bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Prenatal Risk Factors and Outcomes of Pseudoamniotic Band Sequence following Fetoscopic Laser Surgery: Systematic Review, and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Mustafa Hiba J. , Aghajani Faezeh , Verma Deepak , Asghar Mariya , Khalil Asma
Published: October 2023

Background: Pseudoamniotic band sequence (PABS) is a rare iatrogenic consequence of invasive fetal interventions, most commonly fetoscopic laser surgery (FLS) in monochorionic multiple pregnancies complicated by twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate prenatal risk factors and perinatal outcomes for pregnancies involving PABS after FLS for TTTS and compare outcomes between those undergoing fetoscopic band release versus not. Method: We conducted a systematic search of PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science on studies reporting PABS following FLS for TTTS. A meta-analysis of pooled proportions was conducted. Results: There were 16 studies covering 47 pregnancies complicated by PABS following FLS, mostly case series and case reports. The incidence of PABS was 2%, with the recipient twin affected in 94% of the cases. Pregnancies complicated by PABS were associated with inter-twin septostomy in 32% and chorioamniotic separation (CAS) in 90%. The mean gestational age (GA) at FLS and delivery were 17.7 and 30.9 weeks, respectively. Preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) happened in 62% of pregnancies. The risk of preterm birth (PTB) <34 weeks, <32 weeks, and <28 weeks were 94%, 67%, and 31%, respectively. There were 41% fetal demises and 64% live births among the affected fetuses. Results of fetoscopic band release versus not were comparable, including GA at delivery, PPROM, and PTB at 32 weeks. It was noted that the likelihood of PTB by 28 weeks (67% vs. 23%) and fetal death (50% vs. 39%) were higher in the band release group. It was similar between groups in terms of postnatal amputation. Conclusions: PABS causes amputations or fetal death in more than one-third of cases. Pregnancies with an inter-twin septostomy, CAS, advanced TTTS staging, and early GA are more likely to experience PABS. In addition, more than a third of FLS-treated TTTS resulted in PTB and PPROM. PABS cases with prenatal band release showed higher rates of PTB and fetal death, but the data were from small, heterogeneous studies.
Evorpacept-Induced Interference and Application of a Novel Mitigation Agent, Evo-NR, in Pretransfusion Testing
Authors: Yoon Eungjun , Kim Tae Yeul , Kim Hyungsuk , Cho Duck
Published: October 2023

Introduction: Evorpacept is a CD47-blocking agent currently being developed for the treatment of various cancers. Interference by evorpacept in pretransfusion compatibility testing has been reported at limited plasma concentrations. Although various mitigation strategies have been proposed, none are practical. This in vitro study assessed evorpacept-induced interference at extended concentrations and investigated the capability of a novel mitigation agent, Evo-NR. Methods: Antibody screening tests were performed on evorpacept-spiked plasma with (anti-E and anti-Jka) or without alloantibodies at evorpacept concentrations up to 2,000 μg/mL using manual gel cards and automated analyzers. Evorpacept-coated red blood cells (RBCs) (rr [ce/ce], Fy[a+b−], S−s+) were tested by direct antiglobulin testing (DAT) and antigen typing using anti-Fyb and anti-S reagents at indirect antiglobulin testing (IAT) phase. Evo-NR was used to resolve the interference in plasma and RBC samples. Flow cytometry was used to assess the mitigation effects. Results: Evorpacept-spiked plasma showed panreactive interference in antibody screening tests using manual gel cards (2+ to 3+) and automated analyzers (4+). A carryover effect was also observed in the automated analyzers. The use of a 3- to 6-fold molar excess of Evo-NR effectively resolved the interference in the plasma and enabled accurate alloantibody identification. Although the reduction in evorpacept binding to RBCs was identified via flow cytometry, Evo-NR was incapable of resolving the serologic interference observed in DAT and antigen typing at IAT phase. Discussion: Evorpacept showed constant panreactivity and a carryover effect at high concentrations. Evo-NR successfully resolved the interference in the plasma samples and could be considered a practical and efficient mitigation solution. Implementation of Evo-NR has the potential to support RBC transfusion for patients undergoing evorpacept treatment.
Multi-Organ Relapse following COVID-19 in Myeloperoxidase-Anti-Neutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody-Associated Vasculitis: A Case Report
Authors: Cho Won-Hee , Hwang Seo Yeon , Choi Sun Ryoung , Kim Biro , Lee Joune Seoup , Lee Dong Gun , Lee Hyun Soon
Published: October 2023

Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) is a complex systemic autoimmune disease characterized by small vessel vasculitis. Typically, the relapse rate is lower in patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) than in those with chronic kidney disease, prior to dialysis. Here, we report a rare case of multi-organ relapse in a patient with myeloperoxidase (MPO)-AAV who underwent hemodialysis following coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A man in his 70s with type 2 diabetes and hypertension was undergoing maintenance hemodialysis for ESKD resulting from MPO-AAV glomerulonephritis. Following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, the patient was hospitalized for persistent nausea and vomiting. No significant findings were observed, including in endoscopy. However, the patient experienced severe symptoms that hindered oral intake and was refractory to pharmacological therapy. Additionally, despite receiving antibiotics and antituberculosis treatment, the patient experienced persistent unexplained pleural effusion. Moreover, the patient’s level of consciousness rapidly deteriorated during hospitalization. Although C-reactive protein levels and MPO-ANCA titers were elevated, no evidence of infection was detected on brain imaging or cerebrospinal fluid analysis. Therefore, we diagnosed this case as a relapse of AAV and promptly administered methylprednisolone pulse therapy and rituximab. Subsequently, all aforementioned symptoms in the patient improved, and the current ANCA levels remain negative. Thus, the relapse of AAV after COVID-19 is rare; however, it can present in several ways in patients undergoing dialysis. Therefore, clinicians should closely monitor ANCA titers and subtle symptoms, even in patients with dialysis-dependent AAV.
Surface Modification of Artificial Implants by Hybrid Nanolayers: Antimicrobial Surface Finishing and Strength Tests
Authors: Škach Jiří , Šlamborová Irena , Jelínek Šourková Hana , Exnar Petr , Gürlich Robert
Published: October 2023

Introduction: The aim of this work was the evaluation of surface modification in surgery of normally used hernia implants and thus improving their antimicrobial properties. The modification consisted of applying hybrid nanolayers with immobilized antiseptic substances (metal cations of Ag, Cu, and Zn) by sol-gel method which ensures prolonged effect of these substances and thus enables a greater resistance of the implant towards infection. In this work, attention is drawn to the issue of applying hybrid nanolayers, activation of mesh surfaces by physical plasma modification or ultraviolet C (UV C) radiation, and influence of these modifications on the mechanical properties of the final meshes. Next work will continue concentrating on the issue of antimicrobial efficacy and eventual toxicity of the prepared layers. Materials and Methods: Present-day materials of the most commonly used types of implants for reconstruction of the abdominal wall in surgery (polypropylene, polyester, polyvinylidenefluoride) were tested. Optimum conditions of application of nanolayers by sol-gel method and their thermal stabilization were examined first. Surface modification was verified by scanning electron microscope. The surface of implants was first activated for better adhesion by plasma treatment or UV radiation after preliminary tests. Maximum strength and ductility after activation and hybrid nanolayer modification were objectively measured on a universal Testometric tensile testing machine. Results: The results of surface activation of the meshes (by both plasma treatment or UV C radiation) provided similar and satisfactory results, and particular conditions differed based on the type of material of the mesh. Usage of antimicrobial sol AD30 diluted by isopropyl alcohol in 1:1 proportion appear to be optimal. All tested cases of meshes activated by plasma treatment or UV C radiation and with applied nanolayer concluded in a slight reduction of mechanical properties in modified meshes in comparison with the original ones. However, a slight reduction of test values was not of clinical importance. Conclusion: It was verified that surface modification of implants by sol-gel method is effective and technically possible, providing hopeful results.
Fetal Inguinal Hernia: Case Report and Review of the Literature
Authors: Liberty Gad , Shweiki Firas , Nica Adriana , Anteby Eyal Y. , Cohen Sarah M. , Yagel Simcha
Published: October 2023

Fetal inguinal hernia (FIH) is a rare event and only few cases were published in the medical literature. In the present study, we aimed to characterize the sonographic features, clinical presentation, management, outcomes, and differential diagnoses of FIH. Accordingly, we reviewed all 17 cases of FIH published in the medical literature, including one new case evaluated by our group. All 17 cases (100%) were male, and FIH is presented as a scrotal mass with a mean diameter of 38 ± 9.5 mm. The right side was dominant (62%). Peristalsis was reported in 80% of the cases, and blood flow was reported in two-thirds. Most cases were diagnosed in the third trimester (88%) at a mean gestational age (GA) of 33.1 ± 5.2 weeks. 60% of the cases had isolated FIH, and 40% had another sonographic or genetic abnormality. Three cases (18%) were syndromic with multiple malformations: trisomy 18, skeletal anomalies due to Jarcho-Levin syndrome, and undefined multiple joint contractures. Two cases (12%) had copathologies in the gastrointestinal tract: one had an echogenic bowel due to homozygosity for cystic fibrosis, and the other had low anorectal malformation. Bowel loop dilatation was observed prenatally in both cases and in another one isolated case (18%). GA at delivery was 38 ± 1.8 weeks, and the median time between diagnosis and delivery was 3 weeks. All three cases of neonatal death occurred in syndromic fetuses. All patients with nonsyndromic inguinal hernias underwent definitive surgical repair at a median of 13 days postpartum. No signs of strangulation and only one case of edematous bowel without necrosis have been reported. In conclusion, FIH should be suspected in male fetuses when an intrascrotal mass with peristalsis is diagnosed during the third trimester. Close follow-up until term in the absence of signs of bowel obstruction is reasonable, and in isolated FIH, the prognosis is favorable.
Three new species of Oppiidae (Acari, Oribatida) from Mexico
Authors: ERMILOV SERGEY G. , KONTSCHÁN JENŐ
Published: October 2023

