bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Does Market Performance (Tobin’s Q) Have A Negative Effect On Credit Ratings? Evidence From South Korea
Authors: Lim Hyoung-Joo , Mali Dafydd 
Published: May 2023

AbstractTobin’s Q is an established measure of firm performance, based on investor confidence. However, the association between Tobin’s Q and credit ratings is not well-established in the literature. Using a sample of Korean listed firms over the 2001–2016 sample period, Probit regression analysis shows that overall, Tobin’s Q is positively associated with credit ratings. However, for firms with a > 1 (1 <) Tobin’s Q ratio, a negative (positive) relationship exists. Moreover, in independent regressions, a threshold level if found where the effect of Tobin’s Q on credit ratings changes from being positive (0.2), to negative (0.3). To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to demonstrate that credit rating agencies are nuanced when making default risk assessments. Specifically, that in South Korea, a threshold level exists, at which increasing Tobin’s Q values reduce credit ratings. Empirical evidence of the different association between Tobin’s Q (market confidence) and credit ratings can extend the literature and offer insights to market participants. Furthermore, because Tobin’s Q is a commonly used proxy for financial performance in accounting lectures, the study has practical implications for academics in classrooms.
A Society Can Always Decide How to Decide: A Proof
Authors: Suzuki Takahiro , Horita Masahide 
Published: May 2023

AbstractInfinite regress lies within every democratic procedural choice. If society members try to select an appropriate rule [social choice correspondence (SCC)] entirely endogenously, they will need an appropriate rule to choose such a rule. However, this should also be selected by an appropriate rule to choose a rule to choose a rule, and so on. This paper explores how to solve this infinite regress. A preference profile over the set of alternatives is said to converge if, at a sufficiently high level, every feasible SCC in the menu ultimately results in the same alternative, and hence, further regress has no effective meaning. A menu is said to be convergent if all preference profiles converge under the menu (i.e., infinite regress can “always” be resolved). First, we characterize the convergent menus under a special case. Then, we prove two general possibility theorems: (1) there exists a menu of SCCs that is strongly convergent (i.e., the outcome is uniquely determined); (2) any set of scoring rules can be extended to a superset that is asymptotically convergent for a large society (i.e., the probability of a convergent profile occurring goes to one as the population goes to infinity). Therefore, such a large society can “almost always” resolve the infinite regress by adding multiple SCCs. These theorems are expected to build new ground for SCCs in a distinct way from the axiomatic characterizations of standard social choice theory.
Structural, magnetic, and optical properties of ZnFe2O4/RO (RO = CdO, NiO, Ga2O3, SnO2, and TiO2) nanocomposites
Authors: Roumaih Kh. , Ismail S. M. , Labib Sh. , Helal Ahmed 
Published: May 2023

AbstractThe sol–gel method is used to prepare the nanocomposites ZF/RO (ZF = ZnFe2O4, RO = CdO, NiO, Ga2O3, SnO2, and TiO2). The XRD showed that the ZF/RO nanocomposite' crystal structure contained many phases, and the lattice properties and crystal size of the ZF were affected by the presence of the RO traces. All samples have surfaces that resemble nanoflakes that vary in size based on the SEM pictures; however, the ZF/Cd sample has a nanotube microstructure. ESR and VSM were measured at room temperature and showed ferrimagnetic behavior for all samples. The optical properties showed the band gaps for ZF, ZF/Cd, ZF/Ga, ZF/Ni, ZF/Sn, and ZF/Ti nanocomposites were 1.773, 1.789, 1.786, 1.763, 1.822, and 1.835 eV, respectively. The spectral PL intensity of ZF/Sn, ZF/Cd, and ZF/Ti nanocomposites is partially low compared to the spectrum for the ZF, and vice versa for ZF/Ni and ZF/Ga, which show an increase in the recombination for e−/h+. ZF/RO nanocomposites' practical sunlight consumption ability and recombination of photoinduced charge carriers account for their photocatalytic efficacy. This study is part of a research project investigating the relationship between two compounds with different structures and properties.
Behaviour and stability of thermodilution signals in a closed extracorporeal circuit: a bench study
Authors: Stanger Elia J. , Berger David C. , Jenni Hansjörg , Bachmann Kaspar F. 
Published: May 2023

