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Can business play a role in building resilience among vulnerable communities? Can (marketing) employment contribute to resilience – and if so, how? These are increasingly important and relevant questions in our current world as the recent COVID-19 pandemic showed many households to be just one shock away from falling into poverty. Consequently, understanding how resilience, the ability to cope both psychologically and economically with adversity, can be built has become a top priority for many policymakers and practitioners. This paper explores a marketing solution to building resilience. In this paper, we seek to answer the following question: “Can sales employment help people build resilience and enable them to cope with adversity?” We offer a mechanism through which sales improves resilience: by facilitating opportunities to connect. We show that by enabling opportunities to connect with a wide set of individuals, sales employment can build resilience. We differentiate between types of connections and show that different connections can lead to different forms of resilience. We present experimental evidence from a randomized controlled trial involving saleswomen in rural India. With our partner organization, we recruited, trained, and randomly assigned 1,048 women to either treatment, placebo, or control condition. We exogenously assign individuals to an employment position that facilitates opportunities to connect and measure the impact on resilience. In doing so, not only do we vary opportunities to connections, but we also provide a plausible mechanism of why they have more connections than others: certain jobs – in our case sales employment. To the best of our knowledge, there is no empirical evidence showing the impact of (changing) connections on resilience when facing adversity. In doing so, we are the first to randomly assign participants to different employment forms and causally estimate the impact of employment on personal outcomes, such as resilience. Our results show that those engaged in sales employment are more resilient than those in placebo employment or no-employment conditions. In fact, we find that sales employment significantly improves one’s ability to be economically resilient when facing adversity by increasing: i) the likelihood of being aware of external sources of help and ii) the ability to take-up external sources of help. Second, our results show that engagement in sales is associated with having a wider set of connections. This effect is largely driven by increased connections with local government representatives and local community leaders. We find a strong association between the width of connections and economic and psychological resilience. Last, we examine heterogeneous effects and find that those from lower caste benefit most from engaging in sales employment in terms of building resilience compared. To the best of our knowledge, no one has looked at the impact of employment on resilience – we show that marketing employment holds the power to improve resilience when facing adversity.

This thesis is a contribution to macroeconomics and macro-finance research. It focuses on two areas, the interactions between debt markets and the macroeconomy, in the first two chapters, and consumption heterogeneity’s role in the transmission of shocks, in the third. The first chapter is my job market paper, “Monetary Policy and the Maturity Structure of Public Debt”. It studies the mediating impact of the maturity structure of public debt in the transmission of monetary policy shocks to economic activity. A longer debt maturity attenuates greatly the effect of monetary policy: going from the average historical duration of US debt to very short term debt doubles the impact of a rise of the policy rate on output. A similar result holds in UK data. There is no differential effect on inflation. I show that these effects can be traced back to a quantitatively important financing channel. A model featuring an interaction between an empirically estimated primary market friction and a standard financial accelerator is able to account for these facts. The second chapter of the thesis is “The Fiscal Consequences of Missing an Inflation Target”. This is a joint work with Helene Rey. We show, in Euro Area countries and in the US, the effect of the reliability of central banks’ monetary policy on public finances. When a credible central bank misses its inflation target, this has large fiscal consequences for the fiscal authority. These misses are quantitative sizable in the past low inflation decade, especially for countries with a high level and a high maturity of public debt. We link our results to the optimum currency area literature as the monetary-fiscal nexus is key to the functioning of the Euro Area: the ECB sets monetary policy for sovereigns with heterogeneous debt profiles. The third chapter of my thesis, “LESS is MORE: Consumer Spending and the Size of Economic Stimulus Payments”, is a joint work with Paolo Surico. We study the consumption response to unexpected transitory income gains of different size, using hypothetical survey questions. Affluent households exhibit a higher Marginal Propensity to Consume (MPC) out of large gains while families with low cash-on-hand display a higher MPC out of small gains. The spending of higher earners is consistent with the predictions of a model with non-homothetic preferences on consumption, while spending of low-income families can be accounted for by borrowing constraints. Our results suggest that, for a given level of public spending, a fiscal transfer of smaller size paid to a larger group of low-income households stimulates aggregate consumption more than a larger transfer paid to a smaller group.

This paper shows that endogenous adjustments in the composition of labour supplies magnify the effects of changes in commodity prices on the measured skill premium under quite plausible conditions. These composition effects arise from decisions of individuals with heterogeneous inherent abilities about acquiring human capital. They reinforce the well-known Stolper – Samuelson effect on the measured skill premium in countries with a sufficiently high relative supply of skilled labour, but compensate them otherwise. As a result, the model can account for the observation of a worldwide increase in the skill premium during the last two decades.

We know the Nordic countries are leaders in sustainable developments in social and eco-friendly practices, and measurements of multiple bottom lines are becoming common for many organizations. Also, the European Union has enacted laws to practice sustainability and submit reports on it. However, these reports are not compulsory for all the organizations in the EU. If the organizations have more than 500 workers, they are obliged to report on it. Yet multiple bottom-line measurements for sustainability practices are becoming a trend these days, so many organizations are measuring multiple bottom lines for sustainability practices. The interesting fact is that many organizations are voluntarily measuring multiple bottom lines for sustainability practices. For private companies, these phenomena are not uncommon. But if an organization is owned by a local municipality, this is not so common. One such company is Roskilde Kongres- og Idrætscenter (an event management organization) which is owned by Roskilde municipality. Event management companies organize events, congregations, or social occasions. It is obvious that these functions will create waste, and a huge amount of energy and natural resources are connected to them. These activities have a non-eco-friendly impact on society and the environment. Although this organization is not required by law to measure multiple bottom lines for sustainability practices, it is measuring four bottom lines for the sustainability agenda. In the beginning, we did not know the exact reasons but assumed that stakeholders in this organization might demand multiple bottom-line measurements for sustainability practices. The purpose of this thesis paper was to learn about the influence of stakeholders on measuring multiple bottom lines for sustainability practices. The journey began with the theoretical framework used to study the situation. The theory of stakeholders guided which stakeholders particularly had to be considered. By exploring the different kinds of stakeholders, it was easier to know whether they influenced measuring multiple bottom lines for the sustainability agenda or not, and even if they did, which stakeholder was the most influential. The primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews, and the design of a case study was used. The analysis was done through narrative analysis due to the fact that qualitative data was collected from personal interviews. The findings of this research paper reveal that a few stakeholder groups influence measuring multiple bottom lines for sustainability practices. Moreover, influence from stakeholders can force an organization to make choices it is not required to make.

Species with three-membered rings and the amide linkage are well studied. A quick perusal of the literature with SciFinder finds some 50 000 references to cyclopropanes and almost 300 000 references to amides. In the current paper, we discuss the structure and energetics of two understudied three-membered ring amides, 1,2-oxaziridine-3-one (5) (simultaneously describable as the simplest cyclic carbamate and simplest hydroxamate) and aziridine-2,3-dione (7) (simultaneously describable as the simplest imide and simplest α-ketoamide), with but 5 and nearly 10 references, respectively, for these two classes of compounds. Neither 1,2-oxaziridine-3-one (5) nor aziridine-2,3-dione (7), nor any derivative thereof, has been isolated. Calculational theory ameliorates the paucity of experimental information. The current study reports our computational findings for these and related species (e.g., enols and imidols) where we have used the G3(MP2)//B3LYP method.

Reading is a commandment from Allah. commanded through al-Qur'an Surah al-Alaq verse 1 which was revealed through the intermediary angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad. Which will be preached to all the human Ummah specifically to the Ummah who always follows the teachings of Islam. Therefore, we must read the Koran, both reading directly (written) and reading with signs of Allah's power. (implied). Which has a variety of discussions ranging from reading the Koran, mentadabburi, practice and practice so as to create a generation of Qur'ani. In this paper using library research with the method of using library data collection techniques (Library Research) that uses various kinds of existing literature such as books, books of hadith, books of interpretation and the Qur'an that will help in using methods, deductive, inductive and comparative. And it was concluded that the command to read in the Koran so that it can be seen that reading is not just a job, not a mere hobby but as a very important command that will underlie all our activities in this world, let alone a prosecutor of knowledge, reading also is a foundation to go to the path that is blessed by Allah.

