bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of a grid-connected PV power plant: performance and agrivoltaic aspects
Authors: Saka Kenan
Published: June 2024

The performance ratio, a globally recognized metric that correlates with reported global solar radiation values, serves as a crucial indicator for evaluating the efficiency of grid-connected PV plants. Also, a large scale PV power plant alone can afford some agricultural irrigation energy requirement of a region. In this study, the actual generation data from a power plant located in Bursa province in northwestern Türkiye, during its initial six years of operation have been analyzed. The analysis reveals that the annual electricity production of the power station reaches approximately 10 GWh. Notably, the time period between April and September witnesses a monthly electricity generation exceeding 1 GWh, with September emerging as the most productive month, characterized by an average performance ratio of 94.5% during this six-year period. However, over the span of six years, the highest average electricity generation occurs in July, peaking at 1.34 GWh. Also, the power plant alone can meet the agricultural irrigation energy requirement of the region in the range of 6.7–2.3%. From an environmental impact and global warming perspective, it is noteworthy that during the 36-month period in the summer season, the performance ratio exceeded 100% only three times. However, within the 32-month period in the winter season, the performance ratio exceeded 100% 19 times. This situation indicates that while the reported radiation rates by the managements are consistent with the actual values for the summer months, they need to be revised, especially for the winter months.
Neurological Diseases and Prevalence of Antineuronal Antibodies in Patients with Autoimmune Polyendocrine Syndrome Type 1 – A National Cohort Study
Authors: Laakso Sini M , Häkkinen Aino , Mäkitie Outi , Laakso Saila
Published: June 2024

Autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 1 (APS-1) is a rare monogenic disease caused by mutations in the autoimmune regulator gene. Although the disease-associated autoantibodies mostly target endocrine organs, autoantibodies from patients with APS-1 bind also to rat brain structures. The patients often have GAD65-antibodies, that can cause autoimmune encephalitis. However, neurological manifestations of APS-1 have not been systematically explored. We conducted a retrospective chart review on 44 Finnish patients with APS-1 (median age 38 years, 61% females) and collected all their neurological diagnoses. To assess the prevalence of serum antineuronal antibodies in APS-1, serum samples of 24 patients (median age 36 years, 63% females) were analyzed using a fixed cell-based assay. Of the 44 APS-1 patients, 10 (23%) had also received a diagnosis of a neurological disease. Of these neurological comorbidities, migraine (n = 7; 16%), central nervous system infections (n = 3; 7%), and epilepsy (n = 2; 5%) were the most prevalent. Other diagnoses recorded for single patients were axonal sensorimotor polyneuropathy, essential tremor, idiopathic intracranial hypertension, ischemic stroke, and trigeminal neuralgia. Serum antineuronal antibodies were detected in 42% of patients tested (10/24, 50% females, median age 42 years), GAD65 antibodies being the most common finding. Antibodies against glycine and aquaporin 4 were found in low titers. In four patients, relatively high titers of GAD65 antibodies without coexisting type 1 diabetes were found, but none presented with GAD65-encephalitis. Our study suggests an association between APS-1 and neurological disorders, the mechanisms of which are to be further investigated.
A Truthmaker-based Epistemic Logic
Authors: Saitta Vita
Published: June 2024

The aim of this work is to investigate the problem of Logical Omniscience in epistemic logic by means of truthmaker semantics. We will present a semantic framework based on $$\varvec{W}$$

W

-models extended with a partial function, which selects the body of knowledge of the agents, namely the set of verifiers of the agent’s total knowledge. The semantic clause for knowledge follows the intuition that an agent knows some information $$\varvec{\phi }$$

ϕ

, when the propositional content that $$\varvec{\phi }$$

ϕ

is contained in her total knowledge. We will argue that this idea mirrors the philosophical conception of immanent closure by Yablo (2014), giving to our proposal a strong philosophical motivation. We will discuss the philosophical implications of the semantics and we will introduce its axiomatization.
Hyperraising, evidentiality, and phase deactivation
Authors: Lee Tommy Tsz-Ming , Yip Ka-Fai
Published: June 2024

This paper investigates an interaction between locality requirements and syntactic dependencies through the lens of hyperraising constructions in Cantonese and Vietnamese. We offer a novel piece of evidence from subject displacement in support of the claim that phasehood can be deactivated by syntactic dependencies during the derivation. We show that (i) hyperraising (to subject) constructions are attested in both languages, and that (ii) only attitude verbs that encode an indirect evidential component allow hyperraising constructions. We propose a phase deactivation account for hyperraising, where the phasehood of a CP is deactivated by an Agree relation in terms of an evidential feature with the embedding verb. The findings of this paper suggest that locality requirements in natural languages are less rigid than previously thought, and that there is a non-trivial semantic dimension to hyperraising phenomena.
Scientificity before Scientism: The Invention of Cultural Research in German Studies of Antiquity 1800–1850
Authors: Krause Monika
Published: June 2024

