bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Demand response with heat pumps: Practical implementation of three different control options
Authors: Crawley Jenny , Martin-Vilaseca Adria , Wingfield Jez , Gill Zachary , Shipworth Michelle , Elwell Clifford
Published: December 2022

The electrification of heating and transport and decarbonisation of supply creates a need for demand side flexibility to balance the grid. Heat pumps are expected to form a major part of heat delivery, and many modelling studies have investigated the technical potential of heat pump demand response. However, little empirical work has been reported on the practical implementation of such demand response in occupied homes. This paper presents a cross-case comparison of three early adopters of heat pump demand response in the UK. The aim was to reduce heat pump electricity consumption during the same peak period, but each employed a different control strategy: lowered air temperature setpoints, lowered flow temperature and blocked heat pump compressor. A 56–90% electricity reduction during the peak period was observed; the success of the demand response depended on how the control strategy affected the heat pump and the rest of the heating system. However, no one stakeholder is responsible for all these system components. The fabric, heating distribution and control system and heat pumps installed are highly heterogeneous across the stock, highlighting that flexibility mechanisms must be developed that can be tailored to or work across their range.

Three case studies of different heat pump demand response control strategies in real homes are presented. All three households reduced their electricity consumption during a peak period but delivered unintended consequences where the heat pump’s logic did not correspond to the demand response requirements. This study highlights that the implementation of heat pump demand response to support electricity system operation requires a clear definition of electricity system need as well as practical demand response mechanisms to be integrated into heating system design.
Effects of Acceptance and Commitment Training on Treatment Integrity Amongst Behavioral Technicians
Authors: Ragulan Swathi , Bertoli Erin , Shinall Jacqueline A. , Kahng SungWoo
Published: December 2022

Behavioral technicians (BT) within the field of applied behavior analysis may be at greater risk for experiencing burnout and stress due to the nature of their clients, job demands, and work environments. Burnout and stress may negatively impact BT’s work performances, more specifically, their treatment integrity. Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) may be a useful tool to address the private events as well as the covert and overt behaviors associated with burnout and stress. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an ACT intervention on improving treatment integrity and reducing work-related burnout and stress amongst BTs. Four BTs participated in an ACT workshop, and their treatment integrity as well as their burnout and stress levels were measured prior to and following the ACT workshop. Treatment integrity increased for all participants, suggesting that ACT-based interventions may be an effective approach to improving work performance (i.e., treatment integrity) amongst BTs who may experience workplace burnout and stress.
What Underlies the Opposition to Trans-Inclusive Policies? The Role of Concerns About Male Violence Versus Attitudes Toward Trans People
Authors: Morgenroth Thekla , Axt Jordan R. , Westgate Erin C.
Published: December 2022

Transgender women’s access to women-only spaces is controversial. Arguments against trans-inclusive policies often focus on cisgender women’s safety from male violence, despite little evidence to suggest that such policies put cisgender women at risk. Across seven studies using U.S. and U.K. participants ( N = 3,864), we investigate whether concerns about male violence versus attitudes toward trans people are a better predictor of support for trans-inclusive policies and whether these factors align with the reasons given by opponents and supporters regarding their policy views. We find that opponents of these policies do not accurately report their reasons for opposition: Specifically, while opponents claim that concerns about male violence are the primary reason driving their opposition, attitudes toward transgender people more strongly predicted policy views. These results highlight the limitations of focusing on overt discourse and emphasize the importance of investigating psychological mechanisms underlying policy support.
The Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations: Building Consensus Through Collaboration
Authors: Lippard Cliff
Published: December 2022

The Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations serves as a model for bringing policymakers and stakeholders together, more clearly defining public policy problems, and reaching consensus on how to address those problems.
Audible Crime Scenes: ShotSpotter as Diagnostic, Policing, and Space-making Infrastructure
Authors: Kang Edward B. , Hudson Simogne
Published: December 2022

Acoustic gunshot detection systems (AGDS) have been emerging as a technological solution to the growing problem of gun violence around the world. We examine a particularly prominent AGDS technology called RespondTM developed by publicly traded US company ShotSpotter Inc. (NASDAQ: SSTI) to better understand the sociotechnical logics that inform its operation. Drawing from frameworks provided by science and technology studies and sound studies, we ask, “What are the broader conditions that allow for a successful AGDS as it is imagined by ShotSpotter?” At a time in which the accuracy and reliability of ShotSpotter’s AGDS are being seriously questioned through the numerous reports of false positives that reached as high as 99 percent in certain cities it was deployed in, it is imperative to interrogate what exactly is “false” in these false positive reports and how the company operates despite them. In this paper, we trace ShotSpotter and its artificial intelligence/machine learning AGDS technologies as they exist across various patents, promotional materials, financial documents, and public statements to not only better understand the ways in which they translate sound into “crime,” or space into “crime scene,” but also to bring attention to how ShotSpotter translates itself across its different audiences.
Psychometric Properties of the Turkish Version of the JHand for the Patient-Oriented Outcome Measure for Patients with Hand and Elbow Disorders
Authors: Tonak Hasan Atacan , Aydin Yener , Ozcanyuz Burc , Ozcanli Haluk , Uehara Kosuke , Morizaki Yutaka
Published: December 2022

