bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Severe Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia Adversely Affects Brain Growth in Preterm Infants
Authors: Shimotsuma Taiki , Tomotaki Seiichi , Akita Mitsuyo , Araki Ryosuke , Tomotaki Hiroko , Iwanaga Kougoro , Kobayashi Akira , Saitoh Akihiko , Fushimi Yasutaka , Takita Junko , Kawai Masahiko
Published: April 2024

Introduction: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is associated with neurodevelopmental outcomes of preterm infants, but its effect on brain growth in preterm infants after the neonatal period is unknown. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of severe BPD on brain growth of preterm infants from term to 18 months of corrected age (CA). Methods: Sixty-three preterm infants (42 with severe BPD and 21 without severe BPD) who underwent magnetic resonance imaging at term equivalent age (TEA) and 18 months of CA were studied by using the Infant Brain Extraction and Analysis Toolbox (iBEAT). We measured segmented brain volumes and compared brain volume and brain growth velocity between the severe BPD group and the non-severe BPD group. Results: There was no significant difference in brain volumes at TEA between the groups. However, the brain volumes of the total brain and cerebral white matter in the severe BPD group were significantly smaller than those in the non-severe BPD group at 18 months of CA. The brain growth velocities from TEA to 18 months of CA in the total brain, cerebral cortex, and cerebral white matter in the severe BPD group were lower than those in the non-severe BPD group. Conclusion: Brain growth in preterm infants with severe BPD from TEA age to 18 months of CA is less than that in preterm infants without severe BPD.
Drug Target Mendelian Randomization Study of PCSK9 and HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibition and Atrial Fibrillation
Authors: Li Fuyuan , Mei Yibin , Wu Qiongbi , Wu Xianjun
Published: April 2024

Introduction: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a prevalent cardiac arrhythmia with significant clinical implications. The potential influence of lipid-lowering therapies, specifically PCSK9 inhibitors (PCSK9i) and HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins), on AF risk remains a topic of interest. This mendelian randomization (MR) study aimed to elucidate the causal relationship between genetically predicted inhibition of PCSK9 and HMG-CoA reductase and the risk of AF. Methods: Utilizing publicly available, summary-level genome-wide association study data, we employed single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with lower LDL-C levels as instruments for gene-simulated inhibition of PCSK9 and HMG-CoA reductase. Multiple MR techniques were applied to estimate the causal effects, and sensitivity analyses were conducted to validate the results. Results: Genetically predicted inhibition of PCSK9 demonstrated a reduced risk of AF, with an odds ratio (OR) of 0.92 (95% CI: 0.85–0.99, p = 0.01) using the inverse variance-weighted (IVW) method. In contrast, the inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase did not exhibit a statistically significant association with AF risk (IVW: OR = 1.11, 95% CI: 1.00–1.22, p = 0.05). Conclusion: Our MR study suggests that genetically predicted inhibition of PCSK9, but not HMG-CoA reductase, is associated with a lower risk of AF. These findings provide evidence for a causal protective effect of PCSK9i on AF and support the use of PCSK9i for AF prevention in patients with dyslipidemia. Further studies are needed to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the differential effects of PCSK9i and statins on AF and to confirm the clinical implications of our findings.
Successful Removal of 17 Tattoos Self-Administered Using Black Eyeliner Ink with Quality-Switched Neodymium-Doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet 1,064-nm Laser: A Case Report
Authors: Jafari S. Morteza Seyed , Bossart Simon , Adatto Maurice , Feldmeyer Laurence , Yawalkar Nikhil , Heidemeyer Kristine
Published: April 2024

Introduction: Tattooing has a rich historical presence in various human civilizations, with the earliest physical evidence dating back to around 3258 BC. While acceptance of tattoos is increasing in the Western world, negative associations remain. Short-pulsed lasers, such as Q-Switched (QS) or picosecond lasers, are the gold standard for tattoo removal. Case Presentation: This case report discusses the successful removal of 17 amateur tattoos, which were self-administered by a 19-year-old female patient using black eyeliner ink and sewing needles. The tattoos, distributed across her body, including the face and hands, were partially or completely removed over 10 sessions using the QS Neodymium-doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet 1,064-nm laser. Conclusion: The factors that influence the efficacy of tattoo removal are highlighted, including tattoo type, location, and coexisting fibrosis. The psychological and social importance of effective tattoo removal is emphasized, particularly for young people seeking to disassociate from past experiences or affiliations.
The Efficacy of Machine Learning Models for Predicting the Prognosis of Heart Failure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Xu Zhaohui , Hu Yinqin , Shao Xinyi , Shi Tianyun , Yang Jiahui , Wan Qiqi , Liu Yongming
Published: April 2024

