bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Analyzing concentration in the Greek public procurement market: a network theory approach
Authors: Pliatsidis Andreas Christos
Published: February 2024

This study uses network theory to analyze the structure and concentration of the Greek public procurement market, focusing on the relationships between Contracting Authorities (CAs) and Economic Operators (EOs) within different Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) groups. By examining degree distribution curves and identifying dominant economic operators, we gain valuable insights into market dynamics and competition in Greece. The findings reveal the presence of market concentration, where a few EOs receive a disproportionate share of contracts within certain CPV groups which suggests potential market dominance and lack of competition. In contrast, some CPV groups demonstrate a more balanced distribution of contracts among EOs, suggesting a healthier competitive environment. The analysis of degree distributions between sub-networks based on CPV groups indicates variations in market structures between sectors. These differences highlight the heterogeneity in the Greek public procurement market, as well as the need for sector-specific policy interventions. Given that the concentration of contract awards raises competition, fairness and transparency concerns, the implications of the findings are important for policymakers, regulators and stakeholders involved in the Greek public procurement market. While this study provides valuable information, limitations including variations in data availability and potential inaccuracies in recorded information exist. Future research should address these limitations and explore the effects of market concentration on CPV codes in greater depth. This study contributes to the public procurement literature and serves as a basis for further research and policy making in the Greek procurement sector.
A SAMOAN Pedagogy of the Heart: ‘O auala a’oa’o e afua ma fa’atino mai le fatu
Authors: Taleni Leali’ie’e Tufulasifa’atafatafa , Surtees Nicola
Published: February 2024

Pasifika student engagement and achievement remain an ongoing concern in Aotearoa New Zealand with inequitable outcomes a reality. This article opens with a short story about Amosa, a Samoan student, to highlight some of the ways inequitable outcomes can become a reality in educational contexts where curriculum content is disconnected from culture. We offer our introductory conceptualisation of a pedagogy of the heart situated in the field of Pasifika educational outcomes, as a possible response to such disconnection. Conceptualised as the practice of teaching both from and with the heart, a pedagogy of the heart is a culturally-based pedagogy and can be understood as a form of tautua or service. Underpinned by tautua and other key Pasifika values such as alofa (love) and osiosiga (reciprocity), we argue a pedagogy of the heart has the potential to lift Pasifika student engagement and achievement through utilising these values as a catalyst for learning. After addressing the pedagogy’s significance and how it might be implemented, we conclude with some reflective questions designed to encourage thinking about the pedagogy in philosophy and practice, while maintaining its adoption will increase opportunities for Pasifika students and their teachers’ to thrive.
Inconsistent Atlantic Links to Precipitation Extremes over the Humid Tropics
Authors: Nnamchi Hyacinth C. , Diallo Ismaila
Published: February 2024

This study investigates extreme wet and dry conditions over the humid tropics and their connections to the variability of the tropical ocean basins using observations and a multi-model ensemble of 24 state-of-the-art coupled climate models, for the 1930–2014 period. The extreme wet (dry) conditions are consistently linked to Central Pacific La Niña (Eastern Pacific El Niño), the weakest being the Congo basin, and homogeneous patterns of sea surface temperature (SST) variability in the tropical Indian Ocean. The Atlantic exhibits markedly varying configurations of SST anomalies, including the Atlantic Niño and pan-Atlantic decadal oscillation, with non-symmetrical patterns between the wet and dry conditions. The oceanic influences are associated with anomalous convection and diabatic heating partly related to variations in the strength of the Walker Circulation. The observed connection between the Amazon basin, as well as the Maritime continent, and the Indo-Pacific variability are better simulated than that of the Congo basin. The observed signs of the Pacific and Indian SST anomalies are reversed for the modelled Congo basin extreme conditions which are, instead, tied to the Atlantic Niño/Niña variability. This Atlantic–Congo basin connection is related to a too southerly location of the simulated inter-tropical convergence zone that is associated with warm SST biases over the Atlantic cold tongue. This study highlights important teleconnections and model improvements necessary for the skillful prediction of extreme precipitation over the humid tropics.
Estimation of the Relative Chlorophyll Content of Carya illinoensis Leaves Using Fractional Order Derivative of Leaf and Canopy Scale Hyperspectral Data
Authors: Xu Jiajia , Fu Genshen , Yan Lipeng , Yu Lei , Kuang Fan , Huang Qingfeng , Tang Xuehai
Published: February 2024

