bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of high-intensity interval training on functional performance and maximal oxygen uptake in comparison with moderate intensity continuous training in cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Neuendorf T. , Haase R. , Schroeder S. , Schumann M. , Nitzsche N.
Published: October 2023

Introduction

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is an appropriate training modality to improve endurance and therefore contributes to physical performance. This review investigates the effect of HIIT on functional performance in cancer patients. We reviewed the relative peak oxygen uptake (relV̇O2PEAK) and meta-analytical compared HIIT with moderate intensity continuous training (MICT). Furthermore, we took various training parameters under consideration.

Methods

A systematic literature search was conducted in Scopus, PubMed, and Cochrane Library databases. For the review, we included randomized controlled trials containing HIIT with cancer patients. From this, we filtered interventions with additional MICT for the meta-analysis. Outcomes of interest were various functional performance assessments and V̇O2MAX.

Results

The research yielded 584 records which fit the inclusion criteria, of which 31 studies with n=1555 patients (57.4±8.6 years) could be included in the overall review and 8 studies in the meta-analysis (n=268, 59.11±5.11 years) regarding relV̇O2PEAK. Different functional outcomes were found, of which walking distance (+8.63±6.91% meters in 6-min walk test) and mobility (+2.7cm in sit and reach test) improved significantly due to HIIT. In terms of relV̇O2PEAK, the performance of cancer patients was improved by HIIT (10.68±6.48%) and MICT (7.4±4.29%). HIIT can be favored to increase relV̇O2PEAK (SMD 0.37; 95% CI 0.09–0.65; I2=0%; p=0.009). Effect sizes for relV̇O2PEAK improvements correlate moderately with total training volume (Spearman’s ρ=0.49; p=0.03), whereas percentage increases do not (Spearman’s ρ=0.24; p=0.14).

Conclusion

Functional and physical outcomes were positively altered by different HIIT protocols and forms of implementation, whereas a tendency toward more effectiveness of HIIT vs. MICT was found for relV̇O2PEAK. Future studies should include functional parameters more often, to finally allow a comparison between both training protocols in this regard.
The effect of conditioning regimen and prescribed medications on hyposalivation in haematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) patients: an 18-month prospective longitudinal study
Authors: Bulthuis Marjolein S. , van Gennip Lucky L. A. , Thomas Renske Z. , Bronkhorst Ewald M. , Laheij Alexa M. G. A. , Raber-Durlacher Judith E. , Rozema Frederik R. , Brennan Michael T. , von Bültzingslöwen Inger , Blijlevens Nicole M. A. , Huysmans Marie-Charlotte D. N. J. M. , van Leeuwen Stephanie J. M.
Published: October 2023

Objectives

Haematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) preceded by a conditioning regimen is an established treatment option for (non)malignant haematologic disorders. We aim to describe the development of hyposalivation over time in HCT recipients, and determine risk indicators.

Materials and methods

A multi-centre prospective longitudinal observational study was conducted. Unstimulated (UWS) and stimulated (SWS) whole saliva was collected before HCT, early post-HCT, and after 3, 6, 12, and 18 months. The effect of type of transplantation (allogeneic vs autologous) and intensity (full vs reduced) of the conditioning regimen on hyposalivation (UWS < 0.2 mL/min; SWS < 0.7 mL/min) was explored.

Results

A total of 125 HCT recipients were included. More than half of the patients had hyposalivation early post-HCT; a quarter still had hyposalivation after 12 months. The conditioning intensity was a risk indicator in the development of hyposalivation of both UWS (OR: 3.9, 95% CI: 1.6–10.6) and SWS (OR: 8.2, 95% CI: 2.9–24.6). After 3 and 12 months, this effect was not statistically significant anymore.

Conclusions

Hyposalivation affects the majority of patients early post-HCT. The conditioning intensity and the type of transplantation were significant risk indicators in the development of hyposalivation. The number of prescribed medications, total body irradiation as part of the conditioning regimen and oral mucosal graft-versus-host disease did not influence hyposalivation significantly.

Clinical relevance

Because of the high prevalence of hyposalivation, HCT recipients will have an increased risk of oral complications. It might be reasonable to plan additional check-ups in the dental practice and consider additional preventive strategies.
Five-year stroke prognosis. Influence of post-stroke delirium and post-stroke dementia on mortality and disability (Research Study – Part of the PROPOLIS Study)
Authors: Droś Jakub , Segiet Natalia , Początek Gabriela , Klimkowicz-Mrowiec Aleksandra
Published: October 2023

Introduction

With increasing life expectancy and the rising incidence of stroke in young adults, it is important to know the long-term prognosis of this condition. Post-stroke delirium and post-stroke dementia are common complications of stroke that negatively affect prognosis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate five-year mortality from stroke and to assess the influence of post-stroke delirium and post-stroke dementia on mortality and disability over the five-year period.

