bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comparing Safety and Efficacy of Direct Oral Anticoagulants Versus Warfarin in Extreme Obesity
Authors: Lorenz Michael A. , Linneman Travis W.
Published: August 2022

Background: Limited clinical data exists regarding use of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in extreme obesity, specifically those ≥140 kg or having a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 50 kg/m2. Objective: Evaluate the safety and efficacy of DOACs in extreme obesity. Patients/Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed at a single center of patients aged 18-89 years and weight ≥140 kg or BMI ≥50 kg/m2 receiving warfarin or DOAC therapy. Patients were followed for 1 year from prescribing/study inclusion. The primary outcome was the difference in rates of any bleed (composite of major, nonmajor clinically relevant, or minor bleeding events as defined by International Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) criteria) between groups. Secondary outcomes included individual components of the composite primary outcome and effectiveness in preventing thrombotic events within 12 months. Post-hoc multivariate analysis evaluated potential predictors of bleeding events within overall patient population. Results: Two-hundred eighty-five patients were included, 80 and 205 in the DOAC and warfarin groups, respectively. Rates of any documented bleeding event were comparable in DOAC and warfarin groups (17.5% vs 17.1%, P > .05). No significant difference in rates of minor ( P = .067), nonmajor clinically relevant ( P = .825), and major ( P = 1) bleeding events were observed. Two thrombotic events occurred in the warfarin group compared to none in the DOAC group. Increasing weight was associated with bleeding events in multivariate analysis. Conclusions: This data did not demonstrate a difference in safety or efficacy outcomes between DOACs and warfarin when utilized in patients with extreme obesity.
Public Painted Piano Effect on Cognitively Impaired Long Term Care Residents
Authors: Fyke Gail L.
Published: August 2022

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of music combined with an artistic design of a painted piano on cognitively impaired residents living in a long-term care memory facility. Design: A qualitative descriptive study design was used to elicit responses from the participants. Method: Residents of the facility were invited to attend sessions, during which familiar songs were played. Residents were invited to touch the piano. A series of five interview sessions were performed over several weeks with each resident (N = 10). Findings: Five themes were identified from data analysis: 1. Is it new? 2. A range of piano memories 3. Play it (again) kid 4. I don’t have anything to do up there 5. What is there to do now? Some residents expressed joy with the piano, and some had anxiety. However, all residents stayed for the entirety of the sessions and either participated by singing along, playing, or listening. Conclusions: Public painted piano intervention may have positive benefits for people with cognitive impairment and may be considered as part of a viable holistic care plan for this population of residents in a long-term care setting.
‘The Biggest Problem We Are Facing Is the Running Away Problem’: Recruitment and the Paradox of Facilitating the Mobility of Immobile Workers
Authors: Jones Katharine , Ksaifi Leena , Clark Colin
Published: August 2022

Fee-charging recruitment industries in Asia have become gatekeepers to temporary employment in low-wage occupations for millions of migrant workers. One of these jobs is live-in domestic work in private households. Increasingly, workers’ recruiters are depicted as contributing to their precarious, sometimes exploitative, working conditions. However, these narratives misunderstand the systemic and regulatory functions of agencies as transnational labour market actors. This article analyses the relationship between domestic work placement agencies in Jordan and Lebanon and their clients (the employers) as they negotiate the recruitment of women from Bangladesh. Drawing on data from 146 qualitative interviews, it addresses the mechanisms of how exploitative, controlling practices are constructed and normalised by agencies in their everyday interactions with their clients as well as with workers. The article argues that placement agencies play a paradoxical role; whilst facilitating global mobility they also broker worker immobility.
A digital twin-based human-robot collaborative system for the assembly of complex-shaped architectures
Authors: Ye Zhang , Jingyu Luo , Hongwei Yang
Published: August 2022

The assembly of complex-shaped architectures is expensive and time-consuming due to the task’s complexity and the workflow’s rigidity. This study proposes an efficient, flexible, and adaptive approach by using Digital Twin (DT) within a human-robot collaborative system to solve the problem. Human-robot collaboration allows the right amount of automation, while DT enables the system to validate with up-to-date information. During the assembly process, the digital model keeps updating, and the corresponding robotic commands are regenerated simultaneously by mirroring both the gradually evolved architectural geometries and the behaviors of the operator. The success of the methodology is demonstrated by building an experimental complex-shaped pavilion. Compared to the imprecise, totally manual methods or inflexible, completely automatic methods, the real-time optimized human-robot collaborative approach proposed by this study improves the efficiency and flexibility of the assembly process in the architectural realm.
Mixed convection flow from a convectively heated vertical porous plate with combined effects of suction/injection, internal heat generation and nonlinear thermal radiation
Authors: Jha Basant K , Samaila Gabriel
Published: August 2022

