bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Factors affecting sustained engagement in walking for health: A focus group study
Authors: Raine Rosi , Roberts Anne , Callaghan Lynne , Sydenham Zoe , Bannigan Katrina
Published: August 2016

Introduction

Health guidance recommends walking as a means to achieve advised levels of physical activity. The aims of the research were to consider the experience of the occupation of walking in relation to health and wellbeing, factors that lead to sustained engagement in walking and factors influencing the sustainable provision of walking groups, to inform practice.

Method

This phenomenological study considered the experience of eight walking group members and six walk leaders. Data were gathered using three focus groups. Transcriptions were thematically analysed.

Findings

Participants perceived that the experience of walking groups included improved feelings of wellbeing, and meaning derived from social support and connection with nature. Participants reported changes that improved the health of walkers and their families. Factors considered to influence sustained engagement in walking included appropriate challenge and variety, woodland developments, accommodation of routine, use of local green space and consideration of barriers. Factors considered to influence the sustainable provision of walking groups included facilitation style, health champions, marketing approaches and clarity and collaboration with primary care referrers.

Conclusion

Walking groups can be used to support individuals to engage in health-promoting occupations. An occupational perspective can usefully inform practice.
Toward a political ecology of infrastructure standards: Or, how to think about ships, waterways, sediment, and communities together
Authors: Carse Ashley , Lewis Joshua A
Published: August 2016

Scholars have shown that technical standards play an important role in building global transportation and communication infrastructures, but the environmental standardization efforts associated with infrastructures have received far less attention. Combining scholarship from transportation geography, political ecology, and science and technology studies, we show how global connection is made, maintained, and contested through environmental management practices pegged to infrastructure standards. The Panama Canal expansion, completed in 2016, is a revealing illustration. The expansion has established the New Panamax shipping standard: the maximum allowable dimensions for vessels passing through the canal’s massive new locks. The standard has become a benchmark for port modernization and channel deepening projects along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States and beyond. Because the maximum underwater depth, or draft, of ships transiting the new locks is much deeper than before (50 rather than 39.5 feet), geographically dispersed governments, firms, and port authorities have scrambled to reach that standard in hopes of attracting New Panamax ships and associated revenue streams. As this case shows, global transportation depends on the expensive, ecologically destabilizing, and often-contested practices of dredging and disposing of large volumes of sediment and organic matter. By showing how shipping networks and situated politics converge around infrastructure standards, we foreground the uneven environmental burdens and benefits of transportation.
Contracting communities: Conceptualizing Community Benefits Agreements to improve citizen involvement in urban development projects
Authors: Janssen-Jansen Leonie B , van der Veen Menno
Published: August 2016

Contractual agreements are becoming increasingly important for city governments seeking to manage urban development. Contractual governance involves direct relations between the local state and different public and private actors and citizens. Although abundant literature exists on public–private partnerships related to urban development projects, agreements made between citizens, interest organizations and market parties, such as Community Benefits Agreements remain under-explored and under-theorized. While it may seem that the state is absent from contemporary forms of contractual governance, such agreements remain highly intertwined with government policies. The central aim of this paper is to better conceptualize Community Benefits Agreement practices in order to build understanding of how contractual governance caters for direct end-user involvement in urban development, and to yield insights into its potential as to render development processes more inclusive. Based on academic literature in planning and law, expert interviews and several case studies in New York City, this paper conceptualizes end-user involvement in urban development projects and innovates within urban planning and governance theory through the use of two new concepts—project collectivity and the image of a fourth chair.
American Janus-Faced Economic Diplomacy Towards Ireland in the Mid-1950s
Authors: Groutel Anne
Published: August 2016

The central role attributed to Seán Lemass and T. K. Whitaker in the transition of the Irish economy from protectionism to a free market economy has recently been questioned. In fact, it is more likely that a set of factors and influences combined led to the eventual opening up of the Irish economy. In the same vein, this article reveals that the American authorities, at the request of William Norton, assisted Ireland in setting up the campaign to attract foreign direct investment in 1955–56, providing detailed guidance and much-needed advice to an inexperienced industrial development authority. Despite Dublin’s best endeavours, American investors did not initially rush to Ireland. This article explores some of the reasons that may have held back American investors.
Effectiveness of Community Treatment Orders: The International Evidence
Authors: Rugkåsa Jorun
Published: August 2016

Objective:

Community treatment orders (CTOs) exist in more than 75 jurisdictions worldwide. This review outlines findings from the international literature on CTO effectiveness.

Method:

The article draws on 2 comprehensive systematic reviews of the literature published before 2013, then uses the same search terms to identify studies published between 2013 and 2015. The focus is on what the literature as a whole tells us about CTO effectiveness, with particular emphasis on the strength and weaknesses of different methodologies.

