Research Research Articles

Knowledge Families Hold: Co-Production and Co-Research With Mental Health Family Carers in Understanding Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Through an in-depth exploration of mental health family carers' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, this co-produced study identified recommendations for advocacy, practice and policy implications to uphold family carer wellbeing. Government-enforced restrictions, changed service availability and difficulties accessing hospitals, led to additional anxiety, depression and elevated distress, especially for people experiencing mental health challenges before the pandemic. The National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum alongside two academic researchers aimed to discern the impact of care provision, levels of distress, unmet needs, challenges and benefits of providing support, across geographic locations and diverse communities. This article reports on the survey component of a co-designed mixed-methods exploratory study of family carer experiences. A project steering group worked with two academic researchers, members of SWITCH Research Group, Monash University, to develop the 71-question online survey across 9-domains. Family carers were relied upon to provide support and care when mental health services changed or closed. Carers support more than one person and typically people with daily and high-level needs. Caring levels increased from 26-h to an average of 40-h a week of support provision, with changed roles and increased complexity. Heightened demands became stress-inducing to the point of mental ill health and suicidality for some family carers. Government policy and pandemic responses failed to address the financial, practical or emotional resources needed to fulfil the role of care provision and support to unwell and extremely distressed people with new or ongoing mental and psychological ill-health. From its inception, this project was co-produced and co-designed with mental health family carers and service users based on their expertise in understanding their experiences and ways to best explore these to the benefit and wellbeing of families in distress. The academic research partners both have active experience of supporting people with mental health challenges. Through each of the identified phases, lived experience expertise (family carers and service users) co-designed and co-facilitated the process. At times leading the process, such as in recruitment strategies, and at other times acting as guides. Guidance was provided by lived experience expertise in reflecting upon the literature review to understand what had been researched internationally and what would be important to understand in Australia. The academic partners advised on the possible processes for data collection, and the lived experience experts decided on the methodology based on that advice. Both the focus group and survey questions were developed and scrutinised from the perspective of the service users and carers in the project team. Difficult conversations were handled with respect, service users within the project team gently addressed areas of enquiry that may suggest stigma or feed into societal stereotypes of people with mental health challenges. Carers were able to consider the wording of questions to still be able to address areas of concern including domestic violence within the family unit and suicide. Dissemination strategies were planned together with the carer and service user representatives being co-presenters at conferences. The report for submission to the National Mental Health Commission (Australia) was written and reviewed with all partners. A committee of service users and carers, alongside the academic partners, planned the launch of the report in August 2023. The co-authorship of peer-reviewed articles has included family carers and service users from the National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum.

Type 2 Diabetes Prevalence, Control and Management within Fiji,Kiribati, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu: A ScopingReview with a Systematic Approach.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) causes significant morbidity and is disproportionately prevalent in Pacific Island Countries (PICs). The socio-political demographics of PICs are rapidly changing, and health services must adapt to match the needs of their population. The objective of this study was to review the literature published within the last 15 years relating to T2D prevalence, control, and management, with a specific focus on targetable areas for future funding and research projects. This review was conducted using the PRISMA guidelines. Inclusion criteria were: discussion on T2D in the six PICs. Results were limited to those published between 1st January, 2006, and 27th July, 2023. A total of 6,640 publications were retrieved, and 110 met the inclusion criteria. Nineteen additional studies were identified through hand-searching. T2D prevalence differed between countries but was predicted to increase in the coming decades, with projections of up to 31.2% by 2030 in Tonga. Factors associated with T2D varied between countries, including Indian-Fijian ethnicity in Fiji and tuberculosis in Kiribati. Control was generally poor, with high rates of undiagnosed diabetes and microvascular complications. Epidemiological data was limited in some cases, as was information describing the structure and function of diabetes services. The prevalence, control, and management of T2D varied between Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu. Significant gaps remain in the data describing these domains; however, there are clearly targetable areas for future research and diabetes management programs.

Dietetic research involvement is associated with the European region where a dietitian is working and their highest degree qualification.

