bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Chronic illness and informal social capital: Individual level mediators and country-level moderators
Authors: Vis Elize BA , van de Rozenberg Tessa M , Scheepers Peer LH
Published: June 2018

This study investigates whether there are differences in informal social capital between people with a chronic illness and healthy individuals. We also test to what extent this relationship is mediated by individual characteristics and moderated by country-level characteristics. In contrast to previous research, we use representative recent and high-quality data from the European Social Survey of 2012 as well as multilevel analysis. Our results demonstrate that chronically ill people have less informal social capital, all across Europe. Individual characteristics, including depression, subjective health, and perceived income, mediate this relationship almost fully. Welfare regimes and the amount of money countries spend on health care moderate the relationship between chronic illness and informal social capital.
The Institute of Education Sciences: A Model for Federal Research Offices
Authors: Whitehurst Grover J. (Russ)
Published: June 2018

Within each cabinet-level department of the federal government there are offices responsible for research, evaluation, and statistics. These offices are critical to producing evidence for social policy and encouraging its use. An evidence agenda within a department will flounder, or never even emerge, if its research office is weak. The Institute of Education Sciences (IES), established in 2002, is markedly different from the iterations of a federal education research offices that preceded it, and it has been successful in developing an evidence agenda in the Department of Education. Here, I use the IES example to address the challenge of improving the functioning of research offices in the federal government. I identify key ingredients in the success of IES that may be relevant to the reform of other federal research offices.
Training Pilots for Unexpected Events: A Simulator Study on the Advantage of Unpredictable and Variable Scenarios
Authors: Landman Annemarie , van Oorschot Peter , van Paassen M. M. (René) , Groen Eric L. , Bronkhorst Adelbert W. , Mulder Max
Published: June 2018

Objective:

This study tested whether simulator-based training of pilot responses to unexpected or novel events can be improved by including unpredictability and variability in training scenarios.

Background:

Current regulations allow for highly predictable and invariable training, which may not be sufficient to prepare pilots for unexpected or novel situations in-flight. Training for surprise will become mandatory in the near future.

Method:

Using an aircraft model largely unfamiliar to the participants, one group of 10 pilots (the unpredictable and variable [U/V] group) practiced responses to controllability issues in a relatively U/V manner. A control group of another 10 pilots practiced the same failures in a highly predictable and invariable manner. After the practice, performance of all pilots was tested in a surprise scenario, in which the pilots had to apply the learned knowledge. To control for surprise habituation and familiarization with the controls, two control tests were included.

Results:

Whereas the U/V group required more time than the control group to identify failures during the practice, the results indicated superior understanding and performance in the U/V group as compared to the control group in the surprise test. There were no significant differences between the groups in surprise or performance in the control tests.

Conclusion:

Given the results, we conclude that organizing pilot training in a more U/V way improves transfer of training to unexpected situations in-flight.

Application:

The outcomes suggest that the inclusion of U/V simulator training scenarios is important when training pilots for unexpected situations.
Overcoming Collective Action Problems Facing Chinese Workers: Lessons from Four Protests against Walmart
Authors: Li Chunyun , Liu Mingwei
Published: June 2018

In contrast to various structural accounts of collective inaction or short-lived contention of Chinese workers, the authors take an agency-centered approach to explain how the few sustained labor protests during closure bargaining develop against all odds. They suggest that workers’ capacity to resolve collective action problems is essential to understanding why a few contending workers are able to sustain protests whereas many others fail to do so. They argue that workplace representatives and external labor activists are crucial for helping Chinese workers resolve the collective action problems that prevent the formation of sustained labor protests. Their comparative analysis of four protests against Walmart store closures—including one unusually long, one relatively sustained, and two short-lived—shows how presence and strategic capacity of workplace representatives and external labor activists shape protest duration. The authors conclude by discussing lessons learned from these cases of closure bargaining for future development of labor contention in China.
Teaching African Dances in the Caribbean: Horizontal Interpenetration and Afrocentricity in Jamaica
Authors: Mabingo Alfdaniels
Published: June 2018

This article examines how pedagogy of African dances can act as a site where issues of Afrocentricity and horizontal interconnection can be activated, negotiated, and embodied. I draw on the selected reflections of the participants in dance workshops and my experiences as a teacher of Ugandan dances in Jamaica to demonstrate how pedagogy allowed the learners to embody, deconstruct, and conceptualize kinaesthetic, storied, and musicalized dance material as valued and valid knowledge that is anchored in the worldviews, dignities, and ontologies of indigenous Ugandan communities from where the dances originate. The article frames pedagogy of the dances as an epistemological and ontological framework through which the learners sought to know, think, do, question, connect, and become. For people of African descent, partaking in teaching and learning processes of the dances created possibilities for cultural connections through experiential, imaginative, participatory, and reflective dance activities. The analysis further reveals how teaching dances from African cultures, a subject that is treated as insignificant within academic and artistic thought, positioned me to en/counter, rationalize, and address the challenges, dilemmas, and anxieties surrounding Black dance scholarship. It is hoped that this article can expand discourses on how African dances can be engaged as valued and valid epistemological and ontological domains in scholarship and practice to pluralize creative and cultural thought and empower communities and liberate their bodies of knowledge that have been dispossessed by Western hegemonic epistemological canons.
Numerical analysis of wood-high-density polyethylene composites: A hyperelastic approach
Authors: Rodríguez-Sánchez Alejandro E , Vega-Rios Alejandro , Flores-Gallardo Sergio G , Zaragoza-Contreras E Armando , Mendoza-Duarte Mónica E
Published: June 2018

