Fostering Bibliodiversity in Scholarly Communications: A Call for Action!

Diversity is an important characteristic of any healthy ecosystem, including scholarly communications. Diversity in services and platforms, funding mechanisms, and evaluation measures will allow the scholarly communication system to accommodate the different workflows, languages, publication outputs, and research topics that support the needs and epistemic pluralism of different research communities. In addition, diversity reduces the risk of vendor lock-in, which inevitably leads to monopoly, monoculture, and high prices. Bibliodiversity has been in steady decline for decades.1 Far from promoting diversity, the dominant “ecosystem” of scholarly publishing today increasingly resembles what Vandana Shiva (1993) has called the “monocultures of the mind”2, characterized by the homogenization of publication formats and outlets that are largely owned by a small number of multinational publishers who are far more interested in profit maximization than the health of the system. Yet, a diverse scholarly communications system is essential for addressing the complex challenges we face. As we transition to open access and open science, there is an opportunity to reverse this decline and foster greater diversity in scholarly communications; what the Jussieu Call refers to as bibliodiversity3. Bibliodiversity, by its nature, cannot be pursued through a single, unified approach, however it does require strong coordination in order to avoid a fragmented and siloed ecosystem. Building on the principles outlined in the Jussieu Call, this paper explores the current state of diversity in scholarly communications, and issues a call for action, specifying what each community can do individually and collectively to support greater bibliodiversity in a more intentional fashion

Using genotyping-by-sequencing to understand Musa diversity : [P449]

This project is part of a larger effort to apply genomics technologies to assess genetic diversity and to advance genetic improvement efforts in Musa (banana and plantain), a major staple food crop in the developing world. Most cultivated varieties of bananas result from intra- or inter-specific crosses of the wild diploid species, Musa acuminata (A genome) and Musa balbisiana (B genome). Somaclonal mutation and human selection has resulted in current day bananas with a wide morphological diversity. The Cavendish (AAA) subgroups are believed to have derived from an individual unique initial genotype, and similarly for the subgroup plantain (AAB). However, little or no genetic diversity can be detected within these groups using conventional molecular markers such as RFLP, SSR, DArT. To assess genetic diversity with an improved resolution, we have selected 65 accessions with diploid and triploid combinations of the A and/or B genomes including AAB plantains and AAA Cavendish, and cultivated or wild Musa accessions from the core collection at the Global Musa Genomics Consortium (GMGC) (http://www.musagenomics.org). We have used a high-throughput reduced representation genome sequencing approach - genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) to obtain high density sequence markers. Genotypes are determined for each diploid and triploid accession, and dissimilarity computed across all accessions. We will discuss the value of GBS markers to characterize the genetic diversity of individual Musa subgroups with high resolution. This work is funded by the USAID linkage funds. (Texte intégral

Translation Validation for Synchronous Data-flow Specification in the SIGNAL Compiler

We present a method to construct a validator based on trans-lation validation approach to prove the value-equivalence of variables in the Signal compiler. The computation of output signals in a Signal program and their counterparts in the generated C code is represented by a Synchronous Data-flow Value-Graph (Sdvg). The validator proves that every output signal and its counterpart variable have the same val-ues by transforming the Sdvg graph

Bayesian computation via empirical likelihood

Approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) has become an essential tool for the analysis of complex stochastic models when the likelihood function is numerically unavailable. However, the well-established statistical method of empirical likelihood provides another route to such settings that bypasses simulations from the model and the choices of the ABC parameters (summary statistics, distance, tolerance), while being convergent in the number of observations. Furthermore, bypassing model simulations may lead to significant time savings in complex models, for instance those found in population genetics. The BCel algorithm we develop in this paper also provides an evaluation of its own performance through an associated effective sample size. The method is illustrated using several examples, including estimation of standard distributions, time series, and population genetics models.Comment: 21 pages, 12 figures, revised version of the previous version with a new titl

Stoichiometry and Grain Boundaries Control by Spark Plasma Sintering in Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3:Mn/MgO Composites

LaNbO4/La3NbO7 and LaNbO4/LaNb3O9 cer-cer composites were prepared by impregnating Ca-doped LaNbO4 powder, synthesized by spray pyrolysis, with La- or Nb-precursor solutions. The sintering of the calcined powders was investigated by dilatometry, and dense composites were prepared by conventional sintering, hot pressing, and spark plasma sintering. The particle size of the starting powders was about 50 nm, and the average grain size of the dense materials ranged from 100 nm and upwards, depending on the sintering temperature, sintering procedure, and the phase composition. The unit cell parameters of LaNbO4 showed a finite size effect and approached the cell parameters of tetragonal LaNbO4 with decreasing crystallite size, both for the single-phase material and the composites. The minority phase (La3NbO7 or LaNb3O9) were observed as isolated grains and accumulated at triple points and not along the grain boundaries, pointing to a large dihedral angle between the phases. The calcium-solubility in the minority phases was larger than in LaNbO4, which corresponds well with previous reports. The electrical conductivity of the heterodoped materials was similar to, or lower than, that for Ca-doped LaNbO4

Procédé de préparation de jus de noni

La présente invention se rapporte à un procédé de préparation de jus de noni comprenant les étapes de : a) broyage de fruits de noni lorsqu'ils sont au stade de maturité blanc translucide pour produire une purée de fruits de noni; b) traitement enzymatique de ladite purée de fruits de noni avec une préparation enzymatique présentant au moins une activité pectinase et au moins une activité cellulase à une teneur comprise entre 50 à 200 ml ou g/tonne de purée de fruits de noni à une température comprise entre 20 et 55°C pendant au moins 30 minutes; c) élimination de la pulpe et des graines présentes dans les fruits de noni par pressage de ladite purée conduisant à un premier jus; d) tamisage ou filtration grossière dudit premier jus obtenu à l'issue de l'étape c) conduisant à un second jus; e) microfiltration ou ultrafiltration tangentielle; la présente invention se rapporte également au jus de noni susceptible d'être obtenu par le procédé qui précède et tel qu'il présente une teneur en acide octanoïque inférieure à 200 de jus de noni et une teneur en acide hexanoïque inférieure à 200 μg/g de jus de noni. (Résumé d'auteur