bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Temporal variability in organic amendment impacts on hydro‐physical properties of sandy agricultural soils
Authors: Kok Dirk‐Jan Daniel , Scherer Laura , de Vries Wim , van Bodegom Peter Michiel
Published: March 2023

Organic amendments (OAs) can improve the hydro‐physical properties of a soil and thereby potentially enhance the resilience of agricultural systems to droughts and floods. An OA's contribution to this resilience, however, depends on the timeliness of its impacts, as soil improvements should be achieved when droughts are most frequent or flood risks are greatest. Yet little is known regarding the temporal variability of OA impacts or the influence of OA quantity and quality thereupon. In this research, therefore, we investigated at two agricultural sites the temporal variability of improvements in soil bulk density, aggregate stability, infiltration capacity and water retention after the application of compost, farmyard manure, bokashi, a selection of organic residues from landscape maintenance, and a combination of these residues with manure. Results showed that, depending on management practices and soil type, OAs decrease bulk density by up to 9.8%, increase infiltration capacity by up to 108.1%, aggregate stability by up to 60.0%, and water retention by up to 77.8% relative to unamended controls within 3 years of repeated application. However, the magnitude of these improvements varies up to 96% between seasons, depending on the soil property and OA treatment. On average, for all treatments, impacts relative to the control varied between different seasons by 5% for bulk density, 47.1% for infiltration capacity, 22.6% for aggregate stability, and 26.3% for water retention. When offsetting OA nutrient differences with mineral fertilizers, this variability showed a stronger correlation to differences in OA application quantity than quality (i.e., chemical composition). Results suggest that disregarding temporal variability in OA impacts can result in an inaccurate valuation of OAs as either effective or ineffective in improving soil resilience, given that impacts may, instead of their frequently presumed persistency, actually be highly transient or lagged. Our findings highlight the importance of considering the potential intra‐annual variability of OA impacts on soil hydro‐physical properties when designing OA application strategies to ameliorate the effects of specific seasonal climatic challenges.
Dynamic capabilities and sustainability performance: Exploring the moderating role of environmental dynamism in the Norwegian fishing industry
Authors: Harun Magoti Daniel , Hogset Heidi , Mwesiumo Deodat
Published: March 2023

This study examines the effect of dynamic capabilities (DCs) on economic performance (ECOP), social performance (SOP), and environmental performance (ENVP) under different levels of environmental dynamism (EnvD). Based on preliminary interviews and survey data collected from Norwegian fishing firms, the analysis was conducted using partial least squares structural equation modeling and necessary conditions analysis. The results show that firms that acquire a set of DCs are more likely to improve their economic, social, and environmental sustainability performance. More so, firms' economic performance is a necessary condition for social performance, but not for ENVP. Interestingly, the results show that the effect of DCs on economic and environmental sustainability performance is even stronger when the level of EnvD is higher. However, EnvD does not have a significant effect on the relationship between DCs and social sustainability performance. Our findings provide guidance to managers on how and when to invest in and leverage DCs to improve sustainability performance in the food industry.
Hybrid Nanogenerators for Ocean Energy Harvesting: Mechanisms, Designs, and Applications
Authors: Panda Swati , Hajra Sugato , Oh Yumi , Oh Wonjeong , Lee Jeonghyeon , Shin Hyoju , Vivekananthan Venkateswaran , Yang Ya , Mishra Yogendra Kumar , Kim Hoe Joon
Published: March 2023

The ocean holds vast potential as a renewable energy source, but harnessing its power has been challenging due to low‐frequency and high‐amplitude stimulation. However, hybrid nanogenerators (HNGs) offer a promising solution to convert ocean energy into usable power efficiently. With their high sensitivity and flexible design, HNGs are ideal for low‐frequency environments and remote ocean regions. Combining triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) with piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENGs) and electromagnetic nanogenerators (EMGs) creates a unique hybrid system that maximizes energy harvesting. Ultimately, hybrid energy‐harvesting systems offer a sustainable and reliable solution for growing energy needs. This study provides an in‐depth review of the latest research on ocean energy harvesting by hybrid systems, focusing on self‐powered applications. The article also discusses primary hybrid designs for devices, powering self‐powered units such as wireless communication systems, climate monitoring systems, and buoys as applications. The potential of HNGs is enormous, and with rapid advancements in research and fabrication, these systems are poised to revolutionize ocean energy harvesting. It outlines the pros and cons of HNGs and highlights the major challenges that must be overcome. Finally, future outlooks for hybrid energy harvesters are also discussed.
sFuzz2.0: Storage‐access pattern guided smart contract fuzzing
Authors: Wang Haoyu , Wang Zan , Liu Shuang , Sun Jun , Zhao Yingquan , Wan Yan , Nguyen Tai D.
Published: March 2023

