bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Simulation of Air–Water Interface Effects for High-speed Planing Hull
Authors: Nimmagadda Naga Venkata Rakesh , Polisetty Lokeswara Rao , Vaidyanatha Iyer Anantha Subramanian
Published: November 2020

High-speed planing crafts have successfully evolved through developments in the last several decades. Classical approaches such as inviscid potential flow–based methods and the empirically based Savitsky method provide general understanding for practical design. However, sometimes such analyses suffer inaccuracies since the air–water interface effects, especially in the transition phase, are not fully accounted for. Hence, understanding the behaviour at the transition speed is of fundamental importance for the designer. The fluid forces in planing hulls are dominated by phenomena such as flow separation at various discontinuities viz., knuckles, chines and transom, with resultant spray generation. In such cases, the application of potential theory at high speeds introduces limitations. This paper investigates the simulation of modelling of the pre-planing behaviour with a view to capturing the air–water interface effects, with validations through experiments to compare the drag, dynamic trim and wetted surface area. The paper also brings out the merits of gridding strategies to obtain reliable results especially with regard to spray generation due to the air–water interface effects. The verification and validation studies serve to authenticate the use of the multi-gridding strategies on the basis of comparisons with simulations using model tests. It emerges from the study that overset/chimera grids give better results compared with single unstructured hexahedral grids. Two overset methods are investigated to obtain reliable estimation of the dynamic trim and drag, and their ability to capture the spray resulting from the air–water interaction. The results demonstrate very close simulation of the actual flow kinematics at steady-speed conditions in terms of spray at the air–water interface, drag at the pre-planing and full planing range and dynamic trim angles.
European Green Deal – legal and financial challenges of the climate change
Authors: Sikora Alicja
Published: November 2020

The European Green Deal announced by the European Commission in December 2019 is a roadmap meant to foster the transition of the European Union towards the climate-neutral economy by reducing carbon emissions towards 55% by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. By putting the EGD in a boarder perspective of evolving, constitutional rationale of environmental protection in the EU legal order, this contribution examines horizontal, legal dimension and financial implications of the green transition. The challenge ahead of the Union is now how to transform the ambitious climate agenda into efficient legal and economic instruments ‘in a fair way, leaving no one behind’. This paper argues that EGD is a great opportunity, but in order to turn it into a success, it must be strongly anchored in the concepts pertaining to the constitutional framework of the EU legal order, in particular, the concepts of solidarity, sustainable development and high level of environmental protection.
Rhenium–osmium (Re–Os) geochronology of crude oil from lacustrine source rocks of the Hailar Basin, NE China
Authors: Meng Qi-An , Wang Xue , Huo Qiu-Li , Dong Zhong-Liang , Li Zhen , Tessalina Svetlana G. , Ware Bryant D. , McInnes Brent I. A. , Wang Xiao-Lin , Liu Ting , Zhang Li
Published: November 2020

Re–Os radiometric dating of crude oil can be used to constrain the timing of hydrocarbon generation, migration or charge. This approach has been successfully applied to marine petroleum systems; however, this study reports on its application to lacustrine-sourced natural crude oils. Oil samples from multiple wells producing from the Cretaceous Nantun Formation in the Wuerxun-Beier depression of the Hailar Basin in NE China were analysed. Subsets of the Re–Os data are compatible with a Cretaceous hydrocarbon generation event (131.1 ± 8.4 Ma) occurring within 10 Myr of deposition of the Nantun Formation source rocks. In addition, two younger age trends of 54 ± 12 Ma and 1.28 ± 0.69 Ma can be regressed from the Re–Os data, which may reflect the timing of subsequent hydrocarbon generation events. The Re–Os geochronometer, when combined with complementary age dating techniques, can provide direct temporal constraints on the evolution of petroleum system in a terrestrial basin.
Geoheritage of East Kazakhstan
Authors: Chlachula Jiri
Published: November 2020

East Kazakhstan is physiographically a diverse region of north-central Asia encompassing a broad array of geomorphic zones and geo-ecosystems from the western open steppes to the interior arid basins with wind-sculptured surfaces of the surrounding rocky highlands aligned by the high alpine mountain ranges. The complex regional geological history gave rise to a mosaic of impressive landforms located within a relatively small area. The extraordinary relief with many unique geo-sites was generated by dynamic processes associated with the late Cainozoic orogenesis in conjunction with the past climatic variations. The cyclicity of bedrock weathering and mass sediment transfer are manifested by Mesozoic fossiliferous formations, large sand dune fields, and loess-palaeosol-cryogenic series providing archives of the Quaternary evolution. Pleistocene glaciations followed by cataclysmic floods from the released ice-dammed lakes during the recessional glacier stages have produced an exceptional imprint in the mountain areas. Many archaeological localities and historic monuments, some being a part of the UNESCO World Natural and Cultural Heritage, are associated with the most prominent topographic places. Geo-tourism focusing on the most exquisite landscapes and spectacular geological settings is the new trend in the country with still minor activities that take advantage of the region’s supreme geoheritage potential. The great geo-diversity accentuates the touristic value of this still marginally explored geographic area. Reconnaissance, documentation, and publicity of the most unique geo-sites and geo-parks provide an impetus for their registration in the national and international nature heritage protection programs under proper geo-environmental conservation policies.
Analysis of physicochemical water quality parameters for streams under agricultural, urban and forest land-use types: in the case of gilgel Gibe catchment, Southwest Ethiopia
Authors: Bakure Berhanu Zawude , Fikadu Samuel , Malu Asgdom
Published: November 2020

