bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Morphological types of spermatheca in Coreidae: bearing on intra-familial classification and tribal-groupings (Hemiptera: Heteroptera)
Authors: PLUOT-SIGWALT DOMINIQUE , MOULET PIERRE
Published: August 2020

The morphology of the spermatheca is described in 109 species of 86 genera representing all four currently recognised subfamilies of Coreidae, covering the undivided Hydarinae, both tribes of Pseudophloeinae, all three tribes of Meropachyinae and 27 of the 32 tribes of Coreinae. Three types of spermatheca are recognised. Type I is bipartite, consisting only of a simple tube differentiated into distal seminal receptacle and proximal spermathecal duct and lacks the intermediate part present in most Pentatomomorpha, in which it serves as muscular pump. Type II is also bipartite but more elaborate in form with the receptacle generally distinctly wider than the duct. Type III is tripartite, with receptacle, duct and an often complex intermediate part. Four subtypes are recognised within type III. Type I is found only in Hydarinae and type II only in Pseudophloeinae. Type III is found in both Coreinae and Meropachyinae. Subtype IIIA (“Coreus-group”) unites many tribes from the Eastern Hemisphere and only one (Spartocerini) from the Western Hemisphere. Subtypes IIIB (“Nematopus-group”) and IIID (“Anisoscelis-group”) are confined to taxa from the Western Hemisphere and subtype IIIC (“Chariesterus-group”) is found in tribes from both hemispheres. The polarity of several characters of the intermediate part and some of the spermathecal duct is evaluated, suggesting autapomorphies or apomorphies potentially relevant to the classification of Coreidae at the sufamilial and tribal levels. Characters of the intermediate part strongly indicate that the separation of Meropachyinae and Coreinae as currently constituted cannot be substantiated. The tribes Anisoscelini, Colpurini, Daladerini and Hyselonotini are heterogeneous, each exhibiting two subtypes of spermatheca, and probably polyphyletic. Two tribes, Cloresmini and Colpurini, requiring further investigation remain unplaced. This study demonstrates the great importance of characters of the spermatheca, in particular its intermediate part, for research into the phylogeny and taxonomy of Pentatomomorpha.
The Moisture Budget of Tropical Cyclones in HighResMIP Models: Large-Scale Environmental Balance and Sensitivity to Horizontal Resolution
Authors: Vannière Benoît , Roberts Malcolm , Vidale Pier Luigi , Hodges Kevin , Demory Marie-Estelle , Caron Louis-Philippe , Scoccimarro Enrico , Terray Laurent , Senan Retish
Published: August 2020

Previous studies have shown that the number, intensity, and structure of simulated tropical cyclones (TCs) in climate models get closer to the observations as the horizontal resolution is increased. However, the sensitivity of tropical cyclone precipitation and moisture budget to changes in resolution has received less attention. In this study, we use the five-model ensemble from project PRIMAVERA/HighResMIP to investigate the systematic changes of the water budget of tropical cyclones in a range of horizontal resolutions from 1° to 0.25°. Our results show that, despite a large change in the distribution of TC intensity with resolution, the distribution of precipitation per TC (i.e., averaged in a 5° radial cap) does not change significantly. This result is explained by the fact that low- and high-resolution models represent equally well the large-scale balance that characterizes the moisture budget of TCs, with the radius of the moisture source extending to ~15° from the center of the TC (i.e. well beyond the TC edge). The wind profile is found to converge in the low and high resolutions for radii > 5°, resulting in a moisture flux convergence into the TC of similar magnitude at low and high resolutions. In contrast to precipitation per TC, TC intensity does increase at higher resolution and this is explained by the larger surface latent heat flux near the center of the storm, which leads to an increase in equivalent potential temperature and warmer core anomalies, although this extra latent heat represents a negligible contribution to the overall moisture budget. We discuss the complication arising from the choice of the tracking algorithm when assessing the impact of model resolution.
We Built This: Consequences of New Deal Era Intervention in America’s Racial Geography
Authors: Faber Jacob W.
Published: August 2020

The contemporary practice of homeownership in the United States was born out of government programs adopted during the New Deal. The Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC)—and later the Federal Housing Administration and GI Bill—expanded home buying opportunity, although in segregationist fashion. Through mechanisms such as redlining, these policies fueled white suburbanization and black ghettoization, while laying the foundation for the racial wealth gap. This is the first article to investigate the long-term consequences of these policies on the segregation of cities. I combine a full century of census data with archival data to show that cities HOLC appraised became more segregated than those it ignored. The gap emerged between 1930 and 1950 and remains significant: in 2010, the black-white dissimilarity, black isolation, and white-black information theory indices are 12, 16, and 8 points higher in appraised cities, respectively. Results are consistent across a range of robustness checks, including exploitation of imperfect implementation of appraisal guidelines and geographic spillover. These results contribute to current theoretical discussions about the persistence of segregation. The long-term impact of these policies is a reminder of the intentionality that shaped racial geography in the United States, and the scale of intervention that will be required to disrupt the persistence of segregation.
‘Mini-Microsuture Technique’ for Phonosurgery: A New Simplified Method
Authors: Denizoğlu İsmail İlter , BaŞer Engin
Published: August 2020

Introduction:

Phonomicrolaryngeal surgery involves the surgical treatment of benign disorders of the vocal folds. Postoperative scar tissue in vocal fold mucosa is undesired because mucosal hypodynamia may lead to prolonged impairment in voice quality. This study aims to present and share the outcomes of a new endolaryngeal suture technique.

