bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Photonic Armstrong method enabled by direct detection for wideband electrical PM generation
Authors: Ishimura Shota , Kao Hsuan-Yun , Tanaka Kazuki , Nishimura Kosuke , Inohara Ryo , Tsuritani Takehiro , Suzuki Masatoshi
Published: January 2021

Wideband signal generation using frequency/phase modulation (FM/PM) is the key fundamental function for various applications such as radar and analog communication systems. It is well known that analog FM/PM communication systems can dramatically improve signal quality by spectral expansion. In classical communication theories, the Armstrong indirect method is one of the most popular methods for bandwidth expansion of FM signals. In the Armstrong method, a narrowband signal is converted to a broadband signal with the help of a nonlinear frequency multiplier. In this paper, we propose a photonic Armstrong method enabled by direct detection. By utilizing the nonlinearity caused by direct detection, we can increase bandwidth so that it is double that of the original signal in the photonic Armstrong method. Also, it completely eliminates signal-to-signal beat interference (SSBI) at the same time. We conducted an experiment to verify the concept and confirmed these advantages experimentally.
One-month recovery profile and prevalence and predictors of quality of recovery after painful day case surgery: Secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Stessel Björn , Hendrickx Maarten , Pelckmans Caroline , De Wachter Gerrit , Appeltans Bart , Braeken Geert , Herbots Jeroen , Joosten Elbert , Van de Velde Marc , Buhre Wolfgang F. F. A.
Published: January 2021

Background/Objectives

This study aimed to study one-month recovery profile and to identify predictors of Quality of Recovery (QOR) after painful day surgery and investigate the influence of pain therapy on QOR.

Methods/Design

This is a secondary analysis of a single-centre, randomised controlled trial of 200 patients undergoing ambulatory haemorrhoid surgery, arthroscopic shoulder or knee surgery, or inguinal hernia repair between January 2016 and March 2017. Primary endpoints were one-month recovery profile and prevalence of poor/good QOR measured by the Functional Recovery Index (FRI), the Global Surgical Recovery index and the EuroQol questionnaire at postoperative day (POD) 1 to 4, 7, 14 and 28. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to determine predictors of QOR at POD 7, 14, and 28. Differences in QOR between pain treatment groups were analysed using the Mann-Whitney U test.

Results

Four weeks after haemorrhoid surgery, inguinal hernia repair, arthroscopic knee and arthroscopic shoulder surgery, good QOR was present in 71%, 76%, 57% and 24% respectively. Poor QOR was present in 5%, 0%, 7% and 29%, respectively. At POD 7 and POD 28, predictors for poor/intermediate QOR were type of surgery and a high postoperative pain level at POD 4. Male gender was another predictor at POD 7. Female gender and having a paid job were also predictors at POD 28. Type of surgery and long term fear of surgery were predictors at POD 14. No significant differences in total FRI scores were found between the two different pain treatment groups.

Conclusions

The present study shows a procedure-specific variation in recovery profile in the 4-week period after painful day surgery. The best predictors for short-term (POD 7) and long-term (POD 28) poor/intermediate QOR were a high postoperative pain level at POD 4 and type of surgery. Different pain treatment regimens did not result in differences in recovery profile.

Trial registration

European Union Clinical Trials Register 2015-003987-35.
The inclusion of black cumin meal improves the carcass characteristics of growing Awassi lambs
Authors: Obeidat Belal S.
Published: January 2021

Background and Aim: Black cumin meal (BCM) is the principal by-product that can be obtained from black cumin seed (Nigella sativa L) after the oil is removed from the fruit and represents 70-75% of the fruit weight. The aim of this experiment was to assess the influence of feeding BCM on the carcass characteristics and meat quality of growing lambs.

Materials and Methods: Twenty-four Awassi lambs were randomly divided into two dietary treatments. The lambs were penned individually in single pens and provided access to ad libitum feed and water. The dietary treatments were no BCM (control [CON]; n=12) or 150 g BCM/kg (BCM 150; n=12) of dietary dry matter.

Results: Lambs fed BCM had greater (p≤0.01) fasting live BW, and hot and cold carcass weights. Leg fat and eye muscle depth were lower (p≤0.05) in CON versus BCM lambs. Meat whiteness (L*), redness (a*), and yellowness did not differ between lambs fed the two diets.

Conclusion: The inclusion of BCM improves lamb carcass characteristics, but does not affect lamb meat quality.
Kaméleonok a tárgyalóasztalnál - A viselkedés stratégiai célú utánzásának hatása a tárgyalás eredményességére (Chameleons at the barganing table)
Authors: Sipos Tünde
Published: January 2021

