bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Financing care for Severe Stigmatizing Skin Diseases (SSSDs) in Liberia: challenges and opportunities
Authors: Smith John Solunta , Diaconu Karin , Witter Sophie , Weiland Stefanie , Zaizay F. Zeela , Theobald Sally , McCollum Rosalind , Kollie Karsor , Kollie Jerry , Berrian Hannah , Hotopf India , Sempe Lucas , Tate Wede , Dean Laura
Published: November 2022

Introduction

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are an important global health challenge, however, little is known about how to effectively finance NTD related services. Integrated management in particular, is put forward as an efficient and effective treatment modality. This is a background study to a broader health economic evaluation, seeking to document the costs of integrated case management of NTDs versus standard care in Liberia. In the current study, we document barriers and facilitators to NTD care from a health financing perspective.

Methods

We carried out key informant interviews with 86 health professionals and 16 national health system policymakers. 46 participants were active in counties implementing integrated case management and 40 participants were active in counties implementing standard care. We also interviewed 16 patients and community members. All interviews were transcribed and analysed using the thematic framework approach.

Findings

We found that decentralization for NTD financing is not yet achieved – financing and reporting for NTDs is still centralized and largely donor-driven as a vertical programme; government involvement in NTD financing is still minimal, focused mainly on staffing, but non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or international agencies are supporting supply and procurement of medications. Donor support and involvement in NTDs are largely coordinated around the integrated case management. Quantification for goods and budget estimations are specific challenges, given the high donor dependence, particularly for NTD related costs and the government’s limited financial role at present. These challenges contribute to stockouts of medications and supplies at clinic level, while delays in payments of salaries from the government compromise staff attendance and retention. For patients, the main challenges are high transportation costs, with inflated charges due to fear and stigma amongst motorbike taxi riders, and out-of-pocket payments for medication during stockouts and food/toiletries (for in-patients).

Conclusion

Our findings contribute to the limited work on financing of SSSD services in West African settings and provide insight on challenges and opportunities for financing and large costs in accessing care by households, which is also being exacerbated by stigma.
A dual deep neural network for auto-delineation in cervical cancer radiotherapy with clinical validation
Authors: Nie Shihong , Wei Yuanfeng , Zhao Fen , Dong Ya , Chen Yan , Li Qiaoqi , Du Wei , Li Xin , Yang Xi , Li Zhiping
Published: November 2022

Background

Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms are capable of automatically detecting contouring boundaries in medical images. However, the algorithms impact on clinical practice of cervical cancer are unclear. We aimed to develop an AI-assisted system for automatic contouring of the clinical target volume (CTV) and organs-at-risk (OARs) in cervical cancer radiotherapy and conduct clinical-based observations.

Methods

We first retrospectively collected data of 203 patients with cervical cancer from West China Hospital. The proposed method named as SegNet was developed and trained with different data groups. Quantitative metrics and clinical-based grading were used to evaluate differences between several groups of automatic contours. Then, 20 additional cases were conducted to compare the workload and quality of AI-assisted contours with manual delineation from scratch.

Results

For automatic CTVs, the dice similarity coefficient (DSC) values of the SegNet trained with incorporating multi-group data achieved 0.85 ± 0.02, which was statistically better than the DSC values of SegNet independently trained with the SegNet(A) (0.82 ± 0.04), SegNet(B) (0.82 ± 0.03) or SegNet(C) (0.81 ± 0.04). Moreover, the DSC values of the SegNet and UNet, respectively, 0.85 and 0.82 for the CTV (P < 0.001), 0.93 and 0.92 for the bladder (P = 0.44), 0.84 and 0.81 for the rectum (P = 0.02), 0.89 and 0.84 for the bowel bag (P < 0.001), 0.93 and 0.92 for the right femoral head (P = 0.17), and 0.92 and 0.91 for the left femoral head (P = 0.25). The clinical-based grading also showed that SegNet trained with multi-group data obtained better performance of 352/360 relative to it trained with the SegNet(A) (334/360), SegNet(B) (333/360) or SegNet(C) (320/360). The manual revision time for automatic CTVs (OARs not yet include) was 9.54 ± 2.42 min relative to fully manual delineation with 30.95 ± 15.24 min.

Conclusion

The proposed SegNet can improve the performance at automatic delineation for cervical cancer radiotherapy by incorporating multi-group data. It is clinically applicable that the AI-assisted system can shorten manual delineation time at no expense of quality.
On the existence and approximation of solutions of generalized equilibrium problem on Hadamard manifolds
Authors: Oyewole O. K. , Jolaoso L. O. , Aremu K. O. , Aphane M.
Published: November 2022

In this paper, we study the existence of solution of the generalized equilibrium problem (GEP) in the framework of an Hadamard manifold. Using the KKM lemma, we prove the existence of solution of the GEP and give the properties of the resolvent function associated with the problem under consideration. Furthermore, we introduce an iterative algorithm for approximating a common solution of the GEP and a fixed point problem. Using the proposed method, we obtain and prove a strong convergence theorem for approximating a solution of the GEP, which is also a fixed point of a nonexpansive mapping under some mild conditions. We give an application of our convergence result to a solution of the convex minimization problem. To illustrate the convergence of the method, we report some numerical experiments. The result in this paper extends the study of the GEP from the linear settings to the Hadamard manifolds.
Removal of phosphates using eggshells and calcined eggshells in high phosphate solutions
Authors: Park Jong-Hwan , Choi Ah-Young , Lee Su-Lim , Lee Jae-Hoon , Rho Jun-Suk , Kim Seong-Heon , Seo Dong-Cheol
Published: November 2022

