Collection Practices Research Articles

Introduction

Recent decades have brought the topic of researching East Asian collections in Europe and the world to the forefront of research and academia. The colonial and postcolonial frameworks of collecting practices, the cultural and socio-political settings in which the collectors assembled their collections, as well as the history of displaying East Asian objects in museums and other institutions, were researched both in the political centres of those practices and on their peripheries. In a differently structured approach, the collections of objects themselves came into the focus of the research, including their materiality and their “biographies”, providing a novel perspective on the historiography of collections. The Department of Asian Studies at the Faculty of Arts (University of Ljubljana), Science and Research Centre Koper, Celje Regional Museum and the Mari­time Museum of Piran hosted an international symposium entitled Orphaned Objects: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to the Research of East Asian Objects at the Faculty of Arts on 18 September 2023. The symposium was organised as part of the project Orphaned Objects: Examining East Asian Objects Outside Organised Collecting Practices in Slovenia (J6-3133, 2021–2025), funded by the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency. This volume includes most of the papers presented during the symposium.

Implementation of RedCap data systems in Kenyan psychiatric rehabilitation: a community case study

Data collection systems are vital in implementation of interventions within patient care as they allow us to better understand and improve the care given. This is equally true in the field of psychiatric rehabilitation, which has been steadily growing in the medical world for the past 20 years. It has recently been a focus of psychiatric medicine in Kenya with the Kenya Mental Health Action Plan 2021-2025 calling for improvement of care in the field. With psychiatric rehabilitation growing in low- and middle-income countries in recent years studies have come out showing the effects of newly employed programs and stressing the need for data collection practices that can be used to encourage best practices in local communities. This paper describes the implementation of data systems for the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital Nawiri Skills and Recovery Centre (Nawiri) in Eldoret, Kenya. The goals of the data systems were 1) To collect and organize information for continuous quality improvement of services at Nawiri, 2) To collect information for reporting to MTRH leadership, Ministry of Health as well as private funders, 3) To provide data to assess outcomes of people who receive services at Nawiri to create evidence for effective interventions to help create policy to make psychiatric rehabilitation more available to people living with Severe mental illness in Kenya. Lessons learned from data systems implementation included insights into ease of data collection, adaptability of data instruments to fit facility needs, and ability to reproduce RedCap data collection in other settings.

Licence to operate: The institutionalisation of Australian company annual reports, 1910–2018

Annual reports are crucial for corporate accountability, and for firms to obtain their social licence to operate. Although research has identified the internal company drivers of annual reporting, we know less about the way Australian annual reports developed as a long-term, collective practice. Through a historical, cross-sectional content analysis, this article examines the impact of external institutional pressures on the annual reports of large Australian corporations. Interpreting the results with new institutional theory (NIT), I find that coercive pressure from company regulations and societal expectations, and normative pressures from the accounting profession, have improved standards of corporate accountability. Simultaneously, normative pressures encouraged companies to use annual reports for corporate public relations. This has contributed to annual reports that are homogenous in content but with conflicting audiences and objectives. The analysis highlights the institutionalisation and historical path dependencies of annual reports and contextualises current concerns over disclosure quality and transparency.

Machine learning boosts wind turbine efficiency with smart failure detection and strategic placement

The research study objective seeks to improve the efficiency of wind turbines using state-of-the-art techniques in the domain of ML, making wind energy the key player in fashioning a favorable future. Wind Turbine Health Monitoring (WTHM) is typically achieved through either vibration analysis or by using Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) data of wind turbines, wherein conventional fault pattern identification is a time-consuming, guesswork process. This work proposed an intelligent automated approach to early fault detection through the implementation of the HARO (Huber Adam Regression Optimizer) model, which combines Transformer networks with Lasso Regression and the Adam optimizer. HARO is the proposed model to traditional models, including the Huber and Automatic Relevance Determination (ARD) Regressors, since Transformers are capable of learning the patterns of the sensors. The overall analysis of the results obtained illustrated that the Housing Asset Repair Optimization tool had reduced downtime while enhancing, at the same time, the accuracy of the prediction of future faults to enable the right-time planning for maintenance activities. This aspect enhances the learning process, minimizing human input and hence slightly lessens the efficiency of the turbines in HARO. The study further calls for collective research practice amongst researchers, practitioners and policymakers to address emerging issues in wind power maintenance to avoid duplication and continuously keep improving on the strategies employed towards the maintenance of wind energy. This paper also shows that ML has the possibility of improving wind turbine dependability and establishing wind energy as an essential component of renewable energy systems.

