bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Alcohol and Loneliness: Their Entanglement and Social Constitution
Authors: Schmid Ulla
Published: December 2023

I develop an externalist perspective and analysis of the relatedness of loneliness and (harmful) alcohol use and the concept of loneliness. I depart from twenty qualitative interviews with people undergoing inpatient treatment for alcohol dependence. Both, loneliness and its relatedness to alocohol dependence turn out to be complex relational and interactional phenomena whose occurrence and dynamics depend on the social and situational conditions under which they arise. Despite huge variations in interviewees’ experiences of loneliness, they share a common phenomenological and analytical structure. Loneliness arises when instances of social interaction fail to arrive at mutual understanding within a certain social context. Loneliness is neither reducible to individual experiences nor to distinctive characteristics of a person. Rather, it presents an evaluative and interactional phenomenon, a person’s awareness of his/her failure to establish mutual understanding with others in social interaction. The relatedness of alcohol dependence and loneliness is neither conceptual nor causal nor explainable by facts about the individuals concerned, but depends on the kind of loneliness involved and the function habitual ways of drinking alcohol have in a person’s everyday life and social environment.
Schwerpunktthemen der quantitativ-empirischen Forschung mit Bezug zur Digitalisierung in der kulturellen Bildung: Eine kartierende Forschungssynthese
Authors: Christ Alexander , Smolarczyk Kathrin , Kröner Stephan
Published: December 2023

Im Kontext des digitalen Wandels haben sich auch kulturelle Aktivitäten verändert. „Klassische“ Aktivitäten wurden digital überformt, neue, genuin digitale Aktivitäten sind entstanden. Darauf beziehen sich viele Studien aus verschiedenen Fachdisziplinen, die bislang noch nicht einer simultanen Kartierung nach untersuchter Facette kultureller Aktivität und übergreifenden Themen unterzogen wurden. Für einen Überblick über Schwerpunkte und Desiderate quantitativ-empirischer Arbeiten am Schnittpunkt von Digitalisierung und Kultureller Teilhabe eignen sich kartierende Forschungssynthesen (Mapping Reviews). Angesichts der Vielzahl einzubeziehender Arbeiten ist Textmining samt Priority Screening mittels Predictive Modeling hilfreich. Nach Sichtung von n = 8500 potenziell relevanten Arbeiten aus einem Suchergebnis von n > 250.000 Arbeiten via Predictive Modeling wurden n = 3846 Arbeiten inkludiert und durch Topic Modeling nach untersuchten Facetten kultureller Aktivität sowie übergreifenden Themen kartiert. Für die übergreifenden Themen resultierten Topics wie Unterricht und Schule, Motivation und Spaß und Kreativität und Projekte zum kulturellen Erbe. Zu allen Facetten kultureller Aktivitäten, nicht jedoch zu allen Kombinationen mit übergreifenden Themen wurde eine substantielle Menge an Arbeiten identifiziert. Es wird diskutiert, welche Implikationen die identifizierten Schwerpunkte und Desiderate für themenspezifische Forschungssynthesen sowie für weitere Originalarbeiten haben. Zusätzlich werden Implikationen für die Weiterentwicklung der angewendeten Verfahren diskutiert.
Reelin’ In The Years: Age and Selective Restriction of Liberty in the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Motorniak David , Savulescu Julian , Giubilini Alberto
Published: December 2023

During the COVID-19 pandemic, focused protection strategies including selective lockdowns of the elderly were proposed as alternatives to general lockdowns. These selective restrictions would consist of isolating only those most at risk of COVID-19 hospitalization and subsequent use of healthcare resources. The proposal seems to have troubling implications, including the permissibility of selective lockdown on the basis of characteristics such as ethnicity, sex, disability, or BMI. Like age, these factors also correlated with an increased risk of hospitalization from COVID-19. In this paper, we argue that age has meaningful differences as a morally relevant characteristic in the justification for selective restrictions of liberty. Thus, it might justify selective freedom restrictions in a way in which other factors might not. We offer four moral domains that separate age from other proxies: empiricism, operationality, discrimination, and disparity.
ASF1 regulates asexual and sexual reproduction in Stemphylium eturmiunum by DJ-1 stimulation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway
Authors: Wang Shi , Liu Xiaoman , Xiong Chenlin , Gao Susu , Xu Wenmeng , Zhao Lili , Song Chunyan , Liu Xiaoyong , James Timothy Y. , Li Zhuang , Zhang Xiuguo
Published: December 2023

