Building Tools Research Articles

Subcutaneous Biopharmaceutics: Building tools for a flexible future

The major biopharmaceutics challenge faced during the development of subcutaneous (SC) drug products is the limited understanding of the physiological factors and the combination product attributes that can impact absorption rate/extent and drug product performance. Currently, the biopharmaceutics toolkit available to characterize and predict SC in vivo performance is immature compared to that of oral delivery, resulting in conservative bioequivalence (BE) strategies and costly clinical studies to manage even modest drug product changes during clinical development. This abstract summarises the development of novel SC Biopharmaceutics tools, the approaches we are taking to characterise and predict SC drug product performance and the questions we would still like to investigate. We are pursuing a strategy centred on a best-in-industry in-silico model, and driving improvements in dosing characterisation and in-vitro methods to build holistic understanding. 

Image Fake News Prediction Based on Random Forest and Gradient-boosting Methods

The internet technology of today makes it challenging to spread false information, particularly through photos, including fake news. In this study, fake news is identified and predicted using photos that have been altered or misrepresented. Effective detection systems are crucial because of the proliferation of false information that images might spread due to the use of image modification tools and social media. This paper provides a thorough analysis of fake news based on images. Among the main research areas are machine learning for classification models and image data embedding (feature extraction). Our novel methodology forecasts fake news in the form of altered or misleading photographs by using Random Forest and gradient-boosting algorithms to detect visual alterations such as picture editing and image synthesis. This research leverages massive image datasets from news channels and social media to train and assess predictive algorithms. Our results demonstrate that our method has strong recall and precision in identifying image-based fake news. We also discuss practical applications and real-time detection, such building tools to combat misinformation on social media and in news organizations. At 0.968 with 0.997, Gradient Boosting performs better than Random Forest.

A grounded pattern language: testing a methodology for exploring cohousing residents’ involvement in shared outdoor spaces

ABSTRACTThis paper presents a ‘grounded pattern language’ developed from a study on cohousing residents’ participation in shared landscapes. Pattern languages are recognised in the fields of architecture and urban design as useful tools for documenting commonplace problem-solving ideas in an easy-to-understand format. Since their initiation by Christopher Alexander in 1977, researchers across a wide range of disciplines have adopted the use of pattern languages in research as a way of engaging participants and creating succinct, implementable outputs. However, further methodological refinement for developing a pattern language is required to address criticisms around rigour and transparency. By combining previously adopted pattern language development stages with those of grounded theory, this paper outlines a grounded pattern methodology and its application in the study of cohousing residents’ participation in shared landscapes. The paper discusses the benefits and limitations of the grounded pattern methodology as a participatory research, design and theory building tool observed during its initial testing as a card game.

VSCode-Antimony: a source editor for building, analyzing, and translating antimony models.

Developing biochemical models in systems biology is a complex, knowledge-intensive activity. Some modelers (especially novices) benefit from model development tools with a graphical user interface. However, as with the development of complex software, text-based representations of models provide many benefits for advanced model development. At present, the tools for text-based model development are limited, typically just a textual editor that provides features such as copy, paste, find, and replace. Since these tools are not "model aware," they do not provide features for: (i) model building such as autocompletion of species names; (ii) model analysis such as hover messages that provide information about chemical species; and (iii) model translation to convert between model representations. We refer to these as BAT features. We present VSCode-Antimony, a tool for building, analyzing, and translating models written in the Antimony modeling language, a human readable representation of Systems Biology Markup Language (SBML) models. VSCode-Antimony is a source editor, a tool with language-aware features. For example, there is autocompletion of variable names to assist with model building, hover messages that aid in model analysis, and translation between XML and Antimony representations of SBML models. These features result from making VSCode-Antimony model-aware by incorporating several sophisticated capabilities: analysis of the Antimony grammar (e.g. to identify model symbols and their types); a query system for accessing knowledge sources for chemical species and reactions; and automatic conversion between different model representations (e.g. between Antimony and SBML). VSCode-Antimony is available as an open source extension in the VSCode Marketplace https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=stevem.vscode-antimony. Source code can be found at https://github.com/sys-bio/vscode-antimony.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF BUSINESS AS A TOOL FOR THE FORMATION OF THE BRAND OF THE NORTHERN TERRITORY FOR THE INTERNAL TARGET AUDIENCE

