bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Using Technology and Iterative Research to Strengthen the Social Safety Net
Authors: Chabot Aimee , Hell Maximilian
Published: December 2023

People who seek public benefits for their families often struggle to navigate the complicated labyrinth of U.S. safety net programs. We show that states can meaningfully improve access for families in need—even in the absence of significant policy change—by adopting widely used technology and common research practices. Technology and research can be applied to each stage of benefits delivery: outreach, application, and renewal. The suggestions we offer vary in their ease of implementation: some are simple, like sending repeated renewal reminders through as many channels of communication as possible; others are more involved, like bundling together separate program applications. We argue that if states are to succeed at simplifying the enrollment process—and thereby increase the share of eligible people receiving benefits—they can help their own cause by building and maintaining a modern technological infrastructure for data collection and analysis, and then act on what those data reveal.
The Legacies of Rebel Rule in Southeast Turkey
Authors: Loyle Cyanne E. , Onder Ilayda B.
Published: December 2023

During armed conflict civilians often inhabit areas of contested governance or areas where rebel groups, NGOs, and/or criminal syndicates vie for authority and challenge the control of the state. As non-state actors confront the authority and legitimacy of the state, civilians become central players in that competition asked to uphold or undercut these alternative governance claims. In this paper we examine the long-term impact of rebel governance for citizens living in spaces where state governance is challenged. Leveraging survey data from areas historically under PKK control in Southeastern Turkey, we focus on the ways in which contestation over governance during the conflict influenced future trust and engagement with the Turkish state. Specifically, we find that individual engagement with rebel governance institutions and personal conflict experience are important factors in understanding the effects of contested governance. Our findings increase our understanding of the long-term impact of armed conflict on civilians and the potential lasting impacts of rebel governance on the post-conflict state.
Engine remaining useful life prediction based on PSO optimized multi-layer long short-term memory and multi-source information fusion
Authors: Yuan Wei , Li Xinlong , Gu Hongbin , Zhang Faye , Miao Fei
Published: December 2023

Engine as the core component of mechanical equipment, its operating state directly affects whether the equipment can operate normally. Predicting the engine remaining useful life (RUL) can monitor the health of the engine in real time and formulate a timely and reasonable maintenance plan. Aiming at the engine monitoring data with various and long time span, we propose a direct prediction method of engine RUL based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) optimized multi-layer Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) in this paper. Firstly, the monitoring data that can well reflect the engine degradation trend is screened out, and the samples are constructed through a sliding time window. Then, a multi-layer LSTM model is constructed to mine the deep-seated features of the samples for predicting the engine RUL. Finally, the hyperparameters of the multi-layer LSTM model are optimized automatically by the PSO algorithm to optimize the performance of the model. The effectiveness of this method is verified by NASA data set. RMSE, MAE and the scoring function are used as evaluation indexes. RMSE and score of the prediction results are 12.35 and 284.1, respectively. It has higher prediction accuracy compared with traditional deep learning and machine learning methods.
Research on the loading method for lost motion testing of small-sized reducer
Authors: Cheng Huiming , Shi Zhaoyao , Yu Zhiyong , Zhang Pang , Yu Bo
Published: December 2023

Lost motion is utilized to characterize the transmission accuracy of gear reducers and is commonly evaluated through the hysteresis curve method. In examinations of lost motion for large and medium-sized reducers, the default practice is the application of the equal torque gradient loading method. Nonetheless, for small-sized reducers, this approach is deemed inappropriate due to the constraints of the servo motor loading resolution. This study reveals that employing a larger unit torque for equal torque gradient loading can modify the shape of the hysteresis curve and influence the assessment of lost motion. As a result, this paper introduces two innovative loading techniques, namely equal position gradient loading and uniform speed loading, to address the limitations of equal torque gradient loading and reduce the demands on testing equipment. Subsequent experiments validate the issues associated with equal torque gradient loading, confirm the effectiveness of the two new loading techniques, and yield more comprehensive hysteresis curves. It is important to note that all three loading methods are influenced by the loading rate, but the two novel methods can mitigate the effects of loading rate dependency.
Deficits in Democratic Governance in Developing Countries: The Bangladesh Scenario
Authors: Panday Pranab Kumar
Published: December 2023

