bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Sliding mode control for direct current motor system with multi-channels and external disturbances
Authors: Chen Yong , Xu Longyu , Li Meng , Mahmoud Gafary
Published: November 2021

To solve the deficiencies of speed-tracking control for DC motor systems with multiple transmission channels and external disturbances in recent remote-control systems, a second-order super twisting sliding mode control method is proposed. First, the model of a DC motor with multiple channels and external disturbances is considered. Then, an observer in the form of the super twisting algorithm is presented to estimate the states of the system. Furthermore, a second-order super twisting sliding mode control algorithm based on the super twisting observer is designed to track the speed of the DC motor. In this, a nonlinear term is constructed to restrain the external disturbances and jitters while switching among the channels. Also, the proposed method is testified to be stable. Finally, both simulations and practical experiments are conducted to demonstrate the availability of the methodology.
Pecking Order Theory of Capital Structure: Empirical Evidence for Listed SMEs in India
Authors: Singh Kuldeep , Pillai Deepa , Rastogi Shailesh
Published: November 2021

The purpose of our study is to empirically examine the relevance of pecking order theory (POT) in explaining the capital structure choices made by the listed small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in emerging capital markets. To do so, we use panel data regression on five years of data from 2015 to 2019 of 82 listed SMEs in India. In pursuit of robust results to test the theory, the study uses three econometric models: pooled ordinary least squares (pooled OLS), fixed effects (FE) regression and two-stage least squares (2SLS). Profitability, liquidity, growth, tangibility and non-debt tax shield are the independent variables, size is the controlled variable and financial leverage is the dependent variable. The pooled OLS and FE models provide biased estimates due to the presence of endogeneity. The 2SLS estimates overcome endogeneity in the explanatory variable non-debt tax shield by using tangibility as an instrument. The 2SLS provides a substantial improvement over pooled OLS and FE results. The results indicate that the explanatory variables, namely, profitability, liquidity, non-debt tax shield and size, support the POT. However, the growth and tangibility do not support the POT for listed SMEs. Overall, the results of our study are inclined towards the POT, suggesting that ease of access takes priority in financing decisions by SMEs. Careful consideration of country-specific factors will allow the results to be generalized to other emerging capital markets.
Asymmetric Effect of Fiscal Deficit on Current Account Deficit: Evidence from India
Authors: Sharma Vishal , Adil Masudul Hasan , Fatima Sana , Mittal Ashok
Published: November 2021

This study has attempted to re-investigate the impact of fiscal deficit (FD) on current account deficit (CAD) (also known as twin deficit hypothesis) in India from 1970–1971 to 2018–2019 in the presence of private saving–investment gap (SI) and exchange rate (EXR). For the empirical investigation, the study has employed the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) approach to cointegration. The NARDL results found the evidence of an asymmetric effect of FD, SI and EXR on CAD in the long run only. The obtained results support the traditional views of the Keynesian approach that FD has a positive impact on CAD, validates the existence of the ‘Twin Deficit Hypothesis’ in India. Further, results also depict that SI has a positive effect on CAD, whereas EXR has an adverse impact on CAD. From a policy standpoint, the asymmetric impact of FD on CAD provides strong reasons for conceiving policies that are adaptable to changing dynamics in internal as well as external sectors.
Globalization of Agriculture and Atomization of Farming: Small Farms Crisis in Asia
Authors: Harilal K. N.
Published: November 2021

Agriculture in Asia is being pushed into a new policy regime that uncritically promotes free trade and laissez faire policies. The World Trade Organization agreement on agriculture, regional preferential trading arrangements (PTAs) and neoliberal policies pursued by the individual nations are the central features of the new regime. The new regime is built disregarding the existing knowledge on agricultural commodities that they are prone to market failures, which are unlikely to be corrected if left unregulated. In this article, we portray the new regime in terms of two defining processes that are at work, viz. globalization of agriculture and atomization of farming. Globalization happens on account of integration of the agricultural markets at provincial, national and global levels. Atomization of farming occurs due to fragmentation of holdings on the one hand and weakening of ‘collective action’ on the other. In the farming end of the value chains, millions of small farms, who lack any market power whatsoever, compete among themselves. The post-harvesting nodes have fewer and larger firms. As we have argued at length, the large firms inhabiting the postharvest nodes of the commodity chains are capable of extracting profit out of volatilities in the market. The non-farm nodes are characterized by economies of scale and possible accumulation of market power. Such profiteering will be at the expense of the atomized farms as well as the final consumers of the commodities. The policy has become suddenly very active in abetting competition upstream and limiting it downstream. The regime legitimizes entry barriers downstream and intervenes directly to promote entry, augment supply/competition upstream. The policymakers do not want to intervene in the market to save producers from commodity problems; instead favour players profiteering out of such possible instances of market failure.
Pitfalls of External Institutional Facilitation of Farmer Organizations: Insights from Farmer Companies in Sri Lanka
Authors: Rosairo H. S. R. , Esham M.
Published: November 2021