The JHand is an easy-to-understand questionnaire that includes questions that exclude hand dominance. It was developed to evaluate patients with hand and elbow disorders. However, JHand has not been translated and validated in the Turkish language. The aim of this study is to investigate the psychometric properties of the culturally adapted Turkish version of the JHand for Turkish patients. A total of 262 patients were included in the study. JHand, Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand Questionnaire, and Hand20 were used to evaluate patients. Internal consistency and test-retest analyses were applied to determine the reliability of the Turkish version of the JHand. Confirmatory factor analysis and similar scale validity were used to determine its validity. The Turkish version of the JHand showed high levels of internal consistency and excellent test-retest reliability (Cronbach α = 0.907, ICC = 0.923). The model fit indices of the Turkish version of the JHand had good and acceptable fit with reference values. Statistically positive and very strong correlations were found between JHand and DASH (r = .825, p < .001) as well as the JHand and Hand20 (r = .846, p < .001). The Turkish version of the JHand had excellent internal consistency and test-retest reliability as well as a high level of validity.
Social ontology in metaethics
Authors: Mähringer Gloria
Published: December 2022

This article enriches discussions about the metaphysics of normative facts with conceptual resources from social ontology that metaethics has neglected so far: the resources of Haslanger’s critical realism as social constructionism. By pointing out the viability of understanding reasons as socially constructed facts, the article shows how normative facts can be understood as features of mind-independent reality that are, however, not features of the universe independently of social practices. The move into social ontology allows us to understand normative facts as mind-independent in a more substantial sense than deflationists do, by stressing individual mind-independence, while denying collective mind-independence – the subsistence independently of established human cultures. The new position can fruitfully mediate between realism, error theory and constructivism. Finally, the metaphysical nuances provided by social ontology pave the way for novel approaches to normative change and progress – thereby indicating pathways to normative theorising that many traditional metaethical positions lack.
Characteristics, outcomes, and 30-day readmissions following pediatric extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in the United States: A Nationwide Readmissions Database study
Authors: Shafi Obeid , Mir Tanveer , Liu Daniel , Velumula Pradeep K , Tul Llah Sibghat , Korumilli Ritesh
Published: December 2022

Objectives

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is an increasingly used mode of critical care support for pediatric patients refractory to conventional therapy. We evaluated the characteristics, outcomes, and readmissions rates for pediatric ECMO in the United States.

Methods

Data was extracted from the Nationwide Readmissions Database, a database designed to support national readmissions analyses, for patients aged 1–18 years undergoing ECMO between 2012–2018. Baseline demographics, comorbidities, and characteristics were identified using International Classification of Diseases codes.

Results

Out of 897,117 index pediatric hospitalizations, 3706 patients underwent ECMO [median age 9 years (IQR 2,15); 51.6% males]. 2246 (60.6%) patients survived to hospital discharge, with a 30-day readmissions rate of 17% among survivors. Cardiac conditions associated with ECMO were congenital heart disease (25.3%), cardiogenic shock (23.6%), and congestive heart failure (16.2%). The common respiratory associations were sepsis (36.2%), pneumonia (35.6%), and asthma (15.4%). Patients who survived were more likely to have diagnoses of asthma, bronchiolitis, myocarditis, pneumonia, and sepsis. Acute kidney injury (51.5%), disseminated intravascular coagulation (22.5%), and surgical site bleeding (12.7%) were the commonly associated complications. The trend for yearly survival rates was not statistically significant (linear p-trend = 0.38).

Conclusions

Pediatric ECMO continues to be associated with notable mortality and complication rates. We did not observe a meaningful trend for the yearly survival rates over the study period, and over one-sixth of survivors were readmitted within 30-days. More research is needed to identify patients at high risk of mortality and readmissions, to help target resources more efficiently and improve survival.
Contextualising planned behaviours to the vaccination against COVID-19 in the European Union
Authors: Sandu Dumitru
Published: December 2022

