bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Assessment of Microbial Qualities of Some Cough Syrups and Multivitamins Marketed in Pokhara, Nepal
Authors: Gurung Krishna , Rai Mamita Khaling
Published: May 2021

Recently, the manufacturers of pharmaceuticals have improved the quality of non-sterile pharmaceuticals in such a way that such products contain only minimal bioburden. However, the production of sub-standard cough syrups and multivitamin syrups may cause non-therapeutic effect in patients, particularly in children. For this reason, this study was conducted to evaluate the microbiological quality of cough syrup and multivitamin syrups marketed in Pokhara, Nepal. Different brands of 15 cough syrups and 15 multivitamin syrups were collected from different vendors of Pokhara and the spread plate technique was performed to enumerate the microbial contaminant from the collected samples. Among 15 cough syrups, 12 samples were found to be contaminated with bacteria and nine samples were found to be contaminated with fungi. Similarly, among 15 multivitamin syrups, 10 were found to be contaminated with bacteria whereas 12 were found to be contaminated with fungi. Escherichia coli was not isolated in any samples. Overall, 14(93.33%) of cough syrup and 13(86.67%) of multivitamin syrups were found to be contaminated by either bacteria, fungi, or by both which exceeded the acceptance limit of International Pharmacopeia. The prevalence of these microorganisms in pharmaceutical products such as syrups samples may indicate the unhygienic condition, defect in production, poor adoption of Good Manufacturing Practice, ineffective preservatives and inadequate quality control. Though these products fall under non-sterile pharmaceutical products, so they need not require sterility but these drugs must conform to the microbiological purity criteria set in the appropriate pharmacopeial standard. These contaminated syrups explain the poor treatment and complicacy of the uncompromised people and the sick children.
La arquitectura deportiva y el patrimonio del movimiento moderno en Latinoamérica. El caso del Estadio Nacional, Lima- Perú
Authors: Acevedo Alejandra
Published: May 2021

En la historia de la arquitectura del siglo XX, en la etapa identificada como movimiento moderno, se encuentran interesantes ejemplos de infraestructura deportiva que formaban parte, a la par que otros edificios, de un gran deseo por modernizar la sociedad, en este caso a través de espectáculos masivos y populares. En su momento, fueron obras de arquitectura e ingeniería muy audaces, por los retos espaciales y estructurales que tuvieron que resolver. Se repasan tres ejemplos emblemáticos en Latinoamérica y el caso particular del Estadio Nacional en Lima, desde la visión de su valor patrimonial.
CALIDAD MICROBIOLÓGICA, QUÍMICA Y ECOTOXICOLÓGICA DE LAS AGUAS UTILIZADAS PARA REGADÍO EN EL VALLE DEL YABÚ, SANTA CLARA, VILLA CLARA, CUBA
Authors: Tamayo-Irzula Maibia , Gime-de-Oliveira Eduardo , Martínez-Flores Nilda Rosa , Hernández-Trimiño Omar , Fimia-Duarte Rigoberto , Iannacone Jose Alberto
Published: May 2021

La contaminación de las aguas se ha incrementado a lo largo de los años, causada fundamentalmente por el desarrollo industrial y crecimiento poblacional. Actualmente existe una creciente preocupación por los efectos que causa el uso de aguas residuales en el riego. El objetivo de la presente investigación fue evaluar la calidad microbiológica, química y ecotoxicológica de las aguas utilizadas para regadío en el Valle del Yabú, Villa Clara, Cuba. Se determinaron, indicadores microbiológicos y químicos. Además, se evaluó la ecotoxicidad de las aguas utilizadas para regadío, empleando un bioensayo in vitro de toxicidad, rápido, sencillo y económico, utilizando bulbos de Allium cepa L. En el período de estudio es de señalar que los valores obtenidos en cuanto a Coliformes totales y Termotolerantes fueron >0,16 x103 NMP·100 mL-1, los que superan en gran medida los admitidos en las normas de referencia (NR). Los contenidos de nitrito y amoníaco muestran valores superiores a las concentraciones establecidas en las NR vigentes. Por tanto, las aguas se catalogaron de No Aptas para el riego agrícola de cultivos y vegetales que se consumen de forma directa sin cocción. En el ensayo de toxicidad con A. cepa, las muestras de agua analizadas fueron fitotóxicas a concentraciones superiores al 25% en el caso del Punto 1, mientras que las muestras correspondientes a los Puntos 2 y 3 manifiestan su fitotoxicidad a partir del 75%. Con los resultados obtenidos se evidencia la necesidad de utilizar una batería más amplia que incluya otros biomodelos.
Lima 1535-2020: de la ciudad jardín a la megalópolis. Reflflexiones en el 485.° aniversario de su fundación española
Authors: Castillo García Rodolfo Francisco
Published: May 2021

En este ensayo se ofrecen reflexiones acerca de la evolución de la ciudad de Lima desde la Lima colonial hasta la Lima megalópolis, y sobre la necesidad de su planificación urbana para promover el desarrollo urbano sostenible de la Megalópolis.
Modernising Misogyny in Shakespeare’s Shrew
Authors: Eschenbaum Natalie K.
Published: May 2021

