Historical Events Research Articles

Who becomes a parent while jobless? On the importance of limited opportunities and the normalization of disadvantage

Abstract In many developed countries, men and women postpone parenthood when they are jobless, but this relationship differs between subgroups. We hypothesize that stronger embeddedness in structures of disadvantage engenders a weaker adaptation of fertility behaviour to joblessness due to more limited opportunities in the labour market and the normalization of a disadvantage when it is widespread among relevant others. Using Dutch full-population register data, we select all persons born in the Netherlands between 1988 and 1990 and follow them from 2006 to 2019. An innovative combination of sources in the registers is used to measure the prevalence of joblessness among parents, siblings, neighbourhood peers, and former school peers. Event history models show that jobless men and women postpone first childbearing, but they do so to a lesser extent when they are lower educated and when disadvantage is more prevalent in the social environment.

Samurai, Pagan, or Ming Loyalist? The Reconstruction of Zheng Chenggongs Literary Images in the Netherlands, Japan, and China, 1710-1910

This paper compares depictions of Zheng Chenggong in Dutch, Japanese, and Chinese popular literature, focusing on plays and opera. Zheng's multifaceted identity and historical events have been reinterpreted by writers from these three countries to explore their proto-national identity. Dutch literature portrays Zheng as a barbaric pagan, Japanese literature emphasizes his Japanese ancestry and loyalty, while Han Chinese revolutionaries depict him as an anti-Qing leader. Zheng's complex character, including his loyalty to the Ming, aggressive invasion of Dutch Taiwan, and mixed military tactics, makes him susceptible to various literary reinterpretations. Authors cherry-pick elements from Zheng's life to fit their own proto-national narratives, resulting in diverse and often contrasting images of him.

Prevalence of medical conditions or comorbidities influencing first-line therapy in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma in the United States.

Given treatment landscape changes, understanding the prevalence of medical conditions/comorbidities influencing real-world unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (uHCC) treatment decisions is key for improving outcomes. In a retrospective chart review, physicians abstracted data from uHCC patients initiating first-line treatment (1L) between June 2020 and April 2022. Frequencies of medical conditions/comorbidities at 1L initiation were reported. Among 433 patients, 77% had Barcelona Cancer Liver Clinic (BCLC)-C and 37% had Child-Pugh B status. Overall, 51% had ≥ 1 condition/comorbidity making them potentially less suitable for a 1L immunotherapy combination regimen (e.g. atezolizumab plus bevacizumab), including upper/lower gastrointestinal bleeding risk (38%), chronic kidney disease (15%), history of thromboembolic events (12%), and autoimmune disorders (5%). More than half of the patients had ≥ 1 medical condition/comorbidity making them potentially less suitable for a 1L immunotherapy combination. This study provides timely insight into how immunotherapy combinations are being used in the real-world setting among a large number of patients.

Implications for the diagnosis of aspiration and aspergillosis in critically ill patients with detection of galactomannan in broncho-alveolar lavage fluids

Invasive infections with Aspergillus fumigatus in ICU patients are linked to high morbidity and mortality. Diagnosing invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) in non-immunosuppressed patients is difficult, as Aspergillus antigen (galactomannan [GM]) may have other causes. This retrospective study analyzed 160 ICU surgical patients with positive GM in broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (BALF), classifying them based on AspICU criteria for suspected IPA (pIPA) or aspiration. Patients with pIPA had higher disease severity than those with aspiration, including higher dialysis rates, organ transplantation, corticosteroid use, and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score. Aspergillus culture was positive in 47.0% of pIPA cases but only 2.6% of aspiration cases (p < 0.001). SOFA score at first positive GM in BALF independently predicted 28-day mortality. In surgical patients with a positive GM in BALF, aspiration is more likely if there’s no corticosteroid therapy, negative Aspergillus culture, and a history of aspiration events. Diagnosis of pIPA requires Aspergillus culture or prior corticosteroid therapy in this cohort of critically ill patients.

