bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The future of Iberian droughts: a deeper analysis based on multi-scenario and a multi-model ensemble approach
Authors: Soares Pedro M. M. , Careto João A. M. , Russo Ana , Lima Daniela C. A.
Published: April 2023

As a result of warming and precipitation deficits, the increasing shortage of water resources, droughts have become one of the main drivers of desertification, land degradation and food insecurity with direct impacts on ecosystems and society, especially in fragile communities. Over the Iberian Peninsula, a known climate change hotspot, the occurrence of droughts varies in intensity and severity, being its assessment under present and future conditions an important tool for adaptation measures. Here, for the first time, we present a comprehensive analysis of different plausible evolutions of droughts throughout the twenty-first century over Iberia on a monthly basis, featuring three different emission scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP8.5). A multi-variable, multi-model EURO-CORDEX weighted ensemble is used to assess future drought conditions using the SPI (Standardized Precipitation Index) and SPEI (Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index). All indexes were computed by considering the full period, from 1971 to 2000 merged with 2011–2100 from each RCP scenario. The results clearly show that the Iberian Peninsula is highly vulnerable to climate change, indicating a significant increase in the intensity and severity of drought occurrences, even for the low-end RCP2.6 scenario. For the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios, the increases are more pronounced and enhanced throughout the twenty-first century, from 3 up to 12 more severe droughts for the shorter timescales with increases in mean duration above 30 months for the longer accumulation periods. The use of all the RCPs data pooled together with a multi-variable weighted ensemble approach allows not only a more accurate and robust projection of future droughts but also ensures comparability among the projections from the three RCP scenarios. The future drought evolution aspires to assist the new Portuguese national roadmap for adaptation for the twenty-first century, bridging the water sector challenges from mitigation to adaptation in a dynamic way.
Topical Janus kinase inhibitors in atopic dermatitis: a safety network meta-analysis
Authors: Alves Carlos , Penedones Ana , Mendes Diogo , Batel Marques Francisco
Published: April 2023

Background

Topical Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors are being developed for the treatment of mild to moderate atopic dermatitis. However, comparative evidence on their safety profiles is still limited.

Aim

This study aimed to compare the relative safety of topic JAK inhibitors in patients with atopic dermatitis.

Method

Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials (RCTs) evaluating the efficacy and safety of topical JAK inhibitors in atopic dermatitis were searched on Medline, EMBASE and clinicaltrials.gov. The following outcomes were considered: any adverse event (AE), serious AEs, AEs leading to treatment discontinuation, any infection, any application site reaction.

Results

Ten RCTs were included in this network meta-analysis. Tofacitinib was associated with a reduced risk of any AE when compared with ruxolitinib (OR 0.18, 95% CrI 0.03–0.92). The analyses for the remaining outcomes did not identify other statistically significant risk differences between the topical JAK inhibitors.

Conclusion

Although tofacitinib seems to present a reduced risk of any adverse event compared with ruxolitinib, this was the only statistically significant result found between JAK inhibitors. Therefore, such findings should be interpreted with caution considering the scarce data available and the heterogeneity between the studies, and there is no robust evidence allowing pointing out clinically important differences between the safety profiles of the existing topical JAK inhibitors. Further pharmacovigilance activities are needed to confirm the safety profile of these drugs.
Evaluating the burden of endogenous Cushing’s syndrome using a web-based questionnaire and validated patient-reported outcome measures
Authors: Page-Wilson Gabrielle , Oak Bhagyashree , Silber Abigail , Okeyo Janetricks , Ortiz Nancy , O’Hara Matthew , Moloney Stephen , Geer Eliza B.
Published: April 2023

Introduction

Endogenous Cushing’s syndrome (CS) is a rare endocrine condition caused by chronic oversecretion of cortisol, resulting in a diverse constellation of symptoms. This study examined the ongoing burden of illness (BOI), from the first appearance of symptoms through treatment, which is currently not well evaluated.

Methods

A quantitative, cross-sectional, web-enabled survey including 5 validated patient reported outcomes (PRO) measures was conducted in patients with CS who had been diagnosed ≥ 6 months prior and who had received ≥ 1 treatment for their endogenous CS at the time of the survey.

Results

Fifty-five patients participated in this study; 85% were women. The mean age was 43.4 ± 12.3 years (± standard deviation, SD). On average, respondents reported a 10-year gap between the first occurrence of symptoms and diagnosis; 80% underwent surgical treatment for CS. Respondents experienced symptoms on 16 days in a typical month, and their health-related quality of life was moderately impacted based on the CushingQoL score. Weight gain, muscle fatigue, and weakness were the most common symptoms and 69% percent of patients reported moderate or severe fatigue using the Brief Fatigue Inventory. Following treatment, the occurrence of most symptoms declined over time, although anxiety and pain did not significantly decrease. Overall, 38% of participants reported an annual average of 25 missed workdays due to CS symptoms.

