bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Study on the characteristics of grinding fluid in extrusion grinding machining
Authors: Yang Zhong , Zhen Yangshu , Tao Yu
Published: September 2021

Extrusion grinding machining (EGM) has become a key technology in the post-processing of micro-hole in the injector nozzle. In this paper, the pure slurry prepared from organic bentonite and the pure slurry after adding abrasive as experimental objectives, and the correlation performance has been carried out. Results showed that both pure slurry and slurry abrasive have good shear thinning characteristics, belong to pseudoplastic non-Newtonian fluid, and their rheological properties obey the power-law model. The pure slurry after stirring and shearing can restore the reticular structure in a short time, which proves that it has excellent thixotropy and meets the conditions of circulating processing of grinding fluid. In addition, the pure slurry and slurry abrasive also have good sedimentation stability, suspension capacity, and dispersion properties.
Simplification of point cloud data for large-scale ellipsoidal complex surface
Authors: Huo Kai , Yang Hui , Fang Hairong , Shi Shijian , Chen Yufei
Published: September 2021

Aiming at the issue that the current point cloud data simplification algorithm cannot accurately retain the subtle features of ellipsoidal complex surface, simplification algorithm of a point cloud data feature preservation based on principle component analysis (PCA) and adaptive mean shift (AMS) methods is proposed. First, K-means spatial clustering is used to make preliminary clustering and simplification of point cloud data. Second, the representative value of the subtle features of the point cloud data is calculated based on the PCA method. Then, according to the proposed improved adaptive mean shift method, the simplification of the point cloud data is developed. Finally, the point cloud data obtained by the denoising and smoothing of a large spherical crown workpiece collected at a certain equipment manufacturing site is used as the experimental object, and a comparative experiment is conducted between the proposed simplification algorithm and the k-means clustering algorithm, which proves the proposed algorithm can effectively maintain the subtle feature points of the ellipsoidal point cloud data.
Analysis and Research on Tree-climbing and Pruning Robots
Authors: Wang Jichen , Zheng Hai , Zhang Chao , Meng Chaoying
Published: September 2021

Tree climbing and pruning robot mainly achieve climbing and pruning two movements to help people from the dangerous high environment. This paper analyzed the research and application status of tree climbing and pruning robot at home and abroad. Finally, the development trend of tree climbing and pruning robot is discussed.
Research progress of replaceable steel coupling beam
Authors: Sun Fengyuan
Published: September 2021

Coupling beam is crucial to the seismic performance of the shear wall structure. When the coupling beam has enough ductility, there will be cracks on the section and plastic hinges will appear under earthquake, which will absorb a large amount of seismic energy. The coupling beam plays an important role in reducing the force inside the shear wall and delaying the yield of the shear wall. At the same time, the plastic hinge still transfers the bending moment and shear force, therefore, to act as a certain constraint on the shear wall to help the shear wall to maintain enough stiffness and strength. Among them, the replaceable coupling beam can help the recovery of structural performance, with great advantages and application prospects. This paper mainly summarizes the research progress of replaceable coupling beam, and analyzes its advantages and disadvantages.
Hole Depth Measuring Device based on Mechanical Wave Reflection
Authors: Gao Jun
Published: September 2021

In view of the problems of low efficiency and large human factors in the current quality acceptance of underground drilling construction in coal mine, which mainly depends on the manual counting of drill pipes during drilling withdrawal, a portable drilling depth measurement device is designed based on the principle of mechanical wave reflection in drill pipe string, using the propagation speed of mechanical wave in the drill string and the time of one cycle of mechanical wave back and forth in the drill string, the length of drill string in the drill hole is calculated and the drilling depth is determined. The designed mine drilling depth measuring device is mainly composed of three parts: exciter, probe and host. The key functions of data processing and human-computer interaction are realized by the software and hardware of the host. The field tests in Dafosi Coal Mine and Sihe Coal Mine verify that the measuring depth of the device is greater than 200m and the maximum error is no more than 10m, which can meet the urgent needs of underground hole depth measurement in coal mine.
Research on Key Technologies of Ocean Thermal Desalination
Authors: Sun Xinchun , Xia Chao
Published: September 2021

