bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
PP-GraspNet: 6-DoF grasp generation in clutter using a new grasp representation method
Authors: Li Enbo , Feng Haibo , Fu Yili
Published: December 2022

Purpose

The grasping task of robots in dense cluttered scenes from a single-view has not been solved perfectly, and there is still a problem of low grasping success rate. This study aims to propose an end-to-end grasp generation method to solve this problem.

Design/methodology/approach

A new grasp representation method is proposed, which cleverly uses the normal vector of the table surface to derive the grasp baseline vectors, and maps the grasps to the pointed points (PP), so that there is no need to add orthogonal constraints between vectors when using a neural network to predict rotation matrixes of grasps.

Findings

Experimental results show that the proposed method is beneficial to the training of the neural network, and the model trained on synthetic data set can also have high grasping success rate and completion rate in real-world tasks.

Originality/value

The main contribution of this paper is that the authors propose a new grasp representation method, which maps the 6-DoF grasps to a PP and an angle related to the tabletop normal vector, thereby eliminating the need to add orthogonal constraints between vectors when directly predicting grasps using neural networks. The proposed method can generate hundreds of grasps covering the whole surface in about 0.3 s. The experimental results show that the proposed method has obvious superiority compared with other methods.
The factor structure of the ways of coping questionnaire among abused Iranian women
Authors: Taherkhani Sakineh
Published: December 2022

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify the factor structure of the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ) among abused Iranian women.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is a methodological study. The participants included 554 abused married women who were selected by convenience sampling from the women presenting to health centers and hospitals and their companions as well as women visiting mosques and parks in Shahroud, Iran. The exploratory factor analysis was used to investigate the factor structure of the WCQ. The reliability of the questionnaire was estimated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient.

Findings

Following the exploratory factor analysis, 36 items and 5 factors were extracted, which could explain 73.24% of the variance in the concept of coping with intimate partner violence. The extracted factors included distancing, planning, wishful thinking, seeking social support and problem-solving. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the questionnaire as a whole was 0.91.

Originality/value

This paper has practice and research implications for promoting coping among abused women. The factor structure of the WCQ obtained in this paper can validly measure coping with intimate partner violence among abused Iranian women. Learning about the coping strategies used by abused women can help design context-based interventions to assist these women in better coping with their husband’s violence and improving their well-being. This version of WCQ also enables assessing the effectiveness of the designed interventions.
Knowledge management in a regional integrated health and social care system
Authors: Hujala Tuomas , Laihonen Harri
Published: December 2022

Purpose

This article analyses a major healthcare and social welfare reform establishing new regional and integrated wellbeing services counties in Finland. The authors approach the reform and service integration as a knowledge management (KM) issue and analyse how KM appears and contributes in the context of integrated care, specifically in the process of integrating social and health care.

Design/methodology/approach

The article analyses the case organisation's KM initiatives in light of the integrated care literature and recognises the tasks and requirements for effective KM when building integrated health and social care system. The empirical research material for this qualitative study consisted of the case organisation's strategy documents, the results of an external maturity assessment, KM workshop materials and publicly available documentation of the Finnish health and social care reform.

Findings

This study identifies the mechanisms by which KM can support health and social services integration. At the macro level, national coordination and regional co-operation require common information structures. At the meso level, a shared regional strategy with shared objectives guides both organisational decision-making and collaboration between professionals. At the micro level, technology supported and data-driven planning of service chains complements the experiences of professionals and may help remove obstacles to integration.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature on integrated care by providing a more comprehensive view of the role and tasks of knowledge and KM when reforming health and social services than approaches focussing solely on health informatics and internal efficiency.
A review of workplace spirituality: identifying present development and future research agenda
Authors: Mhatre Snehal G. , Mehta Nikhil K.
Published: December 2022

Purpose

This study aims to identify the present development of workplace spirituality (WPS) by synthesizing the findings from the WPS literature, identifying gaps and proposing a research agenda.

Design/methodology/approach

This study reviews 72 articles on WPS published in scholarly journals to review their findings on how it has developed over time.

Findings

This review reveals a dearth of qualitative studies like the phenomenological approach, ethnographic research, mixed methodology and experimental research. Besides, the findings reveal various dimensions of spirituality in regard to the workplace. The synthesis reveals a paucity of research to examine WPS at the level of mesospiritual. The findings reveal the scope for cross-cultural studies in WPS that could support and advance inclusion and diversity in the organization. Also, there is scope to examine the relationship of WPS with mental and behavioral health, mindset, innovative behavior, sustainable behavior and trust. Further, the findings reveal the scope of studying the darker side of spirituality in the workplace.

Research limitations/implications

This study offers significant implications to researchers, management and human resource management (HRM) practitioners by providing a holistic understanding of WPS. The literature review findings are limited to the analysis performed on seventy-two papers from Web of Science (WoS) and Google Scholar databases.

