Alternative Definitions Research Articles

Embeddings of a Multi-Weighted Anisotropic Sobolev Type Space

Parameters such as various integral and differential characteristics of functions, smoothness properties of regions and their boundaries, as well as many classes of weight functions cause complex relationships and embedding conditions for multi-weighted anisotropic Sobolev type spaces. The desire not to restrict these parameters leads to the development of new approaches based on the introduction of alternative definitions of spaces and norms in them or on special localization methods. This article examines the embeddings of multi-weighted anisotropic Sobolev type spaces with anisotropy in all the defining characteristics of the norm of space, including differential indices, summability indices, as well as weight coefficients. The applied localization method made it possible to obtain an embedding for the case of an arbitrary domain and weights of a general type, which is important in applications in differential operators’ theory, numerical analysis.

The Shortage of Professionals/Skilled Workers: Its Impact on the Inflation Rate in the Eurozone

The shortness of professionals and/or skilled workers is a widespread phenomenon in industrialized countries, and so it is in the Eurozone. The vacancy ratio, which is defined and explained in its three (respectively four) alternative definitions, may serve both as a measure of labour market tightness and as a proxy for the shortness of professionals and/or skilled workers. We derive, in two variants, a theoretical model which is based on the Phillips and the Beveridge curve. A combination of these two concepts yields a so-called “modified output gap” suitable for explaining the inflation rate of Eurozone member countries, driven, among other things, by the vacancy ratio. This model is successfully tested for about 70% of the Eurozone member countries (2006-2021). We conclude our exposition with suggestions for economic policy on how to sensibly reduce the vacancy ratio, a summary of findings, and a scope for future research.

SONAR target classification with complex-valued neural networks

Popular acoustic signal processing techniques analyze acoustic color, which is a magnitude representation of a frequency spectrum. This paradigm allows for easy visualization of results and simpler models at the cost of throwing out phase information. Analysis and modeling of complex-valued data does have inherent difficulty from the nature of complex numbers. Optimization on the complex field requires alternate partial derivative definitions to circumvent consequences of the Cauchy–Riemann equations regarding holomorphic functions. To make use of phase information, we demonstrate classifier model optimization with complex-valued parameters on data with both magnitude and phase components and show how complex neural networks yield marked improvements over similarly shaped real-valued networks in both classification accuracy and generalization ability. We apply these techniques to small target SONAR with simulated Lamb wave resonance signals for hollow spheres, differentiating between different material classes. [Research funded by the DoD Navy (NEEC) Grant No. N001742010016.]

Firm-Level Political Risk and the Cash Flow Sensitivity of Cash

We examine the impact of firm-level political risk on the cash flow sensitivity of cash. Using a large sample of U.S. firms from 2003 to 2018, we find that the cash flow sensitivity of cash decreases in political uncertainty and the impact of political risk is asymmetric to cash flow types (positive versus negative). Intensified political uncertainty induces positive/negative cash flow firms to reduce savings out of cash flows to finance investment opportunities/terminate unprofitable projects to retrieve cash. The results are robust to various model specifications, alternative variable definitions, and the control for non-political risks. In addition, we show that a firm’s financial status moderates the relation between the two, with financially constrained positive/negative cash flow firms saving more out of cash flows/decreasing existing savings as firm-level political risk increases.

ESG, ESG rating divergence and earnings management: Evidence from China

AbstractThe existing studies on the relationship between ESG and earnings management provide mixed evidence and ignore ESG rating divergence. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms from 2009 to 2021, we examine the effect of ESG performance on earnings management under different levels of ESG rating divergence. The results reveal a negative association between ESG performance and earnings management. Meanwhile, among firms with high (low) ESG rating divergence, our results show that the degree of earnings management rises (falls) when the firms engage in ESG practices. Our findings are robust to alternative variable definitions and the Heckman two‐stage selection model. In addition, we exclude alternative explanations and consider the effect of greenwashing. Cross‐sectional analyses show that the moderating effect of ESG rating divergence is significant only among firms with greater CEO power and higher agency costs, suggesting that agency problems are the mechanism by which ESG rating divergence positively moderates the relationship between ESG performance and earnings management. This study advances the existing research on ESG and earnings quality by presenting new empirical evidence and revisits ESG rating divergence through the lens of agency theory, revealing that management could use ESG for opportunistic behavior in the presence of ESG rating divergence. Our study shows that the divergence in ESG ratings can affect the economic consequences of firms' ESG practices, offering insights for future research on ESG and ESG rating divergence and for regulators to improve the regulation of ESG disclosure and rating.

