bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Revisiting lorazepam challenge test: Clinical response with dose variations and utility for catatonia in a psychiatric emergency setting
Authors: Suchandra Hari Hara , Reddi Venkata Senthil Kumar , Aandi Subramaniyam Bhaskaran , Muliyala Krishna Prasad
Published: October 2020

Objective:

Catatonia can be life-threatening unless timely identified and treated. Lorazepam’s ubiquitous response has led to its universal acceptance as being the first-line management of catatonia and alludes to catatonia’s neurobiological underpinnings. Lorazepam challenge test (LCT) is widely used to either confirm a catatonia diagnosis or determine lorazepam sensitivity. It has a proposed schedule for administering lorazepam. However, efficacy of recommended LCT doses lack systematic evidence, resulting in variable LCT doses used in clinical and research settings contributing to findings that are challenging to generalize or assist with developing standardized lorazepam treatment protocols for catatonia. Given the same, this study aimed to objectively compare the response between two groups receiving different LCT doses and factors influencing the same.

Methods:

The 6-month study in a psychiatric emergency setting at a tertiary neuropsychiatric center in India evaluated 57 catatonia patients, before and after administration of single 2 mg ( n = 37; LCT-2) or 4 mg ( n = 20; LCT-4) lorazepam dose, applying Bush Francis Catatonia Rating Scale (BFCRS), Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI 5.0) and obtaining sociodemographic, clinical data.

Results:

No between-group differences (LCT-2 vs LCT-4) for sociodemographic, clinical profiles or BFCRS severity score changes to lorazepam on Mann–Whitney U test were noted. Applying Wilcoxon signed rank test comparing individual sign severity demonstrated response variability, with significant response noted to both doses (stupor, mutism, staring, posturing, withdrawal, ambitendency, automatic obedience) and others selectively to 2 mg (echolalia, rigidity, negativism, mitgehen). Notably, sign resolution (present/absent) only to 2 mg was significant for stupor, mutism, staring, posturing, echolalia, rigidity, negativism and mitgehen.

Conclusion:

This study suggests 2 mg lorazepam may be an optimal LCT dose, given significant response to most catatonic signs thereby ensuring accurate detection and preventing misinterpretation of response. It offers future studies direction for standardizing lorazepam dosing schedules for catatonia management and exploring neurobiological underpinnings for individual catatonic signs that may be potentially different, given these findings.
Simulation analysis and experimental study on high frequency friction noise of vehicle V-ribbed belts
Authors: Shi Yaochen , Zhao Tianxiang , Ning Kai , Tang Wusheng
Published: October 2020

In order to improve the service life of the V-ribbed belt and the ride comfort of the vehicle, the friction noise of V-ribbed belt was studied by simulation and experiment. A theoretical model of V-ribbed belts vibration is established, and the conditions for unstable vibration are derived. Based on the theory of mode coupling, the causes of high frequency friction noise of V-ribbed belts are analyzed, and it is considered that the coupling between the vibration of the V-ribbed belts and the natural frequency of the belts’ cross section causes the self-excited vibration of the belt, resulting in high frequency friction noise. Firstly, ANSYS Workbench is used to identify the belts’ cross sections with 3, 4, and 6 wedges, and the natural frequencies of the belts’ cross sections are obtained. Then on the belt drive friction tester, the influences of tension and relative sliding speed on the frequency of high frequency friction noise is studied using a single factor test method, and the frequency response curve of high frequency friction noise is also analyzed. The results of the experiment and simulation show that the transverse vibration of the V-ribbed belts is closely related to the phase and amplitude of the high frequency friction noise, and the changes in tension and relative sliding speed do not affect the frequency of the high frequency friction noise. The frequency of high frequency friction noise has a good consistency with the natural frequency of belts’ cross section, which shows that mode coupling causes the strong self-excited vibration of the V-ribbed belts and the high frequency friction noise. It provides a method and theoretical basis for the control of friction noise.
Aesthetic Evaluation of Computer Icons: Visual Pattern Differences Between Art-Trained and Lay Raters of Icons
Authors: Hu Zhiguo , Wang Xinrui , Hu Xinkui , Lei Xiaofang , Liu Hongyan
Published: October 2020

Adopting eye-tracking measures, we explored the influence of art experience on the aesthetic evaluation of computer icons. Participants were 27 college students with art training and 27 laypersons. Both groups rated icons of varying complexity and symmetry for “beauty” while we recorded participants’ eye movements. Results showed that art-trained participants viewed the icons with more eye fixations and had shorter scanning paths than participants in the non-art group, suggesting that art-trained participants processed the icons more deliberately. In addition, we observed an interaction effect between art experience and symmetry. For asymmetrical icons, art-trained participants’ ratings tended to be higher than those of lay persons; for symmetric icons, there was no such rater difference. The different visual patterns associated with aesthetic evaluations by these two participant groups suggest that art experience plays a pivotal role in the aesthetic appreciation of icons and has important implications for icon design strategy.
Three-dimensional stretchable knitted design with transformative properties
Authors: Yan Yishu , Jiang Shouxiang , Zhou Jinyun
Published: October 2020