Streams draining to Gilgel Gibe catchment cross agricultural and urban land uses receiving a different pollutant that challenges water quality. A total of 21 sampling sites were selected from seven streams of agricultural (n = 3), urban (n = 3) and forest (n = 1) land-use types. Composite samples were collected from upstream, middle and downstream of all land-use types. Twenty-three physicochemical parameters were measured from each sampling site. Temperature, DO, pH, EC, turbidity, width, depth, current velocity and discharge were measured onsite. Two milliliters of unfiltered water samples was collected from every site for laboratory analysis. Mean of NO3-N was highest in agricultural streams than forested and urban streams. In contrast, mean of SRP, NH4-N and COD and BOD5 concentration was greater in urban streams followed by agricultural streams, whereas forest streams are lowest. Concentrations of nutrients, EC and turbidity were recorded in increasing manner across land-use gradient from forested to agricultural and urban streams. The analysis of one-way ANOVA showed that all physicochemical parameters were significantly different among all sites with different land-use types (P < 0.05), except for water temperature (one-way ANOVA: F = 0.987, P = 0.494). NMDS and cluster analyses have discriminated the sites into three groups of land-use types. Then, we conclude that water quality of urban stream is highly impaired than agricultural streams, whereas forested streams have better water quality. Therefore, stream restoration projects, reforestation, conservation of riparian vegetation appropriate waste disposal need to be encouraged in the study area for sustainable management of freshwater resources.
A solution for funding the development of technology in oilwell drilling
Authors: Amorim Dalmo S. , Santos Otto L.A. , Azevedo Ricardo C. , Chieregati Ana Carolina
Published: November 2020

This article proposes a novel methodology to solve an existing gap in benchmark definition by the adoption of statistically defined benchmarks as references to test products or technical procedures. In a win–win partnership, remuneration is made upon realistic bases of comparison being proportional to existing risks. However, establishing values for benchmarks is rarely unanimous if asked to different persons involved in drilling analysis. Conventional benchmarking, which enhances few results and leaves aside poor operational performances, produces references that do not properly represent the geological environment. Nonetheless, when testing new products, it serves as reference to remunerate suppliers. The review of an optimization program, which resulted in a world record of drilling rate of penetration, reveals the financial magnitude of the savings produced, proposing the method discussed as a reliable solution to the development of technology.
Desulfurization studies of liquid fuels through nickel-modified porous materials from Pongamia pinnata
Authors: Zaidi Zakiullah , Sorokhaibam Laxmi Gayatri
Published: November 2020

A new biomass-based carbonaceous adsorbent has been developed from Pongamia pinnata and its effect upon nickel modification- and adsorption-coupled ultrasonication was investigated. Adsorption experiment of the model oil constituting 50 ppm dibenzothiophene in cyclohexane showed the maximum capacity as 8.11, 13.36, and 17.15 mg·g−1 for the commercial carbon DARCO, virgin bio-adsorbent PP, and nickel-modified adsorbent Ni@PP, respectively, with the time required for attaining equilibrium being the fastest in Ni@PP (120 min). The significant effect of ultrasonication was in attaining faster kinetics where ~ 96–98% removal was achieved in only 30 min. Also, the developed adsorbents had a very good specific surface area of 915 and 677 m2·g−1, respectively, for PP and Ni@PP. Investigation of the effect of higher initial sulfur concentration (200 ppm) indicated the significance of Ni modification, where a very high capacity of 66.18 mg·g−1 for Ni@PP was attained against 30.90 mg·g−1 for PP and 13.18 mg·g−1 for DARCO. Ni@ PP was also effective for the simultaneous removal of more refractory sulfur fractions from multicomponent model fuel systems and exhibited good regeneration ability till the fourth cycles or more. Cost estimation showed that the developed adsorbents are relatively ten times cheaper than commercial carbon, while the fixed-bed study indicated a breakthrough time of 250 min and 270 min for PP and Ni@PP, respectively.

Graphic abstract
Ecosystem service lens reveals diverse community values of small-scale fisheries
Authors: Pellowe Kara E. , Leslie Heather M.
Published: November 2020

The ocean provides benefits to coastal communities around the world, however, the depth and complexity of people’s interactions with marine ecosystems are not well represented in many marine management initiatives. Many fisheries are managed to maximize provisioning value, which is readily quantified, while ignoring cultural values. An ecosystem services approach that includes both provisioning and cultural services will enable managers to better account for the diverse values marine fisheries provide to coastal communities. In this study, we assess community values related to a top fished species, the Mexican chocolate clam,Megapitaria squalida, in Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico. We conducted an exploratory analysis based on 42 household surveys, and found that community members perceive multiple provisioning and cultural benefits from the clam, including community economic, historical, and identity values. Despite reporting infrequent harvest and consumption of clams, participants perceive the species as an important part of community identity, highlighting the role of Mexican chocolate clams as a cultural keystone species in the Loreto region. Fisheries management that recognizes the full range of ecosystem services a species contributes to coastal communities will be better equipped to sustain these diverse values into the future.
Reversal of Tetracycline Resistance by Cepharanthine, Cinchonidine, Ellagic Acid and Propyl Gallate in a Multi-drug Resistant Escherichia coli
Authors: Jenic Darko , Waller Helen , Collins Helen , Erridge Clett
Published: November 2020