Results:

The results from more than 50 nonrandomized studies show mixed results. Some show benefits from CTOs while others show none on the most frequently reported outcomes of readmission, time in hospital, and community service use. Results from the 3 existing randomized controlled trials (RCTs) show no effect of CTOs on a wider range of outcome measures except that patients on CTOs are less likely than controls to be a victim of crime. Patients on CTOs are, however, likely to have their liberty restricted for significantly longer periods of time. Meta-analyses pooling patient data from RCTs and high quality nonrandomized studies also find no evidence of patient benefit, and systematic reviews come to the same conclusion.

Conclusion:

There is no evidence of patient benefit from current CTO outcome studies. This casts doubt over the usefulness and ethics of CTOs. To remove uncertainty, future research must be designed as RCTs.
Futility Disputes: A Review of the Literature and Proposed Model for Dispute Navigation Through Trust Building
Authors: Leland Brian D. , Torke Alexia M. , Wocial Lucia D. , Helft Paul R.
Published: August 2016

Futility disputes in the intensive care unit setting have received significant attention in the literature over the past several years. Although the idea of improving communication in an attempt to resolve these challenging situations has been regularly discussed, the concept and role of trust building as the means by which communication improves and disputes are best navigated is largely absent. We take this opportunity to review the current literature on futility disputes and argue the important role of broken trust in these encounters, highlighting current evidence establishing the necessity and utility of trust in both medical decision-making and effective communication. Finally, we propose a futility dispute navigation model built upon improved communication through trust building.
Utilizing Clinical Pharmacy Specialists to Address Access to Care Barriers in the Veteran Population for the Management of Diabetes
Authors: Edwards Krystal L. , Hadley Ryan L. , Baby Nidhu , Yeary Julianne C. , Chastain Lisa M. , Brown Crystal D.
Published: August 2016

Objective:

To show that clinical pharmacy specialists (CPSs) can be utilized in remote facilities to provide appropriate diabetes outcomes along with potential cost savings.

Methods:

A retrospective cohort chart review conducted at the Veterans Affairs North Texas Healthcare System (VANTHCS) evaluated outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus referred to CPSs at Fort Worth Outpatient Clinic (FWOPC) or the endocrinologist-managed specialty clinic at the Dallas VA Medical Center (DVAMC). The primary outcome was percentage of patients reaching hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) goal of <8%. Secondary outcomes were percentage of patients reaching HbA1c <7%, time to reach HbA1c goals of <8% and <7%, and cost savings.

Results:

There was no statistically significant difference in the number of patients reaching HbA1c goal <8% in the FWOPC (65.3%) compared to the DVAMC (55.8%). Secondary end points comparing FWOPC and DVAMC found no difference in patients reaching HbA1c <7% (20.8% vs 19.2%) and time to reach HbA1c goal of <8% (4.5 vs 6 months) and <7% (8.5 vs 7.5 months). Cost-saving analysis demonstrated a composite of US$350 292 could be saved by the VANTHCS facility if patients continued to be referred to CPS.

Conclusion:

CPSs can be utilized in diabetes management to provide similar health outcomes as the endocrinologist-managed clinic and to potentially allow for facility cost savings.
Self-doped N-4-sulfopropylaniline–3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene copolymers
Authors: Yamaguchi Isao , Ito Masaru
Published: August 2016

Polymerization of N-4-sulfopropylaniline with 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) in several molar ratios using ammonium persulfate yielded copolymers (PPrSO3H) consisting of N-4-sulfopropylaminophenylene (unit A) and 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene-2,5-diyl (unit B). The corresponding copolymers (PBu) consisting of N-butylaminophenylene (unit C) and unit B were synthesized by the reaction of N-butylaniline and EDOT. The content of units A, B, and C in the copolymers depended on the monomer feed ratio. The ultraviolet–visible spectrum of PPrSO3H exhibited absorption peaks at approximately 420 nm and above 850 nm assignable, respectively, to polaron and bipolaron bands. The copolymers were subjected to electrochemical oxidation, which was dependent on the contents of units A and C. The electrical conductivity of PPrSO3H was found to be higher than that of PBu.
A study to trial the use of inertial non-optical motion capture for ergonomic analysis of manufacturing work
Authors: Fletcher Sarah R , Johnson Teegan L , Thrower John
Published: August 2016

It is going to be increasingly important for manufacturing system designers to incorporate human activity data and ergonomic analysis with other performance data in digital design modelling and system monitoring. However, traditional methods of capturing human activity data are not sufficiently accurate to meet the needs of digitised data analysis; qualitative data are subject to bias and imprecision, and optically derived data are hindered by occlusions caused by structures or other people in a working environment. Therefore, to meet contemporary needs for more accurate and objective data, inertial non-optical methods of measurement appear to offer a solution. This article describes a case study conducted within the aerospace manufacturing industry, where data on the human activities involved in aircraft wing system installations was first collected via traditional ethnographic methods and found to have limited accuracy and suitability for digital modelling, but similar human activity data subsequently collected using an automatic non-optical motion capture system in a more controlled environment showed better suitability. Results demonstrate the potential benefits of applying not only the inertial non-optical method in future digital modelling and performance monitoring but also the value of continuing to include qualitative analysis for richer interpretation of important explanatory factors.
Experimental and numerical investigation of the dynamic behavior of ballasted track containing ballast mixed with TDA
Authors: Esmaeili Morteza , Ebrahimi Hamed , Sameni Mohammad K
Published: August 2016