Methods:

This study consists of patients who underwent vocal fold surgery followed by endolaryngeal microscopic suturation with a technique that we call the “mini-microsuture technique” between January 2018-December 2019. Videolaryngoscopic images were examined to observe the tissue healing process (suture elimination time, mucosal scar status, and wave pattern) at the first and the fourth week postoperatively.

Results:

A retrospective analysis was made in 144 (57 males (39.5%) and 87 females (60.5%)) patients who underwent phonomicrosurgery with “Mini-microsuture technique.” Mean age was 40.61 ± 13.54 (10-78) years. There were multiple pathological lesions in 41.66% (n: 60) of our patients, and 58.33% (n: 84) of them had single-lesion. 63.88% (n: 92) of the patients had bilateral vocal fold lesions where 36.22% (n: 52) of the patients had pathology in one vocal fold.

Conclusions:

The “mini-microsuture technique” is an easy and functional procedure that can be performed by a single surgeon under microscopy, which minimizes tissue trauma, prevents mucosal hypodynamia, and provides a better anatomical structure postoperatively for a symmetrical vibration. The technique does not significantly prolong operation time when mastered and is a cost-effective method in which surgery which can be concluded using a single suture material.
Left Ear Hearing Predicts Functional Activity in the Brains of Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease Dementia
Authors: Aylward Alana , Naidu Susan R. , Mellum Catherine , King Jace B. , Jones Keith G. , Anderson Jeffrey S. , Foster Norman L. , Gurgel Richard K.
Published: August 2020

Objectives:

To determine whether central speech processing ability, as measured by hearing in noise, differs between right and left ears in adults with Alzheimer’s disease related dementia (AD) as well as whether differences in central speech processing ability correlate with an fMRI-based measurement of global functional brain connectivity.

Methods:

This prospective study was carried out at a tertiary referral center. Patients with an AD diagnosis and pure tone averages 40 dB HL or better were included. They were examined using resting-state fMRI and underwent central audiometric testing using the Dichotic Sentence Identification Test (DSI), the Dichotic Digits Test (DD), and the Synthetic Sentence Identification Test (SS), which test hearing in noise. DSI scores were correlated with resting-state fMRI connectivity between 361 distinct gray matter brain regions of interest (ROIs). Average global connectivity was calculated as mean functional connectivity between an ROI and the other 360 regions, a quantitative marker representing overall functional connectivity in the brain.

Results:

Sixteen subjects had adequate fMRI and hearing data. The average age was 71.5 years old (±6.0). The average DSI score for the left ear was 40% (±34%) compared to 90% (±10%) in the right ear ( P < .001). No difference between ears was noted on the DD. SS does not differentiate between ears, but worsening scores were noted with increasing background noise. Of the fMRI ROIs, 269 of the 361 had multiple comparison corrected significant correlations between global connectivity and DSI of the left ear ( P = .004, r = .673), and all 269 showed higher functional connectivity for individuals with higher left DSI score. No correlations between DSI of the right ear and functional connectivity were found.

Conclusions:

Correlation was noted between left sided DSI and functional connectivity in patients with AD. Auditory input from the left ear was more susceptible to impairment, suggesting that side-specific auditory input may influence central auditory processing.
Beam Modulation for Aberration Control and Signal Enhancement in Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy
Authors: Giuzio Giovanni , Martín Sabanés Natalia , Domke Katrin F.
Published: August 2020

Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) provides the sensitivity required to obtain the vibrational fingerprint of few molecules. While single molecule detection has been demonstrated in UHV experiments, the sensitivity of the technique in ambient, liquid and electrochemical conditions is still limited. In this work, we present a new strategy to increase the signal-to-noise in TERS by spatial light modulation. We iteratively optimize the phase of the excitation beam employing two different feedback mechanisms. In one optimization protocol, we monitor the spectral changes upon aberration correction and tight far-field focusing. In a second protocol, we use a phase-optimization strategy where TER spectra are directly used for feedback. Far-field tight focusing results in average signal enhancements of a factor of 3.5 in air and has no impact on TER signals obtained from solid/liquid interfaces. Using the TER spectrum as direct feedback, we obtain average signal enhancements between a factor of 2.6 in liquid and 4.3 in air. In individual cases, some bands increase by more than one order of magnitude in intensity upon spatial light modulation. Importantly, phase modulation in addition allowed the retrieval of bands that were initially not discernible from the noise. The proposed beam-modulation strategy can be easily implemented in existing TERS instruments and can help to push the detection limit of the technique in applications where the signal-to-noise level is low.
Fiber Optic Reflection Spectroscopy–Near-Infrared Characterization Study of Dry Pigments for Pictorial Retouching
Authors: Corradini Martina , de Ferri Lavinia , Pojana Giulio
Published: August 2020

