Letteratura scientifica selezionata sul tema "17.24 sociolinguistics: other"

Richard Gregory was a pioneer of cognitive psychology. Much of his scientific work involved the development and interpretation of visual illusions, which he used as a tool to work out the perceptual mechanisms involved in the way that the visual world is normally perceived. He was also an inventor, developing a technique for viewing microscopic objects in three dimensions, and a method for taking sharp telescope images through an unstable atmosphere. He was a man of great charm, enthusiasm and wit, who listed his hobbies as punning and pondering. He was to become an outstanding public communicator of scientific ideas. He gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures (‘The intelligent eye’) in 1967, was a founder member of the Experimental Psychology Society, set up his own journal, Perception , in 1972, and in 1978 founded the Exploratory, a hands-on science centre in Bristol. His work on illusions and his interest in painting led to a collaboration with the art historian Sir Ernst Gombrich, resulting in the book Illusion in nature and art (1973) and an exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art. Other books included Mind in science (1981) and The Oxford companion to the mind (1987), for which he was both editor and a major contributor. The book for which he is best known is the wonderfully accessible Eye and brain , whose five editions (1966–1997) and many translations have inspired students of all ages.

PURPOSE To describe the incidence and significance of clonal evolution patterns. PATIENTS AND METHODS We analyzed 264 patients with Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)-positive chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) who developed clonal evolution between 1967 and 1993. RESULTS The median survival time following clonal evolution was 19 months. Factors associated with worse survival (P < .01) were as follows: chromosome 17 abnormality or chromosomal translocations other than Ph, high percentage of abnormal metaphases, longer time to clonal evolution, and presence of other accelerated-phase features. A recursive partitioning technique (CART) identified different risk groups. The best group (37 patients; no chromosome 17 abnormality, abnormal metaphases < 16%, and interval to clonal evolution < or = 24 months) had an estimated median survival time of 54 months. The worst two groups included 27 patients with chromosome 17 abnormalities and > or = 36% abnormal metaphases (estimated median survival time, 6 months), and 22 patients with other accelerated features and > or = 16% abnormal metaphases (estimated median survival time, 7 months). The intermediate group had an estimated median survival time that ranged from 13 to 24 months. Prior interferon therapy evaluated within risk groups showed a significant survival advantage only in the intermediate-risk group. A multivariate analysis showed similar results, and identified the following independent poor prognostic variables: chromosome 17 abnormality, percentage of abnormal metaphases (cutoff, 24%), longer time to clonal evolution (cutoff, 24 months), other accelerated-phase features, and no prior interferon therapy. Patients with none, one, two, three, or more of the first four features had median survivals times of 51, 24, 14, and 7 months, respectively. CONCLUSION The prognostic significance of clonal evolution in CML is not uniform and is related to the specific abnormality, time to its development, its predominance in metaphases, and the presence of other accelerated features, and it may be modified by specific therapies.

Background: The role of steroids to mitigate the deleterious effects of pediatric cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) remains a matter of debate; therefore, we aimed to assess preferences in administering corticosteroids (CSs) and the use of other anti-inflammatory strategies in pediatric cardiac surgery. Methods: A 19-question survey was distributed to consultants in pediatric cardiac anesthesia from 12 centers across the United Kingdom and Ireland. Results: Of the 37 respondents (37/60, 62%), 24 (65%) use CSs, while 13 (35%) do not use steroids at all. We found variability within 5 (41%) of the 12 centers. Seven consultants (7/24, 29%) administer CSs in every case, while 17 administer CSs in selected cases only (17/24, 71%). There was variability in the dose of steroid administration. Almost all consultants (23/24, 96%) administer a single dose at induction, and one administers a two-dose regimen (1/24, 4%). There was variability in CS indications. Most consultants (24/37, 66%) use modified ultrafiltration at the conclusion of CPB. Fifteen consultants (15/32, 47%) report the use of aprotinin, while only 3 use heparin-coated circuits (3/24, 9%). Conclusions: We found wide variability in practice in the administration of CSs for pediatric cardiac surgery, both within and between units. While most anesthetists administer CSs in at least some cases, there is no consensus on the type of steroid, the dose, and at which patient groups this should be directed. Modified ultrafiltration is still used by most of the centers. Almost half of consultants use aprotinin, while heparin-coated circuits are infrequently used.

