bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
COVID-19 pandemic in BRICS countries and its association with socio-economic and demographic characteristics, health vulnerability, resources, and policy response
Authors: Zhu Jingmin , Yan Wenxin , zhu Lin , Liu Jue 
Published: July 2021

Abstract
Background
Little attention has been paid to the comparison of COVID-19 pandemic responses and related factors in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries. We aimed at evaluating the association of daily new COVID-19 cases with socio-economic and demographic factors, health vulnerability, resources, and policy response in BRICS countries.

Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional study using data on the COVID-19 pandemic and other indicators of BRICS countries from February 26, 2020 to April 30, 2021. We compared COVID-19 epidemic in BRICS countries and analyzed related factors by log-linear Generalized Additive Model (GAM) models.

Results
In BRICS countries, India had the highest totally of confirmed cases with 18.76 million, followed by Brazil (14.45 million), Russia (4.81 million), and South Africa (1.58 million), while China (0.10 million) had the lowest figure. South Africa had the lowest rate of administered vaccine doses (0.18 million) among BRICS countries as of April 30, 2021. In the GAM model, a 1 unit increase in population density and policy stringency index was associated with a 5.17% and 1.95% growth in daily new COVID-19 cases (P < 0.001), respectively. Exposure–response curves for the effects of policy stringency index on daily new cases showed that there was a rapid surge in number of daily new COVID-19 cases when the index ranged from 0 to 45. The number of infections climbed slowly when the index ranged from 46 to 80, and decreased when the index was above 80 (P < 0.001). In addition, daily new COVID-19 cases (all P < 0.001) were also correlated with life expectancy at birth (-1.61%), extreme poverty (8.95%), human development index (-0.05%), GDP per capita (-0.18%), diabetes prevalence (0.66%), proportion of population aged 60 and above (2.23%), hospital beds per thousand people (-0.08%), proportion of people with access to improved drinking water (-7.40%), prevalence of open defecation (0.69%), and annual tourist/visitor arrivals (0.003%), after controlling other confounders. Different lag structures showed similar results in the sensitivity analysis.

Conclusions
Strong policy response is crucial to control the pandemic, such as effective containment and case management. Our findings also highlighted the importance of reducing socio-economic inequalities and strengthening the resilience of health systems to better respond to public health emergencies globally.

Graphic abstract
“Putting your own oxygen mask on first”: a qualitative study of siblings of adults with anorexia or bulimia
Authors: Karlstad Jannike , Moe Cathrine F. , Wattum Mari , Adelsten Stokland Ragni , Brinchmann Berit S. 
Published: July 2021

Abstract
Background
In families where one of the siblings has an eating disorder (ED), research indicates that the siblings without eating disorders (EDs) experience insufficient care and negative changes in family life. The illness then takes up a great deal of space within the family. Support from the siblings without EDs is considered to be important for the recovery of the sibling with ED. A key issue is how to involve siblings without EDs in treatment and establish what kind of support they themselves need. A majority of the research on EDs and family has focused on children and adolescents with EDs. The aim of this study is to expand knowledge about the experiences and coping strategies of sisters and brothers of adult women with anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa.

Methods
This qualitative study used a constructivist grounded theory approach. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 sisters and brothers (aged 20–31 years). They were recruited from eating disorders and general psychiatrics units and from user organisations for patients with eating disorders within Norway. An iterative process of data collection, coding and analysis was employed in order to generate a theory about these participants’ experiences and strategies.

Results
The core category is “put your own oxygen mask on first”. It indicates that the siblings realize that they need to take care of themselves first, in order to be able to stay involved with their sister with the ED. The three subcategories; “taking a new role”, “distancing” and “adapted care” describe how the siblings handle their situation as the relatives of adult sisters with an ED. The siblings without ED became more responsible and independent and assumed a caregiving role. They downplayed their own needs to reduce their parents’ burden. This new role became difficult to fulfil and the siblings experienced that over time they needed more distance. Eventually, they developed a more manageable way of caring for their sister.

