bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A rank-size approach to analyse soccer competitions and teams: the case of the Italian football league “Serie A"
Authors: Ficcadenti Valerio , Cerqueti Roy , Varde’i Ciro Hosseini
Published: March 2022

In this paper, we present a data-analysis rank-size approach to assess the features of soccer competitions and competitors. We investigate the championships rankings and the teams’ final scores in the most relevant Italian league, the “Serie A”, between 1930 and 2020. We use the final rankings and the teams’ scores to explore the presence of rank-size regimes in the various yearly championships. Besides, we analyse the teams one by one, ranking their performance over the years and using the rank-size law’s parameters to compare their performances across the tournaments. We chose to do so via the Discrete Generalised Beta Distribution, a three-parameter rank-size function. We offer a cluster analysis of the rank-size law parameters based on a k-means algorithm to provide additional insights and capture similarities and deviations among championships and teams. Concluding, we propose a measure of competitiveness within championships and per team. The best fit results are statistically outstanding, and the cluster analysis presents two main clusters capturing teams’ performances and years in which they have competed in the “Serie A”. The competitiveness analysis shows that the teams at the bottom of the championships ranking have obtained decreasing scores in recent years.
A deep reinforcement learning assisted simulated annealing algorithm for a maintenance planning problem
Authors: Kosanoglu Fuat , Atmis Mahir , Turan Hasan Hüseyin
Published: March 2022

Maintenance planning aims to improve the reliability of assets, prevent the occurrence of asset failures, and reduce maintenance costs associated with downtime of assets and maintenance resources (such as spare parts and workforce). Thus, effective maintenance planning is instrumental in ensuring high asset availability with the minimum cost. Nevertheless, to find such optimal planning is a nontrivial task due to the (i) complex and usually nonlinear inter-relationship between different planning decisions (e.g., inventory level and workforce capacity), and (ii) stochastic nature of the system (e.g., random failures of parts installed in assets). To alleviate these challenges, we study a joint maintenance planning problem by considering several decisions simultaneously, including workforce planning, workforce training, and spare parts inventory management. We develop a hybrid solution algorithm ($$\mathcal {DRLSA}$$
DRLSA
) that is a combination of Double Deep Q-Network based Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) and Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithms. In each episode of the proposed algorithm, the best solution found by DRL is delivered to SA to be used as an initial solution, and the best solution of SA is delivered to DRL to be used as the initial state. Different from the traditional SA algorithms where neighborhood structures are selected only randomly, the DRL part of $$\mathcal {DRLSA}$$
DRLSA
learns to choose the best neighborhood structure to use based on experience gained from previous episodes. We compare the performance of the proposed solution algorithm with several well-known meta-heuristic algorithms, including Simulated Annealing, Genetic Algorithm (GA), and Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS). Further, we also develop a Machine Learning (ML) algorithm (i.e., K-Median) as another benchmark in which different properties of spare parts (e.g., failure rates, holding costs, and repair rates) are used as clustering features for the ML algorithm. Our study reveals that the $$\mathcal {DRLSA}$$
DRLSA
finds the optimal solutions for relatively small-size instances, and it has the potential to outperform traditional meta-heuristic and ML algorithms.
Being Silent About the Truth: Narrative Ethics in Mats Wahl’s I ballong över Stilla havet
Authors: Meibauer Jörg , Kümmerling-Meibauer Bettina
Published: March 2022

Lying and deceiving are prominent topics in ethical narration. This has to do with an often absolutist stance against lying that shapes a large part of philosophical, religious, and political discourses. At the same time, lying and deceiving are topics in the field of moral education in which moral values such as honesty, sincerity, and truthfulness are propagated. Bringing these issues together, this article demonstrates how reflection about honesty and autonomy is narrated in Mats Wahl’s young adult novel I ballong över Stilla havet (In a Balloon over the Pacific Ocean). This novel shows that, while lying and deceiving undermine trust and can lead to harmful results, there are ways to fight against the moral destruction. This fight involves not only prosocial (versus mendacious) lying but also acknowledging individual motives for the lying behavior of others. Thus, while hating adults’ lies and deceptive actions as well as learning to lie himself, the male protagonist matures and takes on responsibility for his actions. We contend that this protagonist may constitute a moral exemplar that invites moral learning.
Parameterized verification of leader/follower systems via first-order temporal logic
Authors: Kourtis G. , Dixon C. , Fisher M. , Lisitsa A.
Published: March 2022

We introduce a framework for the verification of protocols involving a distinguished machine (referred to as a leader) orchestrating the operation of an arbitrary number of identical machines (referred to as followers) in a network. At the core of our framework is a high-level formalism capturing the operation of these types of machines together with their network interactions. We show that this formalism automatically translates to a tractable form of first-order temporal logic. Checking whether a protocol specified in our formalism satisfies a desired property (expressible in temporal logic) then amounts to checking whether the protocol’s translation in first-order temporal logic entails that property. Many different types of protocols used in practice, such as cache coherence, atomic commitment, consensus, and synchronization protocols, fit within our framework. First-order temporal logic also facilitates parameterized verification by enabling us to model such protocols abstractly without referring to individual machines.
Interparental Conflict Appraisals and Adolescents’ Maladaptation in Siblings: An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model
Authors: Merino Laura , Herrero Marta , Martínez-Pampliega Ana
Published: March 2022

