Alternative Statements Research Articles

A Statement on Abortion by 170 Obstetricians/Gynecologists after the Reversal of Roe v Wade.

In a recent American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 900 professors submitted a Special Report calling for reinstating federal protection for abortion. Here, we provide an alternative consensus statement. Induced abortion is not a constitutional right. We, too, value patient autonomy, but autonomy does not allow for causing harm to another human being, in this case, the human fetus. We share concern about maternal mortality in the United States, but evidence shows that induced abortion increases, not decreases, maternal mortality. We share the authors' concern for the effect of induced abortion on minority populations and mourn the fact that the abortion rate in non-Hispanic black patients is three times that of non-Hispanic white patients and twice that of Hispanic patients. Many obstetricians/gynecologists, like ourselves, do not support abortion, and most obstetricians/gynecologists do not perform abortions. Induced abortion is not necessary to provide evidence-based care. We also have seen tragic situations and misinformation and want to work toward addressing these issues. We support the highest level of clinical practice, bodily autonomy, reproductive freedom, and evidence-based care for both our patients-the pregnant woman and the human being in utero-whom we have dedicated our lives to serving.

Pengaruh Persepsi Dan Pemahaman Tentang Laporan Keuangan Terhadap Kualitas Laporan Keuangan Pelaku UMKM

This research attempts to ascertain how business actors' attitudes and comprehension impact the quality of financial reports in Kecamatan Johan Pahlawan, West Aceh Regency. While presenting comprehensive financial reports is challenging for them because not all business owners have studied accounting in-depth, some MSME actors in Johan Pahlawan District believe that accounting is not that important. All they know is that it records incoming and outgoing cash flows. tief. The general public has very little knowledge of accounting, but businesses of a reasonably big size may afford to hire an accountant or purchase software to make it easier to prepare financial reports that comply with current laws. A quantitative technique was used in this investigation. Primary data from a research sample of ninety-three MSME actors in Kecamatan Johan Pahlawan, West Aceh Regency, was directly gathered via the use of questionnaires by the researchers for the objectives of this study. Multiple linear regression data analysis is the technique employed. Based on the study's findings, Kecamatan Johan Pahlawan, West Aceh Regency's MSME financial reports' quality is significantly influenced by business actors' attitudes and knowledge, with a significant value of 0.000. The quality of MSME financial reports in Johan Pahlawan District, West Aceh Regency, is thus determined by the perception and comprehension of business players, leading to the conclusion that the alternative hypothesis statement (Ha3) is accepted.

The Correlation Between Advertisements Of Badan Amil Zakat And The Intention Of Muslim Community In Performing Zakat Obligation

Zakat is one of the obligatory acts of worship for every Muslim, therefore the understanding of zakat needs to be continuously disseminated to the Muslim community in various ways. Comprehensive Islamic learning needs to be emphasized in order to be able to instill values ​​about the importance of zakat, through formal and non-formal education, socialization about zakat should be held. There is an institution that is mandated to manage zakat, which is known as the amil zakat agency. The role of amil zakat should be central in society to teach zakat, one of which is through advertising in the media. This study was conducted to determine the correlation of the implementation of the Amil Zakat Agency advertisement with the public's intention to pay zakat. The research implementation refers to quantitative descriptive research methods, through data collected from research questionnaires and documentation. The data obtained were analyzed through a quantitative test with the Pearson Correlation test. The results obtained from this study are that advertisements organized by the Amil Zakat Agency have a positive and significant correlation with people's intentions to pay zakat. This is based on the test results which show the rcount value of 0.901 > rtable 0.3610 so that the alternative hypothesis statement is accepted and the null hypothesis or statistical hypothesis is rejected. Keywords: Advertisement, Zakat Agency, Intention To Pay

Signal-to-Interference-Plus-Noise Ratio Based Optimization for Sound Zone Control

Sound zone control is posed as an optimization problem where finite impulse response control filters are jointly optimized for low transmit power, while maintaining a sufficiently high signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) in all zones. This problem statement in particular allows the consideration of sound zone control under the additional influence of external noise, which is rarely taken into account and indeed necessitates an alternative problem statement. In addition, the spectral characteristics of the audio signals are taken into account, both for the transmit power minimization and computing the SINR. The optimization problem is shown to be solved optimally by semidefinite relaxation, but the computational cost is high. An alternate method is proposed, inspired by a duality between transmit and receive beamforming commonly exploited in digital communications. A virtual receive optimization problem for sound zone control is derived, and it is shown to have the same optimal solution as the original transmit optimization problem. The receive optimization problem is solved efficiently through a fixed point iteration algorithm. The two proposed methods are compared against acoustic contrast controlin a simulated reverberant environment, where it is shown that the proposed methods require less transmit power to produce similar SINRs.

