LaTeX Solutions

Item spacing and itemize symbols

\usepackage{enumitem}
\setlist[itemize]{noitemsep, topsep=0pt} %spacing settings for enumitem

\begin{itemize}
  \item[--] Dash
  \item[$-$] Dash
  \item[$\ast$] Asterisk
\end{itemize}

elsarticle natbib issue with author names starting with the initials, followed by surname

To change this, replace the line:

{ s nameptr
  "{f.~}{vv~}{ll}{, jj}"
  format.name$

with:

{ s nameptr
  "{vv~}{ll}{, jj}{, f.~}"
  format.name$

in the .bst file. For example, elsarticle-num-names.bst, found at C:\Users\~\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\bibtex\bst\elsarticle.