Smart contracts are distributed self‐enforcing programs which execute on top of blockchain networks. They have the potential to revolutionize many industries and have already been adopted for applications such as distributed finance and crowdfunding. Because smart contracts are immutable once they are deployed, it is important to identify and eliminate code vulnerabilities in smart contracts systematically. In this work, we propose sFuzz2.0, a storage‐access‐pattern guided adaptive fuzzer based on sFuzz. sFuzz2.0 is motivated by the fact that certain vulnerabilities only manifest in the presence of certain function call sequences (as well as particular arguments). Given that there are exponentially many function call sequences, sFuzz randomly generates sequences without guidance. As a result, the probability of discovering those vulnerabilities is negligible. sFuzz2.0 tackles the problem with two approaches, that is, by generating function call sequences that trigger different storage‐access patterns passively (i.e., by prioritizing seeds which cover new patterns) or actively (i.e., by actively seeking out different patterns). The experiment results suggest that the passive strategy outperforms sFuzz by achieving better code coverage (i.e., 37.53%) and discovering more vulnerabilities (i.e., 20.49%).
Monitoring spatiotemporal soil moisture variability in the unsaturated zone of a mixed forest using electrical resistivity tomography
Authors: Rieder Julia S. , Kneisel Christof
Published: March 2023

European forests are suffering considerably from the consequences of the droughts of recent years, and the exact reasons and influencing factors for this are still not fully understood. This study was conducted to characterize the changes and dynamics of soil moisture in a mixed forest in northern Bavaria within 1 year. Since electrical resistivity correlates well with soil water content, we used two‐dimensional electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) monitoring and time‐lapse analyses to supplement punctual measurements by sensors and soil analyses to show soil moisture changes throughout a whole year (2020–2021). While the topsoil dries out significantly from summer to autumn down to a depth of about 3 m, a clear increase in soil water content and a decrease in resistivity below 3 m can be observed during winter period. Anomalies in the topsoil (0–1 m) showing lower resistivities than the surrounding substrate could be related to tree positions by additional terrestrial laser scans. A significant relationship could be found between tree crown projection area and resistivity in 1–2 m depth. We found a trend that mean resistivity below pine is lower as below beech. ERT data were also used to estimate the soil water content via Archie's law and the results correlate strongly with the measured values, but the degree of correlation varies depending on the depth level. ERT as a noninvasive method, in combination with additional data, for example, on the vitality status of individual trees, could help to better understand root water uptake and water supply to trees, especially during periods of drought.
“their mothers, and their fathers, and everyone in between”: Queering Motherhood in Trans Parent Memoirs by Jennifer Finney Boylan and Trystan Reese
Authors: Podnieks Elizabeth
Published: March 2023

In their respective memoirsStuck in the Middle with You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three Genders(2013) andHow We Do Family: From Adoption to Trans Pregnancy, What We Learned About Love and LGBTQ Parenthood(2021), Jennifer Finney Boylan and Trystan Reese illuminate howmotherandfatherare concepts that are varied, mutable, and fluid. Boylan, a university professor at Colby College in Maine and best-selling author, reveals that she is a transgender woman, formerly a husband in a long-term marriage, and father of two. Boylan writes from her position as a second mother to her children, and as the still-married partner of Deirdre Boylan. Reese, a social justice advocate, is a transgender man who not only adopted two children with his husband, Biff Chaplow, but who also gave birth to their biological baby. In my analysis herein, I argue that through narratives that conflate the conventional and the radical, Boylan and Reese normalize trans parenthood while queering normativity. Drawing on scholarship from queer, maternal, and life writing studies, and foregrounding the themes of transitioning, reproduction, and childrearing, I showcase how Boylan and Reese use their memoirs to open up vital spaces for new and inclusive notions of family.
From Survivor to Im/migrant Motherhood and Beyond: Margit Silberstein’s Postmemorial Autobiography, Förintelsens Barn
Authors: Kella Elizabeth
Published: March 2023

The Swedish journalist and author Margit Silberstein’s autobiographical memoir, Förintelsens Barn (2021), represents her post-war upbringing in a survivor family. Both parents were Hungarian-speaking Jews from Transylvania, who were the only members of their respective families to survive horrendous persecution and conditions during the war. After the war they immigrated to a small town in Sweden, where Margit and her brother were born. This chapter examines the tensions in Silberstein’s account of her childhood and her relations with her parents, particularly her mother, viewing these tensions as stemming from characteristics of and contradictions between later postmemorial writing and the im/migrant literature of Sweden today, both of which are conditioned by their social contexts, including those of antisemitism. Silberstein’s work brings Holocaust postmemoir into dialogue with im/migrant autobiography in contemporary Sweden, and it suggests that this dialogue will continue to the third generation, Silberstein’s children.
A Plea for Motherhood: Mothering and Writing in Contemporary Norwegian Literature
Authors: Hamm Christine
Published: March 2023

