Key Point Of Contact Research Articles

Feasibility of a cinematic-virtual reality training program about opioid use disorder for osteopathic medical students: a single-arm pre-post study.

Opioid use disorder (OUD) has a considerable morbidity and mortality in the United States. Healthcare providers are key points of contact for those with OUD; however, some providers may hold stigma toward OUD. Stigma toward OUD can lead to lower quality of care and more negative health outcomes. Thus, new trainings designed to reduce stigma toward OUD while increasing empathy are critical. We created a web-based cinematic virtual reality (cine-VR) training program on OUD for osteopathic medical students. The aim of this pilot study was to assess changes in stigma toward OUD and empathy before and after the online cine-VR training program on OUD. We employed a single-arm, pre- and posttest pilot study to assess changes in stigma toward OUD and empathy. Osteopathic medical students from one large medical school in the Midwest with three campuses were invited to participate in the online cine-VR training. Participants completed two surveys before and after the cine-VR training. We performed paired t tests to examine changes in stigma toward OUD and empathy scores before and after the cine-VR OUD training program. A total of 48 participants completed the training. We observed a decrease in stigma toward OUD posttraining (t=4.402, p<0.001); this change had a Cohen's d of 0.64, indicating a medium effect. We also observed an increase in participants' empathy scores posttraining (t=-2.376, p=0.023), with a Cohen's d of 0.40 signifying a small effect. Findings from this pilot study suggest that the online cine-VR training may reduce stigma toward OUD while increasing empathy. Future research employing a randomized controlled trial design with a larger, more diverse sample and a proper attention control condition is needed to confirm the effectiveness of the online cine-VR training. If confirmed, this cine-VR training may be an accessible approach to educating osteopathic medical students about OUD.

Graph Neural Networks optimized with Gazelle Optimization Algorithm for Urban Plantscape Design Based on Large-scale Street View

The center of human activity and a key point of contact for social interaction between city people and the built environment is the street. With more street-level photos becoming available, urban landscape studies have more chances to examine and evaluate streetscapes closely and from various angles. This manuscript present the graph neural networks (GNN) optimized with gazelle optimization algorithm (GOA) for urban plants cape design based on large-scale street view (UPLS-GNN-GOA). Initially data is taken from ADE20K dataset. Afterward the data is fed to General Robust Subband Adaptive Filtering (GRSAF) based pre-processing process. The pre-processing output is given to Discrete Fractional Fourier Transforms (DFrFT) to extract the street greenery and openness of street canyons. After that, the extracted features are fed to Graph Neural Networks (GNN) to classify the public health, urban microclimate, human perception. The weight parameters of the GNN are optimized using Gazelle Optimization Algorithm (GOA).The UPLS-GNN-GOA method is implemented in Python, and its efficiency is determined using a series of performance evaluation metrics analysis, including accuracy, precision, recall, f1-score, and sensitivity. The proposed UPLS-GNN-GOA method shows the highest accuracy of 98%, precision of 98%, and F1-score of 97% while comparing other existing methods such as urban plantscape design based on convolutional neural network (UPLS-CNN), urban plantscape design based on deep convolutional neural network (UPLS-DCNN) and urban plantscape design based on deep learning and convolutional neural network (UPLS-DL-CNN) respectively.

Mapping COVID vulnerability in relation to drug and alcohol recovery residence availability across the United States

Recovery housing is an important resource for those in recovery from substance use disorders. Unfortunately, we know little about its relationship to key community health risk and protective factors, potentially limiting the role it could play as a broader health resource. Leveraging county-level data on recovery residences from the National Study of Treatment and Addiction Recovery Residences (NSTARR), this study used multilevel modeling to examine Community COVID Vulnerability Index (CCVI) scores as well as availability of COVID testing and vaccination sites in relation to recovery housing. CCVI composite scores were positively associated with recovery housing availability. Analyses using CCVI thematic sub-scores found that population density and number of churches were positively associated with recovery housing availability, while epidemiological factors and healthcare system factors were negatively associated with recovery housing availability. In counties with recovery housing, there also was a positive association between CCVI and both COVID testing and vaccination availability. Recovery residences tend to be located in areas of high COVID vulnerability, reflecting effective targeting in areas with higher population density, more housing risk factors, and other high-risk environments and signaling a key point of contact to address broader health issues among those in recovery from substance use disorders.