This study investigates the interplay between democracy, development, and democratic governance gaps in Bangladesh and other developing countries. The main objectives are twofold: first, to explore how Bangladesh has achieved economic growth despite lacking democratic governance, and second, to assess the contradiction between democracy and development in developing nations. Employing a theoretical framework that views democracy and democratic governance as crucial processes of social transformation and political participation, this paper argues that structural barriers limit citizen involvement, leading to deficits in democratic governance. By analyzing secondary documents, the study reveals that Bangladesh’s economic progress coexists with a shortfall in democratic governance due to insufficient social transformation. To address this issue, enhancing democratic institutions, promoting social reform, and removing structural barriers are vital. The findings hold significance for other developing countries facing similar challenges.
Deconstructing Cardboard Muslim Man: Masculinity Continuum and Women’s Economic Empowerment in Bangladesh
Authors: Ondekova Marcela , McCarthy Olive , Power Carol
Published: December 2023

This paper analyses the construction of Muslim masculinities and their positioning towards women’s economic empowerment through a life history method applied to examine the lives of 12 purposely selected Bangladeshi Muslim men. The analysis of the men’s accounts positioned the narrators on a masculinity continuum, which incorporates three fluid masculinity markers – Antagonists, Allies and Advocates. The paper challenges the notion of one specific hegemonic masculinity, although some common features were identified, such as dominance of the male breadwinner and situatedness within heteronormativity. The narrators demonstrated a strong inter-generational shift towards rejection of violence and preference for peaceful intrahousehold relationships, even among Antagonists. The proximity of Ally masculinities to Advocates and their relational interests create strong potential for strategic engagement and guiding Ally men to adopt more progressive masculinities.
The Caring Machine: Feeling AI for Customer Care
Authors: Huang Ming-Hui , Rust Roland T.
Published: December 2023

Customer care is important for its role in relationship building. This role has traditionally been performed by human customer agents; however, the emergence of interactive generative AI (GenAI) shows potential for using AI for customer care in emotionally charged interactions. Bridging practice and the academic literatures in marketing and computer science, this article develops an AI-enabled customer care journey, from accurate emotion recognition to empathetic response, emotional management support, and, finally, the establishment of an emotional connection. Marketing requirements for each of the stages are derived from in-depth interviews with top managers and a survey of chief marketing officers. By juxtaposing these requirements against the current feeling capabilities of GenAI, the authors highlight the technological challenges engineers must tackle. The article concludes with a set of marketing tenets for implementing and researching the caring machine. These include verifying emotion recognition accuracy using marketing emotion theories through multiple emotion signals and methods, utilizing prompt engineering to enhance GenAI’s emotion understanding, employing “response engineering” to personalize emotion management recommendations, and strategically deploying GenAI for emotional connection to simultaneously enhance customer emotional well-being and customer lifetime value.
The election of former rebel women
Authors: Brannon Elizabeth L
Published: December 2023

After conflict, many ex-combatant men experience the spoils of war as their rebel groups transition into political parties and elect former members to party seats. However, it is unclear whether these opportunities are reserved only for male ex-combatants. This article considers when and why voters might support former rebel women running for political office. It argues that the election of these women will depend on their roles within rebel groups, as well as their use of violence during conflict. The article presents a novel dataset on the election of former rebel women to rebel parties from 1970 to 2020. The results indicate that women’s roles as combatants and leaders in rebel groups are associated with higher levels of election for rebel women. In contrast, rebel women’s ties to violent tactics such as terrorism and sexual violence during war are associated with a lower level of election for rebel women after conflict. The interactions between rebel women’s roles and ties to violence are tested; the results suggested that, regardless of elite roles, rebel women’s electoral chances are hurt by extreme forms of violence, demonstrating the salience of the negative stigmas attached to violent women. The findings also demonstrate that while many former rebel women are marginalized after war, a select few experience political gains.
Extra thin sidelight-emitting polymer optical fiber narrow fabrics for UV structural adhesive joints: design, preparation and performance experiments
Authors: Lingemann Monika , Kallweit Jan , Pätzel Mark , Seewald Robert , Gries Thomas , Schiebahn Alexander , Reisgen Uwe
Published: December 2023

Ultraviolet (UV) bonding technology is widely used across industries. As the curing reaction is initiated via an external light source, the use of fast-curing structural UV acrylates has so far been limited to joint designs with at least one transparent joining part. By introducing a side-emitting polymer optical fiber textile into the adhesive layer, which acts as an embedded light source, the technology can be made accessible for applications with nontransparent substrates such as metals. This paper describes the development of extra thin polymer optical fiber narrow fabrics designed to enable curing of structural adhesive joints. Polymer optical fibers (warp) were combined with different low-titer polyester weft yarns in two fabric design types with different primary out-coupling mechanisms: undulation and surface modification of the polymer optical fibers. The effect of yarn properties, thread densities and weave on fabric quality, geometry and lateral light intensity of each type were investigated. Results showed that narrow fabric production within the tight geometric limits required is feasible. Fabrics manufactured with nontextured yarns at low titers and low weft densities exhibited the highest lateral light intensities for the surface modification type fabric. To compensate for intensity loss over fabric length, investigating light coupling from both sides is recommended for this fabric type. For the undulation type fabric, the lateral light intensity characteristics indicated that the high tenacity yarns are promising candidates for the fabrication of low sidelight attenuation fabrics through modulation of the weft density.
Evaluation of the dyeability of hemp fabric with Anatolian black pine (Pinus nigra subsp. Pallassiana) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.)
Authors: Pars Abdulkadir
Published: December 2023

