bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The role of body fat in multiple sclerosis susceptibility and severity: A Mendelian randomisation study
Authors: Almramhi Mona M , Storm Catherine S , Kia Demis A , Coneys Rachel , Chhatwal Burleen K , Wood Nicholas W
Published: May 2022

Objective:

The objective of this study was to explore the potential causal associations of body mass index, height, weight, fat mass, fat percentage and non-fat mass in the whole body, arms, legs and trunk (henceforth, ‘anthropometric measures’) with multiple sclerosis (MS) risk and severity. We also investigated the potential for reverse causation between anthropometric measures and MS risk.

Methods:

We conducted a two-sample univariable, multivariable and bidirectional Mendelian randomisation (MR) analysis.

Results:

A range of features linked to obesity (body mass index, weight, fat mass and fat percentage) were risk factors for MS development and worsened the disease’s severity in MS patients. Interestingly, we were able to demonstrate that height and non-fat mass have no association with MS risk or MS severity. We demonstrated that the association between anthropometric measures and MS is not subject to bias from reverse causation.

Conclusions:

Our findings provide evidence from human genetics that a range of features linked to obesity is an important contributor to MS development and MS severity, but height and non-fat mass are not. Importantly, these findings also identify a potentially modifiable factor that may reduce the accumulation of further disability and ameliorate MS severity.
Serum MOG-IgG in children meeting multiple sclerosis diagnostic criteria
Authors: Fadda Giulia , Waters Patrick , Woodhall Mark , Brown Robert A , O’Mahony Julia , Castro Denise A , Longoni Giulia , Yeh E Ann , Marrie Ruth Ann , Arnold Douglas L , Banwell Brenda , Bar-Or Amit
Published: May 2022

Background:

Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD) is now recognized as distinct from multiple sclerosis (MS).

Objective:

To evaluate the importance of considering myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG)-immunoglobulin-G (IgG) serology when applying MS diagnostic criteria in children.

Methods:

Within a prospective cohort of children meeting MS criteria (median follow-up = 6 years, interquartile range (IQR) = 4–9), we measured MOG-IgG in serial archived serum obtained from presentation, and compared imaging and clinical features between seropositive and seronegative participants.

Results:

Of 65 children meeting MS criteria (median age = 14.0 years, IQR = 10.9–15.1), 12 (18%) had MOG-IgG at disease onset. Seropositive participants were younger, had brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features atypical for MS, rarely had cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) oligoclonal bands (2/8, 25%), and accumulated fewer T2 lesions over time. On serial samples, 5/12 (42%) were persistently seropositive, 5/12 (42%) became seronegative, and 2/12 (17%) had fluctuating results. All 12 children experienced a disease course different from typical MS.

Conclusion:

While children with MOG-IgG can have clinical, CSF, and MRI features conforming to MS criteria, the presence of MOG-IgG is associated with atypical features and predicts a non-MS disease course. Given MOG-IgG seropositivity can wane over time, testing at first attack is of considerable importance for the diagnosis of MOGAD.
A Psychological Analysis of the Imagery of Chinese Menshen
Authors: Liang Jingyu , Guo Ruitong , He Yiqing
Published: May 2022

The prominent imagery of Menshen (门神door gods) within traditional Chinese culture has led to the development of a variety of cultural symbols, including military door gods, civil door gods, praying door gods, and other related ones, such as stone lions and Shigandang (stone tablets). This article studies the impact of the belief in Door Gods and their worship on Chinese psychology and behaviour on both a conscious and unconscious level. At the conscious level, from its first articulation to its development into a cultural image and related myths and legends, the belief in Door Gods can be said to have gone through four stages: a primitive worship of reproduction in ancient times, animal worship during the Zhou Dynasty, the worship of anthropomorphic gods during the Han Dynasty and the worship of hero gods worship during the Tang Dynasty. This process corresponds to the four specific symbols of ‘peach branch’, ‘tiger/chicken’, ‘Shēn Shū(神荼)’ and ‘Yù Lǜ(郁垒)’ (‘鬼’: the two spirits guarding the entrance of the house), and ‘hero’. On an unconscious level, the psychological symbolism of the belief in Door Gods belief is interpreted through the Door Gods sacrifice and the Fu(复)” hexagram. Closing the door is related to Kun (坤, the receptive, earth), while opening the door is related to Qian (乾, the creative, heaven). Together, Kun and Qian were held to be in a state of continual transition, one changing into the other, which reflects Chinese philosophy’s emphasis on movement. Traditionally, Chinese people held more than 10 kinds of door-related sacrificial activities every year. Although some of these activities have gradually fallen out of use, the traditional custom of pasting door couplets and images of Door Gods to doorways has been preserved. By repeating the ritual every year, the Chinese gain the strength to protect themselves and their family members. Clinical studies of sandplay therapy have found that the image of Door Gods constitutes a ‘patron saint’ on an unconscious level. Door gods guard the boundary between consciousness and unconsciousness (the inner and outer worlds), thereby protecting the spiritual strength of those who supplicate them. This suggests that using their images in a therapeutic context could help individuals to maintain boundaries and protect themselves. The emergence of the Door Gods image can transform the guardian energy hidden at the border between unconsciousness and consciousness, help the clients keep the boundary and protect themselves.
Stronger together: International tourists “spillover” into close countries
Authors: Park Chansoo , Kim Young-Rae , Yeon Jihwan
Published: May 2022

