The kalivarjya concerning the prohibition of initiation during the celebration of the Vedic sattra rituals

2022

The subject of kalivarjyas, their origin, and their place within Brahmanical ideology has attracted keen interest from various scholars. Indeed, the kalivarjyas constitute ‘exceptions’ to the dharmic norm that seem to invalidate the authority of the dharma itself. However, they allow us to verify how the dharma has been constantly adapted to the new requirements that have emerged with the transformations that have taken place in India over time in the religious and socio-political spheres. Among the kalivarjyas, some refer to the field of śrauta rituals, and the one concerning the prohibition of the sattradīkṣā, i.e., the initiation on the celebration of Vedic rituals of the sattra type, ap…

Nuovi dati sulla paleoecologia del sito pleistocenico di San Teodoro (Acquedolci, Messina)

2022

La Grotta di San Teodoro (ST) è uno dei siti preistorici più importanti del Mediterraneo cen-trale. Da pochi anni il sito è oggetto di una ripre-sa delle attività di analisi stratigrafica, geologica, geochimica e paleontologia, alla luce di una colla-borazione tra il Parco Archeologico di Tindari e l’Università degli Studi di Palermo.

Studio preliminare su composizione e provenienza di ocra dalla sepoltura epigra-vettiana di Grotta d’Oriente A, Favignana (Egadi, Sicilia)

2022

La Grotta d’Oriente, sull’isola di Favignana (Egadi, Sicilia) ha restituito una serie di sepolture e resti umani ascrivibili all’Epigravettiano finale e al Mesolitico. La Sepoltura cosiddetta Oriente A, epigravettiana, è caratterizzata da un corredo fittile consistente in conchiglie e in un ciottolo con tracce di ocra rossa. Da un punto di vista della ricostruzione ar-cheologica e della definizione degli scenari di ecologia preistorica è molto importante la caratterizzazione chimica e la deter-minazione della provenienza di questo pigmento che, com’è noto, caratterizza molti scenari paleolitici. La ricerca presenta i dati preliminari dell’analisi SEM/EDS/EDAX dei pigmenti ocracei prelevati …

Aggressivität, Assertivität und sexuelle Devianz: Eine empirisch-quantitative Prüfung der Stoller’schen Perversionstheorie

2022

Aggressiveness, assertiveness, and sexual deviance: An empirical-quantitative examination of Stoller's perversion theoryObjectives: The main aim of the present study was to empirically examinate the psychodynamic-founded perversion theory of Robert D. Stoller (1979), particularly his assumption of a transformation of aggressive impulses into sexual deviant fantasies due to traumatic experiences. Methods: In the present study different aspects of the theory were examined by using a sample (N = 954) of individuals convicted of sexually motivated offenses who had been clinically and forensically assessed between 2002 and 2018 at the Federal Evaluation Centre for Violent and Sexual Offenders (F…

Highly selective recovery of Ni(II) in neutral and acidic media using a novel Ni(II)-ion imprinted polymer

2022

In this work, an original ion-imprinted polymer (IIP) was synthetized for the highly selective removal of Ni(II) ions in neutral and acidic media. First a novel functional monomer (AMP-MMA) was synthetized through the amidation of 2-(aminomethyl)pyridine (AMP) with methacryloylchloride. Following Ni(II)/AMP-MMA complex formation study, the Ni(II)-IIP was produced via inverse suspension polymerization (DMSO in mineral oil) and characterized with solid state 13C CPMAS NMR, FT-IR, SEM and nitrogen adsorption/desorption experiments. The Ni(II)-IIP was then used in solid-phase extraction of Ni(II) exploring a wide range of pH (from neutral to strongly acidic solution), several initial concentrat…

Electric Conductivity Study of Porous Polyvinyl Alcohol/Graphene/Clay Aerogels: Effect of Compression.

