Academic Research Network Research Articles

Real-World Data from a Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Community-Academic Registry: Comparative Outcomes of Progression Free Survival and Overall Survival

Background: No studies have looked at comparative outcomes in the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) between academic and community practice settings. Methods: We created a joint academic (ACAD) and community (COMM) retrospective registry of patients treated for mRCC. This registry represents a collaboration of an academic research network (Duke Oncology Network; Durham, NC) and a community-based oncology network (ACORN Research; Memphis, TN) of multiple member practices. We compared progression free survival and overall survival between these centers. We included patients diagnosed with mRCC after January 1, 2007 and before February 7, 2011. Results: Four hundred and fifty-five patients were captured in the registry including N = 255 COMM patients and N = 200 ACAD patients. Initial analysis of COMM patients showed a median PFS of 6.24 months [95% CI, 5.4, 7.5], 3.88 months [95% CI, 3.0, 4.8], and 3.35 months [95% CI 2.9, 4.4] with first, second, and third line systemic therapy. ACAD patients had longer median PFS estimates of 11.3 months [95% CI, 7.5, 13.6], 4.4 months [95% CI, 2.7, 8.9], and 5.22 months [95% CI, 2.7, 6.3] respectively. Median OS was 12.06 months [95% CI 8.7, 15.4] among COMM patients and 36.73 months [95% CI 26.2 42.2) among ACAD patients. Differences persisted with inclusion of well-established prognostic models and predictive factors such as treatment exposures. Conclusions: There may be differences between outcomes for mRCC patients in community versus academic settings; however rselection most likely plays a role and we need further studies to determine reasons for these potential disparities. A prospective metastatic renal cell carcinoma (MaRCC) registry has been accrued encompassing sixty academic and community treatment sites across the United States rwith the goal of examining real-world treatment patterns and outcomes; MaRCC may shed further light on any potential outcomes differences.

Introduction to the Special Issue on Progressive Rock

The past decade has seen the growth of a number of academic research clusters and networks dedicated to studying specific genres, including punk, reggae, heavy metal, electronic dance music, and ja...

Abstract OT1-11-02: PRAEGNANT - Real world evidence, translational research, big and smart data: A prospective academic translational research network for the optimization of the oncological health care quality in the adjuvant and advanced/ metastatic setting (NCT02338167)

Abstract Background During the last decades the treatment of advanced breast cancer (ABC) patients has improved due to a variety of new treatment strategies. Nevertheless, many ABC patients are faced with limited prognosis, and their treatment remains a challenge. New targeted therapies complement the well-established treatment options for ABC (CDK4/6 inhibition, anti-endocrine, chemotherapy, antibody based and bone related therapies), leading to improved treatment regimens tailored to the needs of special patient sub-populations. SPECIFIC AIMS/TRIAL DESIGN The PRAEGNANT network study is conducted as an academic, prospective registry and diagnostic translational study, accompanied by biomaterial collection. The pilot phase in more than 60 centers aims at including 3500 ABC patients. The primary objective is to discover biomarkers, which predict progression free survival (PFS). Secondary objectives include overall survival (OS), breast cancer specific survival, objective response rate, patient reported outcomes (PRO), description of therapies used in the metastatic setting, therapy adherence, health economics for patients with ABC, incidence of (serious) adverse events and big data/ machine learning algorithms. The exploratory objectives comprise correlations of gene alterations and their influence on OS, PFS, side effects and PRO. Exploratory biomarkers are assessed at baseline and at every change of therapy. These biomarkers include gene expression profiling of the primary tumor and corresponding metastasis, somatic mutations (measured in the tumor and in circulating tumor DNA), germline genetic variations, epigenetic changes and miRNA variations. Furthermore, plasma and serum markers are assessed. If actionable molecular alterations are detected patients are informed and recruited into suitable studies if available. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Any adult patient (>18 years) with the diagnosis of ABC and who is willing and able to sign the informed consent can be enrolled. STATISTICAL METHODS/TARGET ACCRUAL: The PRAEGNANT study as a prospective real world registry and diagnostic translational study aims to identify biomarkers in ABC patients, which may predict PFS. Target accrual for the pilot phase is 3500 patients. Each patient will be documented for up to 36 months with an estimated median PFS for all patients of 11 months across all treatment lines. Citation Format: Müller V, Huober J, Volz B, Overkamp F, Kolberg H-C, Hadji P, Haeberle L, Ettl J, Hartkopf AD, Lux MP, Lüftner DI, Wallwiener M, Taran F-A, Beckmann MW, Belleville E, Wimberger P, Hielscher C, Geberth M, Lermann J, Abenhardt A, Kurbacher C, Wuerstlein R, Thomssen C, Untch M, Janni W, Fehm TN, Brucker SY, Wallwiener D, Schneeweiss A, Fasching PA, Tesch H. PRAEGNANT - Real world evidence, translational research, big and smart data: A prospective academic translational research network for the optimization of the oncological health care quality in the adjuvant and advanced/ metastatic setting (NCT02338167) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr OT1-11-02.

