Emotion-aware conversational systems are increasingly adopted in healthcare, yet most emotion detection approaches rely on sentiment polarity, which fails to capture emotional nuance and intensity in short, informal chat messages. To overcome these limitations, this study develops an interpretable emotion-aware framework called Word Intensity Scoring Engine (WISE) that explicitly models emotional intensity in short-form conversational text. Grounded in Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions, WISE integrates lexicon-based emotion labeling, synonym expansion, semantic similarity using word embeddings, and negation-aware feature extraction to calculate intensity-weighted emotion scores at the word level. The WISE framework is evaluated through experimental benchmarking and an expert review involving practicing healthcare professionals. Results show that WISE enhances the performance of ML and LLM-based classifiers. Further, expert evaluations indicate that WISE-derived responses are perceived as professional, contextually appropriate, and empathetic. This study contributes a transparent, theoretically grounded design artifact that advances affective computing research and informs the deployment of emotion-aware conversational agents in healthcare.
BACKGROUND:Dog-assisted interventions (DAIs) to improve human health and wellbeing are increasingly implemented in health, care and educational settings. However, the quality and consistency of reporting of trial design and findings remains poor. Current trial reporting guidelines do not adequately address the unique methodological, ethical, and welfare considerations involved in DAI randomised controlled trials (RCTs). To improve the design and transparent reporting of these trials, we developed SPIRIT (Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials) 2025 and CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) 2025 extensions for DAI trials. The current paper presents the explanation and elaboration (E&E) for these extensions. METHODS:Using the Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of Health Research (EQUATOR) methodological framework, a four-phase consensus approach was conducted: (1) a systematic review; (2) three-round Delphi survey; (3) expert consensus workshops, and (4) checklist finalisation. This E&E paper complements the DAI extensions checklist (reported elsewhere) by providing item-by-item rationales, guidance, and illustrative examples from DAI trials to demonstrate good reporting. RESULTS:The four-phase consensus approach resulted in 69 extensions for DAI RCT reporting (35 applied to SPIRIT; 34 applied to CONSORT). This paper explains the purpose of each extension item and highlights best practice for reporting, based on examples from published DAI protocols and trial reports. CONCLUSION:These DAI extensions provide guidance for the design and reporting of high-quality and transparent DAI RCTs. This E&E paper supports the application of these extensions by offering detailed explanations and examples. Adoption by researchers, journal editors, funders, and ethics committees may enhance the credibility and impact of DAI research.
Laboratory studies indicate that the magnitude of coastal foredune erosion during high-energy events is influenced by the belowground biomass and sediment grain size of those dunes. However, the extent to which dune architecture mediates wave-induced erosion in natural settings is largely unknown. Here, we relate the internal sedimentologic and biotic structure of foredunes with pre- and post-storm beach and dune morphology to determine if the presence of a complex internal dune structure can reduce storm erosion. We quantified dune volume change from five moderate-size storms at six proximal dunes characterized by a diversity of internal sedimentologic and ecologic complexity. Dune volume change associated with a single storm ranged from -9.33 to +1.65 m(3)/m and varied significantly between sites. Results of multiple linear regression indicate that 25%-78% of observed erosion associated with these moderate storms is explained by antecedent beach and dune morphology and hydrodynamic storm conditions. Within the resolution of the available data set, we found that a complex internal structure is unlikely to substantially reduce dune erosion during mild to moderate storm events. Instead, the role of the internal structure could be more apparent during high-energy events when the influence of pre-storm morphology is weakened as the beach profile adjusts to wave conditions. Our findings ultimately enhance our understanding of the controls of dune erosion for varying storm regimes and underscore the pivotal influence of pre-storm profile morphology-more so than intrinsic properties of the dune itself-for mild to moderate storm events.
One method of electric field control of magnetization is to generate a strain in a piezoelectric layer by applying an electric field to it and transfer this strain to a magnetostrictive nanoscale magnet or to the magnetostrictive soft layer of a magnetic tunnel junction deposited on the piezoelectric, thus controlling its magnetization state through inverse magnetostriction (Villari effect). Such strain-mediated electric field control of magnetization offers an extremely energy-efficient method of writing the magnetic state (similar to 100 aJ/bit). This review discusses the development of computing paradigms based on strain control of magnetism, termed "straintronics" or "magnetic straintronics," and their future potential. Here, we discuss various Boolean memory and logic devices as well as non-Boolean and neuromorphic computing devices proposed and experimentally demonstrated along with their potential advantages and key challenges.
Chapter 11 investigates equitable access to crisis communication for Latino communities, with a case study of Florida counties' Twitter use during Hurricane Irma. The authors analyze the digital dissemination of preparedness and recovery information to evaluate its accessibility for Spanish-speaking populations. Drawing on theories of public service equity, the chapter explores barriers tied to language, platform use, and historical distrust. The findings point to the urgent need for culturally responsive emergency communication strategies that promote safety, resilience, and equitable recovery outcomes. Issues of accessibility, availability, acceptability and affordability, adequacy and awareness, and accommodation are addressed. This chapter features a Critical Thinking box.
