Specific Categories Research Articles

Impacts of COVID-19 on Drug Treatment Court Operations: Lessons Learned Through Normalization Process Theory

ABSTRACT This qualitative study investigates the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on drug treatment courts through the lens of court team members. We conducted semi-structured interviews, guided by Normalization Process Theory, to learn how transitioning to remote operations impacted courts, clients, and practices. Team members gave mixed reviews of the utilization of remote technology for drug treatment court processes, citing the advantages of increased flexibility and accessibility alongside concerns about client accountability. Additionally, there was disagreement on whether remote technology promoted or hindered communication between the clients and the judge. Interviewees also endorsed the idea of keeping the remote option post-pandemic for specific categories of clients.

Identification of taxon through classification with partial reject options

Abstract Identification of taxa can significantly be assisted by statistical classification based on trait measurements either individually or by phylogenetic (clustering) methods. In this article, we present a general Bayesian approach for classifying species individually based on measurements of a mixture of continuous and ordinal traits, and any type of covariates. The trait vector is derived from a latent variable with a multivariate Gaussian distribution. Decision rules based on supervised learning are presented that estimate model parameters through blocked Gibbs sampling. These decision regions allow for uncertainty (partial rejection), so that not necessarily one specific category (taxon) is output when new subjects are classified, but rather a set of categories including the most probable taxa. This type of discriminant analysis employs reward functions with a set-valued input argument, so that an optimal Bayes classifier can be defined. We also present a way of safeguarding against outlying new observations, using an analogue of a p-value within our Bayesian setting. We refer to our Bayesian set-valued classifier as the Karlsson–Hössjer method, and it is illustrated on an original ornithological data set of birds. We also incorporate model selection through cross-validation, exemplified on another original data set of birds.

‘The Skills. . . had to be Used Simply Because They Were There’: Instrumental Rationality in the Military Domain

This article is conceptually motivated to show how instrumental rationality is reflected in the military domain. Instrumental rationality refers to the adoption of suitable means to achieve particular ends. However, this conception was criticised by the Frankfurt School for focusing on means rather than on ends. Based on this critique, I present specific categories of instrumental rationality in the military domain. I will argue that instrumental rationality, or at least its faulty application, is reflected in means-centred thinking whereby the means justify the ends. This approach may create specific categories in the military domain: means justify the ends just because they are available, and they can also expand the ends. The means-centred approach may be expanded from subordinating ends to means to focusing on the objects to be attacked, thus developing an objects-centred approach that may also develop into a focus on the direct outcome of the operation of means, thus becoming a tool of legitimation. A similar legitimising impact is produced by the process of moralisation implicit in the focus on means. Finally, a means-centred approach may be translated into overconfidence in the omnipotence of means, and can thereby be elevated to the belief that weapons can obviate the need for political settlement. « Ces compétences. . . devaient être utilisées simplement parce qu’elles étaient là »: La rationalité instrumentale dans le domaine militaire

Necessary Products for the Prevention and Treatment of Pressure Injuries: Lessons Learned That Translate Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic.

To identify the challenges encountered in obtaining the required support surfaces and products to meet pressure injury (PrI) prevention and treatment needs during COVID-19. The authors used SurveyMonkey to gather data on healthcare perceptions and the challenges experienced regarding specific product categories deemed necessary for PrI prevention and treatment in US acute care settings during the pandemic. They created three anonymous surveys for the target populations of supply chain personnel and healthcare workers. The surveys addressed healthcare workers' perceptions, product requests, and the ability to fulfill product requests and meet facility protocols without substitution in the categories of support surfaces and skin and wound care supplies. Respondents answered one of the three surveys for a total sample of 174 respondents. Despite specific instructions, nurses responded to the surveys designed for supply chain personnel. Their responses and comments were interesting and capture their perspectives and insights. Three themes emerged from the responses and general comments: (1) expectations differed between supply chain staff and nurses for what was required for PrI prevention and treatment; (2) inappropriate substitution with or without proper staff education occurred; and (3) preparedness. It is important to identify experiences and challenges in the acquisition and availability of appropriate equipment and products for PrI prevention and treatment. To foster ideal PrI prevention and treatment outcomes, a proactive approach is required to face daily issues or the next crisis.

