bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Method R: Efficacy of a cosmetic routine comprising six topical lipid‐encapsulated products
Authors: Alonso‐Bartolomé Rebeca , Rodríguez Daniel Pando , Rodríguez‐Jiménez Pedro , Ruiz‐Rodríguez Ricardo
Published: January 2022

Introduction and objective

Efficacy of cosmetic routines is reportedly available in several dermatological conditions, such as acne or rosacea. However, clinical evidence about objective advantages of skincare routine remains limited despite advertising often claims benefits.

Method

We aimed to assess the subject satisfaction level and the benefit from daily use of an advanced skincare routine named Method R. We used four different approaches to try and demonstrate the efficacy of the method: Transdermal delivery test, ex‐vivo efficacy test, Visioscan® VC 20, and patient survey. MetR consists of a six‐step routine that shows an increased epidermal penetration and activity due to liposomation.

Results

Transdermal delivery test and ex‐vivo efficacy test show increased efficacy for liposomated actives. The skincare routine is well tolerated, and is associated with a marked efficacy in global quality of skin, dyschromia/pigmentation, brightness, and hydration according to patient perception. The subject satisfaction level is high and the routine is safe. The continuous use of the routine for one month or more results in objective changes when measured with Visioscan® VC 20 plus.
Cleanliness is next to income: The impact of COVID‐19 on short‐term rentals
Authors: Shen Lily , Wilkoff Sean
Published: January 2022

The short‐term rental market provides a close to real‐time signal of how events of regional and national importance can affect the demand for housing. We use Airbnb data from Austin, Texas to empirically investigate the impact of the onset of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) on the short‐term rental market. Specifically, we employ a machine‐learning algorithm to create an extensive cleanliness dictionary to detect whether an Airbnb unit is clean. We use a difference‐in‐difference specification to value the change in income related to reviewer perceived cleanliness during the COVID‐19 pandemic. We find the following results: First, available listings declined by 25% once the pandemic hit and those that remained lost 22% of their income and had occupancy decrease by 20%. Second, properties that were perceived to be clean increased their income by 17.5% and their occupancy by 16.5%, mitigating the negative shock due to COVID‐19. Third, rental prices for clean Airbnb listings did not increase after COVID‐19. In addition, we study the interaction of Airbnb supply on the long‐term rental market during a market decline.
Roads to innovation: Evidence from Italy
Authors: Bottasso Anna , Conti Maurizio , Robbiano Simone , Santagata Marta
Published: January 2022

In this study, we leverage on the ancient Roman roads network as a source of exogenous variation to identify the causal effect of the modern highways network on innovative performance of Italian NUTS‐3 regions. Empirical findings suggest that a 10% increase in the highways stock in a region generates an increase in the number of patents of about 3%–4%, over a 5‐year period. Further analysis suggests that our findings can in part be explained by a reduction in travel costs that fosters collaborations among inventors living in different regions and by an increase in the degree of centrality in the regional innovation network associated to denser highways networks. Finally, we find that the innovation‐enhancing effect of highways declines over time, possibly because of the introduction of information and communication technology, or the increasing congestion on the Italian network.
Is the ECB’s conventional monetary policy state‐dependent? An event study approach
Authors: Perdichizzi Salvatore , Cotugno Matteo , Torluccio Giuseppe
Published: January 2022

We investigate the impact of ECB conventional (CMP) on national banking indices of 10 Eurozone countries and a Eurozone‐wide banking index using the event study technique. We find that announcements of unexpected increases in interest rates benefit French, German, Greek and Italian banks when interest rates are low, while in other periods, the effect is muted. A plausible explanation is that bank profits are squeezed when interest rates are low because banks are reluctant to push deposit rates to zero. Our results are robust to potentially confounding events related to unconventional monetary policy announcements, volatility clustering and volatility expectations.
Effect of a structured stretching exercise program on resolution of myofascial pain and opioid usage in “legacy pain” patients: A retrospective cohort study
Authors: Bansal Nitin , Angara Prashant , Blondell Richard D , Gulati Amitabh , Mehta Neel , Chen Grant H. , Bansal Pratibha
Published: January 2022

Objective

The aim of this study was to determine whether the implementation of a structured exercise stretching routine targeted at resolving myofascial pain is effective in improving outcomes of “legacy pain” patients.

Design

Retrospective cohort study.

Setting

Private community‐based interventional pain management practice.

Subjects

“Legacy pain” patients, defined as patients on opioid therapy for >1 year.

Methods

Subjects were initiated on a structured home exercise stretching routine targeted at resolving myofascial pain consisting of 14 lumbar, four thoracic, and seven cervical stretches as appropriate. Daily morphine milligram equivalent, functional status (Oswestry Disability Index), and pain level (Numeric Rating Scale) were compared pre‐ and post‐treatment at one year.

Results

After 1 year, exercise techniques reduced daily morphine milligram equivalent intake on average from 76.3 to 21.0 mg (p < 0.001) with 84.4% of patients decreasing their total opioid dose (p < 0.001) and 34.4% of patients being completely weaned off of opioids (p < 0.001). Numeric Rating Scale of pain and Oswestry Disability Indices were unchanged with treatment, 7.0–6.7 (p = 0.122) and 30.4–29.3 (p = 0.181), respectively.

