bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The suggestive nature of words. Media coverage of homeopathy, acupuncture, reiki and Bach flower remedies in Spanish press 2011-2016
Authors: Cortiñas-Rovira Sergi , Salvador-Mata Bertran 
Published: October 2022

AbstractThe maxim of proponents of pseudoscience is to spread ignorance through false perceptions of its scientific status. One of its most attractive — and simultaneously harmful — manifestations is complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Despite the scientific evidence against them, CAM has taken hold in today’s society as a therapeutic model for a growing segment of the population. We analysed 379 articles on homeopathy, acupuncture, reiki and Bach flower remedies published in mainstream Spanish newspapers (El País, El Mundo, La Vanguardia, El Periódico and ABC) for the period 2011-2016, finding that disinformation is participated in actively by the Spanish press. CAM content was detected in these newspapers, together with a lack of an editorial perspective. In most of the cases, the uncritical articles were found in the interpretive genre and the society section. We also characterized the pseudoscientific discourse aimed at the public, finding that it is irrational and fraudulent in sowing fear and distrust regarding science. On the basis of theories invalidated by the scientific method and on appeals to the emotions, pseudoscience not only threatens scientific knowledge, but directly undermines public health by encouraging the abandonment of conventional medicine. In order to remedy this situation, better scientific training, informative screening and editorial commitment is urgently needed in the Spanish press.
Agrarian Change Trends in Latin America
Authors: Pearse Andrew 
Published: October 2022

The theme of the first world congress of rural sociology pointed to the importance of technological change in agricultural production throughout the world and the social changes that accompany or follow it.Examples can indeed be found in Latin America of rural technological change being succeeded by social change, but that proposition alone does not provide a good characterization of the present rural scene. Great social changes are being incubated, there is much latent and some open conflict, but little technological change leading to development.
Power and Influence: Analysis of the Church in Latin America and the Case of Brazil
Authors: Bruneau Thomas C. 
Published: October 2022

The Catholic Church in Latin America was until the mid-1960s one of the most ignored topics of research in a neglected continent. It was not only overlooked by North Americans and Europeans; stranger still, it received only cursory attention from Latin American scholars. The meagre consideration it did attract was overwhelmingly historical in nature and frequently came from authors promoting or attacking particular religious beliefs and institutions. The controversy in Colombia over the persecution of the Protestants (Goff, 1965), and the dramatic events caused by the reactions of the Church to the Mexican revolution (Brown, 1964), stimulated a literature that was at times extremely biased.Yet, it is not easy to explain the neglect of the Church in the literature since, unlike peasant leagues or guerrilla movements, it is not a novelty in the region. The Church was founded simultaneously with the Iberian societies; much of the culture of Latin America derives from within the Church and has evolved in relationship to it; social fields such as education and charity have always been heavily influenced by Church doctrine and organizations; and the vast majority of the population are declared Catholics. In addition the Church is a highly structured organization in a region of low organizational development; in all countries Catholic groups have been politically active and in some cases assumed the form of Christian Democratic parties (Williams, 1967) which have held power; and the political models currently being formulated in Brazil and Peru would appear to owe much of their content to traditional Catholic principles of hierarchy, paternalism, and corporate identity.
Sectoral Clashes in Cuban Politics and Development
Authors: Domínguez Jorge I. 
Published: October 2022

This essay discusses aspects of contemporary cuban politics and economics, up to but not including the 1969-1970 sugar harvest effort, from the point of view of a theory of sectoral clashes presented by Markos Mamalakis. The essay will focus on those hypotheses, derived from Mamalakis' previous work, which attempt to explain social and political conflict and policy making.Mamalakis defines a clash or collision of sectors as the aggressive and administered struggle for privileges and advantages among an economy's sectors. The clash is administered or manipulated because the transfer of resources from one sector to another is brought about through governmental economic policy; it is aggressive because the transfer of resources goes beyond voluntary saving or nondiscriminatory fiscal policies to such an extent that the government is willing to risk the decay of one economic sector in order to promote another.
Comparative analysis of the complete mitochondrial genomes of two species of Clupeiformes and the phylogenetic implications for Clupeiformes
Authors: Liu Bingjian , Peng Ying , Zhang Kun , Liu Yifan , Li Jiasheng , Chen Jian , Li Xuepeng , Jin Xun , Zheng Sixu , Wang Yunpeng , Zhang Shufei , Gong Li , Lü Zhenming , Liu Liqin 
Published: October 2022