Narrative Medicine and Empathy: A Phenomenological Perspective

ABSTRACT In Rita Charon's account of narrative medicine, empathy seems to be an essential element of the clinical relationship. However, empathy has not received much attention, which I believe is problematic. First, I show that not only is there no clear definition of what empathy is, but that this conceptual gap creates ambiguity about its role in the practice of narrative medicine. Second, I argue that certain passages in Charon's work seem to implicitly characterize empathy as a combination of cognitive empathy, affective empathy, and sympathy, and that its inclusion in the practice of narrative medicine can be problematic. Third, following Dan Zahavi, I argue that a phenomenological account of empathy not only seems most compatible with the practices, values, and theoretical framework of narrative medicine, but is also capable of resolving the problems posed by alternative definitions of empathy and the ambiguity about the role of empathy in narrative medicine.

Measurement and decomposition of profit efficiency under alternative definitions in nonparametric models

Measurement and decomposition of profit efficiency under alternative definitions in nonparametric models

Effect of timeframes to define long term conditions and sociodemographic factors on prevalence of multimorbidity using disease code frequency in primary care electronic health records: retrospective study

ObjectiveTo determine the extent to which the choice of timeframe used to define a long term condition affects the prevalence of multimorbidity and whether this varies with sociodemographic factors.DesignRetrospective study...

Abstract 156: Cerebral Edema in Patients Presenting With Large Ischemic Core Undergoing Thrombectomy versus Medical Therapy: Secondary Analysis of SELECT 2 Trial

Background: Endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) improves long-term outcome in patients presenting with large ischemic core but is associated with early neurological worsening (ENW), potentially related to cerebral edema post-reperfusion. We investigated whether EVT increases edema development, and the relationship between edema and ENW in a secondary analysis of the SELECT2 trial. Methods: SELECT 2 tested the efficacy and safety of EVT versus medical therapy in patients with large ischemic core (ASPECTS 3-5 or core volume ≥50ml on CT Perfusion[CTP]/MR diffusion). Core volume was defined as the larger of the CTP-CBF relative cerebral blood flow <30% or the visible hypodensity on non-contrast CT. Cerebral edema was measured as the maximum midline shift (MLS) on 24h follow-up MRI or CT. ENW was defined as >=4 point worsening in NIHSS at 24h compared to baseline. Probabilistic index model was used in multivariable analyses to assess ≥1 point improvement on modified Rankin Scale at 90-days. Results: After exclusion of 10 patients with hemicraniectomy, the median MLS in 327 patients was 2.75mm (IQR 0-5.85) in EVT and 0mm (IQR 0-4.02) in control patients (p=0.005). EVT was independently associated with greater MLS (adjusted odds ratio, aOR 1.50, 95%CI 1.17-1.92, p=0.0012) after adjusting for age and core volume. There was no interaction between EVT and core volume on the association with MLS (p>0.79). Patient with ENW had greater MLS (5.05mm [IQR2.06-10.2] vs 0mm [IQR0-3.94, p<0.001]) MLS was associated with development of ENW (aOR 1.22, 95%CI 1.13-1.32, p<0.001), and lower likelihood of long-term functional improvement (adjusted generalized OR 0.96, 95%CI 0.92-0.97, p<0.001, adjusted for core volume, EVT, age and baseline NIHSS). Sensitivity analysis testing alternative definitions of core volume (CTP core volume only and Hypodensity on non-contrast only) showed concordant results. Conclusion: In patients presenting with large ischemic core, EVT was associated with increased cerebral edema at 24h which, in turn, was associated with ENW. Despite overall benefit of EVT, EVT-related edema is independently associated with neurological deterioration and long-term disability and is therefore a potential treatment target to improve EVT outcomes.

Association between e-cigarette use and susceptibility to tobacco product use: findings from the 2019 China National Youth Tobacco Survey.