A tanulmány a rapport (összhang) jelenségét járja körül, bemutatva, hogyan, milyen feltételek mellett épül ki természetes módon, milyen előnyöket jelentett az evolúció folyamán, és milyen hasznot jelenthet napjainkban a tárgyalások során a partnerek számára. Rámutat arra is, hogy az összhang „mesterséges úton” is létrehozható, az interakciós partner viselkedésének tudatos utánzása által. A tudatos utánzás során az összhang valamennyi előnye megmarad a felek számára, és az utánzó fél úgy jut többletnyereséghez, hogy partnere nyereségét is növeli. A tanulmány elsősorban olyan szociálpszichológiai kísérleteket mutat be, amelyek tárgyalási szituációkra épülnek, és amelyekből hasznos gyakorlati következtetések vonhatók le a mindennapi tárgyalásokra vonatkozóan. ________ The benefit of the strategic behavioral mimicry on the efficiency of the negotiation. The paper focuses on the phenomenon of „rapport”, examining how and under what conditions it developes in a natural way, what benefits it had during the course of human evolution and what advantages it can hold nowadays for negotiating parties. The paper also points out that rapport can be established in an „artificial way”, by conscious imitation the behavior of interaction partners. During this conscious behavioral mimicry, all benefits of the rapport are reserved for the parties where the mimicking party gains extra benefits while increasing the benefits of the other party as well. The study presents certain social psychological experiments built around bargaining situations where useful practical conclusions can be drawn for everyday negotiating practices.
Paranormal Maturation: Uncanny Teenagers and Canny Killers
Authors: Dean-Ruzicka Rachel
Published: January 2021

This chapter examines the trope of uncanny teens using extraordinary abilities to track and stop serial killers. Using the framework of Freud’s concept of the uncanny, it unpacks the ways these teens use supernatural skills to “do what the adults cannot: identify and track a serial killer,” leading to atypical forms of maturation. The essay establishes how these teens often operate outside the law and outside conventional understandings of relationships to themselves and other people, creating a more complex, uncanny version of coming-of-age for readers to grapple with in this sub-genre.
New Heroines in Old Skins: Fairy Tale Revisions in Young Adult Dystopian Literature
Authors: Coste Jill
Published: January 2021

This chapter examines three Sleeping Beauty retellings to illustrate the way dystopian scenarios complicate traditional fairy tale tropes. Dystopian literature and fairy tale retellings often feature elements of embodiment, romance, and political activism, and this chapter uses these key notions to consider how the dystopian fairy tale deploys feminist empowerment. While YA dystopian fairy tales often highlight collective action and social activism to resist the status quo, others reproduce troubling representations of passive heroines. This chapter argues that the dystopian YA fairy tale is uniquely primed to address the potential and power of contemporary young women.
Marjorie Baroni, Adult Education, and the Mississippi Catholic Church
Authors: Folwell Emma J.
Published: January 2021

Chapter two explores the range of white responses to the war on poverty, focusing on the role of the Mississippi Catholic Church in supporting a state-wide job training program. It also tells the story of Marjorie Baroni, a white Catholic from Natchez, Mississippi who played a role in forging a biracial war on poverty in her local community. Baroni’s role illustrates not only the way in which the war on poverty provided opportunities for integration but also for women. Not simply through the “professionalization” of maternalism but also in roles as co-ordinators, administrators, and program directors. Following the creation of STAR—Strategic Training and Redevelopment—this chapter exposes the ways in which religious activism interacted with federally funded antipoverty efforts, from the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson to the Delta Ministry.
Chicana Teens, Zines, and Poetry Scenes: Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero
Authors: Ellis Amanda
Published: January 2021

This chapter reads closely Isabel Quintero’s 2014 young adult novel Gabi, A Girl in Pieces. Quintero’s novel, which takes the form of a year’s worth of diary entries, and includes an illustrated copy of the titular character’s zine on female body diversity, narrates the story of a young Chicana outsider’s senior year of high school. In lieu of “fitting in” Gabi the teenage poet pens her way out of loss, homophobia, lurking sexual violence, grief, and depression. Gabi, A Girl in Pieces reveals that the creation of political art, the practice of writing, and the role of Chicana poetics can serve as vital creative outlets for Chicana outsiders, be they nerds, goths, geeks, or freaks.
Praxis of Refusal: Self-Fashioning Identity and Throwing Attitude in Pérez’s The First Rule of Punk
Authors: Terrones Lettycia
Published: January 2021

Teresa Covarrubias’s performance at Plaza de la Raza in Lincoln Heights epitomizes the act of refusing that which has been refused to you. Covarrubias invites all the other misfits, all the other “kids like me,” to not capitulate to a gaze that would otherwise define and confine possibilities for Chicanx youth expression. María Luisa O’Neill-Morales (Malú,) the narrator of Celia C. Pérez’s The First Rule of Punk, finds affinity in the figure of Teresa Covarrubias. Malú’s interrogation of her complex bicultural heritage, and her eventual self-fashioning of an integrated identity activates the punk rock ethos to refuse agents of assimilation. This chapter explores how Pérez’s narrative holds up a mirror to all the weirdo outsiders, all the underrepresented youth who are also refused. This chapter argues how Pérez’s project, like Covarrubias’s, models acts of positive refusal that while acknowledging the delimiting systems that seek to shape Malú, also exemplifies through Malú’s agency how Chicanx youth create spaces wide enough to carry all their truths.
What Can We Learn from Cool Cats? Chillante Pedagogy, Gary Soto, and the Chato Series
Authors: Avilés Elena
Published: January 2021

In the face of ongoing stereotypes about barrio subjects, Gary Soto offers a decolonial and counter-narrative about cool cats from East Los Angeles that amplifies notions of intersectional identities and notions of gender roles. This chapter offers an analysis of Chato’s Kitchen (1995), Chato and the Party Animals (2000), and Chato goes Crusin’ (2005) through a decolonial and intersectional lens, bringing to the forefront stories, images, and representations of non-choloos as outliers of barrio communities. The representation of Chicano subjects as non-cholos while being cool cats manifests intersectional identities that teach children about the diversity of barrio life, especially for young brown boys.
Albert Dent and the Free Southern Theater: Intergenerational Civil Rights Cooperatives and the Fight Against Racialized Economic Inequality
Authors: Gessler Anne
Published: January 2021

