bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Statistical modeling of a seismic isolation object under random seismic exposure
Authors: Lapin V A , Yerzhanov S E , Aldakhov Y S
Published: January 2020

Using probabilistic methods, the reliability and seismic resistance of a large-panel building on kinematic foundations (KF) at the seismic isolation site in Almaty is analyzed. The building is modeled by a nonlinear single-mass system with an experimental deformation diagram. Seismic impact is modeled by a random process with a given correlation function. To calculate probabilistic characteristics, the method of statistical tests is used (Monte-Carlo method). The seismic impact parameters are set in accordance with the “Map of the seismic zoning of the Republic of Kazakhstan” by the median values of peak accelerations. 2 accelerograms of the 1990 Baysorun earthquake were chosen as the impact model. Therefore, these accelerograms were taken as the basis for modeling the seismic effects of a random process. Generation of realizations of a stationary random process is performed by recursive filtering. The influence of the number of statistical tests (artificial accelerograms) on the accuracy of calculating the moments of the distribution function of displacements was investigated. According to the results of a Monte Carlo calculation using 5000 realizations, the reliability of the building is determined (probability of failure-free operation). Conclusions about system effectiveness of seismoisolation of kinematic type for the influence specified like buildings at regional parameters are drawn.
Assessment of Dynamic Characteristics of High-Rise Structures Taking into Account Dissipative Properties of the Material
Authors: Khudainazarov Sherzod , Sabirjanov Talibjan , Ishmatov Alisher
Published: January 2020

The methods and algorithm to assess dynamic characteristics of high-rise structures are given in the paper taking into account the variability of slopes and the structure thickness in the framework of one-dimensional theory of viscoelasticity. The Boltzmann-Volterra hereditary theory was used to describe dissipative processes in the structure material. The reliability of results was verified by comparing the obtained results with the exact solution of a number of test problems. Natural vibrations of high-rise chimney stacks and ventilation pipes of thermoelectric and nuclear power plants have been investigated. It was revealed that the natural frequencies of the considered structures fall into the dangerous range of earthquake frequencies. The obtained frequencies of natural vibrations of real structures are compared with the results of field experiments.
Fire damage of concrete building structures
Authors: Akulova M V , Flegontov D V , Sokolova Yu A , Sokolova A G
Published: January 2020

The authors proposed innovative approach to defining the extent of damage for concrete building structures. The present paper factors in the problems of detection of damaged structures arising due to thermal stress. The detection methods have been analyzed. There has been found and justified the need for elaboration of complex methodic applicable to detection of fire pocket and the evaluation of possibility of further structural use. The authors have shown the possibility of applying methods of synchronous thermal analysis for investigation of concrete composites with the purpose of further detection of hidden fire pocket and finding severely damaged members of building structures. The obtained results of synchronous thermal analysis are recommended for evaluation of further possible service of building structures.
Deformation and failure of monolithic reinforced concrete frames under special actions
Authors: Fedorova N V , Ngoc Vu Tuyen
Published: January 2020

The results of experimental and theoretical studies of crack formation, deformation and failure of monolithic reinforced concrete frames under accidental action caused by the sudden removal of one of columns of the first floor. Experimental studies were carried out on the model of structural fragment of a three-story two-span reinforced concrete frame, designed from fine-grained concrete class B40 with reinforcement A500. The test of experimental structures is executed by the gravitational load, with use of specially designed lever loading device. Special effect in the form of sudden removal of central columns of the frame was modelled using a specially designed mechanism in the form of sudden switching-off device. The obtained experimental values of widths of cracks, deflections, pictures of cracking and failure of experimental structures of the frames before and after beyond-design action. The experimental values of these parameters are compared with the results of calculation by the method taking into account the specifics of static-dynamic loading of physically and constructively nonlinear structures under the considered special actions.
Modelling of a prestressed beam without concrete-to-steel bond
Authors: Keo Oun , Gneushev I , Topilin A
Published: January 2020

The article deals with the behavior of reinforced concrete beam using reinforcement without concrete bond based on the calculation models made in the calculation complexes. The maximum load corresponding to the ultimate limit state is determined. The modelling results are compared with the calculation results in accordance with the regulatory documents on the design of structures without concrete-to-steel bond. The proposals to determine the maximum load corresponding to destruction were made.
The choice of durable blocking waterproofing mathematical method
Authors: Sokova Serafima , Smirnova Nadezhda
Published: January 2020

Subject: the main issue during the study is the problem of choosing the optimal waterproofing system for the underground parts of buildings and structures. Objectives: choosing the optimal waterproofing system using a mathematical method - hierarchy analysis method. Materials and methods: the procedure of pairwise comparisons that prioritize the hierarchical structure. Results: the mathematical method allowed us to determine the optimal system - a complex system with durable mineral-based waterproofing materials. Conclusions: the effectiveness of the mathematical method is reflected in the selection of the optimal solution for the protection of supporting underground structural elements. On the basis of which a new technology for the protection of foundations is proposed.
Refined second-order plastic-hinge dynamic analysis for planar steel frames
Authors: Nguyễn Văn Tú , Phạm Thanh Bìrnh , Nguyễn Xuân Bàng
Published: January 2020

