bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pedagogy and Other Unfortunate Events: Cheerful Nihilism in Popular Children’s Books
Authors: Do Rozario Rebecca-Anne C.
Published: January 2022

Teaching the difference between right and wrong has long been a pedagogical function ascribed to and demonstrated in children's books. Childhood itself is dominated by educational institutions, practices and theories; even the process of ageing is regulated by a child's schooling. Children's authors, perhaps as a consequence, often focus attention upon school, situating an articulation and dissemination of values within the educational sphere. Children's authors, however, sometimes reject imposed value constructions, creating nihilistic discourses with which to mock and rebuff pedagogical aims and practices. Lemony Snicket, for example, sends his unfortunate protagonists, the Baudelaire orphans, to boarding school in the fifth book of A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Austere Academy (2000). The orphans' initial impression of the 'pointless' (2000, p.4) physical exercises endured by the students is confirmed by their observation that the Prufrock Preparatory School's motto is 'Memento Mori,' or 'Remember you will die' (2000, p.13). Lemony Snicket, like J.K. Rowling and Eoin Colfer, sees nothing incongruous in the simultaneous experiences of education and death, oblivion or general meaninglessness. This paper examines nihilistic discourses elaborating pedagogy as explored in popular, contemporary children's narratives, analysing movements between pessimism and optimism or, in fact, what can be interpreted as cheerful nihilism.
‘If I’ve arksed youse boys once, I’ve arksed youse boys a thousand times!’: Translation Strategies in the German Translation of Phillip Gwynne’s Deadly, Unna?
Authors: Gerber Leah
Published: January 2022

The primary focus of work in the area of translation studies is to observe the continuum in which a translation takes place; the textual and extratextual constraints imposed on the translator (Bassnet & Lefevere 1998, pp. 123-4) when creating a translation strategy. The following aspects have been cited as most integral to the study of translated children's literature :(1) the assumption that children's books build bridges between different cultures; (2) textspecific challenges to the translator; (3) the polysystem theory which classifies children's literature as a subsystem of minor prestige within literature; and (4) the age-specific addressees either as implied or real readers (Tabbert 2002, p. 303). The merging of cultural studies with translation studies in the 1970s gave rise to the polysystem theory as a way of viewing the function of literary translation in a certain (cultural) context or system. The final product of the act of translation is the result of the relationship between a 'source system' and a 'target system' (Even-Zohar 1981). In viewing translation as part of a transfer process, the translation occurs from one language to another, but also from one system to another (Shavit 1986, p.111). Children's literature exists within this literary polysystem. This article will focus on the key question of how certain Australian cultural signifiers are transferred from the Australian source text to the German target text through the act of translation.
Cross-Generational Negotiations: Asian Australian Picture Books
Authors: Bradford Clare
Published: January 2022

The picture books which focus on the everyday experiences of children growing up in a multicultural society, where cultural diversity is very often symbolised by objects or artifacts whose production and meanings involve cross-cultural negotiations are discussed. The books discussed are Old Magic, Grandpa and Ah Gong, Grandpa's Mask, What a Mess, and Fang Fang.
‘I don’t like your kind of people’: Cultural Pluralism in Odo Hirsch’s Have Courage, Hazel Green
Authors: Pennell Beverley
Published: January 2022

The three ways that 'Have Courage, Hazel Green' narrativises the operation and effects of racist values in the Moodey Building's community, is focused. This opens up the possibility that where Australian texts take a multicultural context for granted they may only be representing a cosmetic change to Australian identity and thus continue to be ideologically superficial.
Not Quite White (Enough): Intersecting Ethnic and Gendered Identities in Looking for Alibrandi
Authors: McInally Kathryn
Published: January 2022

The intersections between raced and gendered identity, treating identity-formation as a function of biological, cultural and ideological codifications that cannot be readily disentangled is assessed by an analysis of the novel 'Looking for Alibrandi.' This novel embodies this intersection of identity politics in ways that suggest that rethinking multiculturalism and whiteness also mean rethinking gender.
Editorial
Authors: Bradford Clare , Mallan Kerry
Published: January 2022

The cover of this issue of Papers features an image which appears in the First Book of the Victorian Readers, originally published in 1928. As Jane McGennisken demonstrates in her essay on Australian mythologies of childhood in the Tasmanian and Victorian readers, the literary texts selected for these readers represent Australian children as innocent inhabitants of a young country, a conceit also proposed by Ethel Turner at the beginning of Seven Little Australians: ‘the land and the people are young-hearted together’. McGennisken argues that these imaginings of an innocent Australian childhood are analogous with mythologies of an innocent nation, which act to divert attention from the (less innocent) histories of imperialism fundamental to the nation’s foundation. Another preoccupation of the readers is the idea of the child as leader, in stories about courageous children like Grace Bussell, who in rescuing the victims of a shipwreck demonstrates the qualities of Australian girlhood by exercising a motherly concern. The readers constitute an important component of reading material for Australian children from the late 19th century until the 1940s; the online database AustLit: the Australian Literature Resource now includes a section on the Victorian Readers and the Victorian School Papers, at: http://www.austlit.edu.au/ (go to ’research Communities’, ‘Australian Children’s Literature’ and ‘the Victorian Classroom’).
Towards Reclaiming the Colonised Mind: The Liberating Fantasies of Duiker and Ihimaera
Authors: Brown Molly
Published: January 2022

