bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Damage observations of RC buildings from 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquake sequence and discussion on the seismic code regulations
Authors: Vuran Eren , Serhatoğlu Cavit , Timurağaoğlu M.Ömer , Smyrou Eleni , Bal İhsan E. , Livaoğlu Ramazan
Published: January 2024

Kahramanmaraş Earthquake Sequence of 6th of February is the deadliest earthquake that happened in Turkey in the era of instrumental seismology, claiming more than 55 thousand lives and leaving torn down cities and towns behind. More than 450 km long lateral strike-slip fault ruptured during these catastrophic earthquakes. As a result, more than 38 thousand buildings collapsed causing life losses. Considering that the large share of the Turkish building stock consists of RC buildings, the vulnerable RC building stock is the main responsible for this picture. Deficiencies of the Turkish RC building stock are well known since they manifested themselves several times in the past earthquakes. However, considering the improvements in the seismic codes and the seismic hazard maps achieved in the last two decades, the widespread collapse of buildings constructed after year 2000 was rather unexpected. Some of the observed structural damage patterns are similar to those observed also in the pre-2000 buildings in recent earthquakes, however, some other types of damages, such as out-of-plane bending and shear failures or shear-friction capacity failure of RC walls, brittle fracture and bond-slip failure of reinforcement, tension failure of beams and slabs are usually not witnessed. This paper presents a carefully selected set of examples comparing the pre-2000 and post-2000 building damages and collapses, also referring to a detailed summary and comparison of the code developments in Turkey.
A methodology for analysing the impacts of climate change on maritime security
Authors: Brennan James , Germond Basil
Published: January 2024

This paper presents a methodology for developing a social Cumulative Effects Assessment (CEA) which analyses the impacts of climate change on maritime crime and maritime insecurities. The use of a CEA methodology, including the use of the Effect to Impact Pathway will enable mapping the relationships between certain ‘Activities’ (e.g. human-induced emissions of greenhouse gasses), the ‘Pressure’ engendered (e.g. warming sea temperatures) and their ‘Impacts’ (e.g. food shortages) via ‘Receptors’ (e.g. fishing communities) on specific sectors of society (in this case maritime migration and maritime crime, e.g. illegal fishing). This paper provides a Proof of Concept (PoC) for using such a methodology and shows the applicability of a multidisciplinary approach in understanding causal chains. In this PoC, the authors are generating a Non-Geographic Assessment Map that investigates the ‘Impacts’ that the human-induced greenhouse gas emissions have on maritime security. The proposed analytical tool can then be applied in further studies to assess the dependencies and synergies between climate change and the occurrence of maritime insecurity.
Cohort profile: the China surgery and anesthesia cohort (CSAC)
Authors: Yang Lei , Chen Wenwen , Chen Dongxu , He Junhui , Wang Junren , Qu Yuanyuan , Yang Yao , Tang Yuling , Zeng Huolin , Deng Wanxin , Liu Hongxin , Huang Lining , Li Xuze , Du Lei , Liu Jin , Li Qian , Song Huan
Published: January 2024

The China Surgery and Anaesthesia Cohort (CSAC) study was launched in July 2020 and is an ongoing prospective cohort study recruiting patients aged 40–65 years who underwent elective surgeries with general anaesthesia across four medical centres in China. The general objective of the CSAC study is to improve our understanding of the complex interaction between environmental and genetic components as well as to determine their effects on a wide range of interested surgery/anaesthesia-related outcomes. To achieve this goal, we collected enriched phenotypic data, e.g., sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle factors, perioperative neuropsychological changes, anaesthesia- and surgery-related complications, and medical conditions, at recruitment, as well as through both active (at 1, 3, 7 days and 1, 3, 6, 12 months after surgery) and passive (for more than 1 year after surgery) follow-up assessments. We also obtained omics data from blood samples. In addition, COVID-19-related information was collected from all participants since January 2023, immediately after COVID-19 restrictions were eased in China. As of July 18, 2023, 12,766 participants (mean age = 52.40 years, 57.93% were female) completed baseline data collection (response rate = 94.68%), among which approximately 70% donated blood and hair samples. The follow-up rates within 12 months after surgery were > 92%. Our initial analyses have demonstrated the incidence of and risk factors for chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP) and postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) among middle-aged Chinese individuals, which may prompt further mechanistic exploration and facilitate the development of effective interventions for preventing those conditions. Additional studies, such as genome-wide association analyses for identifying the genetic determinants of CPSP and POCD, are ongoing, and their findings will be released in the future.
The effects of a green monetary policy on firms financing cost
Authors: Bacchiocchi Andrea , Ille Sebastian , Giombini Germana
Published: January 2024

The monetary policy operations of a central bank (CB) involve allocation decisions when purchasing assets and taking collateral. A green monetary policy aims to steer or tilt the allocation of assets and collateral toward low-carbon industries, to reduce the cost of capital for these sectors in comparison to high-carbon ones. Starting from a corporate bonds purchase program (e.g., CSPP) that follows a carbon-neutral monetary policy, we analyze how a shift in the CB portfolio allocation toward bonds issued by low-carbon companies can favor green firms in the market. Relying on optimal portfolio theory, we study how the CB might include the risk related to the environmental sustainability of firms in its balance sheet. In addition, we analyze the interactions between the neutral or green CB re-balancing policy and the evolutionary choice (i.e., by means of exponential replicator dynamics) of a population of firms that can decide to be green or not according to bonds borrowing cost.
Review of Christopher Nathan, The Ethics of Undercover Policing (Routledge, 2022)
Authors: Haeg Jonas
Published: January 2024