This article explored the mixed convection flow from a convectively heated vertical porous plate influenced by nonlinear thermal radiation with suction/injection. The significant effect of the internal heat generation is also taken into account. The boundary layer approximation equations responsible for the flow characteristics are formulated and translated to ordinary differential equations (ODEs) with the help of the similarity variable. The shooting technique is then employed to reduce the second-order ODEs to an initial value problem which is solved numerically by the Runge-Kutta method in maple software. Some of the results obtained are: that for weak mixed convection, the velocity and fluid temperature decay exponentially with suction whereas appreciating with fluid injection. The radiative heat flux boosts the fluid temperature and in turn propagates the fluid flow. The internal heat generation ([Formula: see text]) serves as a barrier for the heat flow from the left plate surface to the right plate surface except the mixed convection is resiliently sufficient to counter the generated heat and heat conducted via the plate from its left surface. However, for a weak [Formula: see text], the heat transfer from the left to right plate surface is feasible even with weak mixed convection. For [Formula: see text], the wall temperature is less than 1 and the heat transfer flows from the wall into the free stream. However, for [Formula: see text], the heat transfer flow back into the wall. With weak convection and buoyancy effect, the heat transfer could be increased by increasing the internal heat generation but the contrary is true for nonlinear thermal radiation.
The effect of hot rolling process on macro-texture and high-temperature mechanical properties of AZ31B alloy modified by Ca and Ce
Authors: Kara Ismail Hakki , Demirtas Huseyin
Published: August 2022

This study examines the high-temperature tensile properties of AZ31 and AZ31-1.0Ca-0.2Ce alloys in different rolling directions. Tensile test results at 250 °C showed that the ductility of AZ31-1.0Ca-0.2Ce alloy increased threefold in the 90° perpendicular direction to rolling direction. Moreover, both strength and elongation values of AZ31-1.0Ca-0.2Ce alloy were higher than those of AZ31. Macro-texture measurements revealed that AZ31 and AZ31-1.0Ca-0.2Ce alloys showed strong and weakened basal texture in the rolling direction, respectively. The combined effect of secondary phases and texture weakening increased the high-temperature ductility (49%) of AZ31-1.0Ca-0.2Ce. In the rolling direction, yield (YS) and ultimate tensile strength of AZ31-1.0Ca-0.2Ce were obtained as 115 and 121 MPa, respectively. These values were higher than AZ31 alloy due to the stronger texture of the non-basal planes. The fracture surface of AZ31 samples proved that the rough and crack-dominated surface led to brittle fracture formation. However, fine-sized dimples resulted in a ductile fracture in AZ31-1.0Ca-0.2Ce samples.
Is existentialism a posthumanism? The Sarterian reflections of Egloff and Darrieussecq
Authors: Farchi Gai
Published: August 2022

The challenges of climate change and mass extinction have stressed the need to rethink our encounters with non-human others in the literary imagination. This article explores this question by reading L'étourdissement by Joël Egloff and Notre vie dans les forêts by Marie Darrieussecq vis-à-vis Sartre’s literary works (namely, La nausée) and philosophical works (namely, L’être et le néant). Drawing upon post-anthropocentric thought, I show how Egloff and Darrieussecq radicalize Sartre in a posthumanistic fashion. In L'étourdissement, this radicalization turns the drama of the look and of the affectivity of the nausea from a dyadic conflict of subject and object into an exposure to multiplicity. In Notre vie dans les forêts, the reciprocity of the self and its other is embedded in a corporeal interdependence, where the double is not perceived as a threat to the self but as a potential ally. In this sense, the Sarterian struggle against the undermining look of the other turns into a realization of radical interdependence and eventually into the emergence of care for the other.
Catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome with Epstein–Barr virus-associated hemophagocytosis: A clinicopathological conference
Authors: Nawata Aya , Shirayama Rie , Oshida Koichi , Sato Tetsuji , Ito Takuma , Shiba Eisuke , Kusuhara Koichi , Hisaoka Masanori
Published: August 2022

Catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome (CAPS) is a severe variant of antiphospholipid syndrome associated with multiorgan thrombosis in a short term. We present the case of a 14-year-old immunocompetent girl who developed renal, intestinal, and pulmonary infarction; thrombocytopenia; and hemolytic anemia within 1 week. She was diagnosed with thrombotic microangiopathy. Hence, plasma exchange and corticosteroid therapy were initiated, which improved thrombocytopenia. However, the patient’s platelet count decreased. Her general condition gradually worsened with eventual death. An autopsy revealed multiple infarctions in the kidneys bilaterally, jejunum, ileum, and pulmonary parenchyma. Microthrombi were not detected. Massive hemophagocytosis was observed in the splenic pulp, lymph nodes, and bone marrow. Several Epstein–Barr viruses (EBVs)-encoded small ribonucleic acid (RNA)-positive lymphocytes were also found in the bone marrow. The presence of antibodies to both viral capsid antigen-immunoglobulin G and EBV nuclear antigen indicated past infection. Antiphospholipid antibody was positive after her death. The patient was finally diagnosed with CAPS and EBV-associated hemophagocytosis, possibly due to EBV reactivation. Establishing a clinical diagnosis of CAPS was relatively difficult because two different causes of thrombocytopenia, CAPS and hemophagocytosis, led to a difficulty in understanding this case’s pathogenesis.
Dangerous Patterns: Joint Enterprise and the Culture of Criminal Law
Authors: Carvalho Henrique
Published: August 2022

