bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Model for Right-Wing Populist Electoral Success?
Authors: Muno Wolfgang , Stockemer Daniel
Published: March 2021

This article adds to the large literature on right-wing populist parties (RWPP), explaining how anti-immigrant sentiments become salient for vote choice. Within the large literature on RWPP, anti-immigration attitudes are the most important variable to explain the vote share of RWPP. Yet, recent research shows that there is not always an empirical effect between having anti-immigrant attitudes and voting for the RWPP. In this article, we develop a theoretical model that explains the conditions under which anti-immigration attitudes matter. We then test this model based on the case of the AfD in Germany, a typical case for a right-wing populist party exploiting anti-immigrant sentiment. Focusing on the AfD in Germany, we illustrate that the refugee crisis in 2015 in combination with a perception of high government unresponsiveness to stop the crisis provided the structural conditions necessary to activate latent anti-immigration sentiment among large parts of the population. Using a structural analysis and individual panel data for Germany’s general elections in 2013 and 2017, we find that immigration critical attitudes were already present among parts of the population in 2013 but immigration was a secondary topic in the 2013 election, even among AfD voters. Due to the immigration crisis in 2015, immigration became a salient topic. The combination of a perceived external crisis or shock combined with a perceived government’s unresponsiveness quickly offered a winning formula for the AfD. A probability probe for two other countries (Sweden and Italy) with different contexts also show salience for the model.
Erratum: Zhang, Y., Liao, M., Li., Y.-L., Chang, F.-Q. & Kociolek., J.P. (2021) Cymbella xiaojinensis sp. nov., a new cymbelloid diatom species (Bacillariophyceae) from high altitude lakes, China. Phytotaxa 482 (1): 55–64.
Authors: ZHANG YUN , LIAO MENGNA , LI YAN-LING , CHANG FENG-QIN , KOCIOLEK JOHN PATRICK
Published: March 2021

N/A
Two new species of the green lacewing subgenus Ankylopteryx Brauer, 1864 (s. str.) (Neuroptera, Chrysopidae) from China
Authors: MA YUNLONG , LIU XINGYUE
Published: March 2021

Two new species of the green lacewing subgenus Ankylopteryx Brauer are described from southern Yunnan, China, namely Ankylopteryx (A.) diffluens sp. nov. and Ankylopteryx (A.) rubrocincta sp. nov.. An updated key to the species of this subgenus is provided.
The Dynamics of Observed Lee Waves over the Snæfellsnes Peninsula in Iceland
Authors: Colfescu Ioana , Klemp Joseph B. , Bollasina Massimo A. , Mobbs Stephen D. , Burton Ralph R.
Published: March 2021

On 20 October 2016, aircraft observations documented a significant train of lee waves above and downstream of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula on the west coast of Iceland. Simulations of this event with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model provide an excellent representation of the observed structure of these mountain waves. The orographic features producing these waves are characterized by the isolated Snæfellsjökull volcano near the tip of the peninsula and a fairly uniform ridge along its spine. Sensitivity simulations with the WRF Model document that the observed wave train consists of a superposition of the waves produced individually by these two dominant orographic features. This behavior is consistent with idealized simulations of a flow over an isolated 3D mountain and over a 2D ridge, which reproduce the essential behavior of the observed waves and those captured in the WRF simulations. Linear analytic analysis confirms the importance of a strong inversion at the top on the boundary layer in promoting significant wave activity extending far downstream of the terrain. However, analysis of the forced and resonant modes for a two-layer atmosphere with a capping inversion suggest that this wave train may not be produced by resonant modes whose energy is trapped beneath the inversion. Rather, these appear to be vertically propagating modes with very small vertical group velocity that can persist far downstream of the mountain. These vertically propagating waves potentially provide a mechanism for producing near-resonant waves farther aloft due to interactions with a stable layer in the midtroposphere.
Interactive Effects between Temperature and Humidity on Outpatient Visits of Respiratory Diseases in Lanzhou, China
Authors: He Hua , Chai Guorong , Su Yana , Sha Yongzhong , Zong Shengliang , Bao Hairong
Published: March 2021

This study assessing the lag and interactive effects between the daily average temperature and relative humidity on respiratory disease (RD) morbidity in Lanzhou, China, using data from daily outpatient visits for RD between 2014 and 2017 and meteorological and pollutant data during the same period analyzed with Poisson generalized linear model and distributed lag nonlinear models; the effects are further explored by classifying the RD by gender, age, and disease type. The results showed that the effect of temperature and relative humidity on outpatient visits of different populations and types of RD is nonlinear, with a significant lag effect. Relative to 11°C, every 1°C decrease in temperature is associated with 10.98% [95% confidence interval (CI): 9.87%–12.11%] increase for total RD. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is affected only by low temperature, upper respiratory tract infection is affected by both low and high temperatures, and asthma is influenced by high temperature. When the relative humidity is less than 32%, every 1% decrease in relative humidity is associated with 6.00% (95% CI: 3.00%–9.11%) increase for total RD; relative humidity has different effects on the outpatient risk of different types of RD. Temperature and relative humidity have an obvious interactive effect on different types and populations of RD: when both temperature and humidity are at low levels, the number of outpatient visits for RD is higher. When the relative humidity is ≤50% and the temperature is ≤11°C, total RD outpatient visits increase by 4.502% for every 1°C drop in temperature; that is, a dry environment with low temperature has the most significant impact on RD.
Innovation, Patents, and Competition in Modern Agriculture: A Case Study of Bayer and Monsanto Merger
Authors: Joseph Reji K.
Published: March 2021

