Nuanced Reasons Research Articles

Brain tumour segmentation framework with deep nuanced reasoning and Swin‐T

AbstractTumour medical image segmentation plays a crucial role in clinical imaging diagnosis. Existing research has achieved good results, enabling the segmentation of three tumour regions in MRI brain tumour images. Existing models have limited focus on the brain tumour areas, and the long‐term dependency of features is weakened as the network depth increases, resulting in blurred edge segmentation of the targets. Additionally, considering the excellent segmentation performance of the Swin Transformer(Swin‐T) network, its network structure and parameters are relatively large. To address these limitations, this paper proposes a brain tumour segmentation framework with deep nuanced reasoning and Swin‐T. It is mainly composed of the backbone hybrid network (BHN) and the deep micro texture extraction module (DMTE). The BHN combines the Swin‐T stage with a new downsampling transition module called dual path feature reasoning (DPFR). The entire network framework is designed to extract global and local features from multi‐modal data, enabling it to capture and analyze deep texture features in multi‐modal images. It provides significant optimization over the Swin‐T network structure. Experimental results on the BraTS dataset demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms other state‐of‐the‐art models in terms of segmentation performance. The corresponding source codes are available at https://github.com/CurbUni/Brain‐Tumor‐Segmentation‐Framework‐with‐Deep‐Nuanced‐Reasoning‐and‐Swin‐T.

Entrepreneurial intentions’ temporal stability – intraindividual and group-level analyses

PurposeEntrepreneurial intention (EI) has been studied prolifically, as a precursor to entrepreneurial action, and a desired outcome of entrepreneurship education. Yet, the paucity of extant studies that analyze its temporal stability has been noted. This paper aims to address this gap by studying the temporal stability of EI, investigating its persistence as an attitudinal state over time.Design/methodology/approachA series of intraindividual and group-level longitudinal analyses were undertaken, over an 11-year period, using a student sample from Portugal. The authors highlight the magnitude of EI change over time, where item-structure, relative and absolute stability and group and individual-level EI changes are all considered.FindingsResults indicate an initially strong to moderate EI item-structure stability and relative stability over the first five years, with moderate signs of deterioration. This deterioration becomes even more pronounced across the full 11-year period. Regarding EI absolute stability, while college students (as a group) did not display a general tendency to develop higher or lower EI during the first five years, a small deterioration was found over the 11-year period. At the individual level, EI instability was detected, and this increased with time. Finally, the exploratory results suggest that entrepreneurship education may buffer the deterioration of EI.Practical implicationsThe findings provide a more nuanced reasoning for dampened EI–entrepreneurial behavior associations and highlight key determinants of EI change, which can inform educational experts and policymakers.Originality/valueThe legitimacy of the EI field lays heavily on the existence of a stable EI construct and a strong relationship between intentions and behavior. The methodology provides a new and more complete picture of EI’s temporal stability.

Children expect others to prefer handmade items.

Although children frequently engage in creative activities (in which they make foods and objects by hand), the development and scope of children's thinking about handmade items is largely unexplored. In the present studies, we examined whether 4- to 12-year-old children at a local children's museum (54% girls, 46% boys; 51% White, 11% Asian/Asian American, 10% more than 1 group, 4% Latinx, 3% Black/African American, 18% did not report race/ethnicity) would expect other people to prefer handmade over factory-made items, including foods and nonfoods. In Experiments 1 (n = 124) and 2 (n = 122), participants expected a child character to prefer items the character made themselves and items made by the character's parent or a local person. However, this expectation did not persist at all costs: When considering imperfect handmade items in Experiment 3 (n = 122), children demonstrated a handmade preference when considering nonfoods made by a parent but demonstrated a factory-made preference when considering foods made by a parent. Children's explanations were associated with their choices: When children's explanations referred to emotions or relationships, they were more likely to select handmade items. When children referred to item features, they were more likely to select factory-made items. Across studies, we observed persistent age and gender effects: Children's handmade preference increased with child age and girls demonstrated a more robust handmade preference than boys. These findings highlight children's developing and nuanced reasoning about object value. At an early age, children consider who made an object as a contributor to its value. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

“I Share to Help Them See”: A Mixed-Method Analysis of Faculty Use of Self-Disclosure in Diversity Courses

ABSTRACT Social work education promotes a critical lens through which students engage with power systems. As educators, faculty often decide whether to share their own identities with students, yet we lack research on reasons faculty choose to share (or not share) their identities, and the ways in which privilege and marginalization affect that decision. Using a mixed-method approach, this study (N=84) addresses that gap. Quantitative analysis revealed that age was associated with intentionally sharing that identity; no other social identity was significantly related to disclosure practices. Qualitative analysis revealed the nuanced reasons that faculty elected to disclose or not disclose their identities. Discussion of these findings is situated in critical pedagogy, examining how faculty address power structures in the classroom.