This paper proposes the use of digital knitting to fabricate three-dimensional stretchable fabric with transformative properties. The research focus is on the application of the curling effect and the resultant stitch structures. Rib, purl, and links structures, which have alternating face and back loops in the structural knit cell and produced the curling effect, are investigated. Thirty-six samples based on the three structures along with 12 different stitch combinations are produced through the digital knitting process. The properties of the samples, including the dimensional changes, surface texture, weight and thickness, and tensile properties, are subsequently evaluated and compared by using both quantitative and qualitative assessment methods. The results show that the developed knitted fabrics that use the curling effect through alternating face and back loops are significantly three-dimensional in surface texture and have considerable stretchability. These effects in general increase with the growth of stitch number in a structural knit cell. However, only the links structures show considerable extensibility along both course and wale directions, while the rib and purl structures have enhanced stretchability in only the course and wale directions, respectively. Therefore, this design-led textile study provides a simple but effective means for producing new materials that offer both function and aesthetics for fashion with transformable designs. The work here also provides a technical-based integrated approach for innovative textile and fashion developments.
Community-School Partnerships as Racial Projects: Examining belonging for Newcomer Migrant Youth in Urban Education
Authors: Rodriguez Sophia
Published: October 2020

The article conceptualizes community-school partnerships (CSP) as racial projects. Drawing on data from a mixed-methods study of how CSPs increase belonging for migrant youth, the article reveals existing tensions in CSPs from migrant youth ( N = 63) and stakeholder perspectives. Viewing CSPs through a racial project lens allows researchers and practitioners to identify, in both design and implementation, spaces of tension where attempts to disrupt the existing status quo and structure opportunity can ultimately reproduce inequality, especially given the “commonsense” logic of racial projects and coherence of neoliberal ones about belonging and immigrant integration. Implications for understanding CSPs as racial projects are discussed.
Intensified Oral Hygiene Care in Stroke-Associated Pneumonia: A Pilot Single-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Yuan Dong , Zhang Jing , Wang Xiaoxue , Chen Su , Wang Yue
Published: October 2020

In this pilot, single-blind, randomized controlled trial, we investigated the effects of intensified oral hygiene care (IOHC) on reducing stroke-associated pneumonia (SAP) incidence. Patients admitted within 24 hours of stroke onset were recruited and randomized to receive IOHC or routine oral hygiene care. The occurrence of SAP was checked and oral swabs were obtained during the 7-day follow-up. The SAP incidence was lower, though not significantly, in the IOHC group than in the control group. IOHC successfully decreased SAP incidence among patients who were male, had higher National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale and Debris Index scores, and lower Glasgow Coma Scale and Gugging Swallowing Screen scores. Furthermore, IOHC significantly decreased the prevalence of oral suspected SAP pathogens. These results suggest that IOHC can decrease the incidence of SAP in the most vulnerable patient groups and lower the prevalence of suspected oral SAP pathogens.
Social Stigma and Perinatal Substance Use Services: Recognizing the Power of the Good Mother Ideal
Authors: Nichols Tracy R. , Welborn Amber , Gringle Meredith R. , Lee Amy
Published: October 2020

People who are diagnosed with a substance use disorder can experience stigmatizing interactions with health and social service providers, which may decrease both quality and continuity of care. For women with a substance-exposed pregnancy (SEP), this stigma can increase exponentially. Stigmatizing interactions can be difficult to identify due to social sanctions against expressing stigmatizing attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors and because stigma often resides in accepted cultural norms. Examining discourses around care provision can serve to identify instances of social stigma as well as illuminate the cultural norms in which they are embedded. Using data from a seven-year grounded theory study on perinatal substance use service provision, this paper reports on the perceptions and experiences of service providers working with mothers who have an SEP and illustrates complexities behind stigmatizing patient-provider interactions. Data collected included observations at meetings, workshops, and conferences addressing best practices across the continuum of care for perinatal substance use as well as interviews and focus groups with providers. The construct of “good mothering,” or hegemonic motherhood, was identified as an important cultural norm that supported social stigma and was embedded in providers’ interactions with mothers with an SEP. Discursive elements found in providers’ descriptions of perinatal substance use service work are presented and highlight the role of hegemonic motherhood as a stigmatizing agent.
Potential of wind energy resources around Nasawana village in Nabouwalu, Vanua Levu, Fiji
Authors: Nair Krishnam , Kumar Ajal
Published: October 2020

