bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of fermented banana pseudo-stem sap (Musa acuminata L.) on the growth and yield attributing characters of marigold variety Karma 555-Orange
Authors: Mehta Aman , Rijwan Sai  , Rakesh Bhujel  , Navina Yadav  , Sneha Khanal
Published: August 2023

The high cost of marigold production through the application of synthetic fertilizers and micronutrients is a major concern for Nepalese farmers. Every year, the nutrient-rich banana pseudo-stems are wasted after harvest. Utilizing the banana’s pseudo-stem for increasing marigold productivity through sustainable agricultural practices, an experiment was conducted to determine the optimum concentration of banana pseudo-stem sap (BPS) to be applied by foliar spraying to marigold variety (Karma 555 – Orange). The BPS was mixed and enriched with different ingredients, such as cow urine, cow dung, neem leaf, green gram leaf, pulse flour, vermin-liquor, jaggery, and fermented curd. The mixture was incubated under anaerobic conditions before applying the foliar spray. The study was carried out in a completely randomized block design, with three replications and seven treatments. The treatments were 0.5 % BPS, 1 % BPS, 2 % BPS, 3 % BPS, 4 % BPS, 5 % BPS, and the control. Data were recorded at 50, 70, and 90 days after transplantation (DAT). Among the treatments, the 3 % BPS solution showed significant effects on most of the growth parameters: plant height (85.07 cm), plant spread (63.47 cm) at 5% level at 90 DAT, and yield attributes such as the number of flowers per plant (74.00) at 5% level, individual flower weight (8.10 g), individual flower diameter (7.55 cm), and flower yield (597.25 g plant-1) at 1% level of significance respectively. It was found that growth and yield attributes increased with increasing concentrations of BPS up to 3 % and decreased thereafter. According to the results, foliar spray of marigold with 3 % BPS (enriched solution) resulted in the highest yield and yield components of marigold in the Chitwan area which could be an effective alternative to synthetic hormones for enhancing the growth and quality of marigolds under field conditions.
Interculturalidad e infancia rural: trabajo y cuidado en La Araucanía, Chile
Authors: Herrera-González Fernanda , Mora-Guerrero Gloria
Published: August 2023

(analítico)Desde una mirada intercultural, se exploraron los significados de infancia en la agricultura familiar campesina, así como sus implicaciones en términos de trabajo y provisión de cuidados a niños y niñas. A partir de la tensión entre los significados universales de infancia basados en un enfoque de derechos y el trabajo en el campo del cual participan las personas desde temprana edad, se realizó un estudio cualitativo con diseño de teoría fundamentada y aplicación de entrevistas a mujeres cuidadoras y profesionales de programas de desarrollo rural en Chile. Se evidenció que a medida que la infancia aumenta en actoría social, disminuyen las prácticas de trabajo y se profundizan las de cuidado. Los resultados alientan a pensar en la proyección de una ontología de la niñez rural.
Palabras clave: Agricultura campesina; familia rural; interculturalidad; política pública; trabajo infantil; cuidado infantil.
Comparison of transmission of the pine wood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, via two different pathways from Monochamus alternatus to host trees
Authors: Nakayama Yusuke , Togashi Katsumi
Published: August 2023

Bursaphelenchus xylophilus causes pine wilt disease and is transmitted to host trees by cerambycid adults of the genus Monochamus. There are two primary transmission pathways: via vector feeding wounds to healthy trees and via the oviposition wounds to dying or recently dead trees. To determine the ratio of nematodes transmitted via the different pathways, M. alternatus female adults were reared on Pinus densiflora fresh twig sections and wood pieces with the bark made favourable for oviposition. Transmission curves of B. xylophilus to twig sections were similar in shape to the nematode departure curves for each vector, whereas the transmission curves to wood pieces were dissimilar to the departure curves because of different age classes at the peak between the curves. Consequently, there was no similarity in shape between two transmission curves to twig sections and wood pieces. Of B. xylophilus transmitted to twig sections and wood pieces after vectors constructed the first oviposition wound, 38.7% was transmitted to twig sections and 61.3% to wood pieces. Using the results of present and previous studies, GLM analysis indicated that the probability of B. xylophilus transmission to twig sections was 0.481 and that B. xylophilus had a 9.7 times higher likelihood of feeding-related transmission to oviposition-related transmission than non-pathogenic B. mucronatus. Thus, the reproductively mature vectors are considered to be related to the incidence of pine wilt disease and dispersal studies on mature vectors would help to predict the expansion rate of areas affected by the disease in the current year.
Synergistic Combination of Visual Features in Vision–Taste Crossmodal Correspondences
Authors: Lee Byron P. , Spence Charles
Published: August 2023

