Physical Collapse Research Articles

205 An autosomal recessive mutation in PYGM causes myophosphorylase deficiency in composite cattle

Abstract Between 2020 and 2022, eight calves (6 heifers, 2 bulls) in a Nebraska herd (composite Simmental, Red Angus, Gelbvieh) experienced exercise intolerance during extended physical activity. These calves exhibited an inability to keep pace with the rest of the herd, with some eventually succumbing to physical collapse from which they did not recover. Increased creatine kinase, an indication of muscle degeneration, was confirmed in biopsy and necropsy samples. Available sire pedigrees revealed a common paternal ancestor within 2 to 4 generations in all the affected calves. Dam pedigrees were unavailable; however, the herd retained replacement females that occasionally shared common ancestors with breeding bulls. Thus, a de novo autosomal recessive mutation was hypothesized as the cause of exercise intolerance in these calves. Genomic data (100K SNP) from 6 affected calves and 715 herd mates were initially used for a whole genome-wide association study, pinpointing a significant region on chromosome 29. Whole-genome sequencing of 2 affected calves combined with 145 other sequenced cattle led to the identification of a nonsense mutation in the PYGM gene, also located on chromosome 29. The mutation, confirmed to be present in the skeletal muscle transcriptome, was predicted to produce a premature stop codon. The protein product of PYGM, myophosphorylase, has a crucial role in metabolizing glycogen stored within skeletal muscle to generate energy for muscle cells. As a result, the recessive genotype led to greater (P < 0.05) glycogen concentrations in affected calves (n = 2) compared with heterozygous animals (n = 3) and wild-type controls (n = 2). Immunohistochemistry and label-free quantitative proteomics analysis confirmed the absence of the PYGM protein product in skeletal muscle. Myophosphorylase is needed for efficient glycogen utilization, which is crucial for producing high-quality beef. In the 2 affected calves harvested, increased skeletal muscle glycogen persisted postmortem, resulting in increased pH and dark-cutting beef, which is associated with a negative consumer perception and economic losses to the industry. In addition to identifying the cause of exercise intolerance and welfare concerns in these cattle, this study is among the first to identify a specific genetic mutation associated with dark-cutting beef. Carriers of the mutation did not display any discernible differences in meat quality or measures of animal well-being. While cattle heterozygous for the mutation may not immediately impact the beef industry, identifying carriers is paramount for implementing proactive selection and breeding strategies to prevent the production of affected calves.

Climate Risk Management in Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Adaptation Actions in Nigeria

Different regions around the world are experiencing climate risks, including increasing temperatures, rapid changes in rainfall patterns, loss of biodiversity and extreme weather events. Within the last decade, Nigeria has experienced a series of localised and regional drought and flooding events affecting not only arable farmlands but also cultural heritage, including heritage buildings and cultural landscapes. This study assesses climate-related risks affecting cultural heritage using the ABC risk assessment method to understand the impacts of key climate drivers. The assessment method was applied to five cultural heritage sites with different values and functions. The findings revealed that changes in precipitation and wind speed and direction induce most of the sudden-onset impacts, such as bushfires, flooding and physical collapse. A sense of community connection and attachment to the built heritage remain strong but there have been limited efforts to implement actions that address climate risks to the built heritage and its surrounding spaces. The output of the assessment contributes to risk prioritisation and informs decision making for developing the needed adaptive actions. The study demonstrates the need to leverage climate information collected by different national and international organisations not to only assess climate risks to heritage but also to improve the involvement of local communities and non-heritage professionals in developing adaptation actions for built heritage.

Infection Control Nurses’ Burnout Experiences in Hospitals during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Purpose: This study was conducted to gain a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of infection control nurses’ burnout experiences in hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: We recruited 11 infection control nurses (ICNs) who worked in hospitals in Korea through purposive sampling. Data collected through one-to-one, in-depth interviews were transcribed and analyzed using qualitative content analysis.Results: Infection control nurses’ burnout experiences were categorized into five themes and 11 sub-themes. The themes were as follows: “challenges faced while playing a pivotal role in infectious disease management,” “conflict of interest prevalent inside and outside,” “physical and mental collapse,” “a long road to achieving stability in the infection control unit,” and “source of strength to endure.”Conclusion: In light of the need to better prepare for future outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, the findings of this study highlight the need for strategic approaches, such as developing programs to provide psychological and social support for infection control nurses, as well as establishing a well-designed system of nursing care for infectious diseases to alleviate their burnout.

