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Reducing examination table paper (ETP) use may help curb carbon emissions from health care. Six participants applied Glo Germ (DMA International) to their hands before a common physical examination (abdominal, cardiorespiratory, hip and knee) both with and without ETP. After each exam, UV light was shined on the exam table and photographs were taken. The number of hand touches on ETP-covered areas and uncovered areas were tallied and compared using t tests. Despite covering more surface area, participants touched areas without ETP significantly more than ETP-covered areas (P https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.3092, INTRODUCTION Climate change negatively impacts mental health, respiratory and cardiac disease, and quality-adjusted life years. (1) Waste from health care is a major contributor to its negative environmental impact, (2-4) [...]

Introduction In accordance with its mandate to provide guidance to Member States on health policy matters, WHO issues a series of regularly updated position papers on vaccines and combinations of [...]

Introduction In accordance with its mandate to provide normative guidance to Member States on health policy matters, WHO issues a series of regularly updated position papers on vaccines and combinations [...]

This special issue of the Journal of International Women's Studies is a compilation of articles drawn from presentations delivered at the 9th World Conference on Women's Studies (WCWS), in Bangkok, [...]

Introduction In accordance with its mandate to provide normative guidance to Member States on health policy matters, WHO issues a series of regularly updated position papers on vaccines and combinations [...]

How does engaging with a playful, lighthearted, drama-based form affect one's experience of academic learning? Read this play, gentle reader, and answer that question for yourself. Scene 1: A small [...]

The International World Conference on Titanium has been bringing together scientists and engineers researching many areas of titanium development, manufacture, and implementation since 1968. The conference was initially organized by [...]

In 2016, two years into my career at a large suburban New Jersey public high school, I was prepared--or so I thought--to teach American Literature for the first time. I'd [...]

THE ARTS The Painter’s Papers A prairie mystic in his own words Kelvin Browne Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald was quiet in person but demonstrative in writing.David Parkins Some Magnetic Force: Lionel [...]

The Victorians astound us with their energy. The most famous Victorian of them all, after the queen herself, William Gladstone chopped down trees for exercise. With equal vigour he kept [...]

Byline: Vanita. Ahuja, Kaushic. Theerth, Rakesh. Garg Abstract, as a form of publication, cannot be valued lightly. In this fast-moving world, a research paper does not exist beyond the abstract [...]

A profound medical triumph of the last half of the 20th century was the elucidation of the transport system mediated by plasma lipoproteins. Scientists identified the proteins that carry water-insoluble [...]

Proposals for presentations at the 2024 SOF Conference in Denver are now being accepted by the Conference Committee with a deadline of May 1. Approximately twenty presentation slots will be [...]

A veritable pride 01 major Oxfordian researchers and scholars will be offering up new papers at the SOF's upcoming annual conference in Denver, Colorado this September 26 to 29, 2024. [...]

Health inequities, within and across countries, stand as a critical global challenge of our time. Over 1 billion people face preventable diseases and premature deaths due to limited access to [...]

What counts as 'indecent or obscene'? According to certain customs officers of the 1980s, the answer is: anything on the shelves of the bookshop Gay's the Word. It is forty [...]

The ASM Heat Treating Society established the Best Paper in Heat Treating Award in 1997 to recognize a paper that represents advancement in heat-treating technology, promotes heat treating in a [...]

The winner of the 2023 ASM HTS/Bodycote Best Paper in Heat Treating Award is entitled 'Flux Analysis of Nitrogen and Carbon during Nitriding and FNC Heat Treating,' by Haoxing You. [...]

'BOOKS ARE PHYSICAL OBJECTS made by human beings.' G. Thomas Tanselle's words (in A Bibliographer's Creed, 2014) are a reminder that bibliography involves not just the study of 'physical objects', [...]

In certain instances, perceived history, as presented in the public domain as factual history, were in reality often misconstrued, with elements which were incorrect or not historically accurate, with the [...]

Byline: M. Ozsan, D. Hatipoglu, H. H. Donmez, I. Undag and N. Donmez Kwywords: Acrylamide, ANAE, haemogram, immune system, N. Sativa. INTRODUCTION Various industries, including packaging, mining, paper production, paint [...]

This paper studies competing sources of declining dynamism. Evidence shows that an important component of this decline is accounted for by the reduction in the response of employment to shocks in US establishments. Using a plant-level dynamic optimization problem as a framework for analysis, four potential reasons for this decline are studied: (i) a change in exogenous processes for profits, (ii) an increase in impatience, (iii) increased market power, and (iv) increasing adjustment costs. We identify and quantity the contribution of each of these factors building on a simulated method of moments estimation of our structural model. Our results indicate that the reduction in responsiveness largely reflects increased costs of employment adjustment. Changes in market power, as captured by changes in the curvature of the revenue function, play a minimal role. But, in the presence of rising adjustment costs, measured sales-weighted markups using the recently popular indirect production approach rise substantially, along with rising dispersion and skewness of such measured markups. JEL classification: E24, E32, J23 Key words: declining dynamism, adjustment costs, employment, Working Paper 2024-3 1 Motivation The decline in dynamism in US establishments is well documented. In the 1980s, the pace of job reallocation across establishments in the US private non-farm [...]

Oral language is the primary means through which a child controls, describes, organises, and evaluates their life experiences and their ability to use oral language which effectively impacts their future literacy development. Currently, the world is awash with dynamic change and constant disruption. These include natural disasters such as the ongoing Australian floods and bush fires, droughts, the global COVID-19 pandemic, the pervasive use of digital technologies, continuing global unrest, and impacts on economic and social adversity. Many of these disruptions are having a negative impact on the development of children's oral language and ongoing communication capacities. This is interesting given the prioritisation in many western nations, including Australia, of learning to read and write over learning to talk and communicate. This paper serves as an example of what makes good classroom literacy research. It outlines the elements of robust research including a research proposal structure. In this instance, our research investigates educator perceptions of children's developing oral language and communication skills and practices in birth to 8-year-old education contexts within the current backdrop of extreme disruption. The paper includes a literature review, our proposed research methodology which includes interviews from participants in birth to 8-year-old education settings, in both national and global contexts sourced via snowball sampling. The data analysis uses Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of the contextualised interview responses from educators within a socio-cultural global malaise of disruption and power. We outline future plans and funding sources, including publications and potential school resources in the spirit of collegial cooperation to support excellence in literacy classroom research. Keywords Oral language * Disruption * Disasters * Globalisation * Early years literacy * Research proposal, 1 Background and rationale The deep connection between constructive talk and critical thinking is well established (Arnott, 2014) with talk being acknowledged as the 'true foundation of learning' (Alexander, 2008, [...]

