bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Videospiele und Schlaf – negativer Zusammenhang oder unbedenkliches Zocken?
Authors: Tholl Chuck , Soffner Markus , Bickmann Peter , Alesi André , Froböse Ingo
Published: September 2022

Hintergrund

Das Spielen von Videospielen vor dem Schlafengehen kann einen Einfluss auf die Qualität und Quantität des Schlafs haben.

Fragestellung

Es gilt herauszufinden, welche Faktoren dabei beeinflusst werden und wie diese messbar gemacht werden können.

Material und Methode

Um eine Übersicht zu geben und Handlungsempfehlungen auszusprechen, wurden aktuelle Studien analysiert und gegenübergestellt.

Ergebnisse

Das Spielen von Videospielen vor dem Schlafengehen kann speziell bei Kindern und Jugendlichen zu einer erhöhten Einschlafdauer und insgesamt einer erhöhten Müdigkeit führen. Die Bildschirmhelligkeit (Exposition von blauem Licht) und die Aktivierung des Sympathikus durch das Spielen sind dabei relevante Faktoren. Vor allem actionreiche Videospiele führen zu einer größeren Aktivierung als vergleichbare ruhigere Aktivitäten.

Schlussfolgerung

Zusammenfassend kann gesagt werden, dass der Schlaf grundsätzlich durch das Videospielen negativ beeinflusst werden kann. Eine verlängerte Einschlafdauer und verringerte Tiefschlafphasen können als Folge vom abendlichen Videospielkonsum auftreten. Hierbei scheint die Sympathikotonie eine dominantere Rolle als die Exposition von blauem Licht zu spielen. Kinder, Jugendliche und professionelle Videospielende sind potenzielle Risikogruppen und müssen demnach über ein verantwortungsvolles Videospielverhalten aufgeklärt werden. Zur Quantifizierung der Aktivierung können verschiedene Messparameter dienen. Insbesondere die Herzratenvariabilität stellt einen praktikablen Parameter dar.
Myeloid But Not Endothelial Expression of the CB2 Receptor Promotes Atherogenesis in the Context of Elevated Levels of the Endocannabinoid 2-Arachidonoylglycerol
Authors: Avraamidou Elina , Nöthel Moritz , Danisch Melina , Bindila Laura , Schmidt Susanne V. , Lutz Beat , Nickenig Georg , Jehle Julian
Published: September 2022

The endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) is an inflammatory mediator and ligand for the cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2. We investigated the atherogenic mechanisms set in motion by 2-AG. Therefore, we created two atherosclerotic mouse models with distinct cell-specific knockouts of the CB2 receptor on either myeloid or endothelial cells. These mice were treated with JZL184, resulting in elevated plasma levels of 2-AG. After a high-fat high-cholesterol diet, atherosclerotic plaques were analyzed. The atherogenic effect of 2-AG was abrogated in mice lacking myeloid expression of the CB2 receptor but not in mice lacking endothelial expression of the CB2 receptor. In vitro, treatment of human monocytes with 2-AG led to the increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and IL-1β. In conclusion, 2-AG shows an atherogenic effect in vivo, dependent on the presence of the CB2 receptor on myeloid cells. In addition, our in vitro data revealed 2-AG to promote inflammatory signalling in monocytes.

Graphical abstract

2-Arachidonoylglycerol shows an atherogenic effect that is abrogated in mice lacking myeloid expression of the CB2 receptor.
A case of fulminant respiratory diphtheria in a 24-year-old Afghan refugee in Austria in May 2022: a case report
Authors: Traugott M. T. , Pleininger S. , Inschlag-Tisch S. , Eder B. , Seitz T. , Merrelaar A. , Reiß-Kornfehl J. , Fussi J. , Schindler S. , Blaschitz M. , Heger F. , Indra A. , Karolyi M. , Staudacher M. , Oelschlaegel T. , Hoepler W. , Neuhold S. , Wenisch C.
Published: September 2022

Purpose

Raising awareness of respiratory diphtheria and for the importance of early antitoxin administration.

Methods

Report of a case of fulminant, imported respiratory diphtheria in an otherwise healthy 24-year-old Afghan refugee in Austria in May 2022.

Result

This was the first case of respiratory diphtheria in Austria since 1993. Diphtheria antitoxin was administered at an already progressed disease stage. This delay contributed to a fulminant disease course with multiorgan failure and death.

Conclusion

In high-income countries with low case numbers, awareness of respiratory diphtheria and for the importance of early antitoxin administration must be raised.
CARE: coherent actionable recourse based on sound counterfactual explanations
Authors: Rasouli Peyman , Chieh Yu Ingrid
Published: September 2022