This paper explores the spillover effect of spatial proximity on international tourism in all 195 countries using data from the World Bank. We use a spatial proximity measure to calculate the number of neighbors that each country has and how the neighboring nations’ international tourist arrivals “unintentionally” affect each country’s international tourism. We define spatial proximity using both the conventional contiguity measure and the minimum-distance measure (MDM) of proximity: the two closest points between countries on their outer boundaries. By constructing spatial lag models (SLM) and spatial error models (SEM), we capture the spillover effects between neighbors. Our findings suggest that a country’s international tourism flows over the period of 1995–2019 are strongly influenced by international tourist arrivals to the nation’s neighboring countries; ranging from 8.1% to 45.8%, depending on the model used. Particularly, the spillover effect was more prominent for the period from 2015–2019, as compared to 1995–1999, implying increasing dependence among neighboring countries in international tourism, which directly contrasts the common assumption that technology is making geographic distance less relevant. This paper provides several important implications for both scholars and practitioners, although further study is required to determine the effects of historical interactions and spatial relations.
Effects of tourism experiences on tourists’ subjective well-being through recollection and storytelling
Authors: Su Lujun , Pan Lin , Wen Jun , Phau Ian
Published: May 2022

In this study, we construct an integrated model demonstrating how the tourism experience (TE) affects tourists’ subjective well-being (SWB) via recollection and storytelling. We distributed questionnaires to tourists in two destinations in China (Kulangsu and Dr Sun Yat-Sen’s Mausoleum) and gathered 320 and 510 valid responses, respectively. The empirical results of Study 1 (Kulangsu) indicated that the tourism experience (TE) directly promoted tourists’ recollection, storytelling, and SWB. Additionally, recollection directly affected storytelling but not SWB. Storytelling further positively affected SWB. Mediation results revealed the following paths: 1) tourism experiences affected storytelling, which influenced SWB; 2) tourism experiences affected recollection, which influenced storytelling and in turn SWB. Findings from Study 2 (Dr Sun Yat-Sen’s Mausoleum) corroborated those of Study 1, confirming the stability of the integrated model. Theoretical and managerial implications, limitations, and future research directions are also discussed.
Telerehabilitation physical exercise for patients with lung cancer through the course of their disease: A systematic review
Authors: Burton Madeleine , Valet Maxime , Caty Gilles , Aboubakar Frank , Reychler Gregory
Published: May 2022

Background and objective

Evidence is shown for the benefits of physical activity, for patients with lung cancer, at different times through the course of the disease. Telerehabilitation can overcome some of barriers often met by patients to practice physical activity. The objective of this systematic review is to assess feasibility and safety of telerehabilitation for patients with lung cancer, its effects on physical capacity, quality of life, symptoms severity, depression and anxiety, survival, lung function, post-operative outcomes, dyspnoea and body composition. Secondary aim was to distinguish the telerehabilitation efficacy between the different phases of the disease.

Data source and selection criteria

Pubmed, PEDro, Scopus, ScienceDirect, randomized controlled trials and non-randomized controlled trials, written in French or English, of telerehabilitation among patients with lung cancer.

Results

Eight studies were included. Telerehabilitation is safe but was characterized by a low recruitment and attendance rate (<70%). It enhances quality of life, muscle mass, depression and anxiety but it does not improve physical capacity (except in preoperative period), symptoms severity, survival, lung function or dyspnoea. After surgery, it ameliorates quality of life, depression and anxiety. During systemic treatments of lung cancer, it improves quality of life, symptoms severity and muscle mass.

Conclusion

Telerehabilitation could be proposed in patients with lung cancer as a complementary intervention of hospital-based programme to increase physical activity volume, compliance and self-efficacy. In case the classic programmes are not possible, it could also be an alternative approach for patients unable to participate to a hospital or community-based training programme.
Performing parotidectomy postoperative follow-ups via telemedicine: Experience at a tertiary care, multiple-surgeon otolaryngology center
Authors: Antezana Luis A , Xie Katherine Z , Yin Linda X , Bowen Andrew J , Yeakel Sarah , Nassiri Ashley M , Moore Eric J
Published: May 2022

Introduction

We examined the suitability of using a video visit platform to perform postoperative parotidectomy evaluation at a tertiary care, multiple-surgeon otolaryngology center.

