Non-standard Questions Research Articles

Worth the Risk? Standardized Screening to Identify Substance Use Among Patients Prior to Surgery.

We sought to compare identification of unhealthy substance use before surgery using The Tobacco, Alcohol, Prescription Medication, and Other Substance Use (TAPS), a standardized 4-item instrument, versus routine clinical documentation in the electronic medical record (EHR). Over 20% of individuals exhibit unhealthy substance use before elective surgery. Routine EHR documentation is often based on non-standard questions that may not fully capture the extent of substance use and is subject to bias. In contrast, brief standardized screening could provide a more efficient and systematic approach. We conducted a cross-sectional study among adults (≥18y) at a preoperative clinic from August to September, 2021. Positive screens for unhealthy substances by TAPS were compared to data from the EHR. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy were reported. Receiver operating characteristic curves (ROCs) were used to assess diagnostic ability. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the predictors of positive screens by TAPS. The cohort included 240 surgical patients. TAPS screening identified significantly more positive screens than EHR documentation (43.3% vs. 14.2%). Patients with unhealthy substance use were younger (50.8 vs. 56.7y; P=0.003), and TAPS revealed alcohol misuse in 30.8% of cases, contrasting with 0% in clinician documentation (P<0.001). Of the 104 TAPS-positive patients, 69.2% were missed by EHR documentation. Sensitivity (31%) and accuracy (AUC=0.65) of clinician documentation for any unhealthy substance use were lower compared to TAPS. Standardized TAPS screening detected preoperative unhealthy substance use more frequently than routine clinician documentation, emphasizing the need for integrating standardized measures into surgical practice to ensure safer perioperative care and outcomes.

Topological Explorations on the Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic

In an interplay between the Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic and topology, this paper presents material for a capstone seminar that expands on ideas from number theory, analysis, and linear algebra. It is designed to generate an immersive way of learning in which students discover new connections between familiar concepts, create definitions, and investigate non-standard questions. The ideas are arranged as a series of questions for students to explore, with expositions to the instructor on how to guide them in looking for answers. The investigations culminate in a satisfying outcome: that partition topologies are the same as unique factorization topologies, those that satisfy our topological version of the Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic.

Characteristics of Substance Use Screening at Intake in a Sample of U.S. Jails.

Despite high rates of substance use among justice-involved populations, the use of substance screening tools in justice settings varies. Data are from the National Jail Health Care Study, which surveyed jails across the U.S. about their health care practices (n=371). Jails were asked to voluntarily submit their medical intake forms. A content analysis of intake forms (n=63) specific to questions about substance use was completed. Seventy-three percent (73%) of intake forms used non-standardized questions to assess current substance use, and 27% did not ask any questions about substance use. Alcohol use was most assessed (52%), followed by tobacco (30%), and marijuana (22%). Less than 11% of jails asked about use of opioids and 40% of forms asked about withdrawal history. The lack of adequate substance use screening in jails hinders identification of substance use disorders, potential for withdrawal symptoms, and appropriate connection to treatment resources.

Advanced versions of the inverse function theorem

"This short opus is dedicated to the bright memory of the distinguished mathematician Gabriela Kohr and her mathematical heritage. Gabriela Kohr's contribution to analysis of one and several complex variables brought new knowledge into the modern theory as well as new colors to the subject. During our meetings with Gabriela at various conferences she always proposed some interesting and often nonstandard questions related to classical issues as well as new directions. It is worth to be mentioned her excellent book [50] together with Ian Graham on classical and modern problems in Geometric Function Theory in complex spaces (see also, [46], [56], [27], [22], [24], [49] and [48])."

스페인어 수사 질문 유형화를 위한 탐색 연구

The current study aims to review the existing literature on rhetorical questions and to present effective ways to classify the subtypes of the rhetorical questions based on quasi-natural Spanish data such as TV drama. A rhetorical question can be considered a type of non-standard questions, because it takes the form of a question but has a similar or even stronger force than a statement and is not usually expected to answer. The reason for not expecting an answer is that the speaker is assumed to already know the answer, and the listener is believed to easily know the answer through inference. After a close review of previous studies on rhetorical questions, a checklist based on the lexico-syntactic, semantic, conversational, and discourse characteristics of rhetorical questions has been made. Toward the end, a couple of sample rhetorical questions extracted from actual Spanish dramas have been analyzed. This paper is expected to guide the firm ground for future empirical research on rhetorical questions in Spanish.

