bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Chinese Catholic Church
Authors: Madsen Richard
Published: April 2019

Both the Chinese state and the Vatican have an interest in maintaining more regular control over local Catholic community life. Their interests partially converge in seeking a regularized process for selecting Catholic bishops in the officially recognized part of the Chinese Church. This overlapping of interests is the basis for the “provisional agreement” between the Vatican and China on the selection of bishops signed on September 22, 2018. The agreement fails to address the area where Sino-Vatican interests diverge, i.e., the status of the thirty-six “underground” bishops, recognized by the Vatican but not by the Chinese government. Meanwhile, grassroots Catholic communities in China are deeply embedded in local social structures and their leaders have long exercised a considerable degree of agency in managing local affairs and adapting Catholic practices to local culture. The interaction between local communities and the long-term development of the Chinese Catholic church will depend, on the one hand, on the complex cooperative and competitive arrangements between the Vatican and the Chinese state and, on the other hand, on the interaction between the agency of local communities and the forces of control from above.
Official Protestantism in China
Authors: Koesel Karrie J. , Hu Yizhi , Pine Joshua
Published: April 2019

What do we know about Protestant Christianity in contemporary China? How is it organized; where, why, and how is it growing; and how do we understand its evolving relationship with the party-state? The purpose of this article is to evaluate the state of official Protestantism in China and take stock of what we have learned. We do so in three ways. One is to identify the origins of state-sanctioned Protestantism; another is to evaluate conflicting claims about church size, growth, and demographics; and the third is to suggest directions for future study.
Medieval Daoist Concepts of the Middle Kingdom
Authors: Liu Yi , Lee Casey
Published: April 2019

The ancient Chinese people believed that they existed at the center of the world. With the arrival of Buddhism in China came a new cosmic worldview rooted in Indian culture that destabilized the Han [huaxia 華夏] people’s long-held notions of China as the Middle Kingdom [Zhongguo 中國] and had a profound influence on medieval Daoism. Under the influence of Buddhist cosmology, Daoists reformed their idea of Middle Kingdom, for a time relinquishing its signification of China as the center of the world. Daoists had to acknowledge the existence of multiple kingdoms outside China and non-Han peoples [manyi 蠻夷] who resided on the outskirts of the so-called Middle Kingdom as potential followers of Daoism. However, during the Tang dynasty, this capacious attitude ceased to be maintained or passed on. Instead, Tang Daoists returned to a notion of Middle Kingdom that reinstated the traditional divide between Han and non-Han peoples.
The Symbolic Construction of Reality: The Xici and Ernst Cassirer’s Philosophy of Symbolic Forms
Authors: Xiang Shuchen
Published: April 2019

This paper, unlike scholars who ascribe to it a copy theory of meaning, argues that the logic of the Xici is best described through “philosophy’s linguistic turn,” specifically Ernst Cassirer’s philosophy of symbolic forms. Cassirer’s concept of the symbol as a pluralistic, constitutive, and functional yet concrete and observable form, is comparable to the symbolic system in the Xici 系辭: xiang 象, gua 卦, yao 爻, and yi 易. Their similarity is due to a shared philosophical orientation: humanism. The characteristics of the Xici—the part-whole (structuralist) relationship typical of correlative cosmology, the simultaneously sensuous and conceptual nature of its symbols, the stress on order as opposed to unity, and the importance of symbols per se—for Cassirer are characteristics that were only possible in European intellectual history after a substance ontology was replaced by a functional one. For Cassirer, a functional ontology is closely associated with a humanism that celebrates creations (i.e., language) of the human mind in determining reality. This humanism is coherent with the intellectual context—Confucian humanism—contemporary with the period of the Xici’s composition. It would thus be inconsistent to concede this humanism to the Xici without also conceding that its understanding of the symbols is akin to that of the linguistic turn. Finally, even regardless of this comparative framework, the Xici runs into a paradox if we read it through a copy theory of meaning, paradoxes that immediately dissolve if we read it through the paradigm of the linguistic turn.
A New Generation of Sino-Christian Scholars Shifting Concerns among Researchers of Christianity in Contemporary China
Authors: Thurston Naomi
Published: April 2019

Considering recent developments in the emerging field of academic ‘Sino-Christian Studies’ and drawing on analysis of interviews with Chinese scholars of Christianity now in their thirties, forties, and early fifties—the paper discusses generational differences among contemporary ‘Sino-Christian’ scholars with regard to questions of identity, academic disciplinary alignments, and thematic foci so as to highlight some of their contributions to contemporary discourses in the Chinese humanities and social sciences, their openness to marginal or controversial themes, and their inclusion of perspectives outside the academy.
Learning from a Medieval Hindu Theologian’s Manual of Daily Worship: A Counter-Intuitive Relevance
Authors: Clooney Francis X.
Published: April 2019

