bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The effect of supplementing CLOSTAT 500 (Bacillus subtilis PB6) to yearling steers in a commercial feedyard on health, Salmonella spp. prevalence, feedlot growth performance and carcass characteristics
Authors: Word Alyssa , Broadway Paul Rand , Burdick-Sanchez Nicole , Carroll Jeff , Hales Kristin , Karr Kendall , Holland Ben , Ellis Guy , Maxwell Casey , Canterbury Landon , Leonhard John Tyler , LaFleur Doug , Hergenreder Jerilyn , Trojan Sara
Published: September 2022

British and British × Continental crossbred beef steers, n = 2,100; 313 ± 38 kg of initial body weight (BW) were used to evaluate the effects of Bacillus subtilis PB6 supplementation to yearling steers in a commercial feedyard on health, prevalence of Salmonella spp., growth performance, and carcass characteristics. Steers were blocked by arrival date and assigned randomly to pens within the block; pens were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 dietary treatments within block. Treatments, replicated in 15 pens/treatment with 70 steers/pen, included: 1) control (CON), diets containing no supplemental direct-fed microbials; 2) CLOSTAT (CLO), diets supplemented with 0.5 g/steer/d Bacillus subtilis PB6 (CLOSTAT 500, Kemin Industries, Des Moines, IA) to provide 6.6 × 109 CFU/g of the active ingredient. Supplementing CLO decreased the overall incidence of morbidity (P = 0.03), 10.38% (CLO) vs. 13.43% (CON), decreased the percentage of steers treated once for bovine respiratory disease (BRD; P < 0.01), 9.14% (CLO) vs. 12.76% (CON), and decreased the incidence of BRD retreatment (P = 0.03) compared with CON. Mortality did not differ among treatments (P = 0.23); however, overall deads and removals tended to be less for CLO than CON (53 heads vs. 73 heads respectively, P = 0.06). Prevalence of fecal Salmonella did not differ among treatments, (P ≥ 0.35); overall fecal Salmonella counts tended to be less for CLO (1.59 log (10) CFU/g) than CON (2.04 log (10) CFU/g; P = 0.07). Salmonella concentration in subiliac lymph nodes (n =150/treatment) was not different (P = 0.62) between CON (0.22 log (10) CFU/g) or CLO (0.19 log (10) CFU/g); however, there was a 46% reduction in the overall mean prevalence of lymph node Salmonella (P = 0.46; 15.48% vs. 28.66%) for CLO and CON, respectively. With deads and removals included, final BW was heavier for CLO steers than CON, (654 kg vs. 641 kg, respectively, P = 0.05), and average daily gain (ADG; P = 0.08) and gain efficiency (G:F; P = 0.06) tended to be greater for CLO than CON. With deads and removals excluded, final BW, ADG, and G:F did not differ among treatments (P ≥ 0.30). Carcass traits were not different between treatments (P ≥ 0.15). Supplementing CLO throughout the feeding period in a commercial feedyard improved the health outcomes of yearling steers by decreasing BRD and overall treatment rates, reducing the overall abundance of Salmonella, and resulting in fewer steers removed from the study compared with CON.
A combined risk-based and condition monitoring approach: developing a dynamic model for the case of marine engine lubrication
Authors: Ventikos Nikolaos P , Sotiralis Panagiotis , Annetis Emmanouil
Published: September 2022

This paper focuses on the creation of a dynamic probabilistic model which simulates deterioration trends of a marine engine lubrication system. The approach is based on risk and the implementation is achieved through a dynamic Bayesian network (dBN). Risk can be useful for decision making, while dBNs are a powerful tool for risk modelling and prediction models. The model takes into account deterioration of engine components, oil degradation and the off-line condition monitoring technique of oil analysis, in the context of predictive maintenance. The paper aims to efficiently predict probability evolution for main engine lubrication failure and to decide upon the most beneficial schemes from a variety of lubrication oil analysis interval schemes by introducing monetary costs and producing the risk model. Real data and respective analysis, along with expert elicitation, are utilized for achieving model quantification, while the model is materialized through a code in the Matlab environment. Results from the probabilistic model show a realistic simulation for the system and indicate the obvious, that with more frequent oil analyses and respective maintenance or repairs, the probability of failure drops significantly. However, the results from the risk model highlight that the costs can redefine scheme suggestions, as they can correspond to low probabilities of failure but also to higher costs. A two-month interval scheme is suggested, in contrast to the most preferred practice among shipping companies of a three-month interval. The developed model is in general identified as a failure prediction tool focusing on marine engine lubrication failure.
Is Lenke type V adolescent idiopathic scoliosis associated with different muscular morphometry?
Authors: Incesoy Mustafa Alper , Seluk Sefa , Turk Ozgur Ismail , Buyuk Abdul Fettah , Erdogan Sinan , Misir Abdulhamit
Published: September 2022