A deep comprehension of composition of pigments, employed nowadays in the field of pictorial retouch is considered essential for a deeper knowledge of their behavior with time once applied on artifacts. A commercially available set consisting of 27 pigments employed for the conservation of both historical and contemporary artworks has been characterized through Reflectance Spectroscopy in the VIS and NIR spectral range. The pigments included in the investigated set are classified into four categories: (i) dyes and colors from plants, (ii) modern pigments, (iii) pigments of own production and historical pigments, and (iv) natural earths. Recorded spectra were interpreted with the aim to detect existing coloring and filling phases and obtained results were compared with available data sheets: some inconsistencies were found, as well as lack of some compounds among the reported ones. Attributions were found for many features, even if in some cases detailed information for a comparison was not found in the literature, especially regarding NIR spectra. The proposed paper aims to provide a useful tool for the study of real artworks with a detailed overview of material characteristics in the visible and near infrared spectral range.
The art and science of systemic wellness in Black communities: Qualitative evaluation of a multimodal theatrical production
Authors: Addie Yewande O , Strekalova Yulia A Levites , Pufahl Jeffrey
Published: August 2020

Background:

Edutainment has long been used as a strategy in health promotion and public health wellness interventions. In March 2019, a large US southeastern university hosted a multimodal theatrical production entitled From Colored to Black (FCTB). The play used a historical lens to broadly address social determinants of health such as disparities in education, access to health services, fair housing and health outcomes. This creative intervention was intended to encourage progressive, justice-oriented attitudes about historically disenfranchised Black communities in North Central Florida.

Methods:

Driven by an arts-based education approach and constructs from narrative transportation theory, the study employed directed qualitative content analysis to evaluate audience commentary and examine how a play on historic health inequities in Black communities could activate cognition, emotion and imagination for critical thinking about present-day wellbeing.

Results:

Qualitative survey data in response to the artistic presentation revealed the following subthemes: fascination, assumed truthfulness, satisfaction, feelings of inspiration, enthusiasm, negative attitudes, hopelessness and emotional disconnect.

Conclusions:

Edutainment continues to be a strong intervention tool. Feedback indicates audience members experienced both highly immersive moments and low transportation-inducing points that ultimately influenced critical reflection on some of the themes addressed in the play.
Career challenges in smart cities: A sociotechnical systems view on sustainable careers
Authors: Curşeu Petru Lucian , Semeijn Judith Hilde , Nikolova Irina
Published: August 2020

Smart cities are a modern reality in an increasingly digitized and fast changing world; and, as multidimensional, multilayered and interconnected career ecosystems they bring a number of challenges for the development of sustainable careers. What are the systemic roots of these challenges, and how can we deal with them to support the emergence of sustainable careers? We draw on a sociotechnical approach, supplemented by a dynamic person–environment fit perspective, to describe two systemic challenges tied to the development of sustainable careers in smart cities, namely: (1) an unbalanced fit, in that the highly digitized context fits best with highly educated and information and communications technology (ICT) literate citizens working in knowledge intensive organizations; and (2) a volatility of fit, associated with the complex and fast-changing smart urban context. Based on the sociotechnical analysis, we put forth three suggestions for addressing these challenges and creating a sustainable career ecosystem focused on: (1) the continuous development of ICT literacy, knowledge, talents and skills; (2) citizen participation and career communities; and (3) network-centric organizing of sustainable careers that could alleviate some of the challenges associated with the parallel development of sustainable careers and smart cities.
Book review: Pankaj Jha, A Political History of Literature: Vidyapati and the Fifteenth Century
Authors: Orsini Francesca
Published: August 2020

Pankaj Jha, A Political History of Literature: Vidyapati and the Fifteenth Century, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2019, 272 pp.
Book review: Rajan Gurukkal, History and Theory of Knowledge Production: An Introductory Outline
Authors: Gurevitch Eric
Published: August 2020

Rajan Gurukkal, History and Theory of Knowledge Production: An Introductory Outline. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2019, 308 pp.
Masking of temporal activity for video quality control, measurement and assessment
Authors: Siddique Ali Akbar , Qadr M Tahir , Mohy-Ud-Din Zia
Published: August 2020