(Keynote) Evidence of the Interplay of Temperature on Local and Global Battery Phenomena

Temperature is an important parameter in electrochemical processes and battery operation; for instance, open circuit voltage and resistance values of cells are temperature sensitive. Several recent studies have shown temperature within battery packs are not uniform. This non-uniformity of temperature produces localized thermal gradients within cells that can dictate cell construction, thermal management scheme, cell bussing, etc. Our research group has been working to understand how thermal gradients within battery cells effect material properties, electrochemical performance and stability. We have demonstrated through a range of electrochemical and materials characterization techniques, how dynamic external conditions, specifically thermal gradients and transients, can induce differing degradation modes of the positive and negative electrodes. The directionality and magnitude of thermal gradient dictate the degradation mode, whether loss of lithium inventory, loss of active material, etc.We have also observed strong electrochemical-mechanical coupling the result of low temperature cycling, where lithium plating on the negative electrode causes a physical deformation and collapse of the cylindrical cell jellyroll. In this talk, we will present in-operando optical microscopy and X-ray computed tomography data to show how dynamic electrical and external thermal conditions can irreversibly effect the chemistry, structure and subsequent safety of lithium-ion battery materials, components and cells. Lastly, the importance of testing materials and cells outside of isothermal laboratory conditions in favor of operating under dynamic thermal conditions, to include austere and stressful operating conditions will be discussed.

Use of 'acute behavioural disturbance' in mental health records: differences over time and by ethnicity in a London NHS mental health Trust.

Acute behavioural disturbance (ABD) is a controversial descriptor for presentations of severe agitation, aggression and physiological compromise. To characterise the use of ABD-related terms in the electronic record of a large UK provider of mental health services during 2006-2021. The free text of all records relating to patient contacts with acute assessment mental health teams during 2006-2021 were searched for references to ABD. Identified text was coded for context of use and presence of clinical features of ABD described in the literature. Poisson regression was used to analyse differences in rates of use over time and between demographic groups. Mentions of ABD increased by an average of 1.12 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.08-1.17) per year, with the greatest increase from 2019 to 2021. Black people were more than twice as likely as White people to have reference to ABD included in their assessments (rate: 2.4/1000 (95% CI 1.8-3.1) in Black people compared with 1.0/1000 (95% CI 0.8-1.3) in White people). The clinical characteristics in notes describing a current presentation of ABD rarely corresponded to those included in UK medical guidelines on ABD. The term ABD in mental health notes appears to often, but not exclusively, be a synonym for severe agitation and conveys little meaning beyond this. However, the term's connection to a literature emphasising the high risk of physical health collapse and need for urgent treatment means that its disproportionate use in Black people may contribute to existing racial inequalities in the use of coercive measures during crisis presentations.

Quale mechanics as a metaphysical weltanschauung of quantum mechanics

The term Quale Mechanics is proposed here as describing the qualitative aspects of Quantum Mechanics that are susceptible of metaphysical considerations. The aim of Quale Mechanics is to distill the quantum discourse to its pillars in order to construct its proper – philosophical in nature – quale discourse. The framework of the discussion is initiated by revisiting the platonic approach of the manner in which knowledge is perceived/processed, and then by discussing the four sapiential stages before arriving at concept of the eide. The sensible-suprasensible dichotomy is exposed by contrasting aistheta to the eide. A discussion on the historical development and the foundation of the pillars of Quantum Mechanics is followed. This includes Planck’s solution for the black-body radiation problem with the introduction of quanta – in conflict with Newtonian physics – followed by Einstein’s explanation of the photoelectric effect and the implications involving the dual nature of light (particle vs. wave) and two generalizations of the quantum character of matter: the planetary model of the atom by Bohr, and the dual particle-wave character of electron demonstrated by de Broglie. The subsequent distillation of these semi-classical concepts into more abstract mathematical concepts by Heisenberg, Born, Dirac and Pauli are then reviewed – with Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle and with the concept of wavefunction as landmarks that unmistakably departs from the classical deterministic view of matter. A representative illustration of these achievements is given by the Casimir effect – with implications for gravity and an illustration of how vacuum can in fact not be considered to be truly void. Quantum Mechanics, as the most accurate mathematical framework which can be employed in order to describe and predict the natural phenomena occurring at the atom-size dimensions of reality, may thus be considered as the root from which the concept of Quale Mechanics is emerged in order to construct the parallel between the metaphysical existence and the quantum physical wavefunction collapse. It is concluded that, within its underlying, Quantum Mechanics is a (hopefully fruitful) reiteration of the Ancient Greek Weltanschauung.

