bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Determination of prohibited ketone flavors in infant’s cosmetics by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry
Authors: Qiu Fengyan , Han Fei , Hong Yanping
Published: December 2021

A rapid screening method of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for five banned ketone fragrances in infant cosmetics has been established. The sample was ultrasonically extracted with acetonitrile, concentrated by nitrogen blowing. Methanol and 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution were used as mobile phases, and separated by gradient elution of HP C18 chromatographic column, and qualitative and quantitative by mass spectrometer. The results showed that the 5 banned ketone fragrances presented a good linear relationship within the mass concentration range of 0.5ug/kg∼50.0ug/kg, and the correlation coefficient r2>0.9983; the detection limit was 0.03ug/kg∼6.25ug/kg, and the limit of quantification is 0.1ug/kg∼ 0.5ug/kg; the average recovery rate of standard addition is between 84.3%∼ 100.6%, and the RSD is between 1.3%∼3.8%. This LC-MS/MS method is suitable for the rapid screening of 5 banned ketone fragrances in complex matrix infant cosmetics, and has the advantages of high recovery rate, low detection limit, and good precision. It can be used to further supplement and improve the technical support for hygiene regulations and quality supervision of banned ketones in cosmetics infant’s cosmetics.
Comparative characterization of the roach Rutilus rutilus heckelii (Nordmann, 1840) sampled in different areas of the Sea of Azov during its spawning season in 2021, based on its physiological and biochemical parameters
Authors: Vojkina A , Bugayov L , Belousov V , Licovskaya V , Kirishenko O
Published: December 2021

Four samples of Rutilus rutilus collected in various water bodies of the Azov Sea Basin have been investigated. Individuals were examined during their spawning migration in the spring season of 2021. The differences in some physiological and biochemical parameters between the studied samples were considered. It has been found that the content of lipids in the sexual products of males was higher than in the gonads of females, and the protein was lower. Biochemical analysis of fish blood serum showed differences in the level of albumin between females and males and in the amount of triglycerides in the individuals from different fishing sites. In the liver of the fish from the Vostochno-Akhtarskoe (East Akhtarsk) Hatchery, a low activity of all investigated enzymes of the antioxidant system has been recorded.
Trace element composition of the Southwestern Sakhalin Chum Salmon
Authors: Litvinenko A , Khristoforova N , Tsygankov V , Kovalchuk M
Published: December 2021

The study is devoted to the microelement composition of organs and tissues of chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta), which came for spawning in September 2018 in the r. Lovetskaya on the southwestern coast of Sakhalin. Samples of organs and tissues of fish, prepared in Sakhalin, were frozen and delivered to Vladivostok for chemical analysis. Trace elements were determined from acid mineralizates by atomic absorption on a Shimadzu AA 6800. It was found that the content of microelements indicating anthropogenic impact on the environment (Zn, Cu and Ni) in the Sea of Japan chum was significantly higher than the content of those in the Okhotsk Sea fish. So, for example, the amount of zinc in the muscles of the Sea of Japan chum salmon was 2.5 times higher than in those of the Sea of Okhotsk fish. In the liver, the effect was even greater - the difference between the content of this element in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk reached 19 times. At the same time, in the organs and tissues of the Okhotsk chum salmon, which crossed the impact geochemical zone in the Kuril-Kamchatka region at least twice during its life cycle, the content of lead and cadmium, witnesses of underwater and surface volcanism in the Kuril straits, prevailed. The content of lead in the muscles of chum salmon from r. Raidovaya was 4 times more than in the muscles of chum salmon from the river. Lovetskaya; in the liver, the difference was 5 times.
The impact of oil companies’ sustainability on environmental safety
Authors: Markovskaya E , Nikolaishvili N , Kashperyuk P
Published: December 2021

The pandemic has significantly worsened the situation of oil and gas companies, causing a decline in demand and prices on the global energy market. In this crisis situation, there is an urgent need to review the organizational activities of companies, within which there is an interest in studying the impact of corporate social responsibility on the sustainability of companies and their environmental safety. Despite a sufficient number of empirical works studying the impact of corporate social responsibility on environmental indicators, there are not enough works in foreign and domestic literature studying this relationship on the example of the oil and gas industry. The purpose of this work is to determine the impact of corporate social responsibility on the environmental sustainability of oil and gas companies. The object of this study is corporate social responsibility, and the subject is the impact of corporate social responsibility on the sustainability of oil and gas companies.
Effect of Mineral Fertilizers on Productivity and Quality of Winter False Flax
Authors: Ya Prakhova T , Turina E L
Published: December 2021