The paper presents the method of the refined second-order plastic hinge analysis for planar steel frames subjected to dynamic loads. The material model used is the generalized Clough model in consideration of effects of axial and shear force on plastic limit state of cross-sections. Geometric nonlinearities of member and frame are taken into account by the use of stability functions in framed stiffness matrix formulation. Non-linear motional equation of structures was established by finite element method and solved by Newmark method combined with the modified Newton-Raphson method. Based on the obtained algorithms, the author has programmed a computational program and calculated the planar steel frames. From the calculated results, discussions and conclusions are presented.
The Distribution Network Operation Online Monitoring and Analysis System of State Grid Corporation (Phase 5)
Authors: Zhang Jian , Xuan Xin , Xu Zheng , Shao Xiufeng
Published: January 2020

Under the organization of Information & Communication Department and the Operation & Monitor Center in State Gird Corporation’s headquarter, and after two years of construction from 2015 to 2016, the operational efficiency research and monitoring work was carried out at the three-level operation and monitor centers including headquarters, provincial and prefecture level. This provided quantitative evaluation and decision-making basis for the state grid planning and production operations. The leaders of Corporation highly affirmed the results of the special analysis of the operational efficiency of the distribution network assets which is actively explored by the operation & Monitor center. The leaders also put forward the higher requirement on this. To this end, improving the online monitoring and analysis system of the State Gird Corporation’s network distribution operation has stronger practicality.
Computer Simulation Design of Joint Manipulator for Handling Pipeline
Authors: Zeng Peng , Fang Ziqiang , Xing Feihu
Published: January 2020

The joint manipulator is a transmission device suitable for operation close to the body, which can realize multiple degrees of freedom and move flexibly. In this paper, through the transmission analysis of the big arm, the small arm, the wrist and the other parts of the manipulator, a kind of joint manipulator used in the transportation pipeline is proposed, and a three-degree-of-freedom wrist transmission mechanism is designed. On this basis, the structure of the wrist transmission parts is analyzed and designed, and the mechanical analysis and strength check of the gear connecting shaft of the wrist part are carried out.
Design of Power Communication Anti-accident Maneuver Simulation System Based on Alarm Deduction
Authors: Yan Shengchao , Zhou Haobo , Qi Juan
Published: January 2020

In order to improve the effect of the power communication anti-accident maneuver, and to enhance the ability of operation and maintenance personnel to judge and remove network faults quickly and accurately, series of key approaches are adopted, such as root alarm analysis and business analysis. Considering the relationship between the fault and alarm, power communication anti-accident maneuver system based on alarm deduction is realized. Ultimately the purpose of improving the quality and efficiency of the operation and maintenance personnel is achieved.
SWRL Parallel Reasoning Implementation with Spark SQL
Authors: Li Wan , Kang Huaai , Ma Dongbo , Wei Weiwei
Published: January 2020

With the rapid development of semantic Web and big data technology, ontology data has the characteristics of large-scale, high-speed growth and diversity which big data has. On one hand, the conventional ontology reasoners do not scale well for large amounts of ontologies because they are designed for run on a single machine. On the other hand, the existing scalable reasoners are not perfect enough, for example, to completely support the widely used Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL) rules. This paper presents an implementation for SWRL scalable parallel reasoning using the Spark SQL programming model, and optimizes and processes some of the problems in the implementation.
A BCI System with Motor Imagery Based on Bidirectional Long-Short Term Memory
Authors: Lin Jzau-Sheng , She Bing-Hong
Published: January 2020

A bidirectional long short term memory (BiLSTM) neural network was embedded into a brain-computer interface (BCI) system based on motor-imagery (MI) in this paper. The MI-based electroencephalogram (EEG) signals were used to recognize different imagery actions. The dynamic characteristics of MI signals in EEG are usually low signal-to-noise ratio as non-stationary time series. A lot of strategies have been proposed to clustering MI-EEG signals. However they are not considering the concept of series features of the signal in time domain with forward and backward manners, so the recognition results are not promising. The discrete wavelet transform (DWT) was also used to get the frequency feature from transforming each channel of MI-EEG in this paper. Then the proposed BiLSTM is proposed as a classifying system to identify the MI-EEG data. BiLSTM can extract dependencies of different time points by each recurrent unit with an adaptive manner. Besides the forward manner of time series signals in the LSTM unit, the BiLSTM also puts the output signals into previous layers with backward manner. The BiLSTM system can get more promising results in the classification of MI-EEG than those obtained by other strategies shown as in experimental results.
Extraction and Recognition of Fingerprint Characteristic of Mobile Terminal’s Transient Signal
Authors: Luo Fucai , Wu Fei , Li Hongfa , Li Ting , He Jindong , Chen Qian
Published: January 2020

