Coding Protocol Research Articles

CompLaw: A Coding Protocol and Database for the Comparative Study of Judicial Review

Abstract A growing theoretical literature identifies how the process of constitutional review shapes judicial decision-making, legislative behavior, and even the constitutionality of legislation and executive actions. However, the empirical interrogation of these theoretical arguments is limited by the absence of a common protocol for coding constitutional review decisions across courts and time. We introduce such a coding protocol and database (CompLaw) of rulings by 42 constitutional courts. To illustrate the value of CompLaw, we examine a heretofore untested empirical implication about how review timing relates to rulings of unconstitutionality (Ward and Gabel 2019). First, we conduct a nuanced analysis of rulings by the French Constitutional Council over a 13-year period. We then examine the relationship between review timing and strike rates with a set of national constitutional courts in one year. Our data analysis highlights the benefits and flexibility of the CompLaw coding protocol for scholars of judicial review.

Exploring Australian News Media Portrayals of Sustainable and Plant-Based Diets.

(1) Background: Dietary behaviour transformation is imperative for the attainment of more sustainable food systems, including an increased intake of plant-based foods and lower consumption of red meat and highly processed foods. The influence of news media coverage on public opinion regarding dietary behaviours is significant. Therefore, this study aimed to explore how sustainable/plant-based diets have been portrayed in Australian news media. (2) Methods: The Factiva global news database was used to search news articles published in Australia between 2018 and 2020. Relevant news articles were selected if they included keywords relating to sustainable diets, plant-based diets, and meat alternatives. We used a coding protocol to extract key information, such as date of publication, article topic, and any health, environmental and economic impacts. Then, we performed a framing and thematic analysis of the data. (3) Results: From 357 included articles, more than half of the articles encouraged increasing the intake of plant-based foods (53.5%) and reducing animal-derived food intake (55.2%). Several reasons for such shift from animal protein centric Australian diets were identified throughout the articles such as health benefits (15.4%), environmental impacts (11.2%), animal welfare (4.8%), seasonality and local food intake (5.3%), avoiding overconsumption (4.5%) and food wastage (4.5%). (4) Conclusions: The predominant frame in Australian news coverage about sustainable diets has been about consumption, more plant- and less animal-based products, with little nuance about the complex interplay of diet quality and environment in influencing food choices. Australian news media should broaden its coverage of sustainable diets to include health, environmental, and economic factors to improve public understanding and facilitate informed and sustainable food choices. Further research is needed to enhance comprehension of how the audience perceives media coverage on this topic, which will provide a more thorough understanding.

Retraction Note: Design of extended dense coding protocol strategy based on combinatorial optimization

Retraction Note: Design of extended dense coding protocol strategy based on combinatorial optimization

Lessons in Developing a Behavioral Coding Protocol to Analyze In-the-Wild Child–Robot Interaction Events and Experiments

Behavioral analyses of in-the-wild HRI studies generally rely on interviews or visual information from videos. This can be very limiting in settings where video recordings are not allowed or limited. We designed and tested a vocalization-based protocol to analyze in-the-wild child–robot interactions based upon a behavioral coding scheme utilized in wildlife biology, specifically in studies of wild dolphin populations. The audio of a video or audio recording is converted into a transcript, which is then analyzed using a behavioral coding protocol consisting of 5–6 categories (one indicating non-robot-related behavior, and 4–5 categories of robot-related behavior). Refining the code categories and training coders resulted in increased agreement between coders, but only to a level of moderate reliability, leading to our recommendation that it be used with three coders to assess where there is majority consensus, and thereby correct for subjectivity. We discuss lessons learned in the design and implementation of this protocol and the potential for future child–robot experiments analyzed through vocalization behavior. We also perform a few observational behavior analyses from vocalizations alone to demonstrate the potential of this field.