The Routledge Handbook of language and culture represents a comprehensive study on the inextricable relationship between language and culture. It is structured into seven parts and 33 chapters. Part 1, Overview and historical background, by Farzad Sharifian, starts with an outline of the book and a synopsis of research on language and culture. The second chapter, John Leavitt’s Linguistic relativity: precursors and transformations discusses further the historical development of the concept of linguistic relativity, identifying different schools’ of thought views on the relation between language and culture. He also tries to demystify some misrepresentations held towards Boas, Sapir, and Whorf’ theories (pp. 24-26). Chapter 3, Ethnosyntax, by Anna Gladkova provides an overview of research on ethnosyntax, starting from the theoretical basis laid by Sapir and Whorf and investigates the differences between a narrow sense of ethnosyntax, which focuses on cultural meanings of various grammatical structures and a broader sense, which emphasises the pragmatic and cultural norms’ impact on the choice of grammatical structures. John Leavitt presents in the fourth chapter, titled Ethnosemantics, a historical account of research on meaning across cultures, introducing three traditions, i.e. ‘classical’ ethnosemantics (also referred to as ethnoscience or cognitive anthropology), Boasian cultural semantics (linguistically inspired anthropology) and Neohumboldtian comparative semantics (word-field theory, or content-oriented Linguistics). In Chapter 5, Goddard underlines the fact that ethnopragmatics investigates emic (or culture-internal) approaches to the use of different speech practices across various world languages, which accounts for the fact that there exists a connection between the cultural values or norms and the speech practices peculiar to a speech community. One of the key objectives of ethnopragmatics is to investigate ‘cultural key words’, i.e. words that encapsulate culturally construed concepts. The concept of ‘linguaculture’ (or languaculture) is tackled in Risager’s Chapter 6, Linguaculture: the language–culture nexus in transnational perspective. The author makes reference to American scholars that first introduced this notion, Paul Friedrich, who looks at language and culture as a single domain in which verbal aspects of culture are mingled with semantic meanings, and Michael Agar, for whom culture resides in language while language is loaded with culture. Risager himself brought forth a new global and transnational perspective on the concept of linguaculture, i.e. the use of language (linguistic practice) is seen as flows in people’s social networks and speech communities. These flows enhance as people migrate or learn new languages, in permanent dynamics. Lidia Tanaka’s Chapter 7, Language, gender, and culture deals with research on language, gender, and culture. According to her, the language-gender relationship has been studied by researchers from various fields, including psychology, linguistics, and anthropology, who mainly consider gender as a construct that preserves inequalities in society, with the help of language, too. Tanaka lists diachronically different approaches to language and gender, focusing on three specific ones: gender stereotyped linguistic resources, semantically, pragmatically or lexically designated language features (including register) and gender-based spoken discourse strategies (talking-time imbalances or interruptions). In Chapter 8, Language, culture, and context, Istvan Kecskes delves into the relationship between language, culture, and context from a socio-cognitive perspective. The author considers culture to be a set of shared knowledge structures that encapsulate the values, norms, and customs that the members of a society have in common. According to him, both language and context are rooted in culture and carriers of it, though reflecting culture in a different way. Language encodes past experience with different contexts, whereas context reflects present experience. The author also provides relevant examples of formulaic language that demonstrate the functioning of both types of context, within the larger interplay between language, culture, and context. Sara Miller’s Chapter 9, Language, culture, and politeness reviews traditional approaches to politeness research, with particular attention given to ‘discursive approach’ to politeness. Much along the lines of the previous chapter, Miller stresses the role of context in judgements of (im)polite language, maintaining that individuals represent active agents who challenge and negotiate cultural as well as linguistic norms in actual communicative contexts. Chapter 10, Language, culture, and interaction, by Peter Eglin focuses on language, culture and interaction from the perspective of the correspondence theory of meaning. According to him, abstracting language and culture from their current uses, as if they were not interdependent would not lead to an understanding of words’ true meaning. David Kronenfeld introduces in Chapter 11, Culture and kinship language, a review of research on culture and kinship language, starting with linguistic anthropology. He explains two formal analytic definitional systems of kinship terms: the semantic (distinctions between kin categories, i.e. father vs mother) and pragmatic (interrelations between referents of kin terms, i.e. ‘nephew’ = ‘child of a sibling’). Chapter 12, Cultural semiotics, by Peeter Torop deals with the field of ‘semiotics of culture’, which may refer either to methodological instrument, to a whole array of methods or to a sub-discipline of general semiotics. In this last respect, it investigates cultures as a form of human symbolic activity, as well as a system of cultural languages (i.e. sign systems). Language, as “the preserver of the culture’s collective experience and the reflector of its creativity” represents an essential component of cultural semiotics, being a major sign system. Nigel Armstrong, in Chapter 13, Culture and translation, tackles the interrelation between language, culture, and translation, with an emphasis on the complexities entailed by translation of culturally laden aspects. In his opinion, culture has a double-sided dimension: the anthropological sense (referring to practices and traditions which characterise a community) and a narrower sense, related to artistic endeavours. However, both sides of culture permeate language at all levels. Chapter 14, Language, culture, and identity, by Sandra Schecter tackles several approaches to research on language, culture, and identity: social anthropological (the limits at play in the social construction of differences between various groups of people), sociocultural (the interplay between an individual’s various identities, which can be both externally and internally construed, in sociocultural contexts), participatory-relational (the manner in which individuals create their social–linguistic identities). Patrick McConvell, in Chapter 15, Language and culture history: the contribution of linguistic prehistory reviews research in this field where historical linguistic evidence is exploited in the reconstruction and understanding of prehistoric cultures. He makes an account of research in linguistic prehistory, with a focus on proto- and early Indo-European cultures, on several North American language families, on Africa, Australian, and Austronesian Aboriginal languages. McConvell also underlines the importance of interdisciplinary research in this area, which greatly benefits from studies in other disciplines, such as archaeology, palaeobiology, or biological genetics. Part four starts with Ning Yu’s Chapter 16, Embodiment, culture, and language, which gives an account of theory and research on the interplay between language, culture, and body, as seen from the standpoint of Cultural Linguistics. Yu presents a survey of embodiment (in embodied cognition research) from a multidisciplinary perspective, starting with the rather universalistic Conceptual Metaphor Theory. On the other hand, Cultural Linguistics has concentrated on the role played by culture in shaping embodied language, as various cultures conceptualise body and bodily experience in different ways. Chapter 17, Culture and language processing, by Crystal Robinson and Jeanette Altarriba deals with research in the field of how culture influence language processing, in particular in the case of bilingualism and emotion, alongside language and memory. Clearly, the linguistic and cultural character of each individual’s background has to be considered as a variable in research on cognition and cognitive processing. Frank Polzenhagen and Xiaoyan Xia, in Chapter 18, Language, culture, and prototypicality bring forth a survey of prototypicality across different disciplines, including cognitive linguistics and cognitive psychology. According to them, linguistic prototypes play a critical part in social (re-)cognition, as they are socially diagnostic and function as linguistic identity markers. Moreover, individuals may develop ‘culturally blended concepts’ as a result of exposure to several systems of conceptual categorisation, especially in the case of L2 learning (language-contact or culture-contact situations). In Chapter 19, Colour language, thought, and culture, Don Dedrick investigates the issue of the colour words in different languages and how these influence cognition, a question that has been addressed by researchers from various disciplines, such as anthropology, linguistics, cognitive psychology, or neuroscience. He cannot but observe the constant debate in this respect, and he argues that it is indeed difficult to reach consensus, as colour language occasionally reveals effects of language on thought and, at other times, it is impervious to such effects. Chapter 20, Language, culture, and spatial cognition, by Penelope Brown concentrates on conceptualisations of space, providing a framework for thinking about and referring to objects and events, along with more abstract notions such as time, number, or kinship. She lists three frames of reference used by languages in order to refer to spatial relations, i.e. a) an ‘absolute’ coordinate system, like north, south, east, west; b) a ‘relative’ coordinate system envisaged from the body’s standpoint; and c) an intrinsic, object-centred coordinate system. Chris Sinha and Enrique Bernárdez focus on, in Chapter 21, Space, time, and space–time: metaphors, maps, and fusions, research on linguistic and cultural concepts of time and space, starting with the seminal Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), which they denounce for failing to situate space–time mapping within the broader patterns of culture and world perspective. Sinha and Bernárdez further argue that although it is possible in all cultures for individuals to experience and discuss about events in terms of their duration and succession, the specific words and concepts they use to refer to temporal landmarks temporal and duration are most of the time language and culture specific. Chapter 22, Culture and language development, by Laura Sterponi and Paul Lai provides an account of research on the interplay between culture and language acquisition. They refer to two widely accepted perspectives in this respect: a developmental mechanism inherent in human beings and a set of particular social contexts in which children are ‘initiated’ into the cultural meaning systems. Both perspectives define culture as “both related to the psychological make-up of the individual and to the socio-historical contexts in which s/he is born and develops”. Anna Wierzbicka presents, in Chapter 23, Language and cultural scripts discusses representations of cultural norms which are encoded in language. She contends that the system of meaning interpretation developed by herself and her colleagues, i.e. Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM), may easily be used to capture and convey cultural scripts. Through NSM cross-cultural experiences can be captured in a thorough manner by using a reduced number of conceptual primes which seem to exist in all languages. Chapter 24, Culture and emotional language, by Jean-Marc Dewaele brings forth the issue of the relationship between language, culture, and emotion, which has been researched by cultural and cognitive psychologists and applied linguists alike, although with some differences in focus. He considers that within this context, it is important to see differences between emotion contexts in bilinguals, since these may lead to different perceptions of the self. He infers that generally, culture revolves around the experience and communication of emotions, conveyed through linguistic expression. The fifth part starts with Chapter 25, Language and culture in sociolinguistics, by Meredith Marra, who underlines that culture is a central concept in Interactional Sociolinguistics, where language is considered as social interaction. In linguistic interaction, culture, and especially cultural differences are deemed as a cause of potential miscommunication. Mara also remarks that the paradigm change in sociolinguistics, from Interactional Sociolinguistics to social constructionism reshaped ‘culture’ into a more dynamic as well as less rigid concept. Claudia Strauss’ Chapter 26, Language and culture in cognitive anthropology deals with the relationship between human society and human thought/thinking. The author contends that cognitive anthropologists may be subdivided into two groups, i.e. ones that are concerned with the process of thinking (cognition-in-practice scholars), and the others focusing on the product of thinking or thoughts (concerned with shared cultural understandings). She goes on to explore how different approaches to cognitive anthropology have counted on units of language, i.e. lexical items and their meanings, along with larger chunks of discourse, as information, which may represent learned cultural schemata. Part VI starts with Chapter 27, Language and culture in second language learning, by Claire Kramsch, in which she makes a survey of the definition of ‘culture’ in foreign language learning and its evolution from a component of literature and the arts to a more comprehensive purport, that of culturally appropriate use of language, along with an appropriate use of sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic norms. According to her, in the postmodern era, communication is not only mere transmission of information, it represents construal and positioning of the self and of self-identity. Chapter 28, Writing across cultures: ‘culture’ in second language writing studies, by Dwight Atkinson focuses on the usefulness of culture in second-language writing (SLW). He reviews several approaches to the issue: contrastive rhetoric (dealing with the impact of first-language patterns of text organisation on writers in a second language), or even alternate notions, like‘ cosmopolitanism’, ‘critical multiculturalism’, and hybridity, as of late native culture is becoming irrelevant or at best far less significant. Ian Malcolm tackles, in Chapter 29, Language and culture in second dialect learning, the issue of ‘standard’ Englishes (e.g., Standard American English, Standard Australian English) versus minority ‘non-standard’ speakers of English. He deplores the fact that in US specialist literature, speaking the ‘non-standard’ variety of English was associated with cognitive, cultural, and linguistic insufficiency. He further refers to other specialists who have demonstrated that ‘non-standard’ varieties can be just as systematic and highly structured as the standard variety. Chapter 30, Language and culture in intercultural communication, by Hans-Georg Wolf gives an account of research in intercultural education, focusing on several paradigms, i.e. the dominant one, investigating successful functioning in intercultural encounters, the minor one, exploring intercultural understanding and the ‘deconstructionist, and or postmodernist’. He further examines different interpretations of the concepts associated with intercultural communication, including the functionalist school, the intercultural understanding approach and a third one, the most removed from culture, focusing on socio-political inequalities, fluidity, situationality, and negotiability. Andy Kirkpatrick’s Chapter 31, World Englishes and local cultures gives a synopsis of research paradigm from applied linguistics which investigates the development of Englishes around the world, through processes like indigenisation or nativisation of the language. Kirkpatrick discusses the ways in which new Englishes accommodate the culture of the very speech community which develops them, e.g. adopting lexical items to express to express culture-specific concepts. Speakers of new varieties could use pragmatic norms rooted in cultural values and norms of the specific new speech community which have not previously been associated with English. Moreover, they can use these new Englishes to write local literatures, often exploiting culturally preferred rhetorical norms. Part seven starts with Chapter 32, Cultural Linguistics, by Farzad Sharifian gives an account of the recent multidisciplinary research field of Cultural Linguistics, which explores the relationship between language and cultural cognition, particularly in the case of cultural conceptualisations. Sharifian also brings forth illustrations of how cultural conceptualisations may be linguistically encoded. The last chapter, A future agenda for research on language and culture, by Roslyn Frank provides an appraisal of Cultural Linguistics as a prospective path for research in the field of language and culture. She states that ‘Cultural Linguistics could potentially create a paradigm that “successfully melds together complementary approaches, e.g., viewing language as ‘a complex adaptive system’ and bringing to bear upon it concepts drawn from cognitive science such as ‘distributed cognition’ and ‘multi-agent dynamic systems theory’.” She further asserts that Cultural Linguistics has the potential to function as “a bridge that brings together researchers from a variety of fields, allowing them to focus on problems of mutual concern from a new perspective” and most likely unveil new issues (as well as solutions) which have not been evident so far. In conclusion, the Handbook will most certainly serve as clear and coherent guidelines for scholarly thinking and further research on language and culture, and also open up new investigative vistas in each of the areas tackled.

