Flexible Methods Research Articles

Effectiveness of hierarchical Bayesian models for citizen science data with missing values: A case study on the factors influencing beach litter in Shimane Prefecture, Japan

Citizen science can play an important role in addressing the issue of marine debris. However, citizen science data are often composed of inconsistent methods compared to data collected by experts. In this study, we applied beach cleanup data, collected in different survey years at different survey sites, to a hierarchical Bayesian model to elucidate the factors affecting the distribution of beach litter. The results showed the model accounting for differences between years had a smaller Watanabe-Akaike Information criterion than the model that did not account for it, indicating better accuracy of the model. The amount of beach litter was influenced by current velocity and bay openness, and these effects varied across years. The results indicate that citizen science data, which may contain missing values due to various constraints such as economic and human resources, can make an important contribution toward solving marine debris issues by flexible statistical analysis methods.

Vocational Education from a Cross-national Perspective: Comparative Analysis of China, Germany, and the United States, with a Case Study of Zhaixing Academy

This study delves into the current state and challenges of vocational education through a comparative study of cross-national vocational education and an analysis of the Zhaixing Academy case. The research reveals that vocational education reform can draw on the experiences of the German dual system, American community colleges, and Chinese vocational education reforms, with a focus on informal education pathways, practice-oriented teaching, and flexible training methods. The Zhaixing Academy case demonstrates the application of practice-oriented teaching approaches in the field of vocational education, emphasizing individual student development needs and the advantages of education outside formal institutions, offering new insights and references for the current Chinese education system. The study proposes that governments and education departments should increase investment in vocational education, encourage collaboration between enterprises and vocational education institutions, and support innovative practice-oriented education. In the future, Zhaixing Academy can continue to focus on education reform, expand the realm of practice-oriented education, promote its educational philosophy and methods, and contribute to the diversification and sustainable development of education.

Protected area planning to conserve biodiversity in an uncertain future.

Protected areas are a key instrument for conservation. Despite this, they are vulnerable to risks associated with weak governance, land-use intensification, and climate change. We used a novel hierarchical optimization approach to identify priority areas for expanding the global protected area system that explicitly accounted for such risks while maximizing protection of all known terrestrial vertebrate species. To incorporate risk categories, we built on the minimum set problem, where the objective is to reach species distribution protection targets while accounting for 1 constraint, such as land cost or area. We expanded this approach to include multiple objectives accounting for risk in the problem formulation by treating each risk layer as a separate objective in the problem formulation. Reducing exposure to these risks required expanding the area of the global protected area system by 1.6% while still meeting conservation targets. Incorporating risks from weak governance drove the greatest changes in spatial priorities for protection, and incorporating risks from climate change required the largest increase (2.52%) in global protected area. Conserving wide-ranging species required countries with relatively strong governance to protect more land when they bordered nations with comparatively weak governance. Our results underscore the need for cross-jurisdictional coordination and demonstrate how risk can be efficiently incorporated into conservation planning. Planeación de las áreas protegidas para conservar la biodiversidad en un futuro incierto.

Mental Health Training Programs for Community Pharmacists in Low Middle-income Countries: A Systematic Review

Objective: This review aimed to explore the potential approachto continuing education and training the community pharmacists to equip them to support mental health consumers in lowmiddle- income countries. Materials and Methods: A systematic search strategy was conducted using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA). Search terms related to mental health, training program, and community pharmacist were used in three major databases (i.e.,PubMed, Science Direct, and Scopus), retrieving a total of 5575 articles. Ten studies met the inclusion criteria. Results and Discussion: There was evidence that shortduration delivery and non-direct contact training with patient diagnosed with mental illness (consumer educator or peer-level-educator) have the same effect as long training delivery and direct contact intervention. Consumer educator or peer-level-educator in mental health training programs are key factors to improved mental health knowledge, attitudes, and pharmaceutical care service of community pharmacists. Conclusion: Flexible nondirected delivery methods using video footage of expert and mental health patients were preferred for a low-cost program accessible to a large community pharmacy workforce which can be applicable in developing countries. However, there is an urgent need for further studies to clarify actual changes in the attitude of and daily service by pharmacists after participating in a mental health training program. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol. 22 No. 02 April’23 Page : 284-296

Readiness, Attitude, and Acceptability of Engineering and Technology Students toward Flexible Learning Method

