bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Soil structure recovery following compaction: Short‐term evolution of soil physical properties in a loamy soil
Authors: Keller Thomas , Colombi Tino , Ruiz Siul , Schymanski Stanislaus J. , Weisskopf Peter , Koestel John , Sommer Marlies , Stadelmann Viktor , Breitenstein Daniel , Kirchgessner Norbert , Walter Achim , Or Dani
Published: February 2021

Soil compaction by farm machinery may persist for decades, hampering soil productivity and functioning. Assessing compaction costs and guiding recovery strategies are hindered by paucity of data on soil structure recovery rates. A long‐term Soil Structure Observatory was established on a loamy soil in Switzerland to monitor soil structure recovery after prescribed compaction, and to better assess the roles of natural processes (vegetation, macrofauna, and shrink–swell cycles) on recovery patterns. The aim of this study was to quantify short‐term soil structure recovery under natural conditions in the presence and absence of plant cover (ley and bare soil). We measured soil porosity and gas and water transport capabilities at 0.1 and 0.3 m depth. Two years after the compaction event, soil physical properties have not recovered to precompaction levels, even within the topsoil. Surprisingly, no differences were observed in the recovery patterns of ley and bare soil treatments. Measurements show that recovery rates differ among soil properties with the most severely affected properties by compaction (permeability) exhibiting highest recovery rates. Total soil porosity shows no recovery trend, suggesting lack of soil decompaction. Improved soil functions and decompaction are distinct aspects of soil structure recovery, with the latter requiring net upward transport of soil mass. We suggest that soil structure recovery proceeds at two fronts: from the soil surface downward, and expanding around local biologically‐active pockets (marked by biopores) into the compacted soil volumes. This concept could be tested with additional data of longer time series at our site as well as in other soils and climates.
Hybridized Graphene for Supercapacitors: Beyond the Limitation of Pure Graphene
Authors: Zhang Huihui , Yang Dan , Lau Alan , Ma Tianyi , Lin Han , Jia Baohua
Published: February 2021

Graphene‐based supercapacitors have been attracting growing attention due to the predicted intrinsic high surface area, high electron mobility, and many other excellent properties of pristine graphene. However, experimentally, the state‐of‐the‐art graphene electrodes face limitations such as low surface area, low electrical conductivity, and low capacitance, which greatly limit their electrochemical performances for supercapacitor applications. To tackle these issues, hybridizing graphene with other species (e.g., atom, cluster, nanostructure, etc.) to enlarge the surface area, enhance the electrical conductivity, and improve capacitance behaviors are strongly desired. In this review, different hybridization principles (spacers hybridization, conductors hybridization, heteroatoms doping, and pseudocapacitance hybridization) are discussed to provide fundamental guidance for hybridization approaches to solve these challenges. Recent progress in hybridized graphene for supercapacitors guided by the above principles are thereafter summarized, pushing the performance of hybridized graphene electrodes beyond the limitation of pure graphene materials. In addition, the current challenges of energy storage using hybridized graphene and their future directions are discussed.
Wind tunnel investigations of DU97‐W‐300‐mod equipped with riblets
Authors: Peter Schaffarczyk Alois , Momber Andreas , Stenzel Volkmar
Published: February 2021

A well‐known 30% thick wind turbine aerofoil was partially equipped with riblets, and lift and drag data were measured in a large acoustic wind tunnel. Drag was reduced up to 10%, and lift‐to‐drag ratio increased by up to 30%.
Captive environmental change and induction of natural breeding and egg‐laying in ploughshare tortoises (Astrochelys yniphora)
Authors: Kiryu Daisuke , Otaki Yusuke , Kido Nobuhide , Hara Kumiko
Published: February 2021

The ploughshare tortoise (Astrochelys yniphora) is an endangered species. It is important to increase the number of tortoises in the wild and captivity; however, breeding in captivity, especially outside of the natural habitat area, has been unsuccessful worldwide. As a result of an emergency rescue due to a violation of the Act of Conservation of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, Nogeyama Zoological Gardens (Yokohama, Japan) has housed ploughshare tortoises, and a natural breeding trial started in 2011. In this case, the captive environment in Nogeyama, especially room temperature and humidity, imitated the environment in the natural habitat of northwest Madagascar. The maximum temperature during the day was 30.8–32.5°C throughout the year, but the minimum temperature was 24°C during December and January, representing the rainy season, and 17°C during July, representing the dry season. The humidity was adjusted and the room was not humidified between November and February (dry season) but was humidified by sprinkling water once every few days in March and daily between April and October (rainy season). Natural breeding and egg‐laying were observed 1 year after the captive environmental change. Three neonates were hatched from nine eggs in 3 years after the beginning of the breeding program. This study showed that for natural breeding of the ploughshare tortoises, it is important to adjust the temperature and humidity of the captive environment to imitate the temperature and humidity of the natural habitat.
Episodes of Magdalenian Hunter-Gatherers in the Upper Gallery of Tuc d’Audoubert (Ariège, France)
Authors: Pastoors Andreas , Lenssen-Erz Tilman , Ciqae Tsamgao , Kxunta /Ui , Thao Thui , Bégouën Robert , Uthmeier Thorsten
Published: February 2021

