bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Fostering positive customer attitudes and usage intentions for scheduling services via chatbots
Authors: Maar Daniel , Besson Ekaterina , Kefi Hajer
Published: October 2022

Purpose

This article draws on a reasoned action perspective and the two fundamental dimensions (i.e. warmth and competence) of the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) to analyze customers' chatbot-related attitudes and usage intentions in service retailing. The authors investigate how chatbot, customer, and contextual characteristics, along with perceptions of chatbot warmth and competence, shape customers' chatbot-related attitudes. Furthermore, the authors analyze whether the customer generation or the service context moderates the relationship between chatbot-related attitudes and usage intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

The results are based on two studies (N = 807). Study 1 relies on a 2 (chatbot communication style: high vs low social orientation) × 2 (customer generation: generation X [GenX] vs generation Z [GenZ]) × 2 (service context: restaurant vs medical) between-subjects design. Study 2 relies on a similar number of respondents from GenX and GenZ who answered questions on scheduling a service with either the dentist or the favorite restaurant of the respondents.

Findings

GenZ shows more positive attitudes toward chatbots than GenX, due to higher perceptions of warmth and competence. While GenZ has similar attitudes toward chatbots with a communication style that is high or low in social orientation, GenX perceives chatbots with a high social orientation as warmer and has more favorable attitudes toward chatbots. Furthermore, the positive effect of chatbot-related attitudes on usage intentions is stronger for GenX than GenZ. These effects do not significantly differ between the considered contexts.

Originality/value

This research formulates future directions to stimulate debate on factors that service retailers should consider when employing chatbots.
Modelling the intention and adoption of cashless payment methods among the young adults in Malaysia
Authors: Munikrishnan Uma Thevi , Mamun Abdullah Al , Xin Nicole Kok Sue , Chian Ham Siu , Naznen Farzana
Published: October 2022

Purpose

Cashless payment is gradually replacing physical currency in almost every financial transaction across the world. Even though cashless payment methods have been available in Malaysia since a decade ago, their usage has remained relatively low in comparison to other countries. This study aims to analyse the elements that affect the Malaysian youth’s adoption intention and actual use of cashless payment by extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model with two key factors (perceived security [PS] and lifestyle compatibility [LC]).

Design/methodology/approach

Data were gathered online from 364 Malaysian youths and processed using partial least squares structural equation modelling.

Findings

The findings revealed that performance expectancy (PE), LC and PS had a positive and substantial effect on the intention to use cashless payment (ICP). In contrast, effort expectancy (EE) and social influence did not have any considerable influence on ICP. Furthermore, ICP had substantial mediating effects between the adoption of cashless payment (ACP) and PE, LC and PS. In the analysis of the moderating effect of age, gender, experience and voluntariness, only experience had moderating effects on the associations between PE and ICP and between FC and ACP.

Research limitations/implications

This study’s findings will be highly useful for marketers and the management as they plan their promotional and marketing tactics, with a focus on the factors that inspire customers to adopt cashless payments. Besides, architects and designers can benefit from the study results while designing and updating their services by consolidating consumers’ lifestyle standards as well as enhancing security features. Finally, governments may support service providers with security building through legislative measures and policy campaigns to strengthen the trustworthiness and mass adoption of contactless payment.

Originality/value

This study extended the UTAUT model with two new variables, i.e. PS and LC.
Autopraxeography: a method to step back from vulnerability
Authors: Albert Marie-Noelle , Michaud Nancy
Published: October 2022

Purpose

Studies on vulnerability in the workplace, although relevant, are rare because it is difficult to access. This article aims to focus on the benefits of using autopraxeography to study and step back from vulnerability at work.

Design/methodology/approach

Autopraxeography uses researchers' experience to build knowledge.

Findings

Autopraxeography provides a better understanding of vulnerability and the opportunity to step back from the difficulties experienced. Instead of ignoring experiences related to vulnerability, this method makes it possible to transform them into new avenues of knowledge. Moreover, it enables researchers to step back from experiences of vulnerability, thus making them feel more secure.

Originality/value

The main differences from other self-studies stem from the epistemological paradigm in which this method is anchored: pragmatic constructivism. The most important difference is the production of generic knowledge in three recursive steps: writing in a naïve way, developing the epistemic work and building generic knowledge.
Product pricing and green decision-making considering consumers' multiple preferences under chain-to-chain competition
Authors: Wang Shijuan , Liu Linzhong , Wen Jin , Wang Guangwei
Published: October 2022

Purpose

It is necessary to implement green supply chains. But green development needs to be gradual and coexist with ordinary products in the market. This paper aims to study the green and ordinary product pricing and green decision-making under chain-to-chain competition.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper considers consumers' multiple preferences and takes two competitive supply chains with asymmetric channels as the research object. Through the construction of the game models involving different competitive situations, this paper studies the pricing, green decision-making and the supply chains' profits, and discusses the impact of consumer green preference, channel preference, green investment and competition on the decision-making and performance. Finally, this paper further studies the impact of the decision structure on the environmental and economic benefits of supply chains.

