Hasil untuk "Information resources (General)"

Calantha Tillotson, Adam Brennan, Sarah Whittle et al.

Springboarding from a statewide initiative, four academic librarians from three different universities collaborated to create an openly licensed textbook on the Pressbooks platform that could be easily embedded into one-shots or general education research courses. The project developed over the span of a year, which included: planning, exploring, creating, evaluating, sharing, and implementing. The first three steps taught the authors to set and agree upon shared expectations early, decide to either clone or create original content, and trust remixing material from other OER is firmly within the moral framework of sharing knowledge. In the final three stages the authors learned to recruit more reviewers/editors than needed, recognize when to turn off perfectionism and publish, and stay open to new collaborative opportunities. The authors experienced firsthand how OER transforms libraries from information gate-keepers to become content owners. This transformation brings libraries closer to their missions of access for all.

Anja Alessandra Joye, Matea Zosso-Pavic, Jeannifer Beckmann et al.

Abstract Objective The objective of this project was to develop and evaluate a comprehensive clinical quality assurance system for radiation oncology, and assess the system using definitive radiation therapy for prostate cancer as a first use case. Methods The Zurich Clinical Quality Assurance System in Radiation Oncology (ZH-CLASSIC) was initiated to allow for continuous quality assurance in radiation oncology with respect to indication for radiation therapy, practice of radiation therapy and patient outcome. Data from the sources of the hospital information system, the Radiation Oncology Record and Verify System and a dedicated follow-up database were automatically retrieved, and combined using a unique patient-ID. Data aggregation, continuous analysis and reporting was performed using ten distinct patient care pathways as the basis which covers all aspects of radiation therapy treatments and indications as well as the different follow-up schemes (in-clinic, telemedicine, and external follow-up). The follow-up system was validated through analysis of patients with prostate cancer (≥ 18 years, cT1-3 cN0 cM0) who underwent curative, primary stereotactic radiation therapy. Survival, treatment effectiveness, tumor control, acute and late toxicity, and performance status were analyzed. Results Since May 2021, a total of 4,515 individual patients were being managed in ZH-CLASSIC. Personal resources amounted to 0.75 full time equivalent (FTE) project manager for one year prior to implementation, 0.13 FTE physician and 1.00 FTE follow-up manager as ongoing expenses. Compliance with respect to reporting data into ZH-CLASSIC by the physicians increased from a mean of 54% in 2021 to 92% in 2024. For all patients, follow-up was performed as in-clinic visits (51%), via telephone (7%) or as an external query (43%), with missing information (5%) originating from external requests in 96%. Instead of an intended first in-clinic follow-up visit, telemedicine appointments were conducted in 10% and external follow-ups were performed in 22%. Oncological outcomes and toxicities were evaluated for all prostate cancer patients (n = 209) treated with daily online-adaptive SBRT on the MRIdian using 5 × 7.25 Gy every other day or 5 × 7.5 Gy weekly. After a median follow-up of 15 months (range, 6–41 months), 208/209 patients were alive. Over this time period, reported CTCAE toxicities included genitourinary grade 2: 12%, grade 3: 1%, and gastrointestinal grade 2: 3%, grade 3: 0%. Conclusions The ZH-CLASSIC system allowed for automated and structured documentation and analysis of the quality with regards to the indication, treatment and outcome of radio-oncological cancer patients. Dedicated staff are needed in the start-up period but personal resources are expected to continuously decrease. Analyses of patients treated with SBRT for localized prostate cancer resulted in plausible results in agreement with reported values in the literature. Clinical trial number Not applicable.

Babar Sattar Khan, Babar Sattar Khan, Affaq Qamar et al.

The modern power generation systems are increasing their reliance on high penetrations of distributed energy resources (DERs). However, the optimal dispatching mechanisms mainly rely on central controls which receive the load demand information from the electricity utility providers and allocate the electricity production targets to participating generating units. The lack of transparency and control over the DER fuel inputs makes the physical power purchase agreements (PPAs) a cumbersome task. This research work proposes an innovative fractal moth flame optimization (FMFO) approach to tackle the problem of integrated load dispatch (ILD). The proposed methodology provides a mechanism to integrate the information of the proposed optimizer, i.e., FMFO into the smart contracts enabled by the blockchain technology. This problem entails the allocation of loads to power-generating units in a manner that minimizes the total generation cost in a decentralized manner. To improve the efficiency of dispatch operations in the presence of a substantial integration of wind energy, this study proposes a novel framework based on the principles of fractal heritage, drawing inspiration from the classical MFO method. To assess the effectiveness and adaptability of the algorithm suggested, various non-convex scenarios in the context of optimization for ILD are considered. These scenarios incorporate valve-point loading effects (VPLEs), capacity limitations, power plants with multiple fuel options, and the presence of stochastic wind (SW) power uncertainty, following a Weibull distribution. The findings demonstrate exceptional performance in terms of minimizing fuel generation costs compared to traditional algorithms.

Nicole L Stout DPT, CLT-LANA, FAPTA, Dannell Boatman EdD, MS, Madeline Rice DPT et al.

