Single Scientist Research Articles

Integrated Direct-to-Biology Platform for the Nanoscale Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of PROTACs.

Proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) are heterobifunctional molecules that co-opt the cell's natural proteasomal degradation mechanisms to degrade undesired proteins. A challenge associated with PROTACs is the time and resource-intensive optimization; thus, the development of high-throughput platforms for their synthesis and biological evaluation is required. In this study, we establish an ultra-high-throughput experimentation (ultraHTE) platform for PROTAC synthesis, followed by direct addition of the crude reaction mixtures to cellular degradation assays without any purification. This 'direct-to-biology' (D2B) approach was validated and then exemplified in a medicinal chemistry campaign to identify novel BRD4 PROTACs. Using the D2B platform, the synthesis of 650 PROTACs was carried out in a 1536-well plate, and subsequent biological evaluation was performed by a single scientist in less than 1 month. Due to its ability to hugely accelerate the optimization of new degraders, we anticipate our platform will transform the synthesis and testing of PROTACs.

Handwritten letters and photo albums linking geoscientists with school classes

Abstract. Was something lost as society moved away from “traditional” media such as handwritten letters and photography and into the digital age? Some of the authors remember this age fondly, and we wanted to see if this fondness could be translated into a science dialogue project with school classes. We designed and carried out a communication process with four classes at different schools across Europe. During this process, each class would interact with a single scientist primarily via handwritten questions, letters, and a Polaroid photo album. The scientists would make this unique, one-of-a-kind album whilst on board a research expedition in the Barents Sea. We asked whether this process might show any benefits to the school students involved. To answer this, we asked the students to write up their thoughts on communicating with a scientist in this way. We analysed the texts and found that most students thought that the letters and Polaroid albums were a “beautiful experience”. Others commented on how important it is to actually put pen to paper and write since they (almost) only use digital media these days. Most importantly, the students learnt different elements of the science connected to the research expedition but also about the scientific process in general. And, equally important, some of the students were surprised and thankful that the scientists took the time to communicate with them in such a personal way. These results could possibly have been achieved using other media; however, the handwritten letters and Polaroids worked very well. They also seemed to conjure up some of the personal memories that we have about communication not so long ago. Maybe there is something to be said for slowing things down with our science communication projects and making them more personal and unique. This is something that snail mail and making photo albums forces us to do.

Lycaonia: from ancient geography to Khorenatsi and Shirakatsi

For the first time in historiography, we have made an attempt to consider the historical geography of the region of Lycaonia, which was located on the territory of the modern peninsula of Asia Minor. This area can be called the «Forgotten Territory», since so far not a single scientist has turned to the study of this important part of Asia Minor (except for articles in encyclopedias). Despite the fact that Lycaonia never had its own statehood, from ancient times it played an important role in the relations of the great powers of the ancient world. Comparing the data of «Ancient Armenian Geography («Ashkharatsuyts»/«Աշխարհացույց»), first of all, with the data of Strabo and Ptolemy, we found out how the boundaries of this region have changed in relation to neighboring states. Consideration of the issue of the territory of Lycaonia is possible on the basis of identifying and studying the orography and hydrography of this region. At the same time, «Ashkharatsuyts» Lycaonia should be compared with the description of this country by Strabo and Ptolemy, and also, in part, with the descriptions of Pliny and other ancient authors (in particular, Herodotus and Xenophon). We analytically examined the issues of urbanization, about which the historian-geographer Claudius Ptolemy presented detailed information. The study of this text requires a hermeneutic approach. It is necessary to analyze literally every word of this message in order to obtain the desired result, which we tried to do in our study within the framework of this article.

Conservation and the genomics of populations, 3rd edition, Allendorf F. W., Funk W. C., Aitken S. N., Byrne M., Luikart G.

Conservation and the genomics of populations, 3rd edition, Allendorf F. W., Funk W. C., Aitken S. N., Byrne M., Luikart G.

