bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Forecasting House Prices through Credit Conditions: A Bayesian Approach
Authors: van der Drift Rosa , de Haan Jan , Boelhouwer Peter 
Published: March 2024

AbstractAs housing development and housing market policies involve many long-term decisions, improving house price predictions could benefit the functioning of the housing market. Therefore, in this paper, we investigate how house price predictions can be improved. In particular, the merits of Bayesian estimation techniques in enhancing house price predictions are examined in this study. We compare the pseudo out-of-sample forecasting power of three Bayesian models—a Bayesian vector autoregression in levels (BVAR-l), a Bayesian vector autoregression in differences (BVAR-d), and a Bayesian vector error correction model (BVECM)—and their non-Bayesian counterparts. These techniques are compared using a theoretical model that predicts the borrowing capacity of credit-constrained and unconstrained households to affect house prices. The findings indicate that the Bayesian models outperform their non-Bayesian counterparts, and within the class of Bayesian models, the BVAR-d is found to be more accurate than the BVAR-l. For the two winning Bayesian models, i.e., the BVECM and the BVAR-d, the difference in forecasting power is more ambiguous; which model prevails depends on the desired forecasting horizon and the state of the economy. Hence, both Bayesian models may be considered when conducting research on house prices.
Effects of using audience response systems (Kahoot and Google Forms and Sheets) on learning of medical students in a large class: A questionnaire-based retrospective study
Authors: Keadkraichaiwat Issarawan , Sitticharoon Chantacha , Lertsiripatarajit Vasu , Maprapho Punyapat 
Published: March 2024

AbstractThe effectiveness of implementing various audience response system (ARS) formats in large classes to engage students, positively influence academic outcomes, and align with their preferences for different types of activities lacked sufficient information. This study aimed to (1) evaluate students’ perspectives on different ARS formats, including Kahoot for individual (Kahoot-I) and team (Kahoot-T) play, and Google Forms and Google Sheets for multiple-choice questions (Google-MCQ) and for open-ended questions (Google-OEQ) on different aspects with/without subgroup analysis of students into quartiles (Q1-lowest-Q4-highest) of summative scores, and (2) determine correlations between students’ perspectives and academic outcomes. At the course’s final class, a QR code for a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire was displayed for all enrolled medical students. 269/312 students (86.22%) provided written consent and completed the questionnaire constructed based on dimensions of student engagement. Across all ARS formats, students rated scores ≥ 4 for almost all aspects, with participation in class receiving the highest scores. For each aspect, Kahoot-T was rated highest in various aspects and Google-MCQ for “understanding” and Google-OEQ for “asking/answering question”. Higher academic achievers expressed more “enthusiasm” for Kahoot-I than lower achievers (P < 0.05). Formative and summative scores were positively correlated with many aspects. Students reported high engagement with all ARS formats, with higher academic achievers rating them with higher scores. Kahoot-T was the most favored for multiple aspects, Google-MCQ for “understanding” and Google-OEQ for interactive “asking/answering question”. Thus, selecting ARS in alignment with learning objective could enhance students’ engagement and learning outcomes.
Using the Synthetic Control Method to Evaluate the Impact of a Land-Based Gambling Ban on Crime
Authors: Žofčák Jakub , Šíma Josef 
Published: March 2024

AbstractWe use the synthetic control method to examine whether land-based gambling ban has an effect on crime in a given city. In a sample of four Czech cities where the ban was introduced, we show that these cities had roughly the same crime rate development in the years after the ban as the control cities without the ban, showing that there is no significant impact. As this is, to our knowledge, the first use of the synthetic control method in the context of gambling, the main contribution of this study lies in demonstrating the possibilities in its use. Employing this versatile method may improve the current situation where many gambling impact studies suffer from the absence of a control group or an identification strategy to confirm causal relationship. Last but not least, the results of this study make an important contribution to the debate on blanket measures in gambling regulation; although pathological gambling is linked to crime, banning this activity may not lead to the expected consequences.
A Tutorial for Deception Detection Analysis or: How I Learned to Stop Aggregating Veracity Judgments and Embraced Signal Detection Theory Mixed Models
Authors: Zloteanu Mircea , Vuorre Matti 
Published: March 2024

AbstractHistorically, deception detection research has relied on factorial analyses of response accuracy to make inferences. However, this practice overlooks important sources of variability resulting in potentially misleading estimates and may conflate response bias with participants’ underlying sensitivity to detect lies from truths. We showcase an alternative approach using a signal detection theory (SDT) with generalized linear mixed models framework to address these limitations. This SDT approach incorporates individual differences from both judges and senders, which are a principal source of spurious findings in deception research. By avoiding data transformations and aggregations, this methodology outperforms traditional methods and provides more informative and reliable effect estimates. This well-established framework offers researchers a powerful tool for analyzing deception data and advances our understanding of veracity judgments. All code and data are openly available.
A Polishing Model for Machine-Generated Ancient Chinese Poetry
Authors: Chen Zhe , Cao Yang 
Published: March 2024

AbstractMachine poetry generation has been studied for decades, among which ancient Chinese poetry is still challenging in the field of poetry generation due to its unique regularity and rhythm. The quality improvement of ancient Chinese poetries is one of the most promising research areas of ancient Chinese Natural Language Processing. This paper proposes an ancient Chinese poetry polishing model, which is used for polishing to obtain high-quality ancient Chinese poetry. The model consists of a detection network and a correction network. The detection network based on BiLSTM and CRF is used to detect different types of low-quality words in poems. The correction network based on the BERT model is used to modify the detected low-quality words in the global context. The polishing process is iteratively performed until the model judges that there are no low-quality words in the poem. The results show that the polished poems are improved in multiple evaluations. Compared with existing polishing models, the model proposed in this paper performs better in both automatic evaluation and human evaluation when the number of parameters is reduced.
Two Metaverse Dystopias
Authors: Franke Ulrik 
Published: March 2024

AbstractIn recent years, the metaverse—some form of immersive digital extension of the physical world—has received much attention. As tech companies present their bold visions, scientists and scholars have also turned to metaverse issues, from technological challenges via societal implications to profound philosophical questions. This article contributes to this growing literature by identifying the possibilities of two dystopian metaverse scenarios, namely one based on the experience machine and one based on demoktesis—two concepts from Nozick (Anarchy, State, and Utopia, Basic Books, 1974). These dystopian scenarios are introduced, and the potential for a metaverse to evolve into either of them is explained. The article is concluded with an argument for why the two dystopian scenarios are not strongly wedded to any particular theory of ethics or political philosophy, but constitute a more general contribution.
Evaluating and Improving the Metropolitan Economic Freedom Index
Authors: Sharma Arvind , Tomic Aleksandar , Fulton Lawrence 
Published: March 2024

AbstractThe Metropolitan Economic Freedom Index (MEFI) ranks cities based on their support of free market enterprise. In its current state, MEFI purports to measure three constructs (government spending, taxation, and labor market freedom) with three equally weighted variables for each one, assuming perfect substitutability of variables. This study investigates the statistical consistency of MEFI through Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Multiple models investigate current variable selection by providing a potentially better indicator of labor market freedom, aggregation assumptions by removing the requirements for fixed and equal weights, and statistical consistency by evaluating the fit between the data and models. Results indicate that the current MEFI model is not statistically consistent with the data, that weighting of variables should not be equal, that variable selection should be investigated, and that constructs should be re-imagined. The models investigated provide an initial starting point for redefining MEFI.
A family of experiments about how developers perceive delayed system response time
Authors: Cornejo Oscar , Briola Daniela , Micucci Daniela , Ginelli Davide , Mariani Leonardo , Santos Parrilla Adrián , Juristo Natalia 
Published: March 2024

AbstractCollecting and analyzing data about developers working on their development tasks can help improve development practices, finally increasing the productivity of teams. Indeed, monitoring and analysis tools have already been used to collect data from productivity tools. Monitoring inevitably consumes resources and, depending on their extensiveness, may significantly slow down software systems, interfering with developers’ activity. There is thus a challenging trade-off between monitoring and validating applications in their operational environment and preventing the degradation of the user experience. The lack of studies about when developers perceive an overhead introduced in an application makes it extremely difficult to fine-tune techniques working in the field. In this paper, we address this challenge by presenting an empirical study that quantifies how developers perceive overhead. The study consists of three replications of an experiment that involved 99 computer science students in total, followed by a small-scale experimental assessment of the key findings with 12 professional developers. Results show that non-negligible overhead can be introduced for a short period into applications without developers perceiving it and that the sequence in which complex operations are executed influences the perception of the system response time. This information can be exploited to design better monitoring techniques.
Citizen-science data identifies the daily movement patterns and habitat associations of a nocturnal urban-invading bird species (Corvus frugilegus)
Authors: Yun Jiweon , Shin Wonhyeop , Kim Jihwan , Thorne James H. , Song Youngkeun 
Published: March 2024

AbstractRooks (Corvus frugilegus) are an invasive bird species in South Korea that are deemed harmful due to nocturnal urban invasions and agricultural damage. Employing citizen science data, we document the daily movement patterns and habitat associations of nocturnal urban-invading rooks in Suwon, South Korea. We collected 4,522 geolocated observations from December 2021 to March 2022, categorized by the timings of sunrise and sunset and segmented into 3-h intervals. Using the MaxENT (Maximum Entropy Model) and k-fold cross-validation (k = 10) with a 25% random test sample, we analyzed daily movement patterns and habitat preferences. Our results show that rooks forage in agricultural areas shortly after sunrise and roost in urban environments after sunset. Urban roosts tend to occur in areas near buildings of medium height (6–20 stories) that are illuminated by artificial light and contain utility poles. The variables with the highest percent contribution to rooks’ presence after sunset were buildings of medium height (20.7%), land use type (19.4%), elevation (29%), and utility pole (14.5%). Our findings emphasize the potential of citizen science initiatives to generate insights into the ecology of invasive bird species within large urban environments.
Modelling the Effects of Growth and Remodelling on the Density and Structure of Cancellous Bone
Authors: Martin Brianna L. , Reynolds Karen J. , Fazzalari Nicola L. , Bottema Murk J. 
Published: March 2024

AbstractA two-stage model is proposed for investigating remodelling characteristics in bone over time and distance to the growth plate. The first stage comprises a partial differential equation (PDE) for bone density as a function of time and distance from the growth plate. This stage clarifies the contributions to changes in bone density due to remodelling and growth processes and tracks the rate at which new bone emanates from the growth plate. The second stage consists of simulating the remodelling process to determine remodelling characteristics. Implementing the second stage requires the rate at which bone moves away from the growth plate computed during the first stage. The second stage is also needed to confirm that remodelling characteristics predicted by the first stage may be explained by a realistic model for remodelling and to compute activation frequency. The model is demonstrated on microCT scans of tibia of juvenile female rats in three experimental groups: sham-operated control, oestrogen deprived, and oestrogen deprived followed by treatment. Model predictions for changes in bone density and remodelling characteristics agree with the literature. In addition, the model provides new insight into the role of treatment on the density of new bone emanating from the growth plate and provides quantitative descriptions of changes in remodelling characteristics beyond what has been possible to ascertain by experimentation alone.
Black Veterans Experiences with and Recommendations for Improving Weight-Related Health Care: A Photovoice Study
Authors: Breland Jessica Y. , Tanksley Lamont , Borowitz Michelle A. , Houseknecht Dakota , Muhammad Na’imah , Raffa Susan D. , Hoerster Katherine D. 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
Background
Non-Hispanic Black or African American (hereafter Black) veterans lose less weight than other users of the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) weight management program (MOVE!), despite higher enrollment.

Objective
To understand factors that affect weight loss disparities between Black veterans and other veterans.

Design
Qualitative study using Photovoice methods.

Participants
Self-identified Black veterans in MOVE! across the USA (two women, seven men).

Approach
We conducted six virtual Photovoice sessions with Black veterans. Session one provided orientation to the goal of understanding factors that might affect weight loss disparities. Participants chose missions related to weight management and VHA care, bringing photos or other media (e.g., poems) to discuss during remaining sessions. Facilitators/participants identified themes related to each session in real time. Between and after sessions, facilitators/investigators conducted rapid qualitative analysis of transcripts/audio to group similar themes, identify illustrative quotes/photos/other media, and prepare dissemination products (e.g., this manuscript). Participants provided feedback on the manuscript during an additional session.

Key Results
Themes were identified across three categories: (1) Food in Our Lives and Health Care; (2) Body Image; and (3) Healthcare Bias and Discrimination. The emotional impact of food and the negative effects of bias and discrimination on health care quality and trust were especially salient. Participants provided recommendations for weight-related and general care. Notable recommendations included the need for VHA to hire and retain providers—especially Black providers—who understand and respect Black patients and are committed to delivering evidence-based, culturally sensitive care. In addition, weight management care should be tailored to individual patients’ diets and health beliefs and deemphasize body mass index.

