bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Only two subscales of the Coping Strategies Questionnaire are culturally relevant for people with chronic low back pain in Nigerian Igbo populations: a cross-cultural adaptation and validation study
Authors: Igwesi-Chidobe Chinonso Nwamaka , Sorinola Isaac Olubunmi , Godfrey Emma Louise
Published: September 2021

Background

Pain coping strategies are important in the chronicity of low back pain and the associated disability. However, their exact influence is unknown in many African contexts such as rural Nigeria due to lack of outcome instruments with which to measure them. This study aimed to cross-culturally adapt and psychometrically test the Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ) in Igbo populations in Nigeria.

Methods

The CSQ was forward and back translated by clinical and non-clinical translators; evaluated by an expert review committee. The translated measure was piloted amongst twelve rural Nigerian dwellers with chronic low back pain (CLBP) using the think-aloud cognitive interviewing style. Internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha), test–retest reliability (intra-class correlation coefficient—ICC and Bland–Altman plot), and minimal detectable change were examined amongst 50 people with CLBP in rural and urban Nigerian populations. Construct validity was determined by assessing the correlations between the adapted CSQ and measures of disability, pain intensity, fear avoidance beliefs, and illness perceptions using Spearman’s correlation analyses with 200 adults with CLBP in rural Nigeria. Exploratory factor analyses using Kaiser criterion (eigenvalue) and parallel analysis as methods for determining dimensionality were conducted with the same sample.

Results

Fourteen out of 42 items were routinely adopted in this population including all items of catastrophising subscale, and all but one item of praying and hoping subscale. Catastrophising and praying and hoping subscales had the highest Cronbach’s alpha. All subscales had high ICCs with Bland–Altman plots that showed good agreement. All coping strategies were positively correlated with self-reported disability and pain intensity with catastrophising subscale having the highest values. Seven-factor and three-factor structures were produced with the Kaiser criterion and parallel analysis, with different items from the original CSQ, except for catastrophising.

Conclusions

Catastrophising and praying and hoping may be the relevant coping strategies in this population. More culturally relevant measures of pain coping strategies that include adaptive coping strategies may need to be developed for African contexts such as rural Nigeria.
A comparative review on heart ion channels, action potentials and electrocardiogram in rodents and human: extrapolation of experimental insights to clinic
Authors: Joukar Siyavash
Published: September 2021

Electrocardiogram (ECG) is a non-invasive valuable diagnostic tool that is used in clinics for investigation and monitoring of heart electrical rhythm/conduction, ischemia/injury of heart, electrolyte disturbances and agents/drugs induced cardiac toxicity. Nowadays using animal models to study heart diseases such as electrical and mechanical disturbance is common. In addition, given to ethical consideration and availability, the use of small rodents has been a top priority for cardiovascular researchers. However, extrapolation of experimental findings from the lab to the clinic needs sufficient basic knowledge of similarities and differences between heart action potential and ECG of rodents and humans in normal and disease conditions. This review compares types of human action potentials, the dominant ion currents during action potential phases, alteration in ion channels activities in channelopathies-induced arrhythmias and the ECG appearance of mouse, rat, guinea pig, rabbit and human. Also, it briefly discusses the responsiveness and alterations in ECG following some interventions such as cardiac injury and arrhythmia induction. Overall, it provides a roadmap for researchers in selecting the best animal model/species whose studies results can be translated into clinical practice. In addition, this study will also be useful to biologists, physiologists, pharmacologists, veterinarians and physicians working in the fields of comparative physiology, pharmacology, toxicology and diseases.
Micro-morphologies of SBS modifier at mortar transition zone in asphalt mixture with thin sections and fluorescence analysis
Authors: Xiao Yue , Yunusa Mujaheed , Yan Boxiang , Zhang Xiaoshan , Chang Xiwen
Published: September 2021

The microstructure control of modified asphalt, especially the micro-dispersion of the SBS modifier in the mortar transition zone, is a critical technology for the performance design of modified asphalt. To characterize the micro-dispersive morphology of SBS modifiers, thin-section preparation techniques that can be used to analyze the original microstructure of the asphalt mixture were proposed and introduced in this study. Flexible resin is filled into the mixture at vacuum conditions to ensure accepted sample conditions for preparing thin sections of asphalt mixture. The morphology parameters, including SBS area ratio, box dimension, SBS average particle area and its coefficient of variation, area-weighted average axis ratio, and coefficient of variation, were plotted from fluorescence images to characterize the micro-morphological distribution of the SBS modifier in detail. Results have shown that the area ratio increased with the increase in SBS content, while the box dimension was reduced and the distribution uniformity of the particles decreased. The superfluous SBS modifier in the binder at a too high adding ratio will decrease the value of the box dimension. Lower modification temperature worsened the SBS modifier in the mixture, resulting in a wide range of particle size, higher axis ratio, and higher area ratio. The micro-morphologies of SBS in the asphalt mixture phase varied a lot from the asphalt binder phase. The additional materials of mineral filler and fine aggregate, together with the other heating processes, will significantly influence the swelling state and particle size of the SBS modifier.
The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Islamic versus conventional stock markets: international evidence from financial markets
Authors: Nomran Naji Mansour , Haron Razali
Published: September 2021

