Alternative Versions Research Articles

Half logistic exponentiated inverse Rayleigh distribution: Properties and application to life time data.

This paper presents a novel extension of the exponentiated inverse Rayleigh distribution called the half-logistic exponentiated inverse Rayleigh distribution. This extension improves the flexibility of the distribution for modeling lifetime data for both monotonic and non-monotonic hazard rates. The statistical properties of the half-logistic exponentiated inverse Rayleigh distribution, such as the quantiles, moments, reliability, and hazard function, are examined. In particular, we provide several techniques to estimate the half-logistic exponentiated inverse Rayleigh distribution parameters: weighted least squares, Cramér-Von Mises, maximum likelihood, maximum product spacings and ordinary least squares methods. Moreover, numerical simulations were performed to evaluate these estimation methods for both small and large samples through Monte Carlo simulations, and the finding reveals that the maximum likelihood estimation was the best among all estimation methods since it comprises small mean square error compared to other estimation methods. We employ real-world lifetime data to demonstrate the performance of the newly generated distribution compared to other distributions through practical application. The results show that the half-logistic exponentiated inverse Rayleigh distribution performs better than alternative versions of the Rayleigh distributions.

Proposed variant of Myers' Index

This paper extends the Alternative Myers’ index Pal et al. (2014) as a common measure of the quality of age reporting in addition to Pal et al. (2014) past development using the data of selected Asian countries. The most recent wave of country-specific demographic and health survey data is used for the present study. Three different versions of the Myers’ index are proposed. The proposed versions are calculated by replacing the original population with a person-year approach. When proposed variants are compared with the alternative version, the proposed modified variants seem to be appropriate as they fall closer to the original Myer index values. In contrast, alternative index values are distant from the standard Myers’ index values. Moreover, the results of the analysis extended to compare the proposed variants and alternative index across the place of residence and the education status of the respondents. Finally, in all these comparisons the results revealed to be in the same direction that the modified variants are better in terms of distance than an alternative index with the standard Myers’ index values.

Hohol’s Anthropological Project in the Russian Empire

Purpose. To reconstruct Hohol’s point of view on his anthropological project, that is, to identify his answers to the question of what a person is in the dimensions of the essential and the proper. In other words, it is about clarifying Hohol’s position on the principles of Ukrainian existence in the russian empire. Theoretical basis. Our view of Hohol’s legacy is based on the conceptual positions of phenomenology, existentialism and hermeneutics. Originality. For the first time, an attempt is made to study Hohol’s legacy as a development of an anthropological project. In the process of its implementation, the authors reconstructed the main dimensions of this project, using the biography of the thinker, his correspondence, and texts. Close attention to the peculiarities of Hohol’s anthropology allows us to approach the understanding of the theoretical paradoxes of the writer’s worldview and the factors of his early death as a personal life tragedy of a patriot of Ukraine. The point is that Hohol, in the process of searching for forms of realising his high calling, set himself the task of substantiating a utopian goal. For him, the ways of building russia as a great power involve the emasculation of the basic values of European culture and the humiliation of human dignity. Conclusions. In the course of the study of Mykola Hohol’s works, the authors have identified: a) the importance of worldview and philosophical issues; b) the problems of man in his heritage. It is argued that Mykola Hohol, solving the problem of outlining the general features of human nature, at an early stage of his work demonstrated optimism and expressive life-affirming features rooted in Ukrainian centrism. Significant changes in our thinker’s worldview led to his attempts to substantiate an alternative version of the European anthropological project, which involves justifying the insignificance of the average russian citizen and the empire itself at the cost of denying the achievements of European philosophy and science. The painful experience of this theoretical dissonance was a prerequisite for Mykola Vasylyovych’s early tragic death. Today, it is a kind of warning about the impossibility of combining Ukrainian and russian culture, that is, the danger of a nihilistic attitude towards the achievements of European culture, of which Ukraine is an integral part. The authors associate the prospects for further study of Hohol’s legacy with focusing on his: a) criticism of the Enlightenment and b) clarification of the forms of substantive rootedness of his work in Ukrainian philosophy, primarily in the teachings of Hryhorii Skovoroda.