Ursula le Guin once observed that `'the story - from Rumpelstiltskin to War and Peace - is one of the basic tools invented by the human mind, for the purpose of gaining understanding' and that while `'there have been great societies that did not use the wheel there have been no societies that did not tell stories' (1989, p.27). By comparing the story to the wheel, she gently reminds the technology-obsessed reader that verbal structures have as much, if not more, to offer our world than mechanical ones and that while one tells or listens to stories one is not merely taking part in an idle entertainment but performing an action with vital and potentially transformative functions.
Gossip Girls in a Transmedia World: The Sexual and Technological Anxieties of Integral Reality
Authors: Toffoletti Kim
Published: January 2022

The proliferation of sexualised imagery of children and adolescents – especially girls – within media and advertising has elicited considerable public debate and academic discussion within Australia and overseas. Within these debates, girls are commonly configured as being ‘at risk’, that is, in danger of being sexualised, objectified and exploited. They are said to be in danger of growing up believing that popularity and success are tied to sexual appeal (Durham 2008; Reist 2008; Rush and La Nauze 2006). Books for young people are not exempt from these critiques, with children’s literature implicated in the agendas of mainstream consumer culture (Kline 1993). A case in point is Cecily von Ziegesar’s hugely popular Gossip Girl series, which has come under fire, most notably by American feminist Naomi Wolfe (2006) in a review essay for the New York Times. Wolfe criticises the books, and others like them, for fostering the sexualisation of young women through the championing of sex, shopping and status as the pathways to social approval and personal fulfillment for teenage girls. While acknowledging an established history of texts that grapple with the dilemmas of adolescence – including themes of sexual exploration and identification – Wolfe insists that these newer versions of the genre are not in keeping with ‘the frank sexual exploration found in a Judy Blume novel’, but instead present us with ‘teenage sexuality via Juicy Couture, blasé and entirely commodified’ (Wolfe 2006).
China in a Book: Victorian Representations of the ‘Celestial Kingdom’ in William Dalton’s The Wolf Boy of China
Authors: Chen Shih-Wen
Published: January 2022

Despite the wealth of material related to China in Victorian and Edwardian children’s literature, relatively few scholarly works have been published on the subject. Critics who have discussed the topic have tended to emphasize the negative discourse and stereotypical images of the Chinese in late nineteenth-century children’s literature. I use the case of William Dalton’s The Wolf Boy of China (1857), one of the earliest full-length Victorian children’s novels set in China, to complicate previous generalizations about negative representations of China and the Chinese and to highlight the unpredictable nature of child readers’ reactions to a text. First, in order to trace the complicated process of how information about the country was disseminated, edited, framed, and translated before reaching Victorian and Edwardian readers, I analyse how Dalton wove fragments from his reading of a large archive of texts on China into his novel. Although Dalton may have preserved and transmitted some ‘factual’ information about China from his sources, he also transformed material that he read in innovative ways. These are reflected in the more subversive and radical parts of the novel, which are discussed in the second part of the essay. In the final section, I provide examples of historical readers of The Wolf Boy of China to challenge the notion that children passively accept the imperialist messages in books of empire.
Shifting back to and away from girlhood: magic changes in age in children’s fantasy novels by Diana Wynne Jones
Authors: Lehtonen Sanna
Published: January 2022

The intersection of age and gender in children’s stories is perhaps most evident in coming-of-age narratives in which aging, and the ways in which aging affects gender, are usually seen as natural, if complicated, processes. In regard to coming-of-age, magic changes in age in fantastic stories – whether the result of a spell or a time-shift – are particularly interesting, because they disrupt the natural aging process and potentially offer critical perspectives on aged and gendered subjectivities. This paper examines age-shifting caused by fantastic time slips in two novels by Diana Wynne Jones, The Time of the Ghost (1981) and Hexwood (1993). The main concern of the paper is how the female protagonists’ gendered and aged subjectivities are constructed in the texts, with a particular focus on the representations of girlhood. Gender and age are examined both as embodied and performed by examining the ways in which the shifts back to and away from girlhood affect the protagonists’ subjective agency and their experiences of their gendered bodies at different ages.
John Mystery and the Australian Book Trade
Authors: O'Conor Juliet
Published: January 2022

