bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Place-Based FACT: Treatment Outcomes and Patients’ Experience with Integrated Neighborhood-Based Care
Authors: van Ens Welmoed , Sanches Sarita , Beverloo Leonieke , Swildens Wilma E.
Published: May 2024

Locating specialized mental healthcare services in the neighborhood of people with severe mental illnesses (SMI) has been suggested as a way of improving treatment outcomes by increasing patient engagement and integration with the local care landscape. The current mixed methods study aimed to examine patient experience and treatment outcomes in three Flexible Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) teams that relocated to the neighborhood they served, compared to seven teams that continued to provide FACT as usual from a central office. Routine Outcome Measurement (ROM) and care use data were analyzed to compare change in treatment outcomes for patients in place-based FACT (n = 255) and FACT as usual (n = 833). Additionally, retrospective in-depth interviews were conducted with twenty patients about their experience with place-based FACT. Quantitative analysis showed mental health admission days decreased more in place-based than FACT as usual, although this difference was small. Both groups showed improved quality of life, psychosocial functioning, and symptomatic remission rates, and decreased unmet and overall needs for care. There was no change over time in met needs for care, employment, and daily activities. Qualitative analysis showed that patients experienced place-based FACT as more accessible, a better safety net, a more personal approach, better integrated with other forms of care, involving their social network, and embedded in their neighborhood and daily environment. This study showed that location and integration matter to patients, and the long term impact of place-based FACT on treatment outcomes should be explored.
Graph-based dynamic attribute clipping for conversational recommendation
Authors: Zhang Li , Zhang Yiwen , Cao Xiaolan , Liu Shuying
Published: May 2024

Conversational recommender systems (CRS) enable traditional recommender systems to interact with users by asking questions about their preferences and recommending items. Conversation recommendation has made significant progress, however, studies on attribute-aware conversational recommendation have overlooked the problem that after obtaining the candidate attribute set, the relevance of the attributes in the candidate attribute set to the user’s current preferred attributes is not further considered, resulting in the existence of many user-uninterested attributes in the candidate attribute set. This seriously affects the dialogue quality and reduces the user’s patience, decreasing recommendation accuracy. To address this problem, this paper proposes a new framework called Attribute Clipping based on Dynamic Graph (ACDG). In ACDG, firstly, the reasoning module uses the restriction property of graph structure to obtain a large set of candidate attributes, and then the attribute clipping module filters out the attributes with high relevance to the current user’s preferred attributes. Thus, ACDG can obtain a better-quality set of candidate attributes. Through extensive experiments on four benchmark CRS datasets, we validate the effectiveness of the method.
Deliberate and Self-Conscious Adaptation of Eye-Contact by Autistic Adults
Authors: Garvey Alison , Ryan Christian , Murphy Mike
Published: May 2024

Eye gaze is widely recognised as an important element in managing social interactions, receiving information from others and communicating information about ourselves. Atypical eye gaze is one of the characteristic hallmarks of autism. Experimental research has contributed significantly to our knowledge of eye-gaze in autism, however, there is a lack of research exploring how autistic individuals describe and understand the phenomenological experience of eye-gaze and eye-contact. The current study explores the subjective experience of deliberate and self-conscious adaptation of eye-contact by autistic adults. Nine autistic adults were interviewed individually about their experiences of eye-contact. Audio recordings were transcribed, and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Themes included gaining awareness of eye contact differences through feedback from others, the interaction of motivation to make eye-contact with a sense of autistic identity, difficulties listening when making eye contact, the importance of familiarity of conversational partners, and strategies to make eye-contact. This study makes an important and novel contribution to understanding the experience of eye-contact differences from the perspective of autistic adults themselves, highlighting the phenomenology of eye-contact as potentially aversive and the social pressure to engage in it, and exploring factors influencing effective eye-contact, with implications for psychological intervention.
HYSTERESIS OF IMPLICIT EQUATIONS IN HYPOPLASTICITY FOR SOIL MATERIALS WITH GRANULAR HARDNESS DEGRADATION
Authors: Kovtunenko Victor A. , Krejčí Pavel , Monteiro Giselle A. , Runcziková Judita
Published: May 2024

We study a hypoplastic model for soil and granular materials stemming from geomechanical engineering which further incorporates effects of degradation of the granular hardness, therefore allowing for the description of environmental weathering. The governing system is described by a nonlinear system of transcendental-differential equations for stress and strain rate, which is investigated with respect to its long-time dynamic. Under deviatoric stress control, two different solutions of the underlying, implicit differential equations are constructed analytically. The spherical components of stress and strain rate converge asymptotically to an attractor and lead to the sparsification of material states. Whereas under cyclic loading-unloading carried out in a numerical simulation, finite ratcheting of the deviatoric strain rate is observed in the form of a square spiral.
Liberty, Secrecy, and the Right of Assessment
Authors: Santoro Daniele , Kumar Manohar
Published: May 2024