Soil environmental monitoring of repurposed railway line operated for 75 years: case study in Northeast Poland

This study examines the environmental implications of repurposing former railway infrastructure into bicycle paths in northeastern Poland. While lauding the commendable initiative for offering eco-friendly transportation alternatives, the investigation emphasises the potential environmental and consequences linked to contaminated soils resulting from the former railway line, posing risks for both users and the environment. Topsoil samples (0-25cm) were collected from eight measurement points along the Szczytno - Biskupiec Reszelski railway line (Poland), at varying distances from the railway tracks (5-30m). Concentrations of specific Potentially Toxic Elements (PTEs), notably Ni, Zn, Pb, and Cd, were analysed in 48 topsoil samples. Furthermore, the soil contamination was assessed by contamination indices, single (Igeo, PI) and integrated (RI, (IPln, MERMQ). The study revealed variations in PTE concentrations, with the highest levels recorded at the fourth and seventh sampling sites (4:34.2-57.5mg/kg; 7:18.2-42.3mg/kg). These findings were consistently supported by the MERMQ and RI indices, emphasising the significant risks for the environment and increased soil toxicity. In light of the EU's proposed Soil Monitoring Law, the research emphasises the need for robust data collection, analysis, and contamination monitoring practices to facilitate informed decision-making and sustainable environmental management in repurposed transportation infrastructure.

Understanding Privacy Norms through Web Forms

Web forms are one of the primary ways to collect personal information online, yet they are relatively under-studied. Unlike web tracking, data collection through web forms is explicit and contextualized. Users (i) are asked to input specific personal information types, and (ii) know the specific context (i.e., on which website and for what purpose). For web forms to be trusted by users, they must meet the common sense standards of appropriate data collection practices within a particular context (i.e., privacy norms). In this paper, we extract the privacy norms embedded within web forms through a measurement study. First, we build a specialized crawler to discover web forms on websites. We run it on 11,500 popular websites, and we create a dataset of 293K web forms. Second, to process data of this scale, we develop a cost-efficient way to annotate web forms with form types and personal information types, using text classifiers trained with assistance of large language models (LLMs). Third, by analyzing the annotated dataset, we reveal common patterns of data collection practices. We find that (i) these patterns are explained by functional necessities and legal obligations, thus reflecting privacy norms, and that (ii) deviations from the observed norms often signal unnecessary data collection. In addition, we analyze the privacy policies that accompany web forms. We show that, despite their wide adoption and use, there is a disconnect between privacy policy disclosures and the observed privacy norms.

Gig Work at What Cost? Exploring Privacy Risks of Gig Work Platform Participation in the U.S.

In recent years, "gig work" platforms have gained popularity as a way for individuals to earn money; as of 2021, 16% of Americans have at some point earned money from such platforms. Despite their popularity and their history of unfair data collection practices and worker safety, little is known about the data collected from workers (and users) by gig platforms and about the privacy dark pattern designs present in their apps. This paper presents an empirical measurement of 16 gig work platforms' data practices in the U.S. We analyze what data is collected by these platforms, and how it is shared and used. Finally, we consider how these practices constitute privacy dark patterns. To that end, we develop a novel combination of methods to address gig-worker-specific challenges in experimentation and data collection, enabling the largest in-depth study of such platforms to date. We find extensive data collection and sharing with 60 third parties—including sharing reversible hashes of worker Social Security Numbers (SSNs)—along with dark patterns that subject workers to greater privacy risk and opportunistically use collected data to nag workers in off-platform messages. We conclude this paper with proposed interdisciplinary mitigations for improving gig worker privacy protections. After we disclosed our SSN-related findings to affected platforms, the platforms confirmed that the issue had been mitigated. This is consistent with our independent audit of the affected platforms. Analysis code and redacted datasets will be made available to those who wish to reproduce our findings.

