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A machine-learning approach to estimating public intentions to become a living kidney donor in England:Evidence from repeated cross-sectional survey data
Get PDFBACKGROUND: Living kidney organ donors offer a cost-effective alternative to deceased organ donation. They enable patients with life-threatening conditions to receive grafts that would otherwise not be available, thereby creating space for other patients waiting for organs and contributing to reducing overall waiting times for organs. There is an emerging consensus that an increase in living donation could contribute even more than deceased donation to reducing inequalities in organ donation between different population sub-groups in England. Increasing living donation is thus a priority for National Health Service Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) in the United Kingdom.METHODS: Using the random forest model, a machine learning (ML) approach, this study analyzed eight waves of repeated cross-sectional survey data collected from 2017 to 2021 (n = 14,278) as part of the organ donation attitudinal tracker survey commissioned by NHSBT in England to identify and help predict key factors that inform public intentions to become living donors.RESULTS: Overall, around 58.8% of the population would consider donating their kidney to a family member (50.5%), a friend (28%) or an unknown person (13.2%). The ML algorithm identified important factors that influence intentions to become a living kidney donor. They include, in reducing order of importance, support for organ donation, awareness of organ donation publicity campaigns, gender, age, occupation, religion, number of children in the household, and ethnic origin. Support for organ donation, awareness of public campaigns, and being younger were all positively associated with predicted propensity for living donation. The variable importance scores show that ethnic origin and religion were less important than the other variables in predicting living donor intention.CONCLUSION: Factors influencing intentions to become a living donor are complex and highly individual in nature. Machine learning methods that allow for complex interactions between characteristics can be helpful in explaining these decisions. This work has identified important factors and subgroups that have higher propensity for living donation. Interventions should target both potential live donors and recipients. Research is needed to explore the extent to which these preferences are malleable to better understand what works and in which contexts to increase live organ donation.</p
Is there a link between intelligence and lying?
Get PDFIn this paper we study the link between intelligence and lying. This is done under two distinct experimental paradigms: the die rolling paradigm, and the mind game paradigm. We compare the behaviour of subjects conditional on their intelligence in each of these paradigms when lying benefits the subject who lies (Selfish treatment) or a charitable cause (Charity treatment). We report some evidence that lying increases when it benefits a charitable cause, and limited evidence that more intelligent individuals increase lying when doing so benefits a charity. Our results are consistent with models of self–image concerns, and could have important implications for the existing lying literature
A qualitative evidence synthesis of patient perspectives on migraine treatment features and outcomes
Get PDFAbstractObjectivesWe aimed to identify migraine treatment features preferred by patients and treatment outcomes most valued by patients.BackgroundThe values and preferences of people living with migraine are critical for both the choice of acute therapy and management approach of migraine.MethodsWe conducted a qualitative evidence synthesis. Two reviewers independently selected studies, appraised methodological quality, and undertook a framework synthesis. We developed summary of findings tables following the approach of Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations Confidence in the Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative Research to assess confidence in the findings.ResultsOf 1691 candidate references, we included 19 studies (21 publications) involving 459 patients. The studies mostly recruited White women from North America (11 studies) and Europe (8 studies). We identified eight themes encompassing features preferred by patients in a migraine treatment process. Themes described a treatment process that included shared decision‐making, a tailored approach, trust in health‐care professionals, sharing of knowledge and diversity of treatment options, a holistic approach that does not just address the headache, ease of communication especially for complex treatments, a non‐undermining approach, and reciprocity with mutual respect between patient and provider. In terms of the treatment itself, seven themes emerged including patients’ preferences for nonpharmacologic treatment, high effectiveness, rapidity of action, long‐lasting effect, lower cost and more accessibility, self‐management/self‐delivery option that increases autonomy, and a mixed preference for abortive versus prophylactic treatments. The treatment outcomes that have high value to patients included maintaining or improving function; avoiding side effects, potential for addiction to medications, and pain reoccurrence; and avoiding non‐headache symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light or sounds.ConclusionPatient values and preferences were individually constructed, varied widely, and could be at odds with conventional medical perspectives and evidence of treatment effects. Considering the availability of numerous treatments for acute migraine, it is necessary that decision‐making incorporates patient values and preferences identified in qualitative research. The findings of this qualitative synthesis can be used to facilitate an individually tailored approach, strengthen the patient–health‐care system relationship, and guide choices and decisions in the context of a clinical encounter or a clinical practice guideline