Three new species of Oppiidae (Oribatida)—Graptoppia (Apograptoppia) rooensis sp. nov., Neoamerioppia (Neoamerioppia) mexicoensis sp. nov., and Ramusella (Insculptoppia) quintanaensis sp. nov.—are described based on adults collected from leaf litter in a large karst pit in the secondary semi-evergreen tropical forest in Mexico. The subgenus Graptoppia (Apograptoppia) is recorded for the first time in the Neotropical region.
Redescription of two species and a new distribution record for China of the genus MelanogryllusChopard, 1961 and a report of one new species of the genus Velarifictorus Randell, 1964 (Orthoptera: Gryllidae; Gryllinae)
Authors: WANG NING , HUANG HUATENG , MA LI-BIN
Published: October 2023

Dark body color is very common among crickets, and this article discusses four species of black field crickets with distinct distributions. There are three species of the genus Melanogryllus Chopard, 1961 and one species of the genus Velarifictorus Randell, 1964. Of them, Melanogryllus chopardi Bey-Bienko, 1968 was discovered in Southwest Xizang, on the border between China and Nepal; Melanogryllus desertus (Pallas, 1771) was primarily found in arid regions of northwestern China; Melanogryllus bilineatus Yang & Yang, 1994 was often collected from the Southeast China coastal region; and the last species, Velarifictorus yuanilandrevus sp. nov., is a new species that was collected in Yunnan, a province in Southwest China. In addition, the new species could be distinguished from the others by its black body coloration and the absence of yellow stripes on the head. Here, we describe these species in detail, with photographs of the genitalia, and provide a distribution map for them and keys for Chinese Melanogryllus species.
2. Counters to despair
Authors: Spelic Sherri
Published: October 2023

Where does one find the words and power to resist the tug towards despair in higher education? This collection of poems asks readers to look for the counters that stand between our engagement with higher ed and the futures most dreaded. From an exploration of what it might look like if hope came to stay on campus to an interview with a PhD candidate to revisiting a dream - these texts invite readers to consider words and action which might be chosen to acknowledge despairwithout falling prey to its spell.
3. On public goods, cursing, and finding hope in the (neoliberal) twilight zone
Authors: Khoo Su-Ming
Published: October 2023

This chapter traces the predicaments of public higher education in the neoliberal “twilight zone”, stuck between neoliberal globalism and global neoliberalism (Khoo, 2017; Schuurman, 2009). Confronting a rising sense of darkness (Fleming, 2021) and dread (Goldberg, 2021), this chapter reverses the aphorism that “it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness”. Cursing the darkness that neoliberalism visits on HE might be a critically generative thing to do, to surface the normative foundations otherwise occluded by a pervasive sense of dread. The chapter discusses the importance of hope, turning to gentler educational darkness and generative aspects of dark pedagogies. To dare to think about what is meant by public good, educational good or higher good requires more than the lighting of candles. It calls for energetically rejecting the cursed times that all are living through and opening the possibility of reclaiming reality.
5. Why decolonising “knowledge” matters
Authors: Belluigi Dina Zoe
Published: October 2023

This chapter grapples with the question of why decolonising ‘knowledge’ matters for teaching and learning. It shares a selection of important considerations at this point in time. It draws inter-textually to deliberate about (a) why ‘knowledge’ (singular) should be decolonised within the modern western-oriented university; (b) why the decolonisation of knowledges matter, with consideration of their relation to the formations of the self, social and ecological in education; and (c) what the potential act(s) of decolonising knowledges through education holds for engendering critical and generative roles which educators should occupy. As a way into this deliberation, the chapter begins with observations of the phenomenon of what seems like either educators’ avoidance, ignorance or passing-the-buck on the question of the transformation of knowledges in the university in post-colonial contexts.
6. Closing the factory
Authors: Luke Jim
Published: October 2023

This chapter describes the evolution of higher education’s social imaginaries over time. It depicts first the “elite knowledge commons”, an imaginary remarkably similar across civilizations that produced great public goods but was accessible only to an elite. In response to industrialization, as well as economic and technological developments over the past 150 years, the imaginary evolved into a “knowledge factory”. This second imaginary has succeeded in expanding access and human knowledge, but it has come at great costs to human individuality, creativity, and cultures, while maintaining elite control. Ultimately, the goal of the knowledge factory, learning at scale, cannot work. I propose that academics and societies can and should create a third imaginary, a new knowledge commons, based in Elinor Ostrom and related scholars’ work on the success of commons as collaborative social institutions, and grounded in open pedagogies and practices. The new knowledge commons promises to humanize higher education.
7. Fostering the gift
Authors: Wittel Andreas
Published: October 2023

