bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Proliferin-1 Ameliorates Cardiotoxin-Related Skeletal Muscle Repair in Mice
Authors: Goto Hiroki , Inoue Aiko , Piao Limei , Hu Lina , Huang Zhe , Meng Xiangkun , Suzuki Yusuke , Umegaki Hiroyuki , Kuzuya Masafumi , Cheng Xian Wu
Published: November 2021

Background. We recently demonstrated that proliferin-1 (PLF-1) functions as an apoptotic cell-derived growth factor and plays an important role in vascular pathobiology. We therefore investigated its role in muscle regeneration in response to cardiotoxin injury. Methods and Results. To determine the effects of PLF-1 on muscle regeneration, we used a CTX-induced skeletal muscle injury model in 9-week-old male mice that were administered with the recombinant PLF-1 (rPLF-1) or neutralizing PLF-1 antibody. The injured muscles exhibited increased levels of PLF-1 gene expression in a time-dependent manner. On day 14 after injury, rPLF-1 supplementation ameliorated CTX-induced alterations in muscle fiber size, interstitial fibrosis, muscle regeneration capacity, and muscle performance. On day 3 postinjury, rPLF-1 increased the levels of proteins or genes for p-Akt, p-mTOR, p-GSK3α/β, p-Erk1/2, p-p38MAPK, interleukin-10, Pax7, MyoD, and Cyclin B1, and it increased the numbers of CD34+/integrin-α7+ muscle stem cells and proliferating cells in the muscles and/or bone marrow of CTX mice. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay revealed that rPLF-1 suppressed the levels of plasma tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β in CTX mice. PLF-1 blocking accelerated CTX-related muscle damage and dysfunction. In C2C12 myoblasts, rPLF-1 increased the levels of proteins for p-Akt, p-mTOR, p-GSK3α/β, p-Erk1/2, and p-p38MAPK as well as cellular functions; and these effects were diminished by the depletion of PLF-1 or silencing of its mannose-6-phosphate receptor. Conclusions. These findings demonstrated that PLF-1 can improve skeletal muscle repair in response to injury, possibly via the modulation of inflammation and proliferation and regeneration, suggesting a novel therapeutic strategy for the management of skeletal muscle diseases.
Structural Efficiency and Robustness Evolution of the US Air Cargo Network from 1990 to 2019
Authors: Zhao Changsong , Xiu Chunliang
Published: November 2021

As the US air cargo network (USACN) becomes a crucial part of the economy, it is pivotal to understand the structural evolution of the network and how it would be affected by unexpected events. We investigated the network structure, efficiency, and robustness of the USACN from 1990 to 2019 due to targeted attacks based on complex network theory from a dynamic and spatiotemporal perspective. Our results suggest that the USACN has enhanced robustness. Moreover, we find that attacks based on betweenness centrality are the most effective way to cause a collapse compared with attacks based on degree and closeness centrality. In addition, airports of the USACN have formed an increasing number of communities with geographical ties, and airports in the noncontiguous regions are more vulnerable than other communities in the lower 48 states. Further, we discover that the average path lengths have increased, and the overall efficiency has decreased from 0.7 to 0.4 due to the dependency of the hub‐and‐spoke structure. This paper complements previous studies on the dynamic structure evolution of air cargo networks through the lens of complex network theory with spatial‐temporal data.
Personalized Recommendation for Mobile Internet Wealth Management Based on User Behavior Data Analysis
Authors: Ye Xiangyu , Chen Mengmeng
Published: November 2021

Economic development has provided good opportunities for the development of securities companies. Similarly, the development of Internet technology has also brought huge opportunities and challenges to the development of securities companies. Aiming at the current wealth management issues in the era of mobile Internet, this article attempts to develop a personalized recommendation approach on the basis of users’ behavioral data analysis. We analyzed and judged the current situation of mobile Internet wealth management using personalized recommendation systems. On the basis of personalized recommendation, we use the user’s interest tags, personalized recommendation technology, and data mining technology to analyze and summarize customer transaction records. This is done through the use of preservation of customer transaction data. By understanding customers’ investment needs, risk preferences, and other information, we can segment customers and provide them with targeted products and services. As a result of the study, a flexible personalized recommendation framework is designed and validated for mobile Internet wealth management services. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is verified through testing of the developed model.
Machine Learning Algorithms for Prediction of Survival Curves in Breast Cancer Patients
Authors: Maabreh Roqia Saleem Awad , Alazzam Malik Bader , AlGhamdi Ahmed S.
Published: November 2021

