bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Determinants of a mobile phone-based Interactive Voice Response (mIVR) system for monitoring childhood illnesses in a rural district of Ghana: Empirical evidence from the UTAUT model
Authors: Adjei Timothy Kwabena , Mohammed Aliyu , Acheampong Princess Ruhama , Acquah-Gyan Emmanuel , Sylverken Augustina , Twumasi-Ankrah Sampson , Owusu Michael , Owusu-Dabo Ellis 
Published: March 2021

Background
The use of a mobile phone-based Interactive Voice Response (mIVR) System for real time monitoring of childhood illnesses provides an opportunity to improve childhood survival and health systems. However, little is known about the factors that facilitate its use. This study sought to identify key determinants and moderators of mIVR system use among caregivers in a rural district of Ghana using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model.

Methods
The mIVR system was designed to provide real-time data on common symptoms of childhood illnesses after answering several questions by caregivers with sick children. A structured questionnaire with closed questions was used to collect data from 354 caregivers of children under-five living in rural communities, four (4) months after introducing the system. Regression analysis was used to identify key determinants and moderating factors that facilitate the use of the system based on the UTAUT model.

Results
A total of 101 (28.5%) caregivers had used the system and 328 (92.7%) had intention to use the mIVR system. Caregivers’ level of education and household wealth were associated with use of the mIVR systems (p<0.001). Behavioural intention (BI) to use mIVR system was positively influenced by performance expectancy (PE) (β = 0.278, 95% CI: 0.207, 0.349), effort expectancy (EE) (β = 0.242, 95% CI: 0.159, 0.326) and social influence (SI) (β = 0.081, 95% CI: 0.044, 0.120). Facilitating conditions (FC) (β = 0.609, 95% CI: 0.502, 0.715) and behavioural intention (β = 0.426, 95% CI: 0.255, 0.597) had a positive influence on user behaviour (UB). Mobile phone experience and household wealth significantly moderated the effect of PE, EE, SI, and FC on behavioural intention and usage of mIVR systems.

Conclusion
The perceived usefulness of the mIVR system, ease of use, social influences, and facilitating conditions are key determinants of users’ attitude and use of mIVR system. These relationships are significantly moderated by users’ phone experience and wealth status.
Fecal Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4: An Emergent Biomarker in Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Authors: Pinto-Lopes Pedro , Melo Francisco , Afonso Joana , Pinto-Lopes Rui , Rocha Cátia , Melo Daniel , Macedo Guilherme , Dias Cláudia Camila , Carneiro Fátima , Magro Fernando ,   for the Portuguese IBD Study Group (GEDII)
Published: March 2021

INTRODUCTION:
Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) is a membrane-bound glycoprotein that acts as a receptor but also exists in a soluble form. It has been recognized as a mediator of inflammation and considered a biomarker in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

METHODS:
We evaluated a prospectively recruited cohort, consisting of 101 patients with IBD, using validated clinical indexes; 22 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) underwent endoscopic evaluation. Fecal DPP-4 (fDPP-4) levels were analyzed and correlated with clinical scores, Mayo endoscopic score (in UC patients), serum DPP-4, C-reactive protein, and fecal calprotectin. Immunohistochemical staining for DPP-4 in intestinal biopsies was also performed.

RESULTS:
When compared with remitters, median fDPP-4 levels were higher in patients with ileal Crohn's disease (CD) (7,584 [1,464–7,816] vs 2,104 [630–2,676] ng/mL, P = 0.015) and lower in patients with UC exhibiting clinical activity (1,213 [559–1,682] vs 7,814 [2,555–7,985] ng/mL, P < 0.001). Patients with UC presenting endoscopic activity also had lower levels than remitters (939 [559–1,420] vs 7,544 [4,531–7,940] ng/mL, P = 0.006). Fecal DPP-4 discriminated clinical activity from remission with areas under the curve of 0.76 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.58–0.94, P = 0.015) and 0.80 (95% CI 0.68–0.93, P < 0.001) in CD and UC, respectively; it allowed to differentiate endoscopic activity in patients with UC, with areas under the curve of 0.84 (95% CI 0.63–1.00, P = 0.009). Immunohistochemical analysis revealed higher DPP-4 apical expression in UC remitters, but no statistically significant differences were revealed between patients with ileal CD.

