bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Views of disability rights organisations on assisted dying legislation in England, Wales and Scotland: an analysis of position statements
Authors: Box Graham , Chambaere Kenneth
Published: January 2021

Assisted dying is a divisive and controversial topic and it is therefore desirable that a broad range of interests inform any proposed policy changes. The purpose of this study is to collect and synthesize the views of an important stakeholder group—namely people with disabilities (PwD)—as expressed by disability rights organisations (DROs) in Great Britain. Parliamentary consultations were reviewed, together with an examination of the contemporary positions of a wide range of DROs. Our analysis revealed that the vast majority do not have a clear public stance; those that do exhibit a significant diversity of opinion. DROs opposing legislation on assisted dying have argued that it would be premature, misguided, inequitable and culturally undesirable. Some specify conditions that would have to be satisfied before they could support legalisation, such as radical improvements in health and social care services (especially those relating to end of life care) and the elimination of discrimination against PwD. DROs supporting assisted dying maintain that a change in the law would promote autonomy, end intense suffering, can be delivered safely and is supported by the DRO’s membership. The discussion considers the reasons why several DROs adopt a neutral stance and the argument is made that, whatever their overarching stance on the issue, DROs need to be involved in the policy debate so that the crucial perspectives of PwD are heard and addressed. This is an important message for countries around the world that permit, or are considering legalising, assisted dying.
The effects of short-term low energy availability, achieved through diet or exercise, on cognitive function in oral contraceptive users and eumenorrheic women
Authors: Martin Dan , Papageorgiou Maria , Colgan Hannah , Bandelow Stephan , Greeves Julie , Tang Jonathan C. Y. , Fraser William , Cooper Simon B. , Sale Craig , Elliott-Sale Kirsty J
Published: January 2021

To date, no research has explored the effects of low energy availability (EA) on cognitive performance using dietary and exercise regimens relevant to athletes. Twenty female participants (10 eumenorrheic, 10 oral contraceptive [OC] users) completed three, 3-day conditions: 1) controlled-balanced EA without exercise (BAL; 45 kcal·kg·LBM-1·day-1), 2) diet-induced low EA without exercise (DIET; 15 kcal·kg·LBM-1·day-1) and 3) exercise-induced low EA (EX; 15 kcal·kg·LBM-1·day-1, including 30 kcal·kg·LBM-1·day-1 treadmill running at 70% V̇O2max). A cognitive test battery was completed before and after each 3-day condition. Mental rotation test accuracy improved in the BAL condition, but there was a decline in accuracy in the EX condition (BAL, +2.5%; EX, -1.4%; P = 0.042, d = 0.85). DIET (+1.3%) was not different to BAL or EX (P > 0.05). All other measures of cognitive performance were not affected by condition (P > 0.05) and OC use did not affect cognitive responses (P > 0.05). Accuracy in the mental rotation test was impaired when low EA was induced through increased exercise energy expenditure. All other aspects of cognition were unaffected by three days of low EA through diet or exercise. OC use did not mediate the effect of low EA on cognition.

Novelty bullets
• Cognitive function was not affected by 3 days diet-induced low energy availability (EA).
• Only spatial awareness was impaired during 3 days exercise-induced low EA.
• Reproductive hormones affected spatial awareness independent of EA.
Painlevé analysis for various nonlinear Schrödinger dynamical equations
Authors: Ali Ijaz , Seadawy Aly R. , Rizvi Syed Tahir Raza , Younis Muhammad
Published: January 2021

In this paper, our objective is to analyze integrability of three famous nonlinear models, namely unstable nonlinear Schrödinger equation (UNLSE), modified UNLSE (MUNLSE) as well as (2+1)-dimensional cubic NLSE (CNLSE) by utilizing Painlevé test ([Formula: see text]-test). The non-appearance of some sort of singularities such as moveable branch points indicates a sound probability of complete integrability of the concerned NLSE. In case an NLSE passes the [Formula: see text]-test, the studied model can be solved by implementing inverse scattering transformation (IST).
LncRNAs: Master Regulators in Disease and Cancer
Authors: Chen Ying , Tergaonkar Vinay
Published: January 2021

Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is a new class of endogenous molecules identified in recent years. Studies on the cancer transcriptome have identified a number of lncRNAs with distinct expression patterns in different types of cancer, indicating that this populous group of molecules can modulate cancer progression. In addition, advances in revealing the molecular principles of cancer-associated lncRNAs made them amenable for therapeutic intervention. Although more than 50,000 lncRNAs have been identified, their functions in cellular homeostasis and pathophysiological processes remain largely uncharacterized. In this review, we summarize cancer-related lncRNAs that have been identified in recent years and discuss their mechanistic roles as oncogenes or tumor suppressors. These findings provide insights into clinical application of lncRNAs as biomarkers or therapeutic targets.
Urban Accessibility as a Socio-Political Problem
Authors: Saha Manaswi , Chauhan Devanshi , Patil Siddhant , Kangas Rachel , Heer Jeffrey , Froehlich Jon E.
Published: January 2021