Due to the process of urbanization and industrialization, the crisis of freshwater resources has become a problem to be solved by mankind. Although the traditional low-temperature multi-effect distillation method, multi-stage flash evaporation method and reverse osmosis membrane method seawater desalination currently occupy the mainstream position [1], Low-temperature multi-effect distillation method brine evaporation temperature cannot exceed 70 °C, reverse osmosis membrane method has the characteristics of high requirements for seawater pretreatment, and multi-stage flash evaporation method has the defect of high energy consumption. Therefore, ocean temperature difference can be used as a renewable energy source. Due to the huge reserves, about 10TW (10x1012W) that can be developed and utilized in the world is recognized by the international community as one of the most potential energy sources[2]. This article first describes the significance of the development of ocean temperature difference energy and the current research status of ocean temperature difference energy seawater desalination; secondly, it takes the ocean temperature difference energy seawater desalination method as the research object, based on the technical difficulties of ocean temperature difference energy seawater desalination and the process of the seawater desalination method that reduces the temperature difference. Four aspects put forward the main factors to improve the performance of the system; finally, it is concluded that the transformation of the key technological achievements of the ocean temperature difference energy seawater desalination method will provide more energy-saving, environmentally friendly, and more efficient for the comprehensive development and utilization of marine engineering, offshore oil drilling platforms, and islands. High-quality freshwater resources.
The study of hardware in the loop on the development of Vehicle
Authors: Liu Ling
Published: September 2021

In this paper, it is introduced the current status and development trend, combines the vehicle development process, and studies the application of hardware in the vehicle development, providing the direction for the future vehicle project development and information teaching reform.
Optimization of PID parameter tuning for gravity stabilized platform based on improved differential evolutionary algorithm
Authors: Chen Xin , Li Fangneng , He Hongyang , Wu Miao
Published: September 2021

To address the difficulty of the PID controller parameters tuning of gravity stabilized platform, an improved differential evolutionary (IDE) algorithm containing two currently better variational strategies is proposed. In the process of algorithm iteration, the mutation factor and crossover probability factor of the algorithm are gradually changed to improve the optimization performance of the algorithm. On this basis, the improved differential evolution algorithm is applied to the PID controller parameter tuning problem of gravity stabilized platform. Simulation results show that the algorithm is effective and can be used to optimize the parameters of PID controller of gravity stabilization platform.
Central Pattern Generator Model Design and Gait Control Research of Amphibious Robotic Fish
Authors: Yang Wenlin , Wu Peng , Zhou Xiaoqi , Zhu Puqiang , Liu Xinyu
Published: September 2021

Central Pattern Generator (CPG) has the characteristics of strong adaptability and various output forms, which is suitable for amphibious robotic fish whose environment may change at any time. According to the bionic prototype, the Hopf oscillators on ipsilateral and contralateral side were coupled to form a CPG network topology model, which was used to control the steering gear and realize the waveform propulsion of the fins. In MATLAB, parameters such as amplitude and frequency were set for the model to obtain the motion characteristics under five actual gaits. The output curve is consistent with the theory and the conversion flow field is smooth, which proves the correctness of the CPG model and can be used as the target of subsequent simulation. Finally, through ADAMS and MATLAB co-simulation, the output swing angle curve of the controlled object (steering gear) is obtained, which accords with the abovementioned control goal. This guaranteed the effectiveness of CPG model control. Moreover, the centroid and torque of the steering gear changes in the gait process of crawling and steering are especially analyzed, these changes indicate that the steering gear does not lose too much power during the rigid contact between the fin and the ground and prove the practical feasibility of the theory.
Numerical Simulation and Analysis of Air Supply Mode in Luxury Cruise Air-conditioning System
Authors: Zhang Shaoshu , Gao Haibo , Lin Zhiguo , Zhao Yunrui , Guo Yunhua , Hu Yi
Published: September 2021

Passengers’ comfort was strongly affected by the indoor thermal environment in luxury cruise cabins. Based on the installation position of the fan coil unit (FCU), two different air supply modes were proposed. The indoor thermal environment of air-conditioning cabin in luxury cruise summer condition was simulated under Airpak environment with two different air supply modes. The temperature and velocity nephograms of two modes are discussed. The results show that up-supply up-return mode has excellent comfort and is suitable for cruise practical application.
Research on optimization of complex path of inspection robot
Authors: Li Dongyang , Zhong Zhifeng , Chen Tianxiong , Yan Qiangqiang
Published: September 2021

It is a common method to use intelligent robots for automatic inspection in highly automated ships. Path planning and optimization research are an important part of robotics. Intelligent tracking is the key to autonomous movement of mobile robots. In this paper, a grid map is used to establish a simulation model of the robot tracing environment. In a grid map, the more complex the map environment, the slower the algorithm will converge. The -fill-merge method processes the concave obstacles in the environment into regular shapes, reduces the number of unnecessary calculations, thereby greatly optimizing the tracing environment and speeding up the convergence speed. Finally, the MATLAB simulation experiment shows that the method based on environment optimization can effectively accelerate the convergence speed, avoid the local optimum, and quickly find the global optimum when dealing with the problem of autonomous tracking of intelligent robots in a map environment with a large number of concave obstacles. solution.
Grasping position recognition of spatial non-cooperative targets based on active light detection
Authors: Chen Zhihong , Lin Junqin , Wang Yanbo , Liang Binyan , Wang Yao
Published: September 2021