We show that U.S. banks do not engage in zombie lending to firms of deteriorating profitability, irrespective of capital levels and exposure to such firms. In contrast, unregulated financial intermediaries do, originating more and cheaper loans to these firms. We establish these results using supervisory data on firm-bank relationships, syndicated lending data for banks and nonbanks, and an empirical setting with quasirandom shocks to firm profitability. Although credit migrates from banks to nonbanks, zombie firms file for bankruptcy at an elevated rate, suggesting that nonbanks' zombie lending does not enhance the survival rate of distressed and unprofitable firms. JEL classification: G21, G32, G33 Key words: zombie lending, zombie firms, banks, nonbanks, 1 Introduction Zombie firms are unproductive businesses that survive on cheap credit despite generating insufficient profits to service their debt. These firms may have negative consequences for the real economy, [...]

The Aerosol, Clouds and Trace Gases Research Infrastructure (ACTRIS) officially became the 33rd European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) on 25 April 2023 with the support of 17 founding member and observer countries. As a pan-European legal organization, ACTRIS ERIC will coordinate the provision of data and data products on short-lived atmospheric constituents and clouds relevant to climate and air pollution over the next 15-20 years. ACTRIS was designed more than a decade ago, and its development was funded at national and European levels. It was included in the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) roadmap in 2016 and, subsequently, in the national infrastructure roadmaps of European countries. It became a landmark of the ESFRI roadmap in 2021. The purpose of this paper is to describe the mission of ACTRIS, its added value to the community of atmospheric scientists, providing services to academia as well as the public and private sectors, and to summarize its main achievements. The present publication serves as a reference document for ACTRIS, its users, and the scientific community as a whole. It provides the reader with relevant information and an overview on ACTRIS governance and services, as well as a summary of the main scientific achievements of the last 20 years. The paper concludes with an outlook on the upcoming challenges for ACTRIS and the strategy for its future evolution. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: The Aerosol, Clouds and Trace Gases Research Infrastructure (ACTRIS) is the new European Research Infrastructure Consortium for short-lived atmospheric constituents and clouds, supporting fundamental research and excellence in Earth system observation. The primary objective of ACTRIS is to produce high-quality integrated datasets in the field of atmospheric sciences and to provide services, including access to instrumented platforms, tailored for scientific and technological use. Established with a long-term perspective, with financial commitments from 17 European countries and the European Commission, ACTRIS services are open to the global community of scientists involved in atmospheric research and beyond. It is expected that ACTRIS will have a strong impact enhancing excellence in Earth system observation and research, providing information and knowledge for the development of sustainable solutions to societal needs. KEYWORDS: Atmosphere; Europe; Aerosols/particulates; Clouds; Trace gases, 1. Introduction Short-lived atmospheric constituents (SLACs) and clouds play a key role in regulating Earth's climate and impacting the quality of air and its effects on human and ecosystem health. [...]

To this date, livestock activity continues to constitute one of the main bastions of the world economy and global food security. Still, just as it is vital for the subsistence of humanity, it also generates environmental and health effects that deserve attention, and that forge the irrevocable need to look for all possible alternatives to guarantee the sustainability of animal production processes. Therefore, this research has been developed under the framework of a review of the scientific literature related to the use of technology to develop sustainable livestock production processes. This review consisted of a bibliometric analysis developed within the Scopus database, delimiting all the documents published between 1987 and 2023, based on the keywords: 'Sustainability', 'Livestock' and 'Technology', from which the data was obtained, using the search equation (TITLE-ABS-KEY ('sustainability') AND TITLE-ABS-KEY ('livestock') OR TITLE-ABS-KEY ('cattle breeding') OR TITLE-ABS-KEY ('cattle raising') OR TITLE-ABS -KEY ('cattle') AND TITLE-ABS-KEY ('technology')). A total of 887 papers in all were discovered as a consequence, with journal articles accounting for 59% of them, reviews for 19%, conference articles for 11 %, and other formats for the remaining 11%. The scientific output examined between 1987 and 2023 demonstrates an increasing tendency in the study area, with the years 2019 to 2022 exhibiting the biggest publishing peaks (47% of all published papers). The findings indicate that 60% of the papers produced for the study subject were published in the United States, the United Kingdom, India, Australia and Italy. Furthermore, Sustainability (Switzerland), Animal, Journal of Animal Science, Journal of Cleaner Production and IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, were the journals that published the most on the topic, accounting for 13% of the total publications. The remaining publications are distributed among various journals. Considering that 92% of researchers in this subject are temporary, Koziel JA is the author with the most publications with seven. Similarly, Wageningen University and Research, Iowa State University, Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria - Embrapa, University of Guelph and Universita Degli Studi di Milano were the institutions that conducted the most research on the study's subject, accounting for 11% of the publications. Key words: livestock, sustainability, cattle raising, cattle breeding, cattle, technology, health, environment, INTRODUCTION Animal production and especially livestock farming, plays a fundamental role in the world economy, providing food, jobs and livelihoods to millions of people around the world [1]. However, for [...]

