bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Edge‐oriented N‐Doped WS2 Nanoparticles on Porous Co3N Nanosheets for Efficient Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution and Nitrogenous Nucleophile Electrooxidation
Authors: Liao Liling , Zhao Yuling , Zhou Haiqing , Li Dongyang , Qi Ying , Zhang Yong , Sun Yang , Zhou Qian , Yu Fang
Published: September 2022

Earth‐abundant layered tungsten disulfide (WS2) is a well‐known electrocatalyst for acidic hydrogen evolution, but it becomes rather sluggish for alkaline hydrogen or oxygen evolution due to the low‐density edge sites, poor conductivity, and unfavorable water dissociation behavior. Here, an interfacial engineering strategy to construct an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst by in situ growing N‐doped WS2 nanoparticles on highly conductive cobalt nitride (N‐WS2/Co3N) for concurrent hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and urea oxidation reaction (UOR) is demonstrated. Benefiting from the good conductivity of Co3N, rich well‐oriented edge sites and water‐dissociation sites at the nanoscale interfaces between N‐WS2 and Co3N, the resultant N‐WS2/Co3N exhibits remarkable HER activity in 1 m potasium hydroxide (KOH) requiring a small overpotential of 67 mV at 10 mA cm−2 with outstanding long‐term durability at 500 mA cm−2, representing the best alkaline hydrogen‐evolving activity among reported WS2 catalysts. In particular, this hybrid catalyst also shows exceptional catalytic activities toward theurea oxidation reaction featured by very low potentials of 1.378 and 1.41 V to deliver 100 and 500 mA cm−2 along with superb large‐current stability in 1 m KOH + 0.5 m urea. Moreover, the assembled two‐electrode cell delivers the industrially practical current density of 500 mA cm−2 at a low cell voltage of 1.72 V with excellent durability in alkaline urea‐containing solutions, outperforming most MoS2‐like bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting reported hitherto. This work provides a promising avenue for the development of high‐performance WS2‐based electrocatalysts for alkaline water splitting.
Liquid Processing of Interfacially Grown Iron‐Oxide Flowers into 2D‐Platelets Yields Lithium‐Ion Battery Anodes with Capacities of Twice the Theoretical Value
Authors: Konkena Bharathi , Kaur Harneet , Tian Ruiyuan , Gabbett Cian , McCrystall Mark , Horvath Dominik Valter , Synnatschke Kevin , Roy Ahin , Smith Ross , Nicolosi Valeria , Scanlon Micheál D. , Coleman Jonathan N.
Published: September 2022

Iron oxide (Fe2O3) is an abundant and potentially low‐cost material for fabricating lithium‐ion battery anodes. Here, the growth of α‐Fe2O3 nano‐flowers at an electrified liquid–liquid interface is demonstrated. Sonication is used to convert these flowers into quasi‐2D platelets with lateral sizes in the range of hundreds of nanometers and thicknesses in the range of tens of nanometers. These nanoplatelets can be combined with carbon nanotubes to form porous, conductive composites which can be used as electrodes in lithium‐ion batteries. Using a standard activation process, these anodes display good cycling stability, reasonable rate performance and low‐rate capacities approaching 1500 mAh g−1, consistent with the current state‐of‐the‐art for Fe2O3. However, by using an extended activation process, it is found that the morphology of these composites can be significantly changed, rendering the iron oxide amorphous and significantly increasing the porosity and internal surface area. These morphological changes yield anodes with very good cycling stability and low‐rate capacity exceeding 2000 mAh g−1, which is competitive with the best anode materials in the literature. However, the data implies that, after activation, the iron oxide displays a reduced solid‐state lithium‐ion diffusion coefficient resulting in somewhat degraded rate performance.
Seasonal variation in indicator organisms infiltrating from permeable pavement parking lots at the Edison Environmental Center, New Jersey
Authors: Selvakumar Ariamalar , O'Connor Thomas P.
Published: September 2022

Four types of permeable pavements were monitored at the Edison Environmental Center in Edison, New Jersey, for three water quality indicator organisms consisting of fecal coliform, enterococci, and Escherichia coli. This study expands a previously published result based on less than a year of available data. The current study reflects nearly 5 years of data collection with efforts focusing on collection of data in all four seasons to analyze seasonal effects and to understand the effects of pH on infiltrate concentrations. All three indicators were detected in infiltrates from all four permeable surfaces and as well as asphalt and roof runoff. Seasonally, the infiltrate during winter had fewer detections and lower enumerations and was most often significantly different than surface infiltrate and runoff for the other seasons. More significant concentration reductions were observed in summer and fall, and the lowest reduction was observed in winter. Pervious Asphalt treatment removed the most microorganisms for all three indicator organisms. A permeable interlocking concrete pavement (PICP) that was a replacement for pervious concrete during the study performed better than the original PICP most likely due to smaller gap spacing (8 mm compared to 12.7 mm) and correspondingly smaller specified surface aggregate compared to the original PICP. Percent concentration removal reductions based on geometric means were 89% or greater for PC, PA, and PICP for fecal coliform; 75% or better for PC, PA and PICP for E. coli; and 95% or greater for PC and PA for enterococci, while there were no annual removals for enterococci for original or new PICP nor removals for E. coli for original PICP and minimal removal for fecal coliform for original PICP. The major sources of fecal indicators in the stormwater runoff were most likely from the feces of deer, geese, and other wild animals.