This paper examines how scholars of Greek and Roman antiquity in the German-speaking territories in the first half of the nineteenth century define scientificity (Wissenschaftlichkeit). I will argue that antiquity studies in this period of its foundation as a discipline is an instructive case to examine with regard to questions as to how scientific knowledge is established as different from other forms of knowledge, how scientific fields establish relative autonomy from other fields and what forms scientific autonomy can take. Widely recognised as important for the history of the modern research university, the case is not only interesting because it is influential. It is also interesting because the discussions in this period are so different to discussions in the later nineteenth century in the social sciences and the humanities, which have shaped debates about scientificity in sociology and cognate disciplines: We find here a notion of social and cultural research as a scientific endeavour, discussed not primarily with reference to or in defence against the natural sciences, but rather defined against imitative learning and the expectation that research provide moral support for the emerging Germany by idealizing the Greeks. The case highlights moralization as a source of heteronomy in cultural fields in addition to the more widely discussed forces of the market and the influence of the state.
Towards a new approach to analyzing the geographical scope of national research. An exploratory analysis at the country level
Authors: Miguel Sandra , González Claudia M. , Chinchilla-Rodríguez Zaida
Published: June 2024

This study aims to identify and compare the national scope of research at the country level, dealing with two groups of countries: Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and a group of countries at the forefront in developing mainstream science (WORLD). We wish to explore whether similar or different patterns arise between the two groups at the global and disciplinary level, becoming apparent in their proportion of research related to local perspectives or topics. It is found that Latin America and the Caribbean countries present a greater proportion of local production. The trend to publish national-oriented research is related to disciplinary fields. Even though English is the dominant language of publication, the lingua franca is more likely to appear in the national scope of research, especially for Latin America and the Caribbean countries but also in the rest of non-Anglophone countries. Some implications and limitations for further studies are described.
Student–teacher gender congruence and student performance: The role of context
Authors: Doornkamp Laura , Doornkamp Frank , Van der Pol Lotte D. , Groeneveld Sandra , Mesman Judi , Groeneveld Marleen G.
Published: June 2024

Student–teacher gender congruence is suggested to be related to increased student performance, but little is known about the contexts in which these effects occur. Based on literature on gender stereotypes this study hypothesizes different effects of student–teacher gender congruence for male and female students across school subjects and in different educational contexts. Using administrative data of secondary schools in The Netherlands (N > 50,000), this study examined to what extent student–teacher gender congruence is associated with male and female students’ performance in the subjects math, physics, Dutch language, and French language. Further this study explored the role of students’ educational level, schools’ religiousness, and schools’ location in these relations. As expected, we found that gender congruence was positively related to female students’ performance in math and physics and to male students’ performance in Dutch language and French language. However, the role of educational context differed for male and female students across subjects and lacked a clear pattern that corresponded to the gender stereotypes hypotheses. This study emphasizes that effects of student–teacher gender congruence can differ in magnitude and direction in different contexts, encouraging future research to use qualitative methods to examine how context influences the role of gender in education.
Synergistic biocementation: harnessing Comamonas and Bacillus ureolytic bacteria for enhanced sand stabilization
Authors: Rajasekar Adharsh , Zhao Cailin , Wu Suowei , Murava Raphinos Tackmore , Wilkinson Stephen
Published: June 2024

Biocementation, driven by ureolytic bacteria and their biochemical activities, has evolved as a powerful technology for soil stabilization, crack repair, and bioremediation. Ureolytic bacteria play a crucial role in calcium carbonate precipitation through their enzymatic activity, hydrolyzing urea to produce carbonate ions and elevate pH, thus creating favorable conditions for the precipitation of calcium carbonate. While extensive research has explored the ability of ureolytic bacteria isolated from natural environments or culture conditions, bacterial synergy is often unexplored or under-reported. In this study, we isolated bacterial strains from the local eutrophic river canal and evaluated their suitability for precipitating calcium carbonate polymorphs. We identified two distinct bacterial isolates with superior urea degradation ability (conductivity method) using partial 16 S rRNA gene sequencing. Molecular identification revealed that they belong to the Comamonas and Bacillus genera. Urea degradation analysis was performed under diverse pH (6,7 and 8) and temperature (15 °C,20 °C,25 °C and 30 °C) ranges, indicating that their ideal pH is 7 and temperature is 30 °C since 95% of the urea was degraded within 96 h. In addition, we investigated these strains individually and in combination, assessing their microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) in silicate fine sand under low (14 ± 0.6 °C) and ideal temperature 30 °C conditions, aiming to optimize bio-mediated soil enhancement. Results indicated that 30 °C was the ideal temperature, and combining bacteria resulted in significant (p ≤ 0.001) superior carbonate precipitation (14–16%) and permeability (> 10− 6 m/s) in comparison to the average range of individual strains. These findings provide valuable insights into the potential of combining ureolytic bacteria for future MICP research on field applications including soil erosion mitigation, soil stabilization, ground improvement, and heavy metal remediation.
Performances of PTFE and PVDF membranes in achieving the discharge limit of mixed anodic oxidation coating wastewaters treated by membrane distillation
Authors: Turk Oruc Kaan , Zoungrana Ali , Cakmakci Mehmet
Published: June 2024