Russia's military aggression against Ukraine has globally transformed the media landscape. Facing global challenges, the world's media began to continuously publicize the unacceptable violations and catastrophic Russian armed aggression consequences. On February 24, 2022, Russia attacked Ukraine, and these events prompted both Ukrainian and global journalists to refocus on wartime conditions. This work is a compilation of theoretical and methodological approaches that may be useful for the study of the discourse transformations within media discourse. The work is time-limited, but it is during the period in question that the “language issue” roared throughout the pages. The idea of combining the concept of discourse, sociolinguistics, and lexico-semantics to understand the discursive and linguistic event was proposed. These methodologies were grouped around ideas that recognize the relevance of English-language mass media. To study a linguistic event such as the Ukrainian war, the empirical part aimed to illustrate how proceedings such as guilt, linguistic conflict, can be investigated by methods of discourse analysis and other linguistic phenomena. Such a constructivist approach develops the working hypothesis that nomination (as a discursive record) varies according to the work and sociopolitical stakes of the speaker.

Abstract We performed observations of the HC3N (24–23, 17–16, 11–10, 8–7) lines towards a sample consisting of 19 Galactic massive star-forming regions with the Arizona Radio Observatory 12 m and Caltech Submillimeter Observatory 10.4 m telescopes. HC3N (24–23, 17–16, 11–10, 8–7) lines were detected in sources except for W 44, where only HC3N (17–16, 11–10) were detected. Twelve of the nineteen sources showed probable line wing features. The excitation temperatures were estimated from the line ratio of HC3N (24–23) to HC3N (17–16) for 18 sources and are in the range 23– 57 K. The line widths of higher-J transitions are larger than lower-J ones for most sources. This indicates that the inner dense warm regions have more violent turbulence or other motions (such as rotation) than outer regions in these sources. A possible cutoff tendency was found around LIR ∼ 106 L⊙ in the relation between LIR and full width at half maximum line widths.

