bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Management of Pediatric Tibial Nonunion following Osteotomy: A Case Series and Review of the Literature
Authors: Prabhakar Gautham , Kusnezov Nicholas , Eisenstein Emmanuel , Dunn John C. , Abdelgawad Amr
Published: August 2020

Pediatric tibial nonunion following corrective osteotomy is a rare complication that is not well understood. While adult nonunions have been linked to endocrine and metabolic aberrations, this has not been established in a pediatric population. Pediatric tibial nonunion has been shown to respond to debridement with revision fixation using dynamic compression plating, supplementary bone graft, and fibular osteotomy to allow compression. Necessity of referral for metabolic and endocrinology workup remains unclear in the pediatric population, though inflammatory markers should be obtained in each case to rule out infection. We present three consecutive cases of pediatric tibial nonunion following osteotomy over a five-year period and discuss the management.
Mild versus Severe Liver Injury in SARS-CoV-2 Infection
Authors: Anastasiou Olympia E. , Korth Johannes , Herbstreit Frank , Witzke Oliver , Lange Christian M.
Published: August 2020

Background: Abnormal liver function has been reported in patients with COVID-19 infection. The aim of our study was to report on the prevalence of liver injury in our cohort, to evaluate the association of mild versus severe liver injury with mortality in COVID-19 patients and to scrutinize the temporal pattern of viral detection and liver injury. Methods: We present data from a German cohort of 147 SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. The patients were divided into 3 groups according to their liver status during treatment. The first group included patients without elevated alanine aminotransferase or bilirubin, the third group patients meeting the biochemical criteria of acute liver failure (ALF), and the second group all other patients. Results: Liver injury was detected in 75 (50.7%) and 93 (63%) patients by admission and during treatment, respectively. ALF was associated with the male sex, younger age, and higher BMI. Mortality was associated with the presence of ALF (OR = 9.423, 95% CI: 2.410–36.858) in contrast to milder liver injury (OR 1.101, 95% CI: 0.435–2.791). In 30% of patients with mild liver injury and in 50% of ALF patients, peak liver injury was observed at a time point when the virus was no longer detectable in the respiratory tract. Conclusion: Mild liver injury was not associated with worse outcome in our cohort, and the pattern of liver injury did not fit well to the theory of SARS-CoV-2 directly causing liver impairment. Instead, severe liver injury in our cohort was associated multiple-organ failure and acute vascular events.
Long Noncoding RNA Rps4l Mediates the Proliferation of Hypoxic Pulmonary Artery Smooth Muscle Cells
Authors: Liu Ying , Zhang Hongyue , Li Yiying , Yan Lixin , Du Wei , Wang Siqi , Zheng Xiaodong , Zhang Min , Zhang Junting , Qi Jing , Sun Hanliang , Zhang Lixin , Li Guangqun , Zhu Daling
Published: August 2020

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a rare and fatal disorder involving the vascular remodeling of pulmonary arteries mediated by the enhanced proliferation of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs). Long noncoding RNAs are a subclass of regulatory molecules with diverse cellular functions, but their role in PH remains largely unexplored. We aimed to identify and determine the functions of long noncoding RNAs involved in hypoxia-induced PH and PASMC proliferation. RNA sequencing in a hypoxic mouse model identified hypoxia-regulated long noncoding RNAs, including Rps4l. Rps4l expression was significantly reduced in PH-model mice and hypoxic PASMCs. The subcellular localization of Rps4l was detected by RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization and quantification of nuclear/cytoplasmic RNA. Rps4l overexpression rescued pulmonary arterial hypertension features, as demonstrated by right ventricle hypertrophy, right ventricular systolic pressure, hemodynamics, cardiac function, and vascular remodeling. At the cellular level, Rps4l overexpression weakened cell viability and proliferation and suppressed cell cycle progression. Potential Rps4l-binding proteins were identified via RNA pull-down followed by mass spectrometry, RNA immunoprecipitation, and microscale thermophoresis. These results indicated that Rps4l is associated with and affects the stabilization of ILF3 (interleukin enhancer-binding factor 3). Rps41 further regulates the levels of HIF-1α and consequently leads to hypoxia-induced PASMC proliferation and migration. Our results showed that in hypoxic PASMCs, Rps4l expression decreases due to regulation by hypoxia. This decrease affects the proliferation, migration, and cell cycle progression of PASMCs through ILF3/HIF-1α. These results provide a theoretical basis for further investigations into the pathological mechanism of hypoxic PH and may provide insight for the development of novel treatments.
Infective Endocarditis After Surgical and Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: A State of the Art Review
Authors: Alexis Sophia L. , Malik Aaqib H. , George Isaac , Hahn Rebecca T. , Khalique Omar K. , Seetharam Karthik , Bhatt Deepak L. , Tang Gilbert H. L.
Published: August 2020

Prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) after surgical aortic valve replacement and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) carries significant morbidity/mortality. Our review aims to compare incidence, predisposing factors, microbiology, diagnosis, management, and outcomes of PVE in surgical aortic valve replacement/TAVR patients. We searched PubMed and Embase to identify published studies from January 1, 2015 to March 13, 2020. Key words were indexed for original reports, clinical studies, and reviews. Reports were evaluated by 2 authors against a priori inclusion/exclusion criteria. Studies were included if they reported incidence and outcomes related to surgical aortic valve replacement/TAVR PVE and excluded if they were published pre‐2015 or included a small population. We followed the Cochrane methodology and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses guidelines for all stages of the design and implementation. Study quality was based on the Newcastle‐Ottawa Scale. Thirty‐three studies with 311 to 41 025 patients contained relevant information. The majority found no significant difference in incidence of surgical aortic valve replacement/TAVR PVE (reported as 0.3%–1.2% per patient‐year versus 0.6%–3.4%), but there were key differences in pathogenesis. TAVR has a specific set of infection risks related to entry site, procedure, and device, including nonstandardized protocols for infection control, valve crimping injury, paravalvular leak, neo‐leaflet stress, intact/calcified native leaflets, and intracardiac hardware. With the expansion of TAVR to lower risk and younger patients, a better understanding of pathogenesis, patient presentation, and guideline‐directed treatment is paramount. When operative intervention is necessary, mortality remains high at 20% to 30%. Unique TAVR infection risks present opportunities for PVE prevention, therefore, further investigation is imperative.
Incidence and Association of Reperfusion Therapies With Poststroke Seizures
Authors: Lekoubou Alain , Fox Jonah , Ssentongo Paddy
Published: August 2020

Background and Purpose:

We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the incidence and risk of seizures following acute stroke reperfusion therapy (intravenous thrombolysis [IVT] with r-tPA [recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator], mechanical thrombectomy or both).

Methods:

We searched major databases (MEDLINE, SCOPUS, and Cochrane Library) for articles published between 1995 and October 28, 2019. The primary outcome was the overall and treatment specific pooled incidence of poststroke seizures (PSS) following acute reperfusion therapy. We also computed the pooled incidence of early poststroke seizures and late poststroke seizures separately for all studies. We derived the risk of PSS associated with IVT in the pooled cohort of patients who received only IVT. The small number of studies (<3) that reported on the risk of PSS associated with mechanical thrombectomy alone or in combination with IVT did not allow us to compute an estimate of the risk of seizures associated with this therapy.

Results:

We identified 13 753 patients with stroke, of which 592 had seizures. The pooled incidence of PSS was 5.9 % (95% CI, 4.2%–8.2%). PSS incidence rates among patients with stroke treated with IVT, mechanical thrombectomy, and both were respectively 6.1% (95% CI, 3.6%–10.2%), 5.9% (95% CI, 4.1%–8.4%), and 5.8 % (95% CI, 3.0%–10.9%). The incidence of late PSS was 6.7% (95% CI, 4.01%–11.02%) and that of early PSS was 3.14% (95% CI, 2.05%–4.76%). The pooled odds ratio for the association between IVT and PSS was 1.24 (95% CI, 0.75–2.05).

Conclusions:

The findings of this meta-analysis suggest that about one in 15 ischemic stroke patients treated with IVT, mechanical thrombectomy, or both develop seizures independently of the specific reperfusion treatment that they received.
Outscoping the Directive Force of Imperatives
Authors: Dawson Virginia
Published: August 2020

Tiwa, a Tibeto-Burman language of India, has an obligatory wide scope disjunction particle that must outscope the directive force of imperatives. I argue that the behavior of wide scope disjunction in Tiwa provides evidence in favor of theories of imperative meaning that derive directive force from an operator in the semantics proper (e.g., Kaufmann 2012) over purely pragmatic theories (e.g., Portner 2004, 2007). Specifically, I argue that the disjunction must be able to outscope the imperative operator in order to capture the attested reading.
Gender and Willingness to Lead: Does the Gender Composition of Teams Matter?
Authors: Born Andreas , Ranehill Eva , Sandberg Anna
Published: August 2020

We explore how team gender composition affects willingness to lead by randomly assigning participants in an experiment to male- or female-majority teams. Irrespective of team gender composition, men are substantially more willing than women to lead their team. The pooled sample, and women separately, are more willing to lead female- than male-majority teams. An analysis of mechanisms reveals that a large share of the negative effect of male-majority teams on women's leadership aspirations is accounted for by a negative effect on women's confidence, influence, and expected support from team members.
A Natural Experiment on Job Insecurity and Fertility in France
Authors: Clark Andrew E. , Lepinteur Anthony
Published: August 2020

Job insecurity can have wide-ranging consequences outside of the labor market. A 1999 rise in the French layoff tax paid by large private firms when they laid off older workers made younger workers less secure; this insecurity reduced their fertility by 3.7 percentage points (with a 95% confidence interval between 0.7 and 6.6 percentage points). Reduced fertility is found only at the intensive margin: job insecurity reduces family size but not the probability of parenthood itself. Our results also suggest negative selection into parenthood, as this fertility effect does not appear for low-income and less-educated workers.
Review of the genus Beckhoplia Dombrow, 2005 with the description of fifteen new species from South Africa and observations on its biogeography (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae: Hopliini)
Authors: DOMBROW HOLGER E. , COLVILLE JONATHAN F.
Published: August 2020