The aim of the research is to study the effect of different backgrounds of mineral nutrition on the yield and quality of oilseeds of winter false flax in different regions of cultivation. The research was conducted in two contrasting regions: the forest-steppe of the Middle Volga region (Penza Research Institute of Agriculture) and the Central steppe zone of Crimea (Crimean Research Institute of Agriculture) in 2018-2020. The object of the research was the winter false flax varietal Baron. In the experiment, the effect of nitrogen fertilizer fertilization on the productivity of winter false flax at a dose of 0 to 60 kg of active substance per hectare with a step of 15 kg has been studied. Ammonium nitrate was used as nitrogen fertilizer. In the experiments of Penza Research Institute of Agriculture, the yield increase with nitrogen fertilizer was 0.07-0.19 t/ha. The highest yield of winter false flax was obtained in the variant with the introduction of nitrogen at a dose of N30, which was 1.61 t/ha, which significantly (0.19 t/ha) exceeded the variant without fertilizers. In the conditions of the Crimea, the yield of winter false flax in the average three years was not high and ranged from 0.95-1.16 t/ha. Fertilizing false flax with nitrogen at a dose of N30 led to an increase in yield by 0.21 t/ha, the productivity of the crop was 1.16 t/ha. Nitrogen fertilizer fertilization led to a slight decrease in the oil content of the seeds. In both regions, the fat content was greatest in the variant without fertilizer and was 39.9 and 40.9 %.
Influence of phosphorus fertilizers of various composition on the yield of tomato crops and control of their consumption by plants
Authors: Bagnavets N , Zhevnerov A , Grigoryeva M , Pshenichkina T
Published: December 2021

Phosphate fertilizers are widely used for growing crops. To obtain phosphoric fertilizers, phosphoric acid purified using organic solvents, one of which is 100% tributyl phosphate, is used. The authors of the paper have chosen this solvent to obtain purified phosphoric acid. Purification from impurities included the stages of extraction and reextraction. On the basis of the re-extract and chemically pure phosphoric acid, a phosphoric fertilizer magnesium-ammonium phosphate (MgNH4PO4) was synthesized and used in the greenhouse experiment. The greenhouse experiment consisted in growing a tomato crop included three options for fertilization. A comparative analysis of the stimulating effect of magnesium-ammonium phosphate, synthesized with the use of phosphoric acid of varying degrees of purification, on the yield of tomato culture has been carried out.The paper proposes a blister-colorimetric version of the determination of phosphate ions in a blister cell containing a mixture of dry reagents in the form of a bulk. The optimal conditions for carrying out colorimetry have been selected. The proposed method makes it possible to semi-quantitatively determine phosphorus in various objects without preparing reagent solutions, using a bulk packed in an ampoule or blister, and can be used to control phosphorus consumption by plants, which, in turn, allows regulating the introduction of nutrients in the form of dressings.
Improving the aquatic organisms immune resistance with probiotics for the aquaculture sustainable development
Authors: Pronina Galina , Shishanova Elena , Isaev Dmitriy , Tarazanova T V , Prokhorov A A
Published: December 2021

One of the ways to strengthen the immunity of animals in aquaculture is the use of immunomodulators as a food supplement. This work presents a study on the effect of the probiotics Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus licheniformis on the immunity of crayfish and fish. It was found that the use of the probiotic “Subtilis-C” as a feed supplement strengthened the immunity of narrow-clawed crayfish: the survival rate increased almost threefold in the presence of Saprolegnia parasitica in the water and the incidence of burn-spot disease (BSD) decreased. The average cytochemical coefficient (ACC) of the lysosomal cationic protein in hemocytes decreased. It appears that crayfish consume this cytotoxic protein for immune protection. In carp fed with the probiotic, the immunity to saprolegniosis was strengthened, the body weight gain increased significantly, the amount of hemoglobin increased by 15%, and the number of erythorocytes in the blood almost doubled. An increase in metamyelocytes was noted in WBC differential count of these fish.
System approach to research processes of technological adjustment of machine and tractor units
Authors: Altybaev A , Meskhi B , Mozgovoy A , Olshevskaya A
Published: December 2021

A substantive interpretation of the main categories of the system approach is formulated in relation to the semantics of the operation of mobile agricultural units from the standpoint of ensuring the technological reliability of the production of field mechanized work by improving the methods and means of measuring control of the state of machine and tractor units and evaluating the parameters of functional diagnostics under shift time conditions. A structural diagram of the systemic image of the production of field mechanized work is proposed, which makes it possible to clarify the hierarchical levels of movement of concepts in the field of managing the state of a complex technical system during the operation period, to highlight the object of research and establish its system elements and connections with the operating environment. The business logic of the implementation of the basic operations of the system of technological adjustment of machine-tractor units to ensure the quality of the technological operation when used for its intended purpose is presented. The theoretical significance of the work is associated with the development of a systematic understanding of the main objects of the processes of machine use in agriculture. The applied and practical significance of the work is confirmed by new technical solutions implemented in projects and organizational and technical documents of an industry scale. The results of the work can be useful both for researchers of the processes of machine-use in agriculture, and for practitioners-subjects of small and medium-sized agribusiness, as well as in organizing the transfer of knowledge of the agro-engineering direction to specialists in agricultural production.
Environmental sustainability as the basis for urbanized ecosystems cluster projection
Authors: Rudskaia E N
Published: December 2021