The fingerprint characteristic of mobile terminal’s signal is unique and it can be used to identify the source of the signal. In all the characteristics, the characteristic of transient signals has been more favoured because of the greater diversity. However, the duration of transient signal is extremely short and difficult to accurately detect. Therefore, in order to successfully obtain the fingerprint characteristic, most of the research results are based on the laboratory environment. In this paper, through the methods of differential constellation trajectory and neural network, we realize the extraction and recognition of fingerprint characteristic of mobile phone’s transient signal in the real environment. Meanwhile, by controlling the distance between the terminal and the base station, we also studied the recognition of fingerprint characteristic under different noise conditions.
Dynamic Frequency Tracking Method for Anti-offset Wireless Power Transfer System Based on Phase Comparison
Authors: Wu Xiaokang , Jiang Cheng , Wei Bin , Zhang Fan , Cai Changsong
Published: January 2020

In this paper, a dynamic frequency tracking method for the anti-offset wireless power transfer system based on phase comparison is proposed. The anti-offset characteristics of the system are realized by the structural design of the transmitting coil. The proposed anti-offset coil is verified in both simulation and experiment. However, in order to solve the frequency shift caused by the change of system parameters, a dynamic frequency tracking method is proposed in this paper, which continuously captures and calculates the phase difference between the current and voltage at the transmitting unit through the STM32 chip, adjusts the output frequency in time, and finally keeps the working frequency near the slightly inductive area. This paper establishes an experimental prototype and achieves an efficiency improvement of 6% to 8% through the proposed control method.
Research on Mutual Inductance Prediction of Resonant Magnetic Coupling Wireless Power Transmission System Based on Recursive Least Square Method
Authors: Wang Songcen , Wei Bin , He Hao , Mu Jianxue , Cai Changsong
Published: January 2020

In this paper, based on recursive least square algorithm and resonant magnetic coupling wireless power transmission technology, the magnetic coupling mutual inductance value, which is a significant factor affecting the transmission power and efficiency of wireless transmission system, is predicted. According to the characteristics of the system, a mathematical model of LCC-P-type topology structure is established. Through mathematical deduction and analysis, combined with MATLAB/Simulink simulation results are obtained, and its feasibility is verified by experimental results.
Research on Indoor and Outdoor Positioning System for Special Population
Authors: Zhong Jun , Zhao Shasha , Han Xuefeng , Liu Yongfeng , Guo Kai
Published: January 2020

Special populations, such as empty-nesters, people with a mental health condition, active children, prison inmates, etc., have a considerable number. The WHO noted that there were 47.5 million people with dementia worldwide in 2016. As the number of people with dementia in low- and middle-income countries continue to increase, it is predicted that the total number of people with dementia will reach 75.6 million in 2030 and reach 135.5 million in 2050. The National Health and Family Planning Commission released the “China Family Development Report (2015)”, which is half of the total number of elderly people. The number of severely mentally disabled patients registered in the country reached 4.297 million, and there were 1, 650 national mental health professional institutions and more than 20, 000 psychiatrists. As of 2012, there were 681 prisons in the country, 300, 000 people in prison, and 1.64 million prisoners. More than 80% of the prisons have established video surveillance systems. The Ministry of Public Security’s “Emergency Release Platform for Children’s Missing Information” is about 100 people abducted every year. The number of missing children who are about one-millionth of a year is not found, and the missing rate is about three-tenths of a million. The real-time positioning of the above-mentioned special population has become the key to solving related problems. Relevant nursing homes, community institutions, mental health institutions, and prisons have become the main demand side.
Improving k-Nearest Neighbors Algorithm for Imbalanced Data Classification
Authors: Shi Zhan
Published: January 2020

The k-Nearest Neighbors (k-NN) algorithm is a classic non-parametric method that has wide applications in data classification and prediction. Like many other machine learning schemes, the performance of k-NN classifiers will be significantly impacted by the imbalanced class distributions of data. That is, the data instances in the majority class tend to dominate the prediction of the test instances. In this paper, we look into the data pre-processing techniques that can be used to rebalance the training data and enhance the performance of k-NN classifiers in imbalanced data sets. We conduct extensive experiments on 14 real-world data sets collected from different application domains. We also perform statistical tests to verify the significance of different data pre-processing techniques in terms of boosting k-NN classification precision.
Public Opinion Prediction Model of Food Safety Events Network Based on BP Neural Network
Authors: Zheng Chen , Song Yinghua , Ma Yaping
Published: January 2020