This paper develops a methodological framework to understand criminal laws as cultural artefacts—as manifestations of structures, processes and struggles which are part of the broader social (re)production of meanings, values and affects. The first section sets out the groundwork for a cultural examination of criminal law, deploying insights from cultural theory to understand criminal law's function in securing civil order. The paper then maps and critically analyses the cultural structure of the law of joint enterprise, which it argues is conditioned by a danger formation centred on the racialised and hostile construction of the image of the urban gang. The third section investigates the implications of this danger formation to the possibility of legal change through a cultural reading of the UK Supreme Court decision in R v Jogee. The paper concludes by reflecting on the value of a cultural understanding of criminal law.
Constructing a two-level computational model of cross-ply fiberglass-reinforced plastic from micromechanical testing
Authors: Smirnov Alexander , Smirnova Evgeniya , Khudorozhkova Yulia
Published: August 2022

This paper deals with solving the problem of constructing two-level computational models relating the stress-strain state at the microscale to the stress-strain state of the structural component at the macroscale for layered polymer composite materials with unidirectional fiber stacking in a monolayer. The paper presents a two-level computational mechanical model of a ten-layer cross-ply fiberglass-reinforced polymer composite with (0/90) laying patterns. The model is based on microindentation data. The model is constructed using the finite element method. The constructed model has allowed us to predict the elastic properties of the composite and to calculate stresses at the microscale and macroscale levels of a specimen prior to fracture under tensile conditions. The elastic properties of the polymer composite material predicted by the computational model are compared with the properties obtained from real experiments. Calculated for fiberglass, the elasticity modulus and Poisson’s ratio are 31 GPa and 0.11, respectively. Similar elastic properties obtained from real experiments are 28 GPa and 0.10. The technique used in the paper can be applied to computational experiments with an actual structural component made of a multilayer polymer composite in order to determine the stress-strain state at the micro- and macroscale under external mechanical impact on the structure.
Vibrations of composite structures: Finite element and analytical investigation
Authors: Farazin Ashkan , Zhang Chunwei , Abed Azher M
Published: August 2022

In this examination, the free vibrations of complete composite shells with rectangular openings based on first-order shear deformation theory have been studied. The equations are generally written in such a way that they can be converted to any of Donnell, Love, or Sanders theories. To study the shell with the opening of the problem-solving space, it is elementalized in such a way that the boundary conditions and loading are uniform at the edges of each element. For each element, the governing equations, the boundary conditions of the edges, and the compatibility conditions at the common boundary of the adjacent elements are discretized by the generalized differential quadrature method in the longitudinal and peripheral directions, and by assembling them, a system of algebraic equations is formed. Finally, the natural frequency of the structure is calculated using the solution of the eigenvalue. To validate this method, the results are compared with the results of some articles as well as the results of Abaqus finite element software. After ensuring the efficiency of the present method, it has been used to study the effect of different parameters on the vibrational behavior of shells with and without apertures. These studies show that relatively small openings (c/L <0.3) have little effect on the natural frequency of the shell, regardless of the material and the porcelain layer of the shell. While reducing the ratio of length to radius or increasing the thickness of the shell is also effective in reducing the effects of opening. In addition, the effect of peripheral openings is far less than longitudinal openings.
Newborn screening for abnormal haemoglobins in Jamaica: Practical issues in an island programme
Authors: Serjeant Graham R , Serjeant Beryl E , Mason Karlene P , Gibson Felicea , Gardner Ruth-Ann , Warren Lansford , Hambleton Ian R , Thein Swee L , Happich Margit , Kulozik Andreas E
Published: August 2022

Objective

To report the diagnostic challenges of newborn screening for abnormal haemoglobins.

Setting

Cord blood samples from 13 hospitals in southwest Jamaica taken in 2008–2019.

Methods

Blood spots, collected from the umbilical cord, were analysed by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) to reveal phenotypes for HbSS and HbCC, but genotype confirmation may require parental studies or gene sequencing. Such cases that were successfully traced were analysed in this follow-up study.