This paper reviews The Ethics of Undercover Policing by Christopher Nathan.
Oncostatin M: Dual Regulator of the Skeletal and Hematopoietic Systems
Authors: Sims Natalie A. , Lévesque Jean-Pierre
Published: January 2024

Purpose of the Review

The bone and hematopoietic tissues coemerge during development and are functionally intertwined throughout mammalian life. Oncostatin M (OSM) is an inflammatory cytokine of the interleukin-6 family produced by osteoblasts, bone marrow macrophages, and neutrophils. OSM acts via two heterodimeric receptors comprising GP130 with either an OSM receptor (OSMR) or a leukemia inhibitory factor receptor (LIFR). OSMR is expressed on osteoblasts, mesenchymal, and endothelial cells and mice deficient for the Osm or Osmr genes have both bone and blood phenotypes illustrating the importance of OSM and OSMR in regulating these two intertwined tissues.

Recent Findings

OSM regulates bone mass through signaling via OSMR, adaptor protein SHC1, and transducer STAT3 to both stimulate osteoclast formation and promote osteoblast commitment; the effect on bone formation is also supported by action through LIFR. OSM produced by macrophages is an important inducer of neurogenic heterotopic ossifications in peri-articular muscles following spinal cord injury. OSM produced by neutrophils in the bone marrow induces hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell proliferation in an indirect manner via OSMR expressed by bone marrow stromal and endothelial cells that form hematopoietic stem cell niches. OSM acts as a brake to therapeutic hematopoietic stem cell mobilization in response to G-CSF and CXCR4 antagonist plerixafor. Excessive OSM production by macrophages in the bone marrow is a key contributor to poor hematopoietic stem cell mobilization (mobilopathy) in people with diabetes. OSM and OSMR may also play important roles in the progression of several cancers.

It is increasingly clear that OSM plays unique roles in regulating the maintenance and regeneration of bone, hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells, inflammation, and skeletal muscles. Dysregulated OSM production can lead to bone pathologies, defective muscle repair and formation of heterotopic ossifications in injured muscles, suboptimal mobilization of hematopoietic stem cells, exacerbated inflammatory responses, and anti-tumoral immunity. Ongoing research will establish whether neutralizing antibodies or cytokine traps may be useful to correct pathologies associated with excessive OSM production.
Silver Nanoparticles Loaded with Oleuropein Reduce Doxorubicin-Induced Testicular Damage by Regulating Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress, and Apoptosis
Authors: Erbaş Elif , Gelen Volkan , Kara Hülya , Gedikli Semin , Yeşildağ Ali , Özkanlar Seçkin , Akarsu Serkan Ali
Published: January 2024

Doxorubicin (DOX) is the most used chemotherapeutic agent for treating solid tumors. DOX treatment may lead to testicular damage using oxidative stress, resulting in infertility. These adverse effects may be prevented by the activation of antioxidant systems.

Oleuropein (OLE) is a powerful flavonoid with several ameliorative effects, including antioxidative, antiproliferative, and anti-inflammatory. It would be more efficient and applicable in treating chronic human diseases if its poor bioavailability improves with a nano-delivery system. The current study aims to assess the histopathological changes and antioxidative effects of OLE loaded with silver nanoparticles oleuropein (OLE-AgNP) on the testicular injury triggered by DOX in rats.

Forty-eight male albino rats were randomly divided into six groups as follows: the control, DOX (2.5 mg/kg), OLE (50 mg/kg), AgNP (100 mg/kg), OLE + AgNP (50 mg/kg), OLE (50 mg/kg) + DOX (2.5 mg/kg), AgNP (100 mg/kg) + DOX (2.5 mg/kg), and OLE-AgNP (50 mg/kg) + DOX (2.5 mg/kg) for 11 days. Oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, endoplasmic reticulum stress markers, sperm analysis, and histopathological analyses were performed on testicular tissues taken from rats decapitated after the applications and compared between the experimental groups. The tissue MDA level was lower in the OLE and OLE+AgNP-treated groups than in the DOX-treated group. In addition, SOD and GSH levels significantly increased in both the OLE and OLE+AgNP-treated groups compared to the DOX group.

Both OLE and OLE+AgNP, particularly OLE+AgNP, ameliorated DOX-induced testicular tissue injury, as evidenced by reduced injury and improved seminiferous tubules and spermatocyte area. In addition, OLE and OLE+AgNP, especially OLE+AgNP, inhibited DOX-induced testicular tissue inflammation, apoptosis, and endoplasmic reticulum stress.

The findings suggest that nanotechnology and the production of OLE+AgNP can ameliorate DOX-induced testicular damage.

