bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Morphological and Molecular Variability of Alternaria solani and Phytophthora infestans Causing Tomato Blights
Authors: Mugao Lydia
Published: May 2023

Alternaria solani and Phytophthora infestans cause early and late blight diseases in tomato and potato, respectively. A. solani can survive for more than a decade in the soil, seed, or in plant residues at optimum temperature. The pathogen exhibits high molecular and genetic variation between isolates from potato and tomato plants, in different countries. Morphological studies reveal separate conidia borne singly on simple conidiophores. Spores are elongated, muriform, beaked, septate, and dark coloured. The mycelia are branched and septate. A. solani demonstrated a high genetic variability among isolates originating from the United States, Greece, Cuba, Canada, Russia, Turkey, South Africa, Brazil, and China based on vegetative compatibility groups and molecular markers (random amplified polymorphic DNA markers, random amplified microsatellite markers, and amplified fragment length polymorphisms). Different morphological and molecular variations indicate the presence of variability among the isolates. On the other hand, P. infestans is a diploid, obligate, heterothallic, and biotrophic oomycete, whose asexual lifecycle is characterized by alternating phases of sporangia germination, hyphal growth, and sporulation. The mycelia of P. infestans is coenocytic, multinucleate, and aseptate although the cross walls do not form in old cultures. Sporangia are borne singly on the branch tips of the alternately branched sporangiophore. Sporangium is hyaline and lemon shaped with a papilla at the distal end. Mating types A1 and A2 with different clonal lineages have been discovered in various parts of the world indicating variation in the species.
Some Characterizations for Approximate Biflatness of Semigroup Algebras
Authors: Razi N. , Sahami A.
Published: May 2023

In this paper, we study an approximate biflatness ofl1S, whereSis a Clifford semigroup. Indeed, we show that a Clifford semigroup algebral1Sis approximately biflat if and only if every maximal subgroup ofSis amenable,ESis locally finite, andl1Shas an approximate identity inc00S. Moreover, we prove thatl1Sis approximately biflat if and only if each maximal subgroup ofSis amenable for an inverse semigroupSsuch thatES, the set of its idempotent elements, is totally ordered and locally finite.
The Social Profile of Hippocrates’ Patients
Authors: Harris W.V.
Published: May 2023

The seven books of the Hippocratic Epidemics appear to make it possible to describe the social profile of the patients who frequented Greek doctors from the mid-fifth to the mid-fourth centuries, and in particular to decide whether doctors attended mainly to the well-to-do. Previous studies have concentrated on the epigraphical evidence for the high status of many of the Thasian patients who are named in Books 1 and 3. But we need to account for the artisan occupations of some of the patients who are described in the other five books (are these patients typical?) and for the marked stylistic and other discrepancies that distinguish Books 1 and 3 from the rest. Endorsing an unconventionally early date for these books, the author suggests that the mention of artisan occupations in the other books is a sign of a degree of social democratization in the medical profession.
The Shadow-Texts of National History: Poetic Participation in Iran and Afghanistan
Authors: Fani Aria
Published: May 2023

This article analyzes a little-known practice called iqtirāḥ—“test of poetic talent” or “poetic competition”—that proliferated in twentieth-century Persian-language periodicals. It examines two case studies: one in Tehran in 1928, which mythologized Nādir Shah (r. 1736–1747), a Turko-Persian monarch, as a national hero, and one in Kabul in 1932, which eulogized Muḥammad Nādir Shah (r. 1920–1933), a ruling monarch at the time, for restoring an Afghan homeland imagined as unified. The article frames iqtirāḥ as an afterlife of Persianate modes of sociability that were reconfigured by modern periodicals to serve the demands of romantic nationalism in the twentieth century. By critically examining the ways in which poetic composition interacts with the formation of a national historiography, this article also shows that any clear-cut distinction between the two is arbitrary.
Translation after the Persianate? Omar Khayyam and Late Perso-Ottoman Poetic Connectivity
Authors: Ozdemir Mehtap
Published: May 2023

This article focuses on late Ottoman/Turkish translations of Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat (“quatrains”) as part of Perso-Ottoman poetic connectivity in the early twentieth century. Situating the reception of Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat at the nexus of world literature, literary historiography, and translatability, the article explores the methodological affordances of translation to redress the overdominance of discursive and historical points of rupture in studies of late Persianate literatures. To that end, the article offers a comparative reading of Hüseyin Daniş’s Rubaiyat-ı Ömer Hayyam (1927), Rıza Tevfik’s Ömer Hayyam ve Rubaileri (1945), both of which are based on their co-authored translation in 1922, and Mevlevi Mustafa Rüşdi b. Mehmet Tevfik’s translation of Khayyam’s quatrains (1931–32). By way of specific attention to translation as hermeneutics, this article suggests that translating after the Persianate did not involve a straight shift from regional translation practices to translation proper nor was it exclusively a modus operandi of literary and linguistic nationalism. In drawing attention to how translation can accommodate both synchronic and diachronic mobility, the article therefore calls for alternative comparative methodologies which attend to persistent textual practices as well as conjunctural discourses in literary history.
Rare Rupture of Small 4.3 cm Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm
Authors: Beeson Seth T. , Faulkner Justin D. , Coffey Dale D. , Eskew Thomas D.
Published: May 2023

