bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Agricultural and innovation policies aimed at mitigating climate change
Authors: Puertas Rosa , Marti Luisa , Calafat Consuelo
Published: February 2023

The EU supports agricultural policies to help farmers meet the challenges of climate change (CC) by promoting more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices. This study focuses on the European primary sector (agriculture, forestry, and fisheries), productive activities that meet humanity’s basic needs, although this sector does not account for a dominant share of GDP. The analysis uses a panel data sample of 22 European countries for the period 2012–2019, and seeks to answer the following research questions: Is there a direct relationship between agricultural innovation efficiency and the technological advances implemented? What effect do GHG emissions and innovation efficiency have on CC? Which agricultural practices have the greatest effect on the volume of GHG emissions? The results indicate that the European primary sector has registered an average rise in productivity of 4%, mainly driven by technological improvements. This underscores the need for agricultural innovation policies that focus not only on improving aspects related to technology but also on making better use of existing resources. In addition, the econometric models estimated confirm that efficiency levels are the most influential determinants of temperature change, while GHG emissions are primarily explained by their own historical values. Ultimately, research and development is a tool that can be used to curb CC, along with the proper use of land and fertilizers. There is thus a need to foster novel agricultural practices that help reduce emissions while ensuring the efficiency of the sector.
Selective removal of ammonia from wastewater using Cu(II)-loaded Amberlite IR-120 resin and its catalytic application for removal of dyes
Authors: El-Ghobashy Marwa A. , Khamis Mohamed M. , Elsherbiny Abeer S. , Salem Ibrahim A.
Published: February 2023

Cationic ligand exchange is one of the most predominant mechanisms for the removal of ammonia from wastewater through complex formation. The complexation technique occurs between the metal ions loaded on the surface of Amberlite IR-120 and ammonia which is present in the medium. Cu(II)-loaded Amberlite IR-120 (R-Cu2+) was prepared and described using FT-IR, TGA, SEM, and EDX techniques. The prepared R-Cu2+ was applied for the elimination of ammonia from an aqueous solution. Different cations such as Co2+ and Ni2+ were loaded onto Amberlite IR-120 to study the impact of counter cation on the removal efficiency of ammonia. The ammonia removal percentage followed the order; R-Cu2+  > R-Ni2+  > R-Co2+. The effects of contact time, pH, initial concentration, temperature, and coexisting ions on the removal of ammonia from wastewater by R-Cu2+ were investigated. The equilibrium adsorbed amount of ammonia was found to be 200 mg/g at pH = 8.6 and 303 K within 60 min using 0.1 g R-Cu2+ and an initial concentration of ammonia of 1060 mg/L. The removal of ammonia using R-Cu2+ obeyed the non-linear plot of both Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms. According to the thermodynamic parameters, the adsorption of ammonia onto R-Cu2+ was an endothermic and spontaneous process. The time-adsorption data followed the pseudo-second-order and intraparticle diffusion models. Moreover, the resulting product (R-Cu(II)-amine composite) from the adsorption process exhibited high catalytic activity and could be low-cost material for the elimination of dyes such as aniline blue (AB), methyl green (MG), and methyl violet 2B (MV2B) from wastewater.

Graphical Abstract
Cardiovascular correlates of epigenetic aging across the adult lifespan: a population-based study
Authors: Liu Dan , Aziz N. Ahmad , Pehlivan Gökhan , Breteler Monique M. B.
Published: February 2023

Individuals with a similar chronological age can exhibit marked differences in cardiovascular risk profiles, but it is unknown whether this variation is related to different rates of biological aging. Therefore, we investigated the relation between nine domains of cardiovascular function and four epigenetic age acceleration estimators (i.e., AgeAccel.Horvath, AgeAccel.Hannum, AgeAccelPheno, and AgeAccelGrim), derived from DNA methylation profiles. Among 4194 participants (mean age 54.2 years (range 30.0–95.0)) from the Rhineland Study, an ongoing population-based cohort study in Bonn, Germany, epigenetic age acceleration increased by 0.19–1.84 years per standard deviation (SD) increase in cardiovascular risk across multiple domains, including measures of kidney function, adiposity, and a composite cardiovascular risk score. Measures of inflammation and glucose homeostasis were associated with AgeAccel.Hannum, AgeAccelPheno, and AgeAccelGrim, but not with AgeAccel.Horvath. Moreover, effect sizes were larger for AgeAccelPheno and AgeAccelGrim than for AgeAccel.Horvath and AgeAccel.Hannum. Similarly, epigenetic age acceleration increased by 0.15–0.81 years per SD increase in markers of vascular function (blood pressure, arterial stiffness, and hemodynamic measures), whereas better endothelial function was only associated with lower AgeAccelGrim. Most effects on epigenetic age acceleration were independent, which suggests they independently contribute to different rates of biological aging.
When a common future for all enters the science classroom
Authors: Jónsdóttir Guðrún , Byhring Anne Kristine
Published: February 2023

