bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Robotic management of primary cholecystoduodenal fistula: A case report and brief literature review
Authors: Alfonso Anjelica , McFarland Kimberly N. , Savsani Kush , Lee Seung , Imai Daisuke , Khan Aamir , Sharma Amit , Saeed Muhammad , Kumaran Vinay , Cotterell Adrian , Bruno David , Levy Marlon
Published: April 2024

Background

Cholecystoduodenal fistula (CDF) arises from persistent biliary tree disorders, causing fusion between the gallbladder and duodenum. Initially, open resection was common until laparoscopic fistula closure gained popularity. However, complexities within the gallbladder fossa yielded inconsistent outcomes. Advanced imaging and robotic surgery now enhance precision and detection.

Method

A 62‐year‐old woman with chronic cholangitis attributed to cholecystoduodenal fistula underwent successful robotic cholecystectomy and fistula closure.

Results

Postoperatively, the symptoms subsided with no complications during the robotic procedure. Existing studies report favourable outcomes for robotic cholecystectomy and fistula closure.

Conclusions

Our case report showcases a rare instance of successful robotic cholecystectomy with CDF closure. This case, along with a review of previous cases, suggests the potential of robotic surgery as the preferred approach, especially for patients anticipated to face significant laparoscopic morbidity.
Long‐term 4R nitrogen management in dryland wheat–fallow systems
Authors: Yost Matt A. , Cartee Ray , Davis Brad , Cardon Grant , Creech Earl , Rasmussen Phil
Published: April 2024

Several short‐term studies have investigated 4R (right source, rate, time, and place) N management for dryland wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production and profitability, but few long‐term studies exist in the United States or abroad. This study evaluated long‐term impacts of several aspects of 4R N management on dryland hard red wheat yield, protein, and return to N. Experiments were conducted at Nephi and Blue Creek, UT, during 1995–2007. Fourteen N treatments evaluated performance of starter fertilizer, fall applications of anhydrous ammonia (AA) with and without nitrapyrin (AA‐Nitrapyrin and AA, respectively), and several split applications in the fall and spring. Across years, winter wheat required N to increase yield, protein, and returns at both sites. Applying 56 kg N ha−1 as AA in the fall usually produced the best return to N compared to other N treatments. Starter N (6 kg N ha−1) at fall planting rarely increased yield, protein, or returns at either site. Across both sites, nitrapyrin increased mean annual yield by 0.6 Mg ha−1 and mean return to N by $150 ha−1. Spring application of N was rarely required and only increased yield in 13% of the years. Results indicate that nitrapryin is often needed with fall AA applications to optimize yield and returns and that starter N or extra N in the spring are rarely economical in dryland wheat in Utah and possibly the greater Intermountain West. Further, N rate had the most influence among 4Rs on wheat production and should be the focus of future efforts to improve 4R stewardship.
Synthesis and Reactions of 3‐Amino‐5,6‐Dimethyl‐l,2,4‐Triazine: DFT Studies, ADME Assay, and Molecular Docking on the new l,2,4‐Triazine Derivatives as Anticancer Agents.
Authors: Hussain Aisha O. , Hassan Aisha Y. , Abdel‐Aziem Anhar , Abou‐Amra Eman S.
Published: April 2024

Two effective one‐pot synthesis procedures were proposed for the synthesis of 3‐amino‐5,6‐dimethyl‐l,2,4‐triazine under free solvent conditions; these methods included fusing the monohydrazide of biacetyl with either methyl carbamimidothioate (Method B) or cyanamide (Method C). Simple reaction conditions, an easy work‐up process, and facile separation characterize the ecologically friendly fusion process used in techniques B and C. The results from methods B and C indicated the existence of amino‐imino prototropic tautomerism. The triazine in method C had a different melting point and had unusual mass spectral behavior, suggesting that it was in the imino‐tautomer form, as opposed to the amino‐tautomer form discovered in procedure B. The strong electron‐withdrawing activity of the triazine ring appears to deactivate the 3‐amino group, which in turn triggers the production of additional triazine derivatives (3–12), with yields ranging from 54% to 82%. To characterize the structure of the newly synthesized compounds, 1H, 13C‐NMR, and mass spectrometry were employed. The compounds that were created underwent testing at the National Cancer Institute. According to the screening results, conjugates 9 and 10 were successful against most of the cancer cell line subpanels. With the use of DFT, we conducted theoretical studies on compounds 9 and 10. Topological studies, including ELF, LOL, and RDG, were used to identify the main binding sites and weak interactions of the target derivatives. The synthesized compounds that have promising properties are subjected to a pharmacological examination using Swiss‐ADME. Cox‐1 (PDB ID: 3KK6) is the target of molecular docking experiments that aim to identify the anticancer active site of the derivatives of interest.
Recent advances of copolymer for water treatment
Authors: Alruwais Raja Saad , Adeosun Waheed A.
Published: April 2024

Increasing water pollution due to anthropogenic activities prompts the quest for an effective water treatment method. Polymeric materials have gained attention as adsorbents for water purification. Membranes are majorly made from homopolymeric materials. However, recent studies have focused on using copolymeric materials for improved performance. In this review, the basics of copolymerization including various types of copolymers, synthetic approaches, and their applications in various water pollutants removal are discussed in detail. Advances in water treatment technology using copolymeric materials as adsorbent/membranes in the last 4 years are covered with insights into the future outlook and areas of improvement in terms of copolymer composites for water treatment. Studies from the literature did not only reveal effectiveness of copolymer as a flocculant/antifouling materials and in removal of selective toxic metals, oil, and microbes but also demonstrated recyclability of the copolymer sorbents/membrane. Full exploration of unique copolymer textural and structural properties could lead to great advancement in water treatment process.