In 2018 several well-established female Norwegian novelists—Kjersti Annesdatter Skomsvold, Heidi Furre, Inger Bråtveit and Monica Isakstuen—produced fiction with mothers as narrators and protagonists. This chapter explores the issues that their texts address, as well as the narrative strategies they use. Although the novels look quite like popular motherhood memoirs where mothers describe their daily efforts to manage the situation at home, I show that the refined aesthetic texts by these Norwegian authors in fact contain what I call a plea for motherhood. Further, all four novels explore the relationship between writing and mothering. Ultimately, I argue that the novels by Skomsvold, Furre, Bråtveit and Isakstuen need to be read against the background of the situation in Norway, where it is taken for granted that women want a career, but motherhood is generally left without comment. The narrators in the 2018 novels seem motivated not only by the need to defend motherhood against feminist attacks on motherhood but also in resistance against other discourses, including political pro-natalism and literary-critical dismissal of motherhood as a literary subject. By merging fragments, essayistic pieces, memories and reflections, the novels point to a new way of delineating the multi-layered experience of motherhood.
Professions, Knowledge, and Workplace Change: The Case of Canadian Engineers
Authors: Adams Tracey L.
Published: March 2023

In North America, training in engineering has long been balanced between formal university education and on-the-job training. Over the last few decades, however, Canadian engineering workplaces have changed. In the drive for efficiency and profit, firms are increasingly reluctant to invest in training. This paper’s author draws on interviews with 53 Ontario, Canada, engineers to explore how workplace change impacts professional skills, and to identify the implications for professional knowledge. From her findings, she concludes that engineers have fewer opportunities to learn on the job than in the past. Increasingly, many are asked to learn in their own time, or on an ad-hoc basis to complete pressing tasks. This encourages information gathering, rather than building deep knowledge. Moreover, knowledge benefiting employers is emphasized at the expense of knowledge benefiting society, with potential long-term implications for engineers’ fiduciary responsibilities.
Improficiency and the Professionalization of Undisciplined Practices
Authors: Banfield Janet
Published: March 2023

This chapter’s author interrogates the spaces and knowledges of interdisciplinarity by exploring the relationship between alternative understandings of expertise (improficiency), academic career prospects (professionalization), inter-/disciplinary spaces (the undisciplined), and research practices. She considers the implications of interdisciplinarity for the spatialization of disciplines themselves, emergent knowledges, the academics generating them, and understandings of expertise. She argues that the prefix ‘inter-’ is most appropriate in individual (not team-based) contexts, as the co-location of different knowledges in the body of one researcher holds particular promise, despite this promise being underappreciated. In this chapter, she offers a variegated conceptualization of inter-/extra-disciplinary spaces; a refined understanding of expertise across interdisciplinary practices; and suggestions as to how academic institutions can better support interdisciplinary careers. Rather than progressively dismantling interdisciplinary spaces, knowledges, and practitioners, proponents of different disciplines can validate and help to realize the potential for interdisciplinary work to ricochet productively among the disciplines, rather than continually policing the borders between them.
The Beginnings of Psychologist Profession in Argentina: Science, Institutional Context and Society
Authors: Klappenbach Hugo
Published: March 2023

The chapter analyzes the first developments in psychology at the end of the nineteenth century and beginnings of the twentieth century. In those years, psychology appeared to be a knowledge usable for professions like medicine, pedagogy or legal profession. Moreover, the chapter exhibits a very import shift that happened in the middle of twentieth century when some undergraduate programs started in thefieldof psychology. Usually, such programs were not found in psychology, but inpsychotechnicsandprofessional guidance. The chapter analyzes the scientific orientation of such programs, based on French psychology, as well as the institutional and political factors promoting psychological programs. Last, the chapter will expose the re-orientation of psychology education at universities since the second half of the 1960s, when psychology became synonymous withpsychoanalysis. On the one hand, it will analyze the institutional and political background for the constitution of the profession of psychologist. On the other hand, it will exhibit the main ways supporting psychologist psychoanalytically biased profession: epistemological and theoretical approaches within science and psychology education, clinical practices in public institutions, and a virtual repudiation of alternative models of knowing and practicing.
Powershap: A Power-Full Shapley Feature Selection Method
Authors: Verhaeghe Jarne , Van Der Donckt Jeroen , Ongenae Femke , Van Hoecke Sofie
Published: March 2023

Feature selection is a crucial step in developing robust and powerful machine learning models. Feature selection techniques can be divided into two categories: filter and wrapper methods. While wrapper methods commonly result in strong predictive performances, they suffer from a large computational complexity and therefore take a significant amount of time to complete, especially when dealing with high-dimensional feature sets. Alternatively, filter methods are considerably faster, but suffer from several other disadvantages, such as (i) requiring a threshold value, (ii) many filter methods not taking into account intercorrelation between features, and (iii) ignoring feature interactions with the model. To this end, we present powershap, a novel wrapper feature selection method, which leverages statistical hypothesis testing and power calculations in combination with Shapley values for quick and intuitive feature selection. Powershap is built on the core assumption that an informative feature will have a larger impact on the prediction compared to a known random feature. Benchmarks and simulations show that powershap outperforms other filter methods with predictive performances on par with wrapper methods while being significantly faster, often even reaching half or a third of the execution time. As such, powershap provides a competitive and quick algorithm that can be used by various models in different domains. Furthermore, powershap is implemented as a plug-and-play and open-source sklearn component, enabling easy integration in conventional data science pipelines. User experience is even further enhanced by also providing an automatic mode that automatically tunes the hyper-parameters of the powershap algorithm, allowing to use the algorithm without any configuration needed.
On the Current State of Reproducibility and Reporting of Uncertainty for Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis
Authors: Lebmeier Elisabeth , Aßenmacher Matthias , Heumann Christian
Published: March 2023

