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In the first instalment of the Words of Advice series, we feature the essentials of good manuscript writing with practical tips on how to plan, organise and write a standout scientific paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents findings from a study into the attitudes and practices of pandemic‐era early career researchers (ECRs) in regard to obtaining access to the formally published scholarly literature, which focused on alternative providers, notably ResearchGate and Sci‐Hub. The study is a part of the Harbingers project that has been exploring the work lives and scholarly communication practices of ECRs in pre‐pandemic times and during the pandemic, and utilizes data from two rounds of interviews with around 170 ECRs from the sciences and social sciences in eight countries. Findings show that alternative providers, as represented by ResearchGate and Sci‐Hub, have become established and appear to be gaining ground. However, there are considerable country‐ and discipline‐associated differences. ECRs' country‐specific level of usage of the alternative providers is partly traceable to the adequacy of library provisions, although there are other factors at play in shaping ECRs' attitudes and practices, most notably convenience and time saving, as well as the fact that these platforms have become embedded in the scholarly dashboard. There is a dearth of evidence of the impact of the pandemic on ECRs' ways of obtaining scholarly papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper describes and critically reflects on how children and young people (CYP) acted as public advisors to coproduce health information materials about Long Covid for younger audiences. This work was underpinned by the Lundy model, a framework which provides guidance on facilitating CYP to actively contribute to matters which affect them. Methods: Coproduction activity sessions took place with CYP in schools as well as video conferences with a CYP stakeholder group and CYP with Long Covid. Activities encouraged CYP to focus on the content, format, and design of materials and used problem‐based and collaborative learning to encourage engagement with the project. Using a range of methods and open discussion, CYP codesigned a series of Long Covid health information materials for younger audiences. Results: Sixty‐six CYP (aged 10–18), and two young adults were involved. CYP codesigned specifications for the final materials and provided feedback on early designs. The project led to the development of a series of health information materials targeted at CYP: a short social media campaign with six short videos and a 12‐page illustrated leaflet about Long Covid; released on social media and distributed in local area. All the CYP were positive about the project and their involvement. Discussion: Involving CYP led to the development of innovative and engaging information materials (influence). Developing rapport was important when working with CYP and this was facilitated by using approaches and activities to establish an environment (space) where the CYP felt comfortable sharing their views (voice) and being listened to (audience) by the adults in the project. Working with external groups who are willing to share their expertise can help the meaningful involvement of voices 'less heard'. Public Contribution: One CYP coapplicant contributed to the project design and facilitation of PPIE sessions, 64 CYP were involved in the PPIE sessions to design and feedback on materials. Two young adult media producers worked with CYP to produce these materials, another CYP supported this process. Three public contributors were involved in the preparation of this manuscript. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infant and young child feeding (IYCF) promotion is a key component in the set of high impact interventions to improve nutrition. The literature provides evidence of the positive impact of IYCF promotion through various platforms, including communities. In 2009, UNICEF and WHO agreed that a global, "generic" IYCF package of resources and tools to plan, implement, and monitor community‐based IYCF programmes and to build skills of community‐based workers was needed. In 2010, the UNICEF Community Infant and Young Child Feeding Counselling Package was finalized and field tested under a strategic collaboration between UNICEF New York and Nutrition Policy and Practice and the Center for Human Services/University Research Company. The Package includes 11 tools to guide adaptation of the materials, the design, planning, and implementation of IYCF programmes and the training, monitoring, supervision, and mentoring of community workers, using an interactive and experiential adult learning approach. The Package was rolled out from 2011 onwards and by 2017 was implemented in 87 countries. In 2013, UNICEF and the United States Agency for International Development‐funded Strengthening Partnerships, Results, and Innovations in Nutrition Globally project started planning the evaluation, and a study site was selected in Nigeria to assess the efficacy and effectiveness of the Package on IYCF practices, knowledge, and worker skills. This article describes the need for and development of the Package, its content and approach to skills building, as well as its current implementation. Finally, it makes the case for the evaluation of the Package, which is covered in the other papers in the Supplement in relation to the Nigeria evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Projecting future trends is emerging as a key focus of community‐based climate vulnerability assessments. In these mostly qualitative studies, understanding of current vulnerability processes is used as a basis for identifying who and what are vulnerable to future changes, where, and why, and characterizing the key drivers of vulnerability and how they might change. Few, if any, of these studies engage with approaches for validating findings, reflecting the difficulties of validating mostly qualitative projections of highly uncertain futures, absence of directly measurable vulnerability outcomes, and lack of data on vulnerability drivers. Given the challenges of projecting future trends, this absence undermines trust in such work and limits opportunities to learn. This paper illustrates, with examples, how validation can be incorporated into the study design of community‐based climate vulnerability assessments through: (a) examination of retrospective projections to assess projection skill, (b) evaluation of projections made for future time periods which have since passed for consistency with what actually happened, (c) comparison of projections with empirical research that attempts to understand and constrain the effects of climate change using observed effects of weather variation, and (d) incorporation of demonstrated "best practices" into projection development, such as acknowledgment of areas of uncertainty, integration of diverse viewpoints, and utilization of multiple sources of information. Plain Language Summary: Projections are widely used in a variety of fields to anticipate, identify, and characterize how the future may evolve, and have been a central feature in climate change research within the natural sciences. Their development and use to understand if and how communities are vulnerable to climate change, however, is more recent, with such work describing potential future climate vulnerabilities and the pathways leading to them, and are mostly developed within the social sciences. This paper argues that such "community‐based" work needs to look to the experience of other fields which have a wealth of experience of how to build trust and legitimacy into projection development processes. One such way is through projection validation, which in the context of largely qualitative community‐based