bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Mechanical, thermo-mechanical and morphological characterization of ABS based composites loaded with perlite mineral
Authors: Alghadi Aiah Mohamed , Tirkes Seha , Tayfun Umit 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) copolymer was filled with perlite mineral (PER) at four different loading level of 2.5%, 5%, 10% and 15%. ABS/PER composites were produced using lab-scale micro-compounder followed by injection molding process. Mechanical, thermo-mechanical, melt-flow and morphological properties of composites were reported by tensile and impact tests, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), melt flow index (MFI) test and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. Mechanical characterizations revealed that tensile strength, elongation and Youngs’ modulus of ABS were improved by PER inclusions. However, impact strength of ABS reduced with increase of PER concentration. Glass transition temperature of ABS displayed increasing trend for %5 concentration of PER. MFI test implied that PER addition caused slight decreasing for MFI value of unfilled ABS. Homogeneous dispersion of PER particles into ABS matrix for their lower loading level was obtained from SEM micrographs of composites. According to findings, 5% PER containing sample exhibited the best performance and it was remarked as the most suitable candidate among fabricated ABS based composites.
“Sons of the Soil”: Cause Lawyers, the Togo-Cameroun Mandates, and the Origins of Decolonization
Authors: Terretta Meredith , Lawrance Benjamin N. 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
A century after the victorious Allied powers distributed their spoils of victory in 1919, the world still lives with the geopolitical consequences of the mandates system established by the League of Nations. The Covenant article authorizing the new imperial dispensation came cloaked in the old civilizationist discourse, entrusting sovereignty over “peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world” to the “advanced nations” of Belgium, England, France, Japan, and South Africa. In this series of “reflections” on the mandates, ten scholars of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and the international order consider the consequences of the new geopolitical order birthed by World War I. How did the reshuffling of imperial power in the immediate postwar period configure long-term struggles over minority rights, decolonization, and the shape of nation-states when the colonial era finally came to a close? How did the alleged beneficiaries—more often the victims—of this “sacred trust” grasp their own fates in a world that simultaneously promised and denied them the possibility of self-determination? From Palestine, to Namibia, to Kurdistan, and beyond, the legacies of the mandatory moment remain pressing questions today.
Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers, Polybrominated Biphenyls, and Risk of Papillary Thyroid Cancer: A Nested Case-Control Study
Authors: Huang Huang , Sjodin Andreas , Chen Yingtai , Ni Xin , Ma Shuangge , Yu Herbert , Ward Mary H , Udelsman Robert , Rusiecki Jennifer , Zhang Yawei 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
A nested case-control study was carried out using data from the US Department of Defense cohort between 2000 and 2013 to investigate the associations of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) with serum concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers and polybrominated biphenyls. This study included 742 histologically confirmed PTC cases (in 341 women and 401 men) and 742 matched controls with prediagnostic serum samples from the Department of Defense Serum Repository. Lipid-corrected serum concentrations of 8 congeners were measured. Multivariate conditional logistic regression analyses were performed for classical PTC and follicular variant of PTC, respectively. We also examined effect modification by sex. BDE-28, a polybrominated diphenyl ether congener, was associated with significantly increased risk of classical PTC (for the third tertile vs. below the limit of detection, odds ratio = 2.09, 95% confidence interval: 1.05, 4.15; P for trend = 0.02), adjusting for other congeners, body mass index, and branch of military service. This association was observed mainly for larger classical PTC (tumor size &gt; 10 mm), with a significantly stronger association among women than men (P for interaction = 0.004). No consistent associations were observed for other congeners, including those at higher concentrations. This study found a significantly increased risk of classical PTC associated with increasing levels of BDE-28. The risk varied by sex and tumor size.
Dynamic landmark prediction for mixture data
Authors: Garcia Tanya P , Parast Layla 
Published: November 2019

