bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Tension between State Duties to Investigate and Prosecute ius Cogens Crimes and Immunity of the Highest State Representatives from Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction
Authors: Olasolo Héctor , Vargas Juan Ramón Martínez , Ortiz Laura Quijano
Published: September 2019

The lack of a demarcation between international criminal law (icl) and public international law (pil) creates a set of complex issues resulting from their overlap. A prime example of this situation is the tension between the state duties under icl, to investigate and prosecute ius cogens crimes, even if they are committed by the highest representatives of foreign states, and the pil customary rules on the latter’s personal and functional immunity from foreign criminal jurisdiction. Attempts by the icj and the ilc Special Rapporteur to limit this tension have been met with strong criticism. The various arguments against both approaches show the significant difficulties to overcome the tensions caused by the overlap between icl and pil. In light of this situation, a stricto sensu definition of icl should be adopted as a way to establish a clearer demarcation between icl and pil and to limit the scope of their overlap.
Maize Drought Hazard in the Northeast Farming Region of China: Unprecedented Events in the Current Climate
Authors: Kent Chris , Pope Edward , Dunstone Nick , Scaife Adam A. , Tian Zhan , Clark Robin , Zhang Lixia , Davie Jemma , Lewis Kirsty
Published: September 2019

The Northeast Farming Region (NFR) of China is a critically important area of maize cultivation accounting for ~30% of national production. It is predominantly rain fed, meaning that adverse climate conditions such as drought can significantly affect productivity. Forewarning of such events, to improve contingency planning, could therefore be highly beneficial to the agricultural sector. For this, an improved estimate of drought exposure, and the associated large-scale circulation patterns, is of critical importance. We address these important questions by employing a large ensemble of initialized climate model simulations. These simulations provide 80 times as many summers as the equivalent observational dataset and highlight several limitations of the recent observational record. For example, the chance of a drought greater in area than any current observed event is approximately 5% per year, suggesting the risk of a major drought is significantly underestimated if based solely on recent events. The combination of a weakened East Asian jet stream and intensified subpolar jet are found to be associated with severe NFR drought through enhanced upper-level convergence and anomalous descent, reducing moisture and suppressing precipitation. We identify a strong 500-hPa geopotential height anomaly dipole pattern as a useful metric to identify this mechanism for relevance to seasonal predictability. This work can inform policy planning and decision-making through an improved understanding of the near-term climate exposure and form the basis of new climate services.
The Sociology of Gaslighting
Authors: Sweet Paige L.
Published: September 2019

Gaslighting—a type of psychological abuse aimed at making victims seem or feel “crazy,” creating a “surreal” interpersonal environment—has captured public attention. Despite the popularity of the term, sociologists have ignored gaslighting, leaving it to be theorized by psychologists. However, this article argues that gaslighting is primarily a sociological rather than a psychological phenomenon. Gaslighting should be understood as rooted in social inequalities, including gender, and executed in power-laden intimate relationships. The theory developed here argues that gaslighting is consequential when perpetrators mobilize gender-based stereotypes and structural and institutional inequalities against victims to manipulate their realities. Using domestic violence as a strategic case study to identify the mechanisms via which gaslighting operates, I reveal how abusers mobilize gendered stereotypes; structural vulnerabilities related to race, nationality, and sexuality; and institutional inequalities against victims to erode their realities. These tactics are gendered in that they rely on the association of femininity with irrationality. Gaslighting offers an opportunity for sociologists to theorize under-recognized, gendered forms of power and their mobilization in interpersonal relationships.
“I See Death Around the Corner”: Black Manhood and Vulnerability in Me Against the World
Authors: Rudrow Keven James
Published: September 2019

This essay uses Tupac Shakur’s Me Against the World as a case study examining how Black male artists use hip-hop music for articulating the racialized vulnerability organizing their manhood. By thinking about how Shakur understands his Black maleness through his social relationality to the world around him, Shakur’s album creates resistive space for defining Black maleness despite how Black masculinity is often defined and imposed on Black men. Shakur’s album maps a relational network for understanding a brand of Black manhood obscured by dominant discourses about Black men and their masculinity. Specifically, Shakur’s album frames Black maleness through poverty and how it orients Black men, his perpetual susceptibility to harm and death, and suicide ideation as a response to his despair. Connecting Black maleness and vulnerability, Shakur’s album offers insight about being Black and male in a patriarchal White supremacist society.
Looking Back and Ahead: The Food and Drug Administration’s Regulation of the Tobacco Industry and Next-Generation Products
Authors: Jacob M.
Published: September 2019