Introduction: Heart failure (HF) is a major global public health concern. The application of machine learning (ML) to identify individuals at high risk and enable early intervention is a promising approach for improving HF prognosis. We aim to systematically evaluate the performance and value of ML models for predicting HF prognosis. Methods: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Embase online databases were searched up to April 30, 2023, to identify studies on the use of ML models to predict HF prognosis. HF prognosis primarily encompasses readmission and mortality. The meta-analysis was conducted by MedCalc software. Subgroup analyses include grouping based on types of ML models, time intervals, sample sizes, the number of predictive variables, validation methods, whether to conduct hyperparameter optimization and calibration, data set partitioning methods. Results: A total of 31 studies were included. The most common ML models were random forest, boosting, support vector machine, neural network. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for predicting HF readmission was 0.675 (95% CI: 0.651–0.699, p < 0.001), and the AUC for predicting HF mortality was 0.790 (95% CI: 0.765–0.816, p < 0.001). Subgroup analyses revealed that models with the prediction time interval of 1 year, sample sizes ≥10,000, the number of predictive variables ≥100, external validation, hyperparameter tuning, calibration adjustment, and data set partitioning using 10-fold cross-validation exhibited favorable performance within their respective subgroups. Conclusion: The performance of ML models in predicting HF readmission is relatively poor, while its performance in predicting HF mortality is moderate. The quality of the relevant studies is generally low, it is essential to enhance the predictive capabilities of ML models through targeted improvements in practical applications.
Welche Glaukom-Operation bei fortgeschrittener Funktionsschädigung?
Authors: Rohrschneider Klaus
Published: April 2024

Ziel dieser Studie war es, die Ergebnisse chirurgischer Eingriffe bei neovaskulärem Glaukom (NVG) und schlechter Sehkraft zu analysieren. Dazu wurden NVG-Patienten mit einer Sehschärfe von 20/200 oder weniger verglichen, die entweder ein Ahmed-Glaukom-Ventil (AGV) oder eine Zyklophotokoagulation (CPC) erhalten hatten. Zu den Hauptergebnisgrößen zählten die chirurgische Erfolgsrate, Veränderungen des Augeninnendrucks (IOD), die Anzahl der Antiglaukom-Medikamente, die korrigierte Fernvisusschärfe und die Reoperationsrate bei Glaukom. 12 Monate nach Operation zeigten beide Verfahren gute Ergebnisse mit ähnlichen IOP-Werten. Im Vergleich zur CPC zeigte das AGV allerdings insgesamt eine höhere Erfolgsrate und einen geringeren Medikamentenbedarf.
Intrathecal Anesthesia Prevents Ventricular Arrhythmias in Rats with Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion
Authors: Zhang Huabin , Wang Yue , Wu Yong , Luo Zhongxu , Zhong Ming , Hong Zongyuan , Wang Deguo
Published: April 2024

Introduction: Ventricular arrhythmia is commonly provoked by acute cardiac ischemia through sympathetic exaggeration and is often resistant to anti-arrhythmic therapies. Thoracic epidural anesthesia has been reported to terminate fatal ventricular arrhythmia; however, its underlying mechanism is unknown. Methods: Rats were randomly divided into four groups: sham, sham plus bupivacaine, ischemia/reperfusion (IR), and IR plus bupivacaine groups. Bupivacaine (1 mg/mL, 0.05 mL/100 g body weight) was injected intrathecally into the L5–L6 intervertebral space prior to establishing a myocardial IR rat model. Thereafter, cardiac arrhythmia, cardiac function, myocardial injury, and electrical activities of the heart and spinal cord were evaluated. Results: Intrathecal bupivacaine inhibited spinal neural activity, improved heart rate variability, reduced ventricular arrhythmia score, and ameliorated cardiac dysfunction in IR rats. Furthermore, intrathecal bupivacaine attenuated cardiac injury and myocardial apoptosis and regulated cardiomyocyte autophagy and connexin-43 distribution during myocardial IR. Conclusion: Our results indicate that intrathecal bupivacaine blunts spinal neural activity to prevent cardiac arrhythmia and dysfunction induced by IR and that this anti-arrhythmic activity may be associated with regulation of autonomic balance, myocardial apoptosis and autophagy, and cardiac gap junction function.
Risk Prediction of Post-Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection Coagulation Syndrome
Authors: Kim Minjee , Choi Chang Wan , Kim Eun Ran , Chang Dong Kyung , Hong Sung Noh
Published: April 2024

Introduction: Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) has been popular worldwide to treat laterally spreading tumors and large polyps. Post-ESD coagulation syndrome (PECS) is more common than the two major ESD-related complications, perforation, and bleeding. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of PECS, identify the risk factors for PECS, and create a risk prediction model for PECS. Methods: Retrospective cross-sectional study analyzed a total of 986 patients who underwent colorectal ESD. Logistic regression models were used to assess risk factors with PECS. Each risk factor was scored, and the 3-step risk stratification index of prediction model was assessed. Results: The prevalence of PECS was 21.4% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 18.9–24.1%). The risk factors of PECS in the multivariate logistic regression were tumor size (+1 cm: odds ratio [OR], 1.29; 95% CI, 1.16–7.09), cecal lesion (OR, 1.96; 95% CI, 1.09–1.53), procedure time (+30 min: OR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.02–1.39), and ESD with snaring (OR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.43–0.95). Applying a simplified weighted scoring system based on adjusted OR increments of 1, the risk of PECS was 12.3% (95% CI, 0.3–16.0%) for the low-risk group (score ≤4) and was 36.0% (95% CI = 29.4–43.2%) for the high-risk group (score ≥8). Overall discrimination (C-statistic = 0.629; 95% CI = 0.585–0.672) and calibration (p = 0.993) of the model were moderate to good. Conclusion: PECS occurs frequently, and the prediction model can be helpful for effective treatment and prevention of PECS.
¿Cómo se entienden las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) en los contextos educativos rural y urbano? Estudio comparativo
Authors: Ordóñez Gómez Eliana Esperanza , Penagos Muñetón Nicolás
Published: April 2024