Factors influencing ED care of young children at-risk for clinically important traumatic brain injury

ObjectivesCare decisions for young children presenting to the emergency department (ED) with head injury are often challenging (e.g. whether to obtain neuroimaging). We sought to identify factors associated with acute management of children at-risk for clinically important traumatic brain injury (ciTBI) and describe symptom management. MethodsObservational evaluation of children, ages 0–4years, presenting to a pediatric ED following minor head injury. Children with ≥1 risk element per the Pediatric Emergency Care Academic Research Network's decision rule were deemed “at-risk” for ciTBI. Clinician surveys regarding their initial clinical management were used to identify three care groups. Nonparametric tests analyzed group differences and logistic regression investigated associations of putative high-risk factors with neuroimaging. ResultsOf 104 children enrolled: (i) 30 underwent neuroimaging, (ii) 59 were observed, and (iii) 15 were discharged following the clinician's initial patient exam. Children with a non-frontal scalp hematoma were more likely to receive immediate neuroimaging and children not acting like themselves per caregiver report were more likely to be initially observed, relative to the other care groups (p≤0.01). Among high-risk factors, altered mental status (OR 5.12, 95% CI 1.8–21.1), presence of ≥3 risk elements of the decision rule (OR 3.5, 95% CI 1.2–10.6), unclear skull fracture on exam (OR 31.3, 95% CI 5.4–593.8), and age<3months (OR 5.3, 95% CI 1.5–21.9) were associated with neuroimaging. No child had ciTBI. TBI symptoms (e.g. vomiting) were infrequently treated. ConclusionsED management varied for young children with similar risk stratification. Investigation of how age in concert with specific risk factors influences medical decision making would advance evidenced-based care.

텍스트마이닝과 소셜네트워크 분석을 통한 스포츠 분야 학술 Knowledge Map 구축과 활용

Knowledge Map utilizes the mathematical characteristics of the data internally produced in the phenomenon of simultaneous occurrence (Co-occurrence) such as the subject keyword, the citation relation. Through mathematical analysis, we construct each simultaneous occurrence relation, and its form is a method showing visually mapping the structure of knowledge. We cried out internal reasonable problems that may occur at the stage of text mining necessary in the course of developing research methods and applied various functions of social network analysis to Knowledge Map construction to investigate trends in academic research It is necessary to further diversify the point of view. It can also be used as an indicator for effective execution of research on Knowledge Map in the natural sciences field which has not been tried yet. In this research, as a methodology of research that can accelerate the research approach of patent analysis of sports technology as a quantitative index that can further strengthen objectivity about the trend of academic research, text mining and social network To build a Knowledge Map and to utilize it.

Emergency Department Care of Young Children at Risk for Traumatic Brain Injury: What Are We Doing and Do Parents Understand?

