Case Study Research Articles

Examining the relationship between land-use cover change and sociodemographic characteristics: A case study of Madison County, Tennessee

Examining the relationship between land-use cover change and sociodemographic characteristics: A case study of Madison County, Tennessee

The EU as a Political Determinant of Global Health: The Case of Research and Development Incentives for Orphan Medicines and Biotechnology.

The European Union (EU) governs global health through its constituent laws, institutions, actors, and policies. However, it is unclear whether or how these political factors interact to position the EU as a political determinant of global health. The authors conduct a case study of the political factors influencing the adoption of the EU's Biotechnology Directive 98/44/EC and Orphan Medicines Regulation 141/2000. The European Commission (EC) generally framed both of its proposals around economical and biomedical paradigms aligned with the needs of the EU's industry and patients, whereas the European Parliament (EP) contested some of these frames and proposed amendments supporting global access to medical products. The political factors influencing the adoption (in the Biotechnology Directive) or rejection (in the Orphan Regulation) of the EP's amendments include the complementarity between the EP and EC proposals, the EP's power in the intra- and interinstitutional negotiating process, the existence and support of civil society, and the alignment with member state priorities in the Council. In the late 1990s, the EU was an internally fragmented and politicized player concerning global health matters. These political factors should be considered for a coherent post-2022 EU strategy on global health.

An enhanced CRADIS decision model for optimizing radioactive waste reduction through transmutations based on Disc Spherical Fuzzy information

Radioactive waste reduction through transmutation techniques is significant for mitigating environmental risks and ensuring long-term safety. It offers a sustainable approach to minimizing the volume of radioactive waste, contributing to both environmental preservation and enhanced nuclear energy sustainability. This paper introduces an extension of aggregation operations to hybrid operators in Disc Spherical Fuzzy Sets (D-SFSs), including D-SFS algebraic hybrid weighted averaging and D-SFS hybrid geometric aggregation operators. These novel operators are tailored for D-SFSs and are supported by rigorous proofs, enhancing their theoretical robustness. Additionally, a Maximum Deviation Method (MDM) is developed in conjunction with a proposed distance measure to assess attribute weights in Multiple Attribute Decision-Making (MADM) problems with Disc Spherical Fuzzy (D-SF) information. The study proposes a new MADM method in the D-SF environment, leveraging the D-SF distance measure and the Compromise Ranking of Alternatives from Distance to Ideal Solution (CRADIS) method. Notably, the paper focuses on extending D-SFs to the CRADIS method, particularly when weight information is entirely unknown. A comprehensive case study on optimizing radioactive waste volume reduction through transmutation technologies is provided. A comparative analysis with existing decision-making methods validates the improved MADM method’s validity and practicality.

Impact Assessment of Urban Development Patterns on Land Surface Temperature and Urban Heat Islands Using Remote Sensing Techniques – A Case Study of Prishtina, Kosovo

Impact Assessment of Urban Development Patterns on Land Surface Temperature and Urban Heat Islands Using Remote Sensing Techniques – A Case Study of Prishtina, Kosovo

Measuring the effect of Classroom Condition on Student performance Egypt Case Study

Measuring the effect of Classroom Condition on Student performance Egypt Case Study

Sustaining Soil Health in High Tunnels: A Paradigm Shift toward Soil-centered Management

