bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Thymidine Phosphorylase Deficiency or Inhibition Preserves Cardiac Function in Mice With Acute Myocardial Infarction
Authors: Du Lili , Yue Hong , Rorabaugh Boyd R. , Li Oliver Q. Y. , DeHart Autumn R. , Toloza‐Alvarez Gretel , Hong Liang , Denvir James , Thompson Ellen , Li Wei
Published: March 2023

Background

Ischemic cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Current pharmacologic therapy has multiple limitations, and patients remain symptomatic despite maximal medical therapies. Deficiency or inhibition of thymidine phosphorylase (TYMP) in mice reduces thrombosis, suggesting that TYMP could be a novel therapeutic target for patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Methods and Results

A mouse AMI model was established by ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery in C57BL/6J wild‐type and TYMP‐deficient (
Tymp

−/−

) mice. Cardiac function was monitored by echocardiography or Langendorff assay. TYMP‐deficient hearts had lower baseline contractility. However, cardiac function, systolic left ventricle anterior wall thickness, and diastolic wall strain were significantly greater 4 weeks after AMI compared with wild‐type hearts. TYMP deficiency reduced microthrombus formation after AMI. TYMP deficiency did not affect angiogenesis in either normal or infarcted myocardium but increased arteriogenesis post‐AMI. TYMP deficiency enhanced the mobilization of bone marrow stem cells and promoted mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) proliferation, migration, and resistance to inflammation and hypoxia. TYMP deficiency increased the number of larger MSCs and decreased matrix metalloproteinase‐2 expression, resulting in a high homing capability. TYMP deficiency induced constitutive AKT phosphorylation in MSCs but reduced expression of genes associated with retinoid‐interferon‐induced mortality‐19, a molecule that enhances cell death. Inhibition of TYMP with its selective inhibitor, tipiracil, phenocopied TYMP deficiency, improved post‐AMI cardiac function and systolic left ventricle anterior wall thickness, attenuated diastolic stiffness, and reduced infarct size.

Conclusions

This study demonstrated that TYMP plays an adverse role after AMI. Targeting TYMP may be a novel therapy for patients with AMI.
Deciding Whether to Take Sacubitril/Valsartan: How Cardiologists and Patients Discuss Out‐of‐Pocket Costs
Authors: Rao Birju R. , Akrobetu Dennis J. , Dickert Neal W. , Nguyen Thuy‐Vi , Davis J. Kelly , Campagna Ada , Mitchell Andrea R. , Sharma Anu , Speight Candace D. , Barks Mary Carol , Farley Samantha , Gutterman Sophia , Santanam Taruni , Ubel Peter A.
Published: March 2023

Background

Out‐of‐pocket costs have significant implications for patients with heart failure and should ideally be incorporated into shared decision‐making for clinical care. High out‐of‐pocket cost is one potential reason for the slow uptake of newer guideline‐directed medical therapies for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. This study aims to characterize patient–cardiologist discussions involving out‐of‐pocket costs associated with sacubitril/valsartan during the early postapproval period.

Methods and Results

We conducted content analysis on 222 deidentified transcripts of audio‐recorded outpatient encounters taking place between 2015 and 2018 in which cardiologists (n=16) and their patients discussed whether to initiate, continue, or discontinue sacubitril/valsartan. In the 222 included encounters, 100 (45%) contained discussions about cost. Cost was discussed in a variety of contexts: when sacubitril/valsartan was initiated, not initiated, continued, and discontinued. Of the 97 cost conversations analyzed, the majority involved isolated discussions about insurance coverage (64/97 encounters; 66%) and few addressed specific out‐of‐pocket costs or affordability (28/97 encounters; 29%). Discussion of free samples of sacubitril/valsartan was common (52/97 encounters; 54%), often with no discussion of a longer‐term plan for addressing cost.

Conclusions

Although cost conversations were somewhat common in patient–cardiologist encounters in which sacubitril/valsartan was discussed, these conversations were generally superficial, rarely addressing affordability or cost‐value judgments. Cardiologists frequently provided patients with a course of free sacubitril/valsartan samples without a plan to address the cost after the samples ran out.
Drug‐Coated Balloon and Drug‐Eluting Stent Safety in Patients With Femoropopliteal and Severe Chronic Kidney Disease
Authors: Hanna Jonathan , Smolderen Kim G. , Castro‐Dominguez Yulanka , Romain Gaëlle , Lee Megan , Turner Jeffrey , Mena‐Hurtado Carlos
Published: March 2023

Background

Patients with severe‐stage chronic kidney disease (CKD) were excluded from femoropopliteal disease trials evaluating drug‐coated balloons (DCBs) and drug‐eluting stents (DESs) versus plain balloon angioplasty (POBA) and bare metal stents (BMSs). We examined the interaction between CKD status and device type for the association with 24‐month all‐cause mortality and major amputation risk.