The deployment of the innate immune system in humans is essential to protect us from infection. Human cathelicidin LL-37 is a linear host defense peptide with both antimicrobial and immune modulatory properties. Despite years of studies of numerous peptides, SK-24, corresponding to the long hydrophobic domain (residues 9–32) in the anionic lipid-bound NMR structure of LL-37, has not been investigated. This study reports the structure and activity of SK-24. Interestingly, SK-24 is entirely helical (~100%) in phosphate buffer (PBS), more than LL-37 (84%), GI-20 (75%), and GF-17 (33%), while RI-10 and 17BIPHE2 are essentially randomly coiled (helix%: 7–10%). These results imply an important role for the additional N-terminal amino acids (likely E16) of SK-24 in stabilizing the helical conformation in PBS. It is proposed herein that SK-24 contains the minimal sequence for effective oligomerization of LL-37. Superior to LL-37 and RI-10, SK-24 shows an antimicrobial activity spectrum comparable to the major antimicrobial peptides GF-17 and GI-20 by targeting bacterial membranes and forming a helical conformation. Like the engineered peptide 17BIPHE2, SK-24 has a stronger antibiofilm activity than LL-37, GI-20, and GF-17. Nevertheless, SK-24 is least hemolytic at 200 µM compared with LL-37 and its other peptides investigated herein. Combined, these results enabled us to appreciate the elegance of the long amphipathic helix SK-24 nature deploys within LL-37 for human antimicrobial defense. SK-24 may be a useful template of therapeutic potential.

This paper considers the degree to which events that intensify partying increase sexual assault. Estimates are based on panel data from campus and local law enforcement agencies and an identification strategy that exploits plausibly random variation in the timing of Division 1 football games. The estimates indicate that these events increase daily reports of rape with 17–24-year-old victims by 28 percent. The effects are driven largely by 17–24-year-old offenders and by offenders unknown to the victim, but we also find significant effects on incidents involving offenders of other ages and on incidents involving offenders known to the victim. (JEL I23, J16, K42, Z13)

SUMMARY The purpose of this study was to evaluate the retention rates of a fissure sealant placed using different adhesive protocols over 24 months. Twenty-four subjects with no restorations or caries received fissure sealants (Clinpro Sealant, 3M ESPE) placed using different adhesive protocols. A total of 292 sealants were placed as follows by two previously calibrated dentists using a table of random numbers (n=73): group I, acid-etch/without adhesive; group II, with a self-etch adhesive (Adper Easy Bond, 3M ESPE); group III, with an etch-and-rinse adhesive (Adper Single Bond 2, 3M ESPE); group IV, with acid + self-etch adhesive (Adper Easy Bond). Two other calibrated examiners independently evaluated the sealants at baseline and at six-, 12-, 18-, and 24-month recalls. Each sealant was evaluated in terms of caries formation being present or absent and retention using the following criteria: 1 = total retention, 2 = partial loss, and 3 = total loss. Pearson's χ2 test was used to evaluate differences in retention rates among the sealants for each evaluation period. At the end of 24 months, total retention rates were 57.5%, 27.4%, 84.9%, and 76.7% in the acid-etch, self-etch adhesive, etch-and-rinse adhesive, and acid + self-etch adhesive groups, respectively. Although there were no statistically significant differences between the retention rates among the adhesive protocols at 6 months (p=0.684), significant differences were observed at the 12-, 18-, and 24-month evaluations. At 24 months, the lowest retention rates were observed in the self-etch group (p&lt;0.05). No caries development was observed in any of the groups. The retention rate of sealants placed using self-etch adhesive was poor compared with the other groups.

This chapter provides a review of some of the leading cases on Métis rights and jurisdiction. In terms of rights, the chapter reviews the Powley decision, critiques its determination of Métis identity, and contrasts this with the Métis right to self-determination and membership determination of Métis communities. This chapter also examines the recent Daniels case and the implications of finding that Métis are “Indians” for the purposes of section 91(24) of the Constitution, which is said to allocate power to legislate over Indians to the federal Parliament. The chapter questions this understanding and in particular the plenary nature of section 91(24) as a head of power and argues that it should be understood differently from all the other heads of power allocated between provincial and federal authority under sections 91 and 92 of the Constitution. This chapter also critically examines the definition of Métis adopted by the Supreme Court of Canada in Daniels as overly broad, resulting in problems of Métis identity legitimation and the preference for a race-based definition of Métis Indians as opposed to a political community definition of Métis.

The Oxford Handbook of Persian Linguistics is a comprehensive volume that offers a detailed overview of the field of Persian linguistics, discusses its development, and captures critical accounts of the cutting edge research within the major subfields of Persian linguistics. The handbook also discusses current debates and suggests productive lines of future research. Chapters are authored by internationally renowned leading scholars in the major subfields. The outline of the book is as follows: Chapter 1 is the introduction; Chapter 2 discusses the linguistic change from the Old to the New Persian; Chapter 3 is a discussion on the typological approaches and dialects; Chapter 4 focuses on phonetics, Chapter 5 on phonology, and Chapter 6 on the prosody. Chapter 7 focuses on generative approaches to Persian syntax, while Chapter 8 discusses other approaches to Persian syntax. Chapter 9 focuses on specific features of Persian syntax. Chapter 10 is on morphology, Chapter 11 on lexicography, and Chapter 12 introduces the Academy of Persian Language and Literature. Chapter 13 is on sociolinguistics, while Chapter 14 discusses language contact and multiculturalism in Iran. Chapter 15 discusses Persian as a heritage language and Chapter 16 is on Persian language pedagogy. Chapter 17 is focused on psycholinguistics, Chapter 18 on neurolinguistics, and Chapter 19 is on computational linguistics. The handbook, in one volume, gives critical expression to the Persian language and as such is a great resource for scholars, advanced students, and those researching in related areas.

The fundamental principles of deep brain stimulation treatment are derived from decades of empirical and experiential observations. Through a case-based approach, this book is an effort to distill the expertise of clinical teams who are at the frontlines of managing patients with deep brain stimulation. The vast majority of patients with tremors, Parkinson disease, dystonia and other hyperkinetic disorders treated with DBS obtain significant relief of their neurological symptoms with conventional programming techniques that are outlined at the beginning of each section in this book. However, perioperative complications, stimulation induced side-effects and unexpected clinical symptoms such as freezing of gait after globus pallidus implantation for dystonia (Case 20), persistent dyskinesia after subthalamic stimulation (Case 17), and erosion of device hardware (Case 24) warrant unconventional and creative troubleshooting techniques to improve surgical outcomes while being constantly cognizant of their impact on the patient. Each case in the book is illustrative of the iterative process of managing deep brain stimulation patients who have entrusted their health to specialists who are not only determined to improve their quality of life regardless of the complexity of the clinical scenario but also share their invaluable observations with readers who may someday face a similar challenge when treating their patients.

Here we have a micro analysis of a recorded online playdate between two families with children who live across the street from each other, during lockdown in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The playdate appears chaotic but upon detailed examination reflects many classic motifs in children’s playground lore, revealing cultural sophistication and subtle negotiation. The chapter utilizes tools of folklore study and sociolinguistics, and connects to the literature on the playful trickster.