Fifteen years after establishing the genus Beckhoplia Dombrow, 2005 a large amount of new material collected has warranted a critical review of the established species and a revision of the genus. From this process, we describe fifteen new species from the Northern Cape Province and Western Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa: Beckhoplia bicolor Dombrow, new species, B. caliginosa Dombrow, new species, B. castanea Dombrow, new species, B. dolichiocnemis Dombrow, new species, B. elkeae Dombrow, new species, B. fusca Dombrow, new species, B. gifbergensis Dombrow, new species, B. nigra Dombrow, new species, B. nigrofasciata Dombrow, new species, B. nigrosetosa Dombrow, new species, B. pallidibrunnea Dombrow, new species, B. pulchra Dombrow, new species, B. pumilla Dombrow, new species, B. setosa Dombrow, new species and B. suturalis Dombrow, new species. Two cryptic species complexes within the species B. colvillei Dombrow, 2005 and B. occidentalis Dombrow, 2005 were detected. A revised key of the genus and observations about its biogeography are given. Important details of the morphological characters of the body and the parameres of the species are illustrated and their distributions are mapped. We also provide habitat and host plant information.
Quality Control and Processing of Cooperative Observer Program Hourly Precipitation Data
Authors: Lawrimore Jay H. , Wuertz David , Wilson Anna , Stevens Scott , Menne Matthew , Korzeniewski Bryant , Palecki Michael A. , Leeper Ronald D. , Trunk Thomas
Published: August 2020

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has operated a network of Fischer & Porter gauges providing hourly and subhourly precipitation observations as part of the U.S. Cooperative Observer Program since the middle of the twentieth century. A transition from punched paper recording to digital recording was completed by NOAA’s National Weather Service in 2013. Subsequently, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) upgraded its quality assurance and data stewardship processes to accommodate the new digital record, better assure the quality of the data, and improve the timeliness by which hourly precipitation observations are made available to the user community. Automated methods for removing noise, detecting diurnal variations, and identifying malfunctioning gauges are described along with quality control algorithms that are applied on hourly and daily time scales. The quality of the hourly observations during the digital era is verified by comparison with hourly observations from the U.S. Climate Reference Network and summary of the day precipitation totals from the Global Historical Climatology Network dataset.
Interactions between Physics Diversity and Multiscale Initial Condition Perturbations for Storm-Scale Ensemble Forecasting
Authors: Johnson Aaron , Wang Xuguang
Published: August 2020

This study investigates impacts on convection-permitting ensemble forecast performance of different methods of generating the ensemble IC perturbations in the context of simultaneous physics diversity among the ensemble members. A total of 10 convectively active cases are selected for a systematic comparison of different methods of perturbing IC perturbations in 10-member convection-permitting ensembles, both with and without physics diversity. These IC perturbation methods include simple downscaling of coarse perturbations from a global model (LARGE), perturbations generated with ensemble data assimilation directly on the multiscale domain (MULTI), and perturbations generated using each method with small scales filtered out as a control. MULTI was found to be significantly more skillful than LARGE at early lead times in all ensemble physics configurations, with the advantage of MULTI gradually decreasing with increasing forecast lead time. The advantage of MULTI, relative to LARGE, was reduced but not eliminated by the presence of physics diversity because of the extra ensemble spread that the physics diversity provided. The advantage of MULTI, relative to LARGE, was also reduced by filtering the IC perturbations to a commonly resolved spatial scale in both ensembles, which highlights the importance of flow-dependent small-scale (<~10 m) IC perturbations in the ensemble design. The importance of the physics diversity, relative to the IC perturbation method, depended on the spatial scale of interest, forecast lead time, and the meteorological characteristics of the forecast case. Such meteorological characteristics include the strength of synoptic-scale forcing, the role of cold pool interactions, and the occurrence of convective initiation or dissipation.
Transmastoid and Transtemporal Drainage of Petrous Apicitis with Otitis Media
Authors: Isaac Heba , Liu Andrew , Shibata Seiji B. , Hansen Marlan R.
Published: August 2020

Background:

Petrous apicitis (PA) is a serious infection involving the apical portion of the petrous temporal bone. The classic triad of purulent otorrhea, ipsilateral abducens nerve palsy and retroorbital pain is rarely seen due to early detection and widespread use of antibiotics. Medical management is the primary treatment modality with surgery reserved for cases of recalcitrant petrous apex abscess.

Methods and Results:

We presented a case of PA with previously untreated otitis media. After multidisciplinary evaluation, the patient was initially treated with intravenous antibiotics followed by drainage of the abscess using a combined transmastoid and middle cranial fossa (MCF) approach. The patient recovered well with no recurrence of the infection based on imaging and symptoms.

