bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Analysis of physical and technical methods for controlling the density of the brake line of a train and ways to increase their efficiency
Authors: Antropov Aleksandr , Antropova Tatyana , Cherepov Oleg , Pranov Vadim , Volkov Denis
Published: November 2021

The article deals with the problem of monitoring the brake line of a train as a means of detecting dangerous failures of braking equipment and preventing emergencies. The existing methods and methods for controlling the density of the brake line are analysed, with the determination of their effectiveness. An assessment is given of the prospects for the development of brake line control devices, based on the conditions for ensuring traffic safety, and ways of improving the most effective methods are proposed.
Assessment of the stability of the gas-diesel automatic control system
Authors: Mikheev G M , Lekomtsev P L , Lopatin O P , Likhanov V A
Published: November 2021

Any steady-state operation of the engine is evaluated by qualitative and quantitative parameters. For internal combustion engines, the qualitative parameter is the speed of the crankshaft, and the quantitative parameter is the engine torque. There are functional dependencies between these parameters, the graphical representation of which is called speed characteristics. However, the transition modes of engines are much more complex than the established ones, especially in gas-diesel engines, where the relationship between the parameters of the engine and the characteristics of the gas supply units is quite complex, and the transition process is accompanied by a change in the parameters of its working process over time and is a dynamic mode.
Luminescence of Baikal water as a dynamic background of the Baikal-GVD Neutrino Telescope
Authors: Allakhverdyan V.A. , Avrorin A.D. , Avrorin A.V. , Aynutdinov V.M. , Bannasch R. , Bardačová Z. , Belolaptikov I.A. , Borina I.V. , Brudanin V.B. , Budnev N.M. , Dik V.Y. , Domogatsky G.V. , Doroshenko A.A. , Dvornický R. , Dyachok A.N. , Dzhilkibaev Zh.-A.M. , Eckerová E. , Elzhov T.V. , Fajt L. , Fialkovski S.V. , Gafarov A.R. , Golubkov K.V. , Gorshkov N.S. , Gress T.I. , Katulin M.S. , Kebkal K.G. , Kebkal O.G. , Khramov E.V. , Kolbin M.M. , Konischev K.V. , Kopański K.A. , Korobchenko A.V. , Koshechkin A.P. , Kozhin V.A. , Kruglov M.V. , Kryukov M.K. , Kulepov V.F. , Malecki Pa. , Malyshkin Y.M. , Milenin M.B. , Mirgazov R.R. , Naumov D.V. , Nazari V. , Noga W. , Petukhov D.P. , Pliskovsky E.N. , Rozanov M.I. , Rushay V.D. , Ryabov E.V. , Safronov G.B. , Shaybonov B.A. , Shelepov M.D. , Šimkovic F. , Sirenko A.E. , Skurikhin A.V. , Solovjev A.G. , Sorokovikov M.N. , Štekl I. , Stromakov A.P. , Sushenok E.O. , Suvorova O.V. , Tabolenko V.A. , Tarashansky B.A. , Yablokova Y.V. , Yakovlev S.A. , Zaborov D.N.
Published: November 2021

The Baikal-GVD is a neutrino telescope situated in the deepest freshwater lake in the world — Lake Baikal. The design of the Baikal-GVD trigger system allows also to study the ambient light of the lake. The analysis of the optical light activity of Baikal water, particularly, time and spatial variations of the luminescence activity for data collected in years 2018, 2019, and 2020 is presented. For the first time we observed highly luminescent layer moving upwards with maximal speed of 28 m/day in January 2021.
Search for dark matter from the centre of the Earth with 8 years of IceCube data
Authors: Renzi G.
Published: November 2021

Neutrinos have been proved to be unique messengers in the understanding of fundamental physics processes, and in astrophysical data sets they may provide hints of physics beyond the Standard Model. For example, neutrinos could be the key to discerning between various dark matter models that are based on Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). WIMPs can scatter off standard matter nuclei in the vicinity of massive bodies such as the Sun or the Earth, lose velocity, and be gravitationally trapped in the center of the body. Self-annihilation of dark matter into Standard Model particles may produce an observable flux of neutrinos. For the case of the Earth, an excess of neutrinos coming from the center of the planet could indicate WIMP capture and annihilation at the Earth’s core. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, located at the geographical South Pole, is sensitive to these excess neutrinos. A search has been conducted on 8 years of IceCube data, probing multiple dark matter channels and masses. With this analysis, we show that IceCube has world-leading sensitivity to the spin-independent dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section above a WIMP mass of 100 GeV.
Impact of Non-convective Zone and Lower Convective Zone Thickness on the Performance Characteristics of Salinity Gradient Solar Pond
Authors: Chakrabarty S G , Wankhede U S , Shelke R S
Published: November 2021