Regulatory policy toward tobacco significantly affects oral health because tobacco use is a driver of diseases that manifest themselves in or near the oral cavity. Tobacco use in the United States has been associated with millions of cases of periodontal disease. Researchers have identified the role of combusted and noncombusted tobacco products in promoting cancers of the head and neck, leading to disease and premature death. Tobacco companies have moved increasingly toward so-called next-generation products (NGPs)—products that may emit fewer toxins than combustible forms of tobacco. Although NGPs may negatively affect the lungs and other bodily systems, they shift the injection site of nicotine from the lungs to the oral cavity and oral tissues. Because the long-term effects of NGPs are unknown, this tobacco marketing development has profound implications for oral disease. The US Food and Drug Administration exercises regulatory authority over tobacco products. The tobacco industry has avoided meaningful regulation of its products, especially smokeless forms. By publishing new research, oral health scientists can meaningfully shape the climate in which the administration’s policy making occurs.
In Vitro Models, Standards, and Experimental Methods for Tobacco Products
Authors: Aghaloo T. , Kim J.J. , Gordon T. , Behrsing H.P.
Published: September 2019

Traditional tobacco products have well-known systemic and local oral effects, including inflammation, vasoconstriction, delayed wound healing, and increased severity of periodontal disease. Specifically in the oral cavity and the lung, cigarette smoking produces cancer, increased infectivity, acute and chronic inflammation, changes in gene expression in epithelial lining cells, and microbiome changes. In recent years, cigarette smoking has greatly decreased in the United States, but the use of new tobacco products has gained tremendous popularity. Without significant knowledge of the oral sequelae of products such as electronic cigarettes, researchers must evaluate current in vitro and in vivo methods to study these agents, as well as develop new tools to adequately study their effects. Some in vitro testing has been performed for electronic cigarettes, including toxicologic models and assays, but these mostly study the effect on the respiratory tract. Recently, direct exposure of the aerosol to in vitro 3-dimensional tissue constructs has been performed, demonstrating changes in cell viability and inflammatory cytokines. For in vivo studies, a universal e-cigarette testing machine or standard vaping regime is needed. A standard research electronic cigarette has recently been developed by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, and other devices delivering aerosols with different nicotine concentrations are becoming available. One of the biggest challenges in this research is keeping up with the new products and the rapidly changing technologies in the industry.
Smoking Modifies the Genetic Risk for Early-Onset Periodontitis
Authors: Freitag-Wolf S. , Munz M. , Wiehe R. , Junge O. , Graetz C. , Jockel-Schneider Y. , Staufenbiel I. , Bruckmann C. , Lieb W. , Franke A. , Loos B.G. , Jepsen S. , Dommisch H. , Schaefer A.S.
Published: September 2019

Periodontitis has low-prevalence, highly severe disease manifestations with an early onset and rapid progression. The diagnosis is based on severe destruction of the alveolar bone in adolescents and young adults. Genetic susceptibility variants and smoking are well-established risk factors, but their interactions in modifying disease susceptibility have not been studied. We aimed to identify genetic risk variants of early-onset periodontitis that unmask their effects on tobacco smoke exposure. To this end, we analyzed 79,780,573 common variants in 741 northwest Europeans diagnosed to have >30% bone loss at >2 teeth before 35 y of age, using imputed genotypes of the OmniExpress BeadChip. Never versus ever smokers were compared in a logistic regression analysis via a case-only approach. To explore the effect of tobacco smoke on the expression of the G×S-associated genes, cultures of primary gingival fibroblasts ( n = 9) were exposed to cigarette smoke extract, and transcripts were quantified by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. We identified 16 loci for which our analysis suggested an association with G×S increased disease risk ( P < 5 × 10−5). Nine loci had previously been reported to be associated with spirometric measures of pulmonary function by an earlier G×S genome-wide association study. Genome-wide significant cis expression quantitative trait loci were reported for G×S-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms at ST8SIA1 and SOST, indicating a causal role of these genes in tobacco-related etiopathology. Notably, SOST is a negative regulator of bone growth, and ST8SIA1 has a role in tissue remodeling. Cigarette smoke extract significantly altered the expression of 2 associated genes: SSH1 ( P = 5 × 10−07), which is required for NF-κB activation and innate immune responses to bacterial invasion, and ST8SIA1 ( P = 0.0048). We conclude that the genetic predisposition to early-onset periodontitis is in part triggered by smoking and that tobacco smoke directly affects the expression of genes involved in bone homeostasis, tissue repair, and immune response.
Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B Vaccination Coverage Among Persons Who Inject Drugs and Have Evidence of Hepatitis C Infection
Authors: Koepke Ruth , Sill Danielle N. , Akhtar Wajiha Z. , Mitchell Kailynn P. , Guilfoyle Sheila M. , Westergaard Ryan P. , Schauer Stephanie L. , Vergeront James M.
Published: September 2019

Objectives:

Despite recommendations for vaccination against hepatitis A virus (HAV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) for all adults at increased risk of infection, several US states have reported increases in HAV and HBV infections among persons who inject drugs. We investigated hepatitis A and hepatitis B vaccination coverage among a sample of persons who reported injecting drugs and had evidence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.