Conclusions

The addition of a structured stretching exercise program focusing on the resolution of the myofascial pain in the treatment of “legacy pain” patients was shown to significantly reduce and often discontinue opioid use without adversely affecting pain score or functionality.
Forecasting High-Frequency Spatio-Temporal Wind Power with Dimensionally Reduced Echo State Networks
Authors: Huang Huang , Castruccio Stefano , Genton Marc G.
Published: January 2022

Fast and accurate hourly forecasts of wind speed and power are crucial in quantifying and planning the energy budget in the electric grid. Modelling wind at a high resolution brings forth considerable challenges given its turbulent and highly nonlinear dynamics. In developing countries, where wind farms over a large domain are currently under construction or consideration, this is even more challenging given the necessity of modelling wind over space as well. In this work, we propose a machine learning approach to model the nonlinear hourly wind dynamics in Saudi Arabia with a domain-specific choice of knots to reduce spatial dimensionality. Our results show that for locations highlighted as wind abundant by a previous work, our approach results in an 11% improvement in the 2-h-ahead forecasted power against operational standards in the wind energy sector, yielding a saving of nearly one million US dollars over a year under current market prices in Saudi Arabia.
Alexithymic traits and parental postpartum bonding: Findings from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study
Authors: Ahrnberg Hanna , Pajulo Marjukka , Scheinin Noora M. , Kajanoja Jani , Karlsson Linnea , Karlsson Hasse , Karukivi Max
Published: January 2022

In the postpartum period, some parents experience problems in bonding with the infant, which can lead to difficulties in adjusting to the parental caregiving role. Alexithymia, through deficits in emotional processing, could potentially be associated with problems in parental postpartum bonding. In the current study, this association has been explored in a large population‐based sample of mothers and fathers, and to our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate this association. The study population (n = 2,671) was part of the FinnBrain Birth Cohort study and included 1,766 mothers and 905 fathers who returned The Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire (PBQ) at three months postpartum and the 20‐item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS‐20) at six months postpartum. Correlation analyses and hierarchical regression modeling, adjusted for selected background factors, were performed separately for mothers and fathers. The alexithymia dimension “Difficulty Identifying Feelings” (DIF) in mothers and fathers, and additionally dimensions of “Difficulty Describing Feelings” (DDF) and “Externally Oriented Thinking” (EOT) in fathers were associated with weaker postpartum bonding, when related background factors were controlled for. To our knowledge this was the first study to investigate the relationship between parents' alexithymic traits and postpartum bonding within a large birth cohort study population. The main finding was that especially higher levels of maternal DIF and paternal EOT were associated with weaker postpartum bonding. Longitudinal studies are needed to establish the potential causality of this relationship.
Deep Segmentation of Corrupted Glyphs
Authors: Melnik Gil , Yekutieli Yuval , Sharf Andrei
Published: January 2022

Historical documents and archaeological artifacts are hard to process due to natural degradation, fading, spills, tears, overlaid data,, and so on. In this work, we focus on the task of recovering characters and symbols from images of corrupted archaeological artifacts where data is partially erased, occluded, or overwritten by other data. Such phenomena can be widely observed in image datasets of palimpsests and petroglyphs consisting of erased, overwritten, and in general heavily degraded data. Segmentation and binarization are typically applied to such images to detect and recover characters and symbols from their background. However, these methods mainly focus on the visible data while in our case, due to large corruption, both visible and invisible information should be considered. For example, computing the segmentation mask of an occluded character requires also labeling invisible pixels and missing parts. In this work, we introduce a deep neural network that computes character segmentation in palimpsests and petroglyphs while overcoming occlusions, missing parts, and degradation. Our network has inference abilities, thus, not only segmenting the symbol’s foreground pixels but also inferring and completing missing and corrupted parts. Since palimpsests and petroglyphs have very limited annotated ground-truth data, we also introduce data augmentation tools to properly train our network. We demonstrate both qualitative and quantitative performance of our method also including a user study involving expert evaluation.
Negative Information Measurement at AI Edge: A New Perspective for Mental Health Monitoring
Authors: Chen Min , Shen Ke , Wang Rui , Miao Yiming , Jiang Yingying , Hwang Kai , Hao Yixue , Tao Guangming , Hu Long , Liu Zhongchun
Published: January 2022

The outbreak of the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused serious harm to people’s physical and mental health. Due to the serious situation of the epidemic, a lot of negative energy information increases people’s psychological burden. However, effective interventions against mental health problems are not in abundance. To address such challenges, in this article, we propose the concept of negative information to describe information that has a negative impact on people’s mental health. To achieve the measurement of negative information, the level of mental health inversely measures the degree of negative information. Specifically, we design a system to measure the negative information used to monitor the mental health state of the user under the impact of negative information. The cognition of mental health is realized based on the intelligent algorithm deployed on the edge cloud, and the needs of users can be responded to in real time in practical applications. Finally, we use real collected dataset to verify the influence of negative information. The experiments show that the system can achieve negative information measurement and provide an effective countermeasure for solving mental health problems during a pandemic situation.
Constant-Cost Spatio-Angular Prefiltering of Glinty Appearance Using Tensor Decomposition
Authors: Deng Hong , Liu Yang , Wang Beibei , Yang Jian , Ma Lei , Holzschuch Nicolas , Yan Ling-Qi
Published: January 2022