Practitioner Points

The copolymer types and synthetic methods are discussed.

Application of copolymer as adsorbent/membranes for water treatment is presented.

Recent advances show good pollutants removal for toxic metals, oil, and organics.

Copolymer composites have great potential as adsorbent/membranes for future use in water treatment processes.
Blueprints for Deploying Privacy Enhancing Technologies in E-Government
Authors: Kamm Liina , Bogdanov Dan , Brito Eduardo , Ostrak Andre
Published: April 2024

Governments are increasingly becoming providers of data-driven services to both citizens and organisations. As the number of these services grows, the government will store greater amounts of personal and company data. Data minimisation and data protection can be legal obligations, especially for governments that have passed data protection and privacy regulations. However, even without such regulation, processing only as much data as is necessary, is good information security practice. In this paper, we give an overview of how we put together a Privacy Enhancing Technology (PET) concept and roadmap for an e-government, including motivations, an adoption strategy and blueprints for services that benefit from PETs.
Empirical Evaluation of Synthetic Data Created by Generative Models via Attribute Inference Attack
Authors: Kwatra Saloni , Torra Vicenç
Published: April 2024

The disclosure risk of synthetic/artificial data is still being determined. Studies show that synthetic data generation techniques generate similar data to the original data and sometimes even the exact original data. Therefore, publishing synthetic datasets can endanger the privacy of users. In our work, we study the synthetic data generated from different synthetic data generation techniques, including the most recent diffusion models. We perform a disclosure risk assessment of synthetic datasets via an attribute inference attack, in which an attacker has access to a subset of publicly available features and at least one synthesized dataset, and the aim is to infer the sensitive features unknown to the attacker. We also compute the predictive accuracy and F1 score of the random forest classifier trained on several synthetic datasets. For sensitive categorical features, we show that Attribute Inference Attack is not highly feasible or successful. In contrast, for continuous attributes, we can have an approximate inference. This holds true for the synthetic datasets derived from Diffusion models, GANs, and DPGANs, which shows that we can only have approximated Attribute Inference, not the exact Attribute Inference.
Love numbers and Love symmetries for p-form and gravitational perturbations of higher-dimensional spherically symmetric black holes
Authors: Charalambous Panagiotis
Published: April 2024

Abstract

The static Love numbers of four-dimensional asymptotically flat, isolated, general-relativistic black holes are known to be identically vanishing. The Love symmetry proposal suggests that such vanishings are addressed by selection rules following from the emergence of an enhanced $$\mathrm{SL }\left(2,{\mathbb{R}}\right)$$ (“Love”) symmetry in the near-zone region; more specifically, it is the fact that the black hole perturbations belong to a highest-weight representation of this near-zone $$\mathrm{SL }\left(2,{\mathbb{R}}\right)$$ symmetry, rather than the existence of the Love symmetry itself, that outputs the vanishings of the corresponding Love numbers. In higher spacetime dimensions, some towers of magic zeroes with regards to the black hole response problem have also been reported for scalar, electromagnetic and gravitational perturbations of the Schwarzschild-Tangherlini black hole. Here, we extend these results by supplementing with p-form perturbations of the Schwarzschild-Tangherlini black hole. We furthermore analytically extract the static Love numbers and the leading order dissipation numbers associated with spin-0 scalar and spin-2 tensor-type tidal perturbations of the higher-dimensional Reissner-Nordström black hole. We find that Love symmetries exist and that the vanishings of the static Love numbers are captured by representation theory arguments even for these higher spin perturbations of the higher-dimensional spherically symmetric black holes of General Relativity. Interestingly, these near-zone $$\mathrm{SL }\left(2,{\mathbb{R}}\right)$$ structures acquire extensions to Witt algebras. Our setup allows to also study the p-form response problem of a static spherically symmetric black hole in a generic theory of gravity. We perform explicit computations for some black holes in the presence of string-theoretic corrections and investigate under what geometric conditions Love symmetries emerge in the near-zone.
Equidistribution of hyperbolic groups in homogeneous spaces
Authors: Gekhtman Ilya , Taylor Samuel J. , Tiozzo Giulio
Published: April 2024

We prove that infinite orbits of Zariski dense hyperbolic groups equidistribute in homogeneous spaces, in the sense that the family of measures obtained by averaging along spheres in the Cayley graph converges to Haar measure.
Presentation of pharmacological content in crime novels between 1890 and 2023
Authors: Möller Iven H. , Seifert Roland
Published: April 2024