There has been a rapid recent growth in academic attempts to summarise, understand, and predict the taste profile matching complex images that incorporate multiple visual design features. While there is now ample research to document the patterns of vision–taste correspondences involving individual visual features (such as colour and shape curvilinearity in isolation), little is known about the taste associations that may be primed when multiple visual features are presented simultaneously. This narrative historical review therefore presents an overview of the research that has examined, or provided insights into, the interaction of graphic elements in taste correspondences involving colour, shape attributes, texture, and other visual features. The empirical evidence is largely in line with the predictions derived from the proposed theories concerning the origins of crossmodal correspondences; the component features of a visual stimulus are observed to contribute substantially to its taste expectations. However, the taste associated with a visual stimulus may sometimes deviate from the taste correspondences primed by its constituent parts. This may occur when a new semantic meaning emerges as multiple features are displayed together. Some visual features may even provide contextual cues for observers, thus altering the gustatory information that they associate with an image. A theoretical framework is constructed to help more intuitively predict and conceptualise the overall influence on taste correspondences when visual features are processed together as a combined image.
The Sound of Persianate Modernity: Gendered Soundscapes in Modern Iran
Authors: Jabbari Alexander
Published: August 2023

This article considers how sound—especially Persian phonology, but also music—and gender came together in articulating an Iranian national identity distinct from the Persianate past. Through analysis of the film The Lor Girl as well as close readings of poetry from the first half of the twentieth century by Nasīm-i Shumāl, Parvīz Khaṭībī, and poet-laureate Muḥammad-Taqī Bahār, the article demonstrates how an erotic attachment to language was fostered, in which the very phonology of Persian became the object of desire. Pharyngeal consonants became markers of Arab male sexual deviancy against which a feminized Iranian nation was to be protected. This eroticized discourse of language also contributed to establishing the Tehrani dialect as the Iranian national standard. The article considers how nationalism and modernity impacted the Iranian soundscape, as well as the impact of developments in Iran on Persian and Urdu in South Asia.
Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection Risk Factors in a Pediatric Population
Authors: Trembath Hannah E. , Caruso Deanna M. , McLean Sean E. , Akinkuotu Adesola C. , Hayes Dixon Andrea A. , Phillips Michael R.
Published: August 2023

Background

Central venous line (CVL) placement in children is often necessary for treatment and may be complicated by central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI). We hypothesize that line type and clinical and demographic factors at line placement impact CLABSI rates.

Methods

This is a single-institution case-control study of pediatric patients (≤18 years old) admitted between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2019. Case patients had a documented CLABSI. Control patients had a CVL placed during the study period and were matched by sex and age in a 2:1 ratio. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed.

Results

We identified 78 patients with a CLABSI and 140 patients without a CLABSI. After controlling for pertinent covariates, patients undergoing tunneled or non-tunneled CVL had higher odds of CLABSI than those undergoing PICC (OR 2.51, CI 1.12-5.64 and OR 3.88, CI 1.06-14.20 respectively), and patients undergoing port placement had decreased odds of CLABSI compared to PICC (OR .05, CI 0.01-.51). There were lower odds of CLABSI when lines were placed for intravenous medications compared to those placed for solid tumor malignancy (OR .15, CI .03-.79). Race and age were not statistically significant risk factors.

Discussion

Central lines placed for medication administration compared to solid tumors, PICC compared to tunneled and non-tunneled central lines, and ports compared to PICC were associated with lower odds of CLABSI. Future improvement efforts should focus on PICC and port placement in appropriate patients to decrease CLABSI rates.
Carotid Stiffness After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement
Authors: Kavsur Refik , Schaefer Christian , Stumpf Max Jonathan , Weber Marcel , Sugiura Atsushi , Becher Marc Ulrich , Zimmer Sebastian , Nickenig Georg , Schahab Nadjib
Published: August 2023

The present study aimed to analyze common carotid artery strain properties in patients (n = 59) with severe aortic valve stenosis who underwent transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Arterial compliance of the common carotid artery was assessed by ultrasound speckle-tracking before and after TAVR. For sub-analysis the study cohort was divided according to aortic valve area <.75 cm2 (n = 30) vs ≥.75 cm2 (n = 29). Comparison of pre- and post-procedural strain variables showed an improvement in median radial velocity ( P < .0001), radial displacement ( P = .007), circumferential strain ( P = .004), radial strain rate ( P = .023), and circumferential strain rate ( P < .0001), while the increase of radial strain showed a trend ( P = .082). Analysis of aortic valve area revealed an inverse correlation between aortic valve area and the differences (post-procedural—pre-procedural values) for radial strain rate, and circumferential strain. Moreover, sub-analysis revealed that the increase of carotid strain variables before and after TAVR were more pronounced in the sub-group of aortic valve area .75 vs ≥.75 cm2. TAVR led to a reduction of arterial wall stiffness of the common carotid artery assessed by ultrasound speckle-tracking. The decrease of arterial wall stiffness after TAVR was more pronounced in more severe aortic valve stenosis.
Impact of a Vision Photoscreener in Very Young Children in an Inner-City Pediatric Clinic in Detroit
Authors: Shah Riya , Hassan Nimra , Harris Susan
Published: August 2023