Counterfactual explanation (CE) is a popular post hoc interpretability approach that explains how to obtain an alternative outcome from a machine learning model by specifying minimum changes in the input. In line with this context, when the model’s inputs represent actual individuals, actionable recourse (AR) refers to a personalized CE that prescribes feasible changes according to an individual’s preferences. Hence, the quality of ARs highly depends on the soundness of underlying CEs and the proper incorporation of user preferences. To generate sound CEs, several data-level properties, such as proximity and connectedness, should be taken into account. Meanwhile, personalizing explanations demands fulfilling important user-level requirements, like coherency and actionability. The main obstacles to inclusive consideration of the stated properties are their associated modeling and computational complexity as well as the lack of a systematic approach for making a rigorous trade-off between them based on their importance. This paper introduces CARE, an explanation framework that addresses these challenges by formulating the properties as intuitive and computationally efficient objective functions, organized in a modular hierarchy and optimized using a multi-objective optimization algorithm. The devised modular hierarchy enables the arbitration and aggregation of various properties as well as the generation of CEs and AR by choice. CARE involves individuals through a flexible language for defining preferences, facilitates their choice by recommending multiple ARs, and guides their action steps toward their desired outcome. CARE is a model-agnostic approach for explaining any multi-class classification and regression model in mixed-feature tabular settings. We demonstrate the efficacy of our framework through several validation and benchmark experiments on standard data sets and black box models.
Organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls in carnivorous waterbird and fish species from Lake Hawassa, Ethiopia
Authors: Ayele Shiferaw , Mamo Yosef , Deribe Ermias , Eklo Ole Martin
Published: September 2022

Agricultural, vector-control and industrial activities around Lake Hawassa pose a risk of organochlorine contamination of the lake biota. To assess organochlorine contamination, we measured levels of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in 3 species of carnivorous waterbird and 3 species of fish. A total of 50 samples of fish and bird species sampled from Lake Hawassa in 2019. We investigated factors influencing accumulation of OCPs and PCBs. Reproductive risk associated with tissue levels of 4,4’-dichloro-diphenyl-dichloro-ethylene (p,p’-DDE) is also estimated. Results show that dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) is the dominant contaminant found in both bird and fish species. p,p’-DDE is the dominant DDT metabolite in both bird and fish species. Geometric mean of p,p’-DDE varied from 49.8–375.3 and 2.2–7.7 ng g−1 ww in birds and fish, respectively. Average p,p’-DDE level in birds is 33.3 times higher than in fish. p,p’-DDE constitutes 93.4–95.2% of total DDTs in bird species. Degree of exposure, chemical stability, and resistance to environmental and biological degradation could explain higher levels of p,p’-DDE both in bird and fish species. There is significant variation in p,p’-DDE levels among bird and fish species owing to differences in feeding habits, foraging habitat, and lipid content. An increase in DDT levels with increasing size is observed in both bird and fish species. A significant positive association between log-transformed p,p’-DDE, and stable nitrogen isotope ratio (δ15N) values is found. There is no reproductive health risk in bird species as a result of the current levels of p,p’-DDE.

Article Highlights

DDT is the dominant contaminant found in both bird and fish species

There is interspecies variation in accumulation of p,p’-DDE among fish and bird species

p,p’-DDE is biomagnified through food chain involving both bird and fish species
Ultrafast transient absorption and solvation of a super-photoacid in acetoneous environments
Authors: Knorr Johannes , Sülzner Niklas , Geissler Bastian , Spies Christian , Grandjean Alexander , Kutta Roger Jan , Jung Gregor , Nuernberger Patrick
Published: September 2022

The phenomenon of photoacidity, i.e., an increase in acidity by several orders of magnitude upon electronic excitation, is frequently encountered in aromatic alcohols capable of transferring a proton to a suitable acceptor. A promising new class of neutral super-photoacids based on pyranine derivatives has been shown to exhibit pronounced solvatochromic effects. To disclose the underlying mechanisms contributing to excited-state proton transfer (ESPT) and the temporal characteristics of solvation and ESPT, we scrutinize the associated ultrafast dynamics of the strongest photoacid of this class, namely tris(1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoropropan-2-yl)8-hydroxypyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonate, in acetoneous environment, thereby finding experimental evidence for ESPT even under these adverse conditions for proton transfer. Juxtaposing results from time-correlated single-photon counting and femtosecond transient absorption measurements combined with a complete decomposition of all signal components, i.e., absorption of ground and excited states as well as stimulated emission, we disclose dynamics of solvation, rotational diffusion, and radiative relaxation processes in acetone and identify the relevant steps of ESPT along with the associated time scales.

Graphical abstract
Photochemical defense as trait of fungi from Cortinarius subgenus Dermocybe
Authors: Hannecker Anna , Huymann Lesley , Hammerle Fabian , Peintner Ursula , Siewert Bianka
Published: September 2022

The photobiological activity of ten colorful species belonging to subgenus Dermocybe of the basidiomycete genus Cortinarius was investigated. Extracts of all species produced singlet oxygen and are thus photoactive. Pigment analysis was performed and showed similarities of the anthraquinone pigments across the species in dependency to their respective pigmentation types. Detailed content analysis of the pigments in the whole agaricoid fruiting body compared to the three different tissue types (pileus, stipe, and lamellae) revealed that the pigments emodin, dermocybin, and dermorubin, as well as their respective glycosides, are enhanced in the gills. In an independent experiment, the gills were shown to be the most photoactive tissues of the fruiting body. Photobiological experiments with invertebrates (i.e., glassworm Chaoborus crystallinus) proved a phototoxic effect of the methanolic extract of the red blood webcap (Cortinarius sanguineus var. aurantiovaginatus). This work adds further evidence to a common photobiological trait in Cortinarius subgenus Dermocybe and underpins the possibility of a photochemical defense mechanism in fungi.

