bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Changing and Evolution of Influenza Virus: Is It a Trivial Flu?
Authors: Pavia Grazia , Scarpa Fabio , Ciccozzi Alessandra , Romano Chiara , Branda Francesco , Quirino Angela , Marascio Nadia , Matera Giovanni , Sanna Daria , Ciccozzi Massimo
Published: March 2024

Background: Influenza viruses are etiological agents which cause contagious respiratory, seasonal epidemics and, for influenza A subtypes, pandemics. The clinical picture of influenza has undergone continuous change over the years, due to intrinsic viral evolution as well as “reassortment” of its genomic segments. The history of influenza highlights its ability to adapt and to rapidly evolve, without specific circumstances. This reflects the complexity of this pathology and poses the fundamental question about its assumption as a “common illness” and its impact on public health. Summary: The global influenza epidemics and pandemics claimed millions of deaths, leaving an indelible mark on public health and showing the need for a better comprehension of the influenza virus. The clear understanding of genetic variations during the influenza seasonal epidemics is a crucial point for developing effective strategies for prevention, treatment, and vaccine design. The recent advance in next-generation sequencing approaches, model systems to virus culture, and bioinformatics pipeline played a key role in the rapid characterization of circulating influenza strains. In particular, the increase in computational power allowed the performance of complex tasks in healthcare settings through machine learning algorithms, which analyze different variables, such as medical and laboratory outputs, to optimize medical research and improve public health systems. The early detection of emerging and reemerging pathogens is a matter of importance to prevent future pandemics. Key Messages: The perception of influenza as a “trivial flu” or a more serious public health concern is a subject of ongoing debate, reflecting the multifaceted nature of this infectious disease. The variability in the severity of influenza sheds light on the unpredictability of the viral characteristics, coupled with the challenges in accurately predicting circulating strains. This adds complexity to the public health burden of influenza and highlights the need for targeted interventions.
Book-tax differences anormal e a não conformidade na divulgação do EBITDA
Authors: Pontes Gleison de Abreu , Lemes Sirlei , Silva Jéssica Rayse de Melo , Costa Patrícia de Souza
Published: March 2024

This study aims to investigate the association between abnormal book-tax differences (ABTDs) and non-compliance in disclosing EBITDA figures. It employs a multilevel logistic model to examine data for this indicator from 340 openly traded non-financial Brazilian firms for the period from 2012 to 2021. The results indicate that ABTDs increase the probability of non-compliance in EBITDA disclosure, with variations in behavior among companies in distinct subsectors, suggesting its relevance in evaluating non-compliance with CVM Instruction 527/2012 (CVM is the Brazilian equivalent of the Securities and Exchange Commission). These findings contribute to the accounting literature, highlighting that asymmetry of information, conflicts of interest, the pursuit of various rewards, and assumptions related to ABTDs may result in informational biases. This is reflected in managed figures used in the EBITDA calculation and lower-quality information than what is required by the CVM norm for this indicator.
Virus-Induced Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Causes Cardiomyopathy Through Eliciting Inflammatory Responses in the Heart
Authors: Grune Jana , Bajpai Geetika , Ocak Pervin Tülin , Kaufmann Eva , Mentkowski Kyle , Pabel Steffen , Kumowski Nina , Pulous Fadi E. , Tran Kim A. , Rohde David , Zhang Shuang , Iwamoto Yoshiko , Wojtkiewicz Gregory R. , Vinegoni Claudio , Green Ursula , Swirski Filip K. , Stone James R. , Lennerz Jochen K. , Divangahi Maziar , Hulsmans Maarten , Nahrendorf Matthias
Published: March 2024

BACKGROUND:

Viral infections can cause acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), systemic inflammation, and secondary cardiovascular complications. Lung macrophage subsets change during ARDS, but the role of heart macrophages in cardiac injury during viral ARDS remains unknown. Here we investigate how immune signals typical for viral ARDS affect cardiac macrophage subsets, cardiovascular health, and systemic inflammation.

METHODS:

We assessed cardiac macrophage subsets using immunofluorescence histology of autopsy specimens from 21 patients with COVID-19 with SARS-CoV-2–associated ARDS and 33 patients who died from other causes. In mice, we compared cardiac immune cell dynamics after SARS-CoV-2 infection with ARDS induced by intratracheal instillation of Toll-like receptor ligands and an ACE2 (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2) inhibitor.

RESULTS:

In humans, SARS-CoV-2 increased total cardiac macrophage counts and led to a higher proportion of CCR2
+
(C-C chemokine receptor type 2 positive) macrophages. In mice, SARS-CoV-2 and virus-free lung injury triggered profound remodeling of cardiac resident macrophages, recapitulating the clinical expansion of CCR2
+
macrophages. Treating mice exposed to virus-like ARDS with a tumor necrosis factor α–neutralizing antibody reduced cardiac monocytes and inflammatory MHCII
lo
CCR2
+
macrophages while also preserving cardiac function. Virus-like ARDS elevated mortality in mice with pre-existing heart failure.

