bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Mechanical properties of straw basalt fiber reinforced concrete composites
Authors: Elbashiry Elsafi Mohamed Adam , Osman Bashir H. 
Published: December 2023

AbstractOne of the biggest problems responsible of the nonrenewable resources depletion and environmental issues is the construction industries, which generates large amounts of mineral waste and harmful emitted gases. Therefore, these problems generated the necessity to search for alternative natural building materials based on renewable resources. To study the mechanical characteristics and microstructural behavior of the concrete reinforced by raw wheat straw basalt fiber composite (RWSBFc), and treated rice straw basalt fiber composite (TRSBFc), a number of experimental tests were carried out with different composites ratios. Concrete compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and flexural strength tests were considered as main parameters. The results showed that the RWSBFC has a positive effect on concrete flexural strength by increasing of 12.58%, compared with control samples. Also, it showed good enhancement in concrete flexibility and ductility. In contrast, both RWSBFc and TRSBFc showed uneven deterioration in concrete compressive strength and splitting tensile strength. To avoid the deterioration in compressive strengths of the various composites types, some improvement methods such as processors for the used straw, and adding some additives were recommended.
Unraveling the dynamics of urban desirability: a multi-faceted analysis of large cities
Authors: Salmani Yasamin , Ariannezhad Amin , Madraki Golshan 
Published: December 2023

AbstractIn the context of rapid urbanization, the challenge of accommodating growing populations while enhancing urban desirability has become a paramount concern for city planners worldwide. This study delves into the multifaceted endeavor of understanding urban desirability index, aiming to identify and analyze the attributes that contribute to the allure of large cities. Going beyond traditional perspectives, the research employs association rule mining to uncover hidden interdependencies among urban quality of life attributes that collectively shape citizens’ satisfaction. Furthermore, the study introduces the operative concepts of 'order qualifiers' and 'order winners’, borrowed from the realm of operations management. These concepts provide a novel analytical framework for evaluating pivotal dimensions of urban desirability. Leveraging both survey data and city-level statistical metrics from prominent U.S. urban centers, this research investigates the intricate interplay between economic, social, and environmental facets, thereby illuminating their cumulative influence on the satisfaction of urban residents. Notably, the study identifies median salary and community wellbeing as essential qualifiers shaping urban desirability, while also exploring the impact of nationwide excellence as a determinant of municipal desirability. These discernments serve to empower local governing bodies and policymakers in devising effective strategies for urban development and enhancement.
The impact of lowering the study design significance threshold to 0.005 on sample size in randomized cancer clinical trials
Authors: Leung Tiffany H. , Ho James C. , Wang Xiaofei , Lam Wendy W. , Pang Herbert H. 
Published: December 2023

Abstract
The proposal of improving reproducibility by lowering the significance threshold to 0.005 has been discussed, but the impact on conducting clinical trials has yet to be examined from a study design perspective. The impact on sample size and study duration was investigated using design setups from 125 phase II studies published between 2015 and 2022. The impact was assessed using percent increase in sample size and additional years of accrual with the medians being 110.97% higher and 2.65 years longer respectively. The results indicated that this proposal causes additional financial burdens that reduce the efficiency of conducting clinical trials.
Writing a Colonial Legal History of Northern Nigeria: An Analysis of Methods and Sources
Authors: Owolade Femi 
Published: December 2023

AbstractThis article analyzes the methods and sources of writing a colonial legal history of Africa. The analysis is carried out with a case study of the dual legal system operative in colonial Northern Nigeria from 1900 to 1960, which saw the English common law coexist with Islamic law. I examine how three sources of colonial law – namely, legislations, case law, and legal writings – reveal the varied perspectives of European colonial officials and Africans on the workings of this legal system. I argue that while colonial legislations and legal writings are lopsided toward the perspectives of the British authority, case law in conjunction with African commentaries provide some prospect to engage in a narrative that foregrounds the voices of Africans.
Science diplomacy and Asian states: Transforming the governance landscape in the Arctic
Authors: Argüello Gabriela , Rafaly Vonintsoa 
Published: December 2023