The aim of this study was to evaluate dyadic effects among siblings by testing an actor–partner interdependence model of associations between interparental conflict perceptions and children maladjustment. In particular, associations between siblings’ perceptions of interparental conflict properties, threat, and self-blame, and general, personal, school, and social maladjustment and adolescents’ family and sibling dissatisfaction were examined. The hypotheses of the study were analyzed through an Actor-Partner Interdependent Model. The sample was made up of 50 pairs of siblings recruited in Spain; older siblings’ mean age was 13.3 years (SD = 2.51) and younger siblings’ mean age was 10.4 years (SD = 2.33). The results emphasize the association between children’s and adolescents’ perception of interparental conflict and their own maladjustment (actor effect). However, the main novel contribution of this study is the analysis of partner effects for siblings in interparental conflict situations and the results highlight that they are greater for older siblings compared to younger siblings. Also, the results confirm the interdependency of siblings’ perceptions of interparental conflict properties, but also the independency of threat and self-blame feelings experienced by each sibling. Results and limitations of the study are discussed.
Mechanical, viscoelastic and gas transport behaviour of rotationally molded polyethylene composites with hard- and soft-wood natural fibres
Authors: Prasad K. , Nikzad M. , Sbarski I.
Published: March 2022

Rotomolded uncompatibilized composites of LLDPE with softwood and hardwood flour dispersed phases are compared and contrasted with respect to their static (tensile, flexural and impact) and dynamic (creep modelling, storage and loss moduli) mechanical properties and transport (oxygen permeability). The static and dynamic mechanical properties are analysed as a function of dispersed phase weight fraction and pre and post ethanol sorption. Vital structural properties such as the equilibrium modulus, Kelvin Voigt modulus, Kelvin Voigt viscosity and relaxation times along with creep compliance trends are analysed. The interfacial porosity generated is then correlated to the overall gas transport using oxygen as the probe molecule. Two models are compared and it is found that the model of Alter which uses overall density as the modelling parameter, is able to predict composite gas permeability with high accuracy. Overall, owing to the uncompatibilized nature, most mechanical properties reduce with wood flour incorporation independent of the type of dispersed phase. However, these properties remain consistent pre and post ethanol sorption as long as the dispersed phase weight fraction is around 5%. This indicates that with some external scaffolding type support structures, the rotomolded composites have potential for use as storage units for liquid materials.

Graphical abstract
Effect of different digestates derived from anaerobic co-digestion of olive mill solid waste (omsw) and various microalgae as fertilizers for the cultivation of ryegrass
Authors: Fernández-Rodríguez M. J. , Palenzuela M. V. , Ballesteros M. , Mancilla-Leytón J. M. , Borja R.
Published: March 2022

Aims

The aim of this work was to evaluate the fertilizing effect of three anaerobic co-digestates on the growth of the herbaceous plant Lolium rigidum.

Methods

Nine treatments, combining different nutritional solutions (organic and inorganic) and number of fertilizations (one or two) were evaluated. Organic nutritive solution: plants grown with different olive mill solid waste (OMSW) -microalgae co-digestates: 75% OMSW-25% Raphidocelis subcapitata, volatile solids (VS) basis (OMSW-Rs); 50% OMSW- 50% Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii, VS basis (OMSW-Chl); and 75% OMSW-25% Secenedesmus quadricauda, VS basis (OMSW-Sq). Inorganic nutritive solution (INS): plants grown with inorganic Hoagland nutrient solution at 50%. After 60 days of experimentation, biometric and nutritional characteristics and photosynthetic activity were measured.

Results

The results showed a favourable growth, development and nutritional quality of L. rigidum plants when digestates obtained from the anaerobic co-digestion of OMSW-microalgae are used as organic nutritional solutions as opposed to INS ones. The highest total biomass of L. rigidum was obtained with the treatments that involved two fertilizations. No inhibition due to excess nutrients was observed. A higher root/shoot ratio was achieved with the digestates of OMSW-Rs and OMSW-Ch as compared to that obtained with OMSW-Sq (F = 17.23 p ≤ 0.001). The nitrogen shoot biomass obtained after the organic treatments with the above-mentioned co-digestates was higher than that obtained after the inorganic treatment. Net photosynthesis rates did not present differences in the co-digestates treatments, being equal or superior to the INS treatments.

