bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Automated cloud resources provisioning with the use of the proximal policy optimization
Authors: Funika Włodzimierz , Koperek Paweł , Kitowski Jacek
Published: November 2022

Many modern applications, both scientific and commercial, are deployed to cloud environments and often employ multiple types of resources. That allows them to efficiently allocate only the resources which are actually needed to achieve their goals. However, in many workloads the actual usage of the infrastructure varies over time, which results in over-provisioning and unnecessarily high costs. In such cases, automatic resource scaling can provide significant cost savings by provisioning only the amount of resources which are necessary to support the current workload. Unfortunately, due to the complex nature of distributed systems, automatic scaling remains a challenge. Reinforcement learning domain has been recently a very active field of research. Thanks to combining it with Deep Learning, many newly designed algorithms improve the state of the art in many complex domains. In this paper we present the results of our attempt to use the recent advancements in Reinforcement Learning to optimize the cost of running a compute-intensive evolutionary process by automating the scaling of heterogeneous resources in a compute cloud environment. We describe the architecture of our system and present evaluation results. The experiments include autonomous management of a sample workload and a comparison of its performance to the traditional automatic threshold-based management approach. We also provide the details of training of the management policy using the proximal policy optimization algorithm. Finally, we discuss the feasibility to extend the presented approach to further scenarios.
Anatomical Correlates of Cursoriality are Compromised by Body Size and Propensity to Burrow in a Group of Small Mammals (Lagomorpha)
Authors: Martin Ellen M. , Young Jesse W. , Fellmann Connie D. , Kraatz Brian , Sherratt Emma
Published: November 2022

Highly cursorial animals are specialised for fast, sustained running via specific morphological adaptations, notably including changes in limb segment length and mechanical advantage. Members of the order Lagomorpha (hares, rabbits and pikas) vary in cursorial ability; hares are generally highly cursorial, rabbits more frequently saltate, and pikas predominantly trot. Previous investigations of lagomorphs have identified anatomical trends correlated with this ‘cursoriality gradient’, however, the phylogenetic sampling of such investigations has been limited to three American species, namely the American pika (Ochotona princeps), brush rabbit (Sylvilagus bachmani), and black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus). Here, we expand the phylogenetic sample and body size range by including novel data from Australian samples of the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and European hare (L. europaeus), alongside unpublished data on the Eastern cottontail (S. floridanus). X-ray Computed Tomography and digital landmarking were used to capture proportions within the appendicular skeleton of ~ 40 specimens of each European species. In doubling the number of species studied, we find the previously-identified morphological gradients associated with cursorial behaviour are complicated when evaluated in the larger sample. The relative length and joint velocity of limbs was found to be lower than predicted in European rabbits and hares. Furthermore, we present a novel assessment of morphological integration in the lagomorph appendicular skeleton, finding between-limb covariation patterns that are generally similar to those of other mammals. Broadly, these results suggest cursoriality is only one of many selective forces driving lagomorph skeletal evolution, with variations in body size and fossoriality potentially having measurable impacts.
Advancing ion-exchange membranes to ion-selective membranes: principles, status, and opportunities
Authors: Fan Hanqing , Huang Yuxuan , Yip Ngai Yin
Published: November 2022

Ion-exchange membranes (IEMs) are utilized in numerous established, emergent, and emerging applications for water, energy, and the environment. This article reviews the five different types of IEM selectivity, namely charge, valence, specific ion, ion/solvent, and ion/uncharged solute selectivities. Technological pathways to advance the selectivities through the sorption and migration mechanisms of transport in IEM are critically analyzed. Because of the underlying principles governing transport, efforts to enhance selectivity by tuning the membrane structural and chemical properties are almost always accompanied by a concomitant decline in permeability of the desired ion. Suppressing the undesired crossover of solvent and neutral species is crucial to realize the practical implementation of several technologies, including bioelectrochemical systems, hypersaline electrodialysis desalination, fuel cells, and redox flow batteries, but the ion/solvent and ion/uncharged solute selectivities are relatively understudied, compared to the ion/ion selectivities. Deepening fundamental understanding of the transport phenomena, specifically the factors underpinning structure-property-performance relationships, will be vital to guide the informed development of more selective IEMs. Innovations in material and membrane design offer opportunities to utilize ion discrimination mechanisms that are radically different from conventional IEMs and potentially depart from the putative permeability-selectivity tradeoff. Advancements in IEM selectivity can contribute to meeting the aqueous separation needs of water, energy, and environmental challenges.
Risk factors and machine learning prediction models for bronchopulmonary dysplasia severity in the Chinese population
Authors: He Wen , Zhang Lan , Feng Rui , Fang Wei-Han , Cao Yun , Sun Si-Qi , Shi Peng , Zhou Jian-Guo , Tang Liang-Feng , Zhang Xiao-Bo , Qi Yuan-Yuan
Published: November 2022

Background

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a common chronic lung disease in extremely preterm neonates. The outcome and clinical burden vary dramatically according to severity. Although some prediction tools for BPD exist, they seldom pay attention to disease severity and are based on populations in developed countries. This study aimed to develop machine learning prediction models for BPD severity based on selected clinical factors in a Chinese population.