Discussion:

While a variety of different surgical approaches can be used in treatment of PA, we recommend the MCF approach in cases where access to the anterior petrous apex may be challenging via transcanal or transmastoid approach.
Neurocognitive predictors of long-term clinical course in bipolar disorder
Authors: Valerio Marina P , Lomastro Julieta , Martino Diego J
Published: August 2020

Objective:

The aim of this study was to estimate whether neurocognitive deficits are predictors of the long-term clinical course of patients with bipolar disorder.

Methods:

A total of 76 outpatients with bipolar disorder performed a neurocognitive assessment at baseline and were followed for a period of at least 48 months. The clinical course during the follow-up period was documented by two measures: (1) number of affective episodes and (2) time spent ill.

Results:

Patients had lower performance than controls in the domains of verbal memory and executive functions, and they were followed-up for a mean period of 70.73 months. Global cognitive deficits (performance 1.5 standard deviations below the mean in two or more cognitive domain) were independent predictors of both hypo/manic episode density and time spent with hypo/manic symptoms during follow-up. On the contrary, no neurocognitive measure showed a relationship with depressive morbidity during follow-up.

Conclusion:

Our findings suggest that cognitive deficits could be useful for predicting hypo/manic morbidity in the long-term clinical course. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
Nonfatal All-Terrain Vehicle–Related Head and Neck Injuries to Children Treated in US Emergency Departments
Authors: Li Daniel , Jatana Kris R. , Kistamgari Sandhya , Smith Gary A.
Published: August 2020

This study investigates children <18 years old with nonfatal all-terrain vehicle (ATV)–related head and neck injuries treated in United States emergency departments by analyzing data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System from 1990 to 2014. An estimated 279 391 children received emergency treatment during the 25-year study period. The number of injuries remained relatively constant from 1990 to 1997, increased by 142.9% from 1997 to 2007, and then decreased by 37.4% from 2007 to 2014. The most common diagnoses were concussion/closed head injury (32.6%) and fracture (32.6%); 15.4% of children were admitted. The most common injury mechanisms include ejection (30.0%), crash (18.8%), and rollover (15.8%). Patients who were injured on a street/highway were 1.49 times (95% confidence interval = 1.11-1.99) more likely to be admitted than patients injured at other locations. Although the number of nonfatal ATV–related head and neck injuries decreased during the latter part of the study period, they remain common and can have serious medical outcomes.
China’s Foreign Aid Training: Targeting Becoming an Influential Culture Sharer
Authors: Sun Skylar Biyang , Xu Xinzhi , Zhao Xiaohang
Published: August 2020

Since the 1990s, China has formalized its short-term foreign aid training for foreign officials and technological personnel. This type of training often lasts for 21 days and participants from invited countries arrive in China for a period of condensed study, with all fees covered by the Chinese government. By the end of 2009, China had organized more than 4000 short-term training programs for over 120,000 personnel from more than 50 countries. Along with the establishment of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan and the constructional needs of the Belt and Road Initiative, China has gradually increased the export of its cultural products in foreign aid training. Surprisingly, such national-scale training is largely omitted from current scholarly research. Employing the “fragmented authoritarianism” model, we look at the administrative structure of China’s foreign aid training and provide rudimentary research into the field.
“Be the Person You Ought to Be”: A Convocation Speech to the Graduating Medical Students
Authors: Fernandes Ashley K.
Published: August 2020

In the age of coronavirus, our beloved Catholic Medical Association (CMA) medical students in the class of 2020, across the country, had “virtual graduations” and commencements, often separated from family and loved ones during a milestone in their vocations. Dr. Ashley K. Fernandes, MD, PhD, a CMA member since he was a medical student, and the 2015 Patrick Guinan CMA Mentor of the Year, was chosen by The Ohio State University College of Medicine as the 2020 Professor of the Year. According to The Ohio State University, “The Professor of the Year Award has been awarded each year since 1931 by the graduating class of The Ohio State University College of Medicine to a faculty member who has demonstrated excellence and commitment to teaching and in mentoring and serving as a role model to the class. This once-in-a-lifetime award is the highest honor that a faculty member can earn from the graduating class. The Professor of the Year is invited to address the class at the hooding ceremony.” Dr. Fernandes delivered a “secularized version” of this address on April 30, 2020, “virtually,” and has modified his commencement address for our Catholic medical students as they begin their vocations in this most sacred vocation of healing.