Farmer companies (FCs) were a form of farmer-owned firms established in Sri Lanka during the mid-1990s. These have been facilitated by state institutions. Maximization of returns through commercial agriculture has been the main objective of FCs. However, no FCs were operating by the year 2010. This article explains that the institutional facilitation is a strong ingredient in the establishment of FCs in Sri Lanka. This article explainfs how the institutional and governance arrangements of FCs were influenced by the facilitating institutions during the institutional facilitation. It also suggests that institutional facilitation affected the performance of FCs. Six failed FCs were studied. Strategic facilitation was responsible for the performance and sustainability of FCs while operative facilitation provided the basis for direction and operations. Results indicate that poor performance and failure of FCs were due to institutional facilitation that has introduced weak institutional and governance arrangements. There was non-shareholder influence on the Boards of Directors; geographically restricted shareholding; democratic voting rights; and shareholder rights not linked to equity or patronage. Governance problems included voting by the raise of hand; managers not reporting to the Boards directly; shareholders did not elect all the directors. Institutional facilitation of FCs in Sri Lanka has been done by the state facilitating institutions. They have been excessively authoritative on their respective FCs. Therefore, changing the label from cooperatives to companies would not result in better performance. Some recommendations are that facilitating institutions empower FCs through capacity-building; participatory approach in facilitation; remove the geographical restriction in shareholding; install variable shareholding; build capacity of managerial staff; use secret ballots at voting, and practice proportional voting. Understanding the role of facilitating institutions and the dynamics of facilitation would be useful to promote farmer collectives in smallholder farmer dominant developing countries.
The effect of computerisation on the wage share in United Kingdom workplaces
Authors: Pensiero Nicola
Published: November 2021

This historical paper analyses the distributional consequences of computerisation on the wage share of income in United Kingdom (UK) workplaces in the first decade of this century. The reasons why computerisation might increase a firm’s income but reduce the share assigned to wages are still not well understood. The uniquely rich Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS) 2004–2011 includes firm-level measures of the main production inputs and outputs, and thus allows an analysis of the main mechanisms through which increased computer usage influenced the wage share of income in UK workplaces over this period. This analysis shows that the proportion of employees using computers impacted the wage share in ways that were at odds with two mainstream views: that computers complement capital, and that labour can be easily replaced by capital. The results show that the proportion of employees using computers reduced the wage share by disproportionally increasing the productivity of the least skilled employees, who were not proportionally compensated for their increase in productivity. The stability of the wage share, over the period of interest, is explained by the rise in a workplace’s share of professional employees and by a rise in work effort. This positive contribution to the wage share was counteracted by an increased share of employees using computers and by a reduction in the share of employees whose pay was negotiated by unions, thereby contributing to a decline in the wage share of firm income.
New laws that prohibit conversion therapy pose no material risk to evidence-based and clinically appropriate practice
Authors: Ryan Christopher J , Callaghan Sascha
Published: November 2021

Objective

To examine the extent to which the Sexuality and Gender Identity Conversion Practices Act 2020 (ACT) and Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Act 2021 (Vic) might pose a risk to evidence-based and clinically appropriate practice.

Method

Using a recent publication by Parkinson and Morris as a starting point, the provisions of the new legislation are carefully examined.

Results

The ACT and Victorian laws do not imperil psychiatrists undertaking evidence-based and clinically appropriate practice.

Conclusions

While it may be wise for psychiatrists to abandon this area of practice if they hold strong personal beliefs that the failure to identify with one’s natal gender is morally wrong, nothing in the new laws should deter psychiatrists from providing people with gender dysphoria with evidence-based and clinically appropriate care.
Outsiders Looking in. The Re-enrolment Struggles of Early School Leavers in Norway
Authors: Kindt Marianne Takvam , Reegård Kaja
Published: November 2021

Despite a vast literature on the causes and consequences of leaving school prematurely, little scholarly and policy attention has been paid to those who re-enter education after a temporary withdrawal. Re-enrolment is often portrayed in the literature as an active act of agency requiring inner drive. Based on 18 interviews with young early school leavers and re-enrolees in Norway, we construct two empirically founded re-enrolment narratives: ‘opposing otherness through dreams of ordinariness’ and ‘accepting the rules of the game—re-enrolment as a fragile opportunity’. Although embracing and reproducing the discourse about educational credentials as being the key to a happy life, the narratives do not support the idea of a re-enrolment drive as being vital to succeed within educational institutions. While they aspire for normality and believe normality is achieved through educational credentials, they are in need of a support system that either accommodates their individual needs, or nudges them back ‘on right track’.
Neurological Adverse Events Induced by Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Current Perspectives and New Development
Authors: Cheng Ke , Wang Yuqing , Zhou Yuwen , Xia Ruolan , Tang Liansha , Liu Jiyan
Published: November 2021

