bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Can socioeconomic health differences be explained by physical activity at work and during leisure time? Rationale and protocol of the active worker individual participant meta-analysis
Authors: Coenen Pieter , Huysmans Maaike A , Holtermann Andreas , Troiano Richard , Mork Paul Jarle , Krokstad Steinar , Clays Els , van Mechelen Willem , van der Beek Allard J
Published: October 2018

Introduction

Socioeconomic health differences have often been described, but remain insufficiently understood. Recent evidence suggests that workers who are high (compared with low) physically active at work are less healthy. Moreover, workers who are highly physically active at work are predominantly physically inactive during leisure time. These observations suggest that workers with a lower socioeconomic status may be exposed to negative health consequences of occupational physical activity and may only benefit to a limited extent from health benefits of leisure-time physical activity. Physical activity may therefore be an important driver of socioeconomic health differences. We describe the rationale and protocol of the active worker study, an individual participant data meta-analysis aimed at exploring socioeconomic health differences by differential doses of physical activity at work and leisure time.

Methods and analysis

Using database and scoping searches (we searched in PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews from database inception to 14 September 2017), we have identified 49 published and unpublished prospective studies in which the association of occupational and leisure-time physical activity with cardiovascular or all-cause mortality was assessed. Principal investigators of these studies will be invited to participate in the active worker consortium, after which data will be retrieved. After data merging and harmonising, we will perform multilevel survival analysis assessing the combined association of occupational and leisure-time physical activity with mortality. We will also test the mediating effect of physical activity on the association of socioeconomic status and mortality (ie, socioeconomic health differences).

Discussion

The Medical Ethical Committee of the VU University Medical Center has declared, according to Dutch legislation, that the ‘Dutch Medical Research Involving Human Subjects Act’ does not apply to the current study. As such, no ethics approval is required. We intent to publish outcomes of the active worker Study in scientific peer-reviewed journals.

PROSPERO registration number

CRD42018085228.
An 11-year-old with mallet finger
Authors: Walsh Catherine , Sills Matthew , Markey Gerard
Published: October 2018

An 11-year-old girl presented with pain and deformity in her right little finger distal interphalangeal joint (DIPJ). She was active in several sports including hurling and had a history of dyspraxia with frequent minor soft tissue injuries which had not required hospital assessment. Her mother was concerned about the possibility of a recent injury.

Examination showed flexion deformity of the right fifth finger with complete loss of extension at the DIPJ. There was mild swelling and tenderness of the DIPJ with no bruising, erythema or warmth. An X-ray was performed (figure 1).Figure 1

An teroposterior (AP) and lateral radiographs of the right little finger.

Question

What is the diagnosis?

Salter-Harris type 1 fracture of distal phalanx

Dystelephalangy

Extensor digiti minimi tendon injury

Clinodactyly
BET 1: Haloperidol in cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome
Authors: Dida Joana , Walji Noorin
Published: October 2018

A short-cut review was carried out to establish whether haloperidol is effective at treating the symptoms of cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS). One study was directly relevant to the question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of that paper were tabulated. The clinical bottom line was that no controlled studies exist to report on the use of haloperidol. Alternative agents, used mainly off-label, show better promise at effectively treating symptoms of CHS based on case series and reports.
Development of a clustering-based model for enhancing acoustic leak detection
Authors: El-Zahab Samer , Asaad Ahmed , Mohammed Abdelkader Eslam , Zayed Tarek
Published: October 2018

According to the Canadian Infrastructure Report of 2016, Canada’s water and wastewater infrastructures are in a declining state. One of the problems plaguing water systems is leakage. Leaks are costly as they create losses in precious water resources as well as treatment chemicals and energy required to produce drinking water. Therefore, the city of Montréal has implemented a pilot project to detect the leaks in a portion of its water supply network using noise loggers. The main shortcoming tackled is the inaccuracy of the current system as it can regularly present false rulings on new events. This article presents a novel approach for the analysis of the signals using k-means clustering and provides a set of models for leak detection. The developed model was tested against real-life conditions and detected two possible leaks that were undetected by the current system in addition to its ability to detect all confirmed leak conditions.
Assessing small-stem density in northern hardwood selection system stands
Authors: Nyland Ralph D. , Nystrom Lindsay , Kiernan Diane H. , Bevilacqua Eddie
Published: October 2018