Methods

A retrospective case review was conducted of patients who underwent parotidectomy and postoperative video visits between November 2019 and December 2020. Success of video visit, plan if applicable, and post-visit outcomes were reviewed. Video visits were designated as successful if the physician could assess for complications in the postoperative course (e.g. first bite pain, Frey syndrome, ear numbness, unplanned visits to the emergency department, unplanned return to the operating room), perform examination of facial nerve function, and formulate care recommendations per clinical judgement without deferment of recommendations for a subsequent in-person visit.

Results

There were 96 postoperative video visits with 91 unique parotidectomy patients. Demographics: 28/63 male/female; average age, 54y. All video visits were suitable for successful postoperative parotidectomy patient evaluation. Eight visits (8.3%) consisted of patients presenting with common postoperative complications (e.g. eye dryness, first bite pain) and warranted care recommendations. In only two cases did the patient require further in-person procedural (hematoma evacuation, seroma aspiration) follow-ups. For the other 91.7% of visits (n = 88), no additional recommendations were required as patients experienced uncomplicated postoperative courses. Of all the patients, 26.1% (n = 23) were instructed to follow-up for routine surveillance. All other patients, 73.9% (n = 65) were instructed to follow-up as needed.

Conclusion

Postoperative parotidectomy evaluation is highly amenable to being performed by video. A telemedicine option offers convenience for patients in the majority of cases without compromising clinical assessment and judgment for the physician.
Providing essential gender-affirming telehealth services to transgender youth during COVID-19: A service review
Authors: McGregor Kerry , Williams Coleen R , Botta Ariel , Mandel Francie , Gentile Jennifer
Published: May 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant effects on service delivery for transgender and gender diverse youth. Many in-person services were suspended in response to the need to follow quarantine and social-distancing guidelines, at both the state and national levels. In response, our pediatric gender clinic adopted a rapid implementation of telehealth services to provide access to gender affirming care. However, there exists little guidance on how to provide gender-affirming care via these platforms. In this article, we provide a narrative review of the development of a full-scale model for delivering telehealth services to transgender and gender diverse youth and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also discuss the benefits and drawbacks of telehealth services for transgender and gender-diverse youth and focus on the continued need for advocacy around systemic barriers to care.
A physical therapist and nurse practitioner model of care for chronic back pain using telehealth: Diagnostic and management concordance
Authors: Lovo Stacey , Harrison Liz , O’Connell Megan E , Rotter Thomas , Bath Brenna
Published: May 2022

Introduction

Virtual care using videoconference links between urban-based physical therapists and nurse practitioners in rural primary care may overcome access challenges and enhance care for rural and remote residents with chronic low back disorders (CBD). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the concordance of this new model of care with two traditional models.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study design, each of 27 participants with CBD were assessed by: 1) a team of a nurse practitioner (NP) located with a patient, joined by a physical therapist (PT) using videoconferencing (NP/PTteam); 2) in-person PT (PTalone); and 3) in-person NP (NPalone). Diagnostic and management concordance between the three groups were assessed with percent agreement and kappa.

Results

Overall diagnostic categorization was compared for PTalone versus NPalone and NP/PTteam: percent agreement was 77.8% ( k = 0.474, p = 0.001) and 74.1% ( k = 0.359, p = 0.004), respectively. In terms of management recommendations, the PTalone and NPalone demonstrated strong agreement on “need for urgent surgical referral” (92.6%, k = 0.649 ( p < 0.00) and slight agreement for “refer to primary physician for pharmacology, lab or imaging” (81.5%, k = 0.372 ( p = 0.013). The PTalone and NP/PTteam demonstrated strong agreement on “need for urgent surgical referral” (96.3%, k = 0.649, p = 0.000) and “recommendation for PT follow up” (88.9%, k = 0.664, p = 0.000).

Discussion

The diagnostic categorization and management recommendations of the team using videoconferencing for CBD were similar to decisions made by an in-person PT. This model of care may provide a method for enhancing access to PT for CBD assessment and initial management in underserved areas.
Intravascular ultrasound in peripheral venous and arterial interventions: A contemporary systematic review and grading of the quality of evidence
Authors: Natesan Sahana , Mosarla Ramya C , Parikh Sahil A , Rosenfield Kenneth , Suomi Joanna , Chalyan David , Jaff Michael , Secemsky Eric A
Published: May 2022

