bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dark Patterns at Scale
Authors: Mathur Arunesh , Acar Gunes , Friedman Michael J. , Lucherini Eli , Mayer Jonathan , Chetty Marshini , Narayanan Arvind
Published: November 2019

Dark patterns are user interface design choices that benefit an online service by coercing, steering, or deceiving users into making unintended and potentially harmful decisions. We present automated techniques that enable experts to identify dark patterns on a large set of websites. Using these techniques, we study shopping websites, which often use dark patterns to influence users into making more purchases or disclosing more information than they would otherwise. Analyzing ~53K product pages from ~11K shopping websites, we discover 1,818 dark pattern instances, together representing 15 types and 7 broader categories. We examine these dark patterns for deceptive practices, and find 183 websites that engage in such practices. We also uncover 22 third-party entities that offer dark patterns as a turnkey solution. Finally, we develop a taxonomy of dark pattern characteristics that describes the underlying influence of the dark patterns and their potential harm on user decision-making. Based on our findings, we make recommendations for stakeholders including researchers and regulators to study, mitigate, and minimize the use of these patterns.
Pragmatic Tool vs. Relational Hindrance
Authors: Page Xinru , Ghaiumy Anaraky Reza , Knijnenburg Bart P. , Wisniewski Pamela J.
Published: November 2019

Social media privacy features can act as a mechanism for regulating interpersonal relationships, but why do some people not use these features? Through an interview study of 56 social media users, we found two high-level perspectives towards social media and privacy that affected attitudes towards and usage of privacy features. Some users took a pragmatic approach to using social media and felt comfortable using various privacy features as a tool to manage their social relationships (e.g., avoiding bothersome posts, not feeling compelled to interact). However, there were also users who viewed taking such privacy actions as a relational hindrance and were concerned how using certain features to meet their own needs would harm their relationships with others. Through a subsequent survey (N=320), we reveal how these two perspectives impact user behavior across four social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter). Users who viewed social media as a pragmatic tool indeed used privacy features more. On the other hand, users who focused on how privacy can serve as a relational hindrance avoided using these features and, instead, prioritized social engagement and took a more indirect approach to protecting their privacy. Furthermore, the results show how these perspectives vary by individual rather than by privacy feature. These findings demonstrate the need to consider different perspectives towards social media and privacy when trying to understand and design for user behavior.
Quantifying Voter Biases in Online Platforms
Authors: Dev Himel , Karahalios Karrie , Sundaram Hari
Published: November 2019

In content-based online platforms, use of aggregate user feedback (say, the sum of votes) is commonplace as the "gold standard" for measuring content quality. Use of vote aggregates, however, is at odds with the existing empirical literature, which suggests that voters are susceptible to different biases-reputation (e.g., of the poster), social influence (e.g., votes thus far), and position (e.g., answer position). Our goal is to quantify, in an observational setting, the degree of these biases in online platforms. Specifically, what are the causal effects of different impression signals-such as the reputation of the contributing user, aggregate vote thus far, and position of content-on a participant's vote on content? We adopt an instrumental variable (IV) framework to answer this question. We identify a set of candidate instruments, carefully analyze their validity, and then use the valid instruments to reveal the effects of the impression signals on votes. Our empirical study using log data from Stack Exchange websites shows that the bias estimates from our IV approach differ from the bias estimates from the ordinary least squares (OLS) method. In particular, OLS underestimates reputation bias (1.6-2.2x for gold badges) and position bias (up to 1.9x for the initial position) and overestimates social influence bias (1.8-2.3x for initial votes). The implications of our work include: redesigning user interface to avoid voter biases; making changes to platforms' policy to mitigate voter biases; detecting other forms of biases in online platforms.
If it Rains, Ask Grandma to Disconnect the Nano
Authors: Dye Michaelanne , Nemer David , Kumar Neha , Bruckman Amy S.
Published: November 2019

In Cuba, where internet access is severely constrained, technology enthusiasts have built StreetNet (SNET), a community network (CN) that has grown organically, reaching tens of thousands of households across Havana. Through fieldwork conducted in 2016 and 2017, we investigate participants' strategies as they engage with a network where the material elements---cables, switches, nanos, and servers---are regularly breaking down. Drawing on maintenance and care (M&C) scholarship, we present an in-depth investigation of the management and anticipation of breakdowns in SNET, foregrounding the deeply relational nature of repair work, collective efforts required for SNET's M&C, and the values and motivations underpinning these practices. Our paper contributes a unique perspective on how CNs are run locally and organically, outlining considerations for how interventions along these lines might be more suitably designed. We also complicate perspectives of innovation through a discussion of cultural ideologies and tensions underpinning M&C practices.
My Own Private Nightlife
Authors: Phan Thanh-Trung , Labhart Florian , Gatica-Perez Daniel
Published: November 2019