Traditionally, urban accessibility is defined as the ease of reaching destinations. Studies on urban accessibility for pedestrians with mobility disabilities (e.g., wheelchair users) have primarily focused on understanding the challenges that the built environment imposes and how they overcome them. In this paper, we move beyond physical barriers and focus on socio-political challenges in the civic ecosystem that impedes accessible infrastructure development. Using a multi-stakeholder approach, we interviewed five primary stakeholder groups (N=25): (1) people with mobility disabilities, (2) caregivers, (3) accessibility advocates, (4) department officials, and (5) policymakers. We discussed their current accessibility assessment and decision-making practices. We identified the key needs and desires of each group, how they differed, and how they interacted with each other in the civic ecosystem to bring about change. We found that people, politics, and money were intrinsically tied to underfunded accessibility improvement projects "without continued support from the public and the political leadership, existing funding may also disappear. Using the insights from these interviews, we explore how may technology enhance our stakeholders" decision-making processes and facilitate accessible infrastructure development.
Tensions between Access and Control in Makerspaces
Authors: Logas Jacob , Zhong Ruican , Almeida Stephanie , Das Sauvik
Published: January 2021

Makerspaces have complex access control requirements and are increasingly protected through digital access control mechanisms (e.g., keycards, transponders). However, it remains unclear how space administrators craft access control policies, how existing technical infrastructures support and fall short of access needs, and how these access control policies impact end-users in a makerspace. We bridge this gap through a mixed-methods, multi-stakeholder study. Specifically, we conducted 16 semi-structured interviews with makerspace administrators across the U.S. along with a survey of 48 makerspace end-users. We found four factors influenced administrators' construction of access control policies: balancing safety versus access; logistics; prior experience; and, the politics of funding. Moreover, administrators often made situational exceptions to their policies: e.g., during demand spikes, to maintain a good relationship with their staff, and if they trusted the user(s) requesting an exception. Conversely, users expressed frustration with the static nature of access control policies, wishing for negotiability and for social nuance to be factored into access decisions. The upshot is that existing mechanisms for access control in makerspaces are often inappropriately static and socially unaware.
I Can't Breathe
Authors: Erete Sheena , Rankin Yolanda A. , Thomas Jakita O.
Published: January 2021

In this paper, three Black women in HCI and CSCW share their experiences of being Black women academics enduring a global pandemic that is disportionately impacting the Black community while simultaneously experiencing the civil unrest due to racial injustice and police brutality. Using Black feminist epistemologies as a theoretical framework and auto-ethnography and testimonial authority as both methodology and epistemic resistance, the authors exercise epistemic agency to testify to their lived intersectional experiences and the various fronts on which they fight to be seen, to be heard, and to live. Additionally, they advocate for more inclusionary policies of Black women and other marginalized populations within the CSCW and HCI communities. We conclude with a call to action for both communities to: 1) stand in solidarity with Blacks in computing; and 2) acknowledge, disavow, and dismantle Whiteness and oppressive power structures in the field of computing, specifically HCI and CSCW.
"I was afraid, but now I enjoy being a streamer!"
Authors: Chen Xinyue , Chen Si , Wang Xu , Huang Yun
Published: January 2021

The outbreak of COVID-19 has led to a sharp transition from offline to online education in many countries and areas. This transition heightens the intensity of existing challenges of online education, such as student attendance and education equality. During this time of uncertainty, the vast disparities in teachers? online experience and technical backgrounds, students' education level and their families' economic status, and schools' support, further pose new challenges to teachers and students. In this work, we study how Chinese teachers and students addressed challenges during this transition. We interviewed 15 teachers and 18 students from diverse backgrounds at varying education levels (K-12 and college). Our work makes timely and new contributions to the literature of online education. For example, our results showed that teachers applied Live Video Streaming (LVS) on multiple social media platforms and re-purposed different entertainment features to deliver online teaching for better student engagement; some teachers came to enjoy this new form of instruction after being resistant to it in the beginning, and students developed a better sense of intimacy with their teachers after experiencing certain online interactions. Our work also reveals the remaining challenges and prospects of LVS-based online education and sheds light on the future design of collaborative technologies for online education.
A System for Interleaving Discussion and Summarization in Online Collaboration
Authors: Tian Sunny , Zhang Amy X. , Karger David
Published: January 2021

