bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
“Because guess what? I don’t even want to speak English”: English as an obstacle for the development of multilingualism at a South African institution
Authors: Lasagabaster David 
Published: July 2024

AbstractSouth Africa immediately springs to mind as the epitome of multilingual language policies. In fact, its Constitution granted official status to 11 languages in 1996, and the Language Policy in Higher Education passed by the Ministry of Education in 2002 required universities to develop and use the indigenous official languages as academic languages, in addition to Afrikaans and English. With this multilingual milieu in mind, this study aimed at giving students voice in an attempt to unveil their language ideologies and attitudes by analysing their views on multilingualism and the use of English as main medium of instruction. Eleven focus groups with a total of 30 university students from different degrees at Stellenbosch University (SU) were organized to delve into four main issues: students’ perceptions on the university’s multilingual language policy; the actual use of the three official languages (Afrikaans, English and Xhosa) at SU; the impact of the use of English as the main medium of instruction; and the implementation of translanguaging practices. Despite the multilingual language policy of SU, our results reveal that there is a neatly established language hierarchy, where English reigns supreme at the top of the pyramid, followed by Afrikaans, while Xhosa remains at the base. Therefore, the preponderance of English as the language of academia only contributes to consolidating it as a strong identity factor in our interviewees’ multilingual identities, to the extent that Xhosa home language speakers disavow their own language in the academic domain.
Fast linear model trees by PILOT
Authors: Raymaekers Jakob , Rousseeuw Peter J. , Verdonck Tim , Yao Ruicong 
Published: July 2024

AbstractLinear model trees are regression trees that incorporate linear models in the leaf nodes. This preserves the intuitive interpretation of decision trees and at the same time enables them to better capture linear relationships, which is hard for standard decision trees. But most existing methods for fitting linear model trees are time consuming and therefore not scalable to large data sets. In addition, they are more prone to overfitting and extrapolation issues than standard regression trees. In this paper we introduce PILOT, a new algorithm for linear model trees that is fast, regularized, stable and interpretable. PILOT trains in a greedy fashion like classic regression trees, but incorporates an L2 boosting approach and a model selection rule for fitting linear models in the nodes. The abbreviation PILOT stands for PIecewise Linear Organic Tree, where ‘organic’ refers to the fact that no pruning is carried out. PILOT has the same low time and space complexity as CART without its pruning. An empirical study indicates that PILOT tends to outperform standard decision trees and other linear model trees on a variety of data sets. Moreover, we prove its consistency in an additive model setting under weak assumptions. When the data is generated by a linear model, the convergence rate is polynomial.
The linearized Einstein equations with sources
Authors: Hintz Peter 
Published: July 2024

AbstractOn vacuum spacetimes of general dimension, we study the linearized Einstein vacuum equations with a spatially compactly supported and (necessarily) divergence-free source. We prove that the vanishing of appropriate charges of the source, defined in terms of Killing vector fields on the spacetime, is necessary and sufficient for solvability within the class of spatially compactly supported metric perturbations. The proof combines classical results by Moncrief with the solvability theory of the linearized constraint equations with control on supports developed by Corvino–Schoen and Chruściel–Delay.
Why we should not “help bad choosers:” screening, nudging, and epistemic risk
Authors: Zameska Jay 
Published: July 2024

AbstractOne prominent line of support for nudging in screening programs is the claim that nudging can help ‘bad choosers’ — that is, it can help some patients make choices more in line with their own values and preferences. In this article, I argue that due to the presence of epistemic risk in many screening programs, the argument that nudging can help ‘bad choosers’ should be revised or rejected. Expanding on the work of Biddle, J. B. 2020. Epistemic risks in cancer screening: Implications for ethics and policy. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 79: 101200.), I argue that epistemic risk undermines the argument that nudging can help to promote patient autonomy in the context of screening. Specifically, I argue that epistemic risk results in the inclusion of non-patient values and preferences in the screening process, which challenges the claim that nudging can help patients make choices more in line with their own values and preferences. I present four reasons to think epistemic risk undermines the argument in this way: (1) conflicting values; (2) lack of transparency; (3) limited autonomy in opting out; (4) unjustified manipulation. The presence of epistemic risk in screening programs means that nudging may not always be an effective means of promoting patient autonomy and informed consent. As such, epistemic risk poses significant challenges to at least one ethical justification of nudging in screening programs, and raises further questions about the role of nudging in promoting patient decision-making.
Research performance of higher education institutions in Türkiye: 1980–2022
Authors: Maral Muammer 
Published: July 2024

