bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Elevated ectodomain of type 23 collagen is a novel biomarker of the intestinal epithelium to monitor disease activity in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease
Authors: Manon‐Jensen T. , Sun S. , Lindholm M. , Domislović V. , Giuffrida P. , Brinar M. , Mazza G. , Pinzani M. , Krznarić Z. , Di Sabatino A. , Karsdal M. A. , Mortensen J. H.
Published: December 2020

Background

Impaired intestinal epithelial barrier is highly affected in inflammatory bowel disease. Transmembrane collagens connecting the epithelial cells to the extracellular matrix have an important role in epithelial cell homeostasis. Thus, we sought to determine whether the transmembrane type 23 collagen could serve as a surrogate marker for disease activity in patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Methods

We developed an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay to detect the ectodomain of type 23 collagen (PRO‐C23) in serum, followed by evaluation of its levels in both acute and chronic dextran sulphate sodium colitis models in rats and human inflammatory bowel disease cohorts. Serum from 44 Crohn's disease and 29 ulcerative colitis patients with active and inactive disease was included.

Results

In the acute and chronic dextran sulphate sodium‐induced rat colitis model, the PRO‐C23 serum levels were significantly increased after colitis and returned to normal levels after disease remission. Serum levels of PRO‐C23 were elevated in Crohn's disease (p < 0.05) and ulcerative colitis (p < 0.001) patients with active disease compared to healthy donors. PRO‐C23 differentiated healthy donors from ulcerative colitis (area under the curve [AUC]: 0.81, p = 0.0009) and Crohn's disease (AUC: 0.70, p = 0.0124). PRO‐C23 differentiated ulcerative colitis patients with active disease from those in remission (AUC: 0.75, p = 0.0219) and Crohn's disease patients with active disease from those in remission (AUC: 0.68, p = 0.05).

Conclusion

PRO‐C23 was elevated in rats with active colitis, and inflammatory bowel disease patients with active disease. Therefore, PRO‐C23 may be used as a surrogate marker for monitoring disease activity in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.
PERMISSION TO WRITE
Authors: Karlsson Leena
Published: December 2020

In this narrative auto-ethnographic paper, I experiment with a version of “post-academic” writing. I explore how I could improve and develop my craft as a narrative inquirer and strengthen my written voice as an expression of my practitioner-researcher autonomy. I tell the story of two writers, myself and Laura, my student, by bringing us as characters into the same story. We are both students of writing and in the process of developing our thinking and awareness of educational experience through our writing. We use writing as inquiry, as a method, and our texts emerge from the shared storytelling world of language counselling. We both experiment with personal reflective writing as a way of claiming ownership of this open-ended writing practice and of expressing our autonomy. In this paper, I give glimpses of our stories with a view to how Laura’s story worked on me as a practitioner-researcher and a scholarly writer.
CONSTRUIRE UNE IDENTITE BELGE HORS DE L’HEXAGONE
Authors: Renouprez Martine
Published: December 2020

Cet article a pour objectif d’offrir un parcours des mythes identitaires en Belgique francophone en montrant qu’ils relèvent de la structure propre au symbole. Dans l’introduction, nous présentons une synthèse des mythes identitaires relevés par Jean-Marie Klinkenberg du point de vue méthodologique de la sociologie de la littérature. Nous explorons ensuite les mythes contemporains sous le prisme de témoignages d’écrivains et d’artistes publiés par Jacques Sojcher, d’une part, et des Petites mythologies belges de Jean-Marie Klinkenberg, d’autre part. Nous concluons sur l’idée de l’enracinement des mythes en Belgique dans la réconciliation des éléments contraires, un idéal qui fonde l’inconscient du pays.
Oblique injection depth correction by a two parallel OCT sensor guided handheld SMART injector
Authors: Im Jintaek , Song Cheol
Published: December 2020

We present a SMART injector with two parallel common-path optical coherence tomography fibers to enable angle measurements and injection depth corrections for oblique subretinal injection. The two optical fibers are attached to opposite sides of a 33 G needle with known offsets and designed to pass through a 23 G trocar that has an inner diameter of 0.65 mm. By attaching a SMART system to a rotational stage, the measured angles are calibrated for minimal error from reference angles. A commercial eye model was used to evaluate the control performance, and injection experiments were performed on a phantom made of agarose gel and a porcine eye.
Measuring ocular torsion and its variations using different nonmydriatic fundus photographic methods
Authors: Kang Hyunkyoo , Lee Sang Jae , Shin Hyun Jin , Lee Andrew G.
Published: December 2020

Purpose

To compare the variations in ocular torsion measurements made using different fundus photographic methods.

Methods

We enrolled subjects with three conditions: (1) patients with intermittent exotropia (IXT) (n = 44), (2) patients with unilateral superior oblique palsy (SOP) (n = 10), and (3) normal subjects as controls (n = 85). Ocular torsion was measured by disc-center–fovea angle (DFA) using three different imaging modalities: (1) conventional fundus photography (CFP) with a 45° field of view (FV), (2) wide-field fundus photography (WFP) with a 200° FV, and (3) optical coherence tomography (OCT) with a 55° FV.