The objective of the study is to theoretically ground and develop methodological foundations for urban ecosystems cluster projection in the context of the ecological, systemic and cluster provisions of the sustainable development concept. The theoretical research was carried out using methods of analysis and synthesis of existing scientific development in the sphere of urban ecosystems territorial organization, including on the cluster approach basis. According to the study findings, the following results were obtained: - basic provisions of the cluster paradigm in the context of the network essence of the cluster are explored; - the essence of the cluster project is clarified from the position of network connections and agglomeration approach; - the ecosystem characteristics of the cluster for the purposes of urbanized ecosystems projection are explored; - elements of the ecosystems cluster projection concept, based on the cooperative mechanism, are proposed.
Ecological houses as an area of energy efficient and green construction
Authors: Deineko A , Kurochkina V A , Bronnikova Y
Published: December 2021

The relevance of the construction of ecological houses (eco-houses), i.e. houses made from environmentally friendly building materials, is increasing due to the exacerbation of environmental problems on a global, regional and local scale. The purpose of this study is considered to be the actualization of the concept of ecological houses in relation to modern conditions, taking into account new and future requirements for buildings. Ecological houses are considered as a kind of modern green buildings. Particular attention is paid to energy efficiency as an essential requirement for new buildings. Eco-friendly building materials have two qualities at the same time: they are more favorable to humans; their use has a minimal impact on the environment, taking into account the entire life cycle of the building material. As a rule, natural materials (materials of natural origin) are considered environmentally friendly. It is rationally to apply the experience of energy efficient and green construction for environmentally friendly buildings: compact architectural forms, translucent structures with the effect of passive solar heating, supply and exhaust ventilation with heat recovery, automation of engineering systems, elimination of heat bridges (cold bridges).
Justification of the rotary working bodies of the cultivator for processing between the rows of plantations of lavender oilseed on the basis of agricultural biomechanics
Authors: Babitsky L F , Sobolevsky I V , Kalafatov I I
Published: December 2021

The article presents the methods and results of modeling in agricultural biomechanics, which made it possible to substantiate models of cultivator working bodies adapted to the soil environment based on rotary discs with teeth. The biological prototype of this design is the burrowing limb of a rhinoceros beetle. It is proposed to solve the problems of improving the shape of rotary discs with teeth on the basis of the use of a mechanical-bionic approach, which allows to analytically describe the dependencies for determining the minimum number of steps of cutting notches between the teeth and the number of teeth on the disc, as well as the rational value of their length. The use of a new type of working bodies - a toothed flat disc, designed in a bionic manner, will increase the efficiency of weed control during inter-row tillage, and also reduce traction resistance.
Criteria for innovative success in the Northwest Federal District under the conditions of increasing ecological requirements
Authors: Armashova-Telnik G , Zubkova A , Sokolova O , Semyonova V
Published: December 2021

This article is devoted to the innovation activity of the regions as an analysis of one of the factors of sustainable economic development of the Russian Federation. For this purpose, it analyzes the dynamics and structure of own-produced goods shipped, works performed and services rendered in-house, including innovative ones, at the enterprises of the country’s regions. The article groups the regions and federal districts by the average annual growth coefficients of innovative goods, works, services at enterprises in the regions, which allowed to identify regional stratification by growth rate of the volume of innovative goods produced. The article provides statistical data on the analysis of the region. The analysis is carried out and a comparative characteristic of the development of the region by innovation.
Some aspects of sustainable urban planning using environmental solutions
Authors: Sineeva Natalya
Published: December 2021

The ecological aspect of urbanization is reflected in the fact that cities are increasingly concentrating all types of environmental pollution, which become serious problems of the deteriorating of people living conditions. In the Future megalopolises more than 70% of the population will live in the next few decades according to the UN report. It is necessary to make all conditions for the ideas implementation of comfortable and safe cities. Research and innovation of ecological solutions for eco-cities includes four directions. The article discusses one of them, it is the Enhancing the sustainable urbanization, its classification, which include the sustainable Urban Planning with the Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS) approach. The article provides functions and advantages of SuDS systems. Particular attention is paid to the zones of forgotten urban spaces. These zones can improve business and residential areas, as multi-functional design with nature can create new dynamic spaces that increase property values, thereby attracting investors, improving citizens’ well-being. The article provides some examples of draft designs for the improvement of the coastal zones of the Yeltsovka-2 River, located in the area of Zaeltsovsky Park.
The transformation of the spatial system within the framework of the integrated development of the territory
Authors: Merkurieva K
Published: December 2021