The application of a hyperelastic approach to simulate the tensile mechanical behavior of wood fiber/polymer composites is proposed. This research was conducted with the purpose of selecting the theoretical model that best fits the experimental data for use in the finite element model. The analyses by the four strain energy density functions (Polynomial, Ogden, Yeoh, and Marlow models) and the Cauchy-Green tensor invariants were used as the theoretical models. The experimental mechanical behavior of three wood fiber/polymer composites formulated with high-density polyethylene as the polymer matrix, and pine, cherry, and walnut sawdust as the fillers, at a concentration of 40 wt%, was evaluated. Experimental data showed that with filler addition, the tensile modulus of the high-density polyethylene matrix increased almost 131% regarding the neat high-density polyethylene; however, no significant differences were found respecting the kind of sawdust. Nevertheless, it was found that the elongation (%) at break was higher when walnut sawdust was employed. As for the strain energy density function analyses, the best approximation to the experimental data was achieved by the Marlow model, because this model only demands the sum of the principal extension ratios for a polymer-based material, I1. The numerical results showed that the proposed finite element model predicts the response with less than 1% error, regarding the experimental data, and consequently the use of the finite element models was simplified for the prediction of the tensile mechanical behavior of this kind of composites.
Hospitalization Trends and Comorbidities Among People With HIV/AIDS Compared With the Overall Hospitalized Population, Illinois, 2008-2014
Authors: Navon Livia
Published: June 2018

Objectives:

To understand trends in health care use among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), this study compared trends in hospitalization rates, comorbidities, and hospital death rates of hospitalized PLWHA with the overall hospitalized population in Illinois during 2008-2014.

Methods:

This study identified principal hospitalizations (the principal discharge diagnosis coded with an HIV-related billing code) and secondary HIV hospitalizations (a non-principal discharge diagnosis coded with an HIV-related billing code) from 2008-2014 Illinois hospital discharge data. Hospitalization rates among PLWHA were calculated using prevalence data from the Illinois Electronic HIV/AIDS Registry; US Census population estimates were used to calculate overall Illinois hospitalization rates. Joinpoint regression analysis was used to assess trends overall and among demographic subgroups. Comorbidities and discharge status for all hospitalizations were identified.

Results:

In 2014, the hospitalization rate was 2.2 times higher among PLWHA than among the overall Illinois hospitalized population. From 2008 to 2014, principal HIV hospitalization rates per 1000 PLWHA decreased by 48% (from 71 to 37) and secondary HIV hospitalization rates declined by 26% (from 296 to 218). The decline in the principal HIV hospitalization rate was steepest from 2008 to 2011 (annual percentage change = –16.0%; P = .003). Mood disorders, substance-related diagnoses, and schizophrenia accounted for 18% to 22% of principal hospitalizations among PLWHA compared with 7% to 8% of overall Illinois hospitalizations. Hepatitis as a comorbidity was more common among hospitalized PLWHA (18%-22%) than among the overall Illinois hospitalized population (1.4%-1.5%). Hospitalized PLWHA were 3 times more likely than the overall Illinois hospitalized population to die while hospitalized.

Conclusions:

HIV hospitalizations are largely preventable with appropriate treatment and adherence. Additional efforts to improve retention in HIV care that address comorbidities of PLWHA are needed.
Armageddon: Revisiting Megiddo
Authors: Canoy Robert W.
Published: June 2018

Although the cryptic word Armageddon appears only in Revelation 16:16, one wonders how it has claimed as much attention as it has in both religious writings and in the secular media. The mere mention of the word conjures for both religious and secular audiences the notion of some kind of world cataclysm or final battle between good and evil. This article will explore the relationship between Armageddon and Megiddo, the historical understanding of the word in the earliest Latin and Greek commentaries, and John’s meaning of the word in Revelation.
Fear God and keep his commandments: Foundation for a relationship with God
Authors: Cailing Rolex M.
Published: June 2018

