bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma after pediatric kidney transplantation
Authors: Grenda Ryszard
Published: October 2021

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) that develops after kidney transplantation belongs to post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD) occurring with an incidence of 2–3%. Most pediatric cases are related to primary infection with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), able to transform and immortalize B cells and widely proliferate due to the lack of relevant control of cytotoxic T cells in patients receiving post-transplant immunosuppression. NHL may develop as a systemic disease or as a localized lesion. The clinical pattern is variable, from non-symptomatic to fulminating disease. Young age of transplant recipient, seronegative EBV status at transplantation, and EBV mismatch between donor and recipient (D+/R-) are regarded as risk factors. Immunosuppression impacts the development of both early and late NHLs. Specific surveillance protocols, including monitoring of EBV viral load, are used in patients at risk; however, detailed histopathology diagnosis and evaluation of malignancy staging is crucial for therapeutic decisions. Minimizing of immunosuppression is a primary management, followed by the use of rituximab in B-cell NHLs. Specific chemotherapeutic protocols, adjusted to lymphoma classification and staging, are used in advanced NHLs. Radiotherapy and/or surgical removal of malignant lesions is limited to the most severe cases. Outcome is variable, depending on risk factors and timing of diagnosis, however is positive in pediatric patients in terms of graft function and patient survival. Kidney re-transplantation is possible in survivors who lost the primary graft due to chronic rejection, however may be performed after at least 2–3 years of waiting time, careful verification of malignancy-free status, and gaining immunity against EBV.
Estimation of resting blood pressure using facial thermal images by separating acute stress variations
Authors: Iwashita Yuki , Nagumo Kent , Oiwa Kosuke , Nozawa Akio
Published: October 2021

The increasing number of people with hypertension worldwide has become a matter of grave concern. Blood pressure monitoring using a non-contact measurement technique is expected to detect and control this medical condition. Previous studies have estimated blood pressure variations following an acute stress response based on facial thermal images obtained from infrared thermography devices. However, a non-contact resting blood pressure estimation method is required because blood pressure is generally measured in the resting state without inducing acute stress. Day-long blood pressure variations include short-term variations due to acute stress and long-term variations in circadian rhythms. The aim of this study is to estimate resting blood pressure from facial thermal images by separating and excluding short-term variations related to acute stress. To achieve this, short-term blood pressure variations components related to acute stress on facial thermal images were separated using independent component analysis. Resting blood pressure was estimated with the extracted independent components excluding the short-term components using multiple regression analysis. The results show that the proposed approach can accurately estimate resting blood pressure from facial thermal images, with a 9.90 mmHg root mean square error. In addition, features related to resting blood pressure were represented in the nose, lip, and cheek regions.
Developing a feasible and sensitive judgement bias task in dairy cows
Authors: Kremer Louise , van Reenen Cornelis G. , Engel Bas , Bokkers Eddie A. M. , Schnabel Sabine K. , van der Werf Jozef T. N. , Webb Laura E.
Published: October 2021

Judgement bias tasks (JBTs) are used to assess the influence of farm practices on livestock affective states. The tasks must be adjusted to the species and age group of focus. In cattle, most JBTs were designed for calves instead of adult cows. This study aimed to develop a JBT suitable for adult dairy cows, combining feasibility, validity, sensitivity and repeatability. Three JBTs were developed in which cows were trained to reach or avoid reaching a feeder, the location of which signalled a reward or punisher. The tasks differed in terms of punisher—cows being allocated either to “no-reward”, an air puff or an electric shock. Cows were then exposed twice to three ambiguous positions of the feeder, on two separate occasions. Speed of learning and proportions of correct responses to the conditioned locations were used to assess the feasibility of the task. Adjusted latencies to reach the ambiguous feeder positions were used to examine whether response patterns matched the linear and monotonic graded pattern expected in a valid and sensitive JBT at baseline. Latencies to reach the feeders in the two repeated testing sessions were compared to assess ambiguity loss over tasks’ repetitions. The validity of using spatial JBTs for dairy cows was demonstrated. While the effect on JBT feasibility was nuanced, the punisher did influence JBT sensitivity. None of the JBTs’ repeatability could be supported. We conclude that using an air puf as punisher led to the most sensitive, yet non-repeatable, JBT for dairy cows.
ECHR v. UNCRPD: ending restrictions on voting rights of persons with disabilities
Authors: Jovičić Sanja
Published: October 2021

This article examines the conflicting interpretations of two human rights systems – the UNCRPD and the ECHR – concerning the legal capacity of persons in the exercise of their right to vote, with the aim of finding common ground and promoting equal participation of persons with disabilities in society.
Wohlfahrtsverbände als Profiteure des sozialen Wandels?
Authors: Rauschenbach Thomas , Berth Felix , Hoffjan Matthias
Published: October 2021