Findings

The results show that consumer green preference has an incentive effect on the green supply chain and also provides an opportunity for the regular supply chain to increase revenue. Specifically, consumers' preference for green online channels improves the product greenness, but its impact on the green retailer and regular supply chain depends on the green investment cost. Moreover, competition not only fosters product sustainability, but also improves supply chain performance. This paper also points out that the decentralization of the regular supply chain is conducive to the environmental attributes of the green product, while the environment-friendly structure of the green supply chain is different under different conditions. In addition, the profit of a supply chain under centralized decision is not always higher than that under decentralized decision.

Originality/value

The novelty of this paper is that it investigates the pricing of two heterogeneous alternative products and green decision-making for the green product under the competition between two supply chains with asymmetric channels, in which the green supply chain adopts dual channels and the regular supply chain adopts a single retail channel.
Highly-dense acrylonitrile butadiene styrene specimens fabricated by overheat material extrusion 3D printing
Authors: Tran Thang Q. , Deng Xinying , Canturri Carla , Tham Chu Long , Ng Feng Lin
Published: October 2022

Purpose

This study aims to comprehensively investigate the process-structure-property correlation of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) parts manufactured by the overheat material extrusion (Mex) method. This study considers the relationships between the tensile and impact strength with temperature profiles, mesostructures and fracture behaviors of the ABS-printed parts.

Design/methodology/approach

The overheat printing condition was generated by using the highest possible printing temperature of the Mex printer used in this study together with cooling fan turned off. Temperature profiles of the polymer rasters were measured to characterize the diffusion time of the deposited rasters. Thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry and melt flow index were performed to study the thermal properties of the ABS feedstock. The mesostructures of the printed ABS samples were characterized by using an optical microscope, while their fracture surface was investigated using a field emission scanning electron microscope. The authors performed the tensile and impact tests following ASTM D3039 and D256-10A, respectively.

Findings

The use of the overheat Mex printing could offer better raster diffusion with reduced cooling rate and prolonged diffusion time. Consequently, the overheat printed ABS parts possessed a porosity as low as 1.35% with an increase in the weld length formed between the adjacent rasters of up to 62.5%. More importantly, the overheat printed ABS parts exhibited an increase of up to 70%, 84% and 30% in tensile strain at break, tensile toughness and impact strength, respectively, compared to their normal printed counterparts.

Originality/value

This study provides a facile but effective approach to fabricate highly dense and strong polymeric parts printed by Mex method for end-use applications.
Uncoding library chatbots: deploying a new virtual reference tool at the San Jose State University library
Authors: Rodriguez Sharesly , Mune Christina
Published: October 2022

Purpose

This paper aims to detail how a university library developed an AI chatbot to meet a growing need for virtual reference services. This chatbot was developed using Google's free Dialogflow bot platform and embedded in the library's website. With the onset of COVID-19 and a greater reliance on virtual services, chatbots have become of increasing interest to libraries as a tool to provide enhanced services during non-staffed hours and to perform basic information triage when virtual chat transactions reach an overwhelming number of available staff.

Design/methodology/approach

Using in-depth research into current practices and readily available tools, a small non-technical team at a university library designed and piloted an AI chatbot that employs natural language processing and AI training. This article describes the chatbot development and implementation process. Results of chatbot interactions after one academic year of usage are also reviewed.

Findings

This study reveals that a university library chatbot may be developed and deployed with minimal coding knowledge using existing tools. Chatbot content can be populated through current library information sources and trained to address typical information inquiries. However, additional development and testing is needed to increase user engagement.

Originality/value

This study indicates that libraries can develop and deploy chatbots to meet user information inquiries without onerous technical training or IT resources. It describes best practices for chatbots and the steps necessary to deploy a chatbot on a library website.
Selecting new products by the revised ideal ratio: a Kano model approach
Authors: Shahin Arash , Nourmohammadi Ali
Published: October 2022

Purpose

This paper aims to revise the ideal ratio for selecting new products based on their qualitative analysis of desired/undesired functions.

Design/methodology/approach

The Kano model has been integrated with the ideal ratio to select and prioritize the design of new products. First, the functional analysis method in value engineering was used to determine the attributes and functions of each product design. Then, the Kano model was used to determine the type of each product attribute and to use the desirable functions of attractive attributes, one-dimensional, must-be and undesirable functions of reverse attributes in the ideal ratio to select and prioritize the design of the product. To examine the application of the proposed approach, a gas instruments manufacturing company was investigated, and five new products were selected for the study.