Private nightlife environments of young people are likely characterized by their physical attributes, particular ambiance, and activities, but relatively little is known about it from social media studies. For instance, recent work has documented ambiance and physical characteristics of homes using pictures from Airbnb, but questions remain on whether this kind of curated data reliably represents everyday life situations. To describe the physical and ambiance features of homes of youth using manual annotations and machine-extracted features, we used a unique dataset of 301 crowdsourced videos of home environments recorded in-situ by young people on weekend nights. Agreement among five independent annotators was high for most studied variables. Results of the annotation task revealed various patterns of youth home spaces, such as the type of room attended (e.g., living room and bedroom), the number and gender of friends present, and the type of ongoing activities (e.g., watching TV alone; or drinking, chatting and eating in the presence of others.) Then, object and scene visual features of places, extracted via deep learning, were found to correlate with ambiances, while sound features did not. Finally, the results of a regression task for inferring ambiances from those features showed that six of the ambiance categories can be inferred with R 2 in the [0.21, 0.69] range. Our work is novel with regard to the type of data (crowdsourced videos of real homes of young people) and the analytical design (combined use of manual annotation and deep learning to identify relevant cues), and contributes to the understanding of home environments represented through digital media.
Your Stance is Exposed! Analysing Possible Factors for Stance Detection on Social Media
Authors: Aldayel Abeer , Magdy Walid
Published: November 2019

To what extent user's stance towards a given topic could be inferred? Most of the studies on stance detection have focused on analysing user's posts on a given topic to predict the stance. However, the stance in social media can be inferred from a mixture of signals that might reflect user's beliefs including posts and online interactions. This paper examines various online features of users to detect their stance towards different topics. We compare multiple set of features, including on-topic content, network interactions, user's preferences, and online network connections. Our objective is to understand the online signals that can reveal the users' stance. Experimentation is applied on tweets dataset from the SemEval stance detection task, which covers five topics. Results show that stance of a user can be detected with multiple signals of user's online activity, including their posts on the topic, the network they interact with or follow, the websites they visit, and the content they like. The performance of the stance modelling using different network features are comparable with the state-of-the-art reported model that used textual content only. In addition, combining network and content features leads to the highest reported performance to date on the SemEval dataset with F-measure of 72.49%. We further present an extensive analysis to show how these different set of features can reveal stance. Our findings have distinct privacy implications, where they highlight that stance is strongly embedded in user's online social network that, in principle, individuals can be profiled from their interactions and connections even when they do not post about the topic.
Intersecting Imaginaries
Authors: Lustig Caitlin
Published: November 2019

Sociotechnical imaginaries are futures that people envision might be possible and desirable. They have a real impact on how systems are designed and what values they have embedded in their design. This article examines imaginaries about autonomous systems, decentralized systems, and decentralized autonomous systems. Through a discussion of the literature on autonomous and decentralized systems and how these imaginaries play out in the blockchain community based on my qualitative research, I demonstrate how decentralized autonomous systems are related to imaginaries about the organization of and the future of work. I identify three framings of imaginaries about autonomous systems: (1) autonomous technology as physical objects, (2) as mathematical rules, and (3) as artificial mangers. I also identify two sometimes conflicting framings of imaginaries about distributed and decentralized technology: these technologies as a new form of production and as freedom from control. These imaginaries intersect in decentralized autonomous systems, and I examine what they can tell us about the design and governance of such technologies. Lastly, I suggest ways of using the concept of imaginaries in participatory design.
Gig Platforms, Tensions, Alliances and Ecosystems
Authors: Kinder Eliscia , Jarrahi Mohammad Hossein , Sutherland Will
Published: November 2019

The algorithm-based management exercised by digital gig platforms contributes to information and power asymmetries that are pervasive in the gig economy. Although the design of these platforms may foster unbalanced relationships, in this paper, we outline how freelancers and clients on the gig platform Upwork can leverage a network of alliances with external digital platforms to repossess their displaced agency within the gig economy. Building on 39 interviews with Upwork freelancers and clients, we found a dynamic ecosystem of digital platforms that facilitate gig work through and around the Upwork platform. We use actor-network theory to: 1) delineate Upwork's strategy to establish a comprehensive and isolated platform within the gig economy, 2) track human and nonhuman alliances that run counter to Upwork's system design and control mechanisms, and 3) capture the existence of a larger ecosystem of external digital platforms that undergird online freelancing. This work explicates the tensions that Upwork users face, and also illustrates the multiplicity of actors that create alliances to work with, through, around, and against the platform's algorithmic management.
Individual and Collaborative Behaviors of Rideshare Drivers in Protecting their Safety
Authors: Almoqbel Mashael Yousef , Wohn Donghee Yvette
Published: November 2019

The safety of passengers of rideshare apps has received attention from researchers, yet there is a lack of research on safety of rideshare drivers in the context of CSCW and HCI. As drivers are also an important user in the ecosystem of the ridesharing systems, we conducted interviews with drivers in the U.S. to understand how they, individually and collaboratively, address safety related issues they face conducting their job. We identified the factors that contributed to drivers' feelings of safety and the strategies they engaged in to protect themselves. We found that drivers relied on methods that were technical, social, and physical, to ensure their safety and engaged in informal collaborative and communicative activities with other drivers inside and outside of the ridesharing system. We discuss implications for future design for ridesharing apps and other location-based computer-supported collaborative systems that have potential safety hazards.
Agent, Gatekeeper, Drug Dealer
Authors: Wu Eva Yiwei , Pedersen Emily , Salehi Niloufar
Published: November 2019

