bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Forecasting national and regional level intensive care unit bed demand during COVID-19: The case of Italy
Authors: Gitto Simone , Di Mauro Carmela , Ancarani Alessandro , Mancuso Paolo
Published: February 2021

Given the pressure on healthcare authorities to assess whether hospital capacity allows properly responding to outbreaks such as COVID-19, there is a need for simple, data-driven methods that may provide accurate forecasts of hospital bed demand. This study applies growth models to forecast the demand for Intensive Care Unit admissions in Italy during COVID-19. We show that, with only some mild assumptions on the functional form and using short time-series, the model fits past data well and can accurately forecast demand fourteen days ahead (the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of the cumulative fourteen days forecasts is 7.64). The model is then applied to derive regional-level forecasts by adopting hierarchical methods that ensure the consistency between national and regional level forecasts. Predictions are compared with current hospital capacity in the different Italian regions, with the aim to evaluate the adequacy of the expansion in the number of beds implemented during the COVID-19 crisis.
New insights into the interactions between Blastocystis, the gut microbiota, and host immunity
Authors: Deng Lei , Wojciech Lukasz , Gascoigne Nicholas R. J. , Peng Guangneng , Tan Kevin S. W.
Published: February 2021

The human gut microbiota is a diverse and complex ecosystem that is involved in beneficial physiological functions as well as disease pathogenesis. Blastocystis is a common protistan parasite and is increasingly recognized as an important component of the gut microbiota. The correlations between Blastocystis and other communities of intestinal microbiota have been investigated, and, to a lesser extent, the role of this parasite in maintaining the host immunological homeostasis. Despite recent studies suggesting that Blastocystis decreases the abundance of beneficial bacteria, most reports indicate that Blastocystis is a common component of the healthy gut microbiome. This review covers recent finding on the potential interactions between Blastocystis and the gut microbiota communities and its roles in regulating host immune responses.
Stammering, stuttering and stumbling: A transnational history of the pathologization of dysfluency in nineteenth-century Europe
Authors: Hoegaerts Josephine
Published: February 2021

The nineteenth century saw a rise in the categorization and systematic observation of manifestations of dysfluent speech. This article examines how, from the 1820s onward, different vocabularies to distinguish between different speech impediments were developed in France, Germany and Britain. It also charts how different meanings, categories and chronologies of ‘stammering’ knowledge were exchanged transnationally. The universalist medical models emerging around stammering were, despite this constant exchange, also closely connected to cultural imaginations of speech, the particular values assigned to one’s (national) language and political modes of belonging. Although the analysis is largely based on prescriptive texts, it also reveals how embodied experiences of dysfluency informed the medical and pedagogical work undertaken in the nineteenth century: a remarkable number of ‘experts’ on speech impediments claimed to be ‘former sufferers’. The history of dysfluency in the nineteenth century is therefore not one of linear medicalization and pathologization, but a continuous exchange of vocabularies between different actors of middle-class culture. Expertise on speaking ‘well’ was shared in medical treatises, but also on the benches of parliament, in cheap self-help pamphlets, in the parlour, or in debating clubs – suggesting that the model of ‘recovery’ was a manifestation of (middle class) culture rather than of a strictly medical discourse.
Talking heads and shitting in the street: Stuttering Parrhesia in three modes
Authors: St. Pierre Joshua
Published: February 2021

This paper seeks both to expand the range of what counts as political action for dysfluent voices and to find resources that can generate critical breaks within neo-liberal modes of power. With the Cynics, I suggest that some truths – like dysfluent lives are worth living – cannot be told by a talking head. I accordingly map three possible modes of truth-telling within the lexicon of parrhesia: therapeutic, Platonic and Cynic. Therapeutic truth-telling is an apolitical enunciation that indexes a model of authenticity and is limited to speaking truth about oneself and the world in a normalizing register. Platonic parrhesia is a form of equality-based political discourse that aims at inclusion. In this mode, the parrhesiastes, like the talking head, must fashion their body as a pure vessel of truth to be recognized as such. Cynic truth-telling, finally, is a radical embodiment of critique that seeks rupture rather than understanding. Taking up the motto of the Cynics – ‘deface the currency’ – perhaps dysfluent voices can find resources to ‘de-face’ speech and its mythic power that has become entwined with capital.
Stutter and phenomena: The phenomenology and deconstruction of delayed auditory feedback
Authors: Rodness Roshaya
Published: February 2021

Jacques Derrida’s early critique of Husserlian phenomenology discusses the production of the ‘phenomenological voice’ as the consummate model of human consciousness. Challenging Husserl’s conviction that consciousness is produced from the self-enclosed act of ‘hearing-oneself-speak’, Derrida points to vocality as the complex site of the self’s relationship to presence and exteriority. The internal division between hearing and speaking, he argues, introduces difference into the generation of conscious life. The use of delayed auditory feedback (DAF) as a prosthetic for stuttering provides an opportunity to engage Derrida’s insights on the connection between consciousness and voice with an ear to the speech of people who stutter. DAF, which may reduce or increase dysfluency depending on the speech of the user, introduces a series of delays, alterations and supplements to speech that underwrite the heterogeneous experience of conscious life. What can the philosophy of deconstruction add to conversations about the function of DAF, and what can theory about and experiences with DAF teach us about the self’s presence to itself and the role of alterity in shaping speech? What does stuttering teach us about the necessity of dysfluency for all speech? This article examines the relation between the voice and the phenomenological voice, and between stuttering and prosthetics. Concluding with an analysis of Richard Serra’s experimental recording, Boomerang (1974), it argues that voice is always already prostheticized with alterity, and that in hearing-oneself-speak we exist with voice in an expansive and unfinished conversation with our own mystery.
The clearing: Music, dysfluency, Blackness and time
Authors: Ellis JJJJJerome
Published: February 2021