The phenomenon of track rigidity in desert areas due to sand dune movement and ballast contamination is one of the most important causes of ballasted railway track degradation and consequently increase in train-induced vibrations. In addition to looking at the existing methods for reducing the track rigidity such as using ballast mat and installing the under sleeper pad, this paper focuses on evaluating the dynamic behavior of railway track including ballast mixed with tire-derived aggregate in a field study. Based on prior laboratory tests done by the authors and latest researches, 10 volume percentages of tire-derived aggregate were adopted as maximum suitable amount to be mixed with ballast for decreasing the track rigidity and increasing its damping property maintaining the basic ballasted track capabilities. In this regard, in a test track located in central desert of Iran in Bafgh-Jandagh railway route, the ballast was mixed with 0, 5 and 10% of tire-derived aggregate by tamping machine in three different sections with 20 m lengths. Moreover, another test section in the same route with fully fouled ballast was considered as a critical bench mark. Many tests were carried out on the mentioned sections using impact test method. In the next stage, the operational modal analysis method was utilized to achieve the tested sections’ mode shapes, natural frequencies and damping ratios as well as geometrical attenuation from the recorded responses. By knowing the modal properties, numerical models of tracks were developed, and the effect of tire-derived aggregate as well as fouling on track stiffness was evaluated.
The impacts of coal plants relocation on the concentration of fine particulate matter in China
Authors: Mou Dunguo , Herington Matthew , Omoju Oluwasola E
Published: August 2016

The air pollution situation in the northern part of China has become a threat to the current status of China’s energy consumption. This has created pressure to relocate coal plants to the western section of the country. We apply a spatial panel data method to empirically examine the relationship between fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentration, precipitation and wind speed by using the sample data of 50 cities over 11 months. Based on the empirical parameters, the paper simulates the potential impacts of the proposed coal plants and the coal plants currently under construction for the PM2.5 concentrations across all cities once these coal plants are operational. The results show that the new capacities will increase PM2.5 concentrations in northwest and northeast China, but at acceptable levels and lower than levels in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and Shandong.
Nonlinear dynamic response analysis on gear-rotor-bearing transmission system
Authors: Zhou Shihua , Song Guiqiu , Sun Mengnan , Ren Zhaohui
Published: August 2016

A coupled lateral-torsional nonlinear dynamic model with 16-degree-of-freedom (16-DOF) of gear-rotor-bearing transmission system (GRBTS) is developed after comprehensive considering the nonlinear features associated with time-varying meshing stiffness, backlash, transmission error, friction force, input/output load, gravity and gear eccentricity. Based on the nonlinear differential equations, the coupled multi-body dynamic responses of the GRBTS are demonstrated using the Runge-Kutta numerical method, and the effects of friction coefficient and mean load on the dynamic characteristics are investigated. The results show that the friction force could enlarge the vibration amplitude and affect the low frequency components seriously. The mean load excitation has a complicated influence on the coupled GRBTS, and the torsional vibration is the dominate response. Whereas the mean load excitation has a certain extent vibration suppression, and light load and heavy load could no longer effectively control the nonlinear vibration of the GRBTS. With the increasing of rotational speed, the friction coefficient and mean load ranges of the chaotic behavior widen and the chaotic characteristics strengthens. It is shown that small parameter random perturbation might be propagated in the vibration system and lead to relatively large vibration of the system. The contribution to provide a reference for the design and study of gear system.
Comparative studies of global and targeted control of walkway bridge resonant frequencies
Authors: Nyawako Donald S , Reynolds Paul
Published: August 2016

In this paper, three controllers are investigated for active vibration control of a pedestrian walkway structure. They comprise direct velocity feedback, observer-based and independent modal space controllers that are implemented in single-input single-output (SISO), multi-SISO and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) configurations. The objective of the SISO controller schemes is to compare vibration mitigation performances arising from global control versus selective control of structural resonant frequencies in a given frequency bandwidth. The objectives set out for the multi-SISO and MIMO controllers are to realize global control within the same frequency bandwidth considered in the SISO studies. A novel aspect of these latter studies is the independent control of selected resonant frequencies at different locations on the structure with the aim of imposing global control.