OREO

Data analytics often make sense of large data sets by generalization: aggregating from the detailed data to a more general context. Given a dataset, misleading generalizations can sometimes be drawn from a cherry-picked level of aggregation to obscure substantial subgroups that oppose the generalization. Our goal is to detect and explain cherry-picked generalizations by refining the corresponding aggregate queries. We demonstrate OREO, a system to compute a support score of the given statement to quantify the quality of the generalization; that is, whether the aggregated result is an accurate reflection of the data. To better understand the resulting score, our system also identifies significant counterexamples and alternative statements that better represent the data at hand. We will demonstrate the utility of OREO for investigating generalizations, by interacting with the VLDB'22 participants who will use the OREO interface for statement validation and explanation.

Potential Misinformation in the Official Disability Guidelines About the Diagnosis and Treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Workers' compensation guidelines may reinforce unhelpful thoughts regarding symptoms that are known to increase symptom intensity and magnitude of incapability. One guideline commonly used (the Official Disability Guidelines) was reviewed regarding carpal tunnel syndrome. For 15 statements, we created an alternative statement based on a set of consensus principles for health, value, and quality in care. One hundred eight upper extremity surgeons of the Science of Variation Group reviewed both versions of the statements to indicate their preference. Surgeons preferred seven revised statements and five guideline statements and were neutral on three statements. Favored revisions related to more accurate discernment of symptoms that are clearly related to idiopathic median neuropathy and representative of severity of pathology. There may be important mental health considerations for care under a work claim, such as unhelpful thoughts or distress regarding symptoms, which are not adequately considered by the Official Disability Guidelines.

Treatment planning in arc proton therapy: Comparison of several optimization problem statements and their corresponding solvers

Arc proton therapy (ArcPT) is an emerging modality in cancer treatments. It delivers the proton beams following a sequence of irradiation angles while the gantry is continuously rotating around the patient. Compared to conventional proton treatments (intensity modulated proton therapy, IMPT), the number of beams is significantly increased bringing new degrees of freedom that leads to potentially better cancer care. However, the optimization of such treatment plans becomes more complex and several alternative statements of the problem can be considered and compared in order to solve the ArcPT problem. Three such problem statements, distinct in their mathematical formulation and properties, are investigated and applied to solving the ArcPT optimization problem. They make use of (i) fast iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm (FISTA), (ii) local search (LS) and (iii) mixed-integer programming (MIP). The treatment plans obtained with those methods are compared among them, but also with IMPT and an existing state-of-the-art method: Spot-Scanning Proton Arc (SPArc). MIP stands out at low scale problems both in terms of dose quality and time delivery efficiency. FISTA shows high dose quality but experiences difficulty to optimize the energy sequence while LS is mostly the antagonist. This detailed study describes independent approaches to solve the ArcPT problem and depending on the clinical case, one should be cautiously picked rather than the other. This paper gives the first formal definition of the problem at stake, as well as a first reference benchmark. Finally, empirical conclusions are drawn, based on realistic assumptions.

Validating strength-of-support conclusion scales for fingerprint, footwear, and toolmark impressions.

In the pattern comparison disciplines such as fingerprints, footwear, and toolmarks, the results of a comparison are communicated by examiners in the form of categorical conclusions such as Identification or Exclusion. These statements have been criticized as requiring knowledge of prior probabilities by the examiners and being overinterpreted by laypersons. Alternative statements based on strength-of-support language have been proposed. The current study compares traditional conclusion scales against strength-of-support scales to determine how these new statements might be used by examiners in casework. Each participant completed 60 comparisons within their discipline, which were designed to approximate casework conditions, using either a traditional or a strength-of-support conclusion scale. The scale used on each trial was randomly assigned, and participants knew the scale for that trial as they began the comparison. Fingerprint examiners were much less likely to use Extremely Strong Support for Common Source than Identification. Footwear examiners treated the traditional and strength-of-support scales similarly, but toolmark examiners were much less likely to use Extremely Strong Support for Common Source than Identification, similar to fingerprint examiners. A separate group of fingerprint examiners used Identification less often when an expanded scale was available. The results demonstrate that expanded scales may result in the highest conclusion category being used less often by examiners when other alternatives are possible, and the term "extremely strong support" may introduce risk aversion on the part of examiners.