Most fungi display a mixed mating system with both asexual and sexual reproduction. The timing of the two modes of reproduction must be carefully coordinated through signal perception and coordination in the cell along with chromatin modification. Here, we investigated coordination of reproductive output by investigating the function of the histone chaperone anti-silencing factor 1 (ASF1) in a fungal species amenable to characterization of both asexual and sexual reproduction. We used knockout approach to show that SeASF1 influenced asexual and sexual reproduction in Stemphylium eturmiunum. SeASF1-deleted strains failed to produce pseudothecia, but produce abnormal conidia and showed an irregular distribution of nuclei in mycelium. Transcriptome sequencing was then used to identify genes with altered expression in the SeASF1-deleted strains. The transcriptional expression of the identified SeDJ-1 was strongly regulated by SeASF1. The interaction of SeDJ-1 and SeASF1 was confirmed using Y2H, Co-IP, and pull-down. Due to some components of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/AKT) signaling pathway were known to interact with DJ-1 in mammals, we verified SePI3K, an element of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in S. eturmiunum, was directly linked to SeDJ-1 and then these two proteins were defined as a coordinator of reproduction. However, knockout of SeDJ-1 or SePI3K altered the asexual and sexual reproduction, but SePI3K recovered the asexual and sexual development of ∆Sedj-1. The SeDJ-1-M6 segment of SeDJ-1 was essential for its interaction with SePI3K and played a critical role in restoring sexual reproduction in the ∆Sepi3k, providing a deep understanding of the regulatory mechanism of SeDJ-1 in S. eturmiunum development. Summarily, SeASF1 is able to trigger SeDJ-1 and SeDJ-1can also activate SePI3K, which is orchestrally involved in asexual and sexual reproduction in S. eturmiunum. All these results reveal that SeASF1 manipulates asexual and sexual reproduction in S. eturmiunum by SeDJ-1 perception of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. These data highlight the deep similarities in coordinating asexual and sexual processes in both fungi and eukaryotes in general.
Fast-Response Fiber-Optic FPI Temperature Sensing System Based on Modulated Grating Y-Branch Tunable Laser
Authors: Cheung Yang , Jing Zhenguo , Liu Qiang , Li Ang , Liu Yueying , Guo Yihang , Zhang Sen , Zhou Dapeng , Peng Wei
Published: December 2023

In this paper, a cost-effective and miniaturized instrument is proposed, which is based on a tunable modulated grating Y-branch (MG-Y) laser for rapid temperature measurement using a Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) sensor. The FPI sensor with a 1 463-µm cavity length is a short segment of a capillary tube sandwiched by two sections of single-mode fibers (SMFs). This system has a broad tunable range (1 527 nm–1 567 nm) with a wavelength interval of 8 pm and a tuning rate of 100 Hz. Temperature sensing experiments are carried out to investigate the performance of the system by demodulating the absolute cavity length of the FPI sensor using a cross-correlation algorithm. Experimental results show that the sensor can reach the response time as short as 94 ms with the sensitivity of 802 pm/°C. Benefiting from the homemade and integrated essential electrical circuits, the entire system has the small size, low cost, and practical application potential to be used in the harsh environment for rapid temperature measurement.
The growth of Soviet music in the scope of Chinese cinema in the early period of the establishment of New China: an example of the interlude “Oh, the snowball tree is in blossom” in the film and television works of Ivan Perilyev
Authors: Wang Mingjie , Xiao Yan
Published: December 2023

In the early days of the founding of New China, there was an international situation with close political contact between China and the Soviet Union. I still remember the title of “Big Brother of the Soviet Union”, which shows the political and cultural exchange and blending between these two countries. In the film industry culture, Soviet films and their unique musical melodies and content materials have inspired the development of Chinese films. The musical elements in the films can make the film works more valuable, and it is easier for them to have emotional impacts and fluctuations to invoke empathy and association. This article will analyze and discuss the films in the early days of the founding of New China through the development and influence of Soviet music in China at that time and through the detailed analysis of the specific work “Happy Life” by Ivan Pyryev to search for and summarize the clues of the rooted development of Soviet music in the Chinese film industry and its role and significance in future film and television development.
Enhanced multi-scale networks for semantic segmentation
Authors: Li Tianping , Cui Zhaotong , Han Yu , Li Guanxing , Li Meng , Wei Dongmei
Published: December 2023

Multi-scale representation provides an effective answer to the scale variation of objects and entities in semantic segmentation. The ability to capture long-range pixel dependency facilitates semantic segmentation. In addition, semantic segmentation necessitates the effective use of pixel-to-pixel similarity in the channel direction to enhance pixel areas. By reviewing the characteristics of earlier successful segmentation models, we discover a number of crucial elements that enhance segmentation model performance, including a robust encoder structure, multi-scale interactions, attention mechanisms, and a robust decoder structure. The attention mechanism of the asymmetric non-local neural network (ANNet) is merged with multi-scale pyramidal modules to accelerate model segmentation while maintaining high accuracy. However, ANNet does not account for the similarity between pixels in the feature map channel direction, making the segmentation accuracy unsatisfactory. As a result, we propose EMSNet, a straightforward convolutional network architecture for semantic segmentation that consists of Integration of enhanced regional module (IERM) and Multi-scale convolution module (MSCM). The IERM module generates weights using four or five-stage feature maps, then fuses the input features with the weights and uses more computation. The similarity of the channel direction feature graphs is also calculated using ANNet’s auxiliary loss function. The MSCM module can more accurately describe the interactions between various channels, capture the interdependencies between feature pixels, and capture the multi-scale context. Experiments prove that we perform well in tests using the benchmark dataset. On Cityscapes test data, we get 82.2% segmentation accuracy. The mIoU in the ADE20k and Pascal VOC datasets are, respectively, 45.58% and 85.46%.
Density and regional distribution of radiologists in a low-income country: the Ghana situation
Authors: Sarkodie Benjamin Dabo , Ohene-Botwe Benard , Mensah Yaw B. , Tagoe Edmund , Jimah Bashiru Babatunde , Brakohiapa Edmund Kwakye , Dzefi-Tettey Klenam
Published: December 2023