Even though sustainable development concerns a common future for all, cultural diversity is often absent from teaching and educational policy documents on education for sustainable development in Norway. We present a dialogue sequence from a science class. The empirical material originates from a nine-month ethnographic classroom study in an upper secondary urban classroom in Norway. Our aim is to provide awareness of how plurality and diversity aspects of a sustainable future might widen pedagogical approaches to education. We used critical thematic analysis, theories of dialogic space and the concept of othering to examine the dialogue. In the dialogue sequence, the students used their own life experiences, representing different backgrounds, to give personal voice to three kinds of groups: we as citizens in the Norwegian welfare state, we with personal primary experiences from outside Norway and we as ‘foreigners’ in the gaze of others. During the conversation, the focus moved from others as needing assistance and as a burden towards common responsibility. Social and economic issues, comprising the local and the global, were addressed through personal narratives. The students started the conversation from a reformative approach on sustainable development, which seems to be in line with Norwegian school policy and practice on the topic. From that perspective they emphasised the need for knowledge and information as an important part of a sustainable future. During the conversation, the focus shifted, it's as if they began to doubt.
Can Teleworking Improve Workers’ Job Satisfaction? Exploring the Roles of Gender and Emotional Well-Being
Authors: Lu Zhuofei , Zhuang Wei
Published: February 2023

With the rise of teleworking during the past decades, the impacts of teleworking on job satisfaction have been extensively debated. Teleworking might benefit workers by improving work-life balance and emotional well-being, but it also brings considerable challenges. This study empirically investigates the impacts of teleworking on workers’ enjoyment across daily working episodes and job satisfaction and its gendered patterns, using Ordinary Least Squares regressions and the latest nationally representative time-use survey data in the UK. Moreover, it uses the Karlson/Holm/Breen (KHB) decomposition method to examine the role of enjoyment at work in mediating the associations between teleworking and job satisfaction. Overall, this study yields two major findings. First, among men, teleworkers tend to have higher levels of enjoyment at work and job satisfaction, but this is not the case for women. Second, around 46% of teleworking’s positive impacts on men’s job satisfaction can be explained by higher levels of enjoyment at work. Taken together, by integrating different theoretical perspectives on teleworking, gender and emotional well-being, this study provides interdisciplinary insights into the nuanced social consequences of teleworking, highlights the disadvantaged position of women in the use of teleworking, and demonstrates the need to enhance emotional well-being in future labour market policies.
Efficacy of recanalization therapy for ischemic stroke: multicenter hospital network experience
Authors: Briganti Francesco , Tortora Mario , Tortora Fabio , Elefante Andrea , Loiudice Giovanni , Marseglia Mariano , Buono Giuseppe , Rizzuti Michele , Iodice Rosa , Manganelli Fiore , Diurno Francesco , Numis Fabio Giuliano , Ferrara Luigi , Bruno Carlo , Bresciani Alessandro , Caranci Ferdinando , Franco Donatella , Vaiano Carlo , D’Onofrio Gaetano , Scala Pasquale , Raucci Rosa , Silvestro Eufrasia
Published: February 2023

Purpose

Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability with high mortality rate in the first year after the event. In Campania, mechanical thrombectomy treatment significantly increases in the last 3 years, as well as hospitals delivering acute stroke treatments. The aim of this study is to demonstrate how a full opening of our stroke network improves stroke management and stroked patients’ survival in Campania.

Material and methods

In Federico II University Hospital of Naples acting as a HUB center of 7 peripheral SPOKE hospitals in regional territory, 68 patients with acute ischemic stroke were evaluated with NIHSS and m-RS clinical scores and neuroradiological ASPECT scores, from January 1 to December 31, 2021. At hospital discharge, NIHSS score and three months after m-RS score were re-assessed to evaluate the therapeutic effects.

Results

Forty-two of 68 patients (63%) admitted to our hub center had ischemic acute stroke at CT evaluation; 29 patients had ASPECT score > 7 (69%), and 6 a score < 7 (14%). At admission, NIHSS score mean value was 10.75, and m-RS score mean value was 0.74. At discharge, NIHSS score mean value was 7.09. After three months, m-RS score mean value was 0.74.

Discussion

The inter-company agreement between Federico II University and several peripheral hospitals allows an absolute and relative increase in endovascular mechanical thrombectomy and intravenous thrombolysis procedures, with a relative prevalence of mechanical thrombectomy. A regional implementation of the stroke multi-disciplinary care system is hardly needed to ensure the optimum treatment for the largest number of patients, improving patient’s outcome.
Disentangling the black box around CEO and financial information-based accounting fraud detection: machine learning-based evidence from publicly listed U.S. firms
Authors: Schneider Moritz , Brühl Rolf
Published: February 2023