In many instances of online collaboration, ideation and deliberation about what to write happen separately from the synthesis of the deliberation into a cohesive document. However, this may result in a final document that has little connection to the discussion that came before. In this work, we present interleaved discussion and summarization, a process where discussion and summarization are woven together in a single space, and collaborators can switch back and forth between discussing ideas and summarizing discussion until it results in a final document that incorporates and references all discussion points. We implement this process into a tool called Wikum+ that allows groups working together on a project to create living summaries-artifacts that can grow as new collaborators, ideas, and feedback arise and shrink as collaborators come to consensus. We conducted studies where groups of six people each collaboratively wrote a proposal using Wikum+ and a proposal using a messaging platform along with Google Docs. We found that Wikum+'s integration of discussion and summarization helped users be more organized, allowing for light-weight coordination and iterative improvements throughout the collaboration process. A second study demonstrated that in larger groups, Wikum+ is more inclusive of all participants and more comprehensive in the final document compared to traditional tools.
Misinformation as a Window into Prejudice
Authors: Akbar Syeda Zainab , Panda Anmol , Kukreti Divyanshu , Meena Azhagu , Pal Joyojeet
Published: January 2021

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis, there has been a massive amount of misinformation both related to the condition, and a range of linked social and economic issues. We present a mixed methods study of misinformation debunked by Indian fact checking agencies since January 2020. Alongside this, we present an analysis of what politicians in India have been discussing in the overlapping period. We find that affective issues dominate misinformation, especially in the period following the lockdown in India. Furthermore, we find that communal prejudice emerges as a central part of the misinformation environment, something that is reflected in the political speech around the same period.
3 Stars on Yelp, 4 Stars on Google Maps
Authors: Li Hanlin , Hecht Brent
Published: January 2021

Even though a restaurant may receive different ratings across review platforms, people often see only one rating during a local search (e.g. 'best burgers near me'). In this paper, we examine the differences in ratings between two commonly used review platforms-Google Maps and Yelp. We found that restaurant ratings on Google Maps are, on average, 0.7 stars higher than those on Yelp, with the increase being driven in large part by higher ratings for chain restaurants on Google Maps. We also found extensive diversity i¬¬n top-ranked restaurants by geographic region across platforms. For example, for a given metropolitan area, there exists little overlap in its top ten lists of restaurants on Google Maps and Yelp. Our results problematize the use of a single review platform in local search and have implications for end users of ratings and local search technologies. We outline concrete design recommendations to improve communication of restaurant evaluation and discuss the potential causes for the divergence we observed.
Biophysics of Chromatin Remodeling
Authors: Nodelman Ilana M. , Bowman Gregory D.
Published: January 2021

As primary carriers of epigenetic information and gatekeepers of genomic DNA, nucleosomes are essential for proper growth and development of all eukaryotic cells. Although they are intrinsically dynamic, nucleosomes are actively reorganized by ATP-dependent chromatin remodelers. Chromatin remodelers contain helicase-like ATPase motor domains that can translocate along DNA, and a long-standing question in the field is how this activity is used to reposition or slide nucleosomes. In addition to ratcheting along DNA like their helicase ancestors, remodeler ATPases appear to dictate specific alternating geometries of the DNA duplex, providing an unexpected means for moving DNA past the histone core. Emerging evidence supports twist-based mechanisms for ATP-driven repositioning of nucleosomes along DNA. In this review, we discuss core experimental findings and ideas that have shaped the view of how nucleosome sliding may be achieved.
Food Matrix Effects for Modulating Starch Bioavailability
Authors: Miao Ming , Hamaker Bruce R.
Published: January 2021

As the prevalence of obesity and diabetes has continued to increase rapidly in recent years, dietary approaches to regulating glucose homeostasis have gained more attention. Starch is the major source of glucose in the human diet and can have diverse effects, depending on its rate and extent of digestion in the small intestine, on postprandial glycemic response, which over time is associated with blood glucose abnormalities, insulin sensitivity, and even appetitive response and food intake. The classification of starch bioavailability into rapidly digestible starch, slowly digestible starch, and resistant starch highlights the nutritional values of different starches. As starch is the main structure-building macroconstituent of foods, its bioavailability can be manipulated by selection of food matrices with varying degrees of susceptibility to amylolysis and food processing to retain or develop new matrices. In this review, the food factors that may modulate starch bioavailability, with a focus on food matrices, are assessed for a better understanding of their potential contribution to human health. Aspects affecting starch nutritional properties as well as production strategies for healthy foods are also reviewed, e.g., starch characteristics (different type, structure, and modification), food physical properties (food form, viscosity, and integrity), food matrix interactions (lipid, protein, nonstarch polysaccharide, phytochemicals, organic acid, and enzyme inhibitor), and food processing (milling, cooking, and storage).
Physiologically Based Modeling of Food Digestion and Intestinal Microbiota: State of the Art and Future Challenges. An INFOGEST Review
Authors: Le Feunteun Steven , Al-Razaz Ahmed , Dekker Matthijs , George Erwin , Laroche Beatrice , van Aken George
Published: January 2021