Chapter four follows African American activists generational shift away from black-run Rochdale businesses toward racial justice cooperatives that experimented with communist rhetoric, non-hierarchical collective structures, and African diasporic spiritual and aesthetic practices. Between the 1930s and 1940s, Albert Dent fused southern civil rights activism and global cooperative philosophy to create the Flint-Goodridge Hospital insurance cooperative and public health plan for black patients. Collaborating with white southern New Deal liberals allowed Dent to implement black economic justice and self-advocacy at the city and state level. Between the 1960s and 1980s, writer and playwright Tom Dent incorporated his father’s coalitional strategies into the leftist Free Southern Theater Collective’s cooperative vision. While based in black Ninth Ward and Central City neighborhoods, it worked with local and national antipoverty officials and non-profit organizations to expand a southern network of theatrical, producer, and consumer cooperatives empowering impoverished African Americans without replicating capitalism’s abuses.
The Monstrous Portrayal of the Maternal Bolivian Chola in Contemporary Comics
Authors: Murillo Marcela
Published: January 2021

This chapter reads three contemporary Bolivian comics with the goal of analyzing their representations of indigenous Aymara or Quechua (chola) mothers. The author of this chapter demonstrates how normative Bolivian discourses of maternity frame cholas as grotesque but, how recent changes in government policies and in economic conditions, have empowered chola women and have resulted in changes in how they are represented in social arenas such as theater. In light of such shifts, this chapter asks whether comics too have evolved beyond monstrous representations of chola maternity.
On the Edge of 1990s Japan: Kyoko Okazaki and the Horror of Adolescence
Authors: Chen Novia Shih-Shan , Ogawa Sho
Published: January 2021

This chapter presents a study of the social struggles around female sexuality in the context of the economical struggles of 1990s Japan, as observable in one manga writer’s career. Okazaki was critical of the monstrous way young women were being portrayed in the 1980s–1990s. Her unconventional work in cutting-edge hentai, ladies comics, and subcultural fashion magazine presented commodified women’s bodies in a nuanced way. She created manga in the midst of moral panic over adolescent women that leveled a subtle critique of structures around her while leading the way toward emergent, nomadic identities for young people on the ground in this pivotal decade in Japanese cultural and financial history.
Chinese Snake Woman Resurfaces in Comics: Considering the Case Study of Calabash Brothers
Authors: Zhang Jing
Published: January 2021

This chapter provides a study of a transgressive female figure from Chinese legend who may enjoy lasting popularity, but who also has a dubious moral standing when one examines her relationship to the eponymous young brothers. Snake Woman’s monstrous qualities are revived alongside the magical brothers as the proper counterpart to their superhuman feats in a Shanghai Animation Studio revival from 1986. This chapter shows this to be part of a history that reveals what Chinese culture holds to be both repugnant and appealing about a woman embedded in a children’s narrative.
Monochromatic Teats, Teeth, and Tentacles: Monstrous Visual Rhetoric in Stephen L. Stern and Christopher Steininger’s Beowulf: The Graphic Novel
Authors: Wigard Justin
Published: January 2021

This chapter studies the way the visual depiction of the monster Grendel’s mother changes in the shift from literary epic to comic book. Through a close study of visual rhetoric in her creaturely body, this chapter reveals the way the portrayal of the monster perpetuates the desire to see gender performed in traditional ways. What is ancient is run through a modern comic lens to reveal problematic contemporary bias towards normative ideals of gender, even as they are embodied by a monster.
A Camus for the Common Folk
Authors: Rouse Anderson
Published: January 2021

After World War II, Black writers and thinkers, from Richard Wright to bell hooks, influenced by French existentialists like Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Satre, adapted existentialism as a way to explain and respond to the African American experience. In his novels, Frank Yerby displays a sophisticated awareness of philosophical ideas, especially absurdism, and theological questions, despite his insistence that his novels could not be “reduce[ed] to a morality play” (Hill, “Interview,” 212). Yerby, in addition to using fiction to debunk historical myth, develops arguments about religion—that religion is invented “nonsense,” and, therefore, not worth killing or dying for, that God, if he exists, is cruel, careless, or distant, and that morality need not hew to an a priori standard. Yerby, then, responded to religious belief and voiced a philosophical response to human suffering (though, not particularly African American suffering) that was shaped by absurdist thought.
Ratatouille and Restaurants
Authors: Keeling Kara K. , Pollard Scott T.
Published: January 2021

This chapter uses scholarship on the post-revolutionary history of haute cuisine, French food, chefs, Parisian restaurants and kitchen culture, rats, and animal tales to envision Disney•Pixar’s Ratatouille
not as a sunny story of alterity leading necessarily to a more egalitarian and inclusive future. The vermin signifier and extermination paradigms motivate the action through most of the movie; although at the end they are absent at Remy’s restaurant of interspecies detente, the movie does not portray a universal revolution of “separate but equitable” social spaces. Outside the restaurant, there is no indication that the social structure which produced the oppression and violence throughout most of the film has changed. Instead, Remy’s bistro is a space for ethical inquiry to engage in possibilities, where, within its limited space, a Bakhtinian dialogic persists between humans and animals to explore ways to live in harmony.
Refugee Narratives, Cuisine Clash
Authors: Keeling Kara K. , Pollard Scott T.
Published: January 2021