This article argues that the “fear of God” concept links the theology and ethics of Qoheleth and plays a pivotal role in the quest for life’s meaning amidst its challenges. It explores what B. K. Waltke echoes as “the kernel and star of the whole book” and “the dominant note of the book.”1 It offers a cursory study of the relationship between God and human beings and its connection to the concept of “fearing God.” It concludes that the “fear of God” is foundational to a relationship with God, and for seeing life within the limits and bounds of God’s sovereignty. The key to Qoheleth’s realistic attitude to life occurs in his doctrine of God. He believes that the Creator of the world is intimately concerned with the details of human lives and determines the fate of every human creature. Like the book of Job and Proverbs, Qoheleth asserts that the “fear of God” is the beginning of wisdom.
The state of the churches in Europe
Authors: Jackson Darrell Richard
Published: June 2018

Frequently, one-sided and reductionist accounts of the Christian faith in Europe portray a picture of ecclesial decline and erosion of orthodox belief. Such accounts typically fail to allow for the potential reversal of religious fortunes, overlook the more nuanced accounts of religiosity, secularity, and spirituality, are ignorant regarding the likely impact of immigrant faith upon European Christianity, and are blind to the many churches that are innovating and establishing creative communities of faith that are awakening, re-awakening, and sustaining authentic Christian faith.

This article provides a basis for examining many of these factors, and suggests that Europe’s highly diverse and complex socio-religious context is simultaneously pre-secular, secular, and post-secular. In this context, the churches of Europe have faced many challenges but find, in equal measure, many opportunities for witness and Christian service.
Nodular melanoma presenting as an exophytic subungual mass
Authors: Finlay B , Ramachandren T , Hussey K , Parkyn S , Meyer K , Barrett K
Published: June 2018

Despite being recognised and reported in the literature for decades, subungual melanoma of the foot remains a diagnostic pitfall, with it commonly being mistaken for benign conditions. We present an interesting case of delayed diagnosis of subungual melanoma of the hallux that was misdiagnosed in the community for over one year. With melanoma being the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia in 2013, this case serves as a reminder to all clinicians about the importance of maintaining a high index of suspicion for melanoma of the foot.
Models for basic warp knitted fabrics Part III: the two guide bar fabrics (Double Tricot, Locknit, Reverse Locknit, Satin, Sharkskin)
Authors: Kurbak Arif
Published: June 2018

Two guide bar warp knitted fabrics are used as technical textile applications nowadays. In this, Part III of these series of papers, models for basic two guide bar warp knitted fabrics are created and given based on Parts I and II.

Modeling of warp knitted fabrics started in the 1960s with some basic geometrical models and it was continued with using Non Uniform Basis Spline (NURBS) curves and surfaces. There were discontinuities in the loop parts in early created geometrical models and the NURBS models needed some control points from some sources. In this work instead of using NURBS curves, modeling of warp knitted fabric is attempted by using known curves. During creation of the models, curvature equalities are attained as much as possible, loop connection parts are modeled by having two continuously connected parabolas for the Double Tricot fabric and the loop connection parts of the other two bar fabrics are obtained by applying a sinus square curve to the connection part of the Double Tricot fabric. The models created are versatile and they can be changed and used for special cases.

Models created are drawn to scale by using the 3DS-Max Computer Graphical Program. At first glance, it is seen that the model shapes are similar to the real fabric structures, which can be observed on photographs of them.
Regulating the Medical Profession: Challenges and Possibilities of the National Medical Commission Bill, 2017
Authors: Priya Ritu , Ghodajkar Prachinkumar
Published: June 2018

The National Medical Council Bill, 2017, was tabled in Parliament on 29 December 2017 with the proposal to replace the Medical Council of India (MCI) as the regulatory body for medical education and practice in the country. This was the response of the PMO-NITI Aayog Committee, which was formed after the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Health and Family Welfare in its 92nd report strongly indicted the functioning of the MCI and recommended a complete restructuring. The Bill sets out various proposals with the aim to regulate the quality of doctors produced as well as the ethics of their practice. Its content has raised much contestation from the medical fraternity. A host of issues have emerged, such as, what professionalism should mean and what forms of regulation should be put in place, and what mechanisms have to be considered in order to balance the interests of the public and the medical fraternity so that the restructuring that is sorely required can go through.
Legislature Proposes, Judiciary Disposes: Supreme Court’s Ruling on the Atrocities Act
Authors: Saxena K. B.
Published: June 2018

The increasing ferocity and frequency of violence against Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) led to the enactment of the SCs/STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989. The law now forbade the practice of untouchability thus protecting marginalised communities against all forms of social injustice and exploitation. However, the ensuing years revealed many deficiencies in the Act and its enforcement leading to a demand to strengthen it. Subsequently, the SCs and STs Amendment Ordinance was issued in March 2014, followed by the enactment of the SCs and STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act 2015 that came into force in January 2016. However, barely two years later, the Supreme Court, proceeding on the assumption that there was rampant abuse of the law by SCs/STs struck a crippling blow to the legislation. In oder to protect public servants from being falsely implicated in cases under the Act, the Supreme Court, in a recent ruling (Dr Subhash K. Mahajan vs. State of Maharashtra) introduced procedural safeguards of such a fundamental nature that the law has been virtually rewritten and will profoundly impact the dalit’s fight for social equality and justice.
Muslim Immigration, Critical Events, and the Seeds of Majority Members’ Support for Radical Responses: An Interactionist Perspective
Authors: Stürmer Stefan , Rohmann Anette , Froehlich Laura , van der Noll Jolanda
Published: June 2018

