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Background Following years of sustained pressure on the UK health service, there is recognition amongst health professionals and stakeholders that current models of healthcare are likely to be inadequate going forward. Therefore, a fundamental review of existing social models of healthcare is needed to ascertain current thinking in this area, and whether there is a need to change perspective on current thinking. Method Through a systematic research review, this paper seeks to address how previous literature has conceptualized a social model of healthcare and, how implementation of the models has been evaluated. Analysis and data were extracted from 222 publications and explored the country of origin, methodological approach, and the health and social care contexts which they were set. Results The publications predominantly drawn from the USA, UK, Australia, Canada and Europe identified five themes namely: the lack of a clear and unified definition of a social model of health and wellbeing; the need to understand context; the need for cultural change; improved integration and collaboration towards a holistic and person-centred approach; measuring and evaluating the performance of a social model of health. Conclusion The review identified a need for a clear definition of a social model of health and wellbeing. Furthermore, consideration is needed on how a model integrates with current models and whether it will act as a descriptive framework or, will be developed into an operational model. The review highlights the importance of engagement with users and partner organizations in the co-creation of a model of healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiac arrhythmias are a major cause of death and disability. A large number of experimental cell and animal models have been developed to study arrhythmogenic diseases. These models have provided important insights into the underlying arrhythmia mechanisms and translational options for their therapeutic management. This position paper from the ESC Working Group on Cardiac Cellular Electrophysiology provides an overview of (i) currently available in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo electrophysiological research methodologies, (ii) the most commonly used experimental (cellular and animal) models for cardiac arrhythmias including relevant species differences, (iii) the use of human cardiac tissue, induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived and in silico models to study cardiac arrhythmias, and (iv) the availability, relevance, limitations, and opportunities of these cellular and animal models to recapitulate specific acquired and inherited arrhythmogenic diseases, including atrial fibrillation, heart failure, cardiomyopathy, myocarditis, sinus node, and conduction disorders and channelopathies. By promoting a better understanding of these models and their limitations, this position paper aims to improve the quality of basic research in cardiac electrophysiology, with the ultimate goal to facilitate the clinical translation and application of basic electrophysiological research findings on arrhythmia mechanisms and therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The health and well-being of social workers are attracting attention from researchers, organisations and the profession itself. Since the 1990s, there has been research examining the health and well-being of social workers in relation to working conditions and occupational stress. However, there is a dearth of literature indicating the evaluation and application of effective strategies for work-related stress reduction, particularly within the social work profession. Identifying effective and feasible interventions to reduce occupational stress is prudent to improving not only service delivery, but simultaneously also the wellness of practitioners. Healthy social workers are likely to be more effective and productive. Mindfulness intervention studies across a multitude of groups have yielded positive effects, including the alleviation of mental health difficulties for numerous populations. However, the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions with social workers is yet to be determined. A scoping review was conducted to assess the availability and scientific rigour of mindfulness-based interventions, and their applicability to social workers. This conceptual paper considers the evidence and the feasibility of applying mindfulness training to address the stress, coping efforts and subsequent health outcomes of social workers, through the theoretical lens of the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We reply to the comments of De Natale and Pino (2013) on the paper ‘Are the source models of the M 7.1 1908 Messina Straits earthquake reliable? Insights from a novel inversion and sensitivity analysis of levelling data’ by Aloisi et al. (2012, Geophys. J. Int., 192, 1025–1041). We entirely reject their speculative comments and confirm our viewpoint about the impossibility of discriminating between the two oppositely dipping fault models on the basis of the levelling data alone; we state again that their role as a keystone for modellers is untenable. The comments of De Natale and Pino (2013) are welcomed insofar they give us the possibility to improve our previous analysis, and to criticize the mainstream hypothesis favouring to a low-angle East dipping fault in the Sicilian side of the Messina Straits as responsible of the 1908 destructive earthquake. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The author discusses the article "Meta-Analysis for Surrogacy: Accelerated Failure Time (AFT) Models and Semi-Competing Risks Modeling," by D. Ghosh et al. He focuses on some issues raised by the methodology for trial-level surrogacy used in the paper. He restricts attention to oncology trials as their illustrative application is in oncology. He also argues on the recommendation by the authors not to use composite time-to-event endpoints in the trial.

Two papers of 50 years ago concerning the comparison of non-nested models are reviewed and some subsequent developments and problems are sketched. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a discussion on the article 'A Theory of Statistical Models for Monte Carlo Integration,' by A. Kong, P. McCullagh, X.-L. Meng, D. Nicolae and Z. Tan, which formulated a task of estimating an integral by Monte Carlo methods as a statistical model using simulated observations as data. Most provocative part of the paper, according to Michael Evans; Criticism on the paper; Key aspect of the variance reduction by group averaging that is suggested in the paper.

