bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Making Minorities or Honorary Whites? Examining Multiracial Self-Concept
Authors: Jones Jennifer A. , Frank Reanne
Published: August 2023

Since the 1990s, scholars have speculated on the role of multiracials in shaping race relations in the twenty-first century. Drawing from a purposive sample of roughly 600 self-identified multiracials of partial white origin, we examine race making among multiracials through what we are calling self-concept, a conceptualization that runs along two dimensions—identity and closeness—by which we assess the extent to which multiracials align more closely with a white self-concept, more closely with a minority self-concept, or equally. We find that while there is variation, multiracials of partial white ancestry are more likely to express a self-concept that is more aligned with minorities than with whites. Moreover, we find that despite what the literature suggests, variation in self-concept is less associated with ascription than with social/familial context and racial attitudes. These findings suggest that while ascription matters, racial self-concept is primarily shaped through experience.
Effect of a Supervised Exercise Program on Overweight and Obese Adolescents in the School Environment: A Pretest-Posttest Design
Authors: Cesar Denise Jovê , Oliveira Alessandra Lima Peres de , Silva André Felipe Pontes Vasconcelos da , Biazi Bruno Luis , Santos Vinícius Batista , Silva Romeu Paulo Martins , Lopes Juliana de Lima
Published: August 2023

This study is taken up to evaluate the effect of an exercise program on adolescents’ obesity and overweight profile. For this purpose, a 1-group pretest-posttest study was conducted with 72 adolescents who underwent a physical activity program supervised by one health professional 5 times a week; the sessions were distributed over 12 weeks and lasted from 50 to 60 minutes. The primary outcomes were anthropometric measurements, whereas the secondary outcomes were lipid profile, blood glucose, and blood pressure. Outcomes were assessed before the intervention and 1 day after the program ended; significance was established at P < .05. As a result, a significant improvement was verified in all the primary outcomes ( P< .001) and in most secondary outcomes (capillary blood glucose, P = .0001; triglycerides, P = .0001; and systolic blood pressure, P = .005). In conclusion, the supervised exercise program significantly reduced anthropometric measurements and blood glucose, triglycerides, and systolic blood pressure levels.
The development of formative assessment rubrics for enhancing students’ performance on Thai percussion instruments
Authors: Thepsathit Purin , Tangdhanakanond Kamonwan
Published: August 2023

This research aimed to develop formative assessment rubrics for enhancing students’ performance on Thai percussion instruments using the Many-Facet Rasch Measurement Partial Credit model (MFRM-PCM). Samples were high-school students playing four types of Thai instruments and the raters who were qualified and properly trained. The research instrument was rubrics used for assessing students’ Thai percussion instruments skills. Each item contained five quality levels. The research methodology was divided into three phases, that is, the synthesis and verification of content validity, pre-testing of the psychometric properties and the assessment design, and the verification of the rubrics’ psychometric properties. Four facets of the MFRM-PCM including students, raters, musical instruments, and items facet were employed to analyze the psychometric properties of the developed rubrics. It was found that the rubrics developed for assessing performances of Thai percussion instruments with the MFRM-PCM contained eight criteria and 12 items. The quality levels of the items after the category’s effectiveness analysis were reduced ranging from two to three quality levels.
Orthographic influence in the distributional learning of non-native speech sounds
Authors: Alarifi Abdulaziz , Tucker Benjamin V
Published: August 2023

This study investigated the role of orthographic information in the acquisition of non-native speech sounds by monolingual English listeners. Two potentially important orthographic variables were explored: Orthographic compatibility (whether the orthographic information supports or contradicts the distributional information) and orthographic familiarity (whether the native and target languages share the same orthography). Ten groups of learners were trained on either a unimodal or bimodal distribution of two length continua. Out of the 10 groups, eight groups were also exposed to orthographic cues that varied in their compatibility with the distributional information (compatible vs. incompatible) and familiarity with the orthography of learners’ native language (Roman vs. Arabic). Following training, all participants performed an AX discrimination task to test their discrimination of the length contrast. The results revealed that, in general, the availability of either familiar or unfamiliar orthographic input which signaled the existence of a single length category significantly lowered learners’ discrimination of the length contrast regardless of the auditory distribution. Further, the exposure to orthographic input that supported a two-category length distinction enhanced the discrimination of the length contrast irrespective of the distribution. However, the most significant improvement occurred when both distributional information and familiar orthographic input were compatible. Overall, these findings indicate that orthographic input, regardless of its level of compatibility or familiarity, may influence the acquisition of non-native speech sounds.
Robust grasping across diverse sensor qualities: The GraspNet-1Billion dataset
Authors: Fang Hao-Shu , Gou Minghao , Wang Chenxi , Lu Cewu
Published: August 2023