Review: Systematic review and metasynthesis of qualitative literature on young people's experiences of going to A&E/emergency departments for mental health support.

There has been an increase in children and young people attending emergency departments for mental health reasons, including self-harm. Patients often report having poor experiences when attending emergency departments for mental health support. However, there has yet to be a review exploring the experiences of young people. Our aim in this study was to synthesise qualitative literature on young people's experiences of going to emergency departments for mental health support. A systematic review and metasynthesis were conducted. Five databases and grey literature were searched for relevant studies. Five articles met study criteria and were analysed using an iterative process of thematic synthesis. The synthesis yielded four overarching themes: (a) emergency departments' inability to meet the mental health needs of young people, (b) emergency departments exacerbating patient distress, (c) patients feeling like a burden or undeserving of treatment and (d) consequences of poor emergency department experiences. These findings (based on a still very limited literature) highlight the role that emergency departments have in relation to being a key point of contact with young people who self-harm. To properly engage with patients, emergency departments need to have the resources to provide compassionate care and follow clinical guidelines regarding assessments.

Housing instability: Exploring socioecological influences on the health of birthing people.

To describe how socioecological influences of housing instability affect pregnancy health among birthing and postpartum people. We used the socioecological framework to guide this exploratory descriptive study using semi-structured, in-depth interviews. We purposively recruited birthing people in the southern mid-Atlantic region. Seventeen one-time, semi-structured interviews were conducted between February 2020 and December 2021 with English-speaking unstably housed participants ≥18 years old, currently pregnant, or recently postpartum. Qualitative and quantitative content approaches were used to analyse transcribed interviews. Dedoose software was used to identify code patterns and refine the codebook until group consensus. The team examined code patterns, explored meaning in text and codified code-generated categories to describe experiences. Majority (82.4%) of participants were African Americans between 22 and 41 years, and most were postpartum (76.5%). Participants described multiple forms of housing instability, reasons for losing housing, challenges with finding housing and strategies for finding housing. Participants did not describe housing instability as a barrier to receiving prenatal care. Building and sustaining individual relationships and social support were prominent factors affecting their housing challenges. Participants also reported a lack of obstetric provider inquiry about housing status during pregnancy. Many reported that challenges with housing triggered mental health issues, especially depression. Nurses and other obstetric providers are key points of contact in the prenatal care setting for assessing housing stability. Additionally, refining social structures and funding support services within communities and prenatal health systems should be a strategy for future programme and policy planning improvement. This study highlights critical areas for consideration when addressing social determinants for birthing people and reinforces the need for more comprehensive assessment in the prenatal setting. Members of the public participated in this study as key informants for study interviews.

Disparities in who is asked about their perinatal mental health: an analysis of cross-sectional data from consecutive national maternity surveys