The Manual of Daily Worship (Nityagrantham) of Rāmānuja (1017–1137) is a work of applied, liturgical theology, in a major Hindu tradition. It describes the daily worship of an advanced devotee, melding together purifications, ritual offerings, recitation of mantras, meditations, and acts of surrender to God. As such, it richly fills out the spiritual and intellectual profile of Rāmānuja as an exemplar of integral spiritual, intellectual, and practical religion. This essay argues that he thus has much to offer to our reflection on religions and religions across Asia, and more particularly, offers fruitful insights and challenges regarding how to understand, study, and practice religion even now. The author is an American Roman Catholic priest and a Jesuit, who himself has learned deeply from Hinduism and from Rāmānuja’s tradition over the decades.
Phenomenology and Ritual Practice
Authors: Gschwandtner Christina M.
Published: April 2019

This paper highlights several problems in the contemporary phenomenological analysis of religious experience in Continental philosophy of religion, especially in its French iteration, as manifested in such thinkers as Jean-Luc Marion, Michel Henry, Jean-Yves Lacoste, Jean-Louis Chrétien, Emmanuel Falque, and others. After laying out the main issues, the paper proposes a fuller investigation of religious practices, such as liturgy or ritual, as a fruitful way to address some of the identified limitations. The final section of the paper assesses what questions remain and how one might draw on existing resources in these thinkers to push a phenomenological analysis of religious practices further in ways that broaden phenomenology of religion beyond its current somewhat narrow strictures and commitments.
Four new Myrcia (Myrtaceae) from Amazonian Brazil
Authors: SOBRAL MARCOS , DE SOUZA MARIA ANÁLIA DUARTE , SANTOS MATHEUS FORTES
Published: April 2019

There are described and illustrated Myrcia caloneura, M. oreophila, M. sticta and M. tarauacana. Myrcia caloneura, from the states of Amazonas and Pará, is related to M. rugosior, but differs by its adult glabrescent blades and tetramerous flowers; M. oreophila, from the state of Roraima,is related to M. aegiphiloides, but has pilose, loosely reticulate blades and pilose flowers; M. sticta, from the state of Amazonas, is close to M. splendens, but has blades with rounded to cordate base and larger and easily visible glandular dots, and M. tarauacana is related to M. aequatoriensis and M. crassimarginata but has shorter blades and longer inflorescences. Conservation status of each species is also suggested.
Two more new species of the Cyrtodactylus peguensis group (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the fringes of the Ayeyarwady Basin, Myanmar
Authors: GRISMER L. LEE , WOOD PERRY L. JR. , THURA MYINT KYAW , WIN NAY MYO , QUAH EVAN S. H.
Published: April 2019

Two new species of Bent-toed Geckos of the Cyrtodactylus peguensis group are described from foothill areas occurring on opposite sides of the Ayeyarwady Basin. Cyrtodactylus nyinyikyawi sp. nov. from the Shwe Settaw Wildlife Sanctuary, Magway Region in the east and C. pyadalinensis sp. nov. from the Panluang-Pyadalin Wildlife Sanctuary, Shan State in the west bear unique suits of morphological and color pattern character states separating them from all species in the peguensis group. Additionally, a molecular phylogeny based on the mitochondrial gene ND2 indicates that neither species is nested within, nor sister to any known species in the group. This study augments recent and ongoing studies showing that the Ayeyarwady Basin is herpetologically more diverse than previously considered and should be incorporated into ongoing discussions concerning conservation efforts in Myanmar.
Teaching young learners pre-number concepts through ICT mediation
Authors: P Makonye Judah
Published: April 2019

This study focuses on the teaching and learning of the pre-numeracy concepts through technology at Foundation Phase. It pre-supposes that the use of information and communication technology resources presents an innovative way to improve teaching and learning mathematics. The author argues that young children's relational conceptions of number lie at the core of their mathematics education as any subsequent mathematics learning heavily depends on it. This learning process is by no little means assisted through the mathematical activities teachers engage their learners and the resources they avail them, such as information and communication technologies. Principally important are the discursive interactions that ought to arise around the activities and the resources used. The author presumes that mastery learning is advanced by teaching using the variation theory. Teaching through variation aims to anchor knowledge; to make mathematical knowledge visible to amateurs through distinguishing the essential features of an ‘object of learning’ from its non-essential features. A treatment group was taught with information and communication technologies against a control group that used traditional teaching methods. Despite other intervening variables, the results of the study suggested better learning outcomes from the experimental group.
Policing the beats: The criminalisation of UK drill and grime music by the London Metropolitan Police
Authors: Fatsis Lambros
Published: April 2019