Methods and Results

We studied patients undergoing femoropopliteal interventions (September 2016–December 2018) from Medicare‐linked VQI (Vascular Quality Initiative) registry data. We compared outcomes for: (1) early‐stage CKD (stages 1–3) receiving DCB/DES, (2) early‐stage CKD receiving POBA/BMS, (3) severe‐stage (4 and 5) CKD receiving DCB/DES, and (4) severe‐stage CKD receiving POBA/BMS. We studied 8799 patients (early‐stage CKD: 94%; severe‐stage: 6%). DCB/DES use was 57% versus 51% in patients with early‐stage versus severe‐stage CKD. Twenty‐four‐month mortality risk for patients with early‐stage CKD receiving DCB/DES (reference) was 21% versus 28% (hazard ratio [HR], 1.47 [95% CI, 1.31–1.65]) for those receiving POBA/BMS; patients with severe‐stage CKD: those receiving DCB/DES had a 49% (HR, 2.61 [95% CI, 2.06–3.31]) mortality risk versus 52% (HR, 3.64 [95% CI, 2.91–4.55]) for those receiving POBA/BMS (interaction
P
<0.001). Adjusted analyses attenuated these results. For severe‐stage CKD, DCB/DES versus POBA/BMS mortality risk was not significant at 24 months (post hoc comparison
P
=0.06) but was higher for the POBA/BMS group at 18 months (post hoc
P
<0.05). Patients with early‐stage CKD receiving DCB/DES had the lowest 24‐month amputation risk (6%), followed by 11% for early‐stage CKD‐POBA/BMS, 15% for severe‐stage CKD‐DCB/DES, and 16% for severe‐stage CKD‐POBA/BMS (interaction
P
<0.001). DCB/DES versus POBA/BMS amputation rates in patients with severe‐stage CKD did not differ (post hoc
P
=0.820).

Conclusions

DCB/DES versus POBA/BMS use in patients with severe‐stage CKD was associated with lower mortality and no difference in amputation outcomes.
GABAergic Involvement in Selective Attention
Authors: Faßbender Kaja , Baumert Philine M. , Wintergerst Maximilian W. M. , Terheyden Jan H. , Aslan Behrem , M. Harmening Wolf , Ettinger Ulrich
Published: March 2023

Animals need to cope with abundant sensory information, and one strategy is to selectively direct attention to only the most relevant part of the environment. Although the cortical networks of selective attention have been studied extensively, its underlying neurotransmitter systems, especially the role of the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), remain less well understood. Increased GABAA receptor activity because of administration of benzodiazepines such as lorazepam is known to slow reactions in cognitive tasks. However, there is limited knowledge about GABAergic involvement in selective attention. Particularly, it is unknown whether increased GABAA receptor activity slows the build-up of selectivity or generally widens attentional focus. To address this question, participants (n = 29) received 1 mg lorazepam and placebo (within-subjects, double-blind) and performed an extended version of the flanker task. The spatial distribution of selective attention was studied by systematically manipulating number and position of incongruent flankers; the temporal build-up was characterized using delta plots. An online task version was presented to an independent, unmedicated sample (n = 25) to verify task effects. Under placebo and in the unmedicated sample, only the number of incongruent flankers, but not their position, influenced RTs. Incongruent flankers impaired RTs more strongly under lorazepam than placebo, especially when adjacent to the target. Delta plot analyses of RT showed that this effect persisted even when participants reacted slowly, indicating that lorazepam-induced impairments in selective attention do not result from simply slowed down build-up of selectivity. Instead, our data indicate that increased GABAA receptor activity widens the attentional focus.
Domain-Specific Word Embeddings with Structure Prediction
Authors: Lassner David , Brandl Stephanie , Baillot Anne , Nakajima Shinichi
Published: March 2023

Complementary to finding good general word embeddings, an important question for representation learning is to find dynamic word embeddings, for example, across time or domain. Current methods do not offer a way to use or predict information on structure between sub-corpora, time or domain and dynamic embeddings can only be compared after post-alignment. We propose novel word embedding methods that provide general word representations for the whole corpus, domain- specific representations for each sub-corpus, sub-corpus structure, and embedding alignment simultaneously. We present an empirical evaluation on New York Times articles and two English Wikipedia datasets with articles on science and philosophy. Our method, called Word2Vec with Structure Prediction (W2VPred), provides better performance than baselines in terms of the general analogy tests, domain-specific analogy tests, and multiple specific word embedding evaluations as well as structure prediction performance when no structure is given a priori. As a use case in the field of Digital Humanities we demonstrate how to raise novel research questions for high literature from the German Text Archive.
Why Does Surprisal From Larger Transformer-Based Language Models Provide a Poorer Fit to Human Reading Times?
Authors: Oh Byung-Doh , Schuler William
Published: March 2023

This work presents a linguistic analysis into why larger Transformer-based pre-trained language models with more parameters and lower perplexity nonetheless yield surprisal estimates that are less predictive of human reading times. First, regression analyses show a strictly monotonic, positive log-linear relationship between perplexity and fit to reading times for the more recently released five GPT-Neo variants and eight OPT variants on two separate datasets, replicating earlier results limited to just GPT-2 (Oh et al., 2022). Subsequently, analysis of residual errors reveals a systematic deviation of the larger variants, such as underpredicting reading times of named entities and making compensatory overpredictions for reading times of function words such as modals and conjunctions. These results suggest that the propensity of larger Transformer-based models to ‘memorize’ sequences during training makes their surprisal estimates diverge from humanlike expectations, which warrants caution in using pre-trained language models to study human language processing.
The Planning Daemon: Future Desire and Communal Production
Authors: Grünberg Max
Published: March 2023

