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Retinal Detachment (RD) is one of the major problems with retinal disorder patients. Till to date there existing no confirmatory sign or marker on retina for the early detection of RD. Therefore, patients may have sudden RD at any time of their life. Moreover, it is completely dependent upon the subjective judgement of ophthalmologist to make the final diagnostic decision on RD. To support the decision making process for the ophthalmologist, in this article we proposed RDNet, a SqueezeNet architecture based deep learning model for the early detection of RD. We used publicly available dataset of 1017 images covering rhegmatogenous RD and control group. The proposed model built on this image set achieved 97.55% sensitivity, 99.26% specificity and 98.23% accuracy in detecting RD. The proposed model outperformed the existing models for the same purpose with the highest area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.995. We believe our model will support the early detection of RD in clinical setup and assist the ophthalmologist in identifying RD at its early stage.

This introduction synthesizes the research presented by the contributors to this special issue to explore sustainable educational practices for refugees. A common thread across the articles is that they share components of Nel Noddings’ ethics of care framework, which emphasizes establishing welcoming, nurturing, and supportive environments that enable refugees to build meaningful relationships while honoring their cultural identities. We recommend action steps gleaned from the 11 papers in this issue that call for the concerted efforts of all those involved. Central to this vision are teachers, who serve as the backbone of the education system; however, to fulfill this role, they must be equipped with the necessary resources and skills to foster culturally responsive educational environments that emphasize students’ identities and provide equitable learning. This introduction underscores the importance of holistic and relational approaches as foundational to achieving sustainable educational equity for refugee learners.

We report that the neutral hydrogen (H i) mass density of the Universe (ρH i) increases with cosmic time since z ∼ 5, peaks at z ∼ 3, and then decreases toward z ∼ 0. This is the first result of Qz5, our spectroscopic survey of 63 quasars at z ≳ 5 with VLT/X-SHOOTER and Keck/ESI aimed at characterizing intervening H i gas absorbers at z ∼ 5. The main feature of Qz5 is the high resolution (R ∼ 7000–9000) of the spectra, which allows us to (1) accurately detect high column density H i gas absorbers in an increasingly neutral intergalactic medium at z ∼ 5 and (2) determine the reliability of previous ρH i measurements derived with lower resolution spectroscopy. We find five intervening damped Lyα absorbers (DLAs) at z > 4.5, which corresponds to the lowest DLA incidence rate () at z ≳ 2. We also measure the lowest ρH i at z ≳ 2 from our sample of DLAs and subDLAs, corresponding to ρH i Mpc−3 at z ∼ 5. Taking into account our measurements at z ∼ 5 and systematic biases in the DLA detection rate at lower spectral resolutions, we conclude that ρH i doubles from z ∼ 5 to z ∼ 3. From these results emerges a qualitative agreement between how the cosmic densities of H i gas mass, molecular gas mass, and star formation rate build up with cosmic time.

Propaganda in the first half of the 20th century is usually associated with the atrocity stories from World War I and the anti-Semitic propaganda of the Nazi regime and World War II. This chapter provides a brief overview of the history of propaganda and propaganda theory before turning its attention to a theory of propaganda in civil war. It argues that what makes propaganda in a civil war unique is that it is a combination of both political and war propaganda. Current research on propaganda theory emphasizes that propaganda is in service of an ideology and focuses on propaganda as disseminating information that tries to avoid reason and veracity. The chapter argues that propagandists in a civil war setting are presenting the ‘truth’ as they understand it. Informed by Carl Schmitt’s “friend/enemy” distinction in his Concept of the Political, the author argues that each side argued and was convinced that they represented the values and interests of the nation and its people, and that because the stakes of the conflict were so high that all actions could be justified.

We report the measurements of proton-deuteron (p-d) and deuteron-deuteron (d-d) correlation functions in Au+Au collisions at sNN = 3 GeV using fixed-target mode with the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC). For the first time, the source size (RG), scattering length (f0), and effective range (d0) are extracted from the measured correlation functions with a simultaneous fit. The spin-averaged f0 for p-d and d-d interactions are determined to be -5.28 ± 0.11(stat.) ± 0.82(syst.) fm and -2.62 ± 0.02(stat.) ± 0.24(syst.) fm, respectively. The measured p-d interaction is consistent with theoretical calculations and low-energy scattering experiment results, demonstrating the feasibility of extracting interaction parameters using the femtoscopy technique. The reasonable agreement between the experimental data and the calculations from the transport model indicates that deuteron production in these collisions is primarily governed by nucleon coalescence.