The Tuc d’Audoubert cave (Ariège, France) offers unique insights into the life of Late Pleistocene hunters-gatherers due to its exceptionally good preservation conditions. This is especially true for the 300 footprints in the upper gallery of the cave. Even for the layperson, some trackways are easily recognized. Short episodes of past life become tangible. The spectrum of scientific analytic methods used in western science has not yet provided an option to interpret these visible episodes satisfactorily. For this reason, tracking experts, i.e. indigenous ichnologists, were invited to analyse the footprints in Tuc d’Audoubert. With their dynamic approach of identification, they are able to do justice to the dynamics embodied in the footprints. In total, eight main concentrations in four different locations were studied. Two hundred fifty-five footprints were identified and grouped into 24 events. In view of the group compositions and the assumption that humans did not climb alone into the upper gallery for security reasons, it can be concluded that a maximum of five visits by two to six subjects were carried out. Among the events, the couple of an adult man and an adult woman, who appear together in a total of ten different spots, is particularly noteworthy. Altogether, this study is a first step of a multi-stage procedure. Further analyses based on measurements and plantar pressure analyses will follow.
Following the Father Steps in the Bowels of the Earth: The Ichnological Record from the Bàsura Cave (Upper Palaeolithic, Italy)
Authors: Avanzini Marco , Salvador Isabella , Starnini Elisabetta , Arobba Daniele , Caramiello Rosanna , Romano Marco , Citton Paolo , Rellini Ivano , Firpo Marco , Zunino Marta , Negrino Fabio
Published: February 2021

The chapter summarizes the new results of the Bàsura Revisited Interdisciplinary Research Project. The integrated interpretation of recent archaeological data and palaeosurface laser scans, along with geoarchaeological, sedimentological, geochemical and archaeobotanical analyses, geometric morphometrics and digital photogrammetry, enabled us to reconstruct some activities that an Upper Palaeolithic human group led inside a deep cave in northern Italy within a single exploration event about 14 ka calBP. A complex and diverse track records of humans and other animals shed light on individual- and group-level behaviour, social relationship and mode of exploration of the uneven terrain. Five individuals, composed of two adults, an adolescent and two children, entered the cave barefoot lightening the way with a bunch of wooden sticks (Pinus t. sylvestris/mugo bundles). While proceeding, humans were forced to move on all fours, and the traces they left represent the first report of crawling locomotion in the global human ichnological record. Anatomical details recognizable in the crawling traces show that no clothing was present between limbs and the trampled sediments. Our study demonstrates that very young children (the youngest about 3 years old) were active members of the human groups, even in apparently dangerous and social activities, shedding light on behavioural habits of Upper Palaeolithic populations.
Belle II and CBM
Authors: Frühwirth Rudolf , Strandlie Are
Published: February 2021

The chapter gives an overview of the tracking and vertexing algorithms of two experiments not at the LHC, Belle II at SuperKEKB in Japan and CBM at FAIR in Germany.
GADIAM
Authors: Gühne Michael , Mischer Melanie , Kirsch Tim Lukas , Pietrzyk Ulrike , Günther Thomas , Hacker Winfried
Published: February 2021

Der Einsatz vernetzter digitaler Arbeitsmittel erhöht den Anteil komplexer Wissens- und Innovationsarbeit. Überforderung durch inadäquate fremd- oder selbstgesetzte Zeitvorgaben erhöht das Risiko gesundheitlicher Beeinträchtigungen. Für komplexe Wissens- und Innovationsarbeit existiert kein Verfahren zur Zeitbedarfsermittlung. Ziel des Verbundprojekts GADIAM ist die Entwicklung eines Verfahrens zur Ermittlung nachhaltiger Zeitbedarfe für komplexe Wissens- und Innovationsarbeit. Dafür wird das partizipative Verfahren zur Zeitbedarfsermittlung von Debitz et al. (2012) auf komplexe Wissens- und Innovationsarbeit übertragen und in einem zweischrittigen Fallstudiendesign weiterentwickelt. Im Ergebnis wurde ein aus fünf Schritten bestehendes Verfahren zur Ermittlung nachhaltiger Zeitbedarfe für komplexe Wissens- und Innovationsarbeit samt Rechnungsmodell zur monetären und nichtmonetären Bewertung der Ergebnisse sowie eine Handlungsanleitung und ein Schulungskonzept entwickelt.
Selbstständiges Arbeiten in der digitalen Fabrik
Authors: Nies Sarah , Kratzer Nick , Casas Beatriz , Reindl Josef , Stadlinger Jörg , Jost Philipp , Ohl Gerd , Holletschke Dieter
Published: February 2021

Im Projekt SOdA haben Wissenschaft und Praxispartner gemeinsam erforscht und erprobt, wie man das Zusammenspiel von Digitalisierung und Arbeitsorganisation so gestaltet, dass die Selbstständigkeit von Beschäftigten gefördert und gute Arbeitsbedingungen mit Innovativität und Produktivität verbunden werden können. Das Projekt basiert auf der Erkenntnis, dass die Potenziale der Industrie 4.0 in kooperativen Arbeitsstrukturen am effektivsten mit selbstständig arbeitenden Beschäftigten verwirklicht werden. Zugleich berücksichtigen die Gestaltungsmaßnahmen von SOdA, dass strukturelle Veränderungen in der unternehmerischen Nutzung von Beschäftigtenautonomie auch neue Typen von arbeitsbezogenen Belastungen und Konflikten hervorbringen können.
Mit dem InAsPro-Transformationskonzept die Digitalisierung planen
Authors: Ehemann Tobias , Tafvizi Zavareh Mona , Göbel Jens C. , Dupont Stephanie , Zink Klaus J. , Siedler Carina , Aurich Jan C.
Published: February 2021