As there is lack of research on how drugs are presented in crime literature, we read nearly 25,000 pages of crime literature written between 1890 and 2023 to provide an overview on the pharmacological content in this genre. Correct presentation of pharmacological information decreased over time. Misconceptions about certain substances, especially narcotics and anesthetics appear in many of the analyzed examples. Also, in comparison with crime TV series, books are inferior in providing the reader with additional information and pharmacological plausibility. This especially applies for the newer books which contained less additional information than the older ones. In contrast, some books educate their readers. Newer books show a greater variety of substances also introducing recently developed drugs or new ways of application. On the contrary, older books stick to a small selection of well-known substances during that time, especially metals like arsenic and toxins like strychnine. Gender involvement in poisoning is not realistically presented in the novels. Male victims are overrepresented compared to reality. Also, the etiology is commonly presented incorrectly. Poisoning by accident or for suicidal purposes are rarely presented in the novels, despite their significance in reality. Overall, crime novels educate but also misinform their readers. We discuss the consequences of our findings for the individual reader and public health.
The forgotten fruit (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) and its chemical composition: a review
Authors: Ňorbová Monika , Vollmannová Alena , Fedorková Silvia , Musilová Janette , Lidiková Judita
Published: April 2024

Natural plant sources, particularly the fruits of several lesser-known species, are receiving increasing amounts of attention because they contain a variety of bioactive compounds that are advantageous to human health. The production of easy-to-grow, already-used, and full of nutrients crops could be a solution to the growing problem of a lack of healthful food. One such fruit is the quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.), which belongs to the Rosaceae family that originated in the Caucasian area and extends to other parts of the world. Quince has been studied for decades because of its unique importance in food and medicine. The characteristic pear-shaped fruit is golden yellow in appearance and has an aromatic, and acidic flavour. The low-fat fruit is rich in numerous necessary nutrients, minerals, dietary fibre, and antioxidants that have significant positive effects on health, but due to its bitterness, it is underutilized. Quince can be utilised as a raw material to create a variety of food products and is a good source of natural phenolic antioxidants, providing significant functional characteristics.
Single-port robot-assisted radical prostatectomy
Authors: Soputro Nicolas A. , Kaouk Jihad
Published: April 2024

Purpose

To provide a comprehensive update on the different techniques and outcomes of contemporary Single-Port (SP) Robotic Radical Prostatectomy (RARP) approaches.

Methods

A literature review was performed to identify cohort studies that have utilized the purpose-built SP robotic platform (Intuitive Surgical Inc., Sunnyvale, California) for RARP. All published approaches of SP-RARP were included in our review. Baseline clinical, perioperative, and postoperative oncological and functional outcomes were collected from the included studies.

Results

A total of 16 studies involving 1159 patients were identified. To date, five approaches of SP-RARP have been described, namely Transperitoneal, Extraperitoneal, Retzius-Sparing, Transperineal, and Transvesical. The surgical steps and clinical outcomes of the aforementioned approaches were discussed. While operating times were still faster in the Transperitoneal and Extraperitoneal cohorts, the novel and more regionalized Transvesical approach allowed for radical prostatectomy to be pursued in more patients with previous abdominal surgeries and contributed to significantly improved postoperative outcomes, including the earlier return of urinary continence and with most patients being discharged on the same day without any opioids.

Conclusion

Based on the existing literature, the introduction of SP-RARP not only enriched the repertoire of minimally-invasive surgical treatment options for prostate cancer but also provided the opportunity for urologists to develop new techniques that can improve perioperative outcomes and postoperative quality of life. Given the limited number of patients and heterogeneity in the patient selection and reporting of postoperative outcomes, further research remains necessary to better understand the different benefits and improve patient selection algorithms for the different techniques.
Micro-PIV study on the influence of viscosity on the dynamics of droplet impact onto a thin film
Authors: Schubert Stefan , Steigerwald Jonas , Geppert Anne K. , Weigand Bernhard , Lamanna Grazia
Published: April 2024

This work presents a systematic experimental study of droplet impact onto a wet substrate. Four different silicone oils are used, covering a range of Reynolds number between $$116< \text{Re} <1106$$

116
<
Re
<
1106

at two different initial wall film heights. The objective is to characterize the temporal and radial evolution of the velocity field within the crown crater by means of micro-PIV. Our findings show that the velocity field has the structure of an axisymmetric stagnation point flow with decaying strength a(t). The latter exhibits an exponential decay and can be explained in terms of the exponential decay of the pressure force exerted by the impacting droplet onto the wall film. In this context, the commonly accepted functional dependence $$a(t) \propto t^{-1}$$

a

(
t
)

∝

t

-
1

represents only the first-order Taylor approximation of the exponential decay and has therefore only a limited temporal validity. The analysis also corroborates the existence of an inertial regime concerning the velocity field for $${\text{Re}} > 270$$

Re
>
270

. This is not observed at lower Re numbers due to the increased pressure losses caused by the extensional (normal) strain during the radial spreading of the lamella. To validate these findings a holistic approach is chosen, which combines numerical results, analytical solutions and experimental data from literature. In particular, by using the continuity equation, it is shown that the experimental decay of the wall film height can be reconstructed from the velocity measurements. Consilience of results from different approaches provides a robust validation of the micro-PIV data obtained in this work.