Methods:

We searched the Wisconsin Immunization Registry for the vaccination records of persons who underwent HCV testing at syringe services programs from January 1 through August 31, 2018, and were reported to the Wisconsin Division of Public Health as having positive HCV antibody test results and a history of injection drug use. We calculated the percentage of persons who were vaccinated according to national recommendations.

Results:

Of 215 persons reported, 204 (94.9%) had a client record in the Wisconsin Immunization Registry. Of these 204 persons, 66 (32.4%) had received ≥1 dose of hepatitis A vaccine, 46 (22.5%) had received 2 doses of hepatitis A vaccine, and 115 (56.4%) had received 3 doses of hepatitis B vaccine. Hepatitis B vaccine coverage decreased with increasing age, from 88.0% (22 of 25) among adults aged 20-24 to 30.3% (10 of 33) among adults aged 35-39.

Conclusions:

These findings suggest that most persons who inject drugs in Wisconsin are susceptible to HAV infection and that most persons aged ≥35 who inject drugs are susceptible to HBV infection. In addition to routine vaccination of children, targeted hepatitis vaccination programs should focus on adults who inject drugs to help prevent future infections.
Inequality and Opportunity in a Perfect Storm of Graduate Student Debt
Authors: Pyne Jaymes , Grodsky Eric
Published: September 2019

Recent efforts to understand aggregate student loan debt have shifted the focus away from undergraduate borrowing and toward dramatically rising debt among graduate and professional students. We suggest educational debt plays a key role in social stratification by either deterring bachelor’s degree holders from disadvantaged and underrepresented backgrounds from pursuing lucrative careers through advanced degree programs or imposing a high cost for entry. We speculate that the ongoing personal financing of advanced degrees, changes to funding in higher education, and increasing returns to and demand for postbaccalaureate degrees have created a perfect storm for those seeking degrees beyond college. We find that aggregate increases in borrowing among advanced degree students between 1996 and 2016 can be explained in part by increasing enrollment rates, particularly among master’s degree students, and large, secular increases in graduate and professional students’ undergraduate and graduate borrowing. In contrast to undergraduate debt alone, the burden of educational debt among graduate borrowers appears to have fallen on students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and historically underserved students of color more so than their more advantaged counterparts and on women more so than men. However, we also find that median advanced degree wage premia over those of bachelor’s degree holders are substantial for many who graduate with advanced degrees but are particularly high for African American and low socioeconomic status graduates, complicating simple conclusions about the stratification of debt at the postgraduate level.
An Improved Two-stage Stratified Randomized Response Model for Estimating Sensitive Proportion
Authors: Hussain Zawar , Cheema Salman Arif , Hussain Ishtiaq
Published: September 2019

This article is about making correction in Tarray, Singh, and Zaizai model and further improving it when stratified random sampling is necessary. This is done by using optional randomized response technique in stratified sampling using a combination of Mangat and Singh, Mangat, and Greenberg et al. models. The suggested model has been studied assuming proportional and Neyman allocation schemes. Numerical results show larger gains in efficiency. Through a detailed numerical study, it is established that the suggested model is relatively more efficient than the Kim and Warde model and the models mentioned above.
Effect of PBAT on physical, morphological, and mechanical properties of PBS/PBAT foam
Authors: Boonprasertpoh Aekartit , Pentrakoon Duanghathai , Junkasem Jirawut
Published: September 2019

This study examines the effect of poly(butylene adipate- co-terephthalate) (PBAT) content on the physical, morphological, and mechanical properties of poly(butylene succinate) (PBS)/PBAT foam. A compression molding technique was used to prepare the PBS/PBAT foam using the chemical blowing agent azodicarbonamide and the cross-linking agent dicumyl peroxide. The chemical structure and morphological properties of PBS/PBAT foam were examined via Fourier transform infrared and scanning electron microscopy techniques, respectively, whereas tensile and flexural properties were investigated using a universal testing machine. The results reveal that the incorporation of PBAT barely enhances the viscosity of the PBS/PBAT blend, producing only minor changes in the average cell size of PBS/PBAT foam. However, increasing the PBAT content contributes to a relatively significant improvement in the flexibility and toughness of PBS/PBAT foam, where a decrease in Young’s modulus and tensile strength of the PBS/PBAT foam is observed compared with those of the PBS foam. Similar behavior to the tensile results is noticed for the flexural properties of the neat and PBS/PBAT foams.
From Reputation Capital to Reputation Warfare: Online Ratings, Trolling, and the Logic of Volatility
Authors: Rosamond Emily
Published: September 2019