This study employs samplet-tests and panel pooled OLS regression to investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Islamic versus conventional stock markets returns. The study uses daily data from 15 countries over the period of September 01, 2019–April 30, 2020, which covers two main periods and over four sub-periods. Findings reveal that the returns of Islamic indices begun to be positive instead of negative by mid-April 2020, while returns of conventional ones remain negative throughout the periods. Furthermore, the results suggest a negative and statistically significant impact of COVID-19 on the performance of both stock indices. Nevertheless, this impact is weak on the Islamic indices and strong on the conventional ones. Overall, the findings indicate that Islamic stock markets perform better before and during COVID-19 than the conventional ones, and the adverse impact of the pandemic on the stock markets is relatively lesser for the Islamic indices.
Joule-Thomson expansion for noncommutative uncharged black holes
Authors: Morais Graça J. P. , Capossoli Eduardo Folco , Boschi-Filho Henrique
Published: September 2021

In this work we study the Joule-Thomson expansion for uncharged black holes in a noncommutative scenario characterized by a parameter θ, which is present in the horizon function. We calculate the inversion temperature for some values of θ and the isenthalpics for fixed masses. We find that the uncharged noncommutative black hole behaves as a charged commutative one.
Statistical Parables
Authors: Burnett Paul
Published: September 2021

In the early 1960s, the agricultural economist Theodore W. Schultz issued a critical assessment of the prevailing tenets of development economics in Transforming Traditional Agriculture. Aimed at educated bureaucrats rather than academic economists, he proposed no new development theories. Instead, he drew inferences from statistics in case studies to argue that no special economic theory was required in the development space. He packaged these studies as statistical parables to provoke skepticism of development theory among those involved in direct technical assistance in developing countries. Drawing partly on their long experience with US and Soviet agricultural modernization, Schultz and members of his agricultural economics group at the University of Chicago used suggestive empirical evidence to stress the importance of investment in human capital in economic growth. By appealing to government administrators in both the United States and developing countries, Schultz helped shift development policies toward state-supported technical assistance, public education, and market-oriented policies for the agricultural sectors in the global South.
False Accounting as Formalizing Practices
Authors: Samuel Boris
Published: September 2021

This article studies the inference procedures used to compute the macroeconomic indicators feeding into the International Monetary Fund’s monitoring and surveillance in Africa since the structural adjustment. In 2005, the IMF launched a procedure to denounce a Mauritanian “misreporting” over a twelve-year period. The article wonders how could the statistical fiction be validated by the IMF economists, and to what extent they took part in Mauritanian data production. The article argues that the auditorauditee relation places less importance on the veracity and the pertinence of numbers than on the formal conformity of data and economic programs with expectations of the IMF bureaucracy. For programs and statistics to be considered consistent, tables of estimates must be filled out, even when data are missing, and the economic diagnosis must comply with monetarist-dominant orientations. By analyzing the financial programming tool, the article shows that the treatment of basic national accounting identities neglects variables like household consumption even when alternative methods exist. Changes in methods may be discarded to ensure the legibility of economic works over the years. The article therefore argues that the IMF and countries coproduce false accounts, whereby inferences of macroeconomic estimates serve other institutional functions inside the IMF besides veracity.
Searching for a Tide Table for Business
Authors: Lenel Laetitia
Published: September 2021

The article investigates the methods and conceptions of statistical inference used in business forecasting in the United States and in Europe in the 1920s. After presenting the methods and arguments used by the members of the Harvard Committee on Economic Research in the first years after its establishment in 1919, the article explores the far-reaching changes in method and conviction from 1922 on. The members’ realization that the future evolved differently than predicted prompted them to give up their hope for mechanical means of forecasting and to revoke their calls for the employment of the mathematical theory of probability in economics. Instead, they established an extensive correspondence with economic and political decision-makers that allowed them to base their forecasts on “inside information.” Subsequently, the article traces European attempts to adopt the Harvard Index of General Business Conditions in the early 1920s. Impressed by the seemingly mechanical working of the Harvard index, European economists and statisticians sought to establish similar indices for their countries. However, numerous revisions of the Harvard index in the mid-1920s cast doubt on the universality of the index and the existence of stable patterns and led European researchers to pursue different paths of investigation. The article complicates the larger history of statistical inference in economics in two meaningful ways. First, it argues that statistical inference with probability was not the long-sought solution for the problem of objectivity but a long-contested, and repeatedly discarded, approach. Second, it shows that these contestations were often triggered by deviations between forecasts and the conditions actually observed and by this means argues for the importance of the historical context in the history of economics.
Politicizing the Environment
Authors: Maas Harro
Published: September 2021

At the end of the 1950s, resource economists developed a method to derive demand functions for recreation sites from travel cost data for recreation planning purposes. Based on this work, a second, direct method of measurement was developed in the early sixties that became known as the contingent valuation method. Initially, this method asked respondents directly about their willingness to pay for a realistically described recreational amenity. When contingent valuation became used for valuation studies of environmental and health issues in a regulatory and legal framework, initial support for the method from resource and mainstream economists faded away, leading to a split in the profession between those who considered the method fit for this second purpose and those who considered this second use inappropriate and politically charged. Because much of this history has been told, including in this journal, the emphasis here is on the relation between indirect and direct inference pertaining to both methods, and the challenges that contingent valuation, as a method of direct inference, poses to the quality of a questionnaire and the possibilities of educating respondents in making a reasoned choice for the amenity on offer.
Porcelain and Catholic Enlightenment: The Zwettler Tafelaufsatz
Authors: Martin Matthew
Published: September 2021

