bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
DISKURZIVNE STRATEGIJE U SVETLU KOGNITIVNOLINGVISTIČKOG PRISTUPA: DIHOTOMNA KONSTRUKCIJA DRUŠTVENIH ULOGA U MEDIJSKOM I (MEZO)POLITIČKOM DISKURSU
Authors:   University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philology, Ninković Lena Z.
Published: March 2023

This paper examines discursive strategies in two genres of public discourse whose common goal is the delegitimization of the other socio-political factor, ideologically opposed to the deictic center. The research was based on the cognitive-linguistic approach to discourse analysis. The corpus consists of two thematic units: the July protests (2020) (media discourse) and the relationship between the government and the opposition (2018-2021) (mesopolitical discourse). The research involves the identification of discursive strategies and a description of the underlying cognitive operations that evoke the desired content on a conceptual level. Research has shown that structural configuration and framing (metaphorization or categori- zation) are the most common strategies for achieving the intended effect, and that differences in ideological reproduction arise from the manipulation of entity positioning strategies in the discourse space.
THE INTELLECTUAL DOMAIN: CONCEPTUALIZING SOME ASPECTS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY IN ENGLISH AND SERBIAN
Authors:   University of Kragujevac, Faculty of Philology and Arts, Janevska Tamara N.
Published: March 2023

The present paper reports on the results obtained in a study that aimed to explore the metaphors of the mind. Since the complexity of the domain in question exceeds the scope of one paper, this paper’s focus is limited to cognition, or more specifically, to the aspects of mental activity such as learning, understanding, and knowing. The main aim is to determine the source domains that structure each aspect in Eng- lish and Serbian, to formulate the metaphorical mappings, and explain their metaphorical nature. By comparing the results of our cross-cul- tural research, we also seek to identify the similarities and differences regarding the metaphorical conceptualizations in the two languages, hoping to contribute to the exploration of universality of the identified metaphors. The results indicate that the conceptual metaphors that get utilized in the representation of the given aspects are largely struc- tured by the container, territory, vision, valuable commodity, and physical control domains, which are understood in terms of the container, motion, and manipulation image-schemas.
ELEMENTI POPULARNE KULTURE I NjIHOVA FUNKCIJA U „DORUČKU KOD TIFANIJA“ TRUMANA KAPOTEA I BLEJKA EDVARDSA
Authors:   University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philology, Đukić Jelena B.
Published: March 2023

The present paper examines the novel Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote and its adaptation into Blake Edward’s movie within the framework of John Fiske’s popular culture theory. Popular culture is present in many aspects of our experience: books, music, food, travel, movies and other content that surrounds us daily. Broadly speaking, the term ‘pop- ular’ represent some of the ways of cultural modeling of consumer goods. According to John Fiske, popular culture is a culture of “subordinated” and “disempowered” who do not agree to be “submissive”. Instead, they actively oppose the social system by reinterpreting the offered goods, according to the requirements of their own needs. We interpret the novel as an expression of human experience modified into movie dis- course, so the interpretation of the novel (main text) and its adaptation into the movie (meta- text) provides meaning making, while discourse of popular culture represents production of meaning. The concluding remarks indicate that the elements of popular culture represent the socio-historical framework of the narrative, which aims to present the birth of the modern (American) woman – Holly Golightly in the megalopolis of New York City. Moreover, ele- ments of popular culture provide a framework for characterization and identity construction of characters and the city, becoming an etnosocioal testimony of the American culture in the 1940s and 1950s.
POEZIJA VASKA POPE U KONTEKSTU NASTAVNE INTERPRETACIJE I UČENIČKE RECEPCIJE
Authors:   University of Belgrade, Teacher Education Faculty, Marković Bojan M.
Published: March 2023

Vasko Popa’s poetry represents a part of mandatory curriculum in primary and secondary schools, which necessarily results in the expansion of its primary readership, which imposes the need to answer questions about the possibility of teaching interpretation that will ena- ble its interpretation and understanding. The paper addresses Popa’s cycles of poems „List”, „Landscapes”, „The Little Box”, „Far Within Us”, „Give Me Back My Rags”, „Games” and „One Bone to Another”. The methodical approach that will enable students to experience and understand the poems will depend on the poetic material and the poetic procedure. The aim of the paper is to consider certain poetic features of Popa’s poetry that contribute to the sug- gestiveness of the experience, imagination and understanding of the poem, as well as others that deny certain aspects of understanding the text for young readers. At the end of the paper, it is concluded that, although certain aspects of the poetic text remain inaccessible to students, other understood and experienced aspects are reflected positively as a whole and lead to stable outcomes during the teaching interpretation. This implies that it is necessary to introduce stu- dents to contemporary poetry, and to plan the teaching interpretation according to the levels of complexity of the interpretation of an individual poem.
The Relationship between Transformational Leadership Style, Work Motivation and Work Performance of Civil Servants at the People's Committee of Cam Lam District
Authors:   Ba Ria Vung Tau University, Phung Phan Dinh
Published: March 2023

