bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Favorable Early Outcomes With Thyroid Lobectomy for Low-Risk Papillary Thyroid Cancer: The Mayo Clinic Experience
Authors: Merten Michele M. , Foster Trenton , Lyden Melanie , Henry Michael , Regina Castro M.
Published: September 2021

Background

Until 2015, standard of care for low-risk papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) >1 cm was a total or near-total thyroidectomy. Despite changes in guidelines and surgical management of low-risk PTC since 2015, little data are available regarding the effect on the need for additional surgery or risk for development of lymph node metastases. Our aim was to determine outcomes in patients who underwent initial thyroid lobectomy for low-risk PTC at a high-volume tertiary care institution.

Methods

Retrospective review of patients ≥18 years old with biopsy proven low-risk PTC 1-4 cm who underwent partial thyroidectomy (eg, lobectomy/isthmusectomy) at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, between March 2016 and June 30, 2019.

Results

From 1481 thyroidectomies performed during study period, 940 contained PTC on final pathology. Of these, 87 (of 123) patients who had an initial thyroid lobectomy met inclusion criteria. Five (6%) of these patients proceeded to completion thyroidectomy (CT), with 3 requiring CT and radioactive iodine in the first postoperative year and 2 undergoing only CT in the second postoperative year. No postoperative complications were reported. No patient in this cohort required additional surgery or treatment for newly discovered lymph node metastases during the follow-up period. 43 (of 72, 60%) patients not on thyroxine therapy preoperatively were started on thyroxine therapy postoperatively.

Conclusions

Early outcomes for those undergoing thyroid lobectomy for low-risk PTC at our institution have been favorable. These results support the 2015 American Thyroid Association guidelines to offer lobectomy for those with low-risk PTC 1-4 cm.
Characterizing Medicare Reimbursements and Clinical Activity Among Female Otolaryngologists
Authors: Panth Neelima , Torabi Sina J. , Kasle David A. , Savoca Emily L. , Zogg Cheryl K. , O’Brien Erin K. , Manes R. Peter
Published: September 2021

Objective:

To evaluate geographic and temporal trends in Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) billing and reimbursements across female otolaryngologists (ORL).

Methods:

We performed a cross-sectional, retrospective analysis of the 2017 Medicare Physician and Other Suppliers Aggregate File. We analyzed differences in the number of services, patients, reimbursements, unique Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes used, and services billed per patient among female ORLs.

Results:

Female ORLs accounted for 15.2% of the 8453 Medicare-reimbursed ORLs. Female ORLs who graduated between 2000 and 2010 were reimbursed a median of $58 031.9 (IQR: $32 286.5-$91 512.2) and performed a median of 702 (IQR: 359.5-1221.5) services, significantly less than those who graduated between 1990 and 1999 (median: $67 508.9; IQR: 37 018.0-110 471.5; P < .001; median: 1055.5; IQR: 497.3-1944; P < .001). Female ORLs who graduated between 2000 and 2010 saw a median of 232 patients (IQR: 130.5-368), significantly less than those who graduated between 1990 and 1999 (median: 308; IQR: 168.3-496; P < .001) patients, significantly more than those. Female ORLs in urban settings performed a median of 795 (IQR: 364-1494.3) services and billed for a median of 42 (IQR: 28-58) unique codes, significantly fewer than their counterparts in rural settings (median: 1096; IQR: 600-2192.5; P = .002; median: 54; IQR: 31.5-64.5; P = .001).

Conclusions:

Medicare reimbursements and billing patterns across female ORLs varied by graduation decade and geography. Female ORLs further along in their careers may be reimbursed more with greater clinical volume and productivity. Those practicing in urban settings may have practices with decreased procedural diversity and lower clinical volume compared to their counterparts in rural areas.
Sport and Recreational Causes of Nasal Bone Fractures
Authors: Xiao Christopher C. , Kshirsagar Rijul S. , Hoerter Jacob E. , Rivero Alexander
Published: September 2021

Objective:

Nasal bone fractures are the most common facial bone fractures. However, there is limited literature on the etiology of these fractures, particularly distribution across sports and other recreational activities.

Methods:

The Nationwide Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) national injury database was queried for emergency department visits involving the diagnosis of nasal or nose fractures associated with sports and recreation activities over the most recent 10 year span available. Demographic, disposition, and weighted incidence were analyzed.

Results:

Total incidence of nasal fractures across 10 years was 158 979. The mean age of nasal bone fractures was 20.4 years old. Nasal fractures were more common in males (74.6%) and white patients (54.1%). National estimated incidence of nasal fractures decreased from 21 028 in 2009 to 11 108 in 2018, a reduction of 47.2%. The most common causes among all patients were basketball (23.2%), baseball (17.1%), softball (9.8%), soccer (7.4%), and football (7%). In pediatric patients, the most common cause was baseball (25.1%). The majority (98.1%) of patients were discharged from the emergency department, while 0.9% of patients were admitted.