Graphical abstract
Monotonicity anomalies in Scottish local government elections
Authors: McCune David , Graham-Squire Adam
Published: April 2024

The single transferable vote (STV) voting method is used to elect multiple candidates in ranked-choice elections. One weakness of STV is that it fails multiple fairness criteria related to monotonicity and no-show paradoxes. We analyze 1079 local government STV elections in Scotland to estimate the frequency of such monotonicity anomalies in real-world elections, and compare our results with prior empirical and theoretical research about the rates at which such anomalies occur. In 62 of the 1079 elections we found some kind of monotonicity anomaly. We generally find that anomaly rates are similar to prior empirical research and much lower than what most theoretical research has found. Most STV anomalies we find are the first of their kind to be documented in real-world multiwinner elections.
Impact of liming and maize residues on N2O and N2 fluxes in agricultural soils: an incubation study
Authors: Pfülb Lisa , Elsgaard Lars , Dörsch Peter , Fuß Roland , Well Reinhard
Published: April 2024

Since it is known that nitrous oxide (N2O) production and consumption pathways are affected by soil pH, optimising the pH of agricultural soils can be an important approach to reduce N2O emissions. Because liming effects on N2O reduction had not been studied under ambient atmosphere and typical bulk density of arable soils, we conducted mesoscale incubation experiments with soils from two liming trials to investigate the impact of long-term pH management and fresh liming on N transformations and N2O production. Soils differed in texture and covered a range of pH levels (3.8–6.7), consisting of non-limed controls, long-term field-limed calcite and dolomite treatments, and freshly limed soils. Both soils were amended with 15N-labelled potassium nitrate (KNO3) and incubated with and without incorporated maize litter. Packed soil mesocosms were cycled through four phases of alternating temperatures and soil moistures for at least 40 days. Emissions of N2O and dinitrogen (N2) as well as the product ratio of denitrification N2O/(N2O + N2), referred to as N2Oi were measured with the 15N gas flux method in N2-reduced atmosphere. Emissions of N2O increased in response to typical denitrifying conditions (high moisture and presence of litter). Increased temperature and soil moisture stimulated microbial activity and triggered denitrification as judged from 15NO3− pool derived N2O + N2 emissions. Fresh liming increased denitrification in the sandy soil up to 3-fold but reduced denitrification in the loamy soil by 80%. N2Oi decreased throughout the incubation in response to fresh liming from 0.5–0.8 to 0.3–0.4, while field-limed soils had smaller N2Oi (0.1–0.3) than unlimed controls (0.9) irrespective of incubation conditions. Our study shows that the denitrification response (i.e., N2O + N2 production) to liming is soil dependent, whereas liming effects on N2Oi are consistent for both long- and short-term pH management. This extends previous results from anoxic slurry incubation studies by showing that soil pH management by liming has a good mitigation potential for agricultural N2O emissions from denitrification under wet conditions outside of cropping season.
Machine learning applications in craniosynostosis diagnosis and treatment prediction: a systematic review
Authors: Luo Angela , Gurses Muhammet Enes , Gecici Neslihan Nisa , Kozel Giovanni , Lu Victor M. , Komotar Ricardo J. , Ivan Michael E.
Published: April 2024

Craniosynostosis refers to the premature fusion of one or more of the fibrous cranial sutures connecting the bones of the skull. Machine learning (ML) is an emerging technology and its application to craniosynostosis detection and management is underexplored. This systematic review aims to evaluate the application of ML techniques in the diagnosis, severity assessment, and predictive modeling of craniosynostosis. A comprehensive search was conducted on the PubMed and Google Scholar databases using predefined keywords related to craniosynostosis and ML. Inclusion criteria encompassed peer-reviewed studies in English that investigated ML algorithms in craniosynostosis diagnosis, severity assessment, or treatment outcome prediction. Three independent reviewers screened the search results, performed full-text assessments, and extracted data from selected studies using a standardized form. Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. Of the thirteen papers examined on the application of ML to the identification and treatment of craniosynostosis, two papers were dedicated to sagittal craniosynostosis, five papers utilized several different types of craniosynostosis in the training and testing of their ML models, and six papers were dedicated to metopic craniosynostosis. ML models demonstrated high accuracy in identifying different types of craniosynostosis and objectively quantifying severity using innovative metrics such as metopic severity score and cranial morphology deviation. The findings highlight the significant strides made in utilizing ML techniques for craniosynostosis diagnosis, severity assessment, and predictive modeling. Predictive modeling of treatment outcomes following surgical interventions showed promising results, aiding in personalized treatment strategies. Despite methodological diversities among studies, the collective evidence underscores ML’s transformative potential in revolutionizing craniosynostosis management.
Radiomic- and dosiomic-based clustering development for radio-induced neurotoxicity in pediatric medulloblastoma
Authors: Piffer Stefano , Greto Daniela , Ubaldi Leonardo , Mortilla Marzia , Ciccarone Antonio , Desideri Isacco , Genitori Lorenzo , Livi Lorenzo , Marrazzo Livia , Pallotta Stefania , Retico Alessandra , Sardi Iacopo , Talamonti Cinzia
Published: April 2024

Background

Texture analysis extracts many quantitative image features, offering a valuable, cost-effective, and non-invasive approach for individual medicine. Furthermore, multimodal machine learning could have a large impact for precision medicine, as texture biomarkers can underlie tissue microstructure. This study aims to investigate imaging-based biomarkers of radio-induced neurotoxicity in pediatric patients with metastatic medulloblastoma, using radiomic and dosiomic analysis.

