bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Praxis of Change and Theory
Authors: Albert Mathias
Published: January 2023

In this chapter, Mathias Albert prompts a conversation between Kratochwil’s praxis approach and theories of social differentiation that are both concerned with the evolution of societies, domestically and internationally. He contends that Kratochwil’s uses of ‘theory’ are rather ambivalent, lacking a distinction between ‘IR theory’ and other uses and concepts of ‘theory’. He then inquires into Kratochwil’s account of social constitution, particularly with a view to social differentiation as a defining characteristic of social systems. Albert argues that while Kratochwil’s account is quite clear in this respect, it is biased towards the legal system as an integrative force under the condition of functional differentiation. While such a privileging of the legal system might not necessarily be legitimate from a view of ’pure’ functional differentiation, it could be upheld as an empirical argument about social evolution. However, for that purpose Kratochwil, as well as other practice theorists, would need to twist their account of social change in the direction of a theory of social evolution.
Between Science and Politics: Friedrich Kratochwil’s Praxis of ‘Going On’
Authors: Jackson Patrick Thaddeus
Published: January 2023

In this chapter, Patrick T. Jackson argues that Kratochwil is able to produce an account of the relationship between contemplating and enacting that avoids the errors of reification. He appreciates that there is neither an analysis of ‘the political’ nor a doctrinaire pronouncement of the (uniquely) ‘scientific method’ in Kratochwil’s work. To elucidate these points, Jackson places Kratochwil in dialogue first with Max Weber, whose celebrated but often misunderstood ‘vocation’ lectures gesture at the road that Kratochwil ultimately takes. Jackson then suggests that it is useful to read Praxis alongside works of pragmatist tradition, especially John Dewey’s, to properly tease out the implications of treating both scholarly knowledge-production and the responsible exercise of coercive authority as practices. Kratochwil’s analysis of law as a living tradition of sense-making, rather than as a formal or rationalist alternative to political contestation, serves as an exemplary account of how the relationship between contemplating and enacting might be figured.
Choosing Sides : The Promise and Pitfalls of a Critically Engaged Sociology in Apartheid South Africa
Authors: Webster Edward
Published: January 2023

This chapter problematizes the notion of public sociology by comparing two examples of research undertaken during the apartheid period. It raises questions over the role of sociologists in situations of large-scale suffering and exploitation. Should they take sides, and if they do, on what grounds can such choices be justified? It is argued that one takes sides on the basis of certain value commitments. But when sociologists go beyond the relative comfort of the classroom and engage with organizations outside the university, they dirty their hands. This is the dilemma that lies at the heart of a ‘critically engaged sociology’: how to square the circle between practical engagement with outside organizations and a commitment by the sociologist to scholarship. The chapter concludes by suggesting a response to this dilemma in the form of ‘critical engagement’.
Theorising the EU in Crisis: De-Europeanisation as Disintegration
Authors: Rosamond Ben
Published: January 2023

One of the many misleading slogans repeated by the Brexiteers is that the UK is ‘leaving the European Union but not leaving Europe’. This is true in a geographical sense but occludes the prospect of the radical breaking of a whole set of practical and ideational ties with the rest of Europe. It should be remembered that Theresa May’s initial animus, while she was Home Secretary, was against the European Human Rights regime rather than the EU, and a shadow hangs over the UK’s adherence to this and other institutions which it helped to create in the post-war years. The claim is made that the UK could sustain a respectable human rights regime without reference to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), just as it could run an economy with EU standards of product safety, consumer protection and so on without reference to the EU, but there is a similar failure to recognise the difference between collectively agreed and administered arrangements/understandings and those which, like Stalinist parliaments, merely simulated them.
The Limits of Post-Marxism: The (Dis)function of Political Theory in Film and Cultural Studies
Authors: Bowman Paul
Published: January 2023

This chapter first sets out the value of the political discourse theory of Laclau and Mouffe. It argues that this work was central to the development of cultural studies, in its theorisation of social and cultural practices as being part of ‘political discourse’. This confers a dignity, status, value and political importance on cultural practices of all kinds. However, the chapter seeks to probe the limits of this approach to cultural politics, and it does so through a necessarily unusual exploration. First, it takes an example of something ostensibly trivial from the realms of film and popular culture and explores it in terms of Laclau and Mouffe’s categories, in two different ways. The ‘trivial’/pop cultural example is Bruce Lee. Could Bruce Lee be regarded as ‘politically’ significant or consequential? He was certainly an enormously influential film and popular cultural icon of the 1970s, one who arguably ignited a global ‘kung fu craze’. Moreover, Bruce Lee also had his own ‘hegemonic project’, seeking to transform and unify martial arts practices. In this paper, Bruce Lee’s own ‘project’ is first examined in the terms of Laclauian categories. These are shown to be extremely useful for grasping both the project and the reasons for its failure. Then the chapter moves into a wider consideration of the emergence of globally popular cultural discourses of martial arts. However, Laclau and Mouffe’s approach is shown to be somewhat less than satisfactory for perceiving at least some of the ‘political’ dimensions entailed in the spread martial arts culture and practices, from contexts of the global south into affluent contexts such as Hollywood film and Euro-American cultural practices. The paper argues that this is because Laclau and Mouffe’s approach is logocentric, which leads it to look for and to perceive a very limited range of factors: specifically, political identities formed through political demands. However, to more fully perceive the political dimensions of culture, the paper argues that different kinds of perspective, paradigms and analysis are required. Adopting or developing some of these would enrich the field of political studies.
Enriching Discourse Theory: The Discursive-Material Knot1 as a Non-hierarchical Ontology
Authors: Carpentier Nico
Published: January 2023

Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory has played a significant role in thinking through the political role of knowledge and ideology, without ignoring the significance of the material, also in relation to its post-Marxist agenda and the de-essentialisation of class relations. At the same time, there is a need to enrich discourse theory, by finding a better balance between the discursive and the material, and by providing a better theoretisation of the entanglement of the discursive and the material. This chapter remains grounded in, and loyal to, discourse theory, but aims to learn from new materialism in order to develop a non-hierarchical theory of entanglement, as a discursive-material knot. In particular, it investigates the theoretical- conceptual potential of three concepts, namely the assemblage, the invitation and the investment. This theoretical development also has strategic importance, in that it facilitates a better and more constructive dialogue between different (critical) fields, for instance, between those that are explicitly engaged with discourse theory and new materialism, but also between the emancipatory project(s) that post-Marxism advocates, namely cultural studies and (critical) political economy.
Enriching Discourse Theory: The Discursive-Material Knot as a Non-hierarchical Ontology: A Reply to Nico Carpentier
Authors: Ejsing Mads , Tønder Lars
Published: January 2023

In this reply, we question whether ‘the knot’ is the best way to describe the relationship between the discursive and the material. Our main objective is to show that the discursive and material are co-extensive and therefore emerge from within the same assemblage, prior to any ‘knot’ between them. To develop this idea, we draw on the new materialism of Karen Barad and Jane Bennett, especially their argument for how and why it makes sense to approach the discursive and the material as hyphenated (‘discursive-material’) as well as performatively constituted.
From Domination to Emancipation and Freedom: Reading Ernesto Laclau’s Post-Marxism in Conjunction with Philip Pettit’s Neo-Republicanism: A Reply to Gulshan Khan
Authors: Ottemo Andreas
Published: January 2023

In her chapter, Gulshan Khan highlights some particularities in Laclau’s theorising of domination, emancipation and freedom, through contrasting Laclau’s work with the neo-republican political theorist Philip Pettit. Pettit is largely positioned as a theorist of ‘what is’, while Laclau is acknowledged for theorising the conditions for more revolutionary change. In the reply, it is argued that this difference can be understood in terms of the distinction between ‘politics’ and ‘the political’. While Khan suggests that Pettit’s work can complement Laclau’s in having more to say about concrete ‘politics’, this reply suggests that this lack has also been fruitfully addressed by scholars closer to Laclau within the Essex School. A discussion of theoretical and methodological implications of engaging with this work in relation to the themes discussed by Khan concludes the response.
Spectres of Post-Marxism? Reassessing Key Post-Marxist Texts
Authors: Sim Stuart
Published: January 2023

The emergence of a movement of post-Marxist thought from the 1970s onwards brought to attention a series of texts all offering a highly critical reading of the Marxist tradition, broadly speaking from the perspective of poststructuralist and postmodernist theory. Jean-François Lyotard’s Libidinal economy, Jean Baudrillard’s The mirror of production, Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s Hegemony and socialist strategy, and Jacques Derrida’s Spectres of Marx constituted a sustained critique of Marxism and its cultural legacy, ranging in approach from outright rejection to calls for substantial revision of its main concepts. The effect was to generate considerable controversy across the left. But what has been the legacy of each text: a dead end, or a signpost to the future of left-wing thought? This chapter reassesses these four key works to consider the extent to which they still resonate meaningfully today, either theoretically or politically, given the many social changes that have occurred in the interim.
Pandemic Satire and Human Hierarchies
Authors: Titchkosky Tanya
Published: January 2023

Abstract and Keywords to be supplied.
Information and the State
Authors: Michelsen Nicholas , Bolt Neville
Published: January 2023

This chapter examines how, in today’s digital information space, the simplistic idea of there being only senders and receivers, producers and consumers, has given way to a world where receivers are simultaneously producers of knowledge, and consequently everyone has become their own cartographer now. In this chapter, Michelsen and Bolt explore the theory of communication and the history of standardization in relationship to information networks. Examining the politics of technological change from the early telephone to the iPhone, the chapter argues that transnational flows and networks continuously circumvent and interact with state hierarchies within these infrastructures. Yet they have always remained deeply complicit in how states continue to adapt in spaces where information, networks, hierarchies, and markets vie for control.
The First Wave
Authors: Aucante Yohann
Published: January 2023