Performance Evaluation of Online Education Management during COVID-19 Situation in Bangladesh

The physical education system collapse during the Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh and then online education was becoming popular to overcome the problem. The present study is conducted to measure the effect of online education in Covid-19 situation and the performance of the education system. The educational material, teaching facility and skill, online connection service, student acceptability, social acceptability and digital learning perception are identified as the main factor that influence online education, which are measured as (each five) close ended survey (five point Likert scale) questionnaire. The 400 survey response data are finalized by purposefully sampling in randomized block design from public and private university teachers of different division of Bangladesh and analyzed by descriptive analysis, Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, Shapiro –Wilk test, One-Sample Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, Spearman's rho correlation, Mann–Whitney test, Kruskal–Wallis H test and ordinal logistic regression model by MS Excel 2016 and IBM SPSS Statistics 26 software. The result shows academic performance of online education, online educational material, online teaching facility and skill, online connection service, online student acceptability, online social acceptability and online digital learning perception are significantly higher than the median test value 3, which are significantly increasing during Covid-19 situation. It is observed that the quality of educational material, teaching facility and skill are significantly affect the academic performance of online education. But online connection service, student acceptability and social acceptability have no significant effect on the academic performance of online education. Also digital learning perception is significantly affect the academic performance of online education. It is observed from the study that the contribution of both male and female gender to the academic performance of online education are same, which are significantly higher perception from the median test value 3. The perception of private university is significantly higher than public university in the academic performance of online education, which are significantly higher perception from the median value. The perception of lower experience group has significantly higher perception on the academic performance of online education gradually. So, the experience of this study may be utilized in the planning and implementing online education management in Bangladesh.

Performance Evaluation Of Online Education Management During Covid-19 Situation In Bangladesh

The physical education system collapse during the Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh and then online education was becoming popular to overcome the problem. The present study is conducted to measure the effect of online education in Covid-19 situation and the performance of the education system. The educational material, teaching facility and skill, online connection service, student acceptability, social acceptability and digital learning perception are identified as the main factor that influence online education, which are measured as (each five) close ended survey (five point Likert scale) questionnaire. The 400 survey response data are finalized by purposefully sampling in randomized block design from public and private university teachers of different division of Bangladesh and analyzed by descriptive analysis, Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, Shapiro –Wilk test, One-Sample Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, Spearman's rho correlation, Mann–Whitney test, Kruskal–Wallis H test and ordinal logistic regression model by MS Excel 2016 and IBM SPSS Statistics 26 software. The result shows academic performance of online education, online educational material, online teaching facility and skill, online connection service, online student acceptability, online social acceptability and online digital learning perception are significantly higher than the median test value 3, which are significantly increasing during Covid-19 situation. It is observed that the quality of educational material, teaching facility and skill are significantly affect the academic performance of online education. But online connection service, student acceptability and social acceptability have no significant effect on the academic performance of online education. Also digital learning perception is significantly affect the academic performance of online education. It is observed from the study that the contribution of both male and female gender to the academic performance of online education are same, which are significantly higher perception from the median test value 3. The perception of private university is significantly higher than public university in the academic performance of online education, which are significantly higher perception from the median value. The perception of lower experience group has significantly higher perception on the academic performance of online education gradually. So, the experience of this study may be utilized in the planning and implementing online education management in Bangladesh.