Assessment of Waste Management Practices of Different Manufacturing Companies in Camarines Sur

This study examines waste management practices among manufacturing companies in Camarines Sur, Philippines, focusing on implementation effectiveness and compliance levels across collection, segregation, transportation, and treatment dimensions. Through quantitative analysis of 29 respondents from manufacturing enterprises and 5 local government units, the research evaluates current practices, challenges, and opportunities for improvement. Government implementation shows varying effectiveness, with collection practices demonstrating the highest implementation (3.159), while treatment practices (2.47) require significant enhancement. Manufacturing companies exhibit moderate compliance across all dimensions (overall mean: 2.821), with collection leading (3.02) and treatment showing the lowest implementation (2.579). Financial constraints emerge as the primary challenge for both government (17 respondents) and manufacturing sectors (19 respondents), followed by technical limitations and negative environmental attitudes. The findings highlight the need for enhanced financial support mechanisms, improved technical infrastructure, and stronger environmental awareness programs. The study recommends implementing standardized protocols, investing in advanced technologies, strengthening regulatory frameworks, and fostering public-private partnerships to achieve sustainable waste management practices aligned with circular economy principles.

Optimizing Ewing Sarcoma and Osteosarcoma Biopsy Acquisition: A Children's Oncology Group Bone Tumor Committee Consensus Statement.

Trends in diagnostic biopsy sample collection approaches for primary bone sarcomas have shifted in the past 2 decades. Although open/incisional biopsies used to be the predominant approach to obtain diagnostic material for Ewing sarcoma and osteosarcoma, image-guided core needle biopsies have increased in frequency and are safe for patients. These procedures are less invasive and reduce recovery times but have potential limitations. The quantity and quality of tissue obtained through these procedures vary between institutions. Acquired viable tissue volumes can be low, limiting the conduct of downstream expanded clinical workup, molecular analyses, and research. Patients with advanced Ewing sarcoma and osteosarcoma continue to have overall poor outcomes despite dose-intensive cytotoxic chemotherapy. The biology of treatment resistance is not currently well understood, partly due to limited availability of relevant tissue to study. There is a need for access to quality tumor specimens for molecular and other analyses to identify high-risk tumor subsets and drive discovery to improve patient outcomes. Given broad variability in bone tumor tissue procurement and processing across member institutions, the Children's Oncology Group Bone Tumor Committee convened a multidisciplinary group of experts to outline the current and near-future tissue needs for optimal clinical care and access to research platforms. The goal of this working group was to provide high-level guidance on biopsy practices that safely meet these evolving needs. Harmonizing tissue collection practices is paramount to improving the care of children, adolescents, and young adults diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma and osteosarcoma.

Right To Privacy in Digital Age: A Study with Indian Context

The right to privacy is a cornerstone of individual autonomy and personal dignity, increasingly significant in the digital age where personal data is both valuable and vulnerable. This paper examines the evolution of the right to privacy in India, from its limited recognition in early constitutional judgments such as M.P. Sharma v. Satish Chandra (1954) and Kharak Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh (1964) to its explicit acknowledgment as a fundamental right in the landmark case of Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017). The study highlights how technological advancements and digitization have intensified privacy concerns, such as data breaches, mass surveillance, and social media accountability, exemplified by incidents like the Pegasus spyware controversy and Cambridge Analytica scandal. This paper evaluates India's legislative framework for privacy protection, including the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, and the recently enacted Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, while drawing comparisons with global standards like the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the United States' sectoral privacy laws. Judicial interventions, such as those addressing Aadhaar’s constitutionality and striking down Section 66A of the IT Act, have been pivotal in balancing individual rights and state interests. The study underscores the need for comprehensive privacy legislation, robust regulatory frameworks, and public awareness to address the complexities of privacy in the digital age. By fostering transparency, accountability, and proportionality in data collection and surveillance practices, India can safeguard its citizens' rights while ensuring national security and technological progress. The findings aim to contribute to ongoing policy discussions and the development of a balanced, inclusive digital ecosystem.

Suitability, acceptability, feasibility of modern menstrual methods: a qualitative study in Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu, India.

