bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Описание обобщенных трансляционно-инвариантных
$p$-адических мер Гиббса для модели Поттса на дереве Кэли порядка три
Authors: Alp Murat , Pah Chin Hee , Saburov Mansoor Khajibaevich
Published: March 2023

Для модели Поттса на дереве Кэли порядка три дано описание обобщенных трансляционно-инвариантных $p$-адических мер Гиббса, которое подтверждает и расширяет соответствующие результаты в литературе. Для решения поставленной задачи введена функция кубического корня над полем $\mathbb{Q}_p$ $p$-адических чисел. Это позволяет задать в явном виде все корни кубического мономиального уравнения над $\mathbb{Q}_p$.
Gerard, Alexander (1728–95)
Authors: Townsend Dabney
Published: March 2023

Article Summary

Alexander Gerard was successively professor of moral philosophy (1752) and professor of divinity (1759) at Marischal College in Aberdeen and then professor of divinity (1773) at King’s College, Aberdeen. He was a leading member of the Aberdeen Philosophical Society. His works include a new plan of education for Marischal College and works on Divinity, but it is primarily for his Essay on Taste (1759, 1780) that he is known. Gerard followed Francis Hutcheson (1725) and David Hume (1739, 1777) in explaining the faculty of taste in terms of senses. His Essay on Taste expanded the number of senses beyond the sense of beauty. He also followed Thomas Reid (1710–96) to justify sense by appealing to ‘common sense’ in order to reduce the subjectivity of sense in the theories of Hutcheson and Hume. In his later Essay on Genius (1774), Gerard moves closer to his friend and colleague, Thomas Reid. An increased emphasis on association and imagination replace sense theories in this later work. The works of David Hume (1711–76) and Reid were principle influences.
Perfectionism
Authors: Hurka Thomas
Published: March 2023

In philosophy, unlike in everyday English, ‘perfectionism’ does not refer to a concern to get every detail right. It is the name of an ethical theory with deep roots in the Western philosophical tradition, one held by Plato, Aristotle, and many later philosophers including Aquinas, Leibniz, Marx, Nietzsche, Green, Rashdall, and Moore. It is centred on a conception of the human good that it tells us to promote, but it equates this good, not with a subjective state like pleasure or desire-fulfilment, but with objective goods that, historically, have included knowledge, moral virtue, aesthetic appreciation, and the achievement of difficult goals. Whereas theories that are perfectionist only in a broad sense just list these goods, perfectionism in a narrower sense grounds them in human nature: certain properties or capacities, it says, are fundamental to our shared human nature, and the human goods all develop this nature to a high degree. Some versions of the theory are formally egoistic, deriving all their directives from a foundational one to pursue our own perfection; they capture other-regarding duties by including the exercise of the moral virtues, including justice and benevolence, in each person’s good. Other versions give us just as basic a reason to promote others’ perfection as our own, and so capture other-regarding duties directly; they can still treat virtue as an intrinsic good. Perfectionism has sometimes been resisted because of a worry that, when applied to political questions, it is hostile to equality and liberty. While some versions of it have indeed been anti-egalitarian or illiberal, others have favoured material equality and the protection of individual freedom. Which line perfectionism takes depends in large part on which specific states it takes to be objectively good; if they include autonomy or self-direction, for example, that favours liberty.
Art, definition of
Authors: Davies Stephen
Published: March 2023

Many of the earliest definitions of art were probably intended to emphasize salient or important features for an audience already familiar with the concept, rather than to analyse the essence possessed by all art works and only by them. Indeed, it has been argued that art could not be defined any more rigorously, since no immutable essence is observable in its instances. But, on the one hand, this view faces difficulties in explaining the unity of the concept – similarities between them, for example, are insufficient to distinguish works of art from other things. And, on the other, it overlooks the attractive possibility that art is to be defined in terms of a relation between the activities of artists, the products that result and the audiences that receive them.

Two types of definition have come to prominence since the 1970s: the functional and procedural. The former regards something as art only if it serves the function for which we have art, usually said to be that of providing aesthetic experience. The latter regards something as art only if it has been baptized as such through an agent’s application of the appropriate procedures. In the version where the agent takes their authority from their location within an informal institution, the ‘artworld’, proceduralism is known as the institutional theory. These definitional strategies are opposed in practice, if not in theory, because the relevant procedures are sometimes used apart from, or to oppose, the alleged function of art; obviously these theories disagree then about whether the outcome is art.

To take account of art’s historically changing character a definition might take a recursive form, holding that something is art if it stands in an appropriate relation to previous art works: it is the location of an item within accepted art-making traditions that makes it a work of art. Theories developed in the 1980s have often taken this form. They variously see the crucial relation between the piece and the corpus of accepted works as, for example, a matter of the manner in which it is intended to be regarded, or of a shared style, or of its being forged by a particular kind of narrative.
Artistic interpretation
Authors: Goldman Alan H.
Published: March 2023

Interpretation aims to advance understanding by providing explanations of various kinds. In art, it should aim to maximize our understanding and appreciation of a work, and enable us to grasp its artistic values. When we interpret an art work we may explain why its elements are placed in their contexts, for example, to convey a certain meaning or express a certain feeling. In the case of literature we explain why words and passages are placed where they are, why characters and events are described as they are, and so on. When we interpret whole works, we explain how they fit into broader explanatory frameworks (for instance, Freudian or Marxist) or how they relate to various traditions so as to serve (or reject) the values emphasized in those traditions.

