bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Postoperative radiotherapy timing, molecular subgroups and treatment outcomes of Thai pediatric patients with medulloblastoma
Authors: Jaruthien Thitiporn , Nantavithya Chonnipa , Santisukwongchote Sakun , Shuangshoti Shanop , Techavichit Piti , Sosothikul Darintr , Amornfa Jiraporn , Shotelersuk Kanjana
Published: January 2023

Introduction

Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common childhood malignant brain tumor worldwide. Recently, molecular classification was established and started to play a role in the management of MB; however, studies involving molecular defined MB in Southeast Asia have been limited. We aimed to describe, and correlate clinical characteristics and molecular subgroups with therapeutic outcomes of Thai pediatric patients with MB.

Materials and methods

Pediatric MB patients treated at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in Thailand from 2006 to 2018 were recruited. Patients were classified by clinical characteristics into standard- and high-risk groups, which determined treatment regimen. Retrospectively, available tumor tissues were classified into 3 molecular subgroups using immunohistochemistry: 1) WNT, 2) SHH, and 3) non-WNT/non-SHH. The primary outcome was 5-year overall survival (OS). Risk factors associated with OS were analyzed using cox regression analysis.

Results

Fifty-three Thai pediatric patients with MB were enrolled. The median follow-up time was 60 months. The 5-year OS for all patients, and patients with standard-risk and high-risk were 74.2%, 76.3% and 71.4%, respectively. Tumor tissues of 24 patients were available, of which 23 could be molecularly classified. Two, one and 20 were in the WNT, SHH and non-WNT/non-SHH subtypes with 5-year OS of 100%, 100% and 78.9%, respectively. Using multivariate analysis, the interval of more than 8 weeks between surgery and radiotherapy was significantly correlated with a decrease in the 5-year OS.

Conclusion

Interval between surgery and radiotherapy within 8 weeks was associated with good therapeutic outcomes among Thai pediatric patients with MB. Simplified molecular subtyping combined with clinical characteristics is practical in risk classification of patients with MB in institutes with limited resources.
Uptake and determinants of private health insurance enrollment in a country with heavily subsidised public healthcare: A cross-sectional survey in East Coast Malaysia
Authors: Abd Khalim Mohd Adli , Sukeri Surianti
Published: January 2023

Malaysia’s subsidised public healthcare system is heavily reliant on government funding. Increasing the uptake of private health insurance (PHI) would alleviate the financial burden on public healthcare facilities caused by high patient loads. The study aimed to determine the uptake of PHI and its associated factors among the East Coast Malaysian populations. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted between February and June 2021. Proportionate stratified sampling was applied to select 1138 participants, and logistic regression was performed to determine the factors associated with PHI uptake. The proportion of the study samples that purchased PHI was 54.3%. Enrolment of private health insurance was associated with working in the public sector (aOR: 6.06, 95% CI: 2.65, 13.88) and private sector (aOR: 6.27, 95% CI: 2.65, 14.85), being self-employed (aOR: 9.23, 95% CI: (3.59, 23.70), being in the middle 40% household income percentile (aOR: 2.74, 95% CI: 1.95, 3.85) and top 20% household income percentile (aOR: 4.42, 95% CI: 2.87, 6.80), and living in urban areas (aOR: 1.31, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.70). Even in the presence of subsidised public healthcare, the high proportion of PHI uptake reflects a demand for private health insurance. The study suggests that PHI should be promoted among those who are employed or self-employed, the middle- and high-income groups, and urban residents. The findings may be beneficial for the government and insurance companies to improve strategies to enhance PHI uptake among these population.
Appia: Simpler chromatography analysis and visualization
Authors: Posert Richard , Baconguis Isabelle
Published: January 2023

Chromatography is an essential family of assays for molecular biology and chemistry. Typically, only a qualitative assessment of peak height, position, and shape are sufficient to proceed. Additionally, chromatography instrument software is proprietary and often locked to a single computer, making data analysis and sharing difficult. Since each manufacturer reports the data in their own proprietary format, performing analysis of experiments which use multiple instruments or sharing data between labs is also challenging. Here we present Appia, a free, open-source chromatography processing and visualization package focused on making analysis, collaboration, and publication quick and easy.
Stable variable ranking and selection in regularized logistic regression for severely imbalanced big binary data
Authors: Nadeem Khurram , Jabri Mehdi-Abderrahman
Published: January 2023