BackgroundThe perinatal period is a vulnerable time, with one in five women experiencing mental health problems. Antenatal and postnatal appointments are key contact points for identifying women in need of support. Since 2014, the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended that all women be asked about their mental health at their antenatal booking appointment and early in the postnatal period. The aim of this study was to assess the proportions of women who reported being asked about their mental health during the perinatal period across consecutive national maternity surveys (NMS) in England and to evaluate sociodemographic disparities in who was asked.MethodsSecondary analysis was performed on cross-sectional data from the NMS in 2014–2020. In each survey, women reported whether they had been asked about their mental health antenatally (during their booking appointment) and postnatally (up to six months after giving birth). The proportions of women in each survey who reported being asked about their mental health were calculated and compared according to key sociodemographic characteristics and across survey years. Logistic regression was conducted to identify disparities in who was asked.ResultsThe proportion of women who reported being asked about their mental health antenatally increased from 80.3% (95%CI:79.0–81.5) in 2014 to 83.4% (95%CI:82.1–84.7) in 2020, yet the proportion of women who reported being asked postnatally fell from 88.2% (95%CI:87.1–89.3) in 2014 to 73.7% (95%CI:72.2–75.2) in 2020. Ethnic minority women (aOR range:0.20 ~ 0.67) were less likely to report being asked about their mental health antenatally and postnatally across all surveys compared to White women. Women living in less socioeconomically advantaged areas (aOR range:0.65 ~ 0.75) and women living without or separately from a partner (aOR range:0.61 ~ 0.73) were also less likely to report being asked about their mental health, although there was less consistency in these disparities across the antenatal and postnatal periods and across surveys.ConclusionsDespite NICE recommendations, many women are still not asked about their mental health during the perinatal period, particularly after giving birth. Women from ethnic minority backgrounds are less likely to be asked and these disparities have persisted over time.

Exploring the Interface between Asylum, Human Trafficking and/or ‘Modern Slavery’ within a Hostile Environment in the UK

While the drivers and processes of forced migration may overlap for people seeking refuge or experiencing human trafficking, responses are invariably rooted in legislation and policy rather than empirical enquiry. In the UK, tightening of legislation around asylum has, for the past three decades, resulted in a ‘hostile environment’. During this time, a discourse around human trafficking (also referred to as ‘modern slavery’ in the UK) has emerged. This paper looks at asylum and human trafficking in the UK to consider a fractioning of protection and resulting fractioning of support for basic needs and welfare provision, provided through the establishment of parallel systems of support for both populations. This paper explores the distinctions, interface, key points of contact, and disconnects between asylum and trafficking in the UK. It details the trajectory of asylum policy, provides an overview of the pre-history to the hostile environment, the impacts of fractioning refugee protection, and what this means for trust as a result. It is argued that trust is an essential component of UK government policies but that the trajectory of asylum policy from a focus on integration to a culture of hostility runs directly counter to efforts to identify ‘victims’ of ‘modern slavery’.

Winds of Change in Australian Waters: The Offshore Electricity Infrastructure Act 2021

Abstract The untapped potential of offshore wind is vast, and will be critical in the global transition to renewable energy and carbon neutrality. Although Australia’s waters are home to enough wind energy to cover its entire electricity needs, the lack of a regulatory framework has prevented the establishment of an offshore wind industry. However, with the passage of the Offshore Electricity Infrastructure Act 2021, there are now significant opportunities for the offshore generation of renewable energy, as well as the transmission of electricity within—and beyond—Australian waters. Framed by consideration of the global and regional context, this paper provides a meaningful perspective on the potential for offshore wind energy in Australia, outlines the new regulatory framework which will enable it to be realised, and highlights key points of contact with contemporary issues of ocean law and policy.

Customer Experience and Integrated Marketing Communication in the Automotive Lubricants Market

With the advent of new digital communication channels, the use of media for marketing purposes is changing dynamically and fundamentally. Also, the manners of using different media sources in order to obtain the requested information are diversified, which inevitably affects when, where and in what way potential customers choose certain brands. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to identify the way in which customer makes the decision to purchase and consume a particular brand. This implies analyzing the key points of contact between the brand and customers, which leads to the desired profitability of the behavior of targeted customers. This paper presents the results of a research conducted in 2018, within the relevant group of respondents, for the automotive oil and lubricant industry and the observed brand Nisotec. The obtained results indicated the complexity of the decision-making process of targeted customers, because they differ in the manner and degree of traditional and digital media use, customer behavior and attitude towards the industry and other interests, which conditions the brand response in terms of creating an optimal strategy of integrated marketing communications.