Conclusion:

The most common recreational causes of nasal fractures are sports, with the most common being non-contact sports like basketball and baseball. However, the incidence of nasal bone fractures due to recreational causes nationwide has decreased significantly over the past 10 years. This may reflect improved safety protocols among athletes.
Effective Medium Model Applied to Biopolymer Solutions
Authors: Penkov Nikita V. , Penkova Nadezda A.
Published: September 2021

Studying dielectric properties of heterogeneous systems is challenged by a problem of uncertainty of the ratio between dielectric permittivity of the system and dielectric permittivities of its components. Such ratios can be obtained in some cases using theoretical effective medium models. However, such models have not yet been developed for all the systems possible. Particularly, there is no effective medium model with filamentary inclusions. Such a theoretical model elaborated based on the fundamental principles of electrodynamics of continuous media is suggested in the present work. Any point of a filamentary inclusion with a length that is significantly greater than the thickness can be regarded as being located in a long cylinder-like fragment of the inclusion with stochastic direction of the cylinder axis relative to the external electric field. With this regard, electric field strength and electric induction values were averaged across the entire volume of a two-phase dielectric material. As a result, a model linking the dielectric permittivity of the two-phase system and the dielectric permittivities of both phases was elaborated. The model appears to be highly relevant for studying solutions of biopolymers, such as nucleic acids, fibrillar proteins and protein aggregates, polysaccharides, by means of electrical impedance spectroscopy, dielectric spectroscopy, and terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. The suggested theoretical model was successfully validated on a DNA solution within the terahertz region.
Entrepreneurship, Conflict, and Peace: The Role of Inclusion and Value Creation
Authors: Joseph Jay , Van Buren Harry J.
Published: September 2021

Conflict zone entrepreneurs—local entrepreneurs running small businesses in conflict settings—have paradoxical impacts on stability: holding the ability both to foster peace but also to enhance conflict. Prior scholarly work has been unable to explain this divergence, as existing entrepreneurial indicators do not account for fundamental peacebuilding elements. In response, the article consolidates divergent fields of study, applies paradox theory to analyze underlying tensions in the field, and reframes entrepreneurship through a peacebuilding lens based on intergroup inclusivity and value-creating business practices. Using several cases, this article shows how entrepreneurial activity in conflict zones can foster sustainable peace, limited peace, or conflict, arguing that entrepreneurship based on value-creating and inclusive practices can result in pro-peace outcomes. The article offers policy recommendations for local governments and the humanitarian sector seeking to use entrepreneurship in conflict zones to promote peace.
No Team is an Island: How Leaders Shape Networked Ecosystems for Team Success
Authors: Carboni Inga , Cross Rob , Edmondson Amy C.
Published: September 2021

Today’s organizations rely on networks of dynamic systems of “agile” teams to get work done. Teams are distributed, transient, and loosely bounded in service of responsiveness and innovation. The key to this new way of doing work is managing the networked ecosystem in which teams are embedded. But in the context of leading multiple teams with fuzzy boundaries and shifting membership, the average overwhelmed manager quickly defaults to what is nearest in urgency: managing internal team dynamics and responding to internal customer demands. Drawn from field interviews with 100 top-performing team leaders, this article presents a framework-for-action to leaders who want to engage the networked ecosystem with intention and precision, including specific tactics for identifying and influencing high-leverage stakeholders.
How to Appropriate Value from General-Purpose Technology by Applying Open Innovation
Authors: Yang Jialei , Chesbrough Henry , Hurmelinna-Laukkanen Pia
Published: September 2021

Artificial intelligence increasingly attracts attention and investments. However, appropriating value from this general-purpose technology (GPT) can be difficult. To understand these challenges, this article analyzes why IBM failed to generate significant profits from IBM Watson Health despite its promising starting points. The findings suggest that, considering the characteristics of GPT, an overly closed approach for taking it to market contributed to the failure. Furthermore, conditions such as the immaturity and the complexity of the application field intensified the challenges. This study suggests that using a strong appropriability regime in open innovation can enhance the appropriation of value from a GPT.
A Data-Driven Analysis of Sociocultural, Ecological, and Economic Correlates of Depression Across Nations
Authors: Li Zeyang , Wei August , Palanivel Vishanth , Jackson Joshua Conrad
Published: September 2021

The prevalence of depression varies widely across nations, but we do not yet understand what underlies this variation. Here we use estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study to analyze the correlates of depression across 195 countries and territories. We begin by identifying potential cross-correlates of depression using past clinical and cultural psychology literature. We then take a data-driven approach to modeling which factors correlate with depression in zero-order analyses, and in a multiple regression model that controls for covariation between factors. Our findings reveal several potential correlates of depression, including cultural individualism, daylight hours, divorce rate, and GDP per capita. Cultural individualism is the only factor that remains significant across all our models, even when adjusting for spatial autocorrelation, mental healthcare workers per capita, multicollinearity, and outliers. These findings shed light on how depression varies around the world, the sociocultural and environmental factors that underlie this variation, and potential future directions for the study of culture and mental illness.
The Spiral of Positive Feedback: Go-Along Interviews About Adolescents’ Perceptions of and Reactions to Alcohol Posts on Social Media
Authors: Vanherle Robyn , Beullens Kathleen , Hendriks Hanneke
Published: September 2021

