bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A novel approach to refining mesoscale geometric modeling for segregation in concrete
Authors: Ren Qifan , Pacheco João , de Brito Jorge , Wang Yao , Hu Jianhua 
Published: December 2024

AbstractSegregation results in worse mechanical and durability performance of concrete. Therefore, an accurate modelling of segregation is required for reliable mesoscale modelling. In this context, this paper presents a method to develop the geometric mesoscale modelling of concrete taking into account segregation. In this method, coarse aggregate particles are generated as ellipsoids of random geometry and are randomly placed within concrete. The specimen is stratified in different numbers of layers ($$NoL$$

NoL

) that represent different segregation conditions. The geometric models of four concrete mix designs are generated and the relevant key parameters, e.g. aggregate distribution are analysed and validated. In addition, the segregation level of generated models is classified based on the volumetric index and the correspondence between segregation level and the value of $$NoL$$

NoL

is presented. The results show that 1) The generated geometric models with $$NoL$$

NoL

ranging from 1 to 10 align well with real segregation in concrete and can accurately represent the majority of segregation cases resulting from various experimental factors; 2) The $$NoL$$

NoL

reflects the segregation level: more layers indicate a more heterogeneous mesostructure; 3) The larger aggregates of the generated models tend to settle at the bottom, while smaller aggregates rise toward the top, leading to uneven vertical distribution, especially as the $$NoL$$

NoL

increases; 4) the mix 1 with low aggregate content can represent the construction material with large segregation, while the mix 2 is inverse.
MPT: a large-scale multiphytoplankton tracking benchmark
Authors: Yu Yang , Li Yuezun , Sun Xin , Dong Junyu 
Published: December 2024

AbstractPhytoplankton are crucial for aquatic ecosystems and provide valuable insights into ocean environments and changes in ecosystems. Traditional phytoplankton monitoring methods are often complex and lack timely analysis capabilities. Thus, deep learning algorithms offer a promising approach for automated phytoplankton monitoring. However, the lack of large-scale, high-quality training datasets presents a major bottleneck in advancing phytoplankton tracking. Herein, we propose a challenging benchmark dataset called multiple phytoplankton tracking (MPT), which covers diverse background information and motion variations during observation. The dataset includes 27 phytoplankton and zooplankton species, 14 different backgrounds to simulate diverse and complex underwater environments, and 140 videos. To enable accurate real-time phytoplankton observation, we introduce the deviation-corrected multiscale feature fusion tracker (DSFT), a multiobject tracking method designed to overcome key issues such as focus shifts during tracking and the loss of critical information on small targets when computing frame-to-frame similarity. To enhance efficiency, we incorporate an additional feature extractor that predicts residuals from the output of the standard feature extractor; this enables multiscale frame-to-frame similarity comparisons based on features from different extractor layers. Extensive experiments conducted on the MPT dataset validated its effectiveness and demonstrated the superior performance of the DSFT method in tracking phytoplankton, providing an effective solution for phytoplankton monitoring.
The relationship between innovation and organizational performance: A meta-analysis
Authors: Katebi Ali , Hosseinkhah Eghdam Hadi , Baseri Hamideh , Salehi Amir Masoud 
Published: December 2024

