bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Multidisciplinary approach in the treatment of tendinous foot involvement in rheumatoid arthritis
Authors: Macarrón Pérez Pilar , Morales Lozano María del Rosario , Vadillo Font Cristina , Abásolo Alcázar Lidia , Martínez Rincón Carmen , Fernández Gutiérrez Benjamin , Blanco Hontiyuelo Margarita , González-Fernández María Luz
Published: July 2021

Introduction

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis frequently consult for pain resulting from involvement of the tendons of the foot. This pain negatively affects foot biomechanics and quality of life. The most widely used treatment option for this condition is ultrasound-guided steroid injection, while other treatments were recommended such as heel pad, splints, and footwear.

Objective

To evaluate a joint intervention (rheumatology and podiatry) comprising an orthotic-podiatric treatment and infiltrations. We evaluated the response using ultrasound monitoring, a pain scale, functional tests, and assessment of patient satisfaction.

Methods

We performed a non-controlled blinded prospective interventional study of 96 patients with foot pain and selected those with ultrasound-confirmed tendon involvement. Patients enrolled started intervention treatment and were followed for 6 months. The outcome of the intervention was compared with the patient’s baseline status. The pre-post differences in the secondary variables (pain, disability) were analyzed using the t test and contingency tables or the Mann–Whitney test.

Results

Using our protocol, we recorded a rapid and significant reduction in the intensity of pain, in the foot function index, and in the ultrasound parameters (grayscale and Doppler). Structural damage to the tendon improved more slowly, with significant outcomes only at the last visit with respect to baseline. Abnormal foot support was detected in 50% of patients, and 79.5% were using inappropriate footwear.

Conclusions

Our multidisciplinary therapeutic protocol enabled a very significant improvement in tendon involvement. It was well-tolerated, with a high degree of satisfaction, and was easily evaluated using ultrasound. No changes in background medication were necessary.

Key Points• Multidisciplinary evaluation of patients with RA is advisable because it improves the treatment management in cases of inflammatory activity and structural abnormalities of the foot.• Comprising orthopedic-podiatric treatment (heel, splints, and suitable footwear) and infiltrations, in terms of clinical, ultrasound, and functional recovery of the foot tendons.• The therapy protocol we propose led to a significant improvement in pain relief and functional recovery.
Understanding the acceleration phenomenon via high-resolution differential equations
Authors: Shi Bin , Du Simon S. , Jordan Michael I. , Su Weijie J.
Published: July 2021

Gradient-based optimization algorithms can be studied from the perspective of limiting ordinary differential equations (ODEs). Motivated by the fact that existing ODEs do not distinguish between two fundamentally different algorithms—Nesterov’s accelerated gradient method for strongly convex functions (NAG-) and Polyak’s heavy-ball method—we study an alternative limiting process that yields high-resolution ODEs. We show that these ODEs permit a general Lyapunov function framework for the analysis of convergence in both continuous and discrete time. We also show that these ODEs are more accurate surrogates for the underlying algorithms; in particular, they not only distinguish between NAG- and Polyak’s heavy-ball method, but they allow the identification of a term that we refer to as “gradient correction” that is present in NAG- but not in the heavy-ball method and is responsible for the qualitative difference in convergence of the two methods. We also use the high-resolution ODE framework to study Nesterov’s accelerated gradient method for (non-strongly) convex functions, uncovering a hitherto unknown result—that NAG- minimizes the squared gradient norm at an inverse cubic rate. Finally, by modifying the high-resolution ODE of NAG-, we obtain a family of new optimization methods that are shown to maintain the accelerated convergence rates of NAG- for smooth convex functions.
Whole-Genome sequencing and comparative genomics of Mycobacterium spp. from farmed Atlantic and coho salmon in Chile
Authors: Suarez Rudy , Kusch Karina , Miranda Claudio D. , Li Tianlu , Campanini Javier , Behra Phani Rama Krishna , Aro Luis , Martínez Alexis , Godoy Marcos , Medina Daniel A.
Published: July 2021

Several members of the Mycobacterium genus cause invasive infections in humans and animals. According to a recent phylogenetic analysis, some strains of Mycobacterium salmoniphilum (Msal), which are the main culprit in bacterial outbreaks in freshwater fish aquaculture, have been assigned to a separate branch containing Mycobacterium franklinii (Mfra), another species that causes infections in humans. However, this genus is little studied in an aquaculture context. Here, we isolated four Mycobacterium spp. strains from freshwater cultures of Atlantic and coho salmon in Chile and performed whole-genome sequencing for deep genomic characterization. In addition, we described the gross pathology and histopathology of the outbreaks. Several bioinformatic analyses were performed using the genomes of these four Mycobacterium isolates in conjunction with those of Msal strains, four Msal-like strains, and one Mfra strains, plus 17 other publicly available Mycobacterium genomes. We found that three isolates are clustered into the Msal branch, whereas one isolate clustered with the Mfra/Msal-like strains. We further evaluated the presence of virulence and antimicrobial resistance genes and observed that the four isolates were closely related to the Msal and Msal-like taxa and carried several antimicrobial resistance and virulence genes that are similar to those of other pathogenic members of the Mycobacterium clade. Altogether, our characterization Msal and Msal-like presented here shed new light on the basis of mycobacteriosis provides quantitative evidence that Mycobacterium strains are a potential risk for aquaculture asetiological agents of emerging diseases, and highlight their biological scopes in the aquaculture industry.
Effect and difference between the threatened and endemic status on the general public support towards wildlife species in a biodiversity hotspot
Authors: Espinosa-Molina Martín , Rodriguez-Jorquera Ignacio A. , Beckmann Volker
Published: July 2021