We develop a novel covariate ranking and selection algorithm for regularized ordinary logistic regression (OLR) models in the presence of severe class-imbalance in high dimensional datasets with correlated signal and noise covariates. Class-imbalance is resolved using response-based subsampling which we also employ to achieve stability in variable selection by creating an ensemble of regularized OLR models fitted to subsampled (and balanced) datasets. The regularization methods considered in our study include Lasso, adaptive Lasso (adaLasso) and ridge regression. Our methodology is versatile in the sense that it works effectively for regularization techniques involving both hard- (e.g. Lasso) and soft-shrinkage (e.g. ridge) of the regression coefficients. We assess selection performance by conducting a detailed simulation experiment involving varying moderate-to-severe class-imbalance ratios and highly correlated continuous and discrete signal and noise covariates. Simulation results show that our algorithm is robust against severe class-imbalance under the presence of highly correlated covariates, and consistently achieves stable and accurate variable selection with very low false discovery rate. We illustrate our methodology using a case study involving a severely imbalanced high-dimensional wildland fire occurrence dataset comprising 13 million instances. The case study and simulation results demonstrate that our framework provides a robust approach to variable selection in severely imbalanced big binary data.
Racial and ethnic disparities in workers’ compensation claims rates
Authors: Smith Caroline K. , Wuellner Sara , Marcum Jennifer
Published: January 2023

Background

Workers of color experience a disproportionate share of work-related injuries and illnesses (WRII), however, most workers’ compensation systems do not collect race and ethnicity information, making it difficult to monitor trends over time, or to investigate specific policies and procedures that maintain or could eliminate the unequal burden of WRII for workers of color. The purpose of this study is to apply a Bayesian method to Washington workers’ compensation claims data to identify racial and ethnic disparities of WRII by industry and occupation, improving upon existing surveillance limitations. Measuring differences in risk for WRII will better inform prevention efforts and target prevention to those at increased risk.

Methods

To estimate WRII by race/ethnicity, we applied the Bayesian Improved Surname Geocode (BISG) method to surname and residential address data among all Washington workers’ compensation claims filed for injuries in 2013–2017. We then compare worker and injury characteristics by imputed race/ethnicity, and estimate rates of WRII by imputed race/ethnicity within industry and occupation.

Results

Black/African Americans had the highest rates of WRII claims across all industry and occupational sectors. Hispanic/Latino WRII claimants also had higher rates than Whites and Asian/Pacific Islanders in almost all industry and occupational sectors. For accepted claims with both medical and non-medical compensation, Bodily reaction/overexertion injuries accounted for almost half of the claims during this reporting period.

Discussion

The high rates of injury we report by racial/ethnic categories is a cause for major concern. Nearly all industry and occupation-specific rates of workers’ compensation claims are higher for Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino workers compared to Whites. More work is needed to identify work-related, systemic, and individual characteristics.
Measurement accuracy and reliability of self-reported versus measured weight and height among adults in Malaysia: Findings from a nationwide blood pressure screening programme
Authors: Chia Yook Chin , Ching Siew Mooi , Ooi Pei Boon , Beh Hooi Chin , Chew Ming Tsuey , Chung Felicia Fei Lei , Kumar Navin , Lim Hooi Min
Published: January 2023

Most studies reporting prevalence of obesity use actual weight and height measurements. Self-reported weight and height have been used in epidemiological studies as they have been shown to be reliable, convenient, and inexpensive alternatives to actual measurements. However, the accuracy of self-reported weight and height might vary in different regions because of the difference in health awareness and social influences. This study aims to determine the accuracy and reliability of self-reported weight and height compared to actual measured weight and height among adults in Malaysia. This was a cross-sectional study conducted at the community level during blood pressure screening campaigns. Participants self-reported their weight and height in a questionnaire survey. Their weight and height were validated using measurements by researchers on the same setting. Body mass index (BMI) was defined as underweight (<18.5kg/m2), normal (18.5–22.9 kg/m2), overweight (23–27.4 kg/m2) and obesity (≥27.5 kg/m2). Bland-Altman analysis, intraclass correlation coefficients and weighted Kappa statistics were used to assess the degree of agreement between self-reported and measured weight and height. A total of 2781 participants were recruited in this study. The difference between the mean self-reported and measured weight and height were 0.4 kg and 0.4 cm respectively. Weighted Kappa statistics analysis showed that there was a substantial agreement between the BMI classifications derived from self-reported and actual measurement (ҡ = 0.920, p<0.001). There was no marked difference in the sensitivity and specificity of self-reported BMI among Malaysian adults by gender. We observed substantial agreement between self-reported and measured body weight and height within a sample of Malaysian adults. While self-reported body weight showed weaker agreement with actual measurements particularly for obese and overweight individuals, BMI values derived from self-reported weight and height were accurate for 88.53% of the participants. We thus conclude that self-reported height and weight measures may be useful for tracking and estimating population trends amongst Malaysian adults.
The nuances of sizing for stouts in the early twentieth century
Authors: Keist Carmen N. , Mally Lynn
Published: January 2023