This article argues that dysfluency, music and Blackness, because of their distinct relationships to time, have the power to forge alternative temporalities and help us heal from ‘temporal subjection’. As a Black composer who stutters, I write from first-hand experience. With reference to my own recordings and scores, I examine the ways I use musical techniques like loops and rubato to create these alternative temporalities. Stuttering (especially in the form I present with, the glottal block) creates unpredictable, silent gaps in speech. I call these gaps ‘clearings’. Slaves sang in the fields, and whites heard them; but they also sang (and danced) in the woods at night, out of earshot. Undergirding the clearing created by my stutter is that other clearing, in the woods, where my enslaved ancestors stole away to keep healing, resisting and liberating through music – work that I continue today.
Teaching Strategies for Neurodiversity and Dyslexia in Actor Training: Sensing Shakespeare, Petronilla Whitfield (2019)
Authors: Cryer-Lennon Denis
Published: February 2021

Review of: Teaching Strategies for Neurodiversity and Dyslexia in Actor Training: Sensing Shakespeare, Petronilla Whitfield (2019)

New York: Routledge, 218 pp.,

ISBN 978-0-42945-859-0, e-book, £31.49
Canonical Wnt signaling regulates branching morphogenesis of submandibular gland by modulating levels of lama5
Authors: Gou Liming , Ren Xiaochun , Ji Ping
Published: February 2021

Branching morphogenesis is a crucial developmental mechanism for the formation of the typical bush-like structure of the submandibular gland (SMG). However, the detailed mechanism underlying this process remains to be fully understood. Here, we have investigated whether cross-talk may exist between the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway and lama5 during the branching process in SMG development. An embryonic mouse SMG organ culture model was established, and the validity of this model was confirmed. The roles and possible interactions of the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway, FGF signaling, and lama5 in the branching process were investigated by morphogenesis assays and gene expression patterns. Here, we show that the E12 or E13 SMG organ culture model can be used as an ideal approach to study the process of branching morphogenesis. Our branching morphogenesis assay revealed that the epithelial branching process can be promoted when the canonical Wnt pathway is inhibited and significantly suppressed when the wnt pathway is over activated. Further experiments indicated that FGF signaling most likely acts upstream as a negative regulator of the canonical Wnt pathway during the branching process, whose effect could be partially reversed by Wnt3a. Finally, we show that Wnt/beta-catenin signaling regulates branching morphogenesis through Lama5. We conclude that the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway acting downstream of FGF signaling can serve as a negative regulatory mechanism in the process of SMG branching morphogenesis through Lama5.
Analisis Rugi-Rugi Panas pada Tangki Penyimpan Panas dalam Sistem Pembangkit Listrik Tenaga Matahari
Authors: Pikra Ghalya , Salim Agus , Admono Tri , Devi Merry Indahsari
Published: February 2021

Analysis of heat loss on heat storage tank in solar power generation system is intended to determine the heat loss value during storage. Selection of insulation material, insulation thickness, time of storage and heat storage fluid affects the heat losses. The research was initiated by determining the dimension of the tank and its insulation material, and determining the heat storage time in the tank. Fluid and operating temperature is determined to get the fluid specification to be used as data analysis. The analysis begins with the calculation of storage capacities, followed by making of thermal nets to get the thermal resistance equation which is then used to calculate the heat loss in the tank. The result shows that the heat storage tank with 0.4 m diameter and 0.45 m height and uses ceramic fiber wool insulation with 0.1m thickness gives the value of heat loss of 63.43 W.
Az információ-túlterhelés csökkentése tudásintenzív szervezetekben
Authors: Kovács Barna
Published: February 2021

Tudásintenzív szervezetekben az információ a szervezeti vagyon meghatározó tényezője. Kezelése viszont sok nehézséget támaszt, elsősorban növekvő komplexitása miatt, amivel az információ-rendszerek fejlődése sem mindig képes lépést tartani. Az egyik legfőbb, ebből fakadó probléma az információ-túlterhelés, amely az alkalmazottak terhelésének növekedése mellett a szervezet alkalmazkodókészségét, illetve versenyelőnyét is veszélyeztetheti. A cikkben bemutatott megközelítés innovatív technológiák használatával segíti a releváns információk megkeresését, kezelését szervezeti kontextusban. E megoldás vezetők számára kiemelten fontos tanulsága, hogy egy egységes fogalmi modellre épített egységes információkezeléssel, ennek eredményeképpen egyfajta tudáskodifikáció, tudásstrukturálás segítségével jelentősen támogatható a szervezeti tudás megőrzése és gyarapítása.
Ellátási láncok irányítási algoritmusai a sörjáték példáján
Authors: Kovács Zoltán
Published: February 2021