Results

In the IXT group, the DFAs in the right and left eyes were 5.70±3.35° and 6.37±3.36°, respectively, for CFP, 8.39±5.24° and 8.61±3.67° for WFP, and 5.73±3.61° for 6.16±3.50° for OCT. In the SOP group, the DFAs in paretic and nonparetic eyes were 12.19±1.69° and 6.71±1.09°, respectively, for CFP, 14.29±2.36° and 8.23±3.31° for WFP, and 12.12±1.73° and 6.91±1.12° for OCT. In the control group, the DFAs in the right and left eyes were 5.39±2.65° and 5.71±3.16°, respectively, for CFP, 8.77±5.56° and 8.90±6.24° for WFP, and 5.27±2.67° and 5.72±3.20° for OCT. There was no difference between the results from CFP and OCT among the three groups. However, the torsional angle was larger when measured using WFP than the other two photographic methods (CFP and OCT) in all three groups (all p<0.05).

Conclusion

The ocular torsion measurement varies with the fundus photographic method used to measure it. Clinicians should be careful to avoid overestimating ocular extorsion when it is evaluated using WFP.
Öffentliche Bibliotheken als dritte Orte und Bildungsgerechtigkeit in Zeiten von Covid-19
Authors: Thiele Katja , Klagge Britta
Published: December 2020

Die Corona-Krise hat weitreichende Konsequenzen für den Betrieb kommunaler Einrichtungen in ganz Europa. Besonders die freiwilligen Einrichtungen der kulturellen Bildung wie Öffentliche Bibliotheken, die jenseits der formalen Bildung einen Beitrag zur Bildungsgerechtigkeit leisten, wurden geschlossen. Öffentliche Bibliotheken mussten ihre Dienstleistungen und Angebote anpassen und neue Formate entwickeln. Der Beitrag zeigt die aktuellen Entwicklungen in Deutschland und Europa auf und beleuchtet die Folgen für die Bildungsgerechtigkeit in Städten und Kommunen.
Taylor Series Based Numerical Integration Method
Authors: Veigend Petr , Nečasová Gabriela , Šátek Václav
Published: December 2020

This article deals with a high order integration method based on the Taylor series. The paper shows many positive properties of this method on a set of technical initial value problems. These problems can be transformed into the autonomous systems of ordinary differential equations for both linear and nonlinear problems. The MATLAB implementation of the method is compared with state-of-the-art MATLAB solvers.
Our Atoms, Ourselves: Lucretius on the Psychology of Personal Identity (DRN3.843–864)
Authors: Lentricchia Maeve
Published: December 2020

In Epicurean cosmology, material reconstitution, orpalingenesis(παλιγγενεσία) is the necessary consequence of the infinity of time and the eternity of atoms. I examine Lucretius’ treatment of this phenomenon (DRN3.843–864) and consider the extent to which his view enables us to develop an Epicurean response to the question: what makes a person at two different times one and the same person? I offer a reading of this passage in the light of modern accounts of persistence and identity, and what Lucretius states in Books 3 and 4 about memory and the soul’s motions. Guided by the metaphysical implications of this analysis, I determine the type of relation which, according to Lucretius, holds between the mental and the physical.
Examination of preferences in the field of mobility of the city of Pila in terms of services provided by the Municipal Transport Company in Pila
Authors: Gorzelanczyk Piotr
Published: December 2020

The aim of the article is to learn about the mobility preferences of the inhabitants of the city of Pila in terms of services provided by the Municipal Transport Company in Pila (MTC). The research aims to improve the quality of services provided by MTC. The article characterizes the concept of urban transport and mobility, and then proposes a mobility model that takes into account the preferences of residents when choosing a means of transport.

This model was analyzed in the form of a questionnaire survey. In which, inter alia, o user data (sex, age, place of residence), information on the mobility structure, travel organization, selection criteria of the analyzed means of transport, i.e. public transport (e.g. cost, time, comfort, safety, punctuality and frequency of travel). Based on the research, it can be concluded that the inhabitants of Pila choose public transport because they do not have a driving license, they download information about the timetable from the Internet, buses in Pila are punctual, comfortable, safe, and drivers and ticket inspectors are usually polite, buses should run more often, they are incorrectly synchronized, a new bus line should be open and the ticket machine is easy to use. In addition, the residents of Pila do not know what the Dynamic Passenger Information System is, but they would like to use the mobile application showing the actual time of arrival of the bus.
Dual circular slot ring triple-band MIMO antenna for 5G applications
Authors: Kumar Anand , Mahto Santosh Kumar , Sinha Rashmi , Choubey Arvind
Published: December 2020

A Triple-band Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna for 5G mobile terminal applications is proposed in this paper. The design comprises four-port/two resonators, each having two concentric circular slot ring radiators etched on a ground plane of size 50 mm 