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a common medical condition with the feared, and often fatal, complication of rupture. The risk of rupture has been well documented to correlate with aneurysm size. It is exceedingly rare for an AAA less than 5 cm to rupture. This case report demonstrates an asymptomatic 4.3 cm AAA that ruptured while admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 pneumonia. The patient was successfully managed with an endovascular aortoiliac stent graft. Although rare, in patients with small AAA, rupture must remain in the differential diagnosis in the setting of acute onset abdominal or back pain. Furthermore, when quickly recognized, these patients can be safely managed with an endovascular approach.
How Crises Shape Circles of Solidarity: Evidence From the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy
Authors: Ferwerda Jeremy , Magni Gabriele , Hooghe Liesbet , Marks Gary
Published: May 2023

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected boundaries of solidarity? Human-induced crises that impose asymmetric costs tend to sharpen pre-existing divides, but natural disasters often strengthen solidarity. The pandemic possesses properties of both kinds of crisis. In a panel survey conducted in Northern Italy, the initial epicenter of the pandemic, we asked respondents to complete conjoint tasks querying who was likely to violate health guidelines (wave 1) and who should be prioritized for vaccine distribution (wave 2). We find that while discrimination towards the rich is nearly universal, bias against other outgroups depends on ideology and personal experience with the crisis. Leftwing individuals display discrimination towards partisan outgroups, while those on the right display ethnic bias. However, this effect is conditional: those who suffered a significant income loss but no health effects display heightened discrimination, while respondents who experienced COVID-19 as a personal health crisis are less likely to penalize outgroups.
Experiences of Sign Language Interpreters and Perspectives of Interpreting Administrators During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Description
Authors: Roman Gretchen , Samar Vincent , Ossip Deborah , McKee Michael , Barnett Steven , Yousefi-Nooraie Reza
Published: May 2023

Objective:

Interpreting during the COVID-19 pandemic caused stress and adverse mental health among sign language interpreters. The objective of this study was to summarize the pandemic-related work experiences of sign language interpreters and interpreting administrators upon transitioning from on-site to remote work.

Methods:

From March through August 2021, we conducted focus groups with 22 sign language interpreters in 5 settings, 1 focus group for each setting: staff, educational, community/freelance, video remote interpreting, and video relay services. We also conducted 5 individual interviews with interpreting administrators or individuals in positions of administrative leadership in each represented setting. The 22 interpreters had a mean (SD) age of 43.4 (9.8) years, 18 were female, 17 were White, all identified as hearing, and all worked a mean (SD) of 30.6 (11.6) hours per week in remote interpreting. We asked participants about the positive and negative consequences of transitioning from on-site to remote at-home interpreting. We established a thematic framework by way of qualitative description for data analysis.

Results:

We found considerable overlap across positive and negative consequences identified by interpreters and interpreting administrators. Positive consequences of transitioning from on-site to remote-at-home interpreting were realized across 5 overarching topic areas: organizational support, new opportunities, well-being, connections/relationships, and scheduling. Negative consequences emerged across 4 overarching topic areas: technology, financial aspects, availability of the interpreter workforce, and concerns about the occupational health of interpreters.

Conclusions:

The positive and negative consequences shared by interpreters and interpreting administrators provide foundational knowledge upon which to create recommendations for the anticipated sustainment of some remote interpreting practice in a manner that protects and promotes occupational health.
Re-measuring gentrification
Authors: bunten devin michelle , Preis Benjamin , Aron-Dine Shifrah
Published: May 2023

We develop an expectations-based measure of gentrification. Property values today incorporate market participants’ expectations of the neighbourhood’s future. We contrast this with present-oriented variables like demographics. To operationalise the signal implicit in property values, we contrast the percentile rank of a neighbourhood’s average house price to that of its average income, relative to its metropolitan area. We take as our signal of gentrification the rise of a neighbourhood’s house value percentile above its income percentile. We show that a gap between the house value and income percentiles predicts future income growth. We further validate our metric against existing approaches to identify gentrification, finding that it aligns meaningfully with qualitative analyses built on local insight. Compared to existing quantitative approaches, we obtain similar results but usually observe them in earlier years and with more parsimonious data. Our approach has several advantages: conceptual simplicity, communicative flexibility with graphical and map forms and availability for small geographies on an annual basis with minimal lag.
Relationship Norm Moderates Observers’ Reaction to Unearned Preferential Treatment
Authors: Chark Robin , Wang Jessica Qian
Published: May 2023

