bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Green bank regulation and global bank complexity: An international study
Authors:   Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, Tran Quang Phu , Doan Ngoc Thang ,   Banking Academy of Vietnam
Published: December 2024

This study investigates the relationship between green bank regulation and global bank geographic complexity using data from 121 countries spanning the period 1996 to 2021. By examining the affiliate networks of internationally active banking organizations, we construct a comprehensive measure of bank geographic complexity for each country. Green bank regulation is defined based on whether central banks have an explicit sustainability mandate (Dejure) or actively support government policies aimed at achieving sustainability goals (Defacto). The findings reveal that green bank regulation has a positive and significant impact on bank geographic complexity, with stronger effects observed in Low Income and Lower Middle Income Countries (LI & LMC) and Upper Middle Income Countries (UMC). Extensive robustness checks confirm the stability of these results across alternative measures. The study underscores the importance of targeted green regulatory frameworks and highlights their role in fostering a more diverse and globally integrated banking sector. These findings offer valuable policy and managerial
MANAJEMEN STRATEGI PERUBAHAN DI SMP NEGERI 39 SAMARINDA
Authors: Redza Madzkuri Muhammad , Eka Wardhana Kautsar
Published: December 2024

Strategic management is needed when facing changes in educational policies and the demands of technological developments. Therefore, schools carry out planning, implementation, mobilization and supervision processes, as well as factors that support the success of strategic change management in schools. A qualitative descriptive approach was used with a case study approach, with data collection techniques through interviews, observations and documents. The research results show that SMP Negeri 39 Samarinda has carried out a planning strategy based on SWOT analysis to identify needs for change, such as implementing the Independent Curriculum, increasing teacher competency, and developing technological infrastructure. The changes were implemented in stages, starting with socialization and teacher training, followed by the application of project-based learning and hybrid learning methods. However, the change process faces challenges such as teacher resistance, limited technological facilities, and budget constraints. However, the success of change management is supported by the principal’s strong leadership, active participation of the school committee and parents, and regular monitoring and evaluation. This research concludes that the changes in management strategy at SMP Negeri 39 Samarinda are quite effective, requiring continuous adjustments and improvements. The school is expected to continue to adapt and innovate to improve the quality of education and face future challenges optimally.
Rubicon
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

This is a big deal for me: my first ever article in New Scientist – a magazine that I read in the library in Ballymena as a teenager. Pardon me for preening a little. What’s it about? You guessed it: open access. My thanks to Simon Singh for suggesting that I pitch it to them.
The Acts of the Apostles (of Science)
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

According to the New Testament account, after the crucifixion Thomas insists on seeing and touching the wounds of Jesus before he will believe in the resurrection. Jesus shows Thomas but gently upbraids him: “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Which is fine, as a basis for

faith

. If that is your response to the ineffable mystery of existence.
Breaking News: Singh granted leave to appeal
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

The twitterverse has been alive this morning with the wonderful news that Simon Singh has been granted leave to appeal Justice Eady’s ruling in the libel case that the British Chiropractic Association had brought against the popular science author. See here and here for some background to the case. The news is all the more wonderful because it was so unexpected.
Oddly Connect
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

The germ of this post started with a remark by Kristi, who was struck on a recent visit to the UK by the number of people

reading

on public transport. I was reading a piece from this week’s

Nature

as I rode the underground last Friday night on my way to a recording of the TV show QI, and the name Archibald Vivien Hill suddenly leapt off the page.
An Eye for an Eye
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I have the feeling that there have been too many words on this blog of late. I need a break and wonder if the beleaguered reader does too. Since I happened to be in the sunshine on London’s South Bank yesterday and have a soft spot for the London Eye, rather than torment you with yet more words, I thought I’d give you an Eye-ful.
More on Willetts’ Speech
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

In the days following Willetts’ big science policy speech, there had been a piece in

Nature

by Daniel Sarewitz and letters from disgruntled physical scientists to the EPSRC that in different ways highlighted the role of scientists in directing research funding. I was therefore asked by the Guardian higher education network to offer some further thoughts on who should decide how science is supported by public money.
Padding times three
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Henry started it by banging on about his iPad. Somehow the subject of blogging came up and I mentioned the BlogPress app, so here I am testing it out. I used it once on MT4 but this is my first go on WordPress. Seems OK so far… Second, what exactly is this thing called Quora? I came across it on Twitter earlier in the week and, like a social media addict, signed up straight away. Quite a few other people seem to have done the same thing.
Snapshots of 2010
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I wasn’t going to do a review of the year’s blogposts but, on the off-chance that the recent move to the shiny new site at Occam’s Typewriter has attracted some new readers, I thought I would provide a brief guide to my personal favorites of 2010.
Moon Boon
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