Background

This study assessed the density and distribution of radiologists across all 16 regions in Ghana to generate reference information for planning and policy formulation to encourage radiology specialization and in designing systems to improve the dissemination of radiological services across all the regions in Ghana.

Method

A cross-sectional design was used to collect secondary data on all radiologists (n = 93) registered with the Medical and Dental Council of Ghana (MDCG) as of December 2022. This information collected on the records of the MDCG was confirmed with records from the Ghana Association of Radiologists. Population and land area data were also collected from the National Statistical Service of Ghana for each region in the country. The Stata statistical software version 15 was used to analyze the data collected.

Results

There were 93 radiologists in the country. The majority were male (n = 60, 65%) and about one-third of the radiologists were female. The national density of radiologists was 1.9 radiologists per 5000 km2. Only 3 of the 16 regions in the country had a better distribution of radiologists per 5000 km2. There were three radiologists per million people in Ghana with a skewed regional distribution. Seven out of the 16 regions lacked radiologists. The proportion of female radiologists stationed within the Greater Accra and Ashanti regions was 87.9% (29/33). The Bono, Eastern, Northern, and Western regions had one female radiologist each.

Conclusions

Actions are needed to improve the shortage and skewed distribution of radiologists. The outcome will help to improve radiological services across all the regions in Ghana.
A Novel Framework for Detection of Harmful Snakes Using YOLO Algorithm
Authors: Naresh E. , Babu J. Ananda , Darshan S. L. Shiva , Murthy S. V. N. , Srinidhi N. N.
Published: December 2023

The spotlight of our discussion here is on developing a model for detecting snakes present in the agricultural fields using cameras and machine learning algorithms. The idea is to construct a machine learning model to identify the snakes, which will be trained on a vast set of images of snakes. These images will be carefully selected to include the snake patterns, skin color of different species of snakes (extraction of the unique features). This is done to train the model properly to identify different types of snakes that the farmer encounters in the fields. Most famers are unaware and have a need for a way to detect these snakes so that they can either avoid them or get rid of them. Hence, this system can be implemented to prevent thousands of deaths and can help famers alleviate the repercussions of snake bites. Mistakes in recognizing potentially harmful animal species based only on visual cues are major contributors to the high death toll from venomous animal attacks. Since they spend so much time in the fields, where rice and wheat are cultivated, farmers are at a higher risk of being bitten by a snake than the general population. Because of their ignorance, illiterate farmers are more inclined to believe in superstitions, which can lead to their untimely deaths from snakebites despite medical intervention. Animals that would normally pose no threat to humans are responsible for the deaths of thousands of people every year because of environmental factors. However, because it is hard for humans to recognize these dangers, a new design paradigm has been developed to make it simpler. Researchers in the field of animal biology can use it to search for endangered species. Predators may enter gardens and green areas like tea and coffee plantations. There is not yet a plan in place to implement automated sorting for discovering distinctions. By applying the suggested framework to photographs of potentially dangerous animals, several factors useful for studying animal organization may be easily identified. For the classifier to run in real-time, it is suggested that YOLO be utilized for double processing within the framework. Furthermore, the YOLO technique enables quick animal recognition in a similar fashion. First, the YOLO method will be used to determine whether a snake is present in the proposed work. Here, 87 percent precision is also reached in the detection of snakes.
Comparing Artificial Intelligence Classification Models to Improve an Image Comparison System with User Inputs
Authors: Jardim Sandra , Valente Jorge , Almeida Artur , Mora Carlos
Published: December 2023

Data science techniques have increased in popularity over the last decades due to its numerous applications when handling complex data, but also due to its high precision. In particular, Machine (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) systems have been explored in many unique applications, owing to their high precision, flexible customization, and strong adaptability. Our research focuses on a previously described image detection system and analyses the application of a user feedback system to improve the accuracy of the comparison formula. Due to the non-traditional requirements of our system, we intended to assess the performance of multiple AI techniques and find the most suitable model to analyze our data and implement possible improvements. The study focuses on a set of test data, using the test results collected for one particular image cluster. We researched some of the previous solutions on similar topics and compared multiple ML methods to find the most suitable model for our results. Artificial Neural networks and binary decision trees were among the better performing models tested. Reinforcement and Deep Learning methods could be the focus of future studies, once more varied data are collected, with bigger comparison weight diversity.
Wissenschaftliches Arbeiten im Medizinstudium – Erprobung eines Lehrkonzepts in Lehrpraxen
Authors: Bleckwenn Markus , Legutke Richard , Gehres Vera , Weckbecker Klaus , Engel Bettina
Published: December 2023

Hintergrund

Mit der neuen Approbationsordnung soll das wissenschaftliche Arbeiten stärker in das Medizinstudium integriert werden.