An enhanced sparse autoencoder for machinery interpretable fault diagnosis

The interpretability of individual components within existing autoencoders remains insufficiently explored. This paper aims to address this gap by delving into the interpretability of the encoding and decoding structures and their correlation with the physical significance of vibrational signals. To achieve this, the Sparse Coding with Multi-layer Decoders (SC-MD) model is proposed, which facilitates fault diagnosis from two perspectives: the working principles of the model itself and the evolving trends of fault features. Specifically, a sparse coding protocol to prevent L1-norm collapse is proposed in the encoding process, regularizing the encoding to ensure that each latent code component possesses variance greater than a fixed threshold on a set of sparse representations given the input data. Subsequently, a multi-layer decoder structure is designed to capture the intricate mapping relationship between features and fault patterns. Finally, the Fast Iterative Shrinkage-Thresholding Algorithm (FISTA) is employed as the solver for the SC-MD model, enabling end-to-end updates of all parameters by unfolding FISTA. The coherent theoretical framework ensures the interpretability of SC-MD. Utilizing aeroengine bearing data, we demonstrate the exceptional performance of our proposed approach under both normal conditions and intense noise, as compared to state-of-the-art deep learning methods.

Artificial intelligence predictive analytics in heart failure: results of the pilot phase of a pragmatic randomized clinical trial.

We conducted an implementation planning process during the pilot phase of a pragmatic trial, which tests an intervention guided by artificial intelligence (AI) analytics sourced from noninvasive monitoring data in heart failure patients (LINK-HF2). A mixed-method analysis was conducted at 2 pilot sites. Interviews were conducted with 12 of 27 enrolled patients and with 13 participating clinicians. iPARIHS constructs were used for interview construction to identify workflow, communication patterns, and clinician's beliefs. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using inductive coding protocols to identify key themes. Behavioral response data from the AI-generated notifications were collected. Clinicians responded to notifications within 24 hours in 95% of instances, with 26.7% resulting in clinical action. Four implementation themes emerged: (1) High anticipatory expectations for reliable patient communications, reduced patient burden, and less proactive provider monitoring. (2) The AI notifications required a differential and tailored balance of trust and action advice related to role. (3) Clinic experience with other home-based programs influenced utilization. (4) Responding to notifications involved significant effort, including electronic health record (EHR) review, patient contact, and consultation with other clinicians. Clinician's use of AI data is a function of beliefs regarding the trustworthiness and usefulness of the data, the degree of autonomy in professional roles, and the cognitive effort involved. The implementation planning analysis guided development of strategies that addressed communication technology, patient education, and EHR integration to reduce clinician and patient burden in the subsequent main randomized phase of the trial. Our results provide important insights into the unique implications of implementing AI analytics into clinical workflow.

Reversing the Gaze: Developing Indigenous and Western Media Frames to Compare Coverage of Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples in the News Media*

AbstractThe news media is an important force shaping societal views of the socio‐politics of climate change. International scholarship finds it not uncommon for Indigenous cultures, communities, and perspectives to be underrepresented and misrepresented in Western media, especially on climate change issues. Research also indicates that accurate Indigenous representation occurs when Indigenous peoples are the authors of news articles themselves. We developed a Holistic Media Coding Protocol informed by Indigenous and Western perspectives to guide our content analysis of media coverage of climate change, environmental issues, and Indigenous peoples. We examined news articles from two Indigenous news publications, Indian Country Today and Navajo Times, and two Western news publications, The New York Times and The Salt Lake Tribune. Our findings indicate that creating and utilizing a theory‐informed Holistic Media Coding Protocol challenges the recurrent Western gaze on Indigenous peoples. This Holistic Media Coding Protocol contributes to our understandings of the media, settler colonialism, and climate change from Indigenous and Western perspectives. Overall, this research responds to a critical call for sociologists to engage more deeply with settler colonialism, Indigenous issues, and intersectional environmental justice.

Barriers and Facilitators to Including Students With Down Syndrome in Integrated Physical Education: Chilean Physical Educators’ Perspectives

The purpose of this study was to explore Chilean physical educators’ perspectives on barriers and facilitators to students with Down syndrome experiencing inclusion in integrated physical education. Data were collected from a cohort of 91 physical educators, comprising 50 males and 41 females from various regions in Chile, who responded to an online survey between March 2023 to June 2023. A two-step coding protocol was used to analyze responses. Cumulatively, the respondents identified 350 barriers (3.84 per participant) and 393 facilitators (4.32 per participant), which they perceived to influence feelings of inclusion among students with Down syndrome. Predominantly, factors that centered around teachers themselves were emphasized as both facilitators and barriers, as well as the role of a welcoming environment and supportive peers. This study, the first within the Chilean context, demonstrates that teachers believe that inclusiveness predominantly stems from educators’ initiatives, complemented by the surrounding environment and peer interactions.

