bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Modular intervention to improve paternal involvement and support for better infant and young child feeding in a district of coastal South India: a randomized controlled trial protocol
Authors: Mithra Prasanna , Unnikrishnan Bhaskaran , Thapar Rekha , Kumar Nithin , Holla Ramesh , Rathi Priya
Published: February 2021

Background: The major determinant to the well-being of infants and young children (IYC) is their feeding practices. These practices are the responsibility of both parents, meaning that fathers have an equal role to mothers. Fathers’ involvement can have an impact on the overall health of the children. Despite this, paternal involvement towards IYC feeding (IYCF) have not been studied adequately.

Methods: This randomized control trial (n=120) will be conducted among fathers of infants (children aged <1 year) and young children (children aged 12-23 months) in selected households in Dakshina Kannada District of the southern Indian State of Karnataka. The study will be conducted after an initial baseline assessment on awareness, attitude and involvement of fathers in IYCF. Fathers with scores less than the 50th percentile in the practice component will be categorized as fathers with poor involvement and will be potential participants for the trial. A visual module will be developed and validated for improving paternal involvement in IYCF. Using a simple randomization technique, the participants will be allocated to modular intervention and control group (1:1 allocation). Each participant in the intervention arm will be visited once a month to implement the module, for six months on a one-to-one basis. Following the intervention, a post-test assessment will be done for both groups to measure the level of paternal involvement in IYCF.

Ethics and dissemination: Approval has been obtained from the Institutional Ethics Committee of Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, India. The dissemination plans include scientific conferences and publication in scientific journals.

Registration: The study is registered with Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI/2017/06/008936).
Lockdown and adolescent mental health: reflections from a child and adolescent psychotherapist
Authors: Catty Jocelyn
Published: February 2021

The author, a child and adolescent psychoanalytic psychotherapist working in the UK NHS, discusses the varied impacts of ‘lockdown’ on adolescents, their parents and the psychotherapists who work with them, during the COVID-19 pandemic, in this short observational paper that contributes to the Waiting in Pandemic Times Wellcome Collection in response to COVID-19. She asks, particularly, how psychological therapies are positioned during such a crisis, and whether the pressures of triage and emergency can leave time and space for sustained emotional and psychological care. She wonders how psychoanalytic time with its containing rhythm can be held onto in the face of the need for triage on the one hand and the flight to online and telephone delivery on the other. Above all, the author questions how the apparent suspension of time during lockdown is belied by the onward pressure of adolescent time, and how this can be understood by, and alongside, troubled adolescents.
AntiRetroviral Therapy In Second-line: investigating Tenofovir-lamivudine-dolutegravir (ARTIST): protocol for a randomised controlled trial
Authors: Zhao Ying , Keene Claire , Griesel Rulan , Sayed Kaneez , Gcwabe Zimasa , Jackson Amanda , Ngwenya Olina , Schutz Charlotte , Goliath Rene , Cassidy Tali , Goemaere Eric , Hill Andrew , Maartens Gary , Meintjes Graeme
Published: February 2021

Background: Dolutegravir has superior efficacy and tolerability than lopinavir-ritonavir in second-line antiretroviral therapy after failure of a first-line non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors-based regimen, when dolutegravir is accompanied by at least one fully active nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI). Resistance testing to select NRTIs is not feasible in low- and middle-income countries due to cost and limited laboratory capacity. Evidence suggests that recycling tenofovir plus lamivudine or emtricitabine backbone with dolutegravir could provide an effective second-line option. This study aims to determine the virologic efficacy of tenofovir-lamivudine-dolutegravir (TLD) with and without a lead-in supplementary dose of dolutegravir (to counteract the inducing effect of efavirenz) in patients failing a first-line regimen of tenofovir-emtricitabine-efavirenz (TEE).

Methods: We will perform a parallel group, randomised (1:1), double blind, placebo-controlled, Phase II trial, comparing TLD fixed dose combination daily with a lead-in supplementary 50 mg dolutegravir dose versus matching placebo taken 12 hours later for the first 14 days, in patients failing a first-line TEE regimen. The trial will be set in two primary care clinics in Khayelitsha; a large, peri-urban informal settlement in Cape Town, South Africa. We will enrol 130 participants, with follow-up to 48 weeks. The primary endpoint is proportion achieving viral load <50 copies/mL at week 24 using a modified intention-to-treat analysis and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration snapshot algorithm. Secondary endpoints include virologic suppression at weeks 12 and 48, time to suppression, emergence of dolutegravir and new NRTI resistance mutations, safety, and tolerability.

Discussion: Impaired viral fitness due to NRTI resistance mutations and dolutegravir’s high barrier to resistance provide rationale for switching patients from a failing TEE regimen to TLD; however, clinical evidence regarding virologic efficacy is lacking. This study provides estimates of such a strategy’s early virologic efficacy with and without a supplementary dolutegravir dosing.

Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03991013 (19/06/2019).
¿Se encuentra la obligación internacional de rescate en declive ante las políticas estatales de “puertos cerrados”?
Authors: Hellman Jacqueline
Published: February 2021

Carola Rackete fue arrestada el pasado verano tras atracar su embarcación, Sea-Watch3, en la isla de Lampedusa con más de cuarenta refugiados a bordo. Si bien, finalmente, la justicia italiana desestimó a los pocos días la mayoría de los cargos que la Fiscalía le había imputado, resulta de interés traer a colación los referidos hechos, así como otros muy similares en la medida en que están suscitando un profundo debate en torno al alcance que tiene la obligación internacional de rescate a la luz de estrategias domésticas adoptadas con el objetivo de impedir el desembarco de personas rescatadas. Analizaremos, pues, la regulación internacional aplicable para determinar su eficacia y concluir de qué manera deben proceder los Estados a la hora de procurar un cumplimiento íntegro de la citada obligación.
Afectación de los derechos colectivos y de la seguridad alimentaria en el fallo de la Corte Internacional de Justicia caso Nicaragua c. Colombia
Authors: Bocanegra Maria Andrea , Insignares Cera Silvana
Published: February 2021

El presente artículo aborda el estado de los derechos colectivos y de la Seguridad Alimentaria del Pueblo raizal miskitos, afectados por el fallo de la Corte Internacional de Justicia caso Nicaragua vs. Colombia, que de manera directa restringe sus derechos ancestrales de pesca lo que pone en riesgo para ellos el acceso, la disponibilidad y permanencia del recurso pesquero.  Para ello se desarrollará i. la Seguridad Alimentaria como derecho y obligación en el derecho internacional. ii. el Caso Nicaragua vs. Colombia iii. la afectación de los derechos colectivos y la seguridad alimentaria de los Raizales en San Andrés. iv. consecuencias desde el escenario internacional y v. conclusión sobre si la Corte Internacional de Justicia debe tener en cuenta los derechos sociales, económicos y culturales, así como los derechos colectivos para tomar decisiones de fondo en disputas territoriales donde resulten vulnerados derechos consuetudinarios de grupos poblacionales de especial protección
Robust Capacity Planning for Project Management
Authors: Conejo Antonio J. , Hall Nicholas G. , Long Daniel Zhuoyu , Zhang Runhao
Published: February 2021

We consider a significant problem that arises in the planning of many projects. Project companies often use outsourced providers that require capacity reservations that must be contracted before task durations are realized. We model these decisions for a company that, given partially characterized distributional information, assumes the worst-case distribution for task durations. Once task durations are realized, the project company makes decisions about fast tracking and outsourced crashing, to minimize the total capacity reservation, fast tracking, crashing, and makespan penalty costs. We model the company’s objective using the target-based measure of minimizing an underperformance riskiness index. We allow for correlation in task performance, and for piecewise linear costs of crashing and makespan penalties. An optimal solution of the discrete, nonlinear model is possible for small to medium size projects. We compare the performance of our model against the best available benchmarks from the robust optimization literature, and show that it provides lower risk and greater robustness to distributional information. Our work thus enables more effective risk minimization in projects, and provides insights about how to make more robust capacity reservation decisions.

Summary of Contribution: This work studies a financially significant planning problem that arises in project management. Companies that face uncertainties in project execution may need to reserve capacity with outsourced providers. Given that decision, they further need to plan their operational decisions to protect against a bad outcome. We model and solve this problem via adjustable distributionally robust optimization. While this problem involves two-stage decision making, which is computationally challenging in general, we develop a computationally efficient algorithm to find the exact optimal solution for instances of practical size.
News-Induced Dynamic Networks for Market Signaling: Understanding the Impact of News on Firm Equity Value
Authors: Chen Kun , Li Xin , Luo Peng , Zhao J. Leon
Published: February 2021

Public news provides rich information about firm operations and market dynamics. Learning about firm interactions from news is commonly done by human investors but has not been realized by automatic methods, leading to a research opportunity in market signaling via dynamic firm relations. This study proposes a new text-mining approach to extract cobenefit/counter-benefit networks based on firms’ mutual or conflicting interests in business events. It reveals that the extracted dynamic networks provide additional value in predicting firm equity value over current adopted supply chain and coindustry networks, after controlling for market activities and other traditional indicators from news, such as volume, sentiment, and comentions. In practice, such cobenefit/counter-benefit networks provide good buy and sell signals, which enrich known indicators and support more complex trading strategies in investment and portfolio management. The analysis and visualization of the extracted cobenefit/counter-benefit networks are also useful in understanding the structure of the economy and assessing firm/industry changes in a timelier fashion.
Follow My Lead: Assertive Cheap Talk and the Gender Gap
Authors: Manian Shanthi , Sheth Ketki
Published: February 2021

A person’s success often depends on whether others believe what they say. Growing evidence suggests that people are less likely to believe statements made by women rather than men. We consider whether assertive cheap talk, an important and widely used tool for increasing credibility, is a mechanism for this gender gap. If women face negative returns to assertive cheap talk, then they have less access to an effective tool for increasing their credibility. We provide evidence using a laboratory experiment and an online replication, both with real stakes, in an advice-following setting. We study whether assertive cheap talk affects advice following, whether subjects discriminate based on advisor gender, and whether there are differential returns to assertive cheap talk by gender. Subjects were randomly assigned to an unseen male or female team leader who were otherwise identical and to different types of prescripted, increasingly assertive written communication from the leader. Assertive language significantly increased advice following, but we find no evidence for gender discrimination. We also find that assertive language had positive returns for both male and female leaders, despite subjects perceiving this language as more masculine. However, female subjects were still less likely to choose the self-promotional language. Thus, even in the absence of discrimination, this choice would reduce adherence to advice provided by women, generating a gender gap. Greater use of assertive language could be an effective strategy for women to increase their influence and credibility in the labor market.