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is an increasing threat to global healthcare systems. We therefore sought compounds with potential to reverse antibiotic resistance in a clinically relevant multi-drug resistant isolate ofEscherichia coli(NCTC 13400). 200 natural compounds with a history of either safe oral use in man, or as a component of a traditional herb or medicine, were screened. Four compounds; ellagic acid, propyl gallate, cinchonidine and cepharanthine, lowered the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of tetracycline, chloramphenicol and tobramycin by up to fourfold, and when combined up to eightfold. These compounds had no impact on the MICs of ampicillin, erythromycin or trimethoprim. Mechanistic studies revealed that while cepharanthine potently suppressed efflux of the marker Nile red from bacterial cells, the other hit compounds slowed cellular accumulation of this marker, and/or slowed bacterial growth in the absence of antibiotic. Although cepharanthine showed some toxicity in a cultured HEK-293 mammalian cell-line model, the other hit compounds exhibited no toxicity at concentrations where they are active againstE. coliNCTC 13400. The results suggest that phytochemicals with capacity to reverse antibiotic resistance may be more common in traditional medicines than previously appreciated, and may offer useful scaffolds for the development of antibiotic-sensitising drugs.

Graphic Abstract
Preoperative synovial fluid culture poorly predicts the pathogen causing periprosthetic joint infection
Authors: Schulz Philipp , Dlaska Constantin E. , Perka Carsten , Trampuz Andrej , Renz Nora
Published: November 2020

Purpose

We investigated the value of preoperative pathogen detection and evaluated its concordance with intraoperative cultures in patients with culture-positive periprosthetic joint infection (PJI).

Methods

Culture-positive PJI episodes with available preoperative (synovial fluid) and intraoperative cultures (periprosthetic tissue, synovial or sonication fluid) were analyzed. The pathogen detection rate in preoperative and intraoperative cultures was compared using Fisher’s exact test and their concordance was calculated.

Results

Among 167 included PJI episodes, 150 were monomicrobial with coagulase-negative staphylococci (n = 55, 37%), S. aureus (n = 34, 23%), and streptococci (n = 21, 14%) being the most common pathogens. Seventeen episodes (10%) were polymicrobial infections. The pathogen(s) grew in preoperative culture in 110 and in intraoperative cultures in 153 episodes (66% vs. 92%, p < 0.001). The pathogen detection rate was lower in preoperative compared to intraoperative cultures for low-virulent pathogens (40% vs. 94%, p < 0.001), polymicrobial infections (59% vs. 100%, p = 0.007), and in delayed and late PJI (63% vs. 94%, and 66% vs. 91%, respectively, p < 0.001). Full concordance of preoperative and intraoperative cultures was found in 87 episodes (52%). The pathogen was detected solely preoperatively in 14 episodes (8%) and solely intraoperatively in 57 cases (34%); an additional pathogen was found in 3 episodes (2%) preoperatively and in 6 episodes (4%) intraoperatively.

Conclusion

The concordance of preoperative and intraoperative cultures was poor (52%). The sole or an additional pathogen was found exclusively in intraoperative cultures in 38% of PJI episodes, hence preoperative synovial fluid cultures are considered unreliable for pathogen detection in PJI.
When demand exceeds supply: Liver transplantation due to alcohol use disorder in Austria
Authors: Listabarth Stephan , Gmeiner Andrea , Pruckner Nathalie , Vyssoki Sandra , Wippel Andreas , König Daniel
Published: November 2020

Background

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is associated with a high prevalence rate and causes a significant burden on health systems globally. The most severe condition associated with AUD is end-stage alcohol-related liver disease (ARLD), for which liver transplantation (LTX) is the only curative therapy. However, the determination of key epidemiologic figures of both conditions is limited by several difficulties and challenges. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to discuss different epidemiological models to estimate AUD and ARLD prevalence, and compare the results of these models with LTX data.

Methods

A literature search for epidemiological models estimating the prevalence of AUD and associated secondary diseases was conducted. Identified approaches are discussed and recalculated, applying the newest available data for Austria. The thus estimated numbers were, in a further step, set in relation to the national LTX statistics.

Results

Besides health survey-based estimations and models based on economic data, estimations based on the mortality of ARLD (Jellinek formula) were identified. Depending on the prediction scenario, the calculated rates of prevalence of AUD ranged between 4.1% and 10.1% for the population aged older than 15 years. Furthermore, while the prevalence of secondary diseases due to AUD is high, only a marginal proportion (about 4%) of end-stage ARLD patients receive a new organ.