Conclusions

These results demonstrate a BOI in CS despite ongoing treatment and illustrate the need for interventions to address persistent symptoms, particularly weight gain, pain, and anxiety.
Ethicisation and Reliance on Ethics Expertise
Authors: Hedlund Maria
Published: April 2023

Ethicisation refers to the tendency to frame issues in ethical terms and can be observed in different areas of society, particularly in relation to policy-making on emerging technologies. The turn to ethics implies increased use of ethics expertise, or at least an expectation that this is the case. Calling for experts on ethics when ethically complicated questions need to be handled helps us to uphold central virtues, but there are also problems connected with ethicisation. In policy-making processes, the turn to ethics may not always be a sign of a sincere aspiration to moral performance, but a strategic move to gain acceptance for controversial or sensitive activities, and ethicisation may depoliticise questions and constrain room for democratic participation. Nevertheless, ethicisation, and the ensuing call for ethics experts, suggests an expectation of confidence in ethics and ethics expertise, and that ethical guidance is an effective way of governing people’s behaviour in a morally desirable way. The purpose of this article is to explore democratic and epistemic challenges of ethicisation in the context of emerging technologies, with a specific focus on how the notions ofunder-relianceandover-relianceof ethics expertise can unpack the processes at play. By using biotechnology and the EU process of bio-patents and the publication of ethical guidelines for AI development as illustrations, it is demonstrated how ethicisation may give rise to democratic and epistemic challenges that are not explicitly addressed in discussions on the political use of ethics expertise.
Green management, access to credit, and firms’ vulnerability to the COVID-19 crisis
Authors: Aristei David , Gallo Manuela
Published: April 2023

This paper investigates the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis on firms’ performance and financial vulnerability. Exploiting longitudinal firm-level data from the World Bank’s “Enterprise Surveys follow-up on COVID-19” for 20 European countries, we assess whether green management quality and pre-pandemic credit access difficulties affect firms’ ability to withstand the negative impact of the pandemic. Our results indicate that green firms are more resilient to the pandemic shock. In particular, the likelihood of pandemic-induced drops in sales and liquidity significantly decreases as the quality of green management improves. Conversely, prior financing constraints strongly exacerbate the pandemic’s impact on firms’ performance and amplify liquidity stress and financing problems. Credit-constrained enterprises are not only more likely to experience liquidity shortages and repayment problems, but they also face higher difficulties in accessing bank financing. The COVID-19 crisis has also hampered the beneficial role that green management exerted on access to credit in the pre-pandemic period. During the pandemic, firms with sound environmental management practices do not benefit from improved access to finance and have a lower demand for credit, possibly suggesting a slowdown in their green investment activities.
Socially interdependent risk taking
Authors: Karakostas Alexandros , Morgan Giles , Zizzo Daniel John
Published: April 2023

We report the results of an experiment on how individual risk taking clusters together when subjects are informed of peers’ previous risk taking decisions. Subjects are asked how much of their endowment they wish to allocate in a lottery in which there is a 50% chance the amount they invest will be tripled and a 50% chance their investment will be lost. We use a 2 × 2 factorial design varying: (i) whether the subjects initially observed high or low investment social anchors, (ii) whether information about the investment decisions of other subjects in their social group is provided. We find strong evidence that individuals' risk taking decisions are malleable to that of their peers, which in turn leads to social clustering of risk taking. Social anchors shape initial risk taking, with mean investment then converging to a high level across treatments.
The importance of unsealed areas in the urban core and periphery for bird diversity in a large central european city
Authors: Hastedt Arne , Tietze Dieter Thomas
Published: April 2023

Although urbanization poses one of the largest threats for biodiversity, only few studies have so far examined its impact in large Central European cities. Our study aimed at investigating the effects of urbanization on bird diversity using two methods to describe the urban environment. The first measure used the degree of sealing, portion of traffic infrastructure, number of floors of the tallest building at a site scale (100-m radius), and the distance from the city center, while the second one relied on land-cover data at a local scale (1000-m radius). We conducted bird surveys at 761 sites across Hamburg. Bird diversity was assessed as species richness, abundance, and Shannon index. Additionally, evenness was calculated. Both urbanization measures represented a rural-to-urban gradient and were negatively correlated with bird diversity as well as evenness. At the site scale, the degree of sealing had the strongest negative effect on bird diversity followed by the portion of traffic infrastructure and the tallest building. At the local scale, artificial surfaces proved to have the strongest negative effect, while agricultural areas and forests were positively associated with bird diversity. In general, models using the site scale for measuring urbanization showed higher associations with diversity. The results emphasize the importance of unsealed areas in the urban environment and of natural habitats in the periphery for bird diversity in Central European cities with millions of human inhabitants. Considering this for future city planning can help to preserve biodiversity in the urban environment, increase bird diversity in development areas, and thus improve living conditions for people.
Production of recombinant proteins including the B-cell epitopes of autolysin A of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from clinical sheep mastitis and their potential for vaccine development
Authors: Azara Elisa , Foddai Antonio Carlo , Longheu Carla Maria , Addis Maria Filippa , Tola Sebastiana
Published: April 2023

