bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Clinopyroxene diversity and magma plumbing system processes in an accreted Pacific ocean island, Panama
Authors: Molendijk Sander M. , Buchs David M. , Mason Paul R. D. , Blundy Jonathan D.
Published: February 2022

Characterising equilibrium and disequilibrium crystal-melt processes is critical in determining the extent of magma mixing and crystallization conditions in the roots of volcanoes. However, these processes remain poorly investigated in most Pacific intraplate ocean settings that are difficult to access and study. To help address this issue, we investigated crystallization conditions of clinopyroxene phenocrysts in an accreted Palaeogene oceanic island in Panama. Petrographic and geochemical observations, petrological modelling of major and trace elements, and liquid-mineral multicomponent equilibrium tests were carried out using basalts, picrites, and hawaiites of the transitional tholeiitic shield to alkaline post-shield volcanic stages of the island. Five types of clinopyroxene crystals were identified, including (1) microphenocrysts with micron-scale oscillatory zoning, (2) primitive, yet resorbed picrite-hosted phenocrysts, (3) chemically homogeneous, anhedral crystals found in the remaining basalts, (4) Ti–rich euhedral hawaiite-hosted phenocrysts, and (5) evolved sector-zoned phenocrysts. Liquid-clinopyroxene multicomponent equilibrium tests in combination with textural analysis show that ~ 74% of the studied clinopyroxenes are in possible major element equilibrium with one of the available whole rock magma compositions, of which only 21% are equilibrated with their carrier liquid. To deconvolute clinopyroxene-melt pairings and determine plumbing system conditions, we combine rhyolite-MELTS modelling, geothermobarometry, and major- and trace-element equilibrium evaluations, limiting crystallization conditions to crustal levels (< 23 km depth). No migration of magmatic reservoirs to deeper levels is observed during the shield- to post-shield transition. These results suggest the occurrence of an extensive crystal mush system during the late shield to post-shield volcanic stages of this intraplate volcanic system, with both primitive and evolved crystallization domains sampled during eruptions.
Bedside and laboratory diagnostic testing in myasthenia
Authors: Yoganathan Katie , Stevenson Alexander , Tahir Awais , Sadler Ross , Radunovic Aleksandar , Malek Naveed
Published: February 2022

Myasthenia gravis (MG) and congenital myasthenic syndromes (CMS) are a group of disorders with a well characterised autoimmune or genetic and neurophysiological basis. We reviewed the literature from the last 20 years assessing the utility of various neurophysiological, immunological, provocative and genetic tests in MG and CMS. Diagnostic sensitivity of repetitive nerve stimulation test ranges between 14 and 94% and specificity between 73 and 100%; sensitivity of single-fibre EMG (SFEMG) test ranges between 64 and 100% and specificity between 22 and 100%; anti-acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibody sensitivity ranges from 13 to 97% and specificity ranges from 95 to 100%. Overall, SFEMG has the highest sensitivity while positive anti-AChR antibodies have the highest specificity. Newer testing strategies that have been investigated over the last couple of decades include ocular vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials, otoacoustic emissions and disease-specific circulating miRNAs in serum for autoimmune myasthenia, as well as next-generation sequencing for genetic testing of CMS. While there has been significant progress in developing newer testing strategies for diagnosing MG and CMS over the last couple of decades, more research is needed to assess the utility of these newer tools regarding their sensitivity and specificity.
More than just lipid balls: quantitative analysis of plastoglobule attributes and their stress-related responses
Authors: Arzac Miren I. , Fernández-Marín Beatriz , García-Plazaola José I.
Published: February 2022

Main conclusion

Plastoglobules are ubiquitous under non-stress conditions and their morphology, closely related to their composition, changes differently depending on the specific stress that the plant undergoes.

Plastoglobules are lipoprotein structures attached to thylakoid membranes, which participate in chloroplast metabolism and stress responses. Their structure contains a coating lipid monolayer and a hydrophobic core that differ in composition. Their function in chloroplasts has been studied focussing on their composition. However, we currently lack a comprehensive study that quantitatively evaluates the occurrence and morphology of plastoglobules. Following a literature search strategy, we quantified the main morphological attributes of plastoglobules from photosynthetic chloroplasts of more than 1000 TEM images published over the last 53 years, covering more than 100 taxa and 15 stress types. The analysis shows that plastoglobules under non-stress conditions are spherical, with an average diameter of 100–200 nm and cover less than 3% of the chloroplast cross-section area. This percentage rises under almost every type of stress, particularly in senescence. Interestingly, an apparent trade-off between increasing either the number or the diameter of plastoglobules governs this response. Our results show that plastoglobules are ubiquitous in chloroplasts of higher plants under non-stress conditions. Besides, provided the specific molecular composition of the core and coat of plastoglobules, we conclude that specific stress-related variation in plastoglobules attributes may allow inferring precise responses of the chloroplast metabolism.
A hands-on tutorial on network and topological neuroscience
Authors: Centeno Eduarda Gervini Zampieri , Moreni Giulia , Vriend Chris , Douw Linda , Santos Fernando Antônio Nóbrega
Published: February 2022