Pediatric vision screening is important because approximately 80% of visual impairments, including amblyopia, can be prevented or cured, especially if caught early. This retrospective study aims to determine whether the implementation of a machine photoscreener improves vision outcomes in 1- to 4-year-old children in an urban clinic. Before the vision screener, 91 patients were seen (control group), while 205 were seen following its implementation (study group). The number of children screened increased by 27.4% after implementing the photoscreener (57.1% study, 29.7% control, P < .001). All patients who failed the screening, 14.6% in the study period, were referred to ophthalmology ( n = 30); 40% ( n = 12) were evaluated, and 9 were diagnosed with a true vision abnormality. Instrument vision screening allows children as young as 1 year to be screened and allows for early intervention for potential vision-threatening pathologies in a vulnerable urban population.
Racing the Machine: Data Analytic Technologies and Institutional Inscription of Racialized Health Injustice
Authors: Cruz Taylor Marion
Published: August 2023

Recent scientific and policy initiatives frame clinical settings as sites for intervening upon inequality. Electronic health records and data analytic technologies offer opportunity to record standard data on education, employment, social support, and race-ethnicity, and numerous audiences expect biomedicine to redress social determinants based on newly available data. However, little is known on how health practitioners and institutional actors view data standardization in relation to inequity. This article examines a public safety-net health system’s expansion of race, ethnicity, and language data collection, drawing on 10 months of ethnographic fieldwork and 32 qualitative interviews with providers, clinic staff, data scientists, and administrators. Findings suggest that electronic data capture institutes a decontextualized racialization within biomedicine as health practitioners and data workers rely on biological, cultural, and social justifications for collecting racial data. This demonstrates a critical paradox of stratified biomedicalization: The same data-centered interventions expected to redress injustice may ultimately reinscribe it.
Non-binary embodiment and bodily discomfort: Body as social signum
Authors: Perger Nina
Published: August 2023

Transgender embodiment and transgender-related bodily discomfort have been discussed primarily from a medical perspective that downplays the role of society in shaping one’s orientation towards the body. Drawing on qualitative data on the everyday lives of non-binary individuals, the article analyses the phenomenon of transgender bodily discomfort or bodily dysphoria using a Bourdieusian framework. The data show that bodily discomfort arises in relation to the bodily parts, characteristics and processes that are most heavily invested as being the parts that supposedly tell the ‘truth’ about one’s gender, and in relation to the bodily hexis that is socially recognised as being indicative of one’s gender. The analysis shows that the embodied socially dominant schemes of perception and classifications on which a binary body typology is based contribute to the rise of transgender-related bodily discomfort. Thus, despite the bodily discomfort being individually manifested and experienced, it is (also) the socially embodied – the social body – that reaches out through the discomfort of a socialised body.
Emotional distance, detachment, compassion and care: The affective milieu of academic management in the neoliberal university
Authors: Hokka Johanna
Published: August 2023

Based on interviews with Finnish deans, this study examines the affective milieu of academia. The neoliberalisation process in universities has strengthened centralised leadership and increased the power of managers. Simultaneously, the market-driven competitive ethos has deepened the binary between ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ at all levels of academia, giving rise to an affectively tense atmosphere. Due to their increased power, managers play a key role in shaping the affective milieu of academia. By using an affective-discursive approach, I analyse what kind of emotions deans rely on while constructing their relation to employees. This study traces three management discourses: strong, paternalistic and collegial. Together, these discourses with their affective orientations construct a polarised affective milieu. On the one hand, the deans’ affective relationships with employees embody gentleness, care and compassion; on the other hand, affective relationships manifest the inducement of guilt, sternness, conventionality, distance and detachment of employees. I argue that current neoliberal academia leaves little space for deans to demonstrate compassionate collegial management.
‘Beyond GDP’ in cities: Assessing alternative approaches to urban economic development
Authors: Crisp Richard , Waite David , Green Anne , Hughes Ceri , Lupton Ruth , MacKinnon Danny , Pike Andy
Published: August 2023

Crises spur reflection and re-evaluation of what matters and what is valued. The impacts of the 2008 global financial crisis, COVID-19 pandemic and climate emergency are reigniting debates about the nature of economic development approaches and what they aim to achieve in urban settings. Addressing a substantive gap in contemporary debates by helping to navigate a burgeoning and diverse field, this paper provides a critical and comparative assessment of five leading agendas that have been positioned as alternative and progressive policy responses to urban economic change: inclusive growth; the wellbeing economy; community wealth building; doughnut economics; and the foundational economy. Taking an international perspective, the paper provides a comparative review of their stated visions, mechanisms for change, and the spatial scales through which they are led and implemented. Our argument is that these alternative approaches to urban economic development are shaping creative, innovative and progressive responses to longstanding urban problems within policy and practice communities but require on-going scrutiny and evaluation to realise their potential to meaningfully achieve transformative change.
Institutional Historical Acknowledgement: What Does It Hurt to Embrace the Past?
Authors: Purdy Michelle A.
Published: August 2023