Graphical abstract
Challenges to Fundamental Human Rights in the age of Artificial Intelligence Systems: shaping the digital legal order while upholding Rule of Law principles and European values
Authors: Shaelou Stéphanie Laulhé , Razmetaeva Yulia
Published: January 2024

Recently, the concept of the ‘European digital legal order’ seems to have gained more importance than the overarching concept of European legal order, of which the former is arguably a modern manifestation. The European legal order traditionally entails a set of fundamental human rights, Rule of Law principles and Democratic values as enshrined in the multinational legal order. From maintaining the Rule of Law derive the sustainability of Democratic values, and freedoms under the law enshrined in fundamental human rights. To the extent that the European digital legal order is the manifestation of the European legal order in the modern digital world, the fundamental question of the nature, scope and upholding of fundamental human rights, Rule of Law principles and Democratic values remains. Without disputing the need for digital transformation and its proper regulation, this paper will turn its attention to the current status of fundamental principles in the modern setting of democratic societies.

Artificial Intelligence or Artificial Intelligence Systems are technologies that have and will have a serious impact on the European legal order at large. Without dismissing the value of a human-centered regulatory approach in the field of AI, in this paper we discuss why this may be difficult as digitisation and algorithmisation deepen. This paper reviews the regulatory framework of AI and proposes potential new/renewed/modernised rights that should enhance and/or supplement the current catalogue of fundamental human rights, as contained inter alia in the EU Charter and the ECHR. This paper also argues that regulatory standards regarding AI should be clearer and stronger as well as suggests a new wording of some standards. The particular new rights and/or their new wording will be suggested in the paper.
Competence or morality? Investigating how psychological distance moderates individuals’ attitudes toward organizations’ behavioral ambivalence
Authors: Hung Yi-Sheng , Lo Shih-Yu
Published: January 2024

Construal level theory (CLT) asserts that far psychological distances trigger abstract thoughts, whereas near psychological distances trigger concrete thoughts. Moreover, according to CLT, consumers prioritize the abstract perspective (e.g., the moral perspective) of an organization that is perceived to be distant. Thus, a moral-but-incompetent organization is favored over a competent-but-immoral one, although this trend reverses for an organization that is perceived to be near. Such an assertion has been corroborated by a previous study, albeit only with regard to the temporal and social dimensions of psychological distance. Therefore, the present study experimentally tested the other two dimensions of psychological distance—namely, the spatial dimension and the hypothetical dimension. The results revealed that the participants prioritized an organization’s moral performance over its competence in relation to a spatially distant organization, although the order of prioritization was reversed for a spatially near organization. By contrast, the participants’ prioritization of an organization’s moral or competence performance did not vary between the hypothetically near and hypothetically far conditions. These findings provide insights relevant to the development of an organization’s public relations and communications strategies concerning consumers.
Modelling the effect of context-specific greenhouse gas and nitrogen emission mitigation options in key European dairy farming systems
Authors: Díaz de Otálora Xabier , del Prado Agustín , Dragoni Federico , Balaine Lorraine , Pardo Guillermo , Winiwarter Wilfried , Sandrucci Anna , Ragaglini Giorgio , Kabelitz Tina , Kieronczyk Marek , Jørgensen Grete , Estellés Fernando , Amon Barbara
Published: January 2024

Understanding the environmental consequences associated with dairy cattle production systems is crucial for the implementation of targeted strategies for emission reduction. However, few studies have modelled the effect of tailored emission mitigation options across key European dairy production systems. Here, we assess the single and combined effect of six emission mitigation practises on selected case studies across Europe through the Sustainable and Integrated Management System for Dairy Production model. This semi-mechanistic model accounts for the interacting flows from a whole-farm perspective simulating the environmental losses in response to different management strategies and site-specific conditions. The results show how reducing the crude protein content of the purchased fraction of the diet was an adequate strategy to reduce the greenhouse gas and nitrogen emission intensity in all systems. Furthermore, implementing an anaerobic digestion plant reduced the greenhouse gas emissions in all tested case studies while increasing the nitrogen emissions intensity, particularly when slurry was applied using broadcast. Regarding the productivity increase, contrasting effects were observed amongst the case studies modelled. Moreover, shallow slurry injection effectively mitigated the intensity of nitrogen losses from the fields due to strong reductions in ammonia volatilisation. When substituting urea with ammonium nitrate as mineral fertiliser, site-specific conditions affected the mitigation potential observed, discouraging its application on sandy-loam soils. Rigid slurry covers effectively reduced the storage-related nitrogen emissions intensity while showing a minor effect on total greenhouse gas emission intensity. In addition, our results provide novel evidence regarding the advantages of cumulative implementation of adapted mitigation options to offset the negative trade-offs of single-option applications (i.e. slurry covers or anaerobic digestion and slurry injection). Through this study, we contribute to a better understanding of the effect of emission mitigation options across dairy production systems in Europe, thus facilitating the adoption of tailored and context-specific emission reduction strategies.
Communicability cosine distance: similarity and symmetry in graphs/networks
Authors: Estrada Ernesto
Published: January 2024

