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Correction to: Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) combined with unsupervised machine learning shows sensitivity to identify individuals in potential need for psychiatric assessment
Get PDFUpon an exchange with an expert researcher in the field of dynamic time warping (DTW) we implemented an additional step (‘z-normalization’) in the preprocessing pipeline of our ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data. This step is required in DTW analysis to capture similarities between temporal dynamics, i.e. similarities in the shape, rather than similarities in the absolute (mean) rating in the EMA trajectories. Even small differences in the scale or offset will reduce any similarity information encoded in the dynamic or shape of this trajectory. As an example, when using DTW we want to be able to recognize both 7 and 7, despite their differences in size (scale), similarly, as we want to be able to recognize 7 and 7, despite different offsets. Z-normalization of the EMA trajectories before applying DTW is essential as it removes differences in mean ratings between EMA trajectories and in this way identifies differences in rating dynamics [1]. Furthermore, it was necessary to adapt the clustering algorithm in order to be able to use distance matrices for clustering. We adapted the following aspects of the original pipeline: We implemented the aforementioned z-normalization as part of the preprocessing prior to application of DTW and the clustering algorithm. We adjusted the selection of the clustering algorithms to better fit the data and investigated the results with a hierarchical as well as the PAM (partitioning around medoids) clustering algorithm. We compared several cluster indices to decide which number of clusters was the most optimal for the data set. In the new analysis the PAM clustering algorithm also reveals a two-cluster solution as most stable (Jaccard indices: cluster 1 = 0.77; cluster 2 = 0.88). However, in contrast to previous results the cluster indices regarding the cluster number were inconsistent and did not indicate a clear number of clusters. In line with our previous results, one cluster (cluster 2) shows higher mean EMA symptom ratings than the other (cluster 1). Cluster 2 had significantly higher ratings on cross-sectional Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) ratings of general symptoms than cluster 1. However, the new cluster solution shows no differences on other PANSS scales and the self-report Community Assessment of Psychic Experience (CAPE) questionnaire (Fig. 1; Table 1). This study included three study groups in the clustering, i.e. outpatients diagnosed with a psychotic disorder (PD), healthy individuals (HC), and healthy individuals with a first-degree relative with psychosis (RE). All three study groups were represented in both clusters while most of PD (73%, N = 40) and RE (70%, N = 14) were assigned to cluster 2. We find no clear differentiation of RE from HC or PD in clusters across the investigated 7-day EMA rating period. Cluster characteristics. (A) We obtained a two-cluster solution with distinct characteristics in their EMA ratings. The Z-normalized EMA psychotic symptom scale data is shown in the left and the unscaled, i.e. raw data is shown in the right panel. Z-normalized psychotic symptom scores were used for clustering. (B) Clusters showed significantly different clinical scores on the PANSS general symptom scale (left), as well as on two of the individual PANSS items, suspiciousness (middle) and active social avoidance (right). (C) Additionally, the revised (z-normalized) clusters 1 and 2 showed significantly different mean EMA ratings of psychotic symptoms (left panel) but no significant difference with respect to within-subject EMA rating variance of these (right panel). Significances: * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001 Demographic and clinical cluster characteristics Cluster 1 (N = 34) Cluster 2 (N = 66) t value/chi2, F-value pfdr study groupa 15/6/13 40/14/12 4.861 0.704 age, mean (sd) 37.08 (9.31) 39.22 (11.58) -0.998 0.830 11 (39) 28 (74) 0.580 0.830 educational statusb 13/10/6/0/0/2 16/11/10/2/2/2 0.623 0.830 medication, n (%)c antipsychotic 14 (100) 35 (95) 0.788 0.830 antidepressant 3 (23) 12 (32) 0.401 0.838 benzodiazepine 0 (0) 5 (16) 1.806 0.830 mood stabilizers 0 (0) 1 (3) 0.331 0.999 positive symptoms, mean (sd) 11.73 (3.65) 15.13 (5.77) -2.570 0.061 negative symptoms, mean (sd) 12.40 (5.25) 16.36 (5.37) -2.467 0.076 general symptoms, mean (sd) 24.67 (4.37) 31.50 (7.28) -4.182 delusions (P1) 2.00 (1.25) 2.44 (1.37) -1.114 0.510 hallucinatory behavior (P3) 2.13 (1.60) 2.79 (1.70) -1.338 0.416 suspiciousness/persecution (P6) 2.20 (0.94) 3.12 (1.45) -2.758 emotional withdrawal (N2) 1.93 (1.22) 2.51 (1.35) -1.513 0.334 active social avoidance (A16) 1.53 (0.74) 2.64 (1.48) -3.636 CAPEd positive symptoms - freq, mean (sd) 1.47 (0.38) 1.65 (0.52) 1.543 0.435 positive symptoms - dis, mean (sd) 1.81 (0.61) 2.00 (0.71) 0.373 0.735 negative symptoms - freq, mean (sd) 1.72 (0.38) 1.97 (0.59) 2.395 0.326 negative symptoms - dis, mean (sd) 1.86 (0.61) 2.18 (0.61) 3.668 0.169 depressive symptoms - freq, mean (sd) 1.89 (0.55) 1.98 (0.62) 0.382 0.735 depressive symptoms - dis, mean (sd) 2.46 (0.69) 2.46 (0.66) 0.067 0.863 a: numbers correspond to PD/RE/HC b: numbers correspond to university/college/secondary school/primary school/other/none c = information on medication is based on PD individuals d = F- and p-values indicate the main effect for cluster; there were no significant interactions present Abbreviations: PANSS = Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale; CAPE = Community Assessment of Psychic Experience; freq = frequency; dis = distress; sd = standard deviation. Significant p values are in bold Due to the lack of z-normalization of our data in the original manuscript, DTW and therefore the clustering solution was skewed towards capturing differences between mean ratings of individuals and not as intended, capturing differences in the rating dynamics (‘shape’) of individuals. In the original results this was indicated by the finding that individuals assigned to cluster 1 show significantly higher mean average symptom ratings as compared to individuals assigned to cluster 2. In contrast, rating variance did not significantly differentiate the clusters. The high mean rating cluster (cluster 1) in return corresponded to the significantly higher cross-sectional ratings reported on the PANSS and CAPE questionnaire. After applying z-standardization, (1) cluster indices and cluster stability were inconsistent with respect to the optimal cluster solution for the current data and (2) the unsupervised machine learning did no longer identify individuals with distinct clinical characteristics in terms of positive and negative symptoms on the PANSS or CAPE. However, in contrast to our previous analysis we now found that individuals assigned to cluster 2 experienced higher general psychopathology. As for our previous analysis, differences on the single PANSS items of suspiciousness and active social avoidance emerged between the two clusters. Individuals in cluster 2 were further characterized by a specific pattern in their EMA ratings. However, as visible in Fig. 1C, it is likely that this effect was still driven by differences in the absolute mean EMA ratings and to a lesser extent by the rating dynamics. That is, in contrast to the original manuscript, we now need to conclude that the correspondence between positive and negative symptom ratings on cross-sectional clinical interview and questionnaire measures and the EMA rating dynamics, i.e. the shape and pattern of individual EMA ratings over time, is relatively low. However, we need to acknowledge that even after removing mean differences we still find significant differences between clusters with respect to EMA mean symptom ratings. Thus, clustering of the standardized EMA rating dynamics, seems to be less informative with respect to the overall severity of symptoms, as indicated in clinical interviews or questionnaires before the EMA rating period. In sum, our findings with z-standardized data do not support many of our original conclusions, which suggested that dynamics in EMA ratings correspond well to ratings of positive and negative symptoms in clinical assessments and questionnaires. However, they do not exclude the potential informativeness and clinical usefulness of characterizing dynamic patterns of EMA ratings, e.g. in relationship to relapse or to differences in perceived functional impairment of an individual which we did not investigate in the current study. Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Prof. Eamonn Keogh (University of California – Riverside) who provided helpful comments and constructive feedback and who supported us in applying the corrections to our data analysis
Towards Tailoring Ontology Embeddings for Ontology Matching Tasks
Get PDFOntology alignment becomes crucial for achieving semantic interoperability as the multiple ontologies representing the same domain are increasing. This paper introduces OWL2Vec4OA, an enhancement of the OWL2Vec* ontology embedding system. Although OWL2Vec* is a robust method for ontology embedding, it currently lacks specialization for ontology alignment tasks. OWL2Vec4OA addresses this limitation by incorporating confidence values from seed mappings to bias its random walk approach
Towards Computer-Using Personal Agents
Get PDFComputer-Using Agents (CUA) enable users to automate increasingly-complex tasks using graphical interfaces such as browsers. As many potential tasks require personal data, we propose Computer-Using Personal Agents (CUPAs) that have access to an external repository of the user's personal data. Compared with CUAs, CUPAs offer users better control of their personal data, the potential to automate more tasks involving personal data, better interoperability with external sources of data, and better capabilities to coordinate with other CUPAs in order to solve collaborative tasks involving the personal data of multiple users