Practitioner Points

The infiltrate during winter had fewer detections and lower enumerations and was most often significantly different than surface infiltrate and runoff for the other seasons.

More significant concentration reductions were observed in summer and fall, and the lowest reduction was observed in winter.

Pervious Asphalt treatment removed the most microorganisms for all three indicator organisms.
Responding to Climate Change: Why Does It Matter? The Impacts of Climate Change
Authors: Nursey-Bray Melissa , Palmer Robert , Chischilly Ann Marie , Rist Phil , Yin Lun
Published: September 2022

This chapter provides an overview of the factors that drive Indigenous experience with climate change to explain why it matters. We provide examples of the wide range of impacts that Indigenous peoples are experiencing, including impacts on Indigenous knowledge, spirituality and culture, health and socio-economic circumstances.
Country Fertility Transition Patterns
Authors: Bongaarts John , Hodgson Dennis
Published: September 2022

This chapter focuses on the fertility transitions of individual countries. Countries are the entities that make policy decisions and implement family planning programs. Each country has a special set of economic, political, social and cultural conditions that influence fertility trends and related policies. We describe levels and trends in fertility in 97 developing countries between 1950 and 2020. Measures related to successive phases of the transitions are provided, including pre-transitional fertility, the timing of the onset, the pace of fertility decline, the timing of the transition’s end and post-transitional fertility. A special section discusses countries that have experienced a “stall” in their fertility transition. Transition patterns varied widely among developing countries over the past seven decades. Countries such as Singapore, Mauritius, Korea, Taiwan, and China experienced early, rapid, and complete transitions. In contrast, transitions in all but one country (South Africa) in sub-Saharan Africa have been late and slow, and fertility today remains well above replacement. Among the 97 countries examined, only 42 have reached the end of the transition, which is defined as having reached a TFR below 2.5 in 2020. The majority of countries are still in transition, and some have barely started a fertility decline.
Random field ϕ3 model and Parisi-Sourlas supersymmetry
Authors: Kaviraj Apratim , Trevisani Emilio
Published: September 2022

Abstract

We use the RG framework set up in [1] to explore the ϕ3 theory with a random field interaction. According to the Parisi-Sourlas conjecture this theory admits a fixed point with emergent supersymmetry which is related to the pure Lee-Yang CFT in two less dimensions. We study the model using replica trick and Cardy variables in d = 8 − ϵ where the RG flow is perturbative. Allowed perturbations are singlets under the Sn symmetry that permutes the n replicas. These are decomposed into operators with different scaling dimensions: the lowest dimensional part, ‘leader’, controls the RG flow in the IR; the other operators, ‘followers’, can be neglected. The leaders are classified into: susy-writable, susy-null and non-susy-writable according to their mixing properties. We construct low lying leaders and compute the anomalous dimensions of a number of them. We argue that there is no operator that can destabilize the SUSY RG flow in d ≤ 8. This agrees with the well known numerical result for critical exponents of Branched Polymers (which are in the same universality class as the random field ϕ3 model) that match the ones of the pure Lee-Yang fixed point according to dimensional reduction in all 2 ≤ d ≤ 8. Hence this is a second strong check of the RG framework that was previously shown to correctly predict loss of dimensional reduction in random field Ising model.
Phases of rotating baryonic matter: non-Abelian chiral soliton lattices, antiferro-isospin chains, and ferri/ferromagnetic magnetization
Authors: Eto Minoru , Nishimura Kentaro , Nitta Muneto
Published: September 2022

Abstract

A chiral soliton lattice (CSL), proposed as the ground state of rotating baryonic matter at a finite density, is shown to be unstable in a large parameter region for two flavors owing to pion condensations, leading to two types of non-Abelian (NA) CSL phases (dimer and deconfining phases). We determine the phase diagram where the dimer phase meets the other phases and QCD vacuum at three tricritical points. The critical angular velocity of NA-CSLs is lower than that of η-CSL. Each NA soliton carries an isospin, and an antiferro-isospin chain is formed leading to gapless isospinons. The anomalous coupling to the magnetic field makes the NA-CSL (η-CSL) ferrimagnetic (ferromagnetic).
Exploring the impact of nickel doping on the structure and low-temperature magnetic features of cobalt nano-spinel ferrite
Authors: Desoky W. M. , Gutierrez Joffre , El-Bana M. S. , Elmoslami T. A.
Published: September 2022