×

${\times}$

 50 mm. The antenna is fed by perpendicularly arranged 50 Ω microstrip line feeds on the top layer. Decoupling techniques were used to suppress mutual coupling between the two resonators. The perpendicular arrangement of the feed lines and port reduces mutual coupling between the two ports and increases isolation. The antenna operates in multiple bands: 3.35–3.69 GHz, 24–28 GHz, and 37–40 GHz frequency range with central frequencies at 3.5 GHz, 26 GHz, and 38 GHz, respectively allocated for 5G. The antenna provides a gain of 2.7–7.8 dB and a radiation efficiency of 0.49–0.85 in the operating bands. Diversity performance is studied in terms of the Envelop Correlation Coefficient (ECC), Diversity Gain (DG), and Total Active Reflection Coefficient (TARC) were found to be less than 0.01, greater than 9.99 dB, and less than −10 dB respectively. The proposed antenna offers good S-parameters, voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR), TARC, radiation pattern, high gain, and low ECC. The antenna was fabricated and tested. The measured results and simulated results are in good agreement. It possesses sufficient potential for 5G mobile terminal and smart wearable applications.
On a class of nonlinear elliptic problems with obstacle
Authors: Aharouch Lahsen , Kbiri Alaoui Mohammed , Di Fazio Giuseppe , Altanji Mohamed
Published: December 2020

This paper deals with the existence and regularity of some unilateral problem associated to a nonlinear equation of type

-

div
⁡

(

a
⁢

(
x
,
u
,

∇
⁡
u

)

)

+

H
⁢

(
x
,
u
,

∇
⁡
u

)

=
f

{-\operatorname{div}(a(x,u,\nabla u))+H(x,u,\nabla u)=f}

.
Law as a culturally constituted sign-system – A space for interpretation
Authors: Anne Wagner , Matulewska Aleksandra , Cheng Le
Published: December 2020

The aim of the paper is to discuss legal language systems as culturally constituted sign-systems that are continuously evolving in time and space. To understand messages formulated in legal languages, one needs to realize that law is culture-bound, which in turn means that law reflects society’s mentality, tolerance, knowledge, social perceptions, etc. At the same time, law is a living reality impacted by various global phenomena and other legal systems. Therefore, this legal reality has “divergent potentialities” (Hasegawa, Ko. 2016. “A glance at the dynamics of ‘confluence’ in a legal system – notes on H. Patrick Glenn’s insights concerningLegal Traditions of the World”. InTransnational Legal Theory. Vol. 7/1: 1–8, 3), which enable it to develop in various directions depending on wider social, political and technological contexts. Additionally, when communicating law interlingually and intralingually, one needs to take into account the knowledge of senders and recipients since the degree of commensurability of law depends on the uniformity of interpretation on meanings. When discussing the issues of sign meaning interpretation, the authors will focus on non-decomposable units and fuzzy units. The meaning of such terms is subject to interpretation through the prism of tacit knowledge. Therefore, the interpretation of any culturally constituted sign-system is burdened with some loss of information and meaning deficiency.
Some perturbed inequalities of Ostrowski type for high-order differentiable functions and applications
Authors: Erden Samet , Sarikaya Mehmet Zeki
Published: December 2020

We firstly establish inequalities for functions whose high degree
derivatives are convex via an equality which was presented previously. Then
we derive inequalities for functions whose high-order derivatives are
absolutely continuous by using the same equality. In addition, we examine
connections between inequalities obtained in earlier works and our
results. Finally, some estimates of composite quadrature rules are given.
Collective Military Resistance and Popular Power: Views from the Late Republic (90–31 BC)
Authors: Machado Dominic
Published: December 2020

This article attempts to read the phenomenon of collective resistance in the Roman army of the Late Republic as political action. Taking my inspiration from post-colonial theories of popular power, I contend that we should not understand acts of collective resistance in military settings as simple events activated by a singular cause, but rather as expressions of individual and collective grievances with the status quo. Indeed, the variant practices of military recruitment in the Late Republic, and the exploitative nature of Rome’s imperial rule put oppressed groups – Italians, provincials, and former slaves – in constant contact with the state apparatus. Thus, military service offered an essential space for political action in the first century BC. These findings help us to better understand how popular power could be realized beyond traditional institutional settings in this period.
The effect of bee pollen on reproductive and biochemical parameters in methotrexate-induced testicular damage in adult rats
Authors: Saral Ozlem , Dokumacioglu Eda , Saral Sinan , Sumer Aysegul , Bulmus Ozgur , Kaya Seyma Ozer , Canpolat Sinan
Published: December 2020

Objectives

Methotrexate (MTX) is an anticancer drug used in chemotherapy. MTX was known for its toxic effects involving most of the organs including testis. Bee pollen is healthy food for human and has antioxidant effect. We intended to determine protective effect of bee pollen against testicular injury caused by MTX in rats.

Methods

Thirty-two adult Sprague Dawley male rats were used, and 4 groups were formed: control, MTX, pollen, and MTX + pollen. Rats were given pollen at a dose of 400 mg/kg with intragastric gavage for 10 days. On day 7, MTX was administered a single dose of 30 mg/kg ip. Serum testosterone and LH, tissue MDA level, and SOD and CAT enzyme activities were examined. In addition, spermatological parameters were evaluated.

