Diversified Research Research Articles

Clownselling: an in-depth narrative review on the therapeutic influence of clowning therapy in paediatric and adult cancer treatment and palliative care

Cancer and its treatments impose substantial physical and psychological burdens on patients, underscoring the need for innovative and holistic interventions. This narrative review explores the evolving role of clownselling in paediatric and adult cancer care, tracing its historical progression from entertainment to a therapeutic modality. Recognizing the potential of clowning therapy to address emotional, psychological, and existential challenges, the review systematically assesses its impact on treatment adherence, quality of life, and contributions in palliative care settings. By elucidating the therapeutic process, principles, and goals, it provides a comprehensive understanding of the foundations of clowning therapy. Given its positive influence on well-being, the integration of clowning therapy into interdisciplinary care teams and institutional policies is advocated. Future directions include diversified research, technology integration, standardized protocols and awareness campaigns, ensuring the sustained evolution of clowning therapy in fostering holistic well-being within the intricate tapestry of cancer care.

System interoperability and data linkage in the era of health information management: A bibliometric analysis.

Background: Across the world, health data generation is growing exponentially. The continuous rise of new and diversified technology to obtain and handle health data places health information management and governance under pressure. Lack of data linkage and interoperability between systems undermines best efforts to optimise integrated health information technology solutions. Objective: This research aimed to provide a bibliometric overview of the role of interoperability and linkage in health data management and governance. Method: Data were acquired by entering selected search queries into Google Scholar, PubMed, and Web of Science databases and bibliometric data obtained were then imported to Endnote and checked for duplicates. The refined data were exported to Excel, where several levels of filtration were applied to obtain the final sample. These sample data were analysed using Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Washington, USA), WORDSTAT (Provalis Research, Montreal, Canada) and VOSviewer software (Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands). Results: The literature sample was retrieved from 3799 unique results and consisted of 63 articles, present in 45 different publications, both evaluated by two specific in-house global impact rankings. Through VOSviewer, three main clusters were identified: (i) e-health information stakeholder needs; (ii) e-health information quality assessment; and (iii) e-health information technological governance trends. A residual correlation between interoperability and linkage studies in the sample was also found. Conclusion: Assessing stakeholders' needs is crucial for establishing an efficient and effective health information system. Further and diversified research is needed to assess the integrated placement of interoperability and linkage in health information management and governance. Implications: This research has provided valuable managerial and theoretical contributions to optimise system interoperability and data linkage within health information research and information technology solutions.

A Review of the Influence of Wu Dialect on English Pronunciation Acquisition

The Wu dialect is widely spoken in Wu-speaking regions of China, which covers a considerable number of English learners. However, the phonetic system of the Wu dialect differs significantly from that of English, which greatly affects the English learning process of Wu-speaking learners, thus attracting numerous researchers to conduct related studies. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of research on the influence of Wu dialect on English phonological learning over the past two decades and presents a selection of twenty-seven papers to explore the theoretical framework, the research methodology, and the specific impacts encountered by English language learners who speak Wu dialect. Among them, the theoretical discussion centered on language transfer theory, Fleges Speech Learning Model and Bests Perceptual Assimilation Model; the research methodology consisted of qualitative analysis and empirical study; and the focus was placed on positive and negative transfer effects, i.e., the challenges posed by the absence or presence of phonological differences in the Wu dialect to the learners of English. The findings reveal significant segmental and suprasegmental influences in English pronunciation acquisition, with segmental challenges including differentiation of consonants and incomplete articulation of vowels, and suprasegmental challenges including stress placement, intonation patterns, and phonological rhythm. In addition, the discussion highlights the need for more empirical studies to supplement qualitative analyses, the consideration of regional variations within Wu dialect, and the exploration of teaching strategies informed by research findings. Therefore, the paper advocates for future research focusing on regional differences, deeper exploration of suprasegmental influences, integration of research into teaching practices, and diversified research methods.