CONCLUSIONS:

Our data suggest that viral ARDS promotes cardiac inflammation by expanding the CCR2
+
macrophage subset, and the associated cardiac phenotypes in mice can be elicited by activating the host immune system even without viral presence in the heart.
Identification of High-Priority Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) Control Areas by Predicting Potential Habitat and Crop Damage
Authors: Kim Ho Gul , Song Wonkyong , Park Chan , Song Youngeun , Cho Suhyun , Oh Hyun Kyung , Kim Wheemoon
Published: March 2024

Background and objective: The wild boar (Sus scrofa) is a highly mobile, fertile, clever, stealthy, and adaptable animal. It is distributed around the world and inhabits a fairly wide range of habitats, which results in frequent friction and conflict with humans. Disturbances caused by wild boars, such as crop damage on agricultural land and the spread of African swine fever, has recently been increasing in Korea, making it necessary to confirm the habitat range of wild boars and to predict the possibility of future crop damage.Methods: The locations of Gapyeong-gun, Namyangju-si, Yangpyeong-gun, and Gwangju-si in Gyeonggi-do, where crop damage caused by wild boars is confirmed to be serious, were selected as the study area. Data from 2nd to 4th National Natural Environment Surveys (covering three periods of respectively 8, 8, and 5 years) were used to analyze the continuity of potential boar habitat, and data from point samples of crop damage were used to identify areas with a high probability of future crop damage. The MaxEnt model was used to analyze potential habitats and crop-damage areas based on 15 environmental variables selected through literature research.Results: The average area under the receiver operating curve (AUC) of the resulting potential habitat models for the three survey periods was 0.644, and the AUC of the crop damage prediction model was relatively high at 0.850. The resulting key crop-damage priority management areas were Seorak-myeon, Gapyeong-gun; Sudong-myeon, Namyangju-si; Joan-myeon, Namyangju-si; Sang-myeon and Gapyeong-gun; Gapyeong-eup, Gapyeong-gun.Conclusion: This study illustrates changes in the spatial distribution of wild boars in Korea based on time-series survey records from 1997 to 2018. These findings are expected to be useful as reliable reference data for setting priorities when establishing future measures to prevent crop damage, such as managing the number of wild boars in Gyeonggi-do.
Fragments of Texts and Fragmentary Textual Traditions
Authors: McCarron Alexander
Published: March 2024

Since the publication of the Aramaic Enochic manuscript fragments by J.T. Milik in 1976, the secondary Greek and Ethiopic versions have played a key role in how the Enochic fragments have been reconstructed and restored. In the case of the Enochic theophany (1 Enoch 1:1–9) in 4QEna (4Q201), the edges of the fragments are often retrospectively reconstructed and restored in dialogue with the Greek text-type preserved in Codex Panopolitanus and the Ethiopic text-types preserved in the manuscripts of Ethiopic Enoch. This study demonstrates the need for renewed reflection on how the Aramaic Enochic theophany in 4QEna is reconstructed and restored in modern editions of the fragments, and highlights the methodological dangers inherent in the application of a retrospective text-critical and reconstructive method.
A Retrospective Hydrological Uncertainty Analysis Using Precipitation Estimation Ensembles for a Poorly Gauged Basin in High Mountain Asia
Authors: Reggiani Paolo , Boyko Oleksiy
Published: March 2024

We study the impact of uncertain precipitation estimates on simulated streamflows for the poorly gauged Yarlung Tsangpo basin (YTB), high mountain Asia (HMA). A process-based hydrological model at 0.5-km resolution is driven by an ensemble of precipitation estimation products (PEPs), including analyzed ground observations, high-resolution precipitation estimates, climate data records, and reanalyses over the 2008–15 control period. The model is then forced retrospectively from 1983 onward to obtain seamless discharge estimates till 2007, a period for which there is very sparse flow data coverage. Whereas temperature forcing is considered deterministic, precipitation is sampled from the predictive distribution, which is obtained through processing PEPs by means of a probabilistic processor of uncertainty. The employed Bayesian processor combines the PEPs and outputs the predictive densities of daily precipitation depth accumulation as well as the probability of precipitation occurrence, from which random precipitation fields for probabilistic model forcing are sampled. The predictive density of precipitation is conditional on the precipitation estimation predictors that are bias corrected and variance adjusted. For the selected HMA study site, discharges simulated from reanalysis and climate data records score lowest against observations at three flow gauging points, whereas high-resolution satellite estimates perform better, but are still outperformed by precipitation fields obtained from analyzed observed precipitation and merged products, which were corrected against ground observations. The applied methodology indicates how missing flows for poorly gauged sites can be retrieved and is further extendable to hydrological projections of climate.