Results

MDA level and SOD activity increased while testosterone level decreased significantly in the MTX group compared to the control group. In the MTX + pollen group, MDA level and SOD activity decreased while testosterone level increased. There was no significant change in CAT activity and LH values. Abnormal sperm ratio decreased in the MTX + pollen group compared to the MTX group.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that bee pollen has a healing effect on reproductive parameters in testicular damage caused by MTX.
When is a Match Sufficient? A Score-based Balance Metric for the Synthetic Control Method
Authors: Parast Layla , Hunt Priscillia , Griffin Beth Ann , Powell David
Published: December 2020

In some applications, researchers using the synthetic control method (SCM) to evaluate the effect of a policy may struggle to determine whether they have identified a “good match” between the control group and treated group. In this paper, we demonstrate the utility of the mean and maximum Absolute Standardized Mean Difference (ASMD) as a test of balance between a synthetic control unit and treated unit, and provide guidance on what constitutes a poor fit when using a synthetic control. We explore and compare other potential metrics using a simulation study. We provide an application of our proposed balance metric to the 2013 Los Angeles (LA) Firearm Study [9]. Using Uniform Crime Report data, we apply the SCM to obtain a counterfactual for the LA firearm-related crime rate based on a weighted combination of control units in a donor pool of cities. We use this counterfactual to estimate the effect of the LA Firearm Study intervention and explore the impact of changing the donor pool and pre-intervention duration period on resulting matches and estimated effects. We demonstrate how decision-making about the quality of a synthetic control can be improved by using ASMD. The mean and max ASMD clearly differentiate between poor matches and good matches. Researchers need better guidance on what is a meaningful imbalance between synthetic control and treated groups. In addition to the use of gap plots, the proposed balance metric can provide an objective way of determining fit.
Stability estimates for reconstruction from the Fourier transform on the ball
Authors: Isaev Mikhail , Novikov Roman G.
Published: December 2020

We prove Hölder-logarithmic stability estimates
for the problem of finding an integrable function v on

ℝ
d

{{\mathbb{R}}^{d}}

with a super-exponential decay at infinity
from its Fourier transform

ℱ
⁢
v

{\mathcal{F}v}

given on the ball

B
r

{B_{r}}

. These estimates arise from a Hölder-stable extrapolation of

ℱ
⁢
v

{\mathcal{F}v}

from

B
r

{B_{r}}

to a larger ball.
We also present instability examples showing an optimality of our results.
A comprehensive road map of modern communication through free-space optics
Authors: Sahoo Pritam Keshari , Yadav Ajay Kumar
Published: December 2020

Free-space optical communication (FSO) has emerged as an opportunity for future generation high-speed wireless communication, substituting its radio frequency (RF) counterpart. Considering few fiber optics limitations, FSO has been gaining its popularity since last three decades. FSO has a wide band of operational frequencies ranging from far infrared (IR) to ultraviolet (UV). This review article basically talks about the use of near IR frequency advantages for FSO applications. Through this manuscript, authors try to reinforce a detail background knowledge about FSO through various evolutions by systems and techniques. There are many applications of FSO that have been discussed and experimented in many research publications through the years, but this review article presents an in-depth analysis of various challenges and system failures due to remote hindrances. Finally, the authors have briefed some performance enhancement techniques through several physical and network layer methods. Through this, the authors present a comprehensive review on FSO communication systems appropriately for learners and young researchers who are at their early stage in research on FSO.
Evaluation of hydration status of children with obesity—a pilot study
Authors: Celik Akif , Cebeci Ayse Nurcan
Published: December 2020

Objectives

To compare the hydration status between children with obesity and normal-weighted children and to determine whether obesity is related to less water consumption.

Methods

Children aged between 7 and 18 years with obesity (Group 1, n=31) were compared with nonobese healthy volunteers (Group 2, n=30) in terms of body composition analysis, urine density and daily fluid intake.

Results

The fluid intake per body surface of Group 1 was found significantly less than Group 2 (p<0.001). The urine density was found significantly higher in Group 1 (1020 (10) vs. 1015(10), p<0.001). Subjects in Group 1 had a higher percentage of body fat (p<0.001), lower percentages of total body water and fat-free mass (p=0.007 and <0.001, respectively). While 55% of subjects in Group 1 satisfied the recommended daily fluid intake, this was 80% in Group 2 (p=0.036). The consumption of SSBs was 71% in Group 1 and 20% in Group 2, with higher amount in Group 1 (median 200 vs. 0 mL, p<0.001).

Conclusions

Children with obesity had less fluid consumption, lower TBW percentages and higher urine density. The results of this cross-sectional study showed that children with obesity were less hydrated than normal weighted children.
Perinatal outcome of in vitro fertilization pregnancies in women with polycystic ovary syndrome by pregravid BMI
Authors: Abdulkhalikova Dzhamilyat , Korošec Sara , Blickstein Isaac , Tul Nataša , Bokal Eda Vrtačnik , Ban Frangez Helena
Published: December 2020

Objectives

Given the adverse effects of either polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) or overweight/obesity, one could speculate that patients with both would fare worse than others. We sought to evaluate the relationship between pregravid BMI and pregnancy complications in PCOS patients conceived by assisted reproductive techniques (ART).