The aim of the study was to evaluate the changes in psoas major (PM), erector spinae (ES), multifidus (MF), and rectus abdominis (RA) morphometry in Lenke type V adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) and control. Forty-two Lenke V AIS patients and 30 control were enrolled. The cross-sectional area (CSA) and CSA index (CI) of the PM, ES, MF, and RA at the T9–L5 levels were measured and compared between Lenke type V patients and control. The CI of the RA was significantly higher in the control group than the Lenke V group in multiple levels. On the other hand, there was no significant difference between patients with Lenke V AIS and control regarding the CI of the RA, ES, and PM. There was no significant difference between concave and convex sides of the Lenke V group regarding the CI of the RA, PM, MF, and ES. RA muscle mass is significantly affected in Lenke type 5 AIS regardless of convex or concave sides. This difference may be related to postural differences and back pain development in Lenke type 5 patients. Level of evidence: Level III.
The significance of the Dega osteotomy
Authors: Jóźwiak Marek , Grzegorzewski Andrzej , Napiontek Marek , Woźniak Łukasz
Published: September 2022

Wiktor Dega has significantly impacted contemporary pediatric orthopedics by developing transiliac osteotomy – Dega’s pelvic osteotomy. The global implementation of the surgery technique gained dynamism in the 2000s after being published by Ward and Grudziak. Since then, derivative operative techniques called Dega, Dega-like or Dega family osteotomies have been developed. We analyzed the original articles published by Dega between 1929 and 1974 concerning transiliac osteotomy technique development and articles about its derivatives. The epidemiological significance of developmental hip dysplasia focused Wiktor Dega’s attention in the 1920s. At that time, he treated patients according to König’s idea of acetabular roof plastic surgery. The osteotomy depth gradually increased, which allowed deeper graft placement to perform what we nowadays call acetabuloplasty. In 1958, Dega coined the name ‘supraacetabular semicircular osteotomy’. It differed from the final concept of the transiliac osteotomy by not assuming the cut of the inner cortex of the iliac bone. The hinge for the acetabular rotation was located at the inner cortex’s whole length, disallowing the excessive redirection. The final concept of osteotomy allows for simultaneous acetabuloplasty and redirection to change the shape, location and acetabular volume. Dega derivatives are Mubarak (San Diego) and high Dega osteotomies. Dega osteotomy and its derivates are routinely implemented to treat developmental hip dysplasia and spastic hip disorders. It might be considered an option in Legg-Calve-Perthes disease, congenital deficiencies, and flaccid hip displacement in neurological conditions.
Safety and efficacy of intrathecal morphine in early onset scoliosis surgery
Authors: Poe-Kochert Connie , Ina Jason , Thompson George H. , Hardesty Christina K. , Son-Hing Jochen P. , Rubin Kasia , Tripi Paul A.
Published: September 2022

Intrathecal morphine (IM) is a popular adjunct for pain management in spinal deformity surgery for idiopathic scoliosis. It has not been studied in patients with early onset scoliosis (EOS). We retrospectively reviewed EOS patients undergoing growth-friendly surgery who received IM or did not receive IM (non-IM). Data from initial insertion and final fusion procedures were studied. IM was not used for lengthening procedures, short procedures (<3 h), patients with significant underlying respiratory issues, paraplegia, unsuccessful access and anesthesiologist discretion. We assessed pediatric ICU (PICU) admission and IM complications (respiratory depression, pruritus and nausea/vomiting), time to first postoperative opiate, and pain scores. There were 97 patients including 97 initial insertions (26 IM and 71 non-IM) and 74 patients with final fusions (17 IM and 57 non-IM). The first dose of opioids following insertion and final fusion occurred at 16.8 ± 3.8 and 16.8 ± 3.1 h postoperatively in the IM group compared to 5.5 ± 2.8 and 8.3 ± 3.2 h in the non-IM group, respectively (P < 0.001). Postoperative pain scores were lower in the IM groups (P = 0.001). Two patients with IM developed mild respiratory depression following initial insertion (P = 0.01) but did not require PICU admission. The rate of respiratory depression was not different between the final fusion groups. There was no difference between pruritus and nausea/vomiting at the final fusion. Preincision IM can provide well-tolerated and effective initial postoperative analgesia in select children with EOS undergoing spinal deformity surgery.
A review of African American women's experiences in menopause
Authors: Williams Makeba , Richard-Davis Gloria , Weickert V. , Christensen Leslie , Ward Earlise , Schrager Sarina
Published: September 2022

Importance and Objective

Little is known and reported about the experiences of African American women as they transition to and experience menopause. Accepted norms are based on the experience of a predominantly White population. The aim of this study is to review available data about the distinct experiences of African American women during the menopause transition and menopause.

Methods

A literature search was developed and executed by the review team in collaboration with a health sciences librarian. The search combined controlled vocabulary and title/abstract terms related to the health status disparities of African Americans in the menopause transition and menopause. The following databases were searched from inception through April 28, 2022: PubMed, Scopus (Elsevier), and Web of Science Core Collection (Clarivate).

