bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Seeing or not Seeing Where Your Hands Are. The Influence of Visual Feedback About Hand Position on the Interaction Between Nociceptive and Visual Stimuli
Authors: Manfron Louise , Legrain Valéry , Filbrich Lieve
Published: October 2019

Examining the mechanisms underlying crossmodal interaction between nociceptive and visual stimuli is crucial to understand how humans handle potential bodily threats in their environment. It has recently been shown that nociceptive stimuli can affect the perception of visual stimuli, provided that they occur close together in external space. The present study addresses the question whether these crossmodal interactions between nociceptive and visual stimuli are mediated by the visually perceived proximity between the visual stimuli and the limb on which nociceptive stimuli are applied, by manipulating the presence vs. absence of visual feedback about the position of the stimulated limb. Participants performed temporal order judgments on pairs of visual stimuli, shortly preceded by nociceptive stimuli, either applied on one hand or both hands simultaneously. The hands were placed near the visual stimuli and could either be seen directly, seen through a glass barrier, or hidden from sight with a wooden board. Unilateral nociceptive stimuli induced spatial biases to the advantage of visual stimuli presented near the stimulated hand, which were greater in the conditions in which the hands were seen than in the condition in which vision was prevented. Spatial biases were not modulated by the presence of the glass barrier, minimizing the possibility that the differential effect between the vision and no-vision conditions is solely due to the presence of the barrier between the hands and the visual stimuli. These findings highlight the importance of visual feedback for determining spatial mapping between nociceptive and visual stimuli for crossmodal interaction.
China’s Eurasia: the Belt and Road Initiative and the Creation of a New Eurasian Power
Authors: Harper Tom
Published: October 2019

The Belt and Road Initiative alongside the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation are the latest phase of China’s return to the Eurasian landmass after the collapse of the Soviet Union. China has reshaped Eurasia in several ways, which includes the common definition of this concept, which had largely been perceived as a chiefly Russian entity. This is rooted in Halford Mackinder’s The Geographical Pivot of History, which depicted the Eurasian landmass as a threat to Britain’s maritime hegemony with the advent of rail. While the traditional focus had been on Eurasia as the Russian empire, Mackinder also alluded to a Eurasian empire created by ‘Chinese organised by Japanese’ as a result of the latter’s development during the Meiji Restoration. While this did not come to pass, it has become an imperative to consider the notion of an Asian power in Eurasia due to China’s rise.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that China is as much a Eurasian power in the vein of Mackinder’s theories as Russia is, with the BRI providing a potential opportunity to further integrate with Eurasia. In addition, the initiative is also symbolic of China’s bid to create an alternative order both in Eurasia and the wider world as part of its global role to challenge the dominance of the United States, which raises the spectre of Mackinder’s warning over a challenger emerging from the Eurasian Heartland.
Do Corporate Governance Practices in One Jurisdiction Affect Another One? Lessons from the Panama Papers
Authors: Michael Bryane , Goo Say
Published: October 2019

To what extent do corporate governance practices in one jurisdiction affect another? In this paper, we look at the way that Hong Kong’s and the Mainland’s corporate governance practices have co-evolved, along with offshore incorporations from both places. Drawing on empirical illustrations of the data using analytical techniques like differential equations and Fourier Spectral Analysis, we find a strong relationship across time between changes in corporate governance practices in both jurisdictions as well as offshore incorporations. Our data also support the idea of a theory-free equilibrium level of corporate governance (determined by market participants’ own behaviour rather than by a theory-laden econometric model). We show that lethargy likely explains the persistence of corporate governance practices in both places, with innovations in one place correlating with innovations in the other. Such work clearly implies that corporate governance improvements in one place can help encourage such improvements in other markets which have not adopted laws aimed at improving corporate governance.
Wives of Secret Agents: Spyscapes of the Second World War and Female Agency
Authors: Hubbard-Hall Claire , O’Sullivan Adrian
Published: October 2019

Few existing archival records or secondary sources appear to narrate or describe the circumstances, relationships, and activities of “spy wives” during the Second World War. Intelligence historians currently find themselves at a turning point, where new approaches to the writing of intelligence history have been called for that transcend the study of operations and policy, while drawing when necessary upon the methodologies of such adjacent disciplines as social history and historical geoinformatics. It is therefore surely appropriate to conduct an examination of the hitherto neglected social phenomenon of female agency in the “spyscape” of wartime British and German covert operations. Through an examination of case studies of individual wives of intelligence operatives, constructed on the basis of information gathered from scattered primary and secondary sources, it is possible to assemble and analyse a wide, highly differentiated range of gender relationships at the intersection of the manifest and secret worlds.
Asserting Citizenship: Black Women in the Women’s Army Corps (wac)
Authors: Bolzenius Sandra
Published: October 2019

