bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Gender differences in social environmental changes associated with smoking: a cross-sectional study from Chinese internal migrants
Authors: Ji Ying , Zhang Yan , Yun Qingping , Chang Chun
Published: November 2022

Objectives

To identify clues for women’s tobacco control, this study analyses the gender differences in social environmental changes associated with smoking and the interaction between the environment and individuals’ social integration.

Design, setting and participants

A cross-sectional design and secondary analysis were used among Chinese internal migrants. Data were from the 2012 Migrant Dynamics Monitoring Survey in China with participants aged 15–59 years old (75 416 women and 83 140 men) who resided in cities for more than 1 month.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

Social environmental changes were measured by differences in smoking prevalence and women’s empowerment between the migrant-receiving province (MRP) and migrant-sending province (MSP). Social participation and duration of stay (DOS) were adopted as indicators of social integration. Stratified analysis and binary logistic regression models were used to determine the dependent variable (smoking status) and environmental changes after controlling for age, education, income and happiness.

Results

Differences in the smoking prevalence environment (lower in MRP, OR 0.70, 95% CI 0.60 to 0.83; higher rate in MRP, OR 1.79, 95% CI 1.35 to 2.37) and women’s empowerment (lower rate in MRP, OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.68 to 0.97; higher rate in MRP, OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.33) between MRP and MSP were positively correlated with women’s smoking. In men, however, migrating to an area with lower smoking prevalence could not reduce smoking risk, whereas moving to an area with higher women’s empowerment could. A long DOS was an independent risk factor for smoking in women (ranged from 1.20 to 2.00 in various environmental changes scenarios) but a protective factor for men. An interaction between environmental changes and social integration could not be verified.

Conclusions

Tobacco control strategies should consider gender differences, especially women who are experiencing social environmental changes.
Cross-sectional online survey of clinicians’ knowledge, attitudes and challenges to screening and counselling adolescents and young adults for substance use
Authors: Gorukanti Anu L , Kimminau Kim S , Tindle Hilary A , Klein Jonathan D , Gorzkowski Julie , Kaseeska Kristen , Ali Raabiah , Singh Lavisha , David Sean P , Halpern-Felsher Bonnie
Published: November 2022

Objective

To examine adolescent healthcare clinicians’ self-reported screening practices as well as their knowledge, attitudes, comfort level and challenges with screening and counselling adolescents and young adults (AYA) for cigarette, e-cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, hookah and blunt use.

Design

A 2016 cross-sectional survey.

Setting

Academic departments and community-based internal medicine, family medicine and paediatrics practices.

Participants

Adolescent healthcare clinicians (N=771) from 12 US medical schools and respondents to national surveys. Of the participants, 36% indicated male, 64% female, mean age was 44 years (SD=12.3); 12.3% of participants identified as Asian, 73.7% as white, 4.8% as black, 4.2% as Hispanic and 3.8% as other.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

Survey items queried clinicians about knowledge, attitudes, comfort level, self-efficacy and challenges with screening and counselling AYA patients about marijuana, blunts, cigarettes, e-cigarettes, hookah and alcohol.

Results

Participants were asked what percentage of their 10–17 years old patients they screened for substance use. The median number of physicians reported screening 100% of their patients for cigarette (1st, 3rd quartiles; 80, 100) and alcohol use (75, 100) and 99.5% for marijuana use (50,100); for e-cigarettes, participants reported screening half of their patients and 0.0% (0, 50), (0, 75)) reported screening for hookah and blunts, respectively. On average (median), clinicians estimated that 15.0% of all 10–17 years old patients smoked cigarettes, 10.0% used e-cigarettes, 20.0% used marijuana, 25.0% drank alcohol and 5.0% used hookah or blunts, respectively; yet they estimated lower than national rates of use of each product for their own patients. Clinicians reported greater comfort discussing cigarettes and alcohol with patients and less comfort discussing e-cigarettes, hookah, marijuana and blunts.

Conclusions

This study identified low rates of screening and counselling AYA patients for use of e-cigarettes, hookahs and blunts by adolescent healthcare clinicians and points to potential missed opportunities to improve prevention efforts.
Resource use, availability and cost in the provision of critical care in Tanzania: a systematic review
Authors: Kazibwe Joseph , Shah Hiral A , Kuwawenaruwa August , Schell Carl Otto , Khalid Karima , Tran Phuong Bich , Ghosh Srobana , Baker Tim , Guinness Lorna
Published: November 2022

Objectives

Critical care is essential in saving lives of critically ill patients, however, provision of critical care across lower resource settings can be costly, fragmented and heterogenous. Despite the urgent need to scale up the provision of critical care, little is known about its availability and cost. Here, we aim to systematically review and identify reported resource use, availability and costs for the provision of critical care and the nature of critical care provision in Tanzania.

Design

This is a systematic review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.

Data sources

Medline, Embase and Global Health databases were searched covering the period 2010 to 17 November 2020.

Eligibility criteria

We included studies that reported on forms of critical care offered, critical care services offered and/or costs and resources used in the provision of care in Tanzania published from 2010.