The study is devoted to the problem of transforming the formed spatial system within the boundaries of the planning element. As a result of the analysis of the study area, the author identifies a number of basic problems of planning and development of an urbanized space, the elimination of which is possible when using the methods of renovating the housing stock. The author examines the compliance of the existing regulatory framework of the proposed method with modern requirements for the implementation of life, identifies the key aspects of changing the content of urban planning documentation of an element of the planning structure in the direction of the integrated development of the territory, and also describes the mechanism for implementing a systemic approach in the formation of a renovated spatial system.
The energy context of Turkish-Russian relations: is it cooperation or competition?
Authors: Ukşal O , Mikail E H
Published: December 2021

Energy requirements brought about by the industrialization and rapid population growth in developing countries such as Turkey have led to different processes. In particular, the inadequacy of underground sources of energy to meet the energy demand, Turkey is headed to energy imports. This situation makes Turkey dependent on outside day by day. European Union countries lacking in energy sources such as Turkey, are making various energy agreements in order to solve this problem. In these energy agreements, the source geography is the Asian continent, especially the Caucasus. Turkey, along with Russia, is the main actor on the energy route between East and West. Partnership on energy with Russia began in the 1960s has made Russia the dominant power for Turkey’s energy. This study examines the energy relationship between Turkey and Russia, where cooperation and rivalry are inevitable in terms of national and international interests. In this context, the factors that are subject to the energy relationship between the two countries were discussed in the study. The conclusion reached at the end of the study is that although the competition is at the forefront, the two countries have to cooperate as they are the main actors for the East-West energy route.
Substantiation of reducing gas emissions from industrial wastewater treatment plants of a fish plant
Authors: Bondarenko Nikita , Kondakova Nadezda , Serpokrylov Nikolay , Starovoitov Sergey
Published: December 2021

The release of foul-smelling substances polluting the atmosphere from animal husbandry complexes, facilities for processing agricultural products (animal raw materials and aquaculture), as well as from treatment facilities of the listed facilities is a discussed topic among specialized specialists and the media since it turns out to be the cause of complaints from the population living in the immediate area. Based on a brief literature review of scientific works on topics related to gaseous emissions from livestock and poultry complexes, experimental studies were carried out to substantiate the reduction of gas emissions based on determining the quantitative and qualitative compositions and components of the gas-air mixture above the surface of the waste liquid in the sewage treatment facilities of the fish plant. Based on the results obtained, a technology based on sorption purification was proposed to reduce the number of emissions. The use of natural materials is proposed as a sorbent, which is a major benefit.
Feasibility study of municipal wastewater removal synchronized with electricity generation via solar-driven photocatalytic fuel cell with Bi2WO6/ZnO nanorods array photoanode
Authors: Yong Zi-Jun , Lam Sze-Mun , Sin Jin-Chung , RahmanMohamed Abdul
Published: December 2021

The reclamation of energy from municipal wastewater treatment process is highly demanded and could resolve the two most formidable dilemmas of water pollution and energy crisis nowadays. In this study, a photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC) utilizing a Z-scheme heterojunction Bi2WO6/ZnO nanorod arrays (NRAs) photoanode was employed for efficient municipal wastewater treatment and electricity generation simultaneously under sunlight irradiation. Various characterization techniques, including energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), transient photoresponse (TPR), and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) were used to analyze the physical, chemical and photoelectrochemical characteristics of the as-synthesized photoanode. The results indicated that the Z-scheme heterojunction Bi2WO6/ZnO NRAs exhibited the excellent photocatalytic performance under sunlight irradiation as compared to pristine ZnO NRAs. Ergo, the PFC system achieved complete removal of COD and produced 3.30 μW cm−2, 37.10 μA cm−2 and 563 mV of maximum power density (Pmax
), short-current density (Jsc) and open-circuit voltage (Voc) within 4 h of sunlight irradiation, respectively. The boosted photoactivity was ascribed to the successful formation of the Z-scheme hybridization interface betwixt the Bi2WO6 and ZnO NRAs, that not only enhanced the visible light adsorption of ZnO NRAs, concomitantly significantly accelerated the spatial charge separation and restrained the electron-hole pair recombination.
Amalgamation of g-C3N4 with KNbO3 for enhanced removal of Bisphenol A under sunlight irradiation
Authors: Song Bing Cong , Sim Lan Ching , Chin Yik Heng , Wong Ling Yong , Saravanan Pichiah , Dai Chaomeng , Leong Kah Hon
Published: December 2021