As debates on the rise of violent crime in London unfold, UK drill music is routinely accused of encouraging criminal behaviour among young Black Britons from deprived areas of the capital. Following a series of bans against drill music videos and the imposition of Criminal Behaviour Orders and gang injunctions against drill artists, discussions on the defensibility of such measures call for urgent, yet hitherto absent, sociological reflections on a topical issue. This article attempts to fill this gap, by demonstrating how UK drill and earlier Black music genres, like grime, have been criminalised and policed in ways that question the legitimacy of and reveal the discriminatory nature of policing young Black people by the London Metropolitan Police as the coercive arm of the British state. Drawing on the concept of racial neoliberalism, the policing of drill will be approached theoretically as an expression of the discriminatory politics that neoliberal economics facilitates in order to exclude those who the state deems undesirable or undeserving of its protection.
Tactile hand and wear comfort of flame-retardant rayon/anti-static polyethylene terephthalate imbedded woven fabrics
Authors: Ah Kim Hyun
Published: April 2019

This study examined the thermal wear comfort of clothing made from flame-retardant (FR) rayon- and cotton-blended fabric using a thermal manikin and wearer trials. In addition, the tactile hand property of the FR rayon-blended fabric was predicted and compared with that of the cotton-blended one using the Fabric Assurance Simple Testing system. The FR rayon-blended fabric exhibited a lower heat insulation rate than that of the cotton-blended one in the thermal manikin experiment and lower microclimate humidity during 40 min walking in the human subject experiment. The FR rayon-blended fabric was more extensible than the cotton-blended one, with a lower bending rigidity and shear modulus. This study showed that FR rayon-blended fabric has better thermal wear comfort and a superior tactile hand feel compared with the cotton-blended one, without any significant difference of pilling compared to the cotton-blended modacrylic one.
The Provision of Health Care by Family Physicians in Taiwan as Illustrated With Population Pyramids
Authors: Wang Yi-Jen , Liu Hao-Yen , Chen Tzeng-Ji , Hwang Shinn-Jang , Chou Li-Fang , Lin Ming-Hwai
Published: April 2019

Family physicians serve as personal doctors for individuals and their families and also act as gatekeepers of the health care system. If no special status is accorded to family physicians, however, then the rates at which health care recipients utilize their service might be affected. In the present cross-sectional study, representative claims data sets for 2010 from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance program, a health care system in which beneficiaries are not required to register with a family physician, were used to investigate the provision of health care to the population by family physicians. Among 919 206 beneficiaries with a total of 13 713 199 ambulatory visits, 49.1% had visited family physicians, 34.1% had visited internists, 24.3% had visited pediatricians, and 38.9% had visited otolaryngologists. Women (χ2(1) = 538, P < .001) and patients aged 65 and above (χ2(1) = 16 000, P < .001) had a higher proportion of visiting family physicians rather than visiting other specialties. The onion-shaped population pyramid with family medicine visits was compatible with the general population, and the proportion of visiting family physicians increased with increasing age. Among 112 289 patients with essential hypertension, 63 379 patients with diabetes mellitus, and 80 090 patients with hyperlipidemia, only 35.3%, 32.0%, and 31.1%, respectively, had visited family physicians. The age and sex distributions of these patients were illustrated with population pyramids for data visualization and direct comparisons. Taken together, the results of this study indicate that the utilization of family physicians in Taiwan and the effectiveness of their associated role in chronic disease management still have room for improvement.
On demonstrating the development of the Thinking Actively in a Social Context (TASC) problem-solving approach in schools in South Wales (UK)
Authors: Wallace Belle , Humphries Walter , Evans Kathryn
Published: April 2019

Walter Humphries and Kathryn Evans outline the aims of the new Welsh curriculum and demonstrate how neatly the Thinking Actively in a Social Context (TASC) problem-solving approach dovetails with the aims of the new 2015 curriculum for Welsh schools.
Understanding the effectiveness of student speech-language pathologists and student teachers co-working during inter-professional school placements
Authors: Wilson Leanne , McNeill Brigid C , Gillon Gail T
Published: April 2019

This study examined whether children’s speech and literacy skills were impacted by co-working among student speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and student teachers during an inter-professional education (IPE) initiative. Seven five-year-old children who demonstrated difficulties with speech and/or phonological awareness participated in three weeks of classroom-based instruction delivered by student SLP–teacher pairs during professional practice placements. A multiple single-participant design with repeated measures was utilized to examine the impact of the co-instruction on children’s speech and phonological awareness. Four out of seven children, each of whom were instructed by a different student professional pair, improved on at least one of two goal areas. More specifically, two out of six children improved their production of trained and untrained speech targets. Three out of seven children also improved on phoneme segmentation of trained and untrained words. Children’s improvement in phoneme awareness was accompanied by improved letter–sound knowledge and spelling. Moreover, analysis of instructional logs confirmed that children who improved on their target goals received classroom-based co-instruction from their student SLP–teacher pairs. The findings support the potential of the placement-based IPE in that most of the student pairs learned to establish co-instruction which positively influenced children’s speech and early literacy outcomes.
‘Between Politics and Scholarship’: The First Decade of the Institut für Zeitgeschichte, 1949–1958
Authors: Turner Mathew , Joel Tony , Lowe David
Published: April 2019

