bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cardiac Contributions to Brain Health: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association
Authors: Testai Fernando D. , Gorelick Philip B. , Chuang Pei-Ying , Dai Xing , Furie Karen L. , Gottesman Rebecca F. , Iturrizaga Jose C. , Lazar Ronald M. , Russo Andrea M. , Seshadri Sudha , Wan Elaine Y. ,   on behalf of the American Heart Association Stroke Council; Council on Cardiopulmonary, Critical Care, Perioperative and Resuscitation; Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing; and Council on Hypertension
Published: October 2024

The burden of neurologic diseases, including stroke and dementia, is expected to grow substantially in the coming decades. Thus, achieving optimal brain health has been identified as a public health priority and a major challenge. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death and disability in the United States and around the world. Emerging evidence shows that the heart and the brain, once considered unrelated organ systems, are interdependent and linked through shared risk factors. More recently, studies designed to unravel the intricate pathogenic mechanisms underpinning this association show that people with various cardiac conditions may have covert brain microstructural changes and cognitive impairment. These findings have given rise to the idea that by addressing cardiovascular health earlier in life, it may be possible to reduce the risk of stroke and deter the onset or progression of cognitive impairment later in life. Previous scientific statements have addressed the association between cardiac diseases and stroke. This scientific statement discusses the pathogenic mechanisms that link 3 prevalent cardiac diseases of adults (heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and coronary heart disease) to cognitive impairment.
The “Negotiation in the News” Assignment: Building Negotiation Competencies Using Real-World Analysis
Authors: Weirup Amanda , Manwaring Melissa
Published: October 2024

The “Negotiation in the News” (NITN) assignment is designed to enhance student negotiation skills through analysis of real-world negotiations and, in doing so, to address specific pedagogical limitations of traditional role plays and case studies. In the NITN assignment, which takes place over several weeks or months, student groups select, monitor, and analyze ongoing negotiations reported in the media. Through this process, students learn to recognize organic real-world negotiations, proactively gather and interpret relevant data, analyze dynamic negotiation processes as they unfold in real time, and assess the impact of complex contextual factors. We describe the design and implementation of the NITN assignment, illustrate examples from student projects, and present assessment data demonstrating its effectiveness in improving negotiation competencies.
The Anatomy of Iconicity: Cumulative Structural Analogies Underlie Objective and Subjective Measures of Iconicity
Authors: Punselie Stella , McLean Bonnie , Dingemanse Mark
Published: October 2024

The vocabularies of natural languages harbour many instances of iconicity, where words show a perceived resemblance between aspects of form and meaning. An open challenge in this domain is how to reconcile different operationalizations of iconicity and link them to an empirically grounded theory. Here we combine three ways of looking at iconicity using a set of 239 iconic words from 5 spoken languages (Japanese, Korean, Semai, Siwu and Ewe). Data on guessing accuracy serves as a baseline measure of probable iconicity and provides variation that we seek to explain and predict using structure-mapping theory and iconicity ratings. We systematically trace a range of cross-linguistically attested form-meaning correspondences in the dataset, yielding a word-level measure of cumulative iconicity that we find to be highly predictive of guessing accuracy. In a rating study, we collect iconicity judgments for all words from 78 participants. The ratings are well-predicted by our measure of cumulative iconicity and also correlate strongly with guessing accuracy, showing that rating tasks offer a scalable method to measure iconicity. Triangulating the measures reveals how structure-mapping can help open the black box of experimental measures of iconicity. While none of the methods is perfect, taken together they provide a well-rounded way to approach the meaning and measurement of iconicity in natural language vocabulary.
On the aquatic phenology of sympatric crested and marbled newts (genus Triturus)
Authors: Arntzen Jan W.
Published: October 2024

The large-bodied newts Triturus cristatus and T. marmoratus possess ranges that overlap in western France where they frequently share breeding ponds. I test the hypothesis that the aquatic phenology differs between them, as associated with a more aquatic and terrestrial life style respectively. Total adult population sizes were determined in spring in 13 experiments by the capture-mark-recapture methodology, followed by equivalent experiments in summer. Population sizes dropped by an order of magnitude on average whereas species frequencies changed in favour of T. cristatus, suggesting that T. marmoratus leaves the breeding site earlier than T. cristatus. Interspecies hybrids behaved like T. marmoratus. Descriptions are provided of other features (in ecology, morphology, demography, and colouration pattern) that support the different, aquatic versus terrestrial life styles of T. cristatus and T. marmoratus.
Mediated Immediacy and the Distinct Theological Contribution of Christian Experiences of God
Authors: Andersen John Daniel
Published: October 2024