Significance Statement

We show how to use different precipitation estimates, like computer simulations of weather or satellite observations, in conjunction with all available ground measurements in regions with generally poor meteorological and flow measurement infrastructure. We demonstrate how it is possible to retrieve past unobserved river flows using these estimates in combination with a hydrological computer model for streamflow simulations. The method can help us to better understand the hydrology of poorly gauged regions that play an important role in the distribution of water resources and can be affected by future changes. We applied the method to a large transboundary river basin in China. This basin holds water needed by large, densely populated regions of India that may become water constrained by warmer climate.
On the Release and Renewal of Freshwater in the Beaufort Gyre of the Arctic Ocean
Authors: Wang Qiang
Published: March 2024

The Arctic Beaufort Gyre plays a critical role in climate and marine ecosystems. This study investigates the response of the liquid freshwater in the Beaufort Gyre to various wind perturbations using numerical simulations. A new diagnostic called “freshwater renewal” is introduced, which quantifies the amount of freshwater that has entered the Beaufort Gyre since a specific point in time. The findings reveal that the process of freshwater renewal is persistently efficient in the Beaufort Gyre region, occurring irrespective of the gyre’s status. The spatial distribution of freshwater renewal varies, influenced by factors such as wind forcing and gyre circulation patterns. Cyclonic wind perturbation associated with a negative Beaufort high sea level pressure anomaly triggers freshwater release from the Beaufort Gyre, with freshwater export and renewal dependent on wind-perturbation locations and time scales. While some released Beaufort Gyre freshwater exits the Arctic Ocean through the Davis and Fram Straits, a considerable portion could remain within the Arctic Ocean for many years under specific conditions. Wind perturbation associated with the positive Arctic Oscillation enhances the Arctic export of Beaufort Gyre freshwater, mainly through the Fram Strait. The Arctic export of total freshwater and the Arctic export of the portion originating from the Beaufort Gyre have different time scales and magnitudes. Hence, it is essential to collectively examine different freshwater components in order to assess the role of Arctic export in the climate system.
A Major Improvement of Atmospheric Wave Boundary Layer Model for Storm Surge Modeling by Including Effect of Wave Breaking on Air–Sea Momentum Exchange
Authors: Zhang Anyifang , Yu Xiping
Published: March 2024

Accurate estimation of the wind stress under extreme conditions is crucial for modeling storm surges and storm waves, which is important to the development of a warning system for coastal disaster prevention. The problem, however, is highly challenging owing to the presence of complex ocean surface processes under the action of unusually strong wind. In this study, the existing atmospheric wave boundary layer model is significantly enhanced by including various effects of wave breaking. Both the effect of wave breaking on the dissipation of energy and its effect on the transfer of momentum within the atmospheric boundary layer are carefully formulated. The wind stress coefficients obtained with the enhanced model are shown to be in good agreement with the measurements in not only deep but also shallow waters. The enhanced atmospheric wave boundary layer model is coupled with ocean wave as well as circulation models to simulate typhoon-induced storm surges and storm waves in the Pearl River delta region. The computational results show that the coupled model with improved evaluation of the wind stress is substantially advantageous when compared with existing approaches.
Influence of Local Water Vapor Analysis Uncertainty on Ensemble Forecasts of Tropical Cyclogenesis Using Hurricane Irma (2017) as a Testbed
Authors: Hartman Christopher M. , Judt Falko , Chen Xingchao
Published: March 2024

Tropical cyclone formation is known to require abundant water vapor in the lower to middle troposphere within the incipient disturbance. In this study, we assess the impacts of local water vapor analysis uncertainty on the predictability of the formation of Hurricane Irma (2017). To this end, we reduce the magnitude of the incipient disturbance’s water vapor perturbations obtained from an ensemble-based data assimilation system that constrained moisture by assimilating all-sky infrared and microwave radiances. Five-day ensemble forecasts are initialized two days before genesis using each set of modified analysis perturbations. Growth of convective differences and intensity uncertainty are evaluated for each ensemble forecast. We observe that when initializing an ensemble forecast with only moisture uncertainty within the incipient disturbance, the resulting intensity uncertainty at every lead time exceeds half that of an ensemble containing initial perturbations to all variables throughout the domain. Although ensembles with different initial moisture uncertainty amplitudes reveal a similar pathway to genesis, uncertainty in genesis timing varies substantially across ensembles since moister members exhibit earlier spinup of the low-level vortex. These differences in genesis timing are traced back to the first 6–12 h of integration, when differences in the position and intensity of mesoscale convective systems across ensemble members develop more quickly with greater initial moisture uncertainty. In addition, the rapid growth of intensity uncertainty may be greatly modulated by the diurnal cycle. Ultimately, this study underscores the importance of targeting the incipient disturbance with high spatiotemporal water vapor observations for ingestion into data assimilation systems.