Methods

Consecutive patients admitted to the stroke unit for acute stroke or transient ischemic attacks were screened for in-hospital delirium. At the three- and twelve-month follow-up, the same patients underwent neurocognitive testing. Diagnoses of in-hospital delirium and dementia after three and twelve months based on DSM-5 criteria. Five years after stroke surviving patients were reevaluated. Outcome assessment included place of stay, current functional status assessed by the modified Rankin Scale (mRS), or death.

Results

At the five-years of follow-up, data were collected from 575 of 750 patients originally included in the study (76.67%). The mortality rate was 51.65%. In-hospital post-stroke delirium and post-stroke dementia diagnosed three and twelve months after stroke were independent risk factors for death and an increase in mRS score of ≥ 1 or ≥ 2 points. There was no significant association with institutionalization rate.

Conclusions

More than half of post-stroke patients die within five years of follow-up. Post-stroke delirium and post-stroke dementia are associated with an increased risk of death and disability.
Integrated maintenance and production scheduling for unrelated parallel machines with setup times
Authors: Geurtsen Michael , Adan Jelle , Akçay Alp
Published: October 2023

This paper considers jointly scheduling the production and resource-constrained maintenance activities in a manufacturing setting with unrelated parallel machines. In particular, a single maintenance activity needs to be scheduled on each machine in one of its available time windows, and the maintenance activities require a scarce resource, thereby limiting the number of maintenance activities that can be scheduled simultaneously on different machines. In addition, machine- and sequence-dependent setup times, machine eligibility constraints and job-specific release and due dates are considered. A mixed-integer linear program is formulated with objectives including the makespan and, motivated from practice, a weighted sum of total production completion times at machines and total job tardiness. Additionally, a hybrid genetic algorithm with a novel solution representation is proposed for solving industry-scale large instances. A case study is performed with real-world data from a semiconductor manufacturer, where production and maintenance are scheduled separately. The benefit of simultaneously scheduling production and maintenance is investigated. Tests with real-world data show that the proposed model results in schedules that substantially improve the current factory practice.
Bifurcations
Authors: Ruthenberg Klaus
Published: October 2023

In this short essay I address the central topic of the Centenary Workshop on Acidity, that is the relations of the classical protonist acid–base theory by Brønsted and the electronist approach by Lewis. Emphasis is laid on the empirical background of both approaches and the over-theoretization of chemical phenomena (essentialism) is criticized.
Photoprotective and antioxidant properties of scytonemin isolated from Antarctic cyanobacterium Nostoc commune Vaucher ex Bornet & Flahault and its potential as sunscreen ingredient
Authors: Ručová Dajana , Vilková Mária , Sovová Simona , Vargová Zuzana , Kostecká Zuzana , Frenák Richard , Routray Deepti , Bačkor Martin
Published: October 2023

In the cosmetic industry there is an increasing demand for substances obtained from natural sources that can replace synthetic ones. Due to consumer demand for a protective filter with (SPF) labels in sunscreens, moisturizers, face make-up, and lipsticks worldwide, they produce tonnes of such products every year. Many species of cyanobacteria live in extreme environments, including sites with excessive doses of sunlight and drought. To survive in such extreme conditions, they produce compounds that allow both protection against ultraviolet radiation (UV), as well as the substances that are responsible for reducing oxidative stress. The aim of this study was to isolate, identify, and test the biological potential of the secondary metabolite scytonemin from the cyanobacterium Nostoc commune Vaucher ex Bornet et Flahault collected in Antarctica. The photoprotective effect was evaluated by the measurement of the sun protection factor (SPF) and the antioxidant activity was determined by two different assays including superoxide anion scavenging activity and free radical scavenging activity based on the amount of substance. An estimated SPF value of 33.34 ± 0.02 demonstrated that scytonemin might serve as a topically applicable ingredient for natural UV sunscreen cream.
Performance Enhancement of Indoor Cellular Visible Light Communication through Cell Size and Wavelength Reuse Pattern
Authors: Elsayed Rania A. , Diab Youssef A. , Hussein Khalid F. A. , Farahat Asmaa E. A. , Hamdi Azhar A.
Published: October 2023

The emerging technology of visible light communication (VLC) has become a promising solution for the requirements of wide-bandwidth, high-speed, and infinite-capacity wireless communication networks. A novel design of high-performance multi-user indoor visible light communication (VLC) based on hexagonal-cell arrangement is introduced in the present paper. The wavelength division multiple access (WDMA) is used to enable multiple users to communicate through the network of access point (APs) by assigning a unique wavelength division channel (WDC) to each user. A wavelength reuse scheme is utilized to increase the maximum number of users in the system and to enhance the VLC system capacity. The on–off keying (OOK) is used as the modulation technique for light signaling. The intercell interference (ICI) caused by the wavelength reuse is evaluated and its dependence on the cell radius and the wavelength reuse pattern size is numerically investigated. Both the received power density and the ICI at the location of the moving user are evaluated and the resulting signal-to-ICI ratio (SICIR) is calculated at every point over the indoor area. The VLC system capacity is evaluated and its dependence on the design parameters including the cell radius, the size of the wavelength reuse pattern, and the user data rate is numerically investigated. A design procedure is proposed to minimize the bit-error rate (BER) resulting from the ICI and to maximize the system capacity and the maximum allowable number of users in the system by selecting the optimal radius of the hexagonal cells and the most appropriate size of the frequency reuse pattern. The effect of the data rate per user on the system capacity is numerically investigated. It is shown that a SICR of greater than 21 dB and BER of less than 1 × 10−15is achieved. Also, a system capacity of more than 4 bps/Hz is achieved by the application of the proposed VLC design optimization procedure.
Environmental impacts of industrial activities on floral coverage with special emphasis on detoxification enzyme activities in Cataglyphis savignyi as pollution biomarker
Authors: Hamza Yasser I. , Bream Ahmed S. , Mahmoud Mohammed A. , El-Tabakh Mohamed A. M.
Published: October 2023

