bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Interleukin-7 Risk Allele, Lymphocyte Counts, and Autoantibodies for Prediction of Risk of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Receiving Atezolizumab plus Bevacizumab Therapy for Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Authors: Takada Hitomi , Osawa Leona , Komiyama Yasuyuki , Muraoka Masaru , Suzuki Yuichiro , Sato Mitsuaki , Kobayashi Shoji , Yoshida Takashi , Takano Shinichi , Maekawa Shinya , Enomoto Nobuyuki
Published: July 2024

Introduction: Atezolizumab plus bevacizumab (AB) therapy was the effective immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (u-HCC). However, immune-related adverse events (irAEs) are common in patients receiving ICI therapies. Our research aimed to explore the risk factors for irAE development, with attention to interleukin-7 (IL-7) risk alleles, lymphocyte counts, and autoantibodies. Methods: Seventy-six patients receiving AB therapy for u-HCC were recruited. Single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping was done for the analysis of rs16906115 polymorphism near IL-7-expressing genes using 20 μL of stored buffy coat at baseline. The association between IL-7 risk alleles, lymphocyte counts, autoantibodies, and irAE development was investigated. Results: irAEs were found in 14 (18%) patients. The incidence of irAEs did not differ significantly between the groups showing IL-7 AG/AA and the GG group (p = 0.72). The incidence in the group with a lymphocyte count of 1,130/µL or more at baseline was higher than in that with a value below 1,130/µL (p = 0.0093). The group showing IL-7 AG/AA or lymphocyte count >1,130/μL had a higher irAE prevalence rate than the others (p = 0.019). IL-7 AG/AA or lymphocyte count >1,130/μL and positivity for autoantibodies at baseline were the prognostic factors for irAE development. irAE incidence could be stratified using a combination of IL-7 AG/AA or lymphocyte counts ≥1,130/µL and positive autoantibodies (p = 0.016). Conclusion: Patients with IL-7 risk alleles, high lymphocyte counts, and autoantibodies at baseline may require careful monitoring for irAE development.
Pengelolaan N-tanah dan Pemupukan N
Authors: Nugroho Gabryna Auliya , Lutfi M Wasilul , Hanuf Atiqah Aulia , Soemarno S
Published: July 2024

Nitrogen dalam bentuk N2 bebas tersedia di atmosfer dengan jumlah yang besar yakni mencapai 78%. Namun, N2 bebas tidak dapat dikonsumsi langsung oleh tanaman untuk memenuhi kebutuhan unsur N pada fase vegetatif dan generatif. Bentuk nitrogen yang dapat diserap oleh tanaman adalah N-NO3– dan N-NH4+. Hanya saja, kedua bentuk N tersedia tersebut bersifat mobile dan mudah hilang. Dalam buku ini, dibahas secara lengkap perihal siklus Nitrogen mulai dari sumber N, transformasi N, dan penyebab kehilangan N, hal ini untuk mendukung pengelolaan N-tanah yang lebih baik. Penggunaan pupuk secara optimal dan seimbang sangat penting untuk meningkatkan produksi tanaman. Untuk meningkatkan penyediaan N bagi tanaman dikaji secara mendalam berbagai metode pemupukan N seperti pemupukan nitrat, pemupukan amonium, nitrogen controlled release fertilizer, urea inhibitor, pupuk hayati N, pupuk hijau, dll. Untuk meminimalkan praktik budi daya yang mengakibatkan degradasi tanah, dalam buku ini dipaparkan konsep Manajemen Hara Tanaman secara Terpadu (MHTT) untuk budi daya tanaman. MHTT adalah upaya mengintegrasikan penggunaan unsur hara tanah dari bahan alami dan buatan manusia untuk meningkatkan produktivitas tanaman dan melestarikan produktivitas tanah untuk generasi mendatang. MHTT dapat diibaratkan sebagai satu set praktik manajemen kesuburan tanah yang tentu termasuk penggunaan pupuk, masukan bahan organik, dan penggunaan plasma nutfah dikombinasikan dengan pengetahuan tentang bagaimana praktik-praktik budi daya sesuai dengan kondisi setempat. MHTT bertujuan mengoptimalkan efisiensi penggunaan agronomi nutrisi diterapkan dan meningkatkan produktivitas tanaman.
Las naturalezas del pasado: miradas cruzadas desde la Historia Intelectual, siglos XIX-XXI
Authors: Mora Rogelio de la ,   Instituto de Investigaciones Histórico-Sociales, Corrêa Maria Letícia , Martins Mônica , Castro Mayabel Ranero , Rashkin Elissa , Retta Cristina , Jácome Rocío Rosero , Digiovanni Alayde Pinto , Souza Marilene Proença Rebello de ,   Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro,   Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro,   Universidad Veracruzana,   Universidad Veracruzana,   Instituto Cervantes de Berlín,   Universidad Central del Ecuador,   Universidade Estadual do Centro-Oeste,   Universidade de São Paulo. Instituto de Psicologia
Published: July 2024

