Methodology Sections Research Articles

A pragmatic approach to selecting a grading system for clinical practice recommendations in palliative care.

The limited palliative care evidence base is poorly amenable to existing grading schemes utilized in guidelines. Many recommendations are based on expert consensus or clinical practice standards, which are often considered 'low-quality' evidence. Reinforcing provider hesitancy in translating recommendations to practice has implications for patient care. To rationalize the selection of an appropriate grading system for rating evidence to support recommendations made in palliative care clinical practice guidelines. Review of the methodology sections of international palliative care guidelines published in English identified five grading systems comparison: Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE); the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN); Infectious Diseases Society of America-European Society for Medical Oncology (IDSA-ESMO); Confidence in the Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative research (CERQual) and the National Service Framework for Long Term Conditions (NSF-LTC). There is heterogeneity among grading systems used in published palliative care or terminal symptom management guidelines. GRADE has been increasingly adopted for its methodological rigour and inter-guideline consistency with other medical associations. CERQual has the potential to support recommendations informed by qualitative evidence, but its role in clinical guidelines is less defined. The IDSA-ESMO system has an intuitive typology with the ability to categorize tiers of lower-quality evidence. It is challenging to apply commonly used grading systems to the palliative care evidence base, which often lacks robust randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Adoption of IDSA-ESMO offers a feasible and practical alternative for lower-resourced guideline developers and palliative clinicians without a prerequisite for methodological expertise.

The Impact of E-Commerce Platform Adoption Among MSME: A Literature Review

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed daily life greatly. As a result of the restrictions implemented during the spread of COVID-19, most transactions were undertaken online. All economic sectors, including the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector, were affected by the new norms. At the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, online transactions were challenging to implement. Nevertheless, they are becoming easier and help entrepreneurs maintain consistent operations until the economic situation becomes stable. The MSME sector is crucial in comparison with other primary sectors in the acquisition of national income. This review article discusses the impact of the adoption of e-commerce platforms among MSME entrepreneurs based on three aspects of technology, organisation, and environment in a recovering economy after the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The three primary aspects of the technology, organisation, and environment (TOE) model are widely adopted in the study of e-commerce platform adoption. In the future, this study will continue with the methodology, findings, and discussion sections.

Rhetorical Structures of Abstracts Written for TESOL International Conferences

Introduction: The current research aimed to investigate rhetorical move structures in abstracts written for TESOL international conferences by non-native speakers of English. Methodology: Sixty abstracts were collected from Vietnamese and Thai proceedings published by three universities. These abstracts were written for the TESOL conventions in the period 2018-2019. The study used the five-move scheme (I-P-M-R-D) adapted from Pho’s (2008) framework for move analysis with the assistance of the automatic text analysis and move occurrences soft wares AntMover and AntConc. Results: Results from the study showed that Methodology, Result, and Purpose sections played vital parts in abstract writing while Introduction and Discussion seized small portions in the corpus. While writing abstracts for TESOL conventions, the Method section is frequently repeated or embedded in the 60 target abstracts of the present study. The present study also indicated that the authors writing papers for TESOL conferences did not strictly follow the five-move sequence as expected due to word limitation and face-to-face mode of paper presentations at conventions. Non-linear move patterns were also recognized that are aligned with the findings of previous research studies. Conclusion: The findings of this study revealed that the abstracts written for TESOL international conferences in this research have followed the P-M-R order of an abstract rhetorical structure. This study's findings on rhetorical structures could be of great assistance in helping novice writers in composing well-structured abstracts for TESOL conferences.

