bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Crisis and policy imaginaries: higher education reform during a pandemic
Authors: Molla Tebeje , Cuthbert Denise 
Published: August 2022

AbstractCrisis makes bold policy actions possible. In responding to socioeconomic and technological ruptures, policymakers create new imaginaries or revitalise existing ones. With the Australian Government’s Job-Ready Graduates (JRG) reform during the COVID-19 pandemic as an empirical case, this paper shows how crisis instrumentalism and policy imaginaries intersect to effect swift policy changes. Drawing on a thematic analysis of key documents that constitute the JRG reform, we highlight three findings. First, the reformers used a new crisis context to repackage pre-existing policy agendas. Second, in justifying the timeliness of the reform, rather than constructing new imaginaries, the Government reactivated old neoliberal visions of society and the economy. Finally, the reform agendas are characterised by reductionist accounts of the value of university education, a nativist view of the future workforce, and the omissions of key issues: research training, social justice, and the urgency of decarbonising the economy. We close the paper by arguing that crisis makes swift reform possible to the extent that key actors can mobilise new or pre-existing policy imaginaries.
How does obtaining a permanent employment contract affect the job satisfaction of doctoral graduates inside and outside academia?
Authors: Goldan Lea , Jaksztat Steffen , Gross Christiane 
Published: August 2022

AbstractPrevious research has shown that temporary employment is negatively associated with many psychological and job-related outcomes, such as well-being, health, wages, organisational commitment, and job satisfaction. Among recent doctoral graduates, the proportion of temporary contracts is particularly high. However, research on the association between contract type and job satisfaction specifically among doctoral graduates is scarce. Therefore, whether and how obtaining permanent employment affects doctoral graduates’ job satisfaction remains a notable research gap that we intend to narrow by using panel data from a recent doctoral graduation cohort and by adopting a panel research design. We examine what effect obtaining permanent employment has on doctoral graduates’ job satisfaction and whether this effect differs by labour market sector. We use panel data that are representative of the 2014 doctoral graduation cohort in Germany and their career trajectories up to five years after graduation. We apply fixed-effects regression to approximate the within-effect of obtaining a permanent employment contract on job satisfaction. The analyses indicate that obtaining permanent employment increases doctoral graduates’ job satisfaction and that this increase is not driven by time-varying confounders. We also find that doctoral graduates’ labour market sector moderates the effect: the increase in job satisfaction is highest in the academic sector and statistically significantly different from that in the private sector. Overall, this paper offers new insights into the effect of obtaining a permanent contract on the job satisfaction of recent doctoral graduates throughout their first years after graduation, when they are often employed on temporary contracts.
Silver linings of the Covid-19 pandemic… for some! Comparing Experiences and Social demographic characteristics of autistic and non-autistic children with SEND in England
Authors: Castro-Kemp Susana , ORCID Arif Mahmud 
Published: August 2022

AbstractSeveral studies on the impact of Covid-19 on children’s wellbeing have been published, including for those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. However, limited evidence is available on who these children may be, their socioeconomic background, age, gender or type of school attended. This study examines the role of socio-demographic characteristics on the experiences of Autistic Children, compared to non-Autistic children, to assess the detrimental impact of the pandemic, but also potential silver linings. Primary-school aged Autistic children were more likely to mention a silver lining (for mental health), as well as younger non-Autistic children from more affluent backgrounds. Similar effects were observed for older non-Autistic boys with special needs attending mainstream settings (regarding physical health).
Gamma irradiation synthesis of pectin- based biohydrogels for removal of lead cations from simulated solutions
Authors: Sayed Asmaa , Hany Fatma , Abdel-Raouf Manar El-Sayed , Mahmoud Ghada A. 
Published: August 2022

