bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Monte Carlo–Based Quantification of Uncertainties in Determining Ocean Remote Sensing Reflectance from Underwater Fixed-Depth Radiometry Measurements
Authors: Białek Agnieszka , Vellucci Vincenzo , Gentil Bernard , Antoine David , Gorroño Javier , Fox Nigel , Underwood Craig
Published: December 2019

A new framework that enables evaluation of the in situ ocean color radiometry measurement uncertainty is presented. The study was conducted on the multispectral data from a permanent mooring deployed in clear open ocean water. The uncertainty is evaluated for each component of the measurement equation and data processing step that leads to deriving the remote sensing reflectance. The Monte Carlo method was selected to handle the data complexity such as correlation and nonlinearity in an efficient manner. The results are presented for a prescreened dataset that is suitable for system vicarious calibration applications. The framework provides uncertainty value per measurement taking into consideration environmental conditions present during acquisition. A summary value is calculated from the statistics of the individual uncertainties per each spectral channel. This summary value is below 4% (k = 1) for the blue and green spectral range. For the red spectral channels, the summary uncertainty value increases to approximately 5%. The presented method helps to understand the significance of various uncertainty components and to provide a way of identifying major contributors. This can be used for efficient system performance improvement in the future.
Neighborhood- and Object-Based Probabilistic Verification of the OU MAP Ensemble Forecasts during 2017 and 2018 Hazardous Weather Testbeds
Authors: Johnson Aaron , Wang Xuguang , Wang Yongming , Reinhart Anthony , Clark Adam J. , Jirak Israel L.
Published: December 2019

An object-based probabilistic (OBPROB) forecasting framework is developed and applied, together with a more traditional neighborhood-based framework, to convection-permitting ensemble forecasts produced by the University of Oklahoma (OU) Multiscale data Assimilation and Predictability (MAP) laboratory during the 2017 and 2018 NOAA Hazardous Weather Testbed Spring Forecasting Experiments. Case studies from 2017 are used for parameter tuning and demonstration of methodology, while the 2018 ensemble forecasts are systematically verified. The 2017 case study demonstrates that the OBPROB forecast product can provide a unique tool to operational forecasters that includes convective-scale details such as storm mode and morphology, which are typically lost in neighborhood-based methods, while also providing quantitative ensemble probabilistic guidance about those details in a more easily interpretable format than the more commonly used paintball plots. The case study also demonstrates that objective verification metrics reveal different relative performance of the ensemble at different forecast lead times depending on the verification framework (i.e., object versus neighborhood) because of the different features emphasized by object- and neighborhood-based evaluations. Both frameworks are then used for a systematic evaluation of 26 forecasts from the spring of 2018. The OBPROB forecast verification as configured in this study shows less sensitivity to forecast lead time than the neighborhood forecasts. Both frameworks indicate a need for probabilistic calibration to improve ensemble reliability. However, lower ensemble discrimination for OBPROB than the neighborhood-based forecasts is also noted.
Pediatric Drug Induced Sleep Endoscopy: A Simple Sedation Recipe
Authors: Adler Adam C. , Musso Mary F. , Mehta Deepak K. , Chandrakantan Arvind
Published: December 2019

Objective:

To describe a minimalist approach to sedating children for DISE procedures.

Methods:

We searched existing literature and derived and tested our algorithm on patients using evidence-based studies.

Results:

We were able to successfully sedate, without airway intervention, 15 highly complex children with a variety of comorbidities for DISE procedures.

Conclusion:

We describe a minimalistic sedation approach for DISE procedures in highly complex children. Further studies are required to compare this regimen to natural sleep states.
How an Electronic Medical Record System Facilitates and Demonstrates Effective Psychosocial Screening in Pediatric Primary Care
Authors: Arauz-Boudreau Alexy , Riobueno-Naylor Alexa , Haile Haregnesh , Holcomb Juliana M. , Lucke Cara M. , Joseph Bernard , Jellinek Michael S. , Murphy J. Michael
Published: December 2019

Using questionnaires, administrative claims, and chart review data, the current study explored the impact of using an electronic medical record system to administer, score, and store the Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC-17) during annual pediatric well-child visits. Within a sample of 1773 Medicaid-insured outpatients, the electronic system demonstrated that 90.5% of cases completed a PSC-17 screen electronically, billing codes indicating a screen was administered agreed with the existence of a questionnaire in the chart in 98.8% of cases, the classification of risk based on PSC-17 scores agreed with the classification of risk based on the Current Procedural Terminology code modifiers in 72.9% of cases, and 90.0% of clinicians’ progress notes mentioned PSC-17 score in treatment planning. Using an electronic approach to psychosocial screening in pediatrics facilitated the use of screening information gathered during the clinical visit and allowed for enhanced tracking of outcomes and quality monitoring.
Improving Measurement Precision in Experimental Psychopathology Using Item Response Theory
Authors: Feuerstahler Leah M. , Waller Niels , MacDonald Angus
Published: December 2019

