Cause Of Events Research Articles

Managerial Competencies: A Pattern for Top Managers' Competency of Medical Sciences Universities

Background and aims: Managers’ competencies can influence the organization’s development and effectively promote and improve management and implementation of planned changes. This study addresses developing the pattern of specific competence of senior managers of universities of medical sciences. Methods: This research was conducted in two qualitative and quantitative phases in 2021-2022. First, it was done using a qualitative approach using conventional content analysis. The research tool was a semi-structured interview. The data from the interviews with 17 participants through the purposeful sampling method depended on the criteria. In the second phase, the variables identified in the first phase were measured through the correlation method and structural equation model using AMOS software. The tool for collecting information in this phase was a researcher-made questionnaire based on the first phase of the research. The respondents, Lawshe’s content validity ratio coefficient, and factor analysis confirmed the questionnaire’s face, content, and construct validity. Its reliability was estimated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient at higher than 0.7. The study population of this department consists of managers in the departments of a medical sciences university (n=196). Results: The findings showed that 43 subscales were placed in 18 general categories in a paradigm model (causal factors, contextual conditions, intervening conditions, strategies, and consequences). The causal factor coefficient of the main category was 0.57, background factors on strategies were 0.59, intervening factors on strategies were 0.43, and the main category on strategies was 0.52. Finally, the factor coefficient of the strategies on the results was obtained at 0.46. Conclusion: The results of this research may contribute to knowledge about the unique competencies of top managers in the development and improvement of human resources to achieve the organization’s goals and success. These competencies can be considered in evaluating and selecting talented human resources.

Joint event causality extraction using dual-channel enhanced neural network

Event Causality Extraction (ECE) plays an essential role in many Natural Language Processing (NLP), such as event prediction and dialogue generation. Recent research in NLP treats ECE as a sequence labeling problem. However, these methods tend to extract the events and their relevant causality using a single collapsed model, which usually focuses on the textual contents while ignoring the intra-element transitions inside events and inter-event causality transition association across events. In general, ECE should condense the complex relationship of intra-event and the causality transition association among events. Therefore, we propose a novel dual-channel enhanced neural network to address this limitation by taking both global event mentions and causality transition association into account. To extract complete event mentions, a Textual Enhancement Channel(TEC) is constructed to learn important intra-event features from the training data with a wider perception field. Then the Knowledge Enhancement Channel(KEC) incorporates external causality transition knowledge using a Graph Convolutional Network (GCN) to provide complementary information on event causality. Finally, we design a dynamic fusion attention mechanism to measure the importance of the two channels. Thus, our proposed model can incorporate both semantic-level and knowledge-level representations of events to extract the relevant event causality. Experimental results on three public datasets show that our model outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.

Speakers’ subjective evaluation of adversity

AbstractAdversative passives like Mandarin Chinesebei-passives are known to convey adversity, but what “adversity” means specifically for speakers ofbei-in conversational discourse remains unknown. Whereas previous studies examine adversity within thebei-clause, this study uses the lens concept to investigate speakers’ subjective evaluations of the event attested by the larger context beyond thebei-clause. Using a subjectivity coding scheme and the discourse adjacent alternation method, I analyzed 4,203 values of event valence of 1,401bei-utterances and 65 alternations in spontaneous talk show conversations. Results show that: (1) The same event that a speaker evaluates as “adverse” usingbei- is sometimes evaluated as “non-adverse” using non-beistructures. (2) The samebei+verb phrase that previous studies may deem “adverse” can be evaluated as “adverse” or “positive” by actual speakers. (3) 84.5% (1,184/1,401) of the time,bei-passive in conversation expresses speakers’ evaluation that a causative event is adverse for the affectee, regardless of what reality is. (4) Adversity means undesirable, disadvantageous, morally or socially wrong, empathy-deserving, and/or sympathy-deserving for speakers ofbei-. The findings indicate that the adversity thatbei-conveys is not an objective description of reality but a subjective evaluation independent of reality–the Adversity lens. This study sheds light on subjectivity and specific manifestations of adversity in conversational discourse.