Dr. Ashley Fernandes addresses the newly graduating medical students of the Catholic Medical Association in a “virtual convocation speech” that implores them to remember the power and nature of medical profession itself; to be the person they ought to be through the exercise of the integrity and humility; and to remember whom they serve—God first, and then, the invaluable human person, made in His image.
Political Leaders, Economic Hardship, and Redistribution in Democracies: Impact of Political Leaders on Welfare Policy
Authors: Han Sung Min , Han Kangwook
Published: August 2020

This study analyzes how political leaders’ material backgrounds affect redistributive policies in democracies. Building on political socialization theory, we argue that politicians with personal experience of economic hardship are more likely to have sympathetic attitudes toward redistribution than those without such experience, particularly where political constraints are weak. We posit that firsthand knowledge of economic hardship helps political leaders understand why the poor need government redistribution, and leads them to support more generous social welfare policies. Analyzing an original dataset of leaders’ material background in 74 democratic countries between 1980 and 2011, we find that leaders who experienced economic hardship in their youth increase social welfare spending during their tenure, particularly when political constraints are weak. Following prior studies on leaders’ personal experiences and policy outcomes, this study provides a new approach to redistribution and welfare policy.
Nonlinear dynamics of rotor system supported by bearing with waviness
Authors: Nan Guofang , Zhang Yang , Zhu Yujie , Guo Wei
Published: August 2020

A new nonlinear rotor model supported by the rolling bearing is established under the consideration of the bearing with waviness fault, the unbalanced excitation, the nonlinear Hertz contact force, the varying compliance vibration, and, especially, the physical nonlinear stiffness of the shaft material. The expression with cubic nonlinear terms is adopted to characterize the physical nonlinear stiffness of the shaft material, and the sinusoidal wave is applied to describe the shape characteristics of the waviness fault. The dynamic equations of motion for the new model are developed, and the calculation example of the rotor system supported by the bearing JIS6306 is solved by the variable step-size Runge–Kutta methods to study the effect of the waviness, the clearance, the mass eccentricity on the dynamic behavior. The research results show that growth of the amplitude for the waviness changes the energy distribution of the vibration process; the enlargement of bearing clearance will reduce the stability of the system; the increase in the number of the waviness will make the order of the frequency components changed; for the nonlinear stiffness bearing-rotor system with waviness fault, the augment of mass eccentricity will enhance the impact of the nonlinear stiffness on the system.
Simulation of three-dimensional female body shapes with proportional representation for various weights and heights
Authors: Sinthanayothin Chanjira , Bholsithi Wisarut , Gansawat Duangrat , Wongwaen Nonlapas , Xuto Piyanut , Ratisoontorn Nantaporn , Bunporn Parut , Charoensiriwath Supiya
Published: August 2020

Obesity is a significant factor in health information and increases the risk of health problems. Hence, an application that can help users to monitor their body mass index (BMI) timelines is needed. The simulation of a personalized 3D body shape may encourage women to control their BMI for a healthy body and pleasant appearance. Therefore, this paper aims to develop computerized 3D models of female shapes for various weights and heights, and consists of three important parts. First, the preparation of six avatars is described. Second, the body proportions of 6767 female datasets are analyzed to find the relationship of variables in various weights and heights. Last, 3D morphing of different female shapes is developed and analyzed experimentally for appropriate morphing parameters. Accuracy tests are carried out in three ways. First, body proportions calculated using the Z-Size Ladies application, called “Z-Size calculations,” are compared with the body proportions of data obtained from 3D scanners. Second, the Z-Size calculations are compared with tape measurements. Last, the Z-Size calculations are compared with measurements of Z-Size 3D morph models. The results of accuracy tests are shown as the relationship graphs between the BMI and body proportion measurements of chest, waist, hip, and inseam. Bland–Altman plots and Pearson correlation calculation show high correlation. In conclusion, the data obtained from the Z-Size calculations, 3D Scanner, tape measurements, and Z-Size morph models’ measurements are in good agreement and are highly correlated. The simulation of 3D female shapes for different weights and heights as proposed shows good performance and high accuracy.
“Sometimes I Wish I Was a Girl, ’Cause They Do Shit Like Cry”: An Exploration Into Black Boys’ Thinking About Emotions
Authors: Harris Johari , Kruger Ann C. , Scott Edward
Published: August 2020

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is important for academic and social success, yet responsive SEL for Black youth remains underexamined. The current study analyzed focus groups to investigate how Black boys ( N = 10) in an urban middle school think about emotion and its regulation. Results revealed that participants negotiate tension between emotion expression and control; they argued that inhibition of emotions in public was essential, but they desired greater emotional freedom. We interpret these patterns through the developmental framework of accommodation and resistance. We discuss implications and the need for transformative SEL in urban schools serving Black boys.
Classification of Dropouts to Improve Student Re-Engagement: The Case of Chilean Secondary Opportunity Centers
Authors: Espinoza Oscar , González Luis Eduardo , Castillo Dante , McGinn Noel
Published: August 2020

Chile offers high school dropouts a chance to graduate through enrollment in Second Opportunity Centers, located in cities ranging in population from 5 million inhabitants to less than 100,000. Participants in 18 centers were classified into four distinct classes based on their family situation, handicaps, employment, experience with discrimination, and ambitions. Students were compared with respect to their satisfaction with Center activities. Students experiencing instability in their lives, more often in larger cities, were least satisfied. The most successful activity was workshops discussing psychological and social issues. Some activities failed to attract any of the four classes of students.
Independent fashion designers in the elusive fashion city
Authors: Heim Hilde , Ferrero-Regis Tiziana , Payne Alice
Published: August 2020