A solar pond technology employs a layer of salinity gradient to prevent heat loss due to convection from the lower convective zone. Thus, the energy received from solar radiation is stored in a lower convective zone. The thickness of various zones significantly affects the behaviour of solar pond temperature. In this present study, a transient numerical investigation is conducted to evaluate the impact of depths of different zones on the performance characteristics of solar pond. The variation in maximum temperature and maturation period under the influence of non-convective zone and lower convective zone thickness is discussed. The energy obtained from a solar pond significantly depends on various losses associated with the zones. Thus, an assessment of conduction and ground heat loss is presented for the variation in thickness of zones. An attempt is also made to study the effect of thickness of zones on the temperature of the lower convective zone. It is found that the configuration of a smaller thickness of LCZ and a higher thickness of NCZ yields maximum LCZ temperature.
Experimental Analysis using an Innovative Catalytic Converter coated with Nano-particles for Pollution Control from Automobiles
Authors: Thakur Mukesh , Senanayake Rohan
Published: November 2021

Air pollution control has become the area of interest due to the ever increasing air pollution problem from the automobiles. Several researchers have conducted several experiments to control the air pollution concentration from automobiles by using several techniques but this area has a wide scope for improvement. This research paper is based on an experiment conducted on a Four Stroke Spark Ignition engine test rig using an Innovative catalytic converter which was coated with nano-particles to estimate its effectiveness in air pollution control. The results of the experiment conducted clearly indicate that the Innovative design of catalytic converter is effective in air pollution control from automobiles.
Application of Jaw Type Flexible Clutches in Human Powered Machine: A Literature Review
Authors: Sawarkar Nitin , Zakiuddin K S , Umate Roshan , Chagde Rajkumar
Published: November 2021

This article presents the topical progresses in the arena of an approach to articulate an experimental databased model for jaw type flexible clutches. The developing countries are facing very acute problems of the energy crisis. It has become essential to use human energy for energizing the manufacturing process machine. This kind of machine necessitates a flexible clutch for torque transmission. Due to the intricate impact phenomenon, flexible clutches cannot be deliberate without experimental data. Therefore, the experimentation methodology and experimental setup to evaluate the performance of torque transmitted by the clutch have been augment. It is obliging for selection of the optimum clutch-type for various applications in low powered processing machines. This study of analysing suitable material can be useful for the comparative study of Jaw type flexible clutches and their transmission ability. Mathematical model and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) development are essential, to evaluate the belongings of altered components and to make forecasts about behaviour.
Impact of domain disorder on optoelectronic properties of layered semimetal MoTe2
Authors: Singh Maanwinder P , Kiemle Jonas , Ozdemir Ilkay , Zimmermann Philipp , Taniguchi Takashi , Watanabe Kenji , Burghard Marko , Üzengi Aktürk Olcay , Kastl Christoph , Holleitner Alexander W
Published: November 2021

We address the impact of crystal phase disorder on the generation of helicity-dependent photocurrents in layered MoTe2, which is one of the van der Waals materials to realize the topological type-II Weyl semimetal phase. Using scanning photocurrent microscopy, we spatially probe the phase transition and its hysteresis between the centrosymmetric, monoclinic 1Tʹ phase to the symmetry-broken, orthorhombic T

d

phase as a function of temperature. We find a highly disordered photocurrent response in the intermediate temperature regime. Moreover, we demonstrate that helicity-dependent and ultrafast photocurrents in MoTe2 arise most likely from a local breaking of the electronic symmetries. Our results highlight the prospects of local domain morphologies and ultrafast relaxation dynamics on the optoelectronic properties of low-dimensional van der Waals circuits.
Valley and spin accumulation in ballistic and hydrodynamic channels
Authors: Glazov M M
Published: November 2021

A theory of the valley and spin Hall effects and resulting accumulation of the valley and spin polarization is developed for ultraclean channels made of two-dimensional semiconductors where the electron mean free path due to the residual disorder or phonons exceeds the channel width. Both ballistic and hydrodynamic regimes of the electron transport are studied. The polarization accumulation is determined by interplay of the anomalous velocity, side-jump and skew scattering effects. In the hydrodynamic regime, where the electron–electron scattering is dominant, the valley and spin current generation and dissipation by the electron–electron collisions are taken into account. The accumulated polarization magnitude and its spatial distribution depend strongly on the transport regime. The polarization is much larger in the hydrodynamic regime as compared to the ballistic one. Significant valley and spin polarization arises in the immediate vicinity of the channel edges due to the side-jump and skew scattering mechanisms.
Heat stress, labor productivity, and economic impacts: analysis of climate change impacts using two-way coupled modeling
Authors: Matsumoto Ken’ichi , Tachiiri Kaoru , Su Xuaming
Published: November 2021

