bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A COVID‐19 Visual Diagnosis Model Based on Deep Learning and GradCAM
Authors: Hemied Omar S. , Gadelrab Mohammed S. , Sharara Elsayed A. , Soliman Taysir Hassan A. , Tsuji Akinori , Terada Kenji
Published: March 2022

Recently, the whole world was hit by COVID‐19 pandemic that led to health emergency everywhere. During the peak of the early waves of the pandemic, medical and healthcare departments were overwhelmed by the number of COVID‐19 cases that exceeds their capacity. Therefore, new rules and techniques are urgently required to help in receiving, filtering and diagnosing patients. One of the decisive steps in the fight against COVID‐19 is the ability to detect patients early enough and selectively put them under special care. Symptoms of this disease can be observed in chest X‐rays. However, it is sometimes difficult and tricky to differentiate “only” pneumonia patients from COVID‐19 patients. Machine‐learning can be very helpful in carrying out this task. In this paper, we tackle the problem of COVID‐19 diagnostics following a data‐centric approach. For this purpose, we construct a diversified dataset of chest X‐ray images from publicly available datasets and by applying data augmentation techniques. Then, we employ a transfer learning approach based on a pre‐trained convolutional neural network (DenseNet‐169) to detect COVID‐19 in chest X‐ray images. In addition to that, we employ Gradient‐weighted Class Activation Mapping (GradCAM) to provide visual inspection and explanation of the predictions made by our deep learning model. The results were evaluated against various metrics such as sensitivity, specificity, Positive Predictive Value (PPV), Negative Predictive Value (NPV) and the confusion matrix. The resulting models has achieved an average detection accuracy close to 98.82%. © 2022 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.
Insights into the role of nanoscale zero‐valent iron in Fenton oxidation and its application in naphthalene degradation from water and slurry systems
Authors: Yang Rumin , Zeng Guilu , Xu Zhiqiang , Zhou Zhengyuan , Zhou Zhikang , Ali Meesam , Sun Yong , Sun Xuecheng , Huang Jingyao , Lyu Shuguang
Published: March 2022

Few researches have focused on the role of nanoscale zero‐valent iron (nZVI) in Fenton‐like process for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) removal. In this study, the naphthalene (NAP) degradation tests in ultrapure water showed that nZVI addition could enhance NAP degradation from 79.7% to 99.0% in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)/Fe (II)/nZVI/NAP system at the molar ratio of 10/5/3/1, showing the excellent role of nZVI in promoting NAP removal. Multiple linear regression analysis found that the correlation coefficient between H2O2 consumption and NAP degradation was converted from −9.17 to 0.48 with nZVI and 1‐mM H2O2, indicating that nZVI could decompose H2O2 more beneficially for NAP degradation. Multiple Fe (II)‐dosing and iron leaching tests revealed that nZVI could gently liberate Fe (II) and promote Fe (II)/Fe (III) redox cycle to enhance the NAP degradation. When the H2O2/Fe (II)/nZVI/NAP molar ratios of 10/5/3/1 and 50/25/15/1 were applied in the simulated NAP contaminated actual groundwater and soil slurry, respectively, 75.0% and 82.9% of NAP removals were achieved. Based on the major degradation intermediates detected by GC/MS, such as 1,4‐naphthalenedione, cinnamaldehyde, and o‐phthalaldehyde, three possible NAP degradation pathways were proposed. This study provided the applicable potential of nZVI in Fenton process for PAHs contaminated groundwater and soil remediation.

Practitioner Points

nZVI enhanced the NAP degradation in Fenton‐like process.

Three schemes of NAP degradation pathway were proposed.

nZVI performed well in the remediation of the simulated NAP contamination.
Function minimization and nonlinear least squares in R
Authors: Nash John C.
Published: March 2022

This review will look at function minimization and nonlinear least squares, possibly bounds constrained, using R. These tools derive from the more general context of numerical optimization and mathematical programming. How R developers have tried to make the application of such tools easier for users not familiar with optimization is highlighted. Some limitations of methods and their implementations are mentioned to provide perspective.

This article is categorized under:

Statistical Models > Nonlinear Models

Algorithms and Computational Methods > Numerical Methods
Continuous Performance Evaluation for Business Process Outcome Monitoring
Authors: Lee Suhwan , Comuzzi Marco , Lu Xixi
Published: March 2022

While a few approaches to online predictive monitoring have focused on concept drift model adaptation, none have considered in depth the issue of performance evaluation for online process outcome prediction. Without such a continuous evaluation, users may be unaware of the performance of predictive models, resulting in inaccurate and misleading predictions. This paper fills this gap by proposing a framework for evaluating online process outcome predictions, comprising two different evaluation methods. These methods are partly inspired by the literature on streaming classification with delayed labels and complement each other to provide a comprehensive evaluation of process monitoring techniques: one focuses on real-time performance evaluation, i.e., evaluating the performance of the most recent predictions, whereas the other focuses on progress-based evaluation, i.e., evaluating the ability of a model to output correct predictions at different prefix lengths. We present an evaluation involving three publicly available event logs, including a log characterised by concept drift.
Combining the Clinical and Operational Perspectives in Heterogeneous Treatment Effect Inference in Healthcare Processes
Authors: Verboven Sam , Martin Niels
Published: March 2022