The distinction between description, or the presentation of the fundamental data constituting a work of art, and interpretation, which involves explaining why those elements exist in a work, what values they serve, may be used to justify claims that interpretations can never be known to be true, while descriptions are obviously true or false. While this is reinforced by the fact that a work may generate conflicting interpretations, the distinction does not imply that interpretations cannot be known to be correct.

In a related debate, many see the artist’s intention in creating their work as the key to a valid interpretation. Since, however, many people find value in works in ways unintended by the artist, the onus is on the intentionalist to demonstrate the primacy of the value that the artist intended the work to have.

Ultimately, contending interpretations may not present as great a problem to a theory of interpretation as at first seems inevitable. Interpretations give priority in different ways to different artistic values; the choice of these values is simply a matter of artistic taste, not truth, and may not threaten the validity of any reasonably grounded interpretation.
Nature, aesthetic appreciation of
Authors: Carlson Allen
Published: March 2023

In the Western world, aesthetic appreciation of nature and its philosophical investigation came to maturity in the eighteenth century. During that time, aestheticians found in nature an ideal object of aesthetic experience and analysed that experience in terms of disinterestedness, thereby laying the groundwork for understanding the appreciation of nature in terms of the concepts of the sublime and the picturesque. This philosophical tradition culminated with Kant, while popular aesthetic appreciation of nature continued primarily under the influence of the idea of the picturesque.

In the late twentieth century, renewed interest in the aesthetics of nature has produced various positions designed to avoid assimilating appreciation of nature to traditional models for aesthetic appreciation of art. One extreme position holds that the appreciation of nature is not in fact aesthetic, while another rejects the traditional analysis of aesthetic experience as disinterested, arguing instead that the aesthetic appreciation of nature involves engagement with nature. Other positions attempt to maintain much of the traditional conception of the aesthetic, while distinguishing aesthetic appreciation of nature from that of art by appeal to the unique character of the object of appreciation, stressing dimensions such as nature’s capacity for emotional arousal, its mysterious qualities, the role of imagination in its appreciation, the freedom that its appreciation allows, or the dependence of its appreciation on scientific knowledge.

In addition to attempting to determine the essence of the aesthetic appreciation of nature, the development of these positions has a number of ramifications, the most significant of which concern, first, the connection between aesthetic appreciation of nature and environmentalism and, second, the rise of a more general environmental aesthetics. In freeing the aesthetic experience of nature from artistic models, these positions focus appreciation on the true character of the object of appreciation: nature and its properties. The significance given to nature itself as the object of appreciation intensifies the investigation of the relationship between the aesthetic appreciation of natural environments and environmentalism. For example, some of these positions attempt to provide aesthetic appreciation of nature with a degree of objectivity that may make aesthetic considerations more effective in environmental assessment. However, the claim for the objectivity of aesthetic appreciation of natural environments as well as the contention that such appreciation is in general a powerful force for environmental preservation are topics of continuing discussion. Nonetheless, whether or not contemporary work in the aesthetics of nature gives support for environmentalism, it has yet paved the way for a more general environmental aesthetics, which examines the aesthetic appreciation of the world beyond both art and nature and is comparable to some developments in other areas of philosophy, such as environmental ethics.
Tragedy
Authors: Feagin Susan L.
Published: March 2023

Article Summary

Tragedy began in ancient Greece as a type of dramatic performance. Its adaptations and transformations as a genre are an important part of literary, critical, and performance traditions in Europe and the United States and, to a degree, around the globe. ‘Tragedy’ also characterises a type of plot or a way of seeing the world in nondramatic poetry (‘lyric tragedy’) and some films and novels (for example, Moby Dick). In general, ‘tragedy’ is applied to representations of human suffering in an unpredictable and intractable world, brought about in spite of or even because of an individual’s efforts to fulfil their responsibilities to family, community, or to uphold their personal dignity.

The fifth-century bce works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides are the original exemplars of tragedy as a dramatic genre. Aristotle, writing a century later, offers a definition and explanation of its significance, stressing how plots give rise to pity and fear and how suffering may occur as an unforeseen result of the protagonist’s actions. French neoclassic tragedy, like other works following in this tradition, emphasises more formal constraints of time, place, and action. Shakespearean tragedy provides a different exemplar containing characters who are not nobly born, speeches in prose as well as verse, and comic scenes. Lessing and Ibsen also produced drama that was more realistic and involved characters representing ordinary people, rather than the nobly born whose choices have broad social ramifications. In the nineteenth century, Hegel proposed that tragic plots essentially involve a protagonist’s struggle with conflicting duties, and his views constitute a second philosophical paradigm for tragedy and the tragic. The twentieth century debated the viability of the genre for modern times. Debate continues over whether tragedy as a genre is applicable to dramatic, filmic, and literary creative works outside the West, though Greek and Shakespearean tragedies are continually modified and adapted to express a variety of experiences and traditions around the globe.
Illustration
Authors: Wartenberg Thomas E.
Published: March 2023