In this article we argue that governmental practices of secrecy threaten the epistemic dimension of rights. We defend the view that possessing a right entitles its holder to the largest extent of available knowledge of the circumstances that may impede the enjoyment of that right. We call this the ‘epistemic entitlement’ of rights. Such an entitlement holds in ideal conditions once full transparency is assumed. However, under non-ideal conditions secrecy is a fact that should be accounted for. We argue that, under such conditions, interference due to secrecy is legitimate when the circumstances under which it occurs are open to assessment by the right-holder. We call this the ‘right of assessment’. It ensures the ex-post fulfillment of the epistemic entitlement under non-ideal conditions of partial compliance where full transparency is unattainable due to the fact of secrecy. The right of assessment shields against arbitrary interference by imposing an obligation on the government to provide justification for any interference in the sphere of fundamental rights.
Traditional agencies on bridges: How is digital transformation changing business models?
Authors: Ceccotti Federica , Vernuccio Maria , Mattiacci Alberto , Pastore Alberto
Published: May 2024

Digital technologies produce new strategic and organizational challenges for incumbent firms that require major digital transformation (DT) processes, leading to the evolution of business models (BMs). Contributing to the research stream on DT and BM evolution, this study explores which technologies have the most relevant effect on core BM dimensions, i.e., value proposition, value creation, and value capture, by investigating both the consequent themes and intensities of change in these dimensions. A valuable context for analysis was chosen: the advertising industry and traditional communication agencies, namely, creative and media agencies. Based on 38 in-depth interviews with senior communication professionals and qualitative content analysis, we propose a comprehensive reading of (1) the impact of specific technologies on different BM dimensions and components and (2) the themes and intensities of change in creative and media agencies’ BM dimensions. Finally, we outline an interpretative framework, identifying two different paths for incumbents: outside-in BM adaptation and inside-out BM innovation. This study therefore offers two academic contributions. First, it overcomes the vagueness of previous investigations that considered the effects of digital technologies in general terms, and it also resolves the narrow scope of research that focused only on the impact of one specific technology. Second, by deepening the understanding of the joint evolutions and intensities of change across all three BM dimensions, this study has widened the limited scope of previous contributions on one BM dimension. By doing so, it offers a comprehensive reading of BM dynamics due to DT.
The perceived object in media-based empathy: applying Edith Stein’s concept of Wortleib
Authors: Kekki Minna-Kerttu
Published: May 2024

The question of how other consciousnesses appear via media has forced us to re-think the classical phenomenological accounts of sociality. However, as the phenomenological account of empathy is very much centred around the perception of the other’s living body, it has faced challenges in discussing the empathic experience in media-based contexts, where we cannot perceive the other’s body, but something else, such as a screen or a text. In this article, I provide the concept for describing the perceived object in media-based empathy: a living textual body, based on Edith Stein’s concept of Wortleib (a living word body) referring to words as “living,” as bearers of meaning in her early work On the Problem of Empathy [Zum Problem der Einfühlung]. I divide the term Wortleib in two different cases—the empathic and non-empathic object—and thereby argue that, while the object of media-based empathic experience cannot be the other’s body, it is an empathic Wortleib, a communicative empathic object. While Stein herself discussed media-based empathy merely in paper media, I demonstrate the unique usefulness of these concepts in analysing any media-based communication and thus the timeliness of her work in this respect.
When should one be open-minded?
Authors: Duijf Hein
Published: May 2024

It is widely believed among philosophers and educated people that it is virtuous to be open-minded. Instead of thinking of open-mindedness as universally or unconditionally epistemically valuable, I argue that it is vital to explicate the conditions that must obtain if open-mindedness is to be epistemically valuable. This paper critically evaluates open-mindedness given certain realistic cognitive limitations. I present and analyse a simple mathematical model of open-minded decision-making that incorporates these limitations. The results are mixed. The bad news is that the circumstances where open-mindedness is epistemically valuable may be more restricted than previously thought especially if individuals are incapable of properly evaluating the trustworthiness of sources or the content of received information. The good news is that, if individuals are mildly competent in evaluating the trustworthiness of sources and the content of received information, then there are many circumstances where open-mindedness is epistemically valuable.
Cadmium oxide nanoparticles from new organometallic Cd(II)-Schiff base complex and in vitro biological potentials: dual S. aureus and E. coli DNA gyrase inhibition by the precursors via in silico binding modes’ study
Authors: Ejidike Ikechukwu P. , Direm Amani , Parlak Cemal , Bamigboye Mercy O. , Oluade Olajumoke , Adetunji Juliana B. , Ata Athar , Eze Michael O. , Hollett Joshua W. , Clayton Hadley S.
Published: May 2024