The study was conducted to test the relationship between leadership style, work motivation and work performance of civil servants at the People’s Committee of Cam Lam district. Thereby, the topic aims to contribute to building a transformational leadership style, increasing work motivation and work efficiency of civil servants at the People’s Committee of Cam Lam district. The thesis uses qualitative research methods combined with quantitative research. The study shows the positive relationship between the transformational leadership style factors, work motivation and work efficiency. Transformational leadership style has a positive impact on work motivation and work performance, and work motivation also has a positive impact on work performance. Work motivation plays a part as a mediator between transformational leadership styles and performance. The research results are meaningful to help leaders of Cam Lam District People’s Committee improve their transformational leadership style, increase work motivation to bring about work efficiency. The study gives some managerial implications and limitations of the topic and directions for further research.
Computational Methods to unveil the Structural Bases for the recognition of SARS-CoV-2 by Human Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors
Authors:   Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena, Via A. Moro 2, 53100 Siena, Italy, Spiga Ottavia ,   &  SienabioACTIVE - SbA, 53100 Siena, Italy Competence Center ARTES 4.0, Siena, Italy &  Competence Center ARTES 4.0, 53100 Siena, Italy, Frusciante Luisa ,   Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena, Via A. Moro 2, 53100 Siena, Italy, Geminiani Michela ,   Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena, Via A. Moro 2, 53100 Siena, Italy;  SienabioACTIVE - SbA, 53100 Siena, Italy Competence Center ARTES 4.0, Siena, Italy, Pettini Francesco ,   Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena, Via A. Moro 2, 53100 Siena, Italy, Trezza Alfonso ,   Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena, Via A. Moro 2, 53100 Siena, Italy, Visibelli Anna ,   Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena, Via A. Moro 2, 53100 Siena, Italy, Santucci Annalisa ,   Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena, Via A. Moro 2, 53100 Siena, Italy & SienabioACTIVE - SbA, 53100 Siena, Italy Competence Center ARTES 4.0, Siena, Italy & Competence Center ARTES 4.0, 53100 Siena, Italy
Published: March 2023

The novel pathogen SARS-CoV-2 has caused the global pandemic of Covid-19. The hypothesis of this study is that Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors (nAChRs) are involved in SARS-CoV-2 infection, explaining the hyper-inflammatory characteristics observed in a subset of Covid-19 patients. nAChRs represent specific receptors for a wide variety of toxins and have been proposed to serve as receptors for Rabies Virus (RABV) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) as well, based on sequence homology with the so called “toxic loop” of α-bungarotoxin. Sequence similarities between a motif found in SARS-CoV-2 S protein and in snake neurotoxins, as well as RABV neurotoxin-like region, HIV-1 gp120 and α-conotoxin from Conus geographus, highlights the existence of a correlation between these proteins’ functional sites. In this study, in silico procedures were used to determine SARS-CoV-2 S protein structure-function relationships, revealing the presence of features characteristic of the “toxic loop” known to bind nAChRs and their involvement in the S protein-nAChR interaction. Our results suggest that a polybasic sequence-carrying motif found in SARS-CoV-2 S protein could be involved in the binding, in particular underling the role of Arg685 in the interaction with the receptor.
Challenges and Soft Skills of Student Interns
Authors:   2 Carlos Hilado Memorial State University, Mabini Street, Talisay City, Negros Occidental, Philippines, Calfoforo Amelia A.
Published: March 2023

This paper aimed to determine the extent of practice of the soft skills of student interns along the dimensions, namely: collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking, leadership, and selfregulation. Specifically, this paper purposed to ascertain significant differences in the extent of practice of the soft skills of student interns along the aforementioned dimensions and when they were grouped according to sex, program, and campus. Furthermore, the challenges that the student interns encountered in the acquisition of soft skills were also identified. The respondents were the 345 student interns of Carlos Hilado Memorial State College enrolled during the School Year 2018-2019. Employing the descriptivecomparative research design, a researcher-made questionnaire was used to gather data about the soft skills of the respondents. Mean, Independent Samples t-test, One-Way ANOVA, and frequency were used to gather data. The findings reveal that the extent of practice of the six soft skills among student interns when they were taken as a whole was high. There was no significant difference in the extent of practice of the six soft skills when they were classified according to sex. However, there was a significant difference in the extent of practice of the six soft skills when they were classified according to campus and college. The top five challenges that the student interns encountered in the acquisition of soft skills were lack of selfconfidence, fear of committing mistakes, fear of being laughed at, being anxious about others’ impressions or reactions, and lack of confidence in their knowledge or abilities.
The Role of Media in Oral Hygiene Awareness
Authors:   Associate Professor, Sri Ramachandra Faculty of Dental Sciences, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education And Research, Porur, Chennai, India, Moses Ravindran Deepak , Janani S ,   Undergraduate Student, Sri Ramachandra Faculty of Dental Sciences, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Porur, Chennai, India
Published: March 2023