Go-along interviews among adolescents ( N = 26, M age = 16.31, SD = .83) were conducted to examine how adolescents interpret alcohol posts in terms of appropriateness and how this, in turn, plays a role in adolescents’ reactions toward alcohol posts on public and private social media entries. The findings of this study, first, indicate that alcohol posts were classified as appropriate or inappropriate based on the amount of alcohol and the displayed behavior in the post. Second, most posts, including inappropriate ones, received positive or no feedback. Moreover, adolescents deliberately seemed to withhold negative feedback out of fear of being misjudged by peers. Still, negative reactions were expressed more quickly in safer off- and online environments (i.e., face-to-face conversation and online chat messages) because they were visible to close friends only. This is important in view of prevention as it unravels the interesting role of private environments in stimulating negative interpersonal communication.
The New Authoritarianism in Public Choice
Authors: Froomkin David , Shapiro Ian
Published: September 2021

Much early public choice theory focused on alleged pathologies of democratic legislatures, portraying them as irrational, manipulable, or subject to capture. Recent years have seen the emergence of a new strand of argument, reaffirming the old skepticism of legislatures but suggesting that transferring power from legislatures to chief executives offers a solution. Just as the earlier prescriptions ignored the pathologies of the agencies empowered to check and constrain legislatures, so the new scholarship overlooks the pathologies of executive power. The primary sources of congressional dysfunction call for reforms that would strengthen Congress instead of hobbling it in new ways that exacerbate the drift toward authoritarian presidentialism in the American system. Executive aggrandizement is a consequence of decades of institutional malfunction, worsened by right-wing attacks on legislative capacity. This has been the enduring impact of the public choice movement since the 1950s, but its twenty-first century offshoot is especially malign.
Fabrication of Ag micro-particles based on stress-induced migration by using multilayered structure with artificial holes array
Authors: Lu Yebo , Sun Quan , Zuo Chuncheng , Tang Chengli , Song Haijun , Li Chao
Published: September 2021

Silver micro/nanomaterials have attracted a great deal of attention due to their superior physicochemical properties. The atomic migration driven by electromigration or stress-induced migration has been demonstrated to be a promising method for the fabrication of metallic micro-/nanomaterials because of the advantage of simple processing. However, how to realize the controllable fabrication and mass production is still the critical technical problem for the method to be used in large-scale industrial applications. In this paper, the multilayered samples consisted of copper foil substrate, Ti adhesive layer, Ag film, and TiN passivation layer and with arrays of artificial holes on the passivation layer were applied to prepare arrays of Ag micro-particles. For the purpose of controllable fabrication, stress-induced migration experiments combined with finite element simulation were applied to analyze the influence of the passivation layer thickness and the heating temperature on the atom migration and Ag particles growing behavior. And the relationship between size of the fabricated Ag particles and the processing parameters of stress-induced migration experiments were also investigated. As a result, a proper structure size of the multilayered samples and heating temperature were recommended, which can be used for the Ag micro-particles controllable fabrication and mass production.
Problematising concepts of transit-oriented development in South African cities
Authors: Wood Astrid
Published: September 2021

Transit-oriented development (TOD) is generally defined as planned high-density development containing a mixture of residential, retail, commercial and community uses around a transit hub and surrounded by a high-quality urban realm that prioritises the pedestrian (and more recently the cyclist) over the automobile. This article analyses the steps taken in Cape Town and Johannesburg to develop TOD schemes. In so doing, it problematises both the concept of TOD as a universal mechanism in which all cities apply a similar set of guidelines as well as the specific planning practices in South African cities. Drawing on the policy mobilities literature and specifically the emerging discussions of policy mobilities failure, I note the challenges and delays in implementing TOD in South Africa. It is not so much that TOD has been applied incorrectly as that it has been unable to stick in the local context. Rather than furthering the debate on whether a city should or should not promote TOD, viewing their planning through a policy mobilities lens highlights the urban politics of policymaking. Accordingly, the article presents a fine-tuned analysis of TOD as both a conceptual framework as well as a process for actually doing transport planning. Such a critical reading of the intertwined and overlapping practices of policymaking provides insights into the process of urban development and spatial transformation in (South/ern) Africa as well as across cities of the global south.
Haphazard urbanisation: Urban informality, politics and power in Egypt
Authors: Sharp Deen
Published: September 2021