Las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) se han incorporado a lasprácticas educativas a partir de la existencia de dispositivos y recursos en la escuela.Con base en el lugar que las tecnologías ocupan en la vida cotidiana, los sujetos lashan apropiado y han construido significado alrededor de ellas. Los resultados de lapresente investigación describen las representaciones sociales (RS) de las tic en losprocesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje de dos contextos educativos (rural y urbano).La investigación de tipo cuantitativo y cualitativo partió de la caracterización de cadacontexto en donde se relaciona la práctica educativa con el uso de las tic y el lugarque estas ocupan en la vida cotidiana, así como de la voz de los actores del procesoa partir de entrevistas semiestructuradas. A estas se les aplicó el análisis del discursopara legitimar categorías que estructuran la descripción de las prácticas y el análisisde las representaciones sociales.Las representaciones sociales de las tic en los contextos educativos rural y urbano dancuenta de herramientas para el entretenimiento, el uso de páginas web para buscar ycompartir información y como medio para la transformación de subjetividades. Estasrepresentaciones están mediadas por el acceso a la tecnología de los actores y laintención pedagógica que se les asigne a ellas en el proceso enseñanza-aprendizaje.
Revisión del estado de la cuestión sobre las comprensiones del desarrollo humano y el desarrollo social
Authors: Alzate Torres Manuel Alejandro , García García Luz Elena
Published: April 2024

En este artículo, resultado de investigación, pretendemos mostrar las comprensionesde desarrollo social y humano de la línea de investigación del mismo nombre dela maestría en Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible de la Universidad de Manizales.El diseño metodológico se centró en un proceso hermenéutico y crítico en cuatromomentos: teórico, trabajo de campo, interpretativo, y de síntesis y resultados. Porlo tanto fue necesario desarrollar instrumentos para obtener la información de estudiantes,docentes, egresados, además de la revisión de trabajos de grado y módulosde seminarios.Los resultados permiten categorizar las tendencias teóricas sobre el desarrollo humanoy social; se destacan, explícita o implícitamente, los enfoques y las perspectivas teóricasintegrales sobre el desarrollo, tanto en general, como cuando se utiliza la acepciónde lo humano y lo social desde los actores entrevistados. La multi- y transdisciplinariedad,constituyentes de un proceso holístico, y el carácter de estructura del desarrolloson significados que cobran importancia para la línea de investigación y los actoresvinculados a ella, en cuanto a las comprensiones que estas dos designaciones generan.
El desarrollo del pensamiento crítico mediante el debate asincrónico en foros virtuales en educación secundaria
Authors: Pallares Ramírez Erika Laura , Gómez Zermeño Marcela Georgina , García Mejía Irma Antonia
Published: April 2024

El presente artículo describe una investigación sobre el debate en línea mediante forosvirtuales en plataformas educativas, como una herramienta para promover el pensamientocrítico. El experimento se realizó con estudiantes de segundo grado de secundariaen México. Se utilizó un diseño cuantitativo, mediante un pretest y un posttestpara la intervención de actividades y discusión en línea en la plataforma Moodle. Elinstrumento se utilizó para medir cinco indicadores de pensamiento crítico de acuerdoa lo consultado en la literatura: interpretación, análisis, inferencia, explicación y deducción.Se realizaron una serie de actividades en conjunto con la participación en foros,después se aplicó la segunda prueba y se analizaron estadísticamente los resultados.Los hallazgos mostraron un incremento en las habilidades de raciocinio crítico despuésde la interacción en los foros. Se obtuvieron también las calificaciones individuales,en las que hubo importante mejora en el desempeño de la deducción y explicación,mientras que la habilidad de menos aumento fue la inferencia.
Lenguajes de paz: una construcción social femenina. Una experiencia de la iniciativa local de paz de Facatativá (Cundinamarca)
Authors: Enríquez Duque Zolángela
Published: April 2024

El presente artículo, como resultado de la investigación sobre las condiciones y losmodos de construcción de subjetividades políticas para la paz en jóvenes de organizacionesinterétnicas y feministas desde una perspectiva intergeneracional, presentalos resultados parciales relacionados con la sistematización de una iniciativa local depaz (ILP), ubicada en el municipio de Facatativá (Cundinamarca), denominada MujeresActivas. Buscando dar respuesta sobre las prácticas desarrolladas por las integrantesde este colectivo que configuran lenguajes de paz, como una actitud de transformacióna partir de la significación compartida de la realidad.
Mujeres activas: actoras sociales y políticas, una experiencia desde la Iniciativa Local de Paz de Facatativá–Cundinamarca
Authors: Velandia Castrillón Francy Yovana
Published: April 2024