Online content creators have to manage their relations with opaque, proprietary algorithms that platforms employ to rank, filter, and recommend content. How do content creators make sense of these algorithms and what does that teach us about the roles that algorithms play in the social world? We take the case of YouTube because of its widespread use and the spaces for collective sense-making and mutual aid that content creators (YouTubers) have built within the last decade. We engaged with YouTubers in one-on-one interviews, performed content analysis on YouTube videos that discuss the algorithm, and conducted a wiki survey on YouTuber online groups. This triangulation of methodologies afforded us a rich understanding of content creators' understandings, priorities, and wishes as they relate to the algorithm. We found that YouTubers assign human characteristics to the algorithm to explain its behavior; what we have termed algorithmic personas. We identify three main algorithmic personas on YouTube: Agent, Gatekeeper, and Drug Dealer. We propose algorithmic personas as a conceptual framework that describes the new roles that algorithmic systems take on in the social world. As we face new challenges around the ethics and politics of algorithmic platforms such as YouTube, algorithmic personas describe roles that are familiar and can help develop our understanding of algorithmic power relations and accountability mechanisms.
Securing Linux with a faster and scalable iptables
Authors: Miano Sebastiano , Bertrone Matteo , Risso Fulvio , Bernal Mauricio Vásquez , Lu Yunsong , Pi Jianwen
Published: November 2019

The sheer increase in network speed and the massive deployment of containerized applications in a Linux server has led to the consciousness that iptables, the current de-facto firewall in Linux, may not be able to cope with the current requirements particularly in terms of scalability in the number of rules. This paper presents an eBPF-based firewall, bpf-iptables, which emulates the iptables filtering semantic while guaranteeing higher throughput. We compare our implementation against the current version of iptables and other Linux firewalls, showing how it achieves a notable boost in terms of performance particularly when a high number of rules is involved. This result is achieved without requiring custom kernels or additional software frameworks (e.g., DPDK) that could not be allowed in some scenarios such as public data-centers.
Five decades of the ACM special interest group on data communications (SIGCOMM)
Authors: Iqbal Waleed , Qadir Junaid , Hassan Saeed-Ul , Javed Rana Tallal , Mian Adnan Noor , Crowcroft Jon , Tyson Gareth
Published: November 2019

The ACM Special Interest Group on Data Communications (SIGCOMM) has been a major research forum for fifty years. This community has had a major impact on the history of the Internet, and therefore we argue its exploration may reveal fundamental insights into the evolution of networking technologies around the globe. Hence, on the 50

th

anniversary of SIGCOMM, we take this opportunity to reflect upon its progress and achievements, through the lens of its various publication outlets,
e.g.
, the SIGCOMM conference, IMC, CoNEXT, HotNets. Our analysis takes several perspectives, looking at authors, countries, institutes and papers. We explore trends in co-authorship, country-based productivity, and knowledge flow to and from SIGCOMM venues using bibliometric techniques. We hope this study will serve as a valuable resource for the computer networking community.
Deprecating the TCP macroscopic model
Authors: Mathis Matt , Mahdavi Jamshid
Published: November 2019

The TCP Macroscopic Model will be completely obsolete soon. It was a closed form performance model for Van Jacobson's landmark congestion control algorithms presented at Sigcomm'88. Jacobson88 requires relatively large buffers to function as intended, while Moore's law is making them uneconomical.

BBR-TCP is a break from the past, unconstrained by many of the assumptions and principles defined in Jacobson88. It already out performs Reno and CUBIC TCP over large portions of the Internet, generally without creating queues of the sort needed by earlier congestion control algorithms. It offers the potential to scale better while using less queue buffer space than existing algorithms.

Because BBR-TCP is built on an entirely new set of principles, it has the potential to deprecate many things, including the Macroscopic Model. New research will be required to lay a solid foundation for an Internet built on BBR.
Robotics In Vivo: A Perspective on Human–Robot Interaction in Surgical Robotics
Authors: Abdelaal Alaa Eldin , Mathur Prateek , Salcudean Septimiu E.
Published: November 2019

This article reviews recent work on surgical robots that have been used or tested in vivo, focusing on aspects related to human–robot interaction. We present the general design requirements that should be considered when developing such robots, including the clinical requirements and the technologies needed to satisfy them. We also discuss the human aspects related to the design of these robots, considering the challenges facing surgeons when using robots in the operating room, and the safety issues of such systems. We then survey recent work in seven different surgical settings: urology and gynecology, orthopedic surgery, cardiac surgery, head and neck surgery, neurosurgery, radiotherapy, and bronchoscopy. We conclude with the open problems and recommendations on how to move forward in this research area.
Clinical safety of blood flow-restricted training? A comprehensive review of altered muscle metaboreflex in cardiovascular disease during ischemic exercise
Authors: Cristina-Oliveira Michelle , Meireles Kamila , Spranger Marty D. , O’Leary Donal S. , Roschel Hamilton , Peçanha Tiago
Published: November 2019