Methods

This single-center study retrospectively enrolled children diagnosed with metastatic medulloblastoma (MB) and treated with hyperfractionated craniospinal irradiation (CSI). Histological confirmation of medulloblastoma and baseline follow-up magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were mandatory. Treatment involved helical tomotherapy (HT) delivering a dose of 39 Gray (Gy) to brain and spinal axis and a posterior fossa boost up to 60 Gy. Clinical outcomes, such as local and distant brain control and neurotoxicity, were recorded. Radiomic and dosiomic features were extracted from tumor regions on T1, T2, FLAIR (fluid-attenuated inversion recovery) MRI-maps, and radiotherapy dose distribution. Different machine learning feature selection and reduction approaches were performed for supervised and unsupervised clustering.

Results

Forty-eight metastatic medulloblastoma patients (29 males and 19 females) with a mean age of 12 ± 6 years were enrolled. For each patient, 332 features were extracted. Greater level of abstraction of input data by combining selection of most performing features and dimensionality reduction returns the best performance. The resulting one-component radiomic signature yielded an accuracy of 0.73 with sensitivity, specificity, and precision of 0.83, 0.64, and 0.68, respectively.

Conclusions

Machine learning radiomic-dosiomic approach effectively stratified pediatric medulloblastoma patients who experienced radio-induced neurotoxicity. Strategy needs further validation in external dataset for its potential clinical use in ab initio management paradigms of medulloblastoma.
Bone marrow edema of the knee: a narrative review
Authors: Villari Eleonora , Digennaro Vitoantonio , Panciera Alessandro , Ferri Riccardo , Benvenuti Lorenzo , Cesare Faldini
Published: April 2024

Bone marrow edema (BME) is a frequent MRI finding in patients with knee pain. According to the etiology, BME of the knee can be classified into three main categories: ischemic, mechanic, and reactive. The diagnosis may be difficult, because of the specificity of symptoms and the poor radiographic findings. MRI is the gold standard, showing an area of altered signal of the bone with an high signal intensity on fat-suppressed, T2 weighted images, usually in combination with an intermediate or low signal intensity on T1 weighted images. Bone marrow edema tends to be self-limiting and, in most cases, resolves without any consequences in a varying amount of time. However, since it may evolve to complete joint destruction, early diagnosis and correct treatment are crucial to prevent the articular degeneration. Conservative therapy is the first step, with no weight-bearing for 3 to 6 weeks on the affected side, in combination with the administration of anti-inflammatory drugs or painkillers to manage symptoms. In non-responding forms and more advanced stages, minimally invasive preservative surgery can provide significant results, with subchondroplasty and core decompression being the two main procedures available. Knee arthroplasty, both total (TKA) or unicompartmental (UKA), is the only effective option when the degradation of cartilage is diffuse and in patients with subchondral bone collapse.
Osteoprotegerin is an Early Marker of the Fibrotic Process and of Antifibrotic Treatment Responses in Ex Vivo Lung Fibrosis
Authors: Putri Kurnia S. S. , Adhyatmika Adhyatmika , Boorsma Carian E. , Habibie Habibie , Ruigrok Mitchel J. R. , Heukels Peter , Timens Wim , de Jager Marina H. , Hinrichs Wouter L. J. , Olinga Peter , Melgert Barbro N.
Published: April 2024

Background

Lung fibrosis is a chronic lung disease with a high mortality rate with only two approved drugs (pirfenidone and nintedanib) to attenuate its progression. To date, there are no reliable biomarkers to assess fibrosis development and/or treatment effects for these two drugs. Osteoprotegerin (OPG) is used as a serum marker to diagnose liver fibrosis and we have previously shown it associates with lung fibrosis as well.

Methods

Here we used murine and human precision-cut lung slices to investigate the regulation of OPG in lung tissue to elucidate whether it tracks with (early) fibrosis development and responds to antifibrotic treatment to assess its potential use as a biomarker.

Results

OPG mRNA expression in murine lung slices was higher after treatment with profibrotic cytokines TGFβ1 or IL13, and closely correlated with Fn and PAI1 mRNA expression. More OPG protein was released from fibrotic human lung slices than from the control human slices and from TGFβ1 and IL13-stimulated murine lung slices compared to control murine slices. This OPG release was inhibited when murine slices were treated with pirfenidone or nintedanib. OPG release from human fibrotic lung slices was inhibited by pirfenidone treatment.