AbstractIn recent years, there has been a growing interest in the measurement of research performance. These studies evaluate a country or groups of countries according to their research performance and make some inferences to improve their performance. This study analyses the research performance of Turkish higher education, which aims for higher positions in international rankings, in the context of publication productivity, impact and collaboration with data based on Web of Science and comprehensive indicators for the years 1980–2022. In addition, research area-based analyses were also made. In this way, by presenting Türkiye’s performance from past to present in a comprehensive manner, rich information has been provided to policy makers, decision makers, and practical implications have been made for the improvement of performance. According to the results of the study, Türkiye has been faced with low productivity for many years. Both the area-based analyses and the results for the overall publication impact revealed that although there has been an increase in publication impact in recent years, Türkiye’s publication impact has performed below the world average in all years examined. The results indicated that Turkish higher education has some problems in terms of quality. As for research collaboration, the results showed that Türkiye gives more importance to domestic collaborative publications rather than international collaboration, while industry collaboration continues to remain in the background. Based on the results of the study, practical implications for policy makers and decision makers were made.
Infproto-Powered Adaptive Classifier and Agnostic Feature Learning for Single Domain Generalization in Medical Images
Authors: Guo Xiaoqing , Liu Jie , Yuan Yixuan 
Published: July 2024

AbstractDesigning a single domain generalization (DG) framework that generalizes from one source domain to arbitrary unseen domains is practical yet challenging in medical image segmentation, mainly due to the domain shift and limited source domain information. To tackle these issues, we reason that domain-adaptive classifier learning and domain-agnostic feature extraction are key components in single DG, and further propose an adaptive infinite prototypes (InfProto) scheme to facilitate the learning of the two components. InfProto harnesses high-order statistics and infinitely samples class-conditional instance-specific prototypes to form the classifier for discriminability enhancement. We then introduce probabilistic modeling and provide a theoretic upper bound to implicitly perform the infinite prototype sampling in the optimization of InfProto. Incorporating InfProto, we design a hierarchical domain-adaptive classifier to elasticize the model for varying domains. This classifier infinitely samples prototypes from the instance and mini-batch data distributions, forming the instance-level and mini-batch-level domain-adaptive classifiers, thereby generalizing to unseen domains. To extract domain-agnostic features, we assume each instance in the source domain is a micro source domain and then devise three complementary strategies, i.e., instance-level infinite prototype exchange, instance-batch infinite prototype interaction, and consistency regularization, to constrain outputs of the hierarchical domain-adaptive classifier. These three complementary strategies minimize distribution shifts among micro source domains, enabling the model to get rid of domain-specific characterizations and, in turn, concentrating on semantically discriminative features. Extensive comparison experiments demonstrate the superiority of our approach compared with state-of-the-art counterparts, and comprehensive ablation studies verify the effect of each proposed component. Notably, our method exhibits average improvements of 15.568% and 17.429% in dice on polyp and surgical instrument segmentation benchmarks.
Road traffic noise exposure and its impact on health: evidence from animal and human studies—chronic stress, inflammation, and oxidative stress as key components of the complex downstream pathway underlying noise-induced non-auditory health effects
Authors: Arregi Ane , Vegas Oscar , Lertxundi Aitana , Silva Ana , Ferreira Isabel , Bereziartua Ainhoa , Cruz Maria Teresa , Lertxundi Nerea 
Published: July 2024

AbstractIn heavily urbanized world saturated with environmental pollutants, road traffic noise stands out as a significant factor contributing to widespread public health issues. It contributes in the development of a diverse range of non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, metabolic dysregulation, cognitive impairment, and neurodegenerative disorders. Although the exact mechanisms behind these non-auditory health effects remain unclear, the noise reaction model centres on the stress response to noise. When exposed to noise, the body activates the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and the sympathetic nervous system, leading to the secretion of stress hormones like catecholamines and cortisol. Prolonged exposure to noise-induced stress results in chronic inflammation and oxidative stress. This review underscores the role of inflammation and oxidative stress in the progression of noise-induced vascular dysfunction, disruption of the circadian rhythm, accelerated aging, neuroinflammation, and changes in microbiome. Additionally, our focus is on understanding the interconnected nature of these health outcomes: These interconnected factors create a cascade effect, contributing to the accumulation of multiple risk factors that ultimately lead to severe adverse health effects.
Workplace Violence Against Primary Care Clinicians: A Narrative Review
Authors: Tyau Nicholas D. , Swedish Kristin A. , Perez Hector R. 
Published: July 2024