A Heart Lost in Wonder: The Life and Faith of Gerard Manley Hopkins by Catharine Randall (review)

Reviewed by: A Heart Lost in Wonder: The Life and Faith of Gerard Manley Hopkins by Catharine Randall Philip Ballinger A Heart Lost in Wonder: The Life and Faith of Gerard Manley Hopkins. By Catharine Randall. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 2020. Pp. 195. $22.95 paperback. ISBN: 978-0-8028-7770-3.) Professor Randall offers readers a refreshing and succinct reflection upon the life, writings, and faith of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Her book is scholarly in its roots yet purposefully accessible to a wide audience as an introduction to the person, art, and religious experience of Hopkins. Randall's presentation of Hopkins contains no hint of hagiography. The Hopkins portrayed is fully human—brilliant, loved, not always understood, steel-willed at times, physically fragile, and substantially plagued with neuroses and depression. Her realistic portrayal of Hopkins makes his incarnation-amplifying faith and chiming poetic creativity all the more shining and striking. A reader new to Hopkins, however, may underappreciate the degree to which the joyful and playful seasoned much of his life. Professor Randall describes her method in this biography as holistic. This means that the chronologies of Hopkins' life and writings do not always correspond, particularly in the first chapters of her book. She purposefully follows this method to heighten a "you are there" feeling and face-to-face encounter with Hopkins (p. xiv). More importantly, she hopes that this interpretive biography will assist readers in seeing Hopkins' life through the prism of his theology. I think her method will help a new Hopkins reader move to the heart of the matter with alacrity. A reader familiar with Hopkins, however, may experience some disorientation. Professor Randall quickly moves the reader into the mainstream of Hopkins' faith and art—the world of the senses is the high road to the world of the spirit. Woven through by this contextual theme, her summative recounting of Hopkins' childhood, education, conversion to Roman Catholicism, and formation and life as a Jesuit priest is substantive and, at times, innovative. For example, while discussing how Hopkins experienced nature, Randall offers the possibility of some neurological idiosyncrasy as the cause. While I do not think that Hopkins was in some altered state in his perception and experience of beauty in nature, I appreciate the thought-provoking discussion. In any case, Professor Randall here introduces a hermeneutic lens through which she views Hopkins—he is an "ecstatic," "one who entered into and took on the life around him in an imagined, artistic creation of a new form of participation in essence" (p. 59). [End Page 418] While focusing upon Hopkins' Jesuit formation and training, Professor Randall justifiably discusses at length the probable influence of Duns Scotus. In this context, she suggests and supports the possibility of influence by the Cappadocian fathers. This offers her a creative opportunity to introduce the patristically-rooted and currently prevalent theme of the Cosmic Christ into the discussion of Hopkins' theological thought and its expression in prose and poetry. Her following analyses of Hopkins' "The Wreck of the Deutschland" and "The Windhover" compellingly bring this Scotian influence and theological theme to life. Professor Randall's last chapter, "Desolation," portrays the final years of Hopkins' life in Dublin as a time of internal disintegration and physical collapse. She weaves Hopkins' own words and the reflections of others to show how near he was to madness and even temptation to suicide. It is a dark, distressing portrayal rooted in primary sources and well conveyed by the author. Then, in the last pages of her book, Randall wonderfully describes Hopkins' sudden break into light as best expressed in his poem "That Nature Is a Heraclitean Fire and of the Comfort of the Resurrection." She suggests this re-enlightenment is a return to or remembering of an earlier shining faith in and perception of the Cosmic Christ in creation. This end time and last flash of creativity in Hopkins' life seems not so much a resolving denouement as a kind of resurrection from darkness and internal death. I wonder if Hopkins' experience of abandonment by God was so discontiguous from the end of his life and his final words—"I am so...

Reclassifying Swift Gamma-Ray Bursts with Diverse Duration Distributions

We select the largest sample of Swift gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) so far to reexamine the classification in terms of time duration, hardness ratio, and physical collapse model. To analyze the sample selection effect, we divide the observed Swift GRB sample into four subsamples according to signal-to-noise level, spectral quality, and extended emission. First, we find that only the sample of Swift GRBs with well-measured peak energy can be evidently divided into two types at a boundary of ∼1 s, and other data sets are well described by three Gaussian functions. Using Swift GRBs with known redshift, a Kolmogorov–Smirnov test shows the intrinsic duration distributions of five data sets are equally distributed. Second, we ascertain in the plane of hardness ratio versus duration that the hardness ratio of short GRBs is significantly higher than those of middle classes and long GRBs, while the latter two components are the same in statistics, implying the so-called middle class to be artificial. Third, we apply a collapse model to discriminate the boundaries between collapse and noncollapse Swift bursts. It is interesting to find that a significant fraction, ≥30%, of Swift short GRBs could have originated from the collapsing progenitors, while all long GRBs are produced from the collapsars only. Finally, we point out that short GRBs with extended emission are the main contributors to the noncollapsar population with longer duration.