The Egyptian military regime of Abd al-Fattah el-Sisi has announced as part of its Vision 2030 its intention to eliminate informal urban areas. The regime has identified these areas – commonly known by the Arabic term ‘ashwa’iyyat (which means haphazard) – as a threat to the nation. The Egyptian state, however, has no clear conception of what urban informality constitutes or what exactly it is eradicating. To understand how and why the state has placed urban informality as central to its politics, I contend that we have to examine the political processes through which this uncertain yet powerful concept is produced. Urban informality, I argue, is a political intervention that is always fleeting and geographically specific in an otherwise haphazard context. Haphazard urbanisation points to the complex power struggles by a range of actors, both within and beyond the state, through which the formal and informal divide can mark urban life. In a critical reading of the first major study of informality in Egypt, I show how the urban was divided into the formal and informal through outdated laws. I detail, by engaging sources in English and Arabic, how the Egyptian state militarised urban informality from the 1990s onwards. I argue that it is through this historical framing that we must understand el-Sisi’s current war against urban informality. In turn, I argue that the regime’s attempt to eliminate informality has not resulted in greater control over what and how urban informality appears but has deepened the hazardisation of urban life.
Gleaning the Fields of Higher Education: Exercises of an Adjunct Self and Instructional Precaritization
Authors: Sadlier Stephen T.
Published: September 2021

The use of adjunct faculty in higher education has become a widely discussed labor practice. The voices of adjuncts are largely absent in this inquiry and advocacy, an absence which wrongly suggests adjuncts a lack voice or of agency. In the first part of this piece, I argue that adjuncts should contribute to their field of inquiry to destabilize the notions of contingent instructional workers as mere classroom proctors, in need of others’ advocacy. In the second part, I relate episodes of adjuncts disregarded and embraced on their campuses. Stemming from years of teaching in higher education and adjunct organizing, this piece is written from an adjunct perspective, exploring the disregard and embrace adjuncts encounter in their institutional lives. Following Foucault's exercises of the self as part of a philosophical life, I call the academic productions of adjuncts “gleaning,” an exercise taken on by professors that enacts a philosophical project in the face of de-professionalization and precaritization. This critical and ethical intervention counterbalances managerial practices that dismiss adjunct labor and normalize the process of dismissal. Adjunct gleaning, I conclude, may never transform the two-tiered instructional system, though their cultural and intellectual production will hamper efforts to dismiss adjuncts’ presence and catalog them as agents of precarious survival.
On Theory–Methods Packages in Science and Technology Studies
Authors: Silvast Antti , Virtanen Mikko J.
Published: September 2021

Our review essay contributes to the long-standing and vibrant discussion in science and technology studies (STS) on methods, methodologies, and theory–method relationships. We aim to improve the reflexivity of research by unpacking the often implicit assumptions that imbue research conduct and by offering practical tools through which STS researchers can recognize their research designs and think through them in a new way. To achieve these aims, we analyze different compositions of theories, methods, and empirics in three different STS approaches—actor–network theory, the biography of artifacts and practices, and ethnomethodology—by employing the concept of a theory–methods package (TMP). A selection of theoretical cornerstone texts and case studies in infrastructure research from each tradition serves as our material. Our findings point, first, to differences between the TMPs of the reviewed approaches and to the internal diversity of theory–method relationships in each approach. Second, we found some intriguing similarities between the approaches and discuss potential complementarities of their theory–method fits.
Patterns and Predictors of Taiwanese Adult Children’s Intergenerational Exchanges Before and After Economic Stagnation
Authors: Jhang Fang-Hua
Published: September 2021

This study explores whether cultural norms and economic performance shape the differences in the patterns of intergenerational exchanges, and analyzes whether structural, normative, or emotional dimensions of intergenerational solidarity predict the derived typology of intergenerational exchange in Taiwan before and after economic stagnation. Data derives from nationally representative samples of adult children with at least one parent alive in 2006 and 2016. Latent class analysis (LCA), measurement invariance with LCA, and multinomial logistic regression analysis are applied to analyze data. The results demonstrate how filial norms and economic stagnation influence the intergenerational exchange patterns. The study identifies five classes of intergenerational exchanges. There was a higher proportion of the high-exchange membership in the period of salary growth, while there was a higher proportion of the memberships of emotion-oriented exchanges during the wage stagnation period. Results reveal that geographic distance exerts a stronger and more consistent association with various exchange patterns.
Cognitive Function and Sleep in Caregivers of Persons Living with Dementia
Authors: Brewster Glenna S. , Molinari Victor , McCrae Christina , Beckstead Jason , D’Aoust Rita , Rowe Meredeth
Published: September 2021