Today, cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide, and the number of people diagnosed with the disease is expected to rise. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women, and it has one of the highest survival rates when treated properly. Because the effectiveness and, as a result, survival of the patient are dependent on each case, it is critical to know the modelling of their survival ahead of time. Artificial intelligence is a rapidly expanding field, and its clinical applications are following suit (having surpassed humans in many evidence-based medical tasks). From the inception of since first stable risk estimator based on statistical methods appeared in survival analysis, there have been numerous versions of it created, with machine learning being used in only a few of them. Nonlinear relationships between variables and the impact they have on the variable to be predicted are very easy to evaluate using statistical methods. However, because they are just mathematical equations, they have flaws that limit the quality of their output. The main goal of this study is to find the best machine learning algorithms for predicting the individualised survival of breast cancer patients, as well as the most appropriate treatment, and to propose new numerical variable stratifications. They will still be carried out using unsupervised machine learning methods that divide patients into groups based on their risk in each dataset. We will compare it to standard groupings to see if it has more significance. Knowing that the greatest challenge in dealing with clinical data is its quantity and quality, we have gone to great lengths to ensure their quality before replicating them. We used the Cox statistical method in conjunction with other statistical methods and tests to find the best possible dataset with which to train our model, despite its ease of multivariate analysis.
Corrigendum to “Chaos in a Financial System with Fractional Order and Its Control via Sliding Mode”
Authors: Dousseh Paul Yaovi , Ainamon Cyrille , Miwadinou Clément Hodévèwan , Monwanou Adjimon Vincent , Chabi Orou Jean Bio
Published: November 2021

In this paper, the dynamical behaviors and chaos control of a fractional‐order financial system are discussed. The lowest fractional order found from which the system generates chaos is 2.49 for the commensurate order case and 2.57 for the incommensurate order case. Also, the period‐doubling route to chaos was found in this system. The results of this study were validated by the existence of a positive Lyapunov exponent. Besides, in order to control chaos in this fractional‐order financial system with uncertain dynamics, a sliding mode controller is derived. The proposed controller stabilizes the commensurate and incommensurate fractional‐order systems. Numerical simulations are carried out to verify the analytical results.
Naming and Cosmology: The Role of Names in the Onto-Generative Process
Authors: Gajdosova Katerina
Published: November 2021

The article takes the excavated cosmological texts as a basis for reinterpreting the relationship between cosmology, epistemology, and action in Warring States period thought, by focusing on the role of names in situatedness and self-actualization of being. It proposes to view the speculative and the practical concerns in terms of a dynamic union of the receptive and the creative within the onto-generative cycle. Building on Chung-ying Cheng’s onto-generative approach and Heidegger’s hermeneutics of Dasein in Sein und Zeit, the article identifies names as the centre (Gadamer’s Mitte) in which the receptive and the creative aspect of being come together.
Ancient Characters and Contemporary Readers: A Response to Elizabeth E. Shively & Jan Rüggemeier and Cornelis Bennema
Authors: Keen Suzanne
Published: November 2021

In this response essay, which culminates with an application of my theory of narrative empathy to the Parable of the Good Samaritan, I comment on an article by Cornelis Bennema and engage with the ideas in the framing, introductory essay by Jan Rüggemeier and Elizabeth E. Shively. In the course of carrying out these tasks, I also offer what I hope will be broadly useful comments on fictional and nonfictional contexts for character construction, on characters and characterization, and on the way diverse actual readers engage with characters. This essay concludes with some thoughts on narrative empathy, responding to the final section of Rüggemeier and Shively’s essay, which offers comprehensive overview of empathy and sympathy as aspects of emotional reading.
Emotion, Memory, Meaning, Directions: A Response to Kirsten Marie Hartvigsen and Thomas J. Kraus
Authors: van Emde Boas Evert
Published: November 2021

This response article reviews the contributions of Kirsten Marie Hartvigsen and Thomas Kraus to this special issue, and uses them as the basis for a discussion of some theoretical and methodological issues relevant to cognitive narratology and cognitive literary studies more broadly. Without offering substantial answers itself, the response poses questions concerning (i) the compatibility of different scientific frameworks used in cognitive models of characterization, particularly in the light of currently dominant ‘4ea’ models of cognition (there is a particular focus on the relationship between affective and (other) cognitive aspects of reader response, and on the role of memory); and (ii) the adaptability of cognitive models to dealing with “synthetic” and “thematic” (as opposed to “mimetic”) aspects of literary character. A brief conclusion argues for two-way traffic between the cognitive sciences and literary criticism.
Identity Turn: Managing Decolonialization and Identity Politics in the Study of Religion
Authors: Borup Jørn
Published: November 2021

The academic study of religion, with its concepts and theories that originate in a Western, Protestant context, has justly been criticized in postmodern and identity-focused discourses, in recent years under the umbrella of decolonization and social justice activism. It has been suggested that allegedly universally-applicable theories and methodologies are relativized and revealed as particularized Eurocentrism in the hegemonic representations of “white” or “Western” power regimes. While acknowledging such reorientations in the philosophy, sociology, psychology, and history of religion, this article also critically investigates and discusses the “critical study of religion.” It is suggested that the revisionist deconstruction emphasized by contemporary identity perspectives, with their discourses of difference and re-essentialized understandings of religion and culture, are not only problematic as theoretical orientations. Radical identity politics also imply methodological constraints on the academic study of religion, where comparison, analytical categories, and reflexive emic–etic distinctions must remain key factors.
Children’s Rights in Secure Residential Youth Care in the Netherlands
Authors: Höfte S. J. C. , Kuiper C. H. Z. , van der Helm G. H. P. , de Valk S. M. , Stams G. J. J. M.
Published: November 2021

