Actual Statements Research Articles

Perinatal presepsin assessment: a new sepsis diagnostic tool?

Perinatal sepsis constitutes a medical emergency and is still one of the major causes of mortality and morbidity. The possibility of an early diagnosis of sepsis isstill debated and controversial. In particular, clinical symptoms can be hidden by the association of sepsis with other perinatal diseases and/or by therapeutic strategies performed. In this context, there is evidence that the accuracy of standard of care diagnostic parameters (i.e. blood culture, C-reactive protein, procalcitonin) can be biased by additional confounding factors (gestational age, birth-weight, acute-chronic hypoxia). Therefore, the inclusion in clinical daily practice of new biomarkers of sepsis is of utmost importance. Of a panel of biomarkers, Presepsin (P-SEP) plays an important role in the development and response of the immune system and as an early marker of sepsis both in adult and pediatric patients. Therefore, in the present review we aim to offer an overview of the role of P-SEP in the early detection of perinatal sepsis as a trustworthy marker according to actual statements of official international institutions. Future perspectives regard the possibility of a longitudinal non-invasive biological fluids P-SEP assessment thus limiting the sample stress in high risk newborns.

Analysis of Experiences of Night High School Teachers

Teachers play a very important role in helping individuals build a better future. A better education is also important for a better society. This study examines the experiences of night high school teachers in Calbayog City Night High School located in Calbayog City, Samar, Philippines. This study was conducted by using a phenomenological approach. Ten participants were identified and invited to join the interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the gathered data. The gathered data were then transcribed and read repeatedly to identify common patterns in the responses of the participants. Codes were then used to develop themes aimed to explore and provide qualitative understanding of the experiences of night high school teachers in Calbayog City. The researchers were able to develop themes such as Expectations & Challenges and Coping Mechanisms and Rewards. Conclusions were made based on the results of thematic analysis and actual statements of night high school teachers.

The Thoughts of Clausewitz on Society and State in Times of European Upheaval

My article focuses on Clausewitz’s actual statements regarding the political changes of his time. It highlights his understanding of the notions of ‘revolution,’ ‘reform,’ ‘monarchy,’ ‘republic’ and ‘nation state.’ Using a concrete historical analysis, I aim to show that the Prussian philosopher of war is best characterized as a supporter of reforms, monarchy and as a representative of national patriotism. In a nutshell, Clausewitz was a supporter of reform in order to prevent revolution or suppress revolutionary inclinations.

Eyewitness Memory for Person Identification: Predicting Mugbook Recognition Accuracy According to Person Description Abilities and Subjective Confidence of Witnesses.

Mugbook searches are conducted in case a suspect is not known and to assess if a previously convicted person might be recognized as a potential culprit. The goal of the two experiments reported here was to analyze if prior statements and information about the suspect can aid in the evaluation if such a mugbook search is subsequently advised or not. In experiment 1, memory accuracy for person descriptors was tested in order to analyze, which attributes could be chosen to down-scale the mugbook prior to testing. Results showed that age was the most accurate descriptor, followed by ethnicity and height. At the same time self-assessed low subjective accuracy of culprit descriptions by the witness seemed to be divergent to the objective actual performance accuracy. In experiment 2, a mugbook search was conducted after participants viewed a video of a staged crime and gave a description of the culprit. Results showed that accuracy in mugbook searches correlated positively with the total number of person descriptors given by the witness as well as with witness’ description of external facial features. Predictive confidence (i.e., subjective rating of own performance in the subsequent mugbook search), however did not show any relation to the identification accuracy in the actual mugbook search. These results highlight the notion that mugbooks should not be conducted according to the subjective estimation of the witness’ performance but more according to the actual statements and descriptions that the witness can give about the culprit.

Exploring the attitudes of Bavarian farmers towards pain in cattle and how they differ from the attitudes of bovine veterinarians.

Assessment of pain in cattle depends on the observer's experience and evaluation. Only a few studies compare veterinarians' and farmers' attitudes towards pain in cattle. A questionnaire was sent to 1097 cattle practitioners and 3750 farmers. Return rate was 26.2% for veterinarians and 15.4% for farmers, respectively. Respondents were asked to score the painfulness of procedures and diseases in cattle on a numerical rating scale from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst pain imaginable), to give their opinion about the use of analgesics during and after procedures, and to agree or disagree with given statements. There were no significant differences between pain scores awarded by veterinarians and farmers, but significant differences in parameters both groups relied on for pain assessment. Farmers were less willing than veterinarians to use analgesia during and after procedures. There was no significant difference in the amount of money veterinarians thought farmers would spent on analgesia and farmers' actual statements. The results of this study indicate that farmers and veterinarians assess pain severity similarly, but recognise pain differently and disagree in their opinion regarding the use of analgesics. The communication between both groups needs to be improved to ensure proper pain management.

