bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Does the presence of a friend reduce cardiovascular response to stress even over a screen?
Authors: Kambara Ayumi , Mitsuishi Hisashi , Harada Yuki
Published: December 2024

Although meeting close friends through video calls has become common, less is known about its stress-buffering effect. This study aims to examine whether cardiovascular responses to stress are decreased when the presence of a friend on a monitor compared to the presence of a friend in person or alone. Forty-six undergraduate students completed a stress task while in the room with a friend (1) in person (in-person condition), (2) on Zoom (online condition), or (3) alone (alone condition). Blood pressure and heart rate were monitored throughout the experiment. Analyses revealed that diastolic blood pressure after the stress was recovered closer to the pre-stress state under in-person and online conditions than alone condition. However, the study observed no differences across groups regarding self-reported affect. In summary, this result suggests that even the online presence of a friend, as well as in-person friends, may help recover blood pressure to the original state without one’s awareness.
Investigation into the mechanical properties and impact tendency of coal-rock composite structures with peridynamics: A study on predicting the occurrence tendency of dynamic pressure in coal-rock structures
Authors: Dai Jinqiu , Zhao Mingchao , Wang Zhenkang , Gao Han
Published: December 2024

Due to the difficulty in predicting the occurrence of rockburst in deep mining areas,this paper proposes that the use of Peridynamics to analyze the mechanical characteristics of coal-rock composite structures under loading conditions from the perspective of energy, Determine the impact tendency of coal rock composite structures by combining rock elastic deformation energy index (WET) and rock impact energy index (WCF); Use Lammps software to simulate the loading of composite structural materials and compare and verify with experimental results, to more accurately determine the tendency of rockburst occurrence in different coal-rock composite structures.The results indicate that after the specimen reaches the yield stress, the sample exhibits an "X" shaped failure. The coal body has a significant impact on the overall model’s fragmentation, and different combination states and ratios can affect the degree of damage in the coal-rock composite structure. which has important theoretical value for rock mechanics research. The research results can reduce the occurrence of rockburst accidents, the difficulty of mine support, and the cost of mining engineering, as well as improve mine safety levels.
Crip Fatale: Deviance and Dis/Ability in Otto Preminger’s The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
Authors: Mc Evoy Charlie
Published: December 2024

The treatment and reception of female characters in mid-century American cinema has undergone significant scholarly review in previous decades; yet the existence of disabled female characters within film noir remains unacknowledged. Taking as its case study, this essay unravels the construction, fault lines, function, and symbolism of impairment in the history of early cinema and postwar America. It focuses in on the peculiar positioning of Zofia Machine as a disabled femme fatale—an inherent contradiction within the universe of noir cinema. By reconstructing the historic meanings, ideas, and assumptions, embodied in the imagery of disabled womanhood, the present work introduces the novel archetype and narrative of the crip fatale, occupying a space between existing conceptions of hegemonic femininity and corporeal normalcy.
Parasite: The Microcosm of Power Chasm Under the Hypercapitalism Paradigm
Authors: Ma Yixuan
Published: December 2024

Parasite (기생충, 2019), a genre hybrid film by South Korean auteur Bong Joon-Ho, skillfully blends comedy, thriller, and tragedy to depict the stark power differentials between impoverished families and wealthy elites. Serving as a microcosm, the film unveils the entrenched hierarchy perpetuated by hypercapitalism in South Korea, echoing real-life disparities exacerbated since the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Through an analysis of the economic dependency, sociocultural divides, and neocolonialist ideological discrimination depicted in the film, alongside Bong’s filmmaking with inextricable ties to Hollywood capital, this study reveals the pervasive nature of imbalanced power relations. It underscores how hypercapitalism self-replicates and transmits social stratification and structural inequalities to create the next warped generations.
Hybridized and Hyphenated Ethnic American Identity in Rocky IV: The Ordinary Whiteness of the American Action Hero in Reagan-Era Cinema
Authors: Whelan Ciara
Published: December 2024

The emergence of the “European American” in the later years of the twentieth century signified a departure from definitions of American citizenship and subjectivity limited to the racial semantics of homogenous whiteness. This shift in the discourse around ethnic whiteness is inflected in film after the 1960s, and Rocky IV (1985) is an example of ethnic representation in American cinema that sought to redefine the American man as an ethnic white patriarch. The film is specifically a part of the neoconservative wave of anti-communist films in the 1980s that attend to American individualism and the production of heroic and hegemonic white masculinity while reinscribing this hero with ethnicity.
Working Corporate for Hollywood’s Biggest Film Studios: An Interview with Jacquelyn Kim
Authors: de Leon Cecily
Published: December 2024

Jacquelyn Kim has over ten years of experience working in corporate positions for some of the biggest entertainment production studios. She has devoted an incredulous amount of time and effort into the promotion of studio brands and products, working strategically to create unique experiences and excitement among fandoms across the globe. In this interview, Kim relives her time working within the film/television industry, sharing her experiences and challenges of working in corporate for big studios. She also shares her advice for current film students looking to gain traction for a career path within the film industry.
Black Women and the Changing Television Landscape, Lisa M. Anderson (2023)
Authors: Fetterman Taylor , Rammel Celia
Published: December 2024

Review of: Black Women and the Changing Television Landscape, Lisa M. Anderson (2023)