Findings

Based on the results, the product design of industrial regulator GS 77/22 was selected as the superior product and the digital diaphragm gas meter, ultrasonic gas meter, axial regulator and turbine gas meter had the second to fifth priority, respectively.

Practical implications

The proposed method can help product designers determine product designs suitable for customers' expectations and provide a desirable prioritization of the product design in terms of their ideal ratio according to the customers.

Originality/value

The proposed approach provides a more desirable prioritization compared with other prioritization methods based on customers' viewpoints. In the proposed method, the Kano model results in respecting customers, understanding community needs, respecting consumers' rights and increasing the organization's social responsibility, which will significantly increase the chance of product success in the market.
Pulse disturbances in age‐structured populations: Life history predicts initial impact and recovery time
Authors: White J. Wilson , Barceló Caren , Hastings Alan , Botsford Louis W.
Published: October 2022

Understanding population responses to discrete ‘pulsed’ environmental disturbances is essential to conservation and adaptive management. Populations of concern can be driven to low levels by disturbance, and understanding interspecific differences in recovery trajectories is necessary for evaluating management options.

We analysed single‐species models to investigate the demographic and management factors determining the two components of population ‘resilience’: the magnitude of initial impact on population abundance, and duration of the recovery time.

We simulated age‐structured populations with density‐dependent recruitment, subjected to a pulse disturbance consisting of a period of increased mortality of either the juvenile age class or all age classes, and calculated both impact and return time. For illustration, we used demographic parameters from a suite of 16 fish species.

We formulated the model as a renewal equation, allowing us to describe disturbance impacts mathematically as a convolution. We also included nonlinear dynamics, representing populations that recover to a steady state; this is more realistic (in most cases) than prior analyses of resilience in linear models without density‐dependence.

When the disturbance affected only one or a few young age‐classes, longevity was the major life‐history determinant of impact and recovery time. Shorter‐lived species endured greater impacts when disturbed because each age class is a greater proportion of the population. However, shorter‐lived species also had faster recovery times, for the same reason. When disturbance affected adult age‐classes, the impact was more immediate and no longer affected by species' longevity, though the effect of longevity on recovery time remained.

These results improve our understanding of interspecific differences in resilience and increase our ability to make predictions for adaptive management. Additionally, formulating the problem as a renewal equation and using mathematical convolutions allows us to quantify how disturbances with different time courses (not just an immediate, constant level of disturbance but gradually increasing or decreasing levels of disturbance) would have different effects on population resilience: delayed responses for species in which biomass is concentrated in older age classes, and for disturbances that become progressively more severe.
Brexit or Brand it? The Effects of Attitude Towards Brexit and Reshored Brands on Consumer Purchase Intention
Authors: L. Dey Bidit , Alwi Sharifah Faridah Syed , Babu Mujahid Mohiuddin , Roy Sanjit K. , Muhammad Syed Sardar
Published: October 2022

Brexit has caused a seismic shift in the British socio‐economic and political landscapes, creating widespread uncertainties, while simultaneously giving hope and national pride to millions. The decision by a number of organizations to reshore their production has opened a new era for business management that challenges the axiomatic assumption of the benefits of offshored production. Although reshoring predates Brexit, the link between the two in the British context is not just serendipitous and they are argued to have reasonable interlinkages. However, there is inadequate empirical evidence to suggest that British consumers’ attitude towards Brexit has any effect on their intention to purchase reshored brands. Through a mixed‐methods study comprising a survey of 415 respondents and 20 in‐depth interviews, this paper addresses this research gap. Findings suggest that corporate social responsibility (CSR) and consumer reshoring sentiment (CRS) have positive effects on consumers’ attitude towards reshored brands. Despite CRS's positive influence on attitude towards Brexit, the latter does not have any significant effects on the intention to purchase a reshored brand, which is positively influenced by the attitude towards the same brand. As such, companies should enhance the image of their brands and CSR in order to harness the benefits of reshoring.
“If it don't kill you, it'll take away your life”: Survival strategies and isolation in a long‐running gun conflict
Authors: Wooten Tom
Published: October 2022

