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BACKGROUND: This qualitative study aims to assess perspectives of clinicians and clinic staff on mail-order pharmacy dispensing for medication abortion. METHODS: Participants included clinicians and staff involved in implementing a mail-order dispensing model for medication abortion at eleven clinics in seven states as part of a prospective cohort study, which began in January 2020 (before the FDA removed the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone). From June 2021 to July 2022, we invited participants at the participating clinics, including six primary care and five abortion clinics, to complete a semi-structured video interview about their experiences. We then conducted qualitative thematic analysis of interview data, summarizing themes related to perceived benefits and concerns about the mail-order model, perceived patient interest, and potential barriers to larger-scale implementation. RESULTS: We conducted 24 interviews in total with clinicians (13 physicians and one nurse practitioner) and clinic staff (n = 10). Participants highlighted perceived benefits of the mail-order model, including its potential to expand abortion services into primary care, increase patient autonomy and privacy, and to normalize abortion services. They also highlighted key logistical, clinical, and feasibility concerns about the mail-order model, and specific challenges related to integrating abortion into primary care. CONCLUSION: Clinicians and clinic staff working in primary care and abortion clinics were optimistic that mail-order dispensing of medication abortion can improve the ability of some providers to provide abortion and enable more patients to access services. The feasibility of mail-order pharmacy dispensing of medication abortion following the Supreme Court Dobbs decision is to be determined. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Registry: Clinicaltrials.gov. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03913104. Date of registration: first submitted on April 3, 2019 and first posted on April 12, 2019.

The editorial in Law & Humanities discusses recent events exploring intersections between law, humanities, and the arts, particularly focusing on Kafka's influence on legal scholarship and practice. The article highlights discussions on Kafka's works, with a focus on "The Trial" and "The Castle," while noting the lack of engagement with "Amerika" among legal scholars. Additionally, the editorial touches on Kafka's shorter fiction and its metaphorical interpretations related to legal subjectivity. The issue also includes reviews of arts productions and books, showcasing diverse perspectives on law and literature. [Extracted from the article]

The article "Gandy & 'Books under threat: A response" discusses the impact of Open Access requirements on academic publishing, particularly in the UK. It highlights the inequitable opportunities in knowledge dissemination and production, focusing on factors like time, gender, race, language, and disciplinary background. The article also critiques the traditional academic publishing industry's dominance by a profitable oligopoly and advocates for Open Access publishing to address inequalities and improve access to academic materials globally. [Extracted from the article]

In numerous real-world applications, obtaining labeled data for a specific deep learning task can be prohibitively expensive. We present an innovative framework for unsupervised training of deep neural networks, drawing inspiration from the adversarial learning paradigm. Our approach incorporates the cycle-consistency constraint to effectively constrain the generator. Furthermore, we capitalize on the reconstructed samples, treating them as "real" samples for the discriminator during classification. This idea stems from the success of Wasserstein GAN, which leverages its gradient property and promising generalization bound during network training. Simultaneously, we employ a shared latent-data space constraint to ensure compatibility between the source domain and its corresponding target domain. This constraint facilitates effective knowledge transfer from the source to the target domain, even in the absence of labeled data for the target domain. To enhance the performance of the target domain classifier, we introduce association chains that link the embeddings of labeled samples to those of unlabeled samples and vice versa. By encouraging correct association cycles that ultimately return to the same class from which the association began, and penalizing wrong associations leading to a different class, we ensure accurate predictions. Our proposed method, named Shared Wasserstein Adversarial Domain Learning (SWADL), combines these novel constraints. Through extensive evaluations on benchmark datasets such as MNIST, SVHN, and USPS, we demonstrate that SWADL consistently outperforms current mainstream methods. It achieves superior results in unsupervised domain adaptation tasks, addressing the challenge of limited labeled data in real-world scenarios. The code and models are available at https://github.com/Jayee-chen/Adversarial-Domain-Adaptation.git. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Retention to complete follow-up surveys in extensive longitudinal epidemiological cohort studies is vital yet challenging. All of Us developed pilot interventions to improve response rates for follow-up surveys. Study design and setting: The pilot interventions occurred from April 27, 2020, to August 3, 2020. The three arms were: (1) telephone appointment [staff members calling participants offering appointments to complete surveys over phone] (2) postal [mail reminder to complete surveys through U.S. Postal Service], and (3) combination of telephone appointment and postal. Controls received digital-only reminders [program-level digital recontact via email or through the participant portal]. Study sites chose their study arm and participants were not randomized. Results: A total of 50 sites piloted interventions with 17,593 participants, while 47,832 participants comprised controls during the same period. Of all participants, 6,828 (10.4%) completed any follow-up surveys (1448: telephone; 522: postal; 486: combination; 4372: controls). Follow-up survey completions were 24% higher in the telephone appointment arm than in controls in bivariate analyses. When controlling for confounders, telephone appointment and combination arms increased rates of completion similarly compared to controls, while the postal arm had no significant effect (odds ratio [95% Confidence Interval], telephone appointment:2.01[1.81–2.23]; combination:1.91[1.66–2.20]; postal:0.92[0.79–1.07]). Although the effects of the telephone appointment and combination arms were similar, differential effects were observed across sub-populations. Conclusion: Telephone appointments appeared to be the most successful intervention in our study. Lessons learned about retention interventions, and improvement in follow-up survey completion rates provide generalizable knowledge for similar cohort studies and demonstrate the potential value of precision reminders and engagement with sub-populations of a cohort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Umsatzsteuer-Rundschau is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Umsatzsteuer-Rundschau is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Chinese Postman Problem (CPP) is a well-known optimization problem involving determining the shortest route, modeling the system as an undirected graph, for delivering mail, ensuring all roads are traversed while returning to the post office. The Directed Chinese Postman Problem (DCPP) extends the Chinese Postman Problem (CPP), where the underlying graph representing the system incorporates exclusively directed edges. Similarly to CPP, this problem has plenty of applications in route optimization, interactive system analysis, and circuit design problems. However, due to the added constraint (directionality of edges), DCPP results are more challenging to solve. Although methods to solve it in literature are proposed, typically by using minimum-cost-flow algorithms, the meta-heuristics approaches proposed to deal with it are very limited. In this paper, we propose an innovative meta-heuristic approach to solve DCPP by using an ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm, i.e., an algorithm that simulates in a simplified way the behavior of some species of ants to solve optimization problems. The efficiency of our ant colony optimization for solving the Directed Chinese Postman Problem (ACO-DCPP) is measured by comparing the ACO outcomes with the results obtained by a recursive algorithm that explores all the possible solutions. Results show that ACO-DCPP is stable and gets the global optimum frequently by using an extremely limited number of solutions explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key Points: Question: Do people who more frequently notice and feel grateful for positive experiences tend to live longer? Findings: In this cohort study of older US female nurses, experiencing more grateful affect was associated with lower mortality. Individuals in the highest tertile of gratitude, compared with the lowest tertile, had a 9% lower hazard of deaths from any cause, after accounting for baseline sociodemographic characteristics, social participation, religious involvement, physical health, lifestyle factors, cognitive function, and mental health. Meaning: The findings suggest that the experience of grateful affect is associated with increased longevity among older adults. Importance: Supporting healthy aging is a US public health priority, and gratitude is a potentially modifiable psychological factor that may enhance health and well-being in older adults. However, the association between gratitude and mortality has not been studied. Objective: To examine the association of gratitude with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in later life. Design, Setting, and Participants: This population-based prospective cohort study used data from self-reported questionnaires and medical records of 49 275 US older female registered nurses who participated in the Nurses' Health Study (2016 questionnaire wave to December 2019). Cox proportional hazards regression models estimated the hazard ratio (HR) of deaths by self-reported levels of gratitude at baseline. These models adjusted for baseline sociodemographic characteristics, social participation, physical health, lifestyle factors, cognitive function, and mental health. Data analysis was conducted from December 2022 to April 2024. Exposure: Gratitude was assessed with the 6-item Gratitude Questionnaire, a validated and widely used measure of one's tendency to experience grateful affect. Main Outcomes and Measures: Deaths were identified from the National Death Index, state statistics records, reports by next of kin, and the postal system. Causes of death were ascertained by physicians through reviewing death certificates and medical records. Results: Among the 49 275 participants (all female; mean [SD] age at baseline, 79 [6.16] years), 4608 incident deaths were identified over 151 496 person-years of follow-up. Greater gratitude at baseline was associated with a lower hazard of mortality in a monotonic fashion. For instance, the highest tertile of gratitude, compared with the lowest tertile, was associated with a lower hazard of all-cause deaths (HR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.84-0.99) after adjusting for baseline sociodemographic characteristics, social participation, religious involvement, physical health, lifestyle factors, cognitive function, and mental health. When considering cause-specific deaths, death from cardiovascular disease was inversely associated with gratitude (HR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.73-0.995). Conclusions and Relevance: This study provides the first empirical evidence suggesting that experiencing grateful affect is associated with increased