This paper was accepted by Yan Chen, decision analysis.
Social Learning and Solar Photovoltaic Adoption
Authors: Gillingham Kenneth T. , Bollinger Bryan
Published: February 2021

Growing literature points to the effectiveness of leveraging social interactions and nudges to spur adoption of prosocial behaviors. This study investigates a large-scale behavioral intervention designed to actively leverage social learning and peer interactions to encourage adoption of residential solar photovoltaic systems. Municipalities choose a solar installer offering group pricing and undertake an informational campaign driven by volunteer ambassadors. We find a causal treatment effect of 37 installations per municipality from the campaigns and no evidence of harvesting or persistence. The intervention also lowers installation prices. Randomized controlled trials based on the intervention show that selection into the program is important, whereas group pricing is not. Our results suggest that the program provided economies of scale and lowered consumer acquisition costs, leading to low-cost emission reductions.

This paper was accepted by Matthew Shum, marketing.
A Framework for Analyzing Influencer Marketing in Social Networks: Selection and Scheduling of Influencers
Authors: Mallipeddi Rakesh R. , Kumar Subodha , Sriskandarajah Chelliah , Zhu Yunxia
Published: February 2021

Explosive growth in the number of users on various social media platforms has transformed the way firms strategize their marketing activities. To take advantage of the vast size of social networks, firms have now turned their attention to influencer marketing wherein they employ independent influencers to promote their products on social media platforms. Despite the recent growth in influencer marketing, the problem of network seeding (i.e., identification of influencers to optimally post a firm’s message or advertisement) neither has been rigorously studied in the academic literature nor has been carefully addressed in practice. We develop a data-driven optimization framework to help a firm successfully conduct (i) short-horizon and (ii) long-horizon influencer marketing campaigns, for which two models are developed, respectively, to maximize the firm’s benefit. The models are based on the interactions with marketers, observation of firms’ message placements on social media, and model parameters estimated via empirical analysis performed on data from Twitter. Our empirical analysis discovers the effects of collective influence of multiple influencers and finds two important parameters to be included in the models, namely, multiple exposure effect and forgetting effect. For the short-horizon campaign, we develop an optimization model to select influencers and present structural properties for the model. Using these properties, we develop a mathematical programming based polynomial time procedure to provide near-optimal solutions. For the long-horizon problem, we develop an efficient solution procedure to simultaneously select influencers and schedule their message postings over a planning horizon. We demonstrate the superiority of our solution strategies for both short- and long-horizon problems against multiple benchmark methods used in practice. Finally, we present several managerially relevant insights for firms in the influencer marketing context.

This paper was accepted by J. George Shanthikumar, big data analytics.
Preoperative education: making every contact count
Authors: Fecher-Jones Imogen
Published: February 2021

Patient education is an important part of obtaining informed consent, but can also be used to educate patients about how to prepare for surgery and help them take responsibility for improving their own health to reduce their risk of perioperative complications.
LAS CURVAS DEL DEBILITADO CAMINO DEMOCRÁTICO TUPINIQUIN: ALTIBAJOS DE LA RECIENTE HISTORIA DE LA DEMOCRACIA EN BRASIL
Authors: Santos Brunetto César
Published: February 2021

Los procesos políticos involucrados en la sociedad brasileña desde la constitución de la República en 1889 están marcados por crisis, inestabilidades discontinuidades, golpes y violaciones. Desde entonces, el período democrático representa no más que un tercio de todo el período republicano, entre idas y venidas de los 43 presidentes oficiales que el país tuvo desde 1889, menos de la mitad de ellos elegidos a través del voto directo. Contextualizar históricamente las etapas del desarrollo político en el país es condición para facilitar el análisis del período actual, es por eso, que a lo largo de este artículo se presentarán brevemente y en cinco apartados los momentos principales y hechos históricos de la República de Brasil. Se destacará el momento histórico conocido como la "Nueva República", el cual, es el período en el que se inicia la redemocratización de Brasil después de más de veinte años de dictadura militar, realizado a través de la elección indirecta a la presidencia del país en 1985, hasta la reciente elección presidencial de 2018.
EL FEMICIDIO EN ARGENTINA (2014-2017): UN ANÁLISIS DESDE LA CRIMINOLOGÍA CAUTELAR
Authors: Pineda G. Esther
Published: February 2021

El artículo hace un recorrido por el tradicional abordaje criminológico de los procesos de victimización de las mujeres hasta la emergencia del femicidio como categoría de análisis fenomenológico y penal. Se abordan el proceso de tipificación del delito de femicidio en América Latina y en Argentina, el empleo de las técnicas de neutralización por parte de los distintos actores e instituciones sociales ante la ocurrencia del referido crimen, y la necesidad de un análisis desde la criminología cautelar del femicidio en la sociedad argentina, con base en las estadísticas del Registro Nacional de Femicidios correspondiente a los años 2014 a 2017
4. PARTICIPACIÓN Y POLÍTICA INSTITUCIONAL MAPUCHE DURANTE 2018
Authors: Tricot Tokichen , Bidegain Germán
Published: February 2021