E-commerce is anything that involves an online transaction. E-commerce provides multiple benefits to the consumers in form of availability of goods at lower cost, wider choice, and saving time. The general category of e-commerce can be broken down into two parts: E-merchandise and E-Finance. E-commerce involves conducting business using modern communication instruments: telephone, fax, e-payment, money transfer systems, e-data interchange, and the Internet. Online businesses like financial services, travel, entertainment, and groceries are all likely to grow. Forces influencing the distribution of global e-commerce and its forms include economic factors, political factors, cultural factors, and supranational institutions. Goods and Service Tax or GST as it is known is all set to be a game-changer for the Indian economy. Overall it is known to be beneficial to both the consumer, business, and the Government. In India, there are different indirect taxes applied on goods and services by central and state governments. GST is intended to include all these taxes into one tax with seamless ITC and charged on both goods and services. Thus excise duty, special additional duty, service tax, VAT to name a few will get repealed and will be added into GST. For this, GST will have 3 parts CGST, SGST, and IGST. The central taxes like excise duty will be subsumed into CGST and state taxes like VAT into SGST. This going to be forward on all transactions of both goods and services, only one tax will apply which is GST comprising of CGST and SGST. IGST would be applied instead of SGST for interstate transactions. Input credit of all these taxes will be available against all the respective outputs. This paper is the outcome of a review of various research studies carried out on the Impact of GST on E-commerce. This paper examines different aspects like No threshold for GST registration, No Benefit under Composition Scheme, Tax Collection at Source by Marketplace Operator. Finally in the conclusion, one country and one tax will help the Indian economy to grow rapidly.

International audience; Pharmacovigilance is in charge of studying the adverse effects of pharmaceutical products. In this field, pharmacovigilance specialists experience several difficulties when searching and exploring their patient data despite the existence of standardized terminologies (MedDRA). In this paper, we present our approach to enhance the way pharmacovigilance specialists perform search and exploration on their data. First, we have developed a knowledge graph that relies on the OntoADR ontology to semantically enrich the MedDRA terminology with SNOMED CT concepts, and that includes anonymized patient data from FAERS. Second, we have chosen and applied a semantic search tool, Sparklis, according to the user requirements that we have identified in pharmacovigilance.

The quality of asphalt pothole repair in carriageways depends on several important factors, such as the selection of patching material and the choice of repair technique. Conventional hot mix plants operate to support large paving projects, making production more economic with high volume output. When small repairs and maintenance are needed, it can be challenging to maintain small quantities of hot asphalt at a sufficient temperature, especially in the case of winter maintenance. Consequently, the repair materials cannot be compacted to the desired level on some occasions. Thus, producing high quality asphalt materials for low-volume and hand-laid applications including potholes patching and utility reinstatements has lways been a problem. This research aimed to develop a pelletised polymer modified bitumen (PPMB) with reduced temperature sensitivity for low volume applications. The effect of the developed binder PPMB on the asphalt has been evaluated in terms of stiffness, permanent deformation (wheel track test, creep test and indentation test) and fatigue life test, durability (water sensitivity and freeze-thaw cycle) in comparison with the conventional patching materials. The results showed that the highest penetration index (low temperature sensitivity) has been achieved by modifying bitumen with 20% rubber and 2% wax to produce polymer modified bitumen (PMB). Hence, the developed PMB has been incorporated with 5% filler (limestone) and then pelletised and coated with 1% paper sludge ash to produce PPMB. The outcomes showed that PPMB improved the asphalt properties in terms of stiffness, permanent deformation and fatigue life test, water sensitivity and freeze-thaw cycle; this is due to the development of a strong bonds between the PPMB and the aggregate resulting in stronger and more durable asphalt compared to the traditional hot mix asphalt. Furthermore, the self-compacted mastic asphalt has been developed by incorporating PPMB and fine aggregate. The results demonstrated that modifying the mastic asphalt with 2% gilsonite and 3% low density polyethene has improved the sensitivity to permanent deformation (creep test, wheel track test and indentation test), resistance for water sensitivity and long-term ageing compared to the unmodified mastic asphalt. This implies that the modified mastic asphalt could be used in heavy traffic due to its mechanical and durability properties. The overall results indicated that using the PPMB to produce asphalt and modified mastic asphalt is a successful alternative to the traditional patching materials in different applications.

Delays on construction projects are w result in several negative effects like disputes, lawsuits, total dissertation and abandonment. Thus, identifying, ranking and confronting the causes of delay This paper identifies the causes construction projects in Addis Ababa. categorized in 8 major groups. 43 Contractors, 21 Consultants, and 19 Aluminum Fabricators were asked to evaluate frequency and severity of each cause. Data were analyzed with frequency and importance indices. Agreement of the rankings of importance of the causes between groups was tested. Findings of the research revealed that a consultants experienced a 42% and 52% of delay the groups of respondents attest that cause of delay. They also share the view that important. Consultants distinctly perceive whereas Contractors regard Fabricators view that Material Related causes are second in line. Relative agreement of rank of causes between groups showed a high degree of correlation among the groups of respondents. viii worldwide phenomena. Construction projects delays are important. of delay in aluminum fabrication and installation in This study revealed a total of 52 causes . about 90% of the contractors and 85% of the average delay over original contract period. All Owner induced factors are the most frequent and severe Contractor Related causes are third most that Project related causes are second most severe, related causes as runner-ups. Fabricators hold the

In 2018, Bader et al. published research showing evidence that the level of workplace harassment experienced by expatriates varied according to the expatriate’s gender and the culture of the nation in which they were working. Furthermore, Bader et al. found that the level of harassment experienced influenced important outcomes such as job satisfaction and work-related frustration. Recent research, however, has shown that research results often fail to replicate in subsequent research studies (Anvari & Lakens, 2018; Maxwell et al., 2015; Open Science Collaboration, 2015). In fact, recent replications (Obenauer & Kalsher, 2022; Ubaka et al., 2022) of seminal research on employment discrimination (Rosette et al., 2008) have failed to fully replicate the findings of their target study. Bader et al.’s paper has been downloaded more than 1300 times per year since publication and has already received more than 50 citations. Considering the impact of this work within the context of what is often referred to as a replication crisis, this research is a prime target for replication. Additionally, given the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on expatriates, there is a need to investigate if and how our knowledge of the previous expatriate experience is applicable to today’s context. Building on this, displays of Asian hate that have been observed since the pandemic have illustrated a need to extend Bader et al.’s work beyond looking at gender differences to include race/ethnicity as a factor that would influence harassment experienced

The detailed description about the OMIS (One Machine-Infinite Bus) and the SLIS(Single Load -Infinite Bus)will be done in this paper and the detailed introduction of these two concepts(the coherent generators and the coherent buses) and their aggregation. Based on the new OMIS model, the new methods of identifying the coherent generators and aggregating the coherent generators will be advanced. Based on the coherent generators, the new algorithm for the reserving coefficient of the steady angular stability will comes into being. Based on the new SLIS model, the new methods of identifying the coherent buses and aggregating the coherent buses will be put forward. Based on the coherent buses, the new algorithm for the reserving coefficient of the steady voltage stability will be brought about. A real example is used to validate the idea in this paper. A discussion on the angular references between the online data and the offline data will be done when the phases from the WAMS are used. The steady stability of two generators model will be acquired.

