bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Historical trends and future projections of annual rainfall from CMIP6 models in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Authors: Phuong DND , Vu ND , Loi NK
Published: January 2024

Climate risks have posed a major threat to many local communities living in low-lying coastal megacities across the globe, including Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Hence, this study first aimed to contribute towards a comprehensive understanding of temporal trend patterns of annual rainfall and absolute extremes in Ho Chi Minh City over the last 4 decades (1980-2022) through multiple non-parametric statistical trend tests. We employed the quantile delta mapping (QDM) method to develop daily bias-corrected rainfall data based on the outputs in the latest Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6) under 8 shared socio-economic pathway (SSP) greenhouse gas emission scenarios. Evaluation of model performance was implemented by repeatedly omitting 5 successive years in turn for estimating testing errors. The outcomes indicate the high applicability of well-calibrated transfer functions, even for high quantiles, to the production of future rainfall scenarios. The projected changes in annual rainfall and absolute extremes were obtained by estimating multi-model medians from CMIP6 models for future periods (i.e. 2021-2040, 2041-2060, 2061-2080, and 2081-2100), with reference to the base period (1995-2014). In general, annual rainfall in Ho Chi Minh City is projected to increase substantially, and Thu Duc station consistently shows the highest increases in annual rainfall. Projected changes are approximately 30.9% (8.3 to 77.8%) under the high-end scenario (i.e. SSP5-8.5) by the end of the 21st century. It is expected that these findings will yield several solid arguments for mitigating climate-related risks in Ho Chi Minh City.
REGULATING ROLE OF TECHNOSTRESSORS AND PERSONALITY IN PREDICTION OF ENGAGEMENT AND BURNOUT AT WORK
Authors:   Comenius University in Bratislava, Rošková Eva , Schraggerová Milica , Urukovičová Nina , Smoroň Jozef
Published: January 2024

Based on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, the aim of the study was to examine the relationship between technostressors (invasion, overload, uncertainty, ambiguity, complexity) acting as job demands, personality characteristics (Big Five), and employee well-being (engagement, burnout). The study employed a cross-sectional design using questionnaires and online data collection (RedCap web platform). It was conducted with a sample of employed Slovak respondents (N=257). Hierarchical regression modeling revealed that work engagement was predicted by personality characteristics (extraversion, conscientiousness). Technostressors (techno-overload, techno-invasion, techno-uncertainty) played a significant role in predicting burnout. Techno-ambiguity contributed surprisingly positively to engagement. The study contributes to the evidence on the consequences of technostressors and personality traits in the workplace context.
KTO SA (NE)PONÁHĽA DO DÔCHODKU? VYBRANÉ PREDIKTORY PLÁNOVANÉHO VEKU ODCHODU DO DÔCHODKU
Authors:   Slovak Academy of Sciences, Havan Patrik , Kočišová Lucia , Halama Peter
Published: January 2024

Vek odchodu do dôchodku sa v súčasnosti postupne stáva viac individuálnou voľbou, keďže mnoho ľudí využíva predčasný odchod do dôchodku alebo naopak prácu aj po dosiahnutí dôchodkového veku. Keďže plánovaný vek do dôchodku zamestnancov ovplyvňuje personálnu situáciu zamestnávateľov, je dôležité rozumieť jeho faktorom. Cieľom príspevku je preskúmať aké vybrané demografické a psychologické premenné predikujú plánovaný vek do dôchodku. Výskumu sa zúčastnilo 450 Slovákov a Sloveniek v preddôchodkovom veku 50 až 62 rokov (M = 54,9; SD = 3,51). Boli rekrutovaní cez online panel prieskumnej agentúry. Respondenti vyplnili sadu demografických otázok, otázku o plánovanom odchodu do dôchodku, Škálu konceptov dôchodku, Škálu dôchodkovej anxiety a Škálu naplnenia psychologických potrieb. Neskorší vek odchodu do dôchodku plánujú osoby s vyšším vzdelaním, skôr muži a osoby s nižším vekom. Z psychologických premenných súvisí s vyšším plánovaným vekom odchodu do dôchodku vyššia dôchodková anxieta a predstava dôchodku ako vynúteného prerušenia doterajšieho života. Limitom štúdie je najmä meranie plánovaného veku odchodu do dôchodku jednou položkou, ktorá je vyjadrením iba jedného aspektu plánu odchodu do dôchodku. Výsledky môžu prispieť k porozumeniu toho, aké faktory ovplyvňujú plánovaný vek odchodu do dôchodku, čo môže byť využité zamestnávateľmi pri personálnej politike.
ZKUŠENOST S PSYCHICKÝM ONEMOCNĚNÍM V PRÁCI
Authors:   Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci, Hetlinger Hana , Seitl Martin
Published: January 2024