Blood flow restriction training (BFRT) is an increasingly widespread method of exercise that involves imposed restriction of blood flow to the exercising muscle. Blood flow restriction is achieved by inflating a pneumatic pressure cuff (or a tourniquet) positioned proximal to the exercising muscle before, and during, the bout of exercise (i.e., ischemic exercise). Low-intensity BFRT with resistance training promotes comparable increases in muscle mass and strength observed during high-intensity exercise without blood flow restriction. BFRT has expanded into the clinical research setting as a potential therapeutic approach to treat functionally impaired individuals, such as the elderly, and patients with orthopedic and cardiovascular disease/conditions. However, questions regarding the safety of BFRT must be fully examined and addressed before the implementation of this exercise methodology in the clinical setting. In this respect, there is a general concern that BFRT may generate abnormal reflex-mediated cardiovascular responses. Indeed, the muscle metaboreflex is an ischemia-induced, sympathoexcitatory pressor reflex originating in skeletal muscle, and the present review synthesizes evidence that BFRT may elicit abnormal cardiovascular responses resulting from increased metaboreflex activation. Importantly, abnormal cardiovascular responses are more clearly evidenced in populations with increased cardiovascular risk (e.g., elderly and individuals with cardiovascular disease). The evidence provided in the present review draws into question the cardiovascular safety of BFRT, which clearly needs to be further investigated in future studies. This information will be paramount for the consideration of BFRT exercise implementation in clinical populations.
Evaluation of Parameters for Cancer-Induced Sarcopenia in Patients Autopsied after Death from Colorectal Cancer
Authors: Ohmori Hitoshi , Kawahara Isao , Mori Takuya , Nukaga Shota , Luo Yi , Kishi Shingo , Fujiwara-Tani Rina  , Mori Shiori , Goto Kei , Sasaki Takamitsu , Kuniyasu Hiroki
Published: November 2019

Cachexia frequently occurs in cancer patients and is correlated with reduced therapeutic responsiveness and poor prognosis. Although skeletal muscle atrophy is an important factor related to cachexia, biomarkers for its early diagnosis are not yet definitive. In this study, weight loss, body mass index, skeletal muscle index (SMI), serum carcinoembryonic antigen, serum tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, serum interleukin (IL)-6, serum high mobility group box (HMGB)-1, and SDS-soluble myosin light chain 1 (SDS-MYL1) of the psoas muscle were examined in 8 autopsied cases of death from colorectal cancer (CRC) as biomarkers of cachexia. SDS-MYL1 was positively correlated to SMI and TNF-α was negatively correlated, but the other factors did not show any correlations with SMI. Multivariate analysis showed that of the 3 cytokines, TNF-α and HMGB1 were correlated with SMI. Furthermore, when the biochemical skeletal muscle maturation marker, SDS-MYL1, was compared with serum cytokines, TNF-α and HMGB1 were negatively correlated but IL-6 was not. In multivariate analysis, only TNF-α was associated with SDS-MYL1. A positive correlation was found between TNF-α and HMGB1. These findings suggest that since TNF-α was inversely correlated with SMI and SDS-MYL1, TNF-α is a serum marker of skeletal muscle atrophy in CRC. Moreover, SDS-MYL1 might be established as a biomarker linked to clinical sarcopenia in experiments in vitro and in vivo.
Clinically Nonfunctioning Pituitary Incidentalomas: Characteristics and Natural History
Authors: Tresoldi Alberto Stefano , Carosi Giulia , Betella Nazarena , Del Sindaco Giulia , Indirli Rita , Ferrante Emanuele , Sala Elisa , Giavoli Claudia , Morenghi Emanuela , Locatelli Marco , Milani Davide , Mazziotti Gherardo , Spada Anna , Arosio Maura , Mantovani Giovanna , Lania Andrea Gerardo Antonio
Published: November 2019

Introduction: Available data on pituitary incidentalomas mostly derive from small-scale studies, with heterogeneous inclusion criteria and limited follow-up. No paper has focused specifically on clinically nonfunctioning pituitary in­cidentalomas (CNFPIs). Objective: To describe the charac­teristics and the natural history of patients diagnosed with CNFPIs. Methods: Retrospective multicenter cohort study evaluating hormonal, imaging, and visual field characteristics at diagnosis and during follow-up of CNFPIs investigated in 2 Pituitary Centers. Results: Three hundred and seventy-one patients were included (50.9% microadenomas, 35.6% males). Men were older and more likely to have a macroadenoma (p < 0.01). Totally, 23.7% of patients presented secondary hormonal deficits (SHDs), related to tumor size (higher in macroadenomas; p < 0.001) and age (higher in older patients; p < 0.001). Hypogonadism was the most frequent SHD (15.6%). Two hundred and ninety-six patients had follow-up data, 29.1% required surgery after first evaluation, and 97 had at least 3 years of follow-up. In total, 15.3% adenomas grew (more macroadenomas), but only in microadenomas patients with longer follow-up showed a higher growth trend. Totally, 5.2% of patients developed new SHDs (micro- vs. macroadenomas p = 1.000), and in 60% of them this was not associated with an increase in tumor size. Thirteen additional patients required surgery during follow-up (1 microadenoma at diagnosis). Conclusions: Macroadenomas and age are risk factors for SHD in CNFPIs, which occur at diagnosis in a quarter of patients. During follow-up, macroadenomas tend to grow more often, but microadenomas display higher growth trend as follow-up increases. Deterioration of pituitary function is not always related to adenoma growth.
Neck Melanoma: Clinical, Dermoscopic and Confocal Features
Authors: Borsari Stefania , Pampena Riccardo , Raucci Margherita , Mirra Marica , Piana Simonetta , Pellacani Giovanni , Longo Caterina
Published: November 2019