Conclusions

The use of the anaerobic co-digestates from OMSW-microalgae can be considered a viable and promising alternative to inorganic fertilization.
Latent structure blockmodels for Bayesian spectral graph clustering
Authors: Sanna Passino Francesco , Heard Nicholas A.
Published: March 2022

Spectral embedding of network adjacency matrices often produces node representations living approximately around low-dimensional submanifold structures. In particular, hidden substructure is expected to arise when the graph is generated from a latent position model. Furthermore, the presence of communities within the network might generate community-specific submanifold structures in the embedding, but this is not explicitly accounted for in most statistical models for networks. In this article, a class of models called latent structure block models (LSBM) is proposed to address such scenarios, allowing for graph clustering when community-specific one-dimensional manifold structure is present. LSBMs focus on a specific class of latent space model, the random dot product graph (RDPG), and assign a latent submanifold to the latent positions of each community. A Bayesian model for the embeddings arising from LSBMs is discussed, and shown to have a good performance on simulated and real-world network data. The model is able to correctly recover the underlying communities living in a one-dimensional manifold, even when the parametric form of the underlying curves is unknown, achieving remarkable results on a variety of real data.
Low-rank tensor reconstruction of concentrated densities with application to Bayesian inversion
Authors: Eigel Martin , Gruhlke Robert , Marschall Manuel
Published: March 2022

This paper presents a novel method for the accurate functional approximation of possibly highly concentrated probability densities. It is based on the combination of several modern techniques such as transport maps and low-rank approximations via a nonintrusive tensor train reconstruction. The central idea is to carry out computations for statistical quantities of interest such as moments based on a convenient representation of a reference density for which accurate numerical methods can be employed. Since the transport from target to reference can usually not be determined exactly, one has to cope with a perturbed reference density due to a numerically approximated transport map. By the introduction of a layered approximation and appropriate coordinate transformations, the problem is split into a set of independent approximations in seperately chosen orthonormal basis functions, combining the notions h- and p-refinement (i.e. “mesh size” and polynomial degree). An efficient low-rank representation of the perturbed reference density is achieved via the Variational Monte Carlo method. This nonintrusive regression technique reconstructs the map in the tensor train format. An a priori convergence analysis with respect to the error terms introduced by the different (deterministic and statistical) approximations in the Hellinger distance and the Kullback–Leibler divergence is derived. Important applications are presented and in particular the context of Bayesian inverse problems is illuminated which is a main motivation for the developed approach. Several numerical examples illustrate the efficacy with densities of different complexity and degrees of perturbation of the transport to the reference density. The (superior) convergence is demonstrated in comparison to Monte Carlo and Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods.
Rescue data as an alternative for assessing trends and phenological changes in two invasive parakeet species
Authors: Ciprari Eleonora , Ancillotto Leonardo , Mori Emiliano , Studer Valentina , Chessa Chiara
Published: March 2022

Monitoring population trends of alien species is pivotal to design effective management plans to preserve native biodiversity, particularly urban areas, where most populations of alien birds are established. Urban wildlife rescue centers, with personnel trained to record species, age and sex of each individual brought by the public, may represent a reliable citizen-science based method to estimate both local changes in alien species phenology and population trends. In this work, we analysed records of monk and ring-necked parakeets by comparing rescue records in the urban area of Rome from the last 15 years. We also tested whether breeding phenology of alien parakeets showed any changes since the start of the invasion processes.

We recorded a strong correlation between the number of rescued parakeets and their population trends, thus confirming the importance of wildlife rescue centers in monitoring populations of alien species in urban areas. We also observed a shift in the breeding phenology of these parakeet species. The hatching peak for ring-necked parakeet occurred in early spring, in line with previous studies on the reproduction of this species, but with a slight increase in the number of months with evidence of breeding in the last years. As to the monk parakeet, our findings support the expansion of its reproductive season between 2006 and 2020 in Rome, with chicks currently being observed for seven months a year. Therefore, data collected through wildlife rescue centers may help improving models of population growth of alien species established in urban areas.
Per aspera ad astra – Eine politikwissenschaftliche Analyse der Akzeptanz des Gendersterns in der deutschen Bevölkerung auf Basis einer Online-Umfrage
Authors: Jäckle Sebastian
Published: March 2022

Dieser Artikel zeigt zunächst allgemein, welche Relevanz das identitätspolitisch aufgeladene Thema Gender in jüngster Zeit in der deutschen Politik gewonnen hat, sowie konkret, wie das Thema der sprachlichen Sichtbarmachung sämtlicher Geschlechter im Wahlkampf zur Bundestagswahl 2021 insbesondere von der AfD aktiv genutzt wurde, indem sie es als „Kulturkampf“ gegen eine fehlgeleitete Ideologie präsentierte. Die Hauptanalyse fokussiert auf die Akzeptanz des Gendersterns. Mehr als 10.000 Befragte eines Online-Surveys konnten, bevor die eigentliche Umfrage startete, auswählen, ob sie den Fragebogen mit Genderstern oder mit generischem Maskulinum präsentiert bekommen wollen. Diese Form der vergleichsweise unbewussten Abfrage der interessierenden Eigenschaft minimiert die Gefahr von Priming-Effekten und sozialer Erwünschtheit. Insgesamt wählten etwa 21 % der Befragten die geschlechtergerechte Version, 75 % die mit generischem Maskulinum (4 % trafen keine Auswahl). Die statistische Analyse zeigt, dass die Bereitschaft, die Variante mit Genderstern zu lesen, eng mit politischen Einstellungsmustern zusammenhängt: Personen, die generell eher staatlichen Eingriffen zustimmen, wählen diese häufiger, genauso wie eher linke und eher ökologisch-alternativ ausgerichtete Menschen. Diese Effekte überlagern auch größtenteils die Unterschiede in Bezug auf die Wahlabsicht. So lässt sich nach Kontrolle auf diese grundlegenden politischen Einstellungen beispielsweise kein Unterschied mehr zwischen Personen mit CDU- und AfD-Wahlabsicht feststellen. Ebenfalls eine höhere Wahrscheinlichkeit die Gendersternvariante zu wählen, haben Frauen, jüngere, höher gebildete und wohlhabendere Befragte sowie Personen aus Großstädten. Die politischen Einstellungseffekte sind allerdings stärker als diese Kontrollfaktoren. Das spricht dafür, dass das Thema Gendern tief liegende identitätspolitische Einstellungsmuster aktiviert und es damit auch in Zukunft ein großes politisches Konfliktpotenzial besitzen wird.
How to Unleash the Remarkable Potential of Cold Spray: A Perspective
Authors: Irissou Eric , Poirier Dominique , Vo Phuong , Cojocaru Cristian V. , Aghasibeig Maniya , Yue Stephen
Published: March 2022