SummaryIn kin-cohort studies, clinicians want to provide their patients with the most current cumulative risk of death arising from a rare deleterious mutation. Estimating the cumulative risk is difficult when the genetic mutation status is unknown and only estimated probabilities of a patient having the mutation are available. We estimate the cumulative risk for this scenario using a novel nonparametric estimator that incorporates covariate information and dynamic landmark prediction. Our estimator has improved prediction accuracy over existing estimators that ignore covariate information. It is built within a dynamic landmark prediction framework whereby we can obtain personalized dynamic predictions over time. Compared to current standards, a simple transformation of our estimator provides more efficient estimates of marginal distribution functions in settings where patient-specific predictions are not the main goal. We show our estimator is unbiased and has more predictive accuracy compared to methods that ignore covariate information and landmarking. Applying our method to a Huntington disease study of mortality, we develop dynamic survival prediction curves incorporating gender and familial genetic information.
Clinic-Level Factors Associated With Time to Antiretroviral Initiation and Viral Suppression in a Large, Urban Cohort
Authors: Monroe Anne K , Happ Lindsey P , Rayeed Nabil , Ma Yan , Jaurretche Maria J , Terzian Arpi S , Trac Kevin , Horberg Michael A , Greenberg Alan E , Castel Amanda D 
Published: November 2019

Abstract

Background
Using the results of a site assessment survey performed at clinics throughout Washington, DC, we studied the impact of clinic-level factors on antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation and viral suppression (VS) among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV; PLWH).

Methods
This was a retrospective analysis from the District of Columbia (DC) Cohort, an observational, clinical cohort of PLWH from 2011–2018. We included data from PLWH not on ART and not virally suppressed at enrollment. Outcomes were ART initiation and VS (HIV RNA &lt; 200 copies/mL). A clinic survey captured information on care delivery (eg, clinical services, adherence services, patient monitoring services) and clinic characteristics (eg, types of providers, availability of evenings/weekends sessions). Multivariate marginal Cox regression models were generated to identify those factors associated with the time to ART initiation and VS.

Results
Multiple clinic-level factors were associated with ART initiation, including retention in care monitoring and medication dispensing reviews (adjusted hazard ratios [aHRs], 1.34 to 1.40; P values &lt; .05 for both). Furthermore, multiple factors were associated with VS, including retention in HIV care monitoring, medication dispensing reviews, and the presence of a peer interventionist (aHRs, 1.35 to 1.72; P values &lt; .05 for all). In multivariable models evaluating different combinations of clinic-level factors, enhanced adherence services (aHR, 1.37; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.18–1.58), medication dispensing reviews (aHR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.10–1.36), and the availability of opioid treatment (aHR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.01–1.57) were all associated with the time to VS.

Conclusions
The observed association between clinic-level factors and ART initiation/VS suggests that the presence of specific clinic services may facilitate the achievement of HIV treatment goals.
Is Crohn’s Disease a Rightly Used Eponym?
Authors: Van Hootegem Philippe , Travis Simon 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
In 1932 Burrill B. Crohn, a gastroenterologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, described, together with two surgical colleagues, a series of 14 patients with an inflammatory condition of the terminal ileum. All patients were operated on by Dr Albert Berg, the Chief Surgeon of the hospital, whose name did not appear on the initial publication. The ‘new’ disease was called ‘regional ileitis’, but was rapidly referred to as ‘Crohn’s disease’. From earlier accounts and publications it has become clear that the condition had already existed for many centuries and was ‘discovered’ several times before 1932, most notably by Giovanni Morgagni in 1769, Antoni Lesniowski in 1903 and Thomas K. Dalziel in 1913. ‘Crohn’s disease’ might reasonably be known by another eponym. Nevertheless, the 1932 publication of Crohn was pivotal, as were his later contributions to the knowledge of ‘his’ disease. Therefore the worldwide use of the eponym is rightly to be continued. Present researchers and clinicians with an interest in inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] might learn from the complicated story summarised in this contribution. Apart from an interesting historical overview, there are some lessons for today: the importance of thorough clinical observation and pattern recognition, the need for communication between colleagues and multidisciplinary approaches, and the need for broad access to valuable data, past or present, regardless of the journal or language of publication. It should ultimately bring us some humility, despite great achievements in treating this chronic disease, which defies all our efforts yet to find a cure.
Survey of pathogenic bacteria of biofilms in a metropolitan drinking water distribution system
Authors: Chen Jiang , Shi Ya , Cheng Dongqing , Jin Yan , Hutchins William , Liu Jingqing 
Published: November 2019

