bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Estimating Teacher Turnover Costs: A Case Study
Authors: Levy Abigail Jurist , Joy Lois , Ellis Pamela , Jablonski Erica , Karelitz Tzur M.
Published: September 2024

High teacher turnover in large U.S. cities is a critical issue for schools and districts, and the students they serve; but surprisingly little work has been done to develop methodologies and standards that districts and schools can use to make reliable estimates of turnover costs. Even less is known about how to detect variations in turnover costs for teachers of different grades and disciplines. This study created a model and methodology to document turnover costs for the middle and high schools in the Boston Public Schools to test the degree to which it could detect differences in costs for teachers of science, and to explore the feasibility of its implementation by school personnel. We found that although the model and methods were sensitive enough to detect differences between schools and for science teachers, it could not be easily or fully applied at the district or school levels, where the component costs of turnover were scattered between department budgets, and where some costs were undocumented. At the same time, our data show that when teachers leave a school, whether it is due to a departure from the district or a reassignment to another school, there is an associated cost that has previously gone unmeasured. Therefore, understanding the full cost of teacher departures is essential when trying to estimate the true cost—and cost savings—of a layoff. Since professional development consistently represents the largest cost in the district studied, we suggest steps that can be taken to track these expenses more systematically at the school and district levels.
Does Teacher Professional Development Improve Math and Science Outcomes and Is It Cost Effective?
Authors: Foster John M. , Toma Eugenia F. , Troske SuZanne P.
Published: September 2024

Scholars and policymakers see improving teacher quality as a key way to improve student learning. While quality may be improved in a variety of ways for pre-service teachers, professional development is one of the few avenues by which quality can be improved for those teachers already in the teaching profession. But professional development, like other means of improving teacher quality, requires the expenditure of resources. A first step in justifying the expenditures requires understanding the effectiveness of the professional development programs. This article looks at an in-service professional development program targeted towards chronically low-achieving schools in Appalachian Kentucky school districts and examines whether it improved student learning at those schools. We then consider the cost of providing the program and compare the cost effectiveness of professional development to other types of school improvement interventions. Findings suggest that this program is relatively cost effective for improving math outcomes for middle schools.
K-12 Non-Instructional Service Consolidation: Spending Changes and Scale Economies
Authors: DeLuca Thomas A.
Published: September 2024

Educational policy makers (e.g., legislators, state and local school boards) continue to promote inter-district service consolidation as one method to reduce operating expenditures citing economies of scale as the source of any savings. This study uses survey data to identify the extent of non-instructional service consolidation in Michigan, with these data then merged with financial and other administrative panel data from 2004–2010. Except for a small spike in the number of consolidations in 2009, the annual trend showed no apparent acceleration or deceleration in the pace of service consolidation. Financially, this study measures and finds non-significant spending reductions associated with the consolidation of services from the local district to the Educational Service Agency (ESA). Although this is only one of several service consolidation models, (e.g., local districts sharing services with each other, local districts sharing services with municipalities, privatization of services), this study finds no support for the prediction that consolidating non-instructional services significantly decreases service spending. Conversely, the findings show that consolidating business office services significantly increases instructional spending.
Which School Districts Qualified for Federal School Facility Funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009?: Evidence from Ohio
Authors: Ingle W. Kyle , Bowers Alex J. , Davis Thomas E.
Published: September 2024

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) allocated $11 billion per year for 2009 and 2010 for qualified school construction bonds (QSCBs) for America’s schools. From a historical perspective, this program is a broad transformation of the federal role in school facility funding. This study examined factors associated with federal allocations to school districts in Ohio, asking the following questions: What demographic and finance characteristics of Ohio school districts are associated with an increased likelihood of qualifying for a QSCB? Did school districts with greater need qualify? We found that Ohio districts that had previously deferred participation in the state’s capital funding program (typically unable to raise the local share) were strongly associated with an increased likelihood of QSCB qualification (p < .001), thus providing an opportunity for these districts to overcome local voter reticence of additional taxes and address school construction and renovation needs with the availability of lower-interest-rate borrowing over a shorter period of time. Higher poverty rates were associated with an increased likelihood of receiving QSCB awards, but marginally so (p < .10). Our findings suggest that QSCB qualification may have helped to address the equity concerns raised in the prior literature.
Settling a U.S. Senatorial Debate: Understanding Declines in State Higher Education Funding
Authors: Klein Michael W.
Published: September 2024