This paper reviews works that consider the mathematical modelling of mission-abort policies (MAPs). In a MAP, a valuable, and perhaps, vulnerable system performs a mission with two, sometimes conflicting objectives, mission success and system survival; and the purpose of modelling is to determine the conditions under which a mission should be aborted. Such problems are important in defence and are emerging in transportation and health management. We classify models by the nature of the mission and the system, the nature of the return or rescue, type of deterioration model and the decision objectives. We show that the majority of works consider a model of a one system, one target mission in which the mission is aborted once the hazard of failure reaches a critical level, and the operating environment is the same for the outbound and inbound parts of the mission. Typically, the hazard of failure depends on the number of shocks received so far. Our analysis indicates that there has been little modelling development for multiple systems that can multi-task and for dependent systems with common-cause failures, for example. We find no evidence that MAPs are used in practice and no works reviewed develop software demonstrators. We think there is considerable scope for modelling applications in transportation (e.g. dynamic train re-scheduling and last-mile logistics) and medical treatments, and MAPs may be more general than the literature that we have reviewed suggests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, scholars have highlighted the detrimental consequences of technology-based ageism. Digital technology (DT) is commonly discoursed as an opportunity to promote Successful Aging. Nevertheless, the theoretical implications of ageism, DT, and Successful Aging are underexplored. This paper presents a new theoretical model of Digital Engagement and Ageism (D-EngAge), which elaborates on the potential impacts of ageism on digital engagement and participation in later life and explains how ageism may pose a threat to realizing the potential of DT to promote Successful Aging. The D-EngAge model was developed based on a synthesis of findings from 12 recent studies we conducted on the intersection of ageism and DT. Findings were synthesized through Iversen's clasification of four dimensions of ageism, demonstrating how ageism as a multifaceted construct has a reciprocal relationship with digital engagement on the micro- (individual), meso- (social interaction), and macro-levels (discourses and societal practices). Consequently, digital engagement on these levels may exacerbate or reduce technology-based ageism. This forum paper identifies ageism as a barrier to utilizing DT, critically discusses power imbalances, and deconstructs Successful Aging discourses regarding digital engagement. Theoretical implications and recommendations for future interventions and policy measures to mitigate ageism and promote digital engagement and participation in later life are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a solution to solve an optimization problem related with the efficient wrapping of a parcel. The problem involves a wrapping of a parcel with a single sheet of paper. It demonstrates that there is a single rectangular sheet of paper of area less than 6+e which can wrap a unit cube.

The dynamic theory of oligopoly up to the end of the nineteen-fifties consisted mainly of the basic work of economists A. Cournot who showed that a linear duopoly is stable. In 1959 economist R.D. Theocharis proved that Cournot obtained his result by accident, since his model becomes unstable if more than two oligopolists act on the market. Theocharis' paper gave rise to a variety of successive publications, in which the duopoly of Cournot was modified in many respects; especially with regard to the Cournot-behaviour-rule, that consists, strictly speaking, of two assumptions, namely: Assumption C1: Each oligopolist computes his optimal quantity on the basis that the quantities of all his rivals remain unchanged and; Assumption C2: Every seller adjusts his output completely and instantaneously to the one that he derived according to Assumption C1.

