Strong Focus Research Articles

Parliaments and their Knowledge Landscapes

Abstract The Legal, Legislative, and Research Services (rlw) of the Austrian Parliamentary Administration organised the first Day of Parliamentary Research on 26 June in the newly renovated Austrian Parliament building in Vienna. The conference, which was highly interdisciplinary and placed a strong focus on knowledge related to parliaments and policy-making, marked the start of a new initiative by the Parliamentary Administration to promote an ongoing dialogue between academia and politics. This conference report provides an overview of the keynote speeches, panels and panel discussions that took place, and identifies recurring themes and issues that were discussed.

Degrowth and the Global South: The twin problem of global dependencies

We conduct a systematic literature review comprising both a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of the academic degrowth literature considering the Global South, and delineate substantive and methodological implications for future research. We find two main narratives: one stressing synergies, i.e. commonalities among Global South and Global North perspectives on degrowth, and another highlighting challenges, i.e. a constructive discussion of a range of challenges that emerge in this context. Our review reveals, inter alia, that the existing literature focuses mainly on the synergy narrative, and that there is a strong focus on theoretical and qualitative methodology. We argue that future research might want to put more emphasis on the investigation of structural dependencies between the North and South, using a broader methodological toolkit than so far. Only then one can effectively address what we call the ‘twin problem of global dependencies’: the fact that within the current institutional framework, these dependencies are a motivation for and a potential obstacle to degrowth at the same time.

The impact of gendered scripts onchlamydiaand safe-sex on young Australian men and women’s performance of gender and sexual responsibility

Over the last decade, young Australian’s rates of chlamydia infection have been steadily increasing with notable differences between young men and women (Kirby Institute, 2018). We explore the impact of gendered scripts on chlamydia and safe-sex on young heterosexual men and women’s performance of gender and sexual responsibility. We examine findings from a Foucauldian discourse analysis (FDA) of key Australian public health websites, alongside in-depth interviews, and qualitative survey responses of students from an Australian university. The FDA identified gendered scripts in public health resources that generally avoided focussing on men in favour of encouraging women to take responsibility for couple’s safe-sex behaviour. Interviews revealed heteronormative gendered scripts framed many sexual practices with stronger focus on unwanted pregnancy than STIs, disproportionate targeting of women for STI testing by doctors and more open discussions on sexual health among women. Interviews also highlighted the absence of a normative ‘formula’ – or script – for safe-sex discussions.

Indigenous Military Reforms from the Outside: The Paradox of the UAE Armed Forces Modernisation

ABSTRACT In the past two decades, the United Arab Emirates has pursued the goal of its military modernization through various reforms that were driven by the aspirations of its rulers for self-sufficiency and strategic autonomy. This meant a greater emphasis on building local skills and resources allowing Abu Dhabi to claim the indigenous character of that transformation. A stronger focus on indigenous capacities implied a decrease of that country’s dependence on Western patronage. However, the study of the Emirati military transformation reveals a complex and somewhat contradictory reality: the push for a local military reform still relying for the most part on foreign advisors. This article argues that this transformation may have strengthened the technical effectiveness of the Emirati military apparatus, but it did so, not by abandoning past ties to Western powers, but merely by adapting these ties. In fact, the “Emiratisation” of the country’s national security relied on the use of foreign expertise at all levels: from the training and education of officers to the command of military elite units and the development of local military industries. Such reliance on outside expertise eventually compromises the initial goal of the UAE for greater autonomous capability.