El propósito de este estudio es presentar los resultados preliminares de la investigación:“las condiciones y modos de construcción de subjetividades políticas para la pazen jóvenes de organizaciones interétnicas y feministas desde una perspectivaintergeneracional”. Esta investigación surge a partir de una de las Iniciativas Localesde Paz (ILP) a sistematizar ubicada en el municipio de Facatativá- Cundinamarca,llamada “Mujeres Activas” que se pregunta por la configuración de estas mujerescomo un sujeto político. Al interior de la ILP esta configuración se establece a partirde una variedad de prácticas en donde las mujeres tienen la posibilidad de desarrollardistintos tipos de funciones y habilidades, a nivel productivo, religioso, comunitarioy social, las cuales han contribuido al desarrollo de procesos de construcción de pazque se traducen en transformaciones a nivel personal y comunitario.
Notas sôbre a Ofiologia Neotrópica e Brasílica. XI. Subespécies de Micrurus lemniscatus (L.) e suas afinidades com M. frontalis (Dm. e Bibr.)
Authors: Amaral Afrânio do
Published: April 2024

.
Opiliões de Porto Cabral
Authors: Soares B. M.
Published: April 2024

.
Contribuição ao estudo das espécies brasileiras do gênero Leporinus
Authors: Campos A. Amaral
Published: April 2024

.
Pequenas notas sôbre Asilidae (Diptera). I. Sôbre algumas espécies dos gêneros Townsendia, Hypenetes e Aphamartania
Authors: Carrera Messias
Published: April 2024

.
Gênero Pyrophorus. 5. Redescrição de Pyrophorus ignitus (Fabricius) (Col., Elateridae)
Authors: Costa Cleide
Published: April 2024

.
Genitália masculina de algumas espécies de Drosophila dos grupos "Repleta" e "Tripunctata" (Diptera, Drosophilidae)
Authors: Breuer Marta E. , Rocha Rosely F.
Published: April 2024

.
A new species of Paratrachichthys from the coast of Brazil (Pisces, Trachichthyidae)
Authors: Menezes Naercio A.
Published: April 2024

.
Sôbre a larva e pupa de Semiotus ligneus Linnaeus, 1767 (Elateridae, Semiotinae)
Authors: Costa Cleide
Published: April 2024

.
The type-material of Lepidoptera Rhopalocera contained in the collections of the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo
Authors: Lamas M. Gerardo
Published: April 2024

.
Notas sobre Cerambycidae (Coleoptera). VIII
Authors: Martins Ubirajara R.
Published: April 2024

.
Notes on the grammar of names in the Dermaptera
Authors: Steyskal George C.
Published: April 2024

.
† Rhagionemestrius Ussatchov (Diptera, Brachycera), not a nemestrinid
Authors: Bernardi Nelson
Published: April 2024

.
Local distribution of Psocoptera in the Mato Grosso, central Brazil
Authors: New T. R.
Published: April 2024

.
Current status of João de Paiva Carvalho's fish types
Authors: Menezes Naércio A.
Published: April 2024

.
New and little known neotropical coleoptera. V. A new species of Syncalypta (Byrrhidae)
Authors: Reichardt Hans
Published: April 2024

.
An additional new brazilian species of Messiasia (Diptera, Mydidae)
Authors: Papavero N.
Published: April 2024

.
South american anoles: the species groups
Authors: Williams Ernest E.
Published: April 2024

.
Ophiuroidea collected in the Peru-Chile trench by the USNS "Eltanin" during cruise III
Authors: Tommasi Luiz Roberto
Published: April 2024

.
The presumed tadpole of Paratelmatobius lutzi (Amphibia, Leptodactylidae)
Authors: Heyer W. Ronald
Published: April 2024

.
Sobre uma nova espécie brasileira do gênero Aegla Leach, 1820 (Decapoda, Anomura)
Authors: Hebling Nilton J. , Rodrigues Waldir
Published: April 2024

.
Transference of the genera Oemida Gahan, Comusia Thomson and Hypomares Thomson from the Methiini to Obriini (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae)
Authors: Martins Ubirajara R.
Published: April 2024

.
Taxonomic notes on frogs from the Madeira and Purus rivers, Brasil
Authors: Heyer W. Ronald
Published: April 2024

.
Studies on Elateridae (Coleoptera). Biological notes on neotropical larvae
Authors: Costa Cleide
Published: April 2024

.
Notas sinonímicas e novas espécies em Acanthoderini (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Lamiinae)
Authors: Marinoni Renato C. , Martins Ubirajara R.
Published: April 2024

.
Variation in members of the Centrolenella eurygnatha complex (Amphibia: Centrolenidae) from Serra do Mar and Serra da Mantiqueira, Brasil
Authors: Heyer W. Ronald
Published: April 2024

.
Revision of the south american Uramyini (Diptera, Tachinidae)
Authors: Guimarães J. H.
Published: April 2024

.
A newly introduced Drosophila species in Brazil (Diptera, Drosophilidae)
Authors: Val F. C. , Sene F. M.
Published: April 2024

.
Uma nova espécie do gênero Phyllopezus de cabaceiras: Paraíba: Brasil; com comentários sobre a fauna de Lagartos da área (Sauria Gekkontdae)
Authors: Rodrigues Miguel Trefaut
Published: April 2024

.
Tropidurus Psammonastes: uma nova espécie do grupo Torquatus com notas sobre seu cariótipo e distribuição (Sauria, Iguanidae)
Authors: Rodrigues Miguel Trefaut , Kasahara Sanae , Yonenaga-Yassuda Yatiyo
Published: April 2024

.
Covid-19 e a participação social: por um necessário diálogo no enfrentamento da pandemia
Authors: Pedrollo Cleto Vinícius Vieira , Bussinguer Elda Coelho de Azevedo
Published: April 2024

