bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Physiological and metabolic responses in Kök‐Börü horses: Correlations with game outcomes
Authors: Rişvanlı Ali , Şen İsmail , Canuzakov Kanat , Tülöbayev Askarbek , Taş Abuzer , Saklykov Ruslan , Ceylan Nezahat , Türkçapar Ünal , Alimov Ulanbek , Kazakbayeva Arina , Cunuşova Ayday , Uulu Nur Abdımnap , Yuksel Burak Fatih , Turanli Mert , Uz Muhammed , Bayraktar Metin
Published: April 2024

Background

The aim of this study was to examine variations in stress, metabolic, and physiological parameters of horses used in the traditional equestrian team sport of Kök‐Börü in relation to winning and losing outcomes.

Material and methods

To accomplish this, blood samples were taken from horses on four different teams who participated in two separate games, both before and after game. These samples were used to measure levels of cortisol, ACTH, beta‐endorphin, adrenaline, noradrenaline, triiodothyronine (T3), and thyroxine (T4) via species‐specific commercial ELISA kits. The autoanalyzer tested biochemical and hematological parameters. The gathered data were then analyzed statistically based on the teams' winning or losing status.

Results

The results suggested that winning teams had lower MID, red blood cell, HGB, RDW‐SD, HCT, platelet distribution width, and creatine kinase values post‐game in comparison to their pre‐game state. Conversely, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), and CREA values increased in the winning teams' post‐game. Additionally, horses in the winning teams showed a decrease in cortisol, beta‐endorphin, and ACTH levels post‐game but increased levels of adrenaline and T3. Considering the pre‐game values, it was found that GRA and Cl levels were lower in the winning teams. Before the game, adrenaline and T3 levels were higher in the winning teams. No significant difference was observed in post‐game hematological parameters between the teams. However, post‐game K, adrenaline, and noradrenaline levels were higher among the winning teams' horses, while cortisol and beta‐endorphin levels were heightened in horses from the losing side.

Conclusion

In conclusion, significant differences were not observed in the distribution of hematological and biochemical parameters of horses following the Kök‐Börü games, regardless of the outcome. However, decreased post‐game cortisol, ACTH, and beta‐endorphin levels in winning teams may suggest better stress management abilities among these horses.
Credit, gender, and food security: Empirical evidence of determinants to access, affordability, and consumption in Cameroon
Authors: Kyeremateng Emmanuel , Molua Ernest L. , Mvodo Stephanie M. E. , Ndip Francis E.
Published: April 2024

Despite receiving considerable attention, food insecurity remains a salient issue, especially in sub‐Saharan Africa. Among other factors, limited access to credit is one of the direct drivers of food insecurity. Hence, interventions such as credit, which improve household income, may be important in improving food security. While previous studies have evaluated the effects of credit on food security, the evidence is mixed. Moreover, neither the effect of the amount of credit nor the gender aspects have been adequately considered. In this paper, we evaluate the role of credit access on household food security. Beyond credit access, we also considered the amount of credit. Using cross‐sectional data from two unique regions of Cameroon, we estimated using ordered probit models, and to gain more insights, we performed a gender‐disaggregated analysis. Our results suggest that both formal credit access and the amount of credit are positively associated with the food security status of the household. However, informal credit access does not affect food security. The effects of credit are influenced by the gender of the household head as shown by our gender‐disaggregated results. We therefore recommend that policies that constraint households' access to formal credit should be relaxed.
Deep learning for prediction of energy consumption: an applied use case in an office building
Authors: Morcillo-Jimenez Roberto , Mesa Jesús , Gómez-Romero Juan , Vila M. Amparo , Martin-Bautista Maria J.
Published: April 2024

Non-residential buildings are responsible for more than a third of global energy consumption. Estimating building energy consumption is the first step towards identifying inefficiencies and optimizing energy management policies. This paper presents a study of Deep Learning techniques for time series analysis applied to building energy prediction with real environments. We collected multisource sensor data from an actual office building under normal operating conditions, pre-processed them, and performed a comprehensive evaluation of the accuracy of feed-forward and recurrent neural networks to predict energy consumption. The results show that memory-based architectures (LSTMs) perform better than stateless ones (MLPs) even without data aggregation (CNNs), although the lack of ample usable data in this type of problem avoids making the most of recent techniques such as sequence-to-sequence (Seq2Seq).

Graphical abstract
Biotechnological potential of red yeast isolated from birch forests in Poland
Authors: Kot Anna M. , Laszek Paulina , Kieliszek Marek , Pobiega Katarzyna , Błażejak Stanisław
Published: April 2024

Objectives

This study aimed to isolate red yeast from sap, bark and slime exudates collected from Polish birch forests and then assessment of their biotechnological potential.