Mit dem Ziel, produzierende Unternehmen methodisch bei der Digitalisierung ihrer Arbeitssysteme zu unterstützen, wurde im BMBF-Verbundforschungsprojekt InAsPro (Integrierte Arbeitssystemgestaltung in digitalisierten Produktionsunternehmen) ein anwenderorientiertes, modulares Transformationskonzept entwickelt und in einer webbasierten IT-Anwendung, dem Digitalisierungsplaner, umgesetzt und öffentlich zugänglich gemacht. Kernbestandteile des Transformationskonzepts sind die vier Konzeptbausteine Reifegradmodell, Digitalisierungsstrategie, Technologieatlas und Digitalisierung des Arbeitssystems. Mithilfe dieses InAsPro-Transformationskonzepts können die Unternehmen ganzheitliche Digitalisierungszustände im Hinblick auf Technologie, Organisation und das eigentliche Arbeitssystem bestimmen und individualisierte Digitalisierungsstrategien, -lösungen und -umsetzungsmaßnahmen erarbeiten.
Gesundes mobiles Arbeiten mit digitalen Assistenzsystemen im technischen Service (ArdiAS)
Authors: Mecke Rüdiger , Adler Simon , Jachmann Daniel , Weigel Maria , Eichholz Steffen , Schmicker Sonja , Mewes Eric , Böckelmann Irina , Minow Annemarie , Bergmüller Annette
Published: February 2021

Produktbezogene Dienstleistungen sind wichtige Alleinstellungsmerkmale der deutschen Industrie im globalen Wettbewerb. Dazu zählt die professionelle Instandhaltung von komplexen Industrieanlagen. Das Servicepersonal ist bei dieser Tätigkeit mit hohen Anforderungen an technisches Know-how, Handlungskompetenz und Mobilität sowie daraus resultierenden physischen und psychischen Belastungen konfrontiert. Digitale Assistenzsysteme (AS) haben großes Potenzial zur Unterstützung der Beschäftigten und ermöglichen die Interaktion mit tätigkeitsrelevanten Informationen direkt am Arbeitsort. Diese Systeme müssen allerdings so beschaffen sein, dass sie echte Mehrwerte bieten und von den Anwendern akzeptiert werden. Das interdisziplinäre Projekt ArdiAS beschäftigte sich mit der Fragestellung, wie Assistenzsysteme zu gestalten sind, damit Beschäftigte im technischen Service bei ihrer Tätigkeit entlastet werden und der Arbeitsprozess effizienter abläuft.
Tabu efficient global optimization with applications in additive manufacturing
Authors: Wang Long , Allen Theodore T. , Groeber Michael A.
Published: February 2021

Methods based on Gaussian stochastic process (GSP) models and expected improvement (EI) functions have been promising for box-constrained expensive optimization problems. These include robust design problems with environmental variables having set-type constraints. However, the methods that combine GSP and EI sub-optimizations suffer from the following problem, which limits their computational performance. Efficient global optimization (EGO) methods often repeat the same or nearly the same experimental points. We present a novel EGO-type constraint-handling method that maintains a so-called tabu list to avoid past points. Our method includes two types of penalties for the key “infill” optimization, which selects the next test runs. We benchmark our tabu EGO algorithm with five alternative approaches, including DIRECT methods using nine test problems and two engineering examples. The engineering examples are based on additive manufacturing process parameter optimization informed using point-based thermal simulations and robust-type quality constraints. Our test problems span unconstrained, simply constrained, and robust constrained problems. The comparative results imply that tabu EGO offers very promising computational performance for all types of black-box optimization in terms of convergence speed and the quality of the final solution.
Monte Carlo Tree Search as an intelligent search tool in structural design problems
Authors: Rossi Leonardo , Winands Mark H. M. , Butenweg Christoph
Published: February 2021

Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) is a search technique that in the last decade emerged as a major breakthrough for Artificial Intelligence applications regarding board- and video-games. In 2016, AlphaGo, an MCTS-based software agent, outperformed the human world champion of the board game Go. This game was for long considered almost infeasible for machines, due to its immense search space and the need for a long-term strategy. Since this historical success, MCTS is considered as an effective new approach for many other scientific and technical problems. Interestingly, civil structural engineering, as a discipline, offers many tasks whose solution may benefit from intelligent search and in particular from adopting MCTS as a search tool. In this work, we show how MCTS can be adapted to search for suitable solutions of a structural engineering design problem. The problem consists of choosing the load-bearing elements in a reference reinforced concrete structure, so to achieve a set of specific dynamic characteristics. In the paper, we report the results obtained by applying both a plain and a hybrid version of single-agent MCTS. The hybrid approach consists of an integration of both MCTS and classic Genetic Algorithm (GA), the latter also serving as a term of comparison for the results. The study’s outcomes may open new perspectives for the adoption of MCTS as a design tool for civil engineers.
Touristisch geprägte Klein- und Mittelstädte
Authors: Frieser Anna , Hilpert Markus
Published: February 2021

