bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Identifying naturally occurring communities of primary care providers in the English National Health Service in London
Authors: Clarke Jonathan , Beaney Thomas , Majeed Azeem , Darzi Ara , Barahona Mauricio
Published: July 2020

Objectives

Primary Care Networks (PCNs) are a new organisational hierarchy with wide-ranging responsibilities introduced in the National Health Service (NHS) Long Term Plan. The vision is that PCNs should represent ‘natural’ communities of general practices (GP practices) collaborating at scale and covering a geography that fits well with practices, other healthcare providers and local communities. Our study aims to identify natural communities of GP practices based on patient registration patterns using Markov Multiscale Community Detection, an unsupervised network-based clustering technique to create catchments for these communities.

Design

Retrospective observational study using Hospital Episode Statistics - patient-level administrative records of attendances to hospital.

Setting

General practices in the 32 Clinical Commissioning Groups of Greater London

Participants

All adult patients resident in and registered to a GP practice in Greater London that had one or more outpatient encounters at NHS hospitals between 1st April 2017 and 31st March 2018.

Main outcome measures

The allocation of GP practices in Greater London to PCNs based on the registrations of patients resident in each Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA) of Greater London. The population size and coverage of each proposed PCN.

Results

3 428 322 unique patients attended 1334 GPs in 4835 LSOAs in Greater London. Our model grouped 1291 GPs (96.8%) and 4721 LSOAs (97.6%) into 165 mutually exclusive PCNs. Median PCN list size was 53 490, with a lower quartile of 38 079 patients and an upper quartile of 72 982 patients. A median of 70.1% of patients attended a GP within their allocated PCN, ranging from 44.6% to 91.4%.

Conclusions

With PCNs expected to take a role in population health management and with community providers expected to reconfigure around them, it is vital to recognise how PCNs represent their communities. Our method may be used by policymakers to understand the populations and geography shared between networks.
Risk factors for delirium among older adults in the emergency department: a systematic review protocol
Authors: Oliveira J e Silva Lucas , Berning Michelle J , Stanich Jessica A , Gerberi Danielle J , Han Jin , Bellolio Fernanda
Published: July 2020

Introduction

Delirium is commonly missed in older adults presenting to the emergency department (ED). Although current recommendations for active screening of delirium in the ED, this might not be feasible or practical. Identifying patients at high risk for prevalent and incident delirium in the ED will help to improve the screening process and to build interventions. There is currently scattered synthesis of evidence on risk factors associated with delirium in the ED. To address this gap, we are conducting a systematic review to describe the risk factors (patient vulnerability factors and precipitating factors) for delirium in the ED.

Methods and analysis

A literature search was performed from inception to March 2020 in Ovid EBM Reviews, Ovid EMBASE, Ovid MEDLINE, Scopus and Web of Science. We will include original research studies that report a quantitative relationship between at least one risk factor and delirium in the ED setting. Two investigators will use eligibility criteria from this protocol to independently screen titles and abstracts, and select studies based on full-text review of potentially eligible studies. After arriving at a final set of included studies, two investigators will extract data using a standardised data collection form. If appropriate, data regarding each risk factor will be pooled through a random-effect meta-analysis. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach will be used to evaluate the overall quality of evidence.

Ethics and dissemination

To our knowledge, this will be the first systematic review evaluating risk factors for prevalent and incident delirium specifically related to the ED setting. Results of this study will aid in the identification of older adults at risk for delirium in the ED. We aim to publish the results of this systematic review in a peer-reviewed journal with good visibility for the fields of emergency medicine and geriatrics.

PROSPERO registration number

CDR42020175261
Artificial intelligence or manufactured stupidity? The need for injury informaticians in the big data era
Authors: Vallmuur Kirsten
Published: July 2020

The volume, velocity and variety of data collected about individuals have increased exponentially over the last decade, presenting new injury surveillance opportunities to identify risk factors, monitor trends, and evaluate the efficacy of interventions. But does the hype around big data and artificial intelligence (AI) apply to the injury prevention space, and how veracious is surveillance in this era? This commentary discusses the digital transformation of health as applied to injury prevention, but cautions on the challenges of maintaining data quality in integrated systems and discusses the need for an injury informatics strategy moving forward.
Data capture for injury prevention
Authors: Holder Yvette
Published: July 2020

More than a half-century of developments have expanded the demand for data for the prevention of injuries. This article follows the progress as data collection becomes more comprehensive, encompassing all types of injuries, in a wide range of economic and cultural environments. It describes the challenges of new developments and the responses to deal with them, challenges of poor coordination of data sources, sector ownership, non-uniformity and missing data elements that are critical for prevention. The tools and approaches that may be employed are outlined, from observatories to surveillance systems, from standardised injury coding systems such as the International Classification of External Cause of Injuries to manuals and guidelines for collecting injury data through surveillance and surveys. More and better data encourages greater utilisation which in turn identifies new issues to be addressed, a most exciting situation for any injury practitioner.
Woven EndoBridge (WEB) device in the treatment of ruptured aneurysms
Authors: Youssef Patrick P , Dornbos III David , Peterson Jeremy , Sweid Ahmad , Zakeri Amanda , Nimjee Shahid M , Jabbour Pascal , Arthur Adam S
Published: July 2020

Background

Wide-necked bifurcation aneurysms (WNBAs) present unique challenges for endovascular treatment. The Woven EndoBridge (WEB) device is an intrasaccular braided device, recently approved by the FDA for treatment of WNBAs. While treatment of intracranial aneurysms with the WEB device has been shown to yield an adequate occlusion rate of 85% at 1 year, few data have been published for patients with ruptured aneurysms.