AbstractThermodilution is the gold standard for cardiac output measurement in critically ill patients. Its application in extracorporeal therapy is limited, as a portion of the thermal indicator is drawn into the extracorporeal circuit. The behaviour of thermodilution signals in extracorporeal circuits is unknown. We investigated thermodilution curves within a closed-circuit and assessed the impact of injection volume, flow and distance on the behaviour of the thermodilution signals and catheter constants. We injected 3, 5, 7 and 10 ml of thermal indicator into a heated closed circuit. Thermistors at distances of 40, 60, 80, and 100 cm from the injection port recorded the thermodilution signals (at flow settings of 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 L/min). Area under the curve (AUC), rise time, exponential decay and catheter constants were analysed. Linear mixed-effects models were used to evaluate the impact of circuit flow, distance and injection volume. Catheter positioning did not influence AUC (78 injections). Catheter constants were independent of flow, injection volume or distance to the injection port. The distance to the injection port increased peak temperature and rise time and decreased exponential time constant significantly. The distance to the injection port did not influence catheter constants, but the properties of the thermodilution signal itself. This may influence measurements that depend on the exponential decay of the thermodilution signal such as right ventricular ejection fraction.
Physical Violence and Scapegoating Within the Family: An Exploration of Biblical Texts and Contemporary Psychology
Authors: Poljak Lukek Saša , Pate Tanja , Gostečnik Christian 
Published: May 2023

AbstractTo understand physical violence in the family, it is important to define the role of the victim. The term “scapegoat” is a universal anthropological concept, often used in sociological theories, where a certain group of people and/or minorities are often victimized or blamed (e.g., social ills). We may note that the phenomenon of scapegoating is most clearly expressed in the Bible. Therefore, we will use relevant biblical texts that refer to parental use of corporal punishment in which a child is scapegoated and/or victimized by parental violence. In this sense, the Bible is the most profound explanation and manifestation of the cultural, social, and especially religious development of humanity. At the same time, the concept of scapegoating is also demonstrated in psychology and therapy, where it also serves as a basis for understanding, for example, physical violence in the family, and where it is also crucial to define the role of the victim. In this article, therefore, we will explain the biblical background of this concept and highlight two basic dynamics of violence against children in the family: when the child is the “scapegoat” for unresolved tensions in the family and when the child becomes the “sacrifice” or victim of the dysregulated emotional response of his or her parents.
On some properties of Lévy vectors and their variations
Authors: Klinga Paweł , Nowik Andrzej 
Published: May 2023

AbstractWe investigate some properties of Lévy vectors of vector series Σn∈ω vn. We consider a generalization of an example from [P. Klinga, Rearranging series of vectors on a small set, J. Math. Anal. Appl., 424(2):966–974, 2015] proving that for a special class of vector series, there exists a subseries that has no convergent subseries with the sum range equal to the plane. To prove this result, we introduce a useful notion of a Lévy supervector and prove some of its properties.
Audio SIMO system based on visible light communication using cavity LEDs
Authors: Eltokhy Mostafa A. R. , Abdel-Hady Mohamed , Haggag Ayman , El-Bendary Mohsen A. M. , Ali Hisham , Hosny Tarek 
Published: May 2023