Climate change affects various fundamental human activities, and understanding the consequences of its impacts is essential. Among them, heat stress considerably affects economic conditions. Furthermore, when analyzing the socioeconomic impacts of climate change, both socioeconomic and climate systems must be considered simultaneously, though such studies are scarce. This study aimed to evaluate the socioeconomic impacts of changes in labor productivity due to heat stress (measured by wet bulb globe temperature) under various climate change scenarios through a new modeling framework that coupled a computable general equilibrium model and an Earth system model of intermediate complexity to realize the interactions between the two systems through the relationship between heat stress and labor productivity. Results indicated that labor productivity declined as climate change progressed (particularly in hot and humid regions), driving a gradual decline in total global gross domestic product (GDP). Although regional GDP largely decreased where labor productivity considerably declined, it slightly increased in some areas because of a comparative advantage brought about by the difference in the impact on labor productivity by region. Consequently, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and concentrations and the resulting temperature were slightly reduced when examining the impact of climate change on labor productivity. These tendencies were similar in both business-as-usual and climate change mitigation scenarios, but the overall impacts were smaller under the latter. There was a limited impact on CO2 emissions, CO2 concentrations, and temperature via integrated socioeconomic and climate systems. However, this study focused on only a single channel of the various interactions between the two systems. For a more complete evaluation of the impacts of climate change, further development of the integrated model is required.
An experimental analog circuit realization of Matsuda’s approximate fractional-order integral operators for industrial electronics
Authors: Koseoglu Murat , Deniz Furkan Nur , Alagoz Baris Baykant , Yuce Ali , Tan Nusret
Published: November 2021

Analog circuit realization of fractional order (FO) elements is a significant step for the industrialization of FO control systems because of enabling a low-cost, electric circuit realization by means of standard industrial electronics components. This study demonstrates an effective operational amplifier-based analog circuit realization of approximate FO integral elements for industrial electronics. To this end, approximate transfer function models of FO integral elements, which are calculated by using Matsuda’s approximation method, are decomposed into the sum of low-pass filter forms according to the partial fraction expansion. Each partial fraction term is implemented by using low-pass filters and amplifier circuits, and these circuits are combined with a summing amplifier to compose the approximate FO integral circuits. Widely used low-cost industrial electronics components, which are LF347N opamps, resistor and capacitor components, are used to achieve a discrete, easy-to-build analog realization of the approximate FO integral elements. The performance of designed circuit is compared with performance of Krishna’s FO circuit design and performance improvements are shown. The study presents design, performance validation and experimental verification of this straightforward approximate FO integral realization method.
Alternatives to Coming Out Discourses
Authors: Huang Shuzhen
Published: November 2021

The discourse of coming out has historically served as an effective vehicle to build and sustain the LGBTQ movement in the United States. It has also been utilized as an empowering resource that enables queer people to establish a queer identity organized around self-awareness and self-expression. However, queer of color critique and transnational queer theory argue that the prevalent discourse of coming out is built on a particular kind of queer experience and geography, which is usually from the standpoint of White, middle-class men of urban U.S. citizenship and is rarely derived from the experience of queer people of color and non-Western queer subjects.

Taking an intersectional perspective, Snorton interrogates the racialization of the closet and proposes a sexual politics of ignorance—opposed to the disclosure imperative in coming out discourse—as a tactic of ungovernability. Centering the experience of Russian American immigrants who are queer-identified, Fisher proposes a fluid and productive relationship between the “closeted” and the “out” sexuality that resists any fixed categorization. Focusing on the masking tactic deployed by local queer activists, Martin theorizes the model of xianshen, a local identity politics in Taiwan that questions the very conditions of visibility in dominant coming out discourse. As a decolonial response to the transnational circulation of coming out discourse, Chou delineates a “coming home” approach that emphasizes familial piety and harmony by reining in and concealing queer desires. Being cautious against the nationalist impulse in Chou’s works, Huang and Brouwer propose a “coming with” model to capture the struggles among Chinese queers to disidentify with the family institution. These alternative paradigms serve as epistemic tools that aim to revise understanding of queer resistance and queer relationality and help people to go beyond the imagination of coming out for a livable queer future.
Colonial Wildlife Conservation and National Parks in Sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Munro Paul
Published: November 2021

