bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Higher education and public good in England
Authors: Marginson Simon , Yang Lili
Published: October 2024

In the Anglophone jurisdictions, higher education policy is over-determined by economic policy and subjected to neoliberal regulation based on quasi-market competition between corporatised institutions, regulated by performative comparisons, tuition fees, and outputs imagined as commodities. England installed marketisation in successive policy changes between the Thatcher government’s introduction of commercial fees for international students in 1979 and the full-fee market for domestic students, supported by subsidised income-contingent loans, in 2012. Policy commitment to public good outcomes (the collective and non-pecuniary individual benefits of higher education) was largely emptied out, leaving only attenuated proxies such as widening participation and research impact. Responsibility for public good outcomes was transferred from government to institutions. Following a discussion of Anglophone concepts of ‘public’ and an overview of key policy reports from 1963–2019, the paper reports on qualitative research into approaches to higher education and public good in England. There were 24 semi-structured interviews, with middle and senior manager-leaders in two universities and policy professionals. Nearly all advocated a broad public good role, in contrast to policy in England, and provided examples of public outcomes in higher education. However, these concepts lacked clarity, while at the same time the shaping effects of the market were sharply understood.
Moving Toward Institutional Culture Change in Higher Education: An Exploration into Cross-functional Professional Learning Communities
Authors: Kezar Adrianna , Hallett Ronald E. , Corwin Zoë B. , Hypolite Liane
Published: October 2024

This article explores the implementation of cross-functional professional learning communities (PLCs) involving faculty, staff and administrators at three different institutional types – research, urban regional, and rural regional universities – with the goal of learning about and then implementing a culture change approach to support academic and psychosocial success for historically marginalized student groups. The action research-based study explores the research question: Do cross-functional PLCs help support institution-wide culture change? And if so, how? Our findings identified that PLCs can act as a vehicle for the beginning steps of institutional culture change if they adopt four organizational strategies for spreading learning. Given the complexity and size of campuses, PLCs can act as a strategizing team for developing a broader culture change approach that ultimately impacts the overall institution. Armed with the skillsets related to culture change that they learn in the PLC, they can become change agents that plan and spread culture change. They do this by moving from a PLC that learned together for a year to a coordinating group that utilizes their newly gained skills to execute and create a set of culture change strategies. The PLCs make the transition to a coordinating group by expanding and adding new members and/or connecting to units throughout campus, creating an extended network. They also implement four key strategies – data/assessment, communications, professional learning and auditing/mapping.
A window into Their World: How Video Visits Facilitate Father–Child Relationships
Authors: Duursma Elisabeth , Wright Amy Conley , Hanley Natalia , Simpson Helen
Published: October 2024

Maintaining the parent–child relationship while a parent is incarcerated is critical to the well-being of both parent and child. There is some evidence that video visits can be beneficial when they are used to supplement rather than replace in-person visits. This study explores how video visits support the father–child relationship during parental incarceration. Research was conducted with two public prisons in New South Wales, Australia, during the period of COVID-19 restrictions. Interviews with children’s carers (n = 17) and fathers (n = 27) were analysed to identify the ways fathers engaged with their children and the benefits of the relationship. Three themes were identified: show and tell, which explored how the visual element of video visits contributed to parent–child interactions; part of their world, which identified how video visits became integrated into children’s everyday lives; and along for the ride, which focused on child-initiated interactions. Challenges of using video visits were also explored in two themes: difficulty engaging, which showed how fathers and children can struggle to communicate and interact, and timing and transitions, which highlighted how video visits could be difficult or disruptive to children’s mood and routines. Overall, video visits were perceived as enabling interactions that strengthened the engagement and relationship between the father and child.
High Energy Density Radiative Transfer in the Diffusion Regime with Fourier Neural Operators
Authors: Farmer Joseph , Smith Ethan , Bennett William , McClarren Ryan
Published: October 2024

Radiative heat transfer is a fundamental process in high energy density physics and inertial fusion. Accurately predicting the behavior of Marshak waves across a wide range of material properties and drive conditions is crucial for design and analysis of these systems. Conventional numerical solvers and analytical approximations often face challenges in terms of accuracy and computational efficiency. In this work, we propose a novel approach to model Marshak waves using Fourier Neural Operators (FNO). We develop two FNO-based models: (1) a base model that learns the mapping between the drive condition and material properties to a solution approximation based on the widely used analytic model by Hammer & Rosen (2003), and (2) a model that corrects the inaccuracies of the analytic approximation by learning the mapping to a more accurate numerical solution. Our results demonstrate the strong generalization capabilities of the FNOs and show significant improvements in prediction accuracy compared to the base analytic model.
Calibration-Based ALE Model Order Reduction for Hyperbolic Problems with Self-Similar Travelling Discontinuities
Authors: Nonino Monica , Torlo Davide
Published: October 2024