AbstractThis meta-analytic study aims to assess the relationship between innovation and organizational performance. Examining studies published from 2012 to 2021 using a specific protocol resulted in selecting 180 effect sizes from 143 studies. Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Software (CMA2) (2.2.064) software facilitated data analysis. Findings reveal a positive and significant relationship between innovation and organizational performance. Moderating analysis identifies country, continent, year of publication, and innovation type as moderating variables. Additionally, recent years exhibit a noteworthy convergence in the relationship trend between innovation and organizational performance. Enhancing organizational performance remains a critical concern. The study’s outcomes offer valuable insights for managers, especially in international organizations to improve the planning and management of innovation and performance in their various branches and projects in different continents and countries.
“The Public Practice of Humanity”: How Antislavery Writing Matters Now
Authors: Yothers Brian 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
Henry David Thoreau and Frances E. W. Harper offer a historical model for the public humanities grounded in racial justice and moral education. For both Thoreau and Harper, the “public practice of humanity” that Thoreau identifies in “A Plea for Captain John Brown” inescapably means taking the side of justice, creating a “liberation humanities” that is analogous to the “preferential option for the poor” in twentieth-century theologies of liberation. Both authors use a mix of theologically informed moral reasoning and wit and irony to further the cause of justice, and both are concerned with the ways in which literary form and public advocacy can coalesce.
How Scientific Ignorance and Social Invisibility Shape the Issue of Occupational Health in France as a Nonproblem
Authors: Henry Emmanuel , Counil Emilie 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
Rather than leading to the emergence of a problem, some processes contribute to limiting their scope and impeding agenda-setting. These “nonproblems” are situations that could have led to social mobilizations or public intervention but end up neither being publicized nor subject to strong policy. We use occupational health in France to illustrate these mechanisms. The social invisibility of work-related ill-health is linked to the joint contribution of two processes. Firstly, from the perspective of research on ignorance and undone science, scientific knowledge is under-developed compared to other public health issues. And even available knowledge is rarely used by policy-makers. Secondly, policies use underestimated numbers from the occupational diseases compensation system. This specific configuration of knowledge/ignorance and official counting plays a central role in the production of occupational health issues as a nonproblem. Their invisibility contributes to the production of inertia and public inaction that characterize public policy in this field.
Can Powerful Dictators Escape ‘The Market as Prison’? The Case of Pension Privatisation in Pinochet's Chile
Authors: Schiappacasse Ignacio , Sánchez-Ancochea Diego 
Published: December 2024

AbstractThe central role of economic elites in shaping public policy in Latin America has become increasingly clear. Yet most of the recent literature on the subject focuses on democratic contexts. This paper analyses pension privatisation in Chile as a case study for improving our understanding of business–state interaction in authoritarian contexts. Globally, the 1981 pension reform carried out during the Pinochet dictatorship became an example for pension privatisation elsewhere. Analysis of the policy-making process, based on novel empirical material, shows that from 1973 financial groups accumulated growing power which enabled them to first (a) defeat their opponents within the economic elite, (b) overpower their rivals within the state and, finally, (c) force Pinochet into passing pension privatisation legislation. Our results stress the need to include the study of different actors’ power resources – along with ideological issues and the regime structure – in attempts to understand the outcome of policy processes in authoritarian contexts.
Early twentieth-century recordings in higher music education: a preliminary analysis of the students’ views
Authors: Zicari Massimo , Biasutti Michele 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
This article examines how classical music students understand early twentieth-century recordings in higher music education. A qualitative research method was chosen to investigate the beliefs and self-reported practices of 16 students enrolled in a European conservatoire, whose attitudes were considered through the administration of a semi-structured questionnaire and an interview. Their responses identified seven main themes: (1) beliefs, (2) sources, (3) self-reported practices, (4) repertoires/performers, (5) educational implications, (6) limits and (7) benefits.
Results show how much students value early twentieth-century recordings – especially when it comes to analysing the performance practices of the past and developing new interpretations – and how articulate their responses can be with regard to specific stylistic and technical issues. However, possibly due to informal learning strategies and the lack of curricular teaching activities focusing on listening to and analysing recorded interpretations, some responses highlighted a misrepresentation of our recent musical past and the need for a more structured curricular activity. This last should benefit from a vast body of scholarly literature whose relevance is still underestimated among music practitioners.
Collaborative relations and irresponsible purity: Herbert Mehrtens’ transformation of the historiography of science, medicine, technology and National Socialism
Authors: Walker Mark 
Published: December 2024