longevity among older adults. The findings will need to be replicated in future studies with more representative samples. This cohort study examines the association of gratitude with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in later life among US female registered nurses participating in the Nurses' Health Study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a cornerstone of machine learning algorithms. This paper proposes a novel cost-sensitive model to address the challenges of class-imbalanced datasets inherent to SVMs. Integrating soft-margin SVM with the asymmetric LINEX loss function, this approach effectively tackles issues in scenarios with noisy data or overlapping classes. The LINEX loss function, which resembles the hinge and square loss functions, facilitates efficient model training with reduced sample penalties. Despite the resulting model's nonsmooth nature due to a constraint inequality, optimization is achieved using a Primal–Dual method, capitalizing on the convexity of the optimization function. This method enhances the model's noise robustness while preserving its original form. Extensive experiments validate the model's effectiveness, showcasing its superiority over traditional methods. Statistical tests further corroborate these findings. • The study effectively applies Soft Margin SVM combined with LINEX. • Addresses challenges posed by Gaussian noise and imbalanced data in datasets. • Employs the Primal–Dual algorithm to solve the model without constraints. • Maintains the integrity of the original dataset form throughout the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of the article is to analyze the impact of the quality of the customer service process on the financial condition of a company providing courier services in the era of digital transformation based on a case study. Design/methodology/approach: The article uses a critical analysis of literature in the field of quality management, customer service process and digitalization, an examination of documents concerning the company, a diagnostic survey method conducted among customers of a courier company and statistical research. Findings: The survey results showed that customers assess the quality of customer service and services in the analyzed company at a good level. Considering the lack of precision of this general statement, statistical analyses confirmed the advantage of the competition in the aspect of determinants related to the dimensions of certainty, reliability and materiality. In addition, a more in-depth analysis of the relationship between digitalization and quality showed that the development of digital technologies and the quality of digital services of the analyzed operator negatively affects the use of its offer and increases the advantage of competitors, who are assessed as a better choice. The respondents' answers are influenced to a statistically significant extent by their age and education. Older customers are more likely to choose the surveyed operator, while more educated customers appreciate the quality of service and the digital offer of competitors. In view of the information presented, it can be concluded that digitalization affects the quality of the customer service process in companies providing courier services. The assessment of quality depends on the age and education of the customer. It is necessary to provide support and education in the aspect of digital services for older customers and increase the attractiveness of digital services for younger customers. The impact of digitalization on the quality of the customer service process also affects the financial condition of the company, and the decreasing revenues from courier shipments have already been identified for reasons, the removal of which can improve the financial efficiency of the company. Research limitations/implications: The presented work may constitute the basis for further research in the field of the courier/postal services market, the impact of digitalization on selected markets and the analysis of changes in consumer preferences in terms of management and marketing. In addition, it may constitute a guide for managers responsible for the effective functioning of courier companies. Practical implications: The article provides information for both courier service companies and companies that are significantly affected by changes due to digitalization, in which customer service is one of the most important processes. Focusing on ensuring high quality of the customer service process within quality management, with particular emphasis on digital changes taking place in the company and on the market, can bring tangible effects in the form of improving the economic situation of the company, which has a significant impact on its functioning on the market. Originality/value: This article fills the identified literature gap. It has been shown that there is a wide range of theoretical studies and research in the field of quality management, customer service process and analysis of the courier services market and the impact of digitalization on business activities. The conducted research indicated that there is a lack of analysis of the connections between the quality of the customer service process and digitalization and the impact of these variables on the financial condition of a company providing courier services. The selection of the type of company is particularly important due to the impact of digitalization on the activities of courier companies and their importance in the modern economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of technological advancements, particularly the integration of the Internet of Things (IoT), on the efficiency and productivity of the postal service industry in Slovakia. By employing the Cobb–Douglas production function, we analyze the relationship between key inputs—capital and labor—and output for six major postal service providers: Slovak Post, Packeta, DHL Express, DPD, TNT Express, and GLS. Using data from 2017 to 2021, this