Results

24 strains of red yeast were isolated from the bark, sap and spring slime fluxes of birch (Betula pendula). Strains belonging to Rhodotorula mucilaginosa (6), Rhodosporidiobolus colostri (4), Cystrofilobasidium capitaum (3), Phaffia rhodozyma (3) and Cystobasidium psychroaquaticum (3) were dominant. The highest efficiency of carotenoid biosynthesis (5.04 mg L−1) was obtained by R. mucilaginosa CMIFS 004, while lipids were most efficiently produced by two strains of P. rhodozyma (5.40 and 5.33 g L−1). The highest amount of exopolysaccharides (3.75 g L−1) was produced by the R. glutinis CMIFS 103. Eleven strains showed lipolytic activity, nine amylolytic activity, and only two proteolytic activity. The presence of biosurfactants was not found. The growth of most species of pathogenic moulds was best inhibited by Rhodotorula yeasts.

Conclusion

Silver birch is a good natural source for the isolation of new strains of red yeast with wide biotechnological potential.
Towards automatic question generation using pre-trained model in academic field for Bahasa Indonesia
Authors: Suhartono Derwin , Majiid Muhammad Rizki Nur , Fredyan Renaldy
Published: April 2024

Exam evaluations are essential to assessing students’ knowledge and progress in a subject or course. To meet learning objectives and assess student performance, questions must be themed. Automatic Question Generation (AQG) is our novel approach to this problem. A comprehensive process for autonomously generating Bahasa Indonesia text questions is shown. This paper suggests using a decoder to generate text from deep learning models’ tokens. The suggested technique pre-processes Vectorized Corpus, Token IDs, and Features Tensor. The tensors are embedded to increase each token, and attention is masked to separate padding tokens from context-containing tokens. An encoder processes the encoded tokens and attention masks to create a contextual understanding memory that the decoder uses to generate text. Our work uses the Sequence-to-Sequence Learning architecture of BiGRU, BiLSTM, Transformer, BERT, BART, and GPT. Implementing these models optimizes computational resources while extensively exploring the research issue. The model uses context sentences as input and question sentences as output, incorporating linguistic elements like response placement, POS tags, answer masking, and named entities (NE) to improve comprehension and linguistic ability. Our approach includes two innovative models: IndoBERTFormer, which combines a BERT encoder with a Transformer decoder, and IndoBARTFormer, which decodes vectors like BERT. IndoTransGPT uses the Transformer as an encoder to improve understanding, extending the GPT model’s adaptability.
Pulsed heating of the self-actuated cantilever: a one-dimensional exact solution investigation of non-axial temperature gradients
Authors: Becker Sid , Gutschmidt Stefanie , Boyd Bradley , Zhao Dan
Published: April 2024

Self-actuated bimorph cantilevers are implemented in a variety of micro-electro-mechanical systems. Their tip deflection relies on the unmatched coefficients of thermal expansion between layers. The thermal bimorph phenomenon is dependent on the temperature rise within the cantilever and, while previous studies have investigated variations in the thermal profile along the cantilever length, these have usually neglected variations in the thermal profile along the cantilever thickness. The current study investigates the thermal distribution across the thickness of the cantilever. The exact closed form solution to the one-dimensional problem of heat conduction in the composite (layered) domain subjected to transient volumetric heating is developed using the appropriate Green’s function. This solution is applied to a one-dimensional case study of a 3-layer cantilever with an Aluminium heater, a silicon dioxide resistive layer, and a silicon base layer. The aluminium heater experiences volumetric heating at a rate of 0.2 mW/μm3 of 5 μs duration at 100 μs intervals (10 kHz with a 1/20 duty cycle). Benchmark solutions of the temperature at select times and positions are provided. It is shown that there are negligible temperature gradients across the cantilever thickness during the heating and the first ~ 5 μs afterward. These short-lived temperature differences are positively biased with the unmatched thermal expansion coefficients between the layers, though their relative influence on bending is not clear. A simple parametric analysis indicates that the relative magnitude of the temperature differences across the cantilever (compared to the overall temperature) decreases substantially with increasing duty cycle.
Haemodynamic monitoring during noncardiac surgery: past, present, and future
Authors: Kouz Karim , Thiele Robert , Michard Frederic , Saugel Bernd
Published: April 2024

During surgery, various haemodynamic variables are monitored and optimised to maintain organ perfusion pressure and oxygen delivery – and to eventually improve outcomes. Important haemodynamic variables that provide an understanding of most pathophysiologic haemodynamic conditions during surgery include heart rate, arterial pressure, central venous pressure, pulse pressure variation/stroke volume variation, stroke volume, and cardiac output. A basic physiologic and pathophysiologic understanding of these haemodynamic variables and the corresponding monitoring methods is essential. We therefore revisit the pathophysiologic rationale for intraoperative monitoring of haemodynamic variables, describe the history, current use, and future technological developments of monitoring methods, and finally briefly summarise the evidence that haemodynamic management can improve patient-centred outcomes.
Skull of a new periptychid mammal from the lower Paleocene Denver Formation of Colorado (Corral Bluffs, El Paso County)
Authors: Weaver Lucas N. , Crowell Jordan W. , Chester Stephen G. B. , Lyson Tyler R.
Published: April 2024

