bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Estimating coastal slope of sandy beach from ICESat-2: a case study in Texas
Authors: Ma Yue , Wang Lin , Xu Nan , Zhang Shiyi , Hua Wang Xiao , Li Song
Published: March 2023

Coastal slope is a fundamental land characteristic that can influence the hydrodynamic and morphological processes, which is the essential parameter to calculate the wave setup and wave run up for further estimating extreme coastal water levels. Slope information of coastal zones also plays a key role in estimating the coastline erosion and evaluating the coastal vulnerability under sea level rise. However, accurate estimates of coastal slopes are currently limited, especially over sparsely populated and remote areas. The recent ICESat-2 photon-counting lidar provides unprecedented along-track dense and accurate height measurements in coastal zones. This study aims to demonstrate the potential of ICESat-2 measurements to estimate coastal slope of sandy beach at a large scale, and the proposed method is tested in Texas, USA. The validation with local airborne lidar data (with an average slope of 0.023 in Texas) indicates that, the ICESat-2 derived coastal slopes (0.026) have much better accuracy than current large-scale coastal slopes (0.0032) derived from SRTM and MERIT DEMs. With globally covered ICESat-2 datasets, this method can be expanded to estimate coastal slopes even at a global scale.
Tropical influences on European summer climate variability
Authors: Maidens Anna , Knight Jeff R
Published: March 2023

Numerous studies have established a link between tropical atmospheric conditions and northern midlatitude circulation mediated by Rossby wave propagation in winter. In recent years, research has also investigated tropical to midlatitude teleconnections in northern hemisphere summer. In this paper, we examine summer connections further by imposing observed tropical conditions in climate model simulations. We examine resulting changes in the representation of seasonal mean surface climate variables and mid-troposphere circulation in the northern hemisphere summer, identifying regions where model fidelity improves following the imposition of tropical conditions. We demonstrate robust connections between the tropics and mid-latitudes on the seasonal timescale, with these connections apparent in three mid-latitude regions, namely eastern North America, central Europe and northern Siberia. These regions are shown to be impacted by wave trains originating in specific regions of the subtropics associated with patterns of upper-level convergence. The results provide a clearer picture of tropical to extratropical teleconnections that affect summer mean climate in the northern midlatitudes.
Elliptic BCS-Richardson model and the modified algebraic Bethe ansatz
Authors: Skrypnyk T
Published: March 2023

We consider the elliptic Gaudin-type model in an external magnetic field (Skrypnyk T 2005 Phys. Lett. A 334 390–9; Skrypnyk T 2005 Phys. Lett. A 347 266–7; Skrypnyk T 2006 J. Geom. Phys.
57 53–67; Skrypnyk T 2006 J. Math. Phys.
47; Skrypnyk T 2007 J. Phys. A 40 1611–23; Skrypnyk T 2019 Nucl. Phys.
B 941 225–48) associated with non-skew-symmetric elliptic r-matrix (Skrypnyk T 2005 Phys. Lett. A 334 390–9; Skrypnyk T 2005 Phys. Lett. A 347 266–7; Skrypnyk T 2006 J. Geom. Phys.
57 53–67; Skrypnyk T 2006 J. Math. Phys.
47). Using them we construct a new integrable fermion Hamiltonian of the Richardson type. We use the modified algebraic Bethe ansatz obtained for integrable models with the considered elliptic r-matrix in (Skrypnyk T 2023 Nucl. Phys. B 988 116102) and find the spectrum of the obtained Richardson-type Hamiltonian in terms of solutions of the modified Bethe equations. The obtained results generalize our previous results on Richardson-type models (Skrypnyk T 2022 Nucl. Phys. B 975 115679).
Closed forms of the Zassenhaus formula
Authors: Dupays Léonce , Pain Jean-Christophe
Published: March 2023

The Zassenhaus formula finds many applications in theoretical physics or mathematics, from fluid dynamics to differential geometry. The non-commutativity of the elements of the algebra implies that the exponential of a sum of operators cannot be expressed as the product of exponentials of operators. The exponential of the sum can then be decomposed as the product of the exponentials multiplied by a supplementary term which takes generally the form of an infinite product of exponentials. Such a procedure is often referred to as ‘disentanglement’. However, for some special commutators, closed forms can be found. In this work, we propose a closed form for the Zassenhaus formula when the commutator of operators

X
ˆ

and

Y
ˆ

satisfy the relation

[

X
ˆ

,

Y
ˆ

]
=
u

X
ˆ

+
v

Y
ˆ

+
c
𝟙

. Such an expression boils down to three equivalent versions, a left-sided, a centered and a right-sided formula:

e

X
ˆ

+

Y
ˆ

=

e

X
ˆ

e

Y
ˆ

e

g

r

(
u
,
v
)
[

X
ˆ

,

Y
ˆ

]

=

e

X
ˆ

e

g

c

(
u
,
v
)
[

X
ˆ

,

Y
ˆ

]

e

Y
ˆ

=

e

g

ℓ

(
u
,
v
)
[

X
ˆ

,

Y
ˆ

]

e

X
ˆ

e

Y
ˆ

,

with respective arguments,

g

r

(
u
,
v
)
=

g

c

(
v
,
u
)

e

u

=

g

ℓ

(
v
,
u
)
=

u

e

u
−
v

−

e

u

+
v

e

u

−
1

v
u
(
u
−
v
)

for

u
≠
v

and

g

r

(
u
,
u
)
=

u
+
1
−

e
u

u
2

w
i
t
h

g
r

(
0
,
0
)
=
−
1

/

2.