Within the planning discourse two poles have materialised over the last decades: a participatory ideal guided by substantive rationality, opposed to an algorithmic governmentality subordinated to instrumental reason. This rift within socialist thought is also observable when it comes to the discovery of needs. The paper understands this discovery procedure primarily as a forecasting problem and demonstrates how many authors dedicated to a participatory planning process call for consumers to write down their desires in the form of wish lists. As a response to this epistemically questionable discovery procedure, the state of the art in capitalist demand-forecasting at enterprises like Amazon is presented, where machine-learning algorithms excel at modelling interrelated time series on a global level by extrapolating demand patterns in real-time. The paper closes with a proposal to reconfigure this predictive apparatus for socialist ends and raises questions concerned with the political implications of centralising decision-making in black-box algorithms.
Rethinking Political Inclusion Beyond Moderation: Strategic Relational Pluralization in Tunisian Islamist Politics
Authors: Gana Alia , Sigillò Ester , Blanc Théo
Published: March 2023

This article explores the complex dynamics shaping the integration of the Tunisian Islamist party Ennahdha into the instituted political game. Drawing on a strategic relational approach, the analysis highlights the simultaneous, mutually reactive, and often conflicting relationships of Ennahdha party with three types of actors: political secular forces (allied or antagonist), political and religious Salafi actors, and faith-based associations. Based on extensive field research and 33 in-depth interviews conducted with key players involved, we propose to capture these dynamics at the macro (regime), meso (organizations), and micro levels, through the notion of strategic pluralization, by which we mean a reconfiguration of Ennahdha’s relations with various Islamic actors under the pressure of secular forces. Going beyond institutional-structural approaches and monolithic interpretations of the Islamist constellation, we argue that Ennahdha’s integration in relational economies has formed the basis of the party’s strategy to secure its political inclusion in the post-revolutionary scene.
‘The Zeal with which Christ was Inflamed’: The Irascible Power and Clerical Authority in the Writing of Pope Innocent III (r. 1198–1216)
Authors: Day Kirsty
Published: March 2023

The writing of Pope Innocent III (r. 1198–1216) contains multiple references to the irascible power of the human soul, the purpose of which was to repel evil. In Si dormiatis, Innocent’s sermon on the ideal priesthood, the violent emotional behaviour produced by the irascible power is proof that the priest was carrying out his office correctly. Analysis of the sermon in the context of Innocent’s own corpus, contemporary commentaries on ‘angry emotions’, and the intense period of ecclesiastical reform in which Innocent was writing reveals that Innocent intended this aggressive response to instantiate correct order, shore up clerical and papal authority over the spiritual, and protect this authority as the exclusive preserve of men.
Three new species of the Synapturanus rabus complex (Microhylidae: Otophryninae) in Colombia with a review of the genus Synapturanus
Authors: OSORNO-MUÑOZ MARIELA , GUTIÉRREZ-LAMUS DORIS L. , LYNCH JOHN , KEEFFE RACHEL , CAICEDO-PORTILLA JOSÉ RANCÉS , CHAN KIN NOK , TONINI JOÃO F. R. , DE SÁ RAFAEL O.
Published: March 2023

The Neotropical microhylid genus Synapturanus was represented by only three species for almost five decades and remains poorly known. Recently two new species were described from the Eastern Guyana Shield, one from Peru, and one from Brazil. We describe three new species related to the S. rabus species complex with known distribution only in western Amazonia, Colombia. The S. rabus complex consists of the smallest species in the genus; one of the new species is slightly larger than S. rabus and we describe its full osteology; the other two new species are smaller than S. rabus. We also described the call and larvae of one of the new species. We provide an updated diagnosis and review the available molecular and phenotypic data for the genus.
Biocompatible, Biodegradable, and Improved Fluorescent Silicon Quantum Dots for Zebrafish Imaging
Authors: Esthar Selvaraj , Dhivya Raman , Ramesh U. , Rajesh Jegathalaprathaban , Webster Thomas J. , Annaraj Jamespandi , Rajagopal Guruswamy
Published: March 2023

One of the greatest benefits of nanomedicine elucidated to date includes the non-invasive tracking and monitoring of living organisms by the selective uptake of harmless metallic nanoparticles. Several nanoscale probes have been employed for biomolecular imaging. Among them, fluorescent
nanoscale silicon materials have been recently established with a strong and safe potential for bioimaging and biosensing applications due to their bright fluorescence coupled with strong photostability, biocompatibility and negligible toxicity. Herein, we developed high-quality silicon nanomaterials
(4–5 nm; SiNPs) as biological fluorescent probes for bioimaging of living organisms through an easy aquatic synthesis method with a quantum yield of ∼8%. In this regard, we report that the presently synthesized SiNPs-based sensors/probes are attractive materials for solvent-based
fluorescence measurements and are biocompatible, non-toxic, highly photo-stable and pH stable. Most importantly, their fluorescence lifetime is much longer than that of native probes in living cells. Thus, these presently formulated SiNPs are improved fluorescent probes for in vivo
biological imaging in zebra fish embryos as well as numerous other living organisms and, thus, should be further studied.
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor 1 Facilitates the Effect of Macrophages on Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells Migration by Regulating the M1 Polarization
Authors: Zou Yuling , Chen Weiwei , Chen Jia , You Zhipeng
Published: March 2023