AbstractThe necessity for access to a high data rate has been the motivation behind expanding new technologies. The increasing of wireless devices has caused the radio wave spectrum to become congested. Additionally, radio waves cannot be used in EMI-vulnerable places. Hence, the interest in visible light communication (VLC) offers real alternatives to radio-based communications. This paper focuses on the use of visible light as a data communication medium and introduces a designed audio SIMO (Single-Input-Multi-Output) data transmission system from point to multipoint to demonstrate the functionality of the VLC system in audio transmission through modulated LEDs light. The system is made up of the transmitting unit and multi-receiving units. The transmitting unit consists of three stages: audio in, preamplifier, and white LEDs array that transmits the data using the ON-OFF keying (OOK) modulation technique to all receivers. On the other hand, the receiving unit consists of three receivers that have different photodetectors aspects with fixed distances separation between them. The line of sight (LOS) communication between transmitter and receivers for the purpose to transfer audio data has been employed. Based on the LOS link, simulation and experimental analysis have been done in multiple semi-angles for studying the output performance of receivers and the characteristics of the white LEDs such as luminous intensity and received power at 20,45 and 70 semi-angle at half-power through MATLAB® software.
Mapping subsurface defects and surface deformation along the artificial levee of the Lower Tisza River, Hungary
Authors: Sheishah Diaa , Kiss Tímea , Borza Tibor , Fiala Károly , Kozák Péter , Abdelsamei Enas , Tóth Csaba , Grenerczy Gyula , Páll Dávid Gergely , Sipos György 
Published: May 2023

AbstractArtificial levees along alluvial rivers are major components of flood-risk mitigation. This is especially true in the case of Hungary, where more than one-third of the country is threatened by floods and protected by an over 4200-km-long levee system. Most of such levees were built in the nineteenth century. Since then, several natural and anthropogenic processes, such as compaction and erosion, might have contributed to these earth structures' slow but steady deformation. Meanwhile, as relevant construction works were scarcely documented, the structure and composition of artificial levees are not well known. Therefore, the present analysis mapped structural differences, possible compositional deficiencies, and sections where elevation decrease is significant along a 40-km section of the Lower Tisza River. Investigations were conducted using real-time kinematic GPS and ground-penetrating radar (GPR). Onsite data acquisition was complemented with an analysis using a Persistent Scatterer Synthetic Aperture Radar to assess general surface deformation. GPR profiles showed several anomalies, including structural and compositional discontinuities and local features. The GPR penetration depth varied between 3 and 4 m. According to height measurements, the mean elevation of the levee crown decreased by 8 cm in 40 years. However, the elevation decrease reached up to 30 cm at some locations. Sections affected by structural anomalies, compositional changes, and increased surface subsidence are especially sensitive to floods when measurement results are compared with flood phenomena archives.
Seismic risk assessment of a large metropolitan area by means of simulated earthquakes
Authors: Fischer Eliana , Barreca Giovanni , Greco Annalisa , Martinico Francesco , Pluchino Alessandro , Rapisarda Andrea 
Published: May 2023

AbstractThe determination of seismic risk in urban settlements has received increasing attention in the scientific community during the last decades since it allows to identify the most vulnerable portions of urban areas and therefore to plan appropriate strategies for seismic risk reduction. In order to accurately evaluate the seismic risk of urban settlements it should be necessary to estimate in detail the seismic vulnerability of all the existing buildings in the considered area. This task could be very cumbersome due to both the great number of information needed to accurately characterize each building and the huge related computational effort. Several simplified methods for the assessment of the seismic vulnerability of existing buildings have been therefore presented in the literature. In order to estimate the occurrence of damage in buildings due to possible seismic phenomena, the published studies usually refer to response spectra evaluated according to seismic events expected in the territory with assumed probabilities. In the present paper seismic events are instead simulated using a modified Olami–Feder–Christensen (OFC) model, within the framework of self-organized criticality. The proposed methodology takes into account some geological parameters in the evaluation of the seismic intensities perceived by each single building, extending the approach presented in a previous study of some of the authors. Here, a large territory in the Sicilian oriental coast, the metropolitan area of Catania, which includes several urbanized zones with different features, has been considered as a new case study. Applications of the procedure are presented first with reference to seismic sequences of variable intensity, whose occurrence is rather frequent in seismic territories, showing that the damage can be progressively accumulated in the buildings and may lead to their collapse even when the intensities of each single event are moderate. Moreover, statistically significant simulations of single major seismic events, equivalent to a given sequence in terms of produced damages on buildings, are also performed. The latter match well with a novel a-priori risk index, introduced with the aim of characterizing the seismic risk of each single municipality in the considered metropolitan area. The proposed procedure can be applied to any large urbanized territory and, allowing to identify the most vulnerable areas, can represent a useful tool to prioritize the allocation of funds. This could be a novelty for risk policies in many countries in which public subsidies are currently assigned on a case-by-case basis, taking into account only hazard and vulnerability. The use of an a-priori risk index in the allocation process will allow to take into due account the relevant role of exposure.
Perceptions and practices of aged care pharmacists regarding osteoporosis management: a qualitative study
Authors: Laird Catherine , Williams Kylie A. , Benson Helen 
Published: May 2023