With additional special case

g

r

(
0
,
v
)
=
−

e

−
v

−
1
+
v

v

2

,

g

r

(
u
,
0
)
=

e

u

(
1
−
u
)
−
1

u

2

.
Correlating surface topography of relaxed layer of ZA/ZrB2
in situ composites to wear and friction
Authors: Kumar Vineet , Gautam Gaurav , Ankit  , Mohan Anita , Mohan Sunil
Published: March 2023

In the present study, the correlation between the surface topography of relaxed layer and wear and friction has been investigated. For this purpose, the lubricating tribology and surface topography of insitu formed ZrB2 reinforced Zn-Al (ZA) composites have been studied. The wear and friction properties of composites have been evaluated on a pin-on-disc tribometer under synthetic SAE20W40 motor oil. The worn surface has been studied by SEM, AFM, and profilometer. Results indicate high wear resistance and low COF with smoother topography with ZrB2 reinforcement. The composite with 9 vol. % ZrB2 exhibits lower kurtosis and negative skewness values confirming the smoother topography with higher load-carrying capacity. This composite exhibits little wear and COF even at higher loads and sliding distances in the presence of lubricant. A comparative study with existing tribological materials indicates that the present materials have huge potential to be used as bearings and bushings.
A transfer learning based artificial neural network in geometrical design of textured surfaces for tribological applications
Authors: Mousavirad Seyed Jalaleddin , Rahmani Ramin , Dolatabadi Nader
Published: March 2023

This study aims at introducing the potential to utilise transfer learning methods in the training of artificial neural networks for tribological applications. Artificially enhanced surfaces through surface texturing, as an example, are investigated under hydrodynamic regime of lubrication. The performance of these surface features is assessed in terms of load carrying capacity and friction. A large performance dataset including bearing load carrying capacity and friction is initially obtained for a specific category of textures with rectangular cross-sectional profile through analytical methods. The produced bearing performance are used to train a neural network. This neural network was then trained further by a minimal set of performance measure data from an intended category of textures with triangular cross-sectional profiles. It is shown that the resulting neural network performs with acceptable level of confidence for those intended texture profiles when trained with such relatively low number of performance data points. The results indicate that fast analytical methods can potentially produce a large volume of training datasets, which effectively allows for use of relatively lower number of training data sets from the intended category, where creating data for trainings can be more complex or time consuming. Use of transfer learning method in tribological applications and use of bearing performance parameters, as opposed to bearing design parameters, for training the neural networks are the major novel contributions of this study, which has not hitherto been reported elsewhere.
A deep supervised cross-attention strategy for ischemic stroke segmentation in MRI studies
Authors: Gómez Santiago , Mantilla Daniel , Rangel Edgar , Ortiz Andrés , D Vera Daniela , Martínez Fabio
Published: March 2023

The key component of stroke diagnosis is the localization and delineation of brain lesions, especially from MRI studies. Nonetheless, this manual delineation is time-consuming and biased by expert opinion. The main purpose of this study is to introduce an autoencoder architecture that effectively integrates cross-attention mechanisms, together with hierarchical deep supervision to delineate lesions under scenarios of remarked unbalance tissue classes, challenging geometry of the shape, and a variable textural representation. This work introduces a cross-attention deep autoencoder that focuses on the lesion shape through a set of convolutional saliency maps, forcing skip connections to preserve the morphology of affected tissue. Moreover, a deep supervision training scheme was herein adapted to induce the learning of hierarchical lesion details. Besides, a special weighted loss function remarks lesion tissue, alleviating the negative impact of class imbalance. The proposed approach was validated on the public ISLES2017 dataset outperforming state-of-the-art results, achieving a dice score of 0.36 and a precision of 0.42. Deeply supervised cross-attention autoencoders, trained to pay more attention to lesion tissue, are better at estimating ischemic lesions in MRI studies. The best architectural configuration was achieved by integrating ADC, TTP and Tmax sequences. The contribution of deeply supervised cross-attention autoencoders allows better support the discrimination between healthy and lesion regions, which in consequence results in favorable prognosis and follow-up of patients.
Automatic measurement of slice thickness in CT images of a Siemens phantom
Authors: Amatullah Nada S , Anam Choirul , Hidayanto Eko , Naufal Ariij , Dougherty Geoff
Published: March 2023

This study aims to develop a program in Python language for automatic measurement of slice thickness in computed tomography (CT) images of a Siemens phantom with different values of slice thickness, field of view (FOV), and pitch. A Siemens phantom was scanned using a Siemens 64-slice Somatom Perspective CT scanner with various slice thicknesses (i.e. 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 mm), FOVs (i.e. 220, 260, and 300 mm), and pitch (i.e. 0.7, 0.9, and 1). Automatic measurement of slice thickness was performed by segmenting the ramp insert in the image and detecting angles of the ramp insert using the Hough transform. The resulting angles were subsequently used to rotate the image. Profiles of pixel along the ramp insert were made from the rotated images, and the slice thickness was calculated by determining the full-width at half maximum (FWHM) of the profiles. The product of the FWHM in pixels and the pixel size was corrected by the tangent of the ramp insert (i.e., 23°) to obtain the measured slice thickness. The results of the automatic measurements were compared with manual measurements carried out using a MicroDicom Viewer. The differences between the automatic and manual measurements at all slice thicknesses were less than 0.30 mm. The automatic and manual measurements had high linear correlations. For variations of the FOV and pitch, the differences between the automatic and manual measurement were less than 0.16 mm. The automatic and manual measurements were significantly different (p-value < 0.05) for slice thickness variation. In addition, the automatic and manual measurements were not significantly different (p-value > 0.05) for variations of FOV and pitch.
Printing of electromagnetic interference shielding materials
Authors: Doshi Pranay , Wong Hiu Yung , Gutierrez Daniel H , Lopez Arlene , Nordlund Dennis , Gandhiraman Ram P
Published: March 2023

