Miscellaneous Topics Research Articles

A semi-supervised approach for Vietnamese stock news classification with deep learning

Stock-related news and articles on Vietnamese economic websites and blogs are rapidly increasing, but they are mixed with entertainment news, miscellaneous topics, and advertisements. This makes it annoy for real investors and analysts who only focus to find and analyze the stock-related information that matters (Boudoukh, 2013). This research introduces a novel method for automatically labeling the relevance of news articles to the stock market, based on a set of criteria derived from financial domain knowledge. In addition, this study also develops a deep learning classifier model that leverages the BERT architecture and the Vietnamese language model (viBERT) (Tran, 2020) to achieve high accuracy and efficiency in scoring the stock market news. This approach helps investors and analysts to filter out the irrelevant content on Vietnamese economic websites and access the most useful information for their mainstream analysis of stock movements.

A holistic, integrated supply-production–distribution problem in the dairy industry under uncertain supply and demand

Although the simultaneous planning of several relevant operations in the form of an integrated model has been gaining prestige in recent years on miscellaneous topics, the dairy industry, due to multifaceted and complex planning aspects of each level, has been less investigated. Hence, this study introduces an unprecedented, integrated supply-production–distribution problem under uncertain supply and demand in the dairy industry. In this regard, a novel mathematical model is developed to minimize the total cost of the supply chain, wherein a broad range of decisions, including assignment, routing, and scheduling, are reflected. More importantly, each stage encompasses a wide range of realistic concerns, to name a few, a comprehensive supply network, the blending process, various time limitations, and coordination among means of transportation, such as lorries and different multi-compartment vehicles, are considered in the supply phase. Additionally, a multi-period, multi-product, multi-stage production system with various production capacities and perishability requirements is considered in the production phase. The considerations of multi-compartment vehicles alongside the assignment of product-oriented time windows and products' early and late delivery are also reflected in the distribution phase. Furthermore, a set-induced robust optimization technique with the interval-ellipsoidal-polyhedral uncertainty set is applied to handle supply and demand uncertainties. Finally, a real case study is investigated to demonstrate the applicability and validation of the proposed model and the uncertainty approach. The obtained results revealed that considering external cooling units and the blending process can diminish the system’s total costs by approximately 16% and 11%, respectively.

A Scientometric Review of Chemical Management

Chemical management is critical and has an enormous impact on our daily lives. Numerous advancements in chemical production have transformed management facets, most notably vis-à-vis safety, health, and environment. Thus, the scientometric review could depict and analyse publication trends in updating scientific datasets and knowledge in this field. This scientometric review is intended to scrutinise the progress, trends, and updates of publications concerning chemical management in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The publication patterns and authors’ keywords are among the scientometric parameters examined in this review. The obtained publication lists or metadata in this study were analysed using ScientoPy and VOSviewer software, which displayed the scientometric results graphically. The current study portrayed that the number of publications on chemical management has increased in both databases. The exploratory publications and research areas reveal that efforts to inspect chemical management cover miscellaneous topics and disciplines such as environmental science and ecology, engineering, and agriculture. The most related authors’ keywords concerning chemical management are “Risk management”, “Risk assessment”, and “REACH”. Researchers and practitioners may benefit from this scientometric review since it contains data, concepts, thoughts, and insights that can be employed to bolster their theories and practices in managing chemicals.

Analisis Bibliometrik Bidang Matematika dan Ilmu Pengetahuan Alam

The purpose of this research is to determine the results of the theses by students at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences from 2018-2020, and their suitability which includes: the field of science that is being examined, boring topics that are no longer in demand, and Trends in the distribution of topics growing based on the Dewey Decimal Classification standard. This is a quantitative and qualitative research carried out to determine the distribution of thesis topics as the basis for developing the roadmap of each study program at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. Data were collected from the repository and tabulated data tabulations of the summary of results. The results indicate that the number of undergraduate thesis at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences from 2018 to 2020 is 2.416 titles. The mapping of fields of science based on Dewey Decimal Classification showed the topics of each study program. Based on the data, the in-demand topics for each study program are Chemical equilibrium; Miscellaneous topics in physical chemistry; Prescription Filling; Education, Research, Related Topics; Physical Chemistry; Kinematics; Descriptive statistics, multivariate analysis; analysis of variance and covariance and Mathematical models (mathematical simulation).