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have revolutionized the treatment of multiple malignancies, especially in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). With the extensive application of ICIs in clinical practice, clinicians have to manage their toxicities, which are often termed immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Several ICIs, such as nivolumab, pembrolizumab, atezolizumab, and durvalumab, have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat advanced NSCLC, accompanied by a broad spectrum of toxicity reactions. However, ICIs-associated neurological toxicities, regarding polyneuropathy, Bell palsy, encephalopathy, and myasthenia gravis, as uncommon emerging toxicities have not been well recognized, present a challenge for clinicians to improve awareness of supervision, recognition, and management before death from them. Herein, we have summarized the incidence, diagnosis, clinical manifestations, potential mechanisms, treatments, and outcomes of ICIs-related neurotoxicity and optimized the management approach for NSCLC patients. Prompt recognition and proper management are indispensable to reduce the morbidity of these patients with immune-related neurological toxicities.
Hispanic parental perceptions about telemedicine: Potential targets for interventions to improve access to care
Authors: Chuang Ethan G , Cruz Rusvelda , Agarwal Riya , Huang Jeannie S
Published: November 2021

Introduction

One benefit of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the growth and expansion of telemedicine capabilities with the potential to improve access to healthcare in the face of social isolation mandates. However, adoption of telemedicine has been suboptimal in the Hispanic community and data has been sparse regarding Hispanic experiences with and opinions regarding telemedicine.

Methods

To gather feedback regarding telemedicine and to identify potential barriers to telemedicine use in the Hispanic community, we performed semi-structured interviews about telemedicine experiences among both Hispanic and non-Hispanic parents who had performed both in-person and at least one telemedicine visit for their child at our institution. Mixed methods were utilized to analyze interview responses.

Results and Discussion

Overall, Hispanic parents overwhelmingly preferred in-person to telemedicine encounters as compared with non-Hispanic parents. Targets were identified to improve the use of telemedicine and to potentially improve access to healthcare in the Hispanic community.
Psychometric properties of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale in Greek Adolescents
Authors: Giannopoulou Ioanna , Pasalari Evdokia , Bali Paraskevi , Grammatikaki Dimitra , Ferentinos Panagiotis
Published: November 2021

The psychometric properties of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS-47) are established cross-culturally but lacking for the Greek population. The present study examined RCADS internal consistency and validity (structural and concurrent) in Greek adolescents, and tested measurement invariance across sex and age groups. We recruited 619 secondary school students ( n = 321 females), aged 12–18 years ( n = 318, 12–14-year-olds). Besides RCADS, all students completed Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), a subsample ( n = 300) completed Screen for Child Anxiety-Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), whereas a non-overlapping subsample ( n = 219) completed Depression Self-Rating Scale (DSRS). Structural validity was examined with Confirmatory Factor Analysis and measurement invariance was assessed with Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) modeling. Convergent and divergent validity were examined using Spearman correlations between RCADS subscales and DSRS, SCARED, and SDQ validators. The six-factor model fitted the data best, validating the originally proposed RCADS structure. Three items displayed differential item functioning for sex, another three for age group, and one item for both, albeit with trivial effect sizes ( d < 0.2). Cronbach’s alpha was .94. Convergent and divergent validity were also established. In conclusion, the RCADS is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing anxiety and depression symptoms in Greek adolescents.
Fluency development in an EFL setting: A one-semester study
Authors: Doe Timothy
Published: November 2021

Language learning activities involving time-pressured repetition of similar content have been shown to facilitate improvements in fluency. However, concerns have been voiced about whether these gains might be offset by reduced levels of grammatical accuracy. This descriptive study tracked the oral proficiency of 32 Japanese university students enrolled in English as a foreign language (EFL) classes over one academic semester during which they regularly completed 3/2/1 fluency development activities. Measures of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) were analysed to investigate whether any developmental patterns could be identified. The results indicated that over the semester, the students made small, but significant gains in two fluency measures, the mean length of pause and the phonation/time ratio. Despite the relatively small size of the gains, expert ratings of perceived fluency suggested that these fluency improvements were detectable to the human ear. Furthermore, a significant relationship emerged between three of the four CAF measures over the semester. These results suggest that the activities moderately impacted students’ speaking fluency without negatively affecting accuracy or complexity levels; however, further longitudinal research is needed to determine which factors might influence this development, as class performance measures did not account for any of the variation detected.
Past, present and imaginary: Pathography in all its forms
Authors: Jutel Annemarie , Russell Ginny
Published: November 2021