This paper examines the debate in the U.S. Senate over the reasons why state governments have decreased funding for higher education. One side believes that federal mandates on states to pay for Medicaid have forced them to reduce spending on higher education. The other side believes that states unwisely reduced taxes, which decreased their revenues and caused cuts to higher education funding. This study finds that important factors regarding revenues and spending are missing from the Senate’s debate. Revenues decline for a number of reasons, including the effects of unemployment. Court decisions have required many states to increase spending on K-12 education. As a policy priority, higher education is disadvantaged, in part because lawmakers understand, and perhaps accept, that institutions may increase tuition to replace cuts in appropriations. This acceptance is part of a “grand paradox” between what lawmakers say and what they do regarding higher education. Ultimately, leadership determines states’ spending. If governors and legislators have the political will, they can make funding for higher education a priority.
An Assessment of the Adequacy of Ohio School Funding: New Performance Standards and Alternative Measurements of Adequacy
Authors: Sweetland Scott R.
Published: September 2024

Reflecting upon Rose v. Council , this research traced the development of adequate school funding in Ohio. DeRolph v. State centered the constitutional requirement for adequate education in Ohio. Thereafter, scholars estimated costs of adequate education and legislators adjusted those estimated costs. Plaintiffs and justices questioned many of the legislative adjustments. Consequently, a consensually determined cost of adequate education was not fully realized. Since that time, new performance standards were established and the state’s school funding program underwent several pertinent changes. The present study began with a brief review of school finance adequacy and alternative methods of estimating the costs of adequate education. Thereafter, a successful schools strategy was employed to assess the adequacy of Ohio school funding. The assessment methodologically developed four alternative measurements of adequacy, each of which specified a statewide school funding shortfall. In order to study and alleviate conditions of inadequate school funding, the establishment of a statewide school finance commission was recommended as well as incremental school funding increases matched to economic expansions.
Education in the U.S. and the Netherlands: An Equity Comparison and a Few Big Questions
Authors: Owings William A. , Kaplan Leslie S. , Volman Monique
Published: September 2024

Using an equity perspective, this article compares the education systems of the United States and the Netherlands. Existing data examining student demographics, the organizational structures, curricula, funding, and student outcomes are examined. The Netherlands appears to be getting a “bigger bang for their buck.” We make the case that since the 10 th Amendment to the Constitution makes U.S. education a state function, 50 states can have significant variance in their instructional standards, funding, and outcomes. At the secondary level, these differences may partially explain U.S. students’ lagging achievement as measured by international tests. Fundamental questions about the U.S. education system are posed for a broader discussion.
Understanding the Relationship between Equity and Efficiency: Towards a Concept of Funding Adequacy for Community Colleges
Authors: Melguizo Tatiana , Witham Keith , Fong Kristen , Chi Edward
Published: September 2024

abstract: Community colleges are the linchpin of the nation’s current efforts to increase the proportion of adults with postsecondary education. Yet, despite the significant historical role community colleges have played in expanding access to higher education, there are reasons to question whether community colleges are equipped to supply these additional credentials. Specifically, community colleges nationally face two related challenges: they provide access to large numbers of disadvantaged and academically underprepared students, and they typically receive lower levels of per-student funding relative to other sectors with which to do so. In this paper, we consider the relationship between these challenges by framing them in terms of equity and efficiency as goals of higher education funding policy. Specifically, we develop a simple model that policymakers can use to test whether current state or system funding formulas are achieving their desired goals in terms of equitable and efficient funding. In addition, we propose four different formulas and use data from the largest community college system in the nation to illustrate the tradeoffs in equity and efficiency between those formulas. The results suggest that a “balanced” formula that provides additional funding to districts serving more low-income students and rewards them for improving outcomes, might be a first step towards a conceptual understanding of “adequacy” in community college funding.
Instructional Spending Metrics: A Multilevel Analysis Using NCES Data
Authors: DeLuca Thomas A.
Published: September 2024

abstract: Educational institutions operate within multiple hierarchical levels with each level typically influencing policies or outcomes at other levels within the hierarchy. For example, decisions made at the state level may influence decisions at the local education agency (LEA) level which may influence decisions at the school building level (as well in the other direction). Using multilevel regression models (or hierarchical linear modeling) and national data sets, this study looks at two common metrics used to describe instructional spending; per pupil dollars and percentage of total dollars allocated to instruction. When estimating multilevel regression models using these two metrics (i.e., per pupil dollars and percentage of the total) as dependent variables and using the same national data set, the findings show that when using per pupil dollars as the dependent variable, individual state characteristics appear to exhibit stronger influence over per pupil dollar allocations while regression estimates using the percentage of total current operating expenditures as the dependent variable appear to show that LEA-level administrators have more local control over the internal allocation of available fiscal resources compared to state-level influences. In other words, the chosen metric (i.e., per pupil amounts vs. percentage of total) may exhibit unintended biases depending on the unit and level of analysis when estimating linear regression models related to educational spending patterns.
Tax-Based Aid, College Enrollment, Persistence, and Graduation
Authors: Guzman Tatyana
Published: September 2024