The development of more sustainable textile dyeing techniques includes a lot of potential in utilizing bio-based plant-derived colorants. Hemp fabric has been dyed with an aqueous extract of pine cones at various dye concentrations to produce a brownish to darker color. Agricultural waste specimens, Anatolian black pine ( Pinus nigra subsp. Pallassiana), and Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.) cones were used as natural dye sources on a sustainable basis. The dyed hemp fabrics were analyzed by different analytical and technical methods such as CIE L*a*b*, high-pressure liquid chromatography–diode-array detection, and scanning electron microscopy with an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer. The color characteristics of all the dyed fabrics were measured by a CIE L*a*b* spectrophotometer. The reversed-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography–diode-array detection method with the diode-array detection method was utilized for the identification of the components of dyes present in the dyed fabrics. Scanning electron microscopy with an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer was used for imaging and elemental analysis of the surfaces of the dyed hemp fabrics. This work has created a novelty direct dyeing method with pine cones without using any mordants and to promote the use of agricultural waste. The fastness values of washing, rubbing, and light were assessed and contrasted. The fastness results were good in general. Washing fastness values were excellent and the same for all fabrics between 4 and 5. Rubbing fastness is also generally good and of the desired grade. The chemical compositions of hemp and pine cones, as well as the formation of dyestuff fiber, were investigated by using Fourier transform infrared analysis.
Cornell Notes from Underground: Whiteness, Neoliberalism, and AVID for Higher Education
Authors: Lybeck Rick
Published: December 2023

Context:

This critical narrative study analyzes the discursive means by which the educational nonprofit AVID acculturates teacher educators and teacher preparation programs to its ideological network. Through scenes reconstructed from Cornell notes taken at an AVID Summer Institute, the author examines his double identity as an AVID for Higher Education (AHE) trainee, simultaneously alienated as a social justice educator but complicit in co-constructing AVID’s target white neoliberal identity.

Purpose:

This article aims to encourage resistant risk-taking among critically leaning educators who may find themselves either avoiding white neoliberal educational reform activities taking place in their programs or complying with them against their better judgment. By co-conspiring to carry out critical interventions during white neoliberal reform activities, or by conducting critical “underground” research as this article exemplifies, white neoliberal educational reform may be decentered and more space opened for anti-oppressive pedagogies in teacher education.

Research Design:

This study combines autobiographical and arts-informed methods from narrative inquiry to examine the double identity that emerged for the author during AHE training. Beginning with critical Cornell notes taken and kept “underground” during training, the author turns to Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novella Notes From Underground as a guide to analysis, showing that critical resistance to the culture of positivism white neoliberalism promotes is both long-standing and not won by working alone.

Recommendations:

The article recommends that, in the struggle to center racial and social justice in teacher education, critical educators should co-conspire and actively seek out white neoliberal reform activities, prepared to intervene with knowledge not only from critical theories but from the histories of race that drive the discourses reform organizations use to acculturate teacher educators to their ideological networks.
Roots and trajectories: Essays on the legacy of Jesús Martín-Barbero in global communication studies
Authors: Rodríguez Clemencia , Murphy Patrick
Published: December 2023

“Roots and Trajectories: Essays on the Legacy of Jesús Martín-Barbero in Global Communication Studies” is an introduction to this special collection for Media, Culture & Society’s Crosscurrents. Our introduction serves to contextualize and frame the role of Martín-Barbero’s theoretical roots and epistemological gaze in the essays authored by Omar Rincón (Colombia), Amparo Marroquín Parducci (El Salvador), Marwan Kraidy (Lebanon) and Nick Couldry (United Kingdom). This introduction positions Martín-Barbero’s work as strong evidence of Latin America’s own epistemological and theoretical formation, as we remind our colleagues in the Global North of the need to dialogue with the South in an effort to de-Westernizing communication theory.
Bicultural identity and adjustment among ethnoracially minoritized and immigrant adolescents
Authors: Safa M. Dalal , Long Yinru , Umaña-Taylor Adriana J.
Published: December 2023

