bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mechanical and thermal properties offishbone‐basedepoxy composites: The effects of thermal treatment
Authors: Hani F. , Firouzi A. , Islam M. R. , Sumdani M. G.
Published: December 2020

Fishbones are hydroxyapatite‐based waste materials. They can be used in the form of particles as filler or additive in polymer composites. The surface of the particles can be modified using heat or thermal treatment. In this work, the fishbone particles (FBPs) were used in epoxy composites for the semi‐structural applications. The composites were prepared using a solution‐cast method. The effect of thermal treatment of the FBPs on the performance of the composites was investigated. The mechanical testing, thermo‐gravimetric analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry measured the performance of the composites. The chemical structure and morphological properties of the composites were observed through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. Results showed that the tensile and flexural strength of the composites were improved by 30% and 200%, respectively, compared to the neat epoxy (NE) as an effect of the thermal treatment. It was also noticed that theTg,TmandTcof the modified composite were found significantly higher compared to other composites. The FBPs formed a hybrid domain within the composites when they interact with the epoxy. Such strong bonding can protect the composites from the external forces. Based on the performance, it can be suggested that the composites can be used where a semi‐flexible scaffold is required.
Occupancy and Detectability of Northern Long‐eared Bats in the Lake States Region
Authors: Hyzy Brenna A. , Russell Robin E. , Silvis Alex , Ford W. Mark , Riddle Jason , Russell Kevin
Published: December 2020

The northern long‐eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) is one of the bat species most affected by white‐nose syndrome. Population declines attributed to white‐nose syndrome contributed to the species’ listing as federally threatened under the 1973 Endangered Species Act. Although one of the most abundant Myotine bats in eastern North America prior to white‐nose syndrome, little is known about northern long‐eared bats in the upper Midwest, USA. We assessed the habitat associations of the northern long‐eared bats on a regional scale using occupancy models that accounted for uncertainty in nightly detection to provide needed information on the distribution as white‐nose syndrome has recently arrived in this area. We monitored bat activity using zero‐crossing frequency‐division bat detectors for 10–15 nights at 20 detector sites at each of 3 sampling areas in Michigan, USA, and 6 sampling areas in Wisconsin, USA, stratified by mesic and xeric habitat types. We constructed northern long‐eared bat nightly detection histories for our occupancy analysis using maximum likelihood estimates from 2 commercially‐available automated identification programs: Kaleidoscope and Echoclass. We sampled for a total of 2,174 detector‐nights. Both Kaleidoscope and Echoclass identified northern long‐eared bat passes on 110 detector‐nights, whereas on 1,968 detector‐nights neither program identified a northern long‐eared bat call. Only one program or the other identified northern long‐eared bat calls on 206 detector‐nights, indicating an overall agreement rate of 35% on nights when calls were detected. We analyzed these data using an occupancy analysis accounting for the potential for false positives to assess the relationship between northern long‐eared bat presence and habitat characteristics. Our analyses indicated that the probability of a false positive at a site was low (0.015; 95% CI 0.009–0.021), and detection probability, but not occupancy, declined from 2015 to 2016 for sites in Wisconsin sampled in both years. Occupancy was positively associated with distance into the forest interior (distance from nearest road). © 2020 The Wildlife Society.
Centenarians, Semi-supercentenarians and the Emergence of Supercentenarians in Poland
Authors: Kroczek Wacław Jan
Published: December 2020

The primary objective of our research was to produce a list, as complete as possible, of validated Polish supercentenarians, that is, persons for whom there is satisfactory evidence that they attained age 110. Surprisingly, considering Poland’s tumultuous history, a great many of the registration records of events occurring long ago have survived. The research, begun in 2012, was done in state archives, church archives, county offices, and libraries, and we report the methodology and results here. Research was also done to obtain a list of the many more persons for whom there is satisfactory evidence that they attained age 105, but that research is not near completion.

Although according to official statistics there were 69 deaths of supercentenarians in Poland between 2004 and 2016, we could only validate 14 supercentenarian deaths – all females – ever occurring in Poland. In contrast, there are 25 validated supercentenarians who were born in Poland and last resided elsewhere.

We also present official detailed statistics on the number of persons, living and deceased, who attained age 100, by single year of age, and estimate the mortality of persons who attained age 105, based on these data, for the portion of Poland with better-quality information, and compare it to the German experience. Of course, because these official data have not been validated, any inferences drawn from them are not conclusive.
Extreme Longevity in Quebec: Factors and Characteristics
Authors: Beaudry-Godin Mélissa , Bourbeau Robert , Desjardins Bertrand
Published: December 2020

The recent decrease in adult and late-life mortality led to a very rapid increase in the number of centenarians within low mortality countries. This chapter examines the increase in the number of centenarians in Quebec (Canada) across birth cohorts (1871–1901), and outlines some of the underlying demographic mechanisms involved. We study the demographic situation of centenarians from Quebec (Canada) using all aggregated data available since 1871 (census data, vital statistics, and population estimations). Census data and population estimates are taken from Statistics Canada, while vital statistics come from the Canadian Human Mortality Database (CHMD, 2014 www.bdlc.umontreal.ca) and the Institut de la statistique du Québec.