Cílem příspěvku je popsat zkušenosti lidí s psychickým onemocněním v pracovním procesu (prožívání, postoje a zkušenosti nemocného člověka, jeho interpretaci chování nadřízených, kolegů, podřízených, chování zaměstnavatele a dalších faktorů souvisejících s tématem). Pro výzkum byl použit kvalitativní design – polostrukturovaný online rozhovor s nahrávkou. Výzkumný soubor byl získán prostřednictvím samovýběru. Jako metoda pro analýzu dat byla zvolena Interpretativní fenomenologická analýza (IPA). V souladu se stanoveným cílem výzkumu bylo nalezeno několik vynořujících se témat, z nichž jako nejvýznamnější byla definována: design pracovního místa, vnímané mezní okamžiky a zátěžové faktory, soukromí a osobní prostor, sociální prostor a vedení a pracovní výkonnost.
PŘEKLAD A OVĚŘENÍ DOTAZNÍKU EMOČNÍ REGULACE (ERQ)
Authors:   Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci, Hypšová Petra , Seitl Martin , Kafetsios Konstantinos , Sulejmanov Filip
Published: January 2024

Cílem příspěvku je představit aktualizovaný překlad Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) a vybrané psychometrické charakteristiky získané při standardizační studii. Aktualizace překladu vyplynula z prvotních zkušeností s dotazníkem a nedostupných informací o psychometrických kvalitách české verze. Metoda operacionalizuje dvě hlavní emočně-regulační strategie: kognitivní přehodnocení a potlačení exprese. V pracovně-organizačním kontextu má emoční regulace nezastupitelnou roli, neboť mj. ovlivňuje kvalitu interakcí mezi pracovníky, celkovou pracovní výkonnost apod. Anglický originál ERQ byl opětovně přeložen do českého jazyka formou zpětných translací s využitím tří na sobě nezávislých překladatelů. Výsledná verze ERQ byla administrována 834 respondentům běžné populace (18 – 80 let). K ověření kriteriální validity byl vyžit osobnostní dotazník BFI-2-S administrovaný 172 respondentům běžné populace (18 – 35 let). Dvou-faktorová struktura ERQ byla ověřena konfirmační faktorovou analýzou. Testovaný model vykazuje po povolení dvou reziduálních korelací výbornou shodu s daty. Česká verze ERQ disponuje dobrou vnitřní konzistencí. Byly nalezeny slabé důkazy o kriteriální validitě. Studie přináší český překlad a informace o vybraných psychometrických charakteristikách metody ERQ. Studie neposkytuje informace o externí konstruktové validitě ani data pro ověření test-retest reliability.
PEDAGOGICKÝ A ŠKOLSKÝ PSYCHOLÓG AKO PROFESIA SÚČASNOSTI
Authors:   University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik, Mesárošová Margita
Published: January 2024

V súvislosti so zmenami, ktoré priniesli aktuálne politické, ekonomické a sociálne procesy, ako aj s rozvojomnových digitálnych technológií, ktoré zasiahli aj profesiu pedagogického a školského psychológa, vznikla potrebarevitalizovať obsah, metódy práce a vzdelávanie psychológov pracujúcich v oblasti vzdelávacieho systému.Autorka poukazuje na dôležité aspekty vykonávania týchto profesií v súčasnosti.
SOCIÁLNÍ KLIMA UČITELSKÝCH SBORŮ ZÁKLADNÍCH A STREDNÍCH ŠKOL: DIAGNOSTIKA KLIMATU A INTERVENCE
Authors:   Technická univerzita v Liberci, Rozkovcová Andrea , Nišponská Magda , Urbánek Petr , Picková Helena , Jursová Jitka , Dymokurský Oto
Published: January 2024

Sociální klima učitelského sboru je významný faktor fungování školní organizace. Sbor disponuje potenciálem působit na práci vedení školy a současně výrazně ovlivňuje i žákovský kolektiv, přispívá k efektivitě práce organizace a pro žáky představuje pozitivní model fungující komunity. Cílem příspěvku je popsat možnosti diagnostiky a intervencí sociálního klimatu na ZŠ a SŠ v libereckém regionu. Smyslem projektu je vytvořit metodologický koncept pro identifikaci a následnou intervenci ve snaze podpořit školy v práci s vlastním sociálním klimatem. V diagnostické fázi nejprve realizujeme screening klimatu nástrojem OCDQ-RS a dále cílené kvalitativní postupy (analýza výsledků a školní dokumentace, rozhovory). V intervenční fázi využíváme dotazníky a individuální koučink pro vedení škol, workshopy pro učitele, intervenční rozhovory s vedením. Zapojené školy získávají opakovanou informaci o kvalitě klimatu sboru. Pro intervenované školy vznikly názorné „mapy vztahů“ inspirované teorií pole Kurta Lewina ukazující situaci sboru v kontextu. Ukazuje se, že tento postup při práci s učitelskými sbory a vedením škol je přínosný, byť značně náročný na čas a odborný personál jak při diagnostice, tak zejména v opakovaných intervencích. Do intervenční fáze proto mohl být zařazen jen malý počet škol, přičemž podmínkou byl aktivní zájem školy.
Relationship among Sedentary Time, Subjective Sleep Sufficiency and Oral Health Practice Related Factor in Adolescent Girls
Authors:   The Korean Society of Oral Health Science, Park Sin-Young
Published: January 2024

