bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Resource Rules
Authors: Kardon Isaac B.
Published: September 2023

This chapter discusses the method of identifying the specific rules under contestation, evaluating China's practice for uniformity and consistency, and assessing the specially affected states' responses to determine whether China's preferred rule may have wider normative effects. It applies this method to resource rules, which assign rights and jurisdiction over marine resources. It also reviews China's contentious practices, discerning the underlying rules that the People's Republic of China (PRC) prescribes and enforces to realize the economic potential of its claimed sovereign rights to natural resources. The chapter considers China's indeterminate claims of precisely where its rights and jurisdiction exist as a challenging element in its practice. It traces China's preferred rules through its practices to evaluate the degree to which those PRC practices are accepted by specially affected states.
Navigation Rules
Authors: Kardon Isaac B.
Published: September 2023

This chapter focuses on navigation rules, which establish the rights and freedoms of “flag states” and the coastal state's authority to limit them in and above their claimed jurisdictional zones. It considers the rules for navigation on the world's oceans as among the oldest customary international laws. It also talks about the debate during the Law of the Sea Conference regarding what rules govern a coastal state's authority over military vessels and aircraft operating in and above its territorial sea and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The chapter details how China made common cause with the developing world in challenging the doctrine of the freedom of the high seas. It highlights the delicate balance between coastal and user state rights to sail the world's oceans that hinges on how the rules for navigation are interpreted and applied.
Introduction
Authors: Polasky Janet
Published: September 2023

This chapter reclaims the lost story of political refugees and of the cities that sheltered them in the turbulence between the American and French revolutions at the end of the eighteenth century and the Revolutions of 1848. It emphasizes that is a transnational history of the doors willingly opened wide between 1789 and 1848 and of the people who passed through them. During one of the most turbulent periods in modern history, in the midst of hostile states jostling against each other as regimes changed radically, the chapter examines how cities, federated cantons, monarchies, and new republics offered asylum to refugees. A century before the codification by international organizations of individual rights to movement, the chapter unfolds how these communities recognized the inalienability of the human rights defined in the American and French revolutions. They offered asylum between nations. The chapter seeks to answer the following questions: Why do nations or cities open their doors rather than fortify their borders? What are the consequences of integration or assimilation of potentially disruptive newcomers for the citizens who reside in nations and neighborhoods? How does the offer of asylum alter not only the community that offers shelter, but also the world beyond?
Compositions
Authors: Bray Francesca , Hahn Barbara , Lourdusamy John Bosco , Saraiva Tiago
Published: September 2023

Compositions addresses cropscapes as ecologies or collectives, exploring the historical dynamics of stability or disruption. This requires acknowledging any crop as just one member of a community or collective. The approach through compositions also sensitizes us to the “patchiness” of cropscapes: even the most apparently homogeneous plantation or industrial monocrop landscape, when viewed up-close, disaggregates into a complex mosaic of terrains, para-commodities and practices continually made and remade. In ecological or post-humanist vein, the case studies of citrus, tubers, polycultures, weeds, and marigolds investigate how crop plants worked with other organisms to build a world around themselves, as well as how the humans concerned understood and sought to foster or impede those partnerships or antagonisms. Compositions asks how a specific crop’s propensities and associations might change as it moved, and considers how the composition of cropscapes affected their mobility. Key themes include synergies and care, interferences and incompatibilities, control and spontaneity (or “domestication” and “ferality”), simplification and heterogeneity, defined categories and blurred boundaries.
Dangerous Trifles
Authors: White Ashli
Published: September 2023

While garments were often expensive in the eighteenth century, accessories—medallions, buttons, and ribbon—were an affordable means of sartorial self-expression for people across the social spectrum. As such, they emerged as prime candidates for politicization, and this chapter analyzes how these “trifles” became flashpoints for political conflict during the revolutions. After appraising the market for accessories from the purview of makers, the chapter focuses on an emblematic accessory of the age—the cockade—and reveals how this item that was supposedly a clear badge of political affiliation was ambiguous and volatile in practice.
Conclusion
Authors: White Ashli
Published: September 2023

This chapter reflects on the legacies of material culture from the age of Atlantic revolutions. Surveying what has survived from this period, what has not, and why, it appraises how, in the aftermath of revolutions, specific actors used objects to promote certain narratives about these movements. The chapter concludes by proposing possible ways to redress some of the absences in extant collections in cultural institutions and how to think creatively and collaboratively about the meanings of these things—then and now.
Narrating War and Loss
Authors: Dubcovsky Alejandra
Published: September 2023

This chapter covers narratives of war and loss concerning women. In the aftermath of the 1702 siege, Spanish officials in Florida developed careful ways to narrate loss during wartime, which highlights the interconnections of race, class, and gender. The war discourse that centers on women's experiences and knowledge exposed the many taxing burdens women carried during and after bellicose conflicts in the early eighteenth century. The efforts by women of Spanish descent to safeguard their bodies, families, and inheritances played out through existing colonial dynamics and emphasized the power imbalances of those relationships. The chapter highlights the close correlation between the safety of women and the stability of the colony.
An Atomic Age Laboratory
Authors: Kingsland Sharon E.
Published: September 2023