Conclusion

OPG can already be detected during the early stages of fibrosis development and responds, both in early- and late-stage fibrosis, to treatment with antifibrotic drugs currently on the market for lung fibrosis. Therefore, OPG should be further investigated as a potential biomarker for lung fibrosis and a potential surrogate marker for treatment effect.
UAS-based mapping of the July 3, 2019, ballistics density distribution on the W flank of Stromboli with uncertainty quantification
Authors: Bevilacqua A. , Nannipieri L. , Favalli M. , Fornaciai A.
Published: April 2024

Stromboli is a volcanic island in a persistent state of activity, located off the northern coast of Sicily. The paroxysms have been the most powerful explosive phenomena at Stromboli in the last 150 years. These explosions can produce ballistic projectiles that can heavily affect trails and observation sites as well as hit inhabited areas at lower elevations, down to the coast. On July 3, 2019, a paroxysm significantly affected a great portion of the island with ballistic projectiles. In particular, many decimeter and meter-sized spatter bombs hit the W flank of Stromboli, and ignited multiple fires. In May 2022, we conducted an Unmanned Aerial System photogrammetric campaign over a sector of the W flank of Stromboli that was heavily affected by the paroxysm. The largest clasts were still preserved after 3 years, not disturbed by significant mass wasting phenomena or human interference, and they were not yet hidden by the post-fire regrowth of the brush vegetation. In this study, we constrained the main sources of uncertainty affecting the bombs distribution on the ground, by characterizing a percentage of uncertain clasts, testing various density estimators, and by modeling an areal buffer around the mapped clasts. We produced a 0.18 km2 wide 1.6-cm resolution orthomosaic, a 10-cm resolution Digital Surface Model, and 2813 outlines of the mapped ballistics. Spatial distribution of the ground cover and associated uncertainty were analyzed as a function of the distance and of the angular direction from the source.
Curvature Sets Over Persistence Diagrams
Authors: Gómez Mario , Mémoli Facundo
Published: April 2024

We study a family of invariants of compact metric spaces that combines the Curvature Sets defined by Gromov in the 1980 s with Vietoris–Rips Persistent Homology. For given integers $$k\ge 0$$

k
≥
0

and $$n\ge 1$$

n
≥
1

we consider the dimension k Vietoris–Rips persistence diagrams of all subsets of a given metric space with cardinality at most n. We call these invariants persistence sets and denote them as $${\textbf{D}}_{n,k}^{\textrm{VR}}$$

D

n
,
k

VR

. We first point out that this family encompasses the usual Vietoris–Rips diagrams. We then establish that (1) for certain range of values of the parameters n and k, computing these invariants is significantly more efficient than computing the usual Vietoris–Rips persistence diagrams, (2) these invariants have very good discriminating power and, in many cases, capture information that is imperceptible through standard Vietoris–Rips persistence diagrams, and (3) they enjoy stability properties analogous to those of the usual Vietoris–Rips persistence diagrams. We precisely characterize some of them in the case of spheres and surfaces with constant curvature using a generalization of Ptolemy’s inequality. We also identify a rich family of metric graphs for which $${\textbf{D}}_{4,1}^{\textrm{VR}}$$

D

4
,
1

VR

fully recovers their homotopy type by studying split-metric decompositions. Along the way we prove some useful properties of Vietoris–Rips persistence diagrams using Mayer–Vietoris sequences. These yield a geometric algorithm for computing the Vietoris–Rips persistence diagram of a space X with cardinality $$2k+2$$

2
k
+
2

with quadratic time complexity as opposed to the much higher cost incurred by the usual algebraic algorithms relying on matrix reduction.
IHHO: an improved Harris Hawks optimization algorithm for solving engineering problems
Authors: Akl Dalia T. , Saafan Mahmoud M. , Haikal Amira Y. , El-Gendy Eman M.
Published: April 2024

Harris Hawks optimization (HHO) algorithm was a powerful metaheuristic algorithm for solving complex problems. However, HHO could easily fall within the local minimum. In this paper, we proposed an improved Harris Hawks optimization (IHHO) algorithm for solving different engineering tasks. The proposed algorithm focused on random location-based habitats during the exploration phase and on strategies 1, 3, and 4 during the exploitation phase. The proposed modified Harris hawks in the wild would change their perch strategy and chasing pattern according to updates in both the exploration and exploitation phases. To avoid being stuck in a local solution, random values were generated using logarithms and exponentials to explore new regions more quickly and locations. To evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, IHHO was compared to other five recent algorithms [grey wolf optimization, BAT algorithm, teaching–learning-based optimization, moth-flame optimization, and whale optimization algorithm] as well as three other modifications of HHO (BHHO, LogHHO, and MHHO). These optimizers had been applied to different benchmarks, namely standard benchmarks, CEC2017, CEC2019, CEC2020, and other 52 standard benchmark functions. Moreover, six classical real-world engineering problems were tested against the IHHO to prove the efficiency of the proposed algorithm. The numerical results showed the superiority of the proposed algorithm IHHO against other algorithms, which was proved visually using different convergence curves. Friedman's mean rank statistical test was also inducted to calculate the rank of IHHO against other algorithms. The results of the Friedman test indicated that the proposed algorithm was ranked first as compared to the other algorithms as well as three other modifications of HHO.
Beyond ownership: assessing diverse housing typologies and policy interventions for affordable housing in Dilla, Ethiopia
Authors: Sunikka-Blank Minna , Esayas Dube Engida , Teku Selamawit
Published: April 2024