Community-based healthcare delivery systems frequently lack cancer-specific survivorship support services. This leads to a burden of unmet needs that is magnified in rural areas. Using sequential mixed methods we assessed unmet needs among rural cancer survivors diagnosed between 2015 and 2021. The Supportive Care Needs Survey (SCNS) assessed 5 domains; Physical and Daily Living, Psychological, Support and Supportive Services, Sexual, and Health Information. Needs were analyzed across domains by cancer type. Survey respondents were recruited for qualitative interviews to identify care gaps. Three hundred and sixty two surveys were analyzed. Participants were 85% White (n = 349) 65% (n = 234) female and averaged 2.03 years beyond cancer diagnosis. Nearly half (49.5%) of respondents reported unmet needs, predominantly in physical, psychological, and health information domains. Needs differed by stage of disease. Eleven interviews identified care gap themes regarding; Finding Support and Supportive Services and Health Information regarding Care Delivery and Continuity of Care. Patients experience persistent unmet needs after a cancer diagnosis across multiple functional domains. Access to community-based support services and health information is lacking. Community based resources are needed to improve access to care for long-term cancer survivors.

Niranjan Bidargaddi

Access to unprecedented information at finger tips has both benefits and drawback. In this talk I examine the transformative role of websites and mobile apps in access to, and the delivery of health information, specifically in reproductive and endometriosis healthcare. It sheds light on the challenges and solutions. The talk is organised in two parts. Initially, I delve into search engines and social media, illuminating the role of social algorithms in health information distribution. While these algorithms have made information more accessible, they often prioritize commercial interests over medical accuracy. By using examples like YourFertility and Endozone, I outline an alternative health-focused algorithm design, which prioritise accurate, reliable health information. Next, I shift the focus to mobile apps and wearables. These tools are easily integrated into our daily routines and collect user data continuously. The challenge here is to separate the wheat from the chaff - to identify quality resources from a vast pool of options, while also addressing issues of data overreach, highlighting the need for regulation. I will explore a case study demonstrating the potential of apps for micro-level observation and intervention. By tailoring micro-interventions based on user biometric fluctuations within daily contexts, apps can transform how we approach self-management.

Anatoliy Zhuchenko, Oleksiy Kuchkin, Artem Sazonov et al.

Mobile robots control systems achieve greater efficiency through the use of robust environmental analysis algorithms based on data collected from optical sensors such as depth cameras, Light Detection and Ranging sensors (LIDARs). These data sources provide information about control object environment in point cloud. The work of such algorithms, as a rule, is aimed at detecting the objects of interest and searching for the specified objects, as well as relocating its own position on the scene. There are many different approaches for solving object detection problem in point clouds, but most of them require high computational resources. In this work, many variations of the random sample consensus (RANSAC) method are analyzed for objects defined by a mathematical model of an analytical form. Statistical characteristics of data analysis were used to compare the methods. The results demonstrate the most energy efficient flat surface detection method that processes 60 RGB-D camera frames per second.

Ruth Dundas, Massoud Boroujerdi, Susan Browne et al.