Ziel der Arbeit/Fragestellung

Daher sollte im Fachgebiet Allgemeinmedizin überprüft werden, wie die Integration einer wissenschaftlichen Arbeit mit Patient*innen in das bestehende Curriculum von den Studierenden umgesetzt werden kann und wie die Lehrärzt*innen diese Erweiterung der Lehre annehmen.

Material und Methoden

Dazu sollten die Medizinstudierenden Patienten*innen mit einer Allopurinolbehandlung in Hausarztpraxen untersuchen. Hierfür sollten neben einer persönlichen Befragung der Patient*innen auch Daten aus den Patient*innenakten entnommen werden. Die Eintragungen in den Untersuchungsbögen wurden anschließend anhand der Patienten*innenakten auf die korrekte Dateneingabe überprüft. Zudem wurden die Lehrärzt*innen anhand eines Fragebogens zur dem Lehrprojekt befragt.

Ergebnisse

An dem Lehrprojekt nahmen 35 Studierende in 29 Lehrpraxen teil. In sieben Lehrpraxen (25 %) wurden wie geplant Patient*innen mit einer Gichtbehandlung untersucht. Dichotome Items und Fragen zu Personendaten wurden durchweg korrekt von den Studierenden dokumentiert. Fehler bei der Dokumentation konnten bei komplexeren Items, wie z. B. bei der Abfrage der Vormedikation oder den Vorerkrankungen, beobachtet werden. Die Lehrärzt*innen gaben Zeit- und Personalprobleme und Schwierigkeiten bei der Patient*innenrekrutierung an.

Schlussfolgerungen

Für eine erfolgreiche Integration einer wissenschaftlichen Arbeit in eine bestehende Lehrveranstaltung sollten sich alle beteiligten Lehrkräfte mit den wissenschaftlichen Mitarbeiter*innen möglichst frühzeitig zusammensetzen und die zukünftige Durchführung der wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten gemeinsam planen.
Older adults’ and caregivers’ perceptions about urinary tract infection and asymptomatic bacteriuria guidelines: a qualitative exploration
Authors: Durkin Michael J. , Schmitz Viktoria , Hsueh Kevin , Troubh Zoe , Politi Mary C.
Published: December 2023

Objective:

To explore older adults’ and caregivers’ knowledge and perceptions of guidelines for appropriate antibiotics use for bacteria in the urine.

Design:

Semi-structured qualitative interviews.

Setting:

Infectious disease clinics, community senior living facilities, memory care clinics, and general public.

Participants:

Patients 65 years or older diagnosed with a urinary tract infection (UTI) in the past two years, or caregivers of such patients.

Methods:

We conducted interviews between March and July 2023. We developed an interview guide based on the COM-B (capability, opportunity, motivation-behavior) behavior change framework. We thematically analyzed written transcripts of audio-recorded interviews using inductive and deductive coding techniques.

Results:

Thirty participants (21 patients, 9 caregivers) enrolled. Most participants understood UTI symptoms such as pain during urination and frequent urination. However, communication with multiple clinicians, misinformation, and unclear symptoms that overlapped with other health issues clouded their understanding of asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) and UTIs. Some participants worried that clinicians would be dismissive of symptoms if they suggested a diagnosis of ASB without prescribing antibiotics. Many participants felt that the benefits of taking antibiotics for ASB outweighed harms, though some mentioned fears of personal antibiotic resistance if taking unnecessary antibiotics. No participants mentioned the public health impact of potential antibiotic resistance. Most participants trusted information from clinicians over brochures or websites but wanted to review information after clinical conversations.

Conclusion:

Clinician-focused interventions to reduce antibiotic use for ASB should also address patient concerns during clinical visits, and provide standardized high-quality educational materials at the end of the visit.
Potential resilience treatments for orangutans (Pongo spp.): Lessons from a scoping review of interventions in humans and other animals
Authors: Bridgeland-Stephens Lelia , Thorpe Susannah KS , Chappell Jackie
Published: December 2023