ArgumentBy breaking decisively with the predominantly apologetic and hagiographic literature on science during National Socialism and employing compelling terms such as “irresponsible purity” and “collaborative relations,” Herbert Mehrtens profoundly influenced both his contemporaries and the subsequent generation of historians working in this field.
Poincaré and counter-modernism
Authors: Gray Jeremy 
Published: December 2024

ArgumentIt would have been easy for a less imaginative historian of mathematics than Herbert Mehrtens to have portrayed the work of Hilbert, Hausdorff, and other modernists as pioneers, and those who did not subscribe to their program as people who failed, were not good enough to make the turn, and were eventually and convincingly left behind. That he did not do so is not only because this would have been a shallow, selective view of the facts: it is incompatible with his Foucauldian approach to the relations between knowledge and power. Instead, he defined what I see as the most intriguing category of actor in his Moderne—Sprache—Mathematik (1990), the Gegenmoderner, or counter-moderns. The three men who characterize this position are Felix Klein, Henri Poincaré, and Luitzen Brouwer, and each merits a section in the book.Of the three, Poincaré is the hardest to contain within that category. The range of his work, the nature of his influence, and the shifting standards by which mathematical significance has been evaluated by mathematicians, historians of mathematics, and society at large, all contribute to the problem. After thirty years, the methodological presumptions and aspirations of historians of mathematics have also changed, and I shall suggest that one way to appreciate the richness of Mehrtens’ book, to gain insight into what is meant by mathematical modernism, and to acknowledge a generation of work by other historians since 1990, is to re-examine aspects of Poincaré’s life and work and scholarship about him. Prodded by remarks by Leo Corry, Moritz Epple, and David Rowe, I shall suggest that the simple but useful dichotomy modern/counter-modern must be seen as a way into a more complicated situation, one in which different aspects of mathematics, specifically applied mathematics and the relationship of mathematics to contemporary physics, require fresh accounts of the role of modern mathematics in society.
The emergence and the failure of an East-West-German project (1988/89) on the “history of mathematics during the Nazi period”
Authors: Siegmund-Schultze Reinhard 
Published: December 2024