Academic success is now coupled with social media engagement. Social media has become so normalized in the academy that absent a carefully curated social media presence, scholars risk being seen as unscholarly, unproductive, and unpopular. This article lays bare the pressures, mechanisms, and monstrosities of using social media to promote scholarship. We argue that the widespread adoption of social media outpaces critical attention to its ethics and wonder about the future of public scholarship and the monstrous scholarly selves we are becoming. Thinking of monstrosity, with Krecˇicˇ and Žižek, as the preontological domain that rests beneath society and constitutes alterity and otherness, we ask what kinds of #scholarfamousmonsters we want to be, become, and promote in the digital era.

Photovoltaic systems have proven to be one of the most widely used renewable energies and the best replacement for conventional energy. Yet, their non-linear nature remains a challenge when it comes to extracting maximum power from photovoltaic modules. Therefore, in this work, a nonlinear PID controller has been used to meet the requirements of the photovoltaic system. In addition, to improve system performance and response, metaheuristic search algorithms were introduced into the tuning process of both the NPID controller and conventional PID controller parameters in order to compare them. The use of Artificial Intelligence to fine-tune the controller parameters will enable the optimum values of proportional, integral, derivative and nonlinear gains to be determined as system condition change. Finally, a comparison between the algorithms applied is conducted in terms of efficiency, rise time, settling time and overshoot as well as the overall system stability.

Abstract There is an “underrepresentation problem” in philosophy departments and journals. Empirical data suggest that while we have seen some improvements since the 1990s, the rate of change has slowed down. Some posit that philosophy has disciplinary norms making it uniquely resistant to change. We present results from an empirical case study of a philosophy department that achieved and maintained male-female gender parity among its faculty as early as 2014. Our analysis extends beyond matters of gender parity because that is only one, albeit important, dimension of inclusion. We build from the study to reflect on strategies that may catalyze change.

Using a dynamic panel dataset of 150 countries for the period of 2006-2018 and a two-step system GMM estimation model, this paper shows that natural resources have a positive effect on economic development while holding corruption constant. Our findings support the notion that natural resources have a positive effect on the economy of a nation. When a country has less corruption, it improves the appropriation of economic gains from natural resources which serves as natural capital that would drive further capital accumulation and further development. We also find that physical capital, human capital, and freedom from corruption show strong positive effects on economic development, controlling for other economic and institutional variables.

Purpose: In the United States, 15 states maintain policies and 25 states represent some level of edTPA affiliation. This study investigated how the edTPA was integrated and aligned into different physical education teacher education (PETE) programs in New Jersey. It also sought to understand teacher educators’ perceptions and experiences in preparing teacher candidates for the edTPA. Methods: This study utilized three data sources: semistructured interviews (n = 4), one focus group interview (n = 1), and documents (n = 17). Data analysis reflected a conventional approach toward qualitative content analysis. Results: In analyzing the data, four themes were established: (a) benefits and drawbacks of edTPA in PETE, (b) goals and success of edTPA in PETE, (c) integrating edTPA into PETE—macro- and microperspectives, and (d) analytic insights into edTPA and future recommendations. Discussion/Conclusion: In states requiring the edTPA, early exposure, scaffolding, curriculum mapping, and a shared mission and vision are critical. In states not requiring the edTPA, programs may want to consider indicators of performance, such as artifacts, reports, elements of the edTPA, university-based assessments, or a portfolio. Regardless of the type of assessment, “a” performance-based assessment may help to determine teacher candidates’ ability to plan, instruct, assess, and reflect.