The brain is an extraordinarily complex system that facilitates the optimal integration of information from different regions to execute its functions. With the recent advances in technology, researchers can now collect enormous amounts of data from the brain using neuroimaging at different scales and from numerous modalities. With that comes the need for sophisticated tools for analysis. The field of network neuroscience has been trying to tackle these challenges, and graph theory has been one of its essential branches through the investigation of brain networks. Recently, topological data analysis has gained more attention as an alternative framework by providing a set of metrics that go beyond pairwise connections and offer improved robustness against noise. In this hands-on tutorial, our goal is to provide the computational tools to explore neuroimaging data using these frameworks and to facilitate their accessibility, data visualisation, and comprehension for newcomers to the field. We will start by giving a concise (and by no means complete) overview of the field to introduce the two frameworks and then explain how to compute both well-established and newer metrics on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. We use an open-source language (Python) and provide an accompanying publicly available Jupyter Notebook that uses the 1000 Functional Connectomes Project dataset. Moreover, we would like to highlight one part of our notebook dedicated to the realistic visualisation of high order interactions in brain networks. This pipeline provides three-dimensional (3-D) plots of pairwise and higher-order interactions projected in a brain atlas, a new feature tailor-made for network neuroscience.
Austria-based real-world data on bevacizumab in newly diagnosed epithelial ovarian cancer
Authors: Tsibulak Irina , Polterauer Stephan , Reinthaller Alexander , Schauer Christian , Berger Jürg , Marth Christian
Published: February 2022

Background

Front-line maintenance therapy with bevacizumab demonstrates high efficacy and safety in epithelial ovarian cancer, as already shown in large phase III trials; however, the corresponding study populations are often not fully representative of patients in clinical routine. In this Austria-based multicenter study, we aimed to explore the real-world outcomes of bevacizumab use in front-line treatment of ovarian cancer, including patients with comorbidities and poor performance status.

Patients

This study is an open label single arm multicenter noninterventional trial and included patients with newly diagnosed advanced epithelial ovarian cancer, who were treated with platinum-based chemotherapy and were candidates for receiving bevacizumab according to the product label. Data collection started in the third quarter of 2012 and ended in the third quarter of 2018.

Results

In this study 50 patients were included and 575 adverse events were reported for 90% of the patients. The majority of the adverse events were mild (47%) or moderate (37%). The most common adverse events were hypertension (60%), anemia (48%), leukopenia (42%), thrombocytopenia (36%), neutropenia (36%) and proteinuria (26%). A relation to bevacizumab was documented only for 10.3% of all adverse events. In almost 50% of all adverse events, no intervention was needed and bevacizumab treatment had to be interrupted only in 3.3% of all adverse events. The median progression-free survival was 1.3 years (95% CI 1.1–1.8).

Conclusion

The routine use of front-line bevacizumab for advanced ovarian cancer is associated with high efficacy comparable with that obtained in randomized phase III clinical trials; however, hypertension and proteinuria were reported significantly more often in our Austria-based real-world population.
Complications after surgical treatment of pelvic fractures: a five-year follow-up of 194 patients
Authors: Lundin Natalie , Enocson Anders
Published: February 2022

Purpose

Surgical treatment of pelvic fractures is an advanced intervention associated with multiple complications. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the rate of unplanned reoperations after pelvic fracture surgery. Secondary aims included occurrence of other adverse events and mortality.

Methods

All adult patients ≥ 18 years with surgically treated pelvic fracture operated at the Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden between 2010 and 2019 were identified and retrospectively included. Data were collected through review of medical records and radiographs. Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate factors associated with unplanned reoperations and other adverse events.

Results

A total of 194 patients were included with mean age (± SD, range) 45.4 (16, 18–83) years. 62% were males (n = 121) and the median (IQR) follow-up time was 1890 (1791) days (4.9 years). Forty-eight patients (25%) had an unplanned reoperation, with infection being the most common cause of reoperation (n = 18, 9.3%). Seventy-eight (40%) patients had an adverse event not requiring reoperation and the most common event was nerve injury (n = 34, 18%). Concomitant abdominal injury was identified as a risk factor for an adverse event (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.3–4.9, p < 0.01). 30-day mortality was 1.5% and 1-year mortality 6.2%.

