Common Tactic Research Articles

Enhancing Ce-Co interfacial effects via special petal-pollen morphology construction to achieve efficient toluene removal

Interfacial effects provide an effective means to construct multi-metal interactions and design efficient catalysts for VOCs purification, while morphology construction remains a common tactic to optimize the efficiency of these catalysts. In the present work, the Co-Ce bimetal interface was effectively constructed by morphological regulation, and the coupling of the interfacial effect modulation and the special morphological structure was realized, resulting in superior catalyst performance. Among the series catalysts, CeCoOx-H demonstrated the optimized activity with 90 % toluene conversion at 250 °C while maintaining good results in a 50 h stability test. And the systematic characterization revealed that the structural changes and interfacial effects induced by morphological modulation would increase the structural defects, improving surface reactive oxygen and oxygen vacancy content, oxygen storage capacity, oxygen motivity and low-temperature reductivity, which account for promising catalytic performance of CeCoOx-H. Furthermore, in-situ DRIFTS revealed the following decomposition routes for toluene on the CeCoOx-H catalyst surface: toluene → benzyl alcohol → benzaldehyde → benzoate → phenol → maleate → acetate → formate → carbon dioxide. In particular, the decomposition of benzaldehyde and benzoate may be the key steps in toluene catalytic oxidation. Also, the characterization unveiled that the rich adsorption sites brought by the interfacial construction are not negligible in boosting the catalytic performance.

The Inevitability of Death: Mental Simulation Moderates the Effect of Death Anxiety on Older Adults' Vulnerability to Fraud.

Death anxiety arousal is a common tactic in fraud targeting older adults; however, little is known about its impact on vulnerability to fraud and the moderating role of mental simulation. Two experiments were conducted using the mortality salience task. Experiment 1 employed a mortality salience manipulation to examine the causality of death anxiety arousal affecting older adults' vulnerability to fraud using a behavioral experiment. Experiment 2 used the imaginary priming paradigm to manipulate different types of mental simulation to address whether mental simulation could moderate the relationship between death anxiety and vulnerability to fraud. The results showed that death anxiety significantly increased the vulnerability to fraud. Process and downward outcome simulation buffered this effect, while upward outcome simulation exacerbated it. Clinicians may focus on relieving death anxiety, decreasing upward outcome simulation, and enhancing process or downward outcome simulation as promising pathways to protect older adults against fraud.

Effects of a Dietary Microalgae (Arthrospira platensis) Supplement on Stress, Well-Being, and Performance in Water Polo Players: A Clinical Case Series.

A common tactic used by athletes to improve performance, lessen tiredness, and hasten recovery is dietary supplementation. We aimed to assess the role of a microalgae dietary liquid supplement additivated with Copper 22.5% NRV in water polo players' performance. Twenty male water polo players were split into two groups: ten (spirulina group) took a twice-daily nutritional supplement containing 15 mL of spirulina liquid extract (titrated in Phycocyanin 1 mg/mL) and additivated with Copper 22.5% NRV for eight weeks, and ten (the placebo group) did not take the supplement. Subjective evaluations were finished using the Athlete's Subjective Performance Scale (ASPS). Levels of the biomarker creatine phosphokinase (CPK) were also assessed. The spirulina group's mean total ASPS score increased significantly from baseline to follow-up and was significantly better than that of the placebo group (p < 0.001). Conversely, ASPS ratings in the placebo group slightly decreased. A positive correlation between spirulina supplementation and less severe ASPS was found using correlation matrix analysis. However, there was a slight difference in CPK levels from the baseline to the follow-up in the spirulina group. A dietary supplement comprising spirulina and copper may help water polo players' subjective performance measurements by lowering muscular tension. Larger, randomized controlled trials are yet required.