Uses and experience of highly standardised plant medicine extracts by UK medical herbalists

IntroductionTraditionally Western Herbal Medicine (WHM) uses ‘whole plant extracts’, typically presented as liquids, teas and powders, with no formal measurement of identified plant constituents. In contrast, 'standardised extract’ preparations offer a guaranteed minimum content of specified constituents, as identified in modern research. A limited number of these preparations, referred to here as ‘highly standardised extracts’ and largely presented as tablets, offer a much higher dose of ‘active constituent/s′ than is present in the whole plant extract. They are the focus of this study. The study investigated how herbalists have come to use highly standardised extracts and their attitudes towards them, with a view to informing the debate and the wider interested community. MethodsAn online survey, a mix of quantitative and qualitative questions, was distributed by UK herbalists’ professional bodies to members. ResultsFindings from a total of 78 respondents indicate that there is limited but clear use of single highly standardised extracts by a large minority of participants, with use influenced mainly by the growing body of research, historical influence of other herbalists and clinical evidence of ‘strength’. All herbalists reported accessing herbal research studies. The major identified limiting factor on highly standardised extract use was the strong emphasis on the ‘natural’ whole plant extract. ConclusionThis survey indicated a strong focus of responding herbalists on the use of the natural whole plant extract. Despite limited use of research-based highly standardised extracts, all reported engagement with research. It is acknowledged that response bias limits strength of conclusions.

An Overview of WebAssembly for IoT: Background, Tools, State-of-the-Art, Challenges, and Future Directions

This paper explores the relationship between two emerging technologies, WebAssembly (Wasm) and the Internet of Things (IoT). It examines the complementary roles of these technologies and their impact on modern web applications. First, it delves into the capabilities of Wasm as a high-performance binary format that allows developers to leverage low-level languages for computationally intensive tasks. Second, it seeks to explain why integration of IoT and Wasm is important. Third, it discusses the strengths and limitations of various tools and tool chains that are crucial for Wasm development and implementation, with a special focus on IoT. Fourth, it presents the state-of-the-art with regard to advances that combine both technologies. Fifth, it discusses key challenges and provides future directions. Lastly, it provides an in-depth elaboration of the future aspects of Wasm, with a strong focus on IoT, concluding that IoT and Wasm can provide developers with a versatile toolkit that enables them to balance productivity and performance in both web and non-web development scenarios. The collaborative use of these technologies opens up new possibilities for pushing the boundaries of web application development in terms of interactivity, security, portability, scalability, and efficient computational capabilities. As web and non-web embeddings continue to evolve, the integration of IoT and Wasm will play a crucial role in shaping the future of innovative application development. The key findings of this extensive review work suggest that existing tool sets can be easily conglomerated together to form a new era in WebAssembly–IoT infrastructure for low-power, energy-efficient, and secure edge–IoT ecosystems with near-native execution speed. Furthermore, the expansion of edge–IoT ecosystems can be augmented with prospective cloud-side deployments. However, there remains a strong need to more cohesively advance the amalgamation of Wasm and IoT technologies in the near future.

Breastfeeding and the major fermentation metabolite lactate determine occurrence of Peptostreptococcaceae in infant feces

ABSTRACT Previous studies indicated an intrinsic relationship between infant diet, intestinal microbiota composition and fermentation activity with a strong focus on the role of breastfeeding on microbiota composition. Yet, microbially formed short-chain fatty acids acetate, propionate and butyrate and other fermentation metabolites such as lactate not only act as substrate for bacterial cross-feeding and as mediators in microbe–host interactions but also confer antimicrobial activity, which has received considerably less attention in the past research. It was the aim of this study to investigate the nutritional–microbial interactions that contribute to the development of infant gut microbiota with a focus on human milk oligosaccharide (HMO) fermentation. Infant fecal microbiota composition, fermentation metabolites and milk composition were analyzed from 69 mother-infant pairs of the Swiss birth cohort Childhood AlleRgy nutrition and Environment (CARE) at three time points depending on breastfeeding status defined at the age of 4 months, using quantitative microbiota profiling, HPLC-RI and 1H-NMR. We conducted in vitro fermentations in the presence of HMO fermentation metabolites and determined the antimicrobial activity of lactate and acetate against major Clostridiaceae and Peptostreptococcaceae representatives. Our data show that fucosyllactose represented 90% of the HMOs present in breast milk at 1- and 3-months post-partum with fecal accumulation of fucose, 1,2-propanediol and lactate indicating fermentation of HMOs that is likely driven by Bifidobacterium. Concurrently, there was a significantly lower absolute abundance of Peptostreptococcaceae in feces of exclusively breastfed infants at 3 months. In vitro, lactate inhibited strains of Peptostreptococcaceae. Taken together, this study not only identified breastfeeding dependent fecal microbiota and metabolite profiles but suggests that HMO-derived fermentation metabolites might exert an inhibitory effect against selected gut microbes.