The current mainstream operation methods are mainly oriented to cooperation goals and pre-designed signs, which are difficult to meet the needs of complex tasks. Taking the non-cooperative target as the research object, this paper proposes a method of active light source detection combined with different multi-source data processing networks. When the image brightness is relatively high, the residual convolutional neural network is used to identify the target capture area in the multi-source data; when the image brightness is dark, the PointNet++ network is used to identify the capture area from the point cloud data, thereby adaptively achieving a better segmentation effect. The final experiment proved the effectiveness of this method.
Light-SAR-ShipNet (LSSNet): A Lightweight SAR Image Ship Detection System with Enhanced Deep Supervision
Authors: Zhang Lianzhong , Cai Aihua , Li Wenna , Hao Panzhou
Published: September 2021

Applying deep learning methods to achieve synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image ship target detection has become a current hot research topic. However, most of the existing detection networks are designed based on optical images, so when they are directly applied to SAR image target detection, there will be the following two problems: 1) There are big differences between SAR image and optical image in imaging mechanism, geometric characteristics and radiation characteristics, etc, which makes the detection network have more redundant imformation; 2) Real-time performance and accuracy are both very important in SAR image target detection task, and applying a network designed based on optical image cannot balance the performance of the two well. In response to the above problems, this paper proposes a lightweight network LSSNet specially designed for SAR image ship detection task. In earlier layers, we use depthwise separable convolution instead of conventional convolution to design dense block; in deeper layers, stacked dense blocks with shortcuts are used to enhance deep supervision, and finally achieve high-speed and high-accuracy detection. This paper uses SSDD dataset as baseline for expeiment and results show that LSSNet have higher accurracy and detecition speed. Its lightweight structure will also help transplant to hardware devices in the future.
Numerical study on the influence of anti-collision pontoon on the vortex behind pier tail and horse-shoe vortex around pier
Authors: Yang Guang , Shu Linzhao , Ji Nan , Qian Zhipeng
Published: September 2021

In order to study the influence of pier anti-collision pontoon on the vortex behind pier tail and horse-shoe vortex around pier, taking circular pier as an example, Reynolds stress (RSM) turbulence model is used to numerically simulate the flow around pier with anti-collision pontoon. Firstly, the rationality of the numerical simulation method and the accuracy of the results are verified by comparing with the cylindrical flow model test. Then, the bare pier is equipped with an anti-collision pontoon to calculate the flow around the pier under different water depths. The results show that the installation of anti-collision pontoon will change the vortex structure of the flow around the pier; the vortex in the pier tail will fuse obviously due to the interference of the floating tank, resulting in the non-stationary characteristics. When the water depth becomes shallow, the position of horse-shoe vortex in front of the pier will gradually close to the pier, and the bed erosion caused by horse-shoe vortex on both sides of the pier will be more serious.
Fatigue analysis of all-electric shale gas fracturing truck frame
Authors: Wang Wanli , Pang Han , Li Xincheng , Wu Yipeng , Song Xiufu
Published: September 2021

Fracturing truck is the core equipment in shale oil and gas exploitation. The operation environment is harsh. As the main bearing structure of the fracturing truck, the frame should have high efficiency and reliability to ensure the stable operation of the fracturing truck. Therefore, a frame model of the all-electric fracturing vehicle was established in this paper, and the load spectrum of the frame was simulated with white noise load when the fracturing vehicle was running on uneven road surface, and the finite element transient analysis of the frame was carried out. Then, a five-block diagram of fatigue analysis was established by using ncode Design-Life software, and the fatigue analysis results of the fracking truck frame were calculated according to the linear cumulative damage theory and S-N material characteristic curve. The research provides an effective reference for the detection of the fracking truck frame, so as to ensure the running stability of the fracturing truck.
The OctoPAES board for the validation of KM3NeT data acquisition system
Authors: Filippini F. , Chiarusi T. , Balbi G. , Pellegrini G. , Benfenati F. , Degli Esposti L. , Real D. , Calvo D. , Van Beveren V.
Published: September 2021

A testbench has been set up at the INFN Sezione di Bologna to optimise key elements of the KM3NeT data acquisition system. A complete framework has been built to simulate a full detection unit and test the optical network, time synchronisation, and on-shore computing resources. A fundamental tool in the test-setup is a customized electronic board: “the OctoPAES”.
Based on an Altera MAX10 CPLD, it is designed to emulate in a realistic way the optical and acoustic signals recorded by the underwater detectors. This allows us to test, in extreme conditions, the acquisition system and validate its performance with realistic data. If properly configured, the optical data provided by the OctoPAES can be combined to emulate the signals of a through-going muon or other calibration events. In this contribution the OctoPAES boards and some of their use cases at the testbench are presented.
Privatization of State-Owned Enterprises
Authors: Parker David
Published: September 2021

