Crediting our predecessors

The Burst Crediting Concept

Predecessors of preprint servers

Although there was an early experiment in the 1960s with the central distribution of paper preprints in the biomedical sciences, these sciences have not been early adopters of electronic preprint servers. Some barriers to the development of a ‘preprint culture’ in the biomedical sciences are described. Multiple factors that, from the 1960s, fostered the transition from a paper-based preprint cu...

SemmelWeis and his predecessors.

IGNAZ SEMMELWEIS is generally known for identifying puerperal fever as an infectious disease preventable by aseptic methods. While no-one today would contest the importance, the practicality, or the independence of his contribution, its originality has been disputed from the beginning. When Semmelweis first reported his ideas in Vienna, a veterinarian claimed priority for the discovery.' The fi...

Random input helps searching predecessors

We solve the dynamic Predecessor Problem with high probability (whp) in constant time, using only n bits of memory, for any constant δ > 0. The input keys are random wrt a wider class of the well studied and practically important class of (f1, f2)-smooth distributions introduced in [3]. It achieves O(1) whp amortized time. Its worst-case time is O( √ logn log logn ). Also, we prove whp O(log lo...

Anthropocene rockfalls travel farther than prehistoric predecessors

Human modification of natural landscapes has influenced surface processes in many settings on Earth. Quantitative data comparing the distribution and behavior of geologic phenomena before and after human arrival are sparse but urgently required to evaluate possible anthropogenic influences on geologic hazards. We conduct field and imagery-based mapping, statistical analysis, and numerical model...