bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Testing the longitudinal effect of metacognitive beliefs on the trajectory of work ability
Authors: Anyan Frederick , Hjemdal Odin , Nordahl Henrik
Published: November 2022

There is increasing need to identify factors that contribute to poor work ability with an aim to prevent work related problems such as sick leave and disability pension. In the Metacognitive Control System model, dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs are seen as an underlying factor in psychological vulnerability beyond disorder, and recent studies have reported that metacognitions are associated with work ability and work status. In the present study, we set out to test if there is a prospective relationship between dysfunctional metacognitions and self-assessed work ability. Individuals in working age (M = 37.19; SD = 10.31) participated in a four-timepoint self-report survey (N = 528; 75% females) separated by six weeks between each timepoint. Baseline gender differences and differences between participants by job status were conducted using t-test and one-way ANOVA, respectively. Latent growth curve with covariates assessed the impact of dysfunctional metacognitions on work ability across the four timepoints. Males reported higher work ability. Participants in fulltime job also reported higher work ability followed by those in part-time job, jobseekers, sick leave up to 12 months, and sick leave > 12 months, respectively. Dysfunctional metacognitions predicted work ability over time when controlling for gender, age, physical health status, and three common categories of emotional distress symptoms. This finding suggest that dysfunctional metacognitions are a prospective predictor of work ability beyond health status and implies that these beliefs should be targeted with a view to increasing work ability and thus potentially reduce risk for sick leave and other work-related problems.
Werden bei einer Differenzierung der Überschussbeteiligung in der Lebensversicherung Neukunden zu Lasten des Bestands bevorzugt?
Authors: Eckert Jonas
Published: November 2022

Klassische Lebensversicherungsverträge mit Überschussbeteiligung bilden weiterhin einen großen Anteil des Geschäftes von Lebensversicherungsunternehmen. Aufgrund der anhaltenden Niedrigzinsphase werden die Garantien von neuen Versicherungsprodukten zunehmend reduziert. Als Ausgleich für die reduzierten Garantien wird Neukunden bei manchen Anbietern eine erhöhte Beteiligung an den erwirtschafteten Überschüssen in Aussicht gestellt. Es wird somit bei der Überschussdeklaration zwischen Bestandskunden und Neukunden differenziert. In dieser Arbeit sollen die Auswirkungen einer Differenzierung der Überschussbeteiligung auf Bestandskunde und Neukunde sowie auf die Profitabilität des Aktionärs untersucht werden. Zur Ermittlung der Höhe der Differenzierung werden die im Ergebnisbericht der Deutschen Aktuarvereinigung e. V. (DAV (2017)) beschriebenen Methoden verwendet. Es wird im Speziellen gezeigt, dass in dem verwendeten Basisszenario die erwartete Rentabilität der Bestandskunden bei einer Neugeschäftsstrategie mit abgesenkter Garantie und erhöhter Überschussbeteiligung leicht geringer ausfällt als bei einer Neugeschäftsstrategie ohne Reduktion der Garantie und ohne Differenzierung der Überschussbeteiligung. Außerdem wird darauf eingegangen, wie die Abnahme der erwarteten Rentabilität der Bestandskunden kompensiert werden kann. Das verwendete Modell legt einen starken Fokus auf die Überschussbeteiligung im deutschen Versicherungsmarkt.
Kulturgeschichte und Esskultur
Authors: Stern Thomas
Published: November 2022

Die Sächsischen Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden (SLUB) bildet seit geraumer Zeit einen Schwerpunkt zur Kulinarik und baut diesen kontinuierlich weiter aus. Beginnend mit der Schenkung der Bibliotheca Gastronomica, welche der Oberkellner Walter Putz im Jahr 2005 an die SLUB übergab, gefolgt vom Nachlass des Publizisten Wolfram Siebeck, der 2018 von dessen Witwe Barbara Siebeck erworben werden konnte und der im Jahr 2020 ans Haus gekommenen Sammlung des für den Burda-Verlag tätigen Kochs Ernst Birsner ergänzen Sammlungen mit rein kulinarischem Charakter die Sammlungen der SLUB. Damit entwickelt sich ein Bestand, der sowohl Forschenden und Lehrenden als auch kulinarisch Interessierten eine wahre Fundgrube an historischem Quellenmaterial bietet und sich in die lange Tradition der Kochkunst und Esskultur am Dresdner Hof und den sächsischen Publikationen zur Kulinarik eingliedert. Im Oktober 2022 gründeten die SLUB Dresden und die Technische Universität Dresden (TU) das Deutsche Archiv der Kulinarik, um gemeinsam die inter- und transdisziplinäre Forschung in den Geistes-, Kultur- und Naturwissenschaften rund um die Themen Kochkunst, Tafelkultur und Ernährungskunde weiter zu fördern.
Motorische Leistungsfähigkeit von Kindern in verschiedenen Kindergartenmodellen
Authors: Dincher Andrea , Wydra Georg
Published: November 2022

Hintergrund

Bewegung, Spiel und Sport sind essenziell für die Gesamtentwicklung unserer Kinder. Über Bewegung erfahren sie ihre Umwelt und entwickeln ihre motorischen Fähigkeiten und Fertigkeiten weiter. Aber wie wirkt sich ein unterschiedliches Maß an Bewegung, Spiel und Sport auf die motorische Leistungsfähigkeit aus? Dies soll in der vorliegenden Arbeit überprüft werden.