Wild orangutans (Pongo spp.) rescued from human-wildlife conflict must be adequately rehabilitated before being returned to the wild. It is essential that released orangutans are able to cope with stressful challenges such as food scarcity, navigating unfamiliar environments, and regaining independence from human support. Although practical skills are taught to orangutans in rehabilitation centres, post-release survival rates are low. Psychological resilience, or the ability to ‘bounce back’ from stress, may be a key missing piece of the puzzle. However, there is very little knowledge about species-appropriate interventions which could help captive orangutans increase resilience to stress. This scoping review summarises and critically analyses existing human and non-human animal resilience literature and provides suggestions for the development of interventions for orangutans in rehabilitation. Three scientific databases were searched in 2021 and 2023, resulting in 63 human studies and 266 non-human animal studies. The first section brings together human resilience interventions, identifying common themes and assessing the applicability of human interventions to orangutans in rehabilitation. The second section groups animal interventions into categories of direct stress, separation stress, environmental conditions, social stress, and exercise. In each category, interventions are critically analysed to evaluate their potential for orangutans in rehabilitation. The results show that mild and manageable forms of intervention have the greatest potential benefit with the least amount of risk. The study concludes by emphasising the need for further investigation and experimentation, to develop appropriate interventions and measure their effect on the post-release survival rate of orangutans.
Is the concept of clinical staging a useful way of matching levels of intervention to the needs of young people with depressive or other mood disorders?
Authors: Hickie Ian B. , Scott Jan , Shah Jai , Scott Elizabeth , Iorfino Frank
Published: December 2023

A clinical concept that has been taken up with some enthusiasm in mental health services for young people experiencing major mental disorders is that of clinical staging, with the emphasis on identifying and intervening in youth with various ‘at-risk’, ‘sub-threshold’ or ‘attenuated’ syndromes, before the onset of first major episodes (Shah et al 2020). While these concepts were initially developed within the rather focused context of major psychotic disorders, they are now being deployed much more widely and applied to young people presenting with a variety of mental disorders (Hickie et al 2019; Shah 2019).
Age Differences in Psychological Distress After Multiple Disaster Exposures: The Effect of Multidimensional Negative COVID-19 Impacts
Authors: Chen Zhirui , Cong Zhen
Published: December 2023

Objective:

This study examined how the multidimensional negative coronavirus disease (COVID-19) impacts contextualized the age differences in psychological distress following exposures to tornadoes and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods:

Data were from a 2-wave panel study conducted at T1 (October 2020–August 2021) and T2 (May–August 2022). Latent class analysis was conducted to explore the patterns of negative COVID-19 impacts based on a sample of 1134 at T1. Negative binomial regressions were performed to examine the age differences in psychological distress at T2, based on the working sample (N = 554), as well as the moderating effect of identified class membership, with baseline psychological distress controlled.

Results:

Three latent classes were identified: class 1 “low overall impacts,” class 2 “moderate overall impacts with high emotional distress,” and class 3 “severe overall impacts.” Individuals ages 65 and over reported lower psychological distress at T2 relative to those ages 18–34 and 35–49. However, compared to people ages 18–34, 35–49, and 50–64, those ages 65 and over reported the greatest increases in T2 psychological distress if they had experienced moderate or severe overall COVID-19 impacts at T1.

Conclusion:

There is a pressing need for mental health interventions that are tailored to multi-disaster scenarios and age-related differences in long-term disaster recovery.
Flow-induced vibrations of elastically coupled tandem cylinders
Authors: Sharma Gaurav , Bhardwaj Rajneesh
Published: December 2023

We numerically study the transverse flow-induced vibration (FIV) of elastically coupled tandem cylinders at Reynolds number

$100$

, using an in-house immersed boundary method-based solver in two-dimensional coordinates. While several previous studies considered tandem cylinders coupled through flow between them, a hitherto unexplored elastic coupling with fluid flow between them significantly influences FIV. We consider a wide range of gap ratio, reduced velocity, an equal mass ratio of both cylinders and zero damping. A systematic comparison between the classic elastically mounted tandem cylinders and elastically coupled cylinders is presented. The latter configuration exhibits two vibration modes, in-phase and out-of-phase, with corresponding natural frequencies approaching the Strouhal frequency of the system. We quantify variation of the following output variables with reduced velocity and gap ratios: cylinders’ displacement; fluid forces; amplitude spectral density of displacement and force signals; phase characteristics; energy harvesting potential; and discuss the wake characteristics using flow separation, pressure distribution, gap flow quantification, and dynamic mode decomposition characterization. The FIV response is classified into several regimes: initial desynchronization with and without gap vortices; final desynchronization; mixed mode; initial branch; lock-in; upper and lower branch; wake-induced vibration; galloping. We draw upon similarities of computed FIV characteristics with those of an isolated cylinder, in which the lower branch exhibits larger a amplitude than the upper branch. The elastically coupled cylinders show a galloping response similar to an isolated D-section cylinder. By invoking the elastic coupling, we demonstrate FIV suppression and augmentation for in-phase and out-of-phase systems. Our calculations show larger energy harvesting potential at reduced cost for elastically coupled cylinders.
The Double-Edged Sword Effect of the Presence of a Moral Star: Promotion Versus Inhibition of Nonstars' Prosocial Behavior
Authors: Ju Dong , Liu Shengming , Schminke Marshall , Huang Mingpeng , Qin Xin
Published: December 2023