Tailoring the magnetic features of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles (NPs) has been achieved via varying the doping percent of nickel. The nickel-substituted cobalt ferrite NPs NixCo1-xFe2O4(0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0) are constructed by the eco-friendly coprecipitation method. The formation of a nearly cubic single-phase spinel frame is assured by the analysis of XRD data. Moreover, the Rietveld analysis based on structure refinement is implemented in this study to precisely determine the microstructural parameters and estimate the cation distribution. A linear drop-in lattice constant with boosting the Ni2+ion percent is acclaimed, in regard to Vegard's law. The creation of nanoparticles that are nearly spherical along with polyhedron shape and have a diameter of (about 39–45 nm) has been affirmed by utilizing high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Also, the crystalline essence of the formed nanoparticles has been declared by selective area electron diffraction (SAED). The magnetic properties have been collected from the hysteresis loops and FC–ZFC curves. These curves have been tweaked as a function of low-temperature from 5 K up to 300 K and in the existence of an external magnetic field (± 70KOe). The magnetization curves revealed that CoFe2O4(NPs) correspond to the hard ferrimagnetic material, whereas NiFe2O4(NPs) matched well with identical soft ferrimagnetic material. Also, the divergence betwixt the theoretical and experimental values of the magnetic moment is well explained by the model of "Random Canting of Spins, (RCS)". In addition, a remarkable reduction is found in the recorded values of magnetic parameters by increasing Ni2+content and decreasing the temperature towards 5 K. These findings imply the potential of Ni2+ions doping in enhancing the magnetic properties of cobalt ferrite for vast magnetic applications.
Circulation Patterns Linked to the Positive Sub-Tropical Indian Ocean Dipole
Authors: Ibebuchi Chibuike Chiedozie
Published: September 2022

The positive phase of the subtropical Indian Ocean dipole (SIOD) is one of the climatic modes in the subtropical southern Indian Ocean that influences the austral summer inter-annual rainfall variability in parts of southern Africa. This paper examines austral summer rain-bearing circulation types (CTs) in Africa south of the equator that are related to the positive SIOD and the dynamics through which specific rainfall regions in southern Africa can be influenced by this relationship. Four austral summer rain-bearing CTs were obtained. Among the four CTs, the CT that featured (i) enhanced cyclonic activity in the southwest Indian Ocean; (ii) positive widespread rainfall anomaly in the southwest Indian Ocean; and (iii) low-level convergence of moisture fluxes from the tropical South Atlantic Ocean, tropical Indian Ocean, and the southwest Indian Ocean, over the south-central landmass of Africa, was found to be related to the positive SIOD climatic mode. The relationship also implies that positive SIOD can be expected to increase the amplitude and frequency of occurrence of the aforementioned CT. The linkage between the CT related to the positive SIOD and austral summer homogeneous regions of rainfall anomalies in Africa south of the equator showed that it is the principal CT that is related to the inter-annual rainfall variability of the south-central regions of Africa, where the SIOD is already known to significantly influence its rainfall variability. Hence, through the large-scale patterns of atmospheric circulation associated with the CT, the SIOD can influence the spatial distribution and intensity of rainfall over the preferred landmass through enhanced moisture convergence.
Drug-coated balloons versus drug-eluting stents for coronary de novo lesions in dialysis patients
Authors: Funayama Naohiro , Muratsubaki Shingo , Ito Ryuta , Tobisawa Toshiyuki , Konishi Takao
Published: September 2022

Background

The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of drug-coated balloon (DCB) angioplasty with drug-eluting stent (DES) angioplasty in the treatment of de novo coronary artery lesions in dialysis patients.

Method

We retrospectively enrolled 400 consecutive dialysis patients with 464 coronary de novo lesions treated by DCB or DES from five participating institutions in Japan. The primary endpoint was target lesion revascularization (TLR) at 12 months. We performed serial coronary angiographic analysis.

Results

There were no significant differences in the rate of TLR between the groups in either crude or propensity score-matched analysis (DES 14.1% vs. DCB 14.7%, P = 0.864, DES 12.1% vs. 12.1%, P = 1.00). Target lesion thrombosis was not observed in the DCB group; however, stent thrombosis was observed in 7 patients (2.2%) in the DES group. The rate of binary restenosis was similar in both groups (DES, 20.9% vs. DCB, 22.8%; P = 0.749). The late lumen loss at follow-up was significantly greater in the DES group than in the DCB group (0.61 ± 0.76 mm vs 0.22 ± 0.48 mm; P < 0.001). Late lumen enlargement was observed in 38.6% of patients in the DCB group.

Conclusion

The efficacy of DCB angioplasty for de novo coronary artery lesions in dialysis patients was similar to that of DES angioplasty in the real world. Drug-coated balloon angioplasty can be an acceptable treatment for de novo coronary artery lesions in dialysis patients.
Comparison of a 22G Crown-Cut Needle with a Conventional 22G Needle with EBUS Guidance in Diagnosis of Sarcoidosis
Authors: Wälscher J. , Büscher E. , Bonella F. , Karpf-Wissel R. , Costabel U. , Theegarten D. , Rawitzer J. , Wienker J. , Darwiche K.
Published: September 2022

Introduction

Endobronchial ultrasound transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is a standard procedure in cases of enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes. Recently, new tools were developed aiming to improve the diagnostic yield. A novel crown-cut needle is considered to obtain tissue cores which can be beneficial for the evaluation by the pathologist. This study aimed to compare the novel 22G crown-cut needle with a conventional 22G needle with EBUS guidance in the diagnosis of sarcoidosis.