Belonging: a meta-theme analysis of women’s community-making in group antenatal and postnatal care
Get PDFHealth care systems are social institutions simulating microcosms of wider societies where unequal distribution of power and resources translate into inequities in health outcomes, experiences and access to services. Growing research on participatory women’s groups positively highlights the influence of group-based care on health and wellbeing for women, their infants, families and wider communities across different countries. With similarities in ethos and philosophies, group care combines relational, group-based facilitation and clinical care, uniquely offering an opportunity to examine the intersections of health and social care. With collated data from Group Care for the First 1000 Days (GC_1000), we conducted a qualitative meta-thematic analysis of women’s experiences of group antenatal and postnatal care in Belgium, Ghana, Kosovo, The Netherlands, South Africa, Suriname and The United Kingdom to better understand how and to what extent community-making engenders a sense of belonging amongst group care participants and how these experiences may address social well-being and health. Results from this analysis expose that women actively participate in community building in group care in three key ways: (1) Collective agreements, (2) Boundary setting and (3) Care Gestures, orchestrated via socio-spatial building embedded in key pillars of the model. This analysis also illustrates how a sense of belonging derived from group care can mobilise women to support and care for the wider community through communal building of health literacy which builds from individual to communal empowerment: (1) Individual Health, (2) Community Health, (3) Partner Involvement, (4) Social Care and (5) Including Wider Community in Group Care. This research study builds upon existing evidence from both group care and participatory women’s group literature, showcasing the potential of group-based care to holistically address women’s needs. This research further illustrates the ways women create a sense of belonging in the context of group care and highlights why belonging may be an integral component of the model’s facilitation of improved health and well-being for individuals as well as their wider communities. More research is needed to understand the link between belonging and community mobilisation in the context of group care and how it may address the needs of underserved communities
Recalibration of perceived agency transfers across modalities
Get PDFWe experience our actions and their sensory consequences as synchronous despite small sensorimotor delays. This is attained by an adaptation process in which the sensorimotor system recalibrates temporal discrepancies between actions and their feedback, as long as causality is maintained (i.e., feedback follows action). Predictive motor mechanisms boost action-feedback binding, aiding in adaptation. Sensorimotor temporal recalibration is therefore closely linked with perceived control over the action and its sensory feedback (sense of agency, SoA). Interestingly, recalibration can also transfer to another sense, indicating a generalized mechanism that adjusts the timing of action-feedback events. It is unclear whether recalibration of perceived agency is driven by a similar mechanism. Here, we investigated cross-modal transfer of perceived agency and simultaneity in a sensorimotor recalibration task. In an adaptation phase, participants executed button presses leading to an immediate or lagged (150ms) occurrence of a Gabor patch. Subsequently, they were asked to make simultaneity or agency judgments for action-feedback pairs (Gabor patch or tone) with variable response-stimulus asynchronies (RSAs). We found adaptation of synchrony and agency judgments with transfer of recalibration for agency judgments. Our findings suggest flexible recalibration of perceived agency, suggesting SoA is not inferred solely on a match with modality-specific motor predictions
Mitigating Skin and Proximity Effect in High-Voltage Underground Segmented Cables Through Individually Insulating Conductor Strings
Get PDFHigh-voltage underground cables inevitably experience frequency-dependent electromagnetic (EM) losses, driven primarily by skin and proximity effects. These losses become more severe at higher harmonic frequencies, which are increasingly common in modern power networks. In traditional multi-segment cable designs, uninsulated conductor bundles enable large circular eddy current loops that elevate AC resistance and exacerbate both skin and proximity phenomena. This paper investigates the impact of introducing a thin insulating layer between individual conductor strings in a five-segment high-voltage cable model. Two insulation thicknesses, 75 µm and 100 µm, are examined via two-dimensional finite element (FE) harmonic analysis at 0, 50, 150, and 250 Hz. By confining eddy currents to smaller loops within each conductor, the insulating layer achieves up to a 60% reduction in AC losses compared to the baseline uninsulated model, lowering the ratio of AC to DC resistance from about 3.66 down to 1.47–1.49 at 250 Hz. The findings confirm that adding even a modest inter-strand insulation is highly effective at mitigating skin and proximity effects, with only marginal additional benefit from thicker insulation. Such designs offer improved energy efficiency and reduced thermal stress in underground cables, making them attractive for modern power distribution systems where harmonic content is pervasive