Conclusions
The findings suggest that the ED challenged the boundaries within the family. The siblings without ED assumed a caregiver role, gradually leading to exhaustion and the need to distance from the sister with the ED, to take care of themselves.
Seasonality impacts collective movements in a wild group-living bird
Authors: Papageorgiou Danai , Rozen-Rechels David , Nyaguthii Brendah , Farine Damien R. 
Published: July 2021

AbstractBackgroundA challenge faced by animals living in groups with stable long-term membership is to effectively coordinate their actions and maintain cohesion. However, as seasonal conditions alter the distribution of resources across a landscape, they can change the priority of group members and require groups to adapt and respond collectively across changing contexts. Little is known about how stable group-living animals collectively modify their movement behaviour in response to environment changes, such as those induced by seasonality. Further, it remains unclear how environment-induced changes in group-level movement behaviours might scale up to affect population-level properties, such as a population’s footprint.MethodsHere we studied the collective movement of each distinct social group in a population of vulturine guineafowl (Acryllium vulturinum), a largely terrestrial and non-territorial bird. We used high-resolution GPS tracking of group members over 22 months, combined with continuous time movement models, to capture how and where groups moved under varying conditions, driven by seasonality and drought.ResultsGroups used larger areas, travelled longer distances, and moved to new places more often during drier seasons, causing a three-fold increase in the area used at the population level when conditions turned to drought. By contrast, groups used smaller areas with more regular movements during wetter seasons.ConclusionsThe consistent changes in collective outcomes we observed in response to different environments raise questions about the role of collective behaviour in facilitating, or impeding, the capacity for individuals to respond to novel environmental conditions. As droughts will be occurring more often under climate change, some group living animals may have to respond to them by expressing dramatic shifts in their regular movement patterns. These shifts can have consequences on their ranging behaviours that can scale up to alter the footprints of animal populations.
Analytical investigation of the feather decoration technique of a seventeenth to eighteenth century Chinese imperial hanging screen
Authors: Gu An , Wang Na , Kong Yan-ju , Hou Jia-yu , Li Gen , Lei Yong 
Published: July 2021

Abstract
Decoration with feathers is a universal phenomenon in human history. Objects decorated with feathers were regarded as fine artworks and hence were enormously prized. In ancient China, dotting a surface with blue kingfisher feathers was a famous, complex and delicate decoration technique called diancui. Although various ancient diancui artworks appear in many museums around the world and researchers have realized significant results in studies of the history, technique and conservation of diancui, some key historical details are still not clear. In this research performed during restoration, an important object from the Palace Museum, the “Feather Decoration Hanging Screen with Birds and Flowers Pattern”, was analyzed by various scientific technologies. This object is a Chinese imperial artwork of the Qing dynasty (seventeenth to eighteenth century) decorated with kingfisher feathers and the feathers of several other birds, and it represents the highest level of this period. As a typical and valuable case, the results provide important clues for solving questions arising from related academic fields.
Coastal wetlands in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China: probably the most important site globally for the Asian Dowitcher (Limnodromus semipalmatus)
Authors: Yang Ziyou , Li Jing , Han Yongxiang , Hassell Chris J. , Leung Kar-Sin Katherine , Melville David S. , Yu Yat-tung , Zhang Lin , Choi Chi-Yeung 
Published: July 2021