DISCUSSION:
Our results suggest that fDPP-4 can be used as a biomarker of IBD activity, particularly in UC. The expression profiles in intestinal tissue might represent a functional compartmentalization of DPP-4 expression.
Injectable calcium phosphate and styrene–butadiene polymer-based root canal filling material
Authors: Kaka Hala B. , Salman Raid F. 
Published: March 2021

Abstract

Background
Three-dimensional obturation of the root canal system is mandatory for a successful root canal treatment. Using a filling material with optimal properties may enable the root canal to be sealed well and therefore obtain the desired obturation.

Objective
To develop a new injectable paste endodontic filling material using calcium phosphate powder and a styrene–butadiene emulsion polymer.

Methods
The powder phase comprised an equivalent molar ratio of tetracalcium phosphate, anhydrous dicalcium phosphate, bismuth oxide, and calcium chloride. The liquid phase comprised a styrene–butadiene rubber emulsion in distilled water. The powder and the liquid were mixed to achieve a paste consistency. The paste was subjected to various tests including flow, setting time, dimensional change, solubility, and radiopacity to indicate its suitability as a root canal filling material. All these tests were conducted according to the American National Standards Institute–American Dental Association for endodontic sealing materials. After passing these tests, the paste was submitted to an injectability test.

Results
The material showed acceptable flowability with 19.1 ± 1.3 min setting time and 0.61 ± 0.16% shrinkage after 30 days of storage. We found the highest solubility at 24 h (6.62 ± 0.58%), then the solubility decreased to 1.09 ± 0.08% within 3 days. The material was more radiopaque than a 3 mm step on an aluminum wedge. Furthermore, the material showed good injectability of 93.67 ± 1.80%.

Conclusions
The calcium phosphate powder in styrene–butadiene emulsion met basic requirements for a root canal filling material with promising properties.
Benefits, limitations and controversies on patient-based real-time quality control (PBRTQC) and the evidence behind the practice
Authors: van Rossum Huub H. , Bietenbeck Andreas , Cervinski Mark A. , Katayev Alex , Loh Tze Ping , Badrick Tony C. 
Published: March 2021

Abstract

Background
In recent years, there has been renewed interest in the “old” average of normals concept, now generally referred to as moving average quality control (MA QC) or patient-based real-time quality control (PBRTQC). However, there are some controversies regarding PBRTQC which this review aims to address while also indicating the current status of PBRTQC.

Content
This review gives the background of certain newly described optimization and validation methods. It also indicates how QC plans incorporating PBRTQC can be designed for greater effectiveness and/or (cost) efficiency. Furthermore, it discusses controversies regarding the complexity of obtaining PBRTQC settings, the replacement of iQC, and software functionality requirements. Finally, it presents evidence of the added value and practicability of PBRTQC.

Outlook
Recent developments in, and availability of, simulation methods to optimize and validate laboratory-specific PBRTQC procedures have enabled medical laboratories to implement PBRTQC in their daily practice. Furthermore, these methods have made it possible to demonstrate the practicability and added value of PBRTQC by means of two prospective “clinical” studies and other investigations. Although internal QC will remain an essential part of any QC plan, applying PBRTQC can now significantly improve its performance and (cost) efficiency.
Adjective–noun compounds in Mandarin: a study on productivity
Authors: Shen Tian , Baayen R. Harald 
Published: March 2021