Recent developments in causal machine learning open perspectives for new approaches that support decision-making in healthcare processes using causal models. In particular, Heterogeneous Treatment Effect (HTE) inference enables the estimation of causal treatment effects for individual cases, offering great potential in a process mining context. At the same time, HTE literature typically focuses on clinical outcome measures, disregarding process efficiency. This paper shows the potential of jointly considering the clinical and operational effects of treatments in the context of healthcare processes. Moreover, we present a simple pipeline that makes existing HTE machine learning techniques directly applicable to event logs. Besides these conceptual contributions, a proof-of-concept application starting from the publicly available sepsis event log is outlined, forming the basis for a critical reflection regarding HTE estimation in a process mining context.
Exploiting Instance Graphs and Graph Neural Networks for Next Activity Prediction
Authors: Chiorrini Andrea , Diamantini Claudia , Mircoli Alex , Potena Domenico
Published: March 2022

Nowadays, a lot of data regarding business process executions are maintained in event logs. The next activity prediction task exploits such event logs to predict how process executions will unfold up until their completion. The present paper proposes a new approach to address this task: instead of using traces to perform predictions, we propose to use the instance graphs derived from traces. To make the most out of such representation we train a message passing neural network, specifically a Deep Graph Convolutional Neural Network to predict the next activity that will be performed in the process execution. The experiments performed show promising performance hinting that exploiting information about parallelism among activities in a process can induce a performance improvement in highly parallel process.
Echocardiographic RV-E/e′ for predicting right atrial pressure: a review
Authors: Fletcher A. J. , Robinson S. , Rana B. S.
Published: March 2022

Right atrial pressure (RAP) is a key cardiac parameter of diagnostic and prognostic significance, yet current two-dimensional echocardiographic methods are inadequate for the accurate estimation of this haemodynamic marker. Right-heart trans-tricuspid Doppler and tissue Doppler echocardiographic techniques can be combined to calculate the right ventricular (RV) E/e′ ratio–a reflection of RV filling pressure which is a surrogate of RAP. A systematic search was undertaken which found seventeen articles that compared invasively measured RAP with RV-E/e′ estimated RAP. Results commonly concerned pulmonary hypertension or advanced heart failure/transplantation populations. Reported receiver operating characteristic analyses showed reasonable diagnostic ability of RV-E/e′ for estimating RAP in patients with coronary artery disease and RV systolic dysfunction. The diagnostic ability of RV-E/e′ was generally poor in studies of paediatrics, heart failure and mitral stenosis, whilst results were equivocal in other diseases. Bland–Altman analyses showed good accuracy but poor precision of RV-E/e′ for estimating RAP, but were limited by only being reported in seven out of seventeen articles. This suggests that RV-E/e′ may be useful at a population level but not at an individual level for clinical decision making. Very little evidence was found about how atrial fibrillation may affect the estimation of RAP from RV-E/e′, nor about the independent prognostic ability of RV-E/e′. Recommended areas for future research concerning RV-E/e′ include; non-sinus rhythm, valvular heart disease, short and long term prognostic ability, and validation over a wide range of RAP.
Elliptic quantum curves of 6d SO(N) theories
Authors: Chen Jin , Haghighat Babak , Kim Hee-Cheol , Lee Kimyeong , Sperling Marcus , Wang Xin
Published: March 2022

Abstract

We discuss supersymmetric defects in 6d $$ \mathcal{N} $$
N
= (1, 0) SCFTs with SO(Nc) gauge group and Nc− 8 fundamental flavors. The codimension 2 and 4 defects are engineered by coupling the 6d gauge fields to charged free fields in four and two dimensions, respectively. We find that the partition function in the presence of the codimension 2 defect on ℝ4× 𝕋2 in the Nekrasov-Shatashvili limit satisfies an elliptic difference equation which quantizes the Seiberg-Witten curve of the 6d theory. The expectation value of the codimension 4 defect appearing in the difference equation is an even (under reflection) degree Nc section over the elliptic curve when Nc is even, and an odd section when Nc is odd. We also find that RG-flows of the defects and the associated difference equations in the 6d SO(2N + 1) gauge theories triggered by Higgs VEVs of KK-momentum states provide quantum Seiberg-Witten curves for ℤ2 twisted compactifications of the 6d SO(2N) gauge theories.
Exact WKB and the quantum Seiberg-Witten curve for 4d N = 2 pure SU(3) Yang-Mills. Abelianization
Authors: Yan Fei
Published: March 2022