Chlorophyll is a crucial physiological and biochemical indicator that impacts plant photosynthesis, accumulation of photosynthetic products, and final yield. The measurement and analysis of chlorophyll content in plants can provide valuable insights into their nutritional status and overall health. The non-destructive and efficient estimation of relevant plant physiological and biochemical indicators using hyperspectral technology can provide a reliable method for collecting data on nutrient levels and health status during plant growth and development. Fifty-three Carya illinoensis plants of Jiande and Changlin series known for their exceptional qualities and significant economic benefits were used as the research object for collecting their leaf and canopy hyperspectral data. Firstly, fractional order derivative (FOD) was used for spectral preprocessing. Secondly, the spectral response relationship between spectrum and relative chlorophyll content (soil and plant analyzer development, SPAD) was explored by combining single-band and two-band spectral index (normalized difference spectral index, NDSI). The correlation coefficient of Pearson correlation analysis was used to estimate the linear correlation between variables. Finally, the correlation between the spectral feature variables and SPAD was analyzed and calculated. Top 10 absolute values of the correlation coefficients were screened out as modeling variables. eXtreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) machine learning algorithm was used to construct the optimal estimation model of SPAD of Carya illinoensis leaves. Results showed that the correlation between leaf and canopy spectrum after FOD pretreatment and SPAD was substantially improved, compared with raw spectrum. FOD combined with leaf and canopy NDSI was more effective than single band in improving the correlation between spectral characteristics and target components, which was increased by 0.166 and 0.338, respectively. The leaf spectrum could estimate SPAD more accurately than that of canopy spectrum. The optimal SPAD model was the 0.5th-order derivative transformation combined with two-band leaf spectral index (NDSI) model. The R2 P was 0.788, and the RMSEP was 0.842 in prediction set. On one hand, this study confirms the feasibility of rapid and non-destructive estimation of SPAD of Carya illinoensis leaves using hyperspectral technology. On the other hand, FOD combined with two-band spectral indices can significantly improve the response relationship between spectral characteristics and target variables, enrich hyperspectral data processing methods, and propose a novel approach for the detection of plant nutrient level and health.
An Assessment on the Carbon Footprint of a Football Club—an Action Research from Theory to Practice
Authors: Khanna Manav , Daddi Tiberio , Merlo Federico , Iraldo Fabio
Published: February 2024

There is a lack of academic literature that explores the evaluation of football club’s carbon footprints. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first study where the football’s club’s overall carbon footprints were assessed. This study’s main objectives were to measure the football club environmental impact and promote the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions for famous significant sports events such as the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) matches. The football club is a part of one of the biggest football clubs in Europe, which operates, manages, and maintains various facilities by assisting the football club in decision-making processes to identify the most relevant business engagement areas. The following research questions were considered: (a) What are the hotspots and the most significant contributors to GHG emissions of a football club? (b) How to improve emissions management within the stadium organization? (c) How to establish a carbon reduction and management plan? The researchers visited this stadium to collect data and interview managers of the football club. The GHG assessment results provide some relevant confirmation of the guidelines that emerged during the onsite visit. This study found that indirect emissions produced by a supporter’s transportation mode are equivalent to 38%, followed by energy consumption, accounting for 25% of the total GHG emissions. Specific future recommendations for sports organizations, such as (i) intermediate goal is to cut GHG emissions by at least 50% by 2030 and (ii) model scope 3 emissions and set scope 3 targets if scope 3 emissions account for 40% or more of their overall emissions, have emerged after this study.
Hegel, Beall, and the logic of Vereinigung
Authors: Ficara Elena
Published: February 2024

In 2023, Beall and Ficara present what they call Hegelian conjunctions. A Hegelian conjunction is a true conjunction of contradictory opposites in which the conjuncts, separately taken, are untrue and for which simplification fails. The analysis in Beall & Ficara History and Philosophy of Logic 44 (2) 119-131, 2023 is important for various reasons. First, for overcoming the deleterious state of estrangement between two ways of conceiving and practicing logic, the “dialectical” or “continental” and the “analytical” one. Second, for strengthening a new, promising way of conceiving conjunction in paraconsistency (d’Agostini Synthese 199, 6845 6874, 2021). Yet it needs an enlargement, mainly in two dimensions, a hermeneutical and a logical one. The former concerns the textual basis used by Beall and Ficara for motivating their account (the focus of their analysis is a small part of the early Hegelian fragment on Vereinigung – unification/conjunction). The latter is the semantics proposed by Beall and Ficara. In this paper, I focus on the first dimension, in the conviction that the condition for making the chief formal characteristics of dialectics (the logical dimension) clearer is a grasp of the Hegelian fragment in its entirety and complexity. The fragment is crucial for thinking about the logic, metaphysics and epistemology of true contradictions. Yet it counts as obscure. My aim is to make its content more accessible, and to present its relevance for conjunctive paraconsistency.
Assessment, credential, or both? Higher education faculty’s design principles for micro-credentials
Authors: Reed Anne , Kong Yiren , Abramovich Samuel
Published: February 2024