Research is the foundation of the dietetic profession and of evidence-based guidelines/practice. The present study aimed to examine the level of research involvement among dietitians in Europe. A cross-sectional study was conducted among dietitians across Europe using the validated Research Involvement Questionnaire (RIQ), which assigns participants to four levels of research involvement. The survey link was distributed through various channels; for example, National Dietetic Association (NDA) members of European Federation of the Associations of Dietitians (EFAD), the EFAD eNewsletter, national newsletters, etc. Data were analysed with SPSS, using descriptive statistics, statistical tests and ordinal logistic regression analysis with the level of research involvement as the dependent variable. In total, 257 European dietitians completed the survey (84.6% female). Most participants held a Master's degree (46.1%), followed by a Bachelor's degree (27.3%) or Doctorate (25.7%). One-third of participants were involved at level 3 or 4 (leading research, leadership in research), whereas most were involved at level 1 (evidence-based practice) or 2 (collaboration in research). The multivariate regression analysis showed that dietitians' research involvement was higher in dietitians with a Doctorate and in Northern/Southern Europe compared to Eastern/Western Europe. Dietitians have low levels of research involvement in practice even when highly qualified. Interventions to motivate dietitians to be more involved in research projects are important, as well as interventions to facilitate dietitians' research activities. This would inform the discipline's evidence base, strengthen the professional status of dietitians and increase their reputation within the healthcare sector.

Performance analysis of a low concentrated photovoltaic system thermal management by hybrid phase change materials

With the widespread use of cells, the significance of thermal management is increasingly emphasized in academic research. The issue of decreasing photoelectric conversion efficiency due to overheated cells in photovoltaics has garnered attention. Thermal management technology utilizing phase change materials (PCM) has the potential to enhance the overall efficiency of solar energy utilization. However, the PCM has poor thermal conductivity, which makes attaching it directly to the back of the solar cell ineffective. The heat trapped in PCM is also difficult to discharge. To solve this problem, a new low-power concentrating photovoltaic system with integrated PCM and comprehensive utilization of photoelectricity and photothermal is proposed (LCPV-PCM). It is verified with the reference. The effects of Porous metal materials (PMMs), PCMs filling sequence, and collector tube diameter on the cooling effect are studied. The results indicate a clear temperature equalization effect of PMMs, leading to a 4.08 % increase in electrical efficiency when filling PCM with lower phase change temperature. The temperature of the collector tube with a diameter of 2.5 mm can be reduced by 21.9 K, increasing electrical efficiency by 9 %. The results are of significance in exploring the application of PCM in cell thermal management.

Utilizing RoBERTa and XLM-RoBERTa pre-trained model for structured sentiment analysis

The surge in internet usage has amplified the trend of expressing sentiments across various platforms, particularly in e-commerce. Traditional sentiment analysis methods, such as aspect-based sentiment analysis (ABSA) and targeted sentiment analysis, fall short in identifying the relationships between opinion tuples. Moreover, conventional machine learning approaches often yield inadequate results. To address these limitations, this study introduces an approach that leverages the attention values of pre-trained RoBERTa and XLM-RoBERTa models for structured sentiment analysis. This method aims to predict all opinion tuples and their relationships collectively, providing a more comprehensive sentiment analysis. The proposed model demonstrates significant improvements over existing techniques, with the XLM-RoBERTa model achieving a notable sentiment graph F1 (SF1) score of 64.6% on the OpeNER<sub>EN</sub> dataset. Additionally, the RoBERTa model showed satisfactory performance on the multi-perspective question answer (MPQA) and DS<sub>Unis</sub> datasets, with SF1 scores of 25.3% and 29.9%, respectively, surpassing baseline models. These results underscore the potential of this proposed approach in enhancing sentiment analysis across diverse datasets, making it highly applicable for both academic research and practical applications in various industries.

