bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
East Asian Secrets of Economic Growth
Authors: Cohn Samuel
Published: September 2021

This chapter evaluates how poor countries achieve economic growth in the face of all the obstacles posed by the rich countries. The most successful ones have used a highly advanced form of big government — a strategy known to economists as the developmentalist state. This strategy was designed by Japan in the late nineteenth century, perfected by South Korea in the 1960s and 1970s, and brought to a high level of polish by the Chinese today. The key is having a very strong set of government economic planners who tell private companies how they should invest. These countries are not anticapitalist. Companies are privately owned; profits accrue to the owners. But anyone who wants to stay in the good graces of the government follows the official government plan. What Japan, Korea, and China actually did is they restricted firm ownership to locals, keeping multinational corporations out; strictly limited imports for consumption; and massively invested in education. They also developed a long-term plan for the nation to go into the right industries at the right time; induced private firms to cooperate with the national plan by having the government guarantee sales, profits, and cheap credit; and prevented Korean firms from going soft by setting strict performance standards in the middle term.
The Economic Returns to Funding Scientific Research
Authors: Cohn Samuel
Published: September 2021

This chapter examines the economic returns to funding scientific research. The Bank of Boston did an analysis of the economic impact of scientific research on the local economy. Boston has eight major research universities: Harvard, MIT, Boston University, Boston College, Brandeis, Northeastern, U-Mass Boston, and Tufts. These eight universities employed 51,000 people and provided indirect employment for 37,000, not counting those workers employed by the university hospitals, themselves massive employers. Every year, 32,000 students graduated from these eight universities, many of whom remained in the local economy. Each year, the universities produced over 250 patents, over 280 commercial licenses, and roughly forty start-ups. Altogether, the universities contributed $7.4 billion to the regional economy. To pay for this, the federal government provided $1.5 billion in research contracts and grants. This is a 393 percent rate of return on the federal government's investment.
Why Tax Cuts Do Not Create Jobs
Authors: Cohn Samuel
Published: September 2021

This chapter explores the argument that tax cuts produce jobs. The standard argument for why tax cuts increase GDP is that reducing taxes takes money away from wasteful government bureaucrats. The money is put in the hands of entrepreneurs and investors; more investment equals more growth. This argument sounds appealing, but it falls apart for six different reasons. First, in a globalized economy, proceeds from American tax cuts may be invested overseas. Second, firms do not always lower employment when taxes are high. Third, tax breaks and tax evasion reduce the impact of cutting tax rates. Fourth, most business failures are caused by something other than taxation. Fifth, taxes are not the biggest determinant of corporate success. Finally, the data do not show any relationship between taxes and job growth.
The Explosion of Crime in the Global South
Authors: Cohn Samuel
Published: September 2021

This chapter studies the explosion of violent crime in the Global South. It begins by looking at statistics on global homicidal rates provided by the World Population Review. Kidnappings are an even greater concern than homicide and it is a particularly severe problem in Mexico. Brazil also has a long history of kidnapping and criminal gangs have been out of control in the country. In 2002, Rio de Janeiro had been shut down by a particularly flashy gang, the Comando Vermelho (Red Command), somewhat on a whim by their leader. Other acts of gang violence have been more purposive. That same year, the army and elite police forces had invaded two slum neighborhoods looking for the killer of Tim Lopes, a reporter for TV Globo who had been surreptitiously filming a gang party in the slums while working on a story about child prostitution. The gang members caught him in the act, gave him a summary trial, and then tortured him to death. Later on, some people would be arrested for the Tim Lopes murder, but the gangs that committed the crime were able to continue their activities without interruption.
What It Takes to Clean Up Corruption
Authors: Cohn Samuel
Published: September 2021

This chapter reviews four methods for cleaning up corruption and bureaucracy. The first method is cutting off funds to the offices of corrupt bureaucrats. The problem is, if the honest functionaries could not do anything with the old budget, they will be able to do even less with the new budget. Thus, technical demoralization gets worse. Second is the old Max Weber solution of imposing formal rational-technical bureaucracy, but this is very easy to undercut. Meanwhile, the third method is creating brand-new departments of young, idealistic uncorrupted officials. Fourth is civil service reform, which applies the Max Weber solution to every office in the government and requires massive economic growth.
Landlessness and Political Violence
Authors: Cohn Samuel
Published: September 2021

This chapter investigates examples of landlessness leading to political violence. Most of the processes that cause landlessness today destabilize conservatives who would normally be forces for social control. Land grabs by foreign investors dilute the power of national elites. Urban investors or military men buying/taking land for projects such as mines, plantations, or industrial parks become political rivals of local established families. Meanwhile, desertification undercuts the economic power of everyone in the ecologically threatened region; this includes the old elites. Within-nation studies provide further evidence of the destabilizing effects of landlessness. Landlessness correlates with terrorist attacks among provinces in Pakistan, and land inequality is statistically correlated with land invasions in Brazil and guerilla activity in Colombia.
Ever-Expanding Frontiers of Ecological Destruction
Authors: Cohn Samuel
Published: September 2021