Gun violence in the United States often spurs long‐running conflicts, but little is known about how individuals involved in these conflicts cope with the lingering threat of being shot. Drawing on an in‐depth ethnographic case study of one young man's long‐running gun conflict in New Orleans, as well as on interviews and fieldwork with other young men in his social network who dealt with similar conflicts, this study examines how individuals contend with direct, ongoing threats of violence targeted specifically at them. It finds that these threats can severely disrupt people's lives. When targeted individuals anticipate that their opponents will seek them out through known associations and whereabouts, people and places that were previously sources of security become newly imbued with apparent danger. Such insidious threats force targeted individuals to cut off formerly vital relationships and routines. These isolationist strategies help keep targeted individuals safe, but in the process they snuff out opportunity, stifle otherwise healthy relationships, and give rise to protracted stalemates. The findings show how the lived experience of a long‐running gun conflict can be characterized primarily by caution and defensiveness, not by going on the attack. They also reveal previously hidden social consequences of these defensive strategies.
New insights into smoking and urinary tract infections during pregnancy using pregnancy‐pair design: A population‐based register study
Authors: Wallin Hanna P. , Gissler Mika , Korhonen Päivi E. , Ekblad Mikael O.
Published: October 2022

Introduction

Pregnancy itself predisposes to urinary tract infections (UTI). There appears to be a higher prevalence of infections and genitourinary diseases among pregnant smokers than among non‐smokers. The present study is a retrospective observational register study aiming to investigate whether maternal smoking is associated with the prevalence of UTIs during pregnancy by utilizing a pregnancy‐pair analysis.

Material and Methods

Information about pregnancies and maternal smoking was obtained from the Finnish Medical Birth Register. The study sample consisted of all singleton pregnancies (n = 723 433) of women giving birth between January 2006 and December 2018 in Finland. Information on maternal smoking was collected in three categories: (1) non‐smoking; (2) quit smoking during the first trimester; and (3) continued smoking throughout the pregnancy. Information about maternal UTI diagnoses during pregnancy was received from the Hospital Discharge Register and the Medical Birth Register. UTIs were categorized as lower and upper UTIs according to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD)–10 diagnosis codes. Risks were calculated as odds ratios (OR) by logistic regression with 95% confidence intervals (CI) further adjusted for maternal characteristics (aOR). Finally, pregnancy‐pair analyses were performed: mothers who had changed smoking status (no smoking/any smoking) between consecutive pregnancies (n = 27 246 pregnancy‐pairs) were analyzed as one cluster and compared with non‐smokers.

Results

Smokers had UTIs more often compared with the non‐smokers. The association was even stronger among those who continued to smoke (aOR 1.60, 95% CI 1.51–1.70) than among those who smoked only during the first trimester (aOR 1.27, 95% CI 1.18–1.37) compared with non‐smokers. In pregnancy‐pair analysis, smoking was associated with upper UTIs during pregnancy (OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.05–2.12) compared with non‐smokers, but after the adjustments this association was attenuated (aOR 1.27, 95% CI 0.88–1.82). No association in lower UTIs was observed in the pregnancy‐pair design.

Conclusions

Maternal smoking was associated with a higher prevalence of UTIs during pregnancy in the standard comparison. The observed association was fully attenuated in the pregnancy‐pair analysis, in which smoking was dichotomized. This study suggests that the association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and adverse maternal health effects might be more complex than previously thought.
Lung ultrasound systematic review shows its prognostic and diagnostic role in acute viral bronchiolitis
Authors: Kogias Christos , Prountzos Spyridon , Alexopoulou Efthymia , Douros Konstantinos
Published: October 2022

Aim

Lung ultrasound (LUS) has not been included in the current guidelines for the diagnosis of bronchiolitis so far, even though data concerning its effectiveness have been published.

Methods

A systematic literature review was carried out to determine the role of LUS scores in the diagnosis and prognosis of patients aged 0–2 years with bronchiolitis, using MEDLINE, Scopus and ScienceDirect databases from their inception to December 2021.

Results

A total of 18 studies matching our eligibility criteria were analysed for the purposes of this review and 1249 patients with bronchiolitis were included. The sonographic and radiological findings were comparable and chest radiography was found to have a higher sensitivity in ruling out severe complications such as concomitant pneumonia. The LUS scores were correlated to the clinical course of bronchiolitis and it was able to predict the need of admission in paediatric intensive care unit, the duration of hospitalisation and the need for respiratory support.