Background: The head and neck are considered one single anatomical unit. No data on clinical, dermoscopic and confocal aspects of neck melanoma are currently available. Objectives: To identify clinical, dermoscopic and confocal diagnostic features of neck melanomas. Methods: Consecutive malignant (cases) and benign (controls) melanocytic skin lesions located on the neck, excised as suspected of being melanoma from March 2011 to February 2018, were retrospectively retrieved. Dermoscopic criteria of the 7-point checklist, integrated by other melanoma features (such as grey colour and irregular hyperpigmented areas) were assessed. Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) images were examined when available. Results: 282 lesions located to the head and neck area were biopsied to rule out melanoma. Thirty-one out of 282 (11%) lesions were located on the neck: 21 melanomas and 10 naevi. Melanoma patients were older than patients with naevi (mean age: 60.4 vs. 37.9 years, p < 0.001). Neck melanomas were more frequently located on sun-damaged skin compared to naevi (76.2 vs. 30%, p = 0.02). Dermoscopically, neck melanomas were characterized by irregular dots/globules, grey colour and regression (76.2, 81 and 46.7% of cases) and showed criteria of lentigo maligna melanoma (LMM) in 52.4% of cases. Regression, grey colour, irregular hyperpigmented areas and criteria of LMM typified melanomas on sun-damaged skin, whereas tumours located on non-sun-damaged areas were often characterized by irregular pigmentation (blotches). RCM, implemented to dermoscopy, correctly diagnosed 10/12 melanomas and 3/5 naevi. Conclusion: Neck melanoma has peculiar clinical and dermoscopic aspects that could help clinicians to distinguish it from naevi and to diagnose melanoma earlier.
Haploinsufficiency of NKX2-1 in Brain-Lung-Thyroid Syndrome with Additional Multiple Pituitary Dysfunction
Authors: Prasad Rathi , Nicholas Adeline K. , Schoenmakers Nadia , Barton John
Published: November 2019

Introduction: Heterozygous mutations or haploinsufficiency of NKX2-1 are associated with the brain-lung-thyroid syndrome incorporating primary hypothyroidism, respiratory distress, and neurological disturbances. Case Presentation: We report a patient presenting in the neonatal period with multiple pituitary hormone deficiency including central hypothyroidism and hypoadrenalism, growth hormone deficiency, undetectable gonadotrophins, and a small anterior pituitary on MRI. CGH microarray revealed haploinsufficiency for NKX2.1 and during subsequent follow-up, she has exhibited the classic triad of brain-lung-thyroid syndrome with undetectable tissue on thyroid ultrasonography. Whilst the role of NKX2-1 is well described in murine pituitary development, this report constitutes the first description of multiple pituitary dysfunction in humans associated with the syndrome and haploinsufficiency NKX2-1. Conclusion: The report highlights a potential need for pituitary screening in patients with established brain-lung-thyroid syndrome and implicates NKX2.1 in human pituitary disease.
Antiarrhythmic Drugs or Catheter Ablation in the Management of Ventricular Tachyarrhythmias in Patients With Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillators
Authors: Kheiri Babikir , Barbarawi Mahmoud , Zayed Yazan , Hicks Michael , Osman Mohammed , Rashdan Laith , Kyi Htay Htay , Bachuwa Ghassan , Hassan Mustafa , Stecker Eric C. , Nazer Babak , Bhatt Deepak L.
Published: November 2019

Background:

In patients with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), shocks are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Therefore, we conducted this study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of antiarrhythmic drugs and catheter ablation (CA) in the treatment of ventricular tachyarrhythmias (VT) in patients with an ICD.

Methods:

An electronic database search for randomized controlled trials that evaluated antiarrhythmic drugs and CA in patients with ICD was conducted. The primary outcome was recurrent VT. Secondary outcomes were ICD shocks and any deaths. Bayesian and frequentist network meta-analyses were performed to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% credible intervals (CrIs)/CIs.