This chapter explores the multiple forces that predispose capitalism to ever-increasing amounts of environmental damage. Sociologists discuss the treadmill of production, the degradation of the biosphere coming from increasing population growth and GDP requiring consuming ever-greater amounts of natural resources. A more refined argument is expanding frontiers of production. Modern economies require the incorporation of ever-greater amounts of physical space into capitalist production. Whenever an area is converted to commercial use, its natural function gets destroyed. The chapter then considers how capitalism is dependent on the four cheaps: cheap food, cheap energy, cheap natural resources, and cheap labor. All four are subject to expanding frontiers of production. However, the physical destruction of environments is not the only problem with expanding frontiers of production. The incorporation of new space into capitalist production means the dislocation of the population originally living in that space. Ultimately, landlessness leads to political volatility and warfare.
Triggering the Circle of Societal Death
Authors: Cohn Samuel
Published: September 2021

This chapter highlights four possible triggers that could start the Twelve-Step Circle of Societal Death. The first trigger is the declines in the Mensch cycle. Regular downturns in the life cycles of products produce lasting recessions and depressions that are difficult to overcome. The second trigger is landlessness, which leads to political instability and war. Indeed, the shifting of rural populations from having land to not having land is one of the most potentially destabilizing social changes imaginable. The third is trigger ecological collapse. The warfare, ethnic hostility, and terrorism we see in Yemen, Afghanistan, Southern Sudan, and Northern Nigeria all have their origins in the desert expanding, destroying the semiarid. Finally, the fourth trigger is increased low female status. Some people may be skeptical of the role of low female status. However, high female status is associated with greater female education, greater economic growth from female entrepreneurship, greater women's participation in the economy, and lower fertility creating lower population growth and greater ecological sustainability.
Creating a Culture of Societal Survival
Authors: Cohn Samuel
Published: September 2021

This chapter reflects on the culture of societal survival. The world is characterized by all-powerful corporate executives, overwhelming market forces, dictators, gangsters, entrenched elected politicians, stubborn people with ideas different from yours, and general all-purpose destructive chaos. But the presence of all these problems does not mean “game over.” People can choose to let societies die, or they can choose to work to keep things alive. A society can survive if the people in that society have a culture of survival — a culture that values those things the society needs to grow and that rejects forces that would lead to societal decay. People who have changed their minds and induced other people to change their minds have produced profound effects on world history.
Changing the Culture of One-Third of the World
Authors: Cohn Samuel
Published: September 2021

This chapter reviews evidence of the ability to produce massive change in global culture, considering the obvious case of the great religions of the world. There are three fundamental keys to growth. The first is interpersonal contact, because cultural change occurs person-to-person. People only change their minds on the counsel of people whom they deeply trust. Talking to people, building social connections, and creating network ties matter, because this is how one becomes a person of trust. The third is having one's religion associated with material success and cultural sophistication, while the fourth is commitment to proselytization. The chapter then looks at how Christianity spread from Palestine.
Creating Lasting Meaningful Social Reform
Authors: Cohn Samuel
Published: September 2021

This chapter analyzes the possibility to produce cultural change that produces long-term improvement in human life, looking at the case of the abolition of slavery. Early attempts to restrict slavery were based on both cynical and idealistic forces. Cynically, reformers wanted to protect people on their own territories from being enslaved, but they had fewer objections to making money from slavery in distant places. In Britain in the 1700s, however, there arose a small group of reformers who wished to see slavery abolished for all people in all places. By 1807, Britain had banned the transatlantic slave trade. Social movement organizing and the force of transmission of ideas were fundamental to the elimination of slavery in Britain. Once Britain was committed to the abolition of slavery, it used its economic and diplomatic muscle to obtain reform elsewhere.
Doing the Right Thing under Impossible Conditions
Authors: Cohn Samuel
Published: September 2021

This chapter describes the rescuing of Jews in Nazi Europe to demonstrate that people really do stand up to do the right thing even when doing so puts them in great peril. Opposing the Nazis or opposing Nazi sympathizers was obviously extremely dangerous, but many Europeans did this. The World Holocaust Remembrance Center has identified nearly 27,000 people who put their lives at risk by rescuing Jews. It is difficult to know exactly how many Jews were saved by these heroes, but it is undoubtedly a large number. What distinguished the people who became rescuers from those people who did not? The rescuers were nonconformists; they did not just do what everyone else in their country was doing; they were agenda makers rather than agenda takers; and their agendas changed the world around them. Their independence gave them the willingness to ignore the majority when it was in the wrong. However, working as a deviant group was probably better. In the Netherlands, rescue work was concentrated among religious minorities: in Protestant regions of the Netherlands, Catholics did the rescuing; and in Catholic regions of the Netherlands, Protestants did the rescuing.
Introduction
Authors: Edmondson Brad
Published: September 2021