Conclusion

These results suggest that the prevalence of AUD and associated diseases remain underestimated. Furthermore, a pronounced discrepancy between the number of ARLD deaths and the number of LTXs due to ARLD, and distinct regional differences in the supply of LTXs, were found.
A secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial to investigate the effect of Tai Chi on the instrumented timed up and go test in people with mild to moderate dementia
Authors: Williams Jonathan , Nyman Samuel
Published: November 2020

Background

Previous research has identified that Tai Chi is effective for reducing risk of falls and improving timed up and go scores. However, our previous research identified no-significant difference in time to complete the timed up and go test following a Tai Chi intervention in people with dementia.

Aim

To conduct a secondary analysis to extend our understanding of the effect of Tai Chi on the instrumented Timed Up and Go test.

Methods

This is a secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial set in the community. People with dementia, recruited from NHS databases, memory clinics, local charities and self-referral across the south of England, received either 20 weeks of Tai Chi plus normal care or normal care. Outcomes were assessed using the instrumented Timed Up and Go test, completed at baseline and after 6 months.

Results

From 83 people with dementia volunteering for the study, 67 complete datasets were available for analysis. Within-group pairwise comparison across time revealed no-significant gains for any of the instrumented Timed Up and Go variables, and no-significant difference for between-group pairwise comparisons.

Discussion

This suggests that Tai Chi had no effect on the instrumented Timed Up and Go in people with dementia. This lack of effect may be due to the lack of specificity of the training stimulus to the outcome measure.

Conclusion

Tai Chi had no effect on any instrumented Timed Up and Go variables, suggesting Tai Chi may not be best placed to enhance the sub-elements of the instrumented Timed Up and Go to reduce fall risk among community-dwelling people with dementia.

Clinical trial registration number: NCT02864056.
How can science be well-ordered in times of crisis? Learning from the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic
Authors: Reydon Thomas A. C.
Published: November 2020

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic constituted a crisis situation in which science was very far from Kitcher’s ideal of well-ordered science. I suggest that this could and should have been different. Kitcher’s ideal should play a role in assessing the allocation of research resources in future crisis situations, as it provides a way to balance highly divergent interests and incorporate the common good into decision-making processes on research.
Generalized complex q-rung orthopair fuzzy Einstein averaging aggregation operators and their application in multi-attribute decision making
Authors: Liu Peide , Ali Zeeshan , Mahmood Tahir
Published: November 2020

The recently proposed q-rung orthopair fuzzy set, which is characterized by a membership degree and a non-membership degree, is effective for handling uncertainty and vagueness. This paper proposes the concept of complex q-rung orthopair fuzzy sets (Cq-ROFS) and their operational laws. A multi-attribute decision making (MADM) method with complex q-rung orthopair fuzzy information is investigated. To aggregate complex q-rung orthopair fuzzy numbers, we extend the Einstein operations to Cq-ROFSs and propose a family of complex q-rung orthopair fuzzy Einstein averaging operators, such as the complex q-rung orthopair fuzzy Einstein weighted averaging operator, the complex q-rung orthopair fuzzy Einstein ordered weighted averaging operator, the generalized complex q-rung orthopair fuzzy Einstein weighted averaging operator, and the generalized complex q-rung orthopair fuzzy Einstein ordered weighted averaging operator. Desirable properties and special cases of the introduced operators are discussed. Further, we develop a novel MADM approach based on the proposed operators in a complex q-rung orthopair fuzzy context. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method through a detailed comparison with existing methods.
Blocking Techniques for Entity Linkage: A Semantics-Based Approach
Authors: Azzalini Fabio , Jin Songle , Renzi Marco , Tanca Letizia
Published: November 2020

Nowadays, data integration must often manage noisy data, also containing attribute values written in natural language such as product descriptions or book reviews. In the data integration process, Entity Linkage has the role of identifying records that contain information referring to the same object. Modern Entity Linkage methods, in order to reduce the dimension of the problem, partition the initial search space into “blocks” of records that can be considered similar according to some metrics, comparing then only the records belonging to the same block and thus greatly reducing the overall complexity of the algorithm. In this paper, we propose two automatic blocking strategies that, differently from the traditional methods, aim at capturing the semantic properties of data by means of recent deep learning frameworks. Both methods, in a first phase, exploit recent research on tuple and sentence embeddings to transform the database records into real-valued vectors; in a second phase, to arrange the tuples inside the blocks, one of them adopts approximate nearest neighbourhood algorithms, while the other one uses dimensionality reduction techniques combined with clustering algorithms. We train our blocking models on an external, independent corpus, and then, we directly apply them to new datasets in an unsupervised fashion. Our choice is motivated by the fact that, in most data integration scenarios, no training data are actually available. We tested our systems on six popular datasets and compared their performances against five traditional blocking algorithms. The test results demonstrated that our deep-learning-based blocking solutions outperform standard blocking algorithms, especially on textual and noisy data.
Covid-19 als Chance für den Frieden?
Authors: Bank André , Kurtenbach Sabine
Published: November 2020

Ende März 2020 rief UN-Generalsekretär Guterres angesichts der Bedrohung durch die Covid-19-Pandemie dazu auf, weltweit die Waffen ruhen zu lassen. Obwohl diese Initiative von 171 Regierungen begrüßt wurde, ist es nicht einmal kurzfristig zu einer umfassenden Gewaltreduktion in zentralen Konfliktgebieten gekommen. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht die Auswirkungen der Corona-Pandemie in zwei regional wie global bedeutsamen Konfliktländern, Kolumbien mit seiner fragilen Befriedung und Syrien mit einem militärisch fast entschiedenen Krieg. Er fragt, wie die Corona-Krise die Dynamiken von Gewalt und Frieden nach bzw. am Ende von Bürgerkriegen beeinflusst.