The article targets the reasons that are behind behaviour orientation in the vaccination process against COVID-19. The data we are using come from the Flash Eurobarometer 494, collected in May 2021. The key dependent variable puts together vaccination intentions (soon, later on in 2021, undecided, later, never) and the fact of being vaccinated or not. A multivariate and multilevel analysis confirms the validity of an extended theory of planned behaviour in explaining the orientation to the vaccination against COVID-19. The space patterning of the behaviours is highly marked by differences among Old versus the New Member States of the European Union, clusters of countries, urban versus rural areas, and also by a function of trust in relevant institutions, and customs of using vaccination to cope with different diseases as an adult. New questions and hypotheses are generated by multiple comparisons.
Non-pharmacological management of osteoporotic vertebral fractures: Patient perspectives and experiences
Authors: Tibert Nicholas , Ponzano Matteo , Brien Sheila , Funnell Larry , Gibbs Jenna C , Jain Ravi , Keller Heather , Laprade Judi , Morin Suzanne N , Papaioannou Alexandra , Weston Zach , Wideman Timothy Howard , Giangregorio Lora
Published: December 2022

Objective

To understand perceptions on rehabilitation after vertebral fracture, non-pharmacological strategies, and virtual care from the perspective of individuals living with vertebral fractures.

Design and setting

We conducted semi-structured interviews online and performed a thematic and content analysis from a post-positivism perspective.

Participants

Ten individuals living with osteoporotic vertebral fractures (9F, 1 M, aged 71  ±  8 years).

Results

Five themes emerged: pain is the defining limitation of vertebral fracture recovery; delayed diagnosis impacts recovery trajectory; living with fear; being dissatisfied with fracture management; and “getting back into the game of life” using non-pharmacological strategies.

Conclusion

Participants reported back pain and an inability to perform activities of daily living, affecting psychological and social well-being. Physiotherapy, education, and exercise were considered helpful and important to patients; however, issues with fracture identification and referral limited the use of these options. Participants believed that virtual rehabilitation was a feasible and effective alternative to in-person care, but perceived experience with technology, cost, and individualization of programs as barriers.
Mimicking Clinical Trials Using Real-World Data: A Novel Method and Applications
Authors: Wang Wei-Jhih , Bansal Aasthaa , Bennette Caroline Savage , Basu Anirban
Published: December 2022

Introduction

Simulating individual-level trial data when only summary data are available is often useful for meta-analysis, forming external control arms and calibrating trial results to real-world data (RWD). The joint distribution of baseline characteristics in a trial is usually simulated by combining its summary data with RWD’s correlations. However, RWD correlations may not be a perfect proxy for the trial. A misspecified correlation structure could bias any analysis in which the outcomes generating models are nonlinear or include effect modifiers.

Methods

We developed an iterative algorithm using copula and resampling, which was based on the estimated propensity score for the likelihood of enrollment in a trial given participants’ characteristics. Validation was performed using Monte Carlo simulations under different scenarios in which the marginal and joint distributions of covariates differ between trial samples and RWD. Two applications were illustrated using an actual trial and the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results–Medicare data. We calculated the standardized mean difference (SMD) to assess the generalizability of the trial and explored the feasibility of generating an external control by applying a parametric Weibull model trained in RWD to predict survival in the simulated trial cohort.

Results

Across all scenarios, approximated correlations derived from the algorithm were closer to the true correlations than the RWD’s correlations. The algorithm also successfully reproduced the joint distribution of characteristics for the actual trial. A similar SMD was observed using simulated data and individual-level trial data. The 95% confidence intervals were overlapped between adjusted survival estimates from the simulated trial and actual trial Kaplan-Meier estimates.

Conclusions

The algorithm could be a feasible way to simulate individual-level data when only summary data are available. Further research is needed to validate our approach with larger sample sizes.

Highlights

The correlation structure is crucial to building the joint distribution of patient characteristics, and a misspecified correlation structure could potentially influence predicted outcomes. An iterative algorithm was developed to approximate a trial’s correlation structure using published summary trial data and real-world data. The algorithm could be a feasible way to simulate individual-level trial data when only trial summary data are available.
Three Forms of Tears at Art Museums: A Phenomenological Study of Viewers’ Tear-Shedding Experiences Through Blog Narratives
Authors: Kim Dooiee
Published: December 2022

This study proposed that viewers’ experiential accounts of shedding tears in art museums in their blog narratives can help understand the distinctive characteristics of the tear-shedding experience in visual arts. This study systematically examined 34 accounts of shedding tears from blog narratives following a phenomenological approach. It identified recurrent themes ( constituents) and clustered them into three groups according to theme profile similarities. During the moment of tears from sudden overwhelming stimulation ( Cluster II), an apparent bidirectional empathic process emerged when viewers shed tears during visual art appreciation. Viewers could empathize with the world depicted in the artwork ( Cluster III) and felt understood when they encountered their innermost selves through it ( Cluster I). The study's findings offer a compelling basis for empirically identifying the meaning of the tear-shedding experience from visual arts in the fine art domain while integrating previous studies.
Investigating the effect strength of positive risk-taking barriers on discharge decisions in occupational therapy intermediate care: A factorial survey
Authors: Newman Craig , Whitehead Phillip , Thomson Mary
Published: December 2022

Introduction:

Positive risk-taking in occupational therapy intermediate care is a requirement, yet little is known about how positive risk-taking barriers influence discharge decisions at different experience levels.