Kleinere Städte außerhalb der Ballungsräume, die in besonderem Maße für Touristen und Besucher interessant sind, sehen sich vielfältigen Herausforderungen ausgesetzt. Dazu zählen beispielsweise Interessenskonflikte zwischen Besuchern und Bewohnern, erhöhtes Verkehrsaufkommen auf engem Raum oder saisonale Schwankungen der Einkommensbasis. Während für ländliche Urlaubsdestinationen wie auch für touristisch geprägte Großstädte bereits zahlreiche Studien und Untersuchungen vorliegen, wurden die spezifischen Anforderungen an Klein- und Mittelstädte mit hohem Tourismusaufkommen bislang kaum von Politik und Wissenschaft thematisiert. Im Rahmen eines Kooperationsprojektes zwischen der Universität Augsburg und der Industrie- und Handelskammer für Schwaben (IHK) wurden daher die spezifischen Probleme und Chancen solcher Standorte identifiziert und verallgemeinerbare Handlungsempfehlungen entwickelt.
Molecular epidemiological characteristics of echovirus 6 in mainland China: extensive circulation of genotype F from 2007 to 2018
Authors: Cheng Wenjun , Ji Tianjiao , Zhou Shuaifeng , Shi Yong , Jiang Lili , Zhang Yong , Yan Dongmei , Yang Qian , Song Yang , Cai Ru , Xu Wenbo
Published: February 2021

Echovirus 6 (E6) is associated with various clinical diseases and is frequently detected in environmental sewage. Despite its high prevalence in humans and the environment, little is known about its molecular phylogeography in mainland China. In this study, 114 of 21,539 (0.53%) clinical specimens from hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) cases collected between 2007 and 2018 were positive for E6. The complete VP1 sequences of 87 representative E6 strains, including 24 strains from this study, were used to investigate the evolutionary genetic characteristics and geographical spread of E6 strains. Phylogenetic analysis based on VP1 nucleotide sequence divergence showed that, globally, E6 strains can be grouped into six genotypes, designated A to F. Chinese E6 strains collected between 1988 and 2018 were found to belong to genotypes C, E, and F, with genotype F being predominant from 2007 to 2018. There was no significant difference in the geographical distribution of each genotype. The evolutionary rate of E6 was estimated to be 3.631 × 10-3 substitutions site-1 year-1 (95% highest posterior density [HPD]: 3.2406 × 10-3-4.031 × 10-3 substitutions site-1 year-1) by Bayesian MCMC analysis. The most recent common ancestor of the E6 genotypes was traced back to 1863, whereas their common ancestor in China was traced back to around 1962. A small genetic shift was detected in the Chinese E6 population size in 2009 according to Bayesian skyline analysis, which indicated that there might have been an epidemic around that year.
External validity of phase III trials on vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 to a middle-aged and elderly Western European population
Authors: Terzikhan Natalie , Hofman Albert , Goudsmit Jaap , Ikram Mohammad Arfan
Published: February 2021

Initial results from various phase-III trials on vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 are promising. For proper translation of these results to clinical guidelines, it is essential to determine how well the general population is reflected in the study populations of these trials. This study was conducted among 7162 participants (age-range: 51–106 years; 58% women) from the Rotterdam Study. We quantified the proportion of participants that would be eligible for the nine ongoing phase-III trials. We further quantified the eligibility among participants at high risk to develop severe COVID-19. Since many trials were not explicit in their exclusion criterion with respect to ‘acute’ or ‘unstable preexisting’ diseases, we performed two analyses. First, we included all participants irrespective of this criterion. Second, we excluded persons with acute or ‘unstable preexisting’ diseases. 97% of 7162 participants was eligible for any trial with eligibility for separate trials ranging between 11–97%. For high-risk individuals the corresponding numbers were 96% for any trial with separate trials ranging from 5–96%. Importantly, considering persons ineligible due to ‘acute’ or ‘unstable pre-existing’ disease drastically dropped the eligibilities for all trials below 43% for the total population and below 36% for high-risk individuals. The eligibility for ongoing vaccine trials against SARS-CoV-2 can reduce by half depending on interpretation and application of a single unspecified exclusion criterion. This exclusion criterion in our study would especially affect the elderly and those with pre-existing morbidities. These findings thus indicate the difficulty as well as importance of developing clinical recommendations for vaccination and applying these to the appropriate target populations. This becomes especially paramount considering the fact that many countries worldwide have initiated their vaccination programs by first targeting the elderly and most vulnerable persons.
New general mixed-integer linear programming model for mobile workforce management
Authors: Éles András , Heckl István , Cabezas Heriberto
Published: February 2021