Revisiting organizational culture in healthcare: Heterogeneity as a resource

Aligning culture to be similar across work units is a common organizational tactic, but its appropriateness for the multidisciplinary context of healthcare is far from certain. Variation in perceptions of culture across large health systems may serve a functional purpose in delivering high quality care and ameliorating job stress; however, past research in healthcare has focused on culture as the average set of values and norms (i.e., cultural content) rather than on (dis)agreement about values and norms among organizational members (i.e., cultural structure). This survey-based study examines both cultural content (averages among individuals) and structure (distances between individuals) in departments of a large U.S. healthcare organization (total sample = 26,314 workers, response rate = 84%). We used linear models to associate four commonly used culture measures with outcome measures (perceived care quality, intent to stay, and manageable job stress). We found substantial heterogeneity in perceptions for multiple culture types. We found curvilinear relationships between heterogeneity for all culture types and outcomes, suggesting that heterogeneity promotes positive outcomes up to a certain point after which the positive effect declines. For research, our findings point to the importance of studying culture in healthcare with greater focus on heterogeneity; for practice, this study highlights how culturally-focused efforts to improve care quality and worker experience in healthcare should be more precise about balancing cultural alignment and heterogeneity.

Emergence of cooperation under punishment: A reinforcement learning perspective.

Punishment is a common tactic to sustain cooperation and has been extensively studied for a long time. While most of previous game-theoretic work adopt the imitation learning framework where players imitate the strategies of those who are better off, the learning logic in the real world is often much more complex. In this work, we turn to the reinforcement learning paradigm, where individuals make their decisions based upon their experience and long-term returns. Specifically, we investigate the prisoners' dilemma game with a Q-learning algorithm, and cooperators probabilistically pose punishment on defectors in their neighborhood. Unexpectedly, we find that punishment could lead to either continuous or discontinuous cooperation phase transitions, and the nucleation process of cooperation clusters is reminiscent of the liquid-gas transition. The analysis of a Q-table reveals the evolution of the underlying "psychologic" changes, which explains the nucleation process and different levels of cooperation. The uncovered first-order phase transition indicates that great care needs to be taken when implementing the punishment compared to the continuous scenario.

Patterns of water-wise residential landscaping in a drought-prone city

Abstract The replacement of turf lawns with water-wise landscaping has become a common tactic for water conservation in drought-prone cities and is often incentivized through rebate programs that subsidize the cost of turf conversion. The impact of rebate programs increases if neighbors are inspired to adopt water-wise landscaping independently. However, turf conversion is expensive even with a rebate, and residents may have non-financial reasons for maintaining lawns or installing water-wise landscaping independently. We explored the distribution of water-wise yards and rebate recipients in relation to sociodemographic and biophysical landscape characteristics across the city of Sacramento, California, USA. For 100 census tracts in Sacramento, we visually assessed the landscaping in front of every single-family home to classify it as water-wise or conventional. We found that ∼10% of 109,062 sampled yards were water-wise, while only 0.3% were rebate recipients. We also found that water-wise yards were clustered, suggesting a neighborhood adoption effect. Water-wise yards and rebate recipients were positively correlated with educational attainment, white population, income, and tree canopy, and negatively correlated with July temperature and households with children. Our research shows that most water-wise landscaping in Sacramento has been installed without rebates, in areas with greater shading and socioeconomic status. Rebates did not appear to offset barriers to turf conversion, but may inspire neighborhood adoption. Our findings suggest that while water-wise landscaping is becoming more prevalent, it is not accessible or desirable for all residents, potentially contributing to uneven distributions of urban water use and ecosystem services.

Use of Brand Engagement Appeals in US Cigarette and E-CigarettesAds (2019-2020).

Background: The tobacco industry has historically used brand engagement - communication tactics companies use to increase customer attachment to a brand and brand loyalty - to recruit and retain consumers. Limited information is available to assess the brand engagement tactics used to promote the two most popular tobacco products in the US - cigarettes and electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) - across different advertising platforms (e.g., direct-to-consumer (DTC), social media). Material and methods: We acquired 520 cigarette and 5,502 e-cigarette ads that ran in the US January 2019 to December 2020 from market research firms (Kantar, Numerator), Rutger's University ad surveillance website (trinketsandtrash.org), and branded social media accounts. Ads were double-coded for eight types of brand engagement tactics: Price Promotion, Sweepstakes, Mobile App, Email/Mail List, Free Gift, Social Media engagement request, Sponsored Events, and Auto-Ship subscription program. We report presence of brand engagement tactics by product type and advertising platform. Results: Overall, 62.9% of cigarette ads and 49.9% of e-cigarette ads contained at least one brand engagement tactic. For cigarette ads, the most common tactics were Sweepstakes and Mobile App requests, which were most commonly featured in DTC ads. For e-cigarettes, the most common tactic was Price Promotion which was featured in most DTC and online e-cigarette ads. Conclusions: Brand engagement was common in this sample of cigarette and e-cigarette ads. Our findings highlight key differences in the type of brand engagement tactic used to promote each product on different advertising platforms. Results can inform continued advertising surveillance studies and regulatory efforts.

