bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Rapid implementation of a community monitoring service for COVID-19: Staff and patient experiences and perceptions
Authors: Jessup Rebecca , Awad Nisreen , Beauchamp Alison , Bramston Cassandra , Campbell Donald , Semciw Adam , Tully Nicky , Fabri Anne-Marie , Hayes Johanna , Hull Sue , Clarke Andrea
Published: March 2022

BackgroundThe coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has put unprecedented demand on health services. Provision of support and monitoring for patients with mild to moderate illness who are at risk of deterioration may allow hospitals to reduce the risk of exposure for health care workers, assist with reducing community spread, and improve capacity to accommodate those with more severe illness.MethodsThis is a data-based triangulated qualitative study using staff interviews and patient surveys to explore the experience of implementation and delivery of a COVID-19 community monitoring service. Interview questions were guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Interviews were coded and analysed using a grounded inductive approach and final themes were related back to the CFIR. Patient experience was captured using a survey and descriptive statistics were used to describe categorical responses while content analysis was used to analyse free text responses.ResultsAll 15 staff in the service were interviewed and 271 patients were surveyed (42%). A total of four final overarching themes emerged, service commissioning enablers, service delivery benefits for patients, fragmentation of care, and workforce strengths, with subthemes aligned with 18 CFIR constructs in the staff interviews. Staff perception of patient experience was supported by results of the patient survey. ConclusionRapid commissioning of this community monitoring service was enabled through shared resources, engaging a ready-to go workforce of furloughed staff, dividing tasks amongst senior personnel and having a flexible approach that allows for ongoing improvements following implementation. Benefits for patients included early identification of deterioration, as well as provision of accurate and trustworthy information to isolate safely at home. The main challenges experienced by both staff and patients was the multiple agencies involved in patient monitoring, which may be addressed in the future by attributing responsibility for monitoring to a single agency.
A Clinical and Biomechanical Comparison of INFIX Plus Single Versus Double Sacroiliac Screw Fixation for Unstable Pelvic Ring Injury
Authors: Chen Hongfen , Ding Chao , Liu Yongqiang , Kong Zhen , Huang Feng , Yang Shaozheng , Li Heng , Guo Qingxiang , Yang Yuehua , Zhong Hua
Published: March 2022

Background
The aim of this study is to compare the clinical and biomechanical outcome of INFIX plus single with two sacroiliac screw fixation for unstable pelvic fractures of Type C.
Methods
Sixteen cadavers were randomly subjected to INFIX plus single or double sacroiliac screw fixations, and then mounted onto the Electroforce loading machine under different vertical load. To investigate the clinical outcomes of the two techniques, Nineteen patients were retrospectively analyzed. The main outcome measures were postoperative radiographic reduction grading (using the Tornetta and Matta grading system), functional outcome (using the Majeed scoring system), and incidence of complications.
Results
In the biomechanical study, INFIX plus double sacroiliac screw fixation showed better biomechanical stability than fixation with a single sacroiliac screw (p < 0.05). In our clinical case-series, all 19 patients had bony union 6 months after the operation. INFIX plus double sacroiliac screw fixation also demonstrated a better functional outcome and a higher radiographic satisfactory rate than INFIX plus single sacroiliac screw fixation (79.25±5.47; 91.33±4.97; p<0.05), ( 77.78% vs. 60%; p = 0.05). One patient in INFIX plus single screw fixation group had screw loosening at follow-up 6 months postoperatively. One case in each group suffered heterotopic ossification and the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve paralysis, and one patient suffered from infection.
Conclusion
INFIX plus double sacroiliac screw fixation demonstrated more stability in cadaveric biomechanical analysis and better clinical outcomes than INFIX plus single sacroiliac screw fixation.
Movilidad forzada y territorios de espera. Relatos de inmigrantes haitianos en la frontera México-EE. UU.
Authors: Méndez-Fierros Hugo
Published: March 2022

El objetivo de este trabajo es identificar e interpretar los elementos que caracterizan la mi- gración forzada vivida por haitianos que llegaron entre 2016 y 2017 a la frontera México-EE. UU., y revisar las oportunidades y los retos más relevantes presentados durante el proceso de espera y apropiación del nuevo espacio. Con base en veinte entrevistas semiestructuradas, se analizaron los relatos de vida en torno a: 1) movilidad y desarraigo y 2) espera y apropiación del nuevo espacio. Se identificaron como causas de los procesos de movilidad forzada haitiana de la última década: la inestabilidad e ingobernabilidad política, la violencia del Estado y de las bandas criminales, la pobreza extrema y los desastres naturales. Asimismo, las experiencias de movilidad forzada desencadenaron estados emocionales como miedo, nostalgia, orgullo y humillación. La espera ha dado sentido no sólo al espacio, sino también a estas personas y a sus grupos de adscripción que se encuentran en esta situación, donde el tiempo ha quedado suspendido, de ahí ha emergido la resignificación de la frontera como territorio de espera. La apropiación de la frontera como nuevo espacio de vida temporal ha tenido importantes implicaciones en las identidades de los inmigrantes haitianos.
La violencia en contra del hombre en el contexto de las relaciones sentimentales
Authors: Carreño Dueñas Dalia
Published: March 2022