For ethnoracially minoritized and immigrant youth, identity formation involves efforts to integrate social identities that are derived from their ethnic-racial group memberships (i.e., ethnic-racial identity) and their connection to the country in which they reside (i.e., national identity). This study investigated the extent to which these two social identities were simultaneously associated with adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment via their associations with the integration of these identities (i.e., bicultural identity integration) and across adolescents’ identity domains (i.e., global identity coherence). This cross-sectional study (January 2020) included a US ethnoracially diverse sample of 355 adolescents ( Mage = 15.95 years; SD = 0.79; 50.4% female; 40.6% Latino/a/x, 29.0% White, 13.2% Black, 8.2% Asian, 7.0% other; 76.1% US-born; 76.9% had at least one foreign-born parent) who completed online surveys in class. Structural equation path analyses with bias-corrected bootstrapping were conducted to test a theoretical sequential mediation model of identity and adjustment. Findings indicated that national American identity explained significant variance in adolescent psychosocial adjustment (i.e., higher academic engagement and self-esteem) via its unique associations with bicultural identity integration and global identity coherence. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses revealed some support for alternate models suggesting that the examined identity constructs may work in tandem with one another to inform adolescent psychosocial adjustment. This study highlights the multifaceted nature of social identity development and provides preliminary evidence regarding how the simultaneous development of adolescents’ ethnic-racial and national identities informs their psychosocial adjustment.
Use and Impact of Simulation in Family Caregiver Education: A Systematic Review
Authors: Hur Yujin , Hickman Ronald L.
Published: December 2023

Background:

Involving family caregivers in a team-based approach has become increasingly important. Simulation-based interventions in nursing have been effective. However, the effect of simulation on family caregiver education is not widely known and is limited.

Objective:

This study aimed to describe the current state of simulation-based interventions in family caregivers of patients with chronic diseases.

Methods:

This systematic review was reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. The literature search was conducted in PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Cochrane with a medical librarian’s help. This review included quantitative, primary, peer-reviewed English-written research articles that reported outcomes for family caregivers. We focused on the data about purpose, design, setting, population, intervention characteristics, and outcomes. Before analyzing the selected studies, we evaluated the risk of bias using the revised Cochrane Risk-Of-Bias tool for randomized trials.

Results:

Our search yielded 9 articles that met the inclusion criteria. The majority of the 9 articles analyzed were designed in a quasi-experimental design. In addition, most studies focused on certain diseases and used low-fidelity simulators. The simulation content mainly focused on technical simulations to help care for patients. Some simulations had a positive influence on family caregivers’ knowledge, attitudes, and skills.

Conclusions:

We expect more simulation-based interventions for caregivers, especially those targeting diverse populations, using appropriate modalities and randomized control designs.
Time for Regional Parties to Shine or for National Parties to Lock Horns Again? The True Nature of Czech Regional Elections
Authors: Folvarčný Adam , Hruška Jan , Pink Michal
Published: December 2023

Establishing representative bodies for the regions was an opportunity for politics to be decentralised. Using a three-dimensional index of congruence of the vote, this text explores the extent to which this opportunity has been taken up in Czech regional elections. Analysing all such ballots since 2000, it compares electoral competition at the national and regional levels; the success of regional parties is also analysed. The results show that Czech regional polls are strongly national in flavour, and their results are similar to those of national elections (only the second-order-election effect is visible); the success of regional parties is very limited, while national parties clearly dominate.
The third vertex of the Latinx triangle: Latin America and the repopulation of rural Spain
Authors: Vega-Durán Raquel
Published: December 2023

In the 1980s, a significant number of Latin Americans began moving to urban centers in the Iberian peninsula. These arrivals grew exponentially. By 2022, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela each had more than 100,000 citizens in Spain. While cities have been the most visible poles of attraction for Latin American immigration, small towns have also witnessed the arrival of Latin Americans. Rural Spain, commonly known as “empty Spain,” had been shrinking and waning in silence for decades, due to an aging population and the migration of young adults to the cities. In 2021 Spain’s central government started to speak of migration as a solution for depopulation, but this proposal’s origins date further back. In 2000 the local government of Aguaviva, a small town in Teruel, decided to bring back life to “empty Spain” by inviting Argentinian families to settle there in exchange for employment and housing. Since then, many more towns have followed suit. The documentary Aguaviva: La vida en tres maletas (2004, “Aguaviva: Life in Three Suitcases”), directed by Verónica Marchiaro and Mario Burbano, offers the story of this first rural repopulation. A close look at the diverse lived experiences portrayed in the documentary, and its different points of views on hospitality, can help guide current conversations on repopulation.
Graduates’ perceptions and employers’ expectations: Essential skills in Hong Kong workplaces during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond
Authors: Edmonds David Matthew , Zayts-Spence Olga , Fortune Zoë , Fung Jaime Sau Ying
Published: December 2023