Mass manufactured garments for women have been around since the beginning of the twentieth century. With mass production, a ‘standardization’ of sizing was needed. Standardization of clothing was difficult as bodies were (and still today) not statistically proportionate and clothing was not one size fits all. To tackle the ‘difficult’ to fit – fat women, known as stout – manufacturers and retailers devised myriad sized numbering systems to accommodate different shaped fat bodies. They introduced half, odd and extra sizes along with stylish, stubby and old-fashioned stouts to create perfectly proportioned and specially designed garments to fit stout women with little to no alterations. These systems were confusing for consumers, retailers and manufacturers as no sizing system corresponded with any sort of standardization among businesses. This frustration further relegated fat women to the fringes of the apparel industry as undesirable and unfashionable.
Formas de Trabajo Comunitario Voluntario en tres comunidades Nahua del Municipio de Texcoco, Estado de México y su vinculación con las prácticas de economía solidaria
Authors: Amador Herrera Ernesto Axel , Rojas Herrera Juan José
Published: January 2023

En este artículo se comparten los resultados de un trabajo de investigación que tuvo como objetivo general identificar las formas de trabajo comunitario voluntario que se practican en las comunidades nahua de Santa María Tecuanulco, Santa Catarina del Monte y San Pablo Ixayoc, pertenecientes al municipio de Texcoco, Estado de México y establecer su grado de aproximación con las prácticas anti sistémicas y contraculturales de la economía solidaria. La investigación asumió un enfoque sociológico y jurídico y comprendió la revisión exhaustiva de la legislación que regula estas formas de trabajo, tanto a nivel nacional como estatal. Adicionalmente, se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas con informantes clave y observación participante. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que a pesar de los diversos factores exógenos que intervienen en la desintegración de su cosmovisión indígena y campesina, en las comunidades estudiadas subsiste una amplia variedad de formas de trabajo comunitario voluntario, que exhiben una gran vitalidad y que asumen un carácter netamente autogestivo y solidario. Dichas prácticas pueden agruparse en cuatro subtipos, a saber: las relacionadas con aspectos o necesidades sociales, las que están asociadas a ritos y fiestas religiosas, las de carácter hibrido que combinan elementos de orden social y religioso y las formas emergentes.
How do heavy metals cause and impact Autism
Authors: Rajaram Kartikeyan
Published: January 2023

This research paper investigates what heavy metals are and how they affect society. Heavy metals are known for causing diseases and giving illnesses to people including autism. This research paper goes into a deep dive into how heavy metals cause many of today's conditions and mainly how heavy metals can be a bad thing in today's world. We explain how heavy metals are harmful and what conditions come out of them and how they can affect autism or cause autism in people. The study also demonstrates the different treatments and complementary/alternative medicines for diseases caused by heavy metals like autism.
UTILIZATION OF INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT) FOR IMPLEMENTING TEACHING AND LEARNING IN TECHNICAL COLLEGES IN ENUGU STATE.
Authors: damilare okunnuga , Ariyo Samson , Ujevbe Oke Benjamin
Published: January 2023

The purpose of this study was to determine the utilization of internet of things (IoT) for implementing teaching and learning in Technical college’s in Enugu State. Two research questions and hypothesis guided the study. A descriptive survey research design was adopted to carry out the study. The population for the study was one hundred and sixty (160) respondents, comprising 137 students and 23 teachers of both Technical Colleges. Two questionnaires titled level of

IoT

utilization

by teacher for teaching and the level of IoT utilization by students for learning

were developed by the researchers and used for data collection. Three experts validated the instruments, two experts from the Department of Industrial Technical Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka and one expert from the Department of Vocational Education, School of Technical Education, Yaba College of Technology. The reliability co-efficiency of the instrument was found to be 0.86 and 0.73. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while t-test statistics was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study found significant response between male and female on utilization of internet of things (IoT) for implementing teaching and learning in Technical College’s in Enugu State. It was discovered that poor utilization and un updated IoT in technical colleges hinders IoT implementation for teaching and learning in technical colleges in Enugu state, hence, the utilization of IoT for implementing learning and teaching are impeded.
The impact of genetics on reproductive decisions, such as preimplantation genetic diagnosis.
Authors: Musomba Deeblue , Li Ji , LAN Xingpeng , Liji Ao Wu
Published: January 2023

Several European nations uphold the requirement of “high risk of a hereditary condition" to restrict the application of pre-implantation genome identification. This constraint about the "front door" ought to be relaxed to provide room for types of implantation genomic diagnosing having different proportionalities. This is true for both the procedure known as "added PGD," which is performed in conjunction with in vitro fertilization, and the procedure known as "combination pre-implantation genomic diagnosis," which is performed for an alternative disorder in addition to the one for which the individuals have an acknowledged pre-implantation genomic diagnosis reason. Both of these procedures fall under the purview of this rule. Therefore, relaxing the rules in the front of pre-implantation genomic diagnosis therapy has ramifications in the back, where a further pre-implantation genomic diagnosis rule states that 'affected conceptus' (meaning fertilized egg with the targeted variation or defect) should not be transplanted to the uterus. This 'rear door' regulation should be unstrained to permit for the implantation of 'last opportunity' affected conceptus in situations of aPGD and cPGD; however, this should only be done if there is not a great danger that the features would have a significantly decreased attribute of life as a result of the procedure.
Developing and Evaluation of Computational Phenotypes of Metastatic Breast Cancer Using All of Us Data
Authors: Li Chenyu , Dilan Israel , Visweswaran Shyam , Becich Michael , Jiang Xia , Boyce Richard
Published: January 2023

Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer among women worldwide,1the metastatic breast cancer is the main cause of mortality for breast cancer patients. Computational phenotyping, an informatics approach, that extracts phenotypes from real-world data such as electronic health records (EHRs), has the potential to advance medicine’s understanding of who is most at risk for metastatic breast cancer. All of US (AoU) is a research program funded by the National Institutes of Health that aims to recruit one million highly diverse patients across the United States.2 The program makes data from participants accessible to both participants and approved researchers through the AoU “workbench.” In this study, we attempt to implement computational phenotypes from multiple sources to describe the prevalence of metastatic breast cancer in the AoU patient cohort. We used the AoU research workbench to implement the metastatic breast cancer phenotypes and describe cases within this rapidly growing a real clinical research database.
Assessment Of COVID-19 Prevention Practice And Associated Factors

Among College Students In Assosa, Ethiopia
Authors: gutata dano , Bekele Mitiku , Aderaw zewdie
Published: January 2023

Background: Ethiopia has taken unprecedented preventive measures like closure of higher education institutions to halt the spread of COVID-19. However, still, there is increasing number of cases and mortality due to COVID-19. As the youth age groups are highly active part of the community and as the colleges are one of the major areas where they gather together it would highly necessity to apply preventive measures there. Thus, this study aimed to assess the prevention practices and associated factors against COVID 19 among college students.

Methods:A cross-sectional study design was conducted among 520 students. The sample was proportionally allocated into the randomly selected three colleges and the students were recruited using a simple random sampling technique. Variables with p-value < 0.25 in the bivariate logistic regression analysis were entered into the multivariable logistic regression model to identify the factors associated with COVID-19 prevention practices (Adequate Vs Inadequate, where adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 95% confidence interval (CIs) for AOR, and P-values were used for testing significance and interpretation of results.. Additionally, the qualitative data were collected from a total of 6 deans and student representatives using key informant interview and then transcribed, translated, and analyzed using thematic content analysis.

Results:This study involved 520 students with response rate of 97%. The level of adequate practice was 46.9%. After adjusting for covariates; being in the late level of education (year III) (AOR: 3.863, 95% CI: 1.66, 8.95), living with > 5 family size (AOR: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.37, 0.89), and being having adequate level of institutional and surroundings (AOR: 2.11 95% CI: 1.35, 3.30), having adequate level of knowledge and attitude (AOR: 6.51, 95% CI: 3.76, 11.25) were the independent predictors of adequate preventive practices against COVID-19.

Conclusions:In this study, the overall adequate practice towards preventive measures of COVID-19 among college students was too low compared to completely performing the WHO recommendations and the FDRE directives to prevent and control the pandemic. Regulatory bodies should strictly control the colleges and the students to abide to the laws and regulations of prevention, and vaccinations have to be given to students by health authorities.
Mechanical and thermal properties of cotton-bamboo fabric/glass fiber epoxy composites
Authors: Chandrasekaran Kailasam , Shanmugam Periyasamy , Senthilkumar Palanisamy
Published: January 2023

Five-layer epoxy composites consisting of two outer layers made of glass fiber and three inner layers of cotton-bamboo fabric were obtained by compression molding. The influence of glass fiber content (35, 40, 45 and 50 wt%) and the order of stacking laminate layers on the mechanical properties (tensile, flexural, compressive, impact strength), thermal properties (TGA) and structure (FTIR, SEM) of the composites was investigated. The best mechanical and thermal properties were obtained with the content of 45 wt% glass fiber.
Use of Banana Peel in the Development of a Less Flammable Polyester Composite
Authors: Anannya Ferdausee Rahman , Afroz Farhana , Kibria Golam , Rahman Md. Lutfor , Jamine Nasrin , Mahmud Md. Arif
Published: January 2023

This study attempted to produce a cheap polyester composite material using an agricultural waste banana peel in the structure. Banana fibre has been used in composites as reinforcements, but banana peel has never been used with polyester before. The possibility of improved thermal and flammability properties of a composite due to increased moisture in the structure, and the char-forming ability of the cellulosic part of banana peel or the production of highly flammable material due to the presence of carbohydrates in the structure were the assumptions. To tackle the second assumption, aluminium trihydrate (ATH) was added. The handmade composites showed a drastic drop in tensile strength from 38.02 MPa to 16.72 MPa due to a lack of chemical bonding between the constituents. The impact and flexural strength showed some improvement with the addition of banana peel, along with ATH, to record results of 10.92 kg/cm and 49 MPa, respectively, after the initial drop that occurred when only ATH was added. However, these results were still inferior to the properties of pure polyester. The results of flammability and thermal resistance matched the second assumption, as flame retardancy was kept under control by the presence of ATH. The absorbency properties remained almost unaffected.
Word-boundary glottalization and its cognitive aspects: A reaction-time study
Authors: Svoboda Michaela , Šturm Pavel
Published: January 2023