Evolution of Composition, Readability, and Structure of Privacy Policies over Two Decades

Privacy policies outline data collection and sharing practices followed by an organization, together with choice and control measures available to users to manage the process. However, users have often needed help reading and understanding such documents, regardless of their being written in a natural language. The fundamental problems with privacy policies persist despite advancements in privacy design, frameworks, and regulations. To identify the causes of privacy policies being persistently challenging to comprehend, it is vital to investigate historical policy patterns and understand the evolution of privacy policies concerning information packaging and presentation. To this aid, we create a sentence-level classifier to conduct a large-scale longitudinal analysis on different privacy policies from 130,604 organizations, totaling approximately one million policies from 1997 to 2019. We annotate 10,717 sentences from 115 policies in the OPP-115 corpus to implement the classifier and then use those annotations to train the XLNet and BERT classifiers. Results from our analysis reveal that specific data practice categories experience more frequent policy changes than others, making it challenging to track relevant information over time. In addition, we discover that every category has distinct composition, readability, and structural issues, which exacerbate when categories frequently co-occur in a document. Based on our observations, we provide recommendations for policy articulation and revision to make privacy policy documents conform to better coherence and structure.

Deep learning-based semantic segmentation of urban-scale 3D meshes in remote sensing: A survey

Semantic segmentation in 3D meshes is the classification of its constituent element(s) into specific classes or categories. Using the powerful feature extraction abilities of deep neural networks (DNNs), significant results have been obtained in the semantic segmentation of various remotely sensed data formats. With the increased utilization of DNNs to segment remotely sensed data, there have been commensurate in-depth reviews and surveys summarizing the various learning-based techniques and methodologies that entail these methods. However, most of these surveys focused on methods that involve popular data formats like LiDAR point clouds, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images, and hyperspectral images (HSI) while 3D meshes hardly received any attention. In this paper, to our best knowledge, we present the first comprehensive and contemporary survey of recent advances in utilizing deep learning techniques for the semantic segmentation of urban-scale 3D meshes. We first describe the different approaches employed by mesh-based learning methods to generalize and implement learning techniques on the mesh surface, and then describe how the element-wise classification tasks are achieved through these methods. We also provide an in-depth discussion and comparative analysis of the surveyed methods followed by a summary of the benchmark large-scale mesh datasets accompanied with the evaluation metrics for assessing the segmentation performance of the methods. Finally, we summarize some of the contemporary problems of the field and provide future research directions that may help researchers in the community.

Genetic data are not always personal-disaggregating the identifiability and sensitivity of genetic data.

In both the EU and USA, genetic data are recognized as a special category of data that requires heightened privacy protection. Identifiability and sensitivity are central pillars of the regulatory framework in both jurisdictions: the privacy concerns stem from the assumption that genetic data are capable of identifying the individual and reveals sensitive information about them. But not all genetic data are identifiable and sensitive, nor are genetic data necessarily different from other types of big data in terms of these issues. This article argues that a more nuanced approach is needed to assess the threat to privacy interests posed by uses of genetic data. The privacy interests involved should be distinguished in terms of proposed use, the amount of data in question, and its uniqueness and informational content. When these factors are disaggregated, it is clear that both regulatory schemes could better achieve their goals by focusing more on the ways genetic data can be used rather than on their status as a special category of data.

The Influence of Locus of Control in the Choice of Coping Strategies for Teachers

Key words: strategy of coping and self-control, internal external processes, stress, coping behavior, coping resources, coping mechanisms The article discusses the theoretical approaches of coping, coping behavior, coping strategies and locus of control. A brief theoretical analysis of the theory of coping, the components of coping strategies, the definition and role of locus of control is presented. In the context of the modernization of education and the intensive search for new technologies in educational practice, the issue of maintaining the psychological health of a school teacher becomes a matter of extreme importance. There is a positive relationship between the presence of certain coping strategies and the degree of emotional burnout of teachers, namely, teachers with a formed phase of emotional burnout are dominated by non-adaptive coping strategies, while teachers with an unformed phase of emotional burnout are dominated by non-adaptive coping strategies. Also the article presents the data of our empirical study and their analysis based on a sample of teachers, in which the dependence of coping strategies on the locus of control was revealed. The nature and method of overcoming stressful situations is a special category of resources for stress resistance and coping techniques, which includes strategies and models of coping behavior or coping strategies. The preconditions for the formation of a burnout syndrome, requires the use of unproductive coping mechanisms, such as the non-adaptive mental processes and unproductive emotional and behavioral responses. We revealed significant relationships between coping strategies in problem solving and two scales of subjective control: internalization and general internalizing attitudes towards health and illness, as well as an inverse relationship between problem avoidance coping strategies and internalization of achievements. Based on the semantic meaning of the locus of control in the theory of J. Rotter and the coping strategy in the interpretation of D. Amirkhan, it can be assumed that the locus of control is a more fundamental personal characteristic than the strategy of coping behavior itself, and it is the locus of control that influences the choice of strategy. DOI։ https://doi.org/10.58726/27382915-2023.1-438