The Periptychidae, an extinct group of archaic ungulates (‘condylarths’), were the most speciose eutherian mammals in the earliest Paleocene of North America, epitomizing mammalian ascendency after the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) mass extinction. Although periptychids are mostly known from fragmentary gnathic remains, the Corral Bluffs area within the Denver Basin, Colorado, has yielded numerous exceptionally well-preserved mammalian fossils, including periptychids, from the earliest Paleocene. Here we describe a partial cranium and articulated dentaries plus an additional unassociated dentary fragment of a small-bodied (~273–455 g) periptychid from ca. 610 thousand years after the K–Pg mass extinction (Puercan 2 North American Land Mammal ‘age’) at Corral Bluffs. Based on these new fossils we erect Militocodon lydae gen. et sp. nov. The dentition of M. lydae exhibits synapomorphies that diagnose the Conacodontinae, but it is plesiomorphic relative to Oxyacodon, resembling putatively basal periptychids like Mimatuta and Maiorana in several dental traits. As such, we interpret M. lydae as a basal conacodontine. Its skull anatomy does not reveal clear periptychid synapomorphies and instead resembles that of arctocyonids and other primitive eutherians. M. lydae falls along a dental morphocline from basal periptychids to derived conacodontines, which we hypothesize reflects a progressive, novel modification of the hypocone to enhance orthal shearing and crushing rather than grinding mastication. The discovery and thorough descriptions and comparisons of the partial M. lydae skull represent an important step toward unraveling the complex evolutionary history of periptychid mammals.
Novel Initialization Functions for Metaheuristic-Based Online Virtual Network Embedding
Authors: Rubio-Loyola Javier , Aguilar-Fuster Christian
Published: April 2024

Virtual network embedding (VNE) is the process of allocating resources in a substrate (i.e. physical) network to support virtual networks optimally. The VNE problem is an NP-hard problem that has been studied for more than a decade in the continuous seek to maximize the revenue of physical infrastructures with more efficient VNE solutions. Metaheuristics have been widely used in online VNE as they incorporate mechanisms to avoid local optimum solutions, explore larger search spaces, and keep acceptable execution times. All metaheuristic optimization algorithms require initialization for which the vast majority of online VNE solutions implement random initialization. This paper proposes three novel initialization functions namely, Initialization Based on Node Selection (IFNS), Initialization Function Based on Community Detection (IFCD), and Initialization Function Based on Previous Solutions (IFPS), intending to enhance the performance of the online VNE process. Through simulation, our initialization functions have been proven to enhance the acceptance rate, revenue, and revenue-to-cost metrics of the VNE process. The enhancements achieved by our initialization functions are statistically significant and their implementation does not add computational overhead to the classic VNE approaches.
Women in top echelon positions and firm internationalisation strategies: What do we know? How do we know? Where should we be heading?
Authors: Bannò Mariasole , Filippi Emilia
Published: April 2024

While women in top echelon positions and firm internationalisation have been investigated separately for an extended period, the intersection between the two has seldom been explored. This study reviews 55 publications analysing the effect of women in top echelon positions on firm internationalisation. Our review relies on the ADO–TCM framework and the microfoundational approach. Following the Theories–Contexts–Methods (TCM) framework, previous research is outlined describing: (1) theories, i.e., gender-related theories; (2) contexts, i.e., women’s top echelon position and country where women operate; (3) methods, i.e., research methods, the consideration and measurement of gender, sample, and years. Following the Antecedents–Decisions–Outcomes (ADO) framework and the microfoundational approach, emerging findings are classified into: (1) antecedents of firm internationalisation by distinguishing between those related to microfoundation (i.e., characteristics of women in top echelon positions), the discrete context (i.e., firm characteristics), and the omnibus context (i.e., characteristics of the countries of origin, destination and public stimulation programmes); (2) characteristics of the decisions regarding firm internationalisation (i.e., entry mode, export propensity, and propensity to foreign direct investments); (3) outcomes of firm internationalisation (i.e., export intensity, percentage of foreign equity ownership, number of foreign direct investments, number and characteristics of destination countries, investment success and performance, and other outcomes). Based on this, research gaps are identified and a research agenda is offered.
The influence of app function evolution on transport SuperApp use behaviour over time
Authors: Rizki Muhamad , Joewono Tri Basuki , Susilo Yusak O.
Published: April 2024

In the past few decades, there has been a significant increase in smartphone apps that are designed to help users optimise their daily activities. As a result, there has been a noticeable impact on travel demand. Some of these apps have evolved with the incorporation of additional functions in a gradual transformation into multi-function apps or SuperApps, thereby providing users with more integrated and personalised services for a wider range of activities. Focusing on Transport SuperApps (TSA) in Indonesia, this study aims to investigate how app usage behaviour interacts with the evolving functions of these apps over time. The study further examines the influence of personality traits, socio-demographic factors, and residential location on app usage patterns. In this study, longitudinal data on TSA usage from 2015–2022 was collected from users in four Indonesian cities. The Latent Markov (LMM) and Negative Binomial (NBM) Models were used to analyse the transition of behaviours, app types, and the number of apps used. The findings reveal that transport and shopping services are the most popular and consistently utilised services by users. The results suggest that the introduction of new services has a positive impact on the number of TSA services used. However, some services were found to be used only temporarily, primarily serving as alternatives to support users’ daily needs and desires. Initial higher service usage was observed among educated users with sociable and disorganised personalities, while discontinuation of usage is associated with older users and affluent households. Higher transition and continuation to use more services are also observed in larger cities like Jakarta compared to smaller cities like Cianjur.
Investigating preservice teachers’ attitudes toward lesbian, gay, and bisexual students in Luxembourg
Authors: Galano Dario , Grund Axel , Emslander Valentin
Published: April 2024