Optical frequency combs for atomic clocks and continental frequency dissemination

Nearly 25 years ago, Optical Frequency Combs (OFCs) have revolutionized practically from one day to the next the metrology of optical frequencies. Before that, only a few labs in the world could connect the optical (~1015 Hz) and the microwave (~1010 Hz) domains, at the price of the complex operation of a chain of multiple non-linear frequency conversions. In contrast, OFCs provided a tabletop instrument, compact, reliable and operable by a single scientist. Unmistakeable sign: only a few years had passed before pioneering inventors of OFCs Theodor Hänsch and John Hall were awarded the 2005 Nobel prize in Physics, together with Roy Glauber.

The rising tide of information as problem of encyclopedias

While using the encyclopedia concept as a guide, it has been shown the way in which the increasingly rapid growth of knowledge, created by the worldwide communication, leads to entirely new problems. The science as a collective enterprise is splitting off from the individuals and leveling down their education. There doesnt exist a single scientist, being acquainted with the whole knowledge accumulated in the discipline. The knowledge quantity rate proves that there are problems while carrying out the knowledge overview and systematization. As a result, traditional encyclopedias are becoming increasingly outdated. This process may be understood by the means of Georg Simmels thesis on the alienation of objective and subjective culture. The present article presents some brief reactions to this problem.

Improving philosophical dialogue interventions to better resolve problematic value pluralism in collaborative environmental science

Environmental problems often outstrip the abilities of any single scientist to understand, much less address them. As a result, collaborations within, across, and beyond the environmental sciences are an increasingly important part of the environmental science landscape. Here, we explore an insufficiently recognized and particularly challenging barrier to collaborative environmental science: value pluralism, the presence of non-trivial differences in the values that collaborators bring to bear on project decisions. We argue that resolving the obstacles posed by value pluralism to collaborative environmental science requires detecting and coordinating the underlying problematic value differences. We identify five ways that a team might coordinate their problematic value differences and argue that, whichever mode is adopted, it ought to be governed by participatory virtues, pragmatic resolve, and moral concern. Relying on our experiences with the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative, as well as with other dialogical approaches that support team inquiry, we defend the claim that philosophical dialogue among collaborators can go a long way towards helping teams of environmental scientists and fellow travelers detect their problematic value differences. Where dialogical approaches fare less well is in helping teams coordinate these differences. We close by describing several principles for augmenting philosophical dialogue with other methods, and we list several of these methods in an appendix with brief descriptions and links for further learning. Overall, the article makes three main contributions to the research collaboration and values in science literatures: (1) It deepens our understanding of problematic value pluralism in team science; (2) It provides actionable guidance and methods for improving values-oriented philosophical dialogue interventions; and (3) It demonstrates one way of doing engaged philosophy.

Crustal seismology: traditions and styles from a historical perspective

It has often been said that geophysics is an umbrella discipline, and that its various and varied fields remained conceptually autonomous even when configured in the mind of a single scientist. However, to what extent were these fields conceptually autonomous? Was there a single accumulation of geophysical knowledge and practices, or rather diverse traditions? Furthermore, what happens when there is a confluence of traditions rather than an independent accumulation of knowledge? Would it make sense then to talk about any conceptual autonomy and compartmentalized fields? This article examines the historical development of a geophysical specialization developed in multinational settings: crustal seismology. Rather than a conglomerate of autonomous fields, the view of geophysics as an intercalated set of inter-disciplinary fields, research schools, programs, and traditions which seem to concur in the same direction, can be applied to a large extent to geophysics of the Earth’s crust. The article shows how these elements interacted and were even transferred from one place to another. It concludes with some reflections on the institutional and procedural relations between academic geophysics, physics and geology.