Purpose:To explore the impact of VEGF pathway on the M1 polarization and function of macrophages.Methods:VEGFR-knockdown macrophages were established by transfected with a shRNA. M1 macrophages were stimulated by LPS and IFN-γ, which was identified using the flow cytometry. Subsequently, M1 macrophages were treated with VEGF A, VEGF B, and PIGF, respectively. The expression level of iNOS, TNF-α, and IL-6 was detected utilizing RT-PCR. CD86 and iNOS level were checked by Western blot. The migration of HUVEC was evaluated by wound healing assay.Results:The percentage of F4/80+CD86+macrophages was significantly elevated by the transfection of shRNA, accompanied by a significantly upregulated expression of CD86 and iNOS. After the stimulation of LPS and IFN-γ, CD86 and iNOS was dramatically upregulated in both the Lv-NC group and Lv-shVEGFR1 group. IL-6 and iNOS levels were greatly declined in macrophages co-treated with LPS, IFN-γ, and PIGF. No marked alterations on the healing degree were noticed in HUVEC stimulated by the supernatant of LPS/IFN-γtreated macrophages, which was dramatically declined by the knockdown of VEGFR1.Conclusion:VEGFR1 facilitated the effect of macrophages on HUVEC migration by regulating the M1 polarization.
Evaluation the Therapeutic Effect of Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Chronic Mild Stress by Activating PEBP1-GPX4 Axis in Ferroptosis Using qRT-PCR, Fluorescence Microscope and Iron Determination Analysis
Authors: Geng Rui-jie , Dai Meng-shi , Wang Yuan , Li Hai-bin , Wang Hao , Huang Xiao
Published: March 2023

About 50% of depressive patients failed to respond to the treatment, mainly because of insufficient knowledge about the pathogenesis of depression. The current study’s objectives were to look into the potential role of ferroptosis in the etiology of depression in the mice model of chronic mild stress (CMS) and investigate the effects of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) on PEBP1-GPX4 axis controlled ferroptosis in mice. We grouped the male C57BL/6 mice randomly as follows: normal control (NC), CMS, and CMS+ADSCs. The second two groups’ animals were exposed to CMS for a total of six weeks. From the fourth week of modeling to the sixth week, cell therapy was given once a week. SPT, TST, FST, and NSFT behavior assessments were used to evaluate the depression-like behavior brought on by CMS. We selected the ferroptosis-related parameters, including the expression of GPX4, FTH1, ACSL4, and COX2. The amount of iron was determined in the hippocampus of the model organism by using the iron assay kit. By measuring the PEBP1 and ERK1/2 levels, as well as evaluating the expression of GFAP and IBA1, we assessed the biological function of astrocytes and microglia in mice hippocampus. It was found that six weeks after modeling in the CMS+ADSCs group, the mice’s depression-like behavior induced by CMS had significantly improved. We found a significantly changed level of genes, including GPX4, ACSL4, FTH1, COX2, ERK1/2, GFAP, PEBP1 and IBA1. Also, we found the differentiated level of total and ferric iron in our model mice. All these findings demonstrated that ADSCs had a therapeutic effect on CMS-induced depression-like behavior, probably by activating the PEBP1-GPX4 axis in ferroptosis. This anti-depression role of ADSCs may be associated with the activation of the PEBP1-GPX4 axis in ferroptosis, implying that regulation of ferroptosis is a crucial therapeutic target for depression.
Eucommia Ulmoides Extracts Exert Protective Effect on Osteoporosis in Rats
Authors: Yang Rongkun , Hu Guang , Jiang Taiping , Liu Zhaoming , Liu Zhilun , Li Chengxi , Guan Zhiyu
Published: March 2023

Our study proposed to probe the therapeutic effect of Eucommia ulmoides extracts (EUE) on osteoporosis in rats and the potential mechanism. Castrated osteoporosis model was constructed in rats, followed by orally administrated with 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg EUE per day for one and half
months, with sham animals as the negative control. The pathological conditions of femur were detected by HE staining, while the apoptotic state was evaluated by TUNEL. ELISA was utilized to measure the serum level of IL-6, calcium, and phosphorus. Significantly damaged bone trabecular structure
and aggravated apoptosis were observed in castrated osteoporosis model rats, which were markedly alleviated by the administration of EUE. Furthermore, compared to control, the serum level of phosphorus was greatly declined and the IL-6 level was dramatically increased in castrated osteoporosis
model rats, which were reversed by the administration of EUE. Taken together, EUE improved the pathological state of the femur tissue in osteoporosis rats by regulating the levels of phosphorus and IL-6 in serum and inhibited the apoptosis of the femur tissue cells, which effectively alleviated
the osteoporosis induced by estrogen deficiency.
Porous Carbon Nanospheres and Gold Nanocomposite-Based Electrochemical Aptasensor for the Detection of Streptomycin
Authors: Al Fatease Adel , Yin Junling , Guo Wenjuan , Umar Ahmad
Published: March 2023