Abstract

We investigate the exact WKB method for the quantum Seiberg-Witten curve of 4d N = 2 pure SU(3) Yang-Mills in the language of abelianization. The relevant differential equation is a third-order equation on ℂℙ1 with two irregular singularities. We employ the exact WKB method to study the solutions to such a third-order equation and the associated Stokes phenomena. We also investigate the exact quantization condition for a certain spectral problem. Moreover, exact WKB analysis leads us to consider new Darboux coordinates on a moduli space of flat SL(3,ℂ)-connections. In particular, in the weak coupling region we encounter coordinates of the higher length-twist type generalizing Fenchel-Nielsen coordinates. The Darboux coordinates are conjectured to admit asymptotic expansions given by the formal quantum periods series and we perform numerical analysis supporting this conjecture.
Perioperative risk of pancreatic head resection—nomogram-based prediction of severe postoperative complications as a decisional aid for clinical practice
Authors: Hipp J. , Rist L. , Chikhladze S. , Ruess D. A. , Fichtner-Feigl S. , Wittel U. A.
Published: March 2022

Purpose

To develop nomograms for pre- and early-postoperative risk assessment of patients undergoing pancreatic head resection.

Methods

Clinical data from 956 patients were collected in a prospectively maintained database. A test (n = 772) and a validation cohort (n = 184) were randomly generated. Uni- and multi-variate analysis and nomogram construction were performed to predict severe postoperative complications (Clavien-Dindo Grades III–V) in the test cohort. External validation was performed with the validation cohort.

Results

We identified ASA score, indication for surgery, body mass index (BMI), preoperative white blood cell (WBC) count, and preoperative alkaline phosphatase as preoperative factors associated with an increased perioperative risk for complications. Additionally to ASA score, BMI, indication for surgery, and the preoperative alkaline phosphatase, the following postoperative parameters were identified as risk factors in the early postoperative setting: the need for intraoperative blood transfusion, operation time, maximum WBC on postoperative day (POD) 1–3, and maximum serum amylase on POD 1–3. Two nomograms were developed on the basis of these risk factors and showed accurate risk estimation for severe postoperative complications (ROC-AUC-values for Grades III–V—preoperative nomogram: 0.673 (95%, CI: 0.626–0.721); postoperative nomogram: 0.734 (95%, CI: 0.691-0.778); each p ≤ 0.001). Validation yielded ROC-AUC-values for Grades III–V—preoperative nomogram of 0.676 (95%, CI: 0.586–0.766) and postoperative nomogram of 0.677 (95%, CI: 0.591–0.762); each p = 0.001.

Conclusion

Easy-to-use nomograms for risk estimation in the pre- and early-postoperative setting were developed. Accurate risk estimation can support the decisional process, especially for IPMN-patients with an increased perioperative risk.
Comparison of characteristics, management and outcomes in hospital-onset and community-onset stroke: a multi-centre registry-based cohort study of acute stroke
Authors: Fluck David , Fry Christopher H. , Rankin Suzanne , Gulli Giosue , Affley Brendan , Robin Jonathan , Kakar Puneet , Sharma Pankaj , Han Thang S.
Published: March 2022

Objective

Hospital-onset stroke (HOS) is associated with poorer outcomes than community-onset stroke (COS). Previous studies have variably documented patient characteristics and outcome measures; here, we compare in detail characteristics, management and outcomes of HOS and COS.

Methods

A total of 1656 men (mean age ± SD = 73.1 years ± 13.2) and 1653 women (79.3 years ± 13.0), with data prospectively collected (2014–2016) from the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme, were admitted with acute stroke in four UK hyperacute stroke units (HASU). Associations between variables were examined by chi-squared tests and multivariable logistic regression (COS as reference).

Results

There were 272 HOS and 3037 COS patients with mean ages of 80.2 years ± 12.5 and 76.4 years ± SD13.5 and equal sex distribution. Compared to COS, HOS had higher proportions ≥ 80 years (64.0% vs 46.4%), congestive heart failure (16.9% vs 4.9%), atrial fibrillation (25.0% vs 19.7%) and pre-stroke disability (9.6% vs 5.1%), and similar history of stroke, hypertension, diabetes, stroke type and severity of stroke. After age, sex and co-morbidities adjustments, HOS had greater risk of pneumonia: OR (95%CI) = 1.9 (1.3–2.6); malnutrition: OR = 2.2 (1.7–2.9); immediate thrombolysis complications: OR = 5.3 (1.5–18.2); length of stay on HASU > 3 weeks: OR = 2.5 (1.8–3.4); post-stroke disability: OR = 1.8 (1.4–2.4); and in-hospital mortality: OR = 1.8 (1.2–2.4), as well as greater support at discharge including palliative care: OR = 1.9 (1.3–2.8); nursing care: OR = 2.0 (1.3–4.0), help for daily living activities: OR = 1.6 (1.1–2.2); and joint-care planning: OR = 1.5 (1.1–1.9).

