bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Phenomenology of Black Spirit
Authors: Gray Biko , Johnson Ryan
Published: September 2023

What if the protagonist of Hegel’s Phenomenology were Black? This staging of an elongated dialectical parallelism between Hegel’s classic text and major 19th-20th-century Black thinkers explodes the western canon of philosophy. From the first moment — the Master-Slave dialectic, Frederick Douglass, and Ida B. Wells — to the last — Unhappy Consciousness, Malcolm X, and Angela Davis — Hegel’s abstract dialectic is transformed and critiqued by the lived dialectics of Black Thought. While Hegel formally articulates the dynamic logics that we see in these Black thinkers, placing in parallel both sets of dialectics reveals the whiteness, both explicit and implicit,of Hegelianism itself. Rather than simply submitting a marginalized history to white verification, forcing Hegelianism into the embodied history of Black Thought reveals a phenomenology of America whose spirit is Black.
Pontius Pilate on Screen
Authors: McDonough Christopher M.
Published: September 2023

Pontius Pilate On-Screen: Sinner, Soldier, Superstar deals with one of history’s most controversial characters. From Monty Python’s Life of Brian to Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ, Pontius Pilate is a figure of endless fascination to filmmakers. The Roman prefect is portrayed at times as the hapless victim of machinations beyond his control and at other times as the heartless villain of the piece. If in films about the Passion Jesus represents eternal truth, Pilate symbolizes the values of the present. Whether it is the lingering trauma of the Holocaust, the ongoing struggle over Civil Rights, or the polarized politics of the current day, filmmakers endeavour repeatedly to portray in Pontius Pilate a compelling counter-figure to Jesus himself. Insofar as Jesus is a static character in film representing eternal moral integrity, so Pilate is at odds with him, reflecting by contrast the values of the contemporary world. Simply put, the tension in such movies is that between the church and the world outside—between the push of Sunday morning and the pull of Saturday night.
Conclusion
Authors: O'Shaughnessy Martin
Published: September 2023

The book’s conclusion discusses how the films analysed throughout its length refute any neat identification of a cinema of the Crisis by showing neoliberal subjects already in crisis in films from well before 2007-2008 or already in gestation at that time. The conclusion notes how, given the increasingly punitive drift of neoliberalism, a cinema that limits itself to critique risks increasing sterility. Instead, it argues for the value of a cinema that reawakens a sense of possibility, of contingency and of alternatives bubbling under.
Politics and the People
Authors: Petrie Malcolm
Published: September 2023

This book offers a reappraisal of Scottish politics in the decades after 1945, augmenting existing accounts of this period by foregrounding the importance of ideology and language. Founded upon original archival research, Politics and the People recovers the central role played within modern Scottish politics by an individualist, anti-bureaucratic critique of central government. Deployed initially by those on the political right to attack the programme of nationalisation implemented by the post-war Labour government, by the 1960s this rhetoric was being exploited by advocates of constitutional change. As liberty came to be framed in constitutional rather than economic terms, understandings of political representation also shifted: crucially, the arrival of the referendum in British politics granted credibility to the belief that there existed a distinctive Scottish tradition of popular sovereignty. Focused upon Scotland, this study nevertheless engages with broader debates and will appeal to historians of modern Britain as well as political and legal scholars.
Seminar from November 24, 1982
Authors: Castoriadis Cornelius , Vidal-Naquet Pierre
Published: September 2023

This chapter examines Homer and the ancient Greek context, emphasizing the immensity of the corpus of receptions and interpretations of the poems. After laying out some chronological reference points, Castoriadis argues that the Homeric poems were definitively canonized in a world already familiar with the political form of the polis. Critically examining the very idea of historical influences, Castoriadis argues that, in truth, the old can be taken up into the new only with the significance that the new gives to it; there is a selectivity of what one culture borrows from another. This idea allows for radically new historical forms, and Castoriadis mobilizes for his argument the example of the Greek discovery of mathematical proofs as well as their positing of ideal space and the ideality of numbers. In question-and-answer, Castoriadis argues that in mathematics the potential for an actualization is as valid as the actualization itself.
Seminar from March 2, 1983
Authors: Castoriadis Cornelius , Vidal-Naquet Pierre
Published: September 2023

This chapter offers further interpretation of the fragments of Heraclitus. Castoriadis opens by arguing that Heraclitus did not work in a void but achieved a synthesis in conversation with preceding philosophical traditions. He also emphasizes the textual problems associated with Heraclitus’s corpus and cautions against the common error of interpretive overreach. Moving into interpretation, Castoriadis highlights Heraclitus’s willingness to criticize the popular tradition and the educated tradition equally. He also emphasizes Heraclitus’s critique of the idia phronēsis, or private thinking; his thematic of the relativity of every predication; his notion of a war that is also harmony; and his idea that being both veils and indicates what it is. Castoriadis also dwells on Heraclitus’s notions of the slumberers, on the theme of the logos xynos, and on fragments suggesting the unity of all things, in connection with the concepts of logos and fire. In question-and-answer, Castoriadis offers a detailed analysis of Heraclitus fragment 108. He also clarifies his understanding of contrariety for Heraclitus and suggests that the history of philosophy is a permanent process of interpretation, including significant and productive misinterpretations.
Islam and New Directions in World Literature
Authors: Einboden Jeffrey
Published: September 2023