Every video stream possesses temporal redundancy based on the amount of motion presenting in it. An ample amount of motion in a video sequence may cause distorting artifacts, and in order to avoid them, there is a possibility to mask the motion or temporal activity that is not noticeable to a human eye in real time. The artifacts such as blockiness and blurriness are instigated in the video sequence as soon as it is subjected to the process of compression, and they tend to become more and more intense with the increase in temporal activity. In this paper, an algorithm is proposed to mask the temporal activity using temporal masking coefficient ( q) that is unnoticeable by a human eye to bring down the distortion levels. It is possible to adjust the quality of the video sequence by varying the q parameter and thus controlling its overall quality index. Frames are extracted from the video sequence, and displacement or motion vectors are also calculated from the consecutive frames using a bi-directional block matching algorithm. These motion vectors are used to estimate the quantity of motion present between consecutive frames of the same scene. Video sequences used for this purpose are basically H.264 format. Temporal masking is performed on a video sequence with and without the implementation of motion vector. Structural similarity index and peak signal-to-noise ratio are the quality measurement tools used to assess the performance of the proposed algorithm. A bit rate of 1.2% was saved by implementing proposed algorithm at q = 1 in contrast to the standard H.264/Advanced Video Coding.
Urban upbringing and psychiatric disorders in the United States: A racial comparison
Authors: Oh Hans , Nicholson Harvey L , Koyanagi Ai , Jacob Louis , Glass Joe
Published: August 2020

Background:

Studies that link urbanicity to mental health are mixed depending on outcome and context. More research is needed to examine whether the urban upbringing effect holds true across racial populations in a large and diverse country like the United States.

Methods:

We analyzed two large datasets that were administered contemporaneously with similar methods: The National Comorbidity Survey-Replication (NCS-R, Whites) and the National Survey of American Life (NSAL, Blacks). We ran multivariable logistic regression models to examine the associations between area of upbringing (urban/large city, other, rural) and six psychiatric disorders, controlling for sex, age, years of education and income-to-poverty ratio (and ethnicity in the NSAL). We performed these analyses in both the NCS-R and the NSAL separately.

Results:

The majority (58.97%) of the White sample grew up in the ‘other’ category (i.e. small town, small city, or suburb of a large city), whereas a much larger percentage (39.89%) of the Black sample grew up in a large city. In the White sample, urban upbringing was not associated with any of the psychiatric disorders at a conventional level of statistical significance. In the Black sample, urban upbringing was associated with greater odds of having mood disorder, alcohol use disorder and drug use disorder, but was not significantly associated with anxiety disorders, PTSD, or eating disorders.

Conclusions:

Urban upbringing was not associated with psychiatric disorders among Whites, but was associated with greater odds of mood disorders, alcohol us disorder and drug use disorder among Blacks. Future research can elucidate how differences in urban upbringing between Whites and Blacks are linked to differences in risk for psychiatric disorders.
The information phase of accountability: The role of management boards in European Union agencies
Authors: Font Nuria , Pérez-Durán Ixchel
Published: August 2020

The creation of European Union agencies has prompted normative and theoretical discussions about their accountability and democratic legitimacy. This study examines the extent to which different features concerning the institutional design of agencies incentivize information provision on their performance. To do so, it measures four aspects for which their governing bodies are expected to provide information: governance decisions, policy performance, financial issues, and interactions with stakeholders. Using a new data set of informative statements included in 199 annual activity reports of 29 agencies during the period 2010–2016, this study demonstrates that formal accountability positively affects information provision on governance and policy issues, and that the establishment of scientific bodies within agencies improves information provision on governance aspects, policy performance and their interactions with stakeholders. Finally, this article finds that agencies that perform more direct regulation are subject to greater transparency demands about their governance decisions and stakeholder interactions.

Points for practitioners

The study provides practitioners with an analytical tool for assessing the provision of information about the decisions and actions of management boards on governance issues, policy performance, financial aspects and their interactions with stakeholders.
The Quest for the Historical Jesus as an Experiment in Theological Method: A Lonerganian Perspective
Authors: Ormerod Neil
Published: August 2020

Bernard Lonergan developed his theological method as a response to the need to integrate historical studies into theological method. While his method is derived from his transcendental method, this paper argues that the last three centuries of the quest for the historical Jesus provide a test case against which to test Lonergan’s method. While critical historical method corresponds (more or less) to Lonergan’s first three functional specialties (research, interpretation, and history), the dynamics of the quest itself point to the need for dialectics and foundations while raising the question of doctrine. In this way the quest provides some empirical verification for Lonergan’s method.
Tube Housing as Dominant System and Everyday Urban Culture of Saigon-Ho Chi Minh City
Authors: Truong-Young Huyen , Hogan Trevor
Published: August 2020