Staphylococcus aureus is the most common clinical mastitis-associated pathogen in sheep which contributes to reduced welfare of affected animals and, therefore, compromises the quality and quantity of milk production. To prevent mastitis and its spread, it is essential to guarantee adequate breeding conditions and animal health, through the adoption of good farm management practices and the application of suitable biosecurity measures. Vaccination can play a strategic role in prevention, control, and eradication of diseases. The identification of secreted and cellular antigens of the predominant sheep-CC130/ST700/t1773 lineage would assist in the design of effective vaccine against mammary infections caused by S. aureus. In the current study, we carried out a 3D structural prediction analysis with the identification of the best B cell epitopes of the whole and secreted portion of S. aureus AtlA. Fragments of atlA, containing the main predicted epitopes, were amplified, cloned, and expressed in Escherichia coli for recombinant protein production. Two selected clones produced recombinant proteins (rAtl4 and rAtl8) showing strong reactivity with a hyperimmune serum against the native AtlA and with blood sera collected from sheep with clinical S. aureus mastitis. These may represent potential candidate protein-based vaccines able to elicit a protective immune response to be evaluated by vaccination and subsequent challenge of the vaccinated sheep.
Das Bremer Hilfesystem für gewaltbetroffene Frauen – eine qualitative Erhebung der Betroffenenperspektive
Authors: Schmidt-Semisch Henning , Stahlke Iris , Rubscheit Sophie , Schnepf Fabienne , Jochem Greta
Published: April 2023

Hintergrund

Gewalt gegen Frauen hat strukturellen Charakter. Mit Blick auf die entsprechenden Hilfesysteme gibt es nur wenige Studien, welche die Perspektive der Betroffenen erheben. In der vorliegenden Studie werden Betroffene zu ihrem subjektiven Erleben des Hilfeprozesses und der im Hilfesystem gemachten Erfahrungen befragt.

Methoden

Im Rahmen dieser qualitativen Studie wurden 17 leitfadengestützte, problemzentrierte Interviews mit von Gewalt betroffenen Frauen aus Bremen und Bremerhaven geführt, die im Sinne der inhaltlich strukturierenden, qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse ausgewertet wurden.

Ergebnisse

Den Befragten fällt es häufig schwer zu beurteilen, ob sie selbst von Gewalt betroffen sind oder nicht. Dies gilt insbesondere bei Formen der „körperlich unsichtbaren“, psychischen Gewalt. In einigen Bereichen des Hilfesystems mangelt es gelegentlich an einer situationsangemessenen Kommunikation, was zu sekundären Viktimisierungen führen kann. Insbesondere bei der Gestaltung des Umgangsrechts (nach Trennungen und Scheidungen) wird dem Gewaltschutz von Frauen nicht hinreichend Rechnung getragen.

Schlussfolgerung

Bedarf besteht an differenzierten Informationsmaterialien zu den verschiedenen Formen von Gewalt, v. a. psychischer Gewalt. Um sekundäre Viktimisierungen zu vermeiden, sollte das Angebot von Schulungen, Fortbildungen etc. zur Sensibilisierung der Beratenden im Hilfesystem ausgebaut und gefördert werden.
Sustainable smart product-service systems: a causal logic framework for impact design
Authors: Ries Lena , Beckmann Markus , Wehnert Peter
Published: April 2023

Digital technologies can elevate product-service systems (PSS) to smart PSS, which focus on performance rather than ownership and are considered a means for dematerialization. However, transitioning to smart PSS does not guarantee sustainability. To understand the impact of smart PSS holistically, we take a two-pronged approach. First, we use the theory of change to conceptualize the causal link between sustainable smart PSS and their ultimate impact. We develop a three-step causal logic framework consisting of design, causation, and impact. Within this framework, we identify the business model properties of sustainable smart PSS as design characteristics and categorize the eventual impacts based on the triple bottom line. We introduce the term multi-causal pathway to describe the causation processes underlining the possibility of non-linearity and multi-causality. Second, we conduct a systematic literature review to investigate the mechanisms linking design and impact. Based on an analysis of 63 publications, we identify 17 specific mechanisms and group them into four types: information, resource, empowerment, and adverse mechanisms. Visualizing our results, we develop a morphological box as a toolkit for managers to develop their own impact-oriented logic model by identifying and activating the multi-causal pathway that fosters the desired sustainability effects. Moreover, discussing our framework, we develop research propositions and managerial questions for impact design. By linking the theory of change with the business model impact, we contribute toward a conceptual synthesis for understanding the impact of (sustainable) smart PSS.
Phosphorus Partition Between Liquid Crude Steel and High-Basicity Basic Oxygen Furnace Slags Containing V2O5
Authors: Neubert Lukas , Kovtun Oleksandr , Kreschel Thilo , Volkova Olena
Published: April 2023