The Agency of Music in Industrial Society: A Comparative Study of the Royal Manchester Institution, Manchester Athenaeum and Manchester Mechanics’ Institution, 1834-1860

Abstract Three institutions dedicated to education, rational recreation and moral improvement existed concurrently in early Victorian Manchester: the Royal Manchester Institution, the Manchester Mechanics’ Institution and the Manchester Athenaeum. Their archives reveal the prominent place of music within each institution’s programmes, in the form of lectures, classes and concerts, yet so far the significance of such music has been overlooked. Alarmed by civil unrest and radical activism, the industrial elite of Manchester – frequently described as the world’s first industrial city – hoped to shape the ‘lower orders’ to align with existing societal ideals. Music, through the institutions, was frequently employed as an agent of ideology and social control. But the intent behind the institutions’ musical programming did not always reflect how the music was used or received in practice. This article asks what the institutions aimed to achieve and how music acted in ways not always envisaged by the organizing committees. It critiques existing literature that views these institutions as primarily a means of social control, arguing that such an approach risks diminishing the experiences of those involved and obscuring more nuanced reasons for the promotion of and engagement with music. Exploring the activities and musical participation of protagonists within these institutions and in their wider lives affords new understanding of the agency of music in industrial society.

Antibiotics in the Community During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study to Understand Users' Perspectives of Antibiotic Seeking and Consumption Behaviors in Bangladesh.

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic is thought to have led to increased “inappropriate” or “unjustified” seeking and consumption of antibiotics by individuals in the community. However, little reference has been made to antibiotic seeking and using behaviors from the perspectives of users in Bangladesh during this health crisis.PurposeThis study seeks to document how antibiotic medicines are sought and used during a complex health crisis, and, within different contexts, what are the nuanced reasons why patients may utilize these medicines sub-optimally.MethodsWe used an exploratory, qualitative design. Forty semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with people diagnosed with COVID-19 (n=20), who had symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 (n=20), and who had received care at home in two cities between May and June 2021 in Bangladesh. In this study, an inductive thematic analysis was performed.ResultsThe analysis highlighted the interlinked relationships of antibiotic seeking and consumption behaviors with the diversity of information disseminated during a health crisis. Antibiotic-seeking behaviors are related to previous experience of use, perceived severity of illness, perceived vulnerability, risk of infection, management of an “unknown” illness and anxiety, distrust of expert advice, and intrinsic agency on antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Suboptimal adherence, such as modifying treatment regimes and using medication prescribed for others, were found to be part of care strategies used when proven therapeutics were unavailable to treat COVID-19. Early cessation of therapy was found to be a rational practice to avoid side effects and unknown risks.ConclusionBased on the results, we highly recommend the take up of a pandemic specific antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) program in the community. To deliver better outcomes of AMS, incorporating users’ perspectives could be a critical strategy. Therefore, a co-produced AMS intervention that is appropriate for a specific cultural context is an essential requirement to reduce the overuse of antibiotics during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

The politics of vaccine hesitancy in the United States

AbstractObjectiveWhy are Americans COVID‐19 vaccine hesitant? We test social science hypotheses for vaccine hesitancy, focusing on partisanship, trust in institutions, and social‐demographic characteristics of registered voters.MethodsWe use survey data from a representative sample of American registered voters collected in November 2020 to study vaccine hesitancy, and the reasons for vaccine hesitancy, at a point in time before the vaccine was available and hence show underlying responses based on beliefs and not on clinical trial data. We use multivariate logistic regression models to test hypotheses on vaccine hesitancy.ResultsWe find that consistently similar groups of people tend to be vaccine hesitant. Specifically, black voters, those between the ages of 45 and 64, female voters, voters without college degrees, voters not worried about the spread of COVID‐19, and voters who are concerned about government and the CDC's handling of the COVID‐19 pandemic, were vaccine hesitant. We also provide intriguing results showing the nuanced reasons that the vaccine hesitant provide.ConclusionsOur analysis allows us to establish important baseline information from a social science perspective on vaccine hesitancy at a crucial time, right before COVID‐19 vaccines were beginning to be made available to adult Americans. What emerges from our analysis is a nuanced perspective on vaccine hesitancy in the United States, from this important point in the history of the COVID‐19 pandemic.