This study was conducted to evaluate the phosphate sorption properties of eggshell (ES) and calcined ESs (C-ESs) in a high-concentration phosphate solution. The C-ESs yield decreased rapidly at 900 °C, indicating that the CaCO3 constituting the ES was converted to CaO by the high calcination temperature. The optimum calcination temperature for phosphate removal using C-ES was 900 °C. The actual sorption amount of phosphate by ES and C-ES900 was in agreement with the Langmuir isothermal sorption equation, and the maximum sorption capacities derived from this equation were 178.6 and 270.3 mg/g, respectively. The sorption rate of phosphate by ES and C-ES900 was divided into two stages: an initial fast sorption stage, followed by a slow sorption stage. The sorption of phosphate by ES was dominantly influenced by the initial pH and salt concentration, whereas C-ES900 exhibited a constant sorption capacity regardless of environmental changes. The SEM–EDS and XRD results demonstrated that phosphate was successfully adsorbed on the ES and C-SE900 surfaces. In this study, it was found that the sorption of phosphate by ES occurred via ion exchange and precipitation reactions and that the sorption of phosphate by C-ES900 was dominantly affected by precipitation. Above all, C-ES can be applied as an effective adsorbent for removing high concentrations of phosphate under a wide range of environmental conditions.
Case report: challenges in monitoring and treatment of anthracycline induced cardiotoxicity in young adults with osteosarcoma
Authors: Heemelaar Julius C. , Janson Jeroen , Braun Jerry , Speetjens Frank M. , van de Sande Michiel A. J. , Hugo Juan D. V. , Barge-Schaapveld Daniela Q. C. M. , Beeres Saskia L. M. A. , Tops Laurens F. , Gelderblom Hans , Antoni M. Louisa
Published: November 2022

Neo(adjuvant) systemic treatment regimens containing anthracyclines such as doxorubicin cause a significant risk of heart failure. These regimens are one of the corner stones of osteosarcoma treatment, and therefore several guidelines are in place to steer cardiotoxicity monitoring through baseline risk stratification and cardiac surveillance during and after completion of cancer therapy.

Importantly, baseline risk stratification modules are dependent on age, prior cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular risk factors. Because the majority of osteosarcoma patients are below 30 years of age these criteria rarely apply and most patients are assigned to low or medium risk categories, whereas cardiovascular complications have profound impact on morbidity and mortality in this young population. Therefore, cardiac surveillance is very important in this group for timely detection of cardiotoxicity. Moreover, when severe cardiotoxicity that requires advanced heart failure treatment occurs, a cancer diagnosis has significant implications on treatment options, i.e. mechanical circulatory support and heart transplantation.

These challenges are presented in this case of a patient without clinical risk factors admitted with cardiogenic shock requiring advanced heart failure treatment within 1 month after completion of doxorubicin containing chemotherapy for the treatment of high grade osteosarcoma.
Cerebellar irradiation does not cause hyperactivity, fear, and anxiety-related disorders in the juvenile rat brain
Authors: Wang Yafeng , Xie Cuicui , Xu Yiran , Zhang Yaodong , Zhu Changlian , Zhou Kai
Published: November 2022

Background

The cerebellum is involved in hyperactivity, fear, and anxiety disorders that could be induced by whole-brain irradiation (WBI). However, whether cerebellar irradiation alone (CIA) could induce these disorders is unknown. We investigated the effect of CIA in an animal model.

Methods

Eleven-day-old rat pups underwent a single 3-Gy dose of either WBI (n = 28) or CIA (n = 20), while 34 rat pups were sham-irradiated (controls). Cell death was evaluated in the subgranular zone of the hippocampus by counting pyknotic cells after haematoxylin/eosin staining at 6 h after irradiation for 10, 8, and 9 pups, respectively. Behavioural changes were evaluated via open-field test at 6 weeks for 18, 12, and 25 pups, respectively. Unpaired two-tailed t-test and one-way and two-way repeated ANOVA were used.

Results

Massive cell death in cerebellar external granular layer was detected at 6 h after CIA (1,419 ± 211 mm, mean ± S.E.M. versus controls (68 ± 12 mm) (p < 0.001)), while no significant difference between CIA (1,419 ± 211 mm) versus WBI (1,433 ± 107 mm) (p = 0.955) was found. At open-field behavioural test, running distance, activity, wall distance, middle zone visit times, and duration were higher for WBI versus controls (p < 0.010), but no difference between CIA and controls was found (p > 0.05).