Friends in the Profession: Rebel Leaders, International Social Networks, and External Support for Rebellion

AbstractWhat drives foreign state support for rebel organizations? While scholars have examined the geopolitical and organizational factors that fuel foreign support, the role of rebel leaders in this process remains understudied. In this article, we propose that rebel leaders’ personal backgrounds shape their ability to obtain foreign support during conflict. In particular, we argue that rebel leaders with significant prior international experiences—including study abroad, work abroad, military training abroad, and exile—are at an advantage in securing wartime external support for their organizations. These experiences provide opportunities for would-be rebel leaders to interact with a multitude of foreign individuals who may later enter politics or otherwise gain prominence in their respective societies, allowing them to build interpersonal social networks across borders. Such networks offer key points of contact when rebel leaders later seek foreign backing. We test this theory using data from the new Rebel Organization Leaders (ROLE) database, finding robust support for our argument as well as the broader role of rebel leader attributes in explaining external support. Our results underscore the value of incorporating individual leaders and their social networks more squarely into the study of modern war.

A Qualitative Account of Young People's Experiences Seeking Care from Emergency Departments for Self-Harm.

Many young people who engage in self-harm do not seek help from health services. For those that do, emergency departments (EDs) are a key point of contact. Substantial gaps remain in current knowledge related to young consumers’ experiences and views on optimal treatment of self-harm in the ED. In this study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with thirteen young people (Mage = 21.2 years), who were engaged with care at headspace early intervention centers and had presented to an ED with a self-inflicted physical injury. Participants were asked to describe their experience in the ED and the care they received. Data were analyzed thematically. Three inter-related themes were identified: 1. The ED was experienced through a lens of significant distress, 2. The ED environment and processes were counter-therapeutic, and 3. Staff were perceived to be disinterested, dismissive, and lacking in knowledge. The study highlights the overwhelmingly negative nature of participants’ experiences, and presents recommendations for service and practice improvements, such as the provision of staff training and increased aftercare.

Neo-Marxism and Institutionalism: Key Points of Contact

Neo-Marxism and Institutionalism: Key Points of Contact

Problems and prospects of Indo-Nepalese relations

Indo-Nepalese relations, which were often defined as friendly and close by the politicians of both countries, are experiencing a crisis currently. Its reasons are the aggravation of the border issue and Nepal's aspiration to demonstrate its independence in the face of growing domestic political problems in both countries, the exacerbation of Indian-Chinese relations and the outbreak of the COVID-2019 pandemic. This article analyzes the key contact points of interests, the conflict potential of bilateral relations, and its background. The paper uses a comprehensive approach that takes into account the importance of the domestic political factor.

Is participation in Care Groups associated with enhanced diet quality amongst women and children? Experiences from Zimbabwe

The Amalima program, a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Food for Peace intervention, has been promoting Care Groups from 2014 to 2020 in a resource constrained setting in Zimbabwe. Care Groups are community-based peer-to-peer support groups for mothers, which provide a platform for promoting recommended maternal, infant and young nutrition practices. The researchers conducted a study to compare the quality of the diet for children and mothers participating in Care Groups and children and mothers not participating in Care Groups. The research was conducted in two districts (Gwanda and Tsholotsho) in Zimbabwe across 8 purposively selected sites, six years after project implementation began. A total of 242 children aged 6 to 23 months and 168 women beneficiaries were included in the study. We analysed consumption of the three non-staple food groups promoted by the Care Groups under the theme ‘Four Star Diet’ namely vegetables and fruits, legumes and animal source foods. Our results showed that children whose caregivers were members of Care Groups had a higher consumption of pulses and legumes (29% vs 1%; p = 0.00001), fruits and vegetables (33% vs 18%; p = 0.00104) and animal source foods (59% vs 26%; p = 0.00001) compared to children whose caregivers were not Care Group members. There was no difference in diet quality between women participating or not participating in Care groups. Efforts should be put in place to increase participation in Care Groups, as they serve as a key contact point to support recommended infant and young child nutrition practices during the first 1000 days of life. There is a need to explore barriers to Care Group participation and develop a strategy to address the barriers for non-Care Group participants. Future programs should explore the reasons behind the limited impact that Care Group attendance had on the diet quality for women.