¿Cómo se construyen las representaciones simbólicas yculturales del medio ambiente?, ¿cuáles son las ideologías que moldean la relación entre la naturaleza y las sociedades?, ¿qué papel desempeñan dichos paradigmas en la comprensión de la actual crisis climática? Esas fueron algunas de las preguntas que abrieron un profundo debate en el seno del grupo Trabajo Intelectual, Pensamiento y Modernidad en América Latina (TIPMAL) de la Asociación de Historiadores Latinoamericanistas Europeos (AHILA). El desafío era claro: que la Historia Intelectual –y disciplinas afines– incluyera la cuestión medioambiental en sus fuentes, métodos y análisis para lograr un conocimiento más integral del pasado y de la actualidad. Sin embargo, no se trata de proyectar en el pasado categorías medioambientales y ecológicas del presente, sino de utilizarlas con el debido cuidado para pensar la existencia de sociedades pasadas. O, en palabras de Alfred Siemens, conviene extraer la ecología de documentos que, obviamente, no tenían ese significado. Incluso porque dicha calificación retrospectiva constituye una condición general y un dilema del propio análisis histórico. Ante ello, hay tres cuestiones básicas que nos gustaría señalar para presentar esta obra. La primera es acerca de su origen, la segunda sobre sus aportes al campo de la Historia y, en tercer lugar, su contenido.
Perception of Phonological Assimilation by Neural Speech Recognition Models
Authors: Pouw Charlotte , Kloots Marianne de Heer , Alishahi Afra , Zuidema Willem
Published: July 2024

Human listeners effortlessly compensate for phonological changes during speech perception, often unconsciously inferring the intended sounds. For example, listeners infer the underlying /n/ when hearing an utterance such as “clea[m] pan”, where [m] arises from place assimilation to the following labial [p]. This article explores how the neural speech recognition model Wav2Vec2 perceives assimilated sounds, and identifies the linguistic knowledge that is implemented by the model to compensate for assimilation during Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR). Using psycholinguistic stimuli, we systematically analyze how various linguistic context cues influence compensation patterns in the model’s output. Complementing these behavioral experiments, our probing experiments indicate that the model shifts its interpretation of assimilated sounds from their acoustic form to their underlying form in its final layers. Finally, our causal intervention experiments suggest that the model relies on minimal phonological context cues to accomplish this shift. These findings represent a step towards better understanding the similarities and differences in phonological processing between neural ASR models and humans.
Do Multimodal Large Language Models and Humans Ground Language Similarly?
Authors: Jones Cameron R. , Bergen Benjamin , Trott Sean
Published: July 2024

Large Language Models (LLMs) have been criticized for failing to connect linguistic meaning to the world—for failing to solve the “symbol grounding problem.” Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs) offer a potential solution to this challenge by combining linguistic representations and processing with other modalities. However, much is still unknown about exactly how and to what degree MLLMs integrate their distinct modalities—and whether the way they do so mirrors the mechanisms believed to underpin grounding in humans. In humans, it has been hypothesized that linguistic meaning is grounded through “embodied simulation,” the activation of sensorimotor and affective representations reflecting described experiences. Across four pre-registered studies, we adapt experimental techniques originally developed to investigate embodied simulation in human comprehenders to ask whether MLLMs are sensitive to sensorimotor features that are implied but not explicit in descriptions of an event. In Experiment 1, we find sensitivity to some features (color and shape) but not others (size, orientation, and volume). In Experiment 2, we identify likely bottlenecks to explain an MLLM’s lack of sensitivity. In Experiment 3, we find that despite sensitivity to implicit sensorimotor features, MLLMs cannot fully account for human behavior on the same task. Finally, in Experiment 4, we compare the psychometric predictive power of different MLLM architectures and find that ViLT, a single-stream architecture, is more predictive of human responses to one sensorimotor feature (shape) than CLIP, a dual-encoder architecture—despite being trained on orders of magnitude less data. These results reveal strengths and limitations in the ability of current MLLMs to integrate language with other modalities, and also shed light on the likely mechanisms underlying human language comprehension.
Exploring Temporal Sensitivity in the Brain Using Multi-timescale Language Models: An EEG Decoding Study
Authors: Ling Sijie , Murphy Alex , Fyshe Alona
Published: July 2024

The brain’s ability to perform complex computations at varying timescales is crucial, ranging from understanding single words to grasping the overarching narrative of a story. Recently, multi-timescale long short-term memory (MT-LSTM) models (Mahto et al. 2020; Jain et al. 2020) have been introduced, which use temporally tuned parameters to induce sensitivity to different timescales of language processing (i.e., related to near/distant words). However, there has not been an exploration of the relationship between such temporally tuned information processing in MT-LSTMs and the brain’s processing of language using high temporal resolution recording modalities, such as electroencephalography (EEG).