AbstractThe immense impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on older adults living in nursing homes (NH) and other long-term care facilities, who at baseline are at increased risk of infection due to fragility, cognitive impairments, and complex comorbidities, has renewed the attention of researchers to the unmet needs of this population. It is well known that the built environment can significantly influence human health, a reality which is often overlooked in the setting of NHs. Recognizing how qualities of the NH built environment can influence resident outcomes, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, can provide architects and medical professionals implementable strategies. As such, we conducted a systematic literature review from May to November 2021 to identify components of the NH built environment and their potential impacts on the health and well-being of NH residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Relevant articles were identified with a search of Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed scientific databases, as well as a search of gray literature. The initial search resulted 481 articles, though after the application of eligibility criteria and full-text screening, 17 articles remained for inclusion. From these, a total of 24 built environment features were identified, divided across four domain levels of NHs: Overall Facility, Building, Service Space, and Residential Room. These features were differentially linked to improved facility infection control, decreased COVID-19 incidence and mortality from COVID-19, better air quality, and enhanced resident health, quality of life, and socialization. This research defines a set of design/architecture strategies that NHs may implement to improve COVID-19-related outcomes as well as the overall health and quality of life of their residents. Additional research utilizing primary data and testing these identified interventions is needed to provide stronger evidence-based suggestions.

Article 17 TFEU has been introduced by the ToL, drawing on Declaration No 11 to the ToA. This Declaration is mentioned in Recital 24 of the Equality Framework Directive 2000/78, whose Article 4(2) states that MS ‘may maintain national legislation in force at the date of adoption of this Directive or provide for future legislation incorporating national practices existing at the date of adoption of this Directive pursuant to which, in the case of occupational activities within churches and other public or private organisations the ethos of which is based on religion or belief, a difference of treatment based on a person’s religion or belief shall not constitute discrimination where, by reason of the nature of these activities or of the context in which they are carried out, a person’s religion or belief constitute a genuine, legitimate and justified occupational requirement, having regard to the organisation’s ethos’.

Chia seeds (Salvia hispanica), a nutraceutical food is a harbour of both macro nutrient (protein 18 -24%, fibre 30-34 %) and micro nutrients, especially antioxidants like polyphenols and other phenolic compounds, dietary fibre, omega 3 fatty acids and are found to be having therapeutic benefits especially in controlling and management of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hepatic steatosis. The anti- inflammatory, anti-microbial and anti-ageing function of chia seeds accelerates the immunity, digestion and improves overall health keeping the recent life style disorders at bay. Chia seed has earned the moniker "super food" due to its positive health implications, which have attracted the attention of numerous food sectors. A comprehensive overview of nutritional content, phytonutrient profile, and the ameliorative effects of chia seeds on disease prevention and management such as cardioprotective, diabetes-controlling, immune-boosting, and antioxidant action is included in the current review paper.

The context of the study was that previous scholarly researchers only saw four kings in the parable. Most used diachronic methods, one used a holistic method (M. Greenberg). They divided the text quite unanimously into: allegory (vv. 1-10), interpretation (vv. 11-21) and the restoration of Israel (vv. 22-24). Most considered this to be a structure. Therefore, the aim of the study became to discover the structure that the ancient inspired author had included in the text under study. The method of Biblical Hebrew rhetoric was applied. As a result of its application, it was possible to discover a parallel-centric structure in mirror composition and scheme: A, B, C, B’, A’. At the centre is the betrayal of Zedekiah, who is disguised as a grapevine in the parable. Another discovery is the number systems. The most important ones are 10 and 4. The number ‘ten’, which concerns God, can be divided into 3 + 7 following the pattern of the commandments. The next number system concerns the number ‘four’. The 4 occurrences relate to the proper name ‘Babylon’ and the next three ‘four’ systems relate to Zedekiah / grapevine. The conclusions drawn are: 1) the betrayal of Zedekiah will result in his death; the number systems indicate that this is a very universal message (to the 4 sides of the world): “breaking the covenant risks death”; 2) The numerical system concerning God emphasises that He is perfect and has full authority over the other 4 kings.

Abstract The human genome project has provided increasingly detailed physical (1-3) and genetic maps (4). A large number of other genomes are also being mapped: animal genomes under study include those of mouse (5), rat (6), sheep (7), pig (8-10), cow (11,12), dog (13), chicken (14), the pufferfish Fugu (15), zebrafish (16), honey bee (17), Drosophila (18), and the nematode C. elegans (19), whilst plant genomes being studied include rice (20), wheat (21), maize (22), Arabidopsis (23), spruce (24), tomato (25) and potato (25). These lists are intended merely to illustrate the breadth of the field rather than to be exhaustive.

Varinder K. Aggarwal of the University of Bristol described (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2010, 49, 6673) the conversion of the Sharpless-derived epoxide 1 into the cyclopropane 2. Christopher D. Bray of Queen Mary University of London established (Chem. Commun. 2010, 46, 5867) that the related conversion of 3 to 5 proceeded with high diastereocontrol. Javier Read de Alaniz of the University of California, Santa Barbara, extended (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2010, 49, 9484) the Piancatelli rearrangement of a furyl carbinol 6 to allow inclusion of an amine 7, to give 8. Issa Yavari of Tarbiat Modares University described (Synlett 2010, 2293) the dimerization of 9 with an amine to give 10. Jeremy E. Wulff of the University of Victoria condensed (J. Org. Chem. 2010, 75, 6312) the dienone 11 with the commercial butadiene sulfone 12 to give the highly substituted cyclopentane 13. Robert M. Williams of Colorado State University showed (Tetrahedron Lett. 2010, 51, 6557) that the condensation of 14 with formaldehyde delivered the cyclopentanone 15 with high diastereocontrol. D. Srinivasa Reddy of Advinus Therapeutics devised (Tetrahedron Lett. 2010, 51, 5291) conditions for the tandem conjugate addition/intramolecular alkylation conversion of 16 to 17. Marie E. Krafft of Florida State University reported (Synlett 2010, 2583) a related intramolecular alkylation protocol. Takao Ikariya of the Tokyo Institute of Technology effected (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 11414) the enantioselective Ru-mediated hydrogenation of bicyclic imides such as 18. This transformation worked equally well for three-, four-, five-, six-, and seven-membered rings. Stefan France of the Georgia Institute of Technology developed (Org. Lett. 2010, 12, 5684) a catalytic protocol for the homo-Nazarov rearrangement of the doubly activated cyclopropane 20 to the cyclohexanone 21. Richard P. Hsung of the University of Wisconsin effected (Org. Lett. 2010, 12, 5768) the highly diastereoselective rearrangement of the triene 22 to the cyclohexadiene 23. Strategies for polycyclic construction are also important. Sylvain Canesi of the Université de Québec devised (Org. Lett. 2010, 12, 4368) the oxidative cyclization of 24 to 25.

Abstract One of two kinds of penalty (the other being a periodic penalty payment) which the Commission may impose on undertakings and associations of undertakings in the field of general EC competition law, i.e. under Arts. 81 and 82 EC (see Arts. 23 and 24 of Council Reg. 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty, OJ 2003 L1/1, which replaced Arts. 15 and 16 of Council Reg. 17, First Regulation implementing Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty, OJ Sp. Edn. 1959–62, p. 87, as from 1 May 2004). Arts. 23 and 24 of Reg. 1/2003 also apply to competition in the transport sector (which was governed by special provisions prior to 1 May 2004), but separate rules apply in the field of merger control (concentrations) (see further under Competition in transport, Merger control procedure, Periodic penalty payment).

