bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Emperor's New Nudity
Authors: Kremnitzer Yuval
Published: February 2024

An analysis of contemporary authoritarianism and the medium in which it flourishes, the internet, as well as what lies at the complex intersection of authority and technology.

In recent decades, a new style of authoritarian politics has taken hold throughout the liberal-democratic world. The new authority figures are characterized by obscene, transgressive behavior, reminiscent of the “crowd” leader as theorized by Freud, only far less transient. In The Emperor's New Nudity, Yuval Kremnitzer considers the fraught intersection of authority and technology—the internet being the medium that has allowed contemporary authoritarianism to thrive—asking foundational questions such as: How can we think of the network as a social phenomenon? What can social and political phenomena teach us about the nature of the new technology? And how does technology reshape the very fabric of social and political life?

Technology, Kremnitzer writes, leads us toward an impersonal and hyperrational world to such an extent that it renders human subjectivity outmoded. Authority, on the other hand, anchors our subjective identifications to certain figures and seems to be hopelessly primitive and irrational. What is required, then, is a dialectics of the primal—a study of the way in which what strikes us as essential enters into the dynamics of historical change. From this perspective, authority and technology can be said to be divided by a common object—the unwritten law, and the special knowledge that pertains to it: a knowledge without knowers.
Counting Feminicide
Authors: D'Ignazio Catherine
Published: February 2024

Why grassroots data activists in Latin America count feminicide—and how this vital social justice work challenges mainstream data science.

What isn't counted doesn't count. And mainstream institutions systematically fail to account for feminicide, the gender-related killing of women and girls, including cisgender and transgender women. Against this failure, Counting Feminicide brings to the fore the work of data activists across the Americas who are documenting such murders—and challenging the reigning logic of data science by centering care, memory, and justice in their work. Drawing on Data Against Feminicide, a large-scale collaborative research project, Catherine D'Ignazio describes the creative, intellectual, and emotional labor of feminicide data activists who are at the forefront of a data ethics that rigorously and consistently takes power and people into account.

Individuals, researchers, and journalists—these data activists scour news sources to assemble spreadsheets and databases of women killed by gender-related violence, then circulate those data in a variety of creative and political forms. Their work reveals the potential of restorative/transformative data science—the use of systematic information to, first, heal communities from the violence and trauma produced by structural inequality and, second, envision and work toward the world in which such violence has been eliminated. Specifically, D'Ignazio explores the possibilities and limitations of counting and quantification—reducing complex social phenomena to convenient, sortable, aggregable forms—when the goal is nothing short of the elimination of gender-related violence.

Counting Feminicide showcases the incredible power of data feminism in practice, in which each murdered woman or girl counts, and, in being counted, joins a collective demand for the restoration of rights and a transformation of the gendered order of the world.
Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Martinez David R. , Kifle Bruke M.
Published: February 2024

The first text to take a systems engineering approach to artificial intelligence (AI), from architecture principles to the development and deployment of AI capabilities.

Most books on artificial intelligence (AI) focus on a single functional building block, such as machine learning or human-machine teaming. Artificial Intelligence takes a more holistic approach, addressing AI from the view of systems engineering. The book centers on the people-process-technology triad that is critical to successful development of AI products and services. Development starts with an AI design, based on the AI system architecture, and culminates with successful deployment of the AI capabilities. Directed toward AI developers and operational users, this accessibly written volume of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory Series can also serve as a text for undergraduate seniors and graduate-level students and as a reference book. 

• In-depth look at modern computing technologies 

• Systems engineering description and means to successfully undertake an AI product or service development through deployment

• Existing methods for applying machine learning operations (MLOps)

• AI system architecture including a description of each of the AI pipeline building blocks

• Challenges and approaches to attend to responsible AI in practice    

• Tools to develop a strategic roadmap and techniques to foster an innovative team environment 

• Multiple use cases that stem from the authors' MIT classes, as well as from AI practitioners, AI project managers, early-career AI team leaders, technical executives, and entrepreneurs 

• Exercises and Jupyter notebook examples
A Book about Ray
Authors: Levy Ellen
Published: February 2024

The first full-career survey of the idiosyncratic life and work of Ray Johnson, a collagist, performance artist, and pioneer of mail art.

Ray Johnson (1927-1995), a.k.a. “New York's most famous unknown artist,” was notorious for the elaborate games he played with the institutions of the art world, soliciting their attention even as he rejected their invitations. In A Book about Ray, Ellen Levy offers a comprehensive study of the artist who turned the business of career-making into a tongue-in-cheek performance, tracing his artistic development from his arrival at Black Mountain College in 1945 to his death in 1995. Levy describes Johnson's practice as one that was constantly shifting—whether in tone, in its address to potential audiences, or among three primary artistic modes: collage, performance, and correspondence art.