New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 176 pp., ISBN: 9781501393631 (pbk), $22.95
Eight letters to Claudette (2021)
Authors: Johnson Claudette , Himid Lubaina
Published: December 2024

An exchange of letters between artists Lubaina Himid and Claudette Johnson, written over the course of 2021. Himid and Johnson first met in October 1982 at the First National Black Art Convention at Wolverhampton Polytechnic, while studying Theatre Design and Fine Art respectively. In the correspondence, the two discuss their approach to painting and drawing, from formative studies at University to the present, and the use of light and colour in their work. At the time, Johnson was preparing for her solo exhibition of new work Still Here at Hollybush Gardens, London.
‘Vivid word pictures’: The letters of Joan Eardley
Authors: Thompson Susannah
Published: December 2024

Between the 1940s and the 1960s, the painter Joan Eardley (1921–63) was a prolific letter writer, often writing daily to friends, family, lovers and associates. In person, she often appeared diffident, shy and unassuming (particularly in professional contexts), but her private letters, in contrast, reveal an altogether more expressive, witty and erudite character. The critic and artist Cordelia Oliver described her letters as ‘vivid word pictures’, full of evocative visual description and detailed accounts of her creative process. Eardley’s writing often veers on the ekphrastic in her attempts to convey the experience of painting, her use of colour and undaunted efforts to capture the changing weather and light. A portrait of the artist as a young woman, the artist’s letters offer readers an insight into the life of a painter utterly absorbed by and committed to her work in the mid-twentieth century.
Editor’s Introduction
Authors: Felando Cynthia
Published: December 2024

This ‘Editor’s introduction’ notes the interviews and articles published in issue 14.2, all of which address the featured theme: LGBTQ+ films and filmmakers. The interview with Jenni Olson considers her long, multi-hyphenate career in queer cinema as a filmmaker, historian and archivist. The interview with Goran Stolevski focuses on his two award-winning fiction shorts, You Deserve Everything (2015) and Would You Look at Her (2017). The research articles focus on the following: Jenni Olson’s experimental short, Blue Diary; influential post-war avant-garde filmmaker Gregory Markopoulos’s Flowers of Asphalt; the two obscenity trials brought against exhibitors who screened Kenneth Anger’s short films, Fireworks (1947) and Scorpio Rising (1963); the racial and sexual politics of two Canadian shorts, Afronautic Research Lab: Newfoundland (2019) and Welcome to Africville (1999); a short documentary, Playback, that uses archival footage from the late 1980s of a queer nightclub community in Argentina; and the punk avant-garde short filmmaker, Australian Kim Miles.
A conversation with queer film hero Jenni Olson
Authors: Felando Cynthia
Published: December 2024

This article features an interview with the incomparable, award-winning Jenni Olson, whose career as a filmmaker of both shorts and feature-length films, archivist, writer, historian and curator is a testament to her enduring commitment to independent queer film culture and audiences.
Surreal geographies: Gregory Markopoulos’s Flowers of Asphalt
Authors: Singer Robert
Published: December 2024

Gregory J. Markopoulos’s short silent film Flowers of Asphalt is a surrealistic study of a young man’s journey through a revelatory daytime dreamscape, a ‘coming out’, set inside the home, on the streets and at the amusement park. Flowers of Asphalt explores the disengaged realism of a waking dreamer – featuring medium and close-up shots, static images, shot-reverse shots and location footage – as the dreamer awakens into a surreal-inflected fantasy. Markopoulos’s experimental narrative presents a release from proscriptive post-war images of domesticity and normative forms of heterosexual behaviour, emancipating the imagination from clinical impositions of space and time, where sexual ‘others’ may roam.
In the Service of Indoctrination
Authors: Annus Irén
Published: December 2024

The construction of national culture and identity, particularly for a newly established nation, is a complex and multifaceted process, one that by definition requires a scrupulous, circumspect, and thoughtful disposition. The historical weight and scale of such an undertaking demand gravity and seriousness that signify a grand enterprise. This was the cultural context within which genre painting found its way to the US in the early nineteenth century. Genre painting (also referred to as morality painting) in Europe often employed humor to provide social criticism, but in the US it was seen as a quintessential style to portray the American nation as unified and democratic through renderings of the daily life of common people – once portrait and history painting had provided the metanarratives and the pantheon of national heroes upon which this new phase of cultural production evolved. The study investigates the key aspects of the ambivalence between genre painting in the old and the new worlds and the ways in which humor was employed in subtle ways in American genre paintings to illuminate the social norms and expectations associated with the up-and-coming middle-class values cemented at the heart of what emerged as the “proper” American nation.
Negotiating the Voices of ‘Otherness’ in South Africa and the USA: the Function of Humor in Trevor Noah’s Stand-up Comedy on Race
Authors: Zách Lili
Published: December 2024