Conclusions

Although the cerebellum is involved in hyperactivity, fear, and anxiety disorders, CIA did not induce these disorders, indicating that WBI-induced cerebellar injury does not directly cause these behavioural abnormalities after WBI. Thus, targeting the cerebellum alone may not be enough to rescue or reduce these behavioural abnormalities after WBI.
Using the derived 28-joint disease activity score patient-reported components (DAS28-P) index as a discriminatory measure of response to disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug therapy in early rheumatoid arthritis
Authors: Pisaniello Huai Leng , Whittle Samuel L. , Lester Susan , Menz Fiona , Metcalf Robert , McWilliams Leah , Hill Catherine L. , Proudman Susanna
Published: November 2022

Background

The 28-joint disease activity score (DAS28) is a widely used measure to assess disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The DAS28-P index, a derived proportion of the patient-reported components (joint tenderness and patient global assessment) within the DAS28, has been utilized as a discriminatory measure of non-inflammatory pain mechanisms in RA. This study aimed to evaluate the use of the DAS28-P index as a predictor of treatment response in early RA.

Methods

Patients with early RA enrolled in a supplemental fish oil clinical trial received a combination of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) according to a ‘treat-to-target’ protocol. First, consecutive measures of the DAS28-P index, derived from the DAS28-erythrocyte sedimentation rate (DAS28-ESR), at each visit over a 1-year period were estimated for each patient. Then, distinct subgroups of treatment responders based on the trajectories of the DAS28-P indices were identified using bivariate k-means cluster analysis. Data on baseline predictors as well as longitudinal outcomes of disease impact and DMARD use over a 1-year period and radiographic progression over a 3-year period were collected and analyzed using a random intercept, population-averaged generalized estimating equation model.

Results

121 patients were included (74% female; mean age of 57; median of 16 weeks of active disease) and a 3-cluster model was identified—the ‘Responders’ group (n = 58; 48%), the ‘Partial Responders’ group (n = 32; 26%), and the ‘Non-Responders’ group (n = 31; 26%). The ‘Partial Responders’ group had consistently higher proportions of the DAS28-P index throughout the study period and had minimal radiographic progression over time, with the lowest joint erosion score of 0.9 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.2, 1.6], observed at the 3-year follow-up. At 52 weeks, the methotrexate dose was higher for both ‘Partial Responders’ and ‘Non-Responders’ groups (18.5 mg [95% CI 15.5, 21.5] and 18.6 mg [95% CI 15.3, 21.8] respectively), when compared with the ‘Responders’ group (12.8 mg [95% CI 14.7, 20.9]).

Conclusions

Persistently high DAS28-P index scores are useful to distinguish poor patient global assessment and excessive treatment escalation in early RA, suggestive of underlying non-inflammatory pain contributing to higher disease activity score. Early identification of patients with discordant subjective and objective components of composite disease activity measures may allow better tailoring of treatment in RA.
Dynamic Risk Prediction of 30-Day Mortality in Patients With Advanced Lung Cancer: Comparing Five Machine Learning Approaches
Authors: Vesteghem Charles , Szejniuk Weronika M. , Brøndum Rasmus F. , Falkmer Ursula G. , Azencott Chloé-Agathe , Bøgsted Martin
Published: November 2022

PURPOSE

Administering systemic anticancer treatment (SACT) to patients near death can negatively affect their health-related quality of life. Late SACT administrations should be avoided in these cases. Machine learning techniques could be used to build decision support tools leveraging registry data for clinicians to limit late SACT administration.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Patients with advanced lung cancer who were treated at the Department of Oncology, Aalborg University Hospital and died between 2010 and 2019 were included (N = 2,368). Diagnoses, treatments, biochemical data, and histopathologic results were used to train predictive models of 30-day mortality using logistic regression with elastic net penalty, random forest, gradient tree boosting, multilayer perceptron, and long short-term memory network. The importance of the variables and the clinical utility of the models were evaluated.

RESULTS

The random forest and gradient tree boosting models outperformed other models, whereas the artificial neural network–based models underperformed. Adding summary variables had a modest effect on performance with an increase in average precision from 0.500 to 0.505 and from 0.498 to 0.509 for the gradient tree boosting and random forest models, respectively. Biochemical results alone contained most of the information with a limited degradation of the performances when fitting models with only these variables. The utility analysis showed that by applying a simple threshold to the predicted risk of 30-day mortality, 40% of late SACT administrations could have been prevented at the cost of 2% of patients stopping their treatment 90 days before death.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrates the potential of a decision support tool to limit late SACT administration in patients with cancer. Further work is warranted to refine the model, build an easy-to-use prototype, and conduct a prospective validation study.
On the influence of Maxwell-Chern-Simons electrodynamics in nuclear fusion involving electronic and muonic molecules
Authors: Caruso Francisco , Oguri Vitor , Silveira Felipe , Troper Amos
Published: November 2022