Method:

A factorial survey was used to investigate positive risk-taking barriers (Limited Capacity, Risk Averse Family, Blame Culture and No Support). Participants self-categorised their experience level into Novice or Semi-expert or Expert before analysing four vignettes relating to recommending a home discharge for an older adult. Data were analysed using Multiple Regression and One-Way Analysis of Variance.

Results:

Seventy-four participants responded to two hundred eighty-one vignettes. The barriers that reduced the likelihood to recommend a home discharge for an older adult were ‘No Support’, Novices (β = −0.315, p = 0.002), Semi-experts (β = −0.313, p = 0.001) Experts (β = −0.254, p = 0.009); ‘Limited Capacity’, Novices (β = −0.305, p < 0.003), Semi-experts (β = −0.254, p = 0.006) Experts (β = −0.376, p = 0.001) and ‘Blame Culture’ Semi-experts (β = −0.240, p = 0.010). Novices were found to be less likely to recommend a home discharge by comparison.

Conclusion:

The ‘Limited Capacity’, ‘No Support’ and ‘Blame Culture’ barriers had the strongest effect and Novices were less likely to recommend a home discharge overall. These findings could inform future research and pre-registration Occupational Therapy education.
Exploring the experiences of foster and kinship carers in Australia regarding the oral healthcare of children living in out-of-home care
Authors: Acharya Reecha , George Ajesh , Ng Chok Harrison , Maneze Della , Blythe Stacy
Published: December 2022

Foster and kinship carers play an integral part in establishing oral health promoting behaviours and managing the oral health issues of children in out-of-home care (OOHC). This study aimed to explore the knowledge, experiences and support needs of Australian foster and kinship carers in maintaining the oral health of children living in OOHC, using semi-structured interviews with eight purposively sampled carers. Results showed that the participants understood the importance of good oral health for general well-being and were motivated to implement good oral hygiene practices with the children in their care. The challenges encountered by foster and kinship carers included: a lack of information from foster care agencies regarding the oral health needs of children; difficulty in the pre-approval processes for dental treatment; and poor communication between carers and foster care agencies. Systemic challenges included: transience and frequent changes in the child’s foster placement; long waiting lists for dental treatment; and lack of dental professionals. We conclude that foster and kinship carers need support to promote the oral health of children in OOHC and that systemic barriers must be identified and addressed.
The class basis of racialisation: The missing link in neo-Marxist analysis of racism
Authors: Ogunrotifa Ayodeji Bayo
Published: December 2022

Racialisation is a Marxist concept that has been utilised to understand racism patterns and reproduction in Western societies for more than three decades. In Marxist parlance, racialisation is the ideological process through which the state racialised a section of the population (ethnic minorities) for political purposes. The centrality of the state in racialisation discourse has inhibited the class basis that underpins racialisation. This article articulates the class analysis of racialisation, positing that racialisation stems from racism ideology that the Western ruling class utilised to divide the people along the ethnic line as a means of preserving and maintaining ruling class influence and prestige in society and protecting the capitalist system from being challenged by the unity of the people along the class line. Racialisation is utilised to reproduce racism, using media, laws, regulations and institutional practices to entrench division and disunity in society and preserve their control system under capitalism. In discussing the future of racism, this article critiques the current anti-racism campaign/movement founded and rooted in race discourse and race consciousness and argues that a shift from race consciousness to racialised consciousness is pivotal towards deconstruction and eradicating all vestiges of racism in the global society. The article concludes that racialised consciousness would act as a political unifier in anti-racism campaigns and connects the struggles of Black working and middle class with that of the White working and middle class in terms of collaboration and solidarity, to collectively challenge the capitalist system that is responsible for oppression, inequality and racism on class lines.
Re-reading the Travels of Ippolito Desideri to Tibet and the Seventeenth Century in the Context of the Recent Claims about the Influence of Tibetan Buddhism on David Hume
Authors: Rajesh M. N.
Published: December 2022

This article tries to understand the travels of Ippolito Desideri to Tibet in the context of the recent work by Alison Gopnik. The central claim of Alison Gopnik is that the western philosopher David Hume’s works were significantly influenced by Tibetan Buddhism. Gopnik focuses on one aspect: the absence of a creator in Tibetan Buddhism that the Italian friar and traveller to Tibet, Ippolito Desideri, writes about, which she says was picked up by David Hume. Gopnik’s claim is based on the possibility that Desideri’s work was part of a Jesuit library in La Fleche, France. Hume frequented this library, which was part of a Jesuit knowledge network. In this article, some aspects of Desideri’s travels are analysed in the broader context of knowledge transfer from Tibet to Europe.