Effects of Climate Change on Fort Patiko Historical Site in Northern Uganda

This study investigated the effect of climate change on Fort Patiko in Gulu District, in Northern Uganda from 1972 to 2023. Archaeological and historic sites are under threat of climate change, characterised by global warming, heavy rains and flooding, drought and extreme weather events. Fort Patiko may not be an exception. The study established that Fort Patiko's originality and physical appearance have been impacted by climate change. Due to rain and heat waves, the rock's colour and structures have changed over time. Wind, rain, and humidity agents of erosion are weakening the rock structures. There are fewer studies which have tried to explore the effect of climate change on Fort Patiko, therefore, this study will fill the gap. Qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed for this study to understand the diversity and intensity of the effect of climate change on the Fort Patiko historical site. The ethnohistorical research design was used to extract historical narratives and events pointing to the effects of climate change on Fort Patiko. Data was collected through, a review of documents and reports on climate change in the region; direct observation, and interviews with local community members to explore the nature and effects of climate change on Fort Patiko. A total of 55 participants were interviewed. Thematic analysis was used to identify key characteristics and effects of climate change on the Fort Patiko historical site

Missional insights on socio-political realities, religious vulnerability, and the choice of Barabbas

This article presents a missional perspective on the complex interplay between socio-political realities, religious vulnerability and the formation of political ideologies among Western Christians, drawing insights from the biblical narrative of the choice of Barabbas at Jesus’s trial. In today’s world, Western Christians are confronted with numerous socio-political challenges that can compromise their spiritual discernment, leading to religious delusion and, potentially, the adoption of politicised ideologies. Through a deep dive into the Jewish choice of Barabbas over Jesus, we seek to unravel the underlying dynamics. By examining the socio-political context of Roman occupation and Jewish societal pressures, we illuminate how these external factors influenced the religious vulnerability of the Jewish people. Furthermore, we explore how this vulnerability manifested in the decision to prefer Barabbas, a figure representing worldly resistance, over Jesus Christ, the embodiment of divine grace. From a missional perspective, we reflect on the implications of this historical event for contemporary Western Christian engagement with socio-political issues. We argue that understanding the delicate interplay between socio-political context, religious vulnerability and political ideology is essential for Western Christians seeking to embody the transformative mission of Christ in today’s world.Contribution: This article contributes to missional theology by offering insights into how believers can navigate socio-political complexities with spiritual discernment and faithful witness.

The Spanish Civil War from Exile: Testimony and Fiction in Heroes and Beasts of Spain by Manuel Chaves Nogales

ABSTRACT This article illustrates the application of Manuel Chaves Nogales’ journalistic techniques within the context of fictional narratives based on actual historical events. It offers a comprehensive and insightful framework for understanding his accounts of the Spanish Civil War. In his book, Heroes and Beasts of Spain, Chaves Nogales presents accounts written during his exile in Paris and first published in Chile in 1937, at the height of the war. Though written as fiction, the stories are based on real events, and the author himself claimed that they constitute accounts of his own experiences that ended up being more faithful to the truth than he would have liked them to be. The stories have the significant merit of taking a detached view of the political conflict and recounting the excesses and atrocities committed by both sides.

Developmental invariance in deep distortions.

Recently, a distinction has been drawn between conventional false memories, which misrepresent specific facts, and deep distortions, which misrepresent relations that connect facts. We report the first study of adult developmental trends in deep distortions, using a paradigm in which people make conjoint recognition judgments about incompatible facts (e.g., Was Einstein born in Austria, Germany, or Switzerland?). As conventional false memories increase over the adult lifespan, it is natural to expect that deep distortions will do likewise. Surprisingly, however, the modal explanation of adult increases in false memory predicts that deep distortions will be developmentally invariant. We tested that prediction in two experiments that measured three deep distortions (violations of the logical laws of additivity, countable additivity, and universal event) in memory for real-world incompatibility relations (e.g., size of planets, geographical location of companies, people in historical events). In Experiment 1, robust violations of all three laws were detected in younger adults (N = 105; Mage = 20), and as predicted, those violations did not increase in adults (N = 182; Mage = 33) or older adults (N = 176; Mage = 62). Experiment 2 was designed to test whether deep distortions would increase with age when there was stronger support for retrieving verbatim memories, but once again, deep distortion levels were the same in young adults (N = 81; Mage = 19), adults (N = 167; Mage = 34), and older adults (N = 170; Mage = 62). Conjoint recognition analyses revealed that throughout the adult lifespan, verbatim memory played no role in deep distortions. Other analyses revealed that although incompatible facts are perfectly compensatory in the real world (Einstein could only be born in Germany to the extent that he was not born in Austria or Switzerland), memory for incompatible facts is noncompensatory throughout the adult lifespan. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Storylines of Unprecedented Extremes in the Southeast United States