work could include continually evaluating how well projections are performing as the future unfolds; evaluation of projections made for future time periods which have since passed for consistency with what actually happened and ensuring demonstrated "best practices" are incorporated into projection development, such as acknowledgment of areas of uncertainty, integration of diverse viewpoints, and utilization of multiple sources of information. Key Points: Projecting climate vulnerability at a community‐level is a rapidly growing area of researchThe importance of validating vulnerability projections is increasingly recognized in the literature although underutilized in practice, particularly within qualitative researchThere are opportunities to build external and internal validation approaches into processes through which community vulnerability projections are developed [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we reflect on the first 17 years of the Information Systems Journal (ISJ). The reflections are considered under three headings: origin of papers (authors, geographical period, gender and departments), research paradigms (positive/interpretive, qualitative/quantitative, non-empirical/empirical, espoused theories and research method) and finally, topics. We find that throughout the period, the published papers evidenced a greater internationalization of the journal. On the other hand, some regions and countries are poorly represented. Another imbalance concerns the lack of practitioner papers along with an author-gender imbalance. Qualitative research exceeds quantitative research by a factor of more than 2:1. Interestingly, papers classified as descriptive/conceptual/theoretical have been largely superseded in the period by those that have some empirical evidence to illustrate the points made. Sometimes it is argued that the discipline of information systems lacks theory and thinking pieces but the ISJ suggests that this is far from the truth. Further, our analysis has revealed around 250 topics discussed using many research methods to explain the phenomena. Depending on the point of view, this may show that the discipline either lacks focus or is exciting and pluralistic. We lean to the latter view, but others have argued for focusing on fewer topics and research methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The proliferation of 'accessible information' for people with intellectual disabilities in UK health care has accelerated in recent years, underpinned by policy guidance alongside the recent introduction of mandatory standards. However, questions have been raised as to the impact of such resources as a means of enhancing involvement in health care and addressing health inequalities. Objective To review and synthesize the evidence from different approaches used to evaluate the impact of accessible information for people with intellectual disabilities using a meta-narrative approach. Search strategy Literature searches were iterative and incorporated formal databases, grey literature and hand searches alongside more intuitive and opportunistic methods. Inclusion criteria Included English language papers published before December 2015 described the design and evaluation of written information adapted for adults with intellectual disabilities. Data extraction and synthesis We organized the papers into five groups according to similarity in authors' writing styles and presentation, epistemology and theoretical foundations, aims and methodologies, professional and organizational identities. Main results The 42 included papers in the five groupings occupied diverse positions on (i) public communication vs individualized materials, (ii) literacy as decontextualized skills vs social practices and (iii) the expertise of patients vs professionals. There was limited evidence for the impact of accessible health information, notwithstanding the potential benefits associated with their creation. Conclusions Individually tailored information is more likely to meet personalized health information needs for people with intellectual disabilities. The emergence of different social formations in the creation of accessible information has potential for advancing engagement of diverse groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a list of forthcoming papers for the "European Journal of Biochemistry."

The article presents a list of forthcoming research papers including "Kinetic Studies of Proton Transfer in the Microenvironment of a Binding Site," by M. Gutman, D. Huppert and E. Nachliel," "The Substrate Binding Site of Aldehyde Reductase From Pig Liver: Stereochemical Investigations Using NADP-2-Oxodiacid Adducts As Probe," by G. Branlant and "Membranes of Protein Bodies: I. Isolation from Cotyledons of Germinating Cucumber Seeds" by U. A. K. Kara and H. Kindl.

The Elsevier journal Virology has started a trial program of author-initiated repurposing of reviews from papers previously rejected from high-impact journals. The program, called Streamline Reviews, is described and compared to other recent initiatives in portable reviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open research data refer to publicly available scientific information that can be accessed free of charge, usually provided by public data sources. Users must comply with specific requirements set by the institutions providing the data and always acknowledge the source of the data when processing, transmitting, storing or publishing it. One of the tasks of the BrineRIS project is the mapping of brine resources, requiring reliable data on the location of exploration facilities, environmental characteristics, brine exploitation parameters and formal and legal information. These data come from a review of various archives, databases and survey results. Initially, information on the location of the sources should be obtained, which may be available in publicly accessible databases. Next, geological and hydrogeological parameters, which can be obtained from scientific papers and reports, are useful. An important part of the project is also the analysis of legal regulations concerning water extraction and environmental protection. Therefore, data should be obtained from various sources, such as public administration, state institutions or research units. These will serve to develop the database needed to perform further analyses within the BrineRIS research project. It is therefore crucial to carefully collect, analyse and assess the usefulness of the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the challenges and opportunities of using group recommendation systems in an information overload scenario. Social network recommendation systems are increasingly important because they deliver users customized choices. Most existing solutions are geared for single users, making it difficult to propose for a group with different interests. This paper analyses group recommendation systems and exposes their flaws. This study tested whether the suggested approach outperforms the one without tagging information in recall, precision, and user satisfaction. Empirical evidence indicates that the algorithm exhibits appropriate levels of reliability and accuracy compared to conventional methods. The proposed approach has the potential to substantially enhance the existing state of social network group recommendation systems, thereby facilitating users in their quest to identify and participate in groups that align with their preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that members of the Econometric Society may submit papers to the journal "Econometrica," electronically in pdf format. There is no charge for submission to "Econometrica," but members of the Econometric Society may submit papers for consideration. At at least one author must be a member of the Econometric Society for the current calendar year.