The purpose of this article is to contribute with some analytical philosophical perspectives to Pentecostal theology and the contemporary understanding of Pentecostal experiences of God as ‘mediated immediacy’ to further specify these experiences’ distinct contribution to systematic theology. A trend within Pentecostal theology is to emphasize how Pentecostal experiences are encounters that are theologically interpreted and related to specific beliefs. However, the amount of information and areas of theological knowledge from such experiences need more clarifications. Hence, in Part 1, the author presents four philosophical arguments why experiences of God can contribute to systematic theology with prima facie justified beliefs or theological knowledge. In Part 2, the author proposes that their distinct theological contribution can be specified as manifestation beliefs about God’s doing and being towards a person that represent personal and relational knowledge of God.
Plato’s Charmides and the Project of the Science of All Sciences
Authors: Zingano Marco
Published: October 2024

The purpose of this paper is to re-evaluate the position and role of Plato’s Charmides by analysing its second part. In this section, Critias tries to explain sôphrosunê as a form of knowledge that is self-referential in the sense that it is a type of knowledge of all other forms of knowledge without being knowledge of the objects of those other forms. Plato remains doubtful about the feasibility and usefulness of such a concept, as he believes that all types of knowledge must be about something else, separate from the forms of knowledge themselves. He also thinks that such formal knowledge, if it indeed exists, is of little interest. This paper also aims to demonstrate that the Charmides belongs to a group of dialogues in which Plato discusses other people’s proposals, similar to what happens in the Theaetetus. In the case of the Charmides, this is very likely the project that we will later see developed in Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics.
Trends in U.S. Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Damage, 1900–2022
Authors: Willoughby H. E. , Hernandez J. I. , Pinnock Andrew
Published: October 2024

A series of papers published since 1998 assert that U.S. tropical cyclone (TC) damage, when “normalized” for individual wealth, population, and inflation, exhibits no increase attributable to anthropogenic global warming (AGW). This result is here questioned for three reasons: 1) The then-year (no demographic or economic adjustments) U.S. TC damage increases 2.5% yr−1 faster than U.S. then-year gross domestic product. This result, which is substantially due to the faster growth of assets in hurricane-prone states, shows that TC impacts on the total U.S. economy double every generation. 2) Fitting of an exponential curve to normalized damage binned by 5-yr “pentads” yields a growth rate of 1.06% yr−1 since 1900, although causes besides AGW may contribute. 3) During the twenty-first century, when the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) was in its warm phase, the most damaging U.S. TCs struck at twice the rate of the warm AMO of the twentieth century and 4 times the rate of the entire twentieth century, both warm and cool AMO phases. A key unanswered question is as follows: What will happen when (and if) the AMO returns to its cool phase later in this century?

Significance Statement

U.S. hurricane damage, normalized for changes in inflation, population, and wealth, increases by approximately 1% yr−1. For 1900–2022, 1% yr−1 is equivalent to a factor of >3 increase, substantially but not entirely, attributable to climate change. The incidence of the most damaging tropical cyclones (TCs) approximately doubled in the twenty-first century compared with climatologically analogous periods of the twentieth century. These results contradict the previously published work that introduced normalization and found zero trend in normalized damage but are consistent with physical reasoning and modeling studies.
Online Mental Health Assessment in a psychiatry emergency department in adults using touchscreen mobile devices: A randomised controlled trial
Authors: Fernando Irosh , Hinwood Madeleine , Carey Mariko , Gupta Rahul , Conrad Agatha , Heard Todd , Lampe Lisa
Published: October 2024

Objective:

To determine whether completion of an online mental health self-assessment by patients who are waiting in the emergency department can save clinician time taken to complete clinical assessment and documentation.

Methods:

Patients presenting to a psychiatric emergency department for a period of 6 months were allocated by week of presentation to either the intervention arm (online mental health self-assessment, followed by a clinical interview) or the control arm (usual assessment) arm on a random basis. Time at the beginning and end of the interview was recorded and used to derive interview time. Similarly, time at the beginning and end of the clinical documentation was recorded and used to derive the time to complete clinical documentation.

Results:

Of 168 patients who presented during the study period, 69 (38.55%) agreed to participate, 33 completed the usual assessment and 30 completed the online mental health self-assessment followed by a clinical interview. Patients receiving usual care had a statistically significant, t(61) = 2.15, p = 0.035, longer interview duration (M = 48.7 minutes, SD = 19.8) compared with those in the online mental health self-assessment arm (M = 38.9 minutes, SD = 15.9). There was no statistically significant difference between groups for documentation time, t(61) = −0.64, p = 0.52.