This study examines the extent to which secure residential youth care in the Netherlands complies with children’s rights as laid down in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (uncrc) and the Dutch Youth Act. Residential group climate was measured with the Prison Group Climate Instrument (pgci), which assesses quality of group care from the perspective of the three basic needs for human self-determination: contact, autonomy and competence. Results indicate that children’s rights are a subsidiary issue in secure residential youth care in The Netherlands, because groups workers and staff have insufficient understanding of children’s rights and Dutch legislation on youth care. Dutch law allows secure facilities to make their own policy on youth care delivery, but it seems that policies are insufficiently explicit about children’s rights. Results of this study can be used to work on the fulfilment of children’s rights in secure residential youth care.
Welfare, Justice, and Diverse Models of Youth Justice: A Children’s Rights Analysis
Authors: Forde Louise
Published: November 2021

While States have a legal obligation to ensure that uncrc rights are fully vindicated in youth justice systems, States’ responses to offending by children are often dictated by other concerns. The need to ensure accountability and the protection of society, and the need to ensure children are treated as children and with respect for their needs – epitomised by the “welfare/justice debate” – are often seen as contradictory goals, meaning that identifying an overall “model” of youth justice that will also ensure uncrc-compliance can be difficult. Derived from a comparative study of child rights compliance in the youth justice systems of Scotland, Ireland and New Zealand, this article poses the question whether the uncrc mandates a particular approach to youth justice. It examines the balance between welfare and justice concerns found within the text of the uncrc and reflects on what this means for the development of rights-compliant youth justice systems.
Constructing the “Jewish Type”
Authors: Sera-Shriar Efram
Published: November 2021

With the emergence of new photographic technologies and processes during the second half of the nineteenth century, it became increasingly easier to pursue anthropometric research in anthropology. One group to receive particular attention was the Jewish community. This interest was due to several factors including the influx of Jewish immigrants to Britain as a result of the pogroms in the Russian Empire, easy access to subjects for the purpose of photographing and measuring them, and longstanding attempts to classify and racialize Jewish people within the human sciences. This paper will examine the construction of the supposed “Jewish type” during the late Victorian period by looking at the work of the Victorian polymath Francis Galton (1822–1911), and the Jewish folklorist and anthropologist Joseph Jacobs (1854–1916). Using the composite portraits of Jewish schoolboys that appeared in The Photographic News in 1885, the paper will explore both Galton’s and Jacobs’ visual epistemologies for constructing and representing this racial category, and the social and political factors underpinning their interpretations.
Spatializing Differences
Authors: Ariffin Dayana
Published: November 2021

Mapping of “ethnic” or “racial” groups in the Philippines was an enterprise that was taken up through the direct interventions of the two colonial polities in Filipino history—Spain and the United States. The objective of mapping race or ethnicity in the Philippines was to identify the location of native racial groups for ethnological and administrative purposes. This article intends to explore the relationship between mapping and the scientific conceptualization of race during the changeover in colonial rule by examining two ethnographic maps, specifically the “Blumentritt Map” (1890) and the Atlas de Filipinas (1899). Maps are complex artefacts that can be read on various levels. Thus, the spatializing effects of mapping can extend well beyond the documentation of a geographic reality and capable of altering historical narratives and sociopolitical experiences.
The Logic of Skull Writing
Authors: Roque Ricardo
Published: November 2021

In this essay I discuss the significance of theories and classifications that appear in the material and graphic form of race and place name inscriptions on human skulls. I argue that human skulls themselves provided a site for the inscription of raciological thought, a privileged location for abbreviating broader conceptions of differences and distributions of ‘human races’. I will draw on the history of race science in 19th-century Europe to explore how and why certain race and place names were inscribed onto skulls, and the effect of this form of inscription on the shaping of theories in the racial sciences during this period. The article especially considers the work of the French anthropologists Armand de Quatrefages and Ernest-Théodore Hamy, who systematically wrote inscriptions on the skulls they were studying in the context of Crania Ethnica, arguably the most ambitious project of global racial craniology undertaken in the late 19th century.
Putting the Suenjel Sámi on the Map
Authors: Kortekangas Otso
Published: November 2021

This article examines the early publications and correspondence of Karl Nickul, a Finnish geodesist and amateur ethnographer/anthropologist. In his publications and correspondence, Nickul studied and discussed the Skolt Sámi of the village of Suenjel in the Finnish province of Petsamo. Nickul was a polyglot and an internationally-minded pacifist who framed the Suenjel Sámi among other “primitive” peoples worldwide, instead of among the neighbouring Finno-Ugric-speaking peoples in Soviet Karelia just across the Finnish-Soviet border. In the Suenjel Sámi, Nickul saw a chance to preserve an instance of the “original” Sámi way of life, which he viewed as being closely conditioned by nature. Nickul wanted to carry out this preservation for the sake of the Sámi themselves as well as for scholarly purposes. As he sought international recognition for the Suenjel Sámi and parallel cases of cultural preservation, Nickul simultaneously developed a scholarly persona as the foremost expert on this population without following the conventional academic route.
Lidio Cipriani (1892–1962), the Photographs in His Popular Science Literature
Authors: Iannuzzi Lucas Orlando
Published: November 2021