Vibration mitigation performances are evaluated using frequency response function measurements and uncontrolled and controlled responses to a synthesized walking excitation force. In the SISO studies, selective control of specific resonant frequencies has a slight degradation in the global vibration mitigation performance, although it reflects better performance around the target frequencies. For the multi-SISO and MIMO controller studies, the selective control of the two lowest and dominant frequencies of the structure at two different locations still offers comparative vibration mitigation performances with the controllers considered as global in the sense that they target both structural frequencies at both locations. Attenuations of between 10 and 35 dB are achieved.
Complementary and alternative medicine’s occupational closure in Portuguese healthcare: Contradictions and challenges
Authors: Almeida Joana
Published: August 2016

This article analyses strategies of closure recently enacted by complementary and alternative medicine practitioners in order to achieve occupational control over work domains in healthcare, taking Portugal as an example. A combination of the neo-Weberian occupational closure theory of the professions and Abbott’s jurisdictional vacancy theory is proposed as the framework for analysis. Acupuncture and homeopathy will be presented as case studies. Data are derived from in-depth interviews with 10 traditional acupuncturists and 10 traditional homeopaths. Data analysis suggests that (1) professionalisation, (2) alignment with biomedical science and (3) expressing ‘legitimating values’ of a countervailing nature have been three significant strategies complementary and alternative medicine practitioners have used in an attempt to achieve market closure. It is argued that these strategies are contradictory: some involve allegiances, while others involve demarcation from biomedical science. A further outcome of these strategies is the promotion of complementary and alternative medicine treatments and solutions in everyday life. The success of these strategies therefore, although helping to reinforce the biomedical model, may simultaneously help complementary and alternative medicine to demarcate from it, posing thus challenges to mainstream healthcare.
A queer nodal point: Homosexuality in Dutch debates on Islam and multiculturalism
Authors: Dudink Stefan
Published: August 2016

In the context of conflicts over Islam and multiculturalism, the acceptance and equal treatment of homosexuality have come to have an unprecedented centrality to Dutch politics. This article explains homosexuality's prominence in these debates as the effect of its ability to serve as a centrepiece of a critique of Dutch ‘consociational democracy’. It demonstrates how in the course of the 1990s a Dutch political culture of consensus, compromise and mutual accommodation became a frame for conflicts over multicultural society. Critics of multiculturalism blamed consociational democracy for both hampering the integration of immigrants into Dutch society and for preventing a debate about this putative failure to integrate. They argued for the introduction into a political culture, presumed to revolve around accommodation, of non-negotiable moral principles that were to unite the nation in its confrontation with cultures thought to be hostile to it. Secondly, the article examines how homosexuality increasingly became pivotal to such arguments through an analysis of a series of episodes in a continuous, similarly structured media narrative on homosexuality, Islam and consociational democracy. The article argues that homosexuality's central place in these narratives needs to be understood as resulting from its ability to represent the non-negotiable moral principles consociational democracy was thought to lack. Conceptualized as a given, unchanging truth about identity that open homosexuals unflinchingly presented to the world, homosexuality functioned as a metonym for the moral steadfastness and transparency that, in the eyes of its critics, a consociational political culture failed to produce.
Decreasing adolescent drinking: Is there evidence of a continuation into future adult cohorts? APC analysis of adolescent drinking in Finland, 1983–2013
Authors: Lintonen Tomi , Härkönen Janne , Raitasalo Kirsimarja , Härkänen Tommi , Mäkelä Pia
Published: August 2016

Aims: Unlike adults, abstaining has increased and regular use of alcohol has decreased among 12–16-year-olds over the past two decades. The paper studies whether these developments will be continued as the adolescent cohorts come of age. Methods: The Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey is a nationally representative monitoring system of the health habits of 12-, 14-, 16-, and 18-year-old Finns, conducted biannually between 1981 and 2013. The prevalence of alcohol use and drunkenness were measured for each 5-year cohort born in 1967–1995. Age-by-cohort trajectories and hierarchical age–period–cohort (APC) modeling were used to assess effects of age, period, and birth cohort. Results: Cohorts differentiate for underage drinking, but not at the age of 18. The younger cohorts postpone their drinking debut compared with older cohorts and thus age profiles are steeper than before. The most recent cohorts born in the 1990s, and the oldest cohorts born in 1967–71, have the highest prevalence in abstinence but drinking has been more prevalent for cohorts born in 1973–1989. APC modeling confirms significant cohort effects, but no significant decrease in drinking or drunkenness at the age of 18 years. Some of the changes can also be attributed to period effects. Conclusions: Despite the decrease in underage drinking in Finland, 18-year-olds continue to drink similarly from cohort to another. Postponing the onset of drinking has a preventive effect on alcohol-related harms, but a reduction in drinking among adult cohorts is not evident in the future.
Health and sexual behaviour among exchange students
Authors: Petersson Carina , Peterson Ulla , Swahnberg Katarina , Oscarsson Marie
Published: August 2016