Der Beitrag untersucht die Personalentwicklung der Wohlfahrtsverbände in Deutschland seit 1990. Deutlich wird – trotz einer erstaunlichen Datenintransparenz – ein enormes Wachstum, das in kaum einer anderen Branche des Arbeitsmarktes zu beobachten ist.
Wnt/β-catenin signal transduction pathway in prostate cancer and associated drug resistance
Authors: Wang Chunyang , Chen Qi , Xu Huachao
Published: October 2021

Globally, prostate cancer ranks second in cancer burden of the men. It occurs more frequently in black men compared to white or Asian men. Usually, high rates exist for men aged 60 and above. In this review, we focus on the Wnt/β-catenin signal transduction pathway in prostate cancer since many studies have reported that β-catenin can function as an oncogene and is important in Wnt signaling. We also relate its expression to the androgen receptor and MMP-7 protein, both critical to prostate cancer pathogenesis. Some mutations in the androgen receptor also impact the androgen-β-catenin axis and hence, lead to the progression of prostate cancer. We have also reviewed MiRNAs that modulate this pathway in prostate cancer. Finally, we have summarized the impact of Wnt/β-catenin pathway proteins in the drug resistance of prostate cancer as it is a challenging facet of therapy development due to the complexity of signaling pathways interaction and cross-talk.
The evolution of the Nile regulatory regime: a history of cooperation and conflict
Authors: Tayia Ahmed , Ramos Barrado Antonio , Alonso Guinea Fernando
Published: October 2021

The objective of this study is to trace the historical evolution of the present Nile Basin regulatory framework and examine its influence on the current interactions among Nile riparian states. This research adopts a case-study design, with in-depth qualitative analysis of the Nile Basin as an example of the complex transboundary relations over shared waters. It uses an analytical framework derived from the New Institutional Economics (NIE) to analyse the evolution of the institutional framework that has governed the Nile basin and how it affected the annual water share allocated to each riparian country. The study argues that the historical beliefs and social norms of the riparian societies have been among the major factors that influenced the cooperation attempts during the past century and determined their outcomes. Therefore, a prerequisite to develop sustainable cooperation is levelling the playing field by addressing the beliefs and norms that have prevented cooperation while identifying the beliefs that can support cooperation.
Free Banach lattices under convexity conditions
Authors: Jardón-Sánchez Héctor , Laustsen Niels Jakob , Taylor Mitchell A. , Tradacete Pedro , Troitsky Vladimir G.
Published: October 2021

We prove the existence of free objects in certain subcategories of Banach lattices, including p-convex Banach lattices, Banach lattices with upper p-estimates, and AM-spaces. From this we immediately deduce that projectively universal objects exist in each of these subcategories, extending results of Leung, Li, Oikhberg and Tursi (Israel J. Math. 2019). In the p-convex and AM-space cases, we are able to explicitly identify the norms of the free Banach lattices, and we conclude by investigating the structure of these norms in connection with nonlinear p-summing maps.
Gradient flows in metric random walk spaces
Authors: Mazón José M. , Solera Marcos , Toledo Julián
Published: October 2021

Recently, motivated by problems in image processing, by the analysis of the peridynamic formulation of the continuous mechanic and by the study of Markov jump processes, there has been an increasing interest in the research of nonlocal partial differential equations. In the last years and with these problems in mind, we have studied some gradient flows in the general framework of a metric random walk space, that is, a Polish metric space (X, d) together with a probability measure assigned to each$$x\in X$$x∈X, which encode the jumps of a Markov process. In this way, we have unified into a broad framework the study of partial differential equations in weighted discrete graphs and in other nonlocal models of interest. Our aim here is to provide a summary of the results that we have obtained for the heat flow and the total variational flow in metric random walk spaces. Moreover, some of our results on other problems related to the diffusion operators involved in such processes are also included, like the ones for evolution problems ofp-Laplacian type with nonhomogeneous Neumann boundary conditions.
Integrating Desire Thinking into the I-PACE Model: a Special Focus on Internet-Use Disorders
Authors: Brandtner Annika , Antons Stephanie , Cornil Aurélien , Brand Matthias
Published: October 2021

Purpose of Review

This manuscript aims to propose an integration of desire thinking into the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model based on theoretical considerations within the Elaborated Intrusion Theory of Desire and Self-Regulatory Execution Function model and empirical evidence from the field of internet-use disorders.

Recent Findings

Theory and research on desire thinking in the context of internet-use disorders suggest considerable relations to craving, metacognitive beliefs, and emphasizes its nature when initiated as a reaction towards unpleasant triggers. Accordingly, we postulate that desire thinking may be located at the position for affective and cognitive reactions towards triggers within the I-PACE model.