Article Summary

The first section clarifies the notion of illustration by presenting a necessary condition on something being an illustration, namely that it be related to something of which it is the illustration. The next section introduces the notion of a canonical illustration, one that is as fundamental as the text whose story it illustrates. Henry James’ view that illustrations do not belong in literary works for adults is then criticised. Finally, I discuss attempts to illustrate philosophy, considering the frontispiece to Hobbes’ Leviathan and Joseph Kosuth’s 276. (On Color Blue).
Aesthetics and the senses
Authors: Shiner Larry
Published: March 2023

Modern aesthetics derived its name from the Greek term for sense perception and it is not surprising that the role of the senses in relation to reason and imagination in aesthetic experience has remained important for the philosophical discipline. Section 1 traces the eighteenth-century differences between those like Burke, Mendelssohn, and Herder, who made sensory experience central to aesthetics and Kant, Hegel and their nineteenth- and twentieth-century successors, who made sensory experience subservient to intellect. Section 2 traces a parallel division over the importance of the proximal (touch, taste, and smell) and the distal (vision and hearing) senses, with Kant, Hegel and their inheritors rejecting the aesthetic and artistic relevance of the proximal senses and Burke, Mendelssohn, Herder and their successors affirming the importance of the proximal senses. Section 3 traces the revaluation of the proximal senses from the end of the twentieth century to the present, focusing on taste and smell. Section 4 discusses the importance of both the empirical sciences and the philosophy of perception for rethinking the issue of aesthetics and the senses with particular attention to touch and to multi-modal experience.
Art and knowledge
Authors: Young James O.
Published: March 2023

Article Summary

The debate about whether art is a source of knowledge or, in other words, has cognitive value, can be traced to antiquity. The view that art can be a source of knowledge is often referred to as aesthetic cognitivism. Plato believed that works of art are likely to interfere with the pursuit of knowledge but Aristotle is an early example of an aesthetic cognitivist. Aesthetic cognitivism was widely held in the eighteenth century and, in recent years, many philosophers have investigated the question of how artworks could contribute to knowledge. During the nineteenth century and for much of the twentieth century, formalism about art was widespread. Formalism is the view that art is appreciated as contentless form and it is antithetical to aesthetic cognitivism. In the middle and late twentieth century some philosophers proposed that artworks can state propositions and, in this way, convey propositional knowledge. Other philosophers regarded exemplification as the key to understanding how art can contribute to knowledge. More recently, philosophers have suggested that works of art can influence how audience members perceive the world. Artworks are often said to be the source of knowledge of how to do or recognise something rather than held to be sources of propositional knowledge. Several authors have defended the view that literature is a source of non-propositional moral knowledge. Literary fiction is the art most commonly held to be a source of knowledge, but since antiquity the view that music is a source of moral knowledge, or that it can make people more virtuous, has often been defended. Aesthetic cognitivists are not committed to the view that all works of art are sources of knowledge, only to the view that some of them are. Recently, psychologists have found empirical evidence that supports the view that art is a source of knowledge, but some philosophers remain sceptical about art’s cognitive value.
Landscape, aesthetics of
Authors: Lamarque Peter
Published: March 2023

Landscapes vary considerably in scale and kind. At one end are landscaped gardens and parks, carefully designed and maintained, at the other are wilderness areas of ice and snow, impenetrable forests, craggy mountains and valleys, raging rivers, or even landscapes on the moon or on Mars. In between are landscapes more or less the product of human activity, if not specifically designed as such: farmland, forest plantations, cultivated terraces for growing rice or tea, and urban landscapes with city parks, children’s playgrounds, skyscrapers, industrial zones, derelict buildings.

If these landscapes belong in the real world of matter and time, never far behind have been human depictions of them, under the broadest category of landscape paintings or poems. Human fascination with landscapes, across time and cultures, has led to a repeated interplay between landscapes themselves, how they are perceived and valued, and representations of them. One example might be the growing popularity in the nineteenth century of tourism to remote countryside such as the Lake Distract in England, influenced by Romantic poets like William Wordsworth. Or the influence of the imaginary landscapes by the artists Claude Lorrain or Nicolas Poussin in the seventeenth century on English landscape garden design in the eighteenth century, including the creation in the latter of mock ruins and visually striking settings. Yet another might be the thought from Oscar Wilde that ‘nature imitates art’, by which he (partially) meant that once we get used to looking at, for example, Impressionist landscape paintings, perhaps by Claude Monet, we come to see the real thing as bearing an Impressionist appearance. Also, the common expression ‘picturesque’ applied to a landscape suggests that enjoying a landscape of a certain kind bears a strong similarity to enjoying a landscape painting representing that kind. Of course, the landscapes that attract painters or poets are not always of the benign picturesque kind. The term ‘sublime’ is used to describe both the rugged, dangerous, awe-inspiring landscapes of towering mountains and thundering waterfalls, but also dramatic, often Romantic, depictions of these, by the likes of the painter Caspar David Friedrich or the poets Percy Bysshe Shelley or Samuel Taylor Coleridge (see Sublime, the).
Truth, pragmatic theory of
Authors: Heney Diana Beverly
Published: March 2023

Bertrand Russell referred to the theory of truth as pragmatism’s ‘cardinal point’ (Russell 1994 [1910]). While having a distinctive view of truth has been a pragmatist calling card for over a century, there are actually different views of truth marching together under the banner of pragmatism. Disambiguating these views and considering their reception provides some insight into the permeable but persistent boundary between pragmatism and neo-pragmatism.