Graphical abstract
Performance and design analyses of various configurations of dew point evaporative cooling-based desiccant air-conditioning (DAC) systems for hot and humid conditions
Authors: Lao Marco , Lin Jie , Mikšík František , Thu Kyaw , Miyazaki Takahiko
Published: September 2022

Thermally driven desiccant- and evaporative cooling-based technologies are promising greener and cheaper alternatives to compressor-based systems due to the separate handling of latent and sensible loads. Desiccant air-conditioning (DAC) systems comprise a desiccant dehumidifier, a sensible cooling unit, a heat source for regeneration, and a heat recovery unit. These components of a DAC system can be arranged in various ways to give different configurations with varying advantages and disadvantages. In this study, five configurations of thermally driven desiccant dehumidifier- and dew point evaporative cooling (DPEC)-based DAC systems were investigated. Seven evaluation criteria namely regeneration temperature, desiccant moisture removal capacity, COPt, DPEC L/H, heat exchanger UA, system size, and fan power requirement were employed. Results show that the standard cycle in ventilation mode offers the highest COPt despite having the highest regeneration temperature. Recirculation of the return room air can operate at a significantly lower regeneration temperature at the expense of larger equipment size and much lower COPt. DAC with an internally cooled dehumidification can operate at low regeneration temperature at the expense of higher fan power and slightly lower COPt. Dividing the dehumidification process into two stages can offer operation at moderately lower regeneration temperature without severely affecting the other criteria. This study can serve as a guide for the selection of an appropriate DAC configuration for space cooling depending on the objective criteria and the resources available.
Outcomes of blood and marrow transplantation in children less than 2-years of age
Authors: Khan Saadiya , Siddiqui Khawar , ElSolh Hasan , AlJefri Abdullah , AlAhmari Ali , Ghemlas Ibrahim , AlSaedi Hawazen , AlEnazi Awatif , AlSeraihi Amal , Ayas Mouhab
Published: September 2022

Objectives:

Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (Allo-HCT) is a curative option for children with various malignant and non-malignant diseases. Most reports studied all age groups amongst children. Herein we analyzed our data in children transplanted at or less than 2-years of age.

Patients and methods:

We reviewed medical charts of 618 patients who underwent 666 transplantation at our center between 1993 and 2015. There were 340 boys and 278 girls. Median age was 0.7 years (range 0.04—2). Stem cell source was bone marrow (BM) in 492 (73.9%), unrelated umbilical cord blood (UCB) in 161 (24.2%) followed by peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) in 13 (2%) patients. Matched siblings were the most common donors (n = 356, 53.5%), followed by unrelated (n = 161, 24.2%) with hap- loidentical family member donors in 29 (4.4%) transplants. Disease groups were categorized as benign hematology (Thalassemia, Fanconi, Aplastic anemia etc.), benign neoplasm (Langerhans cell histiocytosis, Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis etc.), non-neoplasms (metabolic disorders, immunodeficiency disorders etc.) and Leukemia/lymphomas (myeloid and lymphoid malignancies etc.)

Results:

Cumulative incidence of acute GvHD (I-IV) was 31.5% (n = 210) and grade III-IV GvHD was 8.7% (n = 58). At median follow-up of 115.1 months, the cumulative probability of overall survival (OS) at 5 years was 70.0% ± 1.9%. Our mortality rate was 31.2% (n = 193). The five-year OS was significantly better in patients transplanted for benign hematological disorders (P = .001). Patients transplanted using BM/ PBSC as source of stem cells fared significantly better compared to those in which CB was used (P<.001). Post-transplant graft failure remains the leading cause requiring further transplants in this age group. In conclusion, the cumulative probability of OS at 5 years was about 70.0% for all with an OS of 61% in our haploidentical recipients.

Conclusion:

Analyzing our institutional data over time has enabled us to develop tentative strategies to minimize transplant related toxicities in very young children who are candidates for allo-HCT.
Molecular concordance of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates from healthcare workers and patients
Authors: Adediran Timileyin Y. , Hitchcock Stephanie , Johnson J. Kristie , Stine O. Colin , Leekha Surbhi , Thom Kerri A. , Liang Yuanyuan , Rasko David A. , Harris Anthony D.
Published: September 2022

Background:

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a significant nosocomial pathogen in the ICU. MRSA contamination of healthcare personnel (HCP) gloves and gowns after providing care to patients with MRSA occurs at a rate of 14%–16% in the ICU setting. Little is known about whether the MRSA isolates identified on HCP gown and gloves following patient care activities are the same as MRSA isolates identified as colonizing or infecting the patient.

Methods:

From a multisite cohort of 388 independent patient MRSA isolates and their corresponding HCP gown and glove isolates, we selected 91 isolates pairs using a probability to proportion size (PPS) sampling method. To determine whether the patient and HCP gown or gloves isolates were genetically similar, we used 5 comparative genomic typing methods: phylogenetic analysis, spa typing, multilocus sequence typing (MLST), large-scale BLAST score ratio (LSBSR), and single-nucleotide variant (SNV) analysis.

Results:

We identified that 56 (61.5%) of isolate pairs were genetically similar at least by 4 of the methods. Comparably, the spa typing and the LSBSR analyses revealed that >75% of the examined isolate pairs were concordant, with the thresholds established for each analysis.

