bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
De‐internationalization through the lens of intellectual property rights
Authors: Mandrinos Symeon , Lim Weng Marc , Liew Constance Sat Lin
Published: October 2021

Many studies have focused on internationalization, with few shedding light on de‐internationalization. In this article, we contended that de‐internationalization is common in a world of matured globalization, yet it remains underexplored. We sought to build on the seminal articles on de‐internationalization by extending our understanding of the concept from a voluntary to an involuntary perspective. In particular, we used intellectual property rights as an institutional coercive dimension and set theory as a discerning mechanism to enrich our understanding of de‐internationalization. Our article, which demonstrates the multi‐faceted conditions of de‐internationalization, should benefit formal institutions and policy makers in developing a greater understanding of the relationship between public policies and focal firms' decisions to de‐internationalize. We also hope that our article will contribute to greater visibility of de‐internationalization and make the concept more approachable to our international business audience.
Climate change reception studies in anthropology
Authors: de Wit Sara , Haines Sophie
Published: October 2021

The past decade has seen increased anthropological attention to understandings of climate change not only as a biophysical phenomenon but also as a discourse that is traveling from international policy making platforms to the rest of the planet. The analysis of the uptake of climate change discourse falls under the emergent subfield of climate change reception studies. A few anthropological investigations identify themselves explicitly as reception studies; others only mention the term with little explanation. Our review discusses a fuller range of anthropological studies and ethnographies from related disciplines that treat climate change as a discursive reality, which is not independent from how it is intimated through close observations of the environment. The following themes emerged: language and expertise; place and vulnerability; modernity, morality, and temporality; alterity and refusal. The review suggests that the interaction of observation and reception is still not well understood, and that there is scope for more systematic methodological and theoretical synthesis, taking lessons into account from geographies of reading and empirical hermeneutics. By exploring the hermeneutical problem of upholding scientific integrity while being open to other ways of knowing, climate change reception studies' emancipatory potential lie in opening up knowledge spaces for multi‐directional and democratic approaches to living (with) climate change. In closing, we propose an interdisciplinary research agenda highlighting the potential generativity of translation as an idiom for theory and praxis relating to how people come to know climate (change)—through both perceptual engagement with the natural world and interpretations of discursive manifestations.

This article is categorized under:

Social Status of Climate Change Knowledge > Sociology/Anthropology of Climate Knowledge
Riboregulation in bacteria: From general principles to novel mechanisms of the trp attenuator and its sRNA and peptide products
Authors: Evguenieva‐Hackenberg Elena
Published: October 2021

Gene expression strategies ensuring bacterial survival and competitiveness rely on cis‐ and trans‐acting RNA‐regulators (riboregulators). Among the cis‐acting riboregulators are transcriptional and translational attenuators, and antisense RNAs (asRNAs). The trans‐acting riboregulators are small RNAs (sRNAs) that bind proteins or base pairs with other RNAs. This classification is artificial since some regulatory RNAs act both in cis and in trans, or function in addition as small mRNAs. A prominent example is the archetypical, ribosome‐dependent attenuator of tryptophan (Trp) biosynthesis genes. It responds by transcription attenuation to two signals, Trp availability and inhibition of translation, and gives rise to two trans‐acting products, the attenuator sRNA rnTrpL and the leader peptide peTrpL. In Escherichia coli, rnTrpL links Trp availability to initiation of chromosome replication and in Sinorhizobium meliloti, it coordinates regulation of split tryptophan biosynthesis operons. Furthermore, in S. meliloti, peTrpL is involved in mRNA destabilization in response to antibiotic exposure. It forms two types of asRNA‐containing, antibiotic‐dependent ribonucleoprotein complexes (ARNPs), one of them changing the target specificity of rnTrpL. The posttranscriptional role of peTrpL indicates two emerging paradigms: (1) sRNA reprograming by small molecules and (2) direct involvement of antibiotics in regulatory RNPs. They broaden our view on RNA‐based mechanisms and may inspire new approaches for studying, detecting, and using antibacterial compounds.

This article is categorized under:

RNA Interactions with Proteins and Other Molecules > Small Molecule‐RNA Interactions

RNA Interactions with Proteins and Other Molecules > RNA‐Protein Complexes

Regulatory RNAs/RNAi/Riboswitches > Regulatory RNAs
Non‐coding RNAs in malaria infection
Authors: Lodde Valeria , Floris Matteo , Muroni Maria Rosaria , Cucca Francesco , Idda Maria Laura
Published: October 2021

Malaria is one of the most severe infectious diseases affecting humans and it is caused by protozoan pathogens of the species Plasmodium (spp.). The malaria parasite Plasmodium is characterized by a complex, multistage life cycle that requires tight gene regulation which allows for host invasion and defense against host immune responses. Unfortunately, the mechanisms regulating gene expression during Plasmodium infection remain largely elusive, though several lines of evidence implicate a major involvement of non‐coding RNAs (ncRNAs). The ncRNAs have been found to play a key role in regulating transcriptional and post‐transcriptional events in a broad range of organisms including Plasmodium. In Plasmodium ncRNAs have been shown to regulate key events in the multistage life cycle and virulence ability. Here we review recent progress involving ncRNAs (microRNAs, long non‐coding RNAs, and circular RNAs) and their role as regulators of gene expression during Plasmodium infection in human hosts with focus on the possibility of using these molecules as biomarkers for monitoring disease status. We also discuss the surprising function of ncRNAs in mediating the complex interplay between parasite and human host and future perspectives of the field.