Methods

In this retrospective, single-center study, we included patients with a gestational age < 32 weeks who were diagnosed with BPD in our neonatal intensive care unit from 2016 to 2020. We collected their clinical information during the maternal, birth and early postnatal periods. Risk factors were selected through univariable and ordinal logistic regression analyses. Prediction models based on logistic regression (LR), gradient boosting decision tree, XGBoost (XGB) and random forest (RF) models were implemented and assessed by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).

Results

We ultimately included 471 patients (279 mild, 147 moderate, and 45 severe cases). On ordinal logistic regression, gestational diabetes mellitus, initial fraction of inspiration O2 value, invasive ventilation, acidosis, hypochloremia, C-reactive protein level, patent ductus arteriosus and Gram-negative respiratory culture were independent risk factors for BPD severity. All the XGB, LR and RF models (AUC = 0.85, 0.86 and 0.84, respectively) all had good performance.

Conclusions

We found risk factors for BPD severity in our population and developed machine learning models based on them. The models have good performance and can be used to aid in predicting BPD severity in the Chinese population.
A Review on Calcium Silicate Ceramics: Properties, Limitations, and Solutions for Their Use in Biomedical Applications
Authors: Youness Rasha A. , Tag El-deen Doha M. , Taha Mohammed A.
Published: November 2022

The bone, being an essential tissue in the human body, not only protects the organs inside the body but also provides mechanical support, haematopoiesis, mineral storage and mobility. Although bone may regenerate and heal itself, significant bone defects caused by severe trauma, tumour removal, malignancy, or congenital diseases can only be corrected via bone grafting. Bone biomaterials, also known as bone graft alternatives, have seen an increase in demand in recent years. Over 2 million procedures are performed in the United States each year to restore damaged/fractured bones by grafting. The number of patients in China with reduced limb function owing to bone abnormalities has risen to 10 million. Traditional bone defect repair materials include autogenous bone, allogeneic bone, xenogeneic bone, decalcified bone matrix, bioceramics, and metal materials, which are easily available and processed. Calcium silicate (Ca-Si) ceramic is among the most promising bioceramics for these purposes due to their amazing characteristics such as bioactivity, biocompatibility and osteoinductivity. Unfortunately, its high biodegradation rate along with its poor strength represents major limitations that limit its use in clinical applications significantly. In light of the above, this article briefly discussed the different types of bone substitute materials, the properties of Ca-Si ceramic, the advantages, limitations and potential solutions to overcome these drawbacks and its biomedical applications such as orthopedic, dental, wound healing and drug delivery.
Vegetation shadow casts impact remotely sensed reflectance from permafrost thaw ponds in the subarctic forest-tundra zone
Authors: Freitas Pedro , Vieira Gonçalo , Mora Carla , Canário João , Vincent Warwick F.
Published: November 2022

Thermokarst lakes and ponds are a common landscape feature resulting from permafrost thaw, but their intense greenhouse gas emissions are still poorly constrained as a feedback mechanism for global warming because of their diversity, abundance, and remoteness. Thermokarst waterbodies may be small and optically diverse, posing specific challenges for optical remote sensing regarding detection, classification, and monitoring. This is especially relevant when accounting for external factors that affect water reflectance, such as scattering and vegetation shadow casts. In this study, we evaluated the effects of shadowing across optically diverse waterbodies located in the forest–tundra zone of northern Canada. We used ultra-high spatial resolution multispectral data and digital surface models obtained from unmanned aerial systems for modeling and analyzing shadow effects on water reflectance at Earth Observation satellite overpass time. Our results show that shadowing causes variations in reflectance, reducing the usable area of remotely sensed pixels for waterbody analysis in small lakes and ponds. The effects were greater on brighter and turbid inorganic thermokarst lakes embedded in post-glacial silt–clay marine deposits and littoral sands, where the mean reflectance decrease was from -51 to -70%, depending on the wavelength. These effects were also dependent on lake shape and vegetation height and were amplified in the cold season due to low solar elevations. Remote sensing will increasingly play a key role in assessing thermokarst lake responses and feedbacks to global change, and this study shows the magnitude and sources of optical variations caused by shading that need to be considered in future analyses.
What should scientists do about (harmful) interactive effects?
Authors: Godman Marion , Marchionni Caterina
Published: November 2022