This paper explores the skills that Hong Kong employers and graduates see as important to have in the workplace as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our data are interviews with 40 employers and 69 graduates in the territory. Using reflexive thematic analysis, our qualitative findings center around four themes. First, we highlight the necessity for graduates to have hard and soft skills when entering Hong Kong workplaces. Second, we reveal the disjuncture that exists regarding the skills that graduates acquire at university and those expected in prospective workplaces. Third, we outline the perceived strength in hard skills possessed by graduates. Fourth, we elucidate the perceived deficit in graduates’ soft skills upon entering the workplace. We discuss the implications of our findings not just for understanding the workplace during the pandemic, but also in post-COVID-19 workplaces.
‘Forgive Us Our Trespasses’: The Critical Role, Responsibility and Rights of Ethics in Confronting the Enlightenment's Pride and Prejudice
Authors: Floyd-Thomas Stacey M.
Published: December 2023

While postmodernists have claimed that the failure of the Enlightenment was a failure of philosophical courage, this plenary address explores how its greatest shortcoming actually was its hubris. Paying attention to how Western scholars have centered pride in their elitist purview was their ultimate worldview, this article examines ‘pride’ as the doctrinal dimension of the good life in contemporary Western society and culture. Furthermore, it implores postmodern Christian social ethicists to reform their stewardship to the telos of the field's highest ideals and role, in order to confront the shortcomings of the Enlightenment and help realize its greater capacity for social transformation. Borrowing the Gandhian critique of ‘knowledge without character’, the author surveys how the existential crisis of higher education, the political manipulation of journalism, and the policy practices of politicians, public intellectuals, and pundits operate in addressing post-imperial/postmodern legacies have legitimated implicit biases and dehumanizing projects that pass off stereotypes as scholarship and hate as hermeneutics.
Research on vehicle trajectory fusion prediction based on physical model and driving intention recognition
Authors: Sun Ning , Xu Nan , Guo Konghui , Han Yulong , Wang Luyao
Published: December 2023

At present, accurately predicting the long-term trajectory of traffic vehicles for autonomous vehicles remains a challenging task. Dynamic scenarios often necessitate frequent replanning, which can waste computing resources and increase the risk of traffic accidents. To address this issue, this paper proposes a vehicle trajectory fusion prediction method based on a physical model and driving intention recognition. Firstly, trajectory prediction is based on the Constant Turn Rate and Acceleration (CTRA) model, which is combined with the vehicle’s motion state to obtain Trajectory1. Next, a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) is employed to identify driving intentions. Building upon this, a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) is used to perform probability density statistical analysis on driving data, yielding feature parameters Dx and Dy. These parameters are then combined with a Quintic polynomial to predict the trajectory, resulting in Trajectory2. Finally, Trajectory1 and Trajectory2 are fused to obtain the ultimate predicted trajectory, referred to as Trajectory3. To validate the effectiveness of the trajectory prediction method proposed in this paper, the algorithm is tested in both left lane change (LCL) and right lane change (LCR) scenarios. The test results demonstrate that the root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and maximum absolute error (MXAE) for Trajectory3, generated using the fusion algorithm, are significantly smaller than those for Trajectory1 and Trajectory2. This indicates the efficacy of the proposed model, which contributes to making high-quality decisions and plans for autonomous vehicles, reducing the probability of traffic accidents, and enhancing public confidence in autonomous vehicle technology.
Sensitivity analysis for MHD bionanofluid slip flow model in fluid-permeable plate
Authors: Chan Sze Qi , Aman Fazlina , Mansur Syahira , Ang Tau Keong
Published: December 2023

