Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of Communication Strategies for Mitigating COVID-19 Vaccine-Specific Hesitancy in Canada

Key Points Question Are there communication strategies that can reduce COVID-19 vaccine-specific hesitancy? Findings In a between-participants survey study of adult Canadian citizens, individuals who were provided information on the death prevention potential of less-preferred vaccines, such as AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, reported more confidence in their effectiveness and a higher likelihood of taking these vaccines if offered compared with those who did not receive this information. Information on the overall effectiveness of these vaccines at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 showed the opposite result. Meaning These findings suggest that communication strategies that focus on the death prevention potential of less-preferred COVID-19 vaccines have the potential to improve their uptake, whereas focusing on such metrics as their comparatively less impressive overall effectiveness at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 could undermine these efforts.
Physico-chemical parameters influencing faecal bacterial survival in waste stabilization ponds

In situ studies on waste stabilization ponds (in Portugal) showed that faecal coliform numbers were lowest at positions in the water column where pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen and algae were high. Numbers were not always lowest at the surface where light intensities were highest or in ponds where light penetration had increased through algal grazing by Daphnia. Laboratory studies showed that pH values approaching 9.0 or above increased faecal coliform die-off particularly under nutrient-poor conditions. Elevated temperatures enhanced the pH effect but the level of dissolved oxygen made little difference. Streptococcus, Salmonella and Campylobacter isolates all behaved similarly to the faecal coliforms. Daphnia grazing of the algal population in maturation ponds may reduce the microbial quality of the final effluent. These findings are discussed in relation to pond design.
Plasma electrolytic liquefaction of cellulosic biomass

In this paper, the rapid liquefaction of a corncob was achieved by plasma electrolysis, providing a new method for cellulosic biomass liquefaction. The liquefaction rate of the corncob was 95% after 5 min with polyethylene glycol and glycerol as the liquefying agent. The experiments not only showed that H ions catalyzed the liquefaction of the corncob, but also that using accelerated H ions, which were accelerated by an electric field, could effectively improve the liquefaction efficiency. There was an obvious discharge phenomenon, in which the generated radicals efficiently heated the solution and liquefied the biomass, in the process of plasma electrolytic liquefaction. Finally, the optimum parameters of the corncob liquefaction were obtained by experimentation, and the liquefaction products were analyzed.
Suppression of longwall respirable dust using conventional water sprays inoculated with surfactants and polymers

The U.S. Bureau of Mines is evaluating water spray additives for the purpose of improving respirable dust control during coal mining operations with particular emphasis on the longwall shearer. Recent field tests of combined surfactant-polymer reagents at two production longwall operations have shown favorable respirable dust reductions compared with water sprays containing no additive. Gravimetric dust samples obtained downwind of the shearer while following or preceding the machine showed corrected dust reductions in the range of about 40 - 60 percent for some of the reagent formulations as comparied to water alone. Experimental evidence indicates that dust captured by reagent-treated sprays at the shearer can be re-emitted in the headgate area if stageloader-crusher sprays and other dust controls are inadequate.
Protest Movements Against Sanctuaries in Odisha: Politics with Other Means

This study seeks to counter interpretations of tribal movements as reflecting parochial and perverse ethno-territorial aspirations, mostly in irrational violent forms. It compares two peaceful protest movements against wildlife sanctuaries located in different geographical and political-economic settings in the eastern Indian state of Odisha. As rational collective actions, both movements relied on the agency of project-affected persons who questioned state attempts to de-politicise development in the name of scientific conservation. The study shows how the legitimate concerns of such project-affected citizens were overshadowed by politics and the context-specific dialectical interface between three different factors, namely availability of indigenous organisational resources, political opportunity structures and identity construction.
On the Security of Smartphone Unlock PINs

In this article, we provide the first comprehensive study of user-chosen four- and six-digit PINs (n=1705) collected on smartphones with participants being explicitly primed for device unlocking. We find that against a throttled attacker (with 10, 30, or 100 guesses, matching the smartphone unlock setting), using six-digit PINs instead of four-digit PINs provides little to no increase in security and surprisingly may even decrease security. We also study the effects of blocklists, where a set of “easy to guess” PINs is disallowed during selection. Two such blocklists are in use today by iOS, for four digits (274 PINs) as well as six digits (2,910 PINs). We extracted both blocklists and compared them with six other blocklists, three for each PIN length. In each case, we had a small (four-digit: 27 PINs; six-digit: 29 PINs), a large (four-digit: 2,740 PINs; six-digit: 291,000 PINs), and a placebo blocklist that always excluded the first-choice PIN. For four-digit PINs, we find that the relatively small blocklist in use today by iOS offers little to no benefit against a throttled guessing attack. Security gains are only observed when the blocklist is much larger. In the six-digit case, we were able to reach a similar security level with a smaller blocklist. As the user frustration increases with the blocklists size, developers should employ a blocklist that is as small as possible while ensuring the desired security. Based on our analysis, we recommend that for four-digit PINs a blocklist should contain the 1,000 most popular PINs to provide the best balance between usability and security and for six-digit PINs the 2,000 most popular PINs should be blocked.
C-reactive protein levels associated with COVID-19 outcomes in the United States