This study investigates the predictive power of CEO characteristics on accounting fraud utilizing a machine learning approach. Grounded in upper echelons theory, we show the predictive value of widely neglected CEO characteristics for machine learning-based accounting fraud detection in isolation and as part of a novel combination with raw financial data items. We employ five machine learning models well-established in the accounting fraud literature. Diverging from prior studies, we introduce novel model-agnostic techniques to the accounting fraud literature, opening further the black box around the predictive power of individual accounting fraud predictors. Specifically, we assess CEO predictors concerning their feature importance, functional association, marginal predictive power, and feature interactions. We find the isolated CEO and combined CEO and financial data models to outperform a no-skill benchmark and isolated approaches by large margins. Nonlinear models such as Random Forest and Extreme Gradient Boosting predominantly outperform linear ones, suggesting a more complex relationship between CEO characteristics, financial data, and accounting fraud. Further, we find CEO Network Size and CEO Age to contribute second and third strongest towards the best model’s predictive power, closely followed by CEO Duality. Our results indicate U-shaped, L-shaped, and weak L-shaped associations for CEO Age, CEO Network Size, CEO Tenure, and accounting fraud, consistent with our superior nonlinear models. Lastly, our empirical evidence suggests that older CEOs who are not simultaneously serving as chairman and CEOs with an extensive network and high inventory are more likely to be associated with accounting fraud.
Real-world efficacy and prognostic factors of lenvatinib plus PD-1 inhibitors in 378 unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma patients
Authors: Yang Xu , Chen Bowen , Wang Yanyu , Wang Yunchao , Long Junyu , Zhang Nan , Xue Jingnan , Xun Ziyu , Zhang Linzhi , Cheng Jiamin , Lei Jin , Sun Huishan , Li Yiran , Lin Jianzhen , Xie Fucun , Wang Dongxu , Pan Jie , Hu Ke , Guan Mei , Huo Li , Shi Jie , Yu Lingxiang , Zhou Lin , Zhou Jinxue , Lu Zhenhui , Yang Xiaobo , Mao Yilei , Sang Xinting , Lu Yinying , Zhao Haitao
Published: February 2023

Introduction

Combining lenvatinib with a programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) inhibitor has been explored for the treatment of un-resectable hepatocellular carcinoma (uHCC). This study aimed to investigate the real-world efficacy of and prognostic factors for survival associated with lenvatinib plus PD-1 inhibitor treatment in a large cohort of Asian uHCC patients even the global LEAP-002 study failed to achieve the primary endpoints.

Methods

Patients with uHCC treated with lenvatinib and PD-1 inhibitors were included. The primary endpoints were overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS), and the secondary endpoints were the objective response rate (ORR) and adverse events (AEs). Prognostic factors for survival were also analyzed.

Results

A total of 378 uHCC patients from two medical centers in China were assessed retrospectively. The median patient age was 55 years, and 86.5% of patients were male. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (89.9%) was the dominant etiology of uHCC. The median OS was 17.8 (95% confidence interval (CI) 14.0–21.6) months. The median PFS was 6.9 (95% CI 6.0–7.9) months. The best ORR and disease control rate (DCR) were 19.6% and 73.5%, respectively. In multivariate analysis, Child‒Pugh grade, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status score, involved organs, tumor burden score, and combination with local therapy were independent prognostic factors for OS. A total of 100% and 57.9% of patients experienced all-grade and grade 3/4 treatment-emergent AEs, respectively.

Conclusion

This real-world study of lenvatinib plus PD-1 inhibitor treatment demonstrated long survival and considerable ORRs and DCRs in uHCC patients in China. The tolerability of combination therapy was acceptable but must be monitored closely.
Vaginal dilator use more than 9 months is a main prognostic factor for reducing G2‑late vaginal complications in 3D‑vaginal‑cuff brachytherapy (interventional radiotherapy)?
Authors: Zhang Yaowen , Noorian Faegheh , Abellana Rosa , Rochera José , Herreros Antonio , Antelo Gabriela , Lancellotta Valentina , Tagliaferri Luca , Han Qian , Torne Aureli , Rovirosa Angeles
Published: February 2023

Purpose

Analyse the impact of different prognostic factors on G2-late vaginal complications after vaginal brachytherapy (VBT) ± external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) in postoperative endometrial cancer (PEC).

Methods

One hundred and twenty-six PEC patients treated with VBT ± EBRT were retrospectively analysed considering age, body mass index, applicator diameter, clinical target volume (CTV), use of dilators, chemotherapy and EQD2(α/β=3) at the most exposed 2 cm3 of the CTV as prognostic factors for vaginal complications. Late vaginal complications were evaluated using objective LENT-SOMA criteria. Statistics: descriptive analysis, Chi-square, Fisher and Student tests were applied. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed with the Baptista–Pike exact method and multiple logistic regression.

Results

Mean age was 65 years (SD ± 10), and median follow-up was 66 months (8–104). 19/126 patients (15%) showed G2-late vaginal complications, and 107/126 (85%) G0–G1. Univariate analysis showed: CTV ≤ 9 cm3 (p = 0.036), use of dilators < 9 months (p = 0.015), and total ≥ 68 Gy EQD2 received by 2 cm3 of CTV (p = 0.039) were associated with G2-late vaginal toxicity. Multivariate analysis showed the use of dilators < 9 months as an independent prognostic factor for G2-late vaginal toxicity (p = 0.043, OR 8.59, CI 1.59–159.9).