A sörjáték egy szimulációs eszköz, amely rendszerdinamikai sajátosságok bemutatására szolgál egy egyszerűsített ellátásilánc-modell alkalmazásával. A szerző ennek egy továbbfejlesztett, véletlenszerű igényt tartalmazó változatát használja. A cikkben öt irányítási algoritmust mutat be: 1. visszacsatolást nem tartalmazó, vezérlés jellegű mechanizmus, ami állandó rendelési időközt és állandó rendelési mennyiséget alkalmaz, 2. közvetlen visszacsatolás, 3. két beavatkozási határértéket tartalmazó állásos szabályozás, 4. egy célértéket tartalmazó visszacsatolás, 5. előrejelzésen alapuló előrecsatolás. Az elemzések részben lejátszott játékok felhasználásával, részben pedig Monte Carlo szimulációval történtek.
A távmunka elméleti vizsgálata
Authors: Forgács Tamás
Published: February 2021

A gazdasági folyamatok és a technológia fejlődése egyre inkább a változásokra gyorsan reagáló és az egyedi igényeket kiszolgálni képes szervezetek létrejöttét támogatják. Ennek alapfeltétele a rugalmasság, nemcsak a szervezeten kívül, hanem belül, a szervezeti felépítésben, a foglalkoztatásban is. A távmunka, mint ezt a rugalmasságot a technológia által az egyik leginkább biztosító új munkaszervezési mód, várhatóan egyre nagyobb szerepet kap a foglalkoztatási gyakorlatban. A távmunka alkalmazása azonban sok-sok nehézséget, de lehetőséget is magában rejt, emiatt fontos lehet megismerni főbb jellegzetességeit, hogy szélesebb körű alkalmazásának hatásai elemezhetők legyenek, illetve lehetőség legyen meghatározni az esetleges beavatkozási területeket. A szerző célja, hogy a témára vonatkozó magyar irodalmat bővítse néhány fontosabb elméleti modell ismertetésén és elemzésén keresztül.
A beszerzés fogalmi kerete a kis - és középvállalatok gyakorlatában (The characteristics of the purchasing practice of SMEs)
Authors: Vörösmarty Gyöngyi
Published: February 2021

A kis- és középvállalatok számottevő gazdasági tényezőt jelentenek. A cikk a szakirodalom azon egyre szélesedő részéhez szeretne hozzátenni, amely az ő gyakorlatuk, sajátosságaik megismerésével foglalkozik: a KKV-k beszerzési sajátosságainak megismerését és rendező modellben való bemutatását célozza meg. A modell felépítéséhez a nemzetközi szakirodalomban elérhető empirikus eredményeket és a versenyképesség-kutatás kérdőíves adatbázisának válaszait dolgozza fel. A javasolt modell a nagyvállalati beszerzés és a fogyasztói vásárlás jellemző sajátosságait egészíti ki a KKV-k gyakorlatának leírásával. ________________ Small and medium sized enterprises play an important role in every economy. This article aims to contribute to the growing number of literature focusing on SMEs management practice. Based on a review of literature and the analysis of the survey database of Competitiveness Research of CUB it develops a model to describe the characteristics of the purchasing practice of SMEs. The suggested model will describe the main attributes of SMEs purchasing as compared to large companies practice and buying habits of individuals.
Gondolkodásegyszerűsítő stratégiák hatékonysága (Simplifying decision strategies and their effectiveness)
Authors: Esse Bálint
Published: February 2021

A szerző a megelégedésre törekvő döntéshozatalt és eszközeinek, az egyszerűsítő döntési stratégiáknak a hatékonysági kérdéseit tárgyalja. Az egyszerűsítő stratégiáknak és az alkalmazásukat támogató attitűdnek nemcsak az időt, hanem az információkeresés és - feldolgozás egyéb költségvonzatait is tekintetbe véve számos előnyük van. A szerző a szakirodalom rendszerezésével rávilágít az egyéni szintű leegyszerűsítések természetére és pozitív hatásaikra. A bevezetést és a meghatározásokat követően az egyszerűsítő stratégiák hatékonysági kérdéseit tárgyalja a környezeti tényezők függvényében, majd a döntéshozó személyiségét és pszichológiai jóllétét érintő összefüggésekről ír. A tanulmány végén folyamatban lévő empirikus kutatásának kérdéseire tér rá, mely kutatás az üzleti gyakorlat empirikus vizsgálatával kíván hozzájárulni az eddig főként laboratóriumi kísérletek eredményeire épülő tudáshoz. ___________ Placing itself in the domain of bounded rationality theory, the article deals with the advantages of satisficing and of using decision heuristics. As to the approach to decision heuristics, the author stands on the positive side, not focusing on biases, but showing interest in the effectiveness potential in heuristics. As a review of recent literature, the article deals with different advantages of satisficing and of using simplifying strategies, be it cognitive advantages, the effectiveness, or advantages concerning the psychological well-being of the decision maker. Actual research questions of the „adaptive toolbox” approach, and the problem of determination by personality traits are presented based on the review of recent research results. Further research directions are indicated after the review. By presenting his research questions the author shows how he is willing to enrich the results of this research program by his own empirical work.
A technológiai fejlődés hatása a tartós eszközök gazdasági értékcsökkenésére (The effect of technological progress on economic depreciation of durable assets)
Authors: Kaliczka Nándor
Published: February 2021