The rise of small, skills-focused credentials, also known as micro-credentials, has garnered considerable attention in recent years. By offering micro-credentials, institutions of higher education can provide additional credential options, thereby attracting more diverse audiences beyond degree-seekers. However, amidst their growth, fundamental questions surrounding their effective design and pedagogical implementation remain. This lack of clarity may inadvertently hinder their effectiveness. To address this gap, there is a need for studies that examine the perspectives and practices of faculty involved in micro-credential development and delivery. This study employed a single-embedded case design to investigate the perceptions and practices of faculty members who implemented micro-credentials for a pilot program at a large public research university. Specifically, this study aimed to identify faculty perceptions of the assessment and credentialing affordances of micro-credentials, and strategies employed to integrate these affordances into the design of micro-credentials. In-depth interviews were conducted with faculty members representing a diverse array of academic disciplines. Findings revealed that faculty need support in recognizing and integrating certain characteristics of quality assessments when designing micro-credentials, including aligning of assessments with a micro-credential’s delivery method, and integrating equity-oriented assessments into the design. These findings underscore the necessity for interventions and training programs aimed at integrating quality assessment practices into micro-credential design.
Coupling coordination analysis between urbanization and ecology in Iran
Authors: Aghajani Hossein , Sarkari Farnaz , Borhani Mahdis
Published: February 2024

The coordinated development of urbanization and ecology is essential to regional sustainable development. Harmonized development of both urbanization and ecology relies heavily on understanding the relationship between them. Infrastructure and urbanization have grown exponentially in Iran over the recent decades regardless of environmental resources, leaving many adverse ecological impacts and severe threats to sustainable development. The aforementioned highlights the prominence of developing systems measuring the level of such coordination between urban development and ecological state across the country to identify the regions suffering from unbalanced development and compile sustainable development strategies. The present study thus aims to propose a comprehensive index system of urbanization and ecology, integrating the coupling coordination degree (CCD) model and partitioning method to evaluate the coupling interactions of urbanization and ecology in dual pressure zones (DPZ), urbanization backward zones (UBZ), ecology crisis zones (ECZ), and coordinated development zones (CDZ) in Iranian provinces over 2015–2020. Results indicated that: (1) urbanization and ecology levels declined in most provinces over the studied period. The urbanization level was revealed to be highly correlated with population. (2) The degree of coordination fluctuated from 2015 to 2020 and dropped by one level in 74% of the provinces during the period of study. 3) CCD ranged between 0.23 and 0.63 over the entire period, while most provinces were classified into the imminent imbalance category every year. 4) Most provinces were categorized into UBZ and ECZ. Overall CCD was revealed to be highest in CDZ, followed by UBZ, ECZ, and DPZ, respectively.
Parental Educational Attainment and Child Labor: Evidence From Malawi
Authors: Abaidoo Eric
Published: February 2024

This paper examines child labor response to parental education. Prior studies present anecdotal evidence with a causal interpretation of this relationship rarely explored. Hence, conditional on a range of parental characteristics and multigenerational co-residence, I use as a set of instruments grandparents’ educational attainment to exploit plausibly exogenous variation in parents’ schooling. I generally find evidence of a negative parental education impact on child labor outcomes. The effect of maternal education on household farm work, however, is not significant. With respect to potential mechanisms, the results suggest that engagement in nonfarm employment pursuits among educated parents may mediate these effects.
Juvenile Competency Complications: Protocol, Unmet Needs, Developmental Immaturity, FASD, and Comorbidity
Authors: Katner David R.
Published: February 2024

This Article focuses on unifying the protocol for state competency evaluations, but with special concerns about undiagnosed FASD and developmental immaturity in adolescents. States do not mandate any process whereby psychometric tests are first performed prior to psychiatric mental status evaluations, often causing disparities in evaluations which might easily be avoided in court proceedings. Adding to the complications in current competency evaluations are recent studies from Canada and Australia identifying exceptionally high rates of FASD in incarcerated adolescents following multi-disciplinary teams’ studies directed at identifying FASD. If these studies’ rates of FASD turn out to be similar for children in the U.S. juvenile justice system, then systemic reform is called for as we are failing to identify this congenital condition when adolescents enter the system and then continue on into the adult criminal system without recognition of their prenatal exposure to alcohol.
“Forwards, Not Backwards”: How the U.S. Supreme Court May Save the Plight of Individuals with Mental Disabilities
Authors: Dixon Angela
Published: February 2024

When federal district court Judge Carlton Reeves penned his opinion in U.S. v. Mississippi,1 the case that seemed poised to overhaul Mississippi’s suffering mental health system, he began with the story of Ms. Melanie Worsham, a mental health patient, also a certified peer support specialist. Ms. Worsham works to help those like herself who suffer with lifelong serious mental illness (SMI) to “overcome the obstacles that might be getting in their way of living the life they want to live.” She also assists those with SMI by aiding in “navigating the system, to find resources, and then just being moral support.”2
The Right to Construct Yourself and Your Identity: The Current Human Rights Law Framework Falls Short in Practice in the Face of Illegitimate Interference to the Mind
Authors: Yildirim-Vranckaert Emine Ozge
Published: February 2024