Distinction between low-barrier hydrogen bond and ordinary hydrogen bond: a case study of varying nature of charge assisted hydrogen bonds of diglycine perchlorate crystal

Hydrogen bonding is a complex phenomenon that is a resultant of many energy components like the electrostatic, dispersive, covalent, charge cloud overlap repulsion etc, nature of hydrogen bond (H-bond) depends on which of these components play a dominant role. Low barrier hydrogen bond (LBHB) constitutes a special category of hydrogen bonds characterized by near delocalization of proton between donor and acceptor groups of the H- bond unlike an ordinary hydrogen bond (OHB) having proton clearly localized near the donor group. The significance of LBHBs in macromolecular interactions has been highly controversial, despite may attempts the existence and potential importance of protein LBHBs remains debatable. In order to answer questions like whether or not a distinct class of LBHBs exists and if they do exist under what conditions they are formed and how do they behave differently from OHBs, a detailed study of H-bonding in Diglycine Perchlorate (DGPCl) crystal containing five unique hydrogen bonded glycinium-glycine pairs is undertaken. All O-H–O bonds of DGPCl are between the carboxyl (-COOH) and carboxylate (-COO−) groups with slightly different electron distributions resulting in observable variations in the H-bond geometries, this is an indication of varying strength of these short strong H-bonds. It is found that LBHB nature of the five O-H—O bonds between glycinium-glycine pairs (P1-P5) varies as P1 < P4 < P2 < P3 < P5. This study gives an experimental evidence of the existence of LBHBs and demonstrates that the behaviour of LBHBs is very different from that of strong OHBs.

Management of education and extraschool (nonformal) education of students in the Republic of Moldova

In the article we analyze the theoretical and experimental framework regarding the management of extracurricular education in the Republic of Moldova. We specify some benchmarks for the efficiency of the management of extracurricular education as a subsystem of general education, we propose a set of factors that underpin the management of extracurricular education: legislation and sectoral/ intersectoral policies; concepts, methodologies, studies on extracurricular education; students, parents, the request, expressed through their needs, wishes, interests; partners from the community, at national and international level, APL, NGO; the specific categories of the management process. We present the data of a survey on the management of extracurricular education in general education institutions in the Republic of Moldova.

On Geometry of Locally Conformal C_12-Manifolds

This study focuses on the analysis of a specific category of locally conformal C12-manifolds. Through this investigation, the researchers were able to establish an identity that characterizes this particular class of manifolds. Furthermore, the initial set of Cartan's structure equations is established subsequent to the determination of the components of Kirichenko's tensors on the corresponding G-structure for locally conformal C12-manifolds. In conclusion, the second set of Cartan's structure equations pertaining to locally conformal C12-manifolds has been finalized.

Optimizing Fashion Retail Shelf Management for Enhanced Consumer Experience: A Literature Review

This study aims to optimize shelf display management in the fashion retail industry to cater to the evolving needs and desires of consumers for specific products. With the ever-expanding range of fashion items available in retail stores, the limited space on display shelves poses a significant challenge. Additionally, trendy, and high-demand fashion products often experience quick sell-outs, necessitating frequent restocking. Effective management of shelf displays is pivotal in enhancing consumer satisfaction and stimulating impulse purchases by maximizing product visibility and exposure. In the realm of fashion retail, shelf display management can be broadly categorized into macro and micro levels, encompassing strategic overall layout and precise product allocation within specific fashion categories. However, these approaches heavily rely on the availability of demand and transaction data, which can be challenging for small and medium-sized fashion enterprises with limited data resources. This literature review underscores the research opportunities for optimizing shelf display management, particularly in the context of fashion retail businesses facing data limitations. It recognizes that through thoughtful facility layout design, coupled with suitable adjustments and modifications, the challenges associated with shelf displays in fashion retail stores can be effectively addressed.