2022

In this work, poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH)/graphene (GN) oxide/clay aerogels were prepared using montmorillonite (MMT) and kaolinite (KLT) as fillers. This work paves the way for the development of aerogels filled with MMT or KLT with high conductivity. The mechanical properties of the polymer/clay aerogels are enhanced by incorporating GN into these systems. These composite materials have an enhanced thermal stability, and the combination of PVOH and GN leads to interconnected channels which favored the conductivity when a clay (MMT or KLT) is added to the mixed PVOH/GN matrix. However, after compressing the samples, the conductivities drastically decreased. These results show that the desig…

A new measure for the attitude to mobility of Italian students and graduates: a topological data analysis approach

2022

AbstractStudents’ and graduates’ mobility is an interesting topic of discussion especially for the Italian education system and universities. The main reasons for migration and for the so called brain drain, can be found in the socio-economic context and in the famous North–South divide. Measuring mobility and understanding its dynamic over time and space are not trivial tasks. Most of the studies in the related literature focus on the determinants of such phenomenon, in this paper, instead, combining tools coming from graph theory and Topological Data Analysis we propose a new measure for the attitude to mobility. Each mobility trajectory is represented by a graph and the importance of the…

The realization of autonomous, aircraft-based, real-time aerosol mass spectrometry in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere

2022

We report on the developments that enabled the field deployment of a fully automated aerosol mass spectrometer, especially designed for high-altitude measurements on unpressurized aircraft. The merits of the two main categories of real-time aerosol mass spectrometry, i.e. (a) single-particle laser desorption and ionization and (b) continuous thermal desorption and electron impact ionization of aerosols, have been integrated into one compact apparatus with the aim to perform in situ real-time analysis of aerosol chemical composition. The demonstrated instrument, named the ERICA (European Research Council Instrument for Chemical composition of Aerosols), operated successfully aboard the high-…

BDNF as a Mediator of Antidepressant Response: Recent Advances and Lifestyle Interactions

2022

Conventional antidepressants are widely employed in several psychiatric and neurologic disorders, yet the mechanisms underlying their delayed and partial therapeutic effects are only gradually being understood. This narrative review provides an up-to-date overview of the interplay between antidepressant treatment and Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) signaling. In addition, the impact of nutritional, environmental and physiological factors on BDNF and the antidepressant response is outlined. This review underlines the necessity to include information on lifestyle choices in testing and developing antidepressant treatments in the future.

The matching effect in persuasive communication about lockdown

2022

Scientific literature about persuasion has shown that the effectiveness of persuasive communication may depend on the match between the affective or cognitive contents of the message and the affective (Need for Affect) or cognitive (Need for Cognition) orientation of the recipient. The present work aims to contribute to studying this effect by considering the context of health-related communication during the SARS-CoV-2 infection. Specifically, we aim to demonstrate that, when the message is characterized by affective and cognitive contents having the same (congruent message) or different valence (incongruent message), the attitude towards the target (i.e., a new lockdown) will be guided by…

Theoretical Development of Polymer-Based Integrated Lossy-Mode Resonance Sensor for Photonic Integrated Circuits

2022

This research was funded by the European Regional Development Fund project “Development of a Novel Microfluidic Device for Label-Free Quantification of Prostate Cancer-Derived Extracellular Vesicles and Analysis of their RNA Content” (PROCEX) (1.1.1.1/20/A/045) and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Program H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2.

The Socio-Material Value of Language Choices in Mozambique and Finland

2022

AbstractThis chapter explores parental choice of language programs from a socio-material standpoint. It uses a DeleuzoGuattarian framework of smooth and striated spaces to understand how parents in Mozambique and Finland position themselves when making choices concerning their children’s language education. We analyzed interviews from Finland and focus groups and policy documents from Mozambique to understand the materialities and social discourses that constitute parental choice. We found that in Finland, materiality as a physical space (e.g., school location) factored into caregivers’ decision making when selecting schools for their children. In Mozambique, in turn, materiality as socioec…

Simplified Energy Model and Multi-Objective Energy Consumption Optimization of a Residential House

2022

Featured Application: The potential application of the proposed model is a computationally inexpensive semi- or fully automated system for the optimization of operation in residential buildings in terms of energy consumption. Some analyses state that buildings contribute to overall energy consumption by 20–40%, which, in the context of the recent geopolitical energy crisis, makes them a critical issue to study. Finding solutions for better energy management in buildings can have a significant impact on the energy sector, thus reducing EU energy dependencies and contributing to the fulfillment of the REPowerEU goals. This paper focuses on proposing a simplified model of a residential house c…

Re-Thinking the global cosmopolis : an analysis of the un-habitat “city we need” policies in Helsinki And Sydney

2022

This paper contributes to the sustainability debates concerning the UN Habitat III agenda for 2030 of “leaving no one behind.” I mainly focus on how the ideas of the classical cosmopolis are manifested in contemporary urban policies and strategies. I seek to discuss the similarities between the ancient Greek Cynics’ and Stoics’ concept of cosmopolis and the one more or less explicitly expressed in the UN-Habitat manifesto The City We Need 2.0: Towards a New Urban Paradigm, for explaining/showing/understanding. I do so by examining specific case examples based on the UN-Habitat manifesto: the City of Sydney (A City for All: Towards a Socially Just and Resilient Sydney) and the City of Helsin…