Refugee Studies and Vietnamese Studies provide the theoretical concepts for understanding how food can be a primary signifier for the difficulties posed by forced migration in Thanhha Lai’s Inside Out & Back Again. The chapter also uses Vietnamese food and foodways and contemporary Vietnamese-American cookbooks to help explore the cultural clashes and assimilation difficulties of integrating into a foreign environment. Viet Thanh Nguyen claims that the ethical Vietnamese-American writer has the responsibility of writing beyond the conventional history of the Vietnam War and its aftermath known in the United States (tragic loss, grateful refugees, assimilating to American life as a “model minority”). Through food, Lai writes beyond that convention and complicates the experience of Vietnamese immigration, resulting in a transnational shift in identity: “adding on of identity, that effort to adjust” (Arthur Lam).
His Father’s Keeping
Authors: Lynch John Roy
Published: January 2021

This chapter discusses how John Roy Lynch, third son of Patrick Lynch and Catherine White, was born on Tacony plantation, Concordia Parish, state of Louisiana, on September 10, 1847. Patrick Lynch was a native of Dublin, Ireland. He came to America with his parents when he was very young. In company with an older brother, he went to the South, where he soon found employment as plantation manager for a wealthy planter who at that time was the owner of Tacony plantation. Before Patrick died, he selected his true and devoted friend William G. Deal, who was the business manager of a plantation near Tacony, as the one whose name should be substituted for his, in legal form at least, as the owner of his wife and children.
The War Came
Authors: Lynch John Roy
Published: January 2021

This chapter details John Roy Lynch's experience when the American Civil War came. Both Mr. and Mrs. Davis had the reputation of being kind to their slaves. It was under Mrs. Davis's tutelage and influence that Lynch became attached to the Protestant Episcopal church and he was to be confirmed and baptized on the bishop's next visit to Natchez, which was to be made the latter part of 1861. But the war broke out in the meantime, the blockade preventing the bishop from reaching Natchez. During and for a long time after the war, Lynch seldom attended services at an Episcopal church, but attended services quite regularly at the colored churches, which were Methodist and Baptist, there being no colored Episcopal church at Natchez. Since slavery had been abolished and Lynch had reached a more mature age, he did not take kindly to the idea of occupying a prescribed seat in a white church. Hence he did not become connected with the church of his youth and choice until late in life.
Confederate Looting
Authors: Lynch John Roy
Published: January 2021

This chapter focuses on John Roy Lynch's visit to Tacony plantation, the place of his birth, before seeking permanent employment. He went to the cabin of “Aunt Julia Ann” and her husband “Uncle Dump,” who were glad to see him and insisted that he remain with them at least a week. Lynch agreed to stay three days, which he afterwards had occasion to regret, for on the night of the third day the battle of Vidalia took place. The main body of the Confederate army was between Vidalia and Tacony. The Confederates had approached under cover of night and made a desperate attack upon the Union forces that were in possession of Vidalia. The battle continued for several hours when the Confederates were forced to retreat. But while the fighting was going on, a part of the Confederate troops were engaged in looting the quarters of Tacony plantation.
1881: Republican and Greenback Alliance
Authors: Lynch John Roy
Published: January 2021

This chapter highlights the 1881 election in Mississippi for governor and other state officers. What was known as the Greenback, or Populist, party had made some headway in the state, especially in the Second, or Holly Springs, Congressional District. It looked at that time as if that party would cut an important figure in the politics of the state. Believing that the Greenback party was strong enough to secure a fair election and an honest count in localities where it had an organized existence, it was suggested that the Republicans and Greenbackers form a fusion, the two parties to unite in the support of one state ticket. The suggestion was favorably received. However, it occurred to John Roy Lynch that the ticket would be very much stronger if they could find a liberal and conservative Democrat who would be willing to accept the nomination for governor. The man he had in mind at the time was State Senator Benjamin King of Copiah County.
McKinley Appointments: The Postal Service
Authors: Lynch John Roy
Published: January 2021

This chapter explores how, in about a week or ten days after President William McKinley had signed the letter addressed to the postmaster general with reference to fourth-class postmasters, John Roy Lynch received a message requesting him to call at the White House. When Lynch arrived, the president handed him a slate containing the names of six persons that had been tentatively agreed upon for six of the most important offices in the state. Three of the six, stated the president, were represented as belonging to what is known as the Lynch organization. He also stated that he would have James Hill call the next day so as to consult him about the other three. When all of the important appointments in the state of Mississippi had been made, it was found that both organizations had about an equal representation.
In Puerto Rico and San Francisco
Authors: Lynch John Roy
Published: January 2021

This chapter looks at how, after having spent about three years and six months at Omaha, Nebraska, John Roy Lynch was relieved from duty there and assigned to a station at San Francisco, California. He was to remain there only about six months and then proceed to the Philippine Islands for a tour of duty which was to cover a period of two years. But instead of remaining at San Francisco only about six months, Lynch remained there sixteen months. He had never been to California before. He was charmed with the country as soon as he saw it. It brought to his mind the beautiful island of Puerto Rico, which is one of the most attractive countries it has ever been his good fortune to visit. Lynch spent only about ten days at Puerto Rico while he was stationed on duty at Santiago, Cuba, in November of 1901. He was directed to go there to pay the troops then stationed on the island, for one month only, the paymaster that was stationed there being temporarily absent.
Iris metastasis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma misdiagnosed as primary angle-closure glaucoma: A case report and review of the literature
Authors: Li Zebing , Lin Zhongjing , Zhong Yisheng , Shen Xi
Published: January 2021

Background

Lymphoma with intraocular metastasis is an uncommon and serious disease. We describe a case of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) with iris metastasis. Meanwhile, we refer to published case reports retrieved via a PubMed search to summarize this rare disease.