This chapter introduces some of the people who played primary roles in the Adirondack Park Agency's (APA) founding. It includes the elite group of activists and policymakers who were early champions for the idea of regional land use planning; planners, lawyers, and naturalists who implemented the Land Use and Development Plan; activists who fought to abolish or weaken the plan; and public officials who had to find ways to turn it into a workable law. New York State spent twenty years struggling to write a master plan for the Adirondack Park before the APA was established. Activists had been calling for a master plan for twenty years before the state even started trying. The chapter further discusses the two produced plans, led by David Newhouse, each of them organized around a big map. One plan zoned the state land into progressively stricter classifications, culminating with wilderness. The other map rated each acre of the 3.6 million privately owned acres in terms of its suitability for development. Ultimately, the chapter assesses the aftermath of the postponement of the Land Use and Development Plan by one year and argues if the APA either saved or ruined the ecological and economic health of the park.
Brotherly Love
Authors: Edmondson Brad
Published: September 2021

This chapter begins with detailing the argument of Peter S. Paine Jr. with Laurance S. Rockefeller, the younger brother and closest friend of New York State Governor Nelson Rockefeller. It presents Paine's criticisms on a proposal Laurance made to turn the core of the Adirondack State Park into a national park. Both Paine Jr. and Laurance Rockefeller considered themselves environmentalists. But neither man belonged to the Association for the Protection of the Adirondack (AfPA). The chapter states that the Rockefeller family directed its giving toward several long-term goals, and one of them was improving public access to parks and open space. It then shifts to outline how Rockefeller's bond acts became major steps forward for the environmental movement and paved the way for federal legislation like the Land and Water Conservation Fund (passed in 1965), the Clean Air Act of 1970, and the Clean Water Act of 1972. Ultimately, the chapter investigates how Laurence persuaded his brother, Nelson to appoint a task force to study the future of the Adirondacks, modeled on the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission (ORRRC), and see if they could maximize the “effective acres” of the Adirondacks through other means.
Order Must Be
Authors: Edmondson Brad
Published: September 2021

This chapter addresses the concerns of Harold Hochschild after he learned that Governor Nelson Rockefeller was planning to give responsibility for campgrounds and other public facilities in the forest preserve to the new Office of Parks and Recreation, which was governed by a commission whose chair was Laurance Rockefeller. The chapter argues that the change was a mortal threat, according to Hochschild and Harold Jerry. Hochschild feared that if Laurance's people were allowed to operate public facilities in the forest preserve, he would use his influence to increase the number and size of those facilities. The chapter also discusses the commissioners' vision to protect the natural integrity of wild areas, promote quieter forms of recreation, shift the park's economy toward nature-oriented tourism, and tighten regulations on motorboats, snowmobiles, logging equipment, and other gasoline-powered machines. It highlights how a singular combination of political power and good timing persuaded the legislature to set up a new agency — Adirondack Park Agency (APA). The creation of the Adirondack Park Agency was one of three measures that Jerry considered essential to “saving” the Adirondacks. The other two were specifically focused on the large tracts of private land that defined the park's character.
“Pass the F*cking Thing”
Authors: Edmondson Brad
Published: September 2021

This chapter discusses the Temporary Study Commission's (TSC) intent to add one more way to protect undeveloped lakes and sweeping vistas that were privately owned in the Adirondacks. It introduces the most influential legislators representing the Adirondack Park in 1971: Assemblyman Glenn Harris and Senator Ron Stafford. Seven other assembly members represented parts of the park, two of these played important roles in the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) legislation: Andrew Ryan, representing the Adirondack counties of Clinton, Essex, and Warren; and Dan Haley, representing Franklin and Saint Lawrence counties. But Glenn Harris's territory and interests were primarily focused on the park. The chapter then demonstrates Harris's relationship with the members of the TSC and how their recommendations were perceived. Ultimately, the chapter examines why Bill Doolittle sided with Adirondack people and opposed the APA while endorsing all of the other bills.
The Big Map
Authors: Edmondson Brad
Published: September 2021

This chapter tells the story of how the early Adirondack Park Agency (APA) struggled to meet the state's assignments. It details what the state legislature gave to the early APA: an extremely ambitious to-do list and a ridiculously small budget. Much of the work depended on the men who had also worked for the Temporary Study Commission (TSC). The chapter analyses the story of George Davis who turned the idea for his dissertation into a big map that transformed life in the North Country. Davis's passion was protecting land that he thought should remain free of human impact. His thesis would compile data to show which Adirondack lands were suitable for development and which should remain undisturbed. The chapter then shifts with the APA chairman, Richard Lawrence who overcame opposition on several fronts as he struggled to maintain a working majority of board members, and the tireless work of Peter Paine, a well-connected lawyer, who argued stridently for the two plans. Ultimately, the chapter explains the significance of the APA map project. It argues that map making was important because the legal requirements for the land use plan were unusual, as most land use laws use text to describe the boundary lines of the area being regulated.
The Nature Business
Authors: Edmondson Brad
Published: September 2021