With demographic indicators such as the centenarian ratio, the survival probabilities and the maximal age at death, we try to demonstrate the remarkable progress realised in old age mortality. We also analyze the determinants of the increase in the number of centenarians in Quebec: increase in the size of birth cohorts, increase in the probabilities of surviving from birth to age 80 and from age 80 to 100 for specific cohorts, change in the number of persons aged 100 and over relative to the number of persons reaching exact age 100 and net change due to migration and other factors (errors). This decomposition shows that, among the factors identified, the improvement in late-life mortality (from age 80 to 100) is the main determinant of the increase of the number of centenarians.

This study stresses the importance of monitoring the number as well as the quality of life of this emerging population of centenarians. It also helps us gain greater perspective on what should be expected in the coming years among low mortality countries such as Canada.
The First Supercentenarians in History, and Recent 115 + −Year-Old Supercentenarians. An Introduction to the Following Chapters
Authors: Jeune Bernard , Poulain Michel
Published: December 2020

We established the Committee of Age Validation of Exceptional long-livers (CAVE) at our Supercentenarian Workshop in Tallinn in June 2016 with the aim of documenting the first supercentenarians in history. Another aim of this committee was to validate the longest-living supercentenarians; i.e., those who have reached the age of 115 years or older. The following chapters are the result of this work, and are therefore extensions of the chapters on the age validation of long-livers in earlier books (Jeune and Vaupel 1995; Jeune and Vaupel 1999a, b; Maier et al. 2010).
Geert Adriaans Boomgaard, the First Supercentenarian in History?
Authors: Chambre Dany , Jeune Bernard , Poulain Michel
Published: December 2020

This contribution presents the validation of the age at death of Geert Adriaans BOOMGAARD (GAB), a seaman who reached the age of 110. He was born in Groningen on 21 September 1788 and died in the same city on 3 February 1899. A remarkable number of documents have been found that cover the full span of GAB’s life, and thus make it possible to validate his reported exceptional age. In the first step of the validation, a comparison of the baptism and death records shows that the information provided is consistent, even if the spelling of the surnames of his parents reported in the two records is not identical. The reconstitution of GAB’s family and the dates of birth of his siblings also support the validity of GAB’s reported age at death. The demographic information covers the period between 1818 (the year of his first marriage) and 1837 (the year of birth of his last child). We found few documents that mention him during his early life before his first marriage, including a document from 1791 indicating that his father named his new boat De Jonge Geert as well as a list of conscripts from 1811 where his name appeared. By contrast, we found numerous documents covering the period from 1837 to 1899 that are related to his career as a seaman; the marriages of children; his entry into a nursing home; and various interviews, photos, and articles on his life that appeared in the press. All of these documents support the validity of GAB’s reported year of birth and age at death. Thus, GAB might be considered the first thoroughly validated supercentenarian in the history of humankind.
A Life Cycle of Extreme Survival Spanning Three Stages: Ana Vela Rubio (1901–2017)
Authors: Gómez-Redondo Rosa , Domènech Ramón
Published: December 2020

During the life of Ana Vela Rubio (AVR), Spain underwent major social and demographic mutations and became a country with one of the highest life expectancies in the world. AVR’s case is of particular interest because of her extreme longevity. Before her death on 15 December 2017, she was the oldest living person in Europe and the third oldest living person in the world. For this reason, the work undertaken to verify AVR’s age followed not only the protocol established by the International Database on Longevity, completed by the authors in May 2017, but also a more in-depth verification based on different sources encompassing civil registry offices, parish registries and witness accounts by relatives and other persons in close contact with AVR. An atypical family structure hindered the research process, but the diversity of data sources, together with the interviews conducted during visits to the villages and cities where AVR lived during the three main stages in her life, made it possible to achieve our dual goal: to reconstruct AVR’s life trajectory across different Spanish regions and verify her age through a demographic investigation.
Validation of 113-Year Old Israel Kristal as the World’s Oldest Man
Authors: Kroczek Wacław Jan , Young Robert
Published: December 2020