This review was conducted to synthesize current knowledge, learn producer and Extension specialist perspectives, and identify gaps in understanding of the role of soil health in sustaining production in high tunnel (HT) systems. This synthesis includes findings from scholarly resources related to soil health in HTs, including research and Extension-based literature, perspectives from experienced HT producers and technical assistance providers, and the direct observations of a broad network of university research and Extension personnel working with HTs. Findings are intended to identify knowledge gaps and additional research and Extension resource needs of greatest priority to the HT producer community and technical assistance providers that support them at the time of publication. A review of 68 research articles and 58 Extension resources was conducted. Focus group interviews were conducted with small groups of experienced HT farmers in four regions of the eastern half of the United States, with in-depth farm case studies conducted in individual farmers in three of these regions. Growers across regions identified soil fertility management, soilborne diseases, soil compaction, and lack of consistency of soil analyses specific to HTs as the greatest soil-related challenges to HT production. Research and resources for technical assistance providers on mitigation strategies to remediate yield-limiting HT soil conditions, such as excessive soil salinity and high pathogen populations, were also lacking. As such, process-based research on techniques such as leaching, soil steaming, solarization, and anaerobic soil disinfestation in tunnels that consider short- and long-term costs, benefits, and effects on soil and plant productivity should be prioritized in the future when considering the impact of HT production on soil health. Interviews also indicated a need for networking opportunities for technical assistance providers across agencies (e.g., Natural Resources Conservation Service, Extension, nongovernmental organizations). Despite a high and increasing rate of adoption, there is currently a lack of information about maintaining HT systems. Given that HTs play a critical and growing economic role for specialty crop growers throughout the eastern United States, comprehensive intervention across the research–Extension spectrum to sustain productivity in HT systems is recommended.

Evolution of Land Use/Land Cover in Mediterranean Forest Areas – A Case Study of the Maamora in the North-West Morocco

Evolution of Land Use/Land Cover in Mediterranean Forest Areas – A Case Study of the Maamora in the North-West Morocco

The Benefits and Challenges with an At-home Food Forest: A Case Study of Lessons Learned from Northeast Florida

The Benefits and Challenges with an At-home Food Forest: A Case Study of Lessons Learned from Northeast Florida

Prisoner Health and Well-Being in Historical Perspective, 1850–1900: Exploring Experiences of Illness and Disability in the Victorian Convict System

Using historical and archival methodological approaches, this article provides an interdisciplinary empirical study of health experiences of prisoners in the Victorian convict prison in England and Wales. It explores the challenges of doing historical criminological work on prisoner health and disability. The article examines the health of long-term prisoners, those serving sentences of penal servitude and their interactions and treatment by the Prison Medical Officers in the system. Reflecting society outside, the prison population was drawn from populations that had experienced childhood illness, workplace accidents and war and therefore had to accommodate those suffering from both short- and long-term health issues. Using historical documentation and case studies of individual prisoners, this article highlights not only the deep scepticism the system had for those they saw as ‘malingerers’, but also the recognition that some people could not endure the full force of the prison labour regime.

Aircraft Structural Assessments in Data-Limited Environments: A Validated FE Method

Aircraft operators often modify aircraft configurations, install new equipment, and alter airframes to accommodate this equipment, leading to operations in flight envelopes different from original design profile. These modifications necessitate airframe structural assessments, which typically require comprehensive aircraft design data, often unavailable to operators. This study aims to develop and validate a practical method for finite element analysis (FEA) of aircraft structures in the absence of this detailed design data. Focusing on a case study involving structural analysis of an aircraft wing, this study presents assumptions and idealizations used to develop 2.5D finite element (FE) model of the wing. Fidelity of this model is established by comparing FE analysis results with experimental data. Key validation metrics include reaction forces, load distribution at wing-fuselage attachments, and deformation at reference points on the wing under design load. Comparison between FE analysis and experimental results is carried out to substantiates accuracy of these geometric simplifications and idealizations of load-carrying behaviour of structural members. Therefore, practicality of these idealizations in absence of design data is demonstrated. This study offers a novel approach for structural assessments of aircraft without relying on proprietary design data. The validated method enhances capability of aircraft operators to perform effective structural analyses, thereby extending service life of aircraft with continued airworthiness.

Privacy Policies on the Fediverse: A Case Study of Mastodon Instances

Free and open source social platform software has dramatically lowered the barrier to entry for anyone to set up and administer their own social network. This new population of social network administrators thus assume data management responsibilities for sociotechnical systems. Administrators have the power to customize this software, including data collection and data retention, potentially leading to radically different privacy policies. To better understand the characteristics — e.g., the variability, prohibitions, and permissions — of privacy policies on these new social networking platforms, we have conducted a case study of Mastodon. We performed a text analysis of 351 privacy policies and a survey of 104 Mastodon administrators. While most administrators used the default policy that ships with the Mastodon software, we observed that approximately ten percent of our sample tailored their privacy policies to their instances and that some administrators conflated codes of conduct with privacy policies. Our findings suggest the existing market-based individualistic frameworks for thinking about privacy policies do not adequately address this emerging community.