A cikk a tartós eszközök gazdasági értékcsökkenésének elméleti hátterét vizsgálja az eszközökben megtestesülő szolgálatok felemésztődése szempontjából. Ezt a felemésztődést az eszközök kimerülésén és elhasználódásán túl, a gazdasági környezetben megjelenő testet öltő és testet nem öltő technológiai fejlődés következtében fellépő avulás is befolyásolja, mely avulás hatását a cikk részletesen tárgyalja. A technológiai fejlődés következtében fellépő avulásnak igen fontos szerepe van az eszközökhöz, és azok használati módjához legjobban illeszkedő értékcsökkenési minta kirajzolásában, amely alapján meghatározott értékcsökkenés központi eleme a vállalkozások jövedelmének, valamint a vállalkozási output egységköltségének, ami az output árazásának fontos tényezője. Ezáltal az értékcsökkenés meghatározásánál figyelembe vett avulás hatással van a vállalkozás termék és tőkepiaci versenyképességére. ___________ The paper examines the theoretical background of durable asset’s economic depreciation, from the embodied services consumption point of view. This consumption is affected by the exhaustion and deterioration beyond obsolescence which is due to embodied and disembodied technological progress that appears in the economic environment. The effect of obsolescence on the economic depreciation is examined in this paper in detail. The obsolescence due to technological progress has an important role in determining the best fit depreciation pattern to the durable asset and its usage. The economic depreciation is a central component of the company’s income, as well as the unit cost of the company’s output, which is an important element of the output pricing process. Thereby the obsolescence recognised by determining economic depreciation influences the company’s competitiveness on the product and capital markets.
A proof of four color conjecture (4CC)
Authors: ZHUANG hongbo
Published: February 2021

foundout a critical corresponding relationship between a δwheelof any maximal simple plane graph of n vertices(nMSPG)and its corresponding δcycleof a corresponding n-1MSPGof the nMSPG, and relied on theinductive way, while with the help of KempeChain (KC), this article gives a brand-newlogical proof for the famous and morethan 100 years old fourcolor conjecture (4CC).
Dye-Based Chromoendoscopy in Patients With Lynch Syndrome: An Individual Patient Data Meta-Analysis of Randomized Trials
Authors: Houwen Britt B. S. L. , Mostafavi Nahid , Vleugels Jasper L. A. , Hüneburg Robert , Lamberti Christof , Rivero-Sánchez Liseth , Pellisé María , Stoffel Elena M. , Syngal Sapna , Haanstra Jasmijn F. , Koornstra Jan. J. , Dekker Evelien , Hazewinkel Yark
Published: February 2021

INTRODUCTION:

The additional diagnostic value of dye-based chromoendosocpy (CE) for surveillance of patients with Lynch syndrome is subject of debate.

METHODS:

To clarify this debate, we performed an individual patient data meta-analysis of randomized studies that compared CE with WLE for the detection of adenomas in patients with Lynch syndrome.

RESULTS:

Three randomized studies comprising 533 patients were included. The adenoma detection rate was 74/265 (28%) in patients randomized to WLE compared with 83/266 (31%) in patients randomized to CE (odds ratio 1.17; 95% confidence interval 0.81–1.70).

DISCUSSION:

Based on low-quality evidence, CE showed no apparent increase in adenoma detection compared to WLE during surveillance of patients with Lynch syndrome.
Influence of metal vapours on radiation characteristics of air arc plasmas
Authors: Bartlová Milada , Kloc Petr , Aubrecht Vladimír , Bogatyreva Nadezda
Published: February 2021

This paper deals with the evaluation of radiation properties of air arc plasma with various admixtures of Cu, Ag, and Fe, respectively. Under assumption of isothermal plasma cylinder, the net emission coefficients were calculated for various arc radii as a function of the plasma temperature up to 30000K. For plasma with prescribed temperature profile, the equation of radiation transfer was solved in the P1approximation, and the radiation flux and its divergence were calculated.
Promises and Environmental Risks of Digital Advertising
Authors: Kingaby Harriet
Published: February 2021

Advertising is the web’s main funding model, and has shaped it in its image. As well as funding products and services, advertising also funds hatespeech and disinformation, while contributing to overconsumption. This paper calls for policy interventions which address these shortcomings.
Artificial Intelligence for Environmental and Climate Protection
Authors: Jungblut Sarah-Indra
Published: February 2021

There are numerous ways in which applications powered by intelligent algorithms can be used to benefit the environment and protect the climate. But to ensure an overall positive impact on the environment, Artificial Intelligence applications should be used with caution, and most importantly, only promoted in areas where they really make sense.
The impact of cultural tourism experience on electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) and destination image
Authors: Nanggong Ardiwansyah , Mohammad Ali
Published: February 2021

Tourism experience is considered highly essential in tourism studies but less attention to research has focused on cultural tourism experiences whereas has its idiosyncratic compared to other types of tourism. This study investigated the interrelationship among cultural tourism experiences, electronic word of mouth, and destination image. Empirical analysis based on data collected through online questionnaires from 134 tourists have been visited the religious-cultural tourism village Bongo in Gorontalo. PLS-SEM conducted to data analysis which showed that cultural tourism experience positively impacts on destination image and electronic word of mouth, also electronic word of mouth influence destination image. This research contributes to the body of knowledge on the role of tourism experience and its impact on future tourist behavior in the cultural tourism context. The theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are beneficial in designing strategies to leverage destination attractiveness
Optimal filtering and control of network information epidemics
Authors: Liu Fangzhou , Zhang Zengjie , Buss Martin
Published: February 2021