Institutional Change and the Continuity of Law

This essay will be part of a forthcoming special issue of the Connecticut Law Review dedicated to the work of my UConn colleague Richard Kay. This contribution offers reflections on Rick’s theoretical and historical scholarship on processes of institutional (and, by extension, constitutional) change. Despite the intense focus on law in this work, Rick's approach suggests a surprising ambivalence about law’s role in these processes. Part I of this essay discusses this ambivalence in relation to Rick's 2014 legal-historical monograph, The Glorious Revolution and the Continuity of Law. Rick’s analysis draws theoretical inspiration primarily (though hardly exclusively) from Anglo-American tradition, based particularly on the work of H.L.A. Hart. I argue that Rick’s Hartian approach ultimately depends on a somewhat strained distinction between law and non-law in processes of change that does not map well onto the historical record that Rick otherwise cogently analyzes. Thus, as a supplement to his Hartian framework, Rick introduces the distinction between the “axiological” underpinnings of a revolution (be they social, political, or cultural) and its “legal” manifestation, i.e., the replacement of old rule of recognition with a new one. In doing so, Rick’s analysis begins to point us toward more complex dynamics in processes of change that I would argue are more robustly captured by alternative framework, one drawn from a more French tradition. I am referring to the institutional theory of Maurice Hauriou, who was among the greatest administrative law scholars of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Hauriou's theory emphasized how law is in fact intimately bound up with processes of institutional foundation and change rather than being external to them. Part II of this essay explores how Hauriou’s approach could reinforce Rick’s work in this area, using the example of Rick’s seminal 2011 article, Constituent Authority, to demonstrate the potential connections. The key point of contact between Rick's position and that of Hauriou, I argue, is a shared rejection of a position, ultimately championed by Carl Schmitt, which viewed law primarily as a question of existential power (or, as Hauriou put it, as an attack that has succeeded). Part III of this essay then returns to Rick’s analysis of the Glorious Revolution, arguing that the effort of its protagonists to retain the language of law and to operate within its forms was a key factor in differentiating their ultimately successful and durable process of revolutionary change from other historical examples that proved more fragile. This, I would suggest, is a vindication of Hauriou’s central insight about the crucial role of law in allowing such change to achieve legitimacy and durable institutionalization over time.

S26. PSYCHOSIS-SPECTRUM SYMPTOMS AMONG ADOLESCENTS PSYCHIATRICALLY HOSPITALIZED FOR ACUTE SAFETY CONCERNS ARE LINKED TO READMISSION WITHIN SIX MONTHS OF DISCHARGE