Objective

To present a multi-institutional series depicting the safety and efficacy of using the WEB device as the primary treatment modality in ruptured intracranial aneurysms.

Methods

A multi-institutional retrospective analysis was conducted, assessing patients presenting with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage treated with the WEB between January 2014 and April 2020. Baseline demographics, aneurysm characteristics, adverse events, and long-term outcomes (occlusion, re-treatment, functional status) were collected. A descriptive analysis was performed, and variables potentially associated with aneurysm recurrence or re-treatment were assessed.

Results

Forty-eight patients were included. Anterior communicating artery aneurysms were the most common (35.4%) location for treatment, followed by middle cerebral artery (20.8%) and basilar apex (16.7%). Procedural success was noted in 95.8% of patients, and clinically significant periprocedural adverse events occurred in 12.5%. After a median follow-up of 5.5 months, 54.2% of patients had follow-up angiographic imaging. Complete occlusion was seen in 61.5% of cases with adequate occlusion in 92.3%. Re-treatment was required in only 4.2% of patients during the study period. Tobacco use was significantly higher in patients with aneurysm recurrence (88.9% vs 35.7%; p=0.012). No other characteristics were associated with recurrence/re-treatment. At 30 days, 81.1% were functionally independent (modified Rankin Scale score ≤2).

Conclusion

Treatment of acutely ruptured aneurysms with the WEB device demonstrates both safety and efficacy on par with rates of conventional treatment strategies.
Use of barley silage or corn silage with dry-rolled barley, corn, or a blend of barley and corn on predicted nutrient total tract digestibility and growth performance of backgrounding steers
Authors: Sutherland B.D. , Johnson J.A. , McKinnon J.J. , McAllister T.A. , Penner G.B.
Published: July 2020

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of feeding barley silage (BS) or corn silage (CS) with dry-rolled barley (BG), dry-rolled corn (CG), or a blend of barley and corn grain (BCG), on growth performance and nutrient digestibility, the latter predicted using near-infrared spectroscopy for backgrounding cattle. Steers (n = 288) were stratified by body weight (BW) into 24 pens and pens were randomly assigned to one of six treatments (n = 4) in a 2 × 3 factorial design. Main factors included BS or CS in combination with BG, CG, or BCG. There were no silage × grain interactions. Dry matter intake (DMI; P = 0.018) and final BW (P = 0.004) were greater for steers fed CS than BS, but average daily gain (1.01 kg d−1) and gain-to-feed ratio (0.10 kg kg−1) were not affected by silage or grain source. Steers fed CS also had greater dry matter, organic matter, crude protein (CP), acid detergent fiber (ADF), starch, and gross energy digestibility values (P < 0.01) than BS. Feeding BG increased starch, neutral detergent fiber, ADF, and CP digestibility values (P ≤ 0.01) over CG and BCG. Relative to BS, feeding CS increased DMI, final BW, and nutrient digestibility, whereas dry-rolled BG improved nutrient digestibility when compared with CG and BCG in backgrounding diets.
Taxi Demand Prediction Based on a Combination Forecasting Model in Hotspots
Authors: Liu Zhizhen , Chen Hong , Li Yan , Zhang Qi
Published: July 2020

Accurate taxi demand prediction can solve the congestion problem caused by the supply-demand imbalance. However, most taxi demand studies are based on historical taxi trajectory data. In this study, we detected hotspots and proposed three methods to predict the taxi demand in hotspots. Next, we compared the predictive effect of the random forest model (RFM), ridge regression model (RRM), and combination forecasting model (CFM). Thereafter, we considered environmental and meteorological factors to predict the taxi demand in hotspots. Finally, the importance of indicators was analyzed, and the essential elements were the time, temperature, and weather factors. The results indicate that the prediction effect of CFM is better than those of RFM and RRM. The experiment obtains the relationship between taxi demand and environment and is helpful for taxi dispatching by considering additional factors, such as temperature and weather.
Sectional Information-Based Collision Warning System Using Roadside Unit Aggregated Connected-Vehicle Information for a Cooperative Intelligent Transport System
Authors: Tak Sehyun , Yoon Jinsu , Woo Soomin , Yeo Hwasoo
Published: July 2020