In this commentary, Purdy calls independent schools to grapple with their complicated and full institutional histories. Offering examples of schools and individuals doing this work, Purdy contends that independent schools need histories of diversity, equity, and inclusion that span the entirety of United States history, like those being uncovered by higher education institutions that are delving deeply into the relationship between their institutions and legacies of enslavement. Purdy presents a concise history of what we know now about how independent schools have reflected the racism embedded in United States society, how the civil rights movement pushed independent schools to desegregate and admit more Black students, and how Dr. William Dandridge, the first director of Minority Affairs for the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) in the 1970s, challenged independent school leaders on their thinking about race. This commentary concludes by encouraging independent schools to ask the hard questions, because even with all the progress that has been made to make independent schools more diverse, inclusive, and equitable, Black students continue to shed light on the institutional and interpersonal racism that they contend with today.
The Burden of Acting Human: Rethinking Race, Class, and Gender Experiences in U.S. Independent Schools
Authors: Gonzalez Angel Rubiel
Published: August 2023

Background/Context:

Ongoing tensions surrounding equity and diversity work, particularly around race and gender, in independent schools have led to various responses. Many independent schools have made statements and pledges, and have crafted strategic plans to address systemic racism after receiving internal and external pressure to take action following the murder of George Floyd.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study:

This study examines how young adolescent cisgender Black and Latinx students, specifically cisgender boys at two independent middle schools, navigate the often-contradictory forces of gender, race, and class.

Research Design:

Drawing on one year of participant observation and 33 semi-structured interviews, I examine how these students contend with the simultaneity of color-blind and race-conscious realities in the United States.

Conclusions/Recommendations:

This study finds that as teachers, administrators, and boards engage in subsequent equity and diversity efforts, they must pause and reconsider our students’ lived experiences that are part and parcel of ongoing calls for action. Moreover, educators should center the interrogation of what it means to be human in independent schools—in our missions, policies, culture, curriculum, traditions, admissions, and hiring—as one of the most urgent institutional tasks needed to activate the most liberating possibilities of schooling.
Nurses’ Challenges to Developing Interpersonal Relationships During Integrated Care for Complex Patients
Authors: Younas Ahtisham , Inayat Shahzad , Dal Molin Alberto , Durante Angela
Published: August 2023

Background:

Individuals with multimorbidity and complexity have multifaceted care needs requiring integrated and collaborative care from nurses, families, and health care teams. Nurses, as the frontline care professionals, should develop therapeutic relationships with patients and their families and professional relationships with health care team members to ensure the delivery of effective integrated care. Failure to develop effective interpersonal and professional relationships can negatively affect patient care.

Objective:

The purpose of this study was to explore nurses’ challenges with developing interpersonal and professional relationships during integrated care for individuals with multimorbidity and complexity.

Methods:

A descriptive qualitative design was used. We interviewed a purposive sample of 19 nurses with experience of caring for individuals with multimorbidity and complexity across two hospitals in Pakistan. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection, and data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis.

Results:

Two challenges were identified affecting the relationships between patients’ families and nurses, and two challenges influencing the professional relationships within the team. Families withheld information, controlled care access of their relatives, posed unrealistic demands, and abused nurses, affecting nurse-family relationships. Power struggles to demonstrate authority in decision-making were common within health care teams, affecting nurses’ professional capacity to provide effective care.

Conclusions:

Health care team, patient, and family collaboration is instrumental in improved care for individuals with multimorbidity and complexity. Nurse leaders and health care organizations should take initiatives to address nurses’ interpersonal confrontations to support them in the provision of quality care.
Early brain metabolic disturbances associated with delayed cerebral ischemia in patients with severe subarachnoid hemorrhage
Authors: Tholance Yannick , Aboudhiaf Sami , Balança Baptiste , Barcelos Gleicy Keli , Grousson Sebastien , Carrillon Romain , Lieutaud Thomas , Perret-Liaudet Armand , Dailler Frédéric , Marinesco Stéphane
Published: August 2023

Delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) is a devastating complication of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (ASAH) causing brain infarction and disability. Cerebral microdialysis (CMD) monitoring is a focal technique that may detect DCI-related neurochemical changes as an advance warning. We conducted retrospective analyses from 44 poor-grade ASAH patients and analyzed glucose, lactate, pyruvate, and glutamate concentrations in control patients without DCI (n = 19), and in patients with DCI whose CMD probe was located within (n = 17) or outside (n = 8) a new infarct. When monitored from within a lesion, DCI was preceded by a decrease in glucose and a surge in glutamate, accompanied by increases in lactate/pyruvate and lactate/glucose ratios whereas these parameters remained stable in control patients. When CMD monitoring was performed outside the lesion, the glutamate surge was absent, but glucose and L/G ratio were still significantly altered. Overall, glucose and L/G ratio were significant biomarkers of DCI (se96.0, spe73.7-68.4). Glucose and L/G predicted DCI 67 h before CT detection of a new infarct. The pathogenesis of DCI therefore induces early metabolic disturbances that can be detected by CMD as an advance warning. Glucose and L/G could provide a trigger for initiating further examination or therapy, earlier than when guided by other monitoring techniques.
Impact of semen oxidative stress on sperm quality: initial results from Vietnam
Authors: Nguyen Nguyen Dac , Le Minh Tam , Dang Hong Nhan Thi , Van Nguyen Trung , Nguyen Quoc Huy Vu , Cao Thanh Ngoc
Published: August 2023