Beginning with a description of the isolated context of Tibet and the larger context of knowledge flows that show some examples of ideas travelling from Asia and Africa to the West, the article then proceeds to examine selected aspects of the travels of Desideri. In his travels, we see that not only has Desideri acquired an intimate knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism but also documented in detail many minute aspects of Tibetan life. Further, his treatment of the religious practices of the Tibetans and their denial of a Creator is sufficient proof of the Tibetan source of this idea. This material has the potential to provide an elaborate base for a paradigm shift in the western world’s understanding of David Hume’s contribution. As Desideri travelled through different regions of the Indian subcontinent, his writings on Tibet remain uninfluenced by these biases. The article concludes by saying that there is a strong possibility that Tibetan ideas could have reached the West through Ippolito Desideri’s works.
Examination of Psychometric Evidence for Criterion-Referenced Scores from the SSIS SEL Brief Scales
Authors: Lei Pui-Wa , Zhao Hui , Hart Susan Crandall , Li Xinyue , DiPerna James C
Published: December 2022

Efficient and intuitive interpretive frameworks for social-emotional learning (SEL) measures are necessary for identifying student needs and informing programming decisions across multitiered systems of support in schools. Though familiar to educators and often used with standardized tests of academic achievement, criterion-referenced frameworks are less common in SEL assessment. As such, the current study examined the psychometric evidence for scores from one such framework, the Competency-Referenced Performance Framework, which was developed to inform universal screening decisions based on the SSIS SEL Brief Scales (Elliott et al., 2020). Specifically, we evaluated stability, test-criterion relationships with academic outcomes, and treatment sensitivity of the CRPF using data from an efficacy trial of a universal SEL program. Results provided preliminary supportive evidence for the CRPF.
The scars of violence and repression on founding elections: Evidence from Spain
Authors: Rodon Toni
Published: December 2022

Do violence during a civil war and its aftermath leave a mark on political behaviour? In this article I study how violence perpetrated by the left and repression by the right during and after the Spanish Civil War shaped vote choice and turnout in 1977, in the first legislative election after a 40 year dictatorship. I argue that the effect of repression travels over time when actions are perpetrated by clearly identifiable antagonistic actors. By using a dataset that captures the intensity and the type of violence, results indicate that repression perpetrated by the Francoist dictatorship during and after the conflict had a positive and significant effect on left-wing support in 1977. Results are consistent across different indicators, such as religious violence, distance to mass graves or sanctions to teachers, confirming that violence triggered greater support for the political left. In contrast, results show no relationship between repression and turnout.
Engaging parents in multi academy trusts (MATs) as local civic knowledge experts
Authors: Healey Karen Broadhurst
Published: December 2022

Parental engagement in multi-academy trusts’ (MATs) governance structures and activities is contemporarily constructed in policy as mattering less than engagement by professionalised governors and trustees, and in much of the literature as deficient for operationalising MAT accountability in a public education system. This article problematises the role of local parental engagement in MATs in a depoliticised context to explore an alternative conceptualisation responding to this democratic deficit. A single case study combined with narrative inquiry sought experience beyond the meta-narrative and Gunter and Ribben's conceptual frame of ‘knowledge, knowers and knowing’ provided a lens for interpreting data. Analysis identified that parental engagement was seen as a commodity in the justification of professional's decisions and an opportunity to normalise parent thinking and practices when engaging with the academy trust. Analysis of parents’ stories provided an alternative conceptualisation of parental engagement recognising their agency and contribution to knowledge production through their civic expertise.
Orthotropic vs quasi-isotropic: How the tape orientation influence the performance of disentangled polyethylene laminates
Authors: Bajya Mukesh , Majumdar Abhijit , Butola Bhupendra Singh , Jasra Raksh V
Published: December 2022

Disentangled ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (DPE) is a high-tenacity and high-modulus material having great potential for impact resistance applications. This research presents a comprehensive experimental study on the effect of orientation on the tensile and low-velocity impact performance of laminates produced from DPE tapes. The laminates were constructed by laying the DPE tape at different orientations followed by compression moulding. Quasi-isotropic laminate showed good tenacity in all directions whereas cross-ply orthotropic laminate showed the maximum tenacity in both the principal directions (0° and 90°). The impact energy absorption by the orthotropic laminate was 61.1% higher compared to that of quasi-isotropic laminate. The results imply that cross-ply laminate is the most suitable one for ballistic applications.
How does the digital economy affect energy efficiency? Empirical research on Chinese cities
Authors: Xin Yongrong , Chang Xiyin , Zhu Jianing
Published: December 2022