Review of Selected Issues in Anisotropic Plasticity under Axial Symmetry

The present review paper consists of two main parts, which are not connected. The first part is devoted to a general axisymmetric elastic–plastic plane stress solution, assuming polar anisotropy. Strains are infinitesimal. The principal stress trajectories coincide with the principal axes of anisotropy. No restrictions are imposed on the yield criterion other than the conventional restrictions imposed on the yield criteria in plasticity. The plastic portion of the strain rate tensor is determined from the associated flow rule. A simple example illustrates the general solution. The second part is devoted to the stationary ideal flow theory for anisotropic materials under axial symmetry. The elastic portion of the strain tensor is neglected. A piece-wise linear yield criterion is adopted. This criterion generalizes Tresca’s yield criterion. The existence of ideal flow is proven. It is also shown that the available solutions for Tresca’s yield criterion can be used for deriving solutions for the yield criterion under consideration. Miscellaneous topics are shortly discussed in the third part of the paper.

Bounds in nonequilibrium quantum dynamics

We review various bounds concerning out-of-equilibrium dynamics in few-level and many-body quantum systems. We primarily focus on closed quantum systems but will also mention some related results for open quantum systems and classical stochastic systems. We start from the speed limits, the universal bounds on the speeds of (either quantum or classical) dynamical evolutions. We then turn to review the bounds that address how good and how long would a quantum system equilibrate or thermalize. Afterward, we focus on the stringent constraint set by locality in many-body systems, rigorously formalized as the Lieb–Robinson bound. We also review the bounds related to the dynamics of entanglement, a genuine quantum property. Apart from some other miscellaneous topics, several notable error bounds for approximated quantum dynamics are discussed. While far from comprehensive, this topical review covers a considerable amount of recent progress and thus could hopefully serve as a convenient starting point and up-to-date guidance for interested readers.

What's New in Orthopaedic Trauma.

What's New in Orthopaedic Trauma.

Facebook Live: One Year of Traditional Discussions vs. Case Conferences

Facebook Live is one of Facebook's most successful modes for transmitting audio and video content. For almost five years, we have used Facebook Live to reach our followers to discuss miscellaneous radiology topics on our Facebook page, CTisus. The videos show us, and sometimes others, discussing a range of topics related to radiology. Topics include "Adrenal Masses," "Preventing Misdiagnosis," and "The Use of CT in Cancer Screening." Unrelatedly, we started hosting remote case conference meetings for the faculty in our radiology department soon after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with an aim to help faculty learn while maintaining a sense of community during this new era of heavy remote work after having held these conferences in person for nearly 15 years. During the case conferences, we show approximately 3-6 slide pairs for each case and quiz the faculty on the diagnosis. In December 2020, we decided to merge the two practices and host additional case conferences each month on Facebook Live via Zoom. We theorized that this would give our followers a better sense of community while teaching and reviewing diagnostic cases. Our goal was to increase engagement with our users. Here, we compare these methods of education in terms of popularity with our users and make recommendations to radiology education peers for using images in their live videos to create content more applicable to viewers.

Classification and analysis of deep learning applications in construction: A systematic literature review

In recent years, the construction industry has experienced an expansion in the multitude of projects and emergent information. With the advent of deep learning, new opportunities have emerged for utilizing this vast amount of data to solve construction-related issues. While the use of deep learning has been increasing in construction, there has been no review on these applications to date. Therefore, this paper presents a Systematic Literature Review on the use of deep learning applications in construction. A total of 80 journal papers were identified and analyzed. Among these papers, six application-based topics were identified: equipment tracking, crack detection, construction work management, sewer assessment, 3D point cloud enhancement, and miscellaneous topics. Analysis shows that deep learning has been beneficial in leveraging data in areas such as crack detection and segmentation of infrastructure and sewers; equipment and worker detection and; and analysis and reporting on construction-related operations. Additionally, a discussion of the various deep learning techniques is provided as well as a contrast between deep learning, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.