Conclusions:

Many of the patient MRSA isolates were genetically similar to those on the HCP gown or gloves following a patient care activity. This finding indicates that the patient is often the primary source of the MRSA isolates transmitted to the HCP, which can potentially be spread to other patients or hospital settings through HCP vectors. These results have important implications because they provide additional evidence for hospitals considering ending the use of contact precautions (gloves and gowns) for MRSA patients.
Caustics in turbulent aerosols: an excitable system approach
Authors: Barta Robin , Vollmer Jürgen
Published: September 2022

Aerosol particles are inertial particles. They cannot follow the surrounding fluid in a region of high vorticity. These encounters render the particle velocity field

${{\boldsymbol {v}}}$

locally compressible. Caustics occur if the trace of the gradient matrix

$\textsf{$\boldsymbol{\sigma}$}$

of the field

${{\boldsymbol {v}}}$

locally diverges. For three-dimensional isotropic and homogeneous turbulence, the dynamics of the gradient matrix can be expressed in terms of three geometric invariants. In the present paper we establish a parametrisation of this problem where the dynamics takes the form of an excitable stochastic dynamical system with a three-dimensional phase space. The deterministic part of the dynamics is solved analytically. We show that the deterministic system has a globally attractive stable fixed point. Small noise induces excursions from the fixed point that typically relax straight back towards the fixed point. Caustics emerge as non-trivial return to a global fixed point when noise excites a trajectory across a stability threshold. The relaxation to the global fixed point will then involve at least one, and it may involve two or even three divergences of

$\boldsymbol {Tr}\,\textsf{$\boldsymbol{\sigma}$}$

. Based on a combination of analytical insights and numerical analysis, we determine the rate of occurrence, duration and relative observation probability of caustic events in turbulent aerosols. Our analysis reveals that each approach towards a divergence proceeds along a straight line in the phase space of the dynamical system, which can help identify caustics. Moreover, there are infinite ways in which caustics can arise, namely whenever

$\boldsymbol {Tr}\,\textsf{$\boldsymbol{\sigma}$}$

tends to

$-\infty$

, so that no two caustics look the same.
Transitional hypersonic flow over slender cone/flare geometries
Authors: Butler Cameron S. , Laurence Stuart J.
Published: September 2022

Experiments are performed in a Mach-6 shock tunnel to examine the laminar-to-turbulent transition process associated with a sudden increase in surface angle on a slender body. A cone/flare geometry with a 5

$^\circ$

frustum and compression angles ranging from 5

$^\circ$

to 15

$^\circ$

allow a range of mean flow configurations, spanning an attached shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction to a fully separated one; the unit Reynolds number of the flow is also varied to modify the state of incoming second-mode boundary-layer disturbances. Ultra-high-speed schlieren visualizations provide a global picture of the flow development, supplemented by high-frequency surface pressure measurements. For the 5

$^\circ$

compression, the unsteady flow field is dominated by the second-mode waves, whose breakdown to turbulence is generally accelerated (compared with the straight-cone configuration) by encountering the angle change. As the compression angle is increased to induce separation, lower-frequency disturbances appear along the separated shear layer that exhibit much larger amplification rates than the incoming second-mode waves; the latter effectively freeze in amplitude downstream of the separation point before rapidly breaking down upon reattachment. The shear-layer disturbances become dominant at the largest compression angle tested. Radiation of disturbance energy to the external flow is consistently observed: this generally occurs along mean flow features (flare, separation or reattachment shocks) for the second-mode disturbances and spontaneously for the shear-layer waves. The combined application of spectral proper orthogonal decomposition and a global bispectral analysis allows the identification of important unsteady flow structures and the association of these with prominent nonlinear interactions in the various configurations.
Shear flow over a surface containing a groove covered by an incompressible surfactant phase
Authors: Baier Tobias , Hardt Steffen
Published: September 2022

We study shear-driven liquid flow over a planar surface with an embedded gas-filled groove, with the gas–liquid interface protruding slightly above or below the planar surface. The flow direction is along the groove, which is taken to be much longer than it is wide, and the gas–liquid interface is assumed to be covered by an incompressible surface fluid, representing a surfactant phase. Using the incompressibility condition for the surface fluid, the equations of motion and corresponding boundary conditions for the liquid phase are obtained by minimizing the dissipation rate. Assuming a moderate deformation of the interface, a domain perturbation technique with the maximal deformation as the small parameter is employed. The Stokes equation in the liquid phase under corresponding boundary conditions is solved to second order in the deformation using the Keldysh–Sedov formalism. The obtained analytical results are compared with numerical calculations of the same problem, allowing an assessment of the limits of validity of the expansion. While on a planar gas–liquid interface no flow is induced, a recirculating flow is observed on an interface protruding slightly above or below the planar surface. The study sheds light onto the mobility of curved gas–liquid interfaces in the presence of surfactants acting as an incompressible surface fluid.
Linear impulse response in three-dimensional oscillatory boundary layers formed by periodic modulation of a rotating disk
Authors: Morgan Scott , Davies Christopher , Thomas Christian
Published: September 2022