Significance Statement

Hurricanes form from clusters of thunderstorms that organize into a coherent system. One of the key ingredients for the formation process is an abundance of moisture. In this study, we test the sensitivity of hurricane formation to the initial moisture content in the vicinity of the cluster of thunderstorms that would become Hurricane Irma (2017). To do so, we initialize sets of forecasts each having a different variability of initial moisture content within the embryonic disturbance. Our results show that the predictability of hurricane formation is highly dependent on the uncertainty of the moisture content within the initial disturbance. Consequently, more high-quality observations of the moisture within the precursor disturbances to hurricanes are expected to improve forecasts of their formation.
Social Capital in a Divided America: The Relationship between Economic Bridging and Affective Polarization
Authors: Campbell David E.
Published: March 2024

Does political polarization decline as relational bridges are built between people from different social and economic backgrounds? Circumstantial evidence supports the existence of a relationship: social capital has declined during the same period that affective polarization has risen. To date, though, we have lacked data to test whether the two are, in fact, dynamically related. In this article, I measure the extent of bridging social capital among people within zip codes, generated from 21 billion Facebook friendships of 72.2 million Americans. Using two measures of affective polarization—feeling thermometers and partisan traits—the analysis shows that people who live in communities with more economic bridging are less affectively polarized and that conversations among people who have different political views is a possible causal mechanism. These effects are more pronounced for the affluent and for Republicans—and for affluent Republicans most of all.
Black Lives Matter and the Racialized Support for the January 6th Insurrection
Authors: Barreto Matt A. , Alegre Claudia , Bailey J. Isaiah , Davis Alexandria , Ferrer Joshua , Nguy Joyce , Palmisano Christopher , Robertson Crystal
Published: March 2024

Does support for the January 6th insurrection come mostly from concerned citizens worried over illegal voting, or from racists spurred to action by the highly visible Black Lives Matter protests and Donald Trump’s 2020 defeat? We field a survey experiment aimed at disentangling links between old and new racial grievances, anti-immigrant beliefs, Black activism, and support for the January 6th insurrection. We find that the people most likely to be supportive of the insurrection are whites who hold negative attitudes toward immigrants and subscribe to white replacement theory. Beliefs about the George Floyd protests also explain January 6th support, above and beyond demographics and other racial and political views. These results are validated by the 2020 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey. We also conduct a survey vignette experiment and find that anti-BLM rhetoric spread by Trump and right-wing news sources likely soured opinions on the movement and set the stage for widespread insurrection support.
Does the “Fascism Debate” Matter for Understanding 2024 American Politics?
Authors: Berezin Mabel
Published: March 2024

In 2020, historians and public intellectuals began to ask whether fascism had come to America, with many analysts arguing in the affirmative. I argue here that fascism as a category has an “epistemic plasticity” that attenuates its analytic utility when it is used outside of historical context. Fascism as an analytic device in the American context, therefore, obscures dangerous tendencies in American politics and culture. Where European political culture is characterized by secular and religious solidarity rooted in national state institutions, American political culture lacks collectivism and solidarity and is susceptible to nativism, a distinctly American impulse that is unmoored from institutional arrangements. In the 2024 American election cycle, analysts should focus on factors that threaten democratic institutions and strategies that strengthen democracy. Comparisons that apply imperfectly to the American situation will not save democracy.
Freedom of Speech in the Post-Floyd Era: Public Support for Political Tolerance
Authors: Mutz Diana C.
Published: March 2024

Using a measure designed to capture intolerance on both sides of the political spectrum, I find that opinions favoring the abridgement of free speech rights are overwhelmingly targeted at right-leaning groups, and racist groups in particular. Consistent with recent studies, Democrats are found to be less tolerant than Republicans of speech they dislike. However, contrary to existing findings, the same patterns of intolerance are present for both racist and nonracist target groups. Treating racist groups as an exception to the principle of free expression may have resulted in a spillover to intolerance of other disliked groups.
In Electoral Disputes, State Justices Are Less Reliable GOP Allies than the U.S. Supreme Court—That’s the “Problem” the Independent State Legislature Claim Hopes to Solve
Authors: Brown Rebecca L. , Epstein Lee , Nelson Michael J.
Published: March 2024

Scholars have identified serious drawbacks to the independent state legislature (ISL) claim, which precludes state-court review of election laws, thus preventing state guarantees like “free and fair elections” from being enforced. Considering its flaws, we ask why ISL would be pursued so fervently and why the Supreme Court, in Moore v. Harper, adopted a version of it. Examining data that compare election-law outcomes in federal and state supreme courts, we found that state supreme court justices, even if Republican, are not reliable supporters of the GOP electoral agenda. The Roberts court, by contrast, has voted in the GOP-supported direction in most election-law cases it has decided. This, we argue, is why ISL is promoted so vigorously: it takes electoral disputes—such as who can vote, what the rules for counting are, and such—out of the hands of state courts and places them squarely into the hands of the Supreme Court, a reliable partisan ally.
Can Institutional Reform Protect Election Certification?
Authors: Butler Daniel M. , Harden Jeffrey J.
Published: March 2024

After the 2020 presidential election, some state-level officials endorsed antidemocratic rhetoric, and a smaller faction took action against the election results. To fortify American democracy, safeguarding election certification from politically motivated interference is imperative. We explore the potential of nonpartisan certification of elections for mitigating antidemocratic actions, arguing that such a practice would shield the certification process from political pressures that might compel politicians to attempt election overturns. Through an original survey experiment on a nationally representative sample of Americans, we analyze how nonpartisan certification impacts elected officials’ public approval. The results indicate that our proposed reform is an incentive-compatible solution by which elites in government can maintain support without acting against the electoral process. Furthermore, we demonstrate that there is broad support among all segments of the public for empowering nonpartisan commissions to certify elections.
Impact of Medicaid Expansion on Trauma Patients at Extreme Risk of Mortality: A Time-Series Analysis
Authors: Acosta José A.
Published: March 2024

Background

The 2014 expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) reshaped healthcare delivery in the United States. This study assessed how Medicaid expansion affected in-hospital mortality in patients with extreme risk of mortality (EROM) from traumatic injuries.