Through the consultation and examination of meeting minutes, correspondence, and memoranda, this article contends that a political-scholarly nexus characterized the formation of the Munich-based Institut für Zeitgeschichte and directly shaped its research activities within the first decade of its existence, from 1949 to 1958. As a government-funded body it was obliged to service the needs of those governments at a federal and state level, in response to bureaucratic, administrative, and judicial demands – most notably the construction of expert reports (or Gutachten) in response to government requests for advice. The research directions of the Institute were driven by the demands of West German society beginning to come to terms with its Nazi past, and expressed through its political representatives.
Assessing the Evolution of Transit User Behavior from Smart Card Data
Authors: Viallard Alexis , Trépanier Martin , Morency Catherine
Published: April 2019

There is a huge potential for exploiting information centered on individual transit users’ behavior through longitudinal smart card data. This is particularly true for cities like Gatineau, Canada, where the bus system serves passengers with different travel patterns. Understanding the evolution of these patterns marks an important point in improving transit demand forecasting models. Indeed, better models can help transit planners to create optimized networks. This paper proposes a comparison of a traditional and an experimental methodology aiming to identify the evolution of travel structure among transit users. These methodologies are based on the clustering of multi-week travel patterns derived from a large sample of smart card transactions (35.4 million). Representing users’ behavior, these patterns are constructed using the number of trips made by every card on each day of a week. Behavior vectors are defined by seven components (one for each day) and are clustered using a K-means algorithm. The experimental week-to-week method consists in clustering the population on each week, while using the clustering results from the previous week as seed. This latter approach makes it possible to observe the evolution of users’ behaviors and also has a better clustering quality in a similar computation time than the traditional method.
Real-Time Dynamic Traffic Control Based on Traffic-State Estimation
Authors: Ahmed Afzal , Naqvi Syed Ahsan Ali , Watling David , Ngoduy Dong
Published: April 2019

The accurate depiction of the existing traffic state on a road network is essential in reducing congestion and delays at signalized intersections. The existing literature in the optimization of signal timings either utilizes prediction of traffic state from traffic flow models or limited real-time measurements available from sensors. Prediction of traffic state based on historic data cannot represent the dynamics of change in traffic demand or network capacity. Similarly, data obtained from limited point sensors in a network provides estimates which contain errors. A reliable estimate of existing traffic state is, therefore, necessary to obtain signal timings which are based on the existing condition of traffic on the network. This research proposes a framework which utilizes estimates of traffic flows and travel times based on real-time estimated traffic state for obtaining optimal signal timings. The prediction of traffic state from the cell transmission model (CTM) and measurements from traffic sensors are combined in the recursive algorithm of extended Kalman filter (EKF) to obtain a reliable estimate of existing traffic state. The estimate of traffic state obtained from the CTM-EKF model is utilized in the optimization of signal timings using genetic algorithm (GA) in the proposed CTM-EKF-GA framework. The proposed framework is applied to a synthetic signalized intersection and the results are compared with a model-based optimal solution and simulated reality. The optimal delay estimated by CTM-EKF-GA framework is only 0.6% higher than the perfect solution, whereas the delay estimated by CTM-GA model is 12.9% higher than the perfect solution.
Public Opinion on Dockless Bike Sharing: A Machine Learning Approach
Authors: Rahim Taleqani Ali , Hough Jill , Nygard Kendall E.
Published: April 2019

Dockless bike sharing is an emerging paradigm. Like many other technologies, it brings advantages and disadvantages to communities. Further investigation into public opinion will shed light on the impact of this technology on communities and provide input to city authorities for transportation planning. Transportation planning processes can be enhanced by engaging the community through social media technologies. Social media like Twitter, Facebook, and other microblogging media have been used for planning, but have not been extensively evaluated for that purpose. This study examined approximately 32,000 posts on Twitter to assess public opinion on dockless bike-sharing systems. Using a mix of text mining and statistical techniques, we examined relevant posts to determine the sentiment polarity of tweets, the underlying topics in the tweets, and the extent of engagement and impact on the decision-making process. Results given by two different sentiment algorithms show that there is more positive than negative polarity across the algorithms. Also, the findings show that the underlying topics in tweets include electric scooters, private e-hailing companies, and blockage of sidewalks, among others. The results indicate that the dockless shared mobility models are potentially useful in generating participation, but faced substantial technical, analytical, and communication barriers to influencing decision-making.
Validation of Macroscopic Fundamental Diagrams-Based Models with Microscopic Simulations on Real Networks: Importance of Production Hysteresis and Trip Lengths Estimation
Authors: Paipuri Mahendra , Leclercq Ludovic , Krug Jean
Published: April 2019