Exploring Why People with Back Pain Use the Pain Management Strategies They Do: Is Research Looking in the Wrong Places?

Low back pain (LBP) is a significant issue with considerable impact on people's lives and economies. A plethora of research has investigated interventions to manage LBP. However, despite considerable knowledge translation efforts, individuals with the condition frequently use management strategies considered to be "ineffective." To address this concern, our aim was to explore why people with LBP choose the management strategies they do. We used a predominantly inductive, descriptive qualitative design. We interviewed 20 Australian adults who have or have had LBP to investigate the management strategies they have used and why. Data were analyzed thematically. Analysis identified three interrelated themes that highlight that participants chose management strategies, at least in part, because they: 1) reduce symptoms in the very short term (e.g., immediately, a few hours); 2) have effects beyond the condition (e.g., low cost, lack of negative side effects, convenience, social effects); and 3) are pleasurable. These outcomes suggest that people with LBP are likely to have nuanced reasons for choosing the management strategies they use, and this can contrast with the outcomes tested in empirical studies. Our findings suggest that researchers may need to broaden or rethink which outcomes they measure and how, including by meaningfully engaging consumers in research design. Furthermore, clinicians could better explore their patients' reasons for using the strategies they do before suggesting they discard existing strategies or offering new ones.

Dietary intake of persons with depressive and psychotic disorders in Singapore

Nutritional psychiatry is an emerging field of study that investigates the role of diet and nutrition in mental health. Studies conducted in the general population have linked depressive symptoms with poor dietary patterns. The aim of this study was to characterise the dietary intake and analyse the dietary pattern using the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) in a sample of psychiatric patients in a multiethnic Asian nation. Participants were recruited from an outpatient clinic and an inpatient unit at the Institute of Mental Health in Singapore. Self-reported dietary habits of a sample of psychiatric patients (N=380) were analysed using DASH. To examine the variables associated with DASH scores, a linear regression was conducted with the full sample and sociodemographic variables. Persons with depressive disorders had a mean DASH score of 21.3 (±4.2), while persons with psychotic disorders had a mean DASH score of 21.2 (±4.9). Respondents who were older (B=1.94, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.91-2.96, P<0.001), female (B=1.09, 95% CI 0.07-2.11, P=0.04) and economically inactive (B=1.98, 95% CI 0.006-3.96, P=0.049) were more likely to report a higher diet quality compared with their respective counterparts, while smokers (B= -1.39, 95% CI -2.45 to -0.34, P=0.009) tended to report a lower diet quality compared with their non-smoking counterparts. Dietary patterns of persons with mental disorders were characterised. A host of sociodemographic factors, and not diagnosis of mental disorders, influenced the dietary quality of people with depressive and psychotic disorders. Clinicians treating psychiatric patients need to be aware of the nuanced reasons behind poor dietary choices and provide targeted psychoeducation to specific subgroups within the patient population.

Behind the Scenes of an Exhibition: The Commissioning of Designs in the Records of the Festival Office

Abstract The seventieth anniversary of the Festival of Britain occurs in May 2021, providing an opportunity to revisit various aspects of the Festival, not least the various archival collections. The Festival Office records at The National Archives U.K. comprises a range of materials with exciting research potential. This article introduces readers to the collection, highlighting the importance of these records as a unique design-research resource, intersecting with art and photography histories. It will examine the nature of the collection and provide research tips on how to negotiate it effectively. The vast administrative paperwork, some of it amassed through commissioning process, can provide other useful insights. One particular issue is gender in the design profession and how women fared within the Festival’s commissioning process. Previous studies have not only omitted the many lesser known contributions of female artists and designers, but also the nuanced reasons why women artists have not secured successful public commissions during the postwar era. By examining archived original designs by artists Prunella Clough and Hilda Chancellor-Pope, the article reflects on two very different women’s contributions to the Festival; and how decision-making in the commissioning process impacted on the overall look of designs as display.

The postnatal testosterone rebound in first-time fathers and the quality and quantity of paternal care.