Comparing Trevor Noah’s stand-up comedy performed in front of South African and US audiences, this paper explores the significance of humor when addressing race relations in the USA and with regard to the system of institutionalized racial segregation known as Apartheid in pre-1994 South Africa. It traces the applicability of John Morreall’s model (2009) to Trevor Noah’s stand-up comedy in relation to the critical, cohesive, and coping functions of humor, originally applied within the context of the Holocaust. While Källstig & Death (2020) discussed the recurring themes of race, disease, and poverty in Noah’s comedy from a postcolonial perspective, this paper proposes to theorize his stand-up comedy by addressing the significance of (American and South African) audiences in the comedian’s assessment of “Otherness” and racial relations. It was Amy Carell (1993) who highlighted the fact that humor did not exist in a vacuum; her Audience-Based Theory of Verbal Humor will be used as the theoretical framework of this paper. Ultimately, by blurring the contrast between tragedy and comedy, the paper applies Morreall’s “positive ethics of humor” and investigates the functions of humor in response to racism in both South Africa and the USA while at the same time assessing the role of audiences to Noah’s performances. In order to emphasize the interconnectedness of humor, psychology, history and politics, the paper traces the uses of laughter in the process of coping with traumatic events that have been associated with politicized racial segregation, hatred, and socio-economic discrimination.
Identity and Humor in Never Have I Ever
Authors: Dolai Ankita
Published: December 2024

Reading the TV series Never Have I Ever (2020-2023) through the lens of dramedy highlights not only the experiences of its tragicomic protagonist, the 15-year-old Indian American protagonist Devi Vishwakumar, but also the humorous portrayal of her ambivalent relationship to her mother Nalini in the context of Indian American diaspora formations. Devi is portrayed as extremely intelligent, yet also as insecure, rebellious and awkward, reflecting a multi-faceted and flawed brown teenage character beyond the common caricature of an Indian immigrant background. The show reveals that her inclination towards Western and American lifestyle does not so much emerge because she rejects her cultural background, but because she is confused about how to navigate her multi-layered identity and carve out her own sense of self. Humor in the show exposes the silliness of perceived stereotypes associated with Indian culture, while at the same time questioning and resisting them through its complex characters. Although, her mother, Nalini represents the conservative and restrictive Indian part of Devi’s identity and forces her to embrace it, Nalini also follows her own desires and rejects certain prescribed norms that come with her role as an Indian mother. This paper analyses how the show’s complex characters and mother-daughter relationship subverts generational stereotypes surrounding diasporic identities and Indian motherhood through the genre elements of dramedy and high school melodrama.
Sisu(datu), the Funny Female Dragon of the Disney Universe
Authors: Tóth Zsófia Anna
Published: December 2024

In the Disney movie Raya and the Last Dragon(2021, hence mentioned asRaya) Sisu(datu) or simply just Sisu, the dragon, is a unique character, as she represents a merger of both the West and the East, constituting a bridge and playing a major role in cultural diplomacy while she is one of the first female Disney characters actively producing humor. The paper reveals what critics have so far thought about humor in Disney in general by highlighting that even if Sisu is not the first positive dragon character in a Western animated film, she stands out as a complex figure. She is sacred with her dragon abilities and magical status while also being sacrilegious with her use of humor and occasional clumsiness at the same time. At the height of the tension between the USA and China (due to the COVID-19 pandemic), this character appeared as a regenerative gesture of cultural diplomacy and a positive point of reference for Asian Americans especially, since Sisu was voiced by Awkwafina. In sum, the paper examines the use of humor in this animated film from various points of view taking account of Asian American identities, Asian and American cultural differences as well as the questions of women’s humor and that of how the Disney Company is currently rethinking its humor strategies.
Educational Design of XR
Authors: Webb Jason
Published: December 2024

This article explores the potential of Extended Reality, or XR, in higher education through experiential and personalized learning. It highlights the importance of designing XR experiences that are accessible and address deeper learning without creating cognitive overload for students. The future integration of artificial intelligence (AI) with XR is discussed to personalize learning further, allowing students to engage with AI facilitators and virtual historical figures for a more dynamic educational experience.
Gallery of Shadows: A Modality Comparison of an Interactive Provenance Research
Authors: Ghellal Sabiha
Published: December 2024

The aim of this research was to investigate the adaptation of the Virtual Reality (VR) museum experience prototype, "Gallery of Shadows," (GoS) an interactive VR installation that allows visitors to assume the role of a provenance researcher. GoS was developed to engage a younger demographic in a state-owned art museum, bringing the important topic of provenance research closer to them. The use of VR in museums poses various hygienic and administrative challenges, including the maintenance of equipment and ensuring a sanitary environment for users. To address these challenges, we adapted the VR experience into a web-based format. The adaptation process involved transitioning the VR experience to a web format, ensuring that key elements such as discovery, inspection, learning, and emotional resonance from the original VR experience were central to this adaptation. Due to COVID-19 isolation at the time, the web experience was evaluated by participants at home using a questionnaire. One evaluation took place as part of an online art history class and the other evaluation was conducted with registered museum members. Our findings indicate that using elements such as discovery, inspection, learning, and emotional resonance to translate the VR experience into a web experience showed promising results. Although the VR experience scored higher in terms of immersion, our alternative digital format effectively conveyed educational content and engaged users when VR was not accessible. Findings revealed that while the VR experience scored higher in the hedonic quality of "stimulation", the web adaptation more effectively conveyed educational content and equally engaged users, highlighting the importance of focusing on designing meaningful museum experiences regardless of the technology used.
Continuing Medical Education Questions: December 2024
Authors: Haddad Fady Georges
Published: December 2024