Practical implications

This study provides suggestions and future research directions for researchers, HRM and management practitioners for the inclusion of spirituality. The review findings suggest the implications for management and HRM practitioners by understanding the research done in cognitive science and neuroscience related to spirituality to humanize the workplace. HRM practitioners can draw on the insights offered in this analysis to develop learning and development interventions in support of WPS, e.g. training programs for cultivating mindset through spiritual mentoring.

Originality/value

The study provides WPS development over time. It also provides a comprehensive outlook on WPS that highlights its positive and negative sides. The study contributes to the literature by categorizing the literature and proposing a research agenda to guide future WPS research.
Association between diet quality and BMI with side effects of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G titers
Authors: Fateh Hawal Lateef , Kamari Negin , M. Ali Ayad , Moludi Jalal , Rezayaeian Shahab
Published: December 2022

Purpose

The nutritional and anthropometric status can be essential in determining their immune response to vaccines. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the association between diet quality and anthropometric indices with the side effects of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and the SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G titer among Kurdish adults.

Design/methodology/approach

This cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted between December 2021 and February 2022. This paper included data on 115 adults, 20–89 years old, from the Kurdistan region. Dietary information was collected using a short food frequency questionnaire, and diet quality was assessed using a plant-based healthy diet score. A blood test was performed to measure the SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobin G (IgG) titer after the vaccination's first and second doses.

Findings

Overweight and obese subjects reported more local pain, myalgia, headache, local bruising and local reactions after receiving the first dose of the vaccine (p = 0.04). People on a less healthy diet reported more local pain, myalgia and headache (p = 0.04) and more local bruising and reactions (p = 0.01) after receiving the second dose of the vaccine. On the other hand, the authors observed that those with healthy dietary habits had more IgG titer after the first and second doses of vaccination than those with less healthy dietary habits (p = 0.001).

Originality/value

The results showed that participants with a healthy diet and normal weight status had fewer side effects of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine than obese people and those with a less healthy diet.
YouTube self-directed learning in the US and Taiwan: an application of the personal responsibility orientation model
Authors: Joa Claire Youngnyo , Abuljadail Mohammad , Ha Louisa S.
Published: December 2022

Purpose

To facilitate the use of YouTube as an important global video portal for self-directed learning (SDL), it is important to understand YouTube users' distinctive learning experiences across cultures. This study examines factors influencing YouTube SDL based on the personal responsibility orientation (PRO) model. In addition, the two markets, US and Taiwan, were chosen to explore if national cultural differences affect YouTube users' SDL frequency and goals along with PRO variables.

Design/methodology/approach

A self-administered online survey of 372 college aged-YouTube users in the US and Taiwan was conducted to obtain the self-reported SDL behavior on YouTube and other demographic and video usage variable information.

Findings

Frequent video sharing and information seeking motives likely facilitate general YouTube SDL, while initiating online video search leads to specific goal-oriented SDL such as problem-solving and skill-improvement. Although American students use YouTube more frequently for SDL than Taiwanese students, Taiwanese students use YouTube more for specific skill improvement.

Social implications

YouTube's social affordance enables YouTube users' informal and SDL across different national cultures and thus the role such social media play in encouraging lifelong learning needs further attention.

Originality/value

This study contributes to understanding how YouTube fosters the informal learning process through functions enabling YouTube users' self-directed information seeking, sharing and engaging with online videos with a cross-national comparison. This study is also expected to offer insights to promote the use of YouTube for SDL as a first cross-national study applying the PRO model in the context of YouTube SDL.
West Nile virus–associated HLA‐DRB1 alleles in the Greek population: A structural perspective
Authors: Sarri Constantina A. , Papadopoulos Georgios E. , Mamuris Zissis
Published: December 2022

The HLA system plays a significant role via the regulation of the immune system and contributes to the progression and protection of many diseases. In our previous study, several HLA‐DRB1 alleles were found to have a susceptible or protective role toward infection and neuroinvasion of West Nile Virus (WNV) in the Greek population. As expected, the majority of polymorphic positions are located in the peptide‐binding region of the molecule. In the present work, the structure of these alleles was studied in silico, to examine the effect of polymorphism on the conformation of DRB1 proteins, with the aspect of WNV association. More specifically, molecular dynamics simulations were used for structural prediction of 23 available alleles. These modeled alleles were evaluated using root‐mean‐square deviation (RMSD) and root‐mean‐square fluctuation analysis. Low RMSD values indicate that different alleles have similar structures. Furthermore, low fluctuation was observed in the peptide‐binding region between alleles with the higher and the lowest RMSD values. These findings indicate that probably variable residues do not affect the behavior of DRB1 alleles in WNV disease, by causing structural differences between them.
Prioritising Proof over Speculation: Resolving the Prospective Inability Problem in Contract Damages
Authors: Winterton David
Published: December 2022