Data extraction and synthesis

Quality assessment of the articles and data extraction was done by two independent researchers. The Reference Case for Estimating the Costs of Global Health Services and Interventions was used to assess quality of included studies. A narrative synthesis of extracted data was conducted. Costs were adjusted and reported in 2019 US$ and TZS using the World Bank GDP deflators.

Results

A total 31 studies were found to fulfil the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Critical care identified in Tanzania was categorised into: intensive care unit (ICU) delivered critical care and non-ICU critical care. The availability of ICU delivered critical care was limited to urban settings whereas non-ICU critical care was found in rural and urban settings. Paediatric critical care equipment was more scarce than equipment for adults. 15 studies reported on the costs of services related to critical care yet no study reported an average or unit cost of critical care. Costs of medication, equipment (eg, oxygen, personal protective equipment), services and human resources were identified as inputs to specific critical care services in Tanzania.

Conclusion

There is limited evidence on the resource use, availability and costs of critical care in Tanzania. There is a strong need for further empirical research on critical care resources availability, utilisation and costs across specialties and hospitals of different level in low/middle-income countries like Tanzania to inform planning, priority setting and budgeting for critical care services.

PROSPERO registration number

CRD42020221923.
The kindness COVID-19 toolkit: a mixed-methods evaluation of a programme designed by doctors in training for doctors in training
Authors: Ward Madeleine C , Crinall Karen , McDonald Rebecca , Crinall William , Aridas James , Leung Cheryl , Quittner Danielle , Hodges Ryan J , Rolnik Daniel L
Published: November 2022

Objectives

The impact of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-specific professional development programme on the well-being of obstetrics and gynaecology (O&G) doctors in training (DiT) working during the pandemic.

Design

A mixed-method evaluation of a single group pre–post test design study.

Setting

Melbourne, Australia between September 2020 and April 2021.

Participants

55 O&G DiT working across four healthcare sites of a major tertiary hospital in Victoria, Australia, were included in the programme.

Interventions

The delivery of a codesigned peer-to-peer programme, which identified and addressed the well-being goals of O&G DiT. Seven interactive workshops were run alongside the implementation of a number of participant-led wellness initiatives.

Main outcome measures

Repeated-measures analysis of WHO Well-being Index (WHO-5) and Copenhagen Burnout Innovatory (CBI) scores across three time points during the programme. Multilevel generalised linear mixed-effects models with random intercept were fit to the data, both in the entire population (intention-to-treat) and restricted to those who attended the workshop (‘per-protocol’ analysis). Participatory experiences and programme learning were captured using the Most Significant Change (MSC) technique, which included inductive thematic analysis.

Results

We demonstrated an overall 31.9% improvement in well-being scores (p=0.006). The MSC evaluation captured a shift in workplace culture as a result of the programme, with improvement across the domains of connection, caring, communication, confidence and cooperation.

Conclusions

We have successfully used a mixed-method approach to contextualise a productive programme to improve the well-being of COVID-19 front-line healthcare workers.
How client criminalisation under end-demand sex work laws shapes the occupational health and safety of sex workers in Metro Vancouver, Canada: a qualitative study
Authors: McDermid Jennifer , Murphy Alka , McBride Bronwyn , Wu Sherry , Goldenberg Shira M , Shannon Kate , Krüsi Andrea
Published: November 2022

Objectives

In 2014, Canada implemented end-demand sex work legislation that criminalises clients and third parties (eg, managers, security personnel, etc) involved in sex work. The focus of this analysis is to explore how the criminalisation of clients shapes the occupational health and safety of sex workers.

Design

As part of a longstanding community-based study (An Evaluation of Sex Workers’ Health Access), this analysis draws on 47 in-depth qualitative interviews with indoor sex workers and third parties. Informed by an intersectional lens and guided by a structural determinants of health framework, this work seeks to characterise the impact of client criminalisation in shaping the occupational health and safety of indoor sex workers.

Setting

Indoor sex work venues (eg, massage parlour, in-call, brothel, etc) operating in Metro Vancouver, Canada.

Participants

47 predominately racialised sex workers and third parties working in indoor environments between 2017 and 2018.

Results

While participants highlighted that the majority of their client interactions were positive, their narratives emphasised how end-demand criminalisation impeded their occupational safety. The criminalisation of clients was linked to reduced ability to negotiate the terms of sexual transactions, including type of service, price and sexual health. Client preference for cash payments to maintain anonymity led to increased risk of robbery and assault due to knowledge of high cash flow in sex work venues and a reluctance to seek police protection. Workers also noted that client fear of being prosecuted or ‘outed’ by police enhanced feelings of shame, which was linked to increased aggression by clients.

Conclusion

Policies and laws that criminalise clients are incompatible with efforts to uphold the occupational health and safety and human rights of sex workers. The decriminalisation of sex work is urgently needed in order to support the well-being and human rights of all those involved in the Canadian sex industry.
Selling one’s future: over-indebtedness and the risk of poor mental health and the role of precarious employment – results from the Scania Public Health Cohort, Sweden
Authors: Östergren Per-Olof , Bodin Theo , Canivet Catarina , Moghaddassi Mahnaz , Vilhelmsson Andreas
Published: November 2022

Objectives

The credit market has expanded rapidly, increasing the risk of over-indebtedness among those who lack secure employment or adequate income, an issue of concern in the COVID-19 aftermath. We investigated the role of over-indebtedness for developing poor mental health, and whether this impact is modified by age, gender, educational level or being in precarious employment.