Colonial wildlife conservation initiatives in Africa emerged during the late 19th century, with the creation of different laws to restrict hunting as well as with the setting up of game reserves by colonial governments. Key influential figures behind this emergence were aristocratic European hunters who had a desire to preserve African game populations—ostensibly protecting them from settler and African populations—so that elite sports hunting could persevere on the continent. These wildlife conservation measures became more consolidated at the turn of the 20th century, notably due to the 1900 Convention for the Preservation of Animals, Birds and Fish in Africa—an agreement between European imperial powers and their colonial possessions in Africa to improve wildlife preservation measures—and with the establishment of the Society for the Preservation of the Wild Fauna of the Empire in 1903. This Society, made up of aristocrats, hunter-naturalists, and former government officials, used the influence of its members to advocate for greater wildlife conservation measures in Africa. The wildlife preservation agenda of the Society was largely geared around restricting hunting praxis (and land access) for African populations, while elite European hunting was defended and promoted as an imperial privilege compatible with environmental outcomes. Starting in the 1920s, members from the Society played a key role in setting up Africa’s early national parks, establishing a key conservation praxis that would continue into the late colonial and postcolonial periods. After World War II, colonial wildlife conservation influence reached its zenith. African populations were displaced as national parks were established across the continent.
Women’s Emancipation from Slavery in Africa in the 19th and 20th Centuries
Authors: van der Spuy Patricia
Published: November 2021

Women were the majority of enslaved people in Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries. Slavery was transformed and expanded in the context of so-called “legitimate commerce” that followed the abolition of oceanic slave trading. Abolition proclamations followed, in British colonies in the 1830s, and elsewhere from the 1870s through much of the 20th century, but abolition did not equate to freedom. Gender was at the heart of emancipation everywhere. Colonial merchants and officials colluded with local male elites to ensure the least disruption possible to the status quo. For these male allies, emancipation was a contradiction in terms for women, because masculine authority and control over women was assumed. In many regions, it was difficult for Europeans to distinguish between marriage, pawnship, and slavery. Women engaged strategically with colonial institutions like the courts over such distinctions to assert some form of control over their own lives, labor, and bodies. Where slavery and marriage were categorically distinct, again women might engage with Western gender stereotypes of marriage to extricate themselves from the authority of former slaveholders, or they might withdraw their labor by fleeing from the farms. Whereas for Europeans women were ideally defined as subservient wives within nuclear families, for many women themselves motherhood and access to their children were key to struggles toward emancipation.

Women’s decisions about their emancipation were influenced by many factors, including whether or not they were mothers, if they were born into slavery or enslaved as children or adults, their experiences of coercion and cruelty including sexual violence, their status within the slaveholding, and their relationships of dependency and support. Topography and location mattered; urban contexts offered different kinds of post-slavery opportunity for many, and access to land and other economic opportunities and limitations were critical. The abolition of slavery by European colonial officials did not emancipate women, but it did provide the context in which some women might negotiate or claim their own rights to freedom as they defined it—which in some cases meant walking away from systems of involuntary servitude. Some women engaged colonial officers and institutions directly to demand a change in status, whereas others decided to stay in relationships that, in many cases, were subtly redefined.
How Trust and Risk Perception Affect Household Water Use
Authors: Wang Raymond Yu , Liu Xiaofeng
Published: November 2021

Household water use accounts for an important portion of water consumption. Notably, different households may behave differently regarding how water is used in everyday life. Trust and risk perception are two significant psychological factors that influence water use behavior in households. Since trust and risk perception are malleable and subject to construction, they are useful for developing effective demand management strategies and water conservation policies. The concepts of trust and risk perception are multidimensional and interconnected. Risk perception varies across social groups and is often shaped by subjective feelings toward a variety of activities, events, and technologies. Risk perception is also mediated by trust, which involves a positive expectation of an individual, an organization, and/or an institution that derives from complex processes, characteristics, and competence. Likewise, different social groups’ trust in various entities involved in household water use is subject to the significant and far-reaching impact of risk perception. The complexity of the two notions poses challenges to the measurement and exploration of their effects on household water use. In many cases, risk perception and trust can influence people’s acceptance of water sources (e.g., tap water, bottled water, recycled water, and desalinated water) and their conservation behavior (e.g., installing water-saving technologies and reducing water consumption) in household water use. Trust can affect household water use indirectly through its influence on risk perception. Moreover, trust and risk perception in household water use are neither given nor fixed; rather, they are dynamically determined by external, internal, and informational factors. A coherent, stable, transparent, and fair social and institutional structure is conducive to building trust. However, trust and risk perception differ among groups with diverse household and/or individual demographic, economic, social, and cultural characteristics. Direct information from personal experiences and, more importantly, indirect information from one’s social network, as well as from mass media and social media, play an increasingly important role in the formation and evolution of trust and risk perception, bringing a profound impact on household water use in an era of information. Future directions lie in new dynamics of risk perception and trust in the era of information explosion, the coevolution mechanism of risk perception and trust in household water use, the nuanced impacts of different types of risks (e.g., controllable and uncontrollable) on household water use, and the interactive relations of risk perception and trust across geographical contexts.
Global Epidemiology of Induced Abortion
Authors: Bell Suzanne O. , Shankar Mridula , Moreau Caroline
Published: November 2021