This article examines the cultural geography of fashion cities, focusing on independent fashion designers’ relationships with their city. Through discussing the Australian city of Brisbane and its place within the hierarchy of fashion cities, we examine the position of modern yet peripheral locations that have what we term an ‘elusive’ fashion identity. The discussion highlights the complexities that make a city a fashion city, specifically the interplay between industry, culture, retail and design, commonly identified as fundamental elements in the construction or transformation of fashion cities. The paper unravels the dynamics and discourses that have contributed to the contemporary conceptualisation of the fashion city; it evaluates the way in which local independent fashion designers (IFDs) can contribute to a reorientation of thinking about cities and their fashion; and it gauges how IFDs sustain a local fashion identity within cities that do not present the commonly recognised characteristics of a fashion city such as infrastructures. We argue that IFDs in peripheral cities have a very different relationship with their city than do IFDs in so-called fashion cities. By examining this relationship, and Brisbane’s modestly placed position on fashion cities’ hierarchy, we propose that, except for the traditional fashion centres, other cities are in a constant state of flux, arguing that the concept of the fashion city itself is elusive. We propose that as cities experience fashion narratives that ebb and flow, they may present multiple characteristics that make them unique at a particular moment, thus they are ‘elusive’ fashion cities.
Climate science, the politics of climate change and futures of IR
Authors: Beardsworth Richard
Published: August 2020

This article considers what is necessary politically to respond to the empirical challenge of climate change and to the present calls of climate science (a carbon-neutral world by 2050). Its basic argument is that, among an array of national and international actors, it remains the state that can drive a successful politics of climate change. Without the heavy-lifting of the state and the state’s ability as a national entity to motivate behavioural change, neither the daunting scale nor imminent time-horizon of climate mitigation and adaptation is possible. The article shows how this specific argument, far from pitching anew nationalism against internationalism, can bring the two presently polarized movements together. The article then suggests that if these arguments are essentially valid, the discipline of International Relations needs to focus much more on the climate challenge, re-engage with its traditions of thought on the state and help harbour a specific disposition or mindset in the research and teaching of the discipline for the next decades: a fierce optimism.
On the History of the English Progressive Construction Jane came whistling down the street
Authors: Fanego Teresa
Published: August 2020

This article examines the historical development of the VV ingOBL construction, as exemplified by “Jane came whistling down the street” or “She went walking up the field path,” where an intransitive motion verb is followed by a present participle and an oblique complement. The analysis looks at the precursors of the construction since Old English and argues that the sharp rise in productivity of the VV ingOBL construction, especially from the second half of the nineteenth century, is interrelated with changes affecting English motion vocabulary in Early and Late Modern English and also the increase in frequency of the be progressive over the same period. By the twentieth century, the VV ingOBL construction had settled into its modern form, namely a deictic-directional construction with either come or go in the V slot. The article also considers indices of the advancing grammaticalization of the construction. It concludes by discussing whether its morphosyntactic and semantic properties support considering it as a serial verb construction, a hypothesis briefly raised in work by Goldberg (2006:52).
The Contingent Value of Political Connections on Donations to Chinese Foundations: Exploring the Moderating Role of Transparency
Authors: Cheng Yuan , Wu Zhongsheng
Published: August 2020

Existing studies assume that the value of political connections is homogeneous to different types of nonprofits and seldom consider their interplay with other accountability mechanisms. Based on a multilevel analysis of 2,085 foundations in China, this study builds and tests a theoretical framework of the contingent value of political connections to nonprofits, treating transparency as a moderator for the relationship between political connections and donations. Our findings suggest that while transparency is positively associated with the amount of donations obtained by foundations, political connections can help foundations obtain more donations only when their transparency score is higher than a certain threshold.
New Town Planning as Diplomatic Planning: Scalar Politics, British–Chinese Relations, and Hong Kong
Authors: Yip Maurice
Published: August 2020

Tin Shui Wai new town in Hong Kong, known as the “city of sadness,” has been narrated by the “Tin Shui Wai Myth” that attributes its urban problems to the planning failures after the colonial government rescued the developers, including a Chinese red capital, from a market slump in the early 1980s. This myth creates misunderstandings, which confuse recent debates about new town development and regional integration with China. To debunk this myth, this article, based on archival research, analyzes the scalar politics of new town planning and explains why the government decided to purchase the land and develop it in a partnership with the developers. It sheds new light on how the regional dynamics in South China after the economic reforms prompted China and Britain to react to the new town proposal at interconnected and contested spatial scales, before the diplomatic negotiations about this British colony’s future officially started.
Total Endoscopic Perichondrium Reinforced Cartilage Myringoplasty for Anterior Perforation
Authors: Shakya Dipesh , Nepal Ajit
Published: August 2020

Objectives:

To investigate the outcomes of graft uptake and hearing results in the repair of anterior perforation via a total endoscopic transcanal approach using a single or double perichondrium reinforced cartilage underlay technique.