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among sedentary time, subjective sleep sufficiency, and oral healthpractice- related factors in adolescent girls. Methods: They analyzed a group of 25,453 adolescent girls. Results: Weekend sedentary time was related to the use of oral hygiene products, and subjective sleep sufficiency was related to brushing one’s teeth after lunch and sealant experience Conclusions: There is a need for a program to improve oral health-related practices by improving sedentary time and subjective sleep sufficiency among adolescent girls.
Mediating Effects of Psychological Factors in the Relationship between Stress and Subjective Oral Health Status among College Students
Authors:   The Korean Society of Oral Health Science, Bae Jung-Hee , Choi Da-Yae , Hong Min-Hee
Published: January 2024

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the relationship between stress and psychological factors in relation to the subjective oral health status of college students. Methods: The study analyzed 406 questionnaires targeting fourth-year college students. Symptoms of anxiety, depression, and insomnia were investigated as psychological factors. Results: Depression and anxiety were found to partially mediate the relationship between stress and subjective oral health status. Additionally, depression and anxiety partially influenced subjective oral health status among college students. Conclusions: The findings from this study indicated that it is necessary to control the stress, depression, and anxiety levels of college students to improve their oral health-related quality of life.
Transnational Culture in the Iranian Armenian Diaspora
Authors: Yaghoobi Claudia
Published: January 2024

Drawing from author’s lived experiences as well as analysing diasporic Iranian Armenian cultural productions, Transnational Culture examines the ways that Iranian Armenians negotiate their identities as minoritized population in Iran and in the US within the liminal space of diaspora. Yaghoobi argues that this liminal state of fluidity helps them to develop a resilience towards ambiguity and handling ambivalence in dealing with various cultures as well as resisting dualistic thinking which in turn allows them to move beyond national boundaries to transnationalism, yet simultaneously display the collective Armenian identity characterized by flexibility, adaptability, and continuity as a result of both multiple uprooting and a Genocide that continues to this day. They serve as a bridge between the homeland and the host nation, occupying the transformational passageway, which requires them to not only risk being in a transitory space and give up the safe space of home and the power that comes with it, but also through doing so, they create transformative works of literature and art. Centring around how Iranian Armenian artists and authors reach beyond the national to engage in transnational thinking, this book engages with theories of nationalism and national identity, diaspora, borders and trans-borders, borderlands, hybridisation of identity and existencein the transformative space of verants’ughi, which the author theorizes in this book. Some chapters, the prologue and the epilogue include vignettes of the author’s personal experiences as an Iranian Armenian American diasporic transnational individual living in verants’ughi.
George Craig of Galashiels
Authors: Finlay John
Published: January 2024

One lawyer’s working life can tell us a great deal about the age in which he lived. George Craig (1783-1843), baron bailie of the town of Galashiels in the Scottish Borders, thought that he lived in ‘the age of adventure’—a time of industrial development and commercial opportunity. As a notary, law agent, banker and insurance agent, Craig’s correspondence reveals a network of lawyers across Selkirkshire, Roxburghshire and Berwickshire, through whom passed the affairs of the landed gentry, farmers, mill-owners, wealthy cloth merchants as well as weavers, tenants and the poor. Craig was factor to Sir John Scott of Gala, and agent of James Pringle of Torwoodlee, George Fairholme of Greenknowe and Professor Alexander Munro tertius. He knew and corresponded with Sir Walter Scott and James Hogg, but his correspondents extended well beyond the Borders, into the north of England, London, Jamaica, and the United States. His career reveals much about life and society in the Scottish Borders and what it meant to be a lawyer in early nineteenth-century Scotland. Based on the eight volumes of his recently-discovered letter-books, this research aims to provide the first in-depth study of a local law agent in nineteenth-century Scotland.
Between Tragedy and Chaos: US Policy in a Turbulent Middle East under Obama and Trump
Authors: Hazbun Waleed
Published: January 2024

This chapter examines US policy toward the Middle East under the Obama and Trump administrations and argues that disastrous US policies during this period significantly contributed to regional turbulence and the end of America’s unrivalled dominance in the Middle East. The chapter demonstrates how both US military and non-military policies generated dynamics that intensified competition between states and produced greater instability. The construction of American interests in the Middle East produces contradictory, often self-defeating policies that produce tragic outcomes, which are described as ‘the tragedy of American interests.’ Obama’s approach to the Middle East is characterized as ‘tragic,’ while Trump’s policies are described as ‘melodramatic’ because Trump was both unaware of these contradictions and viewed the region in moral dichotomies of good an evil.
The Perennial Outsider: Israel and Regional Order Change Post-2011
Authors: Schonmann Noa
Published: January 2024

This chapter examines the role of Israel within the Middle East regional order and assesses the extent of change within or beyond that order in the post 2003 and post 2011 period. It argues that few scholars pay more than scant attention to Israel’s role within the regional order. Although some have analysed the shifting fortunes of Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and other states during this period, Israel’s role in the regional order continues to be neglected. The chapter posits that it is impossible to accurately assess the extent of change within the Middle East regional order as a result of events since 2003 without understanding Israel’s role within that order. Pointing to the increasing power of Iran and the decreasing salience of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in Arab and Middle East politics, the chapter interprets the recent normalization or peace deals between some Arab states and Israel not as the collapse of the old regional order, or the emergence of a new order, but as an attempt by these states to counterbalance the growing power of Iran. The article surveys recent developments in relations between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain after the 2020 Abraham Accords and argues that these developments further support the argument about Israel’s previous and continuing role in the regional order.
Salafi Politics amid the Chaos: Revolution at Home and Revolution Abroad?
Authors: Resta Valeria , Cavatorta Francesco
Published: January 2024