The COVID-19 pandemic affected every single component of society, including education. This study aims to assess the readiness, attitude, and acceptability of the college of engineering students about flexible learning modalities during the pandemic. It is essential that the institution understands the effect of the pandemic on its primary clientele, the students. This study employed a descriptive-correlational design. Six hundred seventy-one respondents were identified from the six (6) courses of the College of Engineering, University of Eastern Philippines, Catarman, Northern Samar, enrolled during the School Year 2020-2021. The researchers identified that students rely on their mobile phones to do their school activities, thus using mobile data to connect to the internet. Students experience a fair internet connection. The majority of the students came from low-income families. This means that students fall short of the readiness that flexible learning requires. Results also revealed that the students favor flexible learning methodology but are neutral in their acceptability towards flexible learning modalities. Using Spearman's Rho correlation, only internet connectivity significantly affects their attitude and acceptability towards flexible learning methods. The result means that students' good internet connectivity status can lead to a positive attitude and acceptance towards flexible learning.

Repositioning Cannabinoids and Terpenes as Novel EGFR-TKIs Candidates for Targeted Therapy Against Cancer: A virtual screening model using CADD and biophysical simulations

This study examines the potential of Cannabis sativa L. plants to be repurposed as therapeutic agents for cancer treatment through designing of hybrid Epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs). A set of 50 phytochemicals was taken from Cannabinoids and Terpenes and subjected for screening using Semi-flexible and Flexible Molecular Docking methods, MM-GBSA free binding energy computations, and pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (ADME-Tox) predictions. Nine promising phytochemicals, Cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), Cannabidiol (CBD), Tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV), Dronabinol (Δ-9-THC), Delta-8-Tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ-8-THC), Cannabicyclol (CBL), Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA), Beta-Caryophyllene (BCP), and Gamma-Elemene (γ-Ele) were identified as potential EGFR-TKIs natural product candidates for cancer therapy. To further validate these findings, a set of Molecular Dynamics simulations were conducted over a 200 ns trajectory. This hybrid early drug discovery screening strategy has the potential to yield a new generation of EGFR-TKIs based on natural cannabis products, suitable for cancer therapy. In addition, the application of this computational strategy in the virtual screening of both natural and synthetic chemical libraries could support the discovery of a wide range of lead drug agents to address numerous diseases.

Green Packaging as a Positive Catalyst for Green Environment: Implementation in Emerging Markets around the Globe

The fundamental definition of packaging is anything that prevents outer elements from penetrating the product and the product from leaving the packaging. Packing consists of wrapping a product to protect it from physical risks and delivering it to the customer without compromising its durability. An emerging issue across the globe today is environmental pollution, which influences mass product packaging for a variety of reasons, one of which is the rapid growth of the population, which stimulates the demand for products; as a result, companies develop products to meet these needs, which ultimately leads to the packaging of products for protection, handling, delivery, and preservation. Thus, high population expansion leads to massive consumption, which has detrimental environmental effects. As a consequence of these factors, packing contributes to soil contamination, environmental waste, an increase in carbon emissions, and the use of a vast array of other resources. Cumulatively, packaging has become a significant source of environmental footprints and damage to environmental sustainability. Businesses that are environmentally conscious and concerned with future generations and the environment are using flexible and long-lasting methods to meet the growing need for green packaging. Reducing carbon footprints, waste, pollution, energy consumption, cost savings, promoting CSR (corporate social responsibility), eco-friendly packaging, and increasing customer pleasure are the primary objectives of these businesses. There are very few companies that are adopting the 4 Rs (remove, reduce, reuse, and recycle) as a key facilitator of the current recycling strategy, with fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) corporations leading the way.

Clinical Effects of the ‘Crisis Toolbox’ (CTB): A Brief, Skills Based, Intervention Delivered in a Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team

Access to psychological interventions for people under Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Teams (CRHTTs) is limited. The Crisis Toolbox (CTB) is a skills-based intervention designed to increase access using flexible methods of delivery. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical effects of the CTB. A retrospective service evaluation of 399 participants who accessed the CTB between November 2020 and February 2021 was employed. Sessional measures comprising the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Generalised Anxiety Scale (GAD-7) were recorded across three time points. Overall, there were significantly decreasing trends in PHQ-9 (β = − 1.6, p < 0.001) and GAD-7 scores (β = − 1.5, p < 0.001) in participants who accessed the CTB. The magnitude and direction of specific trends differed according to age, diagnosis, and neurodiversity. The CTB could help reduce depression and anxiety in people experiencing crisis. Randomised controlled trials are now required to test its acceptability, feasibility, and effectiveness.