What are the consequences of the tendency for ubiquitous online reputation calculation to lead not to more precise expressions of reputation capital but, rather, to greater reputational instability? This article contrasts two conceptions of online reputation, which enact opposing attitudes about the relation between reputation and the calculable. According to an early online reputation paradigm – reputation capital – users strove to achieve high scores, performing the presumption that reputation could be incrementally accumulated and consistently measured within relatively stable spheres of value. Yet, ubiquitous calculation led not to more precise measurements of reputation, but rather to the increasing volatility of online reputation. Thus, a second online reputation paradigm – reputation warfare – has become increasingly prevalent, in which strategic actors indirectly capitalize on systemic volatility produced by reputation’s ubiquitous online calculation. Steve Bannon’s 2016 Trump campaign strategy, which mobilized trolls, exemplifies the indirect optimization of online reputation, placing an option on reputational volatility.
Self-expansion is associated with greater relationship and sexual well-being for couples coping with low sexual desire
Authors: Raposo Stephanie , Rosen Natalie O. , Muise Amy
Published: September 2019

Regular positive sexual interactions are one reason why relationships have health and well-being benefits, yet low sexual desire is among the most common sexual problems reported by women. One interpersonal factor that has been associated with greater sexual desire and satisfaction in community couples is self-expansion (i.e., expanding one’s sense of self through novel, exciting, and broadening activities with a partner). In the current study, we recruited 97 couples in which the woman was diagnosed with clinically low sexual desire to test how self-expansion was associated with both partners’ sexual and relationship well-being. When women with low desire reported higher self-expansion, they reported greater relationship and sexual satisfaction, higher desire, and couples were more affectionate. When their partners reported higher self-expansion, they felt more satisfied with their sex life and relationship (and so did the women), lower sexual distress and less relationship conflict, and couples were more affectionate. Our findings suggest that self-expansion is associated with greater relationship and sexual well-being for couples with low desire, as well as less sexual distress and relationship conflict. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.
Support seeker expectations, support message quality, and supportive interaction processes and outcomes: The case of the comforting computer program revisited
Authors: Rains Stephen A. , Pavlich Corey A. , Lutovsky Bethany , Tsetsi Eric , Ashtaputre Anjali
Published: September 2019

Developing a complete understanding of supportive communication in personal relationships requires considering the role of support seekers. We examined the influence of seeker expectations and verbal person centeredness (VPC) on the nature and outcomes of supportive interactions. Participants discussed a personal problem during an interaction with a fictional computer program called “ListenerBot.” Participants’ expectations about the helpfulness of ListenerBot and the quality of ListenerBot’s feedback in the form of VPC were manipulated. Participants in the helpful prime condition wrote more words during the interaction and evaluated ListenerBot more favorably than participants in the unhelpful prime condition. Relative to participants who received low VPC feedback, participants who received high VPC feedback evaluated ListenerBot more positively and experienced a greater reduction in emotional distress. Tests for indirect effects showed that VPC and the expectations prime contributed to participants’ reduction in emotional distress through influencing their evaluations of ListenerBot.
Teaching of heat transfer through annular fins of rectangular profile
Authors: Campo Antonio
Published: September 2019

The goal of the present paper is to disclose three different ways to determine the heat transfer rate in annular fins of rectangular profile employing the fin efficiency concept. The first way is evaluating the exact, analytical equation accounting for four modified Bessel functions I0( X), I1( X), K0( X), K1( X), the second way is employing the fin efficiency diagram designed by Gardner and the third way is evaluating the one-term empirical correlation equation developed by Schmidt.
Identifying Poly-Victimization Among Prisoners: An Application of Latent Class Analysis
Authors: Azimi Andia M. , Daquin Jane C. , Hoppe Susan J.
Published: September 2019

Research suggests that people in prison may be especially vulnerable to victimization and may be more likely to report exposure to multiple types, known as poly-victimization. However, the literature surrounding patterns of victimization among prisoners is limited. Before we can fully understand the variation in victimization experiences among prisoners, a necessary first step is to identify victim profiles within prisons. The current study utilizes data from the 2004 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities and employs latent class analysis to identify unique victim profiles among prisoners to understand the variation in victimization experiences, with a focus on identifying those exposed to poly-victimization. The findings of this study indicate (a) that there are four distinct victim profiles—poly-victimization (2%), physical victimization in adulthood (31%), physical victimization in childhood (17%), and low/no victimization (49%); (b) that some prisoners experience poly-victimization, although this consists of a small proportion of prisoners; and (c) that there are clear demographic differences between the latent classes, with some of the largest differences among those in the poly-victimization profile. The findings of the current study are important because they add more depth to the knowledge regarding poly-victimization among prisoners, a topic that has received little attention from researchers. The current study suggests that correctional policy may need to be tailored in a way that recognizes the different needs of prisoners who have been exposed to different forms of victimization.
Excluding the Radical Economic Left from the Slovak Public Discourse: A Moderate Leftist Talk Show as a Case Study
Authors: Profant Tomáš
Published: September 2019