Cold spray is a solid-state, powder-based consolidation technique for deposition of coatings, component repair and near-net-shape additive manufacturing. Its unique attributes have propelled the development and commercialization, yet cold spray has only experienced limited deployment. In fact, cold spray technology could be extended to a considerably broader range of applications and achieve a much higher level of industry adoption by focusing on innovative ways to unlock current roadblocks that prevent it from reaching its full potential. Cold spray R&D efforts have doubled during the last decade and along with new industry applications and novel demands provide both a strong body of knowledge and market pull to identify and address these roadblocks. This paper offers the authors’ perspective on what are the next steps to be taken in cold spray R&D to unleash its remarkable potential.
An update on excess mortality in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany
Authors: De Nicola Giacomo , Kauermann Göran
Published: March 2022

In this short note, we apply the method of De Nicola et al. (2022) to the most recent available data, thereby providing up-to-date estimates of all-cause excess mortality in Germany for 2021. The analysis reveals a preliminary excess mortality of approximately 2.3% for the calendar year considered. The excess is mainly driven by significantly higher excess mortality in the 60-79 age group.
Padded rugby clothing to prevent laceration and abrasion injuries from stud raking: a method of assessment
Authors: Hughes Angus C. , Dixon Joe , Driscoll Heather F. , Booth Jamie , Carré Matt J.
Published: March 2022

Padded clothing (shoulder padding) is worn in Rugby Union to give players an opportunity to protect themselves. A performance specification for padded clothing has been set out by World Rugby™, with the intention that padded clothing only protects against lacerations and abrasions. Test protocols in this specification provide an assessment of the impact force attenuative properties of the material, this itself will not indicate what injuries they may have the potential to prevent or lessen the severity of. The current study has used previously established biomechanical parameters to develop a mechanical test procedure to assess the ability of padded clothing to prevent or lessen the severity of stud-induced laceration and abrasion injuries. A synthetic skin and soft tissue surrogate was developed and validated to mimic human anatomy. Without the addition of padded clothing, both wearing (abrasion) and tearing (laceration) of the synthetic tissue surrogate were seen. The addition of padded clothing saw no sign of stud-induced injury, even after six repeated trials of the same product, showing padded clothing can prevent or lessen the severity of lacerations and abrasions. The developed testing protocols could be used to assess the safety of any sports stud designs in relation to skin injury as well as the effectiveness of various protective clothing products across the sports industry.
The combined effect of water deficit stress and TiO2 nanoparticles on cell membrane and antioxidant enzymes in Helianthus annuus L.
Authors: Ramadan Taha , Sayed Suzan A. , Abd-Elaal Amna K. A. , Amro Ahmed
Published: March 2022

Nanotechnology has become one of the several approaches attempting to ameliorate the severe effect of drought on plant's production and to increase the plants tolerance against water deficit for the water economy. In this research, the effect of foliar application of TiO2, nanoparticles or ordinary TiO2, on Helianthus annuus subjected to different levels of water deficit was studied. Cell membrane injury increased by increasing the level of water deficit and TiO2 concentration, and both types of TiO2 affected the leaves in analogous manner. Ord-TiO2 increased H2O2 generation by 67–240% and lipid peroxidation by 4–67% in leaves. These increases were more than that induced by Nano-TiO2 and the effect was concentration dependent. Proline significantly increased in leaves by water deficit stress, reaching at 25% field capacity (FC) to more than fivefold compared to that in plants grown on full FC. Spraying plants with water significantly decreased the activities of enzymes in the water deficit stressed roots. The water deficit stress exerted the highest magnitude of effect on the changes of cell membrane injury, MDA, proline content, and activities of CAT and GPX. Nano-TiO2 was having the highest effect on contents of H2O2 and GPX activity. In roots, the level of water deficit causes highest effect on enzyme activities, but TiO2 influenced more on the changes of MDA and H2O2 contents. GPX activity increased by 283% in leaves of plants treated with 50 and 150 ppm Nano-TiO2, while increased by 170% in those treated with Ord-TiO2, but APX and CAT activities increased by 17–197%, in average, with Ord-TiO2. This study concluded that Nano-TiO2 didn’t ameliorate the effects of drought stress on H. annuus but additively increased the stress, so its use in nano-phytotechnology mustn’t be expanded without extensive studies.
Mobile time banking on blockchain system development for community elderly care
Authors: Chen Hungyi , Chu Yuan-Chia , Lai Feipei
Published: March 2022