Robust object grasping in cluttered scenes is vital to all robotic prehensile manipulation. In this paper, we present the GraspNet-1Billion benchmark that contains rich real-world captured cluttered scenarios and abundant annotations. This benchmark aims at solving two critical problems for the cluttered scenes parallel-finger grasping: the insufficient real-world training data and the lacking of evaluation benchmark. We first contribute a large-scale grasp pose detection dataset. Two different depth cameras based on structured-light and time-of-flight technologies are adopted. Our dataset contains 97,280 RGB-D images with over one billion grasp poses. In total, 190 cluttered scenes are collected, among which 100 are training set and 90 are for testing. Meanwhile, we build an evaluation system that is general and user-friendly. It directly reports a predicted grasp pose’s quality by analytic computation, which is able to evaluate any kind of grasp representation without exhaustively labeling the ground-truth. We further divide the test set into three difficulties to better evaluate algorithms’ generalization ability. Our dataset, accessing API and evaluation code, are publicly available at www.graspnet.net.
Lifetime Performance of Polymer-Modified Bitumen in Swedish Roads Evaluated With Survival Analysis
Authors: Eklöf Kristin , Wendel Mats
Published: August 2023

This study uses survival analysis to estimate the lifetime of Swedish asphalt paved roads. The roads were separated by binder type, such as unmodified bitumen and polymer-modified bitumen (PMB). Road pavements with PMB were compared to equivalent roads with regard to annual average daily traffic, heavy vehicles, road type, road width, speed limit, construction year, region, bearing capacity, pavement type, stone size, and rut bottom distance. The analysis was based on almost 500,000 records of pavement maintenance and road condition measurements from the Swedish Transport Administration’s Pavement Management System database, dating back as far as the 1970s. The results showed that PMB in the surface layer was expected to extend road lifetimes by 15% compared with bitumen. PMB in the underlying layer gave an 8% increase in life expectancy compared with unmodified bitumen. PMB in both layers gave a 24% increase in expected road lifetime compared with unmodified bitumen in both layers.
Analysis of Visual Load on Curve and Longitudinal Slope Combination of Extra-Long Underwater Tunnel Based on Visual Sensitive Region
Authors: Yang Yongzheng , Du Zhigang , Huang Ting , Mei Jialin
Published: August 2023

Extra-long underwater tunnels are important traffic nodes in urban road networks and have a high incidence of traffic accidents. The frequent occurrence of curve and longitudinal slope combinations in such tunnels increases crash risk and has a negative impact on traffic safety. Vision is the most important way to obtain traffic information, and visual load is a good measure of driving risk. To explore the impact of curve and longitudinal slope combinations on a driver’s visual load in an extra-long underwater tunnel, eye-movement data and speed data were obtained through a vehicle experiment. Based on driver gaze distribution, the area and location of the visual sensitive region are calculated, and a model of the relationship between the region’s stability and the curve and longitudinal slope at different speeds is established, and applied to the visual-load evaluation. The results show that the curve or longitudinal slope has a significant influence on vehicle speed. High-visual-load areas are mainly located in small-radius curve and large longitudinal slope combination areas and extremely small-radius curve areas. For example, for a combination of left-turn curve and longitudinal slope with a speed of 50–60 km/h, when the curve radius is less than 1150 m and the longitudinal slope is less than −2.4%, or the curve radius is less than 1100 m and the longitudinal slope is greater than 2.2%, the visual load is high and driving safety is poor. This study can provide a theoretical basis for tunnel alignment design and safe operation.
Meso Safety Analysis of Major Arterials: The Impact of Intersection Spacing and Network Connection Compatibility
Authors: Wang Xuesong , Dai Zhicheng , Hsu Yao T. , Zheng Siyi
Published: August 2023

With the increase in high-density road network construction in many urban areas, neither macro- nor micro-level safety analysis can fully explain the impact of network characteristics on safety. This study employed a meso-level analysis unit, which combines intersections with adjacent road segments, to investigate the safety impact of intersection spacing and network connection compatibility along 19 major arterials in Suzhou, China. Three main intersection spacing characteristics, the density of intersection spacing (DOIS), the standard deviation of intersection spacing (SDOIS), and the variation of intersection spacing (VOIS), were used to represent the interaction between arterials and other roads in the network. This study introduced the concept of hierarchical differences to quantitatively analyze the safety effects of connections between roads with different accessibility and mobility functions. To manage the hierarchical structure of the data (which has both within-arterial and between-arterial correlations), a two-level hierarchical negative binomial conditional autoregressive model was adopted to examine the safety effects of network characteristics at the meso level. The results showed the existence of unobserved heterogeneities among the selected arterials. The SDOIS and VOIS were found to have positive effects on crash frequency (more crashes on units with higher SDOIS and VOIS), while the DOIS was negatively associated with crash frequency. The meso units with moderately compatible network connections were found to have more crashes than those with compatible connections, while the units with the highest hierarchical differences had fewer crashes. The results from this study are expected to provide suggestions on potential safety hazard screening and crash prevention.
National-Level Multimodal Origin–Destination Estimation Based on Passively Collected Location Data and Machine Learning Methods
Authors: Pan Yixuan , Darzi Aref , Yang Mofeng , Sun Qianqian , Kabiri Aliakbar , Zhao Guangchen , Xiong Chenfeng , Zhang Lei
Published: August 2023