New results recently obtained (Caruso F. et al., Ann. Phys. (N.Y.), 443 (2022) 168943). established some non-relativistic ground state solutions for three-body molecules interacting through a Chern-Simons model. Within this model, it was argued that the Chern-Simons potential should not help improve the fusion rates by replacing electrons with muons, in the case of particular muonic molecules. This achievement motivated us to investigate quantitatively whether or not the Maxwell-Chern-Simons electrodynamics could influence positively, for example, the probability of having a muon-catalyzed fusion; its contribution to electronic molecules is also considered in this letter. The principal factors related to the probability of elementary nuclear fusion are therefore numerically calculated and compared with their analogs admitting other forms of interaction like −1/ρ and ln(ρ). The analysis carried on here confirms that one should not expect a significant improvement in nuclear fusion rates in the case of muonic molecules, although, surprisingly, the same is not true for electronic molecules, compared with other theoretical predictions. Numerical predictions for the fusion rates for ppe, pp
μ, dde and dd
μ molecules are given as well as the predicted value for the tunneling rate for these molecules.
Pancreas Transplantation: Current Challenges, Considerations, and Controversies
Authors: Fridell Jonathan A , Stratta Robert J , Gruessner Angelika C
Published: November 2022

Pancreas transplantation (PTx) reestablishes an autoregulating source of endogenous insulin responsive to normal feedback controls. In addition to achieving complete β-cell replacement that frees the patient with diabetes from the need to monitor serum glucose and administer exogenous insulin, successful PTx provides counterregulatory hormone secretion and exocrine function. A functioning PTx mitigates glycemic variability, eliminates the daily stigma and burden of diabetes, restores normal glucose homeostasis in patients with complicated diabetes, and improves quality of life and life expectancy. The tradeoff is that it entails a major surgical procedure and requisite long-term immunosuppression. Despite the high likelihood of rendering patients euglycemic independent of exogenous insulin, PTx is considered a treatment rather than a cure. In spite of steadily improving outcomes in each successive era coupled with expansion of recipient selection criteria to include patients with a type 2 diabetes phenotype, a decline in PTx activity has occurred in the new millennium related to a number of factors including: (1) lack of a primary referral source and general acceptance by the diabetes care community; (2) absence of consensus criteria; and (3) access, education, and resource issues within the transplant community. In the author's experience, patients who present as potential candidates for PTx have felt as though they needed to circumvent the conventional diabetes care model to gain access to transplant options. PTx should be featured more prominently in the management algorithms for patients with insulin requiring diabetes who are failing exogenous insulin therapy or experiencing progressive diabetic complications regardless of diabetes type. Furthermore, all patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease should undergo consideration for simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation independent of geography or location.
Imperative Reading: Brothertown and Sister Fowler
Authors: Schwartz Ana
Published: November 2022

This essay introduces the concept of imperative reading as one solution to the tension between implicitly suspicious historicist methods, on one hand, and, on the other, postcritical practices of reading that prioritize readerly pleasure over readerly paranoia. Imperative reading reveals the network of historically inflected obligations that can produce or intensify the expectation that reading should be pleasurable. This insight comes to view in the writing and reading practices of Samson Occom, late eighteenth-century Mohegan minister, theologian, and hymnodist, and cofounder of Brothertown, a political experiment in Indigenous survivance in the face of settler colonial incursion during the late colonial era and the early republic. For Occom and his fellow Algonquians, reading and writing, to say nothing of readerly pleasure, were not foregone conclusions. Reading and writing could be sources of pleasure, and they could also be sites of resistance to the era’s ascendant liberalism. Occom’s archive shows him exploiting these possibilities. This experience of alphabetic literacy, however, was neither uniform nor always consensual. Imperative reading names the experience of literacy as Esther Poquiantup Fowler, Samson Occom’s sister-in-law, knew it. Sometimes, despite Occom’s best intentions, liberalism cunningly inflected his relations with his kinswoman, and it did so most forcefully in his expectation that she slowly, maybe even symptomatically, read his writing and that she take pleasure in it, too. Fowler understood that expectation; she felt it as an imperative. Yet she didn’t refuse it so much as defer it. Her delicate negotiation of reading as an imperative directs attention to the personal and political history of the expectation—for her, a burdensome one—that reading should be self-evidently fun. Fowler’s strategies for alleviating this burden renew our understanding of historicist methods and the symptomatic mood of critique. They are instruments for future repair even as they afford us practice in noticing and interpreting the particularities that liberal society encourages us to forget.
Apocalyptic Rumblings: Catharine E. Beecher’s Domestic Economy and Environmentalism
Authors: Ackerman Alan
Published: November 2022

Catharine E. Beecher’s 1841 A Treatise on Domestic Economy laid the groundwork for the American environmental canon, including Walden (1854) by Henry David Thoreau and Silent Spring (1962) by Rachel Carson. In conversation with other nineteenth-century American writers, Beecher promoted a way of thinking about nature as home and illuminated current usage of energy and economy as opposing, gendered metaphors. Situating daily life in a new energy regime, Beecher was an early theorizer of fossil fuels, positing domestic economy as a corrective to the political economy of industrial capitalism. Despite seemingly regressive views of women’s place in the home and society, Beecher’s writings on domesticity during the historic transition to fossil fuels speak to our own moment of climate and public health crises. To reassess Beecher in light of the environmental humanities is to discover in domestic economy a way of thinking about nature as something in which we live and, equally important, that lives in us.
Obstacles to Native Education in Late Colonial Peru
Authors: Ramírez Susan Elizabeth
Published: November 2022