This work focuses on the application of accumulation-based and trip-based macroscopic fundamental diagrams (MFD) approaches to real transportation networks and discusses the calibration of the MFD shape and trip lengths estimation using a thorough validation of the network dynamics with microsimulation data. This work not only investigates a classical unimodal approach to fit the production MFD, but also a bimodal MFD curve. Different methods of calibrating trip lengths in the reservoir are introduced to study the influence of trip lengths estimation on the accuracy of MFD models. MFD models are validated against microsimulations that are carried out using real origin–destination (OD) matrix and demand estimated from the data of Lyon city in France. The proposed bimodal production MFD curve captures the hysteresis in the production MFD to a good extent. Subsequently, it is shown that the refined description of trip lengths gives more accurate estimates of accumulation evolution for the trip-based approach. Finally, a case is presented with a modified OD matrix to study the effect of OD matrix changes on accuracy of MFD simulations.
Improving Damping Properties of Railway Ballast by Addition of Tire-Derived Aggregate
Authors: Song Weimin , Huang Baoshan , Shu Xiang , Wu Hao , Gong Hongren , Han Bingye , Zou Jinfeng
Published: April 2019

The damping properties of railway ballast are critical to the safe operation of trains. This study aimed to improve the damping properties of railway ballast through the addition of tire-derived aggregate (TDA) and to evaluate the effect of TDA on other properties of ballast. The damping property and other mechanical properties of ballast mixed with different contents of TDA were tested utilizing a large direct shear test (DST) under static and cyclic loading conditions. The cyclic loading test was performed in accordance with ASTM D 7499, from which the resilient interface shear stiffness and damping ratio were obtained. The results showed that TDA significantly increased the damping ratio of railway ballast, but decreased the resilient interface shear stiffness. The stress-strain behavior of the ballast-TDA mixes was obtained from the static loading test, showing that TDA significantly decreased the peak shear stress and the dilation effect. According to the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion, TDA also decreased the cohesion strength and the internal friction angle of the ballast. Based on the test results from this study, 5% rubber is recommended for use in railway ballast.
Safety Assessment of the Integration of Road Weather Information Systems and Variable Message Signs in British Columbia
Authors: El Esawey Mohamed , Walker Simon , Sowers Caitlin , Sengupta Joy
Published: April 2019

Adverse weather conditions create an environment in which it is difficult for drivers to navigate safely. Reducing weather-related collisions is a target for road safety professionals in British Columbia (BC), Canada. This study reports the safety benefits of installing road weather information systems (RWISs) coupled with variable message signs (VMSs) on provincial rural highways in BC. The RWIS/VMS system comprises road and weather sensors, as well as two VMSs. The road and weather sensors collect data on pavement surfaces and weather conditions. Information on adverse road/weather conditions are conveyed to road users via the VMSs. The system had been installed at six different locations on rural undivided highways in BC between 2011 and 2014. The analysis made use of police-attended serious crashes (i.e., fatal + injury) that took place during winter seasons. Depending on the implementation date, three or four winter seasons were available as a before-implementation period, while three to six winter seasons were available as an after-implementation period. An Empirical Bayes (EB) approach was employed to ensure that the evaluation results were reliable and to account for the regression-to-the-mean artifact. Safety performance functions (SPFs) were developed using data collected at similar sites. The EB evaluation results showed an overall statistically significant reduction of 32.7% in all winter serious collisions (WSC). An economic evaluation showed that the systems led to a benefit-cost ratio of 4.8 and an overall net present value of more than Can$12 million. The results of this study may motivate transportation agencies and stakeholders to pursue similar systems for mitigating weather-related safety problems.
Construction of novel temperature-responsive hydrogel culture system based on the biomimetic method for stem cell sheet harvest
Authors: Fan Zengjie , Nie Yingying , Chen Zizi , Xie Xuzhuzi , Liao Xiaozhu , Wei Yuan
Published: April 2019

Temperature-responsive hydrogel culture system is considered as an ideal platform for cell sheet harvest, but its complex preparation methods and harsh reaction conditions limit its application. Inspired by the marine mussels, a biomimetic method presented here is to construct a novel temperature-responsive hydrogel culture system for stem cell sheet harvest. The tissue culture polystyrene is first modified with polydopamine coating, and then amine-terminated poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) is grafted onto the coating via the Schiff base or Michael addition reaction to construct the temperature-sensitive hydrogel culture system. Then, bone marrow stromal cells are cultured on the culture system to construct cell sheets. The prepared culture system shows significant temperature-sensitive property with the grafted concentrations of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) ranging from 0.5 to 1 g/L. Meanwhile, the constructed culture system has low cytotoxicity and facilitates the stem cell adhesion, proliferation, and cell sheet formation at 37°C. When the culture system is placed in a 20°C environment, the cell sheet can be completely detached from the surface of tissue culture polystyrene without being treated with any enzymes. More importantly, the cell morphology, cell sheet thickness, and the fibril structure of the associated proteins are similar to the cells cultured on the tissue culture polystyrene without modification. The biomimetic, simple, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly preparation of the culture system enables it to be used for the harvest of cell sheet and even applied to tissue engineering for tissue regeneration.
An intelligent monitoring system of grinding wheel wear based on two-stage feature selection and Long Short-Term Memory network
Authors: Guo Weicheng , Li Beizhi , Zhou Qinzhi
Published: April 2019