Conclusions
Photovoice resulted in concrete targets that could reduce health disparities. Institutions should consider Photovoice and similar approaches to build trust with and incorporate input from marginalized communities. This approach requires sustained commitment from leaders to engage stakeholders and implement solutions.
Design and utilisation of a novel, high-fidelity, low-cost, hybrid-tissue simulation model to facilitate training in robot-assisted partial nephrectomy
Authors: Croghan Stefanie M. , Voborsky Miroslav , Roche Adam F. , Condron Claire , O’Keeffe Dara A. , McGuire Barry B. 
Published: March 2024

AbstractRobot-assisted partial nephrectomy (RAPN) has rapidly evolved as the standard of care for appropriately selected renal tumours, offering key patient benefits over radical nephrectomy or open surgical approaches. Accordingly, RAPN is a key competency that urology trainees wishing to treat kidney cancer must master. Training in robotic surgery is subject to numerous challenges, and simulation has been established as valuable step in the robotic learning curve. However, simulation models are often both expensive and suboptimal in fidelity. This means that the number of practice repetitions for a trainee may limited by cost restraints, and that trainees may struggle to reconcile the skills obtained in the simulation laboratory with real-world practice in the operating room. We have developed a high-fidelity, low-cost, customizable model for RAPN simulation based on porcine tissue. The model has been utilised in teaching courses at our institution, confirming both feasibility of use and high user acceptability. We share the design of our model in this proof-of-concept report.
Care Bundles in Surgical Site Infection Prevention: A Narrative Review
Authors: Ching Patrick R. 
Published: March 2024

AbstractPurpose of ReviewSurgical site infections are healthcare-associated infections that cause significant morbidity and mortality. Best practices in prevention of these infections are combined in care bundles for consistent implementation.Recent FindingsCare bundles have been used in nearly all surgical specialties. While the composition and size of bundles vary, the effect of a bundle depends on the number of evidence-based interventions included and the consistency of implementation. Bundles work because of the cooperation and collaboration among members of a team. Bundles for prevention of surgical site infections should address the multiple risk factors for infection before, during, and after the surgery.SummaryBundles increase standardization of processes and decrease operative variance that both lead to reductions in surgical site infections.
The Impact of Maternal Interpersonal Violent Trauma and Related Psychopathology on Child Outcomes and Intergenerational Transmission
Authors: Graf Shannen , Schechter Daniel S. 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
Purpose of Review
This review aims to outline some consequences that maternal history of trauma with and without related psychopathology, such as posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), can have on their children’s development and functioning. It then addresses mechanisms through which intergenerational transmission of interpersonal violence (IPV) and related psychopathology may occur.

Recent Findings
Findings include the effects of maternal IPV experience and related psychopathology on child social-emotional and biologically-based outcomes. This includes increased developmental disturbances and child psychopathology, as well as physiological factors. Secondly, the review focuses on psychobiological mechanisms by which maternal experience of IPV and related psychopathology likely trigger intergenerational effects.

Summary
Maternal IPV and related psychopathology can have a negative impact on several areas of their child’s life including development, interactive behavior, psychopathology, and physiology. This transmission may partially be due to fetal and perinatal processes, genetic and epigenetic effects, and interactions with their parents.
A Study of Comparison of Outcomes of Submucous Diathermy, Coblation and Micro-debrider Assisted Inferior Turbinoplasty in Patients Having Inferior Turbinate Hypertrophy
Authors: Bhagat Priyanka Ramakrishna , Bathla Meeta , Doshi Hiren , Solanki Karnadev , Gajjar Ritiksha 
Published: March 2024

AbstractThe cause of nasal obstruction in most of the patients is either nasal septal deviation or turbinate hypertrophy owing to vasomotor or perennial allergic rhinitis. Most cases of hypertrophic turbinate are usually mild and respond to antihistamine therapy, local decongestions, or allergy desensitization; however, surgery is required in some cases. In our present study, three surgical methods were used for inferior turbinoplasty i.e. Sub-mucous Diathermy, Coblation and Micro-debrider and patients were divided randomly in these groups. The efficacy and outcomes of these methods was compared on the basis of subjective and objective relief of symptoms and their safety, recurrence and post-operative morbidity. Out of 45 patients, highest number of patients belonged to 20–40 years of age with the mean age of 28.7 years and male female ration 0.78:1. All the patients were evaluated on the basis of preoperative Endoscopic grading of inferior turbinate and SNOT22 symptom scores (Sino Nasal Outcome Test 22), intra-operative timing and bleeding and post-operative pain, crusting, SNOT22 scores (Sino Nasal Outcome Test 22) and Endoscopic grading improvement in inferior turbinate. On comparing all the above methods, we found that Coblation and Micro- debrider were more or less equally effective and better than Sub-mucous diathermy for inferior turbinoplasty. Submucous diathermy has least benefits, still most commonly used method because of its simplicity, conventionality and least cost factor while other two methods need capital investment and higher learning curve of the surgeon.