Conclusion

The use of dilators < 9 months in VBT ± EBRT for PEC was an independent prognostic factor for G2-late vaginal toxicity. The use of vaginal dilators ≥ 9 months requires further analysis in studies evaluating late vaginal toxicity.
Modifications of bijective S-Boxes with linear structures
Authors: Nyberg Kaisa
Published: February 2023

Various systematic modifications of vectorial Boolean functions have been used for finding new previously unknown classes of S-boxes with good or even optimal differential uniformity and nonlinearity. In this paper, a new general modification method is given that preserves the bijectivity property of the function in case the inverse of the function admits a linear structure. A previously known construction of such a modification based on bijective Gold functions in odd dimension is a special case of the new method.
Dragon’s Blood: antioxidant properties for nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals
Authors: Peres Isabella S. A. , Conceição Kiara A. O. , Silva Larissa A. F. , Khouri Nadia G. , Yoshida Cristiana M. P. , Concha Viktor O. C. , Lucarini Massimo , Durazzo Alessandra , Santini Antonello , Souto Eliana B. , Severino Patricia
Published: February 2023

Plants are the source of a large spectrum of phytochemicals, and the combined and concerted action of biologically active compounds lead to the potential beneficial properties of each plant matrix. A great attention is being addressed over the years toward herbs and medicinal plants. Dragon’s Blood is a reddish resin oil extracted from Croton lechleri tree. It has been extensively used by indigenous cultures of the Amazon River since ancient times due to the beneficial nutraceutical and pharmaceutical properties. This perspective aims at providing a current framework on Dragon’s Blood with focus on antioxidant properties for nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals in a novelty integrated and multidisciplinary manner, highlighting the current knowledge, the main research lines, and emerging strategies. A literature quantitative research analysis approach was applied as starting point. The literature search was carried out by means of the Scopus database; 365 documents have been retrieved in the year range from 1854 to 2021, and a total of 269 terms were identified. Among the top-recurring keywords appear: unclassified drug, nonhuman, plant extract/s, Dragon’s Blood, dracaena, Dragon Blood, chemistry, human, animal/s, plant resin. Source, chemical composition, potential nutraceutical, and therapeutical applications of Dragon’s Blood are discussed here. The anti-inflammatory, wound healing, antidiarrheals, anticancer, antirheumatic, antiseptic, and antioxidant activities identified in the Dragon’s Blood extracts can open novel perspectives for its use in food and pharmaceutical industries. While different bioactive compounds have already been identified in Dragon’s Blood extract, only a few studies can be found in literature.
Enabling soil carbon farming: presentation of a robust, affordable, and scalable method for soil carbon stock assessment
Authors: van der Voort Tessa Sophia , Verweij Sven , Fujita Yuki , Ros Gerard H.
Published: February 2023

The main hurdle in instrumentalizing agricultural soils to sequester atmospheric carbon is the development of methods to measure soil carbon stocks which are robust, scalable, and widely applicable. Our objective is to develop an approach that can help overcome these hurdles. In this paper, we present the Wageningen Soil Carbon STOck pRotocol (SoilCASTOR). SoilCASTOR uses a novel approach fusing satellite data, direct proximal sensing-based soil measurements, and machine learning to yield soil carbon stock estimates. The method has been tested and applied in the USA on fields with agricultural land use. Results show that the estimates are precise and repeatable and that the approach could be rapidly scalable. The precision of farm C stocks is below 5% enabling detection of soil organic carbon changes desired for the 4 per 1000 initiative. The assessment can be done robustly with as few as 0.5 sample per hectare for farms varying from 20 to 150 hectares. These findings could enable the structural implementation of carbon farming.
Performance of galactomannan testing from endotracheal aspirate to guide bronchoalveolar lavage in the diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis
Authors: Dichtl Karl , Barry Rachel , Angstwurm Matthias W. A. , Suerbaum Sebastian , Wagener Johannes
Published: February 2023

Purpose

Invasive aspergillosis is a major threat to immunocompromised individuals. Galactomannan (GM) is used as a biomarker for invasive aspergillosis. Investigations recommended in current guidelines include GM testing of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluids. GM testing of endotracheal aspirate, the sampling of which is less invasive, less resource-intensive and less aerosol-generating, is not validated. We compared the performance of endotracheal aspirate GM as a screening tool to predict BAL fluid GM-positivity in patients with suspected invasive aspergillosis.

Methods

Of each patient, a pair of corresponding endotracheal aspirate and BAL fluid samples was tested and compared for GM results. Two sample sets were included. The first consisted of 140 consecutive BAL fluid/endotracheal aspirate pairs obtained from 133 patients. The pairs of the second sample set (n = 38) were selected based on the criterion that the BAL tested positive for GM. All specimens were obtained in a German 2,000 bed tertiary care center.

Results

Among BAL fluid GM-positive samples, endotracheal aspirate GM demonstrated poor specificity (72%) but high sensitivity (92% in predicting BAL fluid GM of ≥ 0.50 and 91% for BAL fluid GM of ≥ 1.00) and an excellent negative predictive value (98%). The use of a marginally elevated cutoff of 0.63 resulted in an improved specificity (72–81%), without loss of sensitivity.