Abstract Disaster planning based on historical events is like driving forward while only looking in the rear-view mirror. To expand our field of view, we use a large ensemble of weather simulations to characterise the current risk of extreme weather events in case study locations in the Southeastern United States. We find that extreme temperature events have become more frequent between 1981 and 2021, and heavy precipitation events are also more frequent in the wettest months. Combining a historical analysis of people’s recent experience with the rate of change of extreme events, we define four quadrants that apply to groups of case studies: Sitting Ducks”, “Recent Rarity”, “Living Memory”, and “Fading Memory”. A critical storyline is that of the “Sitting ducks”: locations where we find a high rate of increase in extreme events and where the most extreme event in recent memory (1981-2021) has a low return period in today’s climate. We find that these locations have a high potential for surprise. For example, in Montgomery County, Alabama, the most extreme temperature event since 1981 has a return period of 13 years in the climate of 2021. In these places, we offer unprecedented synthetic events from the large ensemble for use in disaster preparedness simulations to help people imagine the unprecedented. Our results not only document substantial changes in the risk of extremes in the Southeastern United States but also propose a generalizable framework for using large ensembles in disaster preparedness simulations in a changing climate.

The Comparison of Classical Statistical and Machine Learning Methods in Prediction of Thrombosis in Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Thrombosis is one of the most frequent complications of cancer, with a potential impact on morbidity and mortality, particularly those with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Therefore, effective thrombosis prevention is a crucial aspect of cancer management. However, preventive measures against thrombosis may carry inherent risks and complications. Consequently, the application of thrombosis prevention should be limited to patients with a reasonable risk of developing thrombosis. This thesis explores the potential of data science (DS) methods for predicting venous thrombosis in patients with acute myeloid leukemia. In order to ascertain which patients are at risk, statistical and machine-learning (ML) algorithms were employed to predict which patients with leukemia will develop thrombosis. Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) was found to be the best fit among the models evaluated, achieving the C statistic of 0.749. We examined which attributes are significant and what role they play in prediction and found six significant parameters: sex of the patient, prior history of thrombotic event, type of therapy, international normalized ratio (INR), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status, and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation-specific Comorbidity. These findings suggest that subtle DS techniques can improve the prediction of Thrombosis in AML patients, thereby aiding in individual treatment planning.

A New Stage and New Opportunities for Research on the Russian Civil War

This article aims to discuss the latest Russian historiography on the Russian Civil War of 1917–22. Despite political problems, in recent years, there has been significant progress in the study of these groundbreaking events in Russian history by Russian historians. The analysis is based on a discussion of the latest works by Russian historians such as Alexander Puchenkov, Vasily Tsvetkov, Konstantin Morozov, Alexei Tieplakov and Andrei Ganin.

Recent progress in tsunami deposit investigations in Taiwan

Abstract Identifying deposits of modern/historical and prehistorical tsunamis in Taiwan has been successful in the past two decades and has substantially increased the extant tsunami catalogs, which have been limited in the past four centuries due to scarce and ambiguous historical accounts. In this review, the initiation of the investigation is briefly discussed, partly in response to the latest catastrophic tsunamis in the Indo-Pacific and the stimulated public concern in Taiwan. Major developments and results of the investigation include the onset of the first stage before 2010, with findings in Keelung, the eastern coast, and Lanyu Island, and the second/ongoing stage after 2013, with findings in the northern and eastern coasts and Penghu Islands. These findings contributed to validating the debated historical events, expanding the event number and time span of the tsunami catalog, and elaborating on tsunami processes, which collectively enabled the delineation of the recurrence time intervals between events. Limitations, uncertainty, further contributions, and feedback are discussed including insights into the regional western Pacific hazards of tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions; the principles of recognizing tsunami deposits and processes; and the propositions of future studies and hazard mitigations in Taiwan.

Comparing Science Curriculum for Primary Education in Greece and Serbia

This research systematically compares the science curricula of primary education in Greece and Serbia, aiming to identify key similarities and differences that impact educational outcomes in each context. The study provides a nuanced understanding of these educational landscapes by examining the frameworks for teaching science and revealing how national policies, pedagogical approaches, and cultural contexts influence curriculum development in both nations. The study looks at a number of topics, including curriculum content, instructional strategies, evaluation methods, and general educational goals that are common in every country's educational system. The study emphasizes the historical pedagogy that has shaped these educational systems and each nation's particular difficulties over the years, including sociopolitical elements that have impacted educational reforms, such as wars and regime changes. Additionally, the study supports PISA results, which highlight the value of encouraging students to apply their knowledge to real-world situations and cultivating the critical thinking and social awareness necessary for active citizenship. The study also considers historical events when designing curricula, showing how educational frameworks are connected to particular historical contexts and how these influences impact pedagogical approaches and content. Finally, by highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each system and promoting the discussion of curriculum innovation in a quickly changing global education environment, this comparative analysis provides insightful information for possible educational reforms that could help both nations.

