Narrow Scope Research Articles

Jim Downs, Maladies of Empire: How Colonialism, Slavery and War Transformed Medicine

In Maladies of Empire, Jim Downs looks beyond John Snow’s London to rethink the violent structures of knowledge that created modern epidemiology. He does so by marshalling an array of sources across eight case studies. Though distinct to their populations, aetiologies, and environments, they have several things in common. Namely, most of them served as precedents for the US Sanitary Counsel’s response to a smallpox epidemic during the US Civil War. Downs argues that these episodes ‘changed the medical profession's understanding of disease transmission,’ by which he means the medical profession in much of the United States and Britain (p.6). Though framed as a global history of medicine, slavery, and empire, Downs’ arguments hold greater purchase when read through this narrower analytical scope. Indeed, many of the interventions he claims in this regard are well established, if uncited in the book. A notable omission is the work of Philip Curtin, who argued over fifty years ago that epidemiology has its beginnings in the slave trade.1 By staking this claim, Curtin paved the way for medical historians of slavery, explicating the centrality of disease to the operation of the slave trade and the racialization of both by medical practitioners and slavery advocates. Yet Curtin’s understanding of epidemiology was narrowly framed through a demographic and statistical approach to disease. A wealth of sources and studies has since prompted historians to examine the very epistemological assumptions, values, and logics of seemingly self-contained fields like epidemiology. It would have been exciting to see how the social historical approach that Downs brings to his rich source material might challenge and build on this canonical study.

Not in Their Right Mind? Right-Wing Extremism Is Not a Mental Illness, but Still a Challenge for Psychiatry.

Most research in psychiatry on extremism focuses on the question whether there is a connection between extremism and psychiatric diagnoses. In addition, practitioners are increasingly asked to take part in programs aimed at preventing and countering violent extremism by assessing risk for radicalization. However, an issue that remains largely unaddressed is that the rise of the far right in many countries during the last years poses a challenge for psychiatric services as working with right-wing patients can be a source of conflict for practitioners and patients alike. In this article, we assert that the narrow conceptual scope on psychological vulnerabilities and the practical focus on risk assessment contribute to processes of psychiatrization and limit the scope of research on right-wing extremism in psychiatry. By giving a brief overview of social research into right-wing extremism, the article argues that right wing beliefs should not be conceptualized as an expression of psychological vulnerabilities but rather as attempts to deal with conflict-laden social reality. Thus, a shift of perspective in psychiatric research on extremism is needed. On a conceptional level, the scope needs to be broadened to grasp the interplay of individual and social factors in radicalization with sufficient complexity. On a practical level, it is necessary to further investigate challenges for practitioners and institutions working with right-wing extremist patients.

Negation in English and Yala Languages

Negation is a denial, or a way of expressing a rejection of a positive proposition. It is a universal feature of human language in the sense that every language has a way of expressing a denial of fact, action, idea, or some such thing. Seeing that every language has a way of expressing negation, it was the aim of this work to examine the contrasts that exist in the ways in which negation is expressed in English and Yala languages. Yala is among the Idomoid group of languages. These languages are chosen due to their contact situation as well as the need that arises for comparative linguistics when languages come in contact. The study reveals that significant differences exist between the negation strategies of English and Yala languages; English is said to have more negation operators than Yala, thus displaying a fairly richer morpho-syntactic process in terms of negation. However, while the scope of negation commands certain phonological changes in Yala, it does not in English. It is also evident from the study that negation is marked with the use of cleft-like sentences in both languages. Moreover, in English, modal negation may have a wide or narrow scope, while in Yala, modal negation usually has a narrow scope. It was found from the study that to express non-modal negation, English and Yala use ‘not transport’; however, English marks non-modal negations through other means as well. Therefore, contrastive statements are made after establishing contrasts in different aspects of negation in both languages, and predictions of difficulty are made after each contrastive statement. The essence of the contrastive statement and predictions is to help teachers of Yala learners to place in the proper perspective the problems of the learners in relation to English negation.