Results:

Twenty-two randomized controlled trials were identified (3828 total patients; age 64.3±11.4; 79% males). The use of amiodarone was associated with a significantly reduced rate of VT recurrence compared with control (HR=0.34 [95% CrI=0.15–0.74]; absolute risk difference=−0.23 [95% CrI=−0.23 to −0.09]; number needed to treat=4). Sotalol was associated with increased risk of VT recurrence compared with amiodarone (HR=2.88 [95% CrI=1.35–6.46]). Compared with control, amiodarone (HR=0.33 [95% CrI=0.15–0.76]; absolute risk difference=−0.17 [95% CrI=−0.32 to −0.06]; number needed to treat=6) and CA (HR=0.52 [95% CrI=0.30–0.89; absolute risk difference=−0.12 [95% CrI=−0.24 to −0.03]; number needed to treat=8) were associated with significantly reduced ICD shocks. Compared with amiodarone, sotalol was associated with significantly increased ICD shocks (HR=2.70 [95% CrI=1.17−6.71]). The rate of death was not significantly different between the competing strategies. The node-splitting method showed no inconsistency.

Conclusions:

Among patients with an ICD, amiodarone significantly reduced VT recurrence and ICD shocks, while CA reduced ICD shocks. Sotalol significantly increased VT recurrence and ICD shocks compared with amiodarone. The long-term side effects of amiodarone and early complications of CA should be weighed carefully according to specific patient characteristics.
Electrophysiological Correlates of Monitoring in Typing with and without Visual Feedback
Authors: Pinet Svetlana , Nozari Nazbanou
Published: November 2019

New theories of monitoring in language production, regardless of their mechanistic differences, all posit monitoring mechanisms that share general computational principles with action monitoring. This perspective, if accurate, would predict that many electrophysiological signatures of performance monitoring should be recoverable from language production tasks. In this study, we examined both error-related and feedback-related EEG indices of performance monitoring in the context of a typing-to-dictation task. To disentangle the contribution of the external from internal monitoring processes, we created a condition where participants immediately saw the word they typed (the immediate-feedback condition) versus one in which displaying the word was delayed until the end of the trial (the delayed-feedback condition). The removal of immediate visual feedback prompted a stronger reliance on internal monitoring processes, which resulted in lower correction rates and a clear error-related negativity. Compatible with domain-general monitoring views, an error positivity was only recovered under conditions where errors were detected or had a high likelihood of being detected. Examination of the feedback-related indices (feedback-related negativity and frontocentral positivity) revealed a two-stage process of integration of internal and external information. The recovery of a full range of well-established EEG indices of action monitoring in a language production task strongly endorses domain-general views of monitoring. Such indices, in turn, are helpful in understanding how information from different monitoring channels are combined.
Exhibiting Mutator VR: Procedural Art Evolves to Virtual Reality
Authors: Latham William , Todd Stephen , Todd Peter , Putnam Lance
Published: November 2019

Organic Art (William Latham and Stephen Todd, 1987) was reincarnated by the same authors with programmer and artist Peter Todd as Mutator2 (2013); Mutator2 was transitioned into VR as Mutator VR (2016) with programmer and artist Lance Putnam. The authors describe the graphics and audio systems of these works, particularly the procedural generation and visual effects and the creative exploitation of these effects within an art installation. The authors mix “real” and “unreal” features and effects, inspired by surrealist art, to create highly immersive psychedelic organic experiences for the viewer-participant. Interface simplicity and discoverability is critical for VR exhibitions, as is the balance between an experience constrained by an artist's choices and a freer (but riskier) one with greater public choice. Public gallery installation of Mutator VR creates special challenges.
The Canadian Surface Prediction Archive (CaSPAr): A Platform to Enhance Environmental Modeling in Canada and Globally
Authors: Mai Juliane , Kornelsen Kurt C. , Tolson Bryan A. , Fortin Vincent , Gasset Nicolas , Bouhemhem Djamel , Schäfer David , Leahy Michael , Anctil François , Coulibaly Paulin
Published: November 2019

The Canadian Surface Prediction Archive (CaSPAr) is an archive of numerical weather predictions issued by Environment and Climate Change Canada. Among the products archived on a daily basis are five operational numerical weather forecasts, three operational analyses, and one reanalysis product. The products have hourly to daily temporal resolution and 2.5–50-km spatial resolution. To date the archive contains 394 TB of data while 368 GB of new data are added every night. The data are archived in CF-1.6-compliant netCDF-4 format. The archive is available online (https://caspar-data.ca) since June 2017 and allows users to precisely request data according to their needs, that is, spatial cropping based on a standard shape or uploaded shapefile of the domain of interest and selection of forecast horizons, variables, and issue dates. The degree of customization in CaSPAr is a unique feature relative to other publicly accessible numerical weather prediction archives and it minimizes user download requirements and local processing time. We benchmark the processing time and required storage of such requests based on 216 test scenarios. We also demonstrate how CaSPAr data can be employed to analyze extreme rainfall events. CaSPAr provides access to data that are fundamental for evaluating numerical weather prediction models and demonstrating the improvement in products such as flood and energy demand forecasting systems.
Status Characteristics, Implicit Bias, and the Production of Racial Inequality
Authors: Melamed David , Munn Christopher W. , Barry Leanne , Montgomery Bradley , Okuwobi Oneya F.
Published: November 2019