Abstract Context COVID-19 caused a worldwide pandemic, and there are still many uncertainties about the disease. C-reactive protein (CRP) levels could be utilized as a prognosticator for disease severity in COVID-19 patients. Objectives This study aims to determine whether CRP levels are correlated with COVID-19 patient outcomes and length of stay (LoS). Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted utilizing data obtained between March and May 2020. Data were collected by abstracting past medical records through electronic medical records at 10 hospitals within CommonSpirit Health. Patients were included if they had a positive COVID-19 test from a nasopharyngeal swab sample, and if they were admitted and then discharged alive or had in-hospital mortality and were ≥18 years. A total of 541 patients had CRP levels measured and were included in this report. Patient outcome and LoS were the endpoints measured. Results The 541 patients had their CRP levels measured, as well as the demographic and clinical data required for analysis. While controlling for body mass index (BMI), number of comorbidities, and age, the first CRP was significantly predictive of mortality (p<0.001). The odds ratio for first CRP indicates that for each one-unit increase in CRP, the odds of death increased by 0.007. For LoS, the first CRP was a significant predictor (p<0.001), along with age (p=0.002). The number of comorbidities also predicted LoS (p=0.007), but BMI did not. The coefficient for the first CRP indicates that, for each one-unit increase in CRP, LoS increased 0.003 days. Conclusions The results indicate that there is a positive correlation between the CRP levels of COVID-19 patients and their respective outcomes with regard to death and LoS.
Does context matter? European-specific risk factors for radicalization

Abstract In this study we sought to identify whether risk and protective factors for radicalization can be classed as ‘universal’ factors or whether they have heterogeneous cross-regional effects. Specifically, we sought to identify whether there were factors which displayed significantly different effects in European contexts compared to other democratic countries. We conduct a confirmatory meta-analysis based on a recent Campbell Collaboration systematic review and meta-analysis (Wolfowicz, Litmanovitz, Weisburd and Hasisi, 2021). Studies were classified as being from either EU or non-EU countries and moderator analysis was used to identify between-region heterogeneity. The analysis was possible for 23 factors pertaining to radical attitudes, 13 pertaining to radical intentions and 4 for radical behaviours. For radical attitudes, the estimates for European studies were significantly larger for Gender, Socio-economic status, and Parental involvement, whereas the estimates for Religiosity, Institutional trust, Integration, and Moral neutralizations were significantly smaller compared to other democratic countries in other regions. For radical intentions, the estimates for Self-esteem was significantly larger for European studies. For radical behaviours, the estimate for Unemployment was significantly larger for European studies than for democratic countries in other regions. Overall, most risk and protective factors for radicalization appear to have ‘universal’ effects across democratic countries, but there are some factors that may be more relevant for targeting by counter-radicalization in certain contexts. Although European counter-radicalization has often focused on factors such as integration and institutional trust, these factors have relatively small relationships with radicalization, and these relationships are even smaller in the European context compared to democratic countries in other regions. The findings suggest that mitigation strategies, and interventions providing employment opportunities in particular, may be well suited to the European context if the goal is to develop locally-oriented approaches to counter-radicalization.
Aspects of change in New York City English short-a

Abstract This article focuses on change in the “short-a system” of New York City English (NYCE). Recent results suggest that a complex set of tensing rules traditionally described for NYCE are being replaced by several simpler systems. This article reports on a study of this change using a recently developed large audio-aligned parsed speech corpus (CoNYCE). This change is similar to the simplification reported for Philadelphia by Labov et al. (2016). Unlike in the Philadelphia case, however, our results do not show evidence of a single abstract process of change. Our findings, rather, suggest at least two separate changes in the community—one affecting short-a in prenasal contexts and a second affecting pre-oral obstruent contexts. In addition, the results suggest an additional independent process of lowering and retraction affecting short-a sounds in contexts not targeted by the process of phonological reorganization, that is, “trap-backing. ”
Phoretic self-propulsion of helical active particles