Preface International e-Conference on Sustainable Agriculture and Farming System (ICoSAFS 2020)

The International e-Conference on Sustainable Agriculture and Farming System (ICoSAFS 2020) was organized by the Faculty of Agriculture, IPB University, Bogor, Indonesia. The ICoSAFS 2020 was conducted to facilitate exchanges among researchers about the advanced progress in sustainable agriculture and farming system research. The e-conference successfully attracted as many as 271 attendants, 80 presentations and scientists from 10 countries including Croatia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and the USA. The major scientific presentation topics discussed in the ICoSAFS 2020 include agricultural economics, farming system, landscape, plant production, plant protection, soil science, sustainable agriculture, and other miscellaneous topics associated with sustainable agriculture and farming system.

Classical Indian Philosophy: A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps by Peter Adamson and Jonardon Ganeri

Reviewed by: Classical Indian Philosophy: A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps by Peter Adamson and Jonardon Ganeri Joerg Tuske (bio) Classical Indian Philosophy: A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps. Volume 5. By Peter Adamson and Jonardon Ganeri. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020. Pp. xxiv + 397. Hardcover $32.95, ISBN 978-0-19-885176-9. "I cannot recommend this book highly enough!" Is this statement true or have I succeeded in lavishing enough praise on this book by writing this statement, making this statement in fact false? This is one way in which Adamson and Ganeri explain the view of the Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna that everything is empty. (However, humble as they are, they use the movies of Buster Keaton instead of their own book as an example.) Nāgārjuna has to defend himself against the objection that if everything is "empty" then this surely also applies to his own view. He famously argues that he does not have a thesis and provides the "silence" analogy, which I want to illustrate using my own example: if there is too much off-topic chatter in class and I want students to be quiet and pay attention I could shout "silence!" in order to create silence but of course my act of shouting itself is the opposite of silence. Nevertheless, it can bring about silence and Nāgārjuna claims that his view that everything is empty could be an instrument to make "Brahmanical (and other) dogmatists" aware of this. In Classical Indian Philosophy, the fifth volume of transcripts from the excellent podcast History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps, and the first to discuss philosophers with no direct connection to ancient Greece, Peter Adamson has teamed up with Jonardon Ganeri to provide a comprehensive, fascinating, and fun account of the history of philosophy on the Indian sub-continent up until the Buddhist philosopher Dignāga (c. 480–540 CE) with many glimpses of philosophical developments beyond Dignāga's time. (Listeners of the podcast series might know that Adamson is also collaborating with Chike Jeffers on a podcast series on Africana Philosophy, which I hope will eventually appear in book form as well.) Classical Indian Philosophy is divided into four parts: in the first part ("Origins") the authors provide an introduction to philosophy in India and then discuss the background to any philosophical activity in India, namely the Vedas, the Upaniṣads, the Mahābhārata (including a chapter on the Bhagavad-gītā) and the Buddha's teachings. The second part, entitled "The age of the sūtra," [End Page 1] gives a thorough overview of what is often called "the six orthodox schools" (Sāṃkhya, Yoga, Mīmāṃsā, Vedānta, Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika). Part three adds Buddhist and Jaina philosophy while part four ("Beyond ancient India") introduces miscellaneous topics, such as "The aesthetics of Rasa," "Tantra," two chapters on the (possible) influence of Indian philosophy on Greek, Islamic and later European thought, as well as a brief glimpse of philosophy after Dignāga. While my rendering of the outline of the book seems as if it could apply to any number of histories of Indian philosophy, there are several points that make this book stand out. Listeners of the podcast already know that the authors are not afraid to resort to the occasional pun in order to get a point across and I am happy to say that all of them (as far as I can tell) made it into the book version. With that in mind, I want to offer the cliché that Classical Indian Philosophy is a tour de force but what makes it stand out from traditional histories is that there is nothing forced about it. This is partly due to the fact that this book (as the previous volumes) is written as a series of podcasts. This makes for a much more engaging style than is found in standard accounts of the history of philosophy (Indian, European, or otherwise). Listeners of the first four seasons of the podcast or readers of the first volumes will be familiar with Adamson's frequent references to giraffes as contents of our beliefs...