The suggested integration of desire thinking into the I-PACE model specifically implies the assumption of a relief-oriented and pleasure-oriented entry pathway into desire thinking and a feedback loop between desire thinking and the experience of gratification and compensation. The model pathways proposed here may serve as a theoretical basis for future research and need further empirical verification.
Opinion Dynamic Modeling of News Perception
Authors: Milli Letizia
Published: October 2021

During the last decade, the advent of the Web and online social networks rapidly changed the way we were used to search, gather and discuss information of any kind. These tools have given everyone the chance to become a news medium. While promoting more democratic access to information, direct and unfiltered communication channels may increase our chances to confront malicious/misleading behavior. Fake news diffusion represents one of the most pressing issues of our online society. In recent years, fake news has been analyzed from several perspectives; among such vast literature, an important theme is the analysis of fake news’ perception. In this work, moving from such observation, I propose a family of opinion dynamics models to understand the role of specific social factors on the acceptance/rejection of news contents. In particular, I model and discuss the effect that stubborn agents, different levels of trust among individuals, open-mindedness, attraction/repulsion phenomena, and similarity between agents have on the population dynamics of news perception. To discuss the peculiarities of the proposed models, I tested them on two synthetic network topologies thus underlying when/how they affect the stable states reached by the performed simulations.
Examining the Prospects for Developing a National Child Maltreatment Surveillance System in Ireland
Authors: O’Leary Donna , Lyons Olive
Published: October 2021

The Irish Government pledged to reducing the prevalence of child maltreatment under the WHO Regional Committee for Europe plan on reducing child maltreatment. As a first step towards a rights-based and public health approach to maltreatment prevention, the WHO plan recommends making child maltreatment more visible across the region, with better surveillance through the use of national surveys that use standardized, validated instruments. We review the policy context, present current Irish data holdings, and outline some of the complexities reported in the literature concerning various surveillance methods in the context of the proposal to establish and maintain a surveillance system for child maltreatment in Ireland. Conclusions highlight the need for Ireland to adopting an approach to surveillance as soon as it is feasible. The paper outlines how such a programme is necessary to address the current absence of evidence on which prevention policies can be developed and to compliment the current child protection system. Drawing on a review of current methods in use internationally, we outline options for an Irish child maltreatment surveillance programme.
Orthogonal Polynomials in the Spectral Analysis of Markov Processes
Authors: de la Iglesia Manuel Domínguez
Published: October 2021

In pioneering work in the 1950s, S. Karlin and J. McGregor showed that probabilistic aspects of certain Markov processes can be studied by analyzing orthogonal eigenfunctions of associated operators. In the decades since, many authors have extended and deepened this surprising connection between orthogonal polynomials and stochastic processes. This book gives a comprehensive analysis of the spectral representation of the most important one-dimensional Markov processes, namely discrete-time birth-death chains, birth-death processes and diffusion processes. It brings together the main results from the extensive literature on the topic with detailed examples and applications. Also featuring an introduction to the basic theory of orthogonal polynomials and a selection of exercises at the end of each chapter, it is suitable for graduate students with a solid background in stochastic processes as well as researchers in orthogonal polynomials and special functions who want to learn about applications of their work to probability.
Five Republics and One Tradition
Authors: Ruiz-Tagle Pablo
Published: October 2021

Like many countries around the world, Chile is undergoing a political moment when the nature of democracy and its political and legal institutions are being challenged. Senior Chilean legal scholar and constitutional historian Pablo Ruiz-Tagle provides an historical analysis of constitutional change and democratic crisis in the present context focused on Chilean constitutionalism. He offers a comparative analysis of the organization and function of government, the structure of rights and the main political agents that participated in each stage of Chilean constitutional history. Chile is a powerful case study of a Latin American country that has gone through several threats to its democracy, but that has once again followed a moderate path to rebuild its constitutional republican tradition. Not only the first comprehensive study of Chilean constitutional history in the English language from the nineteenth-century to the present day, this book is also a powerful defence of democratic values.
Ultrasocial
Authors: Gowdy John M.
Published: October 2021

Ultrasocial argues that rather than environmental destruction and extreme inequality being due to human nature, they are the result of the adoption of agriculture by our ancestors. Human economy has become an ultrasocial superorganism (similar to an ant or termite colony), with the requirements of superorganism taking precedence over the individuals within it. Human society is now an autonomous, highly integrated network of technologies, institutions, and belief systems dedicated to the expansion of economic production. Recognizing this allows a radically new interpretation of free market and neoliberal ideology which - far from advocating personal freedom - leads to sacrificing the well-being of individuals for the benefit of the global market. Ultrasocial is a fascinating exploration of what this means for the future direction of the humanity: can we forge a better, more egalitarian, and sustainable future by changing this socio-economic - and ultimately destructive - path? Gowdy explores how this might be achieved.
Paradoxes and Inconsistent Mathematics
Authors: Weber Zach
Published: October 2021

Logical paradoxes – like the Liar, Russell's, and the Sorites – are notorious. But in Paradoxes and Inconsistent Mathematics, it is argued that they are only the noisiest of many. Contradictions arise in the everyday, from the smallest points to the widest boundaries. In this book, Zach Weber uses “dialetheic paraconsistency” – a formal framework where some contradictions can be true without absurdity – as the basis for developing this idea rigorously, from mathematical foundations up. In doing so, Weber directly addresses a longstanding open question: how much standard mathematics can paraconsistency capture? The guiding focus is on a more basic question, of why there are paradoxes. Details underscore a simple philosophical claim: that paradoxes are found in the ordinary, and that is what makes them so extraordinary.
Race Discrimination Effaced at the International Court of Justice
Authors: Costello Cathryn , Foster Michelle
Published: October 2021