Although item response models have grown in popularity in many areas of educational and psychological assessment, there are relatively few applications of these models in experimental psychopathology. In this article, we explore the use of item response models in the context of a computerized cognitive task designed to assess visual working memory capacity in people with psychosis as well as healthy adults. We begin our discussion by describing how item response theory can be used to evaluate and improve unidimensional cognitive assessment tasks in various examinee populations. We then suggest how computerized adaptive testing can be used to improve the efficiency of cognitive task administration. Finally, we explore how these ideas might be extended to multidimensional item response models that better represent the complex response processes underlying task performance in psychopathological populations.
Health Care Reform and Workers’ Compensation: Evidence from Massachusetts
Authors: Bronchetti Erin Todd , McInerney Melissa P.
Published: December 2019

The authors provide evidence of important spillover effects of comprehensive health care reform on workers’ compensation (WC) that are likely to reduce WC costs. Using data on more than 20 million emergency room (ER) discharges in Massachusetts and three comparison states, they find that Massachusetts health care reform caused a 6.2 to 8.2% decrease in the per capita number of ER discharges billed to WC. The authors document heterogeneity in the impacts of the reform, shedding light on the mechanisms generating the overall decline in ER discharges billed to WC. Results indicate a larger decrease in WC claiming for weekday admissions than for weekend admissions and for harder-to-verify musculoskeletal discharges than for wounds. The decline in WC discharges is driven both by injured workers increasingly seeking care outside of the ER and by changes in the propensity to bill WC for a given ER discharge.
Using mixed methods to design service quality evaluation indicator system of railway container multimodal transport
Authors: Fang Xiaoping , Cao Chao , Chen Zhiya , Chen Weiya , Ni Linglin , Ji Zhang , Gan Jinrong
Published: December 2019

Multimodal transport can bring the technical and economic advantages in different transportation modes into full play. While ensuring the level of service, it can reduce energy consumption and transport costs. Governments of most countries are actively promoting it. Therefore, it has become a research hot spot. Being a green, fast, and all-day transport mode, railways play an important role in multimodal transport. This article aims to analyze a multimodal transport service quality indicator system involving railways from the perspectives of customers, multimodal service providers, and governments. Qualitative and quantitative research methods were adopted to analyze the secondhand data of academic papers, government policy, and industry reports to clarify the quality characteristics of multimodal transport services. Using grounded theory and to analyze firsthand data from in-depth interviews with multimodal transport practitioners, 25 evaluation indicators of container multimodal transport service quality were chosen to be the evaluation index system. To test and improve the evaluation scale, 270 valid questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS 24.0 and AMOS 21.0 software, including reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis. The results show that all the indicators meet the standard requirements and have good reliability and validity.
Diane Abbott, misogynoir and the politics of Black British feminism’s anticolonial imperatives: ‘In Britain too, it’s as if we don’t exist’
Authors: Palmer Lisa Amanda
Published: December 2019

This article argues that it is remiss to understand the acute intensification of White supremacist politics in contemporary Britain without paying close attention to how this racism is inherently gendered and sexualised. This will be discussed in relation to the gendered racism of ‘misogynoir’ as experienced by the British Member of Parliament Diane Abbott. The article uses Shirley Anne Tate’s powerful analysis of the Sable-Saffron Venus in the English imaginary to argue that forms of British, and more explicitly English, national identity have been worked out on the back of systemic efforts to erase the material and epistemic presence of Black women in Britain from the British body politic. It further argues that the politics of erasure extends to the epistemic elision of Black British feminist theorising within the field of social theory. What then are the consequences and interplay of both the lived and epistemic acts of violence? I explore these issues by mapping Black British feminism’s anticolonial politics to argue that we should bring this tradition to bear in our analysis of this most recent iteration of racism in our contemporary times.
Brexit and the Classed Politics of Bordering: The British in France and European Belongings
Authors: Benson Michaela
Published: December 2019

This article considers what Brexit means for British citizens living in France. Drawing on empirical research I examine the emotional and material impacts that uncertainties about their futures have had on their lives. The article documents the measures they take (or anticipate) in their bids to secure their future rights to stay put in France. However, not everyone is well placed to secure their own future. Foregrounding Brexit as bordering – the social and political process through which judgements are made about who is ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ of the privilege of (European) belonging – I question who among these Britons is newly bordered through Brexit and with what impacts? As I argue, Brexit is unevenly experienced, exacerbating existing vulnerabilities and generating new fault lines of belonging among the British in France as they are repositioned in relation to hierarchies of European belonging.
Designing an Accelerated Graduate Evaluation Course Using the First Principles of Instruction and Interactive Media
Authors: Gardner Joel , Barclay Matt , Kong Younghee , LeVally Carolyn
Published: December 2019