This article focuses on educational initiatives, the negotiations and resistance these efforts generated, and the barriers to these efforts during late colonial times. After a brief overview of formal and informal instruction, two examples of efforts to establish schools, especially for Native boys and girls, are outlined before an analysis of the obstacles organizers faced in founding them. Efforts were uneven. The superficial enthusiasm of some was tempered by the resistance of others. Contemporary manuscript texts in the archives of Spain, provincial capitals of Peru, and Lima highlight attitudes toward education in the 1780s and again closer to the eve of independence.
The Colegio de San Gregorio: An Intellectual Refuge for Indigenous Peoples in Mexico City in the Late Eighteenth Century
Authors: Segovia-Liga Argelia
Published: November 2022

In 1586, the Jesuits founded the Colegio Seminario de San Gregorio in Mexico City. Throughout the colonial era and into the late nineteenth century, the school worked almost exclusively for Indigenous students. The political reforms introduced in Spain in 1812 stipulated the eradication of the segregated system that had prevailed during the colonial era. In response, civil authorities in Mexico City elaborated plans and reforms to allow non-Indigenous students access to San Gregorio. The arguments that nineteenth-century intellectuals expressed in favor of those reforms were broad-ranging and analyzed by contemporary scholars. However, we know little about Indigenous communities’ opinions concerning those transformations. This essay aims to review some of the ideas expressed by Indigenous intellectuals who sought to maintain the school as an exclusively “Indian” college.
Explosive Boiling of Transparent Liquids on Absorbing Targets Heated by Short Laser Pulses
Authors: Samokhin A.A. , Bazhulin A.P. , Il’ichev N.N. , Ivochkin A.Yu. , Pivovarov P.A. , Stuchebrukhov I.A.
Published: November 2022

Explosive boiling induced by sub-nanosecond laser pulses  is  theoretically  analyzed in  the  case  of transparent liquids on metal targets. In this case the variation  of boiling  start  times  due  to inhomogeneous  distribution  of  laser  intensity through the  irradiation  spot  can  be  reduced  up  to laser pulse duration and registered explosive boiling pressure signals become less  distorted. The results are  compared with  experimental  investigations  of photoacoustic (PA) signals induced in metal target under  transparent  liquid  layer  irradiated  by  laser pulses of about 100 ps duration and wavelength 532 nm.
Dwie figury św. Elżbiety Turyńskiej
Authors: Czapska Monika
Published: November 2022

Znajdująca się w zbiorach Zamku Królewskiego na Wawelu drewniana figura św. Elżbiety Turyńskiej jest bardzo bliskim naśladownictwem – wręcz kopią – gotyckiego wapiennego posągu z kościoła św. Jana w Malborku. Na pierwszy rzut oka wydaje się być ona kolejnym przykładem, popularnej w XV wieku, praktyki przenoszenia wybitnych kamiennych pierwowzorów na snycerskie medium. Przeprowadzona w artykule analiza porównawcza obu dzieł wskazał na szereg, pozornie drugorzędnych elementów, występujących w krakowskiej rzeźbie, które podważają jej średniowieczną metrykę. Nie zmienia to faktu, że rzeźba wawelska jest interesującym zabytkiem, który w istotnym stopniu poszerza naszą wiedzę na temat procesu recepcji stylu pięknego w sztuce lokalnej (?) w Prusach, i który to proces – jak się okazuje – trwał nadal w kilka stuleci po epoce gotyku.
Muzyka jako forma politycznej deliberacji i dyskursywnej argumentacji: refleksje socjologiczne
Authors: Jabłońska Barbara
Published: November 2022

Celem artykułu jest omówienie problematyki dyskursu na tematy muzyczne na przykładzie piosenek wyborczych, wpisujących się w zjawiska komunikacyjne szeroko pojętej sfery publicznej i deliberacji. Główną osią rozważań jest przekonanie o komunikacyjnej mocy muzyki w polityce. W pierwszej części artykułu ukazano najważniejsze kwestie związane z rolą i znaczeniem muzyki w polityce, w tym z jej integracyjną, mobilizacyjną i perswazyjną mocą. Druga część artykułu koncentruje się wokół wybranych przykładów polskich piosenek wyborczych w perspektywie dyskursywnej. Całość analizy opiera się na czterech płaszczyznach  - komunikacyjnej, językowej, poznawczej i interakcyjnej. Elementy te składają się nie tylko na praktyki dyskursywne w wybranym obszarze, ale też na semiozę danego społeczeństwa.
Demokracja deliberatywna w praktyce – działanie brytyjskiej organizacji Involve
Authors: Kaczmarek Katarzyna
Published: November 2022

Demokracja deliberatywna staje się coraz częściej przedmiotem szerokiej dyskusji nie tylko w nauce, ale także w praktyce politycznej. W wielu krajach osoby zaangażowane w funkcjonowanie społeczeństwa obywatelskiego domagają się realizacji jego założeń. Liczne organizacje pozarządowe propagują idee demokracji deliberatywnej i zajmują się faktycznym umieszczaniem ich w ramach życia publicznego. Jedną z takich organizacji jest brytyjska fundacja Involve. Obszar jej działania obejmuje nie tylko szerzenie wiedzy i doradztwo w zakresie deliberacji, ale także aktywny udział w podejmowaniu największych tego typu inicjatyw (takich jak np. panele obywatelskie). Celem niniejszego artykułu jest krótkie przedstawienie podstawowych działań Involve z ostatnich lat oraz wskazanie takich kwestii jak sposób rozumienia demokracji deliberatywnej przez tego typu organizacje, praktyczna realizacja jej postulatów oraz efekty podejmowanych działań. Artykuł ma być krótkim wprowadzeniem do dalszych rozważań nad odbiciem teoretycznych założeń demokracji deliberatywnej w realiach demokratycznej sceny politycznej, opartych na analizie organizacji, dla których jest to podstawowy obszar działania.
Repatriation of terrorist fighters – the Macedonian experience
Authors: Nacev Aleksandar , Kostevska Dragana
Published: November 2022