Along with the development of information and positioning technologies, there emerges passively collected location data that contain location observations with time information from various types of mobile devices. Passive location data are known for their large sample size and continuous behavior observations. However, they also require careful and comprehensive data processing and modeling algorithms for privacy protection and practical applications. In the meantime, the travel demand estimation of origin–destination (OD) tables is fundamental in transportation planning and analysis. There is a lack of national OD estimation that provides time-dependent travel behaviors for all travel modes. Passively collected location data appeal to researchers for their potential of serving as the data source for estimation and monitoring of large-scale multimodal travel demand. This research proposes a comprehensive set of methods for passive location data processing including data cleaning, activity location and purpose identification, trip-level information identification, social demographic imputation, sample weighting and expansion, and demand validation. For each task, the paper evaluates the state-of-the-practice and state-of-the-art algorithms and develops an applicable method jointly considering different features of various passive location data sources, imputation accuracy, and computation efficiency. The paper further examines the viability of the method kit in a national-level case study and successfully derives the multimodal national-level OD estimates with additional data products, such as trip rate and vehicle miles traveled, at different geographic levels and temporal resolutions.
Multi-objective multidisciplinary design optimization of liquid-propellant engines thrust chamber based on a surrogate model
Authors: Alimohammadi Hamid Reza , Aghaei-Togh Reza
Published: August 2023

The design of liquid-propellant engines (LPEs) has several challenges in setting the performance parameters. Accordingly, optimizing the design of a thrust chamber is of considerable importance that has been considered in several research projects. Previous research has focused on multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO). However, despite these efforts, the main issues remain. The present paper proposes a multi-objective multidisciplinary design optimization based on an efficient adaptive surrogate model of the thrust chamber to address these issues. The proposed method introduces a practical multidisciplinary optimization method based on an adaptive surrogate model that uses the moving least squares methodology, CCM, sensitivity analysis, and the elite multi-objective genetic algorithm (NSGAII). Due to the high importance of specific impulse and thrust-to-weight ratio, these two functions were used as target functions and in the NSGAII framework, the Pareto frontier was drawn for them. The proposed method is applied to a thrust-chamber engine test case. The results show that the target performance of the engine is improved, the specific impulse value is increased by 3.4 s, and the thrust-to-weight ratio is increased by 4%. These values represent significant advances in LPE engine design. The results obtained in this study indicate the potential of the proposed method in solving large-scale thrust-chamber design optimization problems.
Mechanism of characteristic change of panel flutter caused by oblique shock impingement
Authors: Meng Xianzong , Ye Kun , Ye Zhengyin
Published: August 2023

Compared to the shock-free condition, the weak shock impingement stabilizes the flexible panel, while the strong shock impingement leads to the early onset of panel flutter with a significant increase in flutter amplitude and frequency. However, the reason for this change by shock impingement remains unclear. The current research examines the mechanism of this change by an in-house code where the von Kármán’s large deflection plate theory is coupled with two-dimensional Euler equations. Compared to the shock-free condition, the oblique shock impingement leads to the change of local dynamic pressure on the panel as well as the static pressure differential across the panel. The analysis on the influence of these changes indicates that, on the one hand, the average dynamic pressure on the panel becomes larger than the shock-free condition, accelerating the onset of panel flutter. On the other hand, the change of the static pressure differential across the panel alters the coupling characteristic between different natural frequencies (modes) of the panel structure. The dynamic response of panel flutter under shock impingements is dominated by the coupling between the second and third modes instead of the first two modes for panel flutter under the shock-free condition. The combined effect of these two changes leads to the change of flutter characteristics of the panel under shock impingement. These findings provide valuable insights into the mechanism of shock-induced panel flutter.
When experts matter: Variations in consensus messaging for vaccine and genetically modified organism safety
Authors: Lyons Benjamin A. , Mérola Vittorio , Reifler Jason , Spälti Anna Katharina , Stedtnitz Christine , Stoeckel Florian
Published: August 2023