This article considers how Anne Tyler’s novel, Vinegar Girl (Hogarth, 2016), adopts and adapts the critical debate concerning misogyny in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. Social historians have helped to contextualise the shrew-taming plot, some claiming that Shakespeare’s tale is romantic when read in context; however, students push back against such conclusions, arguing that teaching Shrew and its informing histories reinforces the patriarchy and risks normalising misogyny. My argument is structured, in part, as a response to students’ concerns, and is informed by girlhood and cultural studies. I survey Tyler’s purposeful use of the powerful term ‘girl’ to show how the taming plot is modernised, but remains misogynistic. Vinegar Girl reveals how any tale about taming a woman has an underlying message of male dominance. In Tyler’s novel, misogynistic values are sometimes romanticised, sometimes criticised, and frequently both simultaneously. In this contradictory way, it is very much like Shakespeare’s original play.
Millennial Dark Ladies
Authors: Scheil Katherine
Published: May 2021

The Dark Lady evoked in Shakespeare’s Sonnets has been the subject of
numerous speculations since the Victorian period. Several male writers and critics – George Bernard Shaw, Frank Harris, A. L. Rowse and Anthony Burgess, for example – have undertaken extended imaginative explorations of this alternative woman. More recently, the Dark Lady has become a central figure in millennial novels by women writers, designed primarily for a female reading audience. This article considers what’s at stake by placing this imaginary woman at the heart of Shakespeare’s artistic inspiration, and what this tells us about the meaning(s) of ‘Shakespeare’ for contemporary women writers and readers.
Symbol of Reconciliation and Far-Right Stronghold?
Authors: Vees-Gulani Susanne
Published: May 2021

In the eastern German city of Dresden, populist and nativist far-right groups, such as the homegrown pegida and the AfD, enjoy particularly robust support among the population, even though Dresden is presented as a symbol of peace and reconciliation. Many residents base their personal and social identity on Dresden’s long-established narrative as an iconic baroque city that suffered an unparalleled loss and victimization in the 1945 Allied bombings, prior to its post-reunification revival. However, this narrative includes a blind spot about the Nazi context of the destruction, opening it up to various political appropriations from the gdr era to today. I suggest that the strength of the far right in Dresden is caused by a seamless linking of Dresden’s perception as a victim due to cultural losses and the far right’s fear of losing a unique German identity and homeland. As examples, I analyze discourse patterns of remembrance during the bombing anniversaries in 2015 and 2020.
Cultural Factors that Positively and Negatively Impact Corporate Governance: Cases of FamilyControlled Firms in Brazil
Authors: de Anchieta Gomes Fernanda , Augusto Pereira Bastos Sérgio
Published: May 2021

This exploratory study evaluated the relationship between Human Resources (HR) practices, organizational climate, and employee well-being from the lens of the Social Exchange Theory. Therefore, data were analyzed using linear regression and structural equations. The results indicated that there is a positive impact of HR practices on both the organizational climate and employee well-being, as well as the organizational climate on well-being. However, the explanatory power of well-being was low, indicating the need for more customized human resources management. Additionally, HR practices and organizational climate sensitize well-being to a greater extent among women than men, suggesting that women may be able to absorb better the benefits of a friendly and contributory work environment. The study contributes to knowledge in people management oriented towards the well-being of employees.
A drónelhárítás módszerei és lehetőségei
Authors: Dudás Zoltán , Ujvári Bence
Published: May 2021

A szerzők bemutatják a távirányítású repülőgépes rendszerek jogszerűtlen alkalmazásából eredő veszélyforrásokat. Valós példákon keresztül illusztrálják a  drónok rosszindulatú használatának veszélyeit. A  lehetséges védekezési módok önmagukban nem  elegendőek az ilyen felhasználásból adódó kockázatok  lecsökkentésére, ám a rendelkezésre álló technológiák  kombinálásával funkció és hatás szerint tagolt hatékony  védelmi struktúra hozható létre.
Vítimas De Um Incêndio No Bairro Educandos: Percepções E Significados Atribuídos
Authors: Carvalho David Vieira de , Belém Hannah Beatriz Barnabé , Sarmento Wanderlany Soares de Oliveira , Souza Julio César Pinto de
Published: May 2021

Nos últimos anos tem-se verificado uma série de tragédias e emergências na cidade de Manaus, no ambiente urbano. O ultimo desastre ocorreu no bairro Educandos, quando mais de 600 casas foram destruídas em um incêndio, deixando mais de 1500 pessoas desabrigadas. Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo compreender a percepção das vítimas do incêndio do bairro Educandos, na cidade de Manaus quanto ao desastre ocorrido. Esta pesquisa teve uma abordagem qualitativa, caráter descritivo e de campo, sendo utilizada uma entrevista para obtenção dos dados. Nos resultados da pesquisa pode-se perceber que questões como apego ao lugar, sentimento de pertencimento e questões identitárias surgiram com grande frequência para as vítimas do incêndio. Entende-se que se fazem necessários estudos com multi perspectivas a fim de entender como essas vítimas lidam com o luto advindo da perda do seu lugar de residência, assim como as condições de vulnerabilidade.
Efeito dos probióticos na prevenção e tratamento de câncer e Diabetes mellitus
Authors: Miranda Brena Lopes , Lima Diêgo de Oliveira , Barbosa Thalia , Barbosa Maria Lúcia de Moura Rocha , Silva Higo José Neri da , Nascimento Edite Maria Morais do , Meira Dorothy Emanuelly Acácio Vasconcellos , Rocha Rute Emanuela da , Almeida Kananda Pereira , Soares Tiago , Passos Cláudio Rivelino Freire , Oliveria Thalyta Pereira , Nascimento Antony Charles Oliveira do , Machado Keylla da Conceição , Silva Amanda Miranda da
Published: May 2021