Methods

We designed a single-center prospective randomized clinical trial between March 2020 and January 2021 with 30 patients with mediastinal lymphadenopathy and suspected sarcoidosis.

Results

24 patients (mean age 49.5 vs 54.1, mean FVC 73.7% vs 86.7%, mean DLCO 72.4% vs 72.5% for crown-cut needle vs conventional needle, respectively) were diagnosed with sarcoidosis. In the remaining six patients, sarcoidosis was reasonably excluded. The diagnostic yield for sarcoidosis was 77% with the crown-cut needle vs. 82% with the conventional needle (p > 0.05). In patients with histopathologic hallmarks typical of sarcoidosis (n = 19), the crown-cut needle was superior in detecting granulomas (8.3 vs 3.8 per cytoblock, p < 0.05) and histiocytes (502 vs 186 per cytoblock, p < 0.05). Four of seven bronchoscopists experienced difficulties passing through the bronchial wall with the crown-cut needle and one episode of bleeding occurred in this group which made interventions necessary.

Conclusions

Despite equivalence in diagnostic accuracy, the crown-cut needle was superior to the conventional needle in detecting granulomas and histiocytes. This indicates greater potential for obtaining higher quality sample material with the crown-cut needle in cases of granulomatous inflammation.
The Global Contributions of Working Equids to Sustainable Agriculture and Livelihoods in Agenda 2030
Authors: Grace D. C. , Diall O. , Saville K. , Warboys D. , Ward P. , Wild I. , Perry B. D.
Published: September 2022

Small farmers produce most food in low- and middle-income countries and most small farmers rely on directly or indirectly working equids (WE). The lack of methods and metrics for assessing the role of WE hampers realisation of WE contributions. Based on literature review and a survey of WE welfare experts, we propose a framework for optimising WE potential based on two axes of sustainable development goals (SDGs) and value chains. WE contribute especially to earning and sparing income (largely in food production) (SDG 1), but also have roles in accessing health and hygiene services and products (SDG 3 and 5), providing edible products (SDG 2), and benefiting women (SDG 6), with lesser contributions to other SDGs, notably climate action (SDG 13). Experts identified barriers to appropriate appreciation of WE contributions, in order to target actions to overcome them. They found WE are neglected because they belong to farmers who are themselves neglected; because information on WE is inadequate; and, because the unique nature and roles of WE means systems, policies, investors, markets and service providers struggle to cater for them. Harnessing WE to optimally contribute to sustainable development will require generating better evidence on their contributions to SDGs, ensuring better integration into ongoing efforts to attain SDGs, and building the WE capacity among development actors.
Mobility, Nonstationary Density, and Robbery Distribution in the Tourist Metropolis
Authors: Valente Riccardo , Medina-Ariza Juanjo
Published: September 2022

This study looks at the spatial distribution of robbery against residents as a function of nonstationary density and mobility patterns in the most densely populated city in Spain, Barcelona. Based on the geographical coordinates of mobile devices, we computed two measures of density of the ambient population and the tourist presence, for work days, weekends, and holidays in 2019. Negative binomial regressions are then estimated to analyse whether these measures are correlated with the risk of robbery, controlling for land use and the characteristics of the social environment. The model reveals that residents’ chances of being exposed to robbery in Barcelona depend on the social relevance and tourism attractiveness of certain places at particular times of the year. Our results disclose two sources of social disorganization as stronger predictors of the occurrence of robbery in Barcelona, respectively linked to structural processes of residential instability and daily and seasonal mobility patterns. On the one hand, we found that the effect of the density of international tourists on the outcome variable is mediated by residential volatility, which is assumed to be associated with housing shortages in neighbourhoods where short-term vacation rentals are widespread. On the other hand, the ability to exert effective social control is significantly undermined in urban areas, where the ambient population and the volume of tourists outnumber the resident population, thus increasing incidents of robbery victimization. The implications of these findings for urban policy and crime prevention in the Catalan capital are discussed.
The Role of Support Units in Digital Transformation: How Institutional Entrepreneurs Build Capacity for Online Learning in Higher Education
Authors: Langseth Inger , Jacobsen Dan Yngve , Haugsbakken Halvdan
Published: September 2022