abstract: This paper studies the effectiveness of individual federal income tax credits and deductions that are made available to college students and their families who satisfy income and certain other eligibility requirements. Such credits and deductions are collectively called “tax-based aid.” Tax-based aid is found here to have a limited effect on college attendance. The effect is present only for independent students, who are 16 to 29 percentage points more likely to enroll in a college if they are eligible for aid. The correlation between the tax-based aid and college persistence and graduation is only present for a subgroup of higher-performing students eligible for the aid. Students eligible only one (of two) years are 22 percentage points more likely to persist through the first eight months of a two-year college and 17.5 percentage points more likely to graduate with an Associate degree compared to other higher performing students not eligible for aid.
Impacts of Outcome Targeting in School Aid on Equity in School Spending and Performance Scores
Authors: Ryu Jay E.
Published: September 2024

abstract: This paper applies outcome-based school aid to Ohio’s FY 2014 school district data to find systematic patterns between school aid parameters and outcome equity as well as fiscal equity. Empirical findings suggest that outcome-based power-equalizing aid improves both fiscal and outcome equity more than Ohio’s aid formula does, with partial outcome targeting enhancing the equity even more. Outcome-based foundation aid improves the equity more than Ohio’s aid does only when negative aid is allowed. This paper makes another contribution to the literature by providing a method to adjust the range of simulated aid within the current school aid budgets.
School Funding Inequalities in the Texas Panhandle Related to the Racial, Socio-economic, and Linguistic Composition of School Districts
Authors: Weiss Adam Hobdy
Published: September 2024

abstract: In Texas, significant disparities in school funding have led to several court cases and revisions to school funding formulas. The current paper finds that the funding that districts in the High Plains Region of the Texas Panhandle receive has a statistically significant relationship with districts’ size and student population characteristics. School districts with larger populations of students of color, economically disadvantaged students, and English Language Learners (ELLs) are likely to receive less funding per student compared to less diverse districts. This disparity in school funding proves especially striking considering many economically and linguistically diverse districts receive additional funds from the state and/or federal government. Specifically, districts receive additional state funding for each ELL student participating in a bilingual or ESL program. Districts with high percentages of low-income students likewise garner additional federal funding through the Title I program. As such, the present study demonstrates that significant inequities in school funding continue to exist in Texas, especially in the Texas Panhandle.
Evaluating the Effects of Performance-Based Funding Policies 2.0 on State Expenditures to Public Higher Education: Evidence from the States
Authors: Serna Gabriel
Published: September 2024

abstract: The primary goal of this analysis is to examine the relationship between Performance-Based Funding (PBF) 2.0 policies and state expenditures to public higher education. Because “new accountability” theories suggest that when states seek to hold public higher education institutions accountable by impacting their revenues, public funding patterns should shift in some way to reflect this new set of inducements. Using a quasi-experimental design, difference-in-differences, I compared spending differences on public higher education before and after PBF 2.0 policy adoption in 50 states from 1995–96 to 2012–13. The findings show that PBF 2.0 policies exert a downward pressure on state spending to public higher education by between 5.55% and 10.68% when compared against states without such a policy. The results suggest that PBF policies may further exacerbate an already rough funding environment.
Generating Stable University Funding Mechanisms: Income Contingent Loan Structure Choice within the Irish Education System
Authors: Larkin Charles , Corbet Shaen
Published: September 2024

abstract: This paper presents an exploratory analysis of the funding mechanisms for higher education across sixteen countries which builds upon existing work on educational institutions, educational outcomes, and welfare regimes. We focus upon the current financing dilemma within the Irish higher education system, seeking potential solutions within an international comparison. Our quantitative analysis identifies four clusters of countries: the Nordic, Continental-Europe, Mediterranean and English-Speaking; all of which are strongly correlated to economic and structural characteristics based on welfare state literature. Each education regime is associated with institutional, economic, and political factors. Our analysis presents evidence that Ireland does not possess the characteristics of a country that could benefit from an income-contingent lending structure to fund university education due to inherent sovereign characteristics. Further, Ireland could be better served through the introduction of free fee structures such as that found in Norway and Scotland or through the generation of state-sponsored lending facilities through private institutions like those already in place in Finland, Germany, and Sweden.
How Do Faculty Select between Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution Retirement Plans? A Qualitative Investigation
Authors: Toutkoushian Robert , Riffe Karley , Sanford Paula , Ness Erik
Published: September 2024