This chapter argues that - like art - higher education is a gift, or better, that it can be a gift, a gift that needs to be fostered. For the gift to emerge, the political-economic context in which higher education operates needs to be explored. It is also necessary to examine teaching pedagogies that provide fertile soil for the gift. The chapter examines the potential of the gift to shine from two angles. The first angle - property regimes or political economies - compares the marketized university with higher education as a common. The second angle focuses on three teaching pedagogies that are particularly important in times of multiple and existential crises: resonance, relevance, and imagination.
9. Artificial intelligence for good?
Authors: Pechenkina Ekaterina (Katya)
Published: October 2023

Artificial intelligence has long been gaining traction in higher education (HE), with accelerated growth in uptake and spread since the COVID-19 pandemic, including the 2023 rise of generative AI. While this piece acknowledges the groundbreaking changes currently wrought by generative AI technologies in HE, its focus on overarching principles and frameworks rather than with capturing the current rapidly-changing state of the tech industry. The chapter asks: does AI bring to HE the promised/assumed benefits to student support and learning or is it yet another symptom of HE’s massification, further complicated by justice and equity issues? Drawing on data justice and ethics of care scholarship, the chapter seeks to answer: (a) how can AI be used in HE for good, (b) how can this rapidly growing industry be regulated, and (c) what would a conceptual framework for data justice and fair usage of AI in HE look like?
10. HE4Good assemblages
Authors: Bell Frances , Campbell Lorna , Forsythe Giulia , Mycroft Lou , Scott Anne-Marie
Published: October 2023

FemEdtech is a reflexive, emergent network of people learning, practising and researching in educational technology converging on the intersections of feminism, education, and technology. The FemEdTech Quilt of Care and Justice in Open Education was a collaborative quilting project emerging from the FemEdTech network. Through a posthuman lens, this chapter explores the lives and purposes of the FemEdTech Quilt assemblage, using makers’ stories of their quilt squares, images, and Markov chain poetry, alongside ‘unseen’ contributions such as the thoughts, feelings, readings, and memories articulated within a slow ontology of feminist praxis, that authors shared during Thinking Environment conversations.
13. Speculative futures for higher education: weaving perspectives for good
Authors: Childs Elizabeth , Veletsianos George , Donahue Amber , Leary Tamara , McLeod Kyla , Scott Anne-Marie
Published: October 2023

Using a speculative future use case, and a three-part multiple author format, this chapter creates a container for a conversation amongst co-authors representing various roles including online students, faculty, and administrators, regarding a change in teaching and learning. In doing so, the chapter attempts to cross theory-practice-policy lines to provide a contextualized, systemic examination of a possible iteration of higher education. The aim of this effort is to grapple with the question of ‘goodness’ given a specific context and situation, rather than with the question of ‘goodness’ in universal terms. Through the response from co-authors, and the analysis and synthesis that follows, this chapter aims to problematize the universality of what it means for futures to be “good,” highlight the messiness of speculative futures, and make visible the ways in which roles, values, identities, ideologies, and systems shape the ways in which learning futures are perceived to be “good.”
14. “Vibrant, open and accessible”
Authors: Flynn Sharon , Byrne Julie , Devoy Maeve A. , Johnston Jonny , Lowney Rob , Magee Eimer , Molloy Kate , Moloney David , Munro Morag , Ongolly Fernandos , Ryan Jasmine , Stone Suzanne , Waters Michaela , Wright Kyle
Published: October 2023

This chapter links past, present, and near-future perspectives to explore tensions in Ireland’s higher education, emerging from a national-level student partnership research study focused on experiences of digital education across the sector. The chapter brings together student, academic, and other professional staff voices from various institutional contexts in a “future studies” approach. Student-articulated visions of the near future arising from a collaborative national teaching enhancement project are used as stimulus material. The chapter explores how tensions between differing stakeholder perspectives on the near future of higher education in our context might be reconciled, and develops around two key questions: (a) why is student participation and student visioning of the future important in realising higher education for good; (b) what do students think an ideal learning future looks like, and how does this future align with the HE4Good concept?
15. Vulnerability and generosity
Authors: Bowles Kate
Published: October 2023

In this chapter, an Australian university tree-planting event to welcome international students is looked at as a scene with multiple possible histories and futures. The chapter asks how Australian universities became structurally dependent on international student fee revenue and were thrown into crisis when Australia’s borders were closed in 2020. During this crisis period, Australian universities continued to acknowledge in ritual ways their position on unceded (stolen) Aboriginal Country. Using ideas about generosity, vulnerability and thinking with care,the authors asks whether the provenance of Australian university real estate portfolios can be made good in any way, or whether one can rethink a sense of property and face the facts about the historic theft of land that makes tree-planting possible.
19. Imagination and justice
Authors: Macgilchrist Felicitas , Costello Eamon
Published: October 2023