Diagnostic and therapeutic purpose on human healthcare is moving to a trend of combined engineering principles and design concepts. It is therefore beneficial to refine the study on thermodynamic properties of bionanofluid towards a better state of diagnoses and treatments. This paper aims to determine the characteristics of a magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) bionanofluid slip flow model in a fluid-permeable plate. A Buongiorno mathematical model describing steady two-dimensional MHD bionanofluid slip flow across a permeable plate is constructed. Numerical analysis by shooting technique and sensitivity analysis under the principle of RSM is configured to determine the correlation between input parameters and output responses. The relationship between the four parameters of interest namely skin friction coefficient, local Nusselt number, local Sherwood number and local density of motile microorganism with respective velocity, temperature, nanoparticle concentration and microorganism density distributions to the selected input parameters are investigated. Skin friction coefficient and local density of motile microorganism increase with suction and Schmidt number respectively, signifying positive sensitivity. Local Sherwood number is conditionally more sensitive to Brownian motion parameter or else Lewis number. While, local Nusselt number is always gaining negative sensitivity from Lewis number, thermophoresis and Brownian motion parameters. Extensive numerical studies on boundary layer problem have been done; yet this is the first study invoking sensitivity analysis to discuss the sensitivity of parameters of interest to the input thermophysical parameters.
Professor Tien Lan: The pioneer of spatial structures in China
Authors: Zhang Yigang , Liu Feng , Xue Suduo , Ma Ming , Wu Jinzhi , Xue Wen , Zhang Zhelun
Published: December 2023

This article is dedicated to the memory of the late Professor Tien Lan, widely recognized as one of the key founders and pioneers of modern spatial structures in China. In addition to his significant contributions in research and design, this paper explores Professor Lan’s social initiatives and accomplishments, such as founding committees and associations related to spatial structures, organizing conferences, and contributing to the development of specifications for design and construction. Professor Lan’s contributions have been recognized by several prestigious awards and honors received.
Health Insurance Business in India: Progress, Issues and Way Forward
Authors: Paul Suchismita , Sarkar Soumitra
Published: December 2023

India’s healthcare system is witnessing increased medical inflation, which is outpacing per capita Gross Domestic Product growth. With increased lifestyle diseases and, most recently, a pandemic caused by COVID-19, the cost of financing healthcare has become a huge issue, especially when government spending on healthcare is so low. In light of this, this article emphasises the significance of privately purchased, that is voluntary health insurance in addition to the government-sponsored health insurance programme for the vast uninsured population. Starting with the history of health insurance in India, this article examines premium growth, underwriting profit, investment income, net profit, incurred claims ratio and other metrics. Following that, the difficulties in the health insurance industry and their breadth are examined through a review of literature and recent newspaper reporting. The key issues resulting in negative underwriting experience are the inefficient risk pooling and unregulated private health care costs. A risk-sharing mechanism with an indemnification model must be implemented for better cost management to eliminate value fragmentation. Finally, ideas are given for resolving the challenges and increasing the market share of the health insurance company, with a focus on long-term business models such as managed care.
Changing Horizon in Teaching Profession in India: Issues and Challenges
Authors: Verma Shikha , Sachdeva Mitima , Bajpai Amita
Published: December 2023

Background: The education system is the lifeline of a nation. If the education system is strong and free from issues, the nation will, certainly, progress. Teachers have a key role in nation-building. Their opinions for overcoming the issues and challenges of education in the changing horizon can work as a roadmap to quality education.

Purpose: The researcher has surveyed 450 teaching professionals to explore the issues and challenges of the changing horizon for teaching professionals in India.

Methods: The researcher has developed a five-point rating scale, after an extensive literature review of regulations and reports of commissions and regulatory bodies. MS Excel 2016 version is used and analysis has been done by finding the frequency of respondents on each point of the rating scale. Then, the results have been interpreted and concluded.

Results: The recommendations to overcome the issues and challenges for teaching professionals are also given in the changing horizon in India.

Conclusion: Concerned professionals must consider factors including adequate infrastructure, up-to-date curricula, qualified faculty, suitable class sizes, learning materials, financial support and well-planned guidelines for quality education in order to improve education quality. A new teacher education program named as Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP)1 and a reform in educational policy as New Education Policy (2020)2 have begun. All the teaching professionals are hopefully waiting for their implementation. A great future for everyone will undoubtedly result from our work.
A bite of dark chocolate? Black humour in mental health services
Authors: Kim Aram , Luo Rosie , Ng Lillian
Published: December 2023

Objective

Black humour permits expression of what may otherwise be unspeakable and is observed and used by staff working in mental health services. The aim of this study was to identify how humour, particularly black humour, was perceived by different health professionals in psychiatric practice.

Methods

Participants were invited to complete a survey. Data was collated and statistically analysed by a biostatistician. Chi square and univariate tests were performed to identify associations between categories.

Results

The sub-question relating to the benefits of black humour was analysed. Main findings were that the majority of staff perceived black humour to be beneficial in psychiatric practice ( n = 564 of 710 total; 79.4%), particularly if they used general and black humour with patients, families and colleagues. Those who observed black humour being used collegially about patients and families were more likely to find black humour beneficial; and even those uncomfortable with black humour being used by colleagues were more likely to see the benefits of black humour.