study quantifies the elasticities of capital and labor to assess how IoT adoption influences operational performance. The regression analysis reveals significant variations in input contributions across companies, highlighting the diverse effects of IoT integration. Findings suggest that while some companies benefit more from capital investments in technology, others rely heavily on labor efficiency. These insights offer valuable implications for policymakers and industry stakeholders aiming to optimize resource allocation and enhance productivity through technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a staff allocation problem at a sequential sorting facility. In this facility, staff need to be assigned to work areas, through which commodities flow sequentially to be processed. Assigning staff optimally involves a trade-off between several different objectives, such as minimising the overall number of workers, as well as having fewer changes in the staff levels over time. While optimising for these, many operational requirements need to be met, including minimum processing volumes, correct ordering/processing of the commodities, and not exceeding staff resource constraints. We develop a deterministic time-expanded network flow model to solve the staff allocation problem. The model addresses the problem at a more granular timescale and with more operational constraints than previously used models. We use a lexicographical approach to deal with the multiple objectives. To demonstrate the model's value, we apply it to a staff problem of a UK mail centre, showing that in the majority of cases, our model improves on current staffing practises on both objectives. We also show how the model performs in several different scenarios, including increasing total mail volumes and changing the proportion of letters and parcels to be sorted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the life and literary career of Maurine Whipple, a Mormon author known for her novel "The Giant Joshua." Despite critical acclaim for her work, Maurine faced backlash from her community and family, which hindered her writing career. The article highlights Maurine's talent, her focus on Mormon folklore, and her struggles with negative criticism. It also touches on the changing perspectives within the LDS community regarding historical narratives and the importance of sharing stories authentically. [Extracted from the article]

Native starch Pickering stabilizer without chemical modification has attracted research interest in food field. However, the behaviors of starch particles at interface are seldom studied. In this paper, ultrafine starch particles (USPs) are grounded with a planetary ball mall from various starch species down to 1–2 µm in size. USP and starches are used to prepare Pickering emulsions. With size decrease, USP has more negative zeta potentials, stronger hydrogen bonds, better hydrophilicity, and better emulsifying abilities than their counterparts of starches. Millet starch has better emulsion stability than OSA modified starch. Glutinous USP outperforms in stabilization due to higher emulsion height and no oil phase separation. USP behaves differently at interface or in water phase, which is attributed to starch species, amylose and amylopectin contents, and gelatinization. This work can inspire the behavior investigation of starch particles in nano/micrometers at interface during storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies consistently showed that making cash visible with a windowed envelope during mail contact increases response rates in surveys. The visible cash aims to pique interest and encourage sampled households to open the envelope. This article extends prior research by examining the effect of additional interventions implemented during mail recruitment to a survey panel on recruitment rates and costs. Specifically, we implemented randomized experiments to examine size (small, large) and location (none, front, back) of the window displaying cash, combined with what part of the cash is shown through the window envelope (numeric amount, face/image), and various prepaid incentive amounts (two $1, one $2, one $5). We used the recruitment effort for NORC's AmeriSpeak Panel as the data source for this study. The probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel uses an address-based sample and multiple modes of respondent contact, including mail, phone, and in-person outreach during recruitment. Our results were consistent with prior research and showed significant improvement in recruitment rates when cash was displayed through a window during mail contact. We also found that placing the window on the front of the envelope, showing $5 through the envelope compared to $2 and $1, and showing the tender amount compared to the image on the cash through the window were more likely to improve the recruitment rates. Our cost analyses illustrated that the cost difference in printing window versus no window envelope is small. There is no difference in printing cost between front window and back window as they both require custom manufacturing. There is also no cost difference in printing envelopes with small windows versus large windows. Lastly, we found no evidence of mail theft based on our review of the United States Postal Service's "track and trace" reports, seed mailings sent to staff, and undeliverable mailing rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of success stories of unicorn startups from the sharing and gig economy such as Airbnb, DiDi, or Uber, it is not surprising that postal service providers try to transfer the sharing idea toward their last-mile delivery services: owners of under-used assets (here private crowdshippers traveling anyway) are connected with users willing to pay for the use of these assets (here postal service providers having to deliver parcels). In this paper, we consider a special form of crowdshipping where public transport users, steered by a smartphone app, pick up parcels from parcel