Conclusion:

Online mental health self-assessment was associated with a statistically significant reduction in interview time by approximately 10 minutes without increasing documentation time. While online mental health self-assessment is not appropriate for all patients in the emergency department setting, it is likely to yield greater benefits in less acute settings.
Prestige and punishment: Status symbols and the danger of white elephants
Authors: Beaumont Paul , Paes Lucas de Oliveira , Maglia Cristiana
Published: October 2024

This article identifies and unpacks the intrinsic potential for backlash in the pursuit of status symbols. While status loss has been associated with domestic pushback and reduced legitimacy for ruling governments, the literature on status is yet to examine how status-seeking can backfire even when a state can successfully claim to have acquired a status symbol. We contend that status backlashes are an inherent risk of status-seeking due to the multivocality of costly status symbols. Our heuristic framework for studying status backlashes proposes examining modes of critique that construe status symbols as irrational or unjustified costly endeavours, undermining their legitimating capacity and potentially even transforming them into a marker of stigma. Empirically, we identify three modes of critique present in reactions to Brazil’s hosting of the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016. There, despite recognizing the symbolic value of hosting these mega-events, Brazilian audiences also criticized the government for the opportunity costs, vested interests and subservience that it entailed. Undertaking two shadow case studies – on the backlash against the United Kingdom’s renewal of its Trident nuclear weapons system and Norway’s engagement in military interventions between 1999 and 2012 – we document how these modes of critique associated with status symbols can travel across contexts.
An Empirical Analysis of Sectoral Export Demand Elasticities and Trade Policies: The Case of India
Authors: Wijeweera Albert , Reppas Dimitrios
Published: October 2024

This article contributes to the existing literature on India’s exports by estimating price and income elasticities for different export categories. The objective is to identify potential policy implications associated with sectoral export elasticities. The analysis focuses on five categories of exports: (a) goods and services exports, (b) goods exports, (c) services exports, (d) food exports and (e) merchandise exports. Annual data spanning the period 1994–2021 is used for the analysis, and the bound testing cointegration approach based on the Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) method is employed to estimate export elasticities for each category.

The study finds that sectoral price elasticities of exports are inelastic and small in magnitude, suggesting that although a currency depreciation would lead to an increase in demand for its exports, it is not expected to have a positive impact on the aggregate export earnings of India. Income elasticities, however, are positive and large in magnitude, implying that India’s export performance is significantly responsive to changes in global income levels. Hence, an understanding of income export elasticity in different sectors provides valuable insights for policymakers to tailor strategies in an evolving global economic landscape.

JEL Codes: C22, F13, F32, F43
The promise of teacher-led physical activity strategies informed by pupil data
Authors: Wort Georgina K , Wiltshire Gareth , Sebire Simon , Peacock Oliver , Thompson Dylan
Published: October 2024

Background:

Physical activity is important for children’s physical, mental and cognitive wellbeing, but many children are insufficiently active. Schools offer a promising setting in which to enable positive health behaviours and teachers can play an influential role in facilitating pupils’ physical activity. The aim of this study was to use pupils’ physical activity data from wearables to inform teacher-led strategies to improve pupils’ physical activity outcomes.

Methods:

Participants included 11 teachers/classes, and 228 pupils aged 8–11 years from eight primary-schools in England. Baseline pupil physical activity was measured for 2 weeks using a commercially available accelerometer, before data visualisations were used to inform teacher-led strategies with the aim of improving pupils’ physical activity. These strategies were then implemented, with physical activity being measured post-data-sharing discussions. Mixed-methods analysis explored the feasibility of using data visualisations to inform teachers’ understanding of their pupils’ physical activity and the development and implementation of teacher-led, school-specific strategies to increase pupils’ physical activity.

Results:

Teachers understood and reflected on the data visualisations and used their knowledge of the school context to develop and implement bespoke school-specific strategies across the school day which successfully increased physical activity. Strategies included altering the physical or social environment, providing more opportunities and addressing physical activity inequalities. Teachers were encouraged when data showed increases in pupils’ physical activity and many expressed the desire to continue addressing physical activity, with a particular focus on the least active pupils.

Conclusion:

These findings suggest that data-driven insights could be used effectively to inform school-based, teacher-led strategies to increase physical activity.
The Need for Speed: The Role of Employers in Immigrant Work Visa Regulatory Prioritization
Authors: Rissing Ben A. , Carver Laura
Published: October 2024

Employers are central, yet understudied, actors in the immigrant work authorization process. The authors motivate and empirically assess three central theoretical accounts to explain employers’ regulatory prioritization of specific immigrant work visa applications: the role of immigrant human capital, employers’ past filing experience, and the relative dissimilarity of the focal application to employers’ past applications. These accounts are tested using U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) administrative records pertaining to the H-1B temporary work visa. The authors analyze employers’ selective visa application prioritization as reflected in their use of “premium processing” to expedite government visa adjudication, persistence to the point of adjudication (i.e., not withdrawing or abandoning the application), and requests for longer employment durations. Findings primarily support the human capital and relative dissimilarity accounts. Results underscore the role of employers in visa processing speeds, the granting of legal status, and legal status durations—outcomes more frequently attributed to regulator discretion.
Levy solution and state-space approach for hygro-thermo-magnetic bending of a cross-ply laminated plate on Kerr foundation under various loadings
Authors: Sobhy Mohammed , Radwan Ahmed F
Published: October 2024

