bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Teaching methods emphasizing phonological forms enhance L2 vocabulary learning
Authors: Chapuis Nathalie Dherbey , Berthele Raphaël
Published: September 2024

The present study aims to measure the effects of the teaching of second language (L2) phonological forms on L2 receptive vocabulary learning. Two teaching methods were compared in a pre- and delayed post-test to evaluate their impact on L2 word learning. Participants ( n = 127; mean age = 12;6, i.e. 12 years and 6 months) were randomly divided in two groups that followed either an explicit teaching method focused on L2 phonological forms, or a communicative teaching method focused on meaning, in which L2 phonological forms were taught implicitly. The teaching methods in the two groups aimed to foster the skills and the learning of phonological forms involved in the development of receptive vocabulary. The two teaching methods trained the same skills and relied on the same vocabulary. They both targeted the phonological forms of two difficult phonemic contrasts in French as a foreign language. The two teaching sequences took place during mandatory lessons in French as a foreign language for six weeks (12 lessons), in a Swiss state school. Generalized mixed models were fitted to the data to test for differences across teaching methods in their impact on L2 word learning. Overall, the results indicate that participants made significant progress in word learning, with no significant differences between the two teaching methods. Pronunciation, discrimination, retention in verbal working memory, and the mastery of phoneme–grapheme correspondences are significant factors of vocabulary learning in French as foreign language. The teaching of L2 phonological representations and the training of their processing facilitated the learning of words in L2 French. However, the teaching of vocabulary in French as a foreign language rarely involves a focus on phonological representations.
Interthinking in asynchronous online talk: A study of Hong Kong English as a second language learners
Authors: Chan Zenia , Chung Vivaldi
Published: September 2024

Engaging in productive forms of classroom talk has been shown to positively impact students’ thinking and language exposure. To maximize the effects of classroom talk on students who learn English as a second language (ESL) and to create more learning opportunities by leveraging the affordances of dialogic teaching in enabling interthinking, this study set out to explore the influence of asynchronous online talk on students’ thinking through a micro-blogging tool, Padlet. Twenty-five students from a local secondary school were recruited. They were asked to post their views on current news articles and conduct dialogues with one another through the commenting function. After the discussion, the students were invited to self-evaluate the process of the discussion. Five students were also invited to participate in semi-structured interviews. Results indicated that the asynchronous online talk had the potential to broaden and deepen students’ thinking through the creation and maintenance of their intermental development zone (IDZ). The talk also facilitated the internalization of co-constructed ideas for individual production. Drawing from these findings, it is recommended that the conceptualization of interthinking could capitalize on students’ self-evaluation and that the evaluative stage could be structured in interactive tasks in future instructional practices.
Parental experiences of raising an autistic child in Ireland: A qualitative thematic analysis
Authors: Whelan Sally , Caulfield Niall , O’Doherty Sinéad , Mannion Arlene , Leader Geraldine
Published: September 2024

The quality of life of autistic children and their parents is impacted by the stress they experience, their coping strategies and the availability of professional health, social and educational support services. Recent changes in the structural organisation of child disability professional supports in Ireland mean that in-depth knowledge about current experiences of parenting autistic children is necessary. This qualitative study explored parents’ perceptions and experiences regarding their challenges, stress levels, coping strategies and professional support services. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with six parents of autistic children aged 4 to 16 years. Thematic analysis identified three core themes: ‘The Autism Journey: Challenges and Rewards’, ‘Navigating a Flawed Support System’ and ‘The Importance of Social and Professional Supports’. Findings emphasised that parents face endless challenges in caring for autistic children. Dealing with autism-based support services, however, is the greatest stressor experienced by parents. It revealed that the system to access services is experienced as difficult and parents consider it is operating inadequately. This reveals a pressing need to improve systems that provide professional support services to autistic children and their families.

Lay abstract

Parenting an autistic child can be a challenging experience. Parents of autistic children often require social and professional support to cope with the various stresses they encounter and to ensure their children achieve their optimal potential. Recently, the way professional supports are organised in Ireland has changed. Very little previous recent research has investigated parents’ experiences of raising an autistic child in Ireland. This study interviewed six parents asking them about their challenges, stress levels, coping strategies and their perceptions regarding professional support services. The data from these interviews were organised into themes. A major finding was that parents felt the healthcare system was failing to provide help for their children, and that support services in Ireland can cause more parental distress than dealing with their child’s difficulties. Other causes of parental stress included the child’s behaviours that they found challenging, stigma, a lack of awareness about autism and isolation. This study shows that both autistic children and their parents are at increased risk of developing mental health problems due to a flawed healthcare system that requires improvement urgently.
Rental housing and the continuum of carcerality
Authors: Reosti Anna , Kurwa Rahim , Bartram Robin
Published: September 2024