Analysis of Articles Related to Electronic Books: A Descriptive Content Analysis Study in Turkey Context

The present study aimed to review the articles published in Turkey on electronic books. In the study, descriptive content analysis method was employed. In the study, national databases such as Ulakbim-UVT, Asos Index, Turkish Education Index (TEI) and international databases such as ERIC, DOAJ, EBSCO, Google Scholar and past issues of educational and social sciences journals in Web of Science (WOS) as of 2017 were searched with “e-book, electronic book, z-book, digital book keywords both in English and Turkish. Forty-three articles that were accessed in the search were analyzed using the article classification form. The data were analyzed using frequencies and percentages. In the present study research, it was determined that the majority of the articles on e-books were on the determination of perception, attitude and views in e-books, the highest number of publications was published in 2013 and 2014, and the studies were mostly authored by a single scientist. Furthermore, it was determined that the authors preferred the “literature review” method, most articles lacked a “research question” in most studies where a sample was set, the data were collected from “undergraduate” students and “random sampling” was preferred. It was also determined that the frequency and percentage techniques were the most commonly used techniques in data analysis.

Reaching for the Brass Ring

Reaching for the Brass Ring

The distribution of ethical labor in the scientific community

ABSTRACT To believe that every single scientist ought to be individually engaged in ethical thinking in order for science to be responsible at a collective level may be too demanding, if not plainly unrealistic. In fact, ethical labor is typically distributed across different kinds of scientists within the scientific community. Based on the empirical data collected within the Horizon 2020 ‘RRI-Practice’ project, we propose a classification of the members of the scientific community depending on their engagement in this collective activity. Our classification offers, on the one hand, a model of how the ethical aspects of science are taken into consideration by scientists and, on the other, some indications on how to institutionalize ethics in science.

Formation of a Research Discipline Artificial Intelligence and Intellectics at the Technical University of Munich

Academic Computer Science emerged in Germany at the end of the 1960s. In 2017, the Munich universities celebrated “50 Years of Computer Science in Munich”. To this occasion various events were held; also, there was a special issue in the Informatik Spektrum, the official journal of the Gesellschaft fur Informatik e.V. (GI – the German Society for Computer Science) and of associated organizations, as well as an anthology on Computer Science in Munich [1]. One year later, the present authors published a tribute to the research group for Artificial Intelligence/Intellectics at the TUM in a volume of the Deutsche Museum’s Preprints series [2], of which the present article is a very brief summary—for much more detailed information and impressions of former group members please refer to this booklet. The Munich group for Artificial Intelligence/Intellectics came into being thanks to academic freedom at German universities, in this case the Technical University of Munich (TUM): A single young scientist is enthusiastic about an idea, a new idea, which has not yet been worked on or supported by any professor at the TUM: Artificial Intelligence or Intellectics. The scientist initiates relationships with other colleagues, nationally and internationally; he is successful, receives research funding, and establishes a research group that asserted itself over almost four decades and influenced and advanced the field. The present article provides a brief history of the group.

Thank You to Our 2018 Peer Reviewers

Similar to the construction of physical buildings, the scientific edifice requires solid components of data, theory, and methodology at each phase of the “construction.” The peer review process provides the necessary “inspection” and the assurance that every step of the construction is solid, particularly in regard to the proper use of the scientific method. The peer‐review process helps improve the published work by providing constructive suggestions and by safe‐guarding against scientific work, later found to be built on shaky foundations. Because no single scientist has intimate knowledge of today's many aspects of Solid Earth Sciences, we rely on each other's expertise to serve as unbiased “inspectors” of published articles. Your considerable time and effort, spent reviewing JGR‐Solid Earth manuscript(s) during 2018, are sincerely appreciated by our editorial board and, more importantly, by the Solid Earth Science community at large. Thank you.

The Transformation of Science in the XX Century

The first part of the article examines the views on the nature of science and the activities of the scientists, on a role of science in the life of society, expressed in the works of the greatest scientists of the late-early 20th centuries – E. Mach, A. Poincare and M. Weber. It is shown that certain differences in the understanding of science and its development between these thinkers were due to their professional orientation. While Mach and Poincare, speaking of science, had in mind, above all, a mathematized natural science, Weber focused on the social sciences, which were only at the beginning of their development. The second part of the article shows that during the twentieth century science experienced a significant transformation, which was due to three interrelated factors. First, research has become widely funded by business and government. Secondly, large scientific teams come to take the place of single scientists, whose members perform only narrow-specific functions in solving a scientific task. Finally, business and the state orient science toward solving applied problems, i.e. to develop new technical devices. As a result, the main goal of scientific activity is not the search for truth, but the improvement of technology, new knowledge is only a by-product of technical progress.