The article considers the communicative potential of corporate social responsibility of subsoil user companies in the northern territories of Russia as a tool for the formation of a territorial brand for the internal target audience living in northern settlements with an unfavorable climate. The purpose of the study is to determine the formation of the KhMAO brand for residents of this territory and the role of corporate social responsibility of subsoil user companies in this process. From the authors’ point of view, the presence of a strong brand of the northern territory, in addition to the population’s knowledge of its heraldic symbols and emotional attachment to the place of residence, is expressed in a high degree of involvement of residents in public life and the desire to continue living in this territory.The study was conducted in October-December 2022 by an online survey, which was attended by residents of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Yugra: large cities and small settlements (n=287).The results of the study show that the KhMAO can be considered as a brand: its residents highlight the unique qualities of the place of residence, about half give it a positive assessment, most know heraldic symbols, about a third plan to continue living in this territory. The study also revealed that knowledge of CSR programs implemented by subsoil user companies and their assessment as eff ective is higher among those residents of the territory who plan to continue living in this territory. This is especially noticeable on the example of the rural settlement of Salym, the data for which were analyzed separately. This approach to the analysis was chosen because a number of large projects are being implemented in the territory of this settlement within the framework of corporate social responsibility by the oil company Salym Petroleum Development.The results of the study allowed us to conclude about the eff ectiveness of corporate social responsibility as a tool for building and strengthening the brand of the northern territory for the internal target audience, to identify the most promising areas of this activity and to show the importance of its information support

ReaLigands: A Ligand Library Cultivated from Experiment and Intended for Molecular Computational Catalyst Design.

Computational catalyst design requires identification of a metal and ligand that together result in the desired reaction reactivity and/or selectivity. A major impediment to translating computational designs to experiments is evaluating ligands that are likely to be synthesized. Here, we provide a solution to this impediment with our ReaLigands library that contains >30,000 monodentate, bidentate (didentate), tridentate, and larger ligands cultivated by dismantling experimentally reported crystal structures. Individual ligands from mononuclear crystal structures were identified using a modified depth-first search algorithm and charge was assigned using a machine learning model based on quantum-chemical calculated features. In the library, ligands are sorted based on direct ligand-to-metal atomic connections and on denticity. Representative principal component analysis (PCA) and uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP) analyses were used to analyze several tridentate ligand categories, which revealed both the diversity of ligands and connections between ligand categories. We also demonstrated the utility of this library by implementing it with our building and optimization tools, which resulted in the very rapid generation of barriers for 750 bidentate ligands for Rh-hydride ethylene migratory insertion.

A visual learning analytics approach for knowledge building: Impact on students' epistemic understanding of discourse, productive inquiry and domain knowledge