This chapter investigates the foreign policy outlooks and orientations of Salafi political parties in Kuwait and the new Salafi parties that emerged in Tunisia and Egypt following the 2011 uprisings. Although scholars have increasingly focused on political Salafism, the foreign policy agendas of these groups have been largely neglected. By closely analysing the political platforms and party agendas of Salafi parties in Tunisia, Egypt, and Kuwait, this chapter argues that unlike Jihadi Salafis, Salafi parties have reconciled pan-Islamist sentiment and notions of Islamic unity with acceptance of the nation state and the international system. Although the authors identify variation among the foreign policy agendas of Salafi political parties on a number of issues, they conclude that political Salafis are ‘pragmatic political entrepreneurs’ that are also affected by some ‘inclusion-moderation’ dynamics.
Cinematic Ethics and a World of Cinemas: A Reason to Believe in this World’s History in Hu Jie’s Wo sui si qu/Though I am Gone
Authors: Martin-Jones David
Published: January 2024

This chapter critically reflects upon the Deleuzian notion of cinematic ethics, and that it provides a reason to believe in this world. Through close analysis of the Chinese documentary Wo sui si qu/Though I am Gone (Hu Jie, 2008) – a film in which Deleuzian time-images are used to reconsider history much as Deleuze considered typical of modern political or minor cinema – the sticking point of Deleuze’s cinematic ethics is revealed: namely, in a world of cinemas broadly conceived it is not this world which a cinematic ethics asks us to rejuvenate our belief in, but this world’s history (or rather, in the complexities of a world history of which we can only glimpse a fraction through cinema).
Introduction
Authors: Yelenevskaya Maria , Protassova Ekaterina
Published: January 2024

This volume presents a comprehensive examination of Russian-speaking migrants outside metropolitan areas. Beyond analysing interview transcripts, contributors scrutinize pragmalinguistic dimensions, investigating the dynamics between speakers and listeners, discerning explicit and implicit intentions, and unravelling potential meanings in specific socio-communicative contexts. The case studies offer insights into the authentic settings of interviewees’ domestic lives. Whether studying in-group or out-group members, authors adeptly capture culturally specific meanings. The book highlights the interplay between participants’ Russianness and elements from their host societies, and endeavours to identify enduring facets of Russian culture that persist across generations of diasporans, consciously or unconsciously transferred despite immersion into new environments. The volume amplifies the voices of migrants, elevating them to active research participants with agency and answering the pertinent questions for immigrant communities worldwide. It explores how contemporary mobility and superdiversity reshape perceptions of home in distant locales, investigates whether migrants experience a simultaneous sense of belonging to both their homeland and adopted country, and considers how this impacts their sense of rootedness, and how evolving visual mediums and online communication modes influence narratives.
Constructing Home away from Home: The Case of the Interwar Russian Refugees and the Post-Soviet Migrants in Greece*
Authors: Kaurinkoski Kira
Published: January 2024

The Russian Revolution set ‘a whole empire walking’ (Gatrell 1999). The disintegration of the Soviet Union provoked even larger flows of migrants. In the case of the interwar Russian refugees, return was hardly possible. The situation and the possibilities of the post-Soviet migrants were different: the end of the Cold War, new technologies, globalisation, and the ease of travel enabled and facilitated contacts of many sorts. Nevertheless, there are also similarities. In both cases, the old home country was no more. In the places where they settled, the migrants had to build new homes and lives. This paper examines how the interwar Russian refugees and the post-Soviet migrants in Greece have addressed the question of homemaking in the context of migration and exile. How can one break with the past and at the same time ensure continuity? The paper is based on the author’s intermittent field research in Greece, between 2001 and 2016, as well as secondary sources.
Russian Objects and Russian Homes: A Sociological Reflection on Homes and Migration
Authors: Pechurina Anna
Published: January 2024

The study of domestic space and material culture in relation to Russian migrants’ homes examines the connection between a sense of belonging, home-making practices and what might be thought of as specifically ‘Russian’ objects, such as stereotypical souvenirs or objects that visually signify the home country or hometown. Recent research on home and migration defines it as multidimensional and changeable concept that involves variety of everyday practices, social relationships and the meanings and symbolism of material objects. The category of ‘diasporic objects’ is used to describe ongoing relationships that migrants develop and maintain with their country of origin and a current place of residence, or with ‘home(s)’ and ‘away’. An additional dimension to the meanings of some of the objects refers to ‘sticky’ aspect of relationships maintained between people and places, the ones that involve more difficult and challenging feelings and emotions. The personal autoethnographic reflections may help to reveal and contribute to a better understanding of the home more generally as something in flux, subject to constant change, and open to multiple meanings – as something definitively unfinished.
Language as a Home Tradition: Linguistic Practices of the Russian Community in San Javier, Uruguay
Authors: Pilipenko Gleb
Published: January 2024