Diagnosis is a profoundly social phenomenon which, while putatively identifying disease entities, also provides insights into how societies understand and explain health, illness and deviance. In this paper, we explore how diagnosis becomes part of popular culture through its use in many non-clinical settings. From historical diagnosis of long-deceased public personalities to media diagnoses of prominent politicians and even diagnostic analysis of fictitious characters, the diagnosis does meaningful social work, explaining diversity and legitimising deviance in the popular imagination. We discuss a range of diagnostic approaches from paleopathography to fictopathography, which all take place outside of the clinic. Through pathography, diagnosis creeps into widespread and everyday domains it has not occupied previously, performing medicalisation through popularisation. We describe how these pathographies capture, not the disorders of historical or fictitious figures, rather, the anxieties of a contemporary society, eager to explain deviance in ways that helps to make sense of the world, past, present and imaginary.
Hype, evidence gaps and digital divides: Telehealth blind spots in rural Australia
Authors: Warr Deborah , Luscombe Georgina , Couch Danielle
Published: November 2021

Despite high unmet demand for health services across rural Australia, uptake of telehealth has been slow, piecemeal and ad hoc. We argue that widespread failure to understand telehealth as a socio-technical practice is key to understanding this slow progress. To develop this argument, we explore how technocentric approaches to telehealth have contributed to critical blind spots. First, the ‘hype’ associated with the technological possibilities of telehealth discourages thoughtful consideration of the unanticipated consequences when technologies are rolled out into complex social fields. Second, it contributes to critical gaps in the telehealth evidence base, and particularly a paucity of analyses focussing on the experiences of service users and patients. A third blind spot concerns the limited attention paid to the social determinants of health and digital divides in rural areas. The final blind spot we consider is an apparent reluctance to engage community stakeholders in co-designing and coproducing telehealth services. We used an iterative approach to identify studies and commentary from a range of academic fields to explain the significance of the telehealth blind spots and how they might be addressed. Insights suggest how expanding understanding of the social dimensions of telehealth could enhance its accessibility, effectiveness and responsiveness to community needs and contexts.
And they slept happily ever after: Online interpretive repertoires on the use of benzodiazepines and z-drugs
Authors: Ceuterick Melissa , Christiaens Thierry , Creupelandt Hanne , Bracke Piet
Published: November 2021

Drawing on a critical social-psychological framework for discourse analysis, data from a popular forum for people over 50 were analysed to study how the habitual use of benzodiazepines and Z-drugs (BZD/Z) is discursively negotiated by Flemish older adults. We present five different repertoires (risk and addiction; alternative pathways; suffering; rationalisation; cessation) that illustrate how a pharmaceutical imaginary of these medications is constructed online and how posters act as reflexive users taking on a health role. Most repertoires emerge from a tacit norm on the undesirability of medication use for sleeping problems. In the alternative pathways and cessation repertoires this norm is implicitly accepted by focussing on how to either prevent or overcome chronic use with various alternative solutions or through tapering off, while the risk and addiction repertoire is used to more openly defend and discursively magnify the idea that medication has to be avoided at all cost. We discuss how this reflects a prevailing imperative of health and ethos of healthicisation of sleep. The rationalisation and suffering repertoires on the other hand challenge this norm by defending medication use. We further explore how these repertoires are used to self-position as either ‘noble non-user’, ‘deserving and/or compliant patient’ or ‘rational user’, reflecting previously found moral positions in offline settings. Our data add another position that has thus far not been discussed extensively with regard to prescription medication use, namely that of a ‘recovered user’. As such, this study shows how this particular online community is a site for contestation of health promotion and medical/pharmaceuticalised discourses on sleep by users and non-users alike and offers a unique insight into how people in the age group that is known to use most BZD/Z discursively negotiate the use of these medications in pseudonymised online interactions.
Iconographies of the everyday: Mediated whiteness and food hospitality activism
Authors: Swan Elaine
Published: November 2021

The category of the ‘everyday’ has been relatively un-theorised in studies of digital food culture. Drawing on theories that the everyday is not just a backdrop but through which race, class and gender are constituted, and the cultural production of whiteness, I analyse digital photographs from the Welcome Dinner Project’s webpages and social media. The Welcome Dinner Project is an Australian food hospitality activism charity, which organises and facilitates one-off dinners to bring ‘newly arrived’ and ‘established Australians’ together over potluck hospitality to address isolation and racism. My overall argument is that Welcome Dinner Project representations and media representations of Welcome Dinner Project are underscored by conflicting representations of race, diversity and privilege. Despite the good intentions of the Welcome Dinner Project, the formal images it disseminates work to service the status quo by enacting and reinforcing dominant notions of middle-class whiteness in Australia, moderating the transgressive potential of its activism. However, these processes are subverted by less formal and unruly images depicting people outside, in mess, in non-hierarchical groups and migrant hosting. Such imagery can be understood as a form of visual activism which challenges the iconographies of whiteness in digital food culture and normative ideals of race-neutral domesticity and everydayness.
The real self revisited: From impulse to institution
Authors: Menéndez Domingo Ramón
Published: November 2021

