Related Approaches Research Articles

Bridging the ecological–economic–social nexus: sustainability in radioactive waste management

Safe deep geological disposal of radioactive waste is a socio-technical endeavour and connects to different aspects of sustainability. Compared to other long-term infrastructure projects it is unique in terms of time and scope. It affects long temporal dimensions, has an impact on diverse ecological and economic resources, and involves different stakeholder groups. Waste management organizations (WMOs) tasked with the implementation of radioactive waste disposal have to respect these sustainability aspects and meet the respective challenges. This paper provides an introduction to the concept of sustainability and a general overview of the ecological, economic and social challenges and related initial approaches and strategies for the WMOs of deep geological disposal of radioactive waste. With a literature review, sustainability programmes of selected European WMOs are analysed to identify which approaches are being implemented to tackle the various challenges. The various approaches and measures illustrate the broad scope of sustainability in the geological disposal of radioactive waste. Corresponding activities combining technical and non-technical aspects need to be regularly reviewed and adapted to current circumstances and requirements. Differences in the approaches can be explained by differences in the implementation in terms of procedure and time. It is concluded that there is no silver bullet.

Anticipatory declarations in obstetric care: a relational and spatial examination of patient empowerment, institutional impacts and temporal challenges.

Seeking an anticipatory declaration from the Court of Protection (CoP) to manage a risk of future loss of capacity in pregnant people during labour and delivery appears to be occurring more frequently. This article examines a growing case sample of recent CoP judgments in which anticipatory declarations have been sought and adopts a combined relational and spatial approach to question whether these types of anticipatory declarations empower patient autonomous choice, and to illuminate the complex web of relational, spatial, and temporal factors that hold influence over the way in which mental capacity law operates. Viewing such processes from both a patient and institutional perspective offers useful insights into the law's normative workings, boundaries, and constraints, and ultimately points to conclusions on the (in)effectiveness of anticipatory declarations as a legal mechanism for dealing with the risk of a patient losing capacity in the future. Moreover, however, taking a broader, spatial view signals the challenges posed by these cases to mental capacity legislation itself. The justifiability of the binary construct of capacity/incapacity has been challenged by some writers in this field, and this article offers further reflection on the integrity of this binary through its discussion of anticipatory orders for pregnant people.

Risk variables of heart failure among patients in China: grey relational approach based multi-dimensional assessment study

BackgroundUnderstanding the potential risk factors of heart diseases is key to effectively managing cardiac diseases. The present study quantifies the association of identified risk factors. In addition, the study has compared the association of mortality with hypertension, uncontrolled diabetes, and uncontrolled hyperlipidemia using Grey Relational Approach (GRA) for stroke, lung diseases, smoking, stress, obesity, and lack of exercise.MethodData on risk factors of heart failure were collected from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study (2001–2017). From the GBD database, variables have selected the top leading risk factors responsible for mortality from cardiac diseases. Data on risk factors was analyzed using the GRA procedure (utilizing Grey [8.0] software). In the GRA method, the correlation was categorized into three components: GRA – Deng (assesses the effect of one variable specified by data on the other variables), GRA- absolute (assesses the association between variables measured), and GRA-SS (assessed the overall association between the variables measured). Stroke, lung diseases, smoking, stress, obesity, and lack of exercise were taken as dependent variables and their impact was assessed. Hypertension (high grade) uncontrolled diabetes, and uncontrolled hyperlipidemia were considered as independent variables. The relationship between dependent and independent variables was assessed.ResultsOverall correlational analysis showed that type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is the risk factor that has a strong relationship with causing heart failure and thereby increases morbidity and mortality among Chinese patients. After T2DM, the second highest risk factor associated was severe dyslipidemia which is responsible for causing heart failure. High-grade hypertension is one-third most common risk factor in causing heart failure. GRA – Deng analysis showed that T2DM is the top risk factor associated with heart failure, followed by high-grade hypertension and severe dyslipidemia (uncontrolled). GRA-absolute analysis showed that severe dyslipidemia is the top risk factor associated with heart failure, followed by high-grade hypertension and T2DM (uncontrolled). GRA-SS analysis showed that high-grade hypertension is the top risk factor associated with heart failure, followed by severe dyslipidemia and T2DM (uncontrolled).ConclusionsThe study reported that T2DM, severe dyslipidemia, and high-grade hypertension as strongly correlated with the development of heart failure after considering other several key risk factors (stroke, lung diseases, smoking, stress, obesity, and lack of exercise).Level of evidenceIV.Technical efficacyStage 5.