This article uses an interactionist perspective to understand the role of media framings of critical events in catalyzing Western citizens’ support for radical responses to Muslim immigration (e.g., armed self-defense). A multi-method series of three studies tested this perspective in the context of the 2015/2016 Cologne New Year’s Eve sexual assaults on women. Study 1, a content analysis of 163 online newspaper articles, revealed that mass media attributed the assaults to the suspects’ Muslim culture. Study 2, a correlational study ( N = 487) conducted at the peak of the media coverage, confirmed that the degree to which participants accepted the veracity of the culture-focused media representation strengthened the relation between their feelings of symbolic threat as a result of Muslim immigration and their approval of radical responses. Study 3, an experiment with pre-registered hypotheses ( N = 91), replicated and extended these interaction effects. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Reimplantation of an anomalous left coronary artery with a malignant course
Authors: Imoto Yutaka , Matsuba Tomoyuki , Kanda Hideaki , Ogata Yuki , Nagatomi Shuji , Ueno Kentaro
Published: June 2018

A 14-year-old boy was diagnosed with an anomalous left coronary artery coursing between the ascending aorta and the main pulmonary artery and associated with a single coronary ostium. Owing to the high risk of sudden cardiac death, surgery was performed although he was asymptomatic with no sign of myocardial ischemia. Reimplantation of an anomalous left coronary artery is generally considered difficult because an aortic cuff is unavailable for coronary anastomosis; however, we accomplished a successful direct reimplantation in this patient. This procedure offers another choice in the surgical treatment of anomalous left coronary artery.
Antecedents of Customer Loyalty in Banking Sector: A Mediational Study
Authors: Bhat Suhail A. , Darzi Mushtaq A. , Parrey Shakir H.
Published: June 2018

Executive Summary

The competition among the organizations is increasing continuously and there has been a rapid shift in the business process deliverance. Financial service firms are striving to improve their business processes by liaising with customers to survive and compete successfully. The literature has obstinately emphasized on the utmost importance of trust and loyalty to survive in the financial sector. This study aims to explore the role of customer knowledge management (CKM) and satisfaction as antecedents of customer trust in the retail banking sector. The causal relationships existing between CKM, satisfaction, trust, and loyalty are explored. The mediating role of customer trust in the knowledge–loyalty and satisfaction–loyalty relationships is also explored. The data has been collected randomly from 412 customers of a private bank through survey by questionnaire. The research instrument has been developed and purified through factor analysis (confirmatory factor analysis). Structural equation modelling (SEM) has been employed to examine the causal relationship and fitness of the proposed model.

The findings of the study reveal that CKM and satisfaction positively impact customer trust, and customer trust has a significant impact on loyalty. Besides, trust partially mediates the effect of knowledge and satisfaction on loyalty. The findings of the study are valuable to managers and strategists in understanding customer need in order to formulate the relevant customer loyalty programmes. However, the study focused on retail banking sector and uses data from a single bank only. Future research may evaluate the generalizability of findings across other banks as well as other nationalities. The main contribution of this study is to the loyalty literature by empirically validating the identified antecedents and demonstrating their role in managing loyalty. Furthermore, the study provides some valuable insights into the relational exchanges between variables wherein some inferences are derived from results regarding trust and loyalty.
From Chi-Raq to Iraq: The retreat of the state and the rise of organized violent nonstate actors
Authors: Wozniak Jesse SG
Published: June 2018

Spike Lee’s latest film, Chi-Raq, draws upon a portmanteau coined by local rappers to describe the violence and chaos of Chicago’s South Side, home of some of the most violent neighborhoods in America. City leaders condemned the title as inflammatory and hyperbolic, but this article argues the comparison is not as far afield as they suggest. Drawing from the literatures on state legitimacy, American gang formation, and the emerging scholarship surrounding the Islamic State, it is argued the two locations and their organized violent nonstate actors exhibit a host of important similarities. In both situations, the absence of services and protection delivered through the legitimate government has left a vacuum of both material goods and legitimacy, which fuels the genesis, growth, and stability of these extralegal organizations.
Finite volume free vibration analysis of a new aerodynamic styling wind turbine
Authors: Sellami Takwa , Jelassi Sana , Berriri Hanen , Darcherif Abdel Moumen , Mimouni Med Faouzi
Published: June 2018