Where one contracting party accepts the other party's repudiation should the former party's entitlement to substantial damages depend upon proof of its future ability to perform? The relevant case law is notoriously complex, and the question remains unsettled. This article identifies the reasons for this complexity and uncertainty and proposes a way forward. It is first established, consistently with the decision in Bunge v Nidera, that when the parties’ obligations are dependent or concurrent the innocent party's ability to perform in the post‐termination period must be relevant to any damages assessment. Next, the critical question of which party should be allocated the burden of proving the innocent party's future ability (or inability) to perform is confronted. It is argued that, subject to two specified exceptions, considerations of both principle and practicality favour the law's adoption of a rebuttable presumption that the innocent party would have performed its remaining obligations.
GAMONALES WHO MAKE A CITY: Intimate Interactions in City Building
Authors: Atuesta Ortiz Maria
Published: December 2022

In this article I analyze the participation of economic patrons or gamonales in processes of city building. Like clientelistic leaders, local ‘big men’ can partake in the transformation of the living conditions of the urban poor. These individuals show an extraordinary capacity for transforming cities, their built environments and social and political infrastructures, especially in small and rapidly growing cities located in the peripheries of nation‐building projects. In my research I explore the case of one patron in Granada, a rapidly urbanizing city in Colombia that received many forced migrants between 1990 and 2010, to reveal a new way in which city building and patron–client relationships co‐evolve and are constituted within a space of intimate interactions between landed property and urban real estate.
Analysing inefficiency in a non‐parametric spatial‐dynamic by‐production framework: A k‐nearest neighbour proposal
Authors: Skevas Ioannis , Lansink Alfons Oude , Skevas Theodoros
Published: December 2022

This paper accounts for spatial effects by benchmarking farms against their k‐nearest neighbours (KNN) and measuring their inefficiency in a non‐parametric dynamic by‐production setting. The optimal number of neighbours against which farms are compared corresponds to the value of that maximises the Moran I test for spatial autocorrelation of the good and the bad output of the farms' two sub‐technologies. The inefficiency scores for farms' good output, variable inputs, investments and bad outputs are then computed and compared with those calculated based on a global technology, which benchmarks all farms together. The application focuses on an unbalanced panel of specialised Dutch dairy farms over the period 2009–2016 that contains information on their exact geographical locations. The results suggest that the inefficiency scores exhibit statistically significant differences between the KNN and the global model. Specifically, the inefficiencies are generally deflated when a KNN technology is considered, suggesting that ignoring spatial effects can overestimate inefficiency.
Advances in green solvents for production of polysaccharide‐based packaging films: Insights of ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents
Authors: Yu Jiahao , Liu Xuwei , Xu Shanlin , Shao Ping , Li Jiandong , Chen Zhirong , Wang Xuanpeng , Lin Yang , Renard Catherine M. G. C.
Published: December 2022

The problems with plastic materials and the good film‐forming properties of polysaccharides motivated research in the development of polysaccharide‐based films. In the last 5 years, there has been an explosion of publications on using green solvents, including ionic liquids (ILs), and deep eutectic solvents (DESs) as candidates to substitute the conventional solvents/plasticizers for preparations of desired polysaccharide‐based films. This review summarizes related properties and recovery of ILs and DESs, a series of green preparation strategies (including pretreatment solvents/reaction media, ILs/DESs as components, extraction solvents of bioactive compounds added into films), and inherent properties of polysaccharide‐based films with/without ILs and DESs. Major reported advantages of these new solvents are high dissolving capacity of certain ILs/DESs for polysaccharides (i.e., up to 30 wt% for cellulose) and better plasticizing ability than traditional plasticizers. In addition, they frequently display intrinsic antioxidant and antibacterial activities that facilitate ILs/DESs applications in the processing of polysaccharide‐based films (especially active food packaging films). ILs/DESs in the film could also be further recycled by water or ethanol/methanol treatment followed by drying/evaporation. One particularly promising approach is to use bioactive cholinium‐based ILs and DESs with good safety and plasticizing ability to improve the functional properties of prepared films. Whole extracts by ILs/DESs from various byproducts can also be directly used in films without separation/polishing of compounds from the extracting agents. Scaling‐up, including costs and environmental footprint, as well as the safety and applications in real foods of polysaccharide‐based film with ILs/DESs (extracts) deserves more studies.
The significance of volume overload in the development of pulmonary arterial hypertension in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis patients
Authors: Nekooeian Mohammad , Ezzatzadegan Jahromi Shahrokh , Masjedi Fatemeh , Sohooli Maryam , Shekouhi Ramin , Moaref Alireza
Published: December 2022

Introduction

The underlying pathophysiology of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is multifactorial; however, the significance of chronic volume overload and its subsequent effects on cardiac function must be studied thoroughly. The main objective of this study was to determine the predictive parameters of PAH in patients undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) using transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and bioimpedance analysis (BIA).