Se podría pensar que la violencia contra los hombres tiene ciertos escenarios que la justifican, uno de estos es la guerra en donde la confrontación, de una u otra manera, es comprensible, quizás hasta termina siendo aceptable, según las razones que se esgriman. Pero el contexto de la agresión al interior de la vida amorosa la viven los varones de forma extraña y exótica, por lo que muchas veces las víctimas terminan siendo objeto de burlas, pues se trata de una distorsión de los imaginarios sobre la virilidad, la fuerza, la insensibilidad y todas las presiones que el conjunto social le demanda. De ahí que en el momento en que una víctima masculina tiene el coraje de denunciar algún tipo de violencia en su contra cometida por su pareja, es visto con cierta desconfianza y no recibe todo el despliegue de protección, medidas y atenciones de amparo, como sí lo recibe la víctima femenina. Este panorama legal es la expresión de la portentosa tradición patriarcal de la vida colectiva y de la forma en que interactuamos como seres sociales insertos en una cultura.
Prácticas de cuidado y educación sin escuela por mujeres-madres
Authors: Triana Bautista Diana Carolina
Published: March 2022

La tarea del cuidado se asocia con la labor femenina y a la maternidad. El trabajo de Badinter (1981) pone en cuestión la existencia del amor maternal. Por un lado, la decadencia de la autoridad paternal frente a la emergencia de la maternidad como valor fundamental para la inserción efectiva del sujeto en lo social, por otro lado, el lugar que ocupa el niño en la sociedad moderna y los efectos en la reconfiguración de los lazos familiares. En su recorrido histórico puede observarse que el amor maternal no existió siempre, se trata más bien de una construcción moderna. De hecho, demuestra que lo predominante en el antiguo régimen era más bien la indiferencia materna. El estudio de los casos de abandono y la crianza a manos de las nodrizas, constituyen la base argumentativa y demostrativa. Es con la emergencia de los discursos liberales burgueses como aparece la crianza materna como rol fundamental de la mujer.
Comportamiento del Sector Agroexportadorde Honduras, Normas y Programas para financiar sus actividadesperiodo 2015-2020
Authors: Madrid Héctor , Vega Alejandro
Published: March 2022

El nivel de profundización financiera que tengan los países estimula el crecimiento de la producción de bienes y servicios cuyo objetivo es un mayor desarrollo económico; el sistema financiero surge a manera de respuesta a la demanda de capitales productivos para financiar el consumo e inversión de instituciones que se interrelacionan entre sí, gestionando distintas actividades, bienes o servicios en los que poseen prerrogativas competitivas. Esta investigación aborda el conocimiento de las restricciones institucionales que tiene relación para el acceso de crédito al sector agroexportador de Honduras. El objetivo es de aportar y entender los nodos institucionales, los vacíos que existen por la falta de información y como afectan al crédito tanto de las fuentes públicas y privadas como prestadoras de servicio financiero. Partiendo de preceptos de la economía institucional, se analiza a través de revisión documental el abordaje de leyes, reglamentos, normas, circulares entre otros que inciden en el acceso al crédito, las teorías analizadas describen varias restrictivas para el acceso al crédito, los autores señalan o han estudiado conceptos particulares que limitan obtener préstamos.
Geochemistry and geochronology of quartz monzogabbro – monzodiorite – granodiorites of the Potudan pluton (Volga-Don orogen)
Authors:   Russian Academy of Sciences, Precambrian Institute of geology and geochronology, Petrakova Marina E. ,   Voronezh State University, Terentiev Roman A. ,   Voronezh State University, Yurchenko Anastasia V. ,   Russian Academy of Sciences, Precambrian Institute of geology and geochronology, Savko Konstantin A. ,   Voronezh State University
Published: March 2022

This article presents new and summaries of previously published geochemical and geochronological data on rocks of the Potudan pluton and host granitoids of the Kholhol-Repyevka batholith in the central part of the Don Terrane (DT) of Volga-Don orogen. The host granitoids of the Khokhol-Repyevka batholith are assigned to the Pavlovsk granitoid complex, which is widespread in the southern part of the DT. The studied Potudan pluton rocks are differentiated from quartz monzogabbro to granodiorites. They are ferroan, meta-aluminous, and the K2O content displays their relationship to the shoshonite series. For the intrusive complexes of the Don terrane, it is assumed that an enriched heterogeneous source with high contents of alkalis, LILE (large-scale lithophile elements) and LREE (light rare earth elements) is involved, the mantle component is confirmed by increased of MgO, Cr, Ni, Ti, as well as high Sr/Y ratios, (La/Yb)n, (Dy/Yb)n, indicating the deep origin of magmas. The source heterogeneity could have been provided by subduction events about 2.1 Ga. The U-Pb zircon age of crystallization of the Potudan pluton rocks (using the SHRIMP II instrument) is 2061 ± 5.4 Ma and corresponds to the postcollision event in the junction zone of the Sarmatian and Volga-Ural segments of the East European Craton. Association of Potudan rocks with Pavlovsk granitoids in time and space and also morphological features of zircon from various types of rock suites prove the effect of hybridization process during crystallization of the composite batholith. The new data make it possible to expand our understanding of the evolution of crust of the Don Terrane and geodynamic regims of its formation.
A juridificação reativa dos direitos sexuais e reprodutivos no Brasil
Authors: Sá Neto Clarindo Epaminondas de , Ferreira Tayná
Published: March 2022

