Search

Abstract Background The Open Archive Initiative (OAI) refers to a movement started around the '90s to guarantee free access to scientific information by removing the barriers to research results, especially those related to the ever increasing journal subscription prices. This new paradigm has reshaped the scholarly communication system and is closely connected to the build up of institutional repositories (IRs) conceived to the benefit of scientists and research bodies as a means to keep possession of their own literary production. The IRs are high-value tools which permit authors to gain visibility by enabling rapid access to scientific material (not only publications) thus increasing impact (citation rate) and permitting a multidimensional assessment of research findings. Methods A survey was conducted in March 2010 to mainly explore the managing system in use for archiving the research finding adopted by the Italian Scientific Institutes for Research, Hospitalization and Health Care (IRCCS) of the oncology area within the Italian National Health Service (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale, SSN). They were asked to respond to a questionnaire intended to collect data about institutional archives, metadata formats and posting of full-text documents. The enquiry concerned also the perceived role of the institutional repository DSpace ISS, built up by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) and based on a XML scheme for encoding metadata. Such a repository aims at acting as a unique reference point for the biomedical information produced by the Italian research institutions. An in-depth analysis has also been performed on the collection of information material addressed to patients produced by the institutions surveyed. Results The survey respondents were 6 out of 9. The results reveal the use of different practices and standard among the institutions concerning: the type of documentation collected, the software adopted, the use and format of metadata and the conditions of accessibility to the IRs. Conclusions The Italian research institutions in the field of oncology are moving the first steps towards the philosophy of OA. The main effort should be the implementation of common procedures also in order to connect scientific publications to researchers curricula. In this framework, an important effort is represented by the project of ISS aimed to set a common interface able to allow migration of data from partner institutions to the OA compliant repository DSpace ISS.

Copyright of Experientia is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Experientia is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Experientia is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A comparative analysis of estuaries, lagoons and coastal ponds focusing on population differentiation, and community structure is necessary to correctly address the issue of brackish water biology. Althoughthe different biotopes all present similar features of environmentalunpredictability and the common presence of the hypohalobic contingent (artenminimum), they each have their own characteristics, due to the evolution of peculiar balances in their relation to the sea on theone hand and inland waters on the other. In addition to euryhaline species, locally adapted populations of stenohaline species typical ofmarine habitats, as well as some recently introduced species, are also found. These species have given rise to euryhaline populations, reaching their maximum development in an optimal site. This situation occurs between basins with essentially similar ecological features andprobably depends both on the different degree of adaptability of many species to a specific environmental parameter and the type of biocoenoses adjacent to the brackish basin. These populations possess genotypes allowing adaptation to brackish waters, which have resulted in the differentiation, through selection, of individuals capable of fine-grained perception of environmental unpredictability. Experimental works demonstrated the existence of genetically differentiated populations, or, ultimately, sibling species complexes, in several brackishspecies with broad geographical distribution and belonging to a widerange of taxonomic groups. The conceptions regarding the uniformity of brackish elements and the doubts concerning the existence of a specific brackish fauna come from the fact that attention generally focuses on species in the traditional meaning of the term, that is to sayat the macrosystematic level. Comparative analyses of very fine morpho-physiological changes and genetic analyses result in a rather different picture, leading to the conclusion that in brackish waters a given spec [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]