AbstractWorkplace violence (WPV) is a commonly reported occupational hazard in healthcare and its prevalence is increasing. WPV occurs in all types of practice settings, but little is known about WPV in primary care settings in the United States (US). Because primary care practice settings differ from the inpatient settings, further examination of WPV in primary care is warranted. Our objective was to summarize the available literature highlight important gaps. We conducted a search using Pubmed and OVID for US studies of WPV in US-based adult primary care practices. Studies including only pediatric populations were excluded. Due to the lack of available literature conducted in US primary care settings, we expanded our search to include international studies. We identified 70 studies of which 5 were US based. Due to the lack of significant numbers of US-based studies, we opted to conduct a narrative review of all available studies. The evidence shows that WPV is a common occurrence in primary care settings in many countries and that the majority of primary care clinicians have experienced at least some form of non-physical violence in their careers. Most of the studies conducted were cross-sectional in design and reported on both non-physical and physical forms of WPV. There was not a consistent trend between genders in experiencing the major forms of WPV, but women were consistently more likely to be subjected to sexual harassment. Potential root causes for WPV could generally be categorized as patient-level, clinician-level, clinical encounter specific, and operational root causes. While most WPV was found to be non-physical, it still had significant emotional and job-related impacts on clinicians. These troubling results highlight the need for further studies to be conducted in the US.
TiO2 and Reducing Gas: Intricate Relationships to Direct Reduction of Iron Oxide Pellets
Authors: Cavaliere Pasquale , Sadeghi Behzad , Laska Aleksandra , Koszelow Damian 
Published: July 2024

AbstractIn response to the imperative for sustainable iron production with reduced CO2 emissions, this study delves into the intricate role of TiO2 in the direct reduction of iron oxide pellets. The TiO2-dependent reducibility of iron oxide pellets utilizing H2 and CO gas across varied temperatures and gas compositions is thoroughly investigated. Our findings unveil the nuanced nature of the TiO2 effect, underscored by its concentration-dependent behavior, revealing an optimal range between 1 and 1.5 pct TiO2, where a neutral or positive impact on reduction kinetics and diffusion coefficient is observed. Notably, the synergistic interplay of CO and H2 at 1000 °C emerges as particularly efficacious, suggesting complementary effects on the reduction process. The introduction of H2 into the reducing atmosphere regulated by CO not only extends the transition range but also markedly expedites the rate of reduction. Furthermore, our study highlights the temperature sensitivity of the TiO2 effect, with higher TiO2 content correlating with prolonged reduction time in a 100 pct H2 atmosphere at 900 °C. In a 100 pct H2 atmosphere, the non-contributory role of TiO2 stems from the water-gas shift reaction. Conversely, introducing H2 into a CO-controlled reducing atmosphere with TiO2 enhances the transition range and expedites the reduction rate. Additionally, our findings underscore the role of total iron content, revealing a direct correlation with the reduction process.
Coworking spaces for remote workers: an inclusive solution? Advantages and challenges from affiliated workers’ perspectives
Authors: Dell’Aversana Giuseppina , Miglioretti Massimo 
Published: July 2024

AbstractSome companies are considering offering their affiliated workers external coworking spaces as an option to achieve both flexibility and inclusion, giving remote workers the chance to maintain a sense of community and have access to on-site support. However, the motivations, advantages, and problems associated with using coworking spaces for affiliated workers remain underanalysed. This study adopts a qualitative approach by conducting semistructured interviews with Italian affiliated workers who are coworking space users. Our analysis explores the benefits of using coworking spaces and the reasons that motivate affiliated workers to do so, as well as how relationships, social support, and collaboration with coworkers and colleagues are perceived. The results show that the perceived main advantages concern (a) flexibility and work efficiency and (b) relational opportunities, at both the personal and professional levels. The findings clarify the conditions under which workers sharing coworking spaces develop satisfying social relationships and collaboration, shedding light on the group dynamics of a mix of affiliated and unaffiliated workers across coworking spaces from the affiliated workers’ perspective. The study also discusses the role that affiliated workers’ organizations can play in addressing the challenges that coworking spaces pose for workers’ well-being and organizations.
A Global Study of the Wellbeing of Adolescent Students During the COVID-19 2020 Lockdown
Authors: Skrzypiec Grace , Wyra Mirella , Topcu-Uzer Cigdem , Sikorska Iwona , Sandhu Damanjit , Romera Eva M. , Olenik-Shemesh Dorit , Nery Miguel , Navarro-Rodríguez Christián Denisse , Khlomov Kirill , Kavuk-Kalender Melike , Heiman Tali , Guarini Annalisa , Didaskalou Eleni , Cefai Carmel , Brighi Antonella , Bravo-Sanzana Monica , Bochaver Alexandra , Bauman Sheri , Andreou Eleni , Amri Ulil 
Published: July 2024

