bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Electrocardiographic findings of Wellens syndrome due to coronary artery–pulmonary artery fistula
Authors: Wu Dong-Feng , Wu Yin-Xiong , Deng Jin-Long
Published: May 2020

A coronary artery fistula (CAF) is an abnormal connection between a coronary artery and any of the four cardiac chambers, the large vessels, or other vascular structures. Wellens syndrome is an ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction equivalent. Although both Wellens syndrome and CAFs have been reported in the literature, they have rarely been reported in the same patient. We herein report a case clinically diagnosed as Wellens syndrome by electrocardiography (ECG) findings; coronary angiography subsequently showed a fistula originating from the left anterior descending artery and draining into the pulmonary artery. The ECG findings then returned to normal after the fistula had been closed by controlled-release coils. These events confirmed that the abnormal ECG findings of Wellens syndrome were due to the CAF.
Little words BIG impact: Perioperative communication for children with burns
Authors: Cyna Allan M
Published: May 2020

Anaesthetists are key members of teams caring for burn-injured children in almost every aspect of their management. Their role can involve initial resuscitation, intensive care, analgesia, and anaesthesia for multiple procedures both acutely and subsequently for scar management. As key members of burns management teams, effective communication with patients and their families as well as other members of the burn care team is vital. There is little guidance, however, addressing how the anaesthetist might communicate and optimise anaesthetic burns care of children pre-, intra-, and postoperatively. Advances in the understanding of the neurobiology of communication suggests that we need to consider positive (placebo) or negative (nocebo) subconscious processes. Learnable language structures GREAT (Greeting, Rapport, Expectations, Addressing concerns, Tacit agreement) and LAURS (Listening, Acceptance, Utilisation, Reframing, Suggestion) can facilitate any patient or family interaction ensuring children and their parents feel they are being heard and understood. Talking about finishing rather than starting when about to perform a potentially painful procedure can also facilitate burns care with children. Other strategies include the avoidance of nocebo communications or apologising before a painful procedure and, instead, focusing on therapeutic (placebo) alternatives. Children do not view pain in the same way as adults do, and techniques such as play therapy and hypnosis can be valuable adjuncts to traditional analgesia administration in burns care, with the added benefit of minimising side-effects. The use of regular time-outs during prolonged burns surgeries is a helpful communication strategy between the anaesthetist and other members of the burns team that can optimise patient safety. Communication is a core clinical skill in the practice of anaesthesia during paediatric burns care and is an area for future research.
Power of User Perception on Pedestrian Quality of Service
Authors: Rodriguez-Valencia Alvaro , Barrero German A. , Ortiz-Ramirez Hernan Alberto , Vallejo-Borda Jose Agustin
Published: May 2020

Research progress has been made in recent years in developing service or performance indicators (SPI) or methods to better measure or evaluate service or quality for pedestrians in a local context. The majority of SPIs relate objective (measurable) characteristics or attributes of the right-of-way, with the user’s perceived output variable (e.g., perceived comfort). Traditionally, these methods do not consider the user’s perspective of the input variables. However, there is evidence that the direct contact of pedestrians with the environment justifies an exploration of the contribution of perceptions to that end. This study explores the power of user perception onsite to explain the sidewalk quality of service (QoS), compared to physical and other measurable traditional inputs. Information of physical characteristics, traffic, and perceptions were acquired in 30 different urban rights of way in Bogota, Colombia. By comparing the explanatory power and the goodness of fit of different scenario models, perceptions have been found to be an important predictor to pedestrian perception of QoS. In the light of the results, this paper provides a generalized conceptual framework to explain QoS that complements the existing one and discusses the implication of the use of QoS as the outcome variable.
Factors Influencing Willingness to Pool in Ride-Hailing Trips
Authors: Hou Yi , Garikapati Venu , Weigl Dustin , Henao Alejandro , Moniot Matthew , Sperling Joshua
Published: May 2020

In the past decade, transportation network companies (TNCs) such as Uber, Lyft, and Via have established themselves as a viable transportation alternative to other modes. However, the popularity of these services has come with a fair share of criticism for their negative externalities such as increasing vehicle miles traveled and congestion in cities. Pooled ride-hailing trips, in which all or a part of two individual (or group) trips are combined in and served by a single vehicle, have the potential to reduce these externalities. Pooling of rides is an effective solution to reduce congestion and travel cost, but pooled rides still represent a small percentage of the total trips served (and miles driven) by TNCs relative to single-occupancy (and without customer) vehicle miles. Both TNCs and cities alike will benefit from understanding what factors encourage or deter pooling a ride-hailing trip. In this study, newly available Chicago transportation network provider data were explored to identify the extent to which different socioeconomic, spatiotemporal, and trip characteristics affect willingness to pool (WTP) in ride-hailing trips. Multivariate linear regression and machine-learning models were employed to understand and predict WTP based on location, time, and trip factors. The results show intuitive trends, with income level at drop-off and pickup locations and airport trips as the most important predictors of WTP. Results from this study can help TNCs and cities devise strategies that increase pooled ride-hailing, thereby reducing adverse transportation and energy impacts from ride-hailing modes.
In search of the optimal inoculum to substrate ratio during anaerobic co-digestion of spent coffee grounds and cow manure
Authors: Akyol Çağrı
Published: May 2020