What pragmatist conceptions of truth have in common is that they take their direction from the pragmatic maxim, first articulated by Charles Sanders Peirce in 1878: ‘Consider what effects, that might conceivably have practical bearings, we conceive the object of our conception to have. Then, our conception of these effects is the whole of our conception of the object’ (Peirce 1931–58 (hereafter CP): vol.5.§402). A later expression of the maxim, also from Peirce, exhorts us to ‘look to the upshot of our concepts in order to rightly apprehend them’ (CP 5.3). While the first expression of the pragmatic maxim seems to suggest that there is nothing more to our concepts than is revealed in their ‘effects’, the latter does not make this exclusive claim – and thus it is not surprising that one way in which pragmatist accounts of truth differ is precisely concerning whether there is more to say about truth beyond its pragmatic dimension.

The pragmatic maxim applied to the concept of truth has yielded at least two different accounts: Peirce’s pragmaticism and the instrumentalist view usually associated with William James. John Dewey’s account of warranted assertibility plausibly constitutes a third, though it might be considered an extension of instrumentalism.

The pragmatist approaches to truth developed by Peirce, James, and Dewey have had a lasting influence on Anglo-American philosophy. The subtle but real differences between the three views presented are often elided in attempts to present a simple and unified position as the pragmatist theory of truth. But what pragmatist theories of truth have in common is rather method, what Misak has called the ‘distinctively pragmatic enterprise […] of exploring truth’s role in assertion, belief, and inquiry’ (2004 [1991]: viii).

The classical pragmatists’ sustained engagement with the place of truth in philosophy and in human life has proved to be fertile ground. It provided inspiration for philosophers interested in humanistic accounts of meaning following the linguistic turn of the mid-twentieth century, as well as for those interested in an account of the domain of ethics that emphasizes human fallibilism and the social nexus of inquiry.
Guarded Kleene Algebra with Tests: Automata Learning
Authors: Zetzsche Stefan , Silva Alexandra , Sammartino Matteo
Published: March 2023

Guarded Kleene Algebra with Tests (GKAT) is the fragment of Kleene Algebra with Tests (KAT) that arises by replacing the union and iteration operations of KAT with predicate-guarded variants. GKAT is more efficiently decidable than KAT and expressive enough to model simple imperative programs, making it attractive for applications to e.g. network verification. In this paper, we further explore GKAT's automata theory, and present GL*, an algorithm for learning the GKAT automaton representation of a black-box, by observing its behaviour. A complexity analysis shows that it is more efficient to learn a representation of a GKAT program with GL* than with Angluin's existing L* algorithm. We implement GL* and L* in OCaml and compare their performances on example programs.
Understanding the Super-spreading Events of SARS in Singapore
Authors: Chen Mark IC , Loon Seng-Chee , Leong Hoe-Nam , Leo Yee-Sin
Published: March 2023

Introduction: It has been noted that SARS transmission is characterised by a few super-spreading events (SSEs) giving rise to a disproportionate number of secondary cases. Clinical and environmental features surrounding the index cases involved were compared with cases in non-SSEs.

Materials and Methods: Data on 231 cases of probable SARS admitted to Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) were used. Index cases directly causing 10 or more secondary cases were classified as having been involved in SSEs; all others were defined as non-SSEs.
Results: Only 5 cases were involved in SSEs; all 5 were isolated on day 5 of illness or later, and spent at least a brief period in a non-isolation ward; in contrast, amongst the 226 non-SSE cases, only 40.7% and 4.0% were isolated late and admitted to non-isolation wards respectively, and only 3.1% had both these environmental features present; the differences were highly significant (P = 0.012, P <0.001 and P <0.001 by Fisher’s Exact test). When compared to 7 non-SSE cases with delayed isolation and an admission to non-isolation wards, SSEs were more likely to have co-morbid disease or require ICU care at time of isolation (P = 0.045 for both factors).
Conclusion: SSEs were likely due to a conglomeration of environmental factors of delayed isolation and admission to a non-isolation ward, coupled with severe disease stage at time of isolation.

Key words: Communicable diseases, emerging; Cross infection; Disease outbreaks; Infection control
Scanning Laser Polarimetry in Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients on Chemotherapy
Authors: Tang Wilson WT , Lai Jimmy SM , Tham Clement CY , Chan Kam-Keung , Chan Kin-Sang
Published: March 2023

Introduction: The aim of this study was to analyse the thickness of the retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) of pulmonary tuberculosis patients on ethambutol and isoniazid.