AbstractThe mitochondrial genome provides important information for phylogenetic analysis and an understanding of evolutionary origin. In this study, the mitochondrial genomes of Ilisha elongata and Setipinna tenuifilis were sequenced, which are typical circular vertebrate mitochondrial genomes composed of 16,770 and 16,805 bp, respectively. The mitogenomes of I. elongata and S. tenuifilis include 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA (tRNA), two ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes and one control region (CR). Both two species' genome compositions were highly A + T biased and exhibited positive AT-skews and negative GC-skews. The genetic distance and Ka/Ks ratio analyses indicated that 13 PCGs were affected by purifying selection and the selection pressures were different from certain deep-sea fishes, which were most likely due to the difference in their living environment. Results of phylogenetic analysis support close relationships among Chirocentridae, Denticipitidae, Clupeidae, Engraulidae and Pristigasteridae based on the nucleotide and amino acid sequences of 13 PCGs. Within Clupeoidei, I. elongata and S. tenuifilis were most closely related to the family Pristigasteridae and Engraulidae, respectively. These results will help to better understand the evolutionary position of Clupeiformes and provide a reference for further phylogenetic research on Clupeiformes species.
Atheistic modal realism
Authors: Steinhart Eric 
Published: October 2022

AbstractAtheistic modal realism asserts roughly that there are many concrete possible worlds and that the actual world is entirely godless. Here I will refine this position using the modal realism of David Lewis. For Lewis, all gods (including the Christian God) are contingent superhuman persons, who inhabit non-actual worlds. Although gods are concrete world-bound particulars, atheistic modal realism has room for impersonal absolutes and ultimates (which are not gods). Since no gods are actual, atheism is true. Yet there are infinitely many non-actual gods. Non-actual gods and worlds provide resources for analysing religious beliefs and practices. Lewisian theology provides a powerful new way for atheists to understand religion.
The emergence of subjects in Lebanese two-year-olds
Authors: ABBOUD Layal , CHOUEIRI Lina , SEIFEDDINE Nour , TULLER Laurice 
Published: October 2022

AbstractIn Lebanese Arabic, lexical subjects may occur before or after verbs, but only before non-verbal predicates. Analysis of spontaneous language samples from 19 two-year-old children shows that postverbal (VS) and preverbal (SV) subjects emerge simultaneously. The youngest children displayed no VS-SV difference in frequency. A slight preference for SV is observed in older children. No preference for SV subjects was found in the speech of the mothers of the younger or older children. Lexical subjects systematically appeared before non-verbal predicates. We interpret these results as evidence for early knowledge of syntactic movement, consistent with Wexler’s (1998) Very Early Parameter Setting.
Away but connected: from the mountains of Babia to the plains of Cáceres. A study of Spanish transhumance at the turn of the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries
Authors: Vidal-González Pablo 
Published: October 2022

AbstractOne of the most important systems of sheep transhumance since the Middle Ages in Spain occurred between the mountains of northern Leon and the Extremadura Meadow lands – a 500-kilometre journey on foot. We analyse here an interesting collection of thirty letters, written at the turn of the nineteenth to the twentieth century, and sent by the shepherds responsible for the flock from the wintering land to the owner of the animals. The only connection with the owner for seven long months but also with their villages and families, were these letters.
Effects of fetal bovine serum on trophectoderm and primitive endoderm cell allocation of in vitro-produced bovine embryos
Authors: Luedke Felipe Eduardo , da Costa Caroline Pereira , Mendes Camilla Mota , Hamilton Thais Rose dos Santos , Milazzotto Marcella Pecora , Assumpção Mayra E. O. A. , Goissis Marcelo Demarchi 
Published: October 2022