The Children’s Literature Collection at the State Library of Victoria holds over 100,000 Australian and overseas children’s books published between the sixteenth and twenty-first centuries. In 1994 this collection was significantly enhanced through the acquisition of the Ken Pound collection of children’s books and ephemera. When buying at local fairs and markets over twenty-five years, Ken Pound made no distinction between quality of content or ephemerality. If a publication addressed a child readership, Ken Pound added it to his collection. The State Library’s acquisition of this collection means that publications from small Australian publishers, variant editions of titles, advertising, merchandising and other ephemeral material augment the existing strengths of the Children’s Literature Collection. The comprehensive scope of the Australian component of this heritage collection of children’s books positions it as a unique research resource for children’s literature scholars.
I begin by identifying the factors that operated to relegate the John Mystery children’s books to the forgotten basket of Australian literary heritage. The John Mystery emporium occupied a niche in the Australian book trade at a time when existing Australian publishers were minimizing output due to war-time restrictions on labour and materials. In contextualizing the John Mystery phenomenon, I compare the flamboyance and eccentricity of the creator, Lester Sinclair, with the earlier entrepreneur, E. W. Cole, who employed similarly theatrical marketing strategies. Also, I interrogate content of a selection of John Mystery titles and reflect on the values embedded in these seemingly innocent escapist fantasies. Finally I will suggest how the State Library of Victoria’s heritage collections present potential resources for scholars of children’s literature.
A Token to the Future: A Digital ‘Archive’ of Early Australian Children’s Literature
Authors: Mallan Kerry , Cross Amy , Allan Cherie
Published: January 2022

The archive has always been a pledge, and like every pledge [gage], a token of the future. To put it more trivially: what is no longer archived in the same way is no longer lived in the same way. Archivable meaning is also and in advance codetermined by the structure that archives. It begins with the printer. (Derrida 1995, p.18)
As Derrida notes the printer is the originary source that enables the production of an archive whether it is a rare or special book collection, or a digital archive. The scope and purpose of any archive or special collection vary according to institutional or personal reasons, and budget. In his article, ‘The Child, the Scholar, and the Children’s Literature Archive’ (2011), Kenneth Kidd writes that ‘like the canon, the archive promises coherence and totality, reinforces the idea of a literary heritage... For scholars, the archive is primarily a site for research’ (p.2). Kidd is quite right to imply that what an archive promises may not be achievable. An archive is always incomplete, never a totality. It also offers a partial account of a literary heritage; it can never offer the complete picture as history is always marked by silences and absences, and the literature of any country is similarly never fully accounted. Previously unknown writers of the past and forgotten stories continually emerge as historians and literary scholars undertake their own specialised archaeological digs as these texts ‘burrow into the past’ separating readers from them at an astonishing rate (Derrida, 1995, p.18).
Books or Toys? A Traveller’s Tale: Researching Early Movable Books for and by Children in Material and Virtual Collections
Authors: Reid-Walsh Jacqueline
Published: January 2022

A number of years ago, I first experienced the thrill of gaining access to the Bodleian Library at Oxford University and being granted permission to see some of the books that compose the famous Opie Collection. This joy as I sat in the New Bodleian Reading room was compounded when the Head of the Special Collections Clive Hurst, upon being told my interest in early children’s literature and culture, brought by an exquisite, little thin mid-18th century volume. When he opened it up it revealed a story of words and etched pictures about a set of characters called Harlequin, Columbine, and Clown that proceeded by means of flaps that could be lifted up and down, the directions for use sometimes being set in the verse or printed on top of the picture. He looked at me and said, ‘Are these books or toys?’
Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Books: Toronto Public Library’s Research Collection of Juvenile Material
Authors: McGrath Leslie Anne
Published: January 2022

'Viewing in my mind your vast and enterprising country, it is a great pleasure to feel that Toronto possesses a storehouse of rare and valuable children’s books which should enable students from all quarters of the globe to study in comfort the development and also the effects on young people of the books that have been written for them over the ages.' Edgar Osborne, letter to Harry Campbell, Chief Librarian of Toronto Public Library. April 22, 1964.
At the time he wrote this letter, Edgar Osborne (1890-1978) had just received a doctor of laws degree, honoris causa, from the University of Toronto, in recognition of his contribution to Canadian literary history and education through the gift of the collection subsequently named in his honour. The conferral had been the highlight of a colloquium, joined by guests from around the world, held to celebrate the donation, made fifteen years earlier. Osborne had cause to be satisfied, for already the original 2,000 items had increased by some thousands, through gifts and purchases; the Collection was properly housed and a subject expert, Judith St. John, had prepared a scholarly catalogue of its holdings.
Introduction: Special Issue Emotion in Children’s Literature
Authors: Bullen Elizabeth , Moruzi Kristine , Smith Michelle J
Published: January 2022

This special issue emerges out of the 2014 Australasian Children’s Literature Association for Research (ACLAR) conference held at Deakin University, which brought together scholars from around the world to discuss affect, ideology, and texts for young people. The ‘affective turn’ in the humanities, the emergence of the field of cognitive poetics, and recent research in the history of emotions have revived interest in the representation of emotion in literary texts and their capacity to elicit affective responses in readers and promote empathy. According to Lawrence Grossberg, ‘It is the affective investment which enables ideological relations to be internalized and, consequently, naturalized’ (1992, p. 83). This is of particular interest in relation to children’s literature, not least because the appeal to the reader of fiction for children and young adults is as likely to be emotional as it is cognitive or rational. A young reader’s affective investment in the existence and events of the fictional world can be manipulated in the service of the didactic agendas of the text. As such, the representation of emotion and the role of affect in reader positioning are categories of analysis that require critical scrutiny.
The Charity of Witches: Watching the Edges in Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching Novels
Authors: Do Rozario Rebecca-Anne
Published: January 2022