The phenomenon of interactive human kinds, namely kinds of people that undergo change in reaction to being studied or theorised about, matters not only for the reliability of scientific claims, but also for its wider, sometimes harmful effects at the group or societal level, such as contributing to negative stigmas or reinforcing existing inequalities. This paper focuses on the latter aspect of interactivity and argues that scientists studying interactive human kinds are responsible for foreseeing harmful effects of their research and for devising ways of mitigating them.
Experiment Study of the Evolution of Coral Sand Particle Clouds in Water
Authors: Chen Jie , Yao Zhen , Jiang Chang-bo , Wu Zhi-yuan , Deng Bin , Long Yuan-nan , Bian Cheng
Published: November 2022

The motion of particle clouds (i.e., sediment clouds) usually can be found in engineering applications such as wastewater discharge, land reclamation, and marine bed capping. In this paper, a series of laboratory tests are conducted on coral sand to investigate the shape feature of the single particle and the mixing processes of the coral sand particle clouds. The shape of coral sand particle is measured and quantified. The experimental results demonstrate that the shape of coral sand particles tends to be spherical as the particle size decreases, and empirical equations were established to explain the variation of D50 and fS,50 of coral sand. Compared with the silica sand, the evolution of the coral sand particle cloud still experiences three stages, but the threshold for the Reynolds number of particle clouds entering the next stage changes. Further, the normalized axial distance of the coral sand particle clouds is 58% smaller. The frontal velocity exhibits similar varying tendency for the coral sand particle cloud. Considering the difference in shape between coral sand particles and silica sand particles, a semi-empirical formula was proposed based on the original silica sand prediction formula by adding the shape factor and the experimental data of 122 µm⩽D50⩽842 µm. It can predict the frontal velocity of the coral sand particle clouds.
No dynamic changes in the expression of genes related to the epigenetic mechanism during acute exercise
Authors: Światowy Witold Józef , Zieliński Jacek , Osielska Maria Aleksandra , Kusy Krzysztof , Wieliński Dariusz , Pławski Andrzej , Jagodziński Paweł Piotr
Published: November 2022

Physical exercise results in structural remodeling in tissues and modifies cellular metabolism. Changes in gene expression lie at the root of these adaptations. Epigenetic changes are one of the factors responsible for such exercise-related alterations. One-hour acute exercise will change DNMT1, HDAC1, and JHDM1D transcriptions in PBMC. This study examined changes in the expression of genes responsible for epigenetic modifications (HDAC1, DNMT1, and JHDM1D) during and after an incremental exercise test on a treadmill and a 30-min recovery. Blood samples from 9 highly trained triathletes were tested. Examination of the transcripts showed no significant changes. Correlations between transcript results and biochemical indices revealed a significant (p = 0.007) relationship between JHDM1D mRNA and the number of monocytes at peak exercise intensity (exhaustion), while there was no significant (p = 0.053) correlation at rest. There are no rapid changes in the mRNA levels of the genes studied in blood cells in competitive athletes during acute exercise and recovery. Due to the small group of subjects studied, more extensive research is needed to verify correlations between transcription and biochemical variables.
Influence of Nano-glass Powder on the Characteristics Properties as Well as Stability Against Firing for Geopolymer Composites
Authors: Khater H. M. , Ghareeb M.
Published: November 2022

Influence of nano-glass powder on physico-mechanical properties of geopolymer composite materials has been studied, in addition to studying their firing stability against high temperature from 500 up to 1000 °C. For increasing mechanical, physical as well as firing stability for metakaolin composites; Nano-glass powder was used. Alumino-silicate materials are kaolin, fired kaolin (metakaolin) and limestone all pass 75 µm. Materials prepared at water/binder ratios in a range of 0.40; whereas the used activator 5 M sodium hydroxide with equal volume of liquid sodium silicate. Nano-glass powder added as a partial replacement for metakaolin material in the ratio of 1 up to 9%. Results indicated that compressive strengths of geopolymer mixes incorporating Nano glass powder were obviously higher than those of control one and increased up to 7% followed by slight decrease of on using 9%. Firing of hardened geopolymer results in high thermal resistance up to 500 °C then exposed to decrease up to 800 then increased again at 1000 °C for specimens incorporated 7 and 9% nano-glass powder. However, no micro-cracks were noticed up to 800 °C for all samples as recorded by visual examination of the fired samples.
Boosting the photocatalytic properties of NaTaO3 by coupling with AgBr
Authors: Puga F. , Navío J. A. , Hidalgo M. C.
Published: November 2022