Saigon-Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is a typical 21st-century mega-city coping with informal hyper-growth. Government planners are under pressure to provide mass housing, transit and utilities. Yet HCMC has developed a distinctive and effective homegrown informal housing system based on ‘tube housing’. This system of dense housing, motorcycle transport and laneways embodies an integrated everyday urban culture whereby each of its purposes (work, commerce, rest and recreation) in turn shapes the whole urban form. As such, it is argued that these everyday forms of urbanism should be respected and incorporated by city planners into their masterplans rather than be viewed as anachronistic, illegal forms to be overcome and deconstructed.
Social Structure of Changing Labour Relations in Vietnam
Authors: Mai Le Thi
Published: August 2020

Industrial action in export processing zones challenges the conventions of labour protest. Labour relations in domestic and foreign direct investment enterprises in industrial parks and export processing zones in Ho Chi Minh City were researched in 2018, with findings that divide into two areas of interest: (a) the ways ‘innovation’ in the economy has affected changes for the subjects involved in labour relations; (b) with strikes being a manifestation of conflict in labour relations, after a period of sharp increase (2011), there has been a decreasing number in recent years, but with changing characteristics. In particular, when a strike occurs now, the trade union which used to be the unique legal representative of all Vietnamese employees is less often favoured, and others are chosen by the employees to negotiate with the business owner. This trend will perhaps be formalized as Vietnam implements international labour–trade union commitments recently adopted.
Camaraderie and Conflict: Intercultural Communication and Workplace Interactions in South Korean Companies in Bình Dương Province, Vietnam
Authors: Hong-Xoan Nguyen Thi , Earl Catherine
Published: August 2020

Rapid expansion of South Korean investment in Asia and Africa highlights a need to understand how local staff manage intercultural communication, particularly involving conflict with their superiors. South Korea is Vietnam’s largest investor and the Southern Key Economic Zone hosts the majority of 1252 projects and 70,000–80,000 South Koreans working in Vietnam. This paper reports on a mixed methods data set comprising 356 survey responses and nine in-depth interviews of Vietnamese workers at South Korean companies in Bình Dương province. According to workers, the main causes of conflict in workplace interactions with Korean managers are ‘differences in working culture’ – especially about workplace time use – and ‘attitude differences’. The most popular solution from both sides is to apologise. However, workers report frequently remaining silent when they are verbally abused. This research shows that intercultural communication is an ongoing and dynamic interpersonal process that is influenced by social, contextual and individual factors.
Forestry Policy and Legitimacy: The Case of Forest Devolution in Vietnam
Authors: Phung Dang Thi Kim
Published: August 2020

Although forest devolution has become a key strategy of forestry reforms to mobilise local resources for sustainable forest management, there is growing concern about the legitimacy of this strategy. There have been escalating disputes between forestry agencies and local people as to who receives the rights to forests. Examining the policy of forest land allocation in Vietnam helps us to understand this legitimacy issue. Research findings from three case studies show trade-offs between the two policies’ goals, environmental protection and livelihood improvement, due to locals’ low awareness of the intrinsic values of forests and their lack of knowledge regarding the policy.
Community Initiatives and Local Networks among K’ho Cil Smallholder Coffee Farmers in the Central Highlands of Vietnam: A Case Study
Authors: Truong Hang Thi Thu
Published: August 2020

Over the last two decades, coffee growers in Vietnam have faced the same problems as farmers all over the world. Ethnographic research among the community of K’ho Cil coffee growers in Lam Dong Province from 2016 to 2018 documented local initiatives to deal with the problems through the establishment of a K’ho Coffee network, revitalization of traditional production patterns, local integration into the global coffee commodity chain and agritourism entrepreneurship. Conceptualizing the way local K’ho Coffee growers generated and implemented the initiatives, this paper argues that by utilizing their social network, local farmers revitalized their economic production. Negotiating a decent collective position in the world system of the coffee commodity chain offers them a chance to survive the influx of economic deregulation and avert the impacts of climate change.
Fabrication of water-soluble loose-fill foam from tamarind (Tamarindus indica L.) seed polysaccharide by mechanical frothing and freeze-drying process
Authors: Songtipya Ladawan , Songtipya Ponusa , Prodpran Thummanoon , Kalkornsurapranee Ekwipoo , Johns Jobish
Published: August 2020

The water-soluble loose-fill foam obtained from tamarind seed polysaccharide (TSP) was successfully prepared by a combination of mechanical frothing and freeze-drying process. The effects of TSP concentration, plasticizer content, and surfactant content on the cellular morphology, physical properties, mechanical properties, and moisture absorption were investigated. The cellular structure of TSP foam exhibited an open cell structure with a non-uniform size of the cell window, and the density varied in a range of ∼0.006–0.106 g/cm3. Foam preparation with high TSP concentration, low plasticizer as well as glycerol content enhanced the mechanical properties of the obtained foam, including tensile strength, compressive strength, and hardness. The high compressive strength of TSP foams up to ∼1.03 MPa can be produced which demonstrates that TSP foam is capable to use as a loose-fill product.
Using OBR for pressure monitoring and BVID detection in type IV composite overwrapped pressure vessels
Authors: Souza G , Tarpani JR
Published: August 2020