The inoculum to substrate (I:S) ratio is a crucial operating parameter during the start-up period of anaerobic digestion (AD) processes and this ratio shows high differentiation with respect to substrate composition. While spent coffee grounds (SCG) have started to gain attraction in AD as a co-substrate due to their vast production and promising methane potential, there is still not enough information on the operative environment of SCG-based biogas reactors. This study investigated the optimal I:S ratio during anaerobic co-digestion of SCG and cow manure. Biochemical methane potential tests were conducted at mesophilic conditions and the influence of I:S ratio on methane production and digestion stability was evaluated at a wide range of I:S ratios from 0.5:1 to 4:1 (volatile solids (VS) basis). Methane yields increased gradually starting from the I:S ratio of 0.5:1 up to 3:1 and the highest methane yield (225 mlCH4 gVS−1) was achieved at the I:S ratio of 3:1. Comparatively lower methane yields were obtained at the ratios of 3.5:1 and 4:1. Instable AD conditions were established at the lowest I:S ratio examined (0.5:1), which caused volatile fatty acid (VFA) accumulation. The results highlighted that anaerobic co-digestion of SCG and cow manure is a promising approach, while the I:S ratio should be well-maintained due to the high potential risk of rapid and/or excess VFA production of these feedstocks.
Performance of a Pediatric Stroke Alert Team Within a Comprehensive Stroke Center
Authors: Catenaccio Eva , Riggs Becky J. , Sun Lisa R. , Urrutia Victor C. , Johnson Brenda , Torriente Adriana Gonzalez , Felling Ryan J.
Published: May 2020

Background:

Childhood stroke is rare, and diagnosis is frequently delayed. The use of pediatric stroke teams has the potential to decrease time to neurology evaluation and imaging, hastening appropriate diagnosis and treatment for acute neurologic presentations in children.

Methods:

We performed a retrospective analysis of our institutional pediatric stroke or “brain attack” team (pedsBAT) activations from October 2014 to July 2017. Clinical characteristics and timing parameters were compared between pedsBAT activations in the inpatient vs emergency department (ED) / outpatient settings as well as between pediatric and adult BAT activations in the same time period.

Results:

We identified 120 pedsBAT activations (75% in the ED/outpatient setting) during the study time period. Inpatient pedsBAT activations were more likely than outpatient activations to have heart disease as a risk factor for ischemic stroke and presented more frequently with altered mental status, but there were no differences in the proportion of cerebrovascular diagnoses or timing parameters between the 2 groups. When compared with adult BAT activations, outpatient pedsBAT activations had a longer time from symptom discovery to arrival at the ED, and inpatient pedsBAT activations had longer time from symptom discovery to BAT activation.

Conclusions:

Compared with adults, the interval leading up to stroke team activation was longer in children, suggesting delays in symptom recognition. Future interventions should be aimed at reducing these delays in presentation to care and stroke alert activation in pediatric patients.
“Vrem o ţară ca afară!”: How Contention in Romania Redefines State-Building through a Pro-European Discourse
Authors: Gubernat Ruxandra , Rammelt Henry P.
Published: May 2020

This article belongs to a forthcoming special cluster, “Contention Politics and International Statebuilding in Southeast Europe” guest-edited by Nemanja Džuverovic, Julia Rone and Tom Junes.

Massive protest waves, mainly led by younger citizens, appeared during the past years in Romania. Gubernat and Rammelt provide an analysis of the production of meaning by the “Romanian street” as a collective actor. They argue that “Vrem o ţară ca afară! (We want a country like abroad!)” became the leitmotif for important parts of the Romanian protests of the past eight years. For so doing, Gubernat and Rammelt analyze the discursive underpinnings and the constructed frames in recent protests in Romania. Their demonstration synthesizes a social phenomenon that appeared during the Roșia Montană protests of 2013, continued with the Colectiv protests of 2015 and was reconfirmed during the 2017–2018 anti-corruption protests: the dichotomy between the discursive appropriation of the West, as a benchmark of progress and social modernization and the “self-racism” manifested in these movements. The use of Frame Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis for the study of these waves of protests enables them to show how the Western hegemonic discourse on state-building provides the cultural conditions for social action as well as it enables mobilizing agents to frame national discontent. “‘Vrem o ţară ca afară!’ Redefining state-building through a pro-European discourse in Romania” concludes that recent protests in Romania reproduce Western ideals of modern state and politics through a value-based discourse around the idea of belonging to Europe.
The Impact of Social Movements on Policy Outcomes in Partly Free Democracies: Evidence from the “Citizens for Macedonia” Struggles in a Captured Macedonian State
Authors: Stefanovski Ivan
Published: May 2020

This article belongs to a forthcoming special cluster, “Contention Politics and International Statebuilding in Southeast Europe” guest-edited by Nemanja Džuverovic, Julia Rone and Tom Junes.