This study used New Institutional Theory to explore how entrepreneurial activities in support units contribute to digital transformation in higher education in Norway. We describe how entrepreneurs initiated and operationalized support for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), micro-credentials and fully online courses in pockets of innovation within existing institutional arrangements. An ambition was to understand why capacity building for digital transformation in a country described by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as digitally mature is lagging behind other countries. We obtained our data from qualitative interviews with faculties and staff involved in fully online course production. The informants were chosen through strategic sampling from support units and faculties, where they filled different roles in the production of such online courses. Our findings describe entrepreneurial activities that strongly contributed to the emerging social field of digital transformation. Located in pockets of innovation, the entrepreneurs provided open digital platforms, a pedagogy for online course design and support for faculties who engaged in online course production. Yet, the findings also confirm previous research pointing out how the lack of supportive leadership may impede successful digital transformation in higher education institutions. The study concludes with a model for digital maturity which may be useful to researchers and stakeholders. The model can also support entrepreneurial processes in online environments.
Farms and forests: evaluating the biodiversity benefits of kelp aquaculture
Authors: Forbes Hunter , Shelamoff Victor , Visch Wouter , Layton Cayne
Published: September 2022

The biodiversity benefits of kelp aquaculture and afforestation are increasingly acclaimed as the industry continues to grow and develop globally, however, whether farmed kelp can provide this ecosystem service remains unclear. Using peer-reviewed literature, we evaluated whether kelp farms provide biodiversity benefits, and identified only 23 studies that discussed the effects of kelp aquaculture on biodiversity, half of which were broad reviews that only assessed the concept of ‘biodiversity’ peripherally (e.g. did not focus on specific responses or taxa). There is also a general lack of experimental research on the topic. Based on the evidence, it seems that kelp farms can create habitat via changes to the local environment, particularly through the provision of structure and changed nutrient cycling. While this can lead to increased abundance and diversity among certain taxa (e.g. fouling organisms), it seems that kelp farms typically create novel habitats that support distinct communities not equivalent to natural kelp forests. Moreover, the potential for kelp farms to support biodiversity depends on a range of operational factors, many of which may be at odds with farming objectives that require the harvest and removal of the habitat that farms provide. While more work needs to be done to address the complexity of comparisons between kelp farms and forests, especially at appropriate experimental scales, it currently seems unlikely that kelp farms will act as kelp forests and deliver meaningful biodiversity outcomes. We should instead recognise farms for providing their own valuable services and support restoration and conservation practices of kelp forests to pursue biodiversity outcomes.
New Material of Schizotheriine Chalicothere (Perissodactyla, Chalicotheriidae) from the Xianshuihe Formation (Early Miocene) of Lanzhou Basin, Northwest China
Authors: Li Zhaoyu , Mörs Thomas , Zhang Yunxiang , Xie Kun , Li Yongxiang
Published: September 2022

A new schizotheriine mandible from the early Miocene Xianshuihe Formation in Lanzhou Basin, Northwest China is described here. Compared with other contemporaneous taxa, the lower jaw is most similar to Borissiakia betpakdalensis from Kazakhstan based on mandibular morphology and dental features, except for a much smaller body size which is hardly explained by intraspecific variation and suggests it represents a smaller body-sized species of Borissiakia. The type specimen of Phyllotillon huangheensis, from the same strata of the Lanzhou Basin, shares characters with the new specimen in the lower cheek teeth and the tapered morphology of the anterior horizontal ramus. Differences between both are reflected in the height of the ramus, especially the level of the symphysis, which may be an expression of sexual dimorphism. Therefore, schizotheriine mandibles from the early Miocene of Lanzhou Basin are regarded as the same taxon, and both are recognized as Borissiakia huangheensis. The occurrence of a chalicothere and other large perissodactyls may suggest that a certain amount of open woodland was distributed across the basin and that the paleoclimate might have been more humid during the early Miocene.
Fork–join and redundancy systems with heavy-tailed job sizes
Authors: Raaijmakers Youri , Borst Sem , Boxma Onno
Published: September 2022

We investigate the tail asymptotics of the response time distribution for the cancel-on-start (c.o.s.) and cancel-on-completion (c.o.c.) variants of redundancy-d scheduling and the fork–join model with heavy-tailed job sizes. We present bounds, which only differ in the pre-factor, for the tail probability of the response time in the case of the first-come first-served discipline. For the c.o.s. variant, we restrict ourselves to redundancy-d scheduling, which is a special case of the fork–join model. In particular, for regularly varying job sizes with tail index-$$\nu $$
ν
the tail index of the response time for the c.o.s. variant of redundancy-d equals -$$\min \{d_{\mathrm {cap}}(\nu -1),\nu \}$$

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replicas is sufficient to achieve the optimal asymptotic tail behavior of the response time. For the c.o.c. variant of the fork–join ($$n_{\mathrm {F}},n_{\mathrm {J}}$$

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, for identical and i.i.d. replicas, respectively; here, the waiting time component is always dominant.
A comprehensive qualitative framework for health-related quality of life in Duchenne muscular dystrophy
Authors: Powell Philip A. , Carlton Jill
Published: September 2022

Purpose

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a rare x-linked neuromuscular condition predominantly affecting boys and men. There is a paucity of research qualitatively detailing the lived experience of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for people with DMD. The aim of this study was to identify a comprehensive framework for better understanding HRQoL in DMD.

