bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A new species and synonymy in Atrypanius Bates (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Lamiinae) from the Brazilian Amazon forest
Authors: Santos-Silva Antonio
Published: August 2021

Atrypanius jauffreti sp. nov. is described from Brazil (Pará). Nyssodrys grisella Bates, 1864 (currently, Atrypanius grisellus) is synonymized with Lepturges lineatocollis Bates, 1863 (currently, Atrypanius lineatocollis), and the species is recorded for the Brazilian states of Rondônia and Mato Grosso.
A poética da entrevista no documentário O país de São Saruê
Authors: Serafim José Francisco , Santos Filho Renato Meira dos
Published: August 2021

O presente artigo discorre sobre questões poéticas e retóricas envolvendo o documentário O país de São Saruê, dirigido pelo cineasta paraibano Vladimir Carvalho, concluído originalmente em 1971. Adotando noções de “poética da entrevista no filme documentário”, como sugeridas por Leger Grindon (2007), esta análise tem como interesse maior a compreensão de como a construção das entrevistas contribui para a estrutura argumentativa dessa obra. Observamos que, na composição das entrevistas, o realizador se utiliza de técnicas cinematográficas que tendem à redução da polivalência do conjunto de falas dos entrevistados, ainda que uma variedade de opiniões, por vezes conflitantes, atravesse o filme.
Qual o papel da estética na resistência à violência?
Authors: Soares Rosana de Lima
Published: August 2021

Editorial da edição do primeiro semestre de 2021
Braudel nas Terras Baixas: caminhos da Arqueologia na construção de Histórias Indígenas de longa duração
Authors: Kater Thiago , Lopes Rafael de Almeida
Published: August 2021

O conceito de longa duração de Fernand Braudel configura-se como uma das ideias centrais do movimento feito, nos últimos trinta anos, por parte da Arqueologia brasileira, sobretudo a amazônica, de aproximação com a História e com os povos indígenas. Este artigo revisa produções bibliográficas arqueológicas traçando a trajetória que leva determinadas pesquisas a se reivindicarem como construtoras de Histórias Indígenas de longa duração. Por meio das leituras foi possível perceber que a utilização desse conceito, integrado à luta indígena pelos seus direitos, bem como renovações do fazer historiográfico e arqueológico, permitiram uma expansão desse movimento e a criação de abordagens variadas. Ao fim, refletimos sobre o conjunto das temporalidades de Braudel, que podem culminar em pontes teóricas e políticas junto aos povos indígenas.
Exercise Hemodynamic Profiling Is Associated With Outcome in Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Mitral Valve Repair
Authors: Rieth Andreas J. , Kriechbaum Steffen D. , Richter Manuel J. , Wenninger Elena , Fischer-Rasokat Ulrich , Tello Khodr , Gall Henning , Ghofrani Hossein A. , Guth Stefan , Wiedenroth Christoph B. , Mitrovic Veselin , Hamm Christian W. , Liebetrau Christoph , Walther Claudia
Published: August 2021

Background:

Percutaneous mitral valve repair (PMVR) in high-risk patients is currently controversial, especially in those with secondary mitral regurgitation (MR). Exercise pulmonary hemodynamics may help to unmask cardiac dysfunction as well as the dynamic impact of MR. The present study sought to explore the clinical impact of preprocedural exercise right heart catheterization (RHC) for the selection of patients who could most benefit from PMVR.

Methods:

Sixty-eight patients with symptomatic primary and secondary MR and exercise RHC before PMVR were included in this retrospective analysis of the association of exercise RHC parameters with survival and improvement in New York Heart Association class within 12 months.

Results:

Median patient age was 77 years (±8.5), 37% were female, and 81% presented with New York Heart Association class III. A total of 65% of the patients had left ventricular ejection fraction <55%. MR was severe in 49% and moderate-to-severe in 51%. Twenty-two patients (32%) died within the follow-up period of 19 months (interquartile range, 9–32); they had a lower rise (Δ) in the V-wave on pulmonary artery wedge pressure tracings. Patients with ΔV-wave ≥17 mm Hg had a reduced risk of death after PMVR (hazard ratio, 0.11 [95% CI, 0.04–0.33],
P
<0.001), independent of age, frailty index, and workload during RHC. A higher ΔV-wave was also associated with New York Heart Association improvement (odds ratio, 1.14 [95% CI, 1.07–1.24];
P
<0.001), and 79% of patients with ΔV-wave ≥15 mm Hg were in New York Heart Association class I or II at follow-up (<15 mm Hg: 28%). These results were for the most part confirmed in the subgroup of patients with secondary MR (65%).