Methods

In this cross‐sectional study, 43 eligible CAPD patients were chosen. The patients were examined by TTE and BIA before the morning dialysis session, and baseline patient characteristics, echocardiography, and BIA parameters were recorded.

Results

Sixteen (37.2%) patients were diagnosed with PAH. Patients with PAH had significantly greater left atrial diameter (LAD), left ventricular mass index (LVMI), and higher grades of diastolic dysfunction (DDF). Systolic pulmonary artery pressure (sPAP) correlated with LAD (p < 0.001, r = 0.566), interventricular septal diameter (IVSD) (p = 0.004, r = 0.425), LVMI (p = 0.030, r = 0.323), and extracellular water/total body water (ECW/TBW) ratio (p = 0.002, r = 0.458).

Conclusion

Two volume status‐related parameters including ECW/TBW ratio and inferior vena cava (IVC) expiratory diameter, and cardiac‐related TTE findings such as LAD and DDF were predictors of sPAP in CAPD patients.
An evaluation of platforms for processing camera‐trap data using artificial intelligence
Authors: Vélez Juliana , McShea William , Shamon Hila , Castiblanco‐Camacho Paula J. , Tabak Michael A. , Chalmers Carl , Fergus Paul , Fieberg John
Published: December 2022

Camera traps have quickly transformed the way in which many ecologists study the distribution of wildlife species, their activity patterns and interactions among members of the same ecological community. Although they provide a cost‐effective method for monitoring multiple species over large spatial and temporal scales, the time required to process the data can limit the efficiency of camera‐trap surveys. Thus, there has been considerable attention given to the use of artificial intelligence (AI), specifically deep learning, to help process camera‐trap data. Using deep learning for these applications involves training algorithms, such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs), to use particular features in the camera‐trap images to automatically detect objects (e.g. animals, humans, vehicles) and to classify species.

To help overcome the technical challenges associated with training CNNs, several research communities have recently developed platforms that incorporate deep learning in easy‐to‐use interfaces. We review key characteristics of four AI platforms—Conservation AI, MegaDetector, MLWIC2: Machine Learning for Wildlife Image Classification and Wildlife Insights—and two auxiliary platforms—Camelot and Timelapse—that incorporate AI output for processing camera‐trap data. We compare their software and programming requirements, AI features, data management tools and output format. We also provide R code and data from our own work to demonstrate how users can evaluate model performance.

We found that species classifications from Conservation AI, MLWIC2 and Wildlife Insights generally had low to moderate recall. Yet, the precision for some species and higher taxonomic groups was high, and MegaDetector and MLWIC2 had high precision and recall when classifying images as either ‘blank’ or ‘animal’. These results suggest that most users will need to review AI predictions, but that AI platforms can improve efficiency of camera‐trap‐data processing by allowing users to filter their dataset into subsets (e.g. of certain taxonomic groups or blanks) that can be verified using bulk actions.

By reviewing features of popular AI‐powered platforms and sharing an open‐source GitBook that illustrates how to manage AI output to evaluate model performance, we hope to facilitate ecologists' use of AI to process camera‐trap data.
A new minification integer‐valued autoregressive process driven by explanatory variables
Authors: Qian Lianyong , Zhu Fukang
Published: December 2022

The discrete minification model based on the modified negative binomial operator, as an extension to the continuous minification model, can be used to describe an extreme value after few increasing values. To make this model more practical and flexible, a new minification integer‐valued autoregressive process driven by explanatory variables is proposed. Ergodicity of the new process is discussed. The estimators of the unknown parameters are obtained via the conditional least squares and conditional maximum likelihood methods, and the asymptotic properties are also established. A testing procedure for checking existence of the explanatory variables is developed. Some Monte Carlo simulations are given to illustrate the finite‐sample performances of the estimators under specification and misspecification and the test, respectively. A real example is applied to illustrate the performance of our model.
Extensional deformation of a shale‐dominated delta: Tarakan Basin, offshore Indonesia
Authors: Erdi Aurio , Jackson Christopher A.‐L. , Soto Juan I.
Published: December 2022