AbstractIn structuralist linguistics, compounds are argued not to constitute morphological categories, due to the absence of systematic form-meaning correspondences. This study investigates subsets of compounds for which systematic form-meaning correspondences are present: adjective–noun compounds in Mandarin. We show that there are substantial differences in the productivity of these compounds. One set of productivity measures (the count of types, the count of hapax legomena, and the estimated count of unseen types) reflect compounds’ profitability. By contrast, the category-conditioned degree of productivity is found to correlate with the internal semantic transparency of the words belonging to a morphological category. Greater semantic transparency, gauged by distributional semantics, predicts greater category-conditioned productivity. This dovetails well with the hypothesis that semantic transparency is a prerequisite for a word formation process to be productive.
Improving Data Delivery in Large Environments and Mobile Areas
Authors: Najim Nada I. 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Advances in communication technology have significantly altered our knowledge about telephone networks. The remarkable expansion in communication is obvious in numerous aspects of life of life; the transmission of information has never been easier. Wireless communication has also had a remarkable development, and these facilities have become more reliable and easily accessible.
This study, through a descriptive approach in accordance with earlier studies, aims to explain how to increase the capacity of wireless data delivery in addition to other important challenges that face the enhancement of these services in remote areas. This study highlights the challenges that accompany the adoption of wireless networks in remote areas: particularly signal strength. This is highly linked to the specific features of rural areas in terms of living habits in separated nodes rather than in high-density population centers areas.
Theta correspondence for p-adic dual pairs of type I
Authors: Bakić Petar , Hanzer Marcela 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
We describe explicitly the Howe correspondence for the symplectic-orthogonal and unitary dual pairs over a nonarchimedean local field of characteristic zero. More specifically, for every irreducible admissible representation of these groups, we find its first occurrence index in the theta correspondence and we describe, in terms of their Langlands parameters, the small theta lifts on all levels.
Legitimate and Illegitimate Political Self-entrenchment and Its Impact on Political Equality
Authors: Kouroutakis Antonios 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Self-serving politicians and self-entrenchment of the political establishment is a diachronic problem tantalizing liberal democracies. Incumbent political actors around the world constantly purport to entrench not only their presence in the political arena, but also their power and as a result, barriers to entry to new political actors are set, the chain of the democratic choice is disrupted and equality of opportunity is distorted. This article focuses on the available means in the constitutional system in order to safeguard a level playing field in the political arena. To this end, this article has three scientific objectives. First, it elaborates on the significance of equality of opportunities in the political system. Second, it identifies how political self-entrenchment creates an uneven playing field. Third, it focuses on the remedies that exist in the constitutional system and examines both legal and quasi legal mechanisms. With an analysis on the current means that are available in the constitutional system, the judicial review, and the alternative political processes based on independent bodies and quasi-judicial mechanisms, this article concludes that self-entrenchment and self-serving politicians are mainly left to be resolved by political means, the so called self-corrective promise of politics.
Numerical solutions for strain-softening surrounding rock under three-dimensional principal stress condition
Authors: Yu-ming Sheng , Chao Li , Ming-yao Xia , Jin-feng Zou 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
In this study, elastoplastic model for the surrounding rock of axisymmetric circular tunnel is investigated under three-dimensional (3D) principal stress states. Novel numerical solutions for strain-softening surrounding rock were first proposed based on the modified 3D Hoek–Brown criterion and the associated flow rule. Under a 3D axisymmetric coordinate system, the distributions for stresses and displacement can be effectively determined on the basis of the redeveloped stress increment approach. The modified 3D Hoek–Brown strength criterion is also embedded into finite element software to characterize the yielding state of surrounding rock based on the modified yield surface and stress renewal algorithm. The Euler implicit constitutive integral algorithm and the consistent tangent stiffness matrix are reconstructed in terms of the 3D Hoek–Brown strength criterion. Therefore, the numerical solutions and finite element method (FEM) models for the deep buried tunnel under 3D principal stress condition are presented, so that the stability analysis of surrounding rock can be conducted in a direct and convenient way. The reliability of the proposed solutions was verified by comparison of the principal stresses obtained by the developed numerical approach and FEM model. From a practical point of view, the proposed approach can also be applied for the determination of ground response curve of the tunnel, which shows a satisfying accuracy compared with the measuring data.
The politics of language scholarship: there are no truly global concerns
Authors: Rambukwella Harshana 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Some key categories in the study of language and society – such as the notion of identity and the very notion of language itself – have come under critical scrutiny with the rise of concepts such as translanguaging. While acknowledging the epistemological and political necessity of this critique I caution against the conflation of concepts with social realities. At the same time, I argue for a critical practice that does not subsume the local in favor of global theoretical trends, which can result from conceptual reification occurring due to an insidious nexus between neo-liberal forces and global inequalities in knowledge production.
Discursive practices control in Spanish language