This article aimed to identify the news published in the Brazilian media that constituted relevant social divergences during a certain period of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020 to July 2021). In this context, it was analyzed the compliance of the federative entities with the constitutional norms that encourage dialogue and social participation in health. This article also investigated the observance of norms that impose democratic values in the health área by the perspective of Habermas’ theory of communicative action. The recommendation of drugs without scientific efficacy for the treatment of COVID-19 and the respective positions of health institutions were studied as a practical example of social divergence in facing the pandemic. The research concluded that it is essential a dialogue to legitimize choices in the health area and to make management acts compatible with the values of the democratic state of law and with the guidelines of social participation in the Brazilian National Health System. The lack of social participation made it difficult to establish harmony in the fight against the pandemic because some decisions, such as the recommendation of ineffective medicines, were questionable as they did not have adequate justifications due to the lack of debates with the scientific community and other segments of society.
Um problema: a traição dos cristãos-novos em 1624
Authors: França Eduardo D'Oliveira
Published: April 2024

As afinidades familiares, as de natureza econômica, ou ambas conjugadas, e o decorrente intercâmbio com as Províncias Unidas in-submissas tornavam os cristãos-novos da Colônia suspeitos à Corôa. Suspeitos por flamengos . Suspeitos por portuguêses . Suspeitos por marranos. Flamengos, minavam o Império. Portuguêses, tramavam a ruptura da unidade peninsular. Marranos judaisantes desafiavam a unidade espiritual do catolicismo ibérico .
The Public Legitimacy of Multistakeholder Partnerships in Global Environmental Governance: Evidence from Survey Experiments in Brazil, the United Kingdom, and the United States
Authors: Koliev Faradj , Bäckstrand Karin
Published: April 2024

Multistakeholder partnerships (MSPs) in global environmental governance are either praised for their problem-solving capacities and inclusion of various societal actors or criticized for their limited accountability and corporate dominance. Despite the lively scholarly debate and the continued promotion of MSPs by international organizations and governments, knowledge about how environmental MSPs are perceived by the public is very limited. Understanding the sources of public support for MSPs is important, given its crucial role in MSPs’ abilities to secure resources and achieve their goals. In this article, we evaluate whether and how institutional features of MSPs influence citizens’ legitimacy beliefs. Building on previous studies, we theorize which institutional dimensions of MSPs matter for citizens’ level of support. We conduct population-based survey experiments in Brazil, the United Kingdom, and the United States, encompassing more than 6,000 respondents. The results from the survey experiments have substantive implications for our understanding of the role of MSPs.
Generative AI and Social Media May Exacerbate the Climate Crisis
Authors: van der Ven Hamish , Corry Diego , Elnur Rawie , Provost Viola Jasmine , Syukron Muh
Published: April 2024

The contributions of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and social media to the climate crisis are often underestimated. To date, much of the focus has been on direct emissions associated with the life cycle of tech products. In this forum article, we argue that this narrow focus misses the adverse and indirect impacts of generative AI and social media on the climate. We outline some of the indirect ways in which generative AI and social media undermine the optimism, focus, creativity, and veracity required to address the climate crisis. Our aim is twofold. First, we seek to balance the tide of optimism about the role of digitalization in addressing the climate crisis by offering a skeptic’s perspective. Second, we outline a new research agenda that moves beyond counting directly attributable carbon emissions and proposes a more comprehensive accounting of the indirect ways in which social media and generative AI adversely impact the sociopolitical conditions required to address the climate crisis.
Machina Aesthetica: Impressions on Art in and out of the Machine Age
Authors: Chan Paul
Published: April 2024

Paul Chan reflects on his experiences as an artist working in and out of domains of technology, from truetype fonts and pirated software to datasets and machine-learning frameworks. He recounts periods of his artistic life when he abandoned technologies as instruments of production. And he offers an idiosyncratic account of a lineage of artists and writers he admires who used and abused technology in aspects of their work—including Agnès Varda, Chris Marker, the Left Bank Group in 1960s, Yvonne Rainer, Theodor Adorno and the Radio Research Project; the bio-cybernetic work of free-jazz musician, programmer, and artist Milford Graves; the pioneering sound work of Maryanne Amacher; and the writer Claudia La Rocco—and how their dynamic and at times contentious relationship with technology proved vital to their understanding of what art under the influence of historical and social progress looks like.
Islamic Multiplicities in Kashmir: Debates about the Food Practices of a XVIth-Century Sufi Saint and the Modern Cult
Authors: Khalid Zubair , Yousuf Muneeb
Published: April 2024

The spread of Islam to the South Asian region of Kashmir and its role in shaping the socio-religious and political contours in the region is a highly charged debate in academic as well as popular circles. This article examines the early modern debates about the vegetarian food practices of a sixteenth-century Sufi saint of Kashmir, Baba Hyder Rishi (b. 1504) and contemporary debates around the modern cult mainly centered around his shrine in the Anantnag (locally known as Islamabad) town of south Kashmir. It is divided into two parts; the first focuses on debates during the saint’s own lifetime and the second analyses modern debates about what has by now emerged as a cult around the saint’s shrine. We begin with a critical re-evaluation of the wide-spread notion that the saint’s practice of vegetarianism was, much like his predecessors in the local Rīshī Sufi order, grounded in local Buddhist-Hindu customs and thus exemplifies the syncretic nature of Islam in Kashmir. Instead, we argue that both the defence and contestation of the saint’s practice as well its modern cult was and continues to be located within the Islamic tradition itself. We use this discussion for a critical reflection on the widely prevalent idea of religious syncretism in Kashmir and the over-simplified and ahistorical view of Islam as a monolith, and then explore the possibility of using Islamic ‘multiplicity’ as an alternate analytical category.
Primulina hoangmongii (Gesneriaceae), a new species from northern Vietnam
Authors: NGUYEN KHANG SINH , AVERYANOV LEONID V. , LIN CHE WEI
Published: April 2024