abstract: Retirement benefits for faculty are an important, but relatively understudied, topic in postsecondary education. To date, there have been very few studies that have used qualitative research methods to examine how workers make financial decisions about retirement, and no qualitative investigations of faculty choice between DB and DC plans. To help fill this gap in the literature, we used a qualitative approach to focus on how faculty members at the University of Georgia made the decision between a defined benefit and a defined contribution plan. We relied on a semi-structured interview protocol to examine how their retirement plan decisions were shaped by factors that are typically not included in quantitative studies of retirement plan choice, such as their financial literacy, perceived quality of information about the retirement plan options, career mobility, and attitudes towards risk. Consequently, this study provides greater nuance to this choice process and more in-depth information about the factors considered in this decision for faculty.
How do School Districts Use State Aid for Capital Expenditures? The Case of Iowa
Authors: Phuong Nguyen-Hoang , Damiano Peter
Published: September 2024

abstract: This study is the first to empirically examine how school districts allocate resources in response to capital investment revenue from statewide penny sales taxes (called SAVE funds), and whether SAVE funds affect student outputs (i.e., educational achievement). We found evidence that school districts do not use SAVE funds to increase capital investment or to provide property tax relief. Rather, school districts are most likely to shift existing resources that would have been used for capital purposes toward non-capital purposes, including instruction and administration. Despite a small gain in the number of teachers and minimum teacher salaries, SAVE does not result in a significant increase in student outputs.
The Impact of the Great Recession on Student Scores in Florida: Did School Ratings Matter?
Authors: Dole Carol , Ju Andrew
Published: September 2024

abstract: Previous research showed that the Great Recession of 2007–2008 had negative effects on student test scores. These declines were linked, in part, to the negative effects of states’ educational budget cuts or less spending per student. Using individual student test scores, this paper examines whether the level of school quality (as measured by criterion-referenced tests) cushioned the negative effects of this decline in spending. Preliminary results show that student scores in higher-rated school districts declined as a result of the recession’s cuts, but by less than lower-rated school districts.
Feast and Famine: Inequity in the Texas School Finance System
Authors: Templeton Toni , Selsberg Bradley , Abdelmalak Mariam , Abdelhamid Mariam
Published: September 2024

abstract: School funding formulas built upon historically inequitable foundations, such as the property-tax-based system in Texas, warrant continuous monitoring to understand the degree to which they contribute to inequity. Following a review of the political and legal history of the state’s school funding formulas and the most recent school finance changes enacted by the legislature, this study employs horizontal and vertical equity analyses to demonstrate the ways in which property wealth continues to overpower equity mechanisms built into the school funding system, leading to the persistence of financial inequity among school districts.
The Adequacy of K-12 School Funding for English Language Learners: A National Analysis
Authors: Srikanth Ajay
Published: September 2024

abstract: In this analysis, I attempt to determine the costs of an adequate education for English Language Learners [ELLs] to determine how much additional spending is required for ELLs. This paper uses data from the School Finance Indicators Database (Baker, Di Carlo, Srikanth and Weber, 2021) and the Stanford Education Data Archive (Reardon, Ho, Shear, Fahle, Kalogrides, Jang & Chavez, 2021) to determine the costs for ELLs to meet national average scores in standardized tests of English Language Arts and math. Using a National Education Cost Model, I find that a 10% increase in ELL concentration is associated with additional required spending between approximately $1,600 to $2,000 per pupil to meet national average outcomes, depending on the indicator used. I use estimated costs to determine the level of investments required for ELLs to meet national average outcomes. The range of total additional spending required ranges between $8 billion and $10 billion for an increase of 10% in ELL concentration.
The Rabbit
Authors: Krow Leyna
Published: September 2024

Abstract: Three firefighters are attempting to contain wildfires in California when one, Nicholas, reveals he can summon flora and fauna. He can conjure up wildlife by thinking of what he wants to summon or by someone else's suggestion. Nicholas demonstrates this by summoning various animals, including a rabbit, until the men realize the animals are vulnerable to the wildfires. He leaves the others to summon many trees, and other plants and animals to create a habitat for the rabbit.
The Offering
Authors: Crespo Mónica
Published: September 2024

Abstract: The story follows a woman who recounts her painful childhood, marked by abuse and her mother offering her to a dark creature. Now an adult, she must continue the tradition of offering her daughter to a dark force. Struggling with guilt and fear, she tries to escape the cycle of violence. The narrative explores legacy, the suffering it causes, and the woman's struggle for freedom and a normal life, while haunted by her past.
Spread spectrum lighting for excitation-emission matrix measurements in ambient light environments
Authors: Sadamoto Kota , Nakauchi Shigeki
Published: September 2024