This book chapter provides a detailed description of the discovery, research, and validation of the case of Mr. Israel Kristal of Israel, 113, as the World’s Oldest Man titleholder for Guinness World Records. In this chapter, we show how modern scientific age validation criteria were applied to prove the credibility of the claims made about Mr. Kristal’s age. Due to the hardships Mr. Kristal faced in his early life, validating his age proved to be extremely difficult. While the first attempts to validate Mr. Kristal’s age were made in early 2014, a breakthrough in these investigative efforts did not occur until January 2016. To validate his age, the Gerontology Research Group contacted not only Mr. Kristal’s family, but also international institutions specializing in genealogical research. A special note of appreciation should go to the Jewish Records Indexing in Poland for their contributions to this investigation. As a result of this international cooperation, sufficient early-life, middle-life, and late-life evidence was obtained to meet modern validation standards. Israel Kristal was finally recognized as the oldest living man in the world on Mar. 11, 2016 (retroactive to Jan. 19, 2016). Israel Kristal is the second validated supercentenarian in the history of Israel, after Dr. Maria Pogonowska (1897–2009), who was also born in Poland. In addition, he is the current longevity record-holder of Israel.
Age Verification of Three Japanese Supercentenarians Who Reached Age 115
Authors: Gondo Yasuyuki , Hirose Nobuyoshi , Yasumoto Saori , Ishioka Yoshiko Lily , Inagaki Hiroki , Masui Yukie , Arai Yasumichi , Saito Yasuhiko
Published: December 2020

This chapter describes the data sources that are available for verifying the ages of the oldest-old in Japan. These sources can be both official and non-official documents. The official documents consist primarily of education and employment records issued by administration offices. The non-official documents include the testimonies of the centenarians themselves, their relatives, and their care workers; as well as media reports. We collected information from these official and non-official sources in order to confirm that three Japanese individuals who had reportedly survived to age 115 were indeed that old. The first of these individuals is Mr. Jiroemon Kimura (J.K.), who spent most of his life in his birth place. In his case, we were able to gather information from various sources, including from official and non-official documents. But for the other two individuals, Mrs. Misao Okawa (M.O.) and Mrs. Chiyo Miyako (C.M.), who relocated several times within urban areas, we were able to collect only a limited amount of information. In particular, we were unable to find many official documents about their original family members. These three cases suggest that the availability of the data needed to verify the ages of individuals who were born around 1900 might differ depending on the following three conditions: whether the person has moved from his/her place of birth, whether the person has been living in rural or urban areas, and whether the person is male or female.
Age 115+ in the USA: An Update
Authors: Young Robert , Kroczek Waclaw Jan
Published: December 2020

In a companion chapter on this topic in the earlier Supercentenarians book (Young,“Age 115 or More in the United States: Fact or Fiction", Supercentenarians. Springer Verlag, Berlin, 2010), validation information on eight Americans who survived to age 115 (as well as five claims to 115+ that were invalidated) was presented. This follow-up chapter presents the validation of another 10 Americans who either reached age 115+ since then or were subsequently validated: Augusta Holtz (115), Edna Parker (115), Gertrude Baines (115), Besse Cooper (116), Dina Manfredini (115), Gertrude Weaver (116), Jeralean Talley (116), Susannah Jones (116), Bernice Madigan (115), and Antonia Gerena Rivera (115). Also, an early Social Security Administration (hereafter SSA) study (Kestenbaum, Ferguson, Supercentenarians. Springer Verlag, Berlin, 2010) 115+ case, Lucy Hannah, has been invalidated.
Mortality of Centenarians in the United States
Authors: Kestenbaum Bert
Published: December 2020

In the United States, we have not yet reached the point where unedited numerators and denominators for death rates or probabilities are of satisfactory quality for measuring the mortality of centenarians. Ignoring this reality can lead to an estimation of extreme-age mortality which is unacceptable, as is the case for the NCHS’ Data Brief no. 233. Even the better-quality data from the Medicare health insurance program are beset by problems of (1) unreported or unrecorded deaths and (2) date of birth misstatement. On the other hand, there are steps that can be taken to improve the quality of the underlying data, so that the threshold age at which a mathematical model replaces actual data and closes out the life table is pushed further out.

The paper begins with a description of the unacceptable results published in Data Brief no. 233 and a critical examination of their sources. The main part of the paper presents some steps to improve the quality of the Medicare enrollment counts. By rearranging the historical series on Medicare enrollment by cohort, it is possible to eliminate unreported and unrecorded deaths. A simple model is then introduced to deal with date of birth misstatement.
Causes of Death Among 9000 Danish Centenarians and Semisuper-Centenarians in the 1970–2012 Period
Authors: Kaalby Lasse , Skytthe Axel , Andersen-Ranberg Karen , Jeune Bernard
Published: December 2020