In this article, we propose an optimal control scheme for information epidemics with stochastic uncertainties aiming at maximizing information diffusion and minimizing the control consumption. The information epidemic dynamics is represented by a network Susceptible-Infected-Susceptible (SIS) model contaminated by both process and observation noises to describe a perturbed disease-like information diffusion process. To reconstruct the contaminated system states, we design an optimal filter which ensures minimized estimation errors in a quadratic sense. The state estimation is then utilized to develop the optimal controller, for which the optimality of the closed-loop system is guaranteed by a separation principle. The designed optimal filter and controller, together with the separation principle, form a complete solution for the optimal control of network information epidemics with stochastic perturbations. Such optimal-filtering-based control strategy is also generalizable to a wider range of networked nonlinear systems. In the numerical experiments on real network data, the effectiveness of the proposed optimal control is validated and confirmed.
Stability analysis of a flatness-based controller driving a battery emulator with constant power load
Authors: Zauner Michael , Mandl Philipp , König Oliver , Hametner Christoph , Jakubek Stefan
Published: February 2021

This contribution deals with the control of a battery emulator used in automotive testbeds for electric drivetrains. The battery emulator, which is realized as a DC-DC converter, is connected to a unit-under-test (UUT), e. g., an electric motor inverter. To accurately emulate the dynamic impedance of a battery, a highly dynamic output is required. Additionally, battery emulators should be applicable for a large variety of UUTs, hence robust performance in a large operating range is also required. This is especially challenging when the UUT behaves like a constant power load, as this can cause stability issues. To meet the requirements, a flatness-based control concept is presented that establishes feedback equivalence between a nonlinear and a linearized system representation. By examining the stability of the concept, an estimation of the region of attraction is found.
Leben und Glauben im Horizont des Endes
Authors: Frey Jörg
Published: February 2021

Angesichts der verbreiteten theologischen Geringschätzung der Apokalyptik unternimmt der Beitrag eine theologische Sinn-Deutung apokalyptischer Zeitwahrnehmung im antiken Judentum, ausgehend von deren Ursprüngen in der Henochtradition und am Beispiel der Qumrangemeinde, um auf diesem Hintergrund am Beispiel von Paulus und dem 1. Johannesbrief die urchristliche Modifikation apokalyptischer Zeitwahrnehmung aufgrund der geglaubten Erfüllung und die situative »Verhandelbarkeit« apokalyptischer Zeitaussagen in frühchristlichen Texten zu reflektieren.
Zum Umgang mit der Zeit in Thomas Manns Josephsroman
Authors: Strobach Niko
Published: February 2021

Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es, eine Passage aus dem Abschnitt »Von langer Wartezeit« aus dem ersten Band des auf Gen 25–50 basierenden Romanwerks »Joseph und seine Brüder« von Thomas Mann (1875–1955) als argumentativ strukturierten Text zu präsentieren, der Bedenkenswertes zum Umgang mit der Zeit mitteilt.
Philosophiefeindlichkeit und konservatives Denken: Karl Wittes Dante
Authors: König-Pralong Catherine
Published: February 2021

Riassunto

Agli antipodi della rappresentazione di Dante come precursore dell’unità nazionale, elaborata dalla filologia erudita italiana, Karl Witte, il più importante dantista di lingua tedesca del XIX secolo, costruì l’immagine di un Dante mistico e antirazionalista, cattolico e conservatore. Il presente articolo analizza, in primo luogo, il progetto intellettuale di Witte a partire dalle reti di relazioni sociali da lui intrattenute, dalle università prussiane sino alla Roma dei pittori ›nazareni‹, per giungere all’università di Halle, dove Witte occupò la cattedra di diritto romano per un periodo di quasi cinquant’anni. In un secondo momento, il contributo si sofferma sulla ricezione delle interpretazioni di Witte, e in particolare della sua lettura riduttiva del Convivio e della filosofia che in esso si esprime. L’articolo mostra come i dibattiti suscitati dai lavori di Witte abbiano infine ecceduto le aspettative del suo stesso autore per dar luogo a una vasta discussione sulla natura e sul valore della scolastica.
Die deutsche Dante-Forschung und die italienische ›historische Schule‹: ein Briefwechsel zwischen Karl Witte und Alessandro D’Ancona
Authors: Colombo Angelo
Published: February 2021

Riassunto

L’articolo propone la discussione intrecciata da Karl Witte con Alessandro D’Ancona (1868–1877) in merito alla Vita nuova, di cui entrambi i dialoganti curarono un’edizione: il primo nel 1876, il secondo nel 1873. Ne emerge la funzione sostanziale di maestro del dantismo europeo ricoperta dal Witte nei confronti di chi, come il D’Ancona, si andava ormai affermando in Italia come capofila e animatore indiscusso della ›Scuola storica‹, che fu responsabile, nel suo insieme, di un rinnovamento profondo nei metodi di ricerca e negli indirizzi universitari degli studi nella seconda metà dell’Ottocento, in un rapporto fecondo di scambi e di assiduo confronto con l’ambiente accademico tedesco.
Paradigmatic patterns: a postscript on collocation
Authors: Stefanowitsch Anatol , Scheffler Torben
Published: February 2021