Induced abortion is a common reproductive experience, with more than 73 million abortions occurring each year globally. Worldwide, the annual abortion incidence decreased in the 1990s and the early decades of the 21st century, but this decline has been driven by high-resource settings, whereas abortion rates in low- and middle-resource countries have remained stable. Induced abortion is a very safe procedure when performed according to World Health Organization guidelines; however, legal restrictions, stigma, cost, lack of resources, and poor health system accountability limit the availability, accessibility, and use of quality abortion care services. Even as women’s use of safer self-managed medication abortion options becomes more common in some parts of the world, 45% of all abortions annually are unsafe, nearly all of which occur in low- and middle-resource settings, where unsafe abortion remains a primary cause of maternal death. Beyond country-level legal and health care system factors, significant disparities exist in women’s reliance on unsafe abortion. Even among women who receive a safe abortion, quality of care is often poor. Yet abortion’s precarious status as a health care service and its clandestine practice have precluded a systematic focus on quality monitoring and evaluation of service inputs. Improving abortion and postabortion care quality is essential to meeting this reproductive health need, as are efforts to prevent abortion-related mortality and morbidity more broadly. This requires a three-tier approach: primary prevention to reduce unintended pregnancy, secondary prevention to make abortion procedures safer, and tertiary prevention to reduce the negative sequelae of unsafe abortion procedures. Strategies include two complementary approaches: vulnerability reduction and harm reduction, the first focusing on the root causes of unsafe abortion by addressing the determinants of unwanted pregnancy and clandestine abortion, while the latter addresses the harmful consequences of clandestine abortion. Political commitments to extend service coverage of abortion and postabortion care need to be implemented through actions that build the public health system’s capacity. Beyond the model of receiving care exclusively in clinical settings, models of guided self-managed abortion are expanding the capacity of individuals to take evidence-based actions to terminate their pregnancies safely and without the threat of judgment. Research has strived to keep up with the changes in the abortion care landscape, but there remains a continuing need to improve methodologies to generate robust evidence to identify and address inequities in abortion care and its health consequences in a diversified landscape. Doing so will provide information for stakeholders to take actions toward a new era of health care reforms that repositions abortion as an integral component of sexual and reproductive health care.
Contemporary Art in Brazil, 1960s and 1970s: Forging the “New”
Authors: Shtromberg Elena
Published: November 2021

The history of exhibitions in Brazil during the 1960s and 1970s provides a key reference point for understanding how artistic vanguards and contemporary art unfolded in direct relationship to social and political contexts. The seminal exhibitions during these pivotal decades elucidate how the contemporary in Brazilian art stages and reframes conceptions of the “new” vis-à-vis the art object. The exhibitions in question trace the development of Ferreira Gullar’s não-objeto (non-object, 1959) and its path toward the idea-based artwork, an impulse that was prevalent throughout the 1960s in the United States and Europe as well. Inaugurated by the emergence of Brasília, Brazil’s new capital city in the formerly barren hinterlands of the state of Goiás, the 1960s witnessed a new model of artistic practice that pushed the boundaries between art and life, actively seeking out the participation of the viewer. This is most evidenced in the canonical work of artists Hélio Oiticica and Lygia Clark. By the 1970s, challenges to the utopian undertakings from the previous decades had become imbricated with political activism, as artists and intellectuals alike pronounced a commitment to the quest for democracy after the military coup of 1964. The 1970s also witnessed heightened artistic engagement with new information and communication technologies, including the use of video equipment and computers. Constructing the history of Brazil’s contemporary art via the most important moments of its display will not only historically and politically contextualize some of the groundbreaking artists and artworks of these two decades, but also introduce readers to the challenges that these artworks posed to the more traditional methods of institutional display and the criteria used to interpret them.
Numerical Expressions in Chinese: Syntax and Semantics
Authors: He Chuansheng , Zhang Min
Published: November 2021

Numerical expressions are linguistic forms related to numbers or quantities, which directly reflect the relationship between linguistic symbols and mathematical cognition. Featuring some unique properties, numeral systems are somewhat distinguished from other language subsystems. For instance, numerals can appear in various grammatical positions, including adjective positions, determiner positions, and argument positions. Thus, linguistic research on numeral systems, especially the research on the syntax and semantics of numerical expressions, has been a popular and recurrent topic.