Dieta rica em probióticos ajuda na prevenção e tratamento de doenças, bem como no equilíbrio da microbiota intestinal. Esta é uma revisão bibliográfica que buscou avaliar o efeito dos probióticos na prevenção e tratamento de câncer e diabetes. As bases de dados eletrônicas foram: Scielo, LILACS, Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde, Google Acadêmico, Medline e Pubmed, artigos em inglês, espanhol e português, descritores: Probióticos/Probiotics, Probióticos e diabetes/Probiotics and diabetes e Probióticos e câncer/Probiotics and câncer; critérios de inclusão: artigos completos publicados na íntegra, disponíveis nos idiomas inglês, espanhol e português recorte temporal nos últimos 20 anos. Inicialmente encontrado 12.000 artigos com o descritor probióticos, demais descritores, foi obtido o resultado final de 210 artigos. Observou se que o câncer e a diabetes são doenças crônicas, consideradas pela Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS) como problemas prioritários de saúde pública global, estudos têm demonstrado ações benéficas com o uso de probióticos com pesquisas in vivo e in vitro, no câncer, os probióticos reduzem os efeitos mutagênicos e genotóxicos, agem com três mecanismos de proteção ao hospedeiro, na diabetes, os probióticos podem melhorar as alterações metabólicas como resistência à insulina, hiperglicemia, inflamação, dislipidemia ou DHGNA em animais e agem com mecanismos benéficos. A utilização de probióticos tem um papel benéfico no tratamento de doenças crônicas não transmissíveis como câncer e diabetes. No câncer, as bactérias probióticas reduzem os efeitos mutagênicos e genotóxicos, os benefícios dos probióticos na diabetes mellitus são a melhora nas alterações metabólicas associadas à diabetes, como resistência à insulina, hiperglicemia e inflamação.
Paraoxonase 1 gene polymorphisms and enzyme activities in diabetes mellitus
Authors: Flekač M , Škrha J , Žídková K , Lacinová Z , Hilgertová J
Published: May 2021

Paraoxonase 1 (PON1), an antioxidant enzyme closely associated
with HDL (high-density lipoproteins), preserves LDL (low-density
lipoproteins) against oxidation. Less protection may be therefore
supposed by decreased PON1 activity. This study was undertaken
to investigate the association of PON1 gene polymorphisms with
diabetic angiopathy and to evaluate the relationship of these
polymorphisms with PON1 activity. Total of 86 Type 1 (T1DM)
and 246 Type 2 (T2DM) diabetic patients together with 110
healthy subjects were examined. DNA isolated from leukocytes
was amplified with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by
restriction enzyme digestion. The products were analyzed for
L55M and Q192R polymorphisms in coding region and for –107
C/T and –907 G/C in promotor sequence of PON1. Serum enzyme
activity was measured spectrophotometrically. Significant
differences were found between T1DM or T2DM and control
persons in L55M polymorphism (allele M more frequent in T1DM
and T2DM vs. controls, p<0.05) and Q192R polymorphism
(R allele less frequent in T1DM and T2DM vs. controls, p<0.01)
of the PON1 gene. Serum PON1 activity was significantly
decreased in T1DM (110±68 nmol/ml/min) and T2DM patients
(118±69 nmol/ml/min) compared to the control persons (203±58
nmol/ml/min), both p<0.01. The presence of MM and QQ
genotypes was accompanied by lower PON1 activity than of LL
and RR genotypes (p<0.05), respectively. Better diabetes control
was found in patients with LL than with MM genotypes and
similarly in RR genotype than QQ genotype with p<0.05.
Significantly different allele frequencies were found in diabetic
patients with macroangiopathy than in those without it (M: 0.59
vs. 0.44. R: 0.12 vs. 0.19, p<0.01). The association of PON1
polymorphisms, lower PON1 activity and poorer diabetes control
found in patients with macroangiopathy further support the idea
of genetic factors contributing to the development of vascular
disorders in diabetes.
State Repression and the Struggles for Memory
Authors: Jelin Elizabeth
Published: May 2021

Opening the newspapers in South America at the beginning of the 21st century can feel like being caught in static time: so many of the contemporary news stories point to the persistence of a past which is definitely not "over". The attempts to try Pinochet, the continuing searches for the disappeared, or a child of murdered parents' struggle to discover their real identity, the Truth Commission in Peru - across the continent, societies continue to come to terms with the past. This book provides an introduction to the complexity of ideas and approaches which have been brought to bear on memory and its importance for understanding social and political realities. Elizabeth Jelin draws on European and North American debates and theories to explore the ways in which conflicts over memory shape individual and collective identities, as well social and political cleavages. The book exposes the enduring consequences of repression and enriches our understanding of the conflicted and contingent nature of memory.
A Strategy to Simultaneously Cure Type 1 Diabetes and Diabetic Nephropathy by Transplant of Composite Islet-Kidney Grafts
Authors: Pomposelli Thomas , Schuetz Christian , Wang Ping , Yamada Kazuhiko
Published: May 2021