Theoretical developments in economics, alongside evidence that state-owned enterprises were often inefficient and unresponsive to consumers, led to a substantial program of privatizations from the 1980s. Privatization can take a number of forms, from the outright sale of state-owned assets to private investors to forms of public-private partnership, such as contracting out and franchising of public services. Privatization was promoted in both developed and developing countries, and large-scale privatizations occurred in Europe, Latin America, China, and the former communist economies of Central and Eastern Europe, in particular. Privatization revenues rose substantially from the late 1980s internationally. Taking the years 1988 to 2016, revenues from sales are estimated to have been around $3,634bn. In terms of main sectors of the economy affected, privatizations have particularly occurred in telecommunications, transport and logistics (mainly railways, airlines, and airports), other utility businesses (especially energy companies), and finance. Numerous empirical studies suggest that the performance of the privatized businesses and services has been mixed. While privatization has led to some impressive economic gains, in a number of countries, wider governance issues relating to political and legal systems have led to disappointing outcomes. Privatization has not always led to the removal of state interference in the management of businesses and services. Corruption and cronyism have blighted a number of privatizations. State sell-offs have led to income and wealth redistribution with gainers and losers from the process. Some privatizations have led to spectacular capital gains for investors. The impact of privatization on employment and working conditions remains unclear.

There are a number of issues that deserve further investigation, namely the consequences of privatization for technological change and innovation, competition policy, and income and wealth distribution. A further subject for investigation is how the effective and efficient management of state-owned enterprises can be best achieved. The boundary between the private and public sectors remains fluid, with a number of enterprises returning to state ownership as political and economic conditions change.
Legitimacy Strategies and Crisis Communication
Authors: Falkheimer Jesper
Published: September 2021

Legitimacy and crisis are closely related concepts. A crisis may even be viewed as a process of legitimation. Legitimacy is a collective perception about which actors and institutions that have the right to rule, regulate, and decide. Crises put legitimacy at stake and may, depending on the premises and management strategies, challenge, enhance, or impair legitimacy. Legitimacy and communication are entwined into each other. Legitimacy as a process is dependent on communication in its original sense: ritual communication as a sacred ceremony that unites people and creates a community. When legitimacy is put at stake, organizations and other actors use strategic communication to respond to, confront, and impact the outcome by the use of different crisis (or legitimacy) communication strategies and tactics. But while legitimacy is an old concept, the premises for handling legitimacy have changed. One way to view this shift, from a societal theoretical standpoint, is to focus the shift between modernity and late modernity as an interpretative framework. Increased diversity and mobility, globalization, reflexivity, and mediation are new premises for legitimacy work. The multivocal and multifaceted character of late modern society challenges organizational as well as societal legitimacy, especially in crisis situations. Political debates and critical reasoning questioning the role and actions of different social institutions are necessary from a democratic standpoint, but when core societal institutions are delegitimized, risks occur. This may be happening in several Western societies, with increased polarization and fundamental questioning of important institutions. Crises (e.g., the coronavirus pandemic) and how they are handled and managed by existing institutions may be radical turning points of legitimacy in governance. Crisis management and communication have developed as possible tools for organizations to handle legitimacy crises. Simplified, one may use three theories of legitimacy strategies in crisis as developed in the applied field of crisis communication. These three theories include image repair theory (rhetoric), situational crisis communication theory, and a broader array of alternative network and complexity theory.
Weberian Bureaucracy
Authors: Sager Fritz , Rosser Christian
Published: September 2021

The term Weberian bureaucracy refers to Max Weber’s (1864–1920) ideal type (or model) of rational bureaucracy, published in Economy and Society posthumously in 1921/22 by his wife Marianne Weber. His ideal type of bureaucracy consists of a number of organizational features of administrative order. At the ideal type’s core lies a hierarchically structured, professional, rule-bound, impersonal, meritocratic, and disciplined body of public servants who possess a specific set of competences and who operate outside the sphere of politics. An ideal type is an analytical construct against which to contrast empirical observations. Weber never meant it to be a descriptive nor a prescriptive account of how bureaucracy should be. Weberian bureaucracy is part of his broader sociology and must therefore be understood as part of its methodological, theoretical, and empirical context. The model is not an isolated concept; it derives from Weber’s historical analysis of modernization and the emergence of the rational state, and serves as the epitome of it.