As a result of the Coronavirus pandemic and the rapid, growing use of digital media and smartphones, opportunities for using various digital applications have increased tremendously. Effective communication is a key factor in bridging a link between the patients and professionals, with the basic triad of proliferation of modes, speed of communication and reflexivity of knowledge, which serves as a base for better comprehension.
Ceramıc Block Materıals Used in CAD/CAM Systems
Authors:   Karatekin University Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Prosthodontics, Çankırı, Turkey, Ateş Gül
Published: March 2023

Today, with the increase in esthetic expectations of patients and the development of digital technologies, it has become possible to produce new generation materials that are superior to the previous ones and function better. CAD/CAM technology has advanced to a point where it provides dentist with a wide range of restorative options both chair-side and at a traditional dental laboratory. These systems which enable prosthesis making to be possible in a single chair-side time are getting increasingly common since they eliminate laboratory process and traditional impression methods, save time, diminish the risk of cross contamination to minimum and help us make more aesthetical, biocompatible restorations. With the increasing prevalence of restorations produced using CAD/CAM systems, new materials have started to be introduced rapidly. Ceramics are the most commonly used materials in CAD/CAM systems because of the fact that they are the best materials that can imitate the natural tooth. The purpose of this article is to introduce the current ceramic materials used in CAD-CAM systems
Correlation of the Different Grades of Pterygium with Severity of Dry Eye Disease
Authors:   Department of Ophthalmology, Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Science, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India, Thatte Shreya
Published: March 2023

Introduction: Pterygium is an ocular surface disease which causes tear film instablility leading to dry eye symptoms and irritation. Material Method: Patients with primary pterygium having symptoms with grade 2, 3, 4 pterygia were selected. Parameters for dry eye disease like Tear film break up time, schirmer’s test, tear meniscus height were evaluated and OSDI questionnaires was asked and scores were calculated in patients with different grades of pterygium. The data collected was qualitative in nature and Chi square test was used to calculate the association between these variables. Results: In selected 75 patients with various grades of primary pterygium with high percentage of grade 2 pterygium (66.6%). There was definite association with grades of pterygium and OSDI (P<0.05). Similarly, tear film breaks up time (TBUT), tear meniscus height (TMH), schirmer’s 1 and 2 were significantly associated with various grades of pterygium (P<0.05).
Viscoelastic or Viscoplastic Glucose Theory (VGT #56): Using the VGT tool to Estimate the Relative Energy Associated with Different Calculated Annual Cancer Risk Percentages Under the Influence of Estimated Average Glucose (eAG) and Body Weight in The Early Morning (BW) Over Two 5-Year Periods, Y2012-Y2016 and Y2017-Y2021, based on GH-Method: Math-Physical Medicine (No. 644)
Authors:   eclaireMD Foundation, USA, Hsu Gerald C.
Published: March 2023

The author was a professional engineer working in the fields of the space shuttle, naval battleships, nuclear power plants, computer hardware and software, artificial intelligence, and semiconductor chips. After his retirement, he started to self-study and research internal medicine with an emphasis on biomarker relationships exploration and disease prevention. Since 2010, he has utilized the disciplines learned from 7 different universities along with various work experiences to formulate his current medical research work during the past 13 years.
Viscoelastic or Viscoplastic Glucose Theory (VGT #61): A Simplified Mathematical Model to Estimate Pancreatic Cancer (PC) Risk Probability Percentages and Its Moving Trend Over an ~7 Years Period from Y2015 to Y2022 Using Hyperglycemia, Insulin Resistance, Obesity, Chronic Inflammation and Metabolism Index as the PC Risk’s 5 Contribution Factors Based on GH-Method: Math-Physical Medicine (No. 649)
Authors:   eclaireMD Foundation, USA, Hsu Gerald C.
Published: March 2023

Recently, the author read a few published medical articles regarding pancreatic cancer (PC) and will outline some key information in the Introduction section. “Insulin resistance is an interrupted state in the biological response to insulin. It is reported that chronic hyperinsulinemia is associated with various types of cancer such as colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, endometrial cancer, and breast cancer.
Viscoelastic or Viscoplastic Glucose Theory (VGT #64): Estimated Risk Probability Percentages of Prostate Cancer and its Moving Trend Over 12+ Years From 1/1/2010 to 4/18/2022 Using Metabolism Index, Obesity, Diet and Exercise as the 4 Influential Factors for Prostate Cancer Risk % based on GH-Method: Math-Physical Medicine (No. 653)
Authors:   eclaireMD Foundation, USA, Hsu Gerald C.
Published: March 2023