This article is categorized under:

RNA in Disease and Development > RNA in Disease
Mean-Field Analysis of Sourlas Codes with Adiabatic Reverse Annealing
Authors: Arai Shunta
Published: October 2021

In this chapter, we analyze the typical performance of adiabatic reverse annealing (ARA) for Sourlas codes. Sourlas codes are representative error-correcting codes related to p-body spin-glass models and have a first-order phase transition for $$p>2$$

p
>
2

, which degrades the estimation performance. In the ARA formulation, we introduce the initial Hamiltonian which incorporates the prior information of the solution into a vanilla quantum annealing (QA) formulation. The ground state of the initial Hamiltonian represents the initial candidate solution. To avoid the first-order phase transition, we apply ARA to Sourlas codes. We evaluate the typical ARA performance for Sourlas codes using the replica method. We show that ARA can avoid the first-order phase transition if we prepare for the proper initial candidate solution.
Structural and Functional Analysis of Proteins Using Rigidity Theory
Authors: Sljoka Adnan
Published: October 2021

Over the past two decades, we have witnessed an unprecedented explosion in available biological data. In the age of big data, large biological datasets have created an urgent need for the development of bioinformatics methods and innovative fast algorithms. Bioinformatics tools can enable data-driven hypothesis and interpretation of complex biological data that can advance biological and medicinal knowledge discovery. Advances in structural biology and computational modelling have led to the characterization of atomistic structures of many biomolecular components of cells. Proteins in particular are the most fundamental biomolecules and the key constituent elements of all living organisms, as they are necessary for cellular functions. Proteins play crucial roles in immunity, catalysis, metabolism and the majority of biological processes, and hence there is significant interest to understand how these macromolecules carry out their complex functions. The mechanical heterogeneity of protein structures and a delicate mix of rigidity and flexibility, which dictates their dynamic nature, is linked to their highly diverse biological functions. Mathematical rigidity theory and related algorithms have opened up many exciting opportunities to accurately analyse protein dynamics and probe various biological enigmas at a molecular level. Importantly, rigidity theoretical algorithms and methods run in almost linear time complexity, which makes it suitable for high-throughput and big-data style analysis. In this chapter, we discuss the importance of protein flexibility and dynamics and review concepts in mathematical rigidity theory for analysing stability and the dynamics of protein structures. We then review some recent breakthrough studies, where we designed rigidity theory methods to understand complex biological events, such as allosteric communication, large-scale analysis of immune system antibody proteins, the highly complex dynamics of intrinsically disordered proteins and the validation of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) solved protein structures.
Stream-Based Lossless Data Compression
Authors: Yamagiwa Shinichi
Published: October 2021

In this chapter, we introduce aspects of applying data-compression techniques. First, we study the background of recent communication data paths. The focus of this chapter is a fast lossless data-compression mechanism that handles data streams completely. A data stream comprises continuous data with no termination of the massive data generated by sources such as movies and sensors. In this chapter, we introduce LCA-SLT and LCA-DLT, which accept the data streams, as well as several implementations of these stream-based compression techniques. We also show optimization techniques for optimal implementation in hardware.
Constant-Time Algorithms for Continuous Optimization Problems
Authors: Yoshida Yuichi
Published: October 2021

In this chapter, we consider constant-time algorithms for continuous optimization problems. Specifically, we consider quadratic function minimization and tensor decomposition, both of which have numerous applications in machine learning and data mining. The key component in our analysis isgraph limit theory, which was originally developed to study graphs analytically.
Information Processing on Compressed Data
Authors: Takabatake Yoshimasa , I Tomohiro , Sakamoto Hiroshi
Published: October 2021

We survey our recent work related to information processing on compressed strings. Note that a “string” here contains any fixed-length sequence of symbols and therefore includes not only ordinary text but also a wide range of data, such as pixel sequences and time-series data. Over the past two decades, a variety of algorithms and their applications have been proposed for compressed information processing. In this survey, we mainly focus on two problems: recompression and privacy-preserving computation over compressed strings. Recompression is a framework in which algorithms transform a given compressed data into another compressed format without decompression. Recent studies have shown that a higher compression ratio can be achieved at lower cost by using an appropriate recompression algorithm such as preprocessing. Furthermore, various privacy-preserving computation models have been proposed for information retrieval, similarity computation, and pattern mining.
Orthogonal Range Search Data Structures
Authors: Ishiyama Kazuki , Sadakane Kunihiko
Published: October 2021

We first review existing space-efficient data structures for the orthogonal range search problem. Then, we propose two improved data structures, the first of which has better query time complexity than the existing structures and the second of which has better space complexity that matches the information-theoretic lower bound.
The geometry of billiards in ellipses and their poncelet grids
Authors: Stachel Hellmuth
Published: October 2021