SummarySupplementing embryonic culture medium with fetal bovine serum (FBS) renders this medium undefined. Glucose and growth factors present in FBS may affect the results of cell differentiation studies. This study tested the hypothesis that FBS supplementation during in vitro culture (IVC) alters cell differentiation in early bovine embryo development. Bovine embryos were produced in vitro and randomly distributed into three experimental groups at 90 h post insemination (90 hpi): the KSOM-FBS group, which consisted of a 5% (v/v) FBS supplementation; the KSOM33 group, with the renewal of 33% of medium volume; and the KSOM-Zero group, without FBS supplementation nor renewal of the culture medium. The results showed that the blastocyst rate (blastocyst/oocytes) at 210 hpi in the KSOM-FBS group was higher than in the KSOM-Zero group but not different from the KSOM33 group. There were no significant changes in metabolism-related aspects, such as fluorescence intensities of CellROX Green and MitoTracker Red or reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD+). Immunofluorescence analysis of CDX2 revealed that the lack of FBS or medium supplementation reduced the number of trophectoderm (TE) cells and total cells. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed a reduction of SOX17-positive cell numbers after FBS supplementation compared with the KSOM33 group. Therefore, we concluded that FBS absence reduced blastocyst rates; however, no reduction occurred when there was a 33% volume renewal of the medium at 90 hpi. We also concluded that FBS supplementation altered TE and primitive endoderm cell allocation during early bovine embryo development.
ON MORPHISMS KILLING WEIGHTS AND STABLE HUREWICZ-TYPE THEOREMS
Authors: Bondarko Mikhail V. 
Published: October 2022

AbstractFor a weight structure w on a triangulated category
$\underline {C}$
we prove that the corresponding weight complex functor and some other (weight-exact) functors are ‘conservative up to weight-degenerate objects’; this improves earlier conservativity formulations. In the case
$w=w^{sph}$
(the spherical weight structure on
$SH$
), we deduce the following converse to the stable Hurewicz theorem:
$H^{sing}_{i}(M)=\{0\}$
for all
$i<0$
if and only if
$M\in SH$
is an extension of a connective spectrum by an acyclic one. We also prove an equivariant version of this statement.The main idea is to study M that has no weights
$m,\dots ,n$
(‘in the middle’). For
$w=w^{sph}$
, this is the case if there exists a distinguished triangle
$LM\to M\to RM$
, where
$RM$
is an n-connected spectrum and
$LM$
is an
$m-1$
-skeleton (of M) in the sense of Margolis’s definition; this happens whenever
$H^{sing}_i(M)=\{0\}$
for
$m\le i\le n$
and
$H^{sing}_{m-1}(M)$
is a free abelian group. We also consider morphisms that kill weights
$m,\dots ,n$
; those ‘send n-w-skeleta into
$m-1$
-w-skeleta’.
Welfare impacts of conservation agriculture adoption on smallholder maize farmers in South Africa
Authors: Oduniyi Oluwaseun Samuel , Chagwiza Clarietta , Wade Tara 
Published: October 2022

AbstractClimate change and soil degradation are the issues depleting the soil's ability to promote good yield. One of the ways to combat this is the practice of conservation agriculture (CA). This study was carried out to explore and investigate the impact of CA. Multinomial endogenous switching regression model and cross-sectional data were used to investigate the determinants and the impact of the adoption of CA on the income of smallholder maize farmers in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Three categories of CA (minimum tillage, crop diversification and a combination of both minimum tillage and crop diversification) were considered. The empirical results revealed that regardless of the choices of CA practices adopted by the maize farmers, the income realized was higher for adopters than for non-adopters of CA practices. The average treatment effect for the adopters of both minimum tillage and crop diversification was the highest, showing an increase in income by 60.31% (R15575.99/$996.57USD) compared to the non-adopters. The policy implication for these results is that there is a need to promote the adoption of CA practices, particularly a combination of both minimum tillage and crop diversification, given their significant impact on farmer income, an important welfare outcome that has significant implications on food security and poverty alleviation.
Women’s Unveiling in the 2011 Egyptian Uprising: Political Opportunities and Modesty Politics
Authors: Allam Nermin 
Published: October 2022