Conclusion

Black humour was perceived to be beneficial in mental health settings when used mindfully, sensitively and in context. Further study with patients and relatives may shed light on how widely the perception of benefit is shared.
Physicians’ Explanatory Models of Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Qualitative Interview Study
Authors: Berenblum Tobi Catalina , Buchbinder Mara
Published: December 2023

Explanatory models are culturally informed representations of illness that convey understandings of the etiology and expected course of disease. Substantial research has explored lay explanatory models, but examining physicians’ clinical explanatory models can also provide insight into patients’ understandings of illness because physicians are a foundational source of authoritative knowledge that shapes lay concepts of illness and disease. This study characterized the explanatory models used by pediatric gastroenterologists when explaining inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to children. We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with 20 pediatric gastroenterologists across the United States about their clinical communication and explanatory models. We identified two primary explanatory models used to describe immune dysregulation in pediatric IBD: the defense and protection model, which characterizes the immune system as an army that erroneously sees the body as “non-self” and attacks it; and the switch model, which conceptualizes treatment as activating a switch that turns off a faulty immune response. We also identified two models used by some physicians to describe inflammation: the scratch and scrape model, which compares IBD inflammation to scratches or scrapes on the skin; and the bonfire model, which compares inflammation to a fire in need of extinguishing. While the use of militaristic metaphors is pervasive in medicine, describing autoimmunity as a battle against the self may lead children to perceive their body as the enemy. This may be compounded by describing the immune system as “confused” while noting its ongoing protective function. Use of these explanatory models may nevertheless improve patient disease-related knowledge.
Medicaid Reimbursement for Doula Care: Policy Considerations From a Scoping Review
Authors: Safon Cara B. , McCloskey Lois , Gordon Sarah H. , Cole Megan B. , Clark Jack
Published: December 2023

Evidence suggests that perinatal doula care can support maternal health and reduce racial inequities among low-income pregnant and postpartum people, prompting growing interest by state Medicaid agencies to reimburse for doula services. Emerging peer-reviewed and gray literature document factors facilitating or impeding that reimbursement. We conducted a scoping review of that literature (2012–2022) to distill key policy considerations for policymakers and advocates in the inclusion of doula care as a Medicaid-covered benefit. Fifty-three reports met the inclusion criteria. Most (53%) were published in 2021 or 2022. Their stated objectives were advocating for expanded access to doula care (17%), describing barriers to policy implementation, and/or offering recommendations to overcome the barriers (17%). A primary policy consideration among states was prioritizing partnership with doulas and doula advocates to inform robust and equitable policymaking to sustain the doula profession.
Telehealth to Address Health Promotion & Social Isolation in Community Dwelling Seniors During a Public Health Emergency
Authors: Belanger Brigitte , Arthur Paul
Published: December 2023

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic led to a public health emergency and dramatic physical and social lockdown for many of society’s most vulnerable people. This mixed methods study examined the feasibility and value of delivering health promotion occupational therapy through an online video platform to community dwelling seniors over the age of 65. Four stand-alone sessions were designed to introduce health promotion and aging in place to 10 community dwelling seniors. The sessions were designed to allow seniors to engage in informative, interactive activities offering a chance to share their lived experiences. Seniors embraced new technology and benefited from therapeutic recommendations in their homes. Qualitative and quantitative results support the adaptation of telehealth as a permanent benefit for community dwelling seniors and offers the potential to reach a broader audience, reduce barriers to access care, and optimize safety in the home.
Safety Assessment of Alkyl Sultaines as Used in Cosmetics
Authors: Burnett Christina L. , Bergfeld Wilma F. , Belsito Donald V. , Hill Ronald A. , Klaassen Curtis D. , Liebler Daniel C. , Marks James G. , Shank Ronald C. , Slaga Thomas J. , Snyder Paul W. , Fiume Monice , Heldreth Bart
Published: December 2023

The Expert Panel for Cosmetic Ingredient Safety (Panel) assessed the safety of 13 alkyl sultaines, which are most frequently reported to function in cosmetics as antistatic agents, surfactants, and skin and hair conditioning agents. The Panel reviewed the available data to determine the safety of these ingredients. The Panel noted gaps in the available safety data for some of the alkyl sultaines in this safety assessment; the available data on some of the ingredients are sufficient, however, and can be read across to support the safety of other members of the group. The Panel concluded that these alkyl sultaines are safe in cosmetics in the present practices of use and concentration described in this safety assessment.
pystacked: Stacking generalization and machine learning in Stata
Authors: Ahrens Achim , Hansen Christian B. , Schaffer Mark E.
Published: December 2023