Background Having a good start in life during pregnancy and infancy has been shown to be important for living both a healthy life and a longer life. Despite the introduction of many policies for the early-years age group, including voucher schemes, with the aim of improving nutrition, there is limited evidence of their impact on health. Objectives To assess the effectiveness of the Healthy Start voucher scheme on infant, child and maternal outcomes, and to capture the lived experiences of the Healthy Start voucher scheme for low-income women. Design This was a natural experiment study using existing data sets, linked to routinely collected health data sets, with a nested qualitative study of low-income women and an assessment of the health economics. Setting Representative sample of Scottish children and UK children. Participants Growing Up in Scotland cohort 2 (n = 2240), respondents to the 2015 Infant Feeding Study (n = 8067) and a sample of 40 participants in the qualitative study. Interventions The Health Start voucher, a means-tested scheme that provides vouchers worth £3.10 per week to spend on liquid milk, formula milk, fruit and vegetables. Main outcome measures Infant and child outcomes – breastfeeding initiation and duration; maternal outcomes – vitamin use pre and during pregnancy. Results The exposed group were women receiving the Healthy Start voucher (R), with two control groups: eligible and not claiming the Healthy Start voucher (E) and nearly eligible. There was no difference in vitamin use during pregnancy for either comparison (receiving the Healthy Start voucher, 82%; eligible and not claiming the Healthy Start voucher, 86%; p = 0.10 vs. receiving the Healthy Start voucher, 87%; nearly eligible, 88%; p = 0.43) in the Growing Up in Scotland cohort. Proportions were similar for the Infant Feeding Study cohort (receiving the Healthy Start voucher, 89%; eligible and not claiming the Healthy Start voucher, 86%; p = 0.01 vs. receiving the Healthy Start voucher, 89%; nearly eligible, 87%; p = 0.01); although results were statistically significantly different, these were small effect sizes. There was no difference for either comparison in breastfeeding initiation or breastfeeding duration in months in Growing Up in Scotland, but there was a negative effect of the Healthy Start voucher in the Infant Feeding Survey. This contrast between data sets indicates that results are inconclusive for breastfeeding. The qualitative study found that despite the low monetary value the women valued the Healthy Start voucher scheme. However, the broader lives of low-income women are crucial to understand the constraints to offer a healthy diet. Limitations Owing to the policy being in place, it was difficult to identify appropriate control groups using existing data sources, especially in the Infant Feeding Study. Conclusions As the Healthy Start voucher scheme attempts to influence health behaviour, this evaluation can inform other policies aiming to change behaviour and use voucher incentives. The null effect of Healthy Start vouchers on the primary outcomes may be due to the value of the vouchers being insufficient to change the broader lives of low-income women to offer a healthy diet. Future work The methods developed to undertake an economic evaluation alongside a natural experiment using existing data can be used to explore the cost-effectiveness of the Healthy Start voucher scheme. Funding This project was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Public Health Research programme and will be published in full in Public Health Research; Vol. 11, No. 11. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information. Plain language summary What was the problem? United Kingdom governments have introduced many policies to support infants and their families. Most of these policies have not been evaluated in terms of health outcomes. Therefore, there is limited evidence for policy-makers about whether or not the right policies are in place to make a difference to the health of young children and their families. What did we do? We investigated the impact of the Healthy Start voucher scheme (worth £3.10 per week to spend on milk, fruit and vegetables) on the health of low-income mothers, and their infants and young children, in particular vitamin use of mothers and breastfeeding of infants. What did we find? Using survey data, there were high rates of vitamin use during pregnancy, but fewer women taking vitamins before pregnancy. There was no effect of Healthy Start vouchers on taking vitamins before or during pregnancy. There was inconclusive evidence of the effect of Healthy Start vouchers on breastfeeding, indicating that use of the vouchers does not discourage breastfeeding in women with low incomes. From interviews with mothers, we found that they valued the Healthy Start vouchers and understood the aims of the policy. Healthy Start vouchers were not mentioned in decision-making around breastfeeding. Women’s choice to breast or formula feed was based on a range of other factors, such as support to breastfeed. They wanted to provide a healthy diet for their families, but owing to living on low incomes did not always manage it. What does this mean? Policy-makers still need more evidence about the effects of voucher schemes to improve the health of low-income mothers, and their infants and young children. The decision-makers require evidence to determine where to allocate limited resources. There is a need to improve support for low-income families to provide their families with a healthy diet. Scientific summary Background Having a good start in life during pregnancy and infancy has been shown to be important for living both a healthy life and a longer life. Health and well-being during the early years (which starts pre-conception) have a crucial impact on chronic disease and inequalities across the life course and from one generation to the next. There is a willingness of governments to invest in early years, as early investment in the life course has been shown to provide the highest rate of economic return. Despite the introduction of many policies designed to improve the circumstances during pregnancy and early life, there have been few outcome evaluations of these policies. Many of the evaluations are restricted to process evaluations of how the policy is implemented, rather than an evaluation of the outcomes for the mothers and their infants. The Healthy Start voucher (HSV) scheme was introduced in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2005/6. It is a means-tested voucher scheme for pregnant women and mothers with children under 4 years of age. If these women are in receipt of certain means-tested benefits then they are eligible for vouchers to be spent on milk, infant formula milk, fruit and vegetables. They