Evaluation of the combine thresher efficiency by grain losses under operating conditions

BACKGROUND: The throughput capacity of the thresher of the combine is determined with permissible grain losses of 1.5% of its total amount collected in the combine bunker. The range of feeding of bread mass, for example, from a minimum of 0.5-1.0 kg/s to – is called the working characteristic of the threshing machine (WCT) of the combine harvester. The actual grain loss in the considered feed range is less than 1.5%, but their overall digital estimate is unknown. Nevertheless, this is the most important indicator of the miner's efficiency, since these losses are summed up (for example, at the level of 1-1.2%) and can reach a significant value, therefore, the assessment of the miner only in terms of throughput is insufficient to assess its efficiency, since the miner rarely works at the throughput level, and in WCT mode, grain losses are summed up every second/ AIMS operation consists in development of criterion for evaluation of combine thresher operation efficiency by grain losses at operating modes. METHODS: The article proposes a new methodology for assessing the efficiency of the combine. Statistical dependences of grain losses change depending on change of bread mass supply into combine are used. The throughput capacity of the combine thresher in kg/s is determined with grain losses behind the thresher at the level of 1.5%. RESULTS: Numerous laboratory-field tests have revealed a close correlation between the four threshing parameters (engine power and separation area of ​ ​ the hump, straw and cleaning, and the dynamics of grain loss growth depending on the feed of bread mass with great reliability in the range of WCT feeds is approximated by a logistic dependence. For practical calculations, computer software has been developed. This makes it possible to more quickly compare harvesters of different designs with each other. CONCLUSION: For the first time, to assess the efficiency of the combine thresher, a new criterion is introduced with the name "average integral operational losses of grain behind the thresher in the working range of bread mass supply"; An increase in grain losses behind the thresher was detected with an increase in the throughput of the combine; The optimal harvesting area is determined, during harvesting of which the growth of grain losses is compensated during the operating mode of combines of high productivity per unit of bread mass supply. The optimum harvesting area depends to a greater extent on the throughput of the harvester and harvesting conditions according to the state of the agrofon and the zoning coefficient, that is, the degree of adaptation of the harvesters to the zonal features of the agrofon and the applied machine use methods; When calculating the economic efficiency of combines, it is advisable to take into account the average integral operational losses of grain for alternative versions of combines and, on this basis, give them a more comprehensive assessment. The use of the logistic function of grain losses from the supply of bread mass to the combine and, on its basis, the introduction of the criterion of average integral operational losses of grain behind the thresher of the combine represents scientific and practical novelty.

Factor validation of the International Trauma Questionnaire in a sample of trauma-exposed Colombian adults in the MI-VIDA study.

The ICD-11 introduced a new diagnosis of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) defined by disturbances in self-organisation in addition to traditional post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. The International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ) is the established measure of this construct and has been validated for use in a variety of populations and languages; however, evidence for the measure's use in Latin America is limited. This study sought to validate the factor structure of the Latin American Spanish version of the ITQ in a trauma-exposed sample in Colombia. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess a range of factor models validated previously, including first- and second-order factor models. Assessment of fit indices demonstrated that a correlated six-factor model comprised of re-experiencing, avoidance, sense of threat, affect dysregulation, negative self-concept and disturbed relationships provided the best fit for these data. Factor loadings for this model were found to be high and statistically significant. Results concur with prior research validating the use of alternative language versions of the ITQ internationally, and with the theoretical underpinnings of the CPTSD diagnostic category. The ITQ is therefore a valid measure of CPTSD in this Latin American sample. Further validation research is needed in clinical populations in this region.

Metabolic Drawings – Or: Drawing metabolic

Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) is considered a pioneer of abstract painting. However, she herself hardly saw her artistic works as products or opus, but rather as a coherent system. Accordingly, the contribution presents and unfolds af Klint's paintings as an alternative version of modernism, an ecosystem or digestive system. This also takes up the mediumistic origin of the paintings: af Klint visualises transcendental messages. Looking forward and seeking out new possibilities (Bashkoff, 2018), she paints for a future that she perceives clairvoyantly. In text and images, the piece "Metabolic Drawings – Or: Drawing metabolic" develops a speculative landscape that follows the images and convictions of Hilma af Klint: Historical facts are interwoven with pictorial descriptions and culminate in a utopian or dystopian future. Theoretical approaches from Queer Studies and Speculative Feminism are adopted to critically question the reception of af Klint's paintings and of herself. In a way, the essay can be seen as a digestion of digestion.