A version of time-bounded Kolmogorov complexity, denoted KT, has received attention in the past several years, due to its close connection to circuit complexity and to the Minimum Circuit Size Problem MCSP. Essentially all results about the complexity of MCSP hold also for MKTP (the problem of computing the KT complexity of a string). Both MKTP and MCSP are hard for SZK (Statistical Zero Knowledge) under BPP-Turing reductions; neither is known to be NP-complete., Recently, some hardness results for MKTP were proved that are not (yet) known to hold for MCSP. In particular, MKTP is hard for DET (a subclass of P) under nonuniform NC^0 m-reductions. In this paper, we improve this, to show that MKTP is hard for the (apparently larger) class NISZK_L under not only NC^0 m-reductions but even under projections. Also MKTP is hard for NISZK under P/poly m-reductions. Here, NISZK is the class of problems with non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs, and NISZK_L is the non-interactive version of the class SZK_L that was studied by Dvir et al., As an application, we provide several improved worst-case to average-case reductions to problems in NP, and we obtain a new lower bound on MKTP (which is currently not known to hold for MCSP).

The objective of this deliverable is to provide a detailed overview of the dissemination, communication, and exploitation strategy that will be implemented during the BlueRev project. This strategy is integrated under WP6 Dissemination & Communication, exploitation and replication. As WP6 leader, LOBA will be responsible for the overall management and support of activities defined under the present dissemination and communication plan, including monitoring the performance and developing the main dissemination and communication channels, tools and materials to be used during the project. In collaboration with Task 6.5, led by APRE (Exploitation manager), the present plan will also address the exploitation and sustainability strategy, aiming at ensuring the timely promotion of the project’s outcomes and engagement of parties outside the Consortium, interested in using or adopting them. The Dissemination, Exploitation and Communication plan outlines a detailed planning of the dissemination and communication activities systematically, intending to perform actions and campaigns that reach specific groups and audiences for specific purposes. The first version of the exploitation and sustainability plan included in this document, provides the strategy, methodology, and tools to be implemented during the project to pave the way for the exploitation of its results. The current version of the exploitation and sustainability plan also includes an overview of BlueRev´s Background and Foreground Intellectual Property and a preliminary screening of the project’s key exploitable results along with potential pathways for their exploitation (as identified by all partners using a dedicated tool, we dubbed as the IPR Matrix) as well as an individual exploitation plan per partner. The exploitable results of the project as well as the provisions pertaining to their exploitation will be updated during the project to deliver the “Final Exploitation and replication plan” (D6.5) in M36. All partners will be actively involved in the dissemination, exploitation and communication actions implementation, and their involvement will contribute to satisfactory dissemination of the project’s objectives, activities, and results. In general, the expected contribution from partners is to: • Implement publicity and dissemination campaigns in their own countries and at European level; • Exploit their contacts and networks; • Supply news and updates for the website and newsletter; • Help to keep the project’s Social Media Accounts (SMAs) alive and active; • Participate in relevant events to promote the project and its outcomes; • Contribute with scientific papers acknowledging the BlueRev project.

This PhD thesis is a collection of three independent papers with the overall objective to explore the process of leader emotional labour from the perspective of leader identity work, particularly in leader-follower role relationships. Paper 1 takes a relational identity approach to conceptualise underlying emotional dynamics of leaderfollower relationships, using managers in healthcare as an exemplar of leaders who occupy multiple role identities at work. The paper proposes the conceptual framework of leader emotional labour based on the salience of leader role identity and their personal latitude. Some propositions are provided to guide on how to use the developed framework in future research. Paper 2 offers a longitudinal multilevel model of emotional labour changes within leaders. The paper uses random coefficient modelling to analyse the multiwave leader-follower dyadic data. The findings reveal the impact of between-leader difference: leader relational self-concept, and the moderating effect of leader-follower relational self-concept similarity on leaders emotional labour and its changes within leaders over time. With this, the paper proposes a person-based mechanism of emotional labour antecedents that is influenced by the heterogeneity of significant followers in role-relationships. Meaningful changes in emotional labour within leaders over time provide some unique insight into emotional labour processes in leader-follower relationships. Paper 3 investigates indirect effects of emotional labour in leader identity work on supervisor well-being through social validation from followers in the presence of leader identity threat. Using structural equation modelling to analyse the multiwave leader-follower dyadic data, the results illustrate the significant boundary conditions where social validation from followers can function differently in leader emotional labour when their leader identity is under threat.

In an era of global warming, addressing key agricultural development challenges, including reducing food insecurity and feeding a growing population, while building resilience to the adverse effects of climate change and minimising further environmental degradation induced by the agricultural sector requires a transformation of agricultural systems. Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is a sustainable agriculture approach that can help guide such a transformation by orienting agricultural system actions towards the realisation of a triple-objective – sustainably increasing agricultural productivity, adapting to climate change, and contributing to lower the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Yet, high levels of inequality in the distribution of land, a key natural resource for agricultural production, and land tenure insecurity may limit opportunities for widespread farmer adoption of CSA. Policy interventions, such as land reforms, that can broaden landless and land-poor farmers’ access to land as well as to markets, infrastructure and advisory services, and that can enhance farmers’ tenure security, may not only help improve equity and efficiency but also contribute to build an enabling environment for CSA, thereby enhancing environmental sustainability. This thesis comprises three papers investigating associations between CSA and land reform, with a particular emphasis on lower-income country settings. The first paper (Chapter 2) introduces and describes a conceptual framework, the Climate Smart Land Reform (CSLR) framework, which builds on theoretical and empirical literature on CSA and land reform and uncovers associations between the two concepts. It describes a CSLR as comprising of four pillars, land redistribution, land tenure reform, markets and infrastructure, and Rural Advisory Services (RAS). These four pillars are considered, within the framework, to have the potential to foster CSA adoption and to generate positive effects on a range of social, political, economic and environmental objectives that land reformers may entertain, including the three CSA objectives. The CSLR framework represents an innovative way to conceptualise how land reforms can contribute not only to socio-economic and political improvements, but also to environmental sustainability. The second paper (Chapter 3) explores the linkage presented in the CSLR framework between the land tenure reform pillar of the framework and the three CSA objectives by examining the land registration and certification programme undertaken at the end of the 1990s in Tigray (Ethiopia). The use of a difference-in-differences approach applied to an original panel dataset constructed from Earth Observation data reveals that the reform has led to progress on the three CSA objectives. This suggests that land tenure reforms can contribute to the achievement of rural development objectives, including objectives associated with climate change. The third paper (Chapter 4) is dedicated to the study of the South African land reform. It includes a historical summary of the causes and of the process that led to its launch, as well as a critical analysis comparing land reformers’ initial intentions with the actual implementation of the land reform. This analysis exposes key issues that have hampered the realisation of land reformers’ original intentions, including the implementation of inadequate measures for the transfer of land and for the provision of support services to land reform participants. Building on these findings, secondary data from a farm-household level survey are used to analyse empirically the association between the land redistribution and RAS pillars of the CSLR framework and CSA adoption. Results from the estimation of binary response models show that land redistribution participation was associated with a higher likelihood of adopting CSA, but only in the absence of RAS, thus providing evidence of the inadequacy of RAS in fostering CSA in the South African land reform context and confirming the need to enhance efforts for the establishment of a well-coordinated, multi-stakeholder and participatory RAS system.

This thesis is composed of four environmental economics essays spanning the topics of climate change, international trade, and meat consumption. The first two chapters bring together approaches from the fields of international trade and climate econometrics. Using reduced-form empirical methods informed by theory, they investigate how international trade and weather shocks interact to affect economic outcomes. Chapter 1 estimates the impact of weather shocks on export sales relative to domestic market sales, finding that in the agricultural sector temperature shocks create additional barriers to international trade, as do precipitation shocks for the manufacturing sector in rainy countries. Chapter 2 examines the historical role of trade openness in the effect of temperature shocks on growth, finding some support for the hypothesis that connectedness to international markets may help to mitigate the impact of temperature shocks on economic growth. Chapter 3 continues the focus on international trade but shifts towards the topic of reduced meat consumption. Using insights from a structural gravity model for international trade, this paper explores how the impact of a tax on meat consumption in the EU can reach beyond borders and generate market signals via international trade mechanisms that undermine (to some degree) the aim of mitigating carbon emissions. Chapter 4 continues the theme of meat consumption but departs from the international trade perspective and instead focuses to the US market. Using granular data on households and stores, this paper interrogates popular stories about plant-based meat substitute products, finding that they remain a niche market and so far have shown limited potential for decarbonizing the food sector. This analysis highlights the potential need for policy intervention to spur demand growth and innovation in this product space. Overall, this thesis contributes to broadening our understanding of the challenges posed by climate change and climate policymaking.