Type IV COPVs (Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels) are among the most suited structures for hydrogen storage. However, its complex modes of failure and requirement for periodic maintenance has led the industry to apply high safety factors on designs. This is one of the challenges inhibiting the widespread usage of the H2 in commercial vehicles. Structural health monitoring based on optical fibers is an emerging technology that can overcome these problems, as a neural network of sensors can be integrated to the structure during manufacturing and is readily accessible over the vessel lifetime. This gives information about the real structure condition, reducing overall maintenance costs. Here, core optical fibers were embedded in type IV COPVs during the manufacturing process and monitored with OBR (Optical Backscatter Reflectometer). Sensors were interrogated during an impact detection test and a pressurization test until burst failure. Fibers were capable of detecting the position and intensity of the damage in the first test and provided strain profiles over the entire length of the vessel for longitudinal and circumferential directions on the second. Optical microscopy of vessel sections showed matrix accumulation around the optical fiber as the main cause of sensor’s failure. During pressurization, steep peaks of strain in the dome regions from the early measurements indicated the burst failure site.
Brain tumor diagnosis based on discrete wavelet transform, gray-level co-occurrence matrix, and optimal deep belief network
Authors: Xu Li , Gao Qi , Yousefi Nasser
Published: August 2020

Brain tumors are a group of cancers that originate from different cells of the central nervous system or cancers of other tissues in the brain. Excessive cell growth in the brain is called a tumor. Tumor cells need food and blood to survive. Growth and proliferation of tumor cells in the cranial space, cause strain inside the brain and thus disrupt vital human structures. Therefore, diagnosis in the early stages of brain tumors is crucial. This study introduces a new optimized method for early diagnosis of the brain tumor. The method has five main parts of noise reduction, tumor segmentation, morphology, feature extraction based on wavelet and gray-level co-occurrence matrix, and classification based on an optimized deep belief network. For optimizing the classifier network, an enhanced version of the moth search algorithm is utilized. Simulation results are applied to three different datasets, FLAIR, T1, and T2, and the accuracy results of the presented method are compared with two other metaheuristics, particle swarm optimization and Bat algorithms. The final results showed that the presented technique has good achievements toward the compared methods.
Are Poor Parents Poor Parents? The Relationship between Poverty and Parenting among Mothers in the UK
Authors: Cooper Kerris
Published: August 2020

Low-income parents have long been demonised in both political discourses and mainstream media, portrayed as lacking in parenting skills not just financial resources. Using the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) this article examines to what extent there are differences in the parenting of low-income mothers by examining parenting behaviours of low-, middle- and high-income mothers. The findings show that where there are negative differences in the parenting of low-income mothers these are often part of a broader income gradient that extends all the way up the distribution, rather than unique to low-income mothers. Furthermore, there are some positive differences in parenting among low-income mothers compared to middle-income mothers. These findings have important implications: low-income parents are not an unusual or deviant group parenting differently to everyone else. The findings suggest more attention ought to be given to parenting differences higher up the income distribution. In focusing on low-income parents only, existing evidence exaggerates differences and wrongly identifies low-income parents as problematic.
Resident Sentiment toward a Dominant Tourist Market: Scale Development and Validation
Authors: Chen Nan , Hsu Cathy H. C. , Li Xiang (Robert)
Published: August 2020

Given the limitations in existing resident attitude research, a new concept of resident sentiment is proposed to describe local residents’ overall perceptions of and emotional dispositions toward a dominant tourist market, in which attitude is a constituent part and behavioral response is implied. To operationalize this higher-order latent concept, this study developed measurements for its five components (cognitive and affective attitudes, identification, and two collective mentalities) identified from an earlier exploratory study. An online survey received 1,000 usable responses from Hong Kong residents to validate this construct in a nomological network. The results not only indicate the reliability and validity of the refined scales, but also provide support for resident sentiment as a better indicator of residents’ behavioral responses than attitude. Resident sentiment has the potential for significant use in extending resident attitude studies by academics, as well as being a performance measure for practitioners seeking destination sustainability.
The Bakari© Project: A Lifeline for African American Adolescent Development and Success
Authors: Caldwell-Gunes Roslyn M. , Parham Thomas A.
Published: August 2020

The Bakari© Project is an African-centered, community-based, educational, and mentoring program for adolescent youth. The program is designed to address the challenges Black youth and other youth of color face in negotiating the community terrain between the home, school, and community, including the contact young people often encounter with law enforcement and the criminal justice systems. We assert that there is a nexus between critical elements in the communities that form a triangle for success and that too often, the aforementioned components are not working together because each dimension of the triangle blames the other for the challenges the youth face and the failures they experience. In answering the question of what is the role of Black psychologists in this process, this article is intended to invite readers to help reconnect the triangle, while introducing a model and method of effectively intervening in the lives of young people who may struggle with successfully navigating the developmental transition of adolescence to young adulthood. We conclude with a call for implementing similar programs in communities throughout the United States.
Constrained stochastic control of positive Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy systems with Markov jumps and its application to a DC-DC boost converter
Authors: Aatabe Mohamed , El Guezar Fatima , Bouzahir Hassane , Vargas Alessandro N
Published: August 2020