Book Review of Surface Guided Radiation Therapy edited by Jeremy D. P.Hoisak, Adam B.Paxton, BenjaminWaghorn and ToddPawlicki

This monograph on surface guided radiation therapy (SGRT) covers all of the essential aspects of surface image guidance applied to radiation therapy, beginning with a historical overview and followed by a very nice chapter on safety and quality improvement. Following these two introductory chapters, the monograph can then be divided into four main sections: (i) the technical overview of currently available commercial SGRT Systems (chapters 3–5), (ii) the commissioning of the systems described in part (i) (chapters 6–8), (iii) the clinical application of SGRT (chapters 9–19), and (iv) miscellaneous topics in surface image guidance (chapters 20–26). While the corresponding chapters in part (i) and (ii) can be read independently of each other, I personally would have found it more helpful if the technical overview of a particular surface image guidance technology would have been followed by the chapter on its commissioning. Having said that, each of the chapters in part (i) and (ii) strikes the right balance between technical detail and brevity, making them very useful both as a reference and an introduction to the technology and how to commission a given technology of surface image guidance. Part (iii) begins with an in depth look at the clinical application of this technology to breast cancer (chapters 9–11), while Chapters 12–14 consider Stereotactic Radiosurgery and Stereotactic Radiation Therapy in depth, including a very nice chapter on the risk analysis for SGRT-based SRS/SRT. Part (iii) continues with a detailed description of respiratory motion management strategies employing surface image guidance in SBRT (chapter 15), including the use of surface image guidance for SBRT without respiratory gating (chapter 16). Chapters on the use of surface image guidance in the treatment of Head and Neck (chapter 17), extremities (chapter 18), and pediatric patients (chapter 19) conclude Part (iii). Chapters 20–26 round out the presentation with three perspectives on the clinical implementation of surface image guidance, one from the point of view of a physicist and two from the that of a radiation therapist (chapters 20–22); applications of surface image guidance to proton therapy (chapter 23); integration of surface image guidance into tomographic and bore type gantry systems (chapter 24); use of consumer grade cameras and alternate approaches to surface image guidance (chapter 25); and a final chapter discussing future directions for SGRT (chapter 26). In summary, this monograph presents a very readable account of the technical features of currently commercially available SGRT technologies, considers the commissioning of each in detail, and discusses in detail the clinical implementation and use of these systems for a number of important clinical sites, such as Breast, Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy, Stereotactic Radiosurgery and Stereotactic Radiation Therapy, and Head and Neck. Regardless of career stage, professionals in either therapeutic medical physics or radiation oncology will find this monograph beneficial. The authors of this monograph balance technical detail with clinical information regarding the technology's implementation, and, hence, those interested in SGRT will find this monograph a valuable and welcome addition to their professional library. I have enjoyed reading through this monograph and found it a cogent reference and a thorough introduction to the topic. Wolfgang A. Tomé, Ph.D., FAAPM, FASTRO, is a Professor of Radiation Oncology and a Professor of Neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Bronx, New York) and the Chief of the Division of Therapeutic Medical Physics at Montefiore Medical Center (Bronx, New York).