General public inclusion in nature conservation is crucial to accomplish wildlife species recovery. Mammal and bird species usually receive most of the research and general public attention, leaving aside other taxa species. It is necessary to obtain general public support towards other taxa species by emphasizing ecological attributes. Here we test if the disclosure of the threatened and endemic status of amphibians, fish, and invertebrates, could increase general public support. Additionally, we wanted to identify if the threatened and endemic status could implicate a difference in support. Interviews (N: 359) were conducted among the general public in Valdivia, Chile, to elicit the support, allocation of a fictional fixed amount of conservation funds (WTS), towards native wildlife species. The species were two mammals, and four bird species, none threatened nor endemic, and two amphibians, one fish, and three invertebrates, all threatened and endemic. The WTS was derived on two occasions for each participant. Firstly presenting colorful pictures with the name of the species and, secondly, adding the threatened and endemic status in two separate treatments. Results indicated mammal and bird species with significantly higher WTS when pictures and names were provided. The main driver was a misperception of the threatened status of these species. When the threatened and endemic status was disclosed, the WTS significantly shift towards the amphibians, fish, and invertebrates. No difference in the WTS was spotted between the threatened or endemic status. As our results indicate participants associate charismatic species (mammal and birds) with threatened status. We encourage nature conservation entities to promote a broader spectrum of wildlife species by emphasizing conservation needs.
Can Subjectivism Account for Degrees of Wellbeing?
Authors: van der Deijl Willem , Brouwer Huub
Published: July 2021

Wellbeing describes how good life is for the person living it. Wellbeing comes in degrees. Subjective theories of wellbeing maintain that for objects or states of affairs to benefit us, we need to have a positive attitude towards these objects or states of affairs: the Resonance Constraint. In this article, we investigate to what extent subjectivism can plausibly account for degrees of wellbeing. There is a vast literature on whether preference-satisfaction theory – one particular subjective theory – can account for degrees of wellbeing. This is generally taken to be problematic. However, other subjective theories – namely, desire-satisfaction, judgment- and value-fulfillment theories – do not suffer from the same difficulties. We introduce two models of degrees of wellbeing a subjectivist can employ: the Relative and the Absolute Model, and defend the claim that both models face difficulties. In particular, we argue that a subjectivist theory should describe instances of depression as instances of low degrees of wellbeing. We also argue that a reduction of desires may sometimes improve one’s degree of wellbeing, an idea we call the Epicurean Intuition. We then argue that the Relative Model fails to account for the disbenefit of certain types of depression, while the Absolute Model fails to meet a central commitment of subjectivism – the Resonance Constraint – and is unable to accommodate the Epicurean Intuition. The upshot of the paper is that subjectivist theories cannot account for degrees of well-being in a plausible way.
A Feasibility Study on The Implementation of Neural Network Classifiers for Open Stope Design
Authors: Adoko Amoussou Coffi , Saadaari Festus , Mireku-Gyimah Daniel , Imashev Askar
Published: July 2021

Assessing the stability of stopes is essential in open stope mine design as unstable hangingwalls and footwalls lead to sloughing, unplanned stope dilution, and safety concerns compromising the profitability of the mine. Over the past few decades, numerous empirical tools have been developed to dimension open stope in connection with its stability, using the stability graph method. However, one of the principal limitations of the stability graph method is to objectively determine the boundary of the stability zones, and gain a clear probabilistic interpretation of the graph. To overcome this issue, this paper aims to explore the feasibility of artificial neural network (ANN) based classifiers for the design of open stopes. A stope stability database was compiled and included the stope dimensions, rock mass properties, and the stope stability conditions. The main parameters included the modified stability number (N’), and the stope stability conditions (stable, unstable, and failed), and hydraulic radius (HR). A feed-forward neural network (FFNN) classifier containing two hidden layers (110 neurons each) was employed to identify the stope stability conditions. Overall, the outcome of the analysis showed good agreement with the field data; most stope surfaces were correctly predicted with an average accuracy of 91%. This shows an improvement over using the existing stability graph method. In addition, for a better interpretation of the results, the associated probability of occurrence of stable, unstable, or caved stope was determined and shown in iso-probability contour charts which were compared with the stability graph. The proposed FFNN-based classifier outperformed the conventional stability graph method in terms of accuracy and better prabablistic interpretation. It is suggested that the classifier could be a reliable tool that can complement the conventional stability graph for the design of open stopes.
Effective reassessments of freshwater fish species: a case study in a Mediterranean peninsula
Authors: Miqueleiz Imanol , Miranda Rafael , Ariño Arturo H. , Cancellario Tommaso
Published: July 2021