A numerical investigation is undertaken on the development of linear disturbances in the rotating disk boundary layer, in which a time-periodic modulation is applied to the disk rotation rate. The model gives a prototypical example of a three-dimensional oscillatory boundary layer, by adding a Stokes layer to the von Kármán flow that develops on a steady disk. The study extends the Floquet analysis of Morgan et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 925, 2021, A20), who showed that disk modulation stabilises the stationary convective instabilities found on the steady rotating disk. Using a radial homogeneous flow approximation, whereby the radial dependence of the basic state is ignored, disturbance development is simulated for several modulation settings, with flow conditions matched to both convective and absolute forms of linear instability. Disturbances excited via a stationary periodic wall forcing display behaviour consistent with that found using Floquet theory; time-periodic modulation stabilises the cross-flow instability by reducing the radial growth rate. In addition, convective and absolute instabilities, generated by an impulsive wall forcing, are both stabilised by the introduction of modulation to the disk rotation rate. Modulation establishes a significant reduction in both the temporal growth rate and the disturbance amplitude as it propagates away from the impulse origin. Moreover, greater stabilising control benefits are realised as the modulation amplitude increases.
Saving the ‘indigenous banks’: moral politics of economic sovereignty in Ghana’s 2017–19 financial crisis
Authors: Kauppinen Anna-Riikka
Published: September 2022

Nine Ghanaian private banks collapsed during the country’s 2017–19 financial crisis. Apart from public audits that revealed liquidity problems and large portfolios of non-performing loans, the crisis generated vibrant debate on ‘indigenous banks’ as integral to national economic sovereignty. At the centre of these debates was a contested central bank-led project to inject equity in five struggling Ghanaian banks through a special purpose vehicle (SPV), Ghana Amalgamated Trust (GAT). Set against the historical dominance of foreign banks in West Africa and Ghana’s recent history of political fault lines, this article explores the moral discourses and popular discontents of harnessing an SPV – a device typically used to isolate financial risk – for a desire for African economic sovereignty. Drawing on banking archives, public debates and fieldwork in a private bank selected as a benefactor of the SPV, I focus on the contests of value that emerge when costly banking sector reforms meet a critical public that doubts the sincerity of politicians and bankers as economic ‘reformers’. Arguing that ‘indigenous banks’ became a moral category that embedded abstractions of finance in a nationalist discourse of affect and sentiment, this article illuminates the long history of centring domestic ownership of financial infrastructures in postcolonial African economic policymaking.
Sign language as a technology: existential and instrumental perspectives of Ugandan Sign Language
Authors: Beckmann Gitte
Published: September 2022

The introduction of Ugandan Sign Language in Acholi, northern Uganda, was part of a growing internationally linked disability movement in the country and was set within the framework of development policy and human rights-based approaches. In this context, Ugandan Sign Language appeared as a technology of development. But how did the appropriation of Ugandan Sign Language change deaf people’s lives, their being-in-the-world, in Acholi? In using the theoretical approach of existential and instrumental perspectives on technologies by Martin Heidegger, this article analyses the complex transitions following the appropriation of Ugandan Sign Language on international, national and local levels. The disability movement – including Ugandan Sign Language projects – reached Acholi during the time of war between the Lord’s Resistance Army and Ugandan national forces. Displacement brought scattered deaf people together in towns and camps, where Ugandan Sign Language was introduced through workshops and institutions including churches. This created new forms of communication and possibilities of sociality. After the war, gender differences emerged, as many deaf women returned to rural homes where they had few opportunities to communicate with other sign language users.
‘Losing complexes’: navigating technology, moral careers and mobility among disabled people in Kinshasa
Authors: Devlieger Clara
Published: September 2022

In moral careers of personhood and subjectivity of people who are mobility impaired, technologies such as mobility aids can become intertwined with teleologies of personal progress. This article examines how technologies shaped and expressed personal growth and social identity among those who took part in transnational trade between Kinshasa and Brazzaville. Engaging with a particular socio-technical environment facilitates both personal movement and cross-border mobility, and therefore becomes central to the ways in which individuals present themselves as ‘losing complexes’ – that is, their perceived frustrations about their disability. Exchanging a stick for a crutch or a hand-cranked tricycle for a wheelchair facilitates different forms of movement and expresses how one seeks to navigate between embarrassment, pride and respectability. Mobility aids thus serve as an index of different moments in moral careers of progress and decline, while their complementarity or incompatibility with public infrastructure is instrumental in creating and disaggregating social assemblages of disabled people. Through the rise and collapse of border trade between Kinshasa and Brazzaville, I discuss how crutches, cargo tricycles, wheelchairs and ferries shaped socialities and subjectivities over the long term. Considering the role of technology problematizes analyses of moral careers of personhood as attributed by others, drawing attention to personal agency and entanglement with a socio-technical environment.
Sticks and wheelchairs for elderly people in central Uganda: values of utility, provenance and presentation
Authors: Namaganda Rehema , Kyaddondo David , Kajja Isaac , Kiwuwa Steven
Published: September 2022