Conclusions

This detailed analysis of underlying differences in subject characteristics between patients with HOS or COS and adverse consequences provides further insights into understanding poorer outcomes associated with HOS.
The value of seismic structural health monitoring for post-earthquake building evacuation
Authors: Giordano Pier Francesco , Iacovino Chiara , Quqa Said , Limongelli Maria Pina
Published: March 2022

In the aftermath of a seismic event, decision-makers have to decide quickly among alternative management actions with limited knowledge on the actual health condition of buildings. Each choice entails different direct and indirect consequences. For example, if a building sustains low damage in the mainshock but people are not evacuated, casualties may occur if aftershocks lead the structure to fail. On the other hand, the evacuation of a structurally sound building could lead to unnecessary financial losses due to business and occupancy interruption. A monitoring system can provide information about the condition of the building after an earthquake that can support the choice between several competing alternatives, targeting the minimization of consequences. This paper proposes a framework for quantifying the benefit of installing a permanent seismic structural health monitoring (S2HM) system to support building evacuation operations after a seismic event. Decision-makers can use this procedure to preventively evaluate the benefit of an SHM system and decide about the worthiness of its installation.
Determiner-Number Specification and Non-Local Agreement Computation in L1 and L2 Processing
Authors: Cheng Yesi , Rothman Jason , Cunnings Ian
Published: March 2022

The present study employed a self-paced reading task in conjunction with concurrent acceptability judgements to examine how similar or different English natives and Chinese learners of English are when processing non-local agreement. We also tested how determiner-number specification modulates number agreement computation in both native and non-native processing by manipulating number marking with demonstrative determiners (the versus that/these). Results suggest both groups were sensitive to non-local agreement violations, indexed by longer reading times for sentences containing number violations. Furthermore, we found determiner-number specification facilitated processing of number violations in both native and non-native groups in an acceptability judgement task only, with stronger sensitivity to violations with demonstrative determiners than those with bare determiners. Contrary to some theories that predict qualitative differences between native and non-native processing, we did not find any significant differences between native and non-native speakers, despite the fact that the Chinese speakers of English had to process a novel linguistic feature absent in their native language.
From Professionalisation and Normalisation to Genealogy and Realism: The Challenge of Liberalism in Contemporary Political Theory
Authors: Kelly Paul
Published: March 2022

This essay seeks to characterise and explain a specific pattern in professional political theorising over the last five decades. The paper does not seek to offer a stipulative or philosophical definition of the activity and nor can it offer a full historical or political sociological analysis of the activity in the context of academic institutions in the Anglophone world. Instead it provides a high-level overview of a particular pattern of development in the activity of political theory as exemplified in core outputs such as monographs, journal articles and essays as a way of explicating some perennial dynamics in the discipline that could be given a more extended historical and sociological explanation. That pattern is illustrated in the initial quest for professionalisation and institutional normalisation which has a tendency towards presenting the subject of study as converging on a broadly liberal agenda. This dominant liberal paradigm in turn has been challenged by the recent development of genealogical analyses of the contemporary intellectual history of political theory and the rise of political realism as attempts to sustain a common subject of enquiry that does not collapse into the endorsement of a liberal vision of ‘the political’. This dialectic, which centres on the problem of liberalism, is the key to understanding the fundamental dynamic of Anglophone political theory as an institutional practice as well as a body of ideas, principles and values.
A “snap-shot” visual estimation of health and objectively measured frailty: capturing general health in aging older women
Authors: Bartosch Patrik , Malmgren Linnea , Gerdhem Paul , Kristensson Jimmie , McGuigan Fiona Elizabeth , Akesson Kristina Eva
Published: March 2022

Background

In clinic, a subjective visual estimation of a patient’s general health often guides interventions, yet little is known of how this assessment relates to objectively measured frailty.

Aims

To characterize the relationship between these two assessments and explore the implication of discordance.

Methods

The study was performed in the OPRA cohort of 75-year old community-dwelling women (n = 1044). Visual perception of health (VPH) was estimated within 15 s from first sight and stratified into tertiles (poor/intermediate/good health). Frailty was measured using a frailty index (FI) (scored 0.0–1.0) and stratified into tertiles: ‘frail’ (≥ 0.22), ‘pre-frail’ (0.13–0-21) and ‘non-frail’ (≤ 0.12). Association between VPH and FI and with 10-year mortality was evaluated using Kaplan Meier curves and Cox proportional hazard models.

Results

VPH and FI correlated, but was strongest in those perceived to be in poor health (rs = 0.424, p < 0.001). Approximately half of these women were also objectively frail (53.7%). Similarly, 50.7% perceived to be in good health were also objectively non-frail. However, for one in ten, perceived health was discordant with measured frailty. Subjective and objective measures were associated with mortality, but VPH lacked discrimination in healthier looking women (p = 0.372) compared to FI (p = 0.002).

Discussion

Detecting pre-frailty is important to prevent or slow the transition into a frail state. The frailest can be identified with a visual estimation, but only objective frailty assessments can reliably identity pre-frailty.