Revealing the research potential for the field of cross-cultural entrepreneurship: lessons from an integrative literature review

ABSTRACT Culture plays an important role for the study of entrepreneurship. However, whereas cross-cultural research in management (CCM) has strongly evolved in the last three decades and identified different paradigms, paradigmatically diversified research is still lacking in cross-cultural entrepreneurship. To fill this gap, this study suggests an integrative literature review with two objectives: 1) provide an overview of cross-cultural entrepreneurship research with an attention to national culture, different paradigms, and research themes, and 2) point towards possibilities to enrich such research. Through an integrative literature review, 147 studies of cross-cultural entrepreneurship research were identified and regrouped according to two main paradigms in CCM research: positivism and interpretivism. The analysis of all papers led to the emergence of five research themes according to which the papers were regrouped. Based on this matrix of paradigms and research themes, all texts were categorized into 10 areas. Findings show the dominance of cross-cultural entrepreneurship studies based on the positivist paradigm of culture, whereas research rooted in the interpretive paradigm is rather unexplored and offers great potential for future research. Based on these findings, we argue that particularly rich qualitative research designs offer interesting opportunities for developing the field of cross-cultural entrepreneurship.

China’s spatial and temporal position in the global research network of information behavior and its current development dynamics

PurposeThis paper aims to objectively present the research dynamics of China in the field of information behavior and its development trends. Firstly, it incorporates China’s research in the field of information behavior into the global research network of information behavior, analyzing the changes in the status of Chinese scholars and their research institutions in the global research network from 1991 to 2022, the trends in publication volume and the cooperation relationships with other countries. Then, it conducts a detailed analysis of China’s research categories, groups, theoretical models and hot topics in different information contexts in the past five years (2018–2022).Design/methodology/approachThe study retrieved research literature related to information behavior in China from 1991 to 2022 in the Web of Science database. It then utilized a national/institutional cooperation network map to analyze the changes in the status of Chinese scholars/institutions in the global research network during this period, publication volume trends and cooperation relationships with other countries. Furthermore, it employed keyword co-occurrence network maps to analyze the key categories, groups, theories and models of China’s research in different information contexts in the past five years. Based on this, it used keyword clustering network maps to analyze the hot topics of China’s research in different information contexts in the past five years.Findings(1) China’s research in the field of information behavior started relatively late, but the volume of publications has grown rapidly since 2004, currently ranking second globally in cumulative publication quantity. However, the influence of the literature published by China is limited, and there is a lack of research institutions with global influence. (2) In the last five years, China has conducted extensive research in various information contexts. Among these, most research was conducted in work contexts, followed by healthcare contexts, especially studies related to epidemics. (3) Current research on information behavior in China is characterized by expanded and refined research groups, diversified research categories, continuous expansion and enrichment of research contexts, increased interdisciplinary nature of research and continuous innovation in research methods and theoretical models.Originality/valueThis study, utilizing a scientific knowledge map, elucidates China’s position in global information behavior research, with a specific emphasis on analyzing China’s research hot topics and trends in this field over the past five years. It aims to provide valuable resources for scholars interested in understanding the status of information behavior research in China and to offer some guidance for scholars currently or intending to engage in information behavior research.

The Impact of R&D Investments on Renewable Energy Transition. A Panel Data Approach

Abstract The transition to renewable energy is one of the main objectives at the level of the European Union to answer the problems related to global warming. In this context, the main objective of this study is to analyze the role of one of the drivers that can contribute to the achievement of this objective, namely research and development expenditure. Thus, based on a diversified research methodology, which includes in particular comparative analysis, descriptive analysis, and econometric analysis, we tested the role of research and development expenditure in stimulating final energy consumption from renewables and biofuels in the industrial sector using related statistical data from 13 European Union Member States between 2006 and 2022. The main results showed that research and development expenditure have a positive impact on the consumption of renewable energy in the industrial sector.