Materials and Methods: This was a prospective cohort study where patients with newly diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis requiring chemotherapy, including ethambutol and isoniazid, were imaged using scanning laser polarimetry. Their mean baseline RNFL thickness and various scanning laser polarimetry parameters of both eyes were measured 2 weeks after the commencement of chemotherapy. The measurements were repeated at 3 months and 6 months after treatment. The various parameters of the baseline and the follow-up measurements were compared using paired sample t-test with Bonferroni correction.
Results: Twenty-four patients (16 males and 8 females; mean age, 51.0 ± 17.6 years) were recruited. There was no statistically significant difference between the baseline and the follow-up measurements in RNFL thickness and all other scanning laser polarimetry parameters.
Conclusion: In this cohort of subjects, there was no subclinical change in RNFL thickness detected by scanning laser polarimetry in pulmonary tuberculosis patients on chemotherapy, including ethambutol and isoniazid, after 6 months of treatment.

Key words: Drug toxicity, Ethambutol, Isoniazid, Lasers, Optic diseases, Retina, Tuberculosis
Clinical Features of Autosomal Dominant Retinitis Pigmentosa Associated with a Rhodopsin Mutation
Authors: Chen Haoyu , Chen Yali , Horn Rachael , Yang Zhenglin , Wang Changguan , Turner Matthew J , Zhang Kang
Published: March 2023

Introduction: Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) describes a group of inherited disorders characterised by progressive retinal dysfunction, cell loss and atrophy of retinal tissue. RP demonstrates considerable clinical and genetic heterogeneity, with wide variations in disease severity, progression, and gene involvement. We studied a large family with RP to determine the pattern of inheritance and identify the disease-causing mutation, and then to describe the phenotypic presentation of this family.

Materials and Methods: Ophthalmic examination was performed on 46 family members to identify affected individuals and to characterise the disease phenotype. Family pedigree was obtained. Some family members also had fundus photographs, fluorescein angiography, and/or optical coherence tomography (OCT) analysis performed. Genetic linkage was performed using short tandem repeat (STR) polymorphic markers encompassing the known loci for autosomal dominant RP. Finally, DNA sequencing was performed to identify the mutation present in this family.
Results: Clinical features included nyctalopia, constriction of visual fields and eventual loss of central vision. Sequence analysis revealed a G-to-T nucleotide change in the Rhodopsin gene, predicting a Gly-51-Val substitution.
Conclusions: This large multi-generation family demonstrates the phenotypic variability of a previously identified autosomal dominant mutation of the Rhodopsin gene.

Key words: Hereditary eye diseases, Retinal degeneration, Retinopathy, Rod cone dystrophies
Neonatal Priapism Associated With Spontaneous Bilateral Pyocavernositis
Authors: Sood Rajeev , Wadhwa Surender Nath , Jain Vikas
Published: March 2023

Introduction: Neonatal priapism is known to be associated with a wide range of aetiologies, but an association with spontaneous purulent cavernositis has not been reported in the paediatric literature. We report the first of such case.

Clinical Picture: A 24-day-old neonate was brought with the history of persistent erection of penis since day 4 of life and swollen penis of 4 days’ duration, which revealed frank pus on cavernosal aspiration bilaterally.
Treatment: The child was treated with closed aspiration drainage; cross-irrigation with antibiotic solution under systemic antibiotic cover helped in achieving complete detumescence.
Outcome: On follow-up, child demonstrated normal full bladder tumescence and colour doppler revealed bilateral normal corporo-cavernosal appearance and blood flow, indicating good functional and anatomical recovery.
Conclusion: This case report describes the presentation, successful management and excellent functional and anatomical outcome, on follow-up, of this rare association of neonatal priapism with spontaneous bilateral pyocavernositis. An attempt has been made to describe the underlying pathophysiology.

Key words: Corporeal abscess, Erectile dysfunction, Persistent penile erection of newborn
Amendment of the Human Organ Transplant Act
Authors: Shum Eugene , Chern Arthur
Published: March 2023

On 6 January 2004, the Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA) was amended to allow more Singaporeans to benefit from organ donation. The main amendments to HOTA were (a) to extend HOTA beyond kidneys to include livers, hearts and corneas; (b) to extend HOTA beyond deaths due to accidents to include all causes of deaths; and (c) to extend HOTA beyond cadaveric organ donation to also regulate living donor organ transplants. In this article, we review the amendments to HOTA and the Interpretation (Determination and Certification of Death) Regulations and examine the impact of HOTA on organ procurement and transplantation in Singapore.