Propaganda and manipulation have long been employed to influence and shape individuals’ thoughts and identities. In the advent of the digital era, these techniques have become more sophisticated and invasive, and are utilized to further various causes. This article investigates the extent to which international human rights law affords protection against manipulation techniques such as microtargeting and behavioral reading, which can negatively impact individuals’ mental health and autonomy by threatening their right to construct their own identity. The right to freedom of thought in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 18), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 18), and the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 9) offers absolute protection to individuals’ inner selves and covers the protection against manipulation on paper. However, in practice, the right has not received much attention and has not reached its full potential due to its abstract and ambiguous nature. This Article analyzes the preparatory works of these human rights law instruments, with a particular focus on the right to freedom of thought, to clarify its origins and the intention behind its creation. The Article contends that the historical origins of the right do not provide sufficient answers to the current issue and contribute to the ineffective application of the right against emerging manipulative practices. The Article also proposes potential ways to clarify and strengthen the legal framework related to the right to freedom of thought.
Detection of invasive Bartonella infections with next-generation sequencing of microbial cell-free DNA
Authors: Centeno Fernando H , Hamdi Ahmed M. , Lasco Todd M. , Al Mohajer Mayar
Published: February 2024

We report 9 patients with invasive Bartonella infections, including 5 with endocarditis, who were diagnosed with microbial cell-free DNA next-generation sequencing and Bartonella serology studies. Diagnosis with plasma mcfDNA NGS enabled a faster clinical and laboratory diagnosis in 8 patients. Prompt diagnosis impacted antibiotic management in all 9 patients.
Is the coastal future green, grey or hybrid? Diverse perspectives on coastal flood risk management and adaptation in the UK
Authors: Apine Elina , Stojanovic Tim
Published: February 2024

Climate change-induced sea level rise has exacerbated coastal change putting millions of people at risk from coastal hazards, such as flooding and coastal erosion. Nature-based solutions have been recognised as an opportunity to simultaneously address the coastal hazard risks and achieve biodiversity goals. While such solutions are included in climate adaptation strategies, “hard” engineered solutions are still often preferred by those implementing the schemes. We sought to explore the diverse perspectives on UK coastal flood risk management among interested and/or affected groups by utilising the Q-methodology. We identified five perspectives: (1) The Pro-Green Practitioners; (2) The Future-Planning Relocators; (3) The Case-by-Case Thinkers; (4) The Cautious Practitioners and (5) The Climate Change Concerned. All five perspectives strongly valued the co-benefits of nature-based solutions and their role in coastal risk reduction. None of the perspectives prioritised hard-engineered solutions as the primary flood protection strategy in the UK, though they recognised their role in protecting essential infrastructure. The main disagreements between perspectives were (1) on the need for relocation strategies, and (2) whether nature-based solutions could cause social inequalities. The Q-methodology does not identify how prevalent such perspectives are, thus further research is needed to assess the social acceptance of nature-based solutions.
Decentralized crowdsourcing medical data sharing platform to obtain chronological rare data
Authors: Behfar Stefan Kambiz , Crowcroft Jon
Published: February 2024

Researchers have encountered many issues while studying rare illnesses such as lack of information, limited sample sizes, difficulty in diagnosis, and more. However, perhaps the biggest challenge is to recruit a large enough sample size for clinical studies; at the same time, obtaining chronological data for these patients is even more difficult. This has urged us to implement a decentralized crowdsourcing medical data sharing platform to obtain chronological rare data for certain diseases, providing both patients and other stakeholders an easier and more secure way of trading medical data by utilizing blockchain technology. This facilitates the obtention of the most elusive types of health data by dynamically allocating extra financial incentives depending on data scarcity. We also provide a novel framework for medical data cross-validation where the system checks the volunteer reviewer count. The review score depends on the count, and the more the reviewers, the bigger the final score. We also explain how differential privacy is used to protect the privacy of individual medical data while enabling data monetization.
Identifying compound weather drivers of forest biomass loss with generative deep learning
Authors: Anand Mohit , Bohn Friedrich J. , Camps-Valls Gustau , Fischer Rico , Huth Andreas , Sweet Lily-belle , Zscheischler Jakob
Published: February 2024