An Inside Look at Anadarko Petroleum’s Digital Transformation

In 2014, Anadarko Petroleum had just a single data scientist in its ranks. Today, it has almost 20 of them working at its headquarters north of Houston. They are joined by a couple dozen more software developers, geophysicists, and reservoir engineers who together make up the independent producer’s Advanced Analytics and Emerging Technologies (AAET) group. The initiative evolved from a slide deck put together just over a year ago to become the “spearhead for technological transformation in the company,” said Sanjay Paranji, the vice president of technology at Anadarko and head of the AAET program. It is a sign that things can move swiftly in this industry, and for the group to be successful, it must keep up the pace. The ambition that Paranji shares with the industry’s other transformation leaders is to undertake rapid experimentation to uncover the advanced hardware and software that can be scaled across hundreds or thousands of wells. The longer that job takes, the more wells get drilled and produced without the benefit of new optimization technologies. This justifies why the AAET group uses a very different blueprint compared with all other business units at Anadarko. Management operates with a light touch, emphasizing a high degree of autonomy among its project teams; too much intervention and the cultivation of creative brainpower yields less and less. The group also moved into a reinvented workspace this year, designed specifically to spur collaboration. Even the words routinely used by the staff stand apart from industry jargon: scrums, sprints, and MVPs, or minimally viable products. The heart of the recipe involves combining roughly equal parts of Anadarko’s recently recruited data science talent with its experienced petrotechnical workforce. The idea is to get petroleum engineers to learn all they can about data science, and for data scientists to learn all they can about petroleum engineering. “That’s our magic,” says Paranji. “We offer them complex problems, which gets the juices flowing—and that gets them to want to stay here.” Innovating Through Failure and Cupcakes To keep the digital train moving, Anadarko uses what is known as a scrum approach—a term borrowed from rugby where teams push the ball toward the goal together. Four to five people make up each scrum team, of which there are eight to 10 working on various projects at any given time. Their mandate is simple: prove within 2-week sprints that an MVP is on course to make a meaningful impact, or should be dropped. As the ubiquitous startup mantra goes, fail often and fail fast. “To be stuck on something based on a sunk-cost bias for 6 months, and you’re trying to press on despite the fact that you have limitations in your approach, that’s a bad sign for us,” Paranji said. “You try an approach, it doesn’t work, you put it to bed, reformulate the problem, and then go after it with a different method.”

Thank You to Our 2017 Peer Reviewers

AbstractSimilar to the construction of physical ships and laboratory buildings, scientific knowledge is built incrementally and requires solid components of data, theory, and methodology at each phase of the “construction.” The peer‐review process provides the necessary “inspection” and the assurance that every step of the construction is solid, particularly in regard to the proper use of the scientific method. The peer‐review process helps improve the published work by providing constructive suggestions and by safeguarding against scientific work that could later be found to be built on shaky foundations. Because no single scientist has intimate knowledge of today's many aspects of the Ocean Sciences, we rely on each other's expertise to serve as unbiased “inspectors” of published articles. Your considerable time and effort, spent reviewing JGR‐Oceans manuscript(s) during 2017, are sincerely appreciated by our editorial board and by the Ocean Science community at large. We thank you for rising to this professional challenge and for your wisdom, commitment, skill, and service.

Measuring Individual Performance with Comprehensive Bibliometric Reports as an Alternative to h-Index Values.

The h-index is frequently used to measure the performance of single scientists in Korea (and beyond). No single indicator alone, however, is able to provide a stable and complete assessment of performance. The Stata command bibrep.ado is introduced which automatically produces bibliometric reports for single researchers (senior researchers working in the natural or life sciences). The user of the command receives a comprehensive bibliometric report which can be used in research evaluation instead of the h-index.

