bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Publicly Reported Patient Satisfaction Scores in Academic Otolaryngology Departments
Authors: Shintani Smith Stephanie , Cheng Brian T. , Kern Robert C. , Cameron Kenzie A. , Micco Alan G. 
Published: April 2021

Objectives/HypothesisDespite controversy regarding their impact and validity, there is a rising national focus on patient satisfaction scores (PSS). We describe the landscape of online PSS as posted by academic otolaryngology practices.Study DesignRetrospective cross‐sectional study.MethodsWebsites of academic otolaryngology programs were reviewed for PSS scores, provider type, and geographic location. Gender was determined by picture or profile pronouns. Years of experience were determined by year of initial American Board of Otolaryngology‐Head and Neck Surgery certification. We defined PSS derived from Press‐Ganey or Clinician and Group Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems surveys as “standardized PSS”. We determined potential associations between provider characteristics and standardized PSS.ResultsOut of 115 Otolaryngology‐Head and Neck Surgery academic programs, 40 (35%) posted a total of 64,638 online PSS surveys (nonstandardized plus standardized) of 507 unique otolaryngology care providers. Standardized PSS were posted for 473 providers (370 [78%] male; 446 physicians; 27 advanced practice providers). Median overall standardized PSS was 4.8 (interquartile range 4.7–4.9; range 3.8–5.0). PSS were similar between gender, provider type, and years of experience. Male providers had more surveys than female providers (149 vs. 93; P < .01). There was a linear relationship between number of surveys and years of experience (P < .01), but no relationship between number of surveys and overall standardized PSS.ConclusionsPatient satisfaction with otolaryngology providers at academic institutions is consistently high, as demonstrated by high online PSS with little variability. The limited variation in PSS may limit their usefulness in differentiating providers and quality of care.Level of EvidenceNA Laryngoscope, 131:2204–2210, 2021
Factors influencing users' adoption and use of conversational agents: A systematic review
Authors: Ling Erin Chao , Tussyadiah Iis , Tuomi Aarni , Stienmetz Jason , Ioannou Athina 
Published: April 2021

AbstractAs artificially intelligent conversational agents (ICAs) become a popular customer service solution for businesses, understanding the drivers of user acceptance of ICAs is critical to ensure its successful implementation. To provide a comprehensive review of factors affecting consumers' adoption and use of ICAs, this study performs a systematic literature review of extant empirical research on this topic. Based on a literature search performed in July 2019 followed by a snowballing approach, 18 relevant articles were analyzed. Factors found to influence human‐machine cognitive engagement were categorized into usage‐related, agent‐related, user‐related, attitude and evaluation, and other factors. This study proposed a collective model of users' acceptance and use of ICAs, whereby user acceptance is driven mainly by usage benefits, which are influenced by agent and user characteristics. The study emphasizes the proposed model's context‐dependency, as relevant factors depend on usage settings, and provides several strategic business implications, including service design, personalization, and customer relationship management.
Sex differences in clinical characteristics and risk factors for disease severity of hospitalized patients with COVID‐19
Authors: Wang Jing‐Jing , Su Yun‐Juan , Wang Qi , Cao Ying , Wang Ai‐Bin , Ding Rui , Xie Wen 
Published: April 2021

AbstractRecent studies reported sex differences in patients with coronavirus disease‐2019 (COVID‐19). We aim to analyze sex differences in clinical characteristics and risk factors for disease severity of hospitalized patients with COVID‐19 in Beijing. All adults (185 cases) diagnosed with COVID‐19 and admitted to Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University were included in samples. The median age of all patients was 41 years. The mean body mass index (BMI) of males was relatively higher compared to females (p < 0.001). The proportion of male patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), history of smoking and drinking was higher than females. Male patients developed more clinical symptoms, obtained more abnormal laboratory test results, while they were less aware of care‐seeking than female patients. There were no significant differences in clinical complications and outcomes between two groups. Age (odds ratio [OR]: 1.082; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.034–1.132; p = 0.001) and BMI (OR: 1.237; 95% CI: 1.041–1.47; p = 0.016) were considered risk factors for refractory pneumonia in multivariate regression analysis. The findings of the current study showed that SARS‐CoV‐2 was more likely to affect older males with comorbidities. Further researches into factors underlying obesity and disease severity may provide mechanistic insight into COVID‐19 development.