Article Title: Risk Factors for Inadequate Bowel Preparation in Colonoscopy: A Comprehensive Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Caracterización y medición de la independencia de los reguladores
Authors: Restrepo-Medina Manuel Alberto
Published: December 2024

El artículo explica la evolución que ha tenido la caracterización de la independencia de las autoridades regulatorias, desde la independencia formal o de iure hasta la independencia real o de facto, abordando el distanciamiento de los demás órganos del poder público y de las partes interesadas y la autonomía en el ejercicio de su mandato, para luego exponer los índices que han sido elaborados por los estudios académicos para medir el grado de independencia de las autoridades regulatorias en diferentes sectores y países, y concluir con la elaboración de una propuesta de índice que correlaciona las dimensiones de la independencia de facto identificadas por la OCDE con las variables caracterizadoras de la independencia de iure que han sido abordadas en los análisis académicos precedentes para contar con instrumento de medición que integre las dos dimensiones de la independencia de los reguladores.
Comentario al «motu proprio» del papa Francisco acerca de los límites y modos de la administración ordinaria de los bienes temporales de la Santa Sede
Authors: García-Nieto Barón María
Published: December 2024

Con este comentario pretendemos reflexionar sobre las cuestiones más relevantes del motu proprio sobre los límites y modos de la administración ordinaria de los bienes temporales de la Santa Sede, del 16 de enero de 2024. Es una norma que se enmarca en el contexto de la reforma de la curia romana y de la reforma económica que Francisco está llevando a cabo en su Pontificado. En ella se establecen criterios objetivos que definen los actos de administración extraordinaria de los entes dependientes del Consejo para la Economía. La nueva normativa busca proteger el principio de subsidiariedad, así como promover la flexibilidad, el dinamismo y la transparencia en la gestión de los bienes. Estamos ante una norma breve pero que encierra aspectos novedosos en el ámbito canónico, como es el silencio administrativo positivo.
Ecología integral y bienes comunes. Interconexiones entre historia, magisterio de la Iglesia y derecho
Authors: Rosati Simone
Published: December 2024

El presente trabajo pretende poner en interrelación el magisterio social del papa Francisco sobre la ecología integral y la doctrina civil de los bienes comunes. Se considera que este estudio, realizado a la luz del método histórico-jurídico, puede propiciar un diálogo renovado entre la doctrina civil y la canónica sobre un tema que es por su propia naturaleza interdisciplinar, como la relación del ser humano con el mundo.
Framework for gathering requirements for innovation and IoT projects
Authors: Marchesini Eduardo , Silva João Paulo Nascimento
Published: December 2024

Desenvolvimento de projetos inovadores que envolvem IoT possuem características muito peculiares, dentre elas a necessidade de flexibilidade de requisitos para permitir ajustes ao longo do projeto. Porém ao alterarmos requisitos de projeto durante sua execução naturalmente se faz necessário readequações e isso traz uma exposição aos riscos inerentes as mudanças de requisitos. O objetivo desta pesquisa é propor um framework que permita a coleta dos requisitos de projetos afim de que os envolvidos em sua gestão, desenvolvimento e manutenção saibam de forma atualizada quais são os requisitos do projeto. Para o desenvolvimento desse Framework foi utilizado o método Design Science Research (DSR) o qual permite de forma simplificada readequar esta ferramenta para outras classes de problemas e contextos. O framework após seu desenvolvimento foi avaliado e ajustado, até produzir a versão final que permitiu trazer diversos benefícios dentre eles diminuição de retrabalho, melhor documentação de projeto e maior qualidade de solução final. Estimativas iniciais apontam para uma diminuição de ao menos 30% de retrabalho e 10% de redução de tempo de entrega do produto testado, o qual caso confirmado representará ganhos de tempo e dinheiro expressivos para a companhia.
Kajian Palinologi Famili Asteraceae di Lingkungan Universitas Riau, Pekanbaru, Riau
Authors: Fitria Rahmdani , Sofiyanti Nery
Published: December 2024

Universitas Riau merupakan salah satu daerah penyebaran berbagai tumbuhan, termasuk famili Asteraceae. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengkaji karakter morfologi polen jenis-jenis Asteraceae dari kawasan Universitas Riau Kampus Bina Widya Km 12,5 Simpang Baru, Pekanbaru, Provinsi Riau. Pengambilan sampel di lapangan dilakukan dengan metode eksplorasi. Pembuatan preparat polen menggunakan metode tanpa asetolisis dan asetolisis dan karakter morfologinya diamati menggunakan mikroskop Olympus CX-23. Sebanyak 11 karakter diskor dan dianalisis menggunakan Ntsyst untuk membuat dendrogram. Karakteristik polen jenis-jenis Asteraceae yang diteliti menunjukkan persamaan pada unit polen (monad), tipe polen berdasarkan ukuran (mediae) dan bentuk polen berdasarkan rasio polar ekuatorial yaitu subspheroidal. Tipe apertura yang dijumpai colpus dan porus, dengan tipe polen berdasarkan apertura adalah tricolpate (dua jenis), tricolporate (enam jenis) dan tetracolporate (satu jenis). Ornamentasi eksin pada semua jenis Asteraceae yang diamati yaitu echinate. Hasil analisis kekerabatan jenis-jenis Asteraceae yang diteliti berdasarkan karakter morfologi polen menunjukkan keragaman yang tinggi.  Riau University is one of the areas where various plants are distributed, including the Asteraceae family. The purpose of this study was to study the morphological characters of the pollen of Asteraceae from University of Riau area Kampus Bina Widya Km 12,5 Simpang Baru, Pekanbaru, Riau. Sampling in the field was carried out by the exploratory method. Pollen preparations were prepared using non-acetolysis and acetolysis method and their morphological characters were observed using an Olympus CX-23 microscope. 11 characters were scored and analyzed using Ntsyst to create a dendrogram.The pollen characteristics of the Asteraceae species studied showed similarities in the pollen unit (monad), pollen type based on size (mediae) and pollen shape based on the equatorial polar ratio, namely subspheroidal. The types of apertures found in colpus and porus, with pollen types based on apertures are tricolpate (two species), tricolporate (six species) and tetracolporate (one species). The exine ornamentation of all Asteraceae species observed was echinate. The results of the kinship analysis of the examined Asteraceae species based on pollen morphological characters showed high diversity.
Histopatologi Hepar Tikus (Rattus norvegicus) yang Diinduksi Streptozotocin setelah Pemberian Serbuk Rimpang Kunyit (Curcuma longa L.)
Authors: Tana Silvana , Mujiono Devi Salsabila , Suprihatin Teguh
Published: December 2024