A novel electrochemical aptasensor modified with the nanocomposite of porous carbon nanospheres and Au urchins as the signal amplification and immobility platforms for aptamer was successfully constructed for ultrasensitive and selective determination of streptomycin. The streptomycin
aptamer was fixed on the surface of the nanocomposite via the strong Au–S bond between Au urchins and aptamer. The target binding-induced conformational change of aptamer resulted in signal attenuation, which was expressed as “ΔI = IBSA − Istreptomycin.”
Based on the synergic signal amplification platform, the as-prepared aptamer-based sensor showed a wider linearity to streptomycin from 0.01 to 350 ng/mL with a low detection limit of 5.0 pg/mL under the optimized condition. Finally, the aptasensor was operated in milk and honey to detect
streptomycin. This study has provided a facile way to develop highly sensitive, effective and efficient aptamer-based electrochemical sensors for the detection of antibiotics at very low concentration.
Efficient, Explicatory, and Equitable: Why Qualitative Researchers Should Embrace AI, but Cautiously
Authors: Anis Shafiullah , French Juliana A.
Published: March 2023

Qualitative researchers, particularly those researching business and society topics, should embrace artificial intelligence (AI) to conduct efficient, explicatory, and equitable research but also exercise caution to avoid its pitfalls.
Defying Logic? Exploring the Multiple Network Pathways for Principals’ Institutional Logics
Authors: Bridwell-Mitchell E. N. , Yurkofsky Maxwell
Published: March 2023

Purpose: The increasing complexity of principals’ roles, including focusing both on learning outcomes and equity issues, requires having the flexibility to view novel problems through multiple lenses. In this article, we draw on institutional theory and social network research to understand the factors enabling and constraining the cognitive repertoire principals draw on when solving problems. Methods: The data come from a field simulation of how 52 principals respond to and seek advice for two problem scenarios. Along with principals’ personal and school characteristics, we examine how the characteristics of principals’ professional networks are related to their problem-solving and reliance on institutional logics. Findings: Some imprecision in the model estimates notwithstanding, in this exploratory study intended to illuminate potential patterns for study in future research. We find evidence that principals draw on four institutional logics when solving problems: democratic and family logics, bureaucratic logics, professional logics, and market logics. Principals’ reliance on these institutional logics appears to be related to the closeness of the colleagues in their advice networks as well as the nature of the problem they are solving. Implications: One key contribution is to research is to reveal the subtlety of the social sensemaking involved in interpreting and taking action in institutional environments. The results also highlight which network characteristics might help principals respond more flexibly to new and complex problems in institutional contexts, such as racial equity.
Compressive equivalent source method based on particle velocity measurements for near-field acoustic holography
Authors: Jing Wen-Qian , Liu Guang-Sheng
Published: March 2023

In order to solve the problems of spatial resolution limit and reduce the measurement cost, the compressive sensing theory and the sparse regularization are applied to the near-field acoustic holography (NAH) technology. In the previous works, the Equivalent Source Method (ESM)-based NAH has been extended in the sparsity framework by sampling the sound pressure signals sparsely. However, this Compressive ESM (CESM) mode would suffer from the low precision problem in the particle velocity reconstruction. To improve the reconstruction accuracy of the particle velocity, this paper is going to take the sparse particle velocity as the input of NAH to establish a new CESM mode based on the particle velocity measurement. In the meantime, the number of sampling points will be reduced greatly without losing the reconstruction accuracy when compared to the conventional ESM with the Tikhonov regularization based on the particle velocity measurement. Several numerical simulation experiments have been carried out to examine the performance of the proposed model. The results show that the proposed model delivers a satisfactory performance in the reconstruction of both the pressure and particle velocity on the condition that the number of sampling points is much smaller than that of the conventional ESM, and the proposed model performs much better than the existing CESM mode based on the sound pressure measurement especially when reconstructing the particle velocity.
Disparity in Educational Participation in the Lenses of Educational Returns and Family Background: Evidence from India
Authors: Ray Chaudhury Anjan , Sarkar Sreemanta , Sinha Madhabendra
Published: March 2023

The paper attempts to investigate the origin of inequality in educational participation across Indian social groups in terms of inequality in the expected monetary educational returns and other demand-side factors responsible behind educational decision. We employ the binary logit model of regression for the accomplishment of the objective of this study. In addition, we decompose the discrepancy in educational participation into ‘response effect’ and ‘attribute effect’ to examine whether there is any discrimination in educational participation against the members of the disadvantaged social groups.

JEL Classification: I21, I24, I26
Investigation of tensile property and strain distribution of drilled carbon fiber reinforced polyetheretherkrtone composites
Authors: Du Yu , Yang Tao , Liu Chang
Published: March 2023