This thesis is composed of four essays on urban and spatial economics. The first two papers are empirical studies evaluating the impact of public policies in England – one looking at transport infrastructure and the other at flood management. The last two papers leverage satellite imagery to investigate the effects of floods and flood risk on urbanisation in developing countries. The first paper focuses on the impact of cycling infrastructure on road traffic in London. It demonstrates that providing segregated cycling lanes increases cycling flows without impacting motorised traffic. Not only do the cycling flows increase immediately after the opening of the dedicated lanes, but they also appear to be on a permanent steeper growth path. One primary causal mechanism investigated is the reduction in accidents along the cycling routes. The second paper analyses the role of natural disasters in local election results in England. It finds that at the electoral ward level, electors punish the incumbent party after a flood during local elections in England – but they are much more likely to do so if the incumbent party aligns with the party in power, both at the local authority and national government levels. There is no evidence that the political party alignment of the incumbent is a significant driving force. However, there is a clear pattern of more votes going to the UK Independence Party in the wake of a flood shock. The third paper of the thesis investigates the causal role of land scarcity and path dependence on the expansion of Chinese cities into high flood risk land. It finds that a naïve OLS regression overestimates the role topographic constraints play in driving urbanisation in high flood risk areas. Once instrumented for, land scarcity due to topographic constraints is not a driver of urbanisation in high flood risk areas: cities expand into high flood risk land despite having safe land to expand on. The last paper explores the medium-term effect of flooding on population growth in Sub- Saharan Africa. It finds that large floods in rural areas have long-term persistent effects on population growth but that the effects are mitigated in large urban areas. Using Demographic and Health Survey data, the paper finds that experiencing a severe flood is associated with worse health outcomes and a higher probability of being classified in the poorest wealth bracket, especially in rural areas. In the medium-term, the analysis shows sorting of the poorest households in high-flood risk areas. This is consistent with a higher out-migration rate from rural areas.

This project explored Japan’s changing security attitudes from 1972 to 2014 under the scope of its official defense white papers, using a method of sentiment analysis. Consistent with previous studies, Japan was highly cooperative with China during the period from 1972 to 1992, a period rightfully characterized as the “Golden Age.” Starting from 1993, faced with a rising China, Japan maintained an overall neutral posture on the official and legal level towards China, but subtle attitudinal changes could be seen. While Japan had praised China for its cooperative efforts to denuclearize the Korean peninsula and active involvement in UN peacekeeping, it also pointed to China’s covert purposes for engaging in such activities and repeatedly raised concerns about a perceived violation of state sovereignty by China on the “Senkaku Islands,” as well as over Beijing’s human rights issues and lack of transparency in military spending. The current project shows that Japan has continued to adopt non-confrontation, non-provocative language even when describing its disputes with China.

Sequencing can provide genomic characterisation of a specific organism, as well as of a whole environmental or clinical sample. High Throughput Sequencing (HTS) makes it possible to generate an enormous amount of genomic data at gradually decreasing costs and almost in real-time. HTS is used, among others, in medicine, veterinary medicine, microbiology, virology and epidemiology. The paper presents practical aspects of the HTS technology. It describes generations of sequencing, which vary in throughput, read length, accuracy and costs ̶ and thus are used for different applications. The stages of HTS, as well as their purposes and pitfalls, are presented: extraction of the genetic material, library preparation, sequencing and data processing. For success of the whole process, all stages need to follow strict quality control measurements. Choosing the right sequencing platform, proper sample and library preparation procedures, as well as adequate bioinformatic tools are crucial for high quality results.

Time series regression models are commonly used in time series analysis. However, in modern real-world applications, serially correlated data with an ultra-high dimension and fat tails are prevalent. This presents a challenge in developing new statistical tools for time series analysis. In this paper, we propose a novel Bernstein-type inequality for high-dimensional linear processes and apply it to investigate two high-dimensional robust estimation problems: (1) time series regression with fat-tailed and correlated covariates and errors, and (2) fat-tailed vector autoregression. Our proposed approach allows for exponential increases in dimension with sample size under mild moment and dependence conditions, while ensuring consistency in the estimation process.

The distribution of the incubation period of the novel coronavirus disease that emerged in 2019 (COVID-19) has crucial clinical implications for understanding this disease and devising effective disease-control measures. Qin et al. (2020) designed a cross-sectional and forward follow-up study to collect the duration times between a specific observation time and the onset of COVID-19 symptoms for a number of individuals. They further proposed a mixture forward-incubation-time epidemic model, which is a mixture of an incubation-period distribution and a forward time distribution, to model the collected duration times and to estimate the incubation-period distribution of COVID-19. In this paper, we provide sufficient conditions for the identifiability of the unknown parameters in the mixture forward-incubation-time epidemic model when the incubation period follows a two-parameter distribution. Under the same setup, we propose a likelihood ratio test (LRT) for testing the null hypothesis that the mixture forward-incubation-time epidemic model is a homogeneous exponential distribution. The testing problem is non-regular because a nuisance parameter is present only under the alternative. We establish the limiting distribution of the LRT and identify an explicit representation for it. The limiting distribution of the LRT under a sequence of local alternatives is also obtained. Our simulation results indicate that the LRT has desirable type I errors and powers, and we analyze a COVID-19 outbreak dataset from China to illustrate the usefulness of the LRT., 34 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables

Blockwise missing data occurs frequently when we integrate multisource or multimodality data where different sources or modalities contain complementary information. In this paper, we consider a high-dimensional linear regression model with blockwise missing covariates and a partially observed response variable. Under this framework, we propose a computationally efficient estimator for the regression coefficient vector based on carefully constructed unbiased estimating equations and a blockwise imputation procedure, and obtain its rate of convergence. Furthermore, building upon an innovative projected estimating equation technique that intrinsically achieves bias-correction of the initial estimator, we propose a nearly unbiased estimator for each individual regression coefficient, which is asymptotically normally distributed under mild conditions. Based on these debiased estimators, asymptotically valid confidence intervals and statistical tests about each regression coefficient are constructed. Numerical studies and application analysis of the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative data show that the proposed method performs better and benefits more from unsupervised samples than existing methods., Comment: V2: 40 pages, 2 figures. Accepted at Statistica Sinica

Item parameter drift (IPD) has always been a potential threat to the reliability and validity of educational measurement. Researchers have made continuous efforts to detect drifted items, to examine the impact of drift in the paper-pencil testing and extended the work to the computer adaptive testing. As computer adaptive testing becomes the new trend and online calibration is in increasing demand, the impact of item parameter drift in the operational item pool would not only affect the examinee's ability, but also distort the precision of pretest item parameter estimation., This paper investigated the impact of IPDs with the operational CAT items on the precision of online calibration via a simulation study. Specifically, five independent factors, online calibration method, drift amount, drift size, drift direction, and pool size were fully crossed and examined. Comparisons were made across all levels of factors based on three evaluation criteria. Results showed that the drift amount, drift direction, and online calibration were the three primary studied factors impacting the precision of pretest item parameter estimates when IPDs were present. The D-Tp online calibration method outperformed the random method when IPDs occurred to most difficult operational items whereas the random method is preferred under other levels of drift amount. In other words, the random method can be robust to IPDs under various conditions, even though the D-Tp method performs better when IPD is not present. When incorporating the online calibration into an operational testing program, it is recommended for a testing program to be aware of which types of potential IPDs are with the operational item pool, so that the appropriate online calibration method could be selected and implemented.