Conclusion

This review suggests that LUS could have both a diagnostic and a prognostic role in bronchiolitis during first evaluation in the emergency department and hospitalisation. Physicians could adjust management according to sonographic findings as a useful adjunct to the clinical ones.
Supervisors' achievement goal orientations and employees' mindfulness: Direct relationships and down‐stream behavioral consequences
Authors: Mehmood Qaiser , Hamstra Melvyn R. W. , Guzman Felipe A.
Published: October 2022

This study (among 256 employees and 97 immediate supervisors) examines whether supervisors' learning goal orientation and performance goal orientation are related to employees' mindfulness and whether, in turn, mindfulness is related to employees' creativity and organisational citizenship behavior (OCB). Whereas learning goals focus on non‐judgmental learning from mistakes, performance goals emphasise impressing others and obtaining positive evaluations. Accordingly, reasoning from the perspective of socio‐cognitive theory, we proposed and found that supervisors' learning goal orientation positively relates to employee mindfulness whereas supervisors' performance goal orientation negatively relates to employee mindfulness. Given the broad cognitive and social attentional focus entailed in mindfulness, we further proposed and found that mindfulness is positively related to employees' creativity and OCB and that mindfulness mediates the relations between supervisors' goal orientations and these performance outcomes. We discuss the implications of our findings in light of (a) understanding and managing organisational factors that relate to mindfulness and (b) the implications of achievement goal orientations in leadership processes.
Value in maternal care: Using the Learning Health System to facilitate action
Authors: Callander Emily J. , Teede Helena , Enticott Joanne
Published: October 2022

There is an increasing need to deliver high‐value health care. Here, we discuss how value should be measured and implemented in maternity care through a Learning Health System. High‐value maternity care will produce the highest level of benefit for women at a given cost. As pregnancy is not an illness state, and there is no cure or remission to be achieved, we believe that patient‐reported outcomes should be an integral component of benefit quantification when measuring value. Furthermore, as care impacts more than just health outcomes—particularly in maternity care—there is also a need to consider patient‐reported experiences as a part of defining the level of benefit. However, to move beyond traditional narrow and passive measurement of value, we need to partner with stakeholders to identify priorities for change, identify evidence for how to achieve this change, integrate measurement activities, and promote effective implementation, in a continuous, learning cycle—a Learning Health System. A robust Framework for implementing a Learning Health System has been developed, which could be applied in maternity care.
Team identification relates to lower burnout—Emotional and instrumental support as two different social cure mechanisms
Authors: Frenzel Svenja B. , Junker Nina M. , Häusser Jan A. , Erkens Valerie A. , van Dick Rolf
Published: October 2022

Team identification is associated with less exhaustion and disengagement through more social support and higher collective self‐efficacy. However, previous studies did not distinguish between emotional and instrumental support, even though both forms of support may relate differently to collective self‐efficacy. By distinguishing between both support forms, we expected an indirect effect―the ‘supportive structure’ mechanism―of team identification on burnout mediated via emotional support. For a second mechanism―the ‘supportive action’ mechanism―we expected an indirect effect serially mediated by instrumental support and collective self‐efficacy. We tested our hypotheses among NT1 = 567 employees in a four‐wave study with 3‐month time lags between measurement points. Partially in line with our expectations, emotional support (T2) mediated the relation between team identification (T1) and disengagement (T4), but not emotional exhaustion (T4). Moreover, as expected, the results showed an indirect association between team identification (T1) and emotional exhaustion and disengagement (T4) via instrumental support (T2) and collective self‐efficacy (T3). Accordingly, employees benefit from both support forms but through different mechanisms. We discuss our findings and implications for future research.
Prognostic value of contralateral suppression on kidney function after surgery in patients with primary aldosteronism
Authors: Voss Nathalie , Mørup Sara , Clausen Caroline , Feltoft Claus larsen , Jepsen Jan Viberg , Hornum Mads , Andreassen Mikkel , Krogh Jesper
Published: October 2022

Background and objective: Adrenalectomy for primary aldosteronism (PA) has been associated with decreased kidney function after surgery. It has been proposed that elimination of excess aldosterone unmasks an underlying failure of the kidney function. Contralateral suppression (CLS) is considered a marker of aldosterone excess and disease severity, and the purpose of this study was to assess the hypothesis that CLS would predict change in kidney function after adrenalectomy in patients with PA. Design and patients: Patients with PA referred for adrenal venous sampling (AVS) between May 2011 and August 2021 and who were subsequently offered surgical or medical treatment were eligible for the current study. Results: A total of 138 patients were included and after AVS 85/138 (61.6%) underwent adrenalectomy while 53/138 (38.4%) were treated with MR‐antagonists. In surgically treated patients the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was reduced by 11.5 (SD: 18.5) compared to a reduction of 5.9 (SD: 11.5) in medically treated patients (p = .04). Among surgically treated patients, 59/85 (69.4%) were classified as having CLS. After adrenalectomy, patients with CLS had a mean reduction in eGFR of 17.5 (SD: 17.6) compared to an increase of 1.8 (SD: 12.8) in patients without CLS (p < .001). The association between CLS and change in kidney function remained unchanged in multivariate analysis. Post‐surgery, 16/59 (27.1%) patients with CLS developed hyperkalemia compared to 2/26 (7.7%) in patients without CLS (p = .04).Conclusion: This retrospective study found that CLS was a strong and independent predictor of a marked reduction of eGFR and an increased risk of hyperkalemia after adrenalectomy in patients with PA.
Eight‐year trends in obesity‐related complications and health care cost progression in a US population with obesity: A retrospective cohort study
Authors: Evans Marc , Anupindi Vamshi Ruthwik , DeKoven Mitch , de Laguiche Elisabeth , Divino Victoria , Faurby Mads D. , Haase Christiane Lundegaard , Sommer Matthiessen Kasper , Pearson‐Stuttard Jonathan
Published: October 2022