It cannot have escaped your attention this past weekend that the Earth was treated to a supermoon. The correct terminology for this felicitous event is a perigee syzygy, but the reasons for the interesting nomenclature need not detain us. The point is that Saturday night was clear in London and gave those of us who live there a magnificent view: Which, just like a lunar orbit, brings me to a place I’ve been before.
Popular neuroscience book suggestions
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Neuroscience isn’t really my thing, so when my teenage daughter came asking for suggestions of a good popular book on the subject I took to Twitter. Several people kindly made suggestions, while others asked to be notified of the outcome of my quest. It seems to be a popular subject. Here, in no particular order are the titles that were offered.
All That Is, by James Salter
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

In 2013 I was captured, captivated by the spare prose of James Salter’s

The Hunters,

a story of the tense competition between US fighter pilots in the Korean War.

All That Is

is similarly spare, and like

The Hunters

quite a masculine novel, but it is a different beast.
Attention: remarkable
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I came across this today and found it quite remarkable. I’m not going to say anything more right now but, if you have a minute, test yourself with this short video. No questions just yet – just take a look. If you’d like to learn a bit more, then listen in to this week’s excellent Guardian Science Weekly Podcast. Please don’t give anything away in the comments – at least for a day.
My carbon bootprint
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

What was your carbon footprint for 2019? Mine was more of a bootprint, almost entirely because of flying. International travel has long been considered one of the perks of academic life, something that lifted the job out of the ordinary and cemented our membership of a trans-national community of scientists and scholars.
Open Access: Who Pays the Copy-editor?
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

My article on open access in the New Scientist provoked an email from copy-editor Miranda Potter.
Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

On Friday evening the structural biologists of Imperial College and the friends of the structural biologists of Imperial College gathered together for a screening of the film, Naturally Obsessed. Filmed over three years, this hour-long documentary tracks the lives of graduate students Rob, Kil and Gabe, as they battle the recondite mysteries of protein crystallography in their quest to become scientists.
Reinventing Excel
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

In

Reinventing Discovery

Michael Nielsen says that one of the great things about the Internet is the way it can connect problems with problem-solvers. Well, let’s see if that’s true. I have a problem with Excel, or rather, with a particular spreadsheet that I would like someone to solve elegantly. You can download a version of my spreadsheet here. The image below shows the contents.
Open Access: journey without end?
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

The Science and Technology Committee of the House of Lords, the second chamber in the UK parliament, met this week to hear evidence from various stakeholders on the implementation of government’s policy on open access.
New Moon
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I have little to say this evening apart from reporting that I came home tonight and caught the new moon before it dipped behind the trees. Thought some of you might want to have a look.

Moon over Kent

And my daughter and I espied the Orion Nebula; unfortunately my photographic equipment is not up to recording that. But this astronomy lark is

the business

.
How to value what cannot be measured?
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

This post is a transcript of my opening remarks at the a Great Debate held earlier today at the European Geosciences Union 2019 meeting in Vienna. The debate asked us to consider the question:

What value should we place on contributions that cannot be easily measured?

Update (13/04/2019):

A video of the whole debate is now available online.
ICYMI No. 4: Books to read before university
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

This week’s

Times Higher Education

has a nice cover feature listing books recommended by various scholars to students preparing for university.
Richard Poynder asks: where are we with open access?
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

This post has been written simply to point you to an interesting series of interviews that Richard Poynder has published on his blog with a range of stakeholders in the open access arena. So far he has mostly interviewed advocates, but as anyone knows who has spent more than twenty minutes on this topic, open access is a broad church.
Monsters in the details
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I promise I

won’t

make a habit of just posting links to stuff on other sites but I am childishly proud of having a piece about macromolecular crystallography in the Guardian Science Blog.
An Open Letter on Open Access to UK Research Councils
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Short Version

Please read the Wellcome Trust’s policy on open access. And then adopt it. Thank you.

Long Version

Please read the Wellcome Trust’s policy on open access. It’s short so I’ve pasted it below. The policy states (with my emphases in purple): As a policy it is clear and purposeful. It is built upon the principle that OA is good for science and good for the public.
Incoming
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I gave a talk a couple of weeks ago at a Biochemical Society meeting on the subject of the Research Excellence Framework, the process that will assess UK academic research quality for the purpose of determining how a large tranche of public funding will be distributed between universities. I dealt in particular with the impact component, which will count for 20% of the assessment and has caused a degree of consternation.
Unfinished Business
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I’ve reached that age where my eye is drawn to the obituary column every time I open the newspaper. It hasn’t been a conscious move but, having arrived at my fiftieth year, I am increasingly aware of the hopes of youth shedding and floating away, like leaves from a tree, and find myself more often looking back over the road now travelled than peering into the future at the way ahead.
I’m a scientist and the Boomtown Rats are here
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Confused by the title? I’m not surprised. I’m a little confused myself. Though this is a common experience in science and nothing to be ashamed of. I was thinking about the Boomtown Rats since I was using their celebrated second album,