If democracy is a discussion, then the exclusion of radical leftist economic perspectives may hamper democracy. Does this exclusion take place and if so, how? In this case study an analysis of the discourse in the Slovak evening panel discussion Dinner with Havran shows the various ways in which the exclusion (and marginalization) of such perspectives is achieved. This exclusionary discursive practice is then explained through interviews with the team behind the show and the norms and constraints that guide the production of the show. The analysis is based on Stuart Hall’s critical paradigm and, confirming Hall’s insights, it argues that the show is independent from the dominant political and economic forces in Slovakia, yet at the same time the show contributes to the functioning of the Slovak public broadcasting service as an ideological state apparatus that is biased in favor of the interests of economic elites.
Smoke-Free or Not: Attitudes Toward Indoor Smoke-Free Policies Among Permanent Supportive Housing Residents
Authors: Petersen Anne Berit , Elser Holly , Nguyen Tram , Alizaga Natalie M. , Vijayaraghavan Maya
Published: September 2019

Purpose:

Interventions for tobacco dependence are most effective when combined with smoke-free policies, yet such policies are rare in permanent supportive housing (PSH) for formerly homeless adults. We aimed to provide in-depth analysis of attitudes and barriers to and facilitators of implementing smoke-free policies in PSH.

Approach:

Current smokers living in PSH completed a questionnaire and participated in in-depth, semistructured interviews on smoking history, attitudes toward smoke-free policies, and perceived barriers to cessation.

Setting:

We collaborated with 6 San Francisco Bay Area PSH agencies.

Participants:

Thirty-six residents in PSH.

Methods:

Interviews, conducted by trained interviewers, were digitally recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using content analysis methods. Participants were recruited until we reached thematic saturation, or no new themes emerged from the interviews.

Results:

Over half of participants (52.8%, n = 19) reported depression, and 97.2% (n = 35) reported current substance use. Support for indoor smoking bans in living areas was modest (33.1%), although most residents anticipated cutting down (61%) and reported they would not move because of a smoking ban (77.8%). There was interest in quitting smoking, although co-use of tobacco with other substances was a major barrier.

Conclusion:

This study is the first to explore attitudes toward smoke-free policies in PSH. We found that residents in PSH support smoke-free policies and consider them feasible if implementation processes are sound. Our findings underscore the need to address barriers to adopting smoke-free policies and accessing smoking cessation services. In particular, interventions must address the co-use of tobacco with other substances and the impact of smoking on financial and housing stability.
The transpacific tempest: Relational sovereignty and spiritual sociogenesis
Authors: Eun Annabel We Jeong
Published: September 2019

This article examines the intersection of The Tempest adaptations and militarization across the Caribbean and Pacific. Through an analysis of the South Korean writer Ch’oe In-Hun’s 1973 novel The Typhoon, it argues that past speculative visions for a decolonial future continue to offer a critical imaginary of decolonization in the Pacific and of reunification of Korea. Building on the works of Sylvia Wynter, Frantz Fanon, and Édouard Glissant, the article theorizes relational sovereignty and spiritual sociogenesis in the context of militarization of islands. It considers the transpacific region alongside the Caribbean through a comparative analysis of The Typhoon and the Martinican thinker Aimé Césaire’s 1969 play Une Tempête. This is an archipelagic perspective that decenters the logic that justifies militarization of the islands for the securitization of the continents. The article analyzes how decolonial knowledge emerges through the affective, spiritual, and environmental transformations and alters the course of military mobilization of the colonized on islands both real and fictional.
Quantitative causal analysis of mainline passenger train accidents in the United States
Authors: Lin Chen-Yu , Rapik Saat Mohd , Barkan Christopher PL
Published: September 2019

The need for shared freight and passenger rail corridors in the United States is increasing due to the growing demand for regional and intercity passenger transport. Several researches have been conducted on reducing the risk of freight train accidents, but little research has been done on the risk of passenger train accidents. The accident rates of passenger trains have declined in the past two decades; however, faster and more frequent passenger train services require even higher safety standards, and therefore further reduction to the risk of passenger train accidents is needed. The research presented in this paper analyzed the passenger train accidents in the United States using the Federal Railroad Administration train accident database to understand the trend of passenger train accident rates, the frequency and severity of different types of accidents, and to explore the major factors that cause them. Derailments and collisions were identified as the most significant types of passenger train accidents, and track failures and human factors, respectively, were the primary causes of those accidents. Accidents caused due to human factors and train operations such as train speed violations and failure to obey signals are often high-consequence accidents and therefore pose the greatest risk. Higher risk infrastructure-related factors include track geometry defects and broken rails or welds. This study on passenger train accidents provides a solid foundation for further research on improving the safety of passenger rail and shared-use rail corridors.
University Students’ Attitudes Toward Palliative Care
Authors: Miltiades Helen B.
Published: September 2019

This study examines the experiences and beliefs of university students which affect attitudes toward palliative care. A total of 322 students responded to a survey on palliative care and end-of-life attitudes. Almost 40% of the students reported not having enough knowledge about options at the end of life. Results of multiple regression indicate students who have more negative attitudes toward palliative care did not believe in end-of-life care planning. Female students and those who had a family member or friend who used palliative care had more positive attitudes toward palliative care. Understanding student perceptions of palliative care allows for developing curriculum sensitive to learners’ needs and addressing misconceptions.
To Reoffend or Not to Reoffend? An Investigation of Recidivism Among Individuals With Sexual Offense Histories and Psychopathy
Authors: Leung Pauline C. , Looman Jan , Abracen Jeffrey
Published: September 2019