Reliability analysis and hypothesis testing of critical success factors of total productive maintenance

PurposeThis paper deals with concept of total productive maintenance (TPM) and its implementation approach. It also presents the identification of critical factors for effective implementation of TPM. The reliability analysis identified potential areas where more concentration is required. The application of hypothesis testing in productivity maintenance should be promoted by parametric test and significantly instrumental in explanation of phenomena. It is also indispensable to better understand quality data and provide guidance to production control.Design/methodology/approachThe various critical success factors of TPM implementation has organised into set of eight performance measure and thirty three sub-factors for getting the in-depth details of each indicator. The paper identifies the reliability of these factors and understands the problem with greater clarity and its ramification. Researcher collected responses from forty one manufacturing organisations through structured designed questionnaire. The reliability analysis was carriedout by calculating the value of Cronbach's alpha method. To draw the meaningful conclusions supported by relevant empirical data, provisional formulation is required, and it was carried by hypothesis testing. In this test, samples are taken from a population with known distribution (normal distribution), and a test of population parameters is executed. It determines the relevancy of facts directs the researcher's efforts into productive channels. The statements were hypothetically tested by calculating the arithmetic value of Chi-Square (χ2) and MINITAB-19 software was used for identification of p-value.FindingsThis study identified that main factors and sub-factors of TPM which are critical for implementation of TPM. The study also avoids the complexities involved in implementing TPM by reliability analysis. It is found that all identified CSFs are reliable as Cronbach's alpha is above 0.6. The hypothesis testing shows that all alternative hypothesis statements are acceptable as Chi-Square (χ2) value has satisfied the conditions and null hypothesis are true as calculated p-value is less than the 0.05 for eight identified TPM critical factor.Originality/valueIn this paper researcher provides a comprehensive typology of TPM-CSFs, and its ranking and importance in manufacturing sector. The preparedness of such study related to TPM implementation is becoming a major sourcing base for the world and there is a paucity of such studies. Such studies are equally important in a global context.

Deciphering Federal Reserve Communication via Text Analysis of Alternative FOMC Statements

We apply a natural language processing algorithm to FOMC statements to construct a new measure of monetary policy stance, including the tone and novelty of a policy statement. We exploit cross-sectional variations across alternative FOMC statements to identify the tone (for example, dovish or hawkish), and contrast the current and previous FOMC statements released after Committee meetings to identify the novelty of the announcement. We then use high-frequency bond prices to compute the surprise component of the monetary policy stance. Our text-based estimates of monetary policy surprises are not sensitive to the choice of bond maturities used in estimation, are highly correlated with forward guidance shocks in the literature, and are associated with lower stock returns after unexpected policy tightening. The key advantage of our approach is that we are able to conduct a counterfactual policy evaluation by replacing the released statement with an alternative statement, allowing us to perform a more detailed investigation at the sentence and paragraph level.

Genetic Algorithms as Computational Methods for Finite-Dimensional Optimization

Introduction. As early as 1744, the great Leonhard Euler noted that nothing at all took place in the universe in which some rule of maximum or minimum did not appear [12]. Great many today’s scientific and engineering problems faced by humankind are of optimization nature. There exist many different methods developed to solve optimization problems, the number of these methods is estimated to be in the hundreds and continues to grow. A number of approaches to classify optimization methods based on various criteria (e.g. the type of optimization strategy or the type of solution obtained) are proposed, narrower classifications of methods solving specific types of optimization problems (e.g. combinatorial optimization problems or nonlinear programming problems) are also in use. Total number of known optimization method classes amounts to several hundreds. At the same time, methods falling into classes far from each other may often have many common properties and can be reduced to each other by rethinking certain characteristics. In view of the above, the pressing task of the modern science is to develop a general approach to classify optimization methods based on the disclosure of the involved search strategy basic principles, and to systematize existing optimization methods. The purpose is to show that genetic algorithms, usually classified as metaheuristic, population-based, simulation, etc., are inherently the stochastic numerical methods of direct search. Results. Alternative statements of optimization problem are given. An overview of existing classifications of optimization problems and basic methods to solve them is provided. The heart of optimization method classification into symbolic (analytical) and numerical ones is described. It is shown that a genetic algorithm scheme can be represented as a scheme of numerical method of direct search. A method to reduce a given optimization problem to a problem solvable by a genetic algorithm is described, and the class of problems that can be solved by genetic algorithms is outlined. Conclusions. Taking into account the existence of a great number of methods solving optimization problems and approaches to classify them it is necessary to work out a unified approach for optimization method classification and systematization. Reducing the class of genetic algorithms to numerical methods of direct search is the first step in this direction. Keywords: mathematical programming problem, unconstrained optimization problem, constrained optimization problem, multimodal optimization problem, numerical methods, genetic algorithms, metaheuristic algorithms.