PROCESSAMENTO DE LINGUAGEM NATURAL PARA RECONHECIMENTO DE ENTIDADES NOMEADAS EXTRAÍDAS DE CORPUS

This article presents a code implementation to automate the reading, analysis and generation of summaries of unstructured web texts, highlighting the crucial role of Natural Language Processing (NLP). The process was divided into two stages: data collection and pre-processing. In the first stage, a scientific article was selected and relevant data was extracted via web scraping, organized into an HTML page hosted online. In pre-processing, tokenization, normalization, stopword removal and word counting were performed. Using NLTK, the most important sentences were identified and ranked based on keyword frequency, allowing the selection of the most relevant sentences from the introduction, methodology, results/dicussion and conclusion sections. Discrepancies such as links and figure descriptions have been removed to improve the clarity of the abstract. The “most_common()” method was used to select the most relevant words in each section. After additional processing to delete unnecessary words, the final summary was clear and understandable, despite minor flaws. This automated approach provides an efficient way to synthesize information from scientific articles, optimizing the textual analysis process.

WITHDRAWN: How to read a research paper

This article provides comprehensive guidance on accessing and using the research literature. It outlines the reasons for reading research papers, from being informed about professional developments to understanding publication trends and exploring unanswered research questions. The article details the initial steps of accessing online databases like PubMed and employing effective search strategies. It emphasizes the importance of evaluating articles to determine their relevance and comprehensibility. Guidance is provided on reading papers critically, focussing on the authorship, background, methodology, results, and discussion sections. Finally, it discusses methods for recording and organizing relevant papers using reference management software, ensuring efficient future retrieval.

Unlocking the nexus: exploring the mediating and moderating dynamics of risk factors in economic literacy for organizational performance - A systematic review

PurposeRecognizing economic literacy as a vital form of intellectual capital provides essential tools to mitigate the adverse impact of risk factors on business organizations' performance. This recognition serves as a strong rationale for prioritizing economic literacy as a strategic asset in navigating the complexities of risk factors for sustained organizational performance. To bridge this gap, this study examines the role of risk factors in the economic literacy of an organization and how they affect organizational performance.Design/methodology/approachThis exploratory study employed a qualitative research method, utilizing a systematic review with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach to identify gaps. A comprehensive search across databases was conducted using keywords related to risks, economic literacy and organizational performance. In total, 32 articles were meticulously analyzed, focusing on methodology, results and discussion sections to address research questions.FindingsThis study highlights the impact of risk factors on economic literacy and organizational performance, focusing on risk-taking, attitude, enterprise risk management (ERM), financial literacy and organizational performance. It reveals that possessing economic literacy can mitigate financial risks in corporations by helping entrepreneurs identify business opportunities and pitfalls, enabling informed and prudent financial decision-making. Conflicting findings challenge existing knowledge on the link between risk factors and financial literacy, particularly in new product development decisions, highlighting the need for further investigation into environmental factors shaping this connection.Originality/valueThe study developed a conceptual model that explains the interaction among economic literacy, risk factor and organization performance, which has implications for the development of the required intellectual capital to mitigate the impact of risk factors. Also, the study identified diverse conceptual, methodological and geographical gaps that will provide direction for future studies. Future research could delve into firm-level or cross-country data via surveys, interviews or focus groups, enriching the research's robustness and depth for nuanced insights into the investigated relationships.

INTENT EXTRACTION FROM TEXT BY USING GLOBAL FEATURE MATRIX TO IMPROVE MAN MACHINE INTERACTION

Interaction between man and machine is the future of technology. Different mechanisms and mediums are used for this interaction such as voice, signals, pictures, videos, text etc. Text is one of the most popular medium of interaction and has gained popularity over past decades. It is used for making predictions of stock market, analysis of people’s opinion, identification of group of people with similar interests etc. In this research, the focus is to identify and analyze the intent of the written text and used it to prepare an appropriate machine response to text. There are several system available that uses semi-automatic mechanisms for interaction with humans such as the online customer care services for banks and the telecommunication industry. Different models and algorithms are used for this semi-automatic interaction. This study works on the design of a fully automated system for extracting the intents from the text, prepare an appropriate response and use the intent to do the prediction of the text. The results of the research are detailed in the methodology and experiment sections of the paper.

Treatment of Non-Metastatic Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer: AUA/ASCO/SUO Guideline (2017; Amended 2020, 2024).