Methods

This is a cohort study using data from the Swedish Scania Public Health Cohort, based on individuals randomly selected from the general adult population in Scania, southern Sweden, initiated in 1999/2000 (response rate 58%) with follow-ups in 2005 and 2010. Over-indebtedness was assessed by combining information on cash margin and difficulty in paying household bills. Mental health was assessed by General Health Questionnaire-12. Those with poor mental health at baseline were excluded, and the analyses were further restricted to vocationally active individuals with complete data on main variables, resulting in 1256 men and 1539 women.

Results

Over-indebtedness was more common among women, among persons with a low educational level, born abroad and with a precarious employment at baseline. The age-adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR) for poor mental health in 2010 among individuals exposed to over-indebtedness in 1999/2000 or 2005 was 2.2 (95% CI 1.7 to 2.8). Adjusting for educational level, country of origin and precarious employment in 1999/2000 or 2005, yielded an IRR of 2.0 (95% CI 1.6 to 2.6). An interaction analysis indicated that a high level of education may act synergistically with over-indebtedness, regarding poor mental health among men.

Conclusions

Over-indebtedness was related to unfavourable societal power relations, regarding social class, gender and foreign birth. Precarious employment was independently linked to poor mental health and may also mediate the effect by over-indebtedness. The COVID-19 pandemic might entail increased over-indebtedness, which should be acknowledged in policies aiming at buffering social effects of the pandemic.
Knowledge, attitude and behaviour of general practitioners in Shanghai during the pandemic of COVID-19: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Tang Huiyun , Wang Jian , Fang Jialiang , Tu Boxiang
Published: November 2022

Objectives

To understand the knowledge, attitude and behaviour of general practitioners (GPs) towards COVID-19 and to provide evidence for improved prevention and control measures against the pandemic.

Study design

A cross-sectional study was conducted with 1018 GPs in Shanghai from 21 February to 2 March 2020 using the WeChat platform.

Methods

Stratified random cluster sampling was performed according to the regional division of urban, urban–rural fringe and rural areas. This study used a self-designed mobile questionnaire. The questionnaire collected information on knowledge, attitudes and behaviours regarding COVID-19 prevention and control.

Results

A total of 989 questionnaires were declared valid. The average scores of GPs’ knowledge, attitude and behaviour towards COVID-19 were 6.14±1.42 (range 0–10), 13.59±4.42 (range 0–25) and 7.82±1.53 (range 0–10), respectively. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the knowledge score of male GPs was lower than that of female GPs (p=0.002). In addition, the ‘attitude’ score of female GPs was higher than that of male GPs (p=0.004). The ‘behaviour’ score of GPs in urban areas was lower than that of GPs in urban–rural fringe areas (p<0.001). The higher the knowledge score, the higher the behavioural score was observed to be (p<0.001).

Conclusions

The scores of knowledge, attitude and behaviour of Shanghai GPs towards COVID-19 were limited at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak. As a hopeful measure, the early implementation of proper training programmes for GPs in times of crisis will contribute to disease control and prevention. Lessons learnt from the current pandemic will hopefully help GPs handle similar future challenges and potential novel pandemics.
Self-medication with ophthalmic drugs and its associated factors among ophthalmic patients attending three hospitals in Asmara, Eritrea: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Tesfay Hayleab , Fiseha Kibrom , Abera Simon , Mihreteab Siele Senai , Tesfamariam Eyasu H , Abdu Nuru
Published: November 2022

Objective

To assess the prevalence and practice of self-medication and its associated factors among ophthalmic patients.

Design

An analytical cross-sectional study design was employed.

Setting

Three hospitals inAsmara, Eritrea.

Participants

Samples of ophthalmic outpatients aged >18 years who visited the three hospitals in Asmara, Eritrea. Systematic random sampling was used to select the study participants.

Data collection and analysis

Data were collected from September 2021 to October 2021 in a face-to-face interview using a structured questionnaire. The collected data were double entered and analysed using CSPro (V.7.2) and SPSS (V.26), respectively. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were performed. P values less than 0.05 were considered as significant.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

Main outcome variable was practice of self-medication with ophthalmic drugs (SMOD). Secondary outcome measure was the determinants of self-medication practice.

Results

A total of 351 participants were recruited with a response rate of 97.7%. The prevalence of SMOD was found to be 14.9% (95% CI (11.1% to 18.7%)). The most frequently preferred ophthalmic drug groups were antibiotics (63.6%), followed by corticosteroids (22.7%). The main reasons for SMOD were easy accessibility (52.9%) and previous familiarity of the eye medication (27.5%). Eye redness (n=19/51) and foreign body sensation (n=18/51) were the most self-recognised complaints that required self-medication. The most common source of information for SMOD was pharmacy professionals (41.1%). Only attitude score (Crude odds ratio (COR)= 1.25, 95% CI 1.12, 1.39) was significantly associated with the practice of SMOD at bivariate logistic regression.