Authors: Lauria Daniela 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Control mechanisms for written, spoken, and multimodal discursive practices are, in my view, a priority item on today’s strategy agenda for a socially conscious approach to language in the peripheral countries of the global economic system. After describing and analyzing certain procedures for discursive regulation in Spanish language, and adopting the critical focus that glottopolitics provides, I zero in on the effects of this regulation and the subjectivities it shapes. Discursive restraints stem from several, often interconnected, sources: market dynamics, the search for greater productivity in the technologizing of the word, digital platforms, and as a condition for the approval of country loans by international economic organizations. The aim is to emphasize how discursive control reproduces the established social order and thus reinforces linguistic inequality.
Unequal discursivities and the symbolic capital of Malaysian Indian scholarship
Authors: Pillai Shanthini 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
This paper engages with the aspects of discursive hegemony in terms of both Metropolitan and disciplinary position and privilege, using the sociology of the language that has been produced on Malaysian Indian identity as my point of reference. It contends that these observations and articulations are able to rise to the surface more easily when they are securely located within disciplinary domains often related to determinacy. I argue that viewed as a whole, it becomes apparent that these discourses are coloured by the subjective desire of the accumulation of knowledge on the subject matters of their writings. As such, they are as much stories that are told of the Malaysian Indian community as those found in literary narratives and can ultimately lead to unequal discursivities.
On the future of IJSL: trans-collaboration and how to overcome the structural constraints on knowledge production, distribution and dissemination
Authors: del Valle José 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
In this essay, using as a point of departure his dilemma to accept or not the invitation to be a member of IJSL’s Editorial Board, del Valle discusses the limitations that academic publishing places on scholars in the humanities and interpretive social sciences: their choice of objects and analytical protocols, and the modes of distribution and dissemination of their production. The constraints imposed by highly bureaucratized universities and publishing companies are set against the intellectual imperative to build academic fields grounded in equality and inclusion. The essay concludes with some thinly drawn goals towards more dynamic trans-collaborative forms of knowledge production, distribution and dissemination.
Managing authorship in (socio)linguistic collaborations
Authors: Amfo Nana Aba Appiah 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
This article examines the issue of joint authorship in (socio)linguistic publications. On the assumption that research work in the humanities has traditionally been performed on a “lone scholar” basis, discussion of authorship attribution has not dominated conversations in the arts and humanities as compared to the natural, health and engineering sciences. However, considering the increasing occurrence of collaboration in (socio)linguistics and its resultant joint publications, this article considers author trends in the humanities generally and linguistics in particular, who qualifies to be an author and how authorship ordering and assigning should be addressed in both an ethical and a fair manner. Considering the rise of collaborations in sociolinguistic research, varied sources of data used, and the growth of multi-site projects, authorship discussions in arts and humanities disciplines can no longer be muted.
Discourse analysis for social change: voice, agency and hope
Authors: Bonnin Juan Eduardo 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
The aim of this essay is to propose some key challenges and problems in the field of language in society. In the current context of global crisis, we have the opportunity to design a research agenda for an uncertain future from a dark present. But there is no reason why that agenda should also be uncertain and dark. An agenda thus established can start from three aspects that I explore in this article: the recognition and appreciation of multiple voices, organized and collective agency, and an unwavering and explicit bias for hope.
Digital conferencing in times of crisis
Authors: Bolander Brook , Fine Julia 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
This essay stems from our growing concern about the carbon intensity of academia, and of conferencing as an epitome of this. Face-to-face conferencing is widely recognised as both unsustainable and inequitable. Against this backdrop, digital conferencing (online only, or in hybrid form) offers a viable alternative. However, shifting to digital forms of conferencing does not automatically bring about equity. Drawing on white papers, academic discussions and results from a PollEverywhere survey, this essay explores issues of sustainability and equity across modes of face-to-face and digital conferencing, with the aim of charting a path towards more sustainable and accessible digital practises for a diverse community of linguists.
Education, multilingualism and bilingualism in Botswana
Authors: Bagwasi Mompoloki Mmangaka 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Botswana is a multilingual country. It has about 28 languages (see Anderson, Lars-Gunnar & Tore Janson. 1997. Languages in Botswana. Gaborone: Longman Botswana). Although multilingualism breeds bilingualism or vice versa, bilingualism in Botswana is not as extensive and as widespread among the 28 languages. It is mostly concentrated amongst certain groups of people and a limited number of languages. This paper interrogates the pattern of bilingualism in Botswana and the role that education plays in shaping it. Further, the paper examines the extent to which the pattern of bilingualism in Botswana fits into Liddicoat, Anthony. 1991. Bilingualism and bilingual education. NLIA Occasional Paper 2. 1–21 folk and elite bilingualism categories. The paper argues that even though bilingualism in Botswana is fostered by education, it is not elite. Most bilinguals in Botswana are speakers of minority languages who feel obliged to learn English and Setswana. There are not many speakers of English who also speak Setswana and not many speakers of Setswana who also speak the minority languages. The paper hights one of the inadequacies of multilingualism, its inability to create equality and interrelationship between languages. This paper argues that the pattern of bilingualism found in Botswana is asymmetrical and is heavily influenced by the socio-economic-cultural power relations that exist in the country. Thus, the pattern of bilingualism that is found in Botswana does not support multilingualism, instead it is detrimental to it.
Aqueous extract ofAdansonia digitataprevents Cadmium Chloride-induced testicular damage in Wistar Rats
Authors: Dare Babatunde Joseph , Olaniyan Olugbemi Tope , Oyeniyi Oluwafemi Isaac , Okotie Gloria Enevwo , Lawal Ismail Adetayo , Eweoya Olugbenga 
Published: March 2021