Unearned preferential treatment has been shown to negatively affect bystander customers who observe the treatment but do not receive the benefit. In two studies we examine the watchers’ unfairness perception under different relationship norms. Study 1 compares unearned preferential treatment granted by a hotel versus a host of peer-to-peer accommodation. The unfairness perception is higher in the latter case. The sense of community in the peer-to-peer platform imbues consumers’ evaluation of their interactions with their peer-to-peer hosts with a different perspective based on communal norms. To directly test its moderating role, relationship norm is manipulated in Study 2, which shows that a communal relationship sensitizes the bystander to the unfair treatment that is considered a violation of the communal norms. This unfairness perception is found to have implications for satisfaction and repurchase intention.
Development of the Online Problem Gaming Behavior Index: A New Scale Based on Actual Problem Gambling Behavior Rather Than the Consequences of it
Authors: Auer Michael , Ricijas Neven , Kranzelic Valentina , Griffiths Mark D.
Published: May 2023

Many items in current problem gambling screens focus on negative consequences of gambling and gambling-related harms. However, few problem gambling screens comprise items that are totally based on actual gambling behavior such as gambling duration, gambling frequency, or gambling late at night. The aim of the present study was to develop and validate the 12-item Online Problem Gambling Behavior Index (OPGBI). A total of 10,000 online Croatian gamblers were administered the OPGBI alongside the nine-item Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), as well as questions regarding types of gambling engaged in and socio-demographic factors. The 12 OPGBI items mainly concern actual gambling behavior. The correlation between OPGBI and PGSI was highly significant ( r = 0.68). Three latent factors in the OPGBI were identified (gambling behavior, limit setting, communication with operator). The three factors all significantly correlated with the PGSI score ( R2- = 51.8%). The fact that pure gambling behavior related items explained over 50% of the PGSI score strengthens the idea that player tracking could be an important approach in identifying problem gambling.
Seeking best practice: A systematic review of literature on Chinese music teaching and learning in Western classroom contexts
Authors: Wang Ke , Webb Michael
Published: May 2023

A standalone literature review was conducted to ascertain the extent and status of research on the practical inclusion of Chinese music in Western educational contexts. The study identified a body of journal articles and postgraduate theses on the topic. The papers were analysed to discern what might constitute best practice classroom approaches to teaching and learning Chinese music. Based on the review’s criteria for inclusion – papers were in English, praxis-oriented, peer-reviewed and published over the past three decades – the study found that the number of publications was limited (19) and that in terms of established pedagogical approaches they engaged, some gaps existed, certain pedagogies were minimally represented and some were perhaps too recent to have been trialled. Even so, the study concluded that while best practice is an elusive notion, Chinese music forms and styles appear to be compatible with a range of educational settings and Western-oriented music teaching and learning approaches.
Advancing equity in language assessment for learners with disabilities
Authors: Randez Robert A. , Cornell Caitlin
Published: May 2023

Promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has become a unifying cause within applied linguistics. Whether highlighting the experiences of linguistically diverse learners across the social class spectrum or advocating for the inclusion of marginalized populations in research, researchers within the subfields of applied linguistics have firmly taken up the DEI cause. However, one population is sparsely addressed, and this requires substantial attention. The disabled community includes a range of demographics with a variety of needs. In this article, we provide a historical commentary on the establishment of equity for the disabled community within the United States, applied linguistics, and the wider language testing field. We then offer a framework for advancing equity through a reflective process, along with two examples. The first focuses on the terminology used to reference this population and the ongoing process of respectful representation within published work. The second gives nuance by discussing testing accommodations for individuals with autism spectrum disorder to contextualize a subgroup of the disabled community within language testing. We hope that the information provided will encourage the language testing field to continue to consider the disabled community in the field’s efforts to advance equity through equitable assessment practices.
Leg volume reduction during tiptoe movement is caused by venous ejection and calf muscle contraction
Authors: Suehiro Kotaro , Morikage Noriyasu , Harada Takasuke , Takeuchi Yuriko , Ike Soichi , Otsuka Ryo , Sakamoto Ryunosuke , Kurazumi Hiroshi , Suzuki Ryo , Hamano Kimikazu
Published: May 2023

Objectives

To clarify the cause of leg volume reduction during tiptoe movement in the standing position.

Methods

The right legs of 20 participants were assessed. The participants performed tiptoe movement in the supine position, and then stood up and performed the tiptoe movement and ankle dorsiflexion. Leg volume changes were recorded continuously using air plethysmography.

Results

Differences between leg volume changes due to tiptoe movement and the refilling volumes were not significantly different between the supine (59 mL) and standing (49 mL) positions, indicating that this amount of motion artifact was included in the downward trace recorded by tiptoe movement in the standing position.