Deformation on shale‐rich continental margins is commonly associated with thin‐skinned extension above mobile shales. Normal faulting and shale mobilization are widespread on such margins, being associated with and controlled by progradation and gravitational failure of deltaic sedimentary wedges. However, due to uncertainties in seismically imaging mobile shales, our understanding of problems like how base mobile‐shale controls deformation, and the shape, size, and distribution of shale structures remains poorly understood. Here, we use 3D seismic reflection data from the platform region of the Tarakan Basin, offshore eastern Indonesia to investigate the temporal and spatial evolution of thin‐skinned deformation of the Neogene sedimentary section. Our detailed seismic interpretation reveals up to 74 km long, concave‐ and convex‐into‐the‐basin normal faults, dipping both basinward (eastwards) and locally landward (westwards), which detach downwards on a basal mobile shale (Early‐Middle Miocene). The base of the mobile‐shale unit dips gently (<17°) seaward, although older (Eocene‐Early Miocene), rift‐related normal faults originate local structural highs deforming the base of mobile shales. Our isochore (thickness map) analysis shows that supra‐shale normal faulting commenced in the Middle Miocene and was accompanied by the formation of hanging‐wall rollover folds and associated crestal grabens, with the subsequent along‐ and across strike migration of the deformation related to the nucleation, lateral linkage and reactivation of individual fault systems. Updip growth normal faulting was also accompanied by the downslope flow of mobile shale, accompanied by parallel and perpendicular variations of the differential loading in the delta system, and local contraction and mobile‐shale upbuilding, resulting in the growth of large, margin‐parallel shale anticlines further downdip. The growth faults and anticlines are locally overlain by up to 5 km tall mud pipes and volcanoes. We suggest that variations in the rate of sedimentary loading, mobile‐shale flow, fault growth and gravitational failure of the delta system above a seaward‐dipping, but locally rugose base mobile‐shale surface, controlled Neogene deformation in the Tarakan Basin. We also demonstrate how variations in the trend and dip of the base mobile‐shale surface influence the position, timing of formation and evolution of supra‐shale normal faults and their associated depocentres along shale‐rich, deltaic margins.
The Chinese version of the Caregiver Difficulties Scale: Psychometric evaluation
Authors: Zhong Xiaoying , Guo Xiujing , Zhang Li , Yang Xiaorong , Jingyao Chen , Li Dehua , Chen Xiaoyong , Zhou Hui , Wijesinghe Champa J.
Published: December 2022

Background

Evaluating caregiver burden and its health impact is an essential component of long‐term care plan for children with disabilities; the Caregiver Difficulties Scale (CDS) has high conceptual sensitivity. The aim of this study was to adapt the CDS to Chinese and investigates the psychometric properties of this tool.

Methods

The study was carried out among caregivers of children with cerebral palsy (n = 194). The CDS, Caregivers Burden Inventory (CBI) and World Health Organization Quality of Life‐BREF (WHOQOL‐BREF) were used for data collection. Twenty experts were consulted to evaluate the content validity of the scale. The confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to measure the construct validity of CDS. The Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated among CDS, CBI and WHOQOL‐BREF to examine the convergent validity and discriminant validity. The reliability was evaluated by examining internal consistency and test–retest reliability.

Results

The result of expert consultation showed that the S‐CVI was 0.894 and the I‐CVI ranged from 0.70 to 1.00. The fit indices showed that the original correlated four‐factor model of CDS was adequate: χ2 = 268.397; df = 243; χ2/df = 1.105; RMSEA = 0.023; CFI = 0.985; NNFI = 0.869; TLI = 0.982; IFI = 0.986. The score of CDS was positively strong associated with the scores of CBI (r = +0.764); negatively correlating with the scores of WHOQOL‐BREF (r = −0.627). The Cronbach's alpha was 0.840; intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) value was 0.843.

Conclusions

The Chinese version of the CDS is a valid and reliable tool to evaluate burden for caregivers of children with CP in China.
In defense of peer influence: The unheralded benefits of conformity
Authors: Laursen Brett , Veenstra René
Published: December 2022

Peer influence is an instrument of change, with outcomes that are not preordained: The same processes that make influence a source of harm also make it a valuable interpersonal resource. Yet the benefits of peer influence are insufficiently appreciated. Knowing when and how much to conform to the wishes of others is an important skill that children must acquire to adjust to and thrive in a social world dominated by peers. Peer influence can be an adaptive strategy whose benefits outweigh the costs that sometimes arise in its application. To overlook the adaptive consequences of peer influence is to miss the main point of conformity, which is to foster harmony between individuals and secure their interpersonal, physical, and mental well‐being.
Acute PresentatiOn of coLorectaL cancer ‐ an internatiOnal snapshot (APOLLO): Protocol for a prospective, multicentre cohort study
Authors:   EuroSurg Collaborative
Published: December 2022

Aim

The primary aim of the study is to describe the variation in the operative and nonoperative management of emergency presentations of colon and rectal cancer in an international cohort. Secondary aims will be to develop a risk prediction model for mortality and primary anastomosis and validate risk criteria of large bowel obstruction (LBO) in patients with previously known colorectal cancer undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy or awaiting elective surgery.