For the first time, Levy-type solution model and the state-space concept are employed to investigate the hygrothermal bending response of a cross-ply laminated plate on a three-parameter Kerr foundation subjected to a 2D magnetic field. The displacement field is established based on Shimpi’s two-variable plate theory. Based on Maxwell’s equations, the magnetic body force (Lorentz force) is established. In the present analysis, two opposite edges of the plate are simply supported. While, the other two edges have arbitrary boundary conditions. For more generality and reality, the mechanical load, temperature and moisture that are applied to the upper surface of the plate are assumed to be uniformly, linearly, exponentially, and sinusoidally varied. The principle of virtual displacements is employed to derive the governing partial differential equations based on the present theory, including Lorentz magnetic force. Levy procedure is employed to obtain the nonhomogeneous ordinary differential equations. The matrix method is utilized to get the homogeneous solution. While, the particular solution is obtained by employing the method of undetermined coefficients. The effects of Kerr foundation, loading type, boundary conditions, side-to-thickness ratio, plate aspect ratio, magnetic parameter, temperature, and moisture on deflection and stresses of Levy plate are investigated. It is noted that the magnetic field and hygrothermal loads reduce the structure’s strength, which leads to an increment in the deflection and stresses.
“I Always Stay at My Friends’ Place”: How Peer Association Explains the Link Between Social Deprivation and Methamphetamine Use Intensity
Authors: Yang Xiaozhao Y. , Kelly Brian C.
Published: October 2024

This study incorporates peer salience and peer pressure in explaining why people experiencing social deprivation tend to use drugs in greater intensity. A total of 303 current methamphetamine users were recruited through respondent-driven sampling in Changsha, China. We constructed a deprivation indicator by socioeconomic levels and marginal statuses. We employed structural equation modeling to test the mediating roles of peer salience and peer pressure on the deprivation-drug association. We also conducted a qualitative discourse analysis ( n = 40) to triangulate and support the findings from quantitative analyses. We found social deprivation is indirectly associated with greater methamphetamine use through the full mediation of peer salience and peer pressure. Qualitative results indicate socially disadvantaged respondents often referred to peer groups as a paramount source of support in their lives. Policies may provide formal platforms of social support and economic mobility to interrupt the mechanisms that contribute to methamphetamine use.
Self -Confidence in Young Athletes: A Protective Factor Against Perfectionism and Anxiety in Competitive Grassroots Sport
Authors: González-Hernández Juan , Barrera-Vázquez Daniel , Gómez-López Manuel
Published: October 2024

Perfectionism includes various dimensions focused on different planes of psychological functioning, with both positive and negative elements that influence adaptation to the pursuit of achievement and personal satisfaction with efforts and their attainment. We examined participants’ levels of perfectionism and the relationship between perfectionism and anxiety in young athletes, and we described the mediating factor of self-confidence as a determinant of sport performance. We utilized a non-experimental, descriptive, and transversal research design. A total of 263 Spanish young athletes ( M age = 15.79 years; SD = 1.07) who belonged to different sports clubs and engaged in different sports completed the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS) and the Competitive Anxiety Inventory (CSAI-2R). Our results confirmed our belief that self-confidence was a protective factor for diminishing the negative relationships between perfectionism, anxiety, and sport performance. Regarding the predictive power of these variables, the construction of exaggerated achievement expectations (or personal standards) by combining functional and dysfunctional resources was reflected in cognitive anxiety (dysfunctional) and was mediated by self-confidence (functional). Application of these elements into training via well planned communication may allow coaches to enhance young athletes’ resources for mental and behavioral adjustment toward their sporting goal. In addition, this training approach may underscore athletes’ self-perceived competence and enhance their self-confidence.
Contrasting Deficits in the Function of the Phonological Loop Between Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Reading Disability
Authors: Song Hongyan , Zhang Wei , Xu Jingmin , Ju Changting , Jiang Xu
Published: October 2024

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and reading disability (RD) often co-occur. Impairments in the phonological loop of working memory are central to RD, but it is unclear whether this is linked to ADHD, especially in Chinese reading. Two experiments were conducted with Chinese children aged 7 to 12 (Experiment 1, n = 65; Experiment 2, n = 60). Immediate and delayed recognition paradigms were used to assess phonological encoding and rehearsal. Both the RD-only and comorbid (ADHD + RD) groups performed worse than the control and ADHD-only groups in response time and accuracy. Notably, the comorbid group performed similarly to the RD-only group, indicating that phonological loop deficits in comorbid children are likely due to RD, not ADHD. This highlights phonological loop function as the key to distinguishing between ADHD and RD.
The Antecedents of the Entrepreneurial Intention of Cooperative Founders: The Case of the Province of Larache
Authors: Fridi Youssef , El Bakkali Abderrachid , El Kouraichi Soukayna , Ouazzani Ahmed
Published: October 2024