The proliferation of electronic devices has made electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding an exponentially growing business. Regulatory requirements change constantly as new technologies continue to emerge. Innovations in materials and new advances in shielding implementation techniques are needed to pass regulatory compliance tests at an affordable cost. Here, we print various EMI shielding materials such as copper, silver and a composite of copper with Fe3O4 using plasma jet printing. Printing enables shields only a few microns thick capable of high shielding effectiveness. Copper’s EMI shielding performance is primarily contributed by reflection mechanism, as expected and this is known to cause secondary pollution. A Green Index for EMI shielding, given by the ratio of absorption and reflection contributions to shielding, indicates values lower than 0.1 for printed copper films.
Numerical and geometrical aspects of flow-based variational quantum Monte Carlo
Authors: Stokes James , Chen Brian , Veerapaneni Shravan
Published: March 2023

This article aims to summarize recent and ongoing efforts to simulate continuous-variable quantum systems using flow-based variational quantum Monte Carlo techniques, focusing for pedagogical purposes on the example of bosons in the field amplitude (quadrature) basis. Particular emphasis is placed on the variational real- and imaginary-time evolution problems, carefully reviewing the stochastic estimation of the time-dependent variational principles and their relationship with information geometry. Some practical instructions are provided to guide the implementation of a PyTorch code. The review is intended to be accessible to researchers interested in machine learning and quantum information science.
Coding for climate: sourcing better climate-health data from medical billing
Authors: Wheat Stefan , Sbiroli Emily , Dunn Marie , Chekuri Bhargavi , Millstein Amanda , O’Connor Terry , Rublee Caitlin , Lemery Jay , Limaye Vijay S
Published: March 2023

While evidence points to climate change adversely impacting health and wellbeing, there remains a great need for more authoritative and actionable data that better describes the full magnitude and scope of this growing crisis. Given the uncertainty inherent to current detection and attribution studies, the improved specificity offered by the 10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) coding of climate-sensitive health outcomes at the point of care may help to better quantify the connection between more intense and frequent extreme weather events and specific health sequela. With improved application of the available ICD-10 codes designed to capture climate-sensitive health outcomes, the ICD-10 system can function as a leading indicator. In this collaboration, publicly available ICD-10 code data was downloaded from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services archives and cross-referenced with 29 keywords (e.g. heat, hurricane, smoke, etc) determined by relevance to climate impacts on human health from consensus literature. We identified 46 unique ICD-10 codes for climate-sensitive health conditions. By highlighting the need for broader application of these codes and advocating for the development of new codes that better document the growing burden of climate-sensitive health outcomes, we hope to drive the development of more evidence-based, health-protective interdisciplinary climate action strategies across health systems.
Analogues of the Bol operator for half-integral weight weakly holomorphic modular forms
Authors: Diamantis Nikolaos , Lee Min , Rolen Larry
Published: March 2023

We define an analogue of the Bol operator on spaces of weakly holomorphic modular forms of half-integral weight. We establish its main properties and relation with other objects.
Some integral inequalities on weighted Riemannian manifolds with boundary
Authors: Huang Guangyue , Zhu Mingfang
Published: March 2023

In this paper, we continue to study some applications with respect to a Reilly type integral formula associated with the

ϕ
\phi

-Laplacian. Some inequalities of Brascamp-Lieb type and Colesanti type are provided.
Derivations and homomorphisms in commutator-simple algebras
Authors: Alaminos J. , Brešar M. , Extremera J. , Godoy M. , Villena A.
Published: March 2023

We call an algebra

A
A

commutator-simple if

[
A
,
A
]

[A,A]

does not contain nonzero ideals of

A
A

. After providing several examples, we show that in these algebras derivations are determined by a condition that is applicable to the study of local derivations. This enables us to prove that every continuous local derivation

D
:

L
1

(
G
)
→

L
1

(
G
)

D\colon L^1(G)\to L^1(G)

, where

G
G

is a unimodular locally compact group, is a derivation. We also give some remarks on homomorphism-like maps in commutator-simple algebras.
On asymptotic periodic solutions of fractional differential equations and applications
Authors: Luong Vu Trong , Huy Nguyen , Minh Nguyen , Vien Nguyen
Published: March 2023

In this paper we study the asymptotic behavior of solutions of fractional differential equations of the form
<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper D Subscript upper C Superscript alpha Baseline u left-parenthesis t right-parenthesis equals upper A u left-parenthesis t right-parenthesis plus f left-parenthesis t right-parenthesis comma u left-parenthesis 0 right-parenthesis equals x comma 0 greater-than alpha less-than-or-equal-to 1 comma left-parenthesis asterisk right-parenthesis">