Photosensitivity and a precise combination of size-dependent lambda-cyhalothrin microcapsules synergistically generate better insecticidal efficacy

In this study, lambda-cyhalothrin (LC) loaded polyurea microcapsules (MCs) with different particle sizes were fabricated. All of the MCs showed varying degrees of physical collapse, which was more obvious among those with smaller particle sizes. MCs with particle sizes of 1.38 μm (MC-S), 5.13 μm (MC-M) and 10.05 μm (MC-L) had shell thicknesses of 39.6, 50.3 and 150.1 nm, respectively. MCs with smaller particles tended to have significantly faster release profiles, and the MC-S group had much higher bioactivity against Agrotis ipsilon and better foliar affinity on the peanut leaves (indicated by rainfastness) than MC-M and MC-L. All of the MCs exhibited light-enhanced release profiles and had much slower degradation compared with the emulsifiable concentrate (EC) group, among which MC-L had the slowest degradation. To generate MCs with both favorable quick efficacy and long-lasting efficacy, binary mixtures of MC-S, MC-M and MC-L were produced by mixing them in pairs at ratios of 2:1, 1:1 and 1:2. The mixture of MC-S:MC-L at 1:2 showed the best comprehensive efficacy in the peanut foliar spray scenario among the nine tested combinations, and its effective duration was three times longer than that of EC. Overall, the precise combination of MCs with different particle sizes can regulate the efficacy of pesticide control and serve as a strategy for the better utilization of pesticides.

A unified similarity criterion and design method for geometrically distorted scale models of thin-walled hull girder structures

For large scale thin-walled hull girder structures, the similar scale models of them cannot​ generally satisfy an equal scale ratio between the main dimension and plate thickness. Also, when the scale models are scaled to a too small dimension, the scale models have to be further simplified by reducing the number of the stiffeners to make enough room for welding operations. The purpose of this study is to develop a unified similarity criterion and a standard design method for such geometrically distorted scale models of large scale thin-walled hull girder structures. Based on an actual 11,4000DWT crude oil carrier hull girder structure, the proposed similarity criterion and design method was applied and validated. Numerical results show that the proposed similarity criterion and design method can guarantee a good similarity of the ultimate strength between scale models and prototype under combined loads. Also, we have derived the required condition that the proposed similarity criterion and design method can be applied to. To make a further verification of the numerical results and the proposed method, we designed and manufactured a geometrically distorted scale model for a large thin-walled box girder. A physical collapse test for the box girder was conducted to verify the reliability and accuracy of the numerical model.

Female predicament in the novel the yellow wallpaper

The study deals with “Female Predicament in The Novel the Yellow Wallpaper”. The Yellow Wallpaper is a semi-autobiographical short story by an American author Charlotte Perkins Gillman. The New England Magazine published the short story in 1892. After suffering a severe case of postpartum psychosis, she wrote this work. Through her work, Gillman reveals the way she was treated by her husband. According to some interpretations, the story is both a critique of patriarchal medicine and an opposition to the rest cure. Her idealistic feminist thinking served as a role model for future generation feminists. The major objective of feminist literature is to determine what kind of voice women have or do not have in a world dominated by men. The study aims to find the predicaments faced by the heroine in The Yellow Wallpaper. The fundamental motive of any work based on literature is to provoke unfathomable sensibilities and thoughts that the readers can associate with their own personal experience. The anonymity of the heroine helps the female reader to identify themselves with her. Charlotte Perkins Gilman reveals the oppression of women and the lack of freedom in The Yellow Wallpaper that highlights the patriarchal society’s restriction on women’s choices and desire. There are number of literary devices like simile, imagery, symbolism and dramatic irony used by Gilman to illustrate the idea of feminism and violated human rights. The heroine deals with discrimination and abandonment that leads to physical and mental collapse. As a result of inside and outside imprisonment, she became insane and herself identity was shattered.

