Computational Controversy

Climate change, vaccination, abortion, Trump: Many topics are surrounded by fierce controversies. The nature of such heated debates and their elements have been studied extensively in the social science literature. More recently, various computational approaches to controversy analysis have appeared, using new data sources such as Wikipedia, which help us now better understand these phenomena. However, compared to what social sciences have discovered about such debates, the existing computational approaches mostly focus on just a few of the many important aspects around the concept of controversies. In order to link the two strands, we provide and evaluate here a controversy model that is both, rooted in the findings of the social science literature and at the same time strongly linked to computational methods. We show how this model can lead to computational controversy analytics that have full coverage over all the crucial aspects that make up a controversy.Comment: In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Social Informatics (SocInfo) 201

Cortical thickness, surface area and volume measures in Parkinson's disease, multiple system atrophy and progressive supranuclear palsy

OBJECTIVE Parkinson's disease (PD), Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) are neurodegenerative diseases that can be difficult to distinguish clinically. The objective of the current study was to use surface-based analysis techniques to assess cortical thickness, surface area and grey matter volume to identify unique morphological patterns of cortical atrophy in PD, MSA and PSP and to relate these patterns of change to disease duration and clinical features. METHODS High resolution 3D T1-weighted MRI volumes were acquired from 14 PD patients, 18 MSA, 14 PSP and 19 healthy control participants. Cortical thickness, surface area and volume analyses were carried out using the automated surface-based analysis package FreeSurfer (version 5.1.0). Measures of disease severity and duration were assessed for correlation with cortical morphometric changes in each clinical group. RESULTS Results show that in PSP, widespread cortical thinning and volume loss occurs within the frontal lobe, particularly the superior frontal gyrus. In addition, PSP patients also displayed increased surface area in the pericalcarine. In comparison, PD and MSA did not display significant changes in cortical morphology. CONCLUSION These results demonstrate that patients with clinically established PSP exhibit distinct patterns of cortical atrophy, particularly affecting the frontal lobe. These results could be used in the future to develop a useful clinical application of MRI to distinguish PSP patients from PD and MSA patients

Psychometrische Prüfung des deutschsprachigen „Neurologischen Fragebogens zur Müdigkeit bei Multipler Sklerose (NFI-MS-G)“ bei Rehabilitanden mit Multipler Sklerose (Psychometric Evaluation of the ‘German Neurological Fatigue Index for Multiple Sclerosis (NFI-MS-G)’ in a Sample of Rehabilitation Patients with Multiple Sclerosis)

Purpose The purpose of this study was to provide a patient-reported outcome measure for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) comprehensively reflecting the construct of fatigue and developed upon the assumptions of the Rasch model. The Neurological Fatigue Index – Multiple Sclerosis (NFI-MS) is based on both a medical and patient-described symptom framework of fatigue and has been validated. Therefore, in this study the German version of the NFI-MS (NFI-MS-G) consisting of a physical and cognitive subscale and a summary scale was validated. Method In this bi-centre-study, 309 people with MS undergoing outpatient rehabilitation or being≥2 months before or after their inpatient rehabilitation completed the German NFI-MS-G twice within 14–21 days together with other questionnaires. Correlation with established questionnaires and Rasch analysis were used for its validation. Additionally, psychometric properties of known-groups validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, measurement precision and readability were tested. Finally, the English NFI-MS and German NFI-MS-G were compared with each other to equate the language versions. Results The NFI-MS-G showed good internal construct validity, convergent and known-groups validity and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha 0.84–0.93). The physical subscale showed minor local dependencies between items 1 and 7, 2 and 3 and 4 to 6, that could be treated by combining the respective items to testlets. Unidimensionality was found for the physical and cognitive subscales but not for the summary scale. Replacing the summary scale, a 2-domains subtest measuring the higher-order construct of fatigue was created. Good test-retest reliability (Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient of 0.86–0.90) and low floor and ceiling effects were demonstrated. The NFI-MS-G was found easily readable and invariant across groups of gender, age, disease duration, timepoint and centre. Conclusion The German version of the NFI-MS comprehensively represents the construct of fatigue and has adequate psychometric properties. The German version differs from the English original version with respect to a lack of unidimensionality of the summary scale and minor local dependencies of the physical subscale that could be canceled out using a testlet analysis

Diffusion tensor imaging of Parkinson's disease, multiple system atrophy and progressive supranuclear palsy: a tract-based spatial statistics study