China is gradually changing its pursuit of rapid economic growth into a pursuit of economic development quality. In this context, whether "cyberpower" and "digital China" strategies are truly conducive to China's sustainable development still needs to be further tested. This paper constructs China's provincial information and communication technology (ICT) comprehensive development level index from the four dimensions of penetration, coverage, information resources, and business and then innovatively undertakes a theoretical framework integrating ICT, environmental regulations, and green total factor energy efficiency (GTFEE) for the analysis. Using panel data from China's 30 provincial administrative regions from 2006 to 2017, this study explores the direct impact, moderating effect, nonlinear relationship, and regional differences of ICT development on GTFEE. It is indicated that ICT development plays a positive role in promoting GTFEE and that this role is moderated by environmental regulations. The regression results of the dynamic threshold model indicate that diverse environmental regulation intensities lead to different influences of ICT development on GTFEE. Moreover, the impact of ICT development on GTFEE is heterogeneous among different regions. Specifically, the western region may gain more benefits from ICT development by virtue of the late‐mover advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: People with literacy needs can experience many challenges in accessing, understanding and using health services and health information. Such challenges can adversely impact patient‐provider interactions and ultimately, health outcomes. Healthcare providers need to be aware of health literacy (HL) to address the demands of healthcare systems, improve their interactions with communities and patients and promote patient engagement for improved health outcomes. Methods: This paper reports on a process of patient and public involvement (PPI) with participants in an adult literacy programme acting as PPI contributors to identify priority areas for a local hospital HL action plan and to develop a protocol for a PPI process with other groups. A qualitative community‐based participatory research study design informed by principles of PPI was undertaken, drawing on the tools of participatory and visual methods, open discussion and workshop format to facilitate a process of co‐creation. Three workshops with six PPI contributors took place to identify issues to be included in the hospital action plan. PPI contributors identified issues and grouped these into priority areas using discussion and ranking procedures. Results: Key areas prioritised for HL action by the PPI contributors were: verbal communication, emphasising the patient's right to understand, and improved understanding of medication use. These were incorporated into the action plan. The workshop format and process were deemed acceptable to the group and input on improvements will be incorporated into further work in this area. Conclusion: PPI acts as a lever in the knowledge translation process. Genuine engagement with service users can meaningfully contribute to relevant and sustainable changes to services as well as foster the empowerment of service users. Patient or Public Contribution: Members of the public with literacy needs actively participated in the co‐creation of a HL action plan for a local hospital and in the development of a protocol for a patient and public process for HL research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers instructions to authors concerning the submission of their manuscript to the journal "Milbank Quarterly." It requires authors to email Word files of their manuscript to quarterly@milbank.org, and submit forms signed by each author indicating that he or she has read and complied with the journal's publication policies. It also offers instructions on how to submit manuscripts concerning the format, title pages, structured abstract, keywords, and artwork. Moreover, it suggests the need for all sources used in preparing the manuscript to be properly acknowledged, citing the author's surname and year of publication within parentheses.

In this journal, Chen and Hirschheim have provided a historical analysis of positivist and interpretivist research paradigms and methodologies in the 10 years following the much cited work of Orlikowski and Baroudi. In this paper, we investigate the mysterious case of the missing paradigm – that of the critical approach to information systems (IS) research. We take Chen and Hirschheim’s survey as our starting point and aim to fill the gap left by the absence of the critical paradigm in their analysis and make some criticisms of their method. Recent years have seen the growth of IS research that consciously adopts a critical perspective. This paper charts the development of critical IS research over the period of 1991–2001, adding some comments on more recent developments. We conclude by critically reflecting on the current development of critical research in the field of IS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the tables published within the journal. Table 1 reveals that the paper submitted in 2205 has reached to 254 though it rejected 152 paper but still a bit higher in 2002 which reached to 213 but higher every other year starting 1997. Table 2, which organized by year in which a paper was submitted, expresses a better perspective on acceptance and refusal rates and it also considers the outstanding revisions in progress. Table 3 discloses the average time from submission to acceptance, in which it revealed that the average number of submissions and acceptance of the journal reduced to 13.1 months.