Existing research on housing and the carceral state demonstrates a divergence in the carceral state's orientation toward property owners and the unhoused. We focus on the liminal arena of rental housing and draw on three cases—landlords’ use of criminal history to screen rental applicants, citizen participation in policing neighborhoods, and crime initiatives that weaponize building code enforcement—to posit a continuum of housing carcerality. We argue that the carceral regulation of rental housing emerges from sources in civil law and policy, illustrating the enduring relevance of what Beckett and Murakawa call the shadow carceral state. Yet, in the rental context, the carceral state tends to have a more covert, decentralized character which does not consistently align with the economic interests of rental property owners and other housing market elites in comparison to its manifestation at the ends of the continuum.
Conceptualizing gossip as a counterdiscourse: Alternative ways of publicly alleging sexual misconduct in an online groupie community
Authors: He Renyi , Huang Xiaoyun
Published: September 2024

Gossiping has historically been constructed as a morally problematic and evil-natured activity in ways that stigmatize and oppress the communicative activities of women. The association of public accusations of sexual misconduct with gossip can effectively discredit and refute the accusation by the victims. However, gossip is taken as a credible source to expose the misconduct of musicians in a Chinese online groupie community, where fans can freely expose musicians’ sexual misbehaviors in a way that they cannot outside of this place. By conceptualizing gossip as a counterdiscourse, this study explored how gossip can help female fans reject the widely accepted ways of making public allegations of sexual misconduct and counter the unequal distribution of communicative spaces for them to make these claims. This study calls for more attention to the contribution that gossip can make in helping marginalized social groups counter the restriction and stigmatization of their communicative actions.
Divergent views of party positions: How ideology and own issue position shape party perception through convergence and divergence processes
Authors: Schul Yaacov , Ganzach Yoav
Published: September 2024

The current research explores how respondents’ ideology influences their perception of political parties’ stances on various issues. Additionally, we examine how three distinct indicators of ideological strength—congruence between ideology and party affiliation, level of education, and engagement in political activities—affect these perceptions. Our empirical analyses rely on data from the 1968–2012 Cumulative American National Election Study dataset, which captures respondents’ views on the stances of US political parties regarding ten key issues. We find that, after controlling for respondents’ own issue positions, (i) perceptions of the positions held by the opponent party are strongly influenced by respondents’ ideologies, and (ii) this influence is more pronounced among individuals with stronger ideological convictions, as indicated by the three aforementioned indicators. Conversely, when examining perceptions of one’s favored party, ideology demonstrates a weak and inconsistent effect across the three markers of ideological strength. We discuss theoretical frameworks that may elucidate these findings, their implications for understanding political polarization, and we acknowledge limitations related to the dataset’s characteristics.
The indoor thermal environment performance of various air-conditioning system configurations and airflow modes in a large space museum building
Authors: Zhang Qunli , Fu Xinyi , Liu Tao , Zou Yue , Jiang Feng
Published: September 2024

Optimizing air distribution in site museums is crucial for the long-term protection of heritage sites and the thermal comfort of visitors and staff. This study examined a site museum, analyzing the traditional suspended ceiling air-conditioning system and proposing a more rational renovation. Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical simulations, the study evaluated the effects of both systems on site protection and thermal comfort. The results indicated that the retrofit scheme could significantly reduce the indoor air velocity and temperature with the same air supply parameters, which would improve human thermal comfort and also reduce the negative impact of temperature and wind speed on the site. Additionally, the retrofit scheme cut air-conditioning energy consumption by 40% and reduced initial investment costs for a unit with a rated airflow of 62,000 m³/h. The optimization of the air-conditioning system ends was also carefully considered, resulting in a safer and easier installation and maintenance process, as well as enhancing the visual appeal of the museum’s interior. The proposed retrofit scheme can provide a reference for the design of air-conditioning systems in similar types of buildings.
Segmentalized amplitude normalization in feature extraction technique for diagnostics enhancement of bearing deterioration under varying speeds
Authors: Wu Tian-Yau , Lin Yo-Sen
Published: September 2024