To Weber, modernization and people’s corresponding transformed worldviews were preconditions for rational rule and inevitably led to rational bureaucracy. Weber’s rationalization thesis draws from his sociology of rule, which comprises three types of authority: charismatic, traditional, and rational. Weber wrote in dynamic historical times. His bürgerlicher (bourgeois) background and his politically liberal stance contributed to the model’s normative objective of keeping administration out of democratic politics. The model received immense scholarly attention. Due to its simplicity and how catchy it was, the model was prone to become a stereotype, which is exactly what happened. In post–World War II public administration literature, Weber’s model was made into the scapegoat for unfashionable bureaucracy based on hierarchy and red tape. The model’s reception was not only negative because of de-contextualized reading and misinterpretation. There were also serious criticisms regarding the model itself, including claims of empirical inaccuracy. Twenty-first-century attempts to launch a neo-Weberian approach in Public Administration have not yet eclipsed the stereotypical use of Weber. Weber’s legacy as an intellectual giant of 20th-century social sciences is best served if 21st-century Public Administration scholarship treats the model as what it actually is—an integral part of a historical scholarly masterpiece, not an analytical or normative guideline for the study and design of early 21st-century administrative praxis.
Crisis Lawyering: Transnational Ethics for Global Emergencies
Authors: Brescia Ray
Published: September 2021

As crises proliferate around the world, from a global pandemic and natural disasters brought about by climate change to genocide and the rise of authoritarian regimes, lawyers are increasingly asked to play a role in addressing these crises. Not every client crisis is a crisis for the lawyer because that lawyer is prepared to handle it and knows just what to do and when to do it to pursue the client’s interests. But some of the crises that have emerged in recent years are novel, pervasive, and unprecedented in many ways, meaning that the legal profession, when its members are asked to address them, cannot rely on traditional approaches to their practice, and may need to take into account the interests of a wider range of stakeholders that is typical in the practice of law, where the interests of the clients are supposed to be paramount. Accordingly, since traditional lawyering approaches may not be appropriate for novel, pervasive crises, are new sets of ethical rules appropriate for just such crises to help lawyers navigate them effectively, competently, and ethically?
Complicating Genocide: Missing Indigenous Women’s Stories
Authors: Carranza Ko Ñusta
Published: September 2021

Having existed for centuries, genocide is a criminal practice that aims to destroy in whole or in part a population from a particular ethnic, racial, and religious background. The study of genocide is one that builds on historic cases of genocidal violence. Specifically, it takes on various approaches to examine genocidal crime, the intent of genocide, and how the motivation to cause physical pain and harm is knowingly implemented as a strategy of war, a tool of colonization, and a government policy of progress and modernization. Predominantly the scholarship on genocide can be summarized into three methodological approaches: (a) the theoretical that emphasizes the historic context of the crime; (b) the legal that draws from the United Nations Genocide Convention; and (c) the applied perspective that focuses on specific cases of genocide using the theoretical and legal lens. Recently, in the 21st century, genocide studies involving Indigenous populations has gained more traction as governments have been forced to recognize their own involvement in genocide, such as the forced removal of children in Canada and Australia from Indigenous families in efforts to assimilate them to the majority culture. Among this group, however, the Indigenous populations of the Americas, specifically the Indigenous women, have been further targeted for genocide more than other communities of color due to their historic relations with settler-colonial and postconquest emerging societies. The experiences of Indigenous women and their genocides involving sexual violence and coercive sterilization practices are the missing story in the genocide literature.
Voice Production and Perception
Authors: Kamiloğlu Roza G. , Sauter Disa A.
Published: September 2021

The voice is a prime channel of communication in humans and other animals. Voices convey many kinds of information, including physical characteristics like body size and sex, as well as providing cues to the vocalizing individual’s identity and emotional state. Vocalizations are produced by dynamic modifications of the physiological vocal production system. The source-filter theory explains how vocalizations are produced in two stages: (a) the production of a sound source in the larynx, and (b) the filtering of that sound by the vocal tract. This two-stage process largely applies to all primate vocalizations. However, there are some differences between the vocal production apparatus of humans as compared to nonhuman primates, such as the lower position of the larynx and lack of air sacs in humans. Thanks to our flexible vocal apparatus, humans can produce a range of different types of vocalizations, including spoken language, nonverbal vocalizations, whispering, and singing.

A comprehensive understanding of vocal communication takes both production and perception of vocalizations into account. Internal processes are expressed in the form of specific acoustic patterns in the producer’s voice. In order to communicate information in vocalizations, those acoustic patterns must be acoustically registered by listeners via auditory perception mechanisms. Both production and perception of vocalizations are affected by psychobiological mechanisms as well as sociocultural factors. Furthermore, vocal production and perception can be impaired by a range of different disorders. Vocal production and hearing disorders, as well as mental disorders including autism spectrum disorder, depression, and schizophrenia, affect vocal communication.
Discretion in the U.S. Parole System
Authors: Mackey Benjamin J. , Rudes Danielle S.
Published: September 2021

Parole in the United States serves as both a mechanism of early release from incarceration, as well as the period of supervision that may follow release, early or otherwise. Attached to the concept of parole, writ large, are multiple, seemingly irreconcilable perspectives regarding its purpose. Yet, evidence exists to suggest that all these perspectives are simultaneously reflected in the microlevel discretionary actions of parole practitioners and the macrolevel policies of the parole system. This is suggestive of a complex interplay between the individual discretion exercised by parole practitioners and the formalized legal reforms that, in some cases, attempt to limit such discretion. The three stages of parole—release, supervision, and revocation—explicate how practitioners use their discretion to resist or subvert reforms designed to curtail that discretion. Ultimately, these forms of resistance have both practical and theoretical implications for the future of parole and policies aimed at its reform.
Gender, Intersectionality, and World-Making Possibilities in Education
Authors: Nix-Stevenson Dara
Published: September 2021