Case presentation

Glaucoma and uveitis symptoms were found in the left eye of a 50-year-old woman upon admission to the hospital. After treatment and pathological examination, the iris of her left eye was diagnosed with DLBCL. Given the patient’s unfavorable treatment options in the local hospital, primary enucleation was offered as a therapeutic option.

Conclusions

Iris metastasis of systemic lymphoma is an extremely rare ophthalmic disease with poor prognosis. Ophthalmologists should be able to definitively and differentially diagnose eye symptoms and pay attention to systemic conditions to provide a series of optimized treatments.
Prognostic implication of elevated cardiac troponin I in patients visiting emergency department without diagnosis of coronary artery disease
Authors: Song Minseok , Kim Taerim , Kang Eun-Jin , Park Jong Eun , Park Soo Hyun , Cha Won Cul , Yoon Hee , Hwang Sung Yeon , Shin Tae Gun , Sim Min Seob , Jo IkJoon , Park Hyung-Doo , Choi Jin-Ho
Published: January 2021

Objectives

Elevated cardiac troponin is not uncommon in patients visiting emergency department (ED) even without coronary artery disease, but its prognostic implication is not well understood in such patients.

Methods

In this retrospective single-center registry, we investigated clinical outcome of patients visiting ED without documented coronary artery disease. Patients were categorized according to the maximal value of Siemens ADVIA Centaur TnI-Ultra assay (TnI) within 24 h after visit. Primary endpoint was 180-day all-cause death that included cardiac and non-cardiac death.

Results

A total of 35,205 patients with median age 61 years and male gender 54.7% were included. Below the lowest level of detection (LOD) (≤0.006 ng/mL), between LOD and assay-specific <99th percentile (0.007–0.039 ng/mL), below median of ≥99th percentile (0.040–0.149 ng/mL), and above median of ≥99th percentile (≥0.150 ng/mL) TnI were found in 18,502 (52.6%), 11,338 (32.2%), 3,029 (8.6%), and 2,336 (6.6%) patients. In the 180-day follow-up period, 4,341 (12.3%) all-cause death including 694 (2.0%) cardiovascular death and 3,647 (10.4%) non-cardiovascular death developed. The risks of all-cause, cardiovascular, and non-cardiovascular death increased across higher TnI strata (hazard ratio [HR]=1.3 to 2.4; 2.0 to 9.3; 1.3 to 1.7; p<0.001, all). Analyses of multivariate models showed consistent results.

Conclusions

In patients visiting ED, elevated TnI was associated with higher risk of 180-day cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular death. Patients with elevated TnI may need additional evaluation or careful follow-up even without primary diagnosis of coronary artery disease.
Performance of digital morphology analyzer Vision Pro on white blood cell differentials
Authors: Yoon Sumi , Hur Mina , Park Mikyoung , Kim Hanah , Kim Seung Wan , Lee Tae-Hwan , Nam Minjeong , Moon Hee-Won , Yun Yeo-Min
Published: January 2021

Objectives

Vision Pro (West Medica, Perchtoldsdorf, Austria) is a recently developed digital morphology analyzer. We evaluated the performance of Vision Pro on white blood cell (WBC) differentials.

Methods

In a total of 200 peripheral blood smear samples (100 normal and 100 abnormal samples), WBC preclassification and reclassification by Vision Pro were evaluated and compared with manual WBC count, according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines (H20-A2).

Results

The overall sensitivity was high for normal WBCs and nRBCs (80.1–98.0%). The overall specificity and overall efficiency were high for all cell classes (98.1–100.0% and 97.7–99.9%, respectively). The absolute values of mean differences between Vision Pro and manual count ranged from 0.01 to 1.31. In leukopenic samples, those values ranged from 0.09 to 2.01. For normal WBCs, Vision Pro preclassification and manual count showed moderate or high correlations (r=0.52–0.88) except for basophils (r=0.34); after reclassification, the correlation between Vision Pro and manual count was improved (r=0.36–0.90).