Terry Pratchett’s final novel, The Shepherd’s Crown, was published months after his death in 2015. The novel concludes the story arc of Tiffany Aching, hero of the Discworld children’s/young adult novels that include The Wee Free Men (2003), A Hat Full of Sky (2004), Wintersmith (2006), and I Shall Wear Midnight (2010). The arc follows the heroine from the age of nine through her teenage years and although classified as children’s or young adult novels, the novels merge seamlessly with the adult Discworld series. The novels’ status within children’s literature is sustained by a thematic core: Tiffany grows up. Her negotiation of childhood and adolescence, however, is shaped less by the valorisation of youth and desire for fame and fortune than by the example of old women and their dedication to public service. These old women are witches and they mind the margins of their community, as renowned witch Esmeralda Weatherwax explains of their work: “There’re a lot of edges, more than people know. Between life and death, this world and the next, night and day, right and wrong...an’ they need watchin’. We watch ‘em, we guard the sum of things. And we never ask for any reward. That’s important” (Pratchett 2010c). This article investigates how Pratchett draws on the history of fairy tales about witches and old women with their varied traditions of care and preservation, and reaches a narrative conclusion for the young heroine that rejects traditional fairy tale resolutions of romance, fame, or fortune. Instead, he endorses the heroic and everyday work performed at the ‘edges.’
Foreword
Authors: Eaton Anthony
Published: January 2022

Foreword
Daughters of The Handmaid’s Tale: Reproductive Rights in YA Dystopian Fiction
Authors: Urquhart Ilona
Published: January 2022

The election of President Trump in the US has reignited discussions regarding reproductive rights and renewed interest in Margaret Atwood’s 1984 dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, which depicts a future society in which women are stripped of these rights. However, the novel does not explore how threats to reproductive rights might affect teenage girls. The gap left in Atwood’s novel has been filled by authors of dystopias for young adults who foreground the double threat to teenage girls because of their sex and age. This paper discusses the way in which these novels show teenage girls resisting against societies that seek to dictate how they use their bodies, with Megan McCafferty’s Bumped and Thumped having a particularly strong political edge. Through the insights of feminist critic Drucilla Cornell, this paper shows that the challenges to characters’ reproductive rights in these texts may encourage readers to consider themselves as sexual subjects and take responsibility for that sexual subject, even if it requires political action.
Identification, Quantification and Biodegradation of Microplastics in Aquatic Environment by Metabolism of Microorganisms
Authors: Liu Hongyu , Zhang Jun , Sun Yuchen , Liu Liwei , Zhang Huan , Wei Junfu
Published: January 2022

Microplastics pollution in aquatic environment has become a global environmental problem. However, technologies for identification, quantification and especially for efficient degradation of microplastics remain largely underdeveloped. This work presents a protocol which can identify and biodegrade microplastics based on the metabolizing of microorganism. Raman spectroscopy and FTIR spectrometry identify the main substance of the separated microplastics is polyolefin. CLSM images stained with Nile red reveal the shape and size of the microplastics. EDS elemental maps suggest the C/O ratio in the microplastics. The microorganism used without domestication by microplastics exhibit an efficient performance in degrading of microplastics by metabolizing. The microorganism grew and inhabited on or in the microplastics, and then metabolized them. 0.22 g of microplastics on the filter paper (d=50mm) can be degraded completely after 33 days.
Psychometric performance of the Mental Health Implementation Science Tools (mhIST) across six low- and middle-income countries
Authors: Aldridge Luke R , Kemp Christopher G , Bass Judith K , Danforth Kristen , Kane Jeremy C , Hamdani Syed U , Marsch Lisa A , Uribe-Restrepo José M , Nguyen Amanda J , Bolton Paul A , Murray Laura K , Haroz Emily E
Published: January 2022