A Tonic for the Troops

, to keep me running around Hyde Park in the warm sunshine last Monday afternoon. More often than not I use music these days to help drive myself along.
What’s your favourite colour?
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

What’s your favourite colour? Anyone who has socialised with small children will have been confronted with this serious-faced interrogation at some point. It’s the sort of question that erupts as soon as young kids learn to verbalise the jumble of perceptions filling up minds that are untidier than bedrooms. It’s the sort of question that is too often discarded in the mis-named process of growing up. So what do you answer? Blue? Green?
Don’t submit. Submit.
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

We came. We chanted. We lobbied. We petitioned. And in the end, thanks to the Science is Vital Campaign and the persuasive efforts of CaSE and the learned societies and captains of high-tech industry, the UK science budget was protected from deep cuts in the Governments Comprehensive Spending Review last autumn.
Why Elsevier is completely in the right… and totally wrong
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

The internet was all aflutter last week because Elsevier has sent thousands of take-down notices to Academia.edu, a social networking site where many researchers post and share their published papers. This marks a significant change of tack for Elsevier.
ICYMI No.1: Preprints for biologists
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Since I have developed a habit of writing elsewhere, which necessarily takes time and words away from the blog here at Reciprocal Space, I thought I would try to make amends by developing the habit of linking to the pieces that appear in other corners of the internet.  To kick off therefore, permit me to alert you to a short article this week published in The Biologist, the house magazine of the Royal Society of Biology.
Interesting Times
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

“May you live in interesting times”, goes the Chinese curse. Chinese scientists are certainly living in interesting times (as reported today in

Nature

) but they are unlikely to see it as a curse. The budget of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) has increased sevenfold since 1998 and is set — as part of bold plans — to rise 70% in the coming year.
Work and Energy
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

It has been a quiet week in lab woebegone*. Though we have been working to pack up everything for a move across campus in mid-January, Christmas has intervened to scatter us to our homes, where traditionally we have the time to reflect on the year just past and galvanise ourselves for the one to come. Except that this year I haven’t had the time.
Moving Molecules
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Regular readers will know that molecules are my thing, that my scientific endeavours are devoted to revealing the intricate architecture of proteins — the molecular machines that sustain life. They will also know that I have at times struggled with the problem of how to write about molecules in a way that might grab the attention of those who rarely think about them.
Out of this World in the Library
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Yesterday, in four brief photo-posts on my Posterous account I highlighted snapshots — literally — from the British Library’s current exhibition on science fiction. I’m more of a fan of the genre in movies than in books but I had heard good things about the Library’s display and wanted to take a look. The exhibition is mostly books and manuscripts that exemplify the form — locked in glass cases in a fairly dim room — but I wasn’t disappointed.
Pride and Prejudice and journal citation distributions
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a researcher in possession of interesting experimental results, must be in want of a journal with a high impact factor. It is also true – and widely understood – that journal impact factors (JIFs) are unreliable indicators of the quality of individual research papers.
You may not be interested in this but this is interested in you
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I was banging on last week about how scientists should use words rather than guns during public engagement. Words are safer — and often more effective. But they are not

completely

safe. In fact, they can sometimes be rather dangerous, especially when used without due care and attention in England and Wales, where the libel laws take a keen interest in the words of any unsuspecting author.
Open Access: Money and Data talk and say the same thing?
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

One of these days — I promise — I will get back to writing about science. But a conjunction of tweets today brought to me three articles on open access that were interesting in different ways but curiously all seemed to point in a similar direction. First, a post on the Scholarly Kitchen blog (h/t Alicia Wise) from Rick Anderson, who is the Associate Dean for Scholarly Resources &
Plague-arism
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Plagiarism is pernicious and pervasive. You can’t seem to get away from it because so many people are getting away with it. As a university teacher I have long been aware of so-called essay-writing services that tout their wares to students who think that by purchasing essays written by someone else and passing them off as their own they can buy their way to learning. Fools. That’s what universities are for.
Finch Committee: Update
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I reported before on the notes from earlier meetings of the Finch Committee, which was set up by Science Minister David WIlletts to formulate proposals for making publicly-funded research more accessible. The notes of their latest meeting, held on 27th April, are now available so I wanted to add an update. I’ve uploaded a highlighted PDF for anyone who wants to read all four pages.
Your Invitation to the Open Access Debate
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I said the open access debate had been torrid. And it continues apace in the wake of last week’s announcements from the UK government and RCUK, the organisation that represents the common interests of Britain’s Research Councils.
An Inconsistent Truth?
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