Data from three uneven-aged northern hardwood stands in New York State were analyzed to assess the effects of understory American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) density on changes of small stems within the 2.54 to 5.08 cm diameter class during the first cutting cycle under single-tree selection system. Findings show that the amount of understory American beech on a regeneration plot, quantified using a species index value (SIV), affects the abundance of other species. Results reveal the future plot-level stocking of these small trees for (i) all species (including American beech) as related to time since cutting and residual basal area or (ii) non-beech species as influenced by beech interference (SIV), time since cutting, and residual basal area. Findings indicate that for plots with limited understory beech, small-stem stem density will increase from postcut levels to a peak at 8–12 years after selection system cutting and then decrease. The higher the residual basal area is, the sooner the numbers of small trees reach a peak level and the fewer are present of that threshold size. Findings confirm that no or only minimal numbers of small non-beech trees develop on plots with high levels of understory American beech (SIV ≥ 0.5).
The regeneration of balsam fir stands in their northern abundance limit is more related to their seed sources and soil types than the climate
Authors: Messaoud Yassine , Goudiaby Venceslas , Bergeron Yves
Published: October 2018

To explain the transition between the southern mixedwood and the northern coniferous bioclimatic domains that are dominated, respectively, by balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) and black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.), 59 sites were selected throughout the two bioclimatic domains. The regeneration (seedling abundance) and mortality (difference between seedlings and saplings) of balsam fir seedlings were compared within and between bioclimatic domains. We also determined the soil types (clay and till), summer growing degree-days above 5 °C (GDD_5), and total summer precipitation (PP_MA). Balsam fir regeneration was strongly linked to parental trees and was higher in the mixedwood bioclimatic domain than in the coniferous domain, with higher regeneration occurring on till than on clay soils. Mortality was higher on till than on clay soils due to competition between balsam fir seedlings, with other species having either no effect or decreasing mortality. Unlike PP_MA, GDD_5 positively influenced balsam fir regeneration. The dynamics of balsam fir stands in the coniferous bioclimatic domain were attributed to a decrease in balsam fir regeneration and to an increase in its mortality, most likely due to a lack of suitable establishment substrates (till soils) and cooler temperatures. Small balsam fir populations still persist in the northernmost latitudes of the species’ range, mainly where parental trees occur on good establishment substrates. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the effect of species, climate, and site condition on latitudinal vegetation dynamics at a global scale.
Energy-constrained transmission on hybrid communication networks
Authors: Ji Xiaopeng , Pu Cunlai , Li Jie
Published: October 2018

The real communication systems usually consist of different types of agents, e.g. computers, routers, base stations and mobile phones, forming various hybrid communication networks. Furthermore, in many cases, those agents are energy-constrained resulting in a limited lifetime of the communication networks. We proposed a hybrid communication network model composed of energy-constrained base stations and mobile users, and further gave a novel energy-aware gateway selection strategy to balance the energy consumption of base stations. We developed a new metric of nodes, called node forwarding strength, which measures the intrinsic forwarding capability of nodes and is basically dependent on the network structure and routing protocol. Based on this metric, we further derived the critical packet generation rate of traffic congestion, average number of transmission hops, and network lifetime. By investigating the influence of factors on the network lifetime, we obtained the optimal user moving speed and gateway selection parameter corresponding to the maximum network lifetime. Our work may provide some clues for the designing and optimization of real hybrid communication systems.
An energy-based interaction model for population opinion dynamics with topic coupling
Authors: Noorazar Hossein , Sottile Matthew J. , Vixie Kevin R.
Published: October 2018

We introduce a new, and quite general variational model for opinion dynamics based on pairwise interaction potentials and a range of opinion evolution protocols ranging from random interactions to global synchronous flows in the opinion state space. The model supports the concept of topic “coupling”, allowing opinions held by individuals to be changed via indirect interaction with others on different subjects. Interaction topology is governed by a graph that determines interactions. Our model, which is really a family of variational models, has, as special cases, many of the previously established models for the opinion dynamics.

After introducing the model, we study the dynamics of the special case in which the potential is either a tent function or a constructed bell-like curve. We find that even in these relatively simple potential function examples there emerges interesting behavior. We also present results of preliminary numerical explorations of the behavior of the model to motivate questions that can be explored analytically.
Few-Shot Text and Image Classification via Analogical Transfer Learning
Authors: Liu Wenhe , Chang Xiaojun , Yan Yan , Yang Yi , Hauptmann Alexander G.
Published: October 2018

Learning from very few samples is a challenge for machine learning tasks, such as text and image classification. Performance of such task can be enhanced via transfer of helpful knowledge from related domains, which is referred to as transfer learning. In previous transfer learning works, instance transfer learning algorithms mostly focus on selecting the source domain instances similar to the target domain instances for transfer. However, the selected instances usually do not directly contribute to the learning performance in the target domain. Hypothesis transfer learning algorithms focus on the model/parameter level transfer. They treat the source hypotheses as well-trained and transfer their knowledge in terms of parameters to learn the target hypothesis. Such algorithms directly optimize the target hypothesis by the observable performance improvements. However, they fail to consider the problem that instances that contribute to the source hypotheses may be harmful for the target hypothesis, as instance transfer learning analyzed. To relieve the aforementioned problems, we propose a novel transfer learning algorithm, which follows an analogical strategy. Particularly, the proposed algorithm first learns a revised source hypothesis with only instances contributing to the target hypothesis. Then, the proposed algorithm transfers both the revised source hypothesis and the target hypothesis (only trained with a few samples) to learn an analogical hypothesis. We denote our algorithm as Analogical Transfer Learning. Extensive experiments on one synthetic dataset and three real-world benchmark datasets demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed algorithm.
Reproducible Web Corpora
Authors: Kiesel Johannes , Kneist Florian , Alshomary Milad , Stein Benno , Hagen Matthias , Potthast Martin
Published: October 2018