Methods

Maternal and fetal/neonatal outcomes of singleton pregnancies after assisted reproduction in women with and without PCOS were compared by pregravid body mass index (BMI, <24.9 vs. ≥25 kg/cm2).

Results

The study population comprised 185 with a BMI <24.9 kg/cm2 including 39 (21%) with PCOS and 146 (79%) without. We also included 84 patients with BMI ≥25 kg/cm2, involving 34 (40.5%) with PCOS and 50 (59.5%) without. PCOS (total 73 patients) was significantly more common among overweight/obese patients, OR 2.5 (95% CI 1.4, 4.4). Neonates >4,000 g were born only to the overweight/obese mothers in the PCOS group. A higher incidence of gestational diabetes, chronic hypertension, and gestational hypertension was related to pregravid overweight/obesity rather than PCOS.

Conclusions

In this specific subgroup of patients conceived after assisted reproduction, pregravid BMI>25 kg/cm2 rather than PCOS itself appears to be associated with GDM and hypertensive disorders.
Objects and materiality in pragmatic development: Here-and-now to then and-there
Authors: Geenen Jarret
Published: December 2020

Language acquisition involves more than learning how to produce words in complex strings. It involves a diversity of aptitudes about how, when, with whom and in what way to use language abilities. While it is acknowledged that these skills are learned through social interaction (Blum-Kulka, S. (1997). Dinner talk: cultural patterns of sociability and socialization in family discourse. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc, Mahwah, NJ; Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. Oxford University Press, Oxford), our understanding about precisely how they emerge and how they are taught and learned remains preliminary at best. Additionally, much of our understanding is strictly limited to spoken language. The analysis and arguments herein detail the consequentiality of child directed interaction strategies (CDIS) which facilitate non-verbal actions and motivate episodic retrospection, making a tangible link between the current interaction and past experiences. Through a multimodal interaction analysis (Author and Pirini, J. (2020). Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis. In McKinley, J. and Rose, H. (Eds.) The Routledge handbook of research methods in applied linguistics. Rouledge, London, pp. 488–499; Norris, S. (2004). Analyzing multimodal interaction: a methodological framework. Routledge, London. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203379493; Norris, S. (2011). Identity in (inter)action: introducing Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis. de Gruyter Mouton, Berlin & New York. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781934078280; Norris, S. (2019). Systematically working with multimodal data: research methods in multimodal discourse analysis. Wiley Blackwell, Hoboken, NJ; Pirini, J. (2014). Introduction to Multimodal (Inter)action Analysis. In: Norris, S. and Maier, C. (Eds.). Interactions, texts and images: a reader in multimodality. Mouton de Gruyter, New York. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614511175.77) of the practice of showing material objects during interaction, I show that non-verbal action, material culture and the physical world are crucial to developing a certain socio-cognitive pragmatic aptitude. CDIS motivating ‘showing’ of tangible objects of personal significance may be the non-verbal antecedent of selecting and introducing new topics during interaction. These CDIS defer interactional agency and motivate non-verbal communicative actions more comfortably within the zone of proximal development. Importantly, the materiality of the objects themselves are of fleeting interactional priority. Instead, the objects provide a bridge between materiality in the here-and-now to past experiences in the there-and-then. Facilitating non-verbal actions of showing help motivate explorations of episodic memory by creating a tangible and immediate link within the unfolding interaction.
The lattices of 𝔏-fuzzy state filters in state residuated lattices
Authors: He Pengfei , Wang Juntao , Yang Jiang
Published: December 2020

In the paper, we introduce 𝔏-fuzzy state filters in state residuated lattices and investigate their related properties, where 𝔏 is a complete Heyting algebra. Moreover, we study the 𝔏-fuzzy state co-annihilator of an 𝔏-fuzzy set with respect to an 𝔏-fuzzy state filter. Finally, using the 𝔏-fuzzy state co-annihilator, we investigate lattice structures of the set of some types of 𝔏-fuzzy state filters in state residuated lattices. In particular, we prove that: (1) the set FSF[L] of all 𝔏-fuzzy state filters is a complete Heyting algebra; (2) the set Sν

FSF[L] of all stable state filters relative to an 𝔏-fuzzy set ν is also a complete Heyting algebra; (3) the set Iμ

FSF[L] of all involutory 𝔏-fuzzy state filters relative to an 𝔏-fuzzy state filter μ is a complete Boolean algebra.
Changing one’s mind: Reconsidering Fisch’s idea of framework transitions in (partly) Kierkegaardian fashion
Authors: Schulz Heiko
Published: December 2020

The article critically engages Menachem Fisch’s account of normative frameworks, in particular of (rational) transitions between them. I argue, first, that exposure to the normative criticism leveled at us by other human beings is indeed “capable of destabilizing normative commitment” to one’s own underlying framework beliefs and standards, as Fisch holds; however, closer scrutiny reveals that such exposure is neither sufficient nor necessary but rather accidental in this respect. Second, I will try to show that Søren Kierkegaard’s account of how people fundamentally change their mind provides resources for both a substantial critique of Fisch and a more adequate understanding of the transitions in question. The article argues, third, that Fisch’s framework model – though meaningful, in fact heuristically indispensable in and as of itself – has robust transcendental implications which as such are being ignored, if not directly denied by Fisch and, precisely by being ignored or denied, unnecessarily weaken the overall plausibility of his account. Finally, and ex post, I will address an important objection raised by some commentators.
Non-native EFL teachers’ email productionand perceptions of e-(im)politeness
Authors: Economidou-Kogetsidis Maria , Woodfield Helen , Savvidou Christine
Published: December 2020