How might inclusion, equity, justice, care and sustainability be set to glimmer in higher education? This chapter draws on educational theory, critical research, and storytelling - in particular Africanfuturist science fiction - to dream new educational interfaces that are oriented for good. The chapter first maps out a 15 week course where students study the Africanfuturist science fiction novella Binti before writing their own storied futures for higher education in response. In the second half of the chapter another voice takes up the pen to imagine they are a student taking the course, and thus speculatively enact it. The chapter aims to open spaces for students and lecturers to: reflect on their (our) own positions in the academy, to critique the reproduction of classed, raced, gendered inequities in higher education through the encroachments of automation and platformisation, but then to generate futures that are oriented to justice.
22. Collaboratively reimagining teaching and learning
Authors: Masumbuo Fabian Flora , Harle Jonathan , Kalimasi Perpetua Joseph , Kilonzo Rehema , Lamaro Gloria , Luswata Albert , Monk David , Ngowi Edwin , Nzegwu Femi , Sikalieh Damary
Published: October 2023

While there are regular calls for African universities to improve their teaching, finding ways to do this within the resources available in already stretched institutions, and at the scale required, have proven elusive. This chapter is a reflexive exercise, discussing the work of an international partnership, Transforming Employability for Social Change in East Africa (TESCEA), that aimed to reshape habits of teaching and learning in four institutions of higher education. The authors explain how they sought to enable teaching for critical thinking and problem-solving, ensure degree programmes were relevant to social and economic needs by engaging employers and local communities, and learning environments enabled both young women and men to learn effectively. It offers reflections on the change observed, the ways in which this was achieved, and the challenges encountered. The authors hope it adds to understandings of how change can happen in higher education, particularly in resource-constrained settings.
23. The only way is ethics: A dialogue of assessment and social good
Authors: Fawns Tim , Nieminen Juuso Henrik
Published: October 2023

What is assessment for good in the current higher education landscape? Assessment does not just “drive learning”. It plays a role in shaping students’ orientations towards future learning, beyond any course, and beyond graduation. It influences the kinds of knowledge and identity that hold legitimate status in disciplines and communities. It shapes power and trust relationships between junior and senior members of organisations, between those with different roles, between educational institutions and society. Through dialogue, this chapter challenges foundational assumptions about assessment in HE by considering meanings, possibilities and examples of ‘assessment for good’ in two disciplinary contexts of medical (Tim) and mathematics (Juuso) education. In doing so, tensions are highlighted between traditions of individualism and authentic, messy forms of learning and unpredictable outcomes. The dialogue in this chapter emphasises that there is no right way to go about assessment for good, and that multiple perspectives need to be taken into account.
24. Cultivating sustainable blended and open learning ecosystems
Authors: Arinto Patricia , Garcia Primo G. , Marcial Ana Katrina
Published: October 2023

Blended, online, and open learning (BOL) has been heralded as the future of higher education. Achieving quality higher education for all through BOL requires a robust, resilient BOL ecosystem comprising institutions interacting at different levels as a community of providers in an environment with the resources and support mechanisms necessary for growth. This chapter explores the idea of a BOL ecosystem in the Philippines, and describes a program called Sustainable Institution Building for Open Learning (SIBOL, the Filipino word for “to sprout” or “to grow”) that aims to foster effective BOL practice within institutions and across the BOL ecosystem. While the chapter focuses on the Philippines, the challenges of systemic change in a postdigital world pertain to higher education systems everywhere. An ecosystems perspective is a catalyst for thinking about how a healthy BOL ecosystem might be fostered amidst the complexities of digital education in varied and unequal contexts.
26. “It’s about transforming lives!”
Authors: Trowler Vicki
Published: October 2023

Not all students have an equal chance of success in higher education, and many in HE are working to address that. Students might consider themselves “non-traditional” in their study contexts for many reasons, including age, socio-economic background, nationality / ethnicity / “race”, religion, caring responsibilities, gender, disability status, LGBTQIA+ concerns, family estrangement, care experience, being first-in-family to participate in HE, holding non-standard entry qualifications, and many more – with students seldom presenting only a single reason. HE needs to be as “good” to these students as to others.