Aims

Obesity‐related complications (ORCs) impose a substantial health burden on affected individuals, and economic costs to health care systems. We examined ORCs and the progression of direct health care costs over 8 years, stratified by obesity class.

Materials and Methods

Adults with obesity were identified in linked US medical records and administrative claims databases. The index date was the first body mass index measurement of 30 to <70 kg/m2 between 1 January 2007 and 31 March 2012; a ≥8‐year continuous enrolment post‐index was required for inclusion. Diagnosis codes for five specific ORCs and total health care costs were recorded in each year of follow‐up. Costs adjusted for clinical and demographic factors were also estimated.

Results

Of 28 583 eligible individuals, 17 892 had class I obesity, 6550 had class II obesity and 4141 had class III obesity. From baseline to year 8, the presence of type 2 diabetes and knee osteoarthritis doubled in all obesity classes, with even larger increases for chronic kidney disease and heart failure. Observed and adjusted total health care costs generally increased from the baseline year to year 8. The difference in costs between obesity classes increased over time: at year 1, individuals with class III obesity had 26.8% higher costs than those in class I, but at year 8, this difference was 40.7%. Outpatient costs constituted half of the total observed costs across obesity classes.

Conclusions

ORC rates and health care costs increase over time, and are greater in higher obesity classes. This could be mitigated by approaches that limit obesity progression.
Length–biomass equations to allow rapid assessment of semi‐aquatic bug biomass in tropical streams
Authors: Harianja Martina F. , Luke Sarah H. , Barclay Holly , Chey Vun K. , Aldridge David C. , Foster William A. , Turner Edgar C.
Published: October 2022

Length–biomass equations are relatively easy and cost‐effective for deriving insect biomass. However, the exact relationship can vary between taxa and geographical regions. Semi‐aquatic bugs are abundant and are indicators of freshwater quality, but there are no studies investigating the effect of habitat disturbance on their biomass, although it is useful in assessing ecological processes. We identified the best‐fit length–biomass models to predict the biomass of semi‐aquatic bugs (Hemiptera, Gerromorpha) collected from streams in Sabah, Malaysia. We used 259 juvenile and adult semi‐aquatic bugs to compare a range of plausible length–biomass functions, and to assess whether relationships differed across the following families and body forms: (1) Cylindrostethinae, Gerrinae, and Ptilomerinae, which are subfamilies within Gerridae consisting of small‐to‐large bugs that have long and slender bodies, (2) Halobatinae, a subfamily within Gerridae, consisting of small‐to‐medium bugs with wide heads and thoraxes as well as short abdomens, and (3) Veliidae, which are small bugs with stout bodies. Estimation used five fitting functions – linear regression, polynomial regression order 2, 3, and 4, and power regression – on the following groupings: three body forms combined; each body form with life stages (juvenile and adult) combined; and each body form with life stages separated. Power regressions were the best fit in predicting the biomass of semi‐aquatic bugs across life stages and body forms, and the predictive power of models was higher when the biomass of different body forms was calculated separately (specifically for Halobatinae and Veliidae). Splitting by life stages did not always result in additional improvement. The equations from this study expand the scope of possible future ecological research on semi‐aquatic bugs, particularly in Southeast Asia, by allowing more studies to consider biomass‐related questions.
Towards the fully automated monitoring of ecological communities
Authors: Besson Marc , Alison Jamie , Bjerge Kim , Gorochowski Thomas E. , Høye Toke T. , Jucker Tommaso , Mann Hjalte M. R. , Clements Christopher F.
Published: October 2022