Secure two-way transmission via untrusted UAV Relay: Joint path design and slot-pairing strategy

This paper proposes a novel two-way secure communication system that allows numerous pairs of ground users (GUs) communicate with one another using an untrusted UAV relay (UUR), where the UUR can eavesdrop on information while helping GUs perform two-way information transmission. We propose a safe scheme using slot pairing and joint path design to ensure the security of communication. Specifically, according to the physical-layer network coding (PNC) protocol, the collected information from GUs is cached in the UAV’s shock absorber before being transmitted as the UAV approaches optimal channel conditions. By matching the channel status of two-way transmission with the slot-pairing approach, our goal is to optimize the system’s secrecy sum rate (SSR). Due to the hybrid integer non-convex optimization problem, the formulated problem is difficult to address. As a result, we decompose it into three subproblems and propose an effective iterative algorithm that uses the block coordinate descent (BCD) approach and the sequential convex approximation (SCA) technique. The convergence and efficacy of our proposed scheme are demonstrated by numerical results.

Hazard Assessment and Remediation Tool for Simulation-Based Healthcare Facility Design Testing.

To develop an objective, structured observational tool to enable identification and measurement of hazards in the built environment when applied to audiovisual recordings of simulations by trained raters. Simulation-based facility design testing is increasingly used to optimize safety of healthcare environments, often relying on participant debriefing or direct observation by human factors experts. Hazard categories were defined through participant debriefing and detailed review of pediatric intensive care unit in situ simulation videos. Categories were refined and operational definitions developed through iterative coding and review. Hazard detection was optimized through the use of structured coding protocols and optimized camera angles. Six hazard categories were defined: (1) slip/trip/fall/injury risk, impaired access to (2) patient or (3) equipment, (4) obstructed path, (5) poor visibility, and (6) infection risk. Analysis of paired and individual coding demonstrated strong overall reliability (0.89 and 0.85, Gwet's AC1). Reliability coefficients for each hazard category were >0.8 for all except obstructed path (0.76) for paired raters. Among individual raters, reliability coefficients were >0.8, except for slip/trip/fall/injury risk (0.68) and impaired access to equipment (0.77). Hazard Assessment and Remediation Tool (HART) provides a framework to identify and quantify hazards in the built environment. The tool is highly reliable when applied to direct video review of simulations by either paired raters or trained single clinical raters. Subsequent work will (1) assess the tool's ability to discriminate between rooms with different physical attributes, (2) develop strategies to apply HART to improve facility design, and (3) assess transferability to non-ICU acute care environments.

Connectomes and properties of quantum entanglement

Topological quantum field theories (TQFT) encode properties of quantum states in the topological features of abstract manifolds. One can use the topological avatars of quantum states to develop intuition about different concepts and phenomena of quantum mechanics. In this paper we focus on the class of simplest topologies provided by a specific TQFT and investigate what the corresponding states teach us about entanglement. These “planar connectome” states are defined by graphs of simplest topology for a given adjacency matrix. In the case of bipartite systems the connectomes classify different types of entanglement matching the classification of stochastic local operations and classical communication (SLOCC). The topological realization makes explicit the nature of entanglement as a resource and makes apparent a number of its properties, including monogamy and characteristic inequalities for the entanglement entropy. It also provides tools and hints to engineer new measures of entanglement and other applications. Here the approach is used to construct purely topological versions of the dense coding and quantum teleportation protocols, giving diagrammatic interpretation of the role of entanglement in quantum computation and communication. Finally, the topological concepts of entanglement and quantum teleportation are employed in a simple model of information retrieval from a causally disconnected region, similar to the interior of an evaporating black hole.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Design of extended dense coding protocol strategy based on combinatorial optimization

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Design of extended dense coding protocol strategy based on combinatorial optimization

Pretrial Decision-Making Matrices: The Role of Risk and Charge Weighting in Risk Assessment–Guided Decisions

Pretrial risk assessments are used in local pretrial settings to inform release and supervision decisions. Yet, there is little research on the implementation of pretrial risk assessments in practice. We examined the characteristics of pretrial decision-making matrices in a statewide sample of counties using the same risk assessment tool. We procured pretrial decision-making matrices from 29 Indiana counties that had received or were in the process of receiving pretrial certification (88.6% response rate). Using a structured coding protocol, we found matrices shared common features but differed in their structure and available release and supervision options. Matrices weighted index charge information more heavily than risk assessment information, suggesting risk assessments likely explain between 20% and 36% of variability in decisions given typical rates of judicial adherence. Local decision-makers should be aware that structuring matrices to weight charge information more heavily than risk assessment information may limit the risk management potential of these tools.