Due to the short life cycles of large-scale wind turbines and difficulties in getting permission for farms installations, micro-scale turbines have become interesting sustainable solutions to product energy. However, micro-size turbines have to be able to generate balanced powers while ensuring maximum life services under unpredictable environment conditions. Hence, designers must mainly investigate the dynamic characteristics of turbine tower–foundation systems in order to protect the structural security and stability of the system under vibration constraints. In this framework, this article aims to analyze the vibration behavior of modern micro-turbines. A new aerodynamic styling wind turbine, which is Rutland 504 six-bladed commercial turbine, is selected in this study in order to highlight the impacts of extra components like ring, nose, and tail on the vibrational properties. Accordingly, a three-dimensional model of the turbine tower–foundation system was created basing on finite volume method. The newest version of ANSYS academic software is used. Dynamic properties of the numerical model were determined by solving equations of motion. After identifying mode shapes and natural frequencies, experimental modal testing was applied to validate the numerical model. Then, deformations and vibrations of different components of the system were studied under free vibration conditions. The components of the system most sensitive to vibrate were determined. Moreover, the stress distributions were discussed in order to identify the components most exposed to fatigue fractures.
Therapeutic lumbar puncture for headache in idiopathic intracranial hypertension: Minimal gain, is it worth the pain?
Authors: Yiangou Andreas , Mitchell James , Markey Keira Annie , Scotton William , Nightingale Peter , Botfield Hannah , Ottridge Ryan , Mollan Susan P , Sinclair Alexandra J
Published: June 2018

Background

Headache is disabling and prevalent in idiopathic intracranial hypertension. Therapeutic lumbar punctures may be considered to manage headache. This study evaluated the acute effect of lumbar punctures on headache severity. Additionally, the effect of lumbar puncture pressure on post-lumbar puncture headache was evaluated.

Methods

Active idiopathic intracranial hypertension patients were prospectively recruited to a cohort study, lumbar puncture pressure and papilloedema grade were noted. Headache severity was recorded using a numeric rating scale (NRS) 0–10, pre-lumbar puncture and following lumbar puncture at 1, 4 and 6 hours and daily for 7 days.

Results

Fifty two patients were recruited (mean lumbar puncture opening pressure 32 (28–37 cmCSF). At any point in the week post-lumbar puncture, headache severity improved in 71% (but a small reduction of −1.1 ± 2.6 numeric rating scale) and exacerbated in 64%, with 30% experiencing a severe exacerbation ≥ 4 numeric rating scale. Therapeutic lumbar punctures are typically considered in idiopathic intracranial hypertension patients with severe headaches (numeric rating scale ≥ 7). In this cohort, the likelihood of improvement was 92% (a modest reduction of headache pain by −3.0 ± 2.8 numeric rating scale, p = 0.012, day 7), while 33% deteriorated. Idiopathic intracranial hypertension patients with mild (numeric rating scale 1–3) or no headache (on the day of lumbar puncture, prior to lumbar puncture) had a high risk of post- lumbar puncture headache exacerbation (81% and 67% respectively). Importantly, there was no relationship between lumbar puncture opening pressure and headache response after lumbar puncture.

Conclusion

Following lumbar puncture, the majority of idiopathic intracranial hypertension patients experience some improvement, but the benefit is small and post-lumbar puncture headache exacerbation is common, and in some prolonged and severe. Lumbar puncture pressure does not influence the post-lumbar puncture headache.
Development of a Cost Estimation Framework for Potential Transload Facilities
Authors: Smith Sadie , Braham Andrew , Hernandez Sarah , Kent John
Published: June 2018

As the cost of transportation continues to rise and there is a growing push for a more environmentally friendly transportation network, optimizing mode distributions becomes an attractive solution. One way to optimize mode distributions is through strategically located freight transfer facilities, such as transload facilities. While there are many benefits to this type of facility, such as the emissions savings or pavement damage reductions garnered by shifting commodity tonnage onto alternative modes of transport, it is also essential that transportation planners understand the costs associated with building transload facilities. Unfortunately, literature does not provide an adequately disaggregated and scalable cost estimation approach that could be applied to various configurations and types of transload facilities. In this research, a cost estimation framework was created to determine the basic cost of transload facilities by type using unit costs from a construction cost database, equipment costs from local dealers, the projected commodity tonnage, design recommendations from literature, and survey responses from local facilities. A case study based upon proposed facilities in Arkansas was completed to illustrate the effectiveness of this methodology. While there is currently no construction design for these facilities, this framework yielded costs consistent with those expected. A key finding was that storage costs could account for up to 81% of a transload facility’s costs. Overall, this cost framework is believed to balance general scalability with accuracy well to provide reasonable cost estimations for constructing new or expanded facilities.
Measuring Spontaneous Accessibility for Iterative Transit Planning
Authors: Laquidara Matthew
Published: June 2018