Improving Arabic Spam classification in social media using hyperparameters tuning and Particle Swarm Optimization

Online social networks continue to evolve, serving a variety of purposes, such as sharing educational content, chatting, making friends and followers, sharing news, and playing online games. However, the widespread flow of unwanted messages poses significant problems, including reducing online user interaction time, extremist views, reducing the quality of information, especially in the educational field. The use of coordinated automated accounts or robots on social networking sites is a common tactic for spreading unwanted messages, rumors, fake news, and false testimonies for mass communication or targeted users. Since users (especially in the educational field) receive many messages through social media, they often fail to recognize the content of unwanted messages, which may contain harmful links, malicious programs, fake accounts, false reports, and misleading opinions. Therefore, it is vital to regulate and classify disturbing texts to enhance the security of social media. This study focuses on building an Arabic disturbing message dataset extracted from Twitter, which consists of 14,250 tweets. Our proposed methodology includes applying new tag identification technology to collected tweets. Then, we use prevailing machine learning algorithms to build a model for classifying disturbing messages in Arabic, using effective parameter tuning methods to obtain the most suitable parameters for each algorithm. In addition, we use particle swarm optimization to identify the most relevant features to improve the classification performance. The results indicate a clear improvement in the classification performance from 0.9822 to 0.98875, with a 50% reduction in the feature set. Our study focuses on Arabic spam messages, classifying spam messages, tuning effective parameters, and selecting features as key areas of investigation.

How important is the in-store environment for new brands?

New brand launches are notoriously risky, with high failure rates. Yet, most research focuses on the out-of-store factors inherent to their success/failure, overlooking strategies that can be employed in-store. The present research addresses this oversight by examining the influence of two in-store factors, distraction and shelf position, and their impact on a new brand’s visibility on the shelf. We draw on a unique data set featuring a real-life new brand entrant into the Australian market. Using an experimental design in a shopper laboratory, and mobile eye-tracking, we find that the new brand stands a greater chance of being noticed and visually attended to on the shelf when shoppers are distracted. This is attributed to shoppers dwelling longer in front of the fixture, being more open to new-to-the-consumer brands, and by negatively affecting the top-down processing of existing brands on the shelf. We also find that optimising shelf position, which is a common in-store marketing tactic for existing brands, may not produce the same return on investment for a new brand. The findings offer valuable theoretical and practical implications for improving the success rates of new brand launches, including selection of distribution channels, allocation of marketing resources, and the interplay between in-store and out-of-sore factors driving shopper behaviour.

Adapting R4 simplifications of Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 (ADM1-R4) for pump-mixed biogas production

Modification of the production chain in biogas generation is a common tactic used in this industry. However, the selection of appropriate reactor configuration and operational parameters is a crucial task. In such cases, mathematical modeling provides great support. Herein, we adapted a simplified version of the Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 to a system in which the mechanical stirrer was replaced with an external pump that recirculated the reactor content. Despite having conceptual similarities with continuous stirred-tank reactors, this system exhibited considerable differences in the vertical distribution inside the tank. The model was optimized by using a “genetic algorithm” and “fmincon” function to test both approaches. The new model showed very high accuracy with a mean error of 5.9–9.8%, depending on the mixing intensity, whereas the previous reference models reached 19.7% error. Therefore, compared to the previous models, the simplification of the ordinary differential equation in our new model did not significantly decrease accuracy; in fact, the precision was even higher than before in some cases. Finally, the new model was practically applied to demonstrate its implementation in realistic scenarios.