Status of the data sharing policies of scholarly journals published in Brazil, France, and Korea and listed in both the 2018 Scimago Journal and Country Ranking and the Web of Science

Purpose: The present study analyzed the current status of the data sharing policies of journals published in Brazil, France, and Korea that were listed in the 2018 Scimago Journal and Country Ranking and Web of Science Core Collection.Methods: Web of Science journals were selected from the 2018 Scimago Journal and Country Ranking. The homepages of all target journals were searched for the presence of statements on data sharing policies, including clinical trial data sharing policies, the level of the policies, and actual statements of data availability in articles.Results: Out of 565 journals from these three countries, 118 (20.9%) had an optional data sharing policy, and one had a mandatory data sharing policy. Harvard Dataverse was the repository of one journal. The number of journals that had adopted a data sharing policy was 11 (6.7%) for Brazil, 64 (27.6%) for France, and 44 (25.9%) for Korea. One journal from Brazil and 20 journals from Korea had adopted clinical trial data sharing policies in accordance with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Statements of data sharing were found in articles from two journals.Conclusion: Journals from France and Korea adopted data sharing policies more actively than those from Brazil. However, the actual implementation of these policies through descriptions of data availability in articles remains rare. In many journals that appear to have data sharing policies, those policies may just reflect a standard description by the publisher, especially in France. Actual data sharing was not found to be frequent.

The Point of the Message is Something different

The polemic article of Andras Simonovits , published in the current issue (Simonovits, 2020), was particularly fast: he reacted to my paper published in the previous issue – even before its publication – by always showing me the current stage of his article while he was continuously elaborating it, and sometimes (but generally not) taking my comments and recommendations. The reason why I can respond so fast to his article published herein is that he immediately shared with me the final version accepted by the quarterly, for which I am thankful to him. The article does not contain any particular criticism. Actually, it illustrates the extreme cases of my theory and adds some subtlety, which is achieved by the introduction of child specific consumption φ. His main problem is that I do not substantiate my message with a mathematical model, and that with my article I distract the attention from other more important topics. We can argue about the usefulness of mathematical models; I think I will need them at a later stage of the detailed explanation of my theory, but at this stage they would only be impediments. As far as the diversion of attention is concerned, that is clearly a misconception. In my response article, I will demonstrate that the point of my message is something totally different from what Simonovits thinks it is, and also that my point is difficult to grasp with his model. The essential difference is that I do not primarily address the lifetime optimisation of individual consumption (including the pension system), but the contradictions of the pension system. Nonetheless, I will try to present my actual statements.

Naysaying and negativity promote initial power establishment and leadership endorsement.

Conventional wisdom holds that leaders should behave in a supportive and positive manner. Yet the past decade has also seen a rise in naysayers' ascent to power. This research investigates the intriguing possibility that although we may want our leaders to be cheerleaders, we instead empower naysayers. Integrating theoretical perspectives from psychology, leadership, and organizational theory, I present the Naysaying-Agency-Power-Leadership Efficacy (NAPLE) model, which captures the causal link between naysaying and power, and examine leadership efficacy as a downstream implication. Eleven studies provide empirical support for the model. Ten experimental studies demonstrate that naysaying and power are causally linked through the perception of agency. An additional study analyzed 518 eligible voters' assessments of actual statements from U.S. presidential debates between 1980 and 2008. Results reveal that voters perceived negative and critical presidential candidates as more powerful and, in turn, were more willing to vote for them; this finding was robust to controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, political orientation, and voting history. By systematically establishing that naysaying induces power at the onset, and why, these findings illuminate an unanticipated, yet formidable, determinant of power. (PsycINFO Database Record

Committees of Experts in the Lab

We experimentally investigate (i) whether markets accurately assess the ability of decision makers when these decision makers benefit from positive assessments and (ii) how decision makers use a costly decision and cheap-talk statements to impress markets. We focus on committees of decision makers to use their conversations as a source of information about their beliefs on the relationship between committee actions and assessments. We find that reputation concerns greatly reduce the amount of useful information markets can rely on. Markets realize this and make assessments less dependent on actual decisions and statements when assessments matter to decision makers. Within treatments, markets use the available information about ability quite efficiently. Reputation concerns make the modal cheap-talk strategy uninformative about ability. In a treatment without statements, committees turn to the decision on the project, a costly signal, to impress. Thus, distorted decisions are more frequent in the absence of the cheap-talk channel.