This paper aims to identify the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention among the founders of cooperatives in the Larache province of Morocco. The theoretical model used is Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior, which explains intention based on attitudes toward behavior, social norms, and perceived behavioral control. Our analysis adopts a quantitative approach for 57 founders of cooperatives. The data underwent exploratory analysis using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and confirmatory analysis through linear regression using the SPSS software. Our findings suggest a relationship between attitude toward behavior and intention while rejecting the link between social norms and intention, as well as perceived behavioral control and intention. Our findings also underscore the role of ancestral solidarity practices in empowering indigenous peoples. In this regard, the Georgist political economy approach provides a suitable perspective to promote cooperative entrepreneurship in Africa.
Impact of physical activity on life satisfaction among middle-aged and older adults in China: A longitudinal national study
Authors: Kang Yiting
Published: October 2024

Objective

This study examined the impact of physical activity on life satisfaction in middle-aged and older adults in China. Utilizing longitudinal data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) conducted in 2015 and 2018, a total of 6484 participants aged 45 or older were included in the analysis.

Methods

Data were collected on sociodemographic, health, and lifestyle variables, physical activity, and life satisfaction. Physical activity was categorized into 3 levels: low (71%), moderate (25%), and high (4%). Ordinal logistic regression and subgroup analysis were used to examine the effect of baseline physical activity on life satisfaction, including the examination of interaction effects.

Results

After adjusting for age, gender, education, marriage, residence, smoking, alcohol use, depressive symptoms, and self-rated health at baseline (2015), compared to the moderate-intensity physical exercise group, those in the low-intensity group experienced significantly lower levels of life satisfaction on follow-up (2018). In the subgroup analyses, a significant negative effect of low-intensity physical activity on life satisfaction was found in all groups regardless of age, education, marital status, smoking, alcohol use, sleep duration, weight, presence of chronic diseases, or self-rated health.

Conclusion

These results support the promotion of physical exercise to enhance life satisfaction among middle-aged and older adults in China.
Study on the rockburst risk of alternate exterior entry under island coal pillar
Authors: Zhang Heng , Bai Erhu , Lu Weiyong , Ji Xianjun , Sun Yun , Shao Caijun , Cao Wenhao
Published: October 2024

The extraction of extremely thick coal seams through slicing mining requires leaving behind several island coal pillars in the top slicing, which could lead to rockburst in the bottom slicing. This article proposed a method of alternate exterior entry (AEE) for rockburst prevention based on the stress distribution of bottom slicing. The influences of coal pillar width [Formula: see text] and stress concentration factor [Formula: see text] on stress distribution were explored using two-dimensional stress imaging. The results indicated that K value had a greater effect on stress distribution comparing with B value. Both stress relaxed and stress rate angles increased linearly with an increase in K value. In order to get the optimized location of AEE in the coal mine stress rate angle was chosen as the stress extension angle, which was further verified by field data from 1210 coal faces. Finally, numerical simulation was used to explore the optimized location of special tail entry under dip island coal pillars for rockburst prevention. It was revealed that plan first was found to be most effective due to its presence in a stress-relaxed area, thus verifying the effectiveness of the AEE method for rockburst prevention.
The sediment source and formation mechanism of the Paleozoic reservoirs in Western Desert, Egypt
Authors: Zhang Hong , Hu Yongjie , Liu Zixuan , Liu Hongxia , Cai Chunfang
Published: October 2024

Deep-burial sandstone reservoirs host significant hydrocarbon reserves and are the potential area for petroleum exploration. The deeply buried (>4000–4500 m) Paleozoic reservoirs in Western Desert, Egypt are recently characterized by giant oil and gas discoveries. However, the debates about their sediment sources and formation mechanisms hamper further hydrocarbon exploration and development. Detailed core observations, geochemical and porosity-permeability analyses are performed to fill above gaps. The Paleozoic sandstone reservoirs are well-developed, including the Cambrian–Ordovician Shiffah Formation (av. porosity of 6.6% and permeability of 6.01 mD), Silurian Basur Formation (7.4% and 44.64 mD), and Carboniferous Desouqy Formation (8.7% and 76.44 mD). Their sedimentary facies is predominantly composed of fluvial and coastal facies. The predominant sediment sources for the Paleozoic clastic rocks are the Precambrian medium-acidic felsic basement, while the Precambrian sedimentary rocks provide certain sediment sources based on geochemical data. The development of Paleozoic reservoirs in the Western Desert is the integrated result of a “tri-element control” involving sedimentary facies, diageneses, and tectonic activity. Parallel bedding, cross-bedding and slump structures, and many different types of fossils are well-developed here. These indicate fluvial–coastal facies, which is favorable for the formation of thick sandstone reservoirs. During post-depositional regimes, the Paleozoic is characterized by long-term shallow burial and subsequently rapid deep burial. This contributes to the preservation of pores and the development of fractures. Cementation and compaction reduce the porosity and permeability during burial, while multi-phase dissolution activities (e.g. meteoric diagenesis and organic acid dissolution) increase the reservoir performance. Oil charge is favorable for the preservation of porosity. This leads to better performance of the oil-bearing intervals than reservoir intervals. Moreover, multi-stage tectonic activities are favorable for the development of faults and fractures, thereby increasing reservoir performance. The Paleozoic sandstones show high potential for hydrocarbon exploration and are significant for those concerned with Western Desert.
Comparison of the Inadequacies of Ultrasonography and Computed Tomography in the Diagnosis of Sialolithiasis
Authors: Özçelik Necdet , Vehbi Husam , Alaskarov Elvin
Published: October 2024

