BackgroundPreprint usage is growing rapidly in the life sciences; however, questions remain on the relative quality of preprints when compared to published articles. An objective dimension of quality that is readily measurable is completeness of reporting, as transparency can improve the reader’s ability to independently interpret data and reproduce findings.MethodsIn this observational study, we initially compared independent samples of articles published in bioRxiv and in PubMed-indexed journals in 2016 using a quality of reporting questionnaire. After that, we performed paired comparisons (...) between preprints from bioRxiv to their own peer-reviewed versions in journals.ResultsPeer-reviewed articles had, on average, higher quality of reporting than preprints, although the difference was small, with absolute differences of 5.0% [95% CI 1.4, 8.6] and 4.7% [95% CI 2.4, 7.0] of reported items in the independent samples and paired sample comparison, respectively. There were larger differences favoring peer-reviewed articles in subjective ratings of how clearly titles and abstracts presented the main findings and how easy it was to locate relevant reporting information. Changes in reporting from preprints to peer-reviewed versions did not correlate with the impact factor of the publication venue or with the time lag from bioRxiv to journal publication.ConclusionsOur results suggest that, on average, publication in a peer-reviewed journal is associated with improvement in quality of reporting. They also show that quality of reporting in preprints in the life sciences is within a similar range as that of peer-reviewed articles, albeit slightly lower on average, supporting the idea that preprints should be considered valid scientific contributions. (shrink)

Background: Clinical genomic implementation studies pose challenges for informed consent. Consent forms often include complex language and concepts, which can be a barrier to diverse enrollment, and these studies often blur traditional research-clinical boundaries. There is a move toward self-directed, web-based research enrollment, but more evidence is needed about how these enrollment approaches work in practice. In this study, we developed and evaluated a literacy-focused, web-based consent approach to support enrollment of diverse participants in an ongoing clinical genomic implementation study. (...) Methods: As part of the Cancer Health Assessments Reaching Many (CHARM) study, we developed a web-based consent approach that featured plain language, multimedia, and separate descriptions of clinical care and research activities. CHARM offered clinical exome sequencing to individuals at high risk of hereditary cancer. We interviewed CHARM participants about their reactions to the consent approach. We audio recorded, transcribed, and coded interviews using a deductively and inductively derived codebook. We reviewed coded excerpts as a team to identify overarching themes. Results: We conducted 32 interviews, including 12 (38%) in Spanish. Most (69%) enrolled without assistance from study staff, usually on a mobile phone. Those who completed enrollment in one day spent an average of 12 minutes on the consent portion. Interviewees found the information simple to read but comprehensive, were neutral to positive about the multimedia support, and identified increased access to testing in the study as the key difference from clinical care. Conclusions: This study showed that interviewees found our literacy-focused, web-based consent approach acceptable; did not distinguish the consent materials from other online study processes; and valued getting access to testing in the study. Overall, conducting empirical bioethics research in an ongoing clinical trial was useful to demonstrate the acceptability of our novel consent approach but posed practical challenges. (shrink)

RESUMEN La problemática del muy bajo peso al nacer ha sido abordada desde hace varios años, sin embargo, las investigaciones están enfocadas desde diferentes perspectivas y contextos, no siempre se ha considerado su repercusión a corto y a largo plazo, así como la interacción de los diferentes factores que se relacionan con este riesgo biológico. Por ello en esta revisión bibliográfica se realiza una valoración de estudios ejecutados a nivel internacional y en Cuba dedicados al desarrollo neuropsicológico de niños con (...) muy bajo peso al nacer. Se concluye que el muy bajo peso al nacer repercute en el desarrollo neuropsicológicos desde edades tempranas, hasta la adolescencia; por ello es necesario una visión integradora que tenga en cuenta el riesgo biológico, las particularidades individuales y el contexto social en que se desenvuelve el niño desde los primeros momentos, lo que posibilitará, perfeccionar la atención a corto y largo plazo al grupo de riesgo. ABSTRACT The problems of very low birth weight have been dealt with for many years, however, research on the matter is approached from different perspectives and contexts, not always have its short and long term repercussions being considered as well as the interaction of different factors related to this biological risk. Therefore, this bibliographical review makes an assessment of international and Cuban studies devoted to very low birth weight children’s neuropsychological development. It was reached the conclusion that very low birth weight affects neuropsychological development from early ages to adolescence; for that reason, it is necessary to have an integrated approach of the problem that takes into account the biologicals risk, individual characteristics and the social context in which the child develops from the beginning, which will make the improvement of short and long term care to this risk group possible. (shrink)

Taking Parenting Public makes a compelling case that parenting has become dangerously undervalued in America today. It calls for a new investment—both personal and public—into the work of raising children and argues that we are all "stockholders" in the next generation. With a foreword by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Cornel West, Taking Parenting Public crosses boundaries to bring together thinkers from diverse fields spanning the political spectrum. It features contributions from distinguished experts in economics, political science, public policy, child (...) development, public health, history, and the media. While recent books have focused on working mothers or absent fathers, Taking Parenting Public is the first volume to take a comprehensive look at the common struggles of parents. These essays go beyond the usual chest-beating about busy parents torn between work and family demands to suggest bold solutions. Instead of the typical call for "parent replacement"—more child care, more after school programs and more mentors—the contributors offer fresh strategies for "parent replenishment," ways to put mothers and fathers back into the lives of their children not only as economic providers, but also as emotional and moral providers. (shrink)