This volume examines Weltliteratur through Islamicate imaginaries. In so doing, it seeks to offer a corrective to its “Global North” lineages, delinking world literature from its default originary moments and geographies, and posits the Islamicate as an alternative modality of literary worldliness. It avoids antagonising one literature against the other, and instead prefers to create hospitable sites of fresh interpretation across hemispheres in a collection of chapters that engage a plurality of scholarly fields, and cover a variety of periods, literary traditions, and languages.
Since its advent, Islam has been a representational force to be reckoned with, cross-pollinating world literatures in Africa, Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean and the Americas. Yet, scholarship on Islam in world literatures has been sparse despite its significant presence. This book understands Islamic literary and cultural heritages as dynamic forces, constantly enriched and enlivened by various humanistic traditions in multiple languages, spanning the lives of individuals and societies throughout history. It is also designed to incorporate a variety of themes, influences, ramifications and representations of Islam in world literatures in classical and contemporary contexts.
Exploring Islam’s presence in world literatures in two strands: on the one hand, examining the orientalist versions and usages of Islam; and on the other hand, analysing the presence of Islam as Islamicate, this book advances a consideration of Islam as an agent in the history of World Literature.
‘Even a lady sometimes raises her voice’: Mary Russell Mitford and Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Authors: Reus Anne
Published: September 2023

This chapter offers an example of biographical experimentation and feminist historiography in Woolf’s engagement with minor Victorian women writers Mary Russell Mitford and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, as she is drawn to their lives as a testimony to the complex interrelation of money, authorship and domestic tyranny that underpins her analysis in A Room of One’s Own and Three Guineas. Woolf challenges nostalgic accounts of Mitford’s rural idyll by exploring Dr Mitford’s emotional and financial abuse of his daughter, while cautiously testing core ideas of her New Biography in a series of increasingly fictionalising reviews of Mary Russell Mitford and Her Surroundings (1920). Her writing on Barrett Browning responds similarly to contemporary sensationalist representations of domestic tyranny in The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1930) to reframe Barrett Browning’s life as wide-reaching critique of patriarchal society’s worst excesses.
Reanimating Shakespeare's Othello in Post-Racial America
Authors: Corredera Vanessa
Published: September 2023

At the close of Shakespeare’s play, Othello supplicates, “Speak of me as I am,” as Venetians congregate and pass judgment, subsequently pleading that they “nothing extenuate,” leave out, or make thin (5.2.352). Othello’s anxiety about narrative accuracy lays bare his fear over the fate of his story, that it will misrepresent the singular Black Moor in the Venetians’ midst. As the first monograph examining Othello’s history of reanimation—meaning works and moments that bring the tragedy back to life—Reanimating Shakespeare’s Othello in Post-Racial America takes up this question of retelling Othello’s story, turning to reanimations crafted in a time and place imagined as having overcome racial injustice: post-racial America (2008-2016). Reanimating Shakespeare’s Othello reveals, however, that twenty-first century appropriations do not necessarily break with but often reify the problems inherent in Shakespeare’s tragedy, thereby troubling the narrative of racial progress. This book argues that representational choices across a range of appropriations perpetuate varying racial frameworks, or ideological perspectives, that advance either antiblack or antiracist versions of the play, which in turn shape how audiences engage with the contested issue of race in Othello and in American society. By elucidating the presence and function of these competing frameworks, Reanimating Shakespeare’s Othello illuminates the more or less ethical ways to wrestle with Othello and race—in appropriations, scholarship, the classroom, and beyond.
Hannah Arendt and Politics
Authors: Robaszkiewicz Maria , Weinman Michael
Published: September 2023

Presents Hannah Arendt from a fresh angle: as a thinker who engages in both word and deed with the practices of the common world, and who invites us to do the same. The essential element of her unique manner of thinking politics, her concept of ‘exercises in political thinking,’ remains insufficiently regarded, for all the recent flurry of discussion about her work. Based on this concept, the authors uncover the deeply practical aspect of her thinking, including in works that are taken to be her most abstract and theoretical, such as The Human Condition and The Life of the Mind. Arendt is well known for her accounts of action, totalitarianism, revolution; alongside her insightful study of lying in politics and the prevalence of prejudice, to name only name a few. These aspects in her thought have gained widespread, even popular, attention in recent years. A growing number of publications on Arendt’s political theory, especially those engaging in critical analysis of current political phenomena, amply demonstrates the contemporary relevance of her theoretical concepts. Our book, however, will introduce the reader not only to Hannah Arendt’s theory and its current salience, but also to her practices of reflective judgment.
Democracy in the Post-Truth Era
Authors: Grygienc Janusz
Published: September 2023