As most centenarians suffer from multiple diseases, they are at high risk of dying – but what do they ultimately die of? This question has scarcely been examined. We have carried out a register-based study of the causes of death (CoD) among Danish centenarians. Among 8559 centenarian deaths in the 1970–2012 period, the most common CoD was in the category of cardio- and cerebrovascular diseases (CVD); at the end of the study period, this CoD accounted for one-third of the deaths in this age group. The mortality rate for CVD as an underlying CoD was more than halved during the period (from 358 to 170 per 1000 person-years). In contrast, the mortality rate for cancer remained stable during the whole period, but at a very low level (15–20 per 1000 person-years). Cancer made up a much smaller share of underlying CoDs among this age group (3–4%) than among 85–99-year-olds (15%). The mortality rate for pneumonia remained at a constant level (about 50 per 1000 person-years) of around 10% among centenarians and 5% among 85–99-year-olds. The underlying CoD groups that were reported with increasing frequency during the period were mental diseases, including dementia, which increased sevenfold; and ill-defined conditions/senility, which increased fourfold. The latter CoD group accounted for 28% of deaths among centenarians in the most recent years, and for more than one-third of deaths among semi-supercentenarians (aged 105–109). The increase in the proportion of deaths for which the CoD was listed as ill-defined conditions/senility was probably partly due to the under-diagnosis of diseases among centenarians, especially of heart diseases. However, a substantial proportion of these deaths may have been attributable to “old age” – i.e., a combination of several diseases and organ deficiencies – and not to a single underlying cause.
Reliability Analysis and Mitigation of Near-Threshold Voltage (NTC) Caches
Authors: Gebregiorgis Anteneh , Bishnoi Rajendra , Tahoori Mehdi B.
Published: December 2020

Near-threshold computing (NTC) has significant role in reducing the energy consumption of modern very large-scale integrated circuits designs. However, NTC designs suffer from functional failures and performance loss. Understanding the characteristics of the functional failures and variability effects is of decisive importance in order to mitigate them, and get the utmost NTC benefits. This chapter presents a comprehensive cross-layer reliability analysis framework to assess the effect of soft error, aging, and process variation in the operation of near-threshold voltage caches. The objective is to quantify the reliability of different SRAM designs, evaluate voltage scaling potential of caches, and to find a reliability-performance optimal cache organization for an NTC microprocessor. In this chapter, the soft error rate (SER) and static noise margin (SNM) of 6T and 8T SRAM cells and their dependencies on aging and process variation are investigated by considering device, circuit, and architecture-level analysis.
Selective Flip-Flop Optimization for Circuit Reliability
Authors: Golanbari Mohammad Saber , Ebrahimi Mojtaba , Kiamehr Saman , Tahoori Mehdi B.
Published: December 2020

This chapter proposes a selective flip-flop optimization method (Golanbari et al., IEEE Trans Very Large Scale Integr VLSI Syst 39(7):1484–1497, 2020; Golanbari et al., Aging guardband reduction through selective flip-flop optimization. In: IEEE European Test Symposium (ETS) (2015)), in which the timing and reliability of the VLSI circuits are improved by optimizing the timing-critical components under severe impact of runtime variations. As flip-flops are vulnerable to aging and supply voltage fluctuation, it is necessary to address these reliability issues in order to improve the overall system lifetime. In the proposed method, we first extend the standard cell libraries by adding optimized versions of the flip-flops designed for better resiliency against severe Bias Temperature Instability (BTI) impact and/or supply voltage fluctuation. Then, we optimize the VLSI circuit by replacing the aging-critical and voltage-drop critical flip-flops of the circuit with optimized versions to improve the timing and reliability of the entire circuit in a cost-effective way. Simulation results show that incorporating the optimized flip-flops in a processor can prolong the circuit lifetime by 36.9%, which translates into better reliability.

This chapter is organized as follows. Section 1 introduces wide-voltage operation reliability issues and motivates the proposed selective flip-flop optimization approach. The impacts of runtime variations on flip-flops are explained in Sect. 2. Consequently, Sect. 3 presents cell-level optimization of the flip-flops. The proposed selective flip-flop optimization methodology is described in Sect. 4, and optimization results are discussed in Sect. 5. Finally, Sect. 7 concludes the chapter.
EM Lifetime Constrained Optimization for Multi-Segment Power Grid Networks
Authors: Zhou Han , Sun Zeyu , Sadiqbatcha Sheriff , Tan Sheldon X.-D.
Published: December 2020

This chapter provides techniques for power grid network sizing while considering electromigration reliability. Starting with power grid network and electromigration (EM) fundamentals. Specifically the concerns here are EM immortality and aging effects used as EM constraints when formulating the optimization problems. The chapter first shows that the new power/ground (P/G) optimization problem, subject to the voltage IR drop and new EM constraints, can still be formulated as an efficient sequence of linear programming (SLP) problem, where the optimization is carried out in two linear programming phases in each iteration. The new optimization will ensure that none of the wires fails if all the constraints are satisfied. However, requiring all the wires to be EM immortal can be over-constrained. To mitigate this problem, the improvement is to consider the aging effects of interconnect wires in P/G networks. The idea is to allow some short-lifetime wires to fail and optimize the rest of the wires while considering the additional resistance caused by the failed wire segments. In this way, the resulting P/G networks can be optimized such that the target lifetime of the whole P/G networks can be ensured and will become more robust and aging-aware over the expected lifetime of the chip.
Monitor Circuits for Cross-Layer Resiliency
Authors: Islam Mahfuzul , Onodera Hidetoshi
Published: December 2020