Does consensus messaging about contested science issues influence perceptions of consensus and/or personal beliefs? This question remains open, particularly for topics other than climate change and samples outside the United States. In a Spanish national sample (N = 5087), we use preregistered survey experiments to examine differential efficacy of variations in consensus messaging for vaccines and genetically modified organisms. We find that no variation of consensus messaging influences vaccine beliefs. For genetically modified organisms, about which misperceptions are particularly prevalent in our sample, we find that scientific consensus messaging increases perception of consensus and personal belief that genetically modified organisms are safe, and decreases support for a ban. Increasing degree of consensus did not have consistent effects. Although individual differences (e.g. a conspiratorial worldview) predict these genetically modified organism beliefs, they do not undercut consensus message effects. While we observe relatively modest effect sizes, consensus messaging may be able to improve the accuracy of beliefs about some contentious topics.
Comparing the influence of intellectual humility, religiosity, and political conservatism on vaccine attitudes in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom
Authors: Preston Jesse L. , Khan Abdullah
Published: August 2023

Three studies of US, Canada, and UK respondents examined pro-vaccine attitudes as predicted by intellectual humility, belief in science, religiosity, and political attitudes. Intellectual humility refers to the capacity to understand limits of one’s own beliefs and showed strong relationship to pro-vaccine attitudes across samples. Pro-vaccine attitudes were correlated with intellectual humility and negatively correlated with political conservatism and religiosity. Regression models compared overlapping influences of belief predictors on vaccine attitudes. Across countries, intellectual humility was the most consistent predictor of pro-vaccine attitudes when controlling for other beliefs and thinking styles (political conservatism, belief in science, religiosity). In comparison, political conservatism was a significant predictor of vaccine attitudes in regression models on US and Canadian respondents, and religiosity only held as a predictor in regression models in the US sample. We conclude with a discussion of intellectual humility as a predictor of vaccine attitudes and implications for research and persuasion.
How does ethical leadership influence nurses’ job performance? Learning goal orientation as a mediator and co-worker support as a moderator
Authors: Zhang Chunyu , Xiao Qijie , Liang Xiaoyan , Klarin Anton , Liu Liping
Published: August 2023

Background

Ethical nurse leaders play a pivotal role in helping their nurse employees deliver high-quality healthcare services. However, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of the mediating and moderating mechanisms by which ethical leadership improves job performance.

Purpose

This study aims to investigate: (1) whether ethical leadership would enhance nurses’ job performance; (2) whether learning goal orientation acts as a mediator; and (3) whether co-worker support operates as a moderator.

Participants and research context

We collected two-wave data from 218 nurses working in hospitals located in Jiangsu, China.

Research design

A time-lagged study based on an online survey design was utilized for data collection between September 2022 and January 2023. PROCESS Model 5 was employed to test the research hypotheses.

Ethical considerations

We obtained ethics approval from the University Ethics Committee. The nursing participants were assured that their survey responses were completely anonymous.

Results and discussion

Ethical leadership is not significantly correlated with job performance. However, ethical leadership has an indirect impact on nurses’ job performance through the mediator (learning goal orientation). Moreover, co-worker support moderates the relationship between ethical leadership and job performance.

Conclusion

The conceptual model provides us with a fine-grained understanding of the relationship between ethical leadership and nurses’ job performance. We highlight the mediating role of learning goal orientation and the moderating role of co-worker support. We suggest that healthcare organizations should devote more efforts to promoting ethical leadership, co-worker support, and learning goal orientation.
Two cases of nursing older nursing home residents during COVID-19
Authors: Jaarsma Pier , Gelhaus Petra , Eklund Saksberg My
Published: August 2023

Introduction

Two ethical challenges of nursing home nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden are discussed in this paper.

Background

Historically, the nurse’s primary concern is for the person who is ill, which is the core of nurses’ moral responsibility and identity. In Sweden, person-centered care is generally deemed important in nursing older nursing home residents.

Objective

To chart moral responsibilities of nursing home nurses in two cases involving older residents during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden.

Methods

We used Margaret Urban Walker’s framework for moral responsibilities and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) code of ethics for nurses (2021) for our normative analysis.

Ethical considerations

Written and verbal consent was obtained before the interviews, and information was given that participation was entirely voluntary and possible to cancel at any time before the work was published. The Swedish Ethical Review Agency gave an advisory opinion stating that there were no ethical objections to this research project (Dnr. 2020-05649).

Findings

Case #1: a palliative older nursing home resident who was coercively tested for COVID-19, and case #2: a COVID-19–infected resident with dementia who was isolated using sedation. The decision that was finally made in the respective case was analyzed in the light of either consequentialist/utilitarian or non-consequentialist/deontological reasons.

Discussion

Empowerment of nurses as moral agents is required for the application of practical wisdom in the balancing of different care relationships (responsibilities), moral identities (professional virtues), and competing moral values. This requires resources and opens possibilities for profound ethical reflection in nursing education and at work.