A Case Study on Sustainable Technologies in Residential Buildings from a Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCC) Perspective

The article mostly addresses the application of sustainable technologies in residential construction through life cycle cost analysis (LCC) using the net present value (NPV) calculation method. The authors rely on data obtained through their own research and information received from the market environment. The article outputs are in the form of conclusions based on a case study on a specific building (apartment building), elaborated in several versions with respect to the technologies used. In total, there are seven alternative versions divided into two groups, where a so-called reference technology representing a traditional (standard) technical solution is present in each group so that a relevant comparison can be made. The first group includes technologies related to heating and hot water, while the second group focuses on the application of recycled water (so-called grey water). The outputs obtained provide an interesting and fact-based view of sustainable technologies within the life cycle of a building drawing from currently available information sources. At the same time, the presented analysis has incorporated price predictions for key commodities, i.e., electricity, water, gas. The article’s specific conclusions indicate that the technologies utilizing renewable energy sources (RES) are typically less economically advantageous (in the absence of subsidy sources) compared to conventional (traditional) solutions, despite the significant savings in operating costs. The LCC indicator revealed a cost value per square meter of gross floor area (GFA) for a residential building ranging from EUR 43 to 68, contingent on the specific option under consideration. This cost value was determined over a 20-year follow-up period and a real discount rate of 4%.

New Combined Metric for Full-Reference Image Quality Assessment

In recent years, many new metrics highly correlated with the Mean Opinion Score (MOS) have been proposed for assessing image quality through Full-Reference Image Quality Assessment (FR-IQA) methods, such as MDSI, HPSI, and GMSD. Eight of these selected metrics, which compare reference and distorted images in a symmetrical manner, are briefly described in this article, and their performance is evaluated using correlation criteria (PLCC, SROCC, and KROCC), as well as RMSE. The aim of this paper is to develop a new, efficient quality index based on a combination of several high-performance metrics already utilized in the field of Image Quality Assessment (IQA). The study was conducted on four benchmark image databases (TID2008, TID2013, KADID-10k, and PIPAL) and identified the three best-performing metrics for each database. The paper introduces a New Combined Metric (NCM), which is a weighted sum of three component metrics, and demonstrates its superiority over each of its component metrics across all the examined databases. An optimization method for determining the weights of the NCM is also presented. Additionally, an alternative version of the combined metric, based on the fastest metrics and employing symmetric calculations for pairs of compared images, is discussed. This version also demonstrates strong performance.

Editor's view: Is the brain's perception of ideas an underappreciated human sense?

Humans have developed sensory organs for their 'major' senses and specific neuronal receptors for a number of additional senses. Although information from sensors is integrated and processed in the brain, the brain itself has not been proposed as a sensory organ associated with a particular sense - at least not in Western culture or scientific literature. Perception of ideas has many elements of a separate sense, with the brain being a primary sensory organ. I support this notion based on 17 years of experience in the application of the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) method for setting research priorities, which resulted in more than 150 publications involving thousands of experts who prioritised more than 20 000 research ideas. This body of work allows for the generalisation of the following key concepts: defining an idea in the context of the brain's sensory perception; defining the point of origin, sensory qualities, and common types of ideas; considering responses of the body to the brain's sensory exposure to ideas; and defining the key criteria that the brain uses to discriminate between and prioritise ideas. The human brain is continuously being exposed to ideas, which can be self-generated, triggered by information from other sensors, or introduced from the external world. From the brain's sensory perspective, ideas are competing possibilities of purposeful activities that, if followed, would be expected to result in an alternative version of the future. Pursuing ideas tends to drive most of human activity. It requires prioritising between short-, mid-, and long-term investment of energy and time. The brain's sensory role is to continuously assess many competing ideas and prioritise between them based on motivational/emotional ('attractiveness'), operational/rational ('feasibility') and outcome-related perspective ('impact'). Exposure to new ideas may instigate physiological and psychological responses, ranging from enthusiasm and excitement to feeling a threat or fear. Ideas can be used to mobilise large groups of people whose brains respond with excessive enthusiasm that can sometimes be fanatical. The judgment on the attractiveness, feasibility, and potential impact of ideas is affected by education, experience, and cognitive abilities. This sense may be sharpened through an increased level of expert knowledge and experience. Misinformation and disinformation are dangerous because they affect the brain's perception of ideas. Impairment of this inherent sense may perhaps contribute to some mental health issues. The proposed view of the brain as the sensor of ideas could lead to many qualitative or quantitative experiments to further explore the properties of this sense in both individuals and populations, establishing 'the science of ideas'.