The care pathway experienced by cutaneous melanoma survivors: A qualitative longitudinal study

BackgroundThe optimal management of cutaneous melanoma is based on implementing a multidisciplinary tumour board. No studies report cutaneous melanoma patients’ perspective along the whole care pathway, taking us through their care experience longitudinally. AimsTo explore the patients' perspective on the cutaneous melanoma care journey in a skin cancers’ tertiary referral centre. MethodsA longitudinal qualitative study was designed, using semi-structured interviews. Cutaneous melanoma patients were interviewed three times (T0, after diagnosis; T1, after the first postoperative visit; and T2, at the follow-up). Data were analysed using the inductive framework method. ResultsFifteen patients agreed to participate, and 8 completed all three interviews. We generated three themes describing how patients experienced the care pathway: (i) the evolving need for support during the care pathway, (ii) the development of emotions and expectations for the journey's end, (iii) the changing perceptions of hospital services, the care pathway itself, and the Skin Cancer Unit. We have emphasised the shifts in the experience of receiving assistance from the diagnosis to the follow-up stage. The more the care process progressed, the stronger the need for a relationship with healthcare professionals. The emotional impact of becoming a cancer survivor exacerbated the experience and reflected on patients' perceptions of the care pathway. ConclusionsAdopting a relational approach to reassuring melanoma patients is essential. Our participants expressed needing a medical reference figure as a favourable element. When this is unfeasible, inter-professional training is desirable to help professionals cooperate in a multidisciplinary group and make this collaboration visible to patients.

From Self-Management to Shared-Management: A Relational Approach for Equitable Chronic Care

From Self-Management to Shared-Management: A Relational Approach for Equitable Chronic Care

What factors influence patient autonomy in healthcare decision-making? A systematic review of studies from the Global South.

The principle of respect for autonomy (PRA) is a central tenet of bioethics. In the quest for a global bioethics, it is pertinent to ask whether this principle can be applied as it is to cultures and societies that are devoid of the Western sociopolitical historical pressures that led to its emergence. Relational autonomists have argued for a more inclusive approach to patient autonomy which takes into account factors such as interdependency and social relations. However, at the outset of any relational approach, it is necessary to identify underlying factors that influence patient autonomy in non-Western cultures. To conduct a review of the literature to uncover the mechanisms through which social, cultural, and religious factors influence and impact the application of the PRA in healthcare decision-making in non-Western cultures and societies. We conducted a systematic review through a comprehensive search of three major electronic databases of biomedical sciences. Returned citations were imported to Covidence, full texts were assessed for eligibility, included articles were thoroughly reviewed and data was synthesized. PRISMA guidelines were followed. Our search retrieved 590 non-duplicate results, 50 of which were included after screening and full-text eligibility checks. The included studies were predominantly qualitative in nature, with few quantitative, mixed-methods, and review studies included. Our synthesis of data identified nine key factors that influenced patients' autonomous decision-making through cultural, social, religious, or intersectional pathways. Two main conclusions emerge from this review. Firstly, there is a notable dearth of bioethical research examining the influence of diverse factors on patients' inclination towards different conceptions of autonomy. Secondly, the analysis of prevalent collectivist cultures and deference of autonomy adds value to the solution-oriented relational autonomy debate. This raises questions regarding how decision-making can be truly autonomous in the presence of such large-scale factors, warranting further attention.

Factors affecting women's entrepreneurial intention: An empirical examination of Nepalese perspective

This paper aims to investigate the perceived social norms, entrepreneurial motivation, and entrepreneurial education on entrepreneurial intention. The study adopted a descriptive and causal relational research approach. The survey was based on a structured questionnaire and cross-sectional data for primary sources of information. A total of 525 questionnaires were distributed among the targeted respondents during October-December (2023) and received only 231 (44 percent) usable responses of youth women. The study utilized descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analysis for analysis of demographic information, to assess the association and for testing the hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that Entrepreneurial Education (EE), Perceived Social Norms (PSN), and Entrepreneurial Motivation (EM) have a strong and positive correlation with Entrepreneurial Intention (EI) among youth women who are pursuing entrepreneurship. The data demonstrates that the intention of women to engage in entrepreneurship is influenced by independent variables. This discovery significantly enhances the current body of work on the characteristics that influence entrepreneurial activity among youth women with entrepreneurial intentions in Nepal. The study's findings will assist planners, local governments, the federal government, educational institutions, economists, and social welfare agencies in implementing effective measures to promote entrepreneurship and formulating suitable strategies, rules, and regulations within the Nepalese business landscape.