AbstractBio-based hydrogels (denoted as PC-PAAc/GA) comprised of Pectin (PC) and polyacrylic acid (PAAc) reinforced with different ratios of gallic acid (GA) were prepared by gamma radiation at irradiation dose 20 kGy. The prepared hydrogels were investigated by different analytical tools. The swelling performance was studied versus time, pH of the medium and gallic acid content. The experimental data depicted that the swelling increases with pH of medium until the equilibrium of swelling after 350 min. The maximum swelling was attained at pH10 for both PC-PAAc and PC-PAA/GA1.5. Also, the data reveal that the incorporation of GA in the hydrogel matrix enhanced the swelling performance of the hydrogel up to an optimum value of GA, i.e. PC-PAA/GA1.5. Further increase in GA concentration leads to formation of a highly crosslinked structure with reduced swelling. The results demonstrated that the prepared hydrogels displayed excellent antibacterial activity against gram + ve bacteria (E.coli) and gram-ve bacteria (S.aureus). This potent antimicrobial activity is mainly originated from GA which was proved as a strong antibacterial agent. Moreover, the removal performance of the investigated hydrogels was verified towards Pb+2cation as one of the most poisonous heavy metals. The data revealed that the maximum removal percentage of Pb (II) was attained by PC-PAAc/GA1.5 hydrogel (90 mg g−1). The correlation coefficients of the Langmuir model are too higher than that of the Freundlich model that assumed the adsorption of lead cations is mainly a chemical process.
Advances in construction and modeling of functional neural circuits in vitro
Authors: Chow Siu Yu A. , Hu Huaruo , Osaki Tatsuya , Levi Timothée , Ikeuchi Yoshiho 
Published: August 2022

AbstractOver the years, techniques have been developed to culture and assemble neurons, which brought us closer to creating neuronal circuits that functionally and structurally mimic parts of the brain. Starting with primary culture of neurons, preparations of neuronal culture have advanced substantially. Development of stem cell research and brain organoids has opened a new path for generating three-dimensional human neural circuits. Along with the progress in biology, engineering technologies advanced and paved the way for construction of neural circuit structures. In this article, we overview research progress and discuss perspective of in vitro neural circuits and their ability and potential to acquire functions. Construction of in vitro neural circuits with complex higher-order functions would be achieved by converging development in diverse major disciplines including neuroscience, stem cell biology, tissue engineering, electrical engineering and computer science.
Experimental assessment of forest floor geophyte and hemicryptophyte impact on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi communities
Authors: Zubek Szymon , Rola Kaja , Rożek Katarzyna , Błaszkowski Janusz , Stanek Małgorzata , Chmolowska Dominika , Chowaniec Karolina , Zalewska-Gałosz Joanna , Stefanowicz Anna M. 
Published: August 2022

Abstract
Purpose
Herbaceous plants are important components of temperate forest structure and its functioning, however, their impacts on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) remain largely unexplored. We studied the influence of forest herbaceous plant species on AMF abundance, morphospecies richness, and community composition in soil.

Methods
We tested the influence of plant species identity in an outdoor mesocosm experiment, using two soils, differing in physicochemical properties, planted with four plant species of contrasting traits related to morphology, phenology, reproduction, and ecology; the hemicryptophyte, summer-green Aegopodium podagraria, and spring ephemeral geophytes comprising Allium ursinum, Anemone nemorosa, and Ficaria verna. The plants were grown on both soils in four monocultures, in a combination of A. podagraria and A. ursinum, and a mixture of all four species.

Results
Aegopodium podagraria and A. ursinum promoted AMF abundance and diversity the most. Higher AMF root colonization and/or soil concentrations of AMF structural and storage markers 16:1ω5 PLFA and NLFA, as well as higher AMF spore and morphospecies numbers were found in the A. podagraria and A. ursinum monocultures and mixture. The short period of photosynthetic activity of A. ursinum due to rapid leaf decay does not negatively affect the symbiosis with AMF. Although A. nemorosa and F. verna are mycorrhizal, their effect on AMF in soil was weak.