IUCN Red List assessments for fish species can quickly become out of date. In recent years molecular techniques have added new ways of obtaining information about species distribution or populations. In this work, we propose the Iberian Peninsula as an example of reassessment needs in its endangered freshwater fish fauna. We compiled the list of freshwater fish species occurring in continental Spain and Portugal and examined their conservation status in global and national Red Lists. We retrieved records for these species in the Iberian Peninsula and calculated several biological indexes (richness and vulnerability indexes). Our results showed a patchy data coverage of fish records in the Iberian Peninsula. Threat levels reported within national Red Lists are higher than their global counterparts, reinforcing the necessity of improving and maintaining up to date national Red Lists. Iberian watersheds have moderate levels of threat and high levels of out of date assessments. The nearly fully completed genetic databases for Iberian fish species, along with the limited distribution of many endangered species and the necessity of update their assessments constitute an excellent opportunity to use data obtained from eDNA to improve species monitoring practices and their conservation status.
Landing facilities for processing of cultivated seaweed biomass: a Norwegian perspective with strategic considerations for the European seaweed industry
Authors: Stévant Pierrick , Rebours Céline
Published: July 2021

The production of marine biomass based on seaweed cultivation is growing rapidly in Europe. One of the major challenges for the development of this new industry is associated with processing of the wet biomass harvested from cultivation sites. Efficient methods for the stabilization (i.e. procedures to maintain the integrity and safety of the biomass) and further processing of large quantities of harvested raw material are still lacking as the development of adapted technologies is often limited by significant capital investment. This study investigates the concept of landing facilities for the processing of cultivated seaweed biomass (LFCS) shared among various stakeholders as a practical mean to overcome these challenges. Qualitative data were collected during interviews with relevant stakeholders from Norway and abroad (including seaweed cultivators, technology suppliers and industrial buyers of biomass) to describe the current commercial applications for cultivated seaweeds as well as the methods used for the stabilization and processing of the biomass. This study showed that LFCS can give stakeholders the opportunity to share the costs (investment, operational), thus lowering the financial threshold for establishing efficient strategies for processing large quantities of cultivated seaweed biomass. It was identified that such a structure will increase the synergy among industrial actors along the entire value chain to stimulate innovation and facilitate the production of high-quality products from seaweeds to relevant markets (food, animal feed, nutraceuticals and cosmetics). It can also lead to a higher degree of specialization in this new industry. These premises will contribute to increase the profitability of the emerging European seaweed sector. Identification of the appropriate stabilization processes for large-scale production, definition of the role of LFCS in the seaweed value chain as well as the mode of engagement of the stakeholders in such structure are thus acknowledged as key considerations to define during the planning phase.
Enhanced UV protection and water adsorption properties of transparent poly(methyl methacrylate) films through incorporation of amorphous magnesium carbonate nanoparticles
Authors: Yang Jiaojiao , Wang Junxin , Strømme Maria , Welch Ken
Published: July 2021

A simple solution casting approach was used to obtain transparent and flexible poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films incorporated with 1 – 4% by weight amorphous magnesium carbonate nanoparticles. Optical transparency was retained in visible wavelengths, while transmittance in the UV-B region was reduced by 22% at 310 nm and 58% at 256 nm with the addition of 4 wt. % nanoparticles. Furthermore, the incorporation of the nanoparticles was shown to provide protection for the films under UV-C irradiation (254 nm wavelength, 5 mW cm−2), with the amount of UV degradation decreasing with increasing concentration of nanoparticles. Films with incorporated nanoparticles were also shown to be able to retain adsorbed moisture much better than neat PMMA films; whereas neat PMMA films did not retain moisture, approximately 50% of the adsorbed moisture was retained in films containing 4 wt. % nanoparticles. These enhanced properties of PMMA are of great interest in applications such as flexible and transparent screens for personal electronic devices that require protection from both UV light and moisture.
Relating landscape ecological metrics with public survey data on perceived landscape quality and place attachment
Authors: Wartmann Flurina M. , Stride C. B. , Kienast F. , Hunziker M.
Published: July 2021

Context

It is essential for policy-making and planning that we understand landscapes not only in terms of landscape ecological patterns, but also in terms of their contribution to people's quality of life.

Objectives

In this study our objective is to test relationships between landscape ecology and social science indicators, by investigating how landscape patterns are linked to people’s perception of landscape quality.