Achieving acoustic comfort in the library: a sound masking initiative

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the sources of noise generation in a library and suggest the implementation of a sound masking system to provide acoustic comfort, maintain speech privacy and create an environment more engaging for the users. Design/methodology/approach Analyzing the existing literature and exploring the existing practices as observed in different libraries, the study gives an overview of the sound masking initiatives in libraries. Findings With practical examples of libraries, the study demonstrates how a sound masking system has been implemented to invoke better acoustic design in the library. The expansion of various activities in the library and a gradual shift from individual attention to a collaborative approach necessitates a strong focus on the acoustic design architecture of the library. The study showcases how the libraries adopt sound masking with the introduction of acoustic panels, dual panel partitions, sound-absorbent false ceilings, sound insulation, sound isolation and noise-dampening measures, installing furniture with sound containment features, adopting vibration control mechanism, mounting of white noise machines, etc., keeping the aesthetic quotient of the library alive. Originality/value The study attempts to show the current practices of the adoption of the sound masking system in libraries and promotes collaborative reading with the creation of an acoustic design-influenced library environment to control noise and reverberation and provide a comfortable reading environment.

An Empirical Retrospect of the Causal Effect of Government Education Spending on Growth in a Neoclassical Growth Model

There has been consensus on the notion that education results in economic prosperity and growth in many countries. This has resulted in a strong focus on education policy, with large investments and a lot of public debates concerning the subject. Various schools of thought have made differing suggestions about how government spending impacts economic growth over the years. The Keynesian view is that there is a positive relationship between government spending and economic growth, where the causal effect runs from government spending to economic growth. Conversely, the Neo-classical school asserts that the relationship between the two variables is negative. The topic, therefore, remains a debatable issue. The present study, therefore, tests the causal effect of education expenditure on economic growth in South Africa for the period 1994 to 2021, with the aid of the autoregressive distributed lag approach. Consistent with Keynesian theory, the study results confirm the positive impact of government spending on economic growth. A Granger causal relationship exists between government education expenditure and economic growth, indicating that over time, education expenditure positively impacts economic growth through human capital. This implies that investing (spending) in education is critical in promoting economic growth, especially in the long term.

CLEF. A Linked Open Data Native System for Crowdsourcing

Collaborative data collection initiatives are increasingly becoming pivotal to cultural institutions and scholars, to boost the population of born-digital archives. For over a decade, organisations have been leveraging Semantic Web technologies to design their workflows, ensure data quality, and a means for sharing and reusing (Linked Data). Crucially, scholarly projects that leverage cultural heritage data to collaboratively develop new resources would benefit from agile solutions to simplify the Linked Data production workflow via user-friendly interfaces. To date, only a few pioneers have abandoned legacy cataloguing and archiving systems to fully embrace the Linked Open Data (LOD) paradigm and manage their catalogues or research products through LOD-native management systems. In this article we present Crowdsourcing Linked Entities via web Form (CLEF) , an agile LOD-native platform for collaborative data collection, peer-review, and publication. We detail design choices as motivated by two case studies, from the Cultural Heritage and scholarly domains respectively, and we discuss benefits of our solution in the light of prior works. In particular, the strong focus on user-friendly interfaces for producing FAIR data, the provenance-aware editorial process, and the integration with consolidated data management workflows, distinguish CLEF as a novel attempt to develop Linked Data platforms for cultural heritage.