Conclusion

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the moral and professional responsibility of nursing home nurses to deliver person-centered care was sometimes problematically abandoned in favor of a more utilitarian manner of ethical decision-making.
Building an island of state capacity: How the UK state implemented the Thames Tideway Tunnel with market-based finance
Authors: Findeisen Francesco
Published: August 2023

This article contributes to the literature on state capacity in financialized political economies by studying the market-based investment setting for the Thames Tideway Tunnel, a £4.2 billion sewer, built underneath central London to prevent raw sewage from spilling into the River Thames. Most analyses conclude that financial statecraft undermines state capacities, as it empowers finance and exposes states to uncontrollable risks. This article moves beyond these accounts by arguing that public policy officials engage with finance instrumentally, taking on risks to solve the governing challenges they face. It demonstrates that state action can build islands of state capacity with financial statecraft in fragmented policy environments. Based on expert interviews and documentary analysis, the article traces how the UK’s Ministry of the Environment experimented with a policy instrument and used investment capacities from different levels of government, to implement the Thames Tideway Tunnel through institutional equity investment and share risks in the privatized and financialized environmental sector. The paper concludes that under the current conjuncture, financial statecraft will play an important role in addressing the climate crisis. Therefore, further comparative research is required to explore its normative paradox.
I did not belong: the grief and identity development of fostered and adopted American Indian individuals
Authors: Simpson Jessica E , Landers Ashley L , White Hawk Sandy
Published: August 2023

This study explores the experiences of grief and identity development of American Indian individuals following foster care and adoption compared to their non-American Indian White counterparts. Secondary data analysis was utilized to explore differences in grief and identity development among formerly fostered and adopted American Indian ( n = 129) and White ( n = 166) individuals. Chi-square and logistic regression analyses suggested a significant relationship between race and grief. More American Indian participants reported experiencing grief because of their time in foster care or adoption than did non-American Indian White participants. The relationship between race and level of impact of adoption on identity development was statistically significant in both a t test and ordinary least squares regression. American Indian participants’ identity was more significantly impacted by adoption than their White peers. Findings suggest a need for attention to the unique grief experiences and identity development of adopted and fostered American Indian individuals.
Outpatient Utilization of the RAM Cannula for Nasal Noninvasive Ventilation in Children
Authors: Truitt Brittany A , Kallam Erin F , Price Eric W , Shah Amit S , Simon Dawn M , Kasi Ajay S
Published: August 2023

Background:

The RAM cannula® consists of nasal prongs that can be used to administer oxygen, continuous, and bilevel positive airway pressure therapies. Studies have reported the efficacy and utility of the RAM cannula in inpatients requiring noninvasive ventilation (NIV); however, there is limited literature on the use of the RAM cannula to provide NIV in the outpatient setting.

Objectives:

This study aimed to describe the clinical features and outcomes of children who used NIV via RAM cannula in the outpatient setting.

Design:

Retrospective review.

Methods:

We conducted a retrospective review of children treated with outpatient NIV via RAM cannula at our institution between January 2010 and March 2023. The analyzed data included age, diagnoses, indications for NIV, duration of RAM cannula use, complications, and outcomes at 6 months.

Results:

We identified 20 patients who used outpatient NIV via RAM cannula during the study period. The median age at initiation of NIV via RAM cannula was 5.8 months (IQR 2.4-9.9 months). Indications for NIV included sleep-related hypoventilation (15%), restrictive lung disease (25%), obstructive sleep apnea (45%), and chronic respiratory failure (50%), with 6 patients having ⩾2 indications for NIV. RAM cannula was utilized for inability to tolerate conventional NIV interfaces (80%), to alleviate dyspnea (60%), and to avoid tracheostomy (55%). Patients used NIV via RAM cannula for a median duration of 7.7 months (IQR 3.7-20.6 months). Patient outcomes included ongoing usage of RAM cannula (55%), changing to conventional NIV interfaces (15%) or oxygen (10%), weaning off respiratory support (5%), and death (15%). There were no complications related to using the RAM cannula.

Conclusion:

Our study demonstrates the utility of outpatient NIV via RAM cannula in children with a variety of diagnoses until clinical improvement or tolerance of conventional interfaces, and for avoidance of tracheostomy.
Post-coronavirus disease 2019 functional impairments, limitations, and restrictions: A prospective cohort study based on the international classification of functioning, disability, and health
Authors: Monteiro Isabella Polo , Appelt Pablo Andrei , Sisconetto Angélica Taciana , Minaré Baldo Sucupira Kelly Savana , Bazan Rodrigo , Luvizutto Gustavo José , Pascucci Sande de Souza Luciane Aparecida
Published: August 2023

Background

Current knowledge regarding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is constantly evolving, and the long-term functional impairments, limitations, and restrictions have not yet been well established.

Objective

to evaluate the impact of post-COVID condition on the human functioning through the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) classification.