Generations, We Hardly Knew Ye: An Obituary

Although popular in the organizational sciences, in the media, and in practice, the concepts of “generations” and “generational differences” have been increasingly scrutinized based on theoretical, methodological, and statistical concerns. Here, we present a short obituary to bid adieu to these troubled concepts, with the hopes of memorializing and “putting to rest” these controversial ideas. We encourage researchers and practitioners to think beyond the narrow scope offered by the idea of generations, adopt a more critical perspective on our science and practice, and learn from the mistakes of the past.

Multifunctional analysis and verification of lightning-type electromagnetic metasurfaces.

Aiming at the problems that most of the existing electromagnetic metasurfaces have single function and narrow application scope, a highly integrated lightning-type metasurface is proposed in this study. It can realize the functions of circular dichroism (CD), absorption of electromagnetic waves, broadband x-to-y cross polarization conversion (CPC) function, linear-to-circular polarization conversion (LTC-PC) function and asymmetric transmission (AT), and its functions are also analyzed and verified. The designed metasurface consists of the bottom grating structure, the lower SiO2, the middle lightning-type graphene, the upper SiO2, the top graphene and photosensitive silicon. Through numerical calculations, the CD of design can reach more than 85% at 4.22 THz. The function of bimodal absorption is achieved at 4.09 and 8.69 THz. At 7.41∼8.21 THz, the polarization conversion ratio (PCR) of the metasurface reaches more than 99%. Simultaneously, the function of LTC-PC can be formed when PCR is 50%. Finally, when the designed metasurface is in the transmissive state, the AT of design is close to 60% at 7.84 THz. This design provides a new design idea and method for biomedical detection, image processing, modulators, smart switches, optical diodes and other fields.

Investigating the Role of Corticostriatal Glutamate Signaling in Methamphetamine Reward and Reinforcement

Highly addictive amphetamine‐type stimulants, including methamphetamine (MA), pose significant health and socioeconomic issues, with an estimated 27 million users worldwide. Understanding the neurobiological changes underlying various stages of MA abuse is key to developing safe and effective therapies. While the majority of addiction research has implicated the dopamine system, the long‐term neuroplasticity that maintains MA Use Disorder also involves drug‐induced changes in glutamate signaling in reward regions of the brain like the nucleus accumbens (NAC) and prefrontal cortex (PFC). In order to further characterize the role of glutamate in MA reward and reinforcement, glutamate receptor scaffolding protein Homer2 expression in the NAC and activity in the glutamatergic projection PFC‐NAC were manipulated prior to place‐ and operant‐conditioning procedures. Together the results from these studies argue that while research of the functional neuroanatomy of addiction tends to focus on traditional dichotomies between the NAC core and shell or PFC prelimbic and infralimbic sub‐regions, the role of these circuits in drug abuse is more complex than the narrow scope of our experiments were able to probe. Other inputs upstream from our regions of interest may be able to compensate for our manipulations via neurobiological redundancy. This would suggest that as research technologies advance, targeting functional networks will be crucial for elucidating the neurobiological underpinnings of addiction and discovering potential therapeutics.

2022/6 Narrow scope of the ‘special circumstances’ defence for not consulting on collective redundancies confirmed (UK)

2022/6 Narrow scope of the ‘special circumstances’ defence for not consulting on collective redundancies confirmed (UK)

Intentionality Required to Equip a Diverse Physician Workforce with Tools and Infrastructure to Deliver Comprehensive Care.

Family physicians who self-identify as Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) are more likely to provide care to historically marginalized patients and provide care in disadvantaged areas compared with their White counterparts. However, these physicians also tend to have a narrower scope of practice. Broader scope of practice, determined by the Scope of Practice for Primary Care score, is associated with higher quality of care. Therefore, historically marginalized patients and those in disadvantaged areas would greatly benefit from a physician workforce with a broad scope of practice to help combat long standing and pervasive health inequities. This commentary will visit the context of this issue and provide suggestions to equip and support a diverse physician workforce to deliver trusted and comprehensive health care.