In recent years islet cell transplant has proven itself to be a viable clinical option for a select group of diabetic patients. Graft loss after transplant however continues to hinder the long-term success of the procedure. Transplanting the islets as a pre-vascularized composite islet-kidney graft has emerged as a relevant solution. Much groundbreaking research has been done utilizing this model in conjunction with strategies aimed towards islet cell survival and prolongation of function in the host. Transplanting the islet cells as a prevascularized graft under the capsule of the donor kidney as a composite islet-kidney graft has been shown to provide long term durable blood glucose control in large animal studies by limiting graft apoptosis as well as providing a physical barrier against the host immune response. While promising, this technique is limited by long term immunosuppression requirements of the host with its well-known adverse sequelae. Research into tolerance inducing strategies of the host to the allogeneic and xenogeneic islet-kidney graft has shown much promise in the avoidance of long-term immunosuppression. In addition, utilizing xenogeneic tissue grafts could provide a near-limitless supply of organs. The islet-kidney model could provide a durable and long-term cure for diabetes. Here we summarize the most recent data, as well as groundbreaking strategies to avoid long term immunosuppression and promote graft acceptance.
Identification of a Novel Variant in MT-CO3 Causing MELAS
Authors: Xu Manting , Kopajtich Robert , Elstner Matthias , Wang Zhaoxia , Liu Zhimei , Wang Junling , Prokisch Holger , Fang Fang
Published: May 2021

Mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) is a maternally inherited mitochondrial disease. Most cases of MELAS are caused by the m.3243A > G variant in the MT-TL1 gene encoding tRNALeu(UUR). However, the genetic cause in 10% of patients with MELAS is unknown. We investigated the pathogenicity of the novel mtDNA variant m.9396G > A/MT-CO3 (p.E64K), which affects an extremely conserved amino acid in the CO3 subunit of mitochondrial respiratory chain (MRC) complex IV (CIV) in a patient with MELAS. Biochemical assays of a muscle biopsy confirmed remarkable CIV deficiency, and pathological examination showed ragged red fibers and generalized COX non-reactive muscle fibers. Transfer of the mutant mtDNA into cybrids impaired CIV assembly, followed by remarkable mitochondrial dysfunction and ROS production. Our findings highlight the pathogenicity of a novel m.9396G > A variant and extend the spectrum of pathogenic mtDNA variants.
The Roles of Magnetorheological Fluid in Modern Precision Machining Field: A Review
Authors: Lu He , Hua Dezheng , Wang Baiyi , Yang Chengli , Hnydiuk-Stefan Anna , Królczyk Grzegorz , Liu Xinhua , Li Zhixiong
Published: May 2021

Owing to some of its specific advantages, magnetorheological fluid (MRF) has drawn significant attention in a broad range of modern precision machining fields. With the diversification and increase in demand, many novel structural configurations and processing methods have been applied to mechanical machining equipment. Although different applications using MRF have been proposed in the existing literature, the classification, latest approaches, and further trend are not understood clearly for the machining field. Therefore, the current applications such as machining auxiliary equipment and surface polishing equipment that used MRF are summarized from 2016 to 2020, in this article. Especially, some detailed structures of equipment are investigated, and relative limitations are analyzed based on the characteristics of MRF. Finally, in view of the current equipment, advantages and defects are briefly reported; the developing trends of modern precision machining with MRF are discussed. Therefore, in the state-of-the-art review, the significant role of MRF in the machining field is emphasized, which paves the way to innovative development and market selection.
Research on the Influence of Media Internalized Pressure on College Students’ Sports Participation—Chained Intermediary Analysis of Social Physique Anxiety and Weight Control Self-Efficacy
Authors: Ouyang Yiyi , Luo Jiong , Teng Jinsheng , Zhang Tingran , Wang Kun , Li Jing
Published: May 2021

Purpose: Discuss the relationship among college students’ media internalized pressure, social physique anxiety, weight control self-efficacy, and sports participation in providing a reference for promoting college students to develop healthy and confident living habits.

Methods: Take Southwest University in China as the object, select the subjects by stratified random sampling, and process the data with SPSS19.0 and AMOS21.0 statistical software.

Results: (1) Media internalized pressure is positively correlated with social physique anxiety, weight control self-efficacy, and sports participation; social physique anxiety is significantly positively correlated with weight control self-efficacy and sports participation, and weight control self-efficacy is significantly positively correlated with sports participation; (2) media internalized pressure has a direct effect on sports participation (ES = 0.456), and social physique anxiety (ES = 0.136) and weight control self-efficacy (ES = 0.102) play significant mediating roles in the relationship between media internalized pressure and sports participation, respectively; the chained mediating force of social physique anxiety and weight control self-efficacy also reaches a significant level (ES = 0.027).