The Science Museum in London is a national shrine to human ingenuity. Its existence is a testament to the value that our society places on inquiry and innovation, its worth paradoxically underscored by the fact that, even in these impecuious times, entry is still free. The museum sits grandly on Exhibition Road, just around the corner from my laboratory at Imperial College.
Something for the weekend
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Wunderkind of audiovisual media that I am, I confess to being rather late in getting around to this one. Even I hesitated at the narcissistic self-absorption of it. But as a blogger, I must learn to overcome such hesitations. Here, to demonstrate my proper credentials and my total commitment to the vocation, is a photograph–taken just now–of the computer on which I have begun to compose this post.
Small and Very Far Away
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

As Father Ted might have explained it to Dougal, this one is very small:

Atom

but that one is

far away

.

Mars (NASA)

And yet it is the distant planet and not the nearby atom that seems to excite the greatest interest in the public mind. I blame Carl Sagan. And bloody Brian Cox.
Ask
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Despite having a physics degree and some notion of the stretchiness of space and time in Einstein’s theory of special relativity, I’ve never felt

comfortable

with these ideas.
Inflation
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

This is, to my mind, a quite astonishing report about Nature Publishing Group (NPG) hiking its proposed 2011 journal subscription charges to the University of California (UC) by 400%. (NPG is the company that runs the

Nature Network

blogging platform). That’s right: 400%. I know nothing about the ins and outs of this deal.
2019 in 31 photographs
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

My computer tells me I took over 3,700 photographs in 2019. Yikes! However, I have winnowed them down to just 31, should you care to take a look. I have been fortunate this year to travel far and wide – or should I say reckless? Either way, if you click on the image above, it will take you to the album on flickr.
Meet me on a Monday
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

This is shameless, shameless self-promotion but I was interviewed back in May by Carl Carruthers for his Meet a Scientist Monday podcast, which has gone live today. The interview was long enough ago for me — being of advanced years — to have forgotten what I’d said, so I’ve just had a listen.
What is it like to be a Scientist?
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

It is a year to the day since the release of my film, “I’m a Scientist“, in which six different scientists talk openly about their lives in the laboratory and what makes them tick. The aim of the film is very much to cut through the myth that all scientists are heroes and geniuses. To mark this first anniversary and to make the film more useful in the classroom, I have split it into ten bite-sized chunks.
Markdown-based course websites
Authors: Seibold Heidi
Published: December 2024

New frameworks for course websites are popping up all the time. In this post, I'll review some of them.
The still unsustainable goal of university ranking
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

The new and improved Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings 2020 were published this week with as much online fanfare as THE could muster. Unfortunately, they are not improved enough. Sydney University’s Duncan Ivison makes case for impact rankings. And then you notice the advert.
Winging It
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

A short film about flying. And about the wing on the plane that I was in. Yes – the wing. I flew this morning and enjoyed a little bit of engineering magic.
I have discovered Jupiter
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I am 46 years of age and I have just discovered Jupiter. This is a surprising revelation, even to me. I have strong memories of being a child besotted with things astronomical. Looking back now, however, I have to wonder at the superficiality of my interests. I was certainly a devotee of space and space rockets.
And then just drizzle some liquid nitrogen…
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

At the Diamond synchrotron last week, Jamie Oliver would have been proud of us. Amar and I pitched up last Thursday afternoon at the great gleaming doughnut in the Oxfordshire countryside with the latest batch of Amar’s crystals, packed carefully into a dry nitrogen dewar to keep the little jewels frozen at a chilly 80K. Because we were sharing the beamtime with other users from Imperial our slot didn’t start until about 8.30 in the evening.
PeerJ – a brave new world?
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

For me, one of the more appealing aspects of open access publishing is that by making costs transparent it could stimulate competition between publishers and generate innovative solutions to drive down prices. Today sees the launch of one such innovation: a new open access platform for life and medical sciences called PeerJ. It is a fascinating gamble that may well pay off.
Numb or Numbered?
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

It just doesn’t add up: why do so many people, including scientists, get stuck on the maths problem? The subject is on my mind because it was raised at a departmental meeting last week where I tried to argue that A level mathematics (the qualification obtained at age 18 in the UK) should be an entry requirement for our degree programmes in biochemistry and biology.
Scholarly publishing: time for a regulator?
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

“…price rises coupled with high profits, mis-selling scandals […] and a lack of transparency over bills have destroyed consumers’ trust […], a committee of MPs has said in a report that also criticises the sector’s watchdog for failing to take … Continue reading →
Desirous of structures?
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

