bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Proceedings From the ASCO/College of American Pathologists Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Predictive Biomarker Summit
Authors: Hayes Daniel F. , Herbst Roy S. , Myles Jonathan L. , Topalian Suzanne L. , Yohe Sophia L. , Aronson Naomi , Bellizzi Andrew M. , Basu Roy Upal , Bradshaw Georganne , Edwards Robin H. , El-Gabry Ehab A. , Elvin Julia , Gajewski Thomas F. , McShane Lisa M. , Oberley Matthew , Philip Reena , Rimm David L. , Rosenbaum Jason N. , Rubin Eric H. , Schlager Lisa , Sherwood Shimere W. , Stewart Mark , Taube Janis M. , Thurin Magdalena , Vasalos Patricia , Laser Jordan
Published: November 2022

PURPOSE

Immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) therapy represents one of the great advances in the field of oncology, highlighted by the Nobel Prize in 2018. Multiple predictive biomarkers for ICI benefit have been proposed. These include assessment of programmed death ligand-1 expression by immunohistochemistry, and determination of mutational genotype (microsatellite instability or mismatch repair deficiency or tumor mutational burden) as a reflection of neoantigen expression. However, deployment of these assays has been challenging for oncologists and pathologists alike.

METHODS

To address these issues, ASCO and the College of American Pathologists convened a virtual Predictive Factor Summit from September 14 to 15, 2021. Representatives from the academic community, US Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, National Institutes of Health, health insurance organizations, pharmaceutical companies, in vitro diagnostics manufacturers, and patient advocate organizations presented state-of-the-art predictive factors for ICI, associated problems, and possible solutions.

RESULTS

The Summit provided an overview of the challenges and opportunities for improvement in assay execution, interpretation, and clinical applications of programmed death ligand-1, microsatellite instability-high or mismatch repair deficient, and tumor mutational burden-high for ICI therapies, as well as issues related to regulation, reimbursement, and next-generation ICI biomarker development.

CONCLUSION

The Summit concluded with a plan to generate a joint ASCO/College of American Pathologists strategy for consideration of future research in each of these areas to improve tumor biomarker tests for ICI therapy.
Nonhuman Governance
Authors: Mehtta Megnaa
Published: November 2022

The current ecological crisis and its accompanying environmental consciousness has prodded many to reject Western dualism and instead embrace animism. Taking the Sundarbans forests of India as a starting point, the author shows how several animated, nonhuman agents of the region guide both resource use and social relationships through a set of rules known as the “rules of the jungle.” The source of these rules are deities, demons, and spirits—that is, “cosmic polities”—that undeniably govern life in the Sundarbans and across the landscape of South Asia. Mehtta shows how such nonhuman forms of governance and animistic ontologies can act as a source not only of care and an ecological consciousness but also are capable of exclusion and discrimination. Consequently, the South Asian context provides an important cautionary tale about the blind embrace of animism as the sole savior of our ecological crisis by revealing a spectrum of violence within certain strands of animistic ontologies. Simultaneously the author shows how Western repertoires of thought reveal framing devices that transcend dualism and may be read as the precursors of contemporary environmental consciousness. This article ultimately proposes the importance of acknowledging a bricolage of ontologies and realities without entrenching them in a particular identity of caste, tribe, or “indigeneity” or in being of “the West” or of “the rest of the world.”
Birha
Authors: Judge Rajbir Singh
Published: November 2022

Focusing on early twentieth-century Punjab, this article considers how situating the region into historical context circumscribes the literary by tying it to place, thereby creating a seamless economy of exchange. In contrast, noting the refusal of literary and artistic output to be adjudicated into context, this article asks, Is it possible to consider the encounters within the Punjabi literary and artistic scene through a dislocation rather than a circuitous exchange within a singular Punjab? The author ponders this question by considering how analyses centered on exchange are unavoidable when situated within historicity—analyses that emerged in the colonial period as a central way to understand Sikh literary production. Such a grasp on Punjab, the Sikh tradition, and historicity, however, is loosened when we consider the nonhuman. The nonhuman, in other words, challenges the overt focus on history, conquest, and vision that undergirds our understanding of the Punjabi literary scene by functioning as an impediment to mediation, translation, and recognition. The focus on the nonhuman is not to offer a more robust or precise recognition to Punjab but to disarticulate the very contours of recognition through a focus on the eye.
Serum inflammatory cytokines as disease biomarkers in the DE50-MD dog model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy
Authors: Riddell Dominique O. , Hildyard John C. W. , Harron Rachel C. M. , Hornby Natasha L. , Wells Dominic J. , Piercy Richard J.
Published: November 2022