The aims of the study were to describe emergency department (ED) management of young children with head injury and to assess parental comfort level and perceptions of ED care. This was a prospective observational study of children younger than 5 years who presented to a pediatric ED after head injury. Children were eligible if clinical observation was an appropriate ED management option per the Pediatric Emergency Care Academic Research Network's neuroimaging clinical decision rule. Demographics, injury variables, and ED clinician surveys explaining the care provided were collected at time of study enrollment. Parents were subsequently contacted to assess understanding of ED management and comfort with care. One hundred four children were enrolled with a mean (standard deviation) age of 1.19 (1.34) years. Thirty (29%) had emergent neuroimaging and 59 (57%) were placed into a period of observation per clinician report. A total of 37 children received a head computed tomography, of which 21 (57%) were normal. Eighty-four parents (81%) completed the phone follow-up. Of these children, there was a significant difference between whether parents and clinicians reported that the child had been clinically observed in the ED (P < 0.0001). Parents of children who did not receive a head CT were more likely to be uncomfortable with the decision to obtain neuroimaging compared with those who did receive a head CT (P = 0.003). Parents are not always comfortable with the medical care practices provided and are often unaware of clinical observation when it does occur. Better parent-clinician communication could improve parental understanding and reduce overall discomfort.

Speaking of the Self: Gender, Performance, and Autobiography in South Asia ed. by Anshu Malhotra and Siobhan Lambert-Hurley

Reviewed by: Speaking of the Self: Gender, Performance, and Autobiography in South Asia ed. by Anshu Malhotra and Siobhan Lambert-Hurley Monika Browarczyk (bio) Anshu Malhotra and Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, editors. Speaking of the Self: Gender, Performance, and Autobiography in South Asia. Duke UP, 2015. 312 pp. ISBN 978-0822359913, $26.95. Speaking of the Self takes up the ambitious task of rewriting the practice of auto-biography research on South Asia. The point of departure for the ten studies making up the book lies at the intersection of gender and performance, two key theoretical concepts that serve as the backbone of the project. It is not surprising, therefore, that the question of how these concepts both shape women's autobiographical narratives in South Asia and impact their study emerges again and again in all the essays that make up this collection, setting up a coherent and interactive dialogue that engages readers interested in autobiography, women, gender, literature, or regional studies. Each chapter focuses on a different author (or cohort of authors)—predominantly women, but also two male actors playing women on stage or, as the author calls them, female impersonators (255)—and their autobiographical narratives. Besides narratives that could be termed "classical" within the Western tradition of life writing (for example, texts that are written down and subsequently published), we also encounter life narratives that are transmitted orally, composed in verses, constructed in stones, or given the form of different literary genres, which span centuries of practice of self-representation in India and ultimately challenge the canon of life writing. Not only is the range of autobiographers discussed in this volume diverse, as are the regions represented and the time periods covered, but the forms of autobiographical narratives those autobiographers employ are also varied, making this collection a treat to review. The editors, Anshu Malhotra and Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, succeed in presenting research on South Asia that plots in a broad time frame self-expressions that can be placed both inside and outside the genre of "classical" autobiography. The interdisciplinary character of the book is brought into sharp relief, on one hand, by the range of contributors—a couple of historians, an anthropologist, a feminist writer and publisher, and representatives of literary studies (working with Bengali, Urdu, Punjabi, Persian, and English)—and, on the other hand, by the amazing range of authors they investigate: a Mughal princess from the seventeenth century, the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century courtesans from princely states, a Bengali housewife diarist of the first half of the nineteenth century, women novelists, male actors performing women's roles; and a twentieth-century nationalist. As the offspring of an academic research network titled Women's Autobiography in Islamic Society, the collection is unsurprisingly inclined toward Muslim authors.1 Intriguingly, some of them profess ambiguous religious [End Page 371] affiliations, thus providing an opening for reflections on the performative aspect of religion itself. By contrast, just three of the auto-narratives examined in the volume have been authored by Hindus. However, the research project on women's autobiographies in Islamic societies, which seems to have played an important role in shaping the book, is mentioned only in the acknowledgments and is conspicuously absent from the otherwise well-balanced introduction, where the rationale for the selective representation of authors studied in Speaking of the Self could have been discussed at greater length. The matter is addressed only in passing, with the editors declaring, The list, however, is naturally selective. In part, it reflects the contributor's own research interest, but as this is a book that focuses primarily (but not entirely) on the written life, these subjects are, in turn, limited by the requirement of literacy, a marker that remained woefully low in South Asia until very recently and, indeed, still does in certain sectors. (2) Be that as it may, the editorial choice of the material may inadvertently create an overall impression, especially among uninformed readers, that the majority of women's autobiographical narratives in South Asia have been authored by women who are Muslim. The methodologically and academically grounded introduction sketches an outline of life writing's history in South Asia; stipulates details of research on autobiography in...