To bridge this gap, we used an EEG dataset recorded while participants listened to Chapter 1 of “Alice in Wonderland” and trained ridge regression models to predict the temporally tuned MT-LSTM embeddings from EEG responses. Our analysis reveals that EEG signals can be used to predict MT-LSTM embeddings across various timescales. For longer timescales, our models produced accurate predictions within an extended time window of ±2 s around word onset, while for shorter timescales, significant predictions are confined to a narrower window ranging from −180 ms to 790 ms. Intriguingly, we observed that short timescale information is not only processed in the vicinity of word onset but also at more distant time points.

These observations underscore the parallels and discrepancies between computational models and the neural mechanisms of the brain. As word embeddings are used more as in silico models of semantic representation in the brain, a more explicit consideration of timescale-dependent processing enables more targeted explorations of language processing in humans and machines.
The Diagrammatics of ‘Race’
Authors: Sommer Marianne
Published: July 2024

This is the first book that engages with the history of diagrams in physical, evolutionary, and genetic anthropology. Since their establishment as scientific tools for classification in the eighteenth century, diagrams have been used to determine but also to deny kinship between human groups. In nineteenth-century craniometry, they were omnipresent in attempts to standardize measurements on skulls for hierarchical categorization. In particular the ’human family tree’ was central for evolutionary understandings of human diversity, being used on both sides of debates about whether humans constitute different species well into the twentieth century. With recent advances in (ancient) DNA analyses, the tree diagram has become more contested than ever―does human relatedness take the shape of a network? Are human individual genomes mosaics made up of different ancestries? Sommer examines the epistemic and political role of these visual representations in the history of ‘race’ as an anthropological category. How do such diagrams relate to imperial and (post-)colonial practices and ideologies but also to liberal and humanist concerns?

The Diagrammatics of 'Race' concentrates on Western projects from the late 1700s into the present to diagrammatically define humanity, subdividing and ordering it, including the concomitant endeavors to acquire representative samples―bones, blood, or DNA―from all over the world. Contributing to the ‘diagrammatic turn’ in the humanities and social sciences, it reveals connections between diagrams in anthropology and other visual traditions, including in religion, linguistics, biology, genealogy, breeding, and eugenics.
2. Samuel George Morton and His (Paper) Skulls
Authors: Sommer Marianne
Published: July 2024

In Chapter 2, the now decidedly diagrammatic and metric approach to human crania of Samuel George Morton, ‘the father of American physical anthropology’, takes center stage. Morton drew on figures like James Cowles Prichard, Petrus Camper, and Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, but his work was of different theoretical and political intent, and it was taken on by polygenists and advocates for slavery. Through his skull atlases, in particular Crania americana (1839), Morton instructed in a new kind of diagrammatics. Besides making available his huge skull collection through the lithographs in the book’s appendix, Morton used diagrams to introduce and explain measuring devices and the carrying out of measurements. He taught the reader in diagrammatically constructing ‘racial types’.
6. The First Tree of the Human ‘Races’
Authors: Sommer Marianne
Published: July 2024

The possibly first tree image that subdivided the human varieties drew on the anthropologists of the first hour. It was part of a religious framework, thus demonstrating that the uptake of the tree image in biology and anthropology could be independent of evolutionary theory. Because the diagram incorporates three long-standing traditions of thinking and visualizing diversity – the mappa mundi, the chain of being, and the tree of life – it allows investigation of some interrelations between these traditions. Chapter 6 therefore considers the cultural and religious histories of ‘spatial’, ‘linear’, and ‘arboreal’ iconographies.
9. Map, Scale, and Tree in Darwin, Haeckel and Co.
Authors: Sommer Marianne
Published: July 2024

That Charles Darwin partook in conceptualizing general human advancement in terms of a series of sequential steps is evident in Descent. But there were also other, tree-like, diagrammatic metaphors and images in use by naturalists, linguists, embryologists, and anthropologists. Chapter 9 therefore explores why Darwin never even experimented on drawing a phylogenetic tree that included intra-human differentiation. It seems that by the time Descent appeared, the predominantly monogenist diagram had already been driven beyond its initial purpose. In particular Ernst Haeckel’s intra-human phylogenies showed that ‘the family tree’ could also support racism and polygenism.
12. Meandering Rivers and Synthetic Networks against Polygenism
Authors: Sommer Marianne
Published: July 2024

The tree was contested in other quarters for exactly these tendencies. One development that was going to render phylogenies like those treated in Chapter 11 untenable was the evolutionary synthesis out of Mendelian genetics and Darwinian theory. The shift from a typological to a populational and adaptational approach in the interpretation of physical-anthropological and paleoanthropological material was central. Still lingering conceptions like ‘Lamarckism’, recapitulation theory, parallelism and orthogenesis, species status of human populations, and typology were undermined. With a stronger focus on human intermixture, different diagrammatic metaphors were brought in position against the tree structure to promote a close human relatedness.
19. The (Diagrammatic) Narratives of Genetic Revolutions
Authors: Sommer Marianne
Published: July 2024