The use of digital technologies to aid the agronomic decision making of farmers characterizes modern agriculture. Digital farming is expected to enhance the market power of leading innovative firms in the seed industry, which is already having a high level of concentration. The merger of two leading innovative firms—Bayer and Monsanto—is to be seen in this context. This article examines the emerging anticompetitive considerations from the deal and the contribution of the Competition Commission of India in alleviating such considerations while approving the deal. It is found that threats were emerging in three areas—traits and seeds, nonselective herbicides, and digital farming platforms. To eliminate the anticompetitive effects of the deal, both the companies were required to divest their research and development intensive trait, seed, and nonselective herbicide businesses. They were also required to license the proprietary active ingredients of nonselective herbicides, if the use of their seeds was linked to the application of such herbicides, on fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms. They were also required to license the agronomic data, collected from India, and used in their digital platforms, to potential users on FRAND terms.
Preparing African students with refugee backgrounds for transition: School practices
Authors: Molla Tebeje
Published: March 2021

For young people, the end of secondary school represents a critical transition point. This article aims at understanding how schools support a particular group of disadvantaged students to transition into education, training, or employment. Drawing on a life-course perspective and with refugee-background African students as an empirical focus, this qualitative case study documents career support practices in nine government schools in the State of Victoria. The findings show that schools provide transition opportunities that support African students to envision their post-school educational and career trajectories. The arrangements include career planning, alternative pathways, and employment of community engagement officers. However, there are persisting challenges that impede this group of students from fully benefiting from these arrangements. The main barriers identified here are academic disengagement, doxic aspirations, misconceptions about qualifications, and low self-efficacy. The article also argues that the persistence of these challenges is attributable at least in part to such overlooked factors of engagement as institutional practices, student agency, and home environment.
Effects of innovative pedagogy integration in electrical installation and maintenance works in Enugu and Lagos states technical colleges
Authors: Olelewe Chijioke J , Doherty Funmilayo V , Orji Chibueze T , Aneyo Idowu
Published: March 2021

The need to evolve an innovative approach that can improve the practical learning outcomes among technical college students necessitated this study. Thus, the present study investigated the effect of innovative pedagogy integration in electrical installation and maintenance works in technical colleges in Enugu and Lagos states of Nigeria. The study adopted a school-based randomised Solomon Four-Group Design involving a treatment group versus the control group. We selected three hundred and fifteen (315) technical college year two (TC II) electrical installation and maintenance work students who met the study’s inclusion criteria from the technical colleges in Enugu and Lagos state of Nigeria. The intervention consisted of eight weeks of innovative pedagogy treatment. Electrical installation and Maintenance Achievement Test (EMAT) were used for data collection. We used analysis of variance, t-test for independent samples, and Chi-Squared for data analysis. The outcome indicated that innovative pedagogy improved students’ learning outcomes and significantly affected students’ EMAT achievement among electrical installation and maintenance work students in the treatment group compared to their control group counterparts. The study showed, no significant main difference across all the control variables. Finally, there is no interaction effect of pre-test and treatment conditions. Thus, the current study suggests that technical college teachers should adopt innovative teaching approaches to improve students’ learning outcomes, mainly because access to teaching and learning resources is limited.
What is Happening in the United States? How Social Classes Influence the Political Life of the Country and its Health and Quality of Life
Authors: Navarro Vicente
Published: March 2021

This article analyses the political changes that have been occurring in the United States (including the elections for the presidency of the country) and their consequences for the health and quality of life of the population. A major thesis of this article is that there is a need to analyse, besides race and gender, other categories of power - such as social class - in order to understand what happens in the country. While the class structure of the United States is similar to that of major Western European countries, the political context is very different. The US political context has resulted in the very limited power of its working class, which explains the scarcity of labor, political and social rights in the country, such as universal access to health care.
Migration experience and mental health: A qualitative study in France and Brazil
Authors: Brunnet Alice Einloft , Kristensen Christian Haag , Lobo Nathália dos Santos , Derivois Daniel
Published: March 2021

Background:

The relationship between migration and mental health is complex and involves factors at different levels, as the individual history of the migrant, the collective history of their home country, the host society’s and their mutual past history. Even though the migratory scenario of France and Brazil has changed over the years, both countries currently host an important number of immigrants.