SUMMARY The Box and Cox family of power transformations is applied to further generalize a "generalized" functional form of the U.K. demand for money given in a recent paper by Mills (1978). New estimates of the generalized forms estimated by Mills are presented. Deficiencies in the earlier results are indicated, and the general methodological problem discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The term 'commercial determinants of health' (CDOH) is increasingly focussing attention upon the role of tobacco, alcohol and food and beverage companies and others—as important drivers of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). However, the CDOH do not seem to be clearly represented in the most common social determinants of health (SDOH) frameworks. We review a wide range of existing frameworks of the determinants of health to determine whether and how commercial determinants are incorporated into current SDOH thinking. Methods We searched for papers and non-academic reports published in English since 2000 describing influences on population health outcomes. We included documents with a formal conceptual framework or diagram, showing the integration of the different determinants. Results Forty-eight framework documents were identified. Only one explicitly included the CDOH in a conceptual diagram. Ten papers discussed the commercial determinants in some form in the text only and fourteen described negative impacts of commercial determinants in the text. Twelve discussed positive roles for the private sector in producing harmful commodities. Overall, descriptions of commercial determinants are frequently understated, not made explicit, or simply missing. The role of commercial actors as vectors of NCDs is largely absent or invisible in many of the most influential conceptual diagrams. Conclusions Our current public health models may risk framing public health problems and solutions in ways that obscure the role that the private sector, in particular large transnational companies, play in shaping the broader environment and individual behaviours, and thus population health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coati optimization algorithm (COA) is a meta-heuristic optimization algorithm proposed in 2022. It creates mathematical models according to the habits and social behaviors of coatis: (i) In the group organization of the coatis, half of the coatis climb trees to chase their prey away, while the other half wait beneath to catch it and (ii) Coatis avoidance predators behavior, which gives the algorithm strong global exploration ability. However, over the course of our experiment, we uncovered opportunities for enhancing the algorithm's performance. When confronted with intricate optimization problems, certain limitations surfaced. Much like a long-nosed raccoon gradually narrowing its search range as it approaches the optimal solution, COA algorithm exhibited tendencies that could result in reduced convergence speed and the risk of becoming trapped in local optima. In this paper, we propose an improved coati optimization algorithm (ICOA) to enhance the algorithm's efficiency. Through a sound-based search envelopment strategy, coatis can capture prey more quickly and accurately, allowing the algorithm to converge more rapidly. By employing a physical exertion strategy, coatis can have a greater variety of escape options when being chased, thereby enhancing the algorithm's exploratory capabilities and the ability to escape local optima. Finally, the lens opposition-based learning strategy is added to improve the algorithm's global performance. To validate the performance of the ICOA, we conducted tests using the IEEE CEC2014 and IEEE CEC2017 benchmark functions, as well as six engineering problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a renewed interest in professional and academic discourse in the reconceptualisation of social work with adults as a human rights-based approach. This is compatible with the social model of disability, which philosophically adult social workers make claims to align with. This was recently argued for when the Department of Health in England piloted a named social worker for adults with learning disabilities, whose behaviour challenged services. This paper discusses the conceptualisation of rights-based practice, its relevance and appropriateness for contemporary social work policy. Drawing on the recognition theory literature, it shall be shown that the meta-theory of rights-based practice may have relevance to contemporary social work practice with adults with learning disabilities. The paper shall also consider the renewed interest in normative reconstruction in social work practice and influencing factors such as drives towards individualism and marketisation. It will consider how these impacted on the adoption into UK policy of social work as a positive intervention to address structural inequalities, perhaps more accurately described as disablism, experienced by adults with learning disabilities, which ultimately is concluded to be a 'wicked problem'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to provide an overview of the current stock-flow-consistent (SFC) literature. Indeed, we feel the SFC approach has recently led to a blossoming literature, requiring a new summary after the work of Dos Santos and above all after the publication of the main reference work on the methodology, Godley and Lavoie’s Monetary Economics: An Integrated Approach to Credit, Money, Income, Production and Wealth. The paper is developed along the following lines. First, a brief historical analysis investigates the roots of this class of models that can be traced as far back as 1949 and the work of Copeland. Second, the competing points of view regarding some of its main controversial aspects are underlined and used to classify the different methodological approaches followed in using these models. Namely, we discuss (i) how the models are solved, (ii) the treatment of time and its implication and (ii) the need (or not) for microfoundations. These results are then used in the third section of the paper to develop a bifocal perspective, which allows us to divide the literature reviewed according to both its subject and the methodology. We explore various topics such as financialisation, exchange rate modelling, policy implication, the need for a common framework within the post-Keynesian literature and the empirical use of SFC models. Finally, the conclusions present some hypotheses (and wishes) for the possible lines of development of SFC models. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Orthodox decision theory is fanatical in the way it treats small probabilities of enormous value, if unbounded utility functions are allowed. Some have suggested a fix, Nicolausian discounting, according to which outcomes with small enough probabilities should be ignored when making decisions. However, there are lotteries involving only small-probability outcomes, none of which should intuitively be ignored. So the Nicolausian discounter needs a procedure for distinguishing the problematic cases of small-probability outcomes from the unproblematic ones. In this paper, I present a dilemma for Nicolausian discounting: the view must be coupled either with a procedure that delivers fanatical verdicts of its own, as bad as those of orthodox decision theory, or with one that entails intransitive cyclic preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We construct a "universe" of over 18,000 fundamental signals from financial statements and use a bootstrap approach to evaluate the impact of data mining on fundamental-based anomalies. We find that many fundamental signals are significant predictors of crosssectional stock returns even after accounting for data mining. This predictive ability is more pronounced following high-sentiment periods and among stocks with greater limits to arbitrage. Our evidence suggests that fundamental-based anomalies, including those newly discovered in this study, cannot be attributed to random chance, and they are better explained by mispricing. Our approach is general and we also apply it to past return-based anomalies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long-run standard deviation (LRSD) of consumption growth is a key moment in determining risk premiums under Epstein-Zin preferences. Standard estimators of theLRSD are biased downward and have poor confidence interval coverage, making them overreject the long-run risk model. This paper studies a new estimator with smaller bias and accurate confidence intervals. Standard long-run risk calibrations are still rejected in the data. The LRSD of consumption growth in the postwar sample is estimated to be 2.5% per year with an upper bound to the 95% confidence interval of 4.9%. These values can be taken as benchmarks for future calibrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers brief information on various research related to mathematical logic. One provides a complete formal notion for the intuitive of logic, which include both the model and the proof theoretic sides. Another presents a dynamic logic for a propositional version of the agent programming language 3APL, an agent which has beliefs and a plan. Lastly, it introduce an alternative approach to reasoning with regards to action.