Methods

Eighteen boys and men (aged 7 to ≥ 40 years) with DMD were recruited from charity Duchenne UK, a DMD support group, and 5 UK National Health Service Trusts. Semi-structured interviews were conducted using a topic guide informed by a review into HRQoL in DMD. Generic, preference-based, patient-reported outcome measures (PROs) were used as prompts. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using framework analysis.

Results

Thirty-seven themes were coded, within seven categories. Six categories were conceptualised as components of HRQoL (autonomy, daily activities, feelings and emotions, identity, physical aspects, social relationships) and one considered an input (healthcare, support, and environment). Three additional themes were used to code feedback on the generic PROs (CHU-9D, EQ-5D, HUI). Social relationships received most coverage in the data and was noted as an omission from the PROs.

Conclusion

A 30-item framework for HRQoL in DMD has been developed, which was used as input into a new condition-specific HRQoL PRO and preference-based measure: the DMD-QoL. The data has value in its own right in highlighting the lived experience of HRQoL for people with DMD and as a barometer for assessing the content of HRQoL PROs for use in DMD.
A tale of PLS Structural Equation Modelling: Episode I— A Bibliometrix Citation Analysis
Authors: Ciavolino Enrico , Aria Massimo , Cheah Jun-Hwa , Roldán José Luis
Published: September 2022

The structure of knowledge about Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) based on the Partial Least Squares (PLS) estimator has been analysed by systematic and reproducible bibliometric citation analysis. This contribution aims to create a dynamic picture of the PLS-SEM research activity to support scholars with an enhanced understanding of the history, the present and the future directions of this fascinating modelling approach. Analysis was conducted using the Bibliometrix packageR with documents extracted (n = 3,854) from the Web of Science (WoS) database by Clarivate. Hence, we find seminal papers in the context of PLS-SEM as well as the diffusion and use in different research domains, suggesting new directions of applications. We also identify the collaboration networks involving authors and countries to highlight the new potential for cooperation from a co-authorship and international project standpoint. Furthermore, the dynamics of the sources indicate the interest of journals in this field in a dissemination role, which can assist authors in selecting a suitable publisher. Finally, the historiographic overview shows the dominant topics and the possible evolution in the citation analysis from the theoretical and application angles.
Aggregating agents with opinions about different propositions
Authors: Pettigrew Richard
Published: September 2022

There are many reasons we might want to take the opinions of various individuals and pool them to give the opinions of the group they constitute. If all the individuals in the group have probabilistic opinions about the same propositions, there is a host of pooling functions we might deploy, such as linear or geometric pooling. However, there are also cases where different members of the group assign probabilities to different sets of propositions, which might overlap a lot, a little, or not at all. There are far fewer proposals for how to proceed in these cases, and those there are have undesirable features. I begin by considering four proposals and arguing that they don’t work. Then I’ll describe my own proposal, which is intended to cover the situation in which we want to pool the individual opinions in order to ascribe an opinion to the group considered as an agent in its own right.
Conceptualization and development of an autonomous and personalized early literacy content and robot tutor behavior for preschool children
Authors: Almousa Ohoud , Alghowinem Sharifa
Published: September 2022

Personalized learning has a higher impact on students’ progress than traditional approaches. However, current resources required to implement personalization are scarce. This research aims to conceptualize and develop an autonomous robot tutor with personalization policy for preschool children aged between three to five years old. Personalization is performed by automatically adjusting the difficulty level of the lesson delivery and assessment, as well as adjusting the feedback based on the reaction of children. This study explores three child behaviors for the personalization policy: (i) academic knowledge (measured by the correctness of the answer), (ii) executive functioning of attention (measured by the orientation and the gaze direction of child’s body), and (iii) working memory or hesitation (measured by the time lag before the answer). Moreover, this study designed lesson content through interviews with teachers and deployed the personalization interaction policy through the NAO robot with five children in a case user study method. We qualitatively analyze the session observations and parent interviews, as well as quantitatively analyze knowledge gain through pre- and posttests and a parent questionnaire. The findings of the study reveal that the personalized interaction with the robot showed a positive potential in increasing the children’s learning gains and attracting their engagement. As general guidelines based on this pilot study, we identified additional personalization strategies that could be used for autonomous personalization policies based on each child’s behavior, which could have a considerable impact on child learning.
A note on blow-up solutions for a scalar differential equation with a discrete delay
Authors: Ishiwata Tetsuya , Nakata Yukihiko
Published: September 2022

We study blow-up solutions for a general scalar differential equation with a discrete delay. It is shown that the existence of blow-up solutions for a discrete delay differential equation (DDE) is proven by finding blow-up solutions to an associated autonomous ordinary differential equation (ODE). We give an example that the existence of blow-up solutions to an associated autonomous ODE does not necessarily imply the existence of blow-up solutions to DDEs. Nevertheless, for a class of discrete DDEs, we prove that the existence of blow-up solutions implies the existence of blow-up solutions to associated autonomous ODEs. For special cases, we study the asymptotic behavior and the blow-up rate of the blow-up solutions.
3D Printing, Intellectual Property Rights and Medical Emergencies: In Search of New Flexibilities
Authors: Ballardini Rosa Maria , Mimler Marc , Minssen Timo , Salmi Mika
Published: September 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has exponentially accelerated the use of 3D printing (3DP) technologies in healthcare. Surprisingly, though, we have seen hardly any public intellectual property right (IPR) disputes concerning the 3D-printed medical equipment produced to cope with this crisis. Yet it can be assumed that a great variety of IPRs could potentially have been enforced against the use of various items of equipment printed out without express consent from IP holders. Many reasons might have motivated IP owners not to enforce their rights during the pandemic, such as the fear of acquiring a bad reputation during a declared situation of national emergency. There is no internationally recognised general exception to IPR enforcement for health emergencies, while several − sometimes ineffective − tools, like compulsory licensing, voluntary licensing arrangements and potential TRIPS waivers, have been considered or used to facilitate access to and the distribution of innovations in critical situations. During the COVID-19 emergency, this has meant that the 3DP community has been operating in a state of relative uncertainty including with regard to the risks of IP infringement. This study contextualises these issues for pandemic-relevant 3DP. Building upon experience gathered during the COVID-19 pandemic, we look to the future to see what novel mechanisms within the IPR system could provide the additional flexibility required for dealing more smoothly, with the help and support of digital technologies, with situations such as global health emergencies.
Motion and elastic response of wind-tracing floating offshore wind turbines
Authors: Lamei Azin , Hayatdavoodi Masoud , Riggs H. Ronald
Published: September 2022

A multi-unit floating offshore wind turbine concept, the wind-tracing floating offshore wind turbine, is introduced. In this concept, the floating structure is a triangular platform that hosts three 5 MW wind turbines and is moored to the seabed with a turret-bearing mooring system. This mooring system allows the structure to rotate about the turret such that the total yaw moment by the environmental load on the turret is minimized. In this study, the optimum properties of the mooring lines and the location of the turret are determined. To identify the preferred location of the turret, the responses of the structure to combined co-directional and misaligned wind and wave loads are computed. The motions of the structure are obtained with a frequency-domain numerical model integrated with structural finite-element method for hydroelastic and aeroelastic analyses. The hydrodynamic and aerodynamic loads are obtained by wave diffraction theory and steady blade element momentum method, respectively. Finally, with the optimum configuration of the mooring system, the motion and aero- and hydroelastic responses of the fully flexible wind-tracing floating offshore wind turbines to combined waves and wind loads are determined and discussed.
Freestanding and Flexible Interfacial Layer Enables Bottom-Up Zn Deposition Toward Dendrite-Free Aqueous Zn-Ion Batteries
Authors: Ying Hangjun , Huang Pengfei , Zhang Zhao , Zhang Shunlong , Han Qizhen , Zhang Zhihao , Wang Jianli , Han Wei-Qiang
Published: September 2022

Aqueous rechargeable zinc ion batteries are regarded as a competitive alternative to lithium-ion batteries because of their distinct advantages of high security, high energy density, low cost, and environmental friendliness. However, deep-seated problems including Zn dendrite and adverse side reactions severely impede the practical application. In this work, we proposed a freestanding Zn-electrolyte interfacial layer composed of multicapsular carbon fibers (MCFs) to regulate the plating/stripping behavior of Zn anodes. The versatile MCFs protective layer can uniformize the electric field and Zn2+ flux, meanwhile, reduce the deposition overpotentials, leading to high-quality and rapid Zn deposition kinetics. Furthermore, the bottom-up and uniform deposition of Zn on the Zn-MCFs interface endows long-term and high-capacity plating. Accordingly, the Zn@MCFs symmetric batteries can keep working up to 1500 h with 5 mAh cm−2. The feasibility of the MCFs interfacial layer is also convinced in Zn@MCFs||MnO2 batteries. Remarkably, the Zn@MCFs||α-MnO2 batteries deliver a high specific capacity of 236.1 mAh g−1 at 1 A g−1 with excellent stability, and maintain an exhilarating energy density of 154.3 Wh kg−1 at 33% depth of discharge in pouch batteries.
The devil’s in the detail – counting unique and organic contract cheating sites targeting higher education students in the UAE as a call to delegitimize them
Authors: Khan Zeenath Reza
Published: September 2022