This research investigated the feasibility of applying hardware order-tracking (HOT) and segmentalized amplitude normalization (SAN) to enhance the diagnosis of multiple bearing defects at different levels under varying rotation speeds. The vibration of operating bearings may present an energy variation phenomenon due to different levels of bearing defects, while the fluctuation of vibration amplitude may be attributable to changes in rotation speeds. These two factors inevitably interfere with each other when diagnosing bearing defects at multiple levels and classes under varying rotation speeds. In this paper, the research focuses on conducting an in-depth analysis of signal signatures, followed by providing a physical insight into feature extraction. Consequently, it enables the application of simple machine learning methods to accurately diagnose various bearing defects, even when dealing with significantly different patterns in training and testing data due to varying rotation speeds. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed SAN method for cases involving varying rotation speeds, the training and testing sets used datasets (vibration measurements) corresponding to different rotation speed profiles. The experimental and analytical results revealed that the proposed SAN method can normalize datasets with disparate vibration patterns, and alleviate the coupling of vibration energy variation and shaft rotation speed. This enhancement resulted in approximately 18.6% increase in the accuracy of bearing diagnosis for cases involving varying rotation speeds.
Design and evaluation of self-tuning optimal control for vibration suppression of magnetorheological semi-active suspension
Authors: Li Gang , Gan Yu , Liu Qianjie , Xie Miaojin , Huang Qingsheng , Zeng Liping
Published: September 2024

The objective of this paper is to enhance the vibration damping capabilities of magnetorheological (MR) semi-active suspension by utilizing a self-tuning LQG control method. Firstly, to determine the mechanical model of MR damper using the hyperbolic tangent model, mechanical experiments were performed with a damping force test machine under various input excitations. Experimental and simulation data were compared to confirm the accuracy of the mechanical model for MR damper. The MR damper is then incorporated into the vehicle’s semi-active suspension system to create a quarter-car suspension model. In order to tackle the problems associated with low control accuracy and poor dynamic adjustment in traditional LQG controllers where the weighting matrix coefficients are difficult to determine, a self-tuning LQG controller based on gravity search algorithm (GSA-LQG) was designed. Finally, the designed controller performance was evaluated by the simulation and experimental results obtained from the random and sinusoidal excitation roads. Experimental data reveal that when subjected to GSA-LQG control, the suspension control performance is considerably enhanced compared to the passive control, PID control and conventional LQG control suspension. Based on these outcome, it can be concluded that the proposed algorithm is effective and the experimental platform is feasible.
The production of destruction: How employee values shape platform afterlives
Authors: Corry Frances
Published: September 2024

This article addresses how platform closure is produced by drawing on interviews with former employees of MySpace, the social media platform popular in the mid-2000s. Focusing on how staff grappled with user-generated content and user data while sunsetting an old version of the MySpace platform in 2011 to make way for a newly configured MySpace platform that debuted in 2013, it chronicles the decisions that platform employees were faced with while closing a platform, and the values and worldviews that ultimately shaped what remained of the old site. The article shows that sunsetting a platform and acts of technological destruction more generally are not arbitrary or neutral processes with fixed outcomes, but rather processes of sociotechnical production that vary in consequential ways.
Moral orders of pleasing the algorithm
Authors: Haapoja Jesse , Savolainen Laura , Reinikainen Hanna , Lehtiniemi Tuukka
Published: September 2024

This article examines how ‘pleasing the algorithm’, or engaging with algorithms to gain rewards such as visibility for one’s content on digital platforms, is treated from a moral perspective. Drawing from Harré’s work on moral orders, our qualitative analysis of Reddit messages focused on social media content creation illustrates how so-called folk theories of algorithms are used for moral evaluations about the responsibilities and worthiness of different actors. Moral judgements of the actions of content creators encompass ideas of individuals and their agency in relation to algorithmic systems, and these ideas influence the assessment of algorithm-pleasing as an integral part of the craft, as condemnable behaviour, or as a necessary evil. In this way, the feedback loops that arrange people and code into algorithmic systems inevitably make theories about those systems also theories about humans and their behaviour and agency.
Citizen journalism revisited: A case study of Kenya’s kibera news network
Authors: Sobel Cohen Meghan , Mwaura Job , McIntyre Karen
Published: September 2024

In an evolving media landscape, the prominence and influence of citizen journalism has grown markedly, challenging historical norms and providing alternative narratives. While traditional journalism has been guided by objectivity, autonomy, and ethics, its representation has been questioned, especially in marginalised communities like Kibera, a neighbourhood in Nairobi, Kenya. Scholars have shed light on the transformational role of journalism and the ensuing need for democratisation in its practice, acknowledging the challenge it faces in representing diverse sections of the population. Using Kibera News Network (KNN) as a case study, this mixed methods study looks at the extent to which citizen journalists, despite lacking formal training, uphold and perhaps even redefine traditional journalistic principles. Utilising a qualitative content analysis of KNN videos and in-depth interviews with citizen journalists in Kibera, findings suggest that these citizen journalists exhibit a solid commitment to ethical reporting, emphasising accuracy and fairness, perhaps due to these journalists being citizens in their community—a community that has been marginalised and misrepresented—and thus experience a heightened sense of belonging. KNN citizen journalists also demonstrate high levels of autonomy and journalism ethics and are unburdened by the political and financial pressures that shape some mainstream media narratives. Taken together, findings suggest that the citizen journalist work of KNN contributes to multiple civic outcomes, including neighbourhood belonging and collective efficacy, which leads to civic participation.
Hyperloop’s role in tourism and hospitality: Challenges and opportunities
Authors: Kang Sung-Eun , Erul Emrullah , Chung Namho , Kim Myung Ja , Koo Chulmo
Published: September 2024