We are facing a crisis of trust in expertise today. Fewer and fewer people trust experts, and more and more politicians openly ignore expert consensus. 'Democracy in the Post-Truth Era' asks what might happen to democracy if we reject the fundamental liberal assumption that people are capable of making informed choices. The book explores the potential impact on society if people, including politicians, never appreciate the relevance of expert opinions. What if people cannot choose between supporters and opponents of key issues such as the causes of climate change, effectiveness of vaccines and ways of combating economic and social crises? Applying social epistemology to these questions, the book considers whether democracy can be defended in the post-truth era.
It also argues that in its present form, liberal-democratic theory is unable to meet the challenge of post-truth and populism. The book attempts to demonstrate that rejecting the assumption that laypeople are competent to make decisions necessitates a reshaping of liberal democratic theory. It shows that it is culture and an atmosphere of trust in expertise rather than rational deliberation that plays a key role in ending the era of post-truth and radical, axiomatic scepticism with regard to expert knowledge.
Assessing Intelligence
Authors: Lyons Sara
Published: September 2023

How did Victorian novelists engage with the new theories of human intelligence that emerged from late nineteenth-century psychology and evolutionary science? Assessing Intelligence traces the genealogy of the modern concept of IQ. It examines how five writers – George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, HG Wells and Virginia Woolf – used the bildungsroman, or the novel of education, to wrestle with the moral and political implications of the IQ model of intelligence and the fantasies of meritocracy it provoked. Drawing upon the work of Michel Foucault and Jacques Rancière, Sara Lyons argues that Victorian and Edwardian novelists were by turns complicit in the biopolitics of intelligence and sought radical ways to affirm the equality of minds.
Understanding Elongasome Unit of Mycobacterium and its Comparative Analysis with Other Model Organisms
Authors: Jain Preeti
Published: September 2023

The reported incidences of 10.6 million tuberculosis cases worldwide with 1.6 million deaths in 2021 indicate that this disease, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis pathogen is difficult to treat and requires exploring newer possible therapeutic interventions. To identify novel drug targets, it is important to understand the basic physiological processes of each pathogen in detail. Cell division is the fundamental physiological process which maintains the replicative state of bacteria. This process requires remodelling of the cell wall, which is performed by two spatio-temporal organized complexes, elongasome and divisome. These two complexes, elongasome and divisome function in synthesis of peptidoglycan (PG) at poles or septum of the cell, respectively. This review article is focused on illustrating differential features and composition of mycobacterial elongasome complex. This sort of understanding would allow identification of new drug targets and design of Mycobacterium specific drugs.
Masks and the spread of droplets and airborne virions
Authors: Mason David , Fowkes Neville
Published: September 2023

A brief review of poroelasticity is first presented. A mathematical model of a double compressible mask is formulated and is solved analytically. The permeability of each mask and the pressure difference across the double mask are obtained. Suitable scales for the fluid flux, permeability and pressure are introduced. The steady state flow-through behaviour under flow-out conditions was analysed. Th results showed that the reduction in permeability required to produce a relatively impermeable mask under high flux expulsion (sneezing) conditions could be achieved using either a single filter compressible mask or two filters with different poroelastic parameters. The poroelastic parameters can be more easily adjusted using a double mask.
Det kan vara rätt att göra fel
Authors: Frejd Johanna , Pramling Niklas
Published: September 2023

I den här texten beskrivs hur en förskollärare tar vara på en situation där hon upptäckt att hon tidigare har ”gjort fel” och sedan mycket medvetet koordinerar flera olika resurser (gester, tal, mimik, intonation osv) för att undervisa om ett naturvetenskapligt fenomen – tromber. Poängen med texten är således att visa hur ett fel kan vändas till något som är helt rätt genom en skicklig förskollärare. Förskolläraren rör sig mellan fantasi och verklighet och använder kontrastering mellan begrepp för att synliggöra fenomenet. Analysen visar att ett identifierat ”fel” kan användas som en pedagogisk resurs.
Advances in the design, generation, and application of tissue-engineered myocardial equivalents
Authors: Bernava Giacomo , Iop Laura
Published: September 2023

Due to the limited regenerative ability of cardiomyocytes, the disabling irreversible condition of myocardial failure can only be treated with conservative and temporary therapeutic approaches, not able to repair the damage directly, or with organ transplantation. Among the regenerative strategies, intramyocardial cell injection or intravascular cell infusion should attenuate damage to the myocardium and reduce the risk of heart failure. However, these cell delivery-based therapies suffer from significant drawbacks and have a low success rate. Indeed, cardiac tissue engineering efforts are directed to repair, replace, and regenerate native myocardial tissue function. In a regenerative strategy, biomaterials and biomimetic stimuli play a key role in promoting cell adhesion, proliferation, differentiation, and neo-tissue formation. Thus, appropriate biochemical and biophysical cues should be combined with scaffolds emulating extracellular matrix in order to support cell growth and prompt favorable cardiac microenvironment and tissue regeneration. In this review, we provide an overview of recent developments that occurred in the biomimetic design and fabrication of cardiac scaffolds and patches. Furthermore, we sift in vitro and in situ strategies in several preclinical and clinical applications. Finally, we evaluate the possible use of bioengineered cardiac tissue equivalents as in vitro models for disease studies and drug tests.
Succinate metabolism: a promising therapeutic target for inflammation, ischemia/reperfusion injury and cancer
Authors: Zhang Wenhui , Lang Ren
Published: September 2023