Kolumbien gilt weltweit als Beispiel dafür, dass umfassende Friedensabkommen auch in komplexen Konflikten möglich sind. Trotzdem ist der kurzfristige, friedenspolitische Trend in Zeiten der Pandemie bestenfalls ambivalent: Zwar hat die absolute Zahl der Morde abgenommen, MenschenrechtsverteidigerInnen und demobilisierte Ex-KombattantInnen bleiben jedoch bevorzugte Gewaltopfer, die Zahl der Massaker hat wieder zugenommen. Die noch aktive Guerillagruppe Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) verkündete zunächst einen einseitigen Waffenstillstand, beendete diesen aber Ende April. Auch in Syrien sind die Auswirkungen der Pandemie auf die Konfliktdynamik widersprüchlich bis negativ: In der letzten Rebellenhochburg Idlib hat Covid-19 zwar indirekt dazu beigetragen, die russisch-türkische Waffenruhe vom März 2020 über mehrere Monate zu stabilisieren. Im Nordosten Syriens, der teils von der Türkei, teils von den kurdisch dominierten Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) kontrolliert wird, hat sich die humanitäre Lage hingegen seit Beginn der Pandemie deutlich verschlechtert, da das Assad-Regime die internationale Hilfe nicht in das verfeindete Gebiet weiterleitet. Trotz diverser Unterschiede zwischen Kolumbien und Syrien nutzen die jeweiligen Regierungen die mit der Ausbreitung des Virus verbundenen Krisen vor Ort, um ihre politischen Agenden gewaltsam zu festigen. In einem größerem Kontext zeigen die Erfahrungen in beiden Ländern, dass Covid-19 lokal weniger als „game changer“ denn als Verstärker und Beschleuniger von Dynamiken wirkt, die bereits vor Ausbruch der Pandemie bestanden hatten.
Parental and kinship ties, and low self‐control: Violence perpetration among rural African American adolescents from the Black Belt
Authors: Harris Charlene , Scarpate J. Melissa , Vazsonyi Alexander T.
Published: November 2020

Introduction

A substantial body of research supports both social control and self‐control theories in explaining violent or deviant behaviors. Most previous work has focused on the links between family ties or bonds and deviance, along with low self‐control. A potentially untested and overlooked bond is the extended kinship network, particularly among African American youth. The current study tested the extent to which kinship ties explained unique variability in violence perpetration, net the effects by family ties, low self‐control, and background variables.

Methods

Data were collected from rural African American adolescents enrolled in a poor, rural public school located in the Black Belt in the Southeastern United States. The sample included N = 610 adolescents (55.9% female; Mage = 15.64, SD = 1.74).

Results

Findings from hierarchical regressions provided evidence that kinship ties explained unique variance in violence perpetration, above and beyond the effects of parental support and low self‐control.

Conclusions

Study findings provide some support for the unique importance of kinship ties in understanding variability in adolescent violence perpetration in this sample of poor, rural African American adolescents. Thus, they highlight a potentially unique extra‐familial source of socialization and social control; this finding, in particular, has important theoretical and practical implications for prevention and intervention efforts targeting violent behaviors among rural African American youth.
RAM-2 Drill system development: an upgrade of the Rapid Air Movement Drill
Authors: Gibson Christopher , Boeckmann Grant , Meulemans Zachary , Kuhl Tanner , Koehler Jim , Johnson Jay , Slawny Kristina
Published: November 2020

Significant upgrades to the Rapid Air Movement (RAM) Drill were developed and tested by the US Ice Drilling Program in 2016 through 2020 for the U.S. National Science Foundation. The design of the system leverages the existing infrastructure of the RAM Drill with the goal of greatly reducing the logistical burden of deploying the drill while maintaining the ability to drill an access hole in firn and ice to 100 m in 40 min or less. In this paper, characteristics of the drill are described, along with a description of the drill performance during the testing at Raven Camp in Greenland and at WAIS Divide Camp in Antarctica.
Factors influencing medical students and psychiatry residents in Ghana to consider psychiatry as a career option – a qualitative study
Authors: Agyapong Vincent I.O , Ritchie Amanda , Doucet Kacy , Agyapong-Opoku Gerald , Shalaby Reham , Hrabok Marianne , Ulzen Thaddeus , Osei Akwasi
Published: November 2020

Background

Currently, Ghana has 14 actively practicing psychiatrists and about 26 psychiatric residents for a population of over 28 million people. Previous research suggests a lack of interest by Ghanaian medical students and medical graduates in considering psychiatry as a career option.