Aim: The objective was to describe the exchange students’ health and sexual behaviour associated with their exchange studies, and examine the extent to which they had received preventive efforts against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/sexually transmitted infection (STI) and safer sex before departure. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted based on a web survey with questions about sexual behaviour, self-esteem and psychological well-being. Data were analysed using descriptive and analytical statistics. Results: A total of 136 outgoing exchange students from a Swedish University participated. Most of the exchange students rated their health as good, had psychological well-being and rated their self-esteem as being high. Approximately half of the exchange students had sex with a new partner during the exchange semester, and 87% of them had sexually risky behaviour. More than half (61%) of the exchange students had received preventive efforts before departure. No statistically significant difference regarding preventive information was found between those who reported sexually risky behaviour and those who did not. The group that had sexually risky behaviour desired free condoms and access to clinics for sexual health. Conclusions: Exchange students rated their health as good, and the majority of them participated in information sessions that addressed preventive efforts on HIV/STI and safer sex before departure. Sexually risky behaviour during exchange studies was reported and highlights the need for more effective preventive measures; for example, a recollection of reading STI information.
How should marriage be theorised?
Authors: Nuti Alasia
Published: August 2016

Feminists have noted the injustice of the institution of marriage and the asymmetric power dynamics within gender-structured marriages. Recently, feminists have found an unexpected supporter of this struggle against marriage in some liberal political theorists. I argue that this new wave of interest in the wrongness of marriage within liberalism reveals shortcomings from a feminist perspective. While some liberals fail to realise that instead of being disestablished, the institution of marriage should be radically reformed, others do not recognise that such a reform should be theorised by starting from our non-idealised conditions of gender inequality and from an analysis of how the institution of marriage intersects with other spheres of gender injustice. This article provides recommendations for the radical reform of marriage by following some methodological premises of feminist theory. To illustrate how the reform of marriage should be theorised, it focuses on the intersection between the sphere of gender injustice represented by immigration and that of marriage.
Squeezed between identity politics and intersectionality: A critique of ‘thin privilege’ in Fat Studies
Authors: Nash Meredith , Warin Megan
Published: August 2016

With the rise of ‘globesity’, fat activism and Fat Studies have become political players in countering negative stereotypes and the devaluation of fat bodies. Both groups are diverse, yet share a common goal to celebrate and/or accept fatness, and challenge practices and discourses that reinforce ‘normal’ bodies (such as diets, ‘fat talk’ and medicalisation). In this article, we reflect on our engagement with a Fat Studies conference, and critically interrogate the assumptions that underlie this particular space. It is not surprising that fat activists and Fat Studies scholars bring different ideologies to the table, yet the differences between them have not been adequately scrutinised or theorised. Drawing upon Linda Alcoff’s feminist philosophy, we examine how identity politics and intersectional perspectives are both used in fat activism, yet have the effect of creating unresolved tensions between singular and multiple embodied identities. We argue that an identity politics approach (exemplified through embodied visibility and declarations of ‘thin privilege’) has the potential to create boundaries for policing and exclusion, and is thus at odds with the much broader axes identified by intersectorial approaches. Rather than dismiss the power of identity politics, we argue for a careful reframing of the relationship between identity politics and intersectionality in fat activism and Fat Studies. We suggest that unexamined contradictions that arise from this mismatch may be counterproductive to the important subversive aims of the movement.
Doing narrative feminist research: Intersections and challenges
Authors: Fraser Heather , MacDougall Christiana
Published: August 2016

This article contributes to social work methodological discussions by examining narrative feminist research in action. Our discussion considers our conceptualization and use of narrative feminist research, which is appreciative of intersectionality. We draw illustrative examples from four projects: (1) In the Name of Love, Women’s Narratives of Love, and Abuse (1998–2008), (2) Helping Alliances with Drug Treatment Clients (2010–2016), (3) In Good Company, Women, Companion Animals, and Social Work (2013–2014), and (4) Distress in Childbirth: A Social Work Perspective (in process). We also consider challenges associated with using narrative feminist research data as evidence. For all of the challenges currently facing narrative feminist researchers, we maintain that the methodology offers social workers many benefits and expansive, praxis-oriented possibilities.
Tipping Points
Authors: Ruud Collin M. , Saclarides Evthokia S. , George-Jackson Casey E. , Lubienski Sarah T.
Published: August 2016

This exploratory mixed-methods study examines factors contributing to doctoral students’ consideration of departure from their graduate programs with comparisons made by sex and affiliation with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs. Logistic regression and qualitative analyses point to the importance of strong relationships with advisors and faculty, collegiality, and preparation for students’ desired careers. Yet, results also suggest that women in STEM may be less satisfied than their male peers with the advising and career preparation received. The findings propose that university administrators and faculty should foster better faculty–student relationships and help students make more informed decisions prior to entering doctoral study.
Community-Level Approaches to Child Maltreatment Prevention
Authors: Molnar Beth E. , Beatriz Elizabeth D. , Beardslee William R.
Published: August 2016