This chapter deals with the language situation of the members of the first Russian migration wave to Uruguay and their descendants. These were followers of the religious movement “New Israel” who settled in San Javier in 1913–1914. The field research was conducted in 2015 and 2018 with the purpose of investigating connections between everyday life, the host society’s attitudes to the newcomers and language use (dialect and contact features of Russian). Many members of the community are dispersed in the rural areas and live on ranches. Members of the young generation do not speak Russian anymore. The middle-aged and the elderly people’s speech demonstrates heavy interference with Spanish, numerous borrowings, metalinguistic comments, reiteration constructions, pauses and code-switching. Russian is no longer taught in elementary schools. Cultural organizations and centres of Russian culture in San Javier (Centro cultural Maximo Gorki) and Montevideo serve as homes for the Russian language when meetings of co-ethnics and social and cultural events are organized and play a role in the maintenance and preservation of the Russian language. “Old timers” are joined by new immigrants then. The language use in the participants’ homes and in the cultural centres includes artefacts, which relate to Russia.
Russian-speaking Immigrant Women in Turkey: Histories of Moving ‘Homes’ and ‘Homelands’
Authors: Şahin Liaisan
Published: January 2024

This chapter conveys the initial findings of an ongoing study focused on life experience and perceptions of “home” and “homeland” among women from former Soviet countries who migrated to Turkey for different reasons, mostly because of marriage with a Turkish man. In-depth interviews conducted with 12 Russian-speaking women of various ethnic origin and from various former Soviet countries showed that the higher the respondents’ level of satisfaction with themselves and their lives, and the closer their ties with Turkish society, the more they feel comfortable in relation to both their homeland and Turkey, and the less they suffer from nostalgia. The study also showed that the interviewees’ attitudes towards contemporary communication and the flow of daily information about their homeland vary. For some, new communication technologies can even aggravate their homesickness, making them feel strongly that they remain outside the life of their homeland. Another important finding of the study is that the interviewees consider their domestic space as the place they can freely and actively transform. Consequently, the active attitude emerges as the most important element of the concept of “being at home.”
A Journey to a New Home: Language, Identity and Material Culture
Authors: Aronin Larissa
Published: January 2024

The turbulent beginning of the 20th century and the global transformations taking place in its last decades, and which continued into the next century, made millions of people leave their birthplace and find abode in other countries. The causes and trajectories of relocation vary; it can be voluntary, as in the case of immigration or moving for work and study, or involuntary as with refugees or those escaping adverse events in their home countries. Whatever the reasons for leaving their original home, people attempt to find a place where they can feel safe and sustain and express their identity: a new home. Moving to another country does not only imply bodies crossing the border, but also carrying language, culture and things along, and, necessarily, making space for them in the host country. This chapter offers theoretical considerations on the present-day concept of home as it refers to emigrants via the concepts of dominant language constellations and multilingual materialities of home. It also highlights the interaction between cognition, language and material world in one’s home which preserves, underlines, and expresses the identity of an emigrant.
Taiwan New Cinema at Film Festivals
Authors: Tsai Beth
Published: January 2024

This book offers accounts of the film festival’s role in both commissioning and exhibiting films, examining film aesthetics influenced by directors’ diasporic identities, moving across different regions and nations, such as Malaysia, France, Japan, Myanmar, and Taiwan, to complement the scope of transnational cinema. The author adopts a revisionist approach to Taiwan New Cinema (first wave, 1982–89; the second wave, 1990 onward) and considers New Cinema carried the legacy of taiyupian (commercial Taiwanese-language cinema, 1955–80) with their aspirations and appropriations of world cinema, while simultaneously argue the New Cinema movement and its voices of resistance have been extended by immigrant filmmakers that were initially excluded from the designation of “Taiwanese.” Apart from recognizing the marginalized voices, the book spotlights the productive role women have played as discursive mediators of the cultural imaginary of the nation, the auteur, and the art of slow cinema.
Yul Brynner
Authors: Paasonen Susanna
Published: January 2024

Explores the cinematic appeal and star persona of Yul Brynner Examines Brynner’s star image and performance style over his whole career through rich archival sources Explores the racial casting policies of Hollywood in transition Analyses the role of physical presence and bodily gesture in film performance Yul Brynner’s star image was built on cosmopolitan flair, shifting tales of origin, baldness, as well as film roles as foreign rulers, freedom fighters, army officials, gunslingers and secret agents of ever-shifting ethnicities. Whether Cossacks, marauding pirate captains or cross-dressing torch singers, Brynner’s characters were invariably stand-outs. This book explores his exotic and masculine star image and its transformations from lavish Orientalist Hollywood spectacles of the 1950s to 1960s European co-productions, 1970s action films and science fiction. Extensively researched, it covers the actor’s entire film catalogue, his rumoured yet unrealised projects, television work and stage appearances, as well as their international media reception. Thematically organised, the book inquires after racial casting politics, the construction of sex symbols, Brynner’s humanitarian work, and the recurring poses and gestures that characterised his performance style.
Species Cleansing: The Rhetoric of Rat Control in the People’s Republic of Poland 1945–1956
Authors: Jarzębowska Gabriela
Published: January 2024