Key words: Kidney transplant, Organ procurement, Presumed consent, Transplant legislation
Derivados de indandionas: atividade antibiofilme e encapsulamento com β-ciclodextrina
Authors:   , Braga João Pedro Vianna
Published: February 2023

Biofilmes são uma comunidade bacteriana aderida a uma superfície inerte ou viva, e protegida por uma matriz de substâncias poliméricas extracelulares que permite o crescimento e sobrevivência das bactérias em ambientes hostis e confere maior resistência e tolerância a antimicrobianos e sanitizantes. Por se desenvolverem em uma variedade de superfícies, os biofilmes causam impactos significativos em diversas áreas, incluindo saúde e setor industrial. Visando o desenvolvimento de estratégias destinadas ao controle e remoção de biofilmes bacterianos este trabalho avaliou a capacidade de 19 derivados de indandionas, compostos que possuem um grupo metileno entre duas cetonas (β-dicetona), em afetar a formação de biofilmes e biofilmes pré-formados sobre diferentes bactérias. A concentração inibitória mínima dos compostos derivados da 2-(arilideno)-indan-1,3-diona foi superior a 160 µg/mL. Os ensaios antibiofilme foram realizados com os compostos na concentração de 100 µg/mL. Os compostos que mais inibiram a formação de biofilme foram Ap18 para S. aureus (66,2%), Ap28 para S. epidermidis (82,2%), Ap3 para E. coli (54,3%) e Ap25 para P. aeruginosa (70,8%). Após 6 horas, o composto Ap18 desfez em 53,5% o biofilme pré-formado de E. coli, mas tiveram fraca atividade sobre biofilmes pré- formados de P. aeruginosa, S. aureus e S. epidermidis. Ensaios de viabilidade celular, mostraram a baixa toxicidade dos compostos Ap8, Ap24 e Ap27. Numa tentativa de aumentar a solubilidade dos compostos visando a um aumento de atividade, foi realizada a síntese de um complexo de inclusão (CI) entre o derivado de indandiona Ap8 e a hidroxipropil-β-ciclodextrina (HPβCD), sendo calculada em 78,27% a eficiência de complexação. O CIAp8 reduziu a formação do biofilme de P. fluorescens 07A, isolado de leite cru refrigerado, em 53,6% e de S. aureus USA300, um clone pandêmico resistente à meticilina em 10,4%, diferentemente do composto puro Ap8, que não demonstrou atividade para essas bactérias. Para os demais biofilmes de modo geral a atividade do CIAp8 não foi superior ao composto Ap8 puro. O encapsulamento do composto Ap8 não diminuiu a sua citotoxicidade nas concentrações avaliadas. Em resumo, esse trabalho comprovou a atividade de derivados da 2-arilideno indan-1,3-diona sobre importantes patógenos bacterianos. Os resultados podem ser explorados para subsidiar a síntese de compostos mais eficazes e menos citotóxicos. Palavras-chave: Atividade antibiofilme. 2-arilideno indan-1,3-dionas. Complexo de inclusão.
Does Language Matter in the Mathematics Classroom for Orang Asli Students in Malaysia?
Authors: Abd Jalil Abdul Hakim , Abdullah Abdul Halim , Hamzah Mohd Hilmi
Published: February 2023

Numerous studies have shown that the language barrier may cause the difficulties among indigenous children in learning mathematics. Apparently, this is also the case among the Orang Asli students in Malaysia. As enshrined in the Malaysian Constitution, the Malay language is the national language spoken by Malaysians who are made up of various races. However, other races including the Orang Asli are free to use their respective languages in their daily lives. In the Malaysian education system, the medium of instruction used in mathematics classes is the Malay language. Since the Orang Asli students are only exposed to the Malay language after they enter formal education in a primary school, the use of the Malay language has become an obstacle for them to understand mathematical concepts. Accordingly, this concept paper discusses the position of the Orang Asli language in Malaysia, the medium of teaching and learning in mathematics classes in Malaysia, and the effectiveness of using the Orang Asli language in mathematics classes among the Orang Asli students. In addition, the code-switching approach that is widely practised in many countries is also discussed. Finally, the roles of various parties, including the Ministry of Education, the Department of Orang Asli Development, NGOs, teachers, parents and the Orang Asli communities in increasing the use of the national language among the Orang Asli students are also discussed. It is hoped that this concept paper can enlighten the language problems among the Orang Asli students in Malaysia and further improve their academic quality.
Perubahan Iklim: Pengetahuan Pedagogi Isi Kandungan Guru Sains di Sekolah Menengah
Authors: Hussain Nurbaizura , Halim Lilia
Published: February 2023

Kajian ini dijalankan bertujuan untuk meneroka pengetahuan pedagogi isi kandungan (PPIK) guru sains sekolah menengah bagi topik perubahan iklim. Untuk itu, kajian kuantitatif digunakan bagi tujuan tersebut. Pemilihan sampel kajian adalah dari kalangan guru sains sekolah menengah harian di sekitar Kuala Lumpur. Instrumen yang digunakan dalam kajian ini adalah soal selidik dengan menggunakan skala Likert lima mata. Instrumen ini terdiri daripada empat bahagian utama iaitu bahagian demografi (3 item), bahagian pengetahuan tentang perubahan iklim (18 item), bahagian pengetahuan pedagogi umum (23 item) dan bahagian pengetahuan pedagogi isi kandungan (13 item). Kesahan kandungan daripada penilaian pakar dijalankan dan analisis alfa Cronbach dilaksanakan bagi mengukur kebolehpercayaan instrumen. Nilai pekali alfa Cronbach secara keseluruhannya ialah 0.806. Analisis deskriptif digunakan bagi melihat tahap pengetahuan guru dalam ketiga-tiga komponen PPIK tersebut. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan pengetahuan guru terhadap perubahan iklim adalah pada tahap rendah. Namun begitu, pengetahuan guru terhadap pedagogi umum dan PPIK adalah pada tahap tinggi.
Inclusive learning development practices: the consequences of flexibility and choice in the hybrid era
Authors: Kantcheva Ralitsa B , Bickle Ed
Published: March 2023