Mitigating subway construction collapse risk using Bayesian network modeling

This paper develops a Bayesian network-based approach for risk modeling of collapses and derivative accidents to systematically avoid subway construction collapse events and mitigating the loss from derivatives. Given it was not feasible for risk quantification based upon current safety standards, a risk-based method was proposed for numerical computation of severity values from the perspective of workers' safety. In order for dimensionality reduction, each node's importance in the network was estimated through the variation of Gini index in random forest algorithm. The Bayesian network of subway construction collapse risk (SCCR-BN) contained two sub-graphs. Sensitivity analyses were performed to determine critical causal factor events for each collapse or non-collapse event. Countermeasures can be tailored for better response to these causal factors for risk controlling. Three representative scenarios were selected for case studies with the objective of demonstrating the applicability of SCCR-BN for dynamic investigation and prediction of subway construction collapse risks.

Joint Event Relation Identification Based on Multiscale Convolutional Neural Network and Sharing Strategy

At present, most of the event relation identification work mainly focuses on the sequential temporal and explicit causal relation between events. These methods usually ignore the role of synchronous temporal and implicit causal relation in sentences, which makes the semantic understanding of the model deviate from the text. In this paper, we propose a joint event relation identification model. The model uses bidirectional GRU and multiscale convolutional neural network to obtain the context semantic features and multiscale local semantic features of text, respectively. Then, these two kinds of features are fused to fully obtain the semantics of the text itself. In addition, we build encoders and decoders of event temporal and causal relation, respectively, to obtain the event temporal and causal semantic features from text. In this process, considering the correlation between event timing and causality, we use three different parameter sharing strategies to realize the interaction between event temporal and causal semantic features. The experimental results on the legal field dataset we constructed show that our model has made significant improvements compared with the baseline model. Through experimental analysis, our method can effectively improve the identification performance of synchronous temporal and implicit causality relation.

Mitochondrial dysfunction is a key pathological driver of early stage Parkinson’s

BackgroundThe molecular drivers of early sporadic Parkinson’s disease (PD) remain unclear, and the presence of widespread end stage pathology in late disease masks the distinction between primary or causal disease-specific events and late secondary consequences in stressed or dying cells. However, early and mid-stage Parkinson’s brains (Braak stages 3 and 4) exhibit alpha-synuclein inclusions and neuronal loss along a regional gradient of severity, from unaffected-mild-moderate-severe. Here, we exploited this spatial pathological gradient to investigate the molecular drivers of sporadic PD.MethodsWe combined high precision tissue sampling with unbiased large-scale profiling of protein expression across 9 brain regions in Braak stage 3 and 4 PD brains, and controls, and verified these results using targeted proteomic and functional analyses.ResultsWe demonstrate that the spatio-temporal pathology gradient in early-mid PD brains is mirrored by a biochemical gradient of a changing proteome. Importantly, we identify two key events that occur early in the disease, prior to the occurrence of alpha-synuclein inclusions and neuronal loss: (i) a metabolic switch in the utilisation of energy substrates and energy production in the brain, and (ii) perturbation of the mitochondrial redox state. These changes may contribute to the regional vulnerability of developing alpha-synuclein pathology. Later in the disease, mitochondrial function is affected more severely, whilst mitochondrial metabolism, fatty acid oxidation, and mitochondrial respiration are affected across all brain regions.ConclusionsOur study provides an in-depth regional profile of the proteome at different stages of PD, and highlights that mitochondrial dysfunction is detectable prior to neuronal loss, and alpha-synuclein fibril deposition, suggesting that mitochondrial dysfunction is one of the key drivers of early disease.

Retrospective Review of Bilateral Decompressive Craniectomy of 51 Patients after Severe Traumatic Head Injury