An excitation-emission matrix (EEM) provides valuable information for industrial applications such as detecting invisible hand dirt and food residues, and inspection techniques to determine food quality. However, ambient light interferes with EEM measurements in field environments. Conventionally, EEM signals are subtracted from the reflected ambient light intensities to eliminate these effects, removing only time-invariant components and not time-variant ones. To address this problem, we propose a spread spectrum lighting technique, wherein the light at each excitation wavelength is modulated according to different orthogonal codes and simultaneously irradiated. The fluorescence intensities are detected, and the EEM is reconstructed. The experimental results indicated that the time-invariant components were eliminated almost to the same extent as those of the conventional method, with the time-variant components reduced to 55%–57% of those of the conventional method. This demonstrates the potential of the proposed method for more accurate EEM measurements in ambient light environments.
Hypopituitarism in Sox3 null mutants correlates with altered NG2-glia in the median eminence and is influenced by aspirin and gut microbiota
Authors: Galichet Christophe , Rizzoti Karine , Lovell-Badge Robin
Published: September 2024

The median eminence (ME), located at the base of the hypothalamus, is an essential centre of information exchange between the brain and the pituitary. We and others previously showed that mutations and duplications affecting the transcription factor SOX3/Sox3 result in hypopituitarism, and this is likely of hypothalamic origin. We demonstrate here that the absence of Sox3 predominantly affects the ME with phenotypes that first occur in juvenile animals, despite the embryonic onset of SOX3 expression. In the pituitary, reduction in hormone levels correlates with a lack of endocrine cell maturation. In parallel, ME NG2-glia renewal and oligodendrocytic differentiation potential are affected. We further show that low-dose aspirin treatment, which is known to affect NG2-glia, or changes in gut microbiota, rescue both proliferative defects and hypopituitarism in Sox3 mutants. Our study highlights a central role of NG2-glia for ME function during a transitional period of post-natal development and indicates their sensitivity to extrinsic signals.
Landscape-scale spatial variations of pre-Columbian anthropogenic disturbances at three ring ditch sites in French Guiana
Authors: Testé Marc , Engel Julien , Mabobet Kevin , Mestre Mickael , Brousseau Louise
Published: September 2024

In the past two decades, repeated discoveries of numerous geometric earthworks in interfluvial regions of Amazonia have shed new light onto the territorial extent and the long-term impact of pre-Columbian populations on contemporary landscapes. In particular, the recent development of LiDAR imagery has accelerated the discovery of earthworks in densely forested hinterlands throughout the Amazon basin and the Guiana Shield. This study aimed to evaluate the extent and landscape-scale spatial variations of pre-Columbian disturbances at three ring ditch sites in the French Guiana hinterland. We carried out extensive soil surveys along approximately 1 km-long transects spanning from ring ditches through the surrounding landscapes, and drawn upon multiple indicators, including archaeological artifacts, macro- and micro-charcoals, soil colorimetry, and physicochemical properties to retrace the pre-Columbian history of these sites in terms of occupation periods, anthropogenic soil alteration, and ancient land use. Our results revealed a perennial occupation of these sites over long periods ranging from the 5th and 15th centuries CE, with local enrichments in chemical indicators (Corg, N, Mg, K, Ca) both within the enclosures of ring ditches and in the surrounding landscapes. Physicochemical properties variations were accompanied by variations in soil colorimetry, with darker soils within the enclosure of ring ditches in terra-firme areas. Interestingly however, soil properties did not meet all the characteristics of the so-called Amazonian Dark Earths, thus advocating a paradigm shift towards a better integration of Amazonian Brown Earths into the definition of anthropogenic soils in Amazonia. Soil disturbances were also associated to local enrichments in macro- and micro-charcoals that support in situ fire management that could be attributed to forest clearance and/or slash-and-burn cultivation. Taken together, our results support the idea that pre-Columbian societies made extensive use of their landscapes in the interfluvial regions of the French Guiana hinterlands.
Can expected error costs justify testing a hypothesis at multiple alpha levels rather than searching for an elusive optimal alpha?
Authors: Aisbett Janet
Published: September 2024