Towards Socio-material Research Approaches in Language Education

2022

AbstractThis chapter outlines the socio-material framing of the book that it opens. We situate this volume materially not only in the discipline of applied linguistics and language education, but also in the long tradition of applied language studies at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland and the community there. In doing so, the book builds on the authors’ roots in social constructionist thought and explicates why an orientation towards new materialism may be useful for a consideration of equity issues in language education. Socio-materialism fosters a critical, transformative perspective and encourages an ontological ethical grounding of research, thus providing a starting point for re…

A Bayesian stable isotope mixing model for coping with multiple isotopes, multiple trophic steps and small sample sizes

2022

We introduce a Bayesian stable isotope mixing model for estimating the relative contributions of different dietary components to the tissues of consumers within food webs. The model is implemented with the probabilistic programming language Stan. The model incorporates isotopes of multiple elements (e.g. C, N, H) for two trophic levels, when the structure of the food web is known. In addition, the model allows inclusion of latent trophic levels (i.e. for which no empirical data are available) intermediate between sources and measured consumers. Running the model in simulations driven by a real dataset from Finnish lakes, we tested the sensitivity of the posterior distributions by altering c…

Deux thèmes libéraux chez Jean-Jacques Rousseau

2022

Dialogue in and as European heritage

2022

In this article, we scrutinize the use and institutionalization of the concept of ‘dialogue’ in the cultural politics of the European Union. Our focus is on how dialogue is understood in the context of the European Union’s flagship heritage action, the European Heritage Label, that aims to strengthen citizens’ sense of belonging to the Union. Since heritage has gained increasing prominence in the European Union international relations, we also discuss how ‘dialogue’ is institutionalized in the European Heritage Label as part of the European Union’s heritage diplomacy. We approach dialogue in the context of the European Heritage Label as a floating signifier; an ideal seldom explicitly defi…

“I Have Karelia in My Soul” – Intra-action of Students, Seniors and Artefacts in a Community-Engaged Service-Learning Collaboration

2022

AbstractIn this chapter we examine a foreign language learning environment in a community-engaged setting in a Canadian city through a new materialist lens. As part of a service-learning project, Canadian students of Finnish language and culture visit a Finnish language seniors’ centre regularly to participate in different activities and spend time with the Finnish-speaking seniors. We examine the assemblage of the participants (seniors and students) and one artefact, a map, and offer a close analysis of the intra-action that takes place during one visit at the centre. In our analysis, our service-learning collaboration does not merely give a voice and agency to seniors. Rather, the seniors…

Effects of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus on Cholesterol Metabolism in Women with High-Risk Pregnancies: Possible Implications for Neonatal Outcome

2022

Metabolic disorders in pregnancy, particularly gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), are associated with an increased risk for adverse pregnancy outcome and long-term cardiometabolic health of mother and child. This study analyzed changes of serum cholesterol synthesis and absorption markers during the course of high-risk pregnancies, with respect to the development of GDM. Possible associations of maternal lipid biomarkers with neonatal characteristics were also investigated. The study included 63 women with high risk for development of pregnancy complications. Size and proportions of small low-density (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) particles were assessed across trimesters (T1&nd…

Rhizoanalysis of Sociomaterial Entanglements in Teacher Interviews

2022

AbstractThis chapter explores how the entangled relationship between the material and social in teachers’ perceptions of change can be empirically investigated. More specifically, the chapter adopts a DeleuzoGuattarian rhizoanalytic assemblage approach and the notion of becoming to capture the dynamic and fluid nature of social and material affects. The study re-analyses three teacher interviews from data sets originally collected for different research purposes but with the theme of change relevant in each interview. The findings show that rhizomatic analysis and approaching interviews as assemblages can yield important insights about material realities. For example, they indicate how teac…

Tau neutrinos in the next decade: from GeV to EeV

2022

Tau neutrinos are the least studied particle in the standard model. This whitepaper discusses the current and expected upcoming status of tau neutrino physics with attention to the broad experimental and theoretical landscape spanning long-baseline, beam-dump, collider, and astrophysical experiments. This whitepaper was prepared as a part of the NuTau2021 Workshop.