Background
Existing implementation measures developed in high-income countries may have limited appropriateness for use within low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). In response, researchers at Johns Hopkins University began developing the Mental Health Implementation Science Tools (mhIST) in 2013 to assess priority implementation determinants and outcomes across four key stakeholder groups – consumers, providers, organization leaders, and policy makers – with dedicated versions of scales for each group. These were field tested and refined in several contexts, and criterion validity was established in Ukraine. The Consumer and Provider mhIST have since grown in popularity in mental health research, outpacing psychometric evaluation. Our objective was to establish the cross-context psychometric properties of these versions and inform future revisions.
Methods
We compiled data from seven studies across six LMIC – Colombia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Thailand, Ukraine, and Zambia – to evaluate the psychometric performance of the Consumer and Provider mhIST. We used exploratory factor analysis to identify dimensionality, factor structure, and item loadings for each scale within each stakeholder version. We also used alignment analysis (i.e., multi-group confirmatory factor analysis) to estimate measurement invariance and differential item functioning of the Consumer scales across the six countries.
Results
All but one scale within the Provider and Consumer versions had a Cronbach’s alpha greater than 0.8. Exploratory factor analysis indicated most scales were multidimensional, with factors generally aligning with a priori subscales for the Provider version; the Consumer version has no predefined subscales. Alignment analysis of the Consumer mhIST indicated a range of measurement invariance for scales across settings (R2 0.46 to 0.77). Several items were identified for potential revision due to participant non-response or low or cross- factor loadings. We found only one item – which asked consumers whether their intervention provider was available when needed – to have differential item functioning in both intercept and loading.
Conclusion
We provide evidence that the Consumer and Provider versions of the mhIST are internally valid and reliable across diverse contexts and stakeholder groups for mental health research in LMIC. We recommend the instrument be revised based on these analyses and future research examine instrument utility by linking measurement to other outcomes of interest.
Acute Toxicity Characterization of Organic UV-filters and Chronic Exposure Revealing Multigenerational Effects in Daphnia Magna
Authors: de Paula Vinícius de C. S. , Gomes Monike F. , Martins Lucia R. R. , Yamamoto Flávia , Freitas Adriane
Published: January 2022

Organic ultraviolet (UV) filters have often been detected in aquatic ecosystems in concentrations ranging from ng/L to μg/L. However, both their acute and chronic effects on aquatic organisms have been insufficiently explored. This study aimed to firstly evaluate acute toxicity of some of the main UV filters used worldwide (2-ethylhexyl,4-methoxycinnamate/EHMC, avobenzone/AVO, benzophenone-3/BP-3, and octocrylene/OC), in three aquatic organisms (Artemia salina, Desmodesmus subspicatus, and Daphnia magna), to further investigate multigenerational effects in D. magna. After confirming the acute toxicity, D. magna individuals were chronically exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations of UV filters for two consecutive generations (F0 and F1), and reproductive endpoints, as well as catalase (CAT) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activities, were assessed. EHMC showed the most toxic potential, with the lowest EC50 values for the three organisms. On the other hand, reproductive delays and a decrease in the reproduction rate were observed in the F1 generation exposed to AVO (4.4 µg/L), BP-3 (0.17 µg/L), EHMC (0.2 µg/L), and MIX. An increase of the CAT activity in organisms exposed to BP-3 and EHMC suggested induction of the antioxidant system. Although no reproductive effect was observed in the first generation, toxic effects obtained in the F1 revealed the importance of multigenerational studies and the potential harm of UV filters to the life cycle of D. magna, even at environmentally relevant concentrations. This emphasizes the need for further studies considering these levels of exposure and more realistic experimental designs to better understand their potential risks.
Early Access to a Cardio-Oncology Clinic in an Australian Context: A Qualitative Exploration of Patient Experiences.
Authors: White Jennifer , Byles Julie , Williams Trent , Untaru Rossana , Ngo Doan , Sverdlov Aaron
Published: January 2022

BackgroundDedicated cardio-oncology services are an emerging rapidly around the world to provide cardiovascular care (CV) for cancer patients. Greater understanding of patient perceptions is important in order to inform future service provision that promotes integrated care.MethodsAn interpretative qualitative study. Fifteen, in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with diverse range of community dwelling patients who attended a newly established cardio-oncology clinic in a large regional city in Australia. Data were analysed using an inductive thematic approach.ResultsKey themes were identified: (1) Access to a cardio-oncology clinic promotes information and understanding, (2) The experience of early CV intervention, (3) Factors promoting integrated care, (4) Balancing cancer and CV symptoms and (5) Managing past and emerging CV risk factors.ConclusionAs cardio oncology clinics continue to emerge, this study confirms the benefit of early access to a cardiologist for management of existing or emerging CV risk factors and diseases in the context of cancer treatment. Participants valued the opportunity for regular monitoring and management of CV issues that enabled them to continue cancer treatment. However, we identified gaps in education and support towards making positive lifestyle changes that reduce the risk of CV diseases in cancer patients.Trial RegistrationNot applicable
Energy-economic analysis and environmental impacts of greenhouse crops (cucumber and tomato) production using life cycle assessment approach (case study: Tehran province, Iran)
Authors: Ahmadbeyki Amirhossein , Ghahderijani Mohammad , Borghaee Alimohammad , Bakhoda Hossein
Published: January 2022