This article looks at the impact of one of the recent waves of mobilization in the Republic of Macedonia, the “Citizens for Macedonia” platform, over policy outcomes that originally derived from the movement actors. Furthermore, the text highlights the crucial role of the international community in shaping and implementing the policy outcomes, playing the role of international statebuilders in the process of reintroducing democracy in the captured Macedonian state. The theoretical framework and the literature review present an attempt to bridge contemporary works on social movement studies with those on democratization and international state building. A lot of emphasis is also put on the peculiar political opportunity structure, and the difficult and movement-unfriendly conditions in which the citizens’ platform operated. On the other hand, the article tries to show the gains and losses of a coalition between an established political party, and a loose horizontal network of citizens and citizens’ organizations that advocate for rule of law and protection of human rights. The central conclusions that can be extrapolated from this work are the strong and committed claims by the movement, articulated through various repertoires of action, but also the active role of the international community, which presented a conditio sine qua non, bringing down the regime led by former PM Nikola Gruevski and freeing the state institutions previously occupied by the political parties in power.
Readmission Outcomes of Sliding Scale Insulin Compared to Basal-Bolus Insulin Prescribed at Discharge in an Insulin-Naive Patient Population
Authors: Carter Pamela , Eshelbrenner Tracie , Kirk Lauren , Fisk Mandy , Rodrigues Claire
Published: May 2020

Background:

Limited data are available that examine hospital readmission outcomes of sliding scale compared to basal-bolus insulin in indigent and insulin-naive patients.

Objective:

To evaluate hospital readmission outcomes in patients who are insulin naive with type 2 diabetes mellitus who are initiated on either sliding scale or basal-bolus insulin upon hospital discharge.

Methods:

A retrospective chart review was conducted of adult patients with a history of type 2 diabetes mellitus, who were insulin naive, had a hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) 10% or greater, and were discharged with a prescription for sliding scale or basal-bolus insulin from January 2015 to July 2018. The primary objective measured all-cause 30-day hospital readmissions. The secondary objectives measured diabetes-related 30-day hospital readmissions and HbA1c change after 3 months of initial hospital admission. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, χ2 test, paired sample t test, and logistic regression.

Results:

Forty-one patients were prescribed sliding scale insulin and 105 patients were prescribed basal-bolus insulin. The majority were male (60%), spoke English (84%), were self-pay (39%), and had a mean age of 51 ± 10.2 years, initial HbA1c of 13% ± 1.9%, and LACE+ score of 51 ± 15.6 upon discharge. All-cause 30-day hospital readmissions occurred in 14.6% of sliding scale and 6.7% of basal-bolus insulin groups (odds ratio [OR]: 2.40, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.75-7.63). Hyperglycemia occurred in 7.3% of sliding scale and 0.9% of basal-bolus insulin groups. Mean HbA1c difference for basal-bolus and sliding scale insulin was 3.3 ± 3.1 and 2.9 ± 2.7, respectively ( P = 0.459).

Conclusion:

There was no significant difference in all-cause 30-day hospital readmissions comparing sliding scale to basal-bolus insulin.
Students’ evaluation of entrepreneurial university activities: A case from the Iran University of Medical Sciences
Authors: Sanadgol Siyamak , Dadfar Mahboubeh
Published: May 2020

Among the key strategies in higher education is to prioritize the development of the entrepreneurial university. An appropriate entrepreneurship ecosystem in universities promotes higher education–industry relationships. Third-generation (innovative and entrepreneurial) universities and other higher education institutions depend on creativity, innovation, discovery and novelty. The aims of the present study were (a) to investigate the attitudes of Iranian students towards entrepreneurial university activities; (b) to investigate the psychometric properties of the Entrepreneurial University Activities Scale (EUAS); (c) to explore the factorial structure of the EUAS; and (d) to estimate gender-related differences. The EUAS was administered anonymously to 225 Iranian students. The mean of the EUAS total score was 43.44 (standard deviation = 26.61); Cronbach’s α was 0.98. The indicator total correlations ranged from 0.82 to 0.95 (all significant at the 0.01 level). One component was extracted, labelled ‘Entrepreneurial University Activities’ (70.89% of the total variance). Gender-related differences were significant. Iranian students’ evaluation of entrepreneurial university activities was negative, with entrepreneurial university indicators rated from none to very low. Iranian universities need to engage with industry and business. Knowledge-based companies should be supported. Technology parks, growth and accelerator centres should be equipped and updated. A sustainable financial strategy to support the development of creativity, innovation, technology, commercialization and entrepreneurship should be developed. Internationalization, as an important part of entrepreneurship strategy in a university, should be considered. The analytic hierarchy process network analysis technique is recommended for the evaluation of entrepreneurial university activities and the components influencing it.
Non-intrusive measurement of strip thickness and roll-bite length in metal rolling
Authors: Adeyemi GJ , Dwyer-Joyce RS , Pinna C , Hunter A , Stephen JT , Adebayo A
Published: May 2020