Evaluation skills are complex and require careful design to teach effectively. In our master’s program in Instructional Design and Performance Technology, students experienced unnecessary difficulty in our evaluation course. To facilitate students’ success, we redesigned the course using interactive media and the first principles of instruction, a comprehensive, research-based approach to creating quality teaching and learning. This article describes the obstacles identified in the initial evaluation course and how we worked to reduce their impact using interactive media and the first principles of instruction in the course redesign. We share course redesign results and make recommendations for designing evaluation courses.
Hospital based serological evidence of rickettsial diseases and assessment diagnostic tests of pyrexia of unknown origin
Authors: Muzaheed  , J Fatani Amal , D Divakar Darshan , Rathod Sanjay , S Aloahd Mustafa
Published: December 2019

The present study examined hospital-based serological tests of rickettsial infections and assessment for diagnosis of pyrexia of unknown origin (PUO). Blood samples were tested for Weil Felix antigens, ELISA for scrub typhus group and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect the presence of DNA of spotted and scrub typhus group with the help of specific oligonucleotide. We tested 450 patient samples and found 101 Weil Felix-positive with 15 having ≥320 titres. IgM ELISA identified 32 (7.1%) positive cases. Positive PCR was seen in 13 (2.9%) samples, being only 40.1% of those testing positive for ELISA. Rickettsial infection is predominantly diagnosed through serological evidence in combination with molecular techniques. The Weil Felix test has a number of disadvantages and tends to provide false-positive results in a number of scenarios, especially where scrub typhus and spotted fever are widely distributed.
A multi-model control of nonlinear systems: A cascade decoupled design procedure based on stability and performance
Authors: Ahmadi Mahdi , Rikhtehgar Pouya , Haeri Mohammad
Published: December 2019

Recently, the multi-model controllers design was proposed in the literature based on integrating of the stability and performance criteria. Although these methods overcome the redundancy problem, the decomposition step is very complex and time consuming. In this paper, a cascade design of multi-model control is presented that is made from two sequential steps. In the first step, the nonlinear system is decomposed into a set of linear subsystems by just considering the stability criterion. In this step, the gap metric is used as a smart tool to measure the distance between linear subsystems. While the closed-loop stability is gained through the first step, the performance is improved in the second step by adding internal model controllers in a cascade structure. Therefore, the proposed idea supports designing a multi-model controller in a simple way by integrating the stability and performance criteria in two independent cascade steps. As a result, the proposed method avoids the model redundancy problem, has a simple structure, guarantees the robust stability, and improves the performance. Two nonlinear chemical processes are simulated to evaluate the proposed multi-model controller approach.
A data-driven principal component analysis-support vector machine approach for breast cancer diagnosis: Comparison and application
Authors: Wu Wen , Faisal Shah
Published: December 2019

In recent years, with the development of artificial intelligence, data-driven methodologies have been widely studied in fault diagnosis and detection, since an increasing number of complexities of modern complex systems make the mechanism model information difficult to obtain. Especially in people’s health monitoring, it is very difficult to achieve the mechanism model. The existing challenges, such as huge amount of data, high data dimension, large noise interference, and so forth, make the applications of data-driven approaches more suitable. For the sake of solving the problems above, we present principal component analysis-support vector machine (PCA-SVM) method with different kernels to reduce data dimension, and two sets of breast-cancer data are utilized to verify the method. Additionally, support vector machine-recursive feature elimination (SVM-RFE), the original SVM with different kernels, PCA and modified PCA (MPCA) methods are also applied to diagnose malignant cancer in comparison with PCA-SVM. In experiments, PCA-SVM via radial basis function (RBF) kernel shows better performance than other methods, with the two breast cancer datasets obtained from the University of Wisconsin Hospital. Finally, PCA-SVM in this study uses only six principal components and obtains better accuracy (97.19%) than most of the previous studies.
An eHealth Program for Parents of Adolescents With T1DM Improves Parenting Stress: A Randomized Control Trial
Authors: Whittemore Robin , Coleman Julia , Delvy Roberta , Zincavage Rebekah , Ambrosoli James A. , Shi Ling , Kato Bernet , Marceau Lisa
Published: December 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the short-term effects of the Type 1 Teamwork program for parents of adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) on the primary outcome of psychosocial stress.

Methods

The study was a randomized wait-list control trial evaluating an eHealth program to reduce parenting stress around T1DM management during adolescence through interactive sessions on the safe transfer of responsibility, positive communication, and stress management. The primary outcome was psychosocial stress (parenting stress specific to child illness and general stress). Secondary outcomes included depressive and anxiety symptoms, parent support for adolescent autonomy, family conflict, and adolescent metabolic control (A1C). Data were collected at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months online. Mixed-model analyses were conducted, using intent-to-treat procedures.