The value of ICT and Latex Serological tests in Screening for Toxoplasma gondii

Background: Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular zoonotic parasite responsible for infections in various warm-blooded animals and humans. This study primarily focused on evaluating the diagnostic efficacy of ICT and latex serological methods for screening Toxoplasma gondii in North Kordofan, Sudan. Methodology: This descriptive study was conducted in El-Obeid, North Kordofan State, Sudan, from January to May 2024. A total of 260 samples were collected from women who had experienced abortions or had a previous history of such events. A blood sample was collected from each respondent to conduct serological tests, including ICT, latex, and ELISA. Results: The study involved approximately 260 women to evaluate the validity of the various techniques employed. In this research, ICT and LaTeX were compared with ELIZA as the gold standard method, yielding a positive rate of 14.6% and a negative rate of 85.4% using ICT methods. However, the results from the Latex method indicated a positivity rate of 15.8%, while the negativity rate stood at 84.2%. In ELIZA, 17.3% is positive, while 82.7% is negative. The sensitivity and specificity of the techniques employed in this study are compared with the ELISA technique, as detailed in the following tests. The sensitivity achieved through the ICT technique was 84%, while the specificity reached 100% as observed in the findings. The sensitivity and specificity obtained through the latex technique were determined to be 94% and 100%, respectively. Conclusion: Both Latex and ICT demonstrate relatively better sensitivity and very good specificity, making them suitable for screening and diagnostic purposes in conflict areas.

Risk of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease After Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Hospitalization among Primary and Secondary Prevention Older Adults.

Meta-analyses have suggested that the risk of cardiovascular disease events is significantly higher after a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation, but the populations at highest risk have not been well characterized to date. The authors analyzed the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) hospitalizations after COPD hospitalization compared with before COPD hospitalization and patient factors associated with ASCVD hospitalizations after COPD hospitalization among 2 high-risk patient cohorts. The primary outcome was risk of an ASCVD hospitalization composite outcome (myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass graft, percutaneous coronary intervention, stroke, transient ischemic accident) after COPD hospitalization relative to before COPD hospitalization. Additional analyses evaluated for risk factors associated with the composite ASCVD hospitalization outcome. In the high-risk primary prevention cohort, the hazard ratio (HR) estimate following adjustment for the composite ASCVD hospitalization outcome after COPD hospitalization versus before COPD hospitalization for 30 days was 0.74 (95% CI, 0.66-0.82; P≤0.0001); for 90 days, 0.69 (95% CI, 0.64-0.75; P≤0.0001); and for 1 year, 0.78 (95% CI, 0.73-0.82; P≤0.0001). In the secondary prevention cohort, the HR for 30-day hospitalization was 1.15 (95% CI, 1.05-1.26; P=0.0036); 90-day hospitalization, 1.08 (95% CI, 1.01-1.15; P=0.0178); and 1-year hospitalization, 1.07 (95% CI, 1.02-1.11; P=0.0026). Among the 19 characteristics evaluated, hyperlipidemia and history of acute ASCVD event were associated with the highest risk of ASCVD events 1 year after COPD hospitalization in the high-risk primary and secondary prevention cohorts. The risk of ASCVD hospitalization was higher in patients with established ASCVD and lower among high-risk patients without established ASCVD after-COPD hospitalization relative to before hospitalization. We identified multiple risk factors for ASCVD hospitalization after COPD hospitalization.

High-recombining genomic regions affect demography inference based on ancestral recombination graphs.

Multiple methods of demography inference are based on the ancestral recombination graph. This powerful approach uses observed mutations to model local genealogies changing along chromosomes by historical recombination events. However, inference of underlying genealogies is difficult in regions with high recombination rate relative to mutation rate due to the lack of mutations representing genealogies. Despite the prevalence of high-recombining genomic regions in some organisms, such as birds, its impact on demography inference based on ancestral recombination graphs has not been well studied. Here, we use population genomic simulations to investigate the impact of high-recombining regions on demography inference based on ancestral recombination graphs. We demonstrate that inference of effective population size and the time of population split events is systematically affected when high-recombining regions cover wide breadths of the chromosomes. Excluding high-recombining genomic regions can practically mitigate this impact, and population genomic inference of recombination maps is informative in defining such regions, yet the estimated values of local recombination rate may not be utilized for this decision. Finally, we confirm the relevance of our findings in empirical analysis by contrasting demography inferences applied for a bird species, the Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), using different parts of the genome with high and low recombination rates. Our results suggest that demography inference methods based on ancestral recombination graphs should be carried out with caution when applied in species whose genomes contain long stretches of high-recombining regions.