This chapter begins with the introduction of Robert Kafin and his law partner, Ed Needleman who had been talking to Ted Hullar from the Sierra Club, David Newhouse from the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK), and Courtney Jones, a philanthropist from the Lake Champlain town of Westport at Harold Hochschild's Great Camp in October 1971. The chapter describes Kafin's career shift and how he learned what was going on in the Adirondacks. Kafin saw that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other new federal laws were broadly written and not widely understood, especially by law firms north of Albany. The chapter reviews how the Adirondack Pack Agency Act added a big new state law to that pile. These laws could be used to shape or stop development. The chapter then shifts to describe how the Adirondack Project established Kafin & Needleman as the people to talk to if you wanted to block development in the Adirondacks. It also reviews the implications of Horizon and Ton-Da-Lay development for the Adirondack Park Agency (APA). Ultimately, the chapter examines the power and influence of some lawyers in relation to the APA.
Cashing the Chips
Authors: Edmondson Brad
Published: September 2021

This chapter looks at how the Land Use and Development Plan affect Tony D'Elia, the developer of Loon Lake Estates in the Adirondacks, the vacation-home development where he had invested his life's savings. It examines the draft version of the Land Use and Development Plan and recounts the Adirondack Park Agency's (APA) public hearings. The chapter also emphasizes the agency's mission to enhance the quality of life for local people. The plan had three parts: the first part divided the park's private land into six categories, each allowing progressively less development, the second part described how the regulations on these six categories would be implemented, and the third was a grab-bag of topics like billboard regulations and tax policies. The chapter argues that parts two and three of the draft Land Use and Development Plan proposed a way for the APA to assist town planning boards as they drafted local zoning laws that met these standards. The basic idea was that once the localities had met the APA's standards, the agency would relinquish jurisdiction over all but the biggest projects. Ultimately, the chapter details the arguments of the opposition to the land use plan before it was signed by Nelson Rockefeller at a formal ceremony in the State Capitol building.
Conclusion
Authors: Edmondson Brad
Published: September 2021

This chapter looks at the major environmental laws of the United States after the Adirondack Park Land Use and Development Plan was signed into law. It also presents Senator Henry Jackson's National Land Use Policy Act in 1970. The act used incentives and sanctions to encourage states to develop land use plans for environmentally sensitive areas and large development sites. The chapter then highlights the Adirondack Park Agency's (APA) job to protect the wilderness character of a state park that was much larger than any of the national parks that existed in 1973. Many regional land use plans of the era depended on local governments taking voluntary incentives, but the Adirondack law gave a state agency statutory authority to protect environmental quality by reviewing and modifying zoning regulations. The chapter recounts the APA's three main goals: to prevent building in the park's backcountry, to make sure that development happened in places where it would not hurt the park's wild character, and to protect Adirondack shorelines. Ultimately, the chapter examines the emergence of threats to the ecological health of the Adirondacks that are beyond the park agency's power to control.
“It was a jet. It was a jet. It was a jet.”
Authors: DuLong Jessica
Published: September 2021

This chapter provides a background of the waterborne evacuation that happened after the events of 9/11. New York harbor was, and is, a busy place — the third largest container port in the United States and a vital connection between New York City and the rest of the world. Manhattan is an island, and the realities of island real estate are what ushered the port's industries off Manhattan's shores and over to Brooklyn, Staten Island, and New Jersey in the 1960s and 1970s. By late 2001, maritime infrastructure had been replaced with ornamental fencing. On September 11, 2001, as the cascade of catastrophe unfolded, people found their fates altered by the absence of that infrastructure and discovered themselves dependent upon the creative problem solving of New York harbor's maritime community — waterfront workers who had been thrust beyond their usual occupations and into the role of first responders. Long before the U.S. Coast Guard's call for “all available boats” crackled out over marine radios, scores of ferries, tugs, dinner boats, sailing yachts, and other vessels had begun converging along Manhattan's shores. Hundreds of mariners shared their skills and equipment to conduct a massive, unplanned rescue. Within hours, nearly half a million people had been delivered from Manhattan by boat.
“Shut it down! Shut it down!”
Authors: DuLong Jessica
Published: September 2021

This chapter recounts how, in the face of the massive incident of 9/11, the shared purpose and common ties that connect mariners of all types ruled the day as the different agencies cooperated with civilian boat crews. As it turned out, the lack of a plan wound up setting the stage for creative problem solving and improvisation. Throughout that historic morning, the New York harbor community joined forces to carry out an unprecedented and remarkably successful evacuation effort. As the second attack hit, the U.S. Coast Guard shut down the Port of New York and New Jersey to commercial traffic. Other maritime forces, such as the marine fire company, were also kicked into action.
“I was gonna swim to Jersey.”
Authors: DuLong Jessica
Published: September 2021