This chapter examines the rhetoric regarding a broad scale rat extermination program in Poland which took place in 1945-1956. Although the intensification of rodent control campaigns at the turn of the 1950s can be explained by a sharp increase of rat population during the war period, the co-occurrence of the anti-rat propaganda with political purges, as well as strategic and rhetorical resemblances between these two operations, call for a closer attention. The chapter argues that the nature of this campaign was political and clearly linked to the consolidation of the Stalinist regime and demonstrates that the regime's combatant logic, centered around chasing enemies in order to consolidate the nation around the Party, soon began to incorporate non-human actors as well. As creatures posing considerable threat both to public health (vectors of disease) and national economy ("crafty thieves") rats can be perceived as embodiments of challenges to be confronted by the state devastated during the war. Propaganda materials from Stalinist times explicitly emphasize the presence of rat populations in neglected areas as a touchstone of backwardness and underdevelopment, making rats (or rather, their absence) a gauge of modernization processes. This chapter highlights how that the campaign had deeper historical and ideological foundations and ramifications. The connection between discursive mechanisms of modernity (including metaphors of purification) and the militarized narrative has already been identified in genocide studies and, most notably, in Holocaust studies and, as proposed here, a similar mechanism may be at play in debates over environmental management. The anti-rat program in Poland has deeper underpinnings that exceed strictly genocidal logic and should be considered as an inseparable component of modernity, specifically its combatant and utilitarian concepts of human relations with a non-human world.
Adapting Turgenev’s Novel as a Pastorale: Avdotya Smirnova’s Fathers and Sons
Authors: Smith Alexandra
Published: January 2024

Ivan Turgenev’s novel Fathers and Sons has been adapted into five films and a four-part television series produced by Avdotya Smirnova in 2008. The chapter applies the concept of ‘communicative space’ developed in the works of Boris Gasparov and Yuri Lotman to Smirnova’s adaptation of Fathers and Sons. Smirnova moves away from the Soviet vision of the novel. She sees the novel as a family chronicle: ‘Turgenev’s novel is not political, as is commonly believed, but antipolitical’. The chapter analyses Smirnova’s attempt to bring Turgenev’s novel closer to the post-Soviet audience by creating a nostalgic mood.
Forged Network Narratives: Tolstoy’s The Forged Coupon and a Cycle of Adaptations in World Cinema
Authors: Dolgopolov Greg
Published: January 2024

The Forged Coupon was Tolstoy’s last publication – the culmination of a lifetime’s work, a spiritual and conceptual legacy that would be passed forward and onward in an ongoing cycle of crisscrossing paths in much the same way as the relay structure of the novella. The Forged Coupon is remarkably cinematic, and it has been adapted into a multitude of films from different countries. The chapter examines the story’s major cinematic adaptations: not all these variations directly attribute Tolstoy’s tale, but the distinctive narrative structure of the Forged Coupon has given rise to the complex ‘network narratives’ identified by David Bordwell as becoming a common ‘dominant principle of offbeat storytelling’. The chapter surveys the legacy of Tolstoy’s final story and its phenomenal impact on international cinema narratives.
Exoheliotrope: Metaphor in the Texts of Astrobiology and Deconstruction
Authors: M. Mastrogiovanni Armando
Published: January 2024

This article undertakes a deconstructive reading of astrobiology’s search for extraterrestrial life. Taking its lead from Derrida’s ‘White Mythology’, it explores ‘metaphor in the text of astrobiology’—and includes within the astrobiological ‘text’ not only scientific publications and work on astrobiology in the philosophy of science, but also ‘life detection technologies’. I situate astrobiology in the tradition of a metaphysical analogy that goes back through the enlightenment and early modern astronomy to the ancient Atomists’ notion of the ‘plurality of worlds’. This analogy, which constitutes an identification of life with being and therefore serves as the conceptual basis for the notion that life must exist on other worlds, experiences a mutation in the middle of the twentieth century when molecular biology refigures life in terms of a scriptural metaphor as text. The result is an aporia whose logic Derrida formalised in ‘White Mythology’.
Analysis of risk factors and hypoxic-ischemic damage consequences to central nervous system in newborns
Authors: Morozov A. M. , Sorokovikova T. V. , Aleksanyan K. A. , Salmanova K. G. , Pichugova A. N.
Published: January 2024

Perinatal damage to the central nervous system (CNS) is currently a pressing issue within the structure of neonatal pathology, leading to the development of various neurological complications and causing disability and death.

The purpose. Identifying risk factors contributing to perinatal third-degree hypoxic-ischemic damage of the CNS in newborns and to examine the data of clinical, laboratory and instrumental studies.

Results. In the course of this study, it was revealed that the leading syndromes at the birth of the majority of infants from the main group were the suppression syndrome and the syndrome of muscular hypotension. The highest proportion among extragenital pathologies was represented by infectious diseases of various etiologies, which the newborns’ mothers had suffered during pregnancy and childbirth. Most commonly reported pregnancy complications in mothers of the main group were anemia, fetal bladder abnormality and premature rupture of fetal membranes. Neurosonography revealed subependymal cysts, signs of cerebral ischemia and ventriculomegaly as most сommonly visualized abnormalities.