Konsumsi gula berlebihan dapat menyebabkan terjadinya penyakit diabetes melitus yang dapat menimbulkan gangguan hingga kerusakan pada organ hepar. Streptozotocin bekerja selektif merusak sel β pankreas sehingga menyebabkan stres oksidatif dan penurunan kadar insulin darah. Kunyit mengandung senyawa kurkumin yang memiliki mekanisme antioksidan, antiinflamasi, hingga hepatoprotektif. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis pengaruh serbuk kunyit terhadap histopatologi hepar tikus putih jantan setelah diinduksi streptozotocin. Analisis variabel pengamatan meliputi meliputi diameter hepatosit, diameter vena sentralis, bobot hepar, serta indeks hepatosomatik. Tikus pada penelitian ini diinduksi streptozotocin lalu diberi perlakuan selama 30 hari. Metode penelitian yang digunakan yaitu rancangan acak lengkap dengan 4 perlakuan dan masing-masing 5 ulangan yang meliputi P0 (kontrol negatif tanpa pemberian serbuk kunyit), P1 (serbuk kunyit dosis 13,5 mg/ ekor), P2 (serbuk kunyit dosis 27 mg/ ekor), P3 (serbuk kunyit dosis 54 mg/ ekor). Variabel pengamatan dianalisis menggunakan uji ANOVA dan dilanjut uji Duncan. Hasil analisis didapatkan bahwa pemberian serbuk kunyit berpengaruh secara nyata (P<0.05) terhadap diameter hepatosit, namun tidak berpengaruh secara nyata terhadap diameter vena sentralis, bobot hepar, serta indeks hepatosomatik. Kesimpulan dari penelitian ini adalah serbuk kunyit memiliki potensi dalam mempertahankan struktur hepar tikus putih akibat kerusakan yang diinduksi streptozotocin.  Excessive sugar consumption led to diabetes mellitus, which caused health problems that damage the liver. Streptozotocin works selectively to damage pancreatic β cells, causing oxidative stress and decreased blood insulin levels. Turmeric contains curcumin compounds that have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and hepatoprotective mechanisms. This study aimed to analyze the effect of turmeric powder on the hepatic histopathology of white rats after streptozotocin-induced. The rats used in this study were induced streptozotocin and then given treatment for 30 days. This study used a complete randomized design with 4 treatments and 5 replications which included P0 (negative control without turmeric powder), P1 (turmeric powder dose 13.5 mg/ head), P2 (turmeric powder dose 27 mg/ head), P3 (turmeric powder dose 54 mg/ head). Observational variables included hepatocyte diameter, central vein diameter, hepatic weight, and hepatosomatic index were analyzed using the ANOVA test followed by the Duncan’s test. The results showed that the administration of turmeric powder had a significant effect (P<0.05) on hepatocyte diameter, but had no significant effect on central vein diameter, liver weight, and hepatosomatic index. The conclusion of this study was turmeric powder had the potential to maintain the liver structure of white rats due to streptozotocin-induced damage.
Qualitative and Quantitative Detection of Virulence-Associated Genes in Escherichia Coli Isolates from Women with Urinary Tract Infections
Authors: Mahdi Zainab Hussein , Alsaadi Lina S. , Hatem Zainab Amer , Abdalkareem Jasim Saade
Published: December 2024