AbstractIn this study, we examine the design process for a visual learning analytics (VLA) approach in addition to its effect on developing students' epistemic understanding of discourse and relationships to promote knowledge‐building inquiry. Over a 3‐month period, an experimental class of secondary school students took a visual arts course using a knowledge‐building design augmented by VLA, while a comparison class took the same course within a regular knowledge‐building environment. The VLA approach implemented in the experimental class emphasized collective reflections using assessment tools to visualize the students' online and classroom discussions. The analysis of the students' questionnaire responses and Knowledge Forum discourse showed that the VLA approach helped the students develop a deeper epistemic understanding of discourse for productive inquiry and greater domain knowledge. In addition, the students' epistemic understanding was associated with their performance in productive Knowledge Forum inquiry. Qualitative analysis of the classroom and group discussions, interview responses and learning artefacts showed that the VLA design helped them understand the nature of discourse deeply by encouraging them to notice community orientations, increase their awareness of productive discourse moves and advance idea development. The implications of the VLA design in improving epistemic understanding of discourse are discussed. We contribute to the literature by examining the epistemic dimensions of discourse and implementing VLA as an epistemic tool for knowledge building. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Supporting students to develop a meta‐level understanding, ie, their epistemic understanding of the nature of discourse, is important for promoting productive inquiry but continues to be challenging in education, and limited research has focused on the epistemic aspects of discourse. Little research has examined the role of a computer‐supported knowledge‐building environment augmented by a visual learning analytics approach on students' epistemic understanding of discourse, productive inquiry and domain knowledge. What this paper adds A knowledge‐building design augmented by a visual learning analytics approach linking online and face‐to‐face discourse supported students' epistemic understanding of discourse, productive inquiry and domain knowledge. VLA‐supported collective reflection in knowledge‐building facilitated students' noticing of community orientations, awareness of productive discourse moves and their idea development. These metacognitive processes helped students develop deeper epistemic understanding of discourse, productive inquiry and greater domain knowledge. Implications for practice and/or policy Epistemic understanding of the nature of discourse acts as a medium for promoting productive knowledge‐building inquiry and learning outcomes, and it is critical to help students develop meta‐level understanding by combining discourse content and epistemic components. It is important to create a VLA‐supported community that provides VLA‐related data‐supported collective reflection opportunities to help students engage in productive inquiry and knowledge building. Teachers can scaffold students to link online and face‐to‐face discourse and help them inquire into and reflect on discourse processes.

When does customization improve brand attitude?

PurposeCustomization allows brands to provide goods that match customers’ preferences, but its impact on consumer–brand relationships is unclear. This study aims to examine the impact of two key moderators on the effectiveness of customization to enhance brand’s perceived partner quality, which mediates the relationship between customization and brand attitude.Design/methodology/approachStudy 1 (n = 219) tests the moderated–mediation relationship, the effect of customization (IV) on perceived partner quality (mediator), and its indirect effect on brand attitude (DV), which is moderated by consumers’ self-construal orientation (Moderator 1). Study 2 (n = 416) extends the model tested in Study 1 by including an additional moderator, shopping task context (Moderator 2).FindingsResults empirically demonstrate the impact of self-construal and shopping task context on the effectiveness of customization in improved customer–brand partner quality and eventual brand attitude.Practical implicationsCustomization may not appeal to every customer for the same reason. Marketers must target customers’ individual traits (independents vs interdependents) and understand the context of the shopping task context (self-purchase vs gift-giving).Originality/valueThe work reveals how brands can enhance consumers’ perceptions of the brand by allowing them to customize the product. It is novel in demonstrating that customization is not just a fine-grained segmentation strategy but a brand building tool. It highlights contextual factors affecting the outcome of customization by demonstrating the conditions under which it is most effective.

Barriers and Enablers to the Adoption of Circular Economy Concept in the Building Sector: A Systematic Literature Review

The building sector is a major contributor to global resource consumption and waste generation. The circular economy (CE) concept offers a promising alternative to the traditional linear economy by promoting the reuse, remanufacture, repair, and recycling of materials and products. However, the adoption of CE in the building sector faces several barriers. This paper presents a systematic literature review utilising the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) approach, focusing on the barriers and enablers influencing the adoption of the CE concept in the building sector. Drawing from an analysis of numerous papers published between 2008 and 2023, we identified a high number of barriers and enablers that delay the integration of CE. The barriers were categorised into six categories: awareness, technical, economic and market, implementation, support/promotion, and social. The paper also discusses the interdependence of the identified barriers, using a co-occurrence matrix. The study findings indicate lack of CE regulations, fragment supply chain, and high upfront investment cost as major barriers to the implementation of CE in the building sector. Based on the study results, stringent governance and legislation, financial incentives, and the development of technology and innovation for circular building tools are critical factors for the successful implementation of CE principles. The results of this study provide a comprehensive overview of the feasibility to CE adoption in the building sector, which could also help to develop strategies to accelerate the transition to an integrated CE.