One of the goals of the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act was to improve access to affordable coverage by creating the HIMs, mandating coverage, and expanding Medicaid eligibility. However, federal legislative and regulatory changes have led to rising premiums, insurer exit, and disenrollment from the health insurance marketplaces (HIM). Public health and economic crises during the pandemic may have reversed the health gains through Medicaid expansion. In this dissertation, I empirically examine factors that may have contributed to declining enrollment, health, and affordability of coverage. Specifically, in the first study, I employ a difference-differences and synthetic control methods model to examine the effect of the state-based individual mandate on insurance coverage and enrollment. In the second study, I assess the protective effects of the Medicaid expansion on adverse mental health during the pandemic using a difference-in-differences model. In the third paper, I use a difference-in-differences and synthetic control method to examine the effect of the section 1332 reinsurance program on premiums and insurer participation.

This paper assumes that tourism educated and trained students play different roles (in driving future tourist demands and in meeting current tourist preferences, respectively), and it states that the main features characterising the four stakeholders involved in the design, development and implementation of tourism programmes (firms, students, educational and governmental institutions), together with the main facts they face in taking their decisions, lead to a non-optimal strategic long-run equilibrium, where tourism non-graduated or differently-from-tourism graduated employees prevail. The development of an evolutionary model allows to identify the main features characterising firms and students, to be focused on by educational and governmental institutions, in order to move towards the optimal equilibrium, where tourism graduated employees prevail, while the development of a dynamic model allows to show that this equilibrium is not detrimental to tourism trained employees. This work also suggests a possible educational strategy that could allow to move away from the non-optimal equilibrium, by achieving public objectives (such as environmental or ethical tourism), by relying on feasible educational approaches (about what and how to teach), and by taking into account the private characteristics (of firms and students). Therefore, balancing tourism education and training is both possible and beneficial to all stakeholders involved.

This paper presents the case of a male dialysis patient, with generalised epilepsy, who experienced complications after starting medium cut-off (MCO) dialysis. While receiving haemodiafiltration, the patient’s epilepsy had been relatively well controlled using two antiseizure medications (brivaracetam and sodium valproate). However, the patient’s seizure frequency increased when he was changed to MCO dialysis. MCO is a new dialysis method that has been developed to allow for better clearance of uraemic toxins through its larger pore size. We hypothesise that using the highly permeable MCO membrane changed the seizure threshold by an unknown mechanism. This is the first reported case to observe increased seizure frequency in a patient receiving MCO dialysis. The case highlights the need for caution when prescribing dialysis methods to patients with epilepsy.

In this paper, we report the case of a man in his 30s with a first-episode psychosis, characterised by a subtype of delusional misidentification syndrome in which the delusion of doubles is exclusively of the patient’s own self. This subdivision can be termed ‘syndrome of doubles of the self’ or ‘syndrome of subjective doubles’. Additionally, an examination of the patient’s mental state showed paranoid delusions. After being evaluated in the emergency department, the patient was hospitalised, and medicated with antipsychotic drugs. One week later, he was discharged with total remission of psychotic symptoms. This is a rare and curious presentation of a psychotic episode, with very few similar cases described to date.

Data for spatial transcriptomics on triple negative breast cancers The repository contains a number of (tarballed) directories. byArray - data by array/subarray classification - data relative to the classification / regression at the spot level, as well as the per-annotation gene expressions Clinical - clinical data and link array / samples clustering - data relative to the clusterings - by sample, the megaclusterings and the ecotypes deconvolution - gene expression in each annotation category, for each sample, obtained by deconvolution external datasets - external datasets used to confirm the results Images - original images (jpg, png...) misc - various annotation and other files patches - info about the patch size distribution rawCountsMatrices - raw count matrices Robjects - formatted R objects used for the analyses byArray Data by array/subarray. Mapping between those arrays and samples is in ids.RDS (Clinical directory). In each directory, there are the following files - A Cy3 jpg file giving the location of the spots An HE jpg file which is the H&E image For both image, there can be a .rot version if it was necessary to rotate them for the analysis. spot_data... give the localization of all or selected spots small.jpg is a subsampled version of the image. selection.RData counts of selected spots all.RData counts of all spots allSpots.RData position of all spots annotBySpot.RDS if available, the annotation (in pixel) for each spot artefacts.RDS if present, gives the number of pixels annotated as an artefact in each spot classification Data relative to the classification / regression at the spot level. LOOstart.RData - Data with all the samples together used for the Xvalidation baseClassif.RDS - Rotation / scaling used on the gene-level data loosReg.RData - Result of the Xvalidation classifAll.RDS - Classification of each spot projectedSamples Data at the spot level projected on the PC from baseClassif.RDS. regressors The regressors obtained. Must be loaded with xgboost. baseClassif.RDS is used to rotate the genes prior to classification. See code for details, or use directly the function classifySpots in the STstuff package. Clinical Clinical data. Clinical.xlsx - clinical data as an Excel table, identical to the one of paper Clinical.RDS - clinical data in R format (survival objects already created and slide-level annotation fractions included) ids.RDS - link between arrays and sample IDs clustering Data relative to the clusterings - by sample, the megaclusterings and the ecotypes. intraPatientClust Clusterings in each patient. Each RDS contains the following objects - clusts - the prototypes for the best clustering in 2 to 10 clusters km - the best kmeans for 2 to 10 clusters (cluster id for each spot) qv - quality of the clusterings N - number of clusters for each item / column in clusts / km. scg - score giving how spatial a gene is clustPrototypes Deconvolution of the best prototypes from intraPatientClust. List with the following items - proto - deconvoluted prototypes fit - the fitted model kOrig - the original kmeans k - the kmeans after removing some clusters (which we did not do) Nreads - total number of reads for the spot of each cluster Kmeans MC Kmeans on the deconvoluted prototypes (megaclustering), in 5 to 20 clusters. looMC Leave-one-out cross validation of the recovery of the MC in the bulk dataset. MC deconv Deconvolution of the MC at the spot level. Each file contains the following objects - m - the fraction of each MC in each spot idSpot - the id of each spot (slide and position) fm2 - the fitted model deconvolution Per-annotation gene expressions used for TLS / tumor /stroma etc analyses. Each file is an RData, containing - prot - the expression in each annotation, as pseudo-counts fm - the fitted models Ntot - the pseudo-number of spots corresponding to each annotation, obtained by summing the fractional presence in each spot (e.g. 2 spots with 50% of annotation in each equal 1 spot). external datasets External datasets used to confirm the results. otherTNBC SCAN-B and METABRIC iSpy2 Data from Ispy2 Immunotherapies - directory with data for immunotherapies with expression data Images The original images in png/jpg/ndpi format. imageAnnotation Original annotation images. Coded as - colAnn2 = c(Nothing="#FFFFFF", Tumor="#017801", Necrosis="#000000", `Fat tissue`="#000080", `Low TIL stroma`="#ff904f", Vessels="#dc0000", Artefacts="#6e2400", `Lactiferous duct`="#9980e6", `High TIL stroma`="#e9e900", `in situ`="#ccffcc", `Lymphoid nodule`="#80801a", `Hole (whitespace)`="#40e5f6", Lymphocyte="#c4417f", `Stroma cell`="#ff9980", Nerve="#4d8080", `Heterologous elements`="#808080", `Acellular stroma`="#e9d1bb", `Tumor region`="#258a15") imagesLarge Original H&E images in high def, not rotated/translated. The annotated image is not rotated either so those can be directly compared. imagesHD Original H&E images in highest def. Similar to imagesLarge but bigger. artefacts Contours from Qpath used to flag artefacts in non-annotated images. Correspond to imagesLarge. Images IHC CD3/CD20 IHC images that were used to help slide annotation. Note that those images are on a subsequent slide, and so do not correspond exactly to any of the subarrays. misc Various files that are used for image registration, deciding what to plot, annotations, etc. The most useful ones are described here. For the others check the code (in particular ST TNBC figs.R for plotting). registration.xlsx Transformations applied to superpose the images. Columns: pts: patient ID fixed: ref slide moving: the slide to transform theta: rotation dx, dy: translation inv: if X, do a flip In R, the transformation for the images are (using EBImage) if (!is.na(tr$inv)) { x = flip(dta[[i]]$im); spots[,"pixel_y"]=dim(x)[1]-spots[,"pixel_y"]; } x = rotate(x, tr$theta, filter='none', output.dim=dim(dta[[i]]$im)[1:2]+600, bg.col='white') x = translate(x, c(tr$dx, -tr$dy), bg.col='white') # The +600 is to have all the slide after rotation. It is removed below Regarding the spot positions: spots[,c("pixel_x", "pixel_y")] = transfo(c(tr$theta*base::pi/180, tr$dx, -tr$dy), as.matrix(spots[,c("pixel_x", "pixel_y")]), ctr=dim(dta[[i]]$im)[1]/2) The slides are then recentered to keep only the part with spots. sp = colRanges(do.call(rbind, lapply(dta, function(i) as.matrix(i$spots[,c("pixel_x", "pixel_y")])))); sp[,1] = sp[,1]-50; sp[,2]=sp[,2]+50; for (i in seq_along(dta)) { x = translate(dta[[i]]$im, -sp[,1], bg.col='white'); dta[[i]]$im = x[300+(0:diff(sp[1,])), 300+(1:diff(sp[2,])), ]; dta[[i]]$spots[,c("pixel_x", "pixel_y")] = dta[[i]]$spots[,c("pixel_x", "pixel_y")] - rep(sp[,1], each=nrow(dta[[i]]$spots)) } patches Data on patch sizes distribution. Each RDS is a list, with items Np Number of pixels of each annotation (before dilatation) patches also a list, each item giving the size of each patch for each annotation. rawCountsMatrices tsv files by array obtained directly from the sequencing. Robjects R objects of the various basic data, used for the analyses. counts Counts per gene per spot. Batch-corrected. Lists with items: cnts: matrix of counts spots: ids of the spots (pixels are relative to the "images" files) countsNonCorrected Similar to "counts", but not batch-corrected images Lists with one item per slide (so 2-3 per sample) For each slide there are two items: img: image in EBImage format spots: positions of the spots on that image imagesSmall Same as images, but with smaller images. Usually big enough to display. The "spots" info are rescaled to fit the image size. annotsBySpot Lists with items: annots: matrix, N pixels annotated as class ... on each spot spots: position of the spots annotated annotationRecoded Annotation images (imageAnnotation) recoded as a matrix of values 1 to 17. The values correspond to the order of colAnn2 (see imageAnnotation directory), so 1 = Nothing 2 = Tumor 3 = Necrosis and so on BatchCorrection The negative binomial fit parameters used to correct for the array-specific batch effect. There are also the following files - bulkCount.RDS Counts per gene from the bulk RNA. PB_count.RDS Counts per gene from the pseudo-bulk RNA (obtained by summing values from each spot for a alide).