Although representing approximately 25% of patients diagnosed with bladder cancer, muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) carries a significant risk of death that has not significantly changed in decades. Increasingly, clinicians and patients recognize the importance of multidisciplinary collaborative efforts that take into account survival and quality of life concerns. This guideline provides a risk-stratified, clinical framework for the management of muscle-invasive urothelial bladder cancer. In 2024, the MIBC guideline was updated through the AUA amendment process in which newly published literature is reviewed and integrated into previously published guidelines in an effort to maintain currency. The amendment allowed for the incorporation of additional literature released since the previous 2020 amendment. The updated search gathered literature from May 2020 to November 2023. This review identified 3739 abstracts, of which 46 met inclusion criteria.When sufficient evidence existed, the body of evidence was assigned a strength rating of A (high), B (moderate), or C (low) for support of Strong, Moderate, or Conditional Recommendations. In the absence of sufficient evidence, additional information is provided as Clinical Principles and Expert Opinions. Updates were made regarding neoadjuvant/adjuvant chemotherapy, radical cystectomy, pelvic lymphadenectomy, multi-modal bladder preserving therapy, and future directions. Further revisions were made to the methodology and reference sections as appropriate. This guideline seeks to improve clinicians' ability to evaluate and treat patients with MIBC based on currently available evidence. Future studies will be essential to further support or refine these statements to improve patient care.

Authorship, place and voice in research: A transitivity analysis of selected African and Western journals

The concept of voice has become crucial within academic discourse, where texts constitute sites for enacting identity. In spite of the recognition that expressing authorial voice in writing constitutes a salient feature of academic writing, various studies have pointed out that there appears to be a fair amount of trepidation when it comes to the expression of authorial voice in academic texts, especially so for L2 writers. The argument has been that L2 writers are likely to suppress authorial voice in writing. This argument identifies the L2 status as the underlying cause of the lack of voice in writing. This study examines the relationship between the expression of authorial voice and the cultural location of the journals in which articles are published. It examines authorial voice in the methodology sections of research articles published in Western and African journals. Methodology sections extracted from 60 journal articles from two broad disciplines – Arts and Social Sciences constituted the corpus for the study. Using Halliday’s transitivity framework, the study revealed that within the methodology section, there is a general tendency to diminish authorial voice and that this is reflected in the nature of first-person pronoun usage and in the distribution of the transitivity patterns across the corpus. The study suggests that the cultural location of journals does play a subtle role in the expression of authorial voice and presence in the methodology sections of RAs. There are no deep divergences between the two categories.

Error analysis regarding participants' final year projects

The goal of the research is to pinpoint the mistakes that students made in several areas of their research work (Projects). Based on data from Yaba College of Technology's ND II and HND II students (N = 240), the analysis was conducted. The results showed that students made 948 mistakes in the 2020 – 2021 and 947 mistakes in the 2021 – 2022 periods respectively. In the two sessions under consideration, errors made by students in the ND 2 Statistics Department are primarily found in the Data Analysis and Methodology sections, respectively, whereas in the 2020 – 2021 session, errors made by students in the HND 2 Statistics Department are primarily found in the Data Analysis and Conclusion sections, respectively. Additionally, the Kruskal-Wallis test results showed that, at the 5% significance level, the errors made in both courses throughout the two sessions were identical. Errors were also shown in various portions of the final project works using pie charts and bar charts.

