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Objective The aims of the study were: (1) to clarify the definitions of “migrant” used in occupational health research; (2) to summarize migrant workers’ industry sectors, occupations and employment conditions; (3) to identify the occupational health and safety services available to migrant workers; (4) to summarize work-related health problems found among migrant workers; (5) to identify the methodological challenges to research into occupational health of migrant workers; and (6) to recommend improvements in migrant occupational health research. Methods This position paper was prepared by researchers from several European countries and Australia, working within the EU COST Action OMEGA-NET. The paper drew on two recent systematic reviews on the occupational health of international migrant workers and other literature, and also identified uncertainties and gaps in the research literature. Migrants may, for example, be temporary or permanent, moving for specific jobs migrants or other reasons. Their ethnicity and language capabilities will affect their work opportunities. Results The occupational health literature seldom adequately identifies the heterogeneity or characteristics of the migrant group being studied. Migrants tend to work in more physically and mentally demanding environments with higher exposures than native workers. Migrants tend to have an increased risk of physical and mental ill health, but less access to health care services. This has been demonstrated recently by high rates of COVID-19 and less access to health care. There have been a number of cross-sectional studies of migrant health but few long-term cohort studies were identified. Other study designs, such as registry-based studies, surveys and qualitative studies may complement cross-sectional studies. Mixed-methodology studies would be valuable in research on migrants’ occupational health. Language and lack of trust are barriers to migrant research participation. Conclusion Targeted research, especially longitudinal, identifying how these economically important but often-vulnerable workers can be best assisted is needed. Researchers should identify the characteristics of the migrant workers that they are studying including visa/migration circumstances (temporary, permanent, undocumented), racial and ethnic characteristics, existing skills and language abilities.

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) make up a significant proportion of the global burden of disease in vulnerable groups and tend to substantially impair the quality of life of those affected, making timely detection of UTIs a priority for public health. However, economic and societal barriers drastically reduce accessibility of traditional lab-based testing methods for critical patient groups in low-resource areas, negatively affecting their overall healthcare outcomes. As a result, cellulose-based materials such as paper and thread have garnered significant interest among researchers as substrates for so-called frugal analytical devices which leverage the material’s portability and adaptability for facile and reproducible diagnoses of UTIs. Although the field may be only in its infancy, strategies aimed at commercial penetration can appreciably increase access to more healthcare options for at-risk people. In this review, we catalogue recent advances in devices that use cellulose-based materials as the primary housing or medium for UTI detection and chart out trends in the field. We also explore different modalities employed for detection, with particular emphasis on their ability to be ported onto discreet casings such as sanitary products. Graphical abstract

Fraudulent papers from paper mills are a serious threat to the entire scientific community. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg’s Archives of Pharmacology has become the target of a massive attack of fraudulent papers originating from paper mills. This editorial highlights 20 important features we observed with paper mills and explains how the journal is responding to this serious threat to restore the integrity of science. Hopefully, this editorial is also helpful for editors of other scientific journals.

Graphical abstract During epidemics, such as the frequent and devastating Ebola virus outbreaks that have historically plagued regions of Africa, serological surveillance efforts are critical for viral containment and the development of effective antiviral therapeutics. Antibody serology can also be used retrospectively for population-level surveillance to provide a more complete estimate of total infections. Ebola surveillance efforts rely on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), which restrict testing to laboratories and are not adaptable for use in resource-limited settings. In this manuscript, we describe a paper-based immunoassay capable of detecting anti-Ebola IgG using Ebola virus envelope glycoprotein ectodomain (GP) as the affinity reagent. We evaluated seven monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against GP—KZ52, 13C6, 4G7, 2G4, c6D8, 13F6, and 4F3—to elucidate the impact of binding affinity and binding epitope on assay performance and, ultimately, result interpretation. We used biolayer interferometry to characterize the binding of each antibody to GP before assessing their performance in our paper-based device. Binding affinity (KD) and on rate (kon) were major factors influencing the sensitivity of the paper-based immunoassay. mAbs with the best KD (3–25 nM) exhibited the lowest limits of detection (ca. μg mL−1), while mAbs with KD > 25 nM were undetectable in our device. Additionally, and most surprisingly, we determined that observed signals in paper devices were directly proportional to kon. These results highlight the importance of ensuring that the quality of recognition reagents is sufficient to support desired assay performance and suggest that the strength of an individual’s immune response can impact the interpretation of assay results. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00216-021-03317-4.