Macro-prudential thinking and its emphasis on endogenously created systemic risks, marginal in the banking regulation discourse until the mid-2000s, has become central post-crisis. This paper analyzes this intellectual shift by using discourse and citation-network analysis of the most-cited scholarly works on banking regulation and systemic risk from 1985 to 2014 and six in-depth interviews with central scholars. It demonstrates that the predominance of formalism, particularly partial equilibrium analysis, in studies on banking regulation pre-crisis impeded economists’ engagement with the endogenous sources of systemic risks discussed in the systemic risk sample. These studies excluded observed phenomena that could not be accommodated in mathematical models, largely ignoring contributions based on historical and practitioners’ styles of reasoning. Post-crisis, while informal analyses gain prominence in studies on banking regulation, attempts to conceptualize systemic risk as a negative externality indicate the persistence of formalism and equilibrium thinking and its concomitant epistemological limitations that stymie theoretical progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do value stocks have higher average returns than growth stocks, despite having lower risk? Why do these stocks exhibit positive abnormal performance, while growth stocks exhibit negative abnormal performance? This paper offers a rare-event-based explanation that can also account for the high equity premium and volatility of the aggregate market. The model explains other puzzling aspects of the data, such as joint patterns in time-series predictablity of aggregate market and value and growth returns, long periods in which growth outperforms value, and the association between positive skewness and low realized returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background This paper concerns the spatial determinants of the first two waves of COVID-19 at the neighbourhood level. Methods Using data for the first and second waves of COVID-19 at the neighbourhood level in Barcelona, we analyse whether local characteristics acted in the same way during the two waves and identify typologies of areas depending on such determinants. Univariate and bivariate local Moran's I and count data models are used. Results Some structural effects at the neighbourhood level consistently either boost (e.g. population density) or reduce (e.g. income) COVID-19 cases. Other effects differ between the two waves (i.e. age composition, schools and transport infrastructures). Conclusions Since certain characteristics influenced the virus diffusion in opposite ways between the two pandemic waves, territorial heterogeneity alone is insufficient to explain COVID-19 outbreaks—individual behaviour also needs to be factored in. Consequently, both econometric and spatial analysis techniques are recommended for tracking the spatiotemporal spread of this disease and for monitoring the effectiveness of policy measures across heterogeneous neighbourhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examined single and parallel machine scheduling problems with a learning effect and job rejection simultaneously. In real life, job processing times decrease when there is a learning effect. In some cases, producers cannot process all the jobs and pay the penalty cost for these jobs that they do not process. In our study, learning effect and job rejection are considered at the same time. We examined four different objective functions. Our objectives for single-machine scheduling problems are makespan and rejection cost minimization, total completion time and rejection cost minimization and total absolute deviation of completion times (TADC) and rejection cost minimization. Our objective for parallel machines is makespan and rejection cost minimization. The problems are solved by mathematical models, and four different algorithms are proposed for the problems. From these algorithms, the same results are obtained with single-machine makespan and rejection cost minimization, parallel machine makespan and rejection cost minimization and total completion time and rejection cost minimization. The accuracy for these models is obtained as 100%. The proposed algorithm for TADC and rejection cost minimization yielded close-to-optimal results. Mathematical model and algorithm results for 10 jobs, 20 jobs and 30 jobs are compared and the results are presented. The obtained solutions are obtained in polynomial time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are communities in which hearing voices frequently is common and expected, and in which participants are not expected to have a need for care. This paper compares the ideas and practices of these communities. We observe that these communities utilize cultural models to identify and to explain voice-like events—and that there are some common features to these models across communities. All communities teach participants to "discern," or identify accurately, the legitimate voice of the spirit or being who speaks. We also observe that there are roughly two methods taught to participants to enable them to experience spirits (or other invisible beings): trained attention to inner experience, and repeated speech to the invisible other. We also observe that all of these communities model a learning process in which the ability to hear spirit (or invisible others) becomes more skilled with practice, and in which what they hear becomes clearer over time. Practice—including the practice of discernment—is presumed to change experience. We also note that despite these shared cultural ideas and practices, there is considerable individual variation in experience—some of which may reflect psychotic process, and some perhaps not. We suggest that voice-like events in this context may be shaped by cognitive expectation and trained practice as well as an experiential