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) students face victimization in multiple contexts, including the educational context. Here, teachers can serve as an important resource for LGB students. However, teachers who are prejudiced against students from sexual minorities might not be able to fulfill this role. Accordingly, it is important to find out more about teachers' attitudes and their correlates, as such information can provide starting points for sensitization interventions in teacher education programs, which have the potential to improve the situation of LGB students in the school setting. In the present preregistered questionnaire study, we investigated the attitudes of 138 preservice teachers from the University of Luxembourg toward LGB students and tried to identify predictors of teachers’ attitudes. Results suggested that Luxembourgish preservice teachers hold mostly positive attitudes toward LGB students. Using correlation and multiple regression analyses, we identified the frequency of participants’ contact with LGB people in family or friend networks, hypergendering tendencies, sexual orientation, and religiosity as reliable predictors of attitudes toward LGB students. Age, gender, and right-wing conservatism did not reliably predict preservice teachers’ attitudes in the regression models. Our findings thus offer support for intergroup contact theory and have implications for teacher education in Luxembourg.
Singular thought without temporal representation?
Authors: Hoerl Christoph
Published: April 2024

What is required for an individual to entertain a singular thought about an object they have encountered before but that is currently no longer within their perceptual range? More specifically, does the individual have to think about the object as having been encountered in the past? I consider this question against the background of the assumption that non-human animals are cognitively ‘stuck in the present’. Does this mean that, for them, ‘out of sight is out of mind’, as, e.g., Schopenhauer seems to have thought? I suggest an alternative answer, also drawing on some empirical work on animal cognition.
No hope for conciliationism
Authors: Dixon Jonathan
Published: April 2024

Conciliationism is the family of views that rationality requires agents to reduce confidence or suspend belief in p when acknowledged epistemic peers (i.e. agents who are (approximately) equally well-informed and intellectually capable) disagree about p. While Conciliationism is prima facie plausible, some have argued that Conciliationism is not an adequate theory of peer disagreement because it is self-undermining. Responses to this challenge can be put into two mutually exclusive and exhaustive groups: the Solution Responses which deny Conciliationism is self-undermining and attempt to provide arguments which demonstrate this; and the Skeptical Responses which accept that Conciliationism is self-undermining but attempt to mitigate this result by arguing this is either impermanent and/or not very worrisome. I argue that, by Conciliationism’s own lights, both kinds of responses (almost certainly) fail to save Conciliationism from being self-undermining. Thus, Conciliationism is (almost certainly) permanently self-undermining. This result is significant because it demonstrates that Conciliationism is likely hopeless: there is likely nothing that can save Conciliationism from this challenge. I further argue that Conciliationism, like any view, should be abandoned if it is (almost certainly) hopeless.
Species-Agnostic Patterned Animal Re-identification by Aggregating Deep Local Features
Authors: Nepovinnykh Ekaterina , Chelak Ilia , Eerola Tuomas , Immonen Veikka , Kälviäinen Heikki , Kholiavchenko Maksim , Stewart Charles V.
Published: April 2024

Access to large image volumes through camera traps and crowdsourcing provides novel possibilities for animal monitoring and conservation. It calls for automatic methods for analysis, in particular, when re-identifying individual animals from the images. Most existing re-identification methods rely on either hand-crafted local features or end-to-end learning of fur pattern similarity. The former does not need labeled training data, while the latter, although very data-hungry typically outperforms the former when enough training data is available. We propose a novel re-identification pipeline that combines the strengths of both approaches by utilizing modern learnable local features and feature aggregation. This creates representative pattern feature embeddings that provide high re-identification accuracy while allowing us to apply the method to small datasets by using pre-trained feature descriptors. We report a comprehensive comparison of different modern local features and demonstrate the advantages of the proposed pipeline on two very different species.
A face of one’s own: The role of an online personae in a digital age and the right to control one’s own online personae in the presence of digital hacking
Authors: Clemons Eric K. , Savin Andrej , Schreieck Maximilian , Teilmann-Lock Stina , Trzaskowski Jan , Waran Ravi
Published: April 2024