This chapter reviews the initial phases of the Swedish response to the epidemic emergency. The ‘slow’ and ‘delayed’ response Sweden was criticized for is accounted for in all its complexity. It is important to try to explain why Sweden deviated so much from the rest of Europe, in comparison with its direct neighbours, but also by contrast to its own history of handling epidemic crises. This response met with a lot of astonishment, especially in light of the fact that Sweden has one of the lowest hospital bed capacity in the OECD and could have been expected to react very differently. While the role of FHM, the Public Health Agency, and of its chief epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell, corresponded to a traditional form of administrative independence and heeding of expertise, it went much further than what is generally expected, and other factors must be taken into account to make sense of their unprecedented influence. The lack of certain legal instruments is also important in this regard. The most controversial debate around ‘herd immunity’ and whether Sweden strived to achieve and even more or less openly promoted are some of the issues discussed in this chapter.
Recasting the Swedish Model in Crisis Mode
Authors: Aucante Yohann
Published: January 2023

There has hardly ever been so much focus on Sweden in such a limited period of time. The Swedish model has for a long time been a source of interest around the world, attracting more positive views from the Centre-Left, and more negative ones from the critics of egalitarian and redistributive policies. With ongoing public sector and welfare reforms since the 1990s, Sweden has gained unexpected new supporters from the economically liberal Right. This crisis seems to have turned the classical lines of support upside down, with a new coalition of libertarians and populist right-wingers now much more prone to praise the Swedish defence of civil liberties and of business interests, the responsibility of citizens in respecting health recommendations, whereas traditional supporters have been more critical of the failure of an advanced welfare state to protect its vulnerable elderly population and to reduce the mortality rate on a par with its Nordic neighbours. The crisis and resulting commissions of inquiry also modified the parameters of stated intervention while reframing the debate on welfare and elderly care reforms and on the structure of crisis management.
‘A Dangerous Place to Be’? Rengger, the English School, and International Disorder
Authors: Hall Ian
Published: January 2023

Nicholas J. Rengger was never a member of the English school of international relations. But throughout his career he carried on a conversation with its members, past and present, and that dialogue shaped his own thought. This chapter explores that dialogue to cast light on Rengger’s wider project in international political theory. It argues that while Rengger repeatedly declared the English school a ‘dangerous place to be’, rejecting both its conception of international society and its ethics, he shared its commitments to historicism and interpretivism in the analysis of international relations. It observes too that Rengger’s anti-Pelagianism, as it evolved after the events of 9/11, bears striking similarities with the anti-progressivism favoured especially by Martin Wight, albeit without the overt grounding in Christian theology.
Rengger the Reluctant Rule Follower
Authors: Lang, Anthony F.
Published: January 2023

This chapter explores the work of Nicholas J. Rengger, specifically in the realm of the use of force. It argues that Rengger’s reluctance to embrace a rule following approach to evaluating military combat was not a complete rejection of rules but rather a reading of them through the casuistic tradition of thought. It concludes with a brief examination of cyber warfare using Rengger’s ideas.
Rengger and the ‘Business of War’
Authors: Kennedy-Pipe Caroline
Published: January 2023

This chapter investigates Nicholas Rengger and his view of the conduct of war. War is always ugly, and I raise here the issue of his silence on the conduct of contemporary war. While energetic and tireless in his critique of just war and somewhat nostalgic for a past heroic age, he seemed reluctant to look directly at the consequences of war for those on the battlefield. I ask whether this weakens his position as a scholar of war, noting of course his long-held belief that it was the duty of the scholar to understand, write and teach but never to moralize.
Conclusion
Authors: Thobani Sunera
Published: January 2023

At the time of writing, Trump-inspired anti-vaxxers and related white supremacist oganizations have occupied Canada’s capital, Ottwa, bringing to a standstill the country’s biggest border with the US. Similar actions are being organized in the US and Europe. Meanwhile, Oxfam (2022) reports the ten richest men in the world – all white – doubled their wealth during the first years of the pandemic. Governments are lifting pandemic measures, including mask mandates, vaccination requirements, and self-isolation for positive cases, even as COVID-19 continues to mutate. Publicly funded testing is ending, as is data collection on positive cases. Minimizing the pandemic is the main strategy as governments offload onto individuals the burden to protect their own health. Can such abdication of state responsibility for public health in an ongoing global crisis yield other than greater devastation? Our book shows how COVID-19 exposed yet again the failures of a profit-driven system even now fixated on deregulation, privatization and rampant consumerism.
All Roads Lead To Serfdom
Authors: Aubrey Thomas
Published: January 2023