Variation in Scope and Area of Practice by Family Physician Race and Ethnicity.

Family physicians who are self-identified members of Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native racial groups are more likely to practice in disadvantaged areas but also tend to have narrower scopes of practice when compared with White family physicians, despite holding the same certification. Considering the established benefits of comprehensive primary care, these results suggest the need for policies incentivizing and supporting broader scopes of practice in disadvantaged areas.

On Some (A)symmetrical Properties of Scramblings

This paper investigates symmetrical and asymmetrical properties of clause- internal scrambling and clause-external scrambling in Korean. We first assume that the binding condition applies derivationally while scope interpretation is obtained solely at LF. Concerning binding, the two types of scrambling display (a)symmetric properties that are not well-captured under previous analyses based on the traditional A/A’ distinction. Following Hicks’s (2008) assumption that the binding condition applies throughout the derivation, we show that binding facts can be explained if we examine the derivational history of scrambled elements. We further show that (a)symmetrical scope facts of clause-internal scrambling and clause-external scrambling are not well-captured under the canonical copy-theory of movements. In the case of QP-QP scope interaction, clause-internal scrambling induces scope ambiguity while clause-external scrambling does not. Regarding this contrast, we suggest that the wide scope interpretation of a quantifier in clause-internal scrambling results from the base-generation of the scope-bearing element at a clause-initial position, whereas the narrow scope interpretation of a quantifier in clause-internal scrambling results from the lowering of the moved quantifier. We lend further support to the proposal that the absence of a wide scope interpretation of a quantifier in the case of clause- external scrambling results from the obligatory reconstruction of the moved QP. However, when a negative polarity item is introduced into the sentence, clause-internal and clause-external scrambled QPs take only wide scope over negation. We suggest that symmetric scope facts related to NPI-QP interaction hinge on a ban on Relativized Minimality violation.

On Some (A)symmetrical Properties of Scramblings

This paper investigates symmetrical and asymmetrical properties of clause- internal scrambling and clause-external scrambling in Korean. We first assume that the binding condition applies derivationally while scope interpretation is obtained solely at LF. Concerning binding, the two types of scrambling display (a)symmetric properties that are not well-captured under previous analyses based on the traditional A/A’ distinction. Following Hicks’s (2008) assumption that the binding condition applies throughout the derivation, we show that binding facts can be explained if we examine the derivational history of scrambled elements. We further show that (a)symmetrical scope facts of clause-internal scrambling and clause-external scrambling are not well-captured under the canonical copy-theory of movements. In the case of QP-QP scope interaction, clause-internal scrambling induces scope ambiguity while clause-external scrambling does not. Regarding this contrast, we suggest that the wide scope interpretation of a quantifier in clause-internal scrambling results from the base-generation of the scope-bearing element at a clause-initial position, whereas the narrow scope interpretation of a quantifier in clause-internal scrambling results from the lowering of the moved quantifier. We lend further support to the proposal that the absence of a wide scope interpretation of a quantifier in the case of clause- external scrambling results from the obligatory reconstruction of the moved QP. However, when a negative polarity item is introduced into the sentence, clause-internal and clause-external scrambled QPs take only wide scope over negation. We suggest that symmetric scope facts related to NPI-QP interaction hinge on a ban on Relativized Minimality violation.

Scaling patterns of cerebellar petrosal lobules in Euarchontoglires: Impacts of ecology and phylogeny.