The Chinese Immigration Act, 1923, also known as the Chinese Exclusion Act, banned the entry of Chinese people to Canada and required all Chinese in Canada, including the Canadian born, to register with the government. The act devastated Chinese Canadian lives and communities. This paper applies two of Hannah Arendt's insights into the social organization of totalitarianism to understand how anti-Chinese racism has been structured. Focusing on the discourse of Asian/Chinese exclusion in the Canadian House of Commons and Senate in 1922 and 1923, the paper shows that the idea of Chinese exclusion was closely linked to the white supremacist vision of Canada that its land and resources were and should be the monopoly of people of European origins. As such, anti-Chinese racism was not just an ideology, or individual prejudices or ignorance, but it was a social structure that was integral to the making of the country, and whose invention can be traced historically. The historical activity of the Chinese in trying to stop the passing of the act brings the functioning of this social structure into sharp relief. The consequences of this structure continue today. Keywords: Racism, Chinese Canadians, social organization, settler colonialism, white supremacy. La loi sur l'immigration chinoise, 1923, egalement connue sous le nom de Loi sur l'exclusion des Chinois, a interdit l'entree des Chinois au Canada et a exige que tous les Chinois au Canada, y compris les personnes nees au Canada, s'inscrivent aupres du gouvernement. Cette loi a devaste les vies et les communautes des Canadiens d'origine chinoise. Cet article applique deux des idees d'Hannah Arendt sur l'organisation sociale du totalitarisme pour comprendre comment le racisme antichinois a ete structure. En se concentrant sur le discours de l'exclusion des Asiatiques et des Chinois a la Chambre des communes et au Senat canadiens en 1922 et 1923, l'article montre que l'idee de l'exclusion des Chinois etait etroitement liee a la vision supremaciste blanche du Canada, selon laquelle ses terres et ses ressources etaient et devaient etre le monopole des personnes d'origine europeenne. Ainsi, le racisme antichinois n'etait pas seulement une ideologie, des prejuges individuels ou de l'ignorance, c'etait une structure sociale qui faisait partie integrante de la construction du pays et dont l'invention peut etre retracee historiquement. L'activite historique des Chinois qui ont tente d'empecher l'adoption de la loi met en evidence le fonctionnement de cette structure sociale. Les consequences de cette structure se font encore sentir aujourd'hui. Mots-cles: Racisme, Canadiens chinois, organisation sociale, colonialisme de peuplement, supre-macie blanche., INTRODUCTION To be effective in fighting racisms, we need to understand how they structure everyday human interactions, and how they insulate those in dominant positions from the human consequences of [...]

This paper aims to fill a lacuna in existing literature by adopting a feminist and intersectional framework and analysis to examine the experience of racism of individual Chinese residing in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and to explicate how macro and meso-structural processes impact Chinese individuals and communities during COVID-19. We draw on data analysis from a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) funded research project, and focus our analysis of the experience of anti-Chinese racism before and during COVID on i) context of racialization and racism, i.e., geopolitics, Chinese culture and identity, and media representation; and ii) experiences of racialization and racism, in the form of stereotyping, microaggression, and verbal acts of racism. We demonstrate that anti-Chinese racism has persisted prior to COVID-19, however, the pandemic exacerbates precipitating racist ideologies, policies and practices, allowing them to manifest and proliferate. In particular, our paper elucidates how different forms of anti-Chinese racism interact with individuals' intersectionalities (i.e., race, class, gender, age, ability, English/French fluency, immigration/citizenship status, etc.) to further complicate how individuals are differentially targeted and how they experience racism differently. As well, our paper illuminates how individual interviewees utilize their agency to devise strategies to deal with anti-Asian racism. Keywords: Racism during COVID-19, anti-Chinese racism, anti-Asian racism, context of racialization and racism, experience of racialization and racism. Cet article vise a combler une lacune dans la litterature existante en adoptant un cadre et une analyse feministes et intersectionnels pour examiner l'experience du racisme des chinois residant dans la region du Grand Toronto (RGT), et pour expliquer comment les processus macro et mesostructurels ont eu un impact sur les individus et les communautes chinoises pendant la COVID 19. Nous nous appuyons sur l'analyse des donnees d'un projet de recherche finance par le Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada (CRSH) et nous centrons notre analyse de l'experience du racisme anti-chinois avant et pendant la COVID sur i) le contexte de la racialisation et du racisme, c'est-a-dire la geopolitique, la culture et l'identite chinoises, et la representation mediatique ; et ii) les experiences de la racialisation et du racisme, sous la forme de stereotypes, de micro-agressions et d'actes verbaux de racisme. Nous demontrons que le racisme anti-chinois a subsiste avant la COVID 19, mais que la pandemie exacerbe les ideologies, les politiques et les pratiques racistes qui l'ont precede, leur permettant de se manifester et de proliferer. Plus particulierement, notre article elucide la maniere dont les differentes formes de racisme anti-chinois interagissent avec l'intersectionnalite des individus (c'est-a-dire la race, la classe, le sexe, l'age, les capacites, la maitrise de l'anglais ou du francais, le statut d'immigrant ou de citoyen, etc. En outre, notre article met en lumiere la maniere dont les personnes interrogees utilisent leur pouvoir d'action pour elaborer des strategies de lutte contre le racisme anti-asiatique. Mots-cles: Racisme pendant la COVID 19, racisme anti-chinois, racisme anti-asiatique, contexte de racialisation et de racisme, experience de racialisation et de racisme., INTRODUCTION Concomitant with the onset of COVID-19, there has been a resurgence of anti-Chinese racism that follows similar patterns as previous pandemics such as SARS in 2003 and H1N1 in [...]

This paper reports a qualitative study built upon the findings from this team's previous studies over the past two decades that identifies risk factors and guiding principles to develop a culturally sensitive practice model for Chinese youth in conflict with the law. Crime intervention for Chinese Canadian youth is under-researched. This paper reveals that Chinese youth and their parents internalize problems of systemic inequity. Their needs are not properly addressed due to model minority stereotyping. Over the last two decades, there is a shift in demographics of the Chinese community in Canada that mirrors the socio-economical changes in China over twenty years that requires cultural nuance in providing services to the Chinese community. In general, Chinese youth and their families experienced cultural and language barriers and challenges in addressing mental health issues. Keywords: Chinese youth, criminal justice system, crime, Youth Criminal Justice Act, extrajudicial measures, youth from racialized groups. Cet article rend compte d'une etude qualitative fondee sur les resultats des etudes anterieures menees par cette equipe au cours des deux dernieres decennies, qui identifie les facteurs de risque et les principes directeurs permettant d'elaborer un modele de pratique adapte a la culture des jeunes chinois en conflit avec la loi. L'intervention en matiere de criminalite pour les jeunes canadiens d'origine chinoise fait l'objet de peu de recherches. Cet article revele que les jeunes chinois et leurs parents interiorisent les problemes d'inegalite systemique. Leurs besoins ne sont pas correctement pris en compte en raison des stereotypes de la minorite modele. Au cours des deux dernieres decennies, la demographie de la communaute chinoise au Canada a evolue vers une image qui reflete les changements socio-economiques survenus en Chine ces vingt dernieres annees et qui necessite une nuance culturelle dans la fourniture de services a la communaute chinoise. En general, les jeunes chinois et leurs familles ont ete confrontes a des barrieres culturelles et linguistiques et a des difficultes pour aborder les questions de sante mentale. Mots-cles : Jeunes chinois, systeme de justice penale, criminalite, Loi sur le systeme de justice penale pour les adolescents, mesures extrajudiciaires, jeunes issus de groupes racialises., INTRODUCTION This paper reports a research study from 2015 to 2018 on investigating how cultural dimension plays a role in identifying risk factors and guiding principles to develop a culturally [...]