This paper deals with the perceptual impact of using word-initial glottalization as a boundary signal. Research into glottalization is discussed before presenting a reaction time (RT) experiment based on a word-monitoring paradigm that aims to investigate the cognitive effect of the presence of glottalization in native Czech listeners’ perception. Natural and acoustically manipulated sentences selected from a spontaneous political debate were used as stimuli. The low level of control of the material makes the design relatively innovative in comparison with similar previous studies. Fifty listeners were instructed to press a button as soon as they heard a specified target word embedded in a sentence, where a preceding carrier word included glottalization or linking. The results support the hypothesis that the presence of glottalization facilitates the processing of subsequent words, but the temporal scope of the effect varied. The experiment also raises new methodological issues and offers suggestions for further RT research.
Intra- and inter-speaker variability of vowel space using three different formant extraction methods
Authors: Houzar Alžběta , Skarnitzl Radek
Published: January 2023

Individual speakers’ voices display various unique patterns, one of the most prominent of which is vowel articulation. This study focuses on vowel space properties of 15 Czech speakers in read and spontaneous speech, comparing outputs of three formant extraction methods, measuring formants: (1) in the vowels’ temporal midpoints, (2) as their mean from the vowels’ middle thirds, and (3) in the vowels’ articulatory targets. The results show extensive variability across speakers, but also great within-speaker variability between the two speech styles, with spontaneous speech manifesting more centralised vowel pronunciation than read utterances. The first two measurement methods did not yield systematically different results, while formant values extracted from acoustically defined articulatory targets lead to noticeably larger vowel spaces. The results suggest that care should be taken when interpreting formant values obtained by different methods.
Description of F0 contours with Legendre polynomials
Authors: Svatošová Michaela , Volín Jan
Published: January 2023

Phonetic research has developed both impressionistic and more objective means of describing the basic units of intonation. The quantification involved in the approaches based on acoustic measurements provides more detail and it is a necessary prerequisite for the comparability and replicability of the results of different studies. In addition to having these characteristics, a proper description of intonation should be comprehensible and meaningful. This article presents a method for describing melodic contours using Legendre polynomials, which yields a few coefficients that capture the basic properties of the analysed contour (e.g. level or slope). This approach thus connects objectivity and quantitative precision with common linguistic concepts. The article also proposes the use of Legendre polynomials for the description of traditionally recognized Czech melodemes through the analysis of schemes reported in the literature. Further research on real material could verify the validity of these categories and the usefulness of the method itself.
Online guided pronunciation practice helps adult EFL learners improve L2 prosody
Authors: Šimáčková Šárka , Podlipský Václav Jonáš
Published: January 2023

This study tests the efficacy of a pronunciation course in developing advanced EFL learners’ expressive reading during a semester of online instruction. The course, designed for future English-language professionals, emphasises primacy of perception before production, the importance of noticing phonetic detail, expert and peer feedback, and context-situated tasks. The magnitude of pitch movements and reading tempo were assessed before and after the course for a trained group, who received the pronunciation practice, and a comparison group attending a course about the theory and research of foreign accents in English. Only the Trained group’s expressive prosody improved: the learners slowed down their delivery and produced the utterances with a wider pitch range. The results suggest that adult foreign language learners can benefit from pronunciation training in a distance learning environment.
Longitudinal study of phonetic drift in L1 speech of late Czech-French bilinguals
Authors: Hévrová Marie , Bořil Tomáš
Published: January 2023

This study investigates temporal development of phonetic drift (i.e., when L1 pronunciation is affected by acquiring an L2 language) in the L1 speech of four Czech university students (two female and two male) who went to study in Toulouse as part of the Erasmus programme. Having started studying L2 French at the age of twelve to sixteen, they are considered the so-called Czech-French late bilinguals. The subjects were recorded reading out a Czech text and producing semi-spontaneous speech in three sessions – immediately after their arrival, and then at the end of the first and the third month of their stay in France. Based on acoustic analyses, we statistically evaluated the formant frequencies of vowels, the spectral moments of the fricatives /ɦ/ and /x/, and the production frequency of schwa in the word-final position, which is a distinctive pronunciation feature for Toulouse French. Even though speech and its development are highly individual, we were able to witness certain pronunciation shifts regarding all the examined phones. However, the majority of statistically significant shifts were linked to the formant values of vowels.
Rendering slow ecological crisis in a popular medium: Hyperobjects and Sámi resistance in the Swedish-French TV series Midnight Sun
Authors: Mrozewicz Anna
Published: January 2023