High‐resolution monitoring is fundamental to understand ecosystems dynamics in an era of global change and biodiversity declines. While real‐time and automated monitoring of abiotic components has been possible for some time, monitoring biotic components—for example, individual behaviours and traits, and species abundance and distribution—is far more challenging. Recent technological advancements offer potential solutions to achieve this through: (i) increasingly affordable high‐throughput recording hardware, which can collect rich multidimensional data, and (ii) increasingly accessible artificial intelligence approaches, which can extract ecological knowledge from large datasets. However, automating the monitoring of facets of ecological communities via such technologies has primarily been achieved at low spatiotemporal resolutions within limited steps of the monitoring workflow. Here, we review existing technologies for data recording and processing that enable automated monitoring of ecological communities. We then present novel frameworks that combine such technologies, forming fully automated pipelines to detect, track, classify and count multiple species, and record behavioural and morphological traits, at resolutions which have previously been impossible to achieve. Based on these rapidly developing technologies, we illustrate a solution to one of the greatest challenges in ecology: the ability to rapidly generate high‐resolution, multidimensional and standardised data across complex ecologies.
Cultivating more inclusive classrooms and practice‐ready graduates with voice and video assignments
Authors: Abrams Jamie R.
Published: October 2022

Voice and video learning tools can efficiently and effectively strengthen the traditional law school classroom to meet the evolving needs of our students and the profession. These tools respond to transitions in legal education as faculty cultivate more inclusive classrooms, adapt to changing bar exam methodologies, and add professional identity formation to their teaching objectives. These reforms also weigh on institutions at a moment of jolting and deepening wellness concerns affecting students, staff, and faculty alike, necessitating scalable tools that build community. Voice and video learning tools, such as VoiceThread and Flipgrid, offer sustainable supplements to traditional courses and materials that are well‐suited for the family law classroom. These tools engage students in advocacy, client counseling, and policy debates that are more inclusive, interactive, and self‐efficacious than Socratic dialogue and traditional casebook practice problems alone. These tools empower students to argue motions, deliver legislative testimony, advise clients, explain rules, and interpret statutes. Students apply rules in practice‐based settings while cultivating their voices as lawyers and engaging with peer colleagues collaboratively. The professor pivots critically and symbolically from a “sage on the stage” to a “guide on the side.” These more intentional and equitable approaches to classroom management better meet the needs of modern students and align with intersecting curricular reform goals. Voice and video assignments thus offer both symbolic and substantive pedagogical improvements, dynamically promoting professional identity formation, practice readiness, inclusion, and wellness.
Reframing family law: Using narratively‐informed lawyering to build an inclusive curriculum
Authors: Chase Victoria , Freedman Ann E.
Published: October 2022

This article describes a multi‐layered family law clinic providing advice, counsel, and drafting assistance to returning citizens with child support and related issues. As here, giving appropriate weight in the family law curriculum to the experiences of families marginalized by caste, race, and other exclusionary dynamics requires moving beyond casebook‐dependent teaching and working across disciplines and teaching skill sets otherwise confined to siloed groupings within legal education. The article explains how innovative pedagogy, including sustained attention to narrative and relationship positions students to deeply understand and challenge the many unjust aspects of the child support system, as well as to gain confidence in their lawyering skills. Techniques discussed include a process drama using an actor‐teacher in the role of client; social location work; work drafting pleadings for returning citizen clients; and the use of strength‐based resilience dialogues. Adding to the growing chorus of challenges to the blame‐laden notions that expose Black and Brown families, especially those who are poor, to harsh sanctions, the article illustrates how increased attention to work with narratives and relationships can energize needed change in legal education as well as in the family law and criminal legal systems.
Dynamic interdisciplinary exercise for juvenile and family law students
Authors: Johnston‐Walsh Lucy
Published: October 2022

As adult learners, law students can benefit in many ways from dynamic experiential exercises. This article will describe an innovative, interdisciplinary teaching and learning activity for law students in juvenile and family law subject areas. The exercise incorporates professionals in related fields to join in the exercise, with benefits to be shared by all involved. Dynamic interdisciplinary exchanges not only provide benefits for students, but also faculty and clients. This activity transcends the traditional simulation through the integration of non‐law professionals. Faculty interested in replicating this exercise can creatively adjust the exercise based on their unique issues, areas, and/or availability of community partners.
Scale‐dependence of fish habitat associations in a North American river system
Authors: Keller David H.
Published: October 2022

Determining the appropriate measurement scale to assess habitat variables is critical for ecologists assessing biological or ecological conditions. Depth, velocity, substrate, woody debris and other fish cover variables occur on both reach and microhabitat scales, and fish habitat associations with these variables may be scale‐dependent. The aim of this work was to better understand the importance of scale for fish–habitat associations with these variables in a framework consistent with environmental filtering and to test the hypothesis that habitat variable importance is scale‐dependent.

I used prepositioned areal electrofishing in wadeable streams of the Delaware River basin to evaluate the associations of fish with the same variables summarised on different reach and microhabitat scales. The importance of scale for fish–habitat associations was assessed using two approaches that approximate an environmental filtering framework: variance partitioning with (1) ordination and (2) generalised linear mixed models.