The food safety incident network public opinion has the characteristics of wide audience, complex and changeable, and bad influence. It is of great theoretical and practical significance to study the behavioral and influencing factors of microblog public opinion forwarding in this kind of event. This paper summarizes and enriches the index factors affecting the network’s public opinion forwarding volume. Combined with BP neural network algorithm, this paper constructs a network public opinion forwarding behavior prediction model, and applies and verifies it by crawling Sina Weibo food safety event microblog data. The results show that the introduction of fan activity has a certain weight ratio, which has a greater impact on the forwarding of public opinion in food safety events network with identity authentication, hot search, hypertext and other indicators, and the prediction model combined with BP neural network has a better prediction effect.
Research on Application of Emergency Text Classification Based on Combination Model
Authors: Lyu Long , Song Yinghua , Liu Dan
Published: January 2020

Based on the powerful learning ability of the deep learning model, the text uses convolutional memory network (CLSTM) to process the text information of the emergency. Firstly, the convolutional neural network is used to learn the local spatial feature information of the text, and then the text is extracted by the long and short memory neural network. The time feature information is used to scale the feature information by using the Softmax layer to finally obtain the event text category. Through experimental comparison, the precision, recall and comprehensive values of CLSTM model reached 0.879, 0.877 and 0.848, respectively, which were significantly higher than MLP and CNN models.
Influence of shot peening on corrosion behavior of low alloy steel
Authors: Qiao Mingliang , Hu Jing , Guo Kai , Wang Qingfeng
Published: January 2020

Surface modification is an important technique for maintaining relatively favorable mechanical properties to surface properties and corrosion resistance. In this study, Surface shot peening technology is applied to low alloy steel production nanocrystallines. The microstructure near the surface layer was characterized by x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction. The corrosion behavior of the shot-treated surface layer was analyzed by polarization and pitting test, and the surface morphology of the corroded sample was observed by a scanning electron microscope. The results showed that the surface layer of the alloy after shot peening can be divided into three parts: equiaxed nanoparticle layer (NG), ultrafine grain layer (FG) and elongated fine grain layer (EG). Surface nanocrystallization improved the potential polarization behavior of low alloy steel in 3.5% NaCl solution. The microhardness of the near surface region showed a significant increase compared to the as-received steel sample, showing a more stable electrochemical performance. Shot peening also significantly reduced the pitting rate and maximum pitting depth in 10% FeCl3 solution. The surface nano-layer structure produced by the shot peening process could provide more nucleation sites, thereby improving the uniformity and compactness of the passivation film, resulting in better corrosion resistance. The above experimental results clearly showed that the overall and local corrosion resistance of the low alloy carbon steel in the chloride ion-containing solution can be improved by shot peening.
A generic method to control hysteresis and memory effect in Van der Waals hybrids
Authors: Ahmed Tanweer , Islam Saurav , Paul Tathagata , Hariharan N , Elizabeth Suja , Ghosh Arindam
Published: January 2020

The diverse properties of two-dimensional materials have been utilized in a variety of architecture to fabricate high quality electronic circuit elements. Here we demonstrate a generic method to control hysteresis and stable memory effect in Van der Waals hybrids with a floating gate as the base layer. The floating gate can be charged with a global back gate-voltage, which it can retain in a stable manner. Such devices can provide a very high, leakage-free effective gate-voltage on the field-effect transistors due to effective capacitance amplification, which also leads to reduced input power requirements on electronic devices. The capacitance amplification factor of ∼10 can be further enhanced by increasing the area of the floating gate. We have exploited this method to achieve highly durable memory action multiple genre of ultra-thin 2D channels, including graphene, MoS2, and topological insulators at room temperature.
Study of laser cladding Fe–Co duplex coating on copper substrate
Authors: Xu Peixin , Sun Yufu , Qiao Yazheng , Du Xueshan
Published: January 2020

Fe-Co duplex coating has been successfully deposited onto pure copper surface by Nd:YAG laser cladding. The morphology and microstructure were investigated by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). Mechanical properties of the samples have been evaluated by microhardness measurement and wear properties. Experimental results showed that the coating was free of cracks and voids, and good metallurgical bonded to the substrates. The surface of the Fe–Co duplex coating was mainly composed of α-Co solid solution, CoCx, Fe0.64Ni0.36 and a number of carbides. The microhardness of the Co-based coating reached 438.6 HV0.2, which was about 5 times of Cu substrate (90.5 HV0.2). The wear test showed the average wear rate of Fe-Co duplex coating was 19.8% of that of copper matrix. The hardness and wear resistance of the Fe-Co duplex coating was significantly improved.
Observation of 5f intermediate coupling in uranium x-ray emission spectroscopy
Authors: Tobin J G , Nowak S , Yu S-W , Alonso-Mori R , Kroll T , Nordlund D , Weng T-C , Sokaras D
Published: January 2020