Cross-sectional analysis characterizing the use of rank preserving structural failure time in oncology studies: changes to hazard ratio and frequency of inappropriate use

BackgroundRank preserving structural failure time (RPSFT) is a statistical method to correct or adjust for crossover in clinical trials, by estimating the counterfactual effect on overall survival (OS) when control arm patients do not receive the interventional drug when their tumor progresses. We sought to examine the strength of correlation between differences in uncorrected and corrected OS hazard ratios and percentage of crossover, and characterize instances of fundamental and sequential efficacy.MethodsIn a cross-sectional analysis (2003–2023), we reviewed oncology randomized trials that used RPSFT analysis to adjust the OS hazard ratio for patients who crossed over to an anti-cancer drug. We calculated the percentage of RPSFT studies evaluating a drug for fundamental efficacy (with or without a standard of care (SOC)) or sequential efficacy and the correlation between the OS hazard ratio difference (unadjusted and adjusted) and the percentage of crossover.ResultsAmong 65 studies, the median difference between the uncorrected and corrected OS hazard ratio was −0.1 (quartile 1, quartile 3 : −0.3 to −0.06). The median percentage of crossover was 56% (quartile 1, quartile 3: 37% to 72%). All studies were funded by the industry or had authors who were employees of the industry. Twelve studies (19%) tested a drug’s fundamental efficacy when there was no SOC; 34 studies (52%) tested a drug’s fundamental efficacy when there was already a SOC; and 19 studies (29%) tested a drug’s sequential efficacy. The correlation between the uncorrected and corrected OS hazard ratio difference and the percentage of crossover was 0.44 (95% CI: 0.21 to 0.63).ConclusionsRPSFT is a common tactic used by the industry to reinterpret trial results. Nineteen percent of RPSFT use is appropriate. We recognize that while crossover can bias OS results, the allowance and handling of crossover in trials should be limited to appropriate circumstances.

Event Characteristics of Sexual Violence Perpetration Against Romantic Partners Versus Non-Romantic Partners.

Tactics used to perpetrate sexual violence may be crucial to understanding when and why sexual violence occurs. Moreover, most sexual violence occurs between people who know each other-including in the context of dating or sexual relationships. Little is known about the context of sexual violence that occurs with non-romantic partners. To address these research gaps, we examined online survey data from 786 young adults (weighted n = 763) aged 19 to 27 years, living across the United States. Findings suggest that 60% of sexual assault, 40% of attempted rape, 42% of rape, and 67% of coercive sex were perpetrated against a romantic partner, defined as a current or ex-boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, or domestic partner. Contextual differences were noted by relationship type: Those who perpetrated against romantic partners were more likely than those who targeted non-romantic partners to report that it occurred because they were feeling sad or angry. They were also more likely to say that the other person was completely responsible for what happened. Conversely, those who aggressed against non-romantic partners were more likely to say that someone else found out about what happened. Making the other person feel guilty was the most common tactic for both groups. The most frequently endorsed reason for perpetrating sexual violence was "feeling really horny," although feeling "good" or being drunk/high were also common reasons noted by aggressors. Afterward, many said they felt guilty or ashamed and were worried about the other person's feelings. Fear of getting caught was universally absent. Findings support the importance of building emotion regulation and emotional awareness skills in sexual violence prevention programming. Prevention programs should also discuss coercion as a violence tactic, since perpetrators may not always recognize this to be sexual violence. More generally, violence prevention programs should also address healthy relationships, consent, and taking responsibility.

Beyond Ransom and Political Concessions? Explaining Changes in Insurgents’ Kidnapping Involvement Versus Event-frequency

Kidnapping is a common tactic used by insurgent groups. However, why insurgents commit kidnappings remains insufficiently understood. Based on 1,386 group-year observations of 140 insurgents between 1998 and 2012, we analyze conditions driving the within-group temporal changes in their involvement (1 vs 0) versus event-frequency in kidnappings. We find that changes in specific quasi-state activities (i.e., extraction and provision of public services), which may rely on kidnappings for coercive enforcement and social control, predict kidnapping “involvement” only. Meanwhile, general resource and capacity conditions (i.e., territory-control, criminal networks and combat-lethality) influence changes in both kidnapping involvement and event-frequency.