Discussion and Conclusion

African American women experience distinct differences in physical, psychological, social, and quality of life measures during menopause. Increasing awareness about the unique menopause experiences of African American women is critically important to improve the health of this underserved population.
The influence of an exercise program in middle-aged women on dietary habits. The FLAMENCO project
Authors: Coll-Risco Irene , de la Flor Alemany Marta , Acosta-Manzano Pedro , Borges-Cosic Milkana , Camiletti-Moirón Daniel , Baena-García Laura , Aparicio Virginia A.
Published: September 2022

Objective

To determine the extent to which following an exercise training program can modify dietary habits and adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD) compared with a counseling group.

Methods

These are secondary analyses from the FLAMENCO (Fitness League Against MENopause COst) project. The present randomized controlled trial included 150 perimenopausal women who were randomized into counseling (n = 75) or exercise (n = 75) groups. The counseling group attended conferences on a healthy lifestyle. The exercise group followed concurrently a 4-month (60 min/session, 3 d/wk) training and did not take part in the conferences. A validated food frequency questionnaire and the Mediterranean diet score were used to assess dietary habits and adherence to the MD, respectively.

Results

The fish/shellfish intake was reduced in the counseling group and increased in the exercise group, with a difference between groups of 1.16 servings/wk (P < 0.01). The counseling group reduced their beer intake, and the exercise group increased it, with a difference between groups of 1.07 servings/wk (P < 0.01).

Conclusion

The exercise intervention did not have a significant impact on dietary habits or MD adherence scores in perimenopausal women. Notwithstanding, women in the exercise group increased their beer consumption, which might have been promoted by the social meetings after the exercise training.
Discrimination of Multiclass Motor Imagery-Based Brain-Computer Interface
Authors: Elsadig Elmahdi Rania , Elhag Samer , Abdalmunim Abubaker , Abdelrsoul Abdelslam , Mustafa Zeinab A. , Ibraheem Banazier A.
Published: September 2022

Motor imagery (MI) based on electroencephalography (EEG) is one of the methods that the brain-computer interface (BCI) system uses to identify the expected behavior through brain signals. In this study, we aimed to develop an algorithm that is capable of differentiating between 4 MI movements. To achieve this, the Data Set IIa A from BCI competition IV was used to test the algorithm. We used independent component analysis (ICA) to preprocess the signal and wavelet technique to decompose the obtained signal into the desired frequency bands. We then inserted these as common spatial pattern (CSP) input, maximizing the variance between 2 classes using the 1-versus-1 (OVO) technique. Afterward, the support vector machine (SVM) classifier is used to obtain the best possible separation between the 2 classes. The obtained result shows improvement in some significant subjects compared with a previous study of these techniques.
Undifferentiated Endometrial Carcinoma—Diagnostic and Therapeutic Challenges
Authors: Lee Yow-Shan , Lee Cheng-Han
Published: September 2022

Undifferentiated/dedifferentiated endometrial carcinoma is clinically highly aggressive, particularly when it is defined by inactivation of core SWI/SNF proteins (co-loss of ARID1B, loss of SMARCA4, or loss SMARCB1 expression). We report here the case of a 37-year-old woman who presented with menorrhagia and the subsequent pathologic and clinical workup showed an advanced-stage ARID1A/ARID1B-deficient mismatch repair–proficient undifferentiated endometrial carcinoma. Despite pelvic external beam radiation and platinum/taxane-based chemotherapy (4 of 6 planned cycles), the patient experienced disease progression with osseous metastasis to her left elbow and died of her disease 7 months after clinical presentation. This case highlights the diagnostic and treatment challenges associated with such undifferentiated/dedifferentiated cancer types of the endometrium.
Mononostril Endoscopic Approach for Bilateral Sphenoid Sinus Lesions
Authors: Lee Dong Hoon , Jeong Jae-ho , Lim Sang Chul
Published: September 2022

Introduction:

A mononostril endoscopic approach was attempted for bilateral sphenoid sinus lesions. The objective of this study was to introduce the surgical method along with treatment results for patients.

Methods:

We retrospectively analyzed 16 patients who underwent a mononostril endoscopic surgery for bilateral sphenoid lesions from 2018 to 2022.

Results:

Endoscopic mononostril surgery for bilateral sphenoid lesions was performed for 13 cases under general anesthesia and 3 cases under local anesthesia. The surgical approach to the sphenoid sinus was transnasal approach in 8 cases and transethmoidal in 8 cases. Among those with bilateral sphenoid sinuses lesions, fungal ball and sinusitis were the most common. After surgery, the size of the sphenoid sinus opening remained almost the same in 14 patients. It decreased but maintained in 2 patients. There was no recurrence of sphenoid lesions.

