bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Towards a general hybrid theory in wicked problem structuring part 1: the foundation
Authors: Yolles Maurice 
Published: February 2020

PurposeThis paper has two parts, namely, Part 1 and Part 2. The purpose of this paper (Part 1) is to explain an adaptive relational paradigm that can efficaciously respond to the complex issues in wicked problems. A relational paradigm can work across the disciplines and fields that characterise wicked problems. It is also methodologically plural – that is it uses various inquiry instruments together. It becomes a hybrid approach when involving narratives and structured processes enabling the adopted instruments to converge to a coherent (living) story. The purpose of Part 2 will be to provide a theoretical framework that with illustration responds to Part 1.Design/methodology/approachWicked problems and their issues do not respect academic disciplines, and as they are multidisciplinary, they require a cross-disciplinary approach when seeking resolution. Autonomous agency theory is adopted capable of structuring cross-disciplinary inquiry processes and formulating a hybrid inquiry paradigm. The paper sets up a narrative agency approachable of delivering a structure that results in a general theory of hybrid inquiry.FindingsThe paradigm, which traditionally defines a field of study conceptualises and regulates approaches that enable inquiry into behavioural systems. Mono-disciplinary, they are not suitable for the resolution of issues that arise from cross-disciplinary wicked problems. To resolve this, a relational paradigm has been defined within which sits a cross-disciplinary hybrid inquiry system. A general theory of hybrid inquiry has been offered. It is shown that agency theory can successfully embrace a relational paradigm.Research limitations/implicationsTo determine the limitations of this theory there is a need to provide exemplars, which is currently premature. Another outcome is to centre on modes of practice in hybrid inquiry, but there is insufficient space for this here.Originality/valueThis paper makes an original contribution by formulating a structured approach on the creation of a relational paradigm capable of supporting hybrid inquiry. It also adopts cross-disciplinary theory to make its case for a relational paradigm, recognising that wicked problems are cross-disciplinary. As part of the regulatory process, it connects Rittel’s IBIS schema intended to resolve wicked problems issues and the Johari Window and explains how they would relate. A means is suggested for determining the degree of undecidability of wicked problems issues, and hence, that of the models that inquiry produces. This uses formative characteristics that define a modelling space. The paper also adopts Husserl’s concept or lifeworld, which acts as a channel for complex narrative theory through which regulative processes are enabled.
Open access practices: roadmap to research paper publications in academic institutions
Authors: Enakrire Rexwhite Tega , Ngoaketsi Joseph M. 
Published: February 2020

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate open access practices (OAPs): a roadmap to research paper publications in academic institutions. The rationale that necessitates this scenario was the dwindling nature of the inability of researchers and lecturers/academics in African academic institutions to access related materials in their subject areas, while also advancing effort to publish their research papers in open access.Design/methodology/approachThis paper applied a qualitative research approach, in which literature was harvested from Web of Science for developing and writing the research paper.FindingsThis paper establishes that OAP, when embraced, could advance and transform research paper publication in higher education institutions because its practices are globally welcome. The authors reiterate that considering the benefits accrued to OAPs, knowledge gap in terms of literature and methodological approach still exists in academic institutions in Africa; hence, the authors promote OAPs as a roadmap for research paper publications in academic institutions. It is expected that by OAPs, researchers would no longer struggle to harvest literature, of theses, dissertations and other research papers, deposited in institutional repositories required for deepening their research activities because those literature studies or those documents have to be paid for through subscription fees of published papers and publishing in open access by journals. This is what most academics have experienced because, most times, the literature which academics harvest from the internet and different institutional repositories and databases is already paid for by the different institutions that housed the literature where it is domiciled. For instance, most academic library institutions in the world pay for subscription fees of research papers and documents. This is to advance and facilitate deepened research activities in their institutions, when researchers, academics and students want to harvest materials through their university library websites.Originality/valueThis paper, which considers OAP as a roadmap to research paper publications in academic institutions in Africa, is insightful and unique considering the wave of OAP globally.
Whey protein plus lipoic acid supplementation improves inflammatory and antioxidant markers of patients with acute ischemic stroke
Authors: Sadeghpour Yalda , Taheraghdam Aliakbar , Khalili Mohammad , Hashemilar Mazyar , Sadeghi Hokmabadi Elyar , Shaafi Sheyda , Farhoudi Mehdi , Shakouri Seyed Kazem , Rezaeimanesh Nasim , Savadi Osgouei Daryoush 
Published: February 2020