In the post-Covid world, our online personae have become increasingly essential mechanisms for presenting ourselves to the world. Simultaneously, new techniques for hacking online personae have become more widely available, easier to use, and more convincing. This combination, of greater reliance on online personae and easier malicious hacking, has created serious societal problems. Techniques for training users to detect false content have proved ineffective. Unfortunately, legal remedies for dealing with hacked personae have also been inadequate. Consequently, the only remaining alternative is to limit the posting of false content. In this discussion paper, we provide an overview of online personae hacking. As potential remedies, we propose to redesign search engine and social media algorithms allowing platforms to detect and restrict harmful false content and a new fundamental right for the EU Charter that would provide legal justification for platforms to protect online reputations. For those platforms that might choose not to protect online reputations, this new right would require that they do so.
Epidemiological trends and susceptibility patterns of bloodstream infections caused by Enterococcus spp. in six German university hospitals: a prospectively evaluated multicentre cohort study from 2016 to 2020 of the R-Net study group
Authors: Hornuss Daniel , Göpel Siri , Walker Sarah V. , Tobys David , Häcker Georg , Seifert Harald , Higgins Paul G. , Xanthopoulou Kyriaki , Gladstone Beryl Primrose , Cattaneo Chiara , Mischnik Alexander , Rohde Anna M. , Imirzalioglu Can , Trauth Janina , Fritzenwanker Moritz , Falgenhauer Jane , Gastmeier Petra , Behnke Michael , Kramme Evelyn , Käding Nadja , Rupp Jan , Peter Silke , Schmauder Kristina , Eisenbeis Simone , Kern Winfried V. , Tacconelli Evelina , Rieg Siegbert ,   DZIF R.-N. E. T. Study Group, Peña Diaz L. A. , Pilarski G. , Thoma N. , Peyerl-Hoffmann G. , Gölz H. , Joost I. , Mathé P. , Gillis M. , Vehreschild M. , Wille J. , Steffens B. , Blum Y. , Kleipass M. , Lenke D. , Herold S. , Schmiedel J. , Lengler A. , Buhl M. , Hölzl F. , Dinkelacker A.
Published: April 2024

Purpose

To analyse recent epidemiological trends of bloodstream infections (BSI) caused by Enterococcus spp. In adult patients admitted to tertiary care centres in Germany.

Methods

Epidemiological data from the multicentre R-NET study was analysed. Patients presenting with E. faecium or E. faecalis in blood cultures in six German tertiary care university hospitals between October 2016 and June 2020 were prospectively evaluated. In vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), the presence of vanA/vanB was confirmed via molecular methods.

Results

In the 4-year study period, 3001 patients with BSI due to Enterococcus spp. were identified. E. faecium was detected in 1830 patients (61%) and E. faecalis in 1229 patients (41%). Most BSI occurred in (sub-) specialties of internal medicine. The pooled incidence density of enterococcal BSI increased significantly (4.0–4.5 cases per 10,000 patient days), which was primarily driven by VRE BSI (0.5 to 1.0 cases per 10,000 patient days). In 2020, the proportion of VRE BSI was > 12% in all study sites (range, 12.8–32.2%). Molecular detection of resistance in 363 VRE isolates showed a predominance of the vanB gene (77.1%).

Conclusion

This large multicentre study highlights an increase of BSI due to E. faecium, which was primarily driven by VRE. The high rates of hospital- and ICU-acquired VRE BSI point towards an important role of prior antibiotic exposure and invasive procedures as risk factors. Due to limited treatment options and high mortality rates of VRE BSI, the increasing incidence of VRE BSI is of major concern.
Durable Ru Nanocrystal with HfO2 Modification for Acidic Overall Water Splitting
Authors: Kong Xiangkai , Xu Jie , Ju Zhicheng , Chen Changle
Published: April 2024

Durable and efficient bi-functional catalyst, that is capable of both oxygen evolution reaction and hydrogen evolution reaction under acidic condition, are highly desired for the commercialization of proton exchange membrane water electrolysis. Herein, we report a robust L-Ru/HfO2 heterostructure constructed via confining crystalline Ru nanodomains by HfO2 matrix. When assembled with a proton exchange membrane, the bi-functional L-Ru/HfO2 catalyst-based electrolyzer presents a voltage of 1.57 and 1.67 V to reach 100 and 300 mA cm-2 current density, prevailing most of previously reported Ru-based materials as well as commercial Pt/C||RuO2 electrolyzer. It is revealed that the synergistic effect of HfO2 modification and small crystalline domain formation significantly alleviates the over-oxidation of Ru. More importantly, this synergistic effect facilitates a dual-site oxide path during the oxygen evolution procedure via optimization of the binding configurations of oxygenated adsorbates. As a result, the Ru active sites maintain the metallic state along with reduced energy barrier for the rate-determining step (*O→*OOH). Both of water adsorption and dissociation (Volmer step) are strengthened, while a moderate hydrogen binding is achieved to accelerate the hydrogen desorption procedure (Tafel step). Consequently, the activity and stability of acidic overall water splitting are simultaneously enhanced.
Integrated agile facility management model for improving performance in construction projects
Authors: Sedhom Ibram , Khodeir Laila M. , Fathy Fatma
Published: April 2024

Facilities management (FM) has many challenges related to facilities requirements, unique services, and a need for actions to achieve customer/end-user/clients’ expectations. There is poor communication among stakeholders, weaknesses, inflexibility in business realities, and difficulty engaging decision-makers and other key partners. Adopting an agile philosophy in facilities management can improve the value and achieve quality and stakeholder satisfaction. The main objective of this article is to explore a guideline on applying agile philosophy in facilities management to achieve flexibility in management and improve performance. The papers published between 2000 and 2022 had been selected. Content analysis was used.