This book is an attempt to reinvigorate the debate within liberalism through a new public policy framework. Drawing on the ideas of the German ordoliberal movement, it builds on one of the founding principles of ordoliberal political economy, which is to improve on initial allocations prior to voluntary exchange through the continual dispersal of public and private power. These ideas were also debated during the formation of West Germany. The book argues that the current utilitarian public policy framework, grounded in welfare economics, has struggled to maintain the legitimacy of a liberal order. This policy process has paradoxically resulted in increasing concentrations of power thereby restricting freedom as well as diminishing the equality of access to legal and political rights as it ignores initial allocations. The book sets out five areas of public policy largely based on Walter Eucken’s framework including monetary policy, private property and liability, the structure of the state, product markets and labour markets, and suggests how each policy field might be modified using the idea of the dispersal of power. An empirical framework is developed to facilitate potential public policy decisions, while enabling OECD countries to be compared against one another in terms of how they perform on the measure of power dispersal.
The Liberal Order and its Utilitarian Foundation
Authors: Aubrey Thomas
Published: January 2023

Utilitarianism largely underpins the public policy process for both classical and social liberalisms. Its major contribution is that it has provided public policy professionals with an incredibly useful framework to think about societal problems and how they might be solved. In addition, the concept of maximising utility has become embedded in economic theory, which has reinforced a utilitarian policy approach through the provision of quantitative tools to help drive policy decisions.
Some economists have noted that grounding public policy in welfare economics is flawed given that decisions are ultimately ethical in nature, which welfare economics does not directly address. Furthermore, utilitarianism has been criticised by numerous economists and philosophers due to its indifference to distributional considerations. Amartya Sen has also argued that it is an illiberal philosophy, and that an alternative approach ought to focus on capabilities. Following Sen, public policy professionals have started to measure different aspects of social and economic activity, however, these approaches have not yet developed a method of resolving conflicting claims to resource allocation.
The West German Experiment and the Decline of Ordo
Authors: Aubrey Thomas
Published: January 2023

The foundation of West Germany is of interest as it is one of the intellectual sources of ordoliberal policy debate, and is concurrent with the prosperity experienced during the 1950s under Erhard’s leadership. There is some evidence that institutional development in West Germany was influenced by ordoliberal ideas, however, by the end of the 1950s ordoliberalism was in decline. These ideas were subsequently revived by Michel Foucault in the late 1970s, and have the potential to provide a new public policy framework to reinvigorate a liberal order.
The focus on legislative or constitutional rules that can be monitored and improved upon related to the dispersal of power, largely resolves the question raised by Hayek on whether government intervention can succeed given our lack of knowledge of complex environments. This does require some agreement on how the dispersion of private and public power might be measured. A framework derived from Eucken’s principles is proposed to assess public policy across five specific fields including a suggested set of measurement indicators.
Monetary Policy: The Illiberal Practice of Inflation Targeting
Authors: Aubrey Thomas
Published: January 2023

The idea of stabilizing the price level stems from the concern that abuse of the monetary system leads to inflation. When the Deutsche Bundesbank was founded, countering inflation was central to its monetary policy, which has become so ubiquitous today. However, there is increasing evidence that inflation targeting has not stabilised the currency and instead facilitated greater concentrations of power, indicating that these constitutional rules have been found wanting. This is particularly acute for the eurozone which has centralised power, thereby removing the ability of member states to embark on their own sufficiently expansionary monetary and fiscal policy.
An alternative approach to stabilising the currency is to stabilise wages as noted by Hawtrey. This might require direct transfers from the central bank to avoid the concentrations of power driven by large interest rate movements. This approach also enables productivity gains to be passed on to workers through lower prices. A decentralised fiscal policy should also be supported to sustain employment opportunities where projects yield a positive real return.
Confronting Liberalism’s Fatal Flaw
Authors: Aubrey Thomas
Published: January 2023

While utilitarianism has provided an incredibly useful framework for public policy, it has paradoxically resulted in the decline of freedom and equality due to unequal power relations prior to voluntary exchange, thereby entrenching vested interests. The proposed public policy framework in this book is an attempt to demonstrate how an ordoliberal approach based on the dispersal of power might be used to replace Bentham’s felicific calculus grounded in welfare economics. An analysis of OECD countries based on the suggested variables indicates that the Nordic countries demonstrate a greater dispersion of public and private power.
Any attempt to reinvigorate liberalism must address the widespread concern of electorates that liberal democracies have merely become vehicles to benefit those with access to power. To what extent the proposed ordoliberal political economy based on the continual dispersal of public and private power is a potential alternative framework remains to be seen. Whatever the outcome of this debate, it is crucial for liberals to return to the underlying principles of freedom and equality if liberalism is to have a future.
Conclusion: Tacit Intentionality and the Weaponization of Despair
Authors: Peterie Michelle
Published: January 2023