Aim:

The main objective of the present study was to describe and analyze the impacts of the migratory experience on mental health of migrants with different migration experiences and living in two countries: France and Brazil.

Method:

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 participants, six in France and seven in Brazil. A thematic qualitative analysis of the data was performed using the ATLAS.TI software. Three themes were created based on the different times of the migration experience: before migration, during migration and after migration. All codes of these three bigger themes were organized in sub-themes for the samples in France and Brazil.

Results:

Participants in France described an important exposure to traumatic events before and during migration. In Brazil, the migration experiences were multiple, in some cases presenting a traumatic history, but in most cases migration was seen as an opportunity to have access to better life conditions. In both countries, participants reported a great level of psychological distress associated to post-migratory difficulties (e.g. unemployment, learning a new language, or facing a new cultural environment).

Conclusions:

Our results suggest that multidisciplinary interventions, with focus on skills development, such as language and work-related skills, and on access to basic needs may be essential for both voluntary and involuntary migrants. In addition to these interventions, some individuals may need specialized mental health intervention, focusing in past traumatic exposure and in the current acculturation process.
A radiomics model of predicting tumor volume change of patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer after radiotherapy
Authors: Yan Mengmeng , Wang Weidong
Published: March 2021

To predict the volume change of stage III NSCLC after radiotherapy with 60 Gy.

This retrospective study included two independent cohorts, a train cohort of 192 patients, and a test cohort of 31 patients. We developed a radiomics model based on radiomics features and clinical variables. LIFEx package was used to extract radiomics texture features from CT images. The classification method was logistic regression analysis and feature selection was performed by correlation coefficients. Performance metrics of logistic regression include accuracy, precision, the receiver operating characteristic curves, and recall.

The combination features of clinical variables and radiomics can predict the tumor volume change after radiotherapy with 88.7% accuracy (88.6% precision, 88.7% recall, and 88.7% ROC area).

Radiomics features combined with medical knowledge have a great potential to predict accurately tumor volume change of stage III NSCLC after radiotherapy with 60 Gy.
Participatory Relationships in the Thanksgiving Prayers of Anglican Eucharistic Liturgies: A Case Study in the Church of England and the Anglican Church of Australia
Authors: Douglas Brian
Published: March 2021

This article examines the participatory relationships in the Thanksgiving Prayers of the Eucharist in two provinces of the Anglican Communion: the Church of England and the Anglican Church of Australia. Two types of participatory relationships are discussed: those between the body and blood of Christ and the elements (known as BBE), and those between the body and blood of Christ and the communicants (known as BBC). It is noted that both of these types of participatory relationship have been and are found in Anglican Thanksgiving Prayers but a balance between the two has not always been found due to a preference for particular eucharistic theologies. In some Thanksgiving Prayers BBE relationships are excluded or muted in order to lessen any realist notions of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist. Some Anglican liturgical history is considered along with modern liturgies to assess how these relationships are used. Recommendations for a balanced use of both relationships are made.
The Tragic Fall of Better Angels: Nationalism, Neoliberalism, and the Failure of Responsibility in American Conservativism
Authors: Brunello Anthony R.
Published: March 2021

American political conservatism is distinct from its counterparts in Europe and elsewhere in the world. American conservatives have long staked their claims on devotion to limited government and free‐markets, but also on an image of responsibility. Conservatives posed as the “adult in the room,” admonishing the young, the anti‐war types, social progressives, ultra‐liberals, environmentalists, and socialists for their radicalism and immaturity. Conservatives defended tradition, rules, hierarchy, and social conventions. Today the roles are switching. Conservatives have morphed into a new political space, while many of their more progressive opponents call for rule of law and American institutions of democracy. Conservatives find themselves the problem rather than the solution, displaying a shortsighted and toxic immaturity destructive of democratic institutions. This article explores the transformation with a focus on developments occurring in the 21st century—in America and around the world.
Commentary: Governance of and Through Central Banks: A Comparative Analysis at the Close of a Dismal Decade
Authors: Delgado Henrique Estides
Published: March 2021

This commentary seeks to summarize, assess, and make integrated sense of three scholarly works that, together, help to shed light on the discussion regarding central banks’ scope, mandate, power, and independence. The issue is clearly relevant in comparative politics as one building block to evaluate both state capacities to manage the domestic economic environment routinely and the global crises faced recently. Within a period of 13 years, central banks across the world were at the center of the response to two different but highly devastating crises. The level of power enjoyed nowadays by central banks is, to a large extent, an outcome of the evolution following the 2008 crisis, which better equipped these institutions to provide some necessary economic policy interventions in 2020. The articles here reviewed are fine contributions to empirical observation and future research in this area.
Quo Vadis Cooperation Between China and Eastern Europe in the Era of COVID‐19?
Authors: Kavalski Emilian
Published: March 2021

The countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) used to be quite buoyant about benefiting from China's economic largesse. A little over a year ago, China's cooperation with the region was brandished as a real feather in China's foreign policy cap. Today, however, the China‐CEE cooperation appears to be done with. This development has led many to question whether the China‐CEE cooperation has become a victim of the COVID‐19 pandemic. The answer provided here is: no, not at all! Most CEE states have been mulling a freeze in their participation for quite some time. In this respect, the pandemic has only accelerated the social distancing of CEE countries from China. The study suggests that the unrequited romance of China with the CEE region has important implications both for the country's public diplomacy and the post‐pandemic trajectories of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Rethinking Richardson: Sexual Harassment Damages in the #MeToo Era
Authors: Castles Madeleine , Hvala Tom , Pender Kieran
Published: March 2021

The 2014 judgment in Richardson v Oracle Corporation Australia Pty Ltd (‘Richardson’) had a seismic effect on workplace sexual harassment claims in Australia. Overnight, the ‘general range’ of damages awarded for non-economic loss in such cases increased from between $12 000 and $20 000 to $100 000 and above. The judgment has made Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) litigation considerably more attractive for plaintiffs and resulted in greater judicial recognition of the pain and suffering experienced by sexual harassment survivors. Richardson’s impact has also been felt beyond that immediate context, with the judgment cited in support of higher damages in discrimination cases and employment disputes. However, six years and over 40 judicial citations later, Richardson’s broader significance remains unclear—particularly following the emergence of the #MeToo movement. Drawing on a doctrinal analysis of subsequent case law and qualitative interviews with prominent Australian legal practitioners, this article evaluates Richardson’s legacy and considers how sexual harassment litigation may further evolve to reflect changing societal norms.
Predictive Validity of the DYRA and SAFVR: New Zealand Police’s Family Violence Risk Assessment Instruments
Authors: Jolliffe Simpson Apriel D. , Joshi Chaitanya , Polaschek Devon L. L.
Published: March 2021

Rapid access to accurate risk assessment information is essential for effective police responses to family violence (FV) calls for service. This study describes the predictive validity of the Dynamic Risk Assessment (DYRA) for family violence and Static Assessment of Family Violence Recidivism (SAFVR), currently in use by the New Zealand Police. We used 1,817 police reports of FV episodes to predict recurrence (i.e., repeat call for police service) over three follow-up periods. Regardless of follow-up, the DYRA and SAFVR each displayed poor ability to discriminate between episodes with and without a recurrence. Both instruments substantially over-predicted recurrence and performed relatively consistently across subsamples (e.g., intimate partners vs. other family relationship; aggressor gender, ethnicity, age). The especially poor performance of the DYRA suggests further research on dynamic risk factors and their contribution to police responses for FV is needed to make these instruments more useful for agencies working with families.
Spouses’ Employment Situations and Marital Separation in Germany: A Dyadic Perspective
Authors: Schmid Lisa
Published: March 2021

Previous research shows that men’s and women’s employment situations can affect the stability of marital unions, but results differ by country context and different measurements. This study models the effect of spouses’ employment situations on the risk of divorce. It focuses on time aspects and financial aspects, resulting from the employment situation of married spouses in Germany. A broad variety of employment indicators measured in a dyadic perspective lead to an array of hypotheses about marital stability. Event history models on the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) data show mixed evidence for spouses’ permanency of the job and their relative income. Marriages of couples with higher income are more stable. In addition, the spouses’ employment situation does not seem to affect marital stability. The study shows that the precarious job characteristics, which can destabilize marriages in analysis at the individual level, become blurred in analyzing dyads in a 1.5-earner society.
Sacrifice and Indebtedness: The Intergenerational Contract in Chinese Rural Migrant Families
Authors: Gu Xiaorong
Published: March 2021

For four decades after China initiated economic reform, rural-urban migration has become a central experience for rural families. How do families negotiate economic production and social reproduction across geographic spaces and against institutional constraints? This article identifies the concept of intergenerational contract as an analytical tool to answer this question. Based on qualitative data gathered in Hunan and Shenzhen, I reveal that (a) children’s education is pursued as a family project, deeply rooted in families’ classed social mobility aspirations; (b) by spatializing the living and responsibilities of generations, rural migrant families selectively appropriate the hierarchical economic geography produced by state policies, to balance work and family arrangements; and (c) children engage in emotional labor guided by normative expectations and rules to reciprocate older generations’ care and support. The study uncovers coexisting resilience and vulnerabilities of migrant families and opens theoretical spaces to address the linkages between family, culture, and class in contemporary China.
Trajectories of Exposure to Psychological Domestic Abuse and the Relevance of Differential Development for Predicting Violent Offending in Adulthood
Authors: Wojciechowski Thomas
Published: March 2021