The mastery of a hard-paste porcelain technology in Dresden in 1708 was a major natural philosophical achievement for the European Enlightenment. From the outset, the material possessed a representative function at the Saxon court, where it served to promote the power and cultural prestige of the Wettin dynasty. As porcelain factories were established at courts across Europe, however, the material's signifying role became complex. On the one hand, its alchemical associations aligned it with unfettered princely power in the realm of the absolutist court. On the other, its origins in laboratory investigation could indicate a princely engagement with the Enlightenment pursuit of scientific knowledge. These contradictory associations reached an apogee in the so-called “Catholic Enlightenment,” producing artworks that sought to consolidate the church. This paper analyzes the Zwettler Tafelaufsatz—the great porcelain table centerpiece that was created in 1768 as part of a multimodal baroque celebration of Abbot Rayner Kollmann's jubilee at the Cistercian monastery of Zwettl in Lower Austria. Here the porcelain medium enabled the Cistercian brethren to argue for the continuing role of monasteries and monastic scholarship in eighteenth-century Enlightenment learning, while simultaneously declaring the limits of human learning and the ultimate supremacy of divine revelation in the context of an absolutist world order.
“For I Asked Him Men's Questions”: Late Eighteenth-Century British Women Tourists’ Contributions to Scientific Inquiry
Authors: Gleadhill Emma
Published: September 2021

“We endeavoured with some tools our servants had, to carry some pieces of it with us,” Caroline Powys wrote of her visit to Stonehenge in 1759. “Tho’ our party were chiefly female,” she remarked, “we had no more curiosity than the learn'd gentlemen of the Royal Society.” Carolyn was not alone in challenging the gendered demarcation of scientific observation. From the second half of the century, British women travelers carefully packed minerals in cases, filled bags with botanical specimens, and roamed the shores in search of shells and seaweed. This article proposes that British women of the late eighteenth century used the empirical approach promoted by their polite scientific education to turn their leisured travels into knowledge-finding pursuits. The specimens and observations that they brought home played an overlooked role in allowing them to shape themselves as authoritative observers within the larger scientific knowledge-building enterprise that drew from the diffusion of Enlightenment classificatory systems, overseas exploration, and trade. This article brings to light four understudied eighteenth-century female empiricists: the mistress of Hardwick House, Whitchurch, Oxfordshire, Caroline Lybbe Powys (1738–1817); the first woman to publish a Grand Tour account, Lady Anna Miller (1741–81) of Batheaston, Somerset; the unmarried daughter of the rector of Thornton in Craven, Yorkshire, Dorothy Richardson (1748–1819); and the Whig political salon hostess, Lady Elizabeth Holland (1732–95). Each woman is of interest in her own right, but together, as I will argue, their scientific contributions add significantly to the ongoing investigation of the role that women played in developing Enlightenment science.
Miscellaneous Spaces of Enlightenment: Dodsley, Percy, and the Midcentury Verse Miscellany
Authors: Horgan Alison
Published: September 2021

Using current scholarship on verse miscellanies to contextualize a comparison of Robert Dodsley's Collection of Poems by Several Hands (1748) and Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765), this article considers how the verse miscellany was used to different purposes by editors in the middle decades of the eighteenth century. It was, variously, a space in which to preserve poetry, to test readers’ appetites for the unfamiliar, and to establish or challenge poetic taste. Most of all, however, the verse miscellany functioned as a virtual space of the Enlightenment that encouraged literary experimentation and innovation. Editors like Dodsley and Percy used paratext not only to justify their specific poetic choices, but also to establish identity of their collection. In Dodsley's case, obvious editorial interventions are absent and the typography is elegant, while for Percy, the paratext is busy and noisy, an alternative space in the miscellany through which the collection's antiquarian character is expressed. Both collections test their reader's willingness to engage with less well-known material. This article suggests that although the two poetic collections seem to have little in common, they are both concerned with ideas of literary preservation and loss, on the one hand, and cultural progress and decline, on the other, that helped to establish the poetic miscellany as a key print genre of the Enlightenment.
Connecting different heart diseases through intercellular communication
Authors: Martins-Marques Tania
Published: September 2021

Well-orchestrated intercellular communication networks are pivotal to maintaining cardiac homeostasis and to ensuring adaptative responses and repair after injury. Intracardiac communication is sustained by cell–cell crosstalk, directly via gap junctions (GJ) and tunneling nanotubes (TNT), indirectly through the exchange of soluble factors and extracellular vesicles (EV), and by cell–extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions. GJ-mediated communication between cardiomyocytes and with other cardiac cell types enables electrical impulse propagation, required to sustain synchronized heart beating. In addition, TNT-mediated organelle transfer has been associated with cardioprotection, whilst communication via EV plays diverse pathophysiological roles, being implicated in angiogenesis, inflammation and fibrosis. Connecting various cell populations, the ECM plays important functions not only in maintaining the heart structure, but also acting as a signal transducer for intercellular crosstalk. Although with distinct etiologies and clinical manifestations, intercellular communication derailment has been implicated in several cardiac disorders, including myocardial infarction and hypertrophy, highlighting the importance of a comprehensive and integrated view of complex cell communication networks. In this review, I intend to provide a critical perspective about the main mechanisms contributing to regulate cellular crosstalk in the heart, which may be considered in the development of future therapeutic strategies, using cell-based therapies as a paradigmatic example.