A mathematical model is introduced to solve a mobile workforce management problem. In such a problem there are a number of tasks to be executed at different locations by various teams. For example, when an electricity utility company has to deal with planned system upgrades and damages caused by storms. The aim is to determine the schedule of the teams in such a way that the overall cost is minimal. The mobile workforce management problem involves scheduling. The following questions should be answered: when to perform a task, how to route vehicles—the vehicle routing problem—and the order the sites should be visited and by which teams. These problems are already complex in themselves. This paper proposes an integrated mathematical programming model formulation, which, by the assignment of its binary variables, can be easily included in heuristic algorithmic frameworks. In the problem specification, a wide range of parameters can be set. This includes absolute and expected time windows for tasks, packing and unpacking in case of team movement, resource utilization, relations between tasks such as precedence, mutual exclusion or parallel execution, and team-dependent travelling and execution times and costs. To make the model able to solve larger problems, an algorithmic framework is also implemented which can be used to find heuristic solutions in acceptable time. This latter solution method can be used as an alternative. Computational performance is examined through a series of test cases in which the most important factors are scaled.
Solar drying of granulated waste blends for dry biofuel production
Authors: Wzorek Małgorzata
Published: February 2021

In the paper, results of drying biofuels from sewage sludge using solar energy are presented. Drying rates of biofuels made from sewage sludge and coal slime (PBS), sewage sludge and meat and bone meal (PBM), and sewage sludge and sawdust (PBT) with 15-mm and 35-mm granule particle size were studied. Tests were performed in a solar greenhouse dryer equipped with a specially designed mixing system. Experiments were aimed at determining the drying time of biofuels under various weather conditions in the southwestern part of Poland. In summer, in order to determine the best conditions for drying, tests were performed using various parameters, i.e., layers of various thickness, such as 5, 10, and 20 cm, and various mixing intensity (no mixing, mixing 3 and 5 times/day). In spring and the fall, 10-cm thick layers combined with 5 times mixing of fuels per day were used. The performed tests demonstrated that it is beneficial to dry fuels in 10-cm thick layer. In spring and the fall, PBS and PBM biofuels laid out in layers with just such thickness showed moisture content reduced to less than 10% after 8 days, while the PBT biofuel reached the same level after 14 days. In summer, the same result may be obtained for all the biofuels after 4 days on average. The presented original method of solar drying of biofuels obtained from sewage sludge and other waste may be used in wastewater treatment plants which process sewage sludge into fuels without incurring any additional costs for supplying heat.
On Dangerous Ground
Authors: Rider Toby J. , Owsiak Andrew P.
Published: February 2021

As a rule, countries consider clearly defined international borders to be paramount for their survival and prosperity. Most borders gain definition peacefully and, once they do, these definitions stick (i.e., the border remains settled). The failure to define borders, however, produces protracted, geopolitical, militarized competitions (or rivalries) between neighboring countries. Rider and Owsiak model this failure as a particular type of bargaining problem - namely, bargaining over territory that affects the distribution of power between neighbouring states significantly - that undermines efforts to resolve border disagreements peacefully. Countries must then overcome this bargaining problem or risk falling into a protracted rivalry, which then needs to be addressed with more resources. The authors develop a theory of how borders settle. They then explore the consequences of the failure to settle, theoretically connecting it to the onset of rivalries. This leads to the process that helps rivals overcome the bargaining problem, resolve their border disagreement, and terminate their rivalry.
Microseismic event detection in large heterogeneous velocity models using Bayesian multimodal nested sampling
Authors: Das Saptarshi , Hobson Michael P. , Feroz Farhan , Chen Xi , Phadke Suhas , Goudswaard Jeroen , Hohl Detlef
Published: February 2021

In passive seismic and microseismic monitoring, identifying and characterizing events in a strong noisy background is a challenging task. Most of the established methods for geophysical inversion are likely to yield many false event detections. The most advanced of these schemes require thousands of computationally demanding forward elastic-wave propagation simulations. Here we train and use an ensemble of Gaussian process surrogate meta-models, or proxy emulators, to accelerate the generation of accurate template seismograms from random microseismic event locations. In the presence of multiple microseismic events occurring at different spatial locations with arbitrary amplitude and origin time, and in the presence of noise, an inference algorithm needs to navigate an objective function or likelihood landscape of highly complex shape, perhaps with multiple modes and narrow curving degeneracies. This is a challenging computational task even for state-of-the-art Bayesian sampling algorithms. In this paper, we propose a novel method for detecting multiple microseismic events in a strong noise background using Bayesian inference, in particular, the Multimodal Nested Sampling (MultiNest) algorithm. The method not only provides the posterior samples for the 5D spatio-temporal-amplitude inference for the real microseismic events, by inverting the seismic traces in multiple surface receivers, but also computes the Bayesian evidence or the marginal likelihood that permits hypothesis testing for discriminating true vs. false event detection.
Socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of migrants to Ireland presenting with a first episode of psychosis
Authors: O’Donoghue B. , Sexton S. , Lyne J. P. , Roche E. , Mifsud N. , Brown E. , Renwick L. , Behan C. , Clarke M.
Published: February 2021

Objectives:

When presenting with a first episode of psychosis (FEP), migrants can have different demographic and clinical characteristics to the native-born population and this was examined in an Irish Early Intervention for Psychosis service.

Methods:

All cases of treated FEP from three local mental health services within a defined catchment area were included. Psychotic disorder diagnoses were determined using the SCID and symptom and functioning domains were measured using validated and reliable measures.

Results:

From a cohort of 612 people, 21.1% were first-generation migrants and there was no difference in the demographic characteristics, diagnoses, symptoms or functioning between migrants and those born in the Republic of Ireland, except that migrants from Africa presented with less insight. Of those admitted, 48.6% of admissions for migrants were involuntary compared to 37.7% for the native-born population (p = 0.09).