The present study investigates the environmental impact of industrial activities on floral coverage within the major industrial district of Borg El-Arab City, Egypt. Additionally, it aims to evaluate the detoxification enzymatic activity of Cataglyphis savignyi as a pollution biomarker. To achieve this objective, seasonal soil samples were collected from the studied sites to determine soil properties and heavy metal concentrations. Furthermore, a seasonal specimen of C. savignyi was collected to study the enzymatic activity of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST). Heavy metal contamination pollution indices were calculated, and fourteen plant species were identified at the investigated sites for four successive seasons from 2020 to 2021. The soil physicochemical parameters significantly varied in the industrial sites compared to the control site. The accumulation of heavy metal contamination in soil for investigated sites followed the order Ni > As > Pb > Hg. Calculated Cdeg and PLI for industrial 3 revealed a very high degree of contamination, attributed to increased industrial activity from the chemical and silicate factories that characterize this region. The current results highlight the inhibition of GST levels in C. savignyi at the industrial site compared to the control site. In contrast, AChE increases, which might be due to heavy metals enhancing acetylcholine activity at synapses. Consequently, the antioxidant enzymatic activities are useful as biomarkers for assessing and monitoring environmental contamination. In conclusion, this study underscores insects as potent biomarkers for heavy metal contamination, marking a significant advancement in environmental monitoring. These bioindicators offer crucial insights into the impacts of climate change and industrial pollution. The research reveals distinct plant diversity variations and higher heavy metal content in industrial sites, indicating pronounced contamination. Additionally, the study highlights altered enzyme activities in insects, emphasizing their utility as biomarkers for assessing environmental contamination. This work represents a substantial leap forward in comprehending the complex dynamics between contamination and ecological balance.
Increasing temporal resolution in greenhouse gas accounting of electricity consumption divided into Scopes 2 and 3: case study of Germany
Authors: Blizniukova Daria , Holzapfel Peter , Unnewehr Jan Frederick , Bach Vanessa , Finkbeiner Matthias
Published: October 2023

Purpose

As renewable energy sources (RES) experience short-term variability, electricity greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions also fluctuate. Increasing temporal resolution in electricity emissions accounting allows capturing these fluctuations. However, existing time-resolved models either neglect indirect impacts, adopt a generation perspective, or are based on non-public country-specific data. We provide an approach for calculating time-resolved GHG emission factors (EFs) of electricity consumption based on open access data for European countries and examine the temporal variability of German EFs.

Methods

Time-resolved electricity GHG EFs are calculated within the framework of attributional life cycle assessment (LCA) with up to quarter-hourly resolution. The approach involves top-down calculation of annual combustion emissions, validation and scaling of time-resolved electricity generation data, as well as calculation of inland consumption EFs for each interval throughout a year. The EFs are divided by the stages of net generation, consumption by hydro-pumped storage (HPS), and transmission and distribution (T&D) losses, as well as Scopes 2 and 3, enabling GHG Protocol Corporate Standard-compliant reporting. The approach is exemplarily applied to Germany and its transmission system operator zones at quarter-hourly resolution for the years from 2017 to 2020 to investigate the relation between grid mix composition and temporal variability of EFs.

Results and discussion

The annual average EF of the German consumption mix, encompassing direct and upstream emissions, declined from 499 (2017) to 377 g CO2e/kWh (2020), while quarter-hourly variability increased by 12%. Neglecting upstream emissions and intermediate steps between generation and consumption in Germany in 2020 resulted in an underestimation of 13% on an annual level, while quarter-hourly Scope 3 EFs reached up to 100 g CO2e/kWh. On a sub-national level, annual average EFs varied between 157 g CO2e/kWh (TenneT zone) and 505 g CO2e/kWh (50Hertz zone) in 2020. Temporal variability is the greatest in electricity systems with both fossil-fuel and renewable capacity sufficient to dominate short-term electricity generation. At an advanced level of RES integration, the fluctuations of EFs start declining, as demonstrated by the TenneT case.