Characterization, profiling, and molecular docking analysis of phytochemicals derived from Daucus carota for evaluating their potential role in cardiovascular disease (CVD) assessment

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains a significant global health challenge, prompting this research manuscript's investigation into the potential contributions of phytochemicals extracted from Daucus carota, commonly known as carrots, in assessing CVD. The study employed a comprehensive approach, including spectral characterization through 1H and 13C NMR, and quantitative profiling using HPTLC, to identify and quantify phytochemical markers, namely, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, caffeic acid, and chlorogenic acid. Spectral characterization using NMR confirmed the presence of saturated and unsaturated moieties within these markers. Subsequently, these phytoconstituents, three in number found in carrot roots, underwent In-silico screening using the protein structure (PDB ID: 5JAD). The results of the molecular docking simulations revealed that these phytoconstituents exhibited higher docking scores and lower glide energies compared to standard drugs like Felodipine. The methodology and key research sections encompassed the collection, identification, and preparation of carrot samples, as and-performance thin-layer chromatographic TLC and (HPTLC) profiling, NMR spectroscopy, and molecular docking studies. The result findings offer valuable insights into the potential health benefits of carrot phytochemicals, encourage further exploration of varietal differences, suggest optimization of extraction techniques, and advocate for the assessment of synergistic effects. Importantly, the promising cardioprotective properties of these phytochemicals highlight their role in preventing and managing cardiovascular disease (CVD). The phytoconstituents derived from Daucus carota, as evidenced by HPTLC and In-silico studies, demonstrate substantial anti-cardiac potential. This positions them as valuable phytochemicals for the development of innovative anti-CVD/anti-CHF medications, offering promising avenues for the treatment of diverse cardiac diseases and disorders in the future.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Early-Stage Testicular Cancer: AUA Guideline Amendment 2023.

The purpose of this American Urological Association (AUA) guideline amendment is to provide a useful reference on the effective evidence-based treatment strategies for early-stage testicular cancer. The original methodology protocol included searches of PubMed®, Embase®, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) from January 1980 through August 2018. The search strategy used medical subject heading (MeSH) terms and key words relevant to the diagnosis and treatment of early-stage testicular cancer. The searches conducted for the update presented herein utilized the same methodological protocol to capture literature published through March 2023. When sufficient evidence existed, the body of evidence was assigned a strength rating of A (high), B (moderate), or C (low) for support of Strong, Moderate, or Conditional Recommendations. In the absence of sufficient evidence, additional information is provided as Clinical Principles and Expert Opinions. Updates were made to statements on imaging, seminoma management, non-seminoma management, surveillance for stage I testicular cancer, and additional survivorship. Further revisions were made to the methodology and reference sections as appropriate. This guideline seeks to improve clinicians' ability to evaluate and treat patients with early-stage testicular cancer based on currently available evidence. Future studies will be essential to further support or refine these statements to improve patient care.

The art and science of scholarly writing: framing symmetry of specificity beyond IMRAD

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide scholars with a robust, easy-to-follow structural model for crafting compelling academic publications. Recognizing the diversity of research methodologies and genres, the paper proposes the symmetry of specificity framework as a guide to maintaining coherence, depth and relevance across different sections of an academic paper.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents a theoretical framework – “symmetry of specificity” – through an iterative approach inspired by supervision and examination of theses, writing and reviewing research papers and editorial work. The framework builds upon the established IMRAD model and uses the concept of symmetry to explain the structural elements of academic publications. Its unique contribution lies in elucidating the two-dimensional funneling process that takes place within academic writing, and providing a nuanced understanding of how to maintain balance between different sections.FindingsThe symmetry of specificity framework introduces a novel perspective on academic writing, emphasizing the concept of “symmetry in specificity”. It shows how maintaining a balance in detail and focus across different sections of a research paper can significantly enhance its coherence and relevance. By elucidating the interaction between theory and data in research writing, it provides valuable insights into the nuances of crafting a compelling academic paper.Research limitations/implicationsWhile the proposed symmetry of specificity framework may not be universally applicable across all types of research, it provides a solid foundation for the development of alternate structures tailored to specific research paradigms. There is ample opportunity for future research to explore adaptations of this model for various types of academic writing, offering a fresh perspective on structuring academic publications and potentially sparking new discussions and innovations in this realm.Practical implicationsThis framework can aid both novice and experienced scholars in structuring their research papers effectively. By offering a conceptual roadmap, it guides the writer through the complex process of academic writing, from crafting the methodology and analysis sections to articulating compelling conclusions. Thus, it serves as a useful tool in enhancing the quality and impact of research communication.Originality/valueThis paper presents a unique approach to structuring academic publications that goes beyond the conventional IMRAD model. By offering a theory-based structural model, it contributes to an underexplored area in academic writing and opens up new avenues for pedagogy and practice in research communication.