The mixed wastewater generated by anodic oxidation coating facilities contains high levels of various contaminants, including iron, aluminum, conductivity, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and sulfate. In this study, the effectiveness of the membrane distillation (MD) process using polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes was investigated to treat mixed wastewater from an anodized coating factory. The results indicate that both hydrophobic membranes effectively removed targeted contaminants. However, the PTFE membrane achieved higher removal efficiencies, with over 99% removal of sulfate, conductivity, iron, and aluminum, 85.7% of COD, and 86% of total organic carbon (TOC). In contrast, the PVDF membrane exhibited a significant decline in removal efficiency as the temperature increased and performed well only at lower feed temperatures. The PTFE membranes outperformed the PVDF membranes in treating chemically intensive anodic oxidation wastewaters. This superiority can be attributed to the PTFE membrane's morphology and structure, which are less influenced by feed water temperature and chemicals. Additionally, its slippery surface imparts anti-adhesion properties, effectively preventing membrane fouling, and maintaining the treated water quality and flux for longer operation time.
A Statistical Analysis of the Impact of Gun Ownership on Mass Shootings in the USA Between 2013 and 2022
Authors: Daraklis Madison , Pol Mehul , Johnson Lindsey , Salvatora Cianna , Kerns Lucy
Published: June 2024

Mass shootings (incidents with four or more people shot in a single event, not including the shooter) are becoming more frequent in the United States, posing a significant threat to public health and safety in the country. In the current study, we intended to analyze the impact of state-level prevalence of gun ownership on mass shootings—both the frequency and severity of these events. We applied the negative binomial generalized linear mixed model to investigate the association between gun ownership rate, as measured by a proxy (i.e., the proportion of suicides committed with firearms to total suicides), and population-adjusted rates of mass shooting incidents and fatalities at the state level from 2013 to 2022. Gun ownership was found to be significantly associated with the rate of mass shooting fatalities. Specifically, our model indicated that for every 1-SD increase—that is, for every 12.5% increase—in gun ownership, the rate of mass shooting fatalities increased by 34% (p value < 0.001). However, no significant association was found between gun ownership and rate of mass shooting incidents. These findings suggest that restricting gun ownership (and therefore reducing availability to guns) may not decrease the number of mass shooting events, but it may save lives when these events occur.
Knockdown of DJ-1 Exacerbates Neuron Apoptosis Induced by TgCtwh3 through the NF-κB Pathway
Authors: Yang Di , Wu Minmin , Zou Nian , Tang Yiru , Tao Qing , Liu Lei , Jin Mengmeng , Yu Li , Du Jian , Luo Qingli , Shen Jilong , Chu Deyong , Qin Kunpeng
Published: June 2024

Mutations or loss of function of DJ-1 and Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infection has been linked to neurodegenerative diseases, which are often caused by oxidative stress. However, the relationship between DJ-1 and T. gondii infection is not yet fully understood. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the expression of DJ-1 in the hippocampus tissue of mice or in HT22 infected with T. gondii Chinese 1 genotype Wh3 strain (TgCtwh3) and the effect of DJ-1 knockdown on neuronal apoptosis induced by TgCtwh3 tachyzoite, as well as the underlying mechanism at the cellular and molecular level. Firstly, we detected DJ-1 protein expression and cell apoptosis in the hippocampal tissue of mice infected by TgCtwh3. Then, we examined DJ-1 expression and apoptosis in HT22 challenged with TgCtwh3. Finally, we evaluated the apoptosis in HT22 with DJ-1 knockdown which was infected with TgCtwh3 and assayed the expression of NF-κBp65 and p-NF-κBp65. Our results showed that DJ-1 expression was reduced and neurons underwent apoptosis in the hippocampus of mice infected with TgCtwh3 tachyzoites. Additionally, the knockdown of DJ-1 followed by infection with TgCtwh3 tachyzoites led to increased apoptosis in HT22 cells through the NF-κB signaling pathway. Therefore, this study suggests that DJ-1 is an important target for preventing apoptosis caused by T. gondii TgCtwh3.
LGBTQ Mental Health Peer Support: A Descriptive Survey
Authors: Pepping Christopher A. , Worrell Shane , Anderson Joel , Waling Andrea , Lyons Anthony , Bourne Adam
Published: June 2024

Background

Gender and sexual minority adults have significant unmet mental health care needs and are often faced with barriers to accessing appropriate services. In this context, LGBTQ individuals often turn to each other for mental health support.