AbstractUsing the case of women’s unveiling during the 2011 Egyptian uprising, I investigate how momentous political events have transformative impacts beyond the overtly “political” sphere of policies and institutions. I trace the choice to unveil among some women protesters to their involvement in collective action and show the different mechanisms that led to their decision. Specifically, I identify three pathways to unveiling: shifts in political opportunities, innovations in the repertoires of contention and the framing of unveiling, and exposure to new mobilizing structures and networks. The data for this project build upon original field research and interview data with women who removed their hijab during the 2011 Egyptian uprising. The article adds to the literature on gender and contentious politics by demonstrating the gendered effects of political opportunity structures on women’s choices around veiling.
Habitual visual acuity and visual acuity threshold demands in Nigerian school classrooms
Authors: Amiebenomo Onyekachukwu Mary-Anne , Isong Ejitu Mfon , Edosa Mark Eghaghe , Woodhouse Joy Margaret 
Published: October 2022

AbstractThis study was designed to estimate the burden of blindness and vision impairment in school children, and to determine the proportion of students meeting the visual acuity (VA) demand for their classrooms. From 148 primary and secondary school classrooms in Edo State, Nigeria, the habitual distance and near VA of over 2000 students were measured. Values obtained were compared with the calculated distance VA demand and actual near VA demand for their classrooms. Measures used to calculate the VA demand were working distance and smallest text size on learning materials, at both distance and near. We also determined the relationship between age and calculated VA demand and the effect of factors such as school ownership and school type on the VA demand. Habitual distance vision impairment was found in 0.8% of pupils, including 2 (0.10%) who met the WHO criteria for blindness. The average VA demand at the furthest and nearest sitting position to the board was 0.21 ± 0.23 and 0.65 ± 0.33LogMAR, respectively. Near working distance of students ranged from 15.00 to 37.20 cm, and the near VA demand as well as actual near VA demand (using a 2.5 times acuity reserve) was 0.60 ± 0.17 and 0.20 ± 1.7LogMAR, respectively. LogMAR VA demand increased (size of print decreases) with increasing age, at both distance (r =  − 0.549, p = 0.070) and near (r =  − 0.921, p < 0.0001). The VA demand at maximum distance and the actual near VA demand differed significantly by school ownership and between primary and secondary schools. Most students had VA better, but up to 11% of students per class had VA poorer than their classroom demands. Although the majority of students had better VA than their classroom demands, for students with reduced vision, learning could be negatively impacted. It is important to continually screen students for vision impairment and ensure prompt referral and treatment. These findings have implications for managing vision problems in children, as well as enabling appropriate classroom arrangements for those with vision impairment.
The effect of particle size and water content on XRF measurements of phosphate slurry
Authors: Ben Amar Ismail , Roudjane Mourad , Griguer Hafid , Miled Amine , Messaddeq Younès 
Published: October 2022

AbstractPhosphate slurries are studied using the XRF technique and the effect of the particle sizes and the water content parameters are analyzed and reported for the first time. Samples of the phosphate slurry with different particle sizes (425 µm, 300 µm, 250 µm, 200 µm, 160 µm and 106 µm) and different water contents (30%, 40%, 50%, 60%) were analyzed using an energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDXRF). The results show that the relative error of measurement varies with the particle size of the analyzed sample, the water content and the element measured. The relative error increases with the increase of the particle size for the compounds P2O5, Al2O3, K2O, Cr2O3, Fe2O3 and Sr. The ratio between the relative errors related to the maximum and minimum grain sizes was 1.50 for P2O5, 4.01 for Al2O3, 15.58 for K2O, 1.22 for Cr2O3, 1.51 for Fe2O3 and 1.11 for Sr. Alternatively, an opposite evolution has been observed in the case of compounds CaO and SiO2. The relative error increases with increasing water content for all compounds existing in the slurry. Depending on the measured compound, the relative error increases by a factor that varies between 1.39 and 2.39. In the case of P2O5, the results do not show a clear correlation between the measurement error and the water content. A study will be conducted to investigate the effect of particle size and water content on XRF measurements in the case of phosphate slurry, aiming to develop an online XRF analyzer system for phosphate slurry.
Size characterization of plasmonic nanoparticles with dark-field single particle spectrophotometry
Authors: Calvo Rodrigo , Thon Andreas , Saad Asis , Salvador-Matar Antonio , Manso-Silván Miguel , Ahumada Óscar , Pini Valerio 
Published: October 2022