Abstract
As ice recedes, the governance of the Arctic is undergoing a significant change. What was once considered a frozen desert with little relevance to the legal system, the Arctic has gradually become a global object of governance. Furthermore, the growing political salience of the Arctic Ocean has generated interest in its governance beyond Arctic states, particularly Asian states such as China, India, Japan, Singapore and South Korea. These countries have been actively participating in regional cooperation arrangements, including the Arctic Council. Undoubtedly, science diplomacy has been an important driver in shaping the governance of the Arctic and maintaining it as a low-tension area. However, this perception is now being put to the test following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Amidst this crisis, we explore whether science diplomacy can continue to promote peaceful collaboration in the Arctic region. Our research suggests that science diplomacy could potentially aid in the future of Arctic governance, particularly with regard to the involvement of Asian states. We analyse the legal and geopolitical factors involved in determining the potential roles of Asian states in Arctic governance, including whether they could serve as a bridge between the West and Russia or if their actions might further fragment Arctic governance.
Gendered Work, Skill, and Women's Labor Activism in Romanian Tobacco Factories from the 1920s to the 1960s
Authors: Ghiț Alexandra 
Published: December 2023

AbstractIn this article, I choose struggles over skill development as an entry point to uncovering features of women's labor activism in state-owned tobacco factories in Romania, from the 1920s to the early 1960s. I look at the processes that constructed women tobacco workers, especially those at the Tobacco Manufactory in the city of Cluj, as non-skilled workers, and examine the forms of labor activism in the tobacco industry that challenged those constructs. I describe how women's work at the Cluj Tobacco Manufactory, from the mid-1920s to the mid-1950s, was shaped by successive waves of production intensification and rationalization, demonstrating that these reorganizations affected female workers more than they affected their male coworkers. I point out that although they were considered non-skilled laborers, female tobacco workers exercised an amount of control over their work and were important contributors to their families’ maintenance. I show that spanning two different political regimes, matters of skill were at the core of labor activism. For female workers, in the interwar period, labor activism in male-dominated organizations and structures entailed skill-mediated political strategies that emphasized experience and shopfloor status besides skill. By the 1950s, labor activism encompassed engaging in confrontational politics over seasoned women workers’ lack of access to skill training programs. I show that both in the late 1920s and in the early 1950s, illiteracy and women's more limited access to formal schooling in general shaped new experiences of participation in labor politics.
George Montandon, the Ainu and the theory of hologenesis
Authors: Hennessey John L. 
Published: December 2023

ArgumentIn 1909, Italian zoologist Daniele Rosa (1857–1944) proposed a radical new evolutionary theory: hologenesis, or simultaneous, pan-terrestrial creation and evolution driven primarily by internal factors. Hologenesis was widely ignored or rejected outside Italy, but Swiss-French anthropologist George Montandon (1879–1944) eagerly embraced and developed the theory. An ambitious careerist, Montandon’s deep investment in an obscure and unpopular theory is puzzling. Today, Montandon is best known for his virulent antisemitism and active collaboration with the Nazi occupation of France at the end of his career. By that point, however, he had quietly moved away from hologenesis. This shift has gone unnoticed or been left unexplained in existing research. This article reexamines Montandon’s theoretical outlook and reasons for championing Rosa’s forgotten theory. It argues that while Montandon’s adoption of hologenesis arose from a complex blend of scientific and personal factors, his previously overlooked early fieldwork with the Ainu played a key role. In contrast, hologenesis did not inform Montandon’s later public antisemitism.
Chickenpox Outbreaks in Three Refugee Camps on Mainland Greece, 2016-2017: A Retrospective Study
Authors: Scales Sarah Elizabeth , Park Jee Won , Nixon Rebecca , Guha-Sapir Debarati , Horney Jennifer A. 
Published: December 2023