The trade-sustainability nexus: the evolution of the European Commission’s trade and sustainable development discourse from 1993 to 2022

ABSTRACT This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the European Commission’s trade and sustainable development discourse from 1993 to 2022. By employing a discursive institutionalist framework and examining a comprehensive corpus of over 1,400 press documents, this study traces the discursive process that has created both significant changes to, and persistent elements in, the Commission’s trade-sustainability agenda. The analysis reveals noteworthy shifts within the discourse, notably a transition from a primary concern with labour and human rights during the 1990s to an increased focus on economic development and poverty reduction in the early 2000s. This was followed by a discernible move towards more stringent differentiation among developing countries and an amplified emphasis on reciprocity. In recent years, we are witnessing a strong focus on environmental and climate protection, labour rights, and enforceability. The findings underscore the enduring presence of trade-sustainability ideas within EU trade policy and their gradual evolution over time, while contributing to the literature on the role of ideas in shaping the Union’s external policies.

The FIRE-IN project: Tsunami-risk related practitioner challenges and 3rd cycle overall results.

This article summarizes the methodology for the identification of practitioners' challenges, in the context of the H2020 funded project FIRE-IN (Fire and Rescue Innovation Network) activities. The project consisted of five thematic areas or "Thematic Working Groups", as they are called, i.e., Search and Rescue Emergency Response, Structure Fires, Landscape Fires Crisis Mitigation, Natural Hazard Mitigation and Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear and Explosives, and three iterations, each one including the identification of capability challenges, the screening for solutions, that can potentially address these challenges, and the request for ideas regarding future innovations that will complement already existing ones and will assist in covering capability gaps. This article focuses on the natural hazard mitigation working group and tsunamis in the Mediterranean region as a case study for the 3rd and last iteration of the project. The scenario of a tsunami occurrence in the Mediterranean is the basis for the FIRE-IN 3rd cycle workshop, as an indicative example of a high impact - low probability event, which aims to identify practitioners' Future Common Capability Challenges in Europe. The current status of the tsunami hazard in Europe, national and international tsunami risk mitigation measures and procedures and operational experience from recent events are also discussed. Focus is provided on the natural hazard mitigation and tsunami related practitioners' challenges, while results from the FIRE-IN request for ideas process and the interaction between practitioners, researchers and industry are also discussed. The aim is to present practitioners' current and future capability challenges , one of the main outcomes of the FIRE-IN project, and to provide further guidelines to stakeholders of disaster management towards a safer Europe, mainly, through preparedness and adaptation for stronger and resilient societies.

Using history to protect children from extremist ideologies: The example of Noor Magazine in Egypt

In the past few years, cultural institutions in the Arab world have increased their interest in introducing history for children through different media channels, including printed magazines. One of these recent publications is Noor Magazine. One feature of Noor Magazine is its focus on the dissemination of Egyptian and Arabic and Islamic history along with its aim to protect children from extremist ideology. The present study aims to analyze the history presented in Noor Magazine in relation to how it may promote social welfare. The results of the present study show a rather great diversity among the included historical topics, which range from ancient Egyptian history to modern history, Arabic and Islamic history, and also world history. In regards to how this history is presented, there is a strong focus on politico-pedagogical, ideological, and moral uses of history, where children are presented with positive and character-building examples from the historical past to serve contemporary interests. A final prominent result is a focus on a traditional grand-narrative approach to the historical past where children are invited to learn about historical facts, rather than critically assess or engage with the historical narratives they are presented with and thus foster inclusive historical culture.

Mathematical models of developmental vascular remodelling: A review.

Over the past 40 years, there has been a strong focus on the development of mathematical models of angiogenesis, while developmental remodelling has received little such attention from the mathematical community. Sprouting angiogenesis can be seen as a very crude way of laying out a primitive vessel network (the raw material), while remodelling (understood as pruning of redundant vessels, diameter control, and the establishment of vessel identity and hierarchy) is the key to turning that primitive network into a functional network. This multiscale problem is of prime importance in the development of a functional vasculature. In addition, defective remodelling (either during developmental remodelling or due to a reactivation of the remodelling programme caused by an injury) is associated with a significant number of diseases. In this review, we discuss existing mathematical models of developmental remodelling and explore the important contributions that these models have made to the field of vascular development. These mathematical models are effectively used to investigate and predict vascular development and are able to reproduce experimentally observable results. Moreover, these models provide a useful means of hypothesis generation and can explain the underlying mechanisms driving the observed structural and functional network development. However, developmental vascular remodelling is still a relatively new area in mathematical biology, and many biological questions remain unanswered. In this review, we present the existing modelling paradigms and define the key challenges for the field.