Conclusions:

First-generation migrants now make up a significant proportion of people presenting with a FEP to an Irish EI for psychosis service. Broadly the demographic and clinical characteristics of migrants and those born in the Republic of Ireland are similar, except for less insight in migrants from Africa and a trend for a higher proportion of involuntary admissions in the total migrant group.
“Fraternal” Other: Negotiating Ethnic and Religious Identities at a Muslim Sacred Site in Northern Cyprus
Authors: Harmanşah Rabia
Published: February 2021

This article shows how everyday religious practices inform the processes of social identification, complicate presumed ethno-religious categories, and mediate local cultural differences in face of political and cultural hegemonic practices. In the context of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a de facto state recognized only by Turkey, Turkish Cypriots and Turks are considered to share an ethnicity and religion. This “overlap” has been employed to justify Turkey’s military intervention and its political, economic, and cultural domination over the island. Yet the cultural diversities and “perceived” differences between and among these groups are exacerbated by power dynamics, nationalist agendas, and mutual biases. The article explains subtle discussions around “genuine” Turkish and Muslim identities, as well as the enforced coexistence and constructed brotherhood of Cypriots and Turks on the island. The competing accounts of the “correct” interpretation of Islam at a Muslim tekke reflect intragroup power asymmetries and the conflict between institutionalized Sunni-Orthodox and “heterodox” local Islam. The article focuses on two overlooked issues in the scholarship on Northern Cyprus—the relations between Turkish Cypriots and settlers from Turkey, and the role of religion in the political processes—as well as on literature on shared sacred sites and an analysis of competitive intracommunal interactions.
Functional disability and the role of children in U.S. older adults’ core discussion networks
Authors: Schafer Markus H. , Upenieks Laura
Published: February 2021

This study considered the role of adult children in the core networks of U.S. older adults with varying levels of functional health. Taking a multidimensional perspective of the ego network system, we considered (a) presence of child(ren) in the network, (b) contact with children network members, and (c) embeddedness of children within the network. We observed older parents from three waves of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP). The common ‘important matters’ name generator was used to construct egocentric network variables, while self-reported difficulty with activities of daily life was used to measure disablement transitions. Parameters were estimated with Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE). Though child turnover was common in parents’ core networks, there was no evidence linking disablement transitions to systematic forms of child reshuffling. Children that remained in parents’ networks, however, showed increased contact with parents and with other members of the network when the parent underwent disability progression. Disability onset was not significantly linked to either outcome. There was limited evidence of gender variation in these patterns. Overall, results strengthen the view that children are distinctive members of older adults’ core networks. Further, the role of adult children shifts most noticeably at advanced stages of the disablement process.
Why Austerity? The Mass Politics of a Contested Policy
Authors: BANSAK KIRK , BECHTEL MICHAEL M. , MARGALIT YOTAM
Published: February 2021

The effects of austerity in response to financial crises are widely contested and assumed to cause significant electoral backlash. Nonetheless, governments routinely adopt austerity when confronting economic downturns and swelling deficits. We explore this puzzle by distinguishing public acceptance of austerity as a general approach and support for specific austerity packages. Using original survey data from five European countries, we show that austerity is in fact the preferred response among most voters. We develop potential explanations for this surprising preference and demonstrate the empirical limitations of accounts centered on economic interests or an intuitive framing advantage. Instead, we show that the preference for austerity is highly sensitive to its political backers and precise composition of spending cuts and tax hikes. Using a novel approach to estimate support for historical austerity programs, we contend that governments’ strategic crafting of policy packages is a key factor underlying the support for austerity.
Vernacular Capitalism and Intellectual History in a Gujarati Account of China, 1860–68
Authors: O'Sullivan Michael
Published: February 2021

This article examines one of the earliest Gujarati travelogues concerning China, written by Damodar Ishwardas—a Hindu resident of Bombay and a clerk for a Sunni Khoja commercial firm—and published in Bombay in 1868. Based on a three-year trip to the port cities of southern China, Ishwardas's text runs close to 400 pages and was patronized by a prominent stratum of Bombay's Gujarati-speaking commercial and bureaucratic elite. The primary intervention in this article is to analyze Ishwardas's account as a neglected relic of vernacular capitalism and vernacular intellectual history. Furthermore, the text presents an opportunity to reexamine the history of the Indian intellectual and mercantile engagement with late Qing China, especially before anticolonial nationalism and pan-Asianism supplied new paradigms for Indian writing on East Asia beginning around 1900. It further points to the many unstudied Indian materials that have yet to be integrated into the study of modern capitalism in the regions from the South China Sea to the western Indian Ocean.
Guidance for Health Risk Assessment at Recurrent Mass Gatherings: The Jeddah Tool Framework
Authors: Bieh Kingsley L. , Khan Anas , El-Ganainy Ahmed , Alotaibi Badriah , Ghallab Sujoud , Abdulmalek Nour , Mukhtar Nomai , Jokhdar Hani
Published: February 2021