For any unit vector in an inner product space S, we define a mapping on the system of all ⊥-closed subspaces of S, F(S), whose restriction on the system of all splitting subspaces of S, E(S), is always a finitely additive state. We show that S is complete iff at least one such mapping is a finitely additive state on F(S). Moreover, we give a completeness criterion via the existence of a regular finitely additive state on appropriate systems of subspaces. (...) Finally, the result will be generalized to general inner product spaces. (shrink)

This short work is a collection of four essays by nineteenth-century author and transcendentalist Samson Reed. "A Dissertation: On the Evidence from the Light of Nature of a Future Retribution" is a religious treatise that laid the groundwork for his aesthetic theory; the "Oration on Genius" is a vibrant speech which is probably America's earliest Romantic manifesto; "Observations on the Growth of the Mind" reflects the aesthetic theory embraced by Ralph Waldo Emerson and the New England transcendentalists; and Reed's preface (...) to the 1838 edition of "Observations," which showed his growing disenchantment with the transcendentalist movement he helped to inspire. Edited by George F. Dole, the collection contains a preface by Sylvia Montgomery Shaw giving the historical context to these writings. (shrink)

An updated and extended second edition supporting the findings of its well-known predecessor which claimed that courts employ common-sense notions of causation in determining legal responsibility.

Die vorliegende Arbeit ist eine Fortsetzung derThompson'schen Analysen des Parasitenzyklus bei Insekten, die mit der irrealen Folgerung endeten, dass unter gewissen Voraussetzungen — die wir in der gegenwärtigen Analyse akzeptiert haben —jeder Parasit in relativ kurzer Generationenfolge seinen Wirt, und damit sich selbst, zur Ausrottung bringen muss. Der Einfluss von wiederkehrenden Umwelt-katastrophen wie sie z.B. durch ungünstiges Wetter sehr häufig bedingt sind, wurde untersucht mit dem Ergebnis, dass solche Katastrophen, wenn sie in nicht allzugrossen Intervallen auftreten, völlig genügen, um die (...) Unterbrechung der akkumulativen Parasitierung im Zyklus zu erklären.Die grössere Empfindlichkeit der Parasiten, welche aus allen Beobachtungen und Analysen sich ergibt, ist nicht physiologisch, sondern ökologisch bedingt. Methodisch hat sich gezeigt, dass die Analyse tierischer Populationen weitgehend ohne Anwendung von Integralen möglich ist.Die Ergebnisse, welche die hohe Bedeutung der Feinde bei grosser Wirtsdichte, und ihre minimale Wirksamkeit, wenn letztere niedrig ist, zeigen, sind unabhängig von einem besonderen Dichtefaktor der Feindvermehrung — wie er im allgemeinen besteht und die aufgezeigten Tendenzen noch verstärkt — gewonnen. Der Einfluss des Superparasiten wird unter dem Einfluss wiederkehrender Umwelt-katastrophen minimal. Am Modell einiger beobachteter Gradationen wird die Übereinstimmung mit unserer Analvse demonstriert.Le travail ci-dessus est la continuation des analyses deThompson des cycles parasitaires chez les insectes, qui l'ont à la conclusion absurde qu'en acceptant certaines suppositions — que nous avons acceptées dans la présente analyse — chaque parasite exterminerait son hôte et par conséquent soi-même. Nous avons étudié l'influence de certains phénomènes catastrophiques récurrents provenant du milieu comme par exemple celle d'un temps défavorable. Ces phénomènes, pourvu qu'ils ne se présentent pas à des intervalles trop grands, suffisent amplement pour expliquer l'interruption de la parasitation accumulative dans les cycles.La sensibilité plus grande des parasites qui est démontrée dans toutes les observations et analyses ne provient pas de causes physiologiques, mais écologiques.La méthodologie a donné comme résultat intéressant le fait que l'analyse des populations animales peut se faire sans l'application des intégrales.Les résultats démontrant la grande importance des ennemis quand les hôtes sont nombreux, mais par contre une activité minimale des ennemis quand les hôtes sont rares, ont été obtenus indépendamment d'une augmentation spéciale des ennemis qui, en général, constitue un facteur important, ce qui renforce encore les tendances que nous avons trouvées. L'influence des superparasites devient minime sous l'action des catastrophes récurrentes dus au milieu. Finalement, au moyen de quelques gradations bien observées, nous avons démontré que notre analyse est conforme aux faits. (shrink)

First published in 1931 and originally delivered as the Deems Lectures at New York University in 1929, this book examines what scientific discoveries in many different branches of science reveal, and the implications of such discoveries for philosophy. Esteemed philosopher F. S. C. Northrop surveys a variety of advances, including relativity and quantum mechanics, and how they correlate to his epistemological theory of concepts. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the history of science and (...) the connection between science and philosophy. (shrink)

The present essay is organized into five main sections. We begin with a few preliminary remarks about "cloud computing," which are developed more fully in a later section. This is followed by a brief overview of the evolution of Helen Nissenbaum's framework of "privacy as contextual integrity." In particular, we examine Nissenbaum's "Decision Heuristic" model, described in her most recent work on privacy, to see how it enables the contextual-integrity framework to respond to privacy challenges posed by new and emerging (...) technologies. We then apply that heuristic device to questions surrounding one aspect of cloud computing -- viz., "cloud storage" technology. In particular, we focus on current practices affecting Google Docs as an instance of a cloud-storage system. (shrink)