This chapter discusses how the postwar environment created new opportunities for an expanded vision of plant science and new philanthropic sources of funding that made it possible for Frits Warmolt Went to realize that vision. Went was best known for inventing a new kind of climate-controlled laboratory called a “phytotron,” which opened at the California Institute of Technology in 1949. The chapter traces how Went created phytotronics, which is a field of research that is claimed to achieve disciplinary status. The chapter highlights Henry Owen Eversole's enthusiasm for orchids that spurred a radical shift in Went's research and caused him to envision a far more ambitious research enterprise that culminated in the invention of the phytotron. It details how Went adapted new technologies to laboratory and greenhouse spaces for his phytotron to make them ideal environments for growing plants.
Crossing Borders
Authors: Kingsland Sharon E.
Published: September 2023

This chapter provides a background on the phytotron movement as a worldwide laboratory movement bringing to light many interesting features of postwar experimental biology. It takes a general look at the laboratory movement, citing case studies highlighting different contexts and objectives that gave the movement its momentum. It also explores the involvement of the laboratory movement with the replication of a laboratory model in other locations, the campaigns, the selling of the idea, the building of networks of scientists, and the coordination of efforts nationally and around the world. The chapter talks about how biologists worked together and tried to share knowledge, detailing the process of building a phytotron that could become streamlined and less dependent on the need for custom design as time went on. It cites a selected group of phytotron campaigns and projects that illustrate in different ways the ambitious visions for science that were associated with these laboratories.
The Drive for Synthesis
Authors: Kingsland Sharon E.
Published: September 2023

This chapter considers the modern synthesis to be an ongoing process of reformulation of the Darwinian theory that continued into the 1980s, rather than a process that was largely completed by the 1950s. It highlights evolutionary synthesis, focusing on the 1950s to 1980s and on central developments that helped define the field of physiological ecology. It also looks at the role of new instruments and laboratory innovations in shaping this scientific field and explores this development through the program in “experimental taxonomy” at the Stanford botanical laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The chapter investigates the cooperative relationship between the Carnegie program and Frits Went's activity at Caltech in the 1950s, as well as other collaborations important for the development of evolutionary ecology. It traces the expansion of ecology that occurred in the 1990s in recognition of the global consequences of human population growth.
Neither Getting Big nor Getting Out: Imagination, Affection, and Fidelity in Action
Authors: Lamb Brooks
Published: September 2023

Chapter 4 highlights the virtues that small and midsized farmers in Robertson County have cultivated and nurtured while tending their land. Using a different vocabulary—often referring to “imagination” as “knowing their land” and describing their farms as “part of” them; frequently referencing “love” for their farms, family, and community rather than using the word “affection”; and citing “duty” and “responsibility” instead of Berry’s term “fidelity”—farmers shared specific stories of how stewardship virtues shape their actions. For many, practicing these virtues required significant sacrifice. Farmers and community members mention other stewardship motivations, too, such as faith, economics, family legacy, and land ethic-like worldviews. The chapter’s final pages offer a powerful summary: “These small farmers have connected with and become responsible for the well-being of the land, even when doing so is difficult. Intimate relationships with place and their continual honing of imagination, affection, and fidelity push them toward providing care. People have denied themselves economic gain, ease, and reduced labor in favor of the hard work of stewardship. They have chosen this labor of love.” Learning from these farmers’ example could enable us all to provide better, more resilient, and more empathetic care for the earth.
Clinical value of chemiluminescence method for detection of antinuclear antibody profiles
Authors: Xiang Hui-Yao , Xiang Xi-Ying , Ten Ting-Bo , Ding Xie , Liu Yu-Wen , Luo Chun-Hua
Published: September 2023

β cells are the main cells responsible for the hypoglycemic function of pancreatic islets, and the insulin secreted by these cells is the only hormone that lowers blood glucose levels in the human body. β cells are regulated by various factors, among which neurotransmitters make an important contribution. This paper discusses the effects of neurotransmitters secreted by various sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves on β cells and summarizes the mechanisms by which various neurotransmitters regulate insulin secretion. Many neurotransmitters do not have a single source and are not only released from nerve terminals but also synthesized by β cells themselves, allowing them to synergistically regulate insulin secretion. Almost all of these neurotransmitters depend on the presence of glucose to function, and their actions are mostly related to the Ca2+ and cAMP concentrations. Although neurotransmitters have been extensively studied, many of their mechanisms remain unclear and require further exploration by researchers.
Impact of coronary artery bypass grafting surgery on the chorioretinal biomicroscopic characteristics
Authors: Shahriari Mansoor , Nikkhah Homayoun , Mahjoob Mohammad Parsa , Behnaz Nazanin , Barkhordari Shahriar , Cheraqpour Kasra
Published: September 2023