Simultaneous testing of one hypothesis at multiple alpha levels can be performed within a conventional Neyman-Pearson framework. This is achieved by treating the hypothesis as a family of hypotheses, each member of which explicitly concerns test level as well as effect size. Such testing encourages researchers to think about error rates and strength of evidence in both the statistical design and reporting stages of a study. Here, we show that these multi-alpha level tests can deliver acceptable expected total error costs. We first present formulas for expected error costs from single alpha and multiple alpha level tests, given prior probabilities of effect sizes that have either dichotomous or continuous distributions. Error costs are tied to decisions, with different decisions assumed for each of the potential outcomes in the multi-alpha level case. Expected total costs for tests at single and multiple alpha levels are then compared with optimal costs. This comparison highlights how sensitive optimization is to estimated error costs and to assumptions about prevalence. Testing at multiple default thresholds removes the need to formally identify decisions, or to model costs and prevalence as required in optimization approaches. Although total expected error costs with this approach will not be optimal, our results suggest they may be lower, on average, than when “optimal” test levels are based on mis-specified models.
Barriers to healthcare access among reproductive age women in extremely high and very high maternal mortality countries: Multilevel mixed effect analysis
Authors: Negash Wubshet Debebe , Belay Adina Yeshambel , Asmare Lakew , Geberu Demiss Mulatu , Hagos Asebe , Jejaw Melak , Demissie Kaleb Assegid , Tiruneh Misganaw Guadie , Abera Kaleab Mesfin , Tsega Yawkal , Endawkie Abel , Worku Nigusu , Workie Amare Mesfin , Yohannes Lamrot , Getnet Mihret
Published: September 2024

Background

It is widely recognized that maternal deaths in low-resource countries are attributed to deprived access to maternal health services. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess barriers to healthcare access among reproductive age women in extremely high and very high maternal mortality countries.

Methods

A community based cross sectional surveys were conducted among 181,472 reproductive age women. Stata version 17.0 was used to analyze the data. Mixed effect binary logistic regression model was analyzed. Odds ratio along with 95% CI was generated to identify factors associated with barriers to healthcare access. A p-value less than 0.05 was declared as statistical significance.

Results

A total of 64.3% (95% CI: 64.06, 64.54) reproductive age women faced barriers to healthcare access. Young age, no formal education, poor wealth index, no media exposure, multiparty, no health insurance coverage, and rural residence were significantly associated with barriers to healthcare access.

Conclusion

More than six in ten reproductive age women had barriers to healthcare access in extremely high and very high maternal mortality countries. Increasing extensive health education, minimizing financial hardship by expanding health insurance may minimize barriers to healthcare access with attention to rural resident reproductive age women.
Shared fate was associated with sustained cooperation during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Guevara Beltran Diego , Ayers Jessica D. , Claessens Scott , Alcock Joe , Baciu Cristina , Cronk Lee , Hudson Nicole M. , Hurmuz-Sklias Hector , Miller Geoffrey , Tidball Keith , Van Horn Andrew , Winfrey Pamela , Zarka Emily , Todd Peter M. , Aktipis Athena
Published: September 2024

Did the COVID-19 pandemic bring people together or push them apart? While infectious diseases tend to push people apart, crises can also bring people together through positive interdependence. We studied this question by asking an international sample (N = 1,006) about their inclinations to cooperate, perceptions of interdependence (i.e., shared fate), and perceived risk as well as local prevalence of COVID-19 infection across 14 time points from March to August, 2020. While perceived interdependence with others tended to increase during this time period, inclinations to cooperate decreased over time. At the within-person level, higher local prevalence of COVID-19 attenuated increases in perceived interdependence with others, and was associated with lower inclinations to cooperate. At the between-person level, people with high perceived interdependence with others reported more stable, or increasing, inclinations to cooperate over time than people with low perceived interdependence. Establishing a high sense of perceived interdependence with others may thus allow people to maintain cooperation during crises, even in the face of challenging circumstances such as those posed by a highly transmissible virus.
The effect of tumor composition on the success of adaptive therapy: The case of metastatic Castrate-Resistant Prostate Cancer
Authors: Salvioli Monica , Vandelaer Len , Baena Esther , Schneider Katharina , Cavill Rachel , Staňková Kateřina
Published: September 2024