The acute and long-lasting side effects of modern multimodal tumour therapy significantly impair quality of life and survival of patients afflicted with malignancies. The key components of this therapy include radiotherapy, conventional chemotherapy, immunotherapy and targeted therapies. In addition to established tumour therapy strategies, up to 30 new therapies are approved each year with only incompletely characterised side effects. This consensus paper discusses the risk factors that contribute to the development of a potentially adverse reaction to tumour therapy and, in addition, defines specific side effect profiles for different treatment groups. The focus is on novel therapeutics and recommendations for the surveillance and treatment of specific patient groups.

Terrorist fraud is an attack against distance bounding protocols, whereby a malicious prover allows an adversary to authenticate on their behalf without revealing their secret key. In this paper, we propose new attack strategies that lead to successful terrorist frauds on proven-secure protocols.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a useful measure for strengthening authentication. Despite its security effectiveness, the adoption of MFA tools remains low. To create more human-centric authentication solutions, we designed and evaluated the efficacy of a risk-reduction-based incentivization model and implemented our proposed model in a large-scale organization with more than 92, 025 employees, and collected survey data from 287 participants and interviewed 41 participants. We observed negative perceptions and degraded understandings of MFA technology due to the absence of proper risk and benefit communication in the control group. Meanwhile, the experimental group employees showed positive perceptions of MFA use for their work and personal accounts. Our analysis and implementation strategy are critical for reducing users’ risks, creating positive security tool usage experiences, and motivating users to enhance their security practices.

Certain advances in election technology, such as online voting, promise to reduce the administrative overhead of running an election. This has breathed new life into the idea of direct democracy, where voters play a more active role in setting legislation. However it is anticipated that a steady stream of referendums would generate voter fatigue. To combat this fatigue, voters could be allowed to delegate their votes to other (more knowledgeable) voters. This idea is old but has been recently reinvented under the name liquid democracy. In this paper, we consider how ballot secrecy should be defined for liquid democracy. We first show that a natural definition of full secrecy leads to several undesirable outcomes. We then show that these are very difficult to address without enabling voter coercion and vote buying. The purpose of the paper is not to affirm liquid democracy; rather, it is to raise awareness of unseen complexity hiding under our initial presumption that liquid democracy could effortlessly support a secret ballot.

In this chapter, we will first deal with rectangles on grid paper, which we will then modify step-by-step. Then we are going to explore an easy way of calculating the area of figures whose vertices lie on grid points.

We provide a UTXO model of blockchain transactions that is able to represent both credit and debt on the same blockchain. Ordinarily, the UTXO model is solely used to represent credit and the representation of credit and debit together is achieved using the account model because of its support for balances. However, the UTXO model provides superior privacy, safety, and scalability when compared to the account model. In this work, we introduce a UTXO model that has the flexibility of balances with the usual benefits of the UTXO model. This model extends the conventional UTXO model, which represents credits as unmatched outputs, by representing debts as unmatched inputs. We apply our model to solving the problem of transparency in reverse mortgage markets, in which some transparency is necessary for a healthy market but complete transparency leads to adverse outcomes. Here the pseudonymous properties of the UTXO model protect the privacy of loan recipients while still allowing an aggregate view of the loan market. We present a prototype of our implementation in Tendermint and discuss the design and its benefits.

Most research modelling Bitcoin-style decentralised consensus protocols has assumed profit-motivated participants. Complementary to this analysis, we revisit the notion of attackers with an extrinsic motivation to disrupt the consensus process (Goldfinger attacks). We outline several routes for obtaining a majority of decision-making power in the consensus protocol (a hostile takeover). Our analysis suggests several fundamental differences between proof-of-work and proof-of-stake systems in the face of such an adversary.

To study the relationship between exposure to airborne particles in a pulp and paper mill and markers of inflammation and coagulation in blood. Personal sampling of inhalable dust was performed for 72 subjects working in a Swedish pulp and paper mill. Stationary measurements were used to study concentrations of total dust, respirable dust, PM10 and PM2.5, the particle surface area and the particle number concentrations. Markers of inflammation, interleukins (IL-1b, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-10), C-reactive protein (CRP), serum amyloid A (SAA), and fibrinogen and markers of coagulation factor VIII, von Willebrand, plasminogen activator inhibitor, and D-dimer were measured in plasma or serum. Sampling was performed on the last day of the work free period of 5 days, before and after the shift the first day of work and after the shifts the second and third day. In a mixed model analysis, the relationship between particulate exposures and inflammatory markers was determined. Sex, age, smoking, and BMI were included as covariates. The average 8-h time-weighted average (TWA) air concentration levels of inhalable dust were 0.30 mg/m(3), range 0.005-3.3 mg/m(3). The proxies for average 8-h TWAs of respirable dust were 0.045 mg/m(3). Significant and consistent positive relations were found between several exposure metrics (PM 10, total and inhalable dust) and CRP, SAA and fibrinogen taken post-shift, suggesting a dose-effect relationship. This study supports a relationship between occupational particle exposure and established inflammatory markers, which may indicate an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare [2006-0152]