A Visual Analysis of the Hotspots, Processes and Prospects of Digitalization Research on Rural Teachers in China over the Past 10 Years

Over the past decade, research on rural teachers' digitization in China has gradually become a hot social issue of great concern. Using CiteSpace to visualize and analyze the high-quality literature on rural teacher digitization-related research in the CNKI database in the past 10 years, the timeline shows a clear research trend during the decade, including three stages of sustained growth (2014-2019), a brief decline (2020), and a rapid rebound (2021-2024), which is in line with the changes in the national education tactic , the rural revitalization strategy, and the rise of online education in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic and the global trend of digital transformation. The research power of rural teachers' digitalization is mainly concentrated in teacher training colleges and education academies, and the authors and research institutes are characterized by small concentration and large dispersion, and the cooperation network has not yet been widely formed. The three core themes of "rural teachers", "rural education" and "rural revitalization" are highlighted in the cited keywords, reflecting the close connection between the research content and national tactic and social needs. In light of the regional and special characteristics of rural education, research that is detached from the reality of the countryside and based on a single methodology will gradually change to a diversified research model based on the localized characteristics of the countryside.

Application of Artificial Intelligence in Chinese Education based on Bibliometric Analysis

In the last decade, artificial intelligence (AI) has been widely used in education in China. Many scholars have carried out research on the theory of the integration of AI and education and have produced a lot of achievements. In this paper, CiteSpace software is used to visually analyze the research status, progress, hotspot and trend of the application of AI in education in China from the core database of China National Knowledge Net. According to the analysis of the results, it is suggested that educational AI policy and future research should be constructed mutually.AI in education co-constructs a three-dimensional pattern of researchers, research institutions and policy promoters; Focus on the high-quality, scientific and cross-field comprehensive development of AI in education field; Educational AI pays attention to the diversified research of quality combination.

Exploring The Physical Fitness Level of Children Through Dance

This study aimed to explore the effect of dance training on children's physical fitness level by providing 6- to 12-year-old children with 6-month dance training and regular physical training. Using diversified research methods, including literature review, comparative analysis, experimental method, observation, measurement, questionnaire and interview, this study assessed the physical fitness indexes and psychosocial abilities of children in the experimental and control groups. The results showed that children who participated in dance training significantly outperformed the control group in physical fitness indicators such as lung capacity, flexibility and balance. In addition, dance training significantly improved children's self-confidence, social interaction skills, and emotional stability. The study highlights the importance of incorporating dance training into the children's education system and provides a reference for optimizing dance education strategies in the future.

Knowledge generation between design, data and theory

Design-based research (DBR) is a diversified research genre: The combination of two worlds – that of research and that of education – and the different backgrounds and intentions of those involved entail different emphases, epistemological ideas, ideas on valuable outcomes and normative claims. This becomes visible in very different kinds of reasoning: No uniform structure of argumentation can be discerned, and so far, a differentiation into clear DBR types has not been convincingly achieved. This is a challenge for the orientation of DBR novices, the quality review of DBR studies, and the legitimation of DBR in the field of educational research. This article provides an empirical contribution to the discussion on argumentation: In a literature review, DBR studies are examined regarding their outcomes, the rationales authors use to justify their outcomes and indications for specific challenges in DBR reasoning. The analysis confirms for the sample that preliminary, prescriptive theory is most common alongside diverse practical outcomes. Authors often justify them with emphasis on variation, iteration, cooperation, and data triangulation. Different (standard) orientations, multi-level reasoning, and sub-studies present challenges for authors and readers, going back to the complexity of DBR projects. To justify their results in a comprehensible way, authors are confronted with the task to actively select an argumentation strategy.

Adversarial Robustness of Deep Neural Networks: A Survey from a Formal Verification Perspective

Neural networks have been widely applied in security applications such as spam and phishing detection, intrusion prevention, and malware detection. This black-box method, however, often has uncertainty and poor explainability in applications. Furthermore, neural networks themselves are often vulnerable to adversarial attacks. For those reasons, there is a high demand for trustworthy and rigorous methods to verify the robustness of neural network models. Adversarial robustness, which concerns the reliability of a neural network when dealing with maliciously manipulated inputs, is one of the hottest topics in security and machine learning. In this work, we survey existing literature in adversarial robustness verification for neural networks and collect 39 diversified research works across machine learning, security, and software engineering domains. We systematically analyze their approaches, including how robustness is formulated, what verification techniques are used, and the strengths and limitations of each technique. We provide a taxonomy from a formal verification perspective for a comprehensive understanding of this topic. We classify the existing techniques based on property specification, problem reduction, and reasoning strategies. We also demonstrate representative techniques that have been applied in existing studies with a sample model. Finally, we discuss open questions for future research.