Conclusion

An increased temporal resolution in electricity emissions accounting can enhance a posteriori LCA results’ accuracy during the energy transition phase. The provided EFs link the life cycle-based perspective with time-resolved emissions accounting. With increasing reliance on RES, indirect emissions, including those related to energy storage, will gain in significance. The next step should focus on integrating physical cross-border electricity exchanges to complete the consumption perspective, as well as examining practical implementation to other countries.
Technology and Civic Virtue
Authors: Reijers Wessel
Published: October 2023

Today, a major technological trend is the increasing focus on the person: technical systems personalize, customize, and tailor to the person in both beneficial and troubling ways. This trend has moved beyond the realm of commerce and has become a matter of public governance, where systems for citizen risk scoring, predictive policing, and social credit scores proliferate. What these systems have in common is that they may target the person and her ethical and political dispositions, her virtues. Virtue ethics is the most appropriate approach for evaluating the impacts of these new systems, which has translated in a revival of talk about virtue in technology ethics. Yet, the focus on individual dispositions has rightly been criticized for lacking a concern with the political collective and institutional structures. This paper advocates a new direction of research into civic virtue, which is situated in between personal dispositions and structures of governance. First, it surveys the discourse on virtue ethics of technology, emphasizing its neglect of the political dimension of impacts of emerging technologies. Second, it presents a pluralist conception of civic virtue that enables us to scrutinize the impact of technology on civic virtue on three different levels of reciprocal reputation building, the cultivation of internal goods, and excellence in the public sphere. Third, it illustrates the benefits of this conceptions by discussing some paradigmatic examples of emerging technologies that aim to cultivate civic virtue.
Cytotoxic phenazine and antiallergic phenoxazine alkaloids from an arctic Nocardiopsis dassonvillei SCSIO 502F
Authors: Song Yue , Li Qi-Yang , Cong Meng-Jing , Pang Xiao-Yan , Chen Bo , Liu Yong-Hong , Liao Li , Wang Jun-Feng
Published: October 2023

Microbes well-adapted to the Arctic Ocean are promising for producing novel compounds, due to their fancy strategies for adaptation and being under-investigated. Two new phenazine alkaloids (1 and 2) and one new phenoxazine (3) were isolated from Nocardiopsis dassonvillei 502F, a strain originally isolated from Arctic deep-sea sediments. AntiSMASH analysis of the genome of Nocardiopsis dassonvillei 502F revealed the presence of 16 putative biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), including a phenazine BGC. Most of the isolated compounds were evaluated for their antibacterial, antiallergic, and cytotoxic activities. Among them, compounds 4 and 5 exhibited potent in vitro cytotoxic activities against osteosarcoma cell line 143B with IC50 values 0.16 and 20.0 μM, respectively. Besides, the results of antiallergic activities of compounds 6–8 exhibited inhibitory activities with IC50 values of 10.88 ± 3.05, 38.88 ± 3.29, and 2.44 ± 0.17 μg/mL, respectively (IC50 91.6 μM for the positive control loratadine).

Graphical Abstract
A hierarchical multi-agent allocation-action learning framework for multi-subtask games
Authors: Li Xianglong , Li Yuan , Zhang Jieyuan , Xu Xinhai , Liu Donghong
Published: October 2023

Great progress has been made in the domain of multi-agent reinforcement learning in recent years. Most work concentrates on solving a single task by learning the cooperative behaviors of agents. However, many real-world problems are normally composed of a set of subtasks in which the execution order follows a certain procedure. Cooperative behaviors should be learned on the premise that agents are first allocated to those subtasks. In this paper, we propose a hierarchical framework for learning the dynamic allocation of agents among subtasks, as well as cooperative behaviors. We design networks corresponding to agents and subnetworks, respectively, which constitute the whole hierarchical network. For the upper layer, a novel allocation learning mechanism is devised to map an agent network to a subtask network. Each agent network could only be assigned to only one subtask network at each time step. For the lower layer, an action learning module is designed to compute appropriate actions for each agent with the allocation result. The agent networks together with the subtask networks are updated by a common reward obtained from the environment. To evaluate the effectiveness of our framework, we conduct experiments in two challenging environments, i.e., Google Research Football and SAVETHECITY. Empirical results show that our framework achieves much better performance than other recent methods.
NH3-Induced In Situ Etching Strategy Derived 3D-Interconnected Porous MXene/Carbon Dots Films for High Performance Flexible Supercapacitors
Authors: Wang Yongbin , Chen Ningjun , Zhou Bin , Zhou Xuefeng , Pu Ben , Bai Jia , Tang Qi , Liu Yan , Yang Weiqing
Published: October 2023