The influence of V2O5 on the phosphorus partition between liquid crude steel and heterogenous basic oxygen furnace (BOF) slag with CaO/SiO2 = 4.2 was investigated at a temperature of 1600 °C in a middle frequency induction furnace. Thereby the phosphorus transfer from “steel to slag” as well as from “slag to steel” was studied over a holding time of 60 minutes. The measured results were shown as phosphorus partition and phosphorus capacity and compared with the experimental values from the literature. It was found that V2O5 in highly basic BOF slags decreases phosphorus partition and phosphorus capacity. In addition, the resulting slags were investigated using a scanning electron microscope (SEM).
Excavating the Missing Iron Age: Reinforcing Local Heritage & Identity in Sievi, Finland
Authors: Modarress Julin Mirette
Published: April 2023

In the small county in Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland, on a forest island amid fields, a few metal objects were found by metal detectorists. The finds suggested Iron Age dates and generated great interest, for both local people and researchers. As a result, an examination of the find locations was conducted by archaeologists, which was followed by excavations at one of the sites. In this article, under scrutiny is the interest excavations formulate in local contexts and how people relate to archaeological sites of their neighborhood. In addition, the role of metal-detecting in archaeology is considered. Generally, people in Finland are interested in the past of their home region. What about if there are only imperceptible remains and minor finds like fragments of ancient objects or shards of burned bone? Is material heritage important in everyday settings, and are people attracted to it? Here the aim is to relate some answers to these questions obtained by observations and discussions with the local people during the field research process.
Heterogeneous worker multi-functionality and efficiency in dual resource constrained manufacturing lines: an assessment by simulation
Authors: Costa Federica , Thürer Matthias , Portioli-Staudacher Alberto
Published: April 2023

Flexibility is a main mean to create resilient supply chains. The most flexible resources are often human resources but creating high, homogenous skill levels is not cost efficient. Heterogenous labour provides an alternative. The literature on Dual Resource Constrained (DRC) shops modelled heterogeneous labour with multi-functionality and efficiency matrices that indicate if a worker can perform at a station and according to which level of efficiency. However, this literature typically considered these matrices as a given environmental factor rather than a factor under firm control. Consequently, it typically neglected literature that can be used to guide matrix design. In response, this study draws on the literature on unbalanced lines to test eight different matrices to guide worker training. Discrete event simulation is then used to evaluate their performance in a DRC pure flow shop with high variability in demand and processing times. Results demonstrate that the matrix design impacts performance and that an unbalanced design has the potential to improve performance compared to a balanced design and full multi-functionality. Specifically, the bowl configuration shows much promise, which further confirms the “bowl phenomenon”. However, performance gains are dependent on the combination of When, Where and Who rules used to guide the worker assignment decision. So, the decision on worker training is also contingent on the decision which worker assignment rule to use. Findings have important implications for research and practice, providing guidance on how to design more resilient shops and supply chains.
Assessing the Development and Viability of an Android App for Auditory Training in Older Adults with Hearing Impairments
Authors: Madhukesh Sanjana , Gundmi Archana , K S Harisha , Ramesh Pramath , Jacob Roshan
Published: April 2023

Purpose: This study aims to develop an android application that is more compatible and user-friendly for the older adult population with hearing impairment and validate the developed app. Method: The app’s framework involved a training mode platform consisting of four levels with four sub-levels each. Every level includes stimuli of word-in-noise containing high and low-frequency words with three different noise types – traffic noise, competing for speech, and speech babble. The levels in the app increased in complexity to provide an efficient auditory training feature. The developed application was validated on older adults and professionals based on a questionnaire with both closed and open-ended questions. Results: Based on the validated responses of the participants, the app is a reliable tool for auditory training in older adults with hearing impairment. The app contains ease-of-use features for older adults and has been considered a platform for improvement in aural rehabilitation. Conclusion: The study marks as a tool in auditory training for older adults to provide the utmost benefit. Increase in the cases of the hearing-impaired population in a few years, a demand to set up a user-friendly management option is beneficiDigitizationtion of aural rehabilitation, especially for older adults, has thus been noted in the present study.
Mapping bridges between anxiety, depression, and somatic symptoms in primary care patients: a network perspective
Authors: Jurado-González Francisco , García-Torres Francisco , Contreras Alba , Muñoz-Navarro Roger , González-Blanch César , Medrano Leonardo Adrián , Ruiz-Rodríguez Paloma , Cano-Vindel Antonio , Moriana Juan A.
Published: April 2023