Material Change : The Case of Co-located Schools

2022

AbstractIn this chapter, our context is a co-located Swedish and Finnish medium high school campus. From a posthumanist viewpoint, we study the roles and functions of language(s) in the semiotic assemblages of learning environments and ask how language(s) feature as an integral and material part of the change in the spatial repertoire of learning environments. We investigate how the principle of separation of schools by medium of instruction, typical for Finnish education, becomes undermined through a new multilingual soundscape in the co-located schools, where the school community hears and uses many languages every day. In doing this, the co-located schools not only challenge Finnish lang…

Quo Vadis, Orthotrichum pulchellum? A Journey of Epiphytic Moss across the European Continent

2022

Orthotrichum pulchellum is a species of epiphytic moss in which a significant expansion from the oceanic part of Europe to the east of the continent has been observed in the recent two decades. The improvement in air quality in Central and Eastern Europe, but also climate change, probably plays a role in this. This study shows what direction of its spreading we can expect in the future. Ecological niche modeling (ENM) is a widespread method to find out species niches in environmental and geographical space, which allows us to highlight areas that have a higher probability of occurrences of the studied species, based on identifying similar environmental conditions to those already known. We …

The Impact of Financial Development and Macroeconomic Fundamentals on Nonperforming Loans among Emerging Countries: An Assessment Using the NARDL App…

2022

The relationship between financial development indicators and non-performing loans (NPLs) has garnered significant attention, especially in emerging countries. The puzzle of whether financial sector development increases or decreases Non-performing Loans (NPL)s has not been resolved to the satisfaction of the curious mind. This research attempts to answer the above question by studying the asymmetric and symmetric association between financial sector development and NPLs, by utilizing the novel non-linear autoregressive distribution lag (NARDL) and the linear autoregressive distribution lag (ARDL) approach. Moreover, to make the study inclusive, we have added a series of proxies to measure …

Effects of a Resistance Training Protocol on Physical Performance, Body Composition, Bone Metabolism, and Systemic Homeostasis in Patients Diagnosed …

2022

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor impairments and it is correlated with loss of bone mineral density. This study aimed to analyze the effects of resistance training on bone metabolism, systemic homeostasis, body composition, and physical performance in people with PD. Thirteen subjects (age 64.83 ± 5.70) with PD diagnosis were recruited. Participants performed neuromuscular tests, body composition assessment, and blood sample analysis at baseline, and after an 11 weeks-training period. Each training session lasted 90 min, three times a week. The participants had significant improvements in the timed up and go (p < 0.01), sit to stand (p < …

Changes in Language Assessment Through the Lens of New Materialism

2022

AbstractIn this chapter, we analyze English tests that are part of two computerised assessment systems, the Finnish Matriculation Examination and the Danish National Tests. Language assessment is a fruitful field to explore from the perspective of materiality, to better understand what materialities exist in modern language tests and how students interact with such systems. Within the assessment and test-taking space, material objects exist that are imbued with political values and force test-takers to perform in specific ways. We explore what new materialism has to offer for interpreting current trends in language assessment and to what extent these perspectives allow for new insights to e…

Pollution in strategic multilateral exchange: taxing emissions or trading on permit markets?

2022

We introduce polluting emissions in a sequential noncooperative oligopoly model of bilateral exchange. In one sector a leader and a follower use polluting technologies which create negative externalities on the payoffs of strategic traders who belong to the other sector. By modeling emissions as a negative externality, we show that the leader pollutes more (less) than the follower when strategies are substitutes (complements). Then, we consider the implementation of public policies to control the levels of emissions, namely two taxation mechanisms and a permit market. We study the effects of these public policies. Moreover, we determine the conditions under which these public policies can i…

Are Non-Special Dimensions of Proximity in Local Clusters Related? An Analysis of 99 European Clusters

2022

The destructive effects of industries on the environment are the most crucial reason for the need for firms’ proximity to developing innovative activities such as corporate sustainability. However, most prior efforts have focused on the role of different types of proximity in cluster performances, not the relationship among them. Therefore, this study intends to go one step back, discuss the inter-relationships between different types of proximity, and propose them in a conceptual model as the antecedents of corporate sustainability. These factors are known as the non-specific dimensions of proximity within local clusters: cognitive, organisational, institutional, and social, which received…