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a fatal muscle-wasting disease, caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene, characterised by cycles of muscle degeneration, inflammation and regeneration. Recently, there has been renewed interest specifically in drugs that ameliorate muscle inflammation in DMD patients. The DE50-MD dog is a model of DMD that closely mimics the human DMD phenotype. We quantified inflammatory proteins in serum from wild-type (WT) and DE50-MD dogs aged 3-18 months to identify biomarkers for future pre-clinical trials. Significantly higher concentrations of C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2), granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF or CSF2), keratinocyte chemotactic-like (KC-like, homologous to mouse CXCL1), TNFα (or TNF), and interleukins IL2, IL6, IL7, IL8 (CXCL8), IL10, IL15 and IL18 were detected in DE50-MD serum compared to WT serum. Of these, CCL2 best differentiated the two genotypes. The relative level of CCL2 mRNA was greater in the vastus lateralis muscle of DE50-MD dogs than in that of WT dogs, and CCL2 was expressed both within and at the periphery of damaged myofibres. Serum CCL2 concentration was significantly associated with acid phosphatase staining in vastus lateralis biopsy samples in DE50-MD dogs. In conclusion, the serum cytokine profile suggests that inflammation is a feature of the DE50-MD phenotype. Quantification of serum CCL2 in particular is a useful non-invasive biomarker of the DE50-MD phenotype.
Risk Stratification of Sentinel Node Metastasis Disease Burden and Phenotype in Stage III Melanoma Patients
Authors: Hussain Zahra , Heaton Martin J. , Snelling Andrew P. , Nobes Jenny P. , Gray Gill , Garioch Jennifer J. , Moncrieff Marc D.
Published: November 2022

Background

Currently, all patients with American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) pT2b-pT4b melanomas and a positive sentinel node biopsy are now considered for adjuvant systemic therapy without consideration of the burden of disease in the metastatic nodes.

Methods

This was a retrospective cohort analysis of 1377 pT1-pT4b melanoma patients treated at an academic cancer center. Standard variables regarding patient, primary tumor, and sentinel node characteristics, in addition to sentinel node metastasis maximum tumor deposit size (MTDS) in millimeters and extracapsular spread (ECS) status, were analyzed for predicting disease-specific survival (DSS).

Results

The incidence of SN+ was 17.3% (238/1377) and ECS was 10.5% (25/238). Increasing AJCC N stage was associated with worse DSS. There was no difference in DSS between the IIIB and IIIC groups. Subgroup analyses showed that the optimal MTDS cut-point was 0.7 mm for the pT1b-pT4a SN+ subgroups, but there was no cut-point for the pT4b SN+ subgroup. Patients with MTDS <0.7 mm and no ECS had similar survival outcomes as the N0 patients with the same T stage. Nodal risk categories were developed using the 0.7 mm MTDS cut-point and ECS status. The incidence of low-risk disease, according to the new nodal risk model, was 22.3% (53/238) in the stage III cohort, with 49% (26/53) in the pT2b-pT3a and pT3b-pT4a subgroups and none in the pT4b subgroup. Similar outcomes were observed for overall and distant metastasis-free survival.

Conclusion

We propose a more granular classification system, based on tumor burden and ECS status in the sentinel node, that identifies low-risk patients in the AJCC IIIB and IIIC subgroups who may otherwise be observed.
Far from home: the role of glial mRNA localization in synaptic plasticity
Authors: Gala Dalia S. , Titlow Joshua S. , Teodoro Rita O. , Davis Ilan
Published: November 2022

Neurons and glia are highly polarized cells, whose distal cytoplasmic functional subdomains require specific proteins. Neurons have axonal and dendritic cytoplasmic extensions containing synapses whose plasticity is regulated efficiently by mRNA transport and localized translation. The principles behind these mechanisms are equally attractive for explaining rapid local regulation of distal glial cytoplasmic projections, independent of their cell nucleus. However, in contrast to neurons, mRNA localization has received little experimental attention in glia. Nevertheless, there are many functionally diverse glial subtypes containing extensive networks of long cytoplasmic projections with likely localized regulation that influence neurons and their synapses. Moreover, glia have many other neuron-like properties, including electrical activity, secretion of gliotransmitters and calcium signaling, influencing, for example, synaptic transmission, plasticity and axon pruning. Here, we review previous studies concerning glial transcripts with important roles in influencing synaptic plasticity, focusing on a few cases involving localized translation. We discuss a variety of important questions about mRNA transport and localized translation in glia that remain to be addressed, using cutting-edge tools already available for neurons.
New and remarkable records of lichenicolous fungi from Ternopil Oblast (Ukraine). II.
Authors: Darmostuk Valerii , Sira Olha
Published: November 2022

Records of 25 species of lichenicolous fungi from Ternopil oblast (Ukraine) are provided. Among them, Dacampia cyrtellae, Didymocyrtis slaptonensis, Epithamnolia xanthoriae, Lichenotubeufia heterodermiae, Phoma peltigerae, Tremella caloplacae, Trichoconis physciicola, Unguiculariopsis lucaniae, Xenonectriella physciacearum, and X. zimmermanni are reported for the first time for Ukraine. Lichenotubeufia is a new genus to Ukraine. Descriptions, localities, ecology and distribution of the recorded species are given.
Updates to the list of Estonian lichenized, lichenicolous and allied fungi
Authors: Jüriado Inga , Marmor-Ohtla Liis , Martin Ljudmilla , Randlane Tiina , Suija Ave
Published: November 2022

Herewith, we continue to upgrade Estonian checklist of lichenized, lichenicolous and allied fungi and report twelve fungal species as new for Estonia, of them eleven are lichenized and one is lichenicolous fungus.
How was the year 2022 for Folia Cryptogamica Estonica?
Authors: Degtjarenko Polina
Published: November 2022