At the nanoscale level, several biological processes take place, owing to the potential that engineered nanomaterials might interrelate with bio-molecules and cellular procedures. This study aimed to synthesize cadmium oxide nanoparticles via a one-step calcination process of tetradentate Schiff base-Cd(II) complex at different temperature ranges. The as-synthesized compounds were carried out via a viz UV–visible, elemental analysis, 1H NMR, molar conductivity, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), FT-IR spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction (PXRD). The band gap energy and average particle sizes of the CdO particles are respectively (2.69 eV, 3.54 eV), 26.88 nm for CdO@250, and (3.20 eV, 3.57 eV), 25.67 nm for CdO@300, while CdO@350 exhibited the 3.78 eV and 28.42 nm values. The antioxidant accomplishments of the test samples through the scavenging activity of DPPH radicals showed CdO@300 to possess (IC50 = 5.18 ± 0.56 µg/mL). Similarly, the as-synthesized CdO nanoparticles exhibited higher antibacterial activities against S. aureus and E. coli as compared to the corresponding Cd-HMB and ligand (HMB), while ciprofloxacin acted as a standard antibiotic. Furthermore, HMB and its complex Cd-HMB were docked against the DNA gyrase enzymes of S. aureus (PDB IDs: 5CDQ) and E. coli (PDB IDs: 6F86) as receptors. The binding sites docking results showed that the binding energies of HMB and Cd-HMB to 5CDQ ranged from − 3.44 to − 4.99 kcal/mol and from − 6.45 to − 6.64 kcal/mol, while the binding energies related to the target 6F86 are in the ranges of (− 3.64, − 4.76) kcal/mol and (− 6.08, − 6.09) kcal/mol respectively. Therefore, the significant antioxidant and antibacterial activities of the ligand (HMB), Cd-HMB, and CdO NPs review the broad application prospects of these compounds as therapeutic agents for wide-ranging biomedical applications.
Epistemic Goals and Practices in Biology Curriculum—the Philippines and Japan
Authors: Errabo Denis Dyvee , Fujinami Keigo , Isozaki Tetsuo
Published: May 2024

Despite cultural differences, the Philippines–Japan partnership is developing an intentional teaching curriculum with parallel standards. However, disparities among their respective educational systems have prompted inequalities. As education plays a critical role in collaboration, we explored the Epistemic Goals (EGs) and Epistemic Practices (EPs) in the biology curriculum, with the research question: How do the epistemic goals and practices of the biology curriculum transmit knowledge and skills in the Philippines and Japan? Using an ethnographic design, we conducted two iterative explorations of EGs and EPs. First, we examined the curriculum policy to determine its EGs. Using the A-B-C-D protocol, we employed discourse analysis to evaluate knowledge and skills in the biology grade-level standards. Second, we examined the articulation of goals in classroom teaching practices. We conducted classroom immersion and observed classes to determine EPs and supported our observations through interviews, synthesizing the data using inductive content analysis. Our findings revealed that the Philippines’ EGs were to transmit factual knowledge enhanced by basic science skills, and their EPs were audio-visual materials, gamified instructions, guided inquiry, posing questions, and learning-by-doing. In comparison, Japan’s EGs were to provide a solid foundation of theoretical and metacognitive knowledge, integrated science skills, and positive attitudes. Its EPs involved cultivating lasting learning, observation, investigation, experimentation, collaborative discussion, and reflective thinking. Our study makes a meaningful contribution by shedding light on crucial ideologies and cultural identities embedded in Biology curricula and teaching traditions.
Recombinant Platelet-Derived Growth Factor-BB (rhPDGF-BB) Augmented Collagen Grafting for Oral Mucosal Defect Reconstruction
Authors: Kudlu Kshithi , Domah Haneesh Amit , Anwar Fayis Mohammed , Shenoy Vijendra S. , Kamboj Vikrant , Zuturu Neehal
Published: May 2024

Objective

To assess the suitability of collagen grafting and compare the outcomes between rhPDGF-BB (recombinant human platelet-derived growth factor-BB) augmented collagen grafting and collagen alone grafting for oral mucosal defect reconstruction.

Method

A total of 30 patients, who were planned for surgical excision of various intraoral lesions, participated in the study. These participants were then randomly assigned into two groups. Group I underwent reconstruction with collagen sheet with rhPDGF-BB, while group II underwent reconstruction with collagen sheet alone. Post-operatively, haemostasis, pain, granulation, epithelialisation and healing contracture were assessed.

Results

The lesions that were treated included leucoplakia, erythroplakia, oral submucous fibrosis and verrucous carcinoma. Use of collagen was associated with good haemostasis, pain relief, granulation tissue formation and epithelialisation. Group I was found to develop slightly better granulation tissue, epithelisation and lesser degree of tissue contracture compared to group II, although these results were not significant statistically (p value = 0.464, 0.705 and 1.000 respectively).

Conclusion

This study shows that use of collagen graft augmented with rhPDGF-BB could be beneficial in oral cavity reconstruction following resection of small lesions, although further research with larger sample size is proposed to confirm the benefit.
VR-EX — An immersive virtual reality serious game for science communication about the electrical resistivity tomography measurements in the Mont Terri Rock Laboratory, Switzerland
Authors: Graebling Nico , Ziefle Gesa , Furche Markus , Nicol Romain , Schefer Senecio , Ziegler Martin , Jaeggi David , Nussbaum Christophe , Annanias Yves , Goldstein Susann , Rink Karsten
Published: May 2024