AgBr/NaTaO3composites, with different molar % of NaTaO3(Br/NTO(X%)), have been synthesized by simple precipitation methods; bare NaTaO3was synthesized by hydrothermal procedure, while AgBr was synthesized by a precipitation procedure using cetyl-tri-methyl-ammonium bromide (CTAB) and AgNO3. Samples have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2adsorption, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared photo-catalysts was evaluated through photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B (RhB), methyl orange (MO) and caffeic acid (CAFA) under UV and visible illumination. Single AgBr material and Br/NTO(X%) composites displayed the ability to absorb light in the visible region, while NaTaO3is only photoactive under UV irradiation. Based on the position of conduction and valence bands of AgBr and NaTaO3, the heterojunction between these two photo-catalysts corresponds to a type II junction. In the case of photocatalytic degradation of RhB and CAFA, Br/NTO(x%) composites have highest photocatalytic activity than that obtained by both parental materials under the same operational conditions. AgBr and Br/NTO(x%) composites achieve a fast degradation of MO, together with a considerable adsorption capacity, attributed to the presence of a remaining amount of residual CTAB on the AgBr surface. In summary, coupling AgBr with NaTaO3improves the photocatalytic activity under both UV and visible illumination with respect to the parental components, but the performance of the composites is highly dependent on the type of substrate to be degraded and the illumination conditions.
BKGNN-TI: A Bilinear Knowledge-Aware Graph Neural Network Fusing Text Information for Recommendation
Authors: Zhang Yang , Li Chuanzhen , Cai Juanjuan , Liu Yuchen , Wang Hui
Published: November 2022

Knowledge graph (KG)-based recommendation methods effectively alleviate the data sparsity and cold-start problems in collaborative filtering. Among these methods, neighborhood-based methods are the mainstream methods. However, these methods ignore some meta-information about the items, specifically, the diversity of item information (e.g., texts) and feature interaction between neighboring nodes. In this paper, we propose a Bilinear Knowledge-aware Graph Neural Network Fusing Text Information (BKGNN-TI), which can model both knowledge graph information and text information. In particular, the information in knowledge graph contains not only the existing high-order connectivity but also feature interactions between neighboring nodes at the same level in KG. First, we construct the information propagation layer using the bilinear collector and linear collector. Feature interactions between neighboring nodes and the high-order connectivity are collected in the information propagation layer to generate the item knowledge representations. The bilinear collector emphasizes the importance of second-order feature interaction between neighboring nodes in the KG. Then, texts are also introduced when computing the item representations, which can help further infer user interests. We choose objective program titles and introductions as text information to avoid the influence of subjective factors. BKGNN-TI designs an ALBERT-based sequence encoder to encode texts by the structure of ALBERT+Bi-LSTM+Attention, thus enriching the feature representations of the items. In the experiments, we utilize two language datasets, i.e., the English public dataset Movielens-20M and the Chinese dataset IPTV constructed by ourselves. The results demonstrate that our BKGNN-TI outperforms baselines, indicating that our BKGNN-TI is a generalization for both Chinese and English datasets.
Cognitive Science
Authors: Bermúdez José Luis
Published: November 2022

The fourth edition of this popular text has been significantly rewritten to make it more accessible to students and easier for instructors to use. It remains distinctive in presenting a unified narrative of cognitive science as a field of inquiry in its own right. Thematically organized, Cognitive Science underscores the problems and solutions of cognitive science rather than more narrowly examining individually the subjects that contribute to it - psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, and so on. The generous use of examples, illustrations, and applications demonstrates how theory and experiment can be applied to unlock the mysteries of the human mind. Drawing upon cutting-edge research, the text has been updated and enhanced with a new chapter on emotions and the emerging field of affective science. An extensive online set of resources is available to aid both instructors and students.
Biblical Heroes and Classical Culture in Christian Late Antiquity
Authors: Bay Carson
Published: November 2022

In this volume, Carson Bay focuses on an important but neglected work of Late Antiquity: Pseudo-Hegesippus' On the Destruction of Jerusalem (De Excidio Hierosolymitano), a Latin history of later Second Temple Judaism written during the fourth century CE. Bay explores the presence of so many Old Testament figures in a work that recounts the Roman-Jewish War (66–73 CE) and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. By applying the lens of Roman exemplarity to Pseudo-Hegesippus, he elucidates new facets of Biblical reception, history-writing, and anti-Judaism in a text from the formative first century of Christian Empire. The author also offers new insights into the Christian historiographical imagination and how Biblical heroes and Classical culture helped Christians to write anti-Jewish history. Revealing novel aspects of the influence of the Classical literary tradition on early Christian texts, this book also newly questions the age-old distinction between the Christian and the Classical (or 'pagan') in the ancient Mediterranean world.
The European Union, Emerging Global Business and Human Rights
Authors: Nissen Aleydis
Published: November 2022