Chapter 19 looks at the ways in which the practitioners themselves conceive of the history of their field. The second revolution in ancient DNA research is said to have revealed that present-day genetic samples did not allow for the reconstruction of ancient events because, contrary to Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza’s and other pioneers’ expectations, people had migrated and mixed, thus blurring the genetic patterns of the past. Although such a view seems to deconstruct the tree diagram and the associated notion that living humans can be biologically grouped into primeval ‘races’ once and for all, some population geneticists and public figures maintain that meaningful average genetic differences between populations exist.
Does the level of descriptive representation of women have any consequences for policy spending?
Authors: Högström John , Lidén Gustav
Published: July 2024

This study examines the potential link between descriptive and substantive representation. More precisely, we examine whether a higher level of political descriptive representation of women improves their substantive representation in terms of policy spending in areas that are known to be prioritized by women. We use data from a pooled sample of all of the 290 Swedish municipalities covering the years from 1994 to 2021. We make at least four contributions to the research field: we use multiple measures of (1) women’s political representation and (2) policy spending, and we also (3) test assumptions at the subnational level, where policy spending matters most, and (4) assess them over a longer period of time, stretching across almost three decades. In contrast to our expectations, the findings show that the descriptive representation of women has no influence on policy spending; instead, economic and demographical aspects dominate.
King warns the nation: white America, the political economy, the age of Obama
Authors: Evans Joseph
Published: July 2024

The author contends that white America’s resistance to black advancement is the primary cause for the current racism and resistance to democracy and democratic institutions. Beyond Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and witness, white America has mutated into the political economy that has hybridized surrogates, namely, neofascism and neoliberalism, philosophical constructs that represent the Theo political right and the Theo political left. Strikingly, the political economy and its hybridized surrogates and paralleling philosophical constructs have come to maturity during the age of Obama, which provides a narrative for this article.
Supplementary rental supply? The digital market for low-cost and informal housing in Sydney, Australia
Authors: Nasreen Zahra , Gurran Nicole , Shrestha Pranita
Published: July 2024

This article examines real estate platforms and the data they generate to provide new insights into housing markets and practices, focusing on lower-cost and informal sectors, where building or rental regulations are often bypassed or contravened. We examine online listings advertised in Sydney, one of the most expensive cities in Australia and the world, compiling data from four dominant platforms – Realestate.com.au, Flatmates.com.au, Gumtree.com.au and Airbnb.com – each of which offers a particular type of rental accommodation. Using these datasets, we identify a typology of lower-cost and informal tenures and dwelling units, ranging from secondary dwellings and illegally subdivided apartments to shared accommodation and precarious rental agreements. Our study highlights a supplementary supply of rental housing, operating within the conventional private rental market, accessed and made visible via the platforms we examine. Applying a statistical regression approach, we examine relationships between concentrations of informal housing supply and socio-economic variables. The findings reveal intersections between digital platforms and evolving informal market practices and have implications for urban planning and housing policy.
Indigenizing Christianity: Indigenous instruments in the Zimbabwean United Methodist Church
Authors: Nenjerama Theophilus Tinashe
Published: July 2024

This study examines indigenization in the Zimbabwean United Methodist Church. It utilizes historical analysis of archival data to investigate the role of indigenous instrumentations, songs, and music in the indigenization process. The premise is that traditional instruments are operative in the continual indigenization process and play a fundamental role in the 21st-century Zimbabwean United Methodist Church. It further underscores indigenous instruments as a method of theologizing, identity expression and self-imagination. The study concludes that indigenous instruments represent and express United Methodist Church congregants’ spiritual and political liberation in post-missionary Zimbabwe.
Disinformation and strategic frames: Introducing the concept of a strategic epistemology towards media
Authors: Angwald Anton , Wagnsson Charlotte
Published: July 2024

Efforts to raise awareness about foreign disinformation might accidentally increase distrust towards legitimate media. We argue that state discourse on disinformation is comparable to strategic framing in journalists’ coverage of political events, and that it might imbue audiences with cynicism. Furthermore, in contrast to an experimental paradigm that depicts disinformation audiences as passive, we suggest that news consumers actively appropriate and produce content themselves. Conceptualising media content as ‘strategic’ rather than sincere might influence audiences to share and produce media content strategically. This Machiavellian tendency leads to similar effects on bias as motivated reasoning. Most accounts of motivated reasoning assume that limits of psychological processing are the reasons for biased judgements of what is true and fake, however, we argue that biases can also be due to culturally acquired second-order beliefs about knowledge. To explain this, we build on ideas about ‘folk epistemology’ and propose the term ‘strategic epistemology towards media’. Resistance-building efforts against disinformation risk promoting such a strategic epistemology towards media and this can have harmful effects on democratic dialogue. To avoid this, educational interventions should be premised on social epistemology rather than experimental psychology.
The constitution as a law of lawmaking: Comments on Frank Michelman’s Constitutional Essentials
Authors: Gerstenberg Oliver
Published: July 2024