ABSTRACT
Bacteria, especially pathogenic bacteria, were detected in order to estimate the safety of drinking water distribution systems (DWDSs). Sixteen biofilms and 12 water samples (six retained and six flowing) were collected from a city DWDS in eastern China. Biofilms were observed using scanning electron microscopy. Cultivable bacteria of biofilms were counted by heterotrophic plate counts, ranging from 3.61 × 101 to 1.67 × 106 CFU·cm−2. Coliforms, Salmonella, Shigella, Vibrio and Legionella were separated by Eosin-Methylene Blue (EMB) agar, Salmonella chromogenic medium, Shigella chromogenic medium, Thiosulfate Citrate Bile Salts Sucrose (TCBS) agar and Buffered Charcoal Yeast Extract (BCYE) agar and 13/16, 8/16, 7/16, 6/16, 0/16 biofilm samples were found to be positive, respectively. Retained and flowing water samples were collected to estimate the influence of hydrodynamic conditions on biofilm detachment. All six retained water samples were positive for bacteria, the count ranged from 1.2 × 103 to 2.8 × 104 CFU·mL−1 and 2/6, 3/6, 2/6, 0/6, 0/6 samples were positive for coliforms, Salmonella, Shigella, Legionella and Vibrio, respectively. While only three of six flowing water samples were bacteria positive, the counts ranged from 102 to 103 CFU·mL−1, 2/6 were coliform positive and no pathogens were detected under testing. The results show that there are pathogens in DWDS biofilms, which can cause health-related problems if detached from their surfaces.
Pure transanal total mesorectal excision for rectal cancer: experience with 55 cases
Authors: Wang Xiao-Ming , Xu Yan-Yan , Yu Gang , Rong Zhen , Geng Rui-Chao , Wang Rui , Chen Long-Yi , Liu Gang 
Published: November 2019

AbstractBackgroundAlthough the anatomic difficulties of laparoscopic surgery for rectal cancer have been resolved by hybrid transanal total mesorectal excision (h-taTME), a completely incisionless surgical procedure has not yet been developed. This study was performed to explore the efficacy of pure taTME (p-taTME) without laparoscopic assistance as a completely non-invasive surgical procedure for rectal cancer.MethodsWe retrospectively evaluated all patients with rectal cancer who underwent p-taTME between December 2015 and April 2018. Relevant patient characteristics and clinical information including the surgical procedure, specimens, pathological characteristics, and patients’ post-operative state were analysed and the feasibility of p-taTME in patients with rectal cancer was assessed.ResultsFifty-five patients who had undergone p-taTME were included in this study. They comprised 32 (58.2%) men and 23 (41.8%) women with a mean age of 65.6 ± 10.6 years and mean body mass index of 23.4 ± 3.3 kg/m2. The median surgical time was 180.0 (range, 130–360) min and estimated blood loss was 25.0 (range, 15–80) mL. The commonest post-operative complication was varying degrees of faecal incontinence (56.4%). However, such incontinence greatly improved after pelvic-floor-function-rehabilitation exercises and did not seriously affect the patients’ quality of life.Conclusionsp-taTME is a relatively safe and incisionless procedure for patients with middle and low rectal cancer, especially in those with obesity or a narrow pelvis. However, further studies of the indications and long-term efficacy are needed to verify the suitability of this procedure.
Refining genome-wide associated loci for serum uric acid in individuals with African ancestry
Authors: Chen Guanjie , Shriner Daniel , Doumatey Ayo P , Zhou Jie , Bentley Amy R , Lei Lin , Adeyemo Adebowale , Rotimi Charles N 
Published: November 2019