“We are More Than This”: Counterhistories and Female Voices in Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King

ABSTRACT In this essay, I examine the potential of the counterfactual framework in retelling obscured or misrepresented stories of women in African wartime narratives. I analyse Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King (2019), which uses the Second Italo-Ethiopian War as a foundation for its narrative. I argue that the novel challenges dominant male-authored accounts of nationalist histories by presenting alternative versions — counterfacts — that disrupt the linear progression of nationalist History and highlight women’s roles and experiences during the war. I draw upon Catherine Gallagher’s conceptualisation of counterfactuals as ‘counterhistories’ and Gerald Prince’s notion of ‘disnarration.’ These elements enable Mengiste to offer alternative perspectives on the war, putting women’s experiences at the forefront. By reading the text as a counterfactual novel, we can establish a dialogue and comparison between historical accounts and the fictional worlds of women’s historical novels, differentiating between what is factual and what is obscured or elided. Consequently, I contend that counterfactuals provide a way to uncover previously overlooked spaces, revealing the presence and absence of women’s histories and exposing History as incomplete, inaccurate, and deficient in certain aspects — a myth.

Model-based comparisons of post-treatment free IgE and FEV1 between omalizumab asthma dosing tables in the United States and European Union.

Omalizumab is an anti-immunoglobulin E (IgE) monoclonal antibody that was first approved by the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of allergic asthma in 2003. The pivotal trials supporting the initial approval of omalizumab used dosing determined by patient's baseline IgE and body weight, with the goal of reducing the mean free IgE level to approximately 25 ng/mL or less. While the underlying parameters supporting the dosing table remained the same, subsequent studies and analyses have resulted in approved alternative versions of the dosing table, including the European Union (EU) asthma dosing table, which differs in weight bands and maximum allowable baseline IgE and omalizumab dose. In this study, we leveraged modelling and simulation approaches to predict and compare the free IgE reduction and forced expiratory volume in 1second (FEV1) improvement with omalizumab dosing based on the US and EU asthma dosing tables. Previously established population pharmacokinetic-IgE and IgE-FEV1 models were used to predict and compare post-treatment free IgE and FEV1 based on the US and EU dosing tables. Clinical trial simulations (with virtual asthma populations) and Monte Carlo simulations were performed to provide both breadth and depth in the comparisons. The US and EU asthma dosing tables were predicted to result in generally comparable free IgE suppression and FEV1 improvement. Despite the similar free IgE and FEV1 outcomes from simulations, this has not been clinically validated with respect to the registrational endpoint of reduction in annualized asthma exacerbations.

Co-Design of a Facilitated Self-Management Toolkit for People With Parkinson's Disease.