Within the framework of the paper „Repatriation of terrorist fighters - success or a trick in the RN Macedonia“, the authors analyze the beginnings of 2012, when for the first time our country officially faced foreign terrorist fighters, as well as their repatriation. It was only after six years that the two Strategies for the fight against violent extremism and the fight against terrorism were adopted, i.e. in 2018. Namely, a brief review of the incrimination of these criminal acts is carried out, and we focus primarily on the part that follows the process of the return of foreign terrorist fighters and their families to their home country. Here, drawing of conclusions regarding the necessary segments and significant links in the system for an appropriate approach and completeness to deal with this issue is not lagging behind.
Are opioids safe for use in obstetric general anaesthesia?
Authors: Bone Michelle , Hoskins Toby
Published: November 2022

The use of opioids during caesarean section has historically been avoided because of concerns regarding neonatal compromise. There is now more evidence regarding the safety and benefits of opioids in obstetric general anaesthesia, so should opioids be used during induction of anaesthesia for caesarean section?
The effects of pregnancy massage on mother and baby
Authors: McGowan Stephen
Published: November 2022

Pregnancy massage has been used as a catch-all term for any hands-on massage in the prenatal or postnatal periods. There is reference to pregnancy massage in ancient ayurveda medicine texts where, without medical intervention and modern drugs, massage was used to tone and relax the mother's body during pregnancy, prepare the mother physically and psychologically for the birth, and aid healing postpartum. In the middle ages in England midwives used massage as an essential part of their work, leading them to be both admired and feared for their ‘magical’ healing skills. More recently, there has been research conducted on the effects of massage on both mother and baby. This review will examine some of the available literature on the benefits and contradindications of massage in pregnancy.
Cost-effectiveness of adalimumab for early-stage Dupuytren’s disease
Authors: Dakin Helen , Rombach Ines , Dritsaki Melina , Gray Alastair , Ball Catherine , Lamb Sarah E. , Nanchahal Jagdeep
Published: November 2022

Aims

To estimate the potential cost-effectiveness of adalimumab compared with standard care alone for the treatment of early-stage Dupuytren’s disease (DD) and the value of further research from an NHS perspective.

Methods

We used data from the Repurposing anti-TNF for Dupuytren’s disease (RIDD) randomized controlled trial of intranodular adalimumab injections in patients with early-stage progressive DD. RIDD found that intranodular adalimumab injections reduced nodule hardness and size in patients with early-stage DD, indicating the potential to control disease progression. A within-trial cost-utility analysis compared four adalimumab injections with no further treatment against standard care alone, taking a 12-month time horizon and using prospective data on EuroQol five-dimension five-level questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L) and resource use from the RIDD trial. We also developed a patient-level simulation model similar to a Markov model to extrapolate trial outcomes over a lifetime using data from the RIDD trial and a literature review. This also evaluated repeated courses of adalimumab each time the nodule reactivated (every three years) in patients who initially responded.

Results

The within-trial economic evaluation found that adalimumab plus standard care cost £503,410 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained versus standard care alone over a 12-month time horizon. The model-based extrapolation suggested that, over a lifetime, repeated courses of adalimumab could cost £14,593 (95% confidence interval £7,534 to £42,698) per QALY gained versus standard care alone. If the NHS was willing to pay £20,000/QALY gained, there is a 77% probability that adalimumab with retreatment is the best value for money.

Conclusion

Repeated courses of adalimumab are likely to be a cost-effective treatment for progressive early-stage DD. The value of perfect parameter information that would eliminate all uncertainty around the parameters estimated in RIDD and the duration of quiescence was estimated to be £105 per patient or £272 million for all 2,584,411 prevalent cases in the UK. Cite this article: Bone Jt Open 2022;3(11):898–906.
Narrating Civil Conflict in Post-war Sri Lanka: Counter Memory, Working-through and Implications for North-South Solidarity
Authors: Perera Vihanga
Published: November 2022

This article examines survivor/witness narratives of the Sri Lankan civil conflict (1983–2009) and their potential as counter-memories that contest and challenge authorized history dictated by the state. In situating the significance of these narratives the article draws on the prevailing conditions in post-conflict Sri Lanka, especially the surveillance and intimidation against public memory in the former war regions and the dominance of Sinhalese-Buddhist nationalism within state power. In orientation, the study is future-oriented and is preoccupied with how survivor narratives can be utilized to strengthen reconciliation and solidarity among different victim groups. It advocates for survivor/witness narratives to be incorporated as classroom material and for frameworks that appreciate comparative readings of conflict to be developed and adopted.
Exposing the Crimes of the Neoliberal State in the Governance of COVID-19
Authors: Catello Roberto
Published: November 2022