This study provides a comprehensive examination of the potential impacts of Hyperloop technology on the tourism and hospitality sectors, offering strategic insights for stakeholders to address upcoming challenges and opportunities. Through an extensive literature review, we identify several ways in which Hyperloop travel could transform these sectors. Potential benefits include enabling seamless multi-destination day trips, promoting culinary tourism, enhancing the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE) sector, and generating employment around Hyperloop hubs. However, Hyperloop may also reduce bookings in traditional accommodations, decrease interest in conventional air and rail travel, limit tourist exploration to destinations within the Hyperloop network, and decline in travel expenditure in a specific location. These findings have significant practical implications, providing valuable guidance to tourism and hospitality businesses and policymakers as they prepare for the commercialization of Hyperloop technology.
Troubling go-alongs through the lens of care
Authors: Larrington-Spencer Harriet , Verlinghieri Ersilia , Lawlor Emma , Aldred Rachel
Published: September 2024

Go alongs are a popular research method for studying everyday mobility practices, providing insight into embodied experiences of engaging with lived environments. Generally considered positive and productive, there is increasingly discussion of go-along interviews as emotionally, cognitively and physically demanding. We consider care an essential component of go-along interviews. However, this has been overlooked in scholarship; particularly the relationality of care, including care of the researcher. We provide four vignettes discussing our experiences of conducting 118 go-along interviews with residents living in or near London Low Traffic Neighbourhoods. Reflecting on care-full encounters, we highlight the role of reciprocity, solidarity, and mutual understanding, strengthened by the recognition of shared experiences. Reflecting on care-less encounters, we highlight how, by disrupting traditional research hierarchies, go-along interviews can expose marginalised and stigmatised researchers to abuse. Overall, our vignettes demonstrate that care is a relationally produced, shared accomplishment involving both the researcher and the participant.
Towards a monumental experience: Fandom and corporate imaginary within the LEGO inside tour
Authors: Botorić Vlada
Published: September 2024

Global car, fashion, and media brands invite enthusiasts to participate in corporate values through brand museums, visitor centers, and factory tours. Those guided tours offer a means to engage their fanbase with the product/service in a more interactive and immersive manner. This study has in its focus the LEGO Inside Tour as a branded assembled spatial story of experiential consumption. Rather than focusing on theme parks as a historically proven place-based engagements with the industry, this study embarks on a journey into a consumer experience via architectural, material and performative inside tour created by the LEGO Group as a corporate engagement strategy filled with commodified meanings of fandom and nostalgia. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork as a participant observer during the 3-day LEGO Inside Tour in Denmark, the author will discuss the externalization of LEGO brand values into meaningful spaces with symbols of LEGO corporate culture and nostalgia. Finally, the study offers a contextualization of a monumental experience in brand-related places and its role in the contemporary fandom.
Effect of preload scatter on fatigue life of subsea pipeline connector bolts located at suspended span section
Authors: Xie Huan , Zeng Wei , Zhu Dong-run , Sun Wen , Song Hong
Published: September 2024

The subsea pipeline connector (SPC) located at suspended span section not only bears the internal pressure from the oil and nature gas of the pipeline, but also needs to withstand the periodic drag force generated by vortex-induced vibration (VIV). This situation may cause fatigue failure of the flange connector fastening bolts. Reasonable preload value can reduce the fatigue stress and improve the fatigue life of the SPC bolts. This paper establishes a calculation model of the SPC drag force under VIV located at suspended span section. Normal distribution function is used to establish random models of preload for corner control pretension method and hydraulic tension pretension method considering the scatter of the preload value. On this basis, the stochastic finite element model (S-FEM) of SPC bolts is established to analyze bolts force under random preload considering VIV. The regression equation of strain-life for smooth fatigue specimens of bolt materials is applied to obtain preload-fatigue life curves of SPC bolts under different pretension methods. Then it is used to analyze the preload scatter on fatigue life of SPC bolts located at suspended span section. The analysis results indicate that the fatigue life dispersion of SPC bolts pre tightened by hydraulic tension pretension method is smaller compared with the corner control pretension method. Compared with the preload value determined by ASME code, increasing the SPC bolts preload appropriately can improve the fatigue life of SPC fastening bolts located at suspended span section.
Crack analysis of tall concrete wind towers using an ad-hoc deep multiscale encoder–decoder with depth separable convolutions under severely imbalanced data
Authors: Deng Jianghua , Hua Linxin , Lu Ye , Song Yang , Singh Amardeep , Che Jiao , Li Yang
Published: September 2024