Results

HPLC screening of 121,306 samples detected HbAS in 11,846 (9.8%), HbAC in 4508 (3.7%) and other electrophoretic abnormalities in 1090 babies. Among 101 previously unconfirmed cases, 34/90 (38%) with HPLC evidence of a HbSS phenotype had other genotypes, and 7/11 (64%) with a HbCC phenotype had other genotypes. Syndromes from the interaction of β thalassaemia occurred in 112 babies (85 with HbS, 27 with HbC) and of genes for hereditary persistence of fetal haemoglobin (HPFH) in 18 (12 with HbS, 6 with HbC). Variants other than HbS and HbC occurred in 270 babies, 16 in combination with either HbS or HbC, and 254 as traits. Most variants are benign even when inherited with HbS, although HbO Arab, HbD Punjab, or Hb Lepore Washington, which occurred in 6 cases, may cause sickle cell disease.

Conclusions

Genes for β thalassaemia and HPFH are common in western Jamaica and when associated with HbS may present diagnostic challenges in newborns, as HbF and HbA2 have not reached diagnostic levels. Family and DNA studies may be necessary for genotype confirmation.
Aberrant Expression of Serum MicroRNA-153 and -199a in Generalized Epilepsy and its Correlation with Drug Resistance
Authors: Zahra Mai A. , Kamha Eman S. , Abdelaziz Hanan K. , Nounou Howaida A. , Deeb Hany M. El
Published: August 2022

Background

Epilepsy is one of the common neurological disorders affecting approximately 50 million people worldwide. Despite the recent introduction of new antiepileptic drugs, about one-third of patients with epilepsy have seizures refractory to pharmacotherapy. Early recognition of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy may help direct these patients to appropriate nonpharmacological treatment.

Purpose

The possible use of serum microRNAs (miRNAs) as noninvasive biomarkers has been explored in various brain diseases, including epilepsy. In this study, we are aiming at analyzing the expression levels of circulating miRNA-153 and miRNA-199a in patients with generalized epilepsy and their correlation with drug resistance.

Methods

Our study comprised 40 patients with generalized epilepsy and 20 healthy controls. 22 patients were drug-resistant and 18 patients were drug-responsive. The expression levels of miRNA-153 and -199a in serum were analyzed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Data analysis was done by IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0.

Results

The expression of miRNA-153 and -199a in serum was significantly downregulated in patients with generalized epilepsy compared with that of the healthy control ( P < .001). Combined expression level of serum miRNA-153 and -199a had a sensitivity of 85% and a specificity of 90% in the diagnosis of generalized epilepsy. Furthermore, the expression levels of miRNA-153 and -199a were significantly decreased in drug-resistant patients compared to the drug-responsive group, and the combination of both markers gave the best results in differentiating between the two groups.

Conclusion

We suggest that serum miRNAs-153 and -199a expression levels could be potential noninvasive biomarkers supporting the diagnosis of generalized epilepsy. Moreover, they could be used for the early detection of refractory generalized epilepsy.
Assessment of Natural Capital for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: An Empirical Study of Mizoram, India
Authors: Sati Vishwambhar Prasad
Published: August 2022

The state of Mizoram has plenty of natural capital in the form of a feasible climate, rich forest, an abundance of water and rich agroecological conditions. However, this capital is not exploited optimally to help the rural people plagued by acute food insecurity there. This study assesses the potential of the natural capital there for creating sustainable rural livelihoods in Mizoram. The analysis has been performed based on the case studies conducted in 16 villages, 2 villages from each district. A total of 1,527 households were surveyed using a purposive random sampling method. A structured questionnaire was designed where the questions were asked to gather information on climate conditions, forests, water and agriculture. The findings reveal that the optimum use of natural capital will enhance rural livelihoods substantially. Tourism development, the establishment of forest-based small-scale industries in rural areas, rainwater harvesting, construction of micro hydroelectricity power projects, and cultivation of diverse crop races/cultivars, including food grains, vegetables and fruits, along with systematic rice intensification in the suitable agroecological zones can bring a momentum to expedite rural livelihoods there.
Cash holdings and corporate financialization: Evidence from listed Latin American firms
Authors: Rabinovich Joel , Pérez Artica Rodrigo
Published: August 2022

The increase in cash holdings held by non-financial corporations in emerging economies in general, and Latin American in particular, has received less attention vis-à-vis their advanced economies’ peers. Considering that cash holdings contain not only cash but also short-term, interest-bearing assets, we test whether the pursuit of financial revenues was one motive behind the decision to hold this type of asset as it is claimed in analyses of corporate financialization. We use a panel of listed non-financial firms from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Peru between 1998 and 2018 to test this hypothesis. Although we find supporting statistical evidence in favor of this relation, this is mostly explained by Brazil and results point towards a low economic significance.
‘They Sent Me Out to School, and I Came Back with a Baby’: Perinatal Women’s Experiences of Biographical Disruption and Nonfatal Suicidal Behaviour
Authors: Zungu Pamela , Louw Kerry-Ann , Slabbert Philip , Bantjes Jason
Published: August 2022