Promoting high-quality economic development, boosting high-level ecological environment protection, and integrating deeply digital economy and energy efficiency has become a general trend. This paper, based on 284 prefecture-level Chinese cities from 2008 to 2018, uses the entropy weight method and super-efficient SBM-DEA model to measure the digital economy and energy efficiency (decompose into energy pure technical efficiency and energy scale efficiency), respectively. After the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics, a fixed-effect model is constructed to study the impact of the digital economy on energy efficiency. The research results show that: (1) the development of the digital economy effectively promotes energy efficiency, mainly reflected in the improvement of pure technical efficiency of energy; (2) the development of both the digital economy and the energy efficiency in China has complex spatial and temporal evolutionary characteristics, and there is heterogeneity in the impact of the digital economy on energy efficiency at the temporal and spatial levels; and (3) digital economy effectively improves energy efficiency by reducing unnecessary energy consumption through the R&D innovation effect. The development of the digital economy has far-reaching significance on the optimization and upgrading of the economic system, accelerating the improvement of energy efficiency and achieving green transformation.
Attitudes toward healthcare performance in Europe, 2002–2017: How absolute and relative measures can reveal different patterns
Authors: Moolla Iris , Lambert Paul
Published: December 2022

Citizens’ attitudes towards their national healthcare are important indicators of satisfaction and of political perspectives. In this article we summarise individual and national level patterns in healthcare evaluations across Europe. An innovative feature of our analysis is that we demonstrate that assessing healthcare evaluations in relative terms (relative to citizens’ views about the performance of national institutions in other domains), offers new insights about individual and national level variations in attitudes. Thus, we introduce an indicator of relative attitudes towards healthcare and contrast it to an absolute measure in a cross-national analysis. We use a larger dataset than previous studies of healthcare evaluations including countries from all regions of Europe and spanning eight rounds of the European Social Survey (2002–2017, N = 342,000). We find that Europeans’ healthcare evaluations are multidimensional, with different patterns sometimes operating at an absolute and a relative level. When comparing countries, for instance, several nations in Southern and Eastern Europe compare poorly to other nations in their absolute ratings of healthcare but compare favourably if assessed in relative terms. Likewise, using a relative measure, most Scandinavian countries compare less favourably to other countries, but score positively when evaluations are measured in absolute terms.
Effect of thymoquinone on pharmacokinetics of 5-fluorouracil in rats and its effect on human cell line in vitro
Authors: Eftekhar Seyed Parsa , Kazemi Sohrab , Moghadamnia Ali Akbar
Published: December 2022

Thymoquinone (TQ) is one of the components extracted from Nigella sativa seeds and has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer effects. We evaluated the effect of TQ on 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) pharmacokinetics (PK) in vivo and in vitro on human colorectal cancer cell line. Ten Adult male Wistar rats were assigned to two groups. TQ treated group received intraperitoneal TQ once daily for 14 consecutive days (5 mg/kg). Both groups received intraperitoneal 5-FU (50 mg/kg) on day 15 and blood samples were collected from retro-orbital plexus. The pharmacokinetics parameters were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Moreover, various concentrations of 5-FU, TQ, and combination of 5-FU and TQ were added to the HT-29 cell line and cell viability was measured using 3- (4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide colorimetric assay. The maximum serum concentration ( Cmax), area under the curve (AUC), and time of maximum concentration ( Tmax) of 5-FU in TQ treated group were significantly increased approximately by 61, 60, and 24% compared to the control group, respectively. The combination of 5-FU with TQ (0.284 mM) showed a greater inhibitory effect on HT-29 cell growth compared to the alone 5-FU (0.027 and 0.055 mM) administration. TQ increases the AUC, Cmax, and Tmax of 5-FU and has a synergistic effect on the PK of 5-FU. Moreover, low concentration of TQ enhances the inhibitory effects of 5-FU on cell growth in colorectal cancer cell line. This synergistic effect might enhance the anticancer effects of low concentration of 5-FU, leading to drug dose reduction and reduced systemic toxicity of this chemotherapeutic agent.
A chemometric method for the viability analysis of spinach seeds by near infrared spectroscopy with variable selection using successive projections algorithm
Authors: Lakshmanan Madan Kumar , Boelt Birte , Gislum René
Published: December 2022

This paper proposes a chemometric method for evaluating the viability of spinach seeds using near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and successive projections algorithms (SPA). An essential step of the procedure is to apply the SPA to optimize the choice of variables for multivariate classification. Variable selection using SPA has been described as an optimization problem in which a cost function is minimized. Selecting the correct variables makes the chemometric models more complete, precise, accurate, and less complex. The NIR spectra were processed using the Savitzky-Golay and multiplicative scatter correction techniques. After that, the best wavelength subset was selected using SPA. Different classification techniques are then applied to the dimension-reduced data to determine the seeds’ viability. The results show that the proposed method is less complex compared to existing canonical variance methods (1.7% miscalculation error in the proposed way) and is also easier to implement.
THDC India Ltd.—Performance Management System
Authors: Shah Hardik , Anand Ashutosh Kumar , Tyagi Pallavi
Published: December 2022