Methods

In a sample of 326 LGBTQ adults (M age = 37.64) who were providing mental health support to their LGBTQ peers, we examined the nature of LGBTQ peer support, including who provides peer support, to whom, and for what issues. We also examined the experiences of those providing LGBTQ peer support, and the role of mental health training. Data were collected in 2020.

Results

Participants provided support to a range of individuals, including close friends, colleagues, and those who were previously strangers. The types of concerns they supported their peers with varied greatly, though depression, anxiety, suicidality, and coping with discrimination were common concerns. Participants were often managing multiple competing demands, and many appeared to be managing their own mental health concerns. Those who had received at least some mental health training appeared to fare better in their experiences of providing peer support compared to those without such training.

Policy Implications

Findings illustrate the importance of increasing access to LGBTQ-affirmative mental health services. We also highlight the importance of developing and disseminating initiatives designed to support those providing LGBTQ peer support, both to increase the effectiveness of peer support and to help manage the impact of providing LGBTQ peer support.
Swift Detection of XSS Attacks: Enhancing XSS Attack Detection by Leveraging Hybrid Semantic Embeddings and AI Techniques
Authors: Bakır Rezan , Bakır Halit
Published: June 2024

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks continue to be a significant threat to web application security, necessitating robust detection mechanisms to safeguard user data and ensure system integrity. In this study, we present a novel approach for detecting XSS attacks that harnesses the combined capabilities of the Universal Sentence Encoder (USE) and Word2Vec embeddings as a feature extractor, aiming to enhance the performance of machine learning and deep learning techniques. By leveraging the semantic understanding of sentences offered by USE and the word-level representations from Word2Vec, we obtain a comprehensive feature representation for XSS attack payloads. Our proposed approach aims to capture both fine-grained word meanings and broader sentence contexts, leading to enhanced feature extraction and improved model performance. We conducted extensive experiments utilizing machine learning and deep learning architectures to evaluate the effectiveness of our approach. The obtained results demonstrate that our combined embeddings approach outperforms traditional methods, achieving superior accuracy, precision, recall, ROC, and F1-score in detecting XSS attacks. This study not only advances XSS attack detection but also highlights the potential of state-of-the-art natural language processing techniques in web security applications. Our findings offer valuable insights for the development of more robust and effective security measures against XSS attacks.
Distribution widening of a ground-nesting social bee across Europe favored by climate change and urban setting
Authors: Gil-Tapetado Diego , Ferrari Andrea , Ronchetti Federico , Polidori Carlo
Published: June 2024

Climate change and/or land use change were repeatedly reported as important for both range expansion of alien bee species and range shrinking for native bee species. However, environmental changes may also positively affect native species that may expand across contiguous areas to their native ones. Here, we focused onHalictus scabiosae(Rossi, 1790) (Hymenoptera: Halictidae), a ground-nesting, primitively eusocial wild bee that has its primary distribution in Western-Southern Europe but that was recently recorded in Eastern-Central Europe. In particular, we studied the range expansion patterns ofH. scabiosae, and we hypothesized that previously unsuitable areas may be currently colonized because of environmental changes. In the last 5 years,H. scabiosaemoved its densest record areas to North-Eastern Europe, but its ecological niche remained almost unchanged from 1970 to date, suggesting that this bee species is following its preferred conditions (high temperature, high temperature seasonality, and low precipitation seasonality). Potential distribution models revealed high suitability in still unoccupied North-Eastern areas, with urbanization increasingly important as potential stepping stones towards the expansion. The relevant role of urbanization is confirmed by the increase in the number of urban records through time and by the fact that cities with greater population density and greater fragmentation are more likely associated with this species’ occurrence.Halictus scabiosaeis thus expanding its range because climate change is producing—and urban environment is offering—suitable conditions in areas previously inadequate for its establishment.
Hydrochemical evolution of groundwater in a river corridor: the compounded impacts of various environmental factors
Authors: Yuan Ruiqiang , Li Zhibin , Guo Siyu
Published: June 2024

Various environmental factors could induce groundwater hydrochemical evolution, which should be considered when addressing groundwater environmental issues. However, the complex interactions among the environmental controls remain unknown for a groundwater flow system spanning multiple geological units. To fill this gap, we conducted a study on the groundwater hydrochemical evolution in the fluvial corridor of the Fen River, Northern China, utilizing a combination of hydrogeochemical and multiple isotope methods. Results reveal that the groundwater in the corridor has significantly degraded due to high concentrations of $${\text{SO}}_{4}^{2 - }$$

SO

4

2
-

, $${\text{NO}}_{3}^{ - }$$

NO

3

-

, Cl−, or F−. We find an unordered evolution of the hydrochemical composition of groundwater along this corridor. These evolutions are driven by mineral dissolution/precipitation, dedolomitization, and cation exchange processes. Human activities play a significant role, with notable contributions including $${\text{NO}}_{3}^{ - }$$

NO

3

-

fluxes from agricultural fertilizers, manure, and sewage, as well as $${\text{SO}}_{4}^{2 - }$$