Conclusion:

The mononostril endoscopic approach for bilateral sphenoid lesions is a feasible, safe, effective, and minimally invasive surgical technique.
Developing an empirical model for spillover and emergence: Orsay virus host range inCaenorhabditis
Authors: Shaw Clara L. , Kennedy David A.
Published: September 2022

A lack of tractable experimental systems in which to test hypotheses about the ecological and evolutionary drivers of disease spillover and emergence has limited our understanding of these processes. Here we introduce a promising system:Caenorhabditishosts and Orsay virus, a positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus that naturally infectsC. elegans. We assayed species across theCaenorhabditistree and found Orsay virus susceptibility in 21 of 84 wild strains belonging to 14 of 44 species. Confirming patterns documented in other systems, we detected effects of host phylogeny on susceptibility. We then tested whether susceptible strains were capable of transmitting Orsay virus by transplanting exposed hosts and determining whether they transmitted infection to conspecifics during serial passage. We found no evidence of transmission in 10 strains (virus undetectable after passaging in all replicates), evidence of low-level transmission in 5 strains (virus lost between passage 1 and 5 in at least one replicate) and evidence of sustained transmission in 6 strains (including all three experimentalC. elegansstrains) in at least one replicate. Transmission was strongly associated with viral amplification in exposed populations. Variation in Orsay virus susceptibility and transmission amongCaenorhabditisstrains suggests that the system could be powerful for studying spillover and emergence.
The effects of a firm's capabilities on its innovativeness: the mediating roles of resource flexibility
Authors: Gao Yu , Yang Wei , Shen Hao
Published: September 2022

Purpose

This study examines the effects of technological and marketing capabilities on administrative and product innovativeness, and the mediation effects of resource flexibility.

Design/methodology/approach

This study tests a conceptual model based on survey data from 303 Chinese firms using structural equation modeling.

Findings

Technological and marketing capabilities are found to have positive effects on administrative and product innovativeness, as well as resource flexibility. Resource flexibility positively influenced administrative innovativeness and product innovativeness, and resource flexibility mediated the relationships between technological and marketing capability and administrative and product innovativeness.

Originality/value

This study advances the authors' understanding of firm innovativeness and resource flexibility, addresses the missing link between firm capability and firm innovativeness, and contributes to the authors' knowledge of value-generating paths in resource management research.
Improving self-perceived emotional–social competencies with relational outcomes through the strength deployment inventory
Authors: Li Dan , Patterson Michael
Published: September 2022

Purpose

This paper aims to determine whether performing an emotional intelligence (EI) intervention improves employees’ self-perceived emotional–social competencies (ESC) to achieve relational outcomes in firms based in China.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a qualitative, interpretive approach through purposive sampling, this paper explored the impacts the Strengths Deployment Inventory (SDI) 2.0 intervention might have upon Chinese employees regarding ESC and relational outcomes. Data was collected from 18 semi-structured interviews with Chinese executives and individual contributors.

Findings

The findings suggested that ESC could be developed and improved in Chinese employees. The SDI 2.0 intervention may effectively bring about positive EI shifts and relevant attitudinal and behavioral changes related to work relationships.

Practical implications

The developed ESC and relational outcomes provide practitioners with insight to better understand the role training plays in organizational effectiveness, as well as to implement the SDI 2.0 program in human resource practices of Chinese organizations to develop personnel and promote high-quality work relationships.

Originality/value

This study gains significance by highlighting the effectiveness of the SDI 2.0 intervention in enhancing respondents’ ESC with relational outcomes from the perspectives of Chinese firms. Thus, supporting the effectiveness of EI training in the Chinese workplace and introducing the EI training literature the SDI 2.0 tool.
All without leaving home: building a conceptual model of virtual tourism experiences
Authors: Wei Wenqi , Baker Melissa A. , Onder Irem
Published: September 2022

Purpose

This study aims to use mixed methods to create a new conceptual framework to understand the unique characteristics of virtual tourism experiences (VTE), which has not been systemically examined.

Design/methodology/approach

Study 1 uses topic modeling with Latent Dirichlet Allocation to analyze 91,609 online reviews from the Airbnb Experience platform. Study 2 uses content analysis of open-ended qualitative responses from VTE customers. The two studies together are used to build a new conceptual model.

Findings

Building upon the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) model and the experience economy, results present a new conceptual model and identify VTE as unique in terms of Stimulus (education, entertainment, esthetics, escapism and connection), Organism (experiencing synchronicity, telepresence, participation and customization, emotion) and Response (evaluation and behavioral responses). Given the uniqueness of VTE, the new construct of the virtual servicescape is incorporated, recognizing the host, the focal customer and other customers, and the technology as the four main components.

Practical implications

The proposed framework can be used to guide the design, development, and evaluation of VTE, including identifying the key considerations, engagement within the ecosystem and providing guidance to hosts and operators.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that systematically explores VTE and proposes the theoretical framework to comprehensively understand this new form of experience in sharing economy by combining the unique aspects of the stimulus, organism, response and virtual servicescape.
The impact of the mortgage on the real estate market: a study case in Saudi Arabia
Authors: Ajeeb Samar , Lai Wei Sieng
Published: September 2022

Purpose

This study attempts to find the response of the real estate market to economic changes by identifying cause-effect relationships between mortgage, residential investment, and Saudi employment.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative approach to analytically examine the relationship among the variables. To find out the impact of investment, mortgage and Saudi employment on the Saudi real estate growth from 1970 to 2019. All data sets were obtained from the General Authority for Statistics (GAST), Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and World Bank Group.