This essay examines the interpretation of the core international treaty dedicated to the elimination of racial discrimination, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), and in particular how the prohibition on race discrimination applies to the treatment of migrants. This essay is timely, as CERD has travelled from the margins of human rights law to the center of the hottest interstate lawfare. At the time of writing, the first ever interstate dispute before any UN treaty body is before the CERD Committee, and CERD has been invoked in several interstate cases before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Unfortunately, this crucible of adjudication has not marked an increase in principled interpretation. This essay critiques the recent admissibility ruling of the ICJ in Qatar v. U.A.E. for its marginalization of the prohibition of race discrimination, in particular the failure meaningfully to consider how nationality discrimination may constitute prohibited race discrimination.
Institutionalizing innovation in welfare local services through co-production: toward a Neo-Weberian State?
Authors: Campomori Francesca , Casula Mattia
Published: October 2021

Innovative practices based on the involvement of citizens as co-producers of welfare local services have been increasingly adopted by the public sector to effectively tackle emerging social problems. Despite the development in the literature on this subject, recent studies still do not clearly indicate which are the challenges for the institutionalization of such practices. By applying a governance lens to the analysis of co-production of local public services, this article aims to contribute to bridging this gap through the empirical analysis of the childcare experience in four European cities. More in detail, it debates the concepts of co-production and innovation in public service delivery within the context of the different waves of public administration reforms; and it investigates how three different sets of conditions – namely, state support and capacity; organizational cultures which support innovation; and integration with facilitative technologies – integrate to facilitate or hinder the institutionalization of co-production initiatives. The findings show that the enabling role of the state actor is a sine qua non to guarantee an institutionalization of these practices, particularly concerning the promotion of trust-building processes. Doing so, the article contributes to the international debate about the possible co-existing of the paradigms of public administration that are arising in the last decades to remedy the problems with the New Public Management; and it provides professionals working in public management and administration with key policy recommendations for the elaboration of new governance systems for the provision of social and welfare services.
Stability of obliquely driven cavity flow
Authors: des Boscs Pierre-Emmanuel , Kuhlmann Hendrik C.
Published: October 2021

The linear stability of the incompressible flow in an infinitely extended cavity with rectangular cross-section is investigated numerically. The basic flow is driven by a lid which moves tangentially, but at yaw with respect to the edges of the cavity. As a result, the basic flow is a superposition of the classical recirculating two-dimensional lid-driven cavity flow orthogonal to a wall-bounded Couette flow. Critical Reynolds numbers computed by linear stability analysis are found to be significantly smaller than data previously reported in the literature. This finding is confirmed by independent nonlinear three-dimensional simulations. The critical Reynolds number as a function of the yaw angle is discussed for representative aspect ratios. Different instability modes are found. Independent of the yaw angle, the dominant instability mechanism is based on the local lift-up process, i.e. by the amplification of streamwise perturbations by advection of basic flow momentum perpendicular to the sheared basic flow. For small yaw angles, the instability is centrifugal, similar as for the classical lid-driven cavity. As the spanwise component of the lid velocity becomes dominant, the vortex structures of the critical mode become elongated in the direction of the bounded Couette flow with the lift-up process becoming even more important. In this case the instability is made possible by the residual recirculating part of the basic flow providing a feedback mechanism between the streamwise vortices and the streamwise velocity perturbations (streaks) they promote. In the limit when the basic flow approaches bounded Couette flow the critical Reynolds number increases very strongly.
Maternal malnutrition and anaemia in India: dysregulations leading to the ‘thin-fat’ phenotype in newborns
Authors: Pandit Prachi , Galande Sanjeev , Iris François
Published: October 2021

Maternal and child malnutrition and anaemia remain the leading factors for health loss in India. Low birth weight (LBW) offspring of women suffering from chronic malnutrition and anaemia often exhibit insulin resistance and infantile stunting and wasting, together with increased risk of developing cardiometabolic disorders in adulthood. The resulting self-perpetuating and highly multifactorial disease burden cannot be remedied through uniform dietary recommendations alone. To inform approaches likely to alleviate this disease burden, we implemented a systems-analytical approach that had already proven its efficacy in multiple published studies. We utilised previously published qualitative and quantitative analytical results of rural and urban field studies addressing maternal and infantile metabolic and nutritional parameters to precisely define the range of pathological phenotypes encountered and their individual biological characteristics. These characteristics were then integrated, via extensive literature searches, into metabolic and physiological mechanisms to identify the maternal and foetal metabolic dysregulations most likely to underpin the ‘thin-fat’ phenotype in LBW infants and its associated pathological consequences. Our analyses reveal hitherto poorly understood maternal nutrition-dependent mechanisms most likely to promote and sustain the self-perpetuating high disease burden, especially in the Indian population. This work suggests that it most probably is the metabolic consequence of ‘ill-nutrition’ – the recent and rapid dietary shifts to high salt, high saturated fats and high sugar but low micronutrient diets – over an adaptation to ‘thrifty metabolism’ which must be addressed in interventions aiming to significantly alleviate the leading risk factors for health deterioration in India.
Existence results for a nonlinear nonautonomous transmission problem via domain perturbation
Authors: Dalla Riva Matteo , Molinarolo Riccardo , Musolino Paolo
Published: October 2021