This study sought to examine patterns of change and continuity in psychological domestic abuse as a strain-related process that may be predictive of violent offending in adulthood. This study also examined the mediating role of negative affect in this relationship. The Pathways to Desistance data were utilized in analyses. This sample comprised 1,354 juvenile offenders. Group-based trajectory modeling was used to identify latent patterns of development in exposure to psychological domestic abuse. Negative binomial regression models were used to examine the direct effect of trajectory group assignment on violent offending in adulthood and the mediating role of negative affect. Results indicated that a four-group model best fit the data. Assignment to the Declining group was associated with decreased violent offending seriousness in adulthood, relative to assignment to the Accelerating group. Negative affect partially mediated this relationship, accounting for around 35% of magnitude of the direct effect observed.
Sparked by Tragedy: A Movement to End Systemic Racism in Health Care
Authors: Burks Ciersten A.
Published: March 2021

This commentary emphasizes health disparities related to systemic racism, highlighted by the COVID‐19 pandemic, and provides recommendations to mitigate these disparities, including increasing racial and ethnic diversity in the surgical workforce.
Impact of COVID‐19 on Medical Students Aspiring Toward a Career in Otolaryngology: A Medical Student’s Perspective
Authors: Hussain Salman , Almas Talal
Published: March 2021

While its adverse impacts on health care setups are conspicuous, coronavirus disease 2019 continues to impede medical education. Exponential increases in the number of cases globally lend to the implementation of a nationwide lockdown. In Europe in general and Ireland in particular, the lockdown significantly limits medical students’ clinical exposure and access to clinical sites. For medical students, this portends numerous implications, such as limited patient contact and an inability to explore the various medical and surgical specialties in profundity. Nevertheless, medical students continue to aspire to pursue various specialties—including otolaryngology—for which the clinical contact remains exceedingly limited.
Predictors for Postoperative Chyle Leak Following Neck Dissection, a Technique‐Based Comparison
Authors: Dunlap Quinn , Bridges Matthew , Nelson Kurt , King Deanne , Stack Brendan C. , Vural Emre , Moreno Mauricio Alejandro
Published: March 2021

Objective

Assess the impact of surgical technique used to address level IV on the rate of postoperative chyle leak.

Study Design

Retrospective chart review.

Setting

Academic tertiary care center.

Methods

An analysis of 436 consecutive neck dissections (NDs) in 368 patients was performed by 3 head and neck surgeons between 2014 and 2017. Variation in technique reflects individual approaches to the management of level IV and included suture ligation (SL), monopolar electrocautery (MC), and harmonic scalpel transection (HS). Data points included patient demographics, surgical technique, intraoperative findings, postoperative chyle leaks, and leak management. Correlation between variables was analyzed through χ2 test and Student t test with statistical α set at. 05.

Results

Overall, 12 patients (3.2%) developed chyle leaks postoperatively. Nine of 12 and 3 of 12 presented with left‐ and right‐sided leaks, respectively. Five of 12 leaks occurred following bilateral ND, 5 of 12 following left ND, and 2 of 12 following right ND. Univariate analysis showed a statistically significant difference (P =. 001) favoring SL (1.0%) and MC (1.2%) techniques over the HS technique (8.6%). A statistically significant increase existed in the rate of leak with endocrine vs nonendocrine pathology (P =. 003). Average duration of leak was 13.3 ± 13.5 days. Management included diet modification (n = 11, 91.6%), pressure‐dressing placement (n = 7, 58.3%), and octreotide (n = 5, 41.7%). No cases required reoperation, and no mortality or severe malnutrition was observed in this series.

Conclusions

SL and MC techniques demonstrated superiority over the HS technique in preventative management of chyle leak in level IV, with a significantly higher rate of chyle leak observed in endocrine‐related pathology.
“New White Ethnics” or “New Latinos”? Hispanic/Latino Pan-ethnicity and Ancestry Reporting among South American Immigrants to the United States
Authors: Schut Rebecca A.
Published: March 2021

This article explores the identification patterns of South American immigrants to the United States, as measured via Hispanic/Latino ethnicity and ancestry reporting on the US Census. Using data from the 2006–2010 and 2011–2015 American Community Survey, my analysis reveals four main findings. First, I show significant heterogeneity in identity patterns and in sociodemographic, immigration, and geographic characteristics between South American and Mexican immigrants in the United States. Second, I find that Southern Cone immigrants opt not to report Hispanic/Latino ethnicity and “birth-country” ancestry (ancestry that is concordant with birth country, such as Colombian or Chilean) to a greater extent than Andean immigrants and, instead, report more distal “ancestral-origin” ancestries (i.e., Spanish, Japanese, etc.). Third, I show that those immigrants who do report Hispanic/Latino ethnicity are more likely to report “birth-country” ancestry than “ancestral-origin” ancestry, net of other factors. Finally, my analysis demonstrates that Brazilian immigrants chart a different path of identification among South American immigrants and almost unanimously do not report Hispanic/Latino ethnicity while overwhelmingly reporting “Brazilian” ancestry. Taken together, variation in Hispanic/Latino ethnicity and ancestry reporting across South American immigrant groups has implications for their incorporation into US society, as well as for the degree to which these immigrants see themselves as racialized actors in the United States. Some South American immigrant groups (Southern Cone immigrants) appear to be incorporating as “New White ethnics,” and others (Andean immigrants) appear to be incorporating as “New Latinos.” Researchers of international migration should carefully consider these identification differences and their implications for the measurement and study of “Hispanic/Latino” immigrants and their descendants in the United States.
Couples managing chronic illness: A test of the extended theoretical model of communal coping
Authors: Basinger Erin D. , Wehrman Erin C. , Delaney Amy L. , McAninch Kelly G.
Published: March 2021