There is an ongoing debate about whether e-cigarettes act as a gateway to tobacco smoking or contribute to smoking cessation, and relevant studies are limited among Chinese adolescents. This cross-sectional study therefore aimed to explore the relationship between e-cigarette use and susceptibility to tobacco product use among Chinese high school students. The study population comprised 107,633 never smokers and 19,377 former smokers, generated from the 2019 China National Youth Tobacco Survey. The primary independent variables of interest were ever e-cigarette use, current e-cigarette use, and the frequency of current e-cigarette use. The main outcome was the susceptibility to tobacco product use. Multilevel logistic regression was used to estimate the association between the primary independent variables of interest and the outcome variable. Moreover, two additional multilevel logistic regression models were fitted using two alternative definitions of the outcome as the sensitivity analyses. Among never smokers, students who ever used e-cigarettes were more likely to be susceptible to tobacco product use compared to students who never used e-cigarettes (AOR = 2.83, 95%CI = 2.59-3.08). Students who currently used e-cigarettes were more likely to be susceptible to tobacco product use than those who did not currently use e-cigarettes (AOR = 3.89, 95%CI = 3.21-4.72). Among former smokers, with the same settings of modeling, the AORs were 1.76 (95%CI = 1.62-1.91) and 3.16 (95%CI = 2.52-3.97), respectively. Similar results were obtained from the two sensitivity analyses. Among Chinese high school students, both never smokers and former smokers, e-cigarette use, especially current e-cigarette use, was positively associated with susceptibility to tobacco product use. It is recommended to strengthen the monitoring of e-cigarettes and to provide targeted health education to adolescents.

Frequently asked questions about the ISAPP postbiotic definition.

The term postbiotic was defined by the International Scientific Association of Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) as "a preparation of inanimate microorganisms and/or their components that confers a health benefit on the host." Although the ISAPP definition is widely cited, some concerns were aired after publication, and alternative definitions of postbiotic, as well as different terms for inactivated microbes, have been previously suggested. This paper addresses questions about the ISAPP definition that have been raised in different forums, including scientific meetings, social media commentary and personal communications. We focus on the rationale, scope, wording, composition and commercial implementation, as well as what is expected of postbiotics regarding safety, efficacy, quantification and mechanisms of action. We hope that exploring these questions will further clarify the definition and its scope and support a common understanding of the concept of postbiotics.

Exploring definitions of daily enteric methane emission phenotypes for genetic evaluations using a population of indoor-fed multi-breed growing cattle with feed intake data.

Genetic selection has been identified as a promising approach for reducing enteric methane (CH4) emissions; a prerequisite for genetic evaluations; however, these are estimates of the necessary genetic parameters based on a population representative of where the genetic evaluations will be used. The objective of this study was, therefore, to derive genetic parameters for a series of definitions of CH4, carbon dioxide (CO2), and dry matter intake (DMI) as well as genetic correlations between CH4, CO2, and DMI in a bid to address the paucity of studies involving methane emissions measured in beef cattle using GreenFeed systems. Lastly, estimated breeding values (EBV) were generated for nine alternative definitions of CH4 using the derived genetic parameters; the EBV were validated against both phenotypic performance (adjusted for non-genetic effects) and the Legarra and Reverter method comparing EBV generated for a subset of the dataset compared to EBV generated from the entire dataset. Individual animal CH4 and CO2 records were available from a population of 1,508 multi-breed growing beef cattle using 10 GreenFeed Emission Monitoring systems. Nine trait definitions for CH4 and CO2 were derived: individual spot measures, the average of all spot measures within a 3-h, 6-h, 12-h, 1-d, 5-d, 10-d, and 15-d period and the average of all spot measures across the full test period (20 to 114 d on test). Heritability estimates from 1,155 animals, for CH4, increased as the length of the averaging period increased and ranged from 0.09 ± 0.03 for the individual spot measures trait to 0.43 ± 0.11 for the full test average trait; a similar trend existed for CO2 with the estimated heritability ranging from 0.17 ± 0.04 to 0.50 ± 0.11. Enteric CH4 was moderately to strongly genetically correlated with DMI with a genetic correlation of 0.72 ± 0.02 between the spot measures of CH4 and a 1-d average DMI. Correlations, adjusted for heritability, between the adjusted phenotype and (parental average) EBV ranged from 0.56 to 1.14 across CH4 definitions and the slope between the adjusted phenotype and EBV ranged from 0.92 to 1.16 (expectation = 1). Validation results from the Legarra and Reverter regression method revealed a level bias of between -0.81 and -0.45, a dispersion bias of between 0.93 and 1.17, and ratio accuracy (ratio of the partial evaluation accuracies on whole evaluation accuracies) from 0.28 to 0.38. While EBV validation results yielded no consensus, CH4 is a moderately heritable trait, and selection for reduced CH4 is achievable.