This research addresses global housing crisis, a secondary city of Dilla in Ethiopia as a case study. This study seeks to fill the empirical knowledge gap in popular housing typologies and tenure types in urban development in the Global South outside metropolitan areas. Drawing from an in-depth study of 18 households, the focus is on housing choices of middle- and low-income households in a secondary city of Dilla, Ethiopia. Such cities so far have been less in the focus of researchers, compared to capital regions. The studied housing types are tenures of homeownership, private rental and a rent-free model as housing types, with informal arrangements playing a role in the last two types. Our study underlines the necessity of not only acknowledging, repairing and formalizing the existing semi- and informal housing developments but also of proactively planning for peripheral housing developments and future expansion, a strategy with broader applicability to the region and the Global South. Such anticipating measures include the development of water and energy infrastructure, land earmarking for much-needed public rental housing, and the establishment of robust tenant rights through legislative foresight.
Sea-level rise impacts on groundwater: exploring some misconceptions with simple analytic solutions
Authors: Morgan Leanne K.
Published: April 2024

Sea-level rise (SLR) causes groundwater salinisation and water-table rise. The impacts these processes can have on water security, agricultural production and infrastructure are becoming widely recognised. However, some misconceptions relating to SLR impacts on groundwater have been observed among students, which may interfere with further learning and the application of science principles to everyday life. These misconceptions include the following: (1) water-table rise will equal SLR; (2) inland movement of the interface causes the rise in the water table under SLR; (3) seawater intrusion (SI) caused by SLR is small compared to SI caused by pumping. These misconceptions are explored with the aid of simple analytic solutions and a Jupyter Notebook. It is shown that: (1) water-table rise is only equal to SLR above the interface under flux-controlled inland boundary conditions; (2) water-table rise under SLR is not caused by SI, but rather is caused by the change in levels at the coastal boundary; (3) SI caused by SLR is a considerable risk, especially under the head-controlled conditions, which will become more common when land is drained to counter the effects of groundwater shoaling.
Targeting ferroptosis for treating kidney disease
Authors: Mishima Eikan
Published: April 2024

Ferroptosis is a type of regulated cell death hallmarked by iron-mediated excessive lipid oxidation. Over the past decade since the coining of the term ferroptosis, advances in research have led to the identification of intracellular processes that regulate ferroptosis such as GSH-GPX4 pathway and FSP1-coenzyme Q10/vitamin K pathway. From a disease perspective, the involvement of ferroptosis in pathological conditions including kidney disease has attracted attention. In terms of renal pathophysiology, ferroptosis has been widely investigated for its involvement in ischemia–reperfusion injury, nephrotoxin-induced kidney damage and other renal diseases. Therefore, therapeutic interventions targeting ferroptosis are expected to become a new therapeutic approach for these diseases. However, when considering cell death as a therapeutic target, careful consideration must be given to (i) in which type of cells, (ii) which type of cell death mode, and (iii) in which stage or temporal window of the disease. In the next decade, elucidation of the true involvement of ferroptosis in kidney disease setting in human, and development of clinically applicable and effective therapeutic drugs that target ferroptosis are warranted.
Governance, Mobility, and Pastureland Ecology. An Eco-Anthropological Study of Three Pastoral Commons in Northeastern Andalusia
Authors: Godoy-Sepúlveda Francisco , Sanosa-Cols Pau , Parra Santiago A. , Peña-Enguix Adrià , Pérez-Luque Antonio J. , Ramos-Font María Eugenia , Robles Ana Belén , Tognetti Mauro J. , González-Robles Ana , Ravera Federica , Ventura Montserrat , Dominguez Pablo
Published: April 2024

Community-based natural resource governance is increasingly valued by the leading international organizations that promote environmental conservation and sustainable development. At the same time, the ecosystems of the northeastern Andalusian mountains are intrinsically related to the long-standing presence of pastoralism and its different communal forms that have favored a very particular biocultural diversity and sustainable socio-ecological systems locally. Through a transdisciplinary anthropological and ecological study, we aimed to compare how different types of communal governance and pastoral mobilities impact pasturelands in the region. We focused on three contiguous mountain pastoral commons, those of Castril, Santiago de la Espada, and Pontones, which exhibit different forms of communal organization and two main transhumant types of mobility: long-distance and short-distance transhumance. We conducted long-term ethnographic fieldwork with year-round participatory observations of social life, pastoral practices, and governance systems, and performed botanical and soil analyses. As a general result, we found that local pastoralism positively impacts the environment. There were differences between commons and mobility regimes, with a positive impact related mainly to closer forms of cooperation between herders and daily guiding of flocks, along with seasonal long-distance transhumance, especially when the latter is combined with stricter formal community rules. Within the current context highly determined by public subventions, particularly from the EU, primarily directed at pastureland management’s administrative and economic aspects, local governance increasingly favors these methods over the conservation of traditional, sustainable uses of pastures. This innovative research marks the first step towards a sounder intertwining of anthropological and ecological approaches towards a more holistic understanding of pastoral commons in general and in the Mediterranean region specifically.
Multi-Agent Cooperative Camera-Based Semantic Grid Generation
Authors: Caillot Antoine , Ouerghi Safa , Dupuis Yohan , Vasseur Pascal , Boutteau Rémi
Published: April 2024

