bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A novel deep learning method to segment parathyroid glands on intraoperative videos of thyroid surgery
Authors: Sang Tian , Yu Fan , Zhao Junjuan , Wu Bo , Ding Xuehai , Shen Chentian 
Published: April 2024

IntroductionThe utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) augments intraoperative safety and surgical training. The recognition of parathyroid glands (PGs) is difficult for inexperienced surgeons. The aim of this study was to find out whether deep learning could be used to auxiliary identification of PGs on intraoperative videos in patients undergoing thyroid surgery.MethodsIn this retrospective study, 50 patients undergoing thyroid surgery between 2021 and 2023 were randomly assigned (7:3 ratio) to a training cohort (n = 35) and a validation cohort (n = 15). The combined datasets included 98 videos with 9,944 annotated frames. An independent test cohort included 15 videos (1,500 frames) from an additional 15 patients. We developed a deep-learning model Video-Trans-U-HRNet to segment parathyroid glands in surgical videos, comparing it with three advanced medical AI methods on the internal validation cohort. Additionally, we assessed its performance against four surgeons (2 senior surgeons and 2 junior surgeons) on the independent test cohort, calculating precision and recall metrics for the model.ResultsOur model demonstrated superior performance compared to other AI models on the internal validation cohort. The DICE and accuracy achieved by our model were 0.760 and 74.7% respectively, surpassing Video-TransUnet (0.710, 70.1%), Video-SwinUnet (0.754, 73.6%), and TransUnet (0.705, 69.4%). For the external test, our method got 89.5% precision 77.3% recall and 70.8% accuracy. In the statistical analysis, our model demonstrated results comparable to those of senior surgeons (senior surgeon 1: χ2 = 0.989, p = 0.320; senior surgeon 2: χ2 = 1.373, p = 0.241) and outperformed 2 junior surgeons (junior surgeon 1: χ2 = 3.889, p = 0.048; junior surgeon 2: χ2 = 4.763, p = 0.029).DiscussionWe introduce an innovative intraoperative video method for identifying PGs, highlighting the potential advancements of AI in the surgical domain. The segmentation method employed for parathyroid glands in intraoperative videos offer surgeons supplementary guidance in locating real PGs. The method developed may have utility in facilitating training and decreasing the learning curve associated with the use of this technology.
Active Regulation of Electromagnetic Force in Wireless Power Transfer Systems
Authors: Hu Yandong , Dong Wenbo , Li Xiang , Zhang Hanxun , Men Liangzhi 
Published: April 2024

To reduce the interference from the electromagnetic force caused by coupling coils due to distance changes in a wireless power transfer (WPT) system, this paper conducts a theoretical analysis of the factors influencing the electromagnetic force experienced by the receiving coil. Maxwell electromagnetic simulation is used for modeling and analysis, revealing the trends in the electromagnetic force exerted on the receiving coil. Based on this analysis, a method is proposed that actively adjusts the working frequency of WPT to alter the current phases of the transmitting and receiving coils, thereby regulating the magnitude of the force on the receiving coil. Finally, mechanical tests, including torque experiments, were conducted to validate the proposed method. The electromagnetic force on the coil in the microgravity isolation platform of a space station was reduced from 961 μN to 113 μN, a level which plays an important role in improving the microgravity index of the system.
Effective Recreational Activities in Urban Green Spaces for Mental Health of Scientific Researchers
Authors: Yan Jinshan , Wu Yashi , Shao Guofan , Qiu Quanyi , Tang Lina 
Published: April 2024

Scientific researchers are known for their demanding intellectual efforts and are particularly susceptible to mental health disorders. Urban green spaces (UGSs) are beneficial for people’s mental health, yet there is limited research on what types of UGSs and activities are effective for improving researchers’ mental health. Here, we investigate if researchers’ mental health can be enhanced by visiting affiliated green spaces, pocket parks, comprehensive parks, and coastal beaches. The research hypothesis was that the natural and social pathways of recreational ecosystem services jointly reduce researchers’ mental stress and attentional fatigue. The results suggest that nature contact, nature connectedness, and social interaction directly or indirectly have positive impacts on scientific researchers’ mental health. Both nature connectedness and social interaction serve as crucial mediating variables between nature contact and mental health. In terms of direct impact, high-frequency recreational activities in small UGSs with high accessibility, markedly relieve stress, whereas visit frequency in large UGSs with low accessibility has a limited effect on long-term mental stress relief. In terms of indirect impact, small UGSs alleviate attentional fatigue through the mediation of nature connectedness, while large UGSs mainly mitigate mental stress and attentional fatigue through the mediation of social interaction. This study provides a natural-social integrated perspective on recreational ecosystem services to enhance the well-being of scientific researchers. We provide recommendations for researchers to mitigate work-related stress and fatigue and to offer information useful for decision-making support to create a healthy environment for scientific researchers.
Gender Diversity: An Empirical Study on 4.151 US Investment Funds
Authors: Arduini Simona , BECK TOMMASO 
Published: April 2024

The aim of this paper is to explore the issue of gender diversity (GD) in relation to the world of investment funds. In recent times, in fact, savers’ choice does not only converge on the mere pursuit of profit. Investment funds, in this scenario, are increasingly judged according to their environmental and ethical actions, and not just by the promised rewards. Individual and institutional investors, on this wake, are aligning their behavior with their values by taking responsibility for the investments they select. It is central, therefore, to understand and observe how issues such as GD are evaluated, managed and converted into rating values by funds. This paper is supported by a mixed research methodology involving, on the one hand, an in-depth literature review on the aforementioned topic and, on the other hand, a statistical study developed with the “R-Studio” program. Through the statistical derivation, this study proposes an analysis of histograms and scatter plots on a sample of 4.151 investment funds and the GD-related rating judgments compared with their net assets and longevity. Based on our findings, funds with higher net assets achieve high rating classes but not excellence. In fact, larger funds reside in lower rating classes. Similarly, it is also valid for the amount of capital managed by the funds. From the empirical evidence we provide, it can also be seen that, there is no evidence between GD rating category and youngest funds longevity. Filling a gap that exists in the literature on GD-related rating assessment in investment funds, the originality of this paper concerns the descriptive statistics proposed. In fact, the paper contributes to the literature on GD by enriching the analysis of the factors surveyed for its measurement and rating judgment. This study may have both theoretical and practical implications. From a practical perspective, the statistical evidence in this paper could be a guideline for practitioners oriented toward ethical and profitable investment choices. From a theoretical point of view, instead, GD evaluation and monitoring could be a tool to reduce problems related to transparency and legitimacy theory, mitigating information asymmetry between parties and aligning them on potential risks.
Awareness of Women's Inclusion in STEM: Twitter Data in Italy
Authors: Leggerini Chiara , Bannò Mariasole 
Published: April 2024

This paper focuses on assessing public awareness of women in STEM disciplines. The underrepresentation of women in STEM has garnered recent attention, and this study is grounded in Social Cognitive Career Theory, which examines how individual, contextual, and experiential factors impact interests and goals in STEM. Individual factors, such as self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations, play a crucial role in shaping career choices. Contextual factors influence women's leadership roles, particularly in male-dominated environments, and may differ in female-majority settings. Additionally, social modelling, where individuals learn from observing others, contributes to self-efficacy. Our study focuses on contextual factors that influence awareness of women in STEM. We employ a panel-type econometric model spanning 2014-2022 and analyse 29,985 tweets to explore the influence of socioeconomic factors on public opinions in various Italian regions. Italy's significant regional disparities make it an ideal setting for this research, considering factors like human capital, industry, and government. The managerial implications underscore the importance of understanding public opinion to inform decisions that promote women's inclusion in STEM fields for policymakers and corporate management. This study's unique use of geolocated data on Twitter adds a novel dimension to the intersection of STEM and women.
Gender Differentials for Participation in Producer Organization Among Smallholder Farmers: Evidence from Nigeria
Authors: Adewusi Oluwatosin , Okoruwa Victor Olusegun , Salman Kabir , Alawode Olubunmi , Adewusi Oluwafemi 
Published: April 2024

Linking smallholder farmers to formal markets through producer organizations is increasingly becoming a pathway toward agricultural inclusivity. This study investigated the disparities in participation between male and female groups in Nigeria. Data was collected from 604 farmers and decomposition analysis for three gender categories was carried out using the Fairlie decomposition technique. The results showed a 24.2% higher actual mean probability of participation for males over females and a 20.1% actual mean probability higher for male-headed households compared to female-headed households. There was also a 27.59% actual mean probability higher for the de facto female-headed households over de jure female-headed households. Diverse factors were found to push the gender gap at various magnitudes. Interventions targeting gender equality should be entrenched in understanding the social and cultural practices and norms in Nigeria.
Up-Cycling Barbie: “Bad Feminism” for Mixed-Up Times
Authors: De Castell Suzanne , Jenson Jennifer 
Published: April 2024

This paper explores both the critical and the contradictory ways ‘gender’ is enacted in what has become a blockbuster at once wildly popular, and as well a site of controversy and censorship. Examining the reporting on and reviews of the film Barbie, providing some of the actual history of its design, as against its narrative re-presentation in the film, looking in particular at its ironic remediation of gendered games and play, the paper also identifies some of the cinematic techniques through which the movie reinvents Barbie as a filmic feminist, through a deconstructive and reconstructive upcycling of the iconic material Barbie en plastique. The director’s embrace of an explicitly feminist narrative re-frames a 60-year-old doll and upcycles Barbie for a new generation, reaching an unprecedented global audience with its diverse, inclusive casting, its satirizing of patriarchy and a passionately feminist speechifying moment that couldn’t happen nowadays across an increasingly litigation-sensitive academy, yet has gained astonishing traction in popular media, and enthusiastic re-citation in TikTok. Those commitments, however, sit uncomfortably with the Mattel Toy company’s embrace of a new market for a product at risk of obsolescence from a generation of mothers raised on one or another ‘wave’ of feminist thought, and the considerably different versions of feminism that the film avows, and those it enacts.
Gaming Equity: Women, Videogame Companies, and Public Discourse
Authors: Jenson Jennifer , De Castell Suzanne , Kanapelka Olga , Skardzius Karen 
Published: April 2024

It is by now well documented and widely acknowledged that the videogame industry has since its inception been a bastion of hegemonic masculinity. Only more recently, however, with events like Gamergate, #metoo, and the public accusations of workplace toxicity and sexism brought against prominent AAA giants like Riot and Activision Blizzard King, have game companies initiated policies and processes for change—or at least what looks like change, based on company websites and interviews with female employees. Does this mean women are being heard, at last? These are turbulent times for the industry, with legal actions, policy shifts, personal callings-out and billion-dollar corporate mergers and restructurings. What has changed and what is changing for women in games? How, and by whom, is that change being made? This paper begins with a closer look at what women have said since these events, about their experiences, expectations and frustrations working in the industry. Has the public scrutiny turned upon the games industry, post-gamergate and beyond influenced what women have to say about their conditions and experiences working in games? Are they better supported in taking the risks and shouldering the costs of speaking up? What workplace changes in policy or practice may have resulted from women giving public voice to their experiences? Building upon an earlier study of public speech by women about their experiences in the videogames industry (de Castell & Skardzius, 2019), this study both updates and extends its database, and deepens its analysis, by looking explicitly at a speech event’s context of elicitation: who elicits the “event” of public speech, on what topics, with what purpose? Through that dialogical lens we can make more visible and explicit how minority self-representation and marginalized identities and voices are deployed to bolster business as usual, even as they are still expected to lead the charges and fight the battles for a just and inclusive working life in games.
Can Participatory Action Research Deepen the Understanding of Intersectionality in the Field of Biodiversity Research?
Authors: Thaler Anita , Karner Sandra 
Published: April 2024

Halting biodiversity loss and reducing inequalities are targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are not within reach. In 2022, the European Commission started to explicitly include gender with an intersectional perspective in their Horizon Europe working programme. In this paper, research is presented that tackles the very interlinkage of social inequalities in biodiversity studies. The first – conceptual – phase of an ongoing biodiversity project is analysed, explaining the knowledge co-creation process within a transdisciplinary, international team of researchers and practitioners, aiming to elaborate a methodological framework of intersectionality. Five intensive biodiversity case studies from Norway, Germany, Austria, Great Britain, and Switzerland, and their specific understandings of the concept of intersectionality are presented in detail and analysed with an action research approach. The outcome of this conceptual project phase is a report, which was further analysed regarding the development of approaches to include intersectionality in overall eleven biodiversity case studies, with a quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The main conclusion of this research is that intersectionality is a hard to grasp concept outside gender studies. Thus, it is on the one hand used as a synonym for terms like sociodemographic variables, and on the other hand closely related to diversity. It depends on the definition of diversity, whether these terms can be used almost interchangeably. This paper argues that the general focus of diversity – inclusion of all potential persons – is different to the focus of intersectionality, pointing towards discriminations at the crossroads of social or political categories. The latter is of specific relevance for environmental justice issues by addressing neglected, excluded or oppressed persons and their knowledges.
Role of Education and Training to Make Agritourism A Success Story in India
Authors: Sandhu Navjot 
Published: April 2024