Exploring perinatal women’s experience of nonfatal suicidal behaviour (NFSB) could help illuminate the contexts in which perinatal suicide occurs and new ways to conceptualise maternal suicide prevention. Our aim was to explore perinatal women’s subjective experience of NFSB in South Africa. Data were collected via in-depth interviews with seven perinatal women hospitalised following NFSB. Thematic analysis showed how poverty and gender norms shape experiences of pregnancy and highlighted the need for eco-systemic interventions for perinatal women in resource scarce environments to increase social support, assist with childcare, improve educational retention, challenge gender norms and increase paternal involvement. Pregnancy can precipitate biographical disruption by disturbing women’s view of themselves and their futures. An inability to reconstruct a coherent narrative and re-imagine the future impedes the transition to motherhood and provides a context for suicide. Using the concept of biographical disruption to frame perinatal suicide, could identify novel approaches to suicide prevention.
The Associative Thalamus: A Switchboard for Cortical Operations and a Promising Target for Schizophrenia
Authors: Mukherjee Arghya , Halassa Michael M.
Published: August 2022

Schizophrenia is a brain disorder that profoundly perturbs cognitive processing. Despite the success in treating many of its symptoms, the field lacks effective methods to measure and address its impact on reasoning, inference, and decision making. Prefrontal cortical abnormalities have been well documented in schizophrenia, but additional dysfunction in the interactions between the prefrontal cortex and thalamus have recently been described. This dysfunction may be interpreted in light of parallel advances in neural circuit research based on nonhuman animals, which show critical thalamic roles in maintaining and switching prefrontal activity patterns in various cognitive tasks. Here, we review this basic literature and connect it to emerging innovations in clinical research. We highlight the value of focusing on associative thalamic structures not only to better understand the very nature of cognitive processing but also to leverage these circuits for diagnostic and therapeutic development in schizophrenia. We suggest that the time is right for building close bridges between basic thalamic research and its clinical translation, particularly in the domain of cognition and schizophrenia.
A case of recurrent viral retinitis treated with intravitreal antiviral agents in a silicone oil filled eye
Authors: Hussain Aadil , Ching Jared , Saidkasimova Shohista
Published: August 2022

Purpose

To report a case of recurrent acute retinal necrosis (ARN) in an eye filled with silicone oil previously complicated by rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD).

Observations

A 68-year-old gentlemen with successfully treated herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1) ARN complicated by RRD requiring pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) with silicone oil tamponade, presented with a relapse of ARN with silicone oil in situ. Remission of recurrent retinitis was achieved using combined systemic oral and intravitreal antiviral therapy.

Conclusions and Importance

RRD is a significant complication of ARN which may require surgery with silicone oil tamponade. Recurrence of ARN retinitis can be effectively treated with intravitreal Ganciclovir and Foscarnet injections in a silicone oil filled eye with concurrent oral antiviral therapy. Aqueous humour sampling proved useful in the monitoring of disease activity.
Revealing In Silico that Bacteria’s Outer Membrane Proteins may Help our Bodies Replicate and Carry Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2
Authors: Aktaş Emre , Özdemir Özgentürk Nehir
Published: August 2022

Some studies in the literature show that viruses can affect bacteria directly or indirectly, and viruses use their own specific ways to do these interactions. Furthermore, it is said that bacteria are prone to attachment mammalian cells during a viral illness using their surface proteins that bind to host extracellular matrix proteins such as fibronectin, fibrinogen, vitronectin, and elastin. A recent study identified the cooperation between bacteria and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in silico, in vitro, and in vivo. Like this study, we hypothesized that more bacteria protein might help SARS-CoV-2 transport and attach to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). The bacteria’s outer membrane proteins (OMPs) we chose were not random; they had to be on the outer surface of the bacteria because these proteins on the outer surface should have a high probability of interacting with both the spike protein and ACE2. We obtained by using bioinformatics tools that there may be binding between both ACE2 and spike protein of these bacteria’s OMPs. Protein-protein interaction results also supported our hypothesis. Therefore, based on our predicted results, these bacteria OMPs may help SARS-CoV-2 move in our body, and both find and attach to ACE2. It is expected that these inferences obtained from the bioinformatics results may play a role in the SARS-CoV-2 virus reaching host cells. Thus, it may bring a different perspective to studies on how the virus can infect host cells.
Creating healthy hospital retail food environments: Multiple pathways to successful at scale policy implementation in Australia
Authors: Cranney Leonie , Thomas Margaret , O’Connell Tarli , Moreton Renee , Corbett Lucy , Bauman Adrian , Phongsavan Philayrath
Published: August 2022

Objective

In 2017, the Australian state of New South Wales introduced a revised policy to provide a healthy food and drink environment for staff and visitors in the state’s publicly funded health facilities. We sought to understand how contextual factors, intervention features and the responses of diverse stakeholders affected the policy’s implementation in public hospitals.