The case is based on the current performance management system (PMS) followed by THDC India Ltd. (THDCIL). It intends to provide inputs about the importance of sound and objective performance management as a key HR subsystem that helps in planning, measuring and integrating performance, contributing towards organizational and business objectives, and developing a collaborative organizational culture. The case portrays an incident of performance review grievance between a superior (Mr Ajay Kumar) and a subordinate (Mr Prashant Kumar) and shows an organization’s struggle to handle an inefficient performance planning claim by a subordinate. Despite creating a clear mandate and SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) PMS goals, the HR team and employees are continuously showing resistance to discuss and develop SMART KRAs and KPIs collaboratively. It further talks about the issues in the performance planning process regarding goal setting, providing regular feedback and managing performance effectively while actively engaging employees. It also states how an incident about the unsatisfactory appraisal rating of Mr Prashant Kumar led to organizational chaos and employee dissatisfaction. It further provides insights into managing an aggrieved manager using performance review discussion and coaching. It also intends to give students an insight into the different steps in designing and modifying performance management to suit business requirements.

The case may help students appreciate the different roles played by HR, such as employee champion, administrative expert, strategic partner and change agent for aligning and achieving individual, team and organizational goals and objectives. They would also gain knowledge and skills to understand the role of HR in designing, executing and managing the PMS by analysing a real-life situation.
A Transdisciplinary Perspective on the Adolescent Consent-Abuse Binary
Authors: Ashok Saurabh Shashi , Ramaswamy Sheila , Seshadri Shekhar
Published: December 2022

Recently, there have been a plethora of judgments from courts across India, on the issue of adolescent consent for sexual decision-making and the POCSO Act’s criminalization of the same. This article begins with a brief overview of the socio-legal underpinnings of POCSO’s age of consent, the imperatives informing legislative intent to abstain from a lower statutory age, and crucially, ‘close-in-exceptions’ to legal consent. Subsequently, the authors discuss the implications of these age requirements, for POCSO’s implementation, from a child protection and criminalization perspective, and furthermore, highlight the imperative for the law to accommodate normative adolescent sexual development in its approach to consensual sexual engagement, as well as for consideration of the complexities of informed vis-à-vis manufactured consent in adolescent sexual engagements. The article concludes by highlighting the need for the application of transdisciplinary approaches, to developing methodologies, that assess adolescent consent in ways that resolve the consent-abuse dilemma.
Effects of Corporate Governance Mechanisms on Climate Change Disclosures: Evidence from Listed Banks in an Emerging Economy
Authors: Islam Md. Shajul , Hossain Mohammad Kamal
Published: December 2022

This study examines the effects of corporate governance mechanisms on climate change disclosure in Bangladeshi-listed banks. The corporate governance mechanisms used in the study were board size, board meetings, board independence, audit committee size, audit committee independence and audit committee meetings. A climate change disclosure index (CCDI) was developed to assess the sample banks’ climate change disclosures. From 2013 to 2018, data on climate change disclosures and corporate governance mechanisms were collected from the annual reports of all 30 listed banks. Employing a feasible GLS (FGLS) model for panel data, the findings demonstrated that increasing audit committee meetings, independent directors on the board and audit committee size positively and significantly increased climate change disclosures of listed banks in Bangladesh. Unlike prior climate change research on listed banks in Bangladesh, this study has included the audit committee attributes and the sponsor-directors’ ownership as determinants of climate change disclosures. This research offered a novel viewpoint on the significant positive impact of sponsor-directors’ ownership on climate change information disclosure. These findings have practical implications for governments, regulatory authorities, investors, green groups and other organisations working on climate change issues in the country.
Impact of Corporate Hedging and ESG on Stock Price Crash Risk: Evidence from Indonesian Energy Firms
Authors: Octaviani Febiriyanti Ayu , Utama Cynthia Afriani
Published: December 2022

Corporate hedging and environmental, social and governance (ESG) affect the transparency of a firm’s information environment because they can reduce information asymmetry and volatility of cash flow. Focus of this research investigates the impact of corporate hedging, as a risk management strategy, and ESG on stock price crash risk in Indonesian energy firms. This study finds that both hedging and ESG do not affect stock crash risk. This may be caused by a natural hedge conducted by the company. Another explanation is, most energy companies in Indonesia that use hedging do not report the proportion of the amount of hedging on the company’s financial statements. Further, this study fails to find the effect of ESG on stock crash risk. This finding corroborates Silva (2022) , who states that the benefit of ESG is less effective in developing countries like Indonesia, which are characterised by weak investor protection and regulation enforcement.
Unnesting the Matryoshka Doll: An Ecological Model of Probation and Parole Decision-Making in Ireland
Authors: Healy Deirdre , Griffin Diarmuid
Published: December 2022