Racial stratification is well documented in many spheres of social life. Much stratification research assumes that implicit or explicit bias on the part of institutional gatekeepers produces disparate racial outcomes. Research on status-based expectations provides a good starting point for theoretically understanding racial inequalities. In this context it is understood that race results in differential expectations for performance, producing disparate outcomes. But even here, the mechanism (i.e., status-based expectations) is often assumed due to the lack of tools to measure status-based expectations. In this article, we put forth a new way to measure implicit racial status beliefs and theorize how they are related to consensual beliefs about what “most people” think. This enables us to assess the mechanisms in the relationship between race and disparate outcomes. We conducted two studies to assess our arguments. Study 1 demonstrates the measurement properties of the implicit status measure. Study 2 shows how implicit status beliefs and perceptions of what “most people” think combine to shape social influence. We conclude with the implications of this work for social psychological research, and for racial stratification more generally.
Quality and Readability of Online Information on In-Office Vocal Fold Injections
Authors: Yi Grace S. , Hu Amanda
Published: November 2019

Objectives:

Vocal fold injection augmentations are increasingly being performed in the office setting on awake patients, as opposed to the operating room. These procedures thus require patient cooperation and education. As the Internet is a widely-used resource for patients, our aim was to assess the quality and readability of online resources on in-office awake vocal fold injections.

Methods:

An online Google search using the terms “office vocal fold injection medialization” and “awake vocal fold injection” was conducted. The first 50 English-language websites were categorized into professional- and patient-targeted, and major and minor sources. They were analyzed using the Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES), Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) test, and DISCERN quality score.

Results:

Fifty websites were evaluated, and the overall DISCERN score was 2.60 ± 1.01, the mean FRES was 32.16 ± 19.10, and the mean FKGL was 13.76 ± 4.12. Between the 25 professional-targeted and 25 patient-targeted websites, professional-targeted sites had significantly higher DISCERN ( P < .05) and FKGL ( P < .05) scores, and lower FRES ( P < .05) scores. Between the 30 major and 20 minor websites, major websites had significantly lower FRES ( P < .05) and higher FKGL ( P < .05) scores, and there was a trend toward significance for higher DISCERN scores ( P = .052).

Conclusions:

Our study shows that half of the top Google results for our topic were not written for patient education, but rather for health care professionals. The reading level of this information exceeds the recommended grade level for patient education materials, and may be less comprehensible than intended. While patient-targeted materials are easier to read than professional-targeted sites, they are of lower quality. The quality of the available online information on this topic is suboptimal for both patients and health care providers. This research highlights the need for more appropriate patient education materials given low health literacy rates.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Linguistic Temptation: A Comparative Analysis with Rwanda’s Switch-to-English
Authors: Eyssette Jérémie
Published: November 2019

The aim of this article is to assess whether the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) is likely to upgrade the status of English by constitutional or educational means. Indeed, neighboring countries such as Rwanda and Burundi adopted English as their official language in 1996 and 2014, but less writing in English is devoted to a potential linguistic transition in DR Congo, the most populous French-speaking country. This article will gauge DR Congo and Rwanda against the four criteria that arguably triggered Rwanda’s switch-to-English: historical factors in current linguistic trends; the role of charismatic leaders in sudden language policy changes; language-in-education policies; and economic incentives. The results of this interdisciplinary investigation into the language dynamics of the Great Lakes region indicate that, reflecting the vehicles of DR Congo’s domestic and regional evolutions, its leaders might be tempted to enhance the status of English as an official language in a way that, contrary to Rwanda’s radical switch-to-English, is more compatible with other languages.
Prenatal Genetic Screening and Potential Complicity in Abortion: Considerations for Catholic Health Care
Authors: Laabs Carolyn A.
Published: November 2019

Prenatal genetic screening (PGS) is commonplace in the United States and in some parts of the world. The commonly held rationale for screening is to respect patient autonomy and to either allow the mother the opportunity to prepare herself to parent a child with a genetic disorder or to abort. As a result, PGS combined with prenatal diagnostic testing followed by abortion has significantly reduced the number of babies born with Down syndrome, for example, and, furthermore, has raised concerns about discrimination against persons with disabilities and eugenics. Although Catholic teaching clearly prohibits PGS and testing when undertaken with the intention of abortion, screening routinely is performed in Catholic health care, sometimes without regard to intent. This essay explores the issue of PGS in Catholic health care and suggests the development of a policy designed to support morally legitimate use of screening through an educational and informed consent process and attestation as to intent so as to prevent abortion or at least avoid complicity in it. Although the issue applies to prenatal testing as well as screening and for a variety of disorders as well as gender, this essay limits itself to a discussion of first trimester screening and a focus on Down syndrome. Objections to such a policy are discussed.
Operationalizing Risk, Need, and Responsivity Principles in Local Policy: Lessons From Five County Juvenile Probation Departments
Authors: Miller Joel , Maloney Carrie
Published: November 2019

