An experience selecting quality features of apps for people with disabilities using abductive approach to explanatory theory generation

This study determines one of the most relevant quality factors of apps for people with disabilities utilizing the abductive approach to the generation of an explanatory theory. First, the abductive approach was concerned with the results’ description, established by the apps’ quality assessment, using the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS) tool. However, because of the restrictions of MARS outputs, the identification of critical quality factors could not be established, requiring the search for an answer for a new rule. Finally, the explanation of the case (the last component of the abductive approach) to test the rule’s new hypothesis. This problem was solved by applying a new quantitative model, compounding data mining techniques, which identified MARS’ most relevant quality items. Hence, this research defines a much-needed theoretical and practical tool for academics and also practitioners. Academics can experiment utilizing the abduction reasoning procedure as an alternative to achieve positivism in research. This study is a first attempt to improve the MARS tool, aiming to provide specialists relevant data, reducing noise effects, accomplishing better predictive results to enhance their investigations. Furthermore, it offers a concise quality assessment of disability-related apps.

Tailored mHealth intervention for improving treatment adherence for people living with HIV in Iran (HamRaah): protocol for a feasibility study and randomised pilot trial with a nested realist evaluation

IntroductionMiddle East and North Africa (MENA) has a rising rate of new HIV infections and AIDS-related mortality. Consistent adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) leads to viral suppression, preventing HIV transmission and treatment failure. mHealth interventions can improve ART adherence by providing tailored support and directing patients to existing healthcare services. HamRaah (Persian for ‘together-in-path’) is the first mHealth-based intervention in a MENA country and is designed to improve adherence through two-way mobile messaging for people recently diagnosed with HIV in Tehran, Iran. The objectives of this pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) are to examine the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effectiveness of HamRaah, and to develop an explanatory theory for any observed effects through a nested realist evaluation.MethodsA feasibility study and two-arm RCT of HamRaah, with an embedded realist evaluation will be conducted. Participants will be randomised 1:1 to HamRaah or routine care for a 6-month intervention. The initial effectiveness of HamRaah will be assessed through the primary outcome of self-reported ART adherence and several secondary outcomes: retention in care, CD4 count and viral suppression. A theory-driven realist evaluation framework will be used to develop an explanatory theory regarding what works, for whom, how and in what context.Ethics and disseminationThe study received ethical clearance from Tehran University of Medical Sciences Ethics Committee and Oxford Tropical Research Ethics Committee People living with HIV in Tehran and key country stakeholders in HIV policy and programming have been involved in the development of HamRaah and this pilot trial. Participants will provide informed consent prior to study enrolment. The results will be disseminated to all stakeholders and presented in peer-reviewed journal publications and conferences.Trial registration numberIRCT20100601004076N23; Pre-results.

The Additions of the Greek Book(s) of Esther

One of the main issues with the Additions to the Greek version of Esther is that it needs to explain the relation between the Additions and the core text of the Esther story as present in the Old Greek or the Septuagint. For instance, with regard to Additions B and E, it has to be explained how the surrounding text after 3:13 and 8:13 was adapted to fit the contents of B and E, respectively. Similarly, with regard to Addition D, any explanatory theory needs to show how the text of 5:1–2 was rewritten in both the Old Greek (OG) and the Alpha Text (AT) to become what is now Addition C. Given the complexity of the relationship between the Masoretic Text, OG, and AT (and the daughter versions) and the similarities and the differences between the text of the Additions in the OG and the AT, an all-explaining theory remains a desideratum.