Fusion of Emotional Thinking and Mental Health of Students in Vocal Music Teaching.

Vocal psychology belongs to the branch of music psychology, which is the cross-study of vocal art and psychology, and is also a new discipline with both theory and application. Vocal singing uses a thinking, conscious person as an instrument that is necessarily governed by the psyche over the physiology, relying on the brain to direct the movement of the singing muscles and the coordination of the vocal organs. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the application of vocal psychology in vocal singing and teaching, to explain the generation and development of various psychological phenomena in singing activities, to reveal the role and significance of various psychological factors, to provide singers with a theoretical basis for psychological aspects, and to correctly understand the scientific laws of the inner psychology of vocal singing. The effectiveness of classroom teaching is reflected in effective and efficient aspects. The effectiveness of a vocal lesson can be measured by the criteria of whether the teaching is oriented, scientific, artistic, and efficient. Effective teaching design is the basis of teaching effectiveness, elaborate teaching organization is the guarantee of teaching effectiveness, and flexible teaching methods are the root of teaching effectiveness; all three need to be closely combined and organically unified. Effective teaching design is a holistic thinking before the implementation of teaching; all factors related to teaching, practice, and evaluation should be fully considered in the teaching design; teachers should take the learning effect of students and the cultivation of employability as the starting point for effective teaching design; and the classroom teaching of "vocal music" is a "process" and teachers should teach in accordance with the teaching design. They should focus on guiding students to experience and cultivate their abilities in a series of "processes" such as the emotion of vocal music, the teaching situation, the effect of listening, the creation of expression, and the aesthetic value. In addition, teachers should combine the teaching methods of transmission and inspiration, classroom teaching, and after-school training and combine relatively fixed teaching methods with flexible teaching methods to maximize the effectiveness of teaching.

“Do You Understand How Racially Motivated This Is?”: Institutional Discipline, Double Standards, and Projects of Media Fugitivity

AbstractMainstream imaginaries of success in the United States tend to center white men. This phenomenon, though increasingly criticized, pervades media systems, which have effectively served as major channels to facilitate, disperse, and popularize such ideals globally. Unsurprisingly, then, US mainstream media institutions have not generally favored non‐white and/or non‐men creators. Via code phrases such as best practices and professionalism, racialized and gendered assumptions continue to shape participatory landscapes of media production. Hence, for many Black women enrolled in formal media education and training programs, schooling's disciplinary norms—alongside society's inclination to mark and marginalize Black women as Other—both frustrate and inspire them to develop cunning, culturally mindful approaches that make use of accessible lessons, resources, and networks without abandoning the social issues and objectives that brought them to media in the first place. Framing their flexible methods of resource procurement and repurposing as projects of media fugitivity, this article explores how Black women navigate the overlapping social, technological, and ideological disciplines of institutional subjecthood and cultivate strategies through which to participate in these schooling infrastructures, while at the same time also protecting themselves from them; redistributing gains accrued in them; and selectively challenging hegemonic asks made, norms modeled, and compliances expected in them.

Estimating the Number of Communities in Weighted Networks

Community detection in weighted networks has been a popular topic in recent years. However, while there exist several flexible methods for estimating communities in weighted networks, these methods usually assume that the number of communities is known. It is usually unclear how to determine the exact number of communities one should use. Here, to estimate the number of communities for weighted networks generated from arbitrary distribution under the degree-corrected distribution-free model, we propose one approach that combines weighted modularity with spectral clustering. This approach allows a weighted network to have negative edge weights and it also works for signed networks. We compare the proposed method to several existing methods and show that our method is more accurate for estimating the number of communities both numerically and empirically.

Nonparametric failure time: Time-to-event machine learning with heteroskedastic Bayesian additive regression trees and low information omnibus Dirichlet process mixtures.