Background: Decompressive craniectomy (DC) is one of the commonly used treatment modalities for refractory intracranial hypertension after severe traumatic brain injury. Objective: To assess the functional outcome following bilateral decompressive craniectomy (DC) in traumatic head injury based on Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS). Materials and methods: This is a retrospective study conducted at Enam Medical College & Hospital, from January 2019- December 2020. Data of the patients who had undergone bilateral DC for severe traumatic head injury were reviewed from medical record files. Data were collected pre-designed data collection sheet. Data were analyzed using computer based program statistical package for social science (SPSS) for windows version 25.0 software. Results: This study shows maximum (56.9%) were 16-30 years. The average age was 29.70±14.78 years. Majority were male (94.1%) and only 5.9% were female. Road traffic accidents (RTA) were the most frequent causative event of traumatic injury. Most of the patients (88.2%) were hospital stay 1-5 days then 9.8% were 6-10 days and only 2% were >10 days. The average hospital stays were 3.26±2.43 days. Majority (60.7%) were good recovery, 13.7% were moderate disability, 5.9% were severe disability, 2% were persistent vegetative state and 13.7% were death at home. Conclusion: This study recommends a larger prospective study to assess the longterm functional outcome of bilateral decompressive craniectomy after severe traumatic head injury. Bang. J Neurosurgery 2022; 11(2): 89-93

The Pattern of Causal Factors, Strategies and Consequences of Auditors' Stress Management with a Meta-Synthesis Approach

The Pattern of Causal Factors, Strategies and Consequences of Auditors' Stress Management with a Meta-Synthesis Approach

Nimotuzumab in the Treatment of Inoperable Esophageal Tumors of Epithelial Origin.

Background Nimotuzumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody that targets the epidermal growth factor receptor. It was approved in Cuba for the indication of inoperable malignant tumors of the esophagus of epithelial origin. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety, overall and progression-free survival, clinical response, and quality of life, in adult patients with inoperable esophageal tumors of epithelial origin treated with nimotuzumab in a practical context. Material and Methods. The number of patients who developed adverse events was determined, and the frequency, seriousness, causality, and severity of these adverse events were determined. It also determined the median of survival and progression-free survival and rates at 12 and 24 months and the quality of life. Results A total of 111 patients were included. The proportion of serious and related AE with the use of nimotuzumab was 1.3%. Most of the related AEs were mild and moderate, and the most frequent AEs were diarrhea, chills, and tremors. New diagnosed patients who received nimotuzumab concurrent with chemotherapy and radiotherapy reached a median OS of 12.2 months (95% CI, 6.9–17.5) and 12- and 24-month survival rates of 51.0% and 17.0%, respectively. Median PFS was 7.8 months (95% CI, 6.2–9.5), and 12- and 24-month PFS rates were 39.3% and 11.2%, respectively. A favorable evolution of the general state of health (p=0.03) was obtained from the beginning of treatment until month 12, with a significant reduction in the appearance of nausea (p=0.009), insomnia (p=0.04), constipation (p=0.04), eating difficulties (p=0.0006), and choking when swallowing (p=0.0001), but increased in dysphagia (p=0.02). Conclusions The administration of nimotuzumab was safe in the real-world setting. New diagnosed patients that received nimotuzumab concurrent with chemotherapy and radiotherapy reached a higher overall and progression-free survival and better quality of life than the rest of the patients. Trial registration is RPCEC00000215 (Cuban Registry of Clinical Trials; https://registroclinico.sld.cu/en/home). It is registered prospectively on June 30, 2016.

Stressful life events among women living homeless in Nicaragua,a low-income country.

Nicaragua is one of the lowest income countries in Latin America, where there is a shortage of data on women living homeless. This paper analyses the types, timing and perceived causality of stressful life events (SLE) suffered both during childhood and adolescence and throughout life by women living homeless (n = 30). A structured interview was used to collect the data. Findings showed that women living homeless in Nicaragua suffered a very high number of SLEs, and that these were extremely severe and from very early ages. Most of the SLEs took place before the women became homeless. The SLEs suffered by the women interviewed in Nicaragua were largely similar to those seen in women living homeless in other cultural contexts with higher incomes, although it should be noted that those interviewed in Nicaragua had suffered a higher number of SLE during their childhood and adolescence. The women interviewed mainly attributed finding themselves homeless to having suffered SLEs in the family environment. The suffering of multiple and severe SLEs, largely leading to living in socioeconomically disadvantaged situations, seem to present a significant vulnerability factor both for becoming homeless and remaining homeless over time.

Necrotizing Fasciitis of the Upper Extremity - A Review.