The article examines the ways in which the slowly evolving and invisible processes of the ongoing ecological crisis can be represented in the format of a contemporary serial television drama. The author argues that despite heavy reliance on spectacular and captivating character-born plots, the long-form storytelling of new television narratives can be well suited to representing the complex and unspectacular temporalities of the ecological crisis. With the Swedish-French Arctic noir TV series Midnight Sun as a case study, the analysis shows how a highly spectacular criminal plot is developed to reveal the invisible temporal action and nonhuman agency of a special kind of waste paradigmatic of the era of the Anthropocene, defined by Timothy Morton as a hyperobject (2013). This idea is established in Midnight Sun not only by placing radioactive waste at the center of the narrative but also by gradually foregrounding its nonhuman agency behind the events. The aim of the analysis is to demonstrate that by both using and reimagining the conventions of the television crime drama (Arctic noir), Midnight Sun translates into quotidian terms the unspectacular and long-term aspects of human-induced ecological destruction, which surpass the individual human scale and evade our cognition. An important strategy adopted in Midnight Sun is bringing together two levels of criticism: ecocritical and postcolonial. The slow ecological violence (R. Nixon, 2011) and nuclear colonialism (G. Schwab, 2020) exerted by the powerful against regions and people who are globally less visible are depicted as a continuation of the history of colonization, and more specifically, the systemic and longstanding ill-treatment of the indigenous Sámi people in Sweden.
Wasted lives and expulsions. A study of Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin
Authors: Gajewska Grażyna
Published: January 2023

The author analyzes the mutual determinants of the ecological and social crisis. The starting point is Zygmunt Bauman’s concept of wasted lives and the concept of expulsions proposed by Saskia Sassen, referring both to activities destroying specific areas and the communities inhabiting them. This frame includes films showing various scenarios of a dystopian future in which individual characters or entire groups have been consumed and expelled by the aggressive Capithalocene and doomed to live in the dustbin of contemporary civilization. The article focuses on the production Beasts of the Southern Wild directed by Benh Zeitlin. The author looks at the reality and, at the same time, the symbolism of the film’s wall/dam; communities living on both sides of it, relationships between nature and culture, or rather (in posthumanist terms it is written as one word – natureculture); the methods and consequences of excluding and expelling human and non-human beings used by the mechanisms of late capitalism.
Postapokaliptyczne role ludzi i roślin w grze Cloud Gardens. Czym jest ogród?
Authors: Zaborowski Karol
Published: January 2023

This article is concerned with the fate of trash and plants which grow on it. As an example of this, the video game Cloud Gardens was chosen, along with installation arts by Elżbieta Rajewska and Diana Lelonek. The paper analyzes the process of creating landscapes known from popular works of post-apocalyptic fiction; what in other titles is only a background to events and human tragedy is of greatest importance here. Later parts of the article discuss human responsibility for the unexpected development of other species, as well as plants’ indifference to the human apocalypse. This text is part of the non-anthropocentric humanism trend and refers to the concept of “plant art” as proposed by Anna Wandzel.
Fight for Nothing: Fight Club and Nihilism in Capitalist Society
Authors: Karakasis Georgios , Lavilla de Lera Jonathan
Published: January 2023

This paper analyses the movie Fight Club (1999) from the philosophical point of view. We reflect on the split personality of the protagonist, showing how the former represents the subject of the modern society, who, unable to find completion in ceaseless consumerism, embarks upon a personal journey towards the annihilation of every value of his world. This process of annihilation, which at first takes the form of a closed group of people, evolves into an expansive way of annihilation. The latter symbolizes modern society’s evolved subject’s will to destroy the foundations of capitalist society.
Hydrocracking optimization of palm oil over NiMoO4/activated carbon catalyst to produce biogasoline and kerosine
Authors: Allwar Allwar , Indriyani Nevi , Maulina Rina , Rahmawati Feby
Published: January 2023

The conversion of palm oil into biofuel is continuing interest in a green alternative fuel. Catalytic hydrocracking palm oil into biofuels was carried out by NiMoO4/activated carbon catalyst. The catalyst was first designed from nanoparticle NiO–MoO3 supported by activated carbon from palm kernel shell and characterized using X-ray crystallography, Fourier transform infrared, and scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive X-ray. The efficiency of the catalyst was evaluated for the conversion of palm oil into biogasoline and kerosene using the hydrocracking process at different temperatures (150, 250, and 350°C). The resulting catalytic hydrocracking is liquid biofuels, which is analyzed using GC–MC to determine its fractions: biogasoline (C5–C10) and kerosine (C11–C16). The optimum condition of catalytic hydrocracking was obtained at a temperature of 150°C resulting in two primary fractions classified into biogasoline (37.83%) consisting of n-nonane (C9) and 1-heptene (C7) and kerosine (61.34%) consisting of three primary fractions, n-pentadecane (C15), hexadecene (C16), and 1-undecene (C11). The result of this study proved that the NiMoO4/activated carbon catalyst plays an important role in catalytic hydrocracking and becomes a promising alternative catalyst for the preparation of biofuels.
Thermal, mechanical and dielectric properties of glass fiber reinforced epoxy-lanthanum manganite nanocomposites
Authors: Paul Chiriyankandath Preseetha , Varghese Soney
Published: January 2023