Often the focus of the field of child maltreatment has concentrated on identifying and intervening on risk and protective factors at the individual and family levels; however, since the 1970s, the important roles that communities play in both exacerbating and preventing child maltreatment have received attention as well. This article outlines the development of this area of scientific inquiry, describes the theoretical frameworks utilized by existing programs, and describes several community-level programs aimed at preventing child maltreatment that show promise as scalable strategies to enhance individual and family strengths and reduce caregiver stress. Challenges inherent in community-level programming in increasingly diverse environments and in building/maintaining political will for sustainability of evidence-based efforts are discussed as well. A multilevel, holistic approach that takes into account developmental changes and needs of individuals as well as their environments is likely to bring about more sustainable change in protecting children from abuse and neglect than efforts focused solely on individuals.
Intentional Sin and Accidental Virtue? Cultural Differences in Moral Systems Influence Perceived Intentionality
Authors: Clark Cory J. , Bauman Christopher W. , Kamble Shanmukh V. , Knowles Eric D.
Published: August 2016

Indians and U.S. Americans view harmful actions as morally wrong, but Indians are more likely than U.S. Americans to perceive helping behaviors as moral imperatives. We utilize this cultural variability in moral belief systems to test whether and how moral considerations influence perceptions of intentionality (as suggested by theories of folk psychology). Four experiments found that Indians attribute more intentionality than U.S. Americans for helpful but not harmful (Studies 1–4) or neutral side effects (Studies 2 and 3). Also, cross-cultural differences in intentionality judgments for positive actions reflect stronger praise motives (Study 3), and stronger devotion to religious beliefs and practices among Hindus (Study 4). These results provide the first direct support for the claim that features of moral belief systems influence folk psychology, and further suggest that the influence is not inherently asymmetrical; motivation to either blame or praise can influence judgments of intentionality.
Regular exercise behaviour and intention and symptoms of anxiety and depression in coronary heart disease patients across Europe: Results from the EUROASPIRE III survey
Authors: Prugger Christof , Wellmann Jürgen , Heidrich Jan , De Bacquer Dirk , De Smedt Delphine , De Backer Guy , Reiner Željko , Empana Jean-Philippe , Fras Zlatko , Gaita Dan , Jennings Catriona , Kotseva Kornelia , Wood David , Keil Ulrich
Published: September 2016

Background

Regular exercise lowers the risk of cardiovascular death in coronary heart disease (CHD) patients. We aimed to investigate regular exercise behaviour and intention in relation to symptoms of anxiety and depression in CHD patients across Europe.

Design

This study was based on a multicentre cross-sectional survey.

Methods

In the EUROpean Action on Secondary and Primary Prevention through Intervention to Reduce Events (EUROASPIRE) III survey, 8966 CHD patients <80 years of age from 22 European countries were interviewed on average 15 months after hospitalisation. Whether patients exercised or intended to exercise regularly was assessed using the Stages of Change questionnaire in 8330 patients. Symptoms of anxiety and depression were evaluated using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Total physical activity was measured by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire in patients from a subset of 14 countries.

Results

Overall, 50.3% of patients were not intending to exercise regularly, 15.9% were intending to exercise regularly, and 33.8% were exercising regularly. Patients with severe symptoms of depression less frequently exercised regularly than patients with symptoms in the normal range (20.2%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 14.8–26.8 vs 36.7%, 95% CI 29.8–44.2). Among patients not exercising regularly, patients with severe symptoms of depression were less likely to have an intention to exercise regularly (odds ratio 0.62, 95% CI 0.46–0.85). Symptoms of anxiety did not affect regular exercise intention. In sensitivity analysis, results were consistent when adjusting for total physical activity.

Conclusions

Lower frequency of regular exercise and decreased likelihood of exercise intention were observed in CHD patients with severe depressive symptoms. Severe symptoms of depression may preclude CHD patients from performing regular exercise.
Salmonella enteritidis primary bacteremia in previously healthy patient from Taiwan: case report
Authors: Mileva Sevda , Gospodinova Margarita , Todorov Ilian
Published: August 2016

Background:

Diseases caused by invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella strains present with various extraintestinal manifestations, including bacteremia. Factors affecting the incidence include Salmonella serotype, geographic location, and host factors.

Case:

We present an unusual case of Salmonella enteritidis primary bacteremia in a patient without any risk factors and originating from a region with the lowest burden of invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella infections. We observed an incomplete clinical response to the treatment with a third-generation cephalosporin, despite the in vitro susceptibility of the strain.

Discussion:

The diagnosis of Salmonella bacteremia was far from expected in our previously healthy patient from Taiwan, without any preceding diarrhea and the lack of marked response to therapy with ceftriaxone. Making the diagnosis was a challenge, requiring wide range of laboratory, imaging, and consultative work to rule out alternative diagnoses and complications.