Although angiography has been the primary imaging modality used in peripheral vascular intervention, this technique has major limitations due to the evaluation of three-dimensional vessels in two dimensions. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is an important adjunctive tool that can address some of these limitations. This systematic review assesses the appropriateness of IVUS as an imaging modality for guiding peripheral intervention through evidence collection and clinical appraisal of studies. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, a cohort of 48 studies (29 arterial; 19 venous) detailing IVUS use in peripheral vascular intervention were extracted. Qualitative assessment of the studies evaluated pre- and postprocedure efficacy of IVUS and revealed that IVUS-guided peripheral intervention in arterial and venous diagnosis and treatment was superior to other imaging techniques alone. Each study in the cohort was further assessed for reliability and validity using the Oxford Centre for Evidence Based Medicine (CEBM) level of evidence scale. The majority of both arterial (79.3%) and venous (73.7%) studies received a 2b rating, the second highest level of evidence rating. The evidence to date indicates that IVUS results in better clinical outcomes overall and should be more widely adopted as an adjunctive imaging modality during peripheral intervention. (PROSPERO Registration No.: CRD42021232353)
What Happens Next? Using the Story Completion Method to Surface the Affects and Materialities of Digital Privacy Dilemmas
Authors: Watson Ash , Lupton Deborah
Published: May 2022

People’s ideas and practices concerning their personal data and digital privacy have received growing attention in social inquiry. In this article, we discuss findings from a study that adopted the story completion method together with a theoretical perspective building on feminist materialism to explore how people make sense of and respond to digital privacy dilemmas. The Digital Privacy Story Completion Project presented participants with a set of four story prompts (‘stems’) for them to complete. Each introduced a fictional character facing a privacy dilemma related to personal data generated from their online interactions or app use. Our analysis surfaces how privacy is imagined as simultaneously personal and social, redolent with affective intensities, and framed through relational connections of human and nonhuman agents. While the story stems involved scenarios using digital technologies, participants’ stories extended beyond the technological. These stories offer insight into why and how the potential for and meaning of digital privacy unfolds into more-than-digital worlds.
How the First COVID-19 Lockdown Worsened Younger Generations’ Mental Health: Insights from Network Theory
Authors: Vacchiano Mattia
Published: May 2022

Two years after the first wave of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), one fact seems to be emerging clearly: lockdowns affect mental health differently across generations. This article uses data collected before and after the first wave of COVID-19 on a sample of 5,859 respondents, showing that the first lockdown worsened the mental health of the younger generations (Gen Y and Gen Z) in particular. Given that the older generations are considered the most vulnerable in this global pandemic, this may seem surprising. However, our data reveal that the pandemic outbreak raised very different concerns in different generations. While older people appear to be worried about the economy and their own health, younger people were more concerned about their lifestyles and, generally, their social relationships. This suggests that some of the mechanisms behind the exacerbation of younger people’s mental health may lie at the intersection of these two issues. On one hand, a life lived essentially online undermines all those processes of social capital activation that occur through leisure and face-to-face encounters, from which Gen Z may have suffered in particular. On the other hand, not only has the pandemic added further uncertainty to Generation Y’s career paths but working from home has also forced them to reorganize family routines and construct entirely new ones with colleagues using computers and smartphones. The article reflects on the upheavals of work and leisure to foster research on networks, social capital, and mental health in this period of a continuing pandemic.
Negotiating penal hybridity: Time–space boundary-work in parole decision making
Authors: Dagan Netanel
Published: May 2022

Drawn on qualitative findings from discretionary chairpersons of parole boards in Israel, the study aims to theorize parole decision making as time–space boundary-work. Parole decision-makers were found to act within a hybrid professional environment that requires them to process distinct, and possibly conflicting, penal values, competencies and orientations. In order to address their professional tensions, parole decision-makers constantly negotiate their time and space, and thereby their professional identity. First, the parole decision-makers perform temporal boundary-work—conceptualizing their work and identity through qualitative-expansive time. Second, they perform spatial boundary-work—conceptualizing their work and identity through either (a) judicial space or (b) therapeutic space. This time–space work is used both to span and demarcate their boundaries in relation to other penal actors and to increase their visibility and legitimacy.
Black people’s constructions of good sex: Describing good sex from the margins
Authors: Hargons Candice N , Thorpe Shemeka , Malone Natalie , Wright Courtney J , Dogan Jardin N , Mizelle Destin L , Stuck Jennifer L , Sullivan Queen-Ayanna , Sanchez Anyoliny , Bohmer Carrie , Stage Michelle , Bruther Kearstin , Vigil Kasey , Cineas Marla R , Gilbert Tracie Q
Published: May 2022

Existing conceptualizations and measures of good sex are varied and inconclusive. Additionally, few studies have defined good sex from the margins, thus definitions are primarily informed from privileged perspectives. People with marginalized racial, gender, and sexual identities can offer culturally informed definitions of good sex that may expand current definitions. This study fills that gap by identifying factors that constitute good sex among Black people with diverse sexual and gender identities. Data were collected from 448 Black individuals who participated in an online Qualtrics survey with demographic, open-ended, and scaled questions. Results indicate a range of descriptors that align with existing sexual wellness literature and include the top 20 words to describe good sex as well as the top 10 words for demographics of interest. Differences in most frequent descriptors based on gender and sexual identities are reported. These results provide a foundation for sexual health practitioners, educators, and therapists to improve societal knowledge about what constitutes good sex among Black people.
Numerical study of heat losses of building walls containing reflective foils
Authors: Ficker Tomáš
Published: May 2022