A distance based on the exponential kernel of the adjacency matrix of a graph and representing how well two vertices connect to each other in a graph is defined and studied. This communicability cosine distance (CCD) is a Euclidean spherical distance accounting for the cosine of the angles spanned by the position vectors of the graph vertices in this space. The Euclidean distance matrix (EDM) of CCD is used to quantify the similarity between vertices in graphs and networks as well as to define a local vertex invariant—a closeness centrality measure, which discriminate very well vertices in small graphs. It allows to distinguish all nonidentical vertices, also characterizing all identity (asymmetric) graphs–those having only the identity automorphism–among all connected graphs of up to 9 vertices. It also characterizes several other classes of identity graphs. We also study real-world networks in term of both the discriminating power of the new centrality on their vertices as well as in ranking their vertices. We analyze some dictionary networks as well as the network of copurshasing of political books, remarking some of the main advantages of the new approaches studied here.
Selection of landslide treatment alternatives based on LSGDM method of TWD and IFS
Authors: Liu Fang , Zhou Zhongli , Wu Jin , Liu Chengxi , Liu Yi
Published: January 2024

The disaster caused by landslide is huge. To prevent the spread of the disaster to the maximum extent, it is particularly important to carry out landslide disaster treatment work. The selection of landslide disaster treatment alternative is a large scale group decision-making (LSGDM) problem. Because of the wide application of social media, a large number of experts and the public can participate in decision-making process, which is conducive to improving the efficiency and correctness of decision-making. A IF-TW-LSGDM method based on three-way decision (TWD) and intuitionistic fuzzy set (IFS) is proposed and applied to the selection of landslide treatment alternatives. First of all, considering that experts and the public participate in the evaluation of LSGDM events, respectively, the method of obtaining and handling the public evaluation information is given, and the information fusion approach of the public and experts evaluation information is given. Second, evaluation values represented by fuzzy numbers are converted into intuitionistic fuzzy numbers (IFNs), and the intuitionistic fuzzy evaluation decision matrix described by IFNs is obtained. Then, a new LSGDM method of alternatives classification and ranking based on IFS and TWD is proposed, the calculation steps and algorithm description are given. In this process, we first cluster the experts, then consider the identification and management of non-cooperative behavior of expert groups. This work provides an effective method based on LSGDM for the selection of landslide treatment alternatives. Finally, the sensitivity of parameters is analyzed, and the feasibility and effectiveness of this method are compared and verified.
Imagining War and Peace in Eighteenth-Century Britain, 1690–1820
Authors: Lincoln Andrew
Published: January 2024

Ranging over political, moral, religious, artistic and literary developments in eighteenth-century Britain, Andrew Lincoln explains in a clear and engaging style how the 'civilizing process' and the rise of humanitarianism, far from inhibiting war, helped to make it acceptable to a modern commercial society. In a close examination of a wide variety of illuminating examples, he shows how criticism of the terrible effects of war could be used to promote the nation's war-making. His study explores how ideas and methods were developed to provide the British public with moral insulation from the overseas violence they read about, and from the dire effects of war they encountered at home. It shows, too, how the first campaigning peace society, while promoting pacificism, drew inspiration from the prospects opened by imperial conquest. This volume is an important and timely call to rethink how we understand the cultural and moral foundations of imperial Britain.
Opera and the Politics of Tragedy
Authors: Clausius Katharina
Published: January 2024

A curated collection of Enlightenment operas, paintings, and literary works that were all marked by the 'Telemacomania' scandal, a furious cultural frenzy with dangerous political stakes.
Family Firms in Postwar Britain and Germany
Authors: Paulson David
Published: January 2024

Examines the culture and conduct of six small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in England and West Germany from 1945 to the late-1970s, drawing on numerous archives in Germany and Britain.
Weill, Blitzstein, and Bernstein
Authors: Schmid Rebecca
Published: January 2024

The first study to explore the crucial influence of Kurt Weill on operas and musicals by Marc Blitzstein and Leonard Bernstein.
Anne de Graville and Women's Literary Networks in Early Modern France
Authors: L'Estrange Elizabeth
Published: January 2024

First detailed reconstruction of Anne de Graville's library, establishing her as one of the most well-read and erudite poets of the period.
The Choral Foundation of the Chapel Royal, Dublin Castle
Authors: O’Shea David Michael
Published: January 2024

The first investigation into the choral foundation of the Chapel Royal, Dublin Castle.
Microscopic traffic models, accidents, and insurance losses
Authors: Kim Sojung , Kleiber Marcel , Weber Stefan
Published: January 2024

The paper develops a methodology to enable microscopic models of transportation systems to be accessible for a statistical study of traffic accidents. Our approach is intended to permit an understanding not only of historical losses but also of incidents that may occur in altered, potential future systems. Through such a counterfactual analysis, it is possible, from an insurance, but also from an engineering perspective, to assess the impact of changes in the design of vehicles and transport systems in terms of their impact on road safety and functionality.