This review focuses on modeling methodologies of the gastrointestinal tract during digestion that have adopted a systems-view approach and, more particularly, on physiologically based compartmental models of food digestion and host–diet–microbiota interactions. This type of modeling appears very promising for integrating the complex stream of mechanisms that must be considered and retrieving a full picture of the digestion process from mouth to colon. We may expect these approaches to become more and more accurate in the future and to serve as a useful means of understanding the physicochemical processes occurring in the gastrointestinaltract, interpreting postprandial in vivo data, making relevant predictions, and designing healthier foods. This review intends to provide a scientific and historical background of this field of research, before discussing the future challenges and potential benefits of the establishment of such a model to study and predict food digestion and absorption in humans.
Stability Analysis and Reliability Evaluation in Cataclastic Loose Rock Mass Blocks
Authors: Zhang Liguo , Wang Dong , Li Guanghe , Dong Jiaxing , Zhang Jianpeng
Published: January 2021

Cataclastic rock masses with multiple failure modes and mechanisms are critical geological problems in the construction of rock slopes. Cataclastic rock masses are widely distributed in slopes of a hydropower project located on Lancang River, which is located in Tibet, China. In this study, the potentially unstable block of the slope is divided into key block and secondary key block based on the key block theory, and the system reliability evaluation theory is introduced. The method for quantitatively analyzing the rock mass stability of cataclastic slopes with sliding failure is established. Then, the spatial distribution of cataclastic rock masses and discontinuities in several rock slopes of a hydropower project are determined using traditional geological surveying and 3D laser scanning. At last, combining the BATE 2.0 software and the stereographic projection of the vector, the proposed method is applied to the study area. The results show that the main failure mode of the studied slope is wedge failure, and the system reliability is 1.69. With the increase in the instability probability of the key block, the increase in the instability probability of the system block is obvious, which reflects the controlling effect of the key block on the stability of the system block. The calculated system instability probability is slightly larger than the key block instability probability.
Offline and Online Channel Selection of Low-Carbon Supply Chain under Carbon Trading Market
Authors: Han Qiang , Yang Zhenlong , Zhang Zheng , Shen Liang
Published: January 2021

This paper investigates the low-carbon product manufacturer’s different decision behavior in the offline traditional retail channel and online e-commerce channel when the carbon trading market has been established. The low-carbon product manufacturer is both in the carbon trading market and product market. In the former market, the manufacturer can gain profits by selling its emission quota. In the latter market, the manufacturer has two sales channel options, the traditional offline retailer and the online e-commerce platform. These two channels make two supply chains, the manufacturer-led offline one and the e-commerce platform-led online one. This paper combines the carbon trading market with the product market, formulates different Stackelberg game models, compares the manufacturer’s decision under two channels and the impact of channels on the carbon emission, does sensitivity analysis, and verifies the conclusions with numerical examples. Our findings are (1) the establishment of the carbon market will help the manufacturer reduce its carbon emission, especially for those sensitive to the carbon price and those with too much emissions; (2) whether the manufacturer turns to the online channel depends on the consumers’ sensitivity to the sales service, and consumers’ attention will guide the way to the online mode; (3) which mode is conducive to carbon emission reduction relies on the product type: the e-commerce platform does well for daily necessities of mass production while the traditional channel is better for experience goods.
Data Mining Algorithm for Demand Forecast Analysis on Flash Sales Platform
Authors: Zhang Mingyang , Wang Yixin , Wu Zhiguo
Published: January 2021

With the development of the digital economy, the emerging marketing strategy of the e‐commerce flash sales has been changing the traditional purchasing habits of customers. This imposes new decision‐making challenges for companies involved in flash sales. It is important for companies to build the accurate product demand forecast analysis focusing on the characteristics of the flash sales and customer behaviors. In this paper, VIPS (Weipinhui, a Chinese e‐commerce platform) is taken as a case study with the key focus on how sentiment factors in customer reviews affect product demand in flash sale platforms. The paper adopts two sentiment analysis methods based on emotional dictionaries. The method with a higher evaluation index is adopted to integrate the emotional factors into the autoregressive model for product demand and assessment. The experiments prove that the autoregressive model for integrating the sentiment factors demonstrates better forecasting performances than the models without sentiment factors. The experiments further confirm that when product demand for the previous two weeks and customer review sentiment factors in the previous week are taken into consideration, demand forecast effects are most accurate.
Origin of the MRI Contrast in Natural and Hydrogel Formulation of Pineapple Juice
Authors: Rizzo Domenico , Ravera Enrico , Fragai Marco , Parigi Giacomo , Luchinat Claudio
Published: January 2021