Results

Parents (n = 162) had a mean age of 45.6 (±5.3) years, were 98% female, 91% white, 91% married/partnered, 51% of high income, and geographically dispersed around the United States. Parents reported that adolescents had a mean A1C of 7.9% (±1.2%) and T1DM duration of 5.08 (±3.62) years. At 6 months, parents in the Type 1 Teamwork group demonstrated less parenting stress compared with the control group. There were no differences between groups on general stress or secondary outcomes. Attrition at 6 months was 32% in the treatment group and 11% in the control group.

Conclusions

An eHealth program for parents of adolescents with T1DM improves parenting stress in a sample of parents from across the United States.
Complexity, diversity and the role of the public sphere on the Internet
Authors: Eckstrand Nathan
Published: December 2019

This article explores the relationship between deliberative democracy, the Internet, and systems theory’s thoughts on diversity. After introducing Habermas’s theory of deliberative democracy and how diversity fits into it, the article discusses various ideas about whether and how it could work on the Internet. Next, the article looks at research into diversity done in the field of complex adaptive systems, showing that diversity has both good and bad effects, but is clearly preferred for the purpose of survival. The article concludes with an analysis of how the results of systems theory’s study of diversity can assist society in bringing democracy to the Web.
The TRIPS Agreement and the Pharmaceutical Industry in India
Authors: Kamiike Atsuko
Published: December 2019

The World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) calls for the harmonization of intellectual property rights (IPRs) regulations across all WTO member countries. The TRIPS Agreement requires all WTO member countries to adopt and enforce minimum standards of intellectual property. It was assumed that the introduction of pharmaceutical product patents would hamper the Indian pharmaceutical industry’s growth. Contrary to expectations, however, the Indian pharmaceutical industry has been growing in the post-TRIPS period. The TRIPS Agreement changed the research and development (R&D) orientation of Indian pharmaceutical companies, which have increased their R&D investments. Since the TRIPS Agreement was signed, the pharmaceutical global value chain (GVC) has been re-structured and has now expanded to emerging countries like India. Indian pharmaceutical firms have thus been participating in the pharmaceutical GVC in the post-TRIPS period. This participation is conducive to technological upgrading and technology transfers. While operating in the GVC, Indian pharmaceutical firms are upgrading by adopting state-of-the-art technologies. This study explores how the TRIPS Agreement is influencing the Indian pharmaceutical industry and discusses the industry’s growth factors in the post-TRIPS period within the GVC framework.

JEL: L21, L24, L26, L65
Business processes modelling and diagnosis
Authors: Santos João Pedro , Ramos Pedro , Farinha José , Moro Sérgio
Published: December 2019

The computerization of relevant information in organizations is increasingly becoming a necessary reality in companies that want to be present in a market that is characterized by innovation, adaptability and where bigger amounts of information are increasingly available and accessible to everyone, the use of Social Collaboration tools in organizations become increasingly crucial to keep a business running (Brocke J, Maaß W, Buxmann P, et al. (2018) Future work and enterprise systems. Business & Information Systems Engineering 60(4): 357–366). In Alter(2013) Work system theory: overview of core concepts, extensions and challenges for the future. Journal of the Association for Information Systems 14(2): 72–121), work systems are described as systems ‘in which human participants and machines perform work (processes and activities) using information, technology and other resources to produce specific products/services for specific internal and external customers’. The computerization of processes is not, however, so complete because all the formal and informal relationships among employees, which underlie each organization and have a high impact on the correct definition of processes, are not correctly considered. In order to mitigate this problem, this article presents a proposal for representing, in computer systems, formal and informal relations between employees and the consequent integration in organizational processes in order to provide automatic diagnosis of highlighted processes.
Effects of insoles adapted in flip-flop sandals in people with plantar fasciopathy: a randomized, double-blind clinical, controlled study
Authors: Costa Ana Rafaella Araújo , de Almeida Silva Hugo Jário , Mendes André Augusto Martines Teixeira , Scattone Silva Rodrigo , de Almeida Lins Caio Alano , de Souza Marcelo Cardoso
Published: December 2019

Objective:

To evaluate the effects of insoles adapted into flip-flop sandals on pain and function in individuals with plantar fasciopathy (PF).

Design:

Randomized, double-blind controlled study.

Setting:

Physiotherapy clinic of the Faculty of Health Sciences of Trairi, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Santa Cruz, Brazil.

Subjects:

Sixty-six patients of both genders with PF were randomized into two groups: sandal insole group (SI; n = 34), which received a pair of custom flip-flop sandals with insoles covered with smooth synthetic leather; and plain sandal group (PS; n = 32), which received an identical pair of flip-flop sandals, but without the insoles.

Interventions:

Patients were instructed to wear the flip-flops for 12 weeks for at least 4 hours/day.

Main measures:

Pain (visual analogue scale—VAS) in the morning and at the end of the day were considered primary outcomes. Function (Foot Function Index—FFI and Foot and Ankle Ability Measure—FAAM) and functional capacity (6-minute walk test—6MWT) were considered secondary outcomes. The outcomes were evaluated at baseline and immediately after the intervention by a blind assessor.