The prevalence of chronic ankle instability in basketball athletes: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundAnkle sprain is the most common injury in basketball. Chronic ankle instability develops from an acute ankle sprain may cause negative effects on quality of life, ankle functionality or on increasing risk for recurrent ankle sprains and post-traumatic osteoarthritis. To facilitate a preventative strategy of chronic ankle instability (CAI) in the basketball population, gathering epidemiological data is essential. However, the epidemiological data of CAI in basketball is limited. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the prevalence of CAI in basketball athletes and to determine whether gender, competitive level, and basketball playing position influence this prevalence.MethodsIn a cross-sectional study, in total 391 Taiwanese basketball athletes from universities and sports clubs participated. Besides non-standardized questions about demographics and their history of ankle sprains, participants further filled out the standard Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool applied to determine the presence of ankle instability. Questionnaires from 255 collegiate and 133 semi-professional basketball athletes (male = 243, female = 145, 22.3 ± 3.8 years, 23.3 ± 2.2 kg/m2) were analyzed. Differences in prevalence between gender, competitive level and playing position were determined using the Chi-square test.ResultsIn the surveyed cohort, 26% had unilateral CAI while 50% of them had bilateral CAI. Women had a higher prevalence than men in the whole surveyed cohort (X2(1) = 0.515, p = 0.003). This gender disparity also showed from sub-analyses, that the collegiate female athletes had a higher prevalence than collegiate men athletes (X2(1) = 0.203, p = 0.001). Prevalence showed no difference between competitive levels (p > 0.05) and among playing positions (p > 0.05).ConclusionsCAI is highly prevalent in the basketball population. Gender affects the prevalence of CAI. Regardless of the competitive level and playing position the prevalence of CAI is similar. The characteristic of basketball contributes to the high prevalence. Prevention of CAI should be a focus in basketball. When applying the CAI prevention measures, gender should be taken into consideration.

Sexual function in adult females after feminizing genitoplasty for congenital adrenal hyperplasia

To investigate sexual function and subjective attitudes towards surgery in adult women after feminizing genitoplasty (FG) for congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). We retrospectively reviewed the medical files of patients who underwent FG from 1996 to 2018. Of those, patients older than 16 years of age were asked to answer non-standardized questions aiming at the awareness of genital surgery and standardized questionnaire evaluating sexual function (GRISS). The anonymized answers were compared to a control group of 50 healthy females. Student's t-test, Pearson's χ2 test, Fisher's exact test and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient were performed. A P-value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Out of 106 patients who underwent FG, 64 were included, 55 successfully contacted and 32, aged 17-40 years (median 25.5), answered the questionnaires (58% response rate). In all, 11 patients underwent historical clitorectomy in early childhood by a pediatric gynecologist before 1996 and pull-through vaginoplasty at puberty. A total of 21 patients underwent modern one- or two-staged FG. There were statistically significant differences between the CAH group and controls as to the proportion living in committed partnerships (28% and 84%, respectively; p=0.0000), having sexual intercourse (41% and 92%, respectively; p=0.0000) and having their own children (13% and 36%, respectively; p=0.0369). The median overall GRISS score was 4 (range 1-7) in the CAH group compared to 1 (range 1-9) in the control group, with infrequency and vaginismus representing the least favorable subscales (median 5). In all, 81% of the women operated on for CAH would recommend such an operation to any other individual with CAH and 66% of them suggested the surgery should be performed in early childhood. By this study we have contributed to the debate over suggestions that FG may cause adverse effects on sexual life of the patients in adulthood, beside already published effects on their mental well-being and LUTS. Despite possible selection bias due to only 58% response rate the comparison with control group shows only a moderate sexual dysfunction and more significant impact on long-term partnership that might be caused by other factors related to CAH beside FG itself. Partnership, offspring, sexual frequency and function were impaired in adult females with CAH after FG. However, the median GRISS score was below the pathological level of 5.

Non-standard questions in English, German, and Japanese

AbstractThis paper discusses the nature of non-standard questions in English, German, and Japanese. I will first introduce some basic properties of non-standard questions and then show that non-standard questions can be classified into the speaker-oriented type and the addressee-oriented type. It is suggested that the addressee-oriented non-standard questions can be further classified into the counter-expectation type and the aggressive question type.