For the latter part of the past decade, Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis has been a field of great interest within Natural Language Processing. Supported by the Semantic Evaluation Conferences in 2014–2016, a variety of methods has been developed competing in improving performances on benchmark data sets. Exploiting the transformer architecture behind BERT, results improved rapidly and efforts in this direction still continue today. Our contribution to this body of research is a holistic comparison of six different architectures which achieved (near) state-of-the-art results at some point in time. We utilize a broad spectrum of five publicly available benchmark data sets and introduce a fixed setting with respect to the pre-processing, the train/validation splits, the performance measures and the quantification of uncertainty. Overall, our findings are two-fold: First, we find that the results reported in the scientific articles are hardly reproducible, since in our experiments the observed performance most of the time fell short of the reported one. Second, the results are burdened with notable uncertainty, depending on the data splits, which is why a reporting of uncertainty measures is crucial.
Contextualized Graph Embeddings for Adverse Drug Event Detection
Authors: Gao Ya , Ji Shaoxiong , Zhang Tongxuan , Tiwari Prayag , Marttinen Pekka
Published: March 2023

An adverse drug event (ADE) is defined as an adverse reaction resulting from improper drug use, reported in various documents such as biomedical literature, drug reviews, and user posts on social media. The recent advances in natural language processing techniques have facilitated automated ADE detection from documents. However, the contextualized information and relations among text pieces are less explored. This paper investigates contextualized language models and heterogeneous graph representations. It builds a contextualized graph embedding model for adverse drug event detection. We employ different convolutional graph neural networks and pre-trained contextualized embeddings as the building blocks. Experimental results show that our methods can improve the performance by comparing recent ADE detection models, suggesting that a text graph can capture causal relationships and dependency between different entities in a document.
Adrenal Diseases
Authors: Francis Isaac R. , Mayo-Smith William W.
Published: March 2023

In this chapter, we will describe practical approaches to the evaluation of adrenal masses detected as incidental masses, as well as in other clinical scenarios in the oncological and non-oncological patient. The most commonly used clinical and imaging techniques and procedures used in the evaluation of these masses and their common appearances will also be described. Current European and US guidelines and their limitations will be briefly addressed.
Was heißt »linke Politik« und was wird aus ihr?
Authors: Kahrs Horst
Published: March 2023

Die modernen Ungleichheitskonflikte um Migration (Innen – Außen), Identität (Wir – Sie), Ökologie (Heute – Morgen) ersetzen nicht den klassischen, von linker Politik bearbeiteten Konflikt Arbeit – Kapital oder den patriarchalen Konflikt Mann – Frau. Vielmehr fordern sie linke Politik heraus, politisch produktive Verbindungen zwischen den Konfliktachsen herzustellen. Die Linke ist dabei in den beiden zurückliegenden Jahrzehnten mehr und mehr in die Defensive geraten gegenüber einer autoritären Rechten, der es zum Beispiel gelungen ist, aus der Verbindung von Identitätsfragen und Migrationsfragen politische Funken zu schlagen. Dass eine dauerhafte emanzipatorische Überwindung des Kapitalismus möglich ist, zählt nicht mehr zu den Gewissheiten linker Politik, wohl aber die Erfahrung, dass es gelingen kann, ihm demokratische sozialstaatliche Zügel anzulegen und Entwicklungsrichtungen etwa durch staatliche Forschungs-, Struktur- und Industriepolitik zu beeinflussen. Für eine erfolgreichere Zukunft linker Politik käme es darauf an, den gemeinsamen linken Wertehorizont erkennbar zu machen, nämlich das Streben nach Verwirklichung universeller Gleichheit von unterschiedlichen Ausgangspunkten aus als Basis für politische Kooperationen und Synergien. Radikaler Pragmatismus als linker Politikmodus verlangt vom Kapitalismus doppelte Anpassung: Dekarbonisierung, um weitere Erderwärmung zu begrenzen und sozio-ökologische Maßnahmen angesichts des stattfindenden Klimawandels.
Zivilgesellschaftliche Wasserstände und ein alternder Meeresspiegel
Authors: Röggla Kathrin
Published: March 2023