Multiscale mechanical consequences of ocean acidification for cold-water corals

Ocean acidification is a threat to deep-sea corals and could lead to dramatic and rapid loss of the reef framework habitat they build. Weakening of structurally critical parts of the coral reef framework can lead to physical habitat collapse on an ecosystem scale, reducing the potential for biodiversity support. The mechanism underpinning crumbling and collapse of corals can be described via a combination of laboratory-scale experiments and mathematical and computational models. We synthesise data from electron back-scatter diffraction, micro-computed tomography, and micromechanical experiments, supplemented by molecular dynamics and continuum micromechanics simulations to predict failure of coral structures under increasing porosity and dissolution. Results reveal remarkable mechanical properties of the building material of cold-water coral skeletons of 462 MPa compressive strength and 45–67 GPa stiffness. This is 10 times stronger than concrete, twice as strong as ultrahigh performance fibre reinforced concrete, or nacre. Contrary to what would be expected, CWCs retain the strength of their skeletal building material despite a loss of its stiffness even when synthesised under future oceanic conditions. As this is on the material length-scale, it is independent of increasing porosity from exposure to corrosive water or bioerosion. Our models then illustrate how small increases in porosity lead to significantly increased risk of crumbling coral habitat. This new understanding, combined with projections of how seawater chemistry will change over the coming decades, will help support future conservation and management efforts of these vulnerable marine ecosystems by identifying which ecosystems are at risk and when they will be at risk, allowing assessment of the impact upon associated biodiversity.

Karitas Untitled by Kristín Marja Baldursdóttir

Reviewed by: Karitas Untitled by Kristín Marja Baldursdóttir Lucie Nolden Kristín Marja Baldursdóttir Karitas Untitled Trans. Philip Roughton. Seattle. Amazon Crossing. 2022. 447 pages. AT THE TOP of the tallest mountain in the country, two women hold each other tight. Auður, the widowed housewife, is a prodigious mountain woman, herbalist, caretaker, and mother. Karitas, the artist and our protagonist, has never understood the appeal of mountain climbing. But too many months of insomnia have frayed the artist's nerves and sapped her sanity, and even her art, becoming more experimental in form with each sleepless night, cannot grant her sleep. As a final resort, Auður has led her step by step to the highest point in Iceland, pausing to rest only when the younger woman can bear the exhaustion no longer, from the slope where the wild herbs grow, over the glacier, and up the Sléttubjörg ridge. At the top, where the sky and country and silence surround them, the two women embrace, holding each other to the earth. [End Page 57] Women holding each other to the earth is a beloved subject of Kristín Marja Baldursdóttir, an acclaimed and beloved Icelandic author. On the Day of the Icelandic Language, November 16, 2011, she was awarded the Jónas Hallgrímsson Prize for extraordinary service to the Icelandic language. The jury lauded her devotion to "the life and work, the dreams and longings of women." Baldursdóttir dedicates Karitas Untitled, her first novel to be translated into English, to the women who raised her: grandmothers, mother, and great-grandmothers. Honoring this dedication, Karitas Untitled holds relationships between women close to its core: mothers and daughters, sisters, girlfriends. The women of Karitas Untitled keep each other clothed and fed when their husbands disappear off to sea. They use the last drops of their breast milk to make crepes and read poems at each other's graves. Their relationships are never explicitly queer, but despite their ephemerality, their intimacy and intensity are as meaningful, and far more tender, than Karitas's relationship with her strong, beautiful, and sometimes abusive husband. While Baldursdóttir evokes the shame and pleasure of a repressed female sexuality with dignity, love between women ends in unexpected disappearances or remains hidden in the margins. Baldursdóttir's brilliance lies in the enigmatic and the implicit. A reader unaccustomed to Icelandic fiction might describe her work as magical realism, for elves, ghosts, and tall tales haunt the dark corners of the book. Undeveloped erotics linger around the edges, too: a cigarette-smoking girl from Reykjavík, a mysteriously disappearing blue milk jug, a man who comes to Karitas only in dreams. These little eccentricities might be explained away by Karitas's sleeplessness, or perhaps by the growing divide between her life as a fisherman's wife and her destiny as an artist. Or perhaps the streaks of fantasy enlivening the pages of the untitled novel serve to manifest the world's chaos, the same chaos our artist seeks to release. Her task as an artist, she knows, throughout her charcoal sketches and oil paintings and cutlery collages, is to unleash chaos that rages within her, within every person, like a wild horse. The untamed mare of fiction is alive and well in Karitas Untitled, sometimes sleepy and mild, but most often bucking and kicking and galloping into the distance. Karitas struggles up the peak. With the perspective of elevation, she remembers all she has lost before coming to Öræfi, the mountainous region where she regains strength after a prolonged mental and physical collapse. Her hand in Auður's, she whimpers her way up the ridge, unable to control her crying fits. There, Auður finds the words to end her pain. "Despite your losses, you still have one thing that is all your own, and that is your art," she says. "The pictures of yours that I have seen are quite strange, but they have a kind of inexplicable magic to them. Perhaps the best art is that which one doesn't understand." Lucie Nolden Bowdoin College Copyright © 2022 World Literature Today and the Board of Regents...