A preoccupation with a search for the authentic self has become widespread for individuals living in contemporary Western societies since the 1970s. Because academic consensus had been reached regarding the university student population anchoring their experiences of authenticity in a personal ( impulsive or subconsensual) sense of identity in the last 35 years, the sociological-empirical study of the real self among students has been abandoned as a discipline for about the last 20 years. This article shows that this should not be the case any longer. I found that students’ meanings of authenticity are predominantly constructed within their social ( institutional or consensual) roles. I present data from a survey conducted with 138 respondents from a university in Victoria, Australia, in 2013, and compare it with sociologist Ralph Turner's ground-breaking research on the same topic. I explain these findings through generational and cultural change reasons related to millennials’ Web 2.0 technology use.
Diagnosing post-traumatic stress disorder using electronic medical record data
Authors: Zafari Hasan , Kosowan Leanne , Zulkernine Farhana , Signer Alexander
Published: November 2021

This study proposes a predictive model that uses structured data and unstructured narrative notes from Electronic Medical Records to accurately identify patients diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). We utilize data from primary care clinicians participating in the Manitoba Primary Care Research Network (MaPCReN) representing 154,118 patients. A reference sample of 195 patients that had their PTSD diagnosis confirmed using a manual chart review of structured data and narrative notes, and PTSD negative patients is used as the gold standard data for model training, validation and testing. We assess structured and unstructured data from eight tables in the MaPCReN namely, patient demographics, disease case, examinations, medication, billing records, health condition, risk factors, and encounter notes. Feature engineering is applied to convert data into proper representation for predictive modeling. We explore serial and parallel mixed data models that are trained on both structured and unstructured data to identify PTSD. Model performances were calculated based on a highly skewed hold-out test dataset. The serial model that uses both structured and text data as input, yielded the highest values in sensitivity (0.77), F-measure (0.76), and AUC (0.88) and the parallel model that uses both structured and text data as the input obtained the highest positive predicted value (PPV) (0.75). Diseases such as PTSD are difficult to diagnose. Information recorded in the chart note over multiple visits of the patients with the primary care physicians has higher predictive power than structured data and combining these two data types can increase the predictive capabilities of machine learning models in diagnosing PTSD. While the deep-learning model outperformed the traditional ensemble model in processing text data, the ensemble classifier obtained better results in ingesting a combination of features obtained from both data types in the serial mixed model. The study demonstrated that unstructured encounter notes enhance a model’s ability to identify patients diagnosed with PTSD. These findings can enhance quality improvement, research, and disease surveillance related to PTSD in primary care populations.
Potential of hydrogen/diesel reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) combustion from the perspective of the second law of thermodynamics
Authors: Jia Ming , Bai Jinpeng , Duan Huiquan , Li Yaopeng , Cai Yikang , Chang Yachao
Published: November 2021

The potential of reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) combustion fueled with hydrogen and diesel (i.e. hydrogen/diesel RCCI) was evaluated using multi-dimensional simulations embedded with a reduced chemical mechanism. In hydrogen/diesel RCCI, the premixed hydrogen is ignited by the diesel, which is directly injected into the cylinder well before the top dead center. To investigate the potential benefits of hydrogen/diesel RCCI, its combustion characteristics were compared with that of gasoline/diesel RCCI from the perspective of the second law of thermodynamics. Meanwhile, the impacts of premixed energy ratio and initial pressure on the exergy distribution for hydrogen/diesel RCCI were explored. The results show that hydrogen/diesel RCCI has an advantage over gasoline/diesel RCCI in the reduction of exergy destruction due to higher combustion temperature, shorter combustion duration, and the distinctive oxidation pathways between hydrogen and gasoline. A higher proportion of exergy output work can be achieved for hydrogen/diesel RCCI under the conditions with the same total input energy and 50% heat release (CA50) point. Moreover, a larger premixed energy ratio (i.e. larger hydrogen proportion) is helpful to elevate exergy output work and reduce exergy destruction owing to higher combustion temperature and the undergoing oxidation pathways of hydrogen with less exergy destruction. A higher initial pressure yields raised exergy destruction because of lower combustion temperature and longer combustion duration, but exergy output work is increased owing to the significantly reduced exergy transfer through heat transfer.
Bayesian analysis of two-part nonlinear latent variable model: Semiparametric method
Authors: Gou Jian-Wei , Xia Ye-Mao , Jiang De-Peng
Published: November 2021