SO

4

2
-

fluxes arising from coal mining activities. The combination between karst spring areas and faults/uplifts, between coal-bearing strata and mining activities fosters the mixing of karst water/mine water with shallow groundwater, promoting dramatic hydrochemical evolution of groundwater. The flat terrain and the natural blockage formed by mountains significantly enhance water–rock interactions and groundwater evaporation by slowing groundwater flow. The contribution of evaporation on groundwater salinity ranges from ~ 0.2% to 4.8%, highlighting its importance in the groundwater hydrochemical evolution. This study unravels the multifaceted nature of groundwater hydrochemical evolution. It emphasizes the four types of environmental controls, including hydrogeochemical processes, climate factors, human activities, and variations in geological settings, can be equally important, which is usually ignored. The findings enrich our understanding of groundwater evolution and highlight the challenges encountered in regions composed of diverse geological units.
Assessment of water quality parameters due to longitudinal salinity inundation at Indus Delta: a case study of Kharo Chan, District Sujawal
Authors: Imad Hafiz Usama , Sanjrani Raza Ali , Hassan Sajid , Solangi Shahjahan , Sanjrani Ghulam Shabir
Published: June 2024

Deltas are landforms that are formed at the regions where a river meets an ocean. When the freshwater of a river joins the saline water of an ocean, a transitional state of water is obtained. This zone of transition varies on the quantity of freshwater entering the ocean and the quality of both waters. Indus River is facing severe challenges due to climate change which has resulted in reduced water flow in the river. Consequently, seawater intrusion takes place which causes coastal erosion, stunted mangrove growth, and the narrowing of the river towards the seaside. The groundwater in the deltaic regions is unfit for drinking which forces an increased reliance on surface water. Sindh Province of Pakistan, particularly the coastal regions, suffers from severe water quality problems, affecting approximately 41% of the population. The population of this region is deprived of good-quality water for their daily use. This research aims to evaluate the physiochemical parameters of water in the Indus River to identify the zone of salinity inundation and determine safe zones for accessing surface water in the Indus Delta in the Sujawal district. Water samples were collected from Khobar Creek, ending in the Arabian Sea in the areas of Shah Bandar and Kharo Chan at an approximate interval of 5 km. These samples were analyzed for various physical and chemical properties. Properties were compared spatially to develop a relationship between distance and quality of water. Results indicate that the values of dissolved solids in collected samples are between 21,450 and 900 mg/L, pH was between 6.66 and 7.63, conductivity of the samples varied from 33,000 to 1385 µS/cm, acidity values were between 921.14 and 399.84 mg/L, hardness was in the range of 3654 to 192 mg/L, and the turbidity was in between 21 and57 NTU. It was revealed from the results that seawater is having a severe influence upto 15 km from the mouth of the creek in which not a single parameter except the pH was complying with WHO recommendations. In the interval of 15 to 30 km, some properties of water were complying with WHO recommendations, while some of them were deviating from the limits. It has been concluded that turbidity was improving while going toward the ocean, while Total Dissolved Solids, hardness, and chloride concentrations were increasing as water was getting closer to the sea while pH was found almost unaffected. The findings emphasize the need for addressing environmental degradation, social hardships, and economic challenges caused by these water quality issues. Ultimately, the quality of water is crucial for various activities specifically for drinking purposes, and its suitability for specific purposes is of utmost importance.
Priority-based Multi-feature Vector Model Using Convolution Neural Network for Biometric Authentication
Authors: Madduluri Suneetha , Kumar T. Kishore
Published: June 2024

Many societal institutions have increased standards for the efficacy and dependability of identification systems in response to the ever-increasing sophistication of computer technology. Biometric identity systems have mostly supplanted the usage of conventional key and smart card systems in highly secure industries. There has been a dramatic increase in the adoption of biometric authentication systems in the last decade. While many biometric systems have relied on exterior physiological traits like fingerprints, iris scans, palm prints, and faces, very few have investigated the possibility of using interior physiological traits as a biometric. It is challenging for the benefits of unimodal biometric technology to be realized in real-world applications because to its inherent constraints, such as the fact that it only proposes a single piece of information and that environmental factors can impact data verification. While passwords have served their purpose of authenticating users and controlling access, they have also revealed their weaknesses. Concerns about forging or impersonating authentication have prompted the proposal of various Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based solutions. A lot of people are interested in user authentication based on ECGs these days. Unlike other biometrics, an electrocardiogram verifies that the person is actual and alive, making it one of the most trustworthy advanced authentication methods. The P, Q, R, S, and T characteristic points of an ECG signal are responsible for its most salient features. Feature selection is a statistical method that can be implemented in a supervised or unsupervised setting via regression or classification. A Convolution Neural Network (CNN) is a type of neural network that extracts and feeds into another neural network, which then classifies those extracted features. The ECG signal serves as input to a feature extraction network. The neural network performs categorization based on the retrieved feature signals. To overcome the problem that the recognition accuracy of traditional ECG identification methods declines with the rise in the number of testing samples at various moments or throughout different heartbeat cycles, this research offers a multi feature reuse model. In this research, an Associated Priority-based Weighted Multi-Feature Vector model using Convolution Neural Network (APbWMFV-CNN) is proposed for ECG signal-based authentication. The proposed model selects the most appropriate features used for accurate biometric model. The comparison results represent that the proposed model performance in user detection is high.
Capacity, Informed Consent and Third-Party Decision-Making
Authors: Appel Jacob M.
Published: June 2024