Este artículo presenta y analiza los hechos más relevantes que, en el marco más amplio de conflicto entre el Estado de Chile y el Pueblo Mapuche, tuvieron lugar durante 2018 en la arena institucional chilena. Para ello, se desarrollan aquellos procesos e hitos, actuaciones y disputas por poder e influencia, en el contexto de los diversos canales institucionales. El año estuvo cargado de hechos significativos que expresan esfuerzos de acercamiento, tensiones y conflictos. El artículo analiza estos hechos desde una perspectiva diacrónica que busca determinar si los hechos destacados de 2018 corresponden a dinámicas novedosas o si, por el contrario, representan una continuidad con lo que históricamente ha caracterizado la participación y la política institucional mapuche. Esta mirada permite poner en perspectiva los distintos ejes de participación convencional en los que se centra el artículo. El trabajo visibiliza que los acontecimientos del año 2018 expresan problemas de larga data que siguen sin ser resueltos y requieren de un tratamiento urgente para evitar hechos trágicos como los que analiza este Anuario.Palabras clave:
Cronología Informativa sobre la pandemia COVID en España (Antecedentes), y Anexo 1
Authors: Garcia Soler Guillem
Published: February 2021

Fijando el tiempo informativo anterior a la situación de confinamiento por la COVID-19 en España, a través de dos periódicos de amplia divulgación en Cataluña, se ha realizado una cronología para analizar si los medios han creado en mayor o menor medida un estado de alarma de cualquier tipo (sanitaria, económica...), también para ver si han anticipado medidas que vayan a hacerse, o sirvan para cuestionar o matizar lo que se está haciendo en España. Con los resultados obtenidos se ha llevado a cabo un balance global de la información que los medios controlados han suministrado, y se ha relacionado con controversias actuales, como: si se realizó un seguimiento adecuado de la evolución de la pandemia, qué críticas se pueden hacer de inicio a la planificación y gestión de la crisis, el dilema de la crisis sanitaria - crisis económica, derechos humanos versus contención del virus y los cambios futuros que se apuntan.
Las protestas por el asesinato de Daphne Caruana. Una cronología
Authors: Briguglio Michael
Published: February 2021

Este artículo trata de la escalada de protestas a finales de 2019 en Malta en torno al asesinato de la periodista Daphne Caruana Galizia. Las nutridas protestas fueron la continuación de las tendencias activistas de la sociedad civil desde el asesinato de la periodista en 2017. Se caracterizaron por la creación de una amplia coalición de organizaciones de movimientos sociales en el extranjero, y condujeron finalmente a la dimisión del primer ministro, Joseph Muscat.
Balance del año y reflexiones finales desde la sociedad chilena
Authors: Skewes Juan Carlos , Morales Roberto
Published: February 2021

El estallido social invita a revisitar la relación entre el pueblo mapuche y el Estado desde la perspectiva chilena. Los antecedentes de esta relación dan cuenta del carácter estructural que el racismo y la discriminación han tenido en la construcción de dicha relación. A pesar de que el estallido expande la legitimidad de los reclamos mapuche y los articula con las demandas transversales del pueblo chileno, la respuesta del Estado y de las elites no se sustrae de lo que ha sido su práctica habitual: construir una imagen del otro funcional a los intereses mercantiles que sirven de soporte a sus propuestas modernizadoras. La incapacidad de reflexionar teóricamente acerca del problema junto con la miopía de la autoridad al analizar sus propios datos y su fijación con la propiedad privada individual, le lleva a un doble fracaso: el del Plan Araucanía y el de la Consulta Indígena. Frente a las demandas mapuche, al gobierno no cabe sino apelar a un estado de derecho que sirve a los propósitos empresariales y al ejercicio de la represión como medio de control. El escenario se torna, a pesar del avance del movimiento popular, inestable dando lugar a una tensión creciente que no pareciera modificar en lo sustantivo lo que ha sido el patrón histórico. Por otra parte, la convergencia del pueblo mapuche y chileno en su movilización contra el neoliberalismo abre las puertas a un diálogo intercultural que pudiera transformar la relación entre el Estado y el pueblo mapuche.
La protesta mapuche más allá (y más acá) del Estallido Social
Authors: Rojas Pedemonte Nicolás , Gálvez Diego
Published: February 2021

Este artículo estudió los diversos repertorios de protesta mapuche durante el 2019 en el Wallmapu. Se presta atención en las dinámicas propias de la capacidad movimentista acumulada históricamente en zonas rurales, frente a la escalada de la protesta urbana de un Estallido Social que tuvo sus sinopsis en el ciclo de protestas del 2018 en repudio al asesinato perpetuado por fuerzas policiales en contra del comunero Camilo Catrillanca. Los resultados dieron cuenta de un conflicto concentrado en la protesta antiforestal y en la judicialización de la contienda, plasmado en tres realidades territoriales en el Wallmapu. Se concluye que, si bien el Estallido abre oportunidades políticas para la causa mapuche, se configura más como un hito histórico para el pueblo chileno y militantes mapuche urbanos, con poco impacto en las acciones disruptivas en zonas rurales reivindicadas hace décadas. Sin embargo, el estudio resalta la desmonumentalización como dinámica de protesta urbana a partir del Estallido, en sintonía con el proyecto decolonial mapuche desplegado por las principales organizaciones mapuche. Finalmente, se reflexiona sobre la urgencia de un nuevo contrato social tanto para el Pueblo Mapuche como para el Pueblo Chileno.
El cuento de las pensiones. Miren Etxezarreta y José Iglesias, Icaria, 2019
Authors: Ferreira Melania
Published: February 2021