Abstract During his tenure as University Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, Carl G. Hempel was interviewed in Pittsburgh by Richard Nollan to establish a permanent record for the Philosophy of Science Archives located on its campus. The interview was conducted over three sessions, the first two of which were held on 17 and 24 March 1982, the third and final on 1 August 1983. The transcripts, which were tape-recorded, were subsequently transcribed by Richard Nollan and revised by Hempel. A set of notes has been added, the first five authored by Richard Jeffrey (with whom Hempel reviewed the text), the sixth by the editor. Other minor corrections, principally grammatical, have been made by Diane Hempel and the editor.

Evaluating deep multiagent reinforcement learning (MARL) algorithms is complicated by stochasticity in training and sensitivity of agent performance to the behavior of other agents. We propose a meta-game evaluation framework for deep MARL, by framing each MARL algorithm as a meta-strategy, and repeatedly sampling normal-form empirical games over combinations of meta-strategies resulting from different random seeds. Each empirical game captures both self-play and cross-play factors across seeds. These empirical games provide the basis for constructing a sampling distribution, using bootstrapping, over a variety of game analysis statistics. We use this approach to evaluate state-of-the-art deep MARL algorithms on a class of negotiation games. From statistics on individual payoffs, social welfare, and empirical best-response graphs, we uncover strategic relationships among self-play, population-based, model-free, and model-based MARL methods. We also investigate the effect of run-time search as a meta-strategy operator, and find via meta-game analysis that the search version of a meta-strategy generally leads to improved performance.

Methods and Material: All patients admitted for inpatient treatment at Alcohol and New Addiction’s Treatment Unit from Lisbon’s Psychiatric Hospital Center, between 1st November 2021 and 30th April 2022, were selected and screened for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics (age, gender, education level, professional situation, and activity sector at admission as well as main admission diagnosis and other psychiatric comorbidities). Comparative analysis focused on patient’s work capacity was conducted between patients who had been diagnosed with an addiction disorder (AD) and patients with DD. Results and Conclusions: Our sample had 78 patients (59 male; 19 female) and an average age of 50.7 years. From those 78 patients, 31 had diagnosis of AD and 47 had DD. Most studied until the 9th grade (55%), 26% completed 12th grade and 19% had a degree. Only 27% patients were still active at admission, with 15% being with temporary incapacity certificate and most of them being unemployed (41%) or retired (17%). Most patients worked in accommodation, transportation, and food services activities (29%), construction sector (19%) and in healthcare, education, and social work activities (17%). In our sample, more than half patients (60%) had DD. The unemployment rates between patients with (40%) and without (42%) DD were similar. However, 39% of patients without DD were active while only 19% with DD were active. Also of interest was that 34% of those with DD worked in accommodation, transportation, and food services activities and 26% of those without DD worked in the construction sector. These results show that DD has a significant impact in the working capacity and suggest that there are important differences between professional activity sectors.

Objectives: to analyze prescription pattern of clozapine in dual diagnosis (DD) inpatients' and to find out if there was any association with acute relapses either from psychiatric symptoms or from substance use disorder. Material and Methods: a retrospective study was conducted with all patients admitted at Lisbon's Psychiatric Hospital Center for psychiatric inpatient treatment during a 4 months' period. Patients with a dual diagnosis at discharge were selected and their clinical files were screened to assess sociodemographic and clinical information. Results and conclusions: from a total of 536 inpatients, 17,5% had a dual diagnosis at discharge. Most frequent substance of abuse was alcohol, followed by cannabinoids, nicotine, cocaine, and opiates. Most frequent psychiatric diagnosis associated with substance use disorder was schizophrenia (50%), depressive disorder (17%) and bipolar disorder (10,6%). Clozapine was prescribed to 22,3% patients and a statistically significant association was found between clozapine prescription and prevention of acute relapses of psychiatric symptoms in DD patients. Although there was no significant association between prescription of clozapine versus other antipsychotic drugs in preventing relapses of substance use, there was found a larger than expected number of patients in clozapine that didn't have a relapse of substance use.

Background: Acute respiratory infections (ARIs) lead to high rates of mortality and morbidity among children. However, studies on the etiology of respiratory infections among children in Qatar and surrounding countries are still limited. Objectives: To describe the prevalence and seasonality of RSV, influenza, and other respiratory pathogens among children in Qatar. Methods: We retrospectively collected data of 33,404 patients <15 years old presented with Influenza-like illness (ILI) from 2012 to 2017. All samples were tested for influenza viruses, while 30,946 were tested for a complete panel of 21 respiratory pathogens. Results: At least one respiratory pathogen was detected in 26,138 (78%) of patients. Together, human rhinoviruses (HRV), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and influenza viruses comprised nearly two-thirds of all ILI cases, detected in 24%, 19.7%, and 18.5%, respectively. A detection rate of 5-10% was recorded for adenovirus, human parainfluenza viruses (HPIVs), bocavirus (HboV), and human coronaviruses (HCoVs). Other pathogens such as human metapneumovirus (HMPV), enteroviruses, mycoplasma pneumonia, and parechovirus had prevalence rates below 5%. ILI positive cases were detected throughout the year. RSV, influenza, HMPV exhibited strong seasonal activity in the winter, while HRV was primarily active during low RSV and influenza activity. The burden of RSV exceeds that of influenza among young age groups (<5 years), affecting 17-30% of ILI cases. Prevalence of influenza, on the other hand, correlated positively with age, ranging from 23% to 32% in age groups above five years. Further, male patients had higher rates of HRV (26%) and adenovirus (9%), whereas females showed a higher prevalence of influenza (22%), and RSV (20%) infections. Conclusion: This comprehensive report provides insights into the etiology of ILI among children in Qatar, which represents the Gulf region. Our results reinforce the significance of active surveillance of respiratory pathogens to improve infection prevention and control strategies, particularly among children.

Introduction: Comorbidity of personality and substance use disorders, including prescription drug abuse, is common in clinical practice. We present a case report of a patient with a diagnosis of a personality disorder and symptoms of modafinil dependence. Case report: 33-year-old male, single, unemployed for over 3 years. He started psychological treatment at the age of 17 due to anxiety symptoms. Since the age of 21 he had irregular consultations with several psychiatrists in private practice. He received several diagnoses, including anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and personality disorder. In one of the consultations, modafinil 100mg was prescribed twice daily to alleviate depressive symptoms. The patient gradually increased the dose to up to 1000mg a day. He presented for a consultation in our psychiatric hospital claiming he had been trying to reduce the dose of the drug. He had a fast speech and showed aggressive behavior, reported intrusive suicidal and homicidal thoughts, and had recent episodes of aggressive behavior requiring police intervention. Hospitalization was proposed for discontinuation of the psychostimulant medication. Discussion and conclusions: Modafinil is a central nervous system stimulant, pharmacologically different from other stimulants. It is approved in Portugal for the treatment of excessive somnolence associated with narcolepsy. However, it is often used off label in several countries as an adjunctive treatment for symptoms of depression or fatigue associated with cancer or neurologic diseases. Although modafinil is typically associated with low abuse potential, case reports have been presented in the literature describing patterns of abuse and dependence of this drug. It is important that clinicians prescribe it with caution, bearing in mind patients' past consumption patterns and traits and that may increase the risk of abuse, such as high novelty seeking and reward sensitivity and low agreeableness and conscientiousness.

