bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Approximate computation for big data analytics
Authors: Ma Shuai , Huai Jinpeng
Published: February 2021

Over the past a few years, research and development has made significant progresses on big data analytics. A fundamental issue for big data analytics is the efficiency. If the optimal solution is unable to attain or unnecessary or has a price to high to pay, it is reasonable to sacrifice optimality with a "good" feasible solution that can be computed efficiently. Existing approximation techniques can be in general classified into approximation algorithms, approximate query processing for aggregate SQL queries and approximation computing for multiple layers of the system stack. In this article, we systematically introduce approximate computation,
i.e.
, query approximation and data approximation, for efficient and effective big data analytics. We explain the ideas and rationales behind query and data approximation, and show efficiency can be obtained with high effectiveness, and even without sacrificing for effectiveness, for certain data analytic tasks.
Upcoming SIGWEB supported conferences
Authors: Roßner Daniel
Published: February 2021

The Special Interest Group on Hypertext and the Web, SIGWEB was created in 1989 to support the community participating in the annual ACM Hypertext Conference. In its fourth decade, SIGWEB continues its efforts to support a wide range of communities and conferences. Recently, the Web Conference's legal and financial sponsorship was transferred to SIGWEB and thus joins the family of seven annual conferences in 2022. SIGWEB supports several specialized conferences, short courses, and workshops of different sizes, as well as the annual Hypertext Conference. SIGWEB sponsored conferences focus on timely topics in applied and computational hypertext and Web disciplines and provide a place for members and the entire applied Hypermedia and Web community to exchange ideas and to meet with and expand their network of colleagues. In this article, we provide a brief overview of SIGWEB sponsored conferences, in addition to events that are in cooperation with SIGWEB.

Due to the current Corona crisis, many event organizers opted for an online conference format or allow remote participation. These conferences are marked accordingly.
Report on the 2nd ACM SIGIR/SIGKDD Africa school on machine learning for data mining and search
Authors: Berger-Wolf Tanya , Carterette Ben , Elsayed Tamer , Keet Maria , Sebastiani Fabrizio , Suleman Hussein
Published: February 2021

We report on the organization and activities of the 2nd ACM SIGIR/SIGKDD Africa School on Machine Learning for Data Mining and Search, which took place at the University of Cape Town in South Africa January 27--31, 2020.
Report on the international workshop on natural language processing for recommendations (NLP4REC 2020) workshop held at WSDM 2020
Authors: Huang Xiao , Ren Pengjie , Ren Zhaochun , Sun Fei , He Xiangnan , Yin Dawei , de Rijke Maarten
Published: February 2021

This paper summarizes the outcomes of the International Workshop on Natural Language Processing for Recommendations (NLP4REC 2020), held in Houston, USA, on February 7, 2020, during WSDM 2020. The purpose of this workshop was to explore the potential research topics and industrial applications in leveraging natural language processing techniques to tackle the challenges in constructing more intelligent recommender systems. Specific topics included, but were not limited to knowledge-aware recommendation, explainable recommendation, conversational recommendation, and sequential recommendation.
Transitioning the information retrieval literature to a fully open access model
Authors: Hiemstra Djoerd , Moens Marie-Francine , Perego Raffaele , Sebastiani Fabrizio
Published: February 2021

Almost all of the important literature on Information Retrieval (IR) is published in subscription-based journals and digital libraries. We argue that the lack of open access publishing in IR is seriously hampering progress and inclusiveness of the field. We propose that the IR community starts working on a road map for transitioning the IR literature to a fully, "diamond", open access model.
Task-based support in search engines
Authors: Garigliotti Darío
Published: February 2021

Web search has become a key technology on which people rely daily for getting information about almost everything. The evolution of the search experience has also shaped the expectations of people about it. Many users seem to expect today's web search engines to behave like a kind of "wise interpreter," capable of understanding the meaning behind a search query, realizing its current context, and responding to it directly and appropriately. Search by meaning, or semantic search, encompasses a large portion of information retrieval (IR) research devoted to study more meaningful representations of the information need expressed by the user query. Entity cards, direct displays, and verticals are examples of how major commercial search engines have indeed responded to user expectations, capitalizing on query understanding. Search is usually performed with a specific goal underlying the query. In many cases, this goal consists of a nontrivial task to be completed. Current search engines support a small set of basic tasks, and most of the knowledge-intensive workload for supporting more complex tasks is left to the user.