The idea of cooperative perception for navigation assistance was introduced about a decade ago with the aim to increase safety on dangerous areas like intersections. In this context, roadside infrastructure appeared very recently to provide a new point of view of the scene. In this paper, we propose to combine the Vehicle-To-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-To-Infrastructure (V2I) approaches in order to take advantage of the elevated points of view offered by the infrastructure and the in-scene points of view offered by the vehicles to build a semantic grid map of the moving elements in the scene. To create this map, we chose to use camera information and 2-Dimentional (2D) bounding boxes in order to minimize the impact on the network and ignored possible depth information as opposed to all state-of-the art methods. We propose a framework based on two fusion methods: one based on the Bayesian theory and the other on the Dempster-Shafer Theory (DST) to merge the information and chose a label for each cell of the semantic grid in order to assess the best fusion method. Finally, we evaluate our approach on a set of datasets that we generated from the CARLA simulator varying the proportion of Connected Vehicle (CV) and the traffic density. We also show the superiority of the method based on the DST with a gain on the mean intersection over union between the two methods of up to 23.35%.
Indium Bump Bonding: Advanced Integration Techniques for Low-Temperature Detectors and Readout
Authors: Lucas T. J. , Biesecker J. P. , Doriese W. B. , Duff S. M. , Durkin M. S. , Lew R. A. , Ullom J. N. , Vissers M. R. , Schmidt D. R.
Published: April 2024

We have examined the influence of bump shape and bonding pressure on low-temperature electrical properties of indium bump connections including superconducting transition temperature, normal state resistance, and superconducting critical current. We describe our test structures, bonding process, and methods of characterization. At temperatures below 1 K, we observe critical currents greater than 70 mA for indium bump connections with a nominal bump size of 17 µm × 17 µm.
Assessment of pluvial flood events based on monitoring and modeling of an old urban storm drainage in the city center of Yangon, Myanmar
Authors: Min Aung Khaing , Tashiro Takashi
Published: April 2024

Pluvial flooding is a critical issue in cities worldwide, particularly in lowland areas with old and deteriorating drainage systems. The primary driver of pluvial flooding is extreme rainfall; other drivers include urbanization, inadequate drainage systems, improper solid-waste management, and the tidal backwater effect. However, the interplay between these drivers makes predicting pluvial floods difficult and complex. Previous studies in developing countries seldom used water-level data or simulation modeling to identify the causes of pluvial flooding. In this study, rainfall data and water-level variations in an open channel drain and a receiving river controlled by sluice gates were collected and evaluated in detail to investigate pluvial flooding events. To predict these events, we generated a hydrodynamic model using InfoWorks ICM and verified its results using water logger data and official field reports. Analysis shows that drainage-system failures due to solid blockage and receiving water-level variation contribute more to pluvial flood occurrence than heavy rainfall. Lastly, we discuss measures to mitigate pluvial flooding in Yangon, Myanmar. The proposed monitoring and modeling approach can suitably predict pluvial flooding occurrence and provide useful quantitative data for flood risk management.
Earthquake knowledge level and sustainable earthquake awareness of university students
Authors: Turan Bayraktar Demet , Kefeli Çol Bahar , Gümüşler Başaran Ayşe , Genç Köse Burcu
Published: April 2024

Health professionals have always had essential duties in earthquake events experienced from the past to the present. Possible earthquake expectations make sustainable earthquake awareness and attitudes of students, who are future healthcare professionals, influential. Therefore, this study aims to determine the relationship between the earthquake knowledge level of university students and their sustainable earthquake awareness levels. A descriptive-cross-sectional study was conducted in April 2023 with 546 students in the School of Health Services. Data were collected using the Student Information Form, Earthquake Knowledge Level Scale, and Sustainable Earthquake Awareness Scale. Percentage means standard deviations, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis analysis, Bonferroni correction, Tamhane’s T2 test, and Spearman correlation analysis were used for data evaluation. Before answering the study questions, informed consent was obtained from the students after obtaining ethical committee approval. Among the participants, 82.1% were female, with a mean age of 20.78 ± 2.17. 55.7% of the students had experienced an earthquake, 19.2% had lost a loved one in an earthquake, and 5.5% had participated in earthquake response efforts. Students’ earthquake knowledge level was found to be above the midpoint, while sustainable earthquake awareness was found to be below the midpoint. The level of earthquake knowledge, knowledge of the distribution of earthquake zones and knowledge of earthquake effects were higher in those who took part in the earthquake. In males, knowledge of the distribution of earthquake zones was significantly higher. Knowledge of earthquake effects was significantly higher in those who experienced an earthquake and those who lost a relative in an earthquake. A positively moderate and significant correlation was found between earthquake knowledge level and sustainable earthquake awareness. The earthquake knowledge level of the students is medium, while their sustainable earthquake awareness needs to be higher. As the level of earthquake knowledge increases, sustainable earthquake awareness rises. The effect of earthquake experience on knowledge and awareness shows that applied training will contribute to sustainable earthquake awareness in society.