Conclusions

For screening purposes, one might consider testing endotracheal aspirate for GM, which could help avoid unnecessary BAL.
2D Materials Boost Advanced Zn Anodes: Principles, Advances, and Challenges
Authors: Zheng Songhe , Zhao Wanyu , Chen Jianping , Zhao Xiaoli , Pan Zhenghui , Yang Xiaowei
Published: February 2023

Aqueous zinc-ion battery (ZIB) featuring with high safety, low cost, environmentally friendly, and high energy density is one of the most promising systems for large-scale energy storage application. Despite extensive research progress made in developing high-performance cathodes, the Zn anode issues, such as Zn dendrites, corrosion, and hydrogen evolution, have been observed to shorten ZIB’s lifespan seriously, thus restricting their practical application. Engineering advanced Zn anodes based on two-dimensional (2D) materials are widely investigated to address these issues. With atomic thickness, 2D materials possess ultrahigh specific surface area, much exposed active sites, superior mechanical strength and flexibility, and unique electrical properties, which confirm to be a promising alternative anode material for ZIBs. This review aims to boost rational design strategies of 2D materials for practical application of ZIB by combining the fundamental principle and research progress. Firstly, the fundamental principles of 2D materials against the drawbacks of Zn anode are introduced. Then, the designed strategies of several typical 2D materials for stable Zn anodes are comprehensively summarized. Finally, perspectives on the future development of advanced Zn anodes by taking advantage of these unique properties of 2D materials are proposed.
The Role of Vanes in the Damping of Bird Feathers
Authors: Deng Kai , Rajabi Hamed , Kovalev Alexander , Schaber Clemens F. , Dai Zhendong , Gorb Stanislav N.
Published: February 2023

Bird feathers sustain bending and vibrations during flight. Such unwanted vibrations could potentially cause noise and flight instabilities. Damping could alter the system response, resulting in improving quiet flight, stability, and controllability. Vanes of feathers are known to be indispensable for supporting the aerodynamic function of the wings. The relationship between the hierarchical structures of vanes and the mechanical properties of the feather has been previously studied. However, still little is known about their relationship with feathers’ damping properties. Here, the role of vanes in feathers’ damping properties was quantified. The vibrations of the feathers with vanes and the bare shaft without vanes after step deflections in the plane of the vanes and perpendicular to it were measured using high-speed video recording. The presence of several main natural vibration modes was observed in the feathers with vanes. After trimming vanes, more vibration modes were observed, the fundamental frequencies increased by 51–70%, and the damping ratio decreased by 38–60%. Therefore, we suggest that vanes largely increase feather damping properties. Damping mechanisms based on the morphology of feather vanes are discussed. The aerodynamic damping is connected with the planar vane surface, the structural damping is related to the interlocking between barbules and barbs, and the material damping is caused by the foamy medulla inside barbs.
The atlas of variation in healthcare Brazil: remarkable findings from a middle-income country
Authors: Diegoli Henrique , Makdisse Marcia , Magalhães Pedro , Gray Muir
Published: February 2023

Background

Brazil’s Universal Health System is the world’s largest and covers every citizen without out-of-pocket costs. Nonetheless, healthcare inequities across regions have never been systematically evaluated.

Methods

We used government databases to compare healthcare resource utilization, outcomes, expenditure, and years of life lost between 2016 and 2019. The maps used patients’ residences as reference and adjusted for age and private health insurance coverage.

Results

The Atlas shows that for several comparisons, there were no procedures in some regions, including primary coronary angioplasty, thrombolysis for stroke, bariatric surgery, and kidney transplant. Colonoscopy varied 1481.2-fold, asthma hospitalizations varied 257.5-fold, and mammograms varied 133.9-fold. Cesarean births ranged from 19.5% to 84.0%, and myocardial infarction and stroke case-fatalities were 1.1% to 33.7% and 5.0% to 39.0%, respectively. Higher private health insurance coverage in each region was associated with increased resource utilization in the public system in most comparisons.

Conclusion

These findings demonstrate that the SUS does not fulfill the Brazilian constitutional rights due to underutilization, overutilization, and access disparities. The Atlas outlines multiple opportunities to generate value in the SUS.
A deep reinforcement learning-based approach to onboard trajectory generation for hypersonic vehicles
Authors: Bao C.Y. , Zhou X. , Wang P. , He R.Z. , Tang G.J.
Published: February 2023

An onboard three-dimensional (3D) trajectory generation approach based on the reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm and deep neural network (DNN) is proposed for hypersonic vehicles in glide phase. Multiple trajectory samples are generated offline through the convex optimisation method. The deep learning (DL) is employed to pre-train the DNN for initialising the actor network and accelerating the RL process. Based on the offline deep policy deterministic actor-critic algorithm, a flight target-oriented reward function with path constraints is designed. The actor network is optimised by the end-to-end RL and policy gradients of the critic network until the reward function converges to the maximum. The actor network is considered as the onboard trajectory generator to compute optimal control values online based on the real-time motion states. The simulation results show that the single-step online planning time meets the real-time requirements of onboard trajectory generation. The significant improvement in terminal accuracy of the online trajectory and the better generalisation under biased initial states for hypersonic vehicles in glide phase is observed.
Enhancing study recruitment through implementation of an opt-out, cold contact process with consideration for autonomy, beneficence and justice
Authors: Pittman Tara , Bell Leslie , Jones Stedman , Brown Kimberly , Kirchoff Katie , Flume Patrick
Published: February 2023