Methods

To assess public views on landscapes we conducted a survey among 858 respondents in Switzerland. We combined this survey data on perceived landscape quality and place attachment with landscape metrics (e.g. diversity, naturalness of land cover, urban sprawl, fragmentation) in a statistical model to test hypotheses about the relationships between the different variables of interest.

Results

Our results illustrate the contribution of both landscape composition metrics and social science indicators to understanding variation in people’s perception and assessment of landscape. For example, we found the landscape ecology metrics on urban sprawl and fragmentation to be a negative predictor of overall satisfaction with landscape, and that perceived landscape quality positively predicted place attachment and satisfaction with the municipality landscape.

Conclusions

This study highlights the importance and feasibility of combining landscape ecology metrics and public survey data on how people perceive, value and relate to landscape in an integrated manner. Our approach has the potential for implementation across a variety of settings and can contribute to holistic and integrated landscape assessments that combine ecological and socio-cultural aspects.
Automotive dry clutch fully coupled transient tribodynamics
Authors: Minas I. , Morris N. , Theodossiades S. , O’Mahony M. , Voveris J.
Published: July 2021

Determining the root causes of Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) phenomena in modern automotive drivetrains is a task of critical importance. This research investigates the stability of dry clutch systems vibrational behaviour during engagement. A fully coupled dry clutch numerical model including the influence of friction is presented and validated using vehicle measurements. The clutch component frictional properties are measured using parts that exhibit aggressive NVH behaviour using representative tribometric experiments. The validated numerical tool highlights the occurrence of instabilities which are caused by modal couplings, particularly between the input shaft bending and clutch disc radial motions. Such a validated transient dynamics model of a dry clutch system has not hitherto been presented in the open literature.
miRNA biomarkers in renal disease
Authors: Franczyk Beata , Gluba-Brzózka Anna , Olszewski Robert , Parolczyk Magdalena , Rysz-Górzyńska Magdalena , Rysz Jacek
Published: July 2021

Chronic kidney disease (CKD), which is characterized by the gradual loss of kidney function, is a growing worldwide problem due to CKD-related morbidity and mortality. There are no reliable and early biomarkers enabling the monitoring, the stratification of CKD progression and the estimation of the risk of CKD-related complications, and therefore, the search for such molecules is still going on. Numerous studies have provided evidence that miRNAs are potentially important particles in the CKD field. Studies indicate that some miRNA levels can be increased in patients with CKD stages III–V and hemodialysis and decreased in renal transplant recipients (miR-143, miR-145 and miR-223) as well as elevated in patients with CKD stages III–V, decreased in hemodialysis patients and even more markedly decreased in renal transplant recipients (miR-126 and miR-155). miRNA have great potential of being sensitive and specific biomarkers in kidney diseases as they are tissue specific and stable in various biological materials. Some promising non-invasive miRNA biomarkers have already been recognized in renal disease with the potential to enhance diagnostic accuracy, predict prognosis and monitor the course of disease. However, large-scale clinical trials enrolling heterogeneous patients are required to evaluate the clinical value of miRNAs.
Die Moral des Vermessens
Authors: Petzke Martin
Published: July 2021

Der Beitrag beleuchtet das Zusammenspiel von Klassifizieren, Vergleichen, Vermessen und Bewerten im statistischen Integrationsmonitoring, ein amtliches Beobachtungsinstrument zur Einschätzung der Integrationsfortschritte der Migrantenbevölkerung. Der Artikel zeigt auf, dass die Logiken der Klassifikation, des Vergleichs und der vermessenden Operationalisierung in jeweils spezifischer Weise unbeabsichtigte Assoziationen moralischen Bewertens suggerieren. Sie tun dies im Zusammenspiel mit kognitionspsychologischen Dispositionen, institutionellen Logiken statistischer und integrationspolitischer Ressorts, einem durchgreifenden Zeitgeist der Ratings und Rankings sowie einem moralisch „dichten“ Integrationsbegriff. Der Artikel verbindet hier Einsichten aus den Science and Technology Studies mit den Literaturen zur statistischen Konstruktion von Ethnizität sowie der jüngeren Soziologie der Moral.
Columnar Thermal Barrier Coatings Produced by Different Thermal Spray Processes
Authors: Kumar Nitish , Gupta Mohit , Mack Daniel E. , Mauer Georg , Vaßen Robert
Published: July 2021

Suspension plasma spraying (SPS) and plasma spray-physical vapor deposition (PS-PVD) are the only thermal spray technologies shown to be capable of producing TBCs with columnar microstructures similar to the electron beam-physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD) process but at higher deposition rates and relatively lower costs. The objective of this study was to achieve fundamental understanding of the effect of different columnar microstructures produced by these two thermal spray processes on their insulation and lifetime performance and propose an optimized columnar microstructure. Characterization of TBCs in terms of microstructure, thermal conductivity, thermal cyclic fatigue lifetime and burner rig lifetime was performed. The results were compared with TBCs produced by the standard thermal spray technique, atmospheric plasma spraying (APS). Bondcoats deposited by the emerging high-velocity air fuel (HVAF) spraying were compared to the standard vacuum plasma-sprayed (VPS) bondcoats to investigate the influence of the bondcoat deposition process as well as topcoat–bondcoat interface topography. The results showed that the dense PS-PVD-processed TBC had the highest lifetime, although at an expense of the highest thermal conductivity. The reason for this behavior was attributed to the dense intracolumnar structure, wide intercolumnar gaps and high column density, thus improving the strain tolerance and fracture toughness.
A Novel Approach to Reduce the Environmental Footprint of Maritime Shipping
Authors: Flagiello Domenico , Esposito Martina , Di Natale Francesco , Salo Kent
Published: July 2021