Obstructed hemivagina with ipsilateral renal anomaly (OHVIRA) is a rare congenital genitourinary defect with a triad of unilateral vaginal obstruction, uterine anomaly and ipsilateral renal agenesis. This paper reports an unusual presentation of OHVIRA, with our patient experiencing severe abdominal pain from a left tubo-ovarian abscess that is contralateral to the side of the vaginal outflow obstruction. Another reportable finding is our patient’s rare association of a trifid ureter that fuses distally before inserting ectopically in her vaginal canal. Lastly, this case report also emphasises the importance of radiologists’ expertise in suspecting the diagnosis early on and in contributing to the preoperative evaluation of patients with OHVIRA, thereby providing adequate management for these patients.

Reduction of the process cycle time has been a major challenge faced by the ground transportation industry when introducing composite components in their design. As a result, composite material manufacturers developed innovative solutions to tackle this problem. The past decade has seen resin manufacturers produce fast curing thermoset resins that can help composite manufacturers reduce process cycle times. Currently, automotive manufacturers use the liquid composite moulding (LCM) process to produce high quality net shape automotive parts, mostly for high performance low volume luxury automobiles. However, the ground transportation industry is a cost driven industry and mass production can be extremely expensive. Among all the LCM processes available, compression resin transfer moulding (CRTM) is seen as a cost-effective solution to meet industry demands. Yet, fast curing resins pose a major challenge in producing high quality parts. Therefore, researchers have been working on process simulation to optimize CRTM for the last three decades. Even though great progress has been achieved in performing CRTM simulation, there is still a huge gap to be addressed in terms of a fully coupled simulation (heat transfer, flow and mechnical) for a large complex 3D part. Hence, this paper aims at simulating the CRTM process using a new approach introduced into the current solver of PAM RTMTM. The simulations were validated using a 3D complex demonstrator part., FPCM-15: 15th International Conference on Flow Processes in Composite Materials, June 27-29, 2023, West Lafayette, IN, USA

Acral fibromyxomas are benign tumours ranging in size between 0.6 and 5 cm, commonly found around the nailbed. The often asymptomatic presentation of acral fibromyxomas means that there is often a delay in their diagnosis and subsequent treatment. The objective of this paper is to present the unique case of a fibromyxoma present in the acral region, as well as a review of the literature.

The planet has recently become a popular figure for the study of literary history, comparatists having spent recent years speculating on global or planetary space. However, this work has not adequately addressed the issue of how to planetarize our understanding of time, that is, literary history. My paper addresses this issue by harnessing the weirdness of the planet to defamiliarize our conceived understandings of literary history. I argue that, to counter progressivist, modernist narratives of eternal growth, it is necessary to overwrite a notion of literary history as a horizontal line divided into neat periods with a vision of literary history as a cobweb, the literary historian spinning together past and present to make them weird again.

In the wake of policy, technology, and ideological disruptions in Western higher education, it is in universities’ interests to improve the quality of their learning and teaching to meet changed expectations. In some countries, particularly anglophone countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, the medium for this improvement is often professional development of academic staff provided through a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (GCHE). This paper presents mixed methods research conducted at an Australian University. It addresses the questions of how a GCHE contributes to teaching quality and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) from the perspective of course participants and their educators in the context of a university wide strategy to promote a culture of excellence in learning and teaching. Data and analysis indicate significant benefits to academic staff, their students, and the host institution from completion of a GCHE. However, tensions around academic workloads, compulsion, and some contradictions in espoused educational values and managerialist impositions emerge in these advancements. The educators in the GCHE (academic developers) were sometimes caught in the crossfire. Their reflections on this experience are included in the data and analysis.

A man in his 70s was referred to the endocrine surgery department after incidental finding of hypercalcaemia during preoperative work-up for abdominal aortic aneurysm repair. The patient reported severe fatigue and malaise with no previous history of nephrolithiasis or osteoporosis. After biochemical confirmation of primary hyperparathyroidism, localisation studies suggested multiple gland disease. Intraoperatively, three enlarged parathyroid adenomas were found and excised. Histopathological and immunohistochemical examination revealed triple water clear cell (WCC) parathyroid adenomas. Adenomas being entirely composed of WCCs are rare. In addition, triple adenomas are so rare that their existence is disputed by some authors. The present paper reports on an extremely rare case of a patient suffering from triple parathyroid adenomas composed entirely of WCCs. To our knowledge, this is the first such reported case in the English language literature.

The definition of the mandibular angle profile is a common challenge for oral and maxillofacial surgeons. Accurate diagnosis and treatment planning are mandatory in order to properly manage soft and hard tissues. The use of several biomaterials is described in the literature. The present paper reports the treatment of a defect in the right mandibular angle in otomandibular syndrome sequelae by positioning polyetheretherketone (PEEK) patient-specific implants (PSI) in a 25-year-old patient who previously underwent orthognathic surgery. Satisfactory aesthetic results were achieved with no complications 12 months after surgery. Considering its advantageous physical properties and the low rate of postoperative complications reported in the literature, PEEK can increase the treatment options for recontouring not only the upper third and the middle third of the face, but also of the lower third, in particular in cases of large three-dimensional defects.