AbstractObjectivesThe role of aqueous extract ofAdansonia digitatawas investigated against cadmium chloride-induced testicular damage in Wistar Rats.MethodsThirty (30) male Wistar Rats weighing (150–170) were divided into six groups (n=5). Group A served as control and received oral administration of phosphate buffer saline; group B received 800 mg/kgA. digitataonly; group C were injected intraperitoneally with single dose 2 mg/kg b.w cadmium chloride; group D were injected intraperitoneally with single dose 2 mg/kg b.w cadmium chloride and treated with 800 mg/kg aqueous extract ofA. digitata; group E received 300 mg/kg vitamin E only; group F were injected intraperitoneally with single dose 2 mg/kg b.w cadmium chloride and treated with 300 mg/kg vitamin E. After 21 days, the animals were sacrificed by cervical dislocation, the testes were excised fixed in Bouins fluids for histological analysis and the other homogenized in 5% sucrose solution for determination of tissue malondialdehyde (MDA) and antioxidant enzyme activity, biochemical assay.ResultsThe group treated with cadmium chloride plusA. digitatacaused significant decrease in MDA levels with significant increase (p<0.05) in antioxidant activities and biochemical enzymes when compared to cadmium chloride only group.ConclusionsAqueous extract ofA. digitataappears to have ameliorative effect against cadmium chloride-induced testicular damage. This could be attributed to the presence of polyphenolic compound.