AbstractAs the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) virus spread across the world, countries took drastic measures to counter the disease by requiring their citizens to home self-isolate i.e., lockdown. While it was not known how young people would cope with the social distancing restrictions, there was concern that the lockdown would have a debilitating effect on youth mental health. This study examined whether there was an association between adolescent subjective wellbeing and the amount of time spent in lockdown. Global Research Alliance researchers in 15 countries collected data using the Mental Health Continuum (Keyes in Am J Orthopsych 76:395–402, 2006) from over 7000 middle-school students aged 11–18. Findings show a decline in eudemonic wellbeing, particularly among females during the first 6 months of lockdown, which was most strongly associated with diminished psychological wellbeing, followed by social wellbeing, while emotional wellbeing remained relatively stable. An adaptation effect was noted after approximately 6 months. There was evidence suggesting females were slower to adapt to lockdown conditions compared to males. More attention should be paid to the wellbeing of students in lockdown to overcome languishing tendencies and educators should be cognizant of diminished student wellbeing, particularly among females, when students return to school. Positive school experiences, and positive relationships within the school community, may assist in reducing the risk of languishing in lockdown conditions, so schools should design interactive online activities for off-campus learning.
New indications for the life habits of long-legged aphidlion-like larvae in about 100-million-year-old amber
Authors: Kiesmüller Christine , Haug Gideon T. , Haug Carolin , Müller Patrick , Hörnig Marie K. , Haug Joachim T. 
Published: July 2024

AbstractLarvae of lacewings (Neuroptera) are known to be fierce predators today. Most characteristic are their prominent piercing-sucking stylets, which are used for venom injection and sucking out the fluids of the prey. Among lacewing larvae, aphidlions (larvae of the groups Chrysopidae and Hemerobiidae, green and brown lacewings) are today highly specialised to feed on aphids and evolved strategies to not be detected and attacked by, e.g., aphid-protecting ants. Fossil relatives of modern aphidlions seem to have also employed other strategies. For the species Pedanoptera arachnophila from about 100-million-year-old Kachin amber, Myanmar, an interaction of its larvae with spiders has been assumed. We present here new specimens resembling these larvae, including one piece of Cretaceous Kachin amber with a syn-inclusion of an aphidlion-like larva and an immature planthopper, indicating planthoppers as potential prey of the group about 100 million years ago. The morphology of the lacewing larva, with a trapezoid head capsule (in dorsal view), simple, toothless stylets, very elongate legs, and a spindle-shaped trunk, indicates that it is conspecific or at least closely related to P. arachnophila. We reconstruct the possible ontogenetic sequence of Pedanoptera arachnophila and discuss its ecology.
S-allyl-cysteine triggers cytotoxic events in rat glioblastoma RG2 and C6 cells and improves the effect of temozolomide through the regulation of oxidative responses
Authors: Reyes-Soto Carolina Y. , Ramírez-Carreto Ricardo J. , Ortíz-Alegría Luz Belinda , Silva-Palacios Alejandro , Zazueta Cecilia , Galván-Arzate Sonia , Karasu Çimen , Túnez Isaac , Tinkov Alexey A. , Aschner Michael , López-Goerne Tessy , Chavarría Anahí , Santamaría Abel 
Published: July 2024

AbstractGlioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive form of cancer affecting the Central Nervous System (CNS) of thousands of people every year. Redox alterations have been shown to play a key role in the development and progression of these tumors as Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) formation is involved in the modulation of several signaling pathways, transcription factors, and cytokine formation. The second-generation oral alkylating agent temozolomide (TMZ) is the first-line chemotherapeutic drug used to treat of GBM, though patients often develop primary and secondary resistance, reducing its efficacy. Antioxidants represent promising and potential coadjutant agents as they can reduce excessive ROS formation derived from chemo- and radiotherapy, while decreasing pharmacological resistance. S-allyl-cysteine (SAC) has been shown to inhibit the proliferation of several types of cancer cells, though its precise antiproliferative mechanisms remain poorly investigated. To date, SAC effects have been poorly explored in GBM cells. Here, we investigated the effects of SAC in vitro, either alone or in combination with TMZ, on several toxic and modulatory endpoints—including oxidative stress markers and transcriptional regulation—in two glioblastoma cell lines from rats, RG2 and C6, to elucidate some of the biochemical and cellular mechanisms underlying its antiproliferative properties. SAC (1–750 µM) decreased cell viability in both cell lines in a concentration-dependent manner, although C6 cells were more resistant to SAC at several of the tested concentrations. TMZ also produced a concentration-dependent effect, decreasing cell viability of both cell lines. In combination, SAC (1 µM or 100 µM) and TMZ (500 µM) enhanced the effects of each other. SAC also augmented the lipoperoxidative effect of TMZ and reduced cell antioxidant resistance in both cell lines by decreasing the TMZ-induced increase in the GSH/GSSG ratio. In RG2 and C6 cells, SAC per se had no effect on Nrf2/ARE binding activity, while in RG2 cells TMZ and the combination of SAC + TMZ decreased this activity. Our results demonstrate that SAC, alone or in combination with TMZ, exerts antitumor effects mediated by regulatory mechanisms of redox activity responses. SAC is also a safe drug for testing in other models as it produces non-toxic effects in primary astrocytes. Combined, these effects suggest that SAC affords antioxidant properties and potential antitumor efficacy against GBM.