Objectives

This study aimed to determine the relationship between oxidative stress (OS) measured by the oxidation–reduction potential (ORP) and the results of semen analysis among men from infertile couples.

Methods

This cross-sectional study included 166 men from infertile couples, determined according to the World Health Organization guidelines. The general characteristics, semen analysis, sperm chromatin dispersion assay, and ORP of all subjects were evaluated and analyzed statistically.

Results

Among 166 men from infertile couples, individuals with OS had a significantly higher DNA fragmentation index (DFI) than men without OS (22.37% ± 11.67% vs. 17.98% ± 8.98%). The sperm concentration, total sperm count, motility rate, and normal morphology were negatively correlated, while and an abnormal head and neck–tail were positively correlated with ORP. There was also a positive association between the DFI and OS level. The optimal ORP threshold for determining sperm quality was 0.77 mV/106 sperm/mL (sensitivity, 50.4%; specificity, 93.5%; positive predictive value, 52.9%; negative predictive value, 32.3%).

Conclusions

Determining the ORP suggests that OS has an adverse effect on the total sperm count, sperm motility, sperm concentration, morphology, vitality, and DNA fragmentation index.
Rupture of a liver hydatid cyst into the right portal vein leading to right portal vein thrombosis: a case report and literature review
Authors: Ammar Houssem , Dammak Nouha , Ben Latifa Mahdi , Said Mohamed Amine , Azri Marwa , Gupta Rahul , Ben Hamada Habiba , Belkacem Oussama , Ben Mabrouk Mohamed , Ben Ali Ali
Published: August 2023

Hydatid disease (HD) is a worldwide parasitic disease. HD is endemic in many sheep- and cattle-raising areas, with a high prevalence of 5% to 10% in the Mediterranean region. Fistulation of liver hydatid cysts (LHC) in the bile ducts is the most common complication, followed by rupture of cysts in the peritoneal and thoracic cavities. Vascular complications are a rare complication of HD. We describe the case of a 70-year-old woman who was admitted with the chief complaint of pain in the abdominal right upper quadrant for 6 months. Abdominal computed tomography revealed a large LHC in the right liver that had ruptured into the right portal vein branch, with venous thrombosis. Intraoperatively, the right portal vein was opened longitudinally, and the hydatid contents were evacuated. Right hepatectomy was performed to completely excise the LHC. The penetration of a cyst into an adjoining vessel is very rare, and portal vein invasion by HD is extremely rare, with only 10 cases published in the literature, to the best of our knowledge.
Treasure to the mother and threat to the fetus: case report of warfarin-associated fetal intracranial hemorrhage and review of literature
Authors: Shan Dan , Ji Yurou , Hu Yayi , Li Tao
Published: August 2023

In patients with mechanical heart valve protheses, warfarin is usually recommended because of its exceptional anticoagulation effects. However, warfarin can cross the placenta, leading to teratogenicity and even catastrophic hemorrhage in the fetus. The present article describes a case of warfarin-associated fetal intracranial hemorrhage. The patient was a woman in her early 30s. At the age of 11 years, she had undergone aortic valve replacement (mechanical) for aortic regurgitation. Since then, she had been taking oral warfarin. During her pregnancy, her prothrombin time–international normalized ratio was maintained between 1.5 and 2.5. At 35 weeks of gestation, fetal ultrasonography revealed an intracranial mass in the left hemisphere. An emergency cesarean section was performed because fetal intracranial hemorrhage was suspected. A male infant was delivered with a 1- 5-, and 10-minute Apgar score of 1, 5, and 7, respectively. Cranial computed tomography revealed multiple hemorrhage sites with newly emerged bleeding spots. In patients with mechanical heart valve protheses, obstetricians face the dilemma of individual-patient differences and the difficulty of intensive monitoring of the coagulation parameters in the fetus. Tailor-made anticoagulation therapy and a more intensive ultrasonic monitoring strategy, even that involving regular magnetic resonance imaging, are necessary in these patients.
Integrated Generalized Cost Model Considering the Whole Trip for Urban Rail Transit Station Choices
Authors: Qin Bozhan , Yang Min , Ling Xiaojing , Chen Enhui , Chen Jingxu , Guo Yihua
Published: August 2023