Methods

This is a prospective cohort study with 53 individuals with post-COVID condition at 3 time points: 0 to 3 (baseline), 3 to 6, and 6-12 months (follow-up). Outcomes were organized in dichotomous variable: No impairment (0); presence of impairment (≥1) in body function, structure, activities, and participation domains according to the ICF checklist. Chi-square test was used to determine the differences of 3 time points, and association with persistent symptoms.

Results

A statistically significant difference was observed between the periods, with greater disabilities at 6-12 than at 0-3 months in mental, sensory, pain, and movement-related functions; cardiovascular, immunological, and respiratory systems. In terms of activity and participation, a greater limitation at 6-12 months was observed than at 0-3 months in learning and applying knowledge, general tasks, and mobility. In the domain of interpersonal interactions and relationships, there was a statistically significant difference between the 6-12 and 3-6 months groups. Associations between COVID-19 symptoms and ICF components at the first follow-up were: anosmia and dysgeusia with weight maintenance, fatigue and irritability with pain, brain fog with watching and listening, walking difficulty with pain, and headache with pain, watching, and listening. At the second follow-up were: anosmia and dysgeusia with energy and drive functions, attention, memory, and emotional functions; dizziness with watching and listening; fatigue with emotional function, pain, undertaking multiple tasks, lifting and carrying objects, and driving; irritability with energy and drive, emotional function, undertaking multiple tasks, lifting and carrying objects, and walking; walking difficulty with energy and driving, emotional function, respiration, muscle power, cardiovascular system, undertaking multiple tasks, lifting and carrying objects, and walking; and headache with emotional function, watching, and listening.

Conclusions

Individuals with COVID-19 persistent symptoms showed impairments in structure and function, activity limitations, and participation restrictions during the 1-year follow-up period.
The access control double bind: How everyday interfaces regulate access and privacy, enable surveillance, and enforce identity
Authors: Gardner Daniel L , Tanenbaum Theresa J
Published: August 2023

Access controls are an inescapable and deceptively mundane requirement for accessing digital applications and platforms. These systems enable and enforce practices related to access, ownership, privacy, and surveillance. Companies use access controls to dictate and enforce terms of use for digital media, platforms, and technologies. The technical implementation of these systems is well understood. However, this paper instead uses digital game software and platforms as a case study to analyze the broader socio-technical, and often inequitable, interactions these elements regulate across software systems. Our sample includes 200 digital games and seven major digital gaming platforms. We combine close reading and content analysis to examine the processes of authentication and authorization within our samples. While the ubiquity of these systems is a given in much academic and popular discourse, our data help empirically ground this understanding and examine how these systems support user legibility and surveillance, and police identities in under-examined ways. We suggest changes to the policies and practices that shape these systems to drive more transparent and equitable design.
Measuring the value of solidarity: The abem financial assistance program for out-of-pocket payments on pharmacy medicines in Portugal
Authors: Gouveia Miguel , Borges Margarida , Costa João , Lourenço Francisco , Fiorentino Francesca , Rodrigues António Teixeira , Teixeira Inês , Guerreiro José Pedro , Caetano Patrícia , Carneiro António Vaz
Published: August 2023

Objective

Out-of-pocket payments for prescribed medicines are still comparatively high in Portugal. The abem program was launched in Portugal in May 2016 to aid vulnerable groups by completely covering out-of-pocket costs of prescribed medicines in community pharmacies. This study assesses the impact of the program on poverty and catastrophic health expenditures.

Methods

A longitudinal study was carried out with the analysis of several program databases (from the beginning of the program in May 2016 to September 2018) covering the cohorts of beneficiaries, daily data on medicines dispensed, social referencing entities, and solidarity pharmacies. The study provides estimates of standard poverty measures (intensity and severity) as well as the incidence of catastrophic health expenditures.

Results

More than 6000 beneficiaries were supported (56.8% female, 34.7% aged 65 or over), encompassing 127,510 medicines (mainly nervous system and cardiovascular system) with an average 26.9% co-payment (payments totalling €1.5 million). The program achieved substantial reductions in poverty (3.4% in intensity, 5.6% in severity), and eliminated cases with catastrophic health expenditures in medicines that would have affected 7.5% of the beneficiaries.

Conclusions

Findings confirm a continuous increase in the number of beneficiaries, enabling access to medicines especially for the vulnerable elderly, and a sizable impact on eliminating out-of-pocket payments for medicines in the target population.
The impact of gendered scripts onchlamydiaand safe-sex on young Australian men and women’s performance of gender and sexual responsibility
Authors: Calic Nikolina , Patulny Roger
Published: August 2023

