Important Flaws Research Articles

On the foundations of entropic cosmologies: Inconsistencies, possible solutions and dead end signs

In this letter we explore the foundations of entropic cosmology and highlight some important flaws which have emerged and adopted in the recent literature. We argue that, when applying entropy and temperature on the cosmological horizon by assuming the holographic principle for all thermodynamic approaches to cosmology and gravity, one must derive the consistent thermodynamic quantities following Clausius relation. One key assumption which is generally overlooked, is that in this process one must assume a mass-to-horizon relation, which is generally taken as a linear one. We show that, regardless of the type of entropy chosen on the cosmological horizon, when a thermodynamically consistent corresponding temperature is considered, all modified entropic force models are equivalent to and indistinguishable from the original entropic force models based on standard Bekenstein entropy and Hawking temperature. As such, they are also plagued by the same problems and inability to describe in a satisfactory qualitative and quantitative way the cosmological dynamics as it emerges from the probes we have. We also show that the standard accepted parameterization for Hawking temperature (including a γ rescaling) is actually not correctly applied, namely, it is not related to entropy in a thermodynamically consistent way. Finally, we clearly state that the explicit form of the entropic force on cosmological horizons is mostly dictated by the assumption on the mass-to-horizon relation. As such, we discuss what should be done in order to fix all such issues, and what conceptually could be implied by its correct implementation in order to advance in the field.

Impact of quality and transparency in scientific writing on the reduction of animal usage in experimental protocols: a review based in pertinent literature.

The irreproducibility in scientific research has become a critical issue. Despite the essential role of rigorous methodology in constructing a scientific article, more than half of publications, on average, are considered non-reproducible. The implications of this irreproducibility extend to reliability problems, hindering progress in technological production and resulting in substantial financial losses. In the context of laboratory animal research, this work emphasizes the importance of choosing an appropriate experimental model within the 3R's principle (Refine, Reduce, Replace). This study specifically addresses a deficiency in data specification in scientific articles, revealing inadequacies in the description of crucial details, such as environmental conditions, diet, and experimental procedures. For this purpose, 124 articles from journals with relevant impact factors were analyzed, conducting a survey of data considered important for the reproducibility of studies. Important flaws in the presentation of data were identified in most of the articles evaluated. The results of this study highlight the need to improve the description of essential information, standardizing studies, and ensuring the reproducibility of experiments in areas such as metabolism, immunity, hormones, stress, among others, to enhance the reliability and reproduction of experimental results, aligning with international guidelines such as ARRIVE and PREPARE.

Comment on "A single level tunneling model for molecular junctions: evaluating the simulation methods" by E. M. Opodi, X. Song, X. Yu and W. Hu, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2022, 24, 11958".

The present Comment demonstrates important flaws of the paper Opodi et al. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2022, 24, 11958 Their crown result ("applicability map") aims at indicating parameter ranges wherein two approximate methods (called method 2 and 3) apply. My calculations reveal that the applicability map is a factual error. Deviations of I2 from the exact current I1 do not exceed 3% for model parameters where Opodi et al. claimed that method 2 is inapplicable. As for method 3, the parameter range of the applicability map is beyond its scope, as stated in papers cited by Opodi et al. themselves.

Plate fixation versus flexible intramedullary nails for management of closed femoral shaft fractures in the pediatric population: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the adverse outcomes.

Fractures of the femoral diaphysis are associated with a risk of morbidity in children. Various fixation methods have been developed, but with only limited evidence to support their use. This systematic review assesses the evidence regarding clinical outcomes of closed femoral diaphyseal fractures in children treated with plate fixation or flexible intramedullary nails. A PROSPERO-registered, PRISMA-compliant systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted. MEDLINE, Embase, and Web of Science (WoS) databases were searched from inception to February 2023. Inclusion criteria included clinical studies reporting adverse outcomes following surgical treatment of pediatric closed femoral diaphyseal fractures using plate fixation and flexible intramedullary nails. The ROBINS-I and RoB 2 tools evaluated the risk of bias. Thirteen papers (2 prospective randomized controlled trials and 11 retrospective cohorts) reported 805 closed diaphyseal femoral fractures in 801 children (559 males, 242 females). There were 360 plate fixations and 445 flexible intramedullary nails. Two cases of osteomyelitis and one nonunion were reported. Meta-analysis showed that plate fixation had a lower risk of soft tissue infection (relative risk 0.26 (95% confidence interval 0.07-0.92)). There was no difference in the following outcomes: malunion (relative risk 0.68 (95% confidence interval 0.32-1.44)); unplanned reoperation (relative risk 0.59 (95% confidence interval 0.31-1.14)), and leg-length difference (relative risk 1.58 (95% confidence interval 0.66-3.77)). The risk of bias was high in all studies. An analysis of 805 fractures with minimal differences in meta-analyses is considered high quality even when the quality of the evidence is low. The findings are limited by important flaws in the methodology in the published literature. Well-designed multicentre prospective studies using standardized core outcomes are required to advise treatment recommendations. III.