It is important to monitor the rolled strip thickness standard to minimize material waste and loss of profit due to strip flatness defects, and also to maintain the product’s size and dimensional homogeneity. Several online measurement techniques are available but none of this can give an in situ measurement within the roll bite. Due to this, a novice experimental method utilizing ultrasonic reflection sensor mounted on one roll was developed for in situ measurement of strip thickness and roll-bite length during cold rolling process. A pitch–catch method was used whereby a piezoelectric element generated an ultrasonic pulse and transmitted to the contact interface evaluated on a pilot mill. The reflected signal was captured by a second piezoelectric element and analysed to determine the condition at the strip–roll interface. This approach was implemented on a pilot mill and reflections from various locations in the roll bite during the rolling were recorded. Recorded signals were used to estimate the rolled strip thickness and roll-bite length after the rolling process.
Optimisation of cutting parameters for minimising carbon emissions and cost in the turning process
Authors: Jiang Zhipeng , Gao Dong , Lu Yong , Shang Zhendong , Kong Linghao
Published: May 2020

This study investigates how to minimise environmental cost and maximise economic benefits in the turning process with regard to high carbon emission characteristics in mechanical processing enterprises. Based on the processing task-based evaluation method, carbon emissions and cost are taken as the optimisation objectives. Based on the multi-objective optimisation algorithm concept, NSGA-II was selected to obtain the Pareto frontier. In addition to carbon emissions and cost, the effects of processing time are simultaneously considered, and the Pareto frontier is sorted using the TOPSIS method to determine the optimal combination of the cutting parameters. Contour and single factor analyses were carried out to analyse the influence of cutting parameters on the optimisation objectives. The concept of the processing interval with high economy and low environmental cost was proposed and the calculation method of the interval was presented, which is helpful for mechanical processing enterprises to select reasonable cutting parameters on the premise of meeting the environmental costs and economic benefits.
The left-behind human detection and tracking system based on vision with multi-model fusion and microwave radar inside the bus
Authors: Liao Jiacai , Xiang Guoliang , Cao Libo , Xia JiaHao , Yue Luyao
Published: May 2020

Left-behind humans inside the car or bus have caused a lot of accidents, so it is essential to detect the humans in vehicle. Current human detection methods rely on wearable devices, oxygen sensors, and special seat designs in vehicles, but those sensors cannot adapt to ever-changing environments. To solve those problems and especially to improve passengers’ safety on the bus, we propose a method to accomplishing human detection by fusion vision and microwave radar information in various environments in vehicle. For vision information, we use different networks to extract human and human face features, and fusion of the detection results in different models to improve human detection accuracy. The human detection model is MobileNet-V2, and the human face detection model is MTCNN. A new matching schedule and tracking objects management rule based on the Kernelized Correlation Filter tracker are designed to track the human and human face detection boxes. The microwave radar information is used to detect moving objects. Finally, the fusion vision and microwave radar detection results are implemented. Experiments show that our method has improved the human detection accuracy in vehicle, and this method can be used for detection of left-behind children on the school bus.
Influence upon temperature field distribution with straight grooves parameters of clutch friction disk
Authors: Li Jie , Zhang Yanxiong , Wang Xiaoyan , Gu Jialing , Chen Cheng , Tao Long
Published: May 2020

The instability of the temperature field distribution in clutch friction pair tends to increase exponentially with time when the relative velocity is greater than a certain critical value, which indicates the system enters a state of thermoelastic instability. During high-speed frictional sliding at a high temperature and high pressure, thermoelastic instability will generate local high temperature on friction pair and then cause high-frequency vibration, warping, fatigue fracture, and so on. With the aim of studying the problems arising from local hot spots and the mechanism behind the characteristics of temperature field in friction pair, a thermoelastic finite element analysis model was established for friction pair of heavy-duty vehicle clutch in this paper. The characteristics of thermoelastic stress and temperature distribution under different conditions were obtained by simulation analysis where different values were applied to groove distribution parameters such as number, angle, depth, and width. Experiments were carried out on a friction pair to test its thermoelastic instability. Results show that as the value of each groove distribution parameter increases, the fitting curves of the average temperature, range, and the temperature inhomogeneity coefficient of the temperature field are in forms of oscillation. The average temperature and range have the same trends. The paper concludes that the average temperature range and inhomogeneity coefficient of the temperature field distribute in order, so that the optimized structural parameters were obtained.
Safe and optimal lane-change path planning for automated driving
Authors: Ding Yang , Zhuang Weichao , Wang Liangmo , Liu Jingxing , Guvenc Levent , Li Zhen
Published: May 2020