Conclusions

Leg volume reduction during tiptoe movement in the standing position included a significant amount of motion artifacts. Therefore, it may be difficult to accurately measure the ejection volume using tiptoe movement in the standing position.
Fraction Knowledge in Adults With Persistent Mathematics Difficulties
Authors: Bhatia Parnika , Léone Jessica , Gardes Marie-Line , Prado Jérôme
Published: May 2023

Fractions are challenging for both typically achieving children and adults. Although some prior research has focused on fraction difficulties of children with mathematics difficulties (MD), persistent difficulties encountered by adults with MD remain unknown. It is possible that these adults may be able to compensate for some deficits. In this study, we administered an un-timed, paper-based fraction achievement test to French adults with and without MD to compare their knowledge of fractions. Compared with controls, adults with MD performed worse in fraction number lines, fraction concepts, fraction arithmetic, and word problems. However, no difference in performance between the two groups was observed on symbolic representations. This suggests that adults with MD might be able to perform rote procedures such as transcoding from a verbal to a symbolic representation but are severely impaired for fraction number line, fraction concept, and fraction arithmetic. Exploratory error pattern analyses for fraction number line and fraction arithmetic further revealed mistakes similar to those observed in prior studies on children with MD, indicating core deficits in fraction understanding in individuals with MD.
Doing Good Work in a Crisis: Views of Pay and the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Public, Nonprofit, and For-Profit Sectors
Authors: Miller Susan M. , Song Miyeon
Published: May 2023

The critical efforts of essential workers during the COVID-19 crisis might have important implications for how individuals view government, nonprofit, and for-profit sector workers and their pay. This article explores views of employees’ pay considering three rationales (anticipated judgment, motivation for work, and competency in that work) that might lead to a lower valuation of work in the public and nonprofit sectors (i.e., lower pay rationales), particularly among those who work in the for-profit sector. However, highlighting a concrete way that public and non-profit employees serve the public, such as providing services during COVID-19, might mitigate this negative effect by showing their commitment to public service in an intuitive way. Our survey experiment provides evidence that activating the competency or motivation rationales lowers the likelihood that nonprofit employees are viewed as underpaid among those who work in the for-profit sector when a concrete example of public service is not provided. However, we also find some evidence that an example of public service can help to counteract these effects.
Outsourcing practice-based education: The role of industry representatives and implications for clinical expertise
Authors: Grundy Quinn , Hart Dana , Perkins-Meingast Brenda , Heesters Ann M. , Miller Fiona A.
Published: May 2023

In an era of significant human and fiscal constraints, hospitals increasingly rely on industry representatives to fill gaps related to practice-based education. Given their dual sales and support functions, the extent to which education and support functions are, or ought to be, fulfilled by industry representatives is unclear. We conducted an interpretive qualitative study at a large, academic medical centre in Ontario, Canada, during 2021-2022, interviewing 36 participants across the organization with direct and varied experiences with industry-delivered education. We found that ongoing fiscal and human resource challenges prompted hospital leaders to outsource practice-based education to industry representatives, which created an expanded role for industry beyond initial product rollouts. Outsourcing, however, generated downstream costs to the organization and undermined the goals of practice-based education. To attract and retain clinicians, participants advocated for re-investment in practice-based education in-house, with a limited and supervised role for industry representatives.
Development and in functional study of a bi-specific sustained release drug-loaded nano-liposomes for hepatocellular carcinoma
Authors: Zhang Yufei , Wu Xiaoxiong , Zhu Hongfan , Cong Yun
Published: May 2023

Background

Lenvatinib (LEN) is a first-line therapy for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but has a larger adverse effect profile. In this study, we developed a liposome with drug-carrying function and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) imaging function to investigate the targeted drug-carrying function and MRI tracing ability of liposome for HCC.

Methods

Magnetic nano-liposomes (MNL) with dual targeting function of epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) and vimentin and capable of encapsulating LEN drugs were prepared. The characterization performance, drug loading efficiency and cytotoxicity of EpCAM/vimentin-LEN-MNL were tested, and the dual-targeting slow release drug loading function and MRI tracing ability were investigated in cellular and animal models.

Results

EpCAM/vimentin-LEN-MNL has a mean particle size of 218.37 ± 5.13 nm and a mean potential of 32.86 ± 4.62 mV, and is spherical in shape and can be uniformly dispersed in solution. The encapsulation rate was 92.66 ± 0.73% and the drug loading rate was 9.35 ± 0.16%. It has low cytotoxicity, can effectively inhibit HCC cell proliferation and promote HCC cell apoptosis, and has specific targeting function and MRI tracing ability for HCC cells.