To examine women's perceptions of modern menstrual hygiene methods (MMHM), such as tampons and menstrual cups, focusing on socio-demographic variations and special groups in the Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu. A qualitative study among women of reproductive age (15-49 years) group was conducted using Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) among twelve women subgroups independently in 2023. The present study involved 23 focus group discussions (FGDs) across various groups of women, including those in formal and informal sectors, urban and rural areas, school and college students, healthcare workers, women in sports, tribal women, transgender women, and female sex workers (FSW), with a total of 188 participants. The age range varied across groups, from 15 to 45 years. Over half of the participants were married (51.1%), and 68.7% were literate, though illiteracy was higher in the informal sector, rural, tribal areas, transgender women, and FSW groups. Sanitary pads were the most used menstrual hygiene method (88.3%), followed by cloth (4.8%), and modern methods like menstrual cups or tampons (1.6%). Notably, 70% of FSW and 28.6% of tribal women still used cloths. Menstrual hygiene choices were often influenced by family recommendations, school-based menstrual hygiene sessions, institutional policies, and social media. Regarding satisfaction, 27.1% were content with their menstrual hygiene method, citing accessibility, affordability, and leakage prevention. However, issues with pads included heat, rashes, and discomfort. A significant number (31.4%) shifted from cloth to pads recently, mainly due to leakage and lack of adequate washing facilities. Only 6.1% had tried modern menstrual methods, with tampons and menstrual cups being considered more suitable but less feasible, especially among tribal women. Participant concerns ranged from the potential health risks of sanitary pads to waste disposal challenges. Recommendations included public menstrual hygiene management (MHM) dispensers, better waste collection practices, and increased awareness through advertisements. Some participants advocated for the concept of free menstruation, emphasizing informed choices and accessibility for all. The findings suggest that increasing access to modern menstrual hygiene products, coupled with comprehensive education and support, could improve acceptance and feasibility, especially for marginalized and underrepresented women.

Analisis Piutang pada PT Pos Indonesia Regional V Surabaya

This study aims to explore the management of receivables at PT Pos Indonesia Regional V Surabaya, focusing on the control of problematic receivables, credit analysis, and collection procedures. Using a qualitative case study approach, data were collected through in-depth interviews, observations, and document reviews, including aging reports of receivables. The results indicate that 74% of receivables are over six months old, reflecting inefficiencies in credit risk assessment and collection practices. To reduce problematic receivables, the implementation of more effective management strategies is recommended, such as credit feasibility analysis, a more structured credit sales policy, and strengthening internal controls. These steps are expected to stabilize cash flow and improve the quality of service to customers.

Something That Looks Like Money: Ethnopragmatic Analysis of Wealth-Related Title Names Among Young Igbo Businessmen

African anthroponyms are a rich repository of the socio-cultural materials of ethnolinguistic groups. They reveal speakers’ collective beliefs, norms, traditions, practices, philosophies and worldview. Among other things, literature on Igbo personal names show current trends in contemporary naming and the reasons for this, the social structure of their society. Igbo names also provide insight into what speakers value and uphold. This includes ideas they have about concepts such as wealth, which has also been interrogated. It has been discovered that titles also capture the ways wealth is viewed by Igbo-speaking people. This is obvious in the informal titles held by young businessmen of this ethnolinguistic group. This paper examines title names which are conferred informally by young Igbo businessmen. It particularly investigates the value holders place on wealth, which are captured by these names. While it explicates the identity that holders create for themselves when they have attained a certain level of financial success, it draws attention to the importance placed on wealth possession as a fundamental index for attaining high social status in Igbo land. The ethnopragmatic framework was employed to explain wealth-related title naming as a speech practice, which is different from the traditional order of this community of speakers. It is chosen for its emphasis on the understanding of speakers’ cultural nuances for the use of language, one of which is naming. Using ethnographic tools such as semi-structured interviews, passive participation and participant observation, information on forty-one such title names have been elicited. Questions asked included the semantic interpretation of the names, what circumstances inform the choice of the names and the importance bearers place on wealth. It is revealed that, for young Igbo businessmen, being wealthy is equated with the possession of money. The values they place on money are highly influenced by the capacity it gives to bearers, its usefulness in defending oneself and attacking adversaries and the provision of succor to those in need.