Pricing of climate transition risks across different financial markets

As the global economy transitions towards net zero, it is conjectured that efficient financial markets reflect the risks involved with this transition. This hypothesis is empirically tested in this paper and signals are found of climate transition risk pricing in options, equity and bond markets, based on greenhouse gas emission levels. The analysis of recent developments in the option market suggests that investors perceive the oil and gas sector to have an elevated risk profile. In the equity and bond market for, particularly, the energy sector, investors appear to demand higher returns to compensate for a higher transition risk. In addition, it is found that the average maturity of newly issued bonds in the carbon intensive coal sector decreased, while the average maturity increased strongly in the renewables sector with low carbon emissions. The reduction of investors' long-term exposure to the coal sector signals concerns about its long-term viability, while the opposite is the case for the renewables sector. Nonetheless, it is not possible to conclude that climate risk pricing is consistent, as the statistical evidence is not overwhelming and not fully aligned across different markets. Furthermore, as climate indicators and emission data still contain important flaws, climate pricing based on these indicators could also be inadequate. Therefore, this paper aligns with the literature arguing that climate risk pricing is inconsistent and inadequate and that this is important for investors and risk managers to acknowledge. In addition, policymakers are urged to ensure that transition information, like emission data, is correct, timely and comparable to ensure its information value and usability.

Comment on: The Effect of Intra-articular Hyaluronic Acid Injections and Payer Coverage on Total Knee Arthroplasty Procedures: Evidence From Large US Claims Database.

Comment on: The Effect of Intra-articular Hyaluronic Acid Injections and Payer Coverage on Total Knee Arthroplasty Procedures: Evidence From Large US Claims Database.

Methodological and Quality Flaws in the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Mental Health Research: Systematic Review.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is giving rise to a revolution in medicine and health care. Mental health conditions are highly prevalent in many countries, and the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the risk of further erosion of the mental well-being in the population. Therefore, it is relevant to assess the current status of the application of AI toward mental health research to inform about trends, gaps, opportunities, and challenges. This study aims to perform a systematic overview of AI applications in mental health in terms of methodologies, data, outcomes, performance, and quality. A systematic search in PubMed, Scopus, IEEE Xplore, and Cochrane databases was conducted to collect records of use cases of AI for mental health disorder studies from January 2016 to November 2021. Records were screened for eligibility if they were a practical implementation of AI in clinical trials involving mental health conditions. Records of AI study cases were evaluated and categorized by the International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision (ICD-11). Data related to trial settings, collection methodology, features, outcomes, and model development and evaluation were extracted following the CHARMS (Critical Appraisal and Data Extraction for Systematic Reviews of Prediction Modelling Studies) guideline. Further, evaluation of risk of bias is provided. A total of 429 nonduplicated records were retrieved from the databases and 129 were included for a full assessment-18 of which were manually added. The distribution of AI applications in mental health was found unbalanced between ICD-11 mental health categories. Predominant categories were Depressive disorders (n=70) and Schizophrenia or other primary psychotic disorders (n=26). Most interventions were based on randomized controlled trials (n=62), followed by prospective cohorts (n=24) among observational studies. AI was typically applied to evaluate quality of treatments (n=44) or stratify patients into subgroups and clusters (n=31). Models usually applied a combination of questionnaires and scales to assess symptom severity using electronic health records (n=49) as well as medical images (n=33). Quality assessment revealed important flaws in the process of AI application and data preprocessing pipelines. One-third of the studies (n=56) did not report any preprocessing or data preparation. One-fifth of the models were developed by comparing several methods (n=35) without assessing their suitability in advance and a small proportion reported external validation (n=21). Only 1 paper reported a second assessment of a previous AI model. Risk of bias and transparent reporting yielded low scores due to a poor reporting of the strategy for adjusting hyperparameters, coefficients, and the explainability of the models. International collaboration was anecdotal (n=17) and data and developed models mostly remained private (n=126). These significant shortcomings, alongside the lack of information to ensure reproducibility and transparency, are indicative of the challenges that AI in mental health needs to face before contributing to a solid base for knowledge generation and for being a support tool in mental health management.