In primary care centers, emotional disorders (EDs; depression, anxiety, and somatoform disorders) frequently appear to be associated. However, there is no previous information on the key (bridge) symptoms that maintain comorbidity. The current study aimed to identify symptoms that may play a linking role in bridging comorbidity among EDs from a network analysis perspective. A sample of adult primary care patients (N = 1704) with symptoms of EDs was assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ). Network analysis was applied to examine the network structure, communities, expected influence, and bridge symptoms between depressive, anxiety, and somatic symptoms. Sad mood and low energy were the most central symptoms. Furthermore, low energy, fainting spells, sad mood, and restlessness were detected as prominent bridge symptoms between anxiety, depression, and somatic symptoms. These bridge symptoms could be therapeutic targets for early intervention and prevent the development of comorbidity among EDs. The results of this research highlight the importance of symptom-specific functional properties for the activation of communities within EDs, providing new insights on a complex phenomenon such as comorbidity.
A Systematic Review of eHealth Interventions Among Adolescents of Low Socioeconomic and Geographically Remote Backgrounds in Preventing Poor Diet, Alcohol Use, Tobacco Smoking and Vaping
Authors: Egan Lyra , Gardner Lauren A. , Newton Nicola , Champion Katrina
Published: April 2023

Disadvantaged adolescents such as those of low socioeconomic and geographically remote backgrounds experience disproportionate chronic disease burden and tend to engage in greater risk behaviors including poor diet, alcohol use, tobacco smoking, and vaping. The social, structural, and economical barriers to health that uniquely affect adolescents of low socioeconomic and geographically remote backgrounds, such as stigma, access to and affordability of services, may partially explain their disadvantage in attaining health equity. Universal eHealth interventions can provide effective prevention, however, it is unclear whether they benefit disadvantaged adolescents, including those from low socioeconomic and geographically remote contexts. This study systematically reviewed the effectiveness of eHealth interventions targeting disadvantaged adolescents in preventing poor diet, alcohol use, tobacco smoking and vaping. Of 3278 identified records, 15 publications assessing 14 interventions were included, comprising 7170 youth (aged 9–18 years, 50.1% female, 56% low-mid SES, 33% remote). Nine interventions targeted poor diet, three targeted alcohol, one targeted tobacco, and one targeted alcohol and tobacco. No interventions targeted vaping. eHealth interventions significantly increased fruit and vegetable intake and percentage energy of nutrient-rich food, decreased sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, total energy intake, nutrient-poor food percentage energy consumption, and were associated with reduced binge drinking at 1-month follow-up among intervention completers. The findings of this study highlight that eHealth interventions can be effective in targeting poor diet and alcohol use among disadvantaged adolescents. However, due to the limited number of studies meeting inclusion criteria for this study, it is critical future research focus on developing and evaluating effective eHealth interventions targeting disadvantaged adolescents.
Population Adjustment to Asymmetric Labour Market Shocks in India: A Comparison to Europe and the United States at Two Different Regional Levels
Authors: Braschke Franziska , Puhani Patrick A.
Published: April 2023

This paper uses Indian EUS-NSSO data on 32 states/union territories and 570 districts for a bi-annual panel with 5 waves to estimate how regional population reacts to asymmetric shocks. These shocks are measured by non-employment rates, unemployment rates, and wages in fixed-effects regressions which effectively use changes in these indicators over time within regions as identifying information. Because we include region and time effects, we interpret regression-adjusted population changes as proxies for regional migration. Comparing the results with those for the United States (US) and the European Union (EU), the most striking difference is that, in India, we do not find any significant reactions to asymmetric non-employment shocks at the state level, only at the district level, whereas the estimates are statistically significant and of similar size for the state/NUTS-1 (Classification of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS, the French abbreviation for "nomenclature d’unités territoriales 21 statistiques")) and district level in both the US and Europe. We find that Indian workers react to asymmetric regional shocks by adjusting up to a third of a regional non-employment shock through migration within 2 years. This is somewhat higher than the response to non-employment shocks in the US and the EU but somewhat lower than the response to unemployment shocks in these economies. In India, the unemployment rate does not seem to be a reliable measure of regional shocks, at least we find no significant effects for it. However, we find a significant population response to regional wage differentials in India at both the state and district level.
Experimental and numerical study on the transport of dilute bubbles in a T-junction channel flow
Authors: Frense Erik , Yang Xinghao , Rüdiger Frank , Mühlhausen Mark-Patrick , Fröhlich Jochen
Published: April 2023

The present study investigates the transport of dilute bubbles by transitional flow in a joining, cross-flow-type T-junction channel geometry with Reynolds numbers at the outlet branch from Re3 = 600 to 1800 and an inlet volume flow rate ratio of 1. Bubbles with diameters between db = 400 and 600 µm are considered. The schematic pattern of the single-phase flow is introduced based on streakline dye visualizations. Complex 3D flow due to the narrow channel design dominates the recirculation area and flow instabilities become important with increasing Reynolds number, which can be observed by the fading of dye intensity. A numerical method is presented with unsteady boundary conditions based on laser Doppler velocimetry measurements. Bubble trajectories are obtained by an Euler-Lagrange approach. Using high-speed shadowgraphy method combined with image processing, bubble sizes were measured, and bubble trajectories were evaluated. Experimental bubble trajectories and numerically predicted bubble positions show good agreement for Re3 = 600, which is also the case with the dye visualization image. For higher Reynolds numbers, measurements of the bubble trajectories are reported and compared to dye visualization images. The increasing flow instabilities influence the bubble transport, resulting in large variations of bubble locations.
Sufi Lovers, Safavid Silks and Early Modern Identity
Authors: Hedayat Munroe Nazanin
Published: April 2023