D
C

α

u
(
t
)
=
A
u
(
t
)
+
f
(
t
)
,
u
(
0
)
=
x
,
0
>
α
≤
1
,
(
∗
)

D^{\alpha }_Cu(t)=Au(t)+f(t), u(0)=x, 0>\alpha \le 1, ( *)

where

D
C

α

u
(
t
)

D^{\alpha }_Cu(t)

is the derivative of the function

u
u

in the Caputo’s sense,

A
A

is a linear operator in a Banach space

X

\mathbb {X}

that may be unbounded and

f
f

satisfies the property that

lim

t
→
∞

(
f
(
t
+
1
)
−
f
(
t
)
)
=
0

\lim _{t\to \infty } (f(t+1)-f(t))=0

which we will call asymptotic

1
1

-periodicity. By using the spectral theory of functions on the half line we derive analogs of Katznelson-Tzafriri and Massera Theorems. Namely, we give sufficient conditions in terms of spectral properties of the operator

A
A

for all asymptotic mild solutions of Eq. (*) to be asymptotic

1
1

-periodic, or there exists an asymptotic mild solution that is asymptotic

1
1

-periodic.
Uniform Turán density of cycles
Authors: Bucić Matija , Cooper Jacob , Kráľ Daniel , Mohr Samuel , Munhá Correia David
Published: March 2023

In the early 1980s, Erdős and Sós initiated the study of the classical Turán problem with a uniformity condition: the uniform Turán density of a hypergraph

H
H

is the infimum over all

d
d

for which any sufficiently large hypergraph with the property that all its linear-size subhypergraphs have density at least

d
d

contains

H
H

. In particular, they raise the questions of determining the uniform Turán densities of

K
4

(
3
)
−

K_4^{(3)-}

and

K
4

(
3
)

K_4^{(3)}

. The former question was solved only recently by Glebov, Král’, and Volec [Israel J. Math. 211 (2016), pp. 349–366] and Reiher, Rödl, and Schacht [J. Eur. Math. Soc. 20 (2018), pp. 1139–1159], while the latter still remains open for almost 40 years. In addition to

K
4

(
3
)
−

K_4^{(3)-}

, the only

3
3

-uniform hypergraphs whose uniform Turán density is known are those with zero uniform Turán density classified by Reiher, Rödl and Schacht [J. London Math. Soc. 97 (2018), pp. 77–97] and a specific family with uniform Turán density equal to

1

/

27

1/27

.

We develop new tools for embedding hypergraphs in host hypergraphs with positive uniform density and apply them to completely determine the uniform Turán density of a fundamental family of

3
3

-uniform hypergraphs, namely tight cycles

C
ℓ

(
3
)

C_\ell ^{(3)}

. The uniform Turán density of

C
ℓ

(
3
)

C_\ell ^{(3)}

,

ℓ
≥
5

\ell \ge 5

, is equal to

4

/

27

4/27

if

ℓ
\ell

is not divisible by three, and is equal to zero otherwise. The case

ℓ
=
5

\ell =5

resolves a problem suggested by Reiher.
On the Public Finance of Capital Punishment
Authors: Lundberg Alexander
Published: March 2023

This study examines how local governments handle the financial demands of capital trials. With longitudinal data on county expenditures in Texas, fixed-effects regression estimates underscore two fiscal impacts of capital trials. First, counties raise property tax rates by an average of one-half basis point in years with a concluded trial. Second, counties reduce public safety expenditure by an average of approximately one million dollars. These results are consistent with national, cross-sectional research.
Machine learning models in predicting graft survival in kidney transplantation: meta-analysis
Authors: Ravindhran Bharadhwaj , Chandak Pankaj , Schafer Nicole , Kundalia Kaushal , Hwang Woochan , Antoniadis Savvas , Haroon Usman , Zakri Rhana Hassan
Published: March 2023

Background

The variations in outcome and frequent occurrence of kidney allograft failure continue to pose important clinical and research challenges despite recent advances in kidney transplantation. The aim of this systematic review was to examine the current application of machine learning models in kidney transplantation and perform a meta-analysis of these models in the prediction of graft survival.

Methods

This review was registered with the PROSPERO database (CRD42021247469) and all peer-reviewed original articles that reported machine learning model-based prediction of graft survival were included. Quality assessment was performed by the criteria defined by Qiao and risk-of-bias assessment was performed using the PROBAST tool. The diagnostic performance of the meta-analysis was assessed by a meta-analysis of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and a hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic plot.

Results

A total of 31 studies met the inclusion criteria for the review and 27 studies were included in the meta-analysis. Twenty-nine different machine learning models were used to predict graft survival in the included studies. Nine studies compared the predictive performance of machine learning models with traditional regression methods. Five studies had a high risk of bias and three studies had an unclear risk of bias. The area under the hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.82 and the summary sensitivity and specificity of machine learning-based models were 0.81 (95 per cent c.i. 0.76 to 0.86) and 0.81 (95 per cent c.i. 0.74 to 0.86) respectively for the overall model. The diagnostic odds ratio for the overall model was 18.24 (95 per cent c.i. 11.00 to 30.16) and 29.27 (95 per cent c.i. 13.22 to 44.46) based on the sensitivity analyses.