This paper presents a stabilization control for positive, Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy systems subject to Markov jump parameters. In the continuous-time formulation, the approach guarantees mean-square stability with constraints on the control—the main condition hinges upon linear matrix inequalities. The proposed method’s usefulness is illustrated by a practical-oriented example, which was designed to control the output voltage of a DC-DC boost converter subject to both voltage and load variations driven by a Markov chain.
The long-term effects of perceived community disorder and social stigma on depressive symptoms among adolescent school dropouts using multivariate latent growth modeling
Authors: Sung-Man Bae
Published: August 2020

The purpose of this study was to examine the long-term effects of perceived community disorder and social stigma on depressive symptoms among adolescent school dropouts. This study used 2–4 wave data of a Longitudinal Survey and Support Plan for Dropouts. Multivariate latent growth modeling indicated that social stigma was associated with greater number of depressive symptoms and had an indirect influence on depressive symptoms through self-esteem. In addition, perceived community disorder was related to greater number of depressive symptoms. Finally, self-esteem was negatively related to depressive symptoms and female adolescents reported more depressive symptoms than male adolescents. This study suggests that policy and social efforts are needed to reduce perceived community disorder and social stigma to prevent the depression in adolescent school dropouts.
A study of the mechanical structure of the direct roof during the whole process of non-pillar gob-side entry retaining by roof cutting
Authors: Liu Xiao , Hua Xinzhu , Yang Peng , Huang Zhiguo
Published: August 2020

The non-pillar entry (roadway) retained by roof cutting serves the two adjacent working faces. As compared with the conventional mining roadways, the roadway retained by roof cutting has a longer life cycle and receives more complicated influence from mining. Determining the location where the roof deformation and maximum deformation occur can provide an important basis for roadway support. Here, the direct roof of the roadway is studied by assuming it as an elastic deformation body. The stress features of the direct roof of the gob-side entry retained by roof cutting are analyzed, and the roof deformation is divided into five stages. The stress superposition principle is employed, and the equivalent concentrated load within the roadway is introduced. The mechanical model of the direct roof is established for the whole process of gob-side entry retaining by roof cutting. Next, the calculation formula for the concentration of direct roof at different positions is obtained for the whole process of gob-side entry retaining by roof cutting. The application scope of the calculation formula and the determination method of the key parameters are analyzed. The relationship between direct roof deformation of the roadway and stiffness of the support system is studied. The results show that the direct roof deformation has a symmetrical distribution about the midline. The maximum roof deformation occurs in the middle of the roadway, and it gradually decreases as the coal seam stiffness increases. During the example calculation, the maximum roof deformation is 280 mm for the gob-side entry retaining under primary mining. The measured maximum roof deformation is 320 m, and the error rate is 12.5%. It is then verified that the uniform mechanical model proposed in this study applies to the calculation of direct roof deformation in the gob-side entry retained by roof cutting.
Annual Earnings Guidance and the Smoothing of Analysts’ Multi-Period Forecasts
Authors: Luo Jianchuan , Ronen Joshua , Shalev Ron , Tang Michael (Minye)
Published: August 2020

This article examines the use of annual earnings guidance as a mechanism used by managers to reduce the volatility of analyst earnings forecasts and allow them to report smooth earnings without missing quarterly analyst forecasts. Facing the pressure to meet or beat analyst forecasts and driven by the perceived capital market benefits of reporting a smooth earnings path, managers attempting to influence investors’ earnings expectations over a longer horizon can issue annual guidance to smooth the time-series path of analyst forecasts, a strategy we term as “expectation smoothing.” Our empirical results suggest that annual guidance reduces the volatility of analysts’ multi-period forecasts, which in turn contributes to a smoother actual earnings and higher likelihood of meeting analysts’ quarterly forecasts. We also find that issuing quarterly guidance does not affect the smoothness of analysts’ earnings expectations and that managers with longer horizons are more likely to issue annual guidance, consistent with the unique long-term effects of annual earnings guidance.
When Is a Governmental Mandate not a Mandate? Predicting Organizational Compliance Under Semicoercive Conditions
Authors: Xie Xuanli , Shen Wei , Zajac Edward J.
Published: August 2020