The prosody of French rhetorical questions

Abstract Besides information-seeking questions, there are all kinds of non-standard questions, whose function is not to request information from the addressee, but rather to convey information about the speaker’s epistemic or emotional state. These include rhetorical questions, surprise questions, incredulity questions, etc. This paper focuses on rhetorical questions (RQs), a sub-type of non-canonical questions, and presents the first production experiment which has investigated them in French to date. We compared string-identical rhetorical and information seeking questions (ISQs) in French. Experimental design and preliminary results are presented and discussed. In the final part of the paper, we discuss possible correlations between these findings and the semantic and pragmatic properties that distinguish RQs from ISQs.

Techniques for increasing student engagement with non-standard questions

The article describes the experience of using techniques (information dosage, etc.) and methods (the “brainstorming” method) to increase the activation of students with the help of non-standard questions in higher education.

스페인어 메아리 질문에 대한 고찰: 형식과 기능에 따른 분류

This study attempts to examine the existing definitions of echo questions in the literature to typify them by form and function, in particular in terms of Pragmatic perspectives. To begin with, we have distinguished so-called ‘nonstandard questions’ from standard ones following Ilie(1994, 2015) and have differentiated the former among themselves to identify the topic of the current paper, that is, echo questions. In particular Spanish echo questions, as in other languages, have several formal indicators such as the complementizers ‘Que’ and ‘si’ at the beginning of the sentence, the circumflex intonation with a higher starting pitch and the presence of in-situ interrogative words to fulfill one of the two distinctive discourse functions: i) to confirm what has just been said by the interlocutor and then add the speaker’s own reaction such as surprise, ridicule, sarcasm, criticism afterwards and ii) to ask the interlocutor to repeat his or her utterance since the speaker has missed all or part of it. Lastly, we have dealt with the issue of to what extent echo questions can resemble its original utterance. The current work serves to lay the theoretical groundwork for a follow-up empirical study regarding echo questions in Spanish.

Peningkatan Kemampuan Matematika Siswa dalam Pembinaan Olimpiade MIPA SD di Gugus Ahmad Yani Kuningan

IMPROVEMENT OF STUDENTS’ MATHEMATICAL ABILITIES IN COACHING THE MATHEMATICS AND NATURAL SCIENCE OLYMPICS IN THE AHMAD YANI KUNINGAN CLUSTER. To participate in the Mathematics Olympics elementary school activities, school lessons are not enough. Students must have more experience, especially non-standard questions. This article aims to examine the improvement of students' mathematical abilities in coaching the Mathematics and Natural Sciences Olympics in the Ahmad Yani Kuningan Cluster. Coaching methods include planning, implementing, and evaluating. The results of this activity are the mathematical abilities of elementary school students increase from the pretest results to the posttest results with an average increase in N-Gain of 0.67. As many as 50% of the activity participants achieved a high category increase and another 50% achieved a medium category increase. With this coaching activity, elementary school students in the Ahmad Yani Cluster have improved their mathematical abilities so that they are ready to take part in the Mathematics Olympics at District, Provincial, and National levels.

Development of an online registry for adults with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita: A protocol paper.

Arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (AMC) is considered a rare disorder resulting in multiple congenital contractures in two or more areas. Considerable literature is available on managing the contractures during an affected child's development but little information is available to those managing these ongoing issues in adulthood. Due to the heterogeneity etiological factors and presentation of AMC, and the small sample sizes of previous studies, it has been difficult to generalize results to the adult population. This current study presents the several steps taken to create an international AMC database for adults to populate with their own data over time. The methods included a scoping review of the literature for valid and reliable outcome measures used for AMC, a Delphi methodology to create the database with a team of clinicians, researchers and patients, a Beta testing of the database, and a final launch of the Adult AMC Registry. This registry includes 48 nonstandardized questions and 12 standardized questionnaires. It takes 35-45 min for a participant to complete. A shorter version will be created for participants to complete for years 2 and 3, followed by this longer version every 4 years. The protocol for referring English-speaking patients and access to the registry is provided. Data will be reviewed every year to ensure quality. The registry will be maintained for a minimum of 10 years and data will be comprehensively analyzed every 5 years. Our goal is to have 500 adults with AMC from around the world as participants.