This paper presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of VR-EX, a combination of a virtual field trip and a serious game in immersive virtual reality. The application’s purpose is the communication of research conducted in the Mont Terri underground research laboratory in Switzerland. VR-EX enables users to actively attend electrical resistivity tomography measurements within a geological experiment, from planning to execution to analysis of the results, and in this way implements an active and playful learning approach. The work conducted in underground research laboratories has a high relevance for society as it contributes to research on the final disposal of nuclear waste. Therefore, the active communication of research methodology and results is crucial to increase understanding of scientific processes and boost interest. VR-EX was evaluated in a user study with 35 participants to measure its overall quality and its effectiveness of the knowledge transfer. Taking the evaluation’s qualitative results into account, the application was improved in an iterative process. Overall, the results prove the good quality of the application and its high effectiveness in terms of knowledge transfer. The reported high engagement, joy, and immersion indicate the benefits of employing immersive virtual reality for vivid science communication.
The glucose transporter GLUT12, a new actor in obesity and cancer
Authors: Burgos Miguel , Gil-Iturbe Eva , Idoate-Bayón Adrián , Castilla-Madrigal Rosa , Moreno-Aliaga Maria J. , Lostao M. Pilar
Published: May 2024

Obesity constitutes a global health epidemic which worsens the main leading death causes such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. Changes in the metabolism in patients with obesity frequently lead to insulin resistance, along with hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia and low-grade inflammation, favoring a more aggressive tumor microenvironment. One of the hallmarks of cancer is the reprogramming of the energy metabolism, in which tumor cells change oxidative phosphorylation to aerobic glycolysis or “Warburg effect”. Aerobic glycolysis is faster than oxidative phosphorylation, but less efficient in terms of ATP production. To obtain sufficient ATP, tumor cells increase glucose uptake by the glucose transporters of the GLUT/SLC2 family. The human glucose transporter GLUT12 was isolated from the breast cancer cell line MCF7. It is expressed in adipose tissue, skeletal muscle and small intestine, where insulin promotes its translocation to the plasma membrane. Moreover, GLUT12 over‐expression in mice increases the whole‐body insulin sensitivity. Thus, GLUT12 has been proposed as a second insulin‐responsive glucose transporter. In obesity, GLUT12 is downregulated and does not respond to insulin. In contrast, GLUT12 is overexpressed in human solid tumors such as breast, prostate, gastric, liver and colon. High glucose concentration, insulin, and hypoxia upregulate GLUT12 both in adipocytes and tumor cells. Inhibition of GLUT12 mediated Warburg effect suppresses proliferation, migration, and invasion of cancer cells and xenografted tumors. This review summarizes the up-to-date information about GLUT12 physiological role and its implication in obesity and cancer, opening new perspectives to consider this transporter as a therapeutic target.
Environmental Risk Identification and Green Finance Development Based on Multi-scale Fusion Recognition Network
Authors: Tang Meili , Li Xiaoyuan
Published: May 2024

This paper aims to enhance the resilience of financial enterprises against environmental risks by leveraging financial data analysis tools. The approach involves designing environmental risk assessment indicators and rating criteria. The study utilizes a convolutional neural network model extended by a multi-scale feature fusion module to analyze environmental risk information in the industry. The proposed model achieves impressive results with accuracy (Acc), precision (P), recall (R), and F1 scores reaching 99.09, 96.31, 95.32, and 95.64, respectively. These metrics outperform those of comparison models. The success of this model is anticipated to pave the way for the transformation of green finance through automated industry-level environmental risk assessment. Furthermore, the method’s adaptability extends beyond environmental risks, offering a scalable solution for identifying and assessing environmental risks in various contexts.
Persistence in the Unemployment and Inflation Relationship. Evidence from 38 OECD Countries
Authors: Solarin Sakiru Adebola , Lafuente Carmen , Gil-Alana Luis A. , González-Blanch María Jesús
Published: May 2024

This paper focuses on the analysis of persistence in the unemployment and inflation rates in a group of 38 OECD countries as well as on the relationship between the two variables. For this purpose, fractional integration is used. The results indicate that the two individual variables are highly persistent, especially the unemployment rate, and evidence of mean reversion is only found in the cases of Colombia and Costa Rica for unemployment and in Norway for inflation. Conducting the analysis on the difference between the two variables, the order of integration is significantly smaller in a number of cases, and reversion to the mean takes place in the cases of Austria, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Israel, and Turkey. Policy recommendations derived from the results are presented in the concluding section of the article.
Oil palm waste-derived adsorbents for the sequestration of selected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon in contaminated aqueous medium
Authors: Sambo God’swill Nathan , Adeola Adedapo Oluwasanu , Muhammad Syahidah Akmal
Published: May 2024