Convenient transfer between urban rail transit (URT) and feeder modes could be fundamental for improving the URT service. In the field of URT, most studies have attempted to estimate the station choice of sub-trips like access trips and egress trips rather than the whole trip, which may be locally optimal and inconsistent with the traveler’s behavior of maximizing the utility of the whole trip. In this study, we build an integrated generalized cost model for URT to estimate the access and egress station choices of URT travelers from the perspective of the whole trip and apply a genetic algorithm to estimate the model parameters. Data used in this study include a revealed preference (RP) mode chain survey conducted in Nanjing, China, and the travel cost data obtained from an online navigation application program interface (API), thus reducing the transit networking modeling work as the conventional traffic assignment process. The proposed model has promising station choice prediction accuracies for whole trips. The results show that: (a) travelers do not always choose the nearest station, and the whole trip’s generalized cost would affect their choices; (b) travelers make heterogeneous station choices. They have a varied perception of time and fare and are more sensitive to access trips; and (c) in forecasting-oriented applications, the model parameters can be set flexibly, and the model can maintain acceptable forecasting accuracy. The findings contribute to understanding station choice mechanism, transfer optimization, and feeder demand forecast for stations.
A Technological Approach to Improved Breastfeeding Rates and Self-Efficacy: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study
Authors: Saucedo Baza Areli , Mignacca Caroline , Delgado Paula E. , Paterniti Thomas A. , Romero de Mello Sa Suellen , Looney Stephen , Zahler-Miller Carolyn
Published: August 2023

Background:

Breastfeeding confers significant maternal and infant benefits; however, breastfeeding rates remain suboptimal in the United States. A parent’s decision to breastfeed is influenced by non-modifiable and modifiable factors, including breastfeeding knowledge and self-efficacy. There is a positive correlation between high maternal self-efficacy and breastfeeding duration. Parents increasingly rely on technology for health information.

Research Aim:

To determine if a smartphone application affected maternal self-efficacy and breastfeeding exclusivity rates.

Method:

This study was a randomized, controlled pilot study examining the effect of an educational program, included in a smartphone application, on breastfeeding self-efficacy (assessed in postpartum Week 1 and Weeks 4–6) and breastfeeding rates (assessed in postpartum Weeks 4–6). Forty participants were recruited using block randomization to intervention (17 of 20 completed the study) and usual care (19 of 20 completed the study) groups. To examine the pre-test/post-test difference in the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale – Short Form total scores, a change in score (post-intervention minus pre-intervention) was calculated for each parent.

Result:

The intervention group (phone application and usual care) showed greater change in self-efficacy scores ( M = 7.6, SD = 7.8) compared to the control group (usual care; M = 1.2, SD = 3.7, p = .001). The rate of exclusive breastfeeding was nearly twice as high in the intervention group as in the control group, but did not reach statistical significance ( p = .093).

Conclusion:

The investigators found enhanced breastfeeding self-efficacy and breastfeeding rates among postpartum women receiving a smartphone educational program in the first 6 weeks postpartum. Further studies on smartphone interventions will develop our understanding of this technology in improving breastfeeding rates.
Effects of unstable flow structures on energy transfer mechanism in a centrifugal pump
Authors: Liu Jia , Zhang Fan , Song Mengbin , Zhu Lufeng , Appiah Desmond , Yuan Shouqi
Published: August 2023

To reveal the energy loss mechanism of the centrifugal pump, numerical simulation and experimental investigation are conducted to obtain the complex flow field of a single-stage centrifugal pump under various flow conditions. Particular emphasis is focused on the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the distribution and variation characteristics of irreversible loss in the pump model. The results show that the energy loss in the centrifugal pump mainly originates from the entropy generation caused by the turbulent dissipation and wall friction, which are typically generated in the volute and impeller domains. It is worth noticing that the energy loss in the volute is closely associated with non-uniform velocity distribution and the evolution of the shedding vortices from the impeller exit whilst the energy loss in the impeller are greatly affected by unstable flow phenomena such as flow separation, backflow, and jet-wake pattern. At the overload operating conditions, the wall entropy generation possesses a substantial influence on energy loss, which is mainly related to the wall shear stress. Meanwhile, the influence of the rotor-stator interaction and inflow impacting on the energy loss is enhanced with increasing flows. Finally, the omega method captured the vorticity structures near the tongue at partial flow conditions, thereby, revealing the relationship between the high magnitude of flow loss and the evolution of different scales of strong vorticity sheets.
Optics and Visio Dei: Interpretations of Female Mystic Art
Authors: Schendel-Vyvoda Tory
Published: August 2023

