The Access/Impact Problem and the Green and Gold Roads to Open Access

The research access/impact problem arises because journal articles are not accessible to all of their would-be users; hence, they are losing potential research impact. The solution is to make all articles Open Access (OA; i.e., accessible online, free for all). OA articles have significantly higher citation impact than non-OA articles. There are two roads to OA: the “golden” road (publish your article in an OA journal) and the “green” road (publish your article in a non-OA journal but also self-archive it in an OA archive). Only 5% of journals are gold, but over 90% are already green (i.e., they have given their authors the green light to self-archive); yet only about 10–20% of articles have been self-archived. To reach 100% OA, self-archiving needs to be mandated by researchers' employers and funders, as the United Kingdom and the United States have recently recommended, and universities need to implement that mandate.     

Are plant communities mainly determined by anthropogenic land cover along urban riparian corridors?

Often used as a mitigation tool to landscape fragmentation, urban riparian corridors also suffered from the effects of the urban expansion. This study explored the relationships between plant riparian communities and two major environmental variables (land cover, soil characteristics) and analyzed the floristic change along an urbanization gradient. Fifteen sites were surveyed on both riverbanks of two riparian corridors characterized by contrasting water regimes in Strasbourg, North Eastern France. Data of spontaneous species abundance was collected from 180 quadrats using (i) all plant species, (ii) herbaceous stratum and (iii) ligneous stratum (bush and tree). The diversity and compositional patterns of riparian plant species were analyzed within each corridor according to three levels of urbanization (urban, suburban, peri-urban). Relationships between riparian communities, land cover and soil chemical properties (pH, nitrogen and carbon content, moisture) were established by between-class co-inertia analyses. Land cover emerged as the main factor explaining changes in riparian communities along the rural–urban gradient while soil chemical properties discriminate water stress and fluvial dynamics of the two corridors. Similar compositional patterns were found within the most urbanized sites with the establishment of ubiquitous species. The herbaceous stratum is best linked to the level of urbanization, whereas the tree stratum is primarily correlated with corridor attributes (hydrological regime, soil properties). Although riparian species and communities are mainly determined by land cover, urban riparian corridors maintain native biodiversity up to the urban center.     

Endocrine markers during a job intervention

An intervention consisting of a thorough examination of the psychological worksite problems and a follow-up with feedback and recommendations was made in four different office worksites. One of the sites («active» group) was more organizational change-oriented than the others («passive» group). The course was followed before, three times during the 3 months of the intervention, and 4 months after the end of it, by means of three endocrine plasma markers: cortisol, prolactin and testosterone. In both study groups the prolactin levels increased in women during the starting phase of the intervention, whereas in men prolactin levels remained stable with a tendency (p=0.06) towards lowered prolactin levels during the end phase of the intervention in the active group. Cortisol levels increased markedly in the passive group and tended to decrease in the active group during the intervention (two-way interaction p=0.003), particularly in men. These findings may be indicative of feelings of uneasiness. Testosterone increased in the active group only, particularly at the beginning of the intervention and particularly in women, and also increased in a non-intervention control group. Testosterone levels are associated with anabolic activity. An increase may be indicative of a «placebo effect» of the intervention. Testosterone changes were still clearly observable after 4 months.     

The psychosocial work environment of district nurses in Sweden

Data were collected from a stratified sample of district nurses in the greater Stockholm area on four occasions during one year using questionnaire techniques (to assess psychosocial working conditions and social networks, and self-reported health sums); as well as physiological measurement techniques. Three groups of district nurses were compared: group A, those working independently in the 'traditional' role but outside primary health care centres; group B, those working independently in the 'traditional' role but in primary health care centres; and group C, those working in the model role as part of primary health care teams. The study focused on the effects of these different work environments on the district nurse's psychological and somatic health, and their physiological state.

The data suggested that district nurses in the primary care teams (group C) had a lower objective work load than those working in the more traditional role. Despite this, they reported a less favourable balance (ratio) of work demands to decision latitude. They reported more 'problems' and 'conflicts' at work than did the other district nurses. However, such 'problems' were diminishing during the study period, which could mean that successive adaptation to the 'new' situation was occurring. The 'conflicts', on the other hand, remained. This may indicate that despite this adaptation, the district nurses in the primary care teams were struggling with their new work roles. It points to the need for organizational support during this important change process. The district nurses in group B (traditional role but in a primary health care centre) had the highest objective work load and showed physiological reactions in terms of elevated plasma cortisol levels in the morning, high systolic blood pressure and sleep disturbances.     

Extreme behaviour for bivariate elliptical distributions

The authors examine the asymptotic behaviour of conditional threshold exceedance probabilities for an elliptically distributed pair (X, Y) of random variables. More precisely, they investigate the limiting behaviour of the conditional distribution of Y given that X becomes extreme. They show that this behaviour differs between regularly and rapidly varying tails.     

Endocrinological and immunological variables sensitive to psychosocial factors of possible relevance to work-related musculoskeletal disorders

Research has indicated that energy mobilization in the body is associated with lowered anabolism, which promotes the repair and restoration of damaged or worn out tissues. Problems may arise when adversity requires energy mobilization for a long period of time. Increased tissue vulnerability can be anticipated. There is evidence that growth hormone has anabolic activity, as do the male and female hormones testosterone and oestradiol and a precursor of both these anabolic steroids, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEA-s). The levels of these in serum/plasma may be lowered during periods of adversity. It can therefore be hypothesized that due to the lowering of anabolic activity, tissues are at risk during periods of stress (part of the 'anabolic hypothesis') and that this will be reflected in musculoskeletal symptoms. Furthermore, low anabolic activity predicts more long-lasting illness/disability. In the present study, blood samples were drawn from representative groups of men and women with musculoskeletal disorders. The participants, who were engaged in various occupations in the Norrtälje area of Stockholm, Sweden, were followed up at 3 and 6 months, and development with regard to disability and pain was related to the hormone levels at the acute phase. Results indicated that a low level of DHEA-s was associated with persistent disability in women with acute low-back pain, which partially supports the hypothesis that low anabolic activity predicts more long-lasting illness (the second part of the 'anabolic hypothesis'). Also, a low concentration of g endorphin, which indicates activity of the pain regulation system, was found to be associated with long-lasting disability in this group.     

Nullified equal loss property and equal division values

We provide characterizations of the equal division values and their convex mixtures, using a new axiom on a fixed player set based on player nullification which requires that if a player becomes null, then any two other players are equally affected. Two economic applications are also introduced concerning bargaining under risk and common-pool resource appropriation.