Methods

Ninety-nine interviews were conducted with chief executives, implementers and retailers in the health and food retail systems after the target date for the implementation of 13 initial policy practices. Stakeholder responses were analysed to understand commitment to, engagement with and achievement of these practices and the different contexts and implementation approaches that prompted these responses.

Results

Key mechanisms that drove systemic change included stakeholders’ broad acceptance of the policy premise; stakeholders’ sense of accountability and desire for the policy to succeed; and the policy’s perceived benefits, feasibility and effectiveness. Important underpinning factors were chief executives’ commitment to implementation and monitoring, a flexible approach to locally tailored implementation and historical precedents.

Conclusions

This study provides policy and practice insights for the initial phase of state-wide implementation to achieve change in health facility food retail environments.
Exploring tourism-generated social media communication, brand equity, satisfaction, and loyalty: A PLS-SEM-based multi-sequential approach
Authors: Abbasi Amir Zaib , Rather Raouf Ahmad , Hooi Ting Ding , Nisar Saima , Hussain Khalil , Khwaja Muddasar Ghani , Shamim Amjad
Published: August 2022

Although social media-based brand equity has become a vital area of interest for brand managers, insights into its destination-based dynamics and applications remain scarce, specifically in the destination brand context. To address this gap, we develop and test a theoretical model to investigate the role of destination marketing organization-generated and tourist-generated social media communication to determine the brand awareness and brand image of the Gilgit-Baltistan region, which in turn influence customer-based brand equity (CBBE) (i.e. perceived quality), satisfaction, and loyalty. Data come from well-known tourist sites in Gilgit-Baltistan. Using the multi-sequential approach in WarpPLS 7.0, findings shows that the social media communication dimensions show differential impacts on brand awareness as a metric of CBBE. Second, destination awareness demonstrates a differential impact on perceived destination image dimensions. Third, the destination image dimensions exert different effects on the perceived quality of the destination. Fourth, perceived quality positively influences satisfaction, which in turn enhances loyalty. We offer important implications that emerged from the analyzes and also suggest directions for future research.
From idioms of distress, concern, and care to moral distress leading to moral injury in the time of Covid
Authors: Nichter Mark
Published: August 2022

In this invited commentary on the thematic issue of Transcultural Psychiatry on idioms of distress, concern, and care, I provide a brief overview of how my research agenda evolved over the years while conducting community and clinic-based research in South and Southeast Asia as well as North America. I then suggest areas where future research on idioms of distress, concern, care, and resilience will be needed among different demographics given social change and shifts in how we communicate face to face and in virtual reality, the impact of medicalization, pharmaceuticalization and bracket creep, changes in indigenous healing systems, and hybridization. I further call attention to the importance of conducting idioms guided research in occupational settings. Toward this end I highlight the moral distress health care workers in the U.S. have experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic and point out the importance of differentiating individual burnout from moral injury related to structural distress. I conclude by discussing the general utility of an idioms of distress perspective in the practice of cultural psychiatry and suggest that this perspective needs to be included in the training of all practitioners regardless of the system of medicine they practice. Doing so may enable the formation of mental health communities of practice in contexts where there are pluralistic health care arenas.
Surviving austerity: Commissary stores, inequality and punishment in the contemporary American prison
Authors: Bardelli Tommaso , Gillespie Zach , Tu Thuy Linh
Published: August 2022