A wide range of natural and man-made hazards increases the health risks at mass gatherings (MGs). Building on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed the Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management (H-EDRM) framework to strengthen preparedness, response, and recovery from health emergencies in the communities and emergency-prone settings, such as MGs. The Jeddah tool is derived from the H-EDRM framework as an all-hazard MG risk assessment tool, which provides a benchmark for monitoring progress made in capacity strengthening over a given period for recurrent MGs. Additionally, it introduces a reputational risk assessment domain to complement vulnerability and capacity assessment matrixes. This paper describes the key elements of the Jeddah tool to improve the understanding of health risk assessment at MGs in the overarching contexts of health emergencies and disaster risk reduction, in line with international goals.
From Reading to Rio: Oscar Wilde in Brazil
Authors: Forman Ross G.
Published: February 2021

This essay examines the reverberations of the Oscar Wilde trials in Brazil, using it to probe how a “widening” of Victorian studies might work and arguing that looking beyond the use nodes of comparison enriches our understanding of the long nineteenth century.
The Strange Ecologies of Empire
Authors: Roy Parama
Published: February 2021

This essay reads nineteenth-century imperial India as the mise en scène for certain critical concatenations of human sovereignty, divinity, and animality. It does so by focusing on the imperial state's war upon human and extrahuman forms of predation, showcasing in the process a cluster of texts on collective criminal activity, hunting, and popular religion and folklore that share certain grids of intelligibility and vocabularies of rule. Collocating these texts on human and nonhuman predation brings into visibility the degree to which imperial sovereignty in the Victorian period entails traffic across human and extrahuman domains. Thus, thinking about the sanctioned killing of fearsome animal predators comes to be twinned with thinking about wars of pacification against dangerous humans and noxious deities. To think imperial sovereignty consequently involves thinking with humans and animals but also thinking with mutually antagonistic theological forces, Hindu and Christian—and in thinking these together. An attentiveness to these heterogeneous ecologies of empire might serve to illuminate the degree to which the imperial project depends on a complex mesh of transversal and co-constitutive life-forms and forces.
Victorian Plants: Cosmopolitan and Invasive
Authors: Voskuil Lynn
Published: February 2021

The terms “cosmopolitan” and “invasive” name ideas that have long figured prominently in the practices, the methods, and the unexamined assumptions of Victorian studies. These categories also shape the study of plants, both now and in the nineteenth century, along with related terms like “native,” “exotic,” and “hybrid.” “Invasion biology,” for example, currently describes the study of how nonnative species spread around the world, and the phrase “nativism-cosmopolitanism dichotomy” has been used to describe the impasse between different approaches to global plant distribution and migration. This paper will put these variable disciplinary conceptions of “cosmopolitan” and “invasive” into conversation with each other, offering a methodological reflection with the goal of clarifying their meanings and applications in and for current scholarship of the Victorian period. If ecological uses of these ideas, like aesthetic and political uses, are rooted in the nineteenth century, their disparate strands have not yet been sufficiently disentangled. What difference does it make to speak of invasive plants as compared to human invaders? How does our sense of cosmopolitanism, empire, and invasion change when pressure is exerted from other fields? Perhaps most importantly, what are the ethical dimensions of these concepts, especially when nonhuman entities are included?
Bactrian χϸονο ‘(calendar) year, (regnal) year’
Authors: SCARBOROUGH MATTHEW J. C.
Published: February 2021

Since H. Humbach's Baktrische Sprachdenkmäler (Wiesbaden, 1966) the main etymological proposal for Bactrian χϸονο ‘(calendar) year, (regnal) year’ has been A. Thierfelder's suggestion of a loanword from Hellenistic Greek χρόνος ‘time’. In this article the plausibility of this etymology is re-examined, and it is further argued that it should be rejected on the grounds that the formal phonological differences between the potential Hellenistic Greek source form and its presumable loan-adaptation form in Bactrian are inconsistent with what is known of Bactrian diachronic phonology.
EQUILIBRIUM INDETERMINACY, ENDOGENOUS ENTRY AND EXIT, AND INCREASING RETURNS TO SPECIALIZATION
Authors: Chen Shu-Hua , Guo Jang-Ting
Published: February 2021

This paper systematically examines the interrelations between equilibrium indeterminacy, endogenous entry and exit of intermediate input firms, and increasing returns to specialization within two versions of a parsimonious one-sector monopolistically competitive RBC model. The technology for producing an intermediate good is postulated to display internal increasing returns to scale in our benchmark framework, whereas positive productive externalities are considered in the alternative setting. We analytically show that either formulation will exhibit belief-driven cyclical fluctuations provided the equilibrium wage-hours locus is positively sloped and steeper than the household’s labor supply curve. We also find thatceteris paribusour alternative macroeconomy is more susceptible to indeterminacy and sunspots than the baseline counterpart.
Prebiotic studies on the interaction of zirconia nanoparticles and ribose nucleotides and their role in chemical evolution
Authors: Arora Avnish Kumar , Kumar Pankaj
Published: February 2021