Abstract
Background
Osteoporosis is a common but sub-optimally managed disease among aged care residents. Although pharmacists are one of the key healthcare providers responsible for osteoporosis medication management there is limited research on their involvement.

Aim
This study explored the perceptions and practices of Australian pharmacists regarding osteoporosis management for aged care residents.

Method
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with aged care pharmacists. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analysed using a constructivist grounded theory approach.

Results
Twenty-one aged care pharmacists were interviewed. Three main themes were identified: osteoporosis is highly prevalent but given low priority, factors affecting pharmacists’ management of osteoporosis, and optimism for the future role of pharmacists in osteoporosis management. The complexity of aged care residents’ healthcare needs and the silent, insidious nature of osteoporosis contribute to the low priority it is afforded. Barriers identified by pharmacists included their current practice model, limited access to residents’ medical histories and difficulties accessing bone mineral density (BMD) testing. Interdisciplinary collaboration and education regarding osteoporosis management were seen as facilitators. Pharmacists were optimistic that an embedded practice model would improve their capacity to influence osteoporosis management.

Conclusion
The high prevalence and low priority of osteoporosis in the aged care setting presents pharmacists with an opportunity to improve medication management and reduce fracture risk. Barriers to osteoporosis management identified by pharmacists can be addressed by interdisciplinary collaboration and education. Pharmacists being embedded in aged care could enable more opportunities to contribute to the interdisciplinary team and become champions of osteoporosis management.
Exploring the root-associated microbiome of the resurrection plant Myrothamnus flabellifolia
Authors: Tebele Shandry M. , Marks Rose A. , Farrant Jill M. 
Published: May 2023

Abstract
Aims and background
The resurrection plant Myrothamnus flabellifolia tolerates complete desiccation and is a great model for studying how plants cope with extreme drought. Root-associated microbes play a major role in stress tolerance and are an attractive target for enhancing drought tolerance in staple crops. However, how these dynamics play out under the most extreme water limitation remains underexplored. This study aimed to identify bacterial and fungal communities that tolerate extreme drought stress in the bulk soil, rhizosphere, and endosphere of M. flabellifolia.

Methods
High-throughput amplicon sequencing was used to characterise the microbial communities associated with M. flabellifolia.

Results
The bacterial phyla that were most abundant across all compartments were Acidobacteriota, Actinobacteriota, Chloroflexota, Planctomycetota, and Pseudomonadota, while the most abundant fungal phyla were Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Although the bulk soil hosted multiple beneficial root-associated microbes, the rhizosphere compartment showed the highest functional diversity of bacteria and fungi. In contrast, the endosphere exhibited a low abundance and diversity of microbes. These findings share consistent with the theory that M. flabellifolia recruits soil microbes from the bulk to the rhizosphere and finally to the endosphere. It is possible that these microbes could promote drought tolerance in associated plant tissues.

Conclusion
We find that compartments act as the major driver of microbial diversity, but the soil physicochemical factors also influence microbial composition. These results suggest that the root-associated microbiome of M. flabellifolia is highly structured and may aid in plant function.
Exploring tomato phenotypic variability under combined nitrogen and water deficit
Authors: Machado Joana , Heuvelink Ep , Vasconcelos Marta W. , Cunha Luís M. , Finkers Richard , Carvalho Susana M. P. 
Published: May 2023

Abstract
Background
Despite drought and nitrogen (N) deficit being two of the most important crops’ growth limiting factors, only few studies have explored tomato phenotypic variability in response to both abiotic stresses.

Aims
In this study, we aimed to perform a phenotypic evaluation and an analysis of the growth traits of 40 tomato genotypes (mostly focusing on old cultivars, but also including modern hybrids and wild tomato relatives’ accessions as anchors) grown in pots that were subjected to combined N and water deficit.

Methods
Each genotype was divided into two groups: control (100% N, 100% field capacity) and combined deficit (20% N, 50% field capacity). A total of 14 morpho-physiological traits were evaluated and further analyzed using multivariate statistical methods.

Results
The Principal Component Analyses revealed considerable phenotypical diversity among tomato genotypes, with four principal components explaining 82% of the variability. Data integration on a cluster analysis separated the studied genotypes into three distinct clusters based on their ability to handle the combined deficit. Tolerance was associated with traits such as lower specific leaf area, lower leaf area ratio and higher water use efficiency, comparing to the sensitive genotypes.

Conclusions
This study shows that tomato tolerance to combined N and water deficit largely varies between genotypes and that old cultivars represent a valuable gene pool towards more sustainable food production systems.
A W-shaped convolutional network for robust crop and weed classification in agriculture
Authors: Moazzam Syed Imran , Nawaz Tahir , Qureshi Waqar S. , Khan Umar S. , Tiwana Mohsin Islam 
Published: May 2023

AbstractAgricultural image and vision computing are significantly different from other object classification-based methods because two base classes in agriculture, crops and weeds, have many common traits. Efficient crop, weeds, and soil classification are required to perform autonomous (spraying, harvesting, etc.) activities in agricultural fields. In a three-class (crop–weed–background) agricultural classification scenario, it is usually easier to accurately classify the background class than the crop and weed classes because the background class appears significantly different feature-wise than the crop and weed classes. However, robustly distinguishing between the crop and weed classes is challenging because their appearance features generally look very similar. To address this problem, we propose a framework based on a convolutional W-shaped network with two encoder–decoder structures of different sizes. The first encoder–decoder structure differentiates between background and vegetation (crop and weed), and the second encoder–decoder structure learns discriminating features to classify crop and weed classes efficiently. The proposed W network is generalizable for different crop types. The effectiveness of the proposed network is demonstrated on two crop datasets—a tobacco dataset and a sesame dataset, both collected in this study and made available publicly online for use by the community—by evaluating and comparing the performance with existing related methods. The proposed method consistently outperforms existing related methods on both datasets.
Determinants of Subjective Social Status in South Africa
Authors: Kirsten Frederich , Botha Ilse , Biyase Mduduzi , Pretorius Marinda 
Published: May 2023

AbstractRecent studies suggest that South Africa has experienced increased income polarization and is dealing with a struggling middle class. However, with some studies reporting a strong middling tendency, there seems to be a large discrepancy between how people perceive their social position and their actual economic status. Surprisingly, even with the most unequal society label, South Africa has received little attention on the dynamics behind how people perceive their social status. This study uses an ordered probit regression to analyze the determinants of individuals’ subjective social status in South Africa. Results show that objective factors, education, and occupation status positively influence subjective social status. However, subjective social mobility and class imagery are as crucial, confirming the multidimensionality behind subjective social status. Given the high-income polarization and racial inequality in South Africa, the study also showed that factors driving subjective social status are heterogeneous for different race and income groups. The results confirm this and find that discrepant objective and subjective factors influence different populations’ and income groups’ subjective social status.