Optimizing EHR Data

Electronic health records (EHRs) contribute to quality-of-care delivery directly. With a comprehensive and effective use of EHR data, healthcare providers can create precise, personalized treatment plans and seamlessly communicate across departments. By optimizing the data in a health system, clinical engineers can improve these processes and, subsequently, patient flow. This article combines case studies and existing research to explore the challenges and opportunities in current EHR data systems, how evolving artificial intelligence tools can be used to improve data utilization, and the importance of interoperability.

Transmission of respiratory diseases in high-metabolic environments: a case study of gym

Transmission of respiratory diseases in high-metabolic environments: a case study of gym

Gaining local legitimacy in stabilisation operations: the Spanish peacekeepers case in Lebanon-UNIFIL II

ABSTRACT This article analyses the role of peacekeeping in enhancing a host nation's local legitimacy within its population, focusing on the mission actions from a bottom-up perspective. This research, which used a micro-approach with the Spanish contingent case study in UNIFIL II, involved two field studies carried out between 2010 and 2016 in Lebanon with interviews and focus groups with Spanish military personnel of this UN mission and local Lebanese actors. The results show how the implementation of both material actions – the provision of public goods and security – and non-material actions – respect and an in-depth knowledge about the local context –, performed by Spanish peacekeepers towards local actors, helped to improve the local legitimacy and reconciled the goals of the mission with the interests of Lebanese society and state.

Meta-Analysis of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies With Multiple Thresholds: Comparison of Approaches in a Simulation Study.

The development of methods for the meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy (DTA) studies is still an active area of research. While methods for the standard case where each study reports a single pair of sensitivity and specificity are nearly routinely applied nowadays, methods to meta-analyze receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves are not widely used. This situation is more complex, as each primary DTA study may report on several pairs of sensitivity and specificity, each corresponding to a different threshold. In a case study published earlier, we applied a number of methods for meta-analyzing DTA studies with multiple thresholds to a real-world data example (Zapf etal., Biometrical Journal. 2021; 63(4): 699-711). To date, no simulation study exists that systematically compares different approaches with respect to their performance in various scenarios when the truth is known. In this article, we aim to fill this gap and present the results of a simulation study that compares three frequentist approaches for the meta-analysis of ROC curves. We performed a systematic simulation study, motivated by an example from medical research. In the simulations, all three approaches worked partially well. The approach by Hoyer and colleagues was slightly superior in most scenarios and is recommended in practice.

„Na o–bi–ad!”: słuchanie warszawskiej trąbizupki, czyli kuchni ruchomej (1901–1904), jako sygnału oraz praktyki akustemologicznej ludowej społeczności Warszawy

Trąbizupka – Warsaw’s mobile field kitchen – was a charitable initiative of the early years of the 20th century; a cart going around Warsaw sold nutritious and cheap soup, and its arrival was accompanied by the sound of a trumpet. This peculiar sound phenomenon existed in the city’s phonosphere for a short time – the residents had to learn to interpret it, but after a few years, trąbizupka’s activity was suspended. The functioning of trąbizupka (manifested through its sonicity – literally, in the sound of the trumpet, and figuratively, in the name itself) was coupled with a class discourse on charity – from admiration for the initiative to the feeling of shame of Warsaw’s folk classes, as reported “first-hand” by the positivist “Przegląd Tygodniowy” [Weekly Review], linked to eating a pauper’s meal “on the street.” At the same time, trąbizupka became an element of urban folklore, preserved in popular polkas for piano and as a sound characteristic of Warsaw. Trąbizupka, as a case study analyzed from the position of historical sound studies, allows us to ask questions about the sound signal as a vehicle of communication and about the acoustemology of the city’s residents, especially of the lower social classes, at the turn of the 20th century. Key-words: acoustemology, audiosphere, sound history, sound studies, Warsaw

Predictive Cultivation: Integrating Meteorological Data and Machine Learning for Enhanced Crop Yield Forecast