Prenatal Yoga-Based Interventions May Improve Mental Health during Pregnancy: An Overview of Systematic Reviews with Meta-Analysis.

An overview of systematic reviews with meta-analysis was developed to summarize evidence on the effectiveness of prenatal yoga-based interventions on pain, psychological symptoms, and quality of life during pregnancy. CINAHL (via EBSCOhost), Embase, PubMed, SPORTDiscus (via EBSCOhost), and the Cochrane Library were searched from inception to 15 December 2022. The intervention of interest was any prenatal yoga-based intervention. Pain, psychological symptoms, and quality of life were considered as outcome measures. The methodological quality of systematic reviews was judged using AMSTAR 2. The primary study overlap among systematic reviews was evaluated, building a citation matrix and calculating the corrected covered area (CCA). A total of ten systematic reviews, including fifteen meta-analyses of interest and comprising 32 distinct primary clinical trials, were included. Meta-analyses on pain and quality of life were not found. Most meta-analyses (93%) showed that prenatal yoga-based interventions are more effective than control interventions in reducing anxiety, depression, and stress symptoms. However, the overall methodological quality of systematic reviews was judged as critically low, and primary study overlap among systematic reviews was very high (CCA = 16%). Altogether, prenatal yoga-based interventions could improve the mental health of pregnant women, although due to the important methodological flaws that were detected, future systematic reviews should improve their methodological quality before drawing firm conclusions on this topic.

AE-YOLO: An Improved YOLOv7 based on Attention Enhancement for Rail Flaw Detection

With the development of rail transit, railway is becoming an increasingly common means of transportation, which puts forward higher requirements for its safety and reliability. Meanwhile, as one of the most important infrastructures, the failure of steel rail will seriously affect the safe and stable operation of the railway, so it is necessary for us to monitor its internal flaws. An improved You Only Look Once Version 7 based on Attention Enhancement is proposed for rail flaw detection. New detection layer is added for small rail flaws detection in the proposed model AE-YOLO. Convolutional block attention module (CBAM) is introduced into the model, which can make detection model pay more attention to important flaws that may affect the rail safety. On the B-scan dataset collected by the big detector train, the AE-YOLO model is tested. Compared with YOLOV7, the proposed model can increase the mean average precision by 4.5%. And recall is also improved by 3.4%, which is an extremely important indicators for rail flaw detection. The case study results indicate the efficiency and superiority of the proposed AE-YOLO model in rail flaw detection task.