Emerging and developing states are home to powerful corporations capable of deploying economic activities on a global scale through the rapid pace of technological change and globalisation. But such corporations have to date been largely overlooked in the field of business and human rights. Treatment of such corporations has typically been in the context of supply chain studies, as subsidiaries of corporations from economically developed Western states. This book takes a radically different approach. It aims to investigate the conditions under which the European Union and its Member States regulate and remedy human rights violations by corporations from emerging and developing states. Stemming from the hypothesis that the EU intends to play a central role, Aleydis Nissen explores how the EU and its Member States attempt to ensure that EU-based businesses are not undercut by emerging competition, drawing on global examples to illustrate this developing phenomenon.
State and Social Protests in China
Authors: Cai Yongshun , Chen Chih-Jou Jay
Published: November 2022

China has witnessed numerous incidents of social protests over the past three decades. Protests create uncertainty for authoritarian governments, and the Chinese government has created, strengthened, and coordinated multiple dispute-resolution institutions to manage social conflicts and protests. Accommodating the aggrieved prevents the accumulation of grievances in society, but concessions require resources. As the frequency and scale of collective action are closely tied to the political opportunity for action, the Chinese government has also contained protest by shaping the political opportunity available to the aggrieved. Cai and Chen show that when the Chinese central government prioritizes social control, as it has under Xi Jinping's leadership, it signals that it will tolerate local governments' use of coercion. The result is an environment that is not conducive to the mobilization of collective action, large-scale occurrences of which have been uncommon in China in recent years.
Edición latinoamericana como empresa improbable: César Aira en México (1994–2018)
Authors: Riveiro María Belén
Published: November 2022

La historia de la literatura universal contiene capítulos latinoamericanos vitales, como el del boom. La universalidad y la posibilidad de trascender lo nacional son recursos distribuidos inequitativamente, como argumentará este artículo en discusión con trabajos que decretan la democratización de la literatura. Este artículo analiza las condiciones que hacen posible la circulación latinoamericana del escritor argentino César Aira mediante la reconstrucción de las ediciones de sus libros en México, central para la edición en castellano. Este análisis, en primer lugar, complejiza la polarización del campo editorial; en segundo, indaga en los modos como editoriales distintas responden a la concentración y extranjerización; en tercero, produce conocimiento sobre un escritor con creciente prestigio internacional; y por último, sostiene la productividad metodológica de las trayectorias editoriales de escritores. Se propone que las editoriales son centrales para estudiar los lazos regionales e hipotetiza que las editoriales medianas que apuestan por catálogos de literatura latinoamericana a largo plazo parecen empresas improbables.
Colonies on the cover: Italo Balbo's Libia
Authors: Manfren Priscilla
Published: November 2022

This essay will consider some key aspects of the imagery of the ventennio regarding the Italian overseas territories through the analysis of the covers of the illustrated magazine Libia, launched in 1937 in the context of the so-called ‘Fourth Shore’ of Italy, ruled between 1934 and 1940 by governor Italo Balbo. Firstly, this essay will address the existing bibliography on the relations between the press and Italian colonialism. Then, it will examine the figure of Balbo over two sections – one relating to his activities for the development of Libya, the other dedicated to his relationship with the arts – unpacking the close links between the work of the governor in the colony and the periodical. The final part of the article will focus on Libia, examining the themes and subjects chosen to illustrate its covers and the several artists who collaborated with the magazine as illustrators.
Introduction: Critical issues in the study of visual and material culture of Italian colonialism
Authors: Belmonte Carmen , Moure Cecchini Laura
Published: November 2022

In this special issue of Modern Italy, four early-career scholars examine how the study of objects and images rooted in Fascist imperialist history enables a sustained interrogation of Italy's colonial imaginary. Their articles explore the diverse possibilities offered by the study of visual and material culture for scholars of imperialism, as it is precisely this realm of visual and material culture that emerges as a site of negotiation in which different individuals and constituencies contended with the regime's ideology.
The denial of shame: representations and annual commemorations of the Ethiopian war in the news magazine Epoca (1950–60)
Authors: Cadamuro Elena
Published: November 2022

This article investigates how the Ethiopian war was represented by Epoca – the most prolific Italian weekly news magazine for illustrated reportage in postwar Italy – during the last phase of Italian colonialism (1950–60). The analysis focuses specifically on two photographic commemorations published on the twentieth (1955) and twenty-fifth anniversary (1960). The aim of this contribution is to examine these iconotexts in order to display how the interplay between images and words transmitted a selective and codified memory whose path mainly moved from nostalgia to pride while remaining characterised by a complete rejection of the feeling of shame. This representation was not even questioned by the references to those elements that will be considered, in the long-term, as evidence of the brutality of this colonial enterprise: those signals appear not to have been removed, but rather silenced and not truly comprehended, preventing the sense of shame from taking root in Epoca until 1995.
Hölder regularity and Liouville properties for nonlinear elliptic inequalities with power-growth gradient terms
Authors: Goffi Alessandro
Published: November 2022