lockers, take these shipments with them on their subway rides, and deposit these parcels into other lockers. Finally, the actual recipients can pick up their shipments from their most convenient parcel lockers, e.g., on their own way back home from work. We formulate the optimization problem that matches crowdshipping demand and supply and determines the routes along lockers and crowdshippers each parcel takes. Specifically, we allow that each parcel is moved by multiple cooperating crowdshippers and solve this problem with different objective functions capturing the individual aims of the main stakeholders: shippers, crowdshippers, recipients, and the platform provider. We evaluate the relationship of these objectives and quantify the efficiency loss of a more restricted matching policy, where only a single crowdshipper can be assigned to each parcel's complete path between origin and destination. Finally, we also explore the impact of delays and investigate whether specific objectives protect against unforeseen events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is a meta-analysis of overall recruitment rate (ORR) in probability-based online panel research. In this study, we included 23 general population probability-based online panels (out of 28 identified and described) covering 15 countries and provided a comprehensive overview of their methodological approaches to recruitment. We calculated the average ORR and carried out a meta-regression with selected moderators. On average less than 1 out of 5 eligible sampled people registered as panel members, but the data showed a very high heterogeneity of ORRs. We found that recruitment rates were similar in telephone, face-to-face, and mail modes in the United States (U.S.), but the mail mode performed worse than the interviewer-administered recruitment modes in the rest of the world. Also, we identified a small decrease of ORR over time and provided evidence on how ORRs are significantly lower in the U.S. probability-based online panels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Seasons of the Patch: for Kristijonas Donelaitis" is a poetry book by Kerry Shawn Keys that pays homage to the eighteenth-century Lithuanian poet, Kristijonas Donelaitis. The collection consists of over 300 pages of poetry that explore various themes such as nature, history, and the concept of time. Keys draws inspiration from both Western and Eastern literature, resulting in a diverse and thought-provoking collection. The book is divided into two sections, each containing poems of different forms and lengths. Overall, "Seasons of the Patch" offers a unique and expansive exploration of life and the human experience. [Extracted from the article]

Population aging is a global trend and a world-wide challenge to many governments. The high-quality life of the elderly cannot be separated from the support of basic services and facilities. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct analysis and research on the accessibility of urban community services and facilities. It is worth noting that the research in this article is based on master thesis (Bai, 2013). Drawing on the data, methods, and conclusions from the master's thesis, in this paper, an approach is designed for measuring spatial accessibility to services/facilities by a spatially dispersed ageing population in urban areas. The local government area (LGA) of Monash in the Melbourne metropolitan area has been selected the case study area. This study combines GIS-based spatial analytical procedures and two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method, in conjunction with mesh block level 2011 population data, service/facility data and transportation network data, to measure and map spatial variations in potential accessibility to services and facilities deemed essential to the aged population. Service facilities considered in the study include bus stops, train stations, bank facilities, shopping centres, post offices, churches, parks, public libraries, community centres, pharmacies, GP clinics and hospitals in Monash LGA. The research results can be used to optimize the spatial planning and layout of public facilities for ageing population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the exhibition "The 18th International Architecture Exhibition," held at Giardini della Biennale in Venice, Italy from May 20, 2023 to November 26, 2023.

Copyright of Humanitas: International Journal of Social Sciences / Uluslararasi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi is the property of Humanitas: International Journal of Social Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Ubiquitination status of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) is crucial for regulating DNA lesion bypass. After the resolution of fork stalling, PCNA is subsequently deubiquitinated, but the underlying mechanism remains undefined. We found that the N-terminal domain of ATAD5 (ATAD5-N), the largest subunit of the PCNA-unloading complex, functions as a scaffold for Ub-PCNA deubiquitination. ATAD5 recognizes DNA-loaded Ub-PCNA through distinct DNA-binding and PCNA-binding motifs. Furthermore, ATAD5 forms a heterotrimeric complex with UAF1-USP1 deubiquitinase, facilitating the deubiquitination of DNA-loaded Ub-PCNA. ATAD5 also enhances the Ub-PCNA deubiquitination by USP7 and USP11 through specific interactions. ATAD5 promotes the distinct deubiquitination process of UAF1-USP1, USP7, and USP11 for poly-Ub-PCNA. Additionally, ATAD5 mutants deficient in UAF1-binding had increased sensitivity to DNA-damaging agents. Our results ultimately reveal that ATAD5 and USPs cooperate to efficiently deubiquitinate Ub-PCNA prior to its release from the DNA in order to safely deactivate the DNA repair process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is being scaled up to prevent HIV acquisition among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in Eastern and Southern Africa. In a prior study more than one-third of AGYW 'mystery shoppers' stated they would not