pathway. We also suggest that researchers could explore these common features both as a way to help those struggling with psychosis, and to consider the possibility that expectations and practice may affect the voice-hearing experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the use of checklists to assess pragmatics in children and adolescents who are deaf and hard of hearing. A systematic literature review was undertaken to identify all of the published research articles between 1979 and 2018 on the topic of the assessment of pragmatics for this population of children and adolescents. The 67 papers identified in this review were analyzed and all papers that utilized a checklist to assess pragmatic skills were identified. Across the 18 different published papers on the use of pragmatic skills among children who are deaf and hard of hearing, nine checklists were identified. These nine checklists were then compared and contrasted on six key features including identification of a theoretical framework or model; the type of pragmatic skills measured; the age range of the child assessed; the information/outputs generated; the primary informant for the assessment; and reliability, validity, and normative data. The resulting analysis provides a comprehensive guide to aid clinicians, educators, and researchers in selecting an appropriate checklist to assess pragmatic skills for children and adolescents who are deaf and hard of hearing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper studies the solution of stochastic optimization problems in which approximations to the gradient and Hessian are obtained through subsampling. We first consider Newton-like methods that employ these approximations and discuss how to coordinate the accuracy in the gradient and Hessian to yield a superlinear rate of convergence in expectation. The second part of the paper analyzes an inexact Newton method that solves linear systems approximately using the conjugate gradient (CG) method, and that samples the Hessian and not the gradient (the gradient is assumed to be exact). We provide a complexity analysis for this method based on the properties of the CG iteration and the quality of the Hessian approximation, and compare it with a method that employs a stochastic gradient iteration instead of the CG method. We report preliminary numerical results that illustrate the performance of inexact subsampled Newton methods on machine learning applications based on logistic regression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the American Physical Therapy Association has upheld a code of ethics since 1935, the philosophical underpinnings of physical therapist practice have yet to be robustly explicated. Theoretical work in the field of philosophy of medicine can be engaged to study physical therapist practice. Modifying the phenomenological and teleological framework of Edmund Pellegrino, a physician and prominent bioethicist, the purpose of this theoretical paper is to particularize Pellegrino's philosophy of medicine to construct an internal morality of physical therapy. Acknowledging that the internal morality of health care professions is founded in the relationship between a patient and a health care professional, this paper analyzes the nature and telos , or end, of physical therapy through 3 phenomena of physical therapy—the fact of disability, the act of profession, and the act of physical therapy. This paper claims that, rather than medicine's clinical truth of a good treatment decision, physical therapy's clinical truth is a good process that capacitates patients. This relational approach to an internal morality robustly underpins a philosophy and ethics of physical therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we draw on recent research on so-called Fermi problems and situate the fundamental principles underlying this type of tasks and their use from a task design perspective. We use the models and modelling perspective on teaching and learning to elaborate on aspects related to the design of single-use, as well as sequences of, Fermi problems. In addition, we discuss a framework (called the Fermi problem activity template [FPAT] framework) for supporting the design and use of Fermi problems to facilitate students' learning within particular mathematics content areas and/or aimed at particular concepts or higher-order thinking skills. We also illustrate how the FPAT framework can be used to (i) facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations with other subjects such as the social sciences, but in particular with the other STEM subjects; and (ii) support teachers in adapting and implementing Fermi problems in their classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incompressible miscible displacement of two-dimensional Darcy–Forchheimer flow is discussed in this paper, and the mathematical model is formulated by two partial differential equations, a Darcy–Forchheimer flow equation for the pressure and a convection–diffusion equation for the concentration. The model is discretized using a fully mixed virtual element method (VEM), which employs mixed VEMs to solve both the Darcy–Forchheimer flow and concentration equations by introducing an auxiliary flux variable to ensure full mass conservation. By using fixed point theory, we proved the stability, existence and uniqueness of the associated mixed VEM solution under smallness data assumption. Furthermore, we obtain optimal error estimates for concentration and auxiliary flux variables in the |$\texttt {L}^{2}$| - and |$\textbf {L}^{2}$| -norms, as well as for the velocity in the |$\textbf {L}^{2}$| -norm. Finally, several numerical experiments are presented to support the theoretical analysis and to illustrate the applicability for solving actual problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a new mathematical model of a fractured well considering multiple factors (permeability stress sensitivity, multiple well interference, and multiple fracture interference) is established to simulate wellbore pressure performance and rate distribution in tight gas reservoirs. The new fracture discrete coupling mathematical model is established. The wellbore pressure solution can be obtained by pressure drop superposition and Stehfest numerical inversion. Seven flow stages are observed according to the characteristics of the pressure derivative curve. The influence of several significant parameters, including rate ratio, fracture half-length, well spacing, and stress sensitivity are discussed. Based on the developed model, we demonstrated a field case to verify model accuracy. This work provides new supplementary knowledge to improve pressure data interpretation for multi-well groups in tight gas reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing long-acting products and formulations for infectious diseases is a nontrivial undertaking that is frequently classified as high risk and low reward by the pharmaceutical industry. The Long-Acting/Extended Release Antiretroviral Research Resource Program (LEAP) was founded in 2015 with the support of the National Institutes of Health to encourage, promote, and accelerate the development of such products. Assessment methodology for any new proposal brought to this group is part of a framework—the LEAP Process—that includes a landscape analysis of what is currently available in the public domain. This is followed by in silico modeling and simulation offered as a service to the relevant scientific community. A variety of preclinical and clinical outcome metrics are applied to each new agent as part of a continuous feedback loop to improve product characteristics. This allows us to catalog knowledge gaps and barriers that can be addressed by engaged stakeholders. Results are communicated in scientific articles, reviews, and position papers. This undertaking serves to de-risk discovery, development, and implementation by bridging the gaps between academic, regulatory, and industrial investigators, and by engaging those in the community who will be the eventual users of these medicines. The LEAP Process has supported formulations now approved for human immunodeficiency virus, as well as products in clinical and preclinical development for tuberculosis and hepatitis viruses B and C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a multistring-multilevel inverter (M-MLI) for renewable-energy-source applications has been proposed with reduced switch count and harmonics along with single-switch fault analysis for various levels. It requires only 'm+1' power switches for 'm' voltage levels. The proposed work achieves the fine-tuning of switching angles using a metaheuristic technique, i.e. the teaching–learning-based optimization algorithm (TLBOA), to mitigate the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the M-MLI. Furthermore, the proposed TLBOA has been compared with conventional modulation techniques such as equal phase (EP), half-equal phase (HEP), near-level control (NLC) and Newton–Raphson (NR) to verify the effectiveness of TLBOA for various voltage levels in terms of % voltage-THD (%V-THD), computational time and methodology. By fine-tuning the switching angles, the %V-THD is improved significantly when compared with EP, HEP, NLC and NR modulation techniques. For an 11-level single-phase M-MLI, the %V-THD using TLBOA at 0.91 modulation index (MI) is 5.051%. The lower-order harmonics, i.e. 5, 7, 11 and 13, are eliminated to improve the power quality. Furthermore, MLIs are often prone to failure, resulting in waveform distortion. The extreme reduction in power quality impacts the load and significant damage is likely. The location of the open-circuit fault to be identified becomes more tedious under the faulty conditions with increased switch counts and voltage levels since the mathematical modelling fails to address the scenario in less computational time. Hence, the machine-learning approach, i.e. support vector machine (SVM) with Bayesian optimization, has been discussed to locate the faulty switch. Finally, the proposed M-MLI configuration has been modelled, simulated and validated using MATLAB® and Simulink®. The results of the M-MLI configuration have been verified for 7, 9 and 11 levels using TLBOA along with fault analysis using the SVM approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows that in misspecified models with risk factors that are uncorrelated with the test asset returns, the conventional inference methods tend to erroneously conclude, with high probability, that these factors are priced. Our proposed model selection procedure, which is robust to identification failure and potential model misspecification, restores the standard inference and proves to be effective in eliminating factors that do not improve the model's pricing ability. Applying our methodology to several popular asset-pricing models suggests that only the market and book-to-market factors appear to be priced, while the statistical evidence on the pricing ability of many macroeconomic factors is rather weak. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In a recent paper in this Journal, Ed Nell presented a theory of circulation intended to unify 'the theories of money, production, and effective demand'. The current comment uses a very simple leakage and injection approach to arrive at some of Nell's results. In doing so, we are able to correct a small slip in Nell's original paper. More importantly, with the slip corrected, the money supply and multiplier processes are seen to be one and the same. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the 'use of self' in social work and what is meant when referring to the concept of a 'self'. It begins by looking at infant psychological development and theories that attempt to explain how, as human beings, our unique self is formed and what factors play a part in this process. It considers whether experiences in infancy later shape who we are as people and professionals, and how we might come across to others. This first focus, which reflects a Western/Eurocentric perspective, explores three themes: the core, multiple, authentic, private, public, true and false features of the self; Bowlby's concept of 'internal working models'; and feminist writing on the gendered characteristics of the self. The paper then looks at coverage of the term use of self in selected social work publications, some of which point to the absence of a coherent theoretical framework from which to teach, research and apply this subject in direct practice. It explores how this gap could be bridged by developing a conceptual framework that links the term use of self to the concept of internal working models; a gendered perspective; theories relating to non-verbal forms of communication; and the importance of self-awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a contribution to the special issue honoring the late John R. Blake of the University of Birmingham. All three authors had the pleasure of extensive technical interactions with John Blake during his career in the UK, USA and Australia and benefited both professionally and personally from his friendship. John’s work in developing fundamental mathematical solutions for Stokes’ flows and his application of those mathematical tools to analyses of microorganism locomotion led to special new insights into the world of small-scale swimming. This special issue devoted to John’s memory seems an appropriate occasion to present another fluid mechanical challenge associated with microorganisms, namely the dynamics of algal blooms. Though it is a special reduced-order model that is of limited practical value, John would have particularly enjoyed the analytical solution to the dynamics of algae that was presented by Rutherford Aris (1997, Reflections on Keats’ equation. Chem. Eng. Sci. , 52 , 2447–2455) in a somewhat eccentric paper. We revisit that solution in this paper and present an extension to Aris’ solution that includes sedimentation of the algae. We think that John would have enjoyed this solution and would, in all likelihood, have been able to expand upon it to include other features such as microorganism buoyancy variations (see, e.g. Kromkamp & Walsby 1990 ; Belov & Giles, 1997, Dynamical model of buoyant cyanobacteria. Hydrobiologia , 349 , 87–97 ; Brookes & Ganf, 2001, Variations in the buoyancy response of Microcystis aeruginosa to nitrogen, phosphorus and light. J. Plankton Res. , 23 , 1399–1411), the death of algae (see, e.g. Serizawa et al. , 2008a, Computer simulations of seasonal outbreak and diurnal vertical migration of cyanobacteria. Limnology , 9 , 185–194 ; Reynolds, 1984, The Ecology of Freshwater Phytoplankton. Cambridge University Press), the swimming of algae (see, e.g. Pedley, 2016, Spherical squirmers: models for swimming micro-organisms. IMA J. Appl. Math. , 81 , 488–521) and other relevant hydrodynamic matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This historical analysis of the term 'health promotion' during the early 20th century in North American journal articles revealed concepts that strongly resonate with those of the 21st century. However, the lineage between these two time periods is not clear, and indeed, this paper supports contentions health promotion has a disrupted history. This paper traces the conceptualizations of health promotion during the 1920s, attempts to operationalize health promotion in the 1930s resulting in a narrowing of the concept to one of health education, and the disappearance of the term from the 1940s. In doing so, it argues a number of factors influenced the changing conceptualization and utilization of health promotion during the first half of the 20th century, many of which continue to present times, including issues around what health promotion is and what it means, ongoing tensions between individual and collective actions, tensions between specific and general causes of health and ill health, and between expert and societal contributions. The paper concludes the lack of clarity around these issues contributed to health promotion disappearing in the mid-20th century and thus resolution of these would be worth- while for the continuation and development of health promotion as a discipline into the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A consensus has recently emerged that variables beyond the level, slope, and curvature of the yield curve can help predict bond returns. This paper shows that the statistical tests underlying this evidence are subject to serious small-sample distortions. We propose more robust tests, including a novel bootstrap procedure specifically designed to test the spanning hypothesis. We revisit the analysis in six published studies and find that the evidence against the spanning hypothesis is much weaker than it originally appeared. Our results pose a serious challenge to the prevailing consensus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using both analytical and numerical methods, nonlinear dynamic behaviours including chaotic motions and subharmonic bifurcations of an inclined beam subjected to harmonic excitation in temperature field are investigated in this paper. Based on the Galerkin method, the mathematical model of motion is derived. Melnikov method is adopted to give an analytical expression of conditions for chaotic motions of the inclined beam. The chaotic feature on the inclined angle is studied in detail. It is presented that there exists a unique excitation frequency |$\omega ^*$|⁠ , such that the critical value of chaos is the monotone decreasing function of the inclination angle when the excitation frequency |$\omega <\omega ^*$|⁠ ; whereas |$\omega>\omega ^*$|⁠ , it is the monotone increasing function