In the sphere of education, there is an ongoing conversation of world-making possibilities related to centering gender and its intersections in educational contexts. Central to this notion is a triangulation of family, school, and community. The world-making possibilities of this triangulation is bolstered by six characteristics: shared responsibility for student learning among school staff, families, and the larger community; seamless and continuous support for learning from birth to career; creation of pathways that honor the dynamic, multiple, and complementary ways that students learn; supportive culture for learning both in the classroom and throughout the community; opportunities and processes to foster advocacy for student learning; and quality education and learning opportunities for every child. Moving beyond this notion, a racialized and gendered dimension considers the influence of institutionalized racism and anti-Blackness in society on the academic success of children.
Climate Change and Worldview Transformation in Finnish Education Policy
Authors: Zilliacus Harriet , Wolff Lili-Ann
Published: September 2021

The climate crisis calls for changes in all areas of human life. One such area is the education sector, which needs to be the target of urgent reform to be able to support these crucial changes. International sustainability policies call for transformative changes in worldviews that may inspire new ways of thinking and acting. Worldview transformation means a major change in deep-rooted ways of viewing the world that results in long-lasting changes in individuals’ sense of self, their perception of their relationship to the world, and even their entire way of being. Worldviews interface with perceptions of issues like climate change in ways that are frequently overlooked. The climate crisis demands a reorientation and transformation of worldviews, a change in which education can play a pivotal role. Therefore, the crisis also calls for rapid educational policy reforms. A central question is how to make worldview transformation related to sustainability visible in education policy. The general school education curricula in Finland (Grades 1–12) express sustainability as a core aim. However, it is debatable whether educational policy such as the Finnish curricula can promote worldview transformation. Contesting policy objectives and gaps between policy and practice can prevent education from dealing effectively with large worldview quandaries such as the climate crisis. In addition, unclear relationships between research and policy are fundamental obstacles during policy development. Finally, an overriding concern in policy is the lack of focus on urgent global dilemmas; consequently, it does not per se promote learning that could lead to radical change.
The Origin and Development of Comprehensive School Reforms in Sweden and Other Nordic Countries
Authors: Blossing Ulf
Published: September 2021

The Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) have all based their school systems on a vision of inclusive and comprehensive schools with no streaming and easy transition between the levels. In Sweden, “A school for all” was the concept and vision for school reforms during the postwar period from the 1950s to the 1980s. This vision originated in egalitarian philosophy and the development of the welfare state. The implementation and reforms have gone through three phases: (a) implementing and supporting enactment of the comprehensive school reforms from 1950 to 1980 approximately; (b) decentralizing and implementing new public management and local accountability from 1980 to 2010 approximately; and (c) evaluating, correcting, and considering new measures from 2010 onward approximately. Political and economic premises have changed the prospects of implementing “school for all.” There are diverse developments in Nordic societies and schools, which, however, are not as dramatic as those in some other countries currently in 2021. Nevertheless, the question of equity in the school system and its importance for a democratic society needs to be raised.
The Opium Trade
Authors: Farooqui Amar
Published: September 2021

For more than a hundred years, from the end of the 18th century to the eve of the First World War, opium was the main commodity exported from India to China. During most of this period, it was the second largest source of revenue, after land revenue, for the British Indian Empire. The article was sold for narcotic use in the Chinese market. Opium was produced in Gangetic eastern and northern India, and the central Indian plateau region of Malwa. The produce of the former zone was a monopoly of the colonial state. The production, processing, and sale of the drug was directly controlled by the government. Malwa was entirely under princely rule. Princely states were administered indirectly, had a measure of autonomy, and were subject to the overall authority of the British. Indirect rule made it difficult for the colonial government to regulate the opium trade of central and western India effectively. It pursued a different policy with regard to the opium produce of Malwa, permitting transit of the commodity for export from Bombay on the payment of a duty.