Task-based search can be viewed as an information access paradigm that aims to enhance search engines with functionalities for recognizing the underlying tasks in searches and providing support for task completion. The research presented in this thesis focuses on utilizing and extending methods and techniques from semantic search in the next stage of the evolution of search engines, namely, to support users in achieving their tasks. Our work can be grouped in three grand themes: (1)
Entity type information for entity retrieval
: we conduct a systematic evaluation and analysis of methods for type-aware entity retrieval, in terms of three main dimensions. Also, we revisit the problem of hierarchical target type identification, present a state-of-the-art supervised learning method, and analyze the usage of automatically identified target entity types for type-aware entity retrieval; (2)
Entity-oriented search intents
: we propose a categorization scheme for entity-oriented search intents, and study the distributions of entity intent categories per entity type. We further develop a method for constructing a knowledge base of entity-oriented search intents; and (3)
Task-based search
: we design a probabilistic generative framework for task-based query suggestion, and principledly estimate each of its components. Furthermore, we introduce the problems of query-based task recommendation and mission-based task recommendation, and establish respective methods as suitable baselines.
Information extraction from digital social trace data with applications to social media and scholarly communication data
Authors: Mishra Shubhanshu
Published: February 2021

Information extraction (IE) aims at extracting structured data from unstructured or semi-structured data. The thesis starts by identifying social media data and scholarly communication data as a special case of digital social trace data (DSTD). This identification allows us to utilize the graph structure of the data (e.g., user connected to a tweet, author connected to a paper, author connected to authors, etc.) for developing new information extraction tasks. The thesis focuses on information extraction from DSTD, first, using only the text data from tweets and scholarly paper abstracts, and then using the full graph structure of Twitter and scholarly communications datasets. This thesis makes three major contributions.

First, new IE tasks based on DSTD representation of the data are introduced. For scholarly communication data, methods are developed to identify article and author level novelty [Mishra and Torvik, 2016] and expertise. Furthermore, interfaces for examining the extracted information are introduced. A social communication temporal graph (SCTG) is introduced for comparing different communication data like tweets tagged with sentiment, tweets about a search query, and Facebook group posts. For social media, new text classification categories are introduced, with the aim of identifying enthusiastic and supportive users, via their tweets. Additionally, the correlation between sentiment classes and Twitter meta-data in public corpora is analyzed, leading to the development of a better model for sentiment classification [Mishra and Diesner, 2018].

Second, methods are introduced for extracting information from social media and scholarly data. For scholarly data, a semi-automatic method is introduced for the construction of a large-scale taxonomy of computer science concepts. The method relies on the Wikipedia category tree. The constructed taxonomy is used for identifying key computer science phrases in scholarly papers, and tracking their evolution over time. Similarly, for social media data, machine learning models based on human-in-the-loop learning [Mishra et al., 2015], semi-supervised learning [Mishra and Diesner, 2016], and multi-task learning [Mishra, 2019] are introduced for identifying sentiment, named entities, part of speech tags, phrase chunks, and super-sense tags. The machine learning models are developed with a focus on leveraging all available data. The multi-task models presented here result in competitive performance against other methods, for most of the tasks, while reducing inference time computational costs.

Finally, this thesis has resulted in the creation of multiple open source tools and public data sets (see URL below), which can be utilized by the research community. The thesis aims to act as a bridge between research questions and techniques used in DSTD from different domains. The methods and tools presented here can help advance work in the areas of social media and scholarly data analysis.
Managing tail latency in large scale information retrieval systems
Authors: Mackenzie Joel M.
Published: February 2021

As both the availability of internet access and the prominence of smart devices continue to increase, data is being generated at a rate faster than ever before. This massive increase in data production comes with many challenges, including efficiency concerns for the storage and retrieval of such large-scale data. However, users have grown to expect the sub-second response times that are common in most modern search engines, creating a problem --- how can such large amounts of data continue to be served efficiently enough to satisfy end users?

This dissertation investigates several issues regarding
tail latency
in large-scale information retrieval systems. Tail latency corresponds to the high percentile latency that is observed from a system --- in the case of search, this latency typically corresponds to how long it takes for a query to be processed. In particular, keeping tail latency as low as possible translates to a good experience for all users, as tail latency is directly related to the worst-case latency and hence, the worst possible user experience. The key idea in targeting tail latency is to move from questions such as
"what is the median latency of our search engine?"
to questions which more accurately capture user experience such as
"how many queries take more than
200
ms to return answers?"
or
"what is the worst case latency that a user may be subject to, and how often might it occur?"

While various strategies exist for efficiently processing queries over large textual corpora, prior research has focused almost entirely on improvements to the
average
processing time or cost of search systems. As a first contribution, we examine some state-of-the-art retrieval algorithms for two popular index organizations, and discuss the trade-offs between them, paying special attention to the notion of tail latency. This research uncovers a number of observations that are subsequently leveraged for improved search efficiency and effectiveness.