Method

This prospective, multicentre audit will be conducted via the student‐ and trainee‐led EuroSurg Collaborative network internationally over 2023 with 90‐day follow‐up. Data will be collected on consecutive adult patients presenting to the hospital in an unplanned and urgent manner with colorectal cancer (CRC) due to malignant LBO, perforation, CRC‐related haemorrhage, or other related reasons. Primary outcome is 90‐day mortality. Secondary outcomes include rates of stomas, primary anastomosis, stenting, preoperative imaging, and complications or readmissions.

Conclusion

This protocol describes the methodology for the first international audit on the management of acutely presenting CRC. This study will utilise a large collaborative network with robust data validation and assurance strategies. APOLLO will provide a comprehensive understanding of current practice, develop risk prediction tools in this setting, and validate existing trial results.
Socio‐ecological benefits of fine‐flavor cacao in its center of origin
Authors: Tscharntke Teja , Ocampo‐Ariza Carolina , Vansynghel Justine , Ivañez‐Ballesteros Blanca , Aycart Pablo , Rodriguez Lily , Ramirez Marleni , Steffan‐Dewenter Ingolf , Maas Bea , Thomas Evert
Published: December 2022

In the tropics, combining food security with biodiversity conservation remains a major challenge. Tropical agroforestry systems are among the most biodiversity‐friendly and productive land‐use systems, and 70% of cocoa is grown by >6 million smallholder farmers living on <2$ per day. In cacao's main centre of diversification, the western Amazon region, interest is growing to achieve premium prices with the conversion of high‐yielding, but mostly bulk‐quality cacao to native fine‐flavor cacao varieties, culturally important since pre‐Columbian times. Conversion to native cacao can be expected to favor adaptation to regional climate and growth conditions, and to enhance native biodiversity and ecosystem services such as biological pest control and pollination, but possibly also imply susceptibility to diseases. Experience from successful conversion of non‐native cacao plantations to fine‐flavor cacao agroforestry with rejuvenation by grafting and under medium‐canopy cover levels (30%–40%) can ensure a smooth transition with only minor temporary productivity gaps. This includes ongoing selection programs of high yielding and disease resistant native fine‐flavor cacao genotypes and organizing in cooperatives to buffer the high market volatility. In conclusion, the recent interest on converting bulk cacao to a diversity of native fine‐flavor varieties in countries like Peru is a challenge, but offers promising socio‐ecological perspectives.
More accurate, consistent, and reliable data for amphibian species are needed from China's nature reserves
Authors: Wei Pingfan , Chen Jinmin , Duan Yubao , Song Yanfang , Wang Zhijian , Yuan Zhiyong
Published: December 2022

Detailed, accurate, and reliable data regarding the occurrence of amphibian species in nature reserves (NRs) are important to facilitate effective conservation and management programs. We evaluated the current situation and research gaps in amphibian species inventories of NRs in mainland China by conducting a systematic review of papers on amphibian diversity research in NRs from 1956 to 2021. Generally, there was a gradual increase in amphibian survey intensity and standards, however, as some important parameters were lacking, such as species abundance and threats to amphibians. The standardization of amphibian surveys in NRs needs to urgently be strengthened and effectively implemented. We hope that highlighting these biases and gaps could provide actionable information for decision‐makers and improve conservation practices affecting amphibians in China and other native fauna elsewhere.
Cultivating Resiliencies for All: The Necessity of Trauma Responsive Research Practices
Authors: BERNIUS MATTHEW , DIETKUS RACHAEL
Published: December 2022

This paper is an exploration of trauma, how and why it can surface during ethnographic and qualitative research, and the importance of anticipating its potential presence. We present a model to help plan for and mitigate the risks of trauma and demonstrate how it fits into broader methodological discussions of conducting safer and more ethical, responsible, and humane research. We close by discussing one pathway for a journey from being sensitive and aware of trauma to actively responding to it at both the individual and organizational levels across your work.
Mapping the Messy: Using Visual Noise to Convey Not All Journeys Are Linear
Authors: KOEMAN LISA
Published: December 2022

In order to communicate research findings, industry researchers rely on a wide range of tools to convey insights. A prime example are visualisations depicting steps in a journey in a sequential order. The use of such a visual representation is often meant to summarise commonalities in a simplified way; they act as a standalone shareable shorthand designed to narrate ‘the experience(s)‘.

This PechaKucha instead makes a case for messiness: visual noise aimed to overwhelm. My research on rejection in academic publishing shows that the reality of publishing papers in journals is anything but linear. In order to communicate this message to stakeholders, I set out to paint a vivid picture of endless loops and hoops authors go through to achieve success. This talk is a call for conveying the messy, and an ode to the resilience of academic researchers.
“Buy now, pay later” as Resilient Credit
Authors: AALDERS RACHEL
Published: December 2022

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) products like Afterpay and Klarna promise to disrupt and democratise traditional finance by providing a fairer and more empowering financial product. Yet critics argue these products encourage overconsumption that people can ill‐afford, with late fees that can quickly add up.