Cross-layer resiliency has become a critical deciding factor for any successful product. This chapter focuses on monitor circuits that are essential in realizing the cross-layer resiliency. The role of monitor circuits is to establish a bridge between the hardware and other layers by providing information about the devices and the operating environment in run-time. This chapter explores delay-based monitor circuits for design automation with the existing cell-based design methodology. The chapter discusses several design techniques to monitor parameters of threshold voltage, temperature, leakage current, critical delay, and aging. The chapter then demonstrates a reconfigurable architecture to monitor multiple parameters with small area footprint. Finally, an extraction methodology of physical parameters is discussed for model-hardware correlation. Utilizing the cell-based design flow, delay-based monitors can be placed inside the target digital circuit and thus a better correlation between monitor and target circuit behavior can be realized.
Dealing with Aging and Yield in Scaled Technologies
Authors: Ye Wei , Alawieh Mohamed Baker , Hsu Che-Lun , Lin Yibo , Pan David Z.
Published: December 2020

This chapter reviews recent practices of tackling aging and yield issues in VLSI design related to shrinking technology processes. Different fundamental effects such as device aging, interconnect electromigration, and process variations are investigated with the state-of-the-art techniques for modeling and optimization. The presented techniques vary from analytical approaches to machine learning, and often require cross-layer information feedback for robust design cycles.
Exploiting Memory Resilience for Emerging Technologies: An Energy-Aware Resilience Exemplar for STT-RAM Memories
Authors: Monazzah Amir Mahdi Hosseini , Rahmani Amir M. , Miele Antonio , Dutt Nikil
Published: December 2020

Due to the consistent pressing quest of larger on-chip memories and caches of multicore and manycore architectures, Spin Transfer Torque Magnetic RAM (STT-MRAM or STT-RAM) has been proposed as a promising technology to replace classical SRAMs in near-future devices. Main advantages of STT-RAMs are a considerably higher transistor density and a negligible leakage power compared with SRAM technology. However, the drawback of this technology is the high probability of errors occurring especially in write operations. Such errors are asymmetric and transition-dependent, where 0 → 1 is the most critical one, and is high subjected to the amount and current (voltage) supplied to the memory during the write operation. As a consequence, STT-RAMs present an intrinsic trade-off between energy consumption vs. reliability that needs to be properly tuned w.r.t. the currently running application and its reliability requirement. This chapter proposes FlexRel, an energy-aware reliability improvement architectural scheme for STT-RAM cache memories. FlexRel considers a memory architecture provided with Error Correction Codes (ECCs) and a custom current regulator for the various cache ways and conducts a trade-off between reliability and energy consumption. FlexRel cache controller dynamically profiles the number of 0 → 1 transitions of each individual bit write operation in a cache block and based on that selects the most-suitable cache way and current level to guarantee the necessary error rate threshold (in terms of occurred write errors) while minimizing the energy consumption. We experimentally evaluated the efficiency of FlexRel against the most efficient uniform protection scheme from reliability, energy, area, and performance perspectives. Experimental simulations performed by using gem5 has demonstrated that while FlexRel satisfies the given error rate threshold, it delivers up to 13.2% energy saving. From the area footprint perspective, FlexRel delivers up to 7.9% cache ways’ area saving. Furthermore, the performance overhead of the FlexRel algorithm which changes the traffic patterns of the cache ways during the executions is 1.7%, on average.
Increasing Reliability Using Adaptive Cross-Layer Techniques in DRPs: Just-Safe-Enough Responses to Reliability Threats
Authors: Kühn Johannes Maximilian , Bringmann Oliver , Rosenstiel Wolfgang
Published: December 2020

The developments in the semiconductor industry as predicted by institutions such as the ITRS present a difficult question to hardware and software developers alike: How to implement increasingly complex, power hungry, and critical applications reliably in today’s and tomorrow’s semiconductor technology? The present trend of semiconductor technology is characterized by a sharp increase in complexity, cost, and delicacy. Also, it does not scale along the demands which are still based on and often exceed Moore’s Law. In this chapter, we propose to exploit the architectural redundancies provided by potent, yet energy efficient massively parallel architectures, modeled using Dynamically Reconfigurable Processors (DRP). Using DRPs, we built an extensive cross-layer approach, offering different levels of reliability measures to operating system (OS) and software developers through low-cost hardware redundancy schemes and appropriate physical operating condition tuning. On the hardware side, online testing schemes and error detection are deployed to trigger dynamic remapping to avoid the usage of faulty components. This approach is further complemented through hardware health monitoring that can detect reliability issues such as negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) or hot carrier injection (HCI) before they surface as an error as well as further tuning of operating conditions to delay such phenomena from surfacing.
Dependable Software Generation and Execution on Embedded Systems
Authors: Kriebel Florian , Chen Kuan-Hsun , Rehman Semeen , Henkel Jörg , Chen Jian-Jia , Shafique Muhammad
Published: December 2020