In this paper we study the existence and the analytic dependence upon domain perturbation of the solutions of a nonlinear nonautonomous transmission problem for the Laplace equation. The problem is defined in a pair of sets consisting of a perforated domain and an inclusion whose shape is determined by a suitable diffeomorphism $\phi$. First we analyse the case in which the inclusion is a fixed domain. Then we will perturb the inclusion and study the arising boundary value problem and the dependence of a specific family of solutions upon the perturbation parameter $\phi$.
From Confrontation to Cooperation: The Philosophical Foundations of the Joseph B. Soloveitchik-Irving Greenberg Schism on Jewish-Christian Dialogue
Authors: Goodman Daniel Ross
Published: October 2021

The place of interfaith dialogue in Orthodox Judaism has been the subject of extensive discussion. This article offers a reading of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik's and Rabbi Irving Greenberg's stances on interfaith dialogue that situates them in a Jewish philosophical context. Some scholars have argued that Soloveitchik's refusal to engage in Jewish-Christian theological dialogue must be understood historically; others have argued that his opposition to such dialogue must be understood halakhically. This article, building upon the view articulated by Daniel Rynhold in his 2003 article that Soloveitchik's stance on interfaith dialogue must be understood philosophically, posits that in order for Soloveitchik's stance on interfaith dialogue to be fully understood, it should be studied bearing in mind the influence of Hermann Cohen upon Soloveitchik's religious philosophy. This article, which demonstrates the direct influence of Franz Rosenzweig upon aspects of Greenberg's thought, further argues that in order for Greenberg's stance on interfaith dialogue—as well as his interfaith theology—to be completely grasped, his positions upon these theological matters must be studied with the awareness of Franz Rosenzweig's influence upon his thought. The reading offered in this article of Cohen and Soloveitchik and of Rosenzweig and Greenberg does not purport to minimize the irreconcilable differences between these thinkers; nonetheless, it believes that the substantial resemblances—and, in the case of Rosenzweig and Greenberg, the direct influence—between the views of Christianity held by these pairs of figures are significant and suggest a reconsideration of the role of philosophy in the story of American Jewish theology.
THE ADMINISTRATIVE STATE
Authors: Juarez-Garcia Mario I. , Schmidtz David
Published: October 2021

There has always been a tension, in theory, between the public accountability and the professional efficiency of the agencies of the administrative state. How has that tension been handled? What would it be like for it to be well handled?
Structure, Chronology, and Local Social Meaning of a Supra-Local Vowel Shift: Emergence of the Low-Back-Merger Shift in New England
Authors: Nesbitt Monica , Stanford James N.
Published: October 2021

The Low-Back-Merger Shift (LBMS) is a major North American vowel chain shift spreading across many disparate dialect regions. In this field-based study, we examine the speech of fifty-nine White Western Massachusetts speakers, aged 18–89. Using diagnostics in Becker (2019) and Boberg (2019b), we find the LBMS emerging at the expense of the Northern Cities Shift (Labov, Yaeger, & Steiner, 1972) and traditional New England features (Boberg, 2001; Kurath, 1939; Nagy & Roberts, 2004). In Becker's LBMS model (2019:9), the low-back merger (lot-thought) triggers front-vowel shifts. Our results suggest that local social meaning can sometimes override this chronology such that the front-vowel shifts occur before the low-back merger, even as the overall configuration comes to match Becker's predictions. Sociosymbolic meaning associated with the older New England system has led to a different temporal ordering of LBMS components, thus providing new theoretical and empirical insights into the mechanisms by which supralocal patterns are adopted.
Evaluation on dosimetric plan quality and treatment delivery time of dynamic jaw mode in TomoTherapy® for left-side breast cancer patients
Authors: Chiu Sin Ting , Wu Po Man , Cheng Ka Fai , Fok Pui Hei , Chiu George
Published: October 2021

Background:

Few studies claimed that dynamic jaw (DJ) mode in Helical TomoTherapy® (HT) could improve the cranio-caudal dose distribution without prolonging the treatment time in treating different types of cancer. Also, studies suggested that DJ with a wider 5 cm field width (FW) could replace fixed jaws (FJ) with 2.5 cm FW to reduce the delivery time with the sustainable plan quality. Yet, the study on breast cancer with supraclavicular fossa (SCF) nodal involvement using DJ mode in HT is limited. This study aims to evaluate the DJ mode retrospectively by comparing their dosimetric quality with normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) of organs at risk and treatment delivery time with FJ mode on treating left-side breast with SCF nodal involvement.