We propose a novel Model Order Reduction framework that is able to handle solutions of hyperbolic problems characterized by multiple travelling discontinuities. By means of an optimization based approach, we introduce suitable calibration maps that allow us to transform the original solution manifold into a lower dimensional one. The novelty of the methodology is represented by the fact that the optimization process does not require the knowledge of the discontinuities location. The optimization can be carried out simply by choosing some reference control points, thus avoiding the use of some implicit shock tracking techniques, which would translate into an increased computational effort during the offline phase. In the online phase, we rely on a non-intrusive approach, where the coefficients of the projection of the reduced order solution onto the reduced space are recovered by means of an Artificial Neural Network. To validate the methodology, we present numerical results for the 1D Sod shock tube problem, for the 2D double Mach reflection problem, also in the parametric case, and for the triple point problem.
Are the Quality of Organizational Changes Associated with Expected Retirement-Age Among Senior Employees?
Authors: Albertsen Karen , Meng Annette , Sundstrup Emil , Nielsen Peter , Pedersen Flemming , Andersen Lars Louis
Published: October 2024

Objective

Major organizational changes may be associated with both positive and negative uncertainty in working life. This study described the prevalence of organizational changes (reorganizations or round of layoffs) within different job functions in Denmark and investigated whether quality of the implementation process (measured as “information”, “involvement” and “consent”) was associated with employees’ expectations regarding retirement age.

Methods

A representative sample of older Danish employees ≥ 50 years (n = 12,269) replied to a questionnaire survey in 2020. In cross-sectional analyses, we compared employee’s expected retirement age being either not exposed to organizational changes or exposed to implementation processes of high, moderate or low-quality, respectively. Analyses were further stratified for job function: office work, work with people and work in the field of production.

Results

More than half (56%) of the employees had experienced organizational changes within the past 2 years, and 23% of those effected reported that the changes had led to considerations of earlier retirement. Organizational changes were most prevalent within office work, and least prevalent within the job function working with people. The analyses showed significantly lower expected retirement age when the implementation process had been of moderate (mean reduction of 0.45 years) or low quality (mean reduction of 0.71 years) compared to high quality implemented changes.

Conclusions

Experiences of organizational change processes of moderate or poor quality were associated with expectations of earlier retirement, while well implemented changes were not. This study underscores the importance of good implementation when changes at the organizational level are needed.
Intersections of Randomly Translated Sets
Authors: Visonà Tommaso
Published: October 2024

Let

$$\Xi _n=\{\xi _1,\dots ,\xi _n\}$$

Ξ
n

=

{

ξ
1

,
⋯
,

ξ
n

}

be a sample of n independent points distributed in a regular closed element K of the extended convex ring in

$$\mathbb {R}^d$$

R

d

according to a probability measure

$$\mu $$

μ

on k admitting a density function. We consider random sets generated from the intersection of the translations of K by the elements of

$$\Xi _n$$

Ξ
n

, namely,

$$\begin{aligned} X_n=\bigcap _{i=1}^n (K-\xi _i). \end{aligned}$$

X
n

=

⋂

i
=
1

n

(
K
-

ξ
i

)

.

This work aims to show that the scaled closure of the complement of

$$X_n$$

X
n

as

$$n\rightarrow \infty $$

n
→
∞

converges in distribution to the closure of the complement zero cell of a Poisson hyperplane tessellation whose distribution is determined by the curvature measure of K and the behaviour of the density of

$$\mu $$

μ

near the boundary of K.
Algorithmic and Non-Algorithmic Fairness: Should We Revise our View of the Latter Given Our View of the Former?
Authors: Lippert-Rasmussen Kasper
Published: October 2024

In the US context, critics of court use of algorithmic risk prediction algorithms have argued that COMPAS involves unfair machine bias because it generates higher false positive rates of predicted recidivism for black offenders than for white offenders. In response, some have argued that algorithmic fairness concerns, either also or only, calibration across groups–roughly, that a score assigned to different individuals by the algorithm involves the same probability of the individual having the target property across different groups of individuals–and that, for mathematical reasons, it is virtually impossible to equalize false positive rates without impairing the calibration. I argue that in standard non-algorithmic contexts, such as hirings, we do not think that lack of calibration entails unfair bias, and that it is difficult to see why algorithmic contexts, as it were, should differ fairness-wise from non-algorithmic ones in this respect. Hence, we should reject the view that calibration is necessary for fairness in an algorithmic context.
Face recognition in online soccer streaming for piracy detection
Authors: A. Correia Helena , Pontes Diogo , Henrique Brito José
Published: October 2024