The book concludes with a brief review of the study’s main findings, emphasizing the importance of recognizing the multiple forms of carceral violence that immigration detention facilities employ and the ‘tacit intent’ that underlies them. The direct and collateral harms documented in this book are not accidental but reflect a policy logic that accepts and even requires cruelty as a mechanism of control. In practice, deterrence involves the strategic production of despair as detainees and their supporters are pushed to breaking point to achieve crude political objectives.
Biomedical Optics Express recognizes the best paper prize winners: editorial
Authors: Wang Ruikang K. , Farsiu Sina
Published: January 2023

The Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Editor of Biomedical Optics Express introduce a new prize for the best paper published in the Journal between 2019 and 2021.
The evolution of ovary-biased gene expression in Hawaiian Drosophila
Authors: Church Samuel H. , Munro Catriona , Dunn Casey W. , Extavour Cassandra G.
Published: January 2023

With detailed data on gene expression accessible from an increasingly broad array of species, we can test the extent to which our developmental genetic knowledge from model organisms predicts expression patterns and variation across species. But to know when differences in gene expression across species are significant, we first need to know how much evolutionary variation in gene expression we expect to observe. Here we provide an answer by analyzing RNAseq data across twelve species of Hawaiian Drosophilidae flies, focusing on gene expression differences between the ovary and other tissues. We show that over evolutionary time, there exists a cohort of ovary specific genes that is stable and that largely corresponds to described expression patterns from laboratory model Drosophila species. Our results also provide a demonstration of the prediction that, as phylogenetic distance increases, variation between species overwhelms variation between tissue types. Using ancestral state reconstruction of expression, we describe the distribution of evolutionary changes in tissue-biased expression, and use this to identify gains and losses of ovary-biased expression across these twelve species. We then use this distribution to calculate the evolutionary correlation in expression changes between genes, and demonstrate that genes with known interactions in D. melanogaster are significantly more correlated in their evolution than genes with no or unknown interactions. Finally, we use this correlation matrix to infer new networks of genes that share evolutionary trajectories, and we present these results as a dataset of new testable hypotheses about genetic roles and interactions in the function and evolution of the Drosophila ovary.
The effects of COVID-19 lockdown measures on health and healthcare services in Uganda
Authors: Musoke David , Nalinya Sarah , Lubega Grace Biyinzika , Deane Kevin , Ekirapa-Kiracho Elizabeth , McCoy David
Published: January 2023

Many countries across the world instituted lockdowns as a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, these lockdowns had consequences on health systems. This study explored effects of the COVID-19 lockdown measures on health and healthcare services in Uganda. The qualitative study employed focus group discussions (FGDs), household interviews, and key informant interviews (KIIs) in both an urban (Kampala district) and rural (Wakiso district) setting in central Uganda. Fourteen FGDs were conducted among community members, local leaders, community health workers, and health practitioners. Interviews were conducted among 40 households, while 31 KIIs were held among various stakeholders including policy makers, non-governmental organisations, and the private sector. Data was analysed by thematic analysis with the support of NVivo 2020 (QSR International). Findings from the study are presented under four themes: maternal and reproductive health; child health; chronic disease services; and mental health. Maternal and reproductive health services were negatively affected by the lockdown measures which resulted in reduced utilisation of antenatal, postnatal and family planning services. These effects were mainly due to travel restrictions including curfew, and fear of contracting COVID-19. The effects on child health included reduced utilisation of services which was a result of difficulties faced in accessing health facilities because of the travel restrictions. Patients with chronic conditions could not access health facilities for their routine visits particularly due to suspension of public transport. Depression, stress and anxiety were common due to social isolation from relatives and friends, loss of jobs, and fear of law enforcement personnel. There was also increased anxiety among health workers due to fear of contracting COVID-19. The COVID-19 lockdown measures negatively affected health, and reduced access to maternal, reproductive and child health services. Future interventions in pandemic response should ensure that their effects on health and access to health services are minimised.
Rodent trapping studies as an overlooked information source for understanding endemic and novel zoonotic spillover
Authors: Simons David , Attfield Lauren A. , Jones Kate E. , Watson-Jones Deborah , Kock Richard
Published: January 2023