Conclusions:

In our cohort of patients with indication for PMVR, preprocedural exercise RHC was able to identify patients with an unfavorable outcome. Further studies with larger patient numbers are warranted before this approach can be implemented in a structured diagnostic workup of patients under evaluation for PMVR.
Estimation of the Global Gap in Clinic Visits for Hypertension Care Between Patient Need and Physician Capacity
Authors: Neupane Dinesh , Gao Yumin , Feng Yijing , Matsushita Kunihiro , Appel Lawrence J.
Published: August 2021

In most countries, only physicians are allowed to prescribe antihypertensive medication. Thus, physician capacity (number of physician clinic visits available for hypertension care) is a critical determinant of hypertension control. This study estimates the global gap between physician capacity and patient need. We used World Health Organization and World Bank data and assumed that on average a physician conducts 5000 clinic visits/year (base scenario), with 10% time spent on hypertension care. For high-capacity scenarios, we assumed 10 000 visits/year. We estimated the effects of different numbers of physician visits/y per patient: 12 (common in low and middle-income countries for monthly prescription refills), 6, and 3 annual visits. At 12 visits/year, most countries have a deficit in physician capacity. Even assuming 6 visits/year, the deficit in most African and South Asian countries still exists. At 3 visits/year, a gap persists in 69% of lower middle income countries and 89% of low-income countries. Assuming 3 visits/year per patient, the countries with the highest visit gaps are India at 73 million visits/year, Indonesia at 62 million visits/year, and Ethiopia at 30 million visits/year. Even in the high-capacity scenario, 50% of lower middle income countries and 86% of low-income countries have a physician capacity deficit. Even under plausible scenarios of 6 or 3 visits/year, a substantial deficit in physician capacity to provide hypertension care exists in many low and middle-income countries. To increase hypertension control globally, countries need to enact changes to their health systems and policies that promote task-sharing and that allow multi-month prescription refills.
New Sacred Places in Contemporary Poland: Ethnographic Case Study of Two Miracles in Sokółka and Legnica
Authors: Kalniuk Tomasz
Published: August 2021

Events that happened in Poland in 2008 and 2013 related to the alleged miracles in Sokółka (in the Podlasie region) and Legnica (in the Silesia region) seriously affected the native ‘sacrosphere.’ Sensational information about the unusual events polarized public opinion by confronting secular and religious worldviews. At the same time, the increase in the devotion of the faithful was accompanied by folklore-forming mechanisms, adding new threads to the ‘miraculous story.’ Ethnographic research performed in the newly founded sanctuaries reveals elements of sensuality specific to folk religiosity. Miracles displaying the motif of blood build the reputation of Sokółka and Legnica as new holy places, attracting pilgrims and tourists from Poland and abroad. Contrary to pessimistic predictions of widespread secularization, there was a revival of the so-called ‘traditional piety.’ Folk religiosity revealed its vitality.
The Buddhist Style in Consumer Culture: From Aesthetics to Emotional Patterns
Authors: Bártová Zuzana
Published: August 2021

This paper contributes to the sociological theorization of religious lifestyles in consumer culture, analyzing one of its most important identity markers: style. Based on a three-year comparative ethnographic research project into five convert Buddhist organizations in France and the Czech Republic, it finds that style is expressed through aesthetics with its adornment practices apparent in everyday life materializations of Buddhist symbols. The stylistic dimension is also found in practitioners’ attitudes towards Buddhism, as they may use the discourse of taste. Moreover, Buddhist style stands for the collective, coherent, and systematic emotional patterns expressed in Buddhist symbols, individual and collective experiences, and the ethics and behavior they display in everyday life. The paper also explores how this style is adapted to the educated, middle-class, city-dweller practitioners and how it respects dynamics of consumer culture with its emphasis on identity, style, and values of well-being, authenticity, and personal development.
Clefts in Naija, a Nigerian pidgincreole
Authors: Caron Bernard
Published: August 2021

This paper is a corpus-based study of the various forms and uses of clefts in Naija, the largest West-African English lexifier pidgincreole, spoken in Nigeria and its diaspora as a second language by close to 100 million speakers. The data on which this paper is based is taken from the 500,000 word ANR-NaijaSynCor corpus, consisting of 300 samples of spontaneous speech, recorded in 2017 in 13 different locations in Nigeria, from 330 different speakers of both sexes, of various ages, education levels, and geographic origins. The quantitative data is taken from a sub-section of 9,621 sentences (almost 150,000 tokens) that constitute a syntactic treebank mirroring the social and geographic sampling of the full corpus. Clefts, pseudo-clefts and reverse pseudo- clefts are examined. Four types of clefts are described: wey-clefts, bare clefts, double clefts and zero-copula clefts. The properties of those clefting patterns are represented using a UD-type annotation scheme named SUD for Surface-Syntactic Universal Dependencies. The quantitative analysis of the data and comparison with former descriptions of the language underline the massive domination of bare clefts, and the emergence, among these various patterns, of a relative pronoun nãĩ “who/which” used only with cleft constructions, while the relativiser wey is being abandoned and specialises as relative clause operator.
A corpus-based description of cleft constructions in Persian
Authors: Faghiri Pegah , Samvelian Pollet
Published: August 2021