다른 공동저작자의 동의 없는 공동저작물 자기이용 가능성

Despite the some positive aspect of the 2014 Korean Supreme Court ruling on the chinjeong-eomma (the married woman’s mother) case (hereinafter “chinjeong-eomma decision”) that more clearly defined the requirement of joint works, the chinjeong-eomma decision has already been heavily criticized by many Korean scholars for its misinterpretation of Article 48 of the Korean Copyright Act which directly did conflict with a clear phrase stipulating that all copyrights can be exercised only with unanimous agreement among co-authors. The reason why this article belatedly criticizes the above decision is that the following additional important flaws is found in the respective logic of the judgments by the lower courts in the chinjeong-eomma case and the case review report by a senior judicial researcher in the Supreme Court involved in chinjeong-eomma decision, among the issues also dealt with by chinjeong-eomma decision, particularly on whether self-use by a co-author without consent of the other co-authors (hereinafter ‘free use’) would be infringement on copyright of the other co-authors. First, it was too hasty to conclude that the relationship of co-authors was not joint-tenancy under the Korean Civil Act, but joint-in-common under the same Act, so it was treated as if one co-author was a tenant in common under the Civil Act. Second, in terms of whether to recognize the free use of joint works, it was treated as a majority vote in line with the fact that other Korean IP laws, such as the Patent Act, have already acknowledged the free use of a co-owner. Third, the non-rivalrous (non-excludable) nature of copyright and the natural phenomenon of relatively low utilization of joint works due to the some refusal of consent from other right holders were improperly used as grounds for recognizing free use. Fourth, above all, by overlooking the main characteristic of copyright as a “bundle of rights”, it was not understood that there was no room for raising so-called a free use defense against the facts of this criminal case in the first place in terms of performance rights, not reproduction rights, etc. To prevent this kind of mistake being repeated in another case, a clear awareness of the above characteristic is needed at the starting line of reviewing any copyright cases. Fifth, more reasonable alternatives were not taken, such as actively expanding and adopting the good faith standard of Article 48 already designed by the legislator, acknowledging implied consent, and strictly acknowledging criminal intent.

Rejecting Reforms, Yet Calling for Change: A Qualitative Analysis of Proposed Reforms to the Residency Application Process.

Annual increases in the number of residency applications burden students and challenge programs. Several reforms to the application process have been proposed; however, stakeholder input is often overlooked. The authors examined key stakeholders' opinions about several proposed reforms to the residency application process and identified important factors to guide future reforms. Using semistructured interviews, the authors asked educational administrators and trainees to consider 5 commonly proposed reforms to the residency application process: Match to obtain residency interviews, preference signaling, application limits, geographic preference disclosure, and abolishing the Match. The authors conducted a modified content analysis of interview transcripts using qualitative and quantitative analytic techniques. Frequency analysis regarding the acceptability of the 5 proposed reforms and thematic analysis of important factors to guide reform were performed. Fifteen-minute interviews were conducted between July and October 2019, with data analysis completed during a 6-month period in 2020 and 2021. Participants included 30 stakeholders from 9 medical specialties and 15 institutions. Most participants wanted to keep the Match process intact; however, they noted several important flaws in the system that disadvantage students and warrant change. Participants did not broadly support any of the 5 proposed reforms. Two themes were identified: principles to guide reform (fairness, transparency, equity, reducing costs to students, reducing total applications, reducing work for program directors, and avoiding unintended consequences) and unpopular reform proposals (concern that application limits threaten less competitive students and signaling adds bias to the system). Key stakeholders in the residency application process believe the system has important flaws that demand reform. Despite this, the most commonly proposed reforms are unacceptable to these stakeholders because they threaten fairness to students and program workload. These findings call for a larger investigation of proposed reforms with a more nationally representative stakeholder cohort.

The Mediating Role of Innovation on The Relationship Between Intellectual Capital and Private Universities Performance of Pakistan

Universities are the hub of knowledge creation which totally based on their intellectual resources, currently the condition of Pakistan private sector universities are facing huge trouble. Universities are lacking from all their intangibles resource which can help them in successive performance, these resources normally based on the intellectual capital which is usually considered as an intangible capital of universities. Pakistan higher education is ranked at 150th spot out of 189 countries and also far behind in research productivity as compared to the neighbour countries. Therefore, current study will focus intellectual capital as a key determinant in the successive performance of private universities performance in Pakistan with mediating role of innovation in terms of speed and quality. The current study highlighted the important flaws in higher education institutions of Pakistan and provides possible solutions in the form of intellectual capital and innovation that can enhance the performance of HEI’s. Positivist paradigm and deductive approach has been used in current study, primary data collection shall be conducted through questionnaire and the target population would be considered full time faculty members of private universities operating in Pakistan.

β-Blockers and Erectile Dysfunction in Heart Failure. Between Myth and Reality.

