scholarly journals Competition for novelty reduces information sampling in a research game - a registered report

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 180934 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonid Tiokhin ◽  
Maxime Derex
Keyword(s):  
Information Acquisition ◽  
Scientific Investigation ◽  
Arithmetic Problem ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Quality Research ◽  
Correct Guess ◽  
Incentive Structures ◽  
The World ◽  
Information Sampling ◽  
Individual Effort

Incentive structures shape scientists' research practices. One incentive in particular, rewarding priority of publication, is hypothesized to harm scientific reliability by promoting rushed, low-quality research. Here, we develop a laboratory experiment to test whether competition affects information sampling and guessing accuracy in a game that mirrors aspects of scientific investigation. In our experiment, individuals gather data in order to guess true states of the world and face a tradeoff between guessing quickly and increasing accuracy by acquiring more information. To test whether competition affects accuracy, we compare a treatment in which individuals are rewarded for each correct guess to a treatment where individuals face the possibility of being ‘scooped’ by a competitor. In a second set of conditions, we make information acquisition contingent on solving arithmetic problems to test whether competition increases individual effort (i.e. arithmetic-problem solving speed). We find that competition causes individuals to make guesses using less information, thereby reducing their accuracy ( H1a and H1b confirmed). We find no evidence that competition increases individual effort ( H2 , inconclusive evidence). Our experiment provides proof of concept that rewarding priority of publication can incentivize individuals to acquire less information, producing lower-quality research as a consequence.

scholarly journals Proceedings of the First Curing Coma Campaign NIH Symposium: Challenging the Future of Research for Coma and Disorders of Consciousness

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (S1) ◽  
pp. 4-23
Author(s):  
Jan Claassen ◽  
Yama Akbari ◽  
Sheila Alexander ◽  
Mary Kay Bader ◽  
Kathleen Bell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neurocritical Care ◽  
Panel Discussion ◽  
Large Datasets ◽  
Disorders Of Consciousness ◽  
National Institutes Of Health ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Research Gaps ◽  
Main Research ◽  
The World

AbstractComa and disorders of consciousness (DoC) are highly prevalent and constitute a burden for patients, families, and society worldwide. As part of the Curing Coma Campaign, the Neurocritical Care Society partnered with the National Institutes of Health to organize a symposium bringing together experts from all over the world to develop research targets for DoC. The conference was structured along six domains: (1) defining endotype/phenotypes, (2) biomarkers, (3) proof-of-concept clinical trials, (4) neuroprognostication, (5) long-term recovery, and (6) large datasets. This proceedings paper presents actionable research targets based on the presentations and discussions that occurred at the conference. We summarize the background, main research gaps, overall goals, the panel discussion of the approach, limitations and challenges, and deliverables that were identified.

scholarly journals Wellbeing Literacy: A Capability Model for Wellbeing Science and Practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 719 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay G. Oades ◽  
Aaron Jarden ◽  
Hanchao Hou ◽  
Corina Ozturk ◽  
Paige Williams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Investigation ◽  
National Accounts ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
New Model ◽  
The World ◽  
Significant Interest ◽  
Antecedents And Consequences ◽  
Literacy Research

Wellbeing science is the scientific investigation of wellbeing, its’ antecedents and consequences. Alongside growth of wellbeing science is significant interest in wellbeing interventions at individual, organizational and population levels, including measurement of national accounts of wellbeing. In this concept paper, we propose the capability model of wellbeing literacy as a new model for wellbeing science and practice. Wellbeing literacy is defined as a capability to comprehend and compose wellbeing language, across contexts, with the intention of using such language to maintain or improve the wellbeing of oneself, others or the world. Wellbeing literacy is underpinned by a capability model (i.e., what someone is able to be and do), and is based on constructivist (i.e., language shapes reality) and contextualist (i.e., words have different meanings in different contexts) epistemologies. The proposed capability model of wellbeing literacy adds to wellbeing science by providing a tangible way to assess mechanisms learned from wellbeing interventions. Moreover, it provides a framework for practitioners to understand and plan wellbeing communications. Workplaces and families as examples are discussed as relevant contexts for application of wellbeing literacy, and future directions for wellbeing literacy research are outlined.

scholarly journals One-Shot Fabrication of Polymeric Hollow Microneedles by Standard Photolithography