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is the most commonly used serum marker for prostate cancer. It plays a role in cancer detection, treatment monitoring, and more recently, in guiding adaptive therapy protocols, where treatment is alternated based on PSA levels. However, the relationship between PSA levels and tumor volume remains poorly understood. Empirical evidence suggests that different cancer cell types produce varying amounts of PSA. Despite this, current mathematical cancer models often assume either that all cell types contribute equally to PSA levels or that only certain subpopulations produce PSA at fixed rates. In this study, we compare Zhang et al.’s classical adaptive therapy protocol with the standard of care, which involves continuous maximum tolerable dose treatment, under different assumptions regarding PSA production. Specifically, we explore the possibility that testosterone-dependent, testosterone-producing, and testosterone-independent cells contribute to PSA production to varying degrees. We use the time to competitive release as a proxy for the time to disease progression. Our findings indicate that adaptive therapy consistently results in a longer time to competitive release compared to the standard of care, regardless of the assumptions about PSA production. However, when testosterone-independent cells are the sole PSA producers, Zhang et al.’s adaptive therapy protocol becomes inapplicable, as PSA levels never fall to half of their initial value, preventing therapy discontinuation. Additionally, we observe that the number and duration of treatment cycles in adaptive therapy are highly sensitive to assumptions about how much each cell type contributes to PSA production. Overall, our results emphasize the need for a deeper understanding of patient-specific PSA dynamics, which could enhance the effectiveness of adaptive therapy in prostate cancer treatment.
Impact of urban productive safety net program on urban households’ asset accumulation and food consumption rate in Dessie City, South Wollo Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia
Authors: Assefa Alem-meta
Published: September 2024

Agriculture is the driver of economic growth in many developing countries like Ethiopia, where it often represents at least 25% of gross domestic product. But the quality and productivity of the land depends on the way agriculture is practiced. Better agricultural techniques are necessarily including Productive Safety net Program. Urban Productive Safety Net Program is designed to support the poor households and establish urban safety net mechanisms. While several studies have examined the effects of rural productive safety net programs, the outcomes of similar programs in urban areas are not well documented. This knowledge gap hinders the ability to effectively design and implement urban productive safety net programs. The main objective of this study was to assess the impact of urban productive safety net program on asset accumulation and consumption rate in Dessie city. Both primary and secondary data sources were used. A total of 112 households were selected randomly among the public work Urban Productive Safety Net Program beneficiary and non-beneficiary households. Descriptive analysis, inferential statistics and econometric models were used for analysis. Based on the econometric estimation results the demographic and socio-economic variables such as education, access to credit, access to extension services and adult male labor force revealed positive relation to public work urban productive safety net program beneficiary and non-beneficiary household’s asset accumulation and consumption. The impact of program participation was also found to be positive and significant for both home asset and community asset. While food and non-food consumption even the total consumption and food security status are also positive. Generally, the result indicated that, due to program participation beneficiary households have higher home asset and community asset and better consumption and food security status.
Is weight-adjusted waist index more strongly associated with diabetes than body mass index and waist circumference?: Results from the database large community sample study
Authors: Wu Jiabei , Guo Jinli
Published: September 2024

Background

The uncertainty regarding the correlation between the weight-adjusted waist index (WWI) and diabetes within the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) necessitates further exploration. As indicators of obesity, the differences in the intensity of association between WWI, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference (WC) with diabetes are worth exploring. This investigation is undertaken to elucidate the association between WWI and diabetes in the NHANES dataset and to compare the extent to which BMI, WC, and WWI were closely associated with diabetes. Then, choose an obesity index that is more strongly associated with diabetes.

Methods

A comprehensive cross-sectional stratified survey of 7,973 participants from the 2017–2020 NHANES was conducted. WWI is an anthropometric measure based on WC and weight. The formula is WWI (cm/√kg) = WC/√weight. The association between WWI and diabetes was investigated using weighted multiple logistic regression, smooth curve fitting, stratified analysis, and interaction testing.

Results

The participants’ average age was 50.84±17.34 years, and 50.68% of them were female. The detection rate of diabetes was 15.11%. This positive association was particularly notable among non-diabetic patients. For each unit increase in BMI and WC as continuous variables, the likelihood of developing diabetes in the fully adjusted model increased by 5% (OR = 1.05; 95%CI, 1.03–1.07) and 3% (OR = 1.03; 95%CI, 1.02–1.04), respectively, but for each one-unit increase in WWI, the likelihood of developing diabetes increased by 111% (OR = 2.11; 95% CI, 1.68–2.65). Tests of interactions revealed that in various subgroups, the association between diabetes and WWI remained steady.