Recently, a friend of the author died from prostate cancer and leukemia. This news caused the author to read a few published medical articles regarding prostate cancer. He then outlines some key information in the Introduction section. The selected information sources have been referenced within this section and will not be listed in the Reference section.
Python-based Prediction of Rapid Intensification from MIMIC-TC Ensemble (PRIME)
Authors: Pulmano Lorenzo , Joykutty Leya , Caulkins Juliana
Published: March 2023

Rapid intensification (RI), as defined by the National Hurricane Center (NHC), is an increase in the maximum sustained winds of a tropical cyclone (TC) of at least 30 knots (~34-35 mph) within a 24-hour period.  Intensity forecasting is one of the most difficult aspects of TC analysis forecasting, with RI prediction being one of the most challenging issues.  Predicting intensity and RI is critical for emergency responses, including evacuation and disaster prevention.  Deep learning (DL) and its application in TC analysis holds much potential.  Morphed Integrated Microwave Imagery at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (MIMIC) is a product that synthesizes “morphed” images of TCs.  MIMIC-TC is a product that uses 85-92 GHz microwave imagery to create the images.  Using the Python programming language, a DL convolutional neural network (CNN) ensemble was developed as a proof-of-concept for prediction of RI, known as the Prediction of Rapid Intensification from MIMIC-TC Ensemble (PRIME).  Six members comprise PRIME, split into three 10 and 20 epoch models.  Each model has either 2, 3, or 4 convolutional layers.  A MIMIC-TC dataset was created using available North Atlantic Basin (NATL) storms from 2019 and 2020, and a total of 1508 images were used for training the models.  After running the Ensemble on all available storms from 2019 and 2020, it appeared all models were overfit, and subsequently gave inaccurate classifications.  The average percentage of correct classifications of “No RI” (nRI) was 30%, and the average percentage of correct classifications of “Possible RI” (pRI) was 27%.
Onchocerciasis Transmission in Africa and How It Can Be Resolved
Authors: Nallagatla Saketh , Appavu Dr. Rajagopal , Kethar Jothsna
Published: March 2023

Onchocerciasis is a parasitic infection that affects the skin and eyes and is transmitted by black flies which predominantly affect rural areas. Onchocerciasis symptoms are caused by microfilariae that travel through the skin and eyes to cause lesions, dermatitis, and blindness. These microfilariae are key in diagnosing Ivermectin by their presence in the skin and eyes which can be determined with skin snips or exposure to certain chemicals. Onchocerciasis in Africa is spread along river areas and efforts to wipe it out have failed because transmission zones have not been fully mapped out, Onchocerciasis is coendemic with Loiasis in certain areas, Onchocerciasis-causing parasites are developing Ivermectin resistance, there is a lack of coordination among countries with shared transmission zones, violent conflict diverts focus from the elimination of Onchocerciasis transmission, and these countries lack the funding to perform large-scale, accurate diagnosis procedures and deliver treatments on a more individual basis.
The Deficiencies in research and development of Plastic Pollution Prevention Technologies
Authors: Li Fangyu , Greenstein Gus
Published: March 2023

As the urgency of the plastic pollution problem increases, researchers are devoting more attention to technological solutions for combating it. However, this research and associated technological developments have failed to produce satisfactory results. One observes this in steadily increasing ocean plastic content and plastic inflow rates. Many factors are responsible for the persistence of the plastic pollution issue, such as insufficient government regulations (Testa et al.) and profit-motivated resistance to clean transitions on the part of companies (Rogers et al.; Meredith). However, this opinion paper is going to focus on several in particular: 1) insufficient analysis aimed at explaining the success or failure of existing products. 2) little cooperation between the NGOs and companies doing this research, and between these organizations and the government. 3) a lack of category-spanning research and analysis concerning plastic pollution prevention technologies. All of these factors are pivotal for productive future technological development, especially when it comes to technologies.
The Development and Testing of Machine Learning Applications into Genetically-Based Disease Detection
Authors: Mittal Aditya , Wu Kuan-Chen
Published: March 2023

This study uses publicly available gene-expression from peripheral blood mononuclear cells fed into a logistically trained machine learn model to accurately predict the probability of early onset of Multiple Sclerosis by identifying biomarkers in genetic expression and establishes logistic regression as a viable methodology for genetic analysis to predict disease. Current detection methodology of neurological diseases such as MRI scans of existing lesions are impractical solutions when it comes to alleviating most of a patient’s symptoms, as they rely on the disease to have already developed to detect it. Machine learning is a rapidly emerging tool that has much potential in not only disease detection, but early onset diagnosis as well. This study utilized the NEO Gene Expression Omnibus data repository to selectively identify key PBMC gene expression datasets to feed into a logistically trained model. Data filtration by Log-Fold Change analysis and p-Value importance allowed for data simplification to reduce model dimensionality, improve model accuracy, and even identify important gene markers in Multiple Sclerosis. Nearly 33,000 genes were eliminated through extensive data filtration, and 15 genes were marked as statistically significant in the development of Multiple Sclerosis. Model accuracy produced was nearly 100%, though lack of representative data highlights the need for further testing. The methodology in this experiment from the data accumulation to the actual construction and testing of the model itself serves as strong representation of the value artificial intelligence can have in the field of genomic analysis in disease detection.
A Novel Out-of-Distribution Detector based on Autoencoder and Binary Classifier with Auxiliary Input
Authors: Kim Sungmin , Kim Kyoung-Hyoun
Published: March 2023