BackgroundThe emergence of psychosis during adolescence is linked to particularly poor long-term outcomes. Teens at clinical high risk for psychosis (i.e. with attenuated positive symptoms) often experience other psychiatric symptoms that motivate help-seeking behavior. This suggests that inpatient settings may be key points of contact for identification of at-risk youth. Research exploring the utility of psychosis risk screening in pediatric inpatient settings in the U.S. is relatively unexplored. Given evidence of high rates of acute care use in early psychosis, research exploring the occurrence of psychosis-risk symptoms in pediatric inpatient settings and the implications for clinical outcomes may inform risk screening practices.MethodsParticipants were 656 adolescents (ages 11–18) hospitalized on a psychiatric inpatient unit in the Northeast United States. This IRB-approved retrospective chart review explores the associations between psychosis-spectrum experiences and subsequent re-hospitalization among teens with acute safety concerns. All adolescents admitted to the unit were asked to complete a psychosis-risk screening measure, the PRIME Screen-Revised, and a brief psychiatric interview, the Children’s Interview for Psychiatric Syndromes (ChIPS), within 72 hours of admission. Demographic information (i.e. age, race, ethnicity, sex) was extracted from medical charts. Adolescents with primary chart diagnoses including psychosis were excluded from the sample. Responses on the PRIME were explored in relation to rehospitalization during a 6-month follow-up period.ResultsRates of rehospitalization within 6 months after discharge were higher for teens who screened positive on the PRIME (n = 246) compared to those who did not (Χ2 = 4.27, p < .05; 20% versus 14%). Item-level analyses demonstrated that endorsement of two out of the twelve PRIME items had small, significant correlations with 6-month rehospitalization: 1) something may be interrupting or controlling me (r = .08), and 2) my mind is playing tricks on me (r = .12). Age, but no other demographic variable, was significantly correlated with rehospitalization (r = -.11). Logistic regression results indicated that rehospitalization was significantly predicted by endorsement of “mind tricks” (B = .64, p < .05; OR = 1.89), but not the “interruption/control” item, when controlling for age (B = -.13, p < .05; OR = 0.88). “Mind tricks” remained a significant predictor of rehospitalization when controlling for age plus the non-significant effects of diagnostic variables correlated with rehospitalization (i.e. PTSD and behavioral disorder diagnosis).DiscussionFindings indicate that screening for psychosis-spectrum experiences in acute care settings may be helpful for identifying teens at risk for repeat use of high-level care. Moreover, specific types of psychosis-risk symptoms, such as experiencing mind tricks, may be indicative of higher risk for readmission in the months following hospital discharge. Results: suggest that screening and assessment for psychosis-risk symptoms in pediatric psychiatric settings may be important for initiating early psychosis intervention and mitigating future risk for hospitalization.

A Path Planning Method of Robotic Belt Grinding for Workpieces With Complex Surfaces

The problem of the path planning method is regarded as one of the key bottlenecks in the robotic belt grinding system. It has a significant impact on the surface quality of processed workpieces with complex surfaces. To improve the surface quality, a novel path planning method is proposed in this article, which generates the grinding path containing both the grinding position and orientation for an industrial robot. First, the theoretical grinding trajectory is obtained by selecting the key contact points on the 3-D model and calculating the inverse solutions of the B-spline curves. Next, based on the curvature variation rate and curve length criterion, the key contact points are further refined to produce the target points in the sensitive area of the workpiece where surface curvature changes abruptly or surfaces intersect. Finally, the grinding orientation at each target point location is obtained according to the solutions of the surface equation constructed using bicubic B-spline interpolation. To validate the method, a faucet is used for contrast simulation and experiment. The results demonstrate that the proposed method performs better than the section method in terms of both planning efficiency and surface quality. With this method, the surface roughness value $R_{a}$ of the processed workpiece can be controlled within 0.086 $\mu$ m without the risk of overcut, which is ideal for robotic belt grinding.

A Risk-Based Analysis of Design Practices in Regard to Passenger Hazard Exposure in Open Mass Transit Stations

Design practices in regard to passenger hazard exposure in mass transit stations that are directly open to the atmosphere, so-called open stations, are the focus of this study. The benchmarking exercise intends to provide a comprehensive review regarding the application of existing international and national design codes, standards, and guidelines in terms of their ability to mitigate hazards at key points of contact (POC) between passengers and station, such as walking surfaces, stairs, lifts, escalators, and wayfinding, during normal and emergency conditions. By adopting the safety-related risk assessment model, the benchmarking exercise uses national Thai station design practices as a baseline in order to identify applicable national codes, standards, and guidelines, and to conduct a parallel comparative analysis with respect to their international counterparts in order to identify, rank, and evaluate the potential impacts of missing regulations and practices. The analysis shows that a number of station environment-related risks appear along the different paths of egress and at different POC that must be addressed. With the application of Thai national codes, standards, and guidelines alone, the designer is still susceptible to design decisions that do not reduce risk levels. It was also found that more than half of the risks in paths of egress remain undesirable or intolerable after the design, and thus pose a threat of injury to passengers and create growing concerns for operators. Based on the findings of the study, a recommendation can be made for the use of a design handbook for stations by ranking different existing standards in accordance with their importance to the design endeavor, with legal support from involved parties.