The Covid-19 pandemic, and the move to online teaching and learning, has provided opportunities for the learning development (LD) community to find new and innovative pedagogical approaches to providing a more inclusive learning environment. Many of these opportunities are now being incorporated into a new hybrid era of teaching, which seeks to build the ‘best of both worlds’. To embrace this new era of flexibility, hybrid learning and teaching strategies need to be developed rather than merely being a reaction to a global health emergency. Based on the experiences of two learning developers at different UK institutions, this paper reflects on the benefits and disadvantages of a hybrid mode of delivery of one-to-one tutorials, one of the cornerstones of LD provision. Within this paper we define hybrid teaching as a combination of online and physical environments (Gamage et al., 2022).
Equality, diversity and inclusion: learning from laying our cards on the table
Authors: Sillence Matthew , Clark Amanda , Dickerson Claire , Doan Hanh , Jarvis Joy
Published: March 2023

This article presents preliminary findings from a study designed to evaluate, develop and disseminate a cards resource developed to support dialogue and learning about EDI. Experience of creating cards to explore disciplinary thinking at the Universities of Hertfordshire (UH) and East Anglia (UEA) (Jarvis and Clark, 2020) was instrumental in the design. The resource is based on the concept of using ‘serious play’, a ‘special kind of intense learning experience’ (Rieber et al., 1998, p.30, 29, original emphasis) to support reflective, inclusive and transformational learning (Peabody and Noyes, 2017).
Staff and students at UH and UEA who facilitate and attend sessions at which the cards are used are contributing to the research. Before sessions, facilitators are briefed about the guidance, the cards, and possible exercises for using them. At the end of sessions, facilitators and participants are invited to take part in a reflection activity. Facilitators are asked about the context, the activity, observations of participant response to the cards, their learning, the facilitator’s learning, and plans for future EDI activities. Participants are questioned about the role of the cards in their learning and thinking, what was learnt, and how this will impact their interaction with others.
Preliminary findings indicate how participants are thinking about their working contexts, in particular how they initiate conversations around their personal lives, and share stories relating to equality, diversity and inclusivity, in order to make abstract terms more vivid. 
This study responds to a need to develop research-informed resources to use to encourage respectful, inclusive dialogue to address EDI topics with staff and students in higher education. Drawing on the preliminary findings shared here, new terms are being added to the current card set together with a blank card to allow users to generate their own cards; and a new resource comprising EDI stories is being considered.
Supporting inclusive learning resource design with Designing for Diverse Learners
Authors: Fallin Lee , Davison Ellie , Spencer Gemma , Tomlinson Thomas
Published: March 2023

This brief communication introduces the regulatory and ethical requirements of accessible learning design, and the Designing for Diverse Learners project. This communication is a call to action, asking for educators to share, support and help develop the Designing for Diverse Learners guidance.
‘To teach in varied communities not only our paradigms must shift but also the way we think, write, speak’ (hooks, 1994): creating resources to address the BAME awarding gap
Authors: Pollard Eileen , McCabe Orlagh
Published: March 2023

In this brief communication, the authors reflect on the development of a suite of online resources to address the Black, Asian and Minority Ethic (BAME) awarding gap in Higher Education. They consider the sector, allyship and relational pedagogy to explain the approach of these publicly accessible staff-facing resources.
Production and Characterisation of a Novel Dasheen (Colocasia esculenta) Alcoholic Fermented Beverage
Authors: Jackson Kerrian , Maharaj Rohanie , Dookeran Mark
Published: March 2023

In this study, an alcoholic fermented beverage of acceptable quality characteristics was produced from two types of dasheen (Colocasia esculenta L. Schott) musts, A – boiled dasheen must and B – cooked dasheen with must, each at three total soluble solids (TSS) levels (18, 22 and 25 °Brix). Quality characteristics of pH, TSS, alcohol content, titratable acidity (TA), specific gravity (SG), and spectrophotometric, microbiological, and sensory evaluations were analysed in the fermented beverages. Fermentation caused pH, SG and TSS to decrease while simultaneously increased TA. Coliforms were not detected in any of the must and fermented beverage samples. The one-way ANOVA showed a significant difference (p<0.05) when the fermented beverage from musts A and B was compared on the final quality parameters of pH, SG, TSS, TA, a* component and sensory attributes (appearance, colour, taste, and mouthfeel). The beverage made from batch A, 25 °Brix was consumer acceptable based on sensory and physicochemical analyses with a pH of 3.12, SG of 1.0053, TSS of 10.13 °Brix, TA (% citric acid) of 0.75% and an alcohol content of 14.00 and 12.52% using the hydrometer and gas chromatography methods respectively. For the spectrophotometric analysis, the absorbance at 420 nm wavelength was 0.246 while the L* a* b* colour indices were 88.59, 0.13, and 1.36 respectively. The overall results indicate that this product can be beneficial to the Caribbean food and beverage industries. Keywords: Dasheen (Colocasia esculenta), alcoholic fermentation, sensory attributes, colorimetry, spectrophotometry, gas chromatography-flame ionisation detector
Pengaruh Minat Siswa Pada Pembelajaran IPA Terhadap Hasil Belajar Siswa MTs Muallimin Univa Medan
Authors: Ananda Putri Ananda Putri Ananda Putri
Published: March 2023