교육재정경제 연구의 동향과 과제

This study comprehensively analyzes trends in education finance and economics research and discusses the directions and challenges for future research. By examining 712 academic papers from the inaugural to the most recent issues of the ‘Journal of Economics and Finance of Education,' it derives research achievements and challenges in this field. The analysis reveals distinctive features, such as the increasing application of theoretical concepts to practical approachs, a surge in education economics research, diversified research targets including education authorities and institutions, a shift towards quantitative data utilization, a rapid transition from literature-focused to quantitative-oriented research, and enhanced collaboration among researchers. Comparatively, qualitative studies are underutilized in the area of research, emphasizing empirical studies relevant to education policies. The study's keyword analysis demonstrates balanced treatment of education finance and economics-related terms and substantial research on value considerations like efficiency, equity, and fairness. Advanced research methods like Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Propensity Score Matching (PSM), Fixed Effects (FE), and Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) are widely adopted. Through a comparison with international trends, it highlights research areas requiring increased focus, including the effectiveness of education investments, specific education fiscal demand analysis, discussions on the appropriateness of education fiscal policies, cost estimation of targeted educational programs, education's cost-benefit analysis, strengthened education policy evaluation, and expanded research on the teacher labor market. Enhanced scholarly interest and investigation are recommended for these themes in education fiscal economics.

Women’s risk assessments and the gendering of online IPED cultures and communities

Background This article aims to describe how women narrate their IPED use in relation to the gendering of drug cultures and communities, and to conceptually address the gender bias that has dominated the scholarly debate on IPEDs and their use relative to potential risks and harms associated with the practice. Methods The article takes a case study-based and theoretically informed qualitative approach to data. Two online sites where women engage in discussions about IPEDs were selected. Purposive sampling was employed for data collection and reflexive thematic analysis was used to make sense of the data. Results It is illustrated that women who use IPEDs engage in online discussions through a narrative of the Other. Variations in experiences and spaces for female subjectivity are overshadowed by stereotypes of women who use IPEDs. Stereotypical beliefs and inaccurate or non-adapted information for the female body, as well as men posing as women online in forums, complicate the distinction between genuine information, harm reduction, and misogyny. Conclusion We argue that gendered expectations and assumptions can obscure the diversity of backgrounds, experiences, motivations, and results among women within these communities. Further and diversified research is needed in this area.

A Bibliometric Analysis and Visualization of Building Decarbonization Research

The building sector is responsible for approximately 40% of global energy consumption and carbon emissions, making it a key area of focus in addressing the urgent global challenge of climate change and in achieving the 1.5-degree target. This study concentrated on building decarbonization, using bibliometric and network visualization analyses based on a dataset of 2494 publications retrieved from the Web of Science up to 25 June 2023. Findings revealed a rapid growth in publications, with China being the largest contributor (approximately 31%). Notably, the journals of Cleaner Production and Applied Energy emerged as the most influential journal in this field. Although leadership teams and authors have gained prominence, cross-national collaboration and communication among them remain limited. Furthermore, an analysis of keywords and co-citations revealed that the main research themes and hotspots encompass “energy”, “life cycle assessment”, “storage”, and related “models” and decarbonization “strategies”. As the field progresses, a clear trend toward multidisciplinary integration and diversified research directions and content was observed. Researchers can further concentrate their efforts on countries with historically limited research but substantial emissions, and enhance international collaboration and interdisciplinary integration. Overall, this study offers valuable insights for researchers and facilitates future investigations in the field of building decarbonization.