This study aimed to determine the value of either ultrasonography and computed tomography (CT) alone or both for diagnosing salivary gland stones. Based on their clinical findings and physical examination, 188 patients with salivary stones were included. Initially, an ultrasound was performed, and then a non-contrast-enhanced thin-sliced CT scan was done. The study included 161 patients with suspected submandibular gland (SMG) sialolithiasis and 27 with parotid gland (PG) sialolithiasis. Among the SMG cases, stones were confirmed in 130 patients through interventional sialoendoscopy. Sixteen of the stones were detected by CT scan only and were not seen in the previous ultrasound examination. After the second follow-up ultrasound, which was conducted after reviewing the CT scans, 9 of them were identified. Five patients with distal stones and ductal dilation on ultrasound were confirmed to have sialolithiasis. In 5 patients with stones detected on ultrasound but not on CT, dental filling artifacts were identified as the cause. For PG cases, stones were observed in 18 out of 19 patients with suspected sialolithiasis based on ultrasound and CT findings. Three patients with positive CT findings but negative ultrasound showed stones during sialendoscopy. During an ultrasound examination, palpating the floor of the mouth with the other hand’s index finger can help identify stones obscured by the shadow of the mandible, thereby enhancing the test’s accuracy. Patients with dental fillings, implants, and permanent dentures should not be referred for a CT scan to avoid unnecessary exposure to ionizing radiation. They also cause significant metallic artifacts in the field of interest. In these cases, ultrasound should be considered. To minimize the effects of ionizing radiation, it is recommended to create limited field requests for the target, focusing solely on the submandibular and PGs.
Investigation of the Effectiveness of Nasal Sprays in Allergic Rhinitis
Authors: Güner Atayoğlu Ayten , Bayar Muluk Nuray , Koca Rahime , Çukurova İbrahim , Çetinkaya Erdem Atalay , Yörük Özgür , Bal Cengiz , Tatar Arzu , Susaman Nihat , Erdoğmuş Küçükcan Nagehan Dilşad , Güngör Enes , Özçelik Necdet , Alaskarov Elvin , Öztürk Zeynel , Oğuz Oğuzhan , Taş Burak Mustafa , Cingi Cemal
Published: October 2024

Objectives: We investigated the effectiveness of different types of nasal irrigation sprays in adult allergic rhinitis (AR) patients. Methods: A total of 1700 patients with AR (866 males and 834 females) were assigned to: Group 1: Hypertonic nasal spray group ( n = 600) (Sinomarin® hypertonic nasal spray); Group 2: Algae-containing hypertonic nasal spray group ( n = 600) (Sinomarin Plus Algae ENT); and Group 3: Isotonic saline nasal spray group ( n = 500). All patients underwent an otolaryngological examination, continued their standard AR treatment, and received the assigned nasal spray additionally (1 spray to each nostril, 3 times a day, for 3 weeks). Allergic symptom scores, turbinate examination, total symptom scores, and quality of life (QoL) scores were evaluated during pre- and post-treatment periods. Results: In groups 1 and 2, symptom scores and turbinate color and edema, total symptom scores, and QoL scores increased after treatment ( P < .05). In the saline group, there were no significant differences in symptom scores and total symptom scores after treatment; however, improvement was detected in turbinate color and edema values after treatment. QoL scores increased after treatment. When comparing the 3 groups, the total symptom scores of groups 1 and 2 were significantly lower, and the QoL scores of groups 1 and 2 were considerably higher than those of the saline group. There were no significant differences between groups 1 and 2. Conclusion: Algae-containing and hypertonic nasal spray may be added to the standard AR treatment to increase QoL and decrease total symptom scores.
Ethics and Practice in Communities of Care
Authors: Fujimura Joan H.
Published: October 2024

The Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) annually awards the John Desmond Bernal Prize to one or more individuals who have made distinguished contributions to the field of Science and Technology Studies. Past winners have included founders of the field, along with outstanding scholars who have devoted their careers to the understanding of the social dimensions of science and technology. This article is the revised text of Joan H. Fujimura's 2023 Bernal Lecture.
How Does China’s Carbon Emissions Trading Policy Affect the Financing of High-Carbon Enterprises?
Authors: Zhang Yue-Jun , Wang Wei
Published: October 2024

Evaluating the impact of carbon emissions trading (CET) policy on the operations and development of high-carbon enterprises is of great practical importance in a context where policy-makers aim to balance steady growth and reduce carbon emissions. Based on the panel data of A-share listed enterprises, this paper comprehensively employs the difference-in-differences (DID) and the difference-in-differences based propensity score matching (PSM-DID) methods to investigate the impact of China’s CET policy on the financing constraints and financing ability of high-carbon enterprises. The results indicate that: first, the level of financing constraints of high-carbon enterprises in China has significantly increased with the implementation of the CET policy from 2012 to 2019. Second, the impact shows significant heterogeneity in various industries, carbon markets, and the characteristics of enterprises. Third, the CET policy reduces the long-term debt financing ability of high-carbon enterprises by 22.26 percent during the sample period, but it has no significant impact on short-term debt financing ability.

JEL Classification: C33, D92, G32, Q43, Q58
Intergenerational Language Transmission of Frisian and Low Saxon in the Netherlands
Authors: Buurke Raoul , Bartelds Martijn , Heeringa Wilbert , Knooihuizen Remco , Wieling Martijn
Published: October 2024

An important mechanism for language maintenance is transmission from parents to their children. This mechanism is stronger for the regional language Frisian than it is for Low Saxon in the northern Netherlands. In this study, we assessed many variables potentially associated with parental language transmission for these regional languages. We analyzed questionnaire responses from around 25,000 Frisian and Low Saxon speakers participating in the Lifelines cohort study. Transmission was strongly associated with whether their children's other parent speaks the same language, and with the frequency of language use in different social contexts. Other important factors included language attitudes and the degree of urbanization of the respondent's neighborhood. Taken together, these findings suggest that language maintenance for Frisian and Low Saxon could potentially be bolstered by adequately stimulating positive language attitudes and the use of the language in different social contexts by both the government and smaller societal organizations.
The meaning of segregated placements from the perspectives of people with acquired visual impairment: Focusing on posttraumatic growth and Japanese schools for the blind
Authors: Matsuda Erika , Miyauchi Hisae
Published: October 2024

Acquired visual impairment exhibits distinctive characteristics, which may include progressive impairment, along with the fundamental feature of a low incidence of visual impairment. In Japan, many with acquired visual impairment seek reintegration into society through schools for the blind. This qualitative study examined the relationship between enrolment in schools for the blind and experiences of posttraumatic growth (PTG) in people with acquired visual impairment, focusing on the role of segregated placements. Participants with acquired visual impairment ( n = 21) were selected by sampling target schools for the blind across Japan and participated in qualitative interviews that were analysed using theoretical thematic analysis, with both inductive and deductive approaches. To understand PTG in participants and the specific factors and mechanisms that produce it, PTG theory, which describes growth in five different domains, was used as a framework. The results showed that PTG in these participants was apparent in terms of ‘personal strength’, ‘new possibilities’, ‘relating to others’, and ‘appreciation of life’. The school for the blind, designated as a ‘school’ for this minor population with special provisions catering to their unique needs, appeared to play a key role in PTG. In addition, other factors such as ‘acupuncture/moxibustion/massage therapy’ introduced during enrolment, and the progressive nature of their visual impairment, also seemed to influence PTG. In essence, schools for the blind allowed respondents to meet others facing similar challenges, who provided mutual support, leading to increased PTG. These schools also serve as places to instil confidence in individuals experiencing vision loss and expand their limitations. This study suggests that schools for the blind may facilitate positive psychological changes in people with acquired visual impairment, underscoring the need for a nuanced understanding of the significance of segregated placement in fostering positive outcomes.
Primary silicon formation in hypereutectic alloy Al – 16.5% wt. Si treated in the liquid state by a changing unipolar pulsed electric current
Authors: Prigunova A.G. , Koshelev M.V. , Borisov A.G.
Published: October 2024