Multi-interfacial dendritic engineering facilitating congruous intrinsic activity of oxide-carbide/MOF nanostructured multimodal electrocatalyst for hydrogen and oxygen electrocatalysis

Multiple interfaces and phases between the electrode and electrolyte play a key role in prompting the overall electrocatalysis, due to the high chances of the formation and cleavage of chemical bonds. Here, we employed the most common tactic of coupling functional components into a hybrid heterostructure with improved synergistic effects between organic and inorganics. The functional metal nodes-organic bridge ligands integrated on polyvalent tungsten oxide–carbide interfaces with highly-porous nano-dendritic architectonic is developed. The FeCu–BTC/WO3–WC showed excellent electrochemical half-cell (HER/OER/ORR), and Full-cell (aqueous ZAB and water electrolysis) performances with Ε1/2, ORR = 0.81 V, η10, OER = 249 mV, η10, HER = 99 mV, Ε10, water splitting = 1.531 V, and PDZAB = 135.2 mW cm−2 with profound durability. Hence, the multi-interfacial dendritic FeCu–BTC/WO3–WC ternary nanocomposite offers the prospect of a good harbinger for aggressive reform of energy technologies towards the zero-emission energy goal.

Legitimacy of Cost Concern for Health Insurance Coverage of Gender-Affirming Surgeries: Comparison of the Interest in Keeping Insurance Cost Down versus the Cost-Effectiveness of Including Gender-Affirming Surgeries in Employer Health Insurance Plans.

This RCD discusses the recent development in Lange v Houston County. In this case, the United States District Court for The Middle District Of Georgia Macon Division found that an Exclusion Policy, prohibiting health insurance coverage of gender-affirming surgery for an employee, Anna Lange, violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. On appeal, the Defendants argued that the District Court erred in its decision and relied on the cost burden of gender-affirming surgery as one of their defenses. This RCD highlights that cost is a common defense tactic used by defendants in these cases. However, the author argues that these concerns are unfounded and meritless given the cost-effectiveness of including gender-affirming surgeries in health insurance plans, as highlighted in the RCD.

Adaptive population-based multi-objective optimization in SDN controllers for cost optimization

In Wireless Sensor Networks, Software Defined Networks (SDN) provide a logically centralized control plane as a potential means of streamlining network management (WSNs). The employment of several SDN controllers to build a physically distributed SDN is a common tactic to boost speed, expand scalability, and offer fault tolerance. However, the deployment of many controllers results in increased synchronization and deployment expenses. Therefore, selecting the optimal location for SDN controllers to improve WSN performance is a research issue. In this paper, the multi-objective optimization problem known as the controller placement problem (CPP) is initially formulated. Cost, time, and reliability are just a few of the restraints that are taken into consideration in this regard. In addition, a new Adaptive Population-Based Cuckoo Optimization (APB-CO) for optimal controller placement is implemented. In the end, APB-CO performs experiments to validate the efficacy by analyzing Sync (7.5), Coverage (47), Controller Cost (4.8), and Fitness (0.6983) for the 100th node variation at network 1. The proposed model obtained the controller cost as 34.4, compared to the existing method such as Simulated Annealing (44.3) and Greedy Approach (42.6).

Analytic representation of the propeller thrust for modelling ship manoeuvring within an ice channel behind an icebreaker

Navigation of cargo ships using icebreaker assistance is a common tactic in difficult icy conditions. The icebreaker makes the ice channel and the lone cargo ship, or the convoy, sail within the channel it has made. When the icebreaker or the vessel ahead stop before the insuperable ice obstacle, the danger of an emergency appears, namely, the collision with an icebreaker or the ship ahead, if the interval between them is not sufficient for effective braking and stopping, or for a way out in compact ice cover. To find the safe interval recommendation, it is necessary to carry out modelling of the ship manoeuvring: either braking or the leaving of the channel. In these modes of ship movement, the propeller operates in unusual modes: in reverse mode when braking, and in close to mooring mode when leaving the channel, which do not have analytical descriptions because of the detached flow of the blades. This paper describes a developed empirical method for the parameterization of the propeller thrust coefficient dependence upon the advance, based on diagrams for the design of the propellers, which were created from the test material of the serial propeller tests. Outcomes of the investigation will be applied for computer modelling of the ship's manoeuvring within the ice channel and the safe interval between the ship and an icebreaker evaluation in what follows.