Findings

This study reveals a positive relationship between the mortgage and GDP in the Saudi Arabian real estate market. The same results for employment and investment; both have a positive effect on the GDP of the real estate market.

Research limitations/implications

Analyzing the impact of real estate financing on various industries and the extent to which it is related to employment and unemployment rates is essential for future research. Moreover, this research can be applied to different countries and compared based on similarities and differences in implementing mortgage-related policies.

Practical implications

The government must encourage investment in various ways and establish a stable structure that ensures market stability and finds a balance between supply and demand.

Social implications

This study reflects the importance of real estate financing not only to individuals and governments but also to investors and business workers, and it is essential to analyze the impact of real estate financing on various industries, as well as the extent to which it is related to employment and unemployment rates. This research can be applied to different countries and compared based on similarities and differences in the implementation of mortgage-related policies.

Originality/value

This study contributes to testing this study’s hypothesis: that mortgage positively impacts the real estate market of Saudi Arabia.
Addressing dereliction and devaluation in urban tourism: the case of Cork, Ireland
Authors: Horgan Donagh , Baum Tom
Published: September 2022

Purpose

This paper aims to focus on increasingly entrepreneurial approaches to urban governance in the country’s second city Cork, where neoliberal strategy has driven uneven spatial development.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper combines insights from literature review with new knowledge derived from interviews with key informants in the city.

Findings

Post-colonial themes provoke a consideration of how uneven power dynamics stifle social innovation in the built environment.

Research limitations/implications

Assembled narratives expose opaque aspects of governance, ownership and participation, presenting opportunities for rethinking urban vacancy through placemaking.

Practical implications

These draw on nuanced models for tourism as a platform for a broader discourse on rights to the city.

Social implications

A century after independence, Ireland is recast as a leading small European economy, away from historical framings of a rural economic backwater of the British Empire.

Originality/value

The model of success is based on a basket of targeted investment policies and somewhat dubious indicators for growth.
Determinants of Islamic social reporting disclosure and its effect on firm’s value
Authors: Susbiyani Arik , Halim Moh , Animah Animah
Published: September 2022

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the effect of the independent board of commissioners and profitability on Islamic social reporting (ISR) disclosure implemented in companies that belong to the group category of Indeks Saham Syariah Indonesia (ISSI). This study also examined the advanced effect of ISR disclosure as a company strategy to obtain a firm’s value.

Design/methodology/approach

The data of the independent board of commissioners, profitability, ISR disclosure and firm’s value were obtained from the annual reports of companies whose shares belong to the calculation of ISSI, totaling 24 companies. The ISR disclosure was measured using the content analysis method. While the research model used path analysis.

Findings

This study found that the independent board of commissioners directly affects the ISR disclosure while indirectly affects the firm’s value as mediated by the ISR disclosure. This finding indicates that the independent board of commissioners is regarded as capable of protecting investors’ interests from problems that may be incurred from asymmetry information. However, this study failed to prove that profitability directly affects the ISR disclosure.

Research limitations/implications

A list of ISR disclosure items in this research adopted the list developed by Haniffa and Othman, without any additional items. While the measurement of ISR disclosure used the content analysis, therefore there may be subjectivity issues accidentally done while scoring.

Practical implications

This study recommends management of companies which belong to ISSI to optimize their independent board of commissioners because it has been proven in this study that their presence can significantly encourage a more independent, objective and fair climate while one of its main principles is to pay attention to the interests of minority shareholders and other stakeholders. Besides, the findings can be used to increase awareness of the company management about the importance of transparency in managing a company because the ISR disclosure has received positive responses from investors.

Social implications

The findings of this study encourage companies to be more transparent in presenting information. An appropriate disclosure will provide a sense of security so that the investors can account for such earthly issues before Allah SWT, thus their spiritual satisfaction can be achieved.

Originality/value

This paper investigated further the effect of ISR disclosure on firm’s value which has never been performed by previous scholars. The ISR disclosure is a strategy to obtain legitimacy from investors, which was analyzed using the legitimacy theory.
‘If there was no jaad’: poetics of khat and remembering the future in a London Somali community
Authors: Ermansons Guntars
Published: September 2022

The Somali people have suffered from a devastating civil war and large‐scale forced displacement since the late 1980s. This article is based on ethnographic fieldwork with Northwest London Somalis during the khat (Catha edulis) control debates that led to the prohibition of the substance in June 2014. It argues that diaspora poetics can become an expression of a deeply divisive past offering ways to rearticulate ruptured interpersonal and community relationships in terms of their restorative potential. When Somali diaspora people in the United Kingdom used poetry to engage in the khat prohibition debates, the anti‐khat poems entangled this mild stimulant with the Somali history of state collapse and displacement. This revealed that, for Somalis, the stakes of the prohibition vastly exceeded concerns about potential social and health harms of khat in the United Kingdom. The poetics of khat situate acts of remembering within a distinctive conception of ideas about Somali nationhood, the need for conciliation, and visions of a common future. Yet remembering proved to be less about nostalgic longing for the past and more about enacting new moral and political relations enabled by the momentum of the khat prohibition.
Why we blame victims, accuse witches, invent taboos, and invoke spirits: a model of strategic responses to misfortune
Authors: Boyer Pascal
Published: September 2022