AbstractBackgroundDespite an increasing number of surveys and a growing interest in birdwatching, the population and distribution of Asian Dowitcher (Limnodromus semipalmatus), a species endemic to the East Asian–Australasian and Central Asian Flyways, remains poorly understood, and published information about the species is largely outdated. In boreal spring 2019, over 22,432 Asian Dowitchers were recorded in a coastal wetland at Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China, constituting 97.5% of its estimated global population.MethodsIn 2019 and 2020, we conducted field surveys at Lianyungang to determine the numbers of Asian Dowitchers using the area during both southward and northward migrations. We also assessed the distribution and abundance of Asian Dowitchers elsewhere along the China coast by searching literature and consulting expert opinion.ResultsThe coastal wetlands of Lianyungang are the most important stopover site for Asian Dowitchers during both northward and southward migrations; they supported over 90% of the estimated global population during northward migration in two consecutive years (May 2019 and 2020). This area also supported at least 15.83% and 28.42% (or 30.74% and 53.51% using modelled estimates) of the global population during southward migration in 2019 and 2020 respectively. Coastal wetlands in the west and north of Bohai Bay also have been important stopover sites for the species since the 1990s. Although comprehensive, long-term monitoring data are lacking, available evidence suggests that the population of the species may have declined.ConclusionsThe high concentration of Asian Dowitchers at Lianyungang during migration means the species is highly susceptible to human disturbances and natural stochastic events. The coastal wetlands of Lianyungang should be protected and potentially qualify for inclusion in China’s forthcoming nomination for World Heritage listing of Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China (Phase II) in 2023. Additional research is needed to understand Asian Dowitchers’ distribution and ecology, as well as why such a high proportion of their population rely on the Lianyungang coast.
Changes in plant debris and carbon stocks across a subalpine forest successional series
Authors: Wang Zhihui , Zhao Lianjun , Bai Yi , Li Fei , Hou Jianfeng , Li Xuqing , Jiang Yurui , Deng Yuyue , Zheng Bingqian , Yang Wanqin 
Published: July 2021

Abstract
Background
As a structurally and functionally important component in forest ecosystems, plant debris plays a crucial role in the global carbon cycle. Although it is well known that plant debris stocks vary greatly with tree species composition, forest type, forest origin, and stand age, simultaneous investigation on the changes in woody and non-woody debris biomass and their carbon stock with forest succession has not been reported. Therefore, woody and non-woody debris and carbon stocks were investigated across a subalpine forest successional gradient in Wanglang National Nature Reserve on the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Results
Plant debris ranged from 25.19 to 82.89 Mg∙ha− 1 and showed a global increasing tendency across the subalpine forest successional series except for decreasing at the S4 successional stage. Accordingly, the ratios of woody to non-woody debris stocks ranged from 26.58 to 208.89, and the highest and lowest ratios of woody to non-woody debris stocks were respectively observed in mid-successional coniferous forest and shrub forest, implying that woody debris dominates the plant debris. In particular, the ratios of coarse to fine woody debris stocks varied greatly with the successional stage, and the highest and lowest ratios were found in later and earlier successional subalpine forests, respectively. Furthermore, the woody debris stock varied greatly with diameter size, and larger diameter woody debris dominated the plant debris. Correspondingly, the carbon stock of plant debris ranged from 10.30 to 38.87 Mg∙ha− 1 across the successional series, and the highest and lowest values were observed in the mid-coniferous stage and shrub forest stage, respectively. Most importantly, the carbon stored in coarse woody debris in later successional forests was four times higher than in earlier successional forests.

Conclusions
The stock and role of woody debris, particularly coarse woody debris, varied greatly with the forest successional stage and dominated the carbon cycle in the subalpine forest ecosystem. Thus, preserving coarse woody debris is a critical strategy for sustainable forest management.
Impact of learning through credit and value creation on the efficiency of Japanese commercial banks
Authors: Aduba Joseph , Izawa Hiroshi 
Published: July 2021

AbstractThis study investigates the learning curve of commercial banks regarding the efficiency of credit and value creation. However, current empirical methods for accessing the learning curve in organizations are not suitable for use in financial institutions. Considering bank-specific characteristics, weintroduce a dynamic learning curve using a cost function adjusted to capture learning-by-doing in banks.Using the model, we test several hypotheses on the impact of bank intermediary experience (learning) on the efficiency of credit and value creation in Japanese commercial banks. The findings show that bank intermediary learning significantly improves the cost efficiency gain in the gross value created, total credit created, and investment. However, bank intermediary experience has no significant effect on the efficiency of the economic value created for all the banks analyzed. These findings have practical implications for evaluating cost dynamics in bank credit and value creation, risk management, lending to the real sector, and shareholder value creation.
How can we categorise ‘nationality’ and ‘second generation’ in surveys without (re)producing stigmatisation?
Authors: Chimienti Milena , Guichard Eduardo , Bolzman Claudio , Le Goff Jean-Marie 
Published: July 2021