A substitution at the cytoplasmic tail of the spike protein enhances SARS-CoV-2 infectivity and immunogenicity

Global dissemination of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sublineages has provided a sufficient opportunity for natural selection, thus enabling beneficial mutations to emerge. Characterisation of these mutations uncovers the underlying machinery responsible for the fast transmission of Omicron variants and guides vaccine development for combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Through systematic bioinformatics analysis of 496,606 sequences of Omicron variants, we obtained 40amino acid substitutions that occurred with high frequency in the S protein. Utilising pseudoviruses and a trans-complementation system of SARS-CoV-2, we identified the effect of high-frequency mutations on viral infectivity and elucidated the molecular mechanisms. Finally, we evaluated the impact of a key emerging mutation on the immune protection induced by the SARS-CoV-2 VLP mRNA vaccine in a murine model. We identified a proline-to-leucine substitution at the 1263rd residue of the Spike protein, and upon investigating the relative frequencies across multiple Omicron sublineages, we found a trend of increasing frequency for P1263L. The substitution significantly enhances the capacity for S-mediated viral entry and improves the immunogenicity of a virus-like particle mRNA vaccine. Mechanistic studies showed that this mutation is located in the FERM binding motif of the cytoplasmic tail and impairs the interaction between the Sprotein and the Ezrin/Radixin/Moesin proteins. Additionally, this mutation facilitates the incorporation of Sproteins into SARS-CoV-2 virions. This study offers mechanistic insight into the constantly increasing transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants and provides a meaningful optimisation strategy for vaccine development against SARS-CoV-2. This study was supported by grants from the National Key Research and Development Plan of China (2021YFC2302405, 2022YFC2303200, 2021YFC2300200 and 2022YFC2303400), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32188101, 32200772, 82422049, 82241082, 32270182, 82372254, 82271872, 82341046, 32100755 and 82102389), Shenzhen Medical Research Fund (B2404002, A2303036), the Shenzhen Bay Laboratory Startup Fund (21330111), Shenzhen San-Ming Project for Prevention and Research on Vector-borne Diseases (SZSM202211023), Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Project at Southwest United Graduate School (202302AO370010). The New Cornerstone Science Foundation through the New Cornerstone Investigator Program, and the Xplorer Prize from Tencent Foundation.

Frequent absent mindedness and the neural mechanism trapped by mobile phone addiction

IntroductionWith the increased availability and sophistication of digital devices in the last decade, young people have become mainstream mobile phone users. Heavy mobile phone dependence causes affective problems (depression, anxiety) and loss of attention on current activities, leading to more cluttered thoughts. Problematic mobile phone use has been found to increase the occurrence of mind wandering, but the neural mechanism underlying this relationship remains unclear. MethodThe current study aimed to investigate the neural mechanism between mobile phone use and mind wandering. 459 university students (averaged age, 19.26 years) from datasets (ongoing research project named Gene-Brain-Behavior project, GBB) completed psychological assessments of mobile phone addiction and mind wandering and underwent resting-state functional connectivity (FC) scanning. FC matrix was constructed to further conduct correlation and mediation analyses. ResultsStudents with high mobile phone addiction scores were more likely to have high mind wandering scores. Functional connectivity among the default mode, motor, frontoparietal, basal ganglia, limbic, medial frontal, visual association, and cerebellar networks formed the neural basis of mind wandering. Functional connectivity between the frontoparietal and motor networks, between the default mode network and cerebellar network, and within the cerebellar network mediated the relationship between mobile phone addiction and mind wandering. ConclusionThe findings of this study confirm that mobile phone addiction is a risk factor for increased mind wandering and reveal that FC in several brain networks underlies this relationship. They contribute to research on behavioral addiction, education, and mental health among young adults.

The Memphis SOUND Project: The Development of a Community-Based Research Project to Address Hearing Health Disparities Among Black Adults Who Qualify for Cochlear Implants.

The objective of this article is to introduce the concept of community-based participatory research as a means to understand barriers to cochlear implant access racially minoritized populations. Black adults living in the United States experience unique barriers to cochlear implantation. Community-based research approaches can be used to understand and address these barriers. The Memphis SOUND Project is a community-based research initiative that seeks to address hearing health disparities by examining utilization of hearing healthcare among Black adults. Preliminary findings introduce motivators and barriers related to CI intervention in this population. This Memphis SOUND Project provides valuable insights to the benefits of community-based research in understanding and addressing CI utilization disparities.