Track Iran's national COVID-19 response committee’s major concerns using two-stage unsupervised topic modeling

BackgroundSince the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on January 31, 2020, governments have been enfaced with crisis for timely responses. The efficacy of these responses directly depends on the social behaviors of the target society. People react to these actions with respect to the information they received from different channels, such as news and social networks. Thus, analyzing news demonstrates a brief view of the information users received during the outbreak. MethodsThe raw data used in this study is collected from official news channels of news wires and agencies in Telegram messenger, which exceeds 2,400,000 posts. The posts that are quoted by NCRC’s members are collected, cleaned, and divided into sentences. The topic modeling and tracking are utilized in a two-stage framework, which is customized for this problem to separate miscellaneous sentences from those presenting concerns. The first stage is fed with embedding vectors of sentences where they are grouped by the Mapper algorithm. Sentences belonging to singleton nodes are labeled as miscellaneous sentences. The remained sentences are vectorized, adopting Tf-IDF weighting schema in the second stage and topically modeled by the LDA method. Finally, relevant topics are aligned to the list of policies and actions, named topic themes, that are set up by the NCRC. ResultsOur results show that major concerns presented in about half of the sentences are (1) PCR lab. test, diagnosis, and screening, (2) Closure of the education system, and (3) awareness actions about washing hands and facial mask usage. Among the eight themes, intra-provincial travel and traffic restrictions, as well as briefing the national and provincial status, are under-presented. The timeline of concerns annotated by the preventive actions illustrates the changes in concerns addressed by NCRC. This timeline shows that although the announcements and public responses are not lagged behind the events, but cannot be considered as timely. Furthermore, the fluctuating series of concerns reveal that the NCRC has not a long-time response map, and members react to the closest announced policy/act. ConclusionThe results of our study can be used as a quantitative indicator for evaluating the availability of an on-time public response of Iran’s NCRC during the first three months of the outbreak. Moreover, it can be used in comparative studies to investigate the differences between awareness acts in various countries. Results of our customized-design framework showed that about one-third of the discussions of the NCRC’s members cover miscellaneous topics that must be removed from the data.

CAFR 1999-2019, Past Two Decades and Looking Ahead

China Accounting and Finance Review (CAFR) was co-established by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Tsinghua University in 1999. During the past 20 years, CAFR has been publishing original papers in accounting and finance with a focus on China-related studies. In this article, we review publishing patterns and impactful articles published in CAFR for the past 20 years with the purpose of gaining knowledge of recent publication patterns and trends as well as inspiring new insights for future publications. We classify CAFR articles into six groups: (i) information disclosure; (ii) auditing and taxation; (iii) corporate governance; (iv) market efficiency; (v) corporate finance; and (vi) miscellaneous topics, and broadly review the past publications by the classification. We also summarize publications by their regions of study, research methodologies and author affiliations. Then we choose several impactful CAFR articles that have been actively cited in Chinese and English literature and highlight their contributions. Furthermore, we find that four out of five China studies published in JFS exclusively focus on China’s banking industry, while none of the past CAFR publications have studied this topic. We therefore call for more studies on China’s financial stability and banking system. Finally, we call for more high-quality papers in accounting and finance studies for all countries or regions outside of China.

A global perspective on management of bacterial infections in pregnancy: a systematic review of international guidelines