Religious visions are personal experiences in which individuals have a sensory experience that is in some way supernatural or divine. In the context of medieval Christianity, true visionaries were understood to have received revelations directly from God, without mediation from priests. In the tradition of the medieval Church and society, women were relegated to a subordinate role; thus, when the mystic who experienced a vision from God was a woman, the situation required careful interpretation, for in bypassing the intermediary authority of the priest, the woman was potentially subverting a hierarchy which itself was considered to have been established by God. This paper will analyze one of the most important medieval mystics, Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179), and examine her writings and her images produced in Scivias. It is hypothesized that the medieval ideas of optics and biblical exegesis worked in harmony to structure Hildegard’s experiences and to legitimize those experiences to others at the time. In this paper, key images created by Hildegard were analyzed to interpret the descriptions of her experiences and their rendering in visual form in relation to the medieval theories of vision and theology itself.
The Unacknowledged Knowable Face of G*d: Health, Spirituality and Religious Life
Authors: Acero Carlos Alejandra Beltrán
Published: August 2023

This article is an account of my theological journey of spiritual and scientific transformation. It deals with the digestion of god in my life and the production of a new theological mode. My first description deals with the need of writing theology as if there was no censorship. What does it mean to go from war to democracy in theology? Then I register the need to go beyond the theology of liberation, pointing out some blocking rocks in the way. The need to transcend liberation theology pushes us toward the transgression of some limits. I recall the importance of sacred plants such as the Amazonian drink called Ayahuasca and its role in the process of the recovery of my health. Then, using postcolonial, queer, feminist, and critical religious studies, I examine the possibilities for trans-canonical hermeneutics on the horizon of world peace building.
Theological Matricide in the Ancient Israelite Religion and Commentary on the Book of Lamentations
Authors: Lederman Daniely Dvora
Published: August 2023

The essay considers the possibility that the Book of Lamentations contains passages lamenting the theological matricide that the ancient religion of Israel and the life of faith and worship have undergone. Despite the fact that archaeological findings, and biblical descriptions, point to the presence of a divine mother figure at the core of the religion and worship of the ancient people of Israel, the violent expulsion of this mother from the people’s life of faith and worship from the outset, as described in the Bible itself, has not been thoroughly investigated in terms of its spiritual-existential implications. This essay argues that what is described in Lamentations 1 may not only originate from the nation’s grief, the sense of chaos, and the destruction of the temple and the city, but also from the existential emotional violent separation from the Mother-Goddess, from the nation’s life of faith and worship, and the disaster that followed this disconnect and separation.
The Divine Feminine in Christianity
Authors: Kraemer Sonia
Published: August 2023

The role of the Virgin Mary in biblical texts is insubstantial. In fact, except for the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke, Mary never returns as a central figure of any other biblical story. This was one of the reasons for the appearance of the Apocryphal books. They calmed the insatiable curiosity of popular devotion and filled in the gaps of the gospels related to the life of Mary and the infancy of Jesus, which aroused such interest in believers, who were hungry for details. Nevertheless, over centuries, the Virgin cult has reached incredible dimensions. Indeed, today, Mary has many roles in the Catholic Church: Mother of God, perpetual Virgin, immaculately conceived and ascended to heaven in body and soul, where she will reign forever. From being a humble servant of God, she has passed over to being the Queen of Heaven, receiving divine status. This transcendence of the Virgin Mary figure in the Catholic religion is because, more than an historical character, the Virgin is presented as a theological symbol which has filled a deep need of the psyche to balance the excessively masculine in the Judeo-Christian tradition with the feminine aspect.
The Mother, the Warrior, the Midwife and the Holy Whore: An Ethnographic Study of Women’s Faith, Sacralisation and Embodiment
Authors: Crabtree Sara Ashancaen
Published: August 2023

This article deliberately selects findings from a feminist, cross-cultural, multi-faith ethnographic study of women’s religious identities, interpretations and practices in Malaysia and Britain. Findings pertaining to the embodied sacred are examined in terms of religious significance towards a sacralised female iconography. Focusing on sacred female representations, three distinct domains emerge relating to symbolic, sacred regenerative powers and the potency of a gendered infecund deification, where each domain relates to aspects of religious and ritualistic aspects loosely conforming to goddess typology. A nuanced account is offered privileging the experiential regarding how participants reconcile subordinated spiritual positions within patriarchal structures and discourses in seeking responsive woman-centric faiths.
The spatial division of precarious labour across the European Union regions: A composite index analysis of the 2008/2009 global economic crisis effects and COVID-19 initial implications
Authors: Kapitsinis Nikos , Gialis Stelios
Published: August 2023

The successive crises of the 21st century (2008/2009 global recession, COVID-19) have significantly affected the organisation of work and increased the flexibilisation and precarisation of labour, reflecting the changing needs of capital accumulation. Although employment reorganisation is unevenly distributed across space, the link between labour precarisation and cities or regions has not been studied in depth, with most research efforts focusing on the national scale. This article enriches the emerging literature for composite indices of labour market change by constructing an index of labour precarity at the regional scale. It estimates the very Flexible Contractual Arrangements Composite Index in the NUTS2 regions of the European Union from 2008 to 2020 to provide a comparative analysis of the impact of the global recession of 2008/2009 and the initial implications of COVID-19. The findings highlight a persistent division between peripheral and core regions. High precarity is a persistent feature of less developed regions, although it is also increasing significantly in urbanised, economically advanced regions. As found, the degree of labour precarity of a regional labour market is the complex result of national factors as well as regional characteristics such as specialisation, remoteness, path dependency, and local institutional practises and population dynamics.
Drawing a River: Utilizing the Power of Metaphors in Interviews With Children and Young People
Authors: Warming Hanne , Fjordside Signe , Cortsen Nanna L. A. , Stanek Freja A. H. , Vagtholm Isabella
Published: August 2023