Lo imprescindible que sobre las pensiones debemos saber
Estado de Excepción Permanente en la Periferia Sur de Europa
Authors: Bernat Ignasi
Published: February 2021

Este artículo aborda la continuada crisis en la periferia sur de la Unión Europea desde la perspectiva del Estado de excepción como dispositivo del poder soberano (Agamben, 2004). Este dispositivo de gobierno ha ido adquiriendo centralidad en el momento presente para manejar situaciones complejas cuando el poder y la soberanía están en disputa en medio de una crisis sobrevenida e impuesta al mismo tiempo; crisis sobrevenida que interrumpe los ritmos de acumulación de capital y crisis impuesta sobre las clases populares de los países del sur de la UE. Desde esta aproximación analizaremos tres dimensiones de esta crisis permanente (Agamben, 2019) que ha derribado antiguas certezas y consensos para establecer un nuevo tiempo político que consolida el régimen de poder económico y político dentro de la UE.
An Exploratory Study of the Role and Identity of Alternative Media in Hong Kong: The Cases of Radical HK and WK News
Authors: Soler Alemany Marta
Published: February 2021

Este artículo explora el rol y la autopercepción de los medios de los medios de comunicación alternativos en Hong Kong. Estudios anteriores han demostrado que los medios alternativos tienen un papel crucial en los movimientos sociales y como agentes contrapúblicos de la sociedad civil. Aun así, es poca la atención que se ha prestado a la autopercepción de tales medios alternativos en el Este asiático; en particular, a su identidad, a su potencial influencia en la agenda de los noticiarios convencionales y a su papel en la visualización de grupos marginados. Nuestros dos estudios de caso, basados en entrevistas en profundidad, se ocupan de medios de comunicación alternativos centrados fundamentalmente en las luchas de la clase trabajadora: WK News y Radical HK. El presente estudio contribuye al campo de los estudios los medios y la comunicación política, y posee implicaciones para las personas que participan en la sociedad civil y en los medios de comunicación.
La Remunicipalización del Agua en el marco de la Re-Definición de la Democracia. El Caso De Terrassa
Authors: Bagué Edurne
Published: February 2021

El presente texto se propone presentar la remunicipalización del agua urbana como mecanismo ante el neoliberalismo y sus conexiones con la búsqueda de formas para una mayor democracia. Para ello, el auge del común aparece como la herramienta que ha servido para repensar la remunicipalización como mecanismo para el impulso del cambio social. El caso más relevante entre los años 2015 y 2019 fue el de la ciudad de Terrassa, donde se remunicipalizó el servicio de agua urbana que hasta ese momento había estado controlado por Mina Pública d’Aigües de Terrassa S.A. Este proceso de remunicipalización culminó con la creación del Observatorio del Agua de Terrassa (OAT), que es una de les experiencias más innovadoras en gobierno de servicios con mecanismos de coproducción liderados por la propia ciudadanía organizada. Un espacio-herramienta que, toda vez que recoge el final de un camino, es puerta de entrada para la profundización de debates, así como para la apertura de líneas de trabajo que se extienden aumentando el alcance más allá del agua y de Terrassa.
Delito de Terrorismo en el Estado Español: Arma Crucial en la vigente Guerra Judicial o Lawfare
Authors: Vivancos Sánchez Carme
Published: February 2021

Este artículo indaga en la exploración del uso del delito de terrorismo que se ha dado en la Audiencia Nacional, a partir del estudio de tres casos relacionados con el conflicto político, ocurridos después de 2011. A partir de un análisis socio-jurídico, se constata que se realiza una interpretación arbitraria del delito de terrorismo y que ello resulta ser una herramienta jurídica de la Audiencia Nacional para hacer frente a ideas políticas, colectivos y personas que pueden poner en interrogante el orden instituido, lo que se traduce en una guerra judicial o lawfare. Se confirma que la definición misma del terrorismo es arbitraria, que el delito es interpretado distintamente dependiendo del momento histórico, que la zona geográfica donde ocurren los hechos es determinante para entender la persecución política a través de mecanismos judiciales, que el hecho de que el delito de terrorismo sea competencia de la Audiencia Nacional hace que el tribunal goce de un control y de un poder desmesurados y que el perfil de los jueces y la forma en la que pueden llegar a acceder a la Audiencia Nacional evidencia una latente politización de la justicia.
Performance of M-ary pulse position modulated optical wireless communications systems in the marine atmosphere
Authors: Baykal Yahya , Ata Yalçın , Gökçe Muhsin C.
Published: February 2021