Thermo-hydraulic performance of parallel multi-shell and multi-helical coiled tube heat exchanger CFD model with Taguchi-grey relational analysis

This study utilized four distinct shell and helical tube heat exchanger layouts to numerically evaluate the thermal and hydraulic efficiency of each arrangement. The numerical research was conducted using ANSYS FLUENT 2022R1. Currently, there has been no research conducted on the investigation of multiple helical coiled tubes enclosed by multiple shell heat exchangers. This study aimed to optimize various tasks using the Grey Relational Analysis approach in combination with the Taguchi method to maximize thermal efficiency and minimize pressure drop.A parallel configuration was used to connect two to three concentric helical tubes, with each helical tube being enclosed by a shell to control the flow of fluid. The P–P-2M − 36 design, consisting of two helical tubes, has the highest enhancement ratio of Uo = 26.75 %, when compared to the P–P-3M − 36 configuration. Similarly, the P–P-2M − 42 configuration enhances Uo by 38.42 % in comparison to the P–P-3M − 42 configuration. These findings demonstrate that a configuration consisting of two helical tubes exhibits a higher enhancement ratio of Uo compared to a configuration consisting of three helical tubes. The P–P-3M − 36 design, which consists of three helical tubes, exhibits a minimum pressure drop of 39.19 % compared to the P–P-2M − 36 configuration. Similarly, the P–P-3M − 42 configuration reduces pressure drop by 37.76 % compared to the P–P-2M − 42 configuration. The P–P-3M − 36 configuration is designed to simultaneously reduce pressure drop and boost heat transfer rate. The model achieves the optimal values for heat transfer rate and pressure drop at a Reynolds number of 55,000.

Working against racism: lessons from Latin America?

ABSTRACT It has often been asked if Latin America has any lessons in anti-racism for other regions. This kind of comparative approach reifies and homogenises regions as distinct “cases”, obscuring common ground. In contrast, a relational approach highlights commonalities and suggests that learning experiences in developing anti-racism can be shared across and within different contexts. Examples from Ecuador and Mexico suggest that the historical relation between race and class in Latin America has produced a “racially-aware class consciousness” that could be mistaken as a simple “lesson” for other regions about how to balance a politics of recognition with one of redistribution. A relational approach highlights that this “lesson” also applies within Latin American countries, because this racially-aware class consciousness is not simply a fully-formed given, but instead needs to be activated and developed in progressive directions, pushing against the currents of history and coloniality.

Family Coping With COVID-19: Unexpected Parental Loss and Surviving Parent Coping, Grief and Posttraumatic Growth Outcomes Based on Child Age.

Guided by the conceptual framework of widowed parenting, the current study takes a relational approach to understand more about how the characteristics of parents of young and adult children relate to coping following the unexpected death of a partner due to COVID-19, and how these variables predict complicated grief and posttraumatic growth. A sample of 81 widowed parents completed self-report measures examining parenting self-efficacy, relationship uncertainty, coping, complicated grief, and posttraumatic growth. Results of hierarchical regression analyses suggest that, when controlling for time since death (1) relationship uncertainty and avoidant coping significantly predict complicated grief for parents in the sample with adult children, and (2) widowed parenting self-efficacy and both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping significantly predict posttraumatic growth for parents in the sample with young children. Results of the current study may inform future practices (e.g., use of Emotionally Focused Family Therapy) to aid families grieving an unexpected loss.

Damaging dichotomies and confounding contradictions in mental health inpatient nursing: lessons learned from Orwell’s 1984

PurposeThis discursive paper considers the use of restrictive practices in mental health inpatient settings and how these are often prioritised over relational approaches, especially where the diagnostic label of personality disorder intersects with risk.Design/methodology/approachKey concepts from Orwell’s 1984 are studied for their pertinence to mental health inpatient settings, supporting our argument that restrictive practices arise from dichotomous thinking and externalised fears.FindingsDrawing upon Orwellian themes of power, social control and digital surveillance from 1984, the authors highlight the role of fear in perpetuating restrictive practices under a guise of benevolent care in mental health inpatient settings, especially for those who are diagnosed with a personality disorder. A lack of preparedness to work with complexity in such environments, coupled with a deficit in self-reflexivity and critical thinking, can exacerbate challenges.Research limitations/implicationsTo transcend damaging dichotomies and reduce restrictive practices in inpatient settings, the authors make the argument for the adequate preparation and education of the mental health nurse and authentic, collaborative, user-involved care.Originality/valueThe authors use Orwell’s novel to support a critical discourse around those damaging dichotomies and inherent contradictions that contribute to restrictive practice in contemporary mental health settings and to question whose interests’ these restrictive practices serve.