Conclusions

This is the first study that evaluated the performance of Vision Pro on WBC differentials. Vision Pro showed reliable analytical performance on WBC differentials with improvement after reclassification. Vision Pro could help improve laboratory workflow.
Resilience in Pandemic Time
Authors: Brett Christopher
Published: January 2021

Last time I wrote to you, we were finishing 2019, IUPAC’s centenary celebrations and the International Year of the Periodic Table of the Chemical Elements (IYPT). Since then, our world and how we related to it has changed dramatically. One year ago, we could not have imagined today’s reality. We are dealing with the consequences of a virus we knew little about and for which vaccines are starting to become available only now. The fact that the time for the development of vaccines has been shortened from several years to less than one year, is in itself the result of a huge scientific achievement; it involves interdisciplinary collaborations from microbiology to medicine, but also crucially underpinning chemistry. The pandemic has meant that our daily habits have changed, that we cannot travel or only with heavy restrictions, and that now we mostly meet on-line.
Challenges for Evaluation of the Safety of Engineered Nanomaterials
Authors: Johnston Linda J. , Gonzalez-Rojano Norma , Wilkinson Kevin J. , Xing Baoshan
Published: January 2021

Nanotechnology has developed rapidly in the last two decades with significant effort focused on the development of nano-enabled materials with new or improved properties that offer solutions for current world challenges. The commercialization of products containing engineered nanomaterials (ENM) has progressed much more rapidly than the development of practical approaches to ensure their safe and sustainable use. The lack of adequate detection and characterization techniques and reproducible and validated methods for toxicological studies have been identified as major limitations. The rapid development of ENM of increasing complexity and diversity and concerns over the adequacy of existing regulations also contribute to safety concerns with these materials. The full potential of nanotechnology can only be realized when feasible, cost-effective strategies to ensure a safe-by-design approach, effective risk assessment approaches and appropriate regulatory guidelines are in place.
Identification of novel cardiovascular disease associated metabolites using untargeted metabolomics
Authors: Tabrez Shams , Shait Mohammed Mohammed Razeeth , Jabir Nasimudeen R. , Khan Mohammad Imran
Published: January 2021

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality around the world. Early diagnosis of CVD could provide the opportunity for sensible management and better clinical outcome along with the prevention of further progression of the disease. In the current study, we used an untargeted metabolomic approach to identify possible metabolite(s) that associate well with the CVD and could serve either as therapeutic target or disease-associated metabolite. We identified 26 rationally adjusted unique metabolites that were differentially present in the serum of CVD patients compared with healthy individuals, among them 15 were found to be statistically significant. Out of these metabolites, we identified some novel metabolites like UDP-l-rhamnose and N1-acetylspermidine that have not been reported to be linked with CVD directly. Further, we also found that some metabolites like ethanolamide, solanidine, dimethylarginine, N-acetyl-l-tyrosine, can act as a discriminator of CVD. Metabolites integrating pathway enrichment analysis showed enrichment of various important metabolic pathways like histidine metabolism, methyl histidine metabolism, carnitine synthesis, along with arginine and proline metabolism in CVD patients. Our study provides a great opportunity to understand the pathophysiological role and impact of the identified unique metabolites and can be extrapolated as specific CVD specific metabolites.
Informationswissenschaft für Wissensmanager
Authors: Heisig Peter
Published: January 2021

Die Informationswissenschaften und das Wissensmanagement weisen zahlreiche Gemeinsamkeiten auf und Anknüpfungspunkte für gemeinsamen Forschungen. Praktiker des Wissensmanagements sollten die Forschungsergebnisse der Schwesterdisziplin eingehender studieren, um für Ihre Organisationspraxis relevante Ergebnisse berücksichtigen zu können. Es ist zu wünschen, dass durch einen gemeinsamen Forschungsdialog potenzielle Synergien für Forschung und Praxis zukünftig erschlossen werden.
Decentralized and parallel primal and dual accelerated methods for stochastic convex programming problems
Authors: Dvinskikh Darina , Gasnikov Alexander
Published: January 2021

We introduce primal and dual stochastic gradient oracle methods for decentralized convex optimization problems.
Both for primal and dual oracles, the proposed methods are optimal in terms of the number of communication steps.
However, for all classes of the objective, the optimality in terms of the number of oracle calls per node takes place only up to a logarithmic factor and the notion of smoothness.
By using mini-batching technique, we show that the proposed methods with stochastic oracle can be additionally parallelized at each node.
The considered algorithms can be applied to many data science problems and inverse problems.
Neonatal lupus erythematosus – practical guidelines
Authors: Derdulska Julia Marta , Rudnicka Lidia , Szykut-Badaczewska Agata , Mehrholz Dorota , Nowicki Roman J. , Barańska-Rybak Wioletta , Wilkowska Aleksandra
Published: January 2021

Background

Neonatal lupus erythematosus is an autoimmune disease acquired during fetal life as a result of transplacental passage of maternal anti-Sjögren’s-syndrome-related antigen A (anti-SSA/Ro), anti-Sjögren’s-syndrome-related antigen B (anti-SSB/La) or anti-U1 ribonucleoprotein (anti-U1-RNP) antinuclear autoantibodies.

Contents

Clinical manifestations include skin lesions, congenital heart block, hepatobiliary involvement and cytopenias. Most of the disorders disappear spontaneously after clearance of maternal antibodies. Cardiac symptoms, however, are not self-resolving and often pacemaker implantation is required. Diagnosis is based on clinical presentation and the presence of typical antibodies in the mother’s or infant’s serum.