Although psychopathy is a well-established risk factor for recidivism among those who have committed sexual offenses, there are nonetheless some individuals with sexual offense histories who are high in psychopathy but do not recidivate. This population—nonrecidivating psychopathic sex offenders (NRP-SOs)—was the focus of the current investigation. Data from 111 individuals with sexual offense histories who received a Hare Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (PCL-R) rating of at least 25 (suggesting the presence of psychopathy) were analyzed. With recidivism operationalized as the accrual of any new serious—that is, violent or sexual—charges, 39 recidivated (RP-SOs), whereas 72 did not (NRP-SOs). A logistic regression was conducted to assess whether NRP-SOs could be differentiated from RP-SOs. Being older at the time of release, a lesser criminal history, and being married predicted nonrecidivism. PCL-R factor scores and sexual deviance were not predictive. These findings highlight the heterogeneity that exists, even among those high in psychopathy.
Towards a computing continuum: Enabling edge-to-cloud integration for data-driven workflows
Authors: Balouek-Thomert Daniel , Renart Eduard Gibert , Zamani Ali Reza , Simonet Anthony , Parashar Manish
Published: September 2019

Dramatic changes in the technology landscape marked by increasing scales and pervasiveness of compute and data have resulted in the proliferation of edge applications aimed at effectively processing data in a timely manner. As the levels and fidelity of instrumentation increases and the types and volumes of available data grow, new classes of applications are being explored that seamlessly combine real-time data with complex models and data analytics to monitor and manage systems of interest. However, these applications require a fluid integration of resources at the edge, the core, and along the data path to support dynamic and data-driven application workflows, that is, they need to leverage a computing continuum. In this article, we present our vision for enabling such a computing continuum and specifically focus on enabling edge-to-cloud integration to support data-driven workflows. The research is driven by an online data-driven tsunami warning use case that is supported by the deployment of large-scale national environment observation systems. This article presents our overall approach as well as current status and next steps.
Constructing “Empty” Places: Discourses and Place Materiality in the Wake of Disruption
Authors: Therkelsen Anette , Jensen Ole B. , Lange Ida Sofie Götzsche
Published: September 2019

Places are often thought of as “scenes” upon which social life takes place. Such a static place-conception lends itself to a particular instrumental and simplistic way of thinking about places. Instead, this paper seeks to illustrate that places are complex and relationally defined by multiple actors, human as well as non-human. The burning down of the Danish seaside hotel Svinkløv Badehotel is used as a lens through which such place complexity is understood. The paper presents a theoretical scaffolding for understanding how Svinkløv Badehotel became articulated as an authentic place in the wake of the dramatic event. Through a combined analysis of place materiality and public media representation, an account is given of how a disruptive event can work as a productive lens for understanding places and thus illustrate the analytical point of the paper: that places are never “empty,” but are configured by multiple human as well as non-human actors.
Learning to grieve: A preliminary analysis
Authors: Brinkmann Svend
Published: September 2019

In previous articles, I have analyzed the emotion of grief as a normative phenomenon, which is extended beyond the individual to encompass the bereaved person’s body and sociocultural affective niche. The present article complements these analyses with a developmental perspective, focusing on the phenomenon of learning to grieve. First, a distinction between reaction and response theories of emotion is introduced with arguments in favor of the latter. Next, different examples of childhood experiences of grief are analyzed, demonstrating that early experiences of loss are typically scaffolded socially, when the child finds herself in a situation of not understanding exactly what to do or how to feel. This lends support to the normative approach to grief specifically and to emotional life more broadly. Furthermore, early experiences of grief were found to be significantly linked to other emotions, particularly guilt.
Mourning the death of a state to enliven it: Notes on the ‘weak’ Yemeni state
Authors: Al-Eriani Kamilia
Published: September 2019

Observers interested in Yemen often worry about the near collapse of the Yemeni state. Such worries assume that the death of the state will lead to a complete social disintegration. With a brief reflection on the 2011 Gulf Cooperation Council Initiative, the recent US–Saudi-led intervention, this article argues that thinking about the Yemeni state through public worry is an exercise in symbolic violence. This violence articulates itself through the erasure of Yemenis’ communitarian culture; an erasure that becomes the condition for perpetuating the life of the discursively produced ‘weak’ state, and the domination of regional-international powers. This article proposes an alternative approach towards rethinking the ‘weak’ Yemeni state. It suggests that rethinking the Yemeni state through mourning its death could possibly give birth to a novel form of political community. It is through acts of mourning the injury and (imagined) death of the weak Yemeni state that the promise of the state as a unifying apparatus is reclaimed.
Culture and society during revolutionary transformation: Rereading Matthew Arnold and Antonio Gramsci in the context of the Arab Spring’s cultural production
Authors: Mohamed Eid
Published: September 2019