Conclusion

Prediction models using machine learning methods may improve the prediction of outcomes after kidney transplantation by the integration of the vast amounts of non-linear data.
The prognostic effect of prediabetes defined by different criteria in patients with stable coronary artery disease: a prospective cohort study in Asia
Authors: Cui Kongyong , Yin Dong , Song Weihua , Wang Hongjian , Zhu Chenggang , Feng Lei , Li Jianjun , Jia Lei , Lu Ye , Zhang Rui , Shi Boqun , Song Yanjun , Fu Rui , Dou Kefei
Published: March 2023

Aims

To evaluate the impact of prediabetes identified by different glycemic thresholds (according to ADA or WHO/IEC criteria) and diagnostic tests (fasting plasma glucose [FPG] or hemoglobin A1c [HbA1c]) on clinical outcomes in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD).

Methods and results

In this prospective cohort study, we consecutively enrolled 4088 stable CAD non-diabetic patients with a median follow-up period of 3.2 years. Prediabetes was defined according to ADA criteria as FPG 5.6∼6.9 mmol/L and/or HbA1c 5.7∼6.4%, and WHO/IEC criteria as FPG 6.1∼6.9 mmol/L and/or HbA1c 6.0∼6.4%. The primary endpoint was major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE), including all-cause death, myocardial infarction, or stroke. The prevalence of prediabetes defined according to ADA criteria (67%) was double that of WHO/IEC criteria (34%). Compared with patients with normoglycaemia, those with WHO/IEC-defined prediabetes were significantly associated with higher risk of MACE [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 1.50, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.10–2.06], mainly driven by the higher incidence of events in individuals with HbA1c-defined prediabetes. However, this difference was not found in patients with ADA-defined prediabetes and normoglycaemia (adjusted HR 1.17, 95% CI 0.81–1.68). Although FPG was not associated with cardiovascular events, HbA1c improved the risk prediction for MACE in a model of traditional risk factors. Furthermore, the optimal cutoff value of HbA1c for predicting MACE was 5.85%, which was close to the threshold recommended by IEC.

Conclusion

This study supports the use of WHO/IEC criteria for the identification of prediabetes in stable CAD patients. Haemoglobin A1c, rather than FPG, should be considered as a useful marker for risk stratification in this population.

Registration

Not applicable.
Resilience and successional trends of woody vegetation in seasonally dry tropical forests
Authors: de Oliveira Clemir Candeia , Martins Fernando Roberto , Souza Bruno Cruz , de Sa Barretto Sampaio Everardo Valadares , Loiola Maria Iracema Bezerra , Soares Arlete Aparecida
Published: March 2023

Understanding the recovery time of vegetation structure and species composition to estimate the resilience of seasonally deciduous tropical forest (SDTF) is fundamental for conservation actions. Related information is still scarce for the semi-arid Brazilian SDTF (locally called Caatinga), which covers more than 800 000 km2 in the northeast of Brazil. We aimed to estimate how long it takes for 11 attributes of vegetation structure and species composition, separately and aggregated, to become similar to an old-growth forest (OGF). The attributes were floristic composition, species richness, Shannon diversity index, plant density, median and maximal diameters and height, basal area, volume and aboveground biomass. The attributes’ regeneration ratios were aggregated as an arithmetic average and a geometric average, based on a variance–covariance analysis. The ratios were determined in chronosequences (5, 15, 25 and 35 regeneration years and an OGF) of SDTF, in three different locations in Ceará state. Plant density, which had a unimodal tendency, reached a peak at 15 years and then decreased, although it was still greater than that of the OGF after 35 years. Richness and diversity, with monotonic trends, reached values similar to the OGF. All other attributes, especially floristic composition, volume and biomass, had lower values than the OGF. Based on the aggregate set of attributes, the SDTF was 79 per cent recovered after 35 years of regeneration. The variance–covariance analysis indicated that species richness and aboveground biomass contributed the most to the aggregate ratio of regeneration, while maximum diameter and basal area contributed the least. Recovery of this semi-arid forest takes longer than recovery of other SDTF and requires more than 35 years of regeneration to return to a composition and structure similar to the original one. Therefore, management plans should restrict destructive uses before at least 35 years of regeneration have been reached.
Theoretical analysis and computation of the sample Fréchet mean of sets of large graphs for various metrics
Authors: Ferguson Daniel , Meyer François G
Published: March 2023

To characterize the location (mean, median) of a set of graphs, one needs a notion of centrality that has been adapted to metric spaces. A standard approach is to consider the Fréchet mean. In practice, computing the Fréchet mean for sets of large graphs presents many computational issues. In this work, we suggest a method that may be used to compute the Fréchet mean for sets of graphs which is metric independent. We show that the technique proposed can be used to determine the Fréchet mean when considering the Hamming distance or a distance defined by the difference between the spectra of the adjacency matrices of the graphs.
Level of feeding and stage of maturity affects diet digestibility and protein and fat deposition in cross-bred lambs
Authors: Keogh Thomas P , McGrath Shawn R , Allworth Maxwell B , Oddy Victor H
Published: March 2023

Metabolizable energy intake is the key determining factor for the expression of an animal’s genetic potential for growth, and current predictive growth models are not capable of accounting for all the nutritional variation that is commonly observed. The current study was designed to investigate energy transactions as lambs grow using CT scanning to assess body compositional changes at two levels of intake and two stages of maturity, and compare results to predictive equations.