Conclusion

The rate of unplanned reoperation after pelvic fracture surgery was high, as was the rate of other adverse events not requiring surgery. No identified risk factor was found to predict further surgery, but concomitant abdominal injury was a risk factor for other adverse events. Mortality was low at both 30 days and 1 year.
The Critical Space for Orthogonally Invariant Varieties
Authors: Ottaviani Giorgio
Published: February 2022

Let q be a nondegenerate quadratic form on V. Let X ⊂ V be invariant for the action of a Lie group G contained in SO(V,q). For any f ∈ V consider the function df from X to $\mathbb C$
ℂ
defined by df(x) = q(f − x). We show that the critical points of df lie in the subspace orthogonal to ${\mathfrak g}\cdot f$
g
⋅
f
, that we call critical space. In particular any closest point to f in X lie in the critical space. This construction applies to singular t-ples for tensors and to flag varieties and generalizes a previous result of Draisma, Tocino and the author. As an application, we compute the Euclidean Distance degree of a complete flag variety.
Early experience with the ARTISENTIAL® articulated instruments in laparoscopic low anterior resection with TME
Authors: Darwich I. , Abuassi M. , Aliyev R. , Scheidt M. , Alkadri M. A. , Hees A. , Demirel-Darwich S. , Chand M. , Willeke F.
Published: February 2022

Background

The notion of articulation in surgery has been largely synonymous with robotics. The ARTISENTIAL® instruments aim at bringing advanced articulation to laparoscopy to overcome challenges in narrow anatomical spaces. In this paper, we present first single-center results of a series of low anterior resections, performed with ARTISENTIAL®.

Methods

Between September 2020 and August 2021, at the Department of Surgery, St. Marienkrankenhaus Siegen, Siegen, Germany, patients with cancer of the mid- and low rectum were prospectively enrolled in a pilot feasibility study to evaluate the ARTISENTIAL® articulated instruments in performing a laparoscopic low anterior resection. Perioperative and short-term postoperative data were analyzed.

Results

Seventeen patients (10 males/7 females) were enrolled in this study. The patients had a median age of 66 years (range 47–80 years) and a median body mass index of 28 kg/m2 (range 23–33 kg/m2). The median time to rectal transection was 155 min (range 118–280 min) and the median total operative time was 276 min (range 192–458 min). The median estimated blood loss was 30 ml (range 5–70 ml) and there were no conversions to laparotomy. The median number of harvested lymph nodes was 15 (range 12–28). Total mesorectal excision (TME) quality was ‘good’ in all patients with no cases of circumferential resection margin involvement (R0 = 100%). The median length of stay was 9 days (range 7–14 days). There were no anastomotic leaks and the overall complication rate was 17.6%. There was one unrelated readmission with no mortality.

Conclusions

Low anterior resection with ARTISENTIAL® is feasible and safe. All patients had a successful TME procedure with a good oncological outcome. We will now seek to evaluate the benefits of ARTISENTIAL® in comparison with standard laparoscopic instruments through a larger study.
Effects of unilateral dynamic handgrip on reaction time and error rate
Authors: Mirifar Arash , Luan Mengkai , Ehrlenspiel Felix
Published: February 2022

Quick and accurate reactions to environmental stimuli are often required. Researchers have investigated ways to improve these reactions, which are critical components of perceptual-motor abilities. To optimize individual performance, different techniques, such as embodied interventions and brain stimulation, have been examined. The evidence from EEG studies shows that upper limb muscle contractions lead to changes in brain oscillations associated with changes in mental states and behavioral outcomes. Much research has been conducted on whether muscle contractions of a particular hand have a greater effect on a perceptual-motor ability, as a trigger to facilitate cortical processes (a mediator) for skilled motor performance. While previous studies have shown that left- (vs. right-) hand contractions can lead to greater alpha activation, we hypothesized that left dynamic handgrips have different impacts on motor performance, reflected by simple RT (SRT) and choice RT (CRT). We recruited 64 right-handers, for a within/between-subjects experiment consisting of performance measurements in SRT and CRT tasks after the intervention (either right or left dynamic handgrip approximately twice a second for 30 s for each hand) or assignment to paired passive control groups. We did not find left-hand contractions improve response accuracy in neither SRT nor CRT tasks. Further, left-hand contractions did not affect RTs. The findings indicate that the effects of dynamic handgrips are smaller on behavioral outcomes such as RTs than what can be inferred from published studies. More research is needed to establish the effect of dynamic handgrips on optimizing performance.
Student, Teacher, and Scientist Views of the Scientific Enterprise: An Epistemic Network Re-analysis
Authors: Peters-Burton Erin E. , Dagher Zoubeida R. , Erduran Sibel
Published: February 2022

There is substantial research in science education about students’, teachers’, and scientists’ views of nature of science (NOS). Many studies have used NOS frameworks that focus on particular ideas such as tentativeness of scientific knowledge and cultural embeddedness of science. In this paper, we investigate NOS from the perspective of the Family Resemblance Approach (FRA) which considers clusters of ideas about science in terms of categories that offer a comprehensive analytical lens to studying NOS views. The empirical study re-analyzes NOS views obtained from 7 and 8th grade students, science teachers, and scientists using the FRA lens. Statements from all three groups were obtained using a free-write questionnaire on nature of knowledge and nature of knowing. The statements were reclassified using the FRA framework. Epistemic network analysis (ENA) was applied to the statements produced by each group of participants, and the resulting network models were interpreted and compared. The results show that student and teacher network models possessed no central idea, and more tangible ideas about science were frequently connected. Scientist network models showed more connections across their statements which indicate a higher degree of agreement and coherence among a variety of ideas compared to student and teacher network models. The paper discusses the findings as well as the methodological contributions, and concludes with implications for future research.
Representations of student performance data in local education policy
Authors: Prøitz Tine Sophie , Novak Judit , Mausethagen Sølvi
Published: February 2022