For the discipline of International Relations (IR), the study of International Peace Settlements (IPS) for the organization of postwar international orders has thus far primarily been the purview of realist, liberal, and constructivist approaches. To date, Marxist approaches have tended to either ignore the significance of IPS in the formation of new global orders or have been inscribed into longer-term overarching processes--namely, the reified consequences of the development of capitalism. These proclivities have had the unwelcome effect of subsuming the role historical agents have played in the devising of international ordering strategies under preordained universal 'laws of motion' and downplaying the broader efficacy of foreign policymaking in the building of world order. This paper proposes to rectify this Marxist lacuna by highlighting how adopting an approach that elaborates on the principles of Geopolitical Marxism (GPM) in IR can overcome these shortcomings. The paper argues that a radical historicist methodology for analysing these important world- historical junctures retrieves the significance of contextualized agency within the historical materialist tradition and overcomes the issues beholden to structuralist Marxist approaches. Keywords: Peace Conferences, World Order, Foreign Policy, Geopolitical Marxism, The Congress of Vienna, Introduction The perception that Marxism was unable to provide a theoretical account of the emergence of the modern state-system stems from Marx and Engels' own lack of engagement with the [...]

Between 2014 and 2018, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration conducted the NOAA Satellite Observing System Architecture (NSOSA) study to plan for the next generation of operational environmental satellites. The study generated some important questions that could be addressed by observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs). This paper describes a series of OSSEs in which benefits to numerical weather prediction from existing observing systems are combined with enhancements from potential future capabilities. Assessments include the relative value of the quantity of different types of thermodynamic soundings for global numerical weather applications. We compare the relative impact of several sounding configuration scenarios for infrared (IR), microwave (MW), and radio occultation (RO) observing capabilities. The main results are 1) increasing the revisit rate for satellite radiance soundings produces the largest benefits but at a significant cost by requiring an increase in the number of polar-orbiting satellites from 2 to 12; 2) a large positive impact is found when the number of RO soundings per day is increased well beyond current values and other observations are held at current levels of performance; 3) RO can be used as a mitigation strategy for lower MW/IR sounding revisit rates, particularly in the tropics; and 4) smaller benefits result from increasing the horizontal resolution along the track of the satellites of MW/IR satellite radiances. Furthermore, disaggregating IR and MW instruments into six evenly distributed sun-synchronous orbits is slightly more beneficial than when the same instruments are combined and collocated on three separate orbits. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: The results of this paper are significant because they inform decision-makers about the future configuration of the NOAA's environmental satellite constellation, which serves millions of diverse users. KEYWORDS: Remote sensing; Satellite observations; Sensitivity studies; Data assimilation; Numerical weather prediction/ forecasting, 1. Introduction As planning for future satellite systems takes a long time, in 2014, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began evaluating existing and new opportunities for the design [...]

Sales tax is generally not included in the advertised price quoted to consumers in the United States. In contrast, value added taxes (VAT) are embedded into the price in most other countries. This article investigates how the two different pricing structures and consumers' decision-making process affect the intensity of price competition. The two pricing structures yield identical market outcomes with fast-computing consumers who are willing and able to recompute the exact sales tax each time there is a price change. With slow-computing consumers, prices and profits are higher when sellers quote and compete in prices without sales tax. In this case, a model extension with two-stage decision making shows that the entire tax burden is shifted to the consumers when they completely ignore sales tax during their initial search. Key words: price competition, price comparisons, sales tax, value added tax, fast and slow-computing consumers, mental accounting, inattention, consumer decision making JEL classification: D43, H29, L13, M3, 1. Introduction The last stage in the supply chain of any product or service is the final sale to the consumer. Governments levy a tax on this final transaction which [...]

The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the key technologies for the digital transformation of both business and society. The paper primarily aims to investigate the structure and dynamics of academic publications in English dealing with issues of IoT development - from a marketing perspective, using methods of systematic mapping, i.e., co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, and analysis of the co-occurrence of keywords in the Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases. Analysis of research papers enables the identification of the most influential articles, papers, and journals, as well as visualization of the keywords and co-authorship co-occurrences. There has been an exponential increase in studies on IoT applications in marketing, indexed in Scopus and WoS citation databases. An insight into analyzed papers shows that companies utilize large amounts of data generated by the IoT to gain insights into customers' supply and value creation, which helps strengthen their relationships with customers and pursue more efficient marketing policies and practices, ultimately leading to a competitive advantage. The IoT is expected to evolve into a vast network that includes smart devices and significantly influences people's behavior, especially decision-making at different stages of the purchasing process. KEYWORDS: internet of Things, marketing, bibliometric analysis, 1. INTRODUCTION We are living in the age of the fourth--digital - industrial revolution (Guven & Akkaya, 2020), whose main driver is data. How data can be collected, analyzed, and [...]