The first observation of Intermediate Coupling effects in the occupied 5f states has been made using x-ray Emission Spectroscopy (XES). In the past, the impact of Intermediate Coupling of the 5f states in actinides has long been observed and quantified, using x-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) to probe the unoccupied 5f states, providing great insight into the enigma of 5f electronic structure. However, no measure of its effects in the occupied states had been reported before this. Moreover, because the 5f occupied states in UF4 are almost completely of 5f5/2 character, the observed effect in XES is twice that in XAS for UF4.
Associativity and integrability
Authors: Fernandes Rui , Michiels Daan
Published: January 2020

We provide a complete solution to the problem of extending a local Lie groupoid to a global Lie groupoid. First, we show that the classical Mal’cev’s theorem, which characterizes local Lie groups that can be extended to global Lie groups, also holds in the groupoid setting. Next, we describe a construction that can be used to obtain any local Lie groupoid with integrable algebroid. Last, our main result establishes a precise relationship between the integrability of a Lie algebroid and the failure in associativity of a local integration. We give a simplicial interpretation of this result showing that the monodromy groups of a Lie algebroid manifest themselves combinatorially in a local integration, as a lack of associativity.
Primary Breast Augmentation with Autologous Fat Grafting Alone: Evaluation of Patient Satisfaction Using the BREAST-Q
Authors: Deschler Alexis , Stroumza Nathaniel , Pessis Rachel , Azuelos Arié , Atlan Michael
Published: January 2020

Background

Autologous fat grafting (AFG) for primary aesthetic breast augmentation has grown in popularity over recent years but patient satisfaction has never been objectively evaluated.

Objectives

The aim of the present study was to use the standardized BREAST-Q questionnaire to evaluate satisfaction in patients who had received primary aesthetic breast augmentation with AFG alone.

Methods

All recipients of primary aesthetic breast augmentation by AFG performed between 2013 and 2017 in our plastic surgery department were included. The primary endpoint was assessment of patient satisfaction with the standardized breast augmentation BREAST-Q questionnaire. Three additional questionnaires were used to evaluate patient and surgeon satisfaction.

Results

In total, 42 patients (84 breasts) underwent breast augmentation by AFG. Mean patient age was 34 years (range, 23-53 years). The mean volume of reinjected fat was 312.2 mL per breast (range, 130-480 mL). We observed significant improvement in all BREAST-Q postoperative items (excluding physical well-being) with a mean increase of 39 points (95% confidence interval: 28.97, 49.03; P < 0.001) regarding patient satisfaction with breasts. Overall, 82% of patients were satisfied with the result of their liposuction. Minor complications were encountered in 6 of our patients (14%).

Conclusions

Breast augmentation by AFG enhances patient satisfaction as measured by the BREAST-Q. This procedure has a high satisfaction rate and improves quality of life. Breast augmentation by AFG is a valid surgical option for moderate breast augmentation but is not an alternative to implants in large breast augmentation.

Level of Evidence: 4
Insights into the persistence and phenotypic effects of the endogenous and cryptic plasmid pMF1 in its host strain Myxococcus fulvus 124B02
Authors: Chen Xiao-jing , Zhang Zheng , Li Ya-jie , Zhuo Li , Sheng Duo-hong , Li Yue-zhong
Published: January 2020

Many endogenous plasmids carry no noticeable benefits for their bacterial hosts, and the persistence of these ‘cryptic plasmids’ and their functional impacts are mostly unclear. In this study, we investigated these uncertainties using the social bacterium Myxococcus fulvus 124B02 and its endogenous plasmid pMF1. pMF1 possesses diverse genes that originated from myxobacteria, suggesting a longstanding co-existence of the plasmid with various myxobacterial species. The curing of pMF1 from 124B02 had almost no phenotypic effects on the host. Laboratory evolution experiments showed that the 124B02 strain retained pMF1 when subcultured on dead Escherichia coli cells but lost pMF1 when subcultured on living E. coli cells or on casitone medium; these results indicated that the persistence of pMF1 in 124B02 was environment-dependent. Curing pMF1 caused the mutant to lose the ability to predate and develop fruiting bodies more quickly than the pMF1-containing strain after they were subcultured on dead E. coli cells, which indicated that the presence of pMF1 in M. fulvus 124B02 has some long-term effects on its host. The results provide some new insights into the persistence and impacts of cryptic plasmids in their natural bacterial cells.
Protection of Unregistered Distinctive Signs within Unfair Competition Law: the Polish Perspective
Authors: Żelechowski Łukasz
Published: January 2020