also receive free vitamins. All mothers aged > 18 years are eligible for the scheme. Vouchers worth £3.10 per week are given to eligible women. These can be spent in neighbourhood shops and pharmacies. There are four main aims of the scheme: improve the nutrition of pregnant women, increase fruit and vegetable intake, initiate and maintain breastfeeding, and introduce foods in addition to milk as part of a progressively varied diet when infants are 6 months old. The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the HSV scheme have not yet been shown. Previous evaluations of outcomes comparing the HSV scheme with the Welfare Food Scheme (WFS) found that mothers eligible for the HSV scheme had higher daily intakes of iron, calcium, folate and vitamin C than mothers eligible for WFS. A mixed-methods study of practitioners and low-income mothers found that recipients valued the vouchers but that there were substantial barriers to access, including low levels of awareness of the HSV scheme among both mothers and practitioners, and uncertainty about the eligibility criteria among health professionals. A report on the operational aspects of the HSV scheme concluded that a comparative study is needed that extends previous analyses to the examination of outcomes and assessing the cost-effectiveness of the HSV scheme. There remains a need to determine the effectiveness on health outcomes and cost-effectiveness of the HSV scheme, using larger studies and investigating a wide range of outcomes with longer-term follow-up. Unless such schemes are rigorously evaluated there is a risk that resources will be wasted on ineffective interventions, or that opportunities to improve the design and administration of potentially valuable interventions are missed. Objectives The overall aim was to evaluate the HSV scheme in relation to the extent to which it improves the nutrition of pregnant women and the health outcomes of their infants. There were five objectives to investigate: the effectiveness of the HSV scheme in relation to vitamin use in pregnancy and breastfeeding initiation and duration the effectiveness of the HSV scheme in relation to infant and child weight and body size, child morbidity, infant and child feeding, and maternal health how findings differ between different populations (Scotland and England) to establish actual voucher usage and determine the reasons for uptake and non-uptake of the HSV to establish the cost-effectiveness of the HSV. Methods This evaluation of the HSV scheme had a focus on outcomes in pregnancy, early infancy and late infancy, with the potential to follow infants into adulthood through routinely collected data. It was a mixed-methods study, taking a natural experiment approach. It combined a quantitative evaluation with an integrated qualitative study to understand the lived experiences of low-income women. In addition to evaluating the health outcomes, we developed a framework to undertake an economic evaluation alongside a natural experiment using observational data. Exposure, controls and comparison groups The exposed group were those women eligible and claiming HSV, namely recipients (R). One reason the HSV scheme has not been evaluated on a large scale is the difficulty of identifying an appropriate comparison group. As the HSV is means tested it is not clear what an appropriate comparison group is; it is not appropriate to compare those who are eligible for HSV with those who do not meet the eligibility criteria as they are a very different group in terms of socioeconomic characteristics, with very different health behaviours and outcomes. We identified two comparison groups, the first being women who are eligible for HSV but do not claim the vouchers, namely eligible (E). The second comparison group was low-income women who just miss out on eligibility for HSV owing to not being eligible for the means-tested benefits owing to slightly increased income levels, namely nearly eligible (NE). With these exposure and control groups, there are three ways to compare these groups: recipients versus eligible but not claiming (group 1 vs. group 2) recipients versus nearly eligible (group 1 vs. group 3) all eligible versus nearly eligible (group 1 and 2 combined vs. group 3). Design The design used a multiple analytical approach in line with Medical Research Council guidance for the evaluation of natural experiments (NEs). There are three parts to this evaluation: secondary analysis of two existing data sets, including linking one to routinely collected health data (objectives 1, 2 and 3) qualitative interview study of mothers including a descriptive analysis of voucher usage (objective 4) establishing methods for cost-effectiveness analysis and conducting preliminary analysis (objective 5). Quantitative data sources and analysis For the quantitative analysis, we used two high-quality surveys representative of the Scottish population [Growing Up in Scotland (GUS); n = 2240] and the UK population [Infant Feeding Survey (IFS) 2010; n = 8067] to evaluate the HSV scheme. We examined potential improvement in vitamin use in pregnancy and breastfeeding initiation and duration, and other related health outcomes for low-income mothers and their children. We linked the GUS data to NHS routinely collected data to examine further health outcomes. We used propensity score matching on key characteristics to allow for the exposed and control groups to be more balanced on covariates. This method tries to mimic the characteristics of a randomised controlled trial. The propensity score is a balancing score, which means that it is conditional on the propensity score; the distribution of observed baseline covariates will be similar between treated and untreated subjects. This matching technique minimises selection bias and is better at getting to the causal effect than simple covariate adjustment in models. Qualitative interview study We carried out 40 in-depth, semistructured, face-to-face interviews, spread across each of the exposed and control groups. Key foci of the analysis were the processes involved in the take-up, non-take-up or discontinuation of the HSV scheme; the experience of using HSVs and how the vouchers are used. Framework for the cost-effectiveness analysis We developed and proposed methods and guidance for conducting economic evaluations in population health using observation data from NEs. Such evaluations are subject to the inherent biases that affect observational data. We reviewed and adapted current economic methods guidance and incorporated evidence from economic evaluations carried out in similar early years contexts. In addition, we used methods from previous studies that incorporated economics into NEs in education and microeconomics as well as health economic evaluations using observational