Although often clinically indistinguishable in the early stages, Parkinson's disease (PD), Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) have distinct neuropathological changes. The aim of the current study was to identify white matter tract neurodegeneration characteristic of each of the three syndromes. Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) was used to perform a whole-brain automated analysis of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data to compare differences in fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) between the three clinical groups and healthy control subjects. Further analyses were conducted to assess the relationship between these putative indices of white matter microstructure and clinical measures of disease severity and symptoms. In PSP, relative to controls, changes in DTI indices consistent with white matter tract degeneration were identified in the corpus callosum, corona radiata, corticospinal tract, superior longitudinal fasciculus, anterior thalamic radiation, superior cerebellar peduncle, medial lemniscus, retrolenticular and anterior limb of the internal capsule, cerebral peduncle and external capsule bilaterally, as well as the left posterior limb of the internal capsule and the right posterior thalamic radiation. MSA patients also displayed differences in the body of the corpus callosum corticospinal tract, cerebellar peduncle, medial lemniscus, anterior and superior corona radiata, posterior limb of the internal capsule external capsule and cerebral peduncle bilaterally, as well as the left anterior limb of the internal capsule and the left anterior thalamic radiation. No significant white matter abnormalities were observed in the PD group. Across groups, MD correlated positively with disease severity in all major white matter tracts. These results show widespread changes in white matter tracts in both PSP and MSA patients, even at a mid-point in the disease process, which are not found in patients with PD

The Kafkaesque Pursuit of ‘World Class’: Audit Culture and the Reputational Arms Race in Academia

Since the 1980s universities have been subjected to a seemingly continuous process of policy reforms designed to make them more economical, efficient and effective, according to yardsticks defined by governments and university managers. The pursuit of ‘excellence’, ‘international standing’ and ‘world class’ status have become key drivers of what Hazelkorn (High Educ Pol 21(2):193–215, 2008) has termed the ‘rankings arms race’ that now dominates the world of academia. These policies are changing the mission and meaning of the public university and, more profoundly, the culture of academia itself. While some authors have sought to capture and analyse these trends in terms of ‘academic capitalism’ and the ‘enterprise university model’, we suggest they might also be usefully understood theoretically as illustrations of the rise of audit culture in higher education and its effects. Drawing on ethnographic examples from the UK, Denmark and New Zealand, we ask: how are higher education institutions being reconfigured by these new disciplinary regimes of audit? How are ranking and performance indicators changing institutional behaviour and transforming academic subjectivities? What possibilities are there for alternative university futures? And what insights can anthropology offer to address these questions

Regulation of Translation in Haloarchaea: 5′- and 3′-UTRs Are Essential and Have to Functionally Interact In Vivo

Recently a first genome-wide analysis of translational regulation using prokaryotic species had been performed which revealed that regulation of translational efficiency plays an important role in haloarchaea. In fact, the fractions of genes under differential growth phase-dependent translational control in the two species Halobacterium salinarum and Haloferax volcanii were as high as in eukaryotes. However, nothing is known about the mechanisms of translational regulation in archaea. Therefore, two genes exhibiting opposing directions of regulation were selected to unravel the importance of untranslated regions (UTRs) for differential translational control in vivo

Response Monitoring in De Novo Patients with Parkinson's Disease

BACKGROUND: Parkinson's disease (PD) is accompanied by dysfunctions in a variety of cognitive processes. One of these is error processing, which depends upon phasic decreases of medial prefrontal dopaminergic activity. Until now, there is no study evaluating these processes in newly diagnosed, untreated patients with PD ("de novo PD"). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we report large changes in performance monitoring processes using event-related potentials (ERPs) in de novo PD-patients. The results suggest that increases in medial frontal dopaminergic activity after an error (Ne) are decreased, relative to age-matched controls. In contrast, neurophysiological processes reflecting general motor response monitoring (Nc) are enhanced in de novo patients. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: It may be hypothesized that the Nc-increase is at costs of dopaminergic activity after an error; on a functional level errors may not always be detected and correct responses sometimes be misinterpreted as errors. This pattern differs from studies examining patients with a longer history of PD and may reflect compensatory processes, frequently occurring in pre-manifest stages of PD. From a clinical point of view the clearly attenuated Ne in the de novo PD patients may prove a useful additional tool for the early diagnosis of basal ganglia dysfunction in PD

Overview of IFMIF-DONES diagnostics: Requirements and techniques

The IFMIF-DONES Facility is a unique first-class scientific infrastructure whose construction is foreseen in Granada, Spain, in the coming years. Strong integration efforts are being made at the current project phase aiming at harmonizing the ongoing design of the different and complex Systems of the facility. The consolidation of the Diagnostics and Instrumentation, transversal across many of them, is a key element of this purpose. A top-down strategy is proposed for a systematic Diagnostics Review and Requirement definition, putting emphasis in the one-of-a-kind instruments necessary by the operational particularities of some of the Systems, as well as to the harsh environment that they shall survive. In addition, other transversal aspects such as the ones related to Safety and Machine Protection and their respective requirements shall be also considered. The goal is therefore to advance further and solidly in the respective designs, identify problems in advance, and steer the Diagnostics development and validation campaigns that will be required. The present work provides an overview of this integration strategy as well as a description of some of the most challenging Diagnostics and Instruments within the facility, including several proposed techniques currently under study