AbstractWhilst reflexive migration studies have criticised the use of categories such as ‘nationality’ and ‘second generation’ in quantitative research, several gaps on how to develop such reflexivity remain. In qualitative data, the co-construction of knowledge seems feasible during fieldwork, whereas the deductive process of quantitative research limits such interactions and is more at risk of reproducing a ‘state thought’. Through a longitudinal database, the LIVES-FORS cohort survey of the National Center of Competence in Research LIVES – Overcoming Vulnerability: Life Course Perspectives and FORS – the Swiss Centre of Expertise in Social Sciences (herafter LCS), we engage in this discussion and provide some answers. The LCS is an annual longitudinal survey that, in 2013, started following a cohort of young adults born between 1988 and 1997 who grew up in Switzerland. The underlying hypothesis of the LCS is that migrants’ descendants have access to different resources (and often a lack thereof) to Swiss natives. In this paper, we discuss both the theoretical and empirical challenges to using the categories ‘nationality’ and ‘second generation’. We show the fluidity and subjectivity of these categories. By changing the definition of the category ‘second generation’, we increased the proportion of ‘second-generation’ participants from 43 to almost 62% of the sample. Looking across the five waves of the survey, we notice a 2% unexplained variation in the first nationality mentioned by the participants and 31% missing values regarding the nationality at birth – which are both indicators that nationality is a subjective category as well as a legal one. We illustrate that the static and neutral conceptions of these categories reproduce a false and stigmatised image of migrant descendants. To avoid these pitfalls we suggest developing multilevel geographical comparisons to consider the effects of time (age and historical), to use a wider range of information in order to be more precise, to examine different nationalities instead of focusing on the traditional nationalities of labour immigrants in a given country and to explore the reasons for the lack of answers to certain questions. Thus the questionnaires should include both more flexibility in the possibilities for answers and details and more-open questions regarding sensitive issues about the definition of the self. They should be developed through a participative and bottom-up process fostering mixed methods.
Impact of the Panama Canal expansion on Latin American and Caribbean ports: difference in difference (DID) method
Authors: Miller Kahuina , Hyodo Tetsuro 
Published: July 2021

AbstractThe expanded Panama Canal opened on June 26, 2016. This expansion is the third set of locks that enabled the canal to double its capacity through the addition of new traffic lanes, which allowed neo-Panamax and some post-Panamax vessels to transit across the canal. The widening of the canal has increased maritime traffic within Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Major ports in the regions have made huge investments in port expansion and infrastructural development to accommodate neo-Panamax vessels. In this study, we investigated the impact of the Panama Canal expansion (PCE) on the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) ports by using the Difference in Difference (DID) method. This impact was evaluated for 100 major and regular ports within the three sub-regions of LAC, namely Caribbean, Central, and South America, before and after the treatment effect, that is, the PCE. The findings from the model revealed that the average container port throughput (TEUs) for the treated ports (DTrp) was more than that of the controlled ports (CONTp) with transshipment hub, Central America, and South America having 20%, 12%, and 34% growth, respectively, since the PCE (the treatment) except for the Caribbean ports (DTrp), which experienced losses of 8% within the LAC region from 2010 to 2019.
Psychometric properties of the thyroid-specific quality of life questionnaire ThyPRO in Singaporean patients with Graves’ disease
Authors: Liew Huiling , Watt Torquil , Nan Luo , Tan Alvin W. K. , Chan Yiong Huak , Chew Daniel Ek Kwang , Dalan Rinkoo 
Published: July 2021

Abstract
Background
Graves’ disease is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. It results in accelerated tissue metabolism with multi-organ involvement ranging from cardiovascular to neuropsychological function. This results in a negative impact on the quality of life (QOL) of the individual patient. We aim to evaluate the psychometric properties of ThyPRO, a Thyroid-related Patient Reported Outcome questionnaire, and validate its use in our multi-ethnic Asian patients with Graves’ hyperthyroidism.