In external building walls, air cavities are occasionally used to reduce heat losses. Closed air cavities improve the thermal resistance of building structures, especially when the inner surfaces of the cavities are covered with low-emissivity materials such as metalized foils. With these structures, the problem of accurate determination of radiative heat arises. In this contribution, radiative heat transfer is determined by the precise algebraic radiosity method, so far not applied in the field of thermal building technology. Radiative heat computed by the radiosity method has been coupled with convective heat evaluated by the correlation functions of the Nusselt numbers. The combined radiative-convective heat transfer through a sandwich wall containing an air cavity with metalized surfaces (aluminium foils) has been analysed. A computer program has been developed to quantify the real insulation effect of reflective aluminium foils. The sandwich building structure has been subjected to real one-month winter conditions as defined by official meteorological data valid for the city of Brno. The software is based on an iterative procedure that solves the combined radiative-convective steady heat transfers by means of one-day average temperatures and wind speeds. Various arrangements of foils in the cavity have been explored to achieve the maximum value of thermal resistance. The corresponding heat savings have been quantified. The best configuration of foils in the cavity has been found to ensure maximum thermal savings. The insulation system that uses foils has been compared to the system that uses mineral wool. The comparison was based on economic considerations.
A semi-empirical mesh strategy for CFD simulation of indoor airflow
Authors: Liu Yang , Long Zhengwei , Liu Wei
Published: May 2022

Proper meshing is critical for accurate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. In the three stages of CFD simulation, pre-processing accounts for about 40–60% of the total time. In this study, the performance of the grid for a large number of numerical simulations was analyzed, and base mesh sizes were recommended for different indoor geometric models. The simulation results for temperature, velocity, mesh resolution and computation time were compared, and mesh types were recommended for different models. Considering factors such as wall function, wall y+, face quality of the mesh, grid volume change rate and prism layer setting, a semi-empirical mesh strategy was presented. This strategy was verified in three cases with different geometric complexity. The verification results showed that the mesh strategy can yield reasonable simulation results. The root-mean-square error of the velocity simulation results of the optimized grid can be reduced by nearly 20%. This strategy can save nearly 50% of the mesh adjustment time. Through analysis and fitting of the grid results, the evaluation criteria for this mesh strategy were obtained. The criteria can be used to evaluate the cases using this mesh strategy.
Laparoscopic resection after self-expanding stent insertion for obstructive left-sided colorectal cancer: Clinicopathological features and outcomes
Authors: Yokoyama Yuichiro , Emoto Shigenobu , Nozawa Hiroaki , Kawai Kazushige , Sasaki Kazuhito , Murono Koji , Ishibashi Rei , Koike Kazuhiko , Ishihara Soichiro
Published: May 2022

Background and objective:

Laparoscopic resection for obstructive colon cancer (CC) after insertion of self-expanding metallic stents (SEMSs) is reportedly difficult. However, this has not yet been thoroughly investigated. Therefore, we investigated the influence of SEMS insertion on laparoscopic resection.

Methods:

This retrospective comparative study included 87 patients with obstructive left-sided CC (December 2011–December 2019). Patients were assigned to two groups based on elective laparoscopic surgery for (1) obstructive CC necessitating emergent decompression with SEMS insertion (SEMS group) and (2) obstructive CC without emergent decompression (control group).

Results:

The SEMS group had a longer operation time (283.3 ± 79.3 min vs 222.2 ± 79.4 min, P = 0.002) and greater blood loss (204.8 ± 417.6 mL vs 53.7 ± 166.1 mL, P = 0.029) on univariate analysis; however, in multiple linear regression analysis, SEMS was not an independent risk factor for both operation time (Δ operation time 25.5 min: P = 0.19) and blood loss (Δ blood loss 33.6 mL: P = 0.58). The complication rate based on Clavien−Dindo grade II did not differ significantly (17% vs 20%, P = 1.00), whereas the rates of conversion to laparotomy (17% vs 2%, P = 0.016) and stoma creation (26% vs 2%, P = 0.001) were higher in the SEMS group. In oncological outcomes, there was no intergroup difference in the 5-year disease-free survival (80.0% vs 72.2%, P = 0.76) and overall survival (100% vs 86.3%, P = 0.25).