Structurally, we characterize the total loss distribution approximatively as a mean-variance mixture. This also yields valuation procedures that can be used instead of Monte Carlo simulation. Specifically, we construct an implementation based on the open-source traffic simulator SUMO and illustrate the potential of the approach in counterfactual case studies.
Clinical trials landscape in a lower-middle-income country (Pakistan)
Authors: Mumtaz Hassan , Haider Syed Muhammad Ali , Neha Fnu , Saqib Muhammad , Nadeem Abdullah , Fahim Ammad , Allahuddin Zoha
Published: January 2024

In recent times, there have been calls from within the developing nations for increased ownership by governmental research bodies and universities of the priority research setting and research that aligns with national health strategies. This is a review paper of the studies that have been published on clinical trials in developing countries, with a focus mainly on Pakistan. The literature review used online databases such as PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar, World Health Organization (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP), and ClinicalTrials.gov trial registries to search for clinical trials conducted in Pakistan between January 2000 and December 2022 and analyzed. The results revealed that clinical research in Pakistan is hindered by a number of barriers, including a lack of funding, skilled personnel, and regulatory issues. Lack of funding is a common obstacle, and the majority of funding for clinical trials originates from Western countries or pharmaceutical companies established in the West. In conclusion, clinical studies in developing countries, especially in Pakistan, are hindered by a plethora of barriers, and to improve the current state, increasing funding, streamlining ethical approval procedures, simplifying regulatory systems, addressing cultural and religious concerns, and participating in global efforts to bridge the gap in health-based research are crucial.
Spectres of European money and Stefan Eich’s Currency of Politics
Authors: Roufos Pavlos
Published: January 2024

This paper aims at discussing the historical trajectory of European money and the way it can be illuminated through a dialogue with Stefan Eich’s The Currency of Politics. Fleshing out the different theories, visions, and conceptualisations of money in Eich’s book, this paper utilises this exposition to evaluate the development and operationalisation of European money. With an eye to contemporary debates about the re-politicisation or democratisation of money, the paper will critically assess the way in which Eich’s account can be used as a framework to explain European money.
Party-System Polarization and Individual Perceptions of Party Differences: Two Divergent Effects on Turnout
Authors: Rossteutscher Sigrid , Stövsand Lars-Christopher
Published: January 2024

In this article, we argue that party-system polarization and subjective perceptions of ideological party differences are conceptually and empirically distinct phenomena that affect electoral participation differently. Looking at 84 elections worldwide, we show that party-system polarization, and the sharp conflicts associated with it, depresses turnout because many citizens are put off by extreme party positions and unrewarding polemics. By contrast, the individual perception of differences between parties increases turnout because more citizens can find a party that is close to their own position and identify others as being further away. These opposite effects are possible because party-system polarization leads only some individuals to perceive differences between parties but leads others to avoid the emotionalized political arena. Moreover, individuals' ability to recognize differences between parties is not necessarily a consequence of party-system polarization. The contradictory findings in previous research are due to a conceptual and empirical blurring of these two essentially different aspects.
Concurrent transmission of multiple carbapenemases in a long-term acute-care hospital
Authors: Rankin Danielle A. , Walters Maroya Spalding , Caicedo Luz , Gable Paige , Moulton-Meissner Heather A. , Chan Allison , Burks Albert , Edwards Kendra , McAllister Gillian , Kent Alyssa , Laufer Halpin Alison , Moore Christina , McLemore Tracy , Thomas Linda , Dotson Nychie Q. , Chu Alvina K.
Published: January 2024

Objective:

We investigated concurrent outbreaks of Pseudomonas aeruginosa carrying blaVIM (VIM-CRPA) and Enterobacterales carrying blaKPC (KPC-CRE) at a long-term acute-care hospital (LTACH A).

Methods:

We defined an incident case as the first detection of blaKPC or blaVIM from a patient’s clinical cultures or colonization screening test. We reviewed medical records and performed infection control assessments, colonization screening, environmental sampling, and molecular characterization of carbapenemase-producing organisms from clinical and environmental sources by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and whole-genome sequencing.

Results:

From July 2017 to December 2018, 76 incident cases were identified from 69 case patients: 51 had blaKPC, 11 had blaVIM, and 7 had blaVIM and blaKPC. Also, blaKPC were identified from 7 Enterobacterales, and all blaVIM were P. aeruginosa. We observed gaps in hand hygiene, and we recovered KPC-CRE and VIM-CRPA from drains and toilets. We identified 4 KPC alleles and 2 VIM alleles; 2 KPC alleles were located on plasmids that were identified across multiple Enterobacterales and in both clinical and environmental isolates.

Conclusions:

Our response to a single patient colonized with VIM-CRPA and KPC-CRE identified concurrent CPO outbreaks at LTACH A. Epidemiologic and genomic investigations indicated that the observed diversity was due to a combination of multiple introductions of VIM-CRPA and KPC-CRE and to the transfer of carbapenemase genes across different bacteria species and strains. Improved infection control, including interventions that minimized potential spread from wastewater premise plumbing, stopped transmission.
Experimental investigation of flow-induced vibration and flow field characteristics of a flexible triangular cylinder
Authors: Mousavisani Seyedmohammad , Samandari Hamed , Seyed-Aghazadeh Banafsheh
Published: January 2024

Flow-induced vibration (FIV) of a flexible cylinder with a triangular cross-section, allowed to oscillate in the cross-flow, inline and torsional direction, is studied experimentally through water tunnel tests. The dynamic response of the cylinder was studied for three different angles of attack (