This paper presents a face recognition system that is part of a global solution for online soccer piracy detection. The overall solution uses several building blocks to detect illegal sharing of live soccer broadcasts. This paper presents one of the building blocks, a face recognition system, that recognizes the faces of players that participate in the soccer match that the overall solution is trying to identify. The face recognition system detects faces in the broadcast image frames and tries to match them to a database faces of players from the clubs that participate in the game. The proposed face recognition system uses Retinaface and OpenCV to detect faces, applies Deep Learning networks Facenet128 and FaceNet512 to extract features from the detected faces, computes the cosine distance between features to evaluate the dissimilarity between faces, and compares the distance to a predefined threshold. This approach aims to maximize Precision and True Positive Rate while ensuring a False Positive Rate equal to zero, even at the cost of a lower Recall and Accuracy, and also provides results in as close to real-time as possible. The experiments show that the proposed face recognition system is able to achieve a True Positive Rate of 38.4% while ensuring a False Positive Rate of 0, which is an important aspect for the overall solution. The system is able to analyze an average of 20 frames per second. The results show the potential of this approach to identify and combat illegal broadcasts of sporting events, offering a robust approach to address the escalating issue of unauthorized audiovisual content sharing.
Particle swarm optimization of high Q factor interdigitated E-shaped metamaterial for refractive index sensing
Authors: Gad Mohamed M. , El Batawy Yasser M. , Sallam Mai O.
Published: October 2024

Metamaterials for refractive index sensing applications have garnered significant attention in recent years. However, achieving an optimal balance between high sensitivity and quality factor, which together determine the Figure of Merit of sensors, necessitates extensive optimization efforts. In this paper, we present the metaheuristic optimization of a refractive index-based plasmonic sensor operating at a wavelength of 1500 nm, which has the potential to open new avenues for applications in biomedical sensing and beyond. Particle Swarm Optimization is utilized to maximize the performance of the proposed infrared metamaterial sensor. The proposed design features two overlapping E-shaped silver patches placed on top of a grounded $$\mathrm {Al_{2}O_{3}}$$

Al
2

O
3

substrate. This configuration results in a narrow-band absorption spectrum with peak resonances caused by the confinement of the electric field within the gaps of the E-shaped metallic arms. The metaheuristic optimization process yielded sensor dimensions that achieve a high sensitivity of 834.7 nm/RIU,Q = 865 and a Figure of Merit of 481.34 $$\textrm{RIU}^{-1}$$

RIU

-
1

, demonstrating outstanding performance in cancer cell detection.
Mechanistic analysis of urban tree-soil interactions: Species-specific water use and desiccation effects on expansive clays
Authors: Sun Xi , Li Jie , Liu Xin , Wu Shengshen , Gao You
Published: October 2024

Aims

This study investigates the complex interactions between urban trees and expansive clay soils, focusing on two prevalent species (Corymbia maculata and Lophostemon confertus) in Melbourne’s urban landscape. Limited field data and understanding of species-specific water use necessitate this research. We aim to quantify the spatiotemporal variability in soil-plant-water interactions within the urban contexts, a crucial factor for informed green infrastructure planning and sustainable ecosystem management in metropolitan areas.

Methods

Comprehensive field measurements were conducted over 12 months, including soil movement, soil water dynamics, tree transpiration, and leaf water potential. Sap flow sensors monitored tree water requirements. Laboratory soil testing determined soil properties and developed soil suction and water content profiles. The intercorrelation between soil water dynamics and tree water use was investigated.

Results

Peak water use for both trees occurred during summer, contributing 32–40% of their total consumption. C. maculata transpired 48.1 kL, exceeding L. confertus by 106%. The trees’ desiccation influence extended horizontally to 0.4–0.5 times the tree height and vertically to 2.3–3.3 m depth. Soil water content explained 31–36% of soil movement variability, with a strong correlation (R² > 0.9) between soil suction and water content within the active root zone.

Conclusions

This study enhances our mechanistic understanding of urban tree-soil interactions, providing valuable insights for sustainable city planning. It emphasizes species-specific considerations in tree selection and placement, especially in areas with expansive soils. The robust field data contributes to refining predictive models of soil-plant-atmosphere interactions in urban landscapes, supporting informed decision-making in urban greening initiatives.
Longitudinal predictors of single word spelling in Northern Sotho-English bilingual children: a cross-linguistic study
Authors: Makaure Patricia , Wilsenach Carien , Schaefer Maxine
Published: October 2024

Although there is overwhelming evidence highlighting the foundational role of phonological processing and vocabulary skills in reading, less research has focused on the contribution of these skills to spelling, particularly in African languages. This longitudinal study explored cognitive-linguistic predictors of spelling development in Northern Sotho-English bilingual children. Children were assessed on phonological awareness, phonological working memory, rapid automatized naming, and receptive vocabulary in Grade 2 (Time 1) and on spelling development at the end of Grade 3 (Time 2). Phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming were unique within and cross-language predictors of word spelling in both Northern Sotho and English. This study represents a first attempt to understand the processes that support bilingual spelling development in Northern Sotho children learning English as an additional language. The findings contribute to the body of research investigating spelling development in bilingual children who are learning languages with different orthographical systems. Based on the findings, we recommend that bilingual spelling and phonics instruction explicitly reflect the phonological systems of both languages.
Genocidal Speech and Speech Act Theory
Authors: Weston Daniel
Published: October 2024