return to care based on interactions with health providers. We examined the experiences of AGYW in this study to identify main barriers to effective PrEP services. Unannounced patient actors (USP/'mystery shoppers') posed as AGYWs seeking PrEP using standardized scenarios 8 months after providers had received training to improve PrEP services. We conducted targeted debriefings using open-ended questions to assess PrEP service provision and counseling quality with USPs immediately following their visit. Debriefings were audio-recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis to explore why USPs reported either positive or negative encounters. We conducted 91 USP debriefings at 24 facilities and identified three primary influences on PrEP service experiences: 1) Privacy improved likelihood of continuing care, 2) respectful attitudes created a safe environment for USPs, and 3) patient-centered communication improved the experience and increased confidence for PrEP initiation among USPs. Privacy and provider attitudes were primary drivers that influenced decision-making around PrEP in USP debriefs. Access to privacy and improving provider attitudes is important for scale-up of PrEP to AGYW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American Family Health Study (AFHS) collected family health and fertility data from a national probability sample of persons aged 18–49 between September 2021 and May 2022, using web and mail exclusively. In July 2022, we surveyed AFHS respondents and gauged their willingness to become part of a national web panel that would create novel longitudinal data on these topics. We focus on predictors of willingness to participate, identifying the potential selection bias that this type of approach may introduce. We found that efforts of this type to create a national web panel may introduce potential selection bias in estimates based on the panel respondents, with individuals having higher socioeconomic status being more cooperative. Thus, alternative recruitment strategies and re-weighting of the subsample may be needed to further reduce selection bias. We present methodological implications of our results, limitations of our approach, and suggestions for further research on this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our study, we describe how the performance of certain modes of goods and passenger transport, as well as the postal service, has developed over the past hundred years, and how the stock of individual vehicles has changed. Technical development and methodological changes have significantly influenced the measurement and publication of certain areas of transport statistics. Based on the collection and processing of data from the Hungarian Statistical Yearbooks, we can state that natural metrics are capable of capturing long-term trends and well characterize the transport policy decisions of individual eras, as well as economic business cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the issue of academic inflation in the field of orthopaedic surgery, focusing on the exponential growth of scientific publications and residency applicants. The author proposes two potential solutions: using a log scale to categorize publications and listing only impactful works on resumes. While acknowledging potential criticisms, the author argues that these measures would help maintain the value of academic effort. The article also emphasizes the importance of recognizing the overall growth of scientific knowledge and achievement. Additionally, it addresses the impact of academic inflation on medical students and suggests a return to one-page resumes to highlight key accomplishments and values. The article concludes by emphasizing the need for further discussions on evaluating candidates and considering the potential exclusion of those with fewer resources or nontraditional backgrounds. [Extracted from the article]

We use newly digitized records from the post office to study the effects of strengthened state capacity between 1875 and 1901. Exploiting the implementation of the Pendleton Act—a landmark statute that shielded bureaucrats from political interference—across US cities over two waves, we find that civil service reform reduced postal delivery errors and increased productivity. These improvements were most pronounced during election years when the reform dampened bureaucratic turnover. We provide suggestive evidence that reformed cities witnessed declining local partisan newspapers. Separating politics from administration, therefore, not only improved state effectiveness but also weakened the role of local politics. (JEL D24, D73, H83, J45, L82, L87, N41) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unsolicited proposals (USPs) are permitted in many countries for public–private partnership (PPP) projects. Despite the importance of a competitive and transparent environment throughout the tendering process, USPs are typically known to have low competition and collusive agreements. This study reviews unsolicited road projects implemented through PPPs in South Korea, and empirically examines the relationship between transparency, tendering rules, and competition. First, it discovers that the weights of the price (or quantitative) components of tendering rules differ between the competitive USPs group with more than one bidder and the noncompetitive USPs group with only one bidder. All else being equal, regression analysis reveals that USPs with relatively higher weights for the price (or quantitative) components tend to have more bidders during the tendering process. Second, regression analysis identifies a measure that affects competition for USPs. With transparent and objective tendering rules, the level of competition is determined by the measure that captures how much the bidders' scores would increase if their toll rates were decreased. Finally, a case study demonstrates how strategic behaviors and collusive agreements arise among bidders under USPs where the tendering rules are partially transparent and the