The marine atmosphere exhibits different turbulence spectrum characteristics when compared to the turbulence spectra of the land atmosphere and underwater medium. The performance of M-ary pulse position modulated (PPM) optical wireless communications (OWC) systems operating in the marine atmosphere, as measured by the bit error rate (BER), is studied here. In our investigation, the scintillation index and the average intensity in marine atmospheric turbulence are used. The variations of BER performance are reported against the marine atmospheric turbulence parameters for various values of the average current gain of the avalanche photodetector (APD), data bit rate of the OWC link, and

M

value of the M-ary PPM.
Measurement of the refractive index of lenses from the maximum phase difference of the total internal reflection with a polarization camera
Authors: Lee Ju-Yi , Chiang Chia-Yu , Sung Wei-Yi , Weng Tzu-Yang , Chen Jing-Heng , Hsu Cheng-Chih
Published: February 2021

The proposed total internal reflection (TIR)-based technique can be
used for measuring the refractive index of lenses. Distribution of the
phase difference between the

s

- and

p

-polarization states of the reflected
light induced by TIR can be obtained by a polarization camera. The
refractive index of the lens can be determined from the detected
maximum phase difference, with the specific measurement equation. Only
the maximum phase difference needs to be measured. Information about
the incident angle, thickness of the lens, and the matching liquid is
not needed. The experimental results demonstrate that the resolution
of the system can reach

4.8

×

1

0

−
4

R
I
U

.
Hybrid optical imaging with near-infrared, mid-infrared, and terahertz wavelengths for nondestructive inspection [Invited]
Authors: Tokizane Yu , Ejiri Hikaru , Minamikawa Takeo , Suzuki Safumi , Asada Masahiro , Yasui Takeshi
Published: February 2021

Optical imaging is a powerful tool for nondestructive inspection, with high spatial resolution and low invasiveness. As light–material interactions vary a great deal depending on the wavelength, it is difficult to select the best imaging wavelength without prior knowledge of the optical properties of the material. To overcome this difficulty, we constructed a hybrid optical imaging system using three different wavelengths: near-infrared (NIR), mid-infrared (MIR), and terahertz (THz) regions. The same imaging optics were integrated with different light sources and detectors. Depending on the light–material interaction and detection sensitivity, NIR and THz imaging indicated some potential for nondestructive inspection, but MIR imaging showed difficulty. A combination of NIR and THz imaging will be a powerful tool for optical nondestructive inspection.
Alignment of the active secondary mirror of a space telescope using model-based wavefront sensorless adaptive optics
Authors: Ren Hongxi , Dong Bing , Li Yan
Published: February 2021

The precise alignment of the space telescope with an active secondary mirror (ASM) is essential to high-quality imaging. The traditional alignment methods either require a dedicated wavefront sensor or a lot of iterations to optimize a metric function, which is not suitable for on-orbit instant alignment. A model-based wavefront sensorless adaptive optics method is proposed for the alignment of the ASM of a wide field-of-view space telescope. In our method, the aberration is estimated by introducing a series of modal biases successively into the system using the ASM. Unlike the traditional wavefront sensing methods that intend to measure all aberration modes, only five aberration modes that can be compensated by the ASM are estimated. Two alignment schemes either using single-field or multi-field images are proposed to calculate the control signals of the ASM, depending on if the aberration is mainly caused by the ASM. Simulations are made to evaluate the performance of our method under different scenarios. The influence of image sampling frequency, image size, and image noise on alignment are also investigated.
Boosting the deep learning wavefront sensor for real-time applications [Invited]
Authors: Vera Esteban , Guzmán Felipe , Weinberger Camilo
Published: February 2021

The deep learning wavefront sensor (DLWFS) allows the direct estimate
of Zernike coefficients of aberrated wavefronts from intensity images.
The main drawback of this approach is related to the use of massive
convolutional neural networks (CNNs) that are lengthy to train or
estimate. In this paper, we explore several options to reduce both the
training and estimation time. First, we develop a CNN that can be
rapidly trained without compromising accuracy. Second, we explore the
effects given smaller input image sizes and different amounts of
Zernike modes to be estimated. Our simulation results demonstrate that
the proposed network using images of either

8
×
8

,

16
×
16

, or

32
×
32

will dramatically reduce training
time and even boost the estimation accuracy of Zernike coefficients.
From our experimental results, we can confirm that a

16
×
16

DLWFS can be quickly trained and is
able to estimate the first 12 Zernike coefficients–skipping piston,
tip, and tilt–without sacrificing accuracy and significantly speeding
up the prediction time to facilitate low-cost, real-time adaptive
optics systems.
Surface-enhanced shifted excitation Raman difference spectroscopy for trace detection of fentanyl in beverages
Authors: Ye Jianfeng , Wang Sheng , Zhang Yujia , Li Boyi , Lu Minjian , Qi Xiaohua , Wei Haoyun , Li Yan , Zou Mingqiang
Published: February 2021

