Sharing Meaning with Machines

Communication can be described as the act of sharing meaning, so if humans and machines are to communicate, how is this to be achieved between such different creatures? This paper examines what else the communicators need to share in order to share meaning, including perception, categorisation, attention, sociability and consciousness. It compares and takes inspiration from communications with others with different perception and categorisation, including the deaf-blind, the autistic and animals

The impact of academic patenting on university research and its transfer

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the impact of academic patenting. On the basis of CV information and two separate surveys, we provide the first empirical evidence for a sample of UK academics in physics, chemistry, computer science and a subset of engineering. The main contribution of this paper is twofold. First, our econometric results suggest that academic patenting is complementary to publishing at least up to a certain level of patenting output after which we found some evidence of a substitution effect. Second, our analysis of the potential impact of patenting on the other channels of knowledge transfers seems to indicate that patenting does not have a negative impact on the other channels of knowledge exchange. We have found some positive correlation between the stock of patents and other channels of knowledge transfer, however, also in this case, we have found that a substitution effect sets in indicating a inverted U shape type of relationships between patenting and other knowledge transfer channels.

Towards novel strategies to prevent prosthetic joint infection: the potential of cationic Antimicrobial peptides

The prevention of implant-associated infection, one of the leading causes of arthroplasty failure, remains a major challenge in orthopaedic surgery. The main strategies currently pursued are based on surface modifications to render implants less susceptible to bacterial colonization. The antimicrobial peptides of the innate immunity (AMPs) are considered a promising source of novel anti-infective agents and are receiving increasing attention in the field of medical devices due to their proven anti-biofilm properties. Our group has selected three AMPs derived from natural sequences, that are highly effective in vitro against prosthetic joint pathogens, also including antibiotic-resistant clinical isolates. These peptides maintain their antimicrobial activity under conditions relevant to the joint environment and are safe to osteoblast cells under similar conditions, which makes them suitable for orthopaedic applications. Current studies aimed at evaluating their anti-inflammatory and osteogenic potential will allow to identify the best candidate to be used for the development of novel AMP-based antibacterial coatings for arthroplasty implants

Interdisciplinary research and the societal visibility of science: The advantages of spanning multiple and distant scientific fields

Acknowledgements The authors thank editor Ben Martin and three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions. The authors are also grateful to the valuable feedback received by Andrés Barge-Gil, Nicolas Carayol, Elena Cefis, Adrián A. Díaz-Faes, Jarno Hoekman, Cornelia Lawson, Óscar Llopis, Orietta Marsili, Francesco Rentocchini, Ammon Salter, and participants in the following workshops and conferences: CREI Ideas Development Workshop (Univ. of Bath, 2021), DRUID (2021), Academy of Management (2021), EU-SPRI (2021) and the Workshop on the Organisation, Economics, and Policy of Scientific Research (WOEPSR, 2022). The authors acknowledge funding from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (CSO2013-48053-R); Nicolás Robinson-García is currently supported by a Ramón y Cajal grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science (RYC2019-027886-I). The usual disclaimers apply.Science policy discourse often encourages interdisciplinary research as an approach that enhances the potential of science to produce breakthrough discoveries and solutions to real-world, complex problems. While there is a large body of research examining the relationship between interdisciplinarity and scientific discovery, there is comparatively limited evidence on and understanding of the connection between interdisciplinarity and the generation of scientific findings that address societal problems. Drawing on a large-scale survey, we investigate whether scientists who conduct interdisciplinary research are more likely to generate scientific findings with high societal visibility - that is, research findings that attract the attention of non-academic audiences, as measured by mentions to scientific articles in blogs, news media and policy documents. Our findings provide support for the idea that two facets of interdisciplinarity - variety and disparity - are associated positively with societal visibility. Our results show, also, that the interplay between these two facets of interdisciplinarity has a systematic positive and significant association with societal visibility, suggesting a reinforcing effect of spanning multiple and distant scientific fields. Finally, we find support for the contingent role of scientists' collaboration with non-academic actors, suggesting that the positive association between interdisciplinary research and societal visibility is particularly strong among scientists who collaborate with actors outside academia. We argue that this study provides useful insights for science policy oriented to fostering the scientific and societal relevance of publicly funded research.Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (CSO2013-48053-R)Ramón y Cajal grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science (RYC2019-027886-I

Localization of α-synuclein in teleost central nervous system: immunohistochemical and Western blot evidence by 3D5 monoclonal antibody in the common carp, Cyprinus carpio