Primulina hoangmongii, a new species from Yen Bai Province of northern Vietnam, is described and illustrated. It is similar to P. albicalyx in its robust rhizome, rosette leaves, and yellow flowers. However, P. hoangmongii is clearly distinguished by its linear to narrowly-lanceolate bracts, 8–12 × 2–3 mm (vs. narrowly ovate to ovate, 18–25 × 9–14 mm), green calyx (vs. white), rich yellow corolla (vs. pale yellowish), base of the upper lip flat, thin and rich pure yellow (vs. swelling between lobes, yellow-brownish), and a ligulate, entire stigma (vs. deltoid, 2-lobed). The conservation status of P. hoangmongii is preliminarily assessed according to IUCN criteria as Critically Endangered (CR).
Neottia motuoensis (Neottieae, Orchidaceae), a new species from Xizang, China
Authors: WEN HAIXIA , YE CHAO , LIN DONGLIANG , LI JIANWU , SONG XIQIANG , JIN XIAOHUA
Published: April 2024

Neottia motuoensis (Neottieae, Orchidaceae), a new species from Motuo, Xizang Autonomous Region, China, was described and illustrated. Neottia motuoensis is similar to N. yunnanensis, but differs from it by having lip with side lobes at the base, disk with a pair of fleshy calli between lateral lobes, lobelets of the labellum short and rounded.
Introduction. The Anarchive of Memories
Authors: ZIN Mnemo
Published: April 2024

How can we curate a collection of childhood memories to highlight multiple and multilayered stories beyond the fixed thematic organisation of a traditional archive? How can we archive memories in ways that offer audiences an opportunity to make their own interpretations and create new connections across memory stories, while inviting them to share memories in return? How can an archive be reflexive of its own creation, growth, and transformation, continuously arranging and rearranging, adding and affirming, disrupting and challenging the memories kept there? These questions guided the creation of this book, challenging not only ways of archiving ‘data’ but also the idea of memory as witness to history and complicating interpretations of childhoods lived during the Cold War. This chapter introduces readers to the anarchive, an evolving assemblage of childhood memories, artworks, scholarly articles, pedagogical frameworks, and methodological interventions that came out of our project ‘Reconnect/Recollect: Crossing the Divides through Memories of Cold War Childhoods’. It explains connections between memory work, collective biography, childhood studies, and the Cold War, and it offers some suggestions for engaging with the anarchive, including multiple thematic, artistic, and affective threads that we have found interesting, insightful, or surprising. This chapter is an invitation to enter and explore the memory anarchive.
1. Who Do I Remember For?
Authors: Odak Petar
Published: April 2024

There is a lot written on trauma-witnessing and childhood memories, very often in tandem. I am entering this discussion by engaging with two questions that have not been addressed extensively within the field of memory/trauma studies: (1) In which ways and from what places are memories being structured even before they come to be ‘our’ memories? In other words, can we talk of memory as a genre?; and (2) What kinds of dark pleasures are derived from trauma-witnessing―both from the side of the witness-teller and from the side of the listener? Finally: How are these two questions connected, and what does their intersection tell us about the possibilities and limits of memory-writing? This chapter is very personal; for, in it, I try to grapple with my own uneasiness when faced with these questions in the context of a memory-writing workshop. It is also a chapter that tries to contextualize its conclusions within the wider frame of memory-writing processes of different kinds.
2. ‘I Wanted to See the Man with that Mark on his Forehead’
Authors: Koivunen Pia
Published: April 2024

This chapter discusses the use of one’s own memory as a source in historical research. As a historian who has employed interviews, memoirs, travelogues, and diaries in my research, I now put my own memory to a test and examine how using my own memories differs from studying the memories of others. The chapter explores my memories of Mikhail Gorbachev’s visit to Finland in 1989 and compares them with other sources, such as interviews with classmates, contemporary print media, photographs, and film material of the event. In a dual role of researcher and the researched, I demonstrate how lived experiences are supported by narrative elements and, in the end, how powerful memory can be.
3. Passing Bye
Authors: Trampert Hanna
Published: April 2024

This chapter retells an autobiographical journey of Hanna Trampert, an artist who was born in Poland during the Cold War but frequently visited her family members in the Eastern borderlands of Germany. Growing up in a divided world, the themes of borders, freedom, and fear have accompanied Hanna throughout her life and have also been reflected in her artwork. This chapter is a reflection on Hanna’s work since 2019. Inspired by her participation in the Reconnect/Recollect project, it focuses on the theme of connection(s). The experience of working with childhood memories has created an opportunity to see―and make visible―the existing connections and entanglements that have always existed despite walls and borders.
5. You Can’t Go Home Again… Especially if You Have Never Had One
Authors: Tlostanova Madina
Published: April 2024