Structure formation during the crystallization of a melt Al – 16.5% wt. Si treated with packages of unipolar electrical pulses of various frequencies and amplitudes have been studied. Grinding of primary silicon crystals was observed, the size and morphology of which depend on the electric current density. DTA showed a significant change in the parameters of both melting and solidification processes. X-ray diffraction studies have established the formation of additional silicon phases: polytype silicon, and silicon with tetragonal and bcc structures. The results obtained are explained by the transformation of the structure and a decrease in the degree of micro inhomogeneity of the Al-Si melt a change in the short-range order of Si-Si atoms.
(Re)Conceptualizing STEM Learning and Teaching for Young Children With Disabilities
Authors: Yang Hsiu-Wen , Vinh Megan , Sharifnia Elica , Amsbary Jessica , Clements Doug H. , Lim Chih-Ing , Sarama Julie
Published: October 2024

Centering equity in our work eliminates disparities and promotes the learning and development of ALL children. Although there has been increasing focus on supporting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in early childhood, many children with disabilities still face challenges in accessing early STEM opportunities. In this article, we suggest a strengths-based, system-level, and theory-driven approach to encourage the field to shift away from the practice of “fixing” children when providing STEM learning and teaching for young children with disabilities. At the conclusion of this article, we also offer critical questions for readers to ponder and reflect on their work.
Diffusion policy: Visuomotor policy learning via action diffusion
Authors: Chi Cheng , Xu Zhenjia , Feng Siyuan , Cousineau Eric , Du Yilun , Burchfiel Benjamin , Tedrake Russ , Song Shuran
Published: October 2024

This paper introduces Diffusion Policy, a new way of generating robot behavior by representing a robot’s visuomotor policy as a conditional denoising diffusion process. We benchmark Diffusion Policy across 15 different tasks from 4 different robot manipulation benchmarks and find that it consistently outperforms existing state-of-the-art robot learning methods with an average improvement of 46.9%. Diffusion Policy learns the gradient of the action-distribution score function and iteratively optimizes with respect to this gradient field during inference via a series of stochastic Langevin dynamics steps. We find that the diffusion formulation yields powerful advantages when used for robot policies, including gracefully handling multimodal action distributions, being suitable for high-dimensional action spaces, and exhibiting impressive training stability. To fully unlock the potential of diffusion models for visuomotor policy learning on physical robots, this paper presents a set of key technical contributions including the incorporation of receding horizon control, visual conditioning, and the time-series diffusion transformer. We hope this work will help motivate a new generation of policy learning techniques that are able to leverage the powerful generative modeling capabilities of diffusion models. Code, data, and training details are available (diffusion-policy.cs.columbia.edu).
Understanding human activity with uncertainty measure for novelty in graph convolutional networks
Authors: Xing Hao , Burschka Darius
Published: October 2024

Understanding human activity is a crucial aspect of developing intelligent robots, particularly in the domain of human-robot collaboration. Nevertheless, existing systems encounter challenges such as over-segmentation, attributed to errors in the up-sampling process of the decoder. In response, we introduce a promising solution: the Temporal Fusion Graph Convolutional Network. This innovative approach aims to rectify the inadequate boundary estimation of individual actions within an activity stream and mitigate the issue of over-segmentation in the temporal dimension. Moreover, systems leveraging human activity recognition frameworks for decision-making necessitate more than just the identification of actions. They require a confidence value indicative of the certainty regarding the correspondence between observations and training examples. This is crucial to prevent overly confident responses to unforeseen scenarios that were not part of the training data and may have resulted in mismatches due to weak similarity measures within the system. To address this, we propose the incorporation of a Spectral Normalized Residual connection aimed at enhancing efficient estimation of novelty in observations. This innovative approach ensures the preservation of input distance within the feature space by imposing constraints on the maximum gradients of weight updates. By limiting these gradients, we promote a more robust handling of novel situations, thereby mitigating the risks associated with overconfidence. Our methodology involves the use of a Gaussian process to quantify the distance in feature space. The final model is evaluated on two challenging public datasets in the field of human-object interaction recognition, that is, Bimanual Actions and IKEA Assembly datasets, and outperforms popular existing methods in terms of action recognition and segmentation accuracy as well as out-of-distribution detection.
Formal and social structures as organizing mechanisms of disaster response: A longitudinal social network analysis
Authors: Kwestel Melanie , Kim Minkyung , Doerfel Marya L , Randazzo Casey
Published: October 2024

Organizations in disaster-prone areas generally have formalized plans that will help them recover after environmental disasters. However, these formal mechanisms are usually adapted “on the fly” because disasters don't unfold according to plans. This paper examines how a cross-sector network of community organizations used both formal structures (planned/bureaucratic relationships within and among organizations) and informal structures (emergent/social networks) that interacted to support organized response work in response to both anticipated and chaotic events during and following Hurricane Harvey. Results showed that formal reporting relationships that included preestablished network relationships predicted organizing structures on the days when volatility was highest, while emergent networks were crucial in guiding recovery actions during periods of crisis. The findings extend phase models of crisis with a more granular and longitudinal analysis of these organizing processes, advancing organizational theory that often frames bureaucratic structures and social networks as dichotomous rather than as symbiotic.