Conclusions

A visual estimation of health provides valuable complementary information on health, whereas objective assessment of frailty has a broader applicability for health in aging.
Ship feature recognition methods for deep learning in complex marine environments
Authors: Wang Xiang , Liu Jingxian , Liu Xiangang , Liu Zhao , Khalaf Osamah Ibrahim , Ji Jing , Ouyang Quan
Published: March 2022

With the advancement of edge computing, the computing power that was originally located in the center is deployed closer to the terminal, which directly accelerates the iteration speed of the "sensing-communication-decision-feedback" chain in the complex marine environments, including ship avoidance. The increase in sensor equipment, such as cameras, have also accelerated the speed of ship identification technology based on feature detection in the maritime field. Based on the SSD framework, this article proposes a deep learning model called DP-SSD. By adjusting the size of the detection frame, different feature parameters can be detected. Through actual data learning and testing, it is compatible with Faster RCNN, SSD and other classic algorithms. It was found that the proposed method provided high-quality results in terms of the calculation time, the processed frame rate, and the recognition accuracy. As an important part of future smart ships, this method has theoretical value and an influence on engineering.
Evaluating the mechanical properties of anisotropic shale containing bedding and natural fractures with discrete element modeling
Authors: Li Yingjie , Song Lihong , Tang Yuanjun , Zuo Jianping , Xue Dongjie
Published: March 2022

Natural fracture data from one of the Carboniferous shale masses in the eastern Qaidam Basin were used to establish a stochastic model of a discrete fracture network and to perform discrete element simulation research on the size effect and mechanical parameters of shale. Analytical solutions of fictitious joints in transversely isotropic media were derived, which made it possible for the proposed numerical model to simulate the bedding and natural fractures in shale masses. The results indicate that there are two main factors influencing the representative elementary volume (REV) size of a shale mass. The first and most decisive factor is the presence of natural fractures in the block itself. The second is the anisotropy ratio: the greater the anisotropy is, the larger the REV. The bedding angle has little influence on the REV size, whereas it has a certain influence on the mechanical parameters of the rock mass. When the bedding angle approaches the average orientation of the natural fractures, the mechanical parameters of the shale blocks decrease greatly. The REV representing the mechanical properties of the Carboniferous shale masses in the eastern Qaidam Basin were comprehensively identified by considering the influence of bedding and natural fractures. When the numerical model size is larger than the REV, the fractured rock mass discontinuities can be transformed into equivalent continuities, which provides a method for simulating shale with natural fractures and bedding to analyze the stability of a borehole wall in shale.
Adsorption Behavior of Asphaltene on Clay Minerals and Quartz in a Heavy Oil Sandstone Reservoir with Thermal Damage
Authors: He Yanlong , Niu Weizhe , Gao Zhanwu , Dong Hao , An Shizi , Han Chunchun , Zhao Liang
Published: March 2022

Differences in the properties of clay minerals cause formation damage under the condition of thermal production in heavy-oil reservoirs; asphaltenes adsorbed on clay minerals exacerbate the formation damage. The purpose of the present study was to reveal the variation in clay minerals and the adsorption behavior of asphaltenes on clay mineral surfaces under thermal recovery conditions. Volume changes and transformations of typical clay minerals were studied under various conditions (80 and 180°C, pH 9 and 11, aqueous and oven-dry conditions). On this basis, the adsorption behavior and mechanism of asphaltenes on the surfaces of clay minerals in various simulated conditions were investigated. The adsorption mechanism was revealed using kinetics and isothermal adsorption models. The results showed that the volume of montmorillonite expanded by up to 159.13% after water–rock interaction at 180°C with pH 11; meanwhile, the conversion rates of kaolinite and illite to montmorillonite were 6.6 and 7.8%, respectively. The water–rock interaction intensified the volume changes and transformations of clay minerals under thermal conditions. The amounts of asphaltene adsorbed on clay minerals at 180°C were greater than those at 80°C. The adsorption process of asphaltenes was inhibited under aqueous conditions. The abilities of the constituent minerals to bind asphaltenes was in order: montmorillonite > chlorite > kaolinite > illite > quartz sand. The adsorption process of asphaltenes yielded high coefficients of regression with both the Freundlich and Langmuir models under oven-dry (>0.99) and aqueous (>0.98) conditions. At 180°C under aqueous conditions, the water film significantly inhibited the adsorption of asphaltene on the clay minerals. The adsorption process of asphaltenes, therefore, could be regarded as the adsorption occurring at lower concentrations under oven-dry conditions.
Taste, intersubjectivity and medical expertise: the correspondence of George Cheyne, Selina Hastings and their patients
Authors: Wragge-Morley Alexander
Published: March 2022

This paper examines the medical correspondence between the physician George Cheyne and the aristocrats Selina Hastings and Susan Keck. Written during the 1730s, these letters reveal that both Cheyne and his patients articulated a model of medical expertise based not on knowledge in any conventional sense, but rather on fellow feeling or intersubjectivity. Drawing on letters sent by Keck to Hastings that have yet to be noticed by historians, this paper tries to understand how Cheyne and Keck sought to convince Hastings that they had felt exactly the same symptoms under which she had suffered. In so doing, it draws on scholarship concerned with the sociology of taste. Whilst it does not claim that the intersubjective form of expertise modelled by Cheyne was a form of taste, it argues that the moves he and his patients made were analogous to the strategies used at other times and places by those concerned with taste. In both cases, the participants sought ways to obtain consensus about the supposedly subjective dimensions of human experience.
Experimental evidence for the boundary zonal flow in rotating Rayleigh–Bénard convection
Authors: Wedi Marcel , Moturi Viswa M. , Funfschilling Denis , Weiss Stephan
Published: March 2022