An accurate and timely cracking assessment, including the presence, location and crack geometric feature measurement, is crucial for evaluating concrete wind towers. Therefore, the early identification of cracks is a critical procedure in promptly evaluating structural integrity. This study proposed an ad-hoc encoder–decoder network based on DeepLabv3+ with depth separable convolutions to automatically segment cracks from real-world images captured from various concrete wind towers. The combined advantages of the improved DeepLabv3+ and the lightweight MobileNet v2 are suitable as a benchmark due to their high performance and universality. Four experiments were conducted to determine the model design choice and crack feature measurement capability: (1) six parametric tests using various pre-trained base networks and algorithm optimisers, (2) the influence of complex background noise (i.e., handwriting script) on crack segmentation performance, (3) comparative studies with cutting-edge pixel-wise segmentation models and (4) crack feature measurement (i.e., length and width). The research outcome demonstrated that DeepLabv3+ with MobileNet v2 can potentially be applied for efficient and accurate crack segmentation in concrete wind towers with complex backgrounds.
Guest editorial: Considering the global-local relationships in education
Authors: Choo Liyun Wendy , Sarpong Joshua
Published: September 2024

This special issue of Policy Futures in Education invited authors to consider and re-consider the global-local relationship in education policies. Collectively, the articles in this special issue reflect the dominant perspectives among scholars and practitioners interested in research on globalisation and education, where studies investigated how intertwined worldwide discourses, processes, and institutions affect local educational practices and policies. They underscore both structural and agency processes and the cultural divergences that emerged locally as local institutions and players recontextualise and remake these global policies and discourses. Most articles begin with the narrative of how intergovernmental organisations such as UNESCO, the OECD and the World Bank contributed to disseminating worldwide discourses on human capital and lifelong learning for economic development, which are reflected in many national education policy documents. In line with the dominant perspectives on globalisation and education, the authors largely frame globalisation as a realm of reality with agency that interacts with and transforms another realm of existence, the local. They then demonstrate how the local dimension is and can also be agentic in that local governments, institutions, and people did not adopt these global initiatives wholesale; they adapted and transformed these initiatives to suit the local contexts and needs, resulting in various local variations. Overall, the collection of papers highlights how the global-local relationship is a multi-layered process involving diffusion, adoption, and adaptation.
The role of high mobility group box-1 on the development of diabetes complications: A plausible pharmacological target
Authors: Ngcobo Nokwanda N , Sibiya Ntethelelo H
Published: September 2024

Background

Diabetes mellitus has emerged as a pressing global concern, with a notable increase in recent years. Despite advancements in treatment, existing medications struggle to halt the progression of diabetes and its associated complications. Increasing evidence underscores inflammation as a significant driver in the onset of diabetes mellitus. Therefore, perspectives on new therapies must consider shifting focus from metabolic stress to inflammation. High mobility group box (HMGB-1), a nuclear protein regulating gene expression, gained attention as an endogenous danger signal capable of sparking inflammatory responses upon release into the extracellular environment in the late 1990s.

Purpose

Given the parallels between inflammatory responses and type 2 diabetes (T2D) development, this review paper explores HMGB-1’s potential involvement in onset and progression of diabetes complications. Specifically, we will review and update the understanding of HMGB-1 and its inflammatory pathways in insulin resistance, diabetic nephropathy, diabetic neuropathy, and diabetic retinopathy.

Conclusions

HMGB-1 and its receptors i.e. receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) and toll-like receptors (TLRs) present promising targets for antidiabetic interventions. Ongoing and future projects in this realm hold promise for innovative approaches targeting HMGB-1-mediated inflammation to ameliorate diabetes and its complications.
The Impact of Rape Myth Education on Jury Decision-Making: A Systematic Review
Authors: Hudspith Lara Flynn , Wager Nadia , Willmott Dominic , Gallagher Bernard
Published: September 2024

A systematic review of research exploring the impact of providing rape myth countering information to mock-jurors was conducted. The primary aim of the review was to inform the development of an educational intervention for jurors to reduce potential bias in their decision-making based on belief in prevalent rape myths. In total, the following 12 databases were searched: British Education Index, CINAHL, Child Development and Adolescent Studies, Criminal Justice Abstracts, Educational Administration Abstracts, ERIC, MEDLINE, PsycArticles, PsycInfo, PubMed, Scopus, and Social Care Online. The databases were filtered to return peer-reviewed publications, written in English, and published between 1980 and 2023. The search returned 6,119 potential articles. After duplicates were removed, the 3,202 remaining publications were screened. Only studies that presented rape myth countering information to participants within a mock-juror paradigm were included. Studies that did not compare an information condition to a no-information control condition were excluded, as were those which concerned male rape myths, given the focus on female rape myth beliefs in this review. Eight studies were reviewed and were critically appraised according to validity criteria utilized by Dinos et al. Some evidence emerged to suggest that the provision of judicial directions, expert witness testimony, and complainant statements regarding rape myths can impact upon jury decision-making although the findings were mixed overall. Study limitations regarding internal and external validity were frequently present. Recommendations regarding future research questions and methods are advanced, including those that can inform the development of an effective intervention for jurors.
Prevalence and Correlates of Intimate Partner Violence Among Women and Men in Mexico: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Authors: Cénat Jude Mary , Amédée Laetitia Mélissande , Onesi Olivia , Darius Wina Paul , Barara Raina , González Villarreal Daniela , Moshirian Farahi Seyed Mohammad Mahdi , Labelle Patrick R. , Hébert Martine
Published: September 2024

This article presents the first systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence and correlates of different forms of intimate partner violence (IPV) among women and men in Mexico. To identify studies, a comprehensive search strategy was developed and executed across 11 databases (Academic Search Complete, APA PsycInfo, CINAHL, Cochrane CENTRAL, Embase, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, LILACS, MEDLINE, SciELO, Sociological Abstracts, Web of Science). From the 1,746 studies screened, 155 full-text articles were reviewed, and this systematic review included 27 studies involving 249,557 participants to determine the prevalence of physical, psychological, sexual, threats, and other forms of IPV, according to gender and other sociodemographic characteristics. Overall IPV prevalence was 16.4%, with significant differences across pregnant and non-pregnant women. Physical IPV prevalence was 14.7%, revealing higher rates in men (29.5%) compared to women (14.2%). Psychological IPV prevalence was 27.3% and sexual IPV was at 6.6%, with differences across evaluation periods. Threats and other IPV forms showed a prevalence rate of 14.2% and 21.5%. Meta-regression analyses included gender, education, marital status, rural residency, pregnancy, age, and evaluation period. This study demonstrates that IPV is a critical public health concern in Mexico, impacting both women and men. It shows the vulnerability of rural residents, youth, and pregnant women. However, understanding IPV complexities in Mexico requires nuanced considerations of demographic and situational contexts. Urgent initiatives from municipal, state, and federal governments are needed to combat IPV, focusing on prevention and support for affected individuals.
Court Navigators and Opportunities for Disseminating Overdose Prevention Strategies
Authors: Ray Bradley , Jensen Sarah , Desjardins Monica , Haggerty John , Larson Melissia
Published: September 2024

Objective. Describe how navigator programs from three New England states (Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts) function to connect individuals using court services to community-based treatment and services. Hypothesis. Implementation science frameworks can be used to analyze how multiple court programs function to inform replication and address gaps in the use of overdose prevention strategies. Method. The Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) Implementation informed semi-structured interviews as part of an exploratory mixed-methods analysis of court navigator programs. Analysis of interviews based on the TIDieR and administrative data on client contacts ( n = 436) were analyzed. A subsample of clients with additional background information ( n = 249) was used to examine court navigator recommendations. Results. The TIDieR revealed court navigator programs shared basic intervention characteristics but varied dramatically by resources and organization contexts. Nearly half (46.5%) of clients were self-referred and more than two-thirds (69.1%) approved follow-up but varied by program. Of those allowing follow-up, more than one-third (35.7%) had previously experienced an overdose. Court navigators were significantly more likely to refer clients with a history of overdose to locations where they can receive naloxone (the opioid overdose antidote) though only one program had naloxone on hand. Conclusion. Navigators are employed by community organizations with access to courthouses to provide resources to those passing through. These efforts can be implemented to support linkages to treatment and services but there is a significant gap in the allocation of overdose prevention strategies in court settings and court navigator programs have the potential to address this unmet need.
Comprehensive study of the off-axis mechanical behaviors of a Polytetrafluoroethylene‐ coated fabric after 23 Years of service at Shanghai stadium
Authors: Yang Bin , Yu Yueyang , Yang Yonghui , Zhang Qilin
Published: September 2024

Coated fabrics can experience mechanical performance degradation due to environmental factors and long-term stress during service. Hence, studying the mechanical behaviors of these materials after aging is crucial. While PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene)-coated fabrics are more commonly used than PVC (polyvinyl chloride)-coated fabrics, limited research exists on their performance after aging in practical engineering applications. PTFE-coated fabrics are primarily used in large-span fabric structures, where their mechanical performance under tensile-shear stress is crucial. This study aims to investigate the mechanical behaviors of PTFE-coated fabrics after practical aging under tension-shear stress. Test materials included decommissioned Saint-Gobain Sheerfill-II PTFE-coated fabrics, which had served for 23 years at Shanghai Stadium, and identical new fabrics. Monotonic tensile, central tearing, and cyclic tensile tests were conducted at seven different off-axis angles to compare the mechanical properties of aged fabrics with new fabrics, including tensile strength, tearing strength, modulus of elasticity, and ratcheting strain. Additionally, this study explored changes in failure mechanisms, tearing mechanisms, applicability of strength criteria, and suitability of the orthotropic model after aging. This provides a comprehensive understanding of the mechanical behaviors of aged PTFE-coated fabrics and valuable insights for engineering design.
Influence of honeycomb structures on fluids transmission and heat retention properties; An initiative towards stretchable weaves
Authors: Habib Ahmed , Draz Umar , Abbas Adeel , Shaker Khubab , Nawab Yasir , Seyam Abdel-Fattah M , Umair Muhammad
Published: September 2024

The aesthetics and functionality of honeycomb woven assemblies qualifies them for a range of applications expanding across home textiles, fashion, functional apparels, and technical products. Researchers have explored honeycomb assemblies with the focus on shrinkage, sound absorption, thermal conductivity, and heat protection properties analysis via variation in their cell sizes. However, very minimal research is found on analysis of honeycomb woven fabric assemblies’ thermal comfort characteristics by employing different weft insertion sequence and materials (cotton and stretchable yarns). This study reflects the thermal conductivity, dry fluid transmission (air permeability), wet fluid transmission (moisture management), and stiffness attributes of twelve stretchable honeycomb woven assemblies consisting of single ridge, double ridge, and brighton honeycomb weave structures along with different weft sequences of cotton and Type 400 (T-400) stretch yarns. Characterization data showed that single ridge honeycomb structure supports the highest dry fluid transmission property; however, brighton honeycomb offers the highest heat retention property. Double ridge honeycomb highlights the capability of the highest wet fluid transmission property, and brighton honeycomb has immense stiffness. Statistical analysis (ANOVA) also showed that honeycomb structures, weft yarn sequence and material have a statistically significant impact on thermal conductivity and fluid transmission behaviors with p-values less than 0.05.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Self-Compassion for Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Comorbid Major Depressive Disorder: A Case Study
Authors: Underwood Shannon B. , White Sara V. , Forsyth John P.
Published: September 2024

The current case describes the implementation of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and self-compassion interventions with a 37-year-old Queer Hispanic woman “Cynthia” (pseudonym). Cynthia presented to a university training clinic, reporting pervasive difficulties with anxiety, an associated pattern of depressive episodes, and a trauma history. The therapist conceptualized Cynthia’s presenting problems through an ACT-based psychological flexibility framework. Functional analysis indicated intolerance of uncertainty, fusion to self-critical thoughts, and experientially avoidant behaviors (e.g., pervasive worry) contributed to Cynthia’s anxiety. Values clarification, as well as mindfulness- and acceptance-based interventions, were met with gains in quality-of-life scores and decreases in worry scores as treatment progressed. Additionally, self-compassion interventions were implemented to address pervasive self-criticism and feelings of low self-worth. Across 37 sessions, from pre-to-post treatment, Cynthia’s quality of life scores increased by 62.5%, and worry decreased by 52.8%. These results provide support for using ACT and self-compassion interventions for anxiety and co-occurring depression with a Queer, Hispanic woman.
Inhibition of Myeloma Cell Function by Cannabinoid-Enriched Product Associated With Regulation of Telomere and TP53
Authors: Musa Ibrahim , Yang Nan , Breslin Joseph , Paulden Orion , Geliebter Jan , Tiwari Raj , Li Xiu-Min
Published: September 2024

Multiple myeloma is a hematological cancer caused by the uncontrolled proliferation of abnormal plasma cells in the bone marrow, leading to excessive immunoglobulin production. Our study aimed to examine the anticancer properties of BRF1A, a cannabinoid (CBD)-enriched product, on 2 myeloma cell lines: U266 and ARH-7. We treated U266 and ARH-77 myeloma cells with varying doses of BRF1A and measured the production of IgE and IgG antibodies using ELISA. Cell viability was assessed using trypan blue and CCK-8 assays. We measured the expression of genes related to the production of IgE and IgG antibodies, IgEH, and IgGH. We determined its effect on the expression of telomerase and its phosphorylated form as an indicator of telomere stabilization. Furthermore, we determined its effect on other cancer-related targets such as NF-ĸB, c-Myc, and TP53 in U266 cells using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blotting. BRF1A reduced myeloma cell IgE and IgG production in a time and dose-dependent manner. It also suppressed the expression of p-IκBα, p-NFκB (p65), and total NFκB protein, as well as XBP1u and XBP1s. It increased the gene and protein expression of telomere and hTERT and significantly increased cancer suppressor TP53 gene and p53 protein expression. Additionally, BRF1A decreased the c-Myc gene and protein expression. Our study has shown that a CBD-enriched product can reduce the growth of myeloma cells by suppressing the critical functions of IgE- and IgG-producing cells. This study could help bridge the gap in understanding how cannabinoid-containing products affect cancer, aging, telomere, and cancer-suppressor gene activity.
Understanding Computing Identity for Latina Students at a Hispanic-Serving Community College
Authors: Rodriguez Sarah L. , Kaur Antarjot
Published: September 2024

Entrenched in whiteness and toxic masculinity, the computing field makes it difficult for Latina students to see themselves in computing careers. This phenomenological study explored computing identity development for Latina students at a Hispanic-serving community college (HSCC). Latina students emphasized the importance of leveraging competence and various forms of community cultural wealth to shape computing identities. They also articulated how gendered societal norms and socio-economic concerns influenced their computing identity experiences at the HSCC.
A Randomized Controlled Trial on Automated Vehicle Technologies for Drivers With Parkinson’s Disease
Authors: Classen Sherrilene , Giang Wayne C. W. , Rajkhan Albraa , Zheng Haolan , Gibson Beth , Patel Bhavana , Winter Sandra , Jeghers Mary , Li Yuan , Ramirez-Zamora Adolfo
Published: September 2024

Parkinson’s disease (PD) negatively affects driver fitness. Few studies document the benefits of in-vehicle information systems (IVIS) and advanced-driver assistance systems (ADAS), the focus of this study, for drivers with PD. This study quantified the impact of IVIS and ADAS on the number of on-road driving errors. Drivers with PD ( N = 107) drove a vehicle equipped with IVIS and ADAS in traffic. The activation of IVIS and ADAS resulted in fewer driver errors. Specifically, adaptive cruise control reduced the number of speeding errors on the highway. Bradykinesia correlated with driving errors with deactivated systems. Memory impairments correlated with the total number of driving errors with activated systems. Impairments in executive function and visuospatial ability were associated with more errors during system deactivation. IVIS and ADAS reduced the total number of driving errors for PD drivers; ameliorated effects of individual variations; but memory declines posed a challenge while using these technologies.
A National Survey of Hospital Directors' Views about the Importance of Various Chaplain Roles: Differences among Disciplines and Types of Hospitals*
Authors: Flannelly Kevin J. , Handzo George F. , Div. M. , Galek Kathleen , Weaver Andrew J. , Overvold Jon A. , Div. M.
Published: September 2024

A national random sample of hospital directors was asked to rate the importance of seven categories of chaplain roles and functions: 246 nursing directors, 267 social services directors, 307 medical directors, and 611 pastoral care directors. All four groups rated end-of-life care, prayer, and emotional support as being between very important and extremely important. Other roles, including consultation, advocacy, community outreach, and religious services and rituals were rated significantly less important. Significant differences were found across disciplines and hospital settings (general, psychiatric, etc.). Medical directors rated most chaplain roles lower than other directors did, and directors in psychiatric hospitals rated all roles, except religious services/rituals, lower than their counterparts in other types of hospitals. The importance that directors accorded to all the haplain roles examined was also influenced by their own spirituality and religiosity a well as the religious afiiliation of their institution.
Christian Practices In Urban Clinical Pastoral Education
Authors: Sheehan Barbara , MA SP
Published: September 2024

This article addresses primarily a connecting link in ministerial formation through the incorporation of certain practices of Christianity within an urban CPE curriculum and the impact on the development of pastoral identity and pastoral practice. Though the focus is identified as Christian the implications and practices are adaptable within all religious and spiritual traditions. The student groups of this urban CPE program represent a wide diversity of cultures and religious traditions and an equal representation of men and women.
Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) on the Prairie
Authors: Murtagh Larry J. , Div. M.
Published: September 2024

While the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) method is usually employed in the health care setting and pointed toward the pastoral care of the sick, it can be adapted to the pastoral care and supervision of students doing ministry in the political, economic, and cultural systems of the rural community. In this article, the author, who speaks from thirty years of experience as a CPE supervisor in small towns in eastern South Dakota, describes his approach, an approach that emphasizes immersion in the general systems of struggling communities on the Great Plains. From his experience, he derives ten practical lessons that are applicable to CPE work in the rural context or in any pastoral setting.