The “Living Law” 100 years after Eugen Ehrlich:Two Workshops in Paris and Frankfurt
Get PDFMany excellent scholars stood at the cradle of sociology of law, but, with Klaus F. Röhl, it can be said that Ehrlich’s book “Grundlagen der Soziologie des Rechts” (“Foundations of the Sociology of Law” in Moll’s English translation) forms the “foundation document” of our subject discipline. In September 2022, 100 years after his death, two conferences were organized to celebrate Ehrlich’s work to take stock, and assess its relevance for the future. One of the conferences was organised at the Sorbonne University in Paris, the other at the Max-Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory in Frankfurt-on-Main. All in all, both conferences reflect a renewed interest in the works of Eugen Ehrlich, its predecessors, contemporary relations, and the fluctuating and selective impact of his work
New Impulses for Disability Studies: Bringing Together the Frankfurt School’s Critical Theory, Foucault’s Theory of Power, and Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Feminism as Responses to the Postmodern Critique of the Social Model of Disability
Get PDFA hierarchical sensorimotor control framework for human-in-the-loop robotic hands
Get PDFHuman manual dexterity relies critically on touch. Robotic and prosthetic hands are much less dexterous and make little use of the many tactile sensors available. We propose a framework modeled on the hierarchical sensorimotor controllers of the nervous system to link sensing to action in human-in-the-loop, haptically enabled, artificial hands
Bycatch in northeast Atlantic lobster and crab pot fisheries (Irish Sea, Celtic Sea and Bristol Channel)
Get PDFBycatch in valuable NE Atlantic baited ‘pot’ fisheries for lobster Homarus gammarus and edible crab Cancer pagurus has not been well documented, potentially limiting evidence-based management. Using onboard observers supplemented by fishers’ ecological knowledge (FEK) we characterised bycatch of fish and larger invertebrates in 10,741 pot hauls around the coast of Wales, UK, over 4 years in all seasons. A total of 1529 fish from 30 species, and around 15 species of invertebrate, were recorded. Bycatch abundance varied seasonally and spatially and was dominated by eight common and widespread taxa comprising six ‘core’ fish (two catsharks: bullhuss (Scyliorhinus stellaris) and smallspotted catshark (S. canicula); ballan wrasse Labrus bergylta, sea scorpions (Myoxocephalus scorpius & Taurulus bubalis combined), three-bearded rockling Gaidropsarus vulgaris, conger eel Conger conger, together 86% of fish abundance), velvet swimming crab Necora puber and spider crab Maja brachydactyla. Commercially important fish species were only caught in low numbers (3.0% of all fish), with cod Gadus morhua the most frequent (1.8% of all fish). Only two species of conservation interest were recorded: the large catshark Scyliorhinus stellaris which is locally abundant (assessed by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as ‘Near Threatened’ and ‘Vulnerable to extinction’ at European and global scales respectively), and a single legally retained spiny lobster Palinurus elephas. Retention or live release status was recorded for nearly all (96%) of the core fish individuals and varied widely with taxa: sea scorpions (never retained), Scyliorhinus stellaris (13% retained), smallspotted catshark, three-bearded rockling, conger eel (44–59% retained), with ballan wrasse having the highest retention (90% of 242 individuals; average of 5.5 individuals retained per trip when present). Observed high spider crab abundance combined with FEK of previous absence or scarcity suggest that this species has increased in northwards range and abundance in recent decades, possibly because of warming seas. No incidents of in-pot mammal or bird entrapment were recorded. The retention of fish for bait is not currently acknowledged in consumer advice or landings data. Possible effects of bait retention on populations of data-poor species which may be vulnerable to overexploitation (e.g., long-lived ballan wrasse) and coastal ecosystems are unknown and warrant further research
Which regions of European waters exhibit the highest risk for harbour porpoises from marine pollutants?
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Introducing a common taxonomy to support learning from failure in conservation
Get PDFAlthough some sectors have made significant progress in learning from failure, there is currently limited consensus on how a similar transition could best be achieved in conservation and what is required to facilitate this. One of the key enabling conditions for other sectors is a widely accepted and standardized classification system for identifying and analyzing root causes of failure. We devised a comprehensive taxonomy of root causes of failure affecting conservation projects. To develop this, we solicited examples of real-life conservation efforts that were deemed to have failed in some way, identified their underlying root causes of failure, and used these to develop a generic, 3-tier taxonomy of the ways in which projects fail, at the top of which are 6 overarching cause categories that are further divided into midlevel cause categories and specific root causes. We tested the taxonomy by asking conservation practitioners to use it to classify the causes of failure for conservation efforts they had been involved in. No significant gaps or redundancies were identified during this testing phase. We then analyzed the frequency that particular root causes were encountered by projects within this test sample, which suggested that some root causes were more likely to be encountered than others and that a small number of root causes were more likely to be encountered by projects implementing particular types of conservation action. Our taxonomy could be used to improve identification, analysis, and subsequent learning from failed conservation efforts, address some of the barriers that currently limit the ability of conservation practitioners to learn from failure, and contribute to establishing an effective culture of learning from failure within conservation.</p