Poor sleep is prevalent among caregivers of persons living with dementia and increases their risk for cognitive impairment and decline. In this cross-sectional, correlational study, we compared the cognitive function scores of caregivers with poor sleep with the demographically adjusted normed scores of the National Institutes of Health Toolbox Cognition Battery. Caregivers completed a 14-day sleep diary. On average, caregivers (n = 28) were 65.14 (±10.08) years, female, and White. Their average crystallized cognitive function composite score was significantly higher and their average fluid cognitive function composite score was significantly lower than the normative scores. Caregivers performed significantly worse on the processing speed domain measure. Poor sleep may affect how caregivers, including highly educated caregivers, process and respond to information, thus can influence how they safely perform complex caregiving tasks. Health care providers should consistently assess caregivers’ sleep and cognitive abilities to promptly identify changes and provide timely interventions.
Professional Follow-Up Communication as an Indicator of Public Value: Analyzing Dutch PSM’s Role in Public Debates Through Topic Modelling Newspaper Coverage
Authors: Veerbeek Joris , van Es Karin , Müller Eggo
Published: September 2021

The legitimacy of public broadcasting has been under pressure for several decades. Attempts to repair and restore this legitimacy have led to an intensification of accountability instruments and measures. These instruments and measures tend to focus on consumption figures or cost-benefit analyses, requiring new ways of capturing public value. This article argues that, given the media’s persistent role as an interpreter and multiplier of news via traditional distribution channels and diverse new platforms providing information and opinions, professional follow-up communication is a relevant source for the examination of broadcasters' contributions to public debate. The essay explores how the analysis of newspapers via computational methods can be used by public broadcasters to reflect on and demonstrate their role in public debates in contributing a diversity of topics and viewpoints.
Analyzing the Drivers of Household Dietary Diversity: Evidence from Burkina Faso
Authors: Bandyopadhyay Arkadeep , Haile Beliyou , Azzarri Carlo , Somé Jérôme
Published: September 2021

Background:

The diets of millions of poor individuals lack adequate amount of essential nutrients.

Objective:

To examine the determinants of household dietary diversity in Burkina Faso and assess whether the choice of a diversity metric matters.

Methods:

Using survey data from 2014, we construct 3 metrics—Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), Berry Index (BI), and Healthy Food Diversity Index (HFDI). Unlike the oft-used HDDS, the BI captures the quantity distribution of food items while the HFDI captures all 3 aspects of a healthy diet—count, quantity distribution, and health value. We fit linear (for BI and HFDI) and Poisson (for HDDS) models controlling for several socioeconomic and climatic covariates.

Results:

Some parameter estimates are sensitive to the diversity metric with fewer significant covariates observed in the HFDI model. Overall, diets are more diverse for households in urban areas, with female or better educated heads, with higher asset-based wealth and with more diverse on-farm production, while remoteness reduces dietary diversity. Higher precipitation seems to reduce diversity, potentially driven by the spatial heterogeneity in precipitation and on-farm production diversity.

Conclusions:

The sensitivity of estimates to the metric used underscores potentially more complex interactions that determine the quantity distribution of food items consumed. Policies that enhance on-farm production diversity, market access, and women’s empowerment may help improve dietary diversity and subsequent nutritional benefits. Efforts should be made to compile health value data that are relevant to developing countries facing nutrition transition.
Costs of Implementing an Integrated Package of Maternal and Pediatric Interventions Including SQ-LNS in Rural Niger
Authors: Hiebert Lindsey , Phelan Kevin , Kinda Moumouni , Dan-Bouzoua Nafissa , Kyungu Maurice , Bounameaux Thomas , Sayadi Sani , Maidadji Oumarou , Hecht Robert
Published: September 2021

Background:

In January 2015, the Alliance for International Medical Action and Bien Être de la Femme et de l’Enfant au Niger launched the 1000 Days Program in Mirriah District, Niger, to provide an integrated package of maternal and pediatric preventive and curative interventions. A new component of the package was the provision of small-quantity lipid-based nutritional supplements (SQ-LNS) for children 6 to 23 months.

Objective:

The objective of this study was to estimate the costs associated with providing the 1000 days package.

Methods:

Activity-based costing was used to estimate the total costs of the 10 activities included in the 1000 days package and also the incremental costs of new interventions, those beyond the standard of care.

Results:

The total cost of the 1000 Days Program was US$2.31 million for 9000 mother–child pairs. The average cost per pair was US$257 or US$103 per year. Incremental costs for new interventions accounted for 56% of program costs. Small-quantity lipid-based nutritional supplement represented 30% of incremental costs. A combination of efficiency measures could lower program costs by 15%.