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) often requires contrast agents to improve the visualization in some tissues and organs, including the gastrointestinal tract. In this latter case, instead of intravascular administration, oral agents can be used. Natural oral contrast agents, such as fruit juice, have the advantages of better taste, tolerability, and lower price with respect to the artificial agents. We have characterized the relaxometry profiles of pineapple juice in order to understand the origin of the increase in relaxation rates (and thus of the MRI contrast) in reference to its content of manganese ions. Furthermore, we have characterized the relaxometry profiles of pineapple juice in the presence of alginate in different amounts; the interaction of the manganese ions with alginate slows down their reorientation time to some extent, with a subsequent increase in the relaxation rates. The relaxometry profiles were also compared with those of manganese(II) solutions in 50 mmol/dm3 sodium acetate solution (same pH of pineapple juice), which revealed sizable differences, mostly in the number of water molecules coordinated to the metal ion, their lifetimes, and in the constant of the Fermi-contact interaction. Finally, the fit of the transverse relaxivity shows that the increased viscosity in the hydrogel formulations can improve significantly the negative contrast of pineapple juice at the magnetic fields relevant for clinical MRI.
Modeling of Concrete‐Frozen Soil Interface from Direct Shear Test Results
Authors: Xiong Meng , He Pengfei , Mu Yanhu , Na Xinlei
Published: January 2021

The shear behaviors of concrete‐frozen soil interface are important for analyzing the performance of engineering structures buried in the frozen ground. In this paper, a series of direct shear tests were carried out to determine the concrete‐soil interface behaviors at different test temperatures (19°C, −1°C, −3°C, and −5°C) and initial water contents (9.2%, 13.1%, 17.1%, and 20.8%) of soils. The interface shear behaviors, including the shear stress versus horizontal displacement, interface cohesion, and interface friction coefficient, were analyzed based on the test results. Then, a simple, nonlinear model was proposed and verified for the interface shear behaviors. The results show that the effect of initial water content and test temperature on the interface shear behavior is significant, and the peak stress increases with the increasing initial water content and decreasing test temperature. The interface cohesion is sensitive to the test temperature and initial water content, while the interface friction coefficient is insensitive to both the factors. The parameters of the simple nonlinear model can be gained by back‐analyzing the test results. The predictions made by the proposed model are found to be in good agreement with the experimental results.
A Marine Terpenoid, Heteronemin, Induces Both the Apoptosis and Ferroptosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells and Involves the ROS and MAPK Pathways
Authors: Chang Wen-Tsan , Bow Yung-Ding , Fu Pei-Jung , Li Chia-Yang , Wu Chang-Yi , Chang Yi-Hua , Teng Yen-Ni , Li Ruei-Nian , Lu Mei-Chin , Liu Yi-Chang , Chiu Chien-Chih
Published: January 2021

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of death, resulting in over 700 thousand deaths annually worldwide. Chemotherapy is the primary therapeutic strategy for patients with late‐stage HCC. Heteronemin is a marine natural product isolated from Hippospongia sp. that has been found to protect against carcinogenesis in cholangiocarcinoma, prostate cancer, and acute myeloid leukemia. In this study, heteronemin was found to inhibit the proliferation of the HCC cell lines HA22T and HA59T and induce apoptosis via the caspase pathway. Heteronemin treatment also induced the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are associated with heteronemin‐induced cell death, and to trigger ROS removal by mitochondrial SOD2 rather than cytosolic SOD1. The mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway was associated with ROS‐induced cell death, and heteronemin downregulated the expression of ERK, a MAPK that is associated with cell proliferation. Inhibitors of JNK and p38, which are MAPKs associated with apoptosis, restored heteronemin‐induced cell death. In addition, heteronemin treatment reduced the expression of GPX4, a protein that inhibits ferroptosis, which is a novel form of nonapoptotic programmed cell death. Ferroptosis inhibitor treatment also restored heteronemin‐induced cell death. Thus, with appropriate structural modification, heteronemin can act as a potent therapeutic against HCC.
Magneto-Burgers Nanofluid Stratified Flow with Swimming Motile Microorganisms and Dual Variables Conductivity Configured by a Stretching Cylinder/Plate
Authors: Waqas Hassan , Manzoor Umair , Shah Zahir , Arif Muhammad , Shutaywi Meshal
Published: January 2021

Background. The study of nanofluid gains interest of researchers because of its uses in treatment of cancer, wound treatment, fuel reserves, and elevating the particles in the bloodstream to a tumour. This artefact investigates the magnetohydrodynamic flow of Burgers nanofluid with the interaction of nonlinear thermal radiation, activation energy, and motile microorganisms across a stretching cylinder. Method. The developed partial differential equations (PDEs) are transformed into a structure of ODEs with the help of similarity transformation. The extracted problem is rectified numerically by using the bvp4c program in computational software MATLAB. The novelty of analysis lies in the fact that the impacts of bioconvection with magnetic effects on Burgers nanofluid are taken into account. Moreover, the behaviours of thermal conductivity and diffusivity are discussed in detail. The impacts of activation energy and motile microorganism are also explored. No work has been published yet in the literature survey according to the authors’ knowledge. The current observation is the extension of Khan et al.’s work [51]. Results. The consequences of the relevant parameters, namely, thermophoresis parameter, Brownian motion parameter, the reaction parameter, temperature difference parameter, activation energy, bioconvection Lewis number and Peclet number against the velocity of Burgers nanofluid, temperature profile for nanoliquid, the concentration of nanoparticles, and microorganisms field, have been explored in depth. The reports had major impacts in the development of medications for the treatment of arterial diseases including atherosclerosis without any need for surgery, which may reduce spending on cardiovascular and postsurgical problems in patients. Conclusions. The current investigation depicts that fluid velocity increases for uplifting values of mixed convection parameter. Furthermore, it is analyzed that flow of fluid is risen by varying the amount of Burgers fluid parameter. The temperature distribution is escalated by escalating the values of temperature ratio parameter and thermal conductivity parameter. The concentration field turns down for elevated values of Lewis number and Brownian motion parameter, while conflicting circumstances are observed for the thermophoresis parameter and solutal Biot number. Larger values of Peclet number reduce the microorganism’s field. Physically the current model is more significant in the field of applied mathematics. Furthermore, the current model is more helpful to improve the thermal conductivity of base fluids and heat transfer rate.
Why It Is Necessary to Use the Entire Root rather than Partial Root When Doing Contralateral C7 Nerve Transfer: Cortical Plasticity Also Matters besides the Amount of Nerve Fibers
Authors: Guo Jinding , Zhao Xin , Lao Jie , Gao Kaiming
Published: January 2021