Abstract Chemically active colloids self-propel by catalysing the decomposition of molecular ‘fuel’ available in the surrounding solution. If the various molecular species involved in the reaction have distinct interactions with the colloid surface, and if the colloid has some intrinsic asymmetry in its surface chemistry or geometry, there will be phoretic flows in an interfacial layer surrounding the particle, leading to directed motion. Most studies of chemically active colloids have focused on spherical, axisymmetric ‘Janus’ particles, which (in the bulk, and in absence of fluctuations) simply move in a straight line. For particles with a complex (non-spherical and non-axisymmetric) geometry, the dynamics can be much richer. Here, we consider chemically active helices. Via numerical calculations and slender body theory, we study how the translational and rotational velocities of the particle depend on geometry and the distribution of catalytic activity over the particle surface. We confirm the recent finding of Katsamba et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 898, 2020, p. A24) that both tangential and circumferential concentration gradients contribute to the particle velocity. The relative importance of these contributions has a strong impact on the motion of the particle. We show that, by a judicious choice of the particle design parameters, one can suppress components of angular velocity that are perpendicular to the screw axis, or even select for purely ‘sideways’ translation of the helix.
Impact of surface viscosity on the stability of a droplet translating through a stagnant fluid

Abstract This study examines the impact of interfacial viscosity on the stability of an initially deformed droplet translating through an unbounded quiescent fluid. The boundary-integral formulation is employed to investigate the time evolution of a droplet in the Stokes flow limit. The droplet interface is modelled using the Boussinesq–Scriven constitutive relationship having surface shear viscosity $\eta _\mu$ and surface dilatational viscosity $\eta _\kappa$. We observe that, below a critical value of the capillary number, $Ca_C$, the initially perturbed droplet reverts to its spherical shape. Above $Ca_C$, the translating droplet deforms continuously, growing a tail at the rear end for initial prolate perturbations and a cavity for initial oblate perturbations. We find that surface shear viscosity inhibits the tail/cavity growth at the droplet's rear end and increases the $Ca_C$ compared with a clean droplet. In contrast, surface dilatational viscosity increases tail/cavity growth and lowers $Ca_C$ compared with a clean droplet. Surprisingly, both shear and dilatational surface viscosity appear to delay the time at which pinch off occurs, and hence satellite droplets form. Lastly, we explore the combined influence of surface viscosity and surfactant transport on droplet stability by assuming a linear dependence of surface tension on surfactant concentration and exponential dependence of interfacial viscosities on the surface pressure. We find that pressure-thinning/thickening effects significantly affect the droplet dynamics for surface shear viscosity but play a small role for surface dilatational viscosity. We lastly provide phase diagrams for the critical capillary number for different values of the droplet's viscosity ratio and initial Taylor deformation parameter.
New and old puzzles in the morphological conditioning of coronal stop deletion

Abstract This paper probes the well-documented morphological effect on coronal stop deletion (CSD, also called /t,d/-deletion), by which there is more deletion in monomorphemes like mist than in regular past tense forms like missed. We observe that there are, in principle, additional morphological distinctions that could be made within each category: for instance, the “regular past” category contains perfect and passive participles; the “monomorpheme” category typically contains compounds and suffixed forms. We demonstrate that several of these newly introduced distinctions actually have significant effects on CSD rates in a corpus of Philadelphia English. And we argue that these new distinctions are worth attending to because they have consequences for two existing accounts of the basic morphological effect. In each case, we show that the existing accounts do not straightforwardly capture the additional significant distinctions we identify, calling the explanatory power of those accounts into question.
Attentional Shifting Mediates the Relationship between Parenting and Working Memory

ABSTRACT A growing body of research has found a relationship between parenting and the development of executive function in young children ; however, fewer studies have examined how parenting is related specifically to the development of working memory. Using data from the Family Life Project, this study examined whether attention was a pathway through which parenting predicted working memory. A total of 1,292 children were followed from birth to 36 months. Parenting was measured at 6, 15, 24 and 36 months. Children’s attentional focusing and attentional shifting were measured at 24 months, and verbal working memory at 36 months. Sensitive, autonomy supportive and cognitive stimulating parenting at 6 months predicted better attentional shifting at 24 months, which, in turn, predicted greater working memory at 36 months. Sensitive, autonomy supportive and cognitive stimulating parenting at 15 months predicted greater working memory at 36 months. This study provided evidence that attentional shifting is a link for the association between parenting and working memory.
Evaluating the evidence for ecological effectiveness of South Africa’s marine protected areas