In recognition of the misuse risks of fentanyl, there is an urgent need
to develop a useful and rapid analytical method to detect and monitor
the opioid drug. The surface-enhanced shifted excitation Raman
difference spectroscopy (SE-SERDS) method has been demonstrated to
suppress background interference and enhance Raman signals. In this
study, the SE-SERDS method was used for trace detection of fentanyl in
beverages. To prepare the simulated illegal drug–beverages, fentanyls
were dissolved into distilled water or Mizone as a series of test
samples. Based on our previous work, the surface-enhanced Raman
spectroscopy detection was performed on the beverages containing
fentanyl by the prepared AgNPs and the SE-SERDS spectra of test
samples were collected by the dual-wavelength rapid excitation Raman
difference spectroscopy system. In addition, the quantitative
relationship between fentanyl concentrations and the Raman peaks was
constructed by the Langmuir equation. The experimental results show
that the limits of quantitation for fentanyl in distilled water and
Mizone were 10 ng/mL and 200 ng/mL, respectively; the correlation
coefficients for the nonlinear regression were as high as 0.9802 and
0.9794, respectively; and the relative standard deviation was less
than 15%. Hence, the SE-SERDS method will be a promising method for
the trace analyses of food safety and forensics.
QoS-aware data center network reconfiguration method based on deep reinforcement learning
Authors: Guo Xiaotao , Yan Fulong , Xue Xuwei , Pan Bitao , Exarchakos George , Calabretta Nicola
Published: February 2021

Maintaining high-performance operation under dynamic and nonuniform network traffic has been a technical challenge in current data center networks (DCNs). With the aim to provide better quality of service (QoS) for diverse applications, this work presents a dynamic and adaptive DCN reconfiguration framework based on deep reinforcement learning (DCR2L). The proposed framework is integrated into the SDN control plane of the DCN, implementing real-time and automatic DCN reconfiguration. Performance of the DCR2L framework is experimentally demonstrated in our DCN lab, including 4 racks and 16 servers. Experimental results show a network latency improvement of 6.9% based on the DCR2L at an average network bandwidth of 2.3 Gb/s. Based on measured traffic and physical parameters in the experiment, performance of the DCR2L framework is numerically assessed with the realistic traffic of diverse QoS requirements for both electrical and optical DCNs and for different data center scales. Leaf–spine electrical and OPSquare optical networks are set up in an OMNeT++ simulator. For a data plane network consisting of 16 racks and 320 servers, results indicate that the DCR2L framework improves the network latency of up to 16.4% under leaf–spine and up to 24.6% under OPSquare for the overall traffic with respect to the classical heuristic method. For a DCN scale of 10,240 servers, the DCR2L framework provides up to 12.5% lower latency for the leaf–spine electrical network and up to 17.8% latency improvement for the OPSquare optical network.
Depth-resolved holographic reconstructions by three-dimensional deconvolution: erratum
Authors: Latychevskaia Tatiana , Gehri Fabian , Fink Hans-Werner
Published: February 2021

Correction of Eq. (20) in our published article [Opt. Express 18, 22527 (2010)10.1364/OE.18.022527].
Observation of harmonic beams inside a Kerr lens mode-locked thin-disk ring laser oscillator beyond a repetition rate of 10 MHz
Authors: Eilanlou A. Amani , Okino Tomoya , Nabekawa Yasuo , Kuwata-Gonokami Makoto , Midorikawa Katsumi
Published: February 2021

We report the highest intra-cavity pulse energy of 80 μJ inside a Kerr lens mode-locked thin-disk ring laser oscillator at a repetition rate beyond 10 MHz enabling observation of the 2nd and 3rd harmonic beams directly generated by the Kerr medium. By adding a tight focusing setup to the ring cavity, we could observe krypton gas flame at an intra-cavity peak intensity of ∼28 TW/cm2 yielding a conversion efficiency of 10−5 for the 3rd harmonic beam. A further upgrade of the ring oscillator could lead to realizing a table-top source of vacuum ultraviolet pulses for application in photoelectron spectroscopy.
Long-term changes in kelp forests in an inner basin of the Salish Sea
Authors: Berry Helen D. , Mumford Thomas F. , Christiaen Bart , Dowty Pete , Calloway Max , Ferrier Lisa , Grossman Eric E. , VanArendonk Nathan R.
Published: February 2021

Kelp forests form an important biogenic habitat that responds to natural and human drivers. Global concerns exist about threats to kelp forests, yet long-term information is limited and research suggests that trends are geographically distinct. We examined distribution of the bull kelpNereocystis luetkeanaover 145 years in South Puget Sound (SPS), a semi-protected inner basin in a fjord estuary complex in the northeast Pacific Ocean. We synthesized 48 historical and modernNereocystissurveys and examined presence/absence within 1-km segments along 452 km of shoreline. Compared to the earliest baseline in 1878,Nereocystisextent in 2017 decreased 63%, with individual sub-basins showing up to 96% loss. Losses have persisted for decades, across a range of climate conditions. In recent decades,Nereocystispredominantly occurred along shorelines with intense currents and mixing, where temperature and nutrient concentrations did not reach thresholds for impacts toNereocystisperformance, and high current speeds likely excluded grazers. Losses predominated in areas with elevated temperature, lower nutrient concentrations, and relatively low current velocities. The pattern of long-term losses in SPS contrasts with stability in floating kelp abundance during the last century in an area of the Salish Sea with greater wave exposure and proximity to oceanic conditions. These findings support the hypothesis that kelp beds along wave-sheltered shorelines exhibit greater sensitivity to environmental stressors. Additionally, shorelines with strong currents and deep-water mixing may provide refugia within sheltered systems.
Parkinson’s disease medication state and severity assessment based on coordination during walking
Authors: Agurto Carla , Heisig Stephen , Abrami Avner , Ho Bryan K. , Caggiano Vittorio
Published: February 2021