Serious games for sustainability transformations: Participatory research methods for sustainability ‐ toolkit #7

Spurring societal transformations towards sustainability requires the active engagement of different actor groups with their broad range of preferences, interests and values. Individuals and communities need to acquire knowledge, skills, and capacities enabling them to navigate transformative change. Serious games can act as such capacity building tools but also as a feedback loop for research and policy processes.

UCSF ChimeraX: Tools for structure building and analysis.

Advances in computational tools for atomic model building are leading to accurate models of large molecular assemblies seen in electron microscopy, often at challenging resolutions of 3-4 Å. We describe new methods in the UCSF ChimeraX molecular modeling package that take advantage of machine-learning structure predictions, provide likelihood-based fitting in maps, and compute per-residue scores to identify modeling errors. Additional model-building tools assist analysis of mutations, post-translational modifications, and interactions with ligands. We present the latest ChimeraX model-building capabilities, including several community-developed extensions. ChimeraX is available free of charge for noncommercial use at https://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax.

CSR Communication and Purchase Intentions: Analysing the Dynamic Consumer Psychology Process

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives undertaken by a business are significant not only in complying with the legal requirements of the State but also as a strategic tool for brand building. There is evidence in literature of customers being influenced by the CSR commitment of the organization manifested through various channels. This article investigates the role of CSR communication in a psychological dynamics framework using 3E model of brand admiration in generating enrichment benefits for consumers leading to brand respect followed by brand admiration and purchase intentions. Serial mediation effects of enrichment benefits and brand respect on the relation of CSR communication with brand admiration along with the mediating effect of brand admiration on purchase intentions have been examined with partial least square structural equation modelling using data collected from a customer survey of FMCG brands in India. Results indicate that CSR communication on social media has a significant positive effect on brand respect which fully mediates the relationship between CSR communication and brand admiration. Brand admiration mediates the relationship between brand respect and purchase intentions. Findings have important implications for businesses regarding the role of CSR communication as a strategic tool for brand building.

Assessment of Academic ESL Writing in an Online Tutorial for Graduate Students

English-as-a-second language (L2) graduate students often face challenges in developing academic writing skills, which can be exacerbated by a lack of timely support at institutional level. To help address this concern, an original set of online academic writing tutorials with a focus on the genre of Literature Review was designed by the authors to assist international graduate students enrolled in graduate programs in Canada. This paper introduces and compares multiple assessment tools employed in the online tutorial set for international English L2 graduate students. Our project pursues two major goals: First, to address the above-identified gap in Academic Writing support to English L2 graduate students with minimal costs and faculty involvement through designing the online tutorial set; second, to contribute to the research on e-learning of Academic English as a second language (ESL) writing in terms of developing integrated tools for online tutorial building, analysis of texts produced by learners, and assessment of learners’ writing progress. The research questions are: 1. What resources can be combined to develop an online tutorial set for graduate students at minimal costs? 2. How can the learners’ progress in academic ESL writing be assessed with different assessment tools? First, the paper describes the tools employed in the tutorial construction: MoodleCloud platform, H5P interactive e-book designed by the authors, surveys, and assessment tools. Second, we present and compare assessment tools employed to evaluate learners’ writing progress: Expert assessment with an analytic rubric, self-assessments of progress by the participants, and automated text analysis with corpus-based tools as reported in Li, Makarova, and Wang (2023). A comparison of the scores across the three assessment tools shows some discrepancies, which seems to suggest that combined tools yield a more comprehensive picture. The expert assessments and self-assessments demonstrate improvement in the writing quality over the course of the tutorial series, which are partially supported with the findings from corpus-based analysis of participants’ texts. The findings are of relevance to e-learning scholars, faculty, and administrators of English-medium universities with substantial intakes of international graduate students in Social Sciences and Education whose native languages are other than English.