Previous studies suggested that the mode of donor transection is a critical factor affecting the efficacy of the contralateral C7 (CC7) nerve transfer. Nevertheless, the mechanism underlying this phenomenon remains elusive. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the division modes of the CC7 nerve and cortical functional reorganization of Sprague-Dawley rats. We hypothesized that different methods of CC7 nerve transection might induce differences in cortical functional reorganization, thus resulting in differences in surgery efficacy. BDNF, TNF-α/IL-6, and miR-132/134 were selected as indicators of cortical functional reorganization. No significant differences in all these indicators were noted between the entire group and the entire root+posterior division group (P>0.05). BDNF and miR-132/134 levels in the entire group and the entire root+posterior division group were significantly increased compared with their levels in the posterior group and the blank control group (P<0.001). In all groups, BDNF, TNF-α/IL-6, and miR-132/134 levels in both hemispheres initially increased and subsequently decreased until week 40. In conclusion, this study provided the evidence of dynamic changes in BDNF, TNF-α/IL-6, and miR-132/134 in the cortex of rats after CC7 nerve transfer using different transecting modes, demonstrating that different CC7 nerve divisions might result in different surgical effects through modulation of cortical reorganization.
Study on the Dynamic Proliferation of JEV in BHK-21 Cells
Authors: Zhang Fuliang , Luo Jun , Teng Man , Xing Guangxu , Guo Junqing , Zhang Yihua
Published: January 2021

Introduction: Epidemic Japanese encephalitis is one of the most important zoonotic diseases that cause central nervous system damage. The vaccination has become the most effective and economical measure for its control. Hence, real-time monitoring of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) proliferation is crucial to optimize virus inoculation, culturing conditions, and virus harvest time. Methods: The proliferation dynamics of JEV in BHK-21 cells was studied by combining the established quantitative PCR method with the conventional TCID50 assay in this study. Results: The proliferation curve determined by the 2 methods has a definite parallel relationship, but the quantitative real-time PCR method (4 h) is faster and more sensitive than the TCID50 method (3–4 days). The determination results of TCID50 showed that the highest viral titer was 105.44 TCID50/0.1 mL and 104.86 TCID50/0.1 mL in cell suspension and culture supernate, respectively, while the virus RNA copies reached the peak at 1.0 × 107.5 copies/µL and 1.0 × 105.6 copies/µL in cell suspension and culture supernate, respectively. Conclusion: The comprehensive analysis showed that the best time for JEV proliferation in BHK-21 cell was 60 h post infection.
Identification of Hub Genes Associated with the Development of Acute Kidney Injury by Weighted Gene Co-Expression Network Analysis
Authors: Lin Xiao , Li Jianchun , Tan Ruizhi , Zhong Xia , Yang Jieke , Wang Li
Published: January 2021

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a severe clinical syndrome, causing a profound medical and socioeconomic burden worldwide. This study aimed to explore underlying molecular targets related to the progression of AKI. Methods: A public database originated from the NCBI GEO database (serial number: GSE121190) and a well-established and unbiased method of weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) to identify hub genes and potential pathways were used. Furthermore, the unbiased hub genes were validated in 2 classic models of AKI in a rodent model: chemically established AKI by cisplatin- and ischemia reperfusion-induced AKI. Results: A total of 17 modules were finally obtained by the unbiased method of WGCNA, where the genes in turquoise module displayed strong correlation with the development of AKI. In addition, the results of gene ontology revealed that the genes in turquoise module were involved in renal injury and renal fibrosis. Thus, the hub genes were further validated by experimental methods and primarily obtained Rplp1 and Lgals1 as key candidate genes related to the progression of AKI by the advantage of quantitative PCR, Western blotting, and in situ tissue fluorescence. Importantly, the expression of Rplp1 and Lgals1 at the protein level showed positive correlation with renal function, including serum Cr and BUN. Conclusions: By the advantage of unbiased bioinformatic method and consequent experimental verification, this study lays the foundation basis for the pathogenesis and therapeutic agent development of AKI.
Anti-inflammatory potential of african leaf water extract
Authors: Setiani Lusi Agus , Rusli Zaldi
Published: January 2021