2D MXene (Ti3CNTx) has been considered as the most promising electrode material for flexible supercapacitors owing to its metallic conductivity, ultra-high capacitance, and excellent flexibility. However, it suffers from a severe restacking problem during the electrode fabrication process, limiting the ion transport kinetics and the accessibility of ions in the electrodes, especially in the direction normal to the electrode surface. Herein, we report a NH3-induced in situ etching strategy to fabricate 3D-interconnected porous MXene/carbon dots (p-MC) films for high-performance flexible supercapacitor. The pre-intercalated carbon dots (CDs) first prevent the restacking of MXene to expose more inner electrochemical active sites. The partially decomposed CDs generate NH3 for in situ etching of MXene nanosheets toward 3D-interconnected p-MC films. Benefiting from the structural merits and the 3D-interconnected ionic transmission channels, p-MC film electrodes achieve excellent gravimetric capacitance (688.9 F g−1 at 2 A g−1) and superior rate capability. Moreover, the optimized p-MC electrode is assembled into an asymmetric solid-state flexible supercapacitor with high energy density and superior cycling stability, demonstrating the great promise of p-MC electrode for practical applications.
A review on graphene and graphene composites for application in electromagnetic shielding
Authors: Jovanović Svetlana , Huskić Miroslav , Kepić Dejan , Yasir Muhammad , Haddadi Kamel
Published: October 2023

As wireless solutions for communication, information, and sensing in modern society, electromagnetic waves (EMWs) have contributed considerably to the increase in the quality of people’s everyday lives. At the same time, EMWs produce electromagnetic pollution, issues with electromagnetic interference (EMI), and radio frequency (RF) signal leakage. These circumstances lead to high demand for efficient EMI shielding materials.

To design an EMI shielding product, a compromise must be achieved between the electromagnetic shielding efficiency, the thickness of shielding materials, durability, mechanical strength, reduced volume and weight, and elasticity. Due to its ability to block EMWs, flexibility, lightweight, and chemical resistivity, graphene has been identified as a promising candidate material for efficient EMI shielding. Herein, we reviewed the studies that investigated various graphene-based composites as potential EMI shielding materials, with a focus on the composites based on graphene and silver nanowires due to their high EMI shielding efficiency, low production price, and favorable mechanical properties.
Cultural Developments Between the Final MSA and the Robberg at Umbeli Belli, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Authors: Blessing Matthias A. , Conard Nicholas J. , Bader Gregor D.
Published: October 2023

The Early Later Stone Age (ELSA) in southern Africa is one of the most poorly understood periods in the subcontinent. This is due to a lack of sites covering the time between the final MSA and the Robberg, but also due to a lack of agreement on what the ELSA actually is. In this paper, we present the lithic evidence from the site Umbeli Belli (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa), covering the period between ~29,000 and 17,000 years ago. We find the changes which happen over the 12,000 years in between the final Middle Stone Age (MSA) and the Robberg at this site to be gradual and identify continuous technological and typological shifts. We compare these results to the lithic assemblages on a regional and supra-regional level, and in doing so, we find the patterns evident at Umbeli Belli to be repeated across southern Africa. Linking this to the research historical development of the term ELSA, we conclude that the MSA/LSA boundary is highly artificial and has become more of a hindrance than a means of structure in current archaeological research.
Mapping review of pain management programmes and psychological therapies for community-dwelling older people living with pain
Authors: Lam Natalie , Green John , Hallas Sarah , Forster Anne , Crocker Thomas F. , Andre Deirdre , Ellwood Alison , Clegg Andrew , Brown Lesley
Published: October 2023

Purpose

Persistent pain is common in older people and people living with frailty. Pain or the impact of pain on everyday life is potentially modifiable. We sought to map research evidence and information from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of pain management programmes and psychological therapies targeting community-dwelling older people, and explore appropriate strategies and interventions for managing or reducing the negative impact of pain for older people, particularly those with frailty.

Method

A mapping review of pain management programmes and psychological therapies for community-dwelling older people living with chronic pain. We searched for systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials and for individual randomised controlled trials and extracted data from eligible studies.

Results

Searches resulted in 3419 systematic review records and 746 RCT records from which there were 33 eligible interventions identified in 31 eligible RCTs (48 reports). Broad aims of the interventions were to: improve physical, psychological, or social functioning; adjust the effects or sensation of pain psychologically; enhance self-care with self-management skills or knowledge. Common mechanisms of change proposed were self-efficacy enhanced by self-management tasks and skills, using positive psychological skills or refocusing attention to improve responses to pain, and practising physical exercises to improve physiological well-being and reduce restrictions from pain. Content of interventions included: skills training and activity management, education, and physical exercise. Interventions were delivered in person or remotely to individuals or in groups, typically in 1–2 sessions weekly over 5–12 weeks.

Conclusion

All the evaluated interventions appeared to show potential to provide some benefits to older people. None of the included studies assessed frailty. However, some of the included interventions appear appropriate for community-dwelling older people living with both frailty and pain.
Determination of the seismic vulnerability of infilled RC buildings according to the Quadrants assessment method
Authors: Shendkar Mangeshkumar R. , Kontoni Denise-Penelope N. , Işık Ercan
Published: October 2023