This study aims to develop a mobile time-banking system on blockchain (MTBB), which can track service transaction records for community elderly care via mutual service exchange. The MTBB was developed to enable organizations, either corporate-social-responsibility organizations or nonprofit organizations to issue proprietary time tokens to members who participate in the organizations’ volunteer activities. Database applications with smartphone apps integrated with MultiChain blockchain technology were developed. Metadata with the service transaction information are stored in the MultiChain blocks so that the transaction records are immutable and can be analyzed in the future. Cahn’s time-banking guidelines were applied in developing this MTBB with MultiChain blockchain technology integrated for tracking service transaction records. The study also combines one-to-one mutual service exchange with organizations which offer volunteer activities and issue proprietary time tokens. With the blockchain transaction tracking mechanism, all elderly care service records via or within organizations can be tracked and analyzed to show their alignment with some of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.
Augmented Reality, Augmented Epistemology, and the Real-World Web
Authors: Turner Cody
Published: March 2022

Augmented reality (AR) technologies function to ‘augment’ normal perception by superimposing virtual objects onto an agent’s visual field. The philosophy of augmented reality is a small but growing subfield within the philosophy of technology. Existing work in this subfield includes research on the phenomenology of augmented experiences, the metaphysics of virtual objects, and different ethical issues associated with AR systems, including (but not limited to) issues of privacy, property rights, ownership, trust, and informed consent. This paper addresses some epistemological issues posed by AR systems. I focus on a near-future version of AR technology called the Real-World Web, which promises to radically transform the nature of our relationship to digital information by mixing the virtual with the physical. I argue that the Real-World Web (RWW) threatens to exacerbate three existing epistemic problems in the digital age: the problem of digital distraction, the problem of digital deception, and the problem of digital divergence. The RWW is poised to present new versions of these problems in the form of what I call the augmented attention economy, augmented skepticism, and the problem of other augmented minds. The paper draws on a range of empirical research on AR and offers a phenomenological analysis of virtual objects as perceptual affordances to help ground and guide the speculative nature of the discussion. It also considers a few policy-based and designed-based proposals to mitigate the epistemic threats posed by AR technology.
Portable ultrasound assessment of jugular venous pressure is an accurate method for estimating volaemic status in patients with cardiac disease
Authors: Jenkins Sam , Knowles Patrick , Briffa Norman
Published: March 2022

Purpose

The objective of this study was to determine whether ultrasound-measured jugular venous pressure (U-JVP) could accurately estimate central venous pressure (CVP).

Methods

This prospective, diagnostic, single-centre study was performed at the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit of the Northern General Hospital, Sheffield, UK. Post-cardiac surgery patients were recruited from January to May 2019. The investigators were blinded to the central venous pressure when measuring the jugular venous pressure. U-JVP and direct CVP were measured simultaneously. Measurements were taken whilst the patient was ventilated and then repeated when the patient was extubated, providing non-ventilated readings.

Results

One-hundred and fourteen consecutive participants with a male predominance of 71% and mean age of 65 ± 12 years were included in the analysis. Bland–Altman plots revealed that U-JVP marginally overestimated CVP by 0.91 mmHg (95% limits of agreement were −2.936 to 4.754) in ventilated patients and by 0.11 mmHg (95% limits of agreement between −2.481 and 2.695) in non-ventilated patients. Reasonable sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound-measured jugular venous pressure was achieved for low and high central venous pressure in both ventilated and non-ventilated patients.

Conclusion

U-JVP accurately estimates cardiac filling pressure and fluid status in patients after cardiac surgery, irrespective of their ventilatory status. Jugular venous pressure measurement by insonation is a reliable technique that can be taught to medical students and other health professionals to non-invasively estimate central venous pressure and may be useful for assessment of volaemic status in patients with heart failure.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov public (identifier NCT03815188).