Parkinson's disease is a complex progressive neurodegenerative disease increasing globally. Self-management interventions have shown promise in improving the quality of life for people with chronic conditions. This paper aims to describe the development processes and the core components of a facilitated self-management toolkit to support people with Parkinson's disease to self-manage their condition. An iterative co-design approach was adopted and included the use of systematic reviews, qualitative methods and theory to develop the Live Well with Parkinson's toolkit. A co-design group was established consisting of people with Parkinson's, family carers and health and social care experts to produce and refine an online self-management toolkit to be tested in practice. Five co-design groups were conducted alongside several phases of toolkit development. An online self-management toolkit, called Live Well with Parkinson's, was developed with core aspects such as tailored information to the individual, a well-being section using an asset-based approach and problem-solving skills to create and maintain goals, symptom review and management sections and a tracker of medication, symptoms and activities/actions. A paper-based alternative version was also created for those who cannot use an online resource. The toolkit is fully manualised and facilitated by six sessions from a 'supporter' who is trained in behaviour change techniques. It can be shared with carers and healthcare professionals. The toolkit is a robust and comprehensive approach to self-management of Parkinson's disease. It is evidenced based, incorporates theory and was developed with people with Parkinson's and experts in the area. The Live Well with Parkinson's toolkit has the potential to be embedded within routine healthcare, aligning with self-management policies. Author B.M. is our patient and public involvement (PPI) representative and author on this paper. B.M. supports a team of 15 PPI members who have contributed to the development of the toolkit. This involvement has included attending research team and steering group meetings, attending and facilitating co-designed workshops, reviewing all the toolkit information before approval and supporting with the user testing.

Exploring the relevance of Universal Design for Learning implementation in the post-secondary landscape from the perspective of sustainability

This presentation showcases findings from a Canadian study which was carried out through 2023-24. This project explores an innovative facet of the momentum around sustainability within higher education, one that goes beyond the focus on environmental and operational preoccupations and concentrates on social and pedagogical sustainability. It examines the way the introduction of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to a campus, through the creation of a cross-discipline community of practice, can (i) empower faculty to develop sustainable accessible practices within their own classroom, (ii) significantly reduce the reliance of the campus on accessibility services and reduce the pressure felt by these services, (iii) successfully integrate accessibility and inclusion within institutional strategic thinking around sustainability. The presentation synthesizes findings from a qualitative action-research project which examined perceptions and experiences of 14 stakeholders with different status and toles across the campus. The study adopted a phenomenological approach to data collection and analysis (Holland, 2014) and explored the participants’ own constructs in relation to the overlap between UDL and sustainability. Accessibility in the higher education has thus far been addressed through a medical model approach focused on retrofitting. In a nutshell, teaching and learning is designed for the ‘traditional learner’ and support services take on the task of supporting students who experience barriers in this design, with remedial, targeted services outside the classroom. The demographics of higher education, however, have changed widely over the last two decades, and retrofitting approaches are no longer sustainable. The volume of demand is growing exponentially, wait times increase, and the cost of Accessibility Services increases in a way that becomes unmanageable within most post-secondary campuses (NEADS, 2018). Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can address many of these strains on resources. Indeed, UDL is an emerging model for the management of diversity in the classroom which equips instructors to remove the majority of barriers to access to learning and support the needs of most diverse learners within the classroom itself (Al-Azawei et al., 2016). The literature highlights that most of the needs of diverse learners can be addressed with ease within the classroom itself once inclusive design and UDL are adopted and integrated as a mindset, across institutions (Baumann & Melle, 2019; Dalton et al., 2019). UDL can therefore address some of the concerns over the sustainability of current disability service provision models. The need for a sustainable lens in this area is therefore tangible and pressing. Accessibility services, student services personnel, and faculty are all painfully feeling first-hand the inability of the current structure to meet the needs of diverse learners and to address the volume of service requests. UDL has the potential to address this strain on support services and to re-empower faculty to create inclusive provisions within the classroom space. A practical example of this would be the considerable pressure placed on accessibility services to digitalize printed material or to seek alternate versions of PDFs that are shared in class but are not accessible with reading software. This is an example of costly, repetitive use of resources that can be solved sustainably by empowering instructors to use the UDL principles in their class design and not rely on print only or on non-accessible digital documents. This has immediate resource and funding implications. UDL integration represents a clear example of sustainable transformation: an initial focus on professional development with faculty leads to a reduction in spending and resources that are non-renewable (Fovet, 2017). The presentation showcases the wider implications for UDL development across the sector.