Alpha synuclein (α-syn) is a 140 amino acid vertebrate-specific protein, highly expressed in the human nervous system and abnormally accumulated in Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, known as synucleinopathies. The common occurrence of α-syn aggregates suggested a role for α-syn in these disorders, although its biological activity remains poorly understood. Given the high degree of sequence similarity between vertebrate α-syns, we investigated this proteins in the CNS of the common carp Cyprinus carpio, with the aim of comparing its anatomical and cellular distribution with that of mammalian α-syn. The distribution of α-syn was analyzed by semiquantitative Western blot, immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence by a novel monoclonal antibody (3D5) against a fully conserved epitope between carp and human α-syn. The distribution of 3D5 immunoreactivity was also compared with that of ChAT, TH and 5HT by double immunolabelings. Results show that α-syn-like protein of about 17 kDa is expressed to different levels in several brain regions and in the spinal cord. Immunoreactive materials were localized in neuronal perikarya and varicose fibers but not in the nucleus. Present findings indicate that α-syn-like proteins may be expressed in few subpopulations of catecholaminergic and serotoninergic neurons in the carp brain. However, evidence of cellular colocalization 3D5/TH or 3D5/5HT was rare. Differently, the same proteins appear to be co-expressed with ChAT by cholinergic neurons in several motor and reticular nuclei. These results sustain the functional conservation of the α-syn expression in cholinergic systems and suggest that α-syn modulates similar molecular pathways in phylogenetically distant vertebrates. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Stepped wedge cluster randomised trials: a review of the statistical methodology used and available

Background: Previous reviews have focussed on the rationale for employing the stepped wedge design (SWD), the areas of research to which the design has been applied and the general characteristics of the design. However these did not focus on the statistical methods nor addressed the appropriateness of sample size methods used.This was a review of the literature of the statistical methodology used in stepped wedge cluster randomised trials. Methods: Literature Review. The Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Cochrane databases were searched for methodological guides and RCTs which employed the stepped wedge design. Results: This review identified 102 trials which employed the stepped wedge design compared to 37 from the most recent review by Beard et al. 2015. Forty six trials were cohort designs and 45 % (n = 46) had fewer than 10 clusters. Of the 42 articles discussing the design methodology 10 covered analysis and seven covered sample size. For cohort stepped wedge designs there was only one paper considering analysis and one considering sample size methods. Most trials employed either a GEE or mixed model approach to analysis (n = 77) but only 22 trials (22 %) estimated sample size in a way which accounted for the stepped wedge design that was subsequently used. Conclusions: Many studies which employ the stepped wedge design have few clusters but use methods of analysis which may require more clusters for unbiased and efficient intervention effect estimates. There is the need for research on the minimum number of clusters required for both types of stepped wedge design. Researchers should distinguish in the sample size calculation between cohort and cross sectional stepped wedge desi

A method to assess demand growth vulnerability of travel times on road network links

Many national governments around the world have turned their recent focus to monitoring the actual reliability of their road networks. In parallel there have been major research efforts aimed at developing modelling approaches for predicting the potential vulnerability of such networks, and in forecasting the future impact of any mitigating actions. In practice-whether monitoring the past or planning for the future-a confounding factor may arise, namely the potential for systematic growth in demand over a period of years. As this growth occurs the networks will operate in a regime closer to capacity, in which they are more sensitive to any variation in flow or capacity. Such growth will be partially an explanation for trends observed in historic data, and it will have an impact in forecasting too, where we can interpret this as implying that the networks are vulnerable to demand growth. This fact is not reflected in current vulnerability methods which focus almost exclusively on vulnerability to loss in capacity. In the paper, a simple, moment-based method is developed to separate out this effect of demand growth on the distribution of travel times on a network link, the aim being to develop a simple, tractable, analytic method for medium-term planning applications. Thus the impact of demand growth on the mean, variance and skewness in travel times may be isolated. For given critical changes in these summary measures, we are thus able to identify what (location-specific) level of demand growth would cause these critical values to be exceeded, and this level is referred to as Demand Growth Reliability Vulnerability (DGRV). Computing the DGRV index for each link of a network also allows the planner to identify the most vulnerable locations, in terms of their ability to accommodate growth in demand. Numerical examples are used to illustrate the principles and computation of the DGRV measure

Exploring the biological properties and therapeutic potential of antimicrobial peptides