Considering the energy consumption per unit area of the greenhouse industry, the study of energy consumption and energy indicators is one of the goals of this research. The results of cucumber input and output energy were 405405.75 MJ ha-1 and 104982.94 MJ ha-1, respectively. Subsequently, the input (412911.99 MJ ha-1) and output (228281.37 MJ ha-1) energies of the tomato were also calculated. Diesel fuel had the largest share of energy consumption in the production of cucumber and tomato to more than 60%. Energy ratio <1, energy productivity <1, specific energy >1 and net energy gain <0 were obtained. LCA method was used to review and compare the publications of the studied products. The results of ReCiPe method showed that the categories of resources, human health and ecosystems were ranked first to third in terms of environmental emissions, respectively. The highest environmental publications are on-greenhouse emissions, diesel fuel and electricity with a share of about 80, 70 and 15 percent, respectively. Emissions from tomato production were lower than cucumber production in all classification groups. The cumulative exergy demand method examined the forms of renewable and non-renewable energies. Non-renewable, fossil form had a significant share for cucumber (2802.88 MJ ton–1) and tomato (1301.14 MJ ton–1). In various forms of renewable and non-renewable energy, chemical fertilizers were more effective than other inputs.
Eye Tear Activated Mg-Air Battery Driven By Natural Eye Blinking For Smart Contact Lenses
Authors: Pourshaban Erfan , Banerjee Aishwaryadev , Karkhanis Mohit , Deshpande Adwait , Ghosh Chayanjit , Kim Hanseup , Mastrangelo Carlos
Published: January 2022

Smart, adaptive contact lenses (SCLs) are amongst the most anticipated, next-generation, standalone medical devices. SCLs require the integration of thin microelectronic components, tunable lenses, and micro-power sources onto a common non-planar substrate. Here, we report a miniaturized, sliding metal-air electrochemical micro-battery driven by natural eye blinking motion that can be integrated with an SCL platform as a source of electrical energy. The metal-air battery (3⋅8 mm2) consists of a Mg anode and a Pt cathode. The electrolyte of the battery is the eye-tear liquid and is introduced to the battery structure during the natural eye-blinking cycle, which activates the battery. The open-circuit voltage across the eye-tear activated metal-air battery (ETMAB) was measured to be 2.2 V and the maximum specific capacity of 3561 mA h g−1 was obtained at a discharge current density of 5 mA·cm−2. Impedance matching analysis exhibits the maximum generated power density of 1.3 mW·cm−2 at the load of 740 Ω.
The Interconnected Dynamics of Partnership and HIV: A Qualitative Exploration of Experiences from Heterosexual Individuals Newly Diagnosed With HIV
Authors: Sohail Maira , Levitan Emily B. , Long Dustin M. , Mugavero Michael J. , Ojesina Akinyemi I. , Batey D. Scott
Published: January 2022

Background Recent studies have focused on the role of intimate partnership on HIV care outcomes among men who have sex with men in the United States (US) and heterosexual couples in some African studies, leaving a gap in the recent US-based literature on the role of having an intimate partner on HIV care outcomes among heterosexual couples. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore the lived experiences of heterosexual individuals newly diagnosed with HIV regarding the role of partnership on HIV care. MethodsThis phenomenological study conducted one time, virtual, in-depth interviews with six heterosexual individuals newly diagnosed with HIV ≥2017. The data analysis followed Moustakas approach to identify themes and sub-themes. ResultsThe participants were predominantly female and African American with median age of 46 years. Four themes identifying association between partnership and HIV care included role of HIV on partnership, under which impact of HIV on partnership and presumed reaction if partner was diagnosed with HIV were identified; Impact of partnership on HIV identified perception on dealing with HIV diagnosis without a partner and role of family vs. partner in HIV care as sub-themes; forms of support from partner in HIV care identified partner support around the time of HIV diagnosis and linkage to HIV care and around retention in care; and perceptions on the types of partner-based clinic services, which identified areas such as couples therapy, assistance with partner communication on sensitive topics such as HIV disclosure, and HIV education of the partner. The findings showed that partnership played a vital role in HIV care among partnered individuals; and the importance of a partner in HIV care was acknowledged by unpartnered participants. Various support practices by partners around HIV diagnosis and retention in care were identified. Quality of partnership played a bigger role in HIV care than presence of partnership. ConclusionThe importance of partner-based interventions in improving the HIV care of the person with HIV (PWH) was acknowledged. While demonstrating views of mainly African American women living with HIV in the Southern US, findings may be transferrable to other heterosexual PWH in other locales.
Planar chiral metasurfaces with maximal and tunable chiroptical response driven by bound states in the continuum
Authors: Shi Tan , Deng Zi-Lan , GENG GUANGZHOU , Zeng Yixuan , Hu Guangwei , Overvig Adam , Li Junjie , Qiu Cheng-Wei , Alu Andrea , Kivshar Yuri S. , Li Xiangping
Published: January 2022

Optical metasurfaces with high-Q chiral resonances can boost light-matter interaction for various applications of chiral response for ultrathin, active, and nonlinear metadevices. Usually, such metasurfaces require sophisticated depth-resolved nanofabrication to realize subwavelength stereo-nanostructures, posing overwhelming challenges, especially in the short-wavelength range. Here, we suggest a novel planarized design of chiral metasurfaces supporting bound states in the continuum (BICs), and demonstrate experimentally chiroptical responses with record-high Q-factors (Q=390) and near-perfect circular dichroism (CD=0.93) at optical frequencies. The symmetry-reduced meta-atoms are highly birefringent and support winding elliptical eigen-polarizations with opposite helicity surrounding the BIC polarization singularity, providing a convenient way for achieving maximal planar chirality tuned by either broken in-plane symmetry or changing illumination direction. Such sharply resonant chirality realized in planar metasurfaces promises various practical applications in classical and quantum optics including chiral sensing, enantiomer selection, and chiral quantum emitters.
The Views of People Living with Chronic Stroke and Aphasia on Their Potential Involvement as Research Partners: A Thematic Analysis
Authors: Charalambous Marina , Kountouris Alexia , Phylactou Phivos , Triantafyllidou Ioanna , Annoni Jean-Marie , Kambanaros Maria
Published: January 2022