A participação infantil no espaço público: propostas para pensar o direito da criança ao território

ABSTRACT This paper results from a participatory research with children in public spaces. The research, guided by a framework based on the Sociology of Childhood and the Urban Studies, offers an interdisciplinary dialogue that considers childhood as a generational category of its own worth, constituted by children as social actors with the ‘right to a voice’, recognizing that they have particular modes of communication, relationship and cultures (Dornelles; Fernandes, 2015; Sarmento, 2003; 2008). From the Sociology of Childhood’s perspective, the concept of ‘city’ is widely used when discussing children’s participation, even if such actions do not always take place in the context of the city. It is the case of the space where our research took place, as it seemed to us that the word “city” did not took into consideration the characteristics of the space under analysis. There are several authors in the field of Urbanism who have been questioning the concept of ‘city’, proposing some reflections about it and bringing to the discussion alternative definitions. Likewise, we advocate the importance of using the concept of ‘territory’ instead of ‘city’, in order to be more accurate and to safeguard the participation of all children, regardless of the context in which they live, helping to overcome their geographical/social invisibility.

Does Cultural Robotics Need Culture? Conceptual Fragmentation and the Problems of Merging Culture with Robot Design

AbstractIncreasingly, roboticists have to pay attention to cultural norms and expectations. But roboticists have generally worked with a relatively narrow understanding of culture, based on nationality. This contrasts with the rich and diverse understandings of culture from disciplines as diverse as sociology, philosophy, and anthropology. Here we draw on the philosophy of science literature on scientific terminology to argue that culture is a conceptually fragmented concept: the concept has no unified definition, and alternative definitions of culture are useful for different areas within robotics. We argue that this has important implications for robotics. We consider two possible reactions to this situation. One claims that, despite the lack of a unified definition, the concept of culture still fulfils useful roles within robotics, and ought to be preserved. The other argues that the problems with the concept are so great that the concept ought to be eliminated from discussions in robotics. We argue in favour of the former option.

Protests, long-term preferences, and populism: Evidence from 1968 in Europe

Abstract In 1968, young people grew up in an atmosphere of strong dissatisfaction and distrust against the status quo. We show that higher exposure to protests in 1968 leads to higher dissatisfaction toward national governments and raises the probability of voting for populist parties. Consistently with the impressionable years hypothesis, we find these effects valid only for those aged between 18 and 25 years during 1968. Our results are robust to a series of placebo tests and to alternative definitions of our treatment and control groups. We find that our results are driven by individuals with a middle or low level of education. We also find suggestive evidence that the mechanisms driving our results can depend on individuals’ level of education.

Home country uncertainty and cash holdings: Evidence from multinational subsidiaries in South Korea

Using data on South Korean subsidiaries with 18 different countries of origin and a newspaper-based economic policy uncertainty (EPU) index, we investigate the effect of uncertainty transmission on multinationals’ key decisions. Subsidiaries of multinational corporations face host and home country uncertainty. We document that Korean subsidiaries significantly increase their cash holdings when EPU increases in their home countries, indicating that national uncertainty shocks are transmitted to other countries through multinational networks. We further show a more pronounced home EPU effect when parent companies hold a greater share of subsidiary equity. The home EPU effect is robust to the inclusion of additional home country factors and alternative definitions of home EPU and cash holdings. Additionally, we find that subsidiaries reduce their capital expenditures when their home EPU increases.