For the syntax of complex numerals, two analyses have been proposed in the literature. The traditional constituency analysis maintains that complex numerals are phrasal constituents, which has been widely accepted and defended as a null hypothesis. The nonconstituency analysis, by contrast, claims that a complex numeral projects a complementative structure in which a numeral is a nominal head selecting a lexical noun or a numeral-noun combination as its complement. As a consequence, additive numerals are transformed from full NP coordination. Whether numerals denote numbers or sets has aroused a long-running debate. The number-denoting view assumes that numerals refer to numbers, which are abstract objects, grammatically equivalent to nouns. The primary issue with this analysis comes from the introduction of a new entity, numbers, into the model of ontology. The set-denoting view argues that numerals refer to sets, which are equivalent to adjectives or quantifiers in grammar. One main difficulty of this view is how to account for numerals in arithmetic sentences.
State Fiscal Policy
Authors: Tsoukalas Alexis P.
Published: November 2021

America’s individualistic national identity and regressive tax systems that favor corporations and the wealthy over everyday people have increasingly exacerbated inequality. Meanwhile, social welfare needs continue to outpace the resources governments employ to address them. While fiscal issues can be complex and opaque, holding governments accountable is imperative to counter long-standing oppression of those identifying as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), women, immigrants, and others. How state governments, in particular, raise and expend revenue has a dramatic effect on the public, especially as the federal government continues to decentralize social welfare to the states. Social workers are uniquely equipped to influence this arena, given their person-in-environment view and having borne witness to the numerous ways misguided priorities have severely harmed those they are called to serve.
Conflict Theory for Macro Practice
Authors: Robbins Susan P. , Leibowitz George S.
Published: November 2021

Conflict theory encompasses several theories that share underlying assumptions about interlocking systems of oppression and how they are maintained. The relevance of Marx’s theory of class conflict, C. Wright Mills’s power elite, and pluralist interest group theory are all important to understand and address social and economic gaps and informing policy for macro practice.

Conflict theory can provide an understanding of health disparities, racial differences in mortality rates, class relationships associated with negative outcomes, poverty, discrimination in criminal justice, as well as numerous factors that are broadly associated with inequality embedded in social structures. Social workers play a significant role in addressing disparities in research, curricula, primary and secondary intervention, and public policy, and conflict theory can provide the framework necessary to enrich this understanding.
Labor Unions in the United States
Authors: Kurzman Paul A.
Published: November 2021

Labor unions are major participants in the world of work in the United States and abroad. Although union membership in the United States has steadily declined since the 1950s, unions continue to provide a critical countervailing force to the largely unchecked power of employers, whose strength has increased. Hence, to be successful in meeting their goals, unions must learn to deal creatively with the realities of automation, globalization, privatization, de-unionization, and the trend toward contingent work arrangements. Nonetheless, despite the disadvantages and struggles they face, labor unions in 2020 represented almost 16 million wage and salary workers, who have families who vote; therefore, they remain a core constituency for political and corporate America and a significant part of the economic landscape in this country and abroad. Unions remain a core constituency and continue to be a significant part of the economic landscape in this country and beyond.
White Supremacy
Authors: Whitaker Tracy , Alfrey Lauren , Gates Alice B. , Gooding Anita R.
Published: November 2021

The concept of White supremacy is introduced and its impact on society and the social work profession is examined. The ideological and historical foundations of Whiteness in the United States are summarized, and an overview is provided of the legal supports that codified White supremacist ideas into structural racism. White supremacy’s influence on social work is discussed, with an emphasis on language and concepts, history, pedagogy, and organizations. Critical theory and practice frameworks are explored as responses to White supremacy. The limitations of social work’s responses and specific implications for macro social work are discussed.
Two-phase stratified sampling and analysis for predicting binary outcomes
Authors: Cao Yaqi , Haneuse Sebastien , Zheng Yingye , Chen Jinbo
Published: November 2021

The two-phase study design is a cost-efficient sampling strategy when certain data elements are expensive and, thus, can only be collected on a sub-sample of subjects. To date guidance on how best to allocate resources within the design has assumed that primary interest lies in estimating association parameters. When primary interest lies in the development and evaluation of a risk prediction tool, however, such guidance may, in fact, be detrimental. To resolve this, we propose a novel strategy for resource allocation based on oversampling cases and subjects who have more extreme risk estimates according to a preliminary model developed using fully observed predictors. Key to the proposed strategy is that it focuses on enhancing efficiency regarding estimation of measures of predictive accuracy, rather than on efficiency regarding association parameters which is the standard paradigm. Towards valid estimation and inference for accuracy measures using the resultant data, we extend an existing semiparametric maximum likelihood ethod for estimating odds ratio association parameters to accommodate the biased sampling scheme and data incompleteness. Motivated by our sampling design, we additionally propose a general post-stratification scheme for analyzing general two-phase data for estimating predictive accuracy measures. Through theoretical calculations and simulation studies, we show that the proposed sampling strategy and post-stratification scheme achieve the promised efficiency improvement. Finally, we apply the proposed methods to develop and evaluate a preliminary model for predicting the risk of hospital readmission after cardiac surgery using data from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council.
Prenatal radiation exposure leads to higher-order telencephalic dysfunctions in adult mice that coincide with reduced synaptic plasticity and cerebral hypersynchrony
Authors: Craeghs Livine , Callaerts-Vegh Zsuzsanna , Verslegers Mieke , Van der Jeugd Ann , Govaerts Kristof , Dresselaers Tom , Wogensen Elise , Verreet Tine , Moons Lieve , Benotmane Mohammed A , Himmelreich Uwe , D’Hooge Rudi
Published: November 2021

