Explanatory Value Research Articles

Seasonal Patterns Contribute More Towards Phyllosphere Bacterial Community Structure than Short-Term Perturbations.

Phyllosphere microorganisms are sensitive to fluctuations in wind, temperature, solar radiation, and rain. However, recent explorations of patterns in phyllosphere communities across time often focus on seasonal shifts and leaf senescence without measuring the contribution of environmental drivers and leaf traits. Here, we focus on the effects of rain on the phyllosphere bacterial community of the wetland macrophyte broadleaf cattail (Typha latifolia) across an entire year, specifically targeting days before and 1, 3, and 5days after rain events. To isolate the contribution of precipitation from other factors, we covered a subset of plants to shield them from rainfall. We used targeted Illumina sequencing of the V4 region of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene to characterize phyllosphere community composition. Rain events did not have a detectable effect on phyllosphere community richness or evenness regardless of whether the leaves were covered from rain or not, suggesting that foliar microbial communities are robust to such disturbances. While climatic and leaf-based variables effectively modeled seasonal trends in phyllosphere diversity and composition, they provided more limited explanatory value at shorter time scales. These findings underscore the dominance of long-term seasonal patterns related to climatic variation as the main factor influencing the phyllosphere community.

Fluid Shear Stress Sensing by the Endothelial Layer.

Blood flow produces mechanical frictional forces, parallel to the blood flow exerted on the endothelial wall of the vessel, the so-called wall shear stress (WSS). WSS sensing is associated with several vascular pathologies, but it is first a physiological phenomenon. Endothelial cell sensitivity to WSS is involved in several developmental and physiological vascular processes such as angiogenesis and vascular morphogenesis, vascular remodeling, and vascular tone. Local conditions of blood flow determine the characteristics of WSS, i.e., intensity, direction, pulsatility, sensed by the endothelial cells that, through their effect of the vascular network, impact WSS. All these processes generate a local-global retroactive loop that determines the ability of the vascular system to ensure the perfusion of the tissues. In order to account for the physiological role of WSS, the so-called shear stress set point theory has been proposed, according to which WSS sensing acts locally on vessel remodeling so that WSS is maintained close to a set point value, with local and distant effects of vascular blood flow. The aim of this article is (1) to review the existing literature on WSS sensing involvement on the behavior of endothelial cells and its short-term (vasoreactivity) and long-term (vascular morphogenesis and remodeling) effects on vascular functioning in physiological condition; (2) to present the various hypotheses about WSS sensors and analyze the conceptual background of these representations, in particular the concept of tensional prestress or biotensegrity; and (3) to analyze the relevance, explanatory value, and limitations of the WSS set point theory, that should be viewed as dynamical, and not algorithmic, processes, acting in a self-organized way. We conclude that this dynamic set point theory and the biotensegrity concept provide a relevant explanatory framework to analyze the physiological mechanisms of WSS sensing and their possible shift toward pathological situations.

Friend or foe? Postdivorce hostility among recently divorced individuals.

High levels of hostility often occur during and postdivorce and may significantly affect the quality of life, parent-child relationships, and social functioning of divorcees. Moreover, hostility may predict aggressive and violent behavior. This study sought to (a) compare average general hostility levels of a large sample of Danish divorcees to the norms of the general adult Danish population, (b) compare general hostility levels between male and female divorcees, and (c) investigate the explanatory value of various sociodemographic and divorce-related factors on postdivorce general hostility and whether these factors differ across gender. Cross-sectional baseline data (N = 1,856) from a larger randomized controlled trial study was used in this study. Normative data from a general sample of Danish adults (N = 2,040) was used for comparisons of hostility levels between our study sample and the Danish background population. This study found that male and female divorcees did not report significantly different hostility levels. However, participants reported significantly higher hostility levels postdivorce than the comparative Danish norm sample. Significant predictors of postdivorce hostility were lower age, lower educational level, infidelity as a reason for divorce, higher degree of postdivorce conflict, worse communication with the former spouse, the former spouse as the initiator of the divorce, and new partner status with neither divorcees having a new partner, or only the former spouse having a new partner. The predictive strength of the factors did not differ across gender. The findings may be especially relevant for interventions targeting problematic outcomes postdivorce (e.g., preventing aggressive behavior).