A Book about Ray takes an elliptical path, circling around rather than trying to arrest in flight the elusive artist and his purposefully ephemeral art. By crafting the book in this way, Levy evokes Ray Johnson's art in the moment of its making and draws readers into the artist's world, while making them feel, from the beginning, that they somehow already know their way around that world. In exploring Johnson's scene, readers will also encounter the artists who influenced him, like Joseph Cornell and Marcel Duchamp, and his friends and peers like Jasper Johns, Allan Kaprow, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol. The work of such figures will look forever different in light of Johnson's subversive take on their shared aesthetic.

Suitable for readers both new to Ray Johnson and those already familiar with his work, A Book about Ray is a complete and vital portrait of an American original.
Living Surfaces
Authors: Gil-Fournier Abelardo , Parikka Jussi
Published: February 2024

An investigation of aesthetics and visualizations of planetary surfaces from an experimental media theory perspective.

What if every vista, every island—indeed, every geographical feature on Earth—could be viewed as an art object? In Living Surfaces, Abelardo Gil-Fournier and Jussi Parikka explore how the surface of the Earth has, over the last two centuries, become known and perceived as an environment of images. Living Surfaces features a range of case studies from eighteenth-century experiments with and observations of vegetal matter, photosynthesis, and plant physiology to twenty-first-century machine vision and AI techniques of calculating agricultural and other landscape surfaces. Mapping these different scales of vegetal images, Gil-Fournier and Parikka help us understand core questions that pertain to the artistic and architectural reference points for the Anthropocene.

With 42 black-and-white and full-color illustrations, Living Surfaces is an engaging and unique take on environmental surfaces as they come to occupy a central place in our understanding of planetary change.
Antiracist by Design
Authors: Hall Crystal C. , Hernandez Mindy
Published: February 2024

How to confront the challenge of creating antiracist behavioral design—and how to successfully implement the solutions.

Behavioral science has been celebrated as a field whose insights can design a better world, but its color-blind approach has perpetuated unjust systems. With over three decades of collective experience at the forefront of applied behavioral science, authors Hall and Hernandez expose the consequences of this failure and the dangers of inaction. While our hesitancy is understandable—applied behavioral science alone won't dismantle structural racism—we've confused limitations with powerlessness. This book provides a call to action.

Antiracist By Design provides the tools and a roadmap to an antiracist approach to applied behavioral science, including a step-by-step guide to reimagined behavioral design processes, “fan fiction” with antiracist makeovers to classic studies, and a revised behavioral map template that prompts users to consider systemic barriers. Written for anyone who wants to make the world a more just place, Hall and Hernandez use scholarly research alongside accessible stories (from Mozart and Chris Rock to the TV show Insecure)to illuminate ways we can drive racial justice forward. Everyone from scholars to students to NGO program designers, will benefit from these renovated best practices.
Crowded Out
Authors: Kenworthy Nora
Published: February 2024

An eye-opening investigation into charitable crowdfunding for healthcare in the United States—and the consequences of allowing healthcare access to be decided by the digital crowd.

Over the past decade, charitable crowdfunding has exploded in popularity across the globe. Sites such as GoFundMe, which now boasts a “global community of over 100 million” users, have transformed the ways we seek and offer help. When faced with crises—especially medical ones—Americans are turning to online platforms that promise to connect them to the charity of the crowd. What does this new phenomenon reveal about the changing ways we seek and provide healthcare? In Crowded Out, Nora Kenworthy examines how charitable crowdfunding so quickly overtook public life, where it is taking us, and who gets left behind by this new platformed economy.

Although crowdfunding has become ubiquitous in our lives, it is often misunderstood: rather than a friendly free market “powered by the kindness” of strangers, crowdfunding is powerfully reinforcing inequalities and changing the way Americans think about and access healthcare. Drawing on extensive research and rich storytelling, Crowded Out demonstrates how crowdfunding for health is fueled by—and further reinforces—financial and moral “toxicities” in market-based healthcare systems. It offers a unique and distressing look beneath the surface of some of the most popular charitable platforms and helps to foster thoughtful discussions of how we can better respond to healthcare crises both small and large.
Tech Monopoly
Authors: Hovenkamp Herbert
Published: February 2024

A serious look at competition problems in tech markets and whether antitrust law can help address them.

In recent years, the astronomical rise of tech giants like Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft has been criticized as anticompetitive, and many have wondered if antitrust law can help protect workers and consumers. In Tech Monopoly, Herbert Hovenkamp explores competition problems in a wide range of high-tech firms—from those that sell purely digital products, such as video streaming, search, software, or email services, to others that sell more traditional “tactile” products, such as hardware, clothing, groceries, or rides. He offers a realistic look at the powers and limitations of antitrust law in tech markets with an assessment that is as comprehensive as it is accessible.