Os movimentos neoconservadores expandiram na última década no cenário político brasileiro; contrários às pautas de diversidade, direitos sexuais e reprodutivos, encontraram no campo do Direito mais um espaço para disputar narrativas acerca dos dogmas religiosos que estreitam as possibilidades de gênero e sexualidade livres. Nesse passo, a disseminação da lógica neoliberal – que reestrutura o Estado e facilita o neoconservadorismo a se cristalizar, está imbricado com este. Para além da instrumentalização comum, a juridificação reativa é utilizada estrategicamente para sustentar visões essencialistas dos direitos sexuais e reprodutivos. As feminilidades titulares desses direitos, por sua vez, tensionam com os sistemas excludentes, encontram dificuldades diversas a depender de seus marcadores sociais (sexo, raça, orientação sexual etc), motivo pelo qual as indagações se repetem, constituindo-se a problemática a ser tratada nesse artigo. Utiliza-se, para estudar esse problema, o método de abordagem indutivo; o método de procedimento é o monográfico; e a técnica de pesquisa é a bibliográfica. Como resultados concluiu-se que os neoconservadores empreendem certa cultura da morte, com suas narrativas que contribuem para o extermínio de mulheres todos os dias, silenciando-as de inúmeras formas, sobremaneira pelo viés institucional.
O letramento vernacular é um direito fundamentalmente humano: os diálogos pedagógicos como práticas sociais para o ensino da educação básica no Brasil
Authors: Matos Alexandra Gomes dos Santos
Published: March 2022

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo analisar o letramento vernacular como promotor de uma educação cidadã. Por assim ser, trata-se de direito fundamentalmente humano, essencial à perseguição de demais prerrogativas. Para tanto, inicia-se uma abordagem jurídica sobre a discordância teórica acerca da forma como a academia tem cunhado esse estudo. Nessa esteira de entendimento, opta-se pela análise bonavidiana, de consenso majoritário entre os constitucionalistas, que depõe a favor da “dimensão” teórica dos direitos fundamentais, preterindo o que se nomina como “geração”. Nesse sentido, importa consignar a diferença entre os direitos humanos e os fundamentais, demarcando o letramento vernacular como fundamentalmente humano, assim como o é a educação. Não à toa, a educação pública, ao ser fragilizada, promove verdadeiro desmonte na democracia brasileira, motivo pelo qual é mister que a escola oportunize efetivo aprendizado da norma padrão da língua portuguesa, linguagem por meio da qual os gêneros jurídicos se manifestam. Esta pesquisa é bibliográfica, com coleta de dados qualitativa, e aponta para a necessidade de que a escola pública garanta não apenas o acesso, no Brasil, mas também o padrão mínimo de qualidade, sob pena de esfacelamento da própria democracia do Brasil.
Lessons from Animal Culling during Human Pandemics: Is Vaccination a Viable Option for Animals?
Authors: Leung Karen K.Y. , Hon Kam Lun
Published: March 2022

Animal reservoirs for respiratory and coronavirus have been major health concerns. Zoonosis
due to coronavirus involves bats, civet cat, camels, pangolins and now the minks. In the
same vein, influenza pandemics occur when a new strain of the influenza virus is transmitted to
humans from another animal species. Species thought to be of particular importance in the emergence
of new human influenza strains are swine and poultry and these hosts are often culled during
epidemics or pandemics. It is often too easy for humans to forget that millions of animals can die or
be slaughtered in human pandemics, including the recent cull of minks in Europe and chickens in
Asia. To co-exist with nature in a sustainable way, we must respect our animals by ensuring their
welfare and immunizing them against pathogens where possible. Zoonotic diseases are here to stay
and will continue to cause major epidemics and pandemics. The other side of the coin is that reverse
zoonosis can also have devastating effects on animal populations if pandemics are not effectively
prevented and controlled. Unfortunately, none of the COVID-19 vaccines in production are set
aside to save the minks. We advocate that animals be immunized to save human lives.
System for Context-Specific Visualization of Clinical Practice Guidelines (GuLiNav): Concept and Software Implementation
Authors: Fortmann Jonas , Lutz Marlene , Spreckelsen Cord
Published: March 2022

Background

Clinical decision support systems often adopt and operationalize existing clinical practice guidelines leading to higher guideline availability, increased guideline adherence, and data integration. Most of these systems use an internal state-based model of a clinical practice guideline to derive recommendations but do not provide the user with comprehensive insight into the model.

Objective

Here we present a novel approach based on dynamic guideline visualization that incorporates the individual patient’s current treatment context.

Methods

We derived multiple requirements to be fulfilled by such an enhanced guideline visualization. Using business process and model notation as the representation format for computer-interpretable guidelines, a combination of graph-based representation and logical inferences is adopted for guideline processing. A context-specific guideline visualization is inferred using a business rules engine.