This paper proposes an integrated lane-change trajectory planning method for advanced driver assistance system of connected and automated vehicles. First, the time-based quintic polynomial automated lane-change model is presented, which could adjust longitudinal and lateral velocity simultaneously. By tuning the lane-change duration and longitudinal displacement in the lane-change model, the lane-change reference trajectories satisfying the demands of safety, lane-change duration, travel distance, and comfort were derived under traffic-free condition. All feasible reference trajectories compose a trajectory map, which includes different driving situations, such as quick and comfortable or sudden and safe lane change. Second, the lane-change constraints induced by surrounding vehicles are introduced. The effects of surrounding vehicles on the lane-change performance are investigated by adjusting the speeds and initial gaps of preceding and rear vehicles. In addition, the initial velocity of the host vehicle is optimized to maximize the area of the trajectory map to enable a safer lane change. Finally, within the derived trajectory map, an optimal lane-change trajectory eliminating potential collisions is calculated by minimizing the lane-change duration, travel distance, driving comfort, and fuel consumption.
Synthesis and characterization of a composite organic semiconductor (curcumin-paracetamol/TiO2)
Authors: Bouazza Asmaa , Bassaid Salah , Daho Bouabdallah , Messori Massimo , Dehbi Abdelkader
Published: May 2020

The aim of this work is to study some physical and chemical properties of an organic semiconductor (OSc)/ x%titanium dioxide (TiO2) heterosystem (with 0 ≤ x ≤ 20%) (OScs/ x%TiO2). The OSc is obtained from pure curcumin and paracetamol as starting molecules. The synthesis methodology of the mixtures of OScs/ x%TiO2 heterosystem involves a microwave-assisted multicomponent reaction using curcumin, paracetamol, and TiO2 as a heterogeneous solution. All mixtures were analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis/differential thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The results obtained show a new nanocomposite with interesting pharmaceutical, optical, electronic, and structural properties, which can be used in the fields of energy production, water purification, and air purification, as a biomaterial and for electronic applications.
Strategy Instruction to Support Struggling Readers in Comprehending Expository Main Ideas
Authors: Englert Carol Sue , Mariage Troy V.
Published: May 2020

This article describes a comprehension strategy that can be used by teachers to help students identify and construct the main ideas for expository texts. The BURNS Strategy (i.e., Box. Underline. Reread. Note. Summarize.) was developed as part of a larger reading intervention to improve the comprehension performance of struggling readers in the elementary grades. The BURNS strategy was designed to incorporate thinking scaffolds and question prompts to guide students through a thinking process that might help them construct the main ideas. This article reports on the teaching process and instructional scaffolds used in the intervention, and discusses implications for teaching main ideas in the intervention setting.
Unresolved Politics: Implicit Ambivalence and Political Cognition
Authors: Gonzalez Frank J.
Published: May 2020

This paper introduces a novel framework for understanding the relationship between implicit and explicit preferences and political cognition. Existing work in political psychology focuses primarily on comparing the main effects of implicit versus explicit attitude measures. This paper rethinks the role of implicit cognition by acknowledging the correspondence between implicit and explicit preferences (i.e., the distance between implicitly and explicitly measured attitudes). Data from the 2008 American National Election Study are used to examine implicit racial ambivalence, or the gap between one’s implicit and explicit racial preferences, as it exists in the United States. Results indicate implicit racial ambivalence, which has been shown to yield effortful thinking related to race, is negatively related to education and Need for Cognition, and predicts race-related policy attitudes as well as vote choice in the 2008 election. Furthermore, implicit ambivalence moderates the influence of ideology on political attitudes, including attitudes toward outcomes that are only covertly related to race and cannot be predicted directly by implicit or explicit racial attitudes alone.
Comparative Study of Spring Ligament Reconstructions Using Either Hamstring Allograft or Synthetic Ligament Augmentation
Authors: Heyes Gavin , Swanton Eric , Vosoughi Amir Reza , Mason Lyndon W. , Molloy Andrew P.
Published: May 2020

Background:

Idiopathic flatfeet are usually caused by attenuation of the medial soft tissues rather than a lateral osseous deficiency. Debate continues on whether spring ligament attenuation or posterior tibial tendon (PTT) dysfunction is the initial driver for the deformity. Our comparative prospective study aimed to quantify the radiological and clinical outcomes of 2 techniques for spring ligament reconstruction using a hamstring graft or a synthetic ligament.

Methods:

Seventeen spring ligament reconstructions (SLRs) were performed in 17 patients using synthetic ligament augmentation and 16 SLRs were performed using hamstring allograft in 13 patients. Additional procedures such as gastrocnemius recession, PTT advancement, flexor digitorum longus transfer, and calcaneal osteotomy were performed as required. A minimum of 12 months of follow-up was available for all cases. Radiographic analysis was performed with standardized parameters.