After a general introduction to antitrust law, TechMonopoly considers how competitive harm should be assessed in these markets, as well as some features that make these markets unique, including “two-sided” structures. Then Hovenkamp looks at the role of large digital platforms, including Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft, and considers whether their size alone is an antitrust problem or if the concern should be limited to market power. Finally, the author addresses the very difficult problem of remedies. Should we “break up” big tech, and if so, how? What kind of breakup of these firms would make users or others better off? And if breakups are not the only possible antitrust fix, are there more effective and less disruptive alternatives?

Offering simple explanations of the complex economics of digital platform markets, Tech Monopoly is an important read for anyone who wishes to understand how antitrust law works and whether it can help defend competition in the formidable era of big tech.
The People of the Ruins
Authors: Shanks Edward
Published: February 2024

Trapped in a London laboratory during a worker uprising, a physicist and war veteran awakens 150 years later—on the eve of a new Dark Age!

In The People of the Ruins, Edward Shanks imagines England in the not-so-distant future as a neomedieval society whose inhabitants have forgotten how to build or operate machinery. Jeremy Tuft is a physics instructor and former artillery officer who is cryogenically frozen in his laboratory only to emerge after a century and a half to a disquieting new era. Though at first Tuft is disconcerted by the failure of his own era's smug doctrine of Progress, he eventually decides that he prefers the postcivilized life. But, when the northern English and Welsh tribes invade, Tuft must set about reinventing weapons of mass destruction.

One of the most critically acclaimed and popular postwar stories of its day, The People of the Ruins captured a feeling that was common among those who had fought and survived the Great War: haunted by trauma and guilt, its protagonist feels out of time and out of place, unsure of what is real or unreal. Shanks implies in this seminal work, as Paul March-Russell explains in the book's introduction, that the political system was already corrupt before the story began, and that Bolshevism and anarchism—and the resulting civil wars—merely accelerated the world's inevitable decline.

A satire of Wellsian techno-utopian novels, The People of the Ruins is a bold, entertaining, and moving postapocalyptic novel contemporary readers won't soon forget.

Edward Shanks (1892-1953) was an English author, poet, critic, and journalist. He was the editor of Granta just before serving in World War I and is perhaps best remembered today as a war poet. The People of the Ruins is his only science fiction novel.
Aiming for Net Zero
Authors: Flagg Julia A.
Published: February 2024

How Costa Rican leaders adopted policies to reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, and what other countries can learn from their actions.

As atmospheric greenhouse gases continue their steep ascent, the world has never been more in need of policies designed to reduce emissions. Among those few nations that have committed to ambitious emission reduction plans is the small Central American country of Costa Rica, whose pioneering policies include a Payments for Environmental Services program, a carbon neutrality pledge, and a goal of decarbonizing the economy. In this book, Aiming for Net Zero, Julia Flagg explores why Costa Rican leaders have adopted more climate mitigation policies than leaders of other nations and how these leaders have introduced and developed these policies.

Drawing on archival evidence and interviews conducted between 2013 and 2021 with three dozen people who have contributed to climate policy in Costa Rica, Flagg tells the story of Costa Rica's climate mitigation policy development. Costa Rica's historically egalitarian class structure and interconnected, green-minded urban elite, she writes, prioritized investment in public welfare as the means to enhance the national level of development, leading to the advancement of climate mitigation policies during four historical moments: the late 1980s, the mid-1990s, the mid-2000s, and the late 2010s.

Offering many lessons for other nations aiming to curtail planet-warming emissions, Aiming for Net Zero shows how investments in the public good enhance social development—which, ultimately, allows state planners to pursue ambitious climate mitigation policies.
A Just Transition for All
Authors: Cha J. Mijin
Published: February 2024

Why the energy transition must be more than a fuel source replacement, and how we can seize the opportunity of the transition to build a more just future for all.

To meet the greenhouse gas emissions reductions needed to stave off the worst impacts of climate change, a transition away from fossil fuels must occur, as quickly as possible. But there are many unknowns when it comes to moving from theory to implementation for such a large-scale energy transition, not least regarding the social impact. In A Just Transition for All, J. Mijin Cha—a seasoned climate policy researcher who also works with advocacy organizations and unions—offers a comprehensive analysis of how we can enact transformational changes that meaningfully improve people's lives.

Cha provides a novel governance framework called the Four+ Pillars, formulated from original research to provide a way to move from theory to practice. The Pillars framework includes a novel analysis that guides readers in understanding how to formulate effective just transition policies, what makes them just or unjust, and, similarly, what makes transition just and unjust. The framework also combines theoretical discussions with original empirical research and provides insights into perceptions of just transition. Grounded in real-world perspectives that make the case for policies that advance the interests of all, not just of fossil fuel workers, Chacharts the path forward to an equitable and sustainable future that no longer depends on fossil fuels.
The Morals of Life
Authors: Tarizzo Davide
Published: February 2024

A theory of biopolitical power that updates Foucault, illustrating the moral implications of modern evolutionary theory.