Methods

Data from inpatients aged 18-64 years, registered in the National Inpatient Sample between 2007 and 2020, and identified with trauma-related All-Patient Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (APRDRG) codes, were analyzed. Within this group, a subset of patients was selected based on the APRDRG classification identifying them as at EROM for the principal unit of analysis. The cohort was divided into high-implementation (HIR) and low-implementation (LIR) regions based on Medicaid expansion coverage. In-hospital mortality was assessed using interrupted time-series analysis. Sensitivity analyses considered seasonality, autocorrelation, and exogenous events.

Results

Analysis encompassed 70 381 trauma inpatient stays, corresponding to 346 659 patients based on National Inpatient Sample weighting. There was a consistent monthly decline in in-hospital mortality of .08% (95% CI: −.103 to −.048; P < .001) prior to Medicaid expansion, a trend unaffected by expansion. This pattern persisted across both LIR and HIR Medicaid implementation regions. Although Medicaid enrollment increased in HIR, that in LIR remained unchanged.

Discussion

Over the study period, the in-hospital mortality among severely injured patients consistently decreased, and this trend was not influenced by Medicaid expansion. The statistical models and results from this study can offer valuable guidance to policymakers and healthcare leaders as they formulate more efficient and effective policies.
Experiences of physical healthcare services in Māori and non-Māori with mental health and substance use conditions
Authors: Cunningham Ruth , Imlach Fiona , Haitana Tracy , Clark Mau Te Rangimarie , Every-Palmer Susanna , Lockett Helen , Peterson Debbie
Published: March 2024

Objectives:

Inequities in physical health outcomes exist for people with mental health and substance use conditions and for Indigenous populations (Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand). These inequities may be partly explained by poorer quality of physical healthcare services, including discrimination at systemic and individual levels. This study investigated the experiences of people with mental health and substance use conditions accessing physical healthcare and differences in service quality for non-Māori relative to Māori.

Methods:

A cross-sectional online survey of people with mental health and substance use conditions in New Zealand asked about four aspects of service quality in four healthcare settings: general practice, emergency department, hospital and pharmacy. The quality domains were: treated with respect; listened to; treated unfairly due to mental health and substance use conditions; mental health and substance use condition diagnoses distracting clinicians from physical healthcare (diagnostic and treatment overshadowing).

Results:

Across the four health services, pharmacy was rated highest for all quality measures and emergency department lowest. Participants rated general practice services highly for being treated with respect and listened to but reported relatively high levels of overshadowing in general practice, emergency department and hospital services. Experiences of unfair treatment were more common in emergency department and hospital than general practice and pharmacy. Compared to Māori, non-Māori reported higher levels of being treated with respect and listened to in most services and were more likely to report ‘never’ experiencing unfair treatment and overshadowing for all health services.

Conclusion:

Interventions to address discrimination and poor-quality health services to people with mental health and substance use conditions should be tailored to the physical healthcare setting. More needs to be done to address institutional racism in systems that privilege non-Māori.
Verga, Tozzi e il “progresso del realismo”. Sul primo Rimanelli romanziere e critico
Authors: Bottone Alessio
Published: March 2024

Il saggio propone un’indagine sull’influenza esercitata da Verga e Tozzi sui romanzi degli anni Cinquanta di Giose Rimanelli. Si tratta di una vicenda per molti versi esemplare del valore assunto dalle opere dei due grandi scrittori nel ventennio precedente, come testimoniano i necessari agganci alle produzioni di Corrado Alvaro e Francesco Jovine, con cui Rimanelli dialoga serratamente. Le scelte letterarie e le valutazioni critiche dell’autore compongono un quadro coerente in cui l’eredità del verismo verghiano e del modernismo tozziano modella, seppure per via dialettica, i postulati della stagione realista e il suo stesso superamento.
Neglected Millets, Crop Diversity and Nutritional Security: Paradox of Millets in India
Authors: Kodirekkala Koteswara Rao
Published: March 2024