The present study investigates the nature of email requests to faculty produced by non-native speaker (NNS) teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL), the importance attached by these teachers to linguistic forms designed to achieve email politeness and status-congruence, and the extent to which perceptions and evaluations by the NNS teachers and native-speaker (NS) lecturers might differ with regard to these emails. The study found that the non-native speaker teachers (NNSTs) evidenced a developed sense of sociopragmatic knowledge in high imposition L2 requests for action, and employed politeness strategies that were indicative of a concern to maintain social and face relationships in virtual consultations. It is argued that despite their advanced English language proficiency, the teachers’ reliance on directness, excessive formality, and lengthy grounders could still put them out-of-status and render their emails as pragmatically inappropriate. The study further confirmed significant differences in how the two groups perceive appropriateness and politeness in direct and unmodified student email requests to faculty. Overall, while the NSs judged the emails primarily according to their content and, to a lesser extent, according to their form and framing devices, the NNSTs focused almost exclusively on form and framing devices (in/formality, in/directness, nature and extent of mitigation, opening/closing moves, forms of address).
Testing the Effectiveness of Outlier Detecting Methods in Property Classification
Authors: Gnat Sebastian
Published: December 2020

The introduction of the property value tax in Poland may lead to an increase in the tax burden on real estate. Pilot studies may be carried out on samples and the results should feature a high degree of certainty as to the extrapolation of the results on populations (e.g. entire municipalities). Each study may, for various reasons, include outliers in the analyzed data sets. If their presence results from measurement errors or other reasons that cause such observations not to be the result of naturally occurring processes, they should be omitted in the calculations, because they interfere with the study of the occurring regularities.

The study presents the results of statistical modelling carried out to determine whether individual objects (land properties), due to their attributes, are at risk of increasing the tax burden as a result of the introduction ofad valoremtax. First, logistic regression model estimation was carried out for the entire set of analyzed properties. Next, several methods of outlier detection were applied, and model estimation was repeated without the observations, i.e. real estates, pointed out as abnormal.

The objective of the study is to verify the usefulness of outlier detecting methods in the context of improving the classification results of the analyzed properties.
Un caso de variación pragmático-discursiva:queinicial en tres variedades dialectales del español
Authors: Gras Pedro , Sansiñena María Sol
Published: December 2020

This paper presents a corpus-based interactional analysis of non-embedded indicativeque-clauses (IQCs) in three regional varieties of Spanish (Madrid, Spain; Santiago de Chile, Chile; and Buenos Aires, Argentina), using data from the corpus COLA (Corpus Oral del Lenguaje Adolescente). On the one hand, we show that IQCs exhibit regional variation regarding the discourse contexts in which they appear: not all contexts are equally available for each regional variety. Moreover, we argue that this variation can be placed on a cline that ranges from high discourse dependency to low discourse dependency, which might, in turn, suggest a divergent evolution of IQCs in the dialectal spectrum of Spanish. On the other hand, our analysis complements previous typologies of IQCs in two respects: (i) it describes the discourse contexts in which different types of IQCs are used, and (ii) it shows specific contexts and interpretations that had not been explicitly acknowledged in existing generative studies.
The intersemiotic affordances of photography and poetry
Authors: Langmann Sten , Gardner Paul
Published: December 2020

This article explores the intersemiotic affordances of photography and poetry and the expansion of meaning that surpasses the meanings embedded in and elicited from both. We specifically investigate the processes and mechanisms of this semantic expansion by systematically reconstructing the compositional process of poems written from three photographs and forensically investigate how the poems emerged out of each visual frame. We discovered that intersemiosis between photography and poetry demonstrates a strong interpretative component. Intra-semiotic connections between elements within the photograph are interpreted by the viewer or writer and are translated by means of inter-semiotic triggers into intra-semiotic connections within the emerging poem during the process of composition. The resulting inter-semiotic connections between the photograph and the poem create and multiply meaning for both mediums together and independently. In other words, in the process of composition, the poem reads the meanings of components of the photograph framed by the photographer and super-frames them; creating a new frame of meanings that draw upon, and extend, meanings in the original frame of the photograph. At the same time, the poem enters a stage of self-change and self-reflection, inhabiting the life of the photograph.
Ewiger Mensch oder unsterbliche Maschine? Spiritual Care zwischen Transhumanismus und digitalem Kapitalismus
Authors: Krohn Michael
Published: December 2020

Künstliche Intelligenz (KI) hat die Macht, unseren Umgang mit Sterben und Tod dramatisch zu verändern. Damit ist in einer modernen kapitalistischen Gesellschaft das lukrative Ziel verbunden, die Lebensspanne der Patienten/-innen im Gesundheitssystem zu verlängern. In Verbindung mit dem technologischen Optimismus der philosophischen Strömung des Transhumanismus führt dies zukünftig zu grundlegenden neuen Herausforderungen für Spiritual Care.
Suggestive Landscape
Authors: Turner Mark
Published: December 2020