Globally, forests are net carbon sinks that partly mitigates anthropogenic climate change. However, there is evidence of increasing weather-induced tree mortality, which needs to be better understood to improve forest management under future climate conditions. Disentangling drivers of tree mortality is challenging because of their interacting behavior over multiple temporal scales. In this study, we take a data-driven approach to the problem. We generate hourly temperate weather data using a stochastic weather generator to simulate 160,000 years of beech, pine, and spruce forest dynamics with a forest gap model. These data are used to train a generative deep learning model (a modified variational autoencoder) to learn representations of three-year-long monthly weather conditions (precipitation, temperature, and solar radiation) in an unsupervised way. We then associate these weather representations with years of high biomass loss in the forests and derive weather prototypes associated with such years. The identified prototype weather conditions are associated with 5–22% higher median biomass loss compared to the median of all samples, depending on the forest type and the prototype. When prototype weather conditions co-occur, these numbers increase to 10–25%. Our research illustrates how generative deep learning can discover compounding weather patterns associated with extreme impacts.
From negative to positive internationalised protection: Attenuated solidarity and the practice of refugee protection
Authors: Gilmore Jonathan
Published: February 2024

This article explores the growth of international civilian-protection concepts since the 1990s and the question of what protection means in a qualitative sense. It makes a significant intervention in advancing a typology of positive and negative protection, allowing more systematic analysis of whether protective practices fulfil the normative goals of internationalised protection and creating openings for expanded imagination of possible protective practices. It is argued that practices of refugee protection during this period have been shaped by logics of externalisation that seek to maintain distance between protector and protected and attenuate cosmopolitan solidarity with vulnerable non-citizens, both of which have detrimental impacts on the depth of protective practices and the experience of protection. These practices occur at the intersection of conflicting interpretative backdrops – between the cosmopolitan-minded commitments to the protection of vulnerable non-citizens and backdrops that frame migration as a problem. Using the case of the United Kingdom (UK) asylum system, the article argues that this is generative of negative protection – practices providing immediate physical protection, but simultaneously constructing conditions of acute vulnerability. Conversely, positive protection might be found in practices that embody fuller solidarity with protected people and enable them to flourish as a socially embedded individuals.
A new genus and species of cornulitid tubeworm from the Hirnantian (Late Ordovician) of Estonia
Authors: Vinn Olev , Wilson Mark A. , Toom Ursula
Published: February 2024

A new cornulitid genus and species, Porkuniconchus fragilis new genus and species, is here described from the Ärina Formation (Hirnantian, Porkuni Regional Stage) of northern Estonia. This new taxon differs from most cornulitids by having a fusiform ornamentation pattern that is somewhat similar to that of Kolihaia. All studied specimens are attached to a carbonate hardground. The hardground fauna is by abundance and encrustation area dominated by cornulitids. Other encrusters are represented only by a single sheet-like cystoporate bryozoan. The cornulitid specimens represent different growth stages, which suggest that the hardground was continuously colonized by cornulitid larvae. The high encrustation density indicates that the studied hardground may have represented a high-productivity site in the Hirnantian of the Baltic Basin.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/623afcc3-ab32-4e8f-be14-a1093cba4ae6
A UNIFIED APPROACH TO HINDMAN, RAMSEY, AND VAN DER WAERDEN SPACES
Authors: FILIPÓW RAFAŁ , KOWITZ KRZYSZTOF , KWELA ADAM
Published: February 2024

For many years, there have been conducting research (e.g., by Bergelson, Furstenberg, Kojman, Kubiś, Shelah, Szeptycki, Weiss) into sequentially compact spaces that are, in a sense, topological counterparts of some combinatorial theorems, for instance, Ramsey’s theorem for coloring graphs, Hindman’s finite sums theorem, and van der Waerden’s arithmetical progressions theorem. These spaces are defined with the aid of different kinds of convergences: IP-convergence, R-convergence, and ordinary convergence.

The first aim of this paper is to present a unified approach to these various types of convergences and spaces. Then, using this unified approach, we prove some general theorems about existence of the considered spaces and show that all results obtained so far in this subject can be derived from our theorems.

The second aim of this paper is to obtain new results about the specific types of these spaces. For instance, we construct a Hausdorff Hindman space that is not an

$\mathcal {I}_{1/n}$

-space and a Hausdorff differentially compact space that is not Hindman. Moreover, we compare Ramsey spaces with other types of spaces. For instance, we construct a Ramsey space that is not Hindman and a Hindman space that is not Ramsey.

The last aim of this paper is to provide a characterization that shows when there exists a space of one considered type that is not of the other kind. This characterization is expressed in purely combinatorial manner with the aid of the so-called Katětov order that has been extensively examined for many years so far.

This paper may interest the general audience of mathematicians as the results we obtain are on the intersection of topology, combinatorics, set theory, and number theory.
ON RANK NOT ONLY IN NSOP THEORIES
Authors: DOBROWOLSKI JAN , HOFFMANN DANIEL MAX
Published: February 2024

We introduce a family of local ranks

$D_Q$

depending on a finite set Q of pairs of the form

$(\varphi (x,y),q(y)),$

where

$\varphi (x,y)$

is a formula and

$q(y)$

is a global type. We prove that in any NSOP

$_1$

theory these ranks satisfy some desirable properties; in particular,

$D_Q(x=x)<\omega $

for any finite tuple of variables x and any Q, if

$q\supseteq p$

is a Kim-forking extension of types, then

$D_Q(q)<D_Q(p)$

for some Q, and if

$q\supseteq p$

is a Kim-non-forking extension, then

$D_Q(q)=D_Q(p)$

for every Q that involves only invariant types whose Morley powers are -stationary. We give natural examples of families of invariant types satisfying this property in some NSOP

$_1$

theories.