The earthquake vulnerability of the buildings has become more important after significant structural damages due to seismic events. The Quadrants assessment method is one of the effective procedures for the determination of the earthquake performance of the buildings. In this study, the impact of the infill walls on the structural vulnerability of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings was investigated using this method. Five different building models are designed such as bare RC frame, RC frame with strut infill as per field test (open ground story), RC frame with strut infill as per ASCE-41-06 (open ground story), full RC frame with strut infill as per field test (fully infilled), and full RC frame with strut infill as per ASCE-41-06 (fully infilled). All structural analyses were performed using an adaptive pushover analysis in the SeismoStruct software. The infills in the studied RC buildings were modeled as an equivalent strut as per field test or ASCE-41-06 code. The influence of different building models on the performance point, overstrength factor, response reduction factor, and ductility reduction factor was evaluated. The performance point is calculated as per the ASCE-41-06 code which is based on the “displacement coefficient method” and the application of the performance point is used to decide on the intervention/retrofit of RC structures through the “Quadrants assessment method”. In this study, the results depict that the strut width of the infill as per ASCE-41-06 is underestimated as compared to field test. Thus, the impact of the strut width is quantified on the seismic design parameters. It is concluded that there is a need for intervention/retrofit of the bare frame and open ground story RC infilled frame based on the “Quadrants assessment method” due to the absence of infills and the calculated values of the response reduction factor (R) obtained for the infilled RC building models are higher than the bare frame structure due to presence of infills.
Children’s access to outdoors in early childhood education and care centres in China during the COVID pandemic
Authors: Liu Junjie , Wyver Shirley , Chutiyami Muhammad , Little Helen
Published: October 2023

China has undergone rapid development in early childhood education and outdoor pedagogy in recent times. Importantly, it was the first country to detect COVID-19 cases and introduce lockdowns and other restrictions. Chinese early childhood educators had no opportunities to learn from their peers in other countries regarding how to respond to COVID-19 restrictions. It is unknown how these restrictions may have impacted children’s access to the outdoors. The current study examined whether there had been changes in children’s outdoor time, access to the outdoor space, and restrictions imposed on children’s outdoor play. We then examined if making changes or remaining the same was influenced by educator qualifications, professional development related to outdoor pedagogy, educators’ tolerance of risk in play, and staff-child ratios. Most educators reported that the amount of time children spent outdoors and their access to the outdoor space remained the same compared to before the pandemic. A greater number of educators indicated restrictions were imposed on children’s outdoor play due to the pandemic. A series of ordinal regression analyses indicated that educators with a higher tolerance of risk in play were more likely to increase children’s time spent outdoors and access to outdoor space and impose fewer restrictions on children’s outdoor play during the pandemic. A higher staff-child ratio was associated with increasing outdoor time and outdoor space. The findings contribute to the understanding of how external factors influence opportunities for children to play outdoors and provide directions for future professional development programs and risk-reframing interventions.
Compromised diabetic heart function is not affected by miR-378a upregulation upon hyperglycemia
Authors: Florczyk-Soluch Urszula , Polak Katarzyna , Sabo Reece , Martyniak Alicja , Stępniewski Jacek , Dulak Józef
Published: October 2023

Background

Cardiac-abundant microRNA-378a (miR-378a) is associated with postnatal repression of insulin–like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) controlling physiological hypertrophy and survival pathways. IGF-1/IGF-1R axis has been proposed as a therapeutic candidate against the pathophysiological progress of diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM). We ask whether hyperglycemia-driven changes in miR-378a expression could mediate DCM progression.

Methods

Diabetes mellitus was induced by streptozotocin (STZ) (55 mg/kg i.p. for 5 days) in male C57BL/6 wild type (miR-378a+/+) and miR-378a knockout (miR-378a−/−) mice. As a parallel human model, we harnessed human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM miR378a+/+ vs. hiPSC-CM miR378a−/−) subjected to high glucose (HG) treatment.

Results

We reported miR-378a upregulation in cardiac diabetic milieu arising upon STZ administration to wild-type mice and in HG-treated hiPSC-CMs. Pro-hypertrophic IGF-1R/ERK1/2 pathway and hypertrophic marker expression were activated in miR-378a deficiency and upon STZ/HG treatment of miR-378a+/+ specimens in vivo and in vitro suggesting miR-378a-independent hyperglycemia-promoted hypertrophy. A synergistic upregulation of IGF-1R signaling in diabetic conditions was detected in miR-378a−/− hiPSC-CMs, but not in miR-378a−/− hearts that showed attenuation of this pathway, pointing to the involvement of compensatory mechanisms in the absence of miR-378a. Although STZ administration did not cause pro-inflammatory or pro-fibrotic effects that were detected in miR-378a−/− mice, the compromised diabetic heart function observed in vivo by high-resolution ultrasound imaging upon STZ treatment was not affected by miR-378a presence.