In our day, the individual has become “a life,” the singular of the plural noun “population.” From this new understanding of what it means to be human comes a new form of biopolitical power with a new set of moral rules. In The Morals of Life, moral philosopherDavide Tarizzopresents a theoretical framework for understanding this transformation of the old-fashioned “government of living beings,” as Michel Foucault characterized biopolitics, into a new government of modular living beings, as well as a template for making sense of biopolitical power that operates on the scale of populations rather than individuals.

Tarizzo traces population thinking, the notion of modular optimization, and other conceptual keystones of the current biopolitical regime (an “ethopolitical regime,” in the author's terms) to their origins in twentieth-century biological thought—more precisely, and critically, evolutionary theory. Neo-Darwinism, Tarizzo argues, should be seen not only as a scientific paradigm but also as a philosophy per se, because it is evolutionary theory that today provides an answer to the old philosophical question: What is man? This new kind of philosophy, his book suggests, largely determines the way in which people look at themselves and society. Not only does it contribute to designing new technologies of power, but it also fosters subjection to the new ethopolitical regime.
Endangered Languages
Authors: Adamou Evangelia
Published: February 2024

A concise, accessible introduction to language endangerment and why it is one of the most urgent challenges of our times.

58% of the world's languages—or, approximately 4,000 languages—are endangered. When we break this figure down, we realize that roughly ten percent of languages have fewer than ten language keepers. And, if one language stops being used every three months, this means that in the next 100 years, if we do nothing, 400 more languages will become dormant. In Endangered Languages, Evangelia Adamou, a specialist of endangered languages and a learner of her own community language, Nashta, offers a sobering look at language endangerment and what is truly lost when a language disappears from usage.

Combining recent advances from the Western scientific tradition—from the fields of linguistics, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, language attrition, population genetics, and natural language processing—and insights from Indigenous epistemology, theory, and ethics, Adamou examines a wealth of issues surrounding endangered languages. She discusses where endangered languages are found, including how they are faring in a digital world, why these languages are no longer used, and how communities can reclaim languages and keep them strong. Adamou also explains the impact of language continuity on community and individual health and well-being, the importance of language transmission in cultural transmission, and why language rights are essentially human rights.

Drawing on varied examples from the Wampanoag Nation to Wales, Endangered Languages offers a powerful reminder of the crucial role every language has in the vitality and well-being of individuals, communities, and our world.
Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age
Authors: Cytowic Richard E.
Published: February 2024

An award-winning neurologist on the Stone-Age roots of our screen addictions, and what to do about them.

The human brain hasn't changed much since the Stone Age, let alone in the mere thirty years of the Screen Age. That's why, according to neurologist Richard Cytowic—who, Oliver Sacks observed, “changed the way we think of the human brain”—our brains are so poorly equipped to resist the incursions of Big Tech: They are programmed for the wildly different needs of a prehistoric world. In Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age, Cytowic explains exactly how this programming works—from the brain's point of view. What he reveals in this book shows why we are easily addicted to screen devices; why young, developing brains are particularly vulnerable; why we need silence; and what we can do to push back.

In the engaging storytelling style of his popular TED Talk, Cytowic draws an easily comprehensible picture of the Stone Age brain's workings—the function of neurotransmitters like dopamine in basic instincts for survival such as desire and reward; the role of comparison in emotion, and emotion in competition; and, most significantly, the orienting reflex, one of the unconscious circuits that automatically focus, shift, and sustain attention. Given this picture, the nature of our susceptibility to digital devices becomes clear, along with the possibility of how to break their spell.

Full of practical actions that we can start taking right away, YourStone Age Brain in the Screen Age offers compelling evidence that we can change the way we use technology, resist its addictive power over us, and take back the control we have lost.
The Line
Authors: Boyle James
Published: February 2024

How AI will challenge our ideas about personhood.

Chatbots like ChatGPT have challenged human exceptionalism: we are no longer the only beings capable of generating language and ideas fluently. But is ChatGPT conscious? Or is it merely engaging in sophisticated mimicry? And what happens in the future if the claims to consciousness are more credible? In The Line, James Boyle explores what these changes might do to our concept of personhood, to “the line” we believe separates our species from the rest of the world but that also separates “persons” with legal rights from objects.

The personhood wars—over the rights of corporations and animals, over the question of when life begins and ends—have always been contentious. We've even denied the personhood of members of our own species. How will those old fights affect the new ones, and vice versa? Boyle pursues these questions across a dizzying array of fields. He discusses moral philosophy and science fiction, transgenic species, nonhuman animals, the surprising history of corporate personality, and AI itself. Engaging with empathy and anthropomorphism, courtroom battles on behalf of chimps, and doom-laden projections about the threat of AI, The Line offers fascinating and thoughtful answers to questions about our future that will arrive sooner than we think.
Pioneering Progress
Authors: Bonvillian William B.
Published: February 2024

An expert exploration of the foundations of America's science and technology policies, and the dynamics of its innovation system.