Who Interacts with Whom? Drivers of Networked Welfare Governance in Europe

AbstractMigration is often perceived as a challenge to the welfare state. To manage this challenge, advanced welfare states have established transgovernmental networks. This article examines how domestic factors condition the interaction of representatives of advanced welfare states when they cooperate on transnational welfare governance. Based on new survey data, it compares who interacts with whom in one of the oldest transgovernmental networks of the European Union (EU) – the network that deals with EU citizens' rights to cross-border welfare. First, the authors perform a welfare cluster analysis of EU-28 and test whether institutional similarity explains these interactions. Furthermore, they test whether the level and kind of migration explains interaction and examine the explanatory value of administrative capacity. To test what drives interactions, the study employs social network analysis and exponential random graph models. It finds that cooperation in networked welfare governance tends to be homophilous, and that political cleavages between sending and receiving member states are mirrored in network interactions. Domestic factors are key drivers when advanced welfare states interact.

Is Dickie's Account of Aboutness‐Fixing Explanatory?

AbstractImogen Dickie's book Fixing Reference promises to reframe the investigation of mental intentionality, or what makes thoughts be about particular things. Dickie focuses on beliefs, and argues that if we can show how our ordinary means of belief formation sustain a certain connection between what our beliefs are about and how they are justified, we will have explained the ability of these ordinary means of belief formation to generate beliefs that are about particular objects. A worry about Dickie's approach is that the explanation it offers is circular and thus not a genuine explanation of mental aboutness. This article develops a version of that worry in detail and turns it aside. Nonetheless, I argue that the explanatory value of the account remains unclear. While it does promise a dialectical advance over traditional theorizing about aboutness, it does not reveal how our ordinary means of belief formation make beliefs be about what they are about.

Gender differences in financial knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors: Accounting for socioeconomic disparities and psychological traits

AbstractA large body of international research finds a persistent gender gap in the financial literacy of women compared to men, but explanations for this gap remain a topic of active debate. In this observational study, we explore the explanatory value of psychological characteristics, in addition to demographic variables and roles in household financial decision making. We begin by documenting the expected gender differences in financial knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, using a national survey of adult Canadians (n= 21,789) that provides population‐level estimates. Next, we contrast these results against a second Canadian survey data set (n= 3,502) where we are able to control for individual differences in psychological traits. Results of OLS regressions suggest that gender is not a significant predictor on three scales of financial capability. Decomposition analysis finds underlying differences in individual characteristics (endowments) explain the majority of the observed gender gap in financial literacy when psychological traits are included in the model.

Interdependent Effect of Impulsivity, Sensation Seeking and Addictive Behaviour Including Excess Gaming, Facebooking and Internet Abusing

Impulsivity has been shown to be related to both substance- and non-substance addictions. In the case of internet gaming addiction, on one hand, higher impulsivity and sensation seeking have been reported in problematic online gamers. On the other hand, problematic online gamers were also identified as introverted, socially anxious, and generally inhibited in social behaviour. This review study tried to investigate and correlate the role of dysfunctional impulsivity and sensation seeking in gaming addiction. Online gamers completed a questionnaire that was advertised online and targeted the core of the gaming community. Internet gaming addiction was measured using the Addiction-Engagement Questionnaire. Dysfunctional impulsivity was measured using the 11 items of Dickman’s (1990) sub-scale of the Impulsivity Inventory. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were calculated for variables and a regression model was constructed using hierarchical linear regression to determine the association between online gaming addiction and dysfunctional impulsivity, while controlling for age, gender, and the frequency of online gaming. A set of chi-square tests were employed to compare the patterns of addiction criteria among highly impulsive addicted gamers and non-impulsive addicted gamers. Dysfunctional impulsivity was a good predictor of gaming addiction (β = .252) which actually explained only about 7% of the addiction variance. Problematic gamers high on impulsivity had similar patterns of addiction criteria as non-impulsive gamers, with only one exception – they had a significantly higher tendency to relapse. There was no role of impulsivity in gaming engagement. The results suggested that dysfunctional impulsivity is a risk factor for online gaming addiction (similar to other addictions), but it does not have prominent explanatory value in itself. Also the results show that problematic gamers high on impulsivity are more prone to relapse and reinstatement.