Conclusions

Overall, data underline the role of miR-378a in maintaining basal cardiac structural integrity while pointing to miR-378a-independent hyperglycemia-driven cardiac hypertrophy and associated dysfunction.
Investigating the Economies of Scope and Cost Effectiveness in Manufacturing Companies with Interval Data
Authors: Harofteh Elham Zaker , Saljooghi Faranak Hosseinzadeh
Published: October 2023

The success requirement of managers’ progress, development and performance improvement lie in their attention to product variety and company effectiveness. Economies of scope (ES) examine the advantages of production or the services diversification of a company based on cost versus production by companies that produce the same products or services separately. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is known as a suitable method for evaluating ES and cost effectiveness. DEA models are introduced with certain input and output costs, while many companies and manufacturing industries in different sectors of production and service provision may not have accurate information on available costs and outputs because of calculation errors, old information, and multiple repeated measurements. The estimation DEA for ES and cost effectiveness are sensitive to changes, also some parameters, such as cost and price, are fluctuated. Therefore, it is a requirement to focus on the interval DEA. Our most important goals in this article are: (1) we develop new DEA models to measure the ES and cost effectiveness of decision-making units (DMUs) under data uncertainty. These models will become non-linear and non-convex models; hence, (2) we identify an appropriate range for ES and cost effectiveness of DMUs from the optimistic and pessimistic viewpoints, allowing decision-makers can use the upper and lower limits or their combination depending on the optimistic and pessimistic viewpoints, (3) we apply our developed models to assess the ES and cost-effectiveness performance of 24 institutions, considering data uncertainties that may affect the quality and reliability of the results. (4) The proposed models’ features have been analyzed, and the impact of interval data on cost effectiveness and ES has been evaluated. The application description of the proposed models for determining ES and cost effectiveness shows that a company can exhibit economies of scope without necessarily being Cost Effectiveness.
Virtual Sovereignty: Examining the Legal Status of Micronations in Cyberspace Through the Case of the Republic of Errant Menda Lerenda
Authors: Zhuk Alesia
Published: October 2023

This paper examines the legal status of micronations claiming virtual sovereignty in cyberspace, using the case of the Republic of Errant Menda Lerenda (REML) as an example. The REML is a micronation that claims to have virtual sovereignty over a network of individuals who share its values and beliefs. Through an in-depth analysis of existing literature and sources, this paper explores the legal implications of virtual sovereignty and the challenges that micronations face in establishing legitimacy in the international community. The paper concludes that while the lack of recognition of virtual states by the international community limits their ability to engage in formal relations with other states, virtual sovereignty raises important questions about the concept of statehood in the digital age. This paper suggests that further research is needed to explore the legal and practical implications of virtual sovereignty and to develop new frameworks for determining the legitimacy of virtual states.
Risk sharing in equity-linked insurance products: Stackelberg equilibrium between an insurer and a reinsurer
Authors: Havrylenko Yevhen , Hinken Maria , Zagst Rudi
Published: October 2023

We study the optimal investment-reinsurance problem in the context of equity-linked insurance products. Such products often have a capital guarantee, which can motivate insurers to purchase reinsurance. Since a reinsurance contract implies an interaction between the insurer and the reinsurer, we model the optimization problem as a Stackelberg game. The reinsurer is the leader in the game and maximizes its expected utility by selecting its optimal investment strategy and a safety loading in the reinsurance contract it offers to the insurer. The reinsurer can assess how the insurer will rationally react on each action of the reinsurer. The insurance company is the follower and maximizes its expected utility by choosing its investment strategy and the amount of reinsurance the company purchases at the price offered by the reinsurer. In this game, we derive the Stackelberg equilibrium for general utility functions. For power utility functions, we calculate the equilibrium explicitly and find that the reinsurer selects the largest reinsurance premium such that the insurer may still buy the maximal amount of reinsurance. Since in the equilibrium the insurer is indifferent in the amount of reinsurance, in practice, the reinsurer should consider charging a smaller reinsurance premium than the equilibrium one. Therefore, we propose several criteria for choosing such a discount rate and investigate its wealth-equivalent impact on the expected utility of each party.
“Obstetric Violence,” “Mistreatment,” and “Disrespect and Abuse”: Reflections on the Politics of Naming Violations During Facility-Based Childbirth
Authors: Pickles Camilla
Published: October 2023

Naming performs an important function in society. Names shape our reality by creating the means to bring into existence previously unseen events or unacknowledged experiences, and naming impacts how society responds to these. This article interrogates the problem of naming the phenomenon of violence and abuse during childbirth with a focus on three principal concepts: “mistreatment,” “disrespect and abuse,” and “obstetric violence.” Further, drawing from broader feminist literature, it exposes the hidden power struggles that inform the naming process in this context, and it challenges the notion that “mistreatment” and “disrespect and abuse” are suitable dominant discourses. In essence, it argues that should a dominant discourse emerge, it should not be one formulated by the healthcare sector (as is the case with “mistreatment”) given their leading role in abuse and violence during childbirth. Finally, the article highlights that we are in the early stages of understanding this phenomenon and, as such, our communicative framework should be broad enough to include multiple communicative tools including “obstetric violence.”
Exotic flotation theory with new method for floating stability analysis
Authors: Zhang Wanqiu , Zhang Fei , Tan Dongwen , Zhou Xinping
Published: October 2023