Two-part model (TPM) is a widely appreciated statistical method for analyzing semi-continuous data. Semi-continuous data can be viewed as arising from two distinct stochastic processes: one governs the occurrence or binary part of data and the other determines the intensity or continuous part. In the regression setting with the semi-continuous outcome as functions of covariates, the binary part is commonly modelled via logistic regression and the continuous component via a log-normal model. The conventional TPM, still imposes assumptions such as log-normal distribution of the continuous part, with no unobserved heterogeneity among the response, and no collinearity among covariates, which are quite often unrealistic in practical applications. In this article, we develop a two-part nonlinear latent variable model (TPNLVM) with mixed multiple semi-continuous and continuous variables. The semi-continuous variables are treated as indicators of the latent factor analysis along with other manifest variables. This reduces the dimensionality of the regression model and alleviates the potential multicollinearity problems. Our TPNLVM can accommodate the nonlinear relationships among latent variables extracted from the factor analysis. To downweight the influence of distribution deviations and extreme observations, we develop a Bayesian semiparametric analysis procedure. The conventional parametric assumptions on the related distributions are relaxed and the Dirichlet process (DP) prior is used to improve model fitting. By taking advantage of the discreteness of DP, our method is effective in capturing the heterogeneity underlying population. Within the Bayesian paradigm, posterior inferences including parameters estimates and model assessment are carried out through Markov Chains Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling method. To facilitate posterior sampling, we adapt the Polya-Gamma stochastic representation for the logistic model. Using simulation studies, we examine properties and merits of our proposed methods and illustrate our approach by evaluating the effect of treatment on cocaine use and examining whether the treatment effect is moderated by psychiatric problems.
Bridging the collectives: A review of collective human–robot construction
Authors: Han Isla Xi , Meggers Forrest , Parascho Stefana
Published: November 2021

Advancements in multi-agent, autonomous, and intelligent robotic systems over the past decades point toward new design and fabrication possibilities. Exploring how humans and robots can create and construct collectively is essential in leveraging robotic technology in the building sector. However, only by making existing knowledge from relevant technological disciplines accessible to designers can we fully exploit current construction methods and further develop them to address the challenges in architecture. To do this, we present a review paper that bridges the gap between Collective Robotic Construction (CRC) and Human–Robot Interaction (HRI) and defines a new research domain in Collective Human–Robot Construction (CHRC) in the architectural design and fabrication context.
Value-added and Transparent Experiments
Authors: Loewen Peter John , Rubenson Daniel
Published: November 2021

Experimental research by political scientists on elites has grown dramatically in recent years. Experimenting on and with elites raises important questions, both practical and ethical. Elites are busy people, doing important work under public scrutiny. Therefore, any experiments that use up political elites’ time, risk impairing their ability to do their jobs as well as possible, or put at risk the larger research community’s access to elites should be avoided. Nevertheless, despite these risks and challenges, we argue experimenting with elites has enough benefits both to the research community and to elites themselves, that it should still be done. The relevant question then becomes how should we think about doing experiments with political elites? We propose a framework of value-added and transparent experiments. Our framework is guided by the following two simple rules: Elite subjects should individually benefit from the process of doing the experiment. It should add value to their role as representatives. Second, the identity of the researchers and purposes of the experiment should be transparent. As we argue, these two combined features can still accommodate a large range of experiments, can creatively spark researchers to think up new designs and can protect access to elites for future research. We review two such examples at the end of this essay.
Characterizing Nonreturning College Students and Their Departure Intentions
Authors: Grabsch Dustin K. , Sutro O’Brien Lauren , Kirschner Caroline , Chinnam Dedeepya , Waddell Zak , Leibowitz Ryan , Madsen Michelle
Published: November 2021

Success for 4-year universities is often measured by graduation and retention rates; however, gaps exist in understanding nonreturning students at private institutions. Recent research is helping to build the lexicon of drop-outs, stop-outs, opt-outs, and transfer-outs to inform strategic retention initiatives. Using an action research method, we characterized 1,091 students into designated subclasses and utilized exit interviews, advising notes, and university surveys to theme their departure intentions. Findings reveal transfer-outs to be the largest subclass, with departure reasons being summarized within themes of university experience and fit, health, academic, and financial. Recommendations are made for university administrators and retention offices related to exit survey questions, broadening success metrics, and to focus on specific student characteristic groups.
Health Education Specialists: Professional Practice During a Pandemic
Authors: Kerr Dianne , Haider Salma , Hancher-Rauch Heidi , Blavos Alexis , Brookins-Fisher Jodi , Thompson Amy , Glunz Carly
Published: November 2021