Why study science and technology policy? What role does innovation play, and how do we foster it? Economics tells us technological innovation drives economic growth and societal well-being, but technology is always a double-edged sword—great technological advances offer both opportunities and threats. In Pioneering Progress, William Bonvillian explains the complex science and technology innovation system and discusses the challenges of emerging industrial policies. Drawing on in-depth case studies on critical areas such as energy, computing, advanced manufacturing, and health, with an emphasis on the needed public policy and the federal government R&D role in those systems, Bonvillian reviews the foundations of economic growth theory, innovation systems theory, and innovation organization theory.

Bonvillian, a highly respected expert who has worked as a deputy assistant secretary of transportation in the federal government and a senior advisor in Congress, reviews a new theory of direct and indirect economic factors in the innovation system. He describes the innovation-based competitive and advanced manufacturing challenges now facing the US economy, reviews comparative efforts in other nations, studies the varied models for how federal science and technology mission agencies are organized, and explores the growth of public-private partnership and industrial policy models as a way for science mission agencies to pursue mission agendas. Pioneering Progress places particular emphasis on the organization and role of medical science and energy innovation agencies and how we can address the gaps in the health, energy, and advanced production innovation economic models.
Beautiful Math
Authors: Bernhardt Chris
Published: February 2024

From the bestselling author of Quantum Computing for Everyone, a concise, accessible, and elegant approach to mathematics that not only illustrates concepts but also conveys the surprising nature of the digital information age.

Most of us know something about the grand theories of physics that transformed our views of the universe at the start of the twentieth century: quantum mechanics and general relativity. But we are much less familiar with the brilliant theories that make up the backbone of the digital revolution. In Beautiful Math, Chris Bernhardt explores the mathematics at the very heart of the information age. He asks questions such as: What is information? What advantages does digital information have over analog? How do we convert analog signals into digital ones? What is an algorithm? What is a universal computer? And how can a machine learn?

The four major themes of Beautiful Math are information, communication, computation, and learning. Bernhardt typically starts with a simple mathematical model of an important concept, then reveals a deep underlying structure connecting concepts from what, at first, appear to be unrelated areas. His goal is to present the concepts using the least amount of mathematics, but nothing is oversimplified. Along the way, Bernhardt also discusses alphabets, the telegraph, and the analog revolution; information theory; redundancy and compression; errors and noise; encryption; how analog information is converted into digital information; algorithms; and, finally, neural networks. Historical anecdotes are included to give a sense of the technology at that time, its impact, and the problems that needed to be solved.

Taking its readers by the hand, regardless of their math background, Beautiful Math is a fascinating journey through the mathematical ideas that undergird our everyday digital interactions.
ChatGPT and the Future of AI
Authors: Sejnowski Terrence J.
Published: February 2024

An insightful exploration of Chat GPT and other advanced AI systems—how we got here, where we're headed, and what it all means for how we interact with the world.

In ChatGPT and the Future of AI, the sequel to The Deep Learning Revolution, Terrence Sejnowski offers a nuanced exploration of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and what their future holds. How should we go about understanding LLMs? Do these language models truly understand what they are saying? Or is it possible that what appears to be intelligence in LLMs may be a mirror that merely reflects the intelligence of the interviewer? In this book, Sejnowski, a pioneer in computational approaches to understanding brain function, answers all our urgent questions about this astonishing new technology.

Sejnowski begins by describing the debates surrounding LLMs' comprehension of language and exploring the notions of “thinking” and “intelligence.” He then takes a deep dive into the historical evolution of language models, focusing on the role of transformers, the correlation between computing power and model size, and the intricate mathematics shaping LLMs. Sejnowski also provides insight into the historical roots of LLMs and discusses the potential future of AI, focusing on next-generation LLMs inspired by nature and the importance of developing energy-efficient technologies.

Grounded in Sejnowski's dual expertise in AI and neuroscience, ChatGPT and the Future of AI is the definitive guide to understanding the intersection of AI and human intelligence.
Transcriptional immune suppression and upregulation of double stranded DNA damage and repair repertoires in ecDNA-containing tumors
Authors: Lin Miin S. , Jo Se-Young , Luebeck Jens , Chang Howard Y. , Wu Sihan , Mischel Paul S. , Bafna Vineet
Published: February 2024