This Element examines three related topics in the field of bioethics that arise frequently both in clinical care and in medico-legal settings: capacity, informed consent, and third-party decision-making. All three of these subjects have been shaped significantly by the shift from the paternalistic models of care that dominated medicine in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain prior to the 1960s to the present models that privilege patient autonomy. Each section traces the history of one of these topics and then explores the major ethics issues that arise as these issues are addressed in contemporary clinical practice, paying particular attention to the role that structural factors such as bias and social capital play in their use. In addition, the volume also discusses recent innovations and proposals for reform that may shape these subjects in the future in response both to technological advances and changes in societal priorities.
Voice Lessons
Authors: Levy Gary
Published: June 2024

This paper reflects on the national referendum for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament that took place in Australia in mid-October 2023. At the time of writing, the aftershocks from the failure of the referendum to gain the necessary majorities were still being felt keenly by many of the Voice advocates and supporters. The hurt and grief of many First Nations people were shared by millions of non-Indigenous “Yes” voters, while much reckoning continued in the subsequent weeks and months. The author here explores what might have been gained if more attention had been given to what an Indigenous Voice to Parliament might “sound like,” instead of the excessive focus on, and public discourse around what it might “look like.” Resources from the philosophies and physiology of voice, communication ethics, cultural studies, critical anthropology, Australian Indigenous writing and scholarship, and psychoanalytic politics are utilised to explore the connections between the human voice, vocal expression, hearing and listening, silence and song.
Inpatient screening for social determinants of health: A quality improvement initiative
Authors: Kliewer Dana , McGillen Brian
Published: June 2024

Introduction:

Social determinants of health (SDOH) can contribute to disparities that negatively impact health outcomes and healthcare utilization. Comprehensive screening is frequently overlooked during inpatient clinical care. This pilot aimed to evaluate the capturability of a multi-domain SDOH screening tool during hospitalization, as well as correlation of SDOH needs to readmissions.

Methods:

The Protocol for Responding to and Assessing Patients’ Assets, Risks and Experiences (PRAPARE) screening tool was implemented on admission with adult inpatients at an academic tertiary medical center in central Pennsylvania. A total of 80 patients were screened over an 8-week period using the PRAPARE tool.

Results:

43.7% of participants were identified as having at least one SDOH need and 21.2% were identified as having two or more needs. Of the participants identified as having at least one SDOH need through PRAPARE screening, 42.5% experienced a readmission within 30 days, compared to 15% readmissions among participants with no identified SDOH needs. For each additional SDOH need a patient had, the odds they experienced a readmission increased by 2.2 times.

Conclusions:

The study findings suggest that utilization of the PRAPARE screening tool has the ability to capture significant SDOH needs among hospitalized patients. This study also suggests that higher SDOH needs correlate to increased odds of experiencing a hospital readmission.
Establishing partnerships with people with lived experience of mental illness for stigma reduction in low- and middle-income settings
Authors: Mendon Gurucharan Bhaskar , Gurung Dristy , Loganathan Santosh , Abayneh Sisay , Zhang Wufang , Kohrt Brandon A. , Hanlon Charlotte , Lempp Heidi , Thornicroft Graham , Gronholm Petra C.
Published: June 2024

Social contact refers to the facilitation of connection and interactions between people with and without mental health conditions. It can be achieved, for example, through people sharing their lived experience of mental health conditions, which is an effective strategy for stigma reduction. Meaningful involvement of people with lived experience (PWLE) in leading and co-leading anti-stigma interventions can/may promote autonomy and resilience. Our paper aimed to explore how PWLE have been involved in research and anti-stigma interventions to improve effective means of involving PWLE in stigma reduction activities in LMICs. A qualitative collective case study design was adopted. Case studies from four LMICs (China, Ethiopia, India and Nepal) are summarized, briefly reflecting on the background of the work, alongside anticipated and experienced challenges, strategies to overcome these, and recommendations for future work. We found that the involvement of PWLEs in stigma reduction is commonly a new concept in LMIC. Experienced and anticipated challenges were similar, such as identifying suitable persons to engage in the work and sustaining their involvement. Such an approach can be difficult because PWLE might be apprehensive about the negative consequences of disclosure. In many case studies, we found that long-standing professional connectedness, continued encouragement, information sharing, debriefing and support helped the participants’ involvement. We recommend that confidentiality of the individual, cultural norms and family concerns be prioritized and respected during the implementation. Taking into account socio-cultural contextual factors, it is possible to directly involve PWLEs in social contact-based anti-stigma interventions.
Bryozoan assemblages of the Gulpen Formation (upper Campanian – upper Maastrichtian) in the Liège-Limburg area (Belgium, the Netherlands)
Authors: Kesselhut Oliver , Goffings Luc , Vellekoop Johan
Published: June 2024