This note studies local integral gradient bounds for distributional solutions of a large class of partial differential inequalities with diffusion in divergence form and power-like first-order terms. The applications of these estimates are two-fold. First, we show the (sharp) global Hölder regularity of distributional semi-solutions to this class of diffusive PDEs with first-order terms having supernatural growth and right-hand side in a suitable Morrey class posed on a bounded and regular open set$\Omega$. Second, we provide a new proof of entire Liouville properties for inequalities with superlinear first-order terms without assuming any one-side bound on the solution for the corresponding homogeneous partial differential inequalities. We also discuss some extensions of the previous properties to problems arising in sub-Riemannian geometry and also to partial differential inequalities posed on noncompact complete Riemannian manifolds under appropriate area-growth conditions of the geodesic spheres, providing new results in both these directions. The methods rely on integral arguments and do not exploit maximum and comparison principles.
Paleoenvironment and human activity on the central Korean Peninsula during the late MIS 3 and MIS 2
Authors: U Chol , Choe Rye Sun , Ri Jae Nam , Han Myong Gol
Published: November 2022

Layers 12 and 13 of the Chongphadae Cave site located northwest of the central part of the Korean Peninsula include human fossils, fireplaces, a great number of lithic artefacts, and mammal remains. These layers represent new evidence for the paleoenvironment, human occupation, and activities in this region during the late MIS 3 and MIS 2, associated with global cold and dry climate, respectively. Most of lithic artefacts collected are flake tools. Raw material selection, lithic reduction technology, and lithic industry represent peculiar local characteristics. Our analysis of faunal assemblages also suggests that the Chongphadae region had a rich ecosystem capable of forming a diverse mammalian fauna including ungulates (mainly deer and horses) during this period. It is likely that the mosaic landscapes, including grasslands, forests, rivers, and wetlands, provided a favorable environment for humans, as well as mammals and plants, and the occupants of the site actively hunted and gathered in a relatively temperate environment. Our study suggests that the central Korean Peninsula was not severely affected by global dry and cold events such as LGM, although it was a somewhat humid and cold environment during the late MIS 3 and MIS 2. The central Korean Peninsula may have existed as an unknown refugium (or area of endemism) in northeastern Asia during this time.
Black-White differences in perceived lifetime discrimination by education and income in the MIDUS Study in the U.S.
Authors: Rodriguez Javier M. , Koo Chungeun , Di Pasquale Giacomo , Assari Shervin
Published: November 2022

There is growing evidence on the negative effects of perceived discrimination on health outcomes and their interactions with indicators of socioeconomic status. However, less has been studied on whether income and education lead individuals of a different race to encounter different discriminatory experiences in their lifetime. Using data from the national survey of the Midlife Development in the United States—MIDUS 1 (1995-1996) and MIDUS Refresher (2011-2014)—on eight measures of perceived lifetime discrimination, this study compares discriminatory experiences of Black and White persons in two time periods. We applied generalized structural equation models and generalized linear models to test multiplicative effects of income and education by race on lifetime discrimination. In both periods, we find substantive disparities between White and Black people in all types of lifetime discrimination, with Black people reporting much higher levels of discrimination. Such disparities exacerbated in the top cohorts of society, yet these associations have changed in time, with White individuals reporting increasing levels of discrimination. Results show that, for Black people in the mid-1990s, perceived discrimination increased as education and income increased. This finding persisted for education by the early 2010s; income effects changed as now both, low- and high-income Black people, reported the highest levels of discrimination. These findings highlight a policy conundrum, given that increasing income and education represent a desirable course of action to improve overall discrimination and health outcomes. Yet, we show that they may unintendingly exacerbate racial disparities in discrimination. We also show that the U.S. is moving toward a stagnation period in health outcomes improvement, with racial disparities in discrimination shrinking at the expense of a deterioration of whites’ lifetime discriminatory experiences. Our results highlight the need for a multi-systems policy approach to prevent all forms of discrimination including those due to historical, institutional, legal, and sociopolitical structures.
Verifying raytracing/Fokker–Planck lower-hybrid current drive predictions with self-consistent full-wave/Fokker–Planck simulations
Authors: Frank S.J. , Lee J.P. , Wright J.C. , Hutchinson I.H. , Bonoli P.T.
Published: November 2022