Parametric Evaluation Techniques for Reliability of Internet of Things (IoT)

Reliability analysis aims to assess the dependability and performance of a system over time, considering factors such as device failures, communication issues, and data integrity. By integrating taxonomy and reliability analysis, researchers can systematically analyze and enhance the reliability of IoT systems by addressing specific components and categories identified in the taxonomy. IoT based on its reliable applications is classified among various categories such as smart home devices, smart watches, electric vehicles with IoT capabilities, industrial, healthcare, agriculture, soil monitoring sensors, smart city infrastructure, environmental monitoring devices, and smart energy management devices. The need for a consistent taxonomy was one of the problems recognized and examined in this paper even though IoT management technology is developing. To examine the reliability analysis of IoT systems, we created a brand-new taxonomy for IoT gadgets that places a strong focus on administration. We have released a completely new IoT reliability RBD model analysis at different gateways and Round-Trip Time is to be analyzed. It features an aircraft for dependability. Our goal is to help administrators of networks, as well as designers, put processes in place that will analyze and enhance the reliability of IoT systems. To implement techniques to increase the IoT system's reliability, we may utilize the management capabilities to keep an eye on the devices. ChatGPT can act as the conversational interface for ISABELA. By integrating ChatGPT with ISABELA's functionality, users can have natural language conversations with ISABELA, making the interaction more intuitive and user-friendly. A use case study of ISABELA has enhanced the position of the CHATGPT system in the IoT system which increase the efficiency and reliability of IoT designs and networks.

Assistive technology for autism spectrum disorder children that experiences stress and anxiety

With the development of current technology and influences that have been made by the Industry 4.0 utilizing ICTs, IoT, smart systems and products and many others, Assistive Technology (AT) is an important and integral part of the daily life of many people who experience disabilities. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a special category of disorder that can greatly benefit from its use. The purpose of this research is to collect data of Assistive Technology aimed at the detection, prevention and improvement of anxiety and stress (a characteristic of which has been proven to exist and is expressed in various ways in people with ASD). In the introduction, basic definitions regarding the neurobiology of stress and ASD are analyzed. In the main part AT, stress and anxiety correlations are made with ASD and AT devices are described and documented regarding their use for anxiety and stress in children and adolescents with ASD. The Assistive equipment and devices are divided into 2 main categories, 1) Low-tech and 2) Mid-High tech. The results of the research reveal a significant research gap in the use of AT to combat stress and anxiety and the difficulty of many promising options (especially in the domain of Mid-High tech) to be an easy and economical solution in integrating them into the daily life of people with ASD.

PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF INVOLVING ROAD TRANSPORT IN INTERNATIONAL SUPPLY CHAINS

The article is devoted to the study of the inclusion of road transport in international supply chains in the delivery of special categories of cargoes that have both dangerous and perishable properties. A critical study of the scientific literature on road transport and its involvement in supply chains has revealed a number of theoretically and practically significant scientific tasks that have been successfully solved, but the absence of a comprehensive study to determine the practical aspects of road transport involvement in supply chains has been found. It is noted that, from a theoretical and practical point of view, there is a great interest in deliveries in international supply chains, which are usually multimodal and include many unique aspects specific to a particular chain, a particular delivery scheme. An example of delivery of goods that have both perishable and dangerous properties – bioproducts in international supply chains – was considered, which is presented in the form of a scheme for organizing the service of transportation of special cargoes involving motor vehicles, which also incorporates an aviation component. The scheme of the cargo delivery organization complex in the road-air connection was proposed, which includes stages related to transportation by road and air (with road delivery including main road transporta-tion, as well as deliveries to and from airports, last mile delivery), loading and unloading operations, temporary storage of goods, organizational and forwarding activities, etc. It is noted that there is a need to take into account the fact that the peculiarities of special categories of cargo delivery are related to their specific properties and should be addressed by all participants in the delivery process in the international supply chain, primarily carriers who are responsible for the safety of cargo along certain parts of the route. At the same time, it was determined that the freight forwarder or logistics operator, as the organizer of the cargo delivery process, must ensure the processes of consolidation and deconsolidation of cargo (with the possible addition of refrigerants).

A MISSING DATA IMPUTATION METHOD BASED ON GREY WOLF ALGORITHM FOR DIABETES DISEASE

The bulk of medical databases contain coverage gaps due in large part to the expensive expense of some tests or human error in documenting these tests. Due to the absence of values for some features, the performance of the machine learning models is significantly impacted. Consequently, a specific category of techniques is necessary for the aim of imputing missing data. In this study, the Grey Wolf Algorithm (GWA) is used to generate and impute the missing values in the Pima Indian Diabetes Disease (PIDD) dataset. The proposed method is known as the Pima Indian Diabetes Disease (PIDD) Algorithm (IGW). The obtained results demonstrated that the classification performance of three distinct classifiers, namely the Support Vector Machine (SVM), the K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN), and the Naive Bayesian Classifier (NBC), was enhanced in comparison to the dataset prior to the application of the proposed method. In addition, the results indicated that IGW performed better than statistical imputation procedures such as removing samples with missing values, replacing them with zeros, mean, or random values.