Objectives

To examine the perception of medical students and psychiatry residents in Ghana about the barriers which hinder Ghanaian medical graduates from choosing careers in psychiatry and how these barriers could be overcome.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional qualitative study with data gathered using focus group discussion. Twenty clinical year medical students were selected through block randomization from the four public medical schools in Ghana and invited to participate in one of two focus group discussions. Also, four psychiatric residents were invited to participate in the focus group discussions.

Results

The main barriers identified by participants could be grouped under four main themes, namely: (a) myths and stigma surrounding mental health and patients, (b) negative perceptions of psychiatrists, (c) infrastructure and funding issues, (d) lack of exposure and education. To address the barriers presented, participants discussed potential solutions that could be categorized into five main themes, namely: (a) stigma reduction, (b) educating professionals, (c) addressing deficient infrastructure, (d) risk management, and (e) incentivizing the pursuit of psychiatry among students.

Conclusion

Health policy planners and medical training institutions could consider implementing proposed solutions to identify barriers as part of efforts to improve the psychiatrist to patient ratio in Ghana.
BANKING CONCENTRATION AND FINANCIAL CRISES
Authors: Barrell Ray , Karim Dilruba
Published: November 2020

Policymakers need to know if the structure of competition and the degree of banking market concentration change the incidence of financial crises. Previous studies have not always come to clear conclusions. We use a new dataset of 19 countries where we include capital adequacy and house price growth as factors affecting crisis incidence, and we find a positive role for bank concentration in reducing incidence. In addition, we look at New Industrial Economics indicators of market structure and find that increased market power also reduces crisis incidence. We conclude that attempts to increase competition in banking, although welcome for welfare reasons, should be accompanied by increases in capital standards.
MODELLING STATE-CONTINGENT FISCAL RULES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
Authors: Rush Jamie
Published: November 2020

I assess a novel rule that was introduced in the UK in 2015. It gave the British government fiscal flexibility whenever GDP growth warranted it. This rule lasted just a year, but it had features worth exploring. I apply solution methods for models with occasionally-binding constraints to assess the demand stabilisation properties of state-contingent fiscal rules. First it is shown that fiscal flexibility can make recessions shallower. Second, it is suggested that GDP growth, rather than measures of the output gap, is a better indicator for triggering fiscal flexibility.
AN INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT OF UNCERTAINTY FOR RADIOCARBON ANALYSIS WITH THE NEW GENERATION HIGH-YIELD ACCELERATOR MASS SPECTROMETERS
Authors: Aerts-Bijma A T , Paul D , Dee M W , Palstra S W L , Meijer H A J
Published: November 2020

The radiocarbon (14C) dating facility at the Centre for Isotope Research, University of Groningen went through a major upgrade in 2017 and this included installation of a MICADAS accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS). In the first 18 months, we performed 4000 sample and 3000 reference measurements. A careful evaluation of those measurement results is presented, to characterize the various sources of uncertainty and to ultimately assign, for every sample measurement, a realistic expanded uncertainty. This analysis was performed on the measurements of secondary references and sample duplicates in various phases of their processing steps. The final expanded uncertainty includes both the 14C measurement uncertainties and uncertainties originating from pretreatment steps. Where the 14C measurement uncertainty includes straightforward uncertainties arising from Poisson statistics, background subtraction, calibration on Oxalic Acid II and δ13C correction, the uncertainties originating from pretreatment steps are based on the spread of actual measurement results for secondary references and sample duplicates. We show that the 14C measurement uncertainty requires expansion, depending on the number of processing steps involved prior to a 14C measurement, by a maximum factor of 1.6 at our laboratory. By using these expansion (multiplication) factors, we make our reported uncertainty both more realistic and reliable.
Δ14C PEAKS APPEARING IN EARLYWOOD AND LATEWOOD TREE RINGS (AD 770–780) IN NORTHEASTERN ARIZONA
Authors: Park J H , Southon J , Seo JW , Creasman P P , Hong W , Park G , Sung K H
Published: November 2020

The AD 775 peak in Δ14C (henceforth, M12) was first measured by Miyake et al. and has since been confirmed globally. Here we present earlywood and latewood Δ14C values from tree rings of pinyon pine (Pinus edulis) from Mummy Cave, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Chinle, Arizona, USA, for the period AD 770–780. These data reconfirm the timing of M12 and show a small rise in Δ14C in AD 774 latewood. Allowing for the delay in lateral transfer of radiocarbon produced at high latitude, this suggests that 14C peak production occurred in late winter or spring of AD 774. Additionally, Δ14C decreased slightly in the earlywood of AD 775 and increased in the latewood of AD 775 to a higher level than that observed in AD 774.
Death without mourning: homosexuality,homo sacer, and bearable loss in Central Africa
Authors: Ndjio Basile
Published: November 2020

