The first author takes it all? Solutions for crediting authors more visibly, transparently, and free of bias

With the seventh edition of the publication manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), the APA style now prescribes bias-free language and encourages accessibility even to non-academic audiences. However, even with the newest guidelines, the way we credit authors in psychology remains anachronistic, intransparent, and prone to conflict. It still relies on a sequence-determines-credit approach in the byline, which concurrently is contradicted by the option to consider the last author as the position of the principal investigator depending on the field or journal. Scholars from various disciplines have argued that relying on such norms introduces a considerable amount of error when stakeholders rely on articles for career-relevant decisions. Given the existing recommendations towards a credit-based system, ignoring those issues will further promote bias that could be avoided with rather minor changes to the way we perceive authorship. In this article, we introduce a set of easy-to-implement changes to the manuscript layout that value contribution rather than position. Aimed at fostering transparency, accountability, and equality between authors, establishing those changes would likely benefit all stakeholders in contemporary psychological science

Spin-Dependent Twist-Four Matrix Elements from g_1 Data in the Resonance Region

Matrix elements of spin-dependent twist-four operators are extracted from recent data on the spin-dependent g_1 structure function of the proton and deuteron in the resonance region. We emphasize the need to include the elastic contributions to the first moments of the structure functions at Q^2 < 2 GeV^2. The coefficients of the 1/Q^2 corrections to the Ellis-Jaffe sum rules are found to be 0.04 \pm 0.02 and 0.03 \pm 0.04 GeV^2 for the proton and neutron, respectively.Comment: 10 pages REVTeX, 4 figure

Link between interlayer hybridization and ultrafast charge transfer in WS2-graphene heterostructures

Ultrafast charge separation after photoexcitation is a common phenomenon in various van-der-Waals (vdW) heterostructures with great relevance for future applications in light harvesting and detection. Theoretical understanding of this phenomenon converges towards a coherent mechanism through charge transfer states accompanied by energy dissipation into strongly coupled phonons. The detailed microscopic pathways are material specific as they sensitively depend on the band structures of the individual layers, the relative band alignment in the heterostructure, the twist angle between the layers, and interlayer interactions resulting in hybridization. We used time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy combined with tight binding and density functional theory electronic structure calculations to investigate ultrafast charge separation and recombination in WS2-graphene vdW heterostructures. We identify several avoided crossings in the band structure and discuss their relevance for ultrafast charge transfer. We relate our own observations to existing theoretical models and propose a unified picture for ultrafast charge transfer in vdW heterostructures where band alignment and twist angle emerge as the most important control parameters

Defining the timing of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) outbreaks: an epidemiological study

BACKGROUND: Seasonal RSV infections occur every year and affect particularly children under six months of age. Passive immunoprophylaxis with monoclonal antibody Palivizumab is recommended in the period with high risk of RSV infection. This study aims to define the period for the southern part of Germany (Stuttgart area). METHODS: Epidemiological analysis of the RSV situation in southern Germany from 1996 to 2004 and comparison of results with literature was made. The respiratory tract specimens were sent in for the detection of RSV mainly by paediatric clinics. Detection of RSV was carried out mainly by real-time RT-PCR or by ELISA "Pathfinder". RSV outbreaks were depicted as an absolute number and as a percentage of RSV diagnoses in a month. Onsets, offsets, peaks, duration and severity of RSV seasons were defined and analysed. RESULTS: An early season with strong RSV activity (early-high phase) was followed by a weaker late season (late-low phase) in a regular biennial rhythm. However, onsets, offsets and durations of outbreaks varied significantly from year to year. RSV epidemics in southern Germany were found to oscillate in an antiphase with RSV epidemics in Finland and Sweden. CONCLUSION: The long-term regular biennial rhythm allows predicting whether the next outbreak will be late or early and whether RSV activity will be strong or weak. Not foreseeable, however, is the precise time of increase and decrease of RSV activity. Moreover, the regular seasonal pattern may be disrupted by irregular outbreaks. Thus, activity of RSV has to be monitored every year to define the period with high risk of infection

The impact of training and working conditions on junior doctors' intention to leave clinical practice

Background: The shortage of physicians is an evolving problem throughout the world. In this study we aimed to identify to what extent junior doctors' training and working conditions determine their intention to leave clinical practice after residency training. Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted in 557 junior doctors undergoing residency training in German hospitals. Self-reported specialty training conditions, working conditions and intention to leave clinical practice were measured over three time points. Scales covering training conditions were assessed by structured residency training, professional support, and dealing with lack of knowledge; working conditions were evaluated by work overload, job autonomy and social support, based on the Demand-Control-Support model. Multivariate ordinal logistic regression analyses with random intercept for longitudinal data were applied to determine the odds ratio of having a higher level of intention to leave clinical practice. Results: In the models that considered training and working conditions separately to predict intention to leave clinical practice we found significant baseline effects and change effects. After modelling training and working conditions simultaneously, we found evidence that the change effect of job autonomy (OR 0.77, p = .005) was associated with intention to leave clinical practice, whereas for the training conditions, only the baseline effects of structured residency training (OR 0.74, p = .017) and dealing with lack of knowledge (OR 0.74, p = .026) predicted intention to leave clinical practice. Conclusions: Junior doctors undergoing specialty training experience high workload in hospital practice and intense requirements in terms of specialty training. Our study indicates that simultaneously improving working conditions over time and establishing a high standard of specialty training conditions may prevent junior doctors from considering leaving clinical practice after residency training

Hard Leptoproduction of Charged Vector Mesons

We present an analysis of twist-2, leading order QCD amplitudes for hard exclusive leptoproduction of charged vector mesons. These processes are determined by nonforward parton distribution functions which are nondiagonal in quark flavor. We derive relations between flavor diagonal and nondiagonal distribution functions based on isospin symmetry. Furthermore, we discuss general features of rho^+ and rho^- production cross sections, and present estimates based on a simple model for nonforward distribution functions.Comment: 8 pages, Late

Hemoglobin determination with paired emitter detector diode

Two ordinary green light-emitting diodes used as light emitter and detector coupled with simple voltmeter form a complete, cost-effective prototype of a photometric hemoglobinometer. The device has been optimized for cuvette assays of total hemoglobin (Hb) in diluted blood using three different chemical methods recommended for the needs of clinical analysis (namely Drabkin, lauryl sulfate, and dithionite methods). The utility of developed device for real analytics has been validated by the assays of total Hb content in human blood. The results of analysis are fully compatible with those obtained using clinically recommended method and clinical analyzer