Crop diversity, millet crops and their erosion are matters of rising concern. Millets are known in several ways to various stakeholders. Some people consider millets as climate-resilient, climate-smart, eco-friendly, contingency and future crops; as nutri-cereals, nutraceuticals, smart and future foods. For some people, millets are ‘neglected millets’, ‘underutilized millets’, neglected and under-utilized crops/species; they are often undervalued as ‘minor millets’, minor crops and coarse grains. For some other, millets are stigmatized as ‘marginalized grains’, ‘marginalized millets’, ‘marginalized crops’ and crops for the poor. At the empirical dimension, on one hand, the traditional producers and consumers of millets from tribal and rural areas are losing and lacking interest in such cultivation and consumption. On the other hand, there is a reinvention of tradition, as nutritional values and health benefits of millets are realized by the urbanites and educated sections. Thus, I see a paradox of millets. Therefore, the present article studies the status of traditional and ‘neglected’ millets and also the trends of their cultivation and consumption. It identifies the opportunities, constraints and challenges for millets use for achieving sustainable food security and nutritional security and towards the Sustainable Development Goal 2.
Assessing Measurement Consistency: A Study of the BPFSC Invariance Across Age and Sex in Romanian Adolescents
Authors: Bud Samuel , Szentágotai-Tătar Aurora
Published: March 2024

The Borderline Personality Feature Scale for Children (BPFSC) is a widely used instrument and currently the only dimensional measure to investigate Borderline Personality features in children and adolescents. The present study aimed to investigate the factor structure and measurement invariance across age and sex in a community sample of 634 adolescents (mean age = 16.72, standard deviation = 1.31). To test for measurement invariance, we conducted multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MG-CFA). Analysis showed residual invariance across age and sex. Based on the results, we conclude that BPFSC is a valid and reliable instrument to assess Borderline Personality features in adolescents. Implications for evidence-based assessment of Borderline Personality features in adolescence are discussed.
What Predicts Graduate Public Health Student Success? Evidence for Admission Committees in a Post–Affirmative Action Landscape
Authors: Krytus Kimberly , Kruger Jessica S. , Homish Gregory G.
Published: March 2024

Objective:

A severe staff shortage and a dearth of professionals from underrepresented backgrounds in the public health workforce are contributing to poor health outcomes in the United States. Schools and programs can mitigate these problems by admitting more graduate public health students overall and from underrepresented backgrounds. We identified predictors of foundational graduate public health course grades and graduate grade point average (GPA), sharing evidence to remove application factors that are admission barriers and do not predict student outcomes.

Methods:

We conducted a linear regression analysis on demographic and academic factors from 564 graduate public health applications for students at the University at Buffalo who received their degree from January 1, 2016, to February 1, 2021, analyzing age, race and ethnicity, sex, income, undergraduate degree, verbal and quantitative Graduate Record Examination (GRE) percentiles, and undergraduate GPA. Outcomes were grades in foundational public health courses and cumulative graduate GPA.

Results:

Undergraduate GPA was the best predictor of graduate public health student success, explaining nearly 7% of foundational public health course grades and 29% of graduate GPA. Higher undergraduate GPA contributed to higher course grades and graduate GPA. GRE scores explained <1% of student outcomes.

Conclusions:

Our findings add to the growing body of research showing that standardized test scores may not predict graduate student outcomes and provide further evidence for the field of public health to consider removing this admission barrier. By doing so, institutions could admit more students to graduate public health programs who can bring needed skills to the market, further diversifying the workforce and public health faculty, to better meet population health needs.
Differences in Cesarean Rates for Nulliparous, Term, Singleton, Vertex Births Among Racial and Ethnic Groups and States Before and After Stay-at-Home Orders During the COVID-19 Pandemic, United States, 2017-2021
Authors: Hussaini Khaleel S. , Galang Romeo , Li Rui
Published: March 2024

Objectives:

Evidence is limited on differences in cesarean rates for nulliparous, term, singleton, vertex (NTSV) births across racial and ethnic groups at the national and state level during the COVID-19 pandemic. We assessed changes in levels and trends of NTSV cesarean rates before and after stay-at-home orders (SAHOs) were implemented in the United States (1) overall, (2) by racial and ethnic groups, and (3) by 50 US states from January 2017 through December 2021.

Methods:

We used birth certificate data from 2017 through 2021, restricted to hospital births, to calculate monthly NTSV cesarean rates for the United States and for racial and ethnic groups and to calculate quarterly NTSV cesarean rates for the 50 states. We used interrupted time-series analysis to measure changes in NTSV cesarean rates before and after implementation of SAHOs (March 1 through May 31, 2020).

Results:

Of 6 022 552 NTSV hospital births, 1 579 645 (26.2%) were cesarean births. Before implementation of SAHOs, NTSV cesarean rates were declining in the United States overall; were declining among births to non-Hispanic Asian, non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White women; and were declining in 6 states. During the first month of implementation of SAHOs in May 2020, monthly NTSV rates increased in the United States by 0.55%. Monthly NTSV rates increased by 1.20% among non-Hispanic Black women, 0.90% among Hispanic women, and 0.28% among non-Hispanic White women; quarterly NTSV rates increased in 6 states.

Conclusion:

In addition to emergency preparedness planning, hospital monitoring, and reporting of NTSV cesarean rates to increase provider awareness, reallocation and prioritization of resources may help to identify potential strains on health care systems during public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ableism and Able Privilege: Integrating Social Justice Concepts in Rehabilitation Education
Authors: Hartley Michael T. , Saia Toni , Mapes Aimee C. , Taylor Aryn , Ficchi Gabrielle
Published: March 2024

The concepts of ableism and able privilege are critical for understanding how power and privilege operate in our society to disadvantage disabled people. In this article, we report the results of an exploratory study on the effects of an able privilege training on attitudes toward disability among undergraduate students. Using a posttest-only control, 147 undergraduate students were randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. The control group completed measures of attitudes toward disability before the training, while the experimental group completed the measures afterward. Compared with the control group, the experimental group reported more positive attitudes toward disability equity and inclusion, but varied attitudes toward disability pathos and pity. Implications address able privilege as a threshold concept for understanding how institutional structures and ideologies shape the disability experience.
Negotiating the Pulpit: African-American Clergywomen’s Acceptance of Guest Speaking Invitations
Authors: Krull Amy C.
Published: March 2024

Using the concept of agency, this article examines the choices Black Clergywomen make when offered guest speaking engagements where they would be prohibited from speaking from the pulpit. In-depth interviews were conducted with eighteen African American clergywomen. Utilizing the concept of agency in gender-conservative religions, findings demonstrate that the women engage in resistance and empowerment through their acceptance or decline of invitations. Theory of agency in gender-conservative religions is advanced by demonstrating that the examination of a wider religious context, as opposed to a single denomination, may be useful in understanding agency.
Young adults and investing for the future: Examining futuring practices and wellbeing through digital brokerage platforms
Authors: Hanckel Benjamin , Ann Hendry Natalie
Published: March 2024

Young adults’ lives are increasingly characterised by uncertainty, which has heightened since the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as an expectation that they transition into adulthood as entrepreneurial, responsible subjects. In this context, greater numbers of young people are participating as retail investors, motivated by the growing accessibility of financial technologies, including digital brokers. Yet this technological accessibility does not explain why or how they decide to invest. Drawing on focus group discussions with Australian young adults (19–30 years) who invest via digital brokers, this article explores their participation as retail investors. Focused on long-term financial ‘horizons’, participants explained how investing requires temporal work to mitigate existing uncertainty and enable their imagined future wellbeing. Drawing on theories of ‘futuring’, we surface their varied practices towards hedging against and with uncertain and risky futures. Such practices weigh up individuals’ circumstances, which are regulated through gender, class and contextual considerations, as well as housing or employment market imaginaries and key (imagined) milestones in one’s life. The article considers the implications of these futuring practices, where not investing becomes a risk for future wellbeing, and how these practices align with the entrepreneurial present that has become a critical aspect of young people’s transitions into adulthood.
Non-identity accounts: Personal myths, cultural scripts and narrative alignment
Authors: Scott Susie , Lockwood Nina
Published: March 2024

This article explores narrative practices of reverse biographical identity work: how people compose and present accounts of non-identity formation. When asked to reflect upon a lost, unlived experience, participants drew upon shared discursive resources: in particular cultural scripts. They performed aligning actions to position their individual tale in relation to dominant, preferred versions of these wider social narratives, making moral status claims to being normative or transgressive. These techniques manifested in three aspects of the stories: personal myths and central themes, sequential ordering and teleological reasoning, and counterfactual emotion tones supporting motive talk. Just like stories of actualised identity, therefore, non-identity accounts forge meaningful connections between self and society, reflecting and enacting modes of narrative power.
Avian architects: Technology, domestication, and animal minds in urban America
Authors: Holmes Matthew
Published: March 2024

In the mid-nineteenth century, the house sparrow ( Passer domesticus) was introduced to the United States, quickly spreading across the country. For a brief period in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the observation of sparrow behavior was something of an urban pastime. Traits such as intelligence, reason, persistence, and craftsmanship were conferred onto sparrows by American urbanites. This paper argues that sparrow intelligence was often conflated with domestication: the ability of the birds to adapt to living alongside humans. Praise for the ingenuity of sparrows generally revolved around their nest building, particularly when such structures overcame the challenges posed by urban infrastructure and technology. Sparrows were far less praiseworthy when they caused electricity outages or contaminated water supplies. The sparrow in the United States demonstrates how the relationship between these anecdotes and their implications for animal minds was mediated by the technology and infrastructure of cities. Admirers of sparrows were not measuring the birds’ mental capacity, but rather their ability to adapt to human habitations. Sparrows were only granted intelligence once they had demonstrated their ability to become domesticated.
COVID-19 Pandemic-Related Stress and Subjective Well-Being Across Age: The Mediating Role of Social Resources
Authors: Yazdani Neshat , Falzarano Francesca , Minahan Zucchetto Jillian , Siedlecki Karen L.
Published: March 2024