Methodik

Es wurden zehn Kindergärten mit unterschiedlichen Bewegungsförderungskonzepten miteinander verglichen (Sportkindergarten, Anerkannter Bewegungskindergarten, Kindergarten mit Bewegungsförderung, Kindergarten ohne Bewegungsförderung). 855 Kinder (461 m, 394 w, Alter 58,69 ± 7,75 Monate) nahmen an der Untersuchung teil. Zur Überprüfung der motorischen Leistungsfähigkeit wurde das Karlsruher Motorik-Screening für Kindergartenkinder KMS 3–6 eingesetzt. Die Roh- und Z‑Werte der einzelnen Testaufgaben sowie der Gesamt-Z-Wert wurden mittels ANOVA analysiert.

Ergebnisse

Bei den Rohwerten zeigen sich signifikante Unterschiede in allen Variablen zwischen den verschiedenen Kindergärten. Bei den Z‑Werten zeigen sich mit Ausnahme des Standweitsprungs und des Gesamt-Z-Werts ebenfalls signifikante Gruppenunterschiede.

Diskussion

Die signifikanten Unterschiede bei den Rohwerten, die nur bei der Rumpfbeuge zugunsten des Sportkindergartens ausfallen, sind fast ausschließlich auf den signifikanten Unterschied beim Alter und dem damit zusammenhängenden Entwicklungsstand der Kinder zurückzuführen. Bei den Z‑Werten scheinen die signifikanten Unterschiede auf unterschiedliche Schwerpunktsetzung bei der Umsetzung von Bewegung, Spiel und Sport oder auf mangelnde Konsequenz der Durchführung zurückzuführen sein. Weiterhin ist es möglich, dass das Testverfahren nicht geeignet ist, um zwischen diesen Gruppen zu differenzieren.

Ausblick

Die Studie sollte mit einem anderen Testverfahren wiederholt und die Ergebnisse miteinander verglichen werden. Zudem sollten die Programme für Bewegung, Spiel und Sport standardisiert werden. Über eine Langzeitstudie können so die Effekte von Bewegung, Spiel und Sport im Kindergarten evaluiert werden.
Is Lucid Dreamless Sleep Really Lucid?
Authors: Alcaraz-Sánchez Adriana
Published: November 2022

Recently, the construct ‘lucid dreamless sleep’ has been proposed to explain the state of ‘clear light’ described by Tibetan Buddhist traditions, a special state of consciousness during deep sleep in which we’re told to be able to recognise the nature or essence of our mind (Padmasambhava & Gyatrul 2008; Ponlop 2006; Wangyal 1998). To explain the sort of awareness experienced during this state, some authors have appealed to the sort of lucidity acquired during lucid dreaming and suggested a link between both phenomena (Thompson 2014, 2015; Windt 2015a; Windt et al. 2016). Whilst these authors appeal to a non-conceptually mediated form of lucidity, which doesn’t consist of reflective awareness and propositional thought, the question as to whether the state of clear light should be considered a lucid state similar to lucid dreaming still arises. I argue that the concept ‘lucidity’ used to describe this sort of state is imprecise and that two theoretical notions of lucidity should be distinguished. The first one, which I call the technical notion, requires the recognition of the hallucinatory character of my current experience. The second, the broader notion, involves the seeming recognition of being directly acquainted with the phenomenal character of my experience. I spell out these two notions of lucidity and argue that only the latter could apply to the state of clear light sleep.
Experimental study of effective compounds in a smart water injection process
Authors: Bovard Samaneh , Sadeghi Mohammad Taghi , Kazemzadeh Ezatollah , Miri Rohaldin
Published: November 2022

The process of smart water injection into carbonate reservoirs has always faced many challenges. This study attempted to investigate this issue by examining two effective factors active ionic compounds in brine and active compounds in the oil phase. The potential for the reaction among three phases’ oil, rock, and brine in changing wettability requires the presence of active ionic compounds in the brine water and active compounds in the oil. These compounds in optimal concentrations are the driving force of the wettability alteration process. In the first step, the contact angle and the spontaneous imbibition process were performed on the outcrop samples and the limestone core to investigate the effect of the active compounds of smart water. The efficiency of calcium and divalent magnesium cations mainly depends on the sulfate ion concentration. However, reservoir physical condition and the presence of other effective compounds in the reactions network can be helpful in the determination of the essential active ions in the reaction. Finally, the optimal concentrations of these three ions lead to the formation of a stable water film and a change in the wettability of the rock, which leads to an increase in oil recovery. In this regard, cations in the presence of sulfate ions as much as the minimum concentration in seawater can have a positive function and have an acceptable efficiency compared to increased concentrations of sulfate ions in seawater. The cores were saturated with two oil samples for further investigation, and again, two tests of measuring contact angle and spontaneous imbibition were performed. The difference between imbibition rate and ultimate recovery illustrates that the carboxylic acid functional group in the original crude oil structure can facilitate displacement compared to oil-free acid components. Therefore, acidic components in crude oil affect the wettability alteration through electrostatic interaction with surface minerals and brine. Active components can act as a critical indicator in smart water injection processes.
Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus strain TCI904 reduces body weight gain, modulates immune response, improves metabolism and anxiety in high fat diet-induced obese mice
Authors: Lin Yung-Kai , Lin Yung-Hsiang , Chiang Chi-Fu , Yeh Tsung-Ming , Shih Wen-Ling
Published: November 2022

The multiple probiotic characteristics of strain TCI904 isolated in this study from natural fermented milk were investigated using a mouse model. TCI904 was identified as Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricu (LDB), a well-known lactic acid starter bacterium found in yogurt. TCI904 exhibited an outstanding pancreatic lipase inhibition activity among several strains of lactic acid bacteria in vitro. Its in vivo effects were further studied. In a comparison of mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD) and those fed a HFD combined with TCI904 for 9 weeks, differences were observed in various aspects of health, and the adverse effects of a HFD were prevented in the latter group. TCI904 effectively prevented fat and body weight accumulation without reducing food intake; it also modulated innate immunity and increased the level of IgA in feces, reversing the increased blood sugar and insulin levels and attenuated the hyperlipidemia caused by a HFD. Based on biochemical test data, compared with the HFD group, a HFD combined with TCI904 induced significant lowering of insulin resistance indicator, homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and atherogenic indices of plasma (AIP), the atherogenic coefficient (AC) and cardiac risk ratio (CRR) and increased the cardioprotective index (CPI). In addition, the administration of TCI904 alleviated mood disorders caused by a HFD. Taking the recommended human dose of TCI904 did not affect the liver or kidney function, indicating that TCI904 has sufficient in vivo safety. Taken together, the results of the present study contributed towards validation of the probiotic benefits of lactic acid starter microflora. Orally taken TCI904 exhibited positive immune- and metabolic-modulating, and anxiolytic properties, especially in HFD-induced obesity.
Flexible Green Supply Chain Management in Emerging Economies: A Systematic Literature Review
Authors: Dhillon M. K. , Rafi-Ul-Shan P. M. , Amar H. , Sher F. , Ahmed S.
Published: November 2022

The purpose of this research is to synthesize the fragmented extant knowledge on flexible and green supply chain management (FGSCM) in the context of emerging economies and to unearth research gaps to motivate future research. We adopted a novel structured systematic literature review by triangulating a systematic literature review, text mining, and network analysis. Institutional theory and contingency theory were employed to analyze the results of the review. The results show that, firstly, research on FGSCM in emerging economies, despite its importance, is immature compared to general FGSCM literature. Second, the specificities of strategies and practices that distinguish this topic in emerging economies are discussed and the drivers and barriers are identified with respect to sources of institutional pressure. Third, a research framework for FGSCM in emerging economies is developed and 12 gaps for future research are identified. This study has exclusively developed a research framework for FGSCM in an emerging economy which has received the least consideration in the literature and practice. The framework was developed to synthesize the existing literature and to identify the research gaps to inspire future research.
NAD+ Therapeutics and Skeletal Muscle Adaptation to Exercise in Humans
Authors: Campelj Dean , Philp Andrew
Published: November 2022

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) is a vital energy intermediate in skeletal muscle. The discovery of dietary-derived NAD+ precursors has led to the rapid development of NAD+ therapeutics designed to manipulate NAD+ content in target tissues. Of those developed, nicotinamide riboside and nicotinamide mononucleotide have been reported to display health benefit in humans under clinical scenarios of NAD+ deficiency. In contrast, relatively little is known regarding the potential benefit of nicotinamide riboside and nicotinamide mononucleotide supplementation in healthy individuals, with questions remaining as to whether NAD+ therapeutics can be used to support training adaptation or improve performance in athletic populations. Examining animal and human nicotinamide riboside supplementation studies, this review discusses current evidence suggesting that NAD+ therapeutics do not alter skeletal muscle metabolism or improve athletic performance in healthy humans. Further, we will highlight potential reasons why nicotinamide riboside supplementation studies do not translate to healthy populations and discuss the futility of testing NAD+ therapeutics outside of the clinical populations where NAD+ deficiency is present.
Novel formulations of oral bisphosphonates in the treatment of osteoporosis
Authors: Fuggle Nicholas , Al-Daghri Nasser , Bock Olivier , Branco Jaime , Bruyère Olivier , Casado Enrique , Cavalier Etienne , Cortet Bernard , de Wit Maarten , Giusti Andrea , Halbout Philippe , Harvey Nicholas C. , Hiligsmann Mickaël , Kaufman Jean-Marc , Kurth Andreas , Maggi Stefania , Matijevic Radmila , Minisola Salvatore , Palacios Santiago , Radermecker Régis Pierre , Thomasius Friederike , Tuzun Sansin , Veronese Nicola , Kanis John A. , Reginster Jean-Yves , Rizzoli René , Cooper Cyrus
Published: November 2022

Oral bisphosphonates are a key intervention in the treatment of osteoporosis and in reducing the risk of fragility fractures. Their use is supported by over 3 decades of evidence; however, patient adherence to oral bisphosphonates remains poor in part due to complex dosing instructions and adverse events, including upper gastrointestinal symptoms. This problem has led to the development of novel oral bisphosphonate formulations. Buffered, effervescent alendronate is dissolved in water and so seeks to reduce upper gastro-intestinal adverse events, and gastro-resistant risedronate aims to reduce the complexity of dosing procedure (e.g. fasting prior to consumption) whilst still maintaining the efficacy of fracture risk reduction. Clinical trials and real-world data have been employed to demonstrate some benefits in terms of reduced upper gastro-intestinal adverse events, adherence, persistence and health economic outcomes. This report describes the result of an ESCEO (European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis) expert working group, which explores where oral bisphosphonates sit in current clinical practice guidelines, review their risk–benefit profile and the consequences of poor adherence before exploring novel oral bisphosphonate formulations and their potential clinical and health economic impact. Further research is required but there are signs that these novel, oral bisphosphonate formulations may lead to improved tolerance of oral bisphosphonates and thus, improved adherence and fracture outcomes.
Semi-HFL: semi-supervised federated learning for heterogeneous devices
Authors: Zhong Zhengyi , Wang Ji , Bao Weidong , Zhou Jingxuan , Zhu Xiaomin , Zhang Xiongtao
Published: November 2022

In the vanilla federated learning (FL) framework, the central server distributes a globally unified model to each client and uses labeled samples for training. However, in most cases, clients are equipped with different devices and are exposed to a variety of situations. There are great differences between clients in storage, computing, communication, and other resources, which makes unified deep models used in traditional FL cannot fit clients’ personalized resource conditions. Furthermore, a great deal of labeled data is needed in traditional FL, whereas data labeling requires a great investment of time and resources, which is hard to do for individual clients. As a result, clients only have a vast amount of unlabeled data, which goes against the federated learning needs. To address the aforementioned two issues, we propose Semi-HFL, a semi-supervised federated learning approach for heterogeneous devices, which divides a deep model into a series of small submodels by inserting early exit branches to meet the resource requirements of different devices. Furthermore, considering the availability of labeled data, Semi-HFL introduces semi-supervised techniques for training in the above heterogeneous learning process. Specifically, two training phases are included in the semi-supervised learning process, unsupervised learning on clients and supervised learning on the server, which makes full use of clients’ unlabeled data. Through image classification, text classification, next-word prediction, and multi-task FL experiments based on five kinds of datasets, it is verified that compared with the traditional homogeneous learning method, Semi-HFL not only achieves higher accuracies but also significantly reduces the global resource overhead.
Enriched entity representation of knowledge graph for text generation
Authors: Shi Kaile , Cai Xiaoyan , Yang Libin , Zhao Jintao
Published: November 2022

Text generation is a key tool in natural language applications. Generating texts which could express rich ideas through several sentences needs a structured representation of their content. Many works utilize graph-based methods for graph-to-text generation, like knowledge-graph-to-text generation. However, generating texts from knowledge graph still faces problems, such as repetitions and the entity information is not fully utilized in the generated text. In this paper, we focus on knowledge-graph-to-text generation, and develop a multi-level entity fusion representation (MEFR) model to address the above problems, aiming to generate high-quality text from knowledge graph. Our model introduces a fusion mechanism, which is capable of aggregating node representations from word level and phrase level to obtain rich entity representations of the knowledge graph. Then, Graph Transformer is adopted to encode the graph and outputs contextualized node representations. Besides, we develop a vanilla beam search-based comparison mechanism during decoding procedure, which further considers similarity to reduce repetitive information of the generated text. Experimental results show that the proposed MEFR model could effectively improve generation performance, and outperform other baselines on AGENDA and WebNLG datasets. The results also demonstrate the importance to further explore information contained in knowledge graph.
Significant Lifetime Enhancement in QLEDs by Reducing Interfacial Charge Accumulation via Fluorine Incorporation in the ZnO Electron Transport Layer
Authors: Chung Dong Seob , Davidson-Hall Tyler , Cotella Giovanni , Lyu Quan , Chun Peter , Aziz Hany
Published: November 2022

ZnO nanoparticles are widely used for the electron transport layers (ETLs) of quantum dots light emitting devices (QLEDs). In this work we show that incorporating fluorine (F) into the ZnO ETL results in significant enhancement in device electroluminescence stability, leading to LT50 at 100 cd m−2 of 2,370,000 h in red QLED, 47X longer than the control devices. X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy, photoluminescence and electrical measurements show that the F passivates oxygen vacancies and reduces electron traps in ZnO. Transient photoluminescence versus bias measurements and capacitance–voltage-luminance measurements reveal that the CF4 plasma-treated ETLs lead to increased electron concentration in the QD and the QD/hole transport layer interface, subsequently decreasing hole accumulation, and hence the higher stability. The findings provide new insights into the critical roles that optimizing charge distribution across the layers play in influencing stability and present a novel and simple approach for extending QLED lifetimes.
Metabolically targeting immunosuppression and immunoescape for future cancer immunotherapy: a narrative review
Authors: Huang Bo , Cao Xuetao
Published: November 2022

Cancer immunotherapy has emerged as the most important new approach to cancer treatments and moved rapidly to front-line therapy for certain types of cancers. However, both tumor microenvironments and tumor cells can mediate immunosuppression and immunoescape, thus dampening the efficacy of immunotherapy. Despite the complicacies, mechanistic illuminations of unknown immunosuppression and immunoescape are of paramount importance. This short review highlights the recent important findings in cancer immunology and immunotherapy, thus providing new insights into cancer immunosuppression, immunoescape and contributing to the design of innovative immunotherapeutics.
Strong Interactions of Hadrons at High Energies
Authors: Gribov Vladimir
Published: November 2022

Vladimir Gribov was one of the founding fathers of high-energy elementary particle physics. This volume derives from a graduate lecture course he delivered in the 1970s. It provides graduate students and researchers with the opportunity to learn from the teaching of one of the twentieth century's greatest physicists. Its content is still deeply relevant to modern research, for example exploring properties of the relativistic theory of hadron interactions in a domain of peripheral collisions and large distances that quantum chromodynamics has barely approached. In guiding the reader step-by-step from the basics of quantum mechanics and relativistic kinematics to the most challenging problems of high-energy hadron interactions with simplifying models and physical analogies, it demonstrates general methods of addressing difficult problems in theoretical physics. Covering a combination of topics not treated elsewhere, this 2008 title has been reissued as an Open Access publication on Cambridge Core.
QCD as a Theory of Hadrons
Authors: Narison Stephan
Published: November 2022

This 2004 book provides a pedagogical introduction to the perturbative and non-perturbative aspects of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). The text introduces the basic theory of QCD and its historical development, covering pre-QCD ideas of strong interactions such as the quark and parton models, the notion of colours and the S-matrix approach. The author then discusses gauge theory, techniques of dimensional regularization and renormalization, deep inelastic scattering and hard processes in hadron collisions, hadron jets and e+e– annihilations. Other topics include power corrections and the technologies of the Shifman–Vainshtein–Zakharov operating product expansion. The final parts of the book are devoted to modern non-perturbative approaches to QCD and the phenomenological aspects of QCD spectral sum rules. The book will be a valuable reference for graduate students and researchers in high-energy particle and nuclear physics, both theoretical and experimental. This book has been reissued as an Open Access publication on Cambridge Core.
Adults with Animal Phobia: Systematic Replication of Clinical Cases
Authors: Ruiz-García Antonio , Valero-Aguayo Luis
Published: November 2022

Animal phobia is common in children, but it is also frequent in adults who maintain the problem throughout their lives. Eleven cases of animal phobia that were treated with progressive multimedia exposure are presented. The participants were two men and nine women (aged 19–27 years), with anxiety and avoidance problems in relation to various animals. A single-case A-B-Follow-up design was carried out, with concurrent control of several baselines; and a systematic between-subjects replication, with the same treatment repeated across different participants and types of phobias. A behavioural interview, phobia questionnaires, and Multimedia Behavioural Avoidance Test (M-BAT) with pictures and videos of animals, as well as heart rate, were used for assessment purposes. The intervention was the progressive multimedia exposure in four phases (photographs, videos, simulated animals, and live exposure), in addition to diaphragmatic breathing, and homework assignments. The results replicate the same efficacy in each of the participants, with statistically significant and clinical changes in their daily lives. Also, the data as a group show this success with a high Cohen's d effect size (between −1.63 and −30.03). We conclude with an appraisal of the usefulness of the procedure for adults with phobias who do not tolerate direct exposure.
Law and orders: the orders of the European Court of Justice as a window in the judicial process and institutional transformations
Authors: Šadl Urška , López Zurita Lucía , Arne Brekke Stein , Naurin Daniel
Published: November 2022

Orders are judicial decisions designed to shore up fair and timely resolution of disputes. As written, detailed, and factual documents, they are reliable markers of procedural steps and a unique source of information about the inner working of an institution. This article examines all published orders of the European Court of Justice, drawing lessons from their use. The analysis demonstrates that the pursuit of efficiency and uniform application blurs the lines between the administration and judging. First, it centralises the institution, expanding the duties of the Registry and amplifying the role of the Cabinet of the President of the Court. Second, it bureaucratises the interpretation and the uniform application of European Union law. These processes are common in judicial institutions with no power over their dockets. But the particular European response, authored by the Court, also suggests its reluctance to forfeit the interpretive monopoly.
‘This is not a posted worker’ – short-term cross-border mobility of logistics workers and spatio-temporal dimensions of exploitation in the EU: evidence from the case law of the Court of Justice
Authors: Iossa Andrea
Published: November 2022

Since the 2018 revision of the Posting of Workers Directive, the debate on posting has once again been heated. The spark comes particularly from disputes concerning cross-border mobility of highly mobile workers employed in transnational logistics services (Dobersberger, FNV, Rapidsped, and to a different extent Gruber and Samidani and AFMB). In this set of case law, the Court of Justice of the EU had to consider whether or not, and to what extent, the workers in question should be considered posted workers. Thus, the case law came to revolve around the spatial and territorial attributes, and the cross-border nature of the work performed. By resorting to the analytical tools provided by legal geography, and in particular to the concept of ‘chronotopes of law’ elaborated by Mariana Valverde, the aim of this piece is to reflect upon assumptions and implications of the aforementioned rulings with a view of discussing both structural and contingent elements that possibly favour exploitation of posted work in the transnational logistics industry.
EU law, In-Work Poverty, and vulnerable workers
Authors: Ratti Luca , Garcia-Muñoz Antonio
Published: November 2022

The focus of the present contribution is the role of European Union (EU) law in shaping the working conditions of four groups of vulnerable workers. It assesses to what extent the impact of EU law favours, on these particular groups, an increased risk of In-Work Poverty (IWP) and explores whether the recent attention to IWP at EU level and the latest initiatives adopted may change the picture in the near future. The purpose is, therefore, to contribute to the debate on the role of EU law and policy in structuring vulnerability from the perspective of IWP. What is commonly known as EU labour law is a fragmentary legal corpus that has grown in a rather patchwork fashion as part of a social dimension of the European project that was, broadly speaking, functional to the logic of market integration. This originates in the early division of competences between the EU and the Member States in the Treaty of Rome, which left labour law and social protection outside the EU sphere of action. It partly explains why the protection of workers, particularly those that do not engage in cross-border situations, does not seem to be the EU’s primary goal, or at least it is not formulated as contrary to other potentially clashing rationales such as market integration, flexibility, enhanced competitiveness and so on. The prevention of IWP was not, in any case, one of the concerns of the original European project. Yet, EU law has produced several pieces of legislation that directly or indirectly contribute to shaping the working conditions of European workers, including those more exposed to IWP. The paper assesses the relevant EU legal framework and discusses its impact on the working conditions of those more at risk of IWP. It concludes by estimating the potential of a series of recent initiatives to enhance the protection of the most vulnerable workers, thus making a positive change.
On invariant subalgebras of group and von Neumann algebras
Authors: KALANTAR MEHRDAD , PANAGOPOULOS NIKOLAOS
Published: November 2022

Given an irreducible lattice$\Gamma $in the product of higher rank simple Lie groups, we prove a co-finiteness result for the$\Gamma $-invariant von Neumann subalgebras of the group von Neumann algebra$\mathcal {L}(\Gamma )$, and for the$\Gamma $-invariant unital$C^*$-subalgebras of the reduced group$C^*$-algebra$C^*_{\mathrm {red}}(\Gamma )$. We use these results to show that: (i) every$\Gamma $-invariant von Neumann subalgebra of$\mathcal {L}(\Gamma )$is generated by a normal subgroup; and (ii) given a weakly mixing unitary representation$\pi $of$\Gamma $, every$\Gamma $-equivariant conditional expectation on$C^*_\pi (\Gamma )$is the canonical conditional expectation onto the$C^*$-subalgebra generated by a normal subgroup.
Comparison of dietary intake measured by a web-based FFQ and repeated 24-hour dietary recalls: the Hordaland Health Study
Authors: Sabir Zoya , Rosendahl-Riise Hanne , Dierkes Jutta , Dahl Helene , Hjartåker Anette
Published: November 2022

All dietary assessment methods inevitably introduce measurement errors, which should ideally be considered during data analysis and interpretation. Methodological studies should be conducted to address how well a given assessment method captures dietary intake and to highlight the extent and direction of the measurement error. Within a subgroup of the Hordaland Health Study (HUSK3), we examined the relative validity of a web-based food frequency questionnaire (WebFFQ) by comparing its estimates of mean daily intake of nutrients and foods with estimated mean daily intakes from repeated administrations of 24-hour dietary recall interviews (24-HDRs). Men and women born between 1950 and 1951 were recruited from HUSK3. The participants (n = 67) completed a WebFFQ and three non-consecutive 24-HDRs over the course of a year. Relative validity was assessed using Spearman's rank correlation, crosstab analysis and Bland–Altman plots. Linear regression models were used to compute the calibration coefficients. The estimated correlation coefficients were acceptable or strong for all nutrients and foods except iodine (rs = 0⋅19). The highest correlation coefficient was found for juice (rs = 0⋅71), whereas the lowest correlation coefficient was found for iodine (rs = 0⋅19). Cross-classification by quartiles categorised more than 72 % of the participants into the same or adjacent quartiles using the two methods. Few data points fell outside the limits of agreement in the Bland–Altman plots. Calibration coefficients ranged from 0⋅10 (wholegrain) to 0⋅81 (alcohol). Our findings suggest that the WebFFQ has reasonable ranking abilities for all the included nutrients and foods, except for iodine.
The Early Classic Genesis of the Royal Maya Capital of Tamarindito
Authors: Eberl Markus , Gronemeyer Sven , Vela González Claudia Marie
Published: November 2022

Polities require individuals who envision and materialize them; in turn, people's political identity as residents depends on them. The polity and the resident are self-evident only in hindsight, and we discuss their co-constitution. During subjectification, people create and submit to an authority. Our case study is the Early Classic (AD 350–600) emergence of Tamarindito in the south-central Maya Lowlands (modern Guatemala). The Petexbatun Regional Archaeological Project and the Tamarindito Archaeological Project have extensively studied this capital of the Foliated Scroll polity. Although its divine rulers present themselves as fully formed since time immemorial, we discuss how they built their authority through self-serving narratives. Tamarindito originates in the Early Classic, and in the late fourth or fifth century, rulers selected a 70 m high hill as seat. Plaza A's monumentality conceals a small-scale labor effort and a slowly growing polity. Only two non-elite households attached themselves to the royal court during the fifth and sixth centuries, suggesting that non-elites recognized the royal authority only slowly. The formation of the Foliated Scroll polity was an immanent process. Self-aggrandizing divine kings struggled to claim authority, and non-elites subjectified themselves over several centuries.
The role of serum vitamin 25(OH)D concentration in the Covid-19 pandemic in children
Authors: Kosmeri Chrysoula , Balomenou Foteini , Rallis Dimitrios , Baltogianni Maria , Giapros Vasileios
Published: November 2022

The ongoing Coronavirus disease 19 (Covid-19) pandemic and associated mortality in children led to an effort to address risk factors and develop protective measures. Observational studies in adults showed that vitamin D deficiency is associated with Covid-19 severity. The aim of this review was to summarise data regarding the role of serum vitamin 25(OH)D concentration in the severity of Covid-19 and the associated multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). Many studies noted lower concentrations of vitamin 25(OH)D in children with Covid-19 compared with healthy controls; however, studies that assessed vitamin 25(OH)D suboptimal concentrations as a risk factor for Covid-19 severity were scarce. There was no high-quality evidence that vitamin 25(OH)D concentrations are associated with Covid-19 severity. Similarly, for MIS-C, a few studies with a small number of patients found that vitamin D deficiency was associated with more severe MIS-C. Vitamin D has many immunomodulatory actions and is consumed in the immunomodulatory cells, especially in infections such as the Covid-19 which is associated with increased inflammation and cytokine storm. Therefore, decreased concentrations of plasma vitamin 25(OH)D have been proposed to be the result of vitamin use by immunomodulatory cells in severe Covid-19, rather than a predisposing factor. In conclusion, the available data cannot prove that vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for severe Covid-19 disease. More studies, of prospective design, are needed to investigate the role of this marker independently of other risk factors.
Metabolomic disorders: confirmed presence of potentially treatable abnormalities in patients with treatment refractory depression and suicidal behavior
Authors: Pan Lisa A. , Segreti Anna Maria , Wrobleski Joseph , Shaw Annie , Hyland Keith , Hughes Marion , Finegold David N. , Naviaux Robert K. , Brent David A. , Vockley Jerry , Peters David G.
Published: November 2022

Background

Refractory depression is a devastating condition with significant morbidity, mortality, and societal cost. Approximately 15% of patients with major depressive disorder are refractory to currently available treatments. We hypothesized metabolic abnormalities contributing to treatment refractory depression are associated with distinct findings identifiable in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Our hypothesis was confirmed by a previous small case-controlled study. Here we present a second, larger replication study.

Methods

We conducted a case-controlled, targeted, metabolomic evaluation of 141 adolescent and adult patients with well-characterized history of depression refractory to three maximum-dose, adequate-duration medication treatments, and 36 healthy controls. Plasma, urine, and CSF metabolic profiling were performed by coupled gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and high-performance liquid chromatography, electrospray ionization, tandem mass spectrometry.

Results

Abnormalities were identified in 67 of 141 treatment refractory depression participants. The CSF abnormalities included: low cerebral folate (n = 20), low tetrahydrobiopterin intermediates (n = 11), and borderline low-tetrahydrobiopterin intermediates (n = 20). Serum abnormalities included abnormal acylcarnitine profile (n = 12) and abnormal serum amino acids (n = 20). Eighteen patients presented with two or more abnormal metabolic findings. Sixteen patients with cerebral folate deficiency and seven with low tetrahydrobiopterin intermediates in CSF showed improvement in depression symptom inventories after treatment with folinic acid and sapropterin, respectively. No healthy controls had a metabolite abnormality.

Conclusions

Examination of metabolic disorders in treatment refractory depression identified an unexpectedly large proportion of patients with potentially treatable abnormalities. The etiology of these abnormalities and their potential roles in pathogenesis remain to be determined.
Children’s use of demonstrative words: spatial deictics beyond infancy
Authors: GUIJARRO-FUENTES Pedro , GUDDE Harmen B. , GONZÁLEZ-PEÑA Patricia , COVENTRY Kenny R.
Published: November 2022

Demonstrative words are one of the most important ways of establishing reference in conversation. This work describes Spanish-speaking children’s demonstrative production between ages 2 to 10 using data from the CHILDES corpora. Results indicate that children feature all demonstratives in their lexicon – however, the distal term is scarce throughout development. Moreover, patterns of demonstrative use are not adult-like at age 10. We compare adult and child data to conclude that children’s development of demonstrative production is largely protracted. Adult use of the distal demonstrative is higher than in young children, although both older children and adults use the medial term ese more than any other demonstratives. In contrast, younger children use proximals relatively more frequently than older children and adults. Suggestions for future research and theoretical implications for the Spanish demonstrative system are discussed.
From Slaves to Índios: Empire, Slavery, and Race (Maranhão, Brazil, c.1740–90)
Authors: Pelegrino Alexandre
Published: November 2022

Northern Brazil experienced consequential socio-economic and legal transformation by the mid-eighteenth century in the context of imperial reforms. If the region relied for decades on the enslavement of Indigenous Americans, the Portuguese crown banned the practiced in 1755. To develop a plantation economy, the monarchy created a trading company responsible for shipping unprecedented number of enslaved Africans. This article discusses ruptures and continuities on the enslavement of Indigenous Americans. It focuses on one city, São Luís, and makes extensive use of Catholic sources (baptisms and marriages), notarial records, and legal cases. The article analyzes the connection between mechanisms that allowed the resilience of slavery (or forms that resembled slavery) and attempts to claim and preserve freedom or autonomy, in this case the strategic use of the índio status. The article develops two of those mechanisms: social dependencies created within the households and the use of socio-racial classifications by the colonial society. I make two interconnected arguments. First, I propose a bottom-up process of Indigenous slavery abolition. Indigenous workers were savvy litigants and they fought for their place as mobile wage laborers within the city. Second, in that moment of socio-economic and legal transformations, slaveholders developed vernacular practices stressing black maternal origins to slaves.
The Ethical Acceptability of a Recipient’s Choice of Donor in Directed and Nondirected Transplantation: Japanese Perspective
Authors: Nakazawa Eisuke , Shaw Margie H. , Akabayashi Akira
Published: November 2022

In organ transplantation, there is a lack of ethical discussion about the recipient’s right not to receive a transplant. Using the current situation of living organ transplantation and deceased organ transplantation in Japan as an example, we prospectively discussed to what extent the recipient’s right not to receive a transplant is ethically acceptable. In directed transplantation from a living donor, a recipient may refuse organ donation from a particular donor. It is preferable that a recipient’s request for organ donation from a donor occurs as part of a transparent process. In nondirected transplantation from a deceased donor, refusal of transplantation from a particular type of donor appears potentially justifiable. There are both moral and pragmatic considerations. Certain refusals based solely on belief are morally unacceptable, and refusal to transplant a recipient based on the donor’s age jeopardizes the entire transplant system. When religious beliefs affect mental and physical health, individualized measures are required for transplant rejection. We also deductively developed a prospective argument based on the current status of donor–recipient communication in living organ transplantation in Japan and the 2010 amendment of the law allowing relatives to be given priority in organ transplantation from deceased donors.
Healthcare Professionals’ Conflicts When Treating Transgender Youth: Is It Necessary to Prioritize Protection Over Respect?
Authors: Hädicke Maximiliane , Föcker Manuel , Romer Georg , Wiesemann Claudia
Published: November 2022

Increasingly, transgender minors are seeking medical care such as puberty-suppressing or gender-affirming hormone therapies. Yet, whether these interventions should be performed at all is highly controversial. Some healthcare practitioners oppose irreversible interventions, considering it their duty to protect children from harm. Others view minors, like adults, as transgender individuals who must be protected from discrimination. The underlying ethical question is presented as a problem of priority. Is it primarily relevant that minors are involved? Or should decision makers focus on the fact that they treat transgender individuals? The paper explores the relevance for medical practice. We provide results of an interview study with German healthcare professionals. We discuss the general question whether prioritization among different group memberships of the same person is ethically defensible. We conclude that priority conflicts between group memberships of the same person can be deceptive and should be addressed by an intersectional approach. Eventually, we discuss practical implications.
Parental childhood vaccine hesitancy and predicting uptake of vaccinations: a systematic review
Authors: Obohwemu Kennedy , Christie-de Jong Floor , Ling Jonathan
Published: November 2022

Aim:

This review aims are to (1) identify relevant quantitative research on parental childhood vaccine hesitancy with vaccine uptake and vaccination intention being relevant outcomes and (2) map the gaps in knowledge on vaccine hesitancy to develop suggestions for further research and to guide interventions in this field.

Background:

Vaccine hesitancy recognises a continuum between vaccine acceptance and vaccine refusal, de-polarising past anti-vaccine, and pro-vaccine categorisations of individuals and groups. Vaccine hesitancy poses a serious challenge to international efforts to lessen the burden of vaccine-preventable diseases. Potential vaccination barriers must be identified to inform initiatives aimed at increasing vaccine awareness, acceptance, and uptake.

Methods:

Five databases were searched for peer-reviewed articles published between 1998 and 2020 in the fields of medicine, nursing, public health, biological sciences, and social sciences. Across these datasets, a comprehensive search technique was used to identify multiple variables of public trust, confidence, and hesitancy about vaccines. Using PRISMA guidelines, 34 papers were included so long as they focused on childhood immunisations, employed multivariate analysis, and were published during the time frame. Significant challenges to vaccine uptake or intention were identified in these studies. Barriers to vaccination for the target populations were grouped using conceptual frameworks based on the Protection Motivation Theory and the World Health Organization’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization Working Group model and explored using the 5C psychological antecedents of vaccination.

Findings:

Although several characteristics were shown to relate to vaccine hesitancy, they do not allow for a thorough classification or proof of their individual and comparative level of influence. Understudied themes were also discovered during the review. Lack of confidence, complacency, constraints, calculation, and collective responsibility have all been highlighted as barriers to vaccination uptake among parents to different degrees.