This chapter details the experiences of both mariners and passengers during the waterborne evacuation across the New York harbor following the attacks of 9/11. The longstanding tradition of mariners assisting those in peril is as ancient as seafaring itself. Stemming from a moral duty rooted in pragmatism about the implicit dangers of nautical life, the obligation was signed into U.S. admiralty law in the aftermath of the April 15, 1912, sinking of the RMS Titanic. This rule, however, did not apply to the situation in Manhattan on September 11. At least not technically speaking in most cases. But that did not stop the boatmen and boatwomen from New York harbor and beyond from feeling compelled. At stake were notions of identity, of mariners' acclimatization to taking and mitigating risks, of what can be called “professional honor.” Without planning or protocols, many undertook the evacuation out of a sense of duty, unquestioningly, applying to this land-based calamity their mandate from the laws of the sea. The compulsion to rescue, stitched into the fabric of nautical tradition, propelled mariners into action, as did the sense, for many, of New York harbor as home.
“We’re in the water!”
Authors: DuLong Jessica
Published: September 2021

This chapter describes how, when the South Tower came down, boats of all kinds amassed along the water's edge, cramming their decks and interior spaces with evacuees, trying to deliver as many people off Manhattan as possible. This unregulated effort raised Coast Guard concerns that overcrowding would cause problems on the water. Although low water had hit the Battery at 8:50 a.m., the currents in this portion of the Hudson River were determined by more than just the tide. Sometimes the current continued to pull downstream even as the flood tide began. Such were the conditions on the morning of September 11; many mariners reported a “ripping” ebb well into the ten o'clock hour. This complicated the waterborne evacuation.
“I need a boat.”
Authors: DuLong Jessica
Published: September 2021

This chapter highlights the experiences of mariners during the waterborne evacuation after the 9/11 attacks. On the morning of September 11, mariners brought specialized capacities to all manner of diverse tasks. The on-the-fly, solution-oriented approach — along with the steadfast willingness to help — proved invaluable on that grim and forbidding day. By late morning, an armada of different vessels, from dinner yachts to tour boats to tugs, had responded to the disaster unfolding in Lower Manhattan. Hearing the pronouncement that a full-scale evacuation was now under way eliminated any doubts Spirit Cruises Operations Director Greg Hanchrow might have had about filling the Spirit Cruises dinner boats with passengers. In some respects these vessels, designed to load and offload large numbers of people quickly and efficiently, could not have been more perfect for the mission. Wondering where he could disembark so many people, Hanchrow called the general manager of the Lincoln Harbor Yacht Club in New Jersey, Gerard Rokosz, whom he had known for years, and learned that the New York Circle Line Sightseeing Yachts had already begun ferrying passengers to that location.
“Sell first, repent later.”
Authors: DuLong Jessica
Published: September 2021

This chapter examines how Chelsea Piers facilities, located directly up the Westside Highway from Lower Manhattan, had served a major role in disaster response from the earliest hours of the 9/11 attacks. The piers offered water stations for people fleeing from downtown and became a key debarkation point for the waterborne evacuation, delivering more than 10,000 people off the island from its docks. Then, the following day, more than 30,000 people arrived to volunteer their help and connect with other New Yorkers. In the days that followed, thousands of uniformed personnel were fed in an events center at Pier 60, hundreds of rescuers slept and showered in Chelsea Piers facilities, and truckloads of donations and supplies were assembled and processed for delivery to the trade center site. By Wednesday, the flood of private citizens' donations had been supplemented with massive corporate contributions arriving in bulk. Meanwhile, the Coast Guard was confronted with two opposing missions: protecting potential targets of a second-wave attack and continuing commerce in a port that regularly handled approximately 6,000 inbound and outbound containers daily, the closure of which created complications worldwide.
“Okay, I am in charge.”
Authors: DuLong Jessica
Published: September 2021

This chapter recounts how, on September 13 at 8 a.m., the Coast Guard reopened the Port of New York and New Jersey, with significant restrictions in place. Commercial and vessel movements required Coast Guard approval. Vessels were subject to Coast Guard boarding and inspection. Meanwhile, large vessels were subject to further restrictions, including mandated advanced notice of arrival; provision of certified crew lists, including nationality; and other constraints. Anchorages remained closed, and commercial port traffic in general was significantly constricted under these new rules. Similar issues confronted land-based traffic as the Port Authority reopened area bridges and tunnels, as well as the bus terminal on that Thursday. Two days of bridge, tunnel, and road closures into Manhattan led to widespread disruption of commercial deliveries of all sorts. The chapter then considers the stories of the mariners who continued finding ways to offer their services after the waterborne evacuation.
A predictive model for the ichnological suitability of the Jezero crater, Mars: searching for fossilized traces of life-substrate interactions in the 2020 Rover Mission Landing Site
Authors: Baucon Andrea , Neto de Carvalho Carlos , Briguglio Antonino , Piazza Michele , Felletti Fabrizio
Published: September 2021