The detailed glinty appearance from complex surface microstructures enhances the level of realism but is both - and time-consuming to render, especially when viewed from far away (large spatial coverage) and/or illuminated by area lights (large angular coverage). In this article, we formulate the glinty appearance rendering process as a spatio-angular range query problem of the Normal Distribution Functions (NDFs), and introduce an efficient spatio-angular prefiltering solution to it. We start by exhaustively precomputing all possible NDFs with differently sized positional coverages. Then we compress the precomputed data using tensor rank decomposition, which enables accurate and fast angular range queries. With our spatio-angular prefiltering scheme, we are able to solve both the storage and performance issues at the same time, leading to efficient rendering of glinty appearance with both constant storage and constant performance, regardless of the range of spatio-angular queries. Finally, we demonstrate that our method easily applies to practical rendering applications that were traditionally considered difficult. For example, efficient bidirectional reflection distribution function evaluation accurate NDF importance sampling, fast global illumination between glinty objects, high-frequency preserving rendering with environment lighting, and tile-based synthesis of glinty appearance.
From the Editor: Not Really Farewell Just an (Electro)Migration
Authors: Talbot Jan B.
Published: January 2022

This is my farewell message as Editor of Interface. I am relinquishing my editorship in order to fully assume my duties as a vice-president of ECS. I have edited 15 issues of Interface including this one featuring the Electrodeposition Division—one for each of the twelve Divisions and one Group; plus two special issues, one in which the 50th anniversary of the transistor was commemorated, and one to celebrate the first five years of Interface. I have enjoyed working with all the authors who have contributed to Interface and enjoyed learning the latest science and technology of interest to the featured Division/Group. I have learned much about the publishing of a magazine, particularly from Mary Yess, the ECS Director of Publications and Interface’s Managing Editor. It is Mary’s expertise that makes you want to turn the pages from the stunning cover artwork (from O&Y Design), through the articles, to the back cover. I certainly have had some fun writing these columns.
Effects of Surface Modification on the Electrochemical Oxidation Reactivity of Activated Carbon in Direct Carbon Fuel Cells
Authors: Fan Lijun , Zhao Yicheng , Li Yongdan
Published: January 2022

A direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC) is the only fuel cell type that converts the chemical energy stored in solid carbon, which could be obtained from coal and biomass, into electricity directly via an electrochemical route with a higher energy efficiency and less pollution than conventional coal-fired power plants [1, 2]. In this work, the effect of the surface properties of carbon fuel on its electrochemical oxidation reactivity is investigated. Activated carbon (AC) is pre-treated with HNO3 and NaOH, respectively, both of which decrease the graphitization degree and increase the oxygen content of AC. The amount of hydroxyl groups on the surface of AC increases after the treatments with HNO3 and NaOH, and then decreases during the subsequent heating process in an inert atmosphere. On the contrary, the carbonyl groups on the surface of AC-HNO3 remain stable during the heating process. AC-HNO3 shows the highest reactivity towards oxidation and reverse Boudouard reactions due to its lowest graphitization degree and highest oxygen content. The performance of the cell supported by a 380-μm-thick yttria stabilized zirconia electrolyte layer with 60 mol% La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-40 mol% Gd2O3 doped CeO2 as the electrodes is investigated with various fuels. The cell with AC-HNO3 as the fuel exhibits the highest maximum power density of 81 mW cm-2 at 800 oC.

Fig. 1. I-V and I-P curves of single cells with various carbon fuels at 800 oC

References

[1] Jiang C, Ma J, Corre G, et al. Chemical Society Reviews, 2017, 46(10): 2889-2912

[2] Jang H, Park Y, Lee J. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2017, 308: 974–979.

Figure 1
Alexithymia and Emotional Deficits Related to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: An Investigation of Content and Process Disturbances
Authors: Ogłodek Ewa A.
Published: January 2022

Background. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating mental disorder that develops in the aftermath of traumatic life experiences, especially those that occurred in childhood. PTSD is associated with intrusive memories, distressing dreams, dissociative reactions, avoidance of trauma-related stimuli, negative mood and sense of well-being, increased arousal and irritability, and clinically significant distress and impaired functioning. Case Presentation. The following case report presents a 42-year-old male displaying symptoms of PTSD, alexithymia, and depression. Conclusion. Untreated alexithymia may aggravate the trauma and cause the development of PTSD and depression.
Reflexões sobre o espaço da canção nos documentos parametrizadores nacionais para o Ensino Fundamental
Authors: Andrade Tayná Miranda de , Baltar Marcos Antonio Rocha , Castro Laura Miranda de
Published: January 2022

O presente estudo tem como objetivo problematizar as orientações para o trabalho com a canção, como gênero multissemiótico, nos documentos parametrizadores de Língua Portuguesa destinados ao sexto e ao sétimo anos do Ensino Fundamental, em contexto nacional. Para tanto, esta pesquisa fundamenta-se na concepção marxista de formação integral do ser humano, que norteia os mencionados documentos oficiais, e associando-a aos estudos sobre canção em Tatit (1997; 2003) e em Baltar et al. (2019). A partir destes norteamentos, buscaremos responder às seguintes perguntas: i) Como se relacionam as propostas de ensino e aprendizagem da canção nos Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais (1998) e na Base Nacional Comum Curricular (2018)? ii) Como se materializam as propostas de trabalho com a canção em livros didáticos aprovados pelo Plano Nacional do Livro Didático de 2020? Considera-se que, a partir do presente trabalho, é possível contribuir para a reflexão dos profissionais da grande área de Linguagens, Códigos e suas Tecnologias, em particular os de Letras que trabalham a canção na escola, além de fomentar a existência de novas pesquisas, possivelmente interdisciplinares, sobre a canção como objeto de conhecimento.
O ethos discursivo na moda de viola “Milagre da vela”
Authors: Ferreira Cristiane da Silva , Ferreira Anderson
Published: January 2022