AbstractIntroduction:Displaced populations face disproportionately high risk of communicable disease outbreaks given the strains of travel, health care circumstances in their country of origin, and limited access to health care in receiving countries.Study Objective:Understanding the role of demographic characteristics in outbreaks is important for timely and efficient control measures. Accordingly, this study assesses chickenpox outbreaks in three large refugee camps on mainland Greece from 2016 – 2017, using clinical line-list data from Médecins du Monde (MdM) clinics.Methods:Clinical line-list data from MdM clinics operating in Elliniko, Malakasa, and Raidestos camps in mainland Greece were used to characterize chickenpox outbreaks in these camps. Logistic regression was used to compare the odds of chickenpox by sex, camp, and yearly increase in age. Incidences were calculated for age categories and for sex for each camp outbreak.Results:Across camps, the median age was 19 years (IQR: 7.00 - 30.00 years) for all individuals and five years (IQR: 2.00 - 8.00 years) for cases. Males were 55.94% of the total population and 51.32% of all cases. There were four outbreaks of chickenpox across Elliniko (n = 1), Malakasa (n = 2), and Raidestos (n = 1) camps. The odds of chickenpox when controlling for age and sex was lower for Malakasa (OR = 0.46; 95% CI, 0.38 - 0.78) and Raidestos (OR = 0.36; 95% CI, 0.24 - 0.56) when compared Elliniko. Odds of chickenpox were comparable between Malakasa and Raidestos (OR = 1.49; 95% CI, 0.92 - 2.42). Across all camps, the highest incidence was among children zero-to-five years of age. The sex-specific incidence chickenpox was higher for males than females in Elliniko and Malakasa, while the incidence was higher among females in Raidestos.Conclusion:As expected, individuals five years of age and under made up the majority of chickenpox cases. However, 12% of cases were teenagers or older, highlighting the need to consider atypical age groups in vaccination strategies and control measures. To support both host and displaced populations, it is important to consider risk-reduction needs for both groups. Including host communities in vaccination campaigns and activities can help reduce the population burden of disease for both communities.
Statistical Analysis of the Horizontal Phase Velocity Distribution of Atmospheric Gravity Waves and Medium‐Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances in Airglow Images Over Sata (31.0°N, 130.7°E), Japan
Authors: Tsuboi Takuma , Shiokawa Kazuo , Otsuka Yuichi , Fujinami Hatsuki , Nakamura Takuji 
Published: December 2023

AbstractAtmospheric gravity waves (AGWs) and medium‐scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) in the upper atmosphere affect atmospheric circulation and radio‐wave transmission including satellite positioning and communications, and high‐frequency radio. The 3‐dimensional (3‐D) spectral analysis of airglow images makes it possible to extract wave parameters of AGWs and MSTIDs. Such spectral analysis of long‐term airglow images has not been performed in the southern part of Japan, which is a unique transition latitude from middle to equatorial region. In this study, we calculated the horizontal phase velocity distribution of AGWs in the mesosphere‐lower‐thermosphere (MLT), and MSTIDs in the F‐region ionosphere by applying the 3‐D spectral analysis method to the 557.7 and 630.0‐nm airglow images obtained at Sata (31.0°N, 130.7°E) in Japan over 20 years from 2000 to 2020. The spectra of AGWs in the MLT region in the 557.7‐nm airglow images show that the poleward (northward) power spectral density (PSD) is stronger in summer, suggesting that the tropospheric convection is a possible source of AGWs and the wave ducting propagation occurred. Westward propagation is also observed in winter, suggesting that wind filtering effect by mesospheric jets plays an important role. The PSD of MSTIDs in the 630‐nm airglow images increases during low solar activity periods, suggesting that MSTIDs are produced by ionospheric plasma instability. The westward PSD of MSTIDs is stronger in summer. These results are an important achievement in clarifying the statistical characteristics of AGWs and MSTIDs over Sata, Japan, based on long‐term airglow observations and 3‐D spectral analysis.
The Link Between Individual Velocities in the Incident Plasma Flow and Ion Populations Upstream of Collisionless Shocks
Authors: Wilkinson W. P. , Humphreys M. , Kilgallon S. 
Published: December 2023

