bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Alleged Culprit of Poor Coordination of Integration of Health and Social Care Services for Very Ill Older Persons in Sweden, 2000-2022
Authors: Sobis Iwona 
Published: December 2023

Abstract
Despite numerous attempts to transform Swedish older adult care, similar problems regarding its coordination have persisted over the years. This literature review aims to identify which coordination mechanisms can be perceived as the alleged culprit of poor coordination of integrated health and social services for seriously ill older individuals in Sweden between 2000 and 2022. Classical and contemporary coordination theories are utilised to pinpoint these coordination mechanisms, and the analysis is based on the content of collected articles from this thematic area. This literature review reveals that the following coordination mechanisms are perceived as the primary cause of poor coordination in older adult care: (1) plans, programmes, rules, and standardised work processes. Research has confirmed that decentralisation, the autonomy of regional and local authorities, new regulations implemented in the spirit of NPM, and double principalship have hindered care integration for seriously ill older adults; (2) roles, standardisation of skills, and direct supervision. Neither organisational principal adequately addresses excess employee workloads and an insufficient number of employees providing care services, which generates stress, conflicts, and even occupational burnout among staff. They do not prioritise staff competency development; (3) proximity, feedback, and adjustments through mutual communication. Most studies have shown that communication among staff is crucial to achieving integration, but it could be more effective among staff members involved in providing care. Knowledge about “objects and representations” and “routines and standardisation of outcomes” is somewhat limited and deserves further research.
The Technical Efficiency of Slovak Water Companies: An Application of Network DEA
Authors: Zimková Emília , Sičová Kristína , Pintér Ľubomír , Lawson Colin 
Published: December 2023

Abstract
The technical efficiency of water companies plays a crucial role in ensuring the reliable and sustainable delivery of clean and safe drinking water. It also influences the effective management of water and wastewater services. Services of this kind, usually provided by a monopoly supplier, offer operators no market incentives to innovate, or improve their efficiency. So, the mission of the regulatory institutions is to simulate a competitive environment. The main aim of this contribution is to use Network Data Envelopment Analysis (N-DEA) to assess and benchmark the technical efficiency of 14 water and wastewater companies offering their services in Slovakia from 2019 - 2021. The methodology of N-DEA allows us to assess the activity’s cost and delivery efficiency, and its overall technical efficiency. We show that full cost efficiency was achieved by two small and one large water companies operating in different regions. Three of the largest suppliers of water and wastewater services and one small company achieved the efficient delivery of water services. Overall efficiency was achieved by one large company in 2021 and one small company in 2019 and 2020. The outcome of our empirical analysis demonstrates the excellent skills of managers in technically efficient companies, regardless of company size and region. That outcome may be of interest to regulatory institutions and the management of individual water companies.
Newborn screening program and advanced therapies as a chance for the youngest patients – based on spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)
Authors: Śliwińska Martyna Agnieszka , Rakuś-Kwiatosz Anna 
Published: December 2023

Abstract

Introduction. Newborn screening programs, commonly conducted, are prophylactic procedures with the aim to detect serious, often lethal diseases in their presymptomatic stage. It should be emphasized that the costs of the program are lower than medical care and treatment costs for sick citizens without diagnosis of these disorders. Every step, starting from receiving the parental consent, taking a dried blood spot sample by the nurses and finally testing was fully prepared and is under the supervision of the Institute of Mother and Child in Warsaw. In March 2022 screening for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) among all newborns was introduced. This disorder leads to progressive deterioration of motor skills and sometimes even to death. The breakthrough of the SMA therapy was Zolgensma, called the most expensive drug in the world. Currently, this treatment is fully funded for some patients under the national drug program.

Aim. The aim is to present issues related to the newborn screening program and advanced SMA therapies.

Material and methods. Analysis of scientific studies in the PubMed database and national newborn screening programs.

Conclusions. Early implementation of the appropriate treatment gives the chance to improve the quality of life, especially if the earliest detection is provided by newborn screening program.
Montessori activities for older adults in community nursing: comparative case study
Authors: Ljubič Andreja , Hozjan Dejan , Filej Bojana , Kolnik Tamara Štemberger 
Published: December 2023

Abstract

Aim. Montessori activities were implemented in nursing care of older adults in the home environment with the aim of creating meaningful, inclusive, and failure-free daily activities that improve their quality of life.

Material and methods. In-depth comparative case studies with exploratory methods were used based on structured interviews and observation of four purposely selected older adults with and without dementia in the home environment. The data was collected using the Montessori methodology, which was divided into five phases.

Results. Diff erent types of activities and roles were developed based on the individual’s abilities and interests. The participants felt more independent and self-confident in the performance of planned activities and satisfied that they are busy during the day and engaged in activities that contribute to their better mobility and health.

Conclusions. Implemented activities can facilitate the inclusion of older adults in the daily routine of family life, increase the quality of life and the possibility of self-care in the home environment.
Parametrization of subsegmental infarcts using high spatial resolution 2DSTE and synthetic ultrasonic data
Authors: Żmigrodzki Jakub , Cygan Szymon , Kałużyński Krzysztof 
Published: December 2023

Abstract

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to assess the performance of a set of parameters in characterizing simulated infarcts in left ventricular (LV) models with variations in size and transmural extent.

Material and methods: The deformation of the LV models with different infarct sizes was simulated using the Finite Element Method. These simulations provided meshes that were used to generate synthetic ultrasonic data within the FIELD II package. The strain components (longitudinal and circumferential) were then estimated over small subsegments of the of segments 7 and 12 (according to 17-segment left ventricle segmentation standard proposed by the American Heart Association - AHA17), using a hierarchical block matching method. The strain maps obtained were utilized to calculate the Strain Drop Factor (SDF) maps, which represent the percentage ratio of strain observed in the subsegments of the studied model to that observed in the healthy model. Infarct segmentation was performed using these maps, and various parameters were derived, including Infarct Cross-Section Area (ICSA), relative ICSA, Transmurality Ratio (TR), Mean Infarct Transmurality (MIT), strain drop factor in the infarcted region (SDFi), and Strain Contrast (SC).

Results: The estimates of ICSA, SC, MIT, and SDFI showed good repeatability and demonstrated the ability to provide a quantitative assessment of the size and transmural extent of the infarcts.

Conclusions: The study findings suggest that the evaluated parameters, including ICSA, SC, MIT, and SDFI, can be reliably used to assess the size and transmural extent of infarcts. These parameters offer a quantitative approach for characterizing infarcts based on strain analysis and have the potential to contribute to the diagnosis and evaluation of myocardial infarctions.
Impact of Climate Change on the Heating Demand of Buildings. A District Level Approach
Authors: Apostolopoulou Athanasia , Jimenez-Bescos Carlos , Cavazzi Stefano , Boyd Doreen 
Published: December 2023

Abstract
There is no doubt that during recent years, the developing countries are in urgent demand of energy, which means the energy generation and the carbon emissions increase accumulatively. The 40 % of the global energy consumption per year comes from the building stock. Considering the predictions regarding future climate due to climate change, a good understanding on the energy use due to future climate is required. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of future weather in the heating demand and carbon emissions for a group of buildings at district level, focusing on two areas of London in the United Kingdom. The methodological approach involved the use of geospatial data for the case study areas, processed with Python programming language through Anaconda and Jupyter notebook, generation of an archetype dataset with energy performance data from TABULA typology and the use of Python console in QGIS to calculate the heating demand in the reference weather data, 2050 and 2100 in accordance with RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios. A validated model was used for the district level heating demand calculation. On the one hand, the results suggest that a mitigation of carbon emissions under the RCP4.5 scenario will generate a small decrease on the heating demand at district level, so slightly similar levels of heating generation must continue to be provided using sustainable alternatives. On the other hand, following the RCP 8.5 scenario of carbon emission carrying on business as usual will create a significant reduction of heating demand due to the rise on temperature but with the consequent overheating in summer, which will shift the energy generation problem. The results suggest that adaptation of the energy generation must start shifting to cope with higher temperatures and a different requirement of delivered energy from heating to cooling due to the effect of climate change.
The Devil’s Triangle: Empirical Evidence from Turkey on Growth, Current Account Deficit, and Inflation
Authors: Çiğdem Gülgün 
Published: December 2023

Abstract
Determining the existence of the relationship between economic growth, current account deficit, and inflation will guide the selection of policies to be implemented. The distortions that may be caused by the policies to be preferred can be minimized by the measures to be taken if the relations are known. From this point of view, this study is a metaphorical study emphasizing the Bermuda Triangle, which caused unexplained losses due to the name given to the study. In the study, to determine the existence and direction of the relations between the variables, Turkey’s annual growth, current account deficit, and inflation data for the 1974–2020 period were taken and subjected to various analyzes. In this study, carried out from this point of view, to determine the existence and direction of the relations between the variables, the annual growth, current account deficit, and inflation data of Turkey for the 1974–2020 period were taken and subjected to various analyzes. Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) (1979, 1981) and Philips-Perron (PP) Unit Root tests (1988) and Lee-Strazicich Unit Root Test (2003) were used for stationarity tests. Regression was used since the variables were determined to be stationary at the level and cointegration could not be obtained. The current account deficit changed by 0.181812 units in the negative direction as a result of a one-unit rise in growth, according to the regression analysis (GDP). Furthermore, it has been shown that if inflation increases by one unit, the current account deficit moves in the positive direction by 0.042096 units. Toda Yamamoto Causality Analysis (1995) was used to investigate short-term causality links, and as a consequence, a two-way relationship between GDP and inflation, one-way from GDP and inflation to current account deficit was discovered.
The Influence of Organizational Culture on Human Capital Development of Polish Army Officers in the Context of Post-Service Employment
Authors: Rzepecka Aleksandra 
Published: December 2023

Abstract
Organizational culture paves the way for employees, shows how one should function in a given organization – it aims to keep it together by adhering to similar values. Thanks to conditions prevailing there, specific rules employees know how they can perform their duties, properly cooperate with others and also how looks like the possibility of professional development, which is very important in the development of human capital. Human capital is people, their skills, creativity and qualifications. Development of capital through competence development has a positive impact on further functioning of the organization, but also on the satisfaction of employees themselves. In the case of retired officers of the Polish Army, who acquired specialized knowledge and valuable skills during their service, it is important to use their capital after the end of service. They can be supplemented with additional courses, training that will enrich their existing potential, and also enable them to find work in the civilian market. A survey was conducted among retired Army officers and employers/supervisors hiring retired officers from 2019 to 2021. The snowball method was used. A qualitative method was used – a survey questionnaire.
Doctrines of the Constitutional State and the Rule of Law: Common and Special Features
Authors: Mikhailov Anton Mikhailovich 
Published: December 2023

The subject of the research of the scientific article is a comparative legal analysis of two leading constitutional legal doctrines in the Western tradition of law - the concepts of the constitutional state and the rule of law. The article defines the affiliation of the studied doctrines to the Western tradition of law, reveals the necessary prerequisites for the implementation of the corresponding political and legal ideals. Particular attention is paid to the contrasting comparison of the doctrines of the constitutional state and the rule of law. The author sees the most significant differences between the doctrines of the constitutional state and the rule of law in their belonging to the political or legal sphere, the object of restriction, attitude to the judiciary and judicial procedure, connection with the philosophy of law, the form of expression of law and domestic or international legal orientation. The scientific novelty of the work rests in the fact that the author has undertaken a contrasting comparative legal study of the doctrines of the constitutional state and the rule of law. The article substantiates that the doctrine of the constitutional state belongs to the ideology of the civil law, while the doctrine of the rule of law is the leading constitutional doctrine in the states of common (Anglo-American) law. In contrast to the continental concept of the constitutional state, the doctrine of the rule of law is organically linked to the specific experience of the political and legal development of England, aimed at establishing a universal, defined, based on a common law order, the limitation of the law, the primary basis of which is the case law of the courts, the current executive power, is considered not only as domestic, but also international legal the concept, and pays special attention to the observance of the procedural form, with which it associates the achievement of the goals of the rule of law.
Complications in operatively managed pediatric femoral shaft fractures
Authors: Alkhalife Yasser I. , Alghamdi Abdullah M. , Almutairi Saleh A. , Almutairi Lamya M. 
Published: December 2023

Objectives:
Despite being the strongest long bone in the body, femur shaft fractures (FSFs) remain steadily prevalent in Saudi Arabia and globally. The goal of treatment is to achieve fracture healing with the least complications. Therefore, this study intended to determine the complications in pediatric FSFs, which were operatively managed.

Methods:
This study is a retrospective analysis of 76 pediatric FSFs. The inclusion criteria included age ≤14 years, FSFs operatively treated in the study center, at least one-year follow-up, and admission between January 1, 2012, and January 1, 2020. Pathological fractures and patients with neuromuscular or syndromic conditions were excluded from the study.

Results:
Seventy-two patients (81.9% boys, mean age 8.1 years) with 76 FSFs were analyzed. Most injuries were from motor vehicle accidents (41.6%), falls (29.1%), and pedestrian trauma (15.2%). Titanium was used in 47 (61.8%). Plating was used in 16 (21%), rigid nails in eight (10.5%), and hip spica under general anesthesia in five (6.5%). Out of those 76 fractures, 17 had developed complications. These complications varied in their significance, including limb length discrepancy (LLD) (five), non-union (three), 15° angulation (three), skin irritation due to cast soiling (two), skin swelling due to prominent flexible nail (one), surgical site infection (one), osteomyelitis (one). LLD was significantly associated with increased weight, fracture pattern, non-union, and definitive fixation time.