The worldwide campaign against the opium trade that gathered momentum in the late 19th century contributed to the decline of the trade. Between the first decade of the 20th century and the end of the First World War, the British withdrew from the trade. International agreements for drug control led to rigorous imposition of restrictions on production and sale, terminating official involvement in the export of opium other than that for medical use. This brought to an end the career of Indian opium as a major colonial commodity.
Environment, Demographics, and Economy in Qing China
Authors: Bello David A.
Published: September 2021

The Manchu rulers of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), China’s last, ruled an ethnic diversity of peoples throughout both Inner Asia and China proper. In the process, networks of environmental relationships were formed across Mongolian steppes, Tibetan and Southeast Asian highlands, Manchurian forests, and alluvial plains in the empire’s core, China proper. The dynasty’s main environmental efforts were devoted to the lowland agrarian concentration of water and grain. Yet the empire’s sheer extent also required management of agro-pastoral, pastoral, foraging, and swiddening relations—pursued under conditions of global cooling in the Northern Hemisphere, known as the Little Ice Age. Mineral inputs from foreign and domestic sources, as well as New World crops, were critical not only for the dynasty’s material development, but also entailed debilitating costs—most particularly deforestation and soil erosion. As it adapted to dynamic demographic and ecological conditions, the dynasty developed many structures for the maintenance and resiliency of its environmental relations, which included existential interactions with select animals and plants, to produce the world’s largest population of its time. The Qing achievement can be evaluated differently according to timescales and wide-ranging criteria that transcend crude Malthusian parameters. However, its political and demographic accomplishments must be qualified from an environmental perspective in light of the mid-19th-century breakdown of many of its environmental networks that directly contributed to its demise and that of the 2,000-year-old imperial system.
Inequality
Authors: Blim Michael
Published: September 2021

Inequality in all its forms is common to human societies, and thus its understanding is part of the central mission of anthropology. Social structural elements such as race, class, gender, status, and caste have a decisive influence on human well-being and have been a persistent focus of inquiry over the course of more than a century of anthropological investigations. It is also fair to say that anthropologists over time have adopted as core values equal protection and equal opportunity for all peoples. These principles have been applied by extension most recently to sexual minorities, stateless refugees, and migrants.
Complement inhibition for the treatment of COVID-19 triggered thrombotic microangiopathy with cardiac failure: a case report
Authors: Utebay Didar , Seeger Harald , Müller Antonia M S , David Sascha
Published: September 2021

Background

Severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been increasingly recognized as a multisystem disease. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can infect literally any cell type that expresses its target receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. However, COVID-19-associated organ dysfunction is not only mediated by direct viral effects but also by the interaction between the host’s immune response, endotheliopathy, and microvascular coagulopathy. It has been proposed that the activation of the complement system plays a central role in the pathophysiology of severe COVID-19 and the associated endotheliopathy.

Case summary

A 76-year-old male patient with indeterminate cardiogenic shock in the setting of confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection was admitted to our intensive care unit. Coronary angiography did not reveal a plausible explanation for his symptoms. The patient developed renal failure, neurological symptoms, severe thrombocytopenia, and a Coombs-negative haemolytic anaemia with schistocytes. All together the clinical picture was highly suggestive of a thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) with microvascular cardiac involvement. Conventional therapeutic strategies including high-dose steroids and seven sessions of therapeutic plasma exchange were all unsuccessful. Interestingly, complement inhibition with Eculizumab as rescue approach led to a rapid clinical and laboratory improvement and the patients were discharged with normalized organ functions at Day 36.

Conclusion

The aetiology of cardiogenic shock observed in this patient cannot simply be explained by his focal and chronic coronary findings. Although viral myocarditis was not formally excluded, both the clinical features of TMA and the rapid resolution of all clinical signs and symptoms after pharmacological complement inhibition suggest a SARS-CoV-2-driven microangiopathic origin of heart failure.
Testimony, Tyranny and Treason: The Witnesses at Charles I’s Trial
Authors: Vallance Edward
Published: September 2021

The trial and execution of Charles I have been the subject of considerable historical study, especially in the last twenty years. One aspect of the trial, however, remains largely unexplored: the role of witness testimony. The witness depositions received on 24 and 25 January 1649 have sometimes been dismissed as a mere stalling tactic, intended to provide Charles with further time to consider entering a plea. In contrast, this article contends that the witnesses’ depositions shed important new light on the trial. Exploring the witnesses’ backgrounds allows us to connect individuals with the regiments of regicides such as John Hewson and John Barkstead. These connections, through the army petitions of 1648, also link the witnesses’ testimony and, in broader terms, the trial, with the radical ideas of justice embodied in the Levellers’ ‘Large Petition’. Connecting the trial with the arguments made in the petitions for justice of the autumn and winter of 1648/9 also allows us to reconsider the importance of the concept of ‘blood guilt’. This article suggests that, far from being marginal to the king’s trial, the multi-faceted idea of blood guilt not only influenced the court’s procedure (in terms of the calling of multiple witnesses) but also was central to many of the witness depositions. Finally, drawing on both historical and philosophical work on personal testimony, the article suggests that the witness depositions may be connected to the broader, non-legal purposes of ‘witnessing’ in offering narratives of personal suffering.
Physiological importance of NGLY1, as revealed by rodent model analyses
Authors: Fujihira Haruhiko , Asahina Makoto , Suzuki Tadashi
Published: September 2021