Derivation and Validation of the PRECISE-HBR Score to Predict Bleeding After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

Accurate bleeding risk stratification after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is important for treatment individualization. However, there is still an unmet need for a more precise and standardized identification of high bleeding risk patients. We derived and validated a novel bleeding risk score by augmenting the PRECISE-DAPT score with the Academic Research Consortium for High Bleeding Risk (ARC-HBR) criteria. The derivation cohort comprised 29,188 patients undergoing PCI, of whom 1136 (3.9%) had a Bleeding Academic Research Consortium (BARC) 3 or 5 bleeding at 1 year, from four contemporary real-world registries and the XIENCE V USA trial. The PRECISE-DAPT score was refitted with a Fine-Gray model in the derivation cohort and extended with the ARC-HBR criteria. The primary outcome was BARC 3 or 5 bleeding within 1 year. Independent predictors of BARC 3 or 5 bleeding were selected at multivariable analysis (p<0.01). The discrimination of the score was internally assessed with apparent validation and cross-validation. The score was externally validated in 4578 patients from the MASTER DAPT trial and 5970 patients from the STOPDAPT-2 total cohort. The PRECISE-HBR score (age, estimated glomerular filtration rate, hemoglobin, white-blood-cell count, previous bleeding, oral anticoagulation, and ARC-HBR criteria) showed an area under the curve (AUC) for 1-year BARC 3 or 5 bleeding of 0.73 (95% CI, 0.71-0.74) at apparent validation, 0.72 (95% CI, 0.70-0.73) at cross-validation, 0.74 (95% CI, 0.68-0.80) in the MASTER DAPT, and 0.73 (95% CI, 0.66-0.79) in the STOPDAPT-2, with superior discrimination than the PRECISE-DAPT (cross-validation: Δ AUC, 0.01; p=0.02; MASTER DAPT: Δ AUC, 0.05; p=0.004; STOPDAPT-2: Δ AUC, 0.02; p=0.20) and other risk scores. In the derivation cohort, a cut-off of 23 points identified 11,414 patients (39.1%) with a 1-year BARC 3 or 5 bleeding risk ≥4%. An alternative version of the score, including acute myocardial infarction on admission instead of white-blood-cell count, showed similar predictive ability. The PRECISE-HBR score is a contemporary, simple 7-item risk score to predict bleeding after PCI, offering a moderate improvement in discrimination over multiple existing scores. Further evaluation is required to assess its impact on clinical practice.

Цивилизационный анализ в исторической социологии и объяснения «советского коллапса»

The article deals with attempts to explain the collapse of the Soviet version of modernity –and the disintegration of the USSR—in (post)-Sovietology and historical sociology. It is argued that (post)-Sovietological studies were often characterized by a certain degree of ideological bias. In these studies, the example of “Soviet collapse” was generally used for a confirmation of earlier approaches to Soviet history. At the same time, they mostly focused on the immediate preconditions of that event rather than on long-term historical processes. The shortcomings of this approach can be overcome if we draw on historical sociology. The article considers the prediction of disintegration of the USSR offered by Randall Collins and Johann Arnason’s analysis of the Soviet version of modernity. Both sociologists characterized the Soviet collapse in the context of long-term historical dynamics. While Collins’s approach demonstrates a peculiar geopolitical determinism, Arnason singles out various factors of the dynamics of the alternative version of modernity. In the first half of the 1990s, Arnason applied his model of imperial modernization to the Soviet system, but later emphasized the civilizational aspects of communist modernity. This can also be seen in his evaluation of the Soviet collapse. In the literature on Soviet collapse, a contrast between the USSR and China is often highlighted, with structural and particularly economic factors being commonly highlighted. In contrast, the article argues that—for a comprehensive understanding of transformation processes in China—we need to consider the cultural sphere by drawing on sociological civilizational analysis.

The Past Is Not What It Used to Be: Contemporary Myths, Cold War Nostalgia and Abandoned Soviet Nuclear Bases

This article delves into the contemporary social perception of the three abandoned Soviet Cold War tactical nuclear bases in Poland, focusing on often overlooked phenomena in archaeological studies such as the contemporary myths (folk tales, contemporary legends, modern folklore, etc.) and nostalgia that have emerged around these sites. While contemporary myths and nostalgia are distinct phenomena with different outcomes, they share a common feature: a mythologized approach to the past. Established historical and archaeological narratives, derived from detailed studies, often coexist with alternative versions of the past inspired by folk imagination. This article aims to highlight their cultural value as an integral part of local identity, actively shaping the perception of material heritage. Contemporary myths offer insight into another layer of collective perception of the past, while nostalgia delves into the emotional aspects of human existence, coping with transience and searching for meaning.