Linked Links—A Research Project: The Multiple Superimposed Soft Networks as Network Profiles

This article, based on network science, aims to contribute to overcoming its geometric and technological phases. The novelty consists in considering links of networks as linked by superimposed networks, termed here multiple superimposed soft networks (MSSN), which is introduced as a research issue. Such links of links (termed here as passive links) concern, for instance, correspondences, incompatibilities, and temporal synchronizations between the occurrences of pairs of active links of effective networks, such as those based on electrical and telecommunication. A possible constitutive mechanism of such passive linkage consists of linkage representations for practices and histories of use expressed by their validating statistical reoccurrences. We consider the possible emergent nature of the passive linkage. The reason for introducing the design and usage of MSSN properties as a research issue involves making new approaches to profile and manage networks available. Correspondence between active linkage and MSSN properties should be a matter for an experiential, machine-learning approach. Research issues relate their possible usage on the active linkage such as for classification, comparations, detection of criticalities, diagnosis, performance evaluation, and regulatory as weak forces. Furthermore, the possible identification of standard corresponding configurations of passive and active linkage is finalized to avoid their establishment or, conversely, in facilitating their establishment and keeping their replication in different contexts (or partially and in combinations) and identifying related standardized approaches (also for classes of configurations having significant levels of equivalence). This research project has methodological generalizing aspects of trans-disciplinarity. We conclude by mentioning related research issues.

Assessment of Green Innovation Efficiency in Chinese Industrial Enterprises Based on an Improved Relational Two-Stage DEA Approach: Regional Disparities and Convergence Analysis

Industrial enterprises are characterized by significant energy consumption and high emissions. Therefore, the implementation of green innovation by these enterprises is beneficial for promoting sustainable economic development and safeguarding the ecological environment. In this study, a relational two-stage DEA model containing shared inputs and undesired outputs is constructed to evaluate and decompose the green innovation efficiency (GIE) of Chinese industrial enterprises across 30 provinces from 2012 to 2021. Since the objective function of this model is nonlinear, a heuristic search method is employed for its resolution. On the basis of efficiency evaluation, the Gini coefficient, kernel density estimation, and convergence analysis are further employed to investigate the regional disparities and convergence properties in the two-stage efficiency of green innovation. Our findings are as follows: (1) The average GIE of Chinese industrial enterprises demonstrates a fluctuating upward trajectory, with significant regional disparities observed between provinces. (2) Regional disparities in R&D efficiency (RDE) and achievement conversion efficiency (ACE) have diminished in all regions. Super-variable density and interregional differences serve as the primary sources of regional disparities in RDE and ACE, respectively. (3) The presence of absolute and conditional convergence in RDE and ACE is observed across all regions. To improve the GIE of Chinese industrial enterprises, it is imperative to emphasize the heterogeneous impact of economic levels, industrial structure, and the degree of openness across various regions and stages of green innovation.

A relational approach to digital racism: Toward a theoretical model

In recent decades, anti-immigrant, racist and nationalist attitudes have become increasingly mainstream, transforming public debates on immigration and immigrants in Europe and beyond. These attitudes and sentiments have been widely disseminated and amplified through digital communication, including commercial social media platforms. To better understand the relationship between racism and digital communication, it is necessary to move beyond media-centric explanations and simplified discussions of online hate speech and platform regulation. Therefore, this paper proposes a multi-theoretical approach to digital racism, i.e., racist content produced and circulated online. The paper presents an understanding of digital racism in relation to four perspectives: networked affect, nationalism, masculinity and conspiracy thinking. It takes a relational approach to these theoretical perspectives and discusses how they could be utilized to understand and analytically approach digital racism at the macro, meso and micro levels.

(Invited) Following Energy Transduction from Light Absorption to Product Formation in Photoelectrocatalysis

The ability to track how energy is transduced and transported in its various forms is critical to achieve a full understanding of key factors to optimize photoelectrocatalysis. Toward this end, we employ various forms of in situ optical scattering and reflectance microscopy that reveal the spatiotemporal evolution of both photogenerated charge carriers in semiconductor photoelectrodes on ultrafast time scales and electrochemical products as they diffuse from an electrode with sub-mM sensitivity and sub-ms time resolution. Thermal transport can also be resolved to clarify dissipation and thermal management. I will show structure-transport relationships in candidate photoelectrode transition metal oxides and show how a related approach also enables investigation of solution phase reaction products and their transport, even as a function of electrode irregularities.