But what if we viewed these products not as emerging and disrupting, or as predatory and targeted, but instead saw them as part of a resilient credit industry – one that has learnt, adapted and evolved with changes in norms, regulations and technology?

Understanding these products as part of an ongoing, resilient credit industry helps us move beyond criticism and hype, so we can design a financial future for everyone.
Beneath the Hype: Self‐Ethnography to Explore the Human Possibilities within NFT Technology
Authors: SILVA JAKE
Published: December 2022

This presentation narrates my journey as a skeptical researcher into the emerging world of NFTs. After unexpectedly moving into this much hyped space, I use the resilience that curiosity fosters to overcome my skepticism of it and explore the human possibilities within. Through continuous questioning and learning how to code my own NFT from scratch, I realize their promise as a new medium for unbounded human expression. I then frame this self‐discovery as a revelation and triangulate it with examples of NFT artistry captured during fieldwork. Finally, and counterintuitively, I question the veracity of my own revelation and argue that continuous questioning, even of our own work, strengthens our resilience as researchers, so we can better learn, adapt and evolve to confront the unexpected and address the profound questions of our ever‐changing world.
Against Resiliency: An Ethnographic Manifesto
Authors: RHODES LAUREN MONSEIN , POWERS JILLIAN
Published: December 2022

Using ethnography as an analytic tool to examine the concept of resiliency, we call for a shift in our practice and praxis. Research subjects and ethnographic practitioners are tired of working against and thriving despite. We are tired of being seen as resilient in a world that demands so much from us and only values our contributions if they align with dominant views and world systems. We are tired of being relied upon to provide answers and solutions to the issues presented in front of us. In this manifesto, we demonstrate and argue that resilience, as a category of human agency, shifts responsibility to the person being resilient and away from the systemic problems that created the need to be resilient in the first place. By reifying resilience in our research and our findings, we celebrate survival despite the psychic and somatic labor and toll on resilient actors. As practitioners, we are drained by being and witnessing resilience. As ethnographers who work, we must imagine with people past resiliency to a place where we all thrive. We approach our methods and our engagements with compassion, mutual aid, and exploration.
Resisting Resilience: An Anthropologist's Paradox
Authors: POHRAN NADYA
Published: December 2022

Resilience can be a tremendous asset to any individual's ability to carry on despite difficulties. At the same time, revering resilience without a healthy amount of respect for emotional vulnerability—by which I mean the intentional choice to tap into our emotional beings and allow ourselves to deeply experience the emotions that arise in us doing our fieldwork and analysis phases of ethnographic research—can be a hindering block to doing good anthropological work. Drawing upon three examples from my personal work as an anthropologist—one from academic research in interreligious relations, one from a healthtech start up context, and one from doing ethnographic work in corporate settings—I call out for anthropologists to not neglect our emotional experiences. I point back to the often‐referenced “empathy” within anthropological spheres and, looking at empathy as both a cognitive and an emotional phenomenon, I join the conversation of others who are arguing for the intentional inclusion of affective empathy.
Social Resilience: Shifting from an Individual to a Shared Social Model for Building Resilience
Authors: RABODZEENKO JENNY , COSTELLO KELLY
Published: December 2022

Through Designing Your Future workshops at Cook County Jail in Chicago as part of WIND (Women Initiating New Directions) programming, we have had the chance to connect with incarcerated women awaiting trial. From these interactions with women who, despite tremendous life adversity, are extremely resilient, we have realized that the notion of resilience is a double‐edged sword. While heroic, the myth of individual resilience, in the context of criminal justice, may simultaneously allow society to abdicate responsibility for those in jail.

In this PechaKucha, we propose a reframe, from individual to social resilience, which holds us all accountable. Through understanding the many types of adversity faced by at‐risk women throughout their lives, especially mental health and substance abuse challenges, we show historical and current precedents for more humane solutions that enhance individual resilience via social support. The presentation concludes with a call to action: guiding principles for social resilience.
Resilience. Lessons from a period of disruption
Authors: THOMAS TRACI
Published: December 2022

What happens when the research lens is turned inward? As a Strategic Designer, I spend most of time planning for research to engage with people so I can better understand their needs and behaviors and turn research insights into actionable solutions. In this PechaKucha, I share a personal reflection of what resilience means to me and the insights I gleaned based on my own experiences during the pandemic. It's a visual story about a journey of pain and loss, but also strength through discovery, experimentation, and adaptability.
The Giving Caregivers: Resilience as a Double‐Edged Sword in the Context of Healthcare
Authors: SALDARRIAGA JULIANA
Published: December 2022