Conclusion

Though the majority of respondents considered self-medication with ophthalmic drugs as inappropriate, a significant number of them practising it. This mandates relevant bodies to take stricter measures to protect the public from the misuse of eye medications.
Physical therapy for the management of motor symptoms in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: protocol for a systematic review
Authors: Silva Stephano Tomaz , Souza Aline Alves de , Pondofe Karen , Melo Luciana Protásio de , Resqueti Vanessa R , Valentim Ricardo Alexsandro de Medeiros , Ribeiro Tatiana Souza
Published: November 2022

Introduction

The prescription of an intervention plan can be challenging for the physical therapist, considering clinical phenotypes, individual prognosis and the rapid, progressive and deteriorating nature of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In this context, therapeutic exercises (eg, resistance and aerobic exercises) for patients with ALS remain controversial and may influence the treatment plan. Therefore, this review aims to critically assess whether physical therapy interventions are effective for improving functional capacity, quality of life and fatigue of individuals with ALS.

Methods and analysis

Studies will be selected according to eligibility criteria, and language, geographical area or publication date will not be restricted. Four databases will be used: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library (CENTRAL) and Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro). Searches will also be conducted on ClinicalTrials.gov and references from included studies. We plan to conduct the searches between October and December 2022. Two independent authors will examine titles and abstracts and exclude irrelevant studies and duplicates. We will assess the quality of studies and quality of evidence, and disagreements will be resolved with a third researcher. The findings will be presented in the text and tables; if possible, we will perform meta-analyses.

Ethics and dissemination

No ethical approval is required because this study does not involve human beings. We will publish our findings in peer-reviewed journals.

PROSPERO registration number

CRD42021251350.
Organisational and individual readiness for change to respectful maternity care practice and associated factors in Ibadan, Nigeria: a cross-sectional survey
Authors: Esan Oluwaseun Taiwo , Maswime Salome , Blaauw Duane
Published: November 2022

Objectives

This study assessed health providers’ organisational and individual readiness for change to respectful maternity care (RMC) practice and their associated factors in Ibadan Metropolis, Nigeria.

Design

A cross-sectional survey using standardised structured instruments adapted from the literature.

Setting

Nine public health facilities in Ibadan Metropolis, Nigeria, 1 December 2019–31 May 2020.

Participants

212 health providers selected via a two-stage cluster sampling.

Outcomes

Organisational readiness for change to RMC (ORCRMC) and individual readiness for change to RMC (IRCRMC) scales had a maximum score of 5. Multiple linear regression was used to identify factors influencing IRCRMCand ORCRMC.We evaluated previously identified predictors of readiness for change (change valence, informational assessments on resource adequacy, core self-evaluation and job satisfaction) and proposed others (workplace characteristics, awareness of mistreatment during childbirth, perceptions of women’s rights and resource availability to implement RMC). Data were adjusted for clustering and analysed using Stata V.15.

Results

The providers’ mean age was 44.0±9.9 years with 15.4±9.9 years of work experience. They scored high on awareness of women’s mistreatment (3.9±0.5) and women’s perceived rights during childbirth (3.9±0.5). They had high ORCRMC(4.1±0.9) and IRCRMC(4.2±0.6), both weakly but positively correlated (r=0.407, 95% CI: 0.288 to 0.514, p<0.001). Providers also had high change valence (4.5±0.8) but lower perceptions of resource availability (2.7±0.7) and adequacy for implementation (3.3±0.7). Higher provider change valence and informational assessments were associated with significantly increased IRCRMC(β=0.40, 95% CI: 0.11 to 0.70, p=0.015 and β=0.07, 95% CI: 0.01 to 0.13, p=0.032, respectively), and also with significantly increased ORCRMC(β=0.47, 95% CI: 0.21 to 0.74, p=0.004 and β=0.43, 95% CI: 0.22 to 0.63, p=0.002, respectively). Longer years of work experience (β=0.08, 95% CI: 0.01 to 0.2, p=0.024), providers’ monthly income (β=0.08, 95% CI: 0.02 to 0.15, p=0.021) and the health facility of practice were associated with significantly increased ORCRMC.

Conclusion

The health providers studied valued a change to RMC and believed that both they and their facilities were ready for the change to RMC practice.
Serial high-sensitivity cardiac troponin testing for the diagnosis of myocardial infarction: a scoping review
Authors: Ohtake Hirotaka , Terasawa Teruhiko , Zhelev Zhivko , Iwata Mitsunaga , Rogers Morwenna , Peters Jaime L , Hyde Chris
Published: November 2022

Objectives

We aimed to assess the diversity and practices of existing studies on several assays and algorithms for serial measurements of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) for risk stratification and the diagnosis of myocardial infarction (MI) and 30-day outcomes in patients suspected of having non-ST-segment elevation MI (NSTEMI).