Walking is a complex motor function requiring coordination of all body parts. Parkinson’s disease (PD) motor signs such as rigidity, bradykinesia, and impaired balance affect movements including walking. Here, we propose a computational method to objectively assess the effects of Parkinson’s disease pathology on coordination between trunk, shoulder and limbs during the gait cycle to assess medication state and disease severity. Movements during a scripted walking task were extracted from wearable devices placed at six different body locations in participants with PD and healthy participants. Three-axis accelerometer data from each device was synchronized at the beginning of either left or right steps. Canonical templates of movements were then extracted from each body location. Movements projected on those templates created a reduced dimensionality space, where complex movements are represented as discrete values. These projections enabled us to relate the body coordination in people with PD to disease severity. Our results show that the velocity profile of the right wrist and right foot during right steps correlated with the participant’s total score on the gold standard Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPRDS) with an r2 up to 0.46. Left-right symmetry of feet, trunk and wrists also correlated with the total UPDRS score with an r2 up to 0.3. In addition, we demonstrate that binary dopamine replacement therapy medication states (self-reported ‘ON’ or ‘OFF’) can be discriminated in PD participants. In conclusion, we showed that during walking, the movement of body parts individually and in coordination with one another changes in predictable ways that vary with disease severity and medication state.
Insufficient social distancing may contribute to COVID-19 outbreak: The case of Ijuí city in Brazil
Authors: Heck Thiago Gomes , Frantz Rafael Z. , Frizzo Matias Nunes , François Carlos Henrique Ramires , Ludwig Mirna Stela , Mesenburg Marilia Arndt , Buratti Giovano Pereira , Franz Lígia Beatriz Bento , Berlezi Evelise Moraes
Published: February 2021

The coronavirus disease that emerged in 2019 (COVID-19) is highly contagious and has given way to a global pandemic. A present COVID-19 has high transmission rates worldwide, including in small Brazilian cities such as Ijuí. Located in the northwest part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) and with a population of 83,475, Ijuí was selected as the site of a population-based survey involving 2,222 subjects, from April to June 2020. Subjects were tested for the presence of antibodies against coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and answered questions regarding social distance adherence (SDA), daily preventive routines (DPR), comorbidities, and sociodemographic characteristics. In parallel, the local government registered the official COVID-19 cases in Ijuí, as well as the mobile social distancing index (MSDI). In this study, we demonstrate that there was a decrease in the levels of SDA, DPR and MSDI before the beginning of COVID-19 community transmission in Ijuí. Furthermore, we provide predictions for the number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in the city. We conclude that insufficient social distancing, as evidenced by different methods, may be related to the rapid increase of COVID-19 cases in Ijuí. Our study predicts an approaching outbreak of COVID-19 in Ijuí through community spread, which could be avoided or attenuated with increased levels of social distancing among the population.
Evidence-based interventions implemented in low-and middle-income countries for sickle cell disease management: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials
Authors: Gyamfi Joyce , Ojo Temitope , Epou Sabrina , Diawara Amy , Dike Lotanna , Adenikinju Deborah , Enechukwu Scholastica , Vieira Dorice , Nnodu Obiageli , Ogedegbe Gbenga , Peprah Emmanuel
Published: February 2021

Background

Despite ~90% of sickle cell disease (SCD) occurring in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), the vast majority of people are not receiving evidence-based interventions (EBIs) to reduce SCD-related adverse outcomes and mortality, and data on implementation research outcomes (IROs) and SCD is limited. This study aims to synthesize available data on EBIs for SCD and assess IROs.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review of RCTs reporting on EBIs for SCD management implemented in LMICs. We identified articles from PubMed/Medline, Global Health, PubMed Central, Embase, Web of Science medical subject heading (MeSH and Emtree) and keywords, published from inception through February 23, 2020, and conducted an updated search through December 24, 2020. We provide intervention characteristics for each study, EBI impact on SCD, and evidence of reporting on IROs.

Main results

29 RCTs were analyzed. EBIs identified included disease modifying agents, supportive care agents/analgesics, anti-malarials, systemic treatments, patient/ provider education, and nutritional supplements. Studies using disease modifying agents, nutritional supplements, and anti-malarials reported improvements in pain crisis, hospitalization, children’s growth and reduction in severity and prevalence of malaria. Two studies reported on the sustainability of supplementary arginine, citrulline, and daily chloroquine and hydroxyurea for SCD patients. Only 13 studies (44.8%) provided descriptions that captured at least three of the eight IROs. There was limited reporting of acceptability, feasibility, fidelity, cost and sustainability.

Conclusion

EBIs are effective for SCD management in LMICs; however, measurement of IROs is scarce. Future research should focus on penetration of EBIs to inform evidence-based practice and sustainability in the context of LMICs.

Clinical trial registration

This review is registered in PROSPERO #CRD42020167289.