Extrachromosomal DNA is a common cause of oncogene amplification in cancer. The non-chromosomal inheritance of ecDNA enables tumors to rapidly evolve, contributing to treatment resistance and poor outcome for patients. The transcriptional context in which ecDNAs arise and progress, including chromosomally-driven transcription, is incompletely understood. We examined gene expression patterns of 870 tumors of varied histological types, to identify transcriptional correlates of ecDNA. Here we show that ecDNA containing tumors impact four major biological processes. Specifically, ecDNA containing tumors upregulate DNA damage and repair, cell cycle control, and mitotic processes, but downregulate global immune regulation pathways. Taken together, these results suggest profound alterations in gene regulation in ecDNA containing tumors, shedding light on molecular processes that give rise to their development and progression.
Unveiling the signaling network of FLT3-ITD AML improves drug sensitivity prediction
Authors: Latini Sara , Venafra Veronica , Massacci Giorgia , Bica Valeria , Graziosi Simone , Pugliese Giusj Monia , Iannuccelli Marta , Frioni Filippo , Minnella Gessica , Marra John Donald , Chiusolo Patrizia , Pepe Gerardo , Helmer-Citterich Manuela , Mougiakakos Dimitrios , Boettcher Martin , Fischer Thomas , Perfetto Livia , Sacco Francesca
Published: February 2024

Currently, the identification of patient-specific therapies in cancer is mainly informed by personalized genomic analysis. In the setting of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), patient-drug treatment matching fails in a subset of patients harboring atypical internal tandem duplications (ITDs) in the tyrosine kinase domain of the FLT3 gene. To address this unmet medical need, here we develop a systems-based strategy that integrates multiparametric analysis of crucial signaling pathways, patient-specific genomic and transcriptomic data with a prior-knowledge signaling network using a Boolean-based formalism. By this approach, we derive personalized predictive models describing the signaling landscape of AML FLT3-ITD positive cell lines and patients. These models enable us to derive mechanistic insight into drug resistance mechanisms and suggest novel opportunities for combinatorial treatments. Interestingly, our analysis reveals that the JNK kinase pathway plays a crucial role in the tyrosine kinase inhibitor response of FLT3-ITD cells through cell cycle regulation. Finally, our work shows that patient-specific logic models have the potential to inform precision medicine approaches.
A novel approach to recognition of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases: random subspace ensemble classifier based on deep hybrid features with a super-resolution image
Authors: Alhudhaif Adi
Published: February 2024

Background

Artificial intelligence technologies have great potential in classifying neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. These technologies can aid in early diagnosis, enhance classification accuracy, and improve patient access to appropriate treatments. For this purpose, we focused on AI-based auto-diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and healthy MRI images.

Methods

In the current study, a deep hybrid network based on an ensemble classifier and convolutional neural network was designed. First, a very deep super-resolution neural network was adapted to improve the resolution of MRI images. Low and high-level features were extracted from the images processed with the hybrid deep convolutional neural network. Finally, these deep features are given as input to the k-nearest neighbor (KNN)-based random subspace ensemble classifier.

Results

A 3-class dataset containing publicly available MRI images was utilized to test the proposed architecture. In experimental works, the proposed model produced 99.11% accuracy, 98.75% sensitivity, 99.54% specificity, 98.65% precision, and 98.70% F1-score performance values. The results indicate that our AI system has the potential to provide valuable diagnostic assistance in clinical settings.
A review on the traditional uses, nutritive importance, pharmacognostic features, phytochemicals, and pharmacology of Momordica cymbalaria Hook F
Authors: Mohammed Firdous Sayeed , Babu Dinesh , Irfan Zainab , Fayed Marwa A.A.
Published: February 2024

Momordica cymbalaria Hook F. (MC), belonging to the family Cucurbitaceae, is a plant with several biological activities. This detailed, comprehensive review gathers and presents all the information related to the geographical distribution, morphology, therapeutic uses, nutritional values, pharmacognostic characters, phytochemicals, and pharmacological activities of MC. The available literature showed that MC fruits are utilized as a stimulant, tonic, laxative, stomachic, and to combat inflammatory disorders. The fruits are used to treat spleen and liver diseases and are applied in folk medicine to induce abortion and treat diabetes mellitus. The phytochemical screening studies report that MC fruits contain tannins, alkaloids, phenols, proteins, amino acids, vitamin C, carbohydrates, β-carotenes, palmitic acid, oleic acid, stearic acid, α-eleostearic acid, and γ-linolenic acid. The fruits also contain calcium, sodium, iron, potassium, copper, manganese, zinc, and phosphorus. Notably, momordicosides are cucurbitacin triterpenoids reported in the fruits of MC. Diverse pharmacological activities of MC, such as analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, antidiabetic, cardioprotective, antidepressant, anticonvulsant, anticancer, antiangiogenic, antifertility, antiulcer, antimicrobial, antidiarrheal and anthelmintic, have been reported by many investigators. M. cymbalaria methanolic extract is safe up to 2,000 mg/kg. Furthermore, no symptoms of toxicity were found. These pharmacological activities are mechanistically interpreted and described in this review. Additionally, the microscopic, powder and physiochemical characteristics of MC tubers are also highlighted. In summary, possesses remarkable medicinal values, which warrant further detailed studies to exploit its potential benefits therapeutically.
MIMETIC ISOMORPHISM AS COMPETITIVE STRATEGY IN THE DIMENSION STONE SECTOR
Authors: Guidi Antonio Carlos , Pizzinatto Nadia Kassouf , Pizzinatto Andrea Kassouf , Monteiro Thel Augusto , Montebello Maria Imaculada de Lima
Published: February 2024