The potential utilization of a cold-contact approach to research recruitment, where members of the research team are unknown to the patient, has grown with the expanded use of electronic health records (EHRs) and affiliated patient portals. Institutions that permit this strategy vary in their implementation and management of it but tend to lean towards more conservative approaches. This process paper describes the Medical University of South Carolina’s transition to an opt-out model of “cold-contact” recruitment (known as patient outreach recruitment or POR), wherein patients can be contacted so long as they do not express an unwillingness to receive such communication. The work highlights the benefits of this model by explaining how it, in many ways, supports and protects autonomy, beneficence, and justice for patients. The paper then describes the process of standing up the recruitment strategy, communicating the change to patients and the community, and documenting study team contact and patient research preference. Data supporting increased access to potentially eligible patients of greater diversity as well as initial researcher feedback on perceived success of POR is also shared. The paper ends with a discussion of next steps to enhance the POR process via more detailed data collection and reengagement with community stakeholders.
Contesting the heavens: US antipreneurship and the regulation of space weapons
Authors: Bower Adam , Lantis Jeffrey S.
Published: February 2023

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty reserved outer space for ‘peaceful purposes’, yet recent decades have witnessed growing competition and calls for new multilateral rules including a proposed ban on the deployment of weapons in space. These diplomatic initiatives have stalled in the face of concerted opposition from the United States. To explain this outcome, we characterise US diplomacy as a form of ‘antipreneurship’, a type of strategic norm-focused competition designed to preserve the prevailing normative status quo in the face of entrepreneurial efforts. We substantially refine and extend existing accounts of antipreneurship by theorising three dominant forms of antipreneurial agency – rhetorical, procedural, and behavioural – and describing the mechanisms and scope conditions though which they operate. We then trace the development of US resistance to proposed restraints on space weapons from 2000–present. Drawing on hundreds of official documents, we show how successive US administrations have employed a range of interlayered diplomatic strategies and tactics to preserve the permissive international legal framework governing outer space and protect US national security priorities. Our study illustrates the specific techniques and impacts of resistance in a domain of growing strategic importance, with implications for further refining understandings of norm competition in other issue areas.
Iodine nutrition with North Atlantic living: the Faroese adolescents
Authors: Johannesen Herborg Líggjasardóttir , Andersen Stig , Andersen Stine Linding , Nielsen Kári Rubek , Weihe Pál , Petersen Maria Skaalum , Veyhe Anna Sofía
Published: February 2023

Iodine nutrition is critical for human health. While iodine excretion was low within the recommended range among adult Faroese, younger generations tend to abandon local foods. Such changes raise a concern about iodine intake, which led us to perform this first study of iodine nutrition among teenagers in the North Atlantic islands. We used samples from a nationwide collection of urine samples in 14-year-olds following iodine fortification of salt in 2000. Urine was analysed for iodine and creatinine to adjust for dilution by iodine/creatinine, and a food frequency questionnaire was used to record the intake of iodine-rich foods. The 129 participants yielded a 90 % precision of the estimated iodine nutrition level. The median urinary iodine concentration (UIC) was 166 μg/l (bootstrapped 95 % confidence interval 156–184 μg/l). The median creatinine-adjusted UIC was 132 μg/g (bootstrapped 95 % CI 120–138 μg/g). Fish and whale meat dinners were more frequent among residents of villages compared with the capital: median fish dinners, 3v.2 per week (P= 0⋅001), and whale meat, 1v.0⋅4 per month (P< 0⋅001). UIC decreased with fewer fish dinners (P= 0⋅03). Our study demonstrated that Faroese teenagers were iodine-replete. The changing dietary habits emphasise the need for continuous monitoring of iodine nutrition and surveying iodine deficiency disorders.
Statistically Valid Inferences from Privacy-Protected Data
Authors: EVANS GEORGINA , KING GARY , SCHWENZFEIER MARGARET , THAKURTA ABHRADEEP
Published: February 2023

Unprecedented quantities of data that could help social scientists understand and ameliorate the challenges of human society are presently locked away inside companies, governments, and other organizations, in part because of privacy concerns. We address this problem with a general-purpose data access and analysis system with mathematical guarantees of privacy for research subjects, and statistical validity guarantees for researchers seeking social science insights. We build on the standard of “differential privacy,” correct for biases induced by the privacy-preserving procedures, provide a proper accounting of uncertainty, and impose minimal constraints on the choice of statistical methods and quantities estimated. We illustrate by replicating key analyses from two recent published articles and show how we can obtain approximately the same substantive results while simultaneously protecting privacy. Our approach is simple to use and computationally efficient; we also offer open-source software that implements all our methods.
Fighting the Invasion from the Suez Canal: Coastal Environmentalism and Locating the Lionfish in Lebanon
Authors: Lähteenaho Samuli
Published: February 2023