A crucial insight in Michelman’s ‘Constitutional Essentials’ is that constitutions may serve a justificatory or proceduralizing aim in modern liberal democracies. Yet the pervasiveness of moral disagreement – all-the-way-up; all-the-way-down – suggests, as I will argue, a democratic-experimentalist turn, which focuses on a non-hierarchical process of stakeholder deliberation and the court’s role in instigating and overseeing that process, ensuring non-domination. I believe that Frank is exactly right in arguing that a liberally justification-worthy political framework-law-in-place is normatively necessary for democratic politics to succeed in divided societies. But I want to suggest that democratic experimentalism can offer further support to this claim.
Factors and Beliefs Affecting Women Diagnosed With Breast Cancer to Initiate Cancer Treatment: A Systematic Review
Authors: Almallah Walaa R. , Bakas Tamilyn , Shaughnessy Elizabeth , Morrison Caroline F.
Published: July 2024

Background:

Initiating treatment within the optimal time is critical for women with breast cancer. A delay in cancer treatment initiation can result in increased morbidity and mortality and decreased overall survival.

Objective:

This systematic review aims to investigate the literature for the factors and beliefs affecting women diagnosed with breast cancer with regard to initiating cancer treatment.

Methods:

The PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycINFO databases were searched using the terms of breast cancer, initiating or seeking treatment, and beliefs. The Johns Hopkins Evidence-Based Practice Research Evidence Appraisal Tool was used to evaluate the included articles.

Results:

Sixteen articles were included in this review. The addressed factors were classified as (1) patient-related factors, (2) disease-related factors, (3) provider-related factors, and (4) system-related factors. The identified beliefs were cultural beliefs and perceived barriers to initiating treatment.

Conclusion:

Although the literature reported multiple factors and beliefs that impact the time of initiating treatment among women with breast cancer, more research is needed to fully understand the beliefs influencing treatment initiation. It is essential to address and screen the factors and beliefs identified for women diagnosed with breast cancer to enhance treatment initiation early and prevent any possible delay. Interventions can be developed to overcome the factors and beliefs that may lead to late treatment initiation. Advocacy for new policies should be in action to reduce the disparities associated with treatment initiation among women with breast cancer.
What is the best predictor of word difficulty? A case of data mining using random forest
Authors: Ha Hung Tan , Nguyen Duyen Thi Bich , Stoeckel Tim
Published: July 2024

Word frequency has a long history of being considered the most important predictor of word difficulty and has served as a guideline for several aspects of second language vocabulary teaching, learning, and assessment. However, recent empirical research has challenged the supremacy of frequency as a predictor of word difficulty. Accordingly, applied linguists have questioned the use of frequency as the principal criterion in the development of wordlists and vocabulary tests. Despite being informative, previous studies on the topic have been limited in the way the researchers measured word difficulty and the statistical techniques they employed for exploratory data analysis. In the current study, meaning recall was used as a measure of word difficulty, and random forest was employed to examine the importance of various lexical sophistication metrics in predicting word difficulty. The results showed that frequency was not the most important predictor of word difficulty. Due to the limited scope, research findings are only generalizable to Vietnamese learners of English.
Review of spontaneous lesions in the exocrine pancreas of domestic ferrets (Mustela furo)
Authors: Sulkosky Sarah B. , Garner Michael M. , Burgess Mark , Williams Bruce H. , LaDouceur Elise E. B.
Published: July 2024

Large-scale retrospective studies allow for identification of disease trends, such as predisposing factors, typical clinical signs, and range of histologic lesions, which cannot be determined in individual case reports. Lesions of the endocrine pancreas of ferrets are extensively reported; however, there are no in-depth investigations of lesions in the exocrine pancreas. This retrospective analysis presents the histologic features, clinical signs, and concurrent diseases of lesions in the exocrine pancreas of ferrets. Seventy-seven lesions were reported and included acinar cell hyperplasia (n = 32), chronic pancreatitis (n = 16), acute pancreatitis (n = 13), acinar cell adenoma (n = 5), acinar cell carcinoma (n = 4), acinar cell atrophy (n = 3), presumptive acinar cell hypoplasia (n = 2), and lymphoma (n = 2). Our results demonstrate that acinar cell hyperplasia and chronic pancreatitis can both cause grossly visible pancreatic nodules. Hyperplasia was not associated with neoplastic transformation. In addition, acinar cell adenoma was slightly more common than carcinoma, which is contrary to most reports of neoplasia in ferrets. Our findings also suggest that acute pancreatitis can be a sequela to pancreatic biopsy and that there may be an association between chronic pancreatitis and diabetes mellitus in ferrets. Finally, zinc toxicosis was found to be an unlikely cause of pancreatitis in these ferrets based on zinc tissue concentration testing in a subset of cases.
Toward a physics-based model of power coefficient in horizontal-axis wind turbine
Authors: Nguyen Tuan-Anh
Published: July 2024