Grinding wheel condition is considered as the key factor affecting grinding performance, and therefore, accurate monitoring of wheel wear is necessary to prevent the deterioration of part quality. An intelligent wheel wear monitoring system is introduced in this article to realize processing of grinding signal, extraction of signal features, selection of optimal feature subset, and prediction of wheel wear. Physical information generated during the grinding of C-250 maraging steel is collected by a dynamometer, accelerometer, and acoustic emission sensor, and a large quantity of features in time domain and frequency domain are extracted from the processed grinding signals. To reduce feature redundancy and increase relevancy of feature to wheel wear, a two-stage feature selection approach combining filter and wrapper framework is proposed. The filter preselects individual features by minimum Redundancy Maximum Relevance method, while the wrapper evaluates different feature subsets by the model performance. A deep learning network structure named Long Short-Term Memory network is adopted to develop the wheel wear monitoring model and is compared with a conventional machine learning algorithm, Random Forest. The results have shown that the two-stage feature selection method is able to provide the globally optimal feature subset for the model. Long Short-Term Memory model achieves an R2 of 0.994 and a root-mean-square error of 0.240 with four features, while Random Forest model obtains an R2 of 0.980 and a root-mean-square error of 0.463 with seven features, which indicates that Long Short-Term Memory model is capable of predicting wheel wear more accurately even with less features.
Use of a virtual milling system to generate power-aware tool paths for 2.5-dimensional pocket machining
Authors: Ochoa González David Manuel , Ferreira Joao Carlos Espindola
Published: April 2019

Traditional (direction-parallel and contour-parallel) and non-traditional (trochoidal) tool paths are generated by specialized geometric algorithms based on the pocket shape and various parameters. However, the tool paths generated with those methods do not usually consider the required machining power. In this work, a method for generating power-aware tool paths is presented, which uses the power consumption estimation for the calculation of the tool path. A virtual milling system was developed to integrate with the tool path generation algorithm in order to obtain tool paths with precise power requirement control. The virtual milling system and the tests used to calibrate it are described within this article, as well as the proposed tool path generation algorithm. Results from machining a test pocket are presented, including the real and the estimated power requirements. Those results were compared with a contour-parallel tool path strategy, which has a shorter machining time but has higher in-process power consumption.
Nurses’ experiences of communicating respect to patients: Influences and challenges
Authors: Clucas Claudine , Chapman Hazel , Lovell Andrew
Published: April 2019

Background:

Respectful care is central to ethical codes of practice and optimal patient care, but little is known about the influences on and challenges in communicating respect.

Research question:

What are the intra- and inter-personal influences on nurses’ communication of respect?

Research design and participants:

Semi-structured interviews with 12 hospital-based UK registered nurses were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore their experiences of communicating respect to patients and associated influences.

Ethical considerations:

The study was approved by the Institutional ethics board and National Health Service Trust.

Findings:

Three interconnected superordinate themes were identified: ‘private self: personal attitudes’, ‘outward self: showing respect’ and ‘reputational self: being perceived as respectful’. Respectful communication involved a complex set of influences, including attitudes of respect towards patients, needs and goals, beliefs around the nature of respectful communication, skills and influencing sociocultural factors. A tension between the outward self as intended and perceived presented challenges for nurses’ reputational self as respectful, with negative implications for patient care.

Discussion:

The study offers an in-depth understanding of intra- and inter-personal influences on communicating respect, and sheds light on challenges involved, helping provide practical insights to support respectful care.

Conclusion:

Findings stress the need for improved conceptualisations of respect in healthcare settings to formally recognise the complex attitudinal and socially constructed nature of respect and for appropriate professional training to improve its communication.
Direct Oral Anticoagulants in Chronic Liver Disease
Authors: Steuber Taylor D. , Howard Meredith L. , Nisly Sarah A.
Published: April 2019

Objective: To review the use of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in patients with chronic liver disease (CLD). Data Sources: A MEDLINE literature search was performed from 1964 through February 2019 using the following search terms: cirrhosis, chronic liver disease, direct oral anticoagulant, and the individual DOACs. Study Selection and Data Extraction: All English-language human trials and reports that examined DOACs for treatment or prevention of venous thromboembolic (VTE) events in patients with CLD were included. Data Synthesis: A total of 6 clinical trials examining the use of DOACs in patients with CLD were identified. All DOACs have been utilized in patients with CLD, with the exception of betrixaban, for prevention of stroke in atrial fibrillation or treatment of VTE (except for treatment of pulmonary embolism). The studies primarily evaluated patients with mild to moderate liver disease (Child-Turcotte-Pugh class A and B). The DOACs had similar rates of bleeding compared with traditional anticoagulants. Relevance to Patient Care and Clinical Practice: This review evaluates and summarizes the available evidence on DOACs in the setting of CLD. These agents may be more appealing in this population because monitoring or administration may be difficult with traditional anticoagulants (warfarin or low-molecular-weight heparins). Conclusion: Early data suggest that DOACs may be safe in patients with mild to moderate CLD. Should a DOAC be selected as an alternative to traditional anticoagulants, more frequent monitoring should be used because hepatotoxicity may be a concern. Larger clinical trials are needed to address efficacy outcomes as well as differences among individual DOACs in this population.
Quantifying Dispositional Fear as Threat Sensitivity: Development and Initial Validation of a Model-Based Scale Measure
Authors: Kramer Mark D. , Patrick Christopher J. , Hettema John M. , Moore Ashlee A. , Sawyers Chelsea K. , Yancey James R.
Published: April 2019