This Review has an associated Future Leader to Watch interview with the author.
Time-varying motor control strategy for proximal-to-distal sequential energy distribution: insights from baseball pitching
Authors: Naito Kozo
Published: September 2021

The importance of a proximal-to-distal (P–D) sequential motion in baseball pitching is generally accepted; however, the mechanisms behind this sequential motion and motor control theories that explain which factor transfers mechanical energy between the trunk and arm segments are not completely understood. This study aimed to identify the energy distribution mechanisms among the segments and determine the effect of the P–D sequence on the mechanical efficiency of the throwing movement, focusing on the time-varying motor control. The throwing motions of 16 male collegiate baseball pitchers were measured by a motion capture system. An induced power analysis was used to decompose the system mechanical energy into its muscular and interactive torque-dependent components. The results showed that the P–D sequential energy flow during the movement was mainly attributed to three different joint controls of the energy generation and muscular torque- and centrifugal force-induced energy transfer. The trunk muscular torques provided the primary energy sources of the system mechanical energy, and the shoulder and elbow joints played the roles of the energy-transfer effect. The mechanical energy expenditure on the throwing hand and ball accounted for 72.7% of the total muscle work generated by the trunk and arm joints (329.2 J). In conclusion, the P–D sequence of the throwing motion is an effective way to utilize the proximal joints as the energy source and reduce muscular work production of the distal joints. This movement control assists in efficient throwing, and is consistent with the theory of the leading joint hypothesis.
Stress-induced inhibition of mRNA export triggers RNase III-mediated decay of theBDF2mRNA
Authors: Wang Charles , Barr Keaton , Neutel Dean , Roy Kevin , Liu Yanru , Chanfreau Guillaume F.
Published: September 2021

The expression of bromodomain-containing proteins that regulate chromatin structure and accessibility must be tightly controlled to ensure the appropriate regulation of gene expression. In the yeastS. cerevisiae, Bromodomain Factor 2 (BDF2)expression is extensively regulated post-transcriptionally during stress by RNase III-mediated decay (RMD), which is triggered by cleavage of theBDF2mRNA in the nucleus by the RNase III homolog Rnt1p. Previous studies have shown that RMD-mediated down-regulation ofBDF2is hyperactivated in osmotic stress conditions, yet the mechanisms driving the enhanced nuclear cleavage ofBDF2RNA under these conditions remain unknown. Here, we show that RMD hyperactivation can be detected in multiple stress conditions that inhibit mRNA export, and that Rnt1p remains primarily localized in the nucleus during salt stress. We show that globally inhibiting mRNA nuclear export by anchoring away mRNA biogenesis or export factors out of the nucleus can recapitulate RMD hyperactivation in the absence of stress. RMD hyperactivation requires Rnt1p nuclear localization but does not depend on theBDF2gene endogenous promoter, and its efficiency is affected by the structure of the stem–loop cleaved by Rnt1p. Because multiple stress conditions have been shown to mediate global inhibition of mRNA export, our results suggest that the hyperactivation of RMD is primarily the result of the increased nuclear retention of theBDF2mRNA during stress.
The potential of lunasin extract for the prevention of breast cancer progression by upregulating E-Cadherin and inhibiting ICAM-1
Authors: Kusmardi Kusmardi , Wiyarta Elvan , Rusdi Numlil Khaira , Maulana Andi Muh. , Estuningtyas Ari , Sunaryo Hadi
Published: September 2021

Background: Research in natural substances for their anticancer potential has become increasingly popular. Lunasin, a soybean protein, is known to inhibit cancer progression via various pathways.  The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Lunasin Extract (LE) on the expression of Intercellular Adhesion Molecule 1 (ICAM-1) and epithelial cadherins (E-Cadherin) in breast cancer. Methods: In this true-experimental in vivo study, 24 Sprague-Dawley rats that were induced by 7,12-Dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA), were used. Based on the therapy given, the groups were divided into, normal, positive control (PC), negative control (NC), adjuvant, curative, and preventive. Lunasin was extracted from soybean seeds of the Grobogan variety in Indonesia. Tissue samples were obtained, processed, stained with anti-ICAM-1 and anti-E-Cadherin antibodies, examined under a microscope, and quantified using H-score. The data were analyzed using ANOVA, which was then followed by Duncan's test. Results: Statistically significant difference in ICAM-1 expression was observed between the following groups: adjuvant and NC, normal and NC, PC and NC, adjuvant and preventive, normal and preventive, PC and preventive, adjuvant and curative, normal and curative, PC and curative. E-Cadherin expression was significantly different between preventive and NC, adjuvant and NC, PC and NC, normal and NC, adjuvant and curative, PC and curative, normal and curative, normal and preventive. Significant negative correlation was found between ICAM-1 and E-Cadherin [-0.616 (-0.8165; -0.283)] with p = 0.001. Conclusion: Preventive dose of LE was able to reduce ICAM-1 expression while increasing E-Cadherin expression.
Assessment of personality disorder in the ICD-11 diagnostic system: Polish validation of the Personality Inventory for ICD-11
Authors: Cieciuch Jan , Łakuta Patryk , Strus Włodzimierz , Oltmanns Joshua R. , Widiger Thomas
Published: September 2021