PurposeAlthough the pathogenesis of stroke is not yet completely elucidated, factors such as oxidative stress and inflammation have been shown to play an important role in this regard. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of whey protein plus lipoic acid on the inflammatory and oxidative stress markers and the prognosis in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients.Design/methodology/approachA double-blind, randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted among 42 patients with the first episode of AIS at the Imam Reza Hospital of the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. The blind research staff randomly assigned patients to two groups of receiving usual hospital gavage (control group) and 1,200 mg of lipoic acid plus 20 g of whey protein in addition to usual hospital gavage (intervention group) for midday meal. Levels of albumin, Interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and clinical outcomes including severity of neurologic damage according to National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and functional state based on modified Rankin Scale (mRS) were evaluated initially and three weeks later.FindingsThere were no significant differences in demographic and baseline characteristics between the two groups (p> 0.05). After three weeks, hs-CRP (p<* 0.01), IL-6 (p= 0.02) and TNF-α(p= 0.01) levels significantly reduced in the intervention group, but no significant changes were observed in cases of albumin, malondialdehyde (MDA) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in this group (p> 0.05). Instead, only IL-6 decreased significantly in the control group (p<* 0.01). In addition, comparing changes of assessed variables between two groups showed no significant improvement in the whey protein plus lipoic acid supplementation group vs the control group (p > 0.05). While there was significant betterment in clinical prognosis parameters within groups, no significant changes were found between groups.Originality/valueThe investigation implied that whey protein plus lipoic acid supplementation has no significant effects on inflammatory and oxidative stress markers compared to the control group of AIS patients. More studies in this field are needed to approve the result.
The Effect of Changes in Monetary Policy on Consumer and Business Confidence
Authors: Kirchner Stephen 
Published: February 2020

AbstractThis article examines the response of consumer and business confidence to five measures of change in Australian monetary policy. Actual, expected and surprise increases in the official cash rate target and related interest rates are shown to negatively impact consumer sentiment. Business confidence is less affected by increases in the cash rate target, but is negatively affected by an increase in the 90‐day bank accepted bill rate. Tests for model stability and asymmetries in the response of sentiment to increases and decreases in interest rates otherwise find only limited evidence for monetary policy having a perverse signalling effect on sentiment.
The convivial and the pastoral in patient–doctor relationships: a multi‐country study of patient stories of care, choice and medical authority in cancer diagnostic processes
Authors: MacArtney John I. , Andersen Rikke S. , Malmström Marlene , Rasmussen Birgit , Ziebland Sue 
Published: February 2020

AbstractExperiences of cancer diagnosis are changing in light of both the increasingly technological‐clinical diagnostic processes and the socio‐political context in which interpersonal relations take place. This has raised questions about how we might understand patient–doctor relationship marked by asymmetries of knowledge and social capital, but that emphasise patients’ empowered choices and individualised care. As part of an interview study of 155 participants with bowel or lung cancer across Denmark, England and Sweden, we explored participants’ stories of the decisions made during their cancer diagnostic process. By focusing on the intersections of care, choice and medical authority – a convivial pastoral dynamic – we provide a conceptual analysis of the normative ambivalences in people's stories of their cancer diagnosis. We found that participants drew from care, choice and medical authority to emphasise their relationality and interdependence with their doctors in their stories of their diagnosis. Importantly negotiations of an asymmetrical patient–doctor relationship were part of an on‐going realisation of the healthcare processes as a human endeavour. We were therefore able to draw attention to the limitations of dichotomising emancipatory‐empowerment discourses and argue for a theorisation of the patient–doctor relationship as a contextually bounded and relationally ambivalent humanity.
Sustainable development in East Africa: impact evaluation of regional agricultural development projects in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda
Authors: Warinda Enock , Nyariki Dickson M , Wambua Stephen , Muasya Reuben M , Hanjra Munir A 
Published: February 2020