The evolution of web pages from static HTML pages toward dynamic pieces of software has rendered archiving them increasingly difficult. Nevertheless, an accurate,
reproducible
web archive is a necessity to ensure the reproducibility of web-based research. Archiving web pages reproducibly, however, is currently not part of best practices for web corpus construction. As a result, and despite the ongoing efforts of other stakeholders to archive the web, tools for the construction of reproducible web corpora are insufficient or ill-fitted. This article presents a new tool tailored to this purpose. It relies on emulating user interactions with a web page while recording all network traffic. The customizable user interactions can be replayed on demand, while requests sent by the archived page are served with the recorded responses. The tool facilitates reproducible user studies, user simulations, and evaluations of algorithms that rely on extracting data from web pages. To evaluate our tool, we conduct the first systematic assessment of reproduction quality for rendered web pages. Using our tool, we create a corpus of 10,000 web pages carefully sampled from the Common Crawl and manually annotated with regard to reproduction quality via crowdsourcing. Based on this data, we test three approaches to automatic reproduction-quality assessment. An off-the-shelf neural network, trained on visual differences between the web page during archiving and reproduction, matches the manual assessments best. This automatic assessment of reproduction quality allows for immediate bugfixing during archiving and continuous development of our tool as the web continues to evolve.
Bridge Plate Failure with Extensor Tendon Injury: A Case Report and Literature Review
Authors: Lefebvre Rachel , Intravia Jessica , Cao Lisa , Ghiassi Alidad , Stevanovic Milan
Published: October 2018

Background. Dorsal spanning plate fixation is an increasingly popular method of fixation for certain distal radius fractures. Published outcomes are encouraging, but complications are still reported. Methods. We present a case report of a 26-year-old woman with spanning plate breakage and extensor pollicis longus (EPL) metallosis, fraying, and near-complete rupture. The patient’s unsuccessful follow-up led to this complication. Metallosis and damage to the extensor indices (EI) and distal extensor carpi radialis longus (ECRL) were intraoperative obstacles for tendon transfer to restore EPL function. Results. Tendon transfer in the setting of bridge plate failure has not yet been described in the literature. There are reports of spanning plate failure indicating that breakage often happens through the plate’s holes and after fracture healing. Conclusions. The compounded complication of plate failure with extensor tendon injury emphasizes the important relationship between the local anatomy, barriers to patient care, and potential problems after spanning plate fixation.
An Evaluation Method of Urban Public Transport Facilities Resource Supply Based on Accessibility
Authors: Sun Chao , Chen Xiaohong , Zhang H. Michael , Huang Ze
Published: October 2018

The two indices of the supply level of urban public transport facilities resource and the public transport-private cars traveling time ratio are used to evaluate the public transport accessibility in urban networks. An evaluation method for urban public transport facilities resource supply is proposed based on accessibility by taking Shenzhen as the research area and by using the London PTAL evaluation system. The method takes into account the walking time outside the public transit station and the spatial layout of public transit stations, reflects regional development opportunity, and can reflect regional differences regarding public transport facilities resources in various spatial scales. This paper evaluates the relative service competiveness of public transports and private cars in the entire travel of individuals based on the public transport-private cars travelling time ratio, which lays a foundation to judge the service level of public transport and to make a purpose-specific transportation policy and public transport development scheme.
Hereditary Angioedema Type II: First Presentation in Adulthood with Recurrent Severe Abdominal Pain
Authors: Abuzakouk Mohamed , AlMahmeed Nada , Memisoglu Esat , McManus Martine , Alrakawi Aydamir
Published: October 2018

A 27-year-old Emirate man presented to Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi emergency department with a 4 year history of recurrent episodes of severe swellings affecting different parts of his body. He used to get 2 swelling episodes every week affecting either his face, hands, feet or scrotum and severe abdominal pain twice a week. Abdominal CT scan and a colonoscopy showed bowel wall oedema. There was no family history of similar complaint or of hereditary angioedema (HAE). Complement studies confirmed the diagnosis of HAE type II. He was commenced on danazol 100 mg twice daily and his symptoms resolved. This case report highlights the importance of considering HAE in patients with recurrent unexplained abdominal pain even in the absence of positive family history of HAE.
Real-Time Pedestrian Tracking and Counting with TLD
Authors: Shi Jiawei , Wang Xianmei , Xiao Huer
Published: October 2018