Speech act theory has been applied to genocidal speech in an extension of its use in other forms of speech regulation. I detail how a misguided reliance on speech act theoretic tools has negatively impacted legal thinking in understanding direct and public incitement to commit genocide. I argue that undue factive and normative significance has been placed on the idea that incitement to genocide may be considered an illocutionary or performative speech act, rather than as a perlocutionary act, as an inchoate crime. With attention to the role of causation in the regulation of incitement to genocide within a speech act framework, I clarify legal applications of speech act theory which have confused or displaced the appropriate questions underpinning genocidal speech regulation. In doing so, I reinforce the role of causation with respect to inchoate speech crimes, and particularly the potential merits of a preventative risk assessment model when identifying genocidal speech. I demonstrate that while these speech act accounts present unique issues for genocidal speech regulation, they also in part stem from prior work applying speech act theory to other speech crimes such as hate speech and pornography.
Development of engineered IL-36γ-hypersecreting Lactococcus lactis to improve the intestinal environment
Authors: Yoda Masahiro , Takase Shogo , Suzuki Kaho , Murakami Aito , Namai Fu , Sato Takashi , Fujii Tadashi , Tochio Takumi , Shimosato Takeshi
Published: October 2024

Interleukin (IL) 36 is a member of the IL-1-like proinflammatory cytokine family that has a protective role in mucosal immunity. We hypothesized that mucosal delivery of IL-36γ to the intestine would be a very effective way to prevent intestinal diseases. Here, we genetically engineered a lactic acid bacterium, Lactococcus lactis, to produce recombinant mouse IL-36γ (rmIL-36γ). Western blotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay results showed that the engineered strain (NZ-IL36γ) produced and hypersecreted the designed rmIL-36γ in the presence of nisin, which induces the expression of the recombinant gene. We administered NZ-IL36γ to mice via oral gavage, and collected the ruminal contents and rectal tissues. Colony PCR using primers specific for NZ-IL36γ, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to measure the rmIL-36γ concentrations of the ruminal contents showed that NZ-IL36γ colonized the mouse intestines and secreted rmIL-36γ. A microbiota analysis revealed increased abundances of bacteria of the genera Acetatifactor, Eubacterium, Monoglobus, and Roseburia in the mouse intestines. Real-time quantitative PCR of the whole colon showed increased Muc2 expression. An in vitro assay using murine colorectal epithelial cells and human colonic cells showed that purified rmIL-36γ promoted Muc2 gene expression. Taken together, these data suggest that NZ-IL36γ may be an effective and attractive tool for delivering rmIL-36γ to improve the intestinal environment.
Taxpayers’ Share of US Prescription Drug and Insulin Costs: a Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Schrier Elizabeth , Himmelstein David U. , Gaffney Adam , McCormick Danny , Woolhandler Steffie
Published: October 2024

Background

Drug prices affect government budgets directly through spending on public programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and indirectly via private coverage for public employees and tax subsidies for private insurance. Yet, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that the Senate could not use streamlined Budget Reconciliation to extend the Inflation Reduction Act’s controls on insulin co-payment or drug prices to private insurers on the grounds that their expenditures do not affect the federal budget.

Objective

To quantify insulin and other drug costs borne by federal, state, and local governments, including direct expenditures and indirect government subsidies that flow through private insurers.

Design

Cross-sectional analysis of expenditures for outpatient retail prescription drugs reported by respondents and their pharmacies in the 2019 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (adjusted downward for drug rebates), supplemented with information on employment-related insurance from the US Office of Management and Budget and other sources.

Participants

The civilian non-institutionalized US population.

Main Measures

Direct (payments by public health insurance programs) and indirect (taxpayer-funded payments via private insurers) government expenditures for outpatient retail drugs.

Key Results

Direct government expenditures for outpatient retail prescription drugs totaled $154.85 billion in 2019, including $15.68 billion for insulin. Indirect government expenditures channeled through private insurers totaled $53.59 billion (including $5.48 billion for insulins). Those indirect expenditures encompassed $32.32 billion in tax subsidies for employer-sponsored private coverage, $25 million for subsidies to private Affordable Care Act marketplace plans, and $21.24 billion for government-paid premiums for public employees and retirees. Overall, government expenditures for outpatient retail prescription drugs totaled $208.44 billion, 58.76% of all-payer spending and 65.96% of spending for insulin.

Conclusions

Governments directly or indirectly fund most drug purchases, including substantial expenditures that flow through private insurers. Hence, prices paid by private insurers impact government budgets, supporting the view that government should be allowed to regulate drug prices.
Microstructural and Mechanical Characterisation of Quenched, Quenched and Tempered AISI M2 High-Speed Steel Subjected to Deep Cryogenic Treatment
Authors: Chiadikobi Christian I. , Thornton Rob , Statharas Dimitrios , Weston David P.
Published: October 2024