Most existing deep learning‐based multi‐modal medical image fusion (MMIF) methods utilize single‐branch feature extraction strategies to achieve good fusion performance. However, for MMIF tasks, it is thought that this structure cuts off the internal connections between source images, resulting in information redundancy and degradation of fusion performance. To this end, this paper proposes a novel unsupervised network, termed CEFusion. Different from existing architecture, a cross‐encoder is designed by exploiting the complementary properties between the original image to refine source features through feature interaction and reuse. Furthermore, to force the network to learn complementary information between source images and generate the fused image with high contrast and rich textures, a hybrid loss is proposed consisting of weighted fidelity and gradient losses. Specifically, the weighted fidelity loss can not only force the fusion results to approximate the source images but also effectively preserve the luminance information of the source image through weight estimation, while the gradient loss preserves the texture information of the source image. Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the method over the state‐of‐the‐art in terms of subjective visual effect and quantitative metrics in various datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How humans interact with nature affects the health of both people and ecosystems. Yet, long‐term data on nature engagement are scarce because traditional survey methods are expensive, time consuming and require commitment over multiple years. Digital data sources (e.g. aggregated data from online searches) have major potential as a supplementary source of information and, in the absence of available data, as a proxy for more direct measurement of nature engagement.Using Google Trends, we created a list of refined and relevant search terms relating to diverse outdoor spaces and activities. We then compared trends in Google search volumes in England across both a 1‐year and 10‐year period to those from Google Community Mobility Reports, and from nationally representative survey data (Natural England's People and Nature Survey and the Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment).Search, survey and mobility data all support a general increase in public engagement with nature since 2009, and a more substantial increase during, or following, the initial national 'lockdown' period of the COVID‐19 pandemic in England. Search volumes increased for many urban and rural outdoor green spaces (e.g. woodlands), blue spaces (e.g. reservoirs), exercise activities (e.g. walking, running and hiking) and explicitly nature‐based activities (e.g. fishing, wild swimming and encouraging wildlife).Overall, volumes of Google searches were more closely related with longer‐term (10‐year) trends from survey data, than shorter‐term changes during the COVID‐19 pandemic. There were statistically significant relationships between search volumes, survey data (self‐reported past behaviour) and mobility data (movement trends) for around half of comparisons. Of these, an average of 13–44% of variation in the data was explained.The findings show that Google Trends provides valuable information about public engagement with nature, which can help to supplement existing survey data by providing new insights about behavioural trends. The paper also provides a proof of concept for using Google Trends to understand changes in public engagement with nature, which could be applied to the many countries that lack long‐term survey monitoring. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shares insights on the importance of a reference list. Common problems with reference lists; Fundamental law of good reference practice; Aspects of reference lists that are rarely commented upon.

Specialties within health care are often identified by the public profile provided by members within the private clinical practice arena. This is clearly important but often the real activity of a specialty discipline exists within the training institutions. This is an unseen area for most, both members of the public as well as professional colleagues, as papers reporting developments of all kinds are delivered to highly specific target audiences and publications reporting research are published in journals again targeting specific audiences. Publication in national journals is important and provides a glimpse of research activities and a wealth of clinical material in the form of reviews and case reports directed again to a specific target audience. This paper addresses the profile of oral medicine in Australia by presenting the papers published in the Australian Dental Journal within a 10-year bracket. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors reflect on the changes in China, and increased attention paid to the development of information systems (IS) will underpin national development across sectors of the economy. They present five papers, written by 74 authors in eight countries, that reflect an emerging quality in Chinese IS research.

The use of cell and tissue‐based methods in basic, applied and regulatory science has been increasing exponentially. Animal‐derived components, including serum, coating materials, growth factors and antibodies are routinely used in cell/tissue cultures and in general laboratory practices. In addition to ethical issues, the use and production of animal‐derived materials and reagents raises many scientific concerns, generally associated with presence of undefined components and batch‐to‐batch variability, which may compromise experimental reproducibility. On the other hand, non‐animal materials and reagents, such as human cells, alternatives to animal sera or non‐animal recombinant antibodies, are becoming increasingly available, and their use is encouraged by the EU Directive 2010/63 and the Guidance Document on Good In vitro Method Practices (GIVIMP), published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In an effort to map the current state of use of animal‐derived reagents across different sectors and to identify the obstacles possibly hampering the implementation of non‐animal derived alternatives, a global online survey addressed to scientists working on in vivo, in vitro, in silico methods, in academia as well as pharmaceutical or cosmetic companies, was conducted with the goal to understand: 1) the most commonly used animal‐derived materials and reagents, 2) the main issues associated with the production and use of animal‐derived materials and reagents, 3) the current level of knowledge on available non‐animal alternative materials and reagents, and 4) what educational and information sources could be most useful or impactful to disseminate knowledge on non‐animal alternatives. This paper provides an overview of the survey replies and discusses possible proposals to increase awareness, acceptance and use of non‐animal ingredients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Technological advances have led to cancer prognostication that is increasingly accurate but often unalterable. However, a reliable prognosis of limited life expectancy can cause psychological distress. People should carefully consider offers of prognostication, but little is known about how and why they decide on prognostication. Using uveal melanoma (UM) patients, we aimed to identify (i) how and why do people with UM decide to accept prognostication and (ii) alignment and divergence of their decision‐making from conceptualizations of a 'well‐considered' decision. Methods: UM provides a paradigm to elucidate clinical and ethical perspectives on prognostication, because prognostication is reliable but prognoses are largely nonameliorable. We used qualitative methods to