Die Zivilgesellschaft ist in der politischen Arbeit überhaupt nicht mehr wegzudenken. Ob daraus etwas erwächst, was wirklich einen Unterschied macht, lässt sich schwer abschätzen, es wundert jedenfalls nicht, dass dieses Engagement auch von zahlreichen Institutionen und Verbänden, parteinahen Stiftungen und einzelnen Politiker:innen unterstützt wird. Sie ist ein Ort der Aushandlungen, wie sie für demokratische Prozesse notwendig sind. Aber immer wieder zeigen sich die Begrenztheit, die fragilen Strukturen und Anfälligkeiten für Burnout der zivilgesellschaftlichen Organisation, schließlich hängt die Schlagmacht oft an ganz konkreten Personen. Auch sehen sie sich einem sehr mächtigen politischen und ökonomischen Gegner gegenüber, der sich ganz anders organisieren kann. Aber man soll sich nicht täuschen, auch das sind nicht festsitzende Blöcke, oftmals wird eine Zusammenarbeit auch versucht. Der größte Feind ist dabei die fehlende politische Imagination. Es gibt eine persistierende Unvorstellbarkeit von Veränderung, aus der wiederum eine fehlende Selbstwirksamkeitserfahrung resultiert, in dem Gefühl von zu geringer Handlungsmacht, egal, wo wir uns befinden. Beißt sich die Katze hier in den Schwanz? Aber natürlich – dieser Essay folgt der Kreisförmigkeit, die sich in meinen Gesprächen so deutlich ergeben hat.
Two Unconnected Low-Velocity Zones in the Eastern Boundary of the Sichuan-Yunnan Block Revealed with High-Resolution Ambient Noise Tomography
Authors: Qiu Yu , Fang Lihua , Liu Jing , Fan Liping , Lü Zuoyong , Cai Guangyao , Wang Shiguang
Published: March 2023

The Anninghe-Zemuhe-Xiaojiang fault zone (AZXFZ) is an important boundary fault zone on the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, with frequent strong earthquakes. Previous studies have imaged widespread low-velocity zones in this area. However, there are still many disputes on the connectivity and genesis of the low-velocity zones. In this study, we obtain the Rayleigh wave phase velocity dispersion curves at 4–25-s periods using observations from 378 broadband stations located near the AZXFZ. The new 3D S-wave velocity model has a lateral resolution of about 30 km in 0–35-km depth and is obtained by direct inversion of surface wave dispersion data. The new results clearly image two low-velocity zones and a high-velocity zone in the middle crust of the study region. The low-velocity zone on the western side of the Lijiang-Xiaojinhe fault is related to the eastward flow of crustal material and the movement of the left lateral strike-slip faults in the Tibetan Plateau, while the low-velocity anomaly distributed along the Daliangshan fault and Xiaojiang fault is the superimposition effect of shear heating of the faults and upwelling of mantle material. The uplift of Gongga Shan is a combination of the continuous accumulation of crustal material in the middle and lower crust of the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau as well as the bending and compression of the Sichuan-Yunnan Block and the Xianshuihe-Anninghe fault zone.
Generative models and Bayesian inversion using Laplace approximation
Authors: Marschall Manuel , Wübbeler Gerd , Schmähling Franko , Elster Clemens
Published: March 2023

The Bayesian approach to solving inverse problems relies on the choice of a prior. This critical ingredient allows expert knowledge or physical constraints to be formulated in a probabilistic fashion and plays an important role for the success of the inference. Recently, Bayesian inverse problems were solved using generative models as highly informative priors. Generative models are a popular tool in machine learning to generate data whose properties closely resemble those of a given database. Typically, the generated distribution of data is embedded in a low-dimensional manifold. For the inverse problem, a generative model is trained on a database that reflects the properties of the sought solution, such as typical structures of the tissue in the human brain in magnetic resonance imaging. The inference is carried out in the low-dimensional manifold determined by the generative model that strongly reduces the dimensionality of the inverse problem. However, this procedure produces a posterior that does not admit a Lebesgue density in the actual variables and the accuracy attained can strongly depend on the quality of the generative model. For linear Gaussian models, we explore an alternative Bayesian inference based on probabilistic generative models; this inference is carried out in the original high-dimensional space. A Laplace approximation is employed to analytically derive the prior probability density function required, which is induced by the generative model. Properties of the resulting inference are investigated. Specifically, we show that derived Bayes estimates are consistent, in contrast to the approach in which the low-dimensional manifold of the generative model is employed. The MNIST data set is used to design numerical experiments that confirm our theoretical findings. It is shown that the approach proposed can be advantageous when the information contained in the data is high and a simple heuristic is considered for the detection of this case. Finally, the pros and cons of both approaches are discussed.
Synthetic T2-weighted fat sat based on a generative adversarial network shows potential for scan time reduction in spine imaging in a multicenter test dataset
Authors: Schlaeger Sarah , Drummer Katharina , El Husseini Malek , Kofler Florian , Sollmann Nico , Schramm Severin , Zimmer Claus , Wiestler Benedikt , Kirschke Jan S.
Published: March 2023

Objectives

T2-weighted (w) fat sat (fs) sequences, which are important in spine MRI, require a significant amount of scan time. Generative adversarial networks (GANs) can generate synthetic T2-w fs images. We evaluated the potential of synthetic T2-w fs images by comparing them to their true counterpart regarding image and fat saturation quality, and diagnostic agreement in a heterogenous, multicenter dataset.

Methods

A GAN was used to synthesize T2-w fs from T1- and non-fs T2-w. The training dataset comprised scans of 73 patients from two scanners, and the test dataset, scans of 101 patients from 38 multicenter scanners. Apparent signal- and contrast-to-noise ratios (aSNR/aCNR) were measured in true and synthetic T2-w fs. Two neuroradiologists graded image (5-point scale) and fat saturation quality (3-point scale). To evaluate whether the T2-w fs images are indistinguishable, a Turing test was performed by eleven neuroradiologists. Six pathologies were graded on the synthetic protocol (with synthetic T2-w fs) and the original protocol (with true T2-w fs) by the two neuroradiologists.