Results

We implemented and piloted an algorithmic approach for guideline interpretation and processing. As a result of this interpretation, a context-specific guideline is derived and visualized. Our implementation can be used as a software library but also provides a representational state transfer interface. Spring, Camunda, and Drools served as the main frameworks for implementation. A formative usability evaluation of a demonstrator tool that uses the visualization yielded high acceptance among clinicians.

Conclusions

The novel guideline processing and visualization concept proved to be technically feasible. The approach addresses known problems of guideline-based clinical decision support systems. Further research is necessary to evaluate the applicability of the approach in specific medical use cases.
The Role of Agency and Threat Immediacy in Interactive Digital Narrative Fear Appeals for the Prevention of Excessive Alcohol Use: Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Engelbrecht Hendrik , van der Laan Laura Nynke , van Enschot Renske , Krahmer Emiel
Published: March 2022

Background

Serious games for the training of prevention behaviors have been widely recognized as potentially valuable tools for adolescents and young adults across a variety of risk behaviors. However, the role of agency as a distinguishing factor from traditional health interventions has seldom been isolated and grounded in the persuasive health communication theory. Fear appeals have different effects on intentions to perform prevention behaviors depending on the immediacy of the consequences. Looking into how to increase self-efficacy beliefs for health behavior with distant consequences is the first step toward improving game-based interventions for adverse health outcomes.

Objective

This study aimed to investigate the effect of agency on self-efficacy and the intention to drink less alcohol in an interactive digital narrative fear appeal. Furthermore, the communicated immediacy of threat outcomes was evaluated as a potential moderator of the effect of agency on self-efficacy.

Methods

A web-based experimental study was conducted with university students (N=178). The participants were presented with a fear appeal outlining the consequences of excessive alcohol use in a fully automated web-based interactive narrative. Participants either had perceived control over the outcome of the narrative scenario (high agency) or no control over the outcome (low agency). The threat was either framed as a short-term (high immediacy) or long-term (low immediacy) negative health outcome resulting from the execution of the risk behavior (drinking too much alcohol).

Results

A total of 123 valid cases were analyzed. Self-efficacy and intention to limit alcohol intake were not influenced by the agency manipulation. Self-efficacy was shown to be a significant predictor of behavioral intention. The immediacy of the threat did not moderate the relationship between agency and self-efficacy.

Conclusions

Although agency manipulation was successful, we could not find evidence of an effect of agency or threat immediacy on self-efficacy. The implications for different operationalizations of different agency concepts, as well as the malleability of self-efficacy beliefs for long-term threats, are discussed. The use of repeated versus single interventions and different threat types (eg, health and social threats) should be tested empirically to establish a way forward for diversifying intervention approaches.

Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05321238; https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05321238
Gamification in Diplomacy Studies as an Effective Tool for Knowledge Transfer: Questionnaire Study
Authors: Cercel Mihai Ovidiu
Published: March 2022

Background

Graduate education in modern diplomacy poses several challenges, as it requires several competencies to be developed before diplomatic service is joined. Incorporation of simulation games can have a positive impact on the design of international relations and diplomacy learning process. We have designed a novel role play game (MAEDRI) to simulate part of the activities of a typical Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Objective

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of MAEDRI in transferring knowledge in international relations education programs at the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest, Romania, across a 4-year period.

Methods

The game enrolled master’s level graduate students. The data were collected through a voluntary and anonymous questionnaire between 2017 and 2020. At the end of each of the 4 editions we organized debriefing sessions that gave students the opportunity to provide feedback on their experience with this exercise, level of collaboration within the team, lessons learned, and to make suggestions for improvements. Using an online questionnaire, we measured the participants’ perception regarding the level of effectiveness in increasing knowledge transfer, motivation, and engagement. Questionnaire data were consolidated in percentages for each item.

Results

A total of 49 participants completed the study. A total of 24 skills (13 professional and 11 social skills) were assessed. We identified a strong positive correlation between stress management and conflict management (r=.86; P<.001) as well as significantly positive correlations between building relations within the team and the ability to dialog and be persuasive (r=.7; P<.001), between procedure compliance and planning and organizing the work (r=.69; P<.001), and between analysis capacity and decision based on data received (r=.68; P<.001). Among social skills, self-control, confidence, and flexibility were the most substantially improved.

Conclusions

We describe several benefits of a novel game, used as an education tool to enhance a series of competencies necessary in international relations studies. Our results demonstrate a significant level of student engagement and motivation while playing MAEDRI, improvement of several essential skills, and enhanced knowledge transfer to real-life situations. While the data are encouraging, further research is needed to evaluate the full impact of role play as an effective experiential learning method.
Reaching Patients With Noncommunicable Diseases in Rural Tanzania Using Mobile Devices and Community Trust: Qualitative Study (Preprint)
Authors: Miyashita Ayano , Nakamura Keiko , Ohnishi Mayumi , Bintabara Deogratius , Shayo Festo K , Maro Isaac I , Sato Hideko , Seino Kaoruko , Kibusi Stephen
Published: March 2022

BACKGROUND

A health service using mobile devices, mobile health (mHealth), has been widely applied to programs focusing on maternal and child health and communicable diseases in sub-Saharan African countries. However, mHealth apps for noncommunicable disease (NCD) services remain limited.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to explore the acceptability and potential usability of SMS text messaging for patients and health care providers for the management of NCDs as part of an implementation research in rural Tanzania.

METHODS

Nine focus group discussions were conducted with 56 participants (21 community health workers [CHWs], 17 patients, and 18 health care professionals [HPs]) in 3 districts in the Dodoma region, Tanzania. The interview guides were prepared in Swahili, and each session was recorded, transcribed, and translated into English. The focus group discussions consisted of the following topics: (1) perceptions of the participants about the possible use of mobile devices and SMS text messages as an mHealth platform in community health services; and (2) experiences of mobile device use in health activities or receiving health services via a mobile phone in the past.

RESULTS

CHWs and HPs reported having familiarity using mobile devices to provide health services, especially for reaching or tracing patients in remote settings; however, patients with NCDs were less familiar with the use of mobile devices compared with the other groups. Hesitation to receive health services via SMS text messaging was seen in the patient group, as they wondered who would send health advice to them. Some patients expected services beyond what mHealth could do, such as aiding in recovery from a disease or sending notifications about the availability of prescription medications. CHWs showed interest in using text messaging to provide health services in the community; however, the concerns raised by CHWs included the cost of using their own mobile devices. Moreover, they demanded training about NCD management before engaging in such an activity.

CONCLUSIONS

This study explored views and experiences regarding the possible installation of an mHealth intervention for managing NCDs in rural Tanzania. Although HPs and CHWs had experience using mobile devices to provide health services in non-NCD projects, only a few patients (3/17, 17%) had heard about the use of mobile devices to receive health services. To improve the suitability and acceptability of the intervention design for patients with NCDs, their trust must be earned. Involving CHWs in the intervention is recommended because they have already been appointed in the community and already know how to communicate effectively with patients in the area.
The Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Daily Activities, Cognitions, and Stress in a Lonely and Distressed Population: Temporal Dynamic Network Analysis (Preprint)
Authors: Haucke Matthias , Heinz Andreas , Liu Shuyan , Heinzel Stephan
Published: March 2022

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdown measures impacted mental health worldwide. However, the temporal dynamics of causal factors that modulate mental health during lockdown are not well understood.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to understand how a COVID-19 lockdown changes the temporal dynamics of loneliness and other factors affecting mental health. This is the first study that compares network characteristics between lockdown stages to prioritize mental health intervention targets.

METHODS

We combined ecological momentary assessments with wrist-worn motion tracking to investigate the mechanism and changes in network centrality of symptoms and behaviors before and during lockdown. A total of 258 participants who reported at least mild loneliness and distress were assessed 8 times a day for 7 consecutive days over a 213-day period from August 8, 2020, through March 9, 2021, in Germany, covering a “no-lockdown” and a “lockdown” stage. COVID-19–related worry, information-seeking, perceived restriction, and loneliness were assessed by digital visual analog scales ranging from 0 to 100. Social activity was assessed on a 7-point Likert scale, while physical activity was recorded from wrist-worn actigraphy devices.

RESULTS

We built a multilevel vector autoregressive model to estimate dynamic networks. To compare network characteristics between a no-lockdown stage and a lockdown stage, we performed permutation tests. During lockdown, loneliness had the highest impact within the network, as indicated by its centrality index (ie, an index to identify variables that have a strong influence on the other variables). Moreover, during lockdown, the centrality of loneliness significantly increased. Physical activity contributed to a decrease in loneliness amid the lockdown stage.

CONCLUSIONS

The COVID-19 lockdown increased the central role of loneliness in triggering stress-related behaviors and cognition. Our study indicates that loneliness should be prioritized in mental health interventions during lockdown. Moreover, physical activity can serve as a buffer for loneliness amid social restrictions.
Mobile Health Technology to Promote the Rehabilitation of stroke hemiplegia (Preprint)
Authors: LIU Hanjiao , Yang Xin
Published: March 2022

UNSTRUCTURED

Rehabilitation of stroke hemiplegia is a long process. With the increasing popularity of mobile technologies such as smartphones and smartwatches, mobile health(mHealth) technology has gained significant attention as an effective form of mHealth in recent years. This article reviews the advances of stroke hemiplegia rehabilitation through mHealth technology interventions in the past five years. This article will summarize the latest research in these areas and discuss the limitation and recommendation of each to examine the frontiers of mHealth technology advances in stroke hemiplegia rehabilitation.
Evaluating the Implementation of the GREAT4Diabetes WhatsApp Chatbot to Educate People With Type 2 Diabetes During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Convergent Mixed Methods Study (Preprint)
Authors: Mash Robert , Schouw Darcelle , Fischer Alex Emilio
Published: March 2022

BACKGROUND

In South Africa, diabetes is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, which was exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most education and counseling activities were stopped during the lockdown, and the GREAT4Diabetes WhatsApp Chatbot was innovated to fill this gap.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to evaluate the implementation of the chatbot in Cape Town, South Africa, between May and October 2021.

METHODS

Convergent mixed methods were used to evaluate the implementation outcomes: acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, feasibility, fidelity, cost, coverage, effects, and sustainability. Quantitative data were derived from the chatbot and analyzed using the SPSS. Qualitative data were collected from key informants and analyzed using the framework method assisted by Atlas-ti. The chatbot provided users with 16 voice messages and graphics in English, Afrikaans, or Xhosa. Messages focused on COVID-19 infection and self-management of type 2 diabetes.

RESULTS

The chatbot was adopted by the Metro Health Services to assist people with diabetes who had restricted health care during the lockdown and were at a higher risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19 infection. The chatbot was disseminated via health care workers in primary care facilities and local nonprofit organizations and via local media and television. Two technical glitches interrupted the dissemination but did not substantially affect user behavior. Minor changes were made to the chatbot to improve its utility. Many patients had access to smartphones and were able to use the chatbot via WhatsApp. Overall, 8158 people connected with the chatbot and 4577 (56.1%) proceeded to listen to the messages, with 12.56% (575/4577) of them listening to all 16 messages, mostly within 32 days. The incremental setup costs were ZAR 255,000 (US $16,876) and operational costs over 6 months were ZAR 462,473 (US $30,607). More than 90% of the users who listened to each message found them useful. Of the 533 who completed the whole program, 351 (71.1%) said they changed their self-management a lot and 87.6% (369/421) were more confident. Most users changed their lifestyles in terms of diet (315/414, 76.1%) and physical activity (222/414, 53.6%). Health care workers also saw benefits to patients and recommended that the service continues. Sustainability of the chatbot will depend on the future policy of the provincial Department of Health toward mobile health and the willingness to contract with Aviro Health. There is the potential to go to scale and include other languages and chronic conditions.

CONCLUSIONS

The chatbot shows great potential to complement traditional health care approaches for people with diabetes and assist with more comprehensive patient education. Further research is needed to fully explore the patient’s experience of the chatbot and evaluate its effectiveness in our context.
Table Correction: Identifying COVID-19 Outbreaks From Contact-Tracing Interview Forms for Public Health Departments: Development of a Natural Language Processing Pipeline (Preprint)
Authors: Caskey John , McConnell Iain L , Oguss Madeline , Dligach Dmitriy , Kulikoff Rachel , Grogan Brittany , Gibson Crystal , Wimmer Elizabeth , DeSalvo Traci E , Nyakoe-Nyasani Edwin E , Churpek Matthew , Afshar Majid
Published: March 2022

BACKGROUND

In Wisconsin, COVID-19 case interview forms contain free-text fields that need to be mined to identify potential outbreaks for targeted policy making. We developed an automated pipeline to ingest the free text into a pretrained neural language model to identify businesses and facilities as outbreaks.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to examine the precision and recall of our natural language processing pipeline against existing outbreaks and potentially new clusters.

METHODS

Data on cases of COVID-19 were extracted from the Wisconsin Electronic Disease Surveillance System (WEDSS) for Dane County between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021. Features from the case interview forms were fed into a Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) model that was fine-tuned for named entity recognition (NER). We also developed a novel location-mapping tool to provide addresses for relevant NER. Precision and recall were measured against manually verified outbreaks and valid addresses in WEDSS.

RESULTS

There were 46,798 cases of COVID-19, with 4,183,273 total BERT tokens and 15,051 unique tokens. The recall and precision of the NER tool were 0.67 (95% CI 0.66-0.68) and 0.55 (95% CI 0.54-0.57), respectively. For the location-mapping tool, the recall and precision were 0.93 (95% CI 0.92-0.95) and 0.93 (95% CI 0.92-0.95), respectively. Across monthly intervals, the NER tool identified more potential clusters than were verified in WEDSS.

CONCLUSIONS

We developed a novel pipeline of tools that identified existing outbreaks and novel clusters with associated addresses. Our pipeline ingests data from a statewide database and may be deployed to assist local health departments for targeted interventions.
FORMULATION AND IN VITRO EVALUATION OF ETHANOLIC EXTRACT OF POLYHERBAL FACE CREAM
Authors: SHIVATHAYA NEHA , SURVE RASHMI , SAWANT RESHMA , KHOT SUSHANT , BIRADAR KISHOR , VERMA RUCHIKA , GORAV ANNAPURNA
Published: March 2022

Objective: The aim of the present research work was to formulate and evaluate polyherbal face cream using ethanolic extracts of Aloe Vera gel, Neem, Turmeric and Mint.

Methods: Extraction was done by the cold maceration technique. The cream was prepared by using the slab technique for homogeneous mixing of all the excipients and the herbal extracts. Three formulations of Oil in Water (O/W) type herbal cream were developed, namely F1, F2, and F3.

Results: All the formulations were evaluated for various physical characteristics viz. pH 6.1-6.3, Spreadability 5-7.5gcm/sec, Viscosity 591-638 Cps, Extrudibility 2564-5102 g/cm2, good appearance and no phase separation was observed. Based on the results, F1 was found to be an optimized formulation with a smooth texture, good spreadability, extrudability and adequate viscosity. Stability studies as per ICH (International Council on Harmonisation) guidelines, revealed that the optimized formulation was stable at 25 °C±1 °C and 6% RH.

Conclusion: Based on the results and discussion, the prepared formulations were found to be yellow in colour with a pleasant odour and smooth texture. All the formulations had almost constant pH, homogenous, emollient and non-greasy. As single plant extract possibly cannot increase the extent of efficiency of medicinal and cosmetic property compared to polyherbal plant extract. Considering that, we mixed polyherbal extracts to improve the cosmetic properties of the prepared polyherbal face cream. Hence it can be concluded that the cream was stable and can be safely used topically.
EXPLORATORY STUDY ABOUT KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE ABOUT PHARMACOVIGILANCE AND ADR REPORTING AMONG RESIDENTS OF A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL
Authors: KOTHARI NITIN , JAIN ANURAG , CHAWDA HIREN M. , AGRAWAL NEERAJ
Published: March 2022

Objective: This study, aimed at investigating the knowledge and attitude of resident doctors about ADR reporting in a tertiary care teaching hospital.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional, observational, questionnaire-based study conducted in Shri Krishna Hospital and Medical Research Centre, 550 bed tertiary care teaching rural hospital attached to Pramukhswami medical college, Karamsad, Gujarat.
Results: 50 questionnaire forms were analysed, giving a response rate 86.20%. Of the respondents 56% were men, remaining were women. Mean age of the respondents was 25+1.05 y. All but one resident have heard the term ‘pharmacovigilance,’ but 34 out of 50 were able to define it accurately. Twenty participants preferred email for ADR reporting while 14 preferred direct contacts for ADR reporting. Telephone is liked by 9 participants. All residents admitted the importance of pharmacovigilance in unison. Majority of the residents (96%) were in view to teach pharmacovigilance actively to students. Seventeen out of 50 residents were aware about Pharmacovigilance Program of India, a program by Government of India for pharmacovigilance and ADR reporting. 28 residents did not know about any such program. Three residents opined that no specific national program is running and India is following a program undertaken by WHO. The most preferred method of ADR reporting by residents is email/website followed by direct contact. Twenty were in favour of the first method, while 14 preferred the later method. Nine residents selected the telephone method as method of ADR reporting.
Conclusion: Today’s residents are future’s consultants. So it is the need of the hour to stimulate residents to report ADRs.
Curves in projective spaces: questions and remarks
Authors: Ballico Edoardo
Published: March 2022

We discuss several questions on the geometry of curves in projective spaces: existence or non-existence for prescribed degrees and genera, their Hilbert function and their gonality.
Study of Natural Convection around a Radial Heat Sink with Curved Plate Fins
Authors: Kasture Omkar , Pagar Sarthak , Ghorpade Harshad , Kale Roshan , Patil Bhushan
Published: March 2022

Abstract: This paper presents the details of an experimental and numerical investigation of natural convection in a radial heat sink, composed of a horizontal circular base and curved fins mounted on it and flux input will be examined. Using the experimental data and some basic simulation we will validate our model . The general flow pattern is that of chimney; i.e., cooler air entering from outside is heated as it passes between the fins, then rises from the inner region of heat sink. Parametric studies will be performed to compare the effects of on two parametric geometric ( no. of fins and height of fins). This is a crucial aspect in what concerns the expected lifetime of the LED lamp and should be achieved at the expense of as low as possible aluminium mass. The objective is to achieve a maximum core temperature of 70 degree C keeping the heat sink total mass and occupied volume contained. Keywords: Curved fins, height of fins, radial heat sink, 70 degree C, experimental investigation.
Desktop Virtual Assistant
Authors: Srivastava Smita , Katiyar Dr. Devesh , Goel Mr. Gaurav
Published: March 2022

Abstract: Changes in technology have impacted human life in a variety of ways. Because of technology improvements, the way we lived in the past and how we live now are vastly different. Previously, computers could only perform a limited number of jobs, but advances in machine learning, artificial intelligence, and other technologies have advanced computers significantly. As a result, various voice assistants such as Alexa, Siri, and Cortana, which function on speech recognition, have been developed to make computers more advanced and to eliminate the use of input devices. Keywords: Virtual assistant, Speech recognition, python, text to speech.
Institute Recommendation System Based on Online Review Comments and Machine Learning
Authors: Suryawanshi Nikhil Satish , Shrivastav Harsh , Bajpai Prateek , Orse Asmita , Patil Prof. Megha
Published: March 2022

Abstract: Recommendation system has become a necessity in real world. In recommendation system, we are searching any product based on the reviews, if any product shows the best ratings, then we can select that product. Recommendation system has been used in wide range of application like, amazon, Netflix, Flipkart, Facebook etc. Now institution also become a part of recommendation system. In institution recommendation system, we select those colleges which is having a best reviews, which meets our eligibility criteria and our branch also. Recommendation system helps the user to discover the information and settle on a right choices where they do not have the required learning to judge a specific item. Only Naves Bayes algorithm is best algorithm in this system that we can easily check, and recommends them. This system has been used in education. Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Artificial Immune System, Naives Bayes, Decision Tree, Collaborative Filtering, Content Filtering, Hybrid Filtering
Antifungal Activity of Raw Honey of Three Honeybee Species Harvested from Kannad Taluka of Aurangabad District (M. S.), India
Authors: Bhalchandra Dr. Waykar , Joshi Mahesh A , Jawalkar Nilesh
Published: March 2022