AISI M2 HSS from the family of tool steels are well known for their wide industry usage due to its strength, hardness and ability to retain red hardness at high temperature. AISI M2 HSS were investigated following different heat treatment processing sequence, such as Q, Q + DCT, Q + T, Q + T + DCT and Q + DCT + T (where Q—Quenched, T—Tempered, DCT—Deep Cryogenically Treated). The different sequence employed was chosen to better understand the effects of DCT on the studied material. The microhardness test results for DCT samples revealed an increase in hardness measurement. The level of increase was dependent on the processing sequence employed. A clear trend observed was that employing DCT following quenched and prior tempering (Q + DCT + T) resulted in a 4.1 pct improvement in hardness compared to the conventional quenched and tempered (Q + T) samples with a high degree of statistical confidence (p = 3.0919E−06). A comparison with other processing sequences indicates that introducing DCT after quenching and prior tempering could contribute to improved hardness better than after tempering. Furthermore, microstructure analysis of the X-ray diffraction data indicates a low amount of retained austenite for all DCT samples when compared to non-DCT samples counterparts, with the lowest amount of retained austenite found to be 3.1 pct in Q + DCT + T samples.
Development of conductive fingermarks for forensic applications
Authors: Richards Niamh E. , Langley Andrew , Stimpson Laura J. Vera
Published: October 2024

Fingermarks are an important form of evidence in forensic science, routinely used for identification or exclusion purposes within the criminal justice system. The increasing use of fingerprint recognition in technology and biosecurity, such as for unlocking devices and accessing banking information, highlights the need for forensic fingermark recovery methods that serve both traditional forensic needs and modern technological demands. Current fingerprint development techniques, however, are not designed to fulfil this dual-purpose. This paper presents a novel approach that introduces the use of conductive paint and silicone to develop, recover, and preserve latent, patent, and plastic fingermarks. The innovative method produces conductive casts that capture detailed ridge patterns, thereby facilitating forensic examination as well as being used for unlocking capacitive and ultrasonic fingerprint scanners in a range of mobile devices.
Radiation-Induced Undifferentiated Pleomorphic Sarcoma in Thyroid: A Rare Occurrence
Authors: Sharma Deeksha , Das Rajjyoti , Ahmed Shiraj
Published: October 2024

Introduction

We present a rare case of Radiation-induced sarcoma in the thyroid, in a 53-year-old female, seven years after receiving chemoradiation for SCC esophagus. The disease was non resectable due to carotid encasement and was therefore planned for chemotherapy with doxorubicin.
Deliberation, Polarization, and Emotion: A Deliberative Process about Climate Change with Young Participants
Authors: Brasileiro Juliana Montenegro , García-Leiva Patricia , Palacios-Gálvez M. Soledad , González Marta Barros
Published: October 2024

In light of the increase in democratic innovation processes in recent decades, there is ongoing debate as to whether deliberative participation reduces levels of affective and issue-based political polarisation. This field study analyses the role of emotions in a deliberative process about climate change conducted by the AOS! Programme in Spain in 2022. 137 participants aged 10–12 years organised into mixed and enclave groups answered a survey to determine their level of concern about climate change and both affective and issue-based polarisation, in order to assess whether feeling worried about climate change could influence their level of political polarisation. The results show that neither the enclave nor the mixed groups had significant effects on their affective polarisation, as the children only answered according to their level of concern about climate change. However, participation influenced their levels of issue-based polarisation, depolarising less worried participants. These findings demonstrate that emotions have an impact on cognition through participation and that feelings about political topics should be considered in deliberative studies.
Flapping-wing energy harvesting experiences with modified time variations at high re-number
Authors: Geißler W.
Published: October 2024

Wind-energy converters with rotating blades are most common for energy harvesting. In special cases a system of flapping wings may be of interest where the wings are oscillating in combined pitching and flapping (plunging) modes respectively. Then the ratio of pitching and plunging amplitudes is of main concern: If the amplitude of the pitching motion exceeds the amplitude of the induced angle of the plunging motion, energy transfer from the oncoming flow is present. To accomplish maximum energy transfers and maximum efficiencies a considerable number of parameters have to be varied. Most of the published investigations assume harmonic time variations of both pitching and plunging motion. In the present paper the time variation will be modified such that the stroke reversal times are favorably be influenced, i.e., the fraction of the period where the airfoil changes the angle of attack from its maximum to its minimum or vice versa. In the present paper this variation is represented by an analytical function. Further, the phase between pitch and plunge motion and the time dependent deformation of the airfoil-leading edge will be investigated. It will be shown that the different variations and modifications will lead to considerable increases of power transfer and efficiency.
Recent developments on multiscale simulations for rheology and complex flow of polymers
Authors: Sato Takeshi , Yoshimoto Kenji
Published: October 2024

This review summarized the multiscale simulation (MSS) methods for polymeric liquids. Since polymeric liquids have multiscale characteristics of monomeric, mesoscopic, and macroscopic flow scales, MSSs that relate different hierarchical levels are adequate to reproduce flow properties accurately. Our review includes pioneering studies to the most advanced MSS studies on rheology predictions and flow simulations of polymeric liquids. We discuss two major types of MSS methods: the bottom-up and model-embedded MSS methods. The former method mainly connects all-atom molecular dynamics models and mesoscopic models to predict rheological properties. In contrast, the latter method, where a microscopic or mesoscopic model is embedded in a macroscopic computational domain, is designed to predict macroscopic flow properties. Finally, we also discuss MSS methods using machine learning techniques.