This paper aims to examine how digitalization played a vital role in enabling women-led businesses to navigate the challenges of the pandemic and explore the strategies they implemented for this purpose. Many countries were unprepared to cope with such a catastrophic situation, leading to significant consequences across various sectors. Therefore, this study emphasizes the importance of digitizing business processes and provides insights into how businesses have adapted to this challenge. In addition, the paper includes a thorough analysis of studies conducted by various authors who have explored this topic. This research paper is a qualitative case study and draws on primary and secondary data sources. The primary data was obtained by distributing questionnaires to selected companies to gain insights into their working methods throughout the pandemic. From the information gathered, it is evident that digitalization became imperative during the pandemic. However, this transition came with challenges in adapting the workforce to remote working arrangements. It is worth noting that the companies examined in this study are run by women, a particularly affected demographic during the pandemic. In terms of government decisions, several business support packages were adopted. This paper argues that women-led businesses should receive more support to operate more freely, digitize their work processes, improve well-being, and increase both turnover and the number of their employees. KEYWORDS: digitalization; small and medium enterprises (SMEs); female entrepreneurship; COVID-19; Kosovo, 1. INTRODUCTION In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak, attributed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, a pandemic (Ducharme, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic became a global challenge that [...]

* Context.--Clinician feedback is an important source of information for laboratory quality improvement programs. Objective.--To pilot a program for nearly real-time solicitation and analysis of physician feedback regarding clinical laboratory services. Design.--Laboratories distributed either electronic or paper survey forms to physicians. Results were tabulated by College of American Pathologists staff. Free-text comments were shared promptly with the participating laboratories to facilitate follow-up. Results.--Forty-seven clinical laboratories participated in the study and submitted results for 987 physician surveys, including both paper and electronic forms. Of 694 responses submitted electronically within the study period, 460 (66.3%) included at least 1 free-text entry, for a total of 951 free-text comments. Conclusions.--Point-of-service solicitation of physician feedback regarding clinical laboratory services is feasible and can provide a substantial quantity of potentially useful information regarding laboratory performance from the customer perspective. (Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2024;148:694-698; doi: 10.5858/arpa.2023-0064-CP), Many organizations consider customer-centricity, defined as putting the customer at the center of everything an organization does, to be the key to success. (1,2) Organizations that misunderstand and/or fail to [...]

* Context.--In 2018 the College of American Pathologists Diagnostic Immunology and Flow Cytometry Committee designed and implemented a new plasma cell neoplasia flow cytometry proficiency testing program--PCNEO--to allow clinical flow cytometry laboratories to monitor and assess their performance compared with a peer group. Objective.--To report the results from the first 4 years of the PCNEO program. Design.--Program participants were sent 2 sets of challenges per year, each including 1 wet challenge and 2 dry challenges, with associated clinical and laboratory findings. The wet challenges were composed of myeloma cell line specimens (with or without dilution in preserved whole blood) for flow cytometric analysis. The dry (paper) challenges were composed of clinical case summaries and images of flow cytometric test results from various flow cytometry laboratories of committee members. Results.--A total of 116 to 145 laboratories from 17 countries enrolled in the proficiency testing program. For the wet challenges, almost all participants (97%-100%; cumulative, 98.2%) correctly identified the presence of neoplastic plasma cell populations based on flow cytometric analysis of undiluted myeloma cell lines. Slightly fewer participants (89.0%-97.4%; cumulative, 95.2%) correctly identified the presence of neoplastic plasma cell populations based on flow cytometric analysis of diluted myeloma cell lines (10% or 50% dilutions into peripheral blood) intended to better represent a typical clinical sample. There was generally agreement among 80% or more of participants for positive or negative staining for CD38, CD138, CD19, CD20, and surface and cytoplasmic k and X light chains. Similarly, 84% to 100% of participants were able to correctly identify the presence of neoplastic plasma cell populations in paper challenges, including the presence of small, neoplastic plasma cell populations (0.01%-5.0% clonal plasma cells) and the presence of nonneoplastic plasma cell populations (correctly identified by 91 %-96% of participants). Conclusions.--Participant performance in the new proficiency testing program was excellent overall, with the vast majority of participants able to perform flow cytometric analysis and identify neoplastic plasma cell populations and to identify small plasma cell clones or expanded populations of reactive plasma cells in dry challenge flow cytometry results. This program will allow laboratories to verify the accuracy of their testing program and test interpretations for the assessment of patients suspected of having a plasma cell neoplasm. (Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2024;148:699-704; doi: 10.5858/arpa. 2023-0035-CP), The Diagnostic Immunology and Flow Cytometry Committee (DIFCC) acts as an expert scientific and educational resource for the College of American Pathologists in diagnostic immunology and flow cytometry clinical testing. [...]

The abusive koach has become an all-too-familiar issue at every level of sport. While sexual and physical abuses have justifiably received most of the notoriety, psychological abuse (PA) and emotional abuse (EA) by koaches are more common and often ignored, minimized, or excused 'as part of the game' The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of abusive koaches by reviewing the importance of the player/coach relationship, providing legal and practical definitions of PA and EA, presenting the causes of abusive koaches, and demonstrating the legal and ethical duties of the administrators who oversee them. The author concludes with practical recommendations for the actions needed to reduce the occurrence of PA or EA and eliminate those who are guilty of either., To fully understand this paper, the reader should know: * youth/child is defined as anyone age 18 or under; * level of sport includes recreational, developmental, and competitive sport in [...]

After Dobbs, religion, commonly seen as an argument against abortion, has been used to argue for the right to choose. In July 2022, a synagogue sued Florida, asserting that its ban on abortion after fifteen weeks violated Article 1, Section 3 of the Florida Constitution, which prohibits the penalization of free expression of religion. In September 2022, the ACLU argued that the state's abortion ban violated Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act. And in October 2022, three Jewish women sued the state of Kentucky, alleging that its abortion ban violated the Kentucky Religious Freedom Restoration Act. This Note provides a guide to the merits and challenges of the argument that an abortion ban violates a state Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Although this Note focuses on how Jewish plaintiffs can raise such claims, the arguments outlined could be raised by individuals of multiple faiths. This Note contributes to a growing debate about religious arguments for the right to an abortion. And it is the first paper to outline how religious freedom claims to obtaining an abortion might fare under state RFRAs. The approach to RFRA outlined in this paper lays the groundwork for a rights- advancing framework of religious exercise., Table of Contents Introduction I. The Legal Landscape A. The Emergence of State RFRAs B. Post-Dobbs Abortion Bans 1. Kentucky 2. Indiana 3. Florida C. Abortion Bans Create Major Conflicts [...]