Eco-friendly utilization of microwaves for extraction of dye from logwood and Its application onto silk

For minimizing the pollution associated with synthetic colorants, the world again is going to realize the benefits of natural colorants in applied fields such as textiles, food flavors, etc. As part of the ongoing research project, hematein is being investigated as a potential natural colorant derived from logwood chips, and its implementation on silk fabric is being investigated under the effect of microwave radiations. A number of dyeing variables, including pH, dyeing duration, temperature of the dye bath, volume of extraction, and salt concentration, have been investigated, and the effect of isolation medium has also been evaluated. For new shades with improved fastness ratings, extracts of various sustainable bio-mordants and chemical mordant such as salts of aluminum and copper, and tannic acid were also used. An experiment revealed that treating un-irradiated silk with 40 mL of methanolic extract with a pH of 2, irradiated for 6 min, produced outstanding outcomes when dyed at 90°C for 60 min. The dyeing process included the addition of 9 g of salt per 100 mL of solution as an exhausting agent. In these circumstances, the utilization of sustainable mordants has not only enhanced the ratings of color fastness but has also rendered the procedure more environmentally friendly and less polluting. Therefore, microwave radiation has great potential for extracting colorants from plants and effectively applying them to natural materials under decreased conditions.

On the effectiveness of a new advisory service for parents of children in need of care: a controlled study

On the effectiveness of a new advisory service for parents of children in need of care: a controlled study Abstract: Background: Families with children in need of care are exposed to great stress. This results in risks that often lead to a poor living and care situation for families. To support them, an innovative regionally anchored support service is being developed by so-called Family Health Partners (FGP) as part of the NEST research project. Aim/Objective: The primary endpoint of the study is the quality of life of the families. Secondary outcomes are resilience factors and associated measures as well as access to care services. Methods: The effectiveness of the FGP will be tested in a controlled study with four measurement times (baseline, after 6, 12 and 18 months) between January 2022 and April 2024. A total of 204 families with children in need of care were recruited for an intervention and control group. Multilevel models are used to analyze the longitudinal data. Results: Between T0 and T1 there are statistically significant improvements in the intervention group, especially in daily and social stress in the family, in mental health and resilience. In addition, knowledge about general benefit rights as well as specific support and relief offers for caring parents has increased. Conclusions: The results of the first two measurement times indicate that a positive change in quality of life, resilience and health literacy can be achieved through the FGP.

Propeller scour phenomenon in the presence of a quay-wall and currents

Investigating the interaction between flow intensity and a ship propeller jet scouring process is paramount to predict scour dimensions in mooring sites in navigation channels, for instance. While the condition of still water is typical in protected mooring sites, in other real-world conditions, like docking in waterways, the presence of an additional flow approaching a rotating propeller can induce changes in the propeller jet hydrodynamics and in turn in the scouring process. Note that, although ship-hull and rudders influence the jet propagation and the flow field, the present research project aimed at studying the propeller-inducing effects only. Literature studies that have relied on this assumption are rarely found, with only a few examining the impact of the intensity of the flow on the propeller jet scour. This study presents an experimental campaign aimed at assessing the effects of flow intensity on propeller jets in confined conditions. Specifically, three different flow intensities and three propeller distances from a vertical quay-wall were tested. The findings are presented through profiles of the scoured bed, and bathymetries at the equilibrium condition and empirical formulas for calculating the principal dimensions of the scour holes are given.To explore the intricate hydrodynamics and understand how the intensity of the flow affects the scour hole development, and to investigate boundary effects on the flow field, we performed Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations. These simulations were applied to the three-dimensional scoured bathymetry in a state of equilibrium. The satisfactory match between numerical results and sampled velocities at the equilibrium stage ensures the reliability of the simulations. To the authors’ knowledge, these configurations had not been previously simulated, owing to the complexities involved in computing a moving mesh in presence of a bathymetry and a confining vertical wall. The results offer the first numerical demonstration of boundary effects on the characteristics of propeller jets both in the presence and in the absence of an additional channel flow.