Cel pracy

Artykuł prezentuje wyniki badania, którego celem była polska adaptacja Inwentarza Osobowości PiCD, skonstruowanego do pomiaru patologicznych cech w ramach nowego dymensjonalnego modelu zaburzeń osobowości, zaproponowanego w ICD-11.

Metoda

Badanie zostało przeprowadzone w nieklinicznej grupie N = 597 dorosłych (51,4% kobiet, M = 30,24 lat, SD = 12,07 lat). W celu oszacowania trafności zbieżnej i różnicowej wykorzystano Inwentarz Osobowości PID-5 (Personality Inventory for DSM-5; Krueger et al., 2012) oraz Inwentarz BFI2 (Big Five Inventory-2; Soto & John, 2017).

Wyniki

Wyniki wskazują na to, że polska adaptacja PiCD jest rzetelna i trafna. Alfa Cronbacha dla skal PiCD waha się od 0,77 do 0,87 (M⍺ = 0,82). Została potwierdzona czteroczynnikowa struktura PiCD z trzema jednobiegunowymi czynnikami (Negatywny Afekt, Izolacja i Dyssocjalność) i jednym dwubiegunowym czynnikiem (Anankastyczność vs Rozhamowanie). Wszystkie cechy osobowości, mierzone za pomocą PiCD, wiążą się w teoretycznie oczekiwany sposób z dysfunkcjonalnymi cechami mierzonymi przez PID-5 oraz cechami osobowości zdrowej, mierzonymi przez BFI-2, zarówno w analizie korelacji, jak i w analizie czynnikowej.

Wnioski

Uzyskane dane potwierdzają satysfakcjonującą spójność wewnętrzną, trafność czynnikową oraz trafność zbieżną i różnicową polskiej adaptacji PiCD w grupie nieklinicznej.
How to Build a Positive Core to Liberate Learning: The Case of a Rural School in a Pehuenche Area (Chile)
Authors: Cisternas Arnoldo
Published: September 2021

Este artículo narra la historia de cómo una escuela rural al sur de Chile logró descubrir y construir un conjunto de recursos y capacidades (núcleo positivo) para liberar el aprendizaje y potenciar el desarrollo de las competencias de sus niñas y niños para vivir plenamente en el Siglo XXI. This article tells the story of how a rural school in the south of Chile discovered and built a set of resources and capabilities (positive core) to liberate learning and enhance the development of the children’s skills to live to the fullest in the 21st century.
Social Emotional Learning: An Appreciative Approach to Teacher Development
Authors: Davis Kimberly K. , Christian David D. , Hammett Richard , Low Gary , Seagraves-Robinson Tanya
Published: September 2021

This article describes a study of an appreciative approach to support teachers in learning how to support children up to 18 years old in the fields of social emotional learning (SEL) and Transformative Emotional Intelligence (TEI).
Unlocking the Potential of a Team: Appreciative Inquiry to Open a Team’s Mind, Heart, and Will to Co-Create its Future Words
Authors: Obrador Juan Carlos
Published: September 2021

En este artículo comparto mi experiencia sobre cómo ayudé a una compañía de la gran minería en Chile en su proceso transformación organizacional. Y les mostraré cómo actúo en cada una de las seis fases del modelo que propongo; integrando prácticas de la Teoría U en el proceso de la Intervención Apreciativa. In this article I share my experience of how helping a large mining company in Chile with its organisational transformation process. I also show what I do in each of the six phases of the model, where I propose integrating practices of Theory U with the Appreciative Inquiry process.
Para cantar flamenco hay que ponerse fea
Authors: Pantoja Guerrero olores
Published: September 2021

Este es un trabajo bien cimentado. Reposa sobre un amplio trabajo de campo. Dolores Pantoja ha entrevistado a cantaores y cantaoras de edades y procedencias muy variadas. Desde veteranos como Calixto Arias o Pies de Plomo (Manuel Giorgio) hasta Duquende, Mayte Martín o Miguel Poveda. Pero no es esta la principal virtud del libro porque, teniendo en cuenta las entrevistas, la autora construye un cuidado discurso que muestra la potencia del cante para abrir ámbitos de comunicación. Esta capacidad es decisiva para que el flamenco no sea mera reliquia del pasado ni expresión de una cultura local, sino que sintonice con las inquietudes generales que caracterizan a la cultura moderna y se incorpore a ella.
Investment Strategies for Sourcing a New Technology in the Presence of a Mature Technology
Authors: Zhang Wei , Lee Hsiao-Hui
Published: September 2021