This paper explores the lost stories of the precarious lives of thousands of migrant women from the community that the Indian government officially calls Displaced Persons of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (DPs of PoJK). We examine the stories of those who survived the painful migration that followed tribal raids in the western parts of the kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir, which ceased to exist after its accession with the Union of India on October 26, 1947. Drawing on the concept of precarity as propounded by Judith Butler, this paper critically examines the torturous experiences of women in Kulvir Gupta's autobiography, Embers the Beginning and Embers the End of Mirpur (2018). The paper also employs Agamben's conception of 'camp' to analyze the unlawful and inhumane treatment these women received in migrant camps such as Kalghar and Alibegh. It shows how their life was relegated to 'bare lives' while being differentially subjected to gender-based violence amidst the territorial conquest in the region. This paper concludes that these migrant women from Mirpur and the entire western region of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir were highly vulnerable to sexual exploitation in the contemporary political order of the region. This paper, being the first of its kind on the select migrant group, attempts to voice the pains and struggles of these courageous migrant women of whom only a few are alive today. Keywords: Gender, Precarity, Forced migration, Displaced Persons, Migrant women, Biopolitics, Gender-based violence, Embers the Beginning and Embers the End of Mirpur, Kulvir Gupta, Jammu, Kashmir, Introduction This paper studies the distinct experiences of migrant women from Mirpur and other western regions of the former state of Jammu and Kashmir who survived the violence and horrors [...]

The Barefoot College (India) is an NGO working in the fields of education, skills development, health, drinking water, and solar power mainly to train older, rural women who are determined to challenge restrictive gender roles in their respective communities. Since its inception, the NGO has trained over 2,000 rural women as solar engineers across 93 countries worldwide and has brought electricity to over 18,000 homes. Barefoot trainers employ non-normative methods of sharing knowledge such as color coding, sign language, and practical experience. This paper conducts a critical assessment of the Barefoot College Solar Electrification Programme to explore how it empowers illiterate and semi-literate women from remote rural areas around the world to become solar engineers (or 'Solar Mamas'). It utilizes qualitative research methods to analyze this women's empowerment project as a landmark practical application of decolonial feminist theory. The paper contends that the Barefoot approach both challenges and conforms to the Women in Development and Gender and Development approaches of the past. The research is grounded methodologically in feminist praxis and also borrows from the conceptual frameworks of Feminist Political Ecology and Women and the Politics of Place. Stories and personal experiences from Solar Mamas have been highlighted to understand the real world impact of the program. The main findings indicate that the Barefoot College's innovative approach to empower marginalized communities and educate older women is achieved through decentralizing control and demystifying technology. Keywords: Solar engineering, Solar power, Barefoot College (NGO), Rural women, Older women, Women's empowerment, Decolonial feminism, Women's development, Introduction This paper aims to critically assess the key features of the Barefoot College Solar Electrification Programme (SEP) to understand how it empowers older illiterate and semi-literate women from remote [...]

This paper takes the position that the discourses of science and morality are not distinct within biology education; rather, they inform each other to produce, discipline, and regulate human sexuality. Our analysis of the medical and moral discussion on sexuality in a secondary school science textbook (the 12th standard National Council for Educational Research and Training textbook), along with insights from interviews with teachers, reveals that the texts portray a romanticized notion of sex that is limited to a monogamous heterosexual relationship. In the first part of the paper, we analyze how the biology textbook discusses 'safer sex' in the limited context of sexually transmitted diseases and how scientific knowledge produces specific sexual subjectivities and categories. In our view, the portrayal of 'normal sex' in the textbook is value-laden and not inconsequential. We also examine the discursive devices employed by the textbook to assert what is considered 'culturally appropriate.' The second part of the paper focuses on interviews with three biology teachers from Keralam, India. Discourse analysis is used as a methodology to explore how teachers occasionally use scientific and moral arguments interchangeably. We discuss some examples where teachers use cultural and moral ideals to justify the scientific claims in the textbook. For instance, when the textbook focuses on how 'promiscuity' produces disease, teachers emphasize how promiscuity can lead to sexual anarchy, fatherless children, unsatisfied spouses, and broken relations. We argue that the teachers, along with the textbook, intertwine scientific facts with moral sensibilities, articulating a view of science, technology, and medicine that aligns with socio-cultural norms. Keywords: Safer sex, Heteronormativity, Monogamy, Scientific argumentation, Science education, Teacher ideology, Science textbooks, India, Introduction In this article, we explore different scientific and moral arguments within Biology Education in India, particularly when teaching about sexuality. We examine the extent to which moral perspectives impact [...]

Black women in the United States continue to face multilayered forms of anti-Black gendered oppression leading to severe health disparities and inequities that have a dire impact on their well-being. This paper recognizes the urgency to attend to Black women's health and healing in the pursuit of creating health equity. The authors call for the creation of sacred spaces for Black women to participate in embodied and community-engaged healing, grounded in a gender justice that is inextricably tied to racial justice. This research is inspired by the long, rich line of Black American women activist-healers that have called for the radical healing of Black women. Therefore, the authors root their work in an ethical health justice ethos, honoring the humanity of Black women through a recognition of their sacredness, guided by the principles of justice, truth-telling, love, and respect that emphasizes that Black women's lives matter. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the authors braid together healing narratives from the fields of Public Health, Black Psychology, Africana Studies, and Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies. Underscoring the importance of Black women reclaiming their radical healing, this paper at the same time underlines resisting anti-Black gendered racism and interlocking forms of oppression. The authors emphasize gender and racial justice while endorsing collectivistic orientations, grounded in an African-centered worldview, that support Black women's embodied and community-engaged healing. As a result, the authors also draw from healing narratives in their fields that include cultural paradigms, socially engaged spirituality, and generational and gendered wisdom. Connecting historical to present-day medical/mental health encounters, the authors underscore inhumane, racist, and sexist pseudoscience, medical treatment, and research experiments on Black women's bodies. The authors also address social injustices, isolation, and (dis)ease while foregrounding gender and racial justice in the creation of health equity for Black women. Keywords: Black Womanism, Black Feminism, Public health, Black Psychology, Black women, Healing, Health justice, Introduction Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion. ~bell hooks, All About Love Due to the current backlash of anti-Black gendered [...]