Using previously unpublished interview data brought into conversation with current concerns, this chapter - in comic strip format - reflects on what makes HE “good”, and how those working or studying in HE, might help to ensure that HE stays (or becomes) “good” when there are so many challenges.
27. Who cares about procurement?
Authors: Scott Anne-Marie , Gray Brenna Clarke
Published: October 2023

Good and bad tech make their way into HE classrooms via procurement processes, so understanding how those processes work – and how to hack them for the better – is key to any possible “goodness” in HE’s future. In this uniquely conversational chapter, Anne-Marie Scott and Brenna Clarke Gray discuss procurement from the perspective of administration and academic staff, and ask how it might be possible to reimagine a process that invites more voices to the table to make better choices about educational technologies together.
Low velocity impact on fibre metal laminates: A review
Authors: Kakati Sasanka , Chakraborty Debabrata
Published: October 2023

Even though several works are available on the analysis of low-velocity impact (LVI) on fibre metal laminates (FMLs), there is still scope for a better understanding of the complexities associated with their analysis, making it an important area of research. Therefore, it is essential to compile and present the state-of-the-art research in this area to make the critical information available in one paper, facilitating future research. This paper thus covers the detailed review of the articles published on the LVI response of fibre metal laminates (FMLs) based on experimental, numerical and analytical approaches and the associated damage mechanisms under different impact conditions. The discussions can be mainly categorized into two broad groups, namely geometrical and material-based parameters, which significantly influence the structural response of FMLs upon impact. Additionally, the paper compares various numerical techniques reported to model the impact behaviour of FMLs, along with an overview of analytical models. Based on the manufacturing techniques and material constituents of FMLs, the paper discusses feasible methods of improving the performance of impact-prone structures. The exhaustive review of the literature finally concludes that there are scopes of investigating some of the important and relevant areas related to LVI of FMLs like the influence of relative mass of impactor and target and accurate determination of contact stiffness for accurate estimation of interface delamination. Investigating the LVI performance of advanced sandwich structures with FML facesheets is a potential area of research in this direction.
Yugoslavia and the Restitution of Monetary Gold After the Second World War
Authors: Korban Tomasz
Published: October 2023

During the Second World War, the Axis states looted a great deal of gold in various forms, both from individuals and countries. Following that war, the western allies established the Tripartite Gold Commission (TGC) to organize the restitution of monetary gold that had belonged to central banks in occupied Europe. One of the claimant countries was Yugoslavia. Drawing upon hitherto unused TGC records, the article examines the looting of Yugoslav monetary gold and its restitution via the TGC, which is a little-known episode in postwar history. Of the four Yugoslav claims submitted to the TGC in 1947, the majority were recognized as valid, yet the final adjudication was not published until 1958. The reasons for this protracted process of restitution and for the rejection of some of the Yugoslav claims are set out and note is made of the issue's recrudescence in the 1990s, when the TGC sought to distribute the final Yugoslav share. The break-up of Yugoslavia made this concluding allocation of gold a demanding task, and it did not end until 2004. By comparing it with other claimant countries, the article demonstrates that in some ways Yugoslavia was in a better position than the states behind the Iron Curtain.
Continuing Bonds in the Existential, Phenomenological, and Cultural Study of Grief: Prolegomena
Authors: Klass Dennis
Published: October 2023

The essay makes the case that continuing bonds is a useful perspective for bereavement studies based in existential, phenomenological, and cultural philosophy. First, the idea of continuing bonds has explanatory power for many phenomena in individual and family grief and in the multiple interactions between individual/family grief and larger social/cultural dynamics. Second, in the study of continuing bonds we find concepts that are akin to those in phenomenology and existentialism. Using some of my own scholarship and the scholarship of many others, the essay is structured by themes Edith Marie Steffen and I found in our 2018 anthology on developments in the continuing bonds model in the two decades after it was introduced: Continuing bonds (1) are inter-subjective, (2) are central in constructing meaning, (3) raise questions about the ontological status of our interactions with the dead, and (4) are best understood within their cultural setting.
Has Covid-19 Weakened Workplace Socialization? Associating Outcomes of Excessive Work Time With the Entrepreneurial Behavior of Employees
Authors: Mumtaz Sana , Aqif Tanzeela
Published: October 2023

The Covid outbreak and the resulting work processes have led to excessive work pressure requirements for a large majority of the employees due to continuous requirements for adaptation to changing work processes. However, outcomes of new work dynamics on employees’ behavioral and attitudinal changes have been insufficiently examined during and after the Covid period. Hence, this empirical research has used the social identity theory to conceptualize and test the relationship between excessive work time and the entrepreneurial behavior of employees. Moreover, the mediating role of socialization tactics and creative self-efficacy, as well as the moderating role of resilience are also examined in the above relationship for unveiling the role of crucial intervening and conditional factors in individualized change experiences. Based on the analysis of data collected from managerial-level employees through the use of structural equation modeling, the empirical results have suggested a negative impact of excessive work time on the entrepreneurial behavior of employees. Also, the intervening role of formal socialization and creative self-efficacy were found to be significant in this relationship, thus suggesting the crucial direct as well as indirect relationships. Using the findings, implications as well as future research directions are discussed towards the end of the article.
The Association of Professional Burnout and Turnover Intentions Among Intensive Care Units Physicians: A Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Alhenaidi Abdulaziz , Al-Haqan Asmaa , Kelendar Hisham , Al-Bader Bader , Alkandari Omar , Al-Zuabi Homoud
Published: October 2023