β cells are the main cells responsible for the hypoglycemic function of pancreatic islets, and the insulin secreted by these cells is the only hormone that lowers blood glucose levels in the human body. β cells are regulated by various factors, among which neurotransmitters make an important contribution. This paper discusses the effects of neurotransmitters secreted by various sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves on β cells and summarizes the mechanisms by which various neurotransmitters regulate insulin secretion. Many neurotransmitters do not have a single source and are not only released from nerve terminals but also synthesized by β cells themselves, allowing them to synergistically regulate insulin secretion. Almost all of these neurotransmitters depend on the presence of glucose to function, and their actions are mostly related to the Ca2+ and cAMP concentrations. Although neurotransmitters have been extensively studied, many of their mechanisms remain unclear and require further exploration by researchers.
Primary adrenal Ewing sarcoma: A systematic review of the literature
Authors: Manatakis Dimitrios K , Tsouknidas Ioannis , Mylonakis Emmanouil , Tasis Nikolaos Panagiotis , Antonopoulou Maria Ioanna , Acheimastos Vasileios , Mastoropoulou Aikaterini , Korkolis Dimitrios P
Published: September 2023

β cells are the main cells responsible for the hypoglycemic function of pancreatic islets, and the insulin secreted by these cells is the only hormone that lowers blood glucose levels in the human body. β cells are regulated by various factors, among which neurotransmitters make an important contribution. This paper discusses the effects of neurotransmitters secreted by various sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves on β cells and summarizes the mechanisms by which various neurotransmitters regulate insulin secretion. Many neurotransmitters do not have a single source and are not only released from nerve terminals but also synthesized by β cells themselves, allowing them to synergistically regulate insulin secretion. Almost all of these neurotransmitters depend on the presence of glucose to function, and their actions are mostly related to the Ca2+ and cAMP concentrations. Although neurotransmitters have been extensively studied, many of their mechanisms remain unclear and require further exploration by researchers.
Confusing finding of quantitative fluorescent polymerase chain reaction analysis in invasive prenatal genetic diagnosis: A case report
Authors: Chen Cui , Tang Tao , Song Qi-Ling , He Yong-Jun , Cai Yan
Published: September 2023

β cells are the main cells responsible for the hypoglycemic function of pancreatic islets, and the insulin secreted by these cells is the only hormone that lowers blood glucose levels in the human body. β cells are regulated by various factors, among which neurotransmitters make an important contribution. This paper discusses the effects of neurotransmitters secreted by various sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves on β cells and summarizes the mechanisms by which various neurotransmitters regulate insulin secretion. Many neurotransmitters do not have a single source and are not only released from nerve terminals but also synthesized by β cells themselves, allowing them to synergistically regulate insulin secretion. Almost all of these neurotransmitters depend on the presence of glucose to function, and their actions are mostly related to the Ca2+ and cAMP concentrations. Although neurotransmitters have been extensively studied, many of their mechanisms remain unclear and require further exploration by researchers.
Editorial
Authors: Giraldi Janaina De Moura Engracia
Published: September 2023

Edital
OS EFEITOS DO DIREITO DE PROPRIEDADE INTELECTUAL SOBRE A INOVAÇÃO NOS PAÍSES DA AMÉRICA LATINA: UMA REVISÃO SISTEMÁTICA
Authors: Querino Fabiane Fidelis , Calegario Cristina Lelis Leal
Published: September 2023

O objetivo deste trabalho é descrever a literatura existente a respeito destes efeitos de modo a identificar as teorias abordadas, os métodos empregados e os principais achados de pesquisa. Utilizou-se do método qualitativo de revisão sistemática da literatura. Foram analisados 60 artigos disponíveis nas bases Web of Science, Scopus, Emerald e Taylor Francis. Os resultados mostram que, após a adesão dos países latino-americanos ao acordo TRIPS que institui padrões mínimos de DPI, a literatura retrata que houve um progresso na inovação e no desenvolvimento de patentes nesses países. A literatura aponta, que o progresso na inovação está ocorrendo tanto pela intensificação e ampliação do setor tecnológico quanto pelo estímulo para a ampliação do capital humano qualificado. Além disso, foi apontado nos resultados da pesquisa, muitos trabalhos que estão verificando a aplicação do DPI, isso reflete o quão novas são essas regulamentações nos países latinos. Por fim, o artigo apresenta uma agenda para orientar as pesquisas futuras.
Effect of different feed pellet on growth rate and survival levels of tilapia seeds (Oreochromis niloticus)
Authors: Wamnebo Muhammad Ikhsan , Hadijah Siti , Hamdillah Andi
Published: September 2023

Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus, Linnaeus, 1758) is a dominant commodity in the Indonesian freshwater fishery industry, and its growth relies on feed. Pellet are feed that is processed through a factory mechanism or human intervention, based on the cultivators’ needs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of pelleted feed with varying protein content on growth and survival of tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fry. This was conducted from April 2022 to June 2022, in Tasiwalie Village, Suppa District, Pinrang Regency. The test animals used were tilapia aged 30 days, and feed include omega-3, Hi-Pro-vite 781, and Prima feed 500 grams each. An experimental method was employed using a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three treatment and replications, where treatment A, B, and C were Prima Feed (39 – 41%), Hi-Pro Vite (protein 31 – 33%), and Omega feed (protein 13 – 16%), respectively. Artificial feed was given at a dose of 5%/body weight 3 times a day. Also, water quality management was carried out by measuring temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, and ammonia. The results showed that different feed affected protein retention with the highest average value of 43.23%, the highest average fat retention of 48.56%, absolute weight growth of 1.58 g, absolute length growth of 2.33 cm, daily specific weight growth rate of 3.75%, daily specific length growth rate of 5.56%, and feed utilization efficiency 70.60%. Furthermore, the best growth was obtained in treatment A, involving Prime Feed from 39 – 41%. This study showed that the percentage of protein had a significant effect on growth and survival of tilapia. Therefore, the feed industry is needed to formulate requirements based on tilapia fish, to increase production.Keywords:TilapiaFeedGrowthSurvival
Molecular characterization of Tapah fish (Wallago leerii, Bleeker 1851) from Riau Province based on Cytochrome b gen
Authors: Elvyra Roza , Nurasiah Nurasiah , Batubara Agung Setia
Published: September 2023

Tapah fish (Wallago leerii) is a fish with high economic value in Riau Province. Molecular research on W. leerii is very important to do. This study aims to determine the molecular characteristics of W. leerii from Riau Province based on the Cytochrome b gene. The universal primer Cytochrome b is used for the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) process. The PCR result is a partial Cytochrome b gene with a length of 373 bp. Multiple alignments were performed on nucleotide sequences of the Cytochrome b gene of W. leerii from river of Tapung and Indragiri Riau with the cytochrome b gene of other fish from Genbank and analyzed using the MEGA program version 6.0. Phylogenetic construction using the Cytochrome b gene can distinguish W. leerii from river of Tapung and Indragiri Riau, with other species.Keywords:AlignmentsMolecularGenBank
Prolife Christian Romance Novels: A Sign that the Abortion-as-Murder Center Is Not Holding?
Authors: Kamitsuka Margaret D.
Published: September 2023

Abstract: In the field of evangelical Christian romance fiction, there is a little-known subset of novels about abortion. In general, prolife proponents fall into two camps: those who condemn any pregnancy termination as murder, and those who argue for compassion for women who turn to abortion. This essay analyzes the use of popular prolife tropes about the psychological and medical harms of abortion in Francine Rivers's The Atonement Child . Rivers's story about a pregnancy from rape perpetuates abortion myths and offers a fairy tale picture to her female Christian readers who statistically make up the largest segment of those getting abortions today.
“One Among and not Separate From”: Fallen Communion and Forfeit Community in Cormac McCarthy’s The Crossing
Authors: DeCoste D. Marcel
Published: September 2023

Abstract: Set in motion by Billy Parham’s decision to repatriate a Mexican wolf, The Crossing is defined by his bond with nature. But despite his commitment to conservation, Billy’s efforts lead to the death of all he loves. This tragic end constitutes a Christian warning against turning environmental stewardship into an idolatry that usurps the duty to love. Billy seeks, through the wolf, a harmony with Creation, and critics have deemed this yearning laudable. Yet his stewardship is presented as deformed by a denial of original sin. Billy seeks a self-authored return to Eden, but thinking he can ignore his own fallenness, he only reenacts the Fall. Consistently an object of others’ charity, he repeatedly shatters community in his quest to commune with Creation. Thus his longing for oneness with nature works to divorce him from the charitable and constraining communion with God and man that must undergird any proper stewardship.
T. S. Eliot in Ecstasy: Feeling, Reason, Mysticism
Authors: Brooker Jewel Spears
Published: September 2023

Abstract: On January 2, 2020, Princeton University opened to the public 1,131 previously unseen letters from T. S. Eliot to Emily Hale, whom he had known when he was a student at Harvard. In this correspondence, which stretches from 1930 to 1956, Eliot removes his mask and freely discusses his feelings about life, love, poetry, politics, and religion. This paper discusses a major spiritual pattern found in the letters.
Three Steps to Rebrand “English” as Christianity, Literature and Writing Departments
Authors: Wilson Jessica Hooten
Published: September 2023

Abstract: If we want to know what is wrong with English departments across the country—why they are shrinking and shutting down—we have to start by looking at ourselves. (I stole this cue from Dante.) We should ask what story we are telling about what we do and why we do it, what we’re offering students that does not bow down to the ideologies of use and relevance. I suggest three steps to make changes that might make a difference.
Chesterton's Decadent Theology: Redeeming Sin with Oscar Wilde
Authors: Gabelman Josephine
Published: September 2023