Conclusions

In this study, an HCC-specific dual-targeted sustained-release drug delivery liposome with dual-targeted recognition and sensitive MRI tracer was successfully prepared, which provides an important scientific basis for maximizing the multiple effects of nano-carriers in tumor diagnosis and treatment.
Predicting pedestrian tracks around moving vehicles based on conditional variational transformer
Authors: He Youguo , Yang Yongxin , Cai Yingfeng , Yuan Chaochun , Shen Jie , Tian Liwei
Published: May 2023

Fast and accurate prediction of pedestrian trajectory around vehicles can reduce or even prevent most traffic accidents and improve the safety of traffic participants. This involves the real-time interaction and fusion of various information, such as the vehicle’s motion characteristics, the pedestrian’s historical motion trajectory, and the motion relationship between people and cars. However, most of the existing algorithms use RNN as the skeleton to process the information prediction trajectory, which is weak in extracting the internal relationship between different information, and the running time of the algorithm is long. To solve these problems, we propose a Transformer based deep learning algorithm (CVTF) to complete the first-person perspective pedestrian trajectory prediction task. We have the following innovations about this model: 1: We use the stamp coding method for vehicle speed and pedestrian information to ensure we can learn the characteristics of different information sources. 2: Transformer structure is used, and its attention mechanism is improved (Maybe-self attention), which improves the running speed of the model and reduces the memory consumption. 3: Combined with Conditional Variational Autoencoder (CVAE), hidden variables are introduced to improve the prediction accuracy. Experiments on three pedestrian trajectory prediction benchmarks show that our model achieves the most advanced performance.
Non-invasive grading of brain tumors using online support vector machine with dynamic fuzzy rule-based parameters optimization
Authors: Harati Kabir Vida , Mahdavifar Khayati Rasoul , Fallahi Alireza
Published: May 2023

Non-invasive grading of brain tumors provides a valuable understanding of tumor growth that helps choose the proper treatment. In this paper, an online method with an innovative optimization approach as well as a new and fast tumor segmentation method is proposed for the fully automated grading of brain tumors in magnetic resonance (MR) images. First, the tumor is segmented based on two characteristics of the tumor appearance (intensity and edges information). Second, the features of the tumor region are extracted. Then, the online support vector machine with the kernel (OSVMK) by dynamic fuzzy rule-based optimization of the parameters is used for the grading of tumors. The performance evaluation of the proposed tumor segmentation method was performed by manual segmentation using similarity criteria. Also, tumor grading results compared the proposed online method, the conventional online method, and the batch SVM with the kernel (batch SVMK) in terms of accuracy, precision, recall, specificity, and execution times. The segmentation results show a good correlation between the tumor segmented by the proposed method and by experts manually. Also, the grading results based on the accuracy, precision, recall, and specificity, 95.20%, 97.87%, 96.48%, and 96.45%, respectively, indicate the acceptable performance of the proposed method. The execution times of the introduced online method are much less than the batch SVMK. The method demonstrates the potential of fully automated tumor grading to provide a non-invasive diagnosis in order to determine the treatment strategy for the disease. So the physicians, according to the tumor’s grade, can match the treatment of the brain tumor to the patient’s individual needs and thus make the best course of treatment for each patient.
A comparative study of multiple music signal noise reduction algorithms in music processing
Authors: Ma Songqing
Published: May 2023

Electronic music is susceptible to noise in production, which needs to be processed. This paper analyzed several commonly used noise reduction algorithms, including wiener filtering, wavelet transform, spectral subtraction, and improved spectral subtraction, and then compared the noise reduction performance of several algorithms by producing noisy music datasets in the audio analysis tool librosa. It was found from the experimental results that the wavelet transform algorithm performed best when sym3 was used as the wavelet basis function, and the number of decomposition layers was 7. The comparison of different algorithms showed that the performance of the wiener filtering algorithm was poor in reducing noise, and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and signal distortion ratio (SDR) was low; the performance of the improved spectral subtraction algorithm was the best, and the SNR and SDR were 20.36 dB and 17.94 dB, respectively, when the SNR was −8 dB, which were better than the other algorithms. The experimental results demonstrate the reliability of the improved spectral subtraction method in music signal noise reduction. The algorithm can be applied in practical music processing.
Which considerations are lost when debating the prolonged grief disorder diagnosis?
Authors: Bergsmark Lars Petter Sødal , Ramsing Frida
Published: May 2023

The Nordic countries are currently attempting to implement prolonged grief disorder as an official psychiatric diagnosis, as enacted by The World Health Organization in 2018. The enactment has been controversial and, especially in Denmark, the forthcoming diagnosis has met resistance from scholars and clinicians alike. In this article we will outline what we believe to be lost considerations during the debate of the so-called “grief diagnosis.” We argue that scholars’ attention should not focus on the diagnosis itself, but rather on the overall theoretical challenges in conceptualizing and handling mental suffering, which the debate should reflect and address. The article’s main purpose is to accentuate why we, as psychologists, must welcome the prolonged grief diagnosis, whilst simultaneously working to more actively politicize mental suffering in general, and criticize the societal function of diagnoses. This should be attained through dialogue and recognition between cultural psychologists and health psychologists.
Risks to job quality from digital technologies: Are industrial relations in Europe ready for the challenge?
Authors: Berg Janine , Green Francis , Nurski Laura , Spencer David A
Published: May 2023