Inflammation is the immune system's main response to infection and irritation. African leaf (Gymnanthemum amygdalinum) is one of the medicinal plants that can be used as anti-inflammatory because of the presence of flavonoid compounds. Flavonoid compounds have an anti-inflammatory effect that can regulate arachidonic acid metabo-lism by inhibiting cyclooxygenase (COX) and lipooksigenase activi-ties. This study aims to obtain scientific information and the potential of African leaf extract as an anti-inflammatory in vitro and in vivo test. In this study, in vitro and in vivo anti-inflammatory activity tests were carried out. The in vitro anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated by the ability of African leaf extracts to prevent protein denaturation and in vivo anti-inflammatory activity by observing the reduction of edema in the soles of rats induced by carrageenan by giving three lev-els of doses of African leaf extract. The results showed that the African leaf extract at a concentration of 8273.91 mg L-1 was able to inhibit 50% denatured protein (IC50), while in the in vivo test African leaf had the potential as an anti-inflammatory with the most effective percent-age of inhibition at a dose of 200 mg kg-1 which is 85.20%. African leaf have the potential of approximately 2 times greater than the positive control of diclofenac sodium which is 45.70%.
Dependência financeira latino-americana no século XIX
Authors: Soares José Alex Rego
Published: January 2021

O objetivo deste artigo é revisitar a literatura que discute a problemática da dependência financeira da América Latina decorrente do processo de endividamento ao fim e ao cabo das lutas de independência na década de 1820, e a inserção dessas jovens nações no circuito financeiro internacional comandado pela City londrina. Pretendemos ressaltar a configuração da vulnerabilidade dessas economias no transcurso do século XIX, na interseção das economias da América Latina como capital financeiro e sua repercussão na dinâmica da acumulação de capital na região, refletindo na divisão internacional do trabalho e sua especialização enquanto economias exportadoras de commodities. Desta forma, nos pautaremos em uma revisão bibliográfica sobre a temática, a fim de corroborar com o nosso viés analítico. Para tanto, analisaremos a dependência financeira e a crise da dívida na região, o papel do capital financeiro na expansão da produção regional de mercadorias e, por fim, a herança financeira no processo de industrialização da América Latina, constituindo a dependência como uma construção histórica.
Globalización y resiliencia en la Sabana estacional de Puerto Gaitán, Meta, Colombia
Authors: Méndez Carlos Enrique Castro
Published: January 2021

El proceso de paz en Colombia generó dos vertientes que dirigen la ocupación de las tierras: la restitución de tierras con el retorno del campesino, la primera; y la liberación de tierras baldías apropiadas ilícitamente por grupos armados, la segunda. La política con enfoque territorial se dirige a revalorizar el uso en la sabana estacional, en medio de cambios que causan la desterritorialización, la pérdida de gobernanza y el riesgo de superar la resiliencia de las tierras. Mediante un método comparativo inverso, se identificaron cuestiones históricas y contemporáneas que definen la temporalidad de la globalización predatoria en la que se encuentra el sector de la sabana estacional de Puerto Gaitán, Meta (Colombia). Con base en planteamientos teóricos de varios autores y con avances metodológicos aplicados en la investigación, se muestra la necesidad de aplicar control al cambio de uso o una propuesta basada en nuevas alternativas de uso que sean menos predatorios y que involucren a la población local.
The Survival of the Unfit
Authors: Dimock Wai Chee
Published: January 2021

Is there room for weaklings in Darwin's theory of evolution? The “survival of the fittest”–that muscular phrase taken from Herbert Spencer–would seem to suggest not. A more nuanced and counterintuitive picture emerges, however, when fitness is remapped: as a form of mutuality between the human and the nonhuman, rather than an exclusively human attribute vested in a single individual. I explore that possibility in the contemporary novel, a genre evolving steadily away from its Victorian antecedent, and circling back to the epic to reclaim an elemental realism, alert to the reparative as well as destructive forces of the nonhuman world. In Barbara King-solver's The Poisonwood Bible and Richard Powers's The Overstory, these nonhuman forces turn the novel into a shelter for disabled characters, granting them a testing ground and a future all the more vital for being uncertain.
Organic Reformations in Richard Powers's The Overstory
Authors: Stewart Garrett
Published: January 2021