Starting from the premise that any childhood is existentially tragic, this fictionalized memory reflects on the last Soviet generation of children as a lost generation. This chapter is written as a memory stream based on free associations, and it dwells on the major leitmotifs and recurrent sensibilities that have shaped the author’s experience as a member of this generation. Following her personal trajectory, the memory stream refers to the symbol of the vertical, to the sense of being lost both literally and symbolically, to specific ways and strategies of hiding in her own world and rejecting the outside reality. These personal paths combine with more general patterns of double consciousness and redoubling of the world that generated a cynical framework in its late-Soviet children’s version: an urge to make their own escapist forms of alternative realities and internal emigration models in the decade just before perestroika. The chapter touches upon key late-Soviet oppositions that children of the 1970s learned to identify from early on in order to survive. It also considers the ethnic-racial and religious differences that affected the lost generation’s internal erosive processes.
7. Growing up in Cold War Argentina
Authors: Dussel Inés
Published: April 2024

This chapter sets out to present some exercises on childhood memories from Cold War Argentina. Combining written texts with drawings and pictures, it seeks to navigate the tensions between an ‘I’ of personal memories and a ‘we’ emerging in the collective-biography workshops. It invites a journey through an (an)archive of childhood memories produced in the interstitial space between memory and forgetting, not looking for healing but trying to ‘excavate a wound’. What does one remember from one’s childhood? Where or when does a childhood start and end? Do traumatic events cast their ominous shadows on every recollection of the past? Do these memories speak about the past or about the present in which they emerge? Memory seems to be a tricky lane, which morphs as one moves. The text aims to work through these memory exercises and materials to discuss how we connect with children’s memories and experiences.
9. Mysterious Cotton Pieces
Authors: Gawlicz Katarzyna , Millei Zsuzsa
Published: April 2024

This chapter explores the memories of menarche of three girls who grew up in socialist countries in the 1980s. We use Kopytoff’s theory of the cultural biography of objects and Rogoff’s theory of guided participation to intimate the girls’ ways of knowing and practising menarche in relation to objects and significant others. Objects carry cultural meanings and, as such, taught girls about practices and feelings associated with menstruation and helped them to navigate their periods. The memories analysed here demonstrate that girls’ everyday experiences in state-socialist and capitalist countries were quite similar and that children on the Eastern side acted as knowing subjects rather than passive victims of ‘indoctrination’.
10. Lift Up Your Arms! Elite Athletes and Cold War Childhoods
Authors: Gannon Susanne , Weiss Santos Stefanie
Published: April 2024

This chapter turns to configurations of athleticism, child bodies, and the instrumental uses of sport as a form of soft power. We work with memory stories of children selected to become elite athletes within the diverse geopolitical timespaces of the Cold War in East Germany, Romania, and Hungary. We follow trajectories of selection, training, and injury as we trace formations of sporting subjectivities as discursive, affective, relational, and material. In close readings of each of the stories, we consider desire and longing for sporting success, the investments of state institutions and individuals in producing elite sporting bodies, and how we might think the body through ever-present risk and intimations of freedom. In our analysis, we introduce theoretical resources on risk, memory, and the carnal body to help us to think differently about the memories and processes of collective biography as a methodology.
16. Re-membering Ceremonies
Authors: Jiang Jieyu , Pretti Esther , Tsotniashvili Keti , Anayatova Dilraba , Nielsen Ann , Silova Iveta
Published: April 2024

Drawing on collective biography, memory work, and diffractive analysis, this chapter examines childhood memories of our entanglements with plants. By approaching research as a ceremony, our goal is to reanimate the relationships we have shared with plants and places, illuminating multiple intra-actions and weaving different worlds together. Our collective ceremony of re-membering brings into focus how plants called us forward, evoked our gratitude and reciprocity, shared knowledge, and offered comfort, companionship, love, belongingness, and understanding throughout life. The process of our collective re-membering and writing has turned into a series of ceremonial gatherings and practices, bringing forth vivid memories, poetic expressions, and creative drawings. As humans, we have often (re)acted to plants’ generous gifts in meaningful gestures and communications that have co-created and made visible our deeply felt inter-species love and care.
Smearing the Portrait
Authors: Țion Lucian
Published: April 2024

This is a childhood memory produced as part of the Reconnect/Recollect project discussed in the introduction to this book.
Sleepy Smuggles
Authors: Fichtner Sarah
Published: April 2024

This is a childhood memory produced as part of the Reconnect/Recollect project discussed in the introduction to this book.
Snowflake
Authors: Silova Iveta
Published: April 2024

This is a childhood memory produced as part of the Reconnect/Recollect project discussed in the introduction to this book.
Pink Flamingo
Authors: Silova Iveta
Published: April 2024

This is a childhood memory produced as part of the Reconnect/Recollect project discussed in the introduction to this book.
Deriving Mathematical Equations for Measuring the Holes of the Nay (Arabic Flute)
Authors: Ahmed Ali Mamdouh Mohamed
Published: April 2024