A pelleted diet was provided to cross-bred lambs (n = 108) at approximately 2.5 and 3.5% of liveweight (LW) in dry matter when the lambs were approximately four (31.8 ± 0.3 kg LW) and eight (40.5 ± 0.3 kg LW) months of age. A digestibility trial was run sequentially using 10 lambs of the same genetic and nutritional history fed at the same feeding levels to determine the digestibility of the diet.

In the first feeding period, metabolizable energy intake was 15.3 ± 0.03 and 9.5 ± 0.03 MJ ME/d for high and low feeding levels respectively, resulting in higher rates of empty body gain for high feeding level lambs (197.7 ± 7.8 vs. 72.8 ± 8.2 g/d; P < 0.001). In the second feeding period, metabolizable energy intake was 15.2 ± 0.01 and 12.0 ± 0.01 MJ ME/d for high and low feeding levels respectively, resulting in higher rates of empty body gain for high feeding level lambs (176.3 ± 5.4 vs. 73.9 ± 5.3; P < 0.001).

Lambs at later stages of maturity retained proportionately more energy as fat for every unit of retained energy compared to younger lambs (95.4 ± 0.40 vs. 90.0 ± 0.42%; P < 0.001). Lambs fed the lower feeding level in period two also retained proportionately more energy as fat for every unit of retained energy than lambs at the higher feeding level (97.1 ± 0.36 vs. 94.0 ± 0.37%; P < 0.001) which is hypothesized to be because of the rapid response of visceral lean tissue to changes in nutrition. There were no significant interactions between treatments in the first and second feeding periods, indicating an absence of a compensatory gain response to a nutritional restriction in the first feeding period.

This experiment highlights the significance of a changing feed supply and the subsequent effects on body composition and the partitioning of energy to lean and fat tissue deposition. For improvements in the accuracy of predictive ruminant growth models it is necessary to gain a greater understanding of the different tissue responses over time to changes in nutrition.
Plane-wave least-squares diffraction imaging using short-time singular spectrum analysis
Authors: Li Yalin , Huang Jianping , Lei Ganglin , Duan Wensheng , Song Cheng , Zhang Xinwen
Published: March 2023

Diffractions are seismic waves generated by small-scale heterogeneities in the subsurface. These are often superimposed by strong reflections so that they are not visible on the image, leading to misinterpretation and incorrect localization of the scatterers. Therefore, the separation of diffracted and reflected waves is a crucial step in identifying these small-scale diffractors. To realize the separation of diffraction and imaging, a least-squares reverse time migration method of plane waves (PLSRTM) optimized with short-time singular spectrum analysis (STSSA) was developed in this work. The proposed STSSA algorithm exploits the properties of singular spectral analysis (SSA) to separate linear signals. By establishing the Hanning window and the energy compensation function, it also compensates for the shortcomings of SSA in local dip processing and convergence of linear signals. As there is no clear boundary between reflected and diffracted waves, the energy loss during separation leads to a slow convergence rate of the diffraction wave imaging technique. We use STSSA as a constraint for PLSRTM, which greatly improves the imaging quality for diffraction waves. The tests with the Sigsbee2A model and noisy seismic data have shown that our method can effectively improve the resolution of diffraction wave imaging and that the constraint of STSSA increases the robustness to noisy data.
Iatrogenic fibrotic encapsulation of NANCE palatal arch appliance in the hard palate and its surgical management: a case report
Authors: Adeloye Abimbola Y , Egbunah Uchenna P , Utomi Ifeoma L
Published: March 2023

Fibrosis is the overgrowth of connective tissue resulting from chronic inflammatory reactions induced by persistent tissue injury such as iatrogenic injury from prolonged use of orthodontic appliances. We report a case of a 19-year-old female who presented with a complaint of dental malocclusion. Her first presentation was 5 years prior when she received a Nance palatal arch appliance. However, she did not keep to her follow-up appointments and could not complete her treatment. Intraoral examination revealed the Nance palatal arch appliance completely buried in fibrotic tissue of the hard palate. The appliance was resistant to removal by conventional means and surgical exposure and removal were performed. A new Nance palatal arch appliance was fabricated and fitted and the patient continued to receive further orthodontic treatment. This report elucidates the importance of regular dental appointments for patients on orthodontic therapy to prevent complications and minimize the need for surgical interventions.
Extrapleural solitary fibrous tumor—a revision of three cases
Authors: Policarpo Filipa , Rafael Ana Alves , Teixeira José Nuno , Chorão Martinha
Published: March 2023

Extrapleural solitary fibrous tumors are a rare type of spindle cell neoplasm, which can occur in many locations with different histologic and immunohistochemical findings, making the diagnosis challenging. They are usually indolent and their treatment is based on complete surgical resection. There are still some issues to be clarified regarding systemic therapy (specifically when aggressive behavior exists) and long-term follow-up. We present a series of clinical cases in the same Department and review this thematic area.
Giant pedunculated lipofibroma of the thigh
Authors: Suleiman Jamil , Suleman Mujaheed , Amsi Patrick , Minja Peter , Lodhia Jay
Published: March 2023

Pedunculated lipofibroma is a rare form of nevus lipomatous cutaneous superficialis. They are usually solitary lesions found around the thighs, buttocks and trunk; thought to have a predilection for pressure areas. There are two types of lipofibromas; sessile or pedunculated. They are mostly asymptomatic but can cause symptoms as they grow larger affecting daily activities. Treatment is not indicated in smaller lesions, except for cosmetic purposes. Herein we present this rare benign lesion with an unusually large size.
Female with multiple groin pathologies: inguinal hernia containing fallopian tube, obturator hernia and subcutaneous endometrioma
Authors: Skalkos Elizabeth , Diab Jason , Berney Christophe
Published: March 2023