This paper presents a corpus-based description of cleft constructions in Persian showing that they display more diversity and complexity than currently described in the literature. Previous studies have only focused on constructions that echo one of the three main classes of clefts (IT-clefts, pseudoclefts and reversed pseudoclefts), and generally use Persian data in parallel to their English counterparts in order to contribute to the ongoing theoretical debates on the analysis of clefts. In order to achieve a more accurate picture of Persian clefts, we annotated and studied cleft and cleft-like sentences in a sample of about 550 relative clauses extracted from a journalistic corpus. Our study revealed new categories of cleft constructions that have not been reported previously; in particular, the lexically headed pseudoclefts whose usage is straightforwardly linked to the abundance of noun-verb light verb constructions in Persian. Moreover, we take issue with some claims made in prior work on the nature of the demonstrative in Persian IT-clefts based on empirical arguments.
Redefinition of Steriphodon Abeille de Perrin, 1895 (Coleoptera: Anthicidae), with a new species description, checklist, and key to species
Authors: TELNOV DMITRY
Published: August 2021

Steriphodon Abeille de Perrin, 1895, a small genus of Eurygeniinae (Anthicidae) is reviewed. Critical morphology of the genus is reassessed and discussed. An annotated checklist, key to species and new records are provided. Steriphodon ottomerkli sp. nov. from the Balochistan Province, Pakistan is described and illustrated.
Examining Cloud Macrophysical Changes over the Pacific for 2007–2017 Using CALIPSO, CloudSat, and MODIS Observations
Authors: Ham Seung-Hee , Kato Seiji , Rose Fred G. , Loeb Norman G. , Xu Kuan-Man , Thorsen Tyler , Bosilovich Michael G. , Sun-Mack Sunny , Chen Yan , Miller Walter F.
Published: August 2021

Cloud macrophysical changes over the Pacific from 2007 to 2017 are examined by combining CALIOP and CloudSat (CALCS) active-sensor measurements, and these are compared with MODIS passive-sensor observations. Both CALCS and MODIS capture well-known features of cloud changes over the Pacific associated with meteorological conditions during El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. For example, mid (cloud tops at 3–10 km) and high (cloud tops at 10–18 km) cloud amounts increase with relative humidity (RH) anomalies. However, a better correlation is obtained between CALCS cloud volume and RH anomalies, confirming more accurate CALCS cloud boundaries than MODIS. Both CALCS and MODIS show that low cloud (cloud tops at 0–3 km) amounts increase with EIS and decrease with SST over the eastern Pacific, consistent with earlier studies. It is also further shown that the low cloud amounts do not increase with positive EIS anomalies if SST anomalies are positive. While similar features are found between CALCS and MODIS low cloud anomalies, differences also exist. First, compared to CALCS, MODIS shows stronger anti-correlation between low and mid/high cloud anomalies over the central and western Pacific, which is largely due to the limitation in detecting overlapping clouds from passive MODIS measurements. Second, compared to CALCS, MODIS shows smaller impacts of mid and high clouds on the low troposphere (< 3 km). The differences are due to the underestimation of MODIS cloud layer thicknesses of mid and high clouds.
Estimating raindrop size distributions and vertical air motions with spectral difference using vertically pointing radar
Authors: Pang Suzhou , Ruan Zheng , Yang Ling , Liu Xiantong , Huo Zhaoyang , Li Feng , Ge Runsheng
Published: August 2021

Doppler spectra measured by vertically pointing radars are inherently linked to raindrop size distributions (DSDs). But, accurate estimation of DSDs remains challenging because raindrop spectra are broadened by atmospheric turbulence and shifted by vertical air motions. This paper presents a novel method to estimate vertical air motions that there is no need to assume a model for DSD at each range gate. The theory of the new method is that the spectral difference between the adjacent range gates is contributed by vertical air motions and the variability of DSDs. The contribution of the change of DSDs is estimated by looking up the prepared tables (LUTs) of raindrop velocity difference and shape function difference. Then, the vertical air motions can be estimated by minimizing the cost function of the two spectra between the adjacent range gates. The retrieval algorithm is applied to three cases including a stratiform and two convective observed by a C band vertically pointing radar in Longmen, Guangdong province of China in June 2016. Before that, the spectrum broadening effect is removed by the traditional deconvolution method with a wind profiler. The vertical profiles of precipitation parameters are also retrieved to investigate the microphysical process. The precipitation parameters retrieved near the surface are compared with the ground data collected by a two-dimensional video disdrometer(2DVD) and the results show good agreements.
Theory of mind and stereotypic behavior promote daily functioning in patients with schizophrenia
Authors: Bechi Margherita , Abu-Akel Ahmad , Agostoni Giulia , Buonocore Mariachiara , Bosia Marta , Martini Francesca , Cavallaro Roberto
Published: August 2021

Objectives:

Functional disruption is a main feature of schizophrenia and still represents a major treatment challenge. A more in-depth identification of functional predictors is crucial for the creation of individualized rehabilitation treatments, which can translate into better functional outcomes. In this study, we aimed at pinpointing specific domains that affect different functional profiles, using a data-driven approach.

Methods:

We included a comprehensive evaluation of functional predictors, namely demographic, cognitive, sociocognitive and clinical variables, with a focus on constituent subdomains of autistic symptoms that have been associated with functioning in the recent literature.