A cross-sectional analysis of negation used in thesis writing by L1 and L2 PhD students

PhD theses have received considerable attention over years, playing a crucial role for PhD students to represent external realities and create writer-reader relations. To engage with alternative voices in textual interaction, PhD students produce their texts through the use of negation along with other interpersonal devices. Additionally, negation as an important rhetorical device performs both interactive and interactional functions. Nevertheless, little research has systematically investigated the use of negation in PhD theses across sections. Drawing on two corpora of students’ theses, we therefore analyse the differences in the frequency, distribution, and function of negation between L1 and L2 PhD students. Results showed that both L1 and L2 PhD students tended to employ various negative markers across sections, especially in the results and discussion, literature review, methodology, and conclusion sections. However, L2 PhD students employed fewer negative markers than L1 PhD students. Additionally, in terms of functional uses, L2 PhD students employed fewer negative markers in both interactive and interactional dimensions across sections. The findings of this study enable a better understanding of the rhetorical functions of negation and provide some pedagogical implications for the instruction of PhD thesis writing.

The state-of-the-art of modern workplace learning: an applied assessment method of a pre-train deep learning on modern learning tools

PurposeThe study discusses the importance of workplace learning in the current era of work and how organisations are shifting their focus toward employee learning and development. It highlights the need for employees to continuously up-skill themselves to keep up with the demand for skills. The purpose of this study is to introduce a modern approach to evaluating workplace learning to promote and enhance better performance within the workplace.Design/methodology/approachIt introduces a deep modern learning approach called “behavior-oriented drive and influential functions of formal and informal learning”. The study also develops the concept of the “Study, Plan, Do, Check, and Act” framework to simulate practise and theory within and outside of work to allow continuous improvement, learning new workplace tools, and bridging digital transformation challenges. The study highlights that workplace learning occurs in a variety of contexts and uses various tools, which poses challenges for the design and development of technology that supports and analyses workplace learning.FindingsBased on behaviour-orientated drive and influential functions for formal and informal learning, a grade of 6.54% days was registered for formal learning tools and 4.89% days for informal learning tools. From the statistics in this study, This study concluded that informal learning tools contribute more to the development of the workplace than formal learning. In informal learning, employees act autonomously at their own will and pace to obtain the required knowledge. The time to acquire knowledge through informal learning tools is shorter than in formal learning. Future relevant research should review more learning tools for formal and informal learning.Practical implicationsModern workplace learning is a key tool for organisations to gain a competitive advantage. Learning based on formal training and development programs, informal learning and knowledge sharing influence the development of human capital resources.Originality/valueThe study combines social science and engineering approaches to enable non-engineers to pioneer execution of tasks and examine their performance based on the approach detailed in the results, methodology and discussion sections. It contributes to the field of learning organisations and organisational learning by exploring the learning processes of modern professionals. By investigating the learning practices and experiences of knowledge workers, this study seeks to identify the factors that promote or learn and the impact of learning on the workplace.