Poverty as capability deprivation: Considering the relational approach, group-based analysis, and socio-structural lens

Poverty as capability deprivation: Considering the relational approach, group-based analysis, and socio-structural lens

Gendering Emotions Work in Primary Schools: “Effortless” or “Important”?

ABSTRACT Emotions work, such as relational pedagogical approaches to teaching, and more targeted interventions designed to enhance children’s social and emotional skills, known as competence promotion approaches, are now a central aspect of primary schooling. Yet, although evidence is forthcoming in terms of the content, focus, and effectiveness of some aspects of this work, research investigating the explicit teaching of social and emotional skills has largely remained “gender blind.” This article, drawing on interview and focus group data gathered from primary school staff members engaged in emotions work, fills this void in the research by demonstrating how gendered narratives inform not only the roles and responsibilities of staff undertaking this type of work but also the value placed upon it. The findings show how gender dualistic positions were adopted by school staff, with the emotions work performed by women aligned with the roles of a mother, nurturer, and caregiver and thus deemed as “effortless,” whereas men mainly performed the role of “disciplinarian” and deemed such work as “important” in their position as a male role model. The implications of such gendering of emotions work in primary schools are discussed, and recommendations for future practice are identified.

Geosocial networking for active citizen initiatives from a relational approach: A comparative case study in the Malaga region

Geosocial networking for active citizen initiatives from a relational approach: A comparative case study in the Malaga region

»Relationships are Key« A Semantic Relationship Awareness Framework for Operational Technology Monitoring

Critical infrastructures in areas like road traffic management naturally rely on the broad use of "Operational Technology (OT)" to ensure efficient and safe road traffic monitoring (RTM) through "OT objects", like sensors and actuators, whereby monitoring OT itself ("OTM") is evenly crucial. OTM is highly challenging, not least due to massive heterogeneity of OT, immense complexity and size, and omnipresence of evolution. As a consequence, knowledge about interdependencies between OT objects in form of semantic relationships is often outdated or simply not available. Thus, in case of incidents, detection of cause and effect in the sense of a situational picture of OT is missing. In order to counteract this fundamental deficiency, we aim to automatically discover semantic relationships between OT objects, to build up an ontological knowledge base as prerequisite for achieving OT situation awareness. Thereby, the contribution of this paper is threefold. First, a systematic exploration of the induced challenges is provided, derived from an in-depth analysis of real-world OT message logs in the area of RTM. Based on that, we sketch out a research roadmap, thereby guiding the identification of existing concepts and technologies appearing to be useful for realizing a framework for semantic relationship awareness, being the crucial pre-step for achieving OT situation awareness. Finally, a first proof-of-concept prototype is put forward, complemented by an evaluation of its applicability and a detailed comparison to related approaches.

Visualization and Quantification of State of Charge-Dependent Young's Modulus of LiMn2O4 Nanosized Particles by Bimodal AFM.

Mechanical damage of LiMn2O4 active material caused by volume change, phase transition, and lithium diffusion-induced stress is the main degradation mechanism in lithium-ion batteries. Young's modulus is a key parameter of mechanical property, and its variation with lithium content x or state of charge (SOC) at the nanoscale is an important issue because such variation may have influences on the stress level and lithium-ion transport. In this study, we successfully developed bimodal atomic force microscopy (bimodal AFM) and related approaches to carry out surface topography imaging and Young's modulus mapping of LixMn2O4 nanosized particles. It was validated that the size of particles decreased with decreasing SOC due to delithiation during the charging cycle. The variation in Young's modulus with SOC was quantitatively determined using the silicon material as a reference, and the trend of the variation is consistent with the reported results of molecular dynamics simulation. Furthermore, spatially nonuniform distribution of Young's modulus on the nanosized particle surface was found even upon completion of charging. This phenomenon could be attributed to the coexistence of two phases during the charging process. Our experimental study reveals the correlation between Young's modulus of LiMn2O4 and SOC at the nanosized particle level, and we believe that the bimodal AFM will be widely used in the nanocharacterization of the electrode materials because lithium content- or SOC-dependent mechanical properties are common in battery electrode materials.