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This piece documents the collaboration between a team of four University of Pennsylvania students and seven youth partners from across the Greater Philadelphia area who came together to discuss, understand, and take action toward civic issues impacting their communities. As youth arrived at the Civic Engagement Summer Program, a joint Philadelphia Youth Network and Netter Center for Community Partnerships High School Voter Project iteration, alongside adult facilitators, they navigated the complexities of civic literacy discussions and spaces. Together, the adult facilitators and youth participants engaged in dialogue about local government, pervasive gun violence impacting their communities, and voter registration inequities. This piece centers the following inquiries: What happens when educators consider the self-efficacy youth have with regard to addressing civic issues in their communities? What out-of-school civic literacy spaces and experiences might youth need to feel empowered to use their voices? What are the ways in which youths' existing literacies and knowledge inform the way they talk about the issues they wish to address? What role do local universities have in working with youth through educational forums to learn more about the roles voting and local government play in ameliorating community issues, such as gun violence? Furthermore, this piece considers how these questions arose as the collaborative worked toward shared goals together (Plummer et al., 2019). To address these collaborative inquiries, the team highlights five aspects of the Civic Engagement Summer partnership that enabled facilitators and youth to build trust: sustaining community partnerships, highlighting youths' existing funds of knowledge (Moll et al., 1992), cultivating civic efficacy, reimagining critical civic literacy alongside youth, navigating intergenerational relationships and learning, and centering relationships (Campano, Ghiso & Welch, 2018; Plummer et al., 2019). With youths' consent, this article shares the history of the Civic Engagement Summer, and the discussions and experiences sparked by the 2023 iteration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offshore floating wind turbines may undergo swaying motions, resulting in significant changes in the wake wind field characteristics of the wind turbine, which can seriously affect the applicability and accuracy of existing wake models. This paper systematically investigates the turbulent wake flows of floating wind turbine with swaying motion based on an improved actuator disk method (ADM). The improved ADM is introduced to reproduce the wake flows of wind turbines, and the characteristics of the turbulent wind fields (i.e., mean wind velocity, turbulence intensity and Reynolds stress) are verified by wind tunnel tests. Furthermore, the wind fields of a floating wind turbine with different swaying amplitudes under turbulent atmospheric boundary layer are simulated, and the mean wind fields and turbulent statistics are analyzed. The performance of various existing wake models (i.e., Jensen model, modified Jensen model and Gaussian model) are compared, and a Gaussian-Shear wake model is proposed for floating wind turbines, which can account for non-uniform inflow and accommodate different swaying amplitudes. The results indicate that the proposed Gaussian-Shear wake model outperforms the other three models in describing the wake flows of floating wind turbines with swaying motions, which can be used for layout optimization and yaw control of offshore floating wind turbines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of new towns is one of the main measures to evacuate urban populations and promote regional coordination and urban–rural integration in China. Mining the spatio-temporal pattern of new town hot spots based on multivariate data and analyzing the influencing factors of new town construction hot spots can provide a strategic basis for new town construction, but few researchers have extracted and analyzed the influencing factors of new town internal hot spots and their classification. In order to define the key points of Wuhan's new town construction and promote the construction of new cities in an orderly and efficient manner, this paper first constructs a space-time cube based on the luminous remote sensing data from 2010 to 2019, extracts hot spots and emerging hot spots in Wuhan New City, selects 14 influencing factor indicators such as population density, and uses bivariate Moran's index to analyze the influencing factors of hot spots, indicating that the number of bus stops and vegetation coverage rate are the most significant. Secondly, the disorderly multivariate logistic regression model is used to analyze the influencing factors of emerging hot spots. The results show that population density, vegetation coverage, road density, distance to water bodies, and distance to train stations are the most significant factors. Finally, based on the analysis results, some relevant suggestions for the construction of Wuhan New City are proposed, providing theoretical support for the planning and policy guidance of new cities, and offering reference for the construction of new towns in other cities, promoting the construction of high-quality cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our study, we employed an interdisciplinary approach to study the diverse parts of the Missale Nidrosiense, published in 1519. Our aim was a thorough investigation of the materials used and the manufacturing methods that may give indications on dating and provenance of the components of the book and where the book was bound. Initially, visual and multispectral methods were employed to investigate