To stay competitive, high-technology manufacturers not only frequently source new technologies from their suppliers, but also financially support the development of these new technologies into component products or production tools. We consider a manufacturer that can either source a new but immature technology from a financially constrained supplier, or source a mature technology from an existing supplier if and only if the development of the new technology fails. To support the new technology, the manufacturer can choose to inject capital in the form of an equity or loan. The investment strategy not only affects the new supplier’s development effort and the probability of technical success (PTS), but also affects the existing supplier’s effort to improve the mature technology, which presents the manufacturer with a trade-off. Following the debt financing literature, we find that a loan contract is associated with a cost-shifting effect and often leads to a higher PTS. However, because the manufacturer not only maintains an investment but also a procurement relationship with the new supplier, we find a profit-sharing effect associated with an equity investment, which does not exist in the traditional equity issuance literature. In particular, we show that the profit-sharing effect can dominate the cost-shifting effect and lead to a higher PTS when the new supplier’s technological capability is sufficiently high. Nonetheless, we also show that the strategy that derives a higher PTS does not necessarily generate a higher payoff for the manufacturer. On the one hand, a loan can be preferred even when it leads to a lower PTS because the cost-shifting effect allows the manufacturer to offer a sufficiently low procurement payment while maintaining a sufficiently high PTS. On the other hand, when the existing supplier is very capable of reducing its costs, a loan can over-incentivize the new supplier to exert excessive effort and backfire.

This paper was accepted by Charles Corbett, operations management.
Spillovers from Online Engagement: How a Newspaper Subscriber’s Activation of Digital Paywall Access Affects Her Retention and Subscription Revenue
Authors: Pattabhiramaiah Adithya , Overby Eric , Xu Lizhen
Published: September 2021

Newspapers are increasingly reliant on subscription revenue as advertising spend shifts to online platforms. Many newspapers have implemented paywalls in an attempt to boost subscription revenue. We study whether and how paywalls can help newspapers boost subscription revenue by retaining existing subscribers. Most major newspapers offer free access to paywalled content to subscribers to the print edition, which may help the newspaper retain subscribers by making their subscriptions more valuable. We leverage variation in whether and when existing subscribers activated access to the paywall of a top 30 North American newspaper. Our identification strategy accounts for self-selection in subscribers’ decisions to activate paywall access. We find that a subscriber’s activation of digital access decreases the risk of her canceling her subscription by about 31% and increases her subscription revenue by 7%–12%. In other words, digital activation improves subscriber retention and the associated subscription revenue. This suggests a crosschannel spillover in which the online product (the paywalled website) increases customers’ valuation for the offline product (the printed newspaper). Our results have implications not only for the newspaper industry but also for firms in other industries that offer subscribers to one product free or subsidized access to a complementary product.

This paper was accepted by Kartik Hosanagar, information systems.
DEXAMETHASONE
Authors: Rees Sharon
Published: September 2021

In this column, Sharon Rees aims to refresh knowledge and interest in some of the commonly used drugs in a series of tweets. This month she is talking about #dexamethasone
Non-medical prescribing in primary care in the United Kingdom: an overview of the current literature
Authors: Armstrong Amanda , Manfrin Andrea , Gibson Josephine
Published: September 2021

Background:

Non-medical prescribers (NMPs) are perceived as a complement to busy general practice in primary care.

Aim:

To conduct an overview of the literature available on the role and impact of non-medical prescribing (NMP) on primary care patients.

Method:

The search was conducted using multiple databases to find articles published between January 2015-January 2021. Inclusion criteria: NMPs in primary care in the United Kingdom, written in English language. Exclusion criteria: research conducted in secondary care or outside the UK.

Findings:

285 studies were identified; 15 were eligible for critical appraisal. Key themes were: NMP's positive perceptions were autonomy, job satisfaction and colleague support; negative perceptions included risk, lack of continuous professional development (CPD), organisational support.

Conclusion:

By reviewing the perceptions of NMPs in primary care, organisations can ensure when employing new NMPs that the adequate CPD and support is in place. Thereby reducing NMPs concerns about the ligation risk of prescribing.
Spectral shaping of fiber Bragg gratings based on non-rigid origami
Authors: Xu Zhu-Long , Wang Yu-Han , Chuang Kuo-Chih
Published: September 2021

We present a spectrum-tunable fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based on a unique compress-twist deformation mode of non-rigid origami. By applying axial displacement on the FBG-bonded Kresling-ori, a non-uniform strain field emerges. The mechanics-induced non-uniform strain can shift the wavelength of an apodized unchirped FBG and/or transform an apodized unchirped FBG to a chirped one. For the spectrum-shaping mode, the bandwidth of the FBG was tuned from 0.32 nm up to 2.9 nm, measured at the−6dBlevel. For the wavelength-shift mode, a maximum wavelength shift of 0.6 nm can be achieved.
Using machine learning and big data to explore the drug resistance landscape in HIV
Authors: Blassel Luc , Tostevin Anna , Villabona-Arenas Christian Julian , Peeters Martine , Hué Stéphane , Gascuel Olivier ,   On behalf of the UK HIV Drug Resistance Database
Published: September 2021

Drug resistance mutations (DRMs) appear in HIV under treatment pressure. DRMs are commonly transmitted to naive patients. The standard approach to reveal new DRMs is to test for significant frequency differences of mutations between treated and naive patients. However, we then consider each mutation individually and cannot hope to study interactions between several mutations. Here, we aim to leverage the ever-growing quantity of high-quality sequence data and machine learning methods to study such interactions (i.e. epistasis), as well as try to find new DRMs.