Fiji is located in the South Western part of the Pacific between latitude 18° S and longitude 179° E. In 2018, Fiji has spent approximately FJD 800 million in importing fossil fuel to meet the rising energy demand in the country. In the previous year’s several solar PV and wind resource assessments has been done and results obtained indicated that there is a potential for grid connected electricity generation using recommended resources. This study was carried out in the Nasawana Village (16°55.3 S and 178°47.4 E) to determine the options to use electricity derived from the wind. Wind analysis was carried out using Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program (WAsP) that predicted the wind speed of 6.96 ms−1 and a power density of 256 Wm−2 at 55 m a.g.l. The annual energy production predicted for a single wind turbine (Vergnet 275 kW) is approximately 631.6 MWh with a capacity factor of 26%. The cost of energy per kWh is estimated as FJD 0.10 with a payback period of 7 years.
The Healthy Eating and Living Against Noncommunicable Diseases Study: An Innovative Family-Based Intervention
Authors: Parekh Niyati , Khalife Gabrielle , Hellmers Natalie , D’Eramo Melkus Gail
Published: October 2020

Objective

Inadequate nutrition literacy within families is a barrier for healthy dietary choices and influences chronic disease risk. This pilot study examined the feasibility of providing an in-person nutrition intervention for families at high risk of developing prediabetes or type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular risk-factors.

Methods

Eligible families had at least one member with a non-communicable disease (NCD) or metabolic risk factor, fluency in English, willingness to attend all three educational sessions and complete questionnaires as a family unit. Sessions included didactic and experiential activities on food label reading, portion sizing, physical activity and modifiable lifestyle factors to reduce NCD risk. Demographics and fruit and vegetable screeners were collected from all participants at baseline and after completion of sessions. Families participated in focus groups to evaluate the program.

Results

Twelve families (n=35;17 adults;18 children) were recruited from New York City. Participants self-identified as Asian, Hispanic or Black. Adults had a mean age of 40y, BMI of 32.29kg/m2, household income of $35,000-$49,000y, and 13 of 17 adult participants had college degrees. Children ranged from 1-17y. Based on focus group feedback, three sessions were acceptable, families reported enjoying interactive activities and group learning and requested child-friendly activities. They reported improved knowledge of food labels, strategies for grocery shopping, portion-sizing, and increased awareness of the links between diet quality and NCDs.

Conclusions and Implications

The study met recruitment goals within 4 months. The educational intervention was acceptable and may be scaled-up for future studies on NCD prevention, particularly prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.
Does imagining you never met a romantic partner boost relationship satisfaction and gratitude? A conceptual replication and extension of the effect of mentally subtracting a partner
Authors: Park Alycia , Raposo Stephanie , Muise Amy
Published: October 2020

Previous research has found that thinking about the presence of a partner in one’s life can, at least temporarily, increase relationship satisfaction. However, other studies have found that doing the opposite—thinking about the absence of a partner from one’s life (i.e., mentally subtracting a partner)—can boost relationship satisfaction. The current study is a conceptual replication and extension of a previous study demonstrating that people who imagined never meeting their current partner reported greater satisfaction than people who thought about the presence of a partner in their life or a neutral control. We expected that thinking about the absence of a partner could boost gratitude and, in turn, promote greater relationship satisfaction. However, we did not find support for the mental subtraction effect on relationship satisfaction or gratitude. That is, participants who mentally subtracted their romantic partners from their lives did not report greater relationship satisfaction or gratitude compared to participants who thought about the presence of their partner in their lives (or those in a control condition). Our study suggests that mentally subtracting positive life events may not always boost feelings of satisfaction.
Mobile-based advisory services for sustainable agriculture: Assessing farmers’ information behavior
Authors: Kassem Hazem S. , Alotaibi Bader Alhafi , Ghoneim Yomna A. , Diab Ahmed M.
Published: October 2020

Mobile-based advisory services have significant benefits, including access to agricultural information, knowledge sharing, meteorological information, marketing-related information, and financial services for smallholder farmers. This study aimed to assess farmers’ information behavior regarding mobile-based advisory services and how farmers with different characteristics and attitudes access and adopt information. Data were collected from 382 farmers in Dakhalia governorate, Egypt. The most frequently received information was related to best agricultural practices, weather forecasts, seed varieties and treatment, and water management. Cluster analysis revealed that 47% of the farmers had low information behavior. Seventy-one of the respondents had a favorable attitude toward information retrieval from mobile agricultural services. The information behavior groups of the farmers significantly differed in education, farm size, diversity of agricultural production, and attitude regarding trust and quality of the information provided. Information behavior among farmers has useful implications for policymakers in supporting the long-term benefits of mobile-based advisory services.
Evaluation of Bonded Concrete Overlay of Asphalt under Accelerated Loading
Authors: Mahdi Moinul , Wu Zhong , Rupnow Tyson D.
Published: October 2020