Results:

Following SLR with synthetic ligament augmentation, all radiological parameters significantly improved ( P < .05). Hamstring allograft SLR also demonstrated significantly improved radiographic parameters in all but Meary’s line at final follow-up. At 12 months, patient outcome scores were significantly better in the synthetic ligament group.

Conclusion:

Reconstruction of the spring ligament using either hamstring allograft or synthetic ligament augmentation provided significant improvements in radiological alignment; however, superior patient-reported outcomes were found in the synthetic ligament augmentation group.

Levels of Evidence:

Level III, retrospective cohort study.
Dinutuximab in adult-onset chemotherapy refractory high-risk neuroblastoma
Authors: Garrovillo Krystal , Garrett John , Bollin Kathryn , Nasraty Farah , Sikand Harminder
Published: May 2020

Introduction

Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor in pediatrics but is considerably uncommon in adults, with approximately 1 case per 10 million diagnosed per year and is associated with poor prognosis. There are no standard treatment protocols for adult-onset neuroblastomas and there are only a few published case reports on neuroblastoma in adults.

Case report

We report our treatment experience in a 41-year-old female diagnosed with high-risk, poorly differentiated neuroblastoma.

Management and outcome

Our patient received two cycles of dinutuximab adapted from the Children’s Oncology Group ANBL1221 protocol. The patient experienced pain, neuropathy, pruritus, and infusion reactions which were managed with supportive care. Due to the lack of tumor regression, dinutuximab was omitted from future treatments. Currently, the patient is asymptomatic from her disease and remains off of all therapy and pain medication.

Discussion

While dinutuximab has produced promising outcomes in pediatric patients, it is not without potentially severe adverse effects. Serious reactions of capillary leak syndrome, infusion reactions, pain, and neuropathy have been reported. Clinicians must be cognizant of the treatment-related toxicities associated with dinutuximab therapy, ranging from pain, neuropathy, pruritus, and infusion reactions as explored in this patient case.
Disruption, Self-Presentation, and Defensive Tactics at the Threshold of Learning
Authors: Gillespie Alex
Published: May 2020

Disruptive experiences are opportunities for learning, yet, people often resist them. This tendency is evident in individual experience, organizational behavior, and denialist discourses. Research has been hampered by conceptualizing this defensiveness in terms of unconscious defense mechanisms or underlying cognitive processes. In contrast, I conceptualize defensiveness in terms of observable defensive tactics, namely, the actions and utterances that are used to resist disruptive meanings. I introduce the analogy of the semantic immune system to conceptualize three layers of defensive tactics: avoiding, delegitimizing, and limiting the impact of disruptive meanings. Defensive tactics are cultural–historical creations that, like the immune system, have adapted over time to neutralize disruptive meanings. I use this tripartite conceptualization to review the fragmented literature on defensive tactics. The observability of these tactics gives centrality to the audience who either calls out or does not call out the use of defensive tactics—questioning or implicitly supporting the legitimacy of the defended views. The vigilance of the audience pushes the tactics toward increasingly subtle forms that seek to pass undetected. Reconceptualizing defensiveness in terms of observable tactics reveals the importance of the audience and opens these tactics up to empirical research, calling upon researchers to identify the increasingly subtle ways in which learning through dialogue is inhibited.
Producing newsgames beyond boundaries: Journalists, game developers, and the news business
Authors: Plewe Christoph , Fürsich Elfriede
Published: May 2020

Creating successful newsgames requires effective boundary work between journalists and game developers. Both groups come to the job with different professional vocabularies, technical know-how, and work cultures. Our goal was to understand how they approach these challenges as they create a product that satisfies their professional expectations and the demands of media organizations and audiences. This article presents the results of semistructured expert interviews with pioneers in German newsgame production. We found that effective newsgame creation entailed complex coordination efforts. However, expected clashes between the different professional cultures did not occur. Conflicts were eased by a general agreement on news as a public service and by emphasizing nonhierarchical decision-making in teams. Our interviews detail the economic and technical obstacles that have resulted in newsgames not making major inroads. The decline of newsgames was related to the development of other digital media forms that matched journalistic conventions more closely. These findings led us to extend the model of journalistic boundary work to a more interactional concept that highlights the contributions of both sides while acknowledging the obstacles of operating in a larger media system.
The last acceptable prejudice in Europe? Anti-Gypsyism as the obstacle to Roma inclusion
Authors: Kende Anna , Hadarics Márton , Bigazzi Sára , Boza Mihaela , Kunst Jonas R. , Lantos Nóra Anna , Lášticová Barbara , Minescu Anca , Pivetti Monica , Urbiola Ana
Published: May 2020