Escherichia coli is the most common type of Enterobacteriaceae family that causes urinary tract infections. This bacterium causes diseases due to its many virulence factors. During the study, (150) urine samples were collected for women with symptoms of UTIs aged between (20-50) years from 1/9/2021 to 1/4/2022. Forty-five isolates of E. coli were diagnosed using a biochemical test, a VITEK2 system, and molecular detection using traditional PCR. A molecular study was conducted on 25 of these isolates using conventional PCR and qRT-PCR to investigate the presence of genes included (16S rRNA, uidA,  fimA and kpsMTII). The traditional PCR results showed the presence of both 16S rRNA and uidA gene in all 25 isolates of E. coli. In contrast, the results showed that  23 (92%) and 18 (72%) isolates possessed fimA and kpsMTII genes, respectively. Following the extraction of RNA from twenty-five pathogenic isolates of E. coli and ten non-pathogenic isolates, gene expression of fimA and kpsMTII was quantified using quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). The observed fold change indicates a potential overexpression of the KSPMII and FimA genes in uropathogenic E. coli. The expression of the kpsMTII gene showed the highest level of folding with an average of 22.89 in the case of uropathogenic E.coli isolates compared with non-pathogenic isolates (control) with an average of 4.11. While the expression of the fimA gene with the highest level of fold change with an average of 90.52 in the case of uropathogenic E.coli isolates compared with non-pathogenic isolates (control) with an average of 0.94, Significant differences were observed among the isolates, as indicated by P values less than 0.05. This finding demonstrated that qRT-PCR detects genes that were expressed in comparison with traditional PCR. Also, qRT-PCR is a more sensitive and accurate assay than conventional PCR for determining the quantitative prevalence of E. coli in urine samples.
Monitoring the properties of 1,2,4-triazole derivatives for the development of original antimicrobial drugs
Authors: Kucherenko L. I. , Karpenko Yu. V. , Ohloblina M. V. , Zazharskyi V. V. , Bilan M. V. , Kulishenko O. M. , Bushuieva I. V. , Parchenko V. V.
Published: December 2024

Aim. A comprehensive study on the antimicrobial properties of new 1,2,4-triazole derivatives using the tools of in silico and in vitro studies.
Materials and methods. Computer search techniques were used to find a compound with a strong antibacterial activity; in silico molecular docking (receptors for class A (PDB id: 1n9b) and class A SHV-1 (PDB id: 2zd8) beta-lactamase) and in vitro studies on 16 types of microorganisms. Then, the in silico analyzed compounds were tested in vitro for antimicrobial activity. After preparing solutions of different concentrations, the culture growth was measured on a zonal scale for detecting sizes of microbial growth inhibition zones after 24 hours (Antibiotic Zone Scale-C, model RW297, India) and a TpsDig2 software (2016, F. James Rohlf). Statistical analysis of the study results was carried out using the Statistica 13 software (StatSoft Inc., USA).
Results. From the results of molecular docking, a strong binding affinity to class A enzymes has been found in compounds 2, 7, so they could be effective in the treatment of infection caused by K. pneumoniae. The ascending order of the predicted binding affinity through the calculated score for TEM and SHV enzymes was as follows: compound 4 < compound 3 < compound 1 < compound 7 < compound 2. According to our results, the studied chemical compounds 1–4, 7 inhibited the growth of many microbial species of the Enterobacteriaceae, Morganellaceae, Pseudomonadaceae, Enterococcaceae, Staphylococcaceae and Bacillaceae families.
Conclusions. For the first time, studies on the complex inhibitory effect of chemical compounds 1–4, 7 were conducted using 16 bacterial strains. Evident antibacterial effects of the studied compounds have been established: compound 1 against 13, compound 2 – 9, compound 3 – 10, compound 4 – 7, compound 7 – 10 out of 16 tested polyresistant bacterial strains.
Analysis of long-term outcomes after surgical treatment of patients with complicated forms of colon cancer
Authors: Kubrak M. A. , Zavhorodnii S. M. , Danyliuk M. B.
Published: December 2024

The aim of the study. To evaluate long-term outcomes in patients who underwent surgery due to complications of colon cancer in a general surgical hospital.
Materials and methods. The study group included 71 (100 %) patients with complicated forms of colon cancer. Radical surgical interventions were performed in 48 (67.6 %) patients, palliative cytoreductive operations – in 18 (25.4 %) hospitalized patients, symptomatic – in 5 (7.0 %) patients.
Results. In the postoperative period, only 37 (58.7 %) patients sought help from an oncologist at the third level of medical care. The remaining 26 (41.3 %) patients refused to consult an oncologist and specific treatments for whatever reason.
Conclusions. Of the 37 (58.7 %) operated patients who sought oncological care, a chemotherapy course was initiated for 19 (51.4 %), dynamic follow-up without specific treatments was recommended for 7 (18.9 %) patients and symptomatic treatments according to the standards of palliative medical care – for 9 (24.3 %). During the follow-up period, among 43 (68.3 %) patients with non-metastatic cancer, 6 (14.0 %) of the operated patients had local recurrences, 8 (18.6 %) – regional, and 12 (27.9 %) – distant ones. In 17 (39.5 %) patients, no findings on recurrent colon cancer were revealed. Cumulative 1-year and 3-year survival rates in this category of patients were 56.3 ± 5.9 % and 38.0 ± 5.8 %, respectively.
417Cross-border Mobility of Insolvent Companies Within the European Union
Authors: Mastrullo Thomas
Published: December 2024

Insolvent companies that meet the conditions of Article 54 of the TFEU and have access to the right of establishment provided for by Article 49 of the TFEU can, in principle, move freely within the European area. However, the cross-border mobility of insolvent companies presents a risk of abuse or fraud and may be detrimental to the rights of third parties. Therefore, the law on insolvency proceedings intervenes to provide a framework for this cross-border mobility by combating forum shopping and law shopping, while protecting local interests by means of private international law rules as well as substantive rules.
The teaching design and implementation of “Helicobacter pylori” in medical microbiology
Authors: Liu Chang , He Ping , Lu Hong , Sun Yundong , Zhang Zhuoyang , Dong Ke
Published: December 2024

Background

Medical microbiology represents a fundamental core curriculum for medical students. In order to adapt to the cultivation of high-level medical talents under the guidance of the concept of holistic education, the focus of this course is on the development of scientific thinking and professionalism. This paper took the example of Helicobacter pylori, an important pathogen in the digestive system, addressing the teaching design of this chapter in medical microbiology.