We then propose and solve a new problem, which involves processing a number of related query variations together, known as
multi-queries
, to yield higher quality search results. We experiment with a number of algorithmic approaches to efficiently process these multi-queries, and report on the cost, efficiency, and effectiveness trade-offs present with each.

Finally, we examine how
predictive models
can be used to improve the tail latency and end-to-end cost of a commonly used
multi-stage
retrieval architecture
without
impacting result effectiveness. By combining ideas from numerous areas of information retrieval, we propose a prediction framework which can be used for training and evaluating several efficiency/effectiveness trade-off parameters, resulting in improved trade-offs between cost, result quality, and tail latency.
Identification of a Transcription Factor Signature That Can Predict Breast Cancer Survival
Authors: Fan Chunni , Du Jianshi , Liu Ning
Published: February 2021

Background. The expression pattern of transcription factors (TFs) can be used to develop potential prognostic biomarkers for cancer. In this study, we aimed to identify and validate a TF signature for predicting disease-free survival (DFS) of breast cancer (BRCA) patients. Methods. Lasso and the Cox regression analyses were applied to construct a TF signature based on a gene expression dataset from TCGA. The prognosis value of the TF signature was investigated in the TCGA database, and its reliability was further validated in 3 independent datasets from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). The prognosis performance of the TF signature was compared with 4 previously published gene signatures. To investigate the association between the TF signature and hallmarks of cancer, Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was carried out. The correlations of the TF signature and the levels of immune infiltration were also investigated. Results. An 11-TF prognostic signature was constructed with good survival prediction performance for BRCA patients. By using the risk score model based on the 11-TF signature, BRCA patients were stratified into low- and high-risk groups and showed good and poor disease-free survival (DFS), respectively. The risk score was an independent prediction indicator when adjusting for other clinicopathological factors. Furthermore, the 11-TF signature had a better survival prediction performance compared to 4 previously published gene signatures. Moreover, the risk score was a cancer hallmark. Finally, a high-risk score was associated with higher infiltration of M0 and M2 macrophages and was associated with a lower infiltration of resting memory CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells. Conclusion. The findings in this study identified and validated a novel prognostic TF signature, which is an independent biomarker for the prediction of DFS in BRCA patients.
Factors That Affect the Sensitivity of Imaging Modalities in Primary Hyperparathyroidism
Authors: Zhu Minting , He Yang , Liu Tingting , Tao Bei , Zhan Weiwei , Zhang Yifan , Xie Jing , Chen Xi , Zhao Hongyan , Sun Lihao , Liu Jianmin
Published: February 2021

Background. Cervical ultrasound, 99mTc-sestamibi single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (99mTc-MIBI SPECT/CT), and cervical CT are routinely used in preoperative localization of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). However, false-negative imaging results are also frequently encountered in clinical practice. Exploring the factors that affect the sensitivity of these imaging modalities is important for the surgical management of PHPT patients. Methods. Clinical data of 352 PHPT patients hospitalized in our center from January 2011 to December 2015 were retrospectively collected to evaluate the sensitivity of 3 imaging modalities in the preoperative localization of parathyroid lesions. The ROC curve analysis was used to explore the clinical factors affecting the sensitivity of localization, and the cut-point(s) of related factors were determined. Results. 99mTc-MIBI SPECT/CT has the highest sensitivity among the localization modalities commonly used, reaching 91.1% (86.0%–94.8%). When the lengths of parathyroid lesions were ≤1.3 cm, the sensitivity of neck ultrasonography significantly decreased, while the sensitivity of 99mTc-MIBI SPECT/CT decreased with parathyroid lesions ≤1.3 cm or serum PTH≤252 pg/ml. 99mTc-MIBI SPECT/CT was less effective in localizing the hyperplasia lesions. Neck ultrasonography combined with 99mTc-MIBI SPECT/CT can effectively improve the accuracy of preoperative localization of parathyroid lesions to 96.2% (92.7%–98.1%). Conclusions. Small parathyroid lesion and mild elevation of serum PTH would reduce the accuracy of parathyroid localization in PHPT patients.
Extinction Phenomenon and Decay Estimate for a Quasilinear Parabolic Equation with a Nonlinear Source
Authors: Liu Dengming , Yang Luo
Published: February 2021

By energy estimate approach and the method of upper and lower solutions, we give the conditions on the occurrence of the extinction and nonextinction behaviors of the solutions for a quasilinear parabolic equation with nonlinear source. Moreover, the decay estimates of the solutions are studied.
Permeability of Sand-Based Cemented Backfill under Different Stress Conditions: Effects of Confining and Axial Pressures
Authors: Zhu Cunli , Zhang Jixiong , Zhou Nan , Li Meng , Guo Yaben
Published: February 2021