We examined the operationalization of risk, need, and responsivity principles (RNRP) in local policy in five Pennsylvania county juvenile probation departments. “Core” policies focused on officers’ assessment; decision-making about client services and supervision; engagement with system stakeholders; and intervention with clients. “Supporting” policies focused on competency development; management and supervision; and performance measurement. Policy variations highlighted innovations and dilemmas in operationalizing RNRP. Dilemmas included the extent to which officers are cast as change agents; how needs are prioritized; how risk and needs are tied to decisions; and how officers advocate about assessment results with system stakeholders.
Dalits Cultural Spaces and Contested Culture in Punjab: Relocating the Ravidass Deras and Ad Dharmi Jatheras
Authors: Singh Surinder
Published: November 2019

The article argues that that often the marginalised sections per se and dalits, in particular, configure and shape a web of new socio-cultural traits, artefacts and monuments which provide them distinct social and physical spaces to contest the suppression of mainstream culture which historically placed them at the periphery. New dalit cultural spaces are politically constructed which have become the venues of their identity formation, construction of contested culture and cultural assertion. Their incessant segregation from mainstream cultural spaces has become a vehicle to seek new socio-cultural spaces either within or outside the mainstream social structure of the society. This process of new socio-cultural spaces formation is ultimately harnessed with the construction of contested cultural spaces. In Punjab, since the 20th century, the construction of new socio-religious spaces and identities has become the modus among the dalits to disassociate from disparaging spaces and identities.
Migrants and Their Social Networks: A Study of Kuki Migrants in Delhi
Authors: Kipgen Thanggoulen , Panda Biswambhar
Published: November 2019

This paper discusses the role and importance of social networks in the migration process. It explores the formation of social networks among the Kuki migrants in Delhi. Drawing insights from the theoretical and conceptual literature on social networks and based on field observations and personal narratives of migrants, the study analyses the importance of social networks for migrants and explains how social networks help the migrants cope with a new social environment. The Kuki migrants have been classified into two categories, namely ‘pioneer’ and ‘follower’ migrants. While pioneer Kuki migrants hardly had any ties and merely depended on ‘weak ties’, it was follower migrants who took the benefits of ethnic and kinship networks. The study conclusively found that social networks have been instrumental though various pull factors at the place of destination and push factors at the place of origin have contributed for Kuki migration to Delhi. The migrants have formed ethnic clusters, which have turned out to be a survival strategy in a new social milieu. The social networks not only have helped migrants to deal with challenges and constraints in an alien environment but also instilled a sense of confidence in them to overcome psychological stress and isolation.
Book review: A.M. Shah and Lancy Lobo (Eds.), Essays on Suicide and SelfImmolation
Authors: Kapoor Aditya Ranjan
Published: November 2019

A.M. Shah and Lancy Lobo (Eds.), Essays on Suicide and SelfImmolation. Delhi: Primus Books, 2018, 211 pp., ₹1095 (hardback). ISBN: 978-93-86552-89-1.
Book review: M.S.A. Rao, Peasant Colonization and Tribal Alienation in Andhra Pradesh
Authors: Saxena Ashish
Published: November 2019

M.S.A. Rao, Peasant Colonization and Tribal Alienation in Andhra Pradesh. Hyderabad: Ritunestham Press, 2018, xii + 140 pp., ₹100 (paperback). ISBN: 978-93-86763-78-5.
Introducing News Media Sentiment Analytics to Residents’ Attitudes Research
Authors: Hao Jin-Xing , Fu Yu , Hsu Cathy , Li Xiang (Robert) , Chen Nan
Published: November 2019

The progress in sentiment analytics and communication research provides a powerful scaffold by which to reexamine the long-debated research on residents’ attitudes toward tourism. To mitigate the limitations of the classical survey-based research method, this study takes a news media sentiment analytics perspective to unveil how the residents’ attitudes toward tourism evolve over time and how socioeconomic factors interact with such evolving attitudes in the context of Hong Kong. Drawn on a news data set containing 72,755 news articles published in Chinese language newspapers, this study computes the overall news sentiments for 156 calendar months since 2003, examines the face validity and nomological validity of the results, and discusses the long-run dynamics between residents’ attitudes and typical socioeconomic factors. This study adds a vital dimension to current residents’ attitudes research and practices from data-scarce to data-rich studies and from static snapshots to dynamic unfolding.
Making migrant identities on social media: a tale of two neoliberal cities on the Pacific Rim
Authors: Haynes Nell , Wang Xinyuan
Published: November 2019

The copper mining city of of Alto Hospicio, Chile and GoodPath town, a factory city in China both seem to be archetypal neoliberal cities. They epitomize the circulation of goods, people, and ideas through their export-based economies, large migrant populations, and high penetration of Internet and social media use. Yet, we find that in migrants’ social media use, there are stark contrasts in the significance they place on their movement and the identities they form around these migrations. In China, factory workers take to the ‘online world’ to escape harsh realities and engage in identity formations that privilege cosmopolitan aspirations. In Chile, mining workers express the harshness of their lived reality, using social media to build identities around a sense of pride in their abrasive conditions. This comparative essay reveals how processes associated with neoliberal capitalism – including migrations of people, goods, and information, and the commodification of identities – is preconditioned by local contexts. We find that the processes of neoliberal capitalism sometimes yield starkly different consequences, even when local circumstances seem to be similar. This demonstrates that even as media (and particularly social media) connect people more closely, their effects are anything but homogenizing.