Bonded concrete overlay of asphalt (BCOA), previously known as ultra-thin whitetopping (UTW), has been widely used to repair aged asphalt concrete (AC) pavements with moderate distresses. Because of the increasing costs of roadway maintenance, Louisiana has a great interest in determining whether thin BCOA (usually 2–6 in.) is a suitable and cost-effective alternative to the current practice of roadway maintenance. The objective of the study was to evaluate the performance of BCOA pavement and to identify the influence of in-situ interface bond strength on the performance of BCOA pavements. Three full-scale BCOA test sections with thicknesses of 6 in., 4 in., and 2 in. of Portland cement concrete (PCC) over an aged asphalt pavement were tested under accelerated pavement test (APT) loading under typical pavement conditions in southern Louisiana. Each section was trafficking-loaded to a failure (i.e., all the slabs in the loading path were cracked) under alternating load magnitudes of 9 kips and 16 kips of the ATLaS dual-tire wheel load. A falling weight deflectometer (FWD) backcalculated the effective thickness, a trench-cutting investigation was undertaken, and in-situ pull-off test revealed that a good bond was established initially between the PCC and AC layer. Several non-destructive test (NDT) methods indicated that the distresses of a BCOA slab could be coupled with a possible debonding at the PCC-asphalt interface. This paper mainly focuses on the APT results and the performance of BCOA test sections with different overlay thickness.
Producing Ignorance Through Regulatory Structure: The Case of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)
Authors: Richter Lauren , Cordner Alissa , Brown Phil
Published: October 2020

This article examines how ignorance can be produced by regulatory systems. Using the case of contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), we identify patterns of institutionalized ignorance in U.S. chemical regulation. Drawing on in-depth interviews and archival research, we develop a chemical regulatory pathway approach to study knowledge and ignorance production through the regulatory framework, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Investigating TSCA’s operation, we consider why PFAS were relatively recently recognized as a significant public health threat, despite evidence of their risks in the 1960s. The historical context of TSCA’s enactment, including the mobilization of the chemical industry, contributed to the institutionalization of organizational practices promoting distinct types of ignorance based on stakeholder position: chemical manufacturers who have discretion over knowledge production and dissemination, regulators who operate under selective ignorance, and communities and consumers who experience nescience, or total surprise.
Control of interconnected systems with sensor delay based on decentralized adaptive neural dynamic surface method
Authors: Beigzadehnoe Barmak , Rahmani Zahra , Khosravi Alireza , Rezaie Behrooz
Published: October 2020

In this article, an adaptive neural network is proposed for the tracking control problem of unknown nonlinear interconnected systems with inaccessible states and sensor delays based on dynamic surface strategy. The system has unknown nonlinearities and immeasurable states. Thus, a neural network state observer based on delayed outputs of subsystems is applied. The main difficulty in obtaining local observers’ gains is that undelayed outputs are not available. As a result, by utilizing proper Lyapunov–Krasovskii functionals in dynamic surface design procedures, the gains of local observers are given in terms of linear matrix inequalities. Then, appropriate changes in coordinates are defined using delayed outputs, observed states, and filtered virtual controls for the purpose of designing dynamic surface controllers. Subsequently, proper Lyapunov–Krasovskii functionals are introduced to deal with sensor delays and obtain control laws and stability criteria. Furthermore, the proposed decentralized control scheme can suitably conquer the decentralized tracking problem of unknown large-scale systems with sensor delays and guarantee that all the signals in the closed-loop interconnected systems be uniformly ultimately bounded. Finally, to show the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach, the theoretic achievements are employed to design a controller for a double-inverted pendulum system and a cascade chemical reactor system.
Self-care strategies in response to nurses’ moral injury during COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Hossain Fahmida , Clatty Ariel
Published: October 2020

These are strange and unprecedented times in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most frontline healthcare professionals have never witnessed anything like this before. As a result, staff may experience numerous and continuous traumatic events, which in many instances, will negatively affect their psychological well-being. Particularly, nurses face extraordinary challenges in response to shifting protocols, triage, shortages of resources, and the astonishing numbers of patients who require care in expedited time constraints. As most healthcare workers are passionate nursing professionals, frustration and often a sense of powerlessness occur when they find themselves unable to provide needed care to their patients. The overwhelming number of deaths, patients isolated and dying alone, and the ever-present fear of being infected and then infecting colleagues, family, friends due to the lack of protective gear or known protocols takes its toll on emotional and psychological well-being. For nurses, the experience of this significant (hopefully once-in-a-lifetime) event can inflict on-going moral injury. Nurses affected by this trauma require education, coping tools, and therapy to help avoid or alleviate the adverse effects on their well-being. Institutions must provide these resources to tend to the well-being of their healthcare staff, during and beyond the pandemic. This article aims to investigate moral distress—considering it as a moral injury—and offer tools and recommendations to support healthcare nurses as they respond to this crisis and its aftermath.
Football legend, role model, cultural ambassador, and true Canadian? A critical reading of the mediated legacy of Norman Kwong, the ‘China Clipper’
Authors: Chen Chen
Published: October 2020