Military service has long been seen as one of the few routes available to African American men to demonstrate their rights to full citizenship. In 1942, the Women’s Army Corps (wac) opened this path for black women. More than 6,500 black Wacs served during the Second World War, yet, marginalized while in uniform and later overshadowed in narratives of black servicemen and white servicewomen, they and their unique experiences remain largely unknown outside of academia. This article examines the multiple subordinate positions to which the United States Army confined black Wacs, as black female soldiers, during the first years of the corps; investigates the army’s gender and racial policies and their civilian and military roots; and forefronts the actions of black Wacs who, by challenging their subordination, laid claim to their full rights as soldiers and as citizens.
From Buzuluk to London: The Combat Trail and Everyday Service of Women Auxiliaries in the Polish Army (1941–1945)
Authors: Marcinkiewicz-Kaczmarczyk Anna
Published: October 2019

This article explores the establishment of the Polish Women’s Auxiliary Service (was) as part of the complex story of the formation of a Polish army in exile. In 1941, after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the Polish Army in the Soviet Union was established. The Women’s Auxiliary Service was formed at the same time as a means to enable Polish women to serve their country and also as a way for Polish women to escape the Soviet Union. The women of the was followed the Polish Army combat trail from Buzuluk to London, accompanying their male peers first to the Middle East and then Italy. The women of the was served as nurses, clerks, cooks and drivers. This article examines the recruitment, organization and daily life of the women who served their country as exiles on the battlefront of the Second World War.
The Relevance of Shame in Dog-Human Relationships
Authors: Oftedal Line Kollerup , Harfeld Jes Lynning
Published: October 2019

The general claim behind the use of psychiatric service dogs is that the dogs, given their individual training, can provide a bigger sense of independency and safety for people struggling with mental health issues such as PTSD. Struggling with these types of mental health issues is thought to be associated with a self-undermining feeling of shame that, in turn, reinforces the mental health issue in question. This particular experience is, we believe, not present, or present in only a limited sense, in a positive emotional relationship with a dog. Thus, understanding the phenomenon of shame and its influence on the dog-human relationship may help us understand why such a relationship can be beneficiary to people struggling with PTSD and possibly a variety of other mental health issues. The concept of shame is most suitably thought of as a social and relational phenomenon. That is, as an emotion elicited by others and related to certain societal and cultural standards, ideals and norms. Shame is experienced as a painful emotion that negatively affects our self-perception and includes the risk of producing a self-undermining shame that can lead to social withdrawal and a continuous vicious circle of shame. In this article we address these psychological phenomena from within a philosophical framework, and we argue that a positive relationship between a dog and a human can provide a valuable social space in which shame becomes less present. Such a social space necessitates the presence of a connection between relational beings—i.e., beings with advanced mental and emotional capacities. Thus, we argue that the understanding of any dog-human relationship must include an approach beyond the somewhat still existing confines of objective natural science and its implied skepticism and agnosticism towards animal mind. We introduce an approach to dog life and dog-human relationships inspired by phenomenology. This approach enables an understanding of the dog as a bodily being, who lives in and experiences the world around her in co-existence with relevant similar others, including humans. We argue that such an approach is a sound way of trying to understand dog-human relationships and provides a key to a better understanding of the concept of shame in connection with such relationships.
The use of mobile technologies for work-to-family boundary permeability: The case of Finnish and Canadian male lawyers
Authors: Choroszewicz Marta , Kay Fiona
Published: October 2019

This article explores work–family interface and the use of mobile technologies (MTs) among male lawyers in Quebec (French Canada) and Finland – two civil law contexts with reputations for legislation friendly toward work–family balance. Drawing on 34 interviews with male lawyers and combining two theoretical lenses, shifting ideals of fatherhood and work–family boundary theory, our study shows how men’s preferences for work–family boundary management relate to diversifying models of fatherhood and family. In Finland, male lawyers more readily embrace family responsibilities and they strive to set firm boundaries to curtail work spilling over into family life. Yet, the cultural and professional norm of men as breadwinners remains strong, especially for Canadian male lawyers whose spouses more often assume primary responsibility for childcare. Our study offers qualitative markers of boundary management styles and strategies (spatial, temporal, and psychological) of male professionals – as struggling segmentors, struggling integrators, and integrators. We observe that senior male lawyers, living in more traditional family models, frequently model integrating behaviours, such as around-the-clock availability via MTs. This modeling establishes expectations of what represents a committed professional worthy of promotion. These practices play an important role in sustaining and reproducing gender inequalities in organisations that employ professionals.
Learning from supervisor negative gossip: The reflective learning process and performance outcome of employee receivers
Authors: Bai Yun , Wang Jie , Chen Tingting , Li Fuli
Published: October 2019