While institutional theorists have long viewed governmental mandates as a prototypical coercive pressure generating homogeneous organizational compliance, we suggest that such mandates are often subject to enforcement uncertainty, resulting in a pressure more aptly characterized as “semicoercive” and a compliance result more aptly characterized as heterogeneous. We advance and test a theoretical framework to predict the specific form of heterogeneous compliance in semicoercive contexts, with particular attention to the differential sensitivity of firms to pressures to comply, based on differences in their specific legal, political, and social context. We use the setting of a mandated corporate governance reform in China requiring listed Chinese firms to add independent directors and find general evidence of noncompliance and more specific evidence consistent with the predictions from our sociopolitical framework. We discuss the implications of our theoretical approach and findings for future research on institutional environments, governmental regulations, organizational compliance, and corporate governance.
Exploring direct citations between citing publications
Authors: Huang Yong , Bu Yi , Ding Ying , Lu Wei
Published: August 2020

This article defines and explores the direct citations between citing publications (DCCPs) of a publication. We construct an ego-centred citation network for each paper that contains all of its citing papers and itself, as well as the citation relationships among them. By utilising a large-scale scholarly dataset from the computer science field in the Microsoft Academic Graph (MAG-CS) dataset, we find that DCCPs exist universally in medium and highly cited papers. For those papers that have DCCPs, DCCPs do occur frequently; highly cited papers tend to contain more DCCPs than others. Meanwhile, the number of DCCPs of papers published in different years does not vary dramatically. This paper also discusses the relationship between DCCPs and some indirect citation relationships (e.g. co-citation and bibliographic coupling).
A method of semi-automated ontology population from multiple semi-structured data sources
Authors: Leshcheva Irina , Begler Alena
Published: August 2020

Organisations use data in different formats: Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, databases, HTML pages and so on. It is not easy to make decisions with such data due to the lack of integration between the different sources and built-in decision-making rules. Decisions can be reached with knowledge bases, which, unlike databases, make it possible to store not only objects, facts and attributes but also more sophisticated patterns such as rules and axioms. The article proposes an ontology-based method for knowledge base creation that allows for the simultaneous integration of semi-structured data sources and extendibility while remaining context independent. At the initial steps of the method, data specification should be performed with the Data Sources Ontology developed by the authors. This ontology provides data structure description that forms supportive knowledge graph. The graph’s schema should be mapped with the domain ontology to be populated. Finally, the data are inserted into the domain ontology according to the mapping rules. Manual input is needed during data specification and data-to-ontology schema mapping.
Health-related physical fitness levels of youths with visual impairment in Jordan
Authors: Qasim Samir , Zeidan Wasim YA , Joudallah Hasan A
Published: August 2020

As fitness is an important component of quality of life, it is necessary to determine fitness levels among various population groups to be able to plan programs for their future fitness improvement. Previous research shows that individuals with visual impairments have lower levels of health-related physical fitness than people without visual impairment. In Jordan, research mainly focuses on youths without visual impairment, whereas no previous studies have been conducted on children with visual impairment and their physical fitness levels. This study aimed to explore health-related physical fitness levels of children with visual impairment in Jordan. A total of 107 children (65 boys and 42 girls) with visual impairment aged 11–15 years and 114 children without visual impairment were included in this study. All children were asked to perform the following assessment items: a one mile run/walk test to measure cardiovascular endurance, a handgrip strength to measure the maximum isometric strength of the hand and forearm muscles, push-up and curl-up tests to measure upper body and abdominal muscular endurance, respectively, sit-and-reach test to measure flexibility, and two-site skinfold measures to determine body composition. Children with visual impairment appeared to have low health-related physical fitness. For instance, the overall mean of push-ups was 4.06, while cardiovascular endurance was excluded from data analysis as only a few students (7) completed the test. No significant differences were found in any of the tested variables among the various age groups. Furthermore, boys showed statistically significant measurements in strength, curl-up, and push-up tests than girls. Children with visual impairment had significantly better score in only push-up test than children who were blind. In addition, except boys with visual impairment aged 15 years, all children with visual impairment failed FitnessGram, whereas sighted children passed all tests.
Not Quite White or Black: Biracial Students’ Perceptions of Threat and Belonging Across School Contexts
Authors: Rozek Christopher S. , Gaither Sarah E.
Published: August 2020

Stereotype threat posits that students who are members of negatively stereotyped groups in school should feel more threat and less belonging, especially in schools with large achievement disparities and low racial/ethnic minority representation. This research has focused primarily on the experiences of negatively stereotyped monoracial minority students, but for a biracial Black/White student who claims both a negatively stereotyped (e.g., Black) and a positively stereotyped (e.g., White) identity, do these outcomes vary? We assessed 1,399 biracial Black/White, monoracial Black, and monoracial White middle school students’ perceptions of threat and belonging in school, across four lower-stereotype-salient schools (i.e., racially diverse schools) and seven higher-stereotype-salient schools (i.e., racially homogeneous schools). Biracial students reported a similar amount of threat across school contexts, whereas monoracial students’ threat was differentially context dependent. These findings suggest biracial students may face unique identity-related threats in school and point to a need to develop supports specific to their experiences.