Intensive Care Units (ICU) workers work in highly stressful conditions that make them prone to professional burnout, which can lead to high turnover rates. This study explores professional burnout levels among ICU workers in Kuwait general governmental hospitals (GGHs), their turnover intentions, and the correlation factors. A cross-sectional self-administered survey study was conducted. Professional burnout level was measured using the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), while turnover intention was measured using the Turnover Intention Scale (TIS-6). Data were analyzed using STATA software, and descriptive, correlative, and comparative analyses were performed. Eighty-nine ICU physicians filled out the questionnaire. Most of the participants were males, married, non-Kuwaiti nationals, with 10 to 20 years of experience, and the mean age of respondents was 39.2. The total professional burnout score was high was 54.7 (17.6). There were high total average scores for the personal and work-related domains. Participants who were younger than 35 years of age and graduated before 5 to 10 years had higher levels of professional burnout compared to other groups. More than half of the sample expressed their intention to leave their current job as an ICU physician. However, no association was found between turnover intentions and levels of burnout. High levels of professional burnout of turnover intentions were seen among ICU physicians in Kuwait. Policies should be adopted to reduce and mitigate professional burnout among ICU physicians and increase their retention. Future research should further investigate professional burnout among ICU staff, the associated factors, and its relation to their turnover intention.
Health Disparities Among Older Adults: An Introduction to the Special Issue
Authors: Hash Kristina M. , Hicks Patrick Julie
Published: October 2023

The problem of health disparities across the lifespan and in older adulthood has gained recent attention by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and other organizations and researchers. These disparities are of significant interest as they greatly impact health, life span, and quality-of-life for countless individuals and create economic burden on societies. Given the critical nature of this problem, this special issue will focus on health disparities for older adults across the lifespan. This introductory article will lay the groundwork for subsequent works on disparities among older ethnic minorities, women, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans, as well as rural elders. Concepts critical to an understanding of the topic such as social determinants of health, marginalization, and intersectionality will also be discussed.
Biomass pyrolysis oil/diesel blends for a small agricultural engine
Authors: Mankeed Panuphong , Homdoung Nigran , Wongsiriamnuay Thanasit , Tippayawong Nakorn
Published: October 2023

The present study reports on an investigation of teak sawdust pyrolysis oil blended with commercial diesel in a small four-stroke compression ignited engine. The engine performance and emissions were evaluated. The teak sawdust pyrolysis oil was obtained from a single-stage fixed bed pyrolysis reactor at 600 °C. Its physicochemical properties were characterized and found to be acceptable for the engine. Teak sawdust pyrolysis oil blends with diesel at the ratios of 10%, 25%, and 50% by mass were utilized. The small engine was tested at constant speeds from 800 to 2600 r/min. 25% teak sawdust pyrolysis oil blend at 2000 r/min was found to have better brake thermal efficiency with lower brake-specific fuel consumption compared to the other teak sawdust pyrolysis oil blends. Meanwhile, the highest engine load was obtained at 50% teak sawdust pyrolysis oil blend and 2600 r/min to be 8 kW. Furthermore, the emissions of CO, CO2, and hydrocarbon at 50% teak sawdust pyrolysis oil and 2000 r/min were slightly lower than other teak sawdust pyrolysis oil blends, no NOx detection in tested fuels, moreover, at 2600 speed, the smoke opacities of the fuels show lower than those the others. It was noted that a blend of 25% teak sawdust pyrolysis oil with diesel was suitable for the small engine (at 2000 r/min) in terms of performance and CO, CO2, and NOX emission for sustainability in agriculture and rural areas.
TikTok and the platformisation from China: Geopolitical anxieties, repetitive creativities and future imaginaries
Authors: Lin Jian , de Kloet Jeroen
Published: October 2023

In this special issue, we explore the geopolitics, aesthetics and future potentiality surrounding TikTok to assess the possibility and implications of a new phase of digital globalisation. A phase in which China-based innovative platform technologies, infused with state power, generate and potentially disrupt digital cultures in places outside China. We will further explore this in the next part of this introduction, showing how the global rise of TikTok is feeding into increasing geopolitical anxieties worldwide. At the same time, we argue for the need to diversify our approaches to TikTok and platform studies – the latter field is very much dominated by questions around production, monetisation, data and political economy. More approaches, focusing on aesthetics, visual culture and users, are needed. In the second part of this introduction, we mobilise the notion of repetitive creativities as a way to engage with the aesthetic affordances of TikTok. This brings us to our conclusion, in which we allude to the possibility that TikTok can be seen as a kind of silly archive, offering glimpses of a future that is not yet here, but that may well come.
del Nido versus hematic cardioplegia in minimally invasive aortic valve surgery
Authors: Pozzoli Alberto , Gabriella Surace Giuseppina , Torre Tiziano , Bagnato Pietro , Gallo Michele , Toto Francesca , Ferrari Enrico , Demertzis Stefanos
Published: October 2023

Background

The quality of a myocardial protection of a single-dose del Nido cardioplegia versus multiple dose blood-based cardioplegia on myocardial injury, outcomes and operative times in patients undergoing minimally invasive aortic valve replacement is basically unreported.