Viewing revolutionary political change as a multi-influential, multi-scaled, long-term process allows for the analysis of (in)visible transformations of identities and social realities. The main problem with this approach, however, is that it considers change only in terms of rupture, shift, and transition, or in terms of modernity versus tradition. While many studies focus on the dynamics and indicators of change, they have not adequately considered the role of culture in forming the basis of revolution or in determining how it unfolds. This article couples the theoretical work on culture and society by two pioneering cultural critics, Matthew Arnold and Antonio Gramsci, to make sense of how Arab cultural production can be viewed as a motor for revolutionary change during the Arab Spring.
Liberation or emancipation? Counter-hegemony, performance and public space in Lebanon
Authors: Toukan Hanan
Published: September 2019

This article is about the ways in which counter-hegemony is expressed in performance art dealing with notions of public space and the publics. The article examines two works of art from Lebanon: Rabih Mroué and Lina Saneh’s Photo-Romance (2009), produced and performed before the initial heady days of the Arab uprisings of 2011 unravelled, and the Dictaphone Group’s This Sea is Mine (2012), produced immediately after the onset of the uprisings. Each of the pieces interrogates public space and citizenship in Beirut in very different ways to express dissent and perform resistance. The former does so through a conceptual interrogation of public space in Beirut within an institutional set-up, and the insistence on the inability to ever represent the country’s contentious sectarian politics. The latter works through an embodied experience focusing on interaction with the public physically located outside of an art institutional set-up and literally along the city’s shoreline. By drawing on theories of aesthetics and their relationship to radical democracy in public space, the article highlights the different iterations of counter-hegemony that circulate in the work of these contemporary Arab artists to argue that, like the momentous Arab uprisings of 2011–12, resistant works of art may only be understood within a longer history of strife and popular protest in the region that have produced differing forms of dissent at various points in time.
The aesthetics of dissent: Culture and politics of transformation in the Arab world
Authors: Mohamed Eid , Mahdi Waleed , Dabashi Hamid
Published: September 2019

Our special issue captures the interplay of media, politics, religion, and culture in shaping Arabs’ search for more stable governing models at a crossroads of global, regional, and national challenges through systematic and integrated analyses of evolving and contested Arab visual and performing arts in revolutionary and unstable public spheres. The issue presents a unique attempt to investigate these forms of cultural production as new modes of knowledge that shed light on the nature of social movements with the aim of expanding the critical reach of the disciplinary methods of political discourse and social theory. Contributors articulate the ways in which the Arab scene can contribute to the understanding of the rise of new social movements worldwide by exploring the methodological gaps in dominant Western discourses and theories.
The effect of nozzle internal flow on spray atomization
Authors: Agarwal Arpit , Trujillo Mario F
Published: September 2019

The effect of nozzle surface features on the overall atomization behavior of a liquid jet is analyzed in the present computational work by adopting three representative geometries, namely a single X-ray tomography scan of the Engine Combustion Network’s Spray A nozzle (Unprocessed), a spline reconstruction of multiple scans (Educated), and a purely external flow configuration. The latter configuration is often used in fundamental jet atomization studies. Numerically, the two-phase flow is solved based on algebraic volume-of-fluid methodology utilizing the OpenFoam solver, interFoam. Quantitative characterization of the surface features concerning the first two geometries reveals that while both of them have similar levels of cylindrical asymmetries, the nozzle configuration pertaining to the Unprocessed geometry has much larger surface features along the streamwise direction than the Educated geometry. This produces for the Unprocessed configuration a much larger degree of non-axial velocity components in the flow exiting the orifice and also a more pronounced disturbance of the liquid surface in the first few diameters downstream of the nozzle orifice. Furthermore, this heightened level of surface destabilization generates a much shorter intact liquid core length, that is, it produces faster primary atomization. The surprising aspect of this finding is that the differences between the Unprocessed and Educated geometries are of [Formula: see text](1) μm, and they are able to produce [Formula: see text](1) mm effects in the intact liquid core length. In spite of more pronounced atomization for the Unprocessed geometry, the magnitude of the turbulent liquid kinetic energy is roughly the same as the Educated geometry. This highlights the important role of mean field quantities, in particular, non-axial velocity components, in precipitating primary atomization. At the other end of the spectrum, the external-only configuration has the mildest level of surface disturbances in the near field resulting in the longest intact liquid core length.
konfound: Command to quantify robustness of causal inferences
Authors: Xu Ran , Frank Kenneth A. , Maroulis Spiro J. , Rosenberg Joshua M.
Published: September 2019