Background The main aim of emergency medical services (EMS) should be to provide universal emergency medical care which is EMS system available to all those who need it. Most of the developed countries have an integrated EMS system that is accessible by a single dial number in the whole country. Nepal does not have a proper EMS system. We conducted a literature review regarding methods of developing an integrated EMS system in Nepal. Result The fragmented system, high demand–low supply, inequity with the service, and inadequately trained responders are major problems associated with EMS in Nepal. Nepal too should develop an integrated single dial number EMS system to meet the current demand of EMS. Having a paramedic in ambulances as the first responders will prevent chaos and save critical time. Funding models have to be considered while developing an EMS considering the capital as well as operational cost. Conclusion Nepal can develop a public private partnership model of EMS where capital cost is provided by the government and operational cost by other methods. Community-based insurance system looks more feasible in a country like Nepal for generating operational cost.

This open access White Paper details the status of hip and knee arthroplasty care in Germany. Hip and knee replacements are amongst the most frequently performed procedures and usually become necessarily due to age-related wear of the joint, osteoarthritis and fractures of the femoral neck. In light of demographic change, demands with regard to standards of care and the procedures are likely to rise.

The automated supervision system for online teaching is volatile in current teaching observation. Hence, it requires additional comprehensive, analytical, and realistic discussion on how the automatic supervision method can be applied to high school teaching. This paper integrated remote supervision with machine learning algorithms (IRS-MLA) proposed for the online English teaching audit process. Here, IRS-MLA simulates the implementation of supervision methodologies in the teaching process according to English online teaching’s real needs. Furthermore, searching the performance and stating the learning process for students from the teachers’ perspectives and their students measures the teacher’s teaching process. This paper presents the studies for evaluating the classic English language online supervision and explores this method’s functional impact. This analysis’s findings show that the model developed in this paper worked well and validated based on the case study report. This study validates the proposed IRS-MLA with the highest performance ratio of 97.8%, the accuracy of 96%, the efficiency of 99.3%, and a success ratio of 98%, compared to existing models.

Digital currencies have flourished in recent years, buoyed by the tremendous success of Bitcoin. These blockchain-based currencies, called altcoins, are associated with a few thousand to millions of dollars of market capitalization. Altcoins have attracted enthusiasts who enter the market by mining or buying them, but the risks and rewards could potentially be significant, especially when the market is volatile. In this work, we estimate the potential profitability of mining and speculating 18 altcoins using real-world blockchain and trade data. Using opportunity cost as a metric, we estimate the mining cost for an altcoin with respect to a more popular but stable coin. For every dollar invested in mining or buying a coin, we compute the potential returns under various conditions, such as time of market entry and hold positions. While some coins offer the potential for spectacular returns, many follow a simple bubble-and-crash scenario, which highlights the extreme risks—and potential gains—in altcoin markets.

GSMA is developing and standardizing specifications for embedded SIM cards with remote provisioning, called eUICCs, which are expected to revolutionize the cellular network subscription model. We study GSMA’s “Remote Provisioning Architecture for Embedded UICC” specification, which focuses on M2M devices, and we analyze the security of remote provisioning. Our analysis reveals weaknesses in the specification that would result in eUICCs being vulnerable to attacks: we demonstrate how a network adversary can exhaust an eUICC’s memory, and we identify three classes of attacks by malicious insiders that prevent service. We disclosed our findings to GSMA; GSMA confirmed the validity of these attacks and acknowledged their potential to disrupt the cellular industry. We propose fixes, which GSMA is incorporating into its specification. Thus, we improve security of next generation telecommunication networks.

Writing a scientific paper is a relevant part of the activities of medical doctors and is increasingly important for the progress of medical knowledge. Clinical outcomes can only be improved through research, education, and patient care. All these experiences are shared with the global community, primarily through peer-reviewed research papers, systematic review articles, and meta-analyses. Considering that not that much time is spent on training medical students to write a research manuscript, it, however, appears to be an intimidating process for many medical doctors.

Presenting your paper at a meeting is an important part of sharing your research with the orthopaedic community. Presentations are generally short and sharp, and careful preparation is key to ensure that the premise, findings, and relevance of your work are successfully conveyed. For most conference papers, the structure will mirror that of a scientific manuscript, with an introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, and conclusions. Anticipation of potential questions will help to clarify your research for the audience.