At industrial production levels, anomaly detection is crucial to maintaining adequate levels of safety standards and quality assurance in products. Numerous previous research focuses on detecting the anomaly samples yet their methods cannot filter the unexpected outliers that have completely different image features. In this research, we propose a novel out-of-distribution detector based on an autoencoder and binary classifier with auxiliary input. Given the input image, the autoencoder produces the latent variable and reconstructed image. The difference image is generated and fed to the binary classifier to classify whether the input image is an outlier or a normal sample. The latent variable which contains useful feature-level information is fed to the intermediate layer of the classifier to produce the precise classification results. We also propose noise-addition augmentation to make the trained model consistently perform against various kinds of noise-containing images which are often found in real-world scenarios in industrial environments. The proposed method achieves AUC of 0.9718 and 0.5908 in the MNIST and CIFAR10 datasets, respectively. Through these experiments, we have shown that the proposed method outperforms the previous state-of-the-art methods.
Carotid Intima-Media Thickness Segmentation using Attention Mechanism based Convolutional Neural Network with Domain-Specific Objective Function
Authors: Rhee Juheon , Kway Pyae Sone
Published: March 2023

CIMT (Carotid Intima-Media Thickness) has been proven to be both a significant and reliable marker for the evaluation of the risk of cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality globally, and yet could be easily treated if detected in its early stages. A prime indicator of Cardiovascular disease, CIMT has previously been measured through manual examination of ultrasound videos for the gap between the Lumen-Intima and the Media-Adventitia interfaces, the two inner layers of the Carotid Artery. However, this method is not only inconvenient, but also time consuming. There has been a significant number of previous deep learning approaches to this issue, which have yielded substantial results. However, as this problem concerns the morality of patients directly, medical professionals have been hesitant to be dependent on these approaches, as the current accuracy of the state-of-the-art model still falls short to human observations. Furthermore, high performing models come at high computational costs. CIMT can actually be determined by a miniscule region of the Carotid Ultrasonic image, which many past researches have not taken into consideration. This paper proposes to use an attention mechanism to determine the region of interest and an encoder-decoder system which significantly reduces computational trade off while maintaining comparable accuracy. We also propose a novel connection loss to solve the disconnection problem in the prediction. The proposed model yields an unprecedented accuracy in terms of IoU and ACC of 0.78 and 0.99 respectively, substantially higher than previous state-of-the-art models by 18% and 8.8% on average.
Acoustic Communication of the Killer Whale, Orcinus orca
Authors: Meulenbroek Natalie , Morneault Valerie
Published: March 2023

Functional use of killer whale pulsed calls is an important facet of their communication. The complexity of their vocalizations presents opportunities for theoretical and structural analysis of such calls. This study seeks to answer questions regarding social and behavioral context of monophonic and biphonic calls, how they can be classified using computer science technology, and what possible mechanisms for sound modulation exist anatomically in varying populations of Orcinus orca. The method used to guide this review is described by Arksey and O’Malley as the scoping review method (Pham et al., 2014). All research included in this review is organized into a data table for reference. Features of killer whale communication were broken down into multiple definitive groups including clicks, whistles, pulsed, discrete, aberrant, variable, monophonic, and biphonic calls. Computer network analysis of the vocalizations has provided a framework for comparing and classifying both similar and dissimilar calls. Restricted study of the anatomy of vocal producing organs in this species has limited true understanding of both sound generation and the extent of vocal manipulation, but distinct biological structures have been identified and their significance discussed. Concrete conclusions over niche usage of calls in killer whale society have not been made, however, it is known that most calls are too complex to only be associated with a singular behavioral or social context. Rather, their complexity has furthered the need for additional research to be conducted.
A META-ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE MENTAL HEALTH OF YOUNGER GENERATIONS FROM 2004-PRESENT DAY IN ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES
Authors: Bledsoe Olivia
Published: March 2023