Outlook

Neonatal lupus erythematosus may develop in children born to anti-SSA/Ro or anti-SSB/La women with various systemic connective tissue diseases. However, in half of the cases, the mother is asymptomatic, which may delay the diagnosis and have negative impact on the child’s prognosis. Testing for antinuclear antibodies should be considered in every pregnant woman since early treatment with hydroxychloroquine or intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) has proven to be effective in preventing congenital heart block.
Investigating peculiarities of piezoelectric detection methods for acoustic plate waves in material characterisation applications
Authors: Claes Leander , Schmiegel Hanna , Grünsteidl Clemens , Johannesmann Sarah , Webersen Manuel , Henning Bernd
Published: January 2021

Acoustic waves in plates have proven a viable tool for testing and material characterisation purposes. There are a multitude of options for excitation and detection of theses waves, such as optical and piezoelectric systems. While optical systems, with thermoelastic excitation and interferometric detection, have the benefit of being contactless, they usually require rather complex and expensive experimental setups. Piezoelectric systems are more easily realised but require direct contact with the specimen and usually have a limited bandwidth, especially in case of piezoelectric excitation. In this work, the authors compare the properties of piezoelectric and optical detection methods for broad-band acoustic signals. The shape (e. g. the displacement) of a propagating plate wave is given by its frequency and wave number, allowing to investigate correlations between mode shapes and received signal strengths. This is aided by evaluations in normalised frequency and wavenumber space, facilitating comparisons of different specimens. Further, the authors explore possibilities to utilise the specific properties of the detection methods to determine acoustic material parameters.
Low-Cost Electroencephalography Device for Use in Biophysics Teaching
Authors: Škraňková Ivana , Šlégr Jan
Published: January 2021

This paper describes the possibilities of supporting the teaching of neural tissue biology and biophysics through experiments with a simple, commonly available electroencephalography headset. Data are transmitted over a Bluetooth virtual serial port and can be analyzed in several ways by students or used solely as a potential motivational factor for teaching otherwise challenging and abstract curriculum about the human brain.
Easing Into Open Science: A Guide for Graduate Students and Their Advisors
Authors: Kathawalla Ummul-Kiram , Silverstein Priya , Syed Moin
Published: January 2021

This article provides a roadmap to assist graduate students and their advisors to engage in open science practices. We suggest eight open science practices that novice graduate students could begin adopting today. The topics we cover include journal clubs, project workflow, preprints, reproducible code, data sharing, transparent writing, preregistration, and registered reports. To address concerns about not knowing how to engage in open science practices, we provide a difficulty rating of each behavior (easy, medium, difficult), present them in order of suggested adoption, and follow the format of what, why, how, and worries. We give graduate students ideas on how to approach conversations with their advisors/collaborators, ideas on how to integrate open science practices within the graduate school framework, and specific resources on how to engage with each behavior. We emphasize that engaging in open science behaviors need not be an all or nothing approach, but rather graduate students can engage with any number of the behaviors outlined.
МОРФОБІОМЕХАНІЧНІ ОСОБЛИВОСТІ СТУДЕНТОК З РІЗНИМ ТИПОМ ТІЛОБУДОВИ
Authors: Альошина Алла , Матійчук Вікторія , Остап’як Зіновій
Published: January 2021

Мета. Визначити морфобіомеханічні особливості студенток 17–18 років різних типів тілобудови. Для розв’язання поставлених завдань використовувався комплекс наступних методів: теоретичні, емпіричні, статистичні. Методи. У дослідженні прийняла участь 121 студентка. Соматотипвизначали за індексом Пінє. В процесі антропометричного обстеження визначали обводи різних біоланок тіла, вагу та довжину тіла. Для вимірювання кутів, що характеризують біогеометричний профіль постави (1 – кута нахилу голови, утвореного вертикаллю та лінією, що з’єднує остистий відросток сьомого шийного хребця С7 і ЦМ голови; 2 – кута зору, утвореного горизонталлю та лінією, що з’єднує найбільш виступаючу частину лобної кістки та підборідний виступ; 3 – кута нахилу тулуба, утвореного вертикаллю та лінією, що з’єднує остистий відросток сьомого шийного хребця (С7) застосовували гоніометрію, а фотограми обробляли із використанням компютерної програми “Тоrsо”.Результати. Встановлено що студентки, які прийняли участь у дослідженні мають наступний типи тілобудови: 64 – мезоморфний, 35 – ектоморфний та 22 особи – ендоморфний соматитип. Студентки ектоморфного соматотипу мають найбільші показники довжини, а представниці ендоморфного типу тіло будови ваги тіла. Щодо величини обводів різних біоланок тіла, то вони у студенток мезоморфного соматотипу, в порівнянні з особами інших типів тіло будови, є найбільшими. У результаті проведеного дослідження вивчено особливості просторової організації тіла у студенток 17–18 років з різним соматотипом, зокрема, визначено кутові характеристики біогеометричного профілю постави. Проведені дослідження дозволили створити антропометричні моделі студенток 17-18 років. Висновок. Тіло будова має виражені статеві, вікові та індивідуальні особливості, а тому із системних позицій може розглядатись як взаємозалежна та взаємозумовлена сукупність морфо-функціональних компонентів тіла людини.Ключові слова: студентки, морфобіомеханічні особливості, тілобудова, корекція, кутові характеристики.
ЗАДОВОЛЕНІСТЬ ЖИТТЯМ ТА РОЛЬ ПСИХОФІЗИЧНИХ КОМПОНЕНТІВ У ЯКОСТІ ЖИТТЯ ЛЮДЕЙ ПОХИЛОГО ВІКУ
Authors: Гакман Анна , Дудіцька Світлана , Вілігорський Олександр
Published: January 2021