Results:

In 123 schizophrenia patients, a two-step cluster analysis identified two groups of patients with different functional profiles (low vs high functioning). A backward stepwise logistic regression analysis showed that the odds of being a member of the high functioning group are significantly higher for individuals with (1) more years of education, (2) better Theory of Mind abilities, (3) higher levels of stereotypies/narrowed interests, (4) lower difficulties in social interaction, (5) lower communication difficulties and with (6) being male.

Conclusion:

Findings raise the intriguing possibility that stereotypic behaviors may have a beneficial effect on functioning in schizophrenia. While the underlying mechanism is currently unknown, we hypothesize that patients may benefit from contexts in which more predictive relationships between environmental entities can systematically be established. This study underscores the potential utility of routinely assessing autistic symptomatology in schizophrenia, which can be instrumental in identifying novel therapeutic targets that can be utilized to improve daily functioning.
Book review: Ryosuke Furui, Land and Society in Early South Asia: Eastern India 400–1250 AD
Authors: Sahu Bhairabi Prasad
Published: August 2021

Ryosuke Furui, Land and Society in Early South Asia: Eastern India 400–1250 AD. Delhi: Routledge, 2019, 308 pp.
Changes in public service motivation: Can public administration education help cultivate it?
Authors: Huang Wan-Ling
Published: August 2021

This study aims to investigate the influence of public administration education on the development of college students' public service motivation over time. The data come from a four-wave panel survey of 868 Taiwanese undergraduate students who enrolled in college in 2015; 418 of them majored in public administration and 450 majored in business administration. Latent growth modeling was employed to capture a change of overall public service motivation and individual public service motivation dimensions. Our findings show that students' public service motivation tends to change during the college years, while public administration education may not significantly contribute to its development.

Points for practitioners

Research findings offer some implications for practice. Given that public service motivation seems to be changeable, it becomes relevant for public managers to invest in developing employees' motivation to serve and make a positive difference in others' lives. However, any in-service training aiming to foster employee public service motivation should not focus too much on knowledge delivery, but rather accentuate the establishment and practice of service values.
Consumer Behavior in the Online Classroom: Using Video Analytics and Machine Learning to Understand the Consumption of Video Courseware
Authors: Zhou Mi , Chen George H. , Ferreira Pedro , Smith Michael D.
Published: August 2021

Video is one of the fastest growing online services offered to consumers. The rapid growth of online video consumption brings new opportunities for marketing executives and researchers to analyze consumer behavior. However, video also introduces new challenges. Specifically, analyzing unstructured video data presents formidable methodological challenges that limit the use of multimedia data to generate marketing insights. To address this challenge, the authors propose a novel video feature framework based on machine learning and computer vision techniques, which helps marketers predict and understand the consumption of online video from a content-based perspective. The authors apply this framework to two unique data sets: one provided by MasterClass, consisting of 771 online videos and more than 2.6 million viewing records from 225,580 consumers, and another from Crash Course, consisting of 1,127 videos focusing on more traditional education disciplines. The analyses show that the framework proposed in this article can be used to accurately predict both individual-level consumer behavior and aggregate video popularity in these two very different contexts. The authors discuss how their findings and methods can be used to advance management and marketing research with unstructured video data in other contexts such as video marketing and entertainment analytics.
Review of wheeled mobile robot collision avoidance under unknown environment
Authors: Wang Yong , Li Xiaoxiao , Zhang Juan , Li Shuai , Xu Zhihao , Zhou Xuefeng
Published: August 2021

Recently, the working scenes of the robot have been emerging as diversity and complexity with gradually mature of robotic control technology. The challenge of robot adaptability emerges, especially in complicated and unknown environments. Among the numerous researches on improving the adaptability of robots, aiming at avoiding collision between robot and external environment, obstacle avoidance has drawn much attention. Compared to the global circumvention requiring the environmental information that is known, the local obstacle avoidance is a promising method due to the environment is possibly dynamic and unknown. This study is aimed at making a review of research progress about local obstacle avoidance methods for wheeled mobile robots (WMRs) under complex unknown environment in the last 20 years. Sensor-based obstacle perception and identification is first introduced. Then, obstacle avoidance methods related to WMRs’ motion control are reviewed, mainly including artificial potential field (APF)-based, population-involved meta heuristic-based, artificial neural network (ANN)-based, fuzzy logic (FL)-based and quadratic optimization-based, etc. Next, the relevant research on Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) is surveyed. Finally, conclusion and prospection are given. Appropriate obstacle avoidance methods should be chosen based on the specific requirements or criterion. For the moment, effective fusion of multiple obstacle avoidance methods is becoming a promising method.
Evaluation of natural and epoxidized vegetable oil in elastomeric compositions for tread rubber
Authors: Scarton Camila Taliotto , Guerra Nayrim Brizuela , Giovanela Marcelo , Moresco Suélen , Crespo Janaina da Silva
Published: August 2021