Methods and Results

Preoperative and post-operative data, as well as technical details from isolated minimally invasive aortic valve replacements, performed using single-dose or multiple-dose cardioplegia were prospectively collected and retrospectively analysed. A total of 110 patients undergoing minimally invasive valve replacements at our institution composed two groups: 55 patients in the blood cardioplegia group (BloCa) and 55 in the del Nido group (DeNiCa). The two-matched groups were comparable in terms of preoperative variables. In the DeNiCa group, there was a statistically significant less need for cardiac defibrillation after aortic cross-clamp release ( p < 0.001). Moreover, the BloCa group received intraoperatively more blood transfusions ( p = 0.001) and more insulin administration for higher glucose levels ( p < 0.001). The BloCa group showed higher intraoperative lactate levels ( p = 0.01). Need for post-operative inotropic and vasoactive support, Creatine Kinase-MB levels after 6 and 12 h, onset of post-operative atrial fibrillation and length of stay were similar. No deaths occurred in neither groups.

Conclusion

Single-dose del Nido cardioplegia in the setting of minimally invasive aortic surgery seems to offer adequate myocardial protection, comparable to multiple dose hematic cardioplegia. It has been documented a lower peri-operative need of defibrillation after cross-clamp release, lactate- and glucose peak values, as well as less blood transfusions compared to blood cardioplegic strategy.
What is neoliberalism really? A global analysis of its real-world consequences for development, inequality, and democracy
Authors: Rutar Tibor
Published: October 2023

The notion that the world has been witnessing a profound neoliberal transformation since around the 1980s onward is widely accepted in many parts of social science and the humanities. Moreover, the overarching impression is that this transformation has mostly been regrettable in economic, political, and other social terms. At the same time, careful interdisciplinary research recently uncovered that neoliberalism has been notoriously hard to define. Based on that research, this article first clarifies the conceptual confusion surrounding neoliberalism and presents a broad, synthetic institutions-based working definition of it that captures its typical contemporary usages. The article then asks if a systematic empirical assessment of neoliberalism’s social impact over the past decades across the world is even possible. It suggests it is by empirically operationalizing neoliberalism in three distinct, yet potentially overlapping, ways that appear in the literature: first, as a broad set of economic institutions measured by economic freedom indexes; second, as the process of international trade liberalization (itself proxied by import shocks); and third, as shock-therapy type institutional reforms in (parts of) post-communist Europe. Synthesizing the findings of the existing vast research literature, the main conclusion of the article is that neoliberalism’s social impact has been more nuanced than suggested by prevailing discourse.
Using Mathematizing Supports for Applied Problem Solving in a Game-Based Learning Environment
Authors: Ke Fengfeng , Dai Chih-Pu , West Luke , Pan Yanjun , Xu Jiabei
Published: October 2023

Students frequently struggled with the mathematizing process – forging connections between implicit and explicit mathematical thinking – when solving a context-rich applied problem. The current research investigated how students interact with and leverage purposively designed ‘mathematizing’ supports when solving applied math problems in a game-based, inquiry-oriented math learning environment. We conducted a naturalistic observation case study and a mixed-method study to investigate middle school students’ usage of mathematizing supports in relation to their math problem-solving performance. The findings indicated a positive and predictive impact of using mathematizing supports on the logged and observed practice of mathematization as well as the performance of applied math problem solving by the students during and after gaming. However, not all students leverage in-game mathematizing supports or engage in problem mathematizing processes. The grounds of students’ constructive interaction with a mathematizing support include their productive persistence in problem solving, their exercise of agency in gauging the utility of mathematizing, and their engagement with deductive reasoning from concrete to abstract. We also observed an interplay between internal and external mathematizing supports, which is moderated by the modality of learning settings.
Adverse Health Effects and Perceived Musculoskeletal Pain in the Sawmill Workers of West Bengal, India
Authors: Das Banibrata
Published: October 2023

The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain, unfavorable working conditions, and assessment of occupational injuries among sawmill workers. The Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, measurement of handgrip strength, working environment, and occupational injuries were assessed among 135 sawmill workers participating in the study. The data showed that sawmill workers complained of discomfort (pain) felt primarily in the low back region of the body followed by the shoulders, hands, knees, upper back, and wrist. This study indicated that sawmill workers had less handgrip strength due to more intense manual work than control subjects. Based on the results of this study, it was concluded that sawmill workers were highly affected due to working in an awkward posture with manual material handling for an extended period of time and that these factors may lead to work-related musculoskeletal disorders as well as occupational injuries. Proper training, a proper work-rest schedule, and modifications of some working procedures may reduce injuries and work-related musculoskeletal pain.