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a pollutant exits in an enormous amount in wastewater effluent resulted from the rapid industrialization. Advanced oxidation technology (AOP) based on solar photocatalysis can be employed to solve this issue. This study will focus on adopting photocatalyst graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) with potassium niobate (KNbO3) via a simple sol-gel synthesis method. The different weight percentages 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 wt% g-C3N4, were adopted to formed KNbO3/g-C3N4composites. The physicochemical properties of the created KNbO3/g-C3N4composites were characterized with advanced analysis methods to unveil this composite’s ability to enhance the photodegradation of BPA under sunlight irradiation. It was found that 1.0 wt% KNbO3/g-C3N4composites exhibited the highest photocatalytic degradation of 69.39% in 5 h. This superior photodegradation of BPA was achieved resulted from the presence of g-C3N4that enhances light-harvesting, especially in the visible light spectrum. The increase of light-harvesting enables the composite to excite more electrons and holes leading to the massive formation of active radicals. These massive active radicals will then enhance the redox reaction and further improve the efficacy of the photodegradation of BPA. Hence, the outcome of this study path an alternative solution for eliminating complex organic pollutants in wastewater treatment.
Adsorption of fluoride from industrial wastewater using polymer adsorbents: a review
Authors: Pang Chee Yung , Issabayeva Gulnaziya , Low Chen Hwa , Wong Mee Chu
Published: December 2021

Fluoride pollution in ground and surface water originates from naturally occurring reactions and industrial activities such as the disposal of industrial wastewater. Amongst different fluoride removal technologies including chemical precipitation, membrane filtration, ion exchange processes, and electrodialysis, adsorption is an attractive method for fluoride removal from wastewater due to its low operational cost, simplicity, and good sustainability. Various adsorbents are used for fluoride removal including, metal oxides and hydroxide, carbonaceous adsorbents, zeolite, polysaccharides, and polyresin adsorbents. This review studies the application of modified polysaccharides and polyresin adsorbents for the removal of fluoride from wastewater. The relationship between the adsorption conditions and the resulting adsorption capacity is thoroughly discussed. Based on the reported studies, modified polysaccharides and polyresins adsorbents can effectively remove fluoride from wastewater achieving high adsorption capacity, the highest being 92.39 mg/g for aluminum impregnated amberlite at pH 3. Furthermore, aluminum impregnated adsorbents reported a higher fluoride adsorption capacity than other modification methods where the three adsorbents with the highest fluoride adsorption capacity are: aluminum impregnated amberlite 92.39 mg/g at pH 3> zirconium immobilized crossed linked chitosan 48.26 mg/g at pH 6 > chitosan/aluminum hydroxide beads 17.68 mg/g at pH 4. In addition, polymeric adsorbents are also highly sustainable as they can be regenerated multiple times to be reused. Therefore, the high adsorption capacity and good regeneration potential allow polymeric adsorbents to serve as promising and sustainable adsorbents to remove fluoride from industrial wastewater.
Activating Sustainable Building Technology’s Role in Contemporary Housing Design Strategies for Low-Income People after COVID19 Pandemic
Authors: Mohamed Abeer Samy Yousef
Published: December 2021

In the developing world, practical steps are taken to provide adequate, sustainable housing, especially for low-income people within technological age capabilities in construction by searching for new techniques of building technology to meet that goal. In the Arab countries, contemporary housing design is particularly effective because it is the primary unit of the contemporary urban fabric and the basic cell that constitutes most of the city’s area. So the following research questions are discussed in this study: What are the challenges facing contemporary sustainable housing design in specific affordable housing for the lower-income groups? What is the potential for sustainable building technology to meet that goal considering the social and economic dimension of the COVID 19 pandemic? What are the ambitions that they set out to achieve in that house? To emphasize the essential role of sustainable building technology and techniques in acquiring and implementing different goals and actual needs of all strata of society.
Research on friction and wear characteristics based on different texture angles of milling topography
Authors: Zhang Lei , Zheng Minli , Zhang Wei , Li Kangning
Published: December 2021

In the field of mold manufacturing, the wear resistance of the mold is a key factor affecting the life of the mold. In order to extend the life of the mold, most scholars have invested a lot of research on the surface texture of the mold. This article mainly analyzes the influence of the texture angle of different milling topography on the wear resistance of the mold. First, we studied the formation process of the milling topography, and distinguished the quadrilateral pit topography and the hexagonal pit topography by defining the texture angle. Secondly, we carried out a wear simulation analysis on the slider with a texture angle, and studied the influence of different topography on the wear depth and stress distribution. Finally, with the help of friction and wear experiments, the wear amount of the slider with different texture angles is tested, and the relationship between the texture angle, the wear quality and the friction coefficient is analyzed. The conclusions obtained provide an effective reference for industrial designers to prepare wear-resistant molds.
Superconductivity in the two-dimensional nonbenzenoid biphenylene sheet with Dirac cone
Authors: Ge Yanfeng , Wang Zhicui , Wang Xing , Wan Wenhui , Liu Yong
Published: December 2021