Necrotizing fasciitis is a soft tissue infection that habitually originates from the fascial sheaths, expands at a volant pace, leads to extensive necrosis of the subcutaneous tissues, and eventually ends up in a life-threatening condition with notably elevated amputation and mortality rates. Factors that induce interruption of skin integrity, such as trauma or intravenous drug use, are the most common inciting events. Specific clinical signs heralding its presence are usually absent in the early stages, often resulting in misdiagnosis. Early recognition, prompt and aggressive surgical debridement, antibiotic use, and supportive care constitute the fundamental principles to lean on for a better prognosis. Necrotizing fasciitis of the upper extremity is relatively rare and consequently holds a limited place in the literature. Only a few studies assess it as a separate entity, with most of them being case reports or small case series. We, therefore, performed a review of the current literature, to assemble the dispersed results of different studies and clarify the various aspects of upper limb necrotizing fasciitis. In this systematic review, we present the epidemiological data, the causative events, the most frequent underlying diseases, the risk factors, the amputation and mortality rates, the pathogenic microorganisms, the clinical characteristics, the diagnostic tools, the medical and surgical management concerning necrotizing fasciitis of the upper limb. Finally, the results indicating its differentiation compared to necrotizing fasciitis of other anatomic sites are remarkably highlighted.

NRF2 is a critical regulator and therapeutic target of metal implant particle-incurred bone damage

Aseptic metal implant loosening due to wear particle-induced bone damage is a major complication of total joint arthroplasty often leading to revision surgery, of which the key regulators mediating the processes are not clearly defined. Here we reported that in a mouse model of calvarial osteolysis, titanium particles (TiPs) and cobalt–chromium–molybdenum particles induced severe osteolysis accompanied by marked suppression of a master redox transcriptional factor NRF2 (Nuclear factor erythroid derived 2-related factor 2). Nfe2l2 knockout mice treated with TiPs developed worse osteolytic alterations compared with wild-type mice. On the contrary, NRF2 restoration by an NRF2 agonist TBHQ (tert-butylhydroquinone) effectively alleviated the osteolysis and the abnormal expression of NRF2 downstream antioxidant enzymes, inflammatory cytokines and osteogenic factors. Further, TiPs induced adverse osteoblastogenesis and osteoclastogenesis in cultured bone cells, which were substantially blocked by TBHQ in an NRF2 inhibition-sensitive manner. Consistently, the osteoprotective effects of TBHQ observed in wild-type mice were largely limited in Nfe2l2 knockout mice. Collectively, our data suggest that NRF2 suppression is a critical causal event of metal wear particle-incurred osteolysis, and the strategies reinstating NRF2 are effective to lessen the bone damage and potentially reduce the incidence of metal implant loosening.

Sphingosine 1-phosphate attenuates neuronal dysfunction induced by amyloid-β oligomers through endocytic internalization of NMDA receptors.

Soluble oligomers arising from the aggregation of the amyloid beta peptide (Aβ) have been identified as the main pathogenic agents in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Prefibrillar oligomers of the 42-residue form of Aβ (Aβ42 O) show membrane-binding capacity and trigger the disruption of Ca2+ homeostasis, a causative event in neuron degeneration. Since bioactive lipids have been recently proposed as potent protective agents against Aβ toxicity, we investigated the involvement of sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) signalling pathway in Ca2+ homeostasis in living neurons exposed to Aβ42 O. We show that both exogenous and endogenous S1P rescued neuronal Ca2+ dyshomeostasis induced by toxic Aβ42 O in primary rat cortical neurons and human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. Further analysis revealed a strong neuroprotective effect of S1P1 and S1P4 receptors, and to a lower extent of S1P3 and S1P5 receptors, which activate the Gi -dependent signalling pathways, thus resulting in the endocytic internalization of the extrasynaptic GluN2B-containing N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs). Notably, the S1P beneficial effect can be sustained over time by sphingosine kinase-1 overexpression, thus counteracting the down-regulation of the S1P signalling induced by Aβ42 O. Our findings disclose underlying mechanisms of S1P neuronal protection against harmful Aβ42 O, suggesting that S1P and its signalling axis can be considered promising targets for therapeutic approaches for AD.