AbstractThe interaction of the solar wind with Earth’s bow shock gives rise to several distinct ion populations upstream and downstream of the shock. Using numerical computation of trajectories in the de Hoffmann‐Teller frame of reference and previous analytical results, we investigate whether membership of these populations is determined by a particle’s incident velocity in the solar wind rest frame. The shock is assumed to be a planar surface acting as an electrostatic potential jump. Ions with insufficient energy to overcome this potential are assumed to reflect specularly. We find that ions escaping upstream come from the wings of the incident distribution, assumed to be Maxwellian, and have incoming velocities in the plasma rest frame that point upstream close to the magnetic field direction. Ions escaping after several reflections have more field‐aligned incident velocities in the upstream frame on average than those escaping after one reflection. Different ion populations occupy separate regions of the incident distribution.
Multi‐Instruments Observation of Ionospheric‐Thermospheric Dynamic Coupling Over Mohe (53.5°N, 122.3°E) During the April 2023 Geomagnetic Storm
Authors: Li Wenbo , Liu Libo , Chen Yiding , Yang Yuyan , Han Tingwei , Ding Feng , Le Huijun , Zhang Ruilong 
Published: December 2023

AbstractThe state and variations of the Ionosphere‐Thermosphere (I‐T) system are strongly influenced by dynamical processes, with these effects being amplified during intense space environment disturbances such as geomagnetic storms, producing multi‐scale disturbance features in the I‐T system. The redistribution of energy and momentum through the dynamical processes is currently not well understood. Unfortunately, the dearth of thermospheric observations has yielded limited studies capable of monitoring and analyzing the I‐T dynamical coupling during storms using co‐located measurements. This work examines the responses of the I‐T system during the April 2023 geomagnetic storm based on high‐resolution continuous I‐T system observations at Mohe observatory, a middle latitude station. Both large‐scale features and short‐period oscillations were identified in multiple key parameters of the I‐T system. Similar disturbed patterns in thermospheric winds occurred during the main and recovery phases of the geomagnetic storm. However, the oscillation features in many parameters of the I‐T system are only observed during the main phase. The results of concurrent I‐T system observations unveil the oscillation features of thermospheric winds, temperatures, the ionospheric F2 peak height, electron density, and total electron content. These findings reveal the important influence of wind divergence on thermospheric temperature disturbances and its modulatory effect on ionospheric disturbances.
Deep Learning‐Based Seasonal Forecast of Sea Ice Considering Atmospheric Conditions
Authors: Zhu Yilin , Qin Mengjiao , Dai Panxi , Wu Sensen , Fu Zhiyi , Chen Zhende , Zhang Laifu , Wang Yuanyuan , Du Zhenhong 
Published: December 2023

AbstractThe ongoing decline of sea ice in the Arctic has heightened the need for accurate sea‐ice forecasts to support environmental protection and resource development in the region and beyond. While deep learning has shown promise in seasonal sea‐ice forecasting, most of the existing models overlook the crucial influence of atmospheric factors, thereby limiting their ability to capture the intricate characteristics of the sea‐ice system and improve forecast accuracy. To address this deficiency, we propose an attention convolutional long short‐term memory ensemble network named Atsicn, which integrates atmospheric factors to enhance the precision of multi‐step seasonal sea‐ice concentration forecasts. Our findings reveal that Atsicn outperforms state‐of‐the‐art dynamic and statistical models, and demonstrates remarkable reliability in extreme years. Furthermore, the impact of atmospheric factors on sea‐ice forecasts exhibits significant seasonality, with a relatively minimal impact on forecasts from March to June, a growing impact from July to October, and a persistent yet diminishing impact from November to February. This study provides a practical approach for seasonal sea‐ice forecasts and contributes a new perspective to the understanding of the intricate interplay between sea ice and atmospheric factors.
Bdnf-Nrf-2 crosstalk and emotional behavior are disrupted in a sex-dependent fashion in adolescent mice exposed to maternal stress or maternal obesity
Authors: Musillo Chiara , Creutzberg Kerstin C. , Collacchi Barbara , Ajmone-Cat Maria Antonietta , De Simone Roberta , Lepre Marcello , Amrein Irmgard , Riva Marco A. , Berry Alessandra , Cirulli Francesca 
Published: December 2023