There was a very nice piece in yesterday’s

Nature

by Ananyo Bhattacharya (a former PhD student of mine who now works for the journal). Ananyo discusses the current structural ‘wish list’ with some of the world’s most ambitious protein crystallographers. Perhaps I’m a little biased but I think it’s beautifully written.
Libel Reform: steps forward
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Today sees the publication of a very important report on libel reform. The report is from the Parliamentary Joint Scrutiny Committee, which has been considering the government’s draft defamation bill in the light of oral and written evidence from interested parties. It outlines proposals for refinement of the draft legislation before it passes through Parliament and, hopefully, into law.
The Young Atheist’s Handbook by Alom Shaha
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Don’t be misled by the title: this is a book about love. Love for life, love for family and love for curiosity, which leads — circularly — to a love affair with books. Don’t be misled by the title: this is not a handbook.
First Anniversary
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

A year ago today Occam’s Typewriter made its debut on the blogosphere and I published my first post at the new home of

Reciprocal Space

. It’s been a good twelve months. OT has established itself as a home thoughtful and lively writing with a great range of different voices.
Why Succession failed me – just
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

I have been trying to put my finger on why I have found Succession — HBO’s must-see series about fictional US media mogul Logan Roy and his dysfunctional family — to be at once utterly compelling and annoyingly dissatisfying.
Ten Years a Blogger
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Today is the tenth anniversary of my very first blog post. When I look back at that day in 2008 when I set out my stall on Reciprocal Space it seems a long time ago and a long distance away. It’s been quite a journey. Some things haven’t changed. I still hate the terminology, though I have mostly managed to swallow my embarrassment.
Debating Open Access
Authors: Curry Stephen
Published: December 2024

Twelve months after the publication of the Finch Report, during which the new RCUK policy on open access has been published, dissected, debated (including by committees in both Houses of Parliament), revised and implemented, it seems an apposite moment to step back and take stock. A collection of essays published today under the title

Debating Open Access

presents one attempt to do just that.
Development of a system for creating and recommending combination collections in the e-commerce clothing industry
Authors: Çetin Erdem , Özbek Murat Berker , Biner Sezin , Ulus Ceren , Akay M. Fatih
Published: December 2024

In the clothing sector, matching the right demand with the appropriate user is of great significance. Combination suggestions emerge as an innovative strategy for e-commerce platforms operating in the clothing sector. By providing suitable combination suggestions tailored to the right user, the profit margin of sales increased, and the brand image strengthened. The aim of this study is to develop a recommendation system based on image processing and machine learning that generates combinations from products that may interest users and recommends these combinations to them. 90 million possible combinations have been obtained using a dataset consisting of products detected from images of items sold in the clothing category on Trendyol. These combinations have been trained using the Prod2Vec algorithm to create new pairings. Subsequently, collections have been developed for purchasing looks using image processing methods. In this context, the You Only Look Once (YOLO) model has been selected for clothing classification, while the Convolutional Network Next (ConvNext) model has been employed for calculating image similarity. Models have also been developed for estimating click performance using Random Forest (RF), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), and Linear Regression (LR). The prediction performances of the developed models have been evaluated using Coefficient of Determination (R2), Mean Squared Error (MSE), and Mean Absolute Error (MAE) metrics. When the developed models have been examined, it has been observed that RF had superior performance. The developed system provided a 5% increase in the time spent on the Trendyol mobile application.
Synergistic toxicities of binary and ternary mixtures of an anionic surfactant and divalent metals to Lysinibacillus fusiformis isolated from a vegetable farm
Authors: Okechi Reuben N. , Nwangwu Oluchukwu R. , Opurum Christian C. , Nleonu Emmanuel C.
Published: December 2024

The toxicities of the heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Ni, Zn, and Co) and their ternary mixtures with Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS) to Lysinibacillus fusiformis isolated from Talinum fruticosum farms irrigated with Otamiri River water in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria, were assessed using dehydrogenase activity (DHA) restriction as an endpoint. Fixed ratio mixtures (arbitrary concentration ratio (ABCR) and equi-effect concentration ratio (EECR) mixtures) were formulated to evaluate the combined toxicities of these toxicants. Toxicities were predicted with concentration addition (CA) and independent action (IA) models and compared with the experimentally observed toxicities. The response of the bacterium to the toxicants’ toxicities was concentration-dependent and gradually inhibited the DHA as the concentration increased, with percentage inhibitions greater than 95% at 0.5 mM for Zn, 1 mM for Ni, 0.3 mM for Pb, 0.08 mM for Cd, 0.7 mM for Co, as well as 10 mM for SDS. The 50% effective concentrations (EC50S) of the individual toxicants differed significantly from one another (P < 0.05). All the dose-response relationships of the ABCR and EECR mixtures and the individual toxicants could be described by a logistic function. In most binary mixtures, predicted toxicities from the CA and IA models were significantly different from the observed toxicities. In ABCR1 mixture ratio of SDS + Cd2+ mixtures, CA and IA models correctly predicted the experimental data at different points, while the IA model correctly predicted the experimental data in the EECR50 mixture ratio of SDS + Pb2+ mixture. In SDS + Co2+ mixtures, EC50S predicted by both models were identical. The effects of the mixtures interactions showed both weak and strong synergism, as well as additive against the soil bacterium. Similarly, in all but ABCR1 and ABCR2 mixture ratios of SDS + Cd + Zn ternary mixtures, the experimentally observed EC50, CA- and IA-predicted EC50S were significantly different from one another (P < 0.05). Furthermore, both models greatly underestimated the mixture toxicity at all tested mixture ratios and were strongly synergistic against the soil bacterium. The use of such contaminated water for irrigation could negatively affect the soil bacterial community and, by extension, soil fertility, going by the possible interaction between heavy metals and SDS.
Boltanski, L., Esquerre, A. y Lazarus, J. (2023): Comment s’invente la sociologie. Paris: Flammarion
Authors: Urteaga Eguzki
Published: December 2024