A Note on the Cardinalities of Sets of Scalar Alternatives

AbstractFormal theories of scalar implicature appeal crucially to a set of alternatives. These are the alternative statements that a speaker could have made but chose not to in pragmatic accounts, and the alternative statements that figure in the computation of exhaustivity operators in grammatical approaches. I show that the three sufficiently explicit theories of alternatives in the literature generate sets of alternatives that grow at least exponentially as a function of the input, and that these theories generate very large sets even for relatively small inputs. For pragmatic accounts of scalar implicature, I argue these results are hard or impossible to square with what we know independently about manipulating alternatives from the psychology of human reasoning. I propose that they pose a weaker but more general challenge for grammatical approaches, since alternatives as required by exhaustivity operators occur elsewhere in grammar, for example as part of the semantics of operators like “only” and “even.”

Arrested Development: How This We Believe Utilizes Colorblind Narratives and Racialization to Socially Construct Early Adolescent Development

Early adolescents go through developmental changes which are also mediated through social and structural forces that reproduce stratifying hierarchies around race, class, gender, and sexuality. Despite the intersection of early adolescent development with social and institutional forces, critical concepts such as race are often omitted in general discourses of middle level education. It is important that the leading body for middle level education, the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) and their doctrinal text, This We Believe, explicitly address the nexus of race, early adolescent development, and schooling. In this article, we draw upon critical race theory as a conceptual framework and critical race discourse analysis as methodology to examine how This We Believe negotiates the social construction of early adolescent development as rooted in whiteness in addition to the racialized realities of middle level education for students of color. Findings indicate This We Believe utilizes colorblindness alongside racialization discourses to create majoritarian narratives of middle level education and early adolescent development. In conclusion, we offer three alternative philosophical statements to This We Believe critical educators can adopt that are attentive to the intersection of race, adolescent development, and middle level education.

Disagreement and mitigation in power-asymmetrical venture capital reality TV shows: a comparative case study of Shark Tank in the US and Dragon’s Den in China

Abstract This paper examines the relationships among cultural variation, power, disagreement, and mitigation devices. Based on a multi-modal analysis of original data from two TV shows (Shark Tank in the US and Dragon’s Den in China), it is found that investors’ linguistic performance shows greater frequency and variation in both disagreement and its mitigation, influenced by power and politeness. Regarding the role of cultural variation, this study challenges some stereotypical conceptions of culture with the finding that Chinese participants use negation more often than their US counterparts. Meanwhile, Chinese and American participants choose different disagreement-mitigation formats: In the US Shark Tank investors tend to initiate disagreements by enforcing explicitness and entrepreneurs tend to mitigate them by offering explanations, while in the Chinese Dragon’s Den investors tend to utter negations and then mitigate them with qualifiers or alternative statements. Moreover, the American show also contains cases where the pre-set power-asymmetrical relationship changes during the course of presentation, and entrepreneurs with increasing power start to challenge investors by asking them various questions. However, this alteration of power relationships appears to be more difficult in the Chinese context.

Seymour's second‐neighborhood conjecture from a different perspective

AbstractSeymour's Second‐Neighborhood Conjecture states that every directed graph whose underlying graph is simple has at least one vertex such that the number of vertices of out‐distance two from is at least as large as the number of vertices of out‐distance one from it. We present alternative statements of the conjecture in the language of linear algebra.