The current FCE fascicle 59 is full of diverse papers considering new and noteworthy taxon records, updates to red- and checklists, and among other things – lichen biota on hornfels outcrops.
Meteorological determinants of bicycle traffic volume in Toruń
Authors: Różycka Karolina , Pawłowski Bogusław
Published: November 2022

This paper presents the results of research on the correlation between bicycle traffic volume (number of bicycles per day detected by counters) in Toruń and a selection of meteorological elements. The analysis covered the years 2019–21 and the data was sourced from the Municipal Roads Authority in Toruń and meteomodel.pl. Using IBM SPSS Statistics, models were developed to illustrate the influence of weather conditions on bicycle traffic volume in different periods of the year. The volume of bicycle traffic in Toruń was lowest in January (on average N=709 bikes recorded per day) and highest in July (N=4533). The period from June until September, during which the number of recorded bicycle passes was more than 2.5 times greater than in the remaining months of the year, was referred to as the ‘high season’. Amongst the analysed variables the strongest determinant of bicycle traffic was decidedly air temperature. However, in individual months, especially in summer, other weather elements also played a major part in affecting the so-called apparent temperature. This allowed for the identification of the weather-related preferences of cyclists in such months.
Celebration of the New Year in Ukraine during the Soviet and post-Soviet periods
Authors: Matyukhina Oleksandra
Published: November 2022

In the second half of the 20th and in the early 21st century, that is during the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, the New Year was – and it still remains – one of the main calendar holidays celebrated by the urban population in Ukraine. It can be said with confidence that it has become a focus of a variety of customs, traditions of its celebration, both borrowed from other holidays and newly formed, inherent only to this one holiday. The current paper deals with the changes in the traditions and rituals of celebrating the New Year in the second half of the 20th and early 21st century in Ukraine, and demonstrates that its status as the main winter calendar holiday pertaining to the transition from the old to the new annual cycle is still maintained. The specific pattern of the New Year celebration, i.e. the integral complex of customs, traditions and rituals characteristic of it, took shape in the 1950s–1960s and it has mostly survived to the present day. First of all, it retains the character of a family holiday and the decorated New Year tree, as well as abundant treats and gifts, are still its inherent attributes. At the same time, at the end of the 20th century, the New Year celebrations were enhanced with new forms, customs, and rituals; peculiarly, the revised and rethought European and Chinese rituals and symbols were included in the celebration system. They have greatly enriched the magical component of the New Year holidays, intended to conjure up a better coming year. The New Year’s Day maintains and develops its character as the main holiday of the period of transition from one calendar year to another. Such holidays have always been a part of the real life of society.
„Sabałowa Noc” – góralskie święto „po zbójnicku”
Authors: Ceklarz Katarzyna
Published: November 2022

Artykuł dotyczy „Sabałowej Nocy”, góralskiego święta będącego przykładem tradycji wynalezionej w rozumieniu zaproponowanym przez Erica Hobsbawma. Autorka odwołując się do procesu mitologizacji, stereotypizacji i komercjalizacji zbójnictwa na Podhalu, kreśli genezę i późniejsze metamorfozy wytworzonej tradycji, bazującej na romantycznych legendach o zbójnikach. Omawiając przebieg wydarzenia wskazuje na elementy zapożyczone z przeszłości, które twórczo przekształcone, stanowią podstawę nowych zbójnickich zwyczajów współcześnie praktykowanych przez górali podhalańskich w trakcie ich święta. Tłumaczy powody, dla których „Sabałowa Noc”, mająca teatralny, momentami nawet komediowy charakter, traktowana jest przez depozytariuszy zbójnickiej tradycji ze szczególną estymą i pełną powagą. Ukazuje zaangażowanie w jej przebieg góralskiej elity intelektualnej, z uwzględnieniem różnic determinowanych płcią. Wreszcie unaocznia, w jaki sposób wydarzenie to stanowi niesłabnącą atrakcję turystyczną Podhala, wpisując się w poczet najistotniejszych imprez kulturalnych w tym regionie.
W stronę uludycznienia kultury: współczesne miasto jako przestrzeń konsumpcji zabawy i kreowania tożsamości. Przykład tarnogórskich Dni Gwarków
Authors: Kaczmarczyk-Gwóźdź Bożena
Published: November 2022

Autorka zainteresowała się problematyką ekspansji ludyczności w kulturze współczesnej jako przestrzeni konsumpcyjno-zabawowej. Przedmiotem analizy uczyniła Dni Gwarków – kilkudniową imprezę plenerową, organizowaną cyklicznie w Tarnowskich Górach (woj. śląskie), wyeksponowała odbywający się trzeciego dnia świętowania pochód, obrazujący najważniejsze wydarzenia i postaci z historii miasta. Celem badań empirycznych i analizy pozyskanego materiału była próba odpowiedzi na pytania: co jest przyczyną tak dużej popularności masowych imprez plenerowych oraz jakim celom służy ich organizacja. Autorka, odnosząc się do specyfiki regionalnej tego święta miejskiego, skoncentrowała się na czasie i miejscu obchodów oraz omówiła pochód w kontekście skonwencjonalizowanego widowiska teatralnego z historią w tle (eksponując bohaterów oraz teatralną oprawę inscenizacji ulicznej).
„Kolęda z drzewkiem” z Zarównia w kontekście „kolędowania z Rajem” w południowo-wschodniej Polsce. W poszukiwaniu metody opisu i analizy wariantu obrzędu
Authors: Rokosz Tomasz
Published: November 2022