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh minat siswa pada pembelajaran IPA terhadap hasil belajar siswa MTs Muallimin UNIVA Medan. Penelitian ini dilakukan di MTs Muallimin UNIVA Medan pada tahun 2022. Jenis penelitian ini adalah  survei dengan sampel penelitian sebanyak 90 siswa kelas VIII . Instrumen penelitian berupa angket yang diberikan kepada siswa yang berisi 30 item pertanyaan. Indikator pada pada angket adalah kesenangan , ketertarikan, perhatian dan keterlibatan siswa pada mata pelajaran IPA. Analisis data dilakukan dengan cara menghitung skor angket masing-masing siswa, kemudian menjadikannya dalam presentase dan diinterpretasikan dengan kategori sangat baik, baik, kurang baik, dan tdak baik. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan indikator kesenangan siswa sebesar 77,9%, ketertarikan siswa sebesar 77,1%, perhatian siswa sebesar 76,1% dan keterlibatan siswa 75,9%.  Penelitian ini pada akhirnya menghasilkan simpulan bahwa minat belajar siswa berpengaruh positif terhadap hasil belajar siswa kelas VII MTs Muallimin UNIVA Medan Tahun 2022, dengan rata-rata minat siswa pada mata pelajaran IPA sebesar 76,75% dengan kategori sangat baik.
The Effect of Entrepreneurial Education Program on Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy in Some Selected South Africa’s Universities: Students’ Perception
Authors: EM. Rankhumise  , ME. Letsoalo
Published: March 2023

Entrepreneurship can greatly contribute to economic growth and graduate employment. Many university graduates may find that becoming an entrepreneur is the solution to their recruitment issues. This exploratory cross-sectional quantitative study at the Tshwane University of Technology and Walter Sisulu University aims to learn about entrepreneurship education students' perceptions of the impact of the curriculum on their capacity to interact with the business sector. A total of 484 students (279 TUT and 205 WSU) volunteered to participate. The results indicated that students at both universities valued the universities' intervention through the entrepreneurial education program. It was also discovered that entrepreneurship education continues to play a significant part in the lives of all motivated business students. The delivery of entrepreneurship education should be enhanced to ensure that the students benefit and have the propensity to start their businesses. In so doing, less unemployment of graduates would be experienced. Further studies should be conducted in a broader scope by embarking on other universities beyond the current ones surveyed to enable the findings to be generalized.
Northern Exposure
Authors: Bambra Clare , Munford Luke , Khavandi Sam , Bennett Natalie
Published: March 2023

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic affected all parts of the country, it did not do so equally. Northern England was hit the hardest, exposing more than ever the extent of regional inequalities in health and wealth. Using original data analysis from a wide range of sources, this book demonstrates how COVID-19 has impacted the country unequally in terms of mortality, health care, mental health, and the economy. The book provides a striking empirical overview of the impact of the pandemic on regional inequalities and explores why the North fared worse. It sets out what needs to be learnt from the pandemic to prevent regional inequality growing and to reduce inequalities in health and wealth in the future.
Monte-Carlo Calculations (GEANT4) of Ions Resulting of the Irradiation and Interaction of a Static Electric Field and Some Experimental Tests – an Attractive Way to Improve the Enhancement of the Yield of Hydrogen
Authors: Ulmer W. , Ulmer U.
Published: February 2023

The past decade has emerged a growing interest in the electrolysis and Hydrogen technology as a surrogate of the conventional energy sources. Many novel materials have been tested to improve the Hydrogen yield and to reach a breakthrough with them. In the present analysis the electrolysis with additional 6 MV ionizing radiation produced by a linear accelerator has been tested in order to suggest γ-radiation of radioactive waste of nuclear reactors and other sources, which is the goal of this study. For this purpose, a box consisting of laboratory glass filled with water and capacitors as electrodes has been used for the performance of the tests. The experimental tests have provided significant differences of the Hydrogen release, if the test phantom has been subjected to radiation and the comparison without it. A theoretical insight obtained by the consideration an extension of the diffusion equation by a static electric field in order to describe the transport of ions. Quantitative examinations have been made possible by Monte Carlo calculations with GEANT4, which provided good agreement with experimental data, since this code is also applicable by inclusion of external electric and magnetic fields.