<h4>Introduction</h4>Given the critical perspective of intersectionality and its potential to identify the causes of inequalities, it has been employed increasingly in studies related to health. Despite the rich theoretical evidence about intersectionality, there is a need to consider this approach empirically. This study aimed to apply the intersectionality in practice for health policy makers and researchers seeking to reduce health inequalities. In this regard, we described the development of an intersectionality-based and context-specific intervention focusing on HIV testing uptake among Afghan immigrants in Iran.<h4>Methods</h4>This is an intervention development study. The intersectionality was used to design a peer-led intervention guided by the 2008 MRC framework. We undertook the following activities related to the three stages of the MRC framework: 1. Identifying the existing evidence (conducting a scoping review to investigate the application of intersectionality in designing and implementing health interventions; designing the checklist of applying the intersectionality in health interventions and programs); 2. Identifying and developing a program theory (conducting a realist review to identify why, how, and under what conditions peer interventions can improve HIV testing uptake among immigrants); and 3. Modeling process and outcomes (adapting the contextual factors identified by conducting a qualitative study and the realist review; extracting considerations regarding intersectionality principles using the checklist of applying the intersectionality in health interventions and programs; determining context specific, intersectionality-based and evidence-based intervention components for each of the intervention pathways).<h4>Results</h4>According to considerations regarding checklist of application of intersectionality principles, the intervention at the different individual, organizational, and policy levels with multiple strategies should be designed to respond to needs/conditions affecting HIV testing uptake among immigrants. We determined the peer-led intervention features to improve the use of HIV testing services in Afghan immigrants following the intersectionality principles, target group needs, and contextual conditions aiming to modify power structures. Intervention strategies included HIV information provision, support, community-based services, and structural interventions.<h4>Conclusion</h4>This study provides a practical framework for health planners and researchers seeking to reduce inequalities by presenting how intersectionality can influence the design of a health intervention. Accordingly, it is necessary to revisit the social relationships and power structures, determine the intervention components based on evidence tailored to the target group's needs, and apply changes at different levels.
Vincenzo Penteriani, María del Mar Delgado, Ilpo Kojola
et al.
Abstract Background Limited information exists on the active role of females during mate searching. Theory primarily focuses on male reproductive behaviours, suggesting male distribution follows that of females, while female distribution is influenced by food resources and habitat. This approach might underestimate the females’ role in shaping mating strategies. Incorporating a female perspective into mating studies can enhance our understanding of evolutionary factors. Methods Using GPS data from brown bears Ursus arctos across Finland, Romania and Slovakia, we explored female movement behaviour during the mating period. First, we estimated movement speed, total distance and net distance at a daily scale. Then, we quantitatively described when the movement peaks occur by estimating two critical points of the functions described by each of the aforementioned movement parameters: (1) the point in time when the rate of change in brown bear movement behaviour is the highest; and (2) the point in time when each aspect of brown bear movement is most pronounced. We quantified temporal variations in male and female movements throughout the year using generalized additive mixed models, while we used linear mixed models to assess the relationship between peak movement parameters, bear sex and population. Results Our findings identified two overlooked behaviours: (1) male and female movement parameters showed the highest rate of change during the mating season, challenging the notion of male roaming as the primary mating strategy; and (2) females travelled the longest distances during the mating season, potentially seeking high-quality mates. This behaviour aligns with the strategy of engaging in copulations with multiple males to avoid infanticide. Conclusions Our study reveals novel insights into the active role of female brown bears in mating strategies, challenging traditional male-centric views. These results support the need for detailed investigations into female behaviours across mammalian taxa, which offer potential to advance our understanding of mammalian social and mating systems. Local differences also underscore the importance of social and ecological conditions to explain variation in the female role in mating strategies.