to complement the qualitative findings. This article focuses on academic articles including subject areas: engineering, decision-making, and operations. The conceptual model is supported by current theories, literature and previous empirical studies from facilities management, agile philosophy, service quality, and stakeholder satisfaction. The major finding is the disclosure of a framework for evaluating agile philosophy in organizations by linking the agile mindset to facilities management practices. The results also revealed a conceptual framework for using agile philosophy in facilities management to achieve value and stakeholder satisfaction. This study is a review of theories and empirical studies. However, the previous studies were very limited and affected access to information widely. Therefore, it is preferable to conduct research and experimental studies on the application of agile philosophy in facilities management. Ultimately, using an agile philosophy in facilities management helps to achieve value and stakeholder satisfaction.
Neo-Aristotelian Naturalism, Local Ethical Supervenience, and the Beneficial Character of Virtue
Authors: Runge Richard Friedrich
Published: April 2024

This article explores the ambivalent relationship of neo-Aristotelian naturalism to ethical supervenience. One of the main proponents of this approach, Michael Thompson, holds a position that leads to a rejection of local ethical supervenience. It is argued that this rejection implicitly undermines a premise held by other prominent neo-Aristotelian naturalists, such as Philippa Foot or Rosalind Hursthouse, who implemented Thompson’s species-relative logic of ethical evaluations into their theories. This premise—that there is a systematic connection between the virtuous life and the benefit of the individual—could be re-established if neo-Aristotelian naturalism abandoned the species-essentialist understanding of life-forms and instead accepted local ethical supervenience as an ethical frame of reference. Although this article derives its problem from the main works of the aforementioned authors, its interest lies not mainly in exegesis, but in the systematic discussion of the logical status and the functionality of the concept of life-form in neo-Aristotelian naturalism. This discussion will be enriched by the inclusion of the logical distinctions and insights from modern philosophical biology.
Targeting G4 motifs of various stem cell makers with designed peptide for therapeutic applications
Authors: Kaur Sarvpreet , Kundu Nikita , Sharma Taniya , Shankaraswamy Jadala , Saxena Sarika
Published: April 2024

Noncanonical secondary structures formed by Guanine-rich DNA sequences fold into four-stranded structures called the G-quadruplexes (G4s). Targeting G-quadruplexes is considered an attractive approach toward drug intervention. Here, we have studied the targeting of G4s of stem cell markers with designed short peptide (named as QW10) using biophysical and biochemical techniques. Our CD studies showed that G4 sequences of stem cell markers formed mixed G-quadruplexes in 100 mM Na+, 100 mM K+ and 100 mM K+  +40 wt% PEG 200. On titrating these structures with an increasing concentration of QW10 peptide, we observed a significant decrease in CD intensity followed by the complete disappearance of G4 CD signatures confirming their destabilization not only in dilute conditions but also under cell-mimicking molecular crowding conditions. Our electrophoretic mobility shift assay and significant decrease in the Tm values confirmed the significant destabilization of G4 structures Fluorescence results showed the formation of high-affinity G4 complex-peptide complex with binding affinities in the micromolar (µM) range of 2–8 µM in different ionic conditions. First time, this study may give insight into the use of peptides as leads for the development of more potent and selective ligands to regulate the potential therapeutic applications of cancer stem cell markers.
Assessment of Two SWCC models for predicting the curve fitting parameters of lateritic soil: bentonite mixtures
Authors: Amadi A. A. , Isah S. D.
Published: April 2024

This study compares the capabilities of soil water characteristic curve (SWCC) models by Brooks-Corey (BC) and van Genuchten (vG) in estimating the curve fitting parameters for lateritic soil—bentonite mixtures. The SWCCs of soil treated with 0–10% bentonite and compacted with British standard light (BSL) energy at compaction states representing dry of optimum, optimum, and wet of optimum conditions were measured by sequential desorption using pressure plate extractor. The fitting parameters of the two equations were determined by a non-linear fitting program. The fitting capabilities of the models on the measured data were compared by statistical indices namely the root mean square error (RMSE), linearity (R2) and index of agreement (d). Results revealed that volumetric water content increased as bentonite content increased with specimens containing 10% bentonite recording the highest and therefore has greater capacity to retain water/contaminants, while the air entry value (AEV) for the various soil mixtures also increased with higher bentonite content. The study also found that the estimated volumetric water contents approximated the measured values at all suctions with a high degree of accuracy with RMSE values that ranged from 0.0035 to 0.0150 for vG model which are somewhat lower than the values for BC equation. Similarly, R2 for the vG equation (≥ 0.99) are, on average, slightly higher than those of the BC fits. However, the d values associated with the BC model which varied between 0.788 and 0.971 are higher than those of the vG (0.784–0.968). Overall, the study established that the vG model proved marginally superior in respect of goodness of fit.
The Islamic Welfare State
Authors: Candland Christopher
Published: April 2024