Narrative language samples can be used to measure language development in children, but research on narrative development in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children is scarce, limiting knowledge of developmental stages and best practices for collection and analysis. This scoping review included 39 articles that explored recent methodologies and achievements in oral or signed narratives of DHH children, including comparisons with hearing peers and within-group analyses of early auditory experience, device use, and other measures. Articles featured DHH participants aged < 4 to 18 years, varying in device use, communication modalities, and educational settings. Most studies utilized story generation tasks with early elementary-aged children and analyzed either microstructure or macrostructure. Mixed results in comparisons with hearing children emphasized the need to consider individual differences (e.g., speech perception and age of spoken language access) in DHH narrative assessments. Findings also suggest that comparability across studies would be improved by more consistent terminology and procedures in narrative collection/analysis.

Modernism represents an artistic movement that mirrors the changing society of the late 19th century. This changing society produced the first cultural and artistic movement in Spanish America that asked what was this region's place in the Western World as well as what the poet's new function was. Among other issues that revea) the modernity of the movement, such as urbanization, industrialization, or the role of women, there is one of capital importance: the view of masculinity. This essay focuses on three texts that review the image of masculinity and art thought the figure of the faun. El modernismo representa un movimiento artístico que refleja la sociedad cambiante de finales del siglo XIX. Esta sociedad cambiante genera el primer movimiento cultural y artístico continental de importancia que intenta responder a la pregunta ¿cuál es el lugar de Hispanoamérica en el mundo occidental y cuál es la nueva función del poeta? Entre otros aspectos que señalan la modernidad del movimiento (como el urbanismo, la industrialización, el papel de la mujer), hay uno de particular importancia: la revisión de la masculinidad. Este ensayo se centra en tres textos que revisan la visión de la masculinidad y el arte a través de la imagen del fauno.

Visualizing Violence in Francophone Cultures brings together two complex and powerful loci of meaning: violence and the visual. As such, it offers a comprehensive overview from which one can gain a better understanding of the complexity of the visual rhetoric of violence. The visual representations of violence explored in this volume include both fictional works, including, for example, narrative films, graphic novels, and theatre, and non-fictional genres, such as news media and cultural artifacts. This volume’s strength is also grounded in its interdisciplinary approach; by bringing together scholars from a variety of academic fields to examine a broad range of visual artifacts, such as photography, graphic novel, films, paintings, objects, the book offers a substantive corpus focusing on the rhetoric of violence. The essays collected in this volume explore the ways in which visual expressions of violence have infiltrated diverse narrative forms, and, as such, how they both construct and challenge general understandings of contemporary violence. They all chart, with cultural and historical specificity, the way in which images of violence shape the visual imaginary of ethical worlds.

This research explores the social-cognitive factors which lead both women and men to pursue ventures consistent with their gendered social identity, therefore, reinforcing the gender gap in entrepreneurship. We measured the self-assessments of individuals presented with experimentally manipulated entrepreneurial opportunities that were either consistent or inconsistent with their self-reported gender. A theoretical model derived from Social Role Theory is presented and tested. It posits that a gender match (mismatch) with the entrepreneurial opportunity results in higher (lower) reported self-efficacy, anticipated social resources, and venture desirability and lower (higher) venture risk perceptions. The experimental data are tested in a sequential mediation SEM model. We find evidence that self-efficacy and anticipated social resources mediate the effect of gender congruency on perceived risk and venture desirability. The results provide insight into the insidious barriers that play a role in reproducing a gender gap in entrepreneurial outcomes by ‘nudging’ women into lower-return ventures in less lucrative industries.

From the seclusion of monastic life to the noise of Silicon Valley, the ancient practice of mindfulness has ‘come out of the cloister.’ As an antidote to mindless cognition and behavior, the practice of mindfulness—with its principle of grounding attention in the present moment—has been shown to have powerful and positive effects at both the individual and the collective level and in fields as wide-ranging as medicine, schooling, prison programs, law and negotiation, business, and even the army. This installment of Marketing & Technology introduces mindfulness to managers and explores its potential for enhancing the service encounter. We begin by reviewing the two main conceptualizations of mindfulness: the cognitive and the contemplative. We then explore the service encounter from the perspective of emotional labor and show how mindfulness can change surface acting into deep acting, thereby significantly improving the service encounter for both the consumer and provider. We also explore the other benefits of mindfulness and their application to the service encounter: adaptability, flexibility, and creativity. We conclude by sharing resources for managers interested in implementing mindfulness training.