AbstractObjectiveSerum uric acid is the end-product of purine metabolism and at high levels is a risk factor for several human diseases including gout and cardiovascular disease. Heritability estimates range from 0.32 to 0.63. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) provide an unbiased approach to identify loci influencing serum uric acid. Here, we performed the first GWAS for serum uric acid in continental Africans, with replication in African Americans.MethodsAfricans (n = 4126) and African Americans (n = 5007) were genotyped on high-density GWAS arrays. Efficient mixed model association, a variance component approach, was used to perform association testing for a total of ~ 18 million autosomal genotyped and imputed variants. CAVIARBF was used to fine map significant regions.ResultsWe identified two genome-wide significant loci: 4p16.1 (SLC2A9) and 11q13.1 (SLC22A12). At SLC2A9, the most strongly associated SNP was rs7683856 (P = 1.60 × 10−44). Conditional analysis revealed a second signal indexed by rs6838021 (P = 5.75 × 10−17). Gene expression and regulatory motif data prioritized a single-candidate causal variant for each signal. At SLC22A12, the most strongly associated SNP was rs147647315 (P = 6.65 × 10−25). Conditional analysis and functional annotation prioritized the missense variant rs147647315 (R (Arg) &gt; H (His)) as the sole causal variant. Functional annotation of these three signals implicated processes in skeletal muscle, subcutaneous adipose tissue and the kidneys, respectively.ConclusionsThis first GWAS of serum uric acid in continental Africans identified three associations at two loci, SLC2A9 and SLC22A12. The combination of weak linkage disequilibrium in Africans and functional annotation led to the identification of candidate causal SNPs for all three signals. Each candidate causal variant implicated a different cell type. Collectively, the three associations accounted for 4.3% of the variance of serum uric acid.
Courageously critiquing sexual violence: responding to the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize
Authors: Stern Maria 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
Marysia Zalewski's work has taught us, as a collective of feminist scholars, to be cautious of neat instruction manuals and coherently set out plans of action; of claims to sure knowledge about danger, violence, and its subjects and remedies; of the fanfare of grand arrivals; and of the quieter staking of ground that has been seemingly won. Zalewski has persistently reminded us in different ways that we/she does ‘not even know what gender is or does’. Far from a flippant response to the emptiness of gender mainstreaming policies, this seemingly simple statement instead serves as a glaring post-it note on the margins of our texts about International Relations theory, feminism, sex/gender and violence— both those that we read, as well as those that we write. However, this lesson is often forgotten in our rush to understand and establish gendered harms as valid and important, and to seek their redress. Gleaning insights from Zalewski's work, this article critically considers possible responses to the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize. Its aim is not to delve into a discussion of the politics or effects of the Peace Prize as such, but to instead use the 2018 Peace Prize as a marker—a moment to consider the possibility for critique in relation to sexual violence.
Extremism and toxic masculinity: the man question re-posed
Authors: Pearson Elizabeth 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
It is more than 20 years since Marysia Zalewski and feminist scholars posed ‘the man question’ in International Relations, repositioning the gaze from female subjectivities to a problematization of the subjecthood of man. The field of masculinity studies has developed this initial question to a deep interrogation of the relationship between maleness and violence. Yet public and policy discourse often reduce the complexity of masculinities within extremism to issues of crisis and toxicity. Governments have prioritized the prevention of extremism, particularly violent Islamism, and in so doing have produced as ‘risk’ particular racialized and marginalized men. This article asks, what are the effects of the toxic masculinity discourse in understanding the British radical right? It argues that current understandings of extremism neglect the central aim of Zalewski's ‘man’ question to destabilize the field and deconstruct patriarchy. They instead position Islamophobia—which is institutionalized in state discourse—as the responsibility of particular ‘extreme’ and ‘toxic’ groups. In particular, the article outlines two ways in which ‘toxic masculinity’ is an inadequate concept to describe activism in the anti-Islam(ist) movement the English Defence League (EDL). First, the term ‘toxic masculinity’ occludes the continuities of EDL masculinities with wider patriarchal norms; second, it neglects the role of women as significant actors in the movement. Using an ethnographic and empathetic approach to this case-study, the article explores how Zalewski's theoretical position offers a route to analysis of the ways in which masculinities and patriarchy entwine in producing power and violence; and to a discussion of masculinities that need not equate manhood with threat.
Marking failure, making space: feminist interventions in Security Council policy
Authors: Cook Sam 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
Feminist interventions in international politics are, more often than not, understood (and visible) as interventions in relation to policy documents. These policies—in this case the United Nations Security Council's resolutions on Women, Peace and Security—often feature as the end point of feminist advocacy efforts or as the starting point for feminist analysis and critique. In this article the author responds to the provocations throughout Marysia Zalewski's work to think (and tell) the spaces of international politics differently, in this case by working with the concept of feminist failure as it is produced in feminist policy critique. Inspired by Zalewski's Feminist International Relations: exquisite corpse, the article explores the material and imaginary spaces in which both policies and critique are produced. It picks up and reflects upon a narrative refrain recognizable in feminist critiques on Women, Peace and Security policy—that we must not make war safe for women—as a way to reflect on the inevitability of failure and the ostensible boundaries between theory and practice. The author takes permission from Zalewski's creative interventions and her recognition of the value of the ‘detritus of the everyday’—here a walk from New York's Grand Central Station to the UN Headquarters, musings on the flash of a particular shade of blue, and the contents of a footnoted acknowledgement, begin to trace an international political space that is produced through embodied and quotidian practice.
The Security Council's peacekeeping trilemma
Authors: Williams Paul D. 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
The United Nations (UN) Security Council is stuck in a peacekeeping trilemma. This is a situation where the Council's three strategic goals for peacekeeping operations—implementing broad mandates, minimizing peacekeeper casualties and maximizing cost-effectiveness—cannot be achieved simultaneously. This trilemma stems from longstanding competing pressures on how the Council designs UN peacekeeping operations as well as political divisions between peacekeeping's three key groups of stakeholders: the states that authorize peacekeeping mandates, those that provide most of the personnel and field capabilities, and those that pay the majority of the bill. Fortunately, the most negative consequences of the trilemma can be mitigated and perhaps even transcended altogether. Mitigation would require the Council to champion and implement four main reforms: improving peacekeeper performance, holding peacekeepers accountable for misdeeds, adopting prioritized and sequenced mandates, and strengthening the financial basis for UN peacekeeping. Transcending the trilemma would require a more fundamental reconfiguration of the key stakeholder groups in order to create much greater unity of effort behind a re-envisaged peacekeeping enterprise. This is highly unlikely in the current international political context.
Commitment of States, Access to Asylum, and Material Benefits: Assessing Key Legislative Battles and Their Structural Impact on the Common European Asylum System
Authors: Dreyer-Plum Domenica 
Published: November 2019