This paper describes a solution to solve the issue of automatic multipedestrian tracking and counting. First, background modeling algorithm is applied to actively obtain multipedestrian candidates, followed by a confirmation step with classification. Then each pedestrian patch is handled by real-time TLD (Tracking-Learning-Detection) to get a new predication position according to similarity measure. Further TLD results are compared with classification list to determine a new, disappeared, or existing pedestrian. Finally single line counting with buffer zone is employed to count pedestrians. Experiments results on the public database, PETS, demonstrate the validity of our solution.
Transcriptome and DNA Methylome Dynamics during Triclosan-Induced Cardiomyocyte Differentiation Toxicity
Authors: Du Guizhen , Yu Mingming , Wang Lingling , Hu Weiyue , Song Ling , Lu Chuncheng , Wang Xinru
Published: October 2018

Cardiac development is a dynamic process and sensitive to environmental chemicals. Triclosan is widely used as an antibacterial agent and reported to transport across the placenta and affect embryonic development. Here, we used human embryonic stem cell- (hESC-) derived cardiomyocytes (CMs) to determine the effects of TCS exposure on cardiac development. After TCS treatment, the differentiation process was significantly blocked and spontaneous beating rates of CMs were also decreased. Transcriptome analysis showed the dysregulation of genes involved in cardiogenesis, including GATA4 and TNNT2. Additionally, DNA methylation was also altered by TCS exposure, especially in those regions with GATA motif enrichment. These alterations of transcriptome and DNA methylation were all associated with signaling pathways integral to heart development. Our findings indicate that TCS exposure might cause cardiomyocyte differentiation toxicity and provide the new insights into how environmental factors regulate DNA methylation and gene expressions during heart development.
Aurora A Kinase Inhibition Is Synthetic Lethal with Loss of the RB1 Tumor Suppressor Gene
Authors: Gong Xueqian , Du Jian , Parsons Stephen H. , Merzoug Farhana F. , Webster Yue , Iversen Philip W. , Chio Li-Chun , Van Horn Robert D. , Lin Xi , Blosser Wayne , Han Bomie , Jin Shaoling , Yao Sufang , Bian Huimin , Ficklin Chris , Fan Li , Kapoor Avnish , Antonysamy Stephen , Mc Nulty Ann M. , Froning Karen , Manglicmot Danalyn , Pustilnik Anna , Weichert Kenneth , Wasserman Stephen R. , Dowless Michele , Marugán Carlos , Baquero Carmen , Lallena María José , Eastman Scott W. , Hui Yu-Hua , Dieter Matthew Z. , Doman Thompson , Chu Shaoyou , Qian Hui-Rong , Ye Xiang S. , Barda David A. , Plowman Gregory D. , Reinhard Christoph , Campbell Robert M. , Henry James R. , Buchanan Sean G.
Published: October 2018

Loss-of-function mutations in the retinoblastoma gene RB1 are common in several treatment-refractory cancers such as small-cell lung cancer and triple-negative breast cancer. To identify drugs synthetic lethal with RB1 mutation (RB1mut), we tested 36 cell-cycle inhibitors using a cancer cell panel profiling approach optimized to discern cytotoxic from cytostatic effects. Inhibitors of the Aurora kinases AURKA and AURKB showed the strongest RB1 association in this assay. LY3295668, an AURKA inhibitor with over 1,000-fold selectivity versus AURKB, is distinguished by minimal toxicity to bone marrow cells at concentrations active against RB1mut cancer cells and leads to durable regression of RB1mut tumor xenografts at exposures that are well tolerated in rodents. Genetic suppression screens identified enforcers of the spindle-assembly checkpoint (SAC) as essential for LY3295668 cytotoxicity in RB1-deficient cancers and suggest a model in which a primed SAC creates a unique dependency on AURKA for mitotic exit and survival.

Significance:

The identification of a synthetic lethal interaction between RB1 and AURKA inhibition, and the discovery of a drug that can be dosed continuously to achieve uninterrupted inhibition of AURKA kinase activity without myelosuppression, suggest a new approach for the treatment of RB1-deficient malignancies, including patients progressing on CDK4/6 inhibitors.

See related commentary by Dick and Li, p. 169.

This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 151
The First Comprehensive Study of H-Deficient Phenotypes in Iran
Authors: Shahverdi Ehsan , Moghaddam Mostafa , Hajbeigi Bashir , Pourfathollah Ali Akbar , Hassani Fatemeh , Herfat Fahimeh
Published: October 2018