Currently, the global technological competition pattern is accelerating its restructuring, and chip technology, as a core technology for national strategic security and industrial competition, faces a serious bottleneck that seriously restricts the construction of China’s industrial chain security and innovation ecology. A “recognition-evolution” collaborative analysis system was proposed in this study using patent data as a carrier. Firstly, a PKCN-BERT-LDA fusion module was constructed to identify the core technologies of chip design, manufacturing, and packaging testing. Secondly, the traditional main path analysis method was improved by innovatively introducing information entropy theory to construct a dynamic evolution model, and the technological evolution path in the chip field during 2010–2024 was systematically tracked based on the Derwent patent database. According to this study, the field of chip design exhibited a bidirectional innovation feature of “system optimization regional deep cultivation”, while the manufacturing process highlights the non-linear accumulation law of process complexity. Packaging and testing technology tended to develop in synergy with integration and intelligence.
This article is devoted to a comprehensive political analysis of the phenomenon of political empowerment of senior citizens as a key area in the context of global demographic aging. The focus is on the transformation of the role of older people in the political process, from the traditional perception of them as passive recipients of social support to their recognition as full-fl edged subjects of political action. Relevance of the topic is justified by the need to develop new approaches to the formation of an age-sensitive public policy focused on the political empowerment of the older generation. In theoretical and methodological terms, the work is based on the concepts of empowerment, inclusive democracy, and institutional political science. A structural analysis of the components of political empowerment of older people, i.e. political literacy, participation, representation, and effectiveness, is presented, taking into account the factors determining their level of involvement: individual (education, health, income), social (connections, participation in organizations), and political (accessibility of institutions, inclusiveness of legislation). The article pays special attention to the problem of ageism as a systemic barrier to the participation of the elderly in political life. The mechanisms of the negative impact of age discrimination on all aspects of political inclusion are revealed, from inaccessibility of information and infrastructure to the distortion of the public image of the older generation. Practical recommendations for overcoming these barriers are presented, including development of educational campaigns, legislative protection against discrimination, support for organizations of the elderly and expansion of inclusive participation mechanisms (public councils, participation budgets, age quotas, etc.). The work makes a contribution to the development of political gerontology and institutional political theory, focusing on the need to create an age-sensitive political environment in which the voice of an elderly person has real value and infl uence. In an aging society, it is the political empowerment of the elderly that becomes an indicator of the maturity of democracy, social justice, and effective governance.
Marcus T. Wilson, Christopher J. Dunn, Vance Farrow
et al.
Ageing of rechargeable batteries is routinely characterized in the frequency domain by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, but the technique requires laboratory measurements to be made on a time scale of days. However, the normal cycling of a battery as it is used in situ provides equivalent information in the time domain, though extracting robust frequency information from a time series is challenging. In this work, we explore, in the time domain, the relationship between instantaneous voltage-current phase difference and cycle efficiency. Moreover, we demonstrate that phase measures can be used to identify battery ageing. We have cycled a 250 mA h Nickel-Cobalt cell several hundred times and used Hilbert Transforms to identify phase difference between voltage and current. This phase difference becomes closer to zero as the battery ages, commensurate with a drop in energy cycle efficiency. In another experiment, we applied a synthetic current profile mimicking behaviour of an electric car cell, to a 3.2 A h LiNiMnCoO2 cell, for ~100 days. For this more complicated profile with a wide range of frequency content, we used wavelet analysis to identify changes in phase difference and impedance as the battery aged. For this cell, drop in cycle efficiency was associated with a rise in internal resistance. The results imply that time-series analysis of in situ measurements of voltage and current, when applied with equivalent circuit models and underlying theory, can identify markers of battery ageing.