Variables on both the reach and microhabitat scales explained a significant fraction of the total variation in fish community composition (p < 0.05). Variation decomposition of reach‐ and microhabitat‐scale effects revealed 20.2% and 2.0% of all variation were due uniquely to reach and microhabitat scales, respectively. Measures of coarseness, embeddedness, amount of riffle and areal coverage of five fish cover variables were significant explanatory variables of community composition at the reach scale only (p < 0.05). Velocity and mesohabitat (amount or presence of riffle) were the only two habitat features that were significant explanatory variables of fish community composition at both the reach and microhabitat scales (p < 0.05). Individual models of species occurrence revealed similar patterns as seen with analyses of community composition.

For many fishes, habitat features quantified at the reach scale were more explanatory than at the microhabitat scale. Longnose dace (Rhinichthys cataractae) were more dependent upon microhabitat variables than reach‐scale variables, relative to other fishes. Mean velocity at the reach scale was the most important explanatory variable for explaining fish community composition and indicated support for the concept of environmental filtering at the reach and microhabitat scales.

Few studies of fish occurrence have incorporated a study design and analytical framework that approximates the hierarchical nature of habitat. This study identifies important scales and predictors, demonstrates the importance of a multiscale approach, and provides support for the environmental filtering concept at the reach and microhabitat scales. These findings will allow ecologists to better account for scale‐dependent habitat associations and justify the use of fish habitat associations on reach and microhabitat scales for assessing biotic integrity, restoration and conservation of fishes.
The burden of chronic diseases and patients' preference for healthcare services among adult patients suffering from chronic diseases in Bangladesh
Authors: Mahumud Rashidul A. , Sultana Marufa , Kundu Satyajit , Rahman Md. A. , Mistry Sabuj K. , Kamara Joseph K. , Kamal Mostafa , Ali Mohammad A. , Hossain Md. G. , Brooks Cristy , Khan Asaduzzaman , Alam Khorshed , Renzaho Andre M. N.
Published: October 2022

Background

Low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs) have a disproportionately high burden of chronic diseases, with inequalities in health care access and quality services. This study aimed to assess patients' preferences for healthcare services for chronic disease management among adult patients in Bangladesh.

Methods

The present analysis was conducted among 10,385 patients suffering from chronic diseases, drawn from the latest Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2016–2017. We used the multinomial logistic regression to investigate the association of chronic comorbid conditions and healthcare service‐related factors with patients' preferences for healthcare services.

Results

The top four dimensions of patient preference for healthcare services in order of magnitude were quality of treatment (30.3%), short distance to health facility (27.6%), affordability of health care (21.7%) and availability of doctors (11.0%). Patients with heart disease had a 29% significantly lower preference for healthcare affordability than the quality of healthcare services (relative risk ratio [RRR] = 0.71; 0.56–0.90). Patients who received healthcare services from pharmacies or dispensaries were more likely to prefer a short distance to a health facility (RRR = 6.99; 4.80–9.86) or affordability of healthcare services (RRR = 3.13; 2.25–4.36). Patients with comorbid conditions were more likely to prefer healthcare affordability (RRR = 1.39; 1.15–1.68). In addition, patients who received health care from a public facility had 2.93 times higher preference for the availability of medical doctors (RRR = 2.93; 1.70–5.04) than the quality of treatment in the health facility, when compared with private service providers.

Conclusions

Patient preferences for healthcare services in chronic disease management were significantly associated with the type of disease and its magnitude and characteristics of healthcare providers. Therefore, to enhance service provision and equitable distribution and uptake of health services, policymakers and public health practitioners should consider patient preferences in designing national strategic frameworks for chronic disease management.

Patient or Public Contribution

Our research team includes four researchers (co‐authors) with chronic diseases who have experience of living or working with people suffering from chronic conditions or diseases.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence information specialist development pathway: Developing the skills, knowledge and confidence to quality assure search strategies
Authors: Levay Paul , Walsh Nicola , Foster Louise
Published: October 2022

Quality assurance (QA) is an important process in ensuring that systematic reviews and other evidence syntheses are supported by a high‐quality search. This paper describes how the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in the UK established a development pathway to ensure its information specialists had the skills, knowledge and confidence to undertake search QA. The key component of the pathway is that it blends technical knowledge with interpersonal skills. The pathway develops technical skills in the early steps before using peer support activities to build confidence while undertaking a range of searches. QA is effective when the search lead communicates the contextual information that has influenced search development. QA is treated as a collaboration to get the right search for the review. The key requirements for search QA, alongside technical knowledge, are communication, collaboration and negotiation skills.