Background: The lack of correct blood grouping practices can lead to missing of the rare Bombay Oh phenotype and subjecting patients to the risk of severe hemolytic transfusion reaction. In the absence of blood donor registry, transfusion management of patients is a challenge. We performed this study in order to estimate the prevalence of the Bombay blood group (Oh) in Iran and to determine whether consanguinity plays a role in the prevalence of Oh group. Methods: This is a descriptive study in the Immunohematology Reference Laboratory of the Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization (IBTO) Tehran, Iran, over a period of 7 years. All donor blood samples showing blood group O and a strong initial reaction with blood group O RBC control cells were tested with anti-H lectin. Also blood samples from blood group O patients were tested with anti-H lectin if all cells on both antibody screening tests and antibody identification panels were reactive with negative auto control test. Specialized tests like adsorption/elution technique and inhibition assay for determination of secretor status were performed on Oh cases. Any history of consanguineous marriages were recorded. All variables were categorical variables, and percentage and proportions were calculated manually. Results: Analysis of the results of over 7 million first-time blood donors in Iran showed that the most common ABO blood group was O, with 2,520,000 (36%) subjects. 56 Oh individuals' (donors and patients) phenotypes (0.0008%) were detected. Consanguinity was observed in 50 cases (89%). Conclusions: This study shows that the prevalence of Bombay blood group in the general population of Iran is relatively high (0.0008%) and associated with consanguineous marriage. Thus, consanguinity is still an important risk factor present.
Neuroendocrine-Metabolic Dysfunction and Sleep Disturbances in Neurodegenerative Disorders: Focus on Alzheimer’s Disease and Melatonin
Authors: Spinedi Eduardo , Cardinali Daniel P.
Published: October 2018

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is associated with altered eating behavior and metabolic disruption. Amyloid plaques and neurofilament tangles are observed in many hypothalamic nuclei from AD brains. Some of these areas (suprachiasmatic nuclei, lateral hypothalamic area) also play a role in the regulation of the sleep/wake cycle and may explain the comorbidity of eating and sleep disorders observed in AD patients. Inadequate sleep increases the neurodegenerative process, for example, the decrease of slow-wave sleep impairs clearance of β-amyloid peptide (Aβ) and tau protein from cerebral interstitial fluid. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) melatonin levels decrease even in preclinical stages (Braak-1 stage) when patients manifest no cognitive impairment, suggesting that reduction of melatonin in CSF may be an early marker (the cause for which is still unknown) of oncoming AD. Melatonin administration augments glymphatic clearance of Aβ and reduces generation and deposition of Aβ in transgenic animal models of AD. It may also set up a new equilibrium among hypothalamic feeding signals. While melatonin trials performed in the clinical phase of AD have failed to show or showed only modest positive effects on cognition, in the preclinical stage of dementia (minimal cognitive impairment) the effect of melatonin is demonstrable with significant improvement of sleep and quality of life. In this review, we discuss the main aspects of hypothalamic alterations in AD, the association between interrupted sleep and neurodegeneration, and the possible therapeutic effect of melatonin on these processes.
The Decline of Income Inequality in China: Assessments and Explanations
Authors: Wan Guanghua , Wu Ting , Zhang Yan
Published: October 2018

This paper shows that the trend of worsening income distribution in China has been reversed. We ascertain the robustness of this decline using five nationwide household survey and different inequality indicators. Attempts are then made to uncover the underlying reasons. Major findings include: (1) The decline is largely due to improvement in the distribution of transfer income although its share in the total income is small and diminishing; (2) Occupational income, particularly its component of wage income, plays an important role; and (3) Other drivers include the expansion of the middle-income group, rapid urbanization, and the shrinking disparity within Eastern China.
A Persian Origin of the Arabic Aristotle? The Debate on the Circumstantial Evidence of the Manteq Revisited
Authors: Hermans Erik
Published: October 2018

The oldest Arabic translation of any Greek text is an eighth-century paraphrase of the first half of Aristotle’sOrganon, known as theManteq. This text has been ascribed to Ebn al-Moqaffaʿ, the Persian administrator, author, and translator. Although the source text of theManteqhas not survived, the ascription to Ebn al-Moqaffaʿ—who knew neither Greek nor Syriac—implies that it was written in Middle Persian. Modern scholars have often called the ascription to Ebn al-Moqaffaʿ into question. This article reassesses that debate and demonstrates that it has been motivated by scholarly skepticism towards the late antique Persian intellectual tradition as a conduit of Aristotelianism. Furthermore, this article argues that none of the available circumstantial evidence contradicts an Aristotelian tradition in Persian, but rather supports it.
Ferdynand Goetel’s Iranian Experience: A Non-Colonial European Account of Mashhad
Authors: Rodziewicz Magdalena
Published: October 2018

Ferdynand Goetel was a prisoner-of-war and a Polish refugee from Soviet Russia who, in 1920, spent a few months in Mashhad. The current study is an attempt to present Goetel’s unique view of the city and its inhabitants. Khorasan, at the beginning of the twentieth century, was frequently visited by foreigners who left numerous accounts of both the province and its capital Mashhad. Most of them were written by British and Russian citizens; representitive of the great powers striving to dominate the region through an extensive infrastructure of consulates, military posts, and commercial networks across the country. Goetel made his way to Iran after escaping six years of exile in Russian Turkestan, and he perceived his time in Iran as a liberation from captivity. During the few months he was forced to spend in Mashhad, waiting for evacuation, he explored the city and became acquainted with its inhabitants. His memoirs are not only a testimony of life in Iran at the beginning of the century, written from neither a colonial nor semi-colonial perspective, but also a source of information on the turbulent times of the late-Qajar decline.
Civil Society and the Rise of Unconventional Modes of Youth Participation in the MENA
Authors: Sika Nadine
Published: October 2018