Vehicular collision and hazard warning is an active field of research that seeks to improve road safety by providing an earlier warning to drivers to help them avoid potential collision danger. In this study, we propose a new type of a collision warning system based on aggregated sectional information, describing vehicle movement processed by a roadside unit (RSU). The proposed sectional information-based collision warning system (SCWS) overcomes the limitations of existing collision warning systems such as the high installation costs, the need for high market penetration rates, and the lack of consideration of traffic dynamics. The proposed SCWS gathers vehicle operation data through on-board units (OBUs) and shares this aggregated information through an RSU. All the data for each road section are locally processed by the RSU using edge computing, allowing the SCWS to effectively estimate the information describing the vehicles surrounding the subject vehicle in each road section. The performance of the SCWS was evaluated through comparison with other collision warning systems such as the vehicle-to-vehicle communication-based collision warning system (VCWS), which solely uses in-vehicle sensors; the hybrid collision warning system (HCWS), which uses information from both infrastructure and in-vehicle sensors; and the infrastructure-based collision warning system (ICWS), which only uses data from infrastructure. In this study, the VCWS with a 100% market penetration rate was considered to provide the most theoretically similar result to the actual collision risk. The comparison results show that in both aggregation and disaggregation level analyses, the proposed SCWS exhibits a similar collision risk trend to the VCWS. Furthermore, the SCWS shows a high potential for practical application because it provides acceptable performance even with a low market penetration rate (30%) at the relatively low cost of OBU installation, compared to the VCWS requirement of a high market penetration rate at a high installation cost.
Structures of Astaxanthin and Their Consequences for Therapeutic Application
Authors: Brotosudarmo Tatas Hardo Panintingjati , Limantara Leenawaty , Setiyono Edi , Heriyanto
Published: July 2020

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are continuously generated as a by-product of normal aerobic metabolism. Elevated ROS formation leads to potential damage of biological structures and is implicated in various diseases. Astaxanthin, a xanthophyll carotenoid, is a secondary metabolite responsible for the red-orange color of a number of marine animals and microorganisms. There is mounting evidence that astaxanthin has powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptotic activities. Hence, its consumption can result in various health benefits, with potential for therapeutic application. Astaxanthin contains both a hydroxyl and a keto group, and this unique structure plays important roles in neutralizing ROS. The molecule quenches harmful singlet oxygen, scavenges peroxyl and hydroxyl radicals and converts them into more stable compounds, prevents the formation of free radicals, and inhibits the autoxidation chain reaction. It also acts as a metal chelator and converts metal prooxidants into harmless molecules. However, like many other carotenoids, astaxanthin is affected by the environmental conditions, e.g., pH, heat, or exposure to light. It is hence susceptible to structural modification, i.e., via isomerization, aggregation, or esterification, which alters its physiochemical properties. Here, we provide a concise overview of the distribution of astaxanthin in tissues, and astaxanthin structures, and their role in tackling singlet oxygen and free radicals. We highlight the effect of structural modification of astaxanthin molecules on the bioavailability and biological activity. These studies suggested that astaxanthin would be a promising dietary supplement for health applications.
Efficacy and Safety of Primary Glaucoma Device Implantation Surgery in Exfoliative Glaucoma: A Retrospective Consecutive Case Series
Authors: Park Sang Yoong , Jin Sang Wook
Published: July 2020

Purpose. To evaluate the efficacy and safety of primary glaucoma drainage implant (GDI) surgery for exfoliation glaucoma (XFG). Methods. This study was a retrospective, consecutive case series study including 36 eyes of 36 patients with XFG who underwent primary GDI surgery. Intraocular pressure (IOP), the mean deviation (MD) from the visual field exam, corneal endothelial cell density (ECD), and the number of topical antiglaucoma agents used during the preoperative and postoperative periods were retrospectively analyzed. Surgical success was defined by the following criteria: (1) IOP ≤ 18 mmHg and an IOP reduction of 20% with 1 or no medication; (2) IOP ≤ 15 mmHg and an IOP reduction of 25% with 1 or no medication; and (3) IOP ≤ 12 mmHg and an IOP reduction of 30% with 1 or no medication. The probability of success of GDI surgery was determined via Kaplan–Meier survival analysis. Results. The preoperative IOP was 25.9 ± 4.7 mmHg, and the postoperative IOP at 24 months was decreased to 14.2 ± 3.6 mmHg (p value < 0.001). The postoperative MD and ECD were similar to baseline (MD p value = 0.155; ECD p value = 0.055). However, a significant reduction in the number of antiglaucoma agents was observed (p value < 0.001). The surgical success rates were 77.8%, 63.9%, and 55.6% at 24 months for criteria 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Early hypotony (4 patients, 11.1%) and persistent corneal edema (5 patients, 13.9%) were the most common early and late postoperative complications, respectively. Conclusions. In XFG, primary GDI surgery reduced IOP by 45.2% and had a 77.8% success rate according to criteria 1 at 24 months postoperatively. However, considering that ECD reduction continues to decline over time, primary GDI surgery should be carefully considered in XFG.
The Patient’s Gender Influencing the Accuracy of Diagnosis and Proposed Sepsis Treatment in Constructed Cases
Authors: Pikwer Andreas , Carlsson Madeleine , Mahmoud Duraid Abod , Castegren Markus
Published: July 2020

Background. Male sex is an independent risk factor for sepsis development. In addition to immunological gender differences, women less often receive sepsis treatment once diagnosed. Gender differences have also been described in other medical conditions, such as acute coronary syndrome. Aim. To study whether the gender of patients influenced physicians’ tendency to suspect sepsis and propose correct initial sepsis treatment in constructed cases. Method. Four cases were constructed to fulfil the sepsis-3 criteria as well as raise clinical suspicions of other common medical differential diagnoses. Two of the cases were drafted in two versions, only differing in the gender of the patient. The two versions were randomly distributed to all clinical physicians in a medical region in Sweden. The responding physicians were asked to state the three most important diagnoses and the three most important initial treatments for each case. If sepsis were among the stated diagnoses together with fluids and antibiotics, the case was considered as correctly identified and initially treated sepsis. Results. 120 hospital physicians answered the cases. In the case the patient was a female, the respondents correctly identified and treated sepsis significantly more often than if the patient was of the male sex (Case 1: 12/58 vs 2/62, p<0.01 and Case 2: 25/62 vs 13/58, p<0.05). Conclusion. A low proportion of Swedish physicians identified and proposed treatment for sepsis in four constructed cases. In the case the patient strongly mimicked other diagnoses common in the male sex, the male cases were less often correctly identified and treated for sepsis.
Exchange Rate Risk Analysis Based on Firm Data: A Global Value Chain Perspective
Authors: Ning Mimi , Qi Jianhong
Published: July 2020

This paper investigates whether firms’ participation in the global value chain (GVC) weakens the exchange rate risk and its mechanism. Based on Powers and Riker’s (2013) expanding exchange rate risk model, this paper matches data from China’s refined input-output table, the customs database, and the industrial enterprise database from 2002 to 2009 to measure the firms’ GVC forward linkages and backward linkages and therefore empirically tests the relationship between participation in the GVC and the exchange rate risk. The results show that participation in the GVC reduces firms’ exchange rate risk through a “comovement effect” for forward linkages and a “hedging effect” for backward linkages; differences in a firm’s position in the GVC affect the extent of reduction in the exchange rate risk. Encouraging firms to participate in the GVC and strengthening GVC relationship with high-income countries in particular play an important role in minimizing the exchange rate risk.
Fixed-Time Flocking and Collision Avoidance Problem of a Cucker–Smale Model
Authors: Nie Fen , Duan Xiaojun
Published: July 2020

Multiagent systems are used in artificial intelligence, control theory, and social sciences. In this article, we studied a Cucker–Smale model with a continuous non-Lipschitz protocol. The methodology presented in the current paper is based on the explicit construction of a Lyapunov functional. By using the fixed-time control technology, we show that the flocking can occur in fixed-time and collision avoiding when a singular communication function with a weighted sum of sign functions of the relative velocities among agents, and we can obtain the estimation of the converging time which is independent of the initial states of agents. Theoretical results are supported by numerical simulations.
Variational Method to p-Laplacian Fractional Dirichlet Problem with Instantaneous and Noninstantaneous Impulses
Authors: Chen Yiru , Gu Haibo , Ma Lina
Published: July 2020

In this paper, a research has been done about the existence of solutions to the Dirichlet boundary value problem for p-Laplacian fractional differential equations which include instantaneous and noninstantaneous impulses. Based on the critical point principle and variational method, we provide the equivalence between the classical and weak solutions of the problem, and the existence results of classical solution for our equations are established. Finally, an example is given to illustrate the major result.
Comparative Acoustic Analyses of L2 English: The Search for Systematic Variation
Authors: Laturnus Rebecca
Published: July 2020

Background/Aims:
Previous research has shown that exposure to multiple foreign accents facilitates adaptation to an untrained novel accent. One explanation is that L2 speech varies systematically such that there are commonalities in the productions of nonnative speakers, regardless of their language background.
Methods:
A systematic acoustic comparison was conducted between 3 native English speakers and 6 nonnative accents. Voice onset time, unstressed vowel duration, and formant values of stressed and unstressed vowels were analyzed, comparing each nonnative accent to the native English talkers. A subsequent perception experiment tests what effect training on regionally accented voices has on the participant’s comprehension of nonnative accented speech to investigate the importance of within-speaker variation on attunement and generalization.
Results:
Data for each measure show substantial variability across speakers, reflecting phonetic transfer from individual L1s, as well as substantial inconsistency and variability in pronunciation, rather than commonalities in their productions. Training on native English varieties did not improve participants’ accuracy in understanding nonnative speech.
Conclusion:
These findings are more consistent with a hypothesis of accent attune­ment wherein listeners track general patterns of nonnative speech rather than relying on overlapping acoustic signals between speakers.
COVID-19 research in Wikipedia
Authors: Colavizza Giovanni
Published: July 2020

Wikipedia is one of the main sources of free knowledge on the Web. During the first few months of the pandemic, over 5,200 new Wikipedia pages on COVID-19 were created, accumulating over 400 million page views by mid-June 2020. 1 At the same time, an unprecedented amount of scientific articles on COVID-19 and the ongoing pandemic have been published online. Wikipedia’s content is based on reliable sources, such as scientific literature. Given its public function, it is crucial for Wikipedia to rely on representative and reliable scientific results, especially in a time of crisis. We assess the coverage of COVID-19-related research in Wikipedia via citations to a corpus of over 160,000 articles. We find that Wikipedia editors are integrating new research at a fast pace, and have cited close to 2% of the COVID-19 literature under consideration. While doing so, they are able to provide a representative coverage of COVID-19-related research. We show that all the main topics discussed in this literature are proportionally represented from Wikipedia, after accounting for article-level effects. We further use regression analyses to model citations from Wikipedia and show that Wikipedia editors on average rely on literature that is highly cited, widely shared on social media, and peer-reviewed.
Transhumanism and Christianity
Authors: Lipowicz Markus
Published: July 2020

Although supporters of transhumanism present their agenda as a secular movement that specifically challenges the basic ontological and ethical premises of Christian metaphysics, there are also techno-progressive thinkers who claim that Christians should endorse a moderate version of biotechnological human enhancement. The main objective of this essay is to scrutinise this claim by outlining the relationship between transhumanism and Christian anthropology from the perspective of Joseph Ratzinger’s thought. The order of this analysis is constituted by three steps: first, I will critically analyse Benedikt Paul Göcke’s main arguments in favor of a Christian transhumanism; secondly, I will discuss the normative foundation of the techno-progressive agenda with regard to Ratzinger’s/Benedict XVI’s critique of the modern concept of freedom and its anthropological implication – the technological “new man”; finally, I will refer the notion of the posthuman to Ratzinger’s theo-evolutionary image of Jesus Christ as the “man of the future.”
Shamanic Poetics
Authors: Landy Francis
Published: July 2020

This essay examines the relationship between the biblical prophets and prophetic poetry in terms of the “shamanic complex.” First, a short characterization is given of the phenomenon of shamanism in archaic societies, shamanic techniques and alternate states of consciousness, as well as the social, cultural, and political role of shamanic figures. Second, the similarity between shamanism and biblical prophecy is considered. Third, the figure of First Isaiah as presented in the eponymous book in the Hebrew Bible is analyzed in terms of the shamanic complex and shamanic poetics as to aspects of his initiation as prophet and represented features of his actions as prophet.
“Le devoir des époux”
Authors: de Wet Chris L.
Published: July 2020

The purpose of this article is to examine and evaluate Michel Foucault’s use of John Chrysostom’s (c. 349–407 CE) views on marriage and sexuality, as it is expounded in Foucault’s fourth volume of Histoire de la sexualité, Les aveux de la chair (2018). The following question is asked: does Foucault have anything new and relevant to say to current scholarship of John Chrysostom, especially in terms of his views about sexuality and marriage? The article brings Foucault’s contribution into dialogue with more or less current scholarship of Chrysostom. The study first examines the sources Foucault used for Chrysostom, and then critically delineates and assesses Foucault’s argument regarding marriage in John Chrysostom. In the analysis of Foucault’s reading of Chrysostom’s marital ethic, attention is given to three central aspects present in the chapter, “Le devoir des époux” (“The Duty of the Spouses”). First, the links Foucault establishes between the micro-politics of sexuality (and the domus or private life) and the macro-politics of the Christian Empire is discussed. Second, it is asked how Foucault reconstructs Chrysostom’s marital ethic as a type of technē for the married life, including how Foucault attempts to deconstruct the dichotomy between marriage and virginity. Finally, the study analyses how Foucault interprets Chrysostom’s view of the conjugal relationship as one based on the rights of property ownership and debt.
Islam and the Discursive Landscape of Globalisation
Authors: Mohiuddin Asif
Published: July 2020

Globalisation is a multidimensional process, involving both intrinsic and extrinsic factors, playing out simultaneously within the domains of economy, politics, technology—particularly media and information communication technology (ICT)—culture and environmental change. By contrast, the spread of knowledge that transforms global Islamic authority in heterogeneous forms, challenging conventional understandings, location and mode of articulation of authority, is considered to be a distinct process. This paper attempts to investigate the role of knowledge in the construction of globalised Islamic authority in Islam. It explores the evolution of Islamic authority vis-à-vis the rapidly developing network of interconnections and interdependencies. Focusing on identifying the element of consensus (ijmā) in sustaining and upholding religious authority in Islam, the paper examines how modernist critiques of consensus take various forms in light of what modernists consider to be “true” and how they see the challenges and opportunities of global transformations. While shedding light on a growing fragmentation and decentralisation of religious authority in the Muslim world, this paper argues that the authoritative religious knowledge was established and sustained down to 18th century when new methods of interpretation emerged challenging the authoritative corpus of religious structures. Consideration is also given to the causes, spectrum, and effects of increasingly diverse, and disjointed transformations of religious authority in Muslim societies, the outcome of which is a spectacularly wild growth of interpretation.
Enhanced thermal conductivity of epoxy/alumina composite through multiscale-disperse packing
Authors: Li Hongkun , Zheng Weidong
Published: July 2020

Inspired by the size of the voids in closest packing structures, we propose to use the combination of spherical particles with different size scales to increase the loading fraction of the fillers in epoxy-based composites. In this study, high loading up to 79 vol% has been achieved with multiscale particle sizes of spherical Al2O3 particles. The highest thermal conductivity of Al2O3-filled liquid epoxy measured by steady-state method is 6.7 W m−1 K−1 at 25°C, which is approximately 23 times higher than the neat epoxy (0.28 W m−1 K−1). Three models based on Maxwell mean-field scheme (MMF), differential effective medium (DEM) and percolation theory model (PTM) were utilized to assess our measured thermal conductivity data. We found that both DEM and PTM models could give good results at high volume fraction regime. We have also observed a considerable reduction (10–15%) of thermal conductivity in our Al2O3-filled cured epoxy samples. We attribute this reduction to the increasing of thermal interfacial resistance between Al2O3 particles and cured epoxy matrix, induced by cure shrinkage during the reaction. Our experiments have demonstrated that systems with multiscale particle sizes exhibit lower viscosity and can be filled with much higher fraction of fillers. We thus expect that higher thermal conductivity (probably >12 W m−1 K−1 based on DEM) can be achieved in future via filling higher thermal conductivity spherical fillers (e.g., AlN, SiC), increasing loading fraction by multiscale-disperse packing and reducing the effect from cure shrinkage.
1939 Theology to-day
Authors: Temple William
Published: July 2020

Archbishop William Temple (1881–1944) wrote this article in March 1939 as war was looming. The pacifist movement was strong among younger Christians, and young and old were extremely worried about the rise of fascism. Appeasement or a radical rejection of war were often seen as the Christian options. Temple dissents from both and also from the certainties of (Thomist) natural law theology. His approach is more tentative and based on ‘events’, insisting that ‘[w]e must dig the foundations deeper than we did in pre-war years, or in the inter-war years’. He was the son of Frederick Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (1896–1902), and was successively Bishop of Manchester (1921–29), Archbishop of York (1929–42) and himself Archbishop of Canterbury (1942–44). His Gifford Lectures, Nature, Man and God (1934), Readings in St John’s Gospel (1939) and Christianity and the Social Order (1942) are among his best known writings. Editor.
Building Security through Insecurity: The Nigerian Military and Counter-Violence Campaigns in the Fourth Republic
Authors: Joshua Segun , Gberevbie Daniel , Onor Kester
Published: July 2020

Since independence on October 1, 1960, Nigeria has been a victim, at one time or the other, of intra-ethnic, inter-ethnic, religious, and communal conflicts which have undermined the human security of her citizens. Nigeria’s corporate existence had also been threatened by 3 years (1967–1970) civil war which impacted negatively on the well-being of its people. In addition, the inability of the Nigerian Police to cope with the magnitude of the surge of violence in recent years has brought about the idea of involving the military, a core component of traditional security apparatus to deal with internal insecurity. This article is anchored on human security paradigm with reliance on secondary data to analyze the operations of the Nigerian Military in counterviolence campaigns between 1999 and 2017. This article points out that the involvement of the military in internal security has worsened the problem of insecurity due to the military’s unprofessional approach and, at times, deliberate targeting the civilian populace which it is supposed to protect. It, therefore, recommends among others, the need for the Federal Government of Nigeria to urgently review the role of the armed forces in addressing internal security situations in a way that will bring about respect for the rule of engagement in internal security operations and adherence to global best practices.
Controller design for systems subject to multi-layer nested saturation via event-triggered scheme
Authors: Zhou Yuan , Li Hongchao , Liu Jiao , Yang Dedong
Published: July 2020

The design of an event-triggered controller to stabilize the continuous-time systems subject to multi-layer nested saturation is presented in this paper. As a complex nonlinearity, the nested saturation exists in a large number of systems, which may degrade the performance of the system. The sufficient condition for stabilization of the multi-layer saturated system is given by employing event-triggered control, which could reduce communication load of the system. The lower bound of the inter-event time interval is calculated to avoid the Zeno behavior. The domain of attraction for the system is estimated, which is determined by solving an optimization problem. The main advantage of the proposed approach lies in the extensive applicability for different layers of the nested saturation. In the final section, simulation and pratical examples are given to demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed results.
Cognitive Screening of Adults With Postlingual Hearing Loss: A Systematic Review
Authors: Raymond Mallory , Barrett Devon , Lee Daniel Juno , Peterson Shenita , Raol Nikhila , Vivas Esther X.
Published: July 2020

Objective

To systematically review the evidence for the use of cognitive screening tools for adults with postlingual hearing loss.

Data Sources

PubMed, Embase, Scopus, PsycINFO (EBSCO), CINAHL (EBSCO), and CENTRAL (Cochrane Library) electronic databases were searched from inception until October 4, 2018.

Review Methods

Articles were reviewed for inclusion by 2 independent reviewers. The references of included articles were hand‐searched for additional relevant articles. Data were extracted by 2 independent extractors.

Results

Of 2092 articles imported from the search, 81 were included for the review. Nearly a third (31%, n = 25) included patients with profound hearing loss. In total, 23 unique tools were used for 105 unique applications. The Mini Mental Status Exam (MMSE) was the most commonly used (54%, n = 55), followed by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) (19%, n = 10). Nearly half of the tools were used to define patient inclusion or exclusion in a study (48%, n = 50), followed by examination of a change after an intervention (26%, n = 27). Two articles attempted to study the validity of the MMSE and MoCA for screening patients with mild to moderate hearing loss and found mixed effects of the auditory components. There were no validation studies identified from the search.

Conclusion

Many different cognitive screening tools have been used to study patients with postlingual hearing loss. The effects of the auditory components of these tools may be deleterious but ultimately remain unclear from the available evidence. To date, there has been no validation of any cognitive screening tool to be used for adults with postlingual hearing loss.
Predicting communicative effectiveness in the international workplace: Support for TOEIC® Speaking test scores from linguistic laypersons
Authors: Schmidgall Jonathan , Powers Donald E.
Published: July 2020

In this study we examined the extent to which TOEIC® Speaking test scores relate to evaluations by professionals in the international workplace, the target language use domain of TOEIC tests. Linguistic laypersons in 10 countries were invited to participate in an online research survey. The survey incorporated a stratified sample of test-taker ( N = 99) responses to three representative tasks from the TOEIC Speaking test (reading a text aloud, responding to questions, expressing an opinion) that were cast as workplace role-play tasks. After completing each role-play task, participants used brief, descriptive six-point rating scales to rate the communicative effectiveness (comprehensibility, task fulfillment, elaboration, and coherence) of each of several speakers. Communicative effectiveness ratings from linguistic laypersons were strongly correlated with TOEIC Speaking test scaled scores ( r = 0.84). In addition, regression analysis was used to plot the relationship between layperson and test-based evaluations of speaking proficiency. Results suggested that test takers’ performances can be expected to be perceived as effective at score ranges typically associated with important decisions. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for claims about the generalizability of TOEIC Speaking test score interpretations in relation to the evaluations of linguistic laypersons in the international workplace.
Prognostic value of dynamic plasma endostatin for the prediction of mortality in acute kidney injury: A prospective cohort study
Authors: Jia Hui-Miao , Zheng Yue , Han Yue , Ma Wen-Liang , Jiang Yi-Jia , Zheng Xi , Guo Shu-Yan , Zhang Tian-En , Li Wen-Xiong
Published: July 2020

Objective

The aim of the current study was to evaluate the value of plasma endostatin for predicting 30-day mortality of patients with acute kidney injury (AKI).

Methods

Patients who underwent non-cardiac major surgery and developed AKI in the first 48 hours after admission to the intensive care unit were consecutively included. Concentrations of plasma neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), cystatin C (Cys C), and endostatin were measured at three time points: 0, 24, and 48 hours after the AKI diagnosis. Clinical patient characteristics were recorded after AKI was diagnosed.

Results

A total of 256 new-onset AKI patients were enrolled. Of these, 48 (18.7%) patients died within 30 days. The difference in plasma endostatin values between 0 and 24 hours (ΔEndostatin-24h) yielded the best area under the curve (AUC) of 0.747 for predicting 30-day mortality in AKI patients; NGAL and Cys C achieved AUC of 0.672 and 0.647, respectively. The predictive AUC increased to 0.833 when ΔEndostatin-24h was combined with sequential organ failure assessment score and AKI classification.

Conclusion

Dynamic plasma endostatin is useful for predicting 30-day mortality in AKI patients. The predictive power of dynamic plasma endostatin can be significantly improved when it is combined with clinical patient data.
Remodelling Barbie, making justice: An autoethnography of craftivist encounters
Authors: Singleton Paula
Published: July 2020

I provide an autoethnographic account of “craft activist” workshops wherein I facilitate participants to remodel dolls to reflect their feminist or other social justice concerns, and describe one specific workshop with a powerful, personal impact in relation to childhood sexual exploitation. In drawing a connection between the vulnerabilities of one workshop participant and my own, I reflect upon our responsibilities as ethical feminist researchers. The larger function of the workshops is thereby argued as a co-created feminist space whereby we attend to the needs and desires of our intersectional feminist community. I draw upon material from diverse fields, such as art therapy, ethnography, and cultural studies, to flesh out a consideration of how to transform difficult emotions and experiences into useful “equipment for living”, and to contribute to a scholarly conversation about the intersections of autoethnography, craftivism and feminism. The central questions answered by the work are, firstly, how representations of stigmatised identities or experiences have impacted upon me as workshop facilitator, and, secondly, how we can continue to come to voice with, and support, each other in our making of a more just world.
Effects of Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Education Program Using Hybrid Application (CSAPE-H) on Fifth-Grade Students in South Korea
Authors: Kang So Ra , Kim Shin-Jeong , Kang Kyung-Ah
Published: July 2020

The purpose of this study was to test the effects of a child sexual abuse prevention education program using a hybrid application (CSAPE-H) by examining fifth-grade students’ (a) knowledge for sexual abuse prevention and (b) self-protective behaviors against sexual abuse. A quasi-experimental, pretest /posttest design was used. Sixty-eight students from two schools participated. The intervention group ( n = 48) received six sessions in CSA prevention education using the hybrid app, whereas the control group ( n = 35) was taught using a lecture in a classroom environment. Between the two groups, there were significant differences in self-protective behaviors against CSA ( t = 2.26, p = .027). In addition, educational satisfaction was significantly higher in the experimental group than the control group ( t = 2.41, p = .019). A CSAPE-H may be effective for elementary school students, especially for self-protective behaviors.
Exhausted Parents Experience of Anger: The Relationship Between Anger and Burnout
Authors: Prikhidko Alena , Swank Jacqueline M.
Published: July 2020

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between anger and burnout among parents ( N =226). The results revealed burnout contrast and exhaustion predicted anger experience, and burnout contrast also predicted anger expression. The authors discuss the limitations of the study and implications for counseling research and practice.
Theorizing financial extraction: The curious case of telephone profits in the Los Angeles county jails
Authors: Lara-Millan Armando
Published: July 2020

Existing models of financial extraction in the criminal justice system are applied to the case of profitable telephone contracts in the Los Angeles County jails during the mid-1990s. The case exemplifies instances of a “punishment” model of monetary sanctions, in which profits are derived for crime control purposes, and a “predation” model, in which inmates are seen as potential resources to absolve fiscal crisis and create market opportunities. However, the case contains an additional element: legal demand concerning inmates’ mental health care treatment. It is shown that telephone profits in jails could not have been used for predation or punishment purposes without the exploitation of legal ambiguity around inmate’s healthcare. Broader implications for the study of financial extraction as a constitutive theory – one that is both historical causal explanation and generalizable description – are drawn.
The influence of alkaline treatment on acoustical, morphological, tensile and thermal properties of Kenaf natural fibers
Authors: Samaei Seyed Ehsan , Mahabadi Hasan Asilian , Mousavi Seyyed Mohammad , Khavanin Ali , Faridan Mohammad , Taban Ebrahim
Published: July 2020

Among fibers with lignocellulosic origin, Kenaf fiber, because of its advantages and as a sustainable alternative to synthetic fibers has received increasing attention for manufacturing hybrid composites with reasonable acoustical and physical properties. The present study deals with the impact of chemical treatment of Kenaf fibers on the overall properties of hybrid composites fabricated from these fibers. Also, the results from predictive analytical model of sound absorption for these composites were employed for comparison with the experimental findings. Kenaf fibers were treated at room temperature with 6% concentration of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and 4 h immersion time. Having manufactured the composites with the treated and untreated fibers, the normal sound absorption coefficients and tensile strength properties of these sample composites were determined according to ISO 10534-2 and ASTM C1557 − 14, respectively. The SEM analysis of the treated and untreated fibers revealed that in terms of fiber diameter and morphology the former was thinner and had better surface appearance. The experimental measurement of acoustic absorption coefficients of the composites made of treated fibers demonstrated superior sound absorption properties and tensile strength. The revised empirical models proposed by Delany & Bazley and Garai & Pompoli along with Nelder-Mead simplex method were employed and well predicted the sound absorption coefficients of the sample composites. There was also a fair consistency between the experimental and predicted results.
Electroencephalographic Phase Synchrony Index as a Biomarker of Poststroke Motor Impairment and Recovery
Authors: Kawano Teiji , Hattori Noriaki , Uno Yutaka , Hatakenaka Megumi , Yagura Hajime , Fujimoto Hiroaki , Yoshioka Tomomi , Nagasako Michiko , Otomune Hironori , Kitajo Keiichi , Miyai Ichiro
Published: July 2020

Background. Motor recovery after stroke is of great clinical interest. Besides magnetic resonance imaging functional connectivity, electroencephalographic synchrony is also an available biomarker. However, the clinical relevance of electroencephalographic synchrony in hemiparesis has not been fully understood. Objective. We aimed to demonstrate the usefulness of the phase synchrony index (PSI) by showing associations between the PSI and poststroke outcome in patients with hemiparesis. Methods. This observational study included 40 participants with cortical ischemic stroke (aged 69.8 ± 13.8 years) and 22 healthy controls (aged 66.9 ± 6.5 years). Nineteen-channel electroencephalography was recorded at 36.9 ± 11.8 days poststroke. Upper extremity Fugl-Meyer scores were assessed at the time of admission/before discharge (FM-UE1/FM-UE2; 32.6 ± 12.3/121.0 ± 44.7 days poststroke). Then, correlations between the PSIs and FM-UE1 as well as impairment reduction after rehabilitation (FM-UEgain) were analyzed. Results. The interhemispheric PSI (alpha band) between the primary motor areas (M1s) was lower in patients than in controls and was selectively correlated with FM-UE1 ( P = .001). In contrast, the PSI (theta band) centered on the contralesional M1 was higher in patients than in controls and was selectively correlated with FM-UEgain ( P = .003). These correlations remained significant after adjusting for confounding factors (age, time poststroke, National Institute of Health Stroke Scale, and lesion volume). Furthermore, the latter correlation was significant in severely impaired patients (FM-UE1 ≤ 10). Conclusions. This study showed that the PSIs were selectively correlated with motor impairment and recovery. Therefore, the PSIs may be potential biomarkers in persons with a hemispheric infarction.