Мета. Встановити співвідношення факторів, що впливають на задоволеність життям та роль фізичних і психологічних компонентів у якості життя людей похилого віку. Методи. У процесі дослідження використовували теоретичний аналіз та узагальнення науково-методичної літератури;педагогічні спостереження, методику визначення “Індексу життєвої задоволеності” (Live Satisfaction Index) Б. Ньюгартена (в модифікації Н. Паніної), методику “Шкала задоволеності життям” Е. Дінера, методику визначення якості життя “SF 36”, методи математичної статистики. В опитуванні бралиучасть 504 особи віком 60–65 років, з яких 317 жінок та 187 чоловіків (непрацюючі пенсіонери).   Результати. Встановлено, що більшість опитуваних (69,2% жінок та 63,7% чоловіків) мають низький рівень задоволеності життям. Середній рівень задоволеності життям виявлено у 23,08% респондентівжіночої статі та у 25,8% чоловіків. Лише 7,7% опитуваних жінок та 10,5% чоловіків мають високий рівень індексу задоволеності життям. Більшість жінок (75,1%) з низьким індексом вважають, що їх індекс задоволеності життям обумовлений фактором “позитивна оцінка себе і своїх вчинків”, а у62,6%) чоловіків – фактором “інтерес до життя”. Однак, такі фактори як послідовність у досягненні цілей та узгодженість між поставленими та досягнутими цілями виявилися найвагомішими серед осіб з високим рівнем задоволеності життям. Згідно нашого соціологічного опитування, у більшості осіб похилого віку спостерігається низький рівень якості життя як за фізичними, так і психологічними ком- понентами. Висновок. У результаті проведеного дослідження встановлено, що більшість осіб похилого віку мають низький індекс задоволеності життям. За показниками “Шкали задоволеності життям” (SWLS) Е. Дінера жінки і чоловіки теж характеризуються низьким рівнем задоволеності життям. Вище середнього рівня задоволеності життям мають 11,4% жінок та 10,2% чоловіків, середній – відповідно 5,4% та 9,1% і високий – 3,8% та 7,5%. За даними соціологічного опитування (методика SF-36), у більшості жінок і чоловіків похилого віку встановлено низький рівень якості життя. При цьому,низькі показники характерні як для фізичного, так і психологічного компонентів здоров’я.Ключові слова: похилий вік, якість життя, задоволеність життям, фізичний і психологічний компоненти.
Presentación signo distintivo grupo de estudio GECON
Authors: Lindey Angélica Gómez Suárez , Angie Yusbley Mancera Pardo , Jessica Ariza
Published: January 2021

Este documento da cuenta de la Presentación del signo distintivo del grupo de estudio GECON
Presentación Signo Distintivo del Semillero de Investigación Filoinfancia
Authors: Jennifer Vega Barbosa , Laura Lorena Araujo Medina , Héctor Rafael Castellanos Triviño , William Peñaranda Zárate , Daniel Alejandro Contreras Castro
Published: January 2021

El presente documento da cuenta de la Presentación Signo Distintivo del Semillero de Investigación Filoinfancia
La escritura política y social en 'Ancia' y 'Pido la paz y la palabra' de Blas de Otero
Authors: Kouassi Kouassi Mathieu
Published: January 2021

Este artículo pone de relieve la problemática social y política de la sociedad española bajo el franquismo a través de la poesía de Blas de Otero. En Ancia y Pido la paz y la palabra, cabe observar cómo Otero, poeta social y marxista, comprometido con la paz y la justicia social, se hace eco de la ruina, la miseria, la represión política y las injusticias sociales vigentes en la España franquista, que desembocaron en el exilio de numerosos españoles.
Synthesis and properties of dehydroabietyl glycidyl ether grafted hydroxypropyl chitosan
Authors: Guo Wei , Cai Zhaosheng , Xu Qi , Sun Kaiyong , Huang Xujuan , Cao Zhi
Published: January 2021

A nonionic surfactant based on chitosan and rosin, i.e. dehydroabietyl glycidyl ether grafted hydroxypropyl chitosan (DAGE-g-HPCS), was synthesized for the first time through reaction between hydroxypropyl chitosan (HPCS) and dehydroabietyl glycidyl ether (DAGE). The surface activities of DAGE-g-HPCS in aqueous solution were investigated via determination of surface tension, and its emulsifying ability was evaluated according to the stability time of emulsion composed of benzene-water with DAGE-g-HPCS as emulsifier; the foam stability was evaluated using the oscillation method. Through modulating the molecular weight of HPCS and the grafting degree (DG) of DAGE-g-HPCS, the emulsion stability and foam stability were surprisingly controllable. Compared to HPCS and specific emulsifier, the stability time of emulsion composed of benzene-water with DAGE-g-HPCS showed a remarkable performance with DG of 16.5% as the emulsifier was 7320 s, and the foam retention of DAGE-g-HPCS with 2.0 g·L-1 was 91.5%. Simultaneously, the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of DAGE-g-HPCS decreased with increased DG, while the emulsifying ability and foam stability exhibited opposite trend. The CMC, emulsifying ability, and foam stability of DAGE-g-HPCS increased with decreased HPCS molecular weight. These results demonstrated that the DAGE-g-HPCS was an excellent surfactant that should be considered as a promising substitute for petrochemical nonionic surfactant.