The utilization of deep learning techniques for decoding visual perception images from brain activity recorded by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has garnered considerable attention in recent research. However, reconstructed images from previous studies still suffer from low quality or unreliability. Moreover, the complexity inherent to fMRI data, characterized by high dimensionality and low signal-to-noise ratio, poses significant challenges in extracting meaningful visual information for perceptual reconstruction. In this regard, we proposes a novel neural decoding model, named the hierarchical semantic generative adversarial network (HS-GAN), inspired by the hierarchical encoding of the visual cortex and the homology theory of convolutional neural networks (CNNs), which is capable of reconstructing perceptual images from fMRI data by leveraging the hierarchical and semantic representations. The experimental results demonstrate that HS-GAN achieved the best performance on Horikawa2017 dataset (histogram similarity: 0.447, SSIM-Acc: 78.9%, Peceptual-Acc: 95.38%, AlexNet(2): 96.24% and AlexNet(5): 94.82%) over existing advanced methods, indicating improved naturalness and fidelity of the reconstructed image. The versatility of the HS-GAN was also highlighted, as it demonstrated promising generalization capabilities in reconstructing handwritten digits, achieving the highest SSIM (0.783±0.038), thus extending its application beyond training solely on natural images.
Seyyed Hasan Hosseini Moghaddam, Setareh Ayoubi, Mehdi Taleghan Ghaffari
Today, online stores sell goods and services through online contracts, exchanging emails with the other party, or filling out a specific form on the website by one party. Online contracts may be executed by presenting the terms of the contract to one party and then asking the applicant to click on the words "I agree" or something similar. The number of consumers who use online platforms to fulfill their shopping needs has increased, and online stores have responsibilities for the intermediary role and the platform they provide for online buying and selling. From the legal point of view, two types of contractual or non-contractual responsibilities can be considered for these stores. Currently, these types of internet businesses are very popular among users, but in any case, we should look for a space to increase the security of this type of service and secure it, while taking care of and protecting consumer rights; because at present, with the very wide growth of this type of websites and online stores in different fields, we have witnessed the provision of services in the fields of sports, culture and leisure, electronic devices such as audio and visual devices, household, personal and office, real estate and land, vehicles, services and training, supplies and business, and even recruitment and employment or expression of job opportunities, etc. Since online platforms often act as "gateways to control and limit interactions in a system", the first question is whether online platforms and online stores can still be considered simply as intermediaries or should they be suppliers. The second question is whether platforms, as dominant channels in the market, may be held liable to their customers for infringements caused primarily by platform suppliers. Finally, the third question is whether there is a necessary connection between the first and second questions, namely that the platform operator may be held liable to its customers while it may not be treated as a mere intermediary, it may be treated as a supplier of goods and services provided by Platform Providers. Regarding the activity of online stores and their responsibility for their actions or others, it cannot be assumed that they are not absolutely responsible. The important issue is that in online shopping, the buyer makes a transaction that the seller has not seen closely, therefore, the necessity of such purchases, due to its nature, requires more support from the buyer. Because in such transactions, the buyer does not have detailed information about the seller of the goods, their credit, and the transaction, and the burden of the purchase risk is on the shoulders of the buyer. For this reason, as well as for the specialization of the subject and its great application and importance, in this research, an attempt will be made to examine the civil liability of online stores in the laws of Iran and the European Union. In relation to the foundations of civil responsibility of online stores, the theory of fault should be accepted as the main basis of civil responsibility in the laws of Iran and the European Union. In fact, where the providers of their Internet services and goods commit harmful acts, their liability is still based on fault. However, regarding the responsibility of internet sellers, you can also refer to other bases. The important thing about online stores is that concluding a sales contract through the internet in this category of stores should not create doubt that online stores are not subject to the general rules of civil liability. On the contrary, it should be stated that such stores are subject to general rules regarding civil liability rules; because buying or selling through online stores differs from traditional contracts in only a few specific cases; the most important of which is the method of concluding a contract. In other words, except for a few minor cases, in other cases, buying from an online store is not much