From Inanimate Object to Agent: Impact of Pre-beginnings on the Emergence of Greetings with a Robot

The very first moments of co-presence, during which a robot appears to a participant for the first time, are often “off-the-record” in the data collected from human-robot experiments (video recordings, motion tracking, methodology sections, etc.). Yet, this “pre-beginning” phase, well documented in the case of human-human interactions, is not an interactional vacuum: It is where interactional work from participants can take place so the production of a first speaking turn (like greeting the robot) becomes relevant and expected. We base our analysis on an experiment that replicated the interaction opening delays sometimes observed in laboratory or “in-the-wild” human-robot interaction studies—where robots can require time before springing to life after they are in co-presence with a human. Using an ethnomethodological and multimodal conversation analytic methodology (EMCA), we identify which properties of the robot's behavior were oriented to by participants as creating the adequate conditions to produce a first greeting. Our findings highlight the importance of the state in which the robot originally appears to participants: as an immobile object or, instead, as an entity already involved in preexisting activity. Participants’ orientations to the very first behaviors manifested by the robot during this “pre-beginning” phase produced a priori unpredictable sequential trajectories, which configured the timing and the manner in which the robot emerged as a social agent. We suggest that these first instants of co-presence are not peripheral issues with respect to human-robot experiments but should be thought about and designed as an integral part of those.

Credit Performance of the Private and Public Sector Banks Towards the Personal Loan - A Comparative Study

The research study is based on the crediting of loans by both public and private sector banks in the United Kingdom. The research study has highlighted the rationale of loans that have been credited over the years in every household. The study has revealed the aim, as well as the objective of the study and the research questions, has been developed accordingly. The study has also included the literature section with an explanation of the credit system and performance of public and private banks. The methodology sections include the methods of data collection and the research approach adopted. The secondary research method is adopted in the research which provides a justification for the literature as well as the findings that are gathered through various data-collecting platforms. The analysis has been done through the help of six selected articles which are secondary in nature. Lastly, the study contains the conclusion chapter which provides a detailed conclusion to the study and presents the future scope of the study which can be applied to conducting future studies. Keywords: Credit performance, personal loan, public and private sector banks,

Analysis of Interactional Markers in the Methodology Sections of Research Articles Across Englishes and Disciplines

A cornucopia of research has been conducted on the use of metadiscourse across disciplines and languages. Still, this present study is the first to identify and analyse how metadiscourse markers (MDMs) help realize the functions of moves and steps in the Methods sections of research articles (RAs) across disciplines and Englishes. The present study is an investigation of the distribution of MDMs in the formulation of moves and steps in the Methods section of social science, business, and linguistics RAs written by American English (the inner circle), Philippine English (outer circle), and Chinese English (expanding circle) RA writers. Utilizing a qualitative-quantitative mixed methodology, it shows that engagement markers are the most frequently used interactional markers, that culture and discipline are two variables that account for the variations in MDMs use, that soft disciplines like humanities and social sciences seem to demand more writer accountability to assertions made, and that both the outer and the expanding circles of Englishes sometimes behave like the inner circle English with pronounced similarities and differences in the utilization of MDMs. Instructional implications were suggested based on the findings of the present study.

Scholarly Networks, Gender Sociology, and Knowledge Production in Aegean Survey and Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology

Scholarly Networks, Gender Sociology, and Knowledge Production in Aegean Survey and Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology

Scrutinizing Algerian EFL students’ challenges in research teaching and writing

Abstract Writing to report research writing may be a daunting task since it requires motivation, interest, background knowledge and hard work from the part of students. This paper focused on the major obstacles faced by the English foreign language learners in research writing at Belhadj Bouchaib University, Algeria, in addition to the teachers’ attitudes towards their students’ work. The study relied on a triangulated approach which enclosed quantitative and qualitative methods and its importance lied in providing insights into the nature of flaws and challenges as regards students’ academic writing practices. A questionnaire was used among 30 students followed by an interview with six teachers. The findings revealed that developing a research project and reporting the findings were among the most difficult challenges encountered by the learners. While the former requires them to identify the area of interest, choose a topic and formulate a researchable problem, the latter typically entails writing the methodology, results, and discussion sections. Between the two tasks, the students found academic writing the most challenging. The findings also revealed that teachers display negative attitudes towards their students’ research because of these reasons: lack of motivation following traditional methods of learning, insufficient background knowledge about research, paucity of library resources, sketchy number of courses related to research, and the unavailability of the Internet inside the university context. Following these flaws, some recommendations were provided.