Carbonaceous adsorbents were synthesized from palm kernel shell and palm mesocarp fiber for the adsorption of phenanthrene (PHE) and the highly carcinogenic-benzo(a)pyrene (BaP). The structure and properties of the activated biochar were characterized using standardized analytical tools. The microscopic examinations carried out with SEM and BET results revealed mesoporous structures and interstitial spaces in the activated samples (AB-PKS and AB-PMS). Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) results showed that prepared sorbents are amorphous and that activation affected the amorphous cellulose on the surface of the microfibrils which led to a decrease in the intensity of some peaks. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) affirms the availability of surface moieties that may promote polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) removal or decontamination of aqueous media. The sorption isotherm and effect of pH on the adsorption of PHE and BaP onto the activated palm kernel shell (AB-PKS) and activated palm mesocarp fiber (AB-PMF) were investigated. The isotherm studies and error analysis (SSE and R2) confirm that the Freundlich model best fits experimental results for AB-PMF; while, the Langmuir model best describes AB-PKS sorption of BaP and PHE, respectively. The optimal removal efficiency for PHE was between 84 and 100% while that of BaP was between 68 and 87% with maximum adsorption capacity (qmax) of 19.38–21.98 mg/g and 1.24–13.26 mg/g, respectively. The optimum pH condition for removing PHE is less than 7 and above 7 for BaP. Therefore, the conversion of waste materials to useful sorbents, as well as preliminary adsorption test results obtained suggests a cleaner and cost-effective pathway for waste management and water treatment.
Conjugations of unitary operators, II
Authors: Mashreghi Javad , Ptak Marek , Ross William T.
Published: May 2024

For a unitary operator U on a separable complex Hilbert space $${\mathcal {H}}$$
H
, we describe the set $${\mathscr {C}}_{c}(U)$$

C
c

(
U
)

of all conjugations C (antilinear, isometric, and involutive maps) on $${\mathcal {H}}$$
H
for which $$C U C = U$$

C
U
C
=
U

. As this set might be empty, we also show that $${\mathscr {C}}_{c}(U) \not = \varnothing $$

C
c

(
U
)

≠
∅

if and only if U is unitarily equivalent to $$U^{*}$$

U

∗

.
Adherence to and clinical utility of “quality indicators” for Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia: a retrospective, multicenter study
Authors: Fukushima Shinnosuke , Hagiya Hideharu , Kuninaga Naoki , Haruki Yuto , Yamada Haruto , Iwamoto Yoshitaka , Yoshida Masayo , Sato Kota , Hanayama Yoshihisa , Tanaka Shuichi , Miyoshi Tomoko , Otsuka Yuki , Ueda Keigo , Otsuka Fumio
Published: May 2024

Background

We aimed to improve the prognosis, treatment, and management of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) by evaluating the association between adherence to quality indicators (QIs) and clinical outcomes in patients with their clinical outcomes.

Methods

We retrospectively collected clinical and microbiological data on hospitalized patients with SAB from 14 hospitals (three with >  600, two with 401–600, five with 201–400, and four with ≤ 200 beds) in Japan from January to December 2022. The SAB management quality was evaluated using the SAB-QI score (ranging from 0 to 13 points), which consists of 13 QIs (grouped into five categories) based on previous literature.

Results

Of the 4,448 positive blood culture episodes, 289 patients with SAB (6.5%) were enrolled. The SAB-QI scores ranged from 3 to 13, with a median score of 9 points. The SAB-QI score was highest in middle-sized hospitals with 401–600 beds. Adherence to each of the four QI categories (blood culture, echocardiography, source control, and antibiotic treatment) was significantly higher in survived cases than in fatal cases. Kaplan–Meier curves with log-rank tests demonstrated that higher adherence to SAB-QIs indicated a better prognosis. Logistic regression analysis revealed that age, methicillin resistance, multiple comorbidities (≥ 2), and low SAB-QI score were significantly associated with 30-day mortality in patients with SAB.

Conclusions

Our study highlights that greater adherence to the SAB-QIs correlates with improved patient outcomes. Management of patients with SAB should follow these recommended indicators to maintain the quality of care, especially for patients with poor prognosticators.
The lens of the quantity theory of money to disentangle the perceived relationship between money growth and inflation: a PSVAR approach
Authors: Focacci Antonio , Focacci Angelo , Faenza Alessandro
Published: May 2024

This paper contributes to the debate on the re-appraisal of monetization mechanism as a possible tool for dealing with macroeconomic imbalances due to close economic shocks (e.g. the Covid pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the escalation in Israel-Hamas crisis). We analyze and empirically discuss the well-known Quantity Theory of Money (QTM), by applying the SVAR methodology to a heterogeneous panel including several Countries (Australia, China, India, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States) plus the block of Euro Zone (EZ) over the period 1992–2022. We investigate the dynamics and the impacts of the variables included in the theoretical model (inflation, GDP growth, money growth and the change in the velocity of money) through the analysis of the macro economic datasets retrieved from the OECD and Trading Economics databases. We find that money growth does not exert the decisive spillover effect on the path of inflation (i.e. common shock) throughout our sample. Moreover, our results indicate that the idiosyncratic component does not show a predominant and determining role of monetary growth in inflationary dynamics.
The Impact of Islamophobia on the Persecution of Myanmar's Rohingya: A Human Rights Perspective
Authors: Chowdhury Ainun Nishat , Sifat Ridwan Islam
Published: May 2024

The concept of Islamophobia and the persecution of the Rohingya minority—these two phenomena are highly significant in the world context. These factors have affected systematic violence and statelessness for many years by the Myanmar Buddhist majority and the Myanmar government itself. The Rohingya community has a significant connection with several factors, including political, economic, national, and religious relations. This paper is dependent on a qualitative research methodology using secondary data was used. Myanmar is a non-secular, Buddhist-dominated country where the Buddhist majority holds a perception of Islam to justify their violence towards this community and to ensure Buddhist domination. This paper will shed some light on the argument, and discusses the extent to which Islamophobia is significant behind violations of human rights in the Rohingya community.
Propositional claim detection: a task and dataset for the classification of claims to truth
Authors: Nenno Sami
Published: May 2024