While mobility-assistive devices ease movement and independence of persons with disabilities, their use may depend on their social and symbolic meaning. This article departs from our observation that elderly people in Wakiso in Uganda own a variety of assistive technologies yet do not utilize them all equally. Our findings are based on data collected through conversations, interviews and observations of thirty elderly people visited in their homes between July 2016 and January 2017. We found that elderly people with mobility disabilities valued devices for the greater autonomy they afforded, although dependence was also valued in some situations. The source or provenance of a device imbued it with meaning. Holding onto it regardless of how much one used it was in a way like holding onto the social relationship that the artefact represented, and the same can be said of abandoning it. Devices were also valued according to the manner in which they portrayed the user to the rest of the world – either positively as cosmopolitan and cared for, or negatively as sickly.
Effects of school-based interventions on Food and Nutrition Literacy (FNLIT) in primary-school-age children: a systematic review
Authors: Omidvar Nasrin , Doustmohammadian Azam , Shakibazadeh Elham , Clark Cain C. T. , Kasaii Maryam Sadat , Hajigholam-Saryazdi Maryam
Published: September 2022

This study systematically reviewed the evidence on interventions seeking to improve Food and Nutrition Literacy (FNLIT) functional, interactive and critical skills in primary school-aged children. Electronic databases, including PubMed/MEDLINE, SCOPUS, Web of Science, Cochrane, Pro-Quest and Google Scholar were systematically searched. Randomised and non-randomised controlled trials, pre-/post-test and case–control designs were included. The primary outcomes were three levels of FNLIT: functional, interactive and critical. All citations, full-text articles and abstract data were screened by two independent reviewers. Any conflicts were then resolved through discussion. The quality of the included studies was individually evaluated using the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) quality assessment tool. Two reviewers extracted data from the included studies, and a descriptive analysis was performed. The quality of all eligible studies (n19) was rated as moderate/weak. A wide variety of skill-building activities were introduced by programmes, including recipe skills/food preparation, food label literacy, food tasting, gardening harvesting, and supporting cultural practices and ethnic foods. Only four studies measured food literacy (FL) (food label literacy) via a valid measure. Most interventions focused on the functional level of FL, except for two programmes (one scored weak and one scored moderate). In most of the studies, delivery of intervention content was facilitated by teachers (n15). Promising interventions were tailored to the needs and interests of students, incorporated into the existing curriculum and facilitated by teachers. The successful intervention strategies led to improvements in functional, partly interactive and critical skills. Future interventions should focus, holistically, on all aspects of FNLIT, especially interactive and critical skills.
Differences in genetic correlations between posttraumatic stress disorder and alcohol-related problems phenotypes compared to alcohol consumption-related phenotypes
Authors: Bountress Kaitlin E. , Bustamante Daniel , Subbie-Saenz de Viteri Stacey , Chatzinakos Chris , Sheerin Christina , Daskalakis Nikolaos P. , Edenberg Howard J. ,   The Psychiatric Genomics Consortium Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Working Group, Peterson Roseann E. , Webb Bradley T. , Meyers Jackie , Amstadter Ananda
Published: September 2022

Background

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) tends to co-occur with greater alcohol consumption as well as alcohol use disorder (AUD). However, it is unknown whether the same etiologic factors that underlie PTSD-alcohol-related problems comorbidity also contribute to PTSD- alcohol consumption.

Methods

We used summary statistics from large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of European-ancestry (EA) and African-ancestry (AA) participants to estimate genetic correlations between PTSD and a range of alcohol consumption-related and alcohol-related problems phenotypes.

Results

In EAs, there were positive genetic correlations between PTSD phenotypes and alcohol-related problems phenotypes (e.g. Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) problem score) (rGs: 0.132−0.533, all FDR adjusted p < 0.05). However, the genetic correlations between PTSD phenotypes and alcohol consumption -related phenotypes (e.g. drinks per week) were negatively associated or non-significant (rGs: −0.417 to −0.042, FDR adjusted p: <0.05-NS). For AAs, the direction of correlations was sometimes consistent and sometimes inconsistent with that in EAs, and the ranges were larger (rGs for alcohol-related problems: −0.275 to 0.266, FDR adjusted p: NS, alcohol consumption-related: 0.145–0.699, FDR adjusted p: NS).

Conclusions

These findings illustrate that the genetic associations between consumption and problem alcohol phenotypes and PTSD differ in both strength and direction. Thus, the genetic factors that may lead someone to develop PTSD and high levels of alcohol consumption are not the same as those that lead someone to develop PTSD and alcohol-related problems. Discussion around needing improved methods to better estimate heritabilities and genetic correlations in diverse and admixed ancestry samples is provided.
The importance of psychological and social factors in adult SLA: The case of productive collocation knowledge in L2 Swedish of L1 French long-term residents
Authors: Lundell Fanny Forsberg , Arvidsson Klara , Jemstedt Andreas
Published: September 2022

The study investigates how psychological and social factors relate to productive collocation knowledge in late L2 learners of Swedish (French L1) (N = 59). The individual factors are language aptitude (measured through the LLAMA aptitude test), reported language use, social networks, acculturation, and personality. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that positive effects were found for LLAMA D (phonetic memory), LLAMA E (sound-symbol correspondence), reported language use, and length of residence (LOR). Furthermore, a negative effect was found for the personality variable Open-mindedness. These variables explained 63% (adjusted R²) of the variance, which represents large effects compared to other studies on individual factors. In sum, the findings confirm earlier results on the importance of language aptitude and language use for productive collocation knowledge. They also add evidence of the importance of personality and LOR. In sum, cognitive and social factors combine to explain different outcomes in adult L2 acquisition.
“Dig Deep and Reach Wide”: The Changing Politics of the Chinese Communist Party's Consultative Information System
Authors: Zhao Taotao
Published: September 2022