Celem artykułu jest opis i analiza kolędy z drzewkiem z Zarównia (rzeszowskie). Autor przywołał jej genezę, ustalił zasięg występowania, funkcje oraz opisał kontekst wykonawczy. Wyekscerpował i przeanalizował, zgodnie z metodologią moskiewskiej szkoły etnolingwistycznej, poszczególne kody obrzędu, ze szczególnym naciskiem na kod akcjonalny, werbalny i muzyczny. Obserwacja kodu przedmiotowego kolędowania z drzewkiem umożliwiła zdefiniowanie i opis jego podstawowych symbolicznych znaczeń. Bazą źródłową są nagrania zdeponowane w Archiwum Muzycznego Folkloru Religijnego KUL (AMFR KUL), zarejestrowane w 1974 r., oraz materiały terenowe z Archiwum Muzeum Kultury Ludowej w Kolbuszowej (MKL–AE).
How a gathering becomes a holiday. Modern social practices of migrants from flooded zones in Ukraine
Authors: Koval-Fuchylo Iryna , Orszulak-Dudkowska Katarzyna
Published: November 2022

The article presents the modern practices of remembering sunken Ukrainian villages at annual or periodic gatherings of migrants from flooded areas in various regions of Ukraine. It describes the subsequent stages of organising such events, from spontaneous visits to the flooded place to a solemn meeting of the villagers on the banks of the reservoir. It also discusses the ritualised mechanisms and means by which an ordinary meeting of group of people is transformed into a festival through the sacralisation of the gathering’s time and place (by building memorials, such as chapels, crosses or monuments, the publication of memoirs, organization of exhibitions, etc.), through the appropriate selection of participants and the use of suitable identifiers of a celebration time (e.g. a shared meal, musical accompaniment, the performance of special songs, the use of national costumes, the taking of memorial photographs).
Comparison of ulnar shortening osteotomy for idiopathic ulnar impaction syndrome using conventional or ulnar osteotomy plates and with or without interfragmentary screw fixation
Authors: Kim Kyung Wook , Kim Ju Hyun , Kim Jeong Sang , Shin Bum Jin , Kim Jong Pil
Published: November 2022

Purpose This study investigated the impact of plate type on the clinical and radiological outcomes of ulnar shortening osteotomy (USO) by comparing conventional and ulnar osteotomy plates. The effect of interfragmentary screw fixation (ISF) during USO was also assessed.Methods Seventy-eight patients were divided into three groups according to the type of plate: 3.5-mm dynamic compression plate (DCP), 3.5-mm limited contact DCP, and 2.7-mm locking compression plate ulna osteotomy system (all from Depuy-Synthes). The patients were also divided into two groups according to whether ISF was performed. Clinical and radiological outcomes, including time to bone union, presence of delayed union, and refracture after hardware removal, were analyzed. Other factors that might affect bone union, such as smoking and underlying diseases, were also evaluated.Results No significant differences were found in clinical and radiological outcomes according to the type of plate. Eight of 51 patients (15.7%) in the without-ISF group showed delayed bone union. Forty-three patients in the without-ISF group underwent hardware removal, and refracture due to low-energy trauma after hardware removal was observed in five of those 43 patients (11.6%). Bone union time was significantly shorter in the with-ISF group (7.6±2.7 weeks vs. 9.8±6.6 weeks). Diabetes mellitus and ISF were associated with the delayed bone union.Conclusion The plate type had no influence on the clinical and radiological outcomes of USO in patients with idiopathic ulnar impaction syndrome. However, ISF during USO has several advantages, such as early bony union and prevention of refracture after hardware removal.
The Image of the Iranian World in the Roman Poetry of the Republican and Augustan Ages
Authors: Babnis Tomasz
Published: November 2022

The present book is dedicated to the image of the Iranian world emerging from the extant Roman poetry written in the Republican and Augustan Ages. The scope of the source material stretches thus from the comedies of Plautus to the Ovidian exile poetry, covering over 200 years of the great development of Latin literature. My aim is to investigate which motifs were referred to by Roman poets, which patterns could be noticed in those texts, which elements were mentioned most often, what relations can be observed between these references and historical, geographical, social or religious realities, and finally, what the function of these references is within the scope of entire poems or parts of texts extracted from the works of a greater size. I am also interested in the “genealogy” of these motifs: their origin and way of exploitation by the poets of subsequent periods. I aim at examining how consistent the overall image created from references scattered throughout the works of various authors was and how it changed in the course of time.
La comunicación digital de los museos: análisis comparativo
Authors: Dos Santos Abad Jenifer , Piñeiro Naval Valeriano , Somoza Sabatés Isabel
Published: November 2022