A size‐adaptive 32‐channel array coil for awake infant neuroimaging at 3 Tesla MRI
Authors: Ghotra Anpreet , Kosakowski Heather L. , Takahashi Atsushi , Etzel Robin , May Markus W. , Scholz Alina , Jansen Andreas , Wald Lawrence L. , Kanwisher Nancy , Saxe Rebecca , Keil Boris 
Published: April 2021

PurposeFunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during infancy poses challenges due to practical, methodological, and analytical considerations. The aim of this study was to implement a hardware‐related approach to increase subject compliance for fMRI involving awake infants. To accomplish this, we designed, constructed, and evaluated an adaptive 32‐channel array coil.MethodsTo allow imaging with a close‐fitting head array coil for infants aged 1‐18 months, an adjustable head coil concept was developed. The coil setup facilitates a half‐seated scanning position to improve the infant’s overall scan compliance. Earmuff compartments are integrated directly into the coil housing to enable the usage of sound protection without losing a snug fit of the coil around the infant’s head. The constructed array coil was evaluated from phantom data using bench‐level metrics, signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) performances, and accelerated imaging capabilities for both in‐plane and simultaneous multislice (SMS) reconstruction methodologies. Furthermore, preliminary fMRI data were acquired to evaluate the in vivo coil performance.ResultsPhantom data showed a 2.7‐fold SNR increase on average when compared with a commercially available 32‐channel head coil. At the center and periphery regions of the infant head phantom, the SNR gains were measured to be 1.25‐fold and 3‐fold, respectively. The infant coil further showed favorable encoding capabilities for undersampled k‐space reconstruction methods and SMS techniques.ConclusionsAn infant‐friendly head coil array was developed to improve sensitivity, spatial resolution, accelerated encoding, motion insensitivity, and subject tolerance in pediatric MRI. The adaptive 32‐channel array coil is well‐suited for fMRI acquisitions in awake infants.
An inverse problem of identifying the time‐dependent potential in a fourth‐order pseudo‐parabolic equation from additional condition
Authors: Huntul Mousa J. , Tamsir Mohammad , Dhiman Neeraj 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThe aim of this work is to identify numerically, for the first time, the time‐dependent potential coefficient in a fourth‐order pseudo‐parabolic equation with nonlocal initial data, nonlocal boundary conditions, and the boundary data as overdetermination condition. This problem emerges significantly in the modeling of various phenomena in physics and engineering. From literature we already know that this inverse problem has a unique solution. However, the problem is still ill‐posed by being unstable to noise in the input data. For the numerical realization, we apply the quintic B‐spline (QB‐spline) collocation method for discretizing the pseudo‐parabolic problem and the Tikhonov regularization for finding a stable and accurate solution. The resulting nonlinear minimization problem is solved using the MATLAB subroutinelsqnonlin. Moreover, the von Neumann stability analysis is also discussed.
Salivary glands are a target for SARS‐CoV‐2: a source for saliva contamination
Authors: Matuck Bruno Fernandes , Dolhnikoff Marisa , Duarte‐Neto Amaro Nunes , Maia Gilvan , Gomes Sara Costa , Sendyk Daniel Isaac , Zarpellon Amanda , de Andrade Nathalia Paiva , Monteiro Renata Aparecida , Pinho João Renato Rebello , Gomes‐Gouvêa Michele Soares , Souza Suzana COM , Kanamura Cristina , Mauad Thais , Saldiva Paulo Hilário Nascimento , Braz‐Silva Paulo H , Caldini Elia Garcia , da Silva Luiz Fernando Ferraz 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThe ability of the new coronavirus SARS‐CoV‐2 to spread and contaminate is one of the determinants of the COVID‐19 pandemic status. SARS‐CoV‐2 has been detected in saliva consistently, with similar sensitivity to that observed in nasopharyngeal swabs. We conducted ultrasound‐guided postmortem biopsies in COVID‐19 fatal cases. Samples of salivary glands (SGs; parotid, submandibular, and minor) were obtained. We analyzed samples using RT‐qPCR, immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy, and histopathological analysis to identify SARS‐CoV‐2 and elucidate qualitative and quantitative viral profiles in salivary glands. The study included 13 female and 11 male patients, with a mean age of 53.12 years (range 8–83 years). RT‐qPCR for SARS‐CoV‐2 was positive in 30 SG samples from 18 patients (60% of total SG samples and 75% of all cases). Ultrastructural analyses showed spherical 70–100 nm viral particles, consistent in size and shape with the Coronaviridae family, in the ductal lining cell cytoplasm, acinar cells, and ductal lumen of SGs. There was also degeneration of organelles in infected cells and the presence of a cluster of nucleocapsids, which suggests viral replication in SG cells. Qualitative histopathological analysis showed morphologic alterations in the duct lining epithelium characterized by cytoplasmic and nuclear vacuolization, as well as nuclear pleomorphism. Acinar cells showed degenerative changes of the zymogen granules and enlarged nuclei. Ductal epithelium and serous acinar cells showed intense expression of ACE2 and TMPRSS receptors. An anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2 antibody was positive in 8 (53%) of the 15 tested cases in duct lining epithelial cells and acinar cells of major SGs. Only two minor salivary glands were positive for SARS‐CoV‐2 by immunohistochemistry. Salivary glands are a reservoir for SARS‐CoV‐2 and provide a pathophysiological background for studies that indicate the use of saliva as a diagnostic method for COVID‐19 and highlight this biological fluid's role in spreading the disease. © 2021 The Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Corneal confocal microscopy: potential usage in the context of diabetes mellitus
Authors: Bondugulapati LN Rao , Narayen Nitesh 
Published: April 2021

AbstractDiabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a difficult diagnosis to make, especially in its early stages. Standard practice has been to take judicious clinical history and examination with 10gm monofilament, which not only misses the early disease but also lacks the ability to detect small fibre neuropathy. Given the morbidity, mortality, as well as the cost implications diabetic foot ulcer disease has, it is crucial to diagnose DPN early to prevent the complications associated with it. Here, we discuss the utility of corneal confocal microscopy as a potential tool for early diagnosis of DPN, quantify its severity, and assess therapeutic benefit to identify nerve fibre repair in the context of disease modifying treatments of DPN. Copyright © 2021 John Wiley & Sons.
Teaching in the shadow of terrorism: An attempt of schools' rehabilitation
Authors: Memon Ubedullah , Ali Anees J. , Nisa Zaib U. , Raza Ali , Nisar Nabeel 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThe emergence of terrorism against girls' education continues to prevent a large number of girls from attending school. The imminent fear of terrorist attacks also infiltrates the female teaching fraternity through their perceived job risk, job anxiety, and death sensitivity. This study echoes the female teachers' vulnerability through time‐lagged data gathered from Pakistan's terrorism‐affected areas. The findings unveiled the negative role of female teachers' perceived threats of terrorism in stimulating their job anxiety. This study also investigated the moderating effect of female teachers' perceived resilience in a jeopardizing context. The results of the study unveiled a significant positive association between female teachers' perceived threats of terrorism and their perceived job risk. The findings also confirmed a significant positive association between female teachers' perceived job risk and job anxiety. Furthermore, the mediating role of perceived job risk between perceived threats of terrorism and job anxiety was confirmed. Finally, the buffering effect of female teachers' perceived resilience weakens the link between perceived job risk and job anxiety. The results showed that female teachers' perceived job risk accounted for 31.8% of the variance in their job anxiety. The study's scope attempts to address the sensitive issue of society and provides a viable solution.