Conclusions:

Laparoscopic surgery after SEMS for left-sided CC is demanding due to higher conversion rates to open surgery. However, this study also revealed that it is as safe as laparoscopic surgery for cases without SEMS because of comparable complication rate and long-term outcomes.
Adaptive tracking control for a class of stochastic nonlinearly parameterized systems with time-varying input delay using fuzzy logic systems
Authors: Yue Hongyun , Gong Chunmei
Published: May 2022

This paper addresses the problem of adaptive tracking control for a class of stochastic nonlinear systems with time-varying input delays, and the nonlinear functions of the systems are with not only the unknown parameters but also the unknown state time-varying delays, which is different from the previous work. In this paper, through a state transformation, the system can be easily transformed into a system without the time-varying input delay; the appropriate Lyapunov–Krasovskii functionals are used to compensate the unknown time-varying delay terms, and the quadratic functions instead of the quartic functions often utilized in the existing results are used as Lyapunov functions to analyze the stability of systems and the hyperbolic tangent functions are introduced to deal with the Hessian terms. Fuzzy logic systems (FLSs) in Mamdani type are used to approximate the unknown nonlinear functions. Then, based on the backstepping technique, the adaptive fuzzy controller is designed. The three main advantages of the developed scheme are that (i) unlike the existing results which deal with the nonlinearly parameterized functions by using the separation principle, the nonlinearly parameterized functions are lumped into the continuous functions which can be approximated by using the FLS; (ii) the number of the adjusted parameters only depend on the order of the investigated systems, which can reduce the computational burden greatly; and (iii) the existence of the time-varying input delay such that the controller design becomes much more difficult, and in this paper, it can be dealt with by using an appropriate state transformation. It is proven that all the signals of the closed-loop system are semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded in probability, whereas the tracking error converges to a small neighborhood of the origin. Finally, simulation results are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Two-stage equal reliability optimization for mega-sub controlled structure system with lead rubber bearings
Authors: Fan Buqiao , Zhang Xun’an , Abdulhadi Mustapha , Wang Zhi-hao
Published: May 2022

The Mega-Sub Controlled Structure Systems (MSCSS) with lead rubber bearings (LRBs) is an innovative and attractive vibration control system. This study proposes a method for obtaining the optimal member sizes of the MSCSS with LRBs under non-stationary stochastic ground motions. Based on the structural characteristics of the MSCSS with LRBs, this study puts forward the “optimal criteria method with two-stage equal reliability.” The probability density evolution theory is used for the dynamic reliability analysis of the MSCSS with LRBs, and a MATLAB program is written for the member size optimization. A finite element model with four mega-floors and 32 sub-floors is studied as an example. The reliability and seismic response of the model before and after optimization are compared. The optimization eliminates the “weak floors” in the structure so that the reliability distribution after optimization is more uniform than before, and the seismic performance of the structure is also improved.
Mixing performance and competence pedagogic orientations to assessment of writing and text production in the early years
Authors: Brosseuk Deb
Published: May 2022

Australian educators teaching in the early years of formal schooling find themselves grappling with the dilemmas of preparing learners to sit performance-based assessments in later years and their sense of pedagogic responsibility towards designing competency-based assessment. Studies have explored this tension in the primary and middle years where learners sit national standardised assessments, but there is limited research in the earliest years. Therefore, this article aims to share an educator's experience of using an inquiry-based approach named LAUNCH to act agentically within government assessment systems. Design-based research in an exploratory case study of an Australian Preparatory classroom investigates an educator's pedagogic orientations to the assessment of 14 five- and six-year-old learners’ writing and text production. Qualitative data generated from video and audio recordings and learner-generated artefacts captures these pedagogies over a four-week time frame. Sociologist Basil Bernstein's two pedagogic orientations to assessment – competence and performance – provide the theoretical framework for the study. The findings reveal that a mix of orientations allows learners to achieve the expected knowledge and skills that they need to do well in performance-based assessments, as well as unexpected knowledge and skills. For those committed to discussions about professional ethics and assessments, it is crucial that archetypes of pedagogic orientations to assessment are shared to illuminate a close study of practice.
Clothes make the man: butch fashion in digital visual cultures
Authors: Minai Naveen
Published: May 2022

There are few sartorial ensembles as heavily signified as masculine as a suit. This article focuses on the suit within queer fashion digital cultures and spaces to explore how butch of colour digital fashion suits up to offer us different ways to think about masculinity. Intervening in the erasure of women of colour in histories of fashion – including menswear – and histories of sexuality – butch, dapper, tomboy, dandy – I argue that butch digital fashion works as a site and composition of flesh, fabric and feeling that reworks masculinity as a project of embodiment. I look at three interwoven dimensions of butch digital fashion – aesthetic process, texture as feeling and spatial imaginations – attending to the themes of fantasy, desire and pleasure. I situate butch within and between fashion studies and media studies to offer butch as a relation, practice, orientation and site of embodiment to think about being and becoming, about the body politics of space and feeling, as matters of race, sexuality, class and gender – and the materialities of race, sexuality, class and gender, mediated by the global, and as the global by the digital. Digital butch fashion is, at once, a visual culture, a creative visual space, a resource of queer fantasy and an aesthetic process. It is messy, tense and fraught with the politics of race, colonialism and class, yet at the same time, dense with possibility, pleasure and eroticism. Butch of colour fashion offers frames and forms for rethinking and remaking masculinity as a sign of a body, as a category of personhood, as a set of practices and feelings made coherent by processes of embodiment.
Networked agenda flow between elite U.S. newspapers and Twitter: A case study of the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement
Authors: Su Yan
Published: May 2022