Conclusions
The plant impact on AMF may be related to the differences in plant coverage and the character of their interactions with AMF. The herbaceous plants can form niches in soil differing in AMF abundance and diversity.
Between vision and action: the predicted effects of co-designed green infrastructure solutions on environmental burdens
Authors: Schaefer Mathias 
Published: August 2022

AbstractGreen Infrastructure (GI) is gaining wide recognition in cooperative research projects seeking to find solutions for climate adaptation in urbanized areas. However, the potential effects of co-produced GI plans and the underlying preparation process are rarely evaluated. To bridge this gap, the aim of this article is to examine what works in addressing environmental burdens in the urban neighborhood of Dortmund Marten, Germany. As part of a larger transdisciplinary process, selective GI measures were delineated in the case study area through a cooperative workshop between scientists and urban planners. Workshop ideas were incorporated into a mitigative scenario considering a hot summer day to quantify the effects of the derived GI measures on thermal comfort and particulate matter dispersion (PM10 and PM2.5). To evaluate the experiences of the science-practice collaboration, the viewpoints of researchers and urban planners on learning effects, knowledge integration, and GI planning were summarized and compared via an online survey. The results indicate that the proposed GI measures could reduce physiological equivalent temperature (PET) by 25 °C. At the same time, additional roadside trees could increase PM10 concentrations by up to 36 µg/m3 due to wind blocking effects. Reflections on the science-practice workshop show that learning effects were higher for the participating researchers than for planning practitioners, while the integration of individual expertise during the workshop was more difficult for academics. These findings point to the importance of continuous reflections on individual understandings in cooperating stakeholder groups and the value of the evaluation of outcomes in transdisciplinary GI planning.
Understanding Synonymous Referring Expressions via Contrastive Features
Authors: Chen Yi-Wen , Tsai Yi-Hsuan , Yang Ming-Hsuan 
Published: August 2022

AbstractReferring expression comprehension aims to localize objects identified by natural language descriptions. This is a challenging task as it requires understanding of both visual and language domains. One nature is that each object can be described by synonymous sentences with paraphrases, and such varieties in languages have critical impact on learning a comprehension model. While prior work usually treats each sentence and attends it to an object separately, we focus on learning a referring expression comprehension model that considers the property in synonymous sentences. To this end, we develop an end-to-end trainable framework to learn contrastive features on the image and object instance levels, where features extracted from synonymous sentences to describe the same object should be closer to each other after mapping to the visual domain. We conduct extensive experiments to evaluate the proposed algorithm on several benchmark datasets, and demonstrate that our method performs favorably against the state-of-the-art approaches. Furthermore, since the varieties in expressions become larger across datasets when they describe objects in different ways, we present the cross-dataset and transfer learning settings to validate the ability of our learned transferable features.
In situ microcosm remediation of polyaromatic hydrocarbons: influence and effectiveness of Nano-Zero Valent Iron and activated carbon
Authors: Albarano Luisa , Toscanesi Maria , Trifuoggi Marco , Guida Marco , Lofrano Giusy , Libralato Giovanni 
Published: August 2022

AbstractNano-zero-valent iron (nZVI) and activated carbon (AC) addition are ongoing techniques for the remediation of hydrophobic organic compound-contaminated sediment and water, but with still unexplored eco(toxico)logical implications, especially when applied in situ. In this study, we investigated AC and nZVI as remediation methods for marine contaminated sediment and water, including chemical and toxicity (Artemia franciscana survival and genotoxicity) surveys. The removal efficiency of AC and nZVI (about 99%) was similar in both sediment and seawater, while the survival of nauplii and adults was mainly impacted by nZVI than AC. At the molecular level, the nZVI-addition induced down-regulation in the expression of two stress and one developmental genes, whereas AC was able to up-regulated only one gene involved in stress response. Results suggested that the use of AC is safer than nZVI that requires further investigation and potential optimization to reduce secondary undesired effects.
Graphical abstract
Sulphurous air pollutants and exposure events of workers in thermal-mineral springs: a case study of Contursi Terme (Salerno, Italy)
Authors: Pironti Concetta , Ricciardi Maria , Motta Oriana , Venier Marta , Faggiano Antonio , Cucciniello Raffaele , Proto Antonio 
Published: August 2022