Workplace gossip is generally viewed as a deviant behavior that negatively affects the work outcomes of employees. However, we argue that this negative view is incomplete. Drawing on the cultural learning perspective of gossip and social learning theory, we examine how the job performance of employee receivers benefits from supervisor negative gossip through reflective learning. On the basis of multi-source, cross-sectional designs, Studies 1 and 2 consistently find that supervisor negative gossip facilitates employee receiver reflective learning and subsequent job performance when controlling for two sets of theory-relevant variables. Study 3, which has a multi-source, cross-lagged panel design, provides further evidence of the directional relationship from supervisor negative gossip to employee receiver job performance through reflective learning. The findings of the three separate field studies support the positive effect of supervisor negative gossip on employee receivers from a learning perspective. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings in terms of how employee receiver job performance can benefit from workplace negative gossip.
Excess Volatility and Costly Arbitrage in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs): Evidence from India
Authors: Sethi Aakanksha , Tripathi Vanita
Published: October 2019

The present study investigates the issue of excess volatility in index exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in India and analyses how well the costly arbitrage theories apply to this segment of the market. We find that the returns of the average ETF are 110 per cent more volatile as compared to the returns of the underlying portfolio which suggests that public trading introduces an additional layer of volatility in ETFs. Factors that limit arbitrage by making it costly for the arbitrageurs to remove the price-net asset value (NAV) deviations explain about 67 per cent of the variation in excess volatility. The cointegration analysis provides evidence of a long-term equilibrium relationship between price and NAV. Vector error correction model (VECM) results suggest that NAVs lead prices to restore this equilibrium in case of short-run deviations. The analysis also revealed that ETF returns are predictable on the basis of past deviations and may be used to generate returns which are significantly greater than those of a buy-and-hold strategy. Our results are in agreement with the theory of costly arbitrage and are inconsistent with the construct of efficiency in financial markets.
Partial integrated guidance and control design for supersonic missile based on disturbance rejection
Authors: Piao Minnan , Sun Mingwei , Huang Jian , Wang Zenghui , Chen Zengqiang
Published: October 2019

In this paper, a three-dimensional partial integrated guidance and control law for the supersonic missile impacting the surface target is proposed. In the guidance loop design, a reduced-order extended state observer is integrated with feedback linearization and the pure proportional navigation law to eliminate the effects of the unknown target kinematics and the dynamic coupling between the vertical and horizontal planes. Considering the autopilot lag, two guidance schemes with different observer inputs are compared using the adjoint and frequency domain analyses. For the control loop, the angular velocity feedback is performed first for the pitch and yaw channels as conventionally done in practice, and then first-order linear active disturbance rejection control is designed for the damping-enhanced plant to deal with the fast time-varying, uncertain aerodynamics and the strong coupling effects among the three channels. Both the attitude angle and the acceleration control can be designed in a unified framework. Finally, a three-dimensional engagement scenario is performed using a six-degree-of-freedom supersonic vehicle model, and extensive simulations are carried out to validate the robustness and the high guidance precision of the proposed method.
Experimental investigations on the performance and noise characteristics of a forward-curved fan with the stepped tongue
Authors: Yang Hui , Yu Peiquan , Xu Jun , Ying Cunlie , Cao Wenbing , Wang Yingdong , Zhu Zuchao , Wei Yikun
Published: October 2019

This work presents an experimental study to investigate the influence of step volute tongue on aerodynamic performance and aeroacoustic behavior of a forward-curved fan. The noise characteristics are analyzed and controlled based on measured acoustic pressures for various stepped tongues; meanwhile, fan performance is detected and optimized. The design parameters of the stepped tongues are presented to provide significant physical insight into increasing the static pressure as well as the efficiency of static pressure and reducing the fan noise generation. The comparison of the test results indicates that the improved static pressure and its efficiency of the HLHL model have increased by 15.67 Pa and 3.57%, respectively, by comparing with those of the baseline model. At 740 m3/h, a great correlation between different arrays of stepped tongue and the noise generation was observed. The tonal noise level of the HLHL model is a better optimization scheme because it decreases as much as 1.2 dB for the noise generation of forward-curved fan. In particular, it is found that some stepped tongues of the volute tongue achieved the goal of reducing noise generation and improving the performance of fan by experimental measurement at the same time.
The energy analysis of GE-F5 gas turbines inlet air–cooling systems by the off-design method
Authors: Arabi Seyed Mehdi , Ghadamian Hossein , Aminy Mohammad , Ozgoli Hassan Ali , Ahmadi Behzad , Khodsiani Milad
Published: October 2019