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Principia Dardano ◽  
Selene De Martino ◽  
Mario Battisti ◽  
Bruno Miranda ◽  
Ilaria Rea ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Light Propagation ◽  
World Market ◽  
Emerging Technology ◽  
Standard Formulation ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Fabrication Technique ◽  
The World ◽  
Small Doses ◽  
Approved Drugs ◽  
Hollow Microneedles

Microneedles (MNs) are an emerging technology in pharmaceutics and biomedicine, and are ready to be commercialized in the world market. However, solid microneedles only allow small doses and time-limited administration rates. Moreover, some well-known and already approved drugs need to be re-formulated when supplied by MNs. Instead, hollow microneedles (HMNs) allow for rapid, painless self-administrable microinjection of drugs in their standard formulation. Furthermore, body fluids can be easily extracted for analysis by a reverse use of HMNs, thus making them perfect for sensing issues and theranostics applications. The fabrication of HMNs usually requires several many-step processes, increasing the costs and consequently decreasing the commercial interest. Photolithography is a well-known fabrication technique in microelectronics and microfluidics that fabricates MNs. In this paper, authors show a proof of concept of a patented, easy and one-shot fabrication of two kinds of HMNs: (1) Symmetric HMNs with a “volcano” shape, made by using a photolithographic mask with an array of transparent symmetric rings; and (2) asymmetric HMNs with an oblique aperture, like standard hypodermic steel needles, made by using an array of transparent asymmetric rings, defined by two circles, which centers are slightly mismatched. Simulation of light propagation, fabrication process, and preliminary results on ink microinjection are presented.

scholarly journals Real-time SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic and variants tracking over multiple candidates using nanopore DNA sequencing

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
François Stüder ◽  
Jean-Louis Petit ◽  
Stefan Engelen ◽  
Marco Antonio Mendoza-Parra
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Gene Encoding ◽  
Spike Gene ◽  
Long Period ◽  
The World ◽  
Receptor Recognition ◽  
Nanopore Dna Sequencing ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

AbstractSince December 2019, a novel coronavirus responsible for a severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) is accountable for a major pandemic situation. The emergence of the B.1.1.7 strain, as a highly transmissible variant has accelerated the world-wide interest in tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants’ occurrence. Similarly, other extremely infectious variants, were described and further others are expected to be discovered due to the long period of time on which the pandemic situation is lasting. All described SARS-CoV-2 variants present several mutations within the gene encoding the Spike protein, involved in host receptor recognition and entry into the cell. Hence, instead of sequencing the whole viral genome for variants’ tracking, herein we propose to focus on the SPIKE region to increase the number of candidate samples to screen at once; an essential aspect to accelerate diagnostics, but also variants’ emergence/progression surveillance. This proof of concept study accomplishes both at once, population-scale diagnostics and variants' tracking. This strategy relies on (1) the use of the portable MinION DNA sequencer; (2) a DNA barcoding and a SPIKE gene-centered variant’s tracking, increasing the number of candidates per assay; and (3) a real-time diagnostics and variant’s tracking monitoring thanks to our software RETIVAD. This strategy represents an optimal solution for addressing the current needs on SARS-CoV-2 progression surveillance, notably due to its affordable implementation, allowing its implantation even in remote places over the world.

scholarly journals Elimination of onchocerciasis from Colombia: first proof of concept of river blindness elimination in the world

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rubén Santiago Nicholls ◽  
Sofía Duque ◽  
Luz Adriana Olaya ◽  
Myriam Consuelo López ◽  
Sol Beatriz Sánchez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
River Blindness ◽  
The World

scholarly journals Forgery Protection of Academic Certificates through Integrity Preservation at Scale using Ethereum Smart Contract

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 673-688
Author(s):  
Auqib Hamid Lone ◽  
Roohie Naaz
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Regulatory Body ◽  
Signature Scheme ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Universities And Colleges ◽  
Smart Contract ◽  
Reliable Model ◽  
The World ◽  
Multi Level