Intention work: The scope of journalistic interpretation of political speech acts

Reported speech acts serve as a central journalistic resource for mediating public actors’ intentions, stances, and worldviews. Yet, journalists’ practices of interpreting and mediating intentions was fairly neglected by scholars of journalism. This study takes the example of reported condemnations, congratulations, and greetings, all of which consist of evaluative language that allows the examination of the ‘intention work’ journalists perform when meditating the words of others. Comparative analysis of 131 reported speech acts, with respect to the actual statements made by the quoted sources, suggest that journalists display variations in the level of adherence to the actual statements and show preference to intensify negative evaluations by resorting to subtle pragmatic and stylistic choices. We conclude by suggesting several reasons underlying reporters’ intention work and discuss the implications and professional stances assumed by journalists in their active role as mediators of intentions.

A Focused Review of Language Use Preceding Death by Execution.

Executions are one form of death that can be assumed to be maximally anxiety provoking. Words spoken by death row inmates moments before their execution can provide valuable insights into people's end-of-life communication needs and themes, conveying what individuals choose to express to others in the face of imminent death. In this focused review, we describe findings from quantitative and qualitative text analysis studies that have analyzed affective experiences and meaning-making attempts in transcriptions of actual statements made by Texas death row inmates. Overall, the most prevalent content themes identified in these final acts of verbal communication in the reviewed studies consisted of a strong predominance of emotional positivity, messages to relevant social others, and spiritual references. We subsequently view the reviewed findings in the light of additional research in which people's conceptions of death and dying were explored and language studies in which people's communication before other forms of death was analyzed. Finally, we describe open questions and directions for future analyses of death row inmates' final statements, and we outline practical implications.

Reconstructive surgery in penile cancer

Due to the rising incidence of penile cancer and increasing life expectancy in western nations, the current international guidelines recommend a less aggressive surgical approach with reduced safety margins and preferably with organ preservation. The goal of this review is to review the current data on stage-dependent reconstructive surgical techniques and their oncological and functional results. Five recently published reviews and several single studies and publications on the topic of organ-sparing surgical techniques and penile reconstruction were evaluated to draw conclusions for surgery in penile cancer. Due to the rare incidence of penile cancer and the absence of comparative, prospective studies in the literature, evidence levels of the actual statements and conclusions are low. Organ-sparing techniques in penile cancer lead to slightly elevated local recurrence rates compared with traditional partial or total penile amputation. Thus, sufficient patient compliance is mandatory and an intensified follow-up for more than the usual 5years postoperatively is required. On the other hand, these techniques enable the surgeon to offer improved functional and esthetic outcomes to the patient, maintaining erectile capacity and sensitivity. After extended partial or total penile amputation, penile reconstruction using free radial forearm flaps with later prosthetic implantation may be offered to younger and sexually active patients in cooperation with experienced plastic surgeons, even if the previously published case numbers do not permit standardization of these procedures.

T-S Fuzzy Observer and Controller of Doubly-Fed Induction Generator

This paper aims to ensure a stability and observability of doubly fed induction generator DFIG of a wind turbine based on the approach of fuzzy control type T-S PDC (Parallel Distributed Compensation) which determines the control laws by return state and fuzzy observers. First, the fuzzy TS model is used to precisely represent a nonlinear model of DFIG proposed and adopted in this work. Then, the stability analysis is based on the quadratic Lyapunov function to determine the gains that ensure the stability conditions. The fuzzy observer of DFIG is built to estimate non-measurable state vectors and the estimated states converging to the actual statements. The gains of observatory and of stability are obtained by solving a set of linear matrix inequality (LMI). Finally, numerical simulations are performed to verify the theoretical results and demonstrate satisfactory performance.

Enhancing Recreation Sustainability through Social Capital Development

Recreation areas represent a socio-ecological system in which the primary purpose is to sustain the ecologic functions of the environment while also providing satisfying recreation experiences. Sustainability in a recreation area requires that the components that support this system are maintained or increased over time. These components can be thought of as ‘capital'. The focus of this study, social capital, examines the human element of this system by recognizing the potential value added by the visitor in terms of overall sustainability. The goal of this research was to measure the potential to build social capital amongst the visitors in the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area (SCRA) of the Coronado National Forest, United States, as a means of contributing to the overall sustainability of the recreation area. Recreation visitors were surveyed to determine their values surrounding the SCRA. The survey results defined visitor values by their willingness to devote time and finances, respect for the environment and resources, and actual statements of value. Based on responses to the survey questions, each respondent's relationship with the SCRA was characterized as contributing to the system's sustainability, having no effect, or reducing its sustainability. Fundamental features of social groups that allow individuals to work together for a common purpose are present at SCRA. By uniting visitors around their shared values, managers may be able to catalyze the collective efforts of social groups to foster a mutual commitment to the sustainability of the SCRA.