the books' components, printing technology and bookbinding structure. Subsequently, other methods were applied: the composition of metallic components was determined by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF). Pigments, printing inks and binders were characterised by using a combination of XRF and synchrotron-based infrared microscopy. Non-invasive dendrochronology based on X-ray tomography was utilised, to indicate date and provenance of the wooden boards of the book. Additionally, we used a biocodicological approach to identify the species of animal used in the parchment. This resulted in a complete biography of the book. We were able to acquire new information about the materials used and their provenance. This provides new information about craft, economy, trade and commercial exchange in the beginning of the sixteenth century in North-west Scandinavia, despite the lack of written documentation from this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polychlorinated dibenzo-para-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) (collectively PCDD/Fs) are toxic and persistent contaminants produced as unintentional by-products of anthropogenic activities. Human exposure to PCDD/Fs occurs primarily through consumption of contaminated food, though point-source soil contamination can also meaningfully contribute to exposure. Environmental soil quality guidelines (ESQGs) for PCDD/Fs have been developed worldwide. In Canada, the 2002 federal ESQG of 4 ng/kg has been adopted by most provinces and is based on limited background soil data. In the remaining provinces, ESQGs derived to be protective of human health range from 15 ng/kg to 95 ng/kg. Internationally, 70% of human health protective ESQGs adopted since 2010 range from 20 ng/kg to 120 ng/kg. Considering the consistency in human health protective ESQGs observed worldwide, the ongoing inputs of PCDD/Fs to the environment and the evolving scientific understanding of PCDD/F toxicity over the last two decades, the federal ESQG appears outdated. As ESQGs are of specific importance in the management of contaminated sites, they must remain protective of human health without being unreasonably cautious. Federal agency review and update of the ESQG for PCDD/Fs appears warranted and should consider the establishment of a risk-based guideline protective of human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important component contributing to the onset of epilepsy is the death of hippocampal neurons. Several studies have shown that Dravet syndrome model mice: Scn1a KO mice have a high number of apoptotic neurons following seizures, but the precise mechanism underlying this remains unclear. The aim of this research was to elucidate the potential molecular mechanism of neuronal apoptosis in Scn1a KO mice by integrating proteomics and transcriptomics, with the ultimate goal of offering better neuroprotection. We found that apoptotic processes were enriched in both proteomic and transcriptomic GO analyses, and KEGG results also indicated that differential proteins and genes play a role in neurotransmission, the cell cycle, apoptosis, and neuroinflammation. Then, we examined the upstream and downstream KGML interactions of the pathways to determine the relationship between the two omics, and we found that the HIF-1 signaling pathway plays a significant role in the onset and apoptosis of epilepsy. Meanwhile, the expression of the apoptosis-related protein VHL decreased in this pathway, and the expression of p21 was upregulated. Therefore, this study suggests that VHL/HIF-1α/p21 might be involved in the apoptosis of hippocampal neurons in Scn1a KO mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This research examines the nuanced challenges confronting Chinese university students within the dynamic milieu of Chinese education. The study comprehensively investigates factors encompassing educational progress, social development, cognitive focus, and Psychological Well-being (PWB), specifically emphasizing the role of sports participation. Methods: To scrutinize the moderation-mediation nexus between cultural context and social development, a distribution of 500 questionnaires was administered to Chinese university students, yielding 413 responses, corresponding to an 82.6% response rate. Methodologically, this study employed moderation and mediation analyses, incorporating statistical techniques such as a principal component matrix, factor analysis, and hierarchical regression. Findings: Prominent findings underscore the significant impact of age on educational progress, shaping the trajectory of academic advancement. Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) emerges as a promising metric, establishing a link between academic performance and educational progress. Active involvement in sports and physical activities (PSPA) positively affects academic performance and study habits. Participation in sports teams and clubs (ISTC) enriches social development by nurturing interpersonal relationships, teamwork, and leadership skills. Sports activities (ESA) correlate with enhanced cognitive focus and improved psychological well-being. Significantly, the findings unveil a nuanced association between Perceived Social Development Through Sports (PSDTS) and educational progress. Conclusions: Cultural Context (CC) moderates PSDTS, Sport-induced Cognitive Focus (SICF), and PWB, influencing educational progress. This study emphasizes the need for enhanced support systems—academic guidance, awareness, sports programs, and cultural competence training—to advance student well-being and academic achievement in China, fostering an empowering educational environment for societal progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]