The petrosal lobules (in whole or part homologous with the paraflocculi) of the cerebellum regulate functions associated with vision including smooth pursuit and velocity control of eye movements, suggesting a possible relationship between the petrosal lobules and behavioral adaptation. Previous studies have produced diverging conclusions regarding the lobules' ecological signal. The current study examines lobule scaling within an ecologically diverse but phylogenetically constrained sample of extant mammals to determine whether ecology influences relative petrosal lobule size. Using the endocasts of 140 Euarchontoglires (Primates, Scandentia, Dermoptera, Lagomorpha, Rodentia), petrosal lobule size was evaluated relative to endocranium and body size, accounting for phylogenetic relationships and ecology (locomotor behavior, diet, activity pattern). Results show a strong positive relationship between lobule size and both endocranial volume and body mass. Phylogeny is a major factor in the scaling of the petrosal lobules, with significant differences in relative size identified between orders and suborders. Concerning ecology, fossorial taxa were found to have significantly smaller petrosal lobules relative to body mass compared to other locomotor groups across Euarchontoglires. The small lobules possessed by this group may reflect an adaptation related to reduced visual reliance. In contrast to previous research, no relationship was identified between relative lobule size and any other ecological variables. While variation in relative lobule size may be adaptively significant in some groups (i.e., fossorial species), it is critical to study the evolution of petrosal lobule size within a narrow phylogenetic scope, with inclusion of fossil material to inform our understanding of evolutionary trajectories.

Look at U: Technological scope of the acquirer, technological complementarity with the target, and post-acquisition R&D output

Different streams of literature in economics and strategy suggest that several characteristics of a firm's technological base such as diversity, breadth, depth, and R&D portfolio affect its R&D output. Separately, strategy literature on technological mergers and acquisitions (M&As) suggests that the relationship between technological knowledge bases of the acquirer and the target, such as their technological similarities and complementarities, also affects the post-acquisition R&D output. This paper integrates the knowledge from these streams to further our understanding of technological M&As by examining how the pre-acquisition technological scope of an acquirer, encompassing the diversity and breadth of its technological knowledge base, affects its post-acquisition R&D output. Our analysis of a panel of technological acquisitions suggests that the acquirer's technological scope has a U-shaped relationship with post-acquisition R&D output, measured in terms of patent filings. Moreover, technological complementarity between the acquirer's and target's knowledge bases positively moderates this relationship. Results show that acquirers have higher post-acquisition R&D output when their pre-acquisition technological scope is either narrow or broad rather than moderate. Besides, acquirers having a narrow technological scope benefit more from technological complementarities. Our findings have important implications for the effectiveness of corporate R&D strategy and M&A strategy in the hi-tech industries.

Medical Expulsive Therapy (MET) for Ureteral Calculi in Children: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BackgroundMedical expulsive therapy (MET) is the use of medication to facilitate ureteral stone passage prior to surgical intervention. Practice guidelines for the use of MET in the pediatric population remain limited, primarily due to a scarcity of randomized controlled trials and concerns regarding dosing and side effects. To address this, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to clarify the impact of MET on the spontaneous passage of pediatric stones located within the distal ureter.MethodsA narrow scope search using PubMed and Embase with a predefined search strategy was performed in September 2021 to identify all randomized controlled trials involving the use of pediatric MET for stones located in the distal ureter. Raw data from 6 eligible articles were extracted for pooled analysis. Our primary outcome was the overall effect of MET on ureteral calculi passage within 28 days compared to controls.ResultsThe mean age of patients in included studies was 7.6 years-old, with a range of ages 2–18 years old. In the pooled analysis of eligible studies, 235 patients received MET and 176 received placebo. The mean stone size was 6.40 mm in the treatment arm and 6.42 mm in the control arm. Children receiving MET were more likely than controls to experience spontaneous stone passage [Relative risk 1.39 (CI 95% 1.21–1.60)]. Considering all included studies, only one child treated with MET withdrew due to medication side effects.ConclusionOur systematic review and meta-analysis of the use of pediatric MET on spontaneous distal ureteral stone passage demonstrates a statistically significant benefit. The benefits of MET are diverse and include, possibly, minimizing exposure to anesthesia and radiation alongside improving surgical outcomes if ureteroscopy must be performed. Given the increasing incidence of ureteral stones in children and the nuances inherent to pediatric surgery due to smaller anatomy, MET represents an opportunity for safer and more effective pediatric stone management.