Tool geometry can significantly influence hole quality during drilling of CFRP laminates, which has impact on mechanical properties. In this paper, drilling experiments with different drill bit geometries (twist, brad and dagger drill) are carried out on carbon fiber reinforced polyetheretherketone (CF/PEEK) composites. The influence of tool geometry on drilling temperature, thrust force, and hole-making quality are analyzed. The effect of machining-induced damage on the tensile properties of CF/PEEK composites with machined hole are investigated. The strain distributions around the holes were measured using digital image correlation (DIC). The results indicate that PEEK is softened by heat, the matrix is plastically deformed, and the edge burrs of the hole are curled and agglomerated. The best hole-making quality is obtained by brad drill. Compared to the tensile strength of undrilled laminates, the tensile strength of the laminates drilled with brad, dagger and twist drills decreases by 51.47%, 53.99% and 56.09%, respectively. The strain distribution of open-hole laminates with different machining-induced damage shows obvious difference. The fracture mode of matrix cracking, fiber splitting, delamination, fiber pull-out and debonding are mainly observed. The research results in this paper can provide reference for the optimization of CF/PEEK composites drilling process.
Regional disparities and drivers of carbon emissions in China: A temporal-spatial production-theoretical decomposition analysis
Authors: Liu Bingquan , Meng Lingqi , Nie Boyang , Shi Junxue , Li Yongqing
Published: March 2023

Given the increasing interest in keeping global warming below 1.5°C, carbon emissions reduction has become a hot topic. However, the regional disparities and the driving factors were not paid enough attention. This article established an indicator to describe the catch-up effort of different regions and proposed a temporal-spatial production-theoretical decomposition model using meta-frontier and global-frontier to capture the driving forces of the catch-up effort of different provinces to benchmarking provinces. The new model was applied to analyze China's regional carbon emissions during 2007 to 2018. The main findings from the empirical study are: (1) Overall, the regional carbon emissions and their spatial variation kept increasing during the study period. (2) Economic activity, potential carbon factor, carbon-abatement technology efficiency and regional carbon-abatement technology gap were the main drivers. (3) The improvement efforts of carbon-abatement, energy-saving technical efficiency, and potential energy intensity were the dominant factors inhibiting the growth of carbon emissions. (4) The improvement efforts of advanced technology and potential energy intensity helped to reduce the regional gaps, but their impacts varied considerably across regions in China.
Evangelical or Mainline? Doctrinal Similarity and Difference in Asian American Christianity: Sketching a Social-Practical Theory of Christian Doctrine
Authors: Chao David C.
Published: March 2023

This article takes Asian American Christianity to be an analytically productive religion for advancing a theory of Christian doctrine. This is in large part due to the trans-Pacific character of Asian American Christians who, by virtue of their racialization, make explicit the different social circumstances—from Anglo-European Christians—as well as shared ends in which Christian doctrinal commitments operate. Asian American Christians problematize the conventional wisdom assumed in the academic and public discourses concerning Christianity in the US. One of the primary set of categories in the discourses about Christianity in the US is the theological difference between evangelical and mainline Protestants. Moreover, these theological and doctrinal categories are taken to describe and define these two social groups of Christians. By centering empirical studies of Asian American Christian faith and practice, this article claims that doctrinal similarity and doctrinal difference, such as that between evangelical and mainline Protestants, do not simply explain social group similarity or difference as assumed by conventional wisdom. Instead, these Asian American case studies point to the need for a new theory of Christian doctrine that can explain the normative significance of doctrinal similarity and difference in terms of the uses of doctrine.
Withholding Social Support Because Those in Need Do Not Deserve It: A Thematic Narrative Analysis
Authors: Ray Colter D. , Scharp Kristina M. , Parker Emily , Donohoe Dana E.
Published: March 2023

Close relationships have norms and expectations regarding the communication of support; however, recent research has illuminated the varied reasons why would-be supporters at times choose to forgo supporting those who are facing difficulties. One such reason is the perception that the other person is undeserving of support. The researchers conducted 28 semi-structured interviews with those who withheld support because they did not believe the other person deserved support. The researchers analyzed the transcripts using thematic narrative analysis, which yielded three identities that nonsupporters construct for themselves and five identities they constructed for those who were undeserving of support. Additionally, certain self-identities tended to co-occur (i.e., align) with certain undeserving identities. These findings provide practical insight into the dilemma of not providing support to others, as well as further support for narrative research that contends people create identities for both the self and others.
A Longitudinal Dynamic Perspective on Quality in Journalism: Investigating the Long-Term Macro-Level Media Effect of Suicide Reporting on Suicide Rates Across a Century
Authors: Mestas Manina , Arendt Florian
Published: March 2023

Quality of journalism is not a stable phenomenon, yet there is limited longitudinal evidence. We provide a content analysis of news reporting over a whole century within a specific thematic context: suicide reporting. Quality is a key dimension in this context as low-quality reporting is associated with imitative suicides (Werther effect). We took a historical perspective: suicide rates increased in many countries during the 19th century, with suicide reporting hypothesized as a contributory factor. Conducting the first longitudinal study of journalism quality that examines an entire century, we manually coded N = 14,638 articles. Our analyses indicated a strong nonlinear increase in low-quality reporting. Importantly, a high quantity of low-quality reporting predicted annual increases in suicide rates, a finding which is consistent with the idea of a long-term macro-level media effect. Despite limitations in causal interpretations, the findings support recommendations for high-quality suicide reporting in current media guidelines.
An Evaluation of the Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions From China’s Light Sector to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals
Authors: Yu Yang , Nie Jun , Jahanger Atif
Published: March 2023