examine how and why 20 UM people with UM chose prognostication. We compared findings to a template of 'well‐considered' decision‐making, where 'well‐considered' decisions involve consideration of all likely outcomes. Results: Participants wanted prognostication to reduce future worry about uncertain life expectancy. They spontaneously spoke of hoping for a good prognosis when making their decisions, but largely did not consider the 50% possibility of a poor prognosis. When pressed, they argued that a poor outcome at least brings certainty. Conclusions: While respecting decisions as valid expressions of participants' wishes, we are concerned that they did not explicitly consider the realistic possibility of a poor outcome and how this would affect them. Thus, it is difficult to see their decisions as 'well‐considered'. We propose that nondirective preference exploration techniques could help people to consider the possibility of a poor outcome. Patient or Public Contribution: This paper is a direct response to a patient‐identified and defined problem that arose in therapeutic and conversational discourse. The research was informed by the responses of patient participants, as we used the material from interviews to dynamically shape the interview guide. Thus, participants' ideas drove the analysis and shaped the interviews to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using transaction data from Indonesia, this paper shows that domestic investors have higher profits than foreign investors. In addition, clients of global brokerages have higher long-term and smaller medium (intramonth) and short (intraday) term profits than clients of local brokerages. This suggests that clients of local brokerages have a short-lived information advantage, but that clients of global brokerages are better at picking long-term winners. Finally, domestic clients of global brokerages have higher profits than foreign clients of global brokerages, suggesting that the combination of local information and global expertise leads to higher profits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a list of forthcoming papers including "Immunohistochemical Analysis of Cytokines and Apoptosis in Tuberculosis Lymphadentis," by Telmina Mustafa, Stanley Mogga, Sayoki Mfinanga, Odd Mørkve and Lisbet Sviland, "Drinking a Lot Is Good for Dendritic Cells," by Christopher Norbury and "Fibrosis in Heart Disease: Understanding the Role of Transforming Growth Factor-Beta 1 in Cardiomyopathy, Valvular Disease and Arythmia," by Razi Khan and Richard Sheppard.

Complementary feeding is the process of introducing solid foods to milk‐fed infants (also known as weaning). Current UK guidance states that complementary feeding should occur around 6 months but not before 4 months. This systematic review explores how parents in the UK, with an infant under 24 months of age, engage with sources of information and advice about complementary feeding. Engaging with sources of information can influence parents' feeding choices and so a better understanding of parents' information behaviours can improve service provisions. Six databases were searched, identifying 15 relevant qualitative studies with the predefined criteria. Data from each study were coded line by line allowing for a synthesis of higher analytical themes. Using thematic synthesis, four main themes were observed: (1) trust and rapport—parents valued information from a trusted source (2), accessibility—information needs were often time sensitive, and parents showed varying levels of understanding, (3) adapting feeding plans—often influenced by practicalities (4), being a good parent—feeding plans were changed to comply with societal ideas of 'good parenting'. The review concluded that parents receive information and advice about complementary feeding from multiple sources and are highly motivated to seek further information. The scope of this novel review explored the parental experience of finding, receiving and engaging with information sources and how this may or may not have influenced their feeding behaviours. The review has provided a new perspective to add to the growing body of literature that focuses on the experience of feeding an infant. Key messages: This review found that parents held the NHS services in high regard but did not always seek information from healthcare providers due to accessibility issues, preferring the instant nature of online sources.Parents were more likely to accept information or advice if a rapport was built and non‐judgemental approach was adopted as it protected the parental identity while providing information about complementary feeding.Accessibility of information was important as sources were not always convenient for parents to access or in an understandable format which may reduce adherence to complementary feeding guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to compare the information and resource endowments possessed by different analyst types, classified by both location and employment within the context of seven emerging Asian markets. Our results show that local analysts are more accurate than expatriate and global analysts when we consider all earnings forecasts. However, when we control for the segregated herding behaviour of analysts, we find that herding local forecasts are one of the least accurate compared to other herding forecasts. By contrast, bold local (that is, non‐herding local) forecasts are more accurate than all other bold forecasts. This suggests that the information endowment of bold local analysts is superior to the information and resource endowments of bold expatriate analysts. We show that the superior accuracy of bold local forecasts does not stem from business group affiliations, investment banking relationships, demand for local analysts' services or the specialisation of analysts vis‐à‐vis countries or sectors. We consistently find that bold local analysts are better at assessing the earnings of the firm they forecast. Our results show that the prior documented advantage of local analysts in terms of forecasting accuracy is driven by the bold local analysts, with herding locals diluting this effect. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to explore the segregated herding behaviour of local, expatriate and global analysts, and its impact on relative forecast accuracy across analyst types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context Evidence briefs have emerged as a promising approach to synthesizing the best available research evidence for health system policymakers and stakeholders. An evidence brief may draw on systematic reviews and many other types of policy-relevant information, including local data and studies, to describe a problem, options for addressing it, and key implementation considerations. We conducted a systematic review to examine the ways in which context- and issue-related factors influence the perceived usefulness of evidence briefs among their intended users. Methods We used a critical interpretive synthesis approach to review both empirical and nonempirical literature and to develop a model that explains how context and issues influence policymakers' and stakeholders' views of the utility of evidence briefs prepared for priority policy issues. We used a 'compass' question to create a detailed search strategy and conducted electronic searches in CINAHL, EMBASE, HealthSTAR, IPSA, MEDLINE, OAIster (gray literature), ProQuest A&I Theses, ProQuest (Sociological Abstracts, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, PAIS, Political Science), PsychInfo, Web of Science, and WilsonWeb (Social Science Abstracts). Finally, we used a grounded and interpretive analytic approach to synthesize the results. Findings Of the 4,461 papers retrieved, 3,908 were excluded and 553 were