The rise of social media has engendered several debates over traditional media’s agenda-setting power. This study analyzes 4189 newspaper articles and over 1.23 million tweets about the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement from the perspective of network intermedia agenda-setting (IAS). The findings show that both platforms attach significance to the substantive attributes of policing, violence, and systemic racism. Notably, while the newspapers’ overall agenda had a supportive tone, Twitter used a condemning tone. Moreover, the newspapers were more influential in terms of IAS, particularly in setting political and cultural attribute agendas. No IAS effects were found on the affective attributes. Furthermore, the IAS effects on the combined substantive and affective attributes have shrunk significantly. The newspapers were more influential in terms of the bundled substantive attribute agendas as well. This study advances agenda-setting research by examining multiple network agenda dimensions and introducing an affective attribute scale. These are intended to help understand which media could exert a stronger influence on what attribute agendas and how.
The structures that shape news consumption: Evidence from the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Nelson Jacob L , Lewis Seth C
Published: May 2022

Researchers and practitioners increasingly believe that journalism must improve its relationship with audiences to increase the likelihood that people will consume and support news. In this paper, we argue that this assumption overlooks the importance of structural- and individual-level factors in shaping news audience behavior. Drawing on Giddens’ theory of structuration, we suggest that, when it comes to the amount of time that people devote to news, consumers’ choices are guided more by life circumstances than by news preferences. To illustrate this point, we draw on a combination of interview and audience analytics data collected when so many people’s life circumstances changed: the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that people consumed more news during the early months of the pandemic than normal because (1) they had more time on their hands due to things like shelter-in-place orders, layoffs, and shifts to working from home and (2) they were more interested in understanding the coronavirus’ spread and risks as well as the preventative measures being pursued. We conclude that journalists should embrace “journalistic humility,” thereby acknowledging and accepting that they have much less control over the reception of their work than they would like to believe.
Book review: Himanshu, Lanjouw, P. and Stern, N. 2018: How Lives Change: Palanpur, India, and Development Economics
Authors: Mukhopadhyay Simantini
Published: May 2022

Himanshu, Lanjouw, P. and Stern, N. 2018: How Lives Change: Palanpur, India, and Development Economics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, xiv+528 pp. £35.00, ISBN: 9780198806509 (Hardback).
Moving beyond ‘shopping list’ positionality: Using kitchen table reflexivity and in/visible tools to develop reflexive qualitative research
Authors: Folkes Louise
Published: May 2022

Within qualitative research, much can be learned from the influence of researcher positionality on the research process. Reflecting upon ethnographic fieldwork undertaken for a doctoral study, this paper explores how researcher positionality not only shapes research motivations but also situates the researcher and the ‘researched’, impacting how data is created and interpreted. There is a long history of engaging with positionality in qualitative research, however, oftentimes this engagement is purely descriptive, providing a ‘shopping list’ of characteristics and stating if these are shared or not with participants. It is important for engagement with reflexivity to go beyond providing a ‘shopping list’ of positionality statements to develop deeper discussions about the fluidity of positionality across the research process. Using the previously established concept of ‘kitchen table reflexivity’, I reflect on how talk allows researchers to outline shifts and adaptability in positionality as research progresses. I expand this concept to argue that kitchen table reflexivity can occur in conversations during fieldwork with participants, utilising a range of in/visible tools at the researcher’s disposal. For example, the spaces between fieldwork encounters, the ‘waiting field’, is often where observations and informal discussions with participants take place. Using fieldnotes and interview data, this paper outlines how positionality fluctuates and interweaves with the theoretical, methodological, and analytical approach taken. The paper concludes by restating the importance of meaningful engagement with positionality throughout qualitative research, in order to avoid static and hollow positionality statements.
Hopes and challenges of creating and using a smartphone application. Working on and working with a digital mobile tool in qualitative sociospatial research
Authors: Frąckowiak Maciej , Rogowski Łukasz , Sommer Vivien
Published: May 2022

The article focuses on developing and using a mobile application in the research of spatial practices along the Polish-German border region. The goal is to broaden the frame of thinking about the use of mobile applications in social research and understand it as a network of human and non-human actors. Based on observations and interviews conducted both with the study participants using the application and ourselves as members of the research team, who developed the app, we will examine expectations and potentials regarding the use of this application. We explore how it shaped our relationships and contacts and the perception of the data collected, and we conclude by proposing a framework allowing to consider more factors in the development of the application to enhance efficiency and reliability and to see how it transforms the research process and its environment.
School quality matters: A multilevel analysis of school effects on the early reading achievement of Black girls
Authors: Young Jemimah L , Dolzhenko Inna N
Published: May 2022