Conclusion:
Overall complications in operatively treated pediatric FSFs were low and not disabling. LLD was the most common with a significant association with increased weight, unstable fracture pattern, non-union, and definitive fixation time.
Nature of Parkinsonian features in multiple system atrophy
Authors: Pradhan Sunil , Tandon Ruchika 
Published: December 2023

Objectives:
For this observational study, we evaluated the clinical profile of Parkinsonian features in multiple system atrophy (MSA), as there is no clarity about the specifics of these features in this disease compared to progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Materials and Methods:
Here, we selected 57 patients with MSA based on standard criteria and grouped them into two categories – Parkinsonian variant of MSA (MSA-P) and cerebellar variant of MSA (MSA-C). However, researchers did not distinguish among patients based on the nature of extrapyramidal syndrome or levodopa responsiveness. Then, we examined the patients at the time of their first visit to outpatient clinics or indoor wards and recorded and analyzed the specific extrapyramidal features or their variations.

Results:
The extrapyramidal features including levodopa responsiveness were highly variable among MSA-C as well as MSA-P patients. A subset of patients presented with features resembling PSP (symmetry [56.1%], axial rigidity [52.6%], backward falls [28.1%], and down-gaze restriction [17.5%]), while others presented with features resembling PD (asymmetry [43.9%], tremors [71.9%], and peripheral rigidity [40.4%]). After grouping patients based on predominant extrapyramidal features, 36.8% of patients had PD-like, 19.3% had PSP-like, and 43.9 % had mixed presentation. Moreover, 86% of patients had a perceptible levodopa response, including a sustained response for more than six months in 64% of patients.

Conclusion:
Extrapyramidal features in MSA patients may be PD-like, PSP-like, or mixed. Moreover, an initial presentation resembling PSP or PD may be deceptive and one must follow it up for MSA.
Possible Railway Effects in Magnetic Measurements at Geophysical Observatory Novosibirsk
Authors: Хомутов С.Ю. , Ковалев А.А. , Гвоздарев А.Ю. , Семаков Н.Н. 
Published: December 2023

После перехода Геофизической обсерватории «Новосибирск» (NVS) на цифровые магнитометры в результатах измерений проявились помехи в виде кратковременных скачков и выбросов амплитудой до нескольких нТл, которые ранее не были видны на аналоговой фотозаписи. Основной эффект наблюдается в вертикальной составляющей и в значениях модуля. В качестве возможного источника этих помех рассматривается железная дорога на постоянном токе, проходящая в 10 км к западу от обсерватории. В 2006-2012 гг. были выполнены маршрутные съёмки модуля F по двум профилям различной протяженности, примерно перпендикулярные железной дороге. Показано, что амплитуда помех падает с расстоянием R как 1/R. Сопоставление суточного распределения мощности шума в вертикальной составляющей вариаций поля на обсерватории с расписанием движения поездов (пригородных и пассажирских) также показало, что вероятным источником является железная дорога. Сделан обзор работ последних лет по проблеме влияния железных дорог и метро на результаты магнитных измерений на обсерваториях, при полевых измерениях и МТЗ. В рамках простой модели распределения токов утечки, учитывающей наличие высокоомного фундамента в геоэлектрическом разрезе в районе обсерватории, вычислены магнитные эффекты в вертикальной и горизонтальной составляющих поля. Модель дает только частичное объяснение наблюдаемых зависимостей. Отмечена тенденция снижения в последние годы интенсивности помех.
After renewing the Geophysical Observatory Novosibirsk (NVS) from analog photorecording to digital magnetometers, noise in the form of spikes and short jumps of records with an amplitude of up to several nT, which were not previously visible, appeared in the measurement results. The main effect was observed in the vertical intensity Z and total field intensity F. A direct current railway running 12 km west of the observatory was considered as a possible source of these disturbances. In 2006-2012, route surveys of F were carried out along two profiles of different lengths, approximately perpendicular to the railway. It has been shown that the noise amplitude decreases linearly with the distance from the source. An attempts were made to identify the noise origin, linking them with the schedule of trains. A review of recent work on the problem of the railways and subways effects on the results of magnetic measurements at observatories, field measurements and magnetotelluric sounding is made. Magnetic effects in the vertical and horizontal components of the field are calculated within the framework of a simple leakage current distribution model that takes into account the presence of a high-resistance foundation in the geoelectric section in the observatory area. The model provides only a partial explanation of the observed effects. There has been a tendency to decrease the intensity of interference in recent years.