Ichnofossils, the fossilized products of life-substrate interactions, are among the most abundant biosignatures on Earth and therefore they may provide scientific evidence of potential life that may have existed on Mars. Ichnofossils offer unique advantages in the search for extraterrestrial life, including the fact that they are resilient to processes that obliterate other evidence for past life, such as body fossils, as well as chemical and isotopic biosignatures. The goal of this paper is evaluating the suitability of the Mars 2020 Landing Site for ichnofossils. To this goal, we apply palaeontological predictive modelling, a technique used to forecast the location of fossil sites in uninvestigated areas on Earth. Accordingly, a geographic information system (GIS) of the landing site is developed. Each layer of the GIS maps the suitability for one or more ichnofossil types (bioturbation, bioerosion, biostratification structures) based on an assessment of a single attribute (suitability factor) of the Martian environment. Suitability criteria have been selected among the environmental attributes that control ichnofossil abundance and preservation in 18 reference sites on Earth. The goal of this research is delivered through three predictive maps showing which areas of the Mars 2020 Landing Site are more likely to preserve potential ichnofossils. On the basis of these maps, an ichnological strategy for the Perseverance rover is identified, indicating (1) 10 sites on Mars with high suitability for bioturbation, bioerosion and biostratification ichnofossils, (2) the ichnofossil types, if any, that are more likely to be present at each site, (3) the most efficient observation strategy for detecting eventual ichnofossils. The predictive maps and the ichnological strategy can be easily integrated in the existing plans for the exploration of the Jezero crater, realizing benefits in life-search efficiency and cost-reduction.
A four-gene prognostic signature for predicting the overall survival of patients with lung adenocarcinoma
Authors: Liu Lei , He Huayu , Peng Yue , Yang Zhenlin , Gao Shugeng
Published: September 2021

Background

The prognosis of patients for lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is known to vary widely; the 5-year overall survival rate is just 63% even for the pathological IA stage. Thus, in order to identify high-risk patients and facilitate clinical decision making, it is vital that we identify new prognostic markers that can be used alongside TNM staging to facilitate risk stratification.

Methods

We used mRNA expression from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort to identify a prognostic gene signature and combined this with clinical data to develop a predictive model for the prognosis of patients for lung adenocarcinoma. Kaplan-Meier curves, Lasso regression, and Cox regression, were used to identify specific prognostic genes. The model was assessed via the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC) and validated in an independent dataset (GSE50081) from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO).

Results

Our analyses identified a four-gene prognostic signature (CENPH, MYLIP, PITX3, and TRAF3IP3) that was associated with the overall survival of patients with T1-4N0-2M0 in the TCGA dataset. Multivariate regression suggested that the total risk score for the four genes represented an independent prognostic factor for the TCGA and GEO cohorts; the hazard ratio (HR) (high risk group vs low risk group) were 2.34 (p < 0.001) and 2.10 (p = 0.017). Immune infiltration estimations, as determined by an online tool (TIMER2.0) showed that CD4+ T cells were in relative abundance in the high risk group compared to the low risk group in both of the two cohorts (both p < 0.001). We established a composite prognostic model for predicting OS, combined with risk-grouping and clinical factors. The AUCs for 1-, 3-, 5- year OS in the training set were 0.750, 0.737, and 0.719; and were 0.645, 0.766, and 0.725 in the validation set. The calibration curves showed a good match between the predicted probabilities and the actual probabilities.

Conclusions

We identified a four-gene predictive signature which represents an independent prognostic factor and can be used to identify high-risk patients from different TNM stages of LUAD. A new prognostic model that combines a prognostic gene signature with clinical features exhibited better discriminatory ability for OS than traditional TNM staging.
Near-natural transformation of Pinus tabuliformis better improve soil nutrients and soil microbial community
Authors: Yin You , Li Qiuli , Du Haitao
Published: September 2021

