajectory of the overall epidemic and vaccination programme; (ii) Susceptible-Infectious Transmission Probabilities (SITPs) of within-household transmission in the 15-35% range; (iii) the emergence of the Alpha and Delta variants, with the former being around 50% more infectious than wildtype and 35% less infectious than Delta within households; (iv) significantly (in the range 25-300%) more risk of bringing infection into the household for workers in patient-facing roles pre-vaccine; (v) increased risk for secondary school-age children of bringing the infection into the household when schools are open; (vi) increased risk for primary school-age children of bringing the infection into the household when schools were open since the emergence of new variants.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figure

Variation in contrast-associated acute kidney injury prophylaxis for percutaneous coronary intervention: Insights from the Veterans Affairs Clinical Assessment, Reporting, and Tracking (CART) program

BACKGROUND: Contrast-Associated Acute Kidney Injury (CA-AKI) is a serious complication associated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have an elevated risk for developing this complication. Although CA-AKI prophylactic measures are available, the supporting literature is variable and inconsistent for periprocedural hydration and N-acetylcysteine (NAC), but is stronger for contrast minimization. METHODS: We assessed the prevalence and variability of CA-AKI prophylaxis among CKD patients undergoing PCI between October 2007 and September 2015 in any cardiac catheterization laboratory in the VA Healthcare System. Prophylaxis included periprocedural hydration with normal saline or sodium bicarbonate, NAC, and contrast minimization (contrast volume to glomerular filtration rate ratio ≤ 3). Multivariable hierarchical logistic regression models quantified site-specific prophylaxis variability. As secondary analyses, we also assessed CA-AKI prophylaxis measures in all PCI patients regardless of kidney function, periprocedural hydration in patients with comorbid CHF, and temporal trends in CA-AKI prophylaxis. RESULTS: From 2007 to 2015, 15,729 patients with CKD underwent PCI. 6928 (44.0%) received periprocedural hydration (practice-level median rate 45.3%, interquartile range (IQR) 35.5-56.7), 5107 (32.5%) received NAC (practice-level median rate 28.3%, IQR 22.8-36.9), and 4656 (36.0%) received contrast minimization (practice-level median rate 34.5, IQR 22.6-53.9). After adjustment for patient characteristics, there was significant site variability with a median odds ratio (MOR) of 1.80 (CI 1.56-2.08) for periprocedural hydration, 1.95 (CI 1.66-2.29) for periprocedural hydration or NAC, and 2.68 (CI 2.23-3.15) for contrast minimization. These trends were similar among all patients (with and without CKD) undergoing PCI. Among patients with comorbid CHF (n = 5893), 2629 (44.6%) received periprocedural hydration, and overall had less variability in hydration (MOR of 1.56 (CI 1.38-1.76)) compared to patients without comorbid CHF (1.89 (CI 1.65-2.18)). Temporal trend analysis showed a significant and clinically relevant decrease in NAC use (64.1% of cases in 2008 (N = 1059), 6.2% of cases in 2015 (N = 128, p = \u3c 0.0001)) and no significant change in contrast-minimization (p = 0.3907). CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with CKD undergoing PCI, there was low utilization and significant site-level variability for periprocedural hydration and NAC independent of patient-specific risk. This low utilization and high variability, however, was also present for contrast minimization, a well-established measure. These findings suggest that a standardized approach to CA-AKI prophylaxis, along with continued development of the evidence base, is needed