The Research Domain Criteria initiative aims to reorient the focus of psychopathology research toward biobehavioral constructs that cut across different modalities of measurement, including self-report and neurophysiology. Constructs within the Research Domain Criteria framework are intentionally transdiagnostic, with the construct of “acute threat,” for example, broadly relevant to clinical problems and associated traits involving fearfulness and stress reactivity. A potentially valuable referent for research on the construct of acute threat is a structural model of fear/fearlessness questionnaires known to predict variations in physiological threat reactivity as indexed by startle potentiation. The aim of the current work was to develop an efficient, item-based scale measure of the general factor of this structural model for use in studies of dispositional threat sensitivity and its relationship to psychopathology. A self-report scale consisting of 44 items from a conceptually relevant, nonproprietary questionnaire was first developed in a sample of 1,307 student participants, using the general factor of the fear/fearlessness model as a direct referent. This new Trait Fear scale was then evaluated for convergent and discriminant validity with measures of personality and psychopathology in a separate sample ( n = 213) consisting of community adults and undergraduate students. The strong performance of the scale in this criterion-validation sample suggests that it can provide an effective means for indexing variations along a dispositional continuum of fearfulness reflecting variations in sensitivity to acute threat.
A unified five-degree-of-freedom theory for the bending analysis of softcore and hardcore functionally graded sandwich beams and plates
Authors: Sayyad Atteshamuddin S , Ghugal Yuwaraj M
Published: April 2019

A unified five-degree-of-freedom shear deformation theory is developed for the bending analysis of softcore and hardcore functionally graded sandwich beams and plates. The theory is developed with the inclusion of various shape functions to account for the effect of transverse shear deformation. The governing equations are derived from the principle of virtual work. Sandwich beams and plates have functionally graded skins and two types of homogenous core (softcore and hardcore). The material properties of functionally graded skins are graded through the thickness according to the power-law distribution. Closed-form solutions are obtained for the simply-supported functionally graded sandwich beams and plates using Navier’s solution technique. The non-dimensional numerical values of displacements and stresses are obtained for uniformly distributed loads and various values of the power law index and skin-core-skin thickness ratios. Effects of softcore and hardcore on the non-dimensional displacements and stresses are carefully discussed. It is concluded that the variations in the numerical values of transverse deflection and through-the-thickness distributions of stresses are opposite in nature for softcore and hardcore sandwich beams and plates due to change in material properties.
Can a surgeon predict the longevity of a total hip replacement?
Authors: Lampropoulou-Adamidou Kalliopi , Karachalios Theofilos , Megas Panagiotis , Petsatodis George , Vlamis John , Hartofilakidis George
Published: April 2019

Introduction:

The purpose of this study was to examine the ability of a surgeon to predict survival of a total hip replacement (THR) based on the patient’s diagnosis, demographics, postoperative activity level and the surgical technique.

Methods:

4 experienced hip surgeons were asked to predict the longevity of 131 Charnley THRs, performed by the senior author (GH) 22–35 years ago, by providing them with pre- and postoperative radiographs, and data concerning patient’s diagnosis, demographics, postoperative activity level and the surgical technique. This process was repeated 3 months later.

Results:

There was only a slight agreement between the majority of the predictions and actual outcome. The inter-observer agreement was also slight and intra-observer agreement ranged from slight to moderate.

Conclusion:

We confirmed that surgeons are unable to determine the life expectancy of the implants of a THR, based on the aforementioned data, because there are other non-identified factors that affect the survivorship of a THR. For this reason, regular follow-up remains the safest way to evaluate patients’ clinical picture and the evolution of radiographic changes, if there are any, in order to accurately advise patients and decide on the appropriate time for revision.
Turkish-Dutch bilinguals maintain language-specific reference tracking strategies in elicited narratives
Authors: Azar Zeynep , Özyürek Aslı , Backus Ad
Published: April 2019

Aim:

This paper examines whether second-generation Turkish heritage speakers in the Netherlands follow language-specific patterns of reference tracking in Turkish and Dutch, focusing on discourse status and pragmatic contexts as factors that may modulate the choice of referring expressions (REs), that is, the noun phrase (NP), overt pronoun and null pronoun.

Methodology:

Two short silent videos were used to elicit narratives from 20 heritage speakers of Turkish, both in Turkish and in Dutch. Monolingual baseline data were collected from 20 monolingually raised speakers of Turkish in Turkey and 20 monolingually raised speakers of Dutch in the Netherlands. We also collected language background data from bilinguals with an extensive survey.