Public transit planners rely on measurements of network performance to anticipate the impact of changes to a transportation system. Accessibility-based measurements emphasize how well a transportation system allows individuals to reach desired opportunities, rather than maximizing network properties such as capacity. This paper presents a measurement of accessibility for transit customers making unanticipated, spontaneous trips. Measuring this spontaneous accessibility was facilitated by developing an open-source software tool that can analyze a transit network throughout an entire day, over a complete municipal boundary or transit agency service area, at fine spatial granularity, and without some of the simplifying assumptions made by previous studies. The tool is used to study spontaneous accessibility within the city of Seattle over a one-year period featuring the opening of a light rail extension and restructure of bus services. Studies of this nature require only limited data sources but produce precise results, and thus can be utilized to measure iterative refinement of the transit network. Furthermore, techniques from the discipline of information theory provide insight into ways to reduce the computational demands, giving planners the ability to consider more alternatives.
Simulation Modeling of Pedestrian Performance in the New Synchronized and Milwaukee B Interchanges versus Existing Designs
Authors: Mehrara Molan Amirarsalan , Hummer Joseph E.
Published: June 2018

Most U.S. highway agencies recognize the importance of designing safe, short, and comfortable paths for pedestrians. Providing such an acceptable condition for pedestrians requires specific attention at intersections and service interchanges due to their interaction with other modes of transportation. The main objective of this research was to analyze pedestrian operation at two new service interchanges—the synchronized and Milwaukee B interchanges—in comparison with four existing designs. The analysis consists of three main parts: (1) a general comparison among the designs for pedestrian performances in terms of safety, travel time, and the level of service; (2) investigation of the effects of vehicles on pedestrian performance; and (3) modeling the impact of pedestrians on the traffic operation of vehicles. A comprehensive series of simulation tests were run using VISSIM and Synchro to study the pedestrian performance of interchanges in various situations of traffic volume, turning traffic ratio, traffic distribution, and percentage of heavy vehicles. The results indicated that a relatively safe condition is expected for pedestrians in the proposed new designs in comparison with the existing interchanges; however, the pedestrians’ travel time was lower in all the existing designs than in the new designs except the diverging diamond interchange (DDI). The DDI, one of the most popular alternative interchanges, showed the worst performance in all the aspects of the pedestrian analysis. Despite the very good performance of conventional diamond interchange regarding pedestrian travel time and safety, pedestrians could have a significant negative impact on vehicle travel time through a diamond.
New and Unique Aspects of University Campus Transportation Data to Improve Planning Methods
Authors: Cherry Christopher R. , Riggs William , Appleyard Bruce , Dhakal Nirbesh , Frost Alexander , Jeffers Saman Tabrizizadeh
Published: June 2018

University campuses have unique characteristics that influence travel demand. They benefit from controlled planning frameworks, can influence almost all aspects of pricing and on-campus transportation infrastructure, benefit from simplified many-to-one travel patterns, and maintain extensive data on nearly the entire campus community. Campuses represent millions of trips daily, yet little research has been conducted that focuses on developing tailored frameworks to assess transportation demand, target travel demand management strategies, or to assess environmental or other impacts. This paper describes how two sets of commonly collected data can be leveraged to provide new insights into travel behavior, incentives, and environmental policy. Specifically, we illustrate the fusion of standard travel demand survey data with disaggregate and precise household address data to provide new inferences into appropriate strategies to improve transportation sustainability. We applied three use-cases—carpool potential, walk and bike incentives, and mode shift to reduce greenhouse gas emissions—to the data from three universities, University of Tennessee, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and San Diego State University, respectively. We found that the richer dataset provided substantially better data resolution that allowed for transportation strategies to be more precisely targeted and expansion of the potential impact of transportation demand management strategies.
Teachers’ Concerns Regarding Touching Their Students in the Classroom: A Scale Development Study
Authors: Tu Yangjun , Wang Juanjuan , Yao Limin
Published: June 2018

This study details the development of the “Classroom Touch Concern Scale” (CTC), which was designed to measure individual differences among teachers regarding their feelings of concern when touching students in the classroom. The CTC incorporates two correlated dimensions: CTC associated with touching students of the same gender and CTC associated with touching students of a different gender. Studies 1 through 7 used various samples of university faculty and high school teachers to investigate the CTC with regard to item development, dimensionality, construct validity, linguistic validity, predictive validity, discriminant validity, and convergent validity. The results showed that the CTC has high internal consistency reliability and an acceptable to good construct validity, a good discriminant and convergent validity, linguistic validity, and predictive validity. We discuss the practical implications and limitations of using the CTC.
Civil war termination and foreign direct investment, 1989–2012
Authors: Joshi Madhav , Quinn Jason Michael
Published: June 2018