The use of data for governance purposes has been widely recognised as a way for national authorities to coordinate their activities across administrative levels and improve educational quality. This places the mid-central authority—in many countries the municipal level—in the midst of modern education governing. This article reports a case study analysis of the particular uses of performance data and numbers by mid-central municipal authorities in the daily work of governing schools in Norway. The three empirical case studies combine an analysis of policy document and fieldwork interviews with municipal administrators. The article contributes important insights into the role of municipal administrators as interpreters of policy goals at a crucial yet understudied level of the education system. In contrast to the dominant perspective in the data use literature, which often addresses implementation and the effectiveness of how numbers and data can be ideally designed and used, the results provide grounds for a more nuanced understanding of the institutional processes related to setting performance goals.
‘It Isn't Charity because We've Paid into it’: Social Citizenship and the Moral Economy of Welfare Recipients in the Wake of 2012 UK Welfare Reform Act
Authors: Thiel Darren
Published: February 2022

Drawing on interviews with welfare claimants living in Essex, UK, this article examines the material and symbolic effects of the UK government’s 2012 Welfare Reform Act, and it highlights the participants’ interpretations of and responses to that. In reaction to their sense of material and symbolic exclusion, participants made moral claims for their inclusion through a notion of social citizenship based on collective reciprocity and care. They claimed to have paid-in to the national purse in various material and moral ways until circumstances outside of their control meant they could no longer do so. They thus asserted a moral-economic right to social inclusion and an ensuing right to receive adequate, non-stigmatised, and non-punitive welfare. These moral-economic claims differ from other, more public, counter-narratives to welfare reform and government austerity, and they assert a clear but subtle opposition to the market-bound logic of the reform.
Paternal nutritional programming of lipid metabolism is propagated through sperm and seminal plasma
Authors: Furse Samuel , Watkins Adam J. , Williams Huw E. L. , Snowden Stuart G. , Chiarugi Davide , Koulman Albert
Published: February 2022

Background

The paternal diet affects lipid metabolism in offspring for at least two generations through nutritional programming. However, we do not know how this is propagated to the offspring.

Objectives

We tested the hypothesis that the changes in lipid metabolism that are driven by paternal diet are propagated through spermatozoa and not seminal plasma.

Methods

We applied an updated, purpose-built computational network analysis tool to characterise control of lipid metabolism systemically (Lipid Traffic Analysis v2.3) on a known mouse model of paternal nutritional programming.

Results

The analysis showed that the two possible routes for programming effects, the sperm (genes) and seminal plasma (influence on the uterine environment), both have a distinct effect on the offspring’s lipid metabolism. Further, the programming effects in offspring suggest that changes in lipid distribution are more important than alterations in lipid biosynthesis.

Conclusions

These results show how the uterine environment and genes both affect lipid metabolism in offspring, enhancing our understanding of the link between parental diet and metabolism in offspring.
Size-resolved simulation of particulate matters and CO2 concentration in passenger vehicle cabins
Authors: Wei Dixin , Nielsen Filip , Ekberg Lars , Dalenbäck Jan-Olof
Published: February 2022

The main aim of this study is to develop a mathematical size-dependent vehicle cabin model for particulate matter concentration including PM2.5 (particles of aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm) and UFPs (ultrafine particles of aerodynamic diameter less than 100 nm), as well as CO2 concentration. The ventilation airflow rate and cabin volume parameters are defined from a previously developed vehicle model for climate system design. The model simulates different filter statuses, application of pre-ionization, different airflow rates and recirculation degrees. Both particle mass and count concentration within 10–2530 nm are simulated. Parameters in the model are defined from either available component test data (for example filter efficiencies) or assumptions from corresponding studies (for example particle infiltration and deposition rates). To validate the model, road measurements of particle and CO2 concentrations outside two vehicles were used as model inputs. The simulated inside PM2.5, UFP and CO2 concentration were compared with the inside measurements. Generally, the simulation agrees well with measured data (Person’s r 0.89–0.92), and the simulation of aged filter with ionization is showing higher deviation than others. The simulation using medium airflows agrees better than the simulation using other airflows, both lower and higher. The reason for this may be that the filter efficiency data used in the model were obtained at airflows close to the medium airflow. When all size bins are compared, the sizes of 100–300 nm were slightly overestimated. The results indicated that among others, expanded filter efficiency data as a function of filter ageing and airflow rate would possibly enhance the simulation accuracy. An initial application sample study on recirculation degrees presents the model’s possible application in developing advanced climate control strategies.
Assessment of Trace Metals in Camelus dromedarius Meat from Mauritania
Authors: Ahmed El Boukhary , Hamed Mohamed Salem El Mahmoud , Moktar Babah Sidi , Pino Angelo Santana-Del , Brahim Mohamed , Issa Mariem Youssouf , Zamel Mohamed Lemine , Montesdeoca-Esponda Sarah
Published: February 2022