National and European policies aim to facilitate the integration of Roma people into mainstream society. Yet, Europe’s largest ethnic group continues to be severely discriminated. Although prejudice has been identified to be at the core of this failure, social psychological research on anti-Gypsyism remains scarce. We conducted a study in six countries using student and community samples ( N = 2,089; Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Norway, Italy, Spain) to understand how anti-Gypsyism among majority-group members predicts unfavorable acculturation preferences toward Roma people. Openly negative stereotypes predicted acculturation preferences strongly across the countries. However, stereotypes about the Roma receiving undeserved benefits were also relevant to some degree in East-Central Europe, implying that intergroup relations are framed there as realistic conflict. Stereotypes about traditional Roma culture did not play a central role in acculturation preferences. Our findings highlighted that anti-Gypsyism may be an impediment to integration efforts, and efforts should be context-specific rather than pan-national.
Homeless people under the influence of alcohol admitted to hospital emergency departments in Poland
Authors: Burak Anna , Cierzniakowska Katarzyna , Popow Aleksandra
Published: May 2020

Aim:

To assess the incidence of diagnoses related to alcohol use in the population of homeless people admitted to hospital emergency departments (EDs).

Material and method:

Data were analysed from three hospitals concerning stays of homeless people in three EDs in Bydgoszcz, Poland, in 2013–2015; 3133 stays were identified. The data were compiled using Microsoft Excel and Statistica 10 statistical software.

Results:

At the time of admission to EDs, 31% of homeless people were considered to be under the influence of alcohol. Diagnoses related to alcohol use accounted for 25% of all diagnoses. The average blood alcohol concentration in the patients was 2.97 per mille. The average blood alcohol concentration in the group of men was significantly higher than that in the group of women ( p = 0.015). The average length of stay in the ED of patients under the influence of alcohol was significantly longer ( p < 0.0001) than among sober patients.

Conclusions:

Homeless people under the influence of alcohol account for a third of the population of homeless patients admitted to hospital emergency departments, while alcohol-related ICD-10 diagnoses account for a fourth of all diagnoses in these patients. Homeless patients under the influence of alcohol stay longer in hospital emergency departments than do sober homeless people, which may translate into more frequent acts of aggression towards medical personnel. In Poland there are no systemic ED-level solutions as regards dealing with homeless patients for whom alcohol dependence is in many cases a reality.
Simmel’s (non-human) humanism: On Simmel’s ‘ethics of endings and futures’
Authors: Featherstone Mark
Published: May 2020

Given the recent non-human turn in sociology and the social sciences, the popularity of theories of entanglement, and contemporary concern with the concept of the anthropocene, it is easy to forget that classical sociology was always-already aware of the relationship between humanity and non-humanity. Although Daniel Chernilo focuses upon the debate between Sartre and Heidegger in his recent Debating Humanity, and contrasts Sartre’s Humanism with Heidegger’s Anti-Humanism to frame his exploration of the limits of the human in contemporary social theory, we could easily locate the same concern with the human and its relationship to the nonhuman in Marx, Tarde, and centrally for the purposes of this article, the work of Georg Simmel. Expanding upon this insight concerning the relevance of Simmel’s work for understanding our ‘entangled present’, the purpose of this article is to explore Simmel’s work and recent interpretations of his sociology that seek to project Simmelian thought into the future in significantly different ways. To this end, the article critically engages with Pyyhtinen’s recent reading of Simmel’s work that focuses upon his legacy with a view of exploring his future through consideration of (1) Fitzi’s exploration of Simmel’s ethics of the individual, (2) Kemple’s turn to Simmel’s religiosity, and finally (3) Beer’s reading of the late Simmel, who, I suggest might inform the emergence of a kind of non-human humanism capable of thinking beyond the mortal limits of the anthropocene that paradoxically imagines its own post-human immortality.
Can firm innovativeness affect performance? The role of external involvement
Authors: Li Yi , Li Gang , Zhang Ying , Xu Jinpeng
Published: May 2020

This research attempts to complement ongoing discussions on the effects of firm innovativeness on performance and explain the role of external involvement in the relationship between firm innovativeness and performance in B2B settings. More importantly, we investigate the effect of supplier involvement, customer involvement, and the interaction of both in the process of innovativeness, and explain how customer involvement and supplier involvement take effects in B2B settings. Using the perspective of organizational information processing theory, we apply the hierarchical regression to examine the moderation effects of external involvement on the relationship between firm innovativeness and performance. Findings show that in B2B settings customer involvement strengthens the positive effects of firm innovativeness on performance, whereas supplier involvement weakens the positive effects of firm innovativeness on performance. We also find that the interaction of customer involvement and supplier involvement weakens the positive effects of firm innovativeness on performance in B2B settings. These conclusions contribute to the knowledge of external involvement and firm innovativeness in B2B settings, and provide theoretical contributions and managerial insights for both academics and practitioners.
Juggling, ‘reading’ and everyday magic: ECEC professionalism as acts of balancing unintended consequences
Authors: Aabro Christian
Published: May 2020