Identification of Spanish third graders at risk of math problems: Usefulness of number sense based screening measures
Authors: de León Sara C. , Jiménez Juan E. , García Eduardo , Gutiérrez Nuria 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThis study aimed to explore the utility of a math curriculum‐based measurement (M‐CBM) to identify Spanish‐speaking students at risk of math failure in third grade. The M‐CBM includes a set of number sense based single and composite screening for third graders. The study's sample included 236 Spanish third‐graders from the Canary Islands tested in the fall, winter, and spring. Reliability and validity of all measures were explored, finding adequate indexes. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) and Hierarchical linear modeling analyses were conducted for both single and composite measures. All the measures revealed an area under the ROC curve values at or above 0.84, the composite measures ranging from 0.86 to 0.94. When comparing the single and composite measures, the latter revealed a higher classification accuracy for identifying students at risk in third grade than quantity discrimination, missing number, and multi‐digit computation measures, but not for single‐digit computation and place value measures. Finally, significant differences were found between at‐risk and non‐risk students learning growth throughout the school year.
Credibility in enhanced self‐regulation: The case of the European data protection regime
Authors: Medzini Rotem 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThis article builds upon the literature on regulatory intermediation to answer how and why European rule‐makers rely on data protection officers (DPOs) to shape the self‐regulation of private and public organizations regarding the processing of personal information. Based on the theory‐testing process‐tracing methodology, the article finds that while the old data protection regime (1995–2016) allowed national rule‐makers to pursue their preferred policy paths regarding the regulation of DPOs, this is not the case for the new data protection regime (from 2016). The article argues that a combination of two causal mechanisms—supranational and functional—has led European rule‐takers to institutionalize the designation of DPOs within broad categories of regulated organizations to motivate credibility toward data protection. The article concludes that while this policy decision enhances the self‐regulation capabilities of rule‐takers with the professional accountability and expertise of DPOs, European politics have made the reliance on DPOs more susceptible to the short‐term interests of rule‐takers.
Shared decision making for children with chronic respiratory failure—It takes a village and a process
Authors: Kevill Katharine , Ker Grace , Meyer Rina 
Published: April 2021

AbstractBackground and ObjectivesShared decision making (SDM) before nonurgent tracheostomy in a child with chronic respiratory failure (CRF) is often recommended, but has proven challenging to implement in practice. We hypothesize that utilization of the microsystem model for analysis of the complex ecosystem in which SDM occurs will yield insights that enable formation of a reproducible, measurable SDM process.MethodsRetrospective chart review of a case series of children with CRF in whom a SDM process was pursued. The process included a palliative care consult, a validated decision aid and 12 key questions designed to elucidate information integral to an informed decision. Investigators reviewed a single hospital admission for each child, focusing on the 3 core elements of a medical microsystem—the patient, the providers, and information.ResultsTwenty‐nine patients who met inclusion criteria ranged in age from 0 to 19.5 years (median 1.7) and remained in the hospital from 10 to 316 days (median 38). Patients were medically complex with multiple and varied respiratory diagnoses, multiple and varied comorbidities, and varying psychosocial environments. 14/29 children received tracheostomies. Each child encountered a mean of 6.2 medical specialties, 1.9 surgical specialties and 8.5 nonphysician led services. Answers to 12 key questions were not documented systematically and often not found in the electronic medical record.ConclusionA unique SDM microsystem is formed around each child but not optimally utilized. Explicit recognition of these microsystems would enable team formation and an SDM process comprised of measurable steps and communication patterns.
A Viscoelastic Constitutive Model of Propellant with Pressure Cure
Authors: Cui Zhanxin , Li Haiyang , Shen Zhibin , Cui Huiru 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThe application of pressure cure molding technology can effectively reduce the structural integrity problems of casting solid rocket motors. In order to describe the curing and cooling process under this new technology more realistically, it is decomposed into two processes, pressurization curing, and pressure relief cooling and a time‐varying segmented solid propellant intrinsic equation applicable to the pressure cure molding technology is proposed. The constitutive equation takes into account the change in material properties caused by the change in the state of the propellant during the curing process. In order to accurately model the changes in mechanical properties of the propellant during curing, the present constitutive equations for this process are rewritten in incremental form and implemented in the user subroutine UMAT of the finite element analysis platform ABAQUS. The detailed derivation steps of the constitutive equation are introduced in this paper, and the subsequent application analysis is carried out with reference to the star‐shaped grain. The final stress and strain state of the propellant after cooling is used as the main analytical index. The results show that the pressure cure molding technology can effectively reduce the residual stress and the residual strain on the inner surface of the propellant grain. The pressure cure effect on the outer surface of the grain is relatively small compared to the overall reduction. The time‐varying constitutive model provides technical support for a more accurate description of the pressure cure process.
Implicit‐Euler based digital implementation for constrained stabilization of second‐order systems
Authors: Xiong Xiaogang , Sachan Ankit , Huang Ruining , Kumar Pal Anil , Kamal Shyam , Chen Wei 
Published: April 2021

AbstractIn this article, an implicit Euler algorithm for digital implementation of constrained stabilization is studied for the second‐order systems. For that, a switching controller is designed in a discrete‐time framework such that the system's position output converges to some predefined range, that is, ϱ ∈ (−ε, ε) in finite‐time while the velocity output converges to the origin, that is, , in finite‐time. The switching controller is switched to the implicit Euler implementation of twisting algorithm when ϱ ∉ (−ε, ε) and to an implicit Euler implementation of first‐order sliding mode control when ϱ ∈ (−ε, ε). The combination of the two implicit Euler implementations achieves discrete‐time constrained stabilization of second‐order systems, avoiding the chattering caused by conventional explicit integration schemes. The usefulness of the proposed algorithm for constrained stabilization is illustrated by considering the container‐slosh coupled dynamical system.
Supervised compression of big data
Authors: Joseph V. Roshan , Mak Simon 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThe phenomenon of big data has become ubiquitous in nearly all disciplines, from science to engineering. A key challenge is the use of such data for fitting statistical and machine learning models, which can incur high computational and storage costs. One solution is to perform model fitting on a carefully selected subset of the data. Various data reduction methods have been proposed in the literature, ranging from random subsampling to optimal experimental design‐based methods. However, when the goal is to learn the underlying input–output relationship, such reduction methods may not be ideal, since it does not make use of information contained in the output. To this end, we propose a supervised data compression method calledsupercompress, which integrates output information by sampling data from regions most important for modeling the desired input–output relationship. An advantage ofsupercompressis that it is nonparametric—the compression method does not rely on parametric modeling assumptions between inputs and output. As a result, the proposed method is robust to a wide range of modeling choices. We demonstrate the usefulness ofsupercompressover existing data reduction methods, in both simulations and a taxicab predictive modeling application.
Design and evaluation of a scalable Internet of Things backend for smart ports
Authors: Bracke Vincent , Sebrechts Merlijn , Moons Bart , Hoebeke Jeroen , De Turck Filip , Volckaert Bruno 
Published: April 2021

AbstractInternet of Things (IoT) technologies, when adequately integrated, cater for logistics optimisation and operations' environmental impact monitoring, both key aspects for today's EU ports management. This article presents Obelisk, a scalable and multi‐tenant cloud‐based IoT integration platform used in the EU H2020 PortForward project. The landscape of IoT protocols being particularly fragmented, the first role of Obelisk is to provide uniform access to data originating from a myriad of devices and protocols. Interoperability is achieved through adapters that provide flexibility and evolvability in protocol and format mapping. Additionally, due to ports operating in a hub model with various interacting actors, a second role of Obelisk is to secure access to data. This is achieved through encryption and isolation for data transport and processing, respectively, while user access control is ensured through authentication and authorisation standards. Finally, as ports IoTisation will further evolve, a third need for Obelisk is to scale with the data volumes it must ingest and process. Platform scalability is achieved by means of a reactive micro‐services based design. Those three essential characteristics are detailed in this article with a specific focus on how to achieve IoT data platform scalability. By means of an air quality monitoring use‐case deployed in the city of Antwerp, the scalability of the platform is evaluated. The evaluation shows that the proposed reactive micro‐service based design allows for horizontal scaling of the platform as well as for logarithmic time complexity of its service time.