We trained classifiers to discriminate between Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor (RTI)-experienced and RTI-naive samples on a large HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) sequence dataset from the UK (n≈ 55, 000), using all observed mutations as binary representation features. To assess the robustness of our findings, our classifiers were evaluated on independent data sets, both from the UK and Africa. Important representation features for each classifier were then extracted as potential DRMs. To find novel DRMs, we repeated this process by removing either features or samples associated to known DRMs.

When keeping all known resistance signal, we detected sufficiently prevalent known DRMs, thus validating the approach. When removing features corresponding to known DRMs, our classifiers retained some prediction accuracy, and six new mutations significantly associated with resistance were identified. These six mutations have a low genetic barrier, are correlated to known DRMs, and are spatially close to either the RT active site or the regulatory binding pocket. When removing both known DRM features and sequences containing at least one known DRM, our classifiers lose all prediction accuracy. These results likely indicate that all mutations directly conferring resistance have been found, and that our newly discovered DRMs are accessory or compensatory mutations. Moreover, apart from the accessory nature of the relationships we found, we did not find any significant signal of further, more subtle epistasis combining several mutations which individually do not seem to confer any resistance.
Evaluation of antimicrobial and antiproliferative activities of Actinobacteria isolated from the saline lagoons of northwestern Peru
Authors: Flores Clavo Rene , Ruiz Quiñones Nataly , Hernández-Tasco Álvaro Jose , José Salvador Marcos , Tasca Gois Ruiz Ana Lúcia , de Oliveira Braga Lúcia Elaine , Henrique Costa Jonas , Pacheco Fill Taícia , Arce Gil Zhandra Lizeth , Serquen Lopez Luis Miguel , Fantinatti Garboggini Fabiana
Published: September 2021

Extreme environments Morrope and Bayovar Salt lagoons, several ecosystems and microhabitats remain unexplored, and little is known about the diversity of Actinobacteria. We suggest that the endemic bacteria present in this extreme environment is a source of active molecules with anticancer, antimicrobial, and antiparasitic properties. Using phenotypic and genotypic characterization techniques, including 16S rRNA sequencing, we identified these bacteria as members of the genera Streptomyces, Pseudonocardia, Staphylococcus, Bacillus, and Pseudomonas. Actinobacteria strains were found predominantly. Phylogenetic analysis revealed 13 Actinobacteria clusters of Streptomyces, the main genus. Three Streptomycetes, strains MW562814, MW562805, and MW562807 showed antiproliferative activities against three tumor cell lines: U251 glioma, MCF7 breast, and NCI-H460 lung (non-small cell type); and antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Escherichia coli ATCC 10536, and the multidrug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii AC-972. The antiproliferative activities (measured as total growth inhibition [TGI]) of Streptomyces sp. MW562807 were 0.57 μg/mL, for 0.61 μg/mL, and 0.80 μg/mL for glioma, lung non-small cell type, and breast cancer cell lines, respectively; the methanolic fraction of the crude extract showed a better antiproliferative activity and could inhibit the growth of (U251 (TGI = 38.3 μg/mL), OVCAR-03 (TGI = 62.1 μg/mL), and K562 (TGI = 81.5 μg/mL)) of nine tumor cells types and one nontumor cell type. Extreme enviroments, such as the Morrope and Bayovar Salt saloons are promising sources of new bacteria, whose compounds may be useful for treating various infectious diseases or even some types of cancer.
MIHARI project, a preceding study of MID-NET, adverse event detection database of Ministry Health of Japan—Validation study of the signal detection of adverse events of drugs using export data from EMR and medical claim data
Authors: Watanabe Hiroshi , Takenouchi Kiyoteru , Kimura Michio
Published: September 2021

We studied the effectiveness of the direct data collection from electronic medical records (EMR) when it is used for monitoring adverse drug events and also detection of already known adverse events. In this study, medical claim data and SS-MIX2 standardized storage data were used to identify four diseases (diabetes, dyslipidemia, hyperthyroidism, and acute renal failure) and the validity of the outcome definitions was evaluated by calculating positive predictive values (PPV). The maximum positive predictive value (PPV) for diabetes based on medical claim data was 40.7% and that based on prescription data from SS-MIX2 Standardized Storage was 44.7%. The PPV for dyslipidemia was 50% or higher under either of the conditions. The PPV for hyperthyroidism based on disease name data alone was 20–30%, but exceeded 60% when prescription data was included in the evaluation. Acute renal failure was evaluated using information from medical records in addition to the data. The PPV for acute renal failure based on the data of disease names and laboratory examination results was slightly higher at 53.7% and increased to 80–90% when patients who previously had a high serum creatinine (Cre) level were excluded. When defining a disease, it is important to include the condition specific to the disease; furthermore, it is very useful if laboratory examination results are also included. Therefore, the inclusion of laboratory examination results in the definitions, as in the present study, was considered very useful for the analysis of multi-center SS-MIX2 standardized storage data.
Bulk and nanoparticles of zinc oxide exerted their beneficial effects by conferring modifications in transcription factors, histone deacetylase, carbon and nitrogen assimilation, antioxidant biomarkers, and secondary metabolism in soybean
Authors: Mirakhorli Tahereh , Ardebili Zahra Oraghi , Ladan-Moghadam Alireza , Danaee Elham
Published: September 2021