Graphical abstract
America's French Orphans
Authors: Destenay Emmanuel
Published: October 2024

During and after World War I, two humanitarian organizations galvanized the support of American men, women, and children to provide for France's children. Between 1914 and 1921, the Committee Franco-American for the Protection of the Children of the Frontier (CFAPCF) and the Fatherless Children of France Society (FCFS) capitalized on the generosity of Americans who believed that supporting a French child in need was seen as a moral and patriotic duty. Through a network of twenty-eight colonies – private homes and estates loaned for this specific purpose – the CFAPCF rescued, sheltered, and cared for children from invaded and occupied war zones, while the FCFS asked Americans to sponsor France's children of the war dead. Combining cultural, political, and diplomatic history, Emmanuel Destenay charts the rapid growth of these organizations and brings to light the unparalleled contribution made by Americans in support of France's children in time of war.
Five Times Faster
Authors: Sharpe Simon
Published: October 2024

We need to act five times faster to avoid dangerous climate change. This is an inside story from Simon Sharpe, who has spent ten years at the forefront of climate change policy and diplomacy. In our fight to avoid dangerous climate change, science is pulling its punches, diplomacy is picking the wrong battles, and economics has been fighting for the other side. This provocative and engaging book sets out how we should rethink our strategies and reorganise our efforts in the fields of science, economics, and diplomacy, so that we can act fast enough to stay safe. This edition has been brought up-to-date throughout, and includes a new chapter on how international cooperation on climate change can be reconciled with economic and geopolitical competition. It also includes a response to the question the book has most often provoked: 'How can I help?'
Beyond the Elite: Corporate Directors and Their Networks in Britain, ca. 1880s–1910s
Authors: van Lieshout Carry , Bennett Robert J. , Smith Harry J.
Published: October 2024

This paper examines the population of corporate directors of Britain at the turn of the twentieth century. Over the period 1881-1911 the corporate form became the most common mode of business organisation for large businesses. As their number increased, the population of directors expanded and reflected an increasingly diversified corporate landscape. Based on a large-scale dataset, this paper analyses the characteristics and networks of this wider population of directors. The study goes beyond previous work, which has mainly focused on elite directors or prominent companies, and shows three key findings. First, the population of directors was very connected into a large network, complete isolation from this network was rare. Second, over 1881-1911 director interlocks with banks became less important for most sectors, while interlocks with other financial institutions such as trusts became increasingly important. Insurance companies stood out as the most connected sector spanning smaller local companies and larger international ones. Third, during the period studied there was a shift from director clusters that were mainly based on proximity, to those that were connected through industries.
Causal association of folic acid supplementary therapy and gastric ulcer: a Mendelian randomisation study
Authors: Li Fuhao , Huang Fengming , Tang Yulong , Zhang Fan , Jiang Hao , Chen Jun , Lv Bin
Published: October 2024

Previous research has suggested a potential link between folic acid (FA) supplementary therapy and gastric ulcers (GU). To investigate this relationship further, we conducted a Mendelian randomisation (MR) analysis using data from the UK Biobank. Our analysis primarily employed inverse-variance weighted (IVW) methods, including both fixed-effect and random-effect models. To ensure the robustness of our findings, additional methods such as the simple median, the weighted median and the penalised weighted median were also applied. The MR analysis aimed to explore the causal effect of FA supplementary therapy on GU. Seven SNP at genetic loci associated with FA supplementary therapy were identified. Both the random-effect and fixed-effect IVW models indicated that genetically predicted FA supplementary therapy significantly reduced the risk of GU (OR, 0·870; 95 % CI 0·826, 0·917, P < 0·001). This result was consistent across other methods, with similar outcomes observed using the simple median (OR, 0·835; 95 % CI 0·773, 0·901, P < 0·001), the weighted median (OR, 0·854; 95 % CI 0·794, 0·919, P < 0·001) and the penalised weighted median (OR, 0·849; 95 % CI 0·789, 0·914, P < 0·001). Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis confirmed that no individual SNP significantly drove the association between FA supplementary therapy and GU. This MR study provides genetic evidence that FA supplementary therapy may decrease the risk of GU.
Regimes of transcultural assemblage: Erased histories and forgotten boundaries in a festive shopping mall installation
Authors: Wu Jasper Zhao Zhen , Hiramoto Mie , Theng Andre Joseph
Published: October 2024

This article explores relations between transcultural processes and historical boundaries. Drawing on the Deleuzo-Guattarian concept of assemblage, it examines the selection and organisation of cultural elements in a Japanese-styled Chinese New Year installation at a Hong Kong shopping mall. The article presents three affective regimes produced in this transcultural assemblage: New Year festivity, simulated tourism, and partial historicity. We argue that these regimes are regulated in the processes of erasure (the selective blockage of competing lineages of rituals, traditions, and spaces) and forgetting (the process evoking creative re-organisation of semiotic boundaries between cultural elements selected into the transcultural assemblage). This article suggests two implications. First, transculturality is not only the dialogic transgression and creation of boundaries but also the selection and regulation of cultural elements in an assemblage. Second, historical boundaries are not sidestepped but are regulated by the partial blockage through erasure and re-organisation through forgetting in affective regimes. (Transculturality, assemblage, affective regime, erasure, forgetting, Hong Kong)
Lydian pottery in the Roman tradition: An archaeometric study of production at Sardis
Authors: Rautman Marcus , Czujko Stephen , Glascock Michael D. , Neff Hector , Renson Virginie
Published: October 2024