In the tire industry, the incorporation of natural origin oils in the development of elastomeric formulations has been one of the alternatives to reduce the use of petroleum derivatives, with a high content of toxic compounds. In this work, soybean vegetable oil was investigated as a lubricant and co-activator in sulfur-vulcanized natural rubber compounds. The soybean oil was used in its natural state and chemically modified by the epoxy ring’s introduction in its structure. In an internal mixer a standard formulation of natural rubber, five formulations replacing a conventional aromatic oil and stearic acid by vegetable oil, and a formulation without an activation system were prepared. The natural and epoxidized soybean oil was characterized chemically, and the elastomeric compositions were evaluated by mechanical and rheological analysis. The mechanical properties showed satisfactory results when vegetable soybean oil was used as a lubricant and could be a substitute for conventional aromatic oils, thus guaranteeing reduction of aromatic polycyclic content in the formulations. The crosslink degree and the rheological characteristics of the samples prepared with vegetable soybean oil were similar to the natural rubber standard sample. The formulations without the zinc oxide and stearic acid evidenced the need for activators in the vulcanization reaction, as they presented properties below standard. We verified that the epoxidized soybean oil, even when promoting better dispersion of the fillers, interfered in the crosslink formation, and consequently there was a decrease in the mechanical properties of these formulations. Finally, we indicated vegetable soybean oil as a substitute for aromatic oil and stearic acid, in the elastomeric compositions used to manufacture treads.
High, intermediate and low temperature performance appraisal of elastomeric and plastomeric asphalt binders and mixes
Authors: Diab Aboelkasim , Pais Jorge , Chen Siyu , Gupta Ankit , Li Xuelian , You Lingyun , Hasan Mohd Rosli Mohd
Published: August 2021

This paper is oriented to appraise high, intermediate, and low temperature related performance of elastomeric and plastomeric binders and mixtures in order to evaluate their characteristics at various levels of environmental and loading conditions. Artificial oxidative hardening of asphalt binders and mixes was performed in the laboratory using short- and long-term aging protocols.At the binder level, the elastomers (styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) and rubber) and plastomer (ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA)) materials improved high and intermediate temperature performance indices (G*/sin(δ) and G*.sin(δ), respectively). Interestingly, the aged SBS/bitumen blend had improved low-temperature cracking resistance compared to unaged counterpart. With the progress of oxidative hardening, the plastomer based binder did not show obvious change in the low-temperature cracking susceptibility compared to elastomer-modified binder. Seemingly, in the case of plastomer/bitumen blend, the propensity to low-temperature cracking is to a great extent controlled by the corresponding base bitumen. The plastomer based mixture had improved permanent deformation performance, whereas the elastomers afforded a tangible amelioration for the vulnerability to load and non-load associated cracking. The SBS based mixture showed highest low-temperature fracture energy compared to the EVA based mixture. Despite the determinantal effect of age-hardening to low and intermediate temperature-related cracking of mixes, the results confirmed that the elastomeric materials can retard the impact of aging level on the low temperature and fatigue cracking. Comparision of results was justified by the statistical analysis in order to determine the significance of bituminous material parameters on the measured properties.
The compatibility performance of fuel system elastomers with two dioxolane molecules as blends with diesel
Authors: Kass Michael D , Janke Christopher J , Nafziger Eric , Sutton Andrew D , Rajale Trideep , Moore Cameron M
Published: August 2021

The compatibility of 17 elastomers with two dioxolane molecules was assessed by volume change and hardness measurements. Each molecule was blended with diesel in concentrations of 0, 10, 20 and 30 wt.%. The elastomers included two fluorocarbons, six acrylonitrile butadiene rubbers (NBRs), and one each of fluorosilicone, chloroprene rubber (CR), polyurethane, styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), hydrogenated NBR (HNBR), a blend of NBR and PVC (OZO), epichlorohydrin/ ethylene oxide (ECO), ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM), and silicone. Specimens of each elastomer were immersed in the test fuels for a period of 4 weeks and measured for property change. Afterwards they were dried at 60°C for 20 h and remeasured. The results showed that the dioxolanes were suitable with many of the elastomers and that the performances were essentially the same for both molecules. The dioxolanes were found to either have negligible impact beyond neat diesel or they produced a small increase in swell. This minimal impact is attributed to the fact that the solubility parameters (especially those associated with polarity and hydrogen bonding) of the dioxolanes are similar to those of diesel. As a result, little change in solubility and hence swell occurred when dioxolane was added to the diesel.
Stacked sparse autoencoders that preserve the local and global feature structures for fault detection
Authors: Yin Jie , Yan Xuefeng
Published: August 2021

Although the model based on an autoencoder (AE) exhibits strong feature extraction capability without data labeling, such model is less likely to consider the structural distribution of the original data and the extracted feature is uninterpretable. In this study, a new stacked sparse AE (SSAE) based on the preservation of local and global feature structures is proposed for fault detection. Two additional loss terms are included in the loss function of SSAE to retain the local and global structures of the original data. The preservation of the local feature considers the nearest neighbor of data in space, while that of the global feature considers the variance information of data. The final feature is not only a deep representation of data, but it also retains structural information as much as possible. The proposed model demonstrates remarkable detection performance in case studies of a numerical process and the Tennessee Eastman process.
The interpretation of disjunction in VP ellipsis: The case of Mandarin Chinese
Authors: Gao Na , Zhou Peng , Thornton Rosalind , Crain Stephen
Published: August 2021

