Showing papers by "University of Bedfordshire published in 2022"

Confucianism and IPO underpricing

Abstract: Previous studies show culture has an impact on IPO underpricing. Can Confucianism being a traditional culture system in China affect underpricing of Chinese IPOs? If yes, through what channels? This paper affirms the impact of Confucianism on IPO underpricing using a large sample in China. Results show that Confucianism can reduce IPO underpricing. This effect is more pronounced for non-state-owned firms and firms located in regions with weak investor protection. To investigate which channels of Confucianism affecting underpricing, we find that Confucianism can improve financial reporting quality and stock price informativeness, which is consistent with information asymmetry channel. We also find that Confucianism at underwriter's headquarter can decrease issuing firms' underpricing, consistent with rent seeking channel. We also find that Confucianism can reduce managers' agency costs, which is consistent with agency cost channel. Our results hold after considering alternative proxies for underpricing and proxies for Confucianism, controlling for the influence of formal institutions or other informal institutions, and employing instrumental variables in two-stage least squares regression.

The Effectiveness of a Self-management Program of Bowel Dysfunction in Patients With Mid and Low Rectal Cancer After Sphincter-Preserving Surgery

Abstract: Background Most patients with mid and low rectal cancer passively react to bowel symptoms after sphincter-preserving surgery (SPS), and their self-management behaviors are scarce in the Chinese patient population. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a self-management program for bowel symptoms in patients with mid and low rectal cancer after SPS. Methods A convenient sampling method was used to recruit patients with mid and low rectal cancer after SPS in gastric wards from 2 tertiary hospitals in Beijing, China. Ninety-five patients (intervention, n = 47; control, n = 48) were recruited. The intervention group received a predetermined self-management program plus routine postoperative care; the control group received only routine care in the ward. Data on patients’ bowel symptoms, quality of life, and bowel symptom self-management behaviors were collected at baseline and at 3 and 6 months postoperatively using questionnaires. A generalized estimating equation was adopted to examine group effect and time effect. Results Bowel symptoms and quality of life in both the intervention and control groups of patients improved significantly 6 months after SPS compared with baseline (time effect, P < .001). The total score of patients’ bowel symptom self-management behaviors and the score of the therapeutic domain increased significantly in the intervention group compared with those in the control group (group effect, P = .009). Conclusions Self-management programs could help prompt patients’ self-management behaviors, but the extent to which they impact patients’ bowel symptoms requires further investigation. Implications for Practice The bowel dysfunction self-management program could alter the behavior of patients. It also effectively improves self-management strategies for bowel symptoms.

Single-cell patterning regulation by physically modified silicon nanostructures

Abstract: Chemically and biologically modified substrates for single-cell patterning have been studied extensively, but physically modified structures for single-cell patterning still need further study. In this paper, physically modified silicon nanostructures were introduced to study their effect on SHSY5Y cells. Double-beam double exposure laser interference lithography combined with metal-assisted etching (MACE) was used to fabricate the physically modified silicon nanostructures. It was found that the cells on the gratings stretched and grew orderly along the grating with a small cell area and almost the same cell length compared with those on the Si wafer (control group). While on the grids, the cells were round with limited spreading, grew independently and had the smallest cell area and cell length. Moreover, the localization ratio of cells adhered onto the areas of nanopillars in the grid structures with different periods has been investigated. The results suggest that the physically modified grid silicon nanostructures can regulate the single-cell localization growth and the rational design of substrate structures can maximize the single-cell localization ratio. The findings provide guidance for the design of physically modified nanostructures and regulating single cell patterning, and a better understanding of single-cell localized growth.

A new approach with a novel silicone adhesive stoma bag: a clinical study on peristomal skin and quality of life

Abstract: The care of peristomal skin is a major challenge for people living with a stoma, as well as stoma care nurses. Peristomal skin complications include medical adhesive-related skin injuries/skin stripping, moisture-associated skin damage and contact dermatitis. There is also a limited choice of hydrocolloid adhesive stoma bags. This article reports on the introduction of Genii™, a new stoma bag that sticks with a unique breathable silicone adhesive. The study investigated the experiences of 61 colostomates over a 6-week period, examining the effect on their peristomal skin and their quality of life, in terms of sleep, self-image, social confidence and exercise, and overall product performance. The majority of study participants reported a positive experience when using the stoma bag.

Policing County Lines: Responses to Evolving Provincial Drug Markets. By Jack Spicer (Springer, 2021, 253pp, £74.99 hbk)

Abstract: The meteoric rise of county lines as a policy issue since 2015 has too often been dominated by sensationalist headlines, leaving the issue misrepresented and misunderstood. It is in this context that Policing County Lines: Responses to Evolving Provincial Drug Markets provides a welcome grounding in the day-to-day realities of the law enforcement response to the issue. The origins of ‘county lines’ as a phenomenon are excavated by Spicer in detail. In essence, the term refers to a distinct model of drug distribution consisting of those involved in the supply of drugs travelling out from urban centres to sell in coastal, rural and market towns. Through a detailed ethnographic examination of responses to county lines in local policing, Spicer interweaves a micro-level analysis of the practicalities, concerns and constraints of everyday police work, with a wider exploration of the symbolic function of police responses to county lines as an increasingly...