Cytosolic peptide:N-glycanase (NGLY1) is an enzyme that cleaves N-glycans from glycoproteins that has been retrotranslocated from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) lumen into the cytosol. It is known that NGLY1 is involved in the degradation of cytosolic glycans (non-lysosomal glycan degradation) as well as ER-associated degradation, a quality control system for newly synthesized glycoproteins. The discovery of NGLY1 deficiency, which is caused by mutations in the human NGLY1 gene and results in multisystemic symptoms, has attracted interest in the physiological functions of NGLY1 in mammals. Studies using various animal models led to the identification of possible factors that contribute to the pathogenesis of NGLY1 deficiency. In this review, we summarize phenotypic consequences that have been reported for various Ngly1-deficient rodent models and discuss future perspectives to provide more insights into the physiological functions of NGLY1.
Phase II trial of natalizumab for the treatment of anti-Hu associated paraneoplastic neurological syndromes
Authors: Bastiaansen Anna E M , de Jongste Adriaan H C , de Bruijn Marienke A A M , Crijnen Yvette S , Schreurs Marco W J , Verbeek Marcel M , Dumoulin Daphne W , Taal Walter , Titulaer Maarten J , Sillevis Smitt Peter A E
Published: September 2021

Background

Paraneoplastic neurological syndromes with anti-Hu antibodies (Hu-PNS) have a very poor prognosis: more than half of the patients become bedridden and median survival is less than 12 months. Several lines of evidence suggest a pathogenic T cell-mediated immune response. Therefore, we conducted a prospective open-label phase II trial with natalizumab.

Methods

Twenty Hu-PNS patients with progressive disease were treated with a maximum of three monthly natalizumab cycles (300 mg). The primary outcome measure was functional improvement, this was defined as at least one point decrease in modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score at the last treatment visit. In addition, treatment response was assessed wherein a mRS score ≤3 after treatment was defined as treatment responsive.

Results

The median age at onset was 67.8 years (SD 8.4) with a female predominance (n = 17, 85%). The median time from symptom onset to Hu-PNS diagnosis was 5 months (IQR 2–11). Most patients had subacute sensory neuronopathy (n = 15, 75%), with a median mRS of 4 at baseline. Thirteen patients had a tumor, all small cell lung cancer. After natalizumab treatment, two patients (10%) showed functional improvement. Of the remaining patients, 60% had a stable functional outcome, while 30% showed further deterioration. Treatment response was classified as positive in nine patients (45%).

Conclusions

Natalizumab may ameliorate the disease course in Hu-PNS, but no superior effects above other reported immunosuppressive and immunomodulatory were observed. More effective treatment modalities are highly needed.

Trial registration

https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/ctr-search/trial/2014-000675-13/NL
Comparative evaluation of T-cell receptors in experimental glioma-draining lymph nodes
Authors: Blobner Jens , Kilian Michael , Tan Chin Leng , Aslan Katrin , Sanghvi Khwab , Meyer Jochen , Fischer Manuel , Jähne Kristine , Breckwoldt Michael O , Sahm Felix , von Deimling Andreas , Bendszus Martin , Wick Wolfgang , Platten Michael , Green Edward , Bunse Lukas
Published: September 2021

Background

Glioblastomas, the most common primary malignant brain tumors, are considered immunologically cold malignancies due to growth in an immune sanctuary site. While peptide vaccines have shown to generate intra-tumoral antigen-specific T cells, the identification of these tumor-specific T cells is challenging and requires detailed analyses of tumor tissue. Several studies have shown that CNS antigens may be transported via lymphatic drainage to cervical lymph nodes, where antigen-specific T-cell responses can be generated. Therefore, we investigated whether glioma-draining lymph nodes (TDLN) may constitute a reservoir of tumor-reactive T cells.

Methods

We addressed our hypothesis by flow cytometric analyses of chicken ovalbumin (OVA)-specific CD8+ T cells as well as T-cell receptor beta (TCRβ) next-generation-sequencing (TCRβ-NGS) of T cells from tumor tissue, TDLN, spleen, and inguinal lymph nodes harvested from experimental mouse GL261 glioma models.

Results

Longitudinal dextramer-based assessment of specific CD8+ T cells from TDLN did not show tumor model antigen reactivity. Unbiased immunogenomic analysis revealed a low overlap of TCRβ sequences from glioma-infiltrating CD8+ T cells between mice. Enrichment scores, calculated by the ratio of productive frequencies of the different TCRβ-CDR3 amino-acid (aa) rearrangements of CD8+ T cells derived from tumor, TDLN, inguinal lymph nodes, and spleen demonstrated a higher proportion of tumor-associated TCR in the spleen compared to TDLN.

Conclusions

In experimental glioblastoma, our data did not provide evidence that glioma-draining cervical lymph nodes are a robust reservoir for spontaneous glioma-specific T cells highlighting the requirement for detailed analyses of glioma-infiltrating T cells for the discovery of tumor-specific TCR.