Pinus tabulaeformis plantations have been established around northern China to restore degraded land and provide timber or fuelwood. In recent years, widely distributed monoculture P. tabulaeformis forests have been transformed into mixed forests due to various ecological problems. However, the current research on the influence of near-natural transformation of P. tabulaeformis on soil microbial diversity and community composition remains limited. Therefore, we examined the effect of forest conversion from monoculture Pinus tabuliformis (PT) to P. tabuliformis-Armeniaca vulgaris (PTAU), P. tabuliformis - Robinia pseudoacacia (PTRP), P. tabuliformis - Vitex negundo L. var. heterophylla (PTVN) forests on soil microbial community diversity and composition. The results indicated that compared to PT, PTAU, PTVN, and PTRP could enhance the soil pH, TC, TN, AN, and AK in different degrees, the most obvious in PTAU. Near-natural transformation of P. tabuliformis could improve soil bacterial Pielou_e index, and Simpson index, as well as soil fungal Chao1 index. Proteobacteria and Ascomycota were the dominant soil microbial community at the phylum level. What’s more, both soil bacterial and fungal community among PT, PTAU, PTRP and PTVN showed clear different, and PTAU obviously altered the soil microbial community structure. Proteobacteria was the predominant group in PT, while, Gemmatimonadetes enriched in PTVN. Ascomycota was the predominant group in PTAU, while, Basidiomycota was the predominant group in PTRP. Near-natural transformation of P. tabuliformis could change soil microbial community via altering soil characteristics. In brief, our research results revealed the influence of tree composition and soil nutrient availability on soil microbial diversity and composition, and provided management guidance for introduction soil microbial community in forest protection and management.
Management of Hepatitis C Virus Genotype 4 Treatment Failure: A Real-World Single Center Experience
Authors: Sarhan Shereen Nabih , Khodeir Samy A. , A. Gabr Mamdouh
Published: September 2021

Background: Treatment failure with direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy is associated with worsening of liver disease especially in cirrhotic patients. Moreover, data on retreatment of HCV genotype 4 patients (G4) with DAA failure are still very limited, since they are under- represented in most clinical trials.

Aims: To evaluate the efficacy of retreatment of Egyptian HCV G4 DAA failure patients based on the use of a new DAA class from currently available first- generation DAA regimens other than the patient had relapsed to.

Methods: 29 Egyptian HCV G4 DAA failure patients were retreated by switch to a new DAA class from first- generation DAA regimens than the patient had relapsed to independent of RAS testing. 25 out of these 29 patients completed retreatment and 4 patients were lost for follow–up.

Results: Among other risk factors, by logistic regression analysis, only older age, high CTP score and high base-line viral load were independent predictors of DAA failure among our cohort. Also SOF/RBV regimen was the most common prior DAA regimen associated with treatment failure (48.3%).

All our DAA failure patients were cirrhotics that made prompt retreatment of them a rescue strategy to halt viral replication and disease progression.

After retreatment, 22 (88%) of the 25 patients who completed retreatment achieved SVR12 and the remaining 3 (12%) failed.

These 3 patients completed a second retreatment, one achieved SVR and the other 2 relapsed again (re-relapsers)

Conclusion: The overall SVR rate (88%) demonstrated in this real –world study, clearly shows that, the retreatment policy of DAA failure patients by switch to – or addition of a new drug class independent of RAS testing is a good retreatment option, that may be of importance for many areas of the world with no or difficult access to RAS testing or second-generation rescue regimens.
What about the Antibacterial Activity of Fresh Ginger Juice (Zingiber officinale)?
Authors: Günaydın E. , Goncagül Gülşen , Güceyü Çiğdem , Kardoğan Ö.
Published: September 2021

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the antibacterial activity of the juice obtained by squeezing fresh ginger roots (Zingiber officinale) against the standard strains Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC® 25923) and Escherichia coli (ATCC® 25922), as well as Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolated from patients hospitalized in intensive care units.

Methods: For this purpose, the antibacterial effect of the fresh ginger juice was tested against antibiotics such as ampicillin, cefazolin, cefuroxime, meropenem, colistin, ofloxacin, sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, tetracycline, and gentamicin. The antibacterial effects against the tested bacteria were determined by the disc diffusion method using 5 µL, 10 µL, 15 µL and 20 µL amounts of ginger juice impregnated on sterile discs.

Results: As a result of the study, it was detected that the antibacterial effect increased in parallel with the increasing amounts of fresh ginger juice in all tested bacteria.

Conclusion: Consequently, fresh Zingiber officinale can provide protection to a certain extent against bacterial pathogens due to its antibacterial action.
Occurence of Genotypes of Hepatitis C Virus in Hepatitis C Patients at Civil Hospital Khairpur, Sindh, Pakistan
Authors: Ali Sajid , Tunio Ikram Ahmed , Farzana Rukia , Rajput Muhammad Siddique , Shah Qararo , Samtio Saima , Joyo Saleem Ahmed , Ahmer Arslan
Published: September 2021

Objective: To evaluate frequency of Hepatitis C virus Genotypes in Hepatitis C patients reported at Civil Hospital Khairpur, Sindh, Pakistan.

Methodology: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted on 223 hepatitis C patients who fulfilled the criteria at hepatitis OPD of Civil Hospital Khairpur, Sindh, Pakistan. After taken Patient consent, blood sample were collected for HCV genotyping, which were performed by a qualified pathologist. The collected data statistically analyzed by using SPSS version 22 software.

Result: Out of 223 patients, male patients were 167 and females patients were 56, rural patients were 130 where as 93 patients were from urban area, 30 patients were of age from 20-25 years, 41 were of age from 26-30 years, 60 were of 31-35 years, 54 were of 36-40 years, 16 were of 41-45 years, 13 were of 46-50 years, 7 were of 51-55 years, 2 were of 56-60 years, out of total n=11 patients have genotype1, n=4 have genotype2, n=204 have genotype3, n=3 have genotype4, n=1 have genotype5, whereas no any patient have genotype 6.    