Increasing the inlet air temperature causes a reduction in the air mass flow rate, and the efficiency and output power of a gas power plant will reduced. To compensate this power and efficiency decrease, different cooling systems can be applied to the inlet air flow. This paper introduces and analyzes different gas turbine cooling systems and studies their effect on the efficiency of Zanbagh power plant’s G11 gas unit by extracting the governing equations regarding the characteristic curve and coding in the MATLAB software. In average, the simulation results show that reduction of 1 °C of inlet air temperature between 14 °C and 50 °C causes an efficiency and power output increase by 0.085% and 0.16 MW, respectively. The maximum cycle efficiency increase applied to cool the inlet air is around 2.7%, which can be achieved using the wet compression method. In addition, this method can reduce fuel consumption by 5% in comparison to a normal cycle.
Sound field measurement and evaluation research for radiated acoustic fields in amplitude-variable sonochemical systems
Authors: Kong Yaguang , Tao Xuyang , Chen Zhangpin
Published: October 2019

The content of this study is based on the background of sonochemistry processes. First, the hydrophone is used to measure the sound pressure in the reactor (the experimental ultrasonic frequency range is 20 ± 1 kHz). The sound pressure signals are processed by threshold method, Kalman filter algorithm, and five-point three-time smoothing method. These methods eliminate singular items in the sound pressure signal, filter noise, smooth burrs, and so on. In addition, the sound intensity value is calculated by dual hydrophone method. In this paper, the average intensity of ultrasonic cavitation is studied. The radial distribution and longitudinal distribution of cavitation intensity of the same tool head are studied, and the effects of different power and different tool heads on cavitation intensity are also discussed in this paper. The experimental results show that the instrument designed in this paper can effectively measure the distribution of ultrasonic sound field and evaluate the performance of the tool head. We can infer from the experiments that the performance of the diamond tool head is better than that of the nine-section whip and the dumbbell tool head.
Advancing the Exploration of Engaged Creative-Placemaking Amongst Universities and Communities for Social Cohesion in South Africa
Authors: Mutero Innocent Tinashe , Govender Ivan Gunass
Published: October 2019

This article frames a discussion on how South African universities and communities can co-create university spaces that facilitate repairing the country’s dented social, economic and political infrastructure through engaged creative-placemaking. The first section further explores the concept followed by a discussion of historical issues which have a material bearing on how universities can and should frame community engagement in South Africa. It pays close attention to how post-apartheid nation building is hindered by the remnants from the past and is dislocated to both the present and the future. The article also brings into question the type and role of leadership, in both universities and communities. The final section of the article presents a framework for engaged creative-placemaking delineating the antecedents that are needed by the key stakeholders, namely, public and private enterprises, university and the community to successfully work together in achieving a just society through creative-placemaking. Improving place liveability through engaged creative-placemaking has the potential to stimulate local economies and leads to cultural diversity, civic engagement and increased innovation.
Back to the future of digital price display: Analyzing patents and other archives to understand contemporary market innovations
Authors: Cochoy Franck , Soutjis Bastien
Published: October 2019

The article explores reasons for the lack of success of digital electronic shelf labels (ESLs) in US retail settings. It suggests that these reasons can be traced by referring to the triple meaning of ‘digital’: ‘Digital’ now means electronic, but the word also long encompassed numerals – a digit is a number – and body parts – digitus is the Latin word for the finger, that is, the index we use to point at things or manipulate them. The current fate of ESLs is linked to a long history that combined these three dimensions. The study unfolds along a twofold narrative. First, it reviews the recent introduction of ESLs in the United States based on the reading of papers and advertisements published in Progressive Grocer, a leading trade press magazine. Then, it goes ‘back to the future’ by exploring the roots of ESLs over a century. This historical study is based on the analysis of the evolution of US price tag patents (through a network study of patents citations and their evolution); the network analysis is complemented with the history of the US price tag market (through the knowledge gained from Progressive Grocer). The results show that digital price fixing depends on past and present systems and infrastructures, cost constraints and payback schemes, legal frameworks, and social projects.
Exercise-induced hypoxemia predicts heart failure hospitalization and death in patients supported with left ventricular assist devices
Authors: Koerber Daniel M , Rosenbaum Andrew N , Olson Thomas P , Kushwaha Sudhir , Stulak John , Maltais Simon , Behfar Atta
Published: October 2019