Digitalization of Education as a Trigger for Changes in Educational Relations

The topic of the presented study is relevant due to a new trend in the development of the education system – digitalization of education, which changes the paradigm of educational relations. Digitalization of the economy in general and education in particular declared in federal strategic documents over the last two decades and until 2024 has been unexpectedly boosted by the quarantine measures taken in spring 2020 and the mass transition of the participants of educational relations into the online format. This topic requires special consideration due to its uniqueness in the context of transforming relations in any field of human activity, especially in the context of human relations transitioning from the analog offline world to the online domain.Aim. The study aims to present theories explaining the changes in educational relations in digital reality and to empirically assess the level of preparedness/unpreparedness of the subjects of educational relations for actual changes in their roles required for constructive digital interaction.Tasks. The authors select theoretical grounds for explaining changes in the educational relations between subjects in the context of digitalization; determine the ideas of participants about the phenomenon of “digitalization of education”; analyze the results of surveys in the logic of expectations of respondents with different characteristics from digitalization of education; compare the results of surveys addressing the problem of digitalization of education before and after the mass transition of school education into online mode.Methods. This study includes a theoretical and an empirical part. The search for an explanatory theory of changes in educational relations focuses on the theoretical substantiation of the phenomenon of changes on the one hand, and on empirical substantiation of the existing problem of a blurry vision of school stakeholders about the phenomenon of digitalization of education on the other hand. The empirical part includes a fragment of a three-stage sociological survey aimed at the preliminary identification of ideas about the phenomenon of digitalization among people of different ages and professional status before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.Results. A “portfolio” of theories that are relevant to the topic of the study and explain the essence of changes in educational relations in the context of digitalization is developed. Definitions of “digitalization of education” and “transformation of educational relations” are provided. The theoretical block, based on the concept of an interdisciplinary approach, is supplemented by empirical data obtained from surveys of more than 1,700 respondents from different regions, different professional status, and different ages, the results of which are used to verify (or refute) the hypothesis about the relevance of changes in educational relations in digital education.Conclusions. The results of empirical research and contextual goals presented in the study do not give grounds for asserting that digitalization of education becomes a trigger for changes in educational relations. This conclusion does not contradict the basic explanatory theory – the theory of liminality. The transition of relations from the usual state to a new one takes time, since it involves the loss of previous statuses (roles) in educational relations, where the understanding of the hierarchy in the structure of these relations is invalidated.

The key role of underlying theories for scientific explanations. A darwinian case study

A given explanatory theory T falls into circular reasoning if the only way to determine its explanandum is through the application of T. To find an (often previous) underlying theory T′ that determines T′s explanandum helps us save T from this accusation of circularity. We follow the structuralist view of theories in presenting and dealing with this issue, by applying it to particular theories. More specifically, we focus on the relationship between the Darwinian theory of common ancestry and the determination of homologies.

Bi-directional Modeling Between Cross-Scale Neural Activity

Fundamental principles underlying computation in multi-scale brain networks illustrate how multiple brain areas and their coordinated activity give rise to complex cognitive functions. Whereas the population brain activity has been studied in the micro-to meso-scale in building the connections between the dynamical patterns and the behaviors, such studies were often done at a single length scale and lacked an explanatory theory that identifies the neuronal origin across multiple scales. Here we introduce the NeuroBondGraph Network, a dynamical system incorporating both biological-inspired components and deep learning techniques to capture cross-scale dynamics that can infer and map the neural data from multiple scales. We demonstrated our model is not only 3.5 times more accurate than the popular sphere head model but also extracts more synchronized phase and correlated low-dimensional latent dynamics. We also showed that we can extend our methods to robustly predict held-out data across 16 days. Accordingly, the NeuroBondGraph Network opens the door to revealing comprehensive understanding of the brain computation, where network mechanisms of multi-scale communications are critical.

The strange case of urban theory

Recent debates in urban theory have centred on the problem of whether universal concepts can have applications to particular places. These debates could benefit from more serious attention to how urban thought involves styles of analogical reasoning closer in spirit to casuistry than to explanatory theory. The difficult status of ‘the case’ in urban studies is explored through a consideration of different types of universality in this field, leading to a re-consideration of ideas of experimentalism and wicked problems. Further attention should be given to the multiple styles of reasoning through which urban knowledge is produced and circulated.