ArgumentIn the decade between 1983 and 1993, Herbert Mehrtens in West Berlin and I in East Berlin communicated closely about our parallel work on mathematics under the National Socialist (NS) regime. For a short period (1988–89), we worked on a joint book on this topic. We agreed that the book should be based primarily on empirical historical material, using a theoretical approach largely guided by Mehrtens’ work on social systems in mathematics (Mehrtens1981, 1987a). However, parallel work for his habilitation thesis on modernity in mathematics increasingly captivated Mehrtens’ interests. This, together with ongoing resistance among older mathematicians and the insecurities of our individual careers during times of considerable political change, particularly in East Germany, led to the failure of our joint project.This paper aims at reconstructing—mostly by drawing on correspondence—parts of the dialogue between Mehrtens and me at the time. Our dialogue was influenced by our different upbringing and socialization in the two parts of Germany, and by different, though complementary, views about the combination of empirical and theoretical approaches to the historiography of mathematics.In the epilogue, I describe how my later work in the decades from the 1990s on the history of mathematics profited much from Mehrtens’ early theoretical and empirical work but was less influenced by his book on modernity. That later work of mine was, however, mostly done at a time when Mehrtens had largely left the field and considered himself increasingly as a “cultural scientist” (Kulturwissenschaftler).
Group A streptococcal infections in Alberta, Canada 2018–2023
Authors: Tyrrell Gregory J. , Croxen Matthew , McCullough Emily , Li Vincent , Golden Alyssa R. , Martin Irene 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
Group A streptococcal or Streptococcus pyogenes infections have been increasing post-COVID-19 pandemic. We describe the epidemiology of S. pyogenes pharyngitis and invasive disease in Alberta, Canada 2018–2023. Positive pharyngitis specimens were identified from throat swabs collected from pharyngitis patients. Invasive S. pyogenes was defined as the isolation of S. pyogenes from a normally sterile site or severe skin infection. S. pyogenes isolates were emm typed. Pharyngitis and invasive disease displayed seasonal trends preceding the COVID-19 pandemic followed by a sharp decrease during COVID-19 intervention measures. After the lifting of interventions, rates of pharyngitis and invasive disease rose. There were 182 983 positive pharyngitis specimens between 2018 and 2023 for a positivity rate of 17.6%. The highest rates occurred in the 0–9 age group in 2023 (41.5%). Invasive disease increased in 2022–2023 driven by emm1 and 12 types. M1UK strain was the most frequent M1 type associated with invasive disease (59% of M1 isolates sequenced). Notably, out of 182 983 pharyngitis cases, there were 111 cases of invasive S. pyogenes detected for an invasive disease rate of 0.06%. This descriptive epidemiology of S. pyogenes pharyngitis and invasive S. pyogenes disease highlights the rapid increase in cases of S. pyogenes occurring in western Canada and illustrates the critical need for a vaccine.
Combination of FSH and testosterone could enhance activation of primordial follicles and growth of activated follicles in 1-day-old mice ovaries in vitro cultured for 12 days
Authors: Torkzadeh Tahoura , Asadi Zahra , Jafari Atrabi Mohammad , Khodadi Maryam , Eivazkhani Farideh , Hajiaghalou Samira , Akbarinejad Vahid , Fathi Rouhollah 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
Treatment with follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and testosterone (T2) and their combination have been observed to be influential on ovarian follicles of 1-day-old mice ovaries cultured for 8 days. Given that extension of the culture period could positively impact the development of follicles in cultured ovaries, the present study was conducted to evaluate the main and interaction effects of FSH by T2 on the development of ovarian follicles in 1-day-old mice ovaries cultured for 12 days. One-day-old mice ovaries were initially cultured with base medium for 4 days; thereafter, different hormonal treatments were added to the culture media, and the culture was continued for 8 additional days until day 12. Ovaries were collected for histological and molecular assessments on day 12. The greatest activation of primordial follicles and progression of activated follicles to the preantral stage was detected in ovaries treated with the combination of FSH and T2 (P < 0.05). This positive effect on the morphology of ovarian follicles was accompanied by upregulation of Pi3k, Gdf9, Bmp15, Cx37 and Fshr in the ovaries cultured with the combination of FSH and T2 (P < 0.05). Nonetheless, treatment with FSH and T2 led to a diminished proportion of intact follicles (P < 0.05), even though Bax/Bcl2 gene expression ratio, as an apoptotic index, was less in hormone-treated ovaries (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the combination of FSH and T2 could improve the activation of primordial follicles and the growth of activated follicles towards the preantral stage. This positive effect of FSH plus T2 appeared to be at least partly mediated through the upregulation of Pi3k and oocyte-derived growth factors including Gdf9 and Bmp15.
Exposure to climate shocks, poverty and household well-being
Authors: Becchetti Leonardo , Mancini Sara , Savastano Sara 
Published: December 2024

AbstractWe evaluate the impact of climate shocks on the well-being of farmer households in a Small Island Developing State in the Pacific, the Solomon Islands. We find that both subjective (self-assessed exposure to climate shocks) and objective (number of past dry spells) indicators of environmental stress significantly reduce the quality of life among households. Household well-being is more severely affected for farmers living in poor dwellings (e.g., those with thatched roofs signaling shelters less resistant to environmental shocks), with below median income or durable assets, living in isolated areas and not being members of agricultural associations. Furthermore, households affected by climate shocks experience a significantly higher proportion of nutritional problems. These findings support the hypothesis of a strong correlation between climate shocks, household well-being and nutritional status, advocating for the relevance of global climate adaptation policies such as loss and damage funds, as well as prevention strategies.
Property in the sharing economy: paradox, disruption, and institutional design
Authors: Zhu Sally 
Published: December 2024