Following implantation of continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices, mechanical off-loading results in improved resting hemodynamics; however, peak exercise capacity generally does not increase substantially. This study evaluated patients supported by continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices who were invasively monitored during exercise to define parameters that underpin exercise capacity and outcomes. A review of all patients supported by continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices who underwent supine bicycle ergometry exercise testing with measurement of pulmonary gas exchange during right heart catheterization for evaluation of dyspnea at one institution between 2007 and 2018 was performed (n = 22). The primary outcome of this investigation was death or heart failure hospitalization. Although resting filling pressures were relatively preserved, resting cardiac index (Fick) was low (2.1 ± 0.5 mL/kg/min). An impaired cardiac output reserve was present in 75% of patients. On univariate modeling, patients with supine exercise–induced hypoxemia (O2 saturation <90%) experienced significantly diminished hospitalization-free survival (unadjusted hazard ratio = 11.0, confidence interval = 2.4–57.2, p = 0.003), which persisted despite adjustment for right heart catheterization peak VO2 and peak cardiac output (adjusted hazard ratio = 25, confidence interval = 3.6–322, p = 0.001). Our findings suggest that supine exercise testing provides additional prognostic utility in the continuous-flow left ventricular assist device population.
Examining repressive and oppressive state violence using the Ill-Treatment and Torture data
Authors: Beger Andreas , Hill Daniel
Published: October 2019

The literature on government violence focuses primarily on the repression of dissent. But not all state violence targets groups who oppose the government. Much of it targets criminal suspects, immigrants, and other marginalized groups who are not perceived to be challenging the government’s authority. The vast majority of findings concerning state violence comes from analyses that do not distinguish between government violence that targets acts of dissent and violence used for other purposes, which we call oppressive violence. Because of this, we have not yet established many empirical facts about the relationship between domestic institutions and violence unrelated to the repression of dissent. Though political institutions associated with democracy are known to reduce the frequency of torture and other violent abuses, it is unclear whether these effects are attributable to reductions in repressive violence, oppressive violence, or both. We argue that explanations for state violence that focus on democracy are better suited to explain repressive violence than oppressive violence. We use the Ill-Treatment and Torture data, which can be disaggregated by victim type, to explore the relationship between the torture of dissidents, criminal suspects, and members of marginalized social groups, and various conditions thought to be related to repressive and oppressive violence.
Culture by babies: Imagining everyday material culture through babies’ engagements with socks
Authors: Orrmalm Alex
Published: October 2019

This article takes its point of departure in babies’ engagements with socks and seeks to explore (1) how material culture matters in babies’ everyday lives and (2) how we can understand material culture through attending to babies’ own practices, that is, babies’ culture. The ongoingness, sensoriality and movement of material culture are highlighted, and the article concludes that re-thinking material culture through babies’ engagements with socks means shifting the focus away from objects’ established meaning and towards the materials of those objects.
Intracranial pressure–based validation and analysis of traumatic brain injury using a new three-dimensional finite element human head model
Authors: Khanuja Tanu , Unni Harikrishnan Narayanan
Published: October 2019

Traumatic brain injuries are life-threatening injuries that can lead to long-term incapacitation and death. Over the years, numerous finite element human head models have been developed to understand the injury mechanisms of traumatic brain injuries. Many of these models are erroneous and used ellipsoidal or spherical geometries to represent brain. This work is focused on the development of high-quality, comprehensive three-dimensional finite element human head model with accurate representation of cerebral sulci and gyri structures in order to study traumatic brain injury mechanisms. Present geometry, predicated on magnetic resonance imaging data consist of three rudimentary components, that is, skull, cerebrospinal fluid with the ventricular system, and the soft tissues comprising the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brain stem. The brain is modeled as a hyperviscoelastic material. Meshed model with 10 nodes modified tetrahedral type element (C3D10M) is validated against two cadaver-based impact experiments by comparing the intracranial pressures at different locations of the head. Our results indicate a better agreement with cadaver results, specifically for the case of frontal and parietal intracranial pressure values. Existing literature focuses mostly on intracranial pressure validation, while the effects of von Mises stress on brain injury are not analyzed in detail. In this work, a detailed interpretation of neurological damage resulting from impact injury is performed by analyzing von Mises stress and intracranial pressure distribution across numerous segments of the brain. A reasonably good correlation with experimental data signifies the robustness of the model for predicting injury mechanisms based on clinical predictions of injury tolerance criteria.
Rolling element bearing fault detection based on the complex Morlet wavelet transform and performance evaluation using artificial neural network and support vector machine
Authors: Malla Chandrabhanu , Rai Ankur , Kaul Vaishali , Panigrahi Isham
Published: October 2019