This paper introduces Propositional Claim Detection (PCD), an NLP task for classifying claims to truth, and presents a publicly available dataset for it. PCD is applicable in practical scenarios, for instance, for the support of fact-checkers, as well as in many areas of communication research. By leveraging insights from philosophy and linguistics, PCD is a more systematic and transparent version of claim detection than previous approaches. This paper presents the theoretical background for PCD and discusses its advantages over alternative approaches to claim detection. Extensive experiments on models trained on the dataset are conducted and result in an $$\hbox {F}_{1}$$

F
1

-score of up to 0.91. Moreover, PCD’s generalization across domains is tested. Models trained on the dataset show stable performance for text from previously unseen domains such as different topical domains or writing styles. PCD is a basic task that finds application in various fields and can be integrated with many other computational tools.
Response of ion velocities of daytime ionospheric wavenumber-4 to solar activity observed by ROCSAT-1 and DEMETER
Authors: Cheng Ching-Chung , Liu Jann-Yenq , Chang Fu-Yuan , Lin Chi-Yen , Chang Loren C. , Chao Chi-Kuang
Published: May 2024

The electron/ion density/temperature and ion velocities observed by the ROCSAT-1 and DEMETER satellites are used to examine the daytime wavenumber-4 (WN4) feature in the equatorial/low latitude ionosphere during various months and solar activity levels of 1999–2010. A moving median process has been employed to isolate WN4 features and calculate their amplitudes, while the upward ion drift is used to estimate electric fields. The ROCSAT-1 and DEMETER ion density, ion temperature, and ion velocity generally yield prominent WN4 features over the center of Pacific Ocean, the west side of South America, the center of the Atlantic Ocean, and Southern India. The correlation coefficient between the deviation of ion density and upward ion drift is significant during high solar activity of 1999–2004, while it approaches to zero during low solar activity of 2004–2010. This confirms that the longitudinal variation of the upward ion drift is essential during high solar activity, and the associated amplitude of dynamo eastward electric field is in the range of 0.10–0.14 mV/m, which is 15–19% of daily dynamo electric field. By contrast, the deviation of the ion density and the northward field-aligned ion flow show a clear anti-correlation which yields a maximum coefficient in August during low solar activity but no correlation during high solar activity. These indicate that the longitudinal variation of the meridional field-aligned ion flow could play an important role during low solar activity, and its amplitude is in the range of 10.44–13.91 m/s, which is 10–13% of the ambient ion flows.
Is spontaneous vortex generation in superconducting 4Hb-TaS2 from vison-vortex nucleation with $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$ topological order?
Authors: Luo Rui Leonard , Chen Gang V.
Published: May 2024

We propose the superconducting van der Waals material 4Hb-TaS2 to realize the $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$

Z
2

topological order and interpret the recent discovery of the spontaneous vortex generation in 4Hb-TaS2 as the vison-vortex nucleation. For the alternating stacking of metallic/superconducting and Mott insulating layers in 4Hb-TaS2, we expect the local moments in the Mott insulating 1T-TaS2 layer to form the $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$

Z
2

topological order. The spontaneous vortex generation in 4Hb-TaS2 is interpreted from the transition or nucleation between the superconducting vortex and the $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$

Z
2

vison in different phase regimes. Differing from the single vison-vortex nucleation in the original Senthil–Fisher’s cuprate proposal, we consider such nucleation process between the superconducting vortex lattice and the vison crystal. We further propose experiments to distinguish this proposal with the $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$

Z
2

topological order from the chiral spin liquid scenarios.
New model for digital sustainable growth: Insights from human biology and surgical approach - a retrospective analysis of 15 years of constant socio-economic innovations at the Human Information Technology Lab, Finland
Authors: Shalaby Ahmed
Published: May 2024

Introduction

Over 15 years, the Human Information Technology Laboratory in Finland has undertaken an exploration of sustainable growth at the nexus of technology, economics, and society. Diverging from traditional academic approaches, this study is dedicated to offering pragmatic solutions.

Study challenge

Set against the backdrop of technological convergence, this enduring innovation project grapples with the intricacies of economic, societal, and individual challenges. The overarching aim is to transcend theoretical constructs and foster sustainable technological growth, guided by insights from human biology and surgical methodologies.

Methodology

Unfolding across three distinct phases from 2008 to 2023, the study encompasses transformative projects such as Dream City, Geniementor, Genieteams, Big Data Social Matching, The Navigator, Maestro, and BankRabbna. These initiatives explore different realms like data monetization, personalized education, collective innovation, and the digitalization of national and international labor markets.

Results and discussion

At the heart of the study is the introduction of the Digital Sustainable Growth Model (DSGM), heralding an innovative governance approach. The DSGM aspires to cultivate adaptable and intelligent technology to propel socio-economic development in the digital era, drawing parallels with the flexibility and intelligence inherent in the human body.