It has long been noted that verb phrase (VP) ellipsis cancels the polarity sensitivity of the English Positive Polarity Items (PPIs). In recent work, it has been proposed that words for disjunction are governed by a parameter. On one value of the parameter, disjunction is a PPI for adult speakers of many languages including Mandarin Chinese. On the other value, disjunction is interpreted in situ. It has also been proposed that child language learners, across languages, initially interpret disjunction in situ, not as a PPI. Taken together, these proposals predict that child and adult speakers of Mandarin will assign the same interpretation to disjunction in sentences with VP ellipsis, but will assign a different interpretation in sentences without VP ellipsis. This study assessed these predictions. In sentences with a full VP, the adult participants analyzed disjunction as a PPI, but they interpreted disjunction in situ in sentences with VP ellipsis. The child participants interpreted disjunction in situ in sentences of both kinds. Together, the findings support the recent proposal that disjunction is governed by a lexical parameter, with a default setting.
Impact of Laryngocarcinoma at Different Sites in 16,255 Individuals
Authors: Zhang Zhi-Min , Zhao Zhang , Chen Zhu-Xiang
Published: August 2021

Background:

Laryngocarcinoma (LC) is a common malignant tumor of the head and neck, accounting for 1% to 5% of human tumors. The primary objective of the present study was to evaluate the survival time of patients with LC at different sites.

Methods:

Information concerning patients with LC was extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database between 1975 and 2016.

Results:

In total, 16 255 patients with LC were selected from the SEER database. Among all patients, 80.2% were male; males also predominated in each tumor site subgroup. Most of the patients were aged between 60 and 69 years, had white ethnicity, were single, and had American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage I cancer with T1, N0, and M0. The present study investigated the role of interventions in all LCs at different AJCC stages. Across the whole population, regardless of the intervention used, survival increased in patients at any cancer site.

Conclusions:

The study found that male sex, age ≥80 years, black ethnicity, single status, T4, N4, M1, and AJCC stage IV were associated with higher mortality rates at all sites of LC. Aggressive interventions, especially surgery and radiotherapy, may improve survival in patients with LC at different sites and with different AJCC stages.
Measuring the Effect of Neighborhood Racial Segregation on Fetal Growth
Authors: Kehm Rebecca D. , Misra Dawn P. , Slaughter-Acey Jaime C. , Osypuk Theresa L.
Published: August 2021

Prior studies of neighborhood racial segregation and intrauterine growth have not accounted for confounding factors in early life. We used the Life-Course Influences on Fetal Environment Study of births to Black women in metropolitan Detroit, 2009–2011, ( N = 1,408) to examine whether health and social conditions in childhood and adulthood confound or modify the association of neighborhood segregation (addresses during pregnancy geocoded to census tract racial composition) and gestational age-adjusted birthweight. Before adjusting for covariates, women living in a predominantly (≥75%) Black neighborhood gave birth to 47.3 grams (95% CI: –99.0, 4.4) lighter infants, on average, compared with women living in <75% Black neighborhoods. This association was confounded by adulthood (age at delivery, parity, neighborhood deprivation) and childhood (parental education, neighborhood racial composition) factors and modified by adulthood socioeconomic position. These findings underscore the complex relationship between neighborhood racial segregation and birth outcomes, which would be enhanced through a life course framework.
“There’s No Way Abraham Lincoln Could Work at Google”: Fox News and the Politics of Breaking Up Big Tech
Authors: Medeiros Ben
Published: August 2021

This paper analyzes a corpus of segments from the Tucker Carlson Tonight program concerning “big tech” (focusing specifically on Google) and contextualizes this analysis within the political history of American media and technology regulation. Conservatives have long lamented the so-called liberal bias in media, but have also traditionally supported business deregulation and an antitrust approach narrowly concerned with consumer welfare. The textual analysis of Fox segments first shows that recurring complaints about the bias of Google's employees and executives is connected with its market dominance, and they frequently position corporations rather than government as the central threat to freedom. The solutions discussed, correspondingly, often favor greater structural intervention in the market to mitigate concentration’s deleterious political consequences. I show how the critique on Carlson’s show and recent attention to the issue from the executive branch represent a new manifestation of the theory of ideological evolution that Jack Balkin has called “ideological drift,” in which a political idea (in this case, the “Brandeisian” approach to antitrust law) changes valence in different material circumstances and thus finds new proponents.
Criminal Responsibility in Geropsychiatry: Competence, Culpability, and Care
Authors: Pandey Praveen , Varshney Prateek , Gajera Gopi V , Nirisha P Lakshmi , Malathesh Barikar C , Manjunatha Narayana , Sivakumar Palanimuthu T , Kumar C Naveen , Math Suresh Bada
Published: August 2021