Según los preceptos de la nueva museología, los museos pasaron a tener un papel social y pedagógico muy significativo a lo largo del siglo XX. En la actualidad, más allá del espacio físico, las instituciones museísticas tienen la posibilidad de democratizar aún más el acceso a sus contenidos culturales y difundir el conocimiento entre la población. Con la digitalización y el avance de las tecnologías, la comunicación ha experimentado cambios a varios niveles: por un lado, los medios han tendido hacia la convergencia y, por el otro, la manera en la que las instituciones y los usuarios interactúan también se ha visto afectada por la cultura participativa. Partiendo del escenario descrito, la propuesta de esta investigación consiste en analizar la comunicación museística a través de medios digitales. De manera más concreta, se aplicará el análisis de contenido a una muestra de 100 museos de Brasil, España, México y Portugal para observar cómo está siendo articulada su comunicación a través de los websites oficiales y en la red social Instagram. En última instancia, se comprobará si estas herramientas ejercen como promotoras potenciales del acceso a la cultura y al patrimonio.
The Attraction Effect in Crowdfunding
Authors: Weinmann Markus , Mishra Abhay Nath , Kaiser Lena Franziska , vom Brocke Jan
Published: November 2022

Crowdfunding has reached enormous popularity among entrepreneurs, yet many struggle to fund their projects. For example, only 39.8% of all Kickstarter projects get funded. Why? Entrepreneurs need to set a predefined funding goal, which needs to be reached to get the project funded. If not reached, they do not get the money. To reach the funding goal, entrepreneurs can design reward menus from which backers can choose low-priced to high-priced rewards to support a given project. We show that simply inserting a so-called decoy option—an option in the first place that does not make sense but makes higher-priced options more attractive—can lead to significantly more backers choosing a high-priced option (up to 28% more high-priced choices). This makes it more likely for entrepreneurs to reach their predefined funding goals and thus start their designated projects.
Adjusting Skillset Cohesion in Online Labor Markets: Reputation Gains and Opportunity Losses
Authors: Kokkodis Marios
Published: November 2022

In online labor markets, contractors' ability to charge for their services largely depends on their skills. To keep up with shifting labor market needs, contractors often expand their skills with new skills. When the new skills are similar to the contractors' current skills, they often increase skillset cohesion (i.e., the average similarity of skills in a skillset). However, when the new skills have little similarity with contractors' current skills, skillset cohesion decreases. How do such adjustments of skillset cohesion affect contractor value in digital workplaces for short-term work? We argue that skillset adjustments affect market value through changes in the contractor's perceived reputation on the new skills and the additional job opportunities that new skills create. We hypothesize that compared with skills that decrease cohesion, skills that increase cohesion result in reputation gains and opportunity losses. Analysis of a panel data set of 47,638 tasks illustrates that for hourly wages, reputation gains are smaller than opportunity losses; hence, all else being equal, increasing skillset cohesion has a relatively negative effect on wages. However, for hiring rates, the opposite is true: Increasing skillset cohesion increases contractor hireability.
Designing Approximately Optimal Search on Matching Platforms
Authors: Immorlica Nicole , Lucier Brendan , Manshadi Vahideh , Wei Alexander
Published: November 2022

We study the design of a decentralized two-sided matching market in which agents’ search is guided by the platform. There are finitely many agent types, each with (potentially random) preferences drawn from known type-specific distributions. Equipped with knowledge of these distributions, the platform guides the search process by determining the meeting rate between each pair of types from the two sides. Focusing on symmetric pairwise preferences in a continuum model, we first characterize the unique stationary equilibrium that arises given a feasible set of meeting rates. We then introduce the platform’s optimal directed search problem, which involves optimizing meeting rates to maximize equilibrium social welfare. We first show that incentive issues arising from congestion and cannibalization make the design problem fairly intricate. Nonetheless, we develop an efficiently computable search design whose corresponding equilibrium achieves at least [Formula: see text] the social welfare of the optimal design. In fact, our construction always recovers at least [Formula: see text] the first-best social welfare, where agents’ incentives are disregarded. Our search design is simple and easy to implement, as its corresponding bipartite graph consists of disjoint stars. Furthermore, our design implies the platform can substantially limit choice and yet induce an equilibrium with approximately optimal welfare. We offer alternative search designs with improved approximation factors for markets with certain special structures. Finally, we show that approximation is likely the best one can hope for by establishing that the problem of designing optimal directed search is [Formula: see text]-hard to even approximate beyond a certain constant factor.

This paper was accepted by Omar Besbes, revenue management and market analytics.

Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4601 .
A Label-State Formulation of Stochastic Graphon Games and Approximate Equilibria on Large Networks
Authors: Lacker Daniel , Soret Agathe
Published: November 2022

This paper studies stochastic games on large graphs and their graphon limits. We propose a new formulation of graphon games based on a single typical player’s label-state distribution. In contrast, other recently proposed models of graphon games work directly with a continuum of players, which involves serious measure-theoretic technicalities. In fact, by viewing the label as a component of the state process, we show in our formulation that graphon games are a special case of mean field games, albeit with certain inevitable degeneracies and discontinuities that make most existing results on mean field games inapplicable. Nonetheless, we prove the existence of Markovian graphon equilibria under fairly general assumptions as well as uniqueness under a monotonicity condition. Most importantly, we show how our notion of graphon equilibrium can be used to construct approximate equilibria for large finite games set on any (weighted, directed) graph that converges in cut norm. The lack of players’ exchangeability necessitates a careful definition of approximate equilibrium, allowing heterogeneity among the players’ approximation errors, and we show how various regularity properties of the model inputs and underlying graphon lead naturally to different strengths of approximation.