assessed for 'relevance,' with 137 included in the initial sample of papers to be analyzed and an additional 23 purposively sampled to fill conceptual gaps. Several themes emerged: (1) many established types of 'evidence' are viewed as useful content in an evidence brief, along with several promising formatting features; (2) contextual factors, particularly the institutions, interests, and values of a given context, can influence views of evidence briefs; (3) whether an issue is polarizing and whether it is salient (or not) and familiar (or not) to actors in the policy arena can influence views of evidence briefs prepared for that issue; (4) influential factors can emerge in several ways (as context driven, issue driven, or a result of issue-context resonance); (5) these factors work through two primary pathways, affecting either the users or the producers of briefs; and (6) these factors influence views of evidence briefs through a variety of mechanisms. Conclusions Those persons funding and preparing evidence briefs need to consider a variety of context- and issue-related factors when deciding how to make them most useful in policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new definition of the Efficient Markets Hypothesis with respect to information, which is more formal and precise than those of Rubinstein [13], Fama [4], Jensen [6], and Beaver [1], and which fits well as a framework for interpreting the many tests of the Efficient Markets Hypothesis in the literature. Security markets are here considered "efficient with respect to information set " if and only if revealing to all agents would change neither equilibrium prices nor portfolios. In addition to other desirable features, this definition has the "subset property": efficiency with respect to implies efficiency with respect to any subset of . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the issue of authentic information in a pure exchange economy and specifies conditions under which the release of authentic information would lead to an ex-ante Pareto improvement in the allocation of resources. In particular, if authentic information is made public after trading has taken place, then the receipt of such information would make some individuals better off, without making any individuals worse off. Introduction of authentic information prior to trading only produces a Pareto improvement if prices do not change as a result of the information. In a simplified setting where individuals have identical tastes and endowments but heterogeneous prior beliefs, examples are also provided to show that the set of converged beliefs which would lead to a Pareto improvement in resource allocation tends to shrink as individuals' prior beliefs become less heterogeneous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discussion of "The Ex Ante Information Content of Accounting Information Systems" by Charles Ransom focused on three areas: (1) motivation for the tests, (2) methodological issues, and (3) the contributions of the paper. These will be discussed in turn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background There is increasing need for accessible information about familial breast cancer for those facing complex decisions around genetic testing, screening and treatment. Information currently includes leaflets and computerized decision aids, offering interactive interfaces to clarify complex choices. Objective Exploration of users’ views and reactions to three decision aids for genetic testing for breast cancer using focus groups. Setting A regional cancer genetics service in the UK. Participants Women over 18 years of age who had been referred to Cancer Genetics Service for Wales (CGSW) and had received a risk assessment for familial breast cancer. Methods Qualitative study involving one pilot and six extended focus groups with 39 women at high, moderate and population risk. Two CD-ROMs and one paper-based aid evaluated for: clarity of presentation, ease of handling, emotive response, increased knowledge and greater informed choice. Results Women reported variable preferences for different types of decision aids and mixed emotions, indicating the sensitivity of raising issues in decision support tools, lack of consensus over the most appropriate aid and no systematic differences between risk groups. Women remarked that aids increased their knowledge, particularly about breast cancer genes and risk and wanted a decision aid designed within the context of the NHS, in both paper-based and CD-ROM formats from an authoritative source. Mixed views about presentation styles suggest decision aids would be most effective with a user-selected range of formats. Conclusions Decision aid development should be informed by users and should meet the needs of those concerned about their risk of breast cancer in the UK. Without such aids, patients will continue to search for information from a variety of sources of varying quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a general framework to study how misinterpreting information impacts learning. Our main result is a simple criterion to characterize long‐run beliefs based on the underlying form of misspecification. We present this characterization in the context of social learning, then highlight how it applies to other learning environments, including individual learning. A key contribution is that our characterization applies to settings with model heterogeneity and provides conditions for entrenched disagreement. Our characterization can be used to determine whether a representative agent approach is valid in the face of heterogeneity, study how differing levels of bias or unawareness of others' biases impact learning, and explore whether the impact of a bias is sensitive to parametric specification or the source of information. This unified framework synthesizes insights gleaned from previously studied forms of misspecification and provides novel insights in specific applications, as we demonstrate in settings with partisan bias, overreaction, naive learning, and level‐k reasoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systems science has been considered the basis for information systems. A wealth of research in information systems in the framework of systems science has produced an astonishing array of theoretical results and empirical insights, and a large suite of tools and methods. This paper aims at reviewing the contribution of systems science to information systems research and tracing how concepts and findings in systems science have been applied, extended and refined in information systems research. As we approach the end of twentieth century, this paper points out that systems science is a necessity to deal with the overwhelming systems complexity in the information era of the next century. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1940s Norbert Wiener coined the term cybernetics to describe the combined subjects of control and communications in man and machines. Since the emergence of cybernetics, general systems research and cybernetics have developed side by side. In the 1980s, the search for new paradigms to solve problems in robotics and computer vision stimulated research in neural networks and resulted in renewed interest in the subject of cybernetics. Integrated information systems using advanced technologies are proving successful in industries, including the metal-processing industry. The technologies used in such integrated information systems are enhanced by alternative techniques which are significantly improving the capabilities of existing systems. This paper presents one of the alternative control techniques—the LMI technique. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces a series of articles concerning information systems and systems sciences.