Graphical abstract
Photodynamic treatment of pathogens
Authors: Delcanale Pietro , Abbruzzetti Stefania , Viappiani Cristiano
Published: March 2022

The current viral pandemic has highlighted the compelling need for effective and versatile treatments, that can be quickly tuned to tackle new threats, and are robust against mutations. Development of such treatments is made even more urgent in view of the decreasing effectiveness of current antibiotics, that makes microbial infections the next emerging global threat. Photodynamic effect is one such method. It relies on physical processes proceeding from excited states of particular organic molecules, called photosensitizers, generated upon absorption of visible or near infrared light. The excited states of these molecules, tailored to undergo efficient intersystem crossing, interact with molecular oxygen and generate short lived reactive oxygen species (ROS), mostly singlet oxygen. These species are highly cytotoxic through non-specific oxidation reactions and constitute the basis of the treatment. In spite of the apparent simplicity of the principle, the method still has to face important challenges. For instance, the short lifetime of ROS means that the photosensitizer must reach the target within a few tens nanometers, which requires proper molecular engineering at the nanoscale level. Photoactive nanostructures thus engineered should ideally comprise a functionality that turns the system into a theranostic means, for instance, through introduction of fluorophores suitable for nanoscopy. We discuss the principles of the method and the current molecular strategies that have been and still are being explored in antimicrobial and antiviral photodynamic treatment.
COVID-19, The Rule of Law and Democracy. Analysis of Legal Responses to a Global Health Crisis
Authors: Grogan Joelle
Published: March 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a severe strain on health systems globally, while simultaneously presenting a social, economic, legal, political, and regulatory challenge. Where the efficacy of pandemic laws adopted by governments are a matter of life and death, the urgency with which action needs to be taken during a pandemic creates a law-making environment which incentivises rapid action without scrutiny and the use of power without restraint. Under such conditions, adherence to the foundational values of democracy and the rule of law come under increased pressure if not threat. The demands of emergency provide a convenient guise and means of justification for the use of power which only serves to consolidate power within the executive to the detriment of the separation of powers and weakening of the institutions of liberal democracy. This article provides a preliminary analysis on how the global health crisis has affected the state of democracy and the rule of law. While the specific examples are drawn from across the globe to highlight common trends and concerns, specific highlight is given to the EU and its Member States. It offers an outlook on how to prepare for future emergencies by building on the lessons of the current one.
Grazia, Gabe und Salz
Authors: Mainberger Sabine
Published: March 2022

An der Gabenpraxis traditioneller Gesellschaften, die Marcel Mauss im Essai sur le don (1923-24) untersucht hat, ist die ästhetische Dimension von großer Bedeutung; zu sozial konstitutiven (und politisch wirksamen) Gaben, die v.a. Akte wechselseitiger Anerkennung sind, eignen sich nämlich nur besondere Dinge und Leistungen. Diese werden im Rahmen festlicher Gelegenheiten getauscht. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht den Zusammenhang zwischen Gabe und Ästhetik an einem konkreten Fall der europäischen Vormoderne, an Benvenuto Cellinis Saliera für den französischen König François Ier. In der Renaissance verklammert der Begriff grazia Hofkunst mit höfischem Habitus, Selbstdarstellung der Elite und Inszenierung der Macht. Das hier verhandelte kostbare Objekt und seine Geschichte realisieren grazia in ihrer doppelten Bedeutung als Erscheinung im Kunstwerk und soziopolitische Beziehung; beide verweisen auf die Gabenpraxis und deren symbolische Funktionen, und umgekehrt. Für die Analyse sind Materialität des Gegenstands und Textualität (namentlich Cellinis Autobiographie) gleichermaßen wichtig.
Auf Solidarität muss Solidität folgen
Authors: Busch Berthold , Matthes Jürgen
Published: March 2022

Die Mitgliedstaaten der Europäischen Union (EU) haben sich in den letzten beiden Jahrzehnten in erheblichem Ausmaß solidarisch mit einzelnen Ländern verhalten, die in finanzielle Schwierigkeiten gekommen sind. Solidarität ist keine Einbahnstraße, sie erfordert Gegenseitigkeit. Diese können die Mitgliedstaaten leisten, indem sie auf mehr Solidität in der nationalen Finanz- und Wirtschaftspolitik setzen. Die erste große Solidaritätsaktion reagierte auf die Euro-Schuldenkrise. Trotz wirtschaftspolitischer Fehler und der Tatsache, dass die Krise in dieser Tiefe selbst verursacht war, bewiesen die übrigen EU-Staaten Solidarität. Sie gingen dabei erhebliche finanzielle Risiken für ihre eigenen Steuerzahler ein, indem sie umfassende Unterstützungsmaßnahmen ergriffen und einen Euro-Rettungsfonds etablierten. Solidarisch zeigte sich die EU mit umfangreichen Hilfspaketen auch in der Corona-Pandemie. Auf das erste Corona-Krisenpaket der EU vom Mai 2020 folgte ein als Next Generation EU (NGEU) bezeichnetes Aufbauinstrument. Es umfasst ein Volumen von fast 807 Milliarden Euro. Der größte Teil davon fließt in die Aufbau- und Resilienzfazilität und soll für Investitionen und Reformen in den Mitgliedstaaten der EU eingesetzt werden. Die Auszahlung der Mittel ist an Aufbau- und Resilienzpläne gebunden, die von den Mitgliedstaaten vorgelegt werden müssen und von der Europäischen Kommission bewertet werden. Dass die Länder die Pläne selbst machen und die Europäische Kommission diese nicht vorschreibt, sondern nur prüft, erhöht das sogenannte Ownership und die Umsetzungschancen. Die produktive Nutzung der umfangreichen Hilfsgelder ist als Grundvoraussetzung dafür anzusehen, dass sich die Solidarität auch auf lange Sicht als sinnvoll erweist.
Salinity analysis based on multivariate nonlinear regression for web‐based visualization of oceanic data
Authors: Wu Jian-Heng , Lin Bor-Shen
Published: March 2022