Succinate serves as an essential circulating metabolite within the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and functions as a substrate for succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), thereby contributing to energy production in fundamental mitochondrial metabolic pathways. Aberrant changes in succinate concentrations have been associated with pathological states, including chronic inflammation, ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury, and cancer, resulting from the exaggerated response of specific immune cells, thereby rendering it a central area of investigation. Recent studies have elucidated the pivotal involvement of succinate and SDH in immunity beyond metabolic processes, particularly in the context of cancer. Current scientific endeavors are concentrated on comprehending the functional repercussions of metabolic modifications, specifically pertaining to succinate and SDH, in immune cells operating within a hypoxic milieu. The efficacy of targeting succinate and SDH alterations to manipulate immune cell functions in hypoxia-related diseases have been demonstrated. Consequently, a comprehensive understanding of succinate’s role in metabolism and the regulation of SDH is crucial for effectively targeting succinate and SDH as therapeutic interventions to influence the progression of specific diseases. This review provides a succinct overview of the latest advancements in comprehending the emerging functions of succinate and SDH in metabolic processes. Furthermore, it explores the involvement of succinate, an intermediary of the TCA cycle, in chronic inflammation, IR injury, and cancer, with particular emphasis on the mechanisms underlying succinate accumulation. This review critically assesses the potential of modulating succinate accumulation and metabolism within the hypoxic milieu as a means to combat various diseases. It explores potential targets for therapeutic interventions by focusing on succinate metabolism and the regulation of SDH in hypoxia-related disorders.
Use of biogenic silver nanoparticles on the cathode to improve bioelectricity production in microbial fuel cells
Authors: Elkhrachy Ismail , Singh Vandana , Kumar Ankit , Roy Arpita , Abbas Mohamed , Gacem Amel , Alam Mir Waqas , Yadav Krishna Kumar , Verma Devvret , Jeon Byong-Hun , Park Hyun-Kyung
Published: September 2023

To date, research on microbial fuel cells (MFCs) has. focused on the production of cost-effective, high-performance electrodes and catalysts. The present study focuses on the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) by Pseudomonas sp. and evaluates their role as an oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst in an MFC. Biogenic AgNPs were synthesized from Pseudomonas aeruginosa via facile hydrothermal synthesis. The physiochemical characterization of the biogenic AgNPs was conducted via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-visible spectrum analysis. SEM micrographs showed a spherical cluster of AgNPs of 20–100 nm in size. The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) ability of the biogenic AgNPs was studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV). The oxygen reduction peaks were observed at 0.43 V, 0.42 V, 0.410 V, and 0.39 V. Different concentrations of biogenic AgNPs (0.25–1.0 mg/cm2) were used as ORR catalysts at the cathode in the MFC. A steady increase in the power production was observed with increasing concentrations of biogenic AgNPs. Biogenic AgNPs loaded with 1.0 mg/cm2 exhibited the highest power density (PDmax) of 4.70 W/m3, which was approximately 26.30% higher than the PDmax of the sample loaded with 0.25 mg/cm2. The highest COD removal and Coulombic efficiency (CE) were also observed in biogenic AgNPs loaded with 1.0 mg/cm2 (83.8% and 11.7%, respectively). However, the opposite trend was observed in the internal resistance of the MFC. The lowest internal resistance was observed in a 1.0 mg/cm2 loading (87 Ω), which is attributed to the high oxygen reduction kinetics at the surface of the cathode by the biogenic AgNPs. The results of this study conclude that biogenic AgNPs are a cost-effective, high-performance ORR catalyst in MFCs.
Machine learning models for predicting the risk factor of carotid plaque in cardiovascular disease
Authors: Bin Chengling , Li Qin , Tang Jing , Dai Chaorong , Jiang Ting , Xie Xiufang , Qiu Min , Chen Lumiao , Yang Shaorong
Published: September 2023

Introduction

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a group of diseases involving the heart or blood vessels and represents a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Carotid plaque is an important risk factor for CVD that can reflect the severity of atherosclerosis. Accordingly, developing a prediction model for carotid plaque formation is essential to assist in the early prevention and management of CVD.

Methods

In this study, eight machine learning algorithms were established, and their performance in predicting carotid plaque risk was compared. Physical examination data were collected from 4,659 patients and used for model training and validation. The eight predictive models based on machine learning algorithms were optimized using the above dataset and 10-fold cross-validation. The Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) tool was used to compute and visualize feature importance. Then, the performance of the models was evaluated according to the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), feature importance, accuracy and specificity.