We report on the presence of the boundary zonal flow in rotating Rayleigh–Bénard convection evidenced by two-dimensional particle image velocimetry. Experiments were conducted in a cylindrical cell of aspect ratio

$\varGamma =D/H=1$

between its diameter (

$D$

) and height (

$H$

). As the working fluid, we used various mixtures of water and glycerol, leading to Prandtl numbers in the range

$6.6 \lesssim \textit {Pr} \lesssim 76$

. The horizontal velocity components were measured at a horizontal cross-section at half height. The Rayleigh numbers were in the range

$10^8 \leq \textit {Ra} \leq 3\times 10^9$

. The effect of rotation is quantified by the Ekman number, which was in the range

$1.5\times 10^{-5}\leq \textit {Ek} \leq 1.2\times 10^{-3}$

in our experiment. With our results we show the first direct measurements of the boundary zonal flow (BZF) that develops near the sidewall and was discovered recently in numerical simulations as well as in sparse and localized temperature measurements. We analyse the thickness

$\delta _0$

of the BZF as well as its maximal velocity as a function of Pr, Ra and Ek, and compare these results with previous results from direct numerical simulations.
Proportional Representation and Right-Wing Populism: Evidence from Electoral System Change in Europe
Authors: Becher Michael , Menéndez González Irene , Stegmueller Daniel
Published: March 2022

How much do electoral institutions matter for the rise of populist parties? Evidence on this question is mixed, with some scholars arguing that the role of electoral rules is small. We provide new evidence for the impact of electoral system change. The UK's adoption of a proportional electoral system for European elections in 1999 provides a unique opportunity to study the link between electoral rules and the ascendancy of right-wing populist parties. Employing both synthetic control and difference-in-difference methods, we estimate that the electoral reform increased the vote share of right-wing populists by about 12 to 13.5 percentage points on average. During a time when populism was rising across Europe, the reform abruptly shifted populist votes in the UK above the European trend and above more plausible comparison cases. Our results also imply that caution is needed when empirical results based on partial reforms are extrapolated to electoral system change.
Catching the ‘Deliberative Wave’? How (Disaffected) Citizens Assess Deliberative Citizen Forums
Authors: Goldberg Saskia , Bächtiger André
Published: March 2022

A ‘deliberative wave’, with increasing uses of deliberative citizen forums, is sweeping the globe. Whereas deliberative citizen forum enthusiasts claim that they represent appropriate tools to reconnect citizens with politics and demand a stronger empowerment of deliberative citizen forums, critics argue that they will reduce rather than increase democratic legitimacy. This letter sheds new light on the roles of deliberative citizen forums in democratic systems, with a particular eye on disaffected citizens. Drawing on a conjoint experiment with a representative sample of non-participating German citizens, it shows that citizens in general challenge notions of the strong empowerment of deliberative citizen forums. They prefer deliberative citizen forums that are limited to policy advice, collaborate with legacy institutions and include extra provisions (such as a large size or clear majorities). By contrast, disaffected citizens are more open to the empowerment and decoupling of deliberative citizen forums compared to allegiant citizens, but this not imply that they are generally in clear favour of such design features (in fact, they are mostly indifferent via-à-vis empowerment and decoupling). These findings have important ramifications for democratic designs.
Liberalization of the Rule on Locus Standi before Nigerian Courts: Lessons from India
Authors: Ekeke Alex Cyril
Published: March 2022

In Nworika v Ononeze-Madu, the Nigerian Supreme Court upheld the decision of the lower court, denying the appellant standing to challenge the decision of the Imo State government. This highlighted the position of Nigerian courts on the rule of locus standi, which denies access to justice for many Nigerians who seek a court order to declare a law unconstitutional or to challenge the actions of the government or its agencies. This article examines the context of the application of the rule of locus standi before Nigerian courts and argues that the decision of the Supreme Court in Adesanya v President of Nigeria, which is the classic authority on the strict rule of locus standi in Nigeria, is outdated in the context of contemporary human rights development and that Nigerian courts can learn from the Indian courts that have discarded the strict application of the rule of locus standi through judicial activism.
Herbert Hensley Henson, J. N. Figgis and the Archbishops’ Committee on Church and State, 1913–1916: Two Competing Visions of the Church of England
Authors: STAPLETON JULIA
Published: March 2022

This article brings fresh perspective to the Archbishops’ Committee on Church and State that sat from 1913 to 1916, emphasising the divisions in the Church that it both reflected and reinforced. The article focuses on the shadow that two competing legacies cast over the committee's appointment and recommendations, and the reception of its report. This is evident in the work of two prominent figures of the early twentieth-century Church: Herbert Hensley Henson (1863–1947) and J. N. Figgis (1866–1919). While Henson appealed to Hooker's legacy in upholding a national Church, Figgis drew on Tractarianism in defending a narrower, denominational ideal.
The University of Cambridge and the Chantries Act of 1545
Authors: REX RICHARD
Published: March 2022

