User Feedback on Celebratory Technology Model for Reducing Stigma

Social stigma is a complex manifestation that affects humanity, particularly individuals with disabilities and other marginalized groups, including those with physical, cognitive, and emotional conditions. Society often judges these individuals\u27 interactions with the world, and many technologies designed to assist those with disabilities attempt to change their daily interactions and behaviors. Nonetheless, when the emphasis is placed on validating disabled identities, there is a potential for it to be seen as inspiration porn. This approach might inadvertently reduce inclusivity and do little to challenge negative stereotypes; it can also lead to the objectification of individuals with disabilities. Therefore, this project presents the notion of Celebratory Technologies for Neurodiversity, which aims to promote inclusivity and empower stigmatized individuals. This concept strives to level the playing field, rather than serving as a solitary source of inspiration for nondisabled observers. In this context, a Figma diagram and a user survey were created using Maze to gather feedback from students at Chapman University on the concept of Celebratory Technology. This valuable input will help refine and develop Celebratory Technologies for Neurodiversity, drawing upon social change frameworks, principles of the Neurodiversity movement, and insights from marginalized groups on how to reduce stigma. The Figma prototype introduces Celebratory Technology in the form of a colorful visual representation of the participants’ answers to a personality survey, with the goal of showcasing users from different backgrounds and identities in an abstract way. This in turn has a goal of celebrating uniqueness and individuality without implementing labels or alienation. This project serves as a preliminary step in introducing Celebratory Technology and aims to expand the conversation of ways to mitigate social stigma. Initial suggestions for creating supportive Celebratory Technologies for Neurodiversity are provided in this project

The NIH-NIAID Filariasis Research Reagent Resource Center

Filarial worms cause a variety of tropical diseases in humans; however, they are difficult to study because they have complex life cycles that require arthropod intermediate hosts and mammalian definitive hosts. Research efforts in industrialized countries are further complicated by the fact that some filarial nematodes that cause disease in humans are restricted in host specificity to humans alone. This potentially makes the commitment to research difficult, expensive, and restrictive. Over 40 years ago, the United States National Institutes of Health–National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH-NIAID) established a resource from which investigators could obtain various filarial parasite species and life cycle stages without having to expend the effort and funds necessary to maintain the entire life cycles in their own laboratories. This centralized resource (The Filariasis Research Reagent Resource Center, or FR3) translated into cost savings to both NIH-NIAID and to principal investigators by freeing up personnel costs on grants and allowing investigators to divert more funds to targeted research goals. Many investigators, especially those new to the field of tropical medicine, are unaware of the scope of materials and support provided by the FR3. This review is intended to provide a short history of the contract, brief descriptions of the fiilarial species and molecular resources provided, and an estimate of the impact the resource has had on the research community, and describes some new additions and potential benefits the resource center might have for the ever-changing research interests of investigators

What Future for LEADER as a Catalyst of Social Innovation?

The LEADER Approach was initially designed to promote innovation in European rural areas by sustaining a bottom-up approach to local development. Nowadays the LEADER Approach includes elements that are generally considered to support social innovation. Classical features of the LEADER Approach \u2013 for example, area-based development strategies and cooperation and networking \u2013 are considered catalysts of social innovation as well. By drawing on key elements which support social innovation, the chapter discusses the future role of the LEADER Approach and Local Action Groups, and debates the challenges and potentials of the new rural development policy within emerging social, environmental and economic needs

Quantum Gravity in 2+1 Dimensions: The Case of a Closed Universe

In three spacetime dimensions, general relativity drastically simplifies, becoming a ``topological'' theory with no propagating local degrees of freedom. Nevertheless, many of the difficult conceptual problems of quantizing gravity are still present. In this review, I summarize the rather large body of work that has gone towards quantizing (2+1)-dimensional vacuum gravity in the setting of a spatially closed universe.Comment: 61 pages, draft of review for Living Reviews; comments, criticisms, additions, missing references welcome; v2: minor changes, added reference

Major Radiodiagnostic Imaging in Pregnancy and the Risk of Childhood Malignancy: A Population-Based Cohort Study in Ontario

In a record-linkage study, Joel Ray and colleagues examine the association between diagnostic imaging during pregnancy and later childhood cancers

Validation of a method for identifying nursing home admissions using administrative claims

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Currently there is no standard algorithm to identify whether a subject is residing in a nursing home from administrative claims. Our objective was to develop and validate an algorithm that identifies nursing home admissions at the resident-month level using the MarketScan Medicare Supplemental and Coordination of Benefit (COB) database.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The computer algorithms for identifying nursing home admissions were created by using provider type, place of service, and procedure codes from the 2000 – 2002 MarketScan Medicare COB database. After the algorithms were reviewed and refined, they were compared with a detailed claims review by an expert reviewer. A random sample of 150 subjects from the claims was selected and used for the validity analysis of the algorithms. Contingency table analysis, comparison of mean differences, correlations, and t-test analyses were performed. Percentage agreement, sensitivity, specificity, and Kappa statistics were analyzed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The computer algorithm showed strong agreement with the expert review (99.9%) for identification of the first month of nursing home residence, with high sensitivity (96.7%), specificity (100%) and a Kappa statistic of 0.97. Weighted Pearson correlation coefficient between the algorithm and the expert review was 0.97 (<it>p </it>< 0.0001).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A reliable algorithm indicating evidence of nursing home admission was developed and validated from administrative claims data. Our algorithm can be a useful tool to identify patient transitions from and to nursing homes, as well as to screen and monitor for factors associated with nursing home admission and nursing home discharge.</p