While multiple information sources exist concerning surface‐level air pollution, no individual source simultaneously provides large‐scale spatial coverage, fine spatial and temporal resolution, and high accuracy. It is, therefore, necessary to integrate multiple data sources, using the strengths of each source to compensate for the weaknesses of others. In this study, we propose a method incorporating outputs of NASA's GEOS Composition Forecasting model system with satellite information from the TROPOMI instrument and ground measurement data on surface concentrations. Although we use ground monitoring data from the Environmental Protection Agency network in the continental United States, the model and satellite data sources used have the potential to allow for global application. This method is demonstrated using surface measurements of nitrogen dioxide as a test case in regions surrounding five major US cities. The proposed method is assessed through cross‐validation against withheld ground monitoring sites. In these assessments, the proposed method demonstrates major improvements over two baseline approaches which use ground‐based measurements only. Results also indicate the potential for near‐term updating of forecasts based on recent ground measurements. Plain Language Summary: Air quality is a major health concern worldwide, leading to millions of premature deaths annually. In order to better understand this risk and mitigate its impacts, there are numerous sources of information about air quality. These include ground‐based measurement stations, satellites, and global air quality models. By combining these data sources together, we can use the strengths of each source to compensate for the weaknesses of others. This paper presents one method of combining these data sources and uses it to make air quality forecasts over five US cities up to one day in advance. These forecasts are compared to pollution estimates made using ground‐based measurement data only to see how integrating additional data sources improves the forecast. Overall, we find that there are large increases in accuracy of forecasting using the proposed method, and that further improvements can be made by comparing the forecasts to the most recent ground‐based measurements and making some more final adjustments. Methods like this, which use a combination of globally available satellite and model data together with some local measurements, can be applied to different types of air pollution in all regions of the world, thereby improving our understanding of air pollution globally. Key Points: Multiple air quality data sources (GOES‐CF model, TROPOMI satellite, Environmental Protection Agency monitors) are combined to improve city‐scale NO2 forecastsForecasts using combined data outperform forecasts using ground‐based measurements onlyUpdating of forecasts based on residuals against the most recent ground measurements further improves short‐term forecasting [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As wireless communication continues to develop in limited frequency resource environments, it is becoming important to identify the state of spectrum utilization and predict the amount needed in future. It is essential to collect reliable information for data analysis. This paper introduces a platform that enables the gathering of the scheduling information of a long‐term evolution (LTE) cellular system without connecting to the network. A typical LTE terminal can confirm its assigned resource information using the configuration parameters delivered from a network. However, our platform receives and captures only the LTE signal over the air and then enables the estimation of the data relevant to scheduling for all terminals within an LTE cell. After extracting the control channel signal without loss from all LTE subframes, it detects valid downlink control information using the proposed algorithm, which is based on the error vector magnitude of depatterned symbols. We verify the reliability of the developed platform by comparing it with real data from mobile phones and service operators. The average difference in resource block utilization is only 0.28%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Management does not directly observe cost variance processes from the production system; instead, management depends on a report from the cost variance information system as to whether a process is in control or out of control. Unfortunately, cost variance information systems are not always perfectly reliable. Accordingly, this paper extends the cost variance analysis model to include reliability of the cost variance information system. Reliability is introduced by distinguishing between the report from the information system and the actual cost variance. Although previous cost variance models do not include reliability, management is still likely to be aware of the lack of reliability in cost variance systems. To account for this lack of reliability, management is likely to use any of a number of heuristics. This paper demonstrates that ad hoc heuristics are unlikely to result in the same solutions suggested by the analytic model. In addition, it is shown analytically that not including reliability in cost variance models can lead to examining variances that do not require investigation and not examining variances that do require investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editorial. Comments on the difference between the articles of the April 2002 issue of the 'Information Systems Journal.' Query on the assumptions about methods and methodologies in systems development; Learning and communication processes between developers and users; Focus on the perception of project risks.