Conclusion: This study concluded that genotype 3 is most dominant among other genotypes in reported patients of hepatitis c virus infection at civil hospital Khairpur.
Nephrectomy in Patient of Chronic Pyelonephritis with Non Functioning Kidney on Left Side: A Case Report
Authors: Morey Swapna G. , Sharma Ranjana , Ghungrud Deepali
Published: September 2021

Introduction: There are two types of renal surgery i.e. partial nephrectomy and one other is total nephrectomy. Mostly, nephrostomy performs in malignant tumors of the renal. Sometimes it performs in kidney injury due to that no longer function and it may create any obstructive disorder in the renal system.

Patient Information: A 45-year-old male patient presented with complaints of pain in the abdomen since 4 months. The patient was advised to ultrasonography abdomen and pelvis. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CE-CT) abdomen and pelvis were done. Previous treatment was undergone left-sided PCN for gross hydronephrosis of the left kidney. But after 4 months patient developed abdomen pain which was insidious in onset and progressive in nature. The pain was dull aching, in the left loin region, radiating to the back and intermittent. There are no aggravating or relieving factors associated with it and the patient is now referred to our hospital for further management patient was admitted to the male surgical ward. After the surgery planed left simple nephrectomy. Post-operative medication given, Inj. Revotaz (Piperacillin and tazobactam) 4.45 gm, Inj. Nirmet (Metronidazole) 100 ml, Inj Pantomay (Pantoprazole) 40 mg, Inj. Setron (Ondansetron) 4 mg, Inj tramadex (Tramadol hydrochloride) 100 mg, Inj temfix IV (Paracetamol) 100 ml.

Discussion: Nephrectomy is one of the urologists conducting the most common ablative surgery. A non-functional kidney or an irreversibly impaired kidney is the commonest sign for a nephrectomy. Chronic infection, obstruction, calculus disease and serious traumatic injury are other typical indications for nephrectomy.

Conclusion: In this case, the patient was on a closed monitor. To accomplish overall the situation during the time of surgery. Over all the patient response was positive for conservative and nursing management and after treatment the patient was discharged without any postoperative complications and satisfaction with full recovery.
Factors Influencing the Consumption of Fast Food among Young Adults
Authors: Rajini S. , Kannan K. , Selvi Tamil
Published: September 2021

Background: The habit of consuming the fast- foods and packed foods are increased among the people in developing countries. Besides, several studies showed that the fast- food eating brings higher risks for developing the physiological imbalances such as obesity, over – weight even in younger generation. The fast foods ensure for important features such as easy availability, tastes good, convenient, and has friendly- packing than the traditional food items. Due to such kind of life style modifications, the ratio of fast – food habitats in younger and adolescents are highly increasing in compare to the older and middle aged people. The increase is inevitable in different age groups in recent years. These food habit modifications make a turn in traditional systems and attract the great attention against the public health concern.

Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the factors that influence the fast-food consumption in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out to examine the preference, prevalence and pattern of fast food consumption among the young adults.

Results and Discussion: The study showed that many of the students unavoidably skipping the morning foods due to study pressure, morning – hurry and they had them at late- morning hours from the fast- foods outlets such as canteens or other hotels. Though, 90.7% of the students know the importance and negative consequences of break- fast skipping that are related to consumption of excessive fast- food habits, they have been severely addicted with the fast- foods.

Conclusion: As a conclusion, the present study showed the importance of initiating the specific health programs, dietary guidelines and effective awareness for addressing the unhealthy issues related with the fast- food consumption among the student community.
Relationship of Amniotic Fluid Index (AFI) Between Maternal and Perinatal in Patients
Authors: Neranjana Manimekalai,
Published: September 2021

Background: Alcohol amniotic, a protecting fluid that surround the embryo. It protects from concussion, pressure, desiccation, reminiscent of the aquatic origin of life. Adequate amount of amniotic fluid is essential requirement for the normal development and it acts like a cushion against trauma, agitation and accidental impulsions. It has also bacteriostatic properties and prevents the infection of many bacterial infections.

Aim: To assess the maternal and fetal outcome in cases with normal and abnormal Amniotic Fluid Index levels.

Results: The mode of delivery was spontaneous vaginal delivery followed by Assisted VD, Elective CS, Emergency CS respectively. It was affected by amount of liquor since, low AFI group 35 (75%) patients ended up in cesarean section for fetal distress. While in control group 63(18.3%) patients had caesarean section.

Conclusion: Early neonatal death was seen in 0.2%, 4.5% and 70.5% newborns were born to pregnant women with normal AFI, oligohydramnios respectively. 70.5% neonates born to pregnant women with oligohydramnios had NICU admission. All cases were admitted in NICU because of respiratory distress.