The Islamic Welfare State explains the relationship between government legitimacy, everyday security, and lived Islam in Pakistan—a major Muslim-majority country. Its humanitarian spirit makes Islam a compelling, community-strengthening faith that motivates people to provide essential services to the needy, to foster moral sentiments that build social solidarity, and to thereby challenge the legitimacy of government with its focus on 'protecting Islam' and 'national security' rather than enhancing the lives of ordinary people. The book surveys four kinds of Islamic charities—traditional, professional, partisan, and state. The focus is on ground realities, on the activities of welfare workers and beneficiaries, mostly patients and students from low-income families. The attention to the different political sentiments that different kinds of charity foster allows us to better understand politics and political change in Pakistan and across the Muslim world.
Labour Justice
Authors: Routh Supriya
Published: April 2024

This book argues that the imagination of the worker-citizen, inherent in citizens' constitutional duty to work, is the very foundation of constitutional citizenship and its social justice agenda. The design of social justice in the constitution takes labour as its core ideological and political commitment, seeking to treat workers fairly for their social contribution through work. Employing this constitutional design, this book evaluates the recently repealed labour law against the constitutional metric of social justice. Drawing on the components of social justice, the book evaluates the new labour law in its capacity to promote market-based distribution, respecting basic individual liberties; the complementary redistribution of public goods, upholding the principle of solidarity; and worker participation in decisions about the operation of the market and the state. In offering such evaluation, the book conceives of work in its wider social relationship in contrast to its narrower private exchange rationale.
Class, Politics, and Agrarian Policies in Post-liberalisation India
Authors: Das Gupta Sejuti
Published: April 2024

Has there been a shift in agrarian policies in India since liberalisation? What has been the impact of these policies on new class formation and consolidation of existing ones? Did proprietary classes with close relations to the state influence the formulation of these policies? Do class–state relations have to be uniform across nations under globalisation? Studying post-liberalisation India, this book answers these questions by scrutinising the tenets of agrarian policies of three Indian states – Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, and Karnataka. In doing so, it analyses the political economy of agricultural policy and the class–state relations operating in the country concluding that class and its relation to the state have come to occupy a defining role in the politics of new India. This edition has an all-new introduction and conclusion that considers the farmer movements in 2020-21 and how that impacts agrarian class structure and role of the state.
RADIOCARBON VARIATIONS IN ANNUAL TREE RINGS WITH 11-YEAR SOLAR CYCLES DURING 1800–1950
Authors: Povinec Pavel P , Kontuľ Ivan , Svetlik Ivo
Published: April 2024

The results of radiocarbon variation studies observed in annual tree rings from the NW Pacific (USA Northwest) (Stuiver and Braziunas 1993) and Europe (England, Brehm et al. 2021; Slovakia, Povinec 1977, 1987) are reviewed with the aim of better understanding the 11-year radiocarbon cycle and possible impacts of solar proton events on 14C levels in the atmosphere and biosphere. The average Δ14C amplitude in tree rings for the period of 1798–1944 was 1.3 ± 0.3‰, the average periodicity was 11 ± 1 years, and the average time shift between the sunspot numbers and Δ14C records was 3 ± 1 years. A new solar activity minimum (Gleissberg minimum, 1878–1933) has been identified in the Δ14C data sets from the NW Pacific and England, showing Δ14C excess of 7‰, comparable to the Dalton minimum (1797–1823). No significant changes in Δ14C levels were identified that could be associated with solar proton events during 1800–1950.
Working Mothers and Political Daughters: Intergenerational Dynamics of Women's Political Officeholding
Authors: Frödin Gruneau Moa , Rickne Johanna
Published: April 2024

We study a new driving factor of women's inclusion in politics: the economic empowerment of their mothers. We evaluate Swedish microdata on politicians and their parents over fifty years. The results demonstrate a strong intergenerational dynamic from mothers to daughters. Female politicians come from households where their mother is more likely to be employed, earns more in the labour market, and earns a larger share of household earnings. This pattern was strong among parliamentarians in the 1970s and 1980s when female numerical representation increased rapidly in Sweden but is not present in national politics after the introduction of gender quotas in the early 1990s or in local politics.
RHETORICA AD HERENNIVM 1.2: QVOAD EIVS, QVOD EIVS OR QVOAD?
Authors: Kiss Dániel
Published: April 2024

Rhet. Her. 1.2 quoad eius fieri poterit contains the surprising reading quoad eius. Earlier scholarship has debated the authenticity of this reading and its relationship to quod eius. A survey of the sources shows that quod eius appears in a number of inscriptions as well as in the transmitted text of nine passages within surviving Latin literature. So that phrase must be authentic; it appears to have arisen as a limiting formula in the language of the law. In two other passages, quoad eius appears in inferior manuscripts that lack authority, while the reading transmitted by authoritative textual sources is quod eius. Rhet. Her. 1.2 is the only passage in which quoad eius is the transmitted reading. This phrase is also linguistically problematic. Hence it is very likely to be corrupt. It probably arose as a conflation of quod eius with quoad, both of which are attested in similar contexts. On balance, it seems more likely that the original reading in this passage was quoad.
One-stage thyroid cartilage laryngotracheal reconstruction for children less than one year old with congenital subglottic stenosis
Authors: Chen Chao , Ni Yi-hua , Tan Le-tian , Huang Yue , Xu Zheng-min
Published: April 2024

Objectives

To evaluate one-stage thyroid cartilage laryngotracheal reconstruction in children less than one year of age with congenital subglottic stenosis.