Critical evaluation of each section of a paper is needed in order to properly assess the purpose and quality of the paper and to understand the degree to which the results can influence clinical practice. Reviewing a paper is a skill that is best honed by practice, but there is no real formal training during medical school or residency on what to evaluate during a review and what the review process involves for a journal. Thus, this chapter will highlight the major points to review in each section of a paper and will provide a guide for young investigators to use while interpreting the findings of a paper. Additionally, the components of a review submission to a journal will be outlined.

While many techniques for outlier detection have been proposed in the literature, the interpretation of detected outliers is often left to users. As a result, it is difficult for users to promptly take appropriate actions concerning the detected outliers. To lessen this difficulty, when outliers are identified, they should be presented together with their explanations. There are survey papers on outlier detection, but none exists for outlier explanations. To fill this gap, in this paper, we present a survey on outlier explanations in which meaningful knowledge is mined from anomalous data to explain them. We define different types of outlier explanations and discuss the challenges in generating each type. We review the existing outlier explanation techniques and discuss how they address the challenges. We also discuss the applications of outlier explanations and review the existing methods used to evaluate outlier explanations. Furthermore, we discuss possible future research directions.

COVID-19 is still a fatal disease, which has threatened all people by affecting the human lungs. Chest X-Ray or computed tomography imaging is commonly used to make a fast and reliable medical investigation to detect the COVID-19 virus. These medical images are remarkably challenging because it is a full-time job and prone to human errors. In this paper, a new normalization algorithm that consists of Mean–Variance-Softmax-Rescale (MVSR) processes respectively is proposed to provide facilitation pre-assessment and diagnosis Covid-19 disease. In order to show the effect of MVSR normalization technique, the algorithm of proposed method is applied to chest X-ray and Sars-Cov-2 computed tomography images dataset. The normalized X-ray images with MVSR are used to recognize Covid-19 virus via Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model. At the implementation stage, the MVSR algorithm is executed on MATLAB environment, then all the arithmetic operations of the MVSR normalization are coded in VHDL with the help of fixed-point fractional number representation format on FPGA platform. The experimental platform consists of Zynq-7000 Development FPGA Board and VGA monitor to display the both original and MVSR normalized chest X-ray images. The CNN model is constructed and executed using Anaconda Navigator interface with python language. Based on the results of this study, infections of Covid-19 disease can be easily diagnosed with MVSR normalization technique. The proposed MVSR normalization technique increased the classification accuracy of the CNN model from 83.01, to 96.16% for binary class of chest X-ray images.

This paper investigates the impact of bank regulation and ownership on the risk-taking behavior of financial institutions in the MENA region. We test the hypothesis that the effect of regulation on bank risk depends on the type of ownership structure. The public and private views of bank regulation are used to explain the relationship between regulatory measures and bank risk. We find that the official supervisory index exerts a positively associated with bank credit risk which is in line with ‘private interest view’ of bank regulation; however, private monitoring does have an opposite effect. The analysis of the regulatory measures impact on bank insolvency risk provides further support of the private interest view regarding the impact of market discipline. In addition to regulations, ownership structure (e.g., ownership concentration and foreign ownership) also plays a significant role in shaping the risk-taking behavior of banks in the MENA region. Our analysis reveals that the effect of banking regulations on risk-taking behavior strongly depends on the type of ownership structure prevailing in each banking system (Islamic and conventional). Our findings inform regulatory authorities concerned with improving the financial stability of banking sectors in the MENA countries and other emerging economies where Islamic and conventional banks co-exist, to carefully tailor banking reform initiatives depending on the type of the banking system as they may pursue different risk management strategies. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11846-022-00529-5.

This paper presents a coincident and a leading composite monthly indicator for the world business cycle-the Global Economic Barometers. Both target the world's output growth rate and consist of economic tendency surveys results from many countries around the world. The calculation of these indicators comprises two main stages. The first consists of a variable selection procedure, in which a pre-set correlation threshold and the targeted leads to the reference series are used as selection criteria. In the second stage, the selected variables are combined and transformed into the respective composite indicators, computed as the first partial least squares factor with the reference series as response variable. We analyse the characteristics of the two new indicators in a pseudo real-time setting and demonstrate that both are useful additions to the small number of indicators for the global business cycle published so far. Finally, yet importantly, the Barometers were quick to plunge in the beginning of March 2020 and have since then given a reliable real-time reflection of the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic., Review of World Economics, 158 (3), ISSN:1610-2878, ISSN:1610-2886