Mutually Unbiased Measurements, Hadamard Matrices, and Superdense Coding

Mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) are highly symmetric bases on complex Hilbert spaces, and the corresponding rank-1 projective measurements are ubiquitous in quantum information theory. In this work, we study a recently introduced generalisation of MUBs called <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">mutually unbiased measurements</i> (MUMs). These measurements inherit the essential property of complementarity from MUBs, but the Hilbert space dimension is no longer required to match the number of outcomes. This operational complementarity property renders MUMs highly useful for device-independent quantum information processing. It has been shown that MUMs are strictly more general than MUBs. In this work we provide a complete proof of the characterisation of MUMs that are direct sums of MUBs. We then construct new examples of MUMs that are not direct sums of MUBs. A crucial technical tool for this construction is a correspondence with quaternionic Hadamard matrices, which allows us to map known examples of such matrices to MUMs that are not direct sums of MUBs. Furthermore, we show that–in stark contrast with MUBs–the number of MUMs for a fixed outcome number is unbounded. Next, we focus on the use of MUMs in quantum communication. We demonstrate how any pair of MUMs with <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">d</i> outcomes defines a <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">d</i> -dimensional superdense coding protocol. Using MUMs that are not direct sums of MUBs, we disprove a recent conjecture due to Nayak and Yuen on the rigidity of superdense coding, for infinitely many dimensions. The superdense coding protocols arising in the refutation reveal how shared entanglement may be used in a manner heretofore unknown.

Simultaneous Dense Coding Protocol for Three Receivers Under the Influence of Noisy Quantum Channels

Simultaneous Dense Coding Protocol for Three Receivers Under the Influence of Noisy Quantum Channels

Quantum Advantages of Teleportation and Dense Coding Protocols in an Open System

Quantum teleportation and dense coding are well-known quantum protocols that have been widely explored in the field of quantum computing. In this paper, the efficiency of quantum teleportation and dense coding protocols is examined in two-level atoms with two-photon transitions via the Stark shift effect, where each atom is separately coupled to a dissipative reservoir at zero temperature. Our results show that non-Markovianity and Stark shift can play constructive roles in restoring the quantum advantages of these protocols after they are diminished. These findings could offer a potential solution to preserving the computational and communicative advantages of quantum technologies.

Absolutely secure distributed superdense coding: entanglement requirement for optimality

Superdense coding uses entanglement as a resource to communicate classical information efficiently through quantum channels. A superdense coding method is optimal when its capacity reaches Holevo bound. We show that for optimality, maximal entanglement is a necessity across the bipartition of Alice and Bob, but neither absolute nor genuine multipartite entanglement is required. Unlike the previous schemes, which can transmit either even or odd bits of information, we demonstrate a generalized dense coding protocol using the genuine multipartite entangled GHZ state to send arbitrary information bits. Expressed in the eigenbasis of different Pauli operators, GHZ state is characterized by a unique parity pattern which enables us to formulate a security checking technique to ensure absolute security of the protocol. We show this method is better applicable in a scenario, where the initial information is distributed among spatially separated parties. Finally, optimizing the number of qubit(s) sent to Bob, we construct a distributed dense coding method, which completely depicts absolutely secure quantum communication between many to one party.

Potentially Critical Driving Situations During "Blue-light" Driving: A Video Analysis.