Explanations of misfortune are the object of much cultural discourse in most human societies. Recurrent themes include the intervention of superhuman agents (gods, ancestors, etc.), witchcraft, karma, and the violation of specific rules or ‘taboos’. In modern large‐scale societies, people often respond by blaming the victims of, for example, accidents and assault. These responses may seem both disparate and puzzling, in the sense that the proposed accounts of untoward events provide no valuable information about their causes or the best way to prevent them. However, these responses make sense if we see them in an evolutionary context, where accidents, assault, and illness were common occurrences, the only palliative being social support to victims. This would create a context in which all members of a group might be (a) required to offer support, (b) willing to offer such support to maintain a reputation as co‐operators, and (c) desirous to limit that support because of its cost. In this context, recurrent explanations of misfortune would constitute strategic attempts to create and broadcast a specific description of the situation that concentrates responsibility and potential costs on a few individuals. This strategic model accounts for otherwise perplexing features of explanations based on mystical harm (ancestors, witchcraft, etc.), as well as the tendency to denigrate victims, and offers new predictions about those cultural phenomena.
THE PRACTICE OF INFORMALITY: Hustling, Anticipating and Refusing in the Postindustrial City
Authors: Ziv Tali
Published: September 2022

Drawing upon three years of ethnographic research conducted in drug and alcohol recovery houses and treatment centers in Philadelphia, this article argues that attending to the practice of informality in the subproletariat and precarious working classes of the postindustrial US city helps elucidate the twinned legacies of informality and surveillance in racialized US urban poverty. To do so, it recuperates Bourdieu's practice theory with the invigorating insights of Black studies on the historic legacies of racializing surveillance to theorize the practice of informality in the postindustrial US city. Ultimately, the article argues that informal practice offers a space of concealment forged through the evasion and countersurveillance of racializing surveillance in the postindustrial US city.
Dynamic and static balance functions in hemodialysis patients and non‐dialysis dependent CKD patients
Authors: Shirai Nobuyuki , Yamamoto Suguru , Osawa Yutaka , Tsubaki Atsuhiro , Morishita Shinichiro , Narita Ichiei
Published: September 2022

Introduction

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) have a high risk of falls, whereas the impairment in balance function and their types in HD compared with non‐dialysis dependent (ND) CKD have not been fully evaluated.

Methods

We conducted a cross‐sectional study to assess the balance function in 91 ND‐CKD and 65 HD patients. The participants underwent the timed up‐and‐go (TUG) test to assess dynamic balance and the length of the center of pressure (CoP) with open eyes or closed eyes to evaluate static balance.

Results

TUG, length of CoP with open eyes, and length of CoP with closed eyes were longer in HD patients compared with those with ND‐CKD. Multiple regression analysis showed that dialysis treatment independently affected TUG and length of CoP with open eyes.

Conclusion

The dynamic and static balance functions are impaired in HD patients compared with ND‐CKD patients.
The role of the global financial system in financing the transition to net zero
Authors: Michie Alex
Published: September 2022

There is no net‐zero world without a sustainable trading system, and trade finance is estimated to contribute to between 80–90 per cent of all world trade. The first steps toward green ECAs have been taken, with the agreement announced at COP26 to end export credit support of unabated coal‐fired power plants and the first net zero commitments to be made by leading ECAs. In the coming months, there is an opportunity for the broader ECA community to step into the net zero‐fold and work with private finance, policy makers, scientists, and civil society to accelerate an orderly and just transition to a net zero global economy. Our world depends on it.
A future multipolar world
Authors: Lloyd Michael , Dixon Chris
Published: September 2022

The contemporary geopolitical world is unipolar, with the US (aided by its Western allies) attempting to impose a specific ideological polity on the rest of the world. The analysis developed in this paper is that such an absolutist political approach is dangerous to the peaceful stability of the world order and fails to appreciate the dynamic, interleaved layering across economic, trade, monetary, security, and politico‐cultural functionality. These interactions are structuring the establishment of a limited number of supra‐regions, interacting functionally, within and across the wide geographical areas concerned. This strengthening tendency should be seen as a positive evolutionary strategy that may lead to a multipolar world order that can be effective in achieving a constructive and consensual approach to the peaceful resolution of global conflicts, while allowing essential politico‐cultural diversity. This approach and its implications for UN reform are explored.
Random errors are neither: On the interpretation of correlated data
Authors: Ives Anthony R.
Published: September 2022

Many statistical models currently used in ecology and evolution account for covariances among random errors. Here, I address five points: (i) correlated random errors unite many types of statistical models, including spatial, phylogenetic and time‐series models; (ii) random errors are neither unpredictable nor mistakes; (iii) diagnostics for correlated random errors are not useful, but simulations are; (iv) model predictions can be made with random errors; and (v) can random errors be causal?