Materials and methods:

All post-mastectomy patients, who had been irradiated for left-side breast with SCF nodal involvement were selected retrospectively in this study. With the same dose constraint and prescription as the treated DJ2.5 plan, two extra plans using DJ mode with 5 cm FW(DJ5.0) and FJ mode with 2.5 cm FW (FJ2.5) were computed for plan comparison.

Results:

No statistical significance was found in all the parameters of PTV and OARs, except for V20of whole lung. DJ5.0 received V20in ipsilateral left lung than FJ2.5 and DJ2.5. However, the average delivery time of DJ5.0 was significantly lower than that of DJ2.5 and FJ2.5 by almost 40%.

Conclusions:

No statistical significance was found in those dosimetric and radiobiological parameters among three modes while the delivery time has greatly reduced by using DJ5.0. A shorter treatment time can minimise intra-fractional error and better the patient’s experience during treatment.
Rethinking Knowledge Production in Sociology: A Critical Analysis of the Conceptual, the Methodological and the Institutional
Authors: Sian Katy P.
Published: October 2021

This article provides a critique of Eurocentric knowledge formations that currently dominate the sociological imagination and its analyses of the ‘other’. It proposes a deep questioning of the colonial underpinnings of the discipline and argues that a series of conceptual, methodological, and institutional concerns must be addressed if we are profoundly to transform teaching and learning agendas in universities. It will argue that decolonising sociology cannot merely rely upon cosmetic changes, but rather it must demonstrate a wider commitment to anti-racism and social justice.
Case Study: Decolonising the Curriculum – An Exemplification
Authors: Wilson Caroline , Broughan Christine , Daly Guy
Published: October 2021

Coventry University has made a strategic commitment to address the dimension of ‘race’ in its learning and teaching. Central to this is the establishment of a cross-institution curriculum change initiative called ‘Curriculum 2025’. The case study shared here details how we are approaching this task and some early reflections. Two things are explained: first, the provision of resources for staff who want to learn more about possible actions to take; second, our approach to working alongside course teams on new materials, often designed as reusable learning objects. An example of such a learning object is discussed which uses Wikipedia to enable students from diverse backgrounds to examine critically academic texts, books and other resources to understand how their learning may be skewed in favour of Western-originated thought and to identify alternative perspectives. The student activity also provides a co-creation opportunity, in that students are discovering the curriculum for themselves.
Liar's war: Protecting civilians from disinformation during armed conflict
Authors: Katz Eian
Published: October 2021

Disinformation in armed conflict may pose several distinctive forms of harm to civilians: exposure to retaliatory violence, distortion of information vital to securing human needs, and severe mental suffering. The gravity of these harms, along with the modern nature of wartime disinformation, is out of keeping with the traditional classification of disinformation in international humanitarian law (IHL) as a permissible ruse of war. A patchwork set of protections drawn from IHL, international human rights law and international criminal law may be used to limit disinformation operations during armed conflict, but numerous gaps and ambiguities undermine the force of this legal framework, calling for further scholarly attention and clarification.
Mediation of Internet addiction on association between childhood maltreatment and suicidal behaviours among Chinese adolescents
Authors: Peng Chang , Wang Mengni , Cheng Junhan , Tan Yafei , Huang Yunxiang , Rong Fajuan , Kang Chun , Ding Hongli , Wang Yan , Yu Yizhen
Published: October 2021

Aims

The associations between suicidal behaviours and childhood maltreatment (CM), as well as Internet addiction (IA) have been extensively examined. However, few studies pay attention to different types of CM and all stages of suicidality, including suicidal ideation (SI), suicidal plans (SP) and suicidal attempts (SA). Moreover, little is known regarding the mediation of IA on the relationship between CM and suicidal behaviours. The study aims to explore the direct effect of CM and IA on three stages of suicidal behaviours, and the indirect effect of CM on suicidality via IA.

Methods

A total of 16 130 high-school students aged 12–18 were recruited using a stratified cluster sampling strategy across five representative provinces in China. Relevant information was collected by a self-administered anonymous questionnaire. Multinomial logistic regression analysis and structural equation model were used to examine the associations.

Results

During the last year, 16.0% of participants reported suicidal behaviours. Specifically, 7.9% reported SI only, 4.6% reported SP but no SA, and 3.5% reported SA. The prevalence of neglect, physical abuse and IA in moderate to severe were 28.9, 19.9 and 33.1%, respectively. After controlling for demographic characteristics and confounding factors, such as loneliness, psychological resilience, and social support, moderate and severe neglect, physical abuse and IA were associated with an increased risk of SI, SP and SA (p < 0.01). The total effect of neglect and physical abuse on suicidal behaviours were 0.152 and 0.172, respectively (p < 0.001). The mediation proportion of IA on the association between neglect and suicidal behaviours, as well as physical abuse and suicidal behaviours were 22.4 and 18.0%, respectively.