This paper analyses the consequences of what are regarded as neoliberal developments within the Danish ECEC area. More specifically, it looks at how an increasing monitoring and regulation affects the ECEC educator’s sense of professionalism. Drawing on a qualitative study of educators’ interactionist accounts, a series of unintended consequences is identified that seriously challenge them in their daily work. Previous research has pointed out the risk that this can lead to a process of deprofessionalization, in the sense that it limits professional autonomy and reduces the educators to mere policy implementers or ‘technicians’. But as I will demonstrate, a ground-up perspective on the reaction of the ECEC educators reveals degrees of agency and discretion that adds to this discussion, pointing towards not only deprofessisonalization, but also new forms of professionalism.
Ethics in Photovoice: A Response to Teti
Authors: Rosemberg Marie-Anne S. , Evans-Agnew Robin
Published: May 2020

Much has been written about the Photovoice method. With the pervasive uptake of this method, debates about its use and ethical considerations will continue to permeate qualitative researchers’ work. Thus, the timeliness of Teti’s 2019 paper about ethical considerations for Photovoice methods. We concur with Teti’s take on the method. We also further had the discussion on Photovoice ethics by emphasizing that (1) as Photovoice methods evolve, so too should ethical considerations, (2) though processes may vary, there are standard ethical considerations that must be adhered to in Photovoice research, and (3) researcher intentionality is important in considering the digital image as a driver of social change. The potential for Photovoice to contribute to social change remains appealing, especially given the current disparaging economic, political, social, and environmental climate.
Time-varying dynamic analysis for a helical gear pair system with three-dimensional motion due to bearing deformation
Authors: Chen Ying-Chung
Published: May 2020

The dynamic response of a helical gear pair system is investigated. A new dynamic model for a helical gear pair system, considering three-dimensional motion due to bearing deformation, is proposed. The proposed model considers the helix angle, gear pair center distance, transverse pressure angle, and the contact ratio as time-dependent variables, which are considered as constants in other models. In fact, three-dimensional motion due to bearing deformation will lead to the changes in a series of dynamic responses. The system equations of motion were obtained by applying Lagrange’s equation and the dynamic responses are computed by the fourth-order Runge–Kutta method. The time-varying dynamic displacements, helix angle, gear pair center distance, transverse pressure angle, and the contact ratio are investigated with bearing deformation, different radial bear stiffness, different axial bear stiffness, and gear eccentricity. The results show that, due to the time-varying effect, this new helical gear pair model provides more accurate dynamic responses than those previous models which are considered as constant. In the future, this study can provide some useful information for the time-varying dynamic design of a helical gear pair system.
Improving the safety of resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta – Compliant versus semi-compliant balloon systems
Authors: Madurska Marta J , Franklin Curtis , Richmond Michael , Adnan Sakib M , Stansby Gerard P , White Joseph M , Morrison Jonathan J
Published: May 2020

Objectives

Resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta is an alternative to resuscitative thoracotomy in non-compressible torso haemorrhage. Low-profile, compliant balloon catheter systems have been developed, which can be deployed without the need for fluoroscopy. However, concern exists for over inflation and aortic injury, especially as compliant balloon material can stretch reducing syringe feedback and limiting the effectiveness of a safety valve. An alternative material would be a semi-compliant balloon material, but its performance is unknown. The aim of this study was to compare the inflation characteristics of compliant versus semi-compliant balloon systems and to determine whether a pressure relief safety valve can be practically applied to a semi-compliant balloon catheter as a safety device.

Methods

This was an ex vivo study using porcine segments of thoracic aorta. The study consisted of two phases. The first phase involved intermittent inflation of six compliant balloon and six semi-compliant balloon balloons until balloon or aortic rupture. In the second phase, six semi-compliant balloons with the pressure-relief valve set at 0.45 atmospheres were inflated in the aortas until the valve release, followed by injection with additional 30 mL. Data including pressure, volume, balloon working length, diameter and circumferential stretch ratio were collected.

Results

At failure, mean balloon volume was almost double in compliant balloon group vs semi-compliant balloon group – 49.83 mL (±23.25) and 25.16 mL (±8.93), respectively ( p = 0.004), with 36% increase in working length in the compliant balloon group – 81.17 mm (±19.11) vs 59.49 (±4.86) for semi-compliant balloon ( p = 0.023). When plotted, the relationship pattern between volume and pressure fit a linear model for the compliant balloon, and a quadratic model for the semi-compliant balloon. Following attempted over inflation with the pressure valve, there was no change in parameters before and after attempted over inflation.

Conclusions

The inflation profile differs between balloon designs. In contrast to semi-compliant balloons, compliant balloons will accommodate more volume to mitigate increase in pressure. This does not completely eliminate the risk of over inflation. The inflation characteristics of the semi-compliant balloon permit pairing it with a safety valve, which could lead to a development of a safer balloon technology in the future.