O presente artigo visa a examinar o ethos discursivo na canção “Milagre da vela”, gravada por Zé Carreiro e Carreirinho, em 1961. Num quadro intersemiótico que aproxima letra e melodia, investe-se na apreensão do ethos discursivo, como delineado pela Análise do Discurso (Maingueneau, 1997, 2008a, 2008b, 2008c, 2011, 2020, entre outros), mobilizando o projeto geral de dicção (Tatit, 1999, 2003, 2008, 2012), o qual articula letra e melodia por meio dos processos de figurativização, passionalização e tematização. O ethos é uma instância que opera no nível do discurso, desvelando características da personalidade do enunciador, bem como do seu posicionamento social, por isso, é preciso acentuar a emergência, no e pelo discurso literomusical, de traços identitários e socioculturais do homem caipira. O corpus de análise é composto por nove recortes do discurso da canção em foco. Os resultados da análise apontam que o ethos discursivo, apreendido em sua dimensão intersemiótica, revela-se uma corporalidade mística, religiosa e conservadora, apegada à cultura caipira, portanto, resistente às mudanças da sociedade.
O inesperado na espera esperada: relações entre música, escapatória, fratura e cinema a partir da semiótica greimasiana
Authors: Carvalho Caio Menezes Graça de
Published: January 2022

O presente artigo busca abrir frentes de discussão para repensar a fruição musical de maneira a dar uma possível resposta de cunho prático a uma reflexão feita pelo semioticista Algirdas Julien Greimas em sua obra Da Imperfeição (2002, p. 86), lançada em 1987: “Entre as práticas do gosto socializado, que conduzem à usura das categorias estéticas, e o grande evento, que talvez acontecerá, existirá um caminho pessoal por traçar?” Problematiza-se, dessa maneira, os modos de vivência – principalmente os modos de vivência estética. Diante dessa provocação pontual, a evocar o assunto da originalidade, valemo-nos da proposta semiótica da referida obra – com ênfase nos conceitos de “escapatória” e “fratura” – e da linguagem e do discurso figurativo do cinema – mais precisamente do filme Begin again (Mesmo se nada der certo, 2013, dir. John Carney) – para, assim, por meio da experiência musical coalescente, vislumbrar algum caminho ansiado pela questão acima.
Luiz Tatit: arte e teoria
Authors: Yamashiro Marisa
Published: January 2022

Este artigo pretende aplicar a teoria semiótica sobre o objeto canção, unindo a Semiótica da Canção, concebida pelo teórico Luiz Tatit, e uma obra cancional também de sua autoria. O objeto artístico escolhido foi a canção “Universo”, parceria de Luiz Tatit com seu irmão, Paulo Tatit. Além da semiótica da canção, serão mobilizadas outras ferramentas de abordagem, dentro da semiótica de linha francesa, sobretudo a gramática tensiva, a partir das descobertas do semioticista Claude Zilberberg. Da semiótica da canção, serão demonstrados o trabalho do cancionista, tematização e figurativização na canção; da gramática tensiva, veremos o sistema de gradações, o fazer missivo, os conceitos de triagem e mistura, densidade de presença e o gráfico de tensividade; da gramática narrativa e semiótica discursiva, o percurso gerativo de sentido, a virtualização/realização e a manipulação; por fim, da glossemática, veremos os planos de conteúdo e de expressão.
O gerativismo musical de Schenker e suas aplicações na análise da canção: homologias entre estruturas musicais superficiais, intermediárias e profundas e categorias do conteúdo em “Trocando em Miúdos”, de Francis Hime e Chico Buarque de Holanda
Authors: Monteiro Ricardo Nogueira de Castro
Published: January 2022

O percurso gerativo de sentido se define como “uma sucessão de patamares, cada um dos quais suscetível de receber uma descrição adequada, que mostra como se produz e se interpreta o sentido, num processo que vai do mais simples e abstrato ao mais complexo” (Fiorin, 1992, p. 17). Em seu Der freie Satz, de 1935, Schenker defende que a análise da música tonal revela inapelavelmente uma estrutura fundamental que, por meio de um encadeamento de procedimentos de complexificação, atravessa uma série de camadas organizadas em três grandes níveis hierárquicos até chegar à superfície e à materialidade da partitura musical. O presente artigo, a partir de uma revisão de literatura em torno de um conjunto de autores fundamentais para a semiótica musical, toma como referência a utilização do gerativismo de Schenker sobretudo por Agawu, Hatten e Tarasti para investigar que subsídios essa técnica, que aborda simultaneamente aspectos harmônicos, contrapontísticos e formais, pode ter a oferecer para a análise e para oestudo do processo de construção de sentido no contexto sincrético cancional.O corpus analítico escolhido foi a canção “Trocando em miúdos”, música de FrancisHime com letra de Chico Buarque de Holanda, na gravação original do compositorlançada em 1977.
A dimensão ancestral da comunidade
Authors: Leite Fábio Rubens da  Rocha
Published: January 2022

O texto, a partir da problematização da ocupação do espaço entre os Senufo, conjunto de povos da África Ocidental, discute a fundação da aldeia e o conjunto de crenças envolvidas nesse processo e na posterior ocupação e disposição espacial da mesma. Ao efetuar uma reflexão sobre esses fenômenos, focaliza também a estrutura de parentesco e a matrilinearidade entre aqueles povos.
Les abordages théoriques sur les défis du développement des pays africains et les leçons qu’on peut en tirer
Authors: Nzongola-Ntalaja Georges
Published: January 2022

Depuis les indépendances africaines, plusieurs théories ont été formulées sur les défis du développement en Afrique et les voies les plus appropriées pour éradiquer la pauvreté et améliorer le niveau de vie des masses populaires. Malgré leurs incarnations multiples, deux courants théoriques contradictoires continuent d’animer le débat sur ce sujet. Il s’agit du courant hégémonique véhiculé par les pays occidentaux et les institutions financières internationales sous leur contrôle, et le courant contre-hégémonique des progressistes africains. Quelles leçons pouvons-nous tirer de ces deux approches contradictoires sur les défis du développement en Afrique?
Prêmio Nobel de Literatura 2021 a um autor africano
Authors: Macedo Tânia Celestino de
Published: January 2022

Informações sobre o escritor tanzaniano Abdulrazak Gurnah, agraciado com o Prêmio Nobel de Literatura em 2022.
Some Distinctive Characteristics of the B Text of the Old English Bede
Authors: Afros Elena
Published: January 2022

The B text of the Old English Bede copied in the first half of the eleventh century into CCCC 41 by two scribes differs editorially, linguistically, and rhetorically from other witnesses. Although the two B scribes are generally credited with the alterations, Campbell (1951), Scragg (1990), and Waite (2014) point out that some of the distinctive traits of the B version may have originated in an anterior copy or copies. Waite (2014) also objects to the indiscriminate treatment of the work of the two B scribes as it obscures the contribution of each copyist. The present study examines seven distinctive linguistic characteristics of the B text. To determine which traits may derive from an anterior copy and which ones may be attributed to the B scribes, it compares and contrasts the Bede manuscripts and the B scribes’ practices. This inquiry not only sheds light on the methods of scribal revision but also the English of the first half of the eleventh century.
Divine Displacement
Authors: Sayers William
Published: January 2022

The reconstructed name of the early Germanic god *Wōdanaz is generally traced to a Proto-Indo-European root *u̯ā̆t- meaning ‘spiritually aroused, possessed’. The signification contrasts sharply with the attributes of the primal Germanic sky and war god *Tīwaz, whose name references the bright sky. In a cultural development not yet fully explained, the former displaces the latter as the chief god. In this article, a homophone of the above PIE root, designated *u̯ā̆t- (2), and meaning ‘to bow down, bend, stoop’, is posited as the root of a theonym meaning ‘the bent, stooped one’. He is identified as the Germanic psychopomp and lord of the dead with ties to an ancestor cult. From a largely quiescent role as the bowed or bent-knee god, he emerges from the underworld, when Germanic tribes resemanticized the reflex of the *u̯ā̆t- (2) root ‘bent, bowed’ – militarized it. The new chief god was understood as ‘the master of battle rage’, based on the prioritization of the signification inherent in the root *u̯ā̆t- (1).
From ‘Sticks’ to ‘Carrots’ and ‘Nets’, then to ‘Needles’: The Evolution of the CPC’s Policy towards Taiwan
Authors: Liu Roger C.
Published: January 2022

This article traces the evolution of the Communist Party of China’ policy towards Taiwan and identifies the major characteristics of different leaderships in the history of CPC. With the major goal to manipulate the domestic politics of Taiwan to prevent it from moving further towards independence, the CPC has, within the framework of national strategy, used the carrot (promised benefits or attraction based on positive values), the stick (military actions or threats, blockades and coercive policies in international politics, etc.), the net (relationships, networks and United Front work; developing local collaborators) and the needle (infiltration, sabotage and disinformation warfare) interchangeably with different emphases depending on the strategic environments it faced. The CPC’s policy towards Taiwan, thus demonstrates flexibility in the choice of tactics but remains constant in its strategic goals.
Rethinking About Thinking: Developing Ourselves for Critical Thinking as an Educator
Authors: Aggarwal Divya , Elembilassery Varun
Published: January 2022

In real life scenarios, an individual comes across myriad situations that are marked with ambiguity and uncertainty. How do we prepare ourselves to embrace ambiguity and think critically in such situations? With the COVID-19 global pandemic, industry experts and academicians are referring to live with a crisis once in every 5 years, as the new normal. Each crisis is unique and so is the COVID-19 pandemic. As an educator and faculty, a mere lecture on critical thinking will not be enough and nor can the students be stirred towards critical thinking with few sessions. Curriculum reforms are required, and students need to go through experiential learning. The classroom teaching should not become part of the problem, but part of the solution in future.

JEL Codes: M0, I20, I29, Y7
Book review: Debashree Mukherjee, Bombay Hustle: Making Movies in a Colonial City
Authors: Dasgupta Supurna
Published: January 2022

Debashree Mukherjee, Bombay Hustle: Making Movies in a Colonial City (New York: Columbia University Press, 2020), xv + 420 pp.
Book review: Shivshankar Menon, India and Asian Geopolitics: The Past, Present
Authors: Bhat Tahir Rashid
Published: January 2022

Shivshankar Menon, India and Asian Geopolitics: The Past, Present (Gurugram: Penguin Random House, 2021), vii + 406 pp.
Book review: Suvobrata Sarkar, Let There Be Light: Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Electricity in Colonial Bengal, 1880–1945
Authors: Sharma Madhuri
Published: January 2022

Suvobrata Sarkar, Let There Be Light: Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Electricity in Colonial Bengal, 1880–1945 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020), xliii + 266 pp.
The Role of Potentiality in Aristotle’s Ethics
Authors: Blumenfeld Jacob
Published: January 2022

What I will argue here is that the ethical potentiality of the human being that Aristotle cites in the Nicomachean Ethics refers to the general, rational capacity for someone to appropriate and develop their own specific, natural capacities which make them human; the name of this ability is called virtue, which, when expressed in actions, we call good. To separate out the concepts at work here demands an exegesis of the two kinds of dunamis in Metaphysics Theta, that is, dunamis as causal power of change and dunamis as a potential way of being for an existent capacity. Once we grasp this, we can clarify the nature of virtue as the active, complete state of a capacity in human being which defines their function even though it must be acquired, and it need not ever be actualized. The concepts of habit ( ethos) and practical judgment ( phronesis) give Aristotle the means to solve the problem of how such a potentiality is acquired and how it is actualized, and hence we will end with a discussion of them.
Programmable Biosensors Based on RNA-Guided CRISPR/Cas Endonuclease
Authors: Liu Xiaolong , Hussain Mubashir , Dai Jianguo , Li Yonghong , Zhang Lijun , Yang Jian , Ali Zeeshan , He Nongyue , Tang Yongjun
Published: January 2022

Highly infectious illnesses caused by pathogens constitute severe threats to public health and lead to global economic loss. The use of robust and programmable clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat and CRISPR-associated protein (CRISPR-Cas) systems, repurposed from genome-engineering applications has markedly improved traditional nucleic acid detection for precise identification, independently enabling rapid diagnostics of multiplex biomarker with genetic and mutation related to tumors, and microbial pathogens. In this review, we delineate the utility of the current CRISPR-Cas enzyme as biosensors by which these effector toolkits achieve recognition, signaling amplification, and finally, accurate detection. Additionally, we discuss the details of the dominance and hurdles related to expanding this revolutionary technology into an effective and convenient contraption crucial for improving the rational redesign to CRISPR/Cas biosensing. Overall, this review provides an insight into the current status of rapid and POC diagnostic systems by CRISPR/Cas tools.
A farewell to phlebotomy—use of placenta-derived drugs Laennec and Porcine for improving hereditary hemochromatosis without phlebotomy: a case report
Authors: Hamada Yuki , Hirano Eiichi , Sugimoto Koji , Hanada Keizo , Kaku Taiichi , Manda Naoki , Tsuchida Kenichi
Published: January 2022

Background

Human hepcidin, produced by hepatocytes, regulates intestinal iron absorption, iron recycling by macrophages, and iron release from hepatic storage. Recent studies indicate that hepcidin deficiency is the underlying cause of the most known form of hereditary hemochromatosis.

Case presentation

A 44-year-old Asian man who developed type 2 diabetes mellitus had elevated serum ferritin levels (10,191 ng/mL). Liver biopsy revealed remarkable iron deposition in the hepatocytes and relatively advanced fibrosis (F3). Chromosomal analysis confirmed the presence of transferrin receptor type 2 mutations (c.1100T>G, c.2008_9delAC, hereditary hemochromatosis type 3 analyzed by Kawabata). The patient received intravenous infusions of Laennec (672 mg/day, three times/week) or oral administration with Porcine (3.87 g/day) for 84 months as an alternative to repeated phlebotomy. At the end of the treatment period, serum ferritin level decreased to 428.4 ng/mL (below the baseline level of 536.8 ng/mL). Hemoglobin A1c levels also improved after treatment with the same or lower dose of insulin (8.8% before versus 6.8% after). Plural liver biopsies revealed remarkable improvements in the grade of iron deposition and fibrosis (F3 before versus F1 after) of the liver tissue.

Conclusion

The discovery of hepcidin and its role in iron metabolism could lead to novel therapies for hereditary hemochromatosis. Laennec (parenteral) and Porcine (oral), which act as hepcidin inducers, actually improved iron overload in this hereditary hemochromatosis patient, without utilizing sequential phlebotomy. This suggests the possibility of not only improving the prognosis of hereditary hemochromatosis (types 1, 2, and 3) but also ameliorating complications, such as type 2 diabetes, liver fibrosis, and hypogonadism. Laennec and Porcine can completely replace continuous venesection in patients with venesection and may improve other iron-overloading disorders caused by hepcidin deficiency.
Impact of voluntary sampling on estimates
Authors: Tiit Ene-Margit
Published: January 2022