This book examines a group of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century figural silks depicting legendary lovers from the 'Khamsa' (Quintet) of epic Persian poetry. Codified by Nizami Ganjavi in the twelfth-century, the Khamsa gained popularity in the Persian-speaking realm through illustrated manuscripts produced for the elite, creating a template for illustrating climactic scenes in the love stories of 'Layla and Majnun' and 'Khusrau and Shirin' that appear on early modern silks. Attributed to Safavid Iran, the publication proposes that dress fashioned from these silks represented Sufi ideals based on the characters. Migration of weavers between Safavid and Mughal courts resulted in producing goods for a sophisticated and educated elite, demonstrating shared cultural values and potential reattribution. Through an examination of primary source materials, literary analysis of the original text, and close iconographical study of figural designs, the study presents original cross-disciplinary arguments about patronage, provenance, and the socio-cultural significance of wearing these silks.
Masaniello
Authors: D'Alessio Silvana
Published: April 2023

This is a translation and new edition of 'Masaniello. La sua vita e il mito in Europa' (Rome, 2007), the first historical biography of the leader of the revolt that broke out in Naples in 1647-48. Initially, its main objectives were the cancellation of the many taxes introduced in previous decades and a political reform that would allow the people to have their voice in the civic parliament. Thanks to Masaniello, the Neapolitans were able to compel the Spanish viceroy to sign new 'capitoli' (popular desiderata) but soon after, Masaniello was isolated by his main counselor, Giulio Genoino, and others, and ultimately abandoned to a tragic fate. From the moment of his death, a fascinating new life began in which Masaniello was exalted and condemned in many texts (historical volumes, plays, and even a dialogue with Wilhelm Tell) until, by the Risorgimento, he was remembered as an Italian hero.
Opposing Innovations: Race and Reform in the West Philadelphia Community Free School, 1969–1978
Authors: Nichols T. Philip , Maton Rhiannon , Simon Elaine
Published: April 2023

This article uses oral history, archival material, and published primary sources to examine the competing conceptions of “innovation” at work in the creation and operation of the West Philadelphia Community Free School (WPCFS) from 1969 to 1978. One of the longest-running initiatives in the School District of Philadelphia's experimental Office of Innovative Programs, the WPCFS stood at the crossroads of conflicting imperatives for “innovation.” These included: (1) institutional interests in advancing “humanizing” pedagogy; (2) Black activists’ interests in operating a community-controlled school for students of color in West Philadelphia; and (3) teachers’ interests in balancing their commitments to “humanizing” instruction and a surrounding community with different educational priorities. We highlight two instances where the frictions between these uses of “innovation” became pronounced in the WPCFS—debates over “free time” and the 1973 teachers’ strike. These incidents clarify how the burden of reconciling opposing innovations fell unevenly on the teachers and community members—often in ways that pitted the groups against one another—and exacerbated raced and classed inequalities in the school and district. While the account focuses on the 1960–1970s, we suggest that the WPCFS is relevant for us today, offering insights for the present into the longer discursive history of “innovation” as a lever for school reform, and into its impacts on educational equity.
Schooling as a White Good
Authors: Justice Benjamin
Published: April 2023

Schooling in the United States has never been a public good, nor has “the public good” been its primary goal. Since its origins in the early nineteenth century, schooling has been a white good, designed to promote white advantage. Three mechanisms, among many, have been key to this process: the relationship of schooling to place, the knowledge that schools impart, and the hobbling of brown and Black children. Insofar as schooling has approached being a public good, that tendency has emerged as the result of counter-majoritarian, explicitly racial activism led by non-white people. The struggle for racial justice has been the struggle of moving schooling from a white good to a public good.
Traditional definition of healthcare-associated influenza underestimates cases associated with other healthcare exposures in a population-based surveillance system
Authors: Gettler Erin B. , Talbot H. Keipp , Zhu Yuwei , Ndi Danielle , Mitchel Edward , Markus Tiffanie M. , Schaffner William , Harris Bryan , Talbot Thomas R.
Published: April 2023

Objective:

To provide comprehensive population-level estimates of the burden of healthcare-associated influenza.

Design:

Retrospective cross-sectional study.

Setting:

US Influenza Hospitalization Surveillance Network (FluSurv-NET) during 2012–2013 through 2018–2019 influenza seasons.

Patients:

Laboratory-confirmed influenza-related hospitalizations in an 8-county catchment area in Tennessee.

Methods:

The incidence of healthcare-associated influenza was determined using the traditional definition (ie, positive influenza test after hospital day 3) in addition to often underrecognized cases associated with recent post-acute care facility admission or a recent acute care hospitalization for a noninfluenza illness in the preceding 7 days.