Many popular survival models rely on restrictive parametric, or semiparametric, assumptions that could provide erroneous predictions when the effects of covariates are complex. Modern advances in computational hardware have led to an increasing interest in flexible Bayesian nonparametric methods for time-to-event data such as Bayesian additive regression trees (BART). We propose a novel approach that we call nonparametric failure time (NFT) BART in order to increase the flexibility beyond accelerated failure time (AFT) and proportional hazard models. NFT BART has three key features: (1)a BART prior for the mean function of the event time logarithm; (2)a heteroskedastic BART prior to deduce a covariate-dependent variance function; and (3)a flexible nonparametric error distribution using Dirichlet process mixtures (DPM). Our proposed approach widens the scope of hazard shapes including nonproportional hazards, can be scaled up to large sample sizes, naturally provides estimates of uncertainty via the posterior and can be seamlessly employed for variable selection. We provide convenient, user-friendly, computer software that is freely available as a reference implementation. Simulations demonstrate that NFT BART maintains excellent performance for survival prediction especially when AFT assumptions are violated by heteroskedasticity. We illustrate the proposed approach on a study examining predictors for mortality risk in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) for blood-borne cancer, where heteroskedasticity and nonproportional hazards are likelypresent.

An end-to-end pipeline for historical censuses processing

Censuses are structured documents of great value for social and demographic history, which became widespread from the nineteenth century on. However, the plurality of formats and the natural variability of historical data make their extraction arduous and often lead to ungeneric recognition algorithms. We propose an end-to-end processing pipeline, based on optimization, in an attempt to reduce the number of free parameters. The layout analysis is based on semantic segmentation using neural networks for a generic recognition of the explicit column structure. The implicit row structure is deduced directly from the position of the text segments. The handwritten text detection is complemented by an intelligent framing method which significantly improves the quality of the HTR. In the end, we propose to combine several post-correction approaches, neural networks, and language models, to further improve the performance. Ultimately, our flexible methods make it possible to accurately detect more than 98% of the columns and 88% of the rows, despite the lack of graphical separator and the diversity of formats. Thanks to various reframing and post-correction strategies, HTR results reach the excellent performance of 3.44% character error rate on these noisy nineteenth century data. In total, more than 18,831 pages were extracted in 72 censuses over a century. This large historical dataset, as well as training data, is made open-access and released along with this article.

Integration of Agile methods into the management system as a tool for increasing the effectiveness of strategic management in the agri-food sector

Within the framework of modern world conditions faced by the Ukrainian business subjects of the agrifood sector, conducting research on the possibility of using new methodologies in management can be an added advantage to optimizing and increasing the effectiveness of their performance. The purpose of this study was to highlight and summarize the work on the principles of introducing modern methodologies into general management systems as tools for increasing the effectiveness of strategic management in the agri-food sector, considering the modern world conditions. The study used general scientific and special research methods: monographic; theoretical generalization, analysis, synthesis, induction, and deduction; structural and logical analysis; grouping and classification. The author substantiated the expediency of using flexible management methods in agri-food enterprises. The priority of using Agile management methods was identified, the advantages and disadvantages of using Kanban and Scrum methodologies in the management of an agri-food enterprise were investigated, and their main elements were determined (classification of roles in the team, key concepts, principles). Features of the functioning of business entities in the conditions of SPOD, VUCA, and BANI worlds were provided. It was noted that the flexible methods under study are aimed at the evolutionary development of organizations, i.e., gradual improvements that, in the end, ensure the effectiveness of management at a prominent level. This paper expands practical approaches to the application of flexible management methods in agri-food enterprises, which lays the foundation for further research on strategic management in the agri-food sector under the conditions of the need for their constant reorientation and adaptation to the BANI world. The practical significance of the study lies in the development and implementation of proposals and practical recommendations for the use of Agile management methods in the management system of an agri-food enterprise as a means of improving the effectiveness of strategic management

Towards multicultural, inclusive and diverse evaluation – Exploring post-Secondary students’ perceptions

ABSTRACT Higher education acknowledges evaluation as a core component in pedagogy. However, K–12 institutions implement different applications of formative evaluation, and Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) still use traditional evaluation almost exclusively. Adjustments made for students with disabilities (SWDs) are often exam accommodations rather than modifications in the evaluation process itself. The current study aims to examine the perceptions of students from different cultural backgrounds and abilities on Culturally Responsive Academic Evaluation (CRAE), which also takes into consideration SWDs and sees them as a distinct cultural group. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) was used as a guiding framework for formative evaluation for students with and without disabilities. The study used a qualitative method through a phenomenological approach. Twelve undergraduate and graduate students were interviewed using in-depth semi-structured interviews. Results showed three themes concerning CRAE in higher education: Multiculturalism and diversity sensitivity, diversification in evaluation methods, and social responsibility. According to the participants’ statements, the student population is ready for more flexible and diverse evaluation methods, as long as boundaries are set to preserve academic standards.