Conclusions. It was established during the study that the primary risk factors for the development of hypoxic-ischemic damage to the CNS were complications during pregnancy and infectious diseases of various etiologies, which the mothers had suffered during pregnancy and childbirth.
Productivity and economic feasibility of cultivated forage and food crops in the central highlands of Ethiopia
Authors: Kebede Gezahagn , Faji Mulisa , Feyissa Fekede , Mengistu Gezahegn , Kehaliew Aemiro , Mohammed Kedir , Dejene Mesfin , Geleti Diriba , Minta Muluneh , Balehegn Mulubrhan , Boote Kenneth J. , Dubeux Jose Carlos B. , Adesogan Adegbola T.
Published: January 2024

The study was conducted to evaluate the yield performance of improved forage and food crops and to estimate the profitability of fodder and food crops in Holetta and Ejere areas, central highlands of Ethiopia during 2019 and 2020 cropping seasons. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications and evaluated two annual forage crops, two perennial forage crops, and two cereal food crops. Data on herbage dry matter (DM) yield was collected for forage crops while straw and grain yields were measured for food crops. Partial budget analysis was made to evaluate the economic feasibility of forage and food crops production. The result revealed that the herbage DM yield varied (P<0.05) at each location during each production year and combined over years and between the two locations. The straw and grain yields of food crops also varied (P<0.05) between the two production years and locations. The nutritive values of herbage and straw yields of forage and food crops differed (P<0.05) for all measured parameters. The crude protein and in-vitro dry matter digestibility of perennial forage crops were relatively higher than annual forage crops and straw of food crops. The partial budget analysis result indicated that the gross revenue (GR) and net return (NR) obtained from food crops were the highest followed by annual forage crops while the least was recorded from perennial forage crops during the first year of production. However, perennial forage crops produced the higher GR and NR than food crops and annual forage crops in the second year of production. In the second year of production, among the forage crops, Desho grass generated 308, 293, 287, and 232% while Rhodes grass generated 99, 92, 90, and 62% more NR than wheat, sole oat, barley, and oat/vetch mixtures, respectively. The benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of perennial forage crops was the lowest (3.0 for Desho and 1.6 for Rhodes) in the first year of production but the ratio was the highest (17.2 for Desho and 8.6 for Rhodes) in the second year of production. This confirms the better economic feasibility of perennial forage crops as they can be maintained using minimal management cost once they have been established.
C5L2 CRISPR KO enhances dental pulp stem cell-mediated dentinogenesis via TrkB under TNFα-induced inflammation
Authors: Irfan Muhammad , Marzban Hassan , Chung Seung
Published: January 2024

Background and Objectives: Dental caries is one of the most common human pathological conditions resulting from the invasion of bacteria into the dentin. Current treatment options are limited. In many cases, endodontic therapy leads to permanent pulp tissue loss. Dentin–pulp complex regeneration involves dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) that differentiate into odontoblast-like cells under an inflammatory context. However, limited information is available on how DPSC differentiation processes are affected under inflammatory environments. We identified the crucial role of complement C5a and its receptor C5aR in the inflammation-induced odontoblastic DPSC differentiation.

Methodology: Here, we further investigated the role of a second and controversial C5a receptor, C5L2, in this process and explored the underlying mechanism. Human DPSCs were examined during 7-, 10-, and 14-day odontogenic differentiation treated with TNFα, C5L2 CRISPR, and tyrosine receptor kinase B (TrkB) antagonist [cyclotraxin-B (CTX-B)].

Results: Our data demonstrate that C5L2 CRISPR knockout (KO) enhances mineralization in TNFα-stimulated differentiating DPSCs. We further confirmed that C5L2 CRISPR KO significantly enhances dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP) and dentin matrix protein-1 (DMP-1) expression after 14-day odontoblastic DPSC differentiation, and treatment with CTX-B abolished the TNFα/C5L2 CRISPR KO-induced DSPP and DMP-1 increase, suggesting TrkB’s critical role in this process.

Conclusion and Key applications: Our data suggest a regulatory role of C5L2 and TrkB in the TNFα-induced odontogenic DPSC differentiation. This study may provide a useful tool to understand the mechanisms of the role of inflammation in dentinogenesis that is required for successful DPSC engineering strategies.
An amplicon-based nanopore sequencing workflow for rapid tracking of avian influenza outbreaks, France, 2020-2022
Authors: Croville Guillaume , Walch Mathilda , Sécula Aurélie , Lèbre Laetitia , Silva Sonia , Filaire Fabien , Guérin Jean-Luc
Published: January 2024