As a high-energy-consuming sector, China’s light sector should have received more attention for its carbon emissions (CO2e). However, the literature on energy-related CO2e in China’s light sector is limited at present. This paper aims to assess the impact of China’s light sector on CO2e. This paper applies the energy consumption technique, input-output analysis technique, and structural decomposition model to analyze China’s light sector energy-related CO2e and emission reduction from the input-output perspective. The results show that the energy structure effect, energy intensity effect, and input structure effect are the main restraining factors for the growth of the light sector energy-related CO2e, which are caused by the expansion of the energy utilization structure on the supply side of the light sector. The final demand effect is the factor promoting the growth of the light sector energy-related CO2e. It reveals that the final demand products in the light sector still have high environmental degradation features. Policymakers should actively enhance and rationally adjust the demand for the light sector in numerous industries to avoid the resource waste caused by the excessive expansion of the light sector.
Health geographies II: Resilience, health and place
Authors: Wiles Janine
Published: March 2023

Resilience means doing well in the context of difficulty; it is both process and outcome, individual and collective, and it relates to inequities because it is about accessing resources. Resilience helps understand and improve health and wellbeing because it incorporates adversity and challenges. In this report, I argue resilience is also inherently geographical, and operates at interconnected scales. I highlight health geographers are well-placed to help understand and enhance resilience through critically-aware and contextualized approaches. Moreover, resilience offers a way to connect and further develop health geographical scholarship on both wellbeing and addressing health and other inequalities.
Railroad Crossing Surveillance and Foreground Extraction Network: Weakly Supervised Artificial-Intelligence Approach
Authors: Tang Youzhi , Wang Yi , Qian Yu
Published: March 2023

According to the report to Congress National Strategy to Prevent Trespassing on Railroad Property issued by the Federal Railroad Administration, trespassing is currently the number one cause of all railroad-related deaths. The number of fatalities resulting from trespassing, including both illegally entering and remaining in the railroad right-of-way, is even higher than the number of deaths caused by collisions between vehicles and trains. Accurately and effectively detecting objects at rail crossings is critical for improving railway safety. The convolutional neural network (CNN) is one of the most potent tools in image processing and video surveillance. However, the current CNNs under supervised learning rely on a substantial amount of manually labeled images, which is labor-intensive and time-consuming. This study proposes a weakly supervised learning technique for training foreground-segmentation networks and develops a tailored CNN network, RC-SAFE (railroad crossing surveillance and foreground extraction), to accurately and effectively detect and track both still and moving objects in the railroad crossing area. The weakly supervised learning significantly reduces the load for image labeling. The experimental results on the public CDnet 2014 dataset show that the weakly supervised network outperforms the supervised network and some other state-of-the-art foreground-segmentation methods. Railroad crossing monitoring videos are collected at different railroad crossings to validate the proposed RC-SAFE network. The results confirm the robustness of the proposed RC-SAFE network, and that RC-SAFE can detect any object that does not belong to the railroad crossing, which outperforms object-detection-based models, such as Mask RCNN (a region-based CNN).
Risk Factors Associated with Severity and Death from COVID-19 in Iran: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Study
Authors: Mehri Ahmad , Sotoodeh Ghorbani Sahar , Farhadi-Babadi Kosar , Rahimi Elham , Barati Zahra , Taherpour Niloufar , Izadi Neda , Shahbazi Fatemeh , Mokhayeri Yaser , Seifi Arash , Fallah Saeid , Feyzi Rezvan , Etemed Koorosh , Hashemi Nazari Seyed Saeed
Published: March 2023

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the risk factors associated with severity and death from COVID-19 through a systematic review and meta-analysis of the published documents in Iran. Methods: A systematic search was performed based on all articles indexed in Scopus, Embase, Web of Science (WOS), PubMed, and Google Scholar in English and Scientific Information Database (SID) and Iranian Research Institute for Information Science and Technology (IRA)NDOC indexes in Persian. To assess quality, we used the Newcastle Ottawa Scale. Publication bias was assessed using Egger's tests. Forest plots were used for a graphical description of the results. We used HRs, and ORs reported for the association between risk factors and COVID-19 severity and death. Results: Sixty-nine studies were included in the meta-analysis, of which 62 and 13 had assessed risk factors for death and severity, respectively. The results showed a significant association between death from COVID-19 and age, male gender, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease (CVD), cerebrovascular disease, chronic kidney disease (CKD), Headache, and Dyspnea. We observed a significant association between increased white blood cell (WBC), decreased Lymphocyte, increased blood urea nitrogen (BUN), increased creatinine, vitamin D deficiency, and death from COVID-19. There was only a significant relationship between CVD and disease severity. Conclusion: It is recommended that the predictive risk factors of COVID-19 severity and death mentioned in this study to be used for therapeutic and health interventions, to update clinical guidelines and determine patients’ prognoses.
Day-Labor Worker Centers: Advancing New Models of Equity and Inclusion in the Informal Economy
Authors: Theodore Nik
Published: March 2023