data. Ethics Ethics approval was not required for the secondary analysis of existing data as there was no primary data collection. The linkage and release of the GUS data with the routinely collected data for research purposes was approved subject to Public Benefit and Privacy Panel for Health and Social Care project number 1516-0614. The qualitative study was reviewed and fully approved by the University of Glasgow, College of Social Science Ethics Committee in October 2015. This Committee complies with the Economic and Social Research Council’s research ethics framework. Results Impacts on child health For nearly all the outcomes across both GUS and IFS, apart from ever breastfeeding and breastfeeding duration in IFS, the results indicated there is no effect of HSV on the outcomes. For ever breastfed and duration of breastfeeding there are differences between propensity score results from GUS and IFS, with the IFS indicating a negative effect of HSV on breastfeeding. Ever breastfed: R 49%, E 53%, p = 0.255; R 58%, NE 62%, p = 0.189; all eligible (AE) 58%, NE 62%, p = 0.168, in GUS; R 57%, E 69%, p < 0.0001; R 53%, NE 70%, p < 0.0001; AE 60%, NE 74%, p < 0.0001, in IFS. Duration of breastfeeding in months (standard deviation): R 1.32 (2.1), E 1.46 (2.2), p = 0.374; R 1.73 (2.3), NE 1.88 (2.3), p = 0.315; AE 1.84 (2.4), NE 1.88 (2.3), p = 0.803, in GUS; R 1.37 (2.6), E 1.94 (3.0), p < 0.0001; R 1.23 (2.4), NE 2.09 (3.1), p < 0.0001; AE 1.53 (2.7), NE 2.51 (3.3), p < 0.0001, in IFS. For birthweight and low birthweight, the effect sizes and significance vary across the data sets and methods, indicating less confidence in the results of the HSV scheme on birthweight. For premature births and age at introduction of solid foods, there is more consistency across the data sets and evaluation methods, indicating some confidence in the results. Impacts on maternal health There was no difference in vitamin use during pregnancy for either comparison: R 82%, E 86%, p = 0.10; R 87%, NE 88%, p = 0.43; AE 87%, NE 88%, p = 0.43, in GUS. Proportions were similar for IFS: R 89%, E 86%, p = 0.01; R 89%, NE 87%, p = 0.01; AE 88%, NE 86%, p = 0.43. Although results were statistically significantly different, indicating increased vitamin use in the HSV groups, these are small effect sizes. We were able to examine further health outcomes, health behaviours and financial difficulties of the mothers in the GUS data set. For health during pregnancy, alcohol use and household managing financially, there was no effect of the HSV scheme across all the comparison groups. There were slight differences in mother’s current health as assessed by the Short Form questionnaire-12 items when the NE comparison group was used as the control. Short Form questionnaire-12 items physical health mean (standard deviation) R 52.26 (7.45), E 52.43 (6.84), p = 0.734; R 51.28 (8.36), NE 53.09 (6.87), p = 0.0002; AE 51.52 (8.13), NE 53.09 (6.87), p = 0.001. Short Form questionnaire-12 items mental health mean (standard deviation): R 51.11 (9.12), E 51.36 (8.74), p = 0.693; R 50.69 (9.23), NE 52.28 (8.36), p = 0.0045; AE 50.81 (9.19), NE 52.28 (8.3), p = 0.0083. There were large differences in smoking when the NE comparison group was used as the control: R 43%, E 34%, p = 0.419; R 37%, NE 24%, p < 0.0001; AE 35%, NE 24%, p < 0.0001 for current smoking status, and R 10.6, E 11.14, p = 0.581; R 10.9, NE 8.6, p = 0.00014; AE 10.9, NE 8.6, p = 0.0001 for numbers of cigarettes smoked per day. Understanding mother’s experiences The rich accounts given by the participants gave rise to four key themes: knowledge, awareness, take up and use of the HSV scheme; opinions of the HSV scheme; the effect of the HSV scheme on diet and feeding choices for their babies and children; and the broader lives of low-income women. The HSV scheme aims were well understood and the scheme was valued by participants. They thought that the eligibility criteria should be widened as they had had positive experiences and appreciated the scheme and the impact that the vouchers had on their lives. For some mothers, it supported them to provide a healthy diet and the opportunity to give their children a range of fruit and vegetables. For many other mothers, despite appropriate nutrition for children being important to them, there was evidence that some children still had poor diets. The HSVs were not mentioned in their decision-making around breastfeeding. Women’s choice to breast or formula feed was based on a range of other factors, such as support to breastfeed and assumptions and expectations of health professionals. The HSVs were incorporated into budgeting strategies and were seen as a good support in the context of the lives of low-income women. Methods for conducting a health economic analysis alongside a natural experiment Current guidance for economic evaluations focusses on randomised controlled trial designs and therefore does not address the specific challenges for natural experiment designs. Using such guidance can lead to suboptimal design, data collection and data analysis for NEs, leading to a bias in the estimated effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the intervention or policy. We produced a framework to use when conducting an economic evaluation alongside a natural experiment. Conclusions Despite inconclusive findings of the impact of the HSV scheme on health, the HSV scheme attempts to influence health behaviour, and this evaluation can inform other policies aiming to change behaviours or use voucher incentives. There was a high use of vitamins during pregnancy in all groups, with indications of a small increase in vitamin use in the IFS group. Breastfeeding behaviour was similar in both recipients and nearly eligible groups, offering reassurance that the HSV scheme does not disincentivise breastfeeding, but results differed across GUS and IFS. The null effect of HSV on the primary outcomes may be due to the value of the vouchers being insufficient to make a large impact on the income for these women and children. There is a need to provide additional support for smoking cessation to the women eligible for HSVs. Implications for future research Future research should use the methods developed to undertake an economic evaluation alongside a natural experiment using existing data to explore the cost-effectiveness of the HSV scheme. We would also recommend further work to explore and identify other data sources or control groups to improve triangulation and strengthen the causal effects of this policy evaluation. Funding This award was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Public Health Research programme (NIHR award ref: 13/164/10) and is published in full in Public Health Research; Vol. 11, No. 11. See the NIHR Funding and Awards website for further award information.