Raytracing/Fokker–Planck (FP) simulations used to model lower-hybrid current drive (LHCD) often fail to reproduce experimental results, particularly when LHCD is weakly damped. A proposed reason for this discrepancy is the lack of ‘full-wave’ effects, such as diffraction and interference, in raytracing simulations and the breakdown of the raytracing approximation. Previous studies of LHCD using non-Maxwellian full-wave/FP simulations have been performed, but these simulations were not self-consistent and enforced power conservation between the FP and full-wave code using a numerical rescaling factor. Here, we have created a fully self-consistent full-wave/FP model for LHCD that is automatically power conserving. This was accomplished by coupling an overhauled version of the non-Maxwellian TORLH full-wave solver and the CQL3D FP code using the Integrated Plasma Simulator. We performed converged full-wave/FP simulations of Alcator C-Mod discharges and compared them with raytracing. We found that excellent agreement in the power deposition profiles from raytracing and TORLH could be obtained, however, TORLH had somewhat lower current drive efficiency and broader power deposition profiles in some cases. This discrepancy appears to be a result of numerical limitations present in the TORLH model and a small amount of diffractional broadening of the TORLH wave spectrum. Our results suggest full-wave simulation of LHCD is likely not necessary as diffraction and interference represented only a small correction that could not account for the differences between simulations and experiment.
Bifocal stance theory, the transmission metaphor, and institutional reality
Authors: Packer Martin J. , Cole Michael
Published: November 2022

Biologists have replaced the metaphor of “genetic transmission” with a detailed account of the molecular mechanisms underlying the phenomenon which Darwin referred to as “like produces like.” Cultural evolution theorists, in contrast, continue to appeal to “imitation” or “copying.” The notion of ritual and instrumental stances does not resolve this issue, and ignores the institutions in which people live.
Non-instrumental actions can communicate roles and relationships, not just rituals
Authors: Thomas Ashley J. , Radkani Setayesh , Hung Michelle S.
Published: November 2022

Actions that do not have instrumental goals can communicate social goals that are not rituals. Many non-instrumental actions such as bowing or kissing communicate a commitment to or roles in dyadic relationships. What is unclear is when people understand such actions in terms of ritual and when they understand them in terms of relationships.
Tradition–invention dichotomy and optimization in the field of science
Authors: Watve Mukta , Watve Milind
Published: November 2022

The central idea of the bifocal stance theory (BST) by Jagiello et al. has substantial relevance to scientific research. Both tradition-following and exploration-innovation are important in science and researchers subconsciously try to optimize their strategies. We outline three important dimensions of this optimization and argue that attempts to understand this complex process can help us design better science education, research training, investigation, and science publication.
Considering individual differences and variability is important in the development of the bifocal stance theory
Authors: Puttre Hannah , Corriveau Kathleen H.
Published: November 2022

Jagiello and colleagues offer a bifocal stance theory of cultural evolution for understanding how individuals flexibly choose between instrumental and ritual stances in social learning. We argue that the role of culture, developmental age-related differences, and the intersectionality of these and other individual's identities need to be more fully considered in this theoretical framework.
Psychological closeness and concrete construal may underlie high-fidelity social emulation
Authors: Kalkstein David A. , Trope Yaacov
Published: November 2022

We compare bifocal stance theory's (BST) approach to social learning to construal level theory's (CLT) – a social-cognitive theory positing that psychological closeness to a model influences action-representation and thus modulates how concretely or abstractly observers emulate models. Whereas BST argues that social motives produce higher fidelity emulation, CLT argues that psychological closeness impacts cognitive construal and produces more concrete emulation across diverse motivations for emulation.
Activation of stance by cues, or attunement to the invariants in a populated environment?
Authors: Nonaka Tetsushi
Published: November 2022

While I agree with the distinction between expedient and proper ways of action, I find Jagiello et al.'s account of “stance switching” debatable. Fundamental to theories of cultural evolution is the fact that the shared environment is indefinitely rich, in which individuals are provided with opportunities for learning to tune themselves to specific affordances that are relevant to emerging situations.
Cultural evolution is not independent of linguistic evolution and social aspects of language use
Authors: Scharinger Mathias , Erfurth Luise M.
Published: November 2022

The bifocal stance theory (BST) focuses on cultural evolution without alluding to associated processes in linguistic evolution and language use. The authors briefly comment on language acquisition but leave underexplored the applicability of BST to linguistic evolution, to changes of language representations, and to possible consequences for constructing social identity, based on, for example, collective resilience processes within language communities.
HIGHER-ORDER APPROXIMATION OF IV ESTIMATORS WITH INVALID INSTRUMENTS
Authors: Kang Byunghoon
Published: November 2022