Article: Income Tax Considerations Pertaining to Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)

Over the last couple of years, an increasing number of organizations have arisen that are native to blockchain technology. Recent data shows that these decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) that are essentially ‘living on the blockchain’ are becoming increasingly popular. They are attracting substantial amounts of funds, operating both in the Web3 space and off-chain, and creating a significant source of novel tax issues. The existing tax academic research on DAOs is often limited to US domestic tax issues following from the DAO’s legal treatment. This article outlines (part of) the existing income tax landscape for the DAOs and some of the arising income tax challenges. The focus is on the general principles of domestic and international income tax systems. The authors argue that the DAOs create fundamental and practical tax issues potentially leading to income taxed ‘nowhere’. Existing tax frameworks cannot fully embed the DAOs and allow them to maintain their distinguishing features. The incorporation of DAOs does not necessarily solve the tax issues and even exacerbates them in certain cases. The authors call upon domestic and international legislators and policymakers to aim for more tax certainty for shareholders and further tax research of the DAOs.

Cultural heritage tourism and urban regeneration: The case of Fez Medina in Morocco

After Morocco gained independence in 1956, the country's historic cities, including Fez, Marrakesh, and Meknes, experienced rapid urban growth, decay, and the destruction of their rich cultural and architectural heritage. The rise in urbanisation, redevelopment projects, and tourism has raised concerns related to the urban gentrification and social sustainability of local communities. In addition, the influx of large-scale foreign investments and the conversion of traditional Moroccan houses into riad hotels have sparked tensions over land use, economic shifts, and the ongoing exploitation of historic cities. This research presents a case study of the world heritage city of Fez in Morocco, where these dynamics are particularly significant, as efforts are made to balance conservation and modern needs. The main question to be addressed is how can the surviving historic centres be regenerated while ensuring social sustainability for their inhabitants? The primary objective of this study is to explore the multifaceted urban regeneration strategies in Fez, focusing on urban planning, conservation efforts, economic revitalisation, and social development. Employing a mixed-method approach, this study draws on desk research, content analysis, fieldwork, observations, and qualitative interviews with key stakeholders. The findings suggest that the previous strategies focused on physical development and riad hotels to boost cultural tourism and tourist accommodation, exacerbating the gentrification and socioeconomic stratification of the local community. This study emphasises the “Ziyarates Fez” project, which provides an innovative approach to rehabilitating and reusing traditional houses for tourism accommodation without displacing local occupants. Furthermore, this project represents a holistic strategy for balancing economic and social sustainability in urban regeneration. This paper contributes to the expanding body of research on sustainable urban regeneration in historic cities. These results are anticipated to benefit academic research and the implementation of regeneration strategies in historic cities in Morocco and worldwide.

Unveiling Current Advances in Bioelectronic Medicine: A Comprehensive Review

Background: Bioelectronic medicine is an emerging therapy that makes use of neural signals and the nervous system to help in the treatment of injuries and diseases. The nervous sys-tem consists of disciplined circuits that involve the communication of every major organ of the human body as all the organs of the human body are regulated and controlled by neural circuits. Objective: The objective of this review is to overview the current implementations of bioelectron-ic medicines within the human body. The main target is to heal the body without administering a wide array of exogenous drugs. On understanding these neural circuits at a molecular level, it could be possible to understand, manipulate, and modify the body’s functioning with the help of electrical impulses to modify neural impulses. Methods: The literature related to bioelectronic medicines, and their applications was collected through different websites, academic research portals, and databases, sorted, and presented in this review. Results: Bioelectronic medicine is emerging as a cutting-edge area in healthcare, demonstrating its potential to transform the diagnosis and management of inflammation and related conditions. With established efficacy in a variety of disorders and marketed available treatments, it highlights an enormous shift toward individualized and specialized therapeutic approaches, providing prom-ise for improved outcomes and a higher quality of life for patients worldwide. Conclusion: The study focuses on potential advances in bioelectronic medicine for alleviating in-flammation and inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and spinal cord in-jury. Bioelectronic treatments provide innovative therapeutic options with the potential for con-siderable clinical effects.