Joy I. Hansen

Providing targeted experiences for first-year students both inside and outside the classroom is essential for building connections and creating a foundation for skill development necessary for academic success. Many first-year programs include a standalone course for incoming students or specific content weaved into existing course offerings. Information literacy skill-building holds an important place in these efforts; therefore, instruction librarians are provided additional opportunities to collaborate with faculty and reach students. Depending upon the size of the institution, however, the sheer number of first-year courses combined with shrinking library staff pose challenges. This Innovative Practices article is one library’s experience with building, executing, and assessing an information literacy program specific to the needs of first-year students in response to these challenges. Offering an array of library resources, collaborating on ideas for instruction delivery, and crafting a more intentional approach to assigning classes are solutions that may be adapted to address scalability and sustainability concerns.

Jaleh Tajaldini

1- Abstract The arrival of Britain in India under the cover of the East India Company at the beginning of the 17th century led to the country’s gaining access to the legendary financial resources in the subcontinent. However, with the British presence in India, the Zoroastrian community of this country, known as the Parsis, also underwent a significant economic transformation. Evidence of the increase in the wealth of the Parsis after the establishment of the British East India Company in the subcontinent is that in the 19th and 20th centuries, with the capital possessed, they set up numerous and large factories in India. Were there any special relations in the economic and professional field between the Parsis of India and the company? This is the question that the present study seeks to answer. In this study, using related historical sources, including works about the Parsis of India as well as compilations about the beginning and implementation of the British East India Company, the reasons for the positive perception of the company leaders of the Parsis are examined using a descriptive-analytical approach. Then, by reviewing the professional life of the Parsis, in two important ports of Surat and Bombay, which were the main points of contact with the company’s employees, examples of the Parsis services to the British East India Company and the privileges donated to the Persis leaders by the British are recounted and analyzed. The results show that the Parsis cooperation with the British government representatives in India was not limited to economic fields and that the British also had the assistance of the Zoroastrian community in the political arena. 2- Introduction The followers of Zoroastrianism have been known in India from past times as “Farsi” or “Parsi”. In fact, since the annexation of the western parts of India to the Achaemenid Empire, Iranians travelled to these areas. Also, Iranian Zoroastrians, especially their clerics, travelled to India before Islam to propagate this religion for business. But the issue of their migration to India after Islam is mainly based on a poetic story called "Qeṣṣe-ye Sanjān" composed in 1008 AH (1600 AD). The narrator of the story events has been a trusted Zoroastrian priest to Bahman Keyqubad, the story’s composer. Based on this source, after the Arab invasion of Khurasan during the conquest of Iran, the Zoroastrians of a village called Sanjan in north-eastern Iran took refuge in the nearby mountains and spent a hundred years there. Then, they travelled to the island of Hormuz and lived there for fifteen years. "Dib" on the southern shores of the Indus was their next destination, where they remained for nineteen years. Then, they moved to Gujarat and settled in an area that was reminiscent of the former land of Sanjan, where they also spent five hundred years. Therefore, this group of immigrants left India in the middle of the second century AH. The question is, how did the narrator get these exact time intervals? The editor of Qesse in the introduction of the book indicates the existence of sufficient references to prove the truth of this story. One of the documents he presents is the narration of Baladhuri in "Futuh al-Buldan" in which the people of Kerman fled from the Arab army. But this narration is not applicable to the story of Sanjan. The narration of Baladhuri indicates the escape of a number of people of Kerman in the first half of the first century AH from the Arab army and their departure to Hormuz and the conflict with the Arabs on this island. Baladhuri's words in this regard end with this report: many people of Kerman fled by sea. The existence of many ambiguities in the story caused its rejection by some contemporary Zoroastrian scholars. However, the story says the adventure of the Parsis refugees in which they asked the Hindu ruler of the region to stay in Gujarat, and he agreed to live there under certain conditions. Among his conditions was: In the language, domination, and clothing of women, the Hindu customs should be considered, and also the means of war should be avoided. Accordingly, the Parsis accorded themselves perfectly to the culture and customs of the environment; this point was probably one of the reasons for the British approach toward them. Karaka writes in this regard: “It is a characteristic of the Persis that they have behaved appropriately to other peoples, even though their beliefs and customs are different, and they have adjusted themselves to the conditions, although the conditions were not according to their desire”. Jonathan Duncan, the British ruler of Mumbai at the beginning of the 19th century, criticized Muslims in a conversation with Abdul Latif Shushtari, comparing them to the Parsis, who easily adapted themselves to the custom and culture of the superior people: “What is the reason that wherever the monarchy of the Muslim exists or a sect of Muslims resides, their work is on the harshness ... unlike other religions which are smooth and gentle?" On the events of 986 AH / 1587 AD, Badayuni, the historian of the court of Jalaluddin Akbar has reported the presence of Zoroastrians from the city of Navsari in the Gujarat region in the court of this ruler and writes that this powerful ruler ordered that the fire always be kept lit in a certain place. The report shows that in the late 16th century, the city of Navsari near Surat was the main settlement of Zoroastrians in India and since the agricultural conditions of the region met their job and economic needs, they had not migrated to Surat. Although the Parsis lived in this port before the arrival of the Europeans, the increase in their number was closely related to the arrival of European companies in this city. The endeavour of European countries to penetrate east by sea led the Portuguese Vasco da Gama to become the first European sailor to set foot on Indian soil. Nehru reminds us that this first step was taken after the end of the Muslim rule over Andalusia in 1492 AD. Perhaps from the view of the new Iberian rulers, this move was revenge to conquer the East and spread Christianity in the face of the spread of Islam in Spain. Wasn't that the Portuguese paid special attention to the spread of Christianity in the East, and their violence of the Muslim merchants whom they called the Moors (Spanish Muslims) was unexampled? It is said that the intensity of the Portuguese violence was due to the superiority of the Muslims in trade, while part of it must be attributed to their dissatisfaction with the long Muslim rule in southwestern Europe. From the Europeans’ point of view, the port of Surat, in the south of Gujarat and on the bank of the navigable Tapi or Tapti River, about 30 km far from the Arabian Sea, was suitable for their ships to travel to India. The knowledge of European capitalists of the geographical location of Surat, which was connected with the Far East countries on the one hand and with the Iranian and Arab ports, on the other hand, encouraged them to build several factories in this port from the second decade of the 17th century. Also, the relative proximity of Surat to Deccan and Gujarat, the centers of cotton cultivation and production in India made the Europeans eager to build factories there. Then, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French, and the British came to this port and each established a trading company in their own name. The location of Surat made this port the most commercially productive one in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries and was distinguished among Indian ports. This supremacy continued until the rise of Mumbai in the commercial arena, and then Surat was ignored.  Although the British East India Company arrival in Surat after Portugal managed to repel the enemy with military force, the French financial bankruptcy in Surat automatically led to their removal from the port. The company, which ostensibly bore the name of the company and was in fact the British government with shareholders (mainly military personnel), after a while, took over the country's political destiny in addition to monopolizing India's trade. In this study, the reasons and methods of the East India Company's use of the Parsi society of India, as one of the tools to increase their influence in this land, as well as the type of cooperation of the Parsis with the British and its results for them are discussed. So far, no specific research has been done on this topic; however, numerous works related to the history of the Parsis, as well as writings related to the emergence and decline of the East India Company, contain scattered materials on the subject of this study. The manuscript of “Waqaye-i Hind” by Abdul Latif Shushtari at the beginning of the 19th century, which deals with the events in India, especially the island of Mumbai, has useful and relevant information in this regard. Shushtari, who was on behalf of the company, overseeing the affairs of Iranian businessmen in Mumbai, met daily with the island's Parsi leaders and recorded valuable notes of their relations with the company's leaders. The History of the Parsis, a work from the second half of the 19th century, also contains useful information on the subject of this article, due to the proximity of the author's era to the period of intimate relations between the Persians and the British. An article with the title Pyarsis and the British also contains notes on the relations between the Parsis and the East India Company which Hinnells published in 1978 in the journal of Kama Institute.  3- Materials and Methods  have been the main sources of the author for writing this descriptive-analytical article. 4- Discussion of Results and Conclusions The British East India Company made its way to India later than Portugal, the Netherlands, and France in the early 17th century, but soon overtook European rivals and pursued its capitalist goals singly. In the meantime, the British needed the help of the natives of India to achieve their goals. People with abilities in business, sea voyages, knowledge of local products and facilities, knowledge of local leaders and celebrities, skills in intermediary in transactions and linguistics were among the characteristics of Parsis. On the other hand, the Zoroastrian community of India was eager to cooperate with the East India Company in order to be more successful in business, obtain various goods, and receive support during business trips. Although Parsis did not gain a high position in the company and even export goods directly to Europe, and the company's leaders viewed them as instrumental and a means of profit, in order to continue their cooperation, they were constantly provided with business opportunities and more income. The British acquisition of advanced technology in the textile industry, their progress in land and sea transportation, and entry into Asian markets, relying on the military in the 19th century, also had a positive impact on Parsis business. Their cooperation with the British for more than three centuries provided them with more wealth than they had imagined. The wealth they accumulated in the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century through various means, especially trade, was invested in the industry from the second half of this century. In the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, they held half of the managerial and regulatory positions of Mumbai factories. They owned India's first steel plant. Some of them violated some of the moral limitations of Zoroastrianism and followed the British way of life to earn more money. At this time, Britain was their homeland. But the Parsis’ dependence on British capitalists also caused them some harm. In the late 19th century, the center of India's foreign trade was moved from the west of India, the center of Parsis’ gathering and life, to the east by the heads of companies; thus Parsis’ role in trade diminished. Opium exports from India to China also declined. New industries entered the world of Indian industry in 1900, and Parsis paid less attention to these industries due to the continued focus on cotton and fabric production. Together, these factors halted the economic growth of Parsis in the second half of the 20th century compared to the previous century. The Parsis’ close and intimate relations with the British also caused them cultural damages such as the loss of religious identity which has been considered and protested by some followers of this religion.