Mental health has not been historically considered a matter of health and wellness, even so far as people suffering from mental illness being called insane (Geller 2006). More recently, mental health as a topic of discussion and priority within the medical community has risen, and results finding severe issues involving the mental health of young adults and teenagers are continually released (Padín 2021). In similar regard to the study of mental health, social media has become an immensely popular and impactful part of modern life, specifically: it has changed the way of interacting, working, and living. Apps like Tik Tok, Instagram, and Snapchat are among the most popular social networking sites allowing users to participate in the raging new trends in different communities.
A Comparison of Academic Load and Student Perspectives on Education Between America and China
Authors: Guo Vanessa
Published: March 2023

Education is a significant contributor towards shaping the future of our society. However, education systems and academic values in distinct countries such as the United States and China may vary and therefore have different impacts on students living in different parts of the world. This influenced this study in terms of student perspectives on various aspects of their educational experience, which includes academic load at school, tutoring, extracurriculars, and preparedness for future success in college or careers. The results show that overall, middle school and high school students in China have a higher academic load because they have more classes and spend more time at school, doing homework/studying, or receiving tutoring. However, student perspectives on the importance of grades vs. personal qualities are fairly similar between American and Chinese students, with less value on grades and standardized test scores towards future academic success. Because China has a traditionally stricter stance on academic rigor and standardized testing, this insight represents a potential shift in mindset towards education in the modern day. Future research can seek to confirm this in other regions and countries to seek a more accurate and cohesive overview of student perspectives on education.
NFTs: License to Own?
Authors: Freeman Jeremy
Published: March 2023

In recent years, NFTs have burst onto the global scene, quickly going from an internet meme to a multi-billion dollar digital industry. These digital assets have everyone talking, but nobody seems to know what they are or whether you actually own anything when you buy one. This article uses extensive philosophical, legal, copyright, and empirical research to explore what is actually being purchased with an NFT. With everything from the morale words of John Locke to warnings from the district office of Manhattan, this article quantifies what NFT ownership entails, which is, essentially, nothing. Although governments acknowledge the possibility of legitimate ownership for NFTs, the lack of regulations and protections, as well as the unclear copyright laws and shady ownership claims make NFTs, for our current legal system at least, essentially worthless.
Using Machine Learning to determine the most important features in exoplanet verification
Authors: Srivathsa Ved , Assaf Rida
Published: March 2023

Over a decade ago, NASA launched the Kepler Space Telescope in order to find earth-like planets revolving around sun-like stars in the hopes of finding habitable exoplanets. The Kepler pipeline picked up data for over 9000 astronomical bodies, out of which 52% were determined to be false positives, while the remaining 48% were candidates to be classified as exoplanets. The data collected from this mission can be used to assess and automatically classify Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs) as exoplanets or false positives. Our goal in this work is to determine if some data features are more important than others in classifying an object as an exoplanet. To this end, we built 5 Machine Learning classification models (namely, logistic regression, support vector classifier, gradient boosting classifier, random forest classifier, and multilayer perceptron) and used 15 features to train and test them. We have included Machine Learning models that are explainable to help attain our goal, Our best predictor (random forests) achieved a prediction accuracy of 99% when evaluated with k-fold cross-validation. We evaluated the feature importances of our model and found that 5 of the features (Not Transit-like Flag, Centroid Offset Flag, Stellar Eclipse Flag, Ephemeris Match Indicate Contamination Flag, and Planetary Radius) out of the 15 selected ones make up roughly 75% of the overall feature importances. We hope that our findings can guide the selection of appropriate data to accurately predict exoplanet candidacy for future missions.
Regional Disparities in Youth Marijuana Use Before and After Recreational Marijuana Legalization: A Longitudinal Examination from 2010 to 2020
Authors: Park Amy
Published: March 2023

Studies have argued that the recent recreational marijuana legalization should increase the accessibility and acceptability of marijuana for youth and elevate youth marijuana use. While many empirical studies have supported this argument and presented the increase in youth marijuana use after the legalization, there has been no study that examines regional disparities in the effect of legalization on youth marijuana use. The examination of regional disparities is required because the different sub-culture and attitudes across regions should generate differentiated situations for youth marijuana use. The current study analyzes eleven-year datasets, “Monitoring the Future: A Continuing Study of American Youth - 12th-Grade Survey ” from 2010 to 2020, and investigates the distinctive temporal changes in youth marijuana use across regions before and after marijuana legalization. The results show that the legalization effect is critical in some regions without pre-existing availability of marijuana but not in the other regions with pre-existing availability. This study concludes that policymakers should consider local situations to deter youth marijuana use more effectively.
The Impact of Coronavirus Lockdowns on Adolescents
Authors: DuHaime Cole , Cohen Moriah
Published: March 2023