Sand-based cemented backfill (SBCB) mining technology is instrumental in utilizing coal resources buried under the water bodies. SBCB is exposed to the long-term action of mining-induced stresses in the goaf and groundwater permeating via microcracks along the rock strata. Studying the permeability evolution of SBCB under varying stress states is crucial for protecting coal and water resources below the aquifer. This study is focused on the influence law of different stress states on the SBCB permeability exposed to groundwater, which was tested under different axial and confining pressures using a laboratory seepage meter, particle size analyzer, scanning electron microscope (SEM), and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). Best-fitting quadratic polynomials linking the SBCB permeability with confining and axial pressures, respectively, were obtained via statistical processing of test results. The permeability gradually dropped within the elastic range as the confining and axial pressures increased. Moreover, an increase in the confining pressure caused a more dramatic reduction in the SBCB permeability than the axial pressure. Finally, the SBCB seepage mechanism under different stress states was revealed based on the particle size analysis, XRD patterns, and SEM microstructure. These findings are considered instrumental in substantiating safe mining of coal resources below the water bodies and above the confined groundwater.
A Client-Centric Evaluation System to Evaluate Guest’s Satisfaction on Airbnb Using Machine Learning and NLP
Authors: Chiny Mohamed , Bencharef Omar , Hadi Moulay Youssef , Chihab Younes
Published: February 2021

Understanding the determinants of satisfaction in P2P hosting is crucial, especially with the emergence of platforms such as Airbnb, which has become the largest platform for short-term rental accommodation. Although many studies have been carried out in this direction, there are still gaps to be filled, particularly with regard to the apprehension of customers taking into account their category. In this study, we took a machine learning-based approach to examine 100,000 customer reviews left on the Airbnb platform to identify different dimensions that shape customer satisfaction according to each category studied (individuals, couples, and families). However, the data collected do not give any information on the category to which the customer belongs to. So, we applied natural language processing (NLP) algorithms to the reviews in order to find clues that could help us segment them, and then we trained two regression models, multiple linear regression and support vector regression, in order to calculate the coefficients acting on each of the 6 elementary scores (precision, cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, and value) noted on Airbnb, taking into account the category of customers who evaluated the performance of their accommodation. The results suggest that customers are not equally interested in satisfaction metrics. In addition, disparities were noted for the same indicator depending on the category to which the client belongs to. In light of these results, we suggest that improvements be made to the rating system adopted by Airbnb to make it suitable for each category to which the client belongs to.
Preclinical Evaluation of Safety, Pharmacokinetics, Efficacy, and Mechanism of Radioprotective Agent HL‐003
Authors: Liu Yahong , Miao Longfei , Guo Yuying , Tian Hongqi
Published: February 2021

Amifostine is a radioprotector with high efficacy but poor safety, short half‐life, no oral formulation, and poor compliance, which limits its application. With the increasing risk of exposure to radiation, the development of new radioprotective agents is critical. We previously synthesized a new amifostine derivative, the small molecule compound HL‐003. In this study, we focused on evaluating the radioprotective properties of HL‐003. Using the in vitro 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl assay, we initially confirmed HL‐003 as a strong antioxidant and demonstrated that its free radical scavenging activity was stronger than that of amifostine. Then, we performed an acute toxicity test, a 28‐day toxicity test, a 30‐day survival rate test, and a pharmacokinetic study, all of which provided aggregate evidence that HL‐003 functioned as a small molecule radioprotector with high efficacy, a favorable safety profile, a long half‐life, and oral administration. The intestinal radioprotective mechanism of HL‐003 was explored in male C57 mice after abdominal irradiation by analyzing intestinal tissue samples with hematoxylin‐eosin staining, immunohistochemistry, TUNEL staining, and immunofluorescence detection. The results showed that HL‐003 protected intestinal DNA from radiation damage and suppressed the expression of phosphorylated histone H2AX, phosphorylated p53, and the apoptosis‐related proteins caspase‐8 and caspase‐9, which contributed to maintaining the normal morphology of the small intestine and provided insights into the mechanism of radioprotection. Thus, HL‐003 is a small molecule radioprotector with a potential application in radiation medicine.
Phenolic Compounds of Propolis Alleviate Lipid Metabolism Disorder
Authors: Kong Lingjie , Zhang Yuhao , Feng Zhouxu , Dong Jie , Zhang Hongcheng
Published: February 2021

Lipid metabolism disorder is one of the significant risk factors for a multitude of human diseases and has become a serious threat to human health. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of phenolics from poplar-type propolis on regulating lipid metabolism by using cell models of steatosis induced by palmitic acid (PA). Our study shows that phenolic esters have higher lipid-lowering activities than phenolic acids, especially for three caffeic acid esters, including caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), caffeic acid cinnamyl ester (CACE), and caffeic acid benzyl ester (CABE). Most notably, CACE presents prominent properties to prevent intracellular lipid accumulation and to amend extracellular adipokine secretion abnormalities. In addition, our results firstly reveal that CACE can alleviate lipid metabolism disorder through mediating protein kinase RNA-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK), activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6) signaling pathway-associated protein expression, suppressing endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and activating peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) by distinct upregulation of PPARα and downregulation of PPARγ.
Considerations of HLA, Renal Failure, Valproic Acid Use, and Current Treatment Guidelines in Clozapine-Induced Agranulocytosis
Authors: Sussman Melissa , Epifania Michael , Eng Derrick , Cho Yun Jae , Steward Richard
Published: February 2021

Clozapine, the choice atypical antipsychotic for refractory schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder, has been shown to reduce positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Clozapine, though beneficial in reducing the need for hospitalization, rehabilitation, and health care costs, is known as a drug of last resort due to its potential adverse event of clozapine-induced agranulocytosis, which holds a case fatality rate between 4.2 and 16%. Herein, we describe a female patient with longstanding schizoaffective disorder and chronic kidney disease who suffered from clozapine-induced agranulocytosis after failing two other atypical antipsychotics. Retrospective considerations of this case and management highlight risk factors such as HLA status, renal failure, and concurrent valproic acid use which presently do not have official screening, guidelines, or restrictions in place when prescribing clozapine. Additionally, there are no specific clozapine-induced agranulocytosis management recommendations such as G-CSF/filgrastim dose, timing of bone marrow aspirate and biopsy, and use of concomitant valproate. We propose that further comprehensive official screening, monitoring, and guidelines in the prescribing of clozapine, and further guidelines in the treatment of clozapine induced agranulocytosis, could increase the cost-effectiveness of clozapine treatment, and decrease the incidence, and morbidity of this feared adverse event.
Failure Mechanism of Rock Slopes under Different Seismic Excitation
Authors: Tang Hua , Wu Zhenjun , Che Ailan , Yuan Conghua , Deng Qin
Published: February 2021

In earthquake‐prone areas, special attention should be paid to the study of the seismic stability of rock slope. Particularly, it becomes much more complicated for the rock slopes with weak structural surfaces. In this study, numerical simulation and the shaking table test are carried out to analyze the influence of seismic excitation and structural surface in different directions on dynamic response of rock slope. Huaping slope with bedding structural surfaces and Lijiang slope with discontinuous structural surfaces besides Jinsha River in Yunnan Province are taken as research objects. The results of numerical simulation and the model test both show that discontinuous structure surface has influence on the propagation characteristics of seismic wavefield. For Huaping slope, the seismic wavefield responses repeatedly between the bedding structural surface and slope surface lead to the increase of the amplification effect. The maximum value of seismic acceleration appears on the empty surface where terrain changes. Horizontal motion plays a leading role in slope failure, and the amplification coefficient of horizontal seismic acceleration is about twice that of vertical seismic acceleration. The failure mode is integral sliding along the bedding structural surface. For Lijiang slope, seismic acceleration field affected by complex structural surface is superimposed repeatedly in local area. The maximum value of seismic acceleration appears in the local area near slope surface. And the dynamic response of slope is controlled by vertical and horizontal motion together. Under the seismic excitation with an intense of 0.336 g in X direction and Z direction, the amplification coefficients of seismic acceleration of Lijiang slope are 3.23 and 3.18, respectively. The vertical motion leads to the cracking of the weak structural surface. Then, Lijiang slope shows the toppling failure mode under the action of horizontal motion.
What Are the Relative Intensities of the Components of NMR Spectral Multiplets from Quadrupolar Nuclei in Uniformly Anisotropic Media?
Authors: Elliott Stuart J. , Kuchel Philip W.
Published: February 2021

Stretched hydrogels make uniformly anisotropic environments for quadrupolar nuclei such as 2H, 23Na, and 133Cs. Such surroundings cause the partial alignment of nuclear spin bearing ions and molecules that is sufficiently pronounced to alter the nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of the guest species. In most cases, resonance splittings are directly related to the spin quantum number I. The relative intensities of the components of the resonance multiplets can be inferred from basic quantum mechanics.
Quality Management Practices and Performance of Public Secondary School Heads in Pangasinan, Philippines
Authors: Paragas Jeger P.
Published: February 2021

This is a descriptive study which determined and analyzed the quality management practices of public secondary school heads. The study included the school heads and teachers in all Schools Division in Pangasinan. The identified quality management practicesare based on the parameters of APPES Manual. Kendall’s tau correlation coefficient was utilized to identify the significant relationship in the quality management practices of public secondary school heads to the performance of their respective schools. The researcher used questionnaire, interview and google form to gather the needed data. Same set of questionnaire was utilized for the teachers and school heads as respondents of this study. Findings of the study revealed that stakeholders were truly a great agent in improving the public secondary schools. Therefore, school heads must be eager to do this to have a strong partnership and participation of the stakeholders in the school. They contribute a lot for the direction leading to greater learning outcomes. Also, it was found out that weak correlation was hardly related to the quality management practices of the school heads with regard to the performance of their respective schools. Further, a proposed plan of action with regard to the indicators that were found out moderate would be presented to public secondary schools for them to better identify the risk and opportunities so to attain and maintain quality management practices of school heads and school perfomance in the Department of Education.
The Mediation Impact of Contingent Workforce in the Connection between Organizational Commitment and Job Satisfaction
Authors: P. Nagaraja
Published: February 2021

Most recently there has been wonderful development in the market for a temporary, or contingent, labor power in the United States. The total labor market during 10 years amid somewhere in the range of 1986 and 1996 developed by 1.7 percent, in a similar period, work in contingent services became 10.3 percent. Among the technical, pro-fessional,and managerial category of contingent workforce, there is a rapid growth of payroll noticed. Contingence workforce continues to thrive in Asian countries too. India is no exceptional from this viewpoint hence this has made the purpose of the present research paper to contribute the brief and clear insights towards contingent workforce, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. The present paper is an empirical evidence for the mediation effect of contingent workforce in the relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction. This is a survey-based research work carried out to explore the subject of temporary workforce in Indian context. A sample of 284 respondents were participated in the survey and the typical fining from the present study is contingent workforce fully mediates the relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Partial Least Square based Structural Equation Modelling was used to test the proposed hypotheses.
From Patañjali to the “Gospel of Sweat”: Yoga’s Remarkable Transformation from a Sacred Movement into a Thriving Global Market
Authors: Munir Kamal , Ansari Shahzad (Shaz) , Brown Deborah
Published: February 2021

Movements seeking to infuse markets with moral values often end up utilizing the market mechanism and support from mainstream actors to scale up, even if it comes at the cost of diluting their founding ethos. But this process can be particularly challenging for movements that are explicitly opposed to using a market mechanism as a means of scaling up. Our analysis of yoga between 1975 and 2016 reveals how a countercultural movement fundamentally opposed to a capitalist market economy but seeking to grow can paradoxically become syncretic with or infiltrated by concepts and beliefs that are core to the market system but incompatible with the movement’s original ethos. We show how, before such a movement can be commodified, it must be de-essentialized, a process that requires stripping away key aspects of its history, context, and religious commitments and transforming collective goals into individual ones. This process involves not only external entrepreneurs looking to mine the movement but also movement leaders seeking wider enrollment of resource-rich actors to scale the movement up. We show how codes borrowed from parallel movements and templates borrowed from markets can be instrumental in driving such a movement’s transformation. Through this extreme case of the yoga movement, we advance understandings of how movements can become syncretic with values and practices they fundamentally oppose.
Contested futures: The ‘humanitarian value’ of childhood in rural Sierra Leone
Authors: Bolotta Giuseppe , Devine Dympna
Published: February 2021

This article explores contrasting social constructions of the ‘value of children’ in a rural village in Northern Sierra Leone. It investigates how the meanings of childhood, its temporal extension and children’s (present and future) roles are differently interpreted in the context of humanitarian intervention. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and participatory research with children, it explores how child work and education are conceptualised by a range of different actors (local authorities, families and international NGOs). The analysis sheds light on the tensions which arise between children’s ‘present usefulness’ to family livelihoods through their work at home and their potential future utility through their ‘work’ at school. Taking two case study exemplars, it shows how international NGOs’ humanitarian constructions of African children as innocent victims, ‘emotionally priceless’ and rights bearing can be locally reconfigured and appropriated for economic gain. The article demonstrates marginalised children’s active role in blurring boundaries between emotional, monetary, global and local valuations of what children ‘should’ do and be. It also highlights how the ‘humanitarian value’ of childhood constitutes the bedrock upon which Sierra Leone’s alternative futures are being actively imagined and contested along ‘North–South’ transactions.
The contribution of theories of personhood in the revaluation of children in African societies
Authors: Nyamnjoh Anye-Nkwenti , Swartz Sharlene , Motha Kholofelo Charlotte , Radasi Memory Zodwa
Published: February 2021

Children across Africa, not unlike elsewhere in the world, suffer myriad hardships, some of which include sexual and physical violence, economic exploitation and ritual killings. Using a literature review, this article maps the foci of research on the status and value attributed to children in various African contexts. The article also juxtaposes this value by considering how children have been maltreated historically and contemporaneously, discussing how notions of personhood contribute to the devaluation and possible revaluation of children. Here, the authors contrast two dominant positions in the treatment of personhood in Africa as communitarian – personhood-as-acquired and personhood-as-endowed. Noting the appeal and limits of these positions, the authors articulate a synthesis of both that could contribute towards a revaluation of children in African contexts. They argue that while ‘personhood-as-endowed’ safeguards against a hierarchy of persons that might be vulnerable to abuse and arbitrary excesses sanctioned by one’s community, ‘personhood-as-acquired’ holds adults to a high moral standard which has a protective effect for children while maintaining the role of community in cultivating moral development.
Neuroscience and the construction of a new child in early childhood education in Indonesia: A neoliberal legacy
Authors: Adriany Vina , Newberry Jan
Published: February 2021

Neuroscience has become a new ‘truth’ in early childhood education across the globe, including in Indonesia. This article aims to demonstrate how the alignment of neuroscience discourse and the legacy of neoliberalism constructs a new form of childhood in Indonesia. The conceptual framework of brain science, predicated on biological determinism, suggests that the brain will significantly influence not only children’s development in the present but also will have an impact in the future. Neuroscience is also based on the idea of transparency. Beneath this conceptual framework lies the idea that a child’s mind can be made visible through both technological means and standardized development measures. Global neoliberal discourse reinforces this techno-scientific approach through the concept that stimulating children’s development facilitates economic growth in a country. This instrumental use of child development contrasts with the paradigm which emphasizes children’s agency. This article is based on ongoing and previous fieldwork from both authors. Using Foucault’s concept of discourse and disciplinary power, the authors argue that neuroscience has become the truth that hides societal issues such as poverty as well as becomes a form of surveillance that constructs a child as being open to the adult gaze and surveillance. The findings will also illuminate the tension and negotiation between local values and global values in assembling a new form of childhood in Indonesia.
Timira, romanzo meticcio e stratificato
Authors: Bertossa Michela , Gianangeli Lawrence , Peretti e Enrico Zammarchi Luca
Published: February 2021

L’articolo esamina il romanzo Timira, scritto da Antar Mohamed Marincola e Wu Ming 2 e pubblicato nel 2012. Ci concentriamo su due macrotemi: la marginalità spaziale e culturale rappresentata nel libro o percepita dai personaggi (la città, la periferia, la controcultura, e l’attivismo politico), e come razzismo, sessismo e colonialismo plasmino non solo l’identità della protagonista Isabella Marincola ma anche le sue esperienze nel mondo artistico e cinematografico. Il saggio è frutto di un esperimento di scrittura collettiva, nella convinzione che questa pratica dovrebbe essere più diffusa nelle scienze umane, e che un romanzo complesso e stratificato come Timira possa essere affrontato a più voci e da punti di vista diversi.
Growth Behaviour of India’s Export of Services, 1975–2018
Authors: Das Sampriti , Sarma Amiya
Published: February 2021

Trade in services has made phenomenal strides in the globalisation era with the advent of a technology revolution, fragmentation in production processes and rapid digitisation. The case of India has been exemplary, as she bypasses her sluggish growth in goods exports to emerge as a world leader in commercial services. By churning out positive net exports since 2003, this trade sector has considerably eased the country’s unfavourable current-account position. Further, the relatively robust performance of the country’s service exports in the face of the Great Recession of 2008–2009 has ignited speculations over its suitability as an instrument of sustainable economic growth. Though the stupendous growth of India’s export of services is well documented, not much has been said regarding consistency in this growth. Our study identifies that against the backdrop of key macroeconomic developments, the growth performance of the country’s real export of services has undergone vivid variations. The long-term trend of these exports, though increasing, is choppy. We identify three structural regimes in the course of these exports: 1975–1993, 1994–2004 and 2005–2018. We conscientiously deduce that the phenomenal growth of real service exports that accrued in the 1990s has been slowly wearing out post 2005. The slowdown has both cyclical and structural elements to it and corresponds to the changing cyclicality of service exports, subduing demand, slowing global value chains (GVCs) and post-crisis mood of protectionism.

JEL Codes: F14, C32, E32
Designing an interprofessional Facebook discussion group to teach about LGBTQ healthcare disparities and inclusive practices
Authors: Neill Kathryn , Allison M Kathryn , Jarrett Diane M , George Masil , Knight Daniel , Ward Wendy
Published: February 2021

Objective:

Training on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) healthcare and inclusive practice is lacking in curricula across health professions, contributing to health disparities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate an interprofessional learning activity on LGBTQ healthcare disparities and inclusive practices delivered in a closed Facebook group.

Design:

Asynchronous, online platforms, like social media, offer a simple means of connection and discussion for interprofessional education.

Setting:

An academic health centre in the Southern USA.

Methods:

The learning activity consisted of (1) pre- and post-quizzes assessing knowledge about LGBTQ healthcare, (2) content review of required readings and a video and (3) daily discussion threads. Students completed individual reflection essays about interprofessional education and practice and the Quadruple Aim.

Results:

Two cohorts of interprofessional students completed the activity. Average quiz scores increased post-activity. Both the Facebook discussion threads and reflection essays demonstrated that students recognised the need to incorporate LGBTQ-inclusive practices into their future professional practice, as well as recognised the valuable insight of their interprofessional team members. Students had mixed perspectives about Facebook as a discussion platform for interprofessional education.

Conclusion:

Facebook groups provide a feasible platform to implement interprofessional education on LGBTQ-inclusive healthcare practice and stimulate student discussion.
The Validity of the SEEV Model as a Process Measure of Situation Awareness: The Example of a Simulated Endotracheal Intubation
Authors: Grundgeiger Tobias , Hohm Anna , Michalek Annabell , Egenolf Timo , Markus Christian , Happel Oliver
Published: February 2021

Objective

In the context of anesthesiology, we investigated whether the salience effort expectancy value (SEEV) model fit is associated with situation awareness and perception scores.

Background

The distribution of visual attention is important for situation awareness—that is, understanding what is going on—in safety-critical domains. Although the SEEV model has been suggested as a process situation awareness measure, the validity of the model as a predictor of situation awareness has not been tested.

Method

In a medical simulation, 31 senior and 30 junior anesthesiologists wore a mobile eye tracker and induced general anesthesia into a simulated patient. When inserting a breathing tube into the mannequin’s trachea (endotracheal intubation), the scenario included several clinically relevant events for situation awareness and general events in the environment. Both were assessed using direct awareness measures.

Results

The overall SEEV model fit was good with no difference between junior and senior anesthesiologists. Overall, the situation awareness scores were low. As expected, the SEEV model fits showed significant positive correlations with situation awareness level 1 scores.

Conclusion

The SEEV model seems to be suitable as a process situation awareness measure to predict and investigate the perception of changes in the environment (situation awareness level 1). The situation awareness scores indicated that anesthesiologists seem not to perceive the environment well during endotracheal intubation.

Application

The SEEV model fit can be used to capture and assess situation awareness level 1. During endotracheal intubation, anesthesiologists should be supported by technology or staff to notice changes in the environment.
Confronting Race and Other Social Identity Erasures: The Case for Critical Industrial Relations Theory
Authors: Lee Tamara L. , Tapia Maite
Published: February 2021

Despite the salience of racism and other “isms” woven into the fabric of US society, there is a dearth of industrial relations (IR) scholarship that engages critical race and intersectional theory (CRT/I) to deeply understand how structural racism and other social identity-based systems of oppression govern labor and employment systems. The authors call for the incorporation of CRT/I into IR to address the erasure of vital counter-narratives and to expand our empirical cases for labor and employment research. Focusing on leading scholarship on worker organizing, the authors confront white dominance in our research questions, methodologies, and analyses to illustrate how traditional “color-blind” and meritocracy-based IR theories lead to the exclusion of relevant knowledge. In an era of heightened public discourse and worker uprisings in response to deep-rooted systemic inequities, critical industrial relations research is vital to the field’s relevance and its expertise in explaining the nature and consequences of contemporary labor contestations and their impact on the future of the labor movement.
Applications of genome editing on laboratory animals
Authors: Galichet Christophe , Lovell-Badge Robin
Published: February 2021

For four decades, genetically altered laboratory animals have provided invaluable information. Originally, genetic modifications were performed on only a few animal species, often chosen because of the ready accessibility of embryonic materials and short generation times. The methods were often slow, inefficient and expensive. In 2013, a new, extremely efficient technology, namely CRISPR/Cas9, not only made the production of genetically altered organisms faster and cheaper, but also opened it up to non-conventional laboratory animal species. CRISPR/Cas9 relies on a guide RNA as a ‘location finder’ to target DNA double strand breaks induced by the Cas9 enzyme. This is a prerequisite for non-homologous end joining repair to occur, an error prone mechanism often generating insertion or deletion of genetic material. If a DNA template is also provided, this can lead to homology directed repair, allowing precise insertions, deletions or substitutions. Due to its high efficiency in targeting DNA, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genetic modification is now possible in virtually all animal species for which we have genome sequence data. Furthermore, modifications of Cas9 have led to more refined genetic alterations from targeted single base-pair mutations to epigenetic modifications. The latter offer altered gene expression without genome alteration. With this ever growing genetic toolbox, the number and range of genetically altered conventional and non-conventional laboratory animals with simple or complex genetic modifications is growing exponentially.