Abstract: Chesterton's time at the Slade has consistently been described as a "nightmare" from which he managed to escape. Oscar Wilde, the disgraced "bandmaster" of the movement that Chesterton loathed takes the role of bête noire in the seldom disputed designation of Wilde as heterodox poseur and Chesterton as the antidote to decadence. This article seeks to undo the cartoon antagonism and consider the possibility for a literary and theological kinship between them, recasting the "nightmare" as a blessing that compelled Chesterton to orthodoxy, and questioning, more broadly, the role of sin on the road to redemption.
Birdman, Fly: A Reconsideration of Flann O'Brien's At Swim-Two-Birds and the Pre-Christian Cloak of the Sweeney Tales
Authors: Giemza Bryan
Published: September 2023

Abstract: The first section of this article provides context for Brian O'Nolan's At Swim-Two-Birds (1939), situating original, early textual tensions within the history of ascetic revival in Ireland in the late eighth and early ninth centuries. The second section offers a comparative look at O'Nolan's translation alongside J. G. O'Keeffe's 1913 touchstone text and Seamus Heaney's 1982 rendition of it. The final section examines two contemporary reconceptual film settings of the Sweeney tale to consider how the tale is reimagined in post-state, gendered, and secular contexts. Fragmented elements of ascetism endure via this endlessly changing tale for Celtic Christianity's contested center.
Divine Mothers: Demeter and the Virgin Mary in the Poetry of Eavan Boland, Paula Meehan, and Mary O'Malley
Authors: Fredericks Elizabeth
Published: September 2023

Abstract: The Virgin Mary and the Greek goddess Demeter both make frequent appearances in Irish women's poetry. Usually these figures are treated as representative of separate aesthetic needs: the Virgin Mary as a religious figure only, and Demeter as a link to the classical past or a representative of mother-daughter narratives. This separation, however, neglects how several poets, particularly Eavan Boland, Paula Meehan, and Mary O'Malley, make frequent use of both figures, often for related reasons. Demeter can thus be regarded as a parallel divine mother to Mary, whose agency and sexuality offer divine alternatives to Mary's remote passivity.
Genre at Earth Magnitude: A Theory of Climate Fiction
Authors: Woods Derek
Published: September 2023

Abstract: What critics and publishers now call climate fiction is a growing genre that captures significant critical attention. This essay theorizes the relation between two of the genre's features, one formal and one political, in the scale frame they address: the planetary scale of climate, or what many scientists call the Earth system. The archive that articulates these features consists of a popular, digital discourse about climate fiction, much of which appeared since Hurricane Sandy. Instead of looking at individual works or narrating their history, I read this popular "metagenre" to draw out its implicit theory of the genre. According to the metagenre, climate fiction's abstract features consist of a didactic purpose and a normative form. Climate fiction's purpose, whatever its social effects, is ultimately to contribute to planetary climate stability. Second, the genre's definitive form is (or should be) extrapolative realism. Extrapolative realist narrative builds on scientific consensus to imagine plausible futures. The striking thing about climate fiction is that its purpose and form exist in a contradictory or inversely proportional relationship. If the genre fulfills its goal by contributing to the equilibrium of the climate, then its verisimilitude will diminish. If the climate continues to destabilize, then the genre's realism will have been vindicated at the expense of its purpose. Climate fiction is unique because it promises extrapolative realism in the content of individual novels and films but does so in the constitutive and paradoxical presence of a goal that would prevent such future climates from materializing. The point of analyzing climate fiction's constitutive paradox between purpose and realism is not to revel in irony, leave the final word to ideology critique, or dismiss the popular aesthetics of climate fiction. Rather, this paradox can be generalized to the worldview or grand narrative of the Anthropocene: the contradiction between climate fiction's purpose and form sheds light on a more general temporal structure bound up with technocracy and scientific legitimation.
Investigating the impact of attenuated fluorescence spectra on protein discrimination
Authors: Xu Jiwei , Xu Jianjie , Tong Zhaoyang , Yu Siqi , Liu Bing , Mu Xihui , Du Bin , Liu Zhiwei , Wang Jiang , Liu Dong
Published: September 2023