Abstract Westinghouse has recently completed the evaluation and optimization of nuclear fuel cycles for both 18-month (520 EFPD) and 24-month (700 EFPD) fuel cycle lengths in high power density Westinghouse plants with 17 × 17 fuel, including enrichments and burnup above the current licensed limits. Westinghouse has developed a comprehensive levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) methodology to compare the different fuel cycle and plant operational scenarios on an equivalent net present value basis. This method realistically accounts for the expenses related to fuel procurement, manufacturing, in-core utilization and disposal as well as the plant operational aspects of outage cost and site staffing, capital expense, construction recovery, major modifications, uprates and load follow. The resulting LCOE gives a single figure merit allowing comparison of scenarios on a consistent basis to evaluate potential economic benefits of various fuel and plant operational options. These options include the use of Intermediate Enriched Uranium (IEU), various fuel cycle lengths, pre-operational interest, incore carrying charges, used fuel storage, used fuel disposal, plant operations, plant capitalization, maintenance, outages, replacement power, generation revenue, capital improvement, licensing transition costs, uranium transition costs and others are explicitly accounted and discounted back to a common reference time irrespective of the fuel cycle length or plant design options with higher 235U enrichment and discharge burnup than the current prevalent fuel designs. Where appropriate, assumptions have also been made to incorporate reactor operational and other cost aspects. This paper presents the methodology used to evaluate the LCOE of a power reactor that is independent of the reactor design and applies that methodology to sample fuel management cases of arbitrary fuel cycle length. These evaluations make a number of conclusions that are dependent on the power density of the plant. In general, many nuclear power plants operating within reasonable US cost models are generally at minimum LCOE when operated on 24-month cycles within the current licensing regime of peak rod burnup &lt; 62 GWD/TU and fuel enrichment &lt; 5 w/o 235U, hereafter referred to as “LEU”. The exception to this conclusion comes for the high-power density 17 × 17 Westinghouse units where the current licensing regime of 18-month LEU fuel cycles results in minimum LCOE thereby making cycle length extension to 24 month cycles economically unattractive with the current fuel products. The reason is that these Westinghouse plants, when operating on 24-month cycles, require feed batch fractions well above 50% of the core loading resulting in low fuel utilization and steep fuel cycle cost penalties that cannot be compensated by operating cost savings or additional generation revenue arising from 24-month cycle operation. Westinghouse has explored scenarios where the current licensing regime restrictions on enrichment and burnup are removed and has found that, when Intermediate Enriched Uranium (IEU) (5 w/o 235U &lt; IEU &lt; 20 w/o 235U) and high burnup (HBU) in which lead rod burnup in the range of 75 GWD/TU are allowed, the optimal cycle length for these Westinghouse plants changes from 18-months to 24-months. This conclusion holds true over a wide range of input economic assumptions. Westinghouse has also evaluated 18-month cycles for Westinghouse units using current enrichment and burnup licensing paradigm and for the case where IEU is enabled and HBU is licensed. Westinghouse concludes that the IEU and HBU for 18-month cycle option for Westinghouse units results in a significant penalty when compared to both the 24-month HBU, which is the most economical, and the 18-month cycle under the LEU paradigm.

Objective: exploring the impact of emotional and personal well-being on the attitudes of security sector professionals towards other people, both those within their communication zone and those outside it. Methods: (1) Semantic differential technique (SD), where descriptors were represented by 24 personal qualities in terms of which the respondents were asked to evaluate two SD objects: people within their social circle, and those outside it; (2) Emotional-personal well-being self-evaluation technique (EPWBSE), where the respondents evaluate themselves in nine mono-scales. The research sample consisted of 2,229 people from different professional categories, including 298 representatives from the power block (98 people from the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) and 200 respondents from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA)). Conclusions: It was found that representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs demonstrated more positive attitudes towards people from the communication sector, while representatives of the MoI showed more positive attitudes towards people in general. In the MIA sample, emotional-personal well-being is significantly higher and, at the same time, it is related to the dynamics of social perception: the higher the level of emotional-personal well-being, the more positively people in the communication zone are perceived, while the lower the SELB level, the more positively people, in general, are perceived. Trends in social perception in MD representatives can be preconditioned by other factors. Further to the conducted analysis, it is planned to study different-level determinants of social perception in representatives of different security services.

No standard method exists for determining levels of insensitive munition (IM) compounds in environmental matrices. This project resulted in new methods of extraction, analytical separation and quantitation of 17 legacy and 7 IM compounds, daughter products of IM, and other munition compounds absent from USEPA Method 8330B. Extraction methods were developed for aqueous (direct-injection and solid-phase extraction [SPE]), soil, sediment, and tissue samples using laboratory-spiked samples. Aqueous methods were tested on 5 water sources, with 23 of 24 compounds recovered within DoD QSM Ver5.2 limits. New solvent extraction (SE) methods enabled recovery of all 24 compounds from 6 soils within QSM limits, and a majority of the 24 compounds were recovered at acceptable levels from 4 tissues types. A modified chromatographic treatment method removed analytical interferences from tissue extracts. Two orthogonal high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) separation methods, along with an HPLC–mass spectrometric (HPLC-MS) method, were developed. Implementing these new methods should reduce labor and supply costs by approximately 50%, requiring a single extraction and sample preparation, and 2 analyses rather than 4. These new methods will support environmental monitoring of IM and facilitate execution of risk-related studies to determine long-term effects of IM compounds.

Currently, no standard method exists for analyzing insensitive munition (IM) compounds in environmental matrices, with or without concurrent legacy munition compounds, resulting in potentially inaccurate determinations. The primary objective of this work was to develop new methods of extraction, pre-concentration, and analytical separation/quantitation of 17 legacy munition compounds along with several additional IM compounds, IM breakdown products, and other munition compounds that are not currently included in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Method 8330B. Analytical methods were developed to enable sensitive, simultaneous detection and quantitation of the 24 IM and legacy compounds, including two orthogonal high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) column separations with either ultraviolet (UV) or mass spectrometric (MS) detection. Procedures were developed for simultaneous extraction of all 24 analytes and two surrogates (1,2-dinitrobenzene, 1,2-DNB; o-NBA) from high- and low-level aqueous matrices and solid matrices, using acidification, solid phase extraction (SPE), or solvent extraction (SE), respectively. The majority of compounds were recovered from four tissue types within current limits for solids, with generally low recovery only for Tetryl (from 4 to 62%). A preparatory chromatographic interference removal procedure was adapted for tissue extracts, as various analytical interferences were observed for all studied tissue types.