different from buying from a real store; therefore, in relation to the civil liability of online stores, two types of liability can be realized, contractual and non-contractual liability. This type of separation in civil liability has been accepted both in the civil law of Iran and in the civil law of the European Union. On the other hand, in order to realize the civil liability of online stores in two areas of contractual and non-contractual liability, certain conditions are necessary. So in the field of contractual liability, the existence of a valid contract, breach of contract, and the existence of damage caused by the breach of contract are necessary, and in the field of non-contractual liability of the online store, the occurrence of loss, harmful action and the relationship of causation is necessary. It is suggested that cyberspace and internet stores are very suitable for millions of jobs. On the other hand, the Internet is a useful tool for marketing various services. In this regard, the creation of up-to-date and applicable laws as well as the amendment of existing laws are more important than ever. For this reason, it is suggested that, especially in Iranian law, laws in the field of online stores should be formulated in a specific way, and in these laws, the civil liability of this type of store should be determined clearly, inspired by the principles of civil responsibility and not limited to accepting one of the opinions and principles. Laws that, in addition to preventing the occurrence of computer crimes, should provide the opportunity for legal internet businesses to operate and grow, and this means that the laws are fair. In addition to the definition of platforms, the law that is developed for this purpose should include the providers and users of the internet platform for the purpose of electronic commerce, the law that is formulated for this purpose must state the criteria and criteria accepted in the legal analysis, of course, a mechanism for the purpose of floating the bon and the ability to generalize the criteria. Claims between parties (both platform, supplier, and user) should be considered. Also, the cases where the rules related to transactions do not respond to the new needs are written and govern the relations of the parties.
With the rapid development of the global economy and trade, the number of ships serving ports in China is increasing continuously. Port traffic is becoming busier, and ship behavior is more complex and changeable. The analysis of ship behavior patterns in port waters has become an urgent problem to improve the efficiency and safety of port areas. In this paper, through the full integration of ship trajectory and port geographic information, the behavior chain of a single ship across the whole process of entering and exiting the port is identified. The traffic complexities and dynamics can be further analyzed by grouping the movement patterns of large ships. Based on graph theory, the port areas can be described as a transportation network in which functional areas are nodes and fairways between different areas are edges. The traffic can be analyzed through the network structure characteristics, such as node degree, node weight, and edge weight, and by their similarities and differences. This methodology provides a quantitative analysis for exploring the behavior patterns of large ships as well as the various traffic complexities. A case study in Tianjin Port has been conducted to verify the proposed model. The results show that it can accurately analyze a ship behavior’s regularity, occasion, and correlation. It provides a theoretical reference for the port to schedule and formulate emergency plans.
Abstract Unrefined and highly corrosive upstream petroleum resources and complex operating environments pose a significant threat to the integrity and safety of gathering pipelines. The present study proposed a novelty method to perform a risk assessment for gathering pipelines. The use of historical failure data developed a fishbone diagram model of hazard factors. The risk index system was developed based on the KENT method, including failure likelihood and failure consequence coefficient models. Information entropy theory was used to determine the weight of each indicator. Combined with the area-level safety design coefficient, The welding institute (TWI) method was improved to perform risk classification for different areas. The proposed method was applied to 81 gathering pipelines. Results demonstrated that the proposed method could meet the actual conditions of gathering pipelines, improving upstream energy security.
In this paper, we investigate the selection problem of access points (APs) in cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, where APs equipped with a large number of antennas are geographically distributed over a wide area with no cell border. These APs simultaneously serve many users, which are randomly distributed all over the area. We first derive formulas to calculate two proposed metrics used to measure the effective channel gain from all users to all APs and the channel quality of each user. Moreover, these metrics are only based on large-scale fading coefficients, which change very slowly in time. Next, we propose an algorithm to effectively sort and connect users to each AP in a sequential manner using these proposed metrics. Simulation results show that cell-free massive MIMO systems using proposed scheme have better performance compared to existing schemes.