The fundamental professional roles of radiographers and radiologists are focused on providing benefit to patients with our skills, while maintaining their safety at all times. There are numerous patient safety issues in radiology which must be considered. These encompass: protection from direct harm arising from the techniques and technologies we use; ensuring physical and psychological well-being of patients while under our care; maintaining the highest possible quality of service provision; and protecting the staff to ensure they can deliver safe services. This paper summarises the key categories of safety issues in the provision of radiology services, from the joint perspectives of radiographers and radiologists, and provides references for further reading in all major relevant areas. This is a joint statement of the European Society of Radiology (ESR) and the European Federation of Radiographer Societies (EFRS), published simultaneously in Insights into Imaging [DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13244-019-0721-y] and Radiography [DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radi.2019.01.009].

Dieses Policy-Paper ist das wichtigste Ergebnis des ZA-NExUS-Projekts, das wissenschaftlich basierte Optionen fur die kunftige Ausgestaltung der Agrarpolitik aus der Perspektive des Natur- und Umweltschutzes formulieren sollte. Es wurde im Januar 2017 auf einer Pressekonferenz mit der damaligen Bundesministerin Dr. Barbara Hendricks der Offentlichkeit vorgestellt. Ausgehend vom Konzept eines zukunftsfahigen Gesellschaftsvertrags mit der Landwirtschaft wird eine neue Architektur der Agrarpolitik mit folgenden Kernelementen vorgeschlagen: Pramien fur Landschaftsvielfalt und fur Basismasnahmen im Agrarumwelt- und Klimaschutz, regionale Agrarumwelt- und Klimaschutzprogramme, ein Kooperationsprogramm Natur und Landwirtschaft sowie ein effektives Ordnungsrecht. Hinzu kommt ein Innovationsprogramm zur Entwicklung von Mehrwertmarkten fur umweltfreundliche Produkte durch Verbraucherkommunikation, praxisorientierte Forschung und Beratung.

Palliativversorgung steigt national und auf globaler Ebene stetig. Auch der Vatikan hat die Brisanz der bestehenden Versorgungslucke erkannt und setzte 2017 eine internationale, religions- und kirchenunabhangige Expertengroup zur Beratung ein, sie wird von einem der Autoren mitorganisiert. Die Gruppe veroffentlichte im Namen der Papstlichen Akademie fur das Leben in 2018 ein White Paper, das in den Kernaussagen, die sich an alle gesellschaftlichen Gruppen wenden, hier veroffentlicht wird. Moge es Ihnen, dem Leser, als Impuls dienen, zu den Veranderungen auch uber die eigentliche Patientenversorgung hinaus beizutragen.

Introduction In adults with a suspicion of peripheral bone infection, evidence-based guidelines in choosing the most accurate diagnostic strategy are lacking. Aim and methods To provide an evidence-based, multidisciplinary consensus document on the diagnostic management of adult patients with PBIs, we performed a systematic review of relevant infectious, microbiological, orthopedic, radiological, and nuclear medicine literature. Delegates from four European societies (European Bone and Joint Infection Society, European Society of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, European Society or Radiology, and European Association of Nuclear Medicine) defined clinical questions to be addressed, thoroughly reviewed the literature pertinent to each of the questions, and thereby evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of each diagnostic technique. Inclusion of the papers per statement was based on a PICO (Population/problem – Intervention/indicator – Comparator – Outcome) question following the strategy reported by the Oxford Centre for Evidence-based Medicine. For each statement, the level of evidence was graded according to the 2011 review of the Oxford Centre for Evidence-based Medicine. All approved statements were addressed taking into consideration the available diagnostic procedures, patient acceptance, tolerability, complications, and costs in Europe. Finally, a commonly agreed-upon diagnostic flowchart was developed. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s00259-019-4262-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

How did Britons view China in 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic? This paper presents new, detailed evidence of the negative and worsening perceptions of China in the UK across three domains: public opinion (based on survey data collected in autumn 2020), political elites in parliament, and the media. The worsening of perceptions of China emerged in the context of a changing and more contested China policy from the UK government and a greater level of public debate about China, partly a consequence of the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The paper places analysis of these perceptions in the context of the development of relations between the UK and China. Together with deteriorating Chinese views of the UK's China policy and controversy over a number of developments in China, widespread negative views about China among the British public and in political circles will constrain UK-China relations from developing in a more positive direction.