Results:

Between-group differences were observed in terms of morning pain (mean difference (MD) = –1.82 cm; 95% confidence interval (CI) = –3.3 to −0.3; P = 0.016) and function (MD = –0.10; 95% CI = –0.19 to −0.01; P = 0.023) after the interventions with the SI group showing superior improvements in comparison to the PS group.

Conclusion:

The use of insoles adapted in flip-flop sandals for 12 weeks was effective at improving pain and function in individuals with PF.

Level of evidence:

1b.
Computerized Calculation of Mitotic Count Distribution in Canine Cutaneous Mast Cell Tumor Sections: Mitotic Count Is Area Dependent
Authors: Bertram Christof A. , Aubreville Marc , Gurtner Corinne , Bartel Alexander , Corner Sarah M. , Dettwiler Martina , Kershaw Olivia , Noland Erica L. , Schmidt Anja , Sledge Dodd G. , Smedley Rebecca C. , Thaiwong Tuddow , Kiupel Matti , Maier Andreas , Klopfleisch Robert
Published: December 2019

Mitotic count (MC) is an important element for grading canine cutaneous mast cell tumors (ccMCTs) and is determined in 10 consecutive high-power fields with the highest mitotic activity. However, there is variability in area selection between pathologists. In this study, the MC distribution and the effect of area selection on the MC were analyzed in ccMCTs. Two pathologists independently annotated all mitotic figures in whole-slide images of 28 ccMCTs (ground truth). Automated image analysis was used to examine the ground truth distribution of the MC throughout the tumor section area, which was compared with the manual MCs of 11 pathologists. Computerized analysis demonstrated high variability of the MC within different tumor areas. There were 6 MCTs with consistently low MCs (MC<7 in all tumor areas), 13 cases with mostly high MCs (MC ≥7 in ≥75% of 10 high-power field areas), and 9 borderline cases with variable MCs around 7, which is a cutoff value for ccMCT grading. There was inconsistency among pathologists in identifying the areas with the highest density of mitotic figures throughout the 3 ccMCT groups; only 51.9% of the counts were consistent with the highest 25% of the ground truth MC distribution. Regardless, there was substantial agreement between pathologists in detecting tumors with MC ≥7. Falsely low MCs below 7 mainly occurred in 4 of 9 borderline cases that had very few ground truth areas with MC ≥7. The findings of this study highlight the need to further standardize how to select the region of the tumor in which to determine the MC.
Individuals Who Experience Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response Have Higher Levels of Sensory Suggestibility
Authors: Keizer Anouk , Chang Tzu Han (Rebecca) , O’Mahony Cian James , Schaap Nathalie Solange , Stone Kayla Dawn
Published: December 2019

Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a self-reported sensory phenomenon that elicits a pleasurable tingling sensation that often starts in the head. This study showed that participants who experience ASMR ( N = 35) are also more prone to experience illusory sensory events than controls ( N = 25), as measured with the Sensory Suggestibility Scale. This suggests that ASMR is not only associated with cognitive traits such as imagery ability but also to how individuals physically experience sensory events.
Development of an energy management education program (“the PEP program”) for adults with end-stage renal disease
Authors: Farragher Janine F , Jassal Sarbjit V , McEwen Sara , Polatajko Helene J
Published: December 2019

Introduction

Fatigue is a highly common symptom of end-stage renal disease, interferes with occupational engagement, and is a top research priority of patients. The objective of this project was to develop an energy management education program that would meet the needs of people with end-stage renal disease and to conduct a preliminary evaluation of the acceptability and usability of the program.

Methods

We used the World Health Organization’s health education planning framework to guide the intervention development process. We systematically assessed the needs of people with end-stage renal disease related to energy management education, and transformed them into program objectives. Based on these findings, we designed a program that would (a) improve occupational engagement in people with end-stage renal disease; (b) be feasible; and (c) build on existing energy management education and health education literature. Finally, we conducted qualitative interviews about the program with four key informants and conducted usability testing with five target end-users.

Findings:

The Personal Energy Planning program combines an established problem-solving approach with three brief web modules on energy management. Preliminary testing suggested the program was acceptable to stakeholders and was usable by the target population.