Introduction Maternal sepsis is a leading cause of maternal and neonatal mortality. Despite the availability of management protocols, there is disparity in case fatality rates for pregnancy-related sepsis compared to other maternity-related complications. The main aim of this systematic review was to assess concordance between international evidence-based guidelines for the prevention and management of childbirth-related bacterial infections. Material and methods The PRISMA statement was followed during the conduct and reporting of this review. PubMed was searched electronically from 2009 to November 2019 for clinical guidelines covering the topic of childbirth-related infections and specific searches for relevant guidelines on the websites of the top five international professional bodies most commonly identified by our searches. We did not apply any language restrictions. Guidelines were included if they provided any information about the prevention or management of childbirth-related bacterial infections irrespective of whether the guideline stated a recommendation or not. Two independent reviewers undertook study selection, decisions about inclusion of selected guidelines and data extraction. Extracted information was synthesized under the following topics: Asymptomatic bacteriuria; group B streptococcal infection (GBS); preterm premature rupture of membranes (P-PROM); intrauterine infection; procedures; maternal sepsis; miscellaneous. Concordance was defined as absence of contradictory information between the different guidelines with regards to a specific topic, subtopic or recommendation. Quality of included guidelines was assessed against the AGREE II guideline reporting domains. Results A total of 43 guidelines were selected of which 11 were excluded leaving 32 guidelines that fulfilled our inclusion criteria. None of the guidelines fulfilled all the quality assessment domains and 11 (34%) of the guidelines satisfied 1−2 of domains only. Two guidelines covered the topic of asymptomatic bacteriuria, nine for GBS, five for P-PROM and three covered each of intra-amniotic infections maternal sepsis, obstetric procedures and interventions topics. The remaining guidelines covered miscellaneous topics. Conclusions There was concordance between guidelines with regards to several aspects in the prophylaxis and treatment of bacteriological infections in pregnancy. Nevertheless, there were several areas of discordance, some of which reached the extent of contradictory information as in the case of antenatal screening for GBS.

Update in Obstetric Anaesthesia: A Ten Question Review

We present a review of four major topics in obstetric anaesthesia, including obstetric outcomes, analgesia for labor, anaesthesia for caesarean section and some miscellaneous topics, in the form of multiple-choice questions, followed by a comprehensive review synthesizing the best evidence available so far on each topic.

The quaternion-based spatial-coordinate and orientation-frame alignment problems.

The general problem of finding a global rotation that transforms a given set of spatial coordinates and/or orientation frames (the `test' data) into the best possible alignment with a corresponding set (the `reference' data) is reviewed. For 3D point data, this `orthogonal Procrustes problem' is often phrased in terms of minimizing a root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) corresponding to a Euclidean distance measure relating the two sets of matched coordinates. This article focuses on quaternion eigensystem methods that have been exploited to solve this problem for at least five decades in several different bodies of scientific literature, where they were discovered independently. While numerical methods for the eigenvalue solutions dominate much of this literature, it has long been realized that the quaternion-based RMSD optimization problem can also be solved using exact algebraic expressions based on the form of the quartic equation solution published by Cardano in 1545; focusing on these exact solutions exposes the structure of the entire eigensystem for the traditional 3D spatial-alignment problem. The structure of the less-studied orientation-data context is then explored, investigating how quaternion methods can be extended to solve the corresponding 3D quaternion orientation-frame alignment (QFA) problem, noting the interesting equivalence of this problem to the rotation-averaging problem, which also has been the subject of independent literature threads. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the combined 3D translation-orientation data alignment problem. Appendices are devoted to a tutorial on quaternion frames, a related quaternion technique for extracting quaternions from rotation matrices and a review of quaternion rotation-averaging methods relevant to the orientation-frame alignment problem. The supporting information covers novel extensions of quaternion methods to the 4D Euclidean spatial-coordinate alignment and 4D orientation-frame alignment problems, some miscellaneous topics, and additional details of the quartic algebraic eigenvalue problem.

Mobile Phone-Based Behavioral Interventions in Pregnancy to Promote Maternal and Fetal Health in High-Income Countries: Systematic Review.