Over the last decade, young Australian’s rates of chlamydia infection have been steadily increasing with notable differences between young men and women (Kirby Institute, 2018). We explore the impact of gendered scripts on chlamydia and safe-sex on young heterosexual men and women’s performance of gender and sexual responsibility. We examine findings from a Foucauldian discourse analysis (FDA) of key Australian public health websites, alongside in-depth interviews, and qualitative survey responses of students from an Australian university. The FDA identified gendered scripts in public health resources that generally avoided focussing on men in favour of encouraging women to take responsibility for couple’s safe-sex behaviour. Interviews revealed heteronormative gendered scripts framed many sexual practices with stronger focus on unwanted pregnancy than STIs, disproportionate targeting of women for STI testing by doctors and more open discussions on sexual health among women. Interviews also highlighted the absence of a normative ‘formula’ – or script – for safe-sex discussions.
#MeToo in British schools: Gendered differences in teenagers’ awareness of sexual violence
Authors: Horeck Tanya , Ringrose Jessica , Milne Betsy , Mendes Kaitlynn
Published: August 2023

This article explores how British secondary school students responded to and made sense of the rising public awareness of sexual violence in British society that emerged during lockdowns for COVID-19. Based on the findings from a 2021–2022 study conducted in five secondary schools, the article explores the gendered discrepancies in girls’ and boys’ awareness of violence against girls and women. In particular, it examines how the youth participants in this study responded to two related media stories during lockdown: the news of Sarah Everard’s kidnapping and murder by a police officer and the viral spread of sexual abuse testimonies on the ‘Everyone’s Invited’ Instagram page and website. The article demonstrates how girls were more likely to experience, recognize, and discuss sexual violence, in part due to feminist consciousness raising during lockdown via digital technologies like Instagram and TikTok. Although some boys did recognize the problem of violence against women, in general, they were much less aware of Sarah Everard’s murder and Everyone’s Invited and were prone to absorbing manosphere-like discourses around false rape accusations In focus groups, some boys deployed a defensive masculinity and adopted a discourse of male victimhood, which denied the scale and scope of violence against girls and women. However, through involving boys in focus group discussion with both us and their male peers about power and privilege, progress was made in challenging and counteracting rape myths and anti-feminist male victimization narratives.
Sources of military change: Emulation, politics, and concept development in UK defence
Authors: Morgan-Owen David , Fox Aimée , Gould Alex
Published: August 2023

Judging by its doctrinal publications, the UK Defence establishment stands poised to begin a process of unprecedented change. The language of ‘multi-domain’ thinking is prominent within this discourse and is identified as being a key vehicle via which UK Defence will deliver upon its programme of reform. This article seeks to offer an initial evaluation of these claims and to assess them in light of the burgeoning literatures on Western defence ‘transformation’ and military innovation that have emerged since the early 2000s. We argue that ‘multi-domain’ thinking reflects a form of ‘cosmetic’ emulation by the British Defence establishment and that its appearance within UK doctrine has been driven more by internal politics than by a clearly thought-through adoption of a new form of military practice.
“You dumb cracker b*tch”: The legitimizing of White supremacy during a Twitch ban of HasanAbi
Authors: Powell Aisha , Williams-Johnson Dana
Published: August 2023

Despite newer media technologies alleviating barriers of entry for marginalized groups, media still fails to address White supremacy at large. The live-streaming service Twitch banned one of its top streamers Hasan Piker in December 2021 for using the word “cracker” during a stream. Despite the myriad of complaints from women, people of color, LGBT +, and people with physical disabilities about targeted harassment they received on the platform, Twitch has taken little to no action on to ban those attacks. Utilizing critical whiteness and white framing theory, this study reviewed the discourse of Twitch influencers, who created YouTube reaction videos about the ban. All three of the influencers used rhetoric that sustained White supremacy like downplaying the impact of systemic racism, victimizing White men, and calling for freedom of hate speech. The implications of this study outline how the policing of hate speech can facilitate White supremacy on platforms.
TikTok as algorithmically mediated biographical illumination: Autism, self-discovery, and platformed diagnosis on #autisktok
Authors: Alper Meryl , Rauchberg Jessica Sage , Simpson Ellen , Guberman Josh , Feinberg Sarah
Published: August 2023

Scholarship in the sociology of medicine has tended to characterize diagnosis as disruptive to one’s self-concept. This categorization, though, requires reconsideration in light of public conversations about mental health and community building around neurocognitive conditions, particularly among youth online. Drawing upon Tan’s notion of “biographical illumination” (BI), which describes how medical frameworks can enrich personal biographies, we explored the shifting nature of BI through the case of TikTok. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods, we argue that TikTok serves as a space to discuss diagnosis and refine one’s sense of self as a result of diagnosis. However, such personal transformation is inseparable from the app’s affordances, or what we term “algorithmically mediated biographical illumination.” BI shapes TikTok as a platform, and TikTok informs BI as a psychosocial process, leading to what we call “platformed diagnosis.” These findings have broader critical applications for the study of algorithms, disability, and digital platforms.
Improvement of diesel combustion with suppression of mutual fuel spray flame interactions with staggered nozzle hole arrangement and a spatially divided combustion chamber
Authors: Ogawa Hideyuki , Mori Kazuma , Ishikawa Tomoki , Kobashi Yoshimitsu , Shibata Gen
Published: August 2023