Why are there variances in young people’s civic and political participation in the aftermath of the Arab Uprisings, and what are the implications of these types of participatory modes on authoritarian rule in the region? Based on quantitative and qualitative fieldwork from five countries in the Middle East – Egypt, Palestine, Morocco, Tunisia and Lebanon – this paper demonstrates that young people in the region are increasingly drawn to independent and unconventional forms of participation to varying degrees, depending on each country’s authoritarian structure and institutional arrangements. Though the rise of unconventional participation is a manifestation of the presence of a vibrant Arab street, these participatory modes lead to civil society’s weakness and fragmentation. This adds to the volatility of new civic and political actors and provides the regimes with more authoritarian strategies for resilience.
Activism Amid Disappointment: Women’s Groups and the Politics of Hope in Egypt
Authors: Allam Nermin
Published: October 2018

In this paper, I provide preliminary answers to two main questions, namely: How did the politics of disappointment unfold among female activists after the 2011 Egyptian uprising and specifically under the current regime? And what were the effects of the strong sense of emotional disappointment on women’s activism and collective action? The study is situated within the literature on emotions and contentious politics. Utilizing the rich theoretical tools found in the literature, I argue that disappointment did not mark the end of politics and activism among women’s groups in Egypt. The data for this paper was gathered from semi-structured interviews with female activists, protestors, and leaders of women’s rights groups. The data gathered was analyzed within the prism of critical discourse analysis in an attempt to empirically investigate how activists move both forward and backward as they navigate their own emotions in addition to a crippling political system. It is true that the situation is complicated and activism is restricted in Egypt, however, the essence of this research is ignited by participants’ affirmation that their experience in the uprising has changed them, and that “things cannot go back to the old days,” notwithstanding their disappointment over the turn of events. A focus on hope and disappointment places the experiences of activists squarely in our analysis. It allows researchers to reclaim the voices of female activists in explaining the challenges and opportunities that developed post the uprising and how these developments influenced and shaped their experience, movement, and mobilization.
The Legacy of Authoritarian Strategies: Repression and Polarization in the Palestinian Territories
Authors: El Kurd Dana S.
Published: October 2018

What is the effect of authoritarianism on polarization within society, and how does such polarization affect collective action? This paper specifically addresses whether varying types of authoritarian strategies have an effect on the level of polarization in society, and the subsequent ability of different segments of society to coordinate. I argue that authoritarianism generates rising polarization, which in turn inhibits cooperation between groups. Specifically, the type of authoritarian strategy matters; exclusionary strategies such as repression generate higher levels of grievance and insularity, making it more difficult for groups to coordinate, than inclusionary strategies such as cooptation. To assess this dynamic, I examine a specific case of authoritarianism and polarization: the case of the Palestinian territories. Using this case, I present a two-stage theory, arguing: (1) that particular forms of authoritarianism generate polarization, and (2) that polarization subsequently affects social cohesion, and capacity for collective action. Results confirm the theory that authoritarianism, in particular forms, exacerbates polarization within society. This polarization in turn affects the ability and willingness of different segments to coordinate on a common task. In particular, exclusionary strategies such as repression generate greater levels of polarization than inclusionary strategies such as cooptation. Moreover, the qualitative evidence shows that Islamists in the West Bank, the most repressed group, are much more insular and less willing to cooperate with others. These results shed light on mechanisms of authoritarian control, and provide pathways for future research on how regimes maintain power by neutralizing opposition increasingly over time. On a substantive level, these results also explain why the Palestinian community specifically, and Arab societies more generally, suffer from increasing polarization and a decreasing capacity for collective action.
Distinguishing Emotions of Guilt and Shame in Psalm 51
Authors: DiFransico Lesley
Published: October 2018

Psalm 51 contains an expression of guilt and shame as the psalmist petitions God for restoration. Yet how emotions are identified or understood remains confused in recent discussion and scholarship. Drawing on modern psychological and cognitive studies of emotion, specifically the differentiation of self-conscious emotions of guilt and shame, this article will evaluate these emotions in Psalm 51 and argue that guilt is the dominant emotion conveyed while shame is less prominent. While interpreters often find self-deprecation and a sense of shame for the human condition, the psalm focuses on remorse for actions and lacks any significant negative evaluation of self. Through an analysis of the psalm, this article will discuss the function of emotion within the prayer and draw some conclusions on the significance of emotion studies for reading biblical texts.
Fashion and the femmes tondues: Lee Miller, Vogue and representing Liberation France
Authors: Gorrara Claire
Published: October 2018