When considering a paradigm shift in higher education, it is imperative to focus on removing obstacles against maintaining integrity in academia. One such obstacle is contract cheating sites that have mushroomed disproportionately during the 18 months of emergency distance learning threatening graduate quality and university reputations (McKie, Essay mills targeting students as pandemic crisis shifts HE online, 2020). It was sharply brought to focus in 2015 due to a mass-scale scandal involving 16 universities and more than 1000 students leading to a subsequent law making such services illegal in Australia. Contract cheating is a mushrooming industry that is constantly targeting often unsuspecting students under the guise of legitimate help. Moreover, these services in turn began black mailing students after delivering services (Draper et al., Int J Educ Integr 17:13, 2021). It is therefore vital to explore the existence and number of such websites that target students in UAE, sometimes using university logos to show legitimacy to understand the extent of the problem. This is primarily because an accurate measure of the extent does not currently exist (Newton, Front Educ 3:67, 2018). Curtis et al. (Stud High Educ. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2021.1972093, 2021) have reported on self-reported cases from students which can be varied and often under-reported. This study is an attempt at using Boolean search technique to count unique and organic websites that have manifested. Coded analysis was used to collate the websites and count the total number of searches. For a total of 34 unique and organic websites, 29 showed azscore higher than the mean value 2.94, at standard deviation of 1.89, positing that the probability of appearance of these 29 websites across different search engines, different browsers and across separate search keywords was significant. This demonstrates the aggressive nature of these sites and their considerable efforts to offer a service that is harmful and detrimental to the students and education sector. This study is a milestone towards developing a nation-wide understanding of contract cheating in the UAE. It is also positioned as a proposal for higher education sustainability in the nation to look to ban services that offer to write assignments for students with or without a fee as a top-down approach to tackling the issue.
An example of a Brauer–Manin obstruction to weak approximation at a prime with good reduction
Authors: Pagano Margherita
Published: September 2022

Following Bright and Newton, we construct an explicit K3 surface over the rational numbers having good reduction at 2, and for which 2 is the only prime at which weak approximation is obstructed.
Counter-Mapping with Sounds in the Practices of Postdigital Pedagogy
Authors: Krawczak Michał
Published: September 2022

The article analyses the methods of postdigital pedagogy based on critical media design (CMD), and collective practices which involve using sound recording and emission as a tool for counter-mapping the problems associated with the history and politics of digitally mediated urbanism. The article provides a detailed account of, and draws on materials from, the Emotional Urban Weather workshop conducted in 2014, in Warsaw, for an international group of professional young researchers, designers, artists and activists. The workshop took place in specially chosen districts of the Polish capital, in which the participants applied various sound design and critical media design strategies in order to address the historical, social, economic and political problems related to this place. Using technological tools capable of recording, emitting and measuring the parameters of sound, they prepared forms of sound intervention in the city. At the same time, this process became an experimental way of ‘opening up’ the problematics of a place by counter-mapping complex socio-cultural issues. Reflection on the workshop and its outcomes have contributed to the development of a postdigital pedagogy. The practices of critical media design (CDM), when combined with field recordings, affective listening and sound intervention, allow various technologies to be incorporated into theoretical critique and new forms of experimental engagement.
Mary Shepherd
Authors: LoLordo Antonia
Published: September 2022

There has recently been a resurgence of interest in the early nineteenth century Scottish philosopher Mary Shepherd. This Element is intended to provide an overview of Shepherd's system, including her views on the following wide range of topics: causation, induction, knowledge of the external world, matter, life, animal cognition, the relationship between mind and body, the immortality of the soul, the existence of God, miracles, and the nature of divine creation. The author also provides an overview of relevant secondary literature and argues for their own interpretation of Shepherd's metaphysics.
The Deep Roots of Modern Democracy
Authors: Gerring John , Apfeld Brendan , Wig Tore , Tollefsen Andreas Forø
Published: September 2022

This book explores the deep roots of modern democracy, focusing on geography and long-term patterns of global diffusion. Its geographic argument centers on access to the sea, afforded by natural harbors which enhance the mobility of people, goods, capital, and ideas. The extraordinary connectivity of harbor regions thereby affected economic development, the structure of the military, statebuilding, and openness to the world – and, through these pathways, the development of representative democracy. The authors' second argument focuses on the global diffusion of representative democracy. Beginning around 1500, Europeans started to populate distant places abroad. Where Europeans were numerous they established some form of representative democracy, often with restrictions limiting suffrage to those of European heritage. Where they were in the minority, Europeans were more reticent about popular rule and often actively resisted democratization. Where Europeans were entirely absent, the concept of representative democracy was unfamiliar and its practice undeveloped.
A New History of Greek Mathematics
Authors: Netz Reviel
Published: September 2022

The ancient Greeks played a fundamental role in the history of mathematics and their ideas were reused and developed in subsequent periods all the way down to the scientific revolution and beyond. In this, the first complete history for a century. Reviel Netz offers a panoramic view of the rise and influence of Greek mathematics and its significance in world history. He explores the Near Eastern antecedents and the social and intellectual developments underlying the subject's beginnings in Greece in the fifth century BCE. He leads the reader through the proofs and arguments of key figures like Archytas, Euclid and Archimedes, and considers the totality of the Greek mathematical achievement which also includes, in addition to pure mathematics, such applied fields as optics, music, mechanics and, above all, astronomy. This is the story not only of a major historical development, but of some of the finest mathematics ever created.