For generating and executing dependable software, the effects of hardware layer faults at the software layer have to be accurately analyzed and modeled. This requires relevant information from the hardware and software layers, as well as an in-depth analysis of how an application’s outputs are affected by errors, and quantifying the error masking and error propagation on the software layer. Based on this analysis, techniques for generating dependable software can be proposed, e.g., by different dependability-aware compiler-based software transformations or selective instruction protection. Beside functional aspects, timing also plays an important role, as oftentimes tasks have to be finished before a certain deadline to provide useful information, especially in real-time systems. Both aspects are jointly taken into account by the run-time system software which decides—with the help of offline and online-generated data—for multiple concurrently executing applications how to protect and when to execute which application task to optimize for dependability and timing correctness. This is achieved for example by selecting appropriate application versions and protection levels for single and multi-core systems—for example using redundant multithreading (RMT) in different modes—under tolerable performance overhead constraints.
Introduction
Authors: Griffith-Jones Stephany , De Souza Guilherme Bettina
Published: December 2020

This book is the result of the first 3 years of the comparative and multidisciplinary Jean Monnet Network, “Crisis-Equity-Democracy for Europe and Latin America”, of senior academics and policy advisors from four European and three Latin American countries, including experts on the European Union and Latin American regionalism. The rationale of the project and the common link is that both Europe and Latin America can learn from their respective experiences on “crisis”, its management and the distributive and democratic implications at national and regional level. The main purposes of the joint research can be summarised as to (1) locate in the current global financial system as one of the very major causes of the financial and debt crises in the EU and Latin America; (2) demonstrate the impact of the paradigm change on global and EU economic governance; (3) analyse key systemic aspects of the global crisis, i.e. climate change, macro-financial instability and the weakening of democracy and their inter-connections; (4) map and evaluate how both regions and individual countries within both regions have tried to manage these crises; (5) discuss the economic, political and social effects of these crises on both regions and individual countries; (6) finally, to make policy suggestions on how to transition from finance capitalism to a more sustainable real capitalism, on how both regions can better manage/govern/respond to such systemic pressures and on how they can increase their cooperation.
The 2011 Crisis in Italy: A Story of Deep-Rooted (and Still Unresolved) Economic and Political Weaknesses
Authors: Romano Simone
Published: December 2020

Italy went through an economic and political crisis in 2011. The trigger was the Sovereign debt crisis that shook the Eurozone due to its incomplete structure. The ingrained causes were the long-term structural problems that have plagued the Italian economy for a long time, leaving it vulnerable to external shocks. The reaction to the crisis took the form of austerity measures and reforms implemented by a technocratic Government. These policies, carried out with no external financial assistance, were meant to send a signal to markets and stop the spiral of distrust and negative self-fulfilling expectations, but they did not address the sources of the problems. Since then much has been done at both national and European levels, but it is still not enough to guarantee resilience. Italy needs to finally solve its structural problems, and the European Monetary Union (EMU) needs to complete its architecture, starting with the completion of the Banking Union. Considering the increasing social discontent and political intolerance, failing to act now might imply severe consequences when the next crisis hits.
Latin American Economic Crises and Populist Bids: Argentina, Brazil and Mexico
Authors: Lins Maria Antonieta Del Tedesco
Published: December 2020

Through a comparative case study analysis, the chapter seeks to retrace the recent history of Argentina, Brazil and Mexico in dealing with economic crises. Despite their different institutional arrangements and macroeconomic trajectories, the comparison shows that domestic concerns were the main drivers of economic policies. Particularly regarding each country’s approaches to exchange markets and capital controls—here called financial policy—the chapter evaluates the extent to which they contradict international perceptions and even the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) stance on financial regulation and the management of capital flows. A close relationship between domestic political demands and the design of economic policy indicated that even in the face of some similarity between the challenges posed to the three countries and more than responses to changes in the world economy and the quest to keep these economies integrated, economic policy aimed to accommodate internal political pressures.
European Economic Governance and Rising Sovereignism
Authors: Poli Eleonora
Published: December 2020

Europeans have experienced a variety of challenges in recent years. The rise of sovereignism is one of them. Against this backdrop, this chapter analyses the link between the economic crises and the development of right-wing populist parties. It assesses that while the European economic governance, through a set of mechanisms and institutions, acquired a renovated economic and financial equilibrium, it failed to deal with other salient imbalances concerning wage and fiscal policies across European Union (EU) member countries allowing sovereign parties to gain more legitimacy.
A “Pink Tide” Then a “Turn to the Right”: Populisms and Extremism in Latin America in the Twenty-First Century
Authors: Salgado Carolina , Sandrin Paula
Published: December 2020