Global energy is in a major shift from energy using fossil sources to renewable energy using more sustainable energy sources. The wind is the clean and inexhaustible one of renewable energy resources that is available in most parts of the world. In order for wind power generation to meet more ambitious targets around the world, it is necessary to understand all the physics behind process of wind generation. The most interesting of this process is the power coefficient which involves the real characteristics of the wind turbine as a function of the generated power. Up to now, the power coefficient does not yet have a general form but are fitted as mathematical functions from manufacturer data measured from popular wind turbines in the world. In this paper, we develop an analytical physics-based method to estimate the power coefficient general for various wind generation systems of horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT). Instead of 12 parameters in semi-experimental exponential formula , our power coefficient uses only 5 parameters with their physical meanings. By varying these five parameters we also obtain the power coefficients fitted from experimental data.
Examining Food Access Equity by Integrating Grocery Store Pricing into Spatial Accessibility Measures
Authors: Kharel Subham , Sharifiasl Seyedsoheil , Pan Qisheng
Published: July 2024

Accessibility to food stores offering nutritious and affordable options is critical to ensure urban residents lead healthy lives. However, the uneven distribution of diverse food options in U.S. cities has raised concerns about marginalized communities’ ability to obtain affordable and nutritious food. Transportation-related issues, like car-oriented urban form and sprawl, have created food deserts in cities, making it hard for marginalized communities to access affordable and healthy food. This lack of access has recently drawn the attention of urban planners to address food access-related equity issues. Spatial interaction models can help measure food access by examining how grocery store supply, demand, and proximity affect individuals’ access to necessary food. However, these measures do not always consider the pricing of food items, which can significantly affect food access for low-income individuals and families. We use a highly disaggregated measure tailored to measuring inequitable food accessibility by factoring grocery store pricing into various types of supply and demand. Then, using regional socio-demographic thresholds, we identify target population groups and perform a series of equity analyses using our food accessibility measure. Our results show that walking is more inequitable than driving to food stores and that African American and Hispanic minorities, the elderly, and carless households are more burdened than the reference groups (whites). Using our framework, we identify food deserts and provide spatial and empirical insights for policymakers and planners to address food insecurity and promote equitable access to healthy food.
Comparison of E-Scooter and Bike Users’ Behavior in Mixed Traffic
Authors: Distefano Natalia , Leonardi Salvatore , Kieć Mariusz , D’Agostino Carmelo
Published: July 2024

This study aims to investigate the different behaviors with respect to safety measures related to the interaction of e-scooters and bikes with cars in mixed traffic. E-scooters are relatively new vulnerable road users, and their behavior is still not fully understood. For this purpose, an observational study was carried out at an unsignalized at-grade intersection in the city of Catania, Italy. A total of 128 interactions between cars and e-scooters and 89 interactions between cars and bikes were detected. Specifically, two surrogate measures of safety were used, the time to collision (TTC) and post encroachment time (PET), which relate to the “crossing” and the “following” interactions between cars and bikes/e-scooters. The results show that 50% of the “crossings” involving bikes were close interactions with low TTCs representing high risk (TTC < 1.5); meanwhile, for the “crossing” interactions between cars and e-scooters, the same threshold of TTC relates to percentiles of more than 80%. In addition, more than 60% of interactions between cars and e-scooters were characterized by PET values representing a potentially high risk (PET < 1.0 s). The results provide a useful starting point for the elaboration and adaptation of new regulations for mixed traffic conditions including e-scooters that are currently being introduced in several countries with different rules. It should be noted that e-scooters are an intrinsically different transport mode from a bicycle, mainly because their interactions in mixed traffic show that they are prone to a higher risk of closer interactions.
Efficacy and safety of ertapenem dosing in patients with ESBL producing Enterobacterales infections utilizing renal replacement therapies
Authors: El Nekidy Wasim S , Ghazal Iyad , Abidi Emna , Malaeb Diana , Ghazi Islam M , El Lababidi Rania , Mooty Mohamad , Malik Amir , Ghosn Muriel , Mallat Jihad
Published: July 2024

Purpose:

The clinical efficacy and safety of ertapenem use in patients undergoing renal replacement therapies (RRT) are not well-documented. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the safety and efficacy of ertapenem in patients with sepsis secondary to Enterobacterales who are undergoing RRT.

Methods:

A retrospective cohort study was conducted on patients who met the inclusion criteria at our hospital between May 2015 and December 2021. The primary endpoint was 30-day mortality. Secondary endpoints included clinical cure, microbiologic cure, recurrence rate, and incidence of seizures.

Results:

During the study period, 158 patients met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 86 were male (54.4%), the mean age was 66.4 ± 13.8 years, and the mean weight was 77 ± 22.4 kg. The most common diagnosis was bacteremia in 48 (30.4%) subjects, followed by urinary tract infection in 39 (24.7%) subjects, and pneumonia in 35 (22.2%) patients. The most isolated pathogens were Escherichia coli, followed by Klebsiella species. The median ertapenem dose was 0.5 g intravenously (IV) daily in those who received intermittent hemodialysis (IHD) and 1 g IV daily for those who received continuous veno-venous hemofiltration (CVVH). The 30-day mortality rate was 24%, the clinical cure rate was 89.2%, the microbiologic cure rate was 82%, the 30-day recurrence rate was 41.1%, and the incidence of seizures was 2.5%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that age (OR 1.04 [95% CI: 1.003–1.075]), being critically ill at therapy initiation (OR 2.9 [95% CI: 1.1–7.5]), and Enterobacterales other than Klebsiella species and Escherichia coli (OR 3.8 [95% CI: 1.1–12.5]) were significant independent risk factors associated with mortality in this population. Ertapenem dose was not associated with mortality.