Rock the MIC: The Matrix of Implied Causation, a Tool for Experimental Design and Model Checking

Path modeling and the extended structural equation modeling framework are in increasingly common use for statistical analysis in modern behavioral science. Path modeling, including structural equation modeling, provides a flexible means of defining complex models in a way that allows them to be easily visualized, specified, and fitted to data. Although causality cannot be determined simply by fitting a path model, researchers often use such models as representations of underlying causal-process models. Indeed, causal implications are a vital characteristic of a model’s explanatory value, but these implications are rarely examined directly. When models are hypothesized to be causal, they can be differentiated from one another by examining their causal implications as defined by a combination of the model assumptions, data, and estimation procedure. However, the implied causal relationships may not be immediately obvious to researchers, especially for intricate or long-chain causal structures (as in longitudinal panel designs). We introduce the matrix of implied causation (MIC) as a tool for easily understanding and reporting a model’s implications for the causal influence of one variable on another. With examples from the literature, we illustrate the use of MICs in model checking and experimental design. We argue that MICs should become a routine element of interpretation when models with complex causal implications are examined, and that they may provide an additional tool for differentiating among models with otherwise similar fit.

Scalable and explainable legal prediction

Legal decision-support systems have the potential to improve access to justice, administrative efficiency, and judicial consistency, but broad adoption of such systems is contingent on development of technologies with low knowledge-engineering, validation, and maintenance costs. This paper describes two approaches to an important form of legal decision support—explainable outcome prediction—that obviate both annotation of an entire decision corpus and manual processing of new cases. The first approach, which uses an attention network for prediction and attention weights to highlight salient case text, was shown to be capable of predicting decisions, but attention-weight-based text highlighting did not demonstrably improve human decision speed or accuracy in an evaluation with 61 human subjects. The second approach, termed semi-supervised case annotation for legal explanations, exploits structural and semantic regularities in case corpora to identify textual patterns that have both predictable relationships to case decisions and explanatory value.

Cognitive, Noncognitive, and Home Environment Correlates of Reading Difficulties in Primary-Grade Students With Language Impairment.

Purpose This article first aimed to examine the cognitive (rapid automatized naming, phonological awareness, working memory, nonverbal cognition, and language) correlates of reading difficulty in children with language impairment (LI). Second, we considered whether noncognitive (effortful control, social competence, and behavior problems) correlates offered any explanatory value above that of cognitive factors. Third, we examined whether home environment (specifically household organization and home learning environment) would offer an additional explanatory value. Method The sample included 165 children in kindergarten and Grade 1 who were receiving intervention for LI in public schools. Standardized measures along with parent interviews/questionnaires were administered at the end of the school year. Results Logistic regression models indicated the noncognitive factors added discriminatory value to that of cognitive factors in predicting reading difficulties, whereas household factors did not. In the final model using all 11 predictors, prediction accuracy was 88.7% for the typical reading group and 54.2% for the reading difficulty group, with an overall accuracy of 76.4%. Only phonological awareness and working memory significantly contributed to predicting reading group membership when measured in kindergarten and Grade 1. Conclusions For this sample of children with LI, the most important predictors of reading were cognitive. The child's behavior and social competence improved prediction to a limited but statistically significant degree, whereas home environment did not. Overall classification was low, as only half of the children with reading difficulties were correctly predicted. Important factors differentiating good and poor emergent readers with LI were not captured in this study. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12462428.