Optionality in the Expression of Indefiniteness: A Pilot Study on Piacentine

Optionality is an issue within the minimalist theory of language, in which the principle of the “last resort” does not admit competing options to express the same meaning. What is needed is a solid empirical base showing that apparently competing forms do specialize for some syntactic/semantic traits. Hence, the aim of this pilot study is to investigate optionality in the choice of competing indefinite determiners in Piacentine, an Italo-Romance variety spoken in north-western Italy. Sixteen native Piacentine speakers were presented with a questionnaire to collect linguistic data. Statistical analyses of the data were performed to seek correlations between the choice of the indefinite determiners and some syntactic/semantic traits that were controlled for. The results indicate that Piacentine displays four main determiners, labeled ART, di+art, bare di, and ZERO. ART and di+art are the most widespread determiners allowing both narrow and wide scope and occurring in all the investigated contexts. Bare di is instead the unmarked form for expressing non-existential indefiniteness in negative contexts and only has narrow scope. ZERO co-varies with bare di, and its use was strengthened by contact with Italian, preventing its loss, differently from French, which lost ZERO instead.

A modified method for calculating the viscosity of multicomponent slags based on Kriging interpolation

Model prediction is an effective method to obtain the physicochemical properties data of molten slags, which is difficult to test experimentally due to their high melting points. Empirical models are prevalent at present; however, it needs large amount of experimental data to fit the empirical parameters with narrow application scope. In this paper, the Kriging interpolation method modified with oxide property weights, is firstly introduced into the viscosity prediction of multicomponent slags. The prediction results of CaO–Al2O3–SiO2, CaO–Al2O3–CaF2, CaO–Al2O3–SiO2–MgO and CaO–Al2O3–SiO2–MgO–CaF2 systems showed that the predicted errors by the Modified Kriging Interpolation (MKI) method are smaller than those by various empirical models. It is anticipated that the MKI method can be extended to predicting the continuous physicochemical properties of multicomponent slags.

Implementation of electronic messaging protocol for pediatric urology preoperative scheduling: A pilot study

Preparing patients for surgery is a task healthcare organizations strive to optimize. Electronic messaging (EM) provides an opportunity for streamlining components of this arduous process. Our study aims to evaluate our early experience in utilizing EM to provide preoperative information to pediatric urology patients. To assess the effectiveness of EM in preparing patients for pediatric urologic surgery. This study compared a 6-week pilot program of EM (Figure1) with traditional nurse phone calls (NPC) in preoperative instruction of pediatric urology patients. The same preoperative instructional information was provided via either source. Data collected included time and resources used by the healthcare system and patient/parent satisfaction. The EM group included 98 patients, while the NPC group included 212 patients. Case cancellation rate between the two cohorts was similar, with a 6.67% cancellation rate in the EM cohort and a 10.55% cancellation rate in the NPC cohort (z=-1.137, p=0.25). There were 4EM-related operating room delays with an average case delay of 31.5min (5-60min). Twenty-four (24%) EM patients/families required secondary phone calls, while 106 (50%) NPC required a follow up phone call (p<0.01). 94% of EM participants recommended EM for future perioperative instructions. Accounting for the average case volume within our entire children's hospital, the average total daily cost for EM is $5.96/day, as compared to an average total cost of $87.78/day to perform NPC. This represents an estimated cost savings of $81.82 per day or $21,273.20 per year, based upon average total case volume at our institution. In our initial experience, EM effectively communicates the necessary preoperative information to patients and/or families undergoing pediatric urology surgery. Our results demonstrate low case cancellation and delay rates and high patient/family satisfaction. Also demonstrated was the cost savings by replacing the NPC with EM. A great benefit of EM was the increased time it provided for nurses to perform other patient care duties, which is important given our current nationwide nursing shortage. Limitations of the study included a narrow scope assessing only pediatric urology patients as well as a short study period. Further studies will further define and refine the role of perioperative EM. Changing to an EM system for preoperative instructions in the pediatric urology population met with a high degree of patient satisfaction and decreased costs for healthcare systems without increasing case delay or cancellation rates.