Blended Classic Joint Attention (BCJA) can deploy blends of form-meaning pairs across multiple modalities to suggest paths along which to construct meaning rather than to make assertions or convey information. An illustration is provided of suggestive landscapes, focusing on blended classic joint attention in the construal of an American college campus.
POLYCLONAL ANTIBODIES AGAINST HUMAN PLASMINOGEN: PURIFICATION, CHARACTERIZATION AND APPLICATION
Authors:   Palladin Institute of Biochemistry of NAS of Ukraine, Yatsenko T. A.
Published: December 2020

The plasminogen/plasmin system plays a crucial role in fibrinolysis and regulation of cell functions in a wide range of normal and pathological processes. Investigation of plasminogen/plasmin functions requires the availability of well-characterized and effective molecular tools, such as antibodies. In the present work, the isolation and characterization of rabbit polyclonal antibodies against human plasminogen are described and approaches for the identification of plasminogen and its fragments using the purified antibodies are demonstrated. For the antibodies isolation, standard animal immunization and blood collection procedures, serum isolation, protein salting out and affinity chromatography were performed. For the antibodies characterization and application, the following methods were used: enzyme linked immunoassay (ELISA), Western blotting, FITC-protein conjugation, flow cytometry and spectrofluorometry. The obtained polyclonal rabbit anti-human plasminogen antibodies interacted with human Glu- and Lys-plasminogen, kringles 1-3 and 1-4 of plasminogen, mini-plasminogen, the heavy and light chain of plasmin. We propose the application of anti-plasminogen antibodies for the direct ELISA, Western blot analysis, and for flow cytometry and spectrofluorometric analysis of plasminogen binding with cells. The obtained anti-plasminogen antibodies are promising tools for the investigation of plasminogen/plasmin system functions, either fibrinolytic or signaling.
Assessing Diagnostic Accuracy of Quantitative Data in Biomedical Studies Using Descriptive Statistics and Standardized Mean Difference
Authors: Glazkov A.A. , Kulikov D.A. , Glazkova P.A.
Published: December 2020

ROC analysis is the most used method for analyzing the diagnostic accuracy of quantitative data in biomedical research. ROC analysis generates a curve describing the frequencies of true positive and false positive results for different degrees of the analyzed variable. However, in many publications devoted to the application of quantitative diagnostic methods, this analysis is not carried out: researchers report only analysis of statistical significance for the groups difference. In meta-analyses, the estimated parameter is the effect size expressed through standardized mean difference. The article describes the approach, which allows performing ROC analysis using cumulative normal distribution functions for studied and controlling groups. The proposed approach can be used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of quantitative variables on the base of one of the sets of descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation, or median and quartiles) or the value of standardized mean difference. Examples of application of the proposed approach on model data, on data from literature sources, as well as on the authors' own observations are given as an example of assessment of diagnostic accuracy of quantitative variables analyzed in the microcirculation studies in various diseases. The results presented in the article can be used by medical and biological specialists to assess the diagnostic accuracy of various quantitative variables without access to primary data.
Arqueología funeraria andalusí en Cataluña y la provincia de Castellón
Authors: Olivé-Busom Júlia , Kirchner Helena , López-Costas Olalla , Márquez-Grant Nicholas
Published: December 2020

El presente trabajo ofrece una síntesis de los conocimientos arqueológicos e históricos sobre el poblamiento andalusí mediante un inventario de hallazgos funerarios en Cataluña, con la provincia de Castellón como referente de comparación. Se presentan nuevos datos relativos a hallazgos aún inéditos de los yacimientos de Plà de Almatà (Balaguer) y la Vall d’Uixó (Castellón). Cataluña formaba parte de la Frontera Superior de al-Andalus, por lo que desarrolló unas características de poblamiento diferentes al resto del šarq al-Andalus, representado por la provincia de Castellón. Para investigar estas características, la arqueología funeraria y la antropología física aportan herramientas de gran utilidad. Aunque los aspectos tafonómicos y las oportunidades de excavación han influenciado el registro funerario disponible, los procesos históricos no deben desvincularse. Para este trabajo, se ha realizado un inventario exhaustivo y un análisis de los datos disponibles de estas regiones con el objetivo de interpretar el registro disponible y ofrecer una síntesis útil para las investigaciones futuras.
New Urbanism: From Exception to Norm—The Evolution of a Global Movement
Authors: Moore Susan , Trudeau Dan
Published: December 2020

This thematic issue explores the evolution of the New Urbanism, a normative planning and urban design movement that has contributed to development throughout the world. Against a dominant narrative that frames the movement as a straightforward application of principles that has yielded many versions of the same idea, this issue instead proposes an examination of New Urbanism as heterogeneous in practice, shaped through multiple contingent factors that spell variegated translations of core principles. The contributing authors investigate how variegated forms of New Urbanism emerge, interrogate why place-based contingencies lead to differentiation in practice, and explain why the movement continues to be represented as a universal phenomenon despite such on-the-ground complexities. Together, the articles in this thematic issue offer a powerful rebuttal to the idea that our understanding of the New Urbanism is somehow complete and provide original ideas and frameworks with which to reassess the movement’s complexity and understand its ongoing impact.
The Mayr-Pentegov Model of Electric Arc with Selected Static Current-Voltage Characteristics
Authors: Sawicki Antoni
Published: December 2020