Although a growing body of literature on star employees has focused on top performers, the influence of moral stars has been neglected, an unfortunate situation given that employees’ moral behavior has prolonged impacts on organizations and society as a whole. In this case, we propose the concept of the moral star, defined as the employee (not the team leader) who exhibits disproportionately high and prolonged morality relative to others and has a reputation of being moral on his or her team. We further draw upon self-categorization theory and investigate the double-edged sword effect of the presence of a moral star on the prosocial behavior of other team members. Specifically, we propose that for nonstar employees who have high levels of moral identity, the presence of a moral star is positively related to their felt moral responsibility and prosocial behavior. In contrast, for nonstar employees with low levels of moral identity, the presence of a moral star is negatively related to their felt moral responsibility and prosocial behavior. We found support for our hypotheses across an experiment and a multi-wave and multi-source field study. Taken together, our findings call for closer attention to the recognition of moral stars, as well as their potential unintended negative impact on teams and organizations.
Debate on Informal Interpersonal Networks: Guanxi vs. Wasta
Authors: Murmann Johann Peter
Published: December 2023

MOR's D3 section seeks to stimulate dialogue, debate, and discussion among scholars. When I took over as editor of D3, MOR's editorial team brainstormed how to further develop the D3 feature. We agreed that in addition to seeking original articles, we also wanted to encourage debate on articles that have already appeared in MOR. In this issue, we publish a commentary on Shaalan, Eid, and Tourky's (2022) article ‘De-Linking from Western Epistemologies: Using Guanxi-Type Relationships to Attract and Retain Hotel Guests in the Middle East’. The commentary, entitled ‘Questioning the Appropriateness of Examining Guanxi in a Wasta Environment: Why Context Should Be Front and Center in Informal Network Research’, has been written by Horak, Abosag, Hutchings, Alsarhan, Ali, Al-Twal, Weir, ALHussan, and AL-Husan (2023). As their title suggests, the commentators take issue with transferring the concept of guanxi into an environment in which another idea about informal interpersonal networks, wasta, already exists. I sense that the desire to write a critical comment was fueled by the fact that Shaalan et al. (2022) never referred to the concept of ‘wasta’ in their original article. We invited the authors of the original article to write a rejoinder (Shaalan, Eid, & Tourky, 2023) in which they emphasize even further that they only argue that guanxi-type relationships exist in the Middle East and not that guanxi itself exists.
Ontogenetic mechanisms of size change: implications for the Lilliput effect and beyond
Authors: Abbott Caroline P. , Webster Mark , Angielczyk Kenneth D.
Published: December 2023

Body size has a long history of study in paleobiology and underlies many important phenomena in macroevolution. Body-size patterns in the fossil record are often examined by utilizing size data alone, which hinders our ability to describe the biological meaning behind size change on macroevolutionary timescales. Without data reflecting the biological and geologic factors that drive size change, we cannot assess its mechanistic underpinnings.

Existing frameworks for studying ontogeny and phylogeny can remedy this problem, particularly the classic age–size–“shape” space originally developed for studies of heterochrony. When evaluated based on metrics for age, size, and phenotype in populations, proposed mechanisms for size change can be outlined theoretically and tested empirically in the record. Using this framework, we can compare ontogenetic trajectories within and between species and determine how changes in size emerge. Here, we outline ontogenetic mechanisms for evolutionary size change, such as heterochrony, as well as how geologic factors can drive apparent, non-biological size change (e.g., taphonomic size sorting).

To demonstrate the utility of this framework in actual paleobiological problems, we apply it to the Lilliput effect, a compelling and widely documented pattern of size decrease during extinction events. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying this pattern. We provide a brief history of the Lilliput effect and refine its definition in a framework that can be mechanistically tested. Processes that likely produce Lilliput effects include allometric and sequence repatterning (including heterochrony) and evolutionary size-selective sorting. We describe these mechanisms and highlight relevant examples of the Lilliput effect for which feasible empirical tests are possible.
Support for Deliberative mini-Publics among the Losers of Representative Democracy
Authors: Pilet Jean-Benoit , Bedock Camille , Talukder David , Rangoni Sacha
Published: December 2023

The literature on deliberative mini-publics (DMPs) establishes a link between political dissatisfaction and support for DMPs. However, little is known about the sources of political dissatisfaction that trigger this support. Our research tackles this specific question and claims that citizen dissatisfaction is rooted in a position of ‘losers of representative democracy’, which leads citizens to be more open to reforms that move away from the representative model. Building on the literature on loser's consent, we focus on the effect of voting for a party not associated with the government and of descriptive and substantive (under)-representation in support of DMPs. We rely on a comparative survey conducted across fifteen Western European countries. Supporters of opposition parties and those who are badly represented, both descriptively and substantively, are more supportive of DMPs. These findings have important implications for understanding the public appeal for deliberative democracy instruments.
The Two Revolutions of Israel's National Identity
Authors: Medina Barak , Bloch Ofra
Published: December 2023

The judicial overhaul, designed to weaken the judiciary and unleash governmental power from its structural checks, should be understood, we argue, as part of a deeper transformation of Israel's constitutional identity. At its core, this transformation is not about ‘empowering the people’ but rather about questioning Israel's commitment to the fundamental principle of equal citizenship, mainly regarding the permissibility of preferring the interests of Jews over those of non-Jews. Understanding the judicial overhaul as part of this larger transformation of the state's identity, towards more Jewish and less democratic, carries normative implications regarding its legitimacy.