Developing and discovering things requires the process of collecting relevant data and information, which is then analyzed to draw conclusions that enable us to move from the contemplation stage to the innovation stage. It is evident that many musical instruments have undergone evolution over the decades, and this development continues to the present day. Before the commencement of the development and innovation phase, it is preceded by a stage of data and information collection and analysis, laying the foundation for a scientific basis relying on academic methods. The researcher believes that presenting an innovation or development process in a specific instrument should be followed by a mathematical analysis of the sound holes. The research aims to analyze the dimensions of the Nay instrument mathematically and derive mathematical equations for measuring its holes. The significance of the research lies in analyzing the holes of all sound degrees of the Nay instrument and deriving mathematical equations to measure the dimensions of the instrument, contributing to the overall development and elevation of research in Arab musical instruments, especially the Nay. The results were as follows: The ratio between the holes is equal, and equations were determined to calculate the positions of the Nay's holes.
Experimental Study on Adsorption and Corrosion Inhibition Properties of Urena lobata Leaves Extract on Mild Steel in Acidic Medium
Authors: Barineka Zorbari Kelvin , Maduelosi Ngozi Jane , Umoh Enobong Thompson
Published: April 2024

The corrosion inhibitive effect of Urena lobata leaves extract on mild steel in 1M HCl solution was investigated via gravimetric, Electrochemical and Surface analyses. Adsorption isotherms were investigated using the Langmuir and Freundlich plots. Phytochemicals of the extract were investigated using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometric (GC-MS) technique. The effect of the leaves extract through immersion time, temperature and concentration on the corrosion inhibition were obtained. The results obtained showed that the increase in extract’s concentration increased the inhibition efficiency and the protection was more on the surface of the metal at lower temperature. Maximum inhibition efficiency of 95.8% was obtained at 2.5g/L extract concentration. Corrosion rate of mild steel increased with temperature increase in the acidic solution. The adsorption process reduced as temperature increased thereby indicating physisorption. The Langmuir isotherms gave the best fit indicating chemisorption. Physical adsorption was confirmed for the leaves extract from observations of inhibition efficiency with temperature, activation energy and enthalpy of adsorption values. Hence indicating that the plant extract has mixed properties. The electrochemical results confirmed the inhibitory ability of the plant extract. The inhibition efficiencies (% IE) were attributed to the phytochemical components (alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, tannins, cynagenic glycosides) present in the extract. The extracts of Urena lobata are effective corrosion inhibitors of mild steel.
Indoor Positioning of AGVs Based on Multi-Sensor Data Fusion Such as LiDAR
Authors: Zhu Wen-liang , Guo Shu-kai
Published: April 2024

In recent years, with the rapid growth in technology and demand for industrial robots, Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) have found widespread application in industrial workshops and smart logistics, emerging as a global hot research topic. Due to the volatile and complex working environments, the positioning technology of AGV robots is of paramount importance. To address the challenges associated with AGV robot positioning, such as significant accumulated errors in wheel odometer and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), susceptibility of Ultra Wide Band (UWB) positioning accuracy to Non Line of Sight (NLOS) errors, as well as the distortion points and drift in point clouds collected by LiDAR during robot motion, a novel positioning method is proposed. Initially, Weighted Extended Kalman Filter (W-EKF) is employed for the loosely coupled integration of wheel odometer and Ultra Wide Band (UWB) data, transformed into W-EKF pose factors. Subsequently, appropriate addition of W-EKF factors is made during the tight coupling of pre-integrated Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) with 3D-LiDAR to counteract the distortion points, drift, and accumulated errors generated by LiDAR, thereby enhancing positioning accuracy. After experimentation, the algorithm achieved a final positioning error of only 6.9cm, representing an approximately 80% improvement in positioning accuracy compared to the loosely coupled integration of the two sensors.
Artificial Simulation of Saliva's Astringency Removal Effect on Squid
Authors: Huang Ling , Wang Haotian , Li Xinyi , Yang Min , Deng Shanggui , Yuan Pengxiang
Published: April 2024

Astringency is a common issue in squid processing and consumption. Various techniques such as soaking in salt water, adding acids, and using enzymes have been used to eliminate astringency. However, these methods have their limitations, and the search for a better solution is ongoing. In recent years, ultrasound technology has been proposed as an effective method for removing astringency in squid. This study used four proteins, including lysozyme, bovine serum albumin, collagen, and whey protein, to simulate saliva in the human oral cavity. This study aimed to determine the removal effect of squid astringency after saliva soaking and ultrasound treatment. Physicochemical indicators such as polyphenols and flavonoids, antioxidant activity, relative polymerization degree, and solution zeta potential were used as physicochemical indicators. Sensory evaluation and volatile salt nitrogen content were used as quality indicators of squid. The results indicated that artificial simulated saliva treatment significantly reduces polyphenols and antioxidant activity in squid muscle, reduces the content of volatile base nitrogen, eliminates the astringency of squid, and improves the taste and overall quality of squid. The technique of using ultrasound technology and artificial simulated saliva is a scientific and effective method for removing astringency in squid. This method has several advantages over traditional methods, including being a non-invasive method that does not require adding any chemicals, making it an environmentally friendly solution. The use of ultrasound technology allows for removing astringency in a shorter time than traditional methods. Finally, the technique is cost-effective and easily scaled up for industrial applications. In conclusion, using ultrasound technology and artificial simulated saliva treatment is a promising method for removing astringency in squid. The technique effectively removes astringency in squid muscle, improves the taste and overall quality of the squid, and is a non-invasive, environmentally friendly, cost-effective solution that can be easily scaled up for industrial application.