AbstractThermo-mineral springs are widely spread over the volcanic areas of Salerno, a city in southern Italy. Although the water of thermal structures provides beneficial effects on human health, the air is characterized by the presence of potentially toxic compounds, such as hydrogen sulphide (H2S) and sulphur dioxide (SO2). Exposure to sulphurous compounds may have detrimental effects on human health, with asthma being the most common. In this study, air concentrations of H2S and SO2 in the thermal springs of Contursi Terme (Salerno, Italy) were monitored for 4 months (using both active and passive sampling), along with the chemical and microclimatic characterization of thermal water, to assess workers’ exposure to these pollutants. An in-depth characterization of indoor air at the springs is paramount to establish emission control limits for occupational exposure and to take protective measures. The air concentration of SO2 varied from 0.11 ± 0.02 to 0.91 ± 0.02 mg/m3, following a seasonal pattern (higher values in winter and lower in spring). Conversely, indoor H2S concentrations did not vary significantly with time, but outdoor levels (from 0.40 ± 0.03 to 1.90 ± 0.03 mg/m3) were always higher than indoor ones (from 0.11 ± 0.03 to 0.56 ± 0.03 mg/m3). Not negligible air concentrations of these pollutants were detected in this thermal spring workplace, so further investigations are needed to ensure workers’ safety.
Magic extraction: solid-phase extraction and analytical pyrolysis to study polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and polychlorinated biphenyls in freshwater
Authors: La Nasa Jacopo , Biale Greta , Modugno Francesca , Ceccarini Alessio , Giannarelli Stefania 
Published: August 2022

Abstract
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and polychlorinated biphenyls are commonly categorized as persistent organic pollutants. In order to analyze these pollutants, customized stationary phases are increasingly being developed and synthesized for solid-phase extraction. In this work, we tested a new solventless solid-phase extraction approach based on the use of a Magic Chemisorber® (Frontier Lab) which consists of a bead-covered polydimethylsiloxane stationary phase with a thickness of 500 µm. These devices are directly immersed into aqueous samples and then introduced into a pyrolysis–gas chromatography-mass spectrometry system equipped with a cryofocusing system for the thermal desorption and analysis of the adsorbed species. Our new method performs better than the most recent solid-phase extraction devices, with limits of detection lower than 2.7 ng/L and limits of quantification lower than 9.0 ng/L. The method was tested on standard compounds and on an environmental sample, showing the potential to characterize other chemical species besides the persistent organic pollutants, such as phthalate plasticizers and antioxidants.
One-year mortality after hip fracture surgery: urban–rural differences in the Colombian Andes
Authors: Duque-Sánchez Juan-Daniel , Toro Luis-Ángel , González-Gómez Fernando-Iván , Botero-Baena Sandra-Milena , Duque Gustavo , Gómez Fernando 
Published: August 2022

Abstract
Summary
To determine urban–rural differences influencing mortality in patients with hip fracture in Colombian Andes Mountains over a 1-year period.

Purpose
To identify the urban–rural differences of sociodemographic variables, fracture-related characteristics, and preoperative and postoperative clinical factors associated with 1-year mortality in patients over 60 years old who underwent hip fracture surgery in the Andes Mountains.

Methods
A total of 126 patients with a fragility hip fracture during 2019–2020 were admitted to a tertiary care hospital. They were evaluated preoperatively and followed up until discharge. Those who survived were contacted by telephone at 1, 3, and 12 months. Univariate, bivariate, and Kaplan–Meier analyses with survival curves were performed. Relative risk was calculated with a 95% confidence interval.

Results
A total of 32.5% of the patients died within 1 year after surgery, with a significant difference between those who resided in rural areas (43.1%) and those who resided in urban areas (23.5%) (RR 1.70; 95% CI, 1.03 to 2.80, p = 0.036). In the multivariate analysis, anemia (hemoglobin level ≤ 9.0 g/dL during hospitalization) (RR 6.61; 95% CI, 1.49–29.37, p = 0.003), a blood transfusion requirement (RR 1.47; 95% CI, 1.07 to 2.01, p = 0.015), the type of fracture (subtrochanteric fracture (RR = 4.9, 95% CI = 1.418–16.943, p = 0.005)), and postoperative acute decompensation of chronic disease (RR 1.60; 95% CI, 1.01 to 2.53, p = 0.043) were found to be independent predictive factors of 1-year mortality after surgery.