Norman Kwong was a Chinese Canadian football star with a ground-breaking career in the Canadian Football League in the 1950s before he reached unprecedented success post-retirement, most notably appointed as the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta in 2005. Acknowledging Kwong’s significant accomplishments, this paper offers a critical reading of Canadian mainstream media’s celebratory representation of Norman Kwong and his legacy, highlighting how his life stories, as constructed in the media, served to reaffirm the myth of Canadian multiculturalism. The paper concludes by pointing to an alternative interpretation of Kwong’s legacy, one that foregrounds the Chinese diasporic communities’ complicity and obligations in the settler colonial state.
Deep structure in the Acheulean adaptation: technology, sociality and aesthetic emergence
Authors: Gowlett John A J
Published: October 2020

This article considers the adaptive setting and probable origins of human aesthetic capabilities, using evidence of the Acheulean tradition in the last million years, and highlighting the importance of the preceding and enveloping social and technological contexts. Acheulean bifaces, made from about 1.75 to 0.1 Ma, often with an appearance of symmetry, give windows on crucial interlocking aspects of human intellectual evolution. These have been seen as the domains of technology, sociality and aesthetics, following Leroi-Gourhan, or in near-equivalence the ‘technological’, ‘sociological’ and ‘ideological/philosophical’ of L.A. White. These domains can be analysed to have a reality, in the sense that social worlds of the apes far antedate technology, which in turn is generally taken to be far older than a sense of aesthetic appreciation. The bifaces are helpful in illustrating early developments because they can be made only through bringing together a set of concepts linking form, function and technology of manufacture, in a recurring ‘deep structure’. As there are at least 6 to 12 necessary concepts, perhaps significantly more, the artefacts are essentially multivariable or multivariate. They thus impose high cognitive requirements in manufacture, pressing towards effective sequencing of steps so that not too many variables will be involved simultaneously. Support of such a knowledge base has social requirements of shared or collective intention. Biomechanical and functional necessities also exert pressures on concepts: rules maintained by all these requirements entail a notion of ‘appropriateness’ or ‘rightness’ that may have been a prime factor in driving evolution of a sense of aesthetics and even the shaping of moral feelings. As the rules are variably expressed through time and space in the Acheulean, some of the best information comes from seeing how far particular variables are ‘locked’ in relationships which recur to give the impression of deep structure.
Contradictions and Their Consequences: How Competing Policy Mandates Facilitate Use of a Punitive Framework in Domestic Violence–Child Maltreatment Cases
Authors: Armstrong Elizabeth Marie , Bosk Emily Adlin
Published: October 2020

Research shows child welfare cases involving caregiver domestic violence (DV) continue to produce punitive consequences for non-abusive adult victims. This occurs despite the adoption of a supportive policy framework that emphasizes perpetrator responsibility for DV-related harm to children. Risk assessment procedures have been implicated in punitive outcomes, but we know little about how they shape child welfare workers’ decision-making practice. Focusing on a state with a supportive policy framework, this paper uses grounded theory to examine how policy contradictions, procedural directives around risk assessment, and informal interventions produce punitive consequences for adult victims of DV and unmitigated risk to children. Data include state policy and procedural documents and interviews with child welfare workers describing decision-making in their most recent completed case and most recent case involving DV. Findings point to the need for active alignment of policies and procedures, greater integration of knowledge across practice areas, renewed commitments to differential response, and greater inclusion of DV specialists in child welfare settings.
(Un)resolving digital technology paradoxes through the rhetoric of balance
Authors: Grigore Georgiana , Molesworth Mike , Miles Chris , Glozer Sarah
Published: October 2020

The organizational benefits of digital technologies are increasingly contrasted with negative societal consequences. Such tensions are contradictory, persistent and interrelated, suggesting paradoxes. Yet, we lack insight into how such apparent paradoxes are constructed and to what effect. This empirical paper draws upon interviews with thirty-nine responsibility managers to unpack how paradoxes are discursively (re)constructed and resolved as a rhetoric of ‘balance’ that ensures identification with organizational, familial and societal interests. We also reveal how such ‘false balance’ sustains and legitimizes organizational activity by displacing responsibilities onto distant ‘others’ through temporal (futurizing), spatial (externalizing) and level (magnifying / individualizing) rhetorical devices. In revealing the process of paradox construction and resolution as ‘balance’ in the context of digitalization and its unanticipated outcomes, we join conversations into new organizational responsibilities in the digital economy, with implications for theory and practice.
Investigation of ammonia and hydrogen as CO2-free fuels for heavy duty engines using a high pressure dual fuel combustion process
Authors: Frankl Stephanie , Gleis Stephan , Karmann Stephan , Prager Maximilian , Wachtmeister Georg
Published: October 2020

This work is a numerical study of the use of ammonia and hydrogen in a high-pressure-dual-fuel (HPDF) combustion. The main fuels (hydrogen and ammonia) are direct injected and ignited by a small amount of direct injected pilot fuel. The fuels are injected using a dual fuel injector from Woodward L’Orange, which can induce two fuels independently at high pressures up to 1800 bar for the pilot fuel and maximum 500 bar for the main. The numerical CFD-model gets validated for of hydrogen-HPDF with experimental data. Due to safety issues at the test rig it was not possible to use ammonia in the experiments, so it is modelled using the numerical model. It is assumed that the CFD-model also gives qualitative correct results for the use of ammonia as main fuel, so a parameter study of ammonia-HPDF is made.