Rodents, a diverse, globally distributed and ecologically important order of mammals are nevertheless important reservoirs of known and novel zoonotic pathogens. Ongoing anthropogenic land use change is altering these species’ abundance and distribution, which among zoonotic host species may increase the risk of zoonoses spillover events. A better understanding of the current distribution of rodent species is required to guide attempts to mitigate against potentially increased zoonotic disease hazard and risk. However, available species distribution and host-pathogen association datasets (e.g. IUCN, GBIF, CLOVER) are often taxonomically and spatially biased. Here, we synthesise data from West Africa from 127 rodent trapping studies, published between 1964–2022, as an additional source of information to characterise the range and presence of rodent species and identify the subgroup of species that are potential or known pathogen hosts. We identify that these rodent trapping studies, although biased towards human dominated landscapes across West Africa, can usefully complement current rodent species distribution datasets and we calculate the discrepancies between these datasets. For five regionally important zoonotic pathogens (Arenaviridae spp., Borrelia spp.,Lassa mammarenavirus, Leptospira spp. andToxoplasma gondii), we identify host-pathogen associations that have not been previously reported in host-association datasets. Finally, for these five pathogen groups, we find that the proportion of a rodent hosts range that have been sampled remains small with geographic clustering. A priority should be to sample rodent hosts across a greater geographic range to better characterise current and future risk of zoonotic spillover events. In the interim, studies of spatial pathogen risk informed by rodent distributions must incorporate a measure of the current sampling biases. The current synthesis of contextually rich rodent trapping data enriches available information from IUCN, GBIF and CLOVER which can support a more complete understanding of the hazard of zoonotic spillover events.
Evaluations on supervised learning methods in the calibration of seven-hole pressure probes
Authors: Zhou Shuni , Wu Guangxing , Dong Yehong , Ni Yuanxiang , Hao Yuheng , Jiang Yunhe , Zhou Chuang , Tao Zhiyu
Published: January 2023

Machine learning method has become a popular, convenient and efficient computing tool applied to many industries at present. Multi-hole pressure probe is an important technique widely used in flow vector measurement. It is a new attempt to integrate machine learning method into multi-hole probe measurement. In this work, six typical supervised learning methods in scikit-learn library are selected for parameter adjustment at first. Based on the optimal parameters, a comprehensive evaluation is conducted from four aspects: prediction accuracy, prediction efficiency, feature sensitivity and robustness on the failure of some hole port. As results, random forests and K-nearest neighbors’ algorithms have the better comprehensive prediction performance. Compared with the in-house traditional algorithm, the machine learning algorithms have the great advantages in the computational efficiency and the convenience of writing code. Multi-layer perceptron and support vector machines are the most time-consuming algorithms among the six algorithms. The prediction accuracy of all the algorithms is very sensitive to the features. Using the features based on the physical knowledge can obtain a high accuracy predicted results. Finally, KNN algorithm is successfully applied to field measurements on the angle of attack of a wind turbine blades. These findings provided a new reference for the application of machine learning method in multi-hole probe calibration and measurement.
Euclasta condylotricha flowers essential oils: A new source of juvenile hormones and its larvicidal activity against Anopheles gambiae s.s. (Diptera: Culicidae)
Authors: Bohounton Roméo Barnabé , Djihinto Oswald Yédjinnavênan , Dedome Oronce Sedjro-Ludolphe , Yovo Réné Mahudro , Djossou Laurette , Koba Koffi , Adomou Aristide , Villeneuve Pierre , Djogbénou Luc Salako , Tchobo Fidèle Paul
Published: January 2023

The essential oil (EO) of plants of the Poaceae family has diverse chemical constituents with several biological properties. But, data on the chemical constituents and toxicity are still unavailable for some species belonging to this family, such as Euclasta condylotricha Steud (Eu. condylotricha). In this study, the chemical composition of the EOs of Eu. condylotricha flowers was evaluated by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The EOs larvicidal property was assessed against third instar larvae of three Anopheles gambiae laboratory strains (Kisumu, Acerkis and Kiskdr) according to the WHO standard protocol. The percentage yields of the EOs obtained from hydro distillation of Eu. condylotricha flowers varied 0.070 to 0.097%. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) applied to the EOs revealed fifty-five (55) chemical constituents, representing 94.95% to 97.78% of the total essential oils. Although different chemical profiles of the dominant terpenes were observed for each sample, EOs were generally dominated by sesquiterpenoids with juvenile hormones as the major compounds. The primary compounds were juvenile hormone C16 (JH III) (35.97–48.72%), Methyl farnesoate 10,11-diol (18.56–28.73%), tau-Cadinol (18.54%), and β-Eudesmene (12.75–13.46%). Eu. condylotricha EOs showed a strong larvicidal activity with LC50 values ranging from 35.21 to 52.34 ppm after 24 hours of exposition. This study showed that Eu. Condylotricha flowers essential oils are potent sources of juvenile hormones that could be a promising tool for developing an eco-friendly malaria vector control strategy.
A qualitative study of positive psychological experiences and helpful coping behaviours among young people and older adults in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Ooi Liyann , Paul Elise , Burton Alexandra , Fancourt Daisy , McKinlay Alison R.
Published: January 2023