Stress associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures implemented to prevent its spread dramatically shifted our social networks, interactions, and contexts, all of which influence the assessment of one's subjective well-being (SWB). Drawing on data collected from 1,318 adults between April and May 2020, we used structural equation modeling to analyze the relationship between pandemic-related stress and SWB (life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect), and examined how these relationships vary across age. Pandemic-related stress was associated with lower life satisfaction and higher negative affect. However, no evidence of age moderation emerged. Subsequent analysis examined different aspects of social resources as potential mediating variables. Loneliness fully mediated the relationship between stress and life satisfaction, while social support demonstrated evidence of partial mediation. Further, loneliness and social support partially mediated the relationship between stress and negative affect. Findings suggest that pandemic-related stress impacts SWB, and social resources help explain these impacts.
Archives in Stone: Cemeteries, Burial, and Urban Ownership in Late Colonial Ghana
Authors: Balakrishnan Sarah
Published: March 2024

While many scholars have examined the influence of European law, writing, and record-keeping on African land rights and property, few have analyzed semi-textual records such as cemetery gravestones. This essay argues that urban cemeteries, introduced by the British colonial state to the Gold Coast Colony (southern Ghana) in the nineteenth century, became archives in stone. As one of the few public records forums available inside Gold Coast towns, cemeteries offered basic, but crucial, information. They indirectly dated immigration history and reflected ancestral political status. Over the course of colonial rule, Gold Coast citizens petitioned the state to have their elders buried in particular cemeteries to augment their claims to land and authority. This essay demonstrates that urban ownership—the status of belonging to a town as an authochthon—came to depend partly upon cemetery burial. Like any archive, cemeteries were highly curated collections, shaping legal contestations over residency, leadership, and land ownership.
British Allotment to American Park: An Atlantic Crossing of the Garden Suburb Movement 1910–1930
Authors: Freestone Robert , Nichols David
Published: March 2024

Endorsement of open spaces internalized within residential blocks was an iconic concept promoted by the British garden city movement in the early twentieth century. Advancing various social goals, they were associated within a gendered ideology of domesticity, child safety, local food production, and community-centeredness. This article examines American responses through theoretical reformulation, endorsement, opposition, and uneven practical experiments situated against the maturing science of planned suburban development. Raymond Unwin included these spaces in a seminal morphological exposition, developing the concept of the quadrangle with a variety of uses including agricultural allotments, tennis courts, and playgrounds. Views of leading American community planners are canvassed, split between those promoting agricultural commons, landscaped gardens and playgrounds, and opponents citing upkeep and security concerns. Evolution of the interior park arguably peaked with Radburn which established a new iconic form and narrative of interior parks at a larger scale.
Sounding Sidewalks: Historicizing and Theorizing This Medial Zone
Authors: Knight Lauren
Published: March 2024

Sidewalks have long been a contested urban space existing between the private and public, thereby embodying conflicting sonic worlds of personal soundscaping, cultural world-building, and authority. This article theorizes and historicizes the lineage of the sidewalk as a medium of both control and resistance, addressed through an analysis of various sound technologies and techniques. Extending literature on the complex history of sidewalks as urban infrastructure, this article furthers scholarship by exploring the sounds of evolving social and political relations, the sonic environments imbued in this medial zone, and the shifting sound marks that accompany evolving urban policies.
Back to the Sea Clifford Holliday and the Building of the Government Estate and Kingsway Boulevard in British Mandatory Haifa
Authors: Half Daphna , Nitzan-Shiftan Alona
Published: March 2024

In 1923, at the onset of the British Mandate for Palestine, the British launched their largest infrastructural project in the Middle East, a modern harbor in Haifa, which turned the coastal city into their stronghold on the Eastern Mediterranean. This engineering feat was the product of an avaricious instrumental, technocratic appetite, which ignored the existing town. We argue, drawing on previously uncovered historical documents, that the architects and urban planners, which were commissioned to plan the Government Estate on reclaimed sea land abutting the harbor, recognized the detrimental effect of the harbor’s location on the town, potentially degrading it to “the level of a fifth rate Marseilles.” The Estate consequently became a battleground between conflicting developmental and urban interests, with its formative Kingsway Boulevard performing as a critical architectural act of remedy, which salvaged the existing city from a destiny as an industrial service town and restored its civic standing.
A multi-representation transfer adversarial network for intelligent fault diagnosis of rotating machinery
Authors: Zhang Hongfei , She Daoming , Wang Hu , Li Yaoming , Chen Jin
Published: March 2024

Fault diagnosis of rolling bearings is among the most crucial links in the prognostic and health management of bearings. To solve the problem that cross-domain fault diagnosis cannot be performed due to the distribution differences between different working conditions, a transfer diagnosis method based on multi-representation adversarial neural network is proposed. First, the multi-representation neural network is applied to extract multiscale features. Second, the domain adversarial network is utilized to set the gradient inversion layer and extract the domain invariant features in the multiscale features. In terms of the loss function, the Wasserstein function and cross-entropy loss function are utilized to measure the distance between the source domain and the target domain. The experimental case of rolling bearing supports the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method.