This article investigates the existence of mimetic isomorphism (MI) in companies in the dimension stone sector (DSS). The southeast of the country was taken as a base, since it currently contains the highest level of technological organizational development in the sector. Thus, the overall objective of this study is to analyze which factors in the southeast region favor the practice of MI in the DSS. The study uses distinct models of statistical analysis, such as exploratory factor analysis, and Confirmatory Analysis, thus seeking to legitimize the results of organizational research. The mechanisms underlying the presence of isomorphism served as a starting point to analyze organizational behavior in this period of increasing technological advancement in the sector. It was so, detected as a guiding factor in order to obtain industrial investment. The research implications are restricted to the regionalization of information sources, a fact which, may be relevant for other regions of the country, since the southeast region accommodates the largest processing center for this field of economic activity. Future research should concentrate on other regions, for a comparative analysis of the results obtained, since this will enable us to outline an isomorphic behavior profile in socio-economic terms and on a national level.
Substance Use, Peer Social Comparison, Academic Stress and Psychological Well-Being of Students in Tertiary Institution in Delta South Senatorial District
Authors: Apare, J.  , Enakpoya, E. E.
Published: February 2024

This study examined the relationship between substance use, peer social comparison, academic stress and psychological wellbeing of tertiary institution students in Delta South Senatorial District. The study employed a correlational research design. The population for the study consisted of 2553 students of tertiary institutions in Delta South Senatorial District. The sample size was 332 students. A questionnaire was used for the study. The questionnaire was validated by experts’ judgement and factor analysis. Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient was used to estimate the reliability index of the instrument. The Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient of Determination was used to answer the research questions, multiple regression and fisher-z statistics were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that a relationship exists between substance use, peer social comparison, academic stress and psychological well-being of students in tertiary institutions; and that a relationship exists between academic stress and psychological well-being of students in tertiary institutions. However, no relationship exists between substance use and psychological well-being and no relationship exists between peer social comparison and psychological well-being of students in tertiary institutions. The study also found that no significant moderating impact of sex on the relationship between substance use and psychological well-being peer social comparison and psychological well-being and between academic stress and psychological well-being of students. The study recommended that institutions should establish holistic mental health programmes that address the interplay of substance use, peer social comparison, academic stress, and psychological well-being.
Optimizing Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) Cultivation in a Naturally Ventilated Polyhouse: Impacts of Drip Irrigation and Fertigation on Root Growth, Nutrient Uptake, and Productivity
Authors: Singh Jaspreet , Sandal Sanjeev K. , Yousuf Abrar , Bhat Mohammad Amin
Published: February 2024

The decline in agricultural production and shrinking per capita land holding has resulted in a thrust on vegetable production under protected environment. The efficient management of resources (i.e., water, nutrients etc.) plays an important role in sustainable production. Therefore, the experiment was conducted in naturally ventilated polyhouse at the experimental farm of CSKHPKV, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh with tomato as a test crop. The experiment was laid out in completely randomized design with 10 treatment combinations consisting of two drip irrigation levels viz., I1 (Irrigation was applied from week one to two based on 100% of pan evaporation (Epan), week three to eight based on 40% of Epan, week nine to fourteen based on 60% of Epan, week fifteen to twenty based on 80% of Epan, week twenty-one to twenty-four based on 100% of Epan) and I2 (Irrigation was applied based on 100% of Epan during whole the crop period) and five nutrient schedules viz., F1 (100% recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF) through conventional method, F2 (100% N through fertigation + PK through conventional method), F3 (100% NK through fertigation + P through conventional method), F4 (100% NPK through fertigation) and F5 (50% NPK through conventional method + 150% NPK through fertigation) replicated thrice. The results highlighted that the root length (316.53 cm), fruit yield (7.33 kg/m2) and net returns (Rs. 173.12) were significantly higher under I2 treatment as compared to I1 treatment. Among the nutrient schedules, root growth parameters, NPK uptake, fruit yield (7.62 kg/m2) and net returns (Rs. 177.80) were significantly higher under F5 treatment. However, the benefit:cost (B:C) ratio (3.75) was significantly higher under F4 treatment. The irrigation level I2 with fertigation treatment F4 (100% NPK through fertigation) performed better among all the treatment combinations and should be recommended for higher tomato production under naturally ventilated polyhouse in northwestern Himalayan region.
Geospatial Variability and Distribution of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) in Soot-Contaminated Rain and Rivers at Oyigbo, Niger Delta, Nigeria
Authors: Ahmed Nurudeen Onomhoale , Obafemi Andrew Adesola , Udom Godwin J.
Published: February 2024