Maximizing Training and Mentorship in Sex as a Biological Variable Research Across Different Brain-Body Disorders.

The Specialized Center of Research Excellence (SCORE) on sex differences at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has a long track record studying bidirectional interactions between different organs and the brain in health and disease with a strong focus on sex as a biological variable (SABV). While the initial focus was on brain-gut interactions in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), one of the most common disorders of gut-brain interaction, the scope of our Center's research has expanded to a range of different diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, alcohol use disorder, obesity, urological chronic pelvic pain syndrome, and vulvodynia. This expansion of research focused on the role of brain-body and brain-gut microbiome interactions in these various disorders, aligning well with the increasing importance of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary team science. The SCORE's Career Enhancement Core (CEC) has modeled team science as applied to SABV research, with educational and training opportunities, a mentoring program, seed grant funding, and other career development experiences that enable mentees to work across the disciplines involved in brain body research. The CEC goals are: (1) To provide seed grant funds for innovative research relevant to the overall SCORE mission and research program; (2) to recruit and foster the career development of students, trainees, and junior investigators who conduct research focused on sex differences or women's health in IBS and chronic constipation and other brain-gut disorders; (3) to facilitate and promote collaboration between the UCLA SCORE and other academic programs involved in women's health education and research; and (4) to promote the importance of SABV through community outreach using collaborative and innovative approaches. These goals focus on establishing the leading research center in sex differences in basic, translational, and clinical aspects of brain-body interactions and on providing women and underrepresented individuals with research opportunities needed to become independent investigators.

Simulation of Eddy Current Rail Testing Data for Neural Networks

The present work is part of the AIFRI project (Artificial Intelligence For Rail Inspection), where we and our project partners train a neural network for defect detection and classification. Our goal at BAM is to generate artificial ultrasound and eddy current training data for the A.I. This paper has an exploratory nature, where we focus on the simulation of eddy current signals for head check cracks, one of the most important rail surface defects. The goal of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, we present our general simulation setup. This includes geometric models for head check cracks with features like branching and direction change, a model for the HC10 rail testing probe, and the configuration of the Faraday simulation software. On the other hand, we use the Faraday software to simulate eddy current testing signals with a strong focus on the influence of the damage depth on the signal, while differentiating between different crack geometries. Here, we observe an early saturation effect of the test signal at a damage depth of 2 mm (at a crack angle of 25◦ to the surface). That is about 2 mm earlier than we would expect from measurements at a crack angle of 90◦ . This behavior will be investigated further in a future paper. Finally, we interpolate the simulated signals in a two-step curve fitting process. With these interpolations we may generate eddy current test signals for any damage depth within the simulated range.

Summer heatwaves, wind production and electricity demand in Southern Europe: climatic conditions and impacts

Electricity demand for cooling and heating is directly related to weather and climate, primarily through ambient temperature. In Southern Europe, the maximum electricity demand for cooling in summer can be more pronounced than in winter, especially during heat wave (HW) episodes. With the growth of renewable technologies in the energy mix, the dependency of the electricity system on the weather is becoming evident not just from the demand side, but also from the energy supply side. From the resources point of view, summer wind presents a minimum on its annual cycle, so a combination of maximum electricity demand can coincide with a minimum of wind power production. This study presents a strong multidisciplinary focus, merging climate, energy and environmental discipline, due to their relevant connections in Southern Europe where important climate change stresses are expected. The combined anomalies of electricity demand and wind production during heat wave episodes are quantified at the country level, taking into account the HW extension. The summer period (1989-2019) of ERA5 reanalysis and E-OBS-21.0e data is used for atmospheric magnitudes and the Copernicus climate change service (C3S) energy dataset for demand. In heat wave events, an increase of 3.5%–10.6% in electricity demand and a decrease up to −30.8% in wind power production is obtained, with variability depending on the country. The greater the extension of the HW, the greater the anomalies. Different weather regimes related to heatwaves also play a role on this range of values. Therefore, the impact of extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, on wind power production in conditions of high electricity demand, should be considered in the energy supply strategy and planning in order to minimize the impact of these events on an electricity system with high penetration of renewables.