In this paper, sulfonic acid functionalized benzothiazole ionic liquid ([[(C[H.sub.2]).sub.3]S[O.sub.3]HBth] [[H.sub.2]P[O.sub.4]]) and graphene oxide were combined together through the cation-[pi]. The sulfonated poly (ether ether ketone) was doped with ionic liquid-modified GO (IL-GO) to prepare the SPEEK/IL-GO composite membrane through the solution casting method. The - S[O.sub.3]H and benzothiazole rings act as both proton acceptors and proton donors during proton transport and can replace the role of water in medium- and high-temperature environments, increasing the proton transport sites to a certain extent and increasing the proton conductivity of the SPEEK/IL-GO composite membrane. The proton conductivity of the SPEEK/IL-GO-2 composite membrane achieved an 18.02 mS/cm at 120[degrees]C, which is 2.43 times higher than that of the pristine SPEEK membrane. This paper provided a method for increasing proton conductivity and limiting IL loss of the SPEEK membrane. Highlights * [[(C[H.sub.2]).sub.3]S[O.sub.3]HBth][[H.sub.2]P[O.sub.4]] and graphene oxide were combined through cation-[pi]. * The benzothiazole ring and -S[O.sub.3]H form acid-base pairs. * The proton conductivity of SPEEK/IL-GO-2 membrane achieved 18.02 mS/cm. KEYWORDS cation-[pi], graphene oxide, high proton conductivity, proton exchange membranes, 1 | INTRODUCTION The massive use of traditional fossil energy sources has caused problems such as environmental pollution and resource shortages. (1-3) New energy technologies are constantly being explored in [...]

* Context.--Automated prostate cancer detection using machine learning technology has led to speculation that pathologists will soon be replaced by algorithms. This review covers the development of machine learning algorithms and their reported effectiveness specific to prostate cancer detection and Gleason grading. Objective.--To examine current algorithms regarding their accuracy and classification abilities. We provide a general explanation of the technology and how it is being used in clinical practice. The challenges to the application of machine learning algorithms in clinical practice are also discussed. Data Sources.--The literature for this review was identified and collected using a systematic search. Criteria were established prior to the sorting process to effectively direct the selection of studies. A 4-point system was implemented to rank the papers according to their relevancy. For papers accepted as relevant to our metrics, all cited and citing studies were also reviewed. Studies were then categorized based on whether they implemented binary or multi-class classification methods. Data were extracted from papers that contained accuracy, area under the curve (AUC), or k values in the context of prostate cancer detection. The results were visually summarized to present accuracy trends between classification abilities. Conclusions.--It is more difficult to achieve high accuracy metrics for multiclassification tasks than for binary tasks. The clinical implementation of an algorithm that can assign a Gleason grade to clinical whole slide images (WSIs) remains elusive. Machine learning technology is currently not able to replace pathologists but can serve as an important safeguard against misdiagnosis., The adoption of whole slide image (WSI) scanners in clinical practice was accelerated by US Food and Drug Administration approval in 2017, which allowed primary pathologic diagnoses to be made [...]

China announced a shift towards green infrastructure, green investment and green financing at the 2019 Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in response to criticisms of the negative environmental impact of some earlier BRI infrastructure projects. The objective of this paper is to explore whether there has been a shift in Malaysia towards the new green-aspired goals of the BRI in terms of green governance and projects. The key findings of this paper suggest that there is no discernible shift to green projects as non-green investments are also accepted. Malaysia has requirements for green governance, but implementation can be an issue. Host economies, like Malaysia, must take ownership of green requirements for there to be a sustained shift towards green governance. Likewise, China's investments have to comply with local laws, which can improve the environmental impact when local laws and regulations are judiciously implemented. Keywords: Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Malaysia, green investments, governance., 1. Introduction China launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013 as a platform for global and regional cooperation. Although it is closely and frequently associated with infrastructure development, [...]

Past research has provided important insights into discrimination against women in the workplace. However, researchers and practitioners have difficulties digesting this evidence due to its high volume. In this paper, we conducted a literature review on workplace discrimination against women. We focused on three common types of discrimination women face at work (i.e., gender bias, pregnancy and motherhood discrimination, and pay gap). Using a qualitative literature review method, we synthesized past knowledge to illuminate why, how, and when discrimination against women occurs more prevalently in the workplace. We also provided an overview of the intervention studies offered at different levels such as individual or organizational levels to prevent discrimination against women workers. Our findings show that women continue experiencing discrimination based on their gender, pregnancy or motherhood status, and compensation in the workplace. Organizational interventions such as policies and initiatives could offer some help depending on how they are implemented and communicated. This paper provides a practical, up-to-date literature review of gender discrimination in organizations and offers evidence-based recommendations for researchers and practitioners., INTRODUCTION Over the last couple of decades, there have been improvements in working conditions for women through advocacy, policy, and awareness. However, the cultural and social norms continue to pose [...]

Context.--The year 2023 marks the centenary of the Nobel Prize honoring the discovery of insulin. Little-known experimental pathologists Lydia DeWitt, MD, at the University of Michigan and Mary Kirkbride, DSc [Hon], at Columbia University, both just beginning their academic careers, made independent contributions to the discovery that have never been critically examined. This happened at a time when it was exceedingly rare for women to work in pathology. Objective.--To explore the facilitative roles of DeWitt and Kirkbride in the discovery of insulin and to examine their trail-breaking careers in academic pathology. Design.--Available primary and secondary historical resources were reviewed. Results.--DeWitt made and tested pancreatic extracts from duct-ligated atrophic pancreas (ie, Frederick Banting's great idea to prevent digestion of its hypothetical internal secretion) 15 years before Banting; Banting was unaware of her work. His idea came from reading a paper by pathologist Moses Barron. Prior duct-ligation studies had sometimes been viewed with skepticism because histologic identification of islets in atrophic duct-ligated pancreata was imperfect; Kirkbride addressed this with histochemical staining, convincing Barron and, therefore, indirectly influencing and motivating Banting. The lives and convoluted careers of these 2 early-20th-century women are explored and compared with those of other contemporary women in pathology. A unifying pattern becomes clear: careers in experimental pathology and bacteriology were accepted but performing clinical work in anatomic pathology was not. Conclusions.--Both DeWitt and Kirkbride are prototypical early-20th-century women in academic pathology whose careers were constrained by gender. However, Kirkbride made a unique and unrecognized contribution to the discovery of insulin. doi: 10.5858/arpa.2023-0060-HP, Lydia M. DeWitt, MD, and Mary B. Kirkbride, DSc, each published a sole-authored paper in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, one (1) in 1906 and the other (2) in 1912, [...]