AbstractPlasmonic nanoparticles are widely used in multiple scientific and industrial applications. Although many synthesis methods have been reported in the literature throughout the last decade, controlling the size and shape of large populations still remains as a challenge. As size and shape variations have a strong impact in their plasmonic properties, the need to have metrological techniques to accurately characterize their morphological features is peremptory. We present a new optical method referred as Dark-Field Single Particle Spectrophotometry which is able to measure the individual sizes of thousands of particles with nanometric accuracy in just a couple of minutes. Our method also features an easy sample preparation, a straightforward experimental setup inspired on a customized optical microscope, and a measurement protocol simple enough to be carried out by untrained technicians. As a proof of concept, thousands of spherical nanoparticles of different sizes have been measured, and after a direct comparison with metrological gold standard electron microscopy, a discrepancy of 3% has been attested. Although its feasibility has been demonstrated on spherical nanoparticles, the true strengthness of the method is that it can be generalized also to nanoparticles with arbitrary shapes and geometries, thus representing an advantageous alternative to the gold-standard electron microscopy.
Pretreatment to terahertz absorption curves by narrow undulation constraint and Its quick implementation suggested by convex hull
Authors: Li Yizhang , Liu Lingyu , Li Ke , Wang Zhongmin , Chang Tianying , Xu Wenqing 
Published: October 2022

AbstractIn this work, a method of pretreating THz absorption curve is proposed, which leads to minimal range in absorption, reserving necessary undulation of curve for identification by convolutional neural network. The kernel thought of proposed method is about confining the undulation of curve with a pair of narrow parallel lines and solving their optimal position by consecutively rotation of normalized curve at two fixed points. A fast algorithm is further proposed based on features of convex hull, whose procedure is described in detail. The algorithm involves definition of some important point sets, calculating and comparing slopes and determining best choice out of 4 potential rotations. The rationality of searching critical point is illustrated in a geometric way. Additionally, the adaption of the method is discussed and real examples are given to show the capacity of method to extract nonlinear information of a curve. The study suggests that methods regarding computer graphics also contributes to feature extraction with respect to THz curve and pattern recognition.
Survival analysis of localized prostate cancer with deep learning
Authors: Dai Xin , Park Ji Hwan , Yoo Shinjae , D’Imperio Nicholas , McMahon Benjamin H. , Rentsch Christopher T. , Tate Janet P. , Justice Amy C. 
Published: October 2022

AbstractIn recent years, data-driven, deep-learning-based models have shown great promise in medical risk prediction. By utilizing the large-scale Electronic Health Record data found in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the largest integrated healthcare system in the United States, we have developed an automated, personalized risk prediction model to support the clinical decision-making process for localized prostate cancer patients. This method combines the representative power of deep learning and the analytical interpretability of parametric regression models and can implement both time-dependent and static input data. To collect a comprehensive evaluation of model performances, we calculate time-dependent C-statistics$$C_{\text {td}}$$Ctdover 2-, 5-, and 10-year time horizons using either a composite outcome or prostate cancer mortality as the target event. The composite outcome combines the Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) test, metastasis, and prostate cancer mortality. Our longitudinal model Recurrent Deep Survival Machine (RDSM) achieved$$C_{\text {td}}$$Ctd0.85 (0.83), 0.80 (0.83), and 0.76 (0.81), while the cross-sectional model Deep Survival Machine (DSM) attained$$C_{\text {td}}$$Ctd0.85 (0.82), 0.80 (0.82), and 0.76 (0.79) for the 2-, 5-, and 10-year composite (mortality) outcomes, respectively. In addition to estimating the survival probability, our method can quantify the uncertainty associated with the prediction. The uncertainty scores show a consistent correlation with the prediction accuracy. We find PSA and prostate cancer stage information are the most important indicators in risk prediction. Our work demonstrates the utility of the data-driven machine learning model in prostate cancer risk prediction, which can play a critical role in the clinical decision system.