Conclusion:

Our findings suggest that the commonly used doses of ertapenem in patients undergoing IHD and CVVH are clinically effective but may pose a higher risk of seizures. A comprehensive pharmacokinetic study is needed to determine the most effective and safe dose for this population.
Modeling and analyzing the complex deformation of thermoplastic polymers
Authors: Cai Li , Zhou Guangming , Cai Deng’an , Wang Xinwei
Published: July 2024

Existing constitutive models rarely considered the effect of transition point from the strain-softening phase to the strain-hardening phase. In this paper, a new phenomenological model is proposed. The model introduces a transition optimization factor to take the effect of the transition point into consideration. The tensile and compressive deformations under different loading conditions are analyzed separately and compared with the results of the DSGZ (Duan-Saigal-Greif-Zimmerman) model. The results indicate that the proposed model is more accurate than the DSGZ model in analyzing the post-yield deformation that possesses a significant transition section. Based on the new stress-strain updating algorithm, a VUMAT subroutine was written for cyclic compression simulations. Comparing with the simulation data of DSGZ model, the proposed model effectively describes the hysteresis loop in the cyclic process. This indicates that the proposed model is more capable of analyzing complex deformations of thermoplastic polymers. Meanwhile, compared with the primal algorithm, the new stress-strain updating algorithm improves the analytical accuracy of the proposed model for the unloading and reloading phases.
Breaking Employee Silence Through Dialogic Employee Communication: Mediating Roles of Psychological Safety and Psychological Empowerment
Authors: Moon Bitt , Kang Minjeong
Published: July 2024

Employee silence, as a distinct behavior that differs from employee voice, might cause serious communication problems in organizational settings. Drawing upon the theoretical perspective of dialogic communication and the organization-public dialogic communication (OPDC) model, this study examined the role of dialogic employee communication from organizational leaders in alleviating acquiescent silence and defensive silence. Psychological empowerment and psychological safety were considered as potential mediators. The results of an online survey of 570 full-time employees in the United States revealed that employees were less likely to engage in acquiescent silence or defensive silence when they perceived dialogic employee communication from their leaders. The findings revealed the mediating role of psychological safety between dialogic employee communication from leaders and employee silence. However, psychological empowerment was not found to be a significant mediator. The theoretical and strategic implications are discussed.
A comprehensive analysis method of the performance degradation of planetary roller screws under the time-varying load and errors
Authors: Chen Kui , Zhao Yongsheng , Zheng Jigui , Wang Jianhui , Dou Yongqiang
Published: July 2024

Time-varying loads, manufacturing errors, and assembly errors are the main factors leading to the performance degradation of the planetary roller screw mechanism. This paper proposes a comprehensive analysis method for the performance degradation of the planetary roller screw mechanism caused by time-varying loads and manufacturing and assembly errors. Firstly, a simulation analysis model of the planetary roller screw mechanism was established and its effectiveness was verified. A quantitative analysis was conducted on the influence of manufacturing and assembly errors on the load distribution, revealing the load-bearing mechanism under the influence of errors. Secondly, loading experiments were conducted on the planetary roller screw mechanism, and the degradation of its load-bearing performance was divided into the normal degradation stage, the accelerated degradation stage, and the failure stage. The experimental results prove that the initial transmission accuracy has a significant impact on the degradation of the load-bearing performance, determining the occurrence of the node where the accelerated degradation stage appears in the load-bearing performance. Thirdly, the wear status of the threads and gears was examined, and the results showed that material peeling was the main factor causing the degradation of load-bearing performance.
Localization robustness improvement for an autonomous race car using multiple extended Kalman filters
Authors: Enisz Krisztián , Szalay István , Horváth Ernő
Published: July 2024

In this paper, we introduce a vehicle localization method designed for the SZEnergy race car, which competes in the Shell Eco-marathon. The proposed method comprises four different extended Kalman filter-based localization algorithms and a selection algorithm that determines the most suitable one based on vehicle speed, GNSS availability, and signal quality. The low-speed Kalman filters are based on a kinematic vehicle model while the high-speed variants are based on a dynamic vehicle model. Several measurements were performed during test maneuvers to evaluate the performance of the filters. The proposed method succesfully handles sensor miscalibration and GNSS outages.
Artificial urinary bladder model
Authors: Read Benjamin , Tan Sze Wuan Annecia , Pietropaolo Amelia , Somani Bhaskar K , Carugo Dario , Mosayyebi Ali
Published: July 2024