The role of alcohol use and drinking patterns in socioeconomic inequalities in mortality: a systematic review

Individuals with low socioeconomic status (SES) experience disproportionately greater alcohol-attributable health harm than individuals with high SES from similar or lower amounts of alcohol consumption. Our aim was to provide an update of the current evidence for the role of alcohol use and drinking patterns in socioeconomic inequalities in mortality, as well as the effect modification or interaction effects between SES and alcohol use, as two potential explanations of this so-called alcohol-harm paradox. We did a systematic review, searching Embase, Medline, PsycINFO, and Web of Science (published between Jan 1, 2013, and June 30, 2019) for studies reporting alcohol consumption, SES, and mortality. Observational, quantitative studies of the general adult population (aged ≥15 years) with a longitudinal study design were included. Two outcome measures were extracted: first, the proportion of socioeconomic inequalities in mortality explained by alcohol use; and second, the effect modification or interaction between SES and alcohol use regarding mortality risks. This study is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42019140279). Of 1941 records identified, ten met the inclusion criteria. The included studies contained more than 400 000 adults, more than 30 000 deaths from all causes, and more than 3000 100% alcohol-attributable events. Alcohol use explained up to 27% of the socioeconomic inequalities in mortality. The proportion of socioeconomic inequalities explained systematically differed by drinking pattern, with heavy episodic drinking having a potentially significant explanatory value. Although scarce, there was some evidence of effect modification or interaction between SES and alcohol use. To reduce socioeconomic inequalities in mortality, addressing heavy episodic drinking in particular, rather than alcohol use in general, is worth exploring as a public health strategy. Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

The gradual city-ness and town-ness of public service locations: Towards spatially sensitive sector policies

Location policies of public services such as health care have a great impact on urban and regional structures. Hence, we criticise the general failure of national public sector policies to account for regionally unequal conditions. Conversely, we question the sufficiency of current regional planning concepts for a spatially sensitive location policy of public services. In this theoretical-conceptual contribution, we review the literature on public service provision and the logics of public facility location systems, especially concerning their explanatory value under different regional urbanisation conditions. We reinterpret the conceptual limits of the prime planning concepts of ‘central places’ and ‘polycentricity’ – represented by their underlying spatial logics of hierarchy and complementarity – by employing the ‘central flow theory’ of Taylor, Hoyler, and Verbruggen. With the help of the ‘territory-place-scale-network (TPSN) framework’ of Jessop, Brenner and Jones, we perform a conceptual shift to ultimately outline an integrative ‘central places and flows planning approach’. It accounts for unequal regional conditions for public service locations, and thus manages to integrate economic, political, and spatial components of service provision. We illustrate the feasibility of the central places and flows planning approach using the case of the Finnish social and health care sector. The (failed) Finnish governance reform plans of 2015–2019 for the health care sector are a telling example of spatially un-sensitive sector policies. The reform plans wanted to advance free market elements and enhance the free choice of clients. These aims implicitly re-enforced centre-favouring conditions at the expense of peripheral regions.

Tree Cover Is Unevenly Distributed Across Cities Globally, With Lowest Levels Near Highway Pollution Sources

Obtaining accurate tree cover maps within cities is a first step toward managing for equitable access to their ecosystem services. For example, by removing air pollutants trees contribute to fewer health impacts, and tree cover expansion could extend these benefits by targeting the most polluted areas and vulnerable populations. To support strategic tree expansion, this research created urban tree cover maps using the 2017 NASA MOD44B satellite 250 m pixel product for 35 megacities, areas with large levels of pollution and vulnerable populations. Estimates of tree cover from photo-interpretation (PI) were used to characterize map error, city-wide and from low to high tree cover, using 21 bins from 0 to 100% tree cover. Map accuracy was highest when MOD44B percent tree cover was combined with its tree cover standard deviation product, with average difference of 1.8% compared with PI estimates of 19.9% city-wide tree cover. MOD44B estimates of tree cover spatial patterns had strong explanatory value. The maps explained the PI estimates of low to high tree cover at 5% tree cover intervals with an R2 = 0.97. The Getis Ord Gi* statistic determined a non-random spatial distribution of tree cover within the megacities, with significant clustering into hot spots of relatively high tree cover and cold spots of relatively low tree cover. Tree cover hot spots were most often furthest from downtown, at the rural-urban interface or within higher elevation terrain. Tree cover cold spots were most often in areas of concentrated development and along traffic corridors known for high levels of particulate matter and other air pollutants that could be reduced by trees. Given small increases in exposure to particulate matter are associated with significant increases in death rates from viruses, and that climate change and associated heat waves are forecast to exacerbate health risks to air pollution, we need to improve global urban tree cover. These map products can be used to expand tree cover that strategically contributes to pollutant abatement, human wellbeing, and sustainable cities.