Background Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) is the active partnership between researchers and patients. PPI in stroke aphasia research aims to ensure equal opportunities for informed decision-making and guarantee democratic representation in citizen control of PPI projects. Yet, little is known about the factors that hinder and/or promote the autonomous involvement of people with aphasia in stroke and aphasia PPI projects. This study aimed to explore the views and perspectives of people who live with chronic stroke, with and without aphasia, with experience in research prior to stroke, on their potential involvement as research partners.Methods The research team included a PPI partner with chronic stroke-induced aphasia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted online with people with chronic stroke (n=8), four with aphasia and four without. Interviews were subject to thematic analysis. Results Inductive thematic analysis generated four themes: (1) the kinds of Restrictions that make involvement in research difficult, (2) the preferred levels and ways of Involvement during the research process, (3) the Support required for active and collaborative involvement, and (4) the Impact of their involvement and how it benefits the study’s outcomes. Furthermore, people with aphasia stressed the importance of constant contextual and third-party support to sustain their active engagement within the research team. Conclusion People experiencing chronic stroke and aphasia are willing to be involved as PPI partners if the research team provides the necessary support. Recommendations for researchers to consider before commencing co-produced research with people with stroke and aphasia are provided.
Analysis of Extreme Precipitation under the New Low Radiative Forcing Scenario in the Inland River Basin of Northwest China
Authors: Xue Lianqing , Yang Mingjie , Liu Yuanhong , Chi Yixia , Wu Yunbiao , Wang Jing
Published: January 2022

With global warming, extreme weather events in various regions have become more abnormal. To study the variation characteristics of extreme precipitation in the inland river basin (IRB) of Northwest China, this paper selected four global climate models (GCMs) under a low radiative forcing scenario to analyze eight-core extreme precipitation indices in the basin. According to the changes of each index in the near future (NF) and the far future (FF), the changes of extreme precipitation have been determined under a low radiative forcing scenario in the basin. Our study shows that all four models can capture seasonality and all have uncertainty. The PRCPTOT showed a trend of decreasing from the center to the southeast and northwest. The SDII showed opposite trends in mountainous and central desert regions. The number of CDD will decrease, while the CWD will change significantly. The P1025 and PG25 will increase by more than 50%. The Rx1day and Rx5day are mainly distributed in some areas such as the desert and Gobi. Although we have predicted the future trend of extreme precipitation in the IRB, the precise prediction of extreme precipitation remains to be further studied.
Exploring Classification Tools for the Prediction of in-Vitro Microbial Pyruvate Yield From Organic Carbon Sources
Authors: Pant Manish , Joshi Tanuja , Omre Pramod Kumar , Singh Triveni Prasad , Kumar Anil , Pundir Hemlata , Chandra Subhash
Published: January 2022

The in-vitro microbial production is based on screening of parameters and statistical validation of parameters using regression analysis. The recent trends have shifted from full factorial design towards more complex response surface methodology designs such as Box-Behnken design, Central Composite design. The problem with these designs is apart from optimisation, the designs are not flexible enough in deducing properties of parameters in terms of class variables. Machine learning algorithms have unique visualisations for the dataset presented with appropriate learning algorithms. The classification algorithms cannot be applied on all datasets and selection of classifier is essential in this regard. The aim of the current study was to investigate the data-mining accuracy on the dataset developed using in-vitro pyruvate production using organic sources for the first time. The attributes were subjected to comparative classification on various classifiers and based on accuracy, multilayer perceptron was selected as classifier. As per the results, the model showed significant results for prediction of classes and a good fit. The learning curve developed also showed the datasets converging and were linearly separable.
Changes in diaphragm contractility in cigarette smoking–exposed and smoking cessation rats are associated with alterations in mitochondrial morphology and homeostasis
Authors: Zhang Yijie , Sheng Haiyan , Shi Xiaoqian , Hu Yuhan , Pang Baosen , Ma Yingmin , Jin Jiawei
Published: January 2022