Methods

We searched multiple databases including MEDLINE, EMBASE, Science Citation Index, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and the CENTRAL databases for studies published between January 2006 and November 2021. Studies that assessed the diagnostic accuracy of serial hs-cTn testing in patients suspected of having NSTEMI in the emergency department (ED) were eligible. Data were analysed using the scoping review method.

Results

We included 86 publications, mainly from research centres in Europe, North America and Australasia. Two hs-cTn assays, manufactured by Abbott (43/86) and Roche (53/86), dominated the evaluations. The studies most commonly measured the concentrations of hs-cTn at two time points, at presentation and a few hours thereafter, to assess the two-strata or three-strata algorithm for diagnosing or ruling out MI. Although data from 83 studies (97%) were prospectively collected, 0%–90% of the eligible patients were excluded from the analysis due to missing blood samples or the lack of a final diagnosis in 53 studies (62%) that reported relevant data. Only 19 studies (22%) reported on head-to-head comparisons of alternative assays.

Conclusion

Evidence on the accuracy of serial hs-cTn testing was largely derived from selected research institutions and relied on two specific assays. The proportions of the eligible patients excluded from the study raise concerns about directly applying the study findings to clinical practice in frontline EDs.

PROSPERO registration number

CRD42018106379.
Utilisation of cervical cancer screening and factors associated with screening utilisation among women aged 30–49 years in Mertule Mariam Town, East Gojjam Zone, Ethiopia, in 2021: a cross-sectional survey
Authors: Tesfaw Kinfemichael , Kindie Walelign , Mulatu Kebadnew , Bogale Eyob Ketema
Published: November 2022

Objective

To assess the practice of cervical cancer screening and its associated factors among women aged 30–49 years.

Design

Community-based cross-sectional survey.

Setting

Mertule Mariam Town, Northwest Ethiopia, 1 May–20 June 2021.

Participants

Women aged 30–49 years who were living in the study area were eligible for inclusion. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select study participants. A total of 488 respondents participated in the study. Data were collected by using interviewer-administered structured questionnaires. Data were entered into EpiData V.3.1 and then exported to SPSS V.25 for analysis. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were done.

Outcome measures

Prevalence of cervical cancer screening and factors associated with screening utilisation.

Results

The prevalence of cervical cancer screening was found to be 14.1%. Age (≤16 years) at first sexual intercourse (adjusted OR 14.89, 95% CI 6.21 to 35.74), history of sexually transmitted disease (11.65, 4.56 to 29.78), having multiple sexual partners (11.65, 4.56 to 29.78), having good knowledge about cervical cancer screening (4.72, 2.33 to 9.56) and having a family history of cervical cancer (4.72, 2.33 to 9.56) were statistically significantly associated factors for utilisation of cervical cancer screening.

Conclusion

Utilisation of cervical cancer screening was low in Northwest Ethiopia. Educational status, age at first sexual intercourse, history of multiple sexual partners, sexually transmitted disease, family history of cervical cancer and knowledge about cervical cancer screening were significant factors for utilisation of cervical cancer screening.
Scrutinizing the 95–100 GeV di-tau excess in the top associated process
Authors: Iguro Syuhei , Kitahara Teppei , Omura Yuji
Published: November 2022

Recently, the CMS collaboration has reported a di-tau excess with a local significance of 2.6–3.1$$\sigma $$
σ
where the invariant mass is $$m_{\tau \tau } =95$$

m

τ
τ

=
95

–100 GeV. This excess can be interpreted as a light scalar boson that couples to the third generation fermions, particularly top and $$\tau $$
τ
. Based on the simplest model that can account for the CMS di-tau excess, we evaluate experimental sensitivities to the additional light resonance, using the results reported by the ATLAS collaboration. We see that a search for the top-quark associated production of the SM Higgs boson that decays into $$\tau {\bar{\tau }}$$

τ

τ

¯

sets a strong model-independent limit. We also find that the CP-even scalar interpretation of the light resonance is excluded by the ATLAS results, while the CP-odd interpretation is not.
Improving Object Detection with Feature Fusion Methods
Authors: Cui Yuning , Shi Dianxi , Zhang Yongjun , Sun Qianchong , Xu Huachi , Jing Luoxi
Published: November 2022

Facing the scale variation challenge in the topic of object detection, in this papers we design feature fusion methods to improve the representation ability of features. The proposed network, Feature Fusion Network (FFNet), contains mainly two parts: the Relationship Fusion Module (RFM) and the Numerical Fusion Module (NFM). The long dependencies information is shared within the pyramidal features in RFM. This information helps each feature emphasize informative regions and reduce the influence of useless regions. The NFM introduces the averaging operation to generate the fusion weights to retain the useful information and conduct the efficient feature fusion in the lateral connection. Finally, we conduct extensive experiments to verify the effects of our methods.
An Ensemble Model for Data Imputation to Support Pervasive Applications
Authors: Fountas Panagiotis , Kolomvatsos Kostas
Published: November 2022