In this paper, we discuss collocational changes for the wordsmigrantandimmigrantin the British press over the course of the “Referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union”. We show the emergence of a completely novel collocation,skilled/unskilled migrant, and discuss how it can be analyzed as a ‘paradigmatic pattern’ that establishes a correspondence between the wordmigrantand the most strongly conventionalized collocate of adjectives likeskilledandunskilled, namely,worker. This correspondence contributes to a general mappingmigrants as workersin a discourse that frames migration mainly in terms of its economic contribution (or lack thereof).
Learning Mandarin tones through pitch-time diagrams: A computer-assisted visual approach
Authors: Xie Pengxuan
Published: February 2021

A notable feature of spoken Mandarin by many non-tonal language learners of Mandarin is incorrect or inaccurate tones. This contributes to significant impediments to effective communication by creating confusion, due to the fact that tones in Mandarin serve a lexical purpose. The problem is exacerbated by the relatively small number of Mandarin syllables. Traditionally, tones are taught by the classical aural process of “listen and repeat” in the classroom with the help of a language instructor and supplemented by out-of-classroom practice using model audio recordings. Both modes require learners to aurally detect the differences between tones and to imitate what they hear. With the wide availability of personal computers, computer-aided tone acquisition is an alternative to the “listen and repeat” method. The aim is to display and correlate the phonetic counterpart of tones, namely their pitch-time diagrams (also known as Fo diagrams). This provides visual feedback to guide learners to produce the correct tones through imitation of the correct pitch-time diagrams. While the pitch range of the Mandarin tones is well defined by Chao’s 5-level tone value scale for the four full tones, their corresponding pitch-time diagrams are not exactly the same as Chao’s tone diagrams. With disyllabic and trisyllabic Mandarin words, the pitch-time diagrams of the constituent syllables deviates even more from their tone diagram counterparts due to various coarticulation effects. This paper reports on a quantitative study of the tone values of single syllable, disyllabic and trisyllabic Mandarin words extracted from their pitch-time diagrams. The understanding of the results based on previous phonological studies is also provided. The results point to the effectiveness of pitch-time diagrams as a visual feedback tool for tone acquisition.
Differentiation of radical processing strategies in character decoding by L2 learners of Chinese according to L1-type
Authors: Williams Clay , Uchima Yuko
Published: February 2021

This study investigates the productive use of semantic and phonetic radicals for Chinese character decoding by Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) learners at different levels of L2 proficiency, focusing on the application of radical knowledge according to the learners’ L1 language families. Using a pseudo-word test developed by Williams, Clay. 2014. The development of intra-character radical awareness in L1 Chinese children: Changing strategies. Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association 49(2). 1–26 to measure subject preference for semantic versus phonological decoding processes, subjects are asked to match a provided definition and pronunciation with a character in a multiple choice format which included two pseudo characters designed with radicals which corresponded with the provided definition or pronunciation, respectively. The results demonstrate that reliance on semantic or phonological radicals for character identification varies according to the L1 of the CFL learners; subjects whose L1 is relatively orthographically transparent predominantly make use of phonological processing strategies at all levels of proficiency, whereas those whose L1 are more orthographically opaque demonstrate more malleable processing preferences, with relatively strong semantic radical reliance in the early stage of their language learning, and considerable variability between semantic and phonological processing at intermediate and advanced proficiency levels. The findings suggest that developmental trends of using radical decoding strategies differ among CFL learner groups with varying L1 literacy strategy preferences.
Teachers’ perceptions of effective strategies for developing intercultural competence
Authors: Gao Xiaoping
Published: February 2021

How to effectively integrate culture into second language teaching has long been of concern in foreign language education. Despite advances in theory and practice for intercultural language teaching, there has been little research to investigate factors influencing teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and perceptions. This study addresses this gap by examining teachers’ perceptions of effective strategies that foster students’ intercultural competence in the teaching of Chinese as a foreign language and factors influencing their beliefs. Twenty-nine school and university teachers in Australia completed a survey and a focus group interview. Quantitative analyses revealed that teachers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of the strategies varied despite an overall positive attitude towards the teaching of culture. Their beliefs were significantly influenced by their years of teaching experience, educational setting, and native language, but not by gender, age group and educational backgrounds. Qualitative analyses attribute the inconsistency in teacher perceptions to teachers’ disparate conceptualisations of culture, teaching experiences, and educational contexts associated with different curricular and pedagogical requirements and learner characteristics. The findings reinforce the necessity for providing teachers with professional training, along with pedagogical guidance and resources in order to facilitate their intercultural language teaching practices.
Carbon dots: Discovery, structure, fluorescent properties, and applications
Authors: El-Shafey Asmaa M.
Published: February 2021