The protection of unregistered distinctive signs is essentially non-standardised at the international and EU level. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the legal framework relating to the protection of trade names, unregistered trade marks and geographical indications from the perspective of Polish law in which protection of unregistered distinctive signs is predominantly available based on unfair competition law. The analysis takes account of the respective EU legislation, notably the Unfair Market Practices Directive and its impact on combatting unfair competition caused by use of distinctive signs under Polish law, as well as interactions with the national and EU legislation in other areas such as trade mark law and the protection of registered designations of origin and geographical indications. Comparative remarks are occasionally included. The paper also examines the issue of the nature of civil law protection of unregistered distinctive signs under Polish unfair competition law, which is the subject of divergent views among Polish scholars. With regard to the perplexing question of whether provisions of unfair competition law could constitute a basis for distinguishing exclusive rights to unregistered distinctive signs or whether they provide ‘merely’ tortious protection that does not presuppose the existence and infringement of such rights, this paper puts forward arguments in support of the latter qualification.
Understanding the dynamics of the Indo-Pacific: US–China strategic competition, regional actors, and beyond
Authors: He Kai , Li Mingjiang
Published: January 2020

As a geographical concept, ‘Indo-Pacific’ has existed for decades. As a political and strategic concept, it has since 2010 gradually become established in the foreign policy lexicon of some countries, especially Australia, India, Japan and the United States. However, China seems to be reluctant to identify itself as part of the Indo-Pacific; Chinese leaders believe that the US-led Indo-Pacific strategy aims to contain China's rise. While the battle between the two geographical concepts ‘Indo-Pacific’ and ‘Asia–Pacific’ may be fairly easily settled in the future, US–China strategic competition has just begun. Will the Indo-Pacific become a battlefield for US–China rivalry? How will China cope with the US ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’ (FOIP) strategy? How will other regional actors respond to the US–China strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific? What are the strategic implications of the ‘Indo-Pacific’ concept for regional order transformation? How will the Indo-Pacific be institutionalized, economically, politically and strategically? This article introduces the January 2020 special issue of International Affairs, which aims to address those questions, using both country-specific and regional perspectives. Seven articles focus on the policy responses of major players (Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan and ASEAN) to the US FOIP strategy and related US–China rivalry in the region. A further three articles examine the profound implications of Indo-Pacific dynamics for regional institution-building and for geopolitical and geo-economic architecture.
Tactics of cancer invasion: solitary and collective invasion
Authors: Nagai Tomoaki , Ishikawa Tomohiro , Minami Yasuhiro , Nishita Michiru
Published: January 2020

Much attention has been paid on the mechanism of cancer invasion from the viewpoint of the behaviour of individual cancer cells. On the other hand, histopathological analyses of specimens from cancer patients and of cancer invasion model animals have revealed that cancer cells often exhibit collective invasion, characterized by sustained cell-to-cell adhesion and polarized invasion as cell clusters. Interestingly, it has recently become evident that during collective invasion of cancer cells, the cells localized at invasion front (leader cells) and the cells following them (follower cells) exhibit distinct cellular characteristics, and that there exist the cells expressing representative proteins related to both epithelial and mesenchymal properties simultaneously, designated as hybrid epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-induced cells, in cancer tissue. Furthermore, the findings that cells adopted in hybrid EMT state form clusters and show collective invasion in vitro emphasize an importance of hybrid EMT-induced cells in collective cancer invasion. In this article, we overview recent findings of the mechanism underlying collective invasion of cancer cells and discuss the possibility of controlling cancer invasion and metastasis by targeting this process.
Out of Sight—Out of Mind: Impact of Cascade Reporting on Antimicrobial Usage
Authors: Liao Siyun , Rhodes Judith , Jandarov Roman , DeVore Zachary , Sopirala Madhuri M
Published: January 2020

Background

There is a paucity of data evaluating the strategy of suppressing broader-spectrum antibiotic susceptibilities on utilization. Cascade reporting (CR) is a strategy of reporting antimicrobial susceptibility test results in which secondary (eg, broader-spectrum, costlier) agents may only be reported if an organism is resistant to primary agents within a particular drug class. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of ceftriaxone-based cascade reporting on utilization of cefepime and clinical outcomes in patients with ceftriaxone-susceptible Escherichia and Klebsiella clinical cultures.

Methods

We compared post-CR (July 2014–June 2015) with baseline (July 2013–June 2014), evaluating utilization of cefepime, cefazolin, ceftriaxone, ampicillin derivatives, fluoroquinolones, piperacillin/tazobactam, ertapenem, and meropenem; new Clostridium difficile infection; and length of stay (LOS) after the positive culture, 30-day readmission, and in-hospital all-cause mortality.

Results

Mean days of therapy (DOT) among patients who received any antibiotic for cefepime decreased from 1.229 days during the baseline period to 0.813 days post-CR (adjusted relative risk, 0.668; P < .0001). Mean DOT of ceftriaxone increased from 0.864 days to 0.962 days, with an adjusted relative risk of 1.113 (P = .004). No significant differences were detected in other antibiotics including ertapenem and meropenem, demonstrating the direct association of the decrease in cefepime utilization with CR based on ceftriaxone susceptibility. Average LOS in the study population decreased from 14.139 days to 10.882 days from baseline to post-CR and was found to be statistically significant (P < .0001).