The Impact of a Researcher's Structural Position on Scientific Performance: An Empirical Analysis.

This article discusses the nature and structure of scientific collaboration as well as the association between academic collaboration networks and scientific productivity. Based on empirical data gathered from the CVs of 73 researchers affiliated with an academic research network in Canada, this study used social network analysis (SNA) to examine the association between researchers’ structural position in the network and their scientific performance. With reference to Granovetter’s and Burt’s theories on weak ties and structural holes, we argue it is the bridging position a researcher holds in a scientific network that matters most to improve scientific performance. The results of correlation scores between network centrality and two different indicators of scientific performance indicate there is a robust association between researchers’ structural position in collaboration networks and their scientific performance. We believe this finding, and the method we have developed, could have implications for the way research networks are managed and researchers are supported.

TransOceanik Links: Research Networks and the Space-Place of Colloquia

Thinking through network theories (network science, actor-network theory, rhizomatics) and the phenomenology of space and place, this paper argues for the significance of academic research networks and their meeting spaces-places in the ‘public domain’ of colloquia.In the global neoliberal education landscape of university rankings, institutions wishing to become research rich need to provide the infrastructure, funding, time and recognition for their academics to build critical mass under strategic research themes, to develop international research networks, and to come together in the public domains of academic symposia, colloquia and conferences in order to incubate ideas and produce scholarly inspired, richly specific, and critically analysed publications.Adapting the practice of a multi-sited ethnographic approach with network mapping, this paper takes as its case study the Laboratoire International Associé (LIA) TransOceanik. It outlines the international networks of LIA TransOceanik and the series of symposia, colloquia and conferences that maintain its transoceanic links between researchers and ideas.

The struggle to fabricate accounting narrative obfuscation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the accounting research project concerned with accounting narrative obfuscation, focusing on the translation of the concept of readability from educational psychology via an earlier literature concerned with the readability of accounting narratives per se. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses actor-network theory and examines, in particular, the need for a network to accommodate the interests of its actors and the consequent risk of failure. Findings The analysis shows that the project is failing because the network seeking to support it is failing, and failing because of its inability to adapt sufficiently to accommodate the interests of its constituents. This failure is contrasted with the earlier concern with readability per se, which did see a successful reconfiguration of actors’ interests. Research limitations/implications The puzzle of the maladjustment of the network concerned with obfuscation is examined and it is suggested that it is a consequence of interests prevailing in the wider academic research network within which the relevant human actors are embedded. Social implications The reasons for the failure of the project are bound up in the wider circumstances of the contemporary accounting research community and may affect scholars’ capacity to pursue knowledge effectively. Originality/value This paper contributes to a modest stream of actor–network analysis directed at accounting research itself.

Time had but effaced his image when the show began

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to outline the background and the plot of the academic career of Slawomir Magala, particularly from the point of view represented by the author who had co-created significant international conference on critical theory and the sciences of management which triggered off the critical management studies in the British and subsequently global academic research networks. Design/methodology/approach – The content of the research is based on a mixture of a historical account of a conference on the Frankfurt school of social research, observations and participatory observations, qualitative content analysis and a bibliographical case study. Findings – The long-term effects of an international networking event are hard to predict and almost never respect the academic borders and gate keepers. Research limitations/implications – This paper is a very personal point of view. Practical implications – This paper is a case study of academic school emergence. Social implications – This paper is a case study of social and political relevance of managerial research. Originality/value – The unique selling point of this paper is that it is based on a critical event in uncritical sciences.