This article will examine representations of the Liberation of France in the war reports of Lee Miller, an accredited photographer and correspondent for American and British Vogue during the Second World War. Miller’s frontline reports framed Liberation France in idealised images of feminine beauty and elegance, making use of fashion as a primary conduit for understanding the war and occupation for readers on the home front. As this article will argue, examining Miller’s choices and perspective as a female photographer sheds new light on the intersection of fashion, war photography and the female body. In Miller’s work, fashion becomes a site for imagining liberation in ways that foreground the gendering of war experience and the legacies of conflict for women. By charting Miller’s representations of French women at the Liberation, and above all the chastised figure of the femme tondue, this article will analyse how French women function as carriers of multiple messages about war, liberation and reconstruction in Miller’s work. Unlike the sensationalist images of the femmes tondues published in the British picture press and newspapers in the summer of 1944, Miller’s war reports in Vogue construct an empathic relationship with such underprivileged female subjects. Miller’s work opens a space, therefore, for speculation on the role of fashion in shaping how the Second World War was understood by a first generation of female memory producers and consumers.
A modeling-based narrative intervention to promote timely care-seeking in patients with acute myocardial infarction: A pilot randomized controlled trial and feasibility analysis
Authors: Li Polly WC , Yu Doris SF
Published: October 2018

Background:

Prolonged delay in seeking medical attention for acute myocardial infarction persists as a global phenomenon, which limits effective disease management. The effects of previous mass-media campaigns and psycho-educations have been minimal.

Aims:

This study aimed to develop a modeling-based narrative intervention, and to examine its feasibility and preliminary effects on care-seeking behavioral intention in Chinese acute myocardial infarction patients.

Methods:

The modeling-based narrative intervention was developed by integrating updated research evidence and participants’ perspectives. Ten patients were invited to co-design the intervention. The narrative approach was adopted to engage patients in a mental rehearsal of the decision-making process through a virtual acute myocardial infarction attack experience. A pilot randomized controlled trial was adopted to examine the feasibility and preliminary effects of this intervention.

Results:

A total of 67 participants were randomly allocated to receive either the modeling-based narrative intervention ( n=34) or didactic education ( n=33). The intervention was feasible and well-accepted by the participants as evidenced by high attendance and participant satisfaction. They considered the intervention as informative and interesting. The majority of the participants in the intervention group expressed that they enjoyed the intervention. Although the preliminary data showed non-significant between-group differences, a more prominent improving trend for acute myocardial infarction knowledge, care-seeking attitudes and beliefs in the intervention group were evident.

Conclusions:

This study is the first of its kind to adopt a novel narrative approach to optimize care-seeking behaviors among patients with acute myocardial infarction. The preliminary findings showed that this approach was highly feasible and accepted by patients.
Cognitive Stimulating Play Intervention for Dementia: A Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Cheung Daphne Sze Ki , Li Bingyu , Lai Daniel Wing Leung , Leung Angela Yee Man , Yu Clare Tze Kiu , Tsang Ka Tat
Published: October 2018

This study investigates the feasibility and the preliminary efficacy of a Cognitive Stimulating Play Intervention on cognitive functions. Thirty older people with early to moderate dementia were recruited from 2 day-care centers, which were randomized into intervention and control groups. The recruitment, attendance, completion rates, and the interview with staff showed that the intervention was feasible. Analysis of covariance results showed that there was a significant difference between groups on memory storage and retrieval functions. The mean memory storage and retrieval functions were 5.92 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.83-9.91; P = .006) and 4.12 (95% CI: 0.75-7.50; P = .018) points higher than that for the control group, respectively, which contributed moderate to large effects (partial η2 = 0.189-0.248). There was no significant difference between groups in global cognition measured using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and verbal fluency. Practical issues that emerged during implementation were discussed.
Reliability of demand-based warm standby system with common bus performance sharing
Authors: Jia Heping , Peng Rui , Ding Yi , Song Yonghua
Published: October 2018

Redundancy techniques have been extensively utilized to enhance the reliability of engineering systems. There are three different types of standby techniques, cold, hot, and warm. Warm standby is adopted for less energy consumption and shorter leading time compared with hot standby and cold standby, respectively. Besides redundancy, performance sharing is another strategy to enhance system reliability, where the subsystems with sufficient performance can share the surplus performance with other subsystems with deficient performance. This article considers a demand-based warm standby system with a common bus performance-sharing mechanism, where the subsystems can share performance through the common bus and each subsystem can be configured with warm standby components in order to meet its demand. To be more general, the imperfect switching for the activations of warm standby components is also considered. Moreover, the multi-valued decision-diagram technique is developed to analyze the reliability for the proposed model. The proposed technique can handle systems whose time-to-failure distributions can follow arbitrary distributions in addition to the common utilized exponential distributions. Numerical studies are provided to validate the proposed model and technique.
The utility of the Sports Concussion Assessment Tool in hospitalized traumatic brain injury patients
Authors: Sargeant M , Sykes E , Saviour M , Sawhney A , Calzolari E , Arthur J , McGoldrick A , Seemungal BM
Published: October 2018