In human males, testosterone (T) decreases in the period following the birth of offspring. This decline has been widely interpreted as a facultative neuroendocrine response that facilitates parenting effort. Conversely, research on if (or when) this decline in T would be followed by an eventual recovery and subsequent shift away from parenting effort is lacking. In a U.S. community sample of 225 males transitioning to first-time fatherhood, we measured T at three occasions: third trimester, infant 3months postnatal, and infant 9-10months postnatal. Using a piecewise latent growth curve model (GCM), we detected a T rebound from when infants were 3months old to when infants were 9-10months old. The slope of this rebound was able to predict paternal care using two distinct measures: (a) an experience sampling method (ESM) that gathered data on paternal time allocation over the course of the study period and (b) independent coders rating fathers for the quality of paternal care during a structured task designed to elicit an infant fear response. As predicted, the more accelerated one's T rebound (slope), the less time fathers invested in their infants across the study period. However, we found a positive relationship between T rebound and quality of paternal care during a challenging activity. Discussion will focus on nuanced reasons that contribute to these findings as well as speculate on the ultimate function of a human paternal T rebound.

Safe Firearm Storage: A Call for Research Informed by Firearm Stakeholders.

* Abbreviation: AAP — : American Academy of Pediatrics Firearm injury and mortality is a major public health concern that has taken a devastating toll on young Americans for decades. In 2018, 3335 young people (aged 1–19) died of firearm injuries, specifically homicide (55%), suicide (39%), and unintentional injury (3%).1 In a recent article, the Firearm Safety Among Children and Teens Consortium2 recommended increased attention to safe firearm storage in the home and other places (eg, cars) where individuals <18 years of age may have unauthorized access to prevent firearm injury and mortality, specifically suicide and unintentional injury. Such efforts draw on robust empirical findings that suggest that safer firearm storage will save lives.3 A simulation study revealed that a modest increase in safe firearm storage would result in a 32% decrease in lives lost.4 One setting ripe for delivering anticipatory guidance paired with safe storage devices, such as cable locks or lockboxes, is the pediatric health care setting. In this Pediatrics Perspectives, we offer suggestions for needed research to allow pediatric clinicians to offer recommendations that reflect effective and acceptable ways to safely store firearms to keep youth safe and that incorporate the voices of firearm stakeholders. What does it mean to store firearms safely from the perspective of parents and legal guardians (hereinafter referred to as parents) with children <18 years of age in the home? There is no universally agreed on recommendation that accounts for the nuanced reasons that parents own firearms. Specifically, major national organizations, depending on guild, offer different recommendations. The … Address correspondence to Rinad S. Beidas, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3535 Market St, 3015, Philadelphia, PA 19107. E-mail: rbeidas{at}upenn.edu

Freebirthing: a case for using interpretative hermeneutic phenomenology in midwifery research for knowledge generation, dissemination and impact.

This study explored women's reasons for and their experiences of decision making that related to the phenomenon of freebirthing within the United Kingdom. Freebirthing is the active choice to birth without a health professional present, even where there is access to maternity care. In total, 10 women were recruited to participate in an interpretative hermeneutic phenomenological study. Data were collected via written narratives and follow-up interviews. The findings revealed direct implications for midwifery practice, namely that the complex and nuanced reasons to freebirth were often related to a previous birth trauma or negative interactions with maternity professionals. Additional findings revealed that women faced distressing opposition and conflict from midwives in relation to their decision to freebirth, despite its current legality in the United Kingdom. These findings have been published elsewhere. However, the purpose of this paper is twofold: first, using my research into freebirthing as a case study, I will demonstrate the use and benefits of interpretative hermeneutic phenomenology to midwifery and nursing research in order to generate knowledge for the benefit of service users, healthcare professionals, researchers and policy makers; second, I will discuss the activities I carried out to enhance dissemination and impact for the benefit of service users and clinicians.

In the service of social equity: Leveraging the experiences of African American women professors

ABSTRACT This study reviews social equity within the public administration academy using critical race theory and intersectionality as frameworks. The researcher analyzes secondary data on doctorate degrees and tenure status earned by faculty members disaggregated by gender and race, contextualizing results with analysis of data from individual interviews of 14 African American women scholars in the academy. Findings suggest there are more nuanced reasons behind negative outcomes for scholars from underrepresented backgrounds. Beyond racism and sexism, there appears to be an inhospitable climate toward social equity related service and scholarship – some of the very tools many underrepresented faculty members use to combat the negative impacts of racism and sexism inside and outside of the academy. Implications for the academy and future research opportunities are presented.

Using cross-disciplinary knowledge to facilitate advancements in animal communication and science communication research.