Conclusions

Future research should explore the effects of the program on fatigue and occupational engagement in people with end-stage renal disease.
Urban and Regional Planning Education in Mexico
Authors: Peña Sergio
Published: December 2019

This analysis sheds light on planning education in Mexico. One important question that the paper addresses is: Are planning programs forming professionals capable of addressing the challenges that cities and regions face in the twenty-first century? The study draws upon a content analysis of 253 course syllabi and a database of 128 employed local planners. The results of the analysis suggest that planning curricula are still very much embedded in the rational model and there is a challenge for strengthening the curricula with more communicative skills that are valuable in a postmodern society.
Beyond economic policy: The post-war expansion of ice-breaking in Sweden from a small state perspective
Authors: Eriksson Martin
Published: December 2019

This article examines the expansion of post-war Swedish ice-breaking and winter navigation from a small state perspective previously put forth in research on the corresponding historical developments in Finland. The results confirm the notion that the post-war expansion of winter navigation was related to the contemporary transformation within the forestry industries. Both State maritime actors and interest groups from the forestry industries framed ice-breaking as a decisive instrument to promote the exports of pulp and paper. This coincided with the introduction of cost-efficiency measures within transport policy, which allowed the State ice-breaker service to expand at the expense of the railways.
The brevity and severity of ‘Golden Age’ piracy trials
Authors: Gibbs Joseph
Published: December 2019

A sampling of piracy and piracy-related trials involving mainly English (later British) and colonial courts between 1670 and 1731 shows that from opening statements through deliberations they were rapid affairs, few extending beyond a single calendar date, and that on average they appear to have convicted about six of every 10 defendants who pleaded Not Guilty. That conviction figure is impacted by high-volume trials in 1700 and 1722 that acquitted relatively large numbers of defendants; eliminating these two trials from the mix yields a significantly higher conviction rate (about seven in 10) for those who pleaded Not Guilty. This article presents its sampling data, noting appropriate cautions, in the context of the era’s legal proceedings and practices.
Born on the voyage: Inscribing emigrant communities in the twilight of sail
Authors: Hobbins Peter , Clarke Anne , Frederick Ursula K
Published: December 2019

From the 1830s to the 1880s, non-stop voyages from the United Kingdom to the Australasian colonies created highly structured and insular shipboard communities. Emigrant experiences were shaped by the social spaces aboard sailing vessels, alongside layers of formal superintendence and informal communitas. While these increasingly literate travellers commonly recorded their passage in diaries and letters, other means of marking the journey are less well documented. Detailing the voyages to Sydney of sister clipper ships Samuel Plimsoll and Smyrna in 1874–83, this article explores two complementary maritime textual traditions. One practice saw newborns named after their vessel or – in a singular instance – detention in quarantine. Another enduring tradition entailed emigrants carving mementoes of their voyage into the sandstone at Sydney’s North Head Quarantine Station. In contrast with written narratives that often concluded upon arrival, we argue that these informal commemorations kept voyages and vessels alive through the ensuing decades.
Comprehensive Migraine Initiative in the Pediatric Emergency Department Improves Treatment Outcomes
Authors: Skora Clare E. , Worden Lila T. , Oakley Chris B.
Published: December 2019

Objective:

To compare pediatric migraine treatment efficacy in the emergency department before and after the implementation of a comprehensive migraine initiative, consisting of a standardized treatment protocol, provider educational series and standardized physician documentation template.

Background:

Pediatric migraine is common, accounting for 1% of pediatric emergency department visits. Yet there is large variability in treatment practices, with few studies looking into measures of both clinical effectiveness and timeliness of treatment following implementation of standardized protocols.

Methods:

A single-center retrospective chart review of pediatric patients presenting to the emergency department with migraine before and after implementation of an institutional headache initiative designed to more effectively and efficiently deliver care to pediatric migraine patients.

Results:

The study yielded 110 patients each in the intervention and preintervention groups. There were no significant differences in patient characteristics with respect to age, gender, or initial pain score. Compared with the preintervention group, the intervention group demonstrated a significant reduction in headache pain score prior to discharge (decrease of 5.9 vs 4.8 in preintervention group, P value .006) with a greater percentage of patients achieving ≥50% reduction in pain (82% vs 67% in preintervention group, P value .039). Additionally, we found a significantly decreased time to treatment in the intervention group compared with the preintervention group (1.8 vs 2.1 hours, P value .046).

Conclusion:

Through the use of a standardized treatment protocol, improved provider education, and ease of documentation, this comprehensive migraine initiative improved efficacy and efficiency of migraine treatment in the pediatric emergency department.
Visual Hallucinations and Impaired Conscious Visual Perception in Parkinson Disease
Authors: Kurita Akira , Koshikawa Hiroaki , Akiba Takeshi , Seki Kanako , Ishikawa Hiroaki , Suzuki Megumi
Published: December 2019

Visual hallucinations (VHs) are common in patients with Parkinson disease (PD), especially those with dementia, whereas auditory hallucinations are quite rare. Recent studies have revealed the involvement of several regions along the visual information-processing system that contribute to the pathophysiological mechanism of VHs: the eyes and retina, retinofugal projection, lateral geniculate nucleus, striate cortex, ventral pathways in the temporal cortices, and frontal and parietal cortices. In addition, the concurrent involvement of other systems in the brainstem and basal forebrain further modify VHs in PD. In this review, we discuss the pathophysiological association between the regional involvement of these areas and VHs.
Development and Validation of a Career Future Time Perspective Scale
Authors: Park In-Jo , Han Kyueun , Ryu Kyung
Published: December 2019