Understanding penal decision-making has become a central concern of criminologists over recent decades. Although scholars acknowledge the complex, multi-faceted, and contextual nature of penal decision-making, many rely on a single level of analysis to study the process. There is a rich literature on the socio-political, organizational, and individual context of decision-making, but few studies consider the impact of multiple influences simultaneously. To address this gap, this article uses a multi-level framework to shed light on the systems, processes, and actors that shape penal decision-making in Ireland. It draws on two case studies, namely probation and parole, to demonstrate that macro-, meso-, micro-, and individual-level influences must be considered to achieve a comprehensive understanding. Our analysis shows that macro-level systems such as legal and political processes play an important role in shaping probation and parole decisions. At the meso-level, institutional policies, values, and culture come into play while practitioner agency operates at the micro-level to support, alter, or subvert macro- and meso-level developments. Finally, the characteristics and behavior of victims and offenders can shape decision-making at the individual level. The article concludes with a reflection on the implications of this analysis for criminological knowledge.
The Development of the Irish Youth Justice System: Toward a Children’s Rights Model of Youth Justice?
Authors: Forde Louise , Swirak Katharina
Published: December 2022

The introduction of the Children Act 2001 signaled the beginning of a new era for Irish youth justice although arguably represented a “late start” for Ireland in modernizing her youth justice system. Twenty years after the Act came into force, the recently published Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027 commits to developing a youth justice system underpinned by international children’s rights principles. In setting out this vision, Ireland joins a number of other countries that are making efforts to develop their youth justice systems based on international children’s rights principles. This article considers the extent to which Ireland can be said to have moved toward becoming a children’s rights-respecting youth justice system, with reference to three specific areas—diversion, serious crime, and detention. As a country with a hybrid welfare/justice approach to youth justice, and an incremental approach to the incorporation of its international obligations under the UNCRC, Ireland’s path toward developing more rights-compliant approaches to youth justice—and the opportunities and barriers it has encountered—can contribute to global debates for other countries on a similar trajectory.
Associations Between MMPI-3 and Psychosocial History Findings Obtained in Preemployment Evaluations of Public Safety Candidates
Authors: Whitman Megan R. , Corey David M. , Ben-Porath Yossef S.
Published: December 2022

The present study evaluated the validity of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-3 (MMPI-3) scores among police ( n = 1,294), correctional officer ( n = 190), dispatcher ( n = 205), and firefighter ( n = 237) candidates using psychosocial history data collected with the Psychological History Questionnaire (PsyQ) at a private practice in the Northwestern United States. MMPI-3 scale elevations at T score cutoffs specified in the MMPI-3 User’s Guide for the Public Safety Candidate Interpretive Reports (Corey & Ben-Porath, 2022) were examined. Consistent with previous research using the MMPI-2-RF, MMPI-3 T score means were lower and less variable in this public safety preemployment context relative to the normative sample. In addition, MMPI-3 scores were meaningfully associated with a number of aggregated scale scores derived from PsyQ data, particularly in the behavioral/externalizing domain. To address limited research on preemployment personality testing among female police candidates and the absence of research among nonpolice public safety occupations, Cohen’s q was used to compare validity coefficients across male and female police candidates and across police and correctional officer, dispatcher, and firefighter candidates. Differences were minimal, with all statistically significant effects being small in magnitude, indicating the MMPI-3 correlates identified with police candidates replicate to other public safety positions.
The Sagan Effect and Scientists’ Public Outreach Participation in China: Multilayered Roles of Social Norms and Rewards
Authors: Chen Anfan , Zhang Xing , Jin Jianbin
Published: December 2022

In this study, we investigate public outreach participation among Chinese scientists through a multiple mediation model. Factors related to the Sagan effect—negative experiences and negative personal norms—are examined as potential predictors and/or mediators. Based on a national survey of 8,533 scientists, we validate the Sagan effect triggered by their negative experiences, which indirectly inhibit their outreach participation intentions through negative personal norms. Moreover, positive social norms and rewards play multilayered roles in mitigating the Sagan effect and improving such intentions. This study provides a more comprehensive examination of the underlying mechanisms behind scientists’ willingness to engage with the public.
Data-Driven Analysis of Employee Churn in the Home Care Industry
Authors: Vergnolle Guillaume , Lahrichi Nadia
Published: December 2022

Annual turnover of home care workers represents a huge loss of revenue and is a key source of inefficiency in the home health care industry. In this article, we propose a data-driven approach to monitor employee churn and to capture the evolution of employee intent to leave. Unlike most papers in the literature, we use machine learning techniques to analyze over 2 million visits in the US, Canada, and Australia between 2016 and 2019. Results show that the gap between the number of hours worked and in the contract is the most important factor to predict employee intent to leave, which means an employee should be given as many hours as requested in the contract to improve retention. Secondary results show that having diverse shift lengths and continuity in services and patients seem to be associated with less turnover.