Resource sharing: academic library

Within the new context in which academic libraries live, and starting with the consideration that “there is no single best model for a library consortium” (Helmer 1999, p. 119), the purpose of the research is: • to analyse the origins and development of which academic library consortia in different contexts • to evaluate which have been the advantages and disadvantages of working in cooperative form • to provide an overview of library academic consortia models in U.S. and Europe, where the phenomenon of consortia creation and development is more recent • to identify new trends and models, based on the needs of the market (represented by the various stakeholders). The research takes into consideration the different stakeholders involved in the process of scholarly communication, and dwells on the impact that consortia activities have in the wider context, represented by institutions, libraries, publishers and users

The impact of Italian academic library consortia for full-text electronic resources activities on the job of library staff: a study of Ca’Foscari University branch libraries

The activity of academic library consortia in Italy has had noteworthy consequences, one of the main ones being that advantageous deals have made available a massive quantity of information for academic library users. The availability of all these resources has raised many new activities within academic library systems, and it has stimulated libraries to adopt tools to facilitate information towards end users about the presence of these resources. This phenomenon reflects the international situation, where since years the massive advent in the academic libraries of electronic full text resources coming from consortial deals has reinforced the potentials of available information, compelling organizations to find the best way to manage it so that it can reach relevant users, when needed

Estimating effective connectivity in linear brain network models

Contemporary neuroscience has embraced network science to study the complex and self-organized structure of the human brain; one of the main outstanding issues is that of inferring from measure data, chiefly functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), the so-called effective connectivity in brain networks, that is the existing interactions among neuronal populations. This inverse problem is complicated by the fact that the BOLD (Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent) signal measured by fMRI represent a dynamic and nonlinear transformation (the hemodynamic response) of neuronal activity. In this paper, we consider resting state (rs) fMRI data; building upon a linear population model of the BOLD signal and a stochastic linear DCM model, the model parameters are estimated through an EM-type iterative procedure, which alternately estimates the neuronal activity by means of the Rauch-Tung-Striebel (RTS) smoother, updates the connections among neuronal states and refines the parameters of the hemodynamic model; sparsity in the interconnection structure is favoured using an iteratively reweighting scheme. Experimental results using rs-fMRI data are shown demonstrating the effectiveness of our approach and comparison with state of the art routines (SPM12 toolbox) is provided

Sparse DCM for whole-brain effective connectivity from resting-state fMRI data

Contemporary neuroscience has embraced network science and dynamical systems to study the complex and self-organized structure of the human brain. Despite the developments in non-invasive neuroimaging techniques, a full understanding of the directed interactions in whole brain networks, referred to as effective connectivity, as well as their role in the emergent brain dynamics is still lacking. The main reason is that estimating brain connectivity requires solving a formidable large-scale inverse problem from indirect and noisy measurements. Building on the dynamic causal modelling framework, the present study offers a novel method for estimating whole-brain effective connectivity from resting-state functional magnetic resonance data. To this purpose sparse estimation methods are adapted to infer the parameters of our novel model, which is based on a linearized, region-specific haemodynamic response function. The resulting algorithm, referred to as sparse DCM, is shown to compare favorably with state-of-the art methods when tested on both synthetic and real data. We also provide a graph-theoretical analysis on the whole-brain effective connectivity estimated using data from a cohort of healthy individuals, which reveals properties such as asymmetry in the connectivity structure as well as the different roles of brain areas in favoring segregation or integration

The role of noise modeling in the estimation of resting-state brain effective connectivity

Causal relations among neuronal populations of the brain are studied through the so-called effective connectivity (EC) network. The latter is estimated from EEG or fMRI measurements, by inverting a generative model of the corresponding data. It is clear that the goodness of the estimated network heavily depends on the underlying modeling assumptions. In this present paper we consider the EC estimation problem using fMRI data in resting-state condition. Specifically, we investigate on how to model endogenous fluctuations driving the neuronal activity

EMG-based visual-haptic biofeedback: a tool to improve motor control in children with primary dystonia.

New insights suggest that dystonic motor impairments could also involve a deficit of sensory processing. In this framework, biofeedback, making covert physiological processes more overt, could be useful. The present work proposes an innovative integrated setup which provides the user with an electromyogram (EMG)-based visual-haptic biofeedback during upper limb movements (spiral tracking tasks), to test if augmented sensory feedbacks can induce motor control improvement in patients with primary dystonia. The ad hoc developed real-time control algorithm synchronizes the haptic loop with the EMG reading; the brachioradialis EMG values were used to modify visual and haptic features of the interface: the higher was the EMG level, the higher was the virtual table friction and the background color proportionally moved from green to red. From recordings on dystonic and healthy subjects, statistical results showed that biofeedback has a significant impact, correlated with the local impairment, on the dystonic muscular control. These tests pointed out the effectiveness of biofeedback paradigms in gaining a better specific-muscle voluntary motor control. The flexible tool developed here shows promising prospects of clinical applications and sensorimotor rehabilitation

Quality of colonoscopy in an organised colorectal cancer screening programme with immunochemical faecal occult blood test. The EQuIPE study (Evaluating Quality Indicators of the Performance of Endoscopy)

OBJECTIVES: To assess variation in the main colonoscopy quality indicators in organised colorectal cancer (CRC) screening programmes based on faecal immunochemical test (FIT). DESIGN: Data from a case-series of colonoscopies of FIT-positive subjects were provided by 44 Italian CRC screening programmes. Data on screening history, endoscopic procedure and histology results, and additional information on the endoscopy centre and the endoscopists were collected. The adenoma detection rate (ADR) and caecal intubation rate (CIR) were assessed for the whole population and the individual endoscopists. To explore variation in the quality indicators, multilevel analyses were performed according to patient/centre/endoscopist characteristics. RESULTS: We analysed 75 569 (mean age: 61.3 years; men: 57%) colonoscopies for positive FIT performed by 479 endoscopists in 79 centres. ADR ranged from 13.5% to 75% among endoscopists (mean: 44.8%). ADR was associated with gastroenterology specialty (OR: 0.87 for others, 95% CI 0.76 to 0.96) and, at the endoscopy centre level, with the routine use of sedation (OR: 0.80 if occasional (600 colonoscopies; 95% CI 1.11 to 2.04) and, at the endoscopy centre level, screening-dedicated sessions (OR: 2.18; 95% CI 1.24 to 3.83) and higher rates of sedation (OR: 0.47 if occasional; 95% CI 0.24 to 0.92). CONCLUSIONS: The quality of colonoscopy was affected by patient-related, endoscopist-related and centre-related characteristics. Policies addressing organisational issues should improve the quality of colonoscopy in our programme and similar programmes. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions