bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Advancing Care Team Adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems for Cancer Symptom Management: Findings From a Hybrid Type II, Cluster-Randomized, Stepped-Wedge Trial
Authors: Austin Jessica D. , Finney Rutten Lila J. , Fischer Kristin , Ridgeway Jennifer , Minteer Sarah , Griffin Joan M. , Pachman Deirdre R. , Ruddy Kathryn J. , Cheville Andrea
Published: August 2024

PURPOSE

The enhanced, electronic health record (EHR)–facilitated cancer symptom control (E2C2) trial is a cohort cluster-randomized, stepped-wedge, hybrid type II trial that leverages EHR systems to facilitate a collaborative care model (CCM) approach with the goal of improving cancer symptom management. Understanding factors that influence care team adoption of EHR systems remains a critical understudied area of research. This study examines how oncology care teams' perceptions regarding the feasibility, acceptability, and appropriateness of E2C2 EHR systems preimplementation were associated with adoption 3 months after implementation and characterizes differences in adoption by individual- and system-level factors.

METHODS

Care team members completed an electronic survey before and 3 months after implementation of E2C2 for their respective sequence. Adoption was defined as frequency of use to statements aligned with care team–directed EHR systems designed to facilitate CCM approaches. Chi-square tests assessed differences in adoption while logistic regression models estimated associations between baseline mean scores of acceptability, feasibility, and appropriateness on care team adoption at 3 months.

RESULTS

Results from 94 care team members (37.2% oncologists, 72.6% female, 55.3% in their role for 6+ years) found that adoption rates ranged from 48.9% to 71.7%, with significant differences observed by location (community-based health care systems
v
tertiary medical center) and professional role. Adjusting for professional role, care team members reporting higher levels of perceived acceptability and appropriateness at baseline had greater odds of adopting EHR systems at 3 months.

CONCLUSION

EHR systems perceived as acceptable and appropriate are more likely to be adopted by oncology care teams in our sample. Future implementation efforts should consider tailored strategies to facilitate adoption of EHR systems designed to promote CCM-based approaches to improve cancer symptom management.
Effectiveness of Scrambler Therapy for Alleviating Phantom Limb Pain: A Case Report
Authors: Vu Peter D. , Abdi Salahadin
Published: August 2024

Among the 2 million amputees in the United States, 60% to 90% will experience phantom limb pain (PLP). Managing PLP presents challenges with current evidence-based pharmacological and interventional therapies yielding varied results. In recent years, advancements in neuromodulation, such as scrambler therapy (ST), have demonstrated effectiveness in addressing various chronic and neuropathic pain syndromes. In terms of PLP, however, cases have been limited. This case highlights further evidence supporting ST for PLP over 5 years. Furthermore, we provide clinical images of the amputation with ST electrodes as well as a 5-year record of pain and Edmonton Symptom Assessment System scores.
A Changing Representation: “Personal Writing” in Artistic Intervention in Chinese Rural Communities
Authors: Li Danzhou
Published: August 2024

As socially engaged art has played a vibrant role in responding to the crisis of the postmodernist art regime, the current post-Occupy condition has manifested itself in artistic interventions in rural China. In contrast to social writing, which encompasses street art, designers going to the countryside, and industrial empowerment to construct “good cultural governance” or “good cultural taste,” the term personal writing as used here describes a type of avant-garde intervention that has sparked interest in vernacular communities. It provides a socially minded critique of art production as bifurcated from the remaking of everyday social relations and subjectivities, political and cultural possibilities, and the rural Chinese future. Grounded in a contextual analysis of the social turn in Chinese contemporary art and the lingering “rural problem” under post-socialism, this article takes artist Mao Chenyu's Paddy Film project as an example of personal writing and proposes this artist's activisms at Dongting Lake as a specific intervening field, visual ethnography as a method, paddy rice as a distinctive “thing,” and archival practices as a deconstructive pathway that together have promoted the emergence of a resistance narrative in artistic intervention in Chinese rural communities.
Case Report: The Sausage Technique using Anorganic Bovine Bone Mineral for Horizontal Bone Augmentation at the Crestal Part of a Posterior Mandibular Ridge: A Case Report.
Authors: Ali Ali , Khazem Mays , Karabeit Zafin
Published: August 2024

Following tooth extraction, the alveolar bone goes through a natural remodeling process resulting in a significant bone resorption which may complicate dental implant placement without prior bone augmentation treatment. The sausage technique is a modified guided bone regeneration (GBR) method that has been successfully used for horizontal bone augmentation. This technique was developed to increase the bone growth at the alveolar crest. Although the sausage technique uses a combination of autograft chips and xenograft particles with a native collagen membrane, several studies have questioned whether adding autograft chips is essential for bone formation with guided bone regeneration. Moreover, harvesting the bone graft may increase the donor site morbidity and patient discomfort. This case report aimed to investigate the bone gain radiologically when the sausage technique was applied to treat a healthy, thirty-year-old patient with a horizontal defect in the posterior mandibular region using anorganic bovine bone mineral (ABBM) particles with Jason membrane, assess the implant primary stability in the augmented ridge, and present the surgical procedure steps in details. After nine months of healing, the cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) revealed approximately 4.32 mm of bone gain at the alveolar crest in the buccal-lingual direction. The graft particles were well integrated into the newly formed bone. Two implants were inserted with an insertion torque of 35 N/cm. The ISQ values were 76 for the most anterior implant and 78 for the posterior implant. Within the limitations of this case report, the sausage technique using ABBM particles without autograft chips was an effective approach in achieving the prerequisite bone width at the crest in cases with horizontal bone defects.
The developing of prosody in infants: a longitudinal study over the first 16 months of infant life
Authors: D'Aloia Valeria , Zanchi Paola , Logrieco Maria Grazia Mada , Passaquindici Ilenia , Palumbo Riccardo , Lionetti Francesca , Spinelli Maria , Fasolo Mirco
Published: August 2024

Background The acquisition and development of prosodic aspects of vocal intonation are of special interest within the larger context of language acquisition. Method The present study explored the developmental trajectories of infant prosodic abilities from 4 to 16 months of life with an intensive time points assessment. Several aspects were considered: an acoustic analysis of infant vocal productions with specific software, the analyses of all the prosodic variables associated with the fundamental frequency (F0 mean, F0 range, and F0 final contours), the individual variability and the complexity of the vocal productions of the infants. Results The multi-level analysis evidenced specific prosodic developmental trajectories that differ for the different kind of vocal productions since the first months of life. Conclusions The findings suggest that in the second half of the first year of life infants show an intonational repertoire that may help manage interactions with their caregiver and that individual variability has to be taken in consideration when assessing infants’ prosody.
Understanding of middle east women’s decisions and barriers to use family planning methods
Authors: Ghafel Hawraa Hussein
Published: August 2024

Background when family planning methods not use, there is a higher chance of high fertility, which raises health risks for both mother and infant and lowers quality of life by limiting access to jobs employment, education, and nutrition. Unsatisfactory needs and poor family planning use can be explained by fear of negative impacts, rejection from couples, limits in knowledge, and social condemnation. Objectives To understanding the Middle East women’s barriers about make decisions and use of family planning methods Methodology A descriptive and analytic (cross sectional) study, conducted at six Arabic countries includes a non-probability (purposive sample) consist of (198) women. Which were selected according to inclusion criteria that are women in reproductive age, primiparous and multiparous mothers, and mothers who attended primary healthcare centers. Results Women are with average age of 32.23±7.9 years in which the highest percentage is seen with age group of 30-39 (40.4%). women have high affective barrier to avoid family planning methods (total grand mean= 2.60); have high behavioral barriers to avoid family planning methods (total grand mean= 2.56); and have high cognitive barriers to avoid family planning methods (total grand mean= 2.56). So, the mean scores indicate high among most of affective, behavioral, and cognitive barriers. Conclusions There are many potential barriers which can negatively impact the Middle East women’s decision about their reproductive life (affective, behavioral and cognitive) barriers. Despite the fact that family planning faces several challenges in the Middle East, governments and civil society organizations are working to find solutions to improve access to family planning services, promote education, hold candid conversations about reproductive health with local communities. Empowering the role of nurse in family planning to educate the couples about contraceptive methods and how to help them to choice the appropriate method.
Why is the percentage of female engineers higher in Algeria than in Switzerland? The Gender Equality Paradox – Evidence and Explications
Authors: Osterloh Margit , Rost Katja
Published: August 2024

The gender gap in the fields of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and computer science) in richer and more egalitarian countries compared to poorer and less egalitarian countries is called the “Gender Equality Paradox” (GEP). We provide an overview of the evidence for the GEP and discuss criticism against the GEP and its explanations. We suggest a new framework to explain the GEP by combining identity economics with happiness economics. Applying this framework, we suggest, that in rich countries an increase in wealth tends to increase the contradiction between the female gender role and STEM-aspirations while the male gender role remains unaffected.
Development and structure of the discipline “Applied chemistry in medicine” (elective course) at the school of medicine
Authors: Grekova A. , Burdina Ia. , Gridina I. , Shyrykalova A. , Reda Abbassi , Kolomiiets P.
Published: August 2024

Along with teaching the natural science and medical principles, it is the author's proposal to create a new subject for electives, “How Applied Chemistry Helps in Medication” to see education level of medical application in higher education students within the Faculty of Medicine. This elective tries to amalgamate two different topics involving both chemistry and medicine. Besides this, it places serious emphasis on the importance of public health within the context of medical practice, of the significant role chemical principles may play in the modern health care system. Students have an opportunity to investigate subjects like environmental toxicology, pharmaceutical chemistry, and chemical risk assessment in which they can perceive the chemistry’s face with the public health field. The knowledge about disease prevention strategies, health promotion and community wellness obtained as a result can enhance the skillset students need to work towards evidence-based approaches in disease prevention. The course is designed as a 3.0 credits ECTS specified by the regulatory requirements.
Thematic subjects get covered and include chemical principles, toxicology, pharmaceutical chemistry, environmental toxicology, and chemical risk assessment. Sessions are designed to provide a complete picture of the domain and the methodological toolkit, while at the same time they are interactive and practical by applying theoretical concepts to real-life situations. Introduce the development of problem-solving and critical thinking as one of the learning objectives.
Personalizing Ad Load to Optimize Subscription and Ad Revenues: Product Strategies Constructed from Experiments on Pandora
Authors: Goli Ali , Reiley David H. , Zhang Hongkai
Published: August 2024

Using a field experiment on Pandora Media, the researchers show that one can increase subscription profits by 7% by personalizing ad load across users without decreasing ad profits.
Thinking Madame Raquin: Consciousness and Cognition in Émile Zola's Thérèse Raquin (1867)
Authors: Harrow Susan
Published: August 2024

Abstract: An immersive reading of the elderly matriarch figure in Émile Zola's Thérèse Raquin (1867) demonstrates how representations of old age in nineteenth-century French fiction can benefit from cognitive literary-critical approaches. Putting to work key concepts from this fast-developing field (affordances, propinquity, cognitive adaptability, and embedded thinking) allows us to reveal the complex trajectory of consciousness and the inverse correlation of Madame Raquin's physical incapacity and her mental and imaginative adaptation. Literary cognitive approaches can thus enable a fuller problematization of Naturalism, while Zola's fiction offers a situational understanding of consciousness in old age that challenges clichés of cognitive rigidity and depreciation.
Vieillir en route, mourir « at home »: Histoire du vieux Robert (1878) de Thérèse Alphonse Karr
Authors: Smeets Marc
Published: August 2024

Abstract: À travers la nouvelle Histoire du vieux Robert (1878), Thérèse Alphonse Karr propose un nouveau sens du mot anglais « home » qui a fait son entrée dans la langue française au XIXe siècle. Si le mot polysémique est à la fois pays, région, maison, intérieur et chez soi, « home » est désormais aussi, du moins pour ceux qui adhèrent à la religion catholique, l'autre nom du royaume céleste, de la maison du Père. Grâce à l'histoire du nonagénaire Robert qui a été « en route » pendant toute sa vie, aller « at home » a une tout autre signification.
All-optical generation of full-range symmetry-tunable triangular-shaped pulses via wavelength multiplexing
Authors: Yin Li , Yang Shuna , Yang Xinghua , Yao Yuanyuan , Yang Bo , Chi Hao
Published: August 2024

A novel, to the best of our knowledge, all-optical approach for generating full-range symmetry-tunable triangular-shaped pulses through wavelength multiplexing is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Two light-waves with a specified wavelength interval are injected in parallel into two commercial push–pull Mach–Zehnder modulators (MZMs) to carry the baseband radio frequency input. A tunable optical delay line (ODL) followed by one MZM is utilized to introduce the desired phase shift. By multiplexing the modulated signals carried on two wavelengths, triangular-shaped pulses can be achieved by the opto-electronic conversion. In this approach, by simply adjusting the DC bias voltages and the delay time offered by ODL, the triangular-shaped pulse with any self-defined symmetrical coefficient can be obtained. A complete theoretical analysis on the operation principle is presented and verified. The triangular-shaped pulses with full-range tunable symmetrical coefficients at the repetition rate of 5 GHz are successfully generated. This approach features all-optical architecture, ultra-wide system bandwidth, full-range tunable symmetry (0%–100%) and excellent reconfigurability, which are highly desired for the high-performance triangular-shaped pulse generator.
In-situ aberration correction for Laguerre-Gaussian optical tweezers via optimization of orbit shape
Authors: Otsu-Hyodo Tomoko , Ohtake Yoshiyuki , Ando Taro
Published: August 2024

We introduce a concept of aberration correction under microscopy that is based on observation of circular Brownian motion of an object driven by orbital angular momentum of a Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beam. Following the concept, we establish an aberration-correction scheme by using a holographic optical tweezers setup equipped with a spatial light modulator that produces the LG beam as well as corrects the light wavefront. The light wavefront is modified adaptively to improve circular symmetry and uniformity of the orbit of a colloidal dielectric sphere revolving in mid-water under the irradiation of the LG beam. We reveal that the proposed scheme is sensitive to tiny phase difference of less than the accuracy of a highest-grade optical flat, 0.05λ, and is applicable to aberrations of up to the first 21 terms of the Zernike series expansion. The scheme not only improves the quality of optical tweezers but also enables to distinguish individual objective lenses assigned a common product code from difference in aberration-correction patterns. The present contribution therefore provides a useful tool for microscopy and laser fabrication in addition to the immediate application to optical trapping.
Full-space metasurfaces for independent manipulation of transmission and reflection
Authors: Deng Juan , Duan Jiaxi , Fu Rao , Geng Yang , Lu Hui , Gao Fan , Yan Bo
Published: August 2024

In recent years, beam manipulation using metasurfaces has evolved from being limited to either a transmission or reflection space to encompassing a full space. However, existing methods still inevitably require complex systems and are unable to achieve continuous and arbitrary phase manipulation. Here, one type of a bilayer metasurface is proposed to simultaneously manipulate reflection and transmission phases continuously and independently, which also makes the optical system more compact without requiring any analyzers and enhances the degree of freedom for full-space beam manipulation. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, one device is designed to show different holograms in transmission and reflection spaces. Additionally, the Dammann grating designed in the reflection hologram increases the information capacity. The proposed method may pave the way toward achieving a variety of applications such as multi-channel beam manipulation and multifunctional optical devices.
Polarization-insensitive optical coherence tomography using polarization maintaining fiber with a simple optical configuration
Authors: Seong Daewoon , Han Sangyeob , Kim Yoonseok , Jeon Mansik , Kim Jeehyun
Published: August 2024

Compensation of polarization-variance-related artifacts is required to steadily obtain high-quality optical coherence tomography (OCT) images at various experimental conditions. Since most OCT systems utilize optical fiber to transfer the light easily and a polarized light source, the polarization state is arbitrarily changed in every different condition. In this study, we proposed polarization-maintaining-fiber-based polarization-insensitive OCT (PM-PI-OCT) with a simple optical configuration and a simple compensation process. The proposed PM-PI-OCT is not only theoretically proved by mathematical derivations but also evaluated by quantitative analysis of various fiber twisting angles. Moreover, the applicability and robustness of the proposed PM-PI-OCT were proved by human retina imaging using the customized handheld probe. Our proposed polarization-insensitive OCT requires no pre-calibration, no post-processing procedure, and no computational load for implementation and is able to be applied to universal fiber-based OCT systems. We believe that our simple and robust polarization-insensitive OCT system is able to be applied to various existing OCT setups for polarization state variance compensation with high versatility and applicability.
Realizing submeter spatial resolution for Raman distributed fiber-optic sensing using a chaotic asymmetric paired-pulse correlation-enhanced scheme
Authors: Fan Bowen , Li Jian , Cheng Zijia , Xue Xiaohui , Zhang Mingjiang
Published: August 2024

The sensing spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of Raman distributed optical fiber sensors are limited by the pulse width and weak Raman scattering signals. Notably, the sensing spatial resolution cannot exceed the order of meters at several kilometers sensing distances. To break through this physical bottleneck, a novel, to our knowledge, Raman scattering model based on paired-pulse sensing is constructed. The fundamental origins of the observed limited spatial resolution of conventional schemes are analyzed, and a chaotic asymmetric paired-pulse correlation-enhanced scheme for Raman distributed fiber-optic sensing is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The proposed scheme uses a chaotic asymmetric paired-pulse as the sensing signal and extracts the light intensity information of each data point of the sensing fiber, which carries the random undulation characteristics of chaotic time series, based on the time-domain differential reconstruction method. This scheme overcomes the pulse width limitation of spatial resolution via correlation and demodulation, enhances the correlation characteristics between the temperature-modulated Raman scattered light field and detection signal, and improves the SNR. Finally, a sensing performance of 10 km, a spatial resolution of 30 cm, and an SNR of 6.67 dB are realized in the experiment. This scheme provides a new research idea for a high-performance Raman distributed optical fiber sensing system.
Mit Low-Code vom digitalen Produktpass bis zur Automatisierung ganzer Wertschöpfungsketten
Authors: Hennig Stefan , Schulze Bruno , Wallisch Franz , Anke Jürgen
Published: August 2024

Mittelständische Unternehmen stehen unter einem enormen Marktdruck. Sie bewegen sich im Spannungsfeld von steigenden Kundenanforderungen, eines zunehmenden Fachkräftemangels sowie komplexer gesetzlicher Rahmenbedingungen u. a. in Bezug auf Cybersecurity, Nachhaltigkeit sowie Sorgfaltspflichten bezüglich Menschenrechte und Klimaschutz. Digitalisierung und Automatisierung von Geschäftsprozessen verspricht, diesen Druck auf die Unternehmen zu reduzieren, den Anforderungen verschiedener Stakeholder in kürzerer Zeit nachzukommen und Freiheit für strategische Handlungsfähigkeit zu gewinnen.

Anhand eines Herstellers von Maschinenkomponenten wird gezeigt, welche Rolle Low-Code-Ansätze für die digitale Transformation in mittelständischen Unternehmen spielen. Mit einer Low-Code Integrationsplattform wurden die bereits vorhandenen jedoch isolierten Daten und Informationen im Unternehmen aufgabenorientiert aus den verschiedenen IT-Systemen erschlossen und zusammengeführt. Mittels APIs und ansprechenden Frontends wurden diese Daten für die verschiedenen Stakeholder (Kunden, Servicepartner, interne Vertriebs- und Serviceabteilungen) spezifisch aufbereitet und als digitaler Produktpass bereitgestellt. Durch den Einsatz von Low-Code-Ansätzen betrug der Aufwand dafür insgesamt nur 20 Personentage.

Der Beitrag liefert zunächst eine Begriffsbildung und gibt anschließend einen Einblick in die Konzeption und Umsetzung des digitalen Produktpasses, diskutiert anhand konkreter Szenarien Grenzen von Low-Code-Ansätzen und zeigt Lösungsansätze auf. Ein Ausblick auf den Zusammenhang von Low-Code und künstlicher Intelligenz rundet den Beitrag ab.
Applying behavioural economics principles to increase demand for free HIV testing services at private doctor-led clinics in Johannesburg, South Africa: A randomised controlled trial
Authors: Bokolo Simamkele , Mabaso Suzanne , Kruger Wentzel , Mistri Preethi , Schmucker Laura , Chetty-Makkan Candice , Pascoe Sophie J. S. , Buttenheim Alison , Thirumurthy Harsha , Long Lawrence
Published: August 2024

Expanding free HIV testing service (HTS) access to include private clinics could increase testing rates. A donor funded programme, GP Care Cell, offered free HIV testing at selected private doctor-led clinics but uptake was low. We investigated whether HTS demand creation materials that used behavioural economics principles could increase demand for HIV testing at these clinics. We conducted a randomised controlled trial in Johannesburg, South Africa (January-April 2022) distributing brochures promoting HTS to adults in five private doctor-led clinic catchment areas. Individuals were randomised to receive three brochure types: (1) “Standard of care” (SOC) advertising a free HIV test and ART; (2) “Healthy lifestyle screening” promoted free low-cost health screenings in addition to HTS; and (3) “Recipient of care voucher” leveraged loss aversion and the endowment effect by highlighting the monetary value of free HTS. The primary outcome was presenting at the clinic following exposure to the brochures. Logistic regression compared outcomes between arms. We found that of the 12,129 brochures distributed, 658 were excluded because of errors or duplicates and 11,471 were analysed. About 59% of brochure recipients were male and 50,3% were aged 25–34 years. In total, 448 (3.9%) brochure recipients presented at the private doctor-led clinics of which 50.7% were males. There were no significant differences in clinic presentation between the healthy lifestyle screening and SOC arm (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] 1.02; 95% CI 0.79–1.32), and similarly between the recipient of care voucher and SOC arm (AOR 1.08; 95% CI 0.84–1.39). Individuals were more likely to attend centrally-located clinics that had visible HTS branding (AOR = 5.30; 95% CI: 4.14–6.79). Brochures that used behavioural insights did not increase demand for HTS at private doctor-led clinics. However, consistent distribution of the brochures may have potential to increase HIV testing uptake at highly visible private doctor-led clinics.
Etomidate as an anesthetic in Colossoma macropomum: Behavioral and electrophysiological data complement each other as a tool to assess anesthetic safety
Authors: Reis Thaysa de Sousa , Araújo Daniella Bastos de , Paz Clarissa Araújo da , Santos Rodrigo Gonçalves , Barbosa Anara de Sousa , Souza Luana Vasconcelos de , Deiga Yris da Silva , Garcia Vera Louzeiro de Oliveira , Barbosa Gabriela Brito , Rocha Lucas Lima da , Hamoy Moisés
Published: August 2024

The use of anesthetic agents in the management of fish in fish farming or ornamental fish breeding aims to minimize stress and promote animal welfare. Therefore, this study aims to investigate behavioral, electrocardiographic, and ventilatory characteristics of tambaquis exposed to anesthetic baths with etomidate. The study was conducted with juvenile tambaquis (27.38 ± 3.5g) n = 99, at etomidate concentrations of 2–4 mg.L -1, analyzing induction and anesthetic recovery behavior (experiment I), electrocardiogram (experiment II), and opercular movement (experiment III). Fish exposed to high concentrations of etomidate reached the stage of general anesthesia faster, however, the recovery time was longer, characterizing a dose-dependent relationship. Cardiorespiratory analyzes demonstrated a reduction in heart rate (69.19%) and respiratory rate (40.70%) depending on the concentration of etomidate used during anesthetic induction. During the recovery period, there was cardiorespiratory reversibility to normality. Therefore, etomidate proved to be safe as an anesthetic agent for this species at concentrations of 2 to 3 mg.L -1 for short-term anesthesia, but at higher doses the animals showed slow reversibility of anesthesia in a gradual manner and without excitability. The hemodynamic effect due to the rapid decrease in heart rate includes a negative factor of using higher concentrations of etomidate for Colossome macropomum anesthesia.
Women’s empowerment, household dietary diversity, and child anthropometry among vulnerable populations in Odisha, India
Authors: Ogutu Sylvester , Mockshell Jonathan , Garrett James , Ritter Thea , Labarta Ricardo , Alvarez Diego , Nedumaran Swamikannu , Gonzalez Carolina , Gotor Elisabetta
Published: August 2024

Women’s empowerment has been promoted by researchers and development practitioners as one of the most promising strategies to address widespread hunger and malnutrition. However, the relationship between women’s empowerment and dietary diversity and child nutrition has rarely been studied among vulnerable populations or individuals at greater risk of poor physical and social health status. Moreover, the effects of different domains of women’s empowerment on nutritional outcomes, including dietary diversity and child anthropometry, have rarely been examined, especially with panel data. Using two rounds of panel data from 1900 households and fixed effects regression models, we analyze the effect of women’s empowerment on household dietary diversity score (HDDS) and child anthropometry among the particularly vulnerable tribal groups in Odisha, India. We also estimate the effects of various decision-making domains of women’s empowerment on HDDS and child anthropometry to understand which empowerment domains matter for nutrition. Results show that women’s empowerment is positively associated with HDDS (coef. 0.41 food groups; p < 0.1) and reduces the prevalence of underweight (coef. 39%; p < 0.05) and wasting (coef. 56%; p < 0.1) in children but has no effect on the prevalence of child stunting. Women’s empowerment in agricultural input use; output sales; income; food purchases; and credit, group membership, and employment contribute to improved dietary diversity and child nutrition. We conclude that women’s empowerment contributes to improved dietary diversity and child nutrition and is a promising strategy to improve farm household diets and child nutrition among vulnerable populations. Strengthening women’s empowerment through the promotion of women’s access to land and other agricultural inputs, market participation, access to information, capital, and credit is important.
Gut microbial composition is altered in sarcopenia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical studies
Authors: Mai Xiaohong , Yang Shuyi , Chen Qifeng , Chen Kangkang
Published: August 2024

Increasing evidence has shown that gut microbiota (GM) was involved in the pathophysiology of musculoskeletal disorders through multiple pathways such as protein anabolism, chronic inflammation and immunity, and imbalanced metabolism. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of human studies to evaluate GM diversity differences between individuals with and without sarcopenia, and explore bacteria with potential to become biomarkers. PubMed, Embase and Cochrane library were systematically searched from inception to February 16, 2024. Studies were included if they (1) sampled adults with sarcopenia, and (2) performed GM analysis and reported α-diversity, β-diversity or relative abundance. The methodological quality of included studies and the certainty of evidence were assessed through the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal checklist for analytical cross-sectional studies and the Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) Working Group system, respectively. Weighted standardized mean differences (SMDs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated for α-diversity indices using a fixed-effects and a random-effects model. Beta diversity and the relative abundance of GM were summarized qualitatively. A total of 19 studies involving 6,565 participants were included in this study. Compared with controls, significantly moderate decrease in microbial richness in participants with sarcopenia were found (Chao1: SMD = -0.44; 95%CI, -0.64 to -0.23, I2 = 57.23%, 13 studies; observed species: SMD = -0.68; 95%CI, -1.00 to -0.37, I2 = 66.07%, 5 studies; ACE index: SMD = -0.30; 95%CI, -0.56 to -0.04, I2 = 8.12%, 4 studies), with very low certainty of evidence. Differences in β-diversity were consistently observed in 84.6% of studies and 97.3% of participants. The detailed analysis of the gut microbial differential abundance identified a loss of Prevotellaceae, Prevotella, and Megamonas in sarcopenia compared with non-sarcopenia. In conclusion, sarcopenia was found to be associated with reduced richness of GM, and supplementing intestinal bacteria described above may contribute to preventing and treating this muscle disease. The research protocol was registered and approved in PROSPERO (CRD42023412849).
Impact of body mass index on mortality outcomes in intensive care patients with Staphylococcus aureus sepsis: A retrospective analysis
Authors: Xu Heping , Liu Yiqiao , Niu Huan , Wang Hong , Zhan Feng
Published: August 2024

Background

Evidence associating body mass index (BMI) with the prognosis of Staphylococcus aureus sepsis remains scarce.

Objective

To explore the association between BMI and clinical outcomes in intensive care units patients with Staphylococcus aureus sepsis.

Methods

A retrospective analysis of patients with Staphylococcus aureus sepsis was conducted using the MIMIC-IV database from the Critical Care Medicine Information. Data were collected within the first 24 hours of intensive care units admission. The primary endpoint was 28-day mortality. The association between BMI and 28-day all-cause mortality was assessed using multivariable logistic regression, subgroup analyses, restricted cubic spline curves and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.

Results

The study included 2,295 patients with an average age of 63.5 (16.1) years, 60.2% of whom were male. Multivariate analysis revealed that each 1 kg/m2 increase in BMI was linked to a 2.8% decrease in the risk of 28-day mortality (adjusted OR = 0.972, 95% CI: 0.955–0.990, P = 0.002). Patients in the medium and high BMI categories had significantly lower risks of 28-day mortality compared to those in the low BMI group (OR [95% CI] 0.650 [0.474–0.891]; OR [95% CI] 0.516 [0.378–0.705]; P trend < 0.0001). The RCS model showed a non-linear association between BMI and 28-day mortality (P = 0.014). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that patients with elevated BMI had lower 28-day mortality (P < 0.0001). Notably, significant interactions between AKI and SOFA with BMI were observed (P<0.05).

Conclusion

Increased BMI is associated with a reduced risk of 28-day all-cause mortality in patients with Staphylococcus aureus sepsis.
Clinical Effectiveness of CAM methods for pain reduction in acute non-specific lower back pain
Authors: Gaber John , Masuyama Shoko
Published: August 2024

Abstract

Background: Acute Nonspecific Lower Back Pain (ANLBP) significantly impacts quality of life and often leads to the use of various treatments, including Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). This retrospective study examines the effectiveness of three CAM treatments: acupuncture, cupping, and sotai therapy—in managing ANLBP.

Methods: The study analyzed medical records from the Doctorkits - Integrative Holistic Health Clinic in Toronto, Canada, spanning August 2018 to February 2020. Patients were retrospectively grouped into four categories: acupuncture, cupping, sotai therapy, and a control group receiving no treatment. Pain intensity was assessed using the Faces Pain Scale (FPS), with measurements recorded before the intervention and 24 hours post-intervention.

Results: The study found significant reductions in Faces Pain Scale (FPS) scores across all CAM treatment groups 24 hours post-intervention compared to the control group. Specifically, the acupuncture group showed a reduction of 3.05 points, the cupping group by 3.25 points, and the sotai group by 2.95 points in FPS scores, with p-values of 9.94E-05, 3.46E-05, and 7.04E-06, respectively. These results were statistically significant, confirming the effectiveness of each CAM treatment in reducing pain intensity.

Conclusion: This study provides empirical evidence supporting the clinical effectiveness of acupuncture, cupping, and sotai therapy in reducing pain levels among patients with ANLBP. These findings suggest that CAM therapies can be effective immediate options for pain alleviation in ANLBP management, warranting further investigation into their long-term effects and potential integration into standard care practices.
Plasmonic Simulation of De Broglie’s Principle

and Measurement of Photon Dimensions
Authors: de Morais Ribeiro Henrique
Published: August 2024

This paper proposes that De Broglie’s duality principle can be experimentallydemonstrated to determine the dimensions of photons. This can be achievedthrough plasmonic simulation by measuring the quanta of surface plasmons.
The impact of a teacher's target position on the intention to leave the teaching profession at each stage of a teaching career
Authors:   Center For Educational Research, Park Juhyoung , Shin Hye Sook
Published: August 2024

Purpose: This study analyzed how a teacher's target position (i.e., head teacher, educational manager, educational specialist) affects the intention to leave the teaching profession at each stage of a teaching career.
Methods: Based on data from the first year of the Seoul Teacher Longitudinal Study 2020, basic analysis and logistic regression analysis were applied to verify the impact of teachers' target positions.
Results: Whether or not a teacher has a target position of promotion was found to have a statistically significant effect on the intention to leave the teaching profession at each stage of a teaching career. In addition, in the initial period, gender, motivation (intrinsic, extrinsic), burnout, school level, establishment type, and school autonomy have an influence, but in the growth period, gender, extrinsic motivation, burnout, and school size have an influence, and in the mature period, gender, household income, and motivation (Intrinsic, extrinsic) and burnout influenced the intention to leave the teaching profession.
Conclusion: Teachers with a high intention to leave the teaching profession are likely to be dissatisfied with their current position and not be faithful to their assigned role. Therefore, a career development stage is required to set a new target position in addition to the existing promotion system so that teachers can have an appropriate target position.
Adsorption using Selective Adsorbents as An Effective Method for Rare Earth Elements Recovery–a Review
Authors: Jamilah Nurul , Cahaya Adam B , Riswoko Asep
Published: August 2024

Rare Earth Elements (REEs) are strategically important for the industry, especially in the manufacture of high-technology products and components, such as electric batteries for energy storage, energy conversion, defense and security industry, electric vehicles, components on smartphones, laptops, liquid crystal display, and others. Generally, REEs are processed by liquid-liquid extraction. However, this process is very costly due to the use of chemicals and high operational costs, so the waste has the potential to pollute the environment. Currently, innovative separation/recovery techniques are continuously being developed for effective and environmentally friendly extraction of rare earths. The adsorption method using the optimal adsorbent is one of the most efficient methods for recovering REEs at low concentrations. This method offers several advantages, including high release effectiveness, ease of installation and operation, low maintenance costs, and reduced chemical consumption. This study reviews the mechanism, characterization, and several adsorbents from natural to synthetic materials, especially nanocomposite-based adsorbents for the recovery of rare earths. In addition, the discussion of several parameters that affect the adsorbent. However, the results of several methodological breakthroughs that have been carried out show how much further research is needed
Pokolenie Z w przestrzeni edukacji formalnej: potrzeby i wyzwania
Authors: Blachowska-Szmigiel Marzena
Published: August 2024

The article addresses the role and tasks of the modern school and university in relation to the educational needs of Generation Z, born and raised in the realities of liquid modernity. Given the peculiarity of these realities, the key need of contemporary society in general, and of Generation Z in particular, appears to be the development of learning competences. The role and task of the school and university therefore boils down to teaching how to learn, to enjoy discovering the truth and sharing it. The aim of this article is to answer the questions to what extent school and university institutions fulfil this role and task, and what challenges they face.
Spatialyze: A Geospatial Video Analytics System with Spatial-Aware Optimizations
Authors: Kittivorawong Chanwut , Ge Yongming , Helal Yousef , Cheung Alvin
Published: August 2024

Videos that are shot using commodity hardware such as phones and surveillance cameras record various metadata such as time and location. We encounter such
geospatial videos
on a daily basis and such videos have been growing in volume significantly. Yet, we do not have data management systems that allow users to interact with such data effectively.

In this paper, we describe Spatialyze, a new framework for end-to-end querying of geospatial videos. Spatialyze comes with a domain-specific language where users can construct geospatial video analytic workflows using a 3-step, declarative,
build-filter-observe
paradigm. Internally, Spatialyze leverages the declarative nature of such workflows, the temporal-spatial metadata stored with videos, and physical behavior of real-world objects to optimize the execution of workflows. Our results using real-world videos and workflows show that Spatialyze can reduce execution time by up to 5.3×, while maintaining up to 97.1% accuracy compared to unoptimized execution.
SplitDF: Splitting Dataframes for Memory-Efficient Data Analysis
Authors: Kakaraparthy Aarati , Patel Jignesh M.
Published: August 2024

Dataframe is a popular construct in data analysis libraries that offers a tabular view of the data. However, data within a dataframe often has redundancy, which can lead to high memory utilization of data analysis libraries. Inspired by the process of normalization in relational database systems, we propose a technique called
splitting
that can be applied to tabular data to reduce redundancy. Splitting involves performing lossless join decomposition by explicitly adding joining keys, and unlike normalization, splitting can be applied to tabular data without the need to perform functional dependency discovery. A
split
dataframe provides the same unified tabular view to the data, while internally operating on split data to improve memory efficiency. We develop SplitDF, an implementation of split dataframes in Ibis for DuckDB backend, which enables data analysis on split data with minimal changes to the Ibis API. Generation of split tabular data is automated using an algorithm SplitGen implemented in Velox. In our analysis involving ten handwritten notebooks running on SplitDF, we observe a reduction in memory usage of 19--61% when operating on split data as compared to operating on original data.
DIDS: Double Indices and Double Summarizations for Fast Similarity Search
Authors: Hu Han , Qiu Jiye , Wang Hongzhi , Liang Bin , Zou Songling
Published: August 2024

Data series has been one of the significant data forms in various applications. It becomes imperative to devise a data series index that supports both approximate and exact similarity searches for large data series collections in high-dimensional metric spaces. The state-of-the-art works employ summarizations and indices to reduce the accesses to the data series. However, we discover two significant flaws that severely limit performance enhancement. Firstly, the state-of-the-art works often employ segment-based summarizations, whose lower bound distances decrease significantly when representing a data series collection, resulting in numerous invalid accesses. Secondly, the disk-based indices for the exact search mainly rely on tree-based indices, which results in low-quality approximate answers, consequently impacting the exact search.

To address these problems, we propose a novel solution, Double Indices and Double Summarizations (DIDS). Besides segment-based summarizations, DIDS introduces reference-point-based summarizations to improve the pruning rate by the sorted-based representation strategy. Moreover, DIDS employs reference points and a cost model to cluster similar data series, and uses a graph-based approach to interconnect various regions, enhancing approximate search capabilities. We conduct experiments on extensive datasets, validating the superior search performance of DIDS.
Sparcle: Boosting the Accuracy of Data Cleaning Systems through Spatial Awareness
Authors: Huang Yuchuan , Mokbel Mohamed F.
Published: August 2024

Though data cleaning systems have earned great success and wide spread in both academia and industry, they fall short when trying to clean spatial data. The main reason is that state-of-the-art data cleaning systems mainly rely on functional dependency rules where there is sufficient co-occurrence of value pairs to learn that a certain value of an attribute leads to a corresponding value of another attribute. However, for spatial attributes that represent locations, there is very little chance that two records would have the same exact coordinates, and hence co-occurrence is unlikely to exist. This paper presents Sparcle (SPatially-AwaRe CLEaning); a novel framework that injects spatial awareness into the core engine of rule-based data cleaning systems through two main concepts: (1)
Spatial Neighborhood
, where co-occurrence is relaxed to be within a certain spatial proximity rather than same exact value, and (2)
Distance Weighting
, where records are given different weights of whether they satisfy a dependency rule, based on their relative distance. Experimental results using a real deployment of Sparcle inside a state-of-the-art data cleaning system, and real and synthetic datasets, show that Sparcle significantly boosts the accuracy of data cleaning systems when dealing with spatial data.
SWAT: A System-Wide Approach to Tunable Leakage Mitigation in Encrypted Data Stores
Authors: Zheng Leqian , Xu Lei , Wang Cong , Wang Sheng , Hu Yuke , Qin Zhan , Li Feifei , Ren Kui
Published: August 2024

Numerous studies have underscored the significant privacy risks associated with various leakage patterns in encrypted data stores. While many solutions have been proposed to mitigate these leakages, they either (1) incur substantial overheads, (2) focus on specific subsets of leakage patterns, or (3) apply the same security notion across various workloads, thereby impeding the attainment of fine-tuned privacy-efficiency trade-offs. In light of various detrimental leakage patterns, this paper starts with an investigation into which specific leakage patterns require our focus in the contexts of key-value, range-query, and dynamic workloads, respectively. Subsequently, we introduce new security notions tailored to the specific privacy requirements of these workloads. Accordingly, we propose and instantiate Swat, an efficient construction that progressively enables these workloads, while provably mitigating system-wide leakage via a suite of algorithms with tunable privacy-efficiency trade-offs. We conducted extensive experiments and compiled a detailed result analysis, showing the efficiency of our solution. Swat is about an order of magnitude slower than an encryption-only data store that reveals various leakage patterns and is two orders of magnitude faster than a trivial zero-leakage solution. Meanwhile, the performance of Swat remains highly competitive compared to other designs that mitigate specific types of leakage.