Conclusions

In conclusion, we demonstrated significant association of decreased cefepime utilization with the implementation of a CR based on ceftriaxone susceptibility. We demonstrated the safety of deescalation, with LOS being significantly lower during the post-CR period than in the baseline period, with no change in in-hospital mortality.
Evaluative Diversity and the (Ir)Relevance of Well-Being
Authors: Aas Sean
Published: January 2020

This chapter is based on a concern that recent philosophical discussions about disability—more and more focused on the relevance of disability to individual well-being—risk losing sight of the original, political concerns motivating the disability rights movements and its academic interpreters. I develop this by explicating some reasons why pro-disability philosophers can and should reject welfarist arguments across a wide range of cases. Taking debates around causing disability in procreative ethics as an illustrative example, I argue that the best versions of pro-disability arguments in this area powerfully buttress long-standing liberal objections to utilitarianism and welfarism more generally—particularly concerns that policies should not be publicly justified in terms of reasonably controversial conceptions of the good life. Public reason precludes these sorts of judgments regarding well-being, I argue, whether they are positive or negative about the welfare value of disability.
Disability and Disadvantage in the Capabilities Approach
Authors: Riddle Christopher A.
Published: January 2020

This chapter argues that within the realm of justice, not all goods or opportunities are the same—a failure to secure some goods results in mere disadvantage, while a failure to secure other goods results in corrosive disadvantage. If a disadvantage adversely impacts one’s ability to secure other goods or opportunities, we should regard it as being corrosive in nature and thus give it higher priority within a theory of distributive justice. This chapter suggests that with respect to the capabilities approach, an understanding of disadvantage that recognizes the often-corrosive nature of the experience of disability would require us to prioritize some capabilities over others. More pointedly, a capability theorist’s refusal to acknowledge the need to prioritize some capabilities over others is a failing of basic justice and would result in the compounding of injustice against people with disabilities.
Disability Liberation Theology
Authors: Garland-Thomson Rosemarie
Published: January 2020

This chapter considers the ways images of disability liberation might reimagine the question of how we should live as people with disabilities. To do so, it offers a version of disability liberation theology that draws together the visual iconography of the mid-twentieth-century civil and human liberation movements and the theological tradition of the Catholic Marian tradition. To support this explication of disability liberation theology, the chapter reviews the history of liberty as a sociopolitical concept, the cultural work of images, the disability theology critique of Biblical healing narratives, the critique of a medical model of disability, disability liberation theology, and care ethics. The chapter concludes by putting forward images of interdependent bodily care in the early Marian tradition as potentially liberatory and a possible guide to disability justice. By portraying acts of bodily care as sacred rituals, these images suggest a theoretical armature to consider intimate body care as an affirmation rather than a diminishment of human dignity.
Latina/o Religious Studies Since the 1970s
Authors: Hinojosa Felipe
Published: January 2020

This article provides an overview of the field of Latina/o religious studies since the 1970s. Motivated by the political tenor of the times, Latina/o religious studies began as a political project committed to contextualizing theological studies by stressing racial identity, resistance to church hierarchy, and economic inequality. Rooted in a robust interdisciplinary approach, Latina/o religious studies pulls from multiple fields of study. This article, however, focuses on the field’s engagements with ethnic studies in the last fifty years, from the 1970s to the contemporary period. It argues that while the field began as a way to tell the stories, faith practices, and theologies of religious insiders (i.e., clergy and religious leaders), recent scholarship has expanded the field to include the broader themes of community formation, labor, social movements, immigrant activism, and an intentional focus on the relationships with non-religious communities.
The Boundary Conditions of Motivated Reasoning
Authors: Cotter Ryan G. , Lodge Milton , Vidigal Robert
Published: January 2020

Decades of research on motivated reasoning have found that citizens routinely place a higher priority on defending their preexisting beliefs than on updating them in response to new and conflicting experiences. Scholars have employed a variety of strategies in their efforts to eliminate, or at least mitigate, the reactive and polarizing effects of motivated reasoning. In this chapter, we provide a conceptual framework for navigating this body of literature that categorizes these efforts based upon how their interventions moderate the three central dimensions of information processing: priors, motivations, and considerations. This review of an extensive and growing literature finds that purely cognitive approaches to political communication are insufficient for overcoming subjects’ powerful drive to rationalize their own perspective. Accepting, understanding, and embracing the role of affect in shaping information processing offers promise for redirecting attention and reshaping intentions for the purpose of overcoming the limitations of situated perspectives.
Bible, Empire, Liberalism, and Racial Capitalism
Authors: Davidson Steed Vernyl
Published: January 2020