The mechanical, thermal and dielectric properties of lanthanum manganite (LaMnO3) epoxy nanocomposites reinforced with silane coated E-glass fiber are reported. Structural and morphological characteristics of the LaMnO3, synthesized by the solution combustion method, were studied via X-ray diffraction, EDAX and scanning electron microscopy. LaMnO3/epoxy composites containing various percentages of LaMnO3 (LME) were prepared via hand lay-up method and tested for tensile, flexural and impact strength. Improved properties were obtained with the addition of LME compared to plain epoxy composites. The thermal stability of the composites remains almost unaltered by the filler loading. Variation in the dielectric characteristics with filler loading is attributed to the percolation of charge carriers due to the interfacial zonal overlapping in the nanocomposite resulting in a change of the dielectric characteristics.
The Information Seeking Behaviors and Needs of Suicide Survivors During Bereavement
Authors: Zimmerman Margaret Sullivan
Published: January 2023

The suicide of one person impacts 60 people, known as suicide survivors. These survivors are at an increased risk for negative mental health outcomes including PTSD, suicidal ideation, and suicide contagion. Despite these consequences, there have not been any information science studies that have explored the information behaviors of people who have recently survived the suicide of a loved one. This article takes a unique approach in combining autoethnography with traditional survey research. One hundred and ninteen participants sourced from a private Facebook suicide bereavement group responded to a survey asking them about their information-seeking after a loved one committed suicide. The qualitative data were fragmented and grouped into like-responses and thematic codes that gave explanation to the research questions. These results are coupled with the author’s ethnographic recounting of a similar experience. Brenda Dervin’s sense-making is employed as the methodological lens through which the study is conducted. It is found that suicide survivors are highly unlikely to have their informational needs met. In the immediate aftermath of their loss, they are most likely to look for information related to the suffering of the deceased. As time passes, they begin to look for information about coping with their loss and preventing suicide of other people; either those close to them or in a larger community scale. Being a survivor motivated many participants to advocacy work. Finally, the author argues that the findings of this article should compel further research and the creation of information policy to aid survivors and prevent suicide contagion.
Compactness Principles for Topological Vector Spaces
Authors: Robdera Mangatiana A.
Published: January 2023

We show that the many of the canonical quantifications of interrelated concepts, centered around compactness in the setting of metric spaces, can be easily generalized to the setting of topological linear spaces. Among other things, we obtain a generalization of the Hausdorff Total Boundedness Principle, of the Grothendieck Compactness Principle, as well as of the Convex Compactness Principle for topological vector spaces.
Partnership Impact on Production and Income of Indonesia Rubber Farmers
Authors: Priyadi Yussy Faiz Aulia , Soliha Hani Evita , Saito Yoko
Published: January 2023

In Indonesia, many rubber farmers carry out partnership-based cooperation. Obviously, this activity gives benefits and impact for both parties. Regarding this idea, this research aimed to determine a partnership pattern found in rubber farmers, partnership impact on the production of rubber farmers in Indonesia, and partnership impact on rubber farmers’ income in Indonesia. The study used descriptive and analytical methods. Meanwhile, to determine the problems related to the partnership impact on production and income, the researchers used an independent t-test. However, owing to abnormalities in the test, this study used the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The result showed that the partnership pattern of rubber farmers in Indonesia was the KOA pattern. In terms of partnership impact on production, there was no significant difference between the production of non-partnered and partnered rubber farmers. Meanwhile, the income measure had a small difference between the two respondent farmers. Following this, rubber farmers should make partnerships due to high profits compared to non-partnership farmers. The bargaining power of farmers is better when they are in a cooperative system, so the price offered is better. This also makes the government’s program successful related to the partnership recommendation by farmers.
Proceso de machine learning para determinar la demanda social de puestos de empleo de profesionales de TI
Authors: Mamani Rodriguez Zoraida
Published: January 2023

Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence that uses scientific computing, mathematics and statistics through automated techniques to solve problems based on classification, regression and clustering. Social demand refers to the need for service and product of the professional training process, expressed by interest groups, aimed at contributing to national development, as established by the quality assurance policy of university higher education and national licensing and accreditation models. In this context, this paper conducts research based on job positions of IT professionals posted n web portals, designs a machine learning process with an unsupervised approach, extracts occupational profiles, designs a multidimensional model, applies k-means clustering when determining clusters of job positions by similarity, and reports the results obtained.
THE LEGEND OF THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN IN THE LATE 17TH CENTURY VAZHE MANUSCRIPT
Authors: Semiachko Svetlana
Published: January 2023