Condition monitoring and fault diagnosis of rolling element bearings are very important to ensure proper working of different types of machinery. Condition monitoring of rotating machines is mainly based on the analysis of machine vibration. The vibration signals from the mechanical fault generally comprise periodic impulses with specified characteristic frequency corresponds to a particular defect. But due to heavy noise in the industry, the vibration signals have a very low signal-to-noise ratio. Hence, it requires an appropriate technique to extract the impulses from the noisy signal. This article emphasized on the fault diagnosis of rolling element bearings having some specific size of defects on various bearing elements using the complex Morlet wavelet analysis. The phase and amplitude map of the complex Morlet wavelet are utilized for identification and diagnosis of the fault in the rolling element bearing. The amplitude and phase map corresponding to the complex Morlet wavelet are found to show unique informative signatures in the presence of bearing faults. The classification technique based on artificial neural network and support vector machine for rolling element bearing fault detection is presented in this article. The classification results of bearing faults clearly indicate that support vector machine has a more precise bearing fault classification ability than artificial neural network.
Big-five Personality Traits and Pro-environmental Investment Specifics from an Emerging Economy
Authors: Akhtar Fatima
Published: October 2019

Investment in pro-environmental financial assets like ‘green shares’ is rapidly emerging field in the area of personal finance. However, there has been a dearth of studies that could possibly explain the factors that indulge an investor to invest in ‘green shares’, in the context of a growing economy like India. Therefore, the present study makes an attempt to analyse the possible role of personality trait of an individual investor, keeping in mind his concern towards the environment, on his investment decision in ‘green shares’. This study has incorporated the Big-Five personality traits, along with the measures that determines an individual’s affection towards his environment and its relationship with his decision to invest in environmental friendly companies. A total of 572 individual investors participated in the study by completing a questionnaires about their personality, environmental concern and investment decision through disproportionate stratified random sampling. The collected data was analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The results of the present study revealed that individuals largely differ in critical ways in terms of their personality traits, which in turn plays a very detrimental role towards deciding the investment decision in ‘green shares’.
Community-Partnered Evaluation of the Aging Mastery Program in Los Angeles Area Senior Centers
Authors: Guerrero Lourdes R. , Menkin Josephine A. , Carrillo Carmen A. , Reyes Carmen E. , Trejo Laura , Banks Cynthia , Sarkisian Catherine A.
Published: October 2019

Background. The National Council on Aging’s Aging Mastery Program (AMP) aims to help older adults implement health behavior and lifestyle changes to promote healthy aging and social engagement. The purpose of the present community-partnered evaluation was to test the effectiveness of AMP implementation in Los Angeles County to improve participants’ quality of life, global physical and mental health, and patient activation. Method. A modified randomized wait-list controlled trial design was used to examine experimental, quasi-experimental, and dose-response evidence in five senior centers. Participants completed questionnaires at baseline and after the 10-week intervention, self-reporting their overall quality of life, physical health, mental health, and patient activation. Results. Experimental, intention-to-treat analyses found AMP assignment did not affect any measured outcomes ( n = 71). Quasi-experimental, “as treated” analyses ( n = 106) controlling for study site and sociodemographic characteristics indicated that participants who attended AMP reported more positive changes in global mental health than the control group. Attending AMP was not associated with changes in quality of life, physical health, or patient activation. Dose-response analyses among AMP participants who attended at least one class ( n = 75) found that attending more classes was not significantly associated with greater improvements in mental health. Conclusions. Experimental, intention-to-treat analyses did not support effectiveness of AMP on quality of life, physical or mental health, or patient activation; quasi-experimental analyses found attending AMP was associated with improvements in mental health. Recruitment challenges and participants’ nonadherence with condition assignment decreased our ability to detect effects. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03342729?term=Aging+Mastery+Program&rank=1 .
Dynamic behaviours of reinforced concrete columns under cyclic loading with variable rates
Authors: Xiao SY , Li JB , Mo YL
Published: October 2019

The dynamic behaviour of reinforced concrete columns is inevitably affected by loading rate. This article reports the effect of loading rate on the dynamic behaviour of reinforced concrete columns under cyclic loading. Dynamic tests on reinforced concrete columns at five different loading rates were carried out using the MTS electro-hydraulic servo system. The cyclic loading was controlled by displacement with a loading rate ranging from 0.1 to 10 mm/s. Based on the test results, the effects of the loading rate on the hysteresis curves and the envelope curves of reinforced concrete columns were investigated. The research focused on the effect of loading rate on strength and deformation behaviour, including yielding and ultimate strengths as well as displacement. Finally, the effects of loading rate on the dissipated energy capabilities, the pinching effects and the stiffness degradation of reinforced concrete columns were also critically examined.
The new gendered labour of synchronisation: Temporal labour in the new world of work
Authors: Woodman Dan , Cook Julia
Published: October 2019