Results

aSNR and aCNR were not significantly different between the synthetic and true T2-w fs images. Subjective image quality was graded higher for synthetic T2-w fs (p = 0.023). In the Turing test, synthetic and true T2-w fs could not be distinguished from each other. The intermethod agreement between synthetic and original protocol ranged from substantial to almost perfect agreement for the evaluated pathologies.

Discussion

The synthetic T2-w fs might replace a physical T2-w fs. Our approach validated on a challenging, multicenter dataset is highly generalizable and allows for shorter scan protocols.

Key Points

• Generative adversarial networks can be used to generate synthetic T2-weighted fat sat images from T1- and non-fat sat T2-weighted images of the spine.

• The synthetic T2-weighted fat sat images might replace a physically acquired T2-weighted fat sat showing a better image quality and excellent diagnostic agreement with the true T2-weighted fat images.

• The present approach validated on a challenging, multicenter dataset is highly generalizable and allows for significantly shorter scan protocols.
Aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase deficiency in countries in the Middle East: a case series and literature review
Authors: Abukhaled Musaad , Al Muqbil Mohammed , Alghamdi Malak Ali , Hundallah Khalid , Suleiman Jehan , Ben-Omran Tawfeg , Alfadhel Majid , Almannai Mohammed , Alsaleh Rehab , Tabarki Brahim
Published: March 2023

Aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) deficiency is a rare inherited neurometabolic disorder that can lead to severe physical and developmental impairment. This report includes 16 patients from the Middle East and is the largest series of patients with confirmed AADC deficiency from this region reported to date. The patients displayed a range of signs and symptoms at presentation and almost all failed to reach major motor milestones. Missed and delayed diagnoses were common leading to the late introduction of targeted treatments. Eight unique variants were identified in the DDC gene, including six missense and two intronic variants. A previously undescribed variant was identified: an intronic variant between exons 13 and 14 (c.1243-10A>G). The patients were mostly treated with currently recommended medications, including dopamine agonists, vitamin B6, and monoamine oxidase inhibitors. One patient responded well, but treatment outcomes were otherwise mostly limited to mild symptomatic improvements. Five patients had died by the time of data collection, confirming that the condition is associated with premature mortality. There is an urgent need for earlier diagnosis, particularly given the potential for gene therapy as a transformative treatment for AADC deficiency when provided at an early age.

  Conclusions: Delays in the diagnosis of AADC deficiency are common. There is an urgent need for earlier diagnosis, particularly given the potential for gene therapy as a transformative treatment for AADC deficiency when provided at an early age.

What is Known:• Aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase deficiency is a rare neurometabolic disorder that can lead to severe physical and developmental impairment.• Currently recommended medications provide mostly mild symptomatic improvements.

What is New:• The clinical presentation of sixteen patients with confirmed AADC deficiency varied considerably and almost all failed to reach major motor milestones.• There is an urgent need for earlier diagnosis, given the potential for gene therapy as a transformative treatment for AADC deficiency when provided at an early age.
Combined effect of graded Thera-Band and scapular stabilization exercises on shoulder adhesive capsulitis post-mastectomy
Authors: Aboelnour Nancy H. , Kamel FatmaAlzahraa H. , Basha Maged A. , Azab Alshimaa R. , Hewidy Islam M. , Ezzat Mohamed , Kamel Noha M.
Published: March 2023

Purpose

The main aim of the trial was to assess the combined impact of graded Thera-Band strengthening exercises and scapular stabilization exercises on shoulder pain, physical function, and quality of life (QoL) in post-mastectomy adhesive capsulitis (AC).

Methods

Seventy females with unilateral post-mastectomy AC partook in the trial. Participants were subdivided equally into two groups at random. Both groups obtained the traditional physical therapy program; in addition, the intervention group received graded Thera-Band exercises for shoulder muscles and scapular stabilization exercises 5 days a week for 8 weeks. Range of motion (ROM) and muscle power of shoulder were assessed by digital goniometer and handheld dynamometer, respectively. Disability of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand questionnaire (DASH) was utilized for assessment of shoulder function and visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain measurement while short-form (SF-36) for QoL assessment. All evaluation data was recorded prior to the trial and at the eighth week of interventions for both groups.

Results

All participants achieved improvements in shoulder ROM, muscle power, pain, and all aspects of QoL; however, higher statistical improvements were reported in all measurements with respect to strengthening exercises group (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

The addition of graded Thera-Band strengthening exercises and scapular stabilization exercises in post-mastectomy AC rehabilitation program has significant benefits in shoulder function and patients’ QoL.