The case of Lidio Cipriani (1892–1962) is symptomatic of a time when sciences like anthropology and ethnology supported the fascist ideology and gave it scientific approval in a crucial political moment for Benito Mussolini’s regime (1930–1940), which enacted racist laws and institutionalized the establishment of racial segregation in the colonies as well as within the boundaries of the motherland. Over the past thirty years historiography has focused some attention on the issue, but in this contribution I would like to highlight a point that has only been mentioned in passing in studies dedicated to the Florentine anthropologist, namely the questions surrounding the use of his massive photographic corpus. Since the use of imagery to nourish a collective imagination had become crucial for the fascist regime, an analysis of these images and their circulation may allow us to better explore the interrelationship between a totalitarian political power, the social body impregnated with propaganda, and the physical anthropology practiced by Cipriani, who produced a colossal visual corpus that suited the fascist theoretical apparatus.
Alfred Russel Wallace and the Models of Amazonian “Indians” Displayed at the Crystal Palace Ethnological Exhibition
Authors: Limeira-DaSilva Victor Rafael , Sánchez Arteaga Juanma
Published: November 2021

This paper discusses Alfred Russel Wallace’s Amazonian ethnography and his collaboration with Robert Latham on the models of indigenous Amazonian peoples that were placed on display at the Crystal Palace ethnological exhibition in 1854. The reception of scholars and the public to this innovative work is also considered. Wallace’s involvement in the first British ethnological exhibition of large proportions was fundamental to the dissemination of his work, which made a valuable contribution to a field of study—the ethnology of South America—that was still in its infancy in Britain, in marked contrast to Portugal, Spain, Germany and France. Wallace’s field observations of indigenous peoples were instilled in the British imagination through the handbook to the exhibition, in which Latham stressed the importance of Wallace’s descriptions to the advancement of the field of ethnology. Indeed, Wallace’s ethnographic accounts were deemed to provide an authoritative supplement to James Prichard’s preliminary and still somewhat limited ethnological map of northern South America, contributing to the creation of a more complete picture of the indigenous Amazonian peoples of Brazil.
Why International Lawyers Measure Time with a Telescope: Grotian Moments & Richard Falk’s Histories of the Future
Authors: Corredera Edward Jones
Published: November 2021

This article contextualises the origins of the term Grotian Moment, coined and frequently redefined by Richard Falk. By generating a conceptual history of the idea and its uses, the article draws attention to the ways that Falk’s sustained interest in the question of temporality and the nature of change in international law can inform present legal debates. The recovery of Falk’s efforts to engage with critics, geopolitical changes, and new legal ideas by reinterpreting and reimagining the meaning of a Grotian Moment sheds light on its relationship to questions of free trade, Eurocentrism, and revolutions in international law. By considering the methodological parallels with the work of Reinhart Koselleck, this article emphasises the importance of both historiographical and historical debates for the study of change in legal history, the analysis of the global legacies of Hugo Grotius, and the generation of expectations of the future in international law.
The ‘Grotian Style’ in International Criminal Justice
Authors: Mégret Frédéric
Published: November 2021

This article envisages how one might conceptualize the ‘Grotian Style’ in international criminal justice as a practice of adaptation spearheaded by international judges rather than as actual changes occurring in the international system. It foregrounds the emblematic career of Antonio Cassese at the ICTY as epitomizing the trajectory of a scholar on the bench intent on seizing a historic opportunity to reframe the law. The contours, origins, and prospects but also limitations of the ‘Grotian style’ are then discussed. The problem with the Grotian style is not primarily that it runs roughshod over defense rights, but that it appropriates a law-making authority which, in the international system, is better understood as primarily vested in states. In the process, it risks exposing its hubris and shallowness, especially when deciding on normatively intractable issues. In a context where international criminal justice is increasingly being normalized, the time may have come to reconceptualize judges’ role along more global constitutional lines as rooted in an ongoing dialogue with the international community of states and an emerging separation of powers.
Between ‘Time Immemorial’ and ‘Instant Custom’: The Time Element in Customary International Law
Authors: Sender Omri , Wood Sir Michael
Published: November 2021

Article 38.1(b) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, which refers to customary international law as ‘a general practice accepted as law’, makes no mention of duration. Yet the ‘time element’, as the Court itself called it, has not infrequently been relevant—if not central—to determining whether a rule of customary international law has come into being. The present article seeks to describe how far the passage of time is necessary for the creation of rules of customary international law, and the possible significance of time to the customary process more generally. While noting that no particular duration is required for the formation of customary international law, it suggests that some time must always elapse, and that assertions of a rapid development in customary international law are to be treated with a degree of caution. Light is thrown on particular ways in which time may indeed be of significance for the formation and identification of a rules of customary international law, and on further ways in which time (and timing) may impact the life cycle of such rules, including their possible change and demise.
The European Tale of Downfall (and Survival)
Authors: Sadecka Agnieszka
Published: November 2021