Religiosity scales in marketing research

PurposeThis paper aims to identify religiosity scale usage in academic marketing articles and compare the effectiveness of different religiosity scales in predicting marketing and consumer behavior outcomes.Design/methodology/approachArticles (n = 397) in the top 20 marketing journals are reviewed and a follow-up study is conducted that compares 22 religiosity scales in predicting 18 marketing variables.FindingsMost scales are from preexisting sources (64.3%), only 20% are multi-dimensional and over 58% are used in only one journal article. Only 22.5% of possible regressions in the follow-up study predicting marketing variables from religiosity scales were significant.Research limitations/implicationsThis research is limited by the journals and dependent variables chosen. Implications include diversify research topics, expand publication outlets, decrease use of author-generated scales, increase use of multi-item and multi-dimensional measures, replicate findings methodologically and conceptually and make cultural context adaptations.Practical implicationsMarketers would benefit from using preexisting scales, ensuring that religiosity is measured using a multi-item measure that contains appropriate items for the dominant religious beliefs of the sample, as well as consider multi-dimensional measures to best guide marketing strategy decisions, such as target market definition.Originality/valueThis is the first research study to compare the use of religiosity scales in marketing. This offers key value to the marketing literature by highlighting tactics to take to improve consistency in research practices to increase the comparability and accuracy of findings.

The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation's philanthropic support for neuropsychiatric research.

In the 36 years since its founding, the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF) has become one of the world's largest non-government funders of grants for neuropsychiatric research. A number of lessons can be drawn from the BBRF experience. One is that scientific competence in the organization, and full control over selection of grantees, has always resided in a Scientific Council composed of leaders in the field. Fund-raising has been conducted separately, and all public dollars contributed have been used to fund grants. The Council has sought to support the best research, no matter who is doing it or where it is being done. Over 80% of 6300 grants awarded have jump-started the careers of young investigators judged to demonstrate unusual promise. These early-career grants have been the equivalent of seed funding, enabling the best and brightest entrants to the field to perform research that, if successful, can provide a basis for much larger, career-sustaining grants. Much of the funded research has been basic research, although many contributions leading to clinical advances have also resulted from BBRF grants. BBRF has learned that it pays to have a diversified research portfolio, with thousands of grantees attacking the problem of mental illness from many different angles. The Foundation's experience also demonstrates the power of patient-inspired philanthropic support. Donors repeatedly express satisfaction that some aspect of mental illness that they care deeply about is being addressed, and find comfort and support from the sense of joining with others in the mission.

Knowledge Domain and Innovation Trends Concerning Medical 3D Printing for Craniomaxillofacial Surgery Applications: A 30-Year Bibliometric and Visualized Analysis

Study Design: Descriptive study (review containing bibliometric analyses). Objective: Since the inception of three-dimensional printing (3DP), various studies have been conducted worldwide to investigate the utilization of 3DP in craniomaxillofacial (CMF) surgery. Analyzing the current state of global research in medical 3DP in CMF surgery is a crucial first step in identifying knowledge gaps and focusing research resources on pressing problems that have not yet been addressed. Therefore, the current study was designed to present a comprehensive review of scientific research data to discover trends in the last 30 years of global research on 3DP in CMF surgery. Methods: All publications from 1994 until 14 February 2023 were retrieved from the core collection of Web of Science using a defined search. Detailed bibliographic data for all retrieved publications were collected. The bibliometric analysis was performed using VOS viewer, Histcite, and Microsoft Excel. Results: A total of 1367 evaluable articles were retrieved. Results showed that although there is an exponential increase in the number of publications related to 3DP in CMF surgery, there is a substantial regionalization of research, with the U.S.A. and China being the most significant contributors to the retrieved articles. It was also observed that there is a scarcity of published literature related to bioprinting in CMF surgery. Conclusion: This is the first study that specifically analyzed the published literature concerning 3DP in CMF surgery in a structured quantitative manner. The study found a concentration of research in specific geographies and indicated a need for more diversified research in this field. The study also identified a need for public sector involvement in such research to aid in the further dissemination of knowledge.

Challenges and opportunities for sustainable valorization of rare earth metals from anthropogenic waste.

Progressively and projected integration of rare earth metals (REMs) in modern technologies, especially in the clean energy, consumer electronics, aerospace, automotive, and defense sectors, place REMs as critical raw materials in the supply chain and strategic metal from the fourth industrial revolution perspective. Current REM production from the primary mineral resources in the supply chain versus industrial demand is at a bottleneck. Alternatively, REM-bearing anthropogenic wastes are pertinent and potent to addressing the critical supply chain bottleneck. Although secondary REM resources are prudent to address the critical supply chain bottleneck, the absence of effective and efficient technologies to recover these REMs from anthropogenic waste imposes challenges and provides opportunities. Hence, this review analyses and discusses the significance of anthropogenic wastes for REM recovery, the status of recycling technologies for sustainable valorization of REMs, challenges, and opportunities. The current review covers the potential quantitative REM wealth locked in various anthropogenic waste like (i) spent rare earth permanent magnets, (ii) spent batteries, (iii) spent tri-band REM phosphors, (iv) bauxite industry residue red mud, (v) blast furnace slag and (v) coal mines, and coal byproducts and status of valorization technologies for circularizing the REMs. In industrial waste like red mud, steelmaking slag, blast furnace slag, and coal fly ash typically 109,000, 2000, 39,000, and 354,000 tons of REM get scrapped, respectively, in a conservative estimation. In the years 2020 and 2021, respectively, 240,000 and 280,000 tons of REM were produced by mine production in contrast to 504,000 tons of REM that were scrapped with REM-bearing industrial waste. This review revealed that total REM currently getting scrapped with anthropogenic waste versus projected REM demand for the years 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 could be standing at 2.66, 2.51, 2.37, and 2.23, respectively. Our investigation revealed that efficient recovery of REMs from anthropogenic waste is significant and promising but associated with challenges like lack of industrial-scale valorization process, lack of a clear strategy, road map, policy, effort, funding, and diversified research.

Measurement and Comparison of the Innovation Spatial Spillover Effect: A Study Based on the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, China

Innovation is an important factor to improve the quality of economic growth, and amplifying the innovation spatial spillover effect is an important measure to support the development of innovation. Scholars have carried out diversified research on the innovation spatial spillover effect, but there is still practical significance for deepening the research on the spatial spillover effect. In particular, the multi-angle comparative study in different regions still has research value, especially for the field of urban agglomeration integration. The spatial econometric model is a common method to measure spatial spillover effect. In order to carry out a multi-angle comparative study of innovation spatial spillover effects in different regions, this study takes two typical integrated urban agglomerations of the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta in China as the object, and conducts a comparative study of the evolutionary characteristics of innovation spatial spillover effects based on urban scale data and the spatial econometric model. Differently from previous studies, invention patents are adopted to characterize the innovation level. The results show that there are significant positive innovation spatial spillover effects in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, and the spatial spillover effect in the Yangtze River Delta is stronger. The spatial spillover effect exhibits significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity. For example, the spatial spillover effect in the core region and the fringe region of the urban agglomeration exhibits a positive effect, but the Yangtze River Delta is stronger than the Pearl River Delta. As an important innovation, the spatial spillover effects both exhibit the evolutionary characteristics of “inverted U-shape” based on the changes in geographical distance, and the spatial spillover effect of the Yangtze River Delta is always larger. Based on the empirical research, we propose promoting high-quality development by strengthening urban agglomeration cooperation, realizing urban agglomeration expansion in an orderly way, and improving the macro-political system.

Blood Tests for Alzheimer's Disease: Increasing Efforts to Expand and Diversify Research Participation Is Critical for Widespread Validation and Acceptance.

The recent academic and commercial development, and regulatory approvals, of blood-based Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers are breakthrough developments of immense potential. However, clinical validation studies and therapeutic trial applications are limited almost exclusively to non-Hispanic White cohorts often including highly-educated, high-earning participants. This commentary argues that the true benefits of blood tests for AD will be realized by active inclusion of diverse groups including minoritized populations, people of socioeconomic status different from those included in existing cohorts, and residents of low- and middle-income countries. The article discusses key factors that are critical for a successful implementation of diversity programs.