Storytelling as a tool for forming and supporting organisational culture in medical institutions

The article discusses the role and importance of storytelling in the context of creating and maintaining organisational culture in the healthcare sector. Medical institutions are constantly solving complex tasks related to the provision of high-quality medical care and interaction with patients and staff. In this regard, storytelling is an important tool, aimed at strengthening cultural values and adjusting goals.
 The study examines the nature of organisational culture, its main components and culture, its main components and the peculiarities of its formation and maintenance in medical institutions. Organisational culture affects all aspects of business processes and is an important element of corporate identity, in particular in the healthcare sector. healthcare.
 The authors determine that storytelling as a communication tool has become an important part of business communication and management in recent decades part of business communication and management practice in recent decades. Storytelling can be used to form common values and create meaningful narratives that promote cultural change and support the organisational organisational identity of healthcare facilities.
 Stories in healthcare facilities reveal the specifics and uniqueness of the organisation, help to distinguish it from competitors from competitors and create a competitive advantage in the market. They form the organisation’s identity and the loyalty of employees and customers. Storytelling has an impact on on the organisational culture of a medical institution, promotes stability and highlights the unique character of the organisation character of the organisation; it allows to form values, beliefs and needs of of employees based on the institution’s mission. Storytelling is important for understanding medical discourse and the system of narratives in healthcare organisations. It supports or discredits official narratives or discredit them, depending on the perception of stakeholders. It is important that storytelling in healthcare facilities is accessible to all stakeholders and promote internal identification and loyalty to the institution.
 Thus, storytelling is an essential tool for building and maintaining organisational culture in healthcare facilities, helping to create a unique identity and competitive advantage.
 The article aims to stimulating discussion of the experience of using storytelling and further research of this important aspect of management in the healthcare sector. of healthcare enterprises.

Transformative Curriculum Design through Open Educational Resource Creation

At their best, open educational resources (OER) are known to foster equity, accessibility, and flexibility for users and include multiple perspectives from a collaborative community for creators and contributors (Hylén, 2006). Therefore, when planning our university’s first offering of a week-long course (re)design workshop (based on Saroyan & Amundsen, 2004), recognizing we had been primarily using materials from other post-secondary institutions, we opted to create resources specific to our university through a one-day facilitated writing sprint. Moving beyond offering information simply for course design, we decided to create an OER that encompasses three main areas of curriculum planning and design: composition, mapping, and alignment of learning outcomes; choice and alignment of instructional strategies and learning activities; and alignment of outcomes assessment at all levels. During the OER content development stage, the group also recognized the opportunity to position the OER, named CRICKET, as a community building tool, focusing on learning re-design. The site not only hosts curriculum planning and design information, it also features an OER authoring tool that invites participants to share their work with their peers. Through our OER creation process, we determined that OER have the potential to transform not only how information is disseminated and used, but also how it is created.

Ergonomic Multifunctional Building Tool Design to Increase Work Productivity of Msmes Employees

Ergonomic Multifunctional Building Tool Design to Increase Work Productivity of Msmes Employees

Delve deep: Seismic revolution in acquisition and model building for exploration

Sparse-node acquisition is the latest approach to improve the earth model through the inclusion of ultra-long offsets and low-frequency generating sources. The new designs of node data collections with simultaneous shooting can be deployed on a regional basis, covering thousands of square miles in a cost-effective manner. In complex geologic settings such as salt environments, salt interpretation has a direct impact on subsalt imaging. However, salt interpretation can be quite time intensive and challenging. Full-waveform inversion (FWI), as a data-driven optimization algorithm with full-wavefield modeling, has become an essential tool for earth model building. However, its use in salt tectonic contexts, especially with streamer data collection, is limited because the frequencies acquired are not sufficiently low and the offsets are not sufficiently long. The recent advancement of the objective function enables the application of an FWI workflow, coupled with sparse-node acquisition in the deepwater settings of the Gulf of Mexico, to refine the salt geometry, correct the background velocity error in subsalt, and uncover a basin's structural framework. The increased frequency content of the FWI-updated fields enables us to extract the FWI-derived reflectivity (FDR), which is an image created by the FWI nonlinear iterative process with the full wavefield. Additionally, the classic extraction of amplitude-versus-angle/amplitude-variation-with-offset parameters employs the elastic Zoeppritz formulation to obtain rock-physics volumes and explain the amplitude on the prestack image gathers, which are typically generated by Kirchhoff or reverse time migration (RTM) depth migration. The next step is to substitute these migrations with FWI and output not only the poststack FDR but use it in a prestack mode to aid amplitude analysis at an early stage of model building.