The pystacked command implements stacked generalization (Wolpert, 1992, Neural Networks 5: 241–259) for regression and binary classification via Python’s scikit-learn. Stacking combines multiple supervised machine learners—the “base” or “level-0” learners—into one learner. The currently supported base learners include regularized regression, random forest, gradient boosted trees, support vector machines, and feed-forward neural nets (multilayer perceptron). pystacked can also be used as a “regular” machine learning program to fit one base learner and thus provides an easy-to-use application programming interface for scikit-learn‘s machine learning algorithms.
ardl: Estimating autoregressive distributed lag and equilibrium correction models
Authors: Kripfganz Sebastian , Schneider Daniel C.
Published: December 2023

We present a command, ardl, for the estimation of autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) models in a time-series context. The ardl command can be used to fit an ARDL model with the optimal number of autoregressive and distributed lags based on the Akaike or Bayesian (Schwarz) information criterion. The regression results can be displayed in the ARDL levels form or in the error-correction representation of the model. The latter separates long-run and short-run effects and is available in two different parameterizations of the long-run (cointegrating) relationship. The popular bounds-testing procedure for the existence of a long-run levels relationship is implemented as a postestimation feature. Comprehensive critical values and approximate p-values obtained from response-surface regressions facilitate statistical inference.
Simpler standard errors for two-stage optimization estimators revisited
Authors: Terza Joseph V.
Published: December 2023

“Simpler standard errors for two-stage optimization estimators” (Terza, 2016a, Stata Journal 16: 368–385) offers an analytic simplification of the daunting textbook formulations of the asymptotic variance–covariance matrix of a class of two-stage optimization estimators. Here I revisit that simplification and show that it applies to a much broader class of estimators than was originally considered. I also offer a correction that further enhances the generality of this asymptotic variance–covariance matrix formulation. These points are illustrated via a real-data application.
Review of A. Colin Cameron and Pravin K. Trivedi’s Microeconometrics Using Stata, Second Edition
Authors: Kripfganz Sebastian
Published: December 2023

In this article, I review Microeconometrics Using Stata, Second Edition, by A. Colin Cameron and Pravin K. Trivedi (2022, Stata Press).
Neurological outcome following out of hospital cardiac arrest: Evaluation of performance of existing risk prediction models in a UK cohort
Authors: Livesey John A , Lone Nazir , Black Emily , Broome Richard , Syme Alastair , Keating Sean , Elliott Laura , McCahill Cara , Simpson Gavin , Grant Helen , Auld Fiona , Garrioch Sweyn , Hay Alasdair , Craven Thomas H
Published: December 2023

Introduction:

Out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a common problem. Rates of survival are low and a proportion of survivors are left with an unfavourable neurological outcome. Four models have been developed to predict risk of unfavourable outcome at the time of critical care admission – the Cardiac Arrest Hospital Prognosis (CAHP), MIRACLE2, Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA), and Targeted Temperature Management (TTM) models. This evaluation evaluates the performance of these four models in a United Kingdom population and provides comparison to performance of the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE-II) score.

Methods:

A retrospective evaluation of the performance of the models was conducted over a 43-month period in 414 adult, non-pregnant patients presenting consecutively following non-traumatic OHCA to the five units in our regional critical care network. Scores were generated for each model for where patients had complete data (CAHP = 347, MIRACLE2 = 375, OHCA = 356, TTM = 385). Cerebral Performance Category (CPC) outcome was calculated for each patient at last documented follow up and an unfavourable outcome defined as CPC ⩾ 3. Performance for discrimination of unfavourable outcome was tested by generating receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for each model and comparing the area under the curve (AUC).

Results:

Best performance for discrimination of unfavourable outcome was demonstrated by the high risk group of the CAHP score with an AUC of 0.87 [95% CI 0.83–0.91], specificity of 97.1% [95% CI 93.8–100] and positive predictive value (PPV) of 96.3% [95% CI 92.2–100]. The high risk group of the MIRACLE2 model, which is significantly easier to calculate, had an AUC of 0.81 [95% CI 0.76–0.86], specificity of 92.3% [95% CI 87.2–97.4] and PPV of 95.2% [95% CI 91.9–98.4].

Conclusion:

The CAHP, MIRACLE2, OHCA and TTM scores all perform comparably in a UK population to the original development and validation cohorts. All four scores outperform APACHE-II in a population of patients resuscitated from OHCA. CAHP and TTM perform best but are more complex to calculate than MIRACLE2, which displays inferior performance.