In Mauritania, the dromedary breeding is the most widespread pastoral activity, and it is considered as the first source of animal protein; however, the research on meat is relatively rare compared with fish, especially in relation with the presence of trace metals. In this work, livers, kidneys, and muscles of 25 Camelus dromedarius were collected from butcheries in Nouakchott (Mauritania) between February and April 2020 to study the concentration of trace metals (three essential metals: cooper (Cu), iron (Fe), and zinc (Zn), and four toxic metals: mercury (Hg), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb)). Statistical treatment did not show significant differences associated with age (P = 0.7004), sex (P = 0.9353), or type of diet (0.9951) in the found concentration of the target substances, but the differences were significant between metals and between organs (P < 0.0001). The mean concentrations of the essential metals were 0.80 mg/100 g for Cu, 6.02 mg/100 g for Fe, and 3.28 mg/100 g for Zn, and the ratios between these concentrations were significant (P < 0.0001 in all cases), with [Fe] > [Zn] > [Cu]. Cu was most concentrated in the liver, Fe in the kidney, and Zn in muscle. The mean concentrations of toxic metals were 0.055 mg/kg for As, 0.064 mg/kg for Cd, 0.040 mg/kg for Pb, and 0.027 mg/kg for Hg. They also exhibited significant difference between organs. Hg and Pb showed their largest concentrations in the liver, whereas As and Cd reached their maximum values in the kidney. Therefore, the found concentrations in all cases were lower than the admissible level of trace metals.
How to make big decisions: A cross-sectional study on the decision making process in life choices
Authors: Savioni Lucrezia , Triberti Stefano , Durosini Ilaria , Pravettoni Gabriella
Published: February 2022

People often make life choices that will affect their future (e.g. getting married). However, research on decision making focuses more on abstract dilemmas than on decision making. The aim of this study is threefold: to analyze (1) whether people rely mainly on intuitive or rational processing (System 1 or 2) when making life choices; (2) whether some characteristics of recalled life choices (e.g., difficulty in making the decision) differ between life areas (sentimental and work contexts); (3) whether personality traits and System 1 or 2 utilization may predict final satisfaction in life choices. By conducting a cross-sectional study on 188 participants’ recall of selected life decisions (in the sentimental and work life areas) we found that System 1 is more involved than System 2 in sentimental choices while the opposite happens for work ones. Lastly, satisfaction in life choices is partially predicted by the involvement of cognitive systems and individual differences, with different predictors emerging across life areas. Discussion suggests directions for future research on naturalistic decision making.
Political Control and Parliamentary Committees of Inquiry: Strengthening the Quality of Democracy
Authors: Keppel Matthias
Published: February 2022

In Austria and Germany’s parliamentary system, committees of inquiry represent the most comprehensive political control instruments. With the help of these committees, members of parliament can gain precise insight into the work of the government. These insights are necessary when suspicious cases are brought to public attention, from which the government’s actions and the abuse of power come to light. Based on a first-ever qualitative case study of investigative committees in Austria and Germany, this article focuses on the results of these parliamentary committees. By scrutinizing these authorities and institutions, the members of parliament acquire extensive knowledge of the actions. This assists in reforms and leads to innovative effects on the democratic quality of the political systems. By comparing these results and with the help of the central analytical framework of Hans Joachim Lauth’s 15-field matrix, this study discovers that committees of inquiry can influence all areas of politics, law, and society. This influence occurs primarily through knowledge generation on real political processes, and provides a significant contribution to knowledge democracy.
The logic of explanation in molecular biology: historical-processual and logical-procedural aspects
Authors: Boniolo Giovanni , Campaner Raffaella
Published: February 2022

This work addresses biological explanations and aims to provide a philosophical account which brings together logical-procedural and historical-processual aspects when considering molecular pathways. It is argued that, having molecular features asexplananda, a particular non-classical logical language –Zsyntax– can be used to formally represent, in terms of logical theorems, types of molecular processes (pathways), and to grasp how we get from one molecular interaction to another, hence explaining why a given outcome occurs. Expressing types of molecular biology processes in terms of theZsyntaxlanguage allows us to represent causal interactions by taking into account their context-sensitivity, and amounts to partly reviving the spirit of the so-called received view of explanation – which aimed to capture scientific explanatory accounts in terms of their logical structure and their appealing to nomological relations. Such a partial revival is pursued by invoking here non-classical deductions and empirical generalisations, which are called to provide the epistemic norms to explain the behavior of molecular pathways.
Epistemological and educational issues in teaching practice-oriented scientific research: roles for philosophers of science
Authors: Boon Mieke , Orozco Mariana , Sivakumar Kishore
Published: February 2022