Reseña del libro BOLTANSKI, L., ESQUERRE, A. y LAZARUS, J. (2023): Comment s’invente la sociologie. Paris: Flammarion.
Autorretrato de grupo. Entrevista a Mercedes Cabrera Calvo-Sotelo
Authors: Muñoz Soro Javier
Published: December 2024

Entrevista a Mercedes Cabrera Calvo-Sotelo
Evaluation of crisps from maize-integral grape pomace flour mix manufactured by extrusion cooking
Authors:   Institute of Advanced Studies, Integrated Research, Development and Innovation Center for Advanced Materials, Nanotechnologies and Distributed Manufacturing and Control Systems (MANSiD), "Ștefan cel Mare" University of Suceava, 13 Universităţii street, 720229 Suceava, Romania; Mountain Economy Center (CE-MONT), National Institute of Economic Research (INCE), Romanian Academy, 49 Petreni Street, 725700, Vatra Dornei, Romania, Ungureanu-Iuga Mădălina , Mironeasa Silvia ,   Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefan cel Mare University of Suceava,13th University Street, 720229, Suceava – Romania, Mironeasa Costel ,   Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Automotive and Robotics, Ştefan cel Mare University of Suceava, 13 Universității Street, 720229 Suceava, Romania
Published: December 2024

Integral grape pomace is a significant source on nutrients and can be valorized in maize crisps production industry. Being a fiber-rich ingredient, it is important to determine the optimal amount that can be included to keep acceptable quality parameters of the final product. Thus, this paper aims to investigate the impact of integral grape pomace (red and white) on maize crisps physical properties and starch digestibility. For this, a Response Surface Methodology design was applied and the optimization was performed by using desirability function. The increase of grape pomace dose led to the reduction of lightness, expansion index, crunchiness, and WAI and the increment of browning index, cutting, compression and puncture forces, crispness, and total starch. The optimal samples containing 20.50% white grape pomace and 18.28% red grape pomace respectively showed lower L*, texture forces and functional properties compared to the control, while the porosity was enhanced. The molecular characteristics of the optimal samples were similar and some differences were found compared to the control. These results could be used for further researches on the chemical properties of the enhanced crisps and/or to develop this kind of products at an industrial level.
Genetic DNA Polymorphism Induced by Samarium (Sm) in The Macrophyta Ulva lactuca Alga as Revealed by TU-DAMD Marker
Authors:   Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Atomic Energy Commission of Syria, P.O. Box 6091, Damascus, Syria, Saleh Basel
Published: December 2024

DNA change profile in the green Ulva lactuca alga after 2 days of exposure to different Samarium (Sm) (0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1 mg/L) concentrations, has been evaluated using touch-up directed amplification of minisatellite DNA (TU-DAMD) marker. Genomic template stability (GTS%) and band-sharing index (BSI) values as qualitative measure of DNA changes followed Sm treatment were calculated under the above applied Sm concentrations. Data showed that GTS% and BSI values followed similar tendency; in this regards, GTS% value increased from 37.891 to 50.865%, whereas, BSI value increased from 0.505 to 0.581 as Sm applied concentration increased from 0.25 to 1 mg/L Sm. The present study could be considered as the first report describes genomic instability induced by Sm in U. lactuca alga. Indeed, TU-DAMD marker could serve as a potent tool for monitoring genomic instability induced by Sm in U. lactuca alga in ecosystems. This data revealed new insight concerning genomic instability induced by Sm on marine algae.
Gene expressions in grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) exposed to salt and drought stress: a comparative study
Authors:   Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Atomic Energy Commission of Syria, P.O. Box 6091, Damascus, Syria, Saleh B. , Alshehada E. ,   Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Atomic Energy Commission of Syria, P.O. Box 6091, Damascus, Syria
Published: December 2024