This chapter gives a brief historical account of previous and current waves of populism in Latin America and their intermeshing with systemic factors, and discusses the historical relationship between populism, democracy and neoliberalism, giving particular focus to Bolivia, Chile and Brazil.
Regional Governance and Macroeconomic Crisis Management in Latin America
Authors: Lins Maria Antonieta Del Tedesco , Ribeiro Hoffmann Andrea
Published: December 2020

This chapter analyses the governance institutions in Latin America, i.e. norms, instruments and mechanisms designed to deal with macroeconomic and financial crisis management, and their use during the financial crisis which started in 2008 in the USA and reached the region mostly towards the mid-2010s. It argues that Latin American regional institutions never prioritized the harmonization or the development of common macroeconomic policies or mechanisms to deal with financial crises, and the few multilateral initiatives created were not successful.
Teaching Units as the Integrating Core of Mathematics Education
Authors: Wittmann Erich Christian
Published: December 2020

How to integrate mathematics, psychology, pedagogy and practical teaching within the didactics of mathematics in order to get unified specific theories and conceptions of mathematics teaching? This problem—relevant for theoretical and empirical studies in mathematics education as well as for teacher training—is considered in the present paper. The author suggests an approach which is based on teaching units (Unterrichtsbeispiele). Suitable teaching units incorporate mathematical, pedagogical, psychological and practical aspects in a natural way and therefore they are a unique tool for integration. It is the aim of the present paper to describe an approach to bridging the often deplored gap between didactics of mathematics teaching on one hand and teaching practice, mathematics, psychology, and pedagogy on the other hand. In doing so I relate the various aspects of mathematics education to one another. My interest is equally directed to teacher training and to the methodology of research in mathematics education. The structure of the paper is as follows. First I would like to make reference to and characterize an earlier discussion on the status and role of mathematics education; secondly, I will talk about problems of integration which naturally arise when mathematics education is viewed as an interdisciplinary field of study. The fourth and essential section will show how to tackle these problems by means of teaching units. The present approach is based on a certain conception of mathematics teaching which is necessary for appreciating Sect. 4. This conception is therefore explained in Sect. 3.
Standard Number Representations in the Teaching of Arithmetic
Authors: Wittmann Erich Christian
Published: December 2020

The paper describes the specific approach towards the choice and use of number representations as developed by the project Mathe 2000.
Correction to: Gravity reference at the Argentinean–German Geodetic Observatory (AGGO) by co-location of superconducting and absolute gravity measurements
Authors: Antokoletz Ezequiel D. , Wziontek Hartmut , Tocho Claudia N. , Falk Reinhard
Published: December 2020

The article “Gravity reference at the Argentinean–German Geodetic Observatory (AGGO) by co-location of superconducting and absolute gravity measurements”, written by Ezequiel D. Antokoletz, Hartmut Wziontek, Claudia N. Tocho, Reinhard Falk, was originally published Online First without Open Access.
Factors influencing genotyping success and genotyping error rate of Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) faeces collected in temperate Central Europe
Authors: Sittenthaler Marcia , Schöll Eva Maria , Leeb Christoph , Haring Elisabeth , Parz-Gollner Rosemarie , Hackländer Klaus
Published: December 2020

The use of non-invasively collected DNA source material for genetic and genomic applications is usually characterized by low target DNA concentration and quality, genotyping errors and cost-intensive lab procedures. However, for otters (Lutrinae) as elusive species of conservation concern, genetic non-invasive sampling has become an important tool to study their ecology and demography. To increase cost-efficiency of monitoring programmes and to promote the expansion of genomic approaches to non-invasive samples, we aimed to refine sample collection and preparation. Therefore, we examined the effects of intrinsic sample characteristics (including diet), environmental conditions in the field and sample treatment in the molecular laboratory on the success of genotyping and allelic dropout (ADO) rates using microsatellite markers in 1970 fresh Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) scats. Using fresh samples only, we probably eliminated one of the most important impediments of genotyping DNA from otter faecal samples beforehand. But, we observed higher genotyping success and lower ADO rates for anal glad secretions and faecal samples containing high proportions of mucus. Moist conditions during sample collection may promote DNA degradation and PCR inhibition, leading to decreased genotyping success rates. ADO was further affected by the type of extraction kit. However, a high proportion of variance remaining unexplained by our models implied that additional parameters were acting (amount of PCR inhibitors, non-uniform distribution of intestinal cells, efficiency of PCRs, specific microclimate at marking sites). We summarized influential factors maximizing genotyping quality of otter scats and give recommendations for sample collection, storage and DNA extraction based on our results and current literature.
The Value of Transparent Self-Knowledge
Authors: Jongepier Fleur
Published: December 2020