Potential determinants of research output: comparing economics and business

ABSTRACTThis article uses cross-country unbalanced panel data of up to 146 countries from 1996–2015 to be the first study to identify potential determinants of a country’s relative research output in Economics versus Business. This identification is important for students, professionals, universities, university departments, and research-funding agencies facing choices between profiles oriented towards economics and business. Consider the following concrete example. The finding that some distinct countries’ characteristics hinder Economics relative to Business research is valuable information for a prospective professional when choosing her career path. We do a thorough literature review to single out country characteristics having the potential to determine the flourishing of economics research vis-à-vis business research and come out with the following three hypotheses: higher policy-related data availability, higher income inequality, and lower ethnic fractionalization relatively favour economics. The regressions’ results confirm these hypotheses, and the findings are robust to two alternative fixed effects specifications, three alternative definitions of economics and business, two alternative measures of research output (publications and citations), the inclusion of meaningful control variables, and the consideration of developed and developing countries. Yet, the association between ethnic fractionalization and relative research output is limited to developing countries.

Competition policy and firm productivity: Quasi‐experimental evidence from China

AbstractChina enacted the Anti‐Monopoly Law in 2008. This law is deemed a milestone of competition policy to improve market efficiency in the country. This paper builds a theoretical model and applies a difference‐in‐differences method using a firm‐level dataset of the 1998–2015 period to examine the impact of this law on firm productivity. We show that the enactment of this law significantly increased the total factor productivity (TFP) of the firms. The results are shown to be robust across alternative definitions of the treatment variable and alternative measures of productivity. Finally, we show that the productivity effect of this law tends to be stronger among state‐owned enterprises than private/foreign firms and large firms than small firms.

Home, unsweet home – effect of homeownership on financial investments of Indian households

PurposeThe study analyzes the relationship between homeownership and financial investment of households in the context of emerging markets like India. It also examines how homeownership affects the portfolio decisions of Indian households.Design/methodology/approachUsing the nationally representative All-India Debt and Investment Survey of 2019 and employing an instrumental variable approach, the authors analyze the relationship between homeownership and the share of financial assets held by Indian households. The study also employs several sensitivity checks, including alternate estimation techniques and alternative definitions of the housing variables, and accounts for additional factors to ensure that the authors are able to capture the effect of homeownership on the outcome variable.FindingsThe analysis suggests homeownership crowds out financial investment in India due to high repair and maintenance costs. The negative effect is mainly observed in urban households. Further, the findings imply that homeownership leads households to reallocate their asset portfolio. Homeowners have a lower share in liquid short term deposits, indicating the high liquidity risk of their portfolios. On the other hand, homeownership increases the share of long term retirement funds along with no effect on risky asset share. The authors observe that the crowding out effect is more striking for younger households and poorer households with low income, and the effect is lower for indebted households.Practical implicationsThe findings underscore the need for financial awareness programs so that housing does not crowd out liquid investments of households. Additionally, the results highlight that policies should first focus on young and poor households as the negative effect is more prominent for these groups. Finally, there is scope for policies to support repair and maintenance costs incurred by vulnerable households to reduce the negative effect of housing on liquid financial investments.Originality/valueThis paper is among the few studies that provide insights into how homeownership relates to financial investment and portfolio decisions in the context of an emerging economy. Furthermore, the heterogeneous effects based on poor economic status and age underscore the need for complementary policies.

Examination of alternative eGFR definitions on the performance of deep learning models for detection of chronic kidney disease from fundus photographs.

Deep learning (DL) models have shown promise in detecting chronic kidney disease (CKD) from fundus photographs. However, previous studies have utilized a serum creatinine-only estimated glomerular rate (eGFR) equation to measure kidney function despite the development of more up-to-date methods. In this study, we developed two sets of DL models using fundus images from the UK Biobank to ascertain the effects of using a creatinine and cystatin-C eGFR equation over the baseline creatinine-only eGFR equation on fundus image-based DL CKD predictors. Our results show that a creatinine and cystatin-C eGFR significantly improved classification performance over the baseline creatinine-only eGFR when the models were evaluated conventionally. However, these differences were no longer significant when the models were assessed on clinical labels based on ICD10. Furthermore, we also observed variations in model performance and systemic condition incidence between our study and the ones conducted previously. We hypothesize that limitations in existing eGFR equations and the paucity of retinal features uniquely indicative of CKD may contribute to these inconsistencies. These findings emphasize the need for developing more transparent models to facilitate a better understanding of the mechanisms underpinning the ability of DL models to detect CKD from fundus images.