Elderly persons can get involved in the criminal justice system as victims or as perpetrators. The interaction of elderly persons with mental illness at various cross-sections of the judicial process needs thoughtful consideration. Through this review, the authors approach this less studied aspect of forensic psychiatry. Concerning the evaluation of a prisoner, three scenarios need focused consideration: evaluation for fitness to stand trial before a competent court, evaluations for an insanity defense, and fitness for sentencing. At the same time, incarcerated elderly who developed dementia or a severe mental illness at any point of time during the trial or in prison need specific approaches. In this article, the authors discuss the acts and case laws relevant to navigating these legal scenarios. We discuss existing mental health care provisions for protecting the health interests of elderly care in prison.
Re-emphasising the importance of histopathological diagnosis in suspected bacterial endocarditis
Authors: Naderi Hafiz , Abbara Aula , Viviano Alessandro , Asaria Perviz , Pabari Punam A , Flora Rashpal , Punjabi Prakash P , Rana Bushra S
Published: August 2021

Infective endocarditis (IE) carries a high risk of morbidity and mortality. Timely diagnosis, effective treatment and prompt recognition of complications are essential to favourable patient outcomes. A collaborative, multidisciplinary team approach to the management of IE has been shown to improve prognosis. However, the clinical heterogeneity of IE and atypical presentations pose challenges to the endocarditis team. We present a case highlighting the role of valve histopathology in suspected IE, where there may be diagnostic uncertainty.
Diagnosing Obstacles to Speed and Reliability with High-Resolution Automatic Vehicle Locator Data: Bus Time Budgets
Authors: Lind Eric , Reid Joseph
Published: August 2021

Transit riders consistently rate speed and reliability of service as primary drivers of satisfaction, and transit agencies can help retain and grow ridership by improving these components of service. The challenge for transit agency staff is to identify when and where they should focus efforts to improve service quality. Here we propose an approach to data analysis that identifies and isolates specific aspects of service that are limiting speed and reliability. In-vehicle travel time can be decomposed into time spent in motion and time stopped. Time in motion is often dependent on factors common to general traffic, whereas time stopped has some features in common with general traffic (i.e., traffic signals) and some unique to buses (i.e., passenger dwell). Other sources of delay from serving a bus stop include deceleration, acceleration, and signal delay. To improve overall travel time, transit agencies must prioritize interventions that will contribute the most to improving speed and reliability. We used high-resolution automatic vehicle locator data to assign components of speed and reliability within a trip-level “time budget.” We compared typical time budget components across service types, and used the time budget approach to evaluate local service and Rapid bus service operating simultaneously on the same alignment. Results of the delay and variability quantifications suggested particular interventions, as well as the expected size of the resulting effect. With limited resources, the bus time budget approach could aid understanding and prioritization of transit agency efforts to improve speed and reliability.
Multi-objective Eco-Routing Model Development and Evaluation for Battery Electric Vehicles
Authors: Ahn Kyoungho , Bichiou Youssef , Farag Mohamed , Rakha Hesham A.
Published: August 2021

This paper develops a multi-objective eco-routing algorithm (eco- and travel time-optimum routing) for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) and investigates the network-wide impacts of the proposed multi-objective Nash optimum (user equilibrium) traffic assignment on a large-scale network. Unlike ICEVs, BEVs are more energy efficient on low-speed arterial trips compared with highway trips. Different energy consumption patterns require different eco-routing strategies for ICEVs and BEVs. This study found that single-objective eco-routing could significantly reduce the energy consumption of BEVs but also significantly increase their average travel time. Consequently, the study developed a multi-objective routing model (eco- and travel time-routing) to improve both energy and travel time measures. The model introduced a link cost function that uses the specification of the value of time and the cost of fuel/energy. The simulation study found that multi-objective routing could reduce BEV energy consumption by 13.5%, 14.2%, 12.9%, and 10.7%, as well as ICEV fuel consumption by 0.1%, 4.3%, 3.4%, and 10.6% for “not congested, “slightly congested,”“moderately congested,” and “highly congested” conditions, respectively. The study also found that multi-objective user equilibrium routing reduced the average vehicle travel time by up to 10.1% compared with the standard user equilibrium traffic assignment for highly congested conditions, producing a solution closer to the system optimum traffic assignment. The results indicate that the proposed multi-objective eco-routing strategy can reduce vehicle fuel/energy consumption effectively with minimum impacts on travel times for both BEVs and ICEVs.
Database Enabled Rapid Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of Bridges
Authors: Bonthron Leslie , Beck Corey , Lund Alana , Zhang Xin , Cao Yenan , Dyke Shirley J. , Ramirez Julio , Mavroeidis George P. , Baah Prince , Hunter Jeremy
Published: August 2021