Impact of voluntary sampling on estimates
Peer relations linking overweight and obesity, and mediator factors among Turkish adolescents
Authors: Özer Başak Koca , Bıçakçı Müdriye Yıldız , Yeloğlu H. Okan , Aral Neriman , Başaran Ayşegül Özdemir , Yavuz Cansev Meşe , Önal Sibel , Özbal Ece Özdoğan , Aydos Sebahat
Published: January 2022

Depending on the individual’s body height and frame structure and body weight, obesity is considered both as a socially accepted norm in a society and as exceeding the accepted upper limits. The present study aimed to determine the associations between overweight and obesity, peer relationships, and nutritional and physical activity behaviour among Turkish adolescents. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Ankara, and the sample consisted of 402 adolescents (171 boys and 231 girls) aged between 12 and 17 years. A physical examination was conducted to collect anthropometric measurements (height, weight, BMI, and body fat using bio-impedance analysis), and detailed information was collected on adolescents’ behaviour (Peer Relationship Scale with four sub-scales of commitment, trust and identification, self-disclosure, and loyalty), diet (24h recall dietary questionnaire), physical activity, self-reported weight, parental attitudes, and socio-economic circumstances. BMI was evaluated using IOTF cut-off points, and simple mediation analyses were performed using ordinary least squares path analysis by the PROCESS macro for SPSS. The results showed that according to the weight status by BMI using IOTF cut-offs, thinness was more prominent in girls (9.5%), overweight was higher in girls (19%), while obesity was higher in boys (8.8%). Total body fat percentage was found to be higher in girls in all weight groups (p < 0.001). The Peer Relationship Scale and, commitment, self-disclosure, and loyalty sub-scales were found to be statistically significant (p < 0.001); girls tend to have higher scores except for the loyalty sub- scale. According to the results, self-reported and actual weight differences were found to be significant in both sexes (p < 0.001), and among IOTF weight groups overweight girls tended to report their weight approximately 2 kg lower than their actual weight and obese girls more than 5 kg lower. In conclusion, the mediation analysis showed that fat percentage, self-reported weight difference, and BMI were significant predictors of Peer Relationship Score where fat percentage partially mediated the relationship between the Peer Relationship Scale and BMI, and full mediation effect of self-reported weight difference was also significant. The relation of the high level of fat accumulation and overweight/obesity with Peer Relationship Scores and its sub-domains should be carefully monitored.
ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ ВЗАИМОСВЯЗИ МЕЖДУ СОЦИОНИЧЕСКИМ ТИПОМ ЛИЧНОСТИ ОПТАНТА И ЕГО СКЛОННОСТЬЮ К ТИПУ ПРОФЕССИЙ ПО Е.А. КЛИМОВУ
Authors: Strutinsky Sergey V. , Kovalenko Roman K. , Zvonareva Nataliya A.
Published: January 2022

Цель. Статья посвящена исследованию профориентационных методов, а именно – обоснованию конструктной валидности использования соционической модели для профориентационной деятельности.

Метод или методология проведения работы. В работе использовались методика определения соционического типа, дифференциально-диагностический опросник Е.А. Климова и расчет точечного бисериального коэффициента корреляции.

Результаты. Корреляционный анализ выявил наличие положительной связи между типом профессий «человек – природа» и полюсами «интроверсия» и «конструктивизм». Тип профессий «человек – человек» положительно коррелирует с полюсами «этика» и «сенсорика, а тип «человек – знаковая система» с этими полюсами показывает отрицательную корреляцию. Тип профессий «человек – техника» показывает положительную корреляцию с полюсами «логика» и «аристократия», а тип «человек – художественный образ с полюсами «этика» и «динамика». Полученные результаты частично подтверждают существовавшие ранее в соционике гипотезы о связи соционических типов с типами профессий.

Область применения результатов. Полученные результаты помогут специалистам профориентологам, использующим на практике в т.ч. и методы соционики, чтобы повысить качество своей работы. Также результаты исследования показывают перспективность дальнейшего развития исследований конструктной валидности методов соционики.
ОСОБЕННОСТИ СОДЕРЖАНИЯ ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОЙ СУБЪЕКТНОСТИ БУДУЩЕГО ОФИЦЕРА ВОЙСК НАЦИОНАЛЬНОЙ ГВАРДИИ РОССИИ
Authors: Dyachkov Aleksey A. , Shabanov Lev V.
Published: January 2022

Цель исследования – определение фактора развития профессиональной субъектности посредством корреляции данных волевой составляющей (самоотношение и отношение к жизненным целям) и коммуникативной компетентности (формальные и неформальные позиции) курсанта, как будущего офицера войск. Предметом исследования выступила профессиональная субъектность курсантов, которая рассматривается как ключевая цель в системе подготовки будущих офицеров.

Методы и методики исследования. Методы: теоретический анализ литературных источников; психологическое тестирование. Методики: 16-Факторный личностный опросник (16PF) Р. Кеттелла, Тест «Смысложизненные ориентации» (СЖО) Д.А. Леонтьева (адаптированная версия теста «Цель в жизни» Джеймса Крамбо и Леонарда Махолика).

Результаты. Выявленные взаимосвязи показали, что чем выше самоотношение, тем ниже внутренняя конфликтность и выше коммуникативная компетентность, а значит и волевые качества, позволяющие принимать решения, нести ответственность за себя и за своих подчинённых – чётче осознавать свои жизненные цели, статус и позицию командира (профессиональная субъектность).