Shyshkov S. Ye.

The author discovered that individual (retail or mass) investors are becoming increasingly significant participants in world financial markets due to globalisation, simplification of cross-border movement of capital, technological measures to ensure direct access to trades, growth of savings and financial awareness of the population in most countries of the world, reduction of tariffs and transaction costs, expansion of the range of liquid financial instruments, and strengthening of information transparency of capital markets. It was established that in Ukraine, despite certain positive developments, regarding the activation of public investments in government bonds and the gradual movement towards the application of the technological experience of developed markets, many problems make it challenging to attract individual investors to the stock market and increase their confidence in the market tools. The paper states that certain problems (in particular, limited financial resources or low financial literacy of the population) are systemic and can be eliminated only with the general development of the national economy and capital markets. The need to reduce the financial and regulatory burden on issuers and financial intermediaries is well-founded since the supervision of non-public issuers only scatters the resources of the state and market participants, increases transaction costs, and does not provide real incentives for the development of the non-state securities market. The author emphasises the need to eliminate Ukraine’s significant lag behind developed capital markets regarding settlement infrastructure development and simplifying operations for individual investors. Considering the practice of tax relief for the investment income of individuals from transactions with state securities, the paper proposes the feasibility of introducing similar benefits for investors in securities of issuers that have been made public.