Abstract
In 2015, the movement of asylum seekers to the European Union (EU) increased dramatically and led to the factual invalidation of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). From the beginning, the European Commission’s objective was to create a fair system guaranteeing a European-wide protection status in line with the standards contained in the 1951 Refugee Convention. In order to understand why this system failed, it is important to look closely at the applicable laws. Which regulations were based on the Amsterdam and Lisbon treaty mandates? What were the key disputes and which normative solution was pushed through? Scholarly attention so far has focused on either external aspects of border policy or institutional and policy issues within the EU. By contrast, this article argues that the central gaps in the system present a multifaceted set of problems with three main weaknesses: the neglected geographic asymmetry enshrined in the European asylum system; a reliance on national standards that runs through all the legislative processes; and the over-emphasis of asylum rights in contrast to an under-regulation of access to asylum. This combination of problems helps to explain the rise of a serious protection crisis in Europe following the influx in 2015, a crisis that remains largely unresolved. These inherent weaknesses are analysed through an examination of key disputes in the legislative process establishing the CEAS. The article traces the different positions of the European institutions in the legislation process and assesses the shortcomings of the emergent system in two periods: during the establishment of this system from 1999 to 2005, and the reform period from 2008 to 2013. The article concludes with reflections on the current reform phase. The findings point to ineffective laws, unresolved normative disputes, and the need for further reforms to achieve a harmonized CEAS in line with treaty mandates.