Results

The experimental results indicated that the XGBoost algorithm outperformed the other machine learning algorithms, with an AUC, accuracy and specificity of 0.808, 0.749 and 0.762, respectively. Moreover, age, smoke, alcohol drink and BMI were the top four predictors of carotid plaque formation. It is feasible to predict carotid plaque risk using machine learning algorithms.

Conclusions

This study indicates that our models can be applied to routine chronic disease management procedures to enable more preemptive, broad-based screening for carotid plaque and improve the prognosis of CVD patients.
Cardiac magnetic resonance assessment of cardiac involvement in autoimmune diseases
Authors: Gulhane Avanti , Ordovas Karen
Published: September 2023

Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is emerging as the modality of choice to assess early cardiovascular involvement in patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARDs) that often has a silent presentation and may lead to changes in management. Besides being reproducible and accurate for functional and volumetric assessment, the strength of CMR is its unique ability to perform myocardial tissue characterization that allows the identification of inflammation, edema, and fibrosis. Several CMR biomarkers may provide prognostic information on the severity and progression of cardiovascular involvement in patients with ARDs. In addition, CMR may add value in assessing treatment response and identification of cardiotoxicity related to therapy with immunomodulators that are commonly used to treat these conditions. In this review, we aim to discuss the following objectives:

•

Illustrate imaging findings of multi-parametric CMR approach in the diagnosis of cardiovascular involvement in various ARDs;

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Review the CMR signatures for risk stratification, prognostication, and guiding treatment strategies in ARDs;

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Describe the utility of routine and advanced CMR sequences in identifying cardiotoxicity related to immunomodulators and disease-modifying agents in ARDs;

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Discuss the limitations of CMR, recent advances, current research gaps, and potential future developments in the field.
Case report: Recurrence of inflammatory cardiomyopathy detected by magnetocardiography
Authors: Suwalski Phillip , Golpour Ainoosh , Musigk Nicolas , Wilke Finn , Landmesser Ulf , Heidecker Bettina
Published: September 2023

Background

The diagnosis of inflammatory cardiomyopathies remains challenging. Life-threatening conditions such as acute coronary syndrome (ACS) always have to be considered as differential diagnoses due to similarities in presentation. Diagnostic methods for inflammatory cardiomyopathy include endomyocardial biopsy (EMB), cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR), and positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT). We report a case in whom magnetocardiography (MCG) led to an initial diagnosis of inflammatory cardiomyopathy and in whom MCG was used for subsequent monitoring of treatment response under immunosuppression.

Case presentation

A 53-year-old man presented with two recurrent episodes of inflammatory cardiomyopathy within a 2-year period. The patient initially presented with reduced exercise capacity. Echocardiography revealed a moderately reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF 40%). Coronary angiography ruled out obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) and an EMB was performed. The EMB revealed inflammatory cardiomyopathy without viral pathogens or replication. Moreover, we performed MCG, which confirmed a pathological Tbeg-Tmax vector of 0.108. We recently established a cutoff value of Tbeg-Tmax of 0.051 or greater for the diagnosis of inflammatory cardiomyopathy. Immunosuppressive therapy with prednisolone was initiated, resulting in clinical improvement and an LVEF increase from 40% to 45% within 1 month. Furthermore, the MCG vector improved to 0.036, which is considered normal based on our previous findings. The patient remained clinically stable for 23 months. During a routine follow-up, MCG revealed an abnormal Tbeg-Tmax vector of 0.069. The patient underwent additional testing including routine laboratory values, echocardiography (LVEF 35%), and PET-CT. PET-CT revealed increased metabolism in the myocardium—primarily in the lateral wall. Therapy with prednisolone and azathioprine was initiated and MCG was used to monitor the effect of immunosuppressive therapy.

Conclusion

In addition to diagnostic screening, MCG has the potential to become a valuable method for surveillance monitoring of patients who have completed treatment for inflammatory cardiomyopathy. Furthermore, it could be used for treatment monitoring. While changes in the magnetic vector of the heart are not specific to inflammatory cardiomyopathy, as they may also occur in other types of cardiomyopathies, MCG offers a tool of broad and efficient diagnostic screening for cardiac pathologies without side effects.
Predicting formative feedback practices: improving learning and minimising a tendency to ignore feedback
Authors: Brown Gavin T. L. , Andersson Catarina , Winberg Mikael , Palm Torulf
Published: September 2023

Introduction

Teacher conceptions of feedback ideally predict their feedback practices, but little robust evidence identifies which beliefs matter to practices. It is logical to presume that teacher conceptions of feedback would align with the policy framework of an educational jurisdiction. The Teacher Conceptions of Feedback (TCoF) inventory was developed in New Zealand which has a relatively low-stakes, formative policy framework.

Methods

This study surveyed 451 Swedish teachers working in Years 1-9, a policy context that prioritises teachers using multiple data sources to help students learn. The study used a translated version of the TCoF inventory, but isolated six items related to formative feedback practices from various factors.