We also answer a question of Granger about equivalence of dividing and dividing finitely in the theory

$T_\infty $

of vector spaces with a generic bilinear form. We conclude that forking equals dividing in

$T_\infty $

, strengthening an earlier observation that

$T_\infty $

satisfies the existence axiom for forking independence.

Finally, we slightly modify our definitions and go beyond NSOP

$_1$

to find out that our local ranks are bounded by the well-known ranks: the inp-rank (burden), and hence, in particular, by the dp-rank. Therefore, our local ranks are finite provided that the dp-rank is finite, for example, if T is dp-minimal. Hence, our notion of rank identifies a non-trivial class of theories containing all NSOP

$_1$

and NTP

$_2$

theories.
On the Sobolev stability threshold for shear flows near Couette in 2D MHD equations
Authors: Chen Ting , Zi Ruizhao
Published: February 2024

In this work, we study the Sobolev stability of shear flows near Couette in the 2D incompressible magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations with background magnetic field

$(\alpha,0 )^\top$

on

$\mathbb {T}\times \mathbb {R}$

. More precisely, for sufficiently large

$\alpha$

, we show that when the initial datum of the shear flow satisfies

$\left \| U(y)-y\right \|_{H^{N+6}}\ll 1$

, with

$N>1$

, and the initial perturbations

${u}_{\mathrm {in}}$

and

${b}_{\mathrm {in}}$

satisfy

$\left \| ( {u}_{\mathrm {in}},{b}_{\mathrm {in}}) \right \| _{H^{N+1}}=\epsilon \ll \nu ^{\frac 56+\tilde \delta }$

for any fixed

$\tilde \delta >0$

, then the solution of the 2D MHD equations remains

$\nu ^{-(\frac {1}{3}+\frac {\tilde \delta }{2})}\epsilon$

-close to

$( e^{\nu t \partial _{yy}}U(y),0)^\top$

for all

$t>0$

.
The Schwarzian norm estimates for Janowski convex functions
Authors: Ali Md Firoz , Pal Sanjit
Published: February 2024

For $-1\leq B \lt A\leq 1$, let $\mathcal{C}(A,B)$ denote the class of normalized Janowski convex functions defined in the unit disk $\mathbb{D}:=\{z\in\mathbb{C}:|z| \lt 1\}$ that satisfy the subordination relation $1+zf''(z)/f'(z)\prec (1+Az)/(1+Bz)$. In the present article, we determine the sharp estimate of the Schwarzian norm for functions in the class $\mathcal{C}(A,B)$. The Dieudonné’s lemma which gives the exact region of variability for derivatives at a point of bounded functions, plays the key role in this study, and we also use this lemma to construct the extremal functions for the sharpness by a new method.
Vine variety identification through leaf image classification: a large-scale study on the robustness of five deep learning models
Authors: De Nart D. , Gardiman M. , Alba V. , Tarricone L. , Storchi P. , Roccotelli S. , Ammoniaci M. , Tosi V. , Perria R. , Carraro R.
Published: February 2024

Varietal identification plays a pivotal role in viticulture for several purposes. Nowadays, such identification is accomplished using ampelography and molecular markers, techniques requiring specific expertise and equipment. Deep learning, on the other hand, appears to be a viable and cost-effective alternative, as several recent studies claim that computer vision models can identify different vine varieties with high accuracy. Such works, however, limit their scope to a handful of selected varieties and do not provide accurate figures for external data validation. In the current study, five well-known computer vision models were applied to leaf images to verify whether the results presented in the literature can be replicated over a larger data set consisting of 27 varieties with 26 382 images. It was built over 2 years of dedicated field sampling at three geographically distinct sites, and a validation data set was collected from the Internet. Cross-validation results on the purpose-built data set confirm literature results. However, the same models, when validated against the independent data set, appear unable to generalize over the training data and retain the performances measured during cross validation. These results indicate that further enhancement have been done in filling such a gap and developing a more reliable model to discriminate among grape varieties, underlining that, to achieve this purpose, the image resolution appears to be a crucial factor in the development of such models.
Opening Pandora's box: diagnostics characters for the confuse taxonomy of the BrazilianCardiomya(Bivalvia: Cuspidariidae)
Authors: de Lima Tarcilla Carvalho , Mello Victor Barreto Braga , Oliveira Cléo Dilnei de Castro
Published: February 2024