This paper analyzes the higher-order approximation of instrumental variable (IV) estimators in a linear homoskedastic IV regression model when a large set of instruments with potential invalidity is present. We establish theoretical results on the higher-order mean-squared error (MSE) approximation of the two-stage least-squares (2SLS), the limited information maximum likelihood (LIML), the Fuller (FULL), the bias-adjusted 2SLS, and jackknife version of the LIML and FULL estimators by allowing for local violations of the instrument exogeneity conditions. Based on the approximation to the higher-order MSE, we consider the instrument selection criteria that can be used to choose among the set of available instruments. We demonstrate the asymptotic optimality of the instrument selection procedure proposed by Donald and Newey (2001, Econometrica 69, 1161–1191) in the presence of locally (faster than

$N^{-1/2}$
) invalid instruments in the sense that the dominant term in the MSE with the chosen instrument is asymptotically equivalent to the infeasible optimum. Furthermore, we propose instrument selection procedures to choose instruments among the sets of conservative (known) valid instruments and potentially locally (

$N^{-1/2}$
) invalid instruments based on the higher-order MSE of the IV estimators by considering the bias-variance trade-off.
From The Limits to Growth to Greenhouse Gas Emissions Pathways: Technological Change in Global Computer Models (1972–2007)
Authors: Cassen Christophe , Cointe Béatrice
Published: November 2022

From the World2 and World3 models to contemporary Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) that model carbon neutral emission pathways, global computer models have served as virtual laboratories for addressing economic, environmental and technological concerns together. Representing technological change has been a controversial element of global modelling efforts because, to a great extent, it sets the parameters on conceivable futures. To retrace this history, this article analyses four moments when modellers debated technological change: the controversy spurred by The Limits to Growth in the 1970s; subsequent global future studies during that decade; the IIASA Energy in a Finite World study in the 1980s; and the shift to endogenous technological change in IAMs in the 2000s. It shows that the notion of technological change as a predictable parameter affecting the future of society was not a given. Technological change progressively became a parameter in models as more elaborate methodologies were developed to simulate it. When modellers began to focus on climate action in the 1990s and 2000s, their interest in the relationship between technological change and social change dwindled. The increasing skill with which modellers formally represented technological dynamics was commensurate to the decline of heated discussions over how conflicting worldviews shaped simulations.
Between the ‘Hand-Loom’ and the ‘Samson Stripper’: Fritz Schumacher's Struggle for Intermediate Technology
Authors: Leonard Robert
Published: November 2022

For twenty years, during which time he started to promote Intermediate Technology abroad and began writing Small is Beautiful (1973), E. F. Schumacher was an economist with the National Coal Board. As such, he led what he called a ‘double-life’. On the one hand, his work at the coal board involved colossal plant, pollution and brute human labour, the difficulty of which could be alleviated only by the adoption of heavy coal-extracting machinery. As time went on, Schumacher became deeply involved in managing and defending the declining coal sector, through the rationalisation and further mechanisation of its production activities. On the other hand, through his personal involvement in the Soil Association, his reading of the Gandhian literature and his exploration of Buddhism and other esoteric interests, he increasingly sought to promote a non-violent approach to economics, based on appropriate technology and gentle, labour-intensive methods, especially in the so-called developing countries. This paper tells the story of Schumacher's growing struggle to reconcile these contrasting spheres of his life, until such time as he could finally leave the coal board, give himself completely to Intermediate Technology and begin writing his influential book.
A Note on the Neo-Fisher Effect in the New Keynesian Model
Authors: Ali Syed Zahid , Qureshi Irfan A.
Published: November 2022

Typically, contractionary monetary policy shocks increase the nominal and real rate of interest, which reduces both inflation and output . In contrast, the neo-Fisher effect (NFE) suggests that a transitory but persistent increase in the nominal rate of interest increases inflation in the short run. In a New Keynesian model augmented with several frictions, including the cost channel of monetary policy, real wage rigidity, habit formation in consumption, dampened expectations, and anticipated monetary policy shocks, we derive analytical conditions that give rise to (or avert) the NFE. We show that the NFE can arise due to the interplay between these frictions, and not only when the persistence of the policy shock is large, or when agents are forward-looking, as documented by the existing literature.
Stuart Hall, Development Theory, and Thatcher's Britain
Authors: Karayiannides Efthimios
Published: November 2022

This article traces the influence of theories of Third World underdevelopment on Stuart Hall's understanding of the nature of historical transitions. I show Hall's notion of “articulation,” central to his social theory, is indebted to ideas about development originating in the global South, rather than to the thinking of “Western Marxists.” By arguing that Antonio Gramsci was a theorist of “articulation,” Hall read Gramsci as a thinker comparable to development theorists he was engaging with in the same period. This had important implications, I suggest, for Hall's “Gramscian” analyses of British politics in the 1980s. Specifically, I show that by describing Thatcherism as a form of “regressive modernization,” Hall adopted the idiom of several theories of economic development to argue that the uneven development of capitalist relations of production is the key to understanding how advanced forms of capitalist accumulation can accommodate seemingly archaic and reactionary social relations and institutions.