Funding: D. Lacker was partially supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research [Grant FA9550-19-1-0291] and the National Science Foundation [Award DMS-2045328].
A Low-Rank Approximation for MDPs via Moment Coupling
Authors: Zhang Amy B. Z. , Gurvich Itai
Published: November 2022

Markov Decision Process Tayloring for Approximation Design

Optimal control problems are difficult to solve for problems on large state spaces, calling for the development of approximate solution methods. In “A Low-rank Approximation for MDPs via Moment Coupling,” Zhang and Gurvich introduce a novel framework to approximate Markov decision processes (MDPs) that stands on two pillars: (i) state aggregation, as the algorithmic infrastructure, and (ii) central-limit-theorem-type approximations, as the mathematical underpinning. The theoretical guarantees are grounded in the approximation of the Bellman equation by a partial differential equation (PDE) where, in the spirit of the central limit theorem, the transition matrix of the controlled Markov chain is reduced to its local first and second moments. Instead of solving the PDE, the algorithm introduced in the paper constructs a “sister”' (controlled) Markov chain whose two local transition moments are approximately identical with those of the focal chain. Because of this moment matching, the original chain and its sister are coupled through the PDE, facilitating optimality guarantees. Embedded into standard soft aggregation, moment matching provides a disciplined mechanism to tune the aggregation and disaggregation probabilities.
Effective Information Infrastructures for Collaborative Organizing: The Case of Maasai Mara
Authors: Håkonsson Dorthe Døjbak , Larsen Erik Reimer , Eskildsen Jacob Kjær
Published: November 2022

This study focuses on how collaborative organizing is achieved in a natural-resource commons, organized as an actor-oriented structure. In a framed field experiment, teams of Maasai livestock owners played a board game related to sustainable usage and preservation of a commons (in this case, grazing areas). We examine team decisions over time and draw inferences about the difference between two information infrastructures: one that enables learning about the ecosystem and one that enables shared situational awareness. We also examine the effectiveness of these information infrastructures in obtaining sustainable usage and preservation of a commons, finding that participants who are subjected to an information infrastructure that enables shared situational awareness are more effective than those subjected to an information infrastructure that only enables learning about the ecosystem. This, we argue, is because shared situational awareness enables members to address their interdependencies related to both task and knowledge interdependence. In other words, without shared situational awareness, they are less efficient at coordinating their actions, despite sharing collaborative values. Based on our findings, we argue that actor-oriented structures should be designed to include information infrastructures that specifically address members’ interdependencies.

Funding: This work was financially supported by the Interacting Minds Centre (IMC).

Supplemental Material: The e-companion is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2022.1642 .
Don’t Look Back? Backward Compatibility in the Video Gaming Industry
Authors: Cox Joe , Crosby Paul , McKenzie Jordi
Published: November 2022

Backward compatibility is a governance strategy that can be adopted by platform owners to build indirect network effects and encourage owners of older compatible software to update to newer hardware models. Previous research shows backward compatibility has a positive effect on hardware sales. However, there is limited evidence concerning the other associated costs and benefits. In particular, there is a lack of evidence on the effect of backward compatibility on software sales despite its importance in understanding the full range of possible network and sales displacement effects associated with the strategy. Using weekly software-level sales data from the U.S. video gaming industry, we find that backward-compatible hardware associates with increased sales of software released for the previous hardware generation. However, we find that the introduction of backward compatibility may not increase the sales of new hardware if the feature is not available immediately at launch. Further, we show that the increased sales of software for the old hardware platform may cannibalize software sales for the new platform. Overall, our results suggest that backward compatibility is time-sensitive and involves several important trade-offs. We, therefore, conclude that the use of backward compatibility needs to be carefully considered by platform owners prior to implementation.
Utility Maximizing Load Balancing Policies
Authors: Goldsztajn Diego , Borst Sem C. , van Leeuwaarden Johan S.H.
Published: November 2022

Consider a service system where incoming tasks are instantaneously dispatched to one out of many heterogeneous server pools. Associated with each server pool is a concave utility function that depends on the class of the server pool and its current occupancy. We derive an upper bound for the mean normalized aggregate utility in stationarity and introduce two load balancing policies that achieve this upper bound in a large-scale regime. Furthermore, the transient and stationary behavior of these asymptotically optimal load balancing policies is characterized on the scale of the number of server pools in the same large-scale regime.

Funding: This work was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) through [Gravitation Grant NETWORKS-024.002.003] and [Gravitation Grant Vici 202.068].

Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/stsy.2022.0103 .
Classifying UK charities’ activities by charitable cause: a new classification system
Authors: Damm Christopher , Kane David
Published: November 2022

This article presents a new system for classifying UK charities’ activities according to their charitable purposes. It also outlines our attempts to use keyword search rules to apply these classifications to the various UK charity registers. The classification results and code, which are made freely available online, help to address the limitations of existing classification schemes in the UK context. Depending on the scheme, these include a lack of detail and coverage of important subsectors, a lack of systematic data collection and limits on the number of classifications per charity. We discuss the pros and cons of different approaches and show that the keyword searching method provides a sufficiently accurate and transparent approach. We also present some preliminary results on how commonly each ‘tag’ is matched against UK charities, as well as exploring how the results compare to existing classifications in the register of charities for England and Wales.
Caring from a distance: carers’ experiences of keeping in touch with care home residents during COVID-19 closures
Authors: White Caroline , Whitfield Clare , Wolverson Emma , Wray Jane
Published: November 2022

In response to COVID-19, many care homes closed to visitors and new ways for carers and residents to stay in touch were tried. This UK study employed an online survey to explore carer experiences of staying in touch from a distance. The research highlighted: the importance of ongoing connections (through visits and remotely); diverse approaches to maintaining contact; and concerns about safeguarding and well-being. Findings underscore the importance of developing personalised approaches to staying in touch during future care home closures and for those who require an ongoing approach to remote contact due to distance, illness or additional caring responsibilities.
Deep learning-based optical coherence tomography image analysis of human brain cancer
Authors: Wang Nathan , Lee Cheng-Yu , Park Hyeon-Cheol , Nauen David W. , Chaichana Kaisorn L. , Quinones-Hinojosa Alfredo , Bettegowda Chetan , Li Xingde
Published: November 2022

Real-time intraoperative delineation of cancer and non-cancer brain tissues, especially in the eloquent cortex, is critical for thorough cancer resection, lengthening survival, and improving quality of life. Prior studies have established that thresholding optical attenuation values reveals cancer regions with high sensitivity and specificity. However, threshold of a single value disregards local information important to making more robust predictions. Hence, we propose deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) trained on labeled OCT images and co-occurrence matrix features extracted from these images to synergize attenuation characteristics and texture features. Specifically, we adapt a deep ensemble model trained on 5,831 examples in a training dataset of 7 patients. We obtain 93.31% sensitivity and 97.04% specificity on a holdout set of 4 patients without the need for beam profile normalization using a reference phantom. The segmentation maps produced by parsing the OCT volume and tiling the outputs of our model are in excellent agreement with attenuation mapping-based methods. Our new approach for this important application has considerable implications for clinical translation.
Learning-based super-resolution interpolation for sub-Nyquist sampled laser speckles
Authors: Li Huanhao , Yu Zhipeng , Zhao Qi , Luo Yunqi , Cheng Shengfu , Zhong Tianting , Woo Chi Man , Liu Honglin , Wang Lihong V. , Zheng Yuanjin , Lai Puxiang
Published: November 2022

Information retrieval from visually random optical speckle patterns is desired in many scenarios yet considered challenging. It requires accurate understanding or mapping of the multiple scattering process, or reliable capability to reverse or compensate for the scattering-induced phase distortions. In whatever situation, effective resolving and digitization of speckle patterns are necessary. Nevertheless, on some occasions, to increase the acquisition speed and/or signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), speckles captured by cameras are inevitably sampled in the sub-Nyquist domain via pixel binning (one camera pixel contains multiple speckle grains) due to finite size or limited bandwidth of photosensors. Such a down-sampling process is irreversible; it undermines the fine structures of speckle grains and hence the encoded information, preventing successful information extraction. To retrace the lost information, super-resolution interpolation for such sub-Nyquist sampled speckles is needed. In this work, a deep neural network, namely SpkSRNet, is proposed to effectively up sample speckles that are sampled below 1/10 of the Nyquist criterion to well-resolved ones that not only resemble the comprehensive morphology of original speckles (decompose multiple speckle grains from one camera pixel) but also recover the lost complex information (human face in this study) with high fidelity under normal- and low-light conditions, which is impossible with classic interpolation methods. These successful speckle super-resolution interpolation demonstrations are essentially enabled by the strong implicit correlation among speckle grains, which is non-quantifiable but could be discovered by the well-trained network. With further engineering, the proposed learning platform may benefit many scenarios that are physically inaccessible, enabling fast acquisition of speckles with sufficient SNR and opening up new avenues for seeing big and seeing clearly simultaneously in complex scenarios.
Sampling effects and measurement overlap can bias the inference of neuronal avalanches
Authors: Neto Joao Pinheiro , Spitzner F. Paul , Priesemann Viola
Published: November 2022

To date, it is still impossible to sample the entire mammalian brain with single-neuron precision. This forces one to either use spikes (focusing on few neurons) or to use coarse-sampled activity (averaging over many neurons, e.g. LFP). Naturally, the sampling technique impacts inference about collective properties. Here, we emulate both sampling techniques on a simple spiking model to quantify how they alter observed correlations and signatures of criticality. We describe a general effect: when the inter-electrode distance is small, electrodes sample overlapping regions in space, which increases the correlation between the signals. For coarse-sampled activity, this can produce power-law distributions even for non-critical systems. In contrast, spike recordings do not suffer this particular bias and underlying dynamics can be identified. This may resolve why coarse measures and spikes have produced contradicting results in the past.
Adoption of harmonisation policy for the midwives’ training programme in Mali: A policy analysis
Authors: Sidibé Cheick S. , Becquet Valentine , Brückner Tanya Y. , Touré Ousmane , Traoré Lalla Fatouma , Broerse Jacqueline E. W. , Dieleman Marjolein
Published: November 2022