Higher-order telencephalic circuitry has been suggested to be especially vulnerable to irradiation or other developmentally toxic impact. This report details the adult effects of prenatal irradiation at a sensitive time point on clinically relevant brain functions controlled by telencephalic regions, hippocampus (HPC), and prefrontal cortex (PFC). Pregnant C57Bl6/J mice were whole-body irradiated at embryonic day 11 (start of neurogenesis) with X-ray intensities of 0.0, 0.5, or 1.0 Gy. Female offspring completed a broad test battery of HPC-/PFC-controlled tasks that included cognitive performance, fear extinction, exploratory, and depression-like behaviors. We examined neural functions that are mechanistically related to these behavioral and cognitive changes, such as hippocampal field potentials and long-term potentiation, functional brain connectivity (by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging), and expression of HPC vesicular neurotransmitter transporters (by immunohistochemical quantification). Prenatally exposed mice displayed several higher-order dysfunctions, such as decreased nychthemeral activity, working memory defects, delayed extinction of threat-evoked response suppression as well as indications of perseverative behavior. Electrophysiological examination indicated impaired hippocampal synaptic plasticity. Prenatal irradiation also induced cerebral hypersynchrony and increased the number of glutamatergic HPC terminals. These changes in brain connectivity and plasticity could mechanistically underlie the irradiation-induced defects in higher telencephalic functions.
Immune cells in cardiac homeostasis and disease: emerging insights from novel technologies
Authors: Steffens Sabine , Nahrendorf Matthias , Madonna Rosalinda
Published: November 2021

The increasing use of single-cell immune profiling and advanced microscopic imaging technologies has deepened our understanding of the cardiac immune system, confirming that the heart contains a broad repertoire of innate and adaptive immune cells. Leucocytes found in the healthy heart participate in essential functions to preserve cardiac homeostasis, not only by defending against pathogens but also by maintaining normal organ function. In pathophysiological conditions, cardiac inflammation is implicated in healing responses after ischaemic or non-ischaemic cardiac injury. The aim of this review is to provide a concise overview of novel methodological advancements to the non-expert readership and summarize novel findings on immune cell heterogeneity and functions in cardiac disease with a focus on myocardial infarction as a prototypic example. In addition, we will briefly discuss how biological sex modulate the cardiac immune response. Finally, we will highlight emerging concepts for novel therapeutic applications, such as targeting immunometabolism and nanomedicine.
Cost-effectiveness analysis of left atrial appendage occlusion in patients with atrial fibrillation and contraindication to oral anticoagulation
Authors: Labori Frida , Persson Josefine , Bonander Carl , Jood Katarina , Svensson Mikael
Published: November 2021

Aims

This study aims to estimate the cost-effectiveness of percutaneous left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) compared to standard stroke prevention care for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and contraindication to oral anticoagulation (OAC) in a Swedish healthcare and public sector perspective.

Methods and results

We used a combined decision tree and cohort Markov model to estimate costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) over a lifetime horizon with LAAO compared to standard of care where the treatment effect is based on a recent meta-analysis. According to our analysis, LAAO gives more QALYs than standard of care (7.11 vs. 6.12). Furthermore, LAAO treatment is related to the first-year cost of 14 984 Euro (EUR) and higher average healthcare costs over the lifetime by about 4010 EUR, which gives an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of LAAO vs. standard of care at 4047 EUR per gained QALY. From a public sector perspective, LAAO reduces average costs due to substantial reductions in long-term care and, thus, implies that LAAO is dominant from a public sector perspective (lower average costs and better health outcomes).

Conclusion

From both Swedish healthcare and public sector perspectives, LAAO can be considered cost-effective compared to standard of care for individuals with AF and contraindication to OAC. However, these results must be confirmed in health economic evaluations alongside the ongoing randomized clinical trials.

Key Question

Is left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) cost-effective for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and contraindication to oral anticoagulation (OAC) compared to the standard of care from a Swedish healthcare and public sector perspective?

Key Finding

LAAO is associated with lower cost than the standard of care from a public sector perspective and an incremental cost of 4010 Euro from a healthcare perspective. Furthermore, LAAO is related to better health outcomes than the standard of care.