Authors conducted survey research on Health Education Specialists’ (HES) involvement in the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants ( n = 1,837) completed questions on COVID-19 work and job responsibilities, use of the NCHEC Areas of Responsibility and Competencies in addressing the pandemic, education and training, work with populations at risk, and volunteer work related to COVID-19. The majority of respondents reported some work, either professional or personal associated with the pandemic, and the majority felt prepared to do this work, although it caused additional work responsibilities with no additional pay. Many had to work from home during the pandemic, using technology to accomplish their tasks. Most reported conducting education and prevention and designing and implementing communication strategies regarding the pandemic. Those with MCHES® certification were more likely to use the HESPA-II 2020 competencies in their work and more likely to perform listed COVID-19 activities, with the exception of contact tracing and direct care to COVID-19 patients, which were more likely conducted by CHES® certified HES. Results of this study show the significant level of involvement of HES in the COVID-19 pandemic in a variety of roles and capacities, despite a challenging political landscape during the time the survey was administered. Many HES reported volunteer work in addition to their paid work, including donating money, distributing food, or making masks. Finally, HES welcomed more training on COVID-19 and use of technology. Results of the study may be used to document the roles of HES during the COVID-19 pandemic and to make recommendations for future emergency preparedness efforts.
Stability sensitivity for a cable-based coal–gangue picking robot based on grey relational analysis
Authors: Liu Peng , Qiao Xinzhou , Zhang Xuhui
Published: November 2021

This article aims to establish the relationship between the position and cable tension influencing factors and the stability, and propose a method for quantitative stability sensitivity assessment for a cable-based coal–gangue picking robot. Firstly, a structural stability measure approach is proposed for the cable-based coal–gangue picking robot. Secondly, a stability sensitivity analysis model is developed to investigate the stability sensitivity on the selected influencing factors based on the grey relational degree, where the influencing degree of each factor on the stability for the cable-based coal–gangue picking robot is explored with grey relational analysis. At last, a numerical study is carried out to demonstrate the stability measure approach and stability sensitivity analysis model for the cable-based coal–gangue picking robot was scientific and reasonable, where the end-grab position set which the robot can meet the predetermined stability requirements is obtained. And meanwhile, the correlation of each influencing factor on the stability for the robot is calculated. And the stability sensitivity simulation results show that (1) the correlation of the seven influencing factors on the stability are, in a descending order, cable tension T 2 > cable tension T 4 > cable tension T 3 > cable tension T 1 > z-direction displacement of the end-grab > x-direction displacement > y-direction displacement; (2) among the influencing factors, the cable tensions have greater influence on the stability of coal–gangue picking robot, and it is followed by the z-direction displacement of the end-grab, while y-direction displacement is found to have the minimal influence. This article provides a guiding direction for robust design of the sorting trajectory planning and control of the coal–gangue picking robots.
Contextual risk and psychosocial profiles of opioid-using mothers: A mixed-methods study
Authors: Beltrán-Arzate Karina , Hodson Kevin , Tes Haley K , Bowyer Sarah-Anne H , Ratliff Hollis C , Abraham Michael M , Johnson Elizabeth , Harris Malinda , Jaekel Julia
Published: November 2021

Introduction:

There is an increase in cases of mothers using opioids during pregnancy in the United States but research investigating mothers’ psychosocial environments along with individual variability among this high-risk group of women is scarce.

Methods:

This mixed-methods study aims to examine the complex interplay of contextual risks and experiences of opioid-using mothers. A sample of 50 opioid-using biological mothers of infants diagnosed with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) were studied using a set of standardized and open-ended questions, along with medical records extraction.

Results:

A high-risk subgroup of 36 mothers was identified using cluster analysis, characterized by a distinct profile of psychosocial risk. Thematic content analysis revealed four themes: (1) barriers to communication and mistrust of health professionals, (2) limitations of access to health care and the amplification of disadvantages related to COVID-19, (3) lifelong consequences of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and (4) intimate partner violence and its influence on drug use.

Conclusion:

Our findings highlight important information toward health services provision for opioid-using women of childbearing age. Efforts to reduce opioid usage in mothers need to consider psychosocial and contextual risks.
De-risking primary prevention: role of imaging
Authors: Shafter Ahmed M. , Shaikh Kashif , Johanis Amit , Budoff Matthew J.
Published: November 2021