Data Privacy in the Age of Cloud: Ethical Considerations and Impacts on Society

The widespread adoption of cloud computing has fundamentally transformed how organizations manage and protect data, introducing complex privacy challenges alongside unprecedented opportunities. This comprehensive article explores the ethical considerations and societal impacts of data privacy in cloud environments, examining how organizations navigate consent mechanisms, data ownership, and regulatory compliance. The article investigates the evolution of data collection practices, the implementation of privacy frameworks, and the critical role of corporate responsibility in maintaining stakeholder trust. By examining industry research and real-world implementations, this article demonstrates the intricate relationship between technical innovation, ethical governance, and societal expectations in cloud-based data privacy, highlighting the importance of balanced approaches that protect individual privacy while enabling organizational growth and innovation.

Sharing social reproduction in a housing commons: the case of La Borda in Barcelona

This paper advances research on housing commons by providing a deeper understanding of the political significance of the collectivisation of home-based reproductive work under post-2008 austerity. Examining how reproductive work is collectively organised in La Borda, a housing commons in Barcelona, I explore how the collectivisation of care and housework challenges the social reproduction regimes that sustain financialised capitalism. Post-2008 housing financialisation has been enabled by austerity policies that re-privatise social reproduction within the home-family nexus. This process underscores the need to investigate collective homemaking practices that prefigure equitable forms of social reproduction. To this end, the paper first situates housing commons, where care and housework are collectively shared, within feminist legacies of social reproduction, highlighting their renewed relevance amid austerity and financialisation. Against this backdrop, it empirically examines how the collectivisation of reproductive work in La Borda has strengthened community belonging and brought social value to traditionally devalued practices. While the distribution of reproductive work in this housing initiative remains far from equitable, I argue that dynamics such as security of tenure, space co-production, participatory democracy, and a feminist ethos have created conditions for renegotiating historical reproductive imbalances.

Mixed-methods multicenter assessment of healthcare workers' knowledge, perceptions, and practices related to blood culture utilization in hospitalized adults.

To understand healthcare workers' (HCWs) beliefs and practices toward blood culture (BCx) use. Cross-sectional electronic survey and semi-structured interviews. Academic hospitals in the United States. HCWs involved in BCx ordering and collection in adult intensive care units (ICU) and wards. We administered an anonymous electronic survey to HCWs and conducted semi-structured interviews with unit staff and quality improvement (QI) leaders in these institutions to understand their perspectives regarding BCx stewardship between February and November 2023. Of 314 HCWs who responded to the survey, most (67.4%) were physicians and were involved in BCx ordering (82.3%). Most survey respondents reported that clinicians had a low threshold to culture patients for fever (84.4%) and agreed they could safely reduce the number of BCx obtained in their units (65%). However, only half of them believed BCx was overused. Although most made BCx decisions as a team (74.1%), a minority reported these team discussions occurred daily (42.4%). A third of respondents reported not usually collecting the correct volume per BCx bottle, half were unaware of the improved sensitivity of 2 BCx sets, and most were unsure of the nationally recommended BCx contamination threshold (87.5%). Knowledge regarding the utility of BCx for common infections was limited. HCWs' understanding of best collection practices and yield of BCx was limited.

Community work education: principles, collaboration, and immersive learning through a transnational social work program between Australia and Taiwan

ABSTRACT Neo-liberalism and globalization have had a significant impact on social work education. What was once a program that focused equally on micro-practice with individuals to a macro-practice with communities, has now seen a shift away from collective practice and responsibility. Based within the context of a reciprocal short-term study abroad program between Taiwan and Australia, the aim of this study was to investigate the immersive practices that enhance intercultural, and community work practice among social work students. Using program documents and qualitative data from social work students, academics and community practitioners, this collaborative inquiry is underpinned by the theory of practice architectures framework. This study highlights how immersive, embodied, and experiential learning enhanced students understanding of community work and intercultural practice. It suggests that in order to maximize intercultural learning in social work education, the program and pedagogy must be embedded in reciprocal, ongoing, and authentic relationships.