ОСОБЕННОСТИ ВАРИАТИВНОЙ ПРОГРАММЫ ПО КУРСУ «РАЗВИТИЕ ТВОРЧЕСКИХ СПОСОБНОСТЕЙ» ДЛЯ СТУДЕНТОВ МАГИСТРАТУРЫ

We prove the relevance and educational purposefulness of the “Creative Abilities Development” discipline for master’s degree students. We emphasize that there is constant social need in active and ambitious members of society, who are able to see new problematic areas, find new answers for non-standard questions, in other words, the society needs creative individuals. We consider the object, the tasks of the discipline and the demands of the study. The discipline gives a possibility to deepen the knowledge and form the competencies, which are defined by the content of basic disciplines; it also allows master’s degree students to gain skills for future successful pro-fessional and educational activities. We emphasize the special significance of individual work of master’s degree students during their studying. We suggest the following types of individual work: comprehension and assimilation of the lecture contents with a support on the educational and methodical literature recommended by the lecturer, use of information educational resources, preparation for practical classes, preparation of reports on the discipline, abstracts, essays, creation of the creative project, work with primary sources, visiting libraries, museums, exhibitions, concerts for the purpose of collecting and accumulation of information and broadening of horizons. We also emphasize the role of a lecturer in the organization of students’ cognitive activity. We prove that active development of cognitive activity of master’s degree students depends on the organization of non-traditional forms and methods of study: business and role play, training, discussions, implementation of information technologies, using pedagogical methods, which are adequate to the situation. Planning the content of “Creative Abilities Development” classes is possible due to integrative approach to the study, polyartistic development of master’s degree students.

Esthetic assessments in implant dentistry: objective and subjective criteria for clinicians and patients.

In recent years the scientific community has shown a clear interest in the esthetic outcome of implant treatment. The present paper provides an overview of the esthetic ratings that have been used in implant dentistry. A distinction can be made between objective evaluations by clinicians and subjective evaluations by patients. The former mainly include: midfacial and interproximal soft-tissue levels; two-dimensional/three-dimensional soft-tissue alterations; assessment of the color match between the natural dentition, on the one hand, and the peri-implant tissues and the reconstruction, on the other hand; and ordinal indices, such as the pink and white esthetic score. Patient's needs and judgment may differ from objective indicators of implant success and esthetics. As a result, assessing treatment on the basis of patient-reported outcomes measures should be considered important. Validated questionnaires have been used that mainly assess the impact of oral health on the overall well-being of individuals. The esthetic judgment of patients is usually based on nonstandardized questions with varying scoring methods, including visual analog scales, Likert and other category scales and open questions. The heterogeneity in scoring systems between studies may compromise proper comparison of objective and subjective esthetic outcomes between studies and therapeutic concepts.

Posing Questions without Asking

The paper deals with the specific use of rhetorical questions in a particular, national type of parliamentary discourse. After a discussion about rhetorical questions in general, the specifics of the Polish parliamentary discourse are described. The data comes from a part of a parliamentary debate on an emergency topic. This mostly conflictual subgenre is named issue specific question time”. Based on numerous samples, this analysis reveals three main characteristics within the parliamentary use of rhetorical questions in the Sejm: firstly, the Members of Parliament mostly waive self-answering to rhetorical questions; secondly they treat rhetorical questions as an appropriate tool to formulate statements with question syntax. Both findings are based on the specific parliamentary turn taking rules, viz the right to speak is institutionally linked with the requirement to pose at least one question. The third major characteristic is that rhetorical questions were posed in sequences with other standard or non-standard questions. Thus, the clarity of the unspoken answers in the hearer's minds can often be conveyed to the other non-rhetorical questions in the sequence.

The current use of patient-centered/reported outcomes in implant dentistry: a systematic review.

To provide an update on the use of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) in the field of implant dentistry (1); to compare PROMs for prostheses supported by one or more implants to alternative treatment options or a healthy dentition (2). The dental literature was searched on PubMed until December 31, 2014, using a general search algorithm. An overall quantitative analysis was performed, and a qualitative appraisal was made on the output of the last 6 years. Per type of edentulism and prosthetic treatment, the general search algorithm was refined in order to select controlled studies comparing PROMs for prostheses supported by one or more implants to alternative treatment options or a healthy dentition. With nearly half of the output (300 of 635) published in the last 6 years, there is a growing interest in PROMs by the scientific community. When scrutinizing the 300 most recent publications, only 84 controlled studies could be identified among which 38 RCTs and 31 cohort studies. An "ad hoc" approach is commonly employed using non-standardized questions and different scoring methods, which may compromise validity and reliability. Overall, 39 eligible papers related to fully edentulous patients treated with an implant overdenture (IOD) and 9 to fully edentulous patients treated with a fixed implant prosthesis (FIP). There is plenty of evidence from well-controlled studies showing that fully edentulous patients in the mandible experience higher satisfaction with an IOD when compared to a conventional denture (CD). This may not hold true for fully edentulous patients in the maxilla. In general, fully edentulous patients seem to opt for a fixed or removable rehabilitation on implants for specific reasons. Data pertaining to partially edentulous patients were limited (FIP: n = 6; single implants: n = 16). In these patients, the timing of implant placement does not seem to affect patient satisfaction. Patients seem to prefer straightforward implant surgery over complex surgery that includes bone grafting. There is an urgent need for standardized reporting of PROMs in the field of implant dentistry. Fully edentulous patients in the mandible experience higher satisfaction with an IOD when compared to a CD. All other types of prostheses have been underexposed to research.