Scientific publishing in different countries: what simple numbers do not tell

Background: The evaluation of scientific productivity is a well-established approach for assessing the quality of scientific activity of a single scientist, of a team of scientists, as well as of a university or a country. Methods: In this article, we aim to provide an update analysis of scientific publishing of the eight countries, seven of which belonging to the so-called “G7” (i.e., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US) plus China. The scientific output has then been normalized for the number of inhabitants and for the gross domestic product (GDP). Results: For the total number of publications, the US occupies the first position in the ranking, followed by China and UK. When the national scientific production is reported as number of publications for inhabitants, the UK and Canada are at the top of the ranking. Finally, when the national scientific production is reported in terms of number of publications for GDP, China is at the first place followed by the US. Conclusions: This analysis shows that the use of the total number of publications as the only index for assessing the quality of the scientific production of a single country may be misleading.

Hirschsprung Disease: Critical Evaluation of the Global Research Architecture Employing Scientometrics and Density-Equalizing Mapping.

Introduction Hirschsprung disease (HD) is a congenital bowel innervation disorder that involves several clinical specialties. There is an increasing interest on the topic reflected by the number of annually published items. It is therefore difficult for a single scientist to survey all published items and to gauge their scientific importance or value. Thus, tremendous efforts were made to establish sustainable parameters to evaluate scientific work within the past decades. It was the birth of scientometrics. Materials and Methods To quantify the global research activity in this field, a scientometric analysis was conducted. We analyzed the research output of countries, individual institutions, authors, and their collaborative networks by using the Web of Science database. Density-equalizing maps and network diagrams were employed as state of the art visualization techniques. Results The United States is the leading country in terms of published items (n = 685), institutions (n = 347), and cooperation (n = 112). However, although there is dominance in quantity, the most intensive international networks between authors and institutions are not linked to the United States. By contrast, most of the European countries combine the highest impact of publications. Further analysis reveal the influence of international cooperation and associated phenomena on the research field HD. Conclusion We conclude that the field of HD is constantly progressing. The importance of international cooperation in the scientific community is continuously growing.

Expropriation in multicomponent eponym surgical instruments

The article represents а general characteristic of proper names in multicomponent eponymic names of surgical instruments for general and special purpose that operate in Ukrainian language; their terminological status has been clarified, the description of extra linguistic factors that determine the creation, appearance and functioning of eponymic terms has been carried out; lexico-semantic and pragmatic features of eponymic terms have been characterized; thematic groups of analysed proper names in multicomponent eponyms and their productive derivational models have been singled out. With the development of medical sciences and technological progress new eponymical terms more often get into the sphere of professional use, in the base of which are the inventions, the creators of which are single scientists and whole scientific schools. There is a need for specialized reference books, dictionaries, the use of which considerably reduces the time of medical specialist for interpretation the eponymical term. Research questions of proper names in multicomponent eponyms continue to be urgent today. The research allows promoting cross-language coordination and ensuring comparability of medical terminological vocabulary, enriching the terminological system, exchanging the scientific information and improving the quality process in professional communication. The proper names composed of multicomponent eponyms are special names that respond the main signs of the term. 1. Eponymical terms of proper names represent complex of medical concepts and they are the part of the language of surgical medicine. They are the reflection of the development of medical knowledge and revealing of professional activities. 2. Among the eponymic terms, the most productive by the number of components is the word – formation model of "a noun in the nominative case + proper name in the genitive case." In multicomponent eponyms, proper name is a part of terminological unit and it specifies the kind of concept. 3. Proper names in multicomponent eponyms have synonymic rows. Being as the creating base, they may be framed in a semantic word family. 4. There may be paronymy in eponymic terms of surgical instruments, which leads to disorientation and confusion while using. 5. Proper names in the multicomponent eponymous of surgical instruments are divided according to the conceptual-thematic signs such as the "names of the instruments, devices" into 27 groups and on the conceptual-thematic signs such as "the title of functional activities and processes" - into 8 groups. Prospects for further research. The results of the study may be used in choosing the optimal methods of studying the surgical terminology, in teaching the history of medicine and surgical disciplines as well. Further researches make it possible to compile the professional dictionary of proper names in eponymic terms of surgical instruments.