AbstractThis special issue aims to unravel the deeply intertwined dialectics between property and sharing. We do so by examining the paradoxes thrown up as legal forms of property interact with the emergent economic activity of sharing, and investigating how these may be resolved by designing institutional frameworks to better align their values. These paradoxes are sometimes productive, driving property and sharing forward to produce new configurations of use and privilege; sometimes disruptive, as sharing throws new light on how property orders economic and social relations by pushing against the boundaries of established property forms. But they are always revealing.
Sharing whiteness
Authors: Dyal-Chand Rashmi 
Published: December 2024

AbstractWhat would the ‘sharing economy’ look like if platform providers optimised for racial and other forms of diversity? This article considers that question. Following the Introduction, Part 2 of this article reviews the widespread nature of race and other forms of discrimination in platform technologies. Part 3 uses core strands of property theory to analyse the ways in which racial privilege translates into property entitlements. Part 4 discusses a range of reforms within property law that can contribute to eliminating the value – and ultimately the fact – of whiteness as a property entitlement in the platform economy.
Striving Towards ‘The Good Life’: What Environmental Litigation in India Can Tell Us About Climate Litigation in the Global South
Authors: Kumar Parul 
Published: December 2024

AbstractThe Supreme Court of India's judgment in Vedanta Ltd v. State of Tamil Nadu and Others, affirming the closure of Vedanta's copper smelting plant in Tuticorin in southern India, concludes a long and contentious chain of litigation. The plant's troubled history and the ensuing litigation reflect contestations between economic development, environmental and social devastation, human well-being, and corporate responsibility, which are often characteristic of environmental litigation in the global south. This article analyzes the significance of the Indian Supreme Court's reliance on established constitutional rights principles as well as settled environmental jurisprudence, and highlights the relevance of this judicial pronouncement for climate litigation in the global south.
The effect of active exoskeleton support with different lumbar-to-hip support ratios on spinal musculoskeletal loading and lumbar kinematics during lifting
Authors: Brouwer Niels P. , Tabasi Ali , Hu Feng , Kingma Idsart , van Dijk Wietse , Mohamed Refai Mohamed Irfan , van der Kooij Herman , van Dieën Jaap H. 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
While active back-support exoskeletons can reduce mechanical loading of the spine, current designs include only one pair of actuated hip joints combined with a rigid structure between the pelvis and trunk attachments, restricting lumbar flexion and consequently intended lifting behavior. This study presents a novel active exoskeleton including actuated lumbar and hip joints as well as subject-specific exoskeleton control based on a real-time active low-back moment estimation. We evaluated the effect of exoskeleton support with different lumbar-to-hip (L/H) support ratios on spine loading, lumbar kinematics, and back muscle electromyography (EMG). Eight healthy males lifted 15 kg loads using three techniques without exoskeleton (NOEXO) and with exoskeleton: minimal impedance mode (MINIMP), L/H support ratio in line with a typical L/H net moment ratio (R0.8), lower (R0.5) and higher (R2.0) L/H support ratio than R0.8, and a mechanically fixed lumbar joint (LF; simulating hip joint-only exoskeleton designs).
EMG-driven musculoskeletal model results indicated that R0.8 and R0.5 yielded significant reductions in spinal loading (4–11%, p < .004) across techniques when compared to MINIMP, through reducing active moments (14–30%) while not affecting lumbar flexion and passive moments. R2.0 and LF significantly reduced spinal loading (8–17%, p < .001; 22–26%, p < .001, respectively), however significantly restricted lumbar flexion (3–18%, 24–27%, respectively) and the associated passive moments.
An L/H support ratio in line with a typical L/H net moment ratio reduces spinal loading, while allowing normal lifting behavior. High L/H support ratios (e.g., in hip joint-only exoskeleton designs) yield reductions in spinal loading, however, restrict lifting behavior, typically perceived as hindrance.