Conclusions

CM and IA are independently associated with suicidal behaviours among Chinese adolescents. Moreover, IA plays a mediating role on the relationship between CM and suicidality. Targeted interventions for adolescents’ suicidal behaviours should focus on those who have experience of CM and IA.
Projections of the Transient State‐Dependency of Climate Feedbacks
Authors: Bastiaansen Robbin , Dijkstra Henk A. , Heydt Anna S. von der
Published: October 2021

When the climate system is forced, for example, by the emission of greenhouse gases, it responds on multiple time scales. As temperatures rise, feedback processes might intensify or weaken. Such state dependencies cannot be fully captured with common linear regression techniques that relate feedback strengths linearly to changes in the global mean temperature. Hence, transient changes are difficult to track and it becomes easy to underestimate future warming this way. Here, we present a multivariate and spatial framework that facilitates the dissection of climate feedbacks over time scales. Using this framework, information on the composition of projected transient future climates and feedback strengths can be obtained. The new framework is illustrated using the Community Earth System Model version 2.
Pelagic Methane Sink Enhanced by Benthic Methanotrophs Ejected From a Gas Seep
Authors: Jordan S. F. A. , Gräwe U. , Treude T. , van der Lee E. M. , Schneider von Deimling J. , Rehder G. , Schmale O.
Published: October 2021

Cold seeps represent hot spots of seabed‐derived methane emissions to the water column, where physical and biological barriers regulate transport of methane to the atmosphere. In our study, we used a methane point source in the North Sea to investigate water‐column methane dynamics within the dispersing plumes. The study is based on methane concentration, distribution and activity of methane‐oxidizing bacteria (MOB), and oceanographic observations. Our findings suggest the ejection of benthic MOB into the water column by sediment resuspension and gas‐bubble‐mediated transport. An applied particle‐tracking model demonstrated that the ejection of 4.29 ± 1.9 × 1012 MOB cells s−1 from the seep site would produce the MOB abundance detected in the down‐current water body. The benthic MOB inoculant accelerated methane oxidation rates by a factor of five. Our study highlights the importance of the bentho‐pelagic transport of microorganisms at seep sites and their feedback on the pelagic methane sink.
Short Periodic VLF Emissions Observed Simultaneously by Van Allen Probes and on the Ground
Authors: Demekhov A. G. , Titova E. E. , Manninen J. , Nikitenko A. S. , Pilgaev S. V.
Published: October 2021

We present simultaneous observations of very low‐frequency emissions with periodic bursts by Van Allen Probe near geomagnetic equator and Kannuslehto and Lovozero ground‐based sites. The repetition period and ground–spacecraft delay are consistent with guided whistler wave propagation between conjugate ionospheres. In contrast to lightning whistlers, the group velocity dispersion is not accumulated from one burst to another, thus implying a nonlinear mechanism of its compensation. Two regimes are observed. In one regime, Poynting flux direction alternates in the magnetosphere, and the burst period (2 s) is half of that detected on the ground (4 s), corresponding to single‐wave packet bouncing along the field line. This regime is switched to the other one, with burst period unchanged in the magnetosphere but halved on the ground. In this second regime, no alternating Poynting flux direction is observed. The second regime corresponds to two symmetrically propagating wave packets synchronously meeting at the equator.
Erosion of Penitentes Under Experimental Conditions Relevant to Ice‐Covered Airless Worlds
Authors: Berisford D. F. , Foster J. T. , Kosberg J. A. , Furst B. I. , Poston M. J. , Daimaru T. , Lang M. , Backman L. , Macias A. , Hand K. P.
Published: October 2021

The submeter‐scale surface morphology of ice‐covered worlds is poorly constrained by observations, but is important for understanding their physics and chemistry. In this experiment, we exposed preformed snow structures to temperature, pressure, and solar irradiance conditions similar to those on Europa and Enceladus. The sample consisted of 2‐D sinusoidal penitente‐like ridges, 2.5 cm tall with 1.25 cm spacing. Over 1 month at 165–175 K, and 10−4 Pa, the ridges decreased in height by 20% and became more triangular and less sinusoidal, evolving toward a more flat surface. This despite the fact that the troughs appear brighter than the peaks, indicating focusing of light into the troughs. This suggests that penitentes are unlikely to be stable on airless worlds with free‐molecular flow conditions, which is significant for understanding the spectral and thermal properties of these worlds, and for understanding risks for future landed spacecraft.
Constraining Dynamic Sediment‐Discharge Relationships in Cold Environments: The Sediment‐Availability‐Transport (SAT) Model
Authors: Zhang Ting , Li Dongfeng , Kettner Albert J. , Zhou Yinjun , Lu Xixi
Published: October 2021