This comprehensive study delves into the analysis of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) concentrations in soot-contaminated rain and rivers within Oyigbo, Rivers State, Niger Delta, Nigeria, with a primary focus on unraveling the geospatial variability and distribution of TPH in the impacted water sources. The study adopts a multifaceted methodology, incorporating fieldwork, sampling, laboratory analysis, and geospatial mapping using ArcGIS 10.4 software to elucidate spatial variations. Results spotlight the highest rainwater TPH concentrations at MKT 7 - Umuosi Market (128.179 mg/L) and the lowest at SET 13 - Okpontu Settlements (8.976 mg/L), situated in the Okoloma and Umu Agbai-Obete axis, respectively. Likewise, river water exhibits the highest TPH at RVR 5 - Imo River (37.118 mg/L), and the lowest at RVR 6 - Imo River (187.118 mg/L), at Okoloma and Umu Agbai-Obete axis. Analysis of the 41 samples indicates that 19 locations surpass the 50 mg/L acceptable limits set by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2017), and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DRP - EGASPIN, 2018), Nigeria standards, with 10 locations recording concentrations above, and 12 locations falling below 30 mg/L. These findings underscore approximately 46% exhibiting high, 24% displaying medium, and 29 % showcasing low concentrations across the study area, following a spatial pattern with higher pollution dispersion in the Northern and North-western regions at Okoloma and Obigbo axes, and lower pollution levels in the Eastern regions at Umu Agbai-Obete axis. In essence, this study provides a comprehensive insight into TPH in soot-contaminated water resources in Oyigbo, contributing significantly to the advancement of knowledge regarding spatial variation, distribution, and implications for water quality management. Furthermore, it serves as a valuable resource for policy development, offering evidence for targeted environmental programs and practical assistance to environmentalists, researchers, government agencies, and the public in the assessment and enhancement of water quality in affected communities.
Examining Evolving Trends: A Study on the Changing Dynamics of Policyholders' Behavior Towards Life Insurance Products in Odisha
Authors: Sethi Gouri Shankar , Murmu Dhani , Das Kishore Kumar
Published: February 2024

Aims: The study aims to evaluate the impact of corporate policy on life insurance policyholders' purchasing intentions. Additionally assessed are the effects of agent conduct and financial independence on the purchase of insurance products. The influence of demographic parameters like income and education level is also attempted to be tracked.

Sample: The study is restricted to the Indian state of Odisha, and the sample size is 142 respondents.

Study Design: The process of analyzing data is exploratory. The survey is conducted using a qualitative, structured questionnaire to get information about customer behavior and purchasing intentions for life insurance products provided by Indian life insurance companies.

Place and Duration of Study: The place of study is restricted to Odisha and the data were collected in the year 2023.

Results: It has been discovered that while Company Policy does not have a substantial impact on policyholders' buying intentions, elements like agents' behavior, self-sufficiency, and financial behavior do. Similar to how income has a big effect on purchase intentions

Conclusion: This research focuses on customers' attitudes towards investing in insurance products in Odisha. We also examined policyholder attitudes in light of their socioeconomic circumstances. We discovered that elements like as agents' attitude, self-sufficiency, and financial behavior have a considerable impact on policyholders' purchasing intentions.
Self‐curable aqueous polymeric dyes for printing and dyeing applications
Authors: Huang Ching‐Tzer , Chen Kan‐Nan
Published: February 2006

An epoxy resin (NPES‐904, epoxy equivalent weight is 815) with a repeating unit, n > 4 was selected as a polymer backbone of polymeric dye. Water‐reducible epoxy resin was prepared by a semiesterification of its secondary hydroxy group with succinic anhydride and then dispersed to aqueous phase after it was neutralized with triethylamine. An aqueous polymeric dye was obtained from a ring opening reaction of that epoxy resin with amino group of a direct dye (soluble dye such as C. I. Acid Blue 62, C. I. Direct Orange 39 or C. I. Direct Red 2). These aqueous polymeric dye dispersions carried the average particle sizes between 50 and 90 nm. A polyaziridine was added as a latent curing agent and forming a self‐curable system of aqueous polymeric dye solution, which was stable in aqueous phase when its pH remained above 8.0. This aqueous polymeric dye was self‐cured on drying at ambient temperature and results in the formation of waterproof and solvent‐resistant polymeric dye. These self‐curable polymeric dyes had potential for jet ink printing and dyeing applications. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100: 1919–1931, 2006