A Cross-Sectional Study of Empathy and Emotion Management: Key to a Work Environment for Humanized Care in Nursing.

IntroductionAt the present time, technological advances have increased the technification of healthcare services, in which high priority is given to efficiency and results achieved, leading healthcare personnel to prioritize administrative and procedural aspects to the detriment of humanization of care and the work environment.ObjectiveThis study was intended to continue progress in research on the work environment based on the humanization construct by analyzing the explanatory value of emotional intelligence and empathy in nursing personnel.Materials and MethodsThe study was quantitative, observational, and cross-sectional. The sample was made up of 338 Spanish nurses with a mean age of 32.20 (SD = 7.54; range 22–56). The instruments employed for analysis were the Healthcare Professional Humanization Scale (HUMAS), Brief Emotional Intelligence Inventory for Adults, and Basic Empathy Scale (BES).ResultsMood and stress management—both emotional intelligence components—and cognitive empathy explained over half (51%) of the variability found in humanization of care in a sample of nurses. Furthermore, the mediation models proposed emphasized the mediating role of cognitive empathy in stress management and improvement in mood and its relationship to humanization.ConclusionIt is recommended that healthcare professionals reinforce their personal competencies in order to tend to the needs of their patients empathetically and improve emotional competencies for coping successfully with potentially stressful situations.

MRI phenotype of the prostate: Transition zone radiomics analysis improves explanation of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) serum level compared to volume measurement alone

PurposeTo determine the value of a radiomics MRI phenotype of the transition zone to explain PSA level in patients with low suspicion for clinically significant cancer to confirm hyperplastic changes. Materials and methodsT2 weighted images from 36 consecutive PI-RADS 2 and 3 cases with volume adapted systematic transperineal biopsy as reference standard (all biopsies negative, 34.8 biopsy cores per patient in average, mean PSA level 10.77 ng/mL) are manually segmented to define transition zone (TZ) volume. 54 radiomic features (RF) are derived for each TZ. RF are tested for significant correlation with PSA level, Bonferroni correction is applied. We build regression models to explain PSA level with a) TZ volume b) RF c) TZ volume+RF. We apply all models to a control group with clinically significant transition zone cancer. ResultsTZ volume is moderately correlated with PSA level (r = 0.44). 5/54 RF are significantly correlated with PSA level (r: 0.53−0.69, p < 0.05). Inclusion of each of these five features into the regression model significantly improves the explanatory value for PSA level (p < 0.05). Furthermore, RF alone better explain PSA level compared to TZ volume alone (p < 0.01). A systematic and significant trend for positive residuals is observed when regression models are applied to the malignant control group. ConclusionA radiomics analysis of the transition zone has the potential to improve explanation of corresponding PSA level in patients with low suspicion. This knowledge may reassure radiologists to read prostate MRI cases as unremarkable, despite present hyperplastic changes.

Wine Descriptions Provide Information: A Text Analysis

I use a computational linguistic algorithm to measure the topics covered in textual descriptions of wine. I ask whether there is information in the text that consumers value. Wine is a prominent example of an experience good. There is substantial product differentiation in the market and consumers only have limited information on the utility they will receive when consumed. Thus, information is expected to be valuable. Evaluating descriptions of wine produced across the U.S., I use a hedonic price regression to explore whether the descriptions provide any new information not already available to the consumer. Initial results suggest that text descriptions are shown to lose their explanatory value when varietal and numerical ratings are included as controls. I then show that once the varietal, region, and numerical ratings are adequately controlled for, there is information in the descriptions that consumers value.

Spatial Analysis of COVID-19 and Exploration of Its Environmental and Socio-Demographic Risk Factors Using Spatial Statistical Methods: A Case Study of Iran

Background: Iran detected its first COVID-19 case in February 2020 in Qom province, which rapidly spread to other cities in the country. Iran, as one of those countries with the highest number of infected people, has officially reported 1812 deaths from a total number of 23049 confirmed infected cases that we used in the analysis. Materials and Methods: Geographic distribution by the map of calculated incidence rates for COVID -19 in Iran within the period was prepared by GIS 10.6 Spatial autocorrelation (Global Moran’s I) and hot spot analysis were used to assess COVID -19 spatial patterns. The ordinary least square method was used to estimate the relationship between COVID -19 and the risk factors. The next step was to explore Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) models that might better explain the variation in COVID -19 cases based on the environmental and socio-demographic factors. Results: The spatial autocorrelation (Global Moran’s I) result showed that COVID-19 cases in the studied area were in clustered patterns. For statistically significant positive z-scores, the larger the z-score is, the more intense the clustering of high values (hot spot), such as Semnan, Qom, Isfahan, Mazandaran, Alborz, and Tehran. Hot spot analysis detected clustering of a hot spot with confidence level 99% for Semnan, Qom, Isfahan, Mazandaran, Alborz, and Tehran, as well. The risk factors were removed from the model step by step. Finally, just the distance from the epicenter was adopted in the model. GWR efforts increased the explanatory value of risk factor with better special precision (adjusted R-squared=0.44) Conclusion: The highest CIR was concentrated around Qom. Also, the greater the distance from the center of prevalence (Qom), the fewer the patients. Hot spot analysis also implies that the neighboring provinces of prevalence centers exhibited hot spots with a 99% confidence level. Furthermore, the results of OLS analysis showed the significant correlation of CIR is with the distance from epicenter (Qom). The GWR can result in the spatial granularity providing an opportunity to well understand the relationship between environmental spatial heterogeneity and COVID-19 risk as entailed by the infection of CIR with COVID-19, which would make it possible to better plan managerial policies for public health.

Supplementary Video 1 to 'Lunar Standstills or Lunistices, Reality or Myth?' by A. César González-García and Juan A. Belmonte

There is an intense debate in cultural astronomy on the importance of lunar standstills in prehistory or antiquity, and even on whether this elusive and difficult-to-understand phenomenon actually was then recognised. In the present paper, we seek to address those who advocate no longer using the terms "lunar standstill" or the related "lunistice". We begin by clarifying what the concept actually involves, before highlighting some case studies where proposed orientations to lunar standstills have explanatory value and a strong likelihood, connected to the lunar nature of the deities worshipped at particular sites. Finally, we present some relevant ancient texts that indicate awareness of lunar extremes.

Lunar Standstills or Lunistices, Reality or Myth?

There is an intense debate in cultural astronomy on the importance of lunar standstills in prehistory or antiquity, and even on whether this elusive and difficult-to-understand phenomenon actually was then recognised. In the present paper, we seek to address those who advocate no longer using the terms "lunar standstill" or the related "lunistice". We begin by clarifying what the concept actually involves, before highlighting some case studies where proposed orientations to lunar standstills have explanatory value and a strong likelihood, connected to the lunar nature of the deities worshipped at particular sites. Finally, we present some relevant ancient texts that indicate awareness of lunar extremes.

Supplementary Video 2 to 'Lunar Standstills or Lunistices, Reality or Myth?' by A. César González-García and Juan A. Belmonte

There is an intense debate in cultural astronomy on the importance of lunar standstills in prehistory or antiquity, and even on whether this elusive and difficult-to-understand phenomenon actually was then recognised. In the present paper, we seek to address those who advocate no longer using the terms "lunar standstill" or the related "lunistice". We begin by clarifying what the concept actually involves, before highlighting some case studies where proposed orientations to lunar standstills have explanatory value and a strong likelihood, connected to the lunar nature of the deities worshipped at particular sites. Finally, we present some relevant ancient texts that indicate awareness of lunar extremes.