Область применения результатов. Полученные результаты могут быть учтены при разработке учебных программ в военных образовательных учреждениях высшего образования, могут использоваться для составления программ экспериментального исследования профессиональной субъектности офицеров, программ профессионального психологического отбора.

Выводы. Профессиональная субъектность офицера существует и проявляет себя как возрастающая и формирующаяся возможность. При её рассмотрении в структурно-динамическом отношении выделяются потенциально-статический и действенно-реализационные аспекты.
Droplet Impingement into a Liquid Film; Numerical Study of Surface Tension Effect on the Crown Formation
Authors: Zamani Asl Mohammad Mehdi , Dastyar Zahra
Published: January 2022

An axisymmetric numerical model is conducted to study the droplet impingement into a liquid film and crown formation. Through numerical modeling and experimental validation, the effect of different parameters such as surface tension, Weber number, and film thickness on crown evolution is investigated. Surfactant is added to water, aiming reduction of the surface tension in the surfactant-water mix. It was shown that the crown rim diameter increases with Weber in both water and surfactant-water mixture cases. Likewise, crown rim diameter increases with the film thickness in both different cases of fluids.
Additionally, results revealed that surface tension does not affect the crown rim diameter. Nevertheless, crown height increases as surface tension decreases. At low values of surface tension, secondary droplets and the de-wetting region appear. These outcomes can be attributed to the domination of kinetic energy of crown rims in cases with low surface tensions.
AMobileQoE: An SPL Framework to Measure the QoE of Android Applications
Authors: Collazo Garcia Antonio , Casas Sandra
Published: January 2022

Mobile applications are increasingly present in most aspects of our daily life, satisfying the needs of information, communication, and entertainment. Different factors can degrade the performance of these applications or services, and users can undergo unsatisfactory experiences. To achieve acceptance of mobile applications by the user, it is necessary to consider the Quality of Experience, which allows to measure the quality of an application based on the user’s perception. This work presents AMobileQoE, an SPL framework to automatically generate the code necessary to analyse the QoE of mobile applications following the Design Science Research approach. It enables developers to generate more than a thousand different product configurations to measure QoE from a set of network, device, and user metrics. The CovidInfo application was developed to test the SPL framework in a real context with real users, showing the ease of integration and the lightness of the framework. Furthermore, a quality assessment was performed on AMobileQoE showing a high degree of modularity and variability.
Video Face Detection Based on Improved SSD Model and Target Tracking Algorithm
Authors: Liu Yilin , Liu Ruian , Wang Shengxiong , Yan Da , Peng Bo , Zhang Tong
Published: January 2022

Video face detection technology has a wide range of applications, such as video surveillance, image retrieval, and human-computer interaction. However, face detection always has some uncontrollable interference factors in the video sequence, such as changes in lighting, complex backgrounds, and face changes in scale and occlusion conditions, etc. Therefore, this paper introduces deep learning theory and combines the continuity characteristics of video sequences to make related research on video face detection algorithms based on deep learning. First, this algorithm uses the residual network as the basic network of the Single Shot MultiBox Detector (SSD) target detection network model and trains a Rest-SSD face detection model to detect faces. Experimental results show that the method can achieve real-time detection and improve the accuracy of video face detection, which is required for face detection in a video. Then we based on the continuity characteristics of video sequences. This paper proposes a video face detection method based on the training of the Rest-SSD face detection model. The method first uses kernel correlation filtering to track consecutive n frames according to the detection results, sets weights on the confidence of the n frames of tracking results, uses the weighted average method to calculate the best tracking result, and then sets the best tracking result confidence and the current frame sets the appropriate weights for the confidence of the detection result for fusion, thereby improving the video face detection accuracy.
Prediction of the Academic Achievement of Pupils Using Data Mining Techniques
Authors: Khudhur Mokhalad Eesee , Ahmed Mohammed Shihab , Maher Saif Muhannad
Published: January 2022

Introduction: During this epidemic, a problem in fundamental education affecting all globe is occurring, and we note that education and learning were online and conducted in students. Academic performance of students must be forecast, so that the instructor may better identify the missing pupils and offer teachers a proactive opportunity to develop additional resources for the student to maximize their chances of graduation. Students' academic achievement in higher learning (EH) has been extensively studied in addressing academic inadequacies, rising drop-out rates, graduation delays, and other difficult questions. Simply said, the performance of students refers to the amount to which short and long-term educational objectives are met. Academics nonetheless judge student achievement from different viewpoints, from grades, average grade points (GPAs) to prospective jobs. The literature encompasses numerous computing attempts to improve student performance in schools and colleges, primarily through data mining and analysis learning. However, the efficiency of current smart techniques and models is still unanimous. Method: This study employs multiple methods for machine learning to forecast student progress. With its accurate data sample prediction, five integrated classification algorithms have been created to forecast students' academic success (support vectors, decision-making trees algorithm and perceptron algorithm, logistic regression algorithm and a random forest algorithm). Results: Students' academic achievement has been reviewed and assessed. The performance of five learning machines mentioned in Section 4 is discussed here. First, we displayed the data after pre-processing by simply displaying distributions to form the data packet and then evaluated 5 important learning methods and described the variables in the data set. The entire series of 480 characteristics were examined.