We reviewed 140 papers to assess the ecological effectiveness of South Africa’s marine protected areas (MPAs). Evidence was assessed for coverage and representivity, protection of important biodiversity areas, other recognised elements of effectiveness, connectivity, and ecological effects—from the scale of individual MPAs to the MPA network scale. We conducted complementary novel analyses to supplement the review and to objectively determine where and how the MPA network can be improved. Evidence shows that South Africa’s MPAs now provide some protection to all ecoregions and 87% of ecosystem types but to less than 50% of assessed species groups. MPAs are generally well-sited, but gaps were revealed on the west coast and in estuaries, the deep sea, and two ecologically and biologically significant areas. Enforcement emerged as a key concern, and many MPAs could be improved through expansion or by increasing no-take areas. The majority of relevant papers recorded beneficial ecological effects, detectable as increases in parameters such as the abundance, biomass, sizes or reproductive output of species. Few papers examined whether ecological benefits translate into adjacent fisheries benefits, but all those that did recorded positive effects. Full protection was more effective than partial protection, with effectiveness most clearly demonstrated for vulnerable target taxa. Further research and monitoring to achieve evaluations of effectiveness are recommended, with greater focus on neglected MPAs and species. Understanding the ecological connectivity between MPAs, an important dimension for climate-change adaptation and hence for the persistence and resilience of South Africa’s marine biodiversity, is identified as a key area for future research and inclusion in MPA planning.
Social and economic effects of marine protected areas in South Africa, with recommendations for future assessments

Research on the socio-economic aspects of marine protected areas (MPAs) in South Africa is reviewed to guide evaluation and integration. After a brief international review, we used declaration notices and management plans to determine the extent to which social and economic objectives have been included in the purpose statements of MPAs. We then reviewed the current state of knowledge about the social and economic effects of South African MPAs. While many MPAs have purposes and objectives that include some social and economic objectives, these are limited in scope. Most of the MPAs that were declared before 2019 did not include objectives directly related to people or their needs. Social or economic research has been undertaken in fewer than half of the 23 coastal MPAs. Literature is largely limited to: (i) studies on negative impacts of MPAs on adjacent rural communities; (ii) selected aspects of tourism; and (iii) various aspects related to resource use. A wide range of other tangible and intangible effects, including those experienced by a broader set of stakeholders and over differing scales of time and space, have seldom been addressed. A case study on the Tsitsikamma MPA exemplifies challenges associated with understanding the full scope of social and economic aspects of MPAs. We conclude with recommendations to address the challenges of building a better understanding of the social and economic effects of MPAs, ensuring that these are addressed in establishing or revising objectives for each MPA, and assessing the extent to which the objectives meet both human and environmental needs.
Investigating the Associations between Family Alliance and Executive Functioning in Middle Childhood

ABSTRACT There is now wide consensus that the quality of family relationships is involved in the development of child executive functioning (EF), a set of cognitive skills that bear critical importance for social and academic adjustment at school. This body of research has, however, focused almost exclusively on dyadic parent-child interactions and failed to consider higher-level family processes. Consequently, the current study focused on family alliance, that is, the degree of coordination that father, mother, and child achieve while interacting together, as a predictor of individual differences in children’s EF. A community sample of 87 intact families (45 boys) participated in a triadic mother-father-child interaction when children were in kindergarten to assess family alliance. Children were assessed again when they were in Grade 4 with tasks of inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and working memory. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that higher-quality family alliance was predictive of better child performance on some cognitive flexibility and working memory tasks. These results indicate that some of the individual differences in child EF at school age may originate in the quality of the early family environment.
Remote mental health services: a mixed-methods survey and interview study on the use, value, benefits and challenges of a national video consulting service in NHS Wales, UK

Social distancing laws during the first year of the pandemic, and its unprecedented changes to the National Health Service (NHS) forced a large majority of services, especially mental health teams to deliver patient care remotely. For many, this approach was adopted out of necessity, rather than choice, thus presenting a true ‘testing ground’ for remote healthcare and a robust evaluation on a national and representative level. Objective To extract and analyse mental health specific data from a national dataset for 1 year (March 2020–March 2021). Design A mixed-methods study using surveys and interviews. Setting In NHS mental health services in Wales, UK. Participants With NHS patients and clinicians across child and adolescent, adult and older adult mental health services. Outcome measures Mixed methods data captured measures on use, value, benefits and challenges of video consulting (VC). Results A total of 3561 participants provided mental health specific data. These data and its findings demonstrate that remote mental health service delivery, via the method of VC is highly satisfactory, well-accepted and clinically suitable for many patients, and provides a range of benefits to NHS patients and clinicians. Interestingly, clinicians working from ‘home’ rated VC more positively compared with those at their ‘clinical base’. Conclusions Post 1-year adoption, remote mental health services in Wales UK have demonstrated that VC is possible from both a technical and behavioural standpoint. Moving forward, we suggest clinical leaders and government support to sustain this approach ‘by default’ as an option for NHS appointments.