A combination of a fuel injector with staggered nozzle hole arrangement with a combustion chamber divided into upper and lower layers by placing a lip at the middle of the side wall is proposed to improve diesel combustion with suppression of interactions among fuel spray flames. The fuel injector has twelve alternately arranged spray holes ( ϕ0.09 mm), staggered at two injection angles, 79° and 55° from the central axis of the injector. Two ordinary injectors with eight ( ϕ0.113 mm) and twelve ( ϕ0.092 mm) holes with an injection angle of 78° from the central axis with a conventional re-entrant combustion chamber were also examined as references. The experimental results showed that the improvements in thermal efficiencies and the reduction in smoke emissions can be established over a wide IMEP range with the proposed combination of the staggered nozzle hole injector and the divided combustion chamber. The exhaust loss is reduced with the combination of the injector and the combustion chamber while the cooling loss increases slightly. The rate of heat release from the combination of the injector and the combustion chamber has a more active main combustion and smaller afterburning than conventional systems. The three-dimensional CFD simulations showed that the combination of the injector and the combustion chamber can efficiently suppress the interactions among fuel spray flames at the combustion chamber wall after the impingement of fuel spray flames and also suitably distribute the fuel mixture, resulting in reductions in the afterburning and the smoke emissions. The slight increase in cooling loss with the proposed combination may be due to the increase in contact area of hot burned gas on the cylinder head; further improvements in thermal efficiency can be expected with optimization of the design factors related to the fuel injection and the combustion chamber configuration.
A view from the garden: Interrupting politics of attainment and re-orienting education towards sustainable futures
Authors: Hancock Jonathan , Gray Donald , Colucci-Gray Laura
Published: August 2023

There is growing recognition amongst scholars that addressing the current global ecological crisis requires a new ecological awareness, and a different model of education, in order to live together on a ‘planet under pressure’. Against this backdrop, several studies internationally have pointed to initiatives such as school gardens, with the capacity to address sustainability issues, enhance participation, engagement and responsibility of young people from different backgrounds and locales. However, questions remain about the extent to which garden spaces may leverage current educational discourses, and the work of schools, to meet the needs of all. This article draws upon interviews with teachers, head teachers and student teachers who had been involved in growing food with children in school garden spaces. Drawing on the concept of ‘learning ecology’, data illustrate the co-existence of multiple views and purposes of engaging children with gardening in school, and the impact of linear discourses of education framing the teachers’ gaze. Findings from the study are twofold: (i) they illustrate that gardens have the potential to interrupt economic discourses around attainment defined as cognitive gains and (ii) that such awareness is paramount to re-direct attention to that which is often marginalised and forgotten in educational policy discourses.
Comorbidity and mortality in systemic sclerosis and matched controls: Impact of interstitial lung disease. A population based cohort study based on health registry data
Authors: Knarborg Malene , Hyldgaard Charlotte , Bendstrup Elisabeth , Davidsen Jesper Rømhild , Løkke Anders , Shaker Saher Burhan , Hilberg Ole
Published: August 2023

Objective

This population-based, matched cohort study evaluates the impact of comorbidities on mortality among systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients with and without interstitial lung disease (ILD).

Method

Patients with a first-time SSc diagnosis between 2002 and 2015 were identified in the Danish National Patient Registry, separated into two cohorts – with ILD (SSc-ILD) and without ILD (non-ILD SSc), and matched 1:4 with controls from the general population on age, sex, residency and marital status. Comorbidity and mortality data were obtained from national registries. The Deyo-Charlson comorbidity score (DCcs) was used for assessment of the burden of comorbidities.

Results

1732 patients with SSc and 6919 controls were included; 258 (14.9%) patients had SSc-ILD. The hazard ratio (HR) for death was 2.8 (95% CI 2.4–3.3) in SSc, and especially increased in SSc-ILD (HR 4.2 (95% CI 3.2–5.4)), males (HR 3.1 95% CI 2.4–4.1) and younger adults (aged 18–40 (HR 6.9, 95% CI 3.4–14.2) and 41–50 (HR 7.7, 95% CI 3.8–15.6)). In non-ILD SSc, mortality increased with increasing DCcs. Cancer was the most frequent cause of death in SSc (24.9% of deaths) and in controls (33.5%), in SSc followed by musculoskeletal and connective tissue diseases (22.7%); the cause of only 0.8% of deaths among controls.

Conclusion

The high prevalence of comorbidities in SSc had extensive impact on mortality. Mortality was increased in males, in young adults and in SSc-ILD, underlining the excess mortality associated with ILD. These findings emphasise the importance of timely diagnosis and optimal management of organ involvement and comorbidities in SSc.