Academic Culture in Doctoral Education: Are Companies Making a Difference in the Experiences and Practices of Doctoral Students in Portugal?

Aim/Purpose: This article examines the experience and practice of doctoral students by focusing on different dimensions of the PhD socialization process. It addresses the question of whether university collaborations with businesses influence the experience and practice of PhD students. Background: The study explores the academic culture in the PhD process through the analysis of the experiences and practices of doctoral students in two groups – those without business collaborations (academic trajectories) and those with business collaborations (hybrid trajectories). Academic trajectories are seen as traditional academic disciplinary based doctoral education, while hybrid trajectories cross boundaries collaborating with companies in the production of new knowledge. Methodology: The article uses a qualitative methodology based on extensive interviews and analysis of the curriculum vitae of fourteen Portuguese PhD students in three scientific domains (engineering and technology sciences, exact sciences, and social sciences). The doctoral program profiles were defined according to a survey applied to the directors of all doctoral programs in Portugal. Contribution: The study contributes to the reflection on the effects of collaboration with companies, in particular on the trajectories and experiences of doctoral students. It contributes to the understanding of the challenges associated with business collaborations. Findings: Some differences were found between academic and hybrid trajectories of doctoral students. Traditional products such as scientific articles are the main objective of the PhD student, but scientific productivity is influenced by trajectory and ultimately by career prospects. The business culture influences the trajectories of doctoral students with regard to outputs such as publishing that may act as a barrier to academic culture. PhD students with academic trajectories seem to value international experiences and mobility. Minor differences were found in the choice of topic and type of research activity, revealing that these dimensions are indicative of the scientific domain. Both hybrid and academic students indicate that perceptions of basic and applied research are changing with borders increasingly blurred. Recommendations for Practitioners: It is important for universities, department chairs, and PhD coordinators to be concerned with the organisation, structure, and success of doctoral programs. Therefore, it is useful to consider the experiences and trajectories of PhD students involved with the business sector and to monitor the relevance and results of such exchange. Key points of contact include identifying academic and business interests, cultures, and practices. A student-centred focus in university-business collaboration also can improve students’ well-being in this process. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers should consider the processes of interaction and negotiation between academic and business sectors and actors. It is important to understand and analyse the trajectories and experiences of PhD students in doctoral programs and in university-company collaborations, since they are the central actors. Impact on Society: This analysis is relevant to societies where policy incentives encourage doctoral programs to collaborate with companies. The PhD is an important period of socialization and identity formation for researchers, and in this sense the experiences of students in the context of collaboration with companies should be analyzed, including its implications for the professional identity of researchers and, consequently, for the future of science inside and outside universities. Future Research: More empirical studies need to explore these processes and relationships, including different national contexts and different scientific fields. Other aspects of the academic and business trajectory should be studied, such as the decision to pursue a PhD or the focus on perceptions about the future career. Another point that deserves to be studied is whether a broader set of experiences increases the recognition and appreciation of the doctoral degree by employers inside and outside the academy.

Transparency in Public Procurement – the Case of Slovenia

Abstract Public procurement is one of the key points of contact between public administration and the economy, while the amount of public resources is a possible source of conflict of interest and corruption. The article aims to contribute to improvements in public procurement legislation and practice. The article examines the practice of supervisory bodies and assesses the frequency of violations of the principle of transparency. The main findings of the article are that over the years of application of the Public Procurement Act in versions ZJN-2 and ZJN-3, the number of violations of the basic principle of transparency increased – the most frequent violations concerning discriminatory criteria set by the contracting authorities and their implementation in the selection phase – and that local municipal bodies violated the principle of transparency more often than state bodies.