Data and analysis:

Using generalised logistic mixed-effect regression, we analysed the influence of discourse status and pragmatic context on the choice of subject REs in Turkish and Dutch, comparing bilingual data to the monolingual baseline in each language.

Findings:

Heritage speakers used overt versus null pronouns in Turkish and stressed versus reduced pronouns in Dutch in pragmatically appropriate contexts. There was, however, a slight increase in the proportions of overt pronouns as opposed to NPs in Turkish and as opposed to null pronouns in Dutch. We suggest an explanation based on the degree of entrenchment of differential RE types in relation to discourse status as the possible source of the increase.

Originality:

This paper provides data from an understudied language pair in the domain of reference tracking in language contact situations. Unlike several studies of pronouns in language contact, we do not find differences across monolingual and bilingual speakers with regard to pragmatic constraints on overt pronouns in the minority pro-drop language.

Significance:

Our findings highlight the importance of taking language proficiency and use into account while studying bilingualism and combining formal approaches to language use with usage-based approaches for a more complete understanding of bilingual language production.
On What a Distinctively Political Normativity Is
Authors: Jubb Robert
Published: April 2019

Realists in normative political theory aim to defend the importance of ‘distinctively political thought’ as opposed to the applied ethics they believe characterizes much contemporary political theory and causes it to misunderstand and make mistakes about its subject matter. More conventional political theorists have attempted to respond to realism, including Jonathan Leader Maynard and Alex Worsnip, who have recently criticized five supposedly realist arguments for a distinctive political normativity. However, while Leader Maynard and Worsnip’s arguments are themselves less decisive than they suppose, the problem with their response may lay elsewhere. Their response supposes that more conventional political theory could, in principle, be defended at an abstract general level. This may not be possible though, given the difficulty of arriving at agreed interpretations of the concepts involved and the desiderata for a successful normative political theory. It also risks missing the point of realism, which is to use different forms of normative inquiry to explore questions which have not always been central to conventional normative political theory. Judith Shklar’s excellent work on vices and the liberalism of fear nicely illustrates this problem.
Learning in Political Analysis
Authors: Vagionaki Thenia , Trein Philipp
Published: April 2019

This article reviews how scholars use learning as an analytical concept across the political science and public policy literature. Three questions guide our discussion: (1) What do political actors in policy learn about (e.g. ideas or policy instruments)? (2) Who learns from whom and for what reason? And finally, (3) How does learning happen against the background of organizational and political realities? Our perspective offers an original contribution by synthesizing key concepts and empirical challenges of the learning research.
Community-Engaged Lifestyle Medicine as a Framework for Health Equity: Principles for Lifestyle Medicine in Low-Resource Settings
Authors: Krishnaswami Janani , Sardana Jasmol , Daxini Anisha
Published: April 2019

Lifestyle risk factors, including tobacco and alcohol use, poor nutrition, and inactivity, comprise the leading actual causes of death and disproportionately affect diverse, lower-income and vulnerable populations. Fundamentally influenced by social determinants of health (including poverty, social linkages, food access, and built environment), these “unhealthy lifestyle” exposures perpetuate and sustain disparities in health outcomes, stealing years of healthy and productive life for minority, vulnerable groups. The authors call for implementation of a health equity framework within lifestyle medicine (LM). Community-engaged lifestyle medicine (CELM) is an evidence-based, participatory framework capable of addressing health disparities through LM, targeting health equity in addition to better health. CELM was developed in 2015 by the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Preventive Medicine Residency program to address lifestyle-related health disparities within marginalized border communities. The framework includes the following evidence-based principles: community engagement, cultural competency, and application of multilevel and intersectoral approaches. The rationale for each of these components and the growth of CELM within the American College of Lifestyle Medicine is described. Finally, illustrative examples are provided for how CELM can be instituted at micro and macro levels by LM practitioners.
Bifurcations and chaos in a novel discrete economic system
Authors: Al-khedhairi A , Matouk AE , Askar SS
Published: April 2019

In this article, a novel discrete system based on an economic model is introduced. Conditions for local stability of the model’s fixed points are obtained. Existence of supercritical Neimark–Sacker bifurcation is shown around the game’s Nash equilibrium. Existence of stable period-2 orbits resulting from flip bifurcation around the game’s Nash equilibrium is also proved. Existence of chaotic dynamics in the proposed game is also shown via two routes: Neimark–Sacker bifurcation and flip bifurcation. Based on the bifurcation theory of discrete-time systems, sufficient conditions of transcritical bifurcation are derived and applied to the proposed model. The interesting phenomenon of coexisting multi-chaotic attractors, such as coexistence of two, three, four, and five-piece chaotic attractors, is found in the proposed model. For this reason, numerical simulations of basins of attraction are performed to verify the appearance of this important phenomenon that reflects the unpredictability and higher complexity in the proposed game.