During the recent avian influenza epizootics that occurred in France in 2020/21 and 2021/22, the virus was so contagiousness that it was impossible to control its spread between farms. The preventive slaughter of millions of birds consequently was the only solution available. In an effort to better understand the spread of avian influenza viruses (AIVs) in a rapid and innovative manner, we established an amplicon-based MinION sequencing workflow for the rapid genetic typing of circulating AIV strains. An amplicon-based MinION sequencing workflow based on a set of PCR primers targeting primarily the hemagglutinin gene but also the entire influenza virus genome was developed. Thirty field samples from H5 HPAIV outbreaks in France, including environmental samples, were sequenced using the MinION MK1C. A real-time alignment of the sequences with MinKNOW software allowed the sequencing run to be stopped as soon as enough data were generated. The consensus sequences were then generated and a phylogenetic analysis was conducted to establish links between the outbreaks. The whole sequence of the hemagglutinin gene was obtained for the 30 clinical samples of H5Nx HPAIV belonging to clade 2.3.4.4b. The consensus sequences comparison and the phylogenetic analysis demonstrated links between some outbreaks. While several studies have shown the advantages of MinION for avian influenza virus sequencing, this workflow has been applied exclusively to clinical field samples, without any amplification step on cell cultures or embryonated eggs. As this type of testing pipeline requires only a short amount of time to link outbreaks or demonstrate a new introduction, it could be applied to the real-time management of viral epizootics.
Strength distribution of cemented waste rock backfill: a similarity simulation experiment
Authors: Gao Zhong , Huang Mingqing , Zhan Shulin , Tan Wei
Published: January 2024

Backfill of cemented waste rock into underground mined-out areas is an effective way to eliminate solid wastes and potential hazards in mines. To understand the backfill strength distribution law throughout the stope, similarity simulation experiments were conducted for direct-irrigating cemented waste rock backfill, and OpenCV and neural network were employed to analyze particle segregation and the spatial distribution of backfill strength. Results show that distinct gravitational segregation leads to an uneven and heterogeneous distribution of natural graded waste rocks in a similar model. Backfill strength near sidewalls and bottom of the model surpasses that of other areas. In the vertical direction, the average backfill strength increases with depth, ranging from 1.15 MPa at the topmost layer to 1.91 MPa at the bottommost layer. Horizontally, the average backfill strength near model boundaries is consistently higher than that at the model center, irrespective of the layer depth and orientation. Neural network prediction on spatial backfill strength proves reliable, exhibiting an average relative error of 4.12%, compared to the traditional surface fitting with a 10.20% error. Verification tests affirm the capability of the neural network model to accurately predict the anisotropic and nonlinear distribution of backfill strength in a large stope.
Comparing subject-specific mastery motivation in Hungary and the Republic of Moldova
Authors: Calchei Marcela , Amukune Stephen , Józsa Krisztián
Published: January 2024

Research on mastery motivation has documented its importance in personality development and school achievement, yet there is little research that examines school subject-specific motivation, specifically cross-cultural research. The objective of this study was to investigate the school subject-specific nature of mastery motivation in the context of middle and secondary school grades 5, 7, and 9 in Hungary (N= 1121) and Moldova (N= 939) in Reading, Math, Science, English as a foreign language, Music, and Art. The findings indicated that subject-specific mastery motivation (SSMM) domains in Hungary and Moldova have different paths across grade levels. In Hungary, there was a constant decreasing trajectory across all grades in all domains with the exception of English, whereas in Moldova, the decrease was identified in Math, English, Music, and Art between the fifth and the seventh grades but not between the seventh and the ninth grades, while Reading mastery motivation levels remained stable. Upon conducting a cross-cultural comparison of SSMM levels across the countries and grades, we identified only one statistically significant difference in science mastery motivation. The study attempts to explain the absence of cross-cultural differences not only through a conventional lens focusing on the unique characteristics of individual educational systems but also by considering the cultural values associated with each country.
Divergent roles of the regulatory subunits of class IA PI3K
Authors: Kim Cho-Won , Lee Junsik M. , Park Sang Won
Published: January 2024

The regulatory subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), known as p85, is a critical component in the insulin signaling pathway. Extensive research has shed light on the diverse roles played by the two isoforms of p85, namely p85α and p85β. The gene pik3r1 encodes p85α and its variants, p55α and p50α, while pik3r2 encodes p85β. These isoforms exhibit various activities depending on tissue types, nutrient availability, and cellular stoichiometry. Whole-body or liver-specific deletion of pik3r1 have shown to display increased insulin sensitivity and improved glucose homeostasis; however, skeletal muscle-specific deletion of p85α does not exhibit any significant effects on glucose homeostasis. On the other hand, whole-body deletion of pik3r2 shows improved insulin sensitivity with no significant impact on glucose tolerance. Meanwhile, liver-specific double knockout of pik3r1 and pik3r2 leads to reduced insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance. In the context of obesity, upregulation of hepatic p85α or p85β has been shown to improve glucose homeostasis. However, hepatic overexpression of p85α in the absence of p50α and p55α results in increased insulin resistance in obese mice. p85α and p85β have distinctive roles in cancer development. p85α acts as a tumor suppressor, but p85β promotes tumor progression. In the immune system, p85α facilitates B cell development, while p85β regulates T cell differentiation and maturation. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the distinct functions attributed to p85α and p85β, highlighting their significance in various physiological processes, including insulin signaling, cancer development, and immune system regulation.