In the field of qualitative health research on children, scholars have called for the inclusion of children’s perspectives. Still, health care research on children appears to be characterized by an exclusionary approach that stems from a conception of disability and sickness as equivalent to a lack of agency. This article responds to the call to include children’s perspectives. It presents the Double-view (Dovi)-river interview, which is a drawing- and metaphor-based interview method that enables ambiguous and multi-layered life course narratives. Based on two steps – (1) a life course interview conducted while drawing a river of the child’s life and (2) revisiting and unfolding the child’s stories – the method allows for an arts-based, joint exploration of life experiences. Inspired by childhood studies as well as a poststructuralist epistemology, the article discusses and proposes ways to challenge power relations between the adult interviewer and the child interviewee. It is argued that the method can also challenge the predominant deficit view and the dichotomous understanding of children’s experiences of their life and capabilities that characterize much health care practice and health research, by focusing both on challenges and opportunities. Doing so enables a more nuanced and appreciative approach to children. We draw on empirical examples from a study with children with disabilities. However, we suggest that the method’s potential for enabling articulation of the complex and ambiguous can inspire qualitative research and health care practice more broadly.
A Review of the Safety and Efficacy of Bexagliflozin for the Management of Type 2 Diabetes
Authors: Cowart Kevin , Coon Scott , Carris Nicholas W.
Published: August 2023

Objective:

To review the pharmacology of bexagliflozin in addition to its safety and efficacy from available clinical trials used for its approval, as well as available clinical evidence to date.

Data Sources:

A search of the National Institutes of Health Clinical Trials Registry ( http://www.clinicaltrials.gov ) and PubMed database was performed from inception through June 1, 2023.

Study Selection and Data Extraction Quantification:

The following study designs were included: meta-analyses, systematic review, clinical trial, or observational study design. Abstracts and drug monographs were also reviewed. Narrative or scoping reviews were excluded. Only articles in the English language and those evaluating the pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, safety, or efficacy of bexaglifozin in humans were included.

Data Synthesis:

Bexagliflozin reduces hemoglobin A1c ~0.5% with similar reductions in systolic blood pressure and body weight to other SGLT2 inhibitors. No cardiovascular outcomes trial is published, nor ongoing at this time. Adverse effects are similar to other SGLT2 inhibitors (genital mycotic and urinary tract infections, increased urination) including a warning for lower extremity amputation similar to canagliflozin.

Relevance to Patient Care and Clinical Practice in Comparison to Existing Drugs:

Although no cost-effectiveness data are available, statements from the manufacturer suggest a competitive price point. Given limited trial data, lower cost, if chosen, may create a temporary niche for bexagliflozin pending generic availability of other SGLT2 inhibitors. However, given lack of cardiovascular and renal outcome data, empagliflozin, dapagliflozin, or canagliflozin may be preferred.

Conclusion:

Bexagliflozin appears safe and effective as monotherapy and add-on pharmacological therapy for the treatment of T2D.
The Migration Experience: A Conceptual Framework and Systematic Scoping Review of Psychological Acculturation
Authors: Kreienkamp Jannis , Bringmann Laura F. , Engler Raili F. , de Jonge Peter , Epstude Kai
Published: August 2023

Academic Abstract

One of the key challenges to researching psychological acculturation is the immense heterogeneity in theories and measures. These inconsistencies make it difficult to compare past literature, hinder straightforward measurement selections, and stifle theoretical integration. To structure acculturation, we propose to utilize the four basic aspects of human experiences (wanting, feeling, thinking, and doing) as a conceptual framework. We use this framework to build a theory-driven assessment of past theoretical (final N = 92), psychometric (final N = 233), and empirical literature (final N = 530). We find that the framework allows us to examine and compare past conceptualizations. For example, empirical works have understudied the more internal aspects of acculturation (i.e., motivations and feelings) compared with theoretical works. We, then, discuss the framework’s novel insights including its temporal resolution, its comprehensive and cross-cultural structure, and how the framework can aid transparent and functional theories, studies, and interventions going forward.

Public Abstract

This systematic scoping review indicates that the concept of psychological acculturation can be structured in terms of affect (e.g., feeling at home), behavior (e.g., language use), cognition (e.g., ethnic identification), and desire (e.g., independence wish). We find that the framework is useful in structuring past research and helps with new predictions and interventions. We, for example, find a crucial disconnect between theory and practice, which will need to be resolved in the future.