The advantages and challenges with the usages of blockchain technology in management information systems, particularly in us e- commerce enterprises

In the last twenty years, information technology has relatively advanced different aspects of people’s cal, societal interactions and companies affecting the quality of life. The modern e- commerce organizations require MIS that is used in the acquisition, processing, and reporting of relevant data for decision making purposes. This paper focuses on how Blockchain has been incorporated into MIS within e-commerce firms located in the United States, and provides a literature review of the advantages and problems involved. By synthesizing academic research from management and business process journals, the study presents important areas where MIS can be improved by blockchain technology and solutions while also presenting important disadvantages such as scalability problems and regulatory challenges and high implementation costs. The results of this study are summarized in the following sections, ending with a discussion of the possible opportunities that blockchain-MIS can leverage for innovation and trust in today’s American e-businesses. To this end, this paper seeks to give an objective analysis of the effects of blockchain technology on MIS in e-commerce in order to help executive managers make better decisions on its adoption.

Inflammatory bowel disease and risk of ophthalmic inflammation-related diseases: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study

AIM: To investigate the causal effect of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) on ocular inflammation using Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. METHODS: Genetic instruments associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), ulcerative colitis (UC), and Crohn's disease (CD) were derived from the largest genome-wide association studies (GWAS) published to date. The FinnGen research project was utilized to identify genetic risk variants associated with conjunctivitis, keratitis, iridocyclitis, chorioretinitis, episcleritis, and optic neuritis. All participants were of European ancestry. Three methods which included inverse variance weighting (IVW), weighted median (WM), and MR-Egger regression were performed to estimate the causal association in this study. IVW took the inverse variance of each study as the weight to calculate the weighted average of effect sizes, to summarize the effect sizes of multiple independent studies, which could provide the most precise estimated results. IVW was used as the primary outcome, while WM and MR-Egger were used to improve the estimation of IVW. RESULTS: A nominal causal effect of genetically predicted IBD on risk of non-infectious conjunctivitis, keratitis, iridocyclitis, and optic neuritis, but not on chorioretinitis or episcleritis. After Bonferroni correction, the results showed that genetically predicted UC was significantly associated with an increased risk of iridocyclitis (IVW: OR, 1.17; 95%CI, 1.10-1.24, P=2.54×10-7). CD was significantly associated with conjunctivitis (IVW: OR, 1.05; 95%CI, 1.03-1.08, P=3.20×10-5), keratitis (IVW: OR, 1.06; 95%CI, 1.02-1.09; P=1.13×10-3), and iridocyclitis (IVW: OR, 1.09; 95%CI, 1.04-1.14; P=1.43×10-4). CONCLUSION: IBD causally poses a risk of inflammation of conjunctiva, cornea, Iris-ciliary body complex, and optic neuritis. CD is more closely associated with the eye inflammation than UC. These impliy that the relationship of IBD and different parts of the eye structure are different, and provide novel evidence linking based on the association of the gut-eye axis.

Sample Article for Pree Reviewer

Background Large research consortia can generate tremendous amounts of biological information, including high-resolution soil, vegetation, and climate data. While this knowledge stock holds invaluable potential for answering evolutionary and ecological questions, making these data exploitable for modelling remains a daunting task due to the many processing steps required for synthesis. This might result in many researchers to fall back to a handful of ready-to-use data sets, potentially at the expense of statistical power and scientific rigour. In a push for a more stringent approach, we introduce BEpipeR, an R pipeline that allows for the streamlined synthesis of plot-based Biodiversity Exploratories data. Methods BEpipeR was designed with flexibility and ease of use in mind. For instance, users simply choose between aggregating forest or grassland data, or a combination thereof, effectively allowing them to process any experimental plot data of this research consortium. Additionally, instead of coding, they parse most processing information in a user-friendly way through parameter sheets. Processing includes, among others, the creation of a spatially explicit plot-ID template, data wrangling, quality control, plot-wise aggregations, the calculation of derived metrics, data joining to a large composite data set, and metadata compilation. Results With BEpipeR, we provide a feature-rich pipeline that allows users to process Biodiversity Exploratories data in a flexible and reproducible way. This pipeline might serve as a starting point for aggregating the numerous data sets of this and potentially similar research consortia. In this way, it might be a primer for the construction of consortia-wide composite data sets that take full advantage of the consortia’s rich information stocks, ultimately boosting the visibility and participation of individual research projects. Conclusions The BEpipeR permits the user-friendly processing and plot-wise aggregation of Biodiversity Exploratories data. With modifications, this framework may be easily adopted by other research consortia.