Exploring the Diverse Bioactive Compounds from Medicinal Plants: A Review

Bioactive chemicals have been abundantly found in medicinal plants that hold immense potential for therapeutic applications. This review aims to explore the diverse range of medicinal plant bioactive substances and their pharmacological activities. The review opens by underlining the significance of medicinal plants as important sources for developing new drugs. The relevance of various extraction techniques and analytical procedures is emphasized as the methods used for the identification and extraction of bioactive components from these plants is covered in detail. The subsequent sections focus on specific categories of bioactive compounds and their associated pharmacological activities. We examine the possible uses of bioactive substances obtained from medicinal plants in the treatment of infectious disorders as well as their antibacterial characteristics. These chemicals' anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties are also examined, emphasizing their potential for treating inflammatory diseases and oxidative stress. The review also explores the anti-cancer potential of bioactive substances from therapeutic plants, illuminating their methods of action and their potential as innovative therapeutic agents. Furthermore, the neuroprotective and neuro-pharmacological effects of these compounds are discussed, emphasizing their relevance in neurological disorders. Immunomodulatory properties and cardiovascular health benefits of bioactive compounds from medicinal plants are also examined, providing insights into their potential applications in immunotherapy and cardiovascular disease management.

Coarse ware jugs in funerary context: technical and functional observations on the pottery from the cemeteries at Alburnus Maior

This study analyses a specific category of Roman ceramic vessels identified in the funerary inventories from Alburnus Maior: 26 coarse ware jugs present in the graves from the cemeteries at Tăul Corna, Tăul Găuri – Hop, Tăul Secuilor/Pârâul Porcului and in the area of the circular funerary monument. They all share specific morphological and technological characteristics, and at least a part of them are imitations in ceramic of bronze vessels. From a functional point of view they can be framed in the category of cooking ware and were produced from coarse fabrics. The vessels were produced locally, during the 4th – 6th/7th? decades of the 2nd century AD and all of them were used for boiling water. Their presence in the graves might be regarded as an identity marker of a group who used them in everyday life and, as part of the funerary ritual, could show a predilection for consuming hot drinks during the funerary banquet.

New Paths for Exploring ‘History from Below’: Microhistorical Documentaries

This article proposes a specific category of documentaries that adopt a unique approach to explore the past, and which are referred to here as “microhistorical documentaries.” These films fall within the basic parameters of written microhistory, a historiographical trend that emerged in the 1970s under the broader umbrella of “history from below.” Those parameters include a reduced scale of observation, a central role given to human agency, a conjectural approach to archival research, and a reliance on narrative structures. But microhistorical documentaries also exhibit specific traits of their own, such as underscoring the affective dimension, using autobiographical and essayistic perspectives, drawing on the protagonists’ personal memories to reconstruct the past, and using family archives (mainly snapshots and home movies). Films of this kind therefore differ markedly from the informational/expository model of the conventional historical documentary, sharing features with a certain type of contemporary documentary, with some traits that can be linked to a postmodern sensibility.

Complicated Pocket Infection in Patients Undergoing Lead Extraction: Characteristics and Outcomes.

Cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) infection can present with pocket or systemic manifestations, both necessitating complete device removal and pathogen-directed antimicrobial therapy. Here, we aim to characterize those presenting with both pocket and systemic infection. A retrospective analysis of CIED extraction procedures included 300 patients divided into isolated pocket (n = 104, 34.7%), complicated pocket (n = 54, 18%), and systemic infection (n = 142, 47.3%) groups. The systemic and complicated pocket groups frequently presented with leukocytosis and fever > 37.8, as opposed to the isolated pocket group. Staphylococcus aureus was the most common pathogen in the systemic and complicated pocket groups (43.7% and 31.5%, respectively), while Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CONS) predominated (31.7%) in the isolated pocket group (10.6%, p < 0.001). No differences were observed in procedural success or complications rates. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis found that at three years of follow-up, the rate of all-cause mortality was significantly higher among patients with systemic infection compared to both pocket groups (p < 0.001), with the curves diverging at thirty days. In this study, we characterize a new entity of complicated pocket infection. Despite the systemic pattern of infection, their prognosis is similar to isolated pocket infection. We suggest that this special category be presented separately in future publications of CIED infections.