AbstractMaternal obesity has been recognized as a stressor affecting the developing fetal brain, leading to long-term negative outcomes comparable to those resulting from maternal psychological stress, although the mechanisms have not been completely elucidated. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that adverse prenatal conditions as diverse as maternal stress and maternal obesity might affect emotional regulation and stress response in the offspring through common pathways, with a main focus on oxidative stress and neuroplasticity. We contrasted and compared adolescent male and female offspring in two mouse models of maternal psychophysical stress (restraint during pregnancy - PNS) and maternal obesity (high-fat diet before and during gestation - mHFD) by combining behavioral assays, evaluation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity, immunohistochemistry and gene expression analysis of selected markers of neuronal function and neuroinflammation in the hippocampus, a key region involved in stress appraisal. Prenatal administration of the antioxidant N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) was used as a strategy to protect fetal neurodevelopment from the negative effects of PNS and mHFD. Our findings show that these two stressors produce overlapping effects, reducing brain anti-oxidant defenses (Nrf-2) and leading to sex-dependent impairments of hippocampal Bdnf expression and alterations of the emotional behavior and HPA axis functionality. Prenatal NAC administration, by restoring the redox balance, was able to exert long-term protective effects on brain development, suggesting that the modulation of redox pathways might be an effective strategy to target common shared mechanisms between different adverse prenatal conditions.
Addressing the disparities: the approach to the African American patient with multiple myeloma
Authors: Bhutani Manisha , Blue Brandon J. , Cole Craig , Badros Ashraf Z. , Usmani Saad Z. , Nooka Ajay K. , Bernal-Mizrachi Leon , Mikhael Joseph 
Published: December 2023

AbstractThere are significant disparities with regards to incidence, timely diagnosis, access to treatment, clinical trial participation and health care utilization that negatively impact outcomes for African American patients with multiple myeloma. Health care providers have a role in ameliorating these disparities with thoughtful consideration of historical, sociocultural, individual and disease characteristics that influence the care provided to African American patient population. This review by a group of experts committed to health disparity in multiple myeloma provides a snapshot of disparities at both biologic and non-biologic levels, barriers to clinical care, and best practices to ensure that African American patients receive the best care available.
Functional-metabolic coupling in distinct renal cell types coordinates organ-wide physiology and delays premature ageing
Authors: Holcombe Jack , Weavers Helen 
Published: December 2023

AbstractPrecise coupling between cellular physiology and metabolism is emerging as a vital relationship underpinning tissue health and longevity. Nevertheless, functional-metabolic coupling within heterogenous microenvironments in vivo remains poorly understood due to tissue complexity and metabolic plasticity. Here, we establish the Drosophila renal system as a paradigm for linking mechanistic analysis of metabolism, at single-cell resolution, to organ-wide physiology. Kidneys are amongst the most energetically-demanding organs, yet exactly how individual cell types fine-tune metabolism to meet their diverse, unique physiologies over the life-course remains unclear. Integrating live-imaging of metabolite and organelle dynamics with spatio-temporal genetic perturbation within intact functional tissue, we uncover distinct cellular metabolic signatures essential to support renal physiology and healthy ageing. Cell type-specific programming of glucose handling, PPP-mediated glutathione regeneration and FA β-oxidation via dynamic lipid-peroxisomal networks, downstream of differential ERR receptor activity, precisely match cellular energetic demands whilst limiting damage and premature senescence; however, their dramatic dysregulation may underlie age-related renal dysfunction.