The European Tale of Downfall (and Survival)This article is a review of the book After Europe by Ivan Krastev. It focuses on the author’s claims regarding the crisis in which Europe finds itself and questions some of the historical parallels likening the current period to various disintegration moments in the past. The review also addresses Krastev’s observations concerning contemporary European challenges, particularly the migration crisis and the rise of populism. While many of Krastev’s arguments are convincing, the review posits that in spite of some worrying phenomena, there are also grounds for cautious optimism. Europejska opowieść o upadku (i przetrwaniu)Artykuł jest recenzją książki After Europe autorstwa Ivana Krasteva. Skupia się na tezach  autora na temat kryzysu, w którym znajduje się Europa, i omawia krytycznie historyczne paralele, zestawiające czasy współczesne z okresami dezintegracji w przeszłości. Recenzja  dotyczy również analiz Krasteva na temat współczesnych wyzwań dla Europy, takich jak  kryzys migracyjny lub narastanie populizmu. Autorka zakłada, że choć argumenty Krasteva są przekonujące i faktycznie można zaobserwować pewne niepokojące zjawiska, to istnieją  także powody do ostrożnego optymizmu.
Ways of Othering: Literary Image of Russians in Habsburg Lviv
Authors: Kotyńska Katarzyna
Published: November 2021

Ways of Othering: Literary Image of Russians in Habsburg LvivThe popular image of multicultural Lviv/Lwów in general, and under Habsburg rule in particular, usually excludes Russians from the group of genuine city dwellers. The main aim of this paper is to analyze the few portrayals of Russians in literary texts relating to the period of WWI. I compare Polish strategies of othering Russians as barbarians and an insidious element, prevalent in the literature for young readers of the 1920s, with the tendency of some Ukrainian authors to create a more nuanced image in the mass literature of the 2010s. The analysis of ways of othering Russians in the two identified groups of literary texts considers the geopolitical and national identity issues underpinning these trends. Kształtowanie obrazu Innego. Literacki obraz Rosjan w habsburskim LwowieW popularnym obrazie wielokulturowego Lwowa, zarówno polskim, jak i ukraińskim, do grona prawdziwych mieszkańców miasta zasadniczo nie mogą zostać zaliczeni Rosjanie. Głównym celem artykułu jest analiza nielicznych przykładów ich wizerunków w tekstach literackich dotyczących okresu I wojny światowej. Porównuję polskie strategie traktowania Rosjan jako „Innych” – barbarzyńców i wrogów, realizowane w literaturze dla młodych czytelników lat dwudziestych XX wieku, z ukraińską tendencją do tworzenia bardziej zniuansowanego obrazu w literaturze masowej ostatniej dekady. W analizie sposobów wykluczania Rosjan w tych dwóch grupach tekstów literackich uwzględnione zostają kwestie geopolityczne i problem tożsamości narodowej.
In Memory of Professor Wojciech Józef Burszta
Authors: Rauszer Michał
Published: November 2021

In Memory of Professor Wojciech Józef BursztaThe text is dedicated to the memory of Professor Wojciech J. Burszta. Pamięci Profesora Wojciecha Józefa BursztyTekst poświęcony pamięci Profesora Wojciecha J. Burszty.
Driving liberal change? Global performance indices as a system of normative stratification in liberal international order
Authors: Rumelili Bahar , Towns Ann E.
Published: November 2021

The existing literature on Global Performance Indices (GPIs) is mostly dominated by unit-level analyses focused on specifying the relevant properties of the GPIs and the motivations of state actors in being influenced by GPIs. This article advances a systemic approach, which conceives of GPIs as collectively constituting a system of normative stratification in International Relations (IR). By bringing together the literature on GPIs with the relevant IR literatures on international hierarchies and status-seeking, we identify the structural attributes of the GPI-based system of stratification, how these structural attributes shape the distribution of normative status positions among states, and how this distribution is likely to condition the pursuit of status by states. In particular, we argue that the disaggregated structure and relative ranking of states, respectively, generate status ambiguity and immobility, which both dissuade states from seeking higher moral status through improving their scores in the existing indices. We illustrate the patterns of status ambiguity and immobility present in the GPI-based system of stratification through an empirical analysis of the scores and rank positions of the United States, European Union (EU) members, and “rising powers” in five different indices in the past decade.
Revisiting conflict: Neoliberalism at work in the gig economy
Authors: Tirapani Alessandro Niccolò , Willmott Hugh
Published: November 2021