Studies on the interaction of biomolecules with inorganic compounds, mainly mineral surfaces, are of great concern in identifying their role in chemical evolution and origins of life. Metal oxides are the major constituents of earth and earth-like planets. Hence, studies on the interaction of biomolecules with these minerals are the point of concern for the study of the emergence of life on different planets. Zirconium oxide is one of the metal oxides present in earth's crust as it is a part of several types of rocks found in sandy areas such as beaches and riverbeds, e.g. pebbles of baddeleyite. Different metal oxides have been studied for their role in chemical evolution but no studies have been reported about the role of zirconium oxide in chemical evolution and origins of life. Therefore, studies were carried out on the interaction of ribonucleic acid constituents, 5′-CMP (cytidine monophosphate), 5′-UMP (uridine monophosphate), 5′-GMP (guanosine monophosphate) and 5′-AMP (adenosine monophosphate), with zirconium oxide. Synthesized zirconium oxide particles were characterized by using vibrating sample magnetometer, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy. Zirconia particles were in the nanometre range, from 14 to 27 nm. The interaction of zirconium oxide with ribonucleic acid constituents was performed in the concentration range of 5 × 10−5–300 × 10−5 M. Interaction studies were carried out in three mediums; acidic (pH 4.0), neutral (pH 7.0) and basic (pH 9.0). At neutral pH, maximum interaction was observed. The interaction of zirconium oxide with 5′-UMP was 49.45% and with 5′-CMP 67.98%, while with others it was in between. Interaction studies were Langmurian in nature. Xm and KL values were calculated. Infrared spectral studies of ribonucleotides, metal oxide and ribonucleotide–metal oxide adducts were carried out to find out the interactive sites. It was observed that the nitrogen base and phosphate moiety of ribonucleotides interact with the positive charge surface of metal oxide. SEM was also carried out to study the adsorption. The results of the present study favour the important role of zirconium oxide in concentrating the organic molecules from their dilute aqueous solutions in primeval seas.
Response to “Comment on the Paper “Characteristic Time Scales of Decadal to Centennial Changes in Global Surface Temperatures Over the Past 150 years” by Y. Cuypers, F. Codron, and M. Crepon”
Authors: Le Mouël J. L. , Lopes F. , Courtillot V.
Published: February 2021

We thank the authors (hereafter referred to as CCC) for providing us an opportunity to clarify some points of our original paper. CCC list in their abstract three “key points”that we respond to in this Reply. The first comment is the central one and the most developed. It deals mainly with discussion of features of methods of spectral analysis, mainly SSA. We have quoted the sub‐parts of that comment as items 1a to 1k. The replies to comments/key points 2 and 3 are shorter. We disagree with most of the comments by CCC and explain why. We conclude that we have successfully countered CCC's criticism and shown many of their points to be unsubstantiated. The main problem seems to reside in differences concerning the literature on Singular Spectral Analysis and our use of it. Much of our response to the comments can be found in textbooks and review papers on SSA and time series analysis; we quote extensively, both in our original paper and in this response to CCC, Golyandina and Zhigljavsky (2013).
Understanding communicative intentions in schizophrenia using an error analysis approach
Authors: Parola Alberto , Brasso Claudio , Morese Rosalba , Rocca Paola , Bosco Francesca M.
Published: February 2021

Patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) have a core impairment in the communicative-pragmatic domain, characterized by severe difficulties in correctly inferring the speaker’s communicative intentions. While several studies have investigated pragmatic performance of patients with SCZ, little research has analyzed the errors committed in the comprehension of different communicative acts. The present research investigated error patterns in 24 patients with SCZ and 24 healthy controls (HC) during a task assessing the comprehension of different communicative acts, i.e., sincere, deceitful and ironic, and their relationship with the clinical features of SCZ. We used signal detection analysis to quantify participants’ ability to correctly detect the speakers’ communicative intention, i.e., sensitivity, and their tendency to wrongly perceive a communicative intention when not present, i.e., response bias. Further, we investigated the relationship between sensitivity and response bias, and the clinical features of the disorder, namely symptom severity, pharmacotherapy, and personal and social functioning. The results showed that the ability to infer the speaker’s communicative intention is impaired in SCZ, as patients exhibited lower sensitivity, compared to HC, for all the pragmatic phenomena evaluated, i.e., sincere, deceitful, and ironic communicative acts. Further, we found that the sensitivity measure for irony was related to disorganized/concrete symptoms. Moreover, patients with SCZ showed a stronger response bias for deceitful communicative acts compared to HC: when committing errors, they tended to misattribute deceitful intentions more often than sincere and ironic ones. This tendency to misattribute deceitful communicative intentions may be related to the attributional bias characterizing the disorder.
Avolition as the core negative symptom in schizophrenia: relevance to pharmacological treatment development
Authors: Strauss Gregory P. , Bartolomeo Lisa A. , Harvey Philip D.
Published: February 2021

Negative symptoms have long been considered a core component of schizophrenia. Modern conceptualizations of the structure of negative symptoms posit that there are at least two broad dimensions (motivation and pleasure and diminished expression) or perhaps five separable domains (avolition, anhedonia, asociality, blunted affect, alogia). The current review synthesizes a body of emerging research indicating that avolition may have a special place among these dimensions, as it is generally associated with poorer outcomes and may have distinct neurobiological mechanisms. Network analytic findings also indicate that avolition is highly central and interconnected with the other negative symptom domains in schizophrenia, and successfully remediating avolition results in global improvement in the entire constellation of negative symptoms. Avolition may therefore reflect the most critical treatment target within the negative symptom construct. Implications for targeted treatment development and clinical trial design are discussed.