Pervasive Computing (PC) opens up the room for the adoption of devices very close to end users that gives the opportunity to interact with them and execute various applications to facilitate their every day activities. Pervasive applications are supported by the evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) as well as the Edge Computing (EC) that offer vast infrastructures where data can be collected and processed. EC acts as the mediator between the IoT and the Cloud becoming the middle point where data are transferred before they become the subject of processing by Cloud services. IoT devices can assist in the collection of data and EC nodes could play the role of intermediate processing points executing the desired tasks requested by applications. Any processing can be affected by the presence of missing values that may jeopardize the quality of the outcomes. In this paper, we propose a setting where EC nodes play the aforementioned processing role for data reported by IoT devices and adopt an ensemble scheme for data imputation in the case where missing values are present. Our model relies on the local view of the IoT devices reporting a data vector with a missing value, the view of the group that consists of the IoT nodes with a high similarity in the reported data and a probabilistic approach that reveals the statistics of data as realized in the group of similar reports. The proposed scheme continuously detects the correlation between the incoming data streams and efficiently combines the available data vectors before it is in a position to suggest replacements for missing values. The envisioned aggregation mechanism is capable of resulting the appropriate replacements aligned with the aforementioned views on the collected data. Our ensemble model relies on a number of similarity metrics and statistics to derive the final outcome. The paper reports on the description of the proposed model and elaborates on its validation based on various evaluation scenarios.
Learning performance of uncentered kernel-based principal component analysis
Authors: Jiang Xue , Sun Hong-Wei
Published: November 2022

Principal component analysis (PCA) may be the most popular dimension reduction method. In this paper, the learning scheme of kernel PCA methods is established. Moreover, for the uncentered case, we introduce the error representation, and prove the comparison theorem that the learning error can be bounded by the excess generalization error. Under the condition that the positive eigenvalues of [Formula: see text] are all single, the satisfied error bound [Formula: see text] is deduced.
The National Geochemical Survey of Australia: review and impact
Authors: Caritat Patrice de
Published: November 2022

The National Geochemical Survey of Australia (NGSA) is Australia's first national-scale geochemical survey. It was delivered to the public on 30 June 2011, after almost five years of stakeholder engagement, strategic planning, sample collection, preparation and analysis, quality assurance/quality control, and preliminary data analytics. The project was comprehensively documented in seven initial open-file reports and six data and map sets, followed over the next decade by more than 70 well-cited scientific publications. This review compiles the body of work and knowledge that emanated from the project to-date as an indication of the impact the NGSA had over the decade 2011–21. The geochemical fabric of Australia as never seen before has been revealed by the NGSA. This has spurred further research and stimulated the mineral exploration industry. This paper also critically looks at operational decisions taken at project time (2007–11) that were good and perhaps – with the benefit of hindsight – not so good, with the intention of providing experiential advice for any future large-scale geochemical survey of Australia or elsewhere. We conclude that the NGSA was a low-cost, high-benefit project that delivered scientific excellence, promoted stakeholder engagement, demonstrated national leadership, and contributed to enhanced national resource wealth.

Thematic collection:
This article is part of the Continental-scale geochemical mapping collection available at:
https://www.lyellcollection.org/topic/collections/continental-scale-geochemical-mapping
Enhanced chemical weathering of the continents promoted fast Late Cretaceous nearshore glaucony formation: implications from the Danubian Cretaceous Group, Germany
Authors: Bansal Udita , Böning Philipp , Wilmsen Markus
Published: November 2022

Widespread, geologically fast (<500 kyr) shallow-marine glaucony formation during the Cretaceous greenhouse world has no recent analogue. A detailed investigation from the Upper Turonian Danubian Cretaceous Group (southern Germany) links authigenic marine glaucony precipitation (Großberg Formation) to the intense chemical weathering in the catchment of a supplying river system (Seugast Member, Roding Formation). Nine glauconitic facies types within the Großberg Formation reflect a mixed shallow-marine depositional environment with land-derived siliciclastics, marine-carbonates and authigenic glaucony. X-ray diffraction analyses confirm these authigenic green grains and matrix as glauconitic minerals. The very high values of the modified chemical index of alteration (mean CIX between 86 and 92) demonstrate that the catchment area of the Seugast River was deeply chemically weathered and leached. In comparison to the hydrochemistry of modern tropical streams, massive Late Cretaceous nearshore glaucony formation was promoted by the riverine flux from the deeply chemically weathered, wet-continents amply supplying essential elements (Fe, Si, K and Al), fuelling shallow-marine glauconitization. The sequence stratigraphic calibration of the shallow-marine to continental transect of the Großberg Formation and the Seugast Member, corresponding to the Late Turonian depositional sequence DS Tu 5, further demonstrates that Late Cretaceous glaucony formation was a fast process (<500 kyr).