The Sports Concussion Assessment Tool 3rd version is a sports screening tool that is often used to support return to play decisions following a head injury. The Sports Concussion Assessment Tool 3rd version is presumed to identify brain dysfunction (implying a degree of brain injury); however, the Sports Concussion Assessment Tool has never been validated with patients with definite acute brain injury. In this study, we found that all three Sports Concussion Assessment Tool 3rd version domains – symptoms, cognitive and balance assessments – were sensitive in discriminating traumatic brain injury patients (all with abnormal acute neuroimaging) from healthy controls. Through a correlation matrix (Bonferroni corrected), we found no correlation between the subjective (symptoms) and objective (examination) Sports Concussion Assessment Tool 3rd version assessments, e.g. complaints of imbalance and memory dysfunction were not correlated, respectively, with performance on testing balance and memory function. When relaxing the correction for multiple comparisons we found that of all Sports Concussion Assessment Tool 3rd version symptoms, a feeling of ‘pressure in the head’ had the largest number of co-correlations (including affective symptoms) and overwhelmingly in a pattern indicative of migraine. Taken together, that objective and subjective assessments in the Sports Concussion Assessment Tool 3rd version are poorly correlated, could suggest that symptoms in the Sports Concussion Assessment Tool 3rd version poorly reflect brain injury but rather indicate non-brain injury processes such as migraine. It follows that the current prominent orthodoxy of resting athletes following a head injury until their symptoms settle for fear of exacerbating brain injury may be unfavourable for their recovery – at least in some cases. Prospective clinical studies would be required to assess patient recovery from concussion with early active investigation and treatment versus rest – a notion supported by recent international consensus.
Clostridium difficile infection perceptions and practices: a multicenter qualitative study in South Africa
Authors: Legenza Laurel , Barnett Susanne , Rose Warren , Safdar Nasia , Emmerling Theresa , Peh Keng Hee , Coetzee Renier
Published: October 2018

Background

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is understudied in limited resource settings. In addition, provider awareness of CDI as a prevalent threat is unknown. An assessment of current facilitators and barriers to CDI identification, management, and prevention is needed in limited resource settings to design and evaluate quality improvement strategies to effectively minimize the risk of CDI.

Methods

Our study aimed to identify CDI perceptions and practices among healthcare providers in South African secondary hospitals to identify facilitators and barriers to providing quality CDI care. Qualitative interviews (11 physicians, 11 nurses, 4 pharmacists,) and two focus groups (7 nurses, 3 pharmacists) were conducted at three district level hospitals in the Cape Town Metropole. Semi-structured interviews elicited provider perceived facilitators, barriers, and opportunities to improve clinical workflow from patient presentation through CDI (1) Identification, (2) Diagnosis, (3) Treatment, and (4) Prevention. In addition, a summary provider CDI knowledge score was calculated for each interviewee for seven components of CDI and management.

Results

Major barriers identified were knowledge gaps in characteristics of C. difficile identification, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. The median overall CDI knowledge score (scale 0–7) from individual interviews was 3 [interquartile range 0.25, 4.75]. Delays in C. difficile testing workflow were identified. Participants perceived supplies for CDI management and prevention were usually available; however, hand hygiene and use of contact precautions was inconsistent.

Conclusions

Our analysis provides a detailed description of the facilitators and barriers to CDI workflow and can be utilized to design quality improvement interventions among limited resource settings.
Do prepaid water meters improve the quality of water service delivery? The case of Nakuru, Kenya
Authors: Hanjahanja Robert , Omuto Christian
Published: October 2018

Conventional water metering has a tendency of being unreliable, inaccurate, and a source of dispute and disquiet among customers, and hence it is considered to be one primary reason why water service providers perform poorly and have very low revenue collection figures. The result of this poor performance spirals into poor management, ineffective maintenance, inaccurate billing and high non-revenue water. This study explored what a prepaid metering project in Nakuru, Kenya achieved, and to see whether or not prepayment can be considered to be an innovative way of addressing these concerns, especially how to provide better service, when providing water to the urban poor. In addition, the study investigated micro financing as tools for supporting efforts by water service providers serving the poor and whether they are an effective way of financing projects. Communal prepaid meters were installed in an existing conventional network and data on commonly used performance evaluation parameters collected through interviews, field visits, and existing literature. The results portrayed prepaid metering with positive improvements to the conventional metering. It was found that there is an opportunity in microfinance for win-win partnerships among financial institutions, water service providers and low-income customers to help them in increasing access to water services. Communal prepaid meters are now bankable and viable options for serving urban poor communities.