Methods

Congenital subglottic stenosis children less than one year old who underwent one-stage thyroid cartilage laryngotracheal reconstruction between 2016 and 2020 in our department were retrospectively reviewed. Their clinical characteristics, treatments and prognoses were assessed.

Results

Eleven congenital subglottic stenosis children (6–11 months) were included: seven with Myer–Cotton grade II, and four with Myer–Cotton grade III. Their tracheal diameters were corrected to normal size using thyroid cartilage, and they were intubated under sedation for two weeks after surgery. Moreover, all of them received anti-infection and anti-reflux therapies during hospitalisation. No breathing difficulty, aspiration, hoarseness or laryngitis was observed during the follow-up period (10–30 months), and their growth and development were age appropriate.

Conclusion

The one-stage thyroid cartilage laryngotracheal reconstruction is a good treatment option for congenital subglottic stenosis children less than one year old with Myer–Cotton grade II–III.
Structural and Cognitive Mechanisms of Group Cohesion in Primates
Authors: Dunbar R.I.M.
Published: April 2024

Group-living creates stresses that, all else equal, naturally lead to group fragmentation, and hence loss of the benefits that group-living provides. How species that live in large stable groups counteract these forces is not well understood. I use comparative data on grooming networks and cognitive abilities in primates to show that living in large, stable groups has involved a series of structural solutions designed to create chains of ‘friendship’ (friends-of-friends effects), increased investment in bonding behaviours (made possible by dietary adjustments) to ensure that coalitions work effectively, and neuronally expensive cognitive skills of the kind known to underpin social relationships in humans. The first ensures that individuals synchronise their activity cycles; the second allows the stresses created by group-living to be defused; and the third allows a large number of weak ties to be managed. Between them, these create a form of multilevel sociality based on strong versus weak ties similar to that found in human social networks. In primates, these strategies appear successively at quite specific group sizes, suggesting that they are solutions to ‘glass ceilings’ that would otherwise limit the range of group sizes that animals can live in (and hence the habitats they can occupy). This sequence maps closely onto the grades now known to underpin the Social Brain Hypothesis and the fractal pattern that is known to optimise information flow round networks.
A new philosophy for international legal skepticism?
Authors: Lefkowitz David
Published: April 2024

Ronald Dworkin maintains that a system of coercive government is a genuinely legal one if and only if it exhibits fidelity to a conception of the rule of law as valuable for the constitutive contribution it makes to the treatment of all its individual human subjects with equal concern and respect. This requires a particular type of institutional structure, namely one that satisfies the criteria that constitute government according to the rule of law, and a particular political culture or ethos on the part of both rulers and ruled that Dworkin labels law as integrity. The existing practice of global coercive government may well satisfy neither of these conditions. If so, then given Dworkin's account of law, international law is not really law. Importantly, this is a practical claim, not a descriptive/explanatory one. Specifically, it entails that international officials are sometimes morally permitted to tell noble lies regarding what the ‘law’ is, to refuse to pronounce on questions of ‘law’, and to refrain from applying and enforcing actors' ‘legal’ rights and duties.
Fast tracking tool selection for sustainability decisions
Authors: Willer David F. , Christie Alec P. , Khripko Diana , Bremner Julie , Petrovan Silviu O. , Sutherland William J. , Short Samuel W. , Aldridge David C.
Published: April 2024

Non-technical Summary

In decision-making, especially for sustainability, choosing the right assessment tools is crucial but challenging due to the abundance of options. A new method is introduced to streamline this process, aiding policymakers and managers. This method involves four phases: scoping, cataloging, selection, and validation, combining data analysis with stakeholder engagement. Using the food system as an example, the approach demonstrates how practitioners can select tools effectively based on input variables and desired outcomes to address sustainability risks. This method can be applied across various sectors, offering a systematic way to enhance decision-making and manage sustainability effectively.

Technical Summary

Decision making frequently entails the selection and application of assessment tools. For sustainability decisions there are a plethora of tools available for environmental assessment, yet no established and clear approach to determine which tools are appropriate and resource efficient for application. Here we present an extensive inventory of tools and a novel taxonomic method which enables efficient, effective tool selection to improve decision making for policymakers and managers. The tool selection methodology follows four main phases based on the divergence-convergence logic; a scoping phase, cataloging phase, selection phase and validation phase. This approach combines elements of data-driven analysis with participatory techniques for stakeholder engagement to achieve buy-in and to ensure efficient management of progress and agile course correction when needed. It builds on the current limited range and scope of approaches to tool selection, and is flexible and Artificial Intelligence-ready in order to facilitate more rapid integration and uptake. Using the food system as a case study, we demonstrate how practitioners can use available input variables and desired output metrics to select the most appropriate tools to manage sustainability risks, with the approach having wide applicability to other sectors.

Social Media Summary

New method simplifies tool selection for sustainable decisions, aiding policymakers & managers. #Sustainability #DecisionMaking