Collaborative market formation in transition economies
Get PDFPurpose
When markets and institutions fail, collaborative markets emerge where actors rely on each other to produce and consume goods and services they need. The purpose of this study is to explore the institutional work and conditions under which collaborative markets form, the role of market actors in them and their governance.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the market formation literature and institutional theory, this paper ethnographically explores the creation and development of a collaborative market for bread in the rural context of post-communist Albania. It qualitatively examines the socio-historic institutional context in which new collaborative markets are born, the market formation work and how they are governed.
Findings
This paper finds that collaborative market systems are born and continue to operate because of an institutional vacuum, the symbolic salience of their materiality (e.g. bread) and structural changes. Collaborative market work constitutes reviving, calibrating and preserving old, relational practices, institutions and governance structures from social exchange to the market. What governs such markets is a combination of personal interests with informal and relational accountability where trust and reputational norms are constantly evaluated, allowing the collaborative market to evolve.
Research limitations/implications
Theoretically, the study expands the notion of collaborative markets by examining how nonfirms/organizations work together to pool resources, renegotiate institutions and establish governance mechanisms.
Practical implications
In practice, this study can help market actors and regulators to understand how collaborative markets can offer more resilient solutions to macro institutional failures than a formal market.
Originality/value
This paper highlights the role of institutional context in fostering the need for a collaborative market formation. Distinct from other studies of market development in developed economies, it shows that market formation constitutes the revival of old, relational institutions that guide social exchange and its calibration for the new market context
Introducing the UNCIPPO (UN Civilian Posts in Peacekeeping Operations) Dataset
Get PDFThis research note presents a dataset on budgeted civilian personnel posts in UN peacekeeping operations by mission, unit, rank, and staff category in the 1991–2020 period: the UNCIPPO (UN Civilian Posts in Peacekeeping Operations) Dataset. Civilian staff in UN peacekeeping operations include specialists in political affairs, human rights, gender, child protection, electoral support, security sector reform, strategic communications, and information analysis, among others. Our coding of almost three hundred UN budget documents reveals what kinds of civilian posts member states agree to fund. UNCIPPO data also permit more nuanced analyses of the impact of civilian personnel on mission effectiveness. We illustrate this by re-examining Blair, Di Salvatore, and Smidt's (2023) study of the effect of civilian staff on host country democratization, showing that the observed effect is driven by international staff—countering a surprising negative national staff effect—and that staff in units with democracy-related tasks contribute more significantly to this effect than staff in other units. The dataset opens new avenues for research on peacekeeping operations (for example, on peacekeeping resourcing and effectiveness) and IOs more generally (for instance, on the politics of budgeting, the growth of transnational expertise, and the profiles of international bureaucrats)
Neonatal Nurses’ Understanding of the Factors That Enhance and Hinder Early Communication Between Preterm Infants and Their Parents: A Narrative Inquiry Study
Get PDFBackground
Infants born preterm are at high risk of facing difficulties with acquiring speech, language and communication skills. Research on the direct benefits of parent–infant communication in neonatal units is limited. This study recognises that although neonatal nurses regard early communication as important, there is scope to develop a wider range of resources to help support professionals’ understanding of the importance of communication in neonatal care.