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is a common disease among the general population, and includes four major areas: (1) coronary heart disease (CHD), manifested by stable angina, unstable angina, myocardial infarction (MI), heart failure, and coronary death; (2) cerebrovascular disease, manifested by transient ischemia attack and stroke; (3) peripheral vascular disease, manifested by claudication and critical limb ischemia; and (4) aortic atherosclerosis and aortic aneurysm (thoracic and abdominal). CHD remains the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. So, it is imperative to identify people at risk of CHD and provide appropriate medical treatment or intervention to prevent serious complications and outcomes including sudden cardiac death. Coronary artery calcification (CAC) is a marker of subclinical coronary artery disease. Therefore, coronary artery calcium score is an important screening method for Coronary artery disease (CAD). In this article, we performed a comprehensive review of current literatures and studies assessing the prognostic value of CAC for future cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, Google Scholar, and Cochrane library. We also reviewed the 2018 American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) guideline on the assessment of CVD risk. A CAC score of zero corresponds to very low CVD event rates (∼1% per year) and hence a potent negative risk marker. This has been referred to as the ‘power of zero’ and affords the lowest risk of any method of risk calculation. It is now indicated in the 2018 ACC/AHA Cholesterol guidelines to be used to avoid statins for 5–10 years after a score of zero, and then re-assess the patient.
Radiomics-based prediction of hemorrhage expansion among patients with thrombolysis/thrombectomy related-hemorrhagic transformation using machine learning
Authors: Liu Junfeng , Tao Wendan , Wang Zhetao , Chen Xinyue , Wu Bo , Liu Ming
Published: November 2021

Introduction:

Patients with hemorrhagic transformation (HT) were reported to have hemorrhage expansion. However, identification these patients with high risk of hemorrhage expansion has not been well studied.

Objectives:

We aimed to develop a radiomic score to predict hemorrhage expansion after HT among patients treated with thrombolysis/thrombectomy during acute phase of ischemic stroke.

Methods:

A total of 104 patients with HT after reperfusion treatment from the West China hospital, Sichuan University, were retrospectively included in this study between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2020. The preprocessed initial non-contrast-enhanced computed tomography (NECT) imaging brain images were used for radiomic feature extraction. A synthetic minority oversampling technique (SMOTE) was applied to the original data set. The after-SMOTE data set was randomly split into training and testing cohorts with an 8:2 ratio by a stratified random sampling method. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression were applied to identify candidate radiomic features and construct the radiomic score. The performance of the score was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and a calibration curve. Decision curve analysis (DCA) was performed to evaluate the clinical value of the model.

Results:

Among the 104 patients, 17 patients were identified with hemorrhage expansion after HT detection. A total of 154 candidate predictors were extracted from NECT images and five optimal features were ultimately included in the development of the radiomic score by using logistic regression machine-learning approach. The radiomic score showed good performance with high area under the curves in both the training data set (0.91, sensitivity: 0.83; specificity: 0.89), test data set (0.87, sensitivity: 0.60; specificity: 0.85), and original data set (0.82, sensitivity: 0.77; specificity: 0.78). The calibration curve and DCA also indicated that there was a high accuracy and clinical usefulness of the radiomic score for hemorrhage expansion prediction after HT.

Conclusions:

The currently established NECT-based radiomic score is valuable in predicting hemorrhage expansion after HT among patients treated with reperfusion treatment after ischemic stroke, which may aid clinicians in determining patients with HT who are most likely to benefit from anti-expansion treatment.
Radiosynovectomy in routine care: an old tool with modern applications
Authors: Caballero Motta Liz R. , Anzola Alfaro Ana M. , Janta Iustina , Molina Collada Juan , Henao Yulieth Katherine , Pérez Pascual Rebeca , Álvaro-Gracia José María , Nieto-González Juan Carlos
Published: November 2021

Objectives:

Radiosynovectomy can be an effective treatment for difficult-to-treat monoarthritis resistant to systemic and local standard therapy. The objective of our study was to determine predictors of good response to radiosynovectomy in routine care and give an overview of this underused technique.

Methods:

Retrospective observational study of all the patients who underwent radiosynovectomy during a 6-year inclusion period. All the procedures were ultrasound guided and the radiopharmaceutical used was chosen according to joint size. The patient was considered to have an effective response to radiosynovectomy if the attending physician reported a positive outcome and there was no need to increase local and or systemic treatment due to arthritis in the affected joint during the next 12 months following the procedure.

Results:

We included 67 patients who underwent radiosynovectomy in the knee (73.1%), wrist (16.4%), and elbow (10.5%). Overall, 44 (65.7%) procedures were considered effective. In the multivariate analysis, infiltration of wrists (odds ratio = 0.192; confidence interval = 0.046–0.79) and pigmented villonodular synovitis (odds ratio = 0.13; confidence interval = 0.021–0.82) were independently associated with a noneffective response. No patients experienced complications associated with radiosynovectomy during follow-up.

Conclusion:

Infiltrations of wrists with joint damage seem less likely to have a response to radiosynovectomy. In pigmented villonodular synovitis, radiosynovectomy as an adjuvant therapy for relapse might not be effective when performed more than 6 months after surgery. Overall, radiosynovectomy is an effective and safe treatment for persistent monoarthritis.