A Critical Participatory (Action Research) adaptation in the Teaching English as a Second Language Practicum: developing individual and collective reflective practices towards equitable practices

ABSTRACT Numerous action research studies have investigated in-service teaching and learning. Still, there has been a lack of collaborative inquiry into the ‘here-and-now’ pre-service teaching practicum experiences. This study adapted the Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) framework as a pedagogical strategy to a five-phase Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) teaching practicum over four months. This article explores the extent to which the CPAR framework can be accommodated and discusses its potential to empower and educate practitioners during the practicum. First- and second-person inquiries, drawing on practice architectures, observations, and sharing sessions, were adopted for exchanging individual and collective voices. Findings suggest that the flexible and adaptable nature of the CPAR framework facilitated a collaborative spiral inquiry process. This process involved iterative back-and-forth phases of identifying key issues in each phase, planning measures, taking actions to address challenges, and reflecting on post-actions through collaborative efforts within public spheres. These spheres functioned as open, communicative, and safe spaces, empowering student teachers, cooperating teachers, and the university supervisor to collaboratively exchange and reflect on our voices. This collaboration ultimately transformed the initially linear Planning → Action → Observation → Reflection process into dynamic, iterative interactions across the Planning ↔ Action ↔ Observation ↔ Reflection phases. This transformation fostered collective reflection, unforced consensus, and shared decision-making, addressing real-life teaching challenges by deepening understanding, driving meaningful change, and promoting equitable practices. The adapted CPAR framework cultivates educators who promote inclusive practices and make productive decisions, resulting in a more sustainable pre-service practicum program.

Overdetermined Solidarity: Rethinking Solidarity as a Form of Agency, a Set of Practices, and Performative Normativity with Jean-Luc Nancy

The paper sketches a social-ontological understanding of solidarity. Following the philosophy of Jean-Luc Nancy, solidarity is neither an intentional collective activity aiming at overcoming significant adversities (cf. Sangiovanni 2015) nor a moral goal (cf. Habermas 1990) or a certain means to avoiding social pathologies (cf. Neuhouser 2022). Rather, solidarity is overdetermined, comprising three interrelated aspects: first, a collective form of agency, given that the subject is a collective entity that embodies the entirety of the different identities that have been inscribed in it through various modes of subjectivity production; second, a set of collective practices that are contingent since they do not bar individual actions and necessary in the sense of not having to be legitimized when manifesting themselves in a collective manner because they correspond to the subject's collective agency; and third, a performative mode of normativity production through collective struggles, where inclusion functions as solidarity's ethical materialization. To explicate how the individual subject can be conceived as a socially structured, collective entity, I refer to Nancy's conceptualization of freedom, to his concept of the body as an "instance par excellence of contradiction" that is "always in the plural", and ultimately to his theory of the irreducible but not incommensurable Other. In doing so, I extrapolate the idea of solidarity as a necessary form of collective agency from Nancy's understanding of the commensurable Other; from his understanding of a body, the idea of solidarity as a contingently necessary set of collective practices; and ultimately, from Nancy's understanding of freedom, the idea of solidarity as a performative normativity that guarantees the holistic and inclusive character of solidary actions.

What No Means

Libraries have benefitted from the extraction of Indigenous Knowledges and cultural materials through which they have sought to complete collections. This has led Indigenous communities to distrust of research and research institutions, recognizing the deep harms and exploitation of these research practices. This article undertakes a case study of the book The Sacred Scrolls of the Southern Ojibway to reveal the ways in which extractive research, publishing, and collections practices are known to Indigenous communities and are refused by them. This discussion pursues the publication and collections history of this book through the framework of refusal, an Indigenous feminist practice that asserts Indigenous Sovereignty and care practices over Knowledge. Refusal should be viewed as a generative space (Tuck and Yang 2014a) and should be taken as an invitation for libraries to question and critically evaluate the very foundational principles of our profession and practices. This article challenges three deeply held library assumptions that are revealed through refusal: (1) that extraction is inevitable, (2) that the library is the only appropriate place to steward materials, and (3) that communities should be invested in the future of the library. The call to reconceptualize extraction through refusal is essential: libraries that do not strive to be reciprocal and transformational in their relationships with Indigenous peoples will only serve as a barrier to Indigenous resurgence. Instead, we must reconceptualize librarianship practices toward a liberatory practice.