Vehicle dangerous behaviour warning plays an important role to improve road traffic safety and efficiency, so a safety assessment method of vehicle behaviour based on the improved Dempster–Shafer (D–S) evidence theory is proposed. Firstly, through analysis of vehicle collision accident mechanism, some factors closely related to vehicle safety are extracted. Also, multiple sensors are synthetically utilised to collect information, which realises the awareness of vehicle state, road attribute, driving environment etc. Then vehicle behaviour identification is accomplished according to the parameter information of the vehicle‐mounted sensors, as well as the related data of adjacent vehicles in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANET). Finally, a sequential type of weighted correction method based on evidence variance is used to integrate different levels of multi‐source heterogeneous information and to achieve safety assessment of vehicle behaviour. The experimental results show that the improved D–S evidence theory reduces the evidence conflict, increasing the accuracy and reliability of vehicle behaviour safety assessment. The study solves the fundamental core problem of active safety warning in VANET and provides a new means of traffic accident warning for the road traffic management department.
Swagata Tripathy, Swati Priyadarshini Acharya, Alok Kumar Sahoo
et al.
Abstract Objective An intensive care unit (ICU) diary is a relatively new concept in low middle-income countries (LMICs). Illiteracy and socio-cultural inhibitions may affect the use and utility of this intervention, which has proven beneficial to patients and their families in high income countries (HICs). We aimed to explore how families of ICU patients experienced ICU diaries in our set up by using the Grounded Theory (GT) approach. A relatively new research tool, this enables exploration of a phenomenon to build theories in areas hitherto uncharted. Method A clinical psychologist did 29 in-depth interviews of relatives of 13 patients admitted in the ICU for > 24 h for whom an ICU diary was being maintained. We used a three-step coding process- open, axial, and selective coding, followed by the formulation of a theory embedded in the data. Results We found that the younger relatives of ICU patients accepted the idea better (age 30, SD 6) Half (48%) had education between 5th to 10th standards. Emergent themes suggested that for the family members, reading and writing the diary brought novelty, acted as a communication enabler, spiritual truss, and improved knowledge leading to change in perspective about the health care system. It also became a bridge to community bonding after patient discharge. Starting with appreciating the novelty of ‘diary entries,’ which was a new and exciting concept, family members used the diaries to communicate with health care workers (to gain information and understanding about the disease and treatment) and the patient to express their love and to maintain a connection. The diary acted as a confessional for hopes, fears, guilt, and faith for many members. As a tool, it enabled them to understand medical personnel as human beings and to appreciate their efforts, effectively improving confidence in the system. Finally, upon returning home, the diary was a crowd puller for extended family and neighbors encouraging discussions and enhancing bonding and information sharing. Conclusions Our findings indicate a good acceptance of ICU diaries by family members in our ICU. With less literate, admitted ‘shy ‘members, in a society where ‘diary writing’ is not culturally rampant, the appreciation for the novel concept was universal. We see a place for these interventions not only at the patient/ family level but also as a means to ‘correct’ the image of health care workers in our society by humanizing ourselves to the end-user- the patient and his family.
Eddie Harmon-Jones, Cindy Harmon-Jones, Thomas F. Denson
Based on dissonance theory, we predicted that individuals who supported a political figure (Donald Trump), were exposed to information about his wrongdoings, and believed the veracity of this information would be most likely to share social media that points to incidents in which opponents also engaged in wrongdoing. Participants (N = 409) varying in their support for Trump were exposed to information concerning his alleged wrongdoings (or a neutral article). They viewed a meme of a political rival (Hilary Clinton) that alluded to her alleged wrongdoings, and reported how likely they would be to share the meme (and indicated how accurate they believed the Trump article was). Results supported the prediction, suggesting that dissonance may cause individuals to emphasize the wrongdoings of opponents.