Teaching design

The design of this chapter includes learning objectives, teaching content, teaching model and assessment. The learning objectives were designed under the outcome-based education philosophy, integrating the three dimensions of attitude, skill and knowledge. The content of this chapter is designed to integrate a number of key concepts, including systematic thinking, critical thinking, the One Health perspective, and the mission and responsibility of infectious disease prevention and control. Question-oriented online-and-offline blended teaching model was adopted, and a multi-objective assessment system was applied.

Implementation

A series of questions were designed before, during, and after the class. These questions served as the primary focus of learning, guiding students through various teaching activities, including online self-study, offline discussion and analysis, and online extended learning. Concurrently, the evaluation is integrated throughout the teaching process, with particular emphasis on formative and process evaluations.

Conclusions

This teaching design facilitated the achievement of learning objectives and optimized the teaching effect. The students’ self-assessment of their overall improvement in knowledge, skills and attitude, as well as their high level of satisfaction with the classroom environment, is presented herewith. The teaching design of this chapter has a particular demonstrative effect.
“La ficción de un hombre dolido”: desencuentros paternofiliales en la escritura autobiográfica de Manuel Vilas
Authors: Venzon Ruben
Published: December 2024

En la producción literaria de Manuel Vilas existe una vertiente autobiográfica que, si bien culmina en Ordesa (2018) y continúa en Alegría (2019), tiene precedentes en su narrativa y obra poética previas, donde también se alude a vivencias reales del escritor. El núcleo temático de este filón no ficcional, que aborda sobre todo el dolor por la muerte de los padres, deriva hacia el examen personal de las relaciones paternofiliales del autor en calidad de hijo y, a su vez, como padre. A partir de la concepción psicoanalítica del duelo, este artículo estudia las dinámicas familiares más sintomáticas relatadas por Vilas, con el objetivo de demostrar cómo la literaturización de experiencias traumáticas le permite figurar mediante la escritura una reconciliación íntima con sus seres queridos.
“El caserío no se divide. De ningún modo”: disrupción de la familia tradicional y del matriarcado vasco en Amama (2015), de Asier Altuna, y Basa (2021), de Miren Amuriza
Authors: Martínez Deyros María
Published: December 2024

En este estudio se analizará cómo Asier Altuna y Miren Amuriza plantean una reflexión desde el arte de las consecuencias derivadas de la disrupción del sistema familiar tradicional vasco. Aunque adoptan puntos de vista diferentes, ambos coinciden en focalizar la problemática en el vínculo material y simbólico que el caserío mantiene, en especial, con las mujeres del grupo doméstico. De esta forma, las dos obras nos llevan a reconsiderar la noción de matriarcado, tan difundida en el imaginario de algunas zonas rurales del País Vasco.
How Much is Enough? Full Compensation and the Standardisation of Non-Pecuniary Damages
Authors: Parziale Andrea
Published: December 2024

The tort or civil liability system plays an important role in the global economic landscape, affecting the lives of individuals and organisations by requiring transfers of money to injured persons as damages. Rooted in the principle of full compensation, the objective is to make injured persons whole again. However, quantifying non-pecuniary damages, the aim of which is the compensation of non-economic losses, presents significant challenges due to their lack of market prices. Consequently, various approaches have emerged, proposing different degrees of admixture of formalised guidance for adjudicators and room for discretion. Drawing also on qualitative interviews with adjudicators from Belgium, Ireland, Italy, and Sweden, this article argues for the standardisation of non-pecuniary damages, contending that they can promote horizontal and vertical equity in awards more effectively than more discretionary approaches. Potential objections to the standardisation of damages that may question its desirability (regarding human dignity, judicial independence, and the role of lobbies) are also discussed. Finally, the argument is made that, even if it became technically possible to accurately measure the actual amount of money that is needed to make an individual injured person feel that they have been made whole again, the standardisation of damages would still be preferable over perfect personalisation for principled reasons related to the rule of law and human dignity.
Clinical Negligence in an Age of Machine Learning: res ipsa loquitur to the Rescue?
Authors: Bartlett Benjamin
Published: December 2024

Advanced artificial intelligence (AI) techniques such as ‘deep learning’ holds promise in healthcare but introduces novel legal problems. Complex machine learning algorithms are intrinsically opaque, and the autonomous nature of systems can produce unexpected harms, which leaves open questions around responsibility for error at the clinician/AI interface. This raises concerns for compensation systems based in negligence because claimants must establish that a duty exists and demonstrate the specific fault that caused harm.This paper argues that clinicians should not ordinarily be negligent for following AI recommendations, and developers are unlikely to hold a duty of care to patients. The healthcare provider is likely to be the duty holder for AI systems. There are practical and conceptual problems with comparing AI errors to human performance or other AI systems to determine negligence. This could leave claimants with unsurmountable technical and legal challenges to obtaining compensation. Res ipsa loquitur could solve these problems by allowing the courts to draw an inference of negligence when unexpected harm occurs that would not ordinarily happen without negligence. This legal framework is potentially well-suited to addressing the challenges of AI systems. However, I argue res ipsa loquitur is primarily an instrument of discretion, which may perpetuate legal uncertainty and still leave some claimants without a remedy.
Engaging with spaces of linguistic partial understanding in multilingual linguistic ethnography
Authors: Reynolds Judith , Holmes Prue
Published: December 2024