$0^\circ, 30^\circ, 60^\circ$

), at reduced velocities of 0.9–16.27, corresponding to Reynolds numbers of 364–3600. At the angle of attack of

$0^\circ$

, vortex-induced vibration at low reduced velocity was observed, which transitioned to galloping at higher reduced velocities. At the angles of attack of

$30^\circ$

and

$60^\circ$

, galloping-type response was observed over the range of the reduced velocities tested. Our results show that the cylinder's torsional oscillation breaks the system's symmetry and affects the structural response at higher reduced velocities regardless of the angle of attack. The FIV response of the flexible triangular cylinder is distinct from that of a rigid flexibly mounted triangular cylinder due to torsional oscillation, spanwise flexibility and the two fixed boundary conditions limiting the amplitude of oscillation. Flow field analysis in the wake of the cylinder was done qualitatively and quantitatively using hydrogen bubble flow visualisation and time-resolved volumetric particle tracking velocimetry techniques, respectively. Our results show the existence of highly three-dimensional vortex structures in the wake of the cylinder. We studied the coupling between the vortex shedding modes in the wake of the cylinder and the structural vibration modes through the spatiotemporal mode analysis using the proper orthogonal decomposition technique to distinguish between different types of the FIV response observed.
Partisan communication in two-stage elections: the effect of primaries on intra-campaign positional shifts in congressional elections
Authors: Cowburn Mike , Sältzer Marius
Published: January 2024

The influence of congressional primary elections on candidate positioning remains disputed and poorly understood. We test whether candidates communicate artificially “extreme” positions during the nomination, as revealed by moderation following a primary defeat. We apply a scaling method based on candidates language on Twitter to estimate positions of 988 candidates in contested US House of Representatives primaries in 2020 over time, demonstrating validity against NOMINATE (r > 0.93) where possible. Losing Democratic candidates moderated significantly after their primary defeat, indicating strategic position-taking for perceived electoral benefit, where the nomination contest induced artificially “extreme” communication. We find no such effect among Republicans. These findings have implications for candidate strategy in two-stage elections and provide further evidence of elite partisan asymmetry.
How does cognitive behavior therapy for dissociative seizures work? A mediation analysis of the CODES trial
Authors: Chalder T. , Landau S. , Stone J. , Carson A. , Reuber M. , Medford N. , Robinson E. J. , Goldstein L. H.
Published: January 2024

Background

We compared dissociative seizure specific cognitive behavior therapy (DS-CBT) plus standardized medical care (SMC) to SMC alone in a randomized controlled trial. DS-CBT resulted in better outcomes on several secondary trial outcome measures at the 12-month follow-up point. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate putative treatment mechanisms.

Methods

We carried out a secondary mediation analysis of the CODES trial. 368 participants were recruited from the National Health Service in secondary / tertiary care in England, Scotland, and Wales. Sixteen mediation hypotheses corresponding to combinations of important trial outcomes and putative mediators were assessed. Twelve-month trial outcomes considered were final-month seizure frequency, Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS), and the SF-12v2, a quality-of-life measure providing physical (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) scores. Mediators chosen for analysis at six months (broadly corresponding to completion of DS-CBT) included: (a) beliefs about emotions, (b) a measure of avoidance behavior, (c) anxiety and (d) depression.

Results

All putative mediator variables except beliefs about emotions were found to be improved by DS-CBT. We found evidence for DS-CBT effect mediation for the outcome variables dissociative seizures (DS), WSAS and SF-12v2 MCS scores by improvements in target variables avoidance behavior, anxiety, and depression. The only variable to mediate the DS-CBT effect on the SF-12v2 PCS score was avoidance behavior.

Conclusions

Our findings largely confirmed the logic model underlying the development of CBT for patients with DS. Interventions could be additionally developed to specifically address beliefs about emotions to assess whether it improves outcomes.
The Conditions of Eloquence
Authors: Landauer Matthew
Published: January 2024

Goodman's is a thoughtful discussion of the importance of eloquence, or “skilled speech” (10), for politics. He offers nuanced portrayals of Cicero, Burke, Macaulay, and others wrestling with the possibilities of eloquence under changing circumstances. Most of the subjects of these chapters were themselves involved in politics—and hence were reflecting on and honing their own rhetorical practice as much as contributing to rhetorical theory. Goodman insists on the importance of rhetoric's “stylistic abundance”—“a quality of language in excess of argument” (13).
Wisdom Up in Flames
Authors: Nederman Cary J.
Published: January 2024

In his encyclopedic masterwork Li livres dou Tresor (The Books of Treasure), the mid-thirteenth-century Florentine civil servant and rhetorician Brunetto Latini proclaimed “the very wise Marcus Tullius Cicero” to be “the finest orator in the world and the master of rhetoric.”1 How might this remark by a medieval professional civic administrator (even one with pronounced Ciceronian proclivities) pertain to Goodman's book? I take as my inspiration for the ensuing comments Latini's phrase in Tresor—“The very wise Marcus Tullius Cicero”—in relation to the final word of Goodman's subtitle: “Conditions.” As I began to peruse Words on Fire, I expected to encounter discussion of “wisdom” and of related ideas such as “reason,” “natural law,” and “justice” rather often. After all, these factors constitute indispensable features of Cicero's political theory. I was thus greatly surprised to discover that Goodman mentions them only belatedly and briefly (65–66).
Game characterizations for the number of quantifiers
Authors: Hella Lauri , Luosto Kerkko
Published: January 2024