As the seismic hazard has been updated for the central U.S., state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) find an increasing need to assess the seismic vulnerability of their bridge network. Traditional methods to perform seismic assessment require developing dynamic models for each bridge. However, this approach requires specialized engineering knowledge and information from structural drawings, and is time-consuming. To streamline this important task, a simplified dynamic modeling procedure is described that leverages readily available information from DOTs’ asset management databases. With a minimal amount of additional data items, the asset management database can be used to identify vulnerable bridges rapidly and with sufficient accuracy for the prioritization of retrofit decisions. A detailed analysis of a 100-bridge sample set identified typical vulnerabilities and established corresponding capacity thresholds. The rapid seismic vulnerability assessment methodology is implemented as an Excel macro-enabled tool for bridge owners and asset managers to rapidly assess the vulnerability of each individual bridge based on current information in the database, and then classify the vulnerability of each individual bridge as low, medium, or high. Current DOT databases used for asset management in regions of low-to-moderate seismicity do require some data items be added for a robust assessment. These data items are identified here and leveraged to demonstrate the method. The rapid assessment methodology presented can be implemented to effectively identify the most vulnerable bridges in a bridge network, thus facilitating a rapid state bridge inventory network assessment to prioritize and inform actions such as maintenance and rehabilitation.
Patient Safety and Mental Health—A Growing Quality Gap in Canada
Authors: Waddell Andrea E. , Gratzer David
Published: August 2021

Patient safety research in mental health has focused mainly on suicide and violence risk at the expense of other domains of safety. In Canada, we lack a national strategy or research agenda for this important area. This piece calls on psychiatrists to consider the scope of missed opportunities in patient safety in current practice and presents how to begin to consider the safety of our patients in a systematic manner.
The Impact of Transitions, a Mental Health Literacy Intervention With Embedded Life Skills for Postsecondary Students: Preliminary Findings From a Naturalistic Cohort Study
Authors: Wei Yifeng , Kutcher Stan , Austen Erin , Comfort Anne , Gilham Chris , MacDougall Christiana , McKenna Greg , McKinnon Margaret , Thompson Kara , Yeo Elizabeth , Zhang Michael , Baxter Andrew , Matheson Kara
Published: August 2021

Objective

Mental illness is a common medical condition to onset during adolescence. Young people who leave for postsecondary life are at an especially challenging period of lifetime when many will leave home and familiar environments for prolonged periods of time. These new circumstances may put young people at risk of developing mental health problems or disorders or exacerbate existing mental disorders. Alternatively, some young people may misinterpret the normal negative emotional states occurring as a result of these new challenges as a mental disorder requiring professional intervention. We conducted a quasiexperimental cohort study to investigate the effectiveness of a mental health literacy intervention Transitions with blended life skills to address these challenges for first-year postsecondary students.

Methods

Students ( n = 2,397) from five Canadian postsecondary institutions were assigned to the intervention or the control group and were administered a survey at baseline, postintervention, and at 2-month follow-up (September 2017 to February 2018). We applied generalized linear mixed effects (PROC Mixed procedure) to test the between-group difference in the post—pre/follow-up—pre and to determine the predicted least-square mean values.

Results

The findings showed that students who were exposed to the Transitions intervention significantly improved their mental health knowledge, decreased stigma against mental illness, improved help-seeking attitudes and behaviours, and decreased perceived stress when compared to students who had not been exposed to the intervention. However, we did not identify significant changes in general health. This may be due to the relatively short follow-up time (2 months) to determine participants’ general health status.

Conclusions

Transitions delivered to first-year postsecondary students may be a beneficial intervention to help young people adjust to their new postsecondary life and improve their mental health.
Using Machine Learning to Predict Remission in Patients With Major Depressive Disorder Treated With Desvenlafaxine
Authors: Benoit James R.A. , Dursun Serdar M. , Greiner Russell , Cao Bo , Brown Matthew R.G. , Lam Raymond W. , Greenshaw Andrew J.
Published: August 2021

Background

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common and burdensome condition that has low rates of treatment success for each individual treatment. This means that many patients require several medication switches to achieve remission; selecting an effective antidepressant is typically a sequential trial-and-error process. Machine learning techniques may be able to learn models that can predict whether a specific patient will respond to a given treatment, before it is administered. This study uses baseline clinical data to create a machine-learned model that accurately predicts remission status for a patient after desvenlafaxine (DVS) treatment.

Methods

We applied machine learning algorithms to data from 3,399 MDD patients (90% of the 3,776 subjects in 11 phase-III/IV clinical trials, each described using 92 features), to produce a model that uses 26 of these features to predict symptom remission, defined as an 8-week Hamilton Depression Rating Scale score of 7 or below. We evaluated that learned model on the remaining held-out 10% of the data ( n = 377).

Results

Our resulting classifier, a trained linear support vector machine, had a holdout set accuracy of 69.0%, significantly greater than the probability of classifying a patient correctly by chance. We demonstrate that this learning process is stable by repeatedly sampling part of the training dataset and running the learner on this sample, then evaluating the learned model on the held-out instances of the training set; these runs had an average accuracy of 67.0% ± 1.8%.

Conclusions

Our model, based on 26 clinical features, proved sufficient to predict DVS remission significantly better than chance. This may allow more accurate use of DVS without waiting 8 weeks to determine treatment outcome, and may serve as a first step toward changing psychiatric care by incorporating clinical assistive technologies using machine-learned models.