'Of this I am certain: If we prepare ourselves so that a terrible attack--although it might hurt us--could not destroy us, then such an attack will never come.'--Edward Teller, the 'Father of the Hydrogen Bomb,' in an interview with Allen Brown of This Week Magazine in 1957. Bad actors have already used or may soon use AI to disrupt critical infrastructure,* (1) influence elections, (2) and upend economies. (3) Those most concerned about the risks posed by AI argue that it is a matter of when and not if state governments will have to respond to threatened or realized acts of AI aggression. Though a litany of scholars have examined the powers governors may use in emergency situations, (4) less attention has been paid to the role of state legislatures in responding to destabilizing events. Scholars have justified their focus on governors for practical reasons--the executive branch of state governments has been deemed the 'the center of governmental response[s]' to public emergencies. (5) Two trends caution against perpetuating neglect of state legislatures. First, the legal and social bases for governors to take sweeping action in response to emergencies eroded in many states during COVID-19 (6) In turn, many state legislatures, by law, by popular support, or both, have amassed more authority to respond in worst-case scenarios. (7) Second, the likelihood of states being thrown into disarray will only increase as AI evolves and spreads; (8) thus, warranting a closer analysis of what powers state legislatures may exercise to restore normalcy. Thirty-five state constitutions contain variants of a template 'Continuity of Government' (CoG) provision promulgated by the federal government at the height of the Cold War. (9) What events may trigger these provisions, as well as what powers they afford to state legislatures, has evaded judicial scrutiny as a result of state legislatures rarely invoking the relevant provision. (10) It follows that the scholarly analysis of how best to interpret these important provisions should occur in the relative tranquility of the present rather than at the height of a calamity. This preemptive analysis may improve the ability of state legislatures to respond to disorder by clarifying the likely scope and duration of their powers and, ideally, by spurring amendments to clarify the provisions in advance of any such event. This paper serves as one (and, likely, the first) entry in an inquiry that merits immediate and robust scholarly attention. Relying on the framework set forth by the New Haven School of Jurisprudence, this paper resolves one of the most consequential ambiguities contained in CoG provisions. This framework deserves special consideration given its inclusion of myriad disciplines and its characterization as an 'explicitly policy-oriented jurisprudence.' (11) Scholars from across the legal profession have a role in contributing to this inquiry. The incorporation of AI into legal practice imposes a responsibility on scholars to anticipate how the technology may require new doctrines, laws, and methods of interpretation. Though this paper focuses on the continuation of state governments in the wake of an AI emergency, related inquiries such as how to rethink contract law, property law, and the like upon such an emergency demand more scholarly attention. The exploration of those topics can, in turn, inform what sorts of powers state legislatures may need to exercise and for how long., CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION II. SUMMARY OF COG A. Widespread Fear of Nuclear Attack Causing Mass Casualties and Mass Destruction B. The Impetus for and Intended Purpose of CoG Provisions C. [...]

The University of Lagos is one of Nigeria's premiere Universities, established in 1962 with core values emphasizing commitment to quality academic learning and character, integrity, continuous improvement of staff professionalism and competence, as well as a strong commitment to cutting-edge research. In 2012, the University established the Research and Innovation Office, which was subsequently restructured into two offices: the Research Management Office, and the Innovation and Technology Transfer Office, for more efficient functioning. Over the years, the Office has provided enormous support to over 1,700 academic faculty and researchers for cutting-edge research built on a multi-disciplinary approach. This paper provides a detailed discussion of the strategies employed by the Research Management Office to promote multi-disciplinary research from inception to date, the results of efforts to promote collaboration across the currently existing wealth of diversity in academic and research disciplines among researchers in over 12 faculties of the University, the successes recorded, and the challenges faced. The paper further makes recommendations for the advancement of these strategies, and suggestions for pragmatic solutions to challenges experienced while drawing practical and applicable lessons from international best practices for supporting multi-disciplinary research. Keywords: Research Management, Research Administration, Multidisciplinary Research, Partnerships, Academia-Industry Research, INTRODUCTION The University of Lagos (UNILAG) was established in 1962 with the mandate to build national capacity through learning, research, and service to the community. The University currently has three [...]

The United States Constitution's separation of powers doctrine is foundational to the operation of the United States government. In theory, the nondelegation doctrine exists to preserve the separation of powers amongst the three branches of government. The doctrine's purpose is to give sole lawmaking authority to Congress, while yet allowing it to delegate rulemaking authority to an administrative agency, but only if it provides an "intelligible principle" to guide and constrain the agency's rulemaking. While on the surface this appears to be a high standard, the United States Supreme Court has not struck down a law promulgated by an administrative agency for violating the nondelegation doctrine since 1935. Therefore, at the federal level, the nondelegation doctrine is rather dead. Nevertheless, a recent study has suggested that at the state level the nondelegation doctrine is very much alive. This paper analyzes South Dakota caselaw and finds that, since 1935, the South Dakota Supreme Court has struck down numerous administrative rules for violating the nondelegation doctrine. This paper suggests that, if South Dakota is any indication of the viability of the nondelegation doctrine in the other forty-nine states, the nondelegation doctrine is in fact alive and well in the states., I. INTRODUCTION At the federal level, the nondelegation doctrine--prohibiting the delegation of legislative power from Congress to the executive branch--is one of the most debated yet least enforced of constitutional [...]