Renewed interest in bryozoan assemblages from the various members of the Gulpen Formation (upper Campanian–upper Maastrichtian) in the Liège-Limburg area (southeast Netherlands and northeast Belgium) during recent years has resulted in the discovery of a number of species previously unrecorded from the area. Nineteen species are here recorded from the Zeven Wegen, Vijlen, Lixhe and Lanaye members (Gulpen Formation) in the study area, occurring in three distinct assemblages. The vast majority of the bryozoan taxa belong to the order Cheilostomata; only two taxa are assigned to the order Cyclostomata. The species recorded here are Clinopora aff. costulata, Disporella obvallata, ‘Vincularia’ (sensu lato) marssoniana, Herpetopora laxata, Heteroconopeum ovatum, Wilbertopora aff. oxyteichos, Biaviculigera sacerdotalis, Semiflustrella britannica, Aechmellina anglica, Escharifora papyracea, Onychocella cyclostoma, Onychocella cylindrica, Onychocella matrona, Rhebasia disparilis, Stichomicropora sicksi, Coscinopleura elegans, Coscinopleura lamourouxi, Pachydermopora pachyderma and Beisselina aviculifera. While not previously recorded from the Liège-Limburg area, the bryozoan taxa identified from the Gulpen Formation are well known from coeval Cretaceous strata elsewhere in Europe, North America and Russia, highlighting their broad palaeobiogeographical distribution.
Statistical machine translation for Indic languages
Authors: Das Sudhansu Bala , Panda Divyajyoti , Mishra Tapas Kumar , Patra Bidyut Kr.
Published: June 2024

Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) systems use various probabilistic and statistical Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods to automatically translate from one language to another language while retaining the originality of the context. This paper aims to discuss the development of bilingual SMT models for translating English into fifteen low-resource Indic languages (ILs) and vice versa. The process to build the SMT model is described and explained using a workflow diagram. Samanantar and OPUS corpus are utilized for training, and Flores200 corpus is used for fine-tuning and testing purposes. The paper also highlights various preprocessing methods used to deal with corpus noise. The Moses open-source SMT toolkit is being investigated for the system’s development. The impact of distance-based reordering and Morpho-syntactic Descriptor Bidirectional Finite-State Encoder (msd-bidirectional-fe) reordering on ILs is compared in the paper. This paper provides a comparison of SMT models with Neural Machine Translation (NMT) for ILs. All the experiments assess the translation quality using standard metrics such as BiLingual Evaluation Understudy, Rank-based Intuitive Bilingual Evaluation Score, Translation Edit Rate, and Metric for Evaluation of Translation with Explicit Ordering. From the result, it is observed that msd-bidirectional-fe reordering performs better than the distance-based reordering model for ILs. It is also noticed that even though the IL-English and English-IL systems are trained using the same corpus, the former performs better for all the evaluation metrics. The comparison between SMT and NMT shows that across various languages, SMT performs better in some cases, while NMT outperforms in others.
Designing out microplastic pollution released from textiles and apparel during laundering
Authors: Allen Elisabeth , Henninger Claudia E. , Wood Jane , Garforth Arthur , Asuquo Edidiong
Published: June 2024

The washing of synthetic materials has been named as the largest contributor of microplastic pollution to our oceans. With the consumption of petrochemical-based synthetic materials expected to grow, due to an increased demand, the release of microplastic fibres to our environments is expected to also accelerate. To combat microplastic fibre release, this study explores source-directed interventions within the design and manufacturing process of textiles to reduce the amount of pollution released from the surface and the edges of the fabric structure. Using standardised wash tests and polyester fabric swatches that were created in-house with systematic structural adjustments, single jersey knit fabrics were shown to release over three times more microplastic pollution than twill woven fabric. This illustrates that increasing the tightness of a fabric could be implemented within the design of fabrics for environmental benefits. Additionally, the laser cutting technique reduced microplastic fibres released by over a third compared to scissor cutting and overlock serging, showing that the edge of the fabric is a significant source of microplastic pollution released during laundering. This research highlights the adaptable and innovative eco-design approaches to clothing production which is necessary to help the sector reach international sustainability targets and regulations.
Epidemiology and diversity of gastrointestinal tract helminths of wild ruminants in sub-Saharan Africa: a review
Authors: Phetla V. , Chaisi M. , Malatji M.P.
Published: June 2024