Maritime shipping is a strategic sector with a strong international vocation and management. The need to define regulations valid for many different countries without generating disparities of treatment slowed down the formulation of environmental regulations, especially for atmospheric emissions. In particular, regulations pertaining to the reduction of sulphur compounds allowed two distinct approaches: the use of low-sulphur fuels or exhaust gas cleaning systems, the so-called Scrubbers. The actual implementation of these solutions presents specific concerns either related to the toxicity of atmospheric by-products and to the fuel cost or to the generation of polluting washwaters that may need treatment before discharge. In this paper we analyzed the potential environmental benefit deriving from the use of a distillate fuel, not compliant with current IMO Sulphur Regulations, together with a Scrubber. The pilot-scale experimental results indicated that a limited amount of water and/or scrubber volume is needed to reduce sulphur emissions below regulations on maritime shipping, especially with the addition of NaOH reaching a water-saving between 25%-33% compared to the use of pure seawater. Experiments indicated that scrubber washwater PAHs emissions are within the available water quality standards indicated by EU and USA guidelines. A bottom-up analysis on heavy metals concentration shed light on the prominent role of metal-parts corrosion on the washwater emissions. Taking into account for corrosion phenomena, the actual heavy metals concentration in the washwater deriving from scrubbing was normally below the water quality standards.
Effect of Quenching Strategy and Nb-Mo Additions on Phase Transformations and Quenchability of High-Strength Boron Steels
Authors: Zurutuza Irati , Isasti Nerea , Detemple Eric , Schwinn Volker , Mohrbacher Hardy , Uranga Pello
Published: July 2021

The application of direct quenching after hot rolling of plates is being employed in the production of ultra-high-strength hot rolled plates. When heavy gauge plates are produced, the complexity involve in achieving high cooling rates in the plate core is increased and the formation of undesirable soft phases within martensite is common. In the current paper, both direct quenching and conventional quenching (DQ and CQ) processing routes were reproduced by dilatometry tests and continuous cooling transformation (CCT) diagrams were built for four different high-strength boron steels. The results indicate that the addition of Mo and Nb-Mo suppresses the ferritic region and considerably shifts the CCT diagram to lower transformation temperatures. The combination of DQ strategy and the Mo-alloying concept provides the best option to ensure hardenability and the formation of a fully martensitic microstructure, and to avoid the presence of soft phases in the center of thick plates.
Ethics-Based Auditing of Automated Decision-Making Systems: Nature, Scope, and Limitations
Authors: Mökander Jakob , Morley Jessica , Taddeo Mariarosaria , Floridi Luciano
Published: July 2021

Important decisions that impact humans lives, livelihoods, and the natural environment are increasingly being automated. Delegating tasks to so-called automated decision-making systems (ADMS) can improve efficiency and enable new solutions. However, these benefits are coupled with ethical challenges. For example, ADMS may produce discriminatory outcomes, violate individual privacy, and undermine human self-determination. New governance mechanisms are thus needed that help organisations design and deploy ADMS in ways that are ethical, while enabling society to reap the full economic and social benefits of automation. In this article, we consider the feasibility and efficacy of ethics-based auditing (EBA) as a governance mechanism that allows organisations to validate claims made about their ADMS. Building on previous work, we define EBA as a structured process whereby an entity’s present or past behaviour is assessed for consistency with relevant principles or norms. We then offer three contributions to the existing literature. First, we provide a theoretical explanation of how EBA can contribute to good governance by promoting procedural regularity and transparency. Second, we propose seven criteria for how to design and implement EBA procedures successfully. Third, we identify and discuss the conceptual, technical, social, economic, organisational, and institutional constraints associated with EBA. We conclude that EBA should be considered an integral component of multifaced approaches to managing the ethical risks posed by ADMS.
Language, Power and Success: Bestselling Translations in the Dutch CPNB Top 100 archief
Authors: Valentin Lukas
Published: July 2021

This paper investigates origins, original languages and authors of bestselling translations on the annual Dutch Top 100 bestseller list. Considering the first fifty entries on the lists from the period between 1997 and 2019, the study aims to determine the Dutch position within the World Language System. The results show that about half of all the books surveyed are translations. These come from fifteen different source languages, although a clear majority are translations from English (73.2%). The analysis confirms the notion of a World Language System with central, semi-peripheral and peripheral languages and places Dutch among the peripheral languages. Furthermore, the study reveals strong globalisation and commercialisation tendencies in the Dutch book market.
Treatment of the railway freight wagon wash effluents by coagulation methods on accelator reactor
Authors: Żak Sławomir , Rauckyte-Żak Terese
Published: July 2021