The emergence of Sardis as an urban centre in the early Iron Age coincided with local production of fine painted pottery in a distinctive regional idiom. Examples of Lydian-style pottery found across western Anatolia from the eighth century BC attest the city’s growing cultural and economic contacts as well as consistent materials and craft methods. Archaeo- metric study using neutron activation analysis (NAA) at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) examined representative specimens of Lydian-style ceramics from Sardis and compared their composition with later examples of red-gloss and red-slipped pottery, fine grey wares and transport jars commonly found at the site. The results confirm the sustained activity of local workshops from the early Iron Age into later historical periods, as Lydia became part of the Seleucid and Roman empires and Sardis a centre of regional innovation.
The Luwian word for ‘city, town’
Authors: Goedegebuure Petra M.
Published: October 2024

The Luwian corpus written in Anatolian hieroglyphs consists of about 300 inscriptions. Though this is sufficiently large that Luwian is mostly understood, not all words are known in full writing. One of those is the word for ‘city, town’. Since cities play an important role in Luwian monumental inscriptions, it is remarkable that the word for such a central concept is still unknown. Using a multi-modal approach, combing orthographic, morphological, iconographical and archaeological analysis, I argue that the word for ‘city’ is /allamminna/i-/ ‘fortified settlement > city tout court’, and that the hieroglyph for ‘city’ depicts a merlon, a raised section of a fortification’s battlement, thus linking it to the Hittite tower-vessels that express the relationship between city and fortifications in a material way. The identification of /allamminna/i-/ also impacts the analysis of other Hittite and Luwian words that are hitherto not well understood or not understood at all. Furthermore, it increases our understanding of aspects of the material world and of the cultural and linguistic interactions between Anatolian and Syrian societies. Finally, it illustrates the impact of Luwian and Luwians on Hittite society.
Politics of Gear: Gender, innovation and live embodied composition
Authors: Mainsbridge Mary
Published: October 2024

Within computer-based and live electronic music, the values of competition, power, control and innovation dominate. Women continue to be under-represented in technical roles across production, management and software development. To address this imbalance, I examine how feminist frameworks and values can be applied to challenging the biases that influence uneven gender distribution within music technology development. Focusing on live embodied composition and computing where performative and design roles intersect, I explore the work of women composers who design or co-create bespoke systems that feature the body, reimagining the norms of music technology development while exposing insights about gender, race and body types in the sound and music industries. Referencing the work of Laetitia Sonami and Lauren Sarah Hayes, I argue that their embodied design practices constitute a type of activism that promote the feminist values of human computer interaction (HCI), including collaboration, transparency and empathy, countering dominant audio equipment and software design values oriented towards precise, perfected and disposable designs created in a hierarchical fashion.
Zur Wirksamkeit eines neuen Beratungsangebots für Eltern pflegebedürftiger Kinder
Authors: Nickel Stefan , Lüdecke Daniel , Helmreich Isabella , Broll Jan
Published: October 2024

Zusammenfassung: Hintergrund: Familien mit pflegebedürftigen Kindern sind großen Belastungen ausgesetzt. Hieraus resultieren Risiken, die häufig zu einer schlechten Lebens- und Versorgungssituation der Familien führen. Zu ihrer Unterstützung wird im Rahmen des Forschungsprojektes NEST eine innovative, regional verankerte Unterstützungsleistung durch sogenannte Familien-Gesundheits-Partner_innen (FGP) entwickelt. Fragestellung/Ziel: Primärer Endpunkt der Studie ist die Lebensqualität der Familien. Sekundäre Endpunkte sind Resilienzfaktoren und assoziierte Maße sowie der Zugang zur Versorgung. Methoden: Die Wirksamkeit der FGP wird mittels einer kontrollierten Studie mit vier Messzeitpunkten (Baseline, nach 6, 12 und 18 Monaten) im Zeitraum zwischen Januar 2022 und April 2024 überprüft. Insgesamt wurden 204 Familien mit pflegebedürftigen Kindern für eine Interventions- und Kontrollgruppe rekrutiert. Mehrebenenmodelle werden zur Analyse der Längsschnittdaten genutzt. Ergebnisse: Zwischen dem ersten und zweiten Messzeitpunkt zeigen sich statistisch signifikante Verbesserungen in der Interventionsgruppe vor allem in den täglichen und sozialen Belastungen in der Familie, in psychischer Gesundheit und Resilienz. Darüber hinaus hat sich das Wissen über allgemeine Leistungsrechte sowie spezifische Unterstützungs- und Entlastungsangebote für pflegende Eltern erhöht. Schlussfolgerungen: Die Ergebnisse der ersten beiden Messzeitpunkte deuten darauf hin, dass eine positive Veränderung hinsichtlich der Lebensqualität, Resilienz und Gesundheitskompetenz durch die FGP erreicht werden kann.
Enhancing Weather Forecast Accuracy Through the Integration of WRF and BP Neural Networks: A Novel Approach
Authors: Liu Zeyang , Zhang Jing , Yang Yadong , Wang Yaping , Luo Wangjun , Zhou Xiancun
Published: October 2024