Data on global foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows shows that civil war significantly deters investment, while post-civil war settings attract investment. Civil wars, however, can end in different ways (government victories, rebel victories, and various types of settlements) and firms should be attracted to terminations that reveal more information about the future political and economic stability of the nation. We argue that comprehensive peace agreements and their subsequent implementation convey the most relevant information to investors regarding the credibility of the conflict actors’ commitment to future peace and stability and should thus attract the most FDI. Analysis of FDI inflows to 73 post-civil war countries lends support to our argument. The policy implications of the study are straightforward: governments that wish to attract the maximum amount of FDI for economic reconstruction following a civil war should negotiate and implement a comprehensive peace agreement.
Characterization and Prevalence of Elder Abuse in Brazil
Authors: Santos Flaviano da Silva , de Lima Saintrain Maria Vieira , de Souza Vieira Luiza Jane Eyre , Gomes Marques Sampaio Edgar
Published: June 2018

We aimed to assess the prevalence and characterize the profile of elder abuse in Brazil in this quantitative descriptive and exploratory study using a document analysis of cases of elder abuse against people aged 60 and over reported to Brazil’s Notifiable Disease Information System ( Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação—SINAN) from 2009 to 2013. Association between age groups (older adults and non-older adults) and (a) characteristics of the victims (gender, age, and race), (b) characteristics of the violence (type of violence, place of occurrence, and repeated violence) and, (c) characteristics of the perpetrator (gender, suspected alcohol consumption, and victim-perpetrator relationship) were assessed using the chi-square test and odds ratios (OR) with a 95% confidence interval. Statistical significance was set at p< .05. Elder abuse accounted for 5.7% of all cases of violence, with a higher prevalence among women (54.3%). Older men and older white people were more likely to suffer violence compared with their non-older peers (OR=1.75 and OR=1.47, respectively). Financial abuse (OR=5.95), violence resulting from legal intervention (OR=1.24), repeated violence (OR=1.22), and torture (OR=1.08) were at higher chances of occurring among older adults. In all, 30.3% of the cases of elder abuse were perpetrated by their children and 22% of the perpetrators were suspected to have consumed alcohol. Older adults were 30 times more likely to be abused by their children and eight times by caregivers and presented 2.37 more chances of evolving to death due to violence and 1.8 more chances to suffer violence in the household. The cases of elder abuse reported to SINAN highlight the greater fragility of this population group. In addition to reporting this public health problem, governmental and non-governmental actions are necessary to provide older adults with a healthy aging and ensure their rights, dignity, and autonomy.
Influence of bypass ratio on subsonic and correctly expanded sonic co-flowing jets with finite lip thickness
Authors: Thanigaiarasu S , Naren Shankar R , Rathakrishnan E
Published: June 2018

The effects of bypass ratio on co-flowing subsonic and correctly expanded sonic jet decay have been studied experimentally. Co-flowing jets with lip thickness 1.0 Dp (where Dp is the diameter of primary nozzle and is equal to 10 mm) with bypass ratios of around 0.7, 1.4, and 6.4 at primary jet exit Mach numbers 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0 have been analyzed. A single free jet equivalent to primary nozzle of the co-flowing nozzle was considered for comparison. Primary jet centerline total pressure decay, spread, and static pressure variation were investigated. The results show that the mixing of the high bypass ratio co-flowing jet with lip thickness 1.0 Dp is superior to low bypass ratio co-flowing jet. Both lip thickness and bypass ratio have a strong influence on the co-flowing jet mixing. Bypass ratio 6.3 experiences a significantly higher mixing than bypass ratio 0.7 and 1.4. Selected jets were also investigated computationally. The computations capture the salient flow physics and reproduce well with the experiments.
Nonlinear auto-regressive neural network for mathematical modelling of an airship using experimental data
Authors: Mazhar Farrukh , Choudhry Mohammad A , Shehryar Muhammad
Published: June 2018

Autonomous flight of an aerial vehicle requires a sufficiently accurate mathematical model, which can capture system dynamics in the presence of external disturbances. Artificial neural network is known for ideal in capturing systems behaviour, where little knowledge about vehicle dynamics is available. In this paper, we explored this potential of artificial neural network for characterizing nonlinear dynamics of an unmanned airship. The flight experimentation data for an outdoor experimental airship are acquired through a series of pre-determined flight tests. The experimental data are subjected to a class of dynamic recurrent neural network model dubbed as nonlinear auto-regressive model with exogenous inputs for training. Sufficiently trained neural network model captured and demonstrated the longitudinal dynamics of the airship satisfactorily. We also demonstrated the usefulness of proposed technique for Lotte airship, wherein the performance of proposed model is validated and analysed for the Lotte airship flight test data.
A novel shape memory alloy-based filter wheel drive mechanism for astronomical payloads
Authors: Kapoor Abhinandan , Sharma Gaurav , Suresha Kumar HN , Viswanatha N , KeshavaMurthy KA , Sajeesh KN , Yadav Subash
Published: June 2018