Results:

Among the 5,904 laboratory-confirmed influenza-related hospitalizations, 147 (2.5%) had traditionally defined healthcare-associated influenza. When we included patients with a positive influenza test obtained in the first 3 days of hospitalization and who were either transferred to the hospital directly from a post-acute care facility or who were recently discharged from an acute care facility for a noninfluenza illness in the preceding 7 days, we identified an additional 1,031 cases (17.5% of all influenza-related hospitalizations).

Conclusions:

Including influenza cases associated with preadmission healthcare exposures with traditionally defined cases resulted in an 8-fold higher incidence of healthcare-associated influenza. These results emphasize the importance of capturing other healthcare exposures that may serve as the initial site of viral transmission to provide more comprehensive estimates of the burden of healthcare-associated influenza and to inform improved infection prevention strategies.
Prospect theory’s loss aversion is robust to stake size
Authors: Bleichrodt Han , L’Haridon Olivier
Published: April 2023

Several papers have challenged the robustness of loss aversion, claiming that it is context-dependent and disappears for small stakes. These papers use a behavioral definition of loss aversion that may be confounded by diminishing sensitivity and probability/event weighting under the new version of prospect theory (PT). We perform a new theory-based test of loss aversion that controls for these confounds. We found significant loss aversion for both small stakes and high stakes. The overall loss aversion coefficient varied between 1.25 and 1.45, less than commonly observed. Loss aversion decreased slightly for small stakes, but the effect was small and usually insignificant. Overall, our results indicate that, under PT, loss aversion is robust to stake size.
Magical contagion beliefs operate in reactions of Americans to COVID-19
Authors: Rozin Paul
Published: April 2023

We assessed the reaction of American adults to scenarios involving explicit types of exposure to live COVID viruses in June 2020, in the first months of the COVID pandemic. Four features of magical contagion are physical contact focus, insensitivity to elapsed time (‘permanence’), insensitivity to sterilization (‘spiritual essence’), and insensitivity to dose. We demonstrated the operation of all four features in a majority of participants. We also report another dramatic demonstration of the principle of dose insensitivity. When asked for the minimal number of COVID viruses that would have to enter their lung to give them a 50% chance of contracting COVID, more than half of subjects responded with ‘one’. Magical contagion should generally function to increase fear and perceived risk of COVID.
Negative refraction of water waves by hyperbolic metamaterials
Authors: Euvé Leo-Paul , Pham Kim , Maurel Agnès
Published: April 2023

We study the propagation of water waves in a three-dimensional device alternating open canals and resonant canals with subwavelength resonances. The dispersion of water waves in such a medium is obtained by analysing the full three-dimensional problem and combining Bloch–Floquet analysis with an asymptotic technique. We obtain the closed forms of the dispersions for resonant canals containing one or two resonators, which depend on only two functions associated with symmetric and antisymmetric modes, and on a geometric parameter analogous to the hopping parameter in topological systems. The analysis of the complete band structure reveals frequency ranges alternating between elliptical and hyperbolic dispersions; in particular, the hyperbolic regime gives rise to a negative effective water depth with a consequent negative refraction. Throughout the course of our study, our theoretical results are validated by comparison with numerical calculations of the full three-dimensional problem.
Antislavery, “Native Labour,” and the Turn to Indenture in British Colonial Natal, 1842–1860
Authors: Connolly Jonathan
Published: April 2023

This article presents an expansive history of a seemingly discrete event: the decision to extend an indentured labor system created in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean to the British colony of Natal, in South Africa, in 1860. Most work on indenture in Natal takes 1860 as a starting point and treats the migration of Indian workers under indenture in relative isolation. By contrast, this article focuses on the period preceding the first Indian arrivals and examines the colony’s turn to indenture alongside three seemingly separate migrations. In so doing, the article shows how antislavery politics, an early system of indirect rule, conflict between settlers and imperial administrators, and important shifts in race-thinking all contributed to the extension of indenture to Natal. In the process, the article illuminates the entangled, decentered nature of imperial rule by integrating lines of analysis normally kept separate, as a disciplinary matter, as “African colonial” and as “imperial” history.
Amazonian visions of Visión Amazonía: Indigenous Peoples' perspectives on a forest conservation and climate programme in the Colombian Amazon
Authors: Andoke Andoke Levy , Arazi Eliran , Castro Suárez Hernando , Griffiths Thomas F. , Gutiérrez Sánchez Esteban
Published: April 2023