This review summarises studies on distribution, diversity, and prevalence of gastrointestinal helminth infections in wild ruminants in sub-Saharan Africa. The results showed that 109 gastrointestinal tract (GIT) helminth species or species complexes were recorded in 10 sub-Saharan African countries. South Africa reported the highest number of species because most studies were carried out in this country. Eighty-eight nematode species or species complexes were recorded from 30 wild ruminant species across eight countries. The genus Trichostrongylus recorded the highest number of species and utilised the highest number of wild ruminant species, and along with Haemonchus spp., was the most widely distributed geographically. Fifteen trematode species or species complexes were reported from seven countries. The genus Paramphistomum recorded the highest number of species, and Calicophoron calicophoron was the most commonly occurring species in sub-Saharan African countries and infected the highest number of hosts. Six cestode species or species complexes from one family were documented from 14 wild hosts in seven countries. Moniezia spp. were the most commonly distributed in terms of host range and geographically. Impala were infected by the highest number of nematodes, whilst Nyala were infected by the highest number of trematode species. Greater kudu and Impala harbored the largest number of cestodes. The prevalence amongst the three GIT helminths taxa ranged between 1.4% and 100% for nematodes, 0.8% and 100% for trematodes, and 1.4% and 50% for cestodes. There is still limited information on the distribution and diversity of GIT helminths in wild ruminants in most sub-Saharan African countries.
Animal Trouble: Arendt and the Question of Anthropocentrism
Authors: Gündoğdu Ayten
Published: June 2024

This article examines animals and animality in Hannah Arendt's political thought by focusing on the phenomenological approach she develops in The Life of the Mind. Building on the works of Adolf Portmann and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Arendt invites us to understand the world in terms of the plurality of all living things who appear to each other in anticipation of being perceived in their distinctness. While Arendt's phenomenology is generative for rethinking politics beyond human exclusivity, it also sits uneasily with her anthropocentric claims that risk reducing animals to reactive organisms driven by biological necessity. Mobilizing Arendt's phenomenology against her anthropocentrism, the article outlines a worldly politics in which all living things engage in multitudinous forms of intra- and interspecies encounter, reciprocity, and responsiveness. To illustrate this worldly politics, the article revisits Arendt's famous call for “a right to have rights” and engages with the debates on animal rights.
Towards an abolitionist feminist peace: State violence, anti-militarism, and the Women, Peace and Security agenda
Authors: Wright Hannah , Achilleos-Sarll Columba
Published: June 2024

Ever more doubts are being raised over the ‘transformative potential’ of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda and whether it brings us closer to realising feminist peace. Underpinning a current of WPS activism and scholarship is a radical conceptualisation of feminist peace rooted in anti-militarism, anti-capitalism, and anti-imperialism. This strand shares many commonalities with abolition feminism, yet the two literatures and movements are rarely put in conversation. While both begin from similar political commitments and analyses of the international system, they propose radically different solutions for bringing about feminist liberation. Building on this observation, we ask: (1) how would abolition feminism explain why the WPS agenda has often failed to make progress towards a radical vision of feminist peace?; and, as a corollary, (2) what does abolition feminism demand of the WPS agenda? First, using the framework of ‘reformist’ and ‘non-reformist reforms’, we argue that many WPS policies are better understood as reformist rather than transformative. Second, we argue that abolitionist thinking suggests deeper critiques of WPS than those often put forward by its anti-militarist critics, based on a broader conceptualisation of militarism. Ultimately, abolition feminism demands non-reformist, anti-carceral solutions that raise challenging questions about pathways towards feminist peace.
Gentle Transnational Spirits
Authors: Puga Ana Elena
Published: June 2024

Kamisato Yudai’s Immigrant Ghost Stories (2022) evokes past generations that suffered violence yet nevertheless haunt the present as gentle spirits, whether as reincarnated animals, reincarnated people, or repeated patterns of physical gesture and movement. Blurring the borders between fiction and documentary, storytelling and physical theatre, the work stages transnationality as both an economic practice and a sociocultural necessity, encouraging us to acknowledge the heterogeneity of Japanese–Latin American and other Japanese transnational identities.
Surveillance as Gesture
Authors: Murphy Talley
Published: June 2024

Surveillance is gestic, in Bertolt Brecht’s sense: it constitutes and is constituted by a set of practices that police and control the social at the level of gestures. In a surveillant Gestus of the everyday, gestures conscribe bodies as subjects of surveillance, from the touchscreen scroll that operates Amazon’s Neighbors social network to the hands-over-head posture imaged by airport body scanners. Gestures, not digital devices, watch—and enforce—the bounds of a “criminal” human.
Notes on Hope
Authors: Phelan Peggy
Published: June 2024

Writers and readers cocreate books. Over time, certain readings, even if they are misreadings, come to summarize the book so thoroughly that the book gets transformed into a chapter, a paragraph, a sentence. While chapter 7 of Unmarked, “The Ontology of Performance,” is the most frequently cited, the Afterword’s meditation on misunderstanding may be the most hopeful for future scholarship.