Technological advancements in the medical field are often slow and expensive, sometimes due to complexities associated with pre-clinical testing of medical devices and implants. There is therefore a growing need for new test beds that can mimic more closely the in vivo environment of physiological systems. In the present study, a novel bladder model was designed and fabricated with the aim of providing a pre-clinical testing platform for urological stents and catheters. The model is collapsible, has a Young’s modulus that is comparable to a biological bladder, and can be actuated on-demand to enable voiding. Moreover, the developed fabrication technique provides versatility to adjust the model’s shape, size, and thickness, through a rapid and relatively inexpensive process. When compared to a biological bladder, there is a significant difference in compliance; however, the model exhibits cystometry profiles during priming and voiding that are qualitatively comparable to a biological bladder. The developed bladder model has therefore potential for future usage in urological device testing; however, improvements are required to more closely replicate the architecture and relevant flow metrics of a physiological bladder.
Comparing the acute toxicities of co-exposure to cocaine and ethanol versus cocaine alone
Authors: Cheung Kwun Lok , Lam Rex Pui Kin , Chan Chi Keung , Tse Man Li , Tsui Matthew Sik Hon , Rainer Timothy Hudson
Published: July 2024

Introduction

Cocaine is commonly consumed with ethanol, which leads to the formation of cocaethylene through transesterification. Cocaethylene is an active metabolite of cocaine with a longer duration of action. Literature on the combined toxicity of cocaine, ethanol, and cocaethylene is conflicting. We aimed to compare the acute toxicities of co-exposure to cocaine and ethanol versus cocaine alone in Hong Kong.

Methods

This was a retrospective study on acute cocaine toxicities reported to the Hong Kong Poison Control Center from 1 January 2010 to 22 January 2023. Cocaine exposure was confirmed by urine immunoassays/laboratory tests and ethanol co-ingestion was confirmed by blood ethanol concentrations. A serious outcome was defined as a National Poison Data System outcome moderate or above. Univariate analyses and multivariable logistic regression were performed to compare the associations of clinical outcomes with and without ethanol, followed by subgroup analyses of cases with complete data.

Results

We analyzed 109 patients (median age 29 years, 71% men, 68% Chinese), of whom 20 had confirmed ethanol co-ingestion (mean blood ethanol concentration 1350 mg/L). Multivariable analysis showed that co-exposure to cocaine and ethanol was associated with a lower risk of serious outcomes (adjusted odds ratio 0.09, 95% confidence interval 0.01–0.77; p = 0.03) after adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity, route of cocaine administration, and physical health status. Subgroup analyses showed similar findings.

Conclusions

In contrast to previous studies, we did not identify a higher risk of serious outcomes after co-exposure to cocaine and ethanol compared to cocaine alone in a predominantly Chinese cohort.
Exploring inappropriate levels of care in intensive care
Authors: D’Anjou Bénédicte , Ahern Stéphane , Martel Valérie , Royer Laetitia , Saint-André Anne-Charlotte , Vandal Esther , Racine Eric
Published: July 2024

Background

Levels of care deemed as inappropriate generate moral distress among nurses and other intensive care professionals. Inappropriate levels of care and related moral distress are frequently broached as individual and psychological phenomena, reduced to how individuals feel and think about specific cases. However, this tends to obscure the complex context in which these situations occur, and on which healthcare professionals can act. There is thus a need for a more contextual and team-level lens on inappropriate levels of care.

Research objective

This study aims to explore and understand the issue of inappropriate levels of care in an intensive care unit (ICU) through a contextual and team-level lens.

Research design

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nurses, respiratory therapists, and intensivists. Thematic analysis focused on understanding the causes and consequences of inappropriate levels of care, as well as potential avenues for improvement. This study is part of a 5-phase participatory living lab project on inappropriate levels of care conducted in the ICU of a Montreal (Quebec, Canada) hospital. This paper relates the initial phases of the project, focusing on understanding the issue, with reported events spanning from June 2022 to May 2023.

Ethical considerations

Ethics approval was sought and granted by the Research Ethics Board of the CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal.

Findings/Discussion

Five broad themes intrinsically related to the phenomenon of inappropriate levels of care were explored with and by participants: (1) the process of determining levels of care, (2) the distinction between appropriate and inappropriate levels of care, (3) causes of inappropriate levels of care, (4) consequences of inappropriate levels of care and (5) potential avenues for improvement.

Conclusion

This research provides a comprehensive understanding of inappropriate levels of care in the ICU and emphasizes the relevance of team-level explorations of complex ethical issues.
Journeying with a bipolar disorder: The quest plot
Authors: Parker Gordon
Published: July 2024

Objective

Many with a bipolar disorder embark on a quest, most commonly during elevated mood states, and sometimes driven by a prescient delusion. This essay draws a parallel with a prominent literary plot – the Quest.

Method

Reference to the literary plot is made and an exemplar provided, being based on the personal stories of several patients.

Results

Parallels between the literary model and the current vignette are emphasized.

Conclusion

Manic prescience can sometimes be more than a delusion. The Quest is both a literary plot and at times may underlie manic behaviours and even illustrate its symbolic value.