Purpose The development of assistive technologies that support people in social interactions has attracted increased attention in HCI. This paper presents a systematic review of studies of Socially Assistive Systems targeted at older adults and people with disabilities. The purpose is threefold: (1) Characterizing related assistive systems with a special focus on the system design, primarily including HCI technologies used and user-involvement approach taken; (2) Examining their ways of system evaluation; (3) Reflecting on insights for future design research. Methods A systematic literature search was conducted using the keywords “social interactions” and “assistive technologies” within the following databases: Scopus, Web of Science, ACM, Science Direct, PubMed, and IEEE Xplore. Results Sixty-five papers met the inclusion criteria and were further analyzed. Our results showed that there were 11 types of HCI technologies that supported social interactions for target users. The most common was cognitive and meaning understanding technologies, often applied with wearable devices for compensating users’ sensory loss; 33.85% of studies involved end-users and stakeholders in the design phase; Four types of evaluation methods were identified. The majority of studies adopted laboratory experiments to measure user-system interaction and system validation. Proxy users were used in system evaluation, especially in initial experiments; 42.46% of evaluations were conducted in field settings, primarily including the participants’ own homes and institutions. Conclusion We contribute an overview of Socially Assistive Systems that support social interactions for older adults and people with disabilities, as well as illustrate emerging technologies and research opportunities for future work.

Publishing the results of your research is a fulfilling experience, both from a personal viewpoint, but also helping advance the orthopaedic knowledge. This chapter discusses the process from completing the study to formulating the final manuscript that is ready for submission, providing a structure to follow in preparation of the manuscript and tips on improving your writing style.

Meta-analyses represent an unbiased way of summarising the evidence on a specific topic. A meta-analysis is a formal process for gathering and evaluating literature to answer a specific question, using statistics to combine the data from randomised controlled trials. However, their use is controversial, as there are several critical conditions and methodological considerations that could produce misleading conclusions. A wide and extensive systematic search, clear-cut inclusion criteria and appropriate data extraction are mandatory when it comes to obtaining all the evidence relating to the investigated topic. Statistical analyses should be performed carefully and all sources of heterogeneity should be explored to avoid dangerous bias. The design and the quality of the included studies should be clearly presented to show the reader the overall quality of the evidence that is presented in the meta-analysis. Finally, the results should be interpreted critically from both a clinical and a statistical point of view.

This contribution deals with the ability or not of the European Union (EU) to act in situations of serious systemic violations of the rule of law in a Member State. It does this by looking at the different available mechanisms including Article 7 in the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the new Rule of Law Framework and excluding infringement procedures before the Court of Justice of the EU. The contribution also discusses whether as a result of a serious breach of the TEU a Member State could be expelled from the organisation. The TEU contains no provision on expulsion, but the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties potentially does. In conclusion, the contribution finds that neither mechanism can be likened to a weapon, nor are they probably dissuasive, but they might be persuasive thanks to a persistent and protracted dialogue. The EU has no realistic choice but to be a gentle civiliser of Member States.

Fraud victims are often refused a refund by their bank on the grounds that they failed to comply with their bank’s terms and conditions about PIN safety. We, therefore, conducted a survey of how many PINs people have, and how they manage them. We found that while only a third of PINs are ever changed, almost half of bank customers write at least one PIN down. We also found bank conditions that are too vague to test, or even contradictory on whether PINs could be shared across cards. Yet, some hazardous practices are not forbidden by many banks: of the 22.9% who re-use PINs across devices, half also use their bank PINs on their mobile phones. We conclude that many bank contracts fail a simple test of reasonableness, and ‘strong authentication’, as required by the Payment Services Directive II, should include usability testing.

We introduce a model for examining the factors that lead to the adoption of new encryption technologies. Building on the work of Brock and Durlauf, the model describes how agents make choices, in the presence of social interaction, between competing technologies given their relative cost, functionality, and usability. We apply the model to examples about the adoption of encryption in communication (email and messaging) and storage technologies (self-encrypting drives) and also consider our model’s predictions for the evolution of technology adoption over time.

Economic growth has a significant impact on health vulnerability primarily through the process of urbanization. This paper conducts a pioneer study by analyzing the impact of regional economic growth and urbanization on the public health vulnerability in the 51 states and territories of the USA from 2011 to 2018 with a fixed-effect panel data regression model. We construct an epidemiological vulnerability index (EVI) using regional smoking, diabetes, obesity, and hypertension, collect CDC social vulnerability index (SVI) as state-level public health vulnerability status, and use COVID-19 to test the actual effect of health vulnerability. The preliminary results show that higher regional economic growth is related to lower EVI and SVI, while urbanization is positively associated with regional health vulnerability and the severity of COVID-19 from case rate and death rate. Robustness check with unemployment shows the same result. We conclude that economic growth is related to lower public health vulnerability, and urbanization has negative public health benefits. Our finding indicates an urgent need to balance the externalities generated by economic development and urbanization trends on public health vulnerability by promoting reasonable medical resource distribution, health practices and safety, improving social and environmental justice, and other health management measures. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00168-021-01103-9.