Traditionally, temperature-salinity (T-S) relationship was analysed to indicate the characteristic of water mass, and prediction models based on regression may be built to estimate the salinity in earlier researches. Temperature-salinity characteristic however might change dynamically with respect to the geographic location, season, or water layer, and is quite sensitive to the depth for the same location. It is therefore of interest whether including depth into the regression model could help to improve the prediction accuracy. In this paper, multivariate nonlinear regression is investigated to predict the salinity according to both temperature and depth. Experimental results show that depth is very effective for improving the prediction accuracy, and season-dependent model may achieve better performance than season-independent model. In addition, when the analysis was conducted for 5-year range, it is found the prediction accuracy is significantly higher than the result for all years, which indicates there might exist long-term variation on the characteristics of the water masses. Furthermore, 3D model and visualization scheme were proposed to explore the effect of depth on the temperature-salinity-depth characteristic, and a visualization system was built accordingly. This system may present the T-S curve and 3D Model according to the assigned criteria of season or multi-year range, and allows the user to view the similarity map for the given T-S-D data so as to conduct comparative study of water masses for a wide area of ocean.
Comparative Law
Authors: Siems Mathias
Published: March 2022

Comparative Law offers a thorough grounding in the subject for students and scholars alike, covering essential academic discussions and comparative law methodology. It critically debates both traditional and modern approaches to the discipline and uses examples from a range of jurisdictions to give the reader a truly global perspective. Its contextualised and interdisciplinary approach draws on examples from politics, economics and other social sciences to provide an original contribution to topics of comparative law. This new third edition is fully revised to reflect developments in the scholarship and includes two new chapters, balancing the book's structure between comparative law of the past, present and future. Suitable for students taking courses in comparative law and related fields, this book offers a fresh and cosmopolitan perspective on the subject.
Two-dimensional stability analysis of finite-amplitude interfacial gravity waves in a two-layer fluid
Authors: Murashige Sunao , Choi Wooyoung
Published: March 2022

We explore basic mechanisms for the instability of finite-amplitude interfacial gravity waves through a two-dimensional linear stability analysis of the periodic and irrotational plane motion of the interface between two unbounded homogeneous fluids of different density in the absence of background currents. The flow domains are conformally mapped into two half-planes, where the time-varying interface is always mapped onto the real axis. This unsteady conformal mapping technique with a suitable representation of the interface reduces the linear stability problem to a generalized eigenvalue problem, and allows us to accurately compute the growth rates of unstable disturbances superimposed on steady waves for a wide range of parameters. Numerical results show that the wave-induced Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) instability due to the tangential velocity jump across the interface produced by the steady waves is the major instability mechanism. Any disturbances whose dominant wavenumbers are greater than a critical value grow exponentially. This critical wavenumber that depends on the steady wave steepness and the density ratio can be approximated by a local KH stability analysis, where the spatial variation of the wave-induced currents is neglected. It is shown, however, that the growth rates need to be found numerically with care and the successive collisions of eigenvalues result in the wave-induced KH instability. In addition, the present study extends the previous results for the small-wavenumber instability, such as modulational instability, of relatively small-amplitude steady waves to finite-amplitude ones.
Numerical study on topological change of viscous fingering induced by a phase separation with Korteweg force
Authors: Seya Shoji , Suzuki Ryuta X. , Nagatsu Yuichiro , Ban Takahiko , Mishra Manoranjan
Published: March 2022

We develop coupled evolution equations for viscous fingering (VF) and phase separation in partially miscible systems by combining a simple double-well thermodynamic free energy and Korteweg force with a classical miscible VF model for a binary system. The VF pattern transition into a droplet formation pattern by the spinodal decomposition effect is demonstrated, and the simultaneous increases in the depth of the energy minimum, in the difference in the equilibrium concentrations, and in the Korteweg force, enhance the droplet growth. The pattern's interfacial length increases with the spinodal decomposition effects. These results match the corresponding experimental results.
High-resolution fluid–particle interactions: a machine learning approach
Authors: Davydzenka Tsimur , Tahmasebi Pejman
Published: March 2022

Modelling of fluid–particle interactions is a major area of research in many fields of science and engineering. There are several techniques that allow modelling of such interactions, among which the coupling of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and the discrete element method (DEM) is one of the most convenient solutions due to the balance between accuracy and computational costs. However, the accuracy of this method is largely dependent upon mesh size, where obtaining realistic results always comes with the necessity of using a small mesh and thereby increasing computational intensity. To compensate for the inaccuracies of using a large mesh in such modelling, and still take advantage of rapid computations, we extended the classical modelling by combining it with a machine learning model. We have conducted seven simulations where the first one is a numerical model with a fine mesh (i.e. ground truth) with a very high computational time and accuracy, the next three models are constructed on coarse meshes with considerably less accuracy and computational burden and the last three models are assisted by machine learning, where we can obtain large improvements in terms of observing fine-scale features yet based on a coarse mesh. The results of this study show that there is a great opportunity in machine learning towards improving classical fluid–particle modelling approaches by producing highly accurate models for large-scale systems in a reasonable time.
Hermann Versus Varus at the Battle of Nations in Leipzig (1813): The Reception of the Hermann Myth during and after the Napoleonic Wars in Austria
Authors: Haarmann Daniela
Published: March 2022