What do experts say about the conditions affecting customer knowledge management in academic libraries? An integrated perspective

PurposeThe purpose of the present study was to design an axial coding pattern for customer knowledge management (CKM) to identify the conditions affecting it from the perspective of experts in public university libraries.Design/methodology/approachThe current study used a qualitative approach. To collect and analyze data, the grounded theory method with a three-stage strategy of open, axial and selective coding was employed. The research instrument was a semi-structured in-depth interview and the data were categorized using MAXQDA 10 software. The sample of the study consisted of 26 experts from Iranian public universities who were selected through a combined targeted non-random sampling procedure (targeted and snowball). The necessary data were obtained through specialized interviews with 9 faculty members and 17 managers of public university libraries.FindingsIn the present study, 106 open coding, 35 axial concepts, and 16 selective general categories were identified as the conditions affecting CKM development in academic libraries in the form of causal conditions, intervening conditions, strategies conditions, context conditions, and consequences conditions around the core layer of CKM development. The identification of these conditions led to the development of a paradigmatic pattern for the research.Originality/valueThere is no record of research on developing empirical studies in libraries using an analysis of the conditions affecting CKM development in the form of an axial coding pattern. The present research contributed to closing this research gap. The axial coding pattern proposed in this study can serve as a guide for implementing CKM in academic libraries as well as increasing customer loyalty.

Identifying the Effective Factors for Auditing the Performance of Executive Managers of Public Hospitals: A Qualitative Study

Background: According to the characteristics of public hospitals, a review of the flexibility of the components of their management accounting system is necessary
 Objectives: The present study aimed to identify the factors affecting the audit of the performance of executive managers of public hospitals.
 Methods: The present study is an applied qualitative study based on grounded theory. In this regard, semi-structured interviews were conducted using the expert sampling technique and interviewing 18 specialists and experts familiar with the financial affairs of public hospitals. The sample size for interviewing experts was finalized within the theoretical saturation framework. The data analysis was performed in 3 stages of grounded theory, including open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. Then, the effective factors were classified into 6 main categories: causal conditions, axial phenomena, contextual factors, intervening conditions, strategies, and consequences in the form of a paradigm model.
 Results: “The field of auditing, the field of organizational management, and the field of the structure” were 3 categories related to causal conditions. “Budgeting and financial reporting” were identified as 2 main phenomena factors affecting the audit performance of executive managers of public hospitals; also, “establishment conditions, techniques, and requirements for auditing” were recognized as contextual conditions. “Environmental factors, applicable laws, and regulations” were identified as mediating/intervening conditions. Strategic conditions included “structural factors and behavioral factors at the level of medical universities”; also, the categories of “public sector productivity, economic efficiency, effectiveness, efficiency, and achievement of organizations” were recognized as outcomes related to auditing the performance of executive managers of public hospitals.
 Conclusions: Recognizing the factors affecting the performance audit of public hospital managers is extremely significant and should be designed based on its affecting components, a standard and integrated auditing system for auditing the performance of public hospital managers.

Event Construal in Text and Image. Gaze Behavior and Discourse Interpretations

The study explores the combinatorial prevalence effect in Event construal techniques in text and image components of heterosemiotic book pages. We hypothesize that their activity and contingency affect their interpretation, here tested in the oculographic experiment and discourse responses check. To proceed, we develop the parametric system applied for 100 book pages annotation and further statistical analysis. This study reveals the relevance of Truth, Type, Relation, Manageability, Completeness, Instantness, Achievement, Evaluation, Space location, Time location, Repeatability, Cause and effect parameter groups in Event construal in text and image as well as their resonance in concomitant activity. To select the samples serving as stimuli in the oculographic experiment, we apply Principal component analysis, which assigns Uniqueness indices to the samples, here ranging from 0.111 to 0.675, and provides diversity of Event construal techniques to be tested in terms of their interpretation. The results evidence that participants applied different text and image attention distribution patterns with longer fixations on text component in case the image displayed physical contact, static and desirable events. When the creation or destruction events, events-achievement, events located in time or causal events were not present in the text, the participants were more likely to address the image, not the text. Parameter activity also affects the choice of Descriptive, Narrative and Speculative discourse responses, with a restricted number of parameters stimulating Narrative discourse, with a restricted in text and vast in image number of parameters stimulating Speculative discourse, which evidences in favor of their more predetermined and predicted character. Hopefully, the results may be used to predict the interpretation effects and to further cognitive linguistic and semiotic research coordination.

Multisensory perception of natural versus unnatural motion.