Economic Burden of COVID-19: A Systematic Review.

ObjectiveTo review and qualitatively synthesize the evidence related to the economic burden of COVID-19, including healthcare resource utilization and costs.MethodsA systematic review of studies that assessed the economic burden [eg, direct costs, productivity, macroeconomic impact due to non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and equity] of COVID-19 was conducted by searches in EMBASE, MEDLINE, MEDLINE-IN-PROCESS, and The Cochrane Library, as well as manual searches of unpublished research for the period between January 2020 to February 2021. Single reviewer data extraction was confirmed independently by a second reviewer.ResultsThe screening process resulted in a total of 27 studies: 25 individual publications, and 2 systematic literature reviews, of narrower scopes, that fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The patients diagnosed with more severe COVID-19 were associated with higher costs. The main drivers for higher costs were consistent across countries and included ICU admission, in-hospital resource use such as mechanical ventilation, which lead to increase costs of $2082.65 ± 345.04 to $2990.76 ± 545.98. The most frequently reported indirect costs were due to productivity losses. On average, older COVID-19 patients incurred higher costs when compared to younger age groups. An estimation of a 20% COVID-19 infection rate based on a Monte Carlo simulation in the United States led to a total direct medical cost of $163.4 billion over the course of the pandemic.ConclusionThe COVID-19 pandemic has generated a considerable economic burden on patients and the general population. Preventative measures such as NPIs only have partial success in lowering the economic costs of the pandemic. Implementing additional preventative measures such as large-scale vaccination is vital in reducing direct and indirect medical costs, decreased productivity, and GDP losses.

Towards automatic model specialization for edge video analytics

The number of cameras deployed to the edge of the network increases by the day, while emerging use cases, such as smart cities or autonomous driving, also grow to expect images to be analyzed in real-time by increasingly accurate and complex neural networks. Unfortunately, state-of-the-art accuracy comes at a computational cost rarely available in the edge cloud. At the same time, due to strict latency constraints and the vast amount of bandwidth edge cameras generate, we can no longer rely on offloading the task to a centralized cloud. Consequently, there is a need for a meeting point between the resource-constrained edge cloud and accurate real-time video analytics. If state-of-the-art models are too expensive to run on the edge, and lightweight models are not accurate enough for the use cases in the edge, one solution is to demand less from the lightweight model and specialize it in a narrower scope of the problem, a technique known as model specialization. By specializing a model to the context of a single camera, we can boost its accuracy while keeping its computational cost constant. However, this also involves one training per camera, which quickly becomes unfeasible unless the entire process is fully automated. In this paper, we present and evaluate COVA (Contextually Optimized Video Analytics), a framework to assist in the automatic specialization of models for video analytics in edge cloud cameras. COVA aims to automatically improve the accuracy of lightweight models by specializing them to the context to which they will be deployed. Moreover, we discuss and analyze each step involved in the process to understand the different trade-offs that each one entails. Using COVA, we demonstrate that the whole pipeline can be effectively automated by leveraging large neural networks used as teachers whose predictions are used to train and specialize lightweight neural networks. Results show that COVA can automatically improve pre-trained models by an average of 21% mAP on the different scenes of the VIRAT dataset.

Sports Economics on Trial: Alston v. NCAA

The Supreme Court's decision in NCAA v. Alston already has had profound effects on the governance of college sports. Despite the narrow scope of the relief ordered in Alston, the opinion invites more challenges to NCAA rules that restrict compensation of athletes. Within months after Alston was decided, many athletes already are substantially better off financially, and the NCAA has delegated regulation of compensation of athletes to its conferences and divisions. Moreover, the case represents an intellectual victory for sports economics in that decades of research in the field formed the foundation for the Court's opinion.