Astronomical payloads for monitoring of X-rays from planetary bodies require an active filter wheel drive mechanism to control the energy threshold, encompassing a larger range of solar X-ray intensity. If the detector aperture in the monitoring instrument is small, a manageable count rate is obtained but with poor sensitivity during lower activity period. On the other hand, a detector sensitive for lower activity period does not provide meaningful data during large intensity periods, due to saturation of detector front-end electronics. A survey of the existing drive mechanisms revealed that motorized mechanisms have been used for such applications with inherent drawbacks of increased mass, higher cost, and electrical complexity. In the present work, authors have designed and developed a novel filter wheel drive mechanism that uses an eccentrically mounted pin actuated by sequential activation of three shape memory alloys wires together. Also, it consists of a compliant leaf spring that avoids the requirement of an additional hold down by providing detent to hold the filter wheel in its intended position and acts as prime mover when the torque developed by shape memory alloy wires gets diminished due to reduction in moment arm during wheel rotation. This design offers substantial reduction in mass, development cost, and electrical complexity that can be exploited to send multiple detectors on board future interplanetary spacecraft. This paper presents the details of design, analysis, hardware realization, testing, and novelty of the mechanism.
Cross-coupling synchronous velocity control using model reference adaptive control scheme in an unsymmetrical biaxial winding system
Authors: Nguyen Huy Hung , Duong Van Tu , Kim Dae Hwan , Kim Hak Kyeong , Kim Sang Bong
Published: June 2018

Motion control with high accuracy for each axial system is the fundamental requirement to reduce a synchronous motion error of a multi-axis system. Especially, designing a model-based controller for an uncertainty system with unknown parameters is not easy without using system identification. To overcome the mentioned issue, this article proposes a cross-coupling synchronous velocity controller using a backstepping-based model reference adaptive control scheme in an unsymmetrical biaxial winding system called a transformer winding system. The proposed controller deals not only with the uncertainty but also with the recursive structure of the system. The backstepping technique for the recursive structural system and the model reference adaptive control method for the uncertainty of the system are designed to stabilize two axial systems with unknown parameters. An auxiliary system is added to build the proposed controller for coping with input constraints of physical actuators. To improve the proposed controller’s ability to cope with external disturbances, a dead-zone modification is utilized to modify the adaptation laws to avoid the drift phenomenon. Moreover, a cross-coupling mechanism is integrated into the proposed controller to reduce the synchronous velocity error between the velocities of the biaxial winding system. The proposed controller is also transformed into discrete time to be run on a digital signal processor alone chip. The experimental results are shown to verify the high performance and efficiency of the proposed controller for practical applications.
Single-Factor SOX2 Mediates Direct Neural Reprogramming of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells via Transfection of In Vitro Transcribed mRNA
Authors: Kim Bo-Eun , Choi Soon Won , Shin Ji-Hee , Kim Jae-Jun , Kang Insung , Lee Byung-Chul , Lee Jin Young , Kook Myoung Geun , Kang Kyung-Sun
Published: June 2018

Neural stem cells (NSCs) are a prominent cell source for understanding neural pathogenesis and for developing therapeutic applications to treat neurodegenerative disease because of their regenerative capacity and multipotency. Recently, a variety of cellular reprogramming technologies have been developed to facilitate in vitro generation of NSCs, called induced NSCs (iNSCs). However, the genetic safety aspects of established virus-based reprogramming methods have been considered, and non-integrating reprogramming methods have been developed. Reprogramming with in vitro transcribed (IVT) mRNA is one of the genetically safe reprogramming methods because exogenous mRNA temporally exists in the cell and is not integrated into the chromosome. Here, we successfully generated expandable iNSCs from human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UCB-MSCs) via transfection with IVT mRNA encoding SOX2 (SOX2 mRNA) with properly optimized conditions. We confirmed that generated human UCB-MSC-derived iNSCs (UM-iNSCs) possess characteristics of NSCs, including multipotency and self-renewal capacity. Additionally, we transfected human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) with SOX2 mRNA. Compared with human embryonic stem cell-derived NSCs, HDFs transfected with SOX2 mRNA exhibited neural reprogramming with similar morphologies and NSC-enriched mRNA levels, but they showed limited proliferation ability. Our results demonstrated that human UCB-MSCs can be used for direct reprogramming into NSCs through transfection with IVT mRNA encoding a single factor, which provides an integration-free reprogramming tool for future therapeutic application.
High-frequency Characterisation of Indian Banking Stocks
Authors: Sayeed Mohammad Abu , Dungey Mardi , Yao Wenying
Published: June 2018

Using high-frequency stock returns in the Indian banking sector, we find that the beta on jump movements substantially exceeds that on the continuous component, and that the majority of the information content for returns lies with the jump beta. We contribute to the debate on strategies to decrease systemic risk, showing that increased bank capital and reduced leverage reduce both jump and continuous beta with slightly stronger effects for capital on continuous beta and stronger effects for leverage on jump beta. However, changes in these firm characteristics need to be large to create an economically meaningful change in beta.