A Note on Pasternak's poem ‘Definition of Poetry’

Pasternak's many “definitions” of art typically dwell on its “boundless” origin in inspiration. This origin is particularly strongly – if enigmatically – represented in the third stanza of the Sestra moia – zhizn' poem ‘Definition of Poetry’ where, although there are no actual statements, there are subtle dislocations of syntax which suggest a nameless awareness of “that which is called inspiration”.

Innovative Data Collection Strategies in Qualitative Research

This article provides an innovative meta-framework comprising strategies designed to guide qualitative data collection in the 21st century. We present a meta-framework comprising strategies for collecting data from interviews, focus groups, observations, and documents/material culture. We present a template for collecting nonverbal data during interviews and discuss the concept of debriefing the interviewer. We identify types of data that can be collected in focus groups in addition to the actual statements made by the participants and provide templates for categorizing these data. Also, we outline the role that social networking websites can play in focus group interviews. Further, we provide models for observations that include photographs and videos. Finally, we outline ways of accessing and collating documents/material culture that can be used for document analyses.

Assess the impact of earnings quality on abnormal returns on listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange

This study evaluated the impact of earnings quality on abnormal returns on listed companies at Tehran Stock Exchange. In this study, quality of earnings and abnormal returns in the time domain between the years 2006 to 2011 companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange will be tested. The present study was quasi-experimental and ex post facto and Based on actual market data and financial statements of listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange was and using information from the financial statements of 132 listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange and using multiple linear regression analysis, using the software SPSS16 results The results of this study indicate that the results of the test show that the first sub-hypothesis. The size of the abnormal returns between earnings quality is impressive. Findings the second sub-hypothesis testing shows that the growth rate of firms with abnormal returns between earnings quality influences.

The Editor, the Publisher, and His Mother: The Representation of Lesbians and Gays in the New York Times

The attention and prominence given to issues in media outlets may affect the importance citizens attribute to them, so the actors who influence mass media coverage decisions may have political power in society generally. This article seeks to measure the relative influence of journalists, social trends, events, government officials, editors, and owners on the New York Times coverage of lesbians and gays from 1960 to 1995. Although many factors affected the nature and frequency of such coverage, the findings of this article show that the owners of the Times exerted decisive influence. Documentary evidence reveals that the Times' owners actively intervened to suppress coverage of lesbians and gays until 1987, even as reporters and editors recognized that increased social visibility made them newsworthy. Statistical analysis confirms that, although some actual events and statements of officials attracted attention from the newspaper throughout the period, they were more likely to generate prominent coverage after 1987 when the stories were consistent with the enthusiasms of the owners.

Mapping Multivalent Metaphors: Analyzing the Wildnis Metaphor in the Zwischenstadt Discourse in Terms of Political Worldviews

This article presents an approach to mapping multivalent metaphors, that is, metaphors that imply competing values. It suggests that a metaphor's interpretative repertoire can usefully be structured in terms of worldviews derived from political philosophies. To illustrate this approach, the article analyzes how Wildnis (wild nature) is used to refer to the Zwischenstadt (hybrid peri-urban landscapes) in German language planning discourse. It thus makes a contribution toward interpreting and structuring this discourse. After outlining the methodological framework, the article presents certain elements of the interpretative repertoire of Wildnis by outlining selected liberal, Romantic, and conservative interpretations of this metaphor. It then interprets actual statements by urban and landscape planners and designers, reconstructing how they refer to various political interpretations of Wildnis. Finally, it is argued that the approach can benefit planning practice by enhancing frame awareness and by allowing for a systematic analysis of the metaphor's blind spots.

SCAN is largely driven by 12 criteria: results from sexual abuse statements

Scientific Content Analysis (SCAN) is increasingly used by investigative authorities to evaluate the credibility of statements made by witnesses and suspects. SCAN, however, lacks a well-defined list of criteria, and does not involve a standardised scoring system. In the current study, we investigated which SCAN criteria are represented in actual statements. To this end, we analysed 82 sexual abuse cases of the Dutch police in which SCAN had been applied. Two independent coders scored the presence of various SCAN criteria in the: (1) written statements from victims, suspects, and witnesses; and also looked at the (2) recommendations for follow-up investigations that were derived from SCAN. Results showed that SCAN is primarily driven by 12 criteria. Results also indicated a low inter-rater agreement for most SCAN criteria, suggesting SCAN is insufficiently developed as a forensic tool. Still, the 12 criteria can be used as a starting point for future research on their psychometric properties.