Horizontal transfer and recombination fuel Ty4 retrotransposon evolution in Saccharomyces.

Horizontal transposon transfer (HTT) plays an important role in the evolution of eukaryotic genomes, however the detailed evolutionary history and impact of most HTT events remain to be elucidated. To better understand the process of HTT in closely related microbial eukaryotes, we studied Ty4 retrotransposon subfamily content and sequence evolution across the genus Saccharomyces using short- and long-read whole genome sequence data, including new PacBio genome assemblies for two S. mikatae strains. We find evidence for multiple independent HTT events introducing the Tsu4 subfamily into specific lineages of S. paradoxus, S. cerevisiae, S. eubayanus, S. kudriavzevii and the ancestor of the S. mikatae/S.jurei species pair. In both S. mikatae and S. kudriavzevii, we identified novel Ty4 clades that were independently generated through recombination between resident and horizontally transferred subfamilies. Our results reveal that recurrent HTT and lineage-specific extinction events lead to a complex pattern of Ty4 subfamily content across the genus Saccharomyces. Moreover, our results demonstrate how HTT can lead to coexistence of related retrotransposon subfamilies in the same genome that can fuel evolution of new retrotransposon clades via recombination.

Cardiovascular risk associated with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists versus other conventional glucose-lowering drugs in patients with type-2 diabetes: protocol for a nationwide observational comparative study in routine care

IntroductionSeveral cardiovascular outcome trials have been conducted to assess the cardiovascular safety and efficacy of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP1-RAs) on cardiorenal outcomes in patients with type-2 diabetes (T2D). However,...

Identifying weather patterns responsible for renewable energy droughts over India

Abstract. Energy systems across the globe are evolving to meet climate mitigation targets. This requires rapid reductions in fossil fuel consumption and significant uptake of renewable generation. Renewable energy sources are weather-dependent, causing production to vary at timescales from minutes to decades ahead. A consequence of this variability is that there will be periods of low renewable energy production, here termed renewable energy droughts. This energy security challenge needs to be addressed to ensure grid stability. India is chosen as a study area as it is a region that has both a large proportion of renewable generation and good subseasonal predictability. In this study, we use synthetic wind and solar photovoltaic production timeseries, previously derived for the Indian energy grid using ERA5 reanalysis from 1979–2022, to identify historical renewable energy droughts. These are defined as periods where wind and solar potential is in the lowest 2.5 % compared to climatology. These events commonly occur from November–February, with the longest historical event being 9 d long. We identify the weather regimes that cause the largest renewable energy droughts over India and investigate potential sources of predictability. Existing large-scale daily weather types and impact-based patterns are used to investigate the different weather patterns causing renewable energy droughts. Renewable energy droughts are caused by low seasonal wind speeds in combination with weather patterns bringing high cloud cover. These are mainly weak northeast monsoon and western disturbances. Sources of potential subseasonal predictability are considered for the largest renewable energy droughts, including the Madden Julian Oscillation and Boreal Summer Intraseasonal Oscillation. Although both have a stronger relationship with high energy potential days, links between phases of these two oscillations and renewable energy drought days are identified. These could help to provide early warnings for challenging security of supply conditions in the future.

Improved recommender system using Neural Network Collaborative Filtering (NNCF) for E-commerce cosmetic product

This study presents an enhanced recommender system tailored for e-commerce platforms specializing in cosmetic products. Traditional recommender systems often need help providing accurate and personalized recommendations due to the complexity and subjectivity inherent in cosmetic preferences. In e-commerce, personalized product recommendations are crucial to improving user engagement and driving sales. This paper presents an innovative approach to enhance recommendation systems by leveraging neural network collaborative filtering techniques for the cosmetic product domain. The proposed method integrates neural networks into collaborative filtering, namely neural network collaborative filtering with improved preprocessing step. To validate the effectiveness of our proposed system, extensive experiments were conducted using real-world e-commerce cosmetic datasets "eCommerce Event History in Cosmetics Shop". Additionally, we evaluate the system's performance using historical e-commerce event data in cosmetics stores, demonstrating the system's effectiveness with mean reciprocal ratings (MRR) and normalized discount cumulative gain (NDCG). Evaluation Metrics of MRR and NDCG in this study got 0.56 and 0.60, respectively, with a split of the data: 70% train data, 15% validation data, and 15% test data. This study obtained better evaluation metrics than the previous study, which had an MRR of 0.31 and NDGC of 0.32. Furthermore, this model exhibits robustness against data sparsity and cold-start problems commonly encountered in e-commerce platforms. This research advances knowledge of recommendation systems and paves the way for more personalized and efficient online shopping experiences.