Conclusions

We analyzed 2017–2020 NHANES data to explore the link between WWI and diabetes, finding a consistent positive correlation. The correlation between WWI and diabetes was stronger than that between WC and BMI. WWI seems to offer better potential aid in disease prevention and diagnosis.
Dose-rate coefficients for external exposure to radionuclides uniformly distributed in soil to an infinite depth
Authors: Satoh Daiki , Petoussi-Henss Nina
Published: September 2024

Using a database on external exposures to environmental sources provided by the International Commission on Radiological Protection, monoenergetic and nuclide-specific dose-rate coefficients have been evaluated for volumetric sources with a uniform distribution to an effectively infinite depth in soil. Organ equivalent and effective dose rates for the public (newborns; 1-, 5-, 10-, and 15-year-old children; and adults), ambient dose equivalent rates, and air kerma free-in-air rates at 1 m above the ground were computed. This was performed using the weighted-integral method for monoenergetic photon and electron sources in an energy region of 10−2 to 8 MeV with 25 energy points to obtain the respective monoenergetic dose-rate coefficients. Then, based on these data, the dose-rate coefficients for 1252 radionuclides of 97 elements were evaluated. In those computations, the dose contribution from bremsstrahlung generated by electrons in the soil was also considered. In addition, dose-rate coefficients for the primordial radioactive decay chains of the thorium, uranium, and actinium series, as well as the decay of 137Cs with 137mBa in secular radioactive equilibrium, were obtained using the Bateman equation. For verification, the results of the effective dose rates for the 40K, 50V, thorium, and uranium series, as well as 137Cs/137mBa, were compared with those of previous studies and agreed within 10% for most cases. The results showed that the present dose-rate coefficients for radionuclides uniformly distributed to an infinite depth in soil were computed using appropriate procedures and can be used to assess external doses to the public, living on landfill soils containing naturally occurring radionuclides.
Guide for the application of the data augmentation approach on sets of texts in Spanish for sentiment and emotion analysis
Authors: Gutiérrez Benítez Rodrigo , Segura Navarrete Alejandra , Vidal-Castro Christian , Martínez-Araneda Claudia
Published: September 2024

Over the last ten years, social media has become a crucial data source for businesses and researchers, providing a space where people can express their opinions and emotions. To analyze this data and classify emotions and their polarity in texts, natural language processing (NLP) techniques such as emotion analysis (EA) and sentiment analysis (SA) are employed. However, the effectiveness of these tasks using machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) methods depends on large labeled datasets, which are scarce in languages like Spanish. To address this challenge, researchers use data augmentation (DA) techniques to artificially expand small datasets. This study aims to investigate whether DA techniques can improve classification results using ML and DL algorithms for sentiment and emotion analysis of Spanish texts. Various text manipulation techniques were applied, including transformations, paraphrasing (back-translation), and text generation using generative adversarial networks, to small datasets such as song lyrics, social media comments, headlines from national newspapers in Chile, and survey responses from higher education students. The findings show that the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) classifier achieved the most significant improvement, with an 18% increase using the Generative Adversarial Networks for Sentiment Text (SentiGan) on the Aggressiveness (Seriousness) dataset. Additionally, the same classifier model showed an 11% improvement using the Easy Data Augmentation (EDA) on the Gender-Based Violence dataset. The performance of the Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BETO) also improved by 10% on the back-translation augmented version of the October 18 dataset, and by 4% on the EDA augmented version of the Teaching survey dataset. These results suggest that data augmentation techniques enhance performance by transforming text and adapting it to the specific characteristics of the dataset. Through experimentation with various augmentation techniques, this research provides valuable insights into the analysis of subjectivity in Spanish texts and offers guidance for selecting algorithms and techniques based on dataset features.
Lawsonia intracellularis regulates nuclear factor-κB signalling pathway during infection
Authors: Yang Huan W. , Hu Tuanjun , Ait-Ali Tahar
Published: September 2024

Lawsonia intracellularis is the etiological agent of proliferative enteropathy (PE) in pigs, horses and wide range of mammals. Little is known about the role of innate immune response during L. intracellularis infection. In this study, we investigated the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB)-regulated immune response against infection of a clinical strain Dkp23 and a live-attenuated Enterisol vaccine strain in PK-15 cells. We found that expression of NF-κB target genes TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-6 and IL-8 were modulated during the course of infection. At 5 dpi, there was a significant increase in p65 NF-κB activation, including protein nuclear translocation and phosphorylation, synchronous with the induction of IL-6, IFN-γ and IL-8 expression in L. intracellularis infected cells, especially for Enterisol vaccine strain-infected cells. This result suggests that NF-κB signalling level is induced when L. intracellularis bacterial load peaks at 5 dpi. The induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines expression is consistent with the decreased viability of L. intracellularis-infected cells especially that of the vaccine strain. There were no significant changes in NF-κB signalling between vaccine and Dkp23 infection in PK-15 cells, except for moderate levels of differences in NF-κB target genes expression which might be a reflection of differences in intracellular bacterial load. Overall, the data presented here indicate a correlation between the induction of NF-κB signalling and the L. intracellularis bacterial load in PK-15 cells.