The basic properties of the Mayr-Pentegov mathematical model of the electric arc were described. A set of generalized functions has been selected to approximate static voltage-current characteristics. On their basis, derivatives of the conductance function relative to the squared current, which are used to calculate the non-linear damping function, were determined. Families of static characteristics dependent on parameters of approximating functions are presented. As a result of the simulations of processes in the circuit with the electric arc model, the family obtained dynamic voltage-current characteristics. By using wide ranges of parameter changes, the usability of the developed model using various approximations of static characteristics was demonstrated.
Some clinical sketches from gynecologica Practice
Authors: Ginzburg M.
Published: December 2020

Prof. Hellier. expounds the casuistry of the more interesting of the cases he met with their depiction in the drawings. I am referencing a few of them.
About giant cells of serotinae and their relation to the rengeneration of epithelial elements at the placenta attachment site
Authors: Khazan S. Yu.
Published: December 2020

Without resolving the dispute about the origin of the elements of syncytium and only casually mentioning that some microscopic pictures make the doctrine of the transformation of the epithelium into multinucleated syncytial masses very plausible, the author, at the instigation of his teacher, Marchand only touches on the question of the further fate of these syncytial giants cells.
A Depth-Dependent Local Magnitude Scale for New Zealand Earthquakes Consistent with Moment Magnitude
Authors: Rhoades David A. , Christophersen Annemarie , Bourguignon Sandra , Ristau John , Salichon Jérôme
Published: December 2020

A new reference attenuation model for calculating local magnitude (ML) for New Zealand earthquakes is derived. An earlier reference model, denoted NZ16, was developed in 2016 as a possible alternative to the classical reference model used by GeoNet for earthquakes located by the SeisComP processing system since January 2012. It aimed to provide a logA0 attenuation relation of the amplitude with the hypocentral distance applicable to the New Zealand region and to make ML more consistent with moment magnitude (Mw). For the present update, denoted NZ20, a much larger set of regional moment tensor solutions and corresponding station amplitudes is available. Residual analysis is used to screen the individual station amplitude readings and then to exclude observations from periods of time when the station residuals were consistently anomalous. Effects of other possible sources of bias on the attenuation relation are also examined, including unreliable locations of earthquakes with large azimuthal gaps and the saturation of ML in large earthquakes. An extra explanatory variable is added to the attenuation relation to account for dependence on hypocentral depth, so the updated local magnitude is consistent with Mw across the full range of depths at which earthquakes occur in New Zealand. Furthermore, to counteract possible sources of bias, the data set for analysis is restricted. Earthquakes above the approximate amplitude saturation threshold of Mw 6.6, as well as those with azimuthal gaps greater than 270°, are excluded.
How Disruptive Innovators Prepare Today's Students to Be Tomorrow's Workforce?: Descomplica and Effective Remote Learning
Authors: Fisbhen Marco , Sahate Victor , Duarte Augusto
Published: December 2020

In Brazil, income and race impact on standardized test grades. Standardized test grades are the sole criterion for access to most public universities, or the top higher education institutions. In response, the whole university preparation industry has emerged to cater to students from high-income families, rigging the selection process and perpetuating inequality. This paper aims to describe typical university admissions systems in Brazil to demonstrate how Descomplica is changing the odds of thousands of underprivileged students. With a clear picture of how this system caters to the more privileged, we introduce Descomplica, its tools and learning methodology, and the significant improvements it brings to students, who would not have a hope of joining quality higher education institutions in Brazil otherwise. Finally, the paper discusses the potential impacts and replicability for similar innovation elsewhere in the Americas to help decision-makers in the region especially when lockdowns and curfews are necessary, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Optimization of Generation Cost, Environmental Impact, and Reliability of a Microgrid Using Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II
Authors: Sohel Ikramul Hasan , Rahman Showrov
Published: December 2020

Over the past years, energy sectors have accomplished considerable progress in the transition from conventional fossil-based energy to low-carbon energy production, and microgrids are playing important roles in this sustainable energy transition. One of the key challenges for microgrids is to deliver power with the least possible cost and that too with such an approach that the environmental impact is the lowest and the overall system reliability is high enough. For this reason, generation cost, emission entities, and system reliability need to be efficiently optimized. Towards this goal, an online multi-objective technique has been employed to optimize cost, emission and system reliability taking these three factors in pairs at a time. The optimization model is designed using the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II), and the algorithm has been employed for several double objective scenarios considering reliability as an objective and later as a constraint. To evaluate the performance of the proposed approach, the simulation results are compared with the relative parameters from a different model that uses the strength pareto evolutionary algorithm (SPEA). The results show that the proposed technique satisfies the multi-objective optimization goals and provides good trade-offs between the conflicting objective functions while finding the optimal dispatch.