AbstractInvestments in agricultural technologies, capacity building and policy harmonization are needed to support sustainable development across Africa. Regional development projects can facilitate the adoption of agricultural technologies and innovations across nation‐state borders and generate benefits for shared prosperity. This paper uses panel data from 1,160 smallholder households including beneficiaries and non‐beneficiaries from five countries in East Africa ‐ Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. From a pool of over 90 projects implemented over a span of 15 years, 23 regional projects are included in this study. The major economic benefits to smallholder participants are higher crop productivity and income, access to adaptable technologies, access to markets, higher livestock and milk production, gender equality, enhanced food security, resilience and capacity building for uptake and scaling up of future innovation platforms. For example, the adoption of low‐cost tissue culture banana by the beneficiaries increased their incomes by 15% in Rwanda while the adoption of appropriate land and water management technologies increased the potato yields from 2.8 tons (USD 2,840/ha) to over 7.5 tons (USD 7,410/ha) in Kenya. The beneficiaries ensured value added to commodities like bananas (for export) and orange‐fleshed sweet potatoes (a nutrition‐sensitive intervention for enhancing domestic intake of vitamin A) in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Additionally, milk production increased from 6 to 11 L per cow per day in Uganda and from 6 to 8 L per cow per day in Tanzania, with increases in sales generating USD 115 per cow per month above the non‐beneficiaries. These results are supported by previous studies on technology adoption, investments in agriculture and well‐being outcomes. Our findings with the higher farm income Difference‐in‐Differences (DiD) estimator for the female beneficiaries compared to male beneficiaries might have important implications for investing in regional development projects that will close the gender gap in agricultural productivity in Africa. Regional projects can also support post‐conflict development efforts for food security and peace in fragile contexts such as in Burundi. Our findings might serve as an input to the African Union's Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, localization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals related to food security and agriculture in Africa and an input to monitoring, evaluation and learning.
Using firefighters as medical first responders to shorten response time in rural areas in Sweden
Authors: Svensson Anders , Elmqvist Carina , Fridlund Bengt , Rask Mikael , Andersson Richard , Stening Kent 
Published: February 2020

AbstractObjectiveTo map out and describe an earlier response by using firefighters as medical first responders on while waiting for the ambulance and first incident person assignments focusing on frequency, event time and survival >30 days after performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation.DesignRetrospective descriptive design.SettingAmbulance service in a county of southern Sweden with a population of 200 000 inhabitants (23/km2).ParticipantsData were collected from four data systems within different organizations; emergency medical communication centre, fire deparment, ambulance services and conty hospital analysis unit.Main outcome measure(s)Data from 600 while waiting for the ambulance assignments, whereof 120 with first incident person present, collected between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2016. Between 1 June 2014 and 1 October 2015, the two fire departments were dually dispatched on out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrests.ResultsThree main findings were made: there was a prolonged process time for dispatching fire fighters on while waiting for the ambulance assignments. Dual dispatches did not shorten the process time for dispatching full‐time firefighters, and, in a majority of while waiting for the ambulance assignments where cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed, firefighters or first incident persons arrived first on the scene.ConclusionMinimising every minute that delays the performance of life‐saving actions is crucial. By dispatching firefighters on while waiting for the ambulance assignments in rural areas, the response time in a majority of assignments was shortened. However, there was substantial delay in dispatching firefighters due to prolonged process time at the emergency medical communication centre. The emergency medical communication centre operator's ability to quickly assess the need for while waiting for the ambulance assignments plays a crucial role in the chain of survival.
Custody Judgments, Ex‐offender Parents, and Best Interests of the Child
Authors: Wertheimer Julie , Wiener Richard L. 
Published: February 2020

AbstractOne collateral consequence of a criminal conviction for parents with young children is the loss of custody, which turns on the subjective “best interests of the child” standard. This research explored whether criminal conviction and substance abuse history influenced custody decisions. Experiment 1 presented community participants with a vignette describing a parent with combinations of manipulated stigmatized characteristics (i.e., gender, race, offender status, and substance abuse). Participants completed a custody determination scale, which showed that mothers with an offense received more favorable custody decisions than fathers with an offense, as did ex‐offenders without substance abuse. Experiment 2 added a positive or negative psychological fitness evaluation of the ex‐offender. It found main effects of the professional parenting evaluation and replicated the parent's substance abuse findings from Experiment 1, but not the offense status result. Most importantly, these results were significant after controlling for the participants’ ratings of the best interests of the child in question and mediation analyses revealed that the child's best interests only partially explained the relationships between substance abuse, the parental evaluation, and the custody determination. This suggests that participants made custody decisions based on factors extraneous to the current legal standard, namely, the best interests of the child.
Interim thymus and activation regulated chemokine versus interim 18F‐fluorodeoxyglucose positron‐emission tomography in classical Hodgkin lymphoma response evaluation
Authors: Plattel Wouter J. , Visser Lydia , Diepstra Arjan , Glaudemans Andor W. J. M. , Nijland Marcel , van Meerten Tom , Kluin‐Nelemans Hanneke C. , van Imhoff Gustaaf W. , van den Berg Anke 
Published: February 2020

SummarySerum thymus and activation regulated chemokine (TARC) levels reflect classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) disease activity and correspond with treatment response. We compared mid‐treatment interim TARC (iTARC) with interim 18F‐fluorodeoxyglucose positron‐emission tomography (iPET) imaging to predict modified progression‐free survival (mPFS) in a group of 95 patients with cHL. High iTARC levels were found in nine and positive iPET in 17 patients. The positive predictive value (PPV) of iTARC for a 5‐year mPFS event was 88% compared to 47% for iPET. The negative predictive value was comparable at 86% for iTARC and 85% for iPET. Serum iTARC levels more accurately reflect treatment response with a higher PPV compared to iPET.
Technology licensing or cost‐reducing outsourcing? Game theoretical analysis on consumers' home bias effects and firms' optimal strategies
Authors: Chen Tai‐Liang , Huang Zuyi 
Published: February 2020

AbstractInternational cost‐reducing outsourcing lowers consumers' perceived quality of products due to home bias. This paper envisages a vertically differentiated Cournot duopoly associated with international, cost‐reducing outsourcing and non‐outsourcing schemes in both licensing and non‐licensing cases. It examines the impacts of home bias effect on the behaviour of firms and welfare. It shows that the optimal strategy of the patent holder varies from situation to situation associated with the home bias effect. In equilibrium, the dominant strategy for the patent holder is licencing and no outsourcing. If a licensee will outsource its inputs after upgrading the quality of its products, then the patent holder will earn higher profits than one in a case where the licensee does not outsource. If both the patent holder and the licensee produce without outsourcing, a welfare‐reducing licensing occurs. On the other hand, if the licensee outsources its production inputs but the patent holder does not outsource, then a welfare‐improving licensing generates a win‐win situation for the patent holder and for society. Furthermore, the smaller the quality gap between two goods prior to implementing licensing, the lower the royalty rate imposed by the patent holder.
An improved long short‐term memory networks with Takagi‐Sugeno fuzzy for traffic speed prediction considering abnormal traffic situation
Authors: George Shiju , Santra Ajit Kumar 
Published: February 2020

AbstractTraffic speed prediction is an emerging paradigm for achieving a better transportation system in smart cities and improving the heavy traffic management in the intelligent transportation system (ITS). The accurate traffic speed prediction is affected by many contextual factors such as abnormal traffic conditions, traffic incidents, lane closures due to construction or events, and traffic congestion. To overcome these problems, we propose a new method named fuzzy optimized long short‐term memory (FOLSTM) neural network for long‐term traffic speed prediction. FOLSTM technique is a hybrid method composed of computational intelligence (CI), machine learning (ML), and metaheuristic techniques, capable of predicting the speed for macroscopic traffic key parameters. First, the proposed hybrid unsupervised learning method, agglomerated hierarchical K‐means (AHK) clustering, divides the input samples into a group of clusters. Second, based on parameters the Gaussian bell‐shaped fuzzy membership function calculates the degree of membership (high, low, and medium) for each cluster using Takagi‐Sugeno fuzzy rules. Finally, the whale optimization algorithm (WOA) is used in LSTM to optimize the parameters obtained by fuzzy rules and calculate the optimal weight value. FOLSTM evaluates the accurate traffic speed from the abnormal traffic data to overcome the nonlinear characteristics. Experimental results demonstrated that our proposed method outperforms the state‐of‐the‐art approaches in terms of metrics such as mean square error (MSE), root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE).
Human disease/clinical medical sciences in dentistry: Current state and future development of undergraduate assessments in the UK and Ireland
Authors: Atkin Philip A. , Willis Amanda , Doncahie Clare , Elledge Ross O. C. , Thomas Steven J. , Ni Riordain Richeal , Galvin Sheila , Marney Clare , Setterfield Jane F. , Smith Peter M. , Hammond Douglas 
Published: February 2020

AbstractIntroductionThe United Kingdom and Ireland teachers of Human Disease/Clinical Medical Science for Dentistry (HD/CMSD) group continue to work together and most recently collaborated to review current and future assessments.Materials and methodsThe first part of the review of assessments in HD/CMSD took place at a face‐to‐face meeting with presentations from delegates on assessments in their home institutions. The second and larger part comprised an online survey where all eighteen schools in the UK and Ireland participated.ResultsAll schools had some element of formative assessment, and the majority had a stand‐alone summative assessment at the end of the HD/CMSD teaching block. Most schools had a written paper and practical elements to their assessments, most commonly a combination of a multiple‐choice type question combined with an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). There was a trend towards the use of single best answer (SBA) questions and a willingness amongst participants to share a question bank. All schools incorporated elements of HD/CMSD in their final examinations.Discussion and ConclusionThis collaboration promoted the sharing of developments in assessment for HD/CMSD and demonstrated a willingness to cooperate between institutions. Assessment in HD/CMSD in the UK and Ireland continues to be refined by those responsible for its content and delivery, and assessment methods are progressing following evidence‐based best practice.