Two of the most promising developments to emerge from the failed attempts to contain the spread of infectious disease outbreaks since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) a pandemic on 23 January 2020 are (i) an acceleration ofthe critique of neoliberalismand (ii) a reinvigoration of thestate crimevocabulary. As Henry Giroux (2020) argued, the pandemic has exposed “the plague of neoliberalism” and revealed the need fora new languageto make sense of the current crisis. In this article, I argue that the language of state crime has both the terminological and the conceptual capacity to inform such a sense-making endeavour and, relatedly, that the academic literature on state criminality can complement critiques of the global neoliberal order in the context of the failed governance of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Plasmonic structure: toward multifunctional optical device with controllability
Authors: Chai Junxiong , Xie Yiyuan , Ye Yichen , Liu Bocheng , Jiang Xiao , Yang Rong , Tan Jing
Published: November 2022

Multifunctional plasmonic components are the foundation for achieving a
flexible and versatile photonic integrated loop. A compact device that
can transform between multiple different functions is presented. The
proposed structure consists of a resonator with a rotatable oval core
coupled with three waveguides. The temporal coupled-mode theory and
finite-difference time-domain method reveal that embedding of the
elliptical core alters the original resonance mode, and the rotation
of the core can manipulate field distribution in the cavity.
Specifically, two switchable operating wavelengths are obtained, and
the wavelengths can be adjusted by modifying the structural parameters
of the elliptical core. Ultimately, a multifunctional optical device
with signal controllability can be realized through the rotation of
the embedded rotor: power splitter with selectable wavelengths and
splitting ratios; bandpass filter with controllable output ports,
wavelengths, and transmissions; demultiplexer with tunable output
ports and transmissions; and switch with variable output ports,
wavelengths, and transmissions. The fabrication tolerance of the
device is investigated, considering waveguide width and coupling
distance. This multifunctional plasmonic device is of great
significance for the design and implementation of optical
networks-on-chips.
Suppression of the conjugate signal for broadband computed imaging via synthetic phase modulation
Authors: Canales-Benavides Arturo , Zavislan James , Carney P. Scott
Published: November 2022

We present synthetic-phase-modulated interferometric synthetic aperture microscopy (SPM-ISAM), a method to perform 3D object reconstructions from data acquired with confocal broadband interferometric microscopy (BIM) that reconstructs images virtually free of coherent and depth-dependent defocus artifacts. This is achieved by implementing a sinusoidal SPM method in combination with an ISAM reconstruction algorithm that uses relatively low-modulation frequencies compared with acquisition frequencies. A theoretical framework and numerical results are provided here.
Upper bounds on focusing efficiency
Authors: Schab Kurt , Jelinek Lukas , Capek Miloslav , Gustafsson Mats
Published: November 2022

Upper bounds on the focusing efficiency of aperture fields and lens systems are formulated using integral equation representations of Maxwell’s equations and Lagrangian duality. Two forms of focusing efficiency are considered based on lens exit plane fields and optimal polarization currents within lens design regions of prescribed shape and available materials. Bounds are compared against the performance of classical prescriptions of ideal lens aperture fields, hyperbolic lens designs, and lenses produced by inverse design. Results demonstrate that, without regularization, focusing efficiency based solely on lens exit plane fields is unbounded, similar to the problem of unbounded antenna directivity. Additionally, results considering extruded two-dimensional dielectric geometries driven by out-of-plane electric fields for the calculation of bounds and inverse design demonstrate that aperture fields based on time-reversal do not necessarily yield optimal lens focusing efficiency, particularly in the case of near-field (high numerical aperture) focusing.
Comparative study of medium length-dependent high-harmonic generation from metal ions
Authors: Fu Wufeng , Lai Yu Hang , Li Wei
Published: November 2022

We present an experimental study on the high-harmonic yields from the ions in the laser-ablated plumes of various metal targets (W, Mo, Cr, Cu, Ni, Fe, Ag and Mg) with the purpose of comparing their ion density and single-atom response. The harmonic yields as a function of medium length are measured and the results are fitted against a theoretical model to extract the coherence length, absorption length and strength single-atom response (in arbitrary units) of different harmonic orders for each target. It is found that the coherence lengths decrease monotonically as a function of harmonic order for all targets. Ion density of the generation media are estimated by the trend of the coherence length as a function of harmonic order. Qualitatively, targets with lower melting temperatures seem to produce laser-ablated plumes of higher ion density, vice versa. Also, the strength of the single-atom response of the metal ion species with only one electron in the outermost subshell are weak compared with the other targets considered in this study.
Generalized inverse matrix - long short-term memory neural network data processing algorithm for multi-wavelength pyrometry
Authors: Xing Jian , Yan Pengyu , Li Wenchao , Cui Shuanglong
Published: November 2022