This article examines the social, medical, and futuristic impacts of coronavirus lockdowns on adolescents. The effects of social isolation and school closures are the focus. The literature reveals that adolescents’ mental health declined due to social isolation during COVID, and that their social development was stunted. The brain development of adolescents could also have been negatively affected due to a lack of engagement in social decision making processes. The article examines the inequality exacerbated by the pandemic, namely the increased inequality by race and income in adolescents’ access to sports and the economic inequality in learning losses. Not only were learning losses during remote learning more prevalent among low-income adolescents, but these students are likely to experience a decrease in expected income over the course of their lifetimes. Based on existing research, an effective remedy to the negative impacts of COVID lockdowns on adolescents would be to increase funding to schools in order to decrease COVID cases among adolescents, provide individualized instruction to students who fell behind during remote learning, and to improve in-school counseling services.
In Defense of Cloud Computing: A Summary
Authors: Lim Soo , Kim Taeyoon
Published: March 2023

With the advancement of cloud computing, it became possible to effortlessly host data storage and retrieve it without being hampered by physical limitations. However, the hosting of such an astronomical amount of data, and the ease with which the said data is retrieved, brought in unwanted security risks and crucial information links. A multitude of breaching methods, including Distributed Denial of Service (DDos), Man in the Middle (MiTM), Phishing, Zombie Attacks, and Side-Channel Attacks, have forced computer security engineers to address each individual issue lest critical information is stolen or misused. This paper will introduce the concept of cloud computing, the advantages it brings to data storage and management, and the disadvantages and weaknesses which are inherent to this technology. Additionally, this paper will analyze the intruding mechanisms of the five previously mentioned cloud security attack methods and then subsequently introduce the security protocols utilized by either business or individual research groups to remedy the issue.
Barriers to Voting for Disabled Americans
Authors: DuHaime Cole , Cohen Moriah
Published: March 2023

Disabled Americans face many barriers when it comes to voting, which is reflected in their lower voter turnout. This article examines past barriers along with the changes in accessibility that occurred due to the coronavirus (COVID-19)  pandemic. Physical barriers include inaccessibility at polling locations, such as a lack of ramps and audio-equipped voting machines. A lack of privacy for disabled voters also dissuades them from voting. Disabled people have also been psychologically discouraged from voting by both consistent inaccessibility and the lack of government attention to this inaccessibility. Further, disabled people who are considered high-risk for COVID-19 were less likely to vote in person due to concerns about contracting the virus. However, the widespread availability of mail-in ballots increased disabled voter turnout as compared to previous years. This did not close the turnout gap between disabled and abled voters, but did shrink it. In order to address the barriers faced by disabled people when it comes to voting, the existing literature recommends an expansion of mail in voting, increased accessibility at polling locations, and updated federal guidelines on accessibility.
A Study of the Impacts of Medical Dramas on High School Students’ Career Aspirations and Expectations
Authors: Garcia Madeline , Sievering Leah
Published: March 2023

Medical dramas can present inaccurate representations of the medical profession yet they are watched by millions of individuals around the world each year. Due to this dilemma, previous research has focused on various societal effects of medical dramas, such as their spread of misinformation regarding CPR. To fill a gap in this existing conversation, this study investigated how medical dramas impact high school students’ career aspirations and expectations. Through utilizing a mixed method of electronic questionnaires distributed to high school students and semi-structured interviews with a variety of medical professionals, this study found that while medical dramas are unlikely to be determining factors for high school students’ career aspirations, they do have an effect on these aspirations, such as exposing their high school viewers to previously unknown specialties. Additionally, a thematic analysis of gathered data revealed that high school students’ expectations for careers in medicine are largely inconsistent with the experiences of medical professionals in terms of high school students’ lack of recognition of the systemic obstacles to patient care. Consequently, many high school students are developing unrealistic career aspirations based on misunderstandings of the medical profession.
How An Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) Could Be Perceived as God: A Futurist Analysis
Authors: Pandit Jasmine
Published: March 2023

Over the past 20 years, artificial intelligence (AI) experts have taken the idea that humanity may see the rise of an artificial superintelligence (ASI) vastly exceeding human intelligence within the next few decades increasingly seriously. However, given the intuitive parallels between such a “God-like” being and popular ideas of religion, surprisingly little work has been done to analyze how the two might interact by scholars of AI and of religion. This paper aims to kickstart this effort, analyzing in particular how a future ASI could fit neatly into the Biblical prophecy of the Second Coming of Christ. It describes how an ASI could be conceived as Christ and/or Antichrist, and briefly posits some potential effects of such beliefs in religious communities.
The Multidirectional memory connecting the Holocaust and French decolonization
Authors: Choi Sukyung
Published: March 2023