How individuals in romantic partnerships cope with health challenges either separately or together has a profound impact on their individual and relational well-being. The goal of this investigation was to test the logic of the recently extended Theoretical Model of Communal Coping (TMCC) by assessing how the two dimensions of communal coping, shared appraisal and joint action, are related to individual and relational well-being. Dyadic survey data from 100 romantic couples were analyzed using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model. Results support the TMCC’s assertion that shared appraisal and joint action are distinct facets of communal coping and extend the model by highlighting how different partners’ experiences with communal coping may be.
The effects of emotionally congruent sad music listening in young adults high in rumination
Authors: Larwood Joel L , Dingle Genevieve A
Published: March 2021

There is debate as to whether sad music is harmful or helpful when used to regulate emotions. Listeners’ trait level of rumination may influence their responses to sad music during sadness. This study used an online community sample of young adults ( N = 386, 56% female, Mage = 21.89) in an induced sad state to understand the roles of listener rumination and the eight BRECVEMA musical emotion mechanisms (Brain Stem Reflex, Rhythmic Entrainment, Evaluative Conditioning, Contagion, Visual Imagery, Episodic Memory, Musical Expectancy, and Aesthetic Judgment) in determining changes in sadness during listening. Participants increased in sadness after listening to a self-nominated sad song. The increase in sadness observed was additionally moderated by rumination such that higher rumination predicted greater increases in sadness. People high in rumination were additionally more likely to experience musical entrainment, select a song with conditioned responses and associated memories, as well as experience emotional contagion while listening. Importantly, the effect of rumination was not significant when these BRECVEMA variables were added to the model. Results suggested that BRECVEMA mechanisms were more predictive of increases in sadness from pre- to post-listening than trait rumination levels. The findings suggest that attention should be given to individuals’ song choices and associated active BRECVEMA mechanisms in addition to their trait rumination.
Populism and the separation of power and knowledge
Authors: Singer Brian C. J.
Published: March 2021

Not long ago, under the influence of Michel Foucault, one spoke of the conjunction of knowledge and power, but in this post-truth era power appears singularly uninterested in knowledge, even as the supporters of Donald Trump claim that he alone of all politicians speaks the truth. This essay proposes to examine the relations of power and knowledge under the present populist assault. This analysis begins in the work of Claude Lefort, who spoke of the separation of knowledge and power in democracy’s symbolic regime, and is then counterposed to Ernesto Laclau’s understanding of ‘populist reason’ in order to explore the present torsion of this relation to the point where power can appear not just separated from, but opposed to knowledge. It will be argued that it is less a question of post-truth than of different forms of truth with different truth claims, borne by different imperatives, and tied to different forms of representation – truth claims that can, in relation to each other, be indifferent, complementary, or conflictual. With this in mind, the essay asks: what is the relation of the people to truth? Do those who claim to represent the people seek possession of a different kind of truth? What is the relation of populism to ideology? And what is populism’s relation to ‘post-modernism’?
2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid induced hepatic and renal toxicological perturbations in rat model: Attenuation by selenium supplementation
Authors: Shafeeq Sehrish , Mahboob Tabassum
Published: March 2021

2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) is a commercially used herbicide to manage broadleaf weeds that have various toxicological and ecological effects. In view of ever-escalating use of 2,4-D, risk assessment becomes mandatory to ensure the safety of both human health and the ecosystem. Oxidative injury has been expected as a possible mechanism implicated in 2,4-D toxicity. The present study was planned and conducted to explore the antioxidant potential of selenium (Se) supplementation to moderate the 2,4-D hepatic and renal toxicity in a rat model. The rats were randomly assigned to four equal groups and treated via oral gavage for a period of 4 weeks. Group I: received deionized water as a vehicle, group II: received 2,4-D (150 mg−1 kg−1 day−1), group III: received Se supplement (1 mg−1 kg−1 day−1), and group IV: received 2,4-D (150 mg−1 kg−1 day−1) and Se supplement (1 mg−1 kg−1 day−1) simultaneously. After 4 weeks of administration, 2,4-D induced toxicity was observed, as manifested by disrupted levels of plasma urea, creatinine, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alanine aminotransferase (ALT). Further, 2,4-D caused a considerable increase in tissue malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and decreased activity of antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione reductase. Se supplementation exhibited its antioxidant properties by significantly improving urea, creatinine, ALP, AST, and ALT, and MDA levels and antioxidant enzyme activities. In conclusion, the results suggest that 2,4-D induced hepatic and renal toxicities were attenuated by Se supplementation probably owing to its antioxidant properties.
Beehives on the border: Liminal humans and other animals at Skellig Michael
Authors: Wrenn Corey Lee
Published: March 2021

In the early middle ages, a community of Irish monks constructed a monastery outpost on the lonely Skellig Michael just offshore of County Kerry. These skelligs served as a mysterious boundary land where the known met the unknown, the worldly wrangled with the spiritual, and the very parameters of humanity itself were brought into question. Amid a period of great transition in Irish society, the monks willfully abandoned the luxuries of developing Western civilization on the mainland (and on the continent more broadly) to test their endurance through religious asceticism on a craggy island more suitable to birds than bipeds. This article reimagines the Skellig Michael experiment as a liminal space, one that troubles premodern efforts to disassociate from animality in an era when “human” and “animal” were malleable concepts. As Western society transitioned from animist paganism to anthropocentric Christianity and Norman colonial control, the Skellig Michael outpost (which survived into the 1300s) offered a point of permeability that invites a critical rethinking of early Irish custom. This article applies theories of liminality and Critical Animal studies to address the making of “human” and “animal” in the march to “civilization,” arguing that species demarcation and the establishment of anthroparchy has been central to the process.
Violence Against Women During COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Akel Marwan , Berro Jana , Rahme Clara , Haddad Chadia , Obeid Sahar , Hallit Souheil
Published: March 2021

The objectives of this study were to correlate several factors - including depression, anxiety, stress and self-esteem levels in both men and women - with the occurrence of domestic violence against women (VAW) during quarantine. This cross-sectional study was carried out in April 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic when lockdown procedures were implemented; 86 married couples participated in this study amounting to 172 responses in total. A different questionnaire was set for women and men; the couple filled out their respective questionnaire simultaneously, but privately where one did not see the answers of the other. Inclusion criteria included married couples of all ages that are living together during the lockdown of COVID-19. The results of this study showed that a higher total abuse score was found in 39 females (45.3%; CI: 0.34 - 0.56). Being a Muslim female (Beta =24.80) and females having higher anxiety (Beta=0.97) were significantly associated with higher total abuse scores, whereas higher stress score in female (Beta=-0.61) was significantly associated with lower total abuse scores. In conclusion, this study focuses on VAW as a serious problem while demonstrating its further emergence during quarantine. This study also focused on the effects brought on by lockdown policies, including social and economic factors, and their implications in the increase of VAW during this pandemic.
Mapping of Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence From a National Population Survey
Authors: Muluneh Muluken Dessalegn , Francis Lyn , Agho Kingsley , Stulz Virginia
Published: March 2021

Evidence on the relative importance of geographical distribution and associated factors with intimate partner violence (IPV) can inform regional and national health programs on women’s health. Four thousand seven hundred and twenty married women aged 15-49 years were interviewed in 2016 about IPV and this data was extracted from the Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey (EDHS) in 2020. The sample was selected by a two-staged cluster survey of women. The analysis was conducted using logistic regression that adjusted for clustering and sampling weights. Moreover, weighted proportions of IPV were exported to ArcGIS to conduct autocorrelations to assess the clustering of IPV. Amongst the 4469 married women who were 15 to 49 years of age included in the analysis, 34% (95% CI, 31.4%-36.3%) experienced IPV, 23.5% ( 95% CI, 21.5%-25.7%) experienced physical violence, 10.1% (95% CI, 8.7%- 11.7 %) experienced sexual violence and 24% (95% CI, 21.7%-26.4 %) experienced emotional violence. Partners’ controlling behaviour [AOR: 3.94; 95% CI, 3.03- 5.12], partner’s alcohol consumption [AOR: 2.59; 95% CI, 1.80- 3.71], partner educational qualifications [AOR: 2.16; 95% CI, 1.26- 3.71], a woman birthing more than five children [AOR: 1.70; 95% CI, 1.12- 2.56] and a history of the woman’s father being physically violent towards her mother [AOR: 1.99; 95% CI, 1.52- 2.59] were associated with an increased risk of IPV amongst married women in Ethiopia. Western and Central Oromia, Western Amhara, Gambella and Central Tigray and Hararri were identified as hot spot areas in Ethiopia (p<0.001). In this study, there was a significant geographic clustering of IPV in Ethiopia. Controlling and drinking behaviour and partners’ unemployment status were identified as important factors for married women experiencing IPV. Hence, there is a need for a context- driven evidence-based design intervention to reduce the impact of IPV.
Acupuncture Treatment of Delirium in Older Adults Hospitalized in Internal Medicine Departments: An Open-Label Pragmatic Randomized-Controlled Trial
Authors: Levy Ilana , Gavrieli Sagi , Hefer Talia , Attias Samuel , Schiff Ariel , Oliven Ron , Wisberg-Levi Shikma , Hanchinsky Rina , Schiff Elad
Published: March 2021

Background:

Acupuncture seems to improve cognitive function in experimental models and to reduce agitation in dementia. The addition of acupuncture to standard-of-care (SOC) may improve clinical outcomes related to delirium in hospitalized older adults.

Methods:

This pragmatic open-label randomized-controlled trial evaluated 81 older adults hospitalized in an internal medicine ward and diagnosed with delirium. Fifty were randomized to daily acupuncture combined with SOC and 31 to SOC only for up to 1 week. Delirium was diagnosed using Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) tool, and its severity was assessed by the long CAM-Severity (CAM-S) tool. The primary study outcome was delirium resolution evaluated as time-to-first delirium remission (over 7 days) and the number of days spent delirium-free.

Results:

Time-to-first delirium remission was shorter in the acupuncture arm as compared to the SOC only arm (p < 0.001). A multivariate Cox regression analysis showed a shorter time-to-first remission of delirium in the acupuncture arm as compared with SOC arm [Hazard Ratio 0.267 (95% CI 0.098-0.726, p = 0.010)]. In the 7 days of evaluation, a significantly higher number of delirium-free days was found in the acupuncture arm compared to the SOC arm (p < 0.001), and CAM-S sum from day 2 to day 7 of evaluation was significantly lower in the acupuncture group compared to the control group (p = 0.002). No adverse safety event was found in the acupuncture group.

Conclusion:

Acupuncture seems to be safe and effective in the treatment of delirium in older patients hospitalized in internal medicine departments.
The New Finance Capital: Corporate Governance, Financial Power, and the State
Authors: Maher Stephen , Aquanno Scott M.
Published: March 2021

We argue that a new form of finance capital has been consolidated in the United States since the 2008 crisis—defined as a fusion of financial and industrial capital. In this regime, financiers have become more entrenched in the governance of nonfinancial corporations while, reciprocally, industrial firm managers have increasingly become financiers. Indeed, this fusion has taken place on two interconnected levels: (1) within the nonfinancial corporation itself, and (2) between the nonfinancial corporation and the financial sector. Internal diversification and internationalization over the postwar era led to the reorganization of the industrial corporation as a financial group, managing not concrete production processes, but portfolios of financial assets. This was reinforced by the increasing power of outside investors over the neoliberal period. However, new forms of financial organization that emerged after 2008 produced tighter and more direct linkages between external financiers and the nonfinancial corporation, constituting the new finance capital.
Probabilistic trajectory prediction of heterogeneous traffic agents based on layered spatio-temporal graph
Authors: Zhang Xuexiang , Zhang Weiwei , Wu Xuncheng , Cao Wenguan
Published: March 2021

In order to safely and comfortably navigate in the complex urban traffic, it is necessary to make multi-modal predictions of autonomous vehicles for the next trajectory of various traffic participants, with the continuous movement trend and inertia of the surrounding traffic agents taken into account. At present, most trajectory prediction methods focus on prediction on future behavior of traffic agents but with limited, consideration of the response of traffic agents to the future behavior of the ego-agent. Moreover, it can only predict the trajectory of single-type agents, which make it impossible to learn interaction in a complex environment between traffic agents. In this paper, we proposed a graph-based heterogeneous traffic agents trajectory prediction model LSTGHP, which consists of the following three parts: (1) layered spatio-temporal graph module; (2) ego-agent motion module; (3) trajectory prediction module, which can realize multi-modal prediction of future trajectories of traffic agents with different semantic categories in the scene. To evaluate its performance, we collected trajectory datasets of heterogeneous traffic agents in a time-varying, highly dynamic urban intersection environment, where vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians interacted with each other in the scene. It can be drawn from experimental results that our model can improve its prediction accuracy while interacting at a close range. Compared with the previous prediction methods, the model has less prediction error in the trajectory prediction of heterogeneous traffic agents.
Cerebral aneurysm rupture status classification using statistical and machine learning methods
Authors: Amigo Nicolás , Valencia Alvaro , Wu Wei , Patnaik Sourav , Finol Ender
Published: March 2021

Morphological characterization and fluid dynamics simulations were carried out to classify the rupture status of 71 (36 unruptured, 35 ruptured) patient specific cerebral aneurysms using a machine learning approach together with statistical techniques. Eleven morphological and six hemodynamic parameters were evaluated individually and collectively for significance as rupture status predictors. The performance of each parameter was inspected using hypothesis testing, accuracy, confusion matrix, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. Overall, the size ratio exhibited the best performance, followed by the diastolic wall shear stress, and systolic wall shear stress. The prediction capability of all 17 parameters together was evaluated using eight different machine learning algorithms. The logistic regression achieved the highest accuracy (0.75), whereas the random forest had the highest area under curve value among all the classifiers (0.82), surpassing the performance exhibited by the size ratio. Hence, we propose the random forest model as a tool that can help improve the rupture status prediction of cerebral aneurysms.