These five points are illustrated by applying statistical models to analyse simulated spatial, phylogenetic and time‐series data. These three simulation studies are paired with three types of predictions that can be made using information from covariances among random errors: predictions for goodness‐of‐fit, interpolation, and forecasting.

In the simulation studies, models incorporating covariances among random errors improve inference about the relationship between dependent and independent variables. They also imply the existence of unmeasured variables that generate the covariances among random errors. Understanding the covariances among random errors gives information about possible processes underlying the data.

Random errors are caused by something. Therefore, to extract full information from data, covariances among random errors should not just be included in statistical models; they should also be studied in their own right. Data are hard won, and appropriate statistical analyses can make the most of them.
Apically extruded debris of different file systems used with various kinematic movements during retreatment: An in vitro study
Authors: Koşar Tuğba , Çelik Davut , Taşdemir Tamer
Published: September 2022

This study aimed to examine the amount of apically extruded debris and time during retreatment with five current file systems, which exhibit various kinematic movements. One hundred upper central incisors were shaped with manual files and filled using the thermoplastic injection method. The root canal fillings in each group (n = 20) were removed using the Genius (GN), ProTaper Next (PTN), Reciproc (RCP) Blue, Tango‐Endo (TE) and Twisted File Adaptive (TFA) file systems. The apically extruded debris was collected in preweighed Eppendorf tubes. Time to reach working length and total time were also recorded. The PTN, RCP Blue and TFA instruments caused significantly less apically extruded debris and shorter total retreatment time than the GN and TE file systems (p < 0.05). The time to reach the working length was the shortest in the PTN group compared to the other groups (p < 0.05). All file systems extruded debris while removing the root canal filling.
“It is Kind of Rough Out Here”: The Hard Work of Mobility
Authors: Di Nunzio Marco
Published: September 2022

In this story, I trace how the compulsion to work has shaped the lives of Elias and Biruk, two men who left their home country, Ethiopia, and now live in the US. Despite working hard at multiple jobs, work was not something they celebrated. Working hard was the embodiment of their precarity, simply the main currency in their lives of mobility. Were Biruk and Elias refugees? Undocumented migrants? Alien residents? What they told me about their lives over the phone did not help me understand their status in the US. Face to face, I had a chance to ask them a straightforward question, but Biruk and Elias did not reply by saying: “I am this, not that.” Their status would be stable and definable only when they got a paper recognizing they had a right to be in the US. Before that all‐important scrap of paper, they were in a state of constant becoming. All they could do in the meantime was work and work. Because “if you do not work, what the hell are you in the USA for?” Elias said.
What changes during specialized foster care? A study on adaptive functioning and emotional and social problems
Authors: Åkerman Anna‐Karin E. , Holmqvist Rolf , Falkenström Fredrik
Published: September 2022

Various models of specialized foster care have been developed, but research on them is limited. This longitudinal, exploratory study analysed data on adaptive functioning, emotional and social problems and self‐concept in a specialized foster care service in Sweden. The focus of the study was on the development of the children and young people in placement. The Adaptive Behaviour Assessment System (ABAS‐II) was used to measure adaptive functioning, and the Beck Youth Inventories of Emotional and Social Impairment (BYI) was used to measure self‐rated emotional and social problems and self‐concept. Self‐ratings showed significant improvements in disruptive behaviour, anger, anxiety and depression. Adaptive functioning as rated by foster parents improved but not enough to catch up with the non‐clinical norm group. The average adaptive functioning among the participants at baseline was considerably below the Swedish norm group. Similar to the results of a previous study of the same treatment model, children and young people rated improvement while their foster parents did not do so to the same extent. Possible explanations for this are discussed in the paper. The study is limited by the lack of a control group and by data attrition.
Decision Boundary Visualization for Counterfactual Reasoning
Authors: Sohns Jan‐Tobias , Garth Christoph , Leitte Heike
Published: September 2022

Machine learning algorithms are widely applied to create powerful prediction models. With increasingly complex models, humans' ability to understand the decision function (that maps from a high‐dimensional input space) is quickly exceeded. To explain a model's decisions, black‐box methods have been proposed that provide either non‐linear maps of the global topology of the decision boundary, or samples that allow approximating it locally. The former loses information about distances in input space, while the latter only provides statements about given samples, but lacks a focus on the underlying model for precise ‘What‐If'‐reasoning. In this paper, we integrate both approaches and propose an interactive exploration method using local linear maps of the decision space. We create the maps on high‐dimensional hyperplanes—2D‐slices of the high‐dimensional parameter space—based on statistical and personal feature mutability and guided by feature importance. We complement the proposed workflow with established model inspection techniques to provide orientation and guidance. We demonstrate our approach on real‐world datasets and illustrate that it allows identification of instance‐based decision boundary structures and can answer multi‐dimensional ‘What‐If'‐questions, thereby identifying counterfactual scenarios visually.
Long‐term impacts of different dialysis modalities on right ventricular function in patients with end‐stage renal disease
Authors: Demirci Duygu Ersan , Demirci Deniz , İnci Ayça
Published: September 2022