Trial registration: This study is retrospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05311839.
Evaluating the Efficacy of the Family Check-Up Online to Improve Parent Mental Health and Family Functioning in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Authors: Connell Arin M. , Stormshak Elizabeth A.
Published: March 2023

This study evaluated the effects of an enhanced version of the Family Check-Up Online (FCU-O), adapted to address parent and family functioning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to increase accessibility, the FCU-O was delivered as a web-based application coupled with online coaching support, a service delivery model that is consistent with pandemic-related limitations for in-person intervention, as well as the limited staffing and resources available in many schools and health care settings despite the increased need for mental health services driven by the pandemic. This registered clinical trial (blinded) tested the effects of the intervention on parental mental health, parenting behaviors, and family functioning from pre-treatment to 2-month follow-up. Families were randomly assigned to receive the FCU-O (N = 74) or to a wait-list control condition (N = 87). Random assignment to the FCU-O was associated with significant improvements in parental well-being, including reduced anxiety, depression, and perceived stress. Further, the FCU-O predicted significant improvements in adaptive parenting skills (e.g. less negative/coercive parenting, greater proactive parenting), and enhancements in family-relational functioning (e.g. improved coparenting). Effect sizes were small to moderate in magnitude (partial eta squared values between 0.03 and 0.11). The results indicate that online delivery of a family-centered intervention may represent a promising approach for addressing pandemic-related impacts on parent and family functioning.
Root angle, phosphorus, and water: Interactions and effects on durum wheat genotype performance in drought-prone environments
Authors: van der Bom Frederik J. T. , Williams Alwyn , Raymond Nelly S. , Alahmad Samir , Hickey Lee T. , Singh Vijaya , Bell Michael J.
Published: March 2023

Purpose

Selection for root traits has become a target in (pre-)breeding programs aiming at improving crop ability to capture soil resources. However, the benefit of selected traits in heterogeneous target environments will depend on spatial and temporal interactions between root systems, the soil environment (fertility and water supply) and management (fertiliser placement).

Methods

We assessed growth and phosphorus acquisition of durum wheat (Triticum durum L.) lines defined by contrasting seminal root angles (41° ‘Narrow’ vs 82° ‘Wide’), in response to different soil phosphorus placements and seasonal water dynamics. Responses were evaluated in clear pots (seedlings), rhizoboxes (late-tillering stage) and a custom lysimeter system (flowering stage).

Results

The Narrow genotype increased deep soil exploration (down to 50 cm) during early growth, with a tendency to more rapidly acquire phosphorus placed as a deep fertiliser band (25 cm depth). However, genotypic differences in shoot biomass or phosphorus uptake were not apparent at anthesis, in part due to phosphorus-induced changes in phenological development. Contrastingly, the wide genotype increased root growth in the topsoil (0–10 cm) when phosphorus was stratified in this layer and produced greater biomass at anthesis under these conditions. Shoot and root biomass and phosphorus uptake decreased when the topsoil dried out, with the greatest effect observed for phosphorus stratified in this layer.

Conclusion

The benefits of the selected root angle trait strongly depend on nutrient and water distributions and dynamics in the target environment. Ideotype breeding efforts and farmer selection of genotypes should consider the context in which genotypes will be deployed.

Highlight

The interaction between root system architecture and heterogeneous distributions of phosphorus and available water determine the relative performance of durum wheat genotypes with contrasting root angles.
Mobile health-technology integrated care in secondary prevention atrial fibrillation patients: a post-hoc analysis from the mAFA-II randomized clinical trial
Authors: Guo Yutao , Romiti Giulio Francesco , Sagris Dimitrios , Proietti Marco , Bonini Niccolò , Zhang Hui , Lip Gregory Y. H. ,   The mAF-App II trial investigators
Published: March 2023

AF patients with history of thromboembolic events are at higher risk of thromboembolic recurrences, despite appropriate antithrombotic treatment. We aimed to evaluate the effect of mobile health (mHealth) technology-implemented ‘Atrial fibrillation Better Care’ (ABC) pathway approach (mAFA intervention) in secondary prevention AF patients. The Mobile Health Technology for Improved Screening and Optimized Integrated Care in AF (mAFA-II) cluster randomized trial enrolled adult AF patients across 40 centers in China. The main outcome was the composite outcome of stroke or thromboembolism, all-cause death, and rehospitalization. Using Inverse Probability of Treatment Weighting (IPTW), we evaluated the effect of the mAFA intervention in patients with and without prior history of thromboembolic events (i.e., ischemic stroke or thromboembolism). Among the 3324 patients enrolled in the trial, 496 (14.9%, mean age: 75.1 ± 11.4 years, 35.9% females) had a previous episode of thromboembolic event. No significant interaction was observed for the effect of mAFA intervention in patients with vs. without history of thromboembolic events [Hazard ratio, (HR): 0.38, 95% confidence interval (CI):0.18–0.80 vs. HR 0.55, 95% CI 0.17–1.76, p for interaction = 0.587); however, a trend towards lower efficacy of mAFA intervention among AF patients in secondary prevention was observed for secondary outcomes, with significant interaction for bleeding events (p = 0.034) and the composite of cardiovascular events (p = 0.015). A mHealth-technology-implemented ABC pathway provided generally consistent reduction of the risk of primary outcome in both primary and secondary prevention AF patients. Secondary prevention patients may require further specific approaches to improve clinical outcomes such as bleeding and cardiovascular events.