While much research has focused on challenges that younger and older people have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, little attention has been given to the capacity for resilience among these groups. We therefore explored positive psychological experiences and coping behaviours that protected mental health and well-being. Participants were 40 young people (aged 13–24) and 28 older adults (aged 70+) living in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interviews were held between May 2020 and January 2021. We generated six themes using qualitative thematic analysis, including: engagement in self-fulfilling activities, increased sense of social cohesion, personal growth, use of problem-focused strategies to manage pandemic-related stressors, giving and receiving social and community support, and utilising strategies to regulate thoughts and emotions. While all six themes were relevant both to younger and older adults, there were nuances in how each was experienced and enacted. For example, many older adults adjusted their routines given worries about virus vulnerability, while some young people experienced greater personal growth amidst increased awareness of mental health as they navigated the various lockdown restrictions.
Exploring caregivers’ experiences of Kangaroo Mother Care in Bangladesh: A descriptive qualitative study
Authors: Sjömar Johanna , Ottesen Hedda , Banik Goutum , Rahman Ahmed Ehsanur , Thernström Blomqvist Ylva , Rahman Syed Moshfiqur , Målqvist Mats
Published: January 2023

Background

Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) is an evidence-based intervention recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) to reduce preterm mortality and morbidity. The aim of this study was to explore caregivers’ experiences of providing KMC in hospital settings and after continuation at home in Bangladesh in order to assess enablers and barriers to optimal implementation.

Methods

Interviews with fifteen caregivers were conducted using an interview guide with semi-structured questions in August 2019 and March 2020. Convenience sampling was used to select hospitals and participants for the study. The inclusion criteria were being a caregiver currently performing KMC in the hospital or having been discharged one week earlier from the KMC ward. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and translated. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis with an inductive approach.

Results

Three themes were identified as regards the caregivers’ experiences of providing KMC: conducive conditions, an empowering process, and suboptimal implementation. The results showed that there are supporting circumstances for caregivers performing KMC in Bangladesh, including social support structures and positive attitudes to the method of care. It also appeared that the caregivers felt strengthened in their roles as caregivers by learning and performing KMC. However, the implementation of KMC was suboptimal due to late initiation of KMC, difficulties with keeping the baby skin-to-skin, and pain after cesarean section hampering skin-to-skin practice.

Conclusions

The social and cultural conditions for the caregivers to perform KMC as well as the empowerment the parents felt in their roles as caregivers when performing KMC are facilitating factors for this method of care. Initial separation and late initiation of KMC, as well as disregard for the mothers’ needs for care and support, were barriers to optimal practice leading to missed opportunities. These facilitators and barriers need to be addressed in order to succeed in scaling up the national KMC program.
Seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies in vaccinated and vaccine naïve adult Nigerians
Authors: Onifade Abdulfattah Adekunle , Fowotade Adeola , Rahamon Sheu Kadiri , Edem Victory Fabian , Yaqub Surajudeen Adebayo , Akande Olatunji Kadri , Arinola Olatunbosun Ganiyu
Published: January 2023

Background

Reports on the evaluation of immune responses to different COVID-19 vaccines are limited. Similarly, effects of age and gender have not been well explored as variables that could impact on the vaccine-induced antibody response. Therefore, seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies in vaccinated and vaccine naïve adult Nigerians was determined in this study.

Methodology

A total of 141 adults were enrolled into this study. Presence or absence of SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed by real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase-chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay on nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab specimens. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Specific IgG and IgM antibodies were qualitatively detected using a Rapid Diagnostic Test kit.

Results

Pre-vaccination, 77% of the study participants had never had PCR-confirmed COVID-19 test yet 66.7% of them were seropositive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Of 111 COVID-19 vaccinated participants, 69.2% and 73.8% of them had SARS-CoV-2 specific IgG post-first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccine respectively. However, 23.1% and 21.4% of the participants who have had first and second doses respectively had no detectable anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. The proportion of participants with SARS-CoV-2 specific IgG was insignificantly higher in those between the ages of 18–40 years and 41–59 years compared with individuals aged ≥60 years. No significant association was observed between gender and seropositivity for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.

Conclusion

There is high SARS-CoV-2 antibody seroprevalence among Nigerian adults who never had PCR-confirmed COVID-19. Also, there is the need for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies screening post vaccination as this could be essential in achieving herd immunity. Age and gender do not seem to have significant association with seropositivity.
Anti-neuraminidase and anti-hemagglutinin immune serum can confer inter-lineage cross protection against recent influenza B
Authors: Portela Catani João Paulo , Ysenbaert Tine , Smet Anouk , Vuylsteke Marnik , Vogel Thorsten U. , Saelens Xavier
Published: January 2023