Bridging genomics research between developed and developing countries: the Genomic Medicine Alliance.

The Genomic Medicine Alliance is a global academic research network that aims to establish and strengthen collaborative ties between the various genomic medicine stakeholders. Its focus lies on the translation of scientific research findings into clinical practice. It brings together experts from disciplines including genome informatics, pharmacogenomics, public health genomics, ethics in genomics and health economics, and it is supervised by a 14-member International Scientific Advisory Committee comprising internationally renowned scientists. The Alliance's official journal, Public Health Genomics, offers members a highly respected publication forum for their original research findings. In the short-to-medium term, the Genomic Medicine Alliance hopes to harmonize research activities between developed and developing countries and to organize educational activities in the field of genomic medicine.

Role-Aware Conformity Modeling and Analysis in Social Networks

Conformity is the inclination of a person to be influenced by others. In this paper, we study how the conformity tendency of a person changes with her role, as defined by her structural properties in a social network. We first formalize conformity using a utility function based on the conformity theory from social psychology, and validate the proposed utility function by proving the existence of Nash Equilibria when all users in a network behave according to it. We then extend and incorporate the utility function into a probabilistic topic model, called the Role-Conformity Model (RCM), for modeling user behaviors under the effect of conformity. We apply the proposed RCM to several academic research networks, and discover that people with higher degree and lower clustering coefficient are more likely to conform to others. We also evaluate RCM through the task of word usage prediction in academic publications, and show significant improvements over baseline models.

Academic publishing research network

Academic publishing research network

Academic research networks and the role of literacy and network brokers in the publication of articles in Institute of Science Index-indexed journals: A case study of University Professors in English as a foreign language context

The small number of Institute of Science Index (ISI)-indexed articles published by some Iranian professors call for a solution. Therefore, this study focuses on local and transnational academic research networks of four university professors who are successful in publishing their articles in ISI-indexed journals. Through semi-structured interviews, this research describes professors' academic research networks and identifies brokers, network and their role in the process of article publication. The study indicates that literacy brokers were mostly colleagues, PhD supervisors and advisors, applied linguistic professors and reviewers. Network brokers were fewer in number and were found to be PhD advisors and an editor of a journal. Implications for novice researchers are also discussed.

Network reliability based decision of Internet with multiple sources and multiple sinks

In a network system, decision makers always require appropriate tools for arranging the placement and timing of resources, whether in the construction or maintenance stage. The reliability evaluation is a fundamental issue that supports decisions made by the managers concerning enhancements to the system infrastructure. This paper proposes a modified stochastic-flow network model to evaluate the network reliability of the Internet where data is transmitted through several light paths. Network reliability is defined as the probability that the maximal flow is not less than a specified threshold. It is regarded as a performance index for measuring the service level of a communication network from the perspective of quality of service (QoS). This study focuses on the network reliability of a practical system, Taiwan Advance Research and Education Network (TWAREN), which is Taiwan's academic research network that provides mainly network communication services for Taiwan's research and academic society. An algorithm based on a new technique, minimal light path (MLP), is proposed to evaluate the network reliability of TWAREN's international scope. The supervisor can subsequently use the analysis results to improve the reliability of the entire system and make better decisions.

Impact of public and private research funding on scientific production: The case of nanotechnology

This article measures the impact of public grants, private contracts and collaboration on the scientific production of Canadian nanotechnology academics. The paper estimates a time-related model of the impact of academic research financing and network structure on the research output of individual academics measured by the number of papers. Results suggest that the effect of individual public funding follows a J-shaped curve. Although contracts have no effects, the impact of patenting follows an inverted-U shaped curve. In addition, a strong central position in the past collaborative network has a positive effect on research output.

How many tiers?