This paper presents results of the research carried out on a system made to pretreat the effluents produced in water treatment of dirty surfaces of railway transportation means (RTMs) mainly G, H, T and incidental F classes of rolling stock according to the International Union of Railways (IURs). The installation was designed for coagulation–flocculation pretreatment of wastewater with flow accelator reactor (AR) in total amount of up to 75.0 m3 day−1. The raw wastewater (RW) was characterized by a significant diversity of loads: TSS (total suspended solids), TDS (total dissolved solids), COD & BOD5 (chemical & biochemical oxygen demand) and periodically it had extremely different colors, Ta (turbidity) and EE (etheric extract). The application of two-stage, coupled acid-alkali or alkaline-acid coagulation using aluminum coagulants with final flocculation and phase separation in the system implemented in practice to treat the wastewater of statistically typical composition, usually allowed to removal, accordingly: EE & TSS > 99% and to eliminate completely color and Ta. However, COD and BOD5 were removal at different levels, depending on both initial concentrations and chemical composition of load pools registered in the RW, and a type of coagulation used. The use of pre-oxidation with aqueous solutions of hydrogen peroxide or peracetic acid coupled with coagulation based only on aluminum coagulants helps to achieve equal levels of removal of the basic indicator values and a sanitary clean stream of pretreated wastewater (PW) with a colony forming unit (CFU) of <100 ml−1.
Bayes Factors for Mixed Models
Authors: van Doorn Johnny , Aust Frederik , Haaf Julia M. , Stefan Angelika M. , Wagenmakers Eric-Jan
Published: July 2021

Although Bayesian linear mixed effects models are increasingly popular for analysis of within-subject designs in psychology and other fields, there remains considerable ambiguity on the most appropriate Bayes factor hypothesis test to quantify the degree to which the data support the presence or absence of an experimental effect. Specifically, different choices for both the null model and the alternative model are possible, and each choice constitutes a different definition of an effect resulting in a different test outcome. We outline the common approaches and focus on the impact of aggregation, the effect of measurement error, the choice of prior distribution, and the detection of interactions. For concreteness, three example scenarios showcase how seemingly innocuous choices can lead to dramatic differences in statistical evidence. We hope this work will facilitate a more explicit discussion about best practices in Bayes factor hypothesis testing in mixed models.
Partizipation als organisationales und pädagogisches Konzept der Elterninitiativen – oder: „[…] das war eher so ein exklusiv-inklusiver Bereich“
Authors: Riechers Katharina
Published: July 2021

Der Beitrag fokussiert Elterninitiativen als besondere Form einer partizipativ durch Eltern und pädagogische Fachkräfte gestalteten Trägerschaft. Er fragt nach dem Zusammenhang ihrer organisationalen Strukturen und ihres pädagogisch-konzeptionellen Partizipationsverständnisses sowie nach Inklusionspotenzialen und Exklusionsrisiken, die sich über ihre spezielle Organisationsform ergeben (können), und verbindet diese mit verschiedenen inklusionstheoretischen Konzepten.
Anti sway tuned control of gantry cranes
Authors: Suvorov Vladimir A. , Bahrami Mohammad Reza , Akchurin Evgeniy E. , Chukalkin Ivan A. , Ermakov Stanislav A. , Kan Sergey A.
Published: July 2021

Load swaying is one of the most frequently occurring problems at production sites. The purpose of this work is to create a control system for the movement of an overhead crane with an anti-sway function. The Particle Swarm Optimization method has been used to find the controller coefficients. The crane movement with the anti-sway function should be implemented using a PLC (programmable logic controller) and have a high speed of operation. The frequency converter controls the speed of the drive that moves the crane. The main advantage of the system is its simplicity and low cost combined with the low swaying of the load. The oscillation amplitude with an angular speed regulator is two to three times less in comparison with the control system without the angular speed regulator. The presence of an angular speed regulator minimizes the impact of the load weight and the rope length. The efficiency of the simulator program for calculating angular speed has been tested and confirmed. Verification of the created mathematical model of the crane with experimental installation has been made.