Although Indigenous Peoples' rights to own, control and manage their lands and territories are well established under international law, Indigenous Peoples affected by forest conservation and climate protection programmes continue to denounce interventions that fail to uphold their rights. This article focuses on the internationally funded Visión Amazonía REDD Early Movers programme in the Colombian Amazon. Drawing on observations and critiques by Indigenous rightsholders in the Middle Caquetá River and human rights insights from a legal complaint raised by one Indigenous community against the programme, we demonstrate the programme's inadequate protection of collective rights, especially relating to the fundamental right to free, prior and informed consent and the resulting inequitable benefit sharing. We focus on conflicting views between Indigenous and non-Indigenous actors over the definition of direct effects on Indigenous Peoples (which triggers the requirement for prior consultation and consent), the basis for inclusion of Indigenous Peoples as programme beneficiaries, and the role accorded to Indigenous science in such programmes. Notions of permission and consent in the customary law and economic practices of the concerned Indigenous Peoples are central to the conviviality and reproduction of human and non-human societies within their territories. To ensure more accountable and sustainable international environmental finance and conservation interventions, and to ensure respect for Indigenous Peoples' self-determination and territorial and cultural rights, we recommend that these initiatives adopt human rights-based, pluri-legal and intercultural approaches centring on the right to free, prior and informed consent as a structuring principle. Additionally, we call for more robust measures in forest and climate protection programmes, to recognize and respect customary law, collective property, traditional livelihoods and Indigenous science.
Spatio-temporal monitoring of the iceberg D28 using SCATSAT-1 data
Authors: Singh Khoisnam Nanaoba , Maisnam Mamata , Singh Rajkumar Kamaljit , Pallipad Jayaprasad , Misra Arundhati , Maity Saroj
Published: April 2023

The study of the icebergs and their movements is one of many applications of scatterometer data in the study of the ecosystems of polar regions. SCATSAT-1 is the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO’s) Ku-band (13.515625 GHz) scatterometer. Using enhanced resolution Gamma0H (horizontally polarised incidence angle normalised backscattering coefficient) data of SCATSAT-1, we observed the movement of iceberg D28 and its interaction with wind, ocean currents and sea ice for one and a half years of its journey (JD 269, 2019 to JD 051, 2021). The data sets used are as follows: (1) SCATSAT-1 level-4 Gamma0H; (2) OSCAR (Ocean Surface Current Analysis Real-time) third-degree resolution ocean surface currents; (3) hourly wind speed data of ERA5; 4) NSIDC (National Snow and Ice Data Center) sea ice concentration data; and (5) NSIDC Polar Path-finder Daily EASE-Grid Sea Ice Motion Vectors, Version-3. For this study, we divide the continent into five different regions/sectors. It is found that the trajectory of the iceberg is influenced by the resultant of the wind and ocean current, at different scales in these regions. Moreover, sea ice motion can also change the course of iceberg. From the on-screen digitisation of the iceberg, the average area of the iceberg is found to be approximately 1509.82 km2 with approximate dimensions of 27 km × 55.5 km. We conclude that spatial and temporal behaviours of the iceberg can be ascertained from the scatterometer data.
John Flowerdew's essential bookshelf: English for research publication purposes (ERPP)
Authors: Flowerdew John
Published: April 2023

John Flowerdew is a Visiting Chair at the University of Lancaster and a Visiting Research Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. He was previously a Professor at City University of Hong Kong and at the University of Leeds, UK. His research is in the fields of Applied Linguistics and Discourse Analysis. His books include Academic listening: Research perspectives (CUP); Research perspectives on English for academic purposes (with M. Peacock) (CUP); Second language listening: Theory and practice (with L. Miller) (CUP); Academic discourse (Longman); Discourse in English language education (Routledge); Signalling nouns in discourse: A corpus-based discourse approach (with R. W. Forest) (CUP); Discourse in context (Bloomsbury); The Routledge handbook of critical discourse studies (with J. Richardson); Discipline-specific writing: Theory into practice (with T. Costley) (Routledge), and Introducing English for research publication purposes (with P. Habibie (Routledge).
Patient preferences do matter: a discrete choice experiment conducted with breast cancer patients in six European countries, with latent class analysis
Authors: Stamuli Eugena , Corry Sorcha , Foss Petter
Published: April 2023

Objectives

The evolution of breast cancer (BC) treatments has resulted in tailored therapies for the different types and stages of BC. Each treatment has a profile of benefits and adverse effects which are taken into consideration when planning a treatment pathway. This study examines whether patients’ preferences are in line with what is considered important from decision makers viewpoint.

Methods

An online discrete choice experiment was conducted in six European countries (France, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Spain, UK) with BC patients. Six attributes were included: overall survival (OS), hyperglycemia, rash, pain, functional well-being (FWB), and out-of-pocket payment (OOP). Sixteen choice sets with two hypothetical treatments and a “No treatment” option were presented. Data were analyzed with the use of heteroscedastic conditional, mixed logistic, and latent class models. Marginal rate of substitution (MRS) were estimated for OOP versus the rest of attributes to establish the ranking of preferences for each attribute.

Results

Two hundred and forty-seven patients with advanced or metastatic BC and 314 with early-stage BC responded. Forty-nine percent of patients were < 44 years old and 65 percent had completed university education. The MRS of the analysis demonstrated that “severe pain” is the highest dis-preferred attribute level, followed by “severe impairment in FWB” and OS. Four classes of patients as “decision makers” were identified.

Conclusions

This study suggests that there is heterogeneity in treatment preferences of BC patients depending on their sociodemographic and disease-related characteristics. In combination with clinical guidelines, patient preferences can support the selection and tailoring of treatment options.