BackgroundChronic diseases have recently had an increasing effect on maternal-fetal health, especially in high-income countries. However, there remains a lack of discussion regarding health management with technological approaches, including mobile health (mHealth) interventions.ObjectiveThis study aimed to systematically evaluate mHealth interventions used in pregnancy in high-income countries and their effects on maternal health behaviors and maternal-fetal health outcomes.MethodsThis systematic review identified studies published between January 1, 2000, and November 30, 2018, in MEDLINE via PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and gray literature. Studies were eligible for inclusion if they included only pregnant women in high-income countries and evaluated stand-alone mobile phone interventions intended to promote healthy maternal beliefs, behaviors, and/or maternal-fetal health outcomes. Two researchers independently reviewed and categorized aspects of full-text articles, including source, study design, intervention and control, duration, participant age, attrition rate, main outcomes, and risk of bias. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines were followed, and the study was registered in PROSPERO before initiation.ResultsOf the 2225 records examined, 28 studies were included and categorized into 4 themes: (1) gestational weight gain, obesity and physical activity (n=9); (2) smoking cessation (n=9); (3) influenza vaccination (n=2); and (4) general prenatal health, preventive strategies, and miscellaneous topics (n=8). Reported sample sizes ranged from 16 to 5243 with a median of 91. Most studies were performed in the United States (18/28, 64%) and were randomized controlled trials (21/28, 75%). All participants in the included studies were pregnant at the time of study initiation. Overall, 14% (4/28) of studies showed association between intervention use and improved health outcomes; all 4 studies focused on healthy gestational weight. Among those, 3 studies showed intervention use was associated with less overall gestational weight gain. These 3 studies involved interventions with text messaging or an app in combination with another communication strategy (Facebook or email). Regarding smoking cessation, influenza vaccination, and miscellaneous topics, there was some evidence of positive effects on health behaviors and beliefs, but very limited correlation with improved health outcomes. Data and interventions were heterogeneous, precluding a meta-analysis.ConclusionsIn high-income countries, utilization of mobile phone–based health behavior interventions in pregnancy demonstrates some correlation with positive beliefs, behaviors, and health outcomes. More effective interventions are multimodal in terms of features and tend to focus on healthy gestational weight gain.

An investigation of biases in web search engine query suggestions

PurposeSurvey-based studies suggest that search engines are trusted more than social media or even traditional news, although cases of false information or defamation are known. The purpose of this paper is to analyze query suggestion features of three search engines to see if these features introduce some bias into the query and search process that might compromise this trust. The authors test the approach on person-related search suggestions by querying the names of politicians from the German Bundestag before the German federal election of 2017.Design/methodology/approachThis study introduces a framework to systematically examine and automatically analyze the varieties in different query suggestions for person names offered by major search engines. To test the framework, the authors collected data from the Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo query suggestion APIs over a period of four months for 629 different names of German politicians. The suggestions were clustered and statistically analyzed with regards to different biases, like gender, party or age and with regards to the stability of the suggestions over time.FindingsBy using the framework, the authors located three semantic clusters within the data set: suggestions related to politics and economics, location information and personal and other miscellaneous topics. Among other effects, the results of the analysis show a small bias in the form that male politicians receive slightly fewer suggestions on “personal and misc” topics. The stability analysis of the suggested terms over time shows that some suggestions are prevalent most of the time, while other suggestions fluctuate more often.Originality/valueThis study proposes a novel framework to automatically identify biases in web search engine query suggestions for person-related searches. Applying this framework on a set of person-related query suggestions shows first insights into the influence search engines can have on the query process of users that seek out information on politicians.

Simone Weil’s Lectures on Philosophy: A Comment

The purpose of this article is to introduce the reader to some intellectual origins of Simone Weil’s philosophy through a summary of and comment on her Lectures on Philosophy (1978) given when she was a teacher at a girls’ school at Roanne in the Loire region of central France. The article provides a comment on Simone Weil’s Lectures on Philosophy. There is a brief Introduction followed by a summary of Weil’s life which indicates her various interest as a religious thinker, mystic, anarchist, and political activist and some of the important academic commentaries on these aspects of her life and work. The source of the Lectures on Philosophy edited by her pupil Anne Reynaud-Guérithault is then discussed followed by a detailed summary of and comment on the Lectures themselves. They are grouped under five headings which are considered in turn. These are: The materialist point of view; after the discovery of mind; politics and social theory; ethics and aesthetics; miscellaneous topics and essay plans. There is a further discussion of Simone Weil’s later philosophical thought which shows that what she published reveals classical learning and intellectual quality, but also the several antimonies with which she struggled in her thinking, the two major influences on her thought being Ancient Greece and Christianity. There is a short Conclusion and Bibliography.