ISPs are increasingly selling "tiered" contracts, which offer Internet connectivity to wholesale customers in bundles, at rates based on the cost of the links that the traffic in the bundle is traversing. Although providers have already begun to implement and deploy tiered pricing contracts, little is known about how to structure them. While contracts that sell connectivity on finer granularities improve market efficiency, they are also more costly for ISPs to implement and more difficult for customers to understand. Our goal is to analyze whether current tiered pricing practices in the wholesale transit market yield optimal profits for ISPs and whether better bundling strategies might exist. In the process, we deliver two contributions: 1) we develop a novel way of mapping traffic and topology data to a demand and cost model, and 2) we fit this model on three large real-world networks: an European transit ISP, a content distribution network, and an academic research network, and run counterfactuals to evaluate the effects of different bundling strategies. Our results show that the common ISP practice of structuring tiered contracts according to the cost of carrying the traffic flows ( e.g. , offering a discount for traffic that is local) can be suboptimal and that dividing contracts based on both traffic demand and the cost of carrying it into only three or four tiers yields near-optimal profit for the ISP.

A data delivery system for IMOS, the Australian Integrated Marine Observing System

Abstract. The Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS, www.imos.org.au), an AUD $150 m 7-year project (2007–2013), is a distributed set of equipment and data-information services which, among many applications, collectively contribute to meeting the needs of marine climate research in Australia. The observing system provides data in the open oceans around Australia out to a few thousand kilometres as well as the coastal oceans through 11 facilities which effectively observe and measure the 4-dimensional ocean variability, and the physical and biological response of coastal and shelf seas around Australia. Through a national science rationale IMOS is organized as five regional nodes (Western Australia – WAIMOS, South Australian – SAIMOS, Tasmania – TASIMOS, New SouthWales – NSWIMOS and Queensland – QIMOS) surrounded by an oceanic node (Blue Water and Climate). Operationally IMOS is organized as 11 facilities (Argo Australia, Ships of Opportunity, Southern Ocean Automated Time Series Observations, Australian National Facility for Ocean Gliders, Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Facility, Australian National Mooring Network, Australian Coastal Ocean Radar Network, Australian Acoustic Tagging and Monitoring System, Facility for Automated Intelligent Monitoring of Marine Systems, eMarine Information Infrastructure and Satellite Remote Sensing) delivering data. IMOS data is freely available to the public. The data, a combination of near real-time and delayed mode, are made available to researchers through the electronic Marine Information Infrastructure (eMII). eMII utilises the Australian Academic Research Network (AARNET) to support a distributed database on OPeNDAP/THREDDS servers hosted by regional computing centres. IMOS instruments are described through the OGC Specification SensorML and where-ever possible data is in CF compliant netCDF format. Metadata, conforming to standard ISO 19115, is automatically harvested from the netCDF files and the metadata records catalogued in the OGC GeoNetwork Metadata Entry and Search Tool (MEST). Data discovery, access and download occur via web services through the IMOS Ocean Portal (http://imos.aodn.org.au) and tools for the display and integration of near real-time data are in development.

Academic research networks: Accessing resources for English-medium publishing

Multilingual scholars located outside of Anglophone contexts face growing pressure to publish in English. Evidence from a longitudinal “text-ethnographic” study exploring how 50 psychology and education scholars in southern and central Europe are responding to such pressure indicates that individual linguistic and rhetorical competence alone are usually insufficient for securing publication in English-medium journals. Rather, scholars’ accounts demonstrate that participation in academic research networks functions as a key resource for publishing. This article examines the importance of networks and tracks how scholars gain access to and participate in them. We present ‘network histories’ that map out the network participation of four scholars, foregrounding several core dimensions: local and transnational, formal and informal, strong and weak, durable and temporary. Our findings suggest that strong, local, durable networks are crucial to enabling scholars’ participation in transnational networks, which support their publishing in both English and local languages. Findings contribute directly to our understandings about academic publishing in a global context and to broader debates about the efficacy of initiatives for increasing research collaboration such as those sponsored by the EU Framework Programmes. We conclude by briefly considering implications for supporting multilingual scholars’ publication and programmes aimed at increasing collaboration.