Since the early 2010s, a low-profile “dig deep and reach wide” campaign led by local Chinese Communist Party (CCP) committees has unprecedently institutionalized and embedded academic opinions into the regimes’ decision-making processes. This research aims to deepen the existing understanding of the intricate relationship between players in the CCP's decision-making process by analysing the Party's deliberation on scholarly opinions through an academic lens. It argues that the local Party committees’ incentives to incorporate academic opinions into their information channels are not only a reaction to the central CCP's increasing need to “reach wide” for high-quality and critical policy proposals but are also a move to seek political endorsement from the central authorities. This process has transformed government–academic relations in China from a patron-client model to one of increasing interdependence in which Chinese academia has become increasingly attuned to the thinking and needs of the CCP.
Improved bound for improper colourings of graphs with no odd clique minor
Authors: Steiner Raphael
Published: September 2022

Strengthening Hadwiger’s conjecture, Gerards and Seymour conjectured in 1995 that every graph with no odd
$K_t$
-minor is properly
$(t-1)$
-colourable. This is known as the Odd Hadwiger’s conjecture. We prove a relaxation of the above conjecture, namely we show that every graph with no odd
$K_t$
-minor admits a vertex
$(2t-2)$
-colouring such that all monochromatic components have size at most
$\lceil \frac{1}{2}(t-2) \rceil$
. The bound on the number of colours is optimal up to a factor of
$2$
, improves previous bounds for the same problem by Kawarabayashi (2008, Combin. Probab. Comput.17 815–821), Kang and Oum (2019, Combin. Probab. Comput.28 740–754), Liu and Wood (2021, arXiv preprint, arXiv:1905.09495), and strengthens a result by van den Heuvel and Wood (2018, J. Lond. Math. Soc.98 129–148), who showed that the above conclusion holds under the more restrictive assumption that the graph is
$K_t$
-minor-free. In addition, the bound on the component-size in our result is much smaller than those of previous results, in which the dependency on
$t$
was given by a function arising from the graph minor structure theorem of Robertson and Seymour. Our short proof combines the method by van den Heuvel and Wood for
$K_t$
-minor-free graphs with some additional ideas, which make the extension to odd
$K_t$
-minor-free graphs possible.
Spiritual needs, spiritual well-being, and Buddhist practices of patients with terminal illness, Thailand
Authors: Pokpalagon Piyawan , Chaiviboontham Suchira , Phinitkhajorndech Noppawan
Published: September 2022

Objectives

The purposes of this study were to describe and compare the spiritual needs and spiritual well-being among terminally ill patients receiving care in different palliative care settings and to investigate the differences in spiritual well-being in relation to the level of Buddhist practices.

Methods

A cross-sectional multicenter study was carried out that included community/home-based care (Home), a faith-based organization for patients with AIDS (FB_AIDS), a faith-based organization for patients with cancer (FB_CA), and a hospice ward (Hospice). Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the participants’ demographics, Buddhist practices, spiritual needs, and spiritual well-being. The analysis was performed using analysis of variance and Kruskal–Wallis tests to compare the spiritual needs and the spiritual well-being in the different settings. The Kruskal–Wallis test was used to investigate the differences in spiritual well-being in relation to the level of Buddhist practices.

Results

A total of 170 patients with a terminal illness (30 Home, 33 FB_AIDS, 64 FB_CA, and 43 Hospice) participated. Patients with a terminal illness receiving care at the FB_CA and Home had significantly higher mean scores for spiritual needs than those in the other settings. Patients with a terminal illness receiving care at the FB_CA had a significantly higher mean score for spiritual well-being than those receiving care in the other settings. Participants having a higher frequency of Buddhist practice had significantly higher mean scores for spiritual well-being.

Significance of results

Spiritual needs and spiritual well-being differed significantly among participants in different palliative care settings. The more the patients engaged in Buddhist practices, the higher their scores were for spiritual well-being. Thus, religious-based strategies should be integrated into palliative care and should be more emphasized.
Wie können unterschiedliche Aspekte diagnostischer Kompetenz gefördert werden?
Authors: Grotegut Lea , Klingsieck Katrin B.
Published: September 2022

Zusammenfassung. Eine gut ausgebildete diagnostische Kompetenz von Lehrpersonen ist eine wesentliche Voraussetzung für gelingenden Unterricht und trägt maßgeblich zur akademischen und persönlichen Entwicklung von Schülern bei. Häufig sind Lehrpersonen jedoch nur bedingt dazu in der Lage, Schülermerkmale wie Leistung, Motivation oder Ängstlichkeit adäquat zu beurteilen. Eine Förderung der diagnostischen Kompetenz sollte bereits während des Studiums stattfinden, um Lehrpersonen früh auf diagnostische Situationen in der Schulpraxis vorzubereiten und negative Konsequenzen möglicher pädagogischer Fehlentscheidungen zu vermeiden. Dieser Beitrag vergleicht eine lehrendenzentrierte, eine problembasierte und eine digitale, simulationsbasierte Maßnahme zur Förderung unterschiedlicher Aspekte diagnostischer Kompetenz an einer Stichprobe von N = 166 Lehramtsstudierenden im Hinblick auf ihre Wirksamkeit. Es zeigen sich insbesondere Vorteile der simulationsbasierten Fördermaßnahme in den Bereichen intrinsische Motivation und Interesse sowie Nachteile der lehrendenzentrierten Maßnahme im Bereich des Wissens um das systematische Vorgehen im diagnostischen Prozess und der problembasierten Maßnahme im Bereich des Extraneous Cognitive Load. Die Ergebnisse werden insbesondere im Hinblick auf ihre praktischen Implikationen im Rahmen der Lehrerbildung und zunehmend digitalisierter Lehre diskutiert.
Calibrated Mass Loss Predictions for the Greenland Ice Sheet
Authors: Aschwanden A. , Brinkerhoff D. J.
Published: September 2022