During the past decade, two-dimensional materials have attracted much attention in superconductivity due to their feasible physical properties and easy chemical modifications. Herein, we use a recently literature reported novel biphenylene sheet (BP sheet) for investigating superconductivity-related physical properties. The electronic states of BP sheet that appeared near the Fermi level are composed of p
z
orbital of carbon due to sp2 hybridization. Also, an anisotropic Dirac cone is formed just above the Fermi level by crossing two bands comprised of different carbon atoms. One of the two bands is quasi-flat thus leading to a peak of electronic density of states above the Fermi level. In addition, the rotational-vibration phonon mode of the six-membered carbon ring is strongly coupled with electrons. The electron-phonon coupling induces the superconductivity of 6.2 K in BP sheet. Furthermore, both small uniaxial strains and electronic doping can take the Dirac cone and high electronic density of state close to the Fermi level and further raise the superconducting critical temperature to 27.4 K and 21.5 K, respectively. The obtained result suggests that BP sheet with Dirac fermions and superconductivity can be a potential material for the development of future superconducting devices.
Alterations of tibialis anterior muscle activation pattern in subjects with type 2 diabetes and diabetic peripheral neuropathy
Authors: Favretto M A , Cossul S , Andreis F. R. , Nakamura L R. , Ronsoni M F , Tesfaye S. , Selvarajah D , Marques J L B
Published: December 2021

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is associated with loss of motor units (MUs), which can cause changes in the activation pattern of muscle fibres. This study investigated the pattern of muscle activation using high-density surface electromyography (HD-sEMG) signals from subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and DPN. Thirty-five adults participated in the study: 12 healthy subjects (HV), 12 patients with T2DM without DPN (No-DPN) and 11 patients with T2DM with DPN (DPN). HD-sEMG signals were recorded in the tibialis anterior muscle during an isometric contraction of ankle dorsiflexion at 50% of the maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) during 30-s. The calculated HD-sEMG signals parameters were the normalised root mean square (RMS), normalised median frequency (MDF), coefficient of variation (CoV) and modified entropy (ME). The RMS increased significantly (p = 0.001) with time only for the DPN group, while the MDF decreased significantly (p < 0.01) with time for the three groups. Moreover, the ME was significantly lower (p = 0.005), and CoV was significantly higher (p = 0.003) for the DPN group than the HV group. Using HD-sEMG, we have demonstrated a reduction in the number of MU recruited by individuals with DPN. This study provides proof of concept for the clinical utility of this technique for identifying neuromuscular impairment caused by DPN.
Global Strategy and Multinational Corporation Capabilities
Authors: Lessard Donald R. , Westney D. Eleanor
Published: December 2021

Strategy in a global setting involves competition in industries that extend across national boundaries and among firms with different national home bases that may tap into strategic resources in more than one location. The resources that the firm accesses from its home country provide it with international competitive advantage only if they are relevant in other markets, if the value they create is appropriable, and if they are transferable to those markets (RAT), These resources include tangible assets and factors of production, but, importantly, also the capabilities the firm develops. Similarly, the resources that it taps from other contexts provide it with further competitive advantage only if these resources are complementary to the firm’s existing resources, appropriable, and transferable to the locations where it can exploit them (CAT). These two sets of factors—RAT and CAT—provide a framework for international strategic decisions that emphasizes developing, acquiring, and transferring capabilities.
Work Design in the Contemporary Era
Authors: Knight Caroline , Kaur Sabreen , Parker Sharon K.
Published: December 2021

Work design refers to the roles, responsibilities, and work tasks that comprise an individual’s job and how they are structured and organized. Good work design is created by jobs high in characteristics such as autonomy, social support, and feedback, and moderate in job demands such as workload, role ambiguity, and role conflict. Established research shows good work design is associated with work outcomes such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, work safety, and job performance. Poor work design is characterized by roles that are low in job resources and/or overly high in job demands, and has been linked to poor health and well-being, absenteeism, and poor performance. Work design in the 20th century was characterized by traditional theories focusing on work motivation, well-being, and performance. Motivational and stress theories of work design were later integrated, and work characteristics were expanded to include a whole variety of task, knowledge, social, and work-context characteristics as well as demands, better reflecting contemporary jobs. In the early 21st century, relational theories flourished, focusing on the social and prosocial aspects of work. The role of work design on learning and cognition was also recognized, with benefits for creativity and performance.