Conclusion:

Invasive Salmonella infections are uncommon in our clinical practice at the present. Air transportation, intensive migration processes, and changes in climate are able to change the burden of infectious diseases dramatically in the near future. That fact along with the raising antibacterial resistance among invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella strains make imperative the profound understanding of the epidemiology and pathophysiology of those infections.
State hydrocarbon rents, authoritarian survival and the onset of democracy: Evidence from a new dataset
Authors: Lucas Viola , Richter Thomas
Published: August 2016

This article surveys the effects of state hydrocarbon rents—defined as government income from oil and natural gas—on authoritarian survival and the onset of democracy. We also examine the association of changing state hydrocarbon rents with state spending and taxation based on a new collection of historical data, the Global State Revenues and Expenditures dataset. Using these novel data, we provide evidence that increasing state rents from oil and gas hinder democratization by reducing citizens’ tax burden. However, an increase in the oil and gas income flowing directly into state coffers does not appear to lower the average risk of ouster by rival authoritarian elites. We have found no evidence of the systematic distributional effects of state hydrocarbon income on regime survival.
The Auditory Naming Test Improves Diagnosis of Naming Deficits in Dementia
Authors: Hirsch Joseph A. , Cuesta George M. , Jordan Barry D. , Fonzetti Pasquale , Levin Leann
Published: August 2016

Many patients with presumptive Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or other dementias may show minimal impairment on the Boston Naming Test (BNT), a visual confrontation naming measure. We sought to determine whether a semantic naming test, the Auditory Naming Test (ANT), would improve accuracy for identifying naming deficits in patients diagnosed with dementia ( N = 458) at an outpatient memory disorders clinic. Factor analysis revealed that both tests measured the same broad construct. Frequency of naming impairment with the ANT was significantly greater than with the BNT for patients with AD, regardless of dementia severity or levels of education ( p < .01). Effect size was moderate (φ = 0.45). BNT but not ANT performance declined with age in patients with AD. Sex differences were found for the BNT, but not the ANT, in the AD population. Accuracy rate of naming impairment diagnosis with the ANT in patients with AD was good (72%). Specificity (81%) and positive predictive value (PPV) (89%) with the ANT in AD were excellent, whereas sensitivity (69%) and negative predictive value (NPV) (58%) were modest. Receiver operating characteristic with area under the curve (ROC AUC) was excellent (0.958). A similar pattern was seen in patients with vascular dementia (VaD) or mixed AD/VaD. There was no significant effect in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). It is concluded that the ANT substantially improves the ability to diagnose naming impairment in patients with AD, VaD, and mixed AD/VaD dementia, and should be included in a neuropsychological battery administered to elderly patients with suspected dementia.
Work-Related Stress Risk Assessment
Authors: Corradini Isabella , Marano Assunta , Nardelli Enrico
Published: August 2016

Many approaches to work-related stress risk assessment suggest the integration between a phase where objective data are collected and analyzed, and a phase where results of data collection and analysis are discussed and compared with information coming from the workers. However, stress researchers have criticized the use of self-report job stress measures, because of their potential distortions, and have called for an approach based on the use of objective measures. The Italian law for work-related stress risk assessment, closer to the latter approach, prescribes a two-stage procedure: first, a set of objective measures and then, conditionally to the outcome of the first stage, a set of subjective measures. In this article, we analyze, on the basis of psychometric principles, the tool used for the objective stage in the most adopted method in Italy. Such a tool is a checklist for which we discuss a number of issues, suggesting it is not methodologically well founded. Given the fact that assessment outcomes have a sensible impact on workers’ safety measures, we conclude these weaknesses affect the practice of work-related stress risk assessment.
A Project Risk Management Methodology Based on Probabilistic and Non-probabilistic Approach: A Study on Transmission Line Installation Projects
Authors: Parihar Shwetank , Bhar Chandan , Srivastava Nishit Kumar
Published: August 2016

The article deals with the project risk analysis for electrical transmission line installation projects, where both probabilistic decision tree (DT) and non-probabilistic analytical hierarchy process (AHP) methods are used simultaneously on the same risks. The study gives the complete analysis for each risk type and finally they are analyzed by both AHP and DT; both of these techniques are selected for project’s risk minimization while designing the risk mitigation plan. A model is generated for minimizing the project risk and the risks selected after being analyzed through AHP and DT are then treated with this model for risk mitigation. Overall the study minimizes project risk by a three-step procedure, that is, AHP, DT, and finally through the risk minimization model for electrical transmission line installation projects.
Spontaneous Subdural Empyema Following a High-Parasitemia Falciparum Infection in a 58-Year-Old Female From a Malaria-Endemic Region
Authors: Pallangyo Pedro , Lyimo Frederick , Nicholaus Paulina , Kain Ulimbakisya , Janabi Mohamed
Published: August 2016