Trial registration: WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) Registration number ChiCTR-OOC-17014138.
Estimates on the eigenvalues of complex nonlocal Sturm-Liouville problems
Authors: Sun Fu , Li Kun
Published: March 2023

The present paper deals with the eigenvalues of complex nonlocal Sturm-Liouville boundary value problems. The bounds of the real and imaginary parts of eigenvalues for the nonlocal Sturm-Liouville differential equation involving complex nonlocal potential terms associated with nonlocal boundary conditions are obtained in terms of the integrable conditions of coefficients and the real part of the eigenvalues.
The effect of extreme weather events on child nutrition and health
Authors: Amondo Emily Injete , Nshakira-Rukundo Emmanuel , Mirzabaev Alisher
Published: March 2023

This study traces the causal effects of extreme weather events on nutritional and health outcomes among rural children in Uganda using four waves of individual child survey data (2009–2014). A simultaneous regression model was applied for causal inference while also accounting for households’ adaptive responses. The study finds the evidence of a significant negative relationship between extreme weather events and availability of calories and nutrients for children. In particular, droughts reduced calorie, protein and zinc supply, and overall diet diversity by 67%, 37%, 28% and 30%, respectively. We further traced the effects of this reduced calorie and nutrient availability on child health indicators. A 10% decrease in zinc supply decreased height-for-age z-scores (HAZ) by around 0.139 - 0.164 standard deviations (SD), and increased probability of stunting ranging from 3.1 to 3.5 percentage points. Both boys and girls HAZ and stunting rates were sensitive to nutrient inadequacies. Different coping and adaptation strategies significantly influenced rural households’ ability to safeguard children’s nutrition and health against the effects of extreme weather. The findings of this study provide specific insights for building ex-ante resilience against extreme weather events, particularly when compared to ex-post, unsustainable, and often costlier relief actions.
DRASTIC-Fm-URBAN index: an updated and reliable GIS vulnerability mapping for the assessment of fractured rock media in urban areas
Authors: Freitas Liliana , Meerkhan Helen , Rocha Fernando , Pereira Alcides J. S. C. , Chaminé Helder I.
Published: March 2023

Fractured media hydrosystems sources are valuable worldwide for irrigation, water supply, and industrial purposes. Mapping and evaluating intrinsic groundwater vulnerability is a balanced integrative methodology to describe the potential groundwater contamination or pollution. The Geographical Information System (GIS) overlay mapping technique and multi-parametric methodology are largely employed to evaluate vulnerability in groundwater systems. However, the DRASTIC index methodology is often used for regional approaches and is the most recognised for groundwater vulnerability assessment for general purposes. Therefore, several adaptations were proposed, such as the DRASTIC‐Fm methodology focused on fractured rock media. This study proposes an updated multi-parametric DRASTIC-Fm-URBAN methodology’s concept, importance, and applicability, which supports the potential groundwater vulnerability on fractured media assessment for urban areas. This approach is more accurate, particularly on regional to local scales. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was applied to define the weight of each assessment parameter. In addition, the index DISCO-URBAN, SI and GODS were used in the historic springs of the Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia riverside urban area. In fact, coupling DRASTIC-Fm-URBAN and DISCO-URBAN vulnerability indexes are reliable approaches to be included as a tool to develop a robust hydrogeological conceptual site model for urban areas.
Yambean mosaic virus and lettuce chlorosis virus in Australia
Authors: Filardo Fiona , Waterhouse Barbara , Jones Lynne , Campbell Paul
Published: March 2023

This is the first report of yambean mosaic virus and lettuce chlorosis virus in Australia. Both viruses were initially identified co-infecting the Fabaceae weed, Calopogonium mucunoides collected from Umagico in far north Queensland. Full coding sequences of both viruses were obtained with high throughput sequencing and confirmed with RT-PCR and Sanger sequencing. Lettuce chlorosis virus has subsequently been confirmed in several other species collected from far north Queensland and may become a new emerging threat to agronomical crops in Australia.
“Find the area enclosed by...” Parceling an especially robust model of reasoning among first-year students
Authors: Kontorovich Igor’
Published: March 2023

Mathematics education research has been aware that calculus students can draw on single definite integrals as a model to compute areas (SImA), without minding whether the function changes its sign in the assigned interval. In this study, I take conceptual and empirical steps to understand this phenomenon in more depth. Building on Fischbein’s theory, I conceptualize area as a figural concept and associate its calculation with intra-mathematical modelling routes that pass through the network of figures and integrals. To characterize these routes, I analyzed video clips that students in a large first-year service course in mathematics submitted as part of their coursework. This led to the construction of an analytical cycle explicating the models that students generated when implementing SImA. To appreciate how widespread SImA can be, I use the responses of nearly twelve thousand students in final multiple-choice exams in the same course over a decade. This analysis found that nearly thirty percent of the students chose answers that are consistent with this model of reasoning; in some exams the SImA-options were selected more frequently than the correct answers. Drawing on these findings, I make several teaching-oriented comments about the relations between areas and definite integrals.