Monsters or Victims An Ecocritical Reading of Samson and Sally and Dot and the Whale, Retellings of Moby Dick

The paper aims to explore two animations, Samson and Sally (1984) and Dot and the Whale (1986), through the lens of zoocriticism (Huggan and Tiffin) and ecocinematic analysis to show how the directors have presented the alternative version of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick in order to showcase the crises of cetaceans like whale in the present scenario of the global warming, pollution and various anthropogenic damages. Unlike many popular Hollywood movies, these two animated films do not portray whales as monsters. In many popular Hollywood ventures, we can see the representations of vengeful bloodthirsty sea creatures like sharks and whales causing shipwrecks and killing humans, just like Moby Dick did in Melville. However, Samson and Sally and Dot and the Whale propose a different version of Moby Dick, where Moby Dick is portrayed as a saviour of the whale race under the threats of whaling, oil spills, and rising temperature. Samson and Sally is a bildungsroman as it depicts the journey of a young whale in search of the mythical Moby Dick who can only save his clan from whalers who have killed his mother and other relatives. Dot and the Whale, on the other hand, points such issues like the beaching of whales and their exploitation for oil and other resources. These two animations have presented an accurate picture where animals are not presented as monsters but rather victims of human greed. Although these animations are in the anthropomorphised version, they are created to raise human awareness to protect cetaceans and marine life.

Reimagining National Parks for the Twenty-First Century: Lessons from Yosemite’s Past

Many critics of the global rise in conservation displacements have traced the origins of this trend to nineteenth-century California and the establishment of Yosemite National Park. This historical narrative is often labeled the Yosemite model, which is characterized by the violent eviction of Indigenous peoples to create unoccupied wilderness. I propose that the Yosemite model historical narrative overgeneralizes events and neglects the larger geo-historical context. Through a close reading of archival records, I recover countering voices and alternative versions that complicate the Yosemite model narrative. The central goal of this article is to locate evidence from Yosemite’s past that can aid in imagining a future parks model more inclusive of Indigenous heritage claims and rights. Throughout, I give close attention to decades of changing geo-historical context, which allows a clearer perspective on conservation enclosures while providing hope for a more inclusive future national park model.

Dual structure-aware image filterings for semi-supervised medical image segmentation

Semi-supervised image segmentation has attracted great attention recently. The key is how to leverage unlabeled images in the training process. Most methods maintain consistent predictions of the unlabeled images under variations (e.g., adding noise/perturbations, or creating alternative versions) in the image and/or model level. In most image-level variation, medical images often have prior structure information, which has not been well explored. In this paper, we propose novel dual structure-aware image filterings (DSAIF) as the image-level variations for semi-supervised medical image segmentation. Motivated by connected filtering that simplifies image via filtering in structure-aware tree-based image representation, we resort to the dual contrast invariant Max-tree and Min-tree representation. Specifically, we propose a novel connected filtering that removes topologically equivalent nodes (i.e. connected components) having no siblings in the Max/Min-tree. This results in two filtered images preserving topologically critical structure. Applying the proposed DSAIF to mutually supervised networks decreases the consensus of their erroneous predictions on unlabeled images. This helps to alleviate the confirmation bias issue of overfitting to noisy pseudo labels of unlabeled images, and thus effectively improves the segmentation performance. Extensive experimental results on three benchmark datasets demonstrate that the proposed method significantly/consistently outperforms some state-of-the-art methods. The source codes will be publicly available.

Neither Populist nor Neoclassical: The Classical Roots of the Competition Principle in American Antitrust Law

Contemporary critics of American antitrust law lament a supposed misinterpretation by modern, welfare-driven enforcers of the true meaning of the competition principle. This essay contributes to the debate by reconstructing the principle's historical origin. While it did not feature in the Sherman Act, the competition principle was introduced by the Supreme Court during the early years of antitrust law. The court formulated alternative versions of the principle; the one that eventually prevailed was neither populist nor neoclassical, as it was based on classical political economy and, in particular, on freedom of contract and “natural” values. This historical circumstance may pave the way for a new approach to antitrust law.