Ongoing trends towards more flexible work arrangements (FWA) have been accelerated by the Covid-19 crisis. Whilst research has shown the overall benefits FWA can have, limited research has explored whether use and benefits of FWA are equal across differentiated organisational contexts and genders. We suggest that individuals working in their family’s business face less organizational constraints that typically hinder employees from taking advantage of FWA. It could be suggested that these workers may make higher use of FWA than individuals in regular employment because of their entrepreneurial status and nepotistic privileges. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to explore if family members working in their family’s business, work under favourable boundary conditions which enable them to more freely make use of and benefit from FWAs. Utilising representative data from the German Family Panel (pairfam), our comparative analysis based on propensity score matching, suggests that family members working in their family’s business (N = 337) do make greater use of FWA than those in regular employment. Counter to common assumptions, the findings reveal that FWA leads to higher workloads for owner-managers but not for family employees. Furthermore, families working in their business show no differences in how they divide household tasks compared to regular employed families–yet they perceive that division to be fairer. This study extends knowledge by introducing family ownership and kinship ties as important boundary conditions to existing theories on FWA, such as life-course theory. It also provides new insights into the commonly assumed consequences of FWA use. The use of flexible work arrangements and its consequences: lessons from families in business Key literature concepts and hypotheses Method Results Discussion Conclusion References Appendix

This paper conceptualizes and empirically explores the resilience of European Union regional labour markets in terms of labour productivity growth. We assess the effect of pre-crisis region-specific factors on regional labour markets resilience controlling for the effect of exogenous technological change and substitution between capital and labour. Regional input-output models are developed to estimate supplies and sales linkages across the European Union NUTS-2 regional economies. Spatial Durbin Error Model estimates suggest that regional labour markets characterised by a higher level of economic pull capabilities of the Construction sector and a higher level of industrial concentration can better withstand the effects of the negative shock and recover faster. Place-based policies building on regions' competitive strengths can smooth out the negative effect of the economic shock and accelerate the recovery of regional labour markets, while policy interventions promoting capital investment can further enhance labour productivity in European Union regions.

There is increasing attention on the intersection of sports and politics, with a particular focus on tying owners’ political donations to organization-level outcomes. However, the extant research leverages within-league panels of donations over time, so we know little about inter-league heterogeneities of political donations. Furthermore, extant work does not explicitly investigate the effect of election cycles on owners’ donation patterns. These limitations create questions about the generalizability and model robustness of current research. This paper analyzes N = 2,789 donations made by 158 team owners across six professional sport leagues during the 2016, 2018, and 2020 election cycles. Models suggest that donations from WNBA owners were significantly smaller and went to more progressive recipients on average than donations from owners in other leagues. Results also suggest that donations from WNBA, NASCAR, and NHL owners became significantly more moderate during presidential election cycles than during the midterm election cycle. Implications for future research are discussed.

Is it in the interest of a developing country to promote strong local linkages for domestic industries or to participate in global value chains (GVCs) wherein linkages are globally dispersed? This paper informs this debate by empirically analyzing which one of these strategies would result in higher levels of domestic value added (DVA) and employment in India. Using a unique panel data on DVA and jobs tied to Indian exports from 112 sectors for the period 1999–2000 to 2012–2013, we show that greater backward GVC participation—use of imported inputs to produce for exports—leads to higher absolute levels of gross exports, DVA and employment. This result implies that labor abundant countries can reap dividends by adopting policies aimed at strengthening their backward participation in GVCs. Our findings are robust to various estimation techniques and instrumental variable approaches to address potential endogeneity concerns. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10290-021-00452-z.

To optimally tailor atopic dermatitis (AD) care to patients’ needs, especially considering the many emerging therapeutic options, insight into patients’ needs and preferences regarding AD care is needed. To explore patients’ needs and preferences regarding AD care, a qualitative study consisting of three focus groups with a total of 20 adult AD patients was conducted. All sessions were transcribed verbatim and inductively analyzed using several phases of coding to create an overview of patients’ needs and preferences. AD patients emphasized the need for a patient-tailored approach in all identified aspects of AD care. With regard to consultations, patients stressed the need for a personal approach and increased recognition of the disease impact, which should mainly be determined by patients. With regard to the organization of AD care, the need for psychosocial and medical supportive care as well as quick access to health-care providers during disease flares was emphasized. Within the decision-making process, patients indicated that the provided information, the role of the patient and physician, whether or not treatment goals should be set, and decisive factors for indication and feasibility of novel therapies should be patient dependent. AD care should be patient tailored with increased attention for the psychosocial burden, as well as better access to health care during disease flares. To provide patient-tailored care, the personal situation, needs, and preferences of the patient should be taken into account in the therapeutic decision-making process, with respect for the autonomy of the patient. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00403-021-02321-z.