The complex societal challenges of the twenty-first Century require scientific researchers and academically educated professionals capable of conducting scientific research in complex problem contexts. Our central claim is that educational approaches inspired by a traditional empiricist epistemology insufficiently foster the required deep conceptual understanding and higher-order thinking skills necessary for epistemic tasks in scientific research. Conversely, we argue that constructivist epistemologies (developed in the philosophy of science in practice) provide better guidance to educational approaches to promote research skills. We also argue that teachers adopting a constructivist learning theory do not necessarily embrace a constructivist epistemology. On the contrary, in educational practice, novel educational approaches that adopt constructivist learning theories (e.g., project-based learning, PjBL) often maintain traditional empiricist epistemologies. Philosophers of science can help develop educational designs focused on learning to conduct scientific research, combining constructivist learning theory with constructivist epistemology. We illustrate this by an example from a bachelor’s program in Biomedical Engineering, where we introduce conceptual models and modeling as an alternative to the traditional focus on hypothesis testing in conducting scientific research. This educational approach includes the so-called B&K method for (re-)constructing scientific models to scaffold teaching and learning conceptual modeling.
Online investigation for irrigation water quality parameters of Gummidipoondi Lake, Thiruvallur, Tamil Nadu, India
Authors: Jebaraj Bharath Singh , Sankaran Vijayalakshmi , Sivasankaran Sushmitha
Published: February 2022

The water quality parameters analysis was carried out in the Gummidipoondi Lake located in Thiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu, India. As the Lake was only source for the farmers for irrigation in their place, contamination of the Lake is the major threat. The contamination factors for that Lake are mainly due to the manufacturing industries which are present around the water body. Farming is the only occupation of the surroundings. In order to protect the water body which is serving as a backbone for that community, a complete analysis is carried out to monitor the water quality parameters. Currently, offline investigation is carried out by the water supply and drainage board. The junior water analyst will directly inspect the water bodies, collect samples and do testing either in laboratories or in field using the kits available. The sets of data will be available after completing a number of tests and displayed in the website by manual entry. In order to carry a real-time analysis and the direct providing of data in the website, an online investigation method is implemented and tested in the Gummidipoondi Lake. The main parameters of this lake water are the temperature, pH and the turbidity. This concept uses real-time processors with sensors, connecting protocols and the display of results in the web interface. The results produced by the method are used to provide the contamination happened in the lake and alert the public works department to take necessary action to avoid the contamination. The outputs are displayed in the website to give current updates about the condition of the Gummidipoondi Lake.
The Metaphysics of Mind
Authors: Levin Janet
Published: February 2022

The Metaphysics of Mind presents and discusses the major contemporary theories of the nature of mind, including Dualism, Physicalism, Role-Functionalism, Russellian Monism, Panpsychism, and Eliminativism. Its primary goal is to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the theories in question, including their prospects for explaining the special qualitative character of sensations and perceptual experiences, the special outer-directedness of beliefs, desires, and other intentional states, and—more generally—the place of mind in the world of nature, and the relation between mental states and the behaviors that they (seem to) cause. It also discusses, briefly, some further questions about the metaphysics of mind, namely, whether groups of individuals, or entire communities, can possess mental states that cannot be reduced to the mental states of the individuals in those communities, and whether the boundaries between mind and world are as sharp as they may seem.
Patient Information Items Needed to Guide the Allocation of Scarce Life-Sustaining Resources: A Delphi Study of Multidisciplinary Experts
Authors: Gray Megan M. , Butler Catherine R. , Webster Laura B. , Tonelli Mark R. , Sakata Vicki L. , Diekema Douglas S.
Published: February 2022

Objective:

Plans for allocation of scarce life-sustaining resources during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic often include triage teams, but operational details are lacking, including what patient information is needed to make triage decisions.

Methods:

A Delphi study among Washington state disaster preparedness experts was performed to develop a list of patient information items needed for triage team decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic. Experts proposed and rated their agreement with candidate information items during asynchronous Delphi rounds. Consensus was defined as ≥80% agreement. Qualitative analysis was used to describe considerations arising in this deliberation. A timed simulation was performed to evaluate feasibility of data collection from the electronic health record.

Results:

Over 3 asynchronous Delphi rounds, 50 experts reached consensus on 24 patient information items, including patients’ age, severe or end-stage comorbidities, the reason for and timing of admission, measures of acute respiratory failure, and clinical trajectory. Experts weighed complex considerations around how information items could support effective prognostication, consistency, accuracy, minimizing bias, and operationalizability of the triage process. Data collection took a median of 227 seconds (interquartile range = 205, 298) per patient.