The optical remote sensing techniques are promising for the real-time detection, and identification of different types of hazardous biological materials. However, the received fluorescent spectra from a remote distance suffer from the atmospheric attenuation effect upon the spectral shape. To investigate the influence of atmospheric attenuation on characterizing, and classifying biological agents, the laboratory-measured fluorescence data of fourteen proteins combined with the atmospheric transmission factors of the MODTRAN model were conducted with different detection ranges. The multivariate analysis techniques of principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and the predictors of Random Forest and XGBoost were employed to assess the separability and distinguishability of different spectra recorded. The results showed that the spectral-shift effect on attenuated spectra varied as a function of the detection range, the atmospheric visibility, and the spectral distribution. According to the PCA and LDA analysis, the distribution of decomposed factors changed in the spectral explanatory power with the increasing attenuation effect, which was consistent with the hierarchical clustering results. Random Forest exhibited higher performance in classifying protein samples than that of XGBoost, while the two methods performed similarly in identifying harmful and harmless subgroups of proteins. Fewer subgroups decreased the sensitivity of the classification accuracy to the attenuation effect. Our analysis demonstrated that combining atmospheric transport models to build a fluorescence spectral database is essential for fast identification between spectra, and reduced classification criteria could facilitate the compatibility of spectral database and classification algorithms.
Multifunctional adaptive optics optical coherence tomography allows cellular scale reflectometry, polarimetry, and angiography in the living human eye
Authors: Kurokawa Kazuhiro , Nemeth Morgan
Published: September 2023

Clinicians are unable to detect glaucoma until substantial loss or dysfunction of retinal ganglion cells occurs. To this end, novel measures are needed. We have developed an optical imaging solution based on adaptive optics optical coherence tomography (AO-OCT) to discern key clinical features of glaucoma and other neurodegenerative diseases at the cellular scale in the living eye. Here, we test the feasibility of measuring AO-OCT-based reflectance, retardance, optic axis orientation, and angiogram at specifically targeted locations in the living human retina and optic nerve head. Multifunctional imaging, combined with focus stacking and global image registration algorithms, allows us to visualize cellular details of retinal nerve fiber bundles, ganglion cell layer somas, glial septa, capillaries, and connective tissues. These are key histologic features of neurodegenerative diseases, including glaucoma, that are now able to examine in vivo with excellent repeatability and reproducibility. Incorporating this noninvasive cellular-scale imaging with objective measurements will significantly enhance existing clinical assessments, which is pivotal in facilitating the early detection of eye disease and understanding the mechanisms of neurodegeneration.
A novel simulation for polarization dehazing
Authors: Wang Xia , Zhang Xin , Yan Changda , sun qiyang , Li Yuyang
Published: September 2023

Haze and fog, as severe weather conditions, have absorbing and scattering effects on the optical images, severely affecting image quality.
Polarization-based dehazing algorithms can estimate the original radiance distribution of the scene through the polarization of skylight and transmitted light.
However, current traditional methods lack consideration for the polarization of transmitted light, and the datasets required for deep learning-based methods are difficult to obtain.
This paper proposes a polarized haze image synthesis method that can generate scene intensity and polarization after passing through different distances and concentrations from existing DoFP images.
We establish a comprehensive polarization dataset for image dehazing, including 300 sets of simulated data, 40 sets real world data from artificial scenes with haze-free ground truth and 40 sets real world data from urban scenes.
The network model trained on our simulated dataset demonstrates the effectiveness of the simulation method in testing experiments.
Diagnostic test accuracy of artificial intelligence in screening for referable diabetic retinopathy in real-world settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Uy Holijah , Fielding Christopher , Hohlfeld Ameer , Ochodo Eleanor , Opare Abraham , Mukonda Elton , Minnies Deon , Engel Mark E.
Published: September 2023

Retrospective studies on artificial intelligence (AI) in screening for diabetic retinopathy (DR) have shown promising results in addressing the mismatch between the capacity to implement DR screening and increasing DR incidence. This review sought to evaluate the diagnostic test accuracy (DTA) of AI in screening for referable diabetic retinopathy (RDR) in real-world settings. We searched CENTRAL, PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, and Web of Science on 9 February 2023. We included prospective DTA studies assessing AI against trained human graders (HGs) in screening for RDR in patients with diabetes. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed methodological quality against QUADAS-2 criteria. We used the hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristics (HSROC) model to pool estimates of sensitivity and specificity and, forest plots and SROC plots to visually examine heterogeneity in accuracy estimates. From our initial search results of 3899 studies, we included 15 studies comprising 17 datasets. Meta-analyses revealed a sensitivity of 95.33% (95%CI: 90.60–100%) and specificity of 92.01% (95%CI: 87.61–96.42%) for patient-level analysis (10 datasets, N = 45,785) while, for the eye-level analysis, sensitivity was 91.24% (95%CI: 79.15–100%) and specificity, 93.90% (95%CI: 90.63–97.16%) (7 datasets, N = 15,390). Subgroup analyses did not provide variations in the diagnostic accuracy of country classification and DR classification criteria. However, a moderate increase was observed in diagnostic accuracy in the primary-level healthcare settings: sensitivity of 99.35% (95%CI: 96.85–100%), specificity of 93.72% (95%CI: 88.83–98.61%) and, a minimal decrease in the tertiary-level healthcare settings: sensitivity of 94.71% (95%CI: 89.00–100%), specificity of 90.88% (95%CI: 83.22–98.53%). Sensitivity analyses did not show any variations in studies that included diabetic macular edema in the RDR definition, nor studies with ≥3 HGs. This review provides evidence, for the first time from prospective studies, for the effectiveness of AI in screening for RDR in real-world settings. The results may serve to strengthen existing guidelines to improve current practices.
Capacity of enforcers and level of enforcement of the Tobacco Control Act 2015 in Kampala, Uganda
Authors: Lukwata Hafsa , Musoke David , Wafula Solomon T. , Ssempebwa John C.
Published: September 2023