The potential contribution of ice sheets remains the largest source of uncertainty in predicting sea‐level due to the limited predictive skill of numerical ice sheet models, yet effective planning necessitates that these predictions are credible and accompanied by a defensible assessment of uncertainty. While the use of large ensembles of simulations allows probabilistic assessments, there is no guarantee that these simulations are aligned with observations. Here, we present a probabilistic prediction of 21st century mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet calibrated with observations of surface speeds and mass change using a novel two‐stage surrogate‐based approach. Our results suggest a sea‐level contribution ranging from 4 to 30 cm at the year 2100, proviso the assumption that our chosen ice sheet model’s physics represent reality.
Topological Feature Tracking for Submesoscale Eddies
Authors: Voisin Sam , Hineman Jay , Polly James B. , Koplik Gary , Ball Ken , Bendich Paul , D‘Addezio Joseph , Jacobs Gregg A. , Özgökmen Tamay
Published: September 2022

Current state‐of‐the art procedures for studying modeled submesoscale oceanographic features have made a strong assumption of independence between features identified at different times. Therefore, all submesoscale eddies identified in a time series were studied in aggregate. Statistics from these methods are illuminating but oversample identified features and cannot determine the lifetime evolution of the transient submesoscale processes. To this end, the authors apply the Topological Feature Tracking (TFT) algorithm to the problem of identifying and tracking submesoscale eddies over time. TFT identifies critical points on a set of time‐ordered scalar fields and associates those points between consecutive timesteps. The procedure yields tracklets which represent spatio‐temporal displacement of eddies. In this way we study the time‐dependent behavior of submesoscale eddies, which are generated by a 1‐km resolution submesoscale‐permitting model. We summarize the submesoscale eddy data set produced by TFT, which yields unique, time‐varying statistics.
Subsurface Water Flux in California's Central Valley and Its Source Watershed From Space Geodesy
Authors: Argus Donald F. , Martens Hilary R. , Borsa Adrian A. , Knappe Ellen , Wiese David N. , Alam Sarfaraz , Anderson Mackenzie , Khatiwada Ashlesha , Lau Nicholas , Peidou Athina , Swarr Matthew , White Alissa M. , Bos Machiel S. , Ellmer Matthias , Landerer Felix W. , Gardiner W. Payton
Published: September 2022

We integrate Global Positioning System displacements, Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment gravity data, reservoir water volumes, and snowpack to estimate change in subsurface water in California. We find 29% of precipitation infiltrates mountain soil and fractured bedrock each autumn and winter and is lost in the spring and summer by evapotranspiration and lateral subsurface flow either within mountain watersheds or into California's Central Valley. The Central Valley lost groundwater at 2.2 ± 0.7 km3/yr from 2006 to 2021, with 68% of the loss occurring in the southern third of the Valley. Water in Central Valley fluctuates each year by a mean of 10.7 ± 1.1 km3 with maximum water in April (not August). A third of Central Valley groundwater lost during recent severe drought is recharged during subsequent years of heavy precipitation. Of the 50 km3 of water entering Central Valley each year, 28 km3 comes from rivers, 17 km3 from precipitation, and 5 km3 from mountain groundwater.
Reversals in Temperature‐Precipitation Correlations in the Northern Hemisphere Extratropics During the Holocene
Authors: Herzschuh Ulrike , Böhmer Thomas , Li Chenzhi , Cao Xianyong , Hébert Raphaël , Dallmeyer Anne , Telford Richard J. , Kruse Stefan
Published: September 2022

Future precipitation levels remain uncertain because climate models have struggled to reproduce observed variations in temperature‐precipitation correlations. Our analyses of Holocene proxy‐based temperature‐precipitation correlations and hydrological sensitivities from 2,237 Northern Hemisphere extratropical pollen records reveal a significant latitudinal dependence and temporal variations among the early, middle, and late Holocene. These proxy‐based variations are largely consistent with patterns obtained from transient climate simulations (TraCE21k). While high latitudes and subtropical monsoon areas show mainly stable positive correlations throughout the Holocene, the mid‐latitude pattern is temporally and spatially more variable. In particular, we identified a reversal from positive to negative temperature‐precipitation correlations in the eastern North American and European mid‐latitudes from the early to mid‐Holocene that mainly related to slowed down westerlies and a switch to moisture‐limited convection under a warm climate. Our palaeoevidence of past temperature‐precipitation correlation shifts identifies those regions where simulating past and future precipitation levels might be particularly challenging.