Future time perspective, like self-efficacy, can be understood both generally and domain specifically. Keeping this in mind, the current study aimed at developing and validating a Career Future Time Perspective Scale. In Study 1, we utilized an exploratory factor analysis and the Rasch rating model to ensure the construct validity of a Career Future Time Perspective Scale. The scale consisted of three factors—opportunity, value, and connectedness—across 9 items. In Study 2, we showed that this three-factor oblique scale was the most representative structure of career future time perspective. Study 3 demonstrated that after controlling for the future time perspective measures posited by Shell and Husman and Carstensen and Lang, this scale could also be used to explain: (a) career decision-making self-efficacy, (b) career-indecision tendencies, and (c) career-searching behavior. In Study 4, the reliability of the scale was demonstrated.
Varieties of public–private policy coordination: How the political economy affects multi-actor implementation
Authors: Trein Philipp , Tosun Jale
Published: December 2019

This study seeks to introduce the concept of Varieties of Capitalism to the study of multi-actor implementation arrangements. It illustrates the analytical value of this classification scheme by drawing from original empirical data and addresses two key research questions, namely how do public and private actors cooperate in delivering on public policy, and which factors determine the scope of their cooperation? To address these questions, the article examines governance arrangements adopted by individual European Union member states for implementing the Youth Guarantee. The Youth Guarantee was selected because all European Union member states must and have indeed already started to implement it, meaning it provides a broad empirical base for observing different types of public–private coordination. The findings demonstrate that a hierarchical structure in a country’s political economy and prior expenditure on active labour market policies result in different governance arrangements.
Motion of a spherical particle in a microbubble plume and the behavior of microbubbles around the particle
Authors: Uchiyama Tomomi , Kawasaki Yujiro , Degawa Tomohiro , Takamure Kotaro
Published: December 2019

This study aims to investigate the motion of a solid spherical particle in a microbubble plume and the behavior of bubbles around the particle. Microbubbles (mean diameter 0.037 mm) released into a rectangular conduit by the electrolysis of water rise via buoyancy and form a bubble plume in the conduit. A solid spherical particle with a diameter of 10 mm and density of 1022 kg/m3 is placed on a mesh stretched across the cross-section near the bottom of the conduit, and microbubbles are then released from the cathode. Experiments are conducted with the bubble volumetric flux in the conduit j G at 0.05 and 0.09 mm/s. The particle repeatedly rises and falls when j G = 0.05 mm/s, and it rises almost vertically when j G = 0.09 mm/s. The absolute value of the vertical velocity of the particle is lower than that of the bubble. There is a belt-like region where the bubble velocity is extremely lower behind the particle. Such wake behind the particle clearly appears when the particle is falling, because the bubble velocity relative to the particle is higher.
Frequency-based dynamic topology optimization methodology for improved door closing sound quality
Authors: Tuncer Gozde , Sendur Polat
Published: December 2019

Door closing sound quality of a vehicle has become one of the most important customer-related quality metrics in the recent years. There has been a vast amount of information on the design parameters contributing to this attribute in the literature. Amongst them, damping pad on the door outer panel emerges as one of the most significant factors on the door closing sound quality. In this paper, we apply solid isotropic material with penalization topology optimization method to determine the optimum material layout for within a given volume constraint on a front door of a typical vehicle. The objective function of the topology optimization is chosen as the minimization of residual sum of squares of the accelerance of the door outer panel up to 200 Hz. The optimization problem is subject to design constraint to use a predetermined percentage of the full damping pad. The methodology is demonstrated on the finite element model of front door of a Toyota vehicle. Two optimization case studies using 60% and 45% of the damping pad on the door outer panel are introduced as a result of the application of the proposed topology optimization methodology. In addition, more manufacturable optimization configurations with the same % of the damping pad are suggested as a means for more feasible application by automotive original equipment manufacturers. All the optimization configurations are compared to each other on (i) accelerance spectrum up to 200 Hz, (ii) residual sum of squares of the accelerance, and (iii) weight of the damping pad. The results show that it is possible to improve the aforementioned metrics significantly by the application of topology optimization.
Decoupling control of chassis integrated system for electric wheel vehicle
Authors: Wu Haixiao , Gao Qi , Wang Chunyan , Zhao Wanzhong
Published: December 2019