In the past century, scholars from both domestic and international communities have delved into the study of numerical weather prediction models to promptly understand meteorological factors and mitigate the impacts of extreme weather events on humanity. Effective and precise prediction models enable the forecasting of meteorological conditions in the upcoming days, empowering individuals to implement proactive measures to minimize the adverse effects of extreme weather (Liang et al., 2021). The WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) modeling system is commonly used for forecasting meteorological elements. However, uncertainties terribly hamper the correctness of the forecasting results. To this end, the present study was conducted to build a secondary model on the basis of the WRF forecast model. The WRF‐BPNN model was proposed for verification after constructing the network, the temperature vertical profile and the mixing ratio vertical profile were predicted, and the results on the validation set were tested. The results showed that the WRF‐BPNN model could effectively predict the temperature profile and mixing ratio profile, presenting better performance than the traditional WRF model.
Field Observations of Surfzone Vorticity
Authors: Dooley C. , Elgar Steve , Raubenheimer Britt
Published: October 2024

In the surfzone, breaking‐wave generated eddies and vortices transport material along the coast and offshore to the continental shelf, providing a pathway from land to the ocean. Here, surfzone vorticity is investigated with unique field observations obtained during a wide range of wave and bathymetric conditions on an Atlantic Ocean beach. Small spatial‐scale [O(10 m)] vorticity estimated with a 5 m diameter ring of 14 current meters deployed in ∼2 m water depth increased as the directional spread of the wave field increased. Large spatial‐scale [O(100 m)] vorticity calculated from remote sensing estimates of currents across the surfzone along 200 m of the shoreline increased as alongshore bathymetric variability (channels, bars, bumps, holes) increased. For all bathymetric conditions, large‐scale vorticity in the inner surfzone was more energetic than in the outer surfzone.
What Controls the Dawn‐Dusk Asymmetry of Dayside Alfvénic Power: Interplanetary Magnetic Field or Ionospheric Conductance?
Authors: Fu Shiqi , Zhang Binzheng , Lei Jiuhou , Lotko William , Yang Ziyi , Dang Tong , Luan Xiaoli
Published: October 2024

Alfvén waves are important carriers of solar wind energy into the Earth's magnetosphere and upper atmosphere. The observed distribution of Alfvénic power at low altitude exhibits significant dawn‐dusk asymmetry with different causes and impacts on the dayside and nighside. The nightside asymmetry has been shown to be controlled by the meridional gradient in the ionospheric Hall conductance. It is not clear what controls the dayside asymmetry. Both the ionospheric conductance gradient and orientation of the y‐component of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) are possible factors. We examined both possibilities using global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. Our results show: (a) The dayside distribution of Alfvénic power is very sensitive to the orientation of IMF By, with enhanced power in the dawn (dusk) sector of the northern hemisphere for positive (negative) By (and opposite in the southern hemisphere); and (b) gradients in ionospheric conductance exert a weaker influence on the dayside asymmetry.
Locating Boundaries Between Locked and Creeping Regions at Nankai and Cascadia Subduction Zones
Authors: Sherrill E. M. , Johnson K. M. , Jackson N. M.
Published: October 2024

Interseismic coupling maps and, especially, estimates of the location of the fully coupled (locked) zone relative to the trench, coastline, and slow slip events are crucial for determining megathrust earthquake hazard at subduction zones. We present an interseismic coupling inversion that estimates the locations of the upper and lower boundaries of the locked zone, the lower boundary of the deep transition zone, and downdip gradient of creep rate in the transition from locked to freely creeping in the downdip transition zone. We show that the locked zone at Cascadia is west of the coastline and 10 km updip of the slow slip zone along much of the margin, widest (25–125 km, extending to ∼19 km depth) in northern Cascadia, narrowest (0–70 km) in central Cascadia, with moment accumulation rate equivalent to a Mw 8.71 and Mw 8.85 earthquake for 300‐ and 500‐year earthquake cycles. We find a steep gradient in creep immediately below the locked zone, indicative of propagating creep, along the entire margin. At Nankai, we find three distinct zones of locking (offshore Shikoku, offshore southeast Kii peninsula, and offshore Shima peninsula) with a total moment accumulation rate equivalent to a Mw 8.70 earthquake for a 150‐year earthquake cycle. The bottom of the locked zone is nearly under the coastline for all three locked regions at Nankai and is positioned 0–5 km updip of the slow slip zone. In contrast with Cascadia, creep rate gradients below the locked zone at Nankai are generally gradual, consistent with stationary locking.