The unsolved systematics of the genusCardiomyahas led to a sequence of astonishing identification mistakes. This scenario is a result of the rarity of specimens and, more importantly, the lack of knowledge about which characters are relevant to the genus taxonomy. In this study, we developed a method based on standard linear discriminant analysis to identify the smallest number of morphological characters that efficiently distinguish individuals at the species level of BrazilianCardiomya. Starting from 29 morphometric measurements obtained from photographedCardiomyashells, we were able to identify only five characters: the dorsal inflection of the rostrum, the distance from the posterior most rib end to the umbonal posterior margin and the distance from the central point of the valve to the anterior margin at 45°, 15° and −30° angles. Surprisingly, all these characters are related to the shell outline and not the ornamentation, which is a remarkable character inCardiomya. We performed a one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey HSD test specifically using the total number of ribs to verify its discriminant power in species identification. Our analysis demonstrated that the number of ribs does not show a significant difference between the analysed species.
Paternalism in Australian parliamentary debate: the case of drug testing social security recipients
Authors: Curchin Katherine , Weight Thomas , Ritter Alison
Published: February 2024

Across the globe, welfare conditionality and sanctioning increasingly permeate social welfare programs. Paternalism is one of the key normative rationales invoked when both scholars and politicians debate the legitimacy of this reform. With a view to bringing the scholarly and political debates into closer conversation with each other, this paper examines how paternalism manifests in political debate. We systematically analyse the paternalist arguments made by Australian federal parliamentarians in favour of the virtually identical 2017 and 2018 policy proposals to drug test welfare recipients, both of which resulted in a stalemate. We find that paternalistic arguments primarily employed soft, weak, and welfare paternalism, with heavy emphasis on the purported benefits of the intervention, limited emphasis on the issue of personal liberty, and noticeable silence about autonomy and consent. These findings shed light on the scholarly features of paternalism that are obscured in contemporary political discourse. This analysis can direct political philosophers to features of paternalism that need more attention as well as suggest ways that drug and welfare policy advocates may engage more effectively with paternalist arguments.
Value your students' bilingualism? Nurture them through development of school-based registers!
Authors: Schleppegrell Mary J.
Published: February 2024

As a language teacher, teacher educator, and researcher over the past 40 years, my interests have been centered in classrooms where students are learning something else while also learning language. In the 1980s, as an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher, my students were learning ‘English for specific purposes,’ where they brought knowledge from their fields, working as economists, in business or tourism, or as drivers and receptionists, and I saw how language teaching needed to focus on the language and discourse patterns that would be most relevant to the ways they would use English in their professional roles. In the 1990s, as a teacher educator and director of a university English as a Second Language (ESL) writing program, I saw how students' academic writing goals needed to be foregrounded. In the last 20 years, as a researcher in elementary and secondary schools, I engaged with, but also saw, shortcomings in ‘content-based’ language teaching (e.g., Moore & Schleppegrell, 2020; Schleppegrell, 2007, 2016, 2020; Schleppegrell et al., 2004).
Latitude by two altitudes of the Sun – Douwes’ and Riddle's methods
Authors: Queirós Ana Filipa , Costa Canas António , Sousa Teresa
Published: February 2024

In approximately 1740, Cornelis Douwes presented an algorithmic method to determine the latitude when it is impossible to observe the Sun at the meridian passage. To apply Douwes’ method, it is necessary to know two altitudes of the Sun, the time elapsed between observations, the Sun's declination at the time when the greater altitude was observed and the latitude by account. Douwes’ method, originally written in Dutch, was translated and published in English by Richard Harrison in 1759. This translation made possible the dissemination of this method throughout Europe. In 1821, James Ivory proposed a new method that was independent of the latitude by account. This method was improved by Edward Riddle in 1822. Riddle's proposal was widely disseminated throughout Europe during the 19th century. In this work, our objective is to study the reliability of these two methods. For that purpose, we will apply the algorithmic methods of Douwes and Riddle to determine the latitude using real observations made during the years 2021 and 2022. The results obtained will then be compared with the GPS (Global Positioning System) latitude to assess the reliability of each method.
Recommendations Related to Visitor and Movement Restrictions in Long-Term Care and Retirement Homes in Ontario during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perspectives of Residents, Families, and Staff
Authors: Lam Matthew C. H. , Egan Mary Y. , Durocher Evelyne
Published: February 2024

In Canada, long-term care and retirement home residents have experienced high rates of COVID-19 infection and death. Early efforts to protect residents included restricting all visitors as well as movement inside homes. These restrictions, however, had significant implications for residents’ health and well-being. Engaging with those most affected by such restrictions can help us to better understand their experiences and address their needs. In this qualitative study, 43 residents of long-term care or retirement homes, family members and staff were interviewed and offered recommendations related to infection control, communication, social contact and connection, care needs, and policy and planning. The recommendations were examined using an ethical framework, providing potential relevance in policy development for public health crises. Our results highlight the harms of movement and visiting restrictions and call for effective, equitable, and transparent measures. The design of long-term care and retirement policies requires ongoing, meaningful engagement with those most affected.
A Project of Her Own: Emma Carelli's Enactment of Femininity in Early Twentieth-Century Italy
Authors: Gentili Barbara
Published: February 2024