Expression profile of VvAREB2 and VvABF1 (AREB/ABFs family), VvNHX1 (Na+/H+ antiporter family) and VvOSM1 (OSMs Osmotin family) genes was evaluated in B41 rootstock and Baladi cultivar grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) leaves after 1, 3 and 5 days of exposure to salt stress of 2 dS/m seawater (SW) and drought stress (without holding the water supply) using Real-Time PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis. Data analysis showed varietal difference in transcript amounts has been noticed regarding of the tested genes, the studied accessions and the studied stresses. Overall, all the tested genes transcript showed similar tendency of up-regulation along with prolonged of exposure time from 1 to 5 days; except, VvAREB2 in B41 rootstock grapevine; where its transcript amount was down-regulated from 2 to 0.9 fold under salt stress; inversely; its transcript amount was up-regulated from 0.38 to 1.339 fold under drought stress. Moreover, VvOSM1 also in Baladi cultivar showed down-regulated from 4.1 to 1.25 fold under salt stress; inversely; its transcript amount was up-regulated from 0.95 to 2.2 fold under drought stress. The current study highlighted that the above tested genes could implicated in salt and drought stress tolerance in different manners.
Functional properties of Syrian dried kishk effected by gamma irradiation treatments
Authors:   Department of Radiation Technology, Atomic Energy Commission of Syria, Damascus, P.O. Box 6091,                Syrian Arab Republic, Al-Bachir Mahfouz
Published: December 2024

This study investigated the physical and functional properties of Syrian dried kishk (SDK) treated with 0, 5, 10 and 15 kGy doses of gamma irradiation. Physical and functional analyses of SDK were evaluated immediately after irradiation. Used doses of gamma irradiation significantly increased Tap density (TD), carr index (CI), Hauser’s ratio (HR), angle of repose, oil holding capacity (OHC), and solubility. While, the same doses of gamma irradiation (5, 10, and 15 kGy) reduced bulk density (BD), hydrophilic-lipophilic ratios (HLR), and least gelations concentration (LGC). Laboratory examination revealed that there were no significant changes between irradiated and non-irradiated groups in water holding capacity (WHC), swelling index (SI), swelling capacity (SC), foaming capacity (FC), foaming stability (FS), emulsion activity (EA) and emulsion stability (ES). Gamma irradiation showed slight, but significant effect on the physical and functional characteristics of SDK analysis, but the values of the analyzed parameters were still within the permissible limits approved by the national and international standards.
Bennett Buck’s Good Neighbor Policy: A Case of Mistaken Identity
Authors: Oles James
Published: December 2024

In 1993, a painting ascribed to Mexican artist José Clemente Orozco appeared in the exhibition South of the Border: Mexico in the American Imagination, 1914–1947 at the Yale University Art Gallery. Soon after the opening, the present author, having organized the exhibition at Yale, discovered that the work was in fact by Bennett Buck, a little-known US American artist. This essay—part memoir, part art historical analysis, part detective story—revisits a curatorial lapse to recover the meanings of Buck’s painting and its inclusion in the show 1938: Dedicated to the New Deal, held in the fall of that year at Herman Baron’s American Contemporary Art (A.C.A.) Gallery in New York. Rather than a fake, the painting is a forgotten but important example of proletarian art that confirms the influence of Orozco’s New School and Dartmouth College murals on US American artists of the 1930s. Connoisseurship—a close reading of the painting and related documents—provides insight into how and why the painting was given a false attribution and provenance in the 1960s and 1970s.
Like Father, Like Daughter: A Sketchbook Shared by Raymond and Rosa Bonheur, Rediscovered
Authors: Morrison Alexandra
Published: December 2024

This article restores an attribution for a sketchbook, now in the collection of the Getty Research Institute, shared by preeminent French woman artist of the nineteenth century Rosa Bonheur (1822–99) and her father and teacher, Raymond Bonheur (1796–1849). The sketchbook contains a range of entries in different media, including landscape studies by Raymond dating to the 1840s and drawings by Rosa from the early 1850s. Reidentified as a collaborative project spanning a period of two decades, the sketchbook offers a new material context for the artistic relationship between father and daughter as well as for the origins of Rosa’s great Salon successes The Horse Fair (1853–55) and Haymaking in the Auvergne (1855).
Victorious Laughter: Satirical Photomontage in Brigade KGK’s Photo Series From the 16th to the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
Authors: Johnson Samuel
Published: December 2024