This paper estimates effective carbon rates (ECRs) on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from energy use for 18 Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries. We follow a methodology developed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as this allows us to compare ECR estimates for LAC countries with those for other countries in other regions. We also adapt the OECD methodology to assess the effect of energy subsidies on ECRs. The results obtained indicate that ECRs were low in LAC countries in 2018. On average, LAC countries priced carbon emissions from energy use at 24 euros per ton of CO2 equivalent (EUR/tCO2e) emissions, while the average pricing in OECD countries was 41 EUR/tCO2e. When considering energy subsidies, the average ECR in LAC falls to 17 EUR/tCO2e. The difference in average carbon pricing observed between LAC and the OECD is, for the most part, explained by lower excise taxes in LAC and, to a lesser extent, to few LAC countries having carbon taxes and the lack of tradable carbon emission permit mechanisms. We also find a large heterogeneity of ECRs across LAC countries as well as across sectors within countries. ECRs are the highest in Costa Rica and the lowest in Ecuador. At the sector level, ECRs are on average the highest in the road transport sector and the lowest in the electricity sector and in the residential and commercial energy use sector. These differences stem mostly from the different taxation of the different energy products. The ECR estimates suggest that countries willing to introduce carbon pricing reforms must pay particular attention to reducing fuel energy subsidies and to increasing ECRs in sectors other than road transport, as these sectors constitute a large share of carbon emissions and are virtually untaxed.

The Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) is a multi-institutional research and education center with headquarters at the University of California, Berkeley. PEER’s mission is to (1) develop, validate, and disseminate performance-based engineering (PBE) technologies for buildings and infrastructure networks subjected to earthquakes and other natural hazards, with the goal of achieving community resilience; and (2) equip the earthquake engineering and other extreme-event communities with the 21st -century tools that define the current digital revolution. This reports presents the activities of the Center over the period of July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018. PEER staff, in particular Grace Kang, Erika Donald, Claire Johnson, Christina Bodnar-Anderson, and Zulema Lara, helped in preparation of this report. Key activities of the past academic year include the following: -Continuation of major projects such as Tall Building Initiative (TBI) and Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) projects, and start of work on the major project funded by the California Earthquake Authority (CEA). The TBI was completed in 2017, and NGA projects are nearing completion soon. -Addition of University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) as a core institution. -Re-establishment of the PEER Research Committee. -Issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) from TSRP funds and funding 17 projects as a result of this RFP. Together with the ongoing projects, the total number of projects funded in 2017 is 24. -Organization of several workshops focused on Liquefaction, Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), High-Performance Computing (HPC), Bridge Component Fragility Development, Physics-Based Ground Motions, Hybrid Simulation, and Research Needs for Resilient Buildings. -Rollout of TBI seminars and HayWired activities as part of outreach. -Conducting a blind prediction contest with robust participation and instructive findings on current modeling approaches. -Organization of the PEER Annual Meeting with participation of 240 attendees -Continuing participation in board of directors of international organizations such as Global Alliance of Disaster Research Institutes (GADRI) and International Laboratory of Earthquake Engineering (ILEE). Going forward, PEER aims to hold more focused workshops, form new committees, and draw on existing resources and experience on PBE to systematically move towards Resilient Design for Extreme Events (RDEE).

Background. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are increasingly common and have important implications for maternal health, healthcare utilization, and health disparities. There is limited evidence to support best management of postpartum individuals with HDP, including home blood pressure (BP) monitoring (HBPM) and choice of antihypertensive agents. For patients experiencing preeclampsia with severe features, there is robust evidence supporting delivery of the infant and treatment with magnesium sulfate (MgSO4). However, MgSO4 may cause unpleasant side effects and, less commonly, toxicity. Patients receiving MgSO4 require additional monitoring (e.g., urinary catheterization) and often have activity restrictions, which impact their postpartum experience. Evidence regarding the optimal (lowest effective) dose and (shortest effective) duration of MgSO4 treatment is needed. Methods. We searched Medline®, Cochrane, Embase®, CINAHL®, and ClinicalTrials.gov from inception to December 1, 2022. After double screening, we extracted study data and risk of bias assessments into the Systematic Review Data Repository Plus (SRDR+; https://srdrplus.ahrq.gov). We evaluated the strength of evidence (SoE) using standard methods. The protocol was registered in PROSPERO (registration number CRD42022313075). Results. We found 13 eligible studies (3 randomized controlled trials [RCTs], 2 nonrandomized comparative studies [NRCSs], 8 single-arm studies) evaluating postpartum HBPM, 17 RCTs evaluating pharmacological treatment of postpartum HDP, and 43 studies (41 RCTs and 2 NRCSs) that compared alternative MgSO4 regimens. HBPM programs probably increase submission of any BP measurements during recommended time intervals (moderate SoE) and may increase the number of BP measurements obtained overall (low SoE). Studies have not found that HBPM affects the rate of BP treatment initiation (low SoE), but HBPM may reduce unplanned hypertension-related hospital admissions (low SoE). Most patients were satisfied with management related to HBPM (low SoE), and HBPM probably compensates for racial disparities in office-based follow-up (moderate SoE). In patients with preeclampsia or gestational hypertension (HTN), oral furosemide may shorten the duration of postpartum hypertension (low SoE). There was insufficient evidence regarding the comparative benefits and harms of other antihypertensive medications. Compared with 24-hour treatments, shorter duration MgSO4 regimens shorten the urinary catheterization time (high SoE), time to ambulation (high SoE), and time to breastfeeding (moderate SoE); and may shorten time from delivery to contact with the infant and decrease toxicity as manifested by lost deep tendon reflexes (both low SoE). Loading dose only regimens increase the risk of a recurrent seizure in patients with eclampsia (moderate SoE). Lower dose MgSO4 regimens, compared to standard dose regimens, reduce early signs of magnesium toxicity (high SoE), may approximately double the risk of recurrent seizure in patients with eclampsia (low SoE), but may not affect 5-minute Apgar scores in infants of patients with preeclampsia with severe features (low SoE). There is insufficient evidence regarding potential harms of concomitant use of nifedipine or other antihypertensive medications. Conclusion. HBPM probably improves ascertainment of BP, allowing early recognition of hypertension in postpartum patients, and probably compensates for racial disparities in office based follow-up. The evidence suggests furosemide may shorten the duration of postpartum HTN. However, further evidence is needed regarding the comparative benefits and harms of the antihypertensive medications used to treat postpartum HTN. Large pragmatic trials, augmented by analysis of real-world data, are needed to evaluate the effect of postpartum HBPM on clinical event outcomes (not only process outcomes) and on the comparative effectiveness of alternative antihypertensive treatments. Given that lower dose MgSO4 regimens reduce Mg toxicity, and shorter regimens decrease urinary catheterization time, time to ambulation, time to breastfeeding, and time from delivery to contact with the infant, evidence is needed to identify MgSO4 regimens with the lowest effective dose and shortest effective duration that minimize side effects and toxicity but still prevent seizures among patients with preeclampsia with severe features.