Agriculture is a key component of Telangana’s economy, and greater performance in this sector is crucial for inclusive growth. A central challenge is yielding estimation to predict crop yields before harvesting. This paper addresses this challenge with machine learning approaches includes Naive Bayes, KNN and Random Forest. The parameters considered for model testing are crop, season, rainfall and location. This paper includes a case study of Telangana with the help of Telangana weather data set to provide analysis on the key factors like overall rainfall recorded with respect to each Mandal, overall seasonal yield in selected years, seasonal yield of major crops like Bengal gram, groundnut and maize, and overall yield in two different agricultural seasons: rabi and kharif. Random forest machine learning model produces highest accuracy of 99.32% when compared with other process models.

Utilizing the '5 in 1 Magic Touch' CCRTV method for early detection of severe dengue warning signs in pediatric patients: A case study from a Type C Hospital in Indonesia

Background: Dengue fever, prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions, is recognized by WHO as a significant global health threat. Early detection of severe dengue symptoms, especially in resource-limited settings, is critical for patient outcomes. The "5 in 1 Magic Touch - CCRTV" method, which evaluates Color, Capillary Refill Time, Temperature, Pulse Rate, and Pulse Volume, provides a simple yet effective approach to monitor hemodynamics and identify early warning signs of severe dengue. Case Description: In a case study, a 3-year-old boy was admitted with fever, shortness of breath, weakness, nausea, vomiting, and epigastric pain. On the third day, he entered a critical phase with symptoms of pale extremities, delayed capillary refill time, high fever, and a weak, rapid pulse. Thorax examination revealed severe plasma leakage, pulmonary edema, and right pleural effusion, indicating a pre-shock state. The patient required close clinical monitoring, regular fluid balance management, and frequent blood tests to guide treatment. Conclusion:The CCRTV assessment method allowed for the early identification of the pre-shock condition, facilitating timely and appropriate intervention. This case highlights the potential of the CCRTV method for improving prognosis in severe dengue cases. The effectiveness of this method warrants further research, particularly in its ability to predict outcomes and improve recovery rates in children with severe dengue.

Strategies for Mitigating and Managing Risks in Bank Investments

This paper suggests that while studies of banking risk management often emphasize analytics and stress testing to improve risk governance, there is too little emphasis on historical case studies to generate comprehensive risk management strategies. Using numerous case studies, the paper suggests four categories of risk - market risks, credit risks, regulatory risks, and operational risks - that impact overall investment outcomes. By extensively reviewing both historic failures and historic successes, the paper highlights the importance of understanding different types of risks and adopting strategic measures to manage them effectively. Emphasis is placed on the necessity of a diversified investment portfolio to mitigate market volatility and credit exposure. Additionally, the paper provides actionable strategies for navigating regulatory complexities and operational challenges, supported by real-world case studies and practical examples. This research aims to equip investors with valuable insights and tools to optimize investment opportunities while minimizing potential risks in the banking sector.

Efficacy of Strain Counterstrain Techniques in the Management of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: A Detailed Case Study of a 42-Year-Old Female Patient

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is a challenging condition associated with severe pain and functional impairment. This case study provides an in-depth examination of the treatment of a 42-year-old female diagnosed with CRPS following a traumatic injury to her left hand. The treatment protocol employed strain counterstrain techniques, followed by progressive resistive exercises (PRE) aimed at restoring functional capacity in the hand. Over a three-month period, the patient received weekly physical therapy sessions, with the treatment plan adjusted at the six-week mark to include PRE. Assessments were conducted at baseline, 3 weeks, 6 weeks, and 12 weeks, focusing on pain levels, grip strength, and range of motion. The results indicated a significant reduction in pain from 8/10 to 2/10 on the Numerical Rating Pain Scale (NPRS) and an improvement in grip strength from 5 kg to 28 kg. The patient’s active range of motion also improved, and there was a noticeable reduction in muscle atrophy and swelling. These findings suggest that strain counterstrain, in combination with PRE, can be an effective intervention for CRPS. This case study contributes to the limited body of research on physical therapy interventions for CRPS and highlights the need for further studies to explore the broader applicability of these techniques.