Multi-source domain adaptation (MDA) aims to leverage knowledge from multiple source domains to improve the classification performance on target domains. Different degrees of distribution discrepancies between every two domains pose a huge challenge to MDA tasks. Most works focus on extracting features shared by all domains, which is critical but not enough to reduce distribution discrepancies. In this paper, we propose a method named as common-specific feature learning (CSFL). Constituting a framework of feature learning, CSFL explores a subspace where the combination of common and specific features makes learned representations comprehensive. Based on this framework, we conduct a metric learning method for learning a discriminative feature representation. Considering redundant information caused by source domains is likely to hurt the performance, we impose an effective low-rank constraint to remove the redundant information. Further, we adopt structure consistent constraint to preserve the local structure in each domain. CSFL has obtained about 1–5% improvement of mean accuracy, compared to the state-of-the-art shallow methods. Further, compared with 90.2% and 89.4% of the best baseline deep method, CSFL achieves mean accuracy of 90.8% and 89.7% on the Office-31 and ImageCLEF-DA datasets respectively. The encouraging results validate the effectiveness of our method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uncertainty is ubiquitous in natural resource systems, science and management. Sample data are obtained in order to reduce uncertainty, thereby increasing knowledge and improving resource management, but sampling always comes at a cost of some sort. Is that cost worthwhile? Analysis of the value of sample information (VSI) addresses this question.In this paper we develop the valuation of sample information in terms of five elements: (a) a system whose attributes are the focus of analysis; (b) a range of management actions that affect the system's status; (c) uncertainty about system status or structure, as characterized by initial (prior) probabilities of possible system states or structures; (d) an experiment or other information source that produces new data points and updated (posterior) probabilities; and (e) a value measure that is a function of the management action taken, conditional on either the system state or structure.We describe five scenarios for analysing the VSI under uncertainty about system structure and state. Scenarios 1–3 comprise analyses of conditional, expected and optimal expected values of sample information. They focus primarily on choice of management adaptations with new information. Scenarios 4 and 5 involve pre‐selected management actions, and are useful for comparing designs of data collection rather than for choosing a management action. These last scenarios expand the framework for VSI to include actions that have been selected independently of the updating of uncertainty.We discuss other extensions of VSI analysis, which include spatial applications, hybrid scenarios, applications involving dynamic systems, and a focus on costs rather than net benefits.Value of sample information analysis holds promise in emerging areas of ecology such as ecological forecasting and the use of remote sensing in conservation, where potential new data from models and satellites can be evaluated in advance, thereby allowing more efficient prioritization of scientific efforts. More generally, VSI can contribute to better ecological understanding and more effective management in a wide range of ecological situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Opioids are one of the most prescribed treatments for chronic pain (CP). However, their long‐term use (>3 months) has been surrounded by controversy, due to loss of beneficial effects. Objective: To explore the experiences of people with chronic non‐malignant low back pain in Spain undergoing long‐term treatment with opioids. Design: Qualitative study. Setting and participants: We conducted 15 semi‐structured interviews at the Pain Clinic with persons taking opioid treatment. Methods: The interviews were analysed by qualitative content analysis as described by Graneheim and Lundman, and developed categories and themes discussed in light of a biomedicalization framework. Main results: We developed one overarching theme—Living with opioids: dependence and autonomy while seeking relief—and three categories: The long pathway to opioids due to the invisibility of pain; Opioids: from blind date to a long‐term relationship; and What opioids cannot fix. Discussion: The long and difficult road to find effective treatments was a fundamental part of coping with pain, involving long‐term relationships with the health system. This study reflects the benefits, and drawbacks of opioids, along with struggles to maintain autonomy and make decisions while undergoing long‐term treatment with opioids. The paper also highlights the consequences of pain in the economy, family and social life of patients. Conclusions: Patients' experiences should be considered to a greater extent by health‐care professionals when giving information about opioids and setting treatment goals. Greater consideration of the social determinants of health that affect CP experiences might lead to more effective solutions to CP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, the digitization of health care typically has focussed simply and solely on electronic records for patients. Most systems are relational databases with a finite number of intra-enterprise applications and are limited to in-house use by health care facilities. Very few of these systems have realized fully functional, scalable, distribution capabilities, not to mention interoperability with external systems. This short-sighted tendency to build large-scale but restrictive automated systems that ignore the interactive nature of health care has resulted in limited operational success and acceptance. That said, this trend is not irreversible. Given the right circumstances, distributed, interoperable, digital health systems could emerge rapidly, offering both intra- and inter-enterprise benefits. To succeed, the design of these so-called total digital health systems (TDHSs) must be approached holistically, incorporating such properties of health care delivery systems as softness, openness, complexity, flexibility and generality. Because of the procedural nature of most electronic health record (EHR) applications now in use, traditional system approaches—such as the relational database model to application design—would be adequate for EHRs. This paper discusses the systemic nature of health care information systems and compares and contrasts the traditional EHR with TDHS. A soft systems methodology (SSM) is proposed for TDHS design. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) policy for health and wellness apps is ethically problematic. Currently, the FDA does not regulate health and wellness apps that are not intended for medical use. As a result of this hands‐off policy, preventing harm to consumers is left primarily to developers and app marketplaces. We argue that the FDA's duties to prevent harm and maintain accountability to the American public require that they play a much stronger role. We also discuss concerns about efficiency and fostering innovation, and argue that while they should help shape FDA regulation of health and wellness apps, they do not justify complete absence of FDA involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]