John Dewey’s Pragmatic Education: A Veritable Tool for Nation Building in Nigeria

This paper “John Dewey’s pragmatic education: A veritable tool for nation building in Nigeria” seeks to examine John Dewey’s Educational ideas – learners’ active role and experimental based learning approach to improve productivity and a sustainable nation building. The paper employs the philosophical methods of critical analysis. The findings of this study would be relevant to education policy makers by encouraging them to consider making policies that will favour inclusion of pragmatic approach in Nigerian education system. It is recommended among others that if a pragmatic approach is encouraged in Nigeria education system, there would be quality maximum and versatile productivity as effective tools for nation building

Measuring User-Moderator Alignment on r/ChangeMyView

Social media sites like Reddit, Discord, and Clubhouse utilize a community-reliant approach to content moderation. Under this model, volunteer moderators are tasked with setting and enforcing content rules within the platforms' sub-communities. However, few mechanisms exist to ensure that the rules set by moderators reflect the values of their community. Misalignments between users and moderators can be detrimental to community health. Yet little quantitative work has been done to evaluate the prevalence or nature of user-moderator misalignment. Through a survey of 798 users on r/ChangeMyView, we evaluate user-moderator alignment at the level of policy-awareness (does users know what the rules are?), practice-awareness (do users know how the rules are applied?) and policy-/practice-support (do users agree with the rules and how they are applied?). We find that policy-support is high, while practice-support is low -- using a hierarchical Bayesian model we estimate the correlation between community opinion and moderator decisions to range from .14 to .45 across subreddit rules. Surprisingly, these correlations were only slightly higher when users were asked to predict moderator actions, demonstrating low awareness of moderation practices. Our findings demonstrate the need for careful analysis of user-moderator alignment at multiple levels. We argue that future work should focus on building tools to empower communities to conduct these analyses themselves.

How to … Lessons Learned - a space sector study of best practice

Abstract: The European Space Agency is a learning organisation committed to gathering experience from its projects and activities as they progress. In setting out its internal processes and means for Lessons Learned in 2017, the Agency took reference of previous best practice of lessons learned available at that time, both from within and outside of the space sector. Now some 6 years later, the Agency is seeking to both continue to learn from others, particularly those in the space sector, and to provide its experience and expertise gained in this area to others in the space domain. The collection of experience and hence lessons include gathering experiences from other organisation through lessons learned, the exchange of experience between the Agency and other organisations and the collaboration and exchange of state-of-the-art approaches to lessons learned means and process. This is needed as the full adoption to experience sharing and learning is not simply a process change (the way we do things – climate), but also one of culture (our belief set, reinforcing why we do things). In this it is recognised that “the hard stuff is easy, and the soft stuff is hard” – meaning that building tools and documenting the process is the easy part, getting the adoption and use, and the belief that it is beneficial is the harder part. Indeed, investment in tools is generally short term, but the investment in people to create a shift in organisational culture takes much more time. This paper will take a fresh and broad look at lessons learned in the space sector, identify best practices, by gathering data from around a dozen significant space players: space agencies, major space industry and new space entities. It will then present the findings and propose the next steps, both for the European Space Agency, but also for others in the space sector to consider applying within their own organisations.