Silva, João Figueira, Almeida, João Rafael, Matos, Sérgio

BackgroundElectronic health records store large amounts of patient clinical data. Despite efforts to structure patient data, clinical notes containing rich patient information remain stored as free text, greatly limiting its exploitation. This includes family history, which is highly relevant for applications such as diagnosis and prognosis. ObjectiveThis study aims to develop automatic strategies for annotating family history information in clinical notes, focusing not only on the extraction of relevant entities such as family members and disease mentions but also on the extraction of relations between the identified entities. MethodsThis study extends a previous contribution for the 2019 track on family history extraction from national natural language processing clinical challenges by improving a previously developed rule-based engine, using deep learning (DL) approaches for the extraction of entities from clinical notes, and combining both approaches in a hybrid end-to-end system capable of successfully extracting family member and observation entities and the relations between those entities. Furthermore, this study analyzes the impact of factors such as the use of external resources and different types of embeddings in the performance of DL models. ResultsThe approaches developed were evaluated in a first task regarding entity extraction and in a second task concerning relation extraction. The proposed DL approach improved observation extraction, obtaining F1 scores of 0.8688 and 0.7907 in the training and test sets, respectively. However, DL approaches have limitations in the extraction of family members. The rule-based engine was adjusted to have higher generalizing capability and achieved family member extraction F1 scores of 0.8823 and 0.8092 in the training and test sets, respectively. The resulting hybrid system obtained F1 scores of 0.8743 and 0.7979 in the training and test sets, respectively. For the second task, the original evaluator was adjusted to perform a more exact evaluation than the original one, and the hybrid system obtained F1 scores of 0.6480 and 0.5082 in the training and test sets, respectively. ConclusionsWe evaluated the impact of several factors on the performance of DL models, and we present an end-to-end system for extracting family history information from clinical notes, which can help in the structuring and reuse of this type of information. The final hybrid solution is provided in a publicly available code repository.

Josep Ballester-Roca, Noelia Ibarra-Rius

Els autors ofereixen una anàlisi de la malaltia mental en l’obra d’una escriptora clau del segle xx: Virginia Woolf. La revisió crítica del seu llegat literari ens permet acostar-nos a la que potser és una de les figuracions literàries més intenses al voltant de la malaltia, de les seues metàfores i, al temps, a les representacions, els eufemismes, silencis i monstres, plasmats en les pàgines de la vida i la singular veu d’una escriptora essencial.

I. Kalavrouziotis, P. Kokkinos, G. Oron et al.

M. Reid, E. Hultink, T. Marion et al.

Adriana Isidório da Silva Zamite

Este artigo apresenta vivências profissionais na utilização do formulário de catalogação do programa Biblivre, um software livre de automação de bibliotecas. Com o objetivo de identificar vantagens e desvantagens estruturais deste formulário e avaliar a usabilidade para atender com eficiência o bibliotecário, a instituição e o usuário. Para tanto, será analisado o módulo de catalogação do programa Biblivre na versão 3.0.23. A finalidade é diagnosticar se o software é eficiente, e se a ferramenta é completa e fácil utilização para o profissional bibliotecário e para o consulente na busca pela informação. Neste contexto, mostrar como o software livre pode auxiliar no desenvolvimento informacional da Instituição e aprimorar as atividades em Centros de Informação. E assim, destacar a importância da catalogação, um instrumento imprescindível para a organização de acervos, sendo esta, uma ferramenta primordial para disseminação e recuperação da informação. O processo de armazenamento deve ser eficiente, para isso, o bibliotecário necessita de conhecer o programa e realizar com eficácia a catalogação e indexação para que o usuário possa ter precisão na busca e assim, obter a informação que necessita. Para esta pesquisa foram utilizados métodos de observação e revisão de literatura especializada na área do processo de recuperação da informação.

Tyler M. Harms, Stephen J. Dinsmore

Abstract The spatial scale at which competition alters the spatial distribution of a species is important to consider when evaluating competitive interactions between species. The two‐species occupancy model was developed to evaluate competitive interactions between two species while accounting for imperfect detection. However, no studies have incorporated spatial scale into such models. We developed an approach to incorporate spatial scale when evaluating species co‐occurrence using the two‐species occupancy model and tested our approach on two wetland passerines: the Yellow‐headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) and the Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris). We surveyed for Yellow‐headed Blackbirds and Marsh Wrens using point counts at wetlands throughout Iowa in 2009 and 2010. We assigned observations to one of three distance bins: ≤20, ≤60, and ≤100 m and then created encounter histories for each distance bin for the two‐species occupancy model and modeled co‐occurrence as a function of habitat covariates for each distance bin. We also modeled co‐occurrence using all observations regardless of distance. We found that Yellow‐headed Blackbirds were less likely to co‐occur with Marsh Wrens at both the ≤60 and ≤100 m scales. However, using all observations, we found that Yellow‐headed Blackbirds and Marsh Wrens co‐occurred independent of one another. This result illustrated that failure to incorporate spatial scale in evaluations of species co‐occurrence could lead to incorrect inferences on co‐occurrence of different species. The two‐species co‐occurrence occupancy model is a valuable tool that allows researchers to evaluate the presence of competitive interactions between species, and incorporating spatial scale into these models provides information on how species partition resources at different spatial scales within a patch. Understanding species co‐occurrence patterns across multiple spatial scales provides valuable information that is useful for a better understanding of the mechanisms of competitive interactions between two species and aiding the restoration and management of habitat for multiple species.

Yu Wang, Danfeng Zhang, Yao Wang et al.

Sebastian Padó, Mirella Lapata

This article considers the task of automatically inducing role-semantic annotations in the FrameNet paradigm for new languages. We propose a general framework that is based on annotation projection, phrased as a graph optimization problem. It is relatively inexpensive and has the potential to reduce the human effort involved in creating role-semantic resources. Within this framework, we present projection models that exploit lexical and syntactic information. We provide an experimental evaluation on an English-German parallel corpus which demonstrates the feasibility of inducing high-precision German semantic role annotation both for manually and automatically annotated English data.

C. Boldrini, M. Conti, A. Passarella