Work design is affected by many factors, including individual traits, organizational factors, national factors, and global factors. Managers may impact employees’ work design “top-down” by changing policies and procedures, while individuals may change their own work design “bottom-up” through “job crafting.”

In the contemporary era, technology and societal factors play an important role in how work is changing. Information and communication technology has enabled remote working and collaboration across time and space, with positive implications for efficiency and flexibility, but potentially also increasing close monitoring and isolation. Automation has led to daily interaction with technologies like robots, algorithms, and artificial intelligence, which can influence autonomy, job complexity, social interaction, and job demands in different ways, ultimately impacting how motivating jobs are.

Given the rapidly changing nature of work, it is critical that managers and organizations adopt a human-centered approach to designing work, with managers sensitive to the positive and negative implications of contemporary work on employees’ work design, well-being, and performance. Further research is needed to understand the multitude of multilevel factors influencing work design, how work can be redesigned to optimize technology and worker motivation, and the shorter- and longer-term processes linking work design to under-researched outcomes like identity, cognition, and learning. Overall, the aim is to create high-quality contemporary work in which all individuals can thrive.
History and Microhistories of Social Education in Spain
Authors: Pérez de Guzmán Victoria , Trujillo-Herrera Juan , Pena Encarna Bas
Published: December 2021

Social education in Spain has become increasingly popular in recent decades as both a socio-educational action/intervention and as a profession. The history of social education is a combination of various microhistories that have evolved within different areas. In order to understand the “micro” component of these histories, we need a perspective of the “macro,” while also keeping in mind that the microhistories are essential to understanding the true development of social education on a general level. The goals of this research are: to approximate the key historical antecedents that have influenced the development of social education in Spain as both a socio-educational action/intervention and a profession, to demonstrate the importance of analyzing the history of social education through microhistories, and to indicate the key elements and criteria necessary to carry out our microhistory of social education. Our methodology is the state of the field documentary research modality, which facilitated our study of the collective knowledge addressing a pedagogy of social education. This qualitative-documentary and critical-interpretive methodology followed these steps: contextualization, classification, and categorization. The main conclusion will indicate the definition of key points as well as the criteria necessary to be able to carry out a microhistory of social education.
Lobbying in the Political Economy of International Trade
Authors: Mitra Devashish
Published: December 2021

While the role of lobbying in trade policy determination has been studied in a formal way since the early 1980s, it was the pathbreaking 1994 work by Grossman and Helpman in the following decade that led many scholars, using that framework (often with some modifications), to study many interesting political economy issues in the trade policy arena. Importantly, Grossman and Helpman were also the first to provide microfoundations to lobbying within a multisectoral, specific-factors framework. Moreover, the industry-level protection they derive is an empirically estimable function of measurable industry characteristics and other political and economic factors. With everything else held constant, organized sectors are able to obtain higher protection than unorganized sectors, with organized-sector protection inversely related to import penetration and import demand elasticity. Grossman and Helpman’s work gave an impetus to theory-driven empirical work in the political economy of trade policy, including the empirical investigation of the Grossman–Helpman model itself and its many extensions. There is now also a fairly large literature trying to explain the unrealistically high empirical estimates of the model’s parameters (representing the proportion of population politically organized and the weight the government attaches to aggregate welfare relative to political contributions). Extensions for empirical investigation that include bringing in competition between upstream and downstream lobbies, imperfect capturing of nontariff barrier (NTB) rents by the government, foreign lobbies, the possibility of misclassfication of sectors into organized and unorganized, and so forth partially correct the unrealistic parameter estimates. In addition, there are extensions that have been applied toward explaining policy changes and puzzles. Those extensions deal with lobby formation, trade agreements, unilateralism versus reciprocity in trade policy, lobbying for protection in declining industries, firm-level lobbying, the choice of policy instruments, and so forth. Despite so much work already done on lobbying and trade policy, the existing literature is deficient in the study of the choice of instruments, the antitrade bias in trade policy, and informational lobbying.
Critical Scholarship on Terrorism
Authors: Dixit Priya
Published: December 2021