Abstract: The aim of present investigation was to study the antifungal activity of raw honey of three honeybee species collected from Kannad taluka of Aurangabad district. Honey samples were collected and assayed against three fungal species by using Agar well diffusion method. All honey samples showed sensitivity against all the fungal species. The zone of inhibition clearly showed that honey obtained from Apis florea and Apis cerana indica having highest antifungal activity, while honey sample of Apis dorsata showed minimum antifungal activity. The most sensitive fungi were Aspergillus and Fusarium, while Alternaria spp. was less sensitive to the inhibitory action of honey. Keywords: Honey, Apis dorsata, Apis florea, Apis cerana indica, zone of inhibition, antifungal activity, sensitivity, etc.
A Study of Rolling Contact Fatigue in Bearings with Rolling Elements
Authors: Zia Firdous , Beohar Gouraw
Published: March 2022

Abstract: Excessive noise levels from wheels and brakes, tire wear levels, bearing hub wear, bearing humming, undercarriage noise, and other factors are considered in this study. According to the study findings, better design and fatigue life prediction are urgently needed to prevent accidents. Because the hub assembly on the left side of the vehicle experiences the most deformation and has the shortest fatigue life, the behavior of the wheel hub ball bearing under duty cycle loading conditions affects deformations and bearing life. Keywords: bearing, fatigue life, Wheel hub, duty cycle
Burdens of Proposing
Authors: Godden David , Wells Simon
Published: March 2022

This paper considers the probative burdens of proposing action or policy options in deliberation dialogues. Do proposers bear a burden of proof? Building on pioneering work by Douglas Walton (2010), and following on a growing literature within computer science, the prevailing answer seems to be “No.” Instead, only recommenders—agents who put forward an option as the one to be taken—bear a burden of proof. Against this view, we contend that proposers have burdens of proof with respect to their proposals. Specifically, we argue that, while recommenders that Φ bear a burden of proof to show that □Φ (We should / ought to / must Φ), proposers that Φ have a burden of proof to show that ◇Φ (We may / can Φ). A burden of proposing may be defined as , which reads: Those who propose that we might Φ are obliged, if called upon, to show that Φ is possible in any of four ways which we call worldly, deontic, instrumental, and practical. So understood, burdens of proposing satisfy the standard formal definition of burden of proof.
Proposal for room-temperature quantum repeaters with nitrogen-vacancy centers and optomechanics
Authors: Ji Jia-Wei , Wu Yu-Feng , Wein Stephen C. , Asadi Faezeh Kimiaee , Ghobadi Roohollah , Simon Christoph
Published: March 2022

We propose a quantum repeater architecture that can operate under ambient conditions. Our proposal builds on recent progress towards non-cryogenic spin-photon interfaces based on nitrogen-vacancy centers, which have excellent spin coherence times even at room temperature, and optomechanics, which allows to avoid phonon-related decoherence and also allows the emitted photons to be in the telecom band. We apply the photon number decomposition method to quantify the fidelity and the efficiency of entanglement established between two remote electron spins. We describe how the entanglement can be stored in nuclear spins and extended to long distances via quasi-deterministic entanglement swapping operations involving the electron and nuclear spins. We furthermore propose schemes to achieve high-fidelity readout of the spin states at room temperature using the spin-optomechanics interface. Our work shows that long-distance quantum networks made of solid-state components that operate at room temperature are within reach of current technological capabilities.
Os planos estratégicos chineses e seu impacto nos investimentos no Brasil: uma análise do setor de energias renováveis
Authors: Kroetz Maria Eugenia , Sanchez-Badin Michelle Ratton , Sato Lisi Mie
Published: March 2022

A ascendência econômica da China e o notável incremento na exportação de capital para o Brasil têm provocado análises acadêmicas sobre as particularidades das estratégias chinesas no país. Mais do que explicar os motivos políticos e sinergias econômicas que possibilitaram tal injeção de capital estrangeiro, este artigo foca nas estratégias diplomático-jurídicas que amparam os investimentos chineses no Brasil. O objetivo específico é compreender a relação entre os compromissos dos acordos bilaterais assinados entre os dois países com as metas do próprio Estado chinês, em seus documentos de planejamento estatal e política pública. Para tanto, o artigo se estrutura a partir de uma análise qualitativa dos instrumentos regulatórios em nível bilateral e daqueles em nível doméstico da China e suas previsões relativas à energia renovável, entre 2010 e 2020. A metodologia utilizada incluiu uso do Software Atlas.ti© para identificação dos trechos mais relevantes dos documentos, buscando sistematizar eventuais padrões quanto ao contexto, conteúdo e forma dos instrumentos regulatórios selecionados. Os resultados das análises contribuem para a literatura especializada ao lançar luz sobre a importância de agentes públicos e privados brasileiros, estarem atentos aos planos nacionais e estratégias chinesas para melhor entender as bases e regulação desse investimento no Brasil.