Conclusions:

This study is the first to estimate the costs of an integrated, preventative–curative package of maternal–child health interventions with SQ-LNS. Implementing the 1000 days package across Niger will be challenging with only the country’s domestic health resources. Efficiency measures and creative financing arrangements, including support from external partners, should be explored. The approach and results described can inform future resource mobilization, financing, and budgeting efforts to scale the 1000 days or similar programs.
Foreign Capital and Economic Growth: A Social Network Analysis, 2001–2017
Authors: Clark Rob , Kentor Jeffrey
Published: September 2021

Foreign direct investment (FDI) holds a substantial and rapidly growing presence across every region of the world. However, our understanding of how foreign capital impacts economic growth in receiving and investing countries remains in question, despite nearly five decades of research. Our study contributes to this long-standing debate by (1) applying social network analysis to the FDI-growth literature, (2) utilizing recently available bilateral data for a global sample of countries during the post-2000 period, and (3) examining the impact of both inward and outward foreign capital on economic growth. While conventional measures of FDI typically focus on investment volume, we argue that the network structure of investment relations may be equally—or more—important. We construct a global network of FDI during the 2001–2017 period, bringing together two data sets: (1) the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s Bilateral FDI Statistics, and (2) the International Monetary Fund’s Coordinated Direct Investment Survey. We then calculate network centrality scores that reflect each country’s level of inward and outward embeddedness in the global FDI network. Drawing from a sample of 1,467 observations across 137 countries during the 2001–2017 period, we estimate two-way fixed effects models to examine the effect of FDI centrality on economic growth. Net of other predictors, we find that inward and outward centrality are positively—and independently—associated with growth, while more conventional measures of foreign capital display weaker and inconsistent effects.
Are we top or not? Understanding the social capital paradox in the Basque Country
Authors: Etxabe Igor
Published: September 2021

Most studies on social capital integrate proxy variables such as cooperation, participation or trust, but very few examine in depth underlying patterns of behaviour and resulting social phenomena. Filling a gap in earlier studies, this paper conducts a long-range study of the stock of social capital in the Basque Country in Spain, with the aim of analysing the values that are at the core of civic engagement in the territory. Secondary data collected from official statistics websites and relevant studies in the field are used to examine the structural and cognitive dimensions. This information confirms the paradox: at the national scale, the Basque Country is a leading community, but region-specific research unveils a less favourable scenario of endogamic relations, institutional distrust, and low participation. Therefore, although numerous public organisations play a remarkable guiding role, further steps are needed to improve the connectivity of the different actors within the Regional Innovation System.
Development and Validation of the Stalking and Obsessive Relational Intrusions Questionnaire (SORI-Q)
Authors: Gamache Dominick , Savard Claudia , Faucher Jonathan , Cloutier Marie-Ève
Published: September 2021

Stalking and obsessive relational intrusions both refer to a pervasive and unwanted pattern of pursuit behaviors, the former being a criminal offense evoking fear and a sense of menace in the victim, while the latter may be perceived as annoying or otherwise undesirable, but not necessarily fear inducing. While the individual and societal costs of stalking and obsessive relational intrusion are increasingly recognized, research regarding these behaviors and their consequences has been limited by measurement issues, as most studies have relied on questionnaires and checklists based on very limited validation data. The goal of the present study is to report on the development and validation of the Stalking and Obsessive Relational Intrusions Questionnaire (SORI-Q), a 28-item self-report questionnaire designed to probe for perpetration of stalking-like behaviors. Young adults (age 18–30 years) from a community sample ( N = 1,804; 82.6% women) were recruited online. They completed the SORI-Q, along with measures of dark personality traits, insecure attachment dimensions, and intimate partner violence. Overall, the SORI-Q displayed sound psychometric properties. Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis yielded a two-factor solution ( Hyper-intimacy and Domineering control) with adequate to good fit indices. The total scale and the two factor scores showed high internal consistency (above 0.70 for all indices). A number of gender differences were observed at total-, factor-, and item-level, the most outstanding being that women had a higher score on the total SORI-Q score, and on the Domineering control factor and most of its items. The questionnaire showed conceptually meaningful positive correlations with dark personality traits, attachment anxiety, and intimate partner violence. Dominance analysis revealed that attachment anxiety and Machiavellianism were the strongest statistical predictors of SORI-Q scores. The SORI-Q should be seen as a promising new measure of stalking-like and ORI behaviors in young adults from community settings.
Investigating Posttraumatic Growth in Midlife Using an Intensive Longitudinal Research Design: Posttraumatic Growth Is Not as Prevalent as Previously Considered
Authors: Infurna Frank J. , Luthar Suniya S. , Grimm Kevin J.
Published: September 2021

The notion that adversity leads to enduring improvements in psychological functioning carries promise given the diverse adversities individuals confront over their life course. However, research on posttraumatic growth (PTG) has relied on cross-sectional research designs, which severely limit the ability to discern whether growth transpires following adversity. Our goal was to examine whether PTG is possible across a diverse array of outcomes and identify factors that promote PTG. We analyzed data from a longitudinal, prospective study that assessed midlife participants monthly for a period of 2 years. Over the study period, 276 participants experienced a major life stressor, and multiphase multilevel models were used to examine whether PTG transpired in life satisfaction, gratitude, compassion, generativity, meaning-making, and religiosity/spirituality. On average, life satisfaction, generativity, and meaning-making declined following adversity; substantial between-person differences were observed across all outcomes. Our multidimensional approach revealed that, on average, individuals experienced PTG in less than one outcome. More anticipated support and less interpersonal strain were consistently associated with positive functioning in each outcome. Our discussion focuses on how multidimensional approaches to studying PTG promise to disentangle which outcomes potentially grow following adversity and illuminate best research practices for examining PTG, laying the groundwork for future research.
Self-Control Dynamics in Daily Life: The Importance of Variability Between Self-Regulatory Strategies and Strategy Differentiation
Authors: Wenzel Mario , Bürgler Sebastian , Rowland Zarah , Hennecke Marie
Published: September 2021

Research on self-control has increasingly acknowledged the importance of self-regulatory strategies, with strategies in earlier stages of the developing tempting impulse thought to be more effective than strategies in later stages. However, recent research on emotion regulation has moved away from assuming that some strategies are per se and across situations more adaptive than others. Instead, strategy use that is variable to fit situational demands is considered more adaptive. In the present research, we transfer this dynamic process perspective to self-regulatory strategies in the context of persistence conflicts. We investigated eight indicators of strategy use (i.e., strategy intensity, instability, inertia, predictability, differentiation, diversity, and within- and between-strategy variability) in an experience sampling study ( N = 264 participants with 1,923 observations). We found that variability between strategies was significantly associated with self-regulatory success above and beyond mean levels of self-regulatory strategy use. Moreover, the association between trait self-control on one hand and everyday self-regulatory success and affective well-being on the other hand was partially mediated by between-strategy variability. Our results do not only show the benefits of variable strategy use for individual’s self-regulatory success but also the benefits of more strongly connecting the fields of emotion regulation and self-control research.
Cross-Sectional Design: Link Between Parkinson’s Pain and Restless Leg Syndrome
Authors: Paul Dion A. , Qureshi Abdul Rehman , Jamal Muhammad K. , Rana Abdul Qayyum
Published: September 2021

Objective:

Prior research suggests that restless leg syndrome (RLS) is prevalent in Parkinson’s disease (PD) with insufficient evidence to support the relationship between RLS, PD, and pain. This study explored the relationship between pain in PD patients and its association with the prevalence and severity of RLS.

Method:

127 PD patients were assessed for PD and RLS using the U.K. Brain bank Criteria and the Restless Leg Syndrome diagnostic criteria, respectively. These patients were also assessed for pain perception and interference using the Brief Pain Inventory.

Results:

The results demonstrated Parkinson’s disease patients who reported pain scored 23 more Restless Leg Syndrome prevalence points ( p < 0.05), and 8.5 counts higher for Restless Leg Syndrome severity ( p < 0.05) compared to the group of Parkinson’s disease patients denying pain.

Discussion:

The presence of pain in PD patients indicated a higher RLS prevalence and an increased RLS severity. This finding suggests patients suffering from pain interference may experience more severe RLS symptoms. This demonstrates an inextricable link and association between pain in PD patients and RLS. Further robust investigations are required to elucidate any potential causative links, which can inform more holistic treatment principles.
Inside Trending Topic Algorithm: How Do Human Interactions Drive Public Opinion in an Artificial Environment
Authors: Russo Vanessa , del Gobbo Emiliano
Published: September 2021

The object of this research is to exploit the algorithm of Twitter’s trending topic (TT) and identify the elements capable of guiding public opinion in the Italian panorama. The underlying hypotheses that guide the whole article, confirmed by the research results, concern the existence of (a) a limited number of elements at the base of each popular hashtag with very high viral power and (b) hashtags transversal to the themes detected by the Twitter algorithm that define specific opinion polls. Through computational techniques, it was possible to extract and process data sets from six specific hashtags highlighted by TT. In a first step through social network analysis, we analyzed the hashtag semantic network to identify the hashtags transversal to the six TTs. Subsequently, we selected for each data set the contents with high sharing power and created a “potential opinion leader” index to identify users with influencer characteristics. Finally, a cross section of social actors able to guide public opinion in the Twittersphere emerged from the intersection between potentially influential users and the viral contents.
Resurrecting and Appending Identities: The Role of Nonprofits in Managing Stigmatized Identity
Authors: Okamoto Kristen E. , Peterson Brittany L.
Published: September 2021

Homelessness is an issue that impacts more than half a million people in the United States every day. Nonprofits are often on the front lines of efforts to aid individuals without homes. In this study, we focus on an area underexplored in the nonprofit literature, stigma, to explore the nonprofit’s role as a critical catalyst in managing stigma within and among client beneficiaries. Based on our interpretive analysis of interviews and observations of the nonprofit Running for Change (RFC), we delineate how RFC created conditions under which beneficiaries without homes could resurrect former identities and append new identities for themselves as part of the stigma management process. Our work carries implications for prior research on nonprofit organizing related to constituent participation and beneficiary empowerment and opens up new pathways for nonprofit partitioners to think about the agentic capacities of beneficiaries.
On the assumption of self-reflective subjectivity
Authors: Bouzanis Christoforos
Published: September 2021

Contemporary social theory has consistently emphasized habitual action, rule-following, and role-performing as key aspects of social life, yet the challenge remains of combining these aspects with the omnipresent phenomenon of self-reflective conduct. This article attempts to tackle this challenge by proposing useful distinctions that can facilitate further interdisciplinary research on self-reflection. To this end, I argue that we need a more sophisticated set of distinctions and categories in our understanding of habitual action. The analysis casts light on the idea that our contemporary social theories of self-reflection are not consistent with everyday notions of agential knowledgeability and accountability, and this conclusion indicates the need to reconceptualize discourse and subjectivity in non-eliminative terms. Ultimately, the assumption of self-reflective subjectivity turns out to be a theoretical necessity for the conceptualization of discursive participation and democratic choice.
A model-based PID-like motion control method for flexible-joint manipulator with harmonic drives
Authors: Yang Guocai , Liu Yechao , Ji Junhong , Jin Minghe , Piao Songhao
Published: September 2021

A novel control method is proposed to achieve high trajectory tracking precision, for flexible-joint manipulators. The method consists of three major parts: joint torque generator, joint torque tracker and motor position controller. The expected torque is generated by a PID controller based on the manipulator’s rigid dynamics model. In the torque tracker, motor position is corrected in both feedback and feedforward ways. Finally, the motor position controller is responsible to track the corrected motor trajectory to achieve the torque and position control. To suppress nonlinear friction, a disturbance observer is also implemented. The method is verified with a seven-DOFs manipulator. Simulation and experimental results show that, the proposed method is efficient and practical to suppress vibration caused by flexible transmission and disturbance due to friction. As result, high positioning accuracy is achieved in a certain wide working speed range. The no-load motion accuracy is better than 0.6 mm with a manipulator whose length is 1.8 meter, and the motion error is less than 3 mm with loading of four kilograms.
Design of vibration damping test mechanism for suspension system of high speed tracked vehicle based on vertical linkage decoupling
Authors: Liu Xuedong , Guo Yong , Chen Zhewu , Dai Juchuan , Lin Qihui , Quan Song
Published: September 2021

The suspension test-rig is restricted by the compound swing motion of the load wheel in a high-speed tracked vehicle, and cannot test the damping performance for the suspension system of the high-speed tracked vehicle with the track. A vibration damping testing mechanism using vertical linkage to decouple the compound swing motion of the load wheel is proposed for suspension performance testing with the track. Using Hertz elastic contact theory to solve the stiffness coefficient between load wheel and excitation wheel, a virtual prototype model for vibration damping test mechanism with vertical linkage is established in ADAMS. Correctness of the virtual prototype model is verified by experiment. The motion decoupling ability of the vibration damping testing mechanism is verified by simulation. The dynamic characteristics for each pair of guide and slider in vibration damping testing mechanism are analyzed under the condition of maximum excitation force and displacement, and the selection criteria of slider and guide contained in the motion pair components are acquired. The mechanism decouples the compound swing motion of the load wheel successfully, and can make suspension system performance testing in high-precision for the high-speed tracked vehicle with track realized, playing an important role in parameters design and performance optimization for the high-speed tracked vehicle.
An experimental and theoretical investigation on the effects of piston clearance and oil viscosity on Cranktrain friction
Authors: Vaghar Mojtaba Mehrabi , Moosavian Ashkan , Ehteram Mohammad Ali
Published: September 2021

In this paper, the effects of clearance between piston and cylinder and oil viscosity index on the friction of area between the piston and cylinder of an internal combustion (IC) engine were investigated experimentally and theoretically. To this end, two values of 33 and 66 µm for the piston clearance, and two types of engine oil namely SAE10W40 and SAE20W50 were considered. To carry out the experiments, the engine was run under motored condition. The experiments were implemented at different oil temperatures and engine speeds. Based on the experimental results, although reduction in the piston clearance and the use of 20W50 oil caused an increase in the friction, but the effects of these two parameters became less with an increase in oil temperature and engine speed. The experimental results showed that the effect of clearance on the friction was more noticeable for low speeds. The maximum influence of the piston clearance decrease on the friction was 16% with the use of 20W50 oil at 1000 r/min when the oil temperature was 35 °C. The minimum influence of the piston clearance on the friction was 0.5% when the oil temperature was 90 °C and the engine speed was set on 6000 r/min. The theoretical results showed that the most contribution of the friction of piston/ring/cylinder assembly belonged to the piston skirt. Moreover, the effect of the piston skirt on the friction at high speeds was more than that of the piston rings. The friction value of the piston rings was not significantly altered by changing the engine speed, but it was considerably changed by the oil temperature variation. Whereas the piston skirt friction had an increasing trend with the speed rise, the change in the engine oil temperature, especially for low temperatures, had no significant effect on the piston skirt friction.