This paper forensically reconstructs the timings, impacts and processes that drove the sequence of explosive eruptions of La Soufrière, St Vincent in April 2021 using a combination of field-based stratigraphy and textural dissection of the deposit character together with contemporary visual observations. Explosive activity on 9th and early on 10th April involved destruction of almost all of the 2020/2021 lava dome, ∼ 60% of the 1979 dome and formation of a 600 m diameter crater by 2pm UTC on 10th April. Following the initial explosion, plumes rose to altitudes of ∼15 km and pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) formed by column collapse, first occurred on 10th April, only after > 24hrs of explosive activity. Dense PDCs reached the sea only in the Larikai and Roseau Valleys, and dilute PDCs were restricted to within 2.5 km of the Summit Crater rim. The tephra fallout deposits are stratified, composed of numerous layers of both lapilli-rich and ash-rich layers, which we have grouped into at least 7 Units, based on their common characteristics (Units 1 to 7). Volume estimates, using a range of techniques to constrain uncertainties, indicate that the bulk volume of tephra (fallout and PDC) is 1.19 x 108m3 +/− 20% making this a VEI 4 eruption. Supplementary material at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6474317

A man in his twenties with a history of recurrent sinusitis was urgently referred to the emergency department (ED) by an out-of-hours general practitioner following a 2-day history of increasing right eye pain, redness and swelling after a week of coryzal symptoms. He denied visual impairment and any history of recent dental pain or procedures. Initial assessment in ED noted fever, tachycardia and hypotension. Video consultation with ophthalmologist in the ED identified proptosis, periorbital erythema and chemosis with full eye movement solely affecting the right eye. Visual acuity of 6/6 was confirmed in both eyes. After review by the ear, nose and throat (ENT) team, a diagnosis of sinogenic right orbital cellulitis was made, empirical antibiotics started and care transferred to the ENT team for immediate surgical intervention. 48 hours postoperatively, the patient acutely deteriorated, developing ophthalmoplegia and visual acuity of 6/95 in the right eye. Repeat imaging demonstrated a deteriorating picture and urgent surgery was organised at a neighbouring hospital’s specialist ENT unit combined with a change to his antibiotics. On day 4, 1 day following transfer, an anaerobic bacterium,Eggerthia catenaformis,was isolated from blood cultures collected on admission. The patient improved clinically following the second surgery and targeted antimicrobial therapy, eventually being discharged 10 days after initial presentation. In addition toE. catenaformis, the Anaerobic Reference Unit (Cardiff) identified two further anaerobic bacteria,Parvimonas micraandDialister pneumosintes. This paper presents the first documented case of polymicrobial anaerobic orbital cellulitis secondary to acute bacterial sinusitis. Moreover, this case underpins the importance of broad empirical antibiotics coupled with surgical source control to effectively manage a rare but sight-threatening and life-threatening disease.

International audience; The advent of privacy laws and principles such as data minimization and informed consent are supposed to protect citizens from over-collection of personal data. Nevertheless, current processes, mainly through filling forms are still based on practices that lead to over-collection. Indeed, any citizen wishing to apply for a benefit (or service) will transmit all their personal data involved in the evaluation of the eligibility criteria. The resulting problem of over-collection affects millions of individuals, with considerable volumes of information collected. If this problem of compliance concerns both public and private organizations (e.g., social services, banks, insurance companies), it is because it faces non-trivial issues, which hinder the implementation of data minimization by developers. In this paper, we propose a new modeling approach that enables data minimization and informed choices for the users, for any decision problem modeled using classical logic, which covers a wide range of practical cases. Our data minimization solution uses game theoretic notions to explain and quantify the privacy payoff for the user. We show how our algorithms can be applied to practical cases study as a new PET for minimal, fully accurate (all due services must be preserved) and informed data collection.

Data and R scripts for the paper:Comparing the transmission of carbapenemase-producing and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli between broiler chickens. Data includes the phyloseq RDS for the 16S rRNA v3v4 sequencing data and its metadata. Analysis scripts as used for the paper for both the modeling and the microbiome. See README for more details. Links: NCBI SRA BioProject:PRJNA948179 Paper doi: Abstract paper: Comparing the transmission of carbapenemase-producing and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli between broiler chickens Natcha Dankittipong, Jesse B. Alderliesten, Jan Van den Broek, M. Anita Dame-Korevaar, Michael S. M. Brouwer, Francisca C. Velkers, Alex Bossers, Clazien J. de Vos, Jaap A. Wagenaar, J. Arjan Stegeman, Egil A. J. Fischer The emergence of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) is a threat to public health, because of their resistance to clinically important carbapenem antibiotics. The emergence of CPE in meat-producing animals is particularly worrying because consumption of meat contaminated with resistant bacteria similar to CPE, such as extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae, contributed to colonization in humans worldwide. Currently, no data on the transmission of CPE in livestock is available. We performed a transmission experiment to quantify the transmission of CPE between broilers to fill this knowledge gap and to compare the transmission rates of CPE and other antibiotic-resistant E. coli. A total of 180 Ross 308 broiler chickens were distributed on the day of hatch (day 0) over 12 pens. On day 5, half of the chickens in each pen were orally inoculated with 5·102 colony-forming units of CPE, ESBL, or chloramphenicol-resistant E. coli (catA1). Amoxicillin drinking water treatment was given twice daily in 6 of the 12 pens from days 2 to 6 to evaluate the effect of antibiotic treatment on the transmission rates. Cloacal swabs of all animals were taken to determine the number of infectious broilers. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to quantify the transmission of the E. coli strains. E. coli can survive in the environment and serve as a reservoir. Therefore, the susceptible-infectious transmission model was adapted to account for the transmission of resistant bacteria from the environment. In addition, the caecal microbiome was analyzed on day 5 and at the end of the experiment on day 14 to assess the relationship between the caecal microbiome and the transmission rates. The transmission rates of CPE were 52 – 68 per cent lower compared to ESBL and catA1, but it is not clear if these differences were caused by differences between the resistance genes or between the E. coli strains. Differences between the groups in transmission rates and microbiome diversity did not correspond to each other, indicating that differences in transmission rates were probably not caused by major differences in the community structure in the caecal microbiome. Amoxicillin treatment from day 2 to 6 increased the transmission rate more than three-fold in all inoculums. It also increased alpha-diversity compared to untreated animals on day 5, but not on day 14, suggesting only a temporary effect. Future research could incorporate more complex transmission models with different species of resistant bacteria into the Bayesian hierarchical model.

Oxygen-enriched combustion technology has an important application prospect, in which Oxy-steam combustion is a new generation of potential carbon capture technology. In this paper, the effects of O₂/CO₂ and O₂/H₂O atmosphere on soot formation in laminar diffusion flame were studied. The flame image was taken by a color (CCD) camera in the visible band, the directional emission power in R and G bands was calibrated, and the two-dimensional distribution of temperature and soot volume fraction in the flame was reconstructed. The experimental results are compared with the numerical results, and the numerical results well predict the temperature of oxygen-enriched flame in O₂/N₂/CO₂ atmosphere, but overestimate the soot volume fraction. The laminar diffusion flame of ethylene in two kinds of oxygen-rich atmosphere was numerically studied by using a step-by-step decoupling method to separate the density, transport, thermal and chemical effects of the diluent by introducing four virtual substances. The calculation results show that combustion in O₂/H₂O and O₂/CO₂ atmosphere reduces the flame peak temperature, but the effect on the flame centerline temperature distribution is different. The addition of H₂O enhanced the concentration of OH through the reverse reaction rate of OH + H₂=H + H₂O, while the addition of CO₂ decreased the concentration of OH.O₂/CO₂ combustion leads to the increase of flame height and radius, while in O₂/H₂O atmosphere, the flame height is shortened. Both CO₂ and H₂O have a good inhibitory effect on soot formation. CO₂ in the oxidant affects soot nucleation and surface growth rate mainly by reducing flame temperature and H mole fraction, but not by promoting soot oxidation process. Water vapor also inhibits soot formation by increasing OH concentration through chemical effect.