The story of soprano and opera impresaria Emma Carelli (1877–1928) has often been recounted as the tale of a successful prima donna who rather abruptly turned to opera management in order to assist her husband, Walter Mocchi, in his entrepreneurial ventures. Drawing on a wealth of unpublished primary sources – including Carelli's scrapbooks, critics’ reviews and a set of letters she wrote to the impresario, critic and agent Adolfo Re Riccardi – my article demonstrates that Carelli's choice was entirely self-motivated and the product of her unique set of individual attributes. The significance of Carelli's journey can best be understood by situating the singer and impresaria within her contemporary social landscape and by examining her personal story through the lens of women's history. Such a perspective unveils the strategies that she adopted to enact a stirring ideal of femininity in opposition to the values of the liberal state in early twentieth-century Italy.
NONREDUCTIVE THEORIES OF SENSE-PERCEPTION IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF KALĀM
Authors: Benevich Fedor
Published: February 2024

In this article, I will argue that various scholars of kalām unanimously agree that sense-perception is something beyond the physical processes in the sense organs. There may be something happening in our eyes when we see a red apple, but seeing a red apple is not tantamount to it. We will see that some scholars of kalām argue that sense-perception is akin to being aware or conscious of the object of perception, and, hence, distinct from the physical process in the sense organs. One group will go so far as to accept that sense-perception is not even dependent on any physical processes in the body. Another group will accept that sense-perception presupposes that various physical conditions obtain, yet still regard sense-perception as something distinct from the occurrence of those conditions. I am suggesting that these nonreductive theories of sense-perception are the reason why Arabic-Islamic philosophers, starting from the eleventh century CE, consistently reject the Aristotelian-Avicennian theory of sense-perception.
AL-SUHRAWARDĪ’S PHILOSOPHY CONTEXTUALIZED
Authors: Griffel Frank
Published: February 2024

When in 1868, Alfred von Kremer (1828–89) in his Geschichte der herrschenden Ideen des Islams (“History of the Ruling Ideas of Islam”) introduced al-Suhrawardī for the first time to a Western readership, he presented him as a freethinking Sufi devoted to “theosophy.” In a long chapter on Sufism, al-Suhrawardī appears under the heading “anti-Islamic tendencies.” Von Kremer characterized al-Suhrawardī's thought as a balanced mixture of three sources: Neoplatonic philosophy, a Zoroastrian theory of light, plus Islamic monotheism. “According to the Arab biographers, his teaching was aimed at the destruction of the existing religion, which, however, they say of anyone who dared to oppose the ruling orthodox party.” Expressing views that openly contradict the ruling religion, von Kremer wrote, meant putting one's life in danger. In accordance with that explanation, al-Suhrawardī died as “a martyr for his convictions” after the all too powerful group of orthodox scholars obtained his death sentence from Saladin.
Primary care practice-based interventions and their effect on participation in population-based cancer screening programs: a systematic narrative review
Authors: Verbunt Ebony J. , Newman Grace , Creagh Nicola S. , Milley Kristi M. , Emery Jon D. , Kelaher Margaret A. , Rankin Nicole M. , Nightingale Claire E.
Published: February 2024

Aim:

To provide a systematic synthesis of primary care practice-based interventions and their effect on participation in population-based cancer screening programs.

Background:

Globally, population-based cancer screening programs (bowel, breast, and cervical) have sub-optimal participation rates. Primary healthcare workers (PHCWs) have an important role in facilitating a patient’s decision to screen; however, barriers exist to their engagement. It remains unclear how to best optimize the role of PHCWs to increase screening participation.

Methods:

A comprehensive search was conducted from January 2010 until November 2023 in the following databases: Medline (OVID), EMBASE, and CINAHL. Data extraction, quality assessment, and synthesis were conducted. Studies were separated by whether they assessed the effect of a single-component or multi-component intervention and study type.

Findings:

Forty-nine studies were identified, of which 36 originated from the USA. Fifteen studies were investigations of single-component interventions, and 34 studies were of multi-component interventions. Interventions with a positive effect on screening participation were predominantly multi-component, and most included combinations of audit and feedback, provider reminders, practice-facilitated assessment and improvement, and patient education across all screening programs. Regarding bowel screening, provision of screening kits at point-of-care was an effective strategy to increase participation. Taking a ‘whole-of-practice approach’ and identifying a ‘practice champion’ were found to be contextual factors of effective interventions.

The findings suggest that complex interventions comprised of practitioner-focused and patient-focused components are required to increase cancer screening participation in primary care settings. This study provides novel understanding as to what components and contextual factors should be included in primary care practice-based interventions.