The results for the hydrogen-HPDF show, that hydrogen can be used in the engine without any further modifications. The combustion is very stable, and the hydrogen ignites almost immediately when it enters the combustion chamber. The results of the ammonia combustion indicate, that the HPDF combustion mode can handle ammonia effectively. It seems beneficial to inject the ammonia at higher pressures than hydrogen. Also pre-heating the ammonia can increase the combustion efficiency.
Nurturing the buffer zone: conducting collaborative action research in contemporary contexts
Authors: Bennett Hayley , Brunner Richard
Published: October 2020

There is a shift in university-based social research towards interdisciplinary working and collaboration with non-academic partners, which requires a reconsideration of methodological concepts and research practices. In this article, we draw on intensive collaborative action research (CAR) into public service reform to demonstrate how this ‘collaborative shift’ both challenges and creates new considerations for mainstream research approaches. We contend that the contemporary emphasis on research collaborations creates challenges for both social science researchers and non-academic partners, which require greater conceptual consideration. Researchers need to engage in distinctive, significant and ongoing relational, pragmatic and political work in multi-agency contexts. We present the concept of a ‘buffer zone’: a dynamic, contextual space and set of practices necessary to undertake participatory research within complex and changeable settings. This has implications for research management, design, funding and training.
Traffic travel pattern recognition based on sparse Global Positioning System trajectory data
Authors: Chen Juan , Qi Kepei , Zhu Shiyu
Published: October 2020

This article mainly uses sparse Global Positioning System trajectory data to identify traffic travel pattern. In this article, the data are preprocessed and the eigenvalues are calculated. Then, the Global Positioning System track points are identified and extracted by walking and non-walking segments. Finally, the three machine learning models of support-vector machine, decision tree, and convolutional neural network are used for comparison experiments. The innovation of this article is to propose a walking and non-walking identification method based on density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise clustering. The method takes into account the continuous state between the geographical distributions, and it has better noise immunity against the influence of external factors. In this process, this article directly achieves better conversion point recognition results through the Global Positioning System track point information, which lays a good foundation for the accuracy of travel pattern recognition. The experimental results of this article show that compared with threshold-based and multi-layer perceptron–based methods, the recognition method based on density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise clustering has the highest accuracy, reaching 82.20%. Then, support-vector machine, decision tree, and convolutional neural network are used for traffic travel pattern recognition. The F1-score of support-vector machine is the highest, reaching 0.84, and the F1-scores of decision tree and convolutional neural network are 0.78 and 0.80, respectively. Finally, the support-vector machine was used for the recognition test to achieve an accuracy of 76.83%.
Synchronous Robot-Assisted Pulmonary and Urologic Resections for Cancer
Authors: Bertolaccini Luca , Musi Gennaro , Galetta Domenico , Spaggiari Lorenzo
Published: October 2020

Synchronous cancers should be first evaluated at high-volume referral oncological centers. Multidisciplinary evaluation, as the first step of multimodal treatment strategy, is also a way to select candidates fit for surgical resections. Concurrent minimally invasive approaches are a safe and effective option that may result in long-term control of the disease. Robot-assisted surgery allows obtaining the oncological radicality with lower invasiveness for the patient, thus retaining greater surgical aggressiveness even in high-risk patients. The reports of successful synchronous robot-assisted pulmonary and urologic resections for cancer in frail elderly subjects are described here.
Thermal buckling of ballasted tangent track
Authors: Hasan Nazmul
Published: October 2020

Euler type analysis usually used for compression members in structural engineering does not work for railroad track. Euler type analytical formulas for horizontal and vertical buckling endorsed in a recent literature is reviewed to demonstrate its weakness. Using definition of moment and curvature as well as principle of equilibrium, the author suggests formula for horizontal buckling load of railroad track and demonstrates validation in context with currently accepted values, published results, and past field tests. The buckling load from suggested formula agrees with the recent buckling load formula based on total energy theorem. A formula is suggested to study the effect of misalignment on critical temperature differential or critical load. A vertical buckling load formula is derived from horizontal buckling load formula. A buckling process is narrated through step by step computation. Formulas are suggested to compute the effect of track misalignment on critical buckling load and threshold radius of a vertical curve.
Examining the effects of social anxiety and other individual differences on gaze-directed attentional shifts
Authors: Talipski Louisa A , Bell Emily , Goodhew Stephanie C , Dawel Amy , Edwards Mark
Published: October 2020