Ukrainian cultural and artistic Youtube channels during the first year of the war of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Introductions. The destruction of Ukrainian culture is a key element of Russian aggression. Falsification of Ukrainian history is a common tactic of the Russian Federation in its efforts to undermine Ukraine’s independence, as it seeks to deny the existence of Ukrainian identity and delegitimize its right to statehood, language, and culture. Therefore, the role of cultural content in Ukraine during a full-scale war is indeed of strategic importance. The aim of study. The purpose of the study is to analyze the transformations in the work of Ukrainian YouTube channels covering culture, art, and history after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Among the tasks of the research: to identify changes in the content of Ukrainian-language YouTube channels on cultural and artistic topics after February 24, 2022, to track how the indicators of the number of views and the number of subscribers on the selected YouTube channel changed during the research period. Methodology. The main method is content analysis. All videos on the 10 YouTube channels, published after February 24, 2022 - the date of the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and up to and including February 24, 2023 - were processed. Using the quantitative method, on the last day of each month, the indicators of the number of subscribers and views of each of the ten analyzed channels were recorded. Results and conclusions. Content analysis of 10 Youtube channels showed that their authors adapted the content to the realities of wartime. In addition, the results of the increase in the number of subscribers and views of each channel, the audience showed the need of society for such content. During the year of the war, authors of Youtube channels created hundreds of hours of content to combat propaganda narratives, fakes, oppose Russian aggression through culture in the world, and popularize the heritage of Ukrainian artists and cultural figures.

Neurosurgery equipment donation in Africa: a scoping review

Abstract A common tactic to alleviate current gaps is to donate medical equipment to low-resource areas, however, there is a dearth of recorded experience and evaluation. Providing accessible equipment to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is a crucial component of the attempts to improve access to neurosurgery in African nations; yet, the necessity of promoting neurosurgical equipment in Africa and the effects of these programs have not yet been assessed. Therefore, our goal was to evaluate the extent, advantages and sustainability of the gift of neurosurgical equipment in Africa. A scoping review covering both scholarly and gray literature was used. Selected databases from the time of inception to September 2022 were searched using a search strategy customized for the study title. All studies that addressed the donation of neurosurgical equipment to Africa were given special attention, along with any factors that increased the likelihood of donations and included, but not limited to, agreements signed during the donation. Finally, participating authors also reviewed articles randomly selected to ensure homogeneity. Donating equipment positively impacts neurosurgical units in LMICs, growing their practices while also enhancing safety, quality and affordability. Collaborations between LMICs and HICs (High Income Countries) also make it more likely that the donated neurosurgical equipment will be used to satisfy recipients' needs. Lastly, to guarantee the most advantage, proper follow-up, consideration of equipment durability, maintenance requirements and increased assistance for repairs should be prioritized.

Hijacking the human complement inhibitor C4b-binding protein by the sporozoite stage of the Plasmodium falciparum parasite.

The complement system is considered the first line of defense against pathogens. Hijacking complement regulators from blood is a common evasion tactic of pathogens to inhibit complement activation on their surfaces. Here, we report hijacking of the complement C4b-binding protein (C4bp), the regulator of the classical and lectin pathways of complement activation, by the sporozoite (SPZ) stage of the Plasmodium falciparum parasite. This was shown by direct binding of radiolabeled purified C4bp to live SPZs as well as by binding of C4bp from human serum to SPZs in indirect immunofluorescence assays. Using a membrane-bound peptide array, peptides from the N-terminal domain (NTD) of P. falciparum circumsporozoite protein (CSP) were found to bind C4bp. Soluble biotinylated peptide covering the same region on the NTD and a recombinantly expressed NTD also bound C4bp in a dose-dependent manner. NTD-binding site on C4bp was mapped to the CCP1-2 of the C4bp α-chain, a common binding site for many pathogens. Native CSP was also co-immunoprecipitated with C4bp from human serum. Preventing C4bp binding to the SPZ surface negatively affected the SPZs gliding motility in the presence of functional complement and malaria hyperimmune IgG confirming the protective role of C4bp in controlling complement activation through the classical pathway on the SPZ surface. Incorporating the CSP-C4bp binding region into a CSP-based vaccine formulation could induce vaccine-mediated immunity that neutralizes this immune evasion region and increases the vaccine efficacy.