Research considering how time is organised has shown that women tend to carry a disproportionate burden of coordinating the schedules of their households. However, little research has considered how these gendered inequalities may manifest in the context of the shift away from ‘standard’ work patterns and towards variable and non-standard hours. We address this question by using interview and digital data to consider how a selection of ‘ordinary’ Australian young adults in heterosexual partnerships manage and coordinate their time. We contend that even for middle-class young adults with relatively high employment security, increasingly complex working arrangements are shifting existing inequalities in gendered divisions of temporal labour in ways that heighten feelings of temporal insecurity. We conceptualise our findings as part of an intensification of the existing need to schedule and manage lives that is widely felt in the so-called ‘gig economy era’, even by those removed from gig work proper.
Impact of an educational intervention on eye gaze behaviour in retinal image interpretation by consultant and trainee ophthalmologists
Authors: Shirley Kate , Williams Michael , McLaughlin Laura , Parker Nicola , Bond Raymond
Published: October 2019

This study uses eye-tracking technology to assess the differences in gaze behaviours between ophthalmologists of different experience levels while interpreting retinal images of diabetic retinopathy. The differences in gaze behaviours before and after a teaching intervention which introduced a suggested search strategy is also investigated. A total of 9 trainees and 10 consultant ophthalmologists interpreted six retinal images. They were then shown a 5-min tutorial that demonstrated a search strategy. This was followed by six further retinal image interpretations. Participants completed questionnaires indicating clinical signs seen, appropriate retinopathy grade, and confidence. Eye movements were tracked during each interpretation.Overall, trainees compared to consultants demonstrated more uncertain and unstructured gaze behaviours. Trainee eye gaze metrics included: longer interpretation time, 36.5 s (SD = 6.2 vs. 31.4 s) (SD = 4.2) (p = 0.024), higher visit count, 17.38 visits (SD = 5.13) versus 12.18 visits(SD = 2.64) (p = 0.01), higher proportion of fixation, 57.0 per cent (SD = 5) versus 50.5 per cent (SD = 5) (p = 0.05) and shorter time to first fixation, 0.232 s (SD = 0.10) versus 0.821 s (SD = 0.77) (p = 0.001), respectively. The teaching intervention resulted in more focused gaze patterns in both groups. Pre-intervention and post-intervention mean proportion fixation on areas of interest were 38.6 per cent (SD = 6.8) and 51.8 per cent (SD = 13.9) for the trainee group, respectively, and 39.9 per cent (SD = 4.1) and 50.9 per cent (SD = 9.3) for the consultant group (p = 0.01).Consultants used more systematic and efficient approaches than trainees during interpretation. After the introduction of a suggested search strategy, trainees showed trends towards consultant eye gaze behaviours. Eye tracking gives an interesting insight into the thought processes of physicians carrying out complex tasks. The implication is that eye tracking may have future use in teaching and assessment. Its use in objectively assessing different teaching strategies could be a valuable tool for medical education.
Bringing metaphors back to the streets: a corpus-based study for the identification and interpretation of rhetorical figures in street art
Authors: Stampoulidis Georgios , Bolognesi Marianna
Published: October 2019

Research on (verbo-)pictorial metaphors and other rhetorical figures is primarily focused on the genre of advertising, leaving other genres under-investigated. In this study, the authors focus on street art, a visually perceived cross-cultural medium used to address sociopolitical issues. This genre typically combines two interacting semiotic systems – language and depiction – and is thus a form of polysemiotic communication. Their analysis is based on a corpus of 50 street artworks addressing the financial, sociopolitical and migrant/refugee crisis in the city of Athens (2015–2017). They present a data-driven procedure for the identification and interpretation of metaphors and other rhetorical figures in street art, informed by cognitive linguistic and semiotic models.

Quantitative analyses show that their models can be reliably applied to street art and can enable them to distinguish metaphors from other rhetorical figures within these images. At the same time, qualitative analyses show that this genre usually requires the integration of conceptual, contextual, socio-cultural and linguistic knowledge in order to achieve successful interpretation of these images. The authors discuss their findings within the theoretical framework of cognitive semiotics.
The challenge of non-adherence to early rehabilitation after coronary artery bypass surgery: Secondary results from the SheppHeartCABG trial
Authors: Højskov Ida E , Thygesen Lau C , Moons Philip , Egerod Ingrid , Olsen Peter S , Berg Selina K
Published: October 2019

Background:

Attending and maintaining a cardiac rehabilitation programme is a challenge.

Aims:

The purpose of this study was to explore associations between non-adherence to early coronary artery bypass graft rehabilitation and sociodemographic and clinical baseline data.

Methods:

Coronary artery bypass graft patients were randomised 1:1 to either four weeks of comprehensive early rehabilitation or usual care. Outcomes were assessed at three time-points points: baseline, discharge and four weeks post-coronary artery bypass graft. Differences in sociodemographic and clinical baseline data in adherent versus non-adherent patients were tested using the Pearson χ2 test for categorical variables. To test associations between non-adherence to exercise training and sociodemographic and clinical baseline data, multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratio for in-hospital training and post-discharge training adjusted for age, sex and left ventricular ejection fraction.