Day-labor worker centers are labor market intermediaries that target their interventions to underregulated segments of residential construction and allied industries. As sites of rulemaking in the informal economy, worker centers raise standards and enforce worker protections in sectors that lie beyond the reach of government enforcement. In addition to strengthening wage floors, worker centers are now acting as “disaster recovery hubs” that can help local communities following natural disasters. As the economy was shuttered by the COVID-19 pandemic, worker centers pivoted to provide emergency assistance to unemployed workers. This paper assesses these two emerging areas of worker center activity through a survey of disaster-recovery workers in Houston in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey and a national survey of worker centers that administered emergency assistance to immigrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. These case studies reveal promising new interventions that could lead to more inclusive forms of workforce development.
Quality of Life After Partial Mandibulectomy or Maxillectomy in 45 Dogs With Oral Tumors
Authors: Bull Ingeling , Ziener Martine L. , Storli Sigbjørn H. , Arendt Maja Louise
Published: March 2023

Treatment for oral tumors in dogs may involve aggressive surgery, radiation therapy, and/or chemotherapy. It is of utmost importance that veterinarians can document the good quality of life (QoL) for patients during and after cancer treatment. In this retrospective study, medical records from 2 private practices during a 10-year period (2011-2020) were searched to identify dogs with confirmed histopathological diagnosis of an oral tumor. Owners of dogs who underwent surgery received a questionnaire to assess their perception of QoL before and after surgery, clinical signs from the oral tumor, pain before and after surgery, physical appearance, and drinking and eating ability after surgery. Forty-two of 45 (93%) owners answered the questionnaire. Thirty-eight owners (90%) perceived that their dog had not changed its appearance after surgery after the hair had regrown. Thirty owners (71%) reported that their dog prehended food and water normally within 4 weeks after surgery. Forty owners (95%) perceived that their dog had more “good’’ than ‘’bad’’ days after surgery. Thirty-eight owners (90%) would choose the same treatment again. Our results strongly support that dog owners perceived that their dogs had good QoL after partial mandibulectomy or maxillectomy.
Trajectory tracking control considering the transmission backlash of the dual-motor autonomous steering system
Authors: Wu Zhongwei , Xu Xing , Xie Ju , Liu Zhenyu , He Shenguang
Published: March 2023

In order to solve the tracking error caused by transmission backlash in the dual-motor autonomous steering system, and thus improve the trajectory tracking accuracy of autonomous vehicles, a novel steering control strategy combining sliding model control (SMC) with variable weights and linear quadratic regulator (LQR) is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the vehicle dynamics model is built and the steering system model with contact and backlash modes is established by combining it with the simplified gear backlash system. Secondly, the front wheel angle control based on SMC is designed and the weights of contact mode and backlash mode are optimized by Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm. Finally, the results of simulation under typical conditions show that the proposed strategy has better accuracy of angle tracking and stronger adaptability to the change of system load. Furthermore, it is also proved by simulation and Hardware-in-Loop (HiL) test under different trajectory tracking conditions that the LQR controller with proposed strategy has better accuracy of trajectory tracking for autonomous vehicles.
Parametric investigation and optimization of revolving tools-based magnetorheological finishing process for external cylindrical surface of printing machine roller made of copper
Authors: Singh Gagandeep , Jayant Arvind , Singh Manpreet
Published: March 2023

The cylindrical copper rollers are an essential part of the printing process. The copper roller needs to be finely finished to ensure the even distribution of the colors. Fine and precise polishing of cylindrical copper rollers is challenging using conventional finishing procedures because of their ductility and low hardness. Therefore, the magnetorheological finishing process based on three revolving flat-tip tools has been used to meet this precise requirement. The optimized parameters were found as current 3.5A for the electromagnet, rotating speed of the workpiece 510 rpm, revolving speed of the tools 35 rpm, working gap 0.7 mm and feed rate 150 mm/min for maximum percentage reduction in the surface roughness of copper roller. After 4 h of finishing with the optimal parametric settings, the Ra, Rq, and Rz values were reduced to 0.08, 0.1, and 0.67 μm from the initial values of 0.375, 0.527, and 1.96 μm, respectively, across the copper roller surface. Surface roughness profiles, SEM, and mirror-image tests reveal the superiority of the magnetorheologically finished roller surface compared to the unfinished one.
Sustainability evaluation, optimization and research dynamics of microalgae methyl ester in a research diesel engine
Authors: Tiwari Chandrabhushan , Dwivedi Gaurav , Verma Tikendra Nath
Published: March 2023

Renewable energy sources are becoming an increasingly viable alternative energy source for the near future due to increased environmental concerns and increasingly strict energy restrictions. Bioethanol and biodiesel are the most promising biofuel options. In the present study effects of spirulina microalgae biodiesel and diesel blends on compression ignition diesel engines at 1500 r/min utilizing various blends B20, B40, B60, B80, and B100, as well as B0 (diesel), 23.5° before top dead centre and 18.5 compression ratio (CR) at 220 bar. The extreme peak pressures of the engine for B0, B20, B40, B60, B80, and B100 were 103.13, 101.65, 100.25, 98.90, 96.74, and 94.83 bar, respectively. The percentage reduction in ignition delay duration for B20, B40, B60, B80, and B100 was 2.57%, 4.17%, 5.28%, 6.60%, and 8.16% compared to pure diesel. B20 proves to be the most promising biodiesel blend. Analysis of variance analysis was done for experimental data. The response surface method was used to optimize the engine performance and emission parameters for load, blend, and CR variations. Optimized input conditions were found as load 52.27, CR 18.5, and blend B20. The research dynamic analysis was carried out for the sustainability of biodiesel.