Tobacco use is a leading cause of preventable deaths worldwide. Uganda enacted the Tobacco Control Act (TCA) 2015 to domesticate implementation of the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) regulations. This study assessed the capacity to enforce the TCA and associated factors, as well as the level and barriers to its enforcement in Kampala, Uganda. A cross-sectional study using both quantitative and qualitative methods was employed. A structured questionnaire was used for quantitative data collection, and a WHO adapted capacity assessment open-ended guide was used for key informant interviews. Multivariable logistic regression was used to obtain odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the independent predictors for capacity to enforce the TCA. A total of 162 respondents from 5 institutions and six key informants were involved in the study. Findings established that only 23% (37/162) of the enforcers had the capacity to enforce the TCA. Male enforcers [OR = 0.16, 95% CI (0.05–0.55)], those who did not know when the law was enacted [OR = 0.19, 95% CI (0.07–0.52)], those with no plans to enforce the law [OR = 0.22, 95% CI (0.05–0.93)], and older enforcers (aged 31–40 years) [OR = 0.27, 95% CI (0.09–0.81)] were less likely to have the capacity to enforce the TCA. The level of enforcement of the TCA was mainly low to moderate for most of the institutions mandated to enforce it. Lack of knowledge about the law amongst the enforcers and general public, and inadequate funds were reported as major barriers to enforcement of the TCA. The capacity to enforce the TCA in Kampala was low. There is potential to enhance the capacity of enforcers through further dissemination of the Act, as well as sensitization of enforcers, institutional managers, and the general public about the legislation.
Disruption of the inositol phosphorylceramide synthase gene affects Trypanosoma cruzi differentiation and infection capacity
Authors: Dos Santos Nailma S A , Estevez-Castro Carlos F. , Macedo Juan P. , Chame Daniela F. , Castro-Gomes Thiago , Santos-Cardoso Mariana , Burle-Caldas Gabriela A. , Covington Courtney N. , Steel Patrick G. , Smith Terry K. , Denny Paul W. , Teixeira Santuza M. R.
Published: September 2023

Sphingolipids (SLs) are essential components of all eukaryotic cellular membranes. In fungi, plants and many protozoa, the primary SL is inositol-phosphorylceramide (IPC). Trypanosoma cruzi is a protozoan parasite that causes Chagas disease (CD), a chronic illness for which no vaccines or effective treatments are available. IPC synthase (IPCS) has been considered an ideal target enzyme for drug development because phosphoinositol-containing SL is absent in mammalian cells and the enzyme activity has been described in all parasite forms of T. cruzi. Furthermore, IPCS is an integral membrane protein conserved amongst other kinetoplastids, including Leishmania major, for which specific inhibitors have been identified. Using a CRISPR-Cas9 protocol, we generated T. cruzi knockout (KO) mutants in which both alleles of the IPCS gene were disrupted. We demonstrated that the lack of IPCS activity does not affect epimastigote proliferation or its susceptibility to compounds that have been identified as inhibitors of the L. major IPCS. However, disruption of the T. cruzi IPCS gene negatively affected epimastigote differentiation into metacyclic trypomastigotes as well as proliferation of intracellular amastigotes and differentiation of amastigotes into tissue culture-derived trypomastigotes. In accordance with previous studies suggesting that IPC is a membrane component essential for parasite survival in the mammalian host, we showed that T. cruzi IPCS null mutants are unable to establish an infection in vivo, even in immune deficient mice.
Mental health symptoms are comparable in patients hospitalized with acute illness and patients hospitalized with injury
Authors: Carlson Eve B. , Shieh Lisa , Barlow M. Rose , Palmieri Patrick A. , Yen Felicia , Mellman Thomas A. , Williams Mallory , Williams Michelle Y. , Chandran Mayuri , Spain David A.
Published: September 2023

Background

High rates of mental health symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been found in patients hospitalized with traumatic injuries, but little is known about these problems in patients hospitalized with acute illnesses. A similarly high prevalence of mental health problems in patients hospitalized with acute illness would have significant public health implications because acute illness and injury are both common, and mental health problems of depression, anxiety, and PTSD are highly debilitating.

Methods and findings

In patients admitted after emergency care for Acute Illness (N = 656) or Injury (N = 661) to three hospitals across the United States, symptoms of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress were compared acutely (Acute Stress Disorder) and two months post-admission (PTSD). Patients were ethnically/racially diverse and 54% female. No differences were found between the Acute Illness and Injury groups in levels of any symptoms acutely or two months post-admission. At two months post-admission, at least one symptom type was elevated for 37% of the Acute Illness group and 39% of the Injury group. Within racial/ethnic groups, PTSD symptoms were higher in Black patients with injuries than for Black patients with acute illness. A disproportionate number of Black patients had been assaulted.

Conclusions

This study found comparable levels of mental health sequelae in patients hospitalized after emergency care for acute illness as in patients hospitalized after emergency care for injury. Findings of significantly higher symptoms and interpersonal violence injuries in Black patients with injury suggest that there may be important and actionable differences in mental health sequelae across ethnic/racial identities and/or mechanisms of injury or illness. Routine screening for mental health risk for all patients admitted after emergency care could foster preventive care and reduce ethnic/racial disparities in mental health responses to acute illness or injury.
Does witnessing multitasking impact turnover and conflict? The influence of employee dark core
Authors: Baker Courtney L. , De Bruin Rushika
Published: September 2023

This paper explores the dark core’s role in an employee’s evaluations of coworkers electronic multitasking behaviors. Using an experimental vignette design collected via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (N = 485), we demonstrate that employees high in the dark core report higher turnover intentions and more interpersonal conflict, regardless of the multitasking behavior relevance. A three-way interaction between multitasking relevance, perceived intentionality, and the dark core when predicting turnover intentions emerged. Perceived coworker intentions played the largest role in impacting turnover and interpersonal conflict. Implications for theory and practice are discussed below.
The evolutionary game analysis of the decision-making behavior of live streaming stakeholders under the value co-creation
Authors: Jia Shanshan
Published: September 2023

Integrity-linked issues have become increasingly serious and attracted considerable attention regarding the sustainability of live streaming; therefore, live streaming anchors and suppliers have become increasingly concerned about their ongoing marketing. Moreover, streaming platforms are also beginning to focus on sustainable development. Determining how live streaming anchor behavior, supplier behavior, and streaming platform strategic decision affect live streaming is essential for achieving the healthy and sustainable development of live streaming ecosystems. However, the game among live streaming anchor behavior, supplier behavior, and streaming platform strategic decisions, which the live streaming ecosystem strongly depends on, has attracted little attention. This study constructed a game model of value co-creation evolution in live streaming ecosystems, with the live streaming anchors, suppliers, and streaming platforms as the main subject. The evolutionary stable strategies of the game were analyzed, and the influence of typical factors on the system was discussed. The results showed that the best evolutionary stability strategy is that live streaming anchors and suppliers choose honesty, and streaming platforms have strict regulation, which is the optimal strategic objective for value co-creation. The appropriate rewards and punishments inherent in a streaming platform can help regulate the behavior of the live streaming anchor and supplier; specifically, great rewards and severe punishments of the streaming platform can be applied to incentivize the honest behavior of the live streaming anchor and supplier. This study provides insights for designing appropriate policies for live streaming platforms to promote sustainable development.
Can different variations of suspension exercises provide adequate loads and muscle activations for upper body training?
Authors: Vural Faik , Erman Berkant , Ranisavljev Igor , Yuzbasioglu Yasin , Ćopić Nemanja , Aksit Tolga , Dopsaj Milivoj , Ozkol Mehmet Zeki
Published: September 2023

The purpose of this study was to assess the differences in muscle activation (EMG) and body weight distribution (%BW) between suspension (TRX™ push-up and TRX™ inverted row) and conventional exercises (bench press and lying barbell row) using different contraction types (isometric and isotonic) and position variations (feet on the ground [FG] and feet on suspension device [FD]). It was also used to determine the intensity of the force applied to the straps of the suspension device corresponding to one repetition maximum (1-RM). Twelve male athletes (ages—24.5±4.2 years (mean±standard deviation [SD]); Height—181.0±6.8 cm; body mass—83.08±6.81 kg) participated in this study. Two suspension devices were used, one for the FD variation and one for the FG variation pectoralis major (PM) and triceps brachii (TRI) activations were assessed during the TRX™ push-up and bench press exercises. Transversus trapezius (TRA) and biceps brachii (BB) activations were assessed during the TRX™ inverted row and lying barbell row exercises. The results showed significant differences between exercises (FG and FD variations of TRX™ push-up and bench press) in PM activities (isometric and isotonic) (p≤0.05). However, these differences were only observed during isometric TRI activation (p≤0.05). In the FG and FD variations of the TRX™ inverted row and lying barbell row exercises, there were only differences in the isometric contractions of the TRA and BB (p≤0.05). In the suspension device of push-ups and inverted row for the FD variations, 70.5% and 72.64% of 1-RM intensity were obtained, respectively. Similar responses to training intensities and muscle activations can be obtained in suspension exercises and conventional exercises. FD variations of suspension exercises can be more effective in terms of muscle activations than FG variations, and isotonic suspension exercises increase exercise intensity more than isometric suspension exercises.