Nanotechnology has become one of the most important topics since the beginning of the twenty-first century in numerous fields including drug synthesis and delivery, environmental protection, electronics manufacture, and astronomy due to their nanoscale particles and their properties. The traditional semi-quantum dots are replaced by a new category of fluorescent carbon nanomaterials. Carbon dots (CDs) have been explored in the last few years for their simple synthetic accession, good bio-consonance, and several revelation applications. This review explains the fluorescent properties of CDs in brief, giving also a background on CDs discovery, structure, and composition, as well as on nanocomposites, green synthesis, and their applications. Resources conservation can be achieved by using recycled substances for sustainable development which lead to a new technology. Fluorescent CDs synthesized from food wastes like bananas, orange peel waste, sugarcane bagasse,Trapa bispinosapeels, bread, and jaggery have several applications such as sensing, drug delivery, gene transfer, biological imaging, and food safety. In this study, we concentrate on CDs greener methods to prepare effective and biocompatible CDs.
Exploring cyberbullying: a socio-semiotic perspective
Authors: Cheng Le , Hu Xitao , Matulewska Aleksandra , Wagner Anne
Published: February 2021

With the wide application of Internet, the negative sides related to cyberspace become prominent, including cyberbullying. In such a sense, it is necessary to delimit and define cyberbullying as one important legal term for some relevant cybercrimes. Cyberbullying, in its different forms, is common among children and adolescents, and is facilitated by the increased use of technology. But there is no global legal definition and standard in this area. The authors consider it significant to take into account the international perspective of instrumentalization of law in respect of cyberbullying, which may lead to the formulation of such a definition. This article first explores the definitions, legal mechanisms and its relevant laws in the US, the EU and China to find out their similarities and differences. It is found that cyberbullying as a sign is socially-constituted, is interpreted differently in various jurisdictions, which indicates that the exploration of a sign should be located within and is intertwined with social, cultural and historical backgrounds. This research, as a case study, also provides useful implications for the understanding and interpretation of legal terms in a more general context. At the same time, cultures nowadays pervade one another, and so phenomena that were initially local may quickly and unexpectedly become global. This is the case of cyberbullying, initially associated with children and adolescents as perpetrators and victims, being now also practiced by adults who harass other adults.
Narrative Variation and the Mood of Freedom in Fear and Trembling
Authors: Jech Alexander
Published: February 2021

Kierkegaard is famous for his use of narrative set pieces to illustrate and make vivid his ideas to his reader. Less famous is his use of narrative variation, a technique deployed twice in Fear and Trembling, in which he takes a given narrative and introduces a series of variations on the narrative to explore the possibilities of selfhood made available to the narrative’s protagonist. In this paper I explore this technique, help determine the ends it serves, and then apply this understanding to the use of the device in the text to see how it functions to advance its argument.
Double Consciousness and Despair: Exploring a Connection Between Søren Kierkegaard and W.E.B. Du Bois
Authors: Kruger Matthew
Published: February 2021

This paper explores the connection between Søren Kierkegaard’s concept of despair and W.E.B. Du Bois’ concept of double consciousness. The concepts have been separately argued to share a root in Hegel’s “Unhappy Consciousness,” and further, each notion in part explains the interaction of a person with their culture. The paper seeks to highlight the importance of culture in interpreting Kierkegaard’s despair, and to do so by including a critique via Du Bois that a person’s existence in a culture of oppression potentially impacts one’s relation to oneself, whether that person is the oppressor or the oppressed.
Optimum structural design of seat frames for commercial vehicles
Authors: Işık Yahya , Göle Mücahit
Published: February 2021

Seat frames in commercial vehicles generally consist of components such as foot brackets, seats, back, head restraints and fasteners. In addition to mechanical properties, comfort is another important parameter. This study aims to reduce the cost of a commercial vehicle by means of alternative materials and design changes in the passenger seat frame. For this purpose, three different methods were used to optimize seat back pipes: reducing the cross-section, using thinner sections in the seat frame via alternative material and making design changes in the foot brackets. In the methods applied, mitigation and cost reductions were achieved. The suitability of the design changes in the seat through geometric changes was confirmed by international ECE R14 test results and finite element method analyses.
Polen unter anderen. Literarische Außen- und Innenansichten der polnischen Arbeits- migration in Großbritannien seit 2004
Authors: Uffelmann Dirk
Published: February 2021

Perspectives on the lives of migrants in their host countries tend to be bicultural, which is at odds with the multiethnic reality of British industrial cities, especially with London’s low-paid sector. This paper proposes migrant literature as an antidote to bicultural restrictions. It endeavors to provide a comparative reading of writings by Polish migrant authors about interactions with other migrants in Britain and other migrant writers’ perceptions of Poles. The corpus consists of post-accession texts and includes, among others, books by A. M. Bakalar, Gosia Brzezińska, Grzegorz Kopaczewski, Daniel Koziarski, Adam Miklasz, Jarek Sępek, and Daniel Zuchowski on the one hand, and Marina Lewycka and Aleksandrs Ruģēns (alias Vilis Lācītis alias William B. Foreignerski), on the other. Given that the authors in question draw on diverse—Polish, British, Ukrainian, Latvian, and other East European—traditions of cultural and/or economic Othering, this paper scrutinizes both the mutual Orientalizing tendencies and the transnationalizing trajectories involved.
Hydrothermal route for the synthesis of manganese ferrite nanoparticles and photocatalytic activity evaluation for the degradation of methylene blue dye
Authors: Ata Sadia , Shaheen Ifra , Majid Farzana , Bibi Ismat , Ijaz-ul-Mohsin  , Jilani Kashif , Slimani Yassine , Iqbal Munawar
Published: February 2021