Background

Right ventricular dysfunction is a major cause of heart failure and mortality in end‐stage renal disease patients. Scarce data is available regarding the comparison of echocardiographic right ventricular function in end‐stage renal disease patients on hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD). The aim of the study was to evaluate the long‐term impacts of different dialysis modalities on right ventricular function assessed by conventional echocardiography, in end‐stage renal disease patients with preserved left ventricular function.

Methods

The study included 120 patients grouped as follows: PD (n = 40), HD with arterio‐venous fistula (n= 40), and healthy control subjects (n = 40). Conventional echocardiography was performed on all patients. A classification of right ventricular function was defined in HD patients by using tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE), right ventricular myocardial performance index (RV‐MPI), fractional area change (FAC), and tricuspid lateral annulus systolic velocity (Sa) values. Correlation analysis was performed by using the right ventricular dysfunction score, clinical, and echocardiographic parameters.

Results

The mean age of the study population was 51.9 ± 13.1 years and 47.5% were females. TAPSE and Sa velocity were found to be significantly lower and RV‐MPI was significantly higher in patients undergoing HD, compared with control and PD patients. Logistic regression analysis showed that HD treatment was an independent risk factor for developing right ventricular dysfunction.

Conclusion

RV function was impaired in patients undergoing HD compared with patients on PD.
Whole‐genome resequencing reveals signature of local adaptation and divergence in wild soybean
Authors: Wang Jiao , Hu Zhenbin , Liao Xiliang , Wang Zhiyu , Li Wei , Zhang Peipei , Cheng Hao , Wang Qing , Bhat Javaid Akhter , Wang Hui , Liu Biao , Zhang Hengyou , Huang Fang , Yu Deyue
Published: September 2022

Global climate change has threatened world crop production and food security. Decoding the adaptive genetic basis of wild relatives provides an invaluable genomic resource for climate‐smart crop breedinG. Here, we performed whole‐genome sequencing of 185 diverse wild soybean (Glycine soja) accessions collected from three major agro‐ecological zones in China to parse the genomic basis of local adaptation in wild soybean. The population genomic diversity pattern exhibited clear agro‐ecological zone‐based population structure, and multiple environmental factors were observed to contribute to the genetic divergence. Demographic analysis shows that wild soybeans from the three ecological zones diverged about 1 × 105 years ago, and then the effective population sizes have undergone different degrees of expansions. Genome‐environment association identified multiple genes involved in the local adaptation, such as flowering time and temperature‐related genes. A locus containing two adjacent MADS‐box transcription factors on chromosome 19 was identified for multiple environmental factors, and it experienced positive selection that enables the adaptation to high‐latitude environment. This study provides insights into the genetic mechanism of ecological adaptation in wild soybean that may facilitate climate‐resilient soybean breeding.
An updated systematic review of HIV‐associated cryptococcal meningitis treatment strategies
Authors: Shapiro Adrienne E. , Tenforde Mark W. , Chiller Tom M. , Ford Nathan , Rajasingham Radha
Published: September 2022

Background

The purpose of this systematic review is to provide updated evidence on the preferred induction therapy for the treatment of HIV‐associated cryptococcal meningitis considering the most recent evidence available in order to inform the need for updates to WHO guidelines.

Methods

We searched Medline via PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library and clinicaltrials.gov for published or completed randomized clinical trials that evaluated induction treatment of first episode HIV‐associated cryptococcal meningitis from 9 July 2018 (date of last search) to 1 September 2021.

Results

One randomized clinical trial of 844 people with HIV‐associated cryptococcal meningitis met the inclusion criteria. Participants were randomized to: (1) amphotericin deoxycholate for 7 days, with flucytosine and fluconazole (control); or (2) a single dose of liposomal amphotericin 10 mg/kg with flucytosine and fluconazole (intervention).

In the intention‐to‐treat analysis, 10‐week mortality was 24.8% [95% confidence interval (CI): 20.7–29.3%] in the single‐dose liposomal amphotericin group compared with 28.7% (95% CI: 24.4–33.4%) in the control group. The absolute difference in 10‐week mortality was −3.9% with an upper one‐sided 95% CI of 1.2%, within the 10% pre‐specified non‐inferiority margin. Fewer participants had grade 3 and 4 adverse events in the intervention arm compared with the control arm (50.0% vs. 62.3%, p < 0.001).

Conclusions

In the single study included in this systematic review, single high‐dose liposomal amphotericin B with flucytosine and fluconazole was non‐inferior to the WHO‐recommended standard of care induction therapy for HIV‐associated cryptococcal meningitis, with significantly fewer adverse events.