What is the role of conflict in bringing about radical change? Taking the case of the gig economy, we study the conditions of possibility for fairer alternative ways of organising to emerge. Currently, some commentators underscore the sense of freedom of working as a self-employed contractor; others focus on its negative and exploitative dimensions. Less attention has been given to the potential emergence of (radical) conflicts around the nature of gig work. Thus, we contribute to the study of conflict in organisation theory by appreciating two different yet interrelated phenomena. First, how neoliberal gig work mobilises positive fantasies of individualised economic prosperity and independence, leading to reformist responses to social and contractual disputes. Second, how the dark side of gig work can trigger radical conflicts, which reject the assumptions underpinning the ‘self-employed contractors’ business model. We argue that the potential for radical (labour) revolts is buffered by neoliberal individualisation and hegemonic ideology – articulated in the phenomenon that we term ‘econormativity’. Yet, as the latter offers no resolution to structural grievances, conflict continues to simmer in the background. The article aims to advance, principally from an organisation studies perspective, our understanding of conflict and its role in unleashing radical alternatives.
Yam seed system characteristics in Nigeria: Local practices, preferences, and the implications for seed system interventions
Authors: Stuart Esmé , Asfaw Asrat , Adebola Patrick , Maroya Norbert , Edemodu Alex , Adeosun Tunde , Asiedu Robert , Almekinders Conny
Published: November 2021

Yam is an important food and cash crop in Nigeria. The seed system is mostly farmer-based and its challenges and opportunities are not well documented. This study reports results of surveys, interviews, focus group discussions and participant observations that describe local practices characterizing yam cultivation and the farmer-based seed system in five states in Nigeria. Our findings show that ware and seed yam are dynamic and highly commercialized goods in Nigeria. There is a high demand for, and a high turn-over of, seed yam. The reasons for the high demand are the low multiplication rate and degeneration of seed yam which lead farmers to frequently acquire fresh seeds and replace varieties, investing significantly in the seed of ware yam. The study found some farmers specializing in seed yam production but less than expected for such a highly commercial crop. The market is the major source for off-farm sourced seed yam, and although completely informal, the seed yam sector is vibrant and well organized. The identification of strategically positioned farmers and traders can offer opportunities and entry points for introduction of new varieties and improved seed production techniques. Building on the existing farmer-based system is a more logical strategy than replacing it with formal structures and legislative regulation.
Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Early Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: A Pairwise and Network Meta-Analysis of Pathological Complete Response
Authors: Weng Zeng-Jie , Wu Sheng-Xi , Luo He-San , Du Ze-Sen , Li Xu-Yuan , Lin Jia-Zhou
Published: November 2021

We performed a pairwise and network meta-analysis to compare pathological complete response (pCR) among neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with triple-negative breast cancer. We searched PubMed for randomized clinical trials between January 1, 2000 and December 1, 2020. Abstracts from meetings were also searched. A frequentist random-effect model was applied to compare pCR and toxicities. The P-score was used to rank treatment effects. Nineteen trials with 16 treatments and 7794 patients were included. On the basis of SoC, the addition of carboplatin (OR = 1.82, 95% CI, 1.24 to 2.68, P < .01) and the addition of checkpoint inhibitors (OR = 1.69, 95% CI, 1.23 to 2.32, P < .01) increased pCR in pairwise meta-analysis; compared with paclitaxel, nab-paclitaxel did not improve pCR rates (OR = 1.81, 95% CI, .80 to 4.12, P = .16). The anthracycline-sparing regimen led to similar pCR compared with the anthracycline-containing regimen (OR = 1.50, 95% CI, .82 to 2.76, P = .19). In network meta-analysis, the addition of carboplatin plus a PD-1 inhibitor (pembrolizumab), carboplatin plus bevacizumab, and carboplatin plus veliparib ranked as the top three treatments for achieving pCR, with corresponding P-scores of .91, .84, and .72, respectively. Among patients with homologous recombination deficiency, the addition of carboplatin (OR = 1.31, 95% CI, .69 to 2.50, P = .41) or carboplatin plus PARP inhibitors (OR = 1.19, 95% CI, .58 to 2.47, P = .63) did not increase pCR. For triple-negative breast cancer, combining carboplatin with taxane-anthracycline-containing neoadjuvant chemotherapy could be the standard of care, and the combination containing checkpoint inhibitor is promising. However, their role in long-term oncologic outcome remains to be determined.
The Psychological Impact of Coronavirus on University Students and its Socio-Economic Determinants in Malaysia
Authors: Irfan Muhammad , Shahudin Faizah , Hooper Vincent J. , Akram Waqar , Abdul Ghani Rosmaiza B.
Published: November 2021