A game that characterizes equivalence of structures with respect to all first-order sentences containing a given number of quantifiers was introduced by Immerman in 1981. We define three other games and prove that they are all equivalent to the Immerman game, and hence also give a characterization for the number of quantifiers needed for separating structures. In the Immerman game, Duplicator has a canonical optimal strategy, and hence Duplicator can be completely removed from the game by replacing her moves with default moves given by this optimal strategy. On the other hand, in the last two of our games there is no such optimal strategy for Duplicator. Thus, the Immerman game can be regarded as a one-player game, but two of our games are genuine two-player games.
Footprint of Emergency Medicine Physicians in Disaster Medicine Publications: A Bibliometric Analysis
Authors: Biçakçi Nurcan , Biçakçi Sercan
Published: January 2024

Introduction:

Investigating the developments in the ever-growing field of disaster medicine and revealing the scientific trends will make an important contribution to researchers in related fields. This study aims to identify the contributions of emergency medicine physicians (EMPs) and trends in disaster medicine publications.

Methods:

The expressions “disaster medicine” or “disaster*” and “medicine*” were searched in the Web of Science (WoS) database. Research and review papers produced by EMPs from 2001 through 2021 were included in the study. Basic descriptive information was assessed such as the number of publications, authors, citations, most active authors, institutions, countries, and journals. In addition, conceptual, intellectual, and social structures were analyzed.

Results:

The study included a total of 346 papers written by 1,500 authors. The mean citation rate per publication was 13.2. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, and Academic Emergency Medicine were the journals with the highest number of publications and the highest number of citations. The most common keywords used by the authors were “disaster medicine,” “emergency medicine,” and “disaster/disasters.” According to the distribution of the corresponding authors by country, the United States (n = 175), Japan (n = 23), Italy (n = 20), Australia (n = 17), and Canada (n = 17) had the highest number of publications. The institutions that produced the most publications were John Hopkins University (n = 37), Brigham and Women’s Hospital (n = 27), George Washington University (n = 25), University Piemonte Orientale (n = 24), and Brown University (n = 22).

Conclusion:

Increasingly, EMPs have contributed to disaster medicine publications over the years. This study can be used as a guide for EMPs and other researchers who want to contribute to the disaster medicine literature.
Lawmaking and Presidential Attributes in the Chilean Constitution: What’s the Urgency?
Authors: Huertas-Hernández Sergio , Palanza Valeria
Published: January 2024

In 2019, Chile was struck by an uprising that shook its political structure to the core. Mobilization was so overwhelming that political elites decided—against what they had defended vigorously during past decades—to allow for a comprehensive reform of the Constitution enacted in 1980. Because constitutions allocate decision rights and define their political system as they do so, the process reopened the debate regarding the country’s imbalanced presidential design. This article contributes to the debate on checks and balances in the Chilean political system by examining a specific procedure that promotes imbalance: the urgency prerogative.
Between Hope and Disaffection: The Chilean Constitution-Making Process and the Intermediation Crisis
Authors: Rozas-Bugueño Joaquín
Published: January 2024

On November 15, 2019, following almost a month of massive daily demonstrations across Chile, most political parties agreed to initiate an unprecedented constituent process. This process introduced institutional innovations for the Constitutional Convention elections, including gender parity, reserving 17 seats for indigenous individuals, and allowing nonparty candidates to run as independent candidates (Heiss 2021; Suárez-Cao 2021).
An emotional advantage of multilingualism
Authors: Koch Martin J. , Kersten Kristin , Greve Werner
Published: January 2024

The goal of the current paper is to investigate effects of multilingualism regarding emotional competence (EC). We argue that there might be two paths of influence that connect multilingualism and EC. First, we assume that multilingualism represents a linguistically and culturally heterogeneous context that may stimulate the development of EC. Second, cognitions, such as executive control or divergent thinking, might be an important condition for or constituent of emotions. Since cognitive abilities are sometimes assumed to be positively influenced by multilingualism (called the cognitive resp. bilingual advantage hypothesis), multilingualism might affect EC by boosting these cognitive functions. In an initial pre-study (N = 85) we found that two EC subcomponents were significantly predicted by degree of multilingualism (DM). In a second study (N = 989), we found that DM significantly predicted EC directly and was mediated by cultural heterogeneity but not by language switching, executive functions, or divergent thinking.
Managing the shortfall risk of target date funds by overfunding
Authors: Barone Adesi Giovanni , Platen Eckhard , Sala Carlo
Published: January 2024