Conclusions:

Experts achieved consensus on patient information items that were necessary and appropriate for informing triage teams during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Continuity of critical exponent of quasiconvex-cocompact groups under Gromov–Hausdorff convergence
Authors: CAVALLUCCI NICOLA
Published: February 2022

We show continuity under equivariant Gromov–Hausdorff convergence of the critical exponent of discrete, non-elementary, torsion-free, quasiconvex-cocompact groups with uniformly bounded codiameter acting on uniformly Gromov-hyperbolic metric spaces.
Plant-based meat and dairy substitutes on the Norwegian market: comparing macronutrient content in substitutes with equivalent meat and dairy products
Authors: Tonheim Live Edvardsen , Austad Elisabeth , Torheim Liv Elin , Henjum Sigrun
Published: February 2022

Objective: To assess and compare the macronutrient and salt content in meat and dairy substitutes available on the Norwegian market. Design: Comparison between substitute products and two groups of meat and dairy products where one group represented the healthiest option (Keyhole) and one the most used option (Regular). Kruskal–Wallis test with pairwise comparison was conducted on categories with more than two groups, and Mann–Whitney U test was conducted on categories with two groups. Setting: Online stores in Norway. Hundred and two meat substitute products and 173 milk and dairy substitute products on sale spring and autumn 2020 were assessed; additionally, ninety-eight equivalent meat products and 105 milk and dairy products. Results: While Keyhole and Regular meat did not contain fibre, meat substitutes contained 3⋅5–5⋅0 g fibre per 100 g. The saturated fat content in meat substitutes was on average 1⋅9 times lower than in Keyhole products and 5⋅8 times lower than in Regular products. Milk and dairy substitutes contained 3⋅2 and 3⋅4 times less protein than Keyhole and Regular products, respectively. Conclusions: The study results indicate that meat and dairy substitutes on the Norwegian market vary in nutritional composition. Compared to Keyhole and Regular, substitutes contained lower levels of saturated fat, meat substitutes contained higher levels of fibre and milk and dairy substitutes less protein. Future studies should include content of micronutrients for a more comprehensive assessment.
Against Probabilistic Measures of Explanatory Quality
Authors: Lange Marc
Published: February 2022

Several philosophers propose probabilistic measures of how well a potential scientific explanation would explain the given evidence. These measures could elaborate “best” in “inference to the best explanation”. This paper argues that none of these measures (and no other measure built exclusively from such probabilities) succeeds. The paper considers the various rival explanations that scientists proposed for the parallelogram of forces. Scientists regarded various features of these proposals as making them more or less “lovely” (in Lipton’s sense). None of these probabilistic measures of loveliness can reflect these features. The paper concludes by considering the kinds of probabilities that could reflect these features.
Forced Changes Only: A New Take on the Law of Inertia
Authors: Hoek Daniel
Published: February 2022

Newton’s First Law of Motion is typically understood to govern only the motion of force-free bodies. This paper argues on textual and conceptual grounds that the law is in fact a stronger, more general principle. The First Law limits the extent to which any body can change its state of motion—even if that body is subject to impressed forces. The misunderstanding can be traced back to an error in the first English translation of Newton’s Principia, which was published a few years after Newton’s death.
The variation in firm lobbying by political regime: can it explain trade and currency policy differences?
Authors: Bearce David H. , Roosevelt Megan
Published: February 2022

Exploring if/how lobbying patterns differ by political regime, this paper uses data from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys with about 29,000 firms across 83 country/years to test the hypothesis that this political activity should be greater in democracies. Considering a variety of democracy indicators and different lobbying measures, it finds strong support for this expected positive relationship. It then employs these data to consider the trade and currency policy preferences of firms within the special interest channel, comparing democracies with non-democracies. These results show a greater percentage of exporting firms, a lesser percentage of import-competing firms, and a greater percentage of non-tradable firms within the democratic special interest channel, helping to build a lobbying-based explanation for why democracies tend to have more open trade policies and more flexible exchange rate regimes.
Ethnic Bias in Judicial Decision Making: Evidence from Criminal Appeals in Kenya
Authors: CHOI DONGHYUN DANNY , HARRIS J. ANDREW , SHEN-BAYH FIONA
Published: February 2022

Understanding sources of judicial bias is essential for establishing due process. To date, theories of judicial decision making are rooted in ranked societies with majority–minority group cleavages, leaving unanswered which groups are more prone to express bias and whether it is motivated by in-group favoritism or out-group hostility. We examine judicial bias in Kenya, a diverse society that features a more complex ethnic landscape. While research in comparative and African politics emphasizes instrumental motivations underpinning ethnic identity, we examine the psychological, implicit biases driving judicial outcomes. Using data from Kenyan criminal appeals and the conditional random assignment of judges to cases, we show that judges are 3 to 5 percentage points more likely to grant coethnic appeals than non-coethnic appeals. To understand mechanisms, we use word embeddings to analyze the sentiment of written judgments. Judges use more trust-related terms writing for coethnics, suggesting that in-group favoritism motivates coethnic bias in this context.
The role of platelet-rich plasma in microlaryngeal surgery: a randomised, controlled trial
Authors: Gaafar A , Eldeghiedy A , ElMaghraby R , Nouh I , Donia M
Published: February 2022

Objective

Platelet-rich plasma has gained interest over the two last decades, mainly because of its role in regenerative medicine. This work aimed to assess the role of intra-operative local application of platelet-rich plasma gel in the improvement of quality of voice after microlaryngeal surgery.