Statistical methods that quantify the discourse about causal inferences in terms of possible sources of biases are becoming increasingly important to many social-science fields such as public policy, sociology, and education. These methods are also known as “robustness or sensitivity analyses”. A series of recent works (Frank [2000, Sociological Methods and Research 29: 147–194]; Pan and Frank [2003, Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics 28: 315– 337]; Frank and Min [2007, Sociological Methodology 37: 349–392]; and Frank et al. [2013, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 35: 437–460]) on robustness analysis extends earlier methods. We implement these recent developments in Stata. In particular, we provide commands to quantify the percent bias necessary to invalidate an inference from a Rubin causal model framework and the robustness of causal inferences in terms of correlations associated with unobserved variables.
Added-variable plots with confidence intervals
Authors: Gallup John Luke
Published: September 2019

An added-variable plot is an effective way to show the correlation between an independent variable and a dependent variable conditional on other independent variables. For multivariate estimation, a simple scatterplot showing x versus y is not adequate to show the partial correlation of x with y, because it ignores the impact of the other covariates. Added-variable plots are especially effective for showing the correlation of a dummy x variable with y because the dummy variable conditional on other covariates becomes a continuous variable, making the relationship easier to visualize.

Added-variable plots are also useful for spotting influential outliers in the data that affect the estimated regression parameters. Stata provides added-variable plots after ordinary least-squares regressions with the avplot command. I present a new command, avciplot, that adds a confidence interval and other options to the avplot command.
cvauroc: Command to compute cross-validated area under the curve for ROC analysis after predictive modeling for binary outcomes
Authors: Luque-Fernandez Miguel Angel , Redondo-Sánchez Daniel , Maringe Camille
Published: September 2019

Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis is used for comparing predictive models in both model selection and model evaluation. ROC analysis is often applied in clinical medicine and social science to assess the tradeoff between model sensitivity and specificity. After fitting a binary logistic or probit regression model with a set of independent variables, the predictive performance of this set of variables can be assessed by the area under the curve (AUC) from an ROC curve. An important aspect of predictive modeling (regardless of model type) is the ability of a model to generalize to new cases. Evaluating the predictive performance (AUC) of a set of independent variables using all cases from the original analysis sample often results in an overly optimistic estimate of predictive performance. One can use K-fold cross-validation to generate a more realistic estimate of predictive performance in situations with a small number of observations. AUC is estimated iteratively for k samples (the “test” samples) that are independent of the sample used to predict the dependent variable (the “training” sample). cvauroc implements k-fold cross-validation for the AUC for a binary outcome after fitting a logit or probit regression model, averaging the AUCs corresponding to each fold, and bootstrapping the cross-validated AUC to obtain statistical inference and 95% confidence intervals. Furthermore, cvauroc optionally provides the cross-validated fitted probabilities for the dependent variable or outcome, contained in a new variable named _fit; the sensitivity and specificity for each of the levels of the predicted outcome, contained in two new variables named _sen and _spe; and the plot of the mean cross-validated AUC and k-fold ROC curves.
The fayherriot command for estimating small-area indicators
Authors: Halbmeier Christoph , Kreutzmann Ann-Kristin , Schmid Timo , Schröder Carsten
Published: September 2019

We introduce a command, fayherriot, that implements the Fay– Herriot model (Fay and Herriot, 1979, Journal of the American Statistical Association 74: 269–277), which is a small-area estimation technique (Rao and Molina, 2015, Small Area Estimation), in Stata. The Fay–Herriot model improves the precision of area-level direct estimates using area-level covariates. It belongs to the class of linear mixed models with normally distributed error terms. The fayherriot command encompasses options to a) produce out-of-sample predictions, b) adjust nonpositive random-effects variance estimates, and c) deal with the violation of model assumptions.
The emerging value of serum D-dimer measurement in the work-up and management of ischemic stroke
Authors: Ohara Tomoyuki , Farhoudi Mehdi , Bang Oh Young , Koga Masatoshi , Demchuk Andrew M
Published: September 2019

Background

Elevated D-dimer levels are a marker of both thrombin formation and fibrinolysis. Currently D-dimer measurement is routinely used for ruling out venous thromboembolism and diagnosis/monitoring of disseminated intravascular coagulation. Recent emerging data suggest that D-dimer may become an important biomarker in ischemic stroke as well as in cardiovascular diseases.

Aims

To outline the clinical utility of D-dimer in work-up and management of ischemic stroke.

D-dimer measurement is most useful in stroke with active cancer as it can confirm etiologic diagnosis, predict recurrent stroke risk, and aid treatment decision in cancer-associated stroke. In cryptogenic stroke, high D-dimer levels can also provide clues for the cause of stroke as occult cancer and undetected cardiac embolic source as occult atrial fibrillation and may be helpful in treatment decision making of secondary stroke prevention. Serial D-dimer measurements should be further studied to monitor antithrombotic therapy effectiveness in both cardiogenic and cryptogenic etiologies.

Conclusion

Accumulating data suggests the utility of D-dimer test in the management of ischemic stroke, although the evidence is still limited. Future studies would clarify the role of D-dimer measurement in ischemic stroke.