Questions about the normative significance of ‘transparency’ do not receive much attention, even though they were central to Richard Moran’s (2001) original account. Instead, transparency is typically studied because of its epistemic and psychological peculiarities. In this paper, I consider three normative conceptions of transparency: teleological rationalism, procedural rationalism, and relational rationalism. The first is a theory about how transparency might relate to flourishing as a rational agent; the latter two are theories about how transparency relates to non-alienated self-knowledge. All three conceptions, I argue, face serious problems. I end the paper by suggesting where the rationalist might go from here and by highlighting the importance of focusing not on the methods but on the broader circumstances in which self-knowledge is gained or lost.
Use of eye tracking in analyzing distribution of visual attention among critical care nurses in daily professional life: an observational study
Authors: Hofmaenner Daniel A. , Herling Anique , Klinzing Stephanie , Wegner Stephan , Lohmeyer Quentin , Schuepbach Reto A. , Buehler Philipp K.
Published: December 2020

Patient safety is a priority in healthcare, yet it is unclear how sources of errors should best be analyzed. Eye tracking is a tool used to monitor gaze patterns in medicine. The aim of this study was to analyze the distribution of visual attention among critical care nurses performing non-simulated, routine patient care on invasively ventilated patients in an ICU. ICU nurses were tracked bedside in daily practice. Eight specific areas of interest were pre-defined (respirator, drug preparation, medication, patient data management system, patient, monitor, communication and equipment/perfusors). Main independent variable and primary outcome was dwell time, secondary outcomes were hit ratio, revisits, fixation count and average fixation time on areas of interest in a targeted tracking-time of 60 min. 28 ICU nurses were analyzed and the average tracking time was 65.5 min. Dwell time was significantly higher for the respirator (12.7% of total dwell time), patient data management system (23.7% of total dwell time) and patient (33.4% of total dwell time) compared to the other areas of interest. A similar distribution was observed for fixation count (respirator 13.3%, patient data management system 25.8% and patient 31.3%). Average fixation time and revisits of the respirator were markedly elevated. Apart from the respirator, average fixation time was highest for the patient data management system, communication and equipment/perfusors. Eye tracking is helpful to analyze the distribution of visual attention of critical care nurses. It demonstrates that the respirator, the patient data management system and the patient form cornerstones in the treatment of critically ill patients. This offers insights into complex work patterns in critical care and the possibility of improving work flows, avoiding human error and maximizing patient safety.
How artificial intelligence and machine learning can help healthcare systems respond to COVID-19
Authors: van der Schaar Mihaela , Alaa Ahmed M. , Floto Andres , Gimson Alexander , Scholtes Stefan , Wood Angela , McKinney Eoin , Jarrett Daniel , Lio Pietro , Ercole Ari
Published: December 2020

The COVID-19 global pandemic is a threat not only to the health of millions of individuals, but also to the stability of infrastructure and economies around the world. The disease will inevitably place an overwhelming burden on healthcare systems that cannot be effectively dealt with by existing facilities or responses based on conventional approaches. We believe that a rigorous clinical and societal response can only be mounted by using intelligence derived from a variety of data sources to better utilize scarce healthcare resources, provide personalized patient management plans, inform policy, and expedite clinical trials. In this paper, we introduce five of the most important challenges in responding to COVID-19 and show how each of them can be addressed by recent developments in machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). We argue that the integration of these techniques into local, national, and international healthcare systems will save lives, and propose specific methods by which implementation can happen swiftly and efficiently. We offer to extend these resources and knowledge to assist policymakers seeking to implement these techniques.
Realizing urban food policy: a discursive institutionalist analysis of Ede municipality
Authors: Sibbing Lara V. , Candel Jeroen J. L.
Published: December 2020

To overcome pressing food system challenges, academics and civil society actors have called for the development of integrated food policies. Municipalities have increasingly picked up on these calls by developing municipal food strategies. It remains unclear, however, whether and how these commitments have resulted in a genuine institutionalization of food governance across local administrations. We address this gap through an in-depth study of how food governance ideas were institutionalized in the Dutch municipality of Ede, which is considered a frontrunner in municipal food policy. Drawing on discursive institutionalism, we explore how actors, ideas and discourses mutually shaped the institutionalization process. Our analysis shows that food governance ideas were institutionalized following a discursive-institutional spiral of three stages. First, an abstractfood profilediscourse emerged, which was institutionalized exclusively amongst a small group of policy makers. In the second stage, the discourse shifted to a more elaborateintegrated food policydiscourse, which was institutionalized across various departments. Finally, afood systemdiscourse emerged, which was institutionalized across an even broader range of policy departments. Our study suggests that integrated food policy can be institutionalized within a relatively short time span. A food strategy, budget and organizational innovations seem key in this process, although they can also be constraining. At the same time, we conclude thatretaininga food policy institutionalized remains challenging, as sudden ideational change may cause rapid deinstitutionalization.