The judicial overhaul is often presented by the Israeli government as an attempt to undo the 1992 so-called ‘constitutional revolution’, questioning its legitimacy and asserting that a counter-revolution would be permissible, aligning with the current will of the people. An examination of Israel's constitutional history refutes this argument. We show that while the 1992 revolution enjoyed both normative and, at least, partial social legitimacy, current attempts do not.
Israel's Constitutional Moment
Authors: Dotan Yoav
Published: December 2023

As the result of the initiation of the ‘judicial reform’ in January 2023, and the huge wave of public protest, Israel is currently undergoing a political turmoil which may develop into a fully fledged constitutional crisis. In this article I provide an account of the roots and causes of the present crisis from a public law theory perspective. In particular, I discuss the relationship between constitutional and administrative law in Israeli law. I argue that the core of Israel's constitutional structure has always been the institutions of administrative law as created and developed during the ‘administrative revolution’ of the 1980s. In contrast, Israel's constitutional law has always been a peripheral in the core structure of judicial review over the political branches. Contrary to common wisdom, I argue that the ‘constitutional revolution’ of the mid-1990s has not changed this core structure, but rather provided an external belt of normative barricades for this core structure. Accordingly, and despite the pretentious constitutional discourse developed in the 1990s by the Court, Israel was and still is a monistic democracy with no true constitutional layer of norms that enjoys higher status vis-à-vis regular legislation.
The 2003 Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention in Armed Conflict: An integrated reading of obligations towards culture in conflict
Authors: Rai Ashrutha
Published: December 2023

International law today recognizes that cultural heritage includes not only tangible but also intangible cultural heritage, encompassing traditions, customs, practices, and beliefs. While protections for tangible cultural heritage have existed since at least the nineteenth century, only relatively recently has the law gone beyond piecemeal human rights protections and extended direct and specific treaty protections to intangible cultural heritage through the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The push for this Convention was linked with broader discontent within the Global south at the prioritization of Eurocentric ‘monumentalism’ in international cultural heritage law. Nevertheless, in situations of armed conflict, the emphasis reverts to protection of tangible cultural heritage as international humanitarian law does not go beyond general civilian protections to directly address the protection of intangible cultural heritage in conflict. While the 2003 Convention provides for emergency assistance, its broadly-worded terms do not indicate the shape its other obligations would take in armed conflict or the manner in which they would interact with rules governing the conduct of hostilities. This article examines, first, the degree and extent to which the 2003 Convention’s various obligations in relation to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage circumvent de-prioritization and continue to apply in conflict; and second, the manner in which they can be integrated with rules of international humanitarian law to better protect intangible cultural heritage during active hostilities.
A Novel Algorithm for Improving the Prehospital Diagnostic Accuracy of ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction
Authors: Goebel Mat , Westafer Lauren M. , Ayala Stephanie A. , Ragone El , Chapman Scott J. , Mohammed Masood R. , Cohen Marc R. , Niemann James T. , Eckstein Marc , Sanko Stephen , Bosson Nichole
Published: December 2023

Introduction:

Early detection of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) on the prehospital electrocardiogram (ECG) improves patient outcomes. Current software algorithms optimize sensitivity but have a high false-positive rate. The authors propose an algorithm to improve the specificity of STEMI diagnosis in the prehospital setting.

Methods:

A dataset of prehospital ECGs with verified outcomes was used to validate an algorithm to identify true and false-positive software interpretations of STEMI. Four criteria implicated in prior research to differentiate STEMI true positives were applied: heart rate <130, QRS <100, verification of ST-segment elevation, and absence of artifact. The test characteristics were calculated and regression analysis was used to examine the association between the number of criteria included and test characteristics.

Results:

There were 44,611 cases available. Of these, 1,193 were identified as STEMI by the software interpretation. Applying all four criteria had the highest positive likelihood ratio of 353 (95% CI, 201-595) and specificity of 99.96% (95% CI, 99.93-99.98), but the lowest sensitivity (14%; 95% CI, 11-17) and worst negative likelihood ratio (0.86; 95% CI, 0.84-0.89). There was a strong correlation between increased positive likelihood ratio (r2 = 0.90) and specificity (r2 = 0.85) with increasing number of criteria.

Conclusions:

Prehospital ECGs with a high probability of true STEMI can be accurately identified using these four criteria: heart rate <130, QRS <100, verification of ST-segment elevation, and absence of artifact. Applying these criteria to prehospital ECGs with software interpretations of STEMI could decrease false-positive field activations, while also reducing the need to rely on transmission for physician over-read. This can have significant clinical and quality implications for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) systems.
“Smart Emergency Call Point” Enhancing Emergency Medical Services on University Campuses
Authors: Apiratwarakul Korakot , Cheung Lap Woon , Pearkao Chatkhane , Gaysonsiri Dhanu , Ienghong Kamonwon
Published: December 2023

Introduction:

The “Smart Emergency Call Point” is a device designed for requesting assistance and facilitating rapid responses to emergencies. The functionality of smart emergency call points has evolved to include features as real-time photo transmission and communication capabilities for both staff and emergency personnel. These devices are being used to request Emergency Medical Services (EMS) on university campuses. Despite these developments, there has been a lack of previous studies demonstrating significant advantages of integrating smart emergency call points into EMS systems.