of the inclination angle. The subharmonic bifurcations are also studied. It is obtained that subharmonic bifurcations of even orders or odd orders may occur for this system. With the techniques of elliptic functions, it is proved rigorously that this system may undergo chaos through finite subharmonic bifurcations. Numerical simulations are given to verify the chaos threshold obtained by the analytical method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creating and developing mathematical models to solve real-world problems is a complex task and students often have difficulties in tackling it successfully. The design and implementation of sequences that help students autonomously develop their ability to solve modelling tasks could be a useful scaffolding tool to foster modelling learning. In this paper we present a sequence of estimation tasks in a real context based on what we have called the upscaling technique, which consists of scaling the accessibility and knowledge of the context used. A study with two samples of grade 10 students, experimental and control, has allowed us to find out whether this sequence promotes success in solving complex contextualized estimation problems and whether it helps students to improve their mathematical models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to improving information technology, the growing complexity of research problems, and policies designed to foster interdisciplinary research, the practice of science in the United States has recently undergone significant structural change. Using a sample of 110 top US universities observed during the late 20th century we find that knowledge flows, both in total and in their major components, are a significant and positive determinant of research output. Outside knowledge-flows from other universities have increased at a faster rate than inside flows from the same university. Over time, the importance of outside flows for research output has risen, and it has done so at a faster rate than the importance of inside flows has decreased. Thus the overall contribution of knowledge-flows has increased and has shifted towards outside flows. Turning to knowledge-flows by field, we find that interdisciplinary knowledge-flows have increased only slightly relative to same field flows, despite policy initiatives that favor interdisciplinary research. Moreover, the importance of interdisciplinary flows for research output, while positive and statistically highly significant, has stayed about the same, even as same field flows have become more important, probably because of growth in cyber infrastructure. Although a final verdict is yet to be reached, one interpretation is that interdisciplinary research is still in its early stages. While interdisciplinary flows have begun to increase, the resulting discoveries, and their influence on subsequent research, may still lie in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper studies a continuous-time agency model in which the agent controls the drift of the geometric Brownian motion firm size. The changing firm size generates partial incentives, analogous to awarding the agent equity shares according to her continuation payoff. When the agent is as patient as investors, performance-based stock grants implement the optimal contract. Our model generates a leverage effect on the equity returns, and implies that the agency problem is more severe for smaller firms. That the empirical evidence shows that grants compensation are largely based on the CEO's historical performance--rather than current performance--lends support to our model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the use of bilevel optimization for model learning in variational imaging problems. Bilevel learning is an alternative approach to deep learning methods, which leads to fully interpretable models. However, it requires a detailed analytical insight into the underlying mathematical model. We focus on the bilevel learning problem for total variation models with spatially- and patch-dependent parameters. Our study encompasses the directional differentiability of the solution mapping, the derivation of optimality conditions, and the characterization of the Bouligand subdifferential of the solution operator. We also propose a two-phase trust-region algorithm for solving the problem and present numerical tests using the CelebA dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diverse manifestations of biological aging often reflect disparities in socioeconomic status (SES). In this paper, we examine associations between indicators of SES and an mRNA-based aging signature during young adulthood, before clinical indications of aging are common. We use data from wave V (2016–2018) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, a nationally representative study of adults aged 33–43 years, with transcriptomic data from a subset of 2,491 participants. Biological aging is measured using 1) a composite transcriptomic aging signature previously identified by Peters et al.'s out-of-sample meta-analysis (Nat Commun. 2015;6:8570) and 2) 9 subsets that represent functional pathways of coexpressed genes. SES refers to income, education, occupation, subjective social status, and a composite measure combining these 4 dimensions. We examine hypothesized mechanisms through which SES could affect aging: body mass index, smoking, health insurance status, difficulty paying bills, and psychosocial stress. We find that SES—especially the composite measure and income—is associated with transcriptomic aging and immune, mitochondrial, ribosomal, lysosomal, and proteomal pathways. Counterfactual mediational models suggest that the mediators partially account for these associations. The results thus reveal that numerous biological pathways associated with aging are already linked to SES in young adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]