In his 2016 essay “An American Utopia,” Fredric Jameson appropriates Lenin’s concept of “dual power” to ruminate on its potential meaning in the present U.S. context. Jameson’s remarks on “dual power” and U.S. politics offer a starting point to explore both the most recent developments in the U.S. and to revisit Lenin’s State and Revolution fruitfully to review the concept of “the commune” as a post-capitalist political theory. Lenin’s work transcends anodyne demands for abstract democracy. Indeed, my intervention aims to explore the limits of “democracy” in U.S. political discourse, demanding a reconsideration of Leninist political theory. In so doing, the conditions of struggle in the U.S. potentialize the dialectical development of struggles to extend democracy (reform) with struggles to overcome democracy (revolution).

Nowadays, multimedia big data have grown exponentially in diverse applications like social networks, transportation, health, and e-commerce, etc. Accessing preferred data in large-scale datasets needs efficient and sophisticated retrieval approaches. Multimedia big data consists of the most significant features with different types of data. Even though the multimedia supports various data formats with corresponding storage frameworks, similar semantic information is expressed by the multimedia. The overlap of semantic features is most efficient for theory and research related to semantic memory. Correspondingly, in recent years, deep multimodal hashing gets more attention owing to the efficient performance of huge-scale multimedia retrieval applications. On the other hand, the deep multimodal hashing has limited efforts for exploring the complex multilevel semantic structure. The main intention of this proposal is to develop enhanced deep multimedia big data retrieval with the Adaptive Semantic Similarity Function (A-SSF). The proposed model of this research covers several phases "(a) Data collection, (b) deep feature extraction, (c) semantic feature selection and (d) adaptive similarity function for retrieval. The two main processes of multimedia big data retrieval are training and testing. Once after collecting the dataset involved with video, text, images, and audio, the training phase starts. Here, the deep semantic feature extraction is performed by the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), which is again subjected to the semantic feature selection process by the new hybrid algorithm termed Spider Monkey-Deer Hunting Optimization Algorithm (SM-DHOA). The final optimal semantic features are stored in the feature library. During testing, selected semantic features are added to the map-reduce framework in the Hadoop environment for handling the big data, thus ensuring the proper big data distribution. Here, the main contribution termed A-SSF is introduced to compute the correlation between the multimedia semantics of the testing data and training data, thus retrieving the data with minimum similarity. Extensive experiments on benchmark multimodal datasets demonstrate that the proposed method can outperform the state-of-the-art performance for all types of data.

Conventional data envelopment analysis (DEA) models are often extended for constant or variable returns to scale assumptions based on the under-investigated technology. It is assumed that all inputs and outputs are real-valued data. However, in many practical applications, proportionality or convexity axioms require to be modified. This study attempts to further expand upon the hybrid returns to scale DEA models in the presence of integer-valued input and output data. We refine the previous axioms to introduce a new minimal extrapolation technology set. Moreover, we formulate a couple of mixed-integer linear programming models for efficiency evaluation and target setting. An empirical application on 30 high schools in Iran is provided to validate the proposed approach. The data analysis, including efficiency evaluations along with providing benchmark units, is also performed.

This paper discusses the scope for international macroprudential policy coordination in a financially integrated world economy. It begins with a review of the transmission channels associated with, and the empirical evidence on, financial spillovers and spillbacks. Limitations of the existing literature are also identified. The potential gains associated with cross-border macroprudential coordination, dwelling on both recent analytical contributions and quantitative studies based on multi-country models with financial frictions, are then evaluated. The issue of whether coordination of macroprudential policies simultaneously requires some degree of monetary policy coordination is also discussed. The analysis focuses on the potential for policy coordination between major advanced economies and a group identified as systemically-important middle-income countries (SMICs). Next, practical ways to promote international macroprudential policy coordination are considered. Following a discussion of Basel III’s Principle of reciprocity and ways to improve it, the paper advocates a further strengthening of the current statistical, empirical and analytical work conducted by international financial institutions to evaluate, and raise awareness of, the gains from international coordination of macroprudential policies.