Abstract The $$\eta \,\rightarrow \,3\pi $$ η→3π decays are a valuable source of information on low energy QCD. Yet they were not used for an extraction of the three flavor chiral symmetry breaking order parameters until now. We use a Bayesian approach in the framework of resummed chiral perturbation theory to obtain constraints on the quark condensate and pseudoscalar decay constant in the chiral limit. We compare our results with recent CHPT and lattice QCD fits and find some tension, as the $$\eta \,\rightarrow \,3\pi $$ η→3π data seem to prefer a larger ratio of the chiral order parameters. The results also disfavor a very large value of the pseudoscalar decay constant in the chiral limit, which was found by some recent work. In addition, we present results of a combined analysis including $$\eta \,\rightarrow \,3\pi $$ η→3π decays and $$\pi \pi $$ ππ scattering and though the picture does not changed appreciably, we find some tension between the data we use. We also try to extract information on the mass difference of the light quarks, but the uncertainties prove to be large.
Astrophysics, Nuclear and particle physics. Atomic energy. Radioactivity
T. Leblanc, R. J. Sica, J. A. E. van Gijsel
et al.
A standardized approach for the definition and reporting of
vertical resolution of the ozone and temperature lidar profiles contributing
to the Network for the Detection for Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC)
database is proposed. Two standardized definitions homogeneously
and unequivocally describing the impact of vertical filtering are recommended.
<br><br>
The first proposed definition is based on the width of the response to a finite-impulse-type perturbation. The response is computed by convolving the
filter coefficients with an impulse function, namely, a Kronecker delta
function for smoothing filters, and a Heaviside step function for derivative
filters. Once the response has been computed, the proposed standardized
definition of vertical resolution is given by Δ<i>z</i> = <i>δ</i><i>z</i> × <i>H</i><sub>FWHM</sub>, where <i>δ</i><i>z</i> is the lidar's sampling resolution and
<i>H</i><sub>FWHM</sub> is the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the response, measured
in sampling intervals.
<br><br>
The second proposed definition relates to digital filtering theory. After
applying a Laplace transform to a set of filter coefficients, the filter's
gain characterizing the effect of the filter on the signal in the
frequency domain is computed, from which the cut-off frequency <i>f</i><sub>C</sub>,
defined as the frequency at which the gain equals 0.5, is computed. Vertical
resolution is then defined by Δ<i>z</i> = <i>δ</i><i>z</i>∕(2<i>f</i><sub>C</sub>). Unlike
common practice in the field of spectral analysis, a factor 2<i>f</i><sub>C</sub> instead
of <i>f</i><sub>C</sub> is used here to yield vertical resolution values nearly equal to
the values obtained with the impulse response definition using the same
filter coefficients. When using either of the proposed definitions,
unsmoothed signals yield the best possible vertical resolution Δ<i>z</i> = <i>δ</i><i>z</i> (one sampling bin).
<br><br>
Numerical tools were developed to support the implementation of these
definitions across all NDACC lidar groups. The tools consist of ready-to-use
“plug-in” routines written in several programming languages that can be
inserted into any lidar data processing software and called each time a
filtering operation occurs in the data processing chain.
<br><br>
When data processing implies multiple smoothing operations, the filtering
information is analytically propagated through the multiple calls to the
routines in order for the standardized values of vertical resolution to
remain theoretically and numerically exact at the very end of data
processing.
Small monetary incentives increase survey cooperation rates, however evidence suggests that the appeal of incentives may vary across sample subgroups. Fieldwork budgets can be most effectively distributed by targeting those subgroups where incentives will have the strongest appeal. We examine data from a randomised experiment implemented in the pilot phase of the Irish Longitudinal Study of Ageing, which randomly assigned households to receive a higher (€25) or lower (€10) incentive amount. Using a random effects logistic regression model, we observe a variable effect of the higher incentive across geographic neighbourhoods. The higher incentive has the largest impact in neighbourhoods where baseline cooperation is low, as predicted by Leverage-Saliency theory. Auxiliary neighbourhood-level variables are linked to the sample frame to explore this variation further, however none of these moderate the incentive effect, suggesting that richer information is needed to identify sample subgroups where incentive budgets should be directed.