Results

A six-factor TCoF was recovered (Praise, Improvement, Ignore, Required, PASA, and Timely), giving partial replication to the previous study. A well-fitting structural equation model showed formative practices were predicted by just two conceptions of feedback (i.e., feedback improves learning and students may ignore feedback).

Discussion

This study demonstrates that the TCoF inventory can be used to identify plausible relations from feedback beliefs to formative feedback practices.
Association of maternal thyroid peroxidase antibody during pregnancy with placental morphology and inflammatory and oxidative stress responses
Authors: Ru Xue , Yang Mengting , Teng Yuzhu , Han Yan , Hu Yabin , Wang Jianqing , Tao Fangbiao , Huang Kun
Published: September 2023

Background

Studies suggest that thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb) positivity exposure during pregnancy may contribute to changes in placental morphology and pathophysiology. However, little is known about the association of maternal TPOAb during pregnancy with placental morphology and cytokines. This study focuses on the effect of repeated measurements of maternal TPOAb during pregnancy on the placental morphology and cytokines.

Methods

Based on Ma’anshan Birth Cohort (MABC) in China, maternal TPOAb levels were retrospectively detected in the first, second and third trimesters. Placental tissues were collected 30 minutes after childbirth, placental morphological indicators were obtained by immediate measurement and formula calculation, and cytokine mRNA expression was detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) afterward. Generalized linear models and linear mixed models were analyzed for the relationships of maternal TPOAb in the first, second and third trimesters with placental indicators.

Results

Totally 2274 maternal-fetal pairs were included in the analysis of maternal TPOAb levels and placental morphology, and 2122 pairs were included in that of maternal TPOAb levels and placental cytokines. Maternal TPOAb levels in early pregnancy were negatively associated with placental length, thickness, volume, weight and disc eccentricity, while positively correlated with placental IL-6, TNF-α, CRP, CD68, MCP-1, IL-10, HO-1, HIF-1α and GRP78. In mid-pregnancy, maternal TPOAb levels were negatively correlated with placental length, width and area. In late pregnancy, maternal TPOAb levels were negatively correlated with placental length, area, volume and weight. Repeated measures analysis showed that maternal TPOAb positivity tended to increase placental TNF-α, CD68 and MCP-1 while decreasing placental length, width and area than TPOAb negativity. Repeated measures analysis showed that maternal TPOAb levels were positively correlated with placental IL-6, TNF-α, CD68, MCP-1, IL-10, HO-1, HIF-1α and GRP78, while negatively correlated with placental length, area, volume, weight, and disc eccentricity.

Conclusion

There may be trimester-specific associations between maternal TPOAb levels and placental morphology and inflammatory and oxidative stress responses. The effect of maternal TPOAb levels on placental morphology is present throughout pregnancy. Early pregnancy may be the critical period for the association between maternal TPOAb levels and placental inflammatory and oxidative stress responses.
Sub-channel analysis for LBE cooled fuel assembly with grid type spacers of China initiative accelerator driven system
Authors: Chen Qi-Jian , Qiu Jing , Zhang Jin-Biao , Guo Yue-Feng , Su Xing-Kang , Gu Long , Liu Jia-Tai
Published: September 2023

The present study focuses on the thermal hydraulic characteristics of fuel assemblies in the China Initiative Accelerator Driven subcritical System (CiADS), which utilizes grid-type spacers to support lead bismuth eutectic (LBE) cooled fast reactors. While the structural design and mechanical analysis of CiADS triangular fuel assemblies with grid-type spacers have been preliminarily investigated, there is a pressing need to study the thermal hydraulic behavior of liquid LBE within these fuel assemblies. This analysis is crucial for assessing the safety and economy of the CiADS subcritical reactor. The sub-channel analysis code, based on the lumped parameter method, plays a vital role in rapidly evaluating the safety features of LBE-cooled fast reactor fuel assemblies. To comprehensively evaluate the thermal hydraulic performance of fuel assemblies with grid-type spacers in the CiADS LBE cooling system, the flow pressure drop model, turbulent mixing model, and convective heat transfer model for the fuel assembly structure with grid-type spacers were incorporated into the existing CiADS sub-channel analysis code. This enhanced code has been successfully employed in the thermal hydraulic analysis of fuel assemblies utilizing wire-type spacers in the CiADS system. To verify the validity and accuracy of the modified CiADS sub-channel analysis code in calculating triangular fuel assemblies with grid-type spacers, the code was first utilized to replicate a 19-rods flow heat transfer experiment with grid-type spacers cooling liquid LBE. A comparison between the simulation and experimental results confirms that the CiADS sub-channel analysis code can predict the coolant temperature and fuel rod surface temperature in fuel assemblies with grid-type spacers. Subsequently, the structure and thermal hydraulic design of the latest CiADS fuel assembly with grid-type spacers were reviewed. Finally, taking into account the aforementioned enhancements to the CiADS sub-channel analysis code, a comprehensive thermo-hydraulic calculation of the CiADS fuel assembly with grid-type spacers was conducted. The results demonstrate that the coolant outlet temperature, maximum cladding temperature, and maximum fuel pellet temperature all fall within the design parameters of CiADS. Furthermore, the impact of the number of rods in different rod bundles (91, 61, 37, and 7 rods) on thermal hydraulic performance was analyzed. The findings indicate that, while ensuring calculation accuracy and efficiency, the results obtained from the 37-rod bundle can effectively reflect the thermal hydraulic behavior of the reactor core.
Environmental and spatial factors play different roles in phytoplankton community assembly in different hydrological seasons in Lake Wuchang, China
Authors: Meng Zihao , Chen Kang , Hu Feifei , Liu Lu , Yang Deguo , Li Xuemei
Published: September 2023