Although humans may have more nuanced reasons for communicating - e.g. to teach or inform, to share or change opinions or attitudes - all animals engage in communication with members of their own as well as other species, and there are more similarities than differences between non-human and human communication. All communication systems are composed of the same basic elements and all face comparable challenges. In this Commentary, we explore the extent to which research investigating how non-human animals communicate with each other (animal communication) overlaps in questions and approaches with research focused on how humans communicate with each other. We place a special focus on human communication involving scientific content, i.e. science communication. We begin with a brief review of the fields of animal communication and science communication. We next synthesize literature from each field to examine the roles, impacts and potential interactions of communication system elements - signaling environments, signalers, signal form and receivers - on effective communication. We find that research examining animal and human communication, including science communication, often has different emphases. Animal communication research, for example, tends to focus more on the role of the signaling environment through quantification of receiver responses. In contrast, science communication research currently emphasizes relationship building between signalers and receivers, and quantifies aspects of the receiver's psychology. Informed by our cross-disciplinary assessment, we propose potentially productive avenues of future research in both animal communication and science communication.

Lala Lajpat Rai’s Ideas on Caste: Conservative or Radical?

Descriptions of Lala Lajpat Rai as a Hindu nationalist or an Arya Samaji Hindu revivalist are unhelpful in evaluating whether he can be called conservative. Taking the desire to preserve the traditional hierarchical order as a defining feature of Indian conservatism, this article examines Lajpat Rai’s ideas on caste through this understudied category. Exploring the nuanced reasoning that undergirded his intellectual stances, it reveals that while at particular historical junctures, Lajpat Rai articulated ideas towards the caste hierarchy that can be described as radical, at other points he adopted conservative stances.

Public's Views toward Return of Secondary Results in Genomic Sequencing: It's (Almost) All about the Choice.

The therapeutic use of genomic sequencing creates novel and unresolved questions about cost, clinical efficacy, access, and the disclosure of sequencing results. The disclosure of the secondary results of sequencing poses a particularly challenging ethical problem. Experts disagree about which results should be shared and public input - especially important for the creation of disclosure policies - is complicated by the complex nature of genetics. Recognizing the value of deliberative democratic methods for soliciting informed public opinion on matters like these, we recruited participants from a clinical research site for an all-day deliberative democracy (DD) session. Participants were introduced to the clinical and ethical issues associated with genomic sequencing, after which they discussed the tradeoffs and offered their opinions about policies for the return of secondary results. Participants (n=66; mean age=57 (SD=15); 70% female; 76% white) were divided into 10 small groups (5 to 8 participants each) allowing interactive deliberation on policy options for the return of three categories of secondary results: 1) medically actionable results; 2) risks for adult-onset disorders identified in children; and 3) carrier status for autosomal recessive disorders. In our qualitative analysis of the session transcripts, we found that while participants favored choice and had a preference for making information available, they also acknowledged the risks (and benefits) of learning such information. Our research reveals the nuanced reasoning used by members of the public when weighing the pros and cons of receiving genomic information, enriching our understanding of the findings of surveys of attitudes regarding access to secondary results.

Adolescent Gang Membership and Differences in Ethnic Identity, Esteem, and Efficacy

ABSTRACTScholars have long recognized the impacts of gang membership on adolescents. While some have focused primarily on the negative effects, this seeks to understand the nuanced reasoning and results of joining a gang explicitly on the youth’s perceptions of self-esteem, efficacy, and identity. Using the longitudinal assessment of the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) program, propensity score matching was conducted on four attitudinal measures to determine whether positive outcomes were seen among adolescents reporting one-time gang involvement. Results indicate a positive effect on self-identity measures. Discussion of these findings illustrates the need for future research and policy implications.

From Mopping to Mowing

Little is known about the household behaviors or beliefs associated with housework among a subset of fathers: those who stay home. Do these men embrace housework as being “part of the job” or reject some chores associated with femininity? Using a combination of in-depth interview, housework activity, and time diary data collected from a sample of 30 stay-at-home fathers, I fill this gap in the literature. I empirically evaluate what types of chores fathers accomplish and detail the nuanced reasons men provide for completing specific tasks more often than others. In doing so, I contribute to the masculinities, housework, and fatherhood literature by uncovering how male caregivers both reinforce and redefine masculine norms through the performance of gendered chores.

Letter-to-the-editor on “Not so hot: Optimal housing temperatures for mice to mimic the thermal environment of humans”

Letter-to-the-editor on “Not so hot: Optimal housing temperatures for mice to mimic the thermal environment of humans”