Conclusions
There was a difference in 1-year mortality between patients from rural and urban areas. More studies must be conducted to determine whether rurality behaves as an independent risk factor or is related to other variables, such as the burden of comorbidities and in-hospital complications.
Hybrid Monte Carlo tree search based multi-objective scheduling
Authors: Hofmann Constantin , Liu Xinhong , May Marvin , Lanza Gisela 
Published: August 2022

AbstractAs markets demand targeted products for highly differentiated use cases, the number of variants in production increases, whilst the volume per variant decreases. Different product variants result in differences in work content on workstation level which cause takt time losses and result in a poor utilization. In this context, matrix-structured production systems with neither temporal nor spacial linkage emerged to reduce the effects of different work content on the entire production system. However, matrix-structured production systems require far more complex production control. To that end, this paper presents a scheduling approach. The proposed scheduling system considers variable process sequences and their allocation to different workstations in order to optimize scheduling objectives. This contribution presents a Monte Carlo tree search based optimizer combined with local search as post optimizer to derive schedules in a short time span to enabling reactive scheduling. The application of the scheduler to a benchmark problem and an industrial scheduling problem demonstrates the quality of the results and illustrates how the scheduler reassigns the work content dynamically.
Conceptualising the energy efficiency first principle: insights from theory and practice
Authors: Mandel Tim , Pató Zsuzsanna , Broc Jean-Sébastien , Eichhammer Wolfgang 
Published: August 2022

AbstractThe Energy Efficiency First (EE1st) principle has recently been placed onto the political agenda in the European Union (EU). While the general rationale for EE1st is described in EU legislation and supporting literature, a common understanding of the principle’s implications for energy-related planning, investment, and policymaking is still missing. Based on an exploratory review of the literature, the objective of this article is to improve the theoretical understanding of EE1st. First, it develops a conceptual framework, describing EE1st as a decision-making principle that prioritises demand-side resources over supply-side alternatives whenever these provide greater value to society in meeting decision objectives. Second, it highlights the unique aspects of EE1st by systematically comparing the principle with associated concepts, such as Integrated Resource Planning. Third, it provides theoretical justification for EE1st by describing the economic rationale behind the principle. Fourth, it outlines policy considerations for its practical implementation. In sum, the EE1st principle is shown to have a compelling theoretical background that can help inform the design of effective policy interventions in order to move from principle to practice.
Body-dysmorphic, hoarding, hair-pulling, and skin-picking symptoms in a large sample of adolescents
Authors: Moreno-Amador Beatriz , Cervin Matti , Falcó Raquel , Marzo Juan C. , Piqueras José Antonio 
Published: August 2022

AbstractFew studies have investigated body-dysmorphic, hoarding, hair-pulling, and skin-picking symptoms in adolescents and how they relate to mental health, quality of life, suicide attempts, and non-suicidal self-harm. We used a quota sampling procedure and contacted 100 secondary centres in the Southeast of Spain, of which 34 participated in the study. A sample of 5,345 adolescents (12–18 years) completed dimensional measures of body-dysmorphic, hoarding, hair-pulling, and skin-picking symptoms. The proportion of adolescents with clinically significant symptoms within each symptom type was estimated and associations with other indicators of mental health examined. Clinically significant body-dysmorphic symptoms were reported by 3.7%, hoarding by 0.9%, hair-pulling by 0.7%, and skin-picking by 1.8%. Body-dysmorphic symptoms were more common in girls and in those over 14 years of age. Body-dysmorphic, hoarding, hair-pulling, and skin-picking symptoms were moderately to strongly associated with obsessive-compulsive symptoms, internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and poor quality of life. Those with significant body-dysmorphic, hoarding, hair-pulling, and skin-picking symptoms were much more likely to have attempted suicide and engaged in non-suicidal self-harm during the last twelve months than those without such symptoms. Body-dysmorphic symptoms showed the strongest associations with internalizing symptoms and poor quality of life. Limitations are the sole use of self-report and a sample from only two regions in Spain, but findings suggest that body-dysmorphic, hoarding, hair-pulling, and skin-picking symptoms are common and impairing during adolescence.