The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest between the Germanic Cherusci chieftain Arminius, or Hermann, and the Roman armies under Varus (9 AD) had served as an analogy for German–French hereditary enmity since the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48). This analogy was particularly popular during the Napoleonic Wars as it symbolized the unity, independence, and identity of German lands that were previously united during the Holy Roman Empire (dissolved 1806). Little is known about the reception of the Hermann narrative in the Austrian Hereditary Lands (more or less present-day Austria) of the Habsburg Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Austria, Hermann also served as a symbol of the Austrian lands belonging to the German nation and as an expression of Habsburg hegemony over German lands. This article examines this specific narrative by analyzing its reception in Austrian newspapers, belles lettres, and paintings.
Patterns of childhood maltreatment predict emotion processing and regulation in emerging adulthood
Authors: Warmingham Jennifer M. , Duprey Erinn B. , Handley Elizabeth D. , Rogosch Fred A. , Cicchetti Dante
Published: March 2022

Childhood maltreatment is a potent interpersonal trauma associated with dysregulation of emotional processes relevant to the development of psychopathology. The current study identified prospective links between patterns of maltreatment exposures and dimensions of emotion regulation in emerging adulthood. Participants included 427 individuals (48% Male; 75.9% Black, 10.8% White, 7.5% Hispanic, 6% Other) assessed at two waves. At Wave 1, children (10–12 years) from families eligible for public assistance with and without involvement with Child Protective Services took part in a research summer camp. Patterns of child maltreatment subtype and chronicity (based on coded CPS record data) were used to predict Wave 2 (age 18–24 years) profiles of emotion regulation based on self-report, and affective processing assessed via the Affective Go/No-Go task. Results identified associations between task-based affective processing and self-reported emotion regulation profiles. Further, chronic, multi-subtype childhood maltreatment exposure predicted difficulties with aggregated emotion dysregulation. Exposure to neglect with and without other maltreatment subtypes predicted lower sensitivity to affective words. Nuanced results distinguish multiple patterns of emotion regulation in a sample of emerging adults with high exposure to trauma and socioeconomic stress and suggest that maltreatment disrupts emotional development, resulting in difficulties identifying emotions and coping with emotional distress.
Email Mobilization Messages Suppress Turnout Among Black and Latino Voters: Experimental Evidence From the 2016 General Election
Authors: Rivera Michael U. , Hughes D. Alex , Gell-Redman Micah
Published: March 2022

Email can deliver mobilization messages at considerably lower cost than direct mail. While voters’ email addresses are readily available, experimental work from 2007 to 2012 suggests that email mobilization is ineffective in most contexts. Here, we use public data to reexamine the effectiveness of email mobilization in the 2016 Florida general election. Unsolicited emails sent from a university professor and designed to increase turnout had the opposite effect: emails slightly demobilizing voters. While the overall decrease in turnout amounted to less than 1 percent of the margin of victory in the presidential race in the state, the demobilizing effect was particularly pronounced among minority voters. Compared to voters from the same group who were assigned to control, black voters assigned to receive emails were 2.2 percentage points less likely to turn out, and Latino voters were 1.0 percentage point less likely to turn out. These findings encourage both campaigns and researchers to think critically about the use and study of massive impersonal mobilization methods.
Similar Magnetic Enhancement Mechanisms Between Chinese Loess and Alluvial Sediments From the Teruel Basin, NE Spain, and Paleoclimate Implications
Authors: Gao Peng , Nie Junsheng , Breecker Daniel O. , Gallagher Timothy , Serach Lily , Alonso‐Zarza Ana M.
Published: March 2022

The Pliocene is considered an analog for future climate. Insolation is found the dominant forcing for Asian precipitation over the late Pliocene, evidenced by magnetic enhancement of Chinese loess caused by formation of nanometer‐scale ferrimagnetic grains during pedogenesis corresponding to high precipitation. However, lack of European loess limits understanding of Pliocene European climate. We identified likely similar magnetic enhancement mechanism between Pliocene alluvial sediments from Spain and Chinese loess despite different depositional settings. This provides an opportunity to improve understanding of Pliocene climate in Europe. Spectral analysis shows that European wet‐dry variations during the early Pliocene were forced by insolation and during the late Pliocene by both insolation and ice sheets development. During the Quaternary, in contrast, the forcing was dominantly from high latitude. These results demonstrate the importance of insolation during warm climates and the growing importance of ice sheets with global cooling in controlling Northern Hemisphere precipitation changes.