The researchers involved in the Trans2Care project at the Department of Medical and Biological Sciences of the University of Udine investigate the biological properties of the antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) of the immune system and their therapeutic potential for human and veterinary application. In addition to potent and broad-spectrum antimicrobial activities, some AMPs display anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects and hold promise as novel antiinfective agents combining antibiotic and immunostimulating properties. A detailed knowledge of their physicochemical, biological and pharmacological properties and of their impact on clinical settings is an important prerequisite to this end. The Trans2Care project offers an invaluable opportunity to share knowledge, technical expertise and laboratory facilities to achieve a better understanding of the biological features and therapeutic potential of AMPs

Gait speed and cognitive decline over 2 years in the Ibadan study of aging

AbstractBackgroundThe evidence suggesting that gait speed may represent a sensitive marker for cognitive decline in the elderly requires support from diverse racial groups.ObjectiveWe investigated the relationship between gait speed and cognitive decline over 2 years in a community dwelling sample of elderly Africans.MethodsData are from the Ibadan study of aging (ISA) conducted among a household multi-stage probability sample of 2149 Yoruba Nigerians aged 65 years or older. Gait speed was measured as the time taken to complete a 3 or 4m distance at normal walking speed. We assessed cognitive functions with a modified version of the 10-word learning list and delay recall test, and examined the relationship between baseline gait speed, as well as gait speed changes, and follow-up cognition using multiple linear regression and longitudinal analyses using random effects.ResultsApproximately 71% of 1461 participants who were dementia free and who had their gait speed measured at baseline (2007) were successfully followed up in two waves (2008 and 2009). Along with increasing age, poor health and economic status, a slower baseline gait speed was independently associated with poorer follow-up cognition in both linear regression (1.2 words, 95% CI=0.48–2.0) and longitudinal analyses (0.8 words, 95% CI=0.44–1.2). Also, a greater change in gait speed between 2007 and 2009 was associated with the worst follow-up cognition (0.3 words, 95% CI=0.09–0.51).ConclusionThe finding that a substantial change in gait speed was associated with reduced cognitive performance is of potential importance to efforts aimed at early identification of cognitive disorders in this population

The Survivor Unmet Needs Survey (SUNS) for haematological cancer survivors: a cross-sectional study assessing the relevance and psychometric properties

BACKGROUND Relevant and psychometrically sound needs assessment tools are necessary for accurate assessment of haematological cancer survivors unmet needs. No previous study has developed nor psychometrically evaluated a comprehensive needs assessment tool for use with population-based samples of haematological cancer survivors. This study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the Survivor Unmet Needs Survey (SUNS) with haematological cancer survivors. METHODS The relevance, content and face validity of the SUNS to haematological cancer survivors was assessed using qualitative interviews. Psychometric evaluation was conducted using data collected from haematological cancer survivors, aged 18-80 years at recruitment and recruited from four Australian cancer registries. Construct, convergent and discriminant validity; internal reliability and floor and ceiling effects were assessed. A second survey was completed by a sub-sample of survivors recruited from two of the four registries to assess test-retest reliability. RESULTS Results from 17 qualitative interviews confirmed the relevance, face and content validity of the original items of the SUNS for use with haematological cancer survivors. Overall, 1,957 eligible haematological cancer survivors were contacted by the cancer registries. Of these 1,280 were sent a survey, and 715 returned a survey (37% of eligible survivors contacted and 56% of survivors sent a survey). A total of 529 survivors completed all 89 items of the SUNS and were included in the exploratory factor analysis. Exploratory factor analysis supported the original five-factor structure of the SUNS. Evidence for convergent validity was established, with all five domains of the SUNS illustrating a moderate positive correlation with all three subscales of the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). All Cronbach's alpha values were above 0.9 and all corrected item-total correlations were acceptable (>0.2). Criteria for discriminant validity was not met, with only 10 of the 15 (67%) a-priori hypotheses supported. Test-retest reliability was acceptable for 40 of the 89 items (45%) and for three of the five domains. Significant floor effects were evident for all five domains. CONCLUSIONS The SUNS demonstrates evidence for multiple features of validity and reliability as a measure of unmet needs for haematological cancer survivors. However, evidence supporting some psychometric properties was limited.This project was co-funded by beyondblue and Cancer Australia (Grant ID:569290). Miss Hall was funded by an Australian Postgraduate Award and was previously funded by a 2012 Asia Australia Prime Minister’s Endeavour Award. Dr Flora Tzelepis was supported by a Leukaemia Foundation of Australia and Cure Cancer Australia Foundation Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship