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The spatial characteristics of element flow and its spillover are important topics in economics, sociology, and geography, and significant to the promotion of the coordinated development of urban agglomerations. To study element flow in the Lanxi urban agglomeration and its effect to economic development, the spatial network characteristics and economic spillover effect were studied using the methods of spatial network analysis, the spatial Durbin model, and spatial effect decomposition. The results showed that (1) the scale of element flow in the Lanxi urban agglomeration is in an unbalanced distribution state, the scale of element flow in Lanzhou and Xining is higher than that in surrounding cities, and the connection between surrounding cities is also higher than that between other cities; (2) the network structure of element flow in the Lanxi urban agglomeration is relatively intensive, with Lanzhou and Xining as the center of element concentration, which indicates an obvious 'center periphery' structure, and gradually spreads from the core area to the surrounding areas; and (3) the element concentration level of the Lanxi urban agglomeration has a significant positive spillover effect, which plays a significant role in driving the development of surrounding cities. Other factors, such as the social consumption level, have significant direct effects, whereas the industrial structure and residents' income have significant direct and spillover effects, and are the main factors that affect the coordinated development of the regional economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Koreans are susceptible to the medical face mask against the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, their mask practices are intriguingly laden with contradictions and inconsistencies. This study accounts for this puzzle by expanding two sociological frontiers: the sociology of action (i.e., action theory of agency and individuality) and the sociology of the mask. Drawing on action theory, it stresses that contradictions and inconsistencies reveal the nature of individuals as social individuals and develops a typology of social individuals during the current pandemic (i.e., atomists, collectivists, and dualists). For mask sociology, it amplifies that any mask practices are conceptualized as a masquerade involving multiple elements for individuality and proposes a theory of mask multivocality that appreciates the ways in which masquerade the social drama becomes concretized. With this two-pronged conceptual innovation, it first demonstrates a patterned relationship between social individuals and mask multivocality. Dualists take more voices from the mask than atomists or collectivists. Dualists take the most contradictory voices as well. Second, it shows that Koreans who take more meanings from the mask reveal not only more vulnerability but more transformative power amid the current pandemic. Demonstrating the promise of mask sociology for the action theory of individuality, it ultimately argues that individuals as social performers often reveal themselves as mask-wearers who become as transformative as they are vulnerable. While this model is founded upon the recent pandemic, it ramifies in political and cultural events that various face coverings accompany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use a combination of economic and wellbeing metrics to evaluate the impacts of a climate resilience program designed for family farmers in the semiarid region of Brazil. Most family farmers in the region are on the verge of income and food insufficiency, both of which are exacerbated in prolonged periods of droughts. The program assisted farmers in their milk and sheepmeat production, implementing a set of climate-smart production practices and locally-adapted technologies. We find that the program under evaluation had substantive and significant impacts on production practices, land management, and quality of life in general, using several different quasi-experimental strategies to estimate the average treatment effect on the treated farmers. We highlight the strengths and limitations of each evaluation strategy and how the set of analyses and outcome indicators complement each other. The evaluation provides valuable insights into the economic and environmental sustainability of family farming in semiarid regions, which are under growing pressure from climate change and environmental degradation worldwide.

Network diffusion processes or how information spreads through networks have been widely examined in numerous disciplines such as epidemiology, physics, sociology, politics, or computer science. In this paper, we extend previous developments by considering a generalization of the diffusion by considering the possibility of differences in the speed of diffusion and reduction depending on the forces' directions. In this situation, the differential speed of diffusion produces deviations from the standard solution around the average of the initial conditions in the network. In fact, this asymmetry gives rise to non-linear dynamics in which, contrary to the symmetric case, the final solution depends on the topology of the graph as well as on the distribution of the initial values. Counter-intuitively, less central nodes in the network are able to exert a higher influence on the final solution. This behavior applies also for different simulated networks such as random, small-world, and scale-free. We show an example of this kind of asymmetric diffusion process in a real case. To do so, we use a network of US Boards of Directors, where boards are the nodes and the directors working for more than one board, are the links. Changes in the proportion of women serving on each board are influenced by the gradient between adjacent boards. We also show that there is an asymmetry: the gradient is reduced at a slower (faster) rhythm if the board has less (more) women than neighboring boards. We are able to quantify the accumulated effect of this asymmetry from 2000 to 2015 in the overall proportion of women on boards, in a 4.7 percentage points (the proportion should have been an 14.61% instead of the observed 9.93% in 2015). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy (RE) facilities provide a global public good of climate mitigation but impose local costs such as landscape disruption and harming the rural character. Because of their land-intensive nature, utility-scale RE facilities tend to be located in rural areas with plentiful and cheap land. In the U.S., about every fourth county (729 of 3,143) has enacted ordinances restricting the siting of RE facilities. Drawing on a novel dataset of county-level restrictions on wind and solar RE facilities for the period 201o-2022, we explore whether, all else equal, levels of ruralness motivate the onset of such restrictions. As the policy literature on problem visibility suggests, we find support for this hypothesis for wind energy facilities only, probably because wind turbines due to their height tend to disrupt the rural landscape and are visible from long distances. We also find that counties are more likely to adopt restrictions for both wind and solar when adjacent counties have enacted them, thereby suggesting a contagion effect in the onset of restrictions. Contrary to the prevalent view on partisanship in climate policy, liberal counties are likely to restrict wind facilities. Our paper points to important sociological and quality-of-life factors that might be impeding the clean energy transition., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Ko et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Abortion is uniquely connected to women's experiences yet women's attitudes towards legal abortion vary across the pro-choice/anti-abortion spectrum. Existing research has focused on sociodemographic characteristics to explain women's levels of abortion support. Here, we argue that abortion attitudes vary with women's perceptions of gender linked fate, or the extent to which some women see their fates as tied to other women. Drawing upon existing research showing that married white women report lower levels of gender linked fate than their non-married counterparts, we assess these relationships for abortion attitudes applying the 2012 American National Election Survey (n = 2,173). Using mediation analysis, we show that lower levels of gender linked fate among married white women (vs. non-married white women) explain their stronger opposition to abortion. As many state governments are increasingly legislating restricted access to legal abortion, understanding factors explaining opposition to legal abortion is urgently important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fertility in Ghana has declined steadily since 1980, however, a slight increase was observed between 2008 and 2014. While several factors may account for this pattern, research on the contribution of type of union is limited. This study examined differentials in the fertility of women in different types of union. Secondary data from 6,285 (weighted) ever-married women aged 15–49 years were analysed using compare means, t-test, analysis of variance, Poisson and binary logistic regression analyses. The findings indicate that, independent of other factors, fertility among remarried women is higher compared to first-time married women but this does not hold true when other factors are controlled for. Additionally, there was no significant difference in the fertility of remarried women who were in union and women who were in union in a first-time marriage. However, compared to remarried women who were currently in a union, fertility was significantly lower among remarried women who were not currently in union (β = -0.121, p<0.01) and women who have been married only once but were not currently in union (β = -0.212, p<0.001). Further analysis revealed that remarried women were significantly more likely to desire more children and less likely to use any method of contraception compared to first-time married women. There is the need for further research to better understand the fertility needs of remarried women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions have been raised over the acceptability of conducting human challenge studies in low and middle income countries (LMICs). Most of these concerns are based on theoretical considerations and there exists little data on the attitudes of stakeholders in these countries. This study examines the view of researchers and REC members in Thailand regarding the design and conduct of challenge studies in the country. A questionnaire was developed based on ethical frameworks for human challenge studies. The target respondents included those who had experience with health-related research at universities, non-university hospitals, and research institutes. A total of 240 respondents completed the on-line survey. In general, the respondents felt that the ethical issues raised by human challenge studies in LMICS do not differ significantly from those in high income countries, including: scientific rationale, safety, appropriate risks, and robust informed consent process. In contrast, issues that have been described as important for human challenge studies in LMICs were rated as having lower importance, including: a publicly available rationale, national priority, and community engagement. Responses did not vary significantly between researchers in different fields, nor between researchers and REC members. These findings provide an important perspective for assessing existing frameworks for human challenges studies in LMICs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to examine differences in perceived popularity and social preference of bullying roles and class norms. In total, 1,339 students (48% girls) participated: 674 primary school (M = 10.41 years, SD = 0.49) and 685 secondary school students (M = 12.67 years, SD = 0.80). Peer nominations and perceptions of class norms were collected. The results showed the highest perceived popularity among aggressors and defenders, except in anti-bullying primary school classes, where aggressors had low levels of popularity. In pro-bullying secondary school classes school, female victims had the lowest popularity levels. These findings suggest that class norms and personal variables as gender and school levels are important to understand bullying roles. Practical implications are discussed to guide teachers and practitioners according to the importance to adapt antibullying programs to the characteristics of the group in each school level and gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practice of early marriage, although acknowledged as a human rights violation, continues to occur in many countries. Different studies have identified the associated factors in many developing countries. However, these factors often assume no geographical variation in these factors within countries. Again, cultural practices and beliefs which strongly influence the acceptance and practices of early marriage vary geographically. In addition, geographic clusters of high rates of early marriage and union formation are also unknown. Thus, area specific correlates of early child marriage are required for the development of location specific policies to aid the eradication of early child marriage. Using data from the 2010 Ghana Population and Housing Census, this study examines the extent of geospatial clustering in early marriage amongst girls and their spatially-varying associated factors at the district level. The findings reveal strong clustering of high early marriage amongst districts in the Upper West, Northern and Volta regions. Nationally, 6.96% (CI = 6.83, 7.08) of girls are married or in union before their 18th birthday. The estimates range from 2.7% in the Jaman North district in Brong Ahafo region to 19.0% in the Gushiegu district in Northern region. Economic factors were observed as important spatially-varying associated factors. The findings suggest that targeted interventions are required in the effort to eradicate the practice in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research shows that preschool children born to opioid-dependent mothers are at increased risk for cognitive, psychomotor, attention, and social-emotional adjustment problems. But very little is known about their school-age functioning, particularly their educational achievement. This analysis examined the educational outcomes of a regional cohort of 100 prenatally methadone-exposed children who were prospectively studied from birth to age 9.5 years alongside a comparison group of 110 randomly identified non-exposed children born between 2003 and 2008. At age 9.5, as part of a comprehensive neurodevelopmental evaluation, children's teachers rated their achievement across the school curriculum, and children completed the Woodcock Johnson-III Tests of Achievement (WJ-III). Detailed information about the birth mother's social background, pregnancy substance use, and mental health was also collected during pregnancy/at term. Infant clinical data were collected after birth. Methadone-exposed children performed less well than non-exposed children across seven school curriculum areas rated by teachers (ps ≤.001), performed less well than non-exposed children on all reading and mathematics subtests of the WJ-III, and had higher rates of any educational delay on the WJ-III (57% vs. 15%), OR = 7.47 (3.71–15.02). Results were similar when children with severe intellectual impairment were excluded. After adjusting for confounding factors, methadone-exposed children had increased odds of educational delay, but this was only marginally significant (OR = 3.62, [1.01–13.01], p = .049). Maternal educational attainment level (OR = 0.69, [0.50–0.89], p = .006), and maternal benzodiazepine use during pregnancy (OR = 2.70 [1.03–7.12], p = .044) were also associated with later educational risk. Findings suggest that children born to opioid-dependent women enrolled in methadone maintenance are at high risk of educational delay by age 9.5 years. Children's academic difficulties appeared to reflect the effects of both adverse prenatal exposures and postnatal social risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What types of refugees do Americans prefer for admission into the United States? Scholars have explored the immigrant characteristics that appeal to Americans and the characteristics that Europeans prioritize in asylum-seekers, but we currently do not know which refugee characteristics Americans prefer. We conduct a conjoint experiment on a representative sample of 1800 US adults, manipulating refugee attributes in pairs of Syrian refugee profiles, and ask respondents to rate each refugee's appeal. Our focus on Syrian refugees in a 2016 survey experiment allows us to speak to the concurrent refugee crisis on the eve of a polarizing election, while also identifying religious discrimination, holding constant the refugee's national origin. We find that Americans prefer Syrian refugees who are female, high-skilled, English-speaking, and Christian, suggesting they prioritize refugee integration into the U.S. labor and cultural markets. We find that the preference for female refugees is not driven by the desire to exclude Muslim male refugees, casting doubt that American preferences at the time were motivated by security concerns. Finally, we find that anti-Muslim bias in refugee preferences varies in magnitude across key subgroups, though it prevails across all sample demographics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Endometriosis has a significant cost of illness burden in Europe, UK and the USA, with the majority of costs coming from reductions in productivity. However, information is scarce on if there is a differing impact between endometriosis and other causes of chronic pelvic pain, and if there are modifiable factors, such as pain severity, that may be significant contributors to the overall burden. Methods: An online survey was hosted by SurveyMonkey and the link was active between February to April 2017. Women aged 18–45, currently living in Australia, who had either a confirmed diagnosis of endometriosis via laparoscopy or chronic pelvic pain without a diagnosis of endometriosis were included. The retrospective component of the WERF EndoCost tool was used to determine direct healthcare costs, direct non-healthcare costs (carers) and indirect costs due to productivity loss. Estimates were extrapolated to the Australian population using published prevalence estimates. Results: 407 valid responses were received. The cost of illness burden was significant in women with chronic pelvic pain (Int $16,970 to $ 20,898 per woman per year) irrespective of whether they had a diagnosis of endometriosis. The majority of costs (75–84%) were due to productivity loss. Both absolute and relative productivity costs in Australia were higher than previous estimates based on data from Europe, UK and USA. Pain scores showed the strongest relationship to productivity costs, a 12.5-fold increase in costs between minimal to severe pain. The total economic burden per year in Australia in the reproductive aged population (at 10% prevalence) was 6.50 billion Int $. Conclusion: Similar to studies in European, British and American populations, productivity costs are the greatest contributor to overall costs. Given pain is the most significant contributor, priority should be given to improving pain control in women with pelvic pain [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Women's reproductive health decision-making is indispensable for improving their reproductive health and achieving Sustainable Development Goal three. This study explored the association between reproductive health decision-making capacity and unintended pregnancy among women in Ghana. Materials and methods: We used data from the 2014 version of the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. The unit of analysis for this study was pregnant women at the time of the survey (679). Bivariate and multivariable analyses were conducted using Pearson chi-square tests and binary logistic regression respectively. Results: We found that women who had the capacity to make reproductive health decision [AOR = 0.61; CI = 0.51–0.89] were less likely to experience unintended pregnancies, compared to those who did not have the capacity. Age was found to have a statistically significant influence on unintended pregnancy, with women aged 25–29 years [AOR = 0.29; CI = 0.13–0.63], 30–34 years [AOR = 0.18; CI = 0.08–0.45], and 35–39 years [AOR = 0.26; CI = 0.10–0.68] being less likely to experience unintended pregnancy compared to those aged 15–19 years. Women with primary level of education were more likely to have unintended pregnancies, compared to those with no education [AOR = 2.07; CI = 1.12–3.84]. Conclusion: This study has filled the gap in the already existing literature on the association between reproductive health decision making capacity and unintended pregnancy in Ghana and has created a room for specific interventions geared towards reducing unintended pregnancies, especially among women who are not capable of making reproductive health decisions, women aged 15–19 years, those with primary education, Traditionalists and unmarried women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many countries have initiated school-based human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programs. The real-life effectiveness of HPV vaccines has become increasingly evident, especially among girls vaccinated before HPV exposure in countries with high vaccine uptake. In 2009, Norway initiated a school-based HPV vaccination program for 12-year-old girls using the quadrivalent HPV vaccine (Gardasil®), which targets HPV6, 11, 16, and 18. Here, we aim to assess type-specific vaginal and oral HPV prevalence in vaccinated compared with unvaccinated girls in the first birth cohort eligible for school-based vaccination (born in 1997). Methods: This observational, cross-sectional study measured the HPV prevalence ratio (PR) between vaccinated and unvaccinated girls in Norway. Facebook advertisement was used to recruit participants and disseminate information about the study. Participants self-sampled vaginal and oral specimens using an Evalyn® Brush and a FLOQSwab™, respectively. Sexual behavior was ascertained through a short questionnaire. Results: Among the 312 participants, 239 (76.6%) had received at least one dose of HPV vaccine prior to sexual debut. 39.1% of vaginal samples were positive for any HPV type, with similar prevalence among vaccinated and unvaccinated girls (38.5% vs 41.1%, PR: 0.93, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.62–1.41). For vaccine-targeted types there was some evidence of lower prevalence in the vaccinated (0.4%) compared to the unvaccinated (6.8%) group (PR: 0.06, 95%CI: 0.01–0.52). This difference remained after adjusting for sexual behavior (PR: 0.04, 95%CI: 0.00–0.42). Only four oral samples were positive for any HPV type, and all of these participants had received at least one dose of HPV vaccine at least 1 year before oral sexual debut. Conclusion: There is evidence of a lower prevalence of vaccine-targeted HPV types in the vagina of vaccinated girls from the first birth cohort eligible for school-based HPV vaccination in Norway; this was not the case when considering all HPV types or types not included in the quadrivalent HPV vaccine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering remains the least gender diverse of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. Chemical engineering (ChE) and electrical engineering (EE) are exemplars of relatively high and low gender diversity, respectively. Here, we investigate departmental, institutional, and regional factors associated with gender diversity among BS graduates within the US, 2010–2016. For both fields, gender diversity was significantly higher at private institutions (p < 1x10-6) and at historically black institutions (p < 1x10-5). No significant association was observed with gender diversity among tenure-track faculty, PhD-granting status, and variations in departmental name beyond the standard “chemical engineering” or “electrical engineering”. Gender diversity among EE graduates was significantly decreased (p = 8x10-5) when a distinct degree in computer engineering was available; no such association was observed between ChE gender diversity and the presence of biology-associated degrees. States with a highly gender diverse ChE workforce had a significantly higher degree of gender diversity among BS graduates (p = 3x10-5), but a significant association was not observed for EE. State variation in funding of support services for K-12 pupils significantly impacted gender diversity of graduates in both fields (p < 1x10-3), particularly in regards to instructional staff support (p < 5x10-4). Nationwide, gender diversity could not be concluded to be either significantly increasing or significantly decreasing for either field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Cervical cancer imposes a substantial health burden worldwide including in Australia and is caused by persistent infection with one of 13 sexually transmitted high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) types. The objective of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of adding a nonavalent new Gardasil-9® (9vHPV) vaccine to the national immunisation schedule in Australia across three different delivery strategies. Materials and methods: The Papillomavirus Rapid Interface for Modelling and Economics (PRIME) model was used to examine the cost-effectiveness of 9vHPV vaccine introduction to prevent HPV infection. Academic literature and anecdotal evidence were included on the demographic variables, cervical cancer incidence and mortality, treatment costs, and vaccine delivery costs. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were measured per disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) averted, using the heuristic cost-effectiveness threshold defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Analyses and data from international agencies were used in scenario analysis from the health system and societal perspectives. Results: The 9vHPV vaccination was estimated to prevent 113 new cases of cervical cancer (discounted) during a 20-year period. From the health system and societal perspectives, the 9vHPV vaccination was very cost-effective in comparison with the status quo, with an ICER of A$47,008 and A$44,678 per DALY averted, respectively, using the heuristic cost-effectiveness threshold level. Considering delivery strategies, the ICERs per DALY averted were A$47,605, A$46,682, and A$46,738 for school, health facilities, and outreach-based vaccination programs from the health system perspective, wherein, from the societal perspective, the ICERs per DALY averted were A$46,378, A$43,729, A$43,930, respectively. All estimates of ICERs fell below the threshold level (A$73,267). Conclusions: This cost-effectiveness evaluation suggests that the routine two-dose 9vHPV vaccination strategy of preadolescent girls against HPV is very cost-effective in Australia from both the health system and societal perspectives. If equally priced, the 9vHPV option is the most economically viable vaccine. Overall, this analysis seeks to contribute to an evidence-based recommendation about the new 9vHPV vaccination in the national immunisation program in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The effect of age on intimate partner violence (IPV) against women has received little attention. The objective of this study is to analyze the prevalence, risk factors and health impact of current IPV in different life stages. Methods: We analyzed a sub-sample of 8,935 ever-partnered women aged 16 years and older from the Spanish Macrosurvey on Gender Violence of 2014. Main outcomes: current physical/ sexual IPV and current psychological-only IPV. The impact of IPV on health was analyzed using the variables self-perceived health, mental health and activity limitations. Risk factors were assessed using the prevalence ratio (PR) from Poisson regression models with robust variance. Analyses were stratified by age (young people, adults, and elderly people). Results: Abuse in childhood increases the likelihood of IPV in any life stage. A higher education level decreases the probability of physical/sexual IPV across all ages. Unemployment increases the probability of IPV in adult women (physical/sexual-IPV, PR:1.7; psychological-IPV, PR:1.3). Being an immigrant increases the likelihood of physical/sexual IPV in adult women (PRwomen:1.91). Women exposed to current physical/sexual IPV have a greater likelihood of reporting poor self-perceived health (PRyoungpeople:2.59; PRadults:1.68; PRelderly:1.28), poor mental health (PRyoungpeople:3.10; PRadults:2.61; PRedlerly:2.17) and activity limitations (PRyoungpeople:2.44; PRadults:1.98). For psychological IPV only, there is an increase in the probability of poor self-perceived health (PRadults:1.37; PRelderly:1.19), poor mental health (PRyoungpeople:2.24; PRadults:2.16; PRelderly:1.69), and activity limitations (PRadults:1.30; PRelderly:1.18). Conclusions: We found both common factors and differential factors when looking at IPV by age group. This shows the need to link gender violence prevention with the social circumstances of the population across different life stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Unsafe abortion contributes to maternal morbidities, mortalities as well as social and financial costs to women, families, and the health system. This study aimed to examine the factors associated with unsafe abortion practices in Nepal. Methods: Data were derived from the 2011 and 2016 Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys (NDHS). A total of 911 women aged 15–49 years who aborted five years prior to surveys were included in the analysis. The multivariate logistic regression analysis was employed to determine factors associated with unsafe abortion. Results: Unsafe abortion rate was seven per 1000 women aged 15–49 years. This research found that women living in the Mountains (adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR) 2.36; 95% CI 1.21, 4.60), or those who were urban residents (aOR 2.11; 95% CI 1.37, 3.24) were more likely to have unsafe abortion. The odds of unsafe abortion were higher amongst women of poor households (aOR 2.16; 95% CI 1.18, 3.94); Dalit women (aOR 1.89; 95% CI 1.02, 3.52), husband with no education background (aOR 2.12; 95%CI 1.06, 4.22), or women who reported agriculture occupation (aOR 1.82; 95% CI 1.16, 2.86) compared to their reference’s group. Regardless of knowledge on legal conditions of abortion, the probability of having unsafe abortion was significantly higher (aOR 5.13; 95% CI 2.64, 9.98) amongst women who did not know the location of safe abortion sites. Finally, women who wanted to delay or space childbirth (aOR 2.71; 95% CI 1.39, 5.28) or those who reported unwanted birth (aOR = 2.33; 95% CI 1.19, 4.56) were at higher risk of unsafe abortion. Conclusion: Going forward, increasing the availability of safe abortion facilities and strengthening family planning services can help reduce unsafe abortion in Nepal. These programmatic efforts should be targeted to women of poor households, disadvantaged ethnicities, and those who reside in mountainous region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this retrospective decisional analysis study is to develop the prediction model of suicidal ideation. We used a Decision Tree Analysis using SPSS 23.0 program to explore predictors of suicide thoughts for 12,015 Korean adults aged 19–98 years. As a result, the most powerful predictor of suicidal ideation was the level of depression. Of people who suspected depression (CESD-11>16), 32.6% experienced suicidal ideation, which is 12 times higher than that of total subjects. The group with the highest rate of suicidal ideation was people who experienced financial difficulties in depression-suspected group and the rate of suicidal thoughts in this group was 56.7%, which was the highest rate. However, in the non-depressive group, the satisfaction of family relationship was the strongest predictor of suicidal ideation. In the non-depressive group, the rate of suicidal thoughts of people with high level of family relationship satisfaction and high level of health satisfaction was 0.6%, which was the lowest rate. The contribution of this study was that it provided the combination of variables to predict the risk groups of adult suicide. This study suggests that researchers and clinicians should consider comprehensively depressive symptoms, family