Nanoscience paves the way for producing highly potent fertilizers and pesticides to meet farmer’s expectations. This study investigated the physiological and molecular responses of soybean seedlings to the long-time application of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) and their bulk type (BZnO) at 5 mg L-1 under the two application methods (I- foliar application; II- soil method). The ZnO NPs/BZnO treatments in a substance type- and method-dependent manner improved plant growth performance and yield. ZnO NPs transactionally upregulated the EREB gene. However, the expression of the bHLH gene displayed a contrary downward trend in response to the supplements. ZnO NPs moderately stimulated the transcription of R2R3MYB. The HSF-34 gene was also exhibited a similar upward trend in response to the nano-supplements. Moreover, the ZnONP treatments mediated significant upregulation in the WRKY1 transcription factor. Furthermore, the MAPK1 gene displayed a similar upregulation trend in response to the supplements. The foliar application of ZnONP slightly upregulated transcription of the HDA3 gene, while this gene showed a contrary slight downregulation trend in response to the supplementation of nutrient solution. The upregulation in the CAT gene also resulted from the nano-supplements. The concentrations of photosynthetic pigments exhibited an increasing trend in the ZnONP-treated seedlings. The applied treatments contributed to the upregulation in the activity of nitrate reductase and the increase in the proline concentrations. ZnO NPs induced the activity of antioxidant enzymes, including peroxidase and catalase by averages of 48.3% and 41%, respectively. The utilization of ZnO NPs mediated stimulation in the activity of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase and increase in soluble phenols. The findings further underline this view that the long-time application of ZnO NPs at low concentrations is a safe low-risk approach to meet agricultural requirements.
Fertility restoration of racing mare with persistent corpus luteum
Authors: Pemayun Tjok Gde Oka , Mustofa Imam , Mahaputra Laba , Hermadi Herry Agoes , Wijaya Ngakan Made Rai , Mulyati Sri , Utama Suzanita , Restiadi Tjuk Imam , Rimayanti Rimayanti
Published: September 2021

Background and Aim: Persistent corpus luteum (PCL) causes anestrus in mares. This study aimed to determine the effect of intrauterine prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α) treatment on PCL of racing mares to restore fertility.

Materials and Methods: Twelve racing mares suspected with PCL were diagnosed using transrectal palpation and confirmed by serum progesterone (P4) concentration measurement. PGF2α was infused intrauterine, followed by serum collection at 24, 48, and 72 h after. Estrous symptoms were monitored, and mating was conducted on day 3 of estrus with an earlier injection of 8.4 μg gonadotropin-releasing hormone twice a day. Transrectal palpation was performed on days 21-30 to observe the corpus luteum. Pregnancy diagnosis was performed rectally on 40-45 days post-mating and confirmed using Doppler ultrasound scanning.

Results: Eleven of the 12 mares had PCL. There was a dramatic reduction in the P4 concentration following PGF2α treatment of mares with PCL. All mares exhibited estrus 2.6±0.55 days post-treatment with a P4 concentration of 0.12±0.12 ng/mL. Rectal palpation and P4 concentration on 21-30 days after estrous onset showed that all mares were ovulating. The evaluation of P4 concentration on days 40-45 post-mating showed that all mares were still in the luteal phase. However, the pregnancy rate was only 54.5% based on rectal palpation and Doppler ultrasound scanning.

Conclusion: Treatment of PCL in racing mares with an intrauterine infusion of PGF2α restored the estrous cycle and induced ovulation and pregnancy.
A. Blok in the Poetic World of V. Shalamov
Authors: Krotova Daria
Published: September 2021

Shalamov repeatedly noted the significant role of A. Blok in the formation of his own poetic system. The work of the outstanding artist of the Silver Age is discussed in Shalamov’s essays (in more than twenty works), as well as in “Kolyma Tales” and unpublished notes about Blok (The Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts). Shalamov emphasizes that Blok is a great poet, at the same time very little studied. It is precisely taken poetic lines of Blok that serve as the epigraph for “Kolyma notebooks”. The article analyzes parallels in the worldview of the two poets (a feeling of the closest relationship of personal fate with the turning points in Russian history); in the imagery (in particular, various levels of interpretation of the snowstorm motif, which has special significance in the work of both poets, are discussed in detail. Shalamov’s succession in relation to Blok in comprehension of this image is shown, as well as cardinal differences in its explication in the lyrics of the two poets). The unanimity in understanding the challenges of art is analyzed (Blok’s idea of combining “beauty and benefit” in artistic work is close to Shalamov’s thinking); in verse technique (special significance of phonetic component). Not only published texts are involved in the study, but also materials stored in Shalamov’s archive at the Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts.