bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Combined optimisation and MCDA based solution of the tram depot location problem
Authors: Sawicki Piotr , Sawicka Hanna
Published: December 2021

This paper deals with an issue of technical facilities location in a public transport system. The decision problem is formulated as a selection of the most advantageous alternative, i.e. the location of a new tram depot among the already existing facilities of this type. The selection is preceded by the evaluation of the alternatives. The assessment is not a trivial task, because there are many groups of interest with usually contradictory points of view. Therefore, the evaluation of the new tram depot locations should represent different aspects, e.g., economical, technical, environmental, and organizational. To handle such a complex decision problem the authors propose a methodology, which is a composition of the optimisation and multiple criteria evaluation techniques. The developed methodology is experimentally applied to the selection of one out of five tram depot locations in the public transport system of the city of Poznan, Poland. All the computational experiments are performed by means of optimization and multiple criteria decision aiding (MCDA) methods and tools, i.e. a linear optimization engine Solver Premium Platform and AHP method with its application AHORNsimple. The calculations are the basis for recommending the location of a new depot in the central part of the transport system network, which is a reasonable solution taking into account, e.g. the proximity of the main railway line, the possibility of triple distribution of the transport means from depot. The proposed methodology of the decision problem solution gives also an opportunity to create the hierarchy of considered tram depot locations as well as to compare the position in the ranking of the best solution with the existing one. Since the proposed methodology assumes the selection of the most suitable MCDA method to the problem under consideration and the decision maker’s preferen¬ces, it guarantees that the result of analysis becomes reliable and the decision aiding process is credible.
Insecticidal activity and phytochemical analysis of Pyrus communis L. extracts against malarial vector, Anopheles pharoensis Theobald, 1901 (Diptera: Culicidae)
Authors: Shehata Ahmed Zeinhom Ibrahem , Labib Rola Milad , Abdel-Samad Mohammad Reda Kamel
Published: December 2021

We aimed at investigating the insecticidal activity of Pyrus communis L. against the malarial vector, Anopheles pharoensis Theobald, 1901 and its phytochemical constituents. Leaves were collected and the crude extracts were prepared using hexane (PCH) and methanol (PCM). Tested PCH and PCM possess larvicidal activity against A. pharoensis with LC50 and LC90 values of 179.9, 41.2 and 314.1, 68.9 ppm, respectively. A significant reduction in the number of eggs laid by females A. pharoensis that developed from larvae treated with PCH and PCM was noticed. Also, PCH treatment showed highest repellent activity compared with PCM. GC/MS analysis of the PCH revealed the presence of 55 identified compounds subdivided into 2 major classes viz. phenyl alkanes (38.65 %) and oxygenated sesquiterpenoids (36.41 %). LC/MS of PCM had led to the identification of 37 compounds, mainly flavonoids, chalcones, phenolic acids and tannins. The results demonstrate the insecticidal potential of leaves methanol and hexane extracts from P. communis as green insecticidal agents for the control of malarial vector, A. pharoensis.
Cinema, Anarchism, and Revolution
Authors: Porton Richard
Published: December 2021

This chapter examines cinema's representation of anarchist heroes, martyrs, and fleeting revolutionary moments, formulating a critique of mainstream socialism that is far from the banalities of bourgeois sociology. Two films, Bo Widerberg's Joe Hill (1971) and Giuliano Montaldo's Sacco and Vanzetti (1971), deal with a transitional historical period before the final polarization of Bolshevism and anarchism. These films are reverential tributes to radical martyrs, and reflect the fact that these members of the Old Left pantheon have long been heralded as all-purpose leftists whose legacies provide useful object-lessons for socialists, liberals, and communists, as well as anarchists. The chapter then looks at the documentary and fiction films inspired by the Spanish Revolution of the 1930s. It also considers a prototypical sequence in Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg's Soviet avant-garde epic New Babylon (1929), which sums up the grassroots anti-authoritarianism of the seventy-two-day Paris Commune of 1871, while prefiguring the Spanish libertarian communism of the 1930s and the anti-statist radicalism that erupted during the events of May 1968 in France.
Passing the Baton
Authors: Ariail Cat M.
Published: December 2021

In the post–World War II period, nations and territories used international sport to codify and communicate their ideal citizenries. For the United States, black women who competed in track and field complicated these efforts. This book analyzes the ideological influence of black women track stars, examining how they destabilized dominant ideas about race, gender, sexuality, and national identity. The strivings and successes of black American track women, such as Alice Coachman, Mae Faggs, and Wilma Rudolph, at the Olympic Games and other international sporting events from 1948 to 1962 repeatedly forced white and black sport cultures in the United States to wrestle with the meaning of black women’s athleticism. Both white and black sport cultures struggled to fit black women athletes into their respective visions for the postwar American nation, reflecting and reinforcing how the Cold War, civil rights movement, and their intersection encouraged broader reconfigurations of the racial, gender, and sexual associations of ideal American identity. Ultimately, these American sport cultures marshaled racialized gender expectations to contain the threat that black women track stars embodied, interpreting and reinterpreting the meaning of their athletic efforts in ways that bolstered established hierarchies of race and gender.
Union Renegades
Authors: Caldemeyer Dana M.
Published: December 2021

Union Renegades follows the individuals who did not see the value of following union orders in the Gilded Age. As unions grew more centralized to combat worker grievances in the workplace, leaders were shocked to find that workers were often reluctant to fully follow labor organizations. Although union leaders were quick to cast these individuals as nonunion workers who were “indifferent to their own interests,” this book argues that workers’ decisions to follow or reject unions was based on their own assessment of what course would be most beneficial to them and their families. As corporations sought to increase capitalist gain, rural workers applied these same capitalist mindsets to their own economic needs. It looks closely at the seasonal work patters of rural industries like farming and coal mining to show how workers moved between occupations, causing many to see themselves as business-minded investors rather than as wage earners. This continuous effort to increase income caused farmers and laborers to form their own understandings of unionism that did not always fit with what union leaders envisioned. Workers’ decisions to break away from formal unions, then, did not come from an inability to look after their own interests as some union leaders claimed. Instead, it came from the belief that the union did not offer the surest means to secure their economic, social, and political needs.
The Labor Board Crew
Authors: Schatz Ronald W.
Published: December 2021

Ronald W. Schatz tells the story of the team of young economists and lawyers recruited to the National War Labor Board to resolve union-management conflicts during the Second World War. The crew (including Clark Kerr, John Dunlop, Jean McKelvey, and Marvin Miller) exerted broad influence on the U.S. economy and society for the next forty years. They handled thousands of grievances and strikes. They founded academic industrial relations programs. When the 1960s student movement erupted, universities appointed them as top administrators charged with quelling the conflicts. In the 1970s, they developed systems that advanced public sector unionization and revolutionized employment conditions in Major League Baseball.
Schatz argues that the Labor Board vets, who saw themselves as disinterested technocrats, were in truth utopian reformers aiming to transform the world. Beginning in the 1970s stagflation era, they faced unforeseen opposition, and the cooperative relationships they had fostered withered. Yet their protégé George Shultz used mediation techniques learned from his mentors to assist in the integration of Southern public schools, institute affirmative action in industry, and conduct Cold War negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev.
The Mark of Slavery
Authors: Barclay Jenifer L.
Published: December 2021

This book makes disability legible in the histories of both slavery and race, arguing that disability is a critical category of historical analysis. Bondage complicated and contributed to enslaved people’s experiences of complexly embodied conditions that ranged across the physical, sensory, cognitive, and psychological. Ableist histories of racial slavery have long overlooked how the social relations of disability shaped people’s everyday lives, particularly within enslaved families, communities, and culture. At the same time, antebellum Americans persistently constructed and framed racial ideology through ideas about disability, producing and naturalizing links between blackness and disability on the one hand and whiteness and ability on the other. Disability was central to the larger relations of power that structured antebellum society and figured prominently in racial projects that unfolded in the laws of slavery, medical discourses of race, pro- and antislavery political rhetoric, and popular culture like blackface minstrelsy and freak shows. The disabling images of blackness created in these various registers of American life resounded long after slavery’s end, gradually fading into less specific notions of black inferiority and damage imagery. The Mark of Slavery simultaneously examines relations of power and the materiality of the body and makes clear that just as blackness and disability were not mutually exclusive categories, enslaved people’s lived experiences of disability were not entirely separate from and unrelated to representations of disability that fueled racial ideology.
Grand Army of Labor
Authors: Stanley Matthew E.
Published: December 2021

The politics and culture of organized labor during the age of industrial capitalism in the United States was refracted through the semantics, ideas, and personalities of sectional conflict. The experience of war helped forge class consciousness, and the notion of a continued antislavery struggle was central to the identities of newly radicalized workers. This book explores the sweeping variety of Civil War memory within Gilded Age and Progressive Era labor unions, among political radicals, and in third-party movements. That memory evinced revolution and reform, as competing and sometimes coinciding narratives emerged between Reconstruction and World War I. The first worked largely in the service of industrial unionism and depicted the Civil War’s legacy as a precursor to a thorough--even global--liberation of all workers. The second emphasized the preservation of the Union, the imperatives of legalism and social order, and the fundamental loyalty of white workingmen to the reconstituted nation-state, tending to further conciliatory labor strategies, as well as the leadership prerogatives of exclusionary craft unions. The preeminence of reformist memory, which was predicated on compromise with capital and the sanctity of the state, came ultimately to supplement trade union bureaucratization, labor nationalism, and the propagation of antiradicalism on the American scene during and after the Great War.
Maternal Mortality Due to an Undiagnosed Large Thymoma in Puerperium: A Case Report
Authors: Fakehi Malihe , Saeedi Sara , Mazloumi Maryam , Hashemi Neda , Rahimi Maryam , Ghaemi Marjan
Published: December 2021

Introduction: Delayed or avoided medical care due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) related concerns may increase morbidity and mortality associated with both acute and chronic health conditions. Thymoma is uncommon in pregnancy, although it could be accompanied with unfavorable outcomes. We report a puerperal woman presented with dyspnea and cardiac arrest with a recent diagnosis of thymoma that led to maternal mortality. Case Presentation: A 38-year-old woman with occasional dyspnea during pregnancy without medical referral was admitted to the hospital with severe dyspnea and orthopnea three days after cesarean section. Spiral computed tomography (CT) angiography showed a 64 × 84-centimeter mass with soft tissue density in the left perivascular that was originated from the anterior mediastinum; in biopsy, thymoma was suggested. She died shortly after due to severe dyspnea and cardiac arrest. Conclusions: Prenatal care during COVID-19 pandemic should not be postponed. Indeed, any symptom similar to the physiologic changes in pregnancy needs to be evaluated for optimal clinical management.
A Case of Extensive Splanchnic Vein Thrombosis in a COVID-19 Patient and a Review of the Literature
Authors: Lee Kwang Hwi , Jeon Eui Yong , Hasan Abdulla Maryam , Ahn Young Joon , Thomas George , Yu Yeong-lee
Published: December 2021

: Splanchnic vein thrombosis is one of the rare complications of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A 43-year-old woman presented with splanchnic vein thrombosis as a rare extrapulmonary complication of COVID-19. She was previously healthy without a medical history of coagulopathy before hospital admission. She complained of epigastric pain, along with nausea and vomiting. Enhanced abdominopelvic computed tomography (CT) scan demonstrated extensive acute thrombosis in the portal, superior mesenteric, and splenic veins with total occlusion. Intestinal ischemia or infarction was not clinically observed. All thrombophilia screening tests yielded negative results. Under anticoagulation therapy, she recovered dramatically and was discharged from the hospital. Imaging findings can be used to confirm splanchnic vein thrombosis when a COVID-19 patient has abdominal symptoms.
Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome and Related Factors in Patients with Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver
Authors: Zakerkish Mehrnoosh , Assarzadeh Abolghasem , Seyedian Seyed Saeed , Jahanshahi Alireza
Published: December 2021

Objectives: This study was designed to investigate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in patients diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) referring to the gastrointestinal and endocrinology clinics of Golestan and Imam Khomeini Hospitals, Ahvaz. Methods: The current cross-sectional study was performed on patients with NAFLD referring to the gastroenterology and endocrinology clinics of Golestan and Emam Khomeini hospitals, Ahvaz in the second half of 2020. Demographic information included age, gender, lumbar posture (while standing and the waist be in the upper edge of the iliac crest at the end of a normal exhalation using a non-elastic meter), grading fatty liver evidenced by ultrasound, and blood pressure and laboratory parameters, including triglyceride (TG), fasting blood sugar (FBS), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) was recorded in the checklist. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 26.0 software. Results: This study was performed on 130 patients with an average age of 46.22 ± 14.27 years. Patients comprised 42 men (32.8%) and 88 women (67.2/%). Also, 63.84% of the patients with NAFLD had metabolic syndrome, and 56.2, 69.6, and 81.8% with grades 1, 2, and 3 of fatty liver, respectively had metabolic syndrome. There was a significant difference in terms of mean height and weight in both gender. There was a significant relationship between age and FBS, so that the levels of FBS increased statistically significantly with age (P < 0.05). Gender had a statistically significant relationship with HDL and waist circumference (P = 0.038). There was no statistically significant relationship between blood pressure, TG, HDL, FBS, and waist circumference, and different grades of fatty liver (P > 0.05). Conclusions: The current study showed a significant number of patients with NAFLD had metabolic syndrome, so that the most common symptom of metabolic syndrome was low HDL levels, followed by high FBS levels, blood pressure, and TG levels and waist circumference size. Nevertheless, it was not probable to assess whether NAFLD precedes the progress of metabolic syndrome.
Evaluation of Cardiovascular Diseases Risk in the Iranian Population
Authors: Akhlaghdoust Meisam , Pirani Davoud , Nasiri Mohamad , Lashkari Ahangarani Sahar , Haghsetan Nazgol , Karbalaiea Mohsen , Davoodi Poorya
Published: December 2021

Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are among the leading causes of death and morbidity around the world. Risk score assessment can assist in anticipating a person's CVD risk over the next five years. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the risk of CVDs in the general Iranian population. Methods: This study was conducted in September 2020, and 5324 participants aged 35 to 74 years were registered from 95 metro stations throughout Tehran. Participants' demographics (ie, age, gender, current smoking and exercise habits, and family history of hypertension, CVDs, and diabetes) were collected by in-person interviews, and their body mass index (BMI) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) were measured. The five-year risk of CVDs was estimated and categorized into low (< 10%), some risk (10 - 20%), moderate (21 - 30%), increased (31 - 40%), and high (> 40%) groups, and its association with the participants’ demographics was evaluated by SPSS version 21. Results: The mean age of 5324 participants was 45.3 ± 14.8 years, and 64% were male. The frequency of CVD risk scores was as follows: low (54%), some risk (17.5%), moderate (15.4%), increased (5.7%), and high (3.5%), which were significantly associated with gender (P < 0.001), smoking status (P = 0.048), exercise (P = 0.014), and family history of diseases (all P < 0.001). Age (β = 0.774, P < 0.001) increased the odds of CVD, while other variables had small or no effects on CVD. Conclusions: This study found a high prevalence of high-risk CVD in the Iranian population, emphasizing the importance of risk score assessment, which should include not only basic non-laboratory risk assessment scores, but also exercise and a positive family history of associated diseases.
A Comparison of Demirjian and Cameriere Methods in Estimating Age and Development of a Modified Cameriere Method
Authors: Namadchian Naeeme , Khafri Soraya , Sheikhzadeh Sedigheh , Ghasempour Maryam , Moudi Ehsan , Seyedmajidi Seyedali
Published: December 2021

Background: In recent years, age estimation in forensic medicine has become so important. Teeth are used to estimate age as valuable indicators. Objectives: This study aimed to compare Cameriere and Demirjian methods in estimating chronological age (Age) in an Iranian population and to develop a modified Cameriere method. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we investigated a total of 486 panoramic radiographs of individuals aged 5 - 15 years adopted from two craniofacial radiology centers in Babol, northern Iran, in 2019. The dental age of subjects was assessed by Demirjian (DAge) and Cameriere (CAge) methods and compared with their chronological age. Also, a formula was designed based on the Cameriere method for our studied population, and the results of the original and modified Cameriere (MCAge) methods were compared. Results: The mean ± SD of Age (10.38 ± 2.30) had a significant difference with DAge (10.67 ± 2.33) and CAge (9.77 ± 2.01) (P < 0.001). The modified Cameriere formula was more accurate than Cameriere one, and MCAge was 10.38 ± 2.12, indicating no significant difference with Age (P = 0.993). Conclusions: According to our results, both Demirjian and Cameriere methods were not reliable for age estimation in the Iranian population. However, the modified Cameriere formula had a very high accuracy in estimating the age of the studied population.
Revisiting Brehier – Differences between Plotinus’ Enneads and Advaita Vedānta
Authors: Majumdar Deepa ,   Gnomon Center for the Humanities
Published: December 2021

Bréhier revives the possibility of Indian Upaniṣadic influence on Plotinus, specifically in the area of mysticism – asking what in Plotinus’ philosophy is foreign with respect to the Greek philosophical tradition. After Bréhier there are vigorous defenses of Plotinus’ Greek origins – not all of which respond directly to the key issues he raises, or address Plotinus’ mysticism specifically. My purpose in this paper is not to answer Bréhier, but to revisit him, for the purpose of delineating paradigmatic differences between Plotinus’ metaphysics and that in Advaita Vedānta. Starting with differences in their respective texts and conceptions of the Divine, I explore concrete concepts (Māyā, tolma, the forms, gun․as, etc.), so unique to each tradition that they comprise the heart and essence of their differences. I assert as well that their metaphysical distinctions imply dissimilarities in their modes of mysticism. In this effort I uphold numinous experience above historical influences. This paper therefore has four parts: (1) Revisiting Bréhier, Armstrong, and Others; (2) Defining Terms: Texts, Methods, and Conceptions of the Divine (Striking Similarities); (3) Contrasting Advaita Vedānta and the Enneads (Paradigmatic Differences); and (4) Conclusion.
The Concept of Synergy in the Triadology and Anthropology of Saint Augustine
Authors: Milojkov Aleksandar ,   Gnomon Center for the Humanities
Published: December 2021

In this paper, we are going to try to present the concept of synergy in the triadology and anthropology of Saint Augustine. Through the analysis of Augustine’s original texts, we are putting effort to highlight the synergistic interpretation of Augustine’s triadology instead of the essentialist interpretation, which is based on de Régnon’s paradigm as а mainstream exegesis in Orthodox theology. After the triadology, we are making an attempt to analyse the concept of synergy in the anthropology of Saint Augustine – i.e, to interpret the relation between God’s grace and man’s free will in a synergistic key, criticizing the Calvinist monergistic interpretation.
Der eigentliche Heidegger. Kontinuität statt „Kehre“
Authors: Nassirin Kaveh ,   Gnomon Center for the Humanities
Published: December 2021

Although it is one of the indispensable standards of relevant research that Heidegger shortly after Being and Time made a „turn“ („Kehre“) in the development of his thinking, it can be shown that this is merely due to a misunderstanding or misinterpretation that began in 1949/50 with an at least incorrect reading of the corresponding passage in the Letter of Humanism. But if this legend of research can be proven as such, the question arises as to what consequences this will have for the comprehension of Heidegger’s thinking, for it is said that with the „turn“, the transcendental approach was given up in favor of an aletheiological one with which it was possible for Heidegger to overcome subjectivism. In rejection of this by now equally canonical interpretation scheme it is shown here that the aletheiological approach is merely a recourse to conceptions important to Heidegger even before Being and Time and that after the failure of its third section – Time and Being – subjectivistic features were rather transferred, partially into a being that was increasingly thought of as an active one, partially into concepts like that of the „first thinker“ („erster Denker“) or the „messenger of being“ („Botenganger des Seins“). All in all, it is argued that the paradigm of „Heidegger‘ s turn“ should be abandoned in order to enable an unobstructed view on Heidegger’s thinking.
A Realistic European Story of Peoplehood
Authors: Verovšek Peter Joseph ,   Department of Philosophy, Florida State University
Published: December 2021

The divisions emanating from the Eurozone crisis have led political realists to argue that European identity should be conceived of via “basic legitimation demand” (Williams) that prioritizes the creation of order in backward-looking, non-utopian terms. In contrast, I suggest that Europe would do better by building an ethically-constitutive “story of peoplehood” (Smith) that looks both backward and forward. I argue that the EU should build on the ideals drawn from the continent’s shared past as well as its desire to retake control from the global economic forces that threaten democratic political sovereignty in the twenty-first century.
Early-Middle Ordovician cephalopods from Ny Friesland, Spitsbergen – a pelagic fauna with Laurentian affinities
Authors: Kröger Björn , Pohle Alexander
Published: December 2021

The collection of cephalopods from eight sampling horizons within the Olenidsletta Member, Valhallfonna Formation, Floian–Dapingian, from Profilstranda and nearby Profilbekken, Ny Friesland, Spitsbergen, resulted in the detection of 31 species, 20 genera, and 12 families from the Ellesmerocerida, Endocerida, Riocerida, Dissidocerida, Orthocerida, Tarphycerida, and Oncocerida. Of these, five genera (Ethanoceras gen. nov., Hinlopoceras gen. nov., Nyfrieslandoceras gen. nov., Olenidslettoceras gen. nov., Svalbardoceras gen. nov.) and 19 species (Bactroceras fluvii sp. nov., Buttsoceras buldrebreenense sp. nov., Cycloplectoceras hinlopense sp. nov., Cyclostomiceras profilstrandense sp. nov., Deltoceras beluga sp. nov., Eosomichelinoceras borealis sp. nov., Ethanoceras solitudines gen. et sp. nov., Hemichoanella occulta sp. nov., Hinlopoceras tempestatis gen. et sp. nov., H. venti gen. et sp. nov., Lawrenceoceras ebenus sp. nov., L. larus sp. nov., Litoceras profilbekkenense sp. nov., Nyfrieslandoceras bassleroceroides gen. et sp. nov., Olenidslettoceras farmi gen. et sp. nov., Protocycloceras minor sp. nov., Proterocameroceras valhallfonnense sp. nov., Svalbardoceras sterna gen. et sp. nov., S. skua gen. et sp. nov.) are new. The diagnoses of the Cyptendoceratidae, Bactroceratidae and of Deltoceras Hyatt, 1894 are emended. Well preserved early growth stages in several species are remarkable. Turnover between the sampling horizons and between sampling intervals is high. The differences in composition, diversity and evenness of the assemblages are interpreted as reflecting changing depth and oxygenation depositional bottom conditions. The co-occurrence of endemic and cosmopolitan species is interpreted as resulting from a high vertical niche differentiation and from eustatically generated lateral shifts of facies zones. Based on calculations of phragmocone implosion depths, depositional depths of 50–130 m are plausible for the Olenidsletta Member, supporting independent evidence from biomarker signatures. Several cephalopod species of the Olenidsletta Member represent odd mosaics of morphological features of previously known cephalopods which cannot be unambiguously assigned to one of the existing cephalopod higher taxa. Results from a cladistic analysis shed new light on the early evolution of the Oncocerida and Orthocerida.
From the Past President of RUSA: Looking Back, Looking Forward
Authors: McDonald Courtney
Published: December 2021

On March 4, 2020, just a few days before changes and closures associated with the global COVID-19 pandemic swept across the United States and the world, our previous issue (vol. 59, no. 2) was published. It is accurate to say, though a bit of an understatement, that a lot has happened since then.This period has surely been one of the most unusual and challenging years ALA, its members, and indeed the world, have ever faced. Like each of you, and like professional membership organizations everywhere, both ALA and RUSA faced challenges of various types through this period. Let me offer my sincere apologies to all of you, our authors, column editors, and readers, for the disruptions and delays in publication and communications for the journal.
The Alert Collector: Genealogy Resources in Print
Authors: Pennavaria Katherine
Published: December 2021

Anyone who has worked at a public service desk in a library has probably had at least one encounter with a genealogy researcher avidly regaling them with some new fact they learned about their ancestors. Genealogy researchers bring a passion to their efforts that is unmatched, so it behooves libraries to have the best resources on hand. While a lot of the genealogy legwork is done online these days via Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org, there is still a need for high-quality print resources. At the time of the column’s writing, many libraries were shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, rendering print resources inaccessible. By the time this column appears, libraries will be again serving these passionate researchers with a range of the best print resources to go along with online tools. Author Katherine Pennavaria is Library Director at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She is the author of Genealogy for Beginners (2020) and Genealogy: A Practical Guide for Librarians (2015) as well as numerous columns on genealogy in Kentucky Libraries. Katherine has done numerous national and state presentations related to genealogy; topics include genealogy record types, search strategies, and resources the beginning researcher needs to know about.—Editor
The Alert Collector: Universal Design for Learning
Authors: Baldwin Catherine A.
Published: December 2021

Whether it is an Instruction Services Librarian revising her one-shot lesson plan or a programming librarian designing computer classes for public library clientele, universal design for learning offers a great way to create an inclusive learning environment. Arising out of the field of architecture, UDL offers a variety of teaching methods to eliminate barriers to learning and give all users, students, and patrons the chance to gain new skills. To that end, Catherine Baldwin has selected a range of books, journals and websites that should go in your library’s professional development collection, and/or for the circulating collection of your institution.—Editor
Readers’ Advisory: Readers’ Advisory and the Pandemic: Lessons, Connections, and Vital Services
Authors: Lockley Lucy M. , Winsor Gregg , Stover Kaite Mediatore , Wright David , Trott Barry , Anderson Stephanie
Published: December 2021

The pandemic and resulting quarantine changed how libraries operate, including the provision of readers’ advisory (RA) service. Access to print titles initially came to a halt, rendering many users’ holds lists irrelevant, while queues for some e-books grew longer and longer. Readers lost the ability to browse and discover the physical collection, and many took up, for the first time, an e-reader to access books while libraries were closed.Advisors found ways to aid readers in these difficult circumstances. On Zoom, Twitter, and Facebook, through their websites and newsletters, over the phone and via email, advisors continued connecting readers to books. Their work has created a new resurgence of RA, at the very moment readers had time to re-center on their reading lives. What we have discovered through this hard work and focus should not be lost. There are lessons here to hold onto and learn from.
Estudio descriptivo sobre libranza de guardias de Médicos Residentes de Madrid: Efecto de la huelga de 2020 en el cumplimiento de los descansos obligatorios
Authors: Cerame del Campo Alvaro , Maiques Gámez Miguel , Coucheiro Paloma , Cayuela Rodríguez Lucía
Published: December 2021

Antecedentes: Este estudio tiene como objetivo describir el grado de cumplimiento de los descansos obligatorios tras las jornadas de trabajo de 24 horas (guardias) en el colectivo de médicos residentes en la Comunidad de Madrid y el efecto que la huelga de residentes de 2020 ha tenido en el cumplimiento de dichos descansos.

Métodos: Se ha diseñado un estudio descriptivo observacional transversal a través de una encuesta online anónima adaptada de la bibliografía existente.

Resultados: Antes de la huelga de residentes el 27,2% de los encuestados no realizaban los descansos obligatorios después de las guardias. El descanso semanal obligatorio de al menos 36 horas no se respetaba hasta en el 87% de los casos. Después de la huelga de residentes, estos porcentajes se han reducido a un 19,8% y un 34,5% respectivamente, con significación estadística comparándose con los porcentajes previos (p<0,05). La media de guardias realizadas en la muestra era de 5 al mes, lo que supera el máximo legal de horas semanales.

Conclusiones: Se constata la vulneración de los derechos laborales de los residentes en un importante porcentaje de los residentes en lo relativo a los descansos obligatorios post-guardia y descansos semanales. La huelga de residentes ha reducido la incidencia del fenómeno, pero sigue siendo un problema relevante para la salud de los residentes y la seguridad del paciente.

Background: This study aims at describing the absence of mandatory rest periods after a 24h on call shift in resident physicians in the region of Madrid. It also tries to elucidate the effect which the 2020 resident physician’s strike has had in this phenomenon.

Materials and methods: A descriptive observational cross-sectional study has been carried out through an anonymous survey adapted from the available literature.

Results: Before the resident’s strike up to 27,2% of the residents surveyed could not enjoy mandatory resting periods after a 24 hour on-call shift. The mandatory weekly rest of at least 36 hours was not done in up to 87% of the cases. After the residents' strike, these figures have been reduced to 19.8% and 34.5% respectively, with statistical significance comparing with previous percentages (p <0.05). The average number of 24 hours on call shifts residents had to work per month was 5, which exceeds the maximum weekly hours allowed by law.

Conclusions: The findings reveal a violation of resident physician labor rights in relation to the mandatory days-off after 24-hour on call shifts and weekly breaks. The resident physician’s strike has reduced the incidence of the phenomenon, but it remains a relevant threat to resident physician’s health and patient safety.
The Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Use of Digital Technologies by Scientists: A Comparison Between Poland and Abroad
Authors:   University of Economics in Katowice, Wartini-Twardowska Jolanta , Grabara Dariusz ,   University of Economics in Katowice, Ziemba Ewa Wanda
Published: December 2021

Purpose: Our research was performed to identify differences in the frequency of using digital technologies by scientists to support their research in the periods before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic Design/methodology/approach: A survey questionnaire was used and data were collected from 467 scientists from Poland and abroad, which were statistically analyzed. The non-parametric Kruskal–Wallis test was applied to reveal the differences in the frequency of digital technologies use between scientists in Poland and abroad in three periods (before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic). The non-parametric Friedman rank test and the post-hoc Conover test with Benjamini-Hochberg adjustment were used to assess the significant differences between three paired periods: before-during, before-after, and during-after the COVID-19 pandemic. For these periods, the association between the use of digital technologies and the types of research (basic or applied) conducted by scientists in Poland and abroad was also measured using Spearman’s rank correlation. Findings: Scientists from Poland and abroad differed in the use of all digital technologies before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, the differences concerned only social media, owing to a similar increase in the use of both communication applications and e-learning platforms. The results demonstrated that there was a weak positive correlation between the use of all digital technologies and applied research by both groups of scientists for all paired periods. In Poland in particular, our research has confirmed a positive correlation between the use of communication applications and social media and basic research for two paired periods: before-during and during-after the pandemic. Research limitation/implications: The limitations of this study were primarily related to the sample size, which did not allow the results to be generalized to the entire population. Another limitation was that all scientists from outside Poland were assigned to one group, without division into countries or regions of the world. This, however, enabled the research scope to be narrowed and resulted in stressing the differences between Poland and the rest of the world. A further limitation that may affect the research results is the adopted 5-point Likert scale, which determines the possibility of making an analysis. Originality/value: This research contributes to knowledge about the adaptation of scientists in Poland and abroad to new conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic regarding the frequency of digital technology use in basic and applied research. The significant differences found in the frequency of digital technology use between the three paired periods (before-during, before-after, and during-after the pandemic) have the potential to encourage research into their permanence.
The Impact of the Pandemic (COVID-19) on Globalization – The Perspective of Electronic Commerce
Authors:   University of Warsaw, Chmielarz Witold , Zborowski Marek , Fandrejewska Alicja
Published: December 2021

Purpose: The objective of this article is to examine the impact of e-commerce and m-commerce on broadly perceived globalization factors before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in the opinion of customers. Design/methodology/approach: The CAWI method was used with the participation of individual, active internet users from both periods. The differences between the results were analyzed using the distance indices: city distance and Euclidean distance. The data from March 2020 (before the pandemic) and from December 2020 (during the pandemic) were used as the basis for comparisons. Findings: The findings point to increasing diversification in the product/services range and the growing number of goods and services purchased abroad. There occur much smaller differences with regard to infrastructure factors which have a direct influence on foreign e-commerce. Also, in the respondents’ opinions, greater popularity and more frequent use of international commerce solutions during the pandemic is treated as a factor which supports the development of globalization. The main observed changes during the COVID-19 pandemic are infrastructure changes (staying at home, remote learning, remote work, etc.) and an extend and standardized approach to e-commerce. The second equally important effect is the shift from desktop computers to mobile devices. Research limitations/implications: The limitation resulted from the research sample obtained in the academic environment. Students are a group supporting the globalization processes, where e-business solutions are widely used, but their purchases of products/services, including foreign goods, are often limited due to lack of funds. Originality/value: The original value of the article is the identification and specification of the main factors supporting globalization in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic from the point of view of electronic commerce.
ICT Solutions in the Activities of the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) as an E-Administration. Evolution During the COVID-19 Epidemic (Case Study)
Authors:   University of Warsaw, Uścińska Gertruda
Published: December 2021

Purpose: As a case study illustrating the relationship between crisis management capabilities and the use of ICT techniques and technologies in public administration, the following text presents the evolution of selected ICT-based solutions used in the activities of the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) as an e-administration and their use in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The article describes chronologically the most important projects in this area implemented and developed at ZUS from 2016 to the end of 2020. Methods: To achieve the objective a case study method has been chosen, i.e. a method of a qualitative nature, which, among other things, allows for: an in-depth description of an atypical phenomenon, and also on a broader and individualized analysis of the problem, allowing for its better understanding. The application of the case study method for presenting the impact of the pandemic (global crisis) on the use of information technology – in accordance with the assumption of using this method in the so-called narrow approach – made it possible to reconstruct the course of this relationship and its conditions. The case description was based on the analysis of legal acts, ZUS documents: annual reports on ZUS activities, strategic studies periodically prepared in ZUS, specifying the current objectives, directions and instruments of its planned development, information publications available on the ZUS website and thematic information available in the media. Findings: Using the example of the changes in the use of new techniques and information technologies in the Social Insurance Institution, it was shown how the process of automation and digitization was accelerated under the conditions of the pandemic. As a result, ZUS played the role of the main entity implementing government aid projects under crisis conditions. It is also a leader in e-administration development. Originality/value: The presented case study is an original paper, drawing attention to the potential of public institutions and conditions of its use in the global crisis situation. The added value of the study is the quotation of unpublished figures made available by ZUS. They enable an objective assessment of changes, the scale of described activities, as well as their effectiveness, measured e.g. by the number of activities, instruments and beneficiaries
Cloud Communications During the Pandemic From the Perspective of Collaboration Platforms
Authors:   University of Warsaw, Kubacz-Szumska Joanna , Szumski Oskar ,   University of Warsaw
Published: December 2021

Purpose: The aim of this research is focused on the identification of communication patterns prior and after COVID-19 was announced and the approach to the choices that end users make in various aspects of life. Design/methodology/approach: The authors decided to execute two-step research including practical use of 4 popular collaboration platforms: Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Jitsi, Google Meet, based on the proved user experience. After a defined focus group of respondents gathered hands-on experience in a controlled manner, using the defined communication platforms, further research was carried out in the form of a survey to assess the change of behavior of respondents, considering IT tools used to support distance learning and collaboration. The research included a comparison of behavior prior the epidemic and during the epidemic period. The research covered the following aspects: how the behavior patterns of UCC use have changed across the identified areas (business, educational, private) and what are the most preferred toolsets. The following structure was applied: a short introduction to the communication platforms, definition of the research method, analysis, and discussion of the identified results. Findings: The conducted survey identified the following elements: the level of digital communication among respondents and the familiarity with different platforms have a significant role in the use and development of UCC platforms. The generic conclusion of the research was that almost all respondents have prior experience using UCC platforms. The survey has proved the 100% use of UCC cross various areas of life. Based on the research, it has been noticed that respondents tend to use one or two UCC platforms as a standard for business and private use. UCC platforms that are more widely used across different areas of life are rated as the most preferred by the respondents and include Microsoft Teams (30%) and Google Meet (23%). Research limitations/implications: The usage of non-probabilistic sampling, a relatively small sample and the usage of qualitative analysis methods were major limitations of the conducted research. Firstly, the research data was collected from students of one specialty, from one specific university. The research did not find any cultural differences in distance learning and communication. Secondly, the study uses basic statistical measures without cross analysis to enable a deeper analysis of the research. Originality/value: The presented paper is a part of the research area related to communication platforms across various areas of peoples’ life. The research was aimed at the identification of the most preferable UCC platforms and features that serve the communication purpose. The cognitive value of the paper might also be seen in the focus on a relatively narrow and homogenous group of respondents (students of e-business and digital marketing).
DARQ Technology as a Digital Transformation Strategy in Terms of Global Crises
Authors:   University of Warsaw, Kisielnicki Jerzy , Zadrożny Jan
Published: December 2021

Purpose: The aim of the paper is (1) to analyze the DARQ (Distributed ledger, Artificial Intelligence, Extended Reality, Quantum Computing) technology in terms of its implementations and (2) to compare these technologies with the SMAC technology (Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud). We present the thesis that DARQ technologies can help in building information systems aimed at both predicting and monitoring global crises. We argue that the DARQ technology will support the management of network organizations in the first period of development. Design/methodology/approach: The research procedure consists of the following steps: literature analysis, conducting qualitative research and its presentation, obtaining expert opinions and recommendations for further research. Findings: The results of work on the DARQ technology that supports management systems allowed for the evaluation of usability both in terms of the expected effects and the areas of risk of application. Research limitations/implications: Due to the lack of practical applications of all the elements that make up the DARQ technology, the analysis of such components as Extended Reality (Virtual Reality), Quantum Computing (Virtual Computing Technology) is not complete and requires complementary research and a more complete analysis of its applications. We consider the presented work as an introduction to broader research. Originality/value: The thesis has been substantiated that the transition from SMAC to DARQ technology can be done gradually. Both of these technologies are compatible. This may result in gradual and collision-free changes in the quality of the management system. Elements of the new DARQ technology, such as Distributed ledger, Artificial Intelligence, Extended Reality and Quantum computing, allow for abrupt changes in both the management system and the functioning of the organization. Already today, each component of the DARQ technology has a significant impact on various sectors of the economy. However, it should be noted that apart from the positives, the DARQ technology also poses some threats. The article contains conclusions from the research and indicates a recommendation for further work, which concerns extending the application of DARQ technology to predict and monitor disasters and unpredictable events. To this end, we analyze the Black Swan theory (based on the COVID-19 pandemic case study) as the theoretical framework for the use of DARQ technology as a tool to reduce the occurrence of unpredictable events.