Supplementary material:
Table S1 provides contents of total carbon (TC), total inorganic carbon (TIC), total organic carbon (TOC), major elements and Zr as well as element/Al ratios, calculated excess K (K
xs
), silicate K (K
sil
or K
2
O
sil
), molar element oxides and CIX values, and is available at
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6297404
FHIR
Authors: CACM Staff
Published: November 2022

A discussion with James Agnew, Pat Helland, and Adam Cole.
What Are the Attackers Doing Now? Automating Cyberthreat Intelligence Extraction from Text on Pace with the Changing Threat Landscape: A Survey
Authors: Rahman Md Rayhanur , Hezaveh Rezvan Mahdavi , Williams Laurie
Published: November 2022

Cybersecurity researchers have contributed to the automated extraction of CTI from textual sources, such as threat reports and online articles describing cyberattack strategies, procedures, and tools.
The goal of this article is to aid cybersecurity researchers in understanding the current techniques used for cyberthreat intelligence extraction from text through a survey of relevant studies in the literature.
Our work finds 11 types of extraction purposes and 7 types of textual sources for CTI extraction. We observe the technical challenges associated with obtaining available clean and labeled data for replication, validation, and further extension of the studies. We advocate for building upon the current CTI extraction work to help cybersecurity practitioners with proactive decision-making such as in threat prioritization and mitigation strategy formulation to utilize knowledge from past cybersecurity incidents.
Learning Dual-view User Representations for Enhanced Sequential Recommendation
Authors: Xue Lyuxin , Yang Deqing , Zhai Shuoyao , Li Yuxin , Xiao Yanghua
Published: November 2022

Sequential recommendation (SR) aims to predict a user’s next interacted item given his/her historical interactions. Most existing sequential recommendation systems model user preferences only with item-level representations, where a user’s interaction sequence are often modeled with sequential or graph-based method to infer the user’s sequential interaction pattern. However, since a user’s preference factors may vary over time, the user modeling on item-level could hardly represent the user’s preference precisely and sufficiently, resulting in suboptimal recommendation performance. In addition, the recommendation results based on the item-level user representations lack the interpretability of preference factors. To address these problems, we propose a novel SR model with dual-view user representations in this paper, namely DUVRec, where a user’s preference is learned based on the representations of two distinct views, i.e.,
item view
and
factor view
. Specifically, the item-view user representation is learned as the previous SR models to encode the user preference of item level, while the factor-view user representation is learned by an coarse-grained graph embedding method to explicitly represent the user in terms of preference factors. As a result, such dual-view user representations are more comprehensive than that in the previous SR models, leading to enhanced SR performance. Furthermore, we design a contrastive learning strategy to achieve mutual complementation between these two views. Our extensive experiments upon three benchmark datasets justify DUVRec’s superior performance over the state-of-the-art SR models, including the advantage of the dual-view contrastive learning. In addition, DUVRec’s capability of providing explanations on recommendation results is also demonstrated through some specific case studies.
Diffuse and Smooth: Beyond Truncated Receptive Field for Scalable and Adaptive Graph Representation Learning
Authors: Tang Hui , Liang Xun , Guo Yuhui , Zheng Xiangping , Wu Bo , Zhang Sensen , Li Zhiying
Published: November 2022

As the scope of receptive field and the depth of Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) are two completely orthogonal aspects for graph learning, existing GNNs often have shallow layers with truncated-receptive field and far from achieving satisfactory performance. In this article, we follow the idea of decoupling graph convolution into propagation and transformation processes, which generates representations over a sequence of increasingly larger neighborhoods. Though this manner can enlarge the receptive field, it has two critical problems unsolved: how to find the suitable receptive field to avoid under-smoothing or over-smoothing? and how to balance different diffusion operators for better capturing the local and global dependencies? We tackle these challenges and propose a
S
calable,
A
daptive
G
raph
C
onvolutional
N
etworks (
SAGCN
) with Transformer architecture. Concretely, we propose a novel non-heuristic metric method that quickly finds the suitable number of diffusing iterations and produces smoothed local embeddings that enable the truncated receptive field to become scalable and independent of prior experience. Furthermore, we devise smooth2seq and diffusion-based position schemes introduced into Transformer architecture for better capturing local and global information among embeddings. Experimental results show that SAGCN enjoys high accuracy, scalability and efficiency on various open benchmarks and is competitive with other state-of-the-art competitors.
Business Simulation Games in Higher Education: A Systematic Review of Empirical Research
Authors: Faisal Nadia , Chadhar Mehmood , Goriss-Hunter Anitra , Stranieri Andrew
Published: November 2022

Over the last few years, business simulation games (BSGs) in higher education have attracted attention. BSGs tend to actively engage students with course material, promoting higher engagement and motivation and enabling learning outcomes. Increasingly, researchers are trying to explore the full potential of these games with an upsurge of research in the BSG field in recent years. There is a need to understand the current state of research and future research opportunities; however, there is a lack of recent systematic literature reviews in BSG literature. This study addresses this gap by systematically compiling online empirical research from January 2015 to April 2022. We followed PRISMA guidelines to identify fifty-seven (57) papers reporting empirical evidence of the effectiveness of BSGs in teaching and learning. Findings showed that BSGs improve learning outcomes such as knowledge acquisition, cognitive and interactive skills, and behaviour. The review also summarises different issues concerning the integration of BSGs into the curriculum, learning theories used in the selected studies, and assessment methods used to evaluate student achievement in learning outcomes. The findings of this review summarise the current research activities and indicate existing deficiencies and potential research directions that can be used as the basis for future research into the use of BSGs in higher education.
Path Planning of Mobile Robot Based on Improved PRM Based on Cubic Spline
Authors: Ma Xiaolu , Gong Rui , Tan Yibo , Mei Hong , Li Chengcheng
Published: November 2022