Take Home Message

Treatment with LAAO among individuals with AF and contraindication to OAC can be considered as cost-effective compared to the standard of care from a Swedish healthcare and public sector perspective.
Indigenous microbial communities in heavy oil show a threshold response to salinity
Authors: Voskuhl Lisa , Akbari Ali , Müller Hubert , Pannekens Mark , Brusilova Darya , Dyksma Stefan , Haque Shirin , Graupner Nadine , Dunthorn Micah , Meckenstock Rainer U , Brauer Verena S
Published: November 2021

Microbial degradation influences the quality of oil resources. The environmental factors that shape the composition of oil microbial communities are largely unknown because most samples from oil fields are impacted by anthropogenic oil production, perturbing the native ecosystem with exogenous fluids and microorganisms. We investigated the relationship between formation water geochemistry and microbial community composition in undisturbed oil samples. We isolated 43 microliter-sized water droplets naturally enclosed in the heavy oil of the Pitch Lake, Trinidad and Tobago. The water chemistry and microbial community composition within the same water droplet were determined by ion chromatography and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, respectively. The results revealed a high variability in ion concentrations and community composition between water droplets. Microbial community composition was mostly affected by the chloride concentration, which ranged from freshwater to brackish-sea water. Remarkably, microbial communities did not respond gradually to increasing chloride concentration but showed a sudden change to less diverse and uneven communities when exceeding a chloride concentration of 57.3 mM. The results reveal a threshold-regulated response of microbial communities to salinity, offering new insights into the microbial ecology of oil reservoirs.
Compensatory Connections? Living Alone, Loneliness, and the Buffering Role of Social Connection Among Older American and European Adults
Authors: Schafer Markus H , Sun Haosen , Lee Jin A
Published: November 2021

Objectives

The growth of solo living has important implications for the rising “loneliness epidemic” among older adults. This study considered whether 2 forms of social connectedness—extra-household core discussion networks and social participation—buffer the loneliness associated with living alone.

Method

Our study used data from 2 surveys (National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project; Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe) encompassing 20 developed Western countries in 2009/2010 and 2015/2016 (n = 110,817). Harmonizing measures across data sets, we estimated survey-specific and pooled longitudinal regression models with interaction terms.

Results

High levels of social connectedness only moderately buffered the loneliness associated with living alone in later life. Findings were largely consistent across regions of Europe and the United States, though the buffering patterns were most robustly identified for widowed solo dwellers.

Discussion

Extra-household connections are partial compensators, but do not seem to fully replace the ready companionship afforded by residential copresence in later life. Future research is needed to understand whether the efficacy of compensatory connections differs by gender, race/ethnicity, and across more diverse global regions.
Transfer learning: improving neural network based prediction of earthquake ground shaking for an area with insufficient training data
Authors: Jozinović Dario , Lomax Anthony , Štajduhar Ivan , Michelini Alberto
Published: November 2021

In a recent study, we showed that convolutional neural networks (CNNs) applied to network seismic traces can be used for rapid prediction of earthquake peak ground motion intensity measures (IMs) at distant stations using only recordings from stations near the epicentre. The predictions are made without any previous knowledge concerning the earthquake location and magnitude. This approach differs significantly from the standard procedure adopted by earthquake early warning systems that rely on location and magnitude information. In the previous study, we used 10 s, raw, multistation (39 stations) waveforms for the 2016 earthquake sequence in central Italy for 915 M ≥ 3.0 events (CI data set). The CI data set has a large number of spatially concentrated earthquakes and a dense network of stations. In this work, we applied the same CNN model to an area of central western Italy. In our initial application of the technique, we used a data set consisting of 266 M ≥ 3.0 earthquakes recorded by 39 stations. We found that the CNN model trained using this smaller-sized data set performed worse compared to the results presented in the previously published study. To counter the lack of data, we explored the adoption of ‘transfer learning’ (TL) methodologies using two approaches: first, by using a pre-trained model built on the CI data set and, next, by using a pre-trained model built on a different (seismological) problem that has a larger data set available for training. We show that the use of TL improves the results in terms of outliers, bias and variability of the residuals between predicted and true IM values. We also demonstrate that adding knowledge of station relative positions as an additional layer in the neural network improves the results. The improvements achieved through the experiments were demonstrated by the reduction of the number of outliers by 5 per cent, the residuals R median by 39 per cent and their standard deviation by 11 per cent.
A generalized inverse DEA model for firm restructuring based on value efficiency
Authors: Gerami Javad , Mozaffari Mohammad Reza , Wanke Peter F , Correa Henrique L
Published: November 2021

We present a novel general inverse data envelopment analysis model for assessing the restructuring of decision-making units (DMUs) while observing predetermined value efficiency targets, under two distinct scenarios: merger and acquisitions and split. By considering the set of efficient DMUs as the Decision Maker’s set of Most Preferred Solutions, virtual new units with desired targets for value efficiency scores and input and output levels can be computed. The innovations of this paper are threefold. First, a comparison between the proposed value efficiency and previous technical efficiency approaches reveals improvement in the estimation of restructured input/output levels. Second, the proposed approach is capable of handling the decision-maker’s preferences during restructuring. Third, an algorithm to determine the worst case-scenario for restructuring is presented. An applied case study in banking operations is presented to illustrate the validity and applicability of the proposed method.