Groin lumps in females can be challenging due to unique anatomy and vast differential diagnostic pathologies. We report the case of a 39-year-old female presenting with a six-month history of painful left groin lump. Laparoscopic total extraperitoneal (TEP) hernia repair showed an incarcerated left indirect inguinal hernia sac containing part of the left fallopian tube and fimbrial cyst, a left fat-containing obturator hernia and associated with ectopic subcutaneous inguinal endometrioma. The anatomical differences in women suggest that individualized preoperative imaging modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging have a place before considering laparoscopic hernia repair, to successfully identify and synchronously treat any concomitant pathologies.
Pyogenic granuloma of the thumb mimicking squamous cell carcinoma of the nail subunit: case report and review of the literature
Authors: Alkabbaa Saud , Alsaedan Abdullah M , Alammar Alwaleed K
Published: March 2023

Pyogenic granuloma (PG) is a benign vascular lesion that usually occurs in the skin or mucous membranes. Multiple theories have been implicated in its aetiology. It can mimic variable malignancies in which histopathological examination plays a vital role. We report a case of PG of the left thumb nail subunit in a 40-year-old gentleman, who presented with left thumb mass after a trauma by a wooden splinter. Incisional biopsy of the lesion could not rule out squamous cell carcinoma. Therefore, full radiological studies were carried out as part of this highly suspicious lesion’s work-up. Excisional biopsy was performed and a full thickness skin graft was harvested from the left distal forearm and applied to cover the defect. Final histopathological examination revealed the diagnosis of PG. The wound subsequently healed well with good functional and aesthetic outcome.
Relationships between inflammation markers and the risk of hypertension in primary Sjögren’s syndrome: A retrospective cohort study
Authors: Lu Yan , Luo Qiang , Liu Yaping , Wang Han
Published: March 2023

Objectives

The association of inflammation markers with hypertension (HTN) in primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) remains controversial. We aimed to investigate whether inflammation markers are at increased risk of developing HTN in pSS patients.

Methods

A retrospective cohort study included pSS patients (n = 380) between May 2011 and May 2020 from the Third People’s Hospital of Chengdu. Multivariable Cox regression analyses were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) of the potential inflammation markers for pSS-HTN. Subsequently, the dose–response relationships were also used.

Results

Out of 380 pSS patients, 171 (45%) developed HTN, and the median follow-up period was 4.16 years. Univariable Cox regression analysis showed that the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and neutrophils were significantly associated with the incident HTN (P < 0.05). After adjustment for covariates, this association between ESR (adjusted HR 1.017, 95%CI: 1.005–1.027, P = .003), neutrophils (adjusted HR 1.356, 95%CI: 1.113–1.653, P = .003), and HTN remained significant. The dose–effect relationship was also found between ESR, neutrophils, and HTN (P = .001).

Conclusions

Inflammation markers may play an important role in the incident HTN in pSS.
A Real-world Multicenter Outpatient Experience of Ceftolozane/Tazobactam
Authors: Van Anglen Lucinda J , Schroeder Claudia P , Couch Kimberly A
Published: March 2023

Background

Ceftolozane/tazobactam (C/T) is indicated for the treatment of complicated intra-abdominal infection (IAI), complicated urinary tract infection (UTI), and hospital-acquired/ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia caused by susceptible bacteria. As real-world data are limited, we report utilization and associated outcomes of C/T use in the outpatient setting.

Methods

This is a multicenter, retrospective study of patients who received C/T between May 2015 and December 2020. Demographics, infection types, C/T utilization characteristics, microbiology, and health care resource utilization were collected. Clinical success was defined as complete or partial symptom resolution at completion of C/T. Persistent infection and discontinuation of C/T were deemed nonsuccess. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify predictors associated with clinical outcomes.

Results

A total of 126 patients (median age, 59 years; 59% male; median Charlson index, 5) from 33 office infusion centers were identified. Infection types included 27% bone and joint infection (BJI), 23% UTI, 18% respiratory tract infection (RTI), 16% IAI, 13% complicated skin and soft tissue infection (cSSTI), and 3% bacteremia. The median daily dose of C/T was 4.5 g, primarily administered via elastomeric pumps as intermittent infusion. The most common gram-negative pathogen was P. aeruginosa (63%), 66% of which was multidrug-resistant and 45% carbapenem-resistant. Enterobacterales was identified in 26% of isolates, of which 44% were extended-spectrum beta-lactamase producers. The overall clinical success rate of C/T was 84.7%. Nonsuccessful outcomes were due to persistent infections (9.7%) and drug discontinuations (5.6%).