Driving with warning lights and sirens is highly demanding for ambulance drivers, and the crash risk is much higher than that during normal driving. In this study our goals were to establish a coding protocol to observe how often and how long potentially critical driving situations (PCDS) occur during "blue-light" driving (driving with emergency response lights) and to describe traffic and environmental conditions preceding and accompanying the PCDS. We collected randomly drawn video data of real ambulance driving between 2014-2017 in two German federal states. A coding protocol was developed to categorize PCDS into four types ("right of way," "crosswalks," "overtaking" [passing], and "other") and to describe them within the context of road characteristics, incident type, traffic, weather conditions, and driving style. A total of 172 videos of 71 different drivers were chosen randomly covering 1125 minutes of driving with warning lights and sirens. The drivers had a mean age of 33.7 years, and 25.4% were female. A total of 2048 PCDS occurred with a mean duration of five seconds (range of 1-66), amounting to one PCDS every 33 seconds. Twenty percent of the driving time involved PCDS. The rapid driving style (10.5%) showed more PCDS (one every 28.5 seconds), and the defensive driving style showed fewer PCDS (one every 49.6 seconds). Of all detected PCDS, "right of way" situations (57.5%) were most frequent, followed by "overtaking" [passing] maneuvers (30.2%). This study used a detailed coding protocol to describe driving with warning lights and sirens. The PCDS occurred less frequently than anticipated, although they were still common events when driving an ambulance, representing significant potential for crashes or near-crashes. These results can be used for insight training programs to raise ambulance drivers' awareness of typical PCDS and associated potential crash risk.

Characteristics of play interaction in twins with autism spectrum disorder

Play is a natural state in which children enjoy and practice various cognitive, social, and motor skills. Play observations in the natural learning environment helps practitioners and researchers to develop appropriate intervention. Previous research based on observations in the natural learning environment indicates a large gap between the behavior of children with autism and that of their peers. Although autism occurs relatively frequently in twins, research on their play interaction is scarce. The aim of this research was to determine the dominant type of play and interaction in three pairs of twins with autism spectrum disorder in an everyday school environment, the duration of interactions, the most frequent initiators of interactions, and whether there was a difference with regard to whom the social interaction was directed. Six boys with autism, i.e., three pairs of twins, participated in this research. Data was collected by employing questionnaires (A general questionnaire; ZQYT; GARS-3), as well as through observations (The Social Interaction Coding Protocol). The twins? behavior and interaction were recorded by a video camera. The results showed that twins were most frequently involved in manipulative and repetitive play, somewhat less frequently in relational play, while they did not participate in symbolic play. There was no statistically significant difference in the duration of interactions when the initiator was a twin compared to those initiated by another child, while interactions initiated by a teacher lasted significantly longer. The twins interacted with their co-twin least frequently. Furthermore, research results indicated that simple socially directed behavior was the most common type of interaction, followed by coordinated socially directed behavior. The obtained results led to the conclusion that twins with autism most frequently participate in two types of play and that the duration of their interaction varies depending on whether the initiator is a child or an adult. In children with autism, play has a significant role in the educational context. Thus, the data obtained by observing the play of twins with autism is significant for practitioners when evaluating how play characteristics can be used to plan interventions for improving the social interactions of children with autism.

Selective PNC in satellite-terrestrial network over non-identical fading channels

We analyze the performance of a twoway satellite-terrestrial decode-and-forward (DF) relay network over non-identical fading channels. In particular, selective physical-layer network coding (SPNC) is employed in the proposed network to improve the average end-to-end throughput performance. More specifically, by assuming that the DF relay performs instantaneous throughput comparisons before performing corresponding protocols, we derive the expressions of system instantaneous bit-error-rate (BER), instantaneous end-to-end throughput, average end-to-end throughput, single node detection (SND) occurrence probability and average end-to-end BER over non-identical fading channels. Finally, theoretical analyses and Monte Carlo simulation results are presented. Evaluations show that: 1) SPNC protocol outperforms the conventional physical-layer network coding (PNC) protocol in infrequent light shadowing (ILS), average shadowing (AS) and frequent heavy shadowing (FHS) Shadowed-Rician fading channels. 2) As the satellite-relay channel fading gets more severe, SPNC protocol can achieve more performance improvement than PNC protocol and the occurrence probability of SND protocol increases progressively. 3) The occurrence probability increase of SND has a beneficial effect on the average end-to-end throughput in low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime, while the occurrence probability decrease of SND has a beneficial effect on the average end-to-end BER in high-SNR regime.