In order to eliminate the mutual interferences among the differential assist steering system, the active suspension system and the electrical stability control, this paper proposes a sliding mode decoupling control strategy based on the inverse system method for the electric wheel vehicle. The dynamic model of the integrated chassis system is established, and the coupling relationship among the subsystems is analyzed by the correlation analysis. Based on the inverse system method, a compound pseudo linear system is constructed by an inverse system connected in series before the original chassis system, which is linearized and decoupled into three independent linear integral systems. In order to improve the robustness and anti-interference of the decoupled system, a pre-compensation controller based on the sliding mode control is designed for the pseudo linear system. The results of simulation and vehicle test show that the proposed decoupled controller has excellent decoupling performance, which can accomplish the single-channel control of the three decoupled subsystems, and eliminate their influences and interferences. Furthermore, it can effectively track the reference signal and reduce the impact of the external interference, which can obtain an excellent comprehensive performance of the chassis system.
Mother–grandmother contracts: Local care loops and the intergenerational transfer of childcare in the Czech Republic
Authors: Souralová Adéla
Published: December 2019

This article explores the local care loops in the Czech Republic, a country that experienced radical changes in family policies and in the organization of childcare after the fall of Communism in 1989. The aim of this article is to answer the following questions: What is the dominant pattern of childcare organization? What is the nature of the local care loops in the Czech Republic? How are these local care loops reproduced by current social policies? Where are their roots in the pre-1989 period? To answer these questions, the article investigates the local care loops and everyday mobilities of childcare in the Czech Republic. It draws upon secondary analysis of scholarly (sociological and anthropological) works that focus on childcare and its organization and of works that analyse relevant social policies. The article presents the following findings: local care loops in the Czech Republic are endogamous and matrilineal, they follow a gendered care contract between generations of women, and they are thus part of intergenerational solidarity. The analysis illuminates how the care loops are shaped by the social policies that affect care cultures in the Czech Republic.
Dismantling the Welfare State? after Twenty-five years: What have we learned and what should we learn?
Authors: Jensen Carsten , Wenzelburger Georg , Zohlnhöfer Reimut
Published: December 2019

Dismantling the Welfare State? is a modern classic in the welfare state literature. Yet although the book is widely known, the ‘Piersonian argument’ as it is typically referred to today bears limited resemblance to the book’s highly nuanced and thought-provoking ideas. This review revisits the book and explores some of the lessons it still holds for the research community.
Embedded predictive control strategy based on Internet of Things technology: Application to a thermal process under imperfect wireless network
Authors: Kouki Rihab , Salhi Hichem , Bouani Faouzi
Published: December 2019

This article is concerned with the design of wireless-networked control framework based on Internet of Things technology and predictive control strategy to remote control a thermal benchmark system. In order to improve the control performance of systems, an autonomous real-time solution is proposed for handling network problems. The adopted control strategy is divided into two cooperative parts under a master–slave architecture, in which two STM32 microcontrollers are investigated. The slave board is connected closely to the process and the master one is a distant controller. The microcontrollers communicate wirelessly through the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. In the master board, a model predictive output-estimator-based controller is designed to control wirelessly the benchmark system, even though the incoming outputs from the slave board are lost. However, a buffered structure is implemented on the slave board to compensate the input losses of the arrived control sequences. The performance of the proposed wireless-networked predictive control compensation strategy for packet loss and perturbation handling in the wireless-networked control system in this work is verified through different experimentation conditions. Also, a comparative study with a wireless-networked proportional integral controller is performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of wireless-networked predictive control strategy for practical Internet of Things applications.
Eliminating the Surprise Question Leaves Home Care Providers With Few Options for Identifying Mortality Risk
Authors: Sullivan Suzanne S. , Casucci Sabrina , Li Chin-Shang
Published: December 2019

Background:

Precision health initiatives for end-of-life planning require robust methods for identifying patient risk for decline and mortality. The Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) surprise question (SQ; M1034 Overall Status) is the primary tool for evaluating risks in homebound older adults. However, the OASIS-D, Released in 2019, eliminates this question. This study examines the prognostic ability of 12- and 24-month mortality risk reflected in the OASIS-SQ and develops an alternative approach for classifying mortality risk to support decision-making in the absence of the OASIS-SQ.

Design:

Retrospective secondary data analysis.

Setting/Participants:

A nationally representative sample of 69 097 OASIS-C assessments (2012) linked to the Master Beneficiary Summary file (2012 and 2013).

Measurements:

Survival analysis, k-means clustering, and Cohen κ coefficient with Z test.

Results:

The OASIS-SQ predicts mortality (35% at 12 and 45% at 24 months; P < .001). Cluster analysis identified 2 risk groups: OASIS activity of daily living “ADL total scores” >15 = (lower risk) and ≤15 = (higher risk) for 24-month mortality. Model agreement is weak for both cluster 1 and cluster 2, the OASIS-SQ κ = 0.20, 95% confidence interval (CI) = .19 to .21, and “alive/not alive” κ = .17, 95% CI = .16 to .18.

Conclusion:

The OASIS-SQ and “ADL total score” are almost equally likely to predict 24-month mortality; therefore, it was reasonable to use the “ADL total score” as a substitute for the OASIS-SQ. Removal of the OASIS-SQ leaves home care providers with few clear options for risk screening resulting in missed opportunities to refer to palliative or hospice services.