Is it possible to achieve almost riskless, nonfluctuating investment payoffs in the long run, at a fraction of the traditional funding requirement, using equity investments? What is their shortfall risk? These questions are motivated by the need to increase yields, while limiting the variability of investment results. We show how to use contingent claims, denominated in units of a stock index, to achieve an almost riskless investment outcome. To control the risk of the proposed hedge portfolios, we introduce an overfunded scheme and show its reliability using bootstrapping. Results show that a modest amount of overfunding is an effective risk-management approach that brings the probability of not achieving the target to less than 1 percent. Our results are based on the use of the minimal market model and a change of numeraire. Robustness tests support their validity under different market specifications.
Object-cause of desire and ontological security: evidence from Serbia's opposition to Kosovo's membership in UNESCO
Authors: Vulović Marina , Ejdus Filip
Published: January 2024

The traditional Laing–Giddens paradigm views ontological insecurity as an unusual mental state triggered by critical situations and characterized by feelings of anxiety, disorientation and paralysis. However, theories inspired by Lacan suggest a different perspective, stating that ontological insecurity is not an exception but rather a regular state of mind. Similarly, ontological security is a fantasy stemming from the desire to fill the primordial lack, thus fuelling agency. While these Lacanian interpretations have introduced a fresh viewpoint into Ontological Security Studies (OSS), they have not fully incorporated one of the key concepts from Lacanian psychoanalysis – the object-cause of desire (French: objet petit a) – into international relations theory. In this article, we present a framework of how to conceptualize and empirically study the objects-cause of desire in world politics. Our arguments are exemplified in a case study of Serbia's resistance to Kosovo's UNESCO membership in 2015.
Empirical evidence of predictive adaptive response in humans: systematic review and meta-analysis of migrant populations
Authors: Bueno López Clara , Gómez Moreno Guillermo , Palloni Alberto
Published: January 2024

Meta-analysis is used to test a variant of a Developmental Origins of Adult Health and Disease (DOHaD)’s conjecture known as predictive adaptive response (PAR). According to it, individuals who are exposed to mismatches between adverse or constrained in utero conditions, on the one hand, and postnatal obesogenic environments, on the other, are at higher risk of developing adult chronic conditions, including obesity, type 2 diabetes (T2D), hypertension and cardiovascular disease. We argue that migrant populations from low and middle to high-income countries offer a unique opportunity to test the conjecture. A database was constructed from an exhaustive literature search of peer-reviewed papers published prior to May 2021 contained in PUBMED and SCOPUS using keywords related to migrants, DOHaD, and associated health outcomes. Random effects meta-regression models were estimated to assess the magnitude of effects associated with migrant groups on the prevalence rate of T2D and hypertension in adults and overweight/obesity in adults and children. Overall, we used 38 distinct studies and 78 estimates of diabetes, 59 estimates of hypertension, 102 estimates of overweight/obesity in adults, and 23 estimates of overweight/obesity in children. Our results show that adult migrants experience higher prevalence of T2D than populations at destination (PR 1.48; 95% CI 1.35–1.65) and origin (PR 1.80; 95% CI 1.40–2.34). Similarly, there is a significant excess of obesity prevalence in children migrants (PR 1.22; 95% CI 1.04–1.43) but not among adult migrants (PR 0.89; 95% CI 0.80–1.01). Although the total effect of migrant status on prevalence of hypertension is centered on zero, some migrant groups show increased risks. Finally, the size of estimated effects varies significantly by migrant groups according to place of destination. Despite limitations inherent to all meta-analyses and admitting that some of our findings may be accounted for alternative explanations, the present study shows empirical evidence consistent with selected PAR-like conjectures.
The Role of Deep Winter Mixing and Wind‐Driven Surface Ekman Transport in Supplying Oceanic Nitrate to a Temperate Shelf Sea
Authors: Wei Xiaoyan , Hopkins Joanne , Oltmanns Marilena , Johnson Clare , Inall Mark
Published: January 2024

Nutrient availability across temperate continental shelves just before the onset of seasonal stratification is an important control on the spring phytoplankton bloom. However, shelf‐scale quantification of nitrate supply from the open ocean during winter, a major source of shelf nitrate, is lacking. We used an objective analysis of subsurface ocean temperature (2000–2021), a nitrate climatology and an atmosphere reanalysis to quantify: (a) the interannual variability of the winter surface mixed layer depth (MLD) along the North West (NW) European shelf break, (b) oceanic surface nitrate concentration following deep winter mixing (i.e., nitrate recharge), and (c) the pre‐bloom wind‐driven cross‐shelf surface Ekman transport. Our results show clear latitude‐dependent regimes. In the north, across the Rockall‐Malin and Hebrides shelves, winter winds drive an average on‐shelf surface nitrate transport of 6.9 and 13.1 mmol m−1 s−1, respectively. In the south, adjacent to the Celtic and Armorican shelves, large year‐to‐year variability in the MLD across strong subsurface vertical nitrate gradients results in significant year‐to‐year variability (up to ∼6 mmol m−3) in the winter nitrate recharge. However, the winter surface Ekman transport is off‐shelf with an average magnitude of 3.7 and 5.4 mmol m−1 s−1 across the Armorican and Celtic Sea shelves, respectively. Our study provides the first shelf‐scale estimates of interannual variability in the winter wind‐driven surface nitrate supply to the NW European Shelf. The limitations of this study imposed by reliance on a nitrate climatology highlights the need for sustained biogeochemical sampling across the shelf slope to better understand cross‐shelf nitrate transport processes.