Around the year 2015, new tidings began to be heard across the Lebanese coastline as local marine biologists—receiving reports from divers and fishermen—became aware of a new phenomenon in the coastal waters. Pterois miles, the lionfish, samakat al-asad, a species not usually found in the waters, were being encountered in rapidly increasing numbers. Over the following years, as other Mediterranean countries started reporting similar occurrences, a sense of alert slowly built. Dina, one of my interlocutors and a shining young marine ecologist, had been at work setting up a new NGO to conduct marine pedagogy and environmental awareness campaigns. As the invasion proceeded apace, she and her group reacted to the invading fish swarming the Lebanese coastal waters, putting together a counter-campaign. Meetings were called, ideas pitched, and plans convened. The invasion had to be confronted, just as Elias, another interlocutor from Dina's group, a hobbyist diver in his late 20s and active participant in civil society campaigns, told me during an interview in late 2018:

Now the hot topic is invasive species, like the lionfish, and the pufferfish. We have seen lionfish for maybe three years, but now people are starting to talk about it. They are in huge numbers, huge numbers, right. I remember the first couple of dives I did, used to dive with a friend of mine. She had a different diving certificate; I had an 18-meter-depth limit while she had 40-meter limit. She used to tell me how beautiful the lionfish she encountered below was. They spent minutes watching how beautiful the creature is. Now, we see them every dive. If there is no lionfish around, there is like something wrong. Yesterday, during the weekend, we dived next to one spot, next to the Casino du Liban. It was the first time I saw a lionfish and it was a huge fish. They reproduce in huge amounts, huge amounts.
From Austerity to Disentitlement: The Transformation of Food Stamps in the US, 1969–1984
Authors: RATHE CAITLIN
Published: February 2023

This article traces the changing terrain of the food stamp program in the pivotal decade of the 1970s. In 1969, President Richard Nixon promised to put an end to hunger in America, “for all time.” However, in the fifteen years following this announcement, policymakers erected boundaries around the scope of public food welfare programs. In this article, the author highlights key continuities between earlier, modest attempts at program reform under Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter and the later Reagan-era assault on welfare spending of the early 1980s.
Everyday Politics of Mobility: Translocal Livelihoods and Illegalisation in the Global South
Authors: Winters Nanneke
Published: February 2023

This article contributes to migration and livelihood scholarship by reflecting on global and political dimensions of livelihoods and experiences of illegalisation in Central America. Based on multi-sited ethnographic research with Nicaraguan families and their migrant family members in Costa Rica, the article adopts a translocal livelihood perspective and uses the notion of everyday politics to explore migrants’ mobility practices and nuance the role and reach of illegalisation in relatively accessible South–South migration. In conclusion, the article reinvigorates the notion of ‘everyday politics of mobility’ to incorporate the multi-sitedness, multi-dimensionality and multi-directionality of translocalising livelihoods, offering a lens for future comparison of illegalisation within and beyond the so-called Global South.
Flagstone empire: Materiality and technical expertise in Japanese road construction in northeast China (1905–1945)
Authors: Dong Yuting
Published: February 2023

This article investigates Japanese imperialism in northeast China through its road construction infrastructure projects within its railway auxiliary zone (1906–1932) and Manchuria at large (1932–1945). The materiality of roads unveils a history of how Japanese engineers adapted to local practices and absorbed local knowledge in building physical infrastructure and developing their technical expertise. These engineers engaged with local practices rooted in pre-existing social and natural environments to facilitate road construction. At the same time, in Manchuria their technical expertise in construction was built on the absorption and subsequent erasure of local workers’ vernacular craft. Rather than the physical realization of an imperialist, top-down vision of modernization, imperial infrastructure projects were in fact hybrid productions of technical expertise, and local vernacular knowledge and skills. By constructing roads, engineers helped to expand Japan’s political and economic influence in northeast China, assert domination over Chinese residential areas and business interests, and coerce Chinese subjects into complying with policies and rules issued by Japanese administrations. The materials of roads—gravel, granite flagstone, and concrete—illustrate a complex relationship between Japanese imperial agents and local environments.
Effective UAV patrolling for swarm of intruders with heterogeneous behavior
Authors: Moltajaei Farid Ali , Mei Kuan Lim , Kamal Md Abdus Samad , Wong KokSheik
Published: February 2023

The phenomenal growth in the utilization of commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones leads to an urgent need for new approaches to ensure safety in the sky. Effective aerial surveillance requires patrolling swarms to react according to the various behaviors demonstrated by intruding swarms, but existing approaches are not practical when dealing with a large number of drones. Specifically, predicting the behaviors or planned paths of the intruding swarms is highly challenging as intruders may perform evasive strategies to avoid detection. Therefore, this work utilizes heuristic search strategies and investigates how various intruder behaviors affect the search performance. To investigate the search performance, a swarm versus swarm simulator is developed. Using the simulator, first, a comparative study is performed to evaluate how intruders’ behaviors can affect the performance of the patrolling swarm. Subsequently, three approaches, including single-objective optimization, multi-objective optimization, and Lévy flight, are compared in terms of their detection performance in a bounded space. The results suggest that multi-objective optimization outperforms both single-objective optimization and Lévy flight-based approaches. Furthermore, our results show that intruders have a lower chance of being tracked when moving in a dense crowd, and this finding reaffirms the schooling behaviors of fish. In a specific simulation scenario, the total percentage of detection is above 90%. However, the detection percentage is highly related to other factors such as search space, number of patrolling UAVs, and the intruders’ behaviors.
Epidemiology of herpes simplex virus type 1 and genital herpes in Australia and New Zealand: systematic review, meta-analyses and meta-regressions
Authors: AlMukdad Sawsan , Harfouche Manale , Farooqui Uzma S. , Aldos Lana , Abu-Raddad Laith J.
Published: February 2023