Academic credentials are precious assets as they form an evidence for one’s identity and eligibility. Fraud inissuance and verification of academic certificates have been a long-standing issue in academic community. Due to lack of antiforgery mechanisms there has been substantial increase in fraudulent certificates. The need of the hour is to have a transparent and reliable model for issuing and verifying academic certificates to eliminate fraud in the process. Decentralized, Auditable and Tamper-proof properties of Blockchain makes it possibly the best choice for issuing and verifying academic certificates. In this paper we propose a model, where regulatory body authorizes higher education Institutes (universities and colleges) for issuing academic certificates to students in a decentralized way. Anyone in the world can verify the authenticity of the certificate by triggering appropriate smart contract functions, thus eliminating any possibility of fraud in the process. In addition we used multi signature scheme where certificates are required to be signed by designated authority from Higher Education Institutes, thus allowing for multi-level checks on certificate contents before being successfully deployed on Blockchain. We have also provide Proof of Concept in Ethereum Blockchain and evaluated its performance in terms of cost, security and scalability.

Imaginary friend play in light of enactivism

2021 ◽  
pp. 095935432110538
Author(s):  
Zuzanna Rucińska
Keyword(s):  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Psychological Data ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Interactive Nature ◽  
Imaginary Companion ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Embodied Action

Review of psychological data of how children engage in imaginary friend play (IFP) shows that it involves a lot of explicit embodied action and interaction with surrounding people and environments. However, IFP is still seen as principally an individualistic activity, where, in addition to those interactions, the actor has to mentally represent an absent entity in imagination in order to engage in IFP. This capacity is deemed necessary because the imaginary companion is absent or not real. This article proposes a proof of concept argument that enactivism can account for complex imaginary phenomena as imaginary friend play. Enactivism proposes thinking of IFP in a fundamentally different way, as an explicitly embodied and performative act, where one does not need to mentally represent absent entities. It reconceptualizes imagination involved in IFP as strongly embodied, and proposes that play environments have present affordances for social and normative interactions that are reenacted in IFP—there is no “absence” that needs to be mentally represented first. This article argues that IFP is performed and enacted in the world without having to be represented in the mind first, which best captures the social and interactive nature of this form of play.

Merging Controlled Vocabularies for More Efficient Subject-Based IR Systems

2013 ◽  
pp. 254-267
Author(s):  
Ioannis Papadakis ◽  
Konstantinos Kyprianos
Keyword(s):  
Information Retrieval ◽  
Digital Library ◽  
Controlled Vocabulary ◽  
Knowledge Organization ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Controlled Vocabularies ◽  
Common Structure ◽  
Simple Knowledge Organization System ◽  
Knowledge Organization System ◽  
The World

One of the most important tasks of a librarian is the assignment of appropriate subject(s) to a resource within a library’s collection. The subjects usually belong to a controlled vocabulary that is specifically designed for such a task. The most widely adopted controlled vocabulary across libraries around the world is the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). However, there seems to be a shifting from traditional LCSH to modern thesauri. In this paper, a methodology is proposed, capable of incorporating thesauri into existing LCSH-based Information Retrieval–IR systems. In order to achieve this, a mapping methodology is proposed capable of providing a common structure consisting of terms belonging to LCSH and/or a thesaurus. The structure is modeled as a Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) ontology, which can be employed by appropriate subject-based IR systems. As a proof of concept, the proposed methodology is applied to the DSpace-based University of Piraeus digital library.

scholarly journals The sustainability efforts of Ton Duc Thang University in the South of Vietnam

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 04008
Author(s):  
Ut V. Le
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
University Rankings ◽  
The South ◽  
High Quality ◽  
High Quality Research ◽  
Quality Research ◽  
World University Rankings ◽  
The World

Established in 1997, Ton Duc Thang University (TDTU) is now among the best universities in Vietnam for all aspects, after 20 years of development. With sixteen faculties of multi-disciplines and around 25,000 students, TDTU has made lots of achievements. In 2017, TDTU is ranked 245th in the world (and ranked 1st in Vietnam) on Sustainable Development by UI GreenMetric World University Rankings (UI GreenMetric); ranked 1st among universities in Vietnam for high-quality research outputs by Nature Index; ranked 2nd among universities in Vietnam (and ranked 1st in research category) by Xephangdaihoc, a group of independent experts of Vietnam. Sustainability is of TDTU’s focus. This paper shortly discussed TDTU’s latest achievements on sustainability, and then focused on issues and innovation in managing waste at Ton Duc Thang University.

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