Conclusion: Media internalized pressure can influence college students’ sports participation through the direct path as well as indirect paths such as social physique anxiety, the intermediary effect of weight control self-efficacy, and chained intermediary effect of social physique anxiety–weight control self-efficacy, and social physique anxiety is another key factor affecting college students’ sports participation except media internalized pressure.
Family Resilience, Parenting Styles and Psychosocial Adjustment of Children With Chronic Illness: A Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Qiu Yuan , Xu Liuqing , Pan Yinzhu , He Chunlei , Huang Yingying , Xu Huan , Lu Zhongqiu , Dong Chaoqun
Published: May 2021

Objectives: To evaluate the level of parent-reported family resilience, parenting styles and psychosocial adjustment of children with chronic illness and to identify the relationships between family resilience, parenting styles and psychosocial adjustment in families with children with chronic illness.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between June 2019 and August 2019. A total of 236 parents of children with chronic illness and 98 parents with healthy children were recruited from general hospitals by convenience sampling. A parent completed the Chinese Family Resilience Assessment Scale, the Parenting Rearing Patterns Questionnaire and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Family resilience, parenting styles, and psychosocial adjustment of children with chronic illness were compared with those of healthy children. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was performed to explore the mediation effect of parenting styles between family resilience and psychosocial adjustment among children with chronic illness.

Results: Parents of children with chronic illness reported lower level of family resilience and authoritative parenting, but more peer relationship problems compared to parents of healthy children. SEM showed that authoritative parenting fully mediated the relationship between family resilience and psychosocial adjustment of children with chronic illness.

Conclusion: Childhood chronic illness reduces family resilience, authoritative parenting and children's psychosocial adjustment, but authoritative parenting mediated these effects, so authoritative parenting may be important for family resilience in families of children with chronic illness. Pediatric clinicians and nurses should provide family-centered interventions, as well as parenting training, to improve children's psychosocial outcomes.
DNR and COVID-19: The Ethical Dilemma and Suggested Solutions
Authors: Sultan Hala , Mansour Razan , Shamieh Omar , Al-Tabba' Amal , Al-Hussaini Maysa
Published: May 2021

Ethics are considered a basic aptitude in healthcare, and the capacity to handle ethical dilemmas in tough times calls for an adequate, responsible, and blame-free environment. While do-not-resuscitate (DNR) decisions are made in advance in certain medical situations, in particular in the setting of poor prognosis like in advanced oncology, the discussion of DNR in relation to acute medical conditions, the COVID-19 pandemic in this example, might impose ethical dilemmas to the patient and family, healthcare providers (HCPs) including physicians and nurses, and to the institution. The literature on DNR decisions in the more recent pandemics and outbreaks is scarce. DNR was only discussed amid the H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009, with clear global recommendations. The unprecedented condition of the COVID-19 pandemic leaves healthcare systems worldwide confronting tough decisions. DNR has been implemented in some countries where the healthcare system is limited in capacity to admit, and thus intubating and resuscitating patients when needed is jeopardized. Some countries were forced to adopt a unilateral DNR policy for certain patient groups. Younger age was used as a discriminator in some, while general medical condition with anticipated good outcome was used in others. The ethical challenge of how to balance patient autonomy vs. beneficence, equality vs. equity, is a pressing concern. In the current difficult situation, when cases top 100 million globally and the death toll surges past 2.7 million, difficult decisions are to be made. Societal rather than individual benefits might prevail. Pre-hospital triaging of cases, engagement of other sectors including mental health specialists and religious scholars to support patients, families, and HCPs in the frontline might help in addressing the psychological stress these groups might encounter in addressing DNR in the current situation.
Exploring Three Recurrent Neural Network Architectures for Geomagnetic Predictions
Authors: Wintoft Peter , Wik Magnus
Published: May 2021

Three different recurrent neural network (RNN) architectures are studied for the prediction of geomagnetic activity. The RNNs studied are the Elman, gated recurrent unit (GRU), and long short-term memory (LSTM). The RNNs take solar wind data as inputs to predict the Dst index. The Dst index summarizes complex geomagnetic processes into a single time series. The models are trained and tested using five-fold cross-validation based on the hourly resolution OMNI dataset using data from the years 1995–2015. The inputs are solar wind plasma (particle density and speed), vector magnetic fields, time of year, and time of day. The RNNs are regularized using early stopping and dropout. We find that both the gated recurrent unit and long short-term memory models perform better than the Elman model; however, we see no significant difference in performance between GRU and LSTM. RNNs with dropout require more weights to reach the same validation error as networks without dropout. However, the gap between training error and validation error becomes smaller when dropout is applied, reducing over-fitting and improving generalization. Another advantage in using dropout is that it can be applied during prediction to provide confidence limits on the predictions. The confidence limits increase with increasing Dst magnitude: a consequence of the less populated input-target space for events with large Dst values, thereby increasing the uncertainty in the estimates. The best RNNs have test set RMSE of 8.8 nT, bias close to zero, and linear correlation of 0.90.
Cross Diffusion Effect on Linear and Nonlinear Double Diffusive Convection in a Viscoelastic Fluid Saturated Porous Layer with Internal Heat Source
Authors: Altawallbeh A.A.
Published: May 2021