Caregiver policies in the United States: a systematic review.

In the United States, there are nearly 53 million informal or unpaid caregivers, many of whom experience mental and physical stress related to their caregiving duties and increased financial responsibility. We identified federal and state informal caregiver support policies authorized by specific legislation along with their key provisions and conducted a systematic review of the academic literature related to quantitative evaluations of these policies. Twenty policies, eight academic studies, and four gray literature reports were included in the study, with half of the policies introduced since 2000. Our study criteria yielded few academic valuations tied to caregiver policies and few policies including research provisions. Of the provision areas identified in policies, respite services, caregiver training, and workplace protections appeared the most. Future policies and the studies examining them should incorporate cost outcomes and equity as focus areas and disaggregate data by vulnerable groups to ensure value and equity in caregiver support legislation. KEY MESSAGES: Increased legislation to support informal caregivers may be warranted. The limited academic research examining existing caregiver policies identifies mixed outcomes for caregivers. Prioritizing vulnerable populations in such policy research examining outcomes could help improve caregiver support efforts. The included studies investigated the outcomes of three policies and identified more negative than positive outcomes for caregivers.

Noneconomic public value creation by private ventures: scale development and empirical validation in the academic entrepreneurship context

AbstractPublic value as such and contributions to public value by entrepreneurial universities have been of increasing interest to scholars over the past two decades. However, due to the lack of an adequate measurement scale, scholars have yet to link these research streams properly. While public value research acknowledges the multidimensionality of the construct, academic entrepreneurship research has rather approximated it using different unidimensional economic proxies. As a consequence, there is limited scholarly consensus about public value creation through spin-offs and other academic start-ups. To mitigate this issue and complement existing proxies, our study develops and validates a measure of noneconomic public value creation in the academic entrepreneurship context, capturing the subdimensions of social value creation, customer value creation, and efficient value creation. We employ a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The initial item pool incorporates relevant prior literature and insights from multiple pretests. Using two comprehensive surveys of academic entrepreneurs from Germany and Austria, we quantitatively confirm the reliability and validity of the final three-dimensional 11-item scale and its applicability to the intended context. Furthermore, we pave the way for future research by examining how the university entrepreneurial climate relates to public value creation.

High Yielding Pest and Disease Tolerance Variety (DHLM-14-1) in Little Millet (Panicum sumetrense. L) Developed through Recombinant Breeding Technology

The little millet variety DHLM-14-1 developed at the Agricultural Research Station (ARS) Hanumanamatti under the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad. With a maturation period of 85-90 days, this variety features an erect, tall plant stature ranging from 112 to 130 cm and produces bold, oval-shaped gray grains. DHLM-14-1 stands out for its notable tolerance to shoot fly, exhibiting only a 13.89% incidence compared to 19.15% in the national check JK-8. Its impressive yield performance is evident, yielding 18.42%, 30.58%, and 3.14% more than the national checks OLM-203, JK-8, and KOPLM-53, respectively, making it a beneficial option for millet producers looking for resilient, high-yielding crops. Across trials conducted from 2011 to 2014, DHLM-14-1 showcased exceptional agronomic performance, achieving a mean seed yield of 42.41q/ha, significantly outperforming local check TNAU-63 and national check OLM-203 by 26.63% and 23.75%, respectively. Its consistent yield superiority, with an average of 15.89 q/ha over three years, illustrates the cultivar's adaptability to diverse agro-climatic conditions, surpassing OLM-203 and JK-8 by 18.42% and 30.58%. Recognized during the 29th Annual Group Meeting of the ICAR All India Coordinated Research Project on small millets, DHLM-14-1 has shown strong disease resistance against grain smut, brown spot, and sheath blight, with disease incidences similar to OLM-203 and significantly lower than JK-8. Additionally, its effective resistance to shoot fly underscores its potential to reduce pest damage, reinforcing DHLM-14-1's value as a high-yielding, resilient cultivar that not only enhances sustainable millet production but also supports food security and improves farmer livelihoods across India.