Which estimation method to choose in network psychometrics? Deriving guidelines for applied researchers.

The Gaussian graphical model (GGM) has recently grown popular in psychological research, with a large body of estimation methods being proposed and discussed across various fields of study, and several algorithms being identified and recommend as applicable to psychological data sets. Such high-dimensional model estimation, however, is not trivial, and algorithms tend to perform differently in different settings. In addition, psychological research poses unique challenges, including placing a strong focus on weak edges (e.g., bridge edges), handling data measured on ordered scales, and relatively limited sample sizes. As a result, there is currently no consensus regarding which estimation procedure performs best in which setting. In this large-scale simulation study, we aimed to overcome this gap in the literature by comparing the performance of several estimation algorithms suitable for Gaussian and skewed ordered categorical data across a multitude of settings, as to arrive at concrete guidelines from applied researchers. In total, we investigated 60 different metrics across 564,000 simulated data sets. We summarized our findings through a platform that allows for manually exploring simulation results. Overall, we found that an exchange between discovery (e.g., sensitivity, edge weight correlation) and caution (e.g., specificity, precision) should always be expected, and achieving both-which is a requirement for perfect replicability-is difficult. Further, we identified that the estimation method is best chosen in light of each research question and have highlighted, alongside desirable asymptotic properties and low sample size discovery, results according to most common research questions in the field. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Ecological correlates of adolescents' sense of agency: Are there differences for boys and girls?

Although the literature recognizes the relevance of sense of agency during adolescence, little is known about which factors can promotes or undermines this belief. Identifying the factors that determine adolescents' sense of agency is a challenging task that must consider influences assessed at both the individual and structural levels for a more comprehensive understanding. Guided by assumptions of the ecological model of human development, this study analyzes the contribution of adolescents' age, cumulative family disadvantage, peer relationships, student-teacher ratio, and school's goal structure to adolescents' sense of agency and explore if these links vary according to their sex. The sample comprised 1189 adolescents (15–18 years) and 18 school heads. Family disadvantage and peer alienation were associated with a lower sense of agency regardless of sex. Trustful peer relationships were linked to a stronger sense of agency for boys. Schools with a high student-teacher ratio and a strong focus on performance can undermine girls' sense of agency. Regardless of sex, adolescents who attended schools with lower performance and higher mastery goals showed a stronger sense of agency than adolescents who attended schools with both low performance and mastery. Findings are discussed based on ecological approach of human agency and attachment theory.

Investigating the knowledge gap in research on climate and land use change impacts on water resources, with a focus on groundwater resources in South Africa: a bibliometric analysis

Climate and land use change (CLUC) impact studies on water and groundwater resources have evolved in recent years. To determine whether all research gaps have been or are being addressed through the current intellectual structure, a bibliometric analysis, as well as a record review, was enacted to determine the intellectual structure of CLUC impacts on water resources, with a particular focus on the implications for groundwater resources research in the Breede Gouritz Water Management Area (BGWMA) in South Africa. Methods applied included publication-related trends and science mapping. This study found that CLUC impact research being published has increased by 600% between 2014 and 2021, localised research is being done in 95 countries, and land use change (LUC), specifically urbanisation, is being considered more often as a variable. However, a few gaps in the research remain, including smaller spatiotemporal scales in more locations, a stronger focus on LUC in all its forms, LUC versus climate change (CC) impact studies, and multi-modal approaches to related research. CLUC impacts on water and groundwater resources research have made significant progress over the years, but more research is necessary to make this a robust area of research.