The data processing of multi-wavelength pyrometry (MWP) is faced with the problem of solving N equations and N+1 unknown underdetermined equations. The traditional iterative optimization methods are difficult to meet the actual measurement requirements in terms of accuracy and efficiency. With the development of artificial intelligence technology in the field of data processing, it is expected to solve this problem. A generalized inverse matrix (GIM) is combined with a long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network algorithm for data processing of MWP is proposed, which emissivity influence is dispensed completely. Firstly, GIM is used for classification of the emissivity. Furthermore, inputting to the LSTM network not only ensures the accuracy of temperature measurement but also greatly improves the efficiency. The simulation results demonstrated that the accuracy of the GIM-LSTM algorithm was superior to that of the GIM-EPF and BP methods. After random noise was added, the relative error was still less than that for the GIM-EPF and BP methods, and the algorithm exhibited excellent anti-noise performance. Publicly available temperature data for the exhaust plume of a rocket engine were processed by the GIM-LSTM method, and the average relative error was less than the traditional method. Especially, in terms of inversion speed, the operational time of the GIM-LSTM algorithm was at the millisecond level, which is of great significance for the real-time monitoring of rocket exhaust plumes. The proposed GIM-LSTM data processing algorithm affords high accuracy and speed and is suitable for practical measurement of high-emissivity objects in real-time via MWP.
Plasmonic dichroism and all-optical magnetization switching in nanophotonic structures with GdFeCo
Authors: Zimnyakova Polina E. , Ignatyeva Daria O. , Kalish Andrey N. , Han Xiufeng , Belotelov Vladimir I.
Published: November 2022

We report on a phenomenon of plasmonic dichroism observed in magnetic materials with transverse magnetization under excitation of surface plasmon polariton waves. The effect originates from the interplay of the two magnetization-dependent contributions to the material absorption, both of which are enhanced under plasmon excitation. Plasmonic dichroism is similar to circular magnetic dichroism, which is at the base of all-optical helicity-dependent switching (AO-HDS) but observed for linearly polarized light, and the dichroism acts upon in-plane magnetized films, where AO-HDS does not take place. We show by electromagnetic modeling that laser pulses exciting counter-propagating plasmons can be used to write +M or −M states in a deterministic way independent of the initial magnetization state. The presented approach applies to various ferrimagnetic materials with in-plane magnetization, exhibiting the phenomenon of all-optical switching of a thermal nature and broadens the horizons of their applications in data storage devices.
Diffuse optical properties of a Fresnel lens sunlight concentrator
Authors: Shvarts M. Z. , Malevskiy D. A. , Nakhimovich M. V. , Pokrovskiy P. V. , Sadchikov N. A. , Soluyanov A. A.
Published: November 2022

A combined module that combines a concentrator with planar photovoltaic circuits provides energy conversion of both parts of global terrestrial radiation: direct sunlight by concentrator solar cells and scattered (diffuse) sunlight by planar (non-concentrator) photoconverters. The decrease in Fresnel lens concentrating ability is usually associated with imperfections in the optical refractive surfaces, where some part of the direct light, which arrives normal to the surface of the Fresnel lens and is intended to be concentrated, becomes scattered and directed off the highly efficient concentrator solar cell. The diffuse light flux propagates inside the volume of the combined photovoltaic module. This flux undergoes multiple reflections from the structural elements, is partially absorbed, and ultimately reaches the photoconverters of the planar circuit. Thus, two types of diffuse light impinge the planar circuit: “external” from the atmosphere and “internal” produced by the Fresnel lens from direct light. This Letter proposes a method for determining the diffuse properties of sunlight concentrators such as Fresnel lens.
High-order harmonic generation enhanced by XUV light: erratum
Authors: Buth Christian
Published: November 2022

This erratum to our Letter [Opt. Lett. 36, 3530
(2011)10.1364/OL.36.003530] corrects minor
errors. The computations are expected to be minorly influenced, and
the conclusions of the original Letter are not affected.
Integrated Spectral Sensors
Authors: Fiore A. , Ou F. , van Klinken A.
Published: November 2022

New approaches that mimic the functioning of the human eye are
enabling embedded, portable alternatives to conventional
spectrometers.
Dead-zone free single-shot three-dimensional measurement using a high-repetition-rate Yb:fiber comb
Authors: Kurata Shintaro , Ishii Hirotaka , Terada Kazuhiro , Morito Tamaki , Tian Haochen , Kato Takashi , Minoshima Kaoru
Published: November 2022

Using spectral interference from a highly chirped and high-repetition-rate optical frequency comb, a technique for dead-zone free one-shot three-dimensional (3D) imaging was developed. We generated continuously emitted pulse train (dead-zone-free pulse) using a highly chirped pulse from a 750-MHz repetition mode-locked Yb fiber comb. The measurement performances of the system were evaluated using an optical spectrum analyzer, and a longitudinal delay length resolution of 31 µm was obtained at arbitrary position for more than 400 mm range. Using an imaging spectrometer capable of multipoint spectroscopy, a delay length resolution of 81 µm was demonstrated. Finally, for a proof-of-concept measurement of 3D imaging, line profiles of three mirrors located in the middle of 200-mm-distance, corresponding to pulse-to-pulse interval, were measured without any scanning with an uncertainty of 0.7 mm. The uncertainty could be further improved by optical alignment and analysis to the level of 10 ∼ 100 µm at arbitrary position over the range not limited to pulse-to-pulse interval.