In view of the shortcomings of low search efficiency and many path turning points of Probabilistic Roadmaps (PRM), a bidirectional search PRM global path planning algorithm is proposed. The algorithm improves the search connection rules by using the positive and negative directions to search the path alternately, so that the connection of unnecessary nodes reduces, thereby speeding up the efficiency of path planning. Besides, the algorithm incorporates cubic spline interpolation. That will increase the smoothness of path planning and ensure that the mobile robot can realize the path planning task more smoothly and safely. The simulation results show that the improved algorithm can effectively improve the convergence speed and path smoothness of the algorithm. Finally, the improved algorithm is applied to the actual mobile robot navigation experiment. The experimental results have proven that the path planning strategy was able to a superior advantage over traditional PRM in path quality and computational time.
Deep Learning Model for the Image Fusion and Accurate Classification of Remote Sensing Images
Authors: Mary S. Roselin , Pachar Sunita , Srivastava Prabhat Kumar , Malik Medhavi , Sharma Avani , G. Almutiri Tariq , Atal Zabihullah
Published: November 2022

Deep learning is widely used for the classification of images that have various attributes. Image data are used to extract colour, texture, form, and local features. These features are combined in feature-level image fusion to create a merged remote sensing image. A trained depth belief network (DBN) processes and divides fusion images, while a Softmax classifier determines the land type. As tested, the proposed approach can categorise all types of land. Traditional methods of detecting distant sensing photographs have limitations that can be overcome by using convolutional neural networks (CNN). Traditional techniques are incapable of combining deep learning elements while doing badly in classification. After PCA decreases data dimensionality, deep learning is applied to generate effective features that employ deep learning after PCA has reduced the dimensionality of the data. Principal component analysis is commonly used because of its effectiveness in attaining linear dimension reduction. It may be used on its own or as a starting point for further study into various different dimensionality reduction approaches. Data can be altered by remapping onto a new set of orthogonal axes using a process known as projection-based principal component analysis. Following remote sensing of land resources, the pictures were classified using a support vector machine. Euroset satellite images are used to assess the suggested approach. Accuracy and kappa have both increased. It was accurate and within 95.83 % of the planned figures. The classification findings’ kappa value and reasoning time were 95.87 % and 128 milliseconds, respectively. Both the model’s performance and the classification effect are excellent.
Generation of Hepatocytes and Nonparenchymal Cell Codifferentiation System from Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Authors: Shi Ying , Deng Jiali , Sang Xiaopu , Wang Yihang , He Fei , Chen Xiaoni , Xu Anlong , Wu Fenfang
Published: November 2022

To date, hepatocytes derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) provide a potentially unlimited resource for clinical application and drug development. However, most hiPSC-derived hepatocyte-like cells initiated differentiation from highly purified definitive endoderm, which are insufficient to accurately replicate the complex regulation of signals among multiple cells and tissues during liver organogenesis, thereby displaying an immature phenotypic and short survival time in vitro. Here, we described a protocol to achieve codifferentiation of endoderm-derived hepatocytes and mesoderm-derived nonparenchymal cells by the inclusion of BMP4 into hepatic differentiation medium, which has a beneficial effect on the hepatocyte maturation and lifespan in vitro. Our codifferentiation system suggests the important role of nonparenchymal cells in liver organogenesis. Hopefully, these hepatocytes described here provide a promising approach in the therapy of liver diseases.
A Certificateless Anonymous Cross-Domain Authentication Scheme Assisted by Blockchain for Internet of Vehicles
Authors: Liu Xueyan , Wang Li , Li Linpeng , Zhang Xiaoyan , Niu Shufen
Published: November 2022

With the development of the Internet of Things and the increase of intelligent vehicles, the Internet of Vehicles (IoVs) have been widely used in the information communication such as road and traffic conditions. However, heavy overhead of certificate management, high computing load of identity and message authentication, and the privacy disclosure of vehicle nodes have hindered the development of intelligent transportation. In this study, we propose a certificateless cross-domain anonymous authentication scheme based on blockchain for IoVs. Specifically, the vehicle identity information is authenticated by the first roadside unit (RSU), and transactions are recorded permanently and immutably in the blockchain to reduce the repeated authentication load of other RSUs. To achieve conditional privacy, the trusted authority (TA) generates pseudonyms for each registered user. The relation between the pseudonym and the real identity is kept confidential by the TA and only can only be revealed in case of disputes. Meanwhile, the private key of the vehicle is generated anonymously on the basis of certificateless technology and the pairing-free signature verification. Correctness and security proof demonstrate that our proposed scheme is provably secure and can withstand different types of attacks. A simulation environment has been built to test the packet loss rate and delay of messages in the network. Results show that the proposed scheme is more efficient than the related schemes.