Component deformation-based collapse evaluation of RC frameunder different collapse criteria

Developments in performance-based earthquake engineering have emphasized the importance of evaluation of structural collapse resistance. Several collapse criteria were proposed to define structural collapse in various perspective. In this paper, collapse resistant capacity of ductile reinforced concrete (RC) frame was evaluated using different collapse criteria. Since most of the criteria focus on overall structural response, a component deformation-based method was adopted to describe the damage in component level. Incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) of a 6-story ductile RC frame conforms to current codes was conducted in OpenSEES. The collapse resistant capacity under different collapse criteria was compared. Moreover, relationship between overall structural response and the distribution of damaged components were discussed through the component deformation-based method. It was indicated that the story of maximum inter-story drift ratio is neither consistent with the one which is most seriously damaged nor with the story of maximum residual inter-story drift ratio. Furthermore, the component deformation-based method can depict structural damaged state and formation of collapse mechanism more reasonably. The analysis result evidences that structure conforms to current code have the good ductility and hardly reaches physical collapse under rare earthquake, however, the structure is more likely to be demolished due to unacceptable residual deformation.

The Star that Fell into a Tear

The Yiddish comedian Shimen Dzigan collapsed on stage on 5 April 1980, in the Ohel Shem Theatre, Tel Aviv, Israel, in front of the 1,000 spectators gathered for the second performance that evening of Doktoyrim heysn lakhn (Doctors Prescribe Laughter). This article deals with the collapse and consequent death two weeks later of Dzigan on stage, with an examination also of the simultaneous downfall of three iconic figures from Yiddish modern culture: Sholem Aleichem, the writer of the piece Dzigan was performing; Menakhem-Mendl the character; and Shimen Dzigan the actor. Dzigan's status as the last living representative of Yiddish theatre in Israel caused many to interpret his physical collapse as the metaphorical end of the Yiddish theatrical tradition. In this article I offer an alternative interpretation of Dzigan's death and the afterlife.

Subterranean freshwater gastropod biodiversity and conservation in the United States and Mexico

Many taxonomic groups successfully exploit groundwater environments and have adapted to a subterranean (stygobiotic) existence. Among these groups are freshwater gastropods (stygosnails), which represent a widespread and taxonomically diverse component of groundwater ecosystems in North America. However, owing to sampling difficulty and lack of targeted study, stygosnails remain among the most understudied of all subterranean groups. We conducted a literature review to assess the biodiversity and geographic associations of stygosnails, along with the threats, management activities, and policy considerations related to the groundwater systems they inhabit. We identified 39 stygosnail species known to occur in a range of groundwater habitats from karst regions in the United States and Mexico. Most stygosnails exhibit extreme narrow-range endemism, resulting in a high risk of extinction from a single catastrophic event. We found that anthropogenically driven changes to surface environments have led to changes in local hydrology and degradation of groundwater systems inhabited by stygosnails such as increased sedimentation, introduction of invasive species, groundwater extraction, or physical collapse of water-bearing passages. Consequently, 32 of the 39 described stygosnail species in the United States and Mexico have been assessed as imperiled under NatureServe criteria, and 10 species have been assessed as threatened under International Union for Conservation of Nature criteria. Compared with surface species of freshwater snails, stygosnail conservation is uniquely hindered by difficulties associated with accessing subterranean habitats for monitoring and management. Furthermore, only three species were found to have federal protection in either the United States or Mexico, and current laws regulating wildlife and water pollution at the state and federal level may be inadequate for protecting stygosnail habitats. As groundwater systems continue to be manipulated and relied on by humans, groundwater-restricted fauna such as stygosnails should be studied so unique biodiversity can be protected.