Method

This was a prospective comparative study that included 40 patients undergoing microlaryngeal surgery for benign vocal fold lesions. There were two groups divided equally into study group A and control group B. The assessment of voice was performed by videostroboscopy and acoustic analysis pre-operatively and at two weeks and one and three months post-operatively.

Results

The data demonstrated that all the stroboscopic and acoustic parameters showed significant improvement in both groups. Group A showed significant improvement regarding acoustic parameters at the third post-operative follow up when compared with group B.

Conclusion

Platelet-rich plasma has a beneficial effect on voice quality following microlaryngeal surgery based in particular on acoustic parameters.
How Socioeconomic Status and Family Social Capital Matter for the Subjective Well-Being of Young People: Implications for the Child and Family Welfare Policy in Ghana
Authors: ADDAE EVELYN ABOAGYE , KÜHNER STEFAN
Published: February 2022

This article takes a health assets approach to extract policy lessons for Ghana’s present Child and Family Welfare Policy, introduced in 2014. We examine the role of Ghanaian adolescents’ socioeconomic status and family social capital in their subjective well-being using data obtained from a representative survey of adolescents (aged 13-18 years) in Ghana’s Upper West Region. Our empirical results revealed that various sub-components of family social capital, including family sense of belonging, autonomy support, control, and social support, varied with adolescents’ self-reported life satisfaction and happiness after controlling for their family socioeconomic status and other personal characteristics. Once family social capital was controlled for, socioeconomic status explained adolescents’ life satisfaction, but not their happiness. These findings confirm existing studies suggesting that family social capital can function as a protective ‘safety net’ for adolescents with low SES in the specific Ghanaian context. Consequently, this study contributes to the literature by arguing that, in order to develop Ghana’s Child and Family Welfare Policy further, adolescent ‘social empowerment’ ought to be accentuated alongside its current focus on enhancing household ‘economic empowerment’ via social protection interventions.
Science with or without statistics: Discover-generalize-replicate? Discover-replicate-generalize?
Authors: Ioannidis John P.A.
Published: February 2022

Overstated generalizability (external validity) is common in research. It may coexist with inflation of the magnitude and statistical support for effects and dismissal of internal validity problems. Generalizability may be secured before attempting replication of proposed discoveries or replication may precede efforts to generalize. These opposite approaches may decrease or increase, respectively, the use of inferential statistics with advantages and disadvantages.
Mechanistic modeling for the masses
Authors: Turner Matthew A. , Smaldino Paul E.
Published: February 2022

The generalizability crisis is compounded, or even partially caused, by a lack of specificity in psychological theories. Expanding the use of mechanistic models among psychologists is therefore important, but faces numerous hurdles. A cultural evolutionary approach can help guide and evaluate interventions to improve modeling efforts in psychology, such as developing standards and implementing them at the institutional level.
Causal complexity demands community coordination
Authors: Sievers Beau , DeFilippis Evan
Published: February 2022

Yarkoni's argument risks skepticism about the very possibility of social science: If social phenomena are too causally complex, normal scientific methods could not possibly untangle them. We argue that the problem of causal complexity is best approached at the level of scientific communities and institutions, not the modeling practices of individual scientists.
Improving the generalizability of infant psychological research: The ManyBabies model
Authors: Visser Ingmar , Bergmann Christina , Byers-Heinlein Krista , Dal Ben Rodrigo , Duch Wlodzislaw , Forbes Samuel , Franchin Laura , Frank Michael C. , Geraci Alessandra , Hamlin J. Kiley , Kaldy Zsuzsa , Kulke Louisa , Laverty Catherine , Lew-Williams Casey , Mateu Victoria , Mayor Julien , Moreau David , Nomikou Iris , Schuwerk Tobias , Simpson Elizabeth A. , Singh Leher , Soderstrom Melanie , Sullivan Jessica , van den Heuvel Marion I. , Westermann Gert , Yamada Yuki , Zaadnoordijk Lorijn , Zettersten Martin
Published: February 2022

Yarkoni's analysis clearly articulates a number of concerns limiting the generalizability and explanatory power of psychological findings, many of which are compounded in infancy research. ManyBabies addresses these concerns via a radically collaborative, large-scale and open approach to research that is grounded in theory-building, committed to diversification, and focused on understanding sources of variation.