Previous research has shown that visual perception is influenced by Newtonian constraints. Kominsky et al. showed humans detect unnatural motion, where objects break Newtonian constraints by moving at a faster speed after colliding with another object, faster than collisions that do not violate Newtonian constraints. These findings show that the perceptual system distinguishes between realistic and unrealistic causal events. However, real-world collisions are rarely silent. The present study extends this research by including sound at the collision point between two objects to evaluate how multisensory integration influences the perception of natural versus unnatural colliding events. Participants viewed an array of three simultaneous videos, each depicting two objects moving in a horizontal back and forth motion. Two of the videos showed the objects moving at the same speed while the third video was an oddball that either moved faster before the collision and slower after (natural target), or slower before the collision and faster after (unnatural target). A brief click was presented at the collision point of one or none of the videos. Participants were asked to indicate the oddball video via keypress. Replicating Kominsky et al., participants were faster when identifying unnatural target motion events compared with natural target motion events, both with and without sound. The findings also demonstrated lower accuracy rates for unnatural events compared with natural events, especially when a sound was added. These findings suggest that the addition of a sound could be distracting to participants, possibly due to limitations in attentional resources.

Basic approach to melanonychia: a review

<p class="abstract"><span lang="EN-US">Melanonychia is a brownish-black staining of the nail plate. It can affect a single or several nails on both the fingers and toes. Melanocytic activation and melanocytic hyperplasia are the two basic mechanisms involved in the development of melanonychia. Melanocytic activation occurs as enhanced melanic pigmentation of the nail matrix epithelium and nail plate without a corresponding rise in the number of melanocytes, resulting in melanonychia. The number of matrix melanocytes increases in melanocytic hyperplasia. Involvement of a pathogen has also been suggested as a mechanism for its development. A thorough clinical history should be taken, including questions regarding various triggers and causal events, as well as the use of a questionnaire. </span><span lang="EN-US">A proper detailed physical examination is of a great need to properly identify the type of melanonychia and to rule out melanoma which is of great importance in clinical practice. Onychoscopy and nail biopsy also acts as an aid in proper diagnosis of melanonychia. Treatment of melanonychia basically depends on the underlying etiology. One major aim is to rule out melanoma if present and its proper management in time</span>.</p>

The Paradox of Time in Dynamic Causal Systems.

Recent work has shown that people use temporal information including order, delay, and variability to infer causality between events. In this study, we build on this work by investigating the role of time in dynamic systems, where causes take continuous values and also continually influence their effects. Recent studies of learning in these systems explored short interactions in a setting with rapidly evolving dynamics and modeled people as relying on simpler, resource-limited strategies to grapple with the stream of information. A natural question that arises from such an account is whether interacting with systems that unfold more slowly might reduce the systematic errors that result from these strategies. Paradoxically, we find that slowing the task indeed reduced the frequency of one type of error, albeit at the cost of increasing the overall error rate. To explain these results we posit that human learners analyze continuous dynamics into discrete events and use the observed relationships between events to draw conclusions about causal structure. We formalize this intuition in terms of a novel Causal Event ion model and show that this model indeed captures the observed pattern of errors. We comment on the implications these results have for causal cognition.

The Role of Language in Expressing Agentivity in Caused Motion Events: A Cross-Linguistic Investigation.

While understanding and expressing causal relations are universal aspects of human cognition, language users may differ in their capacity to perceive, interpret, and express events. One source of variation in descriptions of caused motion events is agentivity, which refers to the attribution of a result to the agent's action. Depending on the perspective taken, the same event may be described with agentive or non-agentive interpretations. Does language play a role in how people construe and express caused motion events? The present study investigated the use of agentive vs. non-agentive language by speakers of different languages (i.e., monolingual speakers of English and Korean, and Korean learners of English). All three groups described prototypical causal events similarly, using agentive language (active transitive sentences). However, when it came to non-prototypical causal events (where the agent was not shown in the scene), they diverged in their choice of language: English speakers favored agentive language (passive transitive sentences), whereas Korean speakers preferred non-agentive language (intransitive sentences). Korean learners of English patterned with Korean speakers, demonstrating L1 influence on their use of English. These findings highlight the effects of language on motion event construal.