Study Design:

Retrospective study.

Setting:

Tertiary referral hospital.

Materials and Methods:

We analyzed 65 patients who underwent surgery for anterior perforation. All surgeries were done via an endoscopic transcanal approach using tragal cartilage as graft, underlay technique reinforced with single or double perichondrium. Two groups were created in which group A had single perichondrium reinforcement and group B had double perichondrium. Graft uptake and hearing outcomes were evaluated between the two groups.

Results:

During the study period, 65 patients were included, of which 3 were lost to follow-up, and thus, only 62 patients were assessed. As for the surgical outcome, graft uptake was observed in 95.2% (n = 59) of patients, 6 months after the intervention. Graft uptake was not statistically significantly different between groups A and B and was 95% in both. There was a statistically significant improvement in hearing across the series overall, with no significant differences seen between group A and group B.

Conclusions:

The endoscopic approach for myringoplasty offers superior visualization, especially for anterior perforation avoiding postaural approach and canaloplasty. Endoscopic single or double perichondrium reinforced cartilage underlay technique is a reliable method for repair of anterior perforation. There is no difference in using single or double perichondrium reinforcement. Thus, we recommend using single or double perichondrium reinforcement depending on the need during the surgery.
Recognizing and Trusting Persuasion Agents: Attitudes Bias Trustworthiness Judgments, but not Persuasion Detection
Authors: Grillo Tito L. H. , Pizzutti Cristiane
Published: August 2020

People rely on intuitive knowledge about persuasion to cope with persuasion attempts motivated by self-interest. Because this knowledge associates persuasive intent with low trustworthiness, identifying the communicator as an agent with ulterior motives tends to reduce trust in the communicator. Three studies suggest that the extent to which people call on this association to assess a persuasion agent depends on whether the agent’s message challenges or reinforces their prior attitudes. Challenged attitudes motivate people to use the negative association between persuasive intent and trustworthiness, whereas reinforced attitudes lead people to neglect it. However, prior attitudes do not affect people’s capacity to detect cues of ulterior motives and develop an awareness of the persuasive intent. Thus, recipients of persuasive messages that support their prior beliefs trust persuasion agents despite being aware of the agents’ ulterior motives. This seems to be a byproduct of people’s motivation to preserve a sense of self-integrity.
How to think about media policy silence
Authors: Li Luzhou
Published: August 2020

Using ‘media policy silence’ as a construct, this article discusses three types of policy practices that are marked by policy opacity rather than policy visibility, by the absence of formal policy or ‘un-decisions’ rather than decisions and by policy inertia rather than intervention. They are, respectively, first, the ‘elephant in the room’ type of silence that mostly refers to lacunae in policy outcomes and agendas; second, policy ‘undecisions’ (i.e. policy scenarios in which no formal policy decisions take place); and last, ‘considered silence’ that refers to government non-intervention. I will talk about these three different types of media policy silence and their relationships by drawing upon existing literature, using examples from different political and regulatory contexts, and where appropriate, reflecting on the methodological challenges that those silences pose to traditional policy research. To sum up, the article intends to identify the opposite side of the official and formal policy sphere.
Citizen curation and the online communication of folk economics: the China collapse theory in Hong Kong social media
Authors: Po Sang Yu
Published: August 2020

Folk economics has become increasingly influential in today’s era, where laypeople can (inter)actively deconstruct official discourse and form their truth in social media. This article examines the formation and popularization of folk economics by investigating the localized China collapse theory known as zhibao in one of the most influential online forums in Hong Kong. By analyzing the popularization of zhibao as citizen curation – the subjective and non-professional collection, assessment, and criticism of information by participants in online discussions for the benefit of the group – this article questions the dichotomy between folk economics and mainstream economics, arguing that laypeople may selectively appropriate conventional economics into their discourse. Furthermore, by investigating the citizen curation of zhibao diachronically, this article suggests that online discussion participants’ attention to the credibility of the news sources may be negatively related to the credibility of the discourse they are curating.
Does the mobility of scientists disrupt their collaboration stability?
Authors: Zhao Zhenyue , Bu Yi , Li Jiang
Published: August 2020

To explore to what extent the mobility of scientists disrupts the stability of their research collaboration, we designed a measure − Collaboration Stability After Moving ( CSAM) − for scientists, retrieved 4343 US-related scientists’ curricula vitae (CVs) from the Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) website and publication records in the Web of Science database and applied a linear regression model to the dataset. Our findings include the following: (1) the more times a scientist moved, the more she or he is inclined to co-author with previous collaborators, (2) cross-country mobility disrupts the stability of research collaboration more than domestic mobility and (3) the stability of research collaboration correlates with scientists’ cultural background, cross-country work experience and research areas.
Competitive clientelism, donors and the politics of social protection uptake in Ghana
Authors: Abdulai Abdul-Gafaru
Published: August 2020

Ghana’s Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) cash transfer programme has been widely characterised as ‘home grown’. This article challenges such accounts of the LEAP by showing how donors used their financial muscle to shape the LEAP both at the level of programme adoption and implementation. However, the extent to which donor interests and ideas influenced the programme’s design and implementation depended on the degree to which such interests were aligned with those of domestic political elites. While it was donors who first pushed cash transfers on the agenda of the Ghanaian government, electoral calculus took centre stage in driving the programme’s subsequent expansion and institutionalisation. The article suggests the need to move beyond the donor-driven versus state-led type of arguments to explore the complex ways in which transnational factors and the formal and informal aspects of domestic politics interact to produce different levels and types of commitment to social protection in Africa.
Methanol-modified ultra-fine magnetic orange peel powder biochar as an effective adsorbent for removal of ibuprofen and sulfamethoxazole from water
Authors: Ai Tian , Jiang Xiaojun , Zhong Zhenxia , Li Dachao , Dai Shujuan
Published: August 2020

The efficient capture of drug metabolites from aquatic environments has been recognized as an essential task for environmental protection. A methanol-modified ultra-fine magnetic biochar (CH3OH-OP-char/Fe3O4) was prepared from orange peel powder using ball milling, and its adsorption behaviors for ibuprofen and sulfamethoxazole were evaluated. The obtained materials were characterized by laser particle size analyzer, EA, ICP-OES, VSM, BET, TG-DTG, and FTIR. Furthermore, the experiments were conducted to study the vital operating parameters such as solution pH (2.0–11.0), contact time (0.5–240 min), initial drug concentration (0.5–100 mg/L), and temperatures (15–40°C) on the removal process. The results showed that the adsorption of IBP and sulfamethoxazole on CH3OH-OP-char/Fe3O4 was highly pH-dependent. Kinetic studies indicated that physisorption was the dominant adsorption mechanism, and film diffusion played a vital role in adsorption onto CH3OH-OP-char/Fe3O4. Equilibrium data were fitted well with the Langmuir isotherm model, implying monolayer adsorption. The adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic due to the thermodynamic calculation, and high temperatures were favorable to the adsorption process.
The blood flow restriction training effect in knee osteoarthritis people: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Ferlito João Vitor , Pecce Samantha Angelica Pasa , Oselame Lucas , De Marchi Thiago
Published: August 2020

Objective:

To synthesize evidence on the effects of blood flow restriction (BFR) comparing with high (HLT) and low load (LLT), and on the influence of different forms of application in individuals with knee osteoarthritis.

Data sources:

The CENTRAL, PEDro, PubMed and BVS, which include Lilacs, Medline and SciELO, until April 2020.

Review methods:

A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials used the PRISMA guidelines, whose main keywords were: Therapeutic Occlusion, Resistance Training, and Knee Osteoarthritie, blood flow restriction and Kaatsu training. Method quality was evaluated with the PEDro scale. When studies demonstrated homogeneity on outcome measures, the mean differences or standardized mean differences with 95% confidence interval were calculated and pooled in a meta-analysis for pooled synthesis.

Results:

Five articles were eligible in this review with moderate to low risk bias. Our results, showed no difference between BFR and HLT in knee strength (SMD = 0.00, 95% CI, –0.54 to 0.54, P = 1.00), function (SMD = −0.20, 95% CI, –0.45 to 0.06, P = 0.13), pain and volume. But, when compared BFR and LLT, the descriptive analysis demonstrated significant results in favor BFR to muscle strength (71.4% of measurement) and volume (MD = 1.66, 95% CI, 0.93 to 2.38, P < 0.00001), but not in pain or function.

Conclusion:

BFR can be used as a strategy in the rehabilitation of osteoarthritis due to gains in strength and volume with low mechanical stress. However, its application must be safe and individualized, since they can attenuate the stimuli offered by BFR.
Hand closure model for planning top grasps with soft robotic hands
Authors: Pozzi Maria , Marullo Sara , Salvietti Gionata , Bimbo Joao , Malvezzi Monica , Prattichizzo Domenico
Published: August 2020

Automating the act of grasping is one of the most compelling challenges in robotics. In recent times, a major trend has gained the attention of the robotic grasping community: soft manipulation. Along with the design of intrinsically soft robotic hands, it is important to devise grasp planning strategies that can take into account the hand characteristics, but are general enough to be applied to different robotic systems. In this article, we investigate how to perform top grasps with soft hands according to a model-based approach, using both power and precision grasps. The so-called closure signature (CS) is used to model closure motions of soft hands by associating to them a preferred grasping direction. This direction can be aligned to a suitable direction over the object to achieve successful top grasps. The CS-alignment is here combined with a recently developed AI-driven grasp planner for rigid grippers that is adjusted and used to retrieve an estimate of the optimal grasp to be performed on the object. The resulting grasp planner is tested with multiple experimental trials with two different robotic hands. A wide set of objects with different shapes was grasped successfully.