We examine job quality effects of new digital technologies, using the European frame of seven job quality domains: Pay, Working Time Quality, Prospects, Skills and Discretion, Work Intensity, Social Environment, and Physical Environment. Theoretical effects are ambivalent across all domains. The analysis of these effects confirms that digital technologies can both improve and harm job quality depending on how they are used. In light of this analysis and to think through the challenge of regulating digital technologies, we review emerging regulations across several European countries. Drawing on the principles of human-centred design, we argue that worker participation is important for securing good job quality outcomes, at both the innovation and adoption stages. We also consider the application of data protection legislation to the regulation of job quality. Overall, the paper extends debate about the future of work beyond employment and pay, on to a consideration of job quality more broadly.
Highly Pluripotent Adipose-Derived Stem Cell–Enriched Nanofat: A Novel Translational System in Stem Cell Therapy
Authors: Quintero Sierra Lindsey Alejandra , Biswas Reetuparna , Conti Anita , Busato Alice , Ossanna Riccardo , Zingaretti Nicola , Parodi Pier Camillo , Conti Giamaica , Riccio Michele , Sbarbati Andrea , De Francesco Francesco
Published: May 2023

Fat graft is widely used in plastic and reconstructive surgery. The size of the injectable product, the unpredictable fat resorption rates, and subsequent adverse effects make it tricky to inject untreated fat into the dermal layer. Mechanical emulsification of fat tissue, which Tonnard introduced, solves these problems, and the product obtained was called nanofat. Nanofat is widely used in clinical and aesthetic settings to treat facial compartments, hypertrophic and atrophic scars, wrinkle attenuation, skin rejuvenation, and alopecia. Several studies demonstrate that the tissue regeneration effects of nanofat are attributable to its rich content of adipose-derived stem cells. This study aimed to characterize Hy-Tissue Nanofat product by investigating morphology, cellular yield, adipose-derived stem cell (ASC) proliferation rate and clonogenic capability, immunophenotyping, and differential potential. The percentage of SEEA3 and CD105 expression was also analyzed to establish the presence of multilineage-differentiating stress-enduring (MUSE) cell. Our results showed that the Hy-Tissue Nanofat kit could isolate 3.74 × 104 ± 1.31 × 104 proliferative nucleated cells for milliliter of the treated fat. Nanofat-derived ASC can grow in colonies and show high differentiation capacity into adipocytes, osteocytes, and chondrocytes. Moreover, immunophenotyping analysis revealed the expression of MUSE cell antigen, making this nanofat enriched of pluripotent stem cell, increasing its potential in regenerative medicine. The unique characteristics of MUSE cells give a simple, feasible strategy for treating a variety of diseases.
Evaluating how facets of openness to experience predict music preference
Authors: Setti Fabio , Kahn Jeffrey H
Published: May 2023

Listening to music is a widespread activity. Openness to experience in particular has been found to be one of the dimensions of personality that most consistently predicts music preference. However, the singular facets of openness to experience have never been looked at in depth. This study tried to uncover the impact of the openness-to-experience facets of both the five-factor (FFM) and HEXACO models of personality on music preference. A total of 374 college students completed two openness-to-experience measures (FFM and HEXACO) and one music preference measure (ratings of music excerpts). In line with Rentfrow and colleagues, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) suggested five dimensions of music preference. Dominance analysis (DA) was used to evaluate the relative importance of each facet in predicting music preference. It was observed that openness facets relate to music preference in ways that are not apparent when general openness to experience is used as a predictor of music preference.
Advancing an ethical imperative for collaborative approaches to evaluation with low incidence and underserved communities: Insights from a DeafBlind Support Services pilot program evaluation
Authors: Joly Vannesa , McClure Colleen , Poth Cheryl , Bachan Navida , McCarthy Roni , Redhead Cheryl , Pei Jacqueline
Published: May 2023

This practice article advances an ethical imperative for guiding collaborative approaches to evaluation with low incidence and underserved communities. We describe our evaluation processes for building transformative partnerships during a DeafBlind Support Services pilot program evaluation in Western Canada using collaborative approaches to evaluation. This program was designed to enable adults living with dual sensory loss to experience self-determined activities in the community that enhance resilience and belonging. Key features involve specialised Support Service Providers who assist DeafBlind community members with accessing and participating in essential community services and social, vocational, educational, and recreational activities. In presenting our co-generated evaluation insights, we advance an ethical imperative describing philosophical foundations, pragmatic actions, and political leadership for implementation of collaborative approaches to evaluation with a low incidence and underserved community.
Considerations Before Implementing Punishment-Based Procedures in the Classroom
Authors: Vargo Kristina K. , Gushanas Christina M.
Published: May 2023