Lake phytoplankton communities are affected by environmental and spatial factors. We studied the relative importance of environmental and spatial factors on the phytoplankton community assembly in Lake Wuchang across three hydrological seasons, which were divided into dry (December to March), normal (April to June, October to November) and wet seasons (July to September) based on the water level and depth. Spatial and temporal patterns of environmental factors and phytoplankton community composition and diversity were studied using Kruskal–Wallis test, Wilcoxon test and NMDS. CCA, Mantel and partial Mantel tests, and PLS-PM were used to investigate the effects of environmental and spatial factors on phytoplankton community characteristics. Results showed that phytoplankton assemblages at the eight study sites were composed of totally 244 species belonging to 9 phyla, which changed from Bacillariophyta and Chlorophyta to Cyanophyta across the whole hydrological period. There was significantly higher abundance and biomass in the normal and wet seasons than that in the dry season. Phytoplankton alpha diversity exhibited uniform temporal distribution patterns with higher values in the dry season than in the normal and wet seasons. The Mantel and partial Mantel tests revealed that environmental (physicochemical conditions of lake water) and spatial factors (geographic distances among sites) jointly affected the phytoplankton community structure and beta diversity across the hydrological seasons, while spatial factors were more important in the wet season. Partial least squares path models showed that spatial factors exhibited a significant positive correlation with the phytoplankton diversity with the path coefficients of 0.53 and 0.71 in the normal and wet seasons, respectively. Phytoplankton composition had significant correlation with on phytoplankton diversity with the path coefficient of −0.75 and 0.61 in the normal and wet seasons, respectively. Our findings revealed that both environmental and spatial factors affected the phytoplankton community assembly in Lake Wuchang. Environmental factors played a more important role in the dry season, while spatial factors were more important in the wet season. With the exception of the abiotic factors (environmental and spatial), the impacts of biotic factors on phytoplankton community cannot be ignored. Therefore, it is also necessary to strengthen further research on the top-down control over phytoplankton communities in Lake Wuchang.
Regional differences and evolution trends of China’s industrial green transformation
Authors: Liu Chunyan , Xu Jun , Zhao Jun
Published: September 2023

Green and low-carbon development is the direction of the current technological revolution and industrial transformation, while China is still in the historical stage of deep industrialization and has yet to completely break away from the high-input, high-consumption, and high-emission development method, and is still facing serious challenges in terms of improving the efficiency of resource utilization and reducing pollution emissions. To effectively promote China’s industrial green transformation, it is necessary to accurately grasp its development connotations and scientifically realize the measurement of industrial green transformation. Therefore, this paper measures the efficiency of China’s industrial green transformation, based on the directional distance function and the Global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) index, to portray its distribution dynamics, regional differences and further identify its growth drivers. The results found that the overall efficiency of China’s industrial green transformation has been steadily increasing, and that the regional pattern is characterized by northwestern, northeastern, central, eastern and southwestern regions, in that order. The Markov chain estimates show that industrial green transformation efficiency is most likely to remain in its original state, with probabilities of 88.31%, 63.54%, 42.86%, and 75.61% for low, medium-low, medium-high, and high levels respectively, but also has a jump shift characteristic, with a certain possibility of falling back from the high-efficiency state to the low state. Dagum Gini coefficient estimation results show that differences between groups in the five major regions are the main source of the widening differences in the overall industrial green transformation, with the contribution remaining at around 60%. Further research suggests that economic growth, technological progress, foreign trade, and foreign direct investment (FDI) may lead to a widening of the efficiency gap in industrial green transformation, while the industrial structure and outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) help to reduce spatial differences to some extent. Based on the above conclusions, this paper proposes some countermeasures to promote the overall improvement and coordinated development of China’s industrial green transformation.
Mountain protective forests under threat? an in-depth review of global change impacts on their protective effect against natural hazards
Authors: Moos Christine , Stritih Ana , Teich Michaela , Bottero Alessandra
Published: September 2023