Background: Cigarette smoking (CS) is one of the greatest risk factors for the pathogenesis and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Although CS cessation is beneficial in preventing COPD progression, the effects of cessation on the diaphragm are unknown, as are the CS-induced mitochondrial changes in the diaphragm during COPD and CS-cessation. In this study, we examined the alterations in mitochondrial morphology and homeostasis, as well as changes in diaphragm contractility during CS exposure and after cessation.Methods: Rats were randomly divided into control, CS-exposure, and CS-cessation groups, including 3-month CS (S3), 6-month CS (S6), 6-month CS followed by 3 months cessation (S6N3), and age-matched control groups. The histological and functional changes in the lungs were examined to evaluate the CS-induced COPD model. The alterations in the diaphragm were further investigated, including contractile properties, the ultrastructure, and the expression of markers of mitochondrial homeostasis.Results: CS exposure caused histological disruption and functional depression in the lungs, and CS cessation failed to result in a significant recovery. CS induced a significant decline in diaphragmatic muscle contractility, accompanied with sever contractile dysfunction in extensor digitorum longus muscles, which was recovered after 3-month CS cessation. CS exposure in parallel disrupted the mitochondrial morphology in diaphragmatic muscle, including decreases in volume density and number density in the S6 group, which was significantly alleviated in the S6N3 group. The mitochondrial quality control was likely depressed in the S6 group, as indicated by the downregulation of Pink1 and Mfn1, markers for mitophagy and mitochondrial fusion/fission. Interestingly, the Mfn1 protein level was recovered after smoking cessation in the S6N3 group.Conclusions: Smoking cessation eased CS-induced diaphragmatic dysfunction and mitochondrial deregulation, but not the adverse changes in pulmonary structure. These diaphragmatic muscle changes are likely associated with deregulated mitochondrial homeostasis, including mitophagy and mitochondrial fusion/fission.
Nilpotent Bi-centers in Continuous Piecewise ℤ2-equivariant Cubic Polynomial Hamiltonian Systems
Authors: chen ting , li shi min , Llibre JAUME
Published: January 2022

One of the classical and difficult problems in the theory of planar differential systems is to classify their centers. Here we classify the global phase portraits in the Poincare disc of the class continuous piecewise differential systems separated by one straight line and formed by two ℤ2 -equivariant cubic Hamiltonian systems with nilpotent bi-centers at (±1,0). The main tools for proving our results are the Poincare compactification, the index theory, and the theory of sign lists for determining the exact number of real roots or negative real roots of a real polynomial in one variable.
A Deep Learning and Genetic Algorithm Based Feature Selection Processes on Leukemia Data
Authors: Frasca Maria , Francese Rita , Risi Michele , Tortora Genoveffa
Published: January 2022

Background: One of the challenges in the bioinformatics field is the characterization of genetic diseases, more precisely of the anomalies of the genetic code that lead to the onset of various pathologies. Concerning leukemia, there exist different types, such as acute and chronic leukemia. The acute ones are Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). This paper considers a dataset of patients belonging to two distinct classes: ALL and AML. The aim is to define a feature selection analysis process mainly based on Deep Learning for both classifying the leukemia of patients as ALL or AML and identifying the list of differential expressed genes. Method: The analyzed data are extracted from dual-channel microarray experiments from the Gene Express Omnibus (GEO) platform, a public database available on the NCBI website containing genomic data, which represent the methylation values for each gene of each sample. The analysis exploits feature selection techniques aimed at reducing the consistent number of variables (genes). To this aim, we use linear models for differential expression for microarray data, and an autoencoder based unsupervised deep learning model to simplify and speed up the classification. Results: Following the reduction in the number of variables, classification models have been implemented with the use of a deep neural network (DNN), obtaining a classification accuracy of approximately 92%. Then, the results have been compared with the ones provided by an approach based on support vector machines (SVM) giving an accuracy of 87,39%. Moreover, another feature selection approach based on genetic algorithms has been experimented obtaining 60,36% (DNN) and 30,63% (SVM) of accuracy. Conclusions: For further verification of the relevance of the selected set of genes, we conducted a gene enrichment analysis based on the functional annotation of the differentially expressed genes. As a result, a differentially expressed pathway between the two pathologies has been detected.
Cyclic guanosine monophosphate inhibits the palmitoylation of LETM1 and downregulates the activity of AKT in human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells
Authors: Li Wenqing , Huang Wei , Miao Ran , Zou Lihui , Xiao Fei
Published: January 2022

Cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) is a drug target for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). However, the molecular mechanism of cGMP in the pathogenesis of PAH remains unclear, and long-term use of cGMP target drugs leads to drug resistance. We tried to explore the new targets downstream of cGMP signaling and develop novel therapies for PAH. We combined mass spectrometry (MS)-based quantitative proteomics with click-chemistry-probes to identified palmitoylated candidate proteins. S-palmitoylation assay was ultilized to test whether the palmitoylation level of the candidates were regulated by cGMP. We identified palmitoylated proteins in human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (HPASMCs). Functional enrichment of the palmitoylated proteins showed that 52 proteins were involved in transmembrane transport, of which 7 were engaged in mitochondrial transport. S-palmitoylation assay in vitro demonstrated that the inner mitochondrial membrane protein, LETM1, was palmitoylated in the cytoplasmic domain at C-terminus. More importantly, cGMP could inhibit the palmitoylation level of LETM1, which in turn suppressed the activity of AKT regulated by LETM1. Our study found that the palmitoylation of LETM1 was the new target downstream of cGMP signaling. The palmitoylated site of LETM1 may provide a new direction for the development of novel therapies for PAH. Moreover, the palmitoylation level of LEMT1 may be a new biomarker for the analysis of prognosis.