How are abstract concepts such as ‘freedom' and ‘democracy' represented in the mind? One prominent proposal suggests that abstract concepts are grounded in emotion. Supporting this ‘affective embodiment' account, abstract concepts are rated to be more strongly positive or more strongly negative than concrete concepts. This paper demonstrates that this finding generalizes across languages by synthesizing rating data from Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese, Croatian, Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Polish and Spanish. However, a deeper look at the same data suggests that the idea of emotional grounding only characterizes a small subset of abstract concepts. Moreover, when the concreteness/abstractness dimension is not operationalized using concreteness ratings, it is actually found that concrete concepts are rated as more emotional than abstract ones. Altogether, these results suggest limitations to the idea that emotion is an important factor in the grounding of abstract concepts. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Concepts in interaction: social engagement and inner experiences’.

Lipomas are benign tumours of mesenchymal origin, representing one of the most common tumours of the body. They are often observed between the fourth and the sixth decade of life and in 13% of the cases they occur in the head and neck region. In case of symptoms, surgical removal is the treatment of choice; when the formation involves the temporal region, the surgical approach is often challenging due to the presence of the neurovascular structures, such as the temporalis branch of the facial nerve and their potential extension to the nearby structures under the zygomatic arch to either the infratemporal fossa or the buccal region. Recurrence can occur frequently only if there is incomplete removal of lipoma. In this paper, the authors discuss surgical pitfalls of a very rare case of a large-sized symptomatic lipoma extended to the infratemporal and pterygomaxillary fossa, surgically removed via trans-zygomatic hemicoronal approach.

Humans rely on both kin and non-kin social ties for a wide range of support. In patrilocal societies that practice village exogamy, women can face the challenge of building new supportive networks when they move to their husband's village and leave many genetic kin behind. In this paper, we track how women from 10 diverse communities in rural Bangladesh build supportive networks after migrating to their husband's village, comparing their trajectories with women who remained in their childhood village (Bengali: n = 317, Santal: n = 36, Hajong: n = 39, Mandi: n = 36). Women who migrated for marriage started with almost no adult close kin (mean 0.1) compared to women who remained in their childhood village (mean 2.4). However, immigrants compensated for the lack of genetic kin by a combination of close affinal kin and close friends. By their late 20s, immigrants reported substantially more non-kin friends than did non-immigrants (mean 1.4 versus 1.1) and a comparable number of supportive partners in several domains. These findings raise questions about the functions and quality of these different social ties and how different composition of supportive networks may provide different opportunities for women in these settings. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Cooperation among women: evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives’.

Cooperative networks are essential features of human society. Evolutionary theory hypothesizes that networks are used differently by men and women, yet the bulk of evidence supporting this hypothesis is based on studies conducted in a limited range of contexts and on few domains of cooperation. In this paper, we compare individual-level cooperative networks from two communities in Southwest China that differ systematically in kinship norms and institutions—one matrilineal and one patrilineal—while sharing an ethnic identity. Specifically, we investigate whether network structures differ based on prevailing kinship norms and type of gendered cooperative activity, one woman-centred (preparation of community meals) and one man-centred (farm equipment lending). Our descriptive results show a mixture of ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ features in all four networks. The matrilineal meals network stands out in terms of high degree skew. Exponential random graph models reveal a stronger role for geographical proximity in patriliny and a limited role of affinal relatedness across all networks. Our results point to the need to consider domains of cooperative activity alongside gender and cultural context to fully understand variation in how women and men leverage social relationships toward different ends.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Cooperation among women: evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives’.

This research paper aims to study the axes of the transition towards blockchain technology, how to apply it in Islamic financial institutions, obstacles of actual implementations and the proposed solutions. Islamic financial institutions must keep pace with technological developments, especially with regard to strategic changes, development of work mechanism, performance efficiency, accuracy of operations performance, service speed with cost and security of operations, and the impact of this on the competitiveness of Islamic financial institutions with international and traditional financial institutions, and the impact of all of this on the success and effectiveness of financial institutions. The role of blockchain technology in developing the performance of financial institutions and the huge change in the way of work that has emerged is the importance and severity of the need for technology, especially during the pandemic, for an effective transformation towards blockchain technology considering cases studies is very important to manage the change through the following three main axes: Technology: how to choose the right technology and the right technology partner. Procedures: The development of procedures has a major and effective role in improving and controlling all operations in general, achieving the best productivity, reducing waste of time and money, and controlling better workflow and costs and removing obstacles. Employees: One of the most important factors affecting the application of modern technologies and the success of development and change is the mechanism of work in financial institutions. Keywords: Islamic, Financial, Blockchain, institutions, Transformation.

We investigate the value of a two-armed Bayesian response adaptive randomization (RAR) design to investigate early preterm birth rates of high versus low dose of docosahexaenoic acid during pregnancy. Unexpectedly, the COVID-19 pandemic forced recruitment to pause at 1100 participants rather than the planned 1355. The difference in power between number of participants at the pause and planned was 87% and 90% respectively. We decided to stop the study. This paper describes how the RAR was used to execute the study. The value of RAR in two-armed studies is quite high and their use in the future is promising.

For centuries, the legal rate of interest in the Roman Empire was “one- hundredth”: 1 percent of the principal of the loan was added to it each month. Although Christian leaders and writers in the Greek and Latin west did not approve of this practice, Syriac-speaking Christian communities in the eastern Roman Empire incorporated the rate of “one-hundredth” into canon law, and some grounded it in a novel interpretation of the Syriac Bible. In this paper, I describe the incorporation of Roman lending norms into the framework of the Syriac church and discuss an early document that both reflects and modifies these norms: a “circular letter” of Symeon Stylites (d. 459), in which he commands that interest rates be lowered by 50 percent as a temporary act of piety. That letter is preserved in a manuscript of Symeon’s Syriac Life, found today in the British Library (Add. 14,484, fols. 130b–133b). I situate the letter within that Syriac tradition, and I offer the possibility that Justinian’s law of 528, which also lowered interest rates by 50 percent (CJ 4.32.26), might have been the result of contacts with this Syriac tradition, and specifically with Symeon’s regulation. I also examine the reception of the Roman rate of “one-hundredth” in early Christian normative sources (“lawbooks” and “canons”) from the Church of the East, in the Sasanian Empire. These Christians received the Roman norm of “one-hundredth” differently and did not incorporate Symeon’s pious reduction of the interest rate, or Justinian’s imperial legislation to the same effect.

Along with the developing technology, obesity and diabetes are increasing rapidly among people. Theidentification of diabetes diseases, modeling, predicting their behavior, conducting simulations, studying control andtreatment methods using mathematical methods has become of great importance. In this paper, we have obtainednumerical solutions by considering the glucose-insulin fractional model. This model consists of three compartments:the blood glucose concentration (𝐺), the blood insulin concentration (𝐼) and the ready-to-absorb glucose concentration(𝐷) in the small intestine. The fractional derivative is used in the sense of Caputo. By performing mathematicalanalyzes for the Glucose-Insulin fractional mathematical model, numerical results were obtained with the help of theEuler method and graphs were drawn.

In the last five years, there has been increased interest in trauma-informed digital design with practitioners in the technology field discussing and promoting the use of trauma-informed care (TIC) concepts. Practitioners are applying TIC concepts from the social work and medical fields to both the design process and products such as websites and mobile applications. However, there is a lack of a systematic overview of the methods and progress made, with no standard methodology or known best practices in applying TIC principles to technology. To facilitate both practice and education related to trauma-informed design and technology (TIDT), this scoping review offers an overview of the related knowledge that is already available in conference papers, journal articles, as well as in grey literature focused on trauma-informed design or technology such as a workshop, lectures, or case studies.