Richard Powers takes the literary concept of “organic form” to new exploratory lengths–and satellite heights–in his latest ecofiction. In particular, the novelist who has proselytized voice-recognition software for the dictation of novelistic prose offers with that advice an unexpected leverage on the structuring “understory” (the botanical term) for his Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Overstory (2018). In both textual phonetics and mapped thematic links, marked patterns of recurrence are to prose, here as elsewhere, what rhyme and meter are to poetry. In a novel that seeks to attune us to the secret “semaphores” of forest life, such elicited traces of nonhuman signaling articulate a vital terrestrial network evoked through a scale of decoded pattern that, in developing its own stylistic echosystem, answers to the environing field of narrative action, and forest activism, across eight different biographical plotlines in the novel's convergent cast of characters.
Video Games & the Novel
Authors: Hayot Eric
Published: January 2021

In the last sixty years, the video game industry has grown from quite literally nothing to a behemoth larger than the film or television industries. This enormous change in the shape of cultural production has failed to make much of an impact on the study of culture more generally, partly because video games seem so much less culturally important than novels. No one has ever imagined the Great American Video Game. But video games have more in common with novels than you might think, and vice versa. Anyone trying to understand the combination of neoliberal individualism and righteous murderousness that characterizes our world today will do well to pay them some attention.
Predicting the Ease of Human Category Learning Using Radial Basis Function Networks
Authors: Roads Brett D. , Mozer Michael C.
Published: January 2021

Our goal is to understand and optimize human concept learning by predicting the ease of learning of a particular exemplar or category. We propose a method for estimating ease values, quantitative measures of ease of learning, as an alternative to conducting costly empirical training studies. Our method combines a psychological embedding of domain exemplars with a pragmatic categorization model. The two components are integrated using a radial basis function network (RBFN) that predicts ease values. The free parameters of the RBFN are fit using human similarity judgments, circumventing the need to collect human training data to fit more complex models of human categorization. We conduct two category-training experiments to validate predictions of the RBFN. We demonstrate that an instance-based RBFN outperforms both a prototype-based RBFN and an empirical approach using the raw data. Although the human data were collected across diverse experimental conditions, the predicted ease values strongly correlate with human learning performance. Training can be sequenced by (predicted) ease, achieving what is known as fading in the psychology literature and curriculum learning in the machine-learning literature, both of which have been shown to facilitate learning.
Marcionism and Luke 3:22
Authors: Patel Shaily Shashikant
Published: January 2021

One of the most intriguing textual variants in the New Testament occurs at Luke 3:22, the scene depicting the heavenly voice at Jesus’s baptism. This particular variant has broad consequences for how scholars understand the place of Luke’s Gospel within the Christological controversies that dominated the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Considering external, intrinsic, and transcriptional evidence, this article argues that perceived fears about Marcionism in proto-orthodox circles precipitated the textual corruption at Luke 3:22, prompting a theological redactor to introduce a reading that compounds Christological notions of messiah, prophet, and king in an attempt to strengthen Jesus’s links to Jewish history.
Is it Possible to Define the Impossible – What is a ‘Community’ for Purposes of Section 235 of the Constitution of South Africa?
Authors: De Villiers Bertus
Published: January 2021

The Constitution of South Africa contains the promise in Section 235 that any community that shares a common language and cultural heritage may be granted self-determination. The Constitution does not give any guidance about who the communities are that qualify for this self-determination. Terms such as minority, nationality and peoples have been notoriously difficult to define. The term ‘community’ has now been added to this list. In this article, consideration is given to international law and state constitutional law to ascertain how the term ‘community’ can be applied in South Africa; whether the term ‘culture’ should be used to expand or restrict the composition of the language community; and whether the community should be organised at a national level or whether local and regional communities could also qualify for a form of self-determination.
Can a Language be Islamic?
Authors: Versteegh Kees
Published: January 2021

In a number of publications Alessandro Bausani employed the label ‘Islamic/Muslim language’ to characterize languages that were profoundly influenced by Arabic and/or Persian. In this paper I investigate the analytical usefulness of such a label from a linguistic perspective. In particular, I deal with loanwords from Arabic and the use of Arabic script for other languages and compare the interaction between religion and language in the Islamic world with that in Jewish languages. I conclude that what Bausani was actually referring to was the deep sense of religio-cultural relationship between speakers of diverse languages who had adopted Islam. Labels such as ‘Islamic/Muslim’ should therefore be applied to these speakers, rather than to their languages.
Synotis jinshajiangensis (Asteraceae: Senecioneae), a new species from northwestern Yunnan, China
Authors: LIU YU-LIN , ZHU XIN-XIN , PENG YU-LAN , TANG MING
Published: January 2021

Synotis jinshajiangensis (Asteraceae: Senecioneae), a new species from southwestern Sichuan and northwestern Yunnan, China, is illustrated and described. This species is most closely similar to S. cappa in habit and shape of leaves and inflorescences, but is distinct by its smaller involucres, absence of ray florets, and fewer phyllaries and disk florets. It is also related to S. glomerata in habit and number of phyllaries, but differs by its loose compound corymbs or thyrses. A distribution map and a key to S. jinshajiangensis and its related species are provided.