Gaze direction is a powerful social cue, and there is considerable evidence that we preferentially direct our attentional resources to gaze-congruent locations. While a number of individual differences have been claimed to modulate gaze-cueing effects (e.g., trait anxiety), the modulation of gaze cueing for different emotional expressions of the cue has not been investigated in social anxiety, which is characterised by a range of attentional biases for stimuli perceived to be socially threatening. Therefore, in this study, we examined whether social anxiety modulates gaze-cueing effects for angry, fearful, and neutral expressions, while controlling for other individual-differences variables that may modulate gaze cueing: trait anxiety, depression, and autistic-like traits. In a sample of 100 female participants, we obtained large and reliable gaze-cueing effects; however, these effects were not modulated by social anxiety, or by any of the other individual-differences variables. These findings attest to the social importance of gaze cueing, and also call into question the replicability of individual differences in the effect.
The psychosocial impact of congenital hand and upper limb differences on children: a qualitative study
Authors: McDougall Lucy , Kennedy Joanne , Coombs Christopher , Penington Anthony
Published: October 2020

This qualitative study explored the psychosocial concerns of children born with congenital hand and upper limb differences (CHULDs) from the point of view of these children and their parents. Qualitative, in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to-face with eight parent–child dyads. Open format questions allowed spontaneous emergence of relevant themes, followed by guided questioning. Thematic analysis of audio-recorded and transcribed interviews found that children as young as 5 years old had unique and meaningful opinions about their CHULD, of which parents were sometimes unaware. Children reported that unsolicited questions from peers caused significant stress, and this increased around the time of surgery. All children used planned responses to peers as an effective coping mechanism. Children also identified positive aspects of their difference, including an increased sense of determination and an appreciation for being unique. Strategies that may improve psychosocial outcomes for children with CHULDs are discussed.

Level of evidence: IV
Early childhood educators’ workplace well-being: It’s everyone’s right!
Authors: Jones Catherine , Johnstone Melissa , Hadley Fay , Waniganayake Manjula
Published: October 2020

Extant literature on Early Childhood educator workplace well-being focuses on the disease model of well-being, with studies mainly addressing stress and burnout. There is a paucity of research conceptualising healthy workplace well-being for educators and an absence of theorising to frame, understand and enhance Early Childhood educator workplace well-being. This paper reports on Phase 2 of an exploratory sequential mixed methods study, which aimed to explore the individual, relational, and contextual factors influencing healthy workplace well-being. Using Phase 1 interview findings (Author, blind for review), a survey was developed to investigate predictors on workplace well-being in early childhood services in Australia. The survey drew on the sub-theory ‘Basic psychological needs’ of Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that autonomy, relatedness, and competence predicted workplace well-being even after controlling for demographic and organisation variables.
Finding Perceptions of Partisan News Media Bias in an Unlikely Place
Authors: Soontjens Karolin , van Erkel Patrick F. A.
Published: October 2020

When citizens perceive news coverage as ideologically slanted, their crucial trust in the (traditional) news media decreases. Research on the so-called hostile media phenomenon indeed shows that an alarming number of people consider news coverage as disadvantaging their own political preferences and favoring opposing (partisan) views. However, most of this research is conducted in an experimental setting, and we do not know how this works in the real world, where citizens predominantly consume news from media outlets they trust and perceive as ideologically like-minded. By questioning Belgian citizens about their perceptions of partisan bias in their preferred news outlet, this study shows that the hostile media phenomenon also holds in a least likely context; even content produced by “friendly” news sources is seen as ideologically slanted, potentially contributing to citizens’ general distrust in the news media. Moreover, we find that especially right-wing citizens and strong partisans believe their news outlet disadvantages their preferred party.
Consensus on Rehabilitation Guidelines among Orthopedic Surgeons in the United States following Use of Third-Generation Articular Cartilage Repair (MACI) for Treatment of Knee Cartilage Lesions
Authors: Flanigan David C. , Sherman Seth L. , Chilelli Brian , Gersoff Wayne , Jones Deryk , Lee Cassandra A. , Toth Alison , Cramer Caryn , Zaporojan Victor , Carey James
Published: October 2020

Objective

The aim of this study was to evaluate levels of consensus in rehabilitation practices following MACI (autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane) treatment based on the experience of an expert panel of U.S. orthopedic surgeons.

Design

A list of 24 questions was devised based on the current MACI rehabilitation protocol, literature review, and discussion with orthopedic surgeons. Known areas of variability were used to establish 4 consensus domains, stratified on lesion location (tibiofemoral [TF] or patellofemoral [PF]), including weightbearing (WB), range of motion (ROM), return to work/daily activities of living, and return to sports. A 3-step Delphi technique was used to establish consensus.

Results

Consensus (>75% agreement) was achieved on all 4 consensus domains. Time to full WB was agreed as immediate (with bracing) for PF patients (dependent on concomitant procedures), and 7 to 9 weeks in TF patients. A progression for ROM was agreed that allowed patients to reach 90° by week 4, with subsequent progression as tolerated. The panel estimated that the time to full ROM would be 7 to 9 weeks on average. A range of time was established for release to activities of daily living, work, and sports, dependent on lesion and patient characteristics.