Manganese ferrite (MnFe2O4) was prepared via hydrothermal route and characterized by advanced techniques. The photocatalytic activity (PCA) was evaluated by degrading methylene blue (MB) dye under UV irradiation. The effect of process variables such as catalyst dose, UV exposure time and pH was studied for maximum degradation of dye at optimum conditions. The MnFe2O4 showed face centered cubic structure and average particle size of 23.98 nm. The lattice constant, lattice strain, ionic radii (rA & rB), bonding angles and hoping lengths of MnFe2O4 were recorded to be 0.8467 nm, 0.08, 1.66, 0.766, 1.833 and 2.116 Å, respectively. The MnFe2O4 showed promising PCA and at optimum conditions of process variable, up to 99% MB dye degradation was achieved. The PCA was found dependent to catalyst dose, UV exposure time and pH. Results revealed that the hydrothermal rout is feasible route for the preparation of MnFe2O4 ferrite in nano size and the PCA revealed the potential application of MnFe2O4 ferrite to degrade dye in textile wastewater.
Robustness to Noise in the Auditory System: A Distributed and Predictable Property
Authors: Souffi S. , Lorenzi C. , Huetz C. , Edeline J.-M.
Published: February 2021

Background noise strongly penalizes auditory perception of speech in humans or vocalizations in animals. Despite this, auditory neurons are still able to detect communications sounds against considerable levels of background noise. We collected neuronal recordings in cochlear nucleus (CN), inferior colliculus (IC), auditory thalamus, and primary and secondary auditory cortex in response to vocalizations presented either against a stationary or a chorus noise in anesthetized guinea pigs at three signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs; −10, 0, and 10 dB). We provide evidence that, at each level of the auditory system, five behaviors in noise exist within a continuum, from neurons with high-fidelity representations of the signal, mostly found in IC and thalamus, to neurons with high-fidelity representations of the noise, mostly found in CN for the stationary noise and in similar proportions in each structure for the chorus noise. The two cortical areas displayed fewer robust responses than the IC and thalamus. Furthermore, between 21% and 72% of the neurons (depending on the structure) switch categories from one background noise to another, even if the initial assignment of these neurons to a category was confirmed by a severe bootstrap procedure. Importantly, supervised learning pointed out that assigning a recording to one of the five categories can be predicted up to a maximum of 70% based on both the response to signal alone and noise alone.
Interlimb Transfer of Reach Adaptation Does Not Require an Intact Corpus Callosum: Evidence from Patients with Callosal Lesions and Agenesis
Authors: Tilsley Penelope A. , Romaiguère Patricia , Tramoni Eve , Felician Olivier , Sarlegna Fabrice R.
Published: February 2021

Generalization of sensorimotor adaptation across limbs, known as interlimb transfer, is a well-demonstrated phenomenon in humans, yet the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. Theoretical models suggest that interlimb transfer is mediated by interhemispheric transfer of information via the corpus callosum. We thus hypothesized that lesions of the corpus callosum, especially to its midbody connecting motor, supplementary motor, and premotor areas of the two cerebral hemispheres, would impair interlimb transfer of sensorimotor adaptation. To test this hypothesis, we recruited three patients: two rare stroke patients with recent, extensive callosal lesions including the midbody and one patient with complete agenesis. A prismatic adaptation paradigm involving unconstrained arm reaching movements was designed to assess interlimb transfer from the prism-exposed dominant arm (DA) to the unexposed non-dominant arm (NDA) for each participant. Baseline results showed that spatial performance of each patient did not significantly differ from controls, for both limbs. Further, each patient adapted to the prismatic perturbation, with no significant difference in error reduction compared with controls. Crucially, interlimb transfer was found in each patient. The absolute magnitude of each patient’s transfer did not significantly differ from controls. These findings show that sensorimotor adaptation can transfer across limbs despite extensive lesions or complete absence of the corpus callosum. Therefore, callosal pathways connecting homologous motor, premotor, and supplementary motor areas are not necessary for interlimb transfer of prismatic reach adaptation. Such interlimb transfer could be mediated by transcallosal splenium pathways (connecting parietal, temporal and visual areas), ipsilateral cortico-spinal pathways or subcortical structures such as the cerebellum.
Best practices to ensure robust investigation of circular RNAs: pitfalls and tips
Authors: Dodbele Samantha , Mutlu Nebibe , Wilusz Jeremy E
Published: February 2021

Pre‐mRNAs from thousands of eukaryotic genes can be non‐canonically spliced to generate circular RNAs (circRNAs) that have covalently linked ends. Most mature circular RNAs are expressed at low levels, but some have known physiological functions and/or accumulate to higher levels than their associated linear mRNAs. These observations have sparked great interest into this class of previously underappreciated RNAs and prompted the development of new experimental approaches to study them, especially methods to measure or modulate circular RNA expression levels. Nonetheless, each of these approaches has caveats and potential pitfalls that must be controlled for when designing experiments and interpreting results. Here, we provide practical advice, tips, and suggested guidelines for performing robust identification, validation, and functional characterization of circular RNAs. Beyond promoting rigor and reproducibility, these suggestions should help bring clarity to the field, especially how circular RNAs function and whether these transcripts may sponge microRNAs/proteins or serve as templates for translation.