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a major concern in heart failure (HF) due its high prevalence as well as its negative impact on the quality of life, this condition being usually unrecognized and thus untreated. A number of possible causes might contribute to the above mentioned tight association, i.e., shared risk factors, comorbidities and several physiologic HF abnormalities such as impaired exercise tolerance, psychogenic factors and neurohumoral, metabolic and vascular changes. Medications have been blamed for playing also a pivotal role in the ED occurrence and, particularly, the -blockers. Remarkably, the underlying mechanisms have not been fully identified. All the available scientific literature dealing with this topic derives from studies not addressing this issue in HF, but in other settings, (e.g., arterial hypertension) and are also characterized by important methodological flaws. Thus, given the solid evidences arguing in favor of -blockers in HF in terms of morbidity, mortality and quality of life, -blockers at the maximal tolerated dosage in this patients' category should be recommended, regardless of ED. However, the ED-related issues should not be neglected, and adequate psychological counseling and management should be provided, pursuing the correction of risk factors, the choice of more suitable medications and, in selected cases, adopting specific drugs or devices. The purpose of this narrative review is to highlight the close relationship between ED and HF and, specifically, to focus on a possible -blockers' role in determining or, at least, worsening this condition.

Exploring the Anti-professional Turn in English Foster Care: Implications for Policy, Practice and Research

Abstract Following decades in which professionalisation was widely assumed to be a permanent (and growing) feature of foster care in England, the government signalled a clear anti-professional turn in its 2018 publication Fostering Better Outcomes (FBOs). This rejected the notion that foster carers should be regarded as professionals and indicated that there should be a return to the term foster parent. This article analyses FBO, its feeder reports and evidence submitted by stakeholders to map the shifting debate surrounding professionalisation. This includes both direct commentary on its (de)merits, but also discussion of components such as pay, conditions, motivation, training, expertise, a national college or register and related questions of supporting and valuing foster carers. A number of important flaws are identified within the review process. These include an ahistorical and insular treatment of professionalisation, its conflation with employment, a homogenisation of foster care and deployment of a familial discourse that fails to engage with its complexities and ‘hybrid’ nature between work and family. The consequence is a confused policy stance where professionalisation is rhetorically rejected while many of its core elements are endorsed. Implications of the anti-professional turn for policy, practice and research in England but also internationally, are discussed.

Sleep Assessment in Critically Ill Adults: Established Methods and Emerging Strategies.

OBJECTIVES:Sleep is a biological mandate with an integral role in optimizing functions that maintain psychological and physical health. During critical illness, however, sleep may be disrupted at best and elusive at worst. Sleep improvement efforts and research endeavors evaluating interventions to improve sleep in critically ill adults are hampered by limited methods available to measure sleep in this setting. This narrative review summarizes available modalities for sleep assessment in the ICU, describes new ICU sleep assessment methods under development, and highlights features of the ideal ICU sleep measurement tool.DATA SOURCES:The most relevant literature and author experiences were assessed for inclusion from PubMed and textbooks.STUDY SELECTION:The authors selected studies for inclusion by consensus.DATA EXTRACTION:The authors reviewed each study and selected appropriate data for inclusion by consensus.DATA SYNTHESIS:Currently available tools to measure sleep in critically ill adults have important flaws. Subjective measurements are limited by recall bias, the inability of many patients to communicate, and poorly correlate with objective measures when completed by surrogates. Actigraphy does not consider the effects of sedating medications or myopathy leading to an over estimation of sleep time. Polysomnography, the gold standard for sleep assessment, is limited by interpretation issues and practical application concerns. Single and multiple channel electroencephalogram devices offer real-time physiologic data and are more practical to use than polysomnography but are limited by the scope of sleep-specific information they can measure and poorly characterize the circadian system.CONCLUSIONS:A measurement tool that offers real-time sleep and circadian assessment and is practical for broad application in the ICU does not exist. Newer sleep assessment devices have shown promise in measuring physiologic data in real time; when used in combination with other assessment modalities, and analyzed by computational techniques, they may revolutionize sleep monitoring in the ICU.

The Effects of College in Prison and Policy Implications

ABSTRACT: Despite the policy relevance of college-in-prison, the existing research on these programs has important flaws, failing to address selection and self-selection bias. We address an important policy question: what are the effects of college-in-prison program? To do this, we provide the largest study published to-date of a single college-in-prison program. We analyze the effects of the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) in New York, a liberal arts program that has offered college courses to incarcerated students since 2001. By leveraging the BPI admissions process, we employ a design-based approach to infer the causal effect of participation in BPI. We find a large and significant reduction in recidivism rates. This reduction is consistent across racial groupings. Moreover, people with higher levels of participation recidivate at even lower rates. In light of these findings, we provide policy recommendations that support college-in-prison programs.