Conclusions

Good consensus was established among a panel of U.S. surgeons for rehabilitation practices following MACI treatment of knee cartilage lesions. The consensus of experts can aid surgeons and patients in the expectations and rehabilitation process as MACI surgery becomes more prevalent in the United States.
Gratitude Increases Recipients’ Commitment Through Automatic Partner Evaluations, Yet Unreciprocated Gratitude Decreases Commitment Through Deliberative Evaluations
Authors: Baker Levi R.
Published: October 2020

Feelings of gratitude motivate intimates to maintain valuable relationships. However, it is unknown whether expressions of gratitude similarly increase recipients’ relationship commitment. Two experiments tested the idea that expressions of gratitude simultaneously increase and decrease recipients’ commitment via different interpersonal evaluations, and reciprocity of gratitude determines the implications of such expressions. In Study 1, couples exchanged letters that did or did not express gratitude. Study 2 was a high-powered, preregistered experiment that led participants to believe they were or were not grateful for their partners, and their partners were or were not grateful for them. Both studies subsequently assessed automatic partner evaluations, deliberative partner and self-evaluations, and relationship commitment. Results demonstrated that intimates automatically evaluated partners who expressed gratitude more favorably and thus became more committed; however, if intimates did not reciprocate such gratitude, their deliberate self-evaluations became more favorable than their partner evaluations, and thus they became less committed.
Vertebral osteomyelitis due to Salmonella Poona in a healthy adolescent female
Authors: Toofan Yalda , Tarun Samiksha , Bender Jonathan D , Auerbach Sarah A , Stewart David A , Watson Michael E
Published: October 2020

We present a case of vertebral osteomyelitis in a previously healthy, adolescent Caucasian female athlete. After months of lower back pain, spinal imaging demonstrated phlegmon and suspected osteomyelitis of the L4 vertebral body. A bone biopsy was obtained, and microbiologic cultures yielded pure growth of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Poona ( S. Poona), a member of the nontyphoid Salmonella group associated with food-borne gastroenteritis in the United States. This case represents the first reported association of S. Poona with osteomyelitis and is interesting in that the infection developed in a patient without traditional risk factors for invasive Salmonella disease (i.e. sickle cell disease). This case highlights the importance of keeping a broad differential diagnosis for lower back pain and emphasizes the value of obtaining specimens for microbiologic culture to aid in diagnosing non-traditional and potentially emerging bacterial pathogens.
Prevalence, risk factors and disease knowledge of polycystic kidney disease in Pakistan
Authors: Zahid Rabia , Akram Muhammad , Rafique Ejaz
Published: October 2020

Polycystic kidneys disease refers to cyst(s) formation in kidneys with severe consequences of end stage renal disease thus have higher mortality. It is a common genetic disease occurring either as autosomal dominant polycystic kidney (ADPKD) or autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease (ARPKD) with prevalence rates of 1/1000 and 1/40,000 respectively. Dominant forms presenting in later (>30) while recessive in earlier ages (infancy) and affecting both sexes and almost all race. The patient experiences many renal as well as extra-renal manifestations with marked hypertension and cyst formation in other organs predominantly in liver. Due to genetic basis, positive family history is considered as major risk factor. Ultrasonography remains the main stay of diagnosis along with family history, by indicating increased renal size and architectural modifications. Initially disease remains asymptomatic, later on symptomatic treatment is suggested with surgical interventions like cyst decortications or drainage. Dialysis proved to be beneficial in end stage renal disease. However renal transplantation is the treatment of choice.
Effectiveness of Performance Management System for Employee Performance Through Engagement
Authors: Awan Sajid Hussain , Habib Nazia , Shoaib Akhtar Chaudhry , Naveed Shaheryar
Published: October 2020

This article seeks to explore the effectiveness of a comprehensive performance management system in terms of employee performance. Besides, the mediating effect of work engagement was also examined. The performance management system effectiveness (PMSE) was determined by the extent of its accuracy and fairness, as recommended by previous researchers. A sample of 285 employees was selected from various branches of private banks located across Pakistan. A structured questionnaire was used, which was validated through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in the Pakistani context. The results indicated a significant impact of PMSE and work engagement on task and contextual performance of employees. Also, complementary mediation of employee work engagement in the relationship between PMSE and employee performance (in terms of task and contextual performances) was also supported. The findings of the research are helpful for the development of HR and PMSE strategy in the private banks of Pakistan. The study also suggests that a comprehensive PMSE model including the perception of fairness as a mandatory part, may be introduced for employees’ enhanced work engagement and task/contextual performance. The mediating relationship of work engagement has established the process of PMSE for the task and contextual performances of employees, which is a valuable contribution of the study.