Double diffusive convection in a binary viscoelastic fluid saturated porous layer in the presence of a cross diffusion effect and an internal heat source is studied analytically using linear and nonlinear stability analysis. The linear stability theory is based on the normal mode technique, while the nonlinear theory is based on a minimal representation of truncated double Fourier series. The modified Darcy law for the viscoelastic fluid of the Oldroyd type is considered to model the momentum equation. The onset criterion for stationary and oscillatory convection and steady heat and mass transfer have been obtained analytically using linear and nonlinear theory, respectively. The combined effect of an internal heat source and cross diffusion is investigated. The effects of Dufour, Soret, internal heat, relaxation and retardation time, Lewis number and concentration Rayleigh number on stationary, oscillatory, and heat and mass transport are depicted graphically. Heat and mass transfer are presented graphically in terms of Nusselt and Sherwood numbers, respectively. It is reported that the stationary and oscillatory convection are significantly influenced with variation of Soret and Defour parameters. An increment of the internal heat parameter has a destabilizing effect as well as enhancing the heat transfer process. On the other hand, an increment of internal heat parameter has a variable effect on mass transfer. It is found that there is a critical value for the thermal Rayleigh number, below which increasing internal heat decreases the Sherwood number, while above it increasing the internal heat increases the Sherwood number.
Feeling Uncertainty during the Lockdown That Commenced in March 2020 in Greece
Authors: Zavras Dimitris
Published: May 2021

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in significant uncertainty for the global population. However, since not all population groups experience the impacts of the pandemic in the same way, the objective of this study was to identify the individual characteristics associated with the feeling of uncertainty during the lockdown that commenced in March 2020 in Greece. The study used data from the “Public Opinion in the European Union (EU) in Time of Coronavirus Crisis” survey. The sample consisted of 1050 individuals aged between 16 and 54 years. According to the analysis, which was based on a logistic regression model, the emotional status of older individuals, those who experienced income and job losses since the beginning of the pandemic, and middle-class and high-class individuals, is more likely to be described as a feeling of uncertainty. In addition, the emotional status of individuals with less concern for their own health and that of family and friends is less likely to be described as a feeling of uncertainty. Although the results related to age, income, and job losses, as regards concern for health, agree with the international literature, the limited health literacy of lower-class individuals may explain the reduced likelihood of their experiencing feelings of uncertainty. The results confirm the international literature describing several aspects of uncertainty due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Effect of Partial Replacement of Cement with NBRRI Pozzolan on the Mechanical Properties of Concrete
Authors: Olawale S. O. A.
Published: May 2021

The cost of cement has been on a steady increase in Nigeria making it difficult for mass housing developments. The possibility of this price hike abating is not envisaged under the current socio-economic situation in the country. One of the ways to reduce dependence on cement in construction of houses is the partial replacement of cement with pozzolanic material which are readily available with little or no cost such as the one developed by Nigeria Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI). This study inspected the mechanical attributes of concrete made with fractional replacement of cement with NBRRI pozzolan. Concrete mix, 1:1.5:3 was designed for all specimens with w/c of 0.45. NBRRI pozzolan (0%, 3%, 6%, 9%, 12% and 15%) by weight of cement were used for concrete production. The mechanical properties were measured at 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. It was obtained from the results that workability of concrete reduces from 62.5 to 50.5 mm as the percentage of NBRRI pozzolan increases from 0 – 15% respectively. The 28-day compressive, split tensile and flexural strengths of concrete at 12% replacement of cement by NBRRI pozzolan (30.92, 3.11 and 5.48 N/mm2) were found to be comparable to control (34.93, 3.2 and 5.12 N/mm2). It is concluded that 12% replacement of cement by NBRRI pozzolan in concrete (at 28-day curing) will reduce the amount of cement, decrease the cost of concrete production and give desired strength.
Formation of a human-centric approach to the prevention of torture in Ukraine
Authors: YAMELSKA Khrystyna
Published: May 2021

The paper is concerned with the role of key international human rights standards and soft law instruments of the Council of Europe in the preventing ill-treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in the context of the human centrist approach. The paper determine the purpose of the formation of human-centric legal ideology in Ukraine, which is the creation of a mechanism of effective restriction of public power in the interests of protecting the fundamental rights.
The paper is dedicated to the doctrine of human-centric legal ideology in Ukraine and its human dignity key element. Considering the fact that the process of forming a democratic human-centric legal ideology in Ukraine is still not complete, the paper highlights the cases of mass violations of fundamental human rights by law enforcement agencies, where a special problem is the illegal practice of law enforcement agencies against human dignity. One of its case is the ill-treatment and use of torture against persons deprived of their liberty.
The paper highlights the ways to protect the right to dignity through the prism of legislative activity of government bodies and advocacy of civil society institutions. The Article 28 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which establishes the right to respect for human dignity as one of the key values of the Ukrainian legal system, is revealed. The category of dignity is revealed through the prism of Articles 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of December 10, 1948, Articles 7 and 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of December 16, 1966 and Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights of November 4, 1950. Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, acts of the European Committee against Torture.
Avaliação do impacto dos benefícios de assistência estudantil sobre o desempenho acadêmico: o caso da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
Authors: Machado Gabriel Costeira , Oliveira Cristiano Aguiar de , Freitas Tiaraju Alves de
Published: May 2021