Study Objective:

The primary goal of this study was to compare the response times of EMS between traditional phone calls and the utilization of smart emergency call points located on university campuses. Additionally, the study aimed to provide insights into the characteristics of smart emergency call points as a secondary objective.

Methods:

This retrospective database analysis made use of information acquired from Thailand’s EMS at Srinagarind Hospital. The data were gathered over a period of four years, specifically from January 2019 through January 2022. The study included two groups: the first group used the phone number 1669 to request EMS assistance, while the second group utilized the smart emergency call point. The primary focus was on the response times. Additionally, the study documented the characteristics of the smart emergency call points that were used in the study.

Results:

Among the 184 EMS operations included in this study, 60.9% (N = 56) involved females in the smart emergency call point group. Notably, the smart emergency call point group showed a higher frequency of operations between the hours of 6:00am and 6:00pm when compared to the 1669 call group (P = .020). In dispatch triage, the majority of emergency call points were categorized as non-urgent, in contrast to the phone group for 1669 which were primarily cases categorized as urgent (P = .010). The average response time for the smart emergency call point group was significantly shorter, at 6.01 minutes, compared to the phone number 1669 group, which had an average response time of 9.14 minutes (P <.001).

Conclusion:

In the context of calling for EMS on a university campus, the smart emergency call points demonstrate a significantly faster response time than phone number 1669 in Thailand. Furthermore, the system also offers the capability to request emergency assistance.
Language change is wicked: semantic and social meaning of a polysemous adjective
Authors: SANDOW RHYS J. , BAILEY GEORGE , BRABER NATALIE
Published: December 2023

As a result of an ameliorative shift-to-opposite, the polysemous adjective wicked is an auto-antonym, having two senses opposite in meaning, that is, ‘evil’ and ‘good’. We discuss two studies which explore the social life of this word, with the first focusing on its production and the second on its perception. In the first study, conducted in Cornwall, United Kingdom, we find that young men are most advanced in the use of wicked ‘good’ while young women appear not to contribute to the incrementation, that is, the advancement, of this change. In the second study, conducted online across England, we find wicked ‘good’, relative to its synonym good, to be perceived as less young and to be evaluated positively across disparate characteristics relating to status and solidarity, particularly by older men. We find wicked ‘evil’, in contrast to its synonym evil, to be evaluated higher in status-type characteristics. This newly uncovered indexical field of wicked presents a possible explanation for the observed changes in production, contributing to ongoing questions about the role of social meaning in driving the incrementation of change. More generally, this article adds to the growing yet limited literature which explores semantic variation through the lens of variationist sociolinguistics.
ON LARGE EXTERNALLY DEFINABLE SETS IN NIP
Authors: Bays Martin , Ben-Neria Omer , Kaplan Itay , Simon Pierre
Published: December 2023

We study cofinal systems of finite subsets of
$\omega _1$
. We show that while such systems can be NIP, they cannot be defined in an NIP structure. We deduce a positive answer to a question of Chernikov and Simon from 2013: In an NIP theory, any uncountable externally definable set contains an infinite definable subset. A similar result holds for larger cardinals.
Processes Controlling Formation of Salt Efflorescence in Coastal Salt Flats
Authors: Liu Xiaocheng , Zhang Chenming , Liu Yue , Li Congrui , Shen Chengji , Xin Pei , Li Ling , Lockington David A.
Published: December 2023

Salt flats are bare soil surfaces with elevated salinity levels which inhibit vegetation. They are commonly found in areas of coastal wetlands where salt in surface soil accumulates due to evaporation from the shallow saline water table. The expansion of these vegetation‐free zones may severely affect the bio‐ecological function of these coastal wetland systems. In this study, sand flume experiments and numerical modeling were carried out to investigate the mechanisms underpinning the development of salt flats in the elevated areas of coastal wetlands. We found that salt precipitation occurred on the soil surface where water content is low, but the hydraulic connection to the saline groundwater table is maintained. This connection is required for evaporation to promote upward porewater flow and bring salt to the surface. However, the surface salinity level decreases with increasing surface saturation due to the density‐driven removal of salt. As a result, salt efflorescence is absent on the surface with higher water saturations, despite strong evaporation. Density‐driven flows can be triggered by the evaporation‐induced upward salinity gradient and transfer salt from the surface back to the water table. Numerical simulations confirmed this salt removal process and suggested the intensity of the density‐driven flow is mainly dictated by the soil permeability in the unsaturated zone. The findings from this study increase understanding of the processes involved in the formation and evolution of salt flats.