In this paper we challenge an assumption about caregivers of chronic patients that we've repeatedly encountered in our ethnographic fieldwork: that of the inherently and permanently resilient caregiver, or a person that, driven by feelings of affection for the chronic patient, will remain strong regardless of the challenges posed by the healthcare system or the disease itself. We describe three deeply rooted beliefs that explain why this assumption is still widespread within healthcare systems: the belief in caregiving as female calling, or the fact that women are assumed to have not just a biological advantage, but an interest in caregiving, the belief in individuality, or the fact that individuals are thought to have a preexisting and inalterable identity, and the belief in the pathological origin of mental illness, or the fact that we tend to ignore structural causes and social determinants of mental and emotional distress. We provide theoretical and practical evidence to support each belief and suggest tangible ways in which ethnographers and research teams working in healthcare can start to challenge said beliefs—and, as a result, transcend the assumption of the inherently resilient caregiver.
With the Phone in the Field: Making the Ethnographic Toolbox Resilient to Change
Authors: SØRENSEN SIGNE HELBO GREGERS
Published: December 2022

The characteristic smell that makes you think of a summer cabin and the warm feeling when touching a wooden surface. It was such sensory insights that we hoped to obtain during a study with the aim to explore people's experiences of living in wooden houses. But then the COVID pandemic hit. Instead, we had to find ways of entering people's homes through digital means and at a distance. One day during the study we received a message from one of the informants via the app that was used to collect snapshots of their homes:

“(..) But I see no reason in showcasing my private home on video and if you can't proceed without it, I'm done with your silly study…”

With the phone in the field, what had suddenly happened?

This submission explores these digitally mediated encounters with a post‐phenomenological lens, as it can give us insight as to what happens when trying to make ethnography resilient to change. By reflecting on technology's mediating role, we can harvest its great potentials for strengthening the ethnographic toolbox.
The Myth of The Pipeline Problem: Creating a Diverse and Thriving Team
Authors: JACKSON‐MARTINEZ SHAKIMA , Zibell Kristin
Published: December 2022

Corporate leaders issued countless statements decrying racism and investing in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in 2020. As a result of the pandemic and the ongoing racial reckoning that year, the overlap between societal events and corporate commitments became sharply visible. But the actions on those commitments, less so.

Focusing on DEI sparks all sorts of biased statements from colleagues like, “There are no Black/Trans/Women researchers,” “We don't want quality to suffer,” and “There's no pipeline, these folks just aren't out there.”

In the face of these false and racist sentiments, researchers, leaders, and managers can create diverse and thriving teams.

At the end of this PechaKucha, the audience will have instructions and examples so they can create a diverse and thriving team and support a resilient culture.

Shakima Jackson‐Martiniz, Senior Director of DEI at AnswerLab, a research and insights firm, has done just that. In this PechaKucha, she will tell the story of how she increased employee diversity by 29% and is moving forward towards a 50% diversity goal. She'll share the three pillars necessary to create a representative and resilient researcher workforce. She'll describe the challenges she faced along the way and how she addressed them. Ms. Jackson‐Martinez will walk through next steps to foster further inclusivity and belonging at any organization.
Navigating the Next with Resilience: Global Portfolio Strategy in a World of Uncertainty
Authors: GASPERI GIULIA ELISA , HORNSBY SAM , MCTIGUE KATE , PEDEN NICHOLAS
Published: December 2022

Apparel & footwear (A&F) give us social identity, protection and a means of self‐expression. But in a pandemic these ways of thinking about clothing are essentially pointless. When the world shuts down and stays at home, how are A&F companies supposed to figure out what's next – and how to gear themselves up for the future?

At TRIPTK, we created the What's Next Desk, a ‘what do we do about it next’ set of strategic and tactical actions for a global leader in apparel & footwear to respond to the behavioral shifts in consumer trends during COVID‐19.

We believe ethnographic research is a powerful approach for connecting companies to the people, communities and culture they serve. And when the world shuts down and we're forced to throw the classic ethnographic playbook out the window, we still believe the ethnographic approach is possible and preferred.

We believe that at its core, Ethnography promotes empathy, contextual understanding and a cultural sensitivity that helps business be a force for good. To catalyze the adoption of approaches from Anthropology, Sociology and the social sciences more broadly, commercial practitioners must prove out the impact of ethnographic research to the corporate bottom line.

In this case study, we have furthered that endeavor in threefold ways: Making a global business resilient to the dramatic impact of COVID‐19, developing a methodology set and tool kit that is resilient to change and developing strategy that is resilient to subjectivity.
Let's Shift Power Together! An EPIC Co‐Creation Activity
Authors: MAULDIN CHELSEA , RADYWYL NATALIA
Published: December 2022

I (and a translator) were interviewing a woman in her home when her husband came home and was angry to find us, and demanded we stop and leave.

I was asked to name‐drop in an academic paper to get it accepted by the organizers/editors.

When I do research in our stores and associates refer to me as being “from corporate,” I try to reframe as “I'm from tech” so that corporate “bad behavior” doesn't transfer to me.