This paper gives an account of the impact of spaces of linguistic non-understanding and spaces of linguistic partial understanding in the first author’s linguistic ethnographic doctoral study of lawyer-client communication within UK immigration legal advice meetings. The paper uses the researching multilingually framework as a lens for exploring how the researcher’s positionality as a native speaker of English, an elementary-level learner of Arabic, and a non-speaker of other languages she encountered were material to the research process. Data in the form of researcher reflections, notes and records made about the impact of language(s) at different stages of the project is drawn on to examine the role of linguistic support – in the form of input from translators – at each stage, and the exercise of linguistic reflexivity in relation to this dimension of the research. The paper argues for the need, when doing ethnographic research in contexts of linguistic unpredictability, to be reflexive about the literacy practices and language ideologies of people involved in linguistic support, since these are also part of the language ecology that shapes the process of knowledge production. Thus, linguistic reflexivity is part of a practice of epistemological accountability in multilingual linguistic ethnography.
Citas bíblicas en el prólogo del Libro de buen amor: observaciones críticas y literarias
Authors: Cilleruelo Álvaro Cancela
Published: December 2024

This paper examines some Biblical quotations found in the preface to Archprest of Hita’s Libro de buen amor (fourteenth century). This short prose text is transmitted in an early fifteenth-century codex unicus: Salamanca, Univ. Library, 2663. As for critical issues, I argue that redis (Ps 61, 13) and equs (Ps 31, 9) should not be corrected to read reddes and equus, as has been customary among almost all editors. Besides, in Ecclo 15, 1 the manuscript does not read Dominum, but Deum, which should be kept as well. On the contrary, illi (Ps 21, 31), viam (Ps 118, 30), probably also juxta (Ps 61, 13), as well as the restoration of Job 14, 1 are right conjectures. After or within quotations in Latin, the Tironian et should be transcribed as et, not e[t]. As for literary matters, certain Biblical quotations allow us to identify new Latin sources which were used by the Archprest, including Hildebert of Lavardin († 1133) and Bernard of Clairvaux († 1153). They also suggest that at least certain Biblical verses were not directly quoted by the Archprest from the Vulgate: he rather borrowed them from Patristic and Medieval Latin authors. This indirect procedure clarifies the striking confusion between the books of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus: the error was probably inherited from an intermediate source.
Nota a cicotrico (LEI 14,90)
Authors: Telve Stefano
Published: December 2024

The authors of the article cicātrīx in the Lessico Etimologico Italiano (LEI) state that the formation of the term cicotrico (ib. 14,90) is not entirely clear. Based on the original textual source, our brief note demonstrates that the word resulted from an incorrect segmentation of the noun cicotriconizatoria.
Il nuovo manoscritto veglioto dalla Biblioteca Civica di Trieste
Authors: Paškvan Nina Spicijarić , Šinkec Kristjan
Published: December 2024

In 2019, a previously unknown Vegliote manuscript written by Marcantonio Impastari was discovered by chance in the Biblioteca Civica in Trieste. The manuscript was composed between 1892 and 1897 and mainly consists of already known linguistic material, primarily that published by Antonio Ive in the article L’antico dialetto di Veglia (1886). In addition, it also contains new material and/or variations of already known materials, as well as a list edited by Impastari of presumed Vegliotisms in the Venetian dialect of the island of Veglia (modern Krk in Croatia). Since Impastari not only copied Ive’s article but also included unknown material in his manuscript, the present contribution provides, in addition to a critical publication of the manuscript, also an analysis of his method of processing his sources. At the same time, using the etymological method, the presumed Vegliotisms in the Venetian dialect of Veglia are examined. The manuscript is undoubtedly of utmost interest to Vegliote language studies.
Repercusiones y desafíos del confinamiento por la covid-19 en profesoras de secundaria
Authors: Herrera Mijangos Santos Noé , Villegas Ramos Joanna , Cazares Palacios Itzia María
Published: December 2024

Esta investigación se sustenta en la etnografía educativa y análisis institucional. Profundiza en lo que vivieron algunas profesoras durante la pandemia y obligó a modificar su cotidianidad. El objetivo fue develar las repercusiones y desafíos biopsicosociales de las profesoras durante el confinamiento, así como la adaptación a su práctica docente. La investigación es cualitativa con diseño no experimental. A través del método biográfico, se buscó captar el conocimiento auténtico de tres profesoras del estado de Jalisco, México para indagar sobre su experiencia docente durante la pandemia. En los resultados se evidenció que, durante la pandemia, las profesoras realizaron ajustes emergentes a los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje y pudieron resolver los problemas inmediatos relacionados a su labor docente, aunque su estado biopsicosocial fue complicado.