Privatization and austerity measures have turned US prisons and jails into sites of financial extraction. As corrections systems have slashed budgets for essential services, incarcerated individuals are increasingly expected to cover the costs of their institutionalization, including amounts for administrative fees and legal support, and for covering basic necessities during incarceration. This article focuses on the commissary system as a central yet understudied institution of the American neo-liberal prison. It conceptualizes commissary as a double-edged institution: on the one hand, prison commissary stores—where people can purchase a wide variety of items, from extra food to small appliances—constitute a crucial mechanism for extending financial extraction inside carceral institutions, siphoning millions of dollars each year from impoverished households. At the same time, we argue, shopping at commissary allows incarcerated persons to mitigate against the punitive frugality imposed by the prison and to limit the reach of disciplinary power. Drawing on qualitative research with sixty formerly incarcerated men in New York State, and on the personal experiences of one of the authors with the New York penal system, this article reconstructs how access to economic capital functions as a mediating structure in contemporary US prisons, enabling some prisoners to negotiate carceral punishment, while leaving others fully exposed to its harmful consequences.
Day-to-day life during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal qualitative study with Canadian parents of young children
Authors: Sanders Caroline , Frank Theresa J , Amyot Tess , Cornish Katie , Koopmans Erica , Usipuik Megan , Irving Lauren , Pelletier Chelsea A
Published: August 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about changes to the lives of families with young children. It has been associated with physical and psychological risk, yet the impact on younger children is poorly examined. The aim of this qualitative study was to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the day-to-day life of parents of young children living in a small northern city in British Columbia, Canada. Ten mothers with children aged 0–5 years participated in a six-week longitudinal study between November 2020 and March 2021. This article presents data from entry and exit interviews that were analysed using Todorov's narrative theory. Three key themes were identified: (1) gaps in health services; (2) gaps in early childhood education and programs; and (3) changes to/lost social interactions. Limited opportunities to engage with providers caused frustration and left parents feeling disempowered or dissatisfied. Family support and well-being were negatively impacted by a loss in social connectivity. Despite unpredictability and worries about child development, most of the mothers found ways to cherish the time to ‘stop and refocus’. Overall, the families evidenced resilience, despite a loss in relational habits.
Me, myself, and nature: living with dementia and connecting with the natural world – more than a breath of fresh air? A literature review
Authors: Bennett Jenny , Wolverson Emma , Price Elizabeth
Published: August 2022

Objective

Despite growing awareness of the importance of engagement with the natural world for people living with dementia, little is known about the impact specifically for people living independently in their own home. This review identifies, analyses and synthesises existing research, incorporating first-person narrative accounts of the benefits and potential challenges experienced in forging meaningful connections with the natural world.

Methods

Six databases were searched from February 2000 to February 2021. Relevant organisations and authors were contacted, and a hand search of included study reference lists was conducted. The findings of included studies were synthesised using a thematic analysis approach.

Findings

Sixteen studies were included: 13 qualitative and three mixed methods. Eight themes and three sub-themes were identified, revealing how contact with the natural world held a significance for people living with dementia, associated with a sense of pleasure, comfort, stimulation, freedom and meaning. Support and the use of adaptive strategies afforded opportunities for continued engagement with meaningful outdoor activities and the promotion of identity, independence, social interaction, enhanced wellbeing and quality of life for people living independently with dementia.

Conclusion

Meaningful connections with the natural world offer far more than a ‘breath of fresh air’. When support mechanisms are in place, engaging with the natural world can be a valuable arena for enablement and continuity, providing a sense of connectedness to self, place and others.
Exploring the contextual factors that impact the dementia family caregiving experience in Soweto township, South Africa
Authors: Mahomed Aqeela , Pretorius Chrisma
Published: August 2022

Townships and rural areas endure difficult circumstances such as poverty, unemployment, low educational levels, unstable income sources, socioeconomic deprivation and the lack of transportation. Furthermore, psychosocial issues such as crime, violence and substance abuse are additional contextual factors prevalent within South African townships. There has been a paucity of research focussing on the impact of contextual and socioeconomic conditions on the dementia family caregiver experience. This qualitative study aimed to address this gap. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 family caregivers via purposeful sampling methods. Data analysis using Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA) generated four broad themes, namely – ( 1). Poverty, (2). Crime, Violence and Substance Abuse, (3). Practical Challenges and (4). A Sense of Normalcy. The findings of this study depict the socioeconomic conditions of family caregivers living in Soweto and its impact on dementia caregiving. The majority of the family caregivers in this study were unemployed and identified the financial aspects of caregiving as a significant strain. Beyond financial aspects, practical challenges that some family caregivers reported included spatial constraints and insufficient material resources. Caregivers raised safety concerns due to the dangers that this socioeconomic context posed. However, there was an implied sense of normalcy and a reluctance to identify challenges that caregivers endured. Recommendations for further research and its implications for public health policies and important initiatives to advocate for dementia caregivers and their family members are outlined.
Photo-elicited conversations about meetings with a therapy dog as a tool for communication in dementia care: An observational study
Authors: Nordgren Lena , Arvidsson Alexander , Vincze Mattias , Asp Margareta
Published: August 2022

Introduction

It is well-known that people with dementia living in residential care facilities spend most of their time not engaged in meaningful activities. Being involved in activities can improve their quality of life. Animal-assisted therapy is an activity that can evoke engagement and joy. Another way to create engagement and promote communication between people with dementia and caregivers is to use photos.

Methods

In this observational study, the researchers combined animal-assisted therapy and photobooks in order to explore whether photos of people with dementia who were engaged in animal-assisted therapy could be used as a tool for communication in dementia care. Ten persons (4 men and 6 women; aged 72–92) with dementia were video recorded during photo-elicited conversations with a dog handler/assistant nurse. The recordings were conducted in two residential care facilities in Sweden during 2017–2018. Each participant was video recorded 2–4 times. The recordings were analysed using The Observed Emotion Rating Scale and The Observational Measurement of Engagement-OME Modified. In addition, the video recordings were interpreted from a hermeneutic perspective.