Malaria remains a significant public health problem of the tropical world. Falciparum malaria is most prevalent in the sub-Saharan African region, which harbors about 90% of all malaria cases and fatalities globally. Infection by the falciparum species often manifests with a spectrum of multi-organ complications (eg, cerebral malaria), some of which are life-threatening. Spontaneous subdural empyema is a very rare complication of cerebral malaria that portends a very poor prognosis unless diagnosed and treated promptly. We report a case of spontaneous subdural empyema in a 58-year-old woman from Tanzania who presented with high-grade fever, decreased urine output, and altered sensorium.
Fine-grained parallelization of fitness functions in bioinformatics optimization problems: gene selection for cancer classification and biclustering of gene expression data
Authors: Gomez-Pulido Juan A. , Cerrada-Barrios Jose L. , Trinidad-Amado Sebastian , Lanza-Gutierrez Jose M. , Fernandez-Diaz Ramon A. , Crawford Broderick , Soto Ricardo
Published: September 2016

Background

Metaheuristics are widely used to solve large combinatorial optimization problems in bioinformatics because of the huge set of possible solutions. Two representative problems are gene selection for cancer classification and biclustering of gene expression data. In most cases, these metaheuristics, as well as other non-linear techniques, apply a fitness function to each possible solution with a size-limited population, and that step involves higher latencies than other parts of the algorithms, which is the reason why the execution time of the applications will mainly depend on the execution time of the fitness function. In addition, it is usual to find floating-point arithmetic formulations for the fitness functions. This way, a careful parallelization of these functions using the reconfigurable hardware technology will accelerate the computation, specially if they are applied in parallel to several solutions of the population.

Results

A fine-grained parallelization of two floating-point fitness functions of different complexities and features involved in biclustering of gene expression data and gene selection for cancer classification allowed for obtaining higher speedups and power-reduced computation with regard to usual microprocessors.

Conclusions

The results show better performances using reconfigurable hardware technology instead of usual microprocessors, in computing time and power consumption terms, not only because of the parallelization of the arithmetic operations, but also thanks to the concurrent fitness evaluation for several individuals of the population in the metaheuristic. This is a good basis for building accelerated and low-energy solutions for intensive computing scenarios.
From the USDA: Educating the Next Generation: Funding Opportunities in Food, Agricultural, Natural Resources, and Social Sciences Education
Authors: Parker Joyce E. , Wagner David J.
Published: September 2016

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture within the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides leadership, capacity, and funds to support the continuing development of a safe and competitive agricultural system. Many of the agency’s educational programs are led by the Division of Community and Education (DOCE). These programs span agricultural education, enhancing agricultural literacy through both formal and nonformal education. Here, we have highlighted funding opportunities within DOCE that enhance agricultural education and literacy by supporting the improvement of students’ critical communication, leadership skills, and experiential learning opportunities. Some of these programs include opportunities for which students can apply, while others focus on faculty applications. Opportunities faculty can apply for may support student-recruitment and student-retention techniques, curriculum development, innovative teaching methods, and institutional capacity-building programs. Overall, these programs foster a diverse workforce in agricultural science that matches the increasing diversity of the country.
Communicating Value in Health Care Using Radar Charts: A Case Study of Prostate Cancer
Authors: Thaker Nikhil G. , Ali Tariq N. , Porter Michael E. , Feeley Thomas W. , Kaplan Robert S. , Frank Steven J.
Published: August 2016

Purpose:

The transformation from volume to value will require communication of outcomes and costs of therapies; however, outcomes are usually nonstandardized, and cost of therapy differs among stakeholders. We developed a standardized value framework by using radar charts to visualize and communicate a wide range of patient outcomes and cost for three forms of prostate cancer treatment.

Materials and Methods:

We retrospectively reviewed data from men with low-risk prostate cancer who were treated with low-dose rate brachytherapy (LDR-BT), proton beam therapy, or robotic-assisted prostatectomy. Patient-reported outcomes comprised the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite-50 domains for sexual function, urinary incontinence and/or bother, bowel bother, and vitality 12 months after treatment. Costs were measured by time-driven activity-based costing for the first 12 months of the care cycle. Outcome and cost data were plotted on a single radar chart for each treatment modality.

Results:

Outcome and cost data from patients who were treated with robotic-assisted prostatectomy (n = 381), proton beam therapy (n = 165), and LDR-BT (n = 238) were incorporated into the radar chart. LDR-BT seemed to deliver the highest overall value of the three treatment modalities; however, incorporation of patient preferences regarding outcomes may allow other modalities to be considered high-value treatment options.

Conclusion:

Standardization and visualization of outcome and cost metrics may allow more comprehensive and collaborative discussions about the value of health care services. Communicating the value framework by using radar charts may be an effective method to present total value and the value of all outcomes and costs in a manner that is accessible to all stakeholders. Variations in plotting of costs and outcomes will require future focus group initiatives.