Contemporary societies in Central Africa are known for their mourning ethos: communities often engage in endless lamentation upon the death of their loved ones. Yet people experience the death of a family member differently, depending on the deceased's sexual identification. While the death of a person identifying as heterosexual is generally felt as unbearable, that of a person identifying as homosexual is experienced as bearable. Based on field research conducted in Cameroon, this article analyses the way in which contemporary Central African societies experience the death of persons identifying as homosexual. Drawing on Giorgio Agamben's notion ofhomo sacer, the article argues that, as a result of the pervasiveness of anti-homosexual ideologies and procreationist doctrines promotingvitalis moralisor the ethics of life, childless persons identifying as homosexuals have become ‘homines sacri’ whose deaths arouse little grief from the community because their existence was perceived as ‘bare’ or useless even before their death.
‘Idle minds’ and ‘empty stomachs’: youth, violence and religious diversity in coastal Kenya
Authors: Meinema Erik
Published: November 2020

This article analyses how concerns about youth and violence intersect with the politics of managing religious coexistence in the coastal Kenyan town of Malindi. During extensive ethnographic research, I noticed that Muslim, Christian and ‘Traditionalist’ leaders, politicians and NGO officials often fear that the ‘idleness’ of young people leaves them susceptible to various immoralities, including political violence and ‘violent extremism’, that threaten peaceful ethnic and religious coexistence. The article explores how these concerns motivate leaders’ attempts to incorporate youth in development and peace projects, and how youth respond to these interventions. These projects are funded by Western donors, who often see ‘radical’ religiosity, especially among Muslim youth, as a security threat. Yet, leaders in Malindi accommodate donor policies to the (coastal) Kenyan context, and tend to understand immoralities and violence as resulting from a lack of religiosity among youth. The article argues that perceptions of ‘idle youth’ as potentially violent threats to peaceful religious coexistence and morality allow leaders to develop a ‘moral religiosity’ that is shared across religious divides. However, the ways in which youth strategically resist or comply with interventions to pacify them demonstrate that they do not necessarily agree with dominant moral and political constellations.
How much change is enough? Evidence from a longitudinal study on depression in UK primary care
Authors: Kounali Daphne , Button Katherine S. , Lewis Gemma , Gilbody Simon , Kessler David , Araya Ricardo , Duffy Larisa , Lanham Paul , Peters Tim J. , Wiles Nicola , Lewis Glyn
Published: November 2020

Background

The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and the Generalised Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD-7) are widely used in the evaluation of interventions for depression and anxiety. The smallest reduction in depressive symptoms that matter to patients is known as the Minimum Clinically Important Difference (MCID). Little empirical study of the MCID for these scales exists.

Methods

A prospective cohort of 400 patients in UK primary care were interviewed on four occasions, 2 weeks apart. At each time point, participants completed all three questionnaires and a ‘global rating of change’ scale (GRS). MCID estimation relied on estimated changes in symptoms according to reported improvement on the GRS scale, stratified by baseline severity on the Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-R).

Results

For moderate baseline severity, those who reported improvement on the GRS had a reduction of 21% (95% confidence interval (CI) −26.7 to −14.9) on the PHQ-9; 23% (95% CI −27.8 to −18.0) on the BDI-II and 26.8% (95% CI −33.5 to −20.1) on the GAD-7. The corresponding threshold scores below which participants were more likely to report improvement were −1.7, −3.5 and −1.5 points on the PHQ-9, BDI-II and GAD-7, respectively. Patients with milder symptoms require much larger reductions as percentage of their baseline to endorse improvement.

Conclusions

An MCID representing 20% reduction of scores in these scales, is a useful guide for patients with moderately severe symptoms. If treatment had the same effect on patients irrespective of baseline severity, those with low symptoms are unlikely to notice a benefit.

Funding

Funding. National Institute for Health Research.
Repair of a mixed form of supracardiac total anomalous pulmonary venous connection
Authors: Kawasaki Yuki , Dentel John N. , Walters Henry L. , Galas James M. , Kobayashi Daisuke
Published: November 2020

Total anomalous pulmonary venous connection is a rare congenital heart defect. We report an infant with a mixed form of supracardiac TAPVC, in whom all pulmonary veins, except the right upper, entered a pulmonary venous confluence that is connected to a vertical vein and drained into the superior vena caval–right atrial junction. Several segmental right upper pulmonary veins entered the superior vena cava, superior to the entry of the vertical vein. Surgical repair consisted of the Warden procedure combined with direct anastomosis of the vertical vein to the left atrium. Separate pulmonary venous drainage pathways decreased the risk of post-operative pulmonary venous obstruction. Our patient had an uneventful post-operative course and encouraging 2-month follow-up echocardiography. Careful follow-up is warranted to detect post-operative complications, including obstruction of the pulmonary venous and cavoatrial anastomoses.
Maintaining paediatric cardiac services during the COVID-19 pandemic in a developing country in sub-Saharan Africa: guidelines for a “scale up” in the face of a global “scale down”
Authors: Sokunbi Ogochukwu J. , Mgbajah Ogadinma , Olugbemi Augustine , Udom Bassey O. , Idowu Ariyo , Sanusi Michael O.
Published: November 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic is currently ravaging the globe and the African continent is not left out. While the direct effects of the pandemic in regard to morbidity and mortality appear to be more significant in the developed world, the indirect harmful effects on already insufficient healthcare infrastructure on the African continent would in the long term be more detrimental to the populace. Women and children form a significant vulnerable population in underserved areas such as the sub-Saharan region, and expectedly will experience the disadvantages of limited healthcare coverage which is a major fall out of the pandemic. Paediatric cardiac services that are already sparse in various sub-Saharan countries are not left out of this downsizing. Restrictions on international travel for patients out of the continent to seek medical care and for international experts into the continent for regular mission programmes leave few options for children with cardiac defects to get the much-needed care.