In 1934, the Soviet photo agency Soiuzfoto published an illustrated version of Joseph Stalin’s “Report to the Seventeenth Party Congress on the Work of the Central Committee of the C.P.S.U.(B.),” comprising seventy-five photomontages by a trio of young artists named Brigade KGK. In this essay, I treat the satirical photomontages that Brigade KGK created for Stalin’s report as a search for a suitable artistic idiom of official humor. I argue that Brigade KGK used stretched and distorted imagery to demonstrate the comic possibilities inherent in photography’s materiality, where others subordinated it to the traditional art of drawing. The essay situates Brigade KGK’s work in relation to debates in the final years of the first five-year plan, at a time when supporters of German artist John Heartfield criticized photomontage as a purely mechanical technique and discredited its supporters as petty-bourgeois formalists.
Development of Website-Based Hybrid Learning Media to Address Learning Difficulties Among Junior High School
Authors: Dhea Lintang Suswandana  , Min-Xiang Liu  , Alibek Yeskermessuly  , Debasish Kumar Kundu  , Bridget Malasowe
Published: December 2024

The development of website-based hybrid learning learning media is done to reduce constraints on traditional learning. The limitations of space and time dimesi become one of the shortcomings of traditional learning. Developing technological advances must also bring progress in the field of education. Therefore, currently the development of media that uses internet access is considered to be able to overcome the limitations of space and time dimensions. To overcome the limitations of the space and time dimensions, web-based hybrid learning learning media are developed. Development research conducted using the 4D model with 4 main stages, namely define, design, develop, and disseminate. Using assessments from 5 media experts. The trial was given to respondents, namely 11 grade 8 students of Muhammadiyah Middle School in Madiun City. The results of expert validation stated that website-based hybrid learning learning media met the feasibility standard as a learning medium with a percentage of 96.4%. The results of the small-scale trial also stated that the website-based hybrid learning learning media received good responses from students by 83.33%. Learning difficulties experienced by students decreased by a percentage from 83.33% to 31.57%.
Retrospective Study of Generational Cohorts to Diagnose Terminal Efficiency in Industrial Engineering Students
Authors: Cortés Fernández Alicia , Hernández Díaz María Inés , Torres López Alejandra , Montiel Huerta Ma. Elizabeth , Vargas Matamoros Kathy Laura , Carmona Bonilla María Elena
Published: December 2024

Currently, enrollment in the Industrial Engineering degree at the Tecnologico Nacional de Mexico / Instituto Tecnologico de Apizaco has increased. However, in each generation, there continues to be a gap between the number of students who enter compared to the number of students who manage to obtain their degree. The study and monitoring of the terminal efficiency in each generation constitutes a very valuable source of information that, when systematized, is capable of strengthening educational planning in the search to improve the quality and relevance of educational services, thereby achieving a more inclusive higher education. The objective of this study is to identify the behavior of the academic performance of the generational cohorts of 2015-2020, 2016-2021, 2017-2022, 2018-2023 in terms of dropout, graduation, obtention of a degree, and gender.
For the analysis of these behaviors, a retrospective, quantitative, descriptive approach was used, individually in the existing records (Kardex) of each generation, provided by the Department of School Services. Subsequently, the object of study is examined, characterizing the students for each generational cohort based on the parameters already mentioned. The study of a group of students by generational cohort allows to diagnose their academic progress. The results obtained in the Parameter Without Degrees indicate that a large proportion of students fail to graduate. In the Graduates Parameter, the values obtained show that the terminal efficiency of the students is relatively low. There is a high level of dropout in some generational cohorts. This is probably an area of concern and intervention to remedy the problem.
The Influence of Service Quality on Customer Satisfaction at Salon Sister Studio
Authors: Taviprawati Ervina , Prabandari Wijayanti Dewi , W Christina Angela
Published: December 2024

This research was conducted with the aim of determining the influence of service quality on customer satisfaction at Sister Studio and the influence of service quality on interest in returning visits to Sister Studio. This research was conducted from April 2024 to June 2024. The research method used by the author is a quantitative method using a sample of 60 people from a total population of 148 customers who have had treatment at Sister Studio in January - April 2024. The results obtained from this research are the statement "Employees can make customers comfortable because they are treated in a friendly and polite manner" and the statement "The facilities and equipment used look modern, attractive and well maintained so that they are clean, neat and customers feel comfortable." The highest mean value is 4.83, so it can be seen that services and facilities create customer satisfaction and an impression of the company's image. The statement "The work results received by customers make them want to come back again" has a value of 4.82 with the description Very Good so that there is an influence on the quality of service in the form of work results which can influence customers to revisit Sister Studio. There is a significant influence between the service quality variable and customer satisfaction at the Sister Studio salon as much as 79.2%, while the remaining 20.8% is influenced by other variables that were not studied and has a positive correlation coefficient of 0.890 so it can be concluded that the level of relationship between the service quality variable and Very Strong customer satisfaction.