Prevalence of rapid weight loss in Olympic style wrestlers

2022

Background: The methodology applied for rapid weight loss (RWL) among elite wrestlers is quite unexplored. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence of sources of influence and methods used for RWL and to determine the differences between wrestling styles. Methods: A total of 229 wrestlers who competed at the World Championship held in Belgrade, Serbia, participated in this research. All respondents completed a questionnaire designed to evaluate RWL patterns in combat athletes. Participants were classified according to wrestling style: Greco-Roman, freestyle, and women wrestling. Results: Sixty-nine percent of wrestlers had previously lost weight to compete. Most respon…

Measuring the isotope effect on the gross beryllium erosion in JET

2022

Abstract The isotope effect, hydrogen (H) versus deuterium (D), on the gross beryllium (Be) erosion yield has been measured in ohmic limiter plasmas in JET tokamak by spectroscopic means. A simplified method to extract the effective sputtering yield from the quotient of the radiances of the D α or D γ and the Be II lines at 527 nm was applied. A clear isotope effect has been found, the erosion yield of D being about a factor of 2 larger compared to H in the whole explored plasma density range. This is in agreement with physical sputtering data obtained with H+ and D+ ion beams and also with material surface computer simulations. The already published contribution of chemically assisted phys…

The Ideal Learner as Envisioned by Can Do Statements and Grammar Revisions: How Textbook Agency Is Constructed

2022

AbstractIn this chapter, we analyse the features of textbooks that enable and facilitate their role as material agents in the classroom. Rather than analyse the ways textbooks are used in interaction with humans, we analyse the elements in the textbook itself that facilitate intra-action and the ensuing material agency. Based on a discursive analysis of self-assessment in one textbook and discussing that construct against the Finnish national core curriculum and previous research, we present an ‘ideal imaginary’ of classroom activities as construed in the textbook. This helps us understand the textbooks in their pedagogical ergonomics; i.e. as socio-material in the classroom. We conclude by…

I-MALL An Effective Framework for Personalized Visits. Improving the Customer Experience in Stores

2022

In this paper we present I-MALL, an ICT hardware and software infrastructure that enables the management of services related to places such as shopping malls, showrooms, and conferences held in dedicated facilities. I-MALL offers a network of services that perform customer behavior analysis through computer vision and provide personalized recommendations made available on digital signage terminals. The user can also interact with a social robot. Recommendations are inferred on the basis of the profile of interests computed by the system analysing the history of the customer visit and his/her behavior including information from his/her appearance, the route taken inside the facility, as well…

Efficient estimation of tuned liquid column damper inerter (TLCDI) parameters for seismic control of base‐isolated structures

2022

This paper presents an enhanced base-isolation (BI) system equipped with a novel passive control device composed of a tuned liquid damper and an inerter (TLCDI). With the aim of reducing the seismic response of BI systems, this contribution focuses on the design of the TLCDI providing analytical solutions for the optimal TLCDI parameters, easily implementable in the design phase. The effectiveness of the proposed approach in terms of seismic response reduction and computational gain is validated by comparison with classical numerical optimization techniques. The control performance of two different base-isolated TLCDI-controlled structures is assessed by employing real-ground motion records…

Gone before its known? Camera-trapping shows alarming levels of putative hybrids in the wildcat (Felis silvestris) population of the Gargano National…

2022

Abstract The European wildcat is a small carnivore widespread across Europe and hybridization with the domestic cat is one of the major threats to wildcats. We estimate the population density of wild-living cats (both wildcats and putative hybrids based on pelage) in the Gargano National Park (Southern Italy). We sampled 20 stations for 540 camera days. We obtained 23 images from 17 detections at 10 cameras, and we identified 10 individuals (6 wildcats and 4 putative hybrids). Population density was estimated at 0.34 ± 0.15 SE wild-living cats/km2. The proportion of putative hybrids indicates an alarming hybridization for this population.

Mass measurements towards doubly magic Ni-78 : Hydrodynamics versus nuclear mass contribution in core-collapse supernovae

2022

International audience; We report the first high-precision mass measurements of the neutron-rich nuclei 74,75Ni and the clearly identified ground state of 76Cu, along with a more precise mass-excess value of 78Cu, performed with the double Penning trap JYFLTRAP at the Ion Guide Isotope Separator On-Line (IGISOL) facility. These new results lead to a quantitative estimation of the quenching for the N=50 neutron shell gap. The impact of this shell quenching on core-collapse supernova dynamics is specifically tested using a dedicated statistical equilibrium approach that allows a variation of the mass model independent of the other microphysical inputs. We conclude that the impact of nuclear m…