Students sometimes engage in challenging behaviors that require teachers to select and design appropriate behavior management interventions. Teachers may choose from various evidence-based intervention strategies when addressing students’ challenging behaviors. Reinforcement-based strategies are preferred due to their desirable long-term outcomes. However, teachers may (intentionally or unintentionally) select punishment-based interventions as a quick option to reduce challenging behaviors. Because of the undesirable effects sometimes observed with punishment-based interventions, it is critical that teachers only choose them when warranted and subsequently implement them ethically. This article provides teachers with 11 questions to consider when selecting an effective, efficient, and least-restrictive behavior change intervention.
Toluene-Induced Behavioral Sensitization is Attenuated by Voluntary Physical Exercise and Social Interaction
Authors: Oros-González Alain , Mercadillo Roberto E , Mosco-Aquino Ricardo , Páez-Martínez Nayeli
Published: May 2023

Toluene-based inhalants found in some common products, such as paint thinner or glues, may be used to induce intoxication. Though addiction may be one of its most detrimental consequences, treatment options are insufficient or limited. Environmental enrichment (EE) refers to housing conditions that enhance sensory, cognitive, and motor stimulation. This paradigm induces beneficial effects in a variety of animal models of brain disorders, and also in animal models of drug addiction. Previous studies have shown that toluene induces behavioral sensitization and that EE treatment can reduce this response. Since EE comprises a variety of elements, the aim of the present study was to group mice into five different types of EE-shaping housing conditions (4 weeks) and to identify which of them are key elements in attenuating toluene-induced behavioral sensitization. The experimental groups were: Standard housing with conspecifics; EE with conspecifics; Toys stimulation with conspecifics; Exercise wheels with conspecifics; and Wheel and toy isolated. Mice in Standard housing and previously exposed to toluene exhibited high locomotor activity, suggesting behavioral sensitization. When animals were exposed to toluene and then housed in EE with conspecifics or Exercise wheels with conspecifics conditions an attenuation of behavioral sensitization was observed ( p < 0.001; 100% and 75% effectiveness, respectively). Toy with conspecifics housing also reduced behavioral sensitization, but in a less proportion than the two previous mentioned treatments ( p < 0.002; 33.5% effectiveness). Mice in the Wheel and toy isolated housing did not show significant changes in the assessed behavior ( p = 0.061; 12.4% effectiveness). We suggest that exercise and social interaction are the key enriched main elements to attenuate toluene-induced behavioral sensitization. Our results advise preclinical strategies for inhalant abuse interventions based on social interactions and physical exercise. Also, they provide guidelines to develop experimental models with diverse environments and groups that lead us to understand the complexity of environmental enrichment.
Perceiving and creating atmospheres: how ecological-enactive cognition can explain and inform architectural practice
Authors: Nunes de Vasconcelos Guilherme , Rolla Giovanni
Published: May 2023

The notion of atmosphere has taken prominence in contemporary architecture discourse, in which it is used mainly to denote the affective characteristic of inhabitable spaces. In this paper, we employ the ecological-enactive approach to cognition to explain how atmospheres are perceived and created. According to that approach, cognitive systems actively explore meaningful possibilities for action in their environments. We thereby construe the perception of atmospheres as the possibilities for being in certain moods by exploring what the place affords. The perception of atmospheres is, therefore, a meaningful activity that is ultimately related to the organism’s biological interests, which we argue, is a type of meaning that cannot be fully conveyed descriptively. From this, it seems to follow that architects cannot foresee the atmospheres of a place during the designing phase of their projects. We avoid this undesirable conclusion by evoking the material engagement theory and the situated aspect of cognitive performances. Accordingly, skillful architects can imagine the intended atmospheres of a place by creating what we call proto-atmospheres, which involves creatively thinking through and with their tools.
A New Perspective on Machiavellian Leadership
Authors: Davis Emily A.
Published: May 2023

Recently, much debate has occurred regarding Machiavelli’s standards for good leadership. Drawing on his unusually approving—but still understudied—treatment of Marcus Furius Camillus, a Roman general and ruler, this paper presents a new perspective on Machiavelli’s leadership teachings. It argues that the Machiavellian leader possesses a rare self-honesty that frees him from heroic visions of himself and, thus, from dangerous vanity and from vengefulness toward opponents. Although this leader is no altruist, then, he often benefits his people more effectively than other rulers can, for he views the needs of his state with clearer eyes. This complex outlook differs from the ones that most scholars have attributed to the Machiavellian leader. It also provides us with a nuanced framework for considering what qualities to look for in potential leaders today.
Reintegration as Border Pedagogy: A Female Text
Authors: Wright Lorie C.
Published: May 2023

Adult literacy learners often survive on the periphery while holding burdens of invisible barriers. In this article, I explore the border between those in the mainstream and those seeking reintegration and community. Finding resonance with artography, I resist methodological enclosure just as the individuals I work with resist the boundaries that attempt to define them. Emboldened by critical arts-based research, I employ artography to examine my experiences as an adult literacy facilitator supporting formerly incarcerated women. Through metaphorical, poetic, and artful inquiry, I explore a border pedagogy, reaching for a shift in consciousness. Understanding borders as the barrier that separates formerly incarcerated learners from mainstream community, I have attempted a pulling of threads to unravel and then re-stitch an understanding (of) the lines that (no longer) blindly hem us in.
Predicting the Response of Children and Adolescents With ADHD to Methylphenidate: A Systematic Review
Authors: Pagnier Maryse
Published: May 2023

Objective:

To report the characteristics associated with response to methylphenidate (MPH) in children and adolescents with ADHD.

Methods:

Studies reporting potentials predictors of response to MPH were searched in Medline and Embase from January 1998 to March 2022. Narrative synthesis was performed.

Results:

Fifty-seven reports of 46 studies totaling 6,656 ADHD patients were included. No association appears between response to MPH and age, gender, MPH dosage, ADHD subtype, comorbidities nor socioeconomic status when considering a specific patient. No conclusion could be drawn about body weight, ADHD severity, intelligence quotient, and parental symptoms of depression or ADHD.

Conclusions:

None of these potential predictors have proven their usefulness to predict response to MPH on an individual basis in clinical practice. In research, potential predictors should be measured, their association with response to MPH assessed, in order to control for confounding variables when modeling response to MPH.
Effects on Speech Development With Modifications to Picture Exchange Communication System
Authors: White Emily N. , Cagliani Rachel R. , Tyson Kelsie M.
Published: May 2023

The current study examined vocalizations that occurred during training of the Picture Exchange Communication System for three U.S. preschool-age participants with autism spectrum disorder. In Phase IV, the protocol incorporates a delay to reinforcement in an effort to encourage vocalizations; however, the manual does not suggest additional strategies to try when vocalizations do not occur during the delay to reinforcement. Researchers evaluated a vocal model prompt following the delay to reinforcement and continued to measure vocalizations when the delay to reinforcement alone did not increase vocalizations. Two of the three participants increased independent vocalizations after the addition of the vocal model. Implications for practitioners and future research are discussed.
The Impacts of Supervised Exercise Intervention on Tobacco Withdrawal Symptoms
Authors: Ruslan Nur-Hasanah , Yasin Siti Munira , Mohd Nasir Nadzimah , Isa Mohamad Rodi
Published: May 2023

This study examined a supervised moderate-intensity aerobic exercise programme’s effectiveness in regulating the Tobacco Withdrawal Symptoms (TWS) during temporary abstinence. This was a single group, pre and post-quasi intervention study. Thirty daily smokers participated in an 8-week supervised moderate-intensity aerobic exercise programme. We assessed the TWS, smoking urge, mood and stress-pleasure related hormonal variables after the aerobic exercise intervention. The measurements were conducted after overnight abstinence at baseline, post-intervention (at week-8) and post-detraining (at week-10). TWS components, smoking urge and mood were found to improve. For hormonal variables, cortisol and beta-endorphin except adrenaline showed insignificant changes at post-intervention and de-training. The findings suggest moderate-intensity exercise might help in reducing withdrawal symptoms and its adverse effects. Thus, exercise is an effective adjunct treatment in a smoking cessation programme.
‘What about the presumption of innocence?’ Legal consciousness and himpathy in Social Media Users Comments on Flemish #MeToo scandal
Authors: Van de Graaf Cathérine
Published: May 2023

In November 2017, after receiving multiple complaints of sexual harassment, the Flemish Radio and Television Broadcasting Organization (VRT) terminated its collaboration with one of Flanders’ most popular TV personalities, Bart De Pauw. What followed was an explosion of opinions from both well-known and ordinary persons. The focus of this article is on the latter: Facebook users commenting on newspaper articles. To gather information about their legal consciousness with respect to the scandal, their comments are analysed using critical discourse analysis. The term legal consciousness refers to the ways in which ‘the law’ is invoked to evaluate and define certain behaviours that occur outside of a legal framework. Legal consciousness is apparent in the comments of social media users with references to elements of procedural justice: the presumption of innocence, to (the absence of) the right to a defence, or to the absence of any evidence. Despite the fact that the women in question have not made a claim in conventional judicial institutions, their complaints are still evaluated within such a framework. The conducted analysis seems to support the paradox identified by Gash and Harding: that law (or rather perceptions thereof) stands in the way of the objectives of an awareness movement and encourages victims of sexual abuse to remain silent (2018). In this context, it appears that commenters are plagued by ‘himpathy’, with a fixation on the harasser’s fall from grace whereby procedural rules are merely used as a decoy. A remarkable finding of this study is the total reversal of victimhood that takes place. It is found that the case at hand clearly illustrates that seizing control of the narrative is part of male dominance, even more so when the alleged perpetrator is popular and powerful.