relationships, economic difficulties, and health status to prevent the suicide of adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nigeria has a plural legal system in which various sources of law govern simultaneously. Inconsistent and conflicting legal frameworks can reinforce pre–existing health disparities in sexual and reproductive health (SRH). While previous studies indicate poor SRH outcomes for Nigerian women and girls, particularly in Northern states, the relationship between customary and religious law (CRL) and SRH has not been explored. We conducted a state-level ecological study to examine the relationship between CRL and SRH outcomes among women in 36 Nigerian states and the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja (n = 37), using publicly available Demographic and Health Survey data from 2013. Indicators were guided by published research and included contraception use among married women, total fertility rate, median age at first birth, receipt of antenatal care, delivery location, and comprehensive knowledge of HIV. To account for economic differences between states, crude linear regression models were compared to a multivariable model, adjusting for per capita GDP. All SRH outcomes, except comprehensive knowledge of HIV, were statistically significantly more negative in CRL states compared to non–CRL states, even after accounting for state–level GDP. In CRL states in 2013, compared to non–CRL states, the proportion of married women who used any method of contraception was 22.7 percentage points lower ([95% CI: −15.78 –−29.64], p<0.001), a difference that persisted in a model adjusting for per capita GDP (b[adj] = −16.15, 95% CI: [−8.64 –−23.66], p<0.001.). While this analysis of retrospective state-level data found robust associations between CRL and poor SRH outcomes, future research should incorporate prospective individual-level data to further elucidate these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Malnutrition among children is one of the most pressing health concerns middle- and low-income countries face today, particularly those in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Early-life malnutrition has been shown to affect long-term health and income. One hypothesized channel linking early-life malnutrition and long-term outcomes is cognitive development. However, there is limited empirical evidence on the relationship between nutritional status and cognitive achievement in middle childhood. Study design: As part of the South India Community Health Study (SICHS), we collected educational attainment and anthropometric data from 1,194 children in rural Vellore district of Tamil Nadu, India, and assessed their math and reading skills. We analyzed the relationship between continuous and binary anthropometric measures of nutritional status and three measures of cognitive achievement (reading, math, and grade level), adjusting for potential confounders, using a regression framework. Results: Lower height-for-age and weight-for-age and their corresponding binary measures (stunting, underweight) were associated with lower reading scores, lower math scores, and lower grade level, with the exception of the association between weight-for-age and reading, which was marginally significant. A stunted child had one-third of a grade disadvantage compared to a non-stunted counterpart, whereas an underweight child had one-fourth of a grade disadvantage compared to a non-underweight counterpart. Lower BMI-for-age was associated with grade level and marginally associated with lower math scores, and its binary measure (thinness) was marginally associated with lower math scores. Conclusions: Acute and chronic malnutrition in middle childhood were negatively associated with math scores, reading scores, and educational attainment. Our study provides new evidence that cognitive achievement during middle childhood could be an important mechanism underlying the association between early-life malnutrition and long-term wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Since 1990, the world’s homicide rate has declined by nearly 20%. While prior research has documented parallel homicide declines across many individual countries, the causes of a shared international homicide decline remain unknown. Drawing on a worldwide process of population ageing, and on research linking age to criminal activity, this study investigates the contribution of global demographic shifts to the international homicide decline. Methods: We draw from (1) a High Coverage Sample of 126 countries since 1990, and (2) a Long Series Sample of 26 countries since 1960 and utilize fixed-effect regressions to evaluate the impact of age structure on homicide trends. In addition, we use a quantile regression to explore variations in the relationship between age structure and homicide conditional on homicide levels. Findings: Results using the High Coverage Sample suggest no relationship between age structure and homicide. However, results from the Long Series Sample suggest that changes in the relative size of countries’ youth population is a major predictor of homicide trends since 1960. In exploring this divergence, we find that the influence of age structure on homicide becomes less evident as other risk factors for violence gain prominence. Thus, while high homicide countries had the most to gain from falling homicide rates, the safety benefits of an ageing population have been concentrated among the least violent countries. Interpretation: While the homicide declines of individual countries have often been attributed to domestic policies, the universality of international homicide trends suggests the influence of broader global phenomenon. We find that countries’ homicide trends are strongly associated with changes in the size of their youth populations, particularly where there are few competing criminogenic forces. Based on these results, we propose an explanation for the international homicide decline, while highlighting the importance of demographic patterns in explaining homicide trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of protein N-glycosylation is essential in biological and biopharmaceutical research as N-glycans have been reported to regulate a wide range of physiological and pathological processes. Monitoring glycosylation in diagnosis, prognosis, as well as biopharmaceutical development and quality control are important research areas. A number of techniques for the analysis of protein N-glycosylation are currently available. Here we examine three methodologies routinely used for the release of N-glycans, in the effort to establish and standardize glycoproteomics technologies for quantitative glycan analysis from cultured cell lines. N-glycans from human gamma immunoglobulins (IgG), plasma and a pool of four cancer cell lines were released following three approaches and the performance of each method was evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The partograph has been endorsed by World Health Organization (WHO) since 1994 which presents an algorithm for assessing maternal and foetal conditions and labor progression. Monitoring labour with a partograph can reduce adverse pregnancy outcomes such as prolonged labor, emergency C-sections, birth asphyxia and stillbirths. However, partograph use is still very low, particularly in low and middle income countries (LMICs). In Bangladesh the reported partograph user rate varies from 1.4% to 33.0%. Recently, an electronic version of the partograph, with the provision of online data entry and user aid for emergency clinical support, has been tested successfully in different settings. With this proven evidence, we conducted and operations research to test the feasibility and effectiveness of implementing an e-partograph, for the first time, in 2 public hospitals in Bangladesh Methods: We followed a prospective crossover design. Two secondary level referral hospitals, Jessore and Kushtia District Hospital (DH) were the study sites. All pregnant women who delivered in the study hospitals were the study participants. All nurse-midwives working in the labor ward of study hospitals were trained on appropriate use of both types of partograph along with standard labour management guidelines. Collected quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS 23 statistical software. Discrete variables were expressed as percentages and presented as frequency distribution and cross tabulations. Chi square tests were employed to test the association between exposure and outcome variables. Potential confounding factors were adjusted using multivariate binary logistic regression methods. Ethical approval was obtained from the institutional review board of the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b). Findings: In total 2918 deliveries were conducted at Jessore DH and 2312 at Kushtia DH during one-year study period. Of them, 1012 (506 in each facility) deliveries were monitored using partograph (paper or electronic). The trends of facility based C-section rates was downwards in both the hospitals; 43% to 37% in Jessore and from 36% to 25% in Kushtia Hospital. There was a significant reduction of prolonged labour with e-partograph use. In Kushtia DH, the prolonged labour rate was 42% during phase 1 with the paper version which came down to 29% during phase-2 with the e-partograph use. The similar result was observed in Jessore DH where the prolonged labour rate reduced to 7% with paper partograph from the reported 30% prolonged labour with e-partograph. The e-partograph user rate was higher than the paper partograph during both phases (phase 1: 3.31, CI: 2.04–5.38, p < .001 and in phase 2: 15.20 CI: 6.36–36.33, p < .001) after adjusting for maternal age, parity, gestational age, religion, mother’s education, husband’s education, and fetal sex Conclusion: The partograph user rate has significantly improved with the e- partograph and was associated with an overall reduction in cesarean births. Use of the e-partograph was also associated with reduced rates of prolonged labour. This study has added to the growing body of evidence on the positive impact of e-partograph use. We recommend implementing e-partograph intervention at scale in both public and private hospitals in Bangladesh. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Use of tobacco and its products are the single most preventable cause of death in the world. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of current tobacco use and identify associated factors among Rwandans aged 15–34 years. Methods: This study involved secondary analysis of existing data from the nationally representative WHO STEPwise approach to Surveillance of non-communicable diseases (STEPS) conducted in 2013 to explore the prevalence of tobacco use and its associated factors in Rwanda. Data of 3,900 youth participants (15–34 years old) who had been selected using multistage cluster sampling during the survey was analyzed. The prevalence of current smoking along with socio-demographic characteristics of the sample were determined and multivariable logistic regression was employed to identify independent factors associated with current tobacco use. Results: The prevalence (weighted) of current tobacco use (all forms) was 8% (95%CI: 7.08–9.01). The prevalence was found to be significantly higher among males, young adults aged 24–34, youth with primary school education or less, those from Southern province, people with income (work in public, private organizations and self-employed) and young married adults. However, geographical location i.e. urban (7%) and rural (8%) settings did not affect prevalence of tobacco use. Factors that were found to be associated with current tobacco use through the multivariate analysis included being male, aged 25 years and above, having an income, and residing in Eastern, Kigali City and Southern Province compared to Western province. Conclusion: The association between smoking and socio-demographic characteristics among Rwandan youth identified in this study provides an opportunity for policy makers to tailor future tobacco control policies, and implement coordinated, high-impact interventions to prevent initiation of tobacco use among the youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little has been documented about partner violence among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) who are out of school, a factor associated with HIV acquisition. To understand areas for prioritising HIV prevention intervention efforts, we explored the prevalence and correlates of partner violence among out of school AGYW in Shinyanga, Tanzania. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of data from AGYW aged 15–23 years recruited in a cluster randomised trial conducted between October and December 2017 was used to examine correlates of partner violence. Data were collected through an Audio Computer-Assisted Self-interview. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association. Results: 2276 (75.5%) AGYW were sexually active. Of these, 816 (35.9%) reported having experienced violence from partners in the last six months. After adjusting for other covariates, being formerly married (AOR = 1.55, 95% CI:1.02, 2.37), having children (AOR = 1.79, 95% CI:1.47, 2.16), anxiety and depression symptoms (AOR = 3.27, 95%CI: 2.15, 4.96), having engaged in sex work in the past six months (AOR = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.45, 2.53) and economic deprivation (AOR = 1.61, 95% CI: 1.34,1.92) were significantly associated with partner violence. Conclusions: Almost one in three sexually active AGYW had experienced partner violence in the 6 months preceding the survey. The findings underscore the need for future research to focus on understanding the reasons and dynamics underlying high level of partner violence among AGYW. Furthermore, there is a need for implementing intervention programs that aim to reduce economic deprivation among AGYWs and address social norms and structures perpetuating violence against AGYW. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov—ID . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To obtain the perspectives of health professionals and community health workers on factors that determine health service coverage and maternal health outcomes so as to understand variations between districts. Methods: 16 Focus group discussions involving four different groups of participants were conducted in May 2015 in four purposively selected districts, complemented by three key informant interviews in one of the districts. Results: The solidarity support for poor people and the interconnectedness between local leaders and heads of health facilities were identified as enablers of health service utilization. Geographical factors, in particular location close to borders with mobile populations and migrants, and large populations with sparsely distributed health infrastructure, exacerbated by hilly topography and muddy roads were identified as barriers. Shortages of skilled health providers at the level of district hospitals were cited as contributing to poor maternal health outcomes. Conclusion: There is a need to take into account disparities between districts when allocating staff and financial resources in order to achieve universal coverage for high-quality maternal health services and better outcomes. Local innovations such as the use of SMS and WhatsApp text messages by health workers and financial protection schemes for poor patients improve solidarity and are worth to be scaled up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, many schools are replacing traditional classrooms with innovative flexible learning spaces to improve academic outcomes. Little is known about the effect on classroom behaviour. Students from nine secondary schools (n = 60, M age = 13.2±1.0y) were observed via momentary time sampling for a 30 minute period, in both a traditionally furnished and arranged classroom and a flexible learning space containing a variety of furniture options to accommodate different pedagogical approaches and learning styles. The teaching approaches in both conditions were documented. In traditional classrooms the approach was predominantly teacher-led and in the flexible learning space it was student-centred. Students in flexible learning spaces spent significantly more time in large group settings (d = 0.61, p = 0.001), collaborating (d = 1.33, p = 0.001), interacting with peers (d = 0.88, p = 0.001) and actively engaged (d = 0.50, p = 0.001) than students in traditional classrooms. Students also spent significantly less class time being taught in a whole class setting (d = -0.65, p = 0.001), engaged in teacher-led instruction (d = -0.75, p = 0.001), working individually (d = -0.79, p = 0.001), verbally off-task (d = -0.44, p = 0.016), and using technology (d = -0.26, p = 0.022) than in traditional classrooms. The results suggest that the varied, adaptable nature of flexible learning spaces coupled with the use of student-centred pedagogies, facilitated a higher proportion of class time interacting, collaborating and engaging with the lesson content. This may translate into beneficial learning outcomes in the long-term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In Brazil, alcohol consumption is estimated to range from 7 to 40% in pregnant women. This research investigated the motivation for alcohol consumption or abstinence during pregnancy in a purposive sample of Brazilian women. Methods: Clinical-qualitative research was conducted, in which 14 women participated, identified as risk-drinkers during pregnancy by the T-ACE screening tool. Data were collected through semi-structured individual interviews. Reports were recorded, transcribed and investigated by a thematic content analysis approach. The results were discussed based on a comprehensive and interpretive framework. Results: Sixteen themes were extracted and these were then classified into three thematic categories: (a) general motives for alcohol use, (b) specific motives for drinking during pregnancy, and (c) reasons for partly or fully abstaining from drinking during pregnancy. Social motives were the most relevant, particularly due to deeply rooted cultural values. Enhancement motives were widely mentioned and associated with a hedonic posture. Consumption also aimed to deal with negative emotions, characterizing two types of coping specifically to pregnancy: first, perceiving pregnancy as a period of less opportunity for social interaction and, therefore, drinking alcohol at home to compensate; secondly, perceiving pregnancy as a period of greater irritability, and hence experiencing difficulties to abstain. On the other hand, concern about fetal health, disapproval of consumption by relatives and health professionals, as well as the social construction of mothering were reported as reasons to abstain. Conclusions: Some specificities influence the decision to continue or discontinue alcohol consumption during pregnancy. To reduce consumption, we suggest educational actions based on a collective health perspective, articulated with individualized measures that allow identification and proper intervention for women at risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prior studies of healthy populations have found religious practices to be associated with survival. However, no contemporary studies have examined whether religiosity influences survival among patients discharged from the hospital after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The present study examined the relationship between religious practices and 2-year all-cause mortality among hospital survivors of an ACS. Methods: Patients hospitalized for an ACS were recruited from 6 medical centers in Massachusetts and Georgia between 2011 and 2013. Study participants self-reported three items assessing religiosity: strength/comfort from religion, petition prayers for health, and awareness of intercessory prayers by others. All cause-mortality within 2-years of hospital discharge was ascertained by review of medical records at participating study hospitals and from death certificates. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the multivariable adjusted risk of 2-year all-cause mortality. Results: Participants (n = 2,068) were on average 61 years old, 34% were women, and 81% were non-Hispanic White. Approximately 85% derived strength/comfort from religion, 61% prayed for their health, and 89% were aware of intercessions. Overall, 6% died within 2 years post-discharge. After adjusting for sociodemographic variables (age, sex, and race/ethnicity), petition prayers were associated with an increased risk of 2-year all-cause mortality (HR: 1.64; 95% CI: 1.01–2.66). With further adjustment for several clinical and psychosocial measures, this association was no longer statistically significant. Strength and comfort from religion and intercessory prayers were not significantly associated with mortality. Conclusions: Most ACS survivors acknowledge deriving strength and comfort from religion, praying for their health, and intercessions made by others for their health. Although the reported religious practices were not associated with post-discharge survival after multivariable adjustment, acknowledging that patients utilize their religious beliefs and practices as strategies to improve their health would ensure a more holistic approach to patient management and promote cultural competence in healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldwide, around 18 million people receive a cancer diagnosis each year, most of whom survive long enough to face additional cancer-related costs. In France, most costs directly related to cancer are covered by the National Health Insurance Fund, and cancer patients can receive treatments without paying advance fees. In this context, the costs faced