This article calls into question a story that has become part of the folklore and indeed the official history of Cambridge University. Supposedly, the passage of the Chantries Act posed a threat to university colleges which was averted by the lobbying of Cambridge academics early in 1546, and this adroit intervention inspired Henry VIII to found new colleges at Oxford and Cambridge. Close reading of the sources, however, indicates that the universities were singled out for special treatment from the start and that Henry's new foundations were in his mind before the Chantries Act was passed.
A contemporary overview on the enigma of managing recalcitrant or intractable post-operative otorrhoea following middle-ear surgery: perspectives, principles and practices
Authors: Pandey A Kumar , Hernot S , ul Haq A , Bansal C , Kaintura M , Bhardwaj A , Varma A , Anjum F , Kumawat A
Published: March 2022

Background

A common problem in otological surgeries is the persistence of ear discharge in a patient who has undergone middle-ear reconstructive surgery, despite an intact graft. There is a dearth of knowledge in the literature on treatment strategies in such post-operative cases of recalcitrant otorrhoea.

Method

This was a retrospective observational descriptive study conducted on 45 patients who fitted the criteria for recalcitrant post-operative otorrhoea. All 45 patients showed no response to conservative treatment for 14 days from onset of discharge. Therefore, these patients were then given antiseptic ear drops.

Results

Thirty patients out of 45 showed a good response to antiseptic ear drops and achieved a dry ear at the end of the treatment.

Conclusion

In patients with recalcitrant otorrhoea with or without granulations after middle-ear reconstruction surgery, this study found that topical antiseptic ear drops, particularly those using boric acid powder, are more effective than topical antibiotic drops.
Sin and the structure of Anselm's Cur Deus homo
Authors: Whidden David L.
Published: March 2022

The hypothesis of this article is that Anselm describes two consequences of sin for the human will in De casu diaboli, and these two consequences structure Anselm's later account of human salvation in the Cur Deus homo. First, sin causes us to deserve punishment for injustice; and, second, sin removes the grace by which humans were able to attain the goal of their creation, which is the happiness of heaven. Book 1 of the Cur Deus homo, then, deals with the need for satisfaction in the face of punishment, while book 2 addresses the need for a supererogatory gift that elevates human nature and restores it to its heavenly end. The article argues that, for Anselm, only a God-man can provide both the satisfaction and supererogatory gift necessary to restore humans to their original divine purpose.
Functional theories can describe many features of conscious phenomenology but cannot account for its existence
Authors: Velmans Max
Published: March 2022

Merker, Williford, and Rudrauf argue persuasively that integrated information is not identical to or sufficient for consciousness, and that projective geometries more closely formalize the spatial features of conscious phenomenology. However, these too are not identical to or sufficient for consciousness. Although such third-person specifiable functional theories can describe the many forms of consciousness, they cannot account for its existence.
Consciousness is already solved: The continued debate is not about science
Authors: Graziano Michael S. A.
Published: March 2022

A logical explanation of consciousness has been known for decades. The brain must construct a specific set of information about conscious feeling (theory-of-mind information), causing people to believe, think, and claim to have consciousness. Theories that propose an actual, intangible feeling are non-explanatory. They add a magical red herring while leaving unexplained the objective phenomena: the believing, thinking, and claiming.
Multidimensional poverty index: a multilevel analysis of deprivation among Iranian older adults
Authors: Mohaqeqi Kamal Seyed Hossein , Basakha Mehdi , Alkire Sabina
Published: March 2022

Although the older adult population faces a higher risk of poverty compared to others, there is no clear picture of their poverty in Iran. The aim of this study was to measure multidimensional poverty and its related factors among Iranian older adults. This cross-sectional study was conducted from July to November 2019 and collected data by interviewing 1,280 participants in Tehran, Iran. To compute multidimensional poverty, four dimensions were used: health (disabilities), education, housing and standard of living. Single and multidimensional poverty and the joint distribution of deprivation were calculated. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to determine the relationship between predictor variables and outcome (multidimensional poverty). Multidimensional poverty among Tehran's older people was 59.0 per cent. The prevalence of health, housing, education and standard of living deprivations were 15.4, 25.3, 29.5 and 29.9 per cent, respectively. Furthermore, multivariate analysis shows that living with a spouse, being employed, and having health and social insurance coverage were protective factors, while being female was a risk factor for multidimensional poverty. Approximately 21 per cent of multidimensional poverty variance was attributed to the district level and the remaining was assigned to individual-level factors. This study showed that the older adults living in different areas of Tehran experience different aspects of poverty. So paying attention to the dimensions of multidimensional poverty can play an important role in customising the policies of each district. Also, the findings of this study on risk and protective factors of multidimensional poverty can be effective in designing and implementing interventions to mitigate poverty among the older adults.
Diversity of ground-dwelling ants in sugarcane plantations under different management systems
Authors: Souza-Campana Débora Rodrigues de , Silva Rogério R. , Fernandes Odair Aparecido , Futikami Bianca Sayuri , Bueno Odair Correa , Santos Luan Alberto Odorizzi dos , Morini Maria Santina de Castro
Published: March 2022