Understandings of “critical” in critical scholarship on terrorism range from a Frankfurt School–influenced definition to a broader definition that aims to interrogate commonsense understandings of terrorism and counterterrorism. Overall, critical scholarship on terrorism draws on multiple disciplines and methodological traditions to analyze terrorism and counterterrorism. Within these, there have been ongoing debates and discussions about whether the state should be included in research on terrorism and, if so, what the inclusion of the state would do for the understanding of terrorism. Critical scholarship has also outlined the need for further attention to research ethics, as well as urged researchers to acknowledge their standpoints when conducting and communicating research. Some, but not all, critical scholarship has a normative orientation with the goal of emancipation, though the meaning of emancipation remains debated. Methodologically, the majority of critical scholarship on terrorism utilizes an interpretive lens to analyze terrorism and related issues. A central goal of critical terrorism research is to rework power relations such that Global South subjectivities are centered on research. This means including research conducted by Global South scholars and also centering Global South peoples and concerns in analyses of terrorism and counterterrorism. The role of gender, analytically and in practice, in relation to terrorism is also a key part of critical scholarship. Critical scholars of terrorism have observed that race is absent from much of terrorism scholarship, and there needs to be ongoing work toward addressing this imbalance. Media and popular culture, and their depiction of terrorism and counterterrorism, form another key strand in critical scholarship on terrorism. Overall, critical scholarship on terrorism is about scrutinizing and dismantling power structures that sustain commonsense knowledge regarding terrorism.
Atlantic History
Authors: Games Alison
Published: December 2021

The field of Atlantic history analyzes the Atlantic Ocean and its four adjoining continents as a single unit of historical analysis. The field is a style of inquiry as much as it is a study of a geographic region. It is an approach that emphasizes connections and circulations, and its practitioners tend to de-emphasize political borders in their interest in exploring the experiences of people whose lives were transformed by their location within this large region. The field’s focus is the period from c. 1450 to 1900, but important debates about periodization reflect the challenges of writing a history that has no single geographic vantage point yet strives to be as inclusive as possible. The history of the United States intersects with Atlantic history in multiple ways, although the fields are neither parallel nor coterminous. Assessing the topics of slavery and citizenship, as they developed in the United States and around the Atlantic, demonstrate the potential advantages of this broader perspective on US history. Although the field emphasizes the early modern era, legacies of Atlantic history pervade the modern world, and individuals and institutions continue to struggle to understand all of the ways these legacies shape legal, social, economic, cultural, and political practices in the first decades of the 21st century.
Relics and Reliquaries in Colonial Mexico
Authors: Sánchez Reyes Gabriela
Published: December 2021

The cult of saints, through their relics in colonial Mexico, is related to the importation of relics from the great centers of pilgrimage in Europe and the Holy Land. Reliquaries were artifacts made to preserve the relics, avoid their fragmentation, and expose them to the faithful. Since the Middle Ages, different types were created with different forms whose function was to protect and exhibit the content. These designs passed to American territories, where it is still possible to admire some European reliquaries as well as some of local manufacture.

The circulation of relics began in 1521, after the consolidation of the evangelization and the inauguration of the new viceroyalty government. The circulation and donation of relics should be understood as a long process. They were imported objects that were difficult to acquire, as their sale was prohibited by law. Typically, it was necessary to have contacts in the high clergy abroad. Acquiring relics also required a significant investment of funds to cover both the relic’s purchase and the costs of its transfer from abroad.

Despite these difficulties, little by little, the relics of various saints and martyrs made their way to the Americas, some in carton boxes, others in gold urns or even in small paper envelopes. Reliquaries were soon manufactured to house these relics. Their design generally depended on two factors: the quantity of the relics obtained, and the shape of the relics.

The collections of reliquaries with their respective relics were displayed both in the cathedral headquarters and in the temples of the religious orders. Because they were incorporated at different times, they were made in different styles using different materials, and so it is possible to find a great variety in their manufacture. Various types of reliquaries can be classified from this time, from the reliquary chapels to the altarpiece reliquaries, anthropomorphic reliquaries, and medallion reliquaries, and they stand as a testament to the cult of saints in colonial Mexico.
The Wars of the 1860s and the Atlantic (Americas and Europe)
Authors: Izecksohn Vitor
Published: December 2021

During the 1860s, widespread warfare beset the Americas and Europe. Fighting resulted from challenges to existing political accommodations, and evolved into civil wars or interstate violence. Concurrently, economic and technological transformations through the 1860s aided long-distance communications, such as the coming of the telegraph and a much faster spread of steam power that helped to disseminate news and share experiences. All over the Atlantic, the triumph of national unification was the most visible result of the bloodbath, expanding state capacities and reinforcing the role of national symbols as common elements of a shared identity. Political and administrative centralization affected the exercise of local power in different ways, mainly in its capacity to recruit members of communities for war; appealing to national values and identities gradually became central in the demands for cooperation and sacrifice. After the end of combat, national authorities established regimes founded either on new constitutions or on amendments added to existing documents, the goal of which was reordering society according to rules capable of regulating and institutionalizing regional conflicts, simultaneously incorporating demands for representation and liberalization. These same groups demonstrated less efficiency when dealing with ethnic and social conflicts, sources of deeper divisions in societies that pretended to be consistent, progressive, and unified.