Conclusions

C/T was successfully used in the outpatient setting to treat a variety of serious infections with a high prevalence of resistant pathogens.
Clathrin-mediated endocytosis facilitates the internalization ofMagnaporthe oryzaeeffectors into rice cells
Authors: Oliveira-Garcia Ely , Tamang Tej Man , Park Jungeun , Dalby Melinda , Martin-Urdiroz Magdalena , Rodriguez Herrero Clara , Vu An Hong , Park Sunghun , Talbot Nicholas J , Valent Barbara
Published: March 2023

Fungi and oomycetes deliver effectors into living plant cells to suppress defenses and control plant processes needed for infection. Little is known about the mechanism by which these pathogens translocate effector proteins across the plasma membrane into the plant cytoplasm. The blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae secretes cytoplasmic effectors into a specialized biotrophic interfacial complex (BIC) before translocation. Here, we show that cytoplasmic effectors within BICs are packaged into punctate membranous effector compartments that are occasionally observed in the host cytoplasm. Live cell imaging with fluorescently labeled proteins in rice (Oryza sativa) showed that these effector puncta colocalize with the plant plasma membrane and with CLATHRIN LIGHT CHAIN 1, a component of clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME). Inhibiting CME using virus-induced gene silencing and chemical treatments resulted in cytoplasmic effectors in swollen BICs lacking effector puncta. By contrast, fluorescent marker colocalization, gene silencing, and chemical inhibitor studies failed to support a major role for clathrin-independent endocytosis in effector translocation. Effector localization patterns indicated that cytoplasmic effector translocation occurs underneath appressoria before invasive hyphal growth. Taken together, this study provides evidence that cytoplasmic effector translocation is mediated by CME in BICs and suggests a role for M. oryzae effectors in coopting plant endocytosis.
Duality of immune recognition by tomato and virulence activity of the Ralstonia solanacearum exo-polygalacturonase PehC
Authors: Ke Jingjing , Zhu Wanting , Yuan Ying , Du Xinya , Xu Ai , Zhang Dan , Cao Sen , Chen Wei , Lin Yang , Xie Jiatao , Cheng Jiasen , Fu Yanping , Jiang Daohong , Yu Xiao , Li Bo
Published: March 2023

Ralstonia solanacearum is a devastating soil-borne bacterial pathogen capable of infecting many plant species, including tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). However, the perception of Ralstonia by the tomato immune system and the pathogen's counter-defense strategy remain largely unknown. Here, we show that PehC, a specific exo-polygalacturonase secreted by Ralstonia, acts as an elicitor that triggers typical immune responses in tomato and other Solanaceous plants. The elicitor activity of PehC depends on its N-terminal epitope, and not on its polygalacturonase activity. The recognition of PehC specifically occurs in tomato roots and relies on unknown receptor-like kinase(s). Moreover, PehC hydrolyzes plant pectin-derived oligogalacturonic acids (OGs), a type of damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP), which leads to the release of galacturonic acid (GalA), thereby dampening DAMP-triggered immunity (DTI). Ralstonia depends on PehC for its growth and early infection and can utilize GalA as a carbon source in the xylem. Our findings demonstrate the specialized and dual functions of Ralstonia PehC, which enhance virulence by degrading DAMPs to evade DTI and produce nutrients, a strategy used by pathogens to attenuate plant immunity. Solanaceous plants have evolved to recognize PehC and induce immune responses, which highlights the significance of PehC. Overall, this study provides insight into the arms race between plants and pathogens.
Protecting the integrity of survey research
Authors: Jamieson Kathleen Hall , Lupia Arthur , Amaya Ashley , Brady Henry E , Bautista René , Clinton Joshua D , Dever Jill A , Dutwin David , Goroff Daniel L , Hillygus D Sunshine , Kennedy Courtney , Langer Gary , Lapinski John S , Link Michael , Philpot Tasha , Prewitt Ken , Rivers Doug , Vavreck Lynn , Wilson David C , McNutt Marcia K
Published: March 2023

Although polling is not irredeemably broken, changes in technology and society create challenges that, if not addressed well, can threaten the quality of election polls and other important surveys on topics such as the economy. This essay describes some of these challenges and recommends remediations to protect the integrity of all kinds of survey research, including election polls. These 12 recommendations specify ways that survey researchers, and those who use polls and other public-oriented surveys, can increase the accuracy and trustworthiness of their data and analyses. Many of these recommendations align practice with the scientific norms of transparency, clarity, and self-correction. The transparency recommendations focus on improving disclosure of factors that affect the nature and quality of survey data. The clarity recommendations call for more precise use of terms such as “representative sample” and clear description of survey attributes that can affect accuracy. The recommendation about correcting the record urges the creation of a publicly available, professionally curated archive of identified technical problems and their remedies. The paper also calls for development of better benchmarks and for additional research on the effects of panel conditioning. Finally, the authors suggest ways to help people who want to use or learn from survey research understand the strengths and limitations of surveys and distinguish legitimate and problematic uses of these methods.
Explaining Types of Military Defections during Major Anti-authoritarian Protests
Authors: Neu Kara Kingma
Published: March 2023

Military defections during major anti-authoritarian protests have received significant attention. Yet instances of military disloyalty, commonly termed defections, often actually involve different parts of the military organization. Middle- and high-ranking officers may unite to defect, or they may fragment, with some defecting and others remaining loyal. In this article, I draw on the existing scholarship’s insights to argue that a dictator that uses control of internal security forces marginalizes all officers and increases the likelihood of united defections, whereas a dictator that uses military politicization marginalizes only some officers and increases the likelihood of fragmented defections. I assess and find support for these relationships statistically, using data on types of defections across a large N sample of all major anti-authoritarian protests from 1960 to 2011. I also illustrate the relationships using two brief comparative cases, Chile (1988) and El Salvador (1979).