Methods
Forty-seven consecutive Graves’ hyperthyroidism patients answered the ThyPRO questionnaire at baseline and at 4 months after treatment initiation. Data were recorded for thyroid related symptoms and signs, thyroid function tests and thyroid volume. We analyzed the internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha, construct validity by evaluating relationship between clinical variables and ThyPRO scales, ceiling and floor effects, and responsiveness of ThyPRO to treatment based on Cohen’s effect size.

Results
Correlations between individual scale scores and free thyroxine concentrations were moderate and statistically significant: 0.21–0.64 (p <  0.05). There was high internal consistency between the items in this instrument, Cronbach’s alpha > 0.7 for all scales. ThyPRO was responsive to the changes in QOL after treatment (Effect Size: 0.20–0.77) in 9 of the 14 scales including the hyperthyroid symptoms and psychosocial scales (Tiredness, Cognitive complaints, Anxiety, Emotional susceptibility, Impact on Social, Daily and Sex life).

Conclusion
This study provides evidence that ThyPRO has satisfactory measurement properties in hyperthyroid Graves’ disease patients in Singapore population with the potential to complement clinical care.
Vibrational spectroscopy and chemometrics in GSR: review and current trend
Authors: Jain Bharti , Yadav Poonam 
Published: July 2021

Abstract
Background
This review represents many significant methods of chemometrics applied as data assessment methods originated by many hyphenated analytical techniques containing their application since its origin to today.

Main body of the abstract
The study has been divided into many parts, which contain many multivariate regression methods. The main aim of this study is to investigate the chemometrics tools used in GSR (gunshot residue) or forensic ballistics.

Short conclusion
As a final point, the end of part of this review deals with the applicability of chemometric methods in forensic ballistics. We select to give an elaborate description of many significant tools established with their algorithm in admire of utilizing and accepting them by researchers not very aware with chemometrics.
Quantitative motor unit potential analysis and nerve conduction studies for detection of subclinical peripheral nerve dysfunction in patients with compensated liver cirrhosis
Authors: Elkholy Mostafa M. , Eid Ragaey A. 
Published: July 2021

Abstract
Background
Peripheral neuropathy is an underestimated problem of compensated liver cirrhosis despite its negative effect on quality of life. The aim was to assess the role of meticulous electrophysiological screening (nerve conduction responses and quantitative motor unit potential analysis) of subclinical peripheral nerve dysfunction in patients with compensated cirrhosis and also to explore its relations with different characteristics of liver disease. Severity of cirrhosis was assessed by Child–Pugh and albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) scores.

Results
Prevalence of hepatic neuropathy (HN) was 82%. It involved sensory and motor fibers (66%), and its pathophysiology was axonal (53.7%) or mixed axonal and demyelinating (46.3). The most sensitive discriminating tests were ulnar sensory conduction velocity (area under curve (AUC) = 0.915) and peak latency (AUC = 0.887), peroneal motor conduction velocity (AUC = 0.885), ulnar distal motor latency (AUC = 0.842), and first dorsal interosseous number of phases (AUC = 0.736). HN showed significant correlation with the severity of liver disease assessed by both child (P = 0.029) and ALBI (P = 0.016) scores and also correlated with the low serum albumin level (P = 0.001).

Conclusions
Subclinical mild axonal polyneuropathy is very common in post-hepatitis C compensated cirrhosis picked up by meticulous electrophysiological testing, and it is related to severity of liver cirrhosis and low serum albumin level.