: The paper explores the role of entrepreneurship education and training amongst women entrepreneurs to promote agritourism sector of the Indian economy. This study employ qualitative and quantitative approaches to gather data questionnaires survey and in-depth face to face interviews, based on a semi-structured questionnaire. The research involved a matched sample of 10 registered farmers (from the Punjab Heritage Tourism Promotion Board) and 200 unregistered male and female farmers selected randomly from the Indian State of Punjab. Quantitative analysis suggests that there is a direct and significant impact of EET on the management, efficiency, and use of farming land. The findings also suggested that the fall in the agricultural productivity due to labour shortages; revenue losses are rising as commodity prices are falling. Therefore, it is not a surprise that farmers seek to supplement income through alternative means to enhance their socio-economic stability and viability. The findings suggest that there is high incidence of migration amongst male farming population and female farmers lack EET and reluctance on their part to work with external male population. However, analysis of male owner-managers of micro and small agritourist firms also reported to have lower levels of EET and hence the need for EET male and females; thus, EET and adequate access to finance were two major determinants of agritourist firms’ success in Indian Punjab.
From Norm and Theory to Practice: a Tailor-made GEP for the Institut de Ciències del Mar
Authors: Donoso Lopez Silvia , Garcés Esther , Torrecilla Elena 
Published: April 2024

The European Commission is fully committed to promoting gender equality in research and innovation. It is a priority for the European Research Area (ERA) and a cross-cutting principle under Horizon Europe. Gender equality plans (GEPs) have been established as the primary instrument for implementing institutional changes in Research Performing Organizations (RPOs) to address structural barriers to gender equality in research and innovation. Within this framework, specific objectives are defined, and thematic areas for intervention are recommended. In this regard, the formulation of a GEP for the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM), implied a broader challenge as it had to comply with diverse national regulatory frameworks. Nevertheless, the variety of reference frameworks, instruments and approaches did not condition the aspiration to design a GEP that fully responded to the specific context of the ICM. Thus, the GEP became the roadmap to generating an organisation cultural change that allows the effective integration of gender equality across all its areas and actions. Drawing from ICM’s experiences, we aim to share the path undertaken by ICM and shed light on the multifaceted challenges encountered during the GEP’s design and successful implementation. There is a pressing need to transition from mere adherence to the normative framework to achieving genuine gender equality in practice. Transforming normative principles into practice requires tailored and individualised strategies, feasible objectives with measurable results, appropriate measures to achieve them, and indicators to measure progress. This challenge involves effective institutional changes that remove obstacles to gender equality, both inherent in the research system and stemming from the institutional model of human resources management, funding, decision-making and research programs. The commitment to gender equality must transcend the field of research and research to encompass all staff and institutional practices. Successfully transitioning from theory to practice requires institutional commitment, data-driven decision-making, resource allocation, stakeholder engagement, internal collaboration, responsibility, leadership, and strong gender expertise. This paper stems from the European Horizon Project Leading Towards Sustainable Gender Equality Plans in RPOs (LeTSGEPs).
Implementation Research with Expressive Arts Therapy (EAT) to Support the Newcomer Survivors of Gender-based Domestic Violence (GBDV) in Toronto
Authors: Alamgir Akm , Kong Christen 
Published: April 2024

Context: Canada hosts thousands of newcomers from disadvantaged economies. Because of cultural non-essentialism and stigma, newcomer women in Canada embrace multi-level barriers to express their everyday discrimination and trauma experienced at home. Language creates another level of challenge. To understand the under-expressed domestic violence and the level of their trauma, this study added an arts-based evidence-generation technique followed by healing strategies by expressive arts modalities for this implementation research. Methodology: This mixed-method implementation research adopted an outcome-harvesting approach. Peer researchers conducted a collaborative review of the literature to find the best arts practices for identifying violence (type, bases, frequency, and severity), sort out the best modalities of expressive arts therapy (EAT) for such a vulnerable population group, and efficient measures to evaluate the intervention findings. Intervention: After screening for eligible participants (not in a crisis state) and their preparedness, a series of twelve sessions of EAT were conducted by a registered therapist on a closed group of newcomer participants. In a pilot phase, therapies are completed with three linguistic newcomer women groups- Arabic, Farsi/Dari, and Bengali. Three more groups (women speaking Tigrinya, newcomer women living in a shelter, and members of the LGBTQ2S+ communities) are selected for the next therapy sessions. The three sequential modalities were movement and discussion, storytelling and cognitive, and visual art and journaling. The key procedures were psychoeducation, self-regulation, co-regulation, strength-based, cognitive/tactile, and collective painting. The peer researcher conducted a 1-to-1 telephone interview with every participant for wellness and vulnerability checks three months after the last session. A Focus Group Discussion (FGD) is done for every group six months after the last session to assess sustainability and emerging challenges. Call into action: After triangulation of quantitative, qualitative, and arts-based evaluation findings, the study team prepares a scalable culturally appropriate practice guideline, a resource navigation toolkit for the survivors, and a policy advocacy document for necessary legislative amendment.