Article Highlights

An efficient and low-cost anti-sway system for overhead cranes has been developed. The efficiency of the system was tested experimentally, the dependencies of the influence of factors on the sway angle were obtained. The selection of the regulator coefficients is implemented using the particle swarm optimization method coded in C++, which provides high-speed performance and the ability to integrate the algorithm into the PLC of the overhead crane control system.
AutoQual: task-oriented structural vibration sensing quality assessment leveraging co-located mobile sensing context
Authors: Zhang Yue , Hu Zhizhang , Xu Susu , Pan Shijia
Published: July 2021

In this paper, we introduce AutoQual, a mobile-based assessment scheme for infrastructure sensing task performance prediction under new deployment environments. With the growth of the Internet-of-Things (IoT), many non-intrusive sensing systems have been explored for various indoor applications, such as structural vibration sensing. This indirect sensing approach’s learning performance is prone to deployment variance when signals propagate through the environment. As a result, current systems heavily rely on expert knowledge and manual assessment to achieve effective deployments and high sensing task performance. In order to mitigate this expert effort, we propose to systematically study factors that reflect deployment environment characteristics and methods to measure them autonomously. We present AutoQual that measures a series of assessment factors (AFs) reflecting how the deployment environment impacts the system performance. AutoQual outputs a task-oriented sensing quality (TSQ) score by integrating measured AFs trained from known deployments as a prediction of untested system’s performance. In addition, AutoQual achieves this assessment without manual effort by leveraging co-located mobile sensing context to extract structural vibration signal for processing automatically. We evaluate AutoQual by using it to predict untested systems’ performance over multiple sensing tasks. We conduct real-world experiments and investigate 48 deployments in 11 environments. AutoQual achieves less than 0.10 average absolute error when auto-assessing multiple tasks at untested deployments, which shows a $$\le 0.018$$

≤
0.018

absolute error difference compared to the manual assessment approach.
Accuracy of self-evaluation in a peer-learning environment: an analysis of a group learning model
Authors: Aminu Nasir , Hamdan Mohammed , Russell Christopher
Published: July 2021

There is a global competitive demand for graduates with soft skills, and higher education institutions are tasked to reduce the employee skill gap. Thus, we investigated the students' perceptions of peer assessment in facilitating engagement in soft-skill development through group work activities. Using group work to measure the effectiveness of students' feedback on their assessment, we posit that students perceive self-assessment in group work as a tool that represents fairness. By focusing on learning in a peer-assisted learning environment, the study is a two-period different observation on the effectiveness and validity of peer assessment practice. We applied a group learning model over two academic sessions to investigate if students can self-evaluate accurately in a peer-learning environment. The employed methods included both qualitative and quantitative analysis. The findings of the study differ from previous findings that students cannot self-assess accurately. Empirically, there was no significant difference between the peer marks and tutor marks. The study also found that peer learning improves students' quality of assessment as they reflect on their work better.
Dynamic wage bargaining and labour market fluctuations: the role of productivity shocks
Authors: Guerrazzi Marco , Giribone Pier Giuseppe
Published: July 2021

In this paper, we explore the way in which different bargaining settings affect labour market fluctuations by means of an analytical apparatus that has never been used for this purpose. Specifically, modelling wage negotiations as a problem of stochastic optimal control, we analyze how productivity disturbances shape the dynamics of output, employment, and wages by focusing on the way in which firms’ technology and workers’ preferences interact with the adjustment rules of employment underlying the bargaining process. With a quadratic production function and risk averse workers, we show that wage negotiation outcomes whose employment adjustments go in the direction of the labour demand of the firms match the cyclical behaviour of the involved variables but fail to replicate the observed wage rigidity. By contrast, we show that wage bargaining outcomes whose employment adjustments target the contract curve of two negotiating parties are also able to deliver a strong degree of wage stickiness.
A new approach to detecting and designing living structure of urban environments
Authors: Jiang Bin , Huang Ju-Tzu
Published: July 2021

Sustainable urban design or planning is not a LEGO-like assembly of prefabricated elements, but an embryo-like growth with persistent differentiation and adaptation towards a coherent whole. The coherent whole has a striking character – called living structure – that consists of far more small substructures than large ones. To detect the living structure, this paper develops a new approach for uncovering the underlying living structure of urban environments. The approach takes an urban environment as a whole and recursively decomposes it into meaningful subwholes at different levels of hierarchy (or scale) ranging from the largest to the smallest. This approach helps us not only better understand an urban environment as a living structure, but also better plan or transform the urban environment to be living or more living, or equivalently to be beautiful or more beautiful.
Memory, Family, and Community in Roman Ephesos
Authors: Kalinowski Angela
Published: July 2021

This is the first book to analyse urban social relations in the eastern Roman Empire through the perspective of one elite family. From the late first to the mid-third century CE, the Vedii and their descendants were magistrates, priests and priestesses of local and imperial cults, and presided over Ephesos' many religious festivals. They were also public benefactors, paying for the construction of public buildings for the pleasure of fellow citizens. This study examines the material evidence of their activities - the buildings with their epigraphic and decorative programs – to show how members of the family created monuments to enhance their own and their family's prestige. It also discusses the inscriptions of the honorific statue monuments raised by the city and its sub-groups for the family in return for their benefactions, arguing that these reflect the community's values and interests as much as they commemorate the benefactors and their families.
Soil fertilization synergistically enhances the impact of pollination services in increasing seed yield of sunflower under dryland conditions
Authors: Bola Adelabu Dolapo , Bredenhand Emile , van der Merwe Sean , Franke Angelinus Cornelius
Published: July 2021