by cancer survivors are mostly social costs. Drawing on fundamental cause theory, this study aimed to explore the socially-differentiated evolution of cancer survivor’s income five years after diagnosis. Our study draws on the findings of VICAN5, a French national survey that was conducted in 2015/2016 in a representative sample of 4,174 cancer survivors to obtain information on living conditions five years after diagnosis, and that was restricted to 12 tumour sites accounting for 88% of global cancer incidence in France. We used the multiple imputation method and the Heckman selection model to identify the factors associated with a decrease in household income per consumption unit (HICU), while accounting for missing data. Among survivors still working five years after diagnosis, 17.6% reported lower income at survey than at diagnosis. After adjustment for socio-demographic and medical characteristics, the decrease in HICU was more frequent in women, singles, low educated survivors, and survivors with reduced working time. Finally, subjective measures of income variation and economic well-being were a useful complement to objective measures since 31.6% of cancer survivors still working five years after diagnosis reported a perceived decrease in household income. In conclusion, inequalities in economic well-being persist long after diagnosis in France, and this despite the fact that most cancer-related costs are covered by the French National Health Insurance Fund. Consequently, more attention should be paid to cancer patients with low socio-economic status to help reduce inequalities in post-diagnosis living conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual hand gesture recognition systems are promising technologies for Human Computer Interaction, as they allow a more immersive and intuitive interaction. Most of these systems are based on the analysis of skeleton information, which is in turn inferred from color, depth, or near-infrared imagery. However, the robust extraction of skeleton information from images is only possible for a subset of hand poses, which restricts the range of gestures that can be recognized. In this paper, a real-time hand gesture recognition system based on a near-infrared device is presented, which directly analyzes the infrared imagery to infer static and dynamic gestures, without using skeleton information. Thus, a much wider range of hand gestures can be recognized in comparison with skeleton-based approaches. To validate the proposed system, a new dataset of near-infrared imagery has been created, from which good results that outperform other state-of-the-art strategies have been obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objective: To take full advantage of decision support, machine learning, and patient-level prediction models, it is important that models are not only created, but also deployed in a clinical setting. The KETOS platform demonstrated in this work implements a tool for researchers allowing them to perform statistical analyses and deploy resulting models in a secure environment. Methods: The proposed system uses Docker virtualization to provide researchers with reproducible data analysis and development environments, accessible via Jupyter Notebook, to perform statistical analysis and develop, train and deploy models based on standardized input data. The platform is built in a modular fashion and interfaces with web services using the Health Level 7 (HL7) Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard to access patient data. In our prototypical implementation we use an OMOP common data model (OMOP-CDM) database. The architecture supports the entire research lifecycle from creating a data analysis environment, retrieving data, and training to final deployment in a hospital setting. Results: We evaluated the platform by establishing and deploying an analysis and end user application for hemoglobin reference intervals within the University Hospital Erlangen. To demonstrate the potential of the system to deploy arbitrary models, we loaded a colorectal cancer dataset into an OMOP database and built machine learning models to predict patient outcomes and made them available via a web service. We demonstrated both the integration with FHIR as well as an example end user application. Finally, we integrated the platform with the open source DataSHIELD architecture to allow for distributed privacy preserving data analysis and training across networks of hospitals. Conclusion: The KETOS platform takes a novel approach to data analysis, training and deploying decision support models in a hospital or healthcare setting. It does so in a secure and privacy-preserving manner, combining the flexibility of Docker virtualization with the advantages of standardized vocabularies, a widely applied database schema (OMOP-CDM), and a standardized way to exchange medical data (FHIR). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous research has shown alcohol misuse amplifies the risk of acquiring sexually transmitted infections [STIs], including HIV, by increasing high risk sexual behaviors. Military populations are particularly vulnerable to both alcohol misuse and STIs due to the unique conditions of military service. This study estimated the prevalence of probable hazardous and harmful alcohol use and examined associations with transactional sex, sex with a sex worker, and multiple sexual partners among military personnel in the Armed Forces of the Republic of the Congo (FAC). Methods: A secondary analysis of data collected from a 2014 seroprevalence and behavioral epidemiology risk survey was performed. Participants included 703 active duty male service members 18 years of age or older who reported ever having sex. Patterns of harmful and hazardous drinking were measured with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Participants with an AUDIT score ≥ 8 (indicative of probable hazardous and harmful alcohol use, and possible alcohol dependence) were compared to those with an AUDIT score ≤ 7. Results: A total of 15.8% received a score of 8 or higher on the AUDIT. These participants were more likely to be lower educated and of lower military rank. In separate multivariable models, an AUDIT score ≥ 8 was significantly associated with higher odds of sex with a commercial sex worker and having multiple sexual partners. Conclusions: Study results emphasize the need to address patterns of harmful and hazardous alcohol use in the FAC and integrate alcohol misuse education into the HIV prevention program. The development of military-specific interventions to reduce alcohol-related risky sexual behaviors are also needed. Lastly, implementing policies such as restricting alcohol availability and sales on military bases, and adding warning labels to advertisements and containers may provide a more comprehensive response to reduce problematic alcohol use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to support decision making on how to most effectively improve broiler welfare an innovative expert survey was conducted based on principles derived from semantic modelling. Twenty-seven experts, mainly broiler welfare scientists (n = 20; and 7 veterinarians), responded (response rate 38%) by giving welfare scores (GWS, scale 0–10) to 14 benchmarking housing systems (HSs), and explaining these overall scores by selecting, weighing and scoring main welfare parameters, including both input and output measures. Data exploration followed by REML (Linear Mixed Model) and ALM (Automatic Linear Modelling) analyses revealed 6 clusters of HSs, sorted from high to low welfare, i.e. mean GWS (with superscripts indicating significant differences): 1. (semi-natural backyard) Flock (8.8a); 2. Nature (7.7ab), Label Rouge II (7.4ab), Free range EU (7.2ab), Better Life (7.2ab); 3. Organic EU (7.0bc), Freedom Food (6.2bc); 4. Organic US (5.8bcd), Concepts NL (5.6abcdef), GAP 2 (4.9bcd); 5. Conventional EU (3.7de), Conventional US (2.9ef), Modern cage (2.9abcdef); 6. Battery cage (1.3f). Mean weighting factors (WF, scale 0–10) of frequently (n> = 15) scored parameters were: Lameness (8.8), Health status (8.6), Litter (8.3), Density (8.2), Air quality (8.1), Breed (8.0), Enrichment (7.0) and Outdoor (6.6). These did not differ significantly, and did not have much added value in explaining GWS. Effects of Role (Scientist/Vet), Gender (M/F) and Region (EU/non-EU) did not significantly affect GWS or WF, except that women provided higher WF than men (7.2 vs 6.4, p<0.001). The contribution of welfare components to overall welfare has been quantified in two ways: a) using the beta-coefficients of statistical regression (ALM) analyses, and b) using a semantic-modelling type (weighted average) calculation of overall scores (CalcWS) from parameter level scores (PLS) and WF. GWS and CalcWS were highly correlated (R = ~0.85). CalcWS identified Lameness, Health status, Density, Breed, Air quality and Litter as main parameters contributing to welfare. ALM showed that the main parameters which significantly explained the variance in GWS based on all PLS, were the output parameter Health status (with a beta-coefficient of 0.38), and the input parameters (stocking) Density (0.42), Litter (0.14) and Enrichment (0.27). The beta-coefficients indicated how much GWS would improve from 1 unit improvement in PLS for each parameter, thus the potential impact on GWS ranged from 1.4 welfare points for Litter to 4.2 points for Density. When all parameters were included, 81% of the variance in GWS was explained (77% for inputs alone; 39% for outputs alone). From this, it appears that experts use both input and output parameters to explain overall welfare, and that both are important. The major conventional systems and modern cages for broilers received low welfare scores (2.9–3.7), well below scores that may be considered acceptable (5.5). Also, several alternatives like GAP 2 (4.9), Concepts NL (5.6), Organic US (5.8) and Freedom Food (6.2) are unacceptable, or at risk of being unacceptable due to individual variation between experts and farms. Thus, this expert survey provides a preliminary semi-quantified decision-support tool to help determine how to most effectively improve broiler welfare in a wide range of HSs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Data on engagement in HIV care from population-based samples in sub-Saharan Africa are limited. The objective of this study was to use double-sampling methods to estimate linkage to HIV care, ART initiation, and mortality among all adults diagnosed with HIV by a comprehensive home-based counseling and testing (HBCT) program in western Kenya. Methods: HBCT was conducted door-to-door from December 2009 to April 2011 in three sub-counties of western Kenya by AMPATH (Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare). For those identified as HIV-positive, data were merged with electronic medical records to determine engagement with HIV care. A