Memory studies have grown rapidly around the world since the late 20th century. Past memory studies in history assumed that politics of memory is a struggle of different collective memories over limited resources. In the past, they have mainly assumed that competitive memory models, namely memory politics, represent a competition among victim groups over limited resources (social recognition and compensation from the state). In particular, as the memories of the Holocaust have been highlighted intensively internationally, it was considered that Holocaust memories were given a privileged status compared to other memories. However recent studies such as Michael Rothberg’s multidirectional memory attempts to illuminate the interconnections of different memories of wars and violence for the sake of new mnemonic solidarity. Based on his memory theory, this article focused on the memories of the Holocaust and those of decolonization (in particular the Algerian War context). By engaging the case of the Affaire Maurice Papon (1997-98), this essay offers the implications of multidirectional memory theories for today’s politics of memory and the relationship between history and memory. The rationale is that the Papon trial is considered one of the best examples of the connection between the memories and history of World War II and the decolonization war in French West Africa. In the conclusion, this paper examines the limitations and possibilities of multidirectional memory theory through the above process.
The Role of Social Media Influencing Public Trust in Government During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Kim Ashley , Gil Stacy , Rodriguez Adrian
Published: March 2023

Government and media authorities play essential roles in distributing lifesaving resources and information to the public during an epidemic. Throughout US history and in past epidemics, the relationship between the public, government, and media has developed from a minimal communication to a vast, interconnected system in which information may flow in different ways. Since the 1960s, economic, sociocultural, and political factors have shown a decline in public trust over the years. Then, ever since the advent of social media, traditional media sources have been struggling to maintain trust with news consumers. Today, as the COVID-19 pandemic raged across the world, the role of social media has grown among the public. Providing the latest updates on world news and connecting people from all over the world, social media has been a popular alternative source for news media. However, social media also presents a danger due to the lack of editorial oversight for posts; anyone can share disinformation and may further contribute to the distrust in government and traditional media. My paper contends that social media has had a key role in discounting the credibility of traditional news while fueling public distrust of the government during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analysis of foreign governments that were successful in gaining public trust shows that government authorities used both traditional media and social media effectively to successfully contain disinformation on the virus. US government and media authorities must establish long term plans to create a stronger line of communication
Art Therapy as a Complementary Treatment to Address Psychosocial Wellbeing of Aphasia Patients
Authors: Ahn Lindsey , Robin Melissa , Nam Rosemari
Published: March 2023

Aphasia is an acquired neurological disorder resulting from traumatic brain injuries that affect patients’ ability to process various aspects of language. Aphasia patients most notably have difficulty communicating effectively and expressing their thoughts verbally. Because aphasia is a language processing disorder, it does not affect a patient’s intelligence, hearing, or muscle activity. Due to the sudden inability to perform previously attainable tasks, this disorder may drastically affect the mental health of a patient. Currently, aphasia patients are merely directed to traditional speech and language therapy, as speech and language therapists aim to improve aphasia patients’ muscle movements and ultimately help recover their ability to speak. Seeking mental health care may be restrictive due to costs and difficulty navigating the system. 

While art therapy has been a subject of interest in aiding the treatment of patients with neurological disorders in general, it has not yet been fully explored in the context of aphasia treatments, which prioritize the exercise of motor skills. Though there have been recent studies showing art therapy’s promise in improving mental health, there is a lack of interest in implementing methods other than speech and language therapy. My paper emphasizes the importance of mental health in aphasia patients, establishes the benefits of art therapy, and proposes long-term art therapy programs that are accessible and informative to be complemented with speech and language therapies at medical offices and aphasia centers. Future research should assess the effectiveness of speech and language therapy in concert with complementary art therapy.
Analyzing California Climate Change Time Series Data and Its Impact on Crop Production
Authors: Hung Ryan , Mishra Aditya , Datta Varun , Kondapalli Mihir , Kim Joe
Published: March 2023

Climate change has become an increasingly concerning problem in California over the last years, stemming from lack of precipitation and snowfall as well as constantly rising temperatures. Many aspects of Californian life including water availability and crop production have been negatively impacted by this recent trend. Due to the significance of agriculture on California, the farming com- munity within California and its consumers, including both in-state consumers and those who California exports its produce to, are at risk to be harmed by the negative impacts of climate change. Significant changes to the state’s temperature, precipitation rate, and water consumption and supply all would have the potential to harm crop production and the agricultural industry. Using the data obtained from various sources for each of these factors, we hope to calculate predicted changes in indemnity losses due to crop production over time. By modeling temperature and precipitation as sinusoidal functions and water consumption as a linear relation to temperature, it becomes possible to predict future indemnity losses based on these factor values using polynomial regression. By passing a moving average filter and eliminating the cyclic nature of the loss function, we were able to deduce that average temperature seemed to increase, average precipitation rate seemed to decrease, and average water consumption also increased. The combination of these factors led to a steady increase in predicted indemnity losses within the next 50 years. As water consumption is the only factor that can be changed through human intervention, it is logical for us to base our recommendations off of it. Agricultural water consumption is the main use of water in the state and a transition into more conservative irrigation methods would allow for a reduction in the net water consumption. Over long periods of time, this would decrease water consumption and therefore indemnity losses based on our models.