O Plano Nacional de Assistência Estudantil (PNAES) no Brasil tem fornecido um conjunto de benefícios que buscam garantir melhores condições para a permanência dos estudantes universitários identificados como socioeconomicamente vulneráveis. Vários estudos têm sido realizados para o Brasil em relação aos efeitos das políticas públicas em termos de evasão e de retenção dos discentes nas universidades. A partir de uma base de dados que concilia doisconjuntos de informações independentes, este artigo fez um pareamento de grupos que receberam benefícios do PNAES com os que não receberam, utilizando características observáveis comuns. O elemento central é a identificação das características socioeconômicas dos estudantes em conjunto com dados referentes ao desempenho em uma universidade pública, coletados no ano de 2015. Para estimação dos resultados, utilizou-se o propensity score matching para diferentes tipos de benefícios concedidos (bolsa permanência, alimentação, moradia e transporte). Os resultados revelaram impacto positivo sobre o desempenho dos alunos.
Determinantes socioeconômicos do suicídio em Santa Catarina: uma análise com dados em painel
Authors: Feltrin Rafael Jasper , Almeida Helberte João França
Published: May 2021

Embora Santa Catarina seja um estado com alto índice de desenvolvimento humano (IDH), a taxa de suicídios é alarmante entre as cidades catarinenses. Para cidades como Joinville e Florianópolis, maiores cidades do estado, este indicador cresce a cada ano entre os jovens. Diante desse cenário, este estudo busca identificar os determinantes socioeconômicos do suicídio em Santa Catarina. Para tanto, o modelo de Poisson com dummies de efeitos fixos foi utilizado para permitir a maior desagregação dos dados em faixas etárias e um intercepto diferente para cada uma delas. Os resultados mostram que os suicídios são inversamente relacionados a casamentos, nascimentos e crescimento do produto interno bruto (PIB); no entanto, existe uma relação positiva dos suicídios com divórcios.
El Financiamiento de la integración infraestructural sudamericana : las dificultades institucionales de constitución de un nuevo arreglo financiero regional
Authors: Castro Aline Contti , Cimini Fernanda
Published: May 2021

Este artículo analiza el arreglo de financiamiento de la Iniciativa para la Integración de la Infraestructura Regional Suramericana (IIRSA), buscando identificar cuáles fueron las organizaciones financieras más relevantes y los principales desafíos institucionales enfrentados para la captación de recursos en la región. Teniendo como objeto de análisis las agendas de proyectos prioritarios en el periodo entre 2005-2018, se argumenta que la idea de un arreglo de financiamiento innovador ha fracasado por cuenta de: la capacidad limitada de la inversión pública y la baja capacidad crediticia internacional de la mayoría de los Estados de la región; la permanencia de un ciclo vicioso en que proyectos con recursos ya asignados son los que atraen más recursos; la pequeña contribución de las instituciones multilaterales de desarrollo; la baja participación del sector privado; y la ausencia de liderazgo y de soluciones colectivas, intensificado por las crecientes divergencias políticas entre los gobiernos de la región. Muchas de estas dificultades son típicas de las economías periféricas, resultando en la continuidad de un bajo volumen (leverage) de inversiones regionales en infraestructura.
Calling and courtship songs of the rare, robust ground cricket, Allonemobius walkeri
Authors: Hershberger Wilbur L.
Published: May 2021

In the original description of Allonemobius walkeri Howard & Furth, 1986, the authors describe the species’ calling songs in a table that included trill length, length of the interval between trills, pulse rate, and carrier frequency for four individuals. Further investigation of the acoustics of this species reveals that the calling songs are composed of syllables organized into echemes composed of a varying number of syllables, and organized into groups of echemes, of variable length. The echemes are separated by intervals of various lengths. The calling song is pleasing to the ear, with ~27 syllables per second and a carrier frequency of ~7.7 kHz at 25°C. The characteristics of the echemes and echeme intervals are significantly different when the cricket is singing in sunlight compared to darkness. In sunlight, echemes are shorter, but echeme intervals are longer. There is no effect on calling bout lengths. Courtship songs are quieter than calling songs, with a random delivery of soft and loud chirps in addition to fainter, rhythmic sounds randomly distributed between the chirps. Courtship songs are interspersed with long bouts of calling songs with displays lasting hours.
Open science in practice: 300 published research ideas and outcomes illustrate how RIO Journal facilitates engagement with the research process
Authors: Mietchen Daniel , Penev Lyubomir , Georgiev Teodor , Ovcharova Boriana , Kostadinova Iva
Published: May 2021

Since Research Ideas and Outcomes was launched in late 2015, it has stimulated experimentation around the publication of and engagement with research processes, especially those with a strong open science component. Here, we zoom in on the first 300 RIO articles that have been published and elucidate how they relate to the different stages and variants of the research cycle, how they help address societal challenges and what forms of engagement have evolved around these resources, most of which have a nature and scope that would prevent them from entering the scholarly record via more traditional journals. Building on these observations, we describe some changes we recently introduced in the policies and peer review process at RIO to further facilitate engagement with the research process, including the establishment of an article collections feature that allows us to bring together research ideas and outcomes from within one research cycle or across multiple ones, irrespective of where they have been published.
A multiplicity result for orthogonal geodesic chords in Finsler disks
Authors: Corona Dario
Published: May 2021

In this paper, we study the existence and multiplicity problems for orthogonal Finsler geodesic chords in a manifold with boundary which is homeomorphic to a \begin{document}$ N $\end{document}-dimensional disk. Under a suitable assumption, which is weaker than convexity, we prove that, if the Finsler metric is reversible, then there are at least \begin{document}$ N $\end{document} orthogonal Finsler geodesic chords that are geometrically distinct. If the reversibility assumption does not hold, then there are at least two orthogonal Finsler geodesic chords with different values of the energy functional.
YNU_OXZ @ HaSpeeDe 2 and AMI : XLM-RoBERTa with Ordered Neurons LSTM for classification task at EVALITA 2020
Authors: Ou Xiaozhi , Li Hongling
Published: May 2021