The Spillover Impact of Index Insurance on Agricultural Investment by Cotton Farmers in Burkina Faso

AbstractThis paper examines whether agricultural insurance can boost investment by small scale farmers in West Africa. It is based on a randomized evaluation designed to analyze the impacts of index insurance for cotton farmers in Burkina Faso. No impact of insurance was found on cotton, but, consistent with microeconomic theory, significant spillover impacts on investment in other agricultural activities were measured. Furthermore, the effects of insurance payouts on farmers hit by a shock confirm the potential of index insurance as a risk-management tool. However, this research uncovers important flaws in the implementation of the project that limited its impact on cotton. Overall, this study suggests a promising role for index insurance in stimulating investment, but also draws attention to key challenges to the efficient delivery of insurance to small farmers. Finally, the study’s hybrid, mixed methods RCT offers lessons for the evaluation of complex interventions where trust, understanding, and timing are all important.

Information content of trees: three-taxon statements, inference rules and dependency

Abstract The three-taxon statement is the fundamental unit of rooted trees in cladistics, stating that for three terminal taxa, two are more related to each other than to a third. Because of their fundamental role in phylogenetics, three-taxon statements are present in methodological research of various disciplines in evolutionary biology; for example consensus methods, supertree methods, species-tree methods, distance metrics and even phylogenetic reconstruction. However, three-taxon statement methods are subject to important flaws related to information redundancy. Here we aim to study the behaviour of three-taxon statements and the interactions among them in order to enhance their performance in evolutionary studies. We show how specific interactions between three-taxon statements are responsible for the emergence of redundancy and dependency within trees, and how they can be used for the improvement of weighting procedures. Our proposal is subsequently tested empirically in the supertree framework using simulations. We show that three-taxon statements using fractional weights perform much better than classical methods such as MRP (matrix representation with parsimony) or methods using unweighted statements. Our study shows that appropriate fractional weighting of three-taxon statements is of critical importance for removing redundancy in any method using them, such as in consensus, supertrees, distance metrics, and phylogenetic or biogeographical analyses.

Is project-based learning effective among kindergarten and elementary students? A systematic review.

Project-based learning (PjBL) is becoming widespread in many schools. However, the evidence of its effectiveness in the classroom is still limited, especially in basic education. The aim of the present study was to perform a systematic review of the empirical evidence assessing the impact of PjBL on academic achievement of kindergarten and elementary students. We also examined the quality of studies, their compliance with basic prerequisites for a successful result, and their fidelity towards the key elements of PBL intervention. For this objective, we conducted a literature search in January 2020. The inclusion criteria for the review required that studies followed a pre-post design with control group and measured quantitatively the impact of PBL on content knowledge of students. The final sample included eleven articles comprising data from 722 students. The studies yielded inconclusive results, had important methodological flaws, and reported insufficient or no information about important aspects of the materials, procedure and key requirements from students and instructors to guarantee the success of PjBL. Educational implications of these results are discussed.

Adherence to food hygiene and personal protection recommendations for prevention of COVID-19

BackgroundSeveral actions in the realm of public policies and programs have been implemented worldwide to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19. As Brazil and many parts of the world are marked by regional, cultural, and social inequalities, risk communication and assimilation of protection recommendations by the public may be erratic, hampering the proper measurement of their effectiveness. Scope and approachEven though transmission of SARS-CoV-2 by foods is unlikely, this work aimed to evaluate the population's adherence to the recommended food hygiene and personal protection measures to prevent COVID-19. An online survey containing questions on food hygiene and personal protection was publicly disseminated via internet and social networks. Data from 3000 respondents were collected and discussed herein.Key findings and conclusions: Most respondents adopted the recommended hygienic and personal protection measures to avoid contamination with SARS-CoV-2. However, some important flaws were detected, such as lack of use of face masks when in public places (6%), improper hand washing and sanitizing (10–12%) and use of incorrect products for food or environment cleaning and sanitization (28%), indicating that adequate risk communication and preventive recommendations must continue in order to avoid contamination with the coronavirus. The heighten awareness with food hygiene during the pandemic may have an enduring positive effect on food safety.