The article is devoted to the first appearance of the Pied Piper of Hamelin legend in the Russian literary tradition. The text of the legend was found in the 1694 manuscript from Vazhe Lake and is now kept in the State Historical Museum (State Historical Museum. Museum collection. No. 2846). The complex structure of this text shows that it went through several stages before it became a part of the collection. The original source of the legend in this manuscript is a Saxon chronicle of the middle — third quarter of the 16th century. Then it was included in a work (or perhaps a message) by a certain “Arnold Frentaggij” (1580), which was translated into Russian along with this text. Between the initial text and Arnold's message, an oral version of the legend was in circulation over a period of time, when its plausibility was questioned and when the plot could have undergone a transformation. During the translation process, changes could have occurred if the translator was not particularly well-acquainted with the vocabulary of the original language. As a result, the exact date of the incident in Hamelin disappeared from the legend, and the rat-catcher turned from a flutist into a tympanum player. This version of the plot, which seems unique, did not receive further development after ending up in the Vazhе Lake area, in the wilderness of the Karelian forests. The author of the article reproduced the text of the legend according to the No. 2846 manuscript, offered a decipherment of the scribe's record with his name, articulated certain thoughts about the point of departure of the person who came to Vazhe Lake, and formulated a number of questions regarding the subsequent study of the discovered text.
THE TALE OF TSAR SIMEON BEKBULATOVICH IN THE LIFE OF ST. EPHRAIM OF TORZHOK
Authors: Galasheva Tatiana
Published: January 2023

The list of miracles of St. Ephraimof Torzhok in the Extensive redaction of his Life begins with “TheTale of Tsar Simeon,” unknown in the earlier Brief redaction of the Life. The heroes of the Tale are Tsar Simeon Bekbulatovich and Archimandrite of the Novotorzhsky Borisoglebsky Monastery Misail, the alleged author of the Brief redaction. The miracle belongs to the genre of visions, uncharacteristic for the body of texts about St. Ephraimof Torzhok. The article raises several questions: 1) how is the story about Simeon Bekbulatovich constructed; 2) what function does the recourse of the text to the genre of visions perform; 3) what are the possibilities of real commentary on the text. The Tale is an example of an oral story about the times of Ivan the Terrible, preserved in the monastery. The text of the miracle forms the legendary “Kazan” biography of the Kasimov Tsar, where his adoption of Christianity is the central event. The vision of Archimandrite Misail, in which Ephraim complains about the damage to his relics, is the first description of the saint not from the viewpoint of his ancient history, dating back to the time of Boris and Gleb, but from the viewpoint of his proximity to and accessibility for the inhabitants of Torzhok. The question of the wooden shrine and other gifts of Tsar Simeon cannot be resolved with sufficient clarity at the present time. In the appendix to the article, “The Tale of Tsar Simeon” is published according to the early (First) version of the Extensive redaction.
Fashion requirements influencing sensorial and thermal comfort of clothing
Authors: Hes Lubos , Unmar Roshan , Iranah Sabrina Ramsamy
Published: January 2023

Fashion experts when designing new clothing firstly focus their attention on design, style, colours and fit of the product, and then they have to consider structure and materials of the developed garment. However, all these components of the garment design, namely the fabric structure, composition and finishing will influence the sensorial and thermal comfort of clothing. In the paper, selected parameters of clothing comfort, namely fabric drape, friction coefficient and thermal & evaporation resistance as well as special methods of their testing are shortly described, and the possible effect of these paramaters on clothing design is outlined.
Providing Low-Income Women With a Manual Pump: A Pilot Study
Authors: Hoyt-Austin Adrienne E. , Cheng Jessica H. , Moua Hana , Tancredi Daniel J. , Chantry Caroline J. , Kair Laura R.
Published: January 2023

OBJECTIVES

Low-income, first-time mothers generally breastfeed exclusively and, overall, for a shorter average duration than high-income, multiparous mothers. A potential barrier to breastfeeding success is access to a breast pump for home use. In this pilot study, we estimated the effect of providing a manual breast pump during birth hospitalization for home use on any/exclusive breastfeeding and investigated participant attitudes about manual pumps and their breastfeeding experiences.

METHODS

Sixty low-income, first-time mothers were enrolled in a pilot randomized controlled trial. One-half received a manual breast pump and the other half received an attention control. Breastfeeding exclusivity, duration, and use of the manual pump were assessed at 6 and 12 weeks. Qualitative interviews regarding the breastfeeding experience were completed. Thirty-one women answered 13 questions that were then transcribed, coded, and grouped into themes.

RESULTS

Participants who were randomized to manual breast pump receipt during birth hospitalization had increased manual pump use at 6 weeks (13/19 [68%] versus controls 5/17 [29%]), there was no effect of pump receipt on any nor exclusive breastfeeding at 12 weeks. In qualitative analysis of the overall breastfeeding experience, participants expressed a need for additional support and had conflicting attitudes regarding breastfeeding and the pumping experience.

CONCLUSIONS

Manual breast pump receipt in hospital among low-income, first-time mothers did not affect breastfeeding exclusivity or duration. Participants reported that early and ongoing lactation support is essential. Strategies to improve breastfeeding outcomes low-income, first-time mothers are needed.