Findings

The findings showed that the most frequently observed effects were pleasure and general alertness, and the participants were observed to be attentive most of the time. The most common attitude during the conversations was ‘somewhat positive’. The hermeneutic interpretations were grouped into four themes: Conveys a structure for the conversation with an inherent beginning and ending; An opportunity to recognise oneself and recall a sense of belonging; Awakens emotions and creates fellowship and Entails confirmation and revitalises their identity.

Conclusion

Photobooks can be used by caregivers as a tool for meaningful and joyful communication with people with dementia, even those with severe dementia.
Application of nonlinear ultrasonic analysis for in situ monitoring of metal additive manufacturing
Authors: Liu Peipei , Yang Liu , Yi Kiyoon , Kundu Tribikram , Sohn Hoon
Published: August 2022

Nonlinear ultrasonic techniques have the benefit of high sensitivity to micro or early-stage defects. Among the various nonlinear techniques, the newly proposed sideband peak count (SPC) technique investigates defect-induced nonlinearity by counting the spectral sidebands from a broadband ultrasonic response in the frequency domain. In this study, SPC analysis is transformed into the time–frequency plane through synchrosqueezed wavelet transform (SWT) for transient nonstationary ultrasonic signals. The proposed new SPC technique was then adopted for in situ porosity monitoring in directed energy deposition (DED)—a typical metal additive manufacturing process. Porosity is one of the most critical defects in DED and has detrimental effects on the mechanical properties and fatigue performance of products. For in situ porosity monitoring, a fully noncontact ultrasonic measurement was achieved with a laser ultrasonic system, and its detectability was improved by laser polishing. Time and frequency windows were properly selected to suppress the effects of wave characteristic variations on the SPC analysis in the SWT domain. The performance of the proposed technique was verified by monitoring porosity in stainless steel 316L samples manufactured in the DED process. The test results demonstrated that the proposed nonlinear technique is much more sensitive to porosity than conventional linear techniques, and hence, is more suitable for in situ porosity monitoring.
Damage imaging of concrete wall-like structures using cylindrical concrete implantable module
Authors: Yang Ziqian , Chen Qingjun , Li Menglei , Yuan Cheng , Zhang Minghui , Kong Qingzhao
Published: August 2022

In this study, an implantable array-based sensing technique for damage imaging of concrete wall-like structures was developed. Unlike conventional concrete damage imaging methods that require several distributive transducers instrumented in the detection structure, the proposed technique integrates a multi-transducer into a cylindrical concrete implantable module (CCIM) that can be directly implanted into the wall-like structures to transmit and receive probe signals based on a sensing array. Implantable designs within integrated sensing elements benefit the management of devices and provide a new transducer-to-structure installation for structural health monitoring (SHM). Furthermore, to analyze the received probe signals and visualize the structural defects, a novel damage-imaging algorithm aimed at a heterogeneous concrete medium was proposed. The algorithm assumed that each point in the detection space was a virtual scatter to simulate a series of signal transceiving processes using a computer. The virtual scattered signals received by the CCIM were projected onto the signals received under real damage conditions to reconstruct an imaging map. The reliability of the developed technique for damage imaging of heterogeneous concrete wall-like structures was studied both numerically and experimentally. The numerical study employed a 2-D mesoscale model considering concrete as a multiphase composite material and revealed the stress-wave propagation law in concrete. In the experiment, two fabricated CCIMs were implanted into a concrete wall-like specimen for signal transmission and reception. The imaging results acquired by simulation and experiment both successfully displayed the damaged area and exhibited excellent prospects for the implantable array-based sensing technique in SHM.
Particle filter-based delamination shape prediction in composites subjected to fatigue loading
Authors: Li Tianzhi , Cadini Francesco , Chiachío Manuel , Chiachío Juan , Sbarufatti Claudio
Published: August 2022

Modeling generic size features of delamination, such as area or length, has long been considered in the literature for damage prognosis in composites through specific models describing damage state evolution with load cycles or time. However, the delamination shape has never been considered, despite that it holds important information for damage diagnosis and prognosis, including the delamination area, its center, and perimeter, useful for structural safety evaluation. In this context, this paper develops a novel particle filter (PF)-based framework for delamination shape prediction. To this end, the delamination image is discretized by a mesh, where control points are defined as intersections between the grid lines and the perimeter of the delamination. A parametric data-driven function maps each point position as a function of the load cycles and is initially fitted on a sample test. Then, a PF is independently implemented for each node whereby to predict their future positions along the mesh lines, thus allowing delamination shape progression estimates. The new framework is demonstrated with reference to experimental tests of fatigue delamination growth in composite panels with ultrasonics C-scan monitoring.