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection is a lifelong infection that is acquired primarily orally and during childhood. We aimed to characterise HSV-1 epidemiology in Australia and New Zealand. HSV-1-related data as recent as 6 December 2021 were systematically reviewed, synthesised and reported, following PRISMA guidelines. Pooled mean seroprevalence and proportions of HSV-1 detection in genital ulcer disease (GUD) and in genital herpes were calculated using random-effects meta-analyses. Meta-regressions were also conducted. HSV-1 measures were retrieved from 21 eligible publications. Extracted HSV-1 measures included 13 overall seroprevalence measures (27 stratified) in Australia, four overall proportions of HSV-1 detection in clinically diagnosed GUD (four stratified) in Australia, and ten overall proportions of HSV-1 detection in laboratory-confirmed genital herpes (26 stratified) in Australia and New Zealand. Pooled mean seroprevalence among healthy adults in Australia was 84.8% (95% confidence interval (CI) 74.3–93.1%). Pooled mean seroprevalence was 70.2% (95% CI 47.4–88.7%) among individuals <35 years of age and 86.9% (95% CI 79.3–93.0%) among individuals ≥35 years. Seroprevalence increased by 1.05-fold (95% CI 1.01–1.10) per year. Pooled mean proportion of HSV-1 detection in GUD was 8.2% (95% CI 0.4–22.9%). Pooled mean proportion of HSV-1 detection in genital herpes was 30.5% (95% CI 23.3–38.3%), and was highest in young individuals. Proportion of HSV-1 detection in genital herpes increased by 1.04-fold (95% CI 1.00–1.08) per year. Included studies showed heterogeneity, but 30% of the heterogeneity in seroprevalence and 42% of the heterogeneity in proportion of HSV-1 detection in genital herpes were explained in terms of epidemiological factors. HSV-1 seroprevalence is higher in Australia than in other Western countries. HSV-1 epidemiology in Australia and New Zealand appears to be transitioning towards less oral acquisition in childhood, but more genital acquisition among youth.
Lower prospective memory is associated with higher neurocognitive dispersion in two samples of people with HIV: A conceptual replication study
Authors: Mustafa Andrea I. , Woods Steven Paul , Loft Shayne , Morgan Erin E.
Published: February 2023

Objectives:

People living with HIV (PLWH) often experience deficits in the strategic/executive aspects of prospective memory (PM) that can interfere with instrumental activities of daily living. This study used a conceptual replication design to determine whether cognitive intraindividual variability, as measured by dispersion (IIV-dispersion), contributes to PM performance and symptoms among PLWH.

Methods:

Study 1 included 367 PLWH who completed a comprehensive clinical neuropsychological test battery, the Memory for Intentions Test (MIsT), and the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ). Study 2 included 79 older PLWH who completed the Cogstate cognitive battery, the Cambridge Prospective Memory Test (CAMPROMPT), an experimental measure of time-based PM, and the PRMQ. In both studies, a mean-adjusted coefficient of variation was derived to measure IIV-dispersion using normativeT-scores from the cognitive battery.

Results:

Higher IIV-dispersion was significantly associated with lower time-based PM performance at small-to-medium effect sizes in both studies (meanrs = −0.30). The relationship between IIV-dispersion and event-based PM performance was comparably small in magnitude in both studies (rs = −0.19, −0.20), but it was only statistically significant in Study 1. IIV-dispersion showed very small, nonsignificant relationships with self-reported PM symptoms in both samples (rs< 0.10).

Conclusions:

Extending prior work in healthy adults, these findings suggest that variability in performance across a cognitive battery contributes to laboratory-based PM accuracy, but not perceived PM symptoms, among PLWH. Future studies might examine whether daily fluctuations in cognition or other aspects of IIV (e.g., inconsistency) play a role in PM failures in everyday life.
Polarization of the Rich: The New Democratic Allegiance of Affluent Americans and the Politics of Redistribution
Authors: Zacher Sam
Published: February 2023

Affluent Americans used to vote for Republican politicians. Now they vote for Democrats. In this paper, I show detailed evidence for this decades-in-the-making trend and argue that it has important consequences for the U.S. politics of economic inequality and redistribution. Beginning in the 1990s, the Democratic Party started winning increasing shares of rich, upper-middle income, high-income occupation, and stock-owning voters. This appears true across voters of all races and ethnicities, is concentrated among (but not exclusive to) college-educated voters, and is only true among voters living in larger metropolitan areas. In the 2010s, Democratic candidates’ electoral appeal among affluent voters reached above-majority levels. I echo other scholars in maintaining that this trend is partially driven by the increasingly “culturally liberal” views of educated voters and party elite polarization on those issues, but I additionally argue that the evolution and stasis of the parties’ respective economic policy agendas has also been a necessary condition for the changing behavior of affluent voters. This reversal of an American politics truism means that the Democratic Party’s attempts to cohere around an economically redistributive policy agenda in an era of rising inequality face real barriers.