The objective of this article is to examine the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) upon university students’ anxiety level and to find the factors associated with the anxiety level in Malaysia. We collected data from 958 students from 16 different universities using an originally designed questionnaire. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale 7-item (GAD-7) was used to estimate the anxiety. Then we applied the ordered logit model to calculate the odds ratios (OR) and factors associated with the anxiety level. We find that 12.3% of students were normal, whereas 30.5% were experiencing mild anxiety, 31.1% moderate anxiety, and 26.1% severe anxiety. Surprisingly, only 37.2% of students were aware of mental health support that was provided by their universities. However, age above 20 years (OR = 1.30), ethnicity Chinese (OR = 1.72), having any other disease (OR = 2.0), decreased family income (OR = 1.71), more time spent on watching COVID-19-related news (OR = 1.52), and infected relative or friends (OR = 1.62) were risk factors for anxiety among students. We conclude that the government of Malaysia should monitor the mental health of the universities’ students more closely and universities should open online mental health support clinics to avoid the adverse impacts of anxiety.
Association between nursing work stress, burnout and nosocomial infection rate in a neonatal intensive care unit in Hargeisa, Somaliland
Authors: Noah Nasra , Potas Nihan
Published: November 2021

Our study looks at the effects of burnout and stress levels of nurses, behaviour regarding medical waste, and other effective risk factors on the first time and recurrent diagnosis of nosocomial infection (NI) in neonatal intensive care units in Hargeisa, Somaliland. This multicentric follow-up study was conducted and repeated measurements were taken from 72 neonates and 45 nurses working in three hospitals for a period of five months. Nurses with high burnout levels had 3.7 times higher risk of neonates under their care being diagnosed with an NI (odds ratio: 3.743; 95% CI: 1.498–9.356). By controlling other variables, the stress level of nurses increased the incidence rate of neonates being diagnosed more than once with NI by 3.2 times. Statistically, the direction of causal association was from the high burnout among nurses to the diagnosis of NI, and high stress was associated with the recurrent diagnosis of infections in neonates.
Prospective randomised trial of bolus vs. continuous regime of jejunostomy feed
Authors: Sharma Vipin , Somashekar Uday , Thakur Dileep Singh , Kothari Reena , Sharma Dhananjaya
Published: November 2021

Enteral alimentation can be administered continuously, cyclically, intermittently, or by a bolus technique. Current literature does not suggest superiority of any one regime. Most studies have used nasogastric feeds, little is known about the outcome of jejunal feeding.

This study compares the efficiency and safety of bolus and continuous jejunostomy feeding. 46 adults undergoing a feeding jejunostomy for nutritional support or as an adjunct to a major upper GI surgery, were randomised to bolus feeding (BF group, n = 24) and continuous feeding (CF group, n = 22). Demographic, anthropometric, and laboratory parameters were measured preoperatively and on post-operative days (POD) 3, 7, 15, and 30. These parameters; as well as nutritional and functional outcomes, and complications at POD 30; were comparable in both groups. Both groups tolerated jejunal feeds well. Bolus feeding is simple, inexpensive, and permits daily physical activities. Hence it may be preferred over continuous jejunostomy feeding for enteral alimentation.
A Critique of Marketism: Varieties of Exchanges in China’s Past and Present
Authors: Huang Philip C. C.
Published: November 2021

The theory and ideology of mainstream Anglo-American “marketism” do not accord with reality. Its core idea—equating all trade with equal and mutually beneficial market exchanges, and believing that such exchanges are certain to lead to division of labor and transformative changes in labor productivity—is a one-sided, idealized construction. It erases unequal exchanges under imperialism and ignores the realities of the use of cheap informal labor in developing countries by hegemonic capital in the globalized economy. It also disregards pervasive unethical pursuits of profit among producers and widespread human weaknesses among consumers. If we proceed instead from China’s actual experiences, we can come to see and grasp the many different varieties of trade that differ from the abstractions of conventional marketism, including the “commercialization of extraction” that long characterized the principally unidirectional “trade” based on severe inequities between town and country, as well as the “growth without (labor productivity) development,” or “involutionary commercialization,” that long characterized domestic Chinese commerce that emerged under severe population pressures on the land. If we turn instead to the “take-off” period of the recent decades in Chinese economic development, we can see also the great contrast between Chinese realities and the mainstream economics construct of a “laissez faire state,” and see instead the state engaging most actively in development, and state-owned enterprises working closely together with private enterprises. Those realities are perhaps most evident in the recent dramatic development of China’s mammoth real estate economy that has been the main engine of rapid development since about 2000—most especially in its immense process of the “capitalization of land.” We can also see how the tradition of the “socialist planned economy” has operated in unison with the new capitalist market economy, by combining the twin ideals and mechanisms of “people’s livelihood” and “private profit.” What is needed is a new kind of political economy that can grasp and illuminate such changes.
A Reflection on Postwar Neoclassical Economics: The Shift from General Equilibrium Theory to the New Microeconomic Theories
Authors: Gao Yuan
Published: November 2021