In this study, we compared the richness of ground-dwelling ants among three different sugarcane management systems (with the application of the insecticide fipronil and the addition of vinasse; with fipronil and no vinasse; and with vinasse and no fipronil, i.e., an organic production system) to evaluate whether the feeding/foraging types vary according to the management system. We tested the hypothesis that organic management increases species diversity because there is no use of chemical inputs. Estimated species richness was significantly higher in the organic management system than in the systems that used fipronil with vinasse. Generalists species were prevalent in all sugarcane fields, regardless of the production system, whereas predatory and fungivorous species were infrequent. However, the organically managed field had many predatory species. Our results suggest that fipronil with vinasse in sugarcane cultivation alters the ant community, possibly disrupting the functions performed by the edaphic fauna, such as control of arthropod crop pests, due to reduced predator species richness.
The Ceraflex and Figulla atrial septal occluders: early and intermediate-term safety and efficacy study
Authors: Leong Ming Chern , Karyostyko Boekhren , Ramli Mohd Nor Hisham , Tan Jason Weng Yew , Alwi Mazeni
Published: March 2022

Background:

Ceraflex septal occluder and the Figulla atrial septal defect occluder have the advantage of a pivoting mechanism and softer device architecture. This study sought to examine the safety and efficacy of these occluders compared to the Amplatzer septal occluder.

Methods:

This was a retrospective study. Between January, 2013 and April, 2020, patients with at least 6 months of follow-up were included. Early and late-onset outcomes were examined.

Results:

Four hundred seven patients (range: 0.17–70.72 years; 53.1% >18 years; male: 29.2%) underwent atrial septal defect occlusion using Amplatzer septal occluder (n = 313), Ceraflex septal occluder (n = 36) and FSO (n = 58). A longer procedure time was observed in the Amplatzer septal occluder group. Early-onset complication rates in Amplatzer septal occluder, Ceraflex septal occluder and Figulla atrial septal defect occluder were 3.83%, 5.56% and 0%. Ten (2.46%) patients developed delayed complications (2.56%, 0% and 1.72% in the Amplatzer septal occluder, Ceraflex septal occluder and Figulla atrial septal defect occluder groups). Device erosion rate was not different between groups. The occlusion rates were comparable among all the devices.

Conclusion:

There is no significant difference in safety and efficacies between the novel atrial septal defect occluding devices compared to Amplatzer septal occluder.
Generating Arabic TAG for syntax-semantics analysis
Authors: Ben Khelil Cherifa , Ben Othmane Zribi Chiraz , Duchier Denys , Parmentier Yannick
Published: March 2022

Arabic presents many challenges for automatic processing. Although several research studies have addressed some issues, electronic resources for processing Arabic remain relatively rare or not widely available. In this paper, we propose a Tree-adjoining grammar with a syntax-semantic interface. It is applied to the modern standard Arabic, but it can be easily adapted to other languages. This grammar named “ArabTAG V2.0” (Arabic Tree Adjoining Grammar) is semi-automatically generated by means of an abstract representation called meta-grammar. To ensure its development, ArabTAG V2.0 benefits from a grammar testing environment that uses a corpus of phenomena. Further experiments were performed to check the coverage of this grammar as well as the syntax-semantic analysis. The results showed that ArabTAG V2.0 can cover the majority of syntactical structures and different linguistic phenomena with a precision rate of 88.76%. Moreover, we were able to semantically analyze sentences and build their semantic representations with a precision rate of about 95.63%.
Environmental deterrence in developing countries: evidence from enforcement actions and fines under the toxics monitoring program of Mexico
Authors: Chakraborti Lopamudra
Published: March 2022

In this study we investigate the effectiveness of environmental regulation in a large developing country. We construct a panel of 3,436 major toxics polluters from 2004 to 2015 using detailed plant-specific data on toxics releases, inspections, and fines, across Mexico. Our results show that regulators target polluters who are significantly non-compliant and impose higher fines on them. This has implications for the cost efficiency of monitoring and regulatory enforcement. An additional priority violation increases current toxics inspections, fines, and amount of fines by 7, 5 and 18 per cent, respectively. An additional priority violation followed by fines imposed on the plant results in a reduction in annual toxics releases by more than 50 per cent. Higher fines imposed on other major facilities in the same municipality induce plants to reduce the annual release of toxic pollutants by 0.1 per cent. Finally, inspections and fines increase the likelihood of reporting toxics releases.
Other People’s Terrorism: Ideology and the Perceived Legitimacy of Political Violence
Authors: Norman Julie M.
Published: March 2022

When do Americans view political violence as legitimate? In this article, I use experimental methods to examine public perceptions of domestic political violence perpetrated to advance right-wing or left-wing agendas. Specifically, I examine the extent to which the alignment of political ideology (conservative/liberal) with a political cause influences perceptions of legitimacy for objectively equivalent acts of violence. Controlling for variables such as perpetrator identity, I demonstrate that political ideology influences both how members of the public perceive the morality of political violence and the extent to which they view an act as constituting terrorism, even when the severity of violence and type of target are identical. The findings have implications for policy makers and practitioners in designating acts as terrorism and developing policies to prevent or counter political violence.