Accelerated glacier‐snow‐permafrost erosion due to global warming amplifies the sediment availability in cold environments and affects the time‐varying suspended sediment concentration (SSC) and discharge (Q) relationship. Here, the sediment‐availability‐transport (SAT) model is proposed to simulate dynamic SSC‐Q relationships by integrating the sediment availability coupled by thermal processes, fluvial processes and long‐term storage exhaustion into a sediment rating curve (SSC = a × Qb with a and b as fitting parameters). In the SAT‐model, increased sediment sources from glacier‐snow‐permafrost erosion are captured by changes in basin temperature, showing an exponential amplification of SSC when basin temperature increases. Enhanced fluvial erosion by the elevated water supply from rainfall and meltwater is captured by the factor of runoff surge, which results in a linear amplification of SSC. The SAT‐model is validated for the permafrost‐dominated Tuotuohe basin on Tibetan Plateau utilizing multi‐decadal daily SSC/Q in‐situ observations (1985–2017). Results show that sediment rating curves for Tuotuohe display significant inter‐annual variations. The higher parameter‐b in a warmer and wetter climate confirms the increased sediment availability due to the expanded erodible landscapes and gullying‐enhanced connectivity between channels and slopes. Through capturing such time‐varying sediment availability, the SAT‐model can robustly reproduce the long‐term evolution, seasonality, and various event‐scale hysteresis of SSC, including clockwise, counter‐clockwise, figure‐eight, counter‐figure‐eight, and more complex hysteresis loops. Overall, the SAT‐model can explain over 75% of long‐term SSC variance with stable performance under hydroclimate abrupt changes, outperforming the conventional and static sediment rating curve approach by 20%. The SAT‐model not only advances understanding of sediment transport mechanisms by integrating thermal‐ and fluvial‐erosion processes, but also provides a model framework to simulate and project future sediment loads in other cold basins.
Spatiotemporal dynamics of nanowire growth in a microfluidic reactor
Authors: Erfan Mazen , Gnambodoe-Capochichi Martine , Sabry Yasser M. , Khalil Diaa , Leprince-Wang Yamin , Bourouina Tarik
Published: October 2021

Co-integration of nanomaterials into microdevices poses several technological challenges and presents numerous scientific opportunities that have been addressed in this paper by integrating zinc oxide nanowires (ZnO-NWs) into a microfluidic chamber. In addition to the applications of these combined materials, this work focuses on the study of the growth dynamics and uniformity of nanomaterials in a tiny microfluidic reactor environment. A unique experimental platform was built through the integration of a noninvasive optical characterization technique with the microfluidic reactor. This platform allowed the unprecedented demonstration of time-resolved and spatially resolved monitoring of the in situ growth of NWs, in which the chemicals were continuously fed into the microfluidic reactor. The platform was also used to assess the uniformity of NWs grown quickly in a 10-mm-wide microchamber, which was intentionally chosen to be 20 times wider than those used in previous attempts because it can accommodate applications requiring a large surface of interaction while still taking advantage of submillimeter height. Further observations included the effects of varying the flow rate on the NW diameter and length in addition to a synergetic effect of continuous renewal of the growth solution and the confined environment of the chemical reaction.
Language function following preterm birth: prediction using machine learning
Authors: Valavani Evdoxia , Blesa Manuel , Galdi Paola , Sullivan Gemma , Dean Bethan , Cruickshank Hilary , Sitko-Rudnicka Magdalena , Bastin Mark E. , Chin Richard F. M. , MacIntyre Donald J. , Fletcher-Watson Sue , Boardman James P. , Tsanas Athanasios
Published: October 2021

Background

Preterm birth can lead to impaired language development. This study aimed to predict language outcomes at 2 years corrected gestational age (CGA) for children born preterm.

Methods

We analysed data from 89 preterm neonates (median GA 29 weeks) who underwent diffusion MRI (dMRI) at term-equivalent age and language assessment at 2 years CGA using the Bayley-III. Feature selection and a random forests classifier were used to differentiate typical versus delayed (Bayley-III language composite score <85) language development.

Results

The model achieved balanced accuracy: 91%, sensitivity: 86%, and specificity: 96%. The probability of language delay at 2 years CGA is increased with: increasing values of peak width of skeletonized fractional anisotropy (PSFA), radial diffusivity (PSRD), and axial diffusivity (PSAD) derived from dMRI; among twins; and after an incomplete course of, or no exposure to, antenatal corticosteroids. Female sex and breastfeeding during the neonatal period reduced the risk of language delay.

Conclusions

The combination of perinatal clinical information and MRI features leads to accurate prediction of preterm infants who are likely to develop language deficits in early childhood. This model could potentially enable stratification of preterm children at risk of language dysfunction who may benefit from targeted early interventions.

Impact

A combination of clinical perinatal factors and neonatal DTI measures of white matter microstructure leads to accurate prediction of language outcome at 2 years corrected gestational age following preterm birth.

A model that comprises clinical and MRI features that has potential to be scalable across centres. It offers a basis for enhancing the power and generalizability of diagnostic and prognostic studies of neurodevelopmental disorders associated with language impairment.

Early identification of infants who are at risk of language delay, facilitating targeted early interventions and support services, which could improve the quality of life for children born preterm.