Physical Functions and Comorbidity Affecting Collapse at 4 or More Weeks after Admission in Patients with Osteoporotic Vertebral Fractures: A Prospective Cohort Study

Study DesignA prospective cohort study.PurposeThis study aimed to reveal physical functions and comorbidity affecting collapse at ≥4 weeks after hospital admission of patients with osteoporotic vertebral fracture.Overview of LiteratureOnly a few studies have investigated the influence of physical function and activity on collapse in patients with osteoporotic vertebral fractures.MethodsThis prospective cohort study analyzed patients with osteoporotic vertebral fractures admitted to the hospital between March 2018 and October 2019. Logistic regression analysis was performed to explore the predictors of vertebral collapse at >4 weeks after admission. Model 1 used basic medical information and physical functions at admission; model 2 used basic medical information and physical function and activity at >4 weeks after admission.ResultsIn the model 1 results of logistic regression analysis, cardiovascular disease (odds ratio [OR], 12.27; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.28–117.91) was extracted as a factor affecting vertebral collapse at ≥4 weeks after admission. In the model 2 results of logistic regression analysis, cardiovascular disease (OR, 34.57; 95% CI, 2.53–471.74), movement control during one leg standing at 4 weeks (OR, 7.25; 95% CI, 1.36–38.71), and Pain Catastrophizing Scale score at 4 weeks (OR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.01–1.21) were extracted as factors affecting vertebral collapse at ≥4 weeks after admission.ConclusionsOur results indicate that physical functions and comorbidity affect collapse at ≥4 weeks after admission in patients with osteoporotic vertebral fractures.

Morphology dependent electrical conduction and breakdown in single TiO2 nanotubes.

Understanding the electrical conduction properties of a single nanostructure is essential for gaining insight into the fundamental charge transport through 1D materials and also for exploring the collective behavior of an array of such nanostructures. TiO2 nanostructures, such as electrochemically grown nanotubes, have been widely studied in recent times for several applications. The electrolyte plays a vital role in deciding the morphology, which, in turn, governs the charge transport behavior. Here we present a comparative study of the charge transport through a single TiO2 nanotube grown by electrochemical anodization using ethylene glycol and dimethyl sulphoxide electrolytes. The individual nanotubes are assembled into nanodevices using photolithography without relying on complex and sophisticated process like electron beam lithography or focused ion beam deposition. The electric field dependent charge transport properties show Schottky emission at a lower field regime and Poole–Frenkel emission in the higher region. The temperature-dependent electrical conduction (110 K–410 K) is mediated by two thermal activation processes, attributed to shallow impurities in the low-temperature range (T < 230 K) and to the donors at deep intermediate levels at higher temperatures (T > 230 K). The activation energies for EG based nanotubes are found to be higher than those for DMSO nanotubes owing to the double wall morphology of the formed tubes. Also, the study of the electrical breakdown phenomena of these nanotubes reveals three distinct categories of collapse. ‘Model A’ type breakdown is characterized by a stepwise rise of the current up to the breakdown point and a fall to zero following a non-uniform step by step decrease, which is driven by crack formation near the electrode interface and its propagation. ‘Model B’ shows a transient rise and fall in current, leading to breakdown due to electromigration, whereas ‘Model C’ type breakdown observed in a bundle of nanotubes shows a mixed trend of ‘Model A’ and ‘Model B’. The data and analysis provide insight into the current limit through an individual nanotube or bundle of nanotubes and will be useful for designing prototype nanodevices from titania nanostructures.