Outcome and recommendations

Through adeptly addressing various barriers, the study identified a feasible technological solution exemplified by the development of the Growth Model showcased in technologies like Maestro, Fourqan, and BankRabbna. The recommendations underscore the critical importance of fostering international cooperation as an integral aspect of navigating the challenges associated with sustainable growth.
The first high-quality genome assembly and annotation of Lantana camara, an important ornamental plant and a major invasive species
Authors: Parrish S. Brooks , Deng Zhanao
Published: May 2024

This study presents the first annotated, haplotype-resolved, chromosome-scale genome of Lantana camara, a flowering shrub native to Central America and known for its dual role as an ornamental plant and an invasive species. Despite its widespread cultivation and ecological impact, the lack of a high-quality genome has hindered the investigation of traits of both ornamental and invasive. This research bridges the gap in genomic resources for L. camara, which is crucial for both ornamental breeding programs and invasive species management. Whole-genome and transcriptome sequencing were utilized to elucidate the genetic complexity of a diploid L. camara breeding line UF-T48. The genome was assembled de novo using HiFi and Hi-C reads, resulting in two phased genome assemblies with high Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs (BUSCO) scores of 97.7%, indicating their quality. All 22 chromosomes were assembled with pseudochromosomes averaging 117 Mb. The assemblies revealed 29 telomeres and an extensive presence of repetitive sequences, primarily long terminal repeat transposable elements. The genome annotation identified 83,775 protein-coding genes, with 83% functionally annotated. In particular, the study mapped 42 anthocyanin and carotenoid candidate gene clusters and 12 herbicide target genes to the assembly, identifying 38 genes spread across the genome that are integral to flower color development and 53 genes for herbicide targeting in L. camara. This comprehensive genomic study not only enhances the understanding of L. camara’s genetic makeup but also sets a precedent for genomic research in the Verbenaceae family, offering a foundation for future studies in plant genetics, conservation, and breeding.
Predicting the Utility of Scientific Articles for Emerging Pandemics Using Their Titles and Natural Language Processing
Authors: Dobolyi Kinga , Hussain Sidra , McPeak Grady
Published: May 2024

Objective:

Not all scientific publications are equally useful to policy-makers tasked with mitigating the spread and impact of diseases, especially at the start of novel epidemics and pandemics. The urgent need for actionable, evidence-based information is paramount, but the nature of preprint and peer-reviewed articles published during these times is often at odds with such goals. For example, a lack of novel results and a focus on opinions rather than evidence were common in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) publications at the start of the pandemic in 2019. In this work, we seek to automatically judge the utility of these scientific articles, from a public health policy making persepctive, using only their titles.

Methods:

Deep learning natural language processing (NLP) models were trained on scientific COVID-19 publication titles from the CORD-19 dataset and evaluated against expert-curated COVID-19 evidence to measure their real-world feasibility at screening these scientific publications in an automated manner.

Results:

This work demonstrates that it is possible to judge the utility of COVID-19 scientific articles, from a public health policy-making perspective, based on their title alone, using deep natural language processing (NLP) models.

Conclusions:

NLP models can be successfully trained on scienticic articles and used by public health experts to triage and filter the hundreds of new daily publications on novel diseases such as COVID-19 at the start of pandemics.
Unique Challenges for WHO Emergency Medical Teams in Ukraine: Field Assessment and Global Recommendations
Authors: Peleg Kobi , Salio Flavio , Burkle Frederick M
Published: May 2024

The purpose of World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) is to provide timely, high-quality health services in the immediate aftermath of disasters and during disease outbreaks and other emergencies, including conflict and insecurity.

The war in Ukraine has presented all health-care providers with many unique challenges. This assessment addresses the importance and the complexities of the global spread of the Emergency Medical Team system challenges to meet a wide variety of crises including war, those that are unique to this very complex crisis in Ukraine, and the essential role of educational initiatives, not only in professional development but also in teamwork and cultural integration.
Co-spectral radius for countable equivalence relations
Authors: ABERT MIKLÓS , FRACZYK MIKOLAJ , HAYES BENJAMIN
Published: May 2024

We define the co-spectral radius of inclusions
${\mathcal S}\leq {\mathcal R}$
of discrete, probability- measure-preserving equivalence relations as the sampling exponent of a generating random walk on the ambient relation. The co-spectral radius is analogous to the spectral radius for random walks on
$G/H$
for inclusion
$H\leq G$
of groups. For the proof, we develop a more general version of the 2–3 method we used in another work on the growth of unimodular random rooted trees. We use this method to show that the walk growth exists for an arbitrary unimodular random rooted graph of bounded degree. We also investigate how the co-spectral radius behaves for hyperfinite relations, and discuss new critical exponents for percolation that can be defined using the co-spectral radius.
Functional dependence as a contributing factor for patient hand contamination by multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs) in acute care
Authors: Behunin Trenton , Vijayasiri Ganga , Gibson Kristen E. , Mody Lona , Cassone Marco
Published: May 2024

Objective:

Patient hands’ contribution to disease transmission in healthcare settings is an important, understudied topic. We assessed correlation between patient functional dependence and hand contamination with multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs) in acute-care settings.