Novel shear thickening gel/high‐performance fiber reinforced flexible composites: Multi‐velocity impact and functional properties

AbstractShear thickening gel (STG) is a promising substrate used for flexible protective materials, which has superior dimensional stability without gel side leakage and delamination when sustaining long‐standing time. STG/high‐performance fiber flexible composites exhibit high‐energy absorption capacity for multi‐velocity impact. This article reveals the shear thickening mechanism of STG that lays a theoretical foundation for the performance analysis of STG composites. The preparation methods of STG/high‐performance fiber flexible composites, including impregnation, hand lay‐up, filling, and lamination methods, are compared. The energy absorption principle of STG/high‐performance fiber flexible composites on multi‐velocity impact and the destruction morphology was analyzed. The coupling effects and functional applications of STG functional composites with nanoparticles, magnetic particles, and conductive particles are summarized. It provides more suitable conditions for designing new multifunctional protective equipment and manufacturing advanced intelligent, protective devices.

Reflection of the transformational leadership style in employees' psychological well-being and the mediating role of job satisfaction A field study in a Number of Iraqi Privet Bankes

Business organizations are now facing significant challenges as a result of the rapid changes taking place in their environment, and they need flexible dynamic management capable of meeting challenges, and a type of individual with the technical ability to manage the administrative system to be able to carry out their duties with intelligence, knowledge, adequacy and sincerity (Strukan et al., 2017) . In the face of these challenges, traditional leadership management, in its methods and patterns, has been unable to make the Organization competitive and achieve the desired level of performance, which today requires organizations to use dynamic and flexible methods so that they can live up to developments in reality. It was necessary for them to create a new leadership style that would ensure that they constantly improve their performance and keep up with all the changes that are taking place and even be the pioneers in this kind of change, These goals have shown several types of leadership (aldahhan,2016).

Between-case standardized mean differences: Flexible methods for single-case designs

Single-case designs (SCDs) are a class of research methods for evaluating the effects of academic and behavioral interventions in educational and clinical settings. Although visual analysis is typically the first and main method for analysis of data from SCDs, quantitative methods are useful for synthesizing results and drawing systematic generalizations across bodies of single-case research. Researchers who are interested in synthesizing findings across SCDs and between-group designs might consider using the between-case standardized mean difference (BC-SMD) effect size, which aims to put results from both types of studies into a common metric. Currently available BC-SMD methods are limited to treatment reversal designs with replication across participants and across-participant multiple baseline designs, yet more complex designs are sometimes used in practice. In this study, we extend available BC-SMD methods to several variations of the multiple baseline design, including the replicated multiple baseline across behaviors or settings, the clustered multiple baseline design, and the multivariate multiple baseline across participants. For each variation, we describe methods for estimating BC-SMD effect sizes and illustrate our proposed approach by re-analyzing data from a published SCD study.

Accessible and Flexible Delivery Methods in Experiential Space Education

Accessible and Flexible Delivery Methods in Experiential Space Education

On the Solutions of the Fractional-Order Sawada–Kotera–Ito Equation and Modeling Nonlinear Structures in Fluid Mediums

This study investigates the wave solutions of the time-fractional Sawada–Kotera–Ito equation (SKIE) that arise in shallow water and many other fluid mediums by utilizing some of the most flexible and high-precision methods. The SKIE is a nonlinear integrable partial differential equation (PDE) with significant applications in shallow water dynamics and fluid mechanics. However, the traditional numerical methods used for analyzing this equation are often plagued by difficulties in handling the fractional derivatives (FDs), which lead to finding other techniques to overcome these difficulties. To address this challenge, the Adomian decomposition (AD) transform method (ADTM) and homotopy perturbation transform method (HPTM) are employed to obtain exact and numerical solutions for the time-fractional SKIE. The ADTM involves decomposing the fractional equation into a series of polynomials and solving each component iteratively. The HPTM is a modified perturbation method that uses a continuous deformation of a known solution to the desired solution. The results show that both methods can produce accurate and stable solutions for the time-fractional SKIE. In addition, we compare the numerical solutions obtained from both methods and demonstrate the superiority of the HPTM in terms of efficiency and accuracy. The study provides valuable insights into the wave solutions of shallow water dynamics and nonlinear waves in plasma, and has important implications for the study of fractional partial differential equations (FPDEs). In conclusion, the method offers effective and efficient solutions for the time-fractional SKIE and demonstrates their usefulness in solving nonlinear integrable PDEs.