The theoretical focus of neoclassical economics experienced a significant change in the 1970s–1980s. General equilibrium theory lost its dominant position in theoretical economic studies, with its role of setting the research agenda taken over by what this article calls the “new microeconomic theories,” principally decision theory, game theory, and mechanism design. Mainstream economists, post-Keynesians, and historians of economic thought each give a different explanation of the hows and whys of that change, but all miss some critical methodological implications. That change, as this article discusses, shows that neoclassical economics has turned from “grand theory” toward “small models” with empirically delimited utility and that the ideology of marketism lacks a valid scientific foundation. This interpretation can help illuminate the deeper dynamics of the postwar development of neoclassical economics and provide insights for a new political economy that can come to grips with political-economic practices that cannot be fully grasped by the neoclassical tradition.
Adult False Vocal Cord Cavernous Lymphangioma Presenting with Hemoptysis: A Case Report
Authors: Chin-Tse Lee , Meng-Chen Tsai , Shih-Lun Chang
Published: November 2021

Lymphangiomas are rare benign tumors of the lymphatic system, most often found at birth and before the age of 2 years. The head and neck region are the most frequent locations for lymphangioma. Involvement of the adult larynx in isolation is rare, and only a few cases have been reported so far. We report the case of a patient with a left false vocal cord reddish tumor presenting with hemoptysis and voice cracking. The surgical excision of mass was performed by direct laryngoscopy-assisted CO2 laser. The histopathological report revealed the diagnosis as cavernous lymphangioma. After a follow-up of 1 year, the patient is free of recurrence with all laryngeal functions being normal.
Best done differently? Couples’ money pooling and the association with economic conflicts
Authors: Duvander Ann-Zofie , Kridahl Linda
Published: November 2021

Economic conflicts are likely to affect couples’ relationship, and different strategies of handling money may be important for how common such conflicts are. This study investigates whether couples’ choice of pooling money is associated with the occurrence of economic conflicts and whether different degree of pooling matters differently in different situations in life. The study focuses on whether the respondents experience economic hardship, their age (or cohort), and duration of union. We use the GGS 2012/2013 for Sweden including cohabiting and married respondents aged 20–80. Results from regression models suggest that couples who pool all money have lowest propensity for economic conflicts. Furthermore, to have difficulties making ends meet is associated with economic conflicts, older couples (or of earlier cohorts) are less likely to experience economic conflicts and likewise relationships of long duration less often experience economic conflict. It seems that pooling money is associated with less economic conflicts especially among the couples with economic hardships, among older couples, and couples of longer duration. Thus, pooling of money has a moderating importance for some situations.
Aesthetic Disposition, Educational Capital, Personality Trait Openness, and Sex: A Study of French High-School Students
Authors: Brisson Romain , Bianchi Renzo
Published: November 2021

Aesthetic disposition has been defined as the propensity to prioritize form over function and to approach any object as potentially valuable from an aesthetic standpoint. In this study, we examined whether and how aesthetic disposition was predicted by educational capital, personality trait openness, and sex. In addition, we investigated the association of educational capital and sex with openness. We compared students from a general high school (“high” educational-capital group) with students from a vocational high school (“low” educational-capital group). We found that (a) aesthetic disposition was positively associated with educational capital and, to a lesser extent, with openness, (b) sex was of minor importance in the distribution of aesthetic disposition, and (c) openness was positively linked to educational capital and unrelated to sex. Our findings support the view that educational capital plays an important role in the social distribution of aesthetic disposition and highlight a link between education and openness.
Working With a Psychopath: Is There Light at the End of the Tunnel?
Authors: Stewart Jayme , Forth Adelle , Beaudette Janelle
Published: November 2021

Having a supervisor with psychopathic characteristics is related to being bullied, poorer job satisfaction, work/family life conflict, financial instability, and distress. To date, all research on corporate psychopathy victims considers how they are negatively impacted rather than potential positive outcomes. In response, this study examined how working with a psychopath impacts posttraumatic growth (PTG). Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, this study draws upon the experiences of 285 individuals who have worked with a colleague or supervisor with alleged psychopathic characteristics. Results indicated that approach coping and psychopathic characteristics predicted PTG. Qualitative analyses revealed that the majority of participants used various coping strategies (e.g., emotion-focused), received support (e.g., emotional), and underwent post-experiential growth or learning (e.g., positive personal growth); not all growth/learning was positive, however (e.g., less trusting). Results suggest that cultivating approach-focused coping strategies may enhance PTG following a traumatic event.
Affective life of financial loss: Detaching from lost investments in the wake of the gig economy
Authors: Bissell David
Published: November 2021

How people detach from financial relations is a critical but overlooked dimension of economic life. This paper offers a response by exploring how financial loss is reckoned with in the wake of disruptive digital technological change. It examines the experiences of people who have lost significant financial investments owing to the rise of gig economy rideshare platforms to evaluate how a loss of investment is reckoned with as both a financial and existential challenge. Through fieldwork with owners of taxi licences in Melbourne, Australia, the paper contributes to debates on affective investments within geography and beyond to argue that financial and affective investments are inextricably linked. For these investors, their financial loss precipitates the loss of affective investments expressed in terms of a loss of faith in institutions; a loss of face in terms of public respect; and a loss of conviction in terms of an inability to move forward with their lives. The paper argues that reckoning with these losses involves working on one's active and passive affections—capacities to act and sense. The paper concludes that this work of divestment is difficult and acceptance is not guaranteed.