Design, setting, and patients:

Secondary, cross-sectional analyses of 399 general medicine patients enrolled in two tertiary-care hospitals over a six-month period. Our predictor was patient functional status evaluated using Katz Activities of Daily Living scale, scored as follows: functionally independent (scored 0), moderately dependent (score 1–3), and severely dependent (score of 4 or more). Our outcome was patient hand contamination with MDROs, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, and resistant gram-negative bacteria.

Results:

Of 399 patients, 298 were functionally independent, 45 were moderately dependent, and 56 were severely dependent. Odds of MDRO hand contamination were 2.63 (95% CI, 1.21–5.72) times higher in the severely dependent category compared to the independent category. Patients with feeding dependence had the highest odds of hand contamination with MDROs (OR 4.76, 95% CI, 1.54–14.71), followed by continence, dressing, and toileting. In addition to patient colonization, environmental contamination with MRSA was associated with patient function, with odds 2.60 (95% CI, 1.16–5.82) times higher in severely dependent patients.

Conclusions:

Patients with severe functional dependence are more likely to harbor MDROs on their hands and less likely to be able to cleanse them independently. Functionally dependent patients have high room contamination with MDROs. Patient hand hygiene interventions in the hospital should target this high-risk group.
Zonal jets and eddy tilts in barotropic geostrophic turbulence
Authors: Senior Natasha V. , Zhai Xiaoming , Stevens David P.
Published: May 2024

The spontaneous formation of zonal jets is a distinctive feature of geostrophic turbulence with the phenomenon witnessed in numerous numerical studies. In such systems, strong rotation anisotropises the spectral evolution of the energy density such that zonal modes are favoured. In physical space, this manifests as eddies zonally elongating and forming into zonal jets. In the presence of large scale dissipation, the flow may reach statistical stationarity such that the zonal structure persists in the zonal and time mean, and is supported by a flux of eddy momentum. What is unclear is how the excitation of Rossby waves arranges the underlying eddy momentum stresses to support the mean flow structures. To study this, we examine a steady-state flow in the so-called ‘zonostrophic’ regime, in which characteristic scales of geostrophic turbulence are well separated and there are several alternating zonal jets that have formed spontaneously. We apply a geometric eddy ellipse formulation, in which momentum fluxes are cast as ellipses that encode information about the magnitude and direction of flux; the latter is described using the tilt angle. With the aid of a zonal filter, it is revealed that the scales responsible for providing the momentum fluxes associated with the jet structure are much smaller than the characteristic scales identified, and occupy a region of the energy spectrum that has been typically associated with isotropic dynamics.
Passive bionic motion of a flexible film in the wake of a circular cylinder: chaos and periodicity, flow–structure interactions and energy evolution
Authors: Duan Fan , Wang Jin-Jun
Published: May 2024

The self-sustained interactions between a flexible film and periodic vortices epitomize the spirit of fish swimming and flag flapping in nature, involving intricate patterns of flow–structure coupling. Here, we comprehensively investigate the multiple coupling states of a film in the cylinder wake mainly with experiments, complemented by theoretical solutions and nonlinear dynamical analyses. Four regimes of film motion states are identified in the parameter space spanned by the reduced velocity and the length ratio. These regimes are (i) keeping stationary, (ii) deflection flutter, (iii) hybrid flutter and (iv) periodic large-amplitude flapping, each governed by a distinct coupling mechanism, involving regular and irregular Kármán vortices, local instability of the elongated shear layers and 2P mode vortex shedding. The film futtering in regimes (ii) and (iii) is substantiated to be chaotic and bears a resemblance to the ‘entraining state’ of fish behind an obstacle in the river. The periodic flapping in regime (iv) manifests itself in an amalgam of standing and travelling waves, and has intrinsic relations to the ‘Kármán gaiting’ of fish in periodic vortices. With the spatiotemporal reconstruction for the periodic flapping, we procure the energy distributions on the film, revealing the energy transfer processes between the film and the large-scale vortices. The findings unequivocally indicate that the flow–structure interaction during the energy-release stage of the film is more intense than that during the energy-extraction stage. Given the similarities, the mathematical and physical methods presented in this work are also applicable to the research on biological undulatory locomotion.
On conformally flat minimal Legendrian submanifolds in the unit sphere
Authors: Li Cece , Xing Cheng , Yin Jiabin
Published: May 2024

This paper is concerned with the study on an open problem of classifying conformally flat minimal Legendrian submanifolds in the

$(2n+1)$

-dimensional unit sphere

$\mathbb {S}^{2n+1}$

admitting a Sasakian structure

$(\varphi,\,\xi,\,\eta,\,g)$

for

$n\ge 3$

, motivated by the classification of minimal Legendrian submanifolds with constant sectional curvature. First of all, we completely classify such Legendrian submanifolds by assuming that the tensor

$K:=-\varphi h$

is semi-parallel, which is introduced as a natural extension of

$C$

-parallel second fundamental form

$h$

. Secondly, such submanifolds have also been determined under the condition that the Ricci tensor is semi-parallel, generalizing the Einstein condition. Finally, as direct consequences, new characterizations of the Calabi torus are presented.