This paper describes the system that team YNU_OXZ submitted for EVALITA 2020. We participate in the shared task on Automatic Misogyny Identification (AMI) and Hate Speech Detection (HaSpeeDe 2) at the 7th evaluation campaign EVALITA 2020. For HaSpeeDe 2, we participate in Task A - Hate Speech Detection and submitted two-run results for the news headline test and tweets headline test, respectively. Our submitted run is based on the pre-trained multi-language model XLM-RoBERTa, and input into Convolution Neural Network and K-max Pooling (CNN + K-max Pooling). Then, an Ordered Neurons LSTM (ON-LSTM) is added to the previous representation and submitted to a linear decision function. Regarding the AMI shared task for the automatic identification of misogynous content in the Italian language. We participate in subtask A about Misogyny & Aggressive Behaviour Identification. Our system is similar to the one defined for HaSpeeDe and is based on the pre-trained multi-language model XLM-RoBERTa, an Ordered Neurons LSTM (ON-LSTM), a Capsule Network, and a final classifier.
UR_NLP @ HaSpeeDe 2 at EVALITA 2020: Towards Robust Hate Speech Detection with Contextual Embeddings
Authors: Hoffmann Julia , Kruschwitz Udo
Published: May 2021

We describe our approach to address Task A of the EVALITA 2020 Hate Speech Detection (HaSpeeDe2) challenge. We submitted two runs that are both based on contextual embeddings – which we had chosen due to their effectiveness in solving a wide range of NLP problems. For our baseline run we use stacked embeddings that serve as features in a linear SVM. Our second run is a simple ensemble approach of three SVMs with majority voting. Both approaches outperform the official baselines by a large margin, and the ensemble classifier in particular demonstrates robust performance on different types of test data coming 6th (out of 27 runs) for news headlines and 10th (out of 27) for Twitter feeds.
TheNorth @ HaSpeeDe 2: BERT-based Language Model Fine-tuning for Italian Hate Speech Detection
Authors: Lavergne Eric , Saini Rajkumar , Kovács György , Murphy Killian
Published: May 2021

This report was written to describe the systems that were submitted by the team “TheNorth” for the HaSpeeDe 2 shared task organised within EVALITA 2020. To address the main task which is hate speech detection, we fine-tuned BERT-based models. We evaluated both multilingual and Italian language models trained with the data provided and additional data. We also studied the contributions of multitask learning considering both hate speech detection and stereotype detection tasks.
UninaStudents @ SardiStance: Stance Detection in Italian Tweets - Task A
Authors: Moraca Maurizio , Sabella Gianluca , Morra Simone
Published: May 2021

This document describes a classification system for the SardiStance task at EVALITA 2020. The task consists in classifying the stance of the author of a series of tweets towards a specific discussion topic. The resulting system was specifically developed by the authors as final project for the Natural Language Processing class of the Master in Computer Science at University of Naples Federico II. The proposed system is based on an SVM classifier with a radial basis function as kernel making use of features like 2 char-grams, unigram hashtag and Afinn weight computed on automatic translated tweets. The results are promising in that the system performances are on average higher than that of the baseline proposed by the task organizers.
NLP-CIC @ DIACR-Ita: POS and Neighbor Based Distributional Models for Lexical Semantic Change in Diachronic Italian Corpora
Authors: Angel Jason , Rodriguez-Diaz Carlos A. , Gelbukh Alexander , Jimenez Sergio
Published: May 2021

We present our systems and findings on unsupervised lexical semantic change for the Italian language in the DIACR-Ita shared-task at EVALITA 2020. The task is to determine whether a target word has evolved its meaning with time, only relying on raw-text from two time-specific datasets. We propose two models representing the target words across the periods to predict the changing words using threshold and voting schemes. Our first model solely relies on part-of-speech usage and an ensemble of distance measures. The second model uses word embedding representation to extract the neighbor’s relative distances across spaces and propose “the average of absolute differences" to estimate lexical semantic change. Our models achieved competent results, ranking third in the DIACR-Ita competition. Furthermore, we experiment with the k_neighbor parameter of our second model to compare the impact of using “the average of absolute differences" versus the cosine distance used in (Hamilton, Leskovec, and Jurafsky 2016).
Venses @ AcCompl-It: Computing Complexity vs Acceptability with a Constituent Trigram Model and Semantics
Authors: Delmonte Rodolfo
Published: May 2021

In this paper we present work carried out for the Ac-ComplIt task. ItVENSES is a system for syntactic and semantic processing that is based on the parser for Italian called ItGetaruns to analyse each sentence. In previous EVALITA tasks we only used semantics to produce the results. In this year EVALITA, we used both a statistically based approach and the semantic one used previously. The statistic approach is characterized by the use of trigrams of constituents computed by the system and checked against a trigram model derived from the constituency version of VIT – Venice Italian Treebank. Results measured in term of a correlation, are not particularly high, below 50% the Acceptability task and slightly over 30% the Complexity one.