To exploit the potential of ecological intensification during sunflower cropping, it is crucial to understand the potential synergies between crop management and ecosystem services. We therefore examined the effect of pollination intensification on sunflower yield and productivity under various levels of soil fertilization over two seasons in the eastern Free State, South Africa. We manipulated soil fertility with fertilizer applications and pollination with exclusion bags. We found a synergetic effect between pollination and soil fertilization whereby increasing pollination intensity led to a far higher impact on sunflower yield when the soil had been fertilized. Specifically, the intensification of insect pollination increased seed yield by approximately 0.4 ton/ha on nutrient poor soil and by approximately 1.7 ton/ha on moderately fertilized soil. Our findings suggest that sunflower crops on adequate balanced soil fertility will receive abundant insect pollination and may gain more from both synergies than crops grown in areas with degraded soil fertility.
Do host habitat use and cospeciation matter in the evolution ofOswaldocruzia(Nematoda, Molineidae) from neotropical amphibians?
Authors: Willkens Yuri , Furtado Adriano Penha , Santos Jeannie Nascimento dos , Melo Francisco Tiago de Vasconcelos
Published: July 2021

The genusOswaldocruziaTravassos, 1917 includes approximately 90 species that are parasitic on amphibians and reptiles around the world, of which 43 occur in the neotropical region. However, molecular data supporting the taxonomic status of most species of the genus are scarce, and their phylogenetic relationships remain unknown. Using specimens of four molineid taxa (Oswaldocruzia belenensisSantos, Giese, Maldonado Jr. and Lanfredi, 2008;Oswaldocruzia chabaudiBen Slimane & Durette-Desset, 1996,Oswaldocruzia chambrieriBen Slimane & Durette-Desset, 1996 andKentropyxia hylaeFeitosa, Furtado, Santos and Melo, 2015) from amphibian hosts collected in different regions of Pará, Brazil, we conducted morphological studies, molecular analyses and phylogenies (maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference) using the cytochrome c oxidase subunity I (Cox1) gene. The newly generated sequences were compared with those of ten publicly availableCox1sequences ofOswaldocruziafrom Mexico. Our findings demonstrated significant differences between the sequences of amazonian specimens and sequences from specimens collected in Mexico, and we suggest that host–parasite cospeciation or habitat use might be related to molineid evolution in amphibian hosts. Additionally, this work presents new hosts and new geographical records for species ofOswaldocruziafrom the neotropics.
Revolution knows no boundaries? Chinese revolutionaries in North Vietnam during the early years of the First Indochina War
Authors: Han Xiaorong
Published: July 2021

This article analyses the roles and activities of three groups of Chinese communist revolutionaries in the early phase of the First Indochina War. The author argues that although the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) did not begin to provide substantial aid to North Vietnam until 1950, the involvement of Chinese communists, including members of both the CCP and the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP), in the First Indochina War started at the very moment the war broke out in 1946. Although the early participants were not as prominent as the Chinese political and military advisers who arrived after 1949, their activities deserve to be examined, not only because they were the forerunners of later actors, but also because they had already made concrete contributions to the Vietnamese revolution before the founding of the People's Republic of China and the arrival of large-scale Chinese military and economic aid. Moreover, interactions between early Chinese participants and the Vietnamese revolutionaries established a pattern that would characterise Sino–Vietnamese relations in the subsequent decades.
WHY ECONOMICS IS AN EVOLUTIONARY, MATHEMATICAL SCIENCE: HOW COULD VEBLEN’S VIEW OF ECONOMICS HAVE BEEN SO DIFFERENT THAN PEIRCE’S?
Authors: Wible James R.
Published: July 2021

More than a century ago, one of the most famous essays ever written in American economics appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Economics: “Why is Economics Not an Evolutionary Science?” There, Thorstein Veblen claimed that economics was too dominated by a mechanistic view to address the problems of economic life. Since the world and the economy had come to be viewed from an evolutionary perspective after Charles Darwin, it was rather straightforward to argue that the increasingly abstract mathematical character of economics was non-evolutionary. However, Veblen had studied with a first-rate intellect, Charles Sanders Peirce, attending his elementary logic class. If Peirce had written about the future of economics in 1898, it would have been very different than Veblen’s essay. Peirce could have written that economics should become an evolutionary mathematical science and that much of classical and neoclassical economics could be interpreted from an evolutionary perspective.
Political Constitutionalism under a Culture of Legalism: Case Studies from Ireland
Authors: Casey Conor , Daly Eoin
Published: July 2021

Political constitutionalism understood in terms of autonomy of political judgement rather than allocation of powers – Irish case studies as example – Judicial doctrines recognise political discretion concerning rights – However, legalism or legal constitutionalism arises within the sphere of political judgement itself – Legal constitutionalism restricts political autonomy epistemically as well as institutionally