There is a need for a region-adapted guideline to scale-up services to cater for more children with congenital heart disease (CHD) while providing a safe environment for healthcare workers, patients, and their caregivers. This article outlines measures adapted to maintain paediatric cardiac care in a sub-Saharan tertiary centre in Nigeria during the COVID-19 pandemic and will serve as a guide for other institutions in the region who will inadvertently need to provide these services as the demand increases.
Rainfall shocks, cognitive development and educational attainment among adolescents in a drought-prone region in Kenya
Authors: Nübler Laura , Austrian Karen , Maluccio John A. , Pinchoff Jessie
Published: November 2020

There is growing evidence that early life conditions are important for outcomes during adolescence, including cognitive development and education. Economic conditions at the time children enter school are also important. We examine these relationships for young adolescents living in a low-income drought-prone pastoral setting in Kenya using historical rainfall patterns captured by remote sensing as exogenous shocks. Past rainfall shocks measured as deviations from local long-term averages have substantial negative effects on the cognitive development and educational achievement of girls. Results for the effects of rainfall shocks on grades attained, available for both girls and boys, support that finding. Consideration of additional outcomes suggests the effects of rainfall shocks on education are due to multiple underlying mechanisms including persistent effects on the health of children and the wealth of their households, underscoring the potential value of contemporaneous program and policy responses to such shocks.
Determinants of smallholder farmers’ adoption of short-term and long-term sustainable land management practices
Authors: Kansanga Moses Mosonsieyiri , Luginaah Isaac , Bezner Kerr Rachel , Dakishoni Laifolo , Lupafya Esther
Published: November 2020

Despite increasing land degradation in sub-Saharan Africa, investment in sustainable land management (SLM) remains low. Empirical evidence show that smallholder farmers tend to prioritize investing in SLM practices with short-term turnover—e.g., composting and crop residue integration—in order to improve soil fertility and yields to the neglect of practices like agroforestry whose benefits tend to materialize in a relatively longer period. While it is crucial for farmers to prioritize both short-term and long-term SLM practices for the maintenance of overall ecosystem health, the factors that shape the concurrent adoption of short-term and long-term SLM practices remain underexplored. Using data from a cross-sectional survey with smallholder farming households (n = 512) in Malawi, we employed logistic regression to examine the determinants of the concurrent adoption of short-term and long-term SLM practices. Our findings show that plot size, farmer-to-farmer knowledge sharing, presence of a chronically ill person in the household, active household labor size, wealth and women's autonomy are noteworthy determinants. A unit increase in plot size was associated with increased odds (OR = 1.41, p < 0.01) of simultaneously adopting short-term and long-term SLM practices. Similarly, a unit increase in the active labor size of the household (OR = 1.30, p < 0.001) was positively associated with the concurrent adoption of short-term and long-term SLM practices. Households with no chronically sick person were 3.2 times more likely to adopt short-term and long-term SLM practices simulataneously compared to those with chronically sick persons. Farming households that exchanged farming information (OR = 2.50, p < 0.001) with other households had significantly higher odds of adopting short-term and long-term SLM practices concurrently than those that did not share farming information. Compared to households in the poorest wealth category, those in the richer (OR = 3.14, p < 0.001) and richest (OR = 3.64, p < 0.001) wealth categories were both significantly more likely to adopt short-term and long-term SLM practices concurrently. These findings suggest that initiatives targeted at promoting the holistic adoption of SLM practices—a combination of both short-term and long-term practices—must pay attention to contextual nuances including household wealth, gender, farmer training and land access dynamics.
Kenneth Waltz's approach to reading classic political theory and why it matters
Authors: MacKay Joseph
Published: November 2020

How did Kenneth Waltz read canonical theoretical texts? Waltz understood himself first as a political theorist and remained committed to interpreting political thought throughout his career. This paper briefly delineates Waltz's method for reading political theory. I identify four elements of Waltz's approach: it was purposive, explanatory, textualist, and anti-esoteric. First, he thought texts could best be linked to one another and compared purposively, by aligning the questions they asked. Second, he understood the primary purpose of theoretical texts to be explanatory: normativity was a secondary concern. Third, he was a relatively strict textualist, taking little interest in historical context. Fourth, he took no account of esoteric writing. I then track his intellectual influences, through his graduate training and early academic career. I show this set of methodological tenets was, taken together, largely his own invention. I argue Waltz's reading method shaped his own theoretical work, providing concepts and informing his structural and parsimonious style of theory. I track these effects in his later theory-building project inTheory of International Politics. By extension, I suggest, his approach influenced much of postwar International Relations theory, both in terms of its specific conceptual toolkit and its approach to theory as such.