Influenza B viruses (IBV) are responsible for a considerable part of the burden caused by influenza virus infections. Since their emergence in the 1980s, the Yamagata and Victoria antigenic lineages of influenza B circulate in alternate patterns across the globe. Furthermore, their evolutionary divergence and the appearance of new IBV subclades complicates the prediction of future influenza vaccines compositions. It has been proposed that the addition of the neuraminidase (NA) antigen could potentially induce a broader protection and compensate for hemagglutinin (HA) mismatches in the current vaccines. Here we show that anti-NA and -HA sera against both Victoria and Yamagata lineages have limited inter-lineage cross-reactivity. When transferred to mice prior to infection with a panel of IBVs, anti-NA sera were as potent as anti-HA sera in conferring protection against homologous challenge and, in some cases, conferred superior protection against challenge with heterologous IBV strains.
Effect of polymorphism in Rhinolophus affinis ACE2 on entry of SARS-CoV-2 related bat coronaviruses
Authors: Li Pei , Hu Jiaxin , Liu Yan , Ou Xiuyuan , Mu Zhixia , Lu Xing , Zan Fuwen , Cao Mengmeng , Tan Lin , Dong Siwen , Zhou Yao , Lu Jian , Jin Qi , Wang Jianwei , Wu Zhiqiang , Zhang Yingtao , Qian Zhaohui
Published: January 2023

Bat coronavirus RaTG13 shares about 96.2% nucleotide sequence identity with that of SARS-CoV-2 and uses human and Rhinolophus affinis (Ra) angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as entry receptors. Whether there are bat species other than R. affinis susceptible to RaTG13 infection remains elusive. Here, we show that, among 18 different bat ACE2s tested, only RaACE2 is highly susceptible to transduction by RaTG13 S pseudovirions, indicating that the bat species harboring RaTG13 might be very limited. RaACE2 has seven polymorphic variants, RA-01 to RA-07, and they show different susceptibilities to RaTG13 S pseudovirions transduction. Sequence and mutagenesis analyses reveal that residues 34, 38, and 83 in RaACE2 might play critical roles in interaction with the RaTG13 S protein. Of note, RaACE2 polymorphisms have minimal effect on S proteins of SARS-CoV-2 and several SARS-CoV-2 related CoVs (SC2r-CoVs) including BANAL-20-52 and BANAL-20-236 in terms of binding, membrane fusion, and pseudovirus entry. Further mutagenesis analyses identify residues 501 and 505 in S proteins critical for the recognition of different RaACE2 variants and pangolin ACE2 (pACE2), indicating that RaTG13 might have not been well adapted to R. affinis bats. While single D501N and H505Y changes in RaTG13 S protein significantly enhance the infectivity and minimize the difference in susceptibility among different RaACE2 variants, an N501D substitution in SARS-CoV-2 S protein displays marked disparity in transduction efficiencies among RaACE2 variants with a significant reduction in infectivity on several RaACE2 variants. Finally, a T372A substitution in RaTG13 S protein not only significantly increases infectivity on all RaACE2 variants, but also markedly enhances entry on several bat ACE2s including R. sinicus YN, R. pearsonii, and R. ferrumeiqunum. However, the T372A mutant is about 4-fold more sensitive to neutralizing sera from mice immunized with BANAL-20-52 S, suggesting that the better immune evasion ability of T372 over A372 might contribute to the natural selective advantage of T372 over A372 among bat CoVs. Together, our study aids a better understanding of coronavirus entry, vaccine design, and evolution.
Sensory Theatre: How to Make Interactive, Inclusive, Immersive Theatre for Diverse Audiences by a Founder of Oily Cart, Tim Webb (2022)
Authors: Fisher Teresa A.
Published: January 2023

Review of: Sensory Theatre: How to Make Interactive, Inclusive, Immersive Theatre for Diverse Audiences by a Founder of Oily Cart, Tim Webb (2022)

New York: Routledge, 278 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-00309-128-8, e-book, $35.95
Afterimages and the synaesthesia of photography
Authors: Currie-Williams Kelann
Published: January 2023

This article takes as its focus the concept of the ‘afterimage’ and its relationship to memory, the synaesthetic experience of perception and the multisensory turn within the study of photographic images. Afterimages have consistently been described as phenomena of visual persistence where, optically, a recorded moment of the past leaks into the present and remains visible before us on our retinas. By recasting this originary understanding of an afterimage as simply a ghostly, optical occurrence and insisting that the phenomenon exceeds the visual and is rather an intersensorial occurrence, I seek to present how encounters with images stay with us in powerful ways and across many senses at once. As an intervention within the field of image theory and photography studies that builds upon the relatively recent turn away from prioritizing visuality and instead shifting towards multisensoriality – what we might also term as the ‘more-than visual’ – this piece proposes that if images exceed the visual and carry with them physical, haptic, sonic and affective qualities, then perhaps the afterimage is not something that we merely see but also what we can feel and hear and move-with. Perhaps the afterimage carries an intensity and an afterlife which lingers in our minds and can take hold of our entire body and our senses, composing and recomposing them over time. By pairing such inquiries alongside the narrative, literary and poetic works of Dionne Brand and Nathaniel Mackey – both of whom write of the intersensorial quality of photographs and afterimages with a particular kind of lively openness – I am hoping to intervene into the ongoing ‘more-than visual’ turn within the field of image theory by infusing it with a narrative-oriented synaesthetic vocabulary.