initial proponents can reorganize their consortium during the tendering process. This study's findings will contribute to expanding research on transparency and competition in tendering rules, as well as improve USPs in designing tendering rules to enhance competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The context of recognizing handwritten city names, this research addresses the challenges posed by the manual inscription of Bangladeshi city names in the Bangla script. In today's technology-driven era, where precise tools for reading handwritten text are essential, this study focuses on leveraging deep learning to understand the intricacies of Bangla handwriting. The existing dearth of dedicated datasets has impeded the progress of Bangla handwritten city name recognition systems, particularly in critical areas such as postal automation and document processing. Notably, no prior research has specifically targeted the unique needs of Bangla handwritten city name recognition. To bridge this gap, the study collects real-world images from diverse sources to construct a comprehensive dataset for Bangla Hand Written City name recognition. The emphasis on practical data for system training enhances accuracy. The research further conducts a comparative analysis, pitting state-of-the-art (SOTA) deep learning models, including EfficientNetB0, VGG16, ResNet50, DenseNet201, InceptionV3, and Xception, against a custom Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) model named "Our CNN." The results showcase the superior performance of "Our CNN," with a test accuracy of 99.97% and an outstanding F1 score of 99.95%. These metrics underscore its potential for automating city name recognition, particularly in postal services. The study concludes by highlighting the significance of meticulous dataset curation and the promising outlook for custom CNN architectures. It encourages future research avenues, including dataset expansion, algorithm refinement, exploration of recurrent neural networks and attention mechanisms, real-world deployment of models, and extension to other regional languages and scripts. These recommendations offer exciting possibilities for advancing the field of handwritten recognition technology and hold practical implications for enhancing global postal services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turkish Journal of Social Research / Turkiye Sosyal Arastirmalar Dergisi is the property of Turkish Journal of Social Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The European Journal of Jewish Studies explores Jewish and non-Jewish relations in Central Europe during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, focusing on urban social interactions. The urban landscapes of Central Europe underwent significant changes due to mass migration and urbanization, leading to the emergence of cultural metropolises. The articles in this special section discuss various case studies, such as relations in the Budapest Bar Association and the public presence of German Jews in the Grand Duchy of Baden, shedding light on the impact of these interactions on the making of modernity. The research aims to provide insights into the diverse Jewish urban spaces and encourage further exploration of relational spaces in understanding Jewish and non-Jewish encounters in urban settings. [Extracted from the article]

Two chemists employed a three‐device rapid screening "toolkit" consisting of a handheld Raman spectrometer, transportable mass spectrometer, and portable Fourier transform infrared (FT‐IR) spectrometer at an international mail facility (IMF) satellite laboratory to examine unknown (unlabeled/mislabeled) products for the presence of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Phase I of this project previously demonstrated that this toolkit was the most effective collection of instruments for identifying APIs in product types collected at IMFs during a nationwide mail blitz and Phase II of this project previously demonstrated that results generated using the toolkit during a satellite laboratory pilot program were as reliable as those generated by a full‐service library when two or more of these instruments identify an API. This study (Phase III) described the results of the satellite laboratory toolkit during production mode and encompassed the period ranging from June 2021 through December 2022. During this study, a total of 858 products were examined on‐site at the IMF. The satellite laboratory yielded conclusive results for 726 (84.6%) products, which were used to support regulatory action, and identified 132 (15.4%) products that required additional full‐service laboratory analyses due to inconclusive results. The satellite and full‐service laboratory verified/confirmed at least one API/related substance in 617 (71.9%) products. A total of 709 APIs/related substances were found in the 617 products, and 202 of these 709 compounds were unique/different. Overall, during Phases I through III of this program, 350 different substances have been identified in products collected at IMFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the playful and humorous side of Henry Morris, a renowned printer known for his Bird & Bull Press. While Morris was primarily focused on papermaking history, he also enjoyed incorporating whimsical pranks and jokes into his work. One of his main outlets for this was the creation of San Serriffean works, which began in 1937 and involved parodies and spoofs related to printing and numismatic culture. Morris published various books and ephemeral pieces under the pseudonym Dr. Bachaus, incorporating elements of San Serriffe into his work. These playful publications covered topics such as toilet paper, marbled papers, private presses, and even a fictional republic called San Serriffe. Morris's San Serriffean works were highly regarded for their creativity and humor, adding an element of amusement to his fine press printing. [Extracted from the article]

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