Science Teachers’ Employment of Alternative Assessments for Gauging Students’ Learning

The study aimed at gauging science teachers’ usability of alternative assessments in light of four demographic variables: teacher specialization, school level, experience, and scientific qualification. The population consisted of all science teachers (physics, chemistry, and biology) in Bani Kenanah Province, Jordan, and the sample comprised 163 teachers. The researchers developed a questionnaire and verified its validity and reliability for collecting data. Some statistical analyses such as Mean, standard deviations and ANOVA tests were conducted to analyze the questionnaire. The results indicated that the degree of using alternative assessments by science teachers for evaluating students’ learning is medium in general but with varying degrees from one item to another. The results also revealed that significant differences existed at the level of (α = 0.05) for the variables of teacher specialization and experience. However, the results did not show significant statistical differences at the level (α = 0.05) of the use of alternative statements for both school level and teacher qualification. The study included several recommendations; the most important of which is the necessity of dispensing prompt instruction on alternative assessments to train teachers adequately and to supplement them with lucid guides to boost their competences and skills in utilizing these innovative models.

Towards understanding the mathematics of the \(2^{nd}\) law of thermodynamics

In this paper, the mathematical formulation of \(2^{nd}\) law of thermodynamics has been explained, and the mathematical formulation of \(1^{st}\) law has been revisited from this noble perspective. It is not claimed that the \(2^{nd}\) law of thermodynamics is a redundant of the \(1^{st}\) law, rather I shown here how we can extract the mathematical formulation of the \(2^{nd}\) law from the mathematical formulation of the \(1^{st}\) law of thermodynamics. The Clausius statement of the \(2^{nd}\) law of thermodynamics is, it is impossible to construct a device whose sole effect is the transfer of heat from a cool reservoir to a hot reservoir. An alternative statement of the law is, "All spontaneous processes are irreversible" or, "the entropy of an isolated system always increases". Having strong experimental evidences, this empirical law is obvious, which tells us the arrow of time and the direction of spontaneous changes.

Deciphering Federal Reserve Communication via Text Analysis of Alternative FOMC Statements

We apply a natural language processing algorithm to FOMC statements to construct a new measure of monetary policy stance, including the tone and novelty of a policy statement. We exploit cross-sectional variations across alternative FOMC statements to identify the tone (for example, dovish or hawkish), and contrast the current and previous FOMC statements released after Committee meetings to identify the novelty of the announcement. We then use high-frequency bond prices to compute the surprise component of the monetary policy stance. Our text-based estimates of monetary policy surprises are not sensitive to the choice of bond maturities used in estimation, are highly correlated with forward guidance shocks in the literature, and are associated with lower stock returns after unexpected policy tightening. The key advantage of our approach is that we are able to conduct a counterfactual policy evaluation by replacing the released statement with an alternative statement, allowing us to perform a more detailed investigation at the sentence and paragraph level.

Effects of speech and sung speech training on speech prosody production by trilingual children with autism spectrum disorder

Speech prosody can be used to distinguish old (topic) versus new (focus) information and rejecting incorrect alternative statement. It has been reported that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may show abnormal prosody of either monotonic or exaggerated intonation and some of them may fail to mark focus. Though speech and musical training have shown to improve speech production by ASD children, no specific training methods have been proposed to improve the use of speech prosody to mark focus and few studies investigated tonal language speakers. We aim to test (1) whether Cantonese-speaking ASD children fail to mark focus in their native tonal language (2) whether trainings may improve the speech prosody processing (3) whether sung speech training is more effective than speech training? We recruited two training groups of Cantonese-speaking ASD children, a control group of ASD children and TD children. In the training tasks, we focused on improving the mapping between the acoustic cues and information structure. Our pilot results showed that speech and musical training improved the use of prosodic cues such as intensity and f0 in marking focus across various positions. However, ASD children may have difficulties in integrating all the prosodic cues across conditions.

Tindak Tutur Penolakan Bahasa Jepang oleh Mantan Kenshuusei (Pekerja Magang di Jepang)

This study is intended to describe the speech act strategy of rejection in Japanese language by former apprentices (kenshuusei). The descriptive qualitative method used in this research is under the approach of interlanguage pragmatic study because the participants are foreign speakers of Japanese. The data were collected using the oral-discourse completion test technique. The findings of this study have shown three types of refusal processes, namely 1) pre-refusal - main refusal - post refusal; 2) pre-refusal - the main refusal; and 3) major refusal - post refusal. In the refusal utterances, there are 2 forms of refusal, namely direct refusal and indirect refusal. The strategies used in refusing are apology strategy, refusal reason strategy, alternative statement strategy, hope statement strategy, future demand strategy, negation form, fukushi, and aizuchi. The refusal strategies mostly used by former apprentices are the excuse strategy for refusal and almost all refusal speeches also use apologies.