randomly-drawn follow-up sample of 120 adults identified via HBCT who had not linked to care as of June 2015 in Bunyala sub-county were visited by trained fieldworkers to ascertain HIV care engagement and vital status. Double-sampled data were used to generate, via multinomial regression, predicted probabilities of engagement in care and mortality among those whose status could not be ascertained by matching with the electronic medical records in the three catchments. Results: Incorporating information from the double-sampling yielded estimates of prospective linkage to HIV care that ranged from 40–45%. Mortality estimates of those who did not engage in care following HBCT ranged from 12–16%. Among those who linked to care following HBCT, between 72–81% initiated ART. Discussion: In settings without universal national identifiers, rates of linkage to care from community-based programs may be subject to substantial underestimation. Follow-up samples of those with missing information can be used to partially correct this bias, as has been demonstrated previously for mortality among those who were lost-to-care programs. There is a need for harmonized data systems across health systems and programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given school enrollments but in the absence of a student residence census, we present a gravity-like model to infer the residential distribution of enrolled students across various administrative units. Multi-scale analysis of the effects of aggregation across different administrative levels allows for the identification of administrative units with sub-optimally located schools and highlights the challenges in allocating resources. Using this method, we verify that the current scheme of free cross-enrollment across administrative boundaries is needed in achieving universal education in the Philippines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Objectives: This study examined the best practices with regard to infant and young child feeding in emergency (IYCF-E) program. This was done by observing a breastfeeding support scenario through wet nursing in Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Methods: Information on demographics, IYCF-E knowledge, wet nursing support, type of constraints faced, and possible ways to overcome such constraints was collected through face-to-face interviews with 24 conveniently selected wet nurses. Linear regression was used to analyze the associations. Results: Mean age of wet nurses was 21.6 years; 16.67% had adequate knowledge about IYCF-E; and 29.17% had prior knowledge about wet nursing. Mean age of supported infants was 1.29 months, and 58.33% had a familial relationship with the wet nurses. Duration of breastfeeding support was significantly associated with the wet nurse’s age, age of the wet nurses’ youngest children, familial relationship with infants, knowledge about IYCF-E, and follow-ups from community nutrition workers (Ps <0.05). The status of facing problems (58.33%) was negatively correlated with duration of wet nursing, although this association was not statistically significant. The most extensively reported problems were as follows: misunderstandings with the infant’s family (85.71%), family workload and time limitations (21.43%), household distance (42.86%), and family members’ poor compliance (21.43%). Counseling from community nutrition workers (64.29%) and mediation by community leaders (57.14%) played key roles in mitigating such problems. Self-satisfaction (37.50%), counseling (62.50%), and religious inspiration (58.33%) were key motivators behind dedicated breastfeeding support. Conclusion: Wet nursing in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh, was associated with several factors involving both supply and demand. The present findings may help design better IYCF-E programs in similar context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: State lawmakers have explored numerous policy alternatives to reduce overweight and obesity. Evaluating effects of these laws is important but presents substantial methodological challenges. We present a conceptual framework that allows for classification of obesity prevention laws based on ecological level of influence and the underlying legal mechanism involved to guide analysis of the relationship between a substantial range of obesity prevention laws and BMI. Methods: Obesity prevention laws (OPLs) for all 50 states and DC were obtained via primary legal research using the LexisNexis Advanced Legislative Services (ALS) database. For legal provisions that met inclusion criteria, reviewers abstracted information on bill state, citation, passage and effective dates, target population, and obesity prevention mechanism. Laws were categorized by ecological level of influence on weight-related behaviors and the legal mechanism utilized to change behavioral determinants of BMI. Results: Laws designed to increase community-level opportunities for physical activity were the most frequently enacted OPL while laws designed to alter nutrition standards for school meals or competitive foods were comparatively less common, appearing in only 16% and 34% of states, respectively. Conclusion: Prior studies of obesity policies have focused on specific interventions. We identified and categorized state-level laws that operate at all ecological levels and found that laws passed during the initial burst of lawmaking were largely confined to measures aimed at increasing opportunities for physical activity. Creating public spaces for recreation is an important step to promoting healthier lifestyles to reduce obesity risk; more comprehensive, multilevel legal approaches should also be pursued. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Adolescents can be prone to mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression following disasters. School teachers can provide timely psycho-social support that could instill hope and improve mental health among adolescents in a post-earthquake situation in a low-resource setting. This study examined the effect of training for school teachers on psycho-social support on adolescents’ mental health and hope in an earthquake affected district in Nepal. Methods: This cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted in 15 schools in Dhading, a severely affected district by the 2015 earthquake in Nepal. The schools were randomized, as a result, 8 were in the intervention group and 7 in the control group. A total of 1,220 adolescents were recruited at baseline of which 605 adolescents belonged to intervention group and 615 to control group. The follow-up rate at 6 months was 83%. This trial was registered with Clinicaltrials.gov with registration number NCT03387007. Results: The intervention did not show significant effects for PTSD symptoms (Intervention*time, β = 0.33, p = 0.536), depression symptoms (Intervention*time, β = 0.30, p = 0.249), and hope (Intervention*time, β = -0.23, p = 0.588), among the adolescents at 6 months follow-up. Conclusion: The intervention did not improve mental health symptoms and hope among adolescents at 6 months follow-up. More focused and longer training could be necessary to address mental health among adolescents affected by earthquake. Additionally, longer follow-up could be necessary to assess the changes taking place over time. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Athletes have the right to combine their sport and higher education careers (e.g., dual career), but differences in the recognition of the student-athlete’s status and availability of dual career programmes and services exist worldwide. The purpose of this study was to investigate the dual career phenomenon through the international student-athletes’ views. Student-athletes competing at the 2017 Summer Universiade were recruited to respond a 31-item online survey encompassing demographic characteristics (Q1-8), sport and university engagement (Q9-13), student-athletes’ knowledge and possible sources of information regarding dual career (Q14-22); and dual career support at personal, sport, and academic levels (Q23-31). Four hundred twenty-six respondents (males: 46%, females 54%), competing in 22 different sports (individual: 74%, team: 26%) from Africa (4%), America (20%), Asia (34%), Europe (39%), and Oceania (3), had experienced previous international sports events (94%). Differences among continents emerged for sport (p<0.001) and university (p = 0.039) engagement, and transfer time from home to the training venue (p = 0.030). Individual sports student-athletes showed higher sport engagement (p = 0.003) compared to team sports counterparts. Differences among university majors emerged for university engagement (p<0.001). Long absence from classes (57%), limited leisure time (50%), financial uncertainty (44%), reduction of training due to education (42%), and overload feelings (37%) emerged. The majority of the sample resulted not familiar with dual career programmes (60%) and public authorities (69%), envisaging national dual career policies at university (37%) and sport (25%) levels. Multiple relevant dual career supporters at personal, sport, and university levels were identified, mainly parents (86%) and coaches (65%). To strengthen the potential of the student-athletes of the future, a dual career network should be established among several stakeholders, for transnational cooperation and sharing of knowledge and best practices through extensive communication between policy-makers, practitioners and those having a strong supportive dual career role (e.g., parents, coaches, and university sport staff). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sign and goal tracker animals show different behavioral patterns in response to conditioned stimuli, which may be driven by different neural circuits involved in processing stimuli. Here, we explored whether sign and goal-tracker profiles implicated different brain regions and responses to incentive salience of stimuli. We performed three experiments using male Wistar rats. Experiment 1 showed that lesioning the medial prefrontal cortex increased the prevalence of the goal-tracker phenotype. Experiment 2 assessed the developmental trajectory of the salience incentive attribution to a conditioned stimulus, showing that increased incentive salience of stimuli increased the prevalence of the sign-tracker phenotype in mature, but not preadolescent rats. In experiment 3, the functional impact of the medial prefrontal cortex circuits was analyzed with a latent inhibition procedure. Sign tracker rats showed a reduced latent inhibition to stimuli previously exposed when compared to goal tracker or intermediate rats. The overall results of this study highlight a key role of the medial prefrontal cortex for sign tracking behavior. The expression of sign and goal tracker phenotypes changed after lesion to the medial prefrontal cortex (experiment 1), differed across development (experiment 2), and showed differences in the attentional processes to previously exposed stimuli, as preexposure to CS was ineffective in sign tracker animals (experiment 3). These data indicate that the responses to the incentive salience of stimuli in sign tracker and goal tracker profiles are likely driven by different neural circuitry, with a different role of prefrontal cortical function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with schizophrenia report positive emotion during social interactions in ecological momentary assessment (EMA) studies; however, few of these studies examine the qualities of social interactions (e.g., intimacy) that may affect emotion experience. In the current EMA study, people with (n = 20) and without schizophrenia (n = 15) answered questions about the quality of their social interactions, including their emotion experiences. We also explored the relationship between EMA-reported social experiences and trait loneliness, negative symptoms, and social functioning. People with and without schizophrenia did not differ in EMA-reported proportion of time spent with others, extent of involvement during social interactions, intimacy of interactions, or average number of social interactions. Both people with and without schizophrenia reported more positive than negative emotion during social experiences. However, people with schizophrenia reported more loneliness, more severe negative symptoms, and impaired social functioning compared to people without schizophrenia. Further, specific qualities of social interactions (intimacy of interaction, involvement during interaction) were related to happiness during interactions only in people without schizophrenia. These results suggest that while people with and without schizophrenia report similar rates of in-the-moment social emotion experiences, the impact of social interaction quality on emotion may differ between groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germany is ethnically diverse and the social climate is more or less welcoming for different immigrant groups. The social climate can be described by stereotypes of members of the receiving society about immigrant groups, which in turn shape receiving-society members’ behavioral tendencies of support or discrimination. We investigated warmth and competence stereotypes about 17 immigrant groups in Germany. Results showed four clusters of immigrant groups in the two-dimensional space of warmth and competence. Groups who immigrated comparatively recently and from regions of conflict (e.g., the Balkans, Northern Africa) were stereotyped most negatively (moderate warmth, low competence). Across groups, path analysis investigated the socio-structural relations proposed by the stereotype content model and the BIAS map for immigrant groups in the German context. In a pre-registered model all hypothesized paths were significant but model fit was not good. Therefore, an exploratory model included additional paths as well as intercorrelations between exogenous variables and error terms. The modified model showed good fit and partly replicated the relations proposed by the BIAS map. Threat predicted warmth, whereas status predicted competence. Warmth predicted active behavioral tendencies and competence predicted passive behavioral tendencies. Additional paths from status to warmth, threat to competence, as well as from warmth to passive behavioral tendencies and competence to active behavioral tendencies were also significant. Thus, findings support receiving-society members’ active role in the process of integrating immigrant groups into German society. Based on the results, social-psychological approaches to foster immigrant integration are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the 2015 International Social Survey Program (ISSP), this study conducts a multinational comparison of job satisfaction determinants and their drivers in 36 countries and regions, with particular attention to the reasons for relatively low job satisfaction among Chinese workers. Based on our results from a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analysis, we attribute a substantial portion of the job satisfaction differences between China and the other countries to different job attributes and expectations; in particular, to unmet job expectations for interesting work, high pay, and opportunities for advancement. We also note that, contrary to common belief, Chinese workers value similar attributes as Western workers but perceive their work conditions as very different from those in the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) allow lecturers to overcome spatiotemporal boundaries and reach large numbers of participants. However, the completion rates of MOOCs are relatively low, a critical obstacle to their ultimate success. Existing literature suggests that strengthening student interaction has the potential to increase student commitment. The goal of this study is to develop a novel, market-based knowledge-sharing method that fosters student engagement and interaction in MOOCs, addressing the problem of low completion rates and demonstrating how MOOC engagement can lead to greater student success. The proposed method, “Knowledge Stock Exchange” (KSX), is derived from the concept of crowd-based intelligence mechanisms for incentive-compatible information aggregation. Using a popular MOOC as the focus of our empirical study, we show that the KSX method increases student interaction as well as MOOC completion rates. Moreover, we find that KSX participation has a significant positive effect on participants’ exam grades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldwide, the ecto-parasitic mite Varroa destructor has been assigned as an important driver of honey bee (Apis mellifera) colony losses. Unlike the subspecies of European origin, the honey bees in some African countries such as Uganda and Ethiopia may not be as threatened or suffer less from mite-infestations. However, only little is known about the factors or traits that enable them to co-exist with the mite without beekeepers’ intervention. Hence, this study was designed to investigate these factors or traits that limit the Varroa mite population in Ethiopian honey bees (Apis mellifera simensis). The study was conducted in the primary honey producing region of Ethiopia, i.e. Tigray. Mite infestation levels were shown to be lower in traditional hives (when compared to framed hives) and when colonies were started up from swarm catching (when compared to colony splitting). However, the influence of the comb cell size on mite infestation was not observed. With respect to the bee biology, the hygienic behavior was shown to be high (pin-test: 92.2% removal in 24 hours) and was negatively correlated with phoretic mite counts (Pearson; r = -0.79; P < 0.01) and mite infestation levels in brood (Pearson; r = -0.46; P < 0.001). Efforts to estimate the Varroa mite reproductive capacity were seriously hampered by an extremely low brood infestation level. From the 133 founder mites found (in 6727 capped brood cells) only 18.80% were capable of producing a reproductive progeny. Failure to produce adult male progeny was unexpectedly high (79.70%). We have suggested a few adaptations to the test protocols allowing to estimate the protective traits of honey bee colonies under very low Varroa pressure. Apart from that, this study demonstrates that the honey bees from Ethiopia are suitable targets to further decipher the genetic predisposition of resistance against V. destructor. It is still unclear to what extent simensis differs from the more common scutellata subspecies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of the internet, social media has become an essential tool for getting information, and attracted a large number of people join the social media platforms because of its low cost, accessibility and amazing content. It greatly enriches our life. However, its rapid development and widespread also have provided an excellent convenience for the range of fake news, people are constantly exposed to fake news and suffer from it all the time. Fake news usually uses hyperbole to catch people’s eyes with dishonest intention. More importantly, it often misleads the reader and causes people to have wrong perceptions of society. It has the potential for negative impacts on society and individuals. Therefore, it is significative research on detecting fake news. In the paper, we built a model named SMHA-CNN (Self Multi-Head Attention-based Convolutional Neural Networks) that can judge the authenticity of news with high accuracy based only on content by using convolutional neural networks and self multi-head attention mechanism. In order to prove its validity, we conducted experiments on a public dataset and achieved a precision rate of 95.5% with a recall rate of 95.6% under the 5-fold cross-validation. Our experimental result indicates that the model is more effective at detecting fake news. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internet and social media participation open doors to a plethora of positive opportunities for the general public. However, in addition to these positive aspects, digital technology also provides an effective medium for spreading hateful content in the form of cyberbullying, bigotry, hateful ideologies, and harassment of individuals and groups. This research aims to investigate the growing body of online hate research (OHR) by mapping general research indices, prevalent themes of research, research hotspots, and influential stakeholders such as organizations and contributing regions. For this, we use scientometric techniques and collect research papers from the Web of Science core database published through March 2019. We apply a predefined search strategy to retrieve peer-reviewed OHR and analyze the data using CiteSpace software by identifying influential papers, themes of research, and collaborating institutions. Our results show that higher-income countries contribute most to OHR, with Western countries accounting for most of the publications, funded by North American and European funding agencies. We also observed increased research activity post-2005, starting from more than 50 publications to more than 550 in 2018. This applies to a number of publications as well as citations. The hotbeds of OHR focus on cyberbullying, social media platforms, co-morbid mental disorders, and profiling of aggressors and victims. Moreover, we identified four main clusters of OHR: (1) Cyberbullying, (2) Sexual solicitation and intimate partner violence, (3) Deep learning and automation, and (4) Extremist and online hate groups, which highlight the cross-disciplinary and multifaceted nature of OHR as a field of research. The research has implications for researchers and policymakers engaged in OHR and its associated problems for individuals and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]