West Africa is engaged in a process of harmonising health workers’ training programmes as a means to regulate regional training standards and thus improve their quality. There is currently a lack of documented information regarding the adoption of these revised training programmes. In 2012 a harmonised programme, the WAHO competency-based curriculum, was introduced in Mali for training midwives. The present study explores the barriers and facilitators of the adoption of this programme and how the content, context, process, and actor-related factors influenced this. We used a qualitative research design consisting of document analysis (n = 25) and semi-structured interviews (n = 21) with policymakers, students, and those in charge of implementing the training programme. Information was collected on education and training policies, the context and process of the harmonised curriculum development, its adoption, and the actors involved in the adoption strategy, along with their role. The study shows that the adoption of the harmonised curriculum in Mali offered midwives an opportunity to attain a higher standard of training and level of qualification than before. It also displayed both the government’s and the public school’s willingness and commitment to improve maternal and child health through enhancing midwives’ training standards. The most salient factors that influenced adoption were the lack of available resources, and the lack of involvement of, and coordination with, relevant actors for successful policy adoption. Mali’s experience of adopting the harmonisation policy of training curricula demonstrates the need for the authorities to collaborate with relevant actors for information dissemination and in the adoption process. It also demonstrates the need for finding innovative ways to secure and diversify funding opportunities, as well as establish a supervisory body for health worker training.
High throughput bioluminescent assay to characterize and monitor the activity of SARS-CoV-2 methyltransferases
Authors: Hsiao Kevin , Zegzouti Hicham , Goueli Said
Published: November 2022

The fast rate of viral mutations of SARS CoV-2 result in decrease in the efficacy of the vaccines that have been developed before the emergence of these mutations. Thus, it is believed that using additional measures to combat the virus is not only advisable but also beneficial. Two antiviral drugs were authorized for emergency use by the FDA, namely Pfizer’s two-drug regimen sold under the brand name Paxlovid, and Merck’s drug Lagevrio. Pfizer’s two-drug combination consists of nirmatrelvir, a protease inhibitor that blocks coronavirus ability to multiply and another antiviral, ritonavir, that lowers the rate of drug clearance to boost the longevity and activity of the protease inhibitor. Merck’s drug Lagevrio (molnupiravir) is a nucleoside analogue with a mechanism of action that aims to introduce errors into the genetic code of the virus. We believe the armament against the virus can be augmented by the addition of another class of enzyme inhibitors that are required for viral survival and its ability to replicate. Enzymes like nsp14 and nsp10/16 methyltransferases (MTases) represent another class of drug targets since they are required for viral RNA translation and evading the host immune system. In this communication, we have successfully verified that the MTase-Glo, which is universal and homogeneous MTase assay can be used to screen for inhibitors of the two pivotal enzymes nsp14 and nsp16 of SARS CoV-2. Furthermore, we have carried out extensive studies on those enzymes using different RNA substrates and tested their activity using various inhibitors and verified the utility of this assay for use in drug screening programs. We anticipate our work will be pursued further to screen for large libraries to discover new and selective inhibitors for the viral enzymes particularly that these enzymes are structurally different from their mammalian counterparts.
Description of the technique for laparoscopic radical prostatectomy in canine cadavers: 2D vs. 3D camera
Authors: Monnet Eric , Hafez Ahmed
Published: November 2022

Objective

To describe the technique of laparoscopic radical prostatectomy in canine cadavers.

Study design

Cadaveric study.

Animals

8 canine cadavers.

Methods

Specimens were randomly divided into a 2D or 3D group. The vesicourethral anastomosis (VUA) was performed with 5 mm laparoscopic needle holders. A unidirectional barbed suture was used to complete the VUA with two simple continuous suture patterns. The number of stitches placed, the patency of the anastomosis, and the distance between the VUA and the ureters were recorded.

Results

Four dogs were entered into each group. The prostatectomy was completed in each dog following the same technique. VUA were completed with nine stitches (range: 8–10 stitches) for the 2D group and ten stitches (range: 9–11 stitches) for the 3D group (p<0.176). All the stitches were placed full thickness. The VUA was patent in each case. The left ureter was 1.05 cm (range: 0.5 to 1.1cm) from the VUA in the 2D group and 1.8 cm (range: 1.3–1.8 cm) for the 3D group (p< 0.025). The right ureter was 1.5 cm (range: 1 to 2 cm) from the VUA in the 2D group and 1.75 cm (range: 1.3–2 cm) for the 3D group (p< 0.55).

Conclusion

Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy can be performed with a 2D or a 3D camera in canine cadavers. The 3D camera results in more accurate placement of the sutures since they were placed further away from the left ureter.

Clinical significance

Radical prostatectomy with laparoscopy should be considered for dogs.