Review on Pneumonia Image Detection: A Machine Learning Approach

Abstract: Abstract This paper surveys and examines how computer-aided techniques can be deployed in detecting pneumonia. It also suggests a hybrid model that can effectively detect pneumonia while using the real-time medical image data in a privacy-preserving manner. This paper will explore how various preprocessing techniques such as X-rays can detect and classify multiple diseases. The survey also examines how different machine learning technologies like convolution neural network (CNN), k-nearest neighbor (KNN), RESNET, CheXNet, DECNET and artificial neural network (ANN) can be used in detecting pneumonia disease. In this article, we have performed a comprehensive review of the literature to find how we can combine hospitals and medical institutions to train the machine learning models from their datasets so that the ML algorithms can detect disease more efficiently and correctly. We have proposed the future work of using transfer learning combined with federated knowledge that could help the medical institutions and hospitals form a combined approach of performing medical image detection using real-time datasets. We have also explored the scope, future work and limitations of the proposed solution.

The CARESSES trial and results

Abstract: This chapter describes the final stages of the H2020 CARESSES research project which aimed to develop and evaluate a culturally competent artificial intelligent system embedded into social robots to support the well-being of older adults residing in long-term care settings in England and Japan. The chapter describes the aims of the trial phase of this project and the trial design including the methods used for screening, recruitment, data collection, and ethical considerations. It then presents the key quantitative results of the trial pertaining to perceived cultural competence, mental and physical health-related impact, user satisfaction, and attitudes. An assessment of the trial feasibility is also described as well as the trial’s key methodological limitations.

Progress for whom, toward what? Progressive politics and New York City's Mandatory Inclusionary Housing

Abstract: In both its historical Progressive Era roots and its contemporary manifestations, US urban progressivism has evinced a contradictory tendency toward promoting the interests of capital and property while ostensibly protecting labor and tenants, thus producing policies that undermine its central claims. This article interrogates past and present appeals to urban progressive politics, particularly around housing and planning, and offers an in-depth case study of one of the most highly touted examples of the new urban progressivism: New York City's recently adopted Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program. This case serves to identify the ways in which progressive rhetoric can disguise neoliberal policies. The article concludes with a discussion of legally viable housing policy alternatives that would challenge inequalities without producing gentrification. Given neoprogressivism's ideological slipperiness, it is crucial for analysts, policymakers, and social movement actors to look beyond rhetorical claims to “progressive” politics and ask the questions: progress for whom, toward what?

Enhancing cardiometabolic health through physical activity and breakfast manipulations in children and adolescents: good for humans, good for the planet

Abstract: The human health benefits of cardiometabolic disease prevention can be accompanied by planetary co-benefits. Focusing efforts towards young people, including children and adolescents, is conducive to disease prevention. In the context of cardiometabolic disease prevention, this review paper critically summarises the available literature on the acute cardiometabolic responses to physical activity and breakfast manipulations among young people. Given the seriousness of global climate change, which will disproportionally affect our younger generations, this review paper offers new insights into the inherent interactions between child–adolescent behaviour and cardiometabolic health from an environmental sustainability perspective to aid climate change mitigation efforts, including exploring future research avenues. A growing evidence base suggests acute moderate- to high-intensity exercise bouts can attenuate postprandial plasma glucose, insulin and triacylglycerol concentrations for up to 24–48 h in young people. Whether accumulating physical activity throughout the day with short, frequent bouts promotes cardiometabolic risk marker attenuations is unclear. Breakfast consumption may enhance free-living physical activity and reduce glycaemic responses to subsequent meals for a possible additive impact. If repeated habitually, attenuations in these cardiometabolic risk factors would be conducive to disease prevention, reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with disease diagnosis and treatment. To progress current understanding with high public health and planetary relevance, research among samples of ‘at risk’ young people that span cellular-level responses to ecologically valid settings and address human and planetary health co-benefits is needed. Indeed, certain physical activity opportunities, such as active travel to school, offer important direct co-benefits to humans and planetary health.

#WakeUpIrishPoetry

Abstract: There are many ways in which formal austerity measures can be seen to have impacted the ability of women in Ireland to participate freely in the arts. But these measures are only the latest in a culture of exclusion that has been in place since before the formation of the Irish state. Just as with issues of healthcare and more general inclusivity, current issues of exclusion in the Irish arts can be seen to be that much worse because of the unaddressed problems that predated their emergence. This chapter examines, using alternating reflexive and analytical-critical passages, the problematic cultural history and the development of several grassroots feminist activist movements within the Irish arts which work to challenge it.

Waste not, want not

Abstract: poem

Behavior-neutral Smart Charging of Plugin Electric Vehicles: Reinforcement learning approach

Abstract: High-powered electric vehicle (EV) charging can significantly increase charging costs due to peak-demand charges. This paper proposes a novel charging algorithm which exploits typically long plugin sessions for domestic chargers and reduces the overall charging power by boost charging the EV for a short duration, followed by low-power charging for the rest of the plugin session. The optimal parameters for boost and low-power charging phases are obtained using reinforcement learning by training on EV’s past charging sessions. Compared to some prior work, the proposed algorithm does not attempt to predict the plugin session duration, which can be difficult to accurately predict in practice due to the nature of human behavior, as shown in the analysis. Instead, the charging parameters are controlled directly and are adapted transparently to the user’s charging behavior over time. The performance evaluation on a UK dataset of 3.1 million charging sessions from 22,731 domestic charge stations, demonstrates that the proposed algorithm results in 31% of aggregate peak reduction. The experiments also demonstrate the impact of history size on learning behavior and conclude with a case study by applying the algorithm to a specific charge point.