A macroscale floating object moving downwards will encounter an increasing buoyancy force exerted by the liquid. However, considering the surface tension and the deformed meniscus, we find an exotic floating object of specific shape that withstands a constant total force exerted by the liquid when it moves vertically and slowly. This constant total force consists of the surface tension force and the hydrostatic pressure force, from which a model to determine the shape of the exotic floating object is proposed. Results show that there exist three types of exotic floating objects in both the two-dimensional symmetric and axisymmetric cases, dependent on their concavity and convexity. To ensure that the menisci around the exotic floating objects can be sustained in practice, the stabilities of these menisci are checked. Apart from the meniscus stabilities (of liquid surfaces), the floating stabilities (of solid objects) are also studied. It is demonstrated that the exotic floating object remains in a critical state of floating stabilities no matter where this object locates vertically, from which a new method to predict the floating stabilities for general floating objects of arbitrary shape is put forward, based on the contact angle and the geometrical parameters at the contact point. With the new method, the floating stabilities can be predicted conveniently, without performing an extra force analysis.
The law and ethics of a property rights approach to frozen embryo disputes
Authors: Cornell Mollie , Baron Teresa
Published: October 2023

Disputes over frozen embryos represent a particularly problematic case, legally and ethically, due to the ambiguity of their moral and legal status and the potential rights-claims which can be made with regard to them. Recent work has contextualised frozen embryos as liminal and suggested a contextual approach to their legal classification. By appeal to personal property law, with a lens provided by Roman law doctrines, and reproductive bioethics, we argue that frozen embryos may be subjects of property rights, providing a more stable framework for dispute resolution. To illustrate how a property approach would work, we reconsider the facts of the influentialEvanscase and argue that if a proprietary rather than promissory estoppel claim had been pursued, the reverse outcome may have been reached, to the benefit of women who are disproportionately harmed in these scenarios.
National Pride and the Insecure Social Bond between People and the State: The Socio-emotional Context of National Identity in Post-Soviet Neoliberal Latvia
Authors: Ķešāne Iveta
Published: October 2023

This article explores the socio-emotional dimension of national belonging in post-Soviet neoliberal Latvia from the perspective of national pride. I propose this perspective since national pride shapes the character of national belonging. Studies show that national pride in socioeconomic and political attainment is low in post-Soviet countries and Latvia particularly. Influenced by social bond and commitment theories, this study explores why this might be the case by establishing national pride as a relational emotion of national belonging. For understanding national pride it is not enough to explore how people relate to their states. It is also necessary to understand how the states relate to their people, whether they recognize their state constituents, their needs and feel pride in them, and whether they shape social bonds among people. This study explores this question: how does the character of state-society relationship accounts for the low national pride in post-Soviet neoliberal Latvia? To answer, I combine the analysis of the post-Soviet civil discourse and an in-depth exploration of the narratives of 59 emigrants that have left Latvia toward the West in the post-Soviet era. The bonds formed between the Latvian political elite and Western countries during the post-Soviet transformations brought into Latvia neoliberal ideas and policies that, I argue, formed an insecure state-society bond, eroding an opportunity for national pride to flourish and weakening national belonging.
Characterizing the velocity-space signature of electron Landau damping
Authors: Conley Sarah A. , Howes Gregory G. , McCubbin Andrew J.
Published: October 2023

Plasma turbulence plays a critical role in the transport of energy from large-scale magnetic fields and plasma flows to small scales, where the dissipated turbulent energy ultimately leads to heating of the plasma species. A major goal of the broader heliophysics community is to identify the physical mechanisms responsible for the dissipation of the turbulence and to quantify the consequent rate of plasma heating. One of the mechanisms proposed to damp turbulent fluctuations in weakly collisional space and astrophysical plasmas is electron Landau damping. The velocity-space signature of electron energization by Landau damping can be identified using the recently developed field–particle correlation technique. Here, we perform a suite of gyrokinetic turbulence simulations with ion plasma beta values$\beta _i = 0.01, 0.1, 1$and$10$and use the field–particle correlation technique to characterize the features of the velocity-space signatures of electron Landau damping in turbulent plasma conditions consistent with those observed in the solar wind and planetary magnetospheres. We identify the key features of the velocity-space signatures of electron Landau damping as a function of varying plasma$\beta _i$to provide a critical framework for interpreting the results of field–particle correlation analysis ofin situspacecraft observations of plasma turbulence.
Linking second language speaking task performance and language testing
Authors: Skehan Peter
Published: October 2023

This written version of a plenary to the Language Testing Research Colloquium relates research into second language speaking task performance to language testing. A brief review of models of communicative competence and of speaking is provided. Then, two major areas within testing are discussed: the concepts of difficulty and ability for use. The next section covers research into spoken task-based performance, covering effects from task conditions, and from task characteristics. In addition, the measurement of such performance is described and briefly compared with performance rating in testing. Then, the final section relates the task research findings to language testing. A framework for testing spoken performance is outlined, and the general claim made that effective sampling through tests, in order to generalise to real-world performance, can usefully draw on findings from second language task research, as well as the distinction between Conceptualiser and Formulator processes.