The article examines how liberal discourses and practices become central to modern European empire. Liberalism as a discourse of uplift and progress resonates with the goals of Christian evangelism to make the world a better place. This article explores two different poles of the Bible in the midst of empire—the polarities of justification and resistance. The first part of the article examines how race and capital form strong motivations for empire that set the stage for the second section, which describes how the Bible provides justification for empire. At the heart of the article is the notion of the Bible’s function as a mechanism for the manufacturing of consent to empire at home and abroad. The final section of the article offers a treatment of Rastafari textual traditions that function as an overt rejection of the Bible as an example of the disruption of the logic of empire.
Background and Introduction
Authors: Örtenblad Anders Ragnar
Published: January 2020

This chapter introduces the book and its chapters. First, a brief background is given. In this part of the chapter the aims of the book are also offered. The main aim is to examine and develop the idea of the learning organization, through making an inventory on what already is known about the learning organization, offering new, alternative features and angles on the learning organization, and suggesting areas for further research. The book also intends to fill the gap between the more traditional perspectives and the more critical perspectives of the learning organization—or at least to bring them closer to each other. After the relatively brief background, the eight sections in the book are presented, along with the chapters that each section contains.
Learning Organization and Organizational Performance
Authors: Kim Kyoungshin , Lu Zhenqiu
Published: January 2020

One of the strategic ways of continuing sustainable success is becoming a learning organization, an ideal environment for securing organizational performance. This chapter begins by reviewing the literature on a learning organization and organizational performance focusing on their research context, instruments, analytic methods, and empirical findings. Then, it discusses the importance of a learning organization in promoting organizational performance, especially an organization’s capacity of connecting it to its external environment and the existence of leadership that supports learning. This chapter further addresses the stronger relationship between a learning organization and non-financial performance together with the necessity of dimensionalizing organizational performance and developing corresponding measures. Lastly, this chapter suggests methodological recommendations for future studies.
Becoming a Learning Organization: A Process-Philosophical Perspective
Authors: Chia Robert
Published: January 2020

Learning is usually assumed to be an essentially cognitive activity. Consequently, the learning organization literature takes the process of learning to be about acquiring facts, processing information, formulating knowledge configurations, and internalizing rules, routines, and procedures. This way of understanding learning assumes that it is driven by prior intentions and pre-defined purposes. But not all organizational learning happens this way. This chapter adopts a process-philosophical approach to show the primacy and importance of non-cognitive and non-deliberate aspects of organizational learning. It argues that prior to conscious cognition, organizational members unconsciously acquire a substrate of generic capabilities through social immersion that crucially defines and circumscribes their capacity to learn. This non-cognitive form of learning comprises a collectively refined perceptual sensitivity to environmental affordances, and it is this tacit ability to perceive and respond to the unfolding contours of a dynamically evolving external environment that makes for a truly effective learning organization.
The Effect of Cervicodorsal Hemivertebra Resection on Head Tilt and Trunk Shift in Children With Congenital Scoliosis
Authors: Burkhardt Benedikt W. , Meyer Carolin , Wagenpfeil Gudrun , Pitzen Tobias R. , Ruf Michael
Published: January 2020

Background:

Congenital scoliosis due to hemivertebra of the cervicodorsal spine is a rare disorder. It might be accompanied by impaired cosmetic appearances such as head tilt and trunk shift. Little is known about the effect of correction of the major curve on head tilt and trunk shift in children. The purpose of this study was to assess radiographic changes of head tilt and trunk shift following posterior hemivertebra resection (PHVR).

Methods:

Retrospectively, all children who underwent PHVR at the cervicodorsal spine (C6-Th6) with pedicle screw fixation with a minimum radiographic follow-up of 1 year were identified for further assessment. A total of 5 radiographic parameters were assessed on preoperative, postoperative, and final follow-up radiographs. (1) Head tilt was defined as the angle between the horizontal line and the line through both molars of the maxillary, (2) trunk shift as the angle between the line of the center of C7 to the sacrum and the central sacral vertical line, (3) Cobb angle was used to assess the major curve, (4) cranial, and (5) caudal compensatory curvature.

Results:

Seven boys and 10 girls with a mean age of 9.0 years at surgery were evaluated. The mean radiographic follow-up was 89.5 months (range: 12 to 166 mo). The mean head tilt reoriented from 6.9 to 1.9 degrees (P<0.001); trunk shift improved from 4.3 to 2.5 degrees after surgery (P=0.100). There was a significant correlation between head tilt and trunk shift on preoperative and postoperative radiographs (P=0.030/0.031). The major curve, and compensatory curvatures were all significantly corrected (P<0.001). Head reorientation was significantly influenced by patient age at surgery. Repeated procedures due to decompensation of the compensatory curvature were performed in 2 cases.

Conclusions:

PHVR and pedicle screw fixation is an effective treatment for patients with congenital scoliosis. Surgery achieves a significant correction of the major curve and reorientation of the head postoperatively, and till the last follow-up.

Level of Evidence:

Level IV.