Forests in mountain areas provide an indispensable ecosystem service by protecting people and infrastructure against natural hazards. As forests are increasingly affected by global change, including climate change, more frequent and severe natural disturbances, and shifts in land use, open questions remain regarding the long-term and sustainable provision of this crucial protective service. To improve our understanding of the various effects of global change on protective forests, we summarized the current knowledge based on a systematic review. Focusing on changes in mountain forests’ protective effect against snow avalanches, landslides, rockfall, torrential floods and debris flow, we assessed 72 peer-reviewed, English publications. Overall, climate-induced changes are expected to increase forests’ protective effect at higher elevations but reduce it at lower elevations mainly due to increased drought. Natural disturbances usually decrease the protective effect of forests, and their impact is often further exacerbated by salvage logging. Different forest management strategies are often studied using forest simulation models, and their impacts on protective forests strongly depend on the local context and interactions with climate change. While clearcuts consistently reduce the protective effect, other forest management interventions such as thinning can have either positive or negative effects. Most of the reviewed studies were case studies based on forest simulation or process-based hazard models (but rarely combining the two), while empirical evidence was scarce. Forests’ protective effect is often assessed using (diverse) indicators of forest structure, but evaluations of resulting risks are less common. More consistent modeling approaches linking forest structure to hazard and risk, as well as consistent indicators across different case studies, are needed for a better understanding of changes in protective forests and the service they provide under global change.
Genetic selection for reduced health treatment costs in Holstein cows: implications from a long-term study
Authors: Donnelly Michael R. , Hazel Amy R. , Hansen Leslie B. , Heins Bradley J.
Published: September 2023

The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters of health treatment cost of Holstein cows from producer-recorded health treatments in 8 herds over an 8-yr period of time. Genetic parameters of health treatment cost were estimated in first (n = 2,214), second (n = 1,487) and third (n = 800) parities of US Holstein cows. The health treatments were uniformly defined and consistently recorded by 8 high-performance dairy herds in Minnesota from 2008 to 2015. A fixed treatment cost was assigned to 14 types of health treatments, and the cost included the mean veterinary expense obtained from the veterinary clinics that serviced the 8 herds, pharmaceuticals, and labor cost. The labor cost was $18/h, and the time incurred for each type of health treatment was determined from interviews with the herd owners. The 14 types of health treatment costs were partitioned into 5 categories: mastitis (including mastitis diagnostic test), reproduction (cystic ovary, retained placenta, and metritis), lameness (hoof treatments), metabolic (milk fever, displaced abomasum, ketosis, and digestive), and miscellaneous (respiratory, injury, and other). Health treatment cost for each cow was summed by category within lactation and also across categories within lactation. The estimates of heritability for health treatment cost were 0.13, 0.04, 0.10, 0.12, and 0.04 for the mastitis, reproduction, lameness, metabolic, and miscellaneous categories, respectively, in first parity. Genetic correlations between categories of health treatment cost in first parity were greatest for mastitis and reproduction (r = 0.85); however, phenotypic correlations between all categories were small (r < 0.16). Total health treatment cost had a large genetic correlation with somatic cell score (0.93) and 305-d milk production (0.44) in first parity; however, the genetic correlation (−0.60) between total health treatment cost and udder depth in first parity indicated a genetic relationship exists between shallow udders and less total health treatment cost. Total health treatment cost across categories had a heritability estimate of 0.25 in first parity, 0.16 in second parity, and 0.17 in third parity. Consequently, genetic selection for reduced health treatment cost should be possible by using producer-recorded health treatment records supplemented with treatment costs.
Next-generation sequencing improves precision medicine in hearing loss
Authors: Imizcoz T. , Prieto-Matos C. , Manrique-Huarte R. , Calavia D. , Huarte A. , Pruneda P. C. , Ordoñez G. R. , Cañada-Higueras E. , Patiño-García A. , Alkorta-Aranburu G. , Manrique Rodríguez M.
Published: September 2023

Background: An early etiological diagnosis of hearing loss positively impacts children’s quality of life including language and cognitive development. Even though hearing loss associates with extremely high genetic and allelic heterogeneity, several studies have proven that Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS)-based gene panel testing significantly reduces the time between onset and diagnosis.

Methods: In order to assess the clinical utility of our custom NGS GHELP panel, the prevalence of pathogenic single nucleotide variants, indels or copy number variants was assessed by sequencing 171 nuclear and 8 mitochondrial genes in 155 Spanish individuals with hearing loss.

Results: A genetic diagnosis of hearing loss was achieved in 34% (52/155) of the individuals (5 out of 52 were syndromic). Among the diagnosed cases, 87% (45/52) and 12% (6/52) associated with autosomal recessive and dominant inheritance patterns respectively; remarkably, 2% (1/52) associated with mitochondrial inheritance pattern. Although the most frequently mutated genes in this cohort were consistent with those described in the literature (GJB2, OTOF or MYO7A), causative variants in less frequent genes such as TMC1, FGF3 or mitCOX1 were also identified. Moreover, 5% of the diagnosed cases (3/52) were associated with pathogenic copy number variants.

Conclusion: The clinical utility of NGS panels that allows identification of different types of pathogenic variants–not only single nucleotide variants/indels in both nuclear and mitochondrial genes but also copy number variants–has been demonstrated to reduce the clinical diagnostic odyssey in hearing loss. Thus, clinical implementation of genomic strategies within the regular clinical practice, and, more significantly, within the newborn screening protocols, is warranted.