Aim
To explore neonatal nurses’ understanding of factors that can enable or hinder early communication and interaction between preterm infants and parents within a neonatal unit setting.
Methods and Procedures
This study employed a narrative inquiry approach with nine neonatal nurses, selected through purposive sampling. Narrative interviews investigated nurses’ views and understanding of the enablers and challenges to communication in this patient group, along with their role in enhancing early communication between infants and parents. Data reporting was undertaken using the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Studies (COREQ), aligning with Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency of Health Research () framework.
Outcomes and Results
Narrative analysis revealed the following four themes: the importance of education and experience in neonatal care; supporting parents of infants receiving neonatal care; encouraging communication strategies; the impact of limiting parental presence and wearing facemasks.
Conclusions and Implications
Neonatal nurses commented that using early communication strategies with infants and supporting parents to learn how to communicate directly with their infant is essential. However, none were able to fully describe the key components of early communication from a linguistic perspective, nor give specific examples beyond skin‐to‐skin care, bonding, reading infant cues and hearing familial voices during conversation and reading. Although these are very important antecedent skills that provide a framework for developing communication, they are not always a direct means to enhance language development specifically. As preterm infants are at high risk of altered language and communication development, a real need exists for neonatal nurses to develop linguistically rooted methods to support communication for parents and their infants, in conjunction with allied healthcare professionals such as speech and language therapists. This support can enable the development of positive communication, enriched and extended after leaving the neonatal unit.
WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS
What is already known on the subject
Encouraging and supporting parents to learn to develop early communication and interaction skills with their preterm infants, when experiencing neonatal care, is recognised as being important; previous research has clearly identified these infants as being at high risk of speech, language and communication difficulties. These complications, if they arise, are known to impact future outcomes, including educational achievements along with social and friendship skills. Neonatal nurses in conjunction with key allied healthcare professionals such as speech and language therapists are in a prime position to support parents in this vital area of care.
What this paper adds to existing knowledge
Our study highlights that although neonatal nurses regard early communication as an important part of their role, it identifies a need for them to be further informed and educated about the specifics of early communication, the associated risks and the potential impact on language that poor, unenriched communication environments can lead to. Importantly, although some studies have investigated aspects of early preterm infant–parent interaction, there is still a need for further in‐depth investigation into early parent communication confidence and skills, particularly in relation to supporting linguistic development by neonatal nurses and allied healthcare professionals, including speech and language therapists.
What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?
Collaboration between neonatal nurses and other professionals, in particular speech and language therapists, is essential so that preterm infants and their families can experience language‐rich learning environments within a neonatal unit; parents can then be supported to use tailored strategies to enable positive language experiences when discharged home. Speech and language therapists working with neonatal nurses can substantially enhance the quality of infant–parent interactions in neonatal environments through direct modelling, education and the creation of resources for both families and neonatal staff, which includes accurate information related to a linguistic framework, on which future work will focus and investigate further
Using Bell violations as an indicator for financial crisis
Get PDFThe failure to identify and measure financial risk carries significant social and economic consequences. This paper introduces a novel framework for analyzing financial stress and crises, based on the Bell inequalities, a foundational framework in analysis, originally developed in quantum mechanics. Traditional approaches to crisis analysis do not, in general, adequately represent event-based dependencies and the distribution of tail risks inherent in complex financial systems. The proposed approach is underwritten by a generic framework, which we think is suitable for financial analysis: we offer an index for financial stress and we explore its value in detecting extreme market co-movements, which may serve as an early crisis warning signal.
Our analyses employ a rolling-window approach to analyze financial time series data. We utilize S&P 500 and STOXX Europe 600 stocks and consider three historical crises, namely the 2008 financial crisis, the EU debt crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, which mark some of the largest downturns of financial markets in the last two decades. The findings demonstrate the framework’s ability to align the number of observed Bell inequalities violations with observed peaks in market stress. In particular, the framework shows good performance against CDS spreads as a crisis indicator and is less erratic than the traditional Pearson correlation of price returns. It aligns well with implied equity option volatility as measured by VIX. Overall, we think the present framework has promising properties and merits further examination
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