Results:

Non-adherence to in-hospital versus post-discharge exercise training was 31% ( n=48) versus 53% ( n=81). Female non-adherence was 20% versus 70%. Non-adherence to in-hospital versus post-discharge mindfulness was 87% versus 70%. Male non-adherence to mindfulness was 85% versus 70%. Non-adherence to psycho-educational consultations was 3%, most of whom were men. Patients with university level education were more adherent to in-hospital exercise training than patients with lower educational level (odds ratio=3.14 (95% confidence interval; 1.16–8.51), p=0.02). Diabetic patients were more non-adherent to exercise training after discharge (3.74 (1.54–9.08), p=0.004) as were overweight patients (0.37 (0.17–0.80), p=0.01).

Conclusions:

This study demonstrated wide acceptance of psycho-educational consultations in post-coronary artery bypass graft patients. Adherence to physical rehabilitation was low especially after discharge from hospital and the opportunity to attend a mindfulness programme was not used.
Short-term power prediction of photovoltaic power station based on long short-term memory-back-propagation
Authors: Hua Chi , Zhu Erxi , Kuang Liang , Pi Dechang
Published: October 2019

Accurate prediction of the generation capacity of photovoltaic systems is fundamental to ensuring the stability of the grid and to performing scheduling arrangements correctly. In view of the temporal defect and the local minimum problem of back-propagation neural network, a forecasting method of power generation based on long short-term memory-back-propagation is proposed. On this basis, the traditional prediction data set is improved. According to the three traditional methods listed in this article, we propose a fourth method to improve the traditional photovoltaic power station short-term power generation prediction. Compared with the traditional method, the long short-term memory-back-propagation neural network based on the improved data set has a lower prediction error. At the same time, a horizontal comparison with the multiple linear regression and the support vector machine shows that the long short-term memory-back-propagation method has several advantages. Based on the long short-term memory-back-propagation neural network, the short-term forecasting method proposed in this article for generating capacity of photovoltaic power stations will provide a basis for dispatching plan and optimizing operation of power grid.
Comparison of methods for control allocation in multiple arm studies using response adaptive randomization
Authors: Viele Kert , Broglio Kristine , McGlothlin Anna , Saville Benjamin R
Published: October 2019

Background/Aims:

Response adaptive randomization has many polarizing properties in two-arm settings comparing control to a single treatment. The generalization of these features to the multiple arm setting has been less explored, and existing comparisons in the literature reach disparate conclusions. We investigate several generalizations of two-arm response adaptive randomization methods relating to control allocation in multiple arm trials, exploring how critiques of response adaptive randomization generalize to the multiple arm setting.

Methods:

We perform a simulation study to investigate multiple control allocation schemes within response adaptive randomization, comparing the designs on metrics such as power, arm selection, mean square error, and the treatment of patients within the trial.

Results:

The results indicate that the generalization of two-arm response adaptive randomization concerns is variable and depends on the form of control allocation employed. The concerns are amplified when control allocation may be reduced over the course of the trial but are mitigated in the methods considered when control allocation is maintained or increased during the trial. In our chosen example, we find minimal advantage to increasing, as opposed to maintaining, control allocation; however, this result reflects an extremely limited exploration of methods for increasing control allocation.

Conclusion:

Selection of control allocation in multiple arm response adaptive randomization has a large effect on the performance of the design. Some disparate comparisons of response adaptive randomization to alternative paradigms may be partially explained by these results. In future comparisons, control allocation for multiple arm response adaptive randomization should be chosen to keep in mind the appropriate match between control allocation in response adaptive randomization and the metric or metrics of interest.
The Silent Majority in Cinema about the Argentinian (Post)Dictatorship: Collective Responsibility, Desires of Repression and Micro-fascisms
Authors: Greco Mauro
Published: October 2019

The article re-examines the problem of collective responsibility for state-sponsored violence, taking the latest Argentine dictatorship (1976–1983) as a case study, a country that has also elaborated a proper theoretical frame to research the subject. Here I propose to think the issue of society’s implication in past violence in terms of the categories of desires of repression and micro-fascism, rather than the classical, Enlighted and heroic concepts of responsibility and resistance. To that end, the article analyses two very recent films of the Argentine cinema: The long night of Francisco Sanctis1 and Red.2 Both films address the situation of the ordinary people under systemic violence, exemplifying how societal desires and micro-fascist attitudes work to stabilise a repressive regime. The films’ focus on the desires of repression and micro-fascisms, I argue, draws attention the small fears, anxieties, resentments, and jealousies that constitute a society and represent the violent regimes’ conditions of possibility. I suggest the films were read less as films about the abuses of the past and more as productions that illuminate the elements of the past that made possible the resurgence of repressive discourses and neoliberal ideologies in the present.