Early reading achievement is essential for all children’s development and future success. However, U.S. schools continue to under prepare Black children in early literacy, as evidenced by disparate outcomes observed for this population of learners. The under preparation of Black students is problematic, given the strong negative correlation between early reading proficiency and high school graduation. Preschool learning opportunities are a means to curb this trend, but these instructional opportunities vary in quality and effectiveness. Variations in quality may significantly impact Black girls. Little specific attention has been given to the early reading of Black girls.’ Therefore, this article’s purpose is to assess the effects of schools on the early reading achievement of Black girls. This study used multilevel modeling to gauge the effects of schools on Black girls’ early reading achievement. Our estimates provide correlational inferences concerning the associations between school characteristics and the early reading achievement of Black girls. The reading achievement of a representative sample of Black girls ( N = 886) and their corresponding schools was used to assess school effects. The schools’ socioeconomic status (SES) and school locations were the primary school characteristics of interest. Results indicate that schools account for approximately 18% of the variation in Black girls’ early reading achievement. Thus, schools play a meaningful role in the early reading achievement of Black girls. School-level SES was negatively correlated with Black girls’ early reading achievement, but this effect was mediated by school location. In conclusion, schools’ observed effects on early Black girl achievement were moderate and influenced by school location. Implications for supporting the early reading achievement of Black girls are provided for educational stakeholders.
Who Is Willing to Use Audio and Voice Inputs in Smartphone Surveys, and Why?
Authors: Lenzner Timo , Höhne Jan Karem
Published: May 2022

The ever-growing number of respondents completing web surveys via smartphones is paving the way for leveraging technological advances to improve respondents’ survey experience and, in turn, the quality of their answers. Smartphone surveys enable researchers to incorporate audio and voice features into web surveys, that is, having questions read aloud to respondents using pre-recorded audio files and collecting voice answers via the smartphone’s microphone. Moving from written to audio and voice communication channels might be associated with several benefits, such as humanizing the communication process between researchers and respondents. However, little is known about respondents’ willingness to undergo this change in communication channels. Replicating and extending earlier research, we examine the extent to which respondents are willing to use audio and voice channels in web surveys, the reasons for their (non)willingness, and respondent characteristics associated with (non)willingness. The results of a web survey conducted in a nonprobability online panel in Germany ( N = 2146) reveal that more than 50% of respondents would be willing to have the questions read aloud (audio channel) and about 40% would also be willing to give answers via voice input (voice channel). While respondents mostly name a general openness to new technologies for their willingness, they mostly name preference for written communication for their nonwillingness. Finally, audio and voice channels in smartphone surveys appeal primarily to frequent and competent smartphone users as well as younger and tech-savvy respondents.
Late colonial social work practice
Authors: Shaw Ian F
Published: May 2022

I seek to depict in a relatively grounded way the form and character of social work practice under a late colonial regime. The article draws from an archival study of the development of social welfare in Singapore as a British colony, in the late colonial period from the end of Japanese occupation in 1945 through to final independence in 1965. In exploring social welfare in late colonial regimes, I take adoption as an illuminating example. I refer to the significance of private markets in adoption, the Chinese kinship system as it was at the time, and the cultural significance of mui tsai. I suggest that we should conclude that colonial governmental regimes were not monochrome, and that the tenor of late colonial welfare practices and policies should not be regarded as set on a unilinear course of modernisation. Taken as a whole, the historical material points to the need for a form of imperial social work research – and of imperial social work as such – that avoids the assumption, perhaps too evident in social work writing, ‘that all they needed to know about colonialism was its horrors’ (Cooper).
Dissolving the colour line: L. T. Hobhouse on race and liberal empire
Authors: Tan Benjamin R Y
Published: May 2022

L. T. Hobhouse (1864–1929) is most familiar today as a leading theorist of British new liberalism. This article recovers and examines his overlooked commentary on the concept and rhetoric of race, which constituted part of his better-known project of advancing an authoritative account of liberal doctrine. His writings during and after the South African War, I argue, represent a prominent effort to cast liberalism as compatible with both imperial rule and what he called ‘the idea of racial equality’. A properly liberal empire, he asserted, would dissolve the colour line. This article traces the arguments Hobhouse advanced to make this claim, and explores his motivations for doing so. I contend that Hobhouse drew on the idiom of race as a form of exclusionary rhetoric, to delegitimise rival accounts of liberal empire and to cast his own as properly cosmopolitan. This recovery, I suggest, offers payoffs for our understanding of both Hobhouse's political thought and, more broadly, the uses of ‘race’ in twentieth-century liberalism.