Introducing linear functions: an alternative statistical approach

The introduction of linear functions is the turning point where many students decide if mathematics is useful or not. This means the role of parameters and variables in linear functions could be considered to be ‘threshold concepts’. There is recognition that linear functions can be taught in context through the exploration of linear modelling examples, but this has its limitations. Currently, statistical data is easily attainable, and graphics or computer algebra system (CAS) calculators are common in many classrooms. The use of this technology provides ease of access to different representations of linear functions as well as the ability to fit a least-squares line for real-life data. This means these calculators could support a possible alternative approach to the introduction of linear functions. This study compares the results of an end-of-topic test for two classes of Australian middle secondary students at a regional school to determine if such an alternative approach is feasible. In this study, test questions were grouped by concept and subjected to concept by concept analysis of the means of test results of the two classes. This analysis revealed that the students following the alternative approach demonstrated greater competence with non-standard questions.

New challenges in immigration theory: an overview

Normative political theory over recent decades has focused mainly on what ought to be done as far as migration policies are concerned. It faces a basic challenge, which stems from two competing, yet equally fundamental, ideals underpinning liberal democratic societies: a commitment to moral universalism and the exclusionary requirement of democracy. The objective of this special issue, ‘New Challenges in Immigration Theory’, is to provide a conceptual overview of (some) immigration theories and to highlight the challenges new streams of immigration pose for normative (political) theory and liberal democratic practice. The issue will consider how to reconcile state-based exclusion with a commitment to equal moral concern for all persons, by focusing on the non-standard immigration questions that have so far been ‘neglected’ by normative political theory. In line with this objective, the issue will discuss some of the inadequacies of the dominant political theories of immigration and show how such theories can be expanded to take account of new migration challenges such as brain drain, climate migration, detention of irregular migrants and asylum seekers, rights of labour migrants, transnational networks of movement, and so on.

Philanthropic behaviour and motives

Even though philanthropy tends to be considered a sociological theme rather than an economic one, it poses a number of questions that challenge economists as well. We chose to address the following: How can economists contribute to the theories related to philanthropy? We examine some terms that are used in public economics theory and use them to explore the issues of philanthropy like Samaritan’s Dilemma, the Prisoner’s Dilemma, and the Free-Rider Problem, which we consider to be interesting and inspiring (Stone, 2008). We have to find and identify the social values of donors and volunteers rather than their economic values, because economists are not fully able to explain empathy, altruism, and helpful behaviour using traditional economic principles (Rutherford, 2008). The theoretical frame is supported by relevant empirical data. Before starting a large-scale survey, we decided to conduct smaller pre-research probes into people’s attitudes towards altruism, philanthropy, and giving. Even though our sample was not fully representative, the responses that we collected generated interesting findings about people’s views and attitudes. The first wave of data was collected between February and April 2009; the second wave between February and April 2010.Because of this pilot research mission and because of the budget restriction too, the non-representative sample of 823 respondents has been used; students of our Public Economics study programme were used as interviewers. They have also obtained a proper training of the professional sociologist. Students utilized the face to face interviewing method; non-standardized questions were immediately recorded into the reply form. Questions were divided into three groups with typical characteristics. The first one focuses on personal (individual) motives for financial donating (only financial gifts for non-profit organizations). Second part examines the attitudes of individual towards the non-profit sector and its transparency, while the third part analyses the profile of particular groups of donors, which are stratified according to selected characteristics as age, field of activity, income level, etc.This paper deals with the second group of questions. Because of the limited representativeness of the sample, the data are not linked to other observed socio-demographic characteristics and indicators (although we have collected them).Currently we are working on similar, but fundamentally extended and representative survey. In this paper presented preliminary research should serve basically as a reference for identifying dominant donor strategies, motives and attitudes.