The goal of this paper is an analysis of the geometry of billiards in ellipses, based on properties of confocal central conics. The extended sides of the billiards meet at points which are located on confocal ellipses and hyperbolas. They define the associated Poncelet grid. If a billiard is periodic then it closes for any choice of the initial vertex on the ellipse. This gives rise to a continuous variation of billiards which is called billiard motion though it is neither a Euclidean nor a projective motion. The extension of this motion to the associated Poncelet grid leads to new insights and invariants.
Sexualverhalten und Prävention sexuell übertragbarer Infektionen unter Berücksichtigung der SARS-CoV-2-Pandemie. Daten aus einem Versorgungszentrum für sexuelle Gesundheit und Medizin – WIR
Authors: Brockmeyer Norbert H. , Potthoff Anja , Knebel-Brockmeyer Wiltrud , Köhler Britta , Nambiar Sandeep , Wach Janet , Rodrigues Martins Tobias , Uhrmacher Mona , Schuppe Ann-Kathrin , Tiemann Carsten , Kasper Andre , Basilowski Miriam , Kayser Arne , Skaletz-Rorowski Adriane
Published: October 2021

Hintergrund

Anwendungsbezogene Daten zu sexueller Gesundheit und sexuellem Verhalten in unterschiedlich sexuell aktiven Populationen stehen nur begrenzt zur Verfügung, sind aber für Präventions- und Versorgungsstrategien sehr relevant. Das multisektorale Versorgungszentrum WIR – Walk In Ruhr hat aufgrund seiner Besucher*innenstruktur Zugang zu Daten aus diversen Lebenswelten.

Ziel der Arbeit

Aus verschiedenen WIR-internen Datenquellen sollen populationsbezogene Erkenntnisse zu Alter, Geschlecht, sexueller Orientierung, Sexual- und Risikoverhalten gewonnen und Bedarfe für Prävention abgeleitet werden. Einflüsse der SARS-CoV-2-Pandemie auf das Sexualverhalten sollen durch den Vergleich verschiedener Zeiträume untersucht werden.

Methoden

Ausgewertete Datenquellen sind der Onlinerisikotest für HIV und STI, die COWIR- und PrEP-Studie sowie die Immunologische Ambulanz und das Gesundheitsamt im WIR.

Ergebnis

Sexuell übertragbare Infektionen (STI) sind von 2019 auf 2020 trotz Kontaktbeschränkungen gestiegen. Generell haben junge Menschen, Männer, die Sex mit Männern, und Frauen, die Sex mit Frauen haben, ein erhöhtes STI-Risiko aufgrund der gewählten Sexualpraktiken und der Anzahl sexueller Kontakte. Eine hohe Zahl bi- und transsexueller Kontakte ist festzustellen. SARS-CoV‑2 führte zu einer Reduzierung der Sexualkontakte. Sexualpraktiken wurden weiter gelebt. Die STI-Testquote und die Behandlungsrate stiegen an.

Diskussion

Die Daten aus dem WIR belegen, dass eine junge Klientel mit aktivem Sexualleben erreicht wird. Die Ergebnisse aus Fragebögen und dem Onlinerisikotest zeigen den Zusammenhang von erhöhten positiven STI-Tests mit Sexualverhalten und sexuellen Präferenzen, weshalb spezifische Strategien zu Sexualaufklärung, Prävention, Tests und Therapien erforderlich sind.
The AI gambit: leveraging artificial intelligence to combat climate change—opportunities, challenges, and recommendations
Authors: Cowls Josh , Tsamados Andreas , Taddeo Mariarosaria , Floridi Luciano
Published: October 2021

In this article, we analyse the role that artificial intelligence (AI) could play, and is playing, to combat global climate change. We identify two crucial opportunities that AI offers in this domain: it can help improve and expand current understanding of climate change, and it can contribute to combatting the climate crisis effectively. However, the development of AI also raises two sets of problems when considering climate change: the possible exacerbation of social and ethical challenges already associated with AI, and the contribution to climate change of the greenhouse gases emitted by training data and computation-intensive AI systems. We assess the carbon footprint of AI research, and the factors that influence AI’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in this domain. We find that the carbon footprint of AI research may be significant and highlight the need for more evidence concerning the trade-off between the GHG emissions generated by AI research and the energy and resource efficiency gains that AI can offer. In light of our analysis, we argue that leveraging the opportunities offered by AI for global climate change whilst limiting its risks is a gambit which requires responsive, evidence-based, and effective governance to become a winning strategy. We conclude by identifying the European Union as being especially well-placed to play a leading role in this policy response and provide 13 recommendations that are designed to identify and harness the opportunities of AI for combatting climate change, while reducing its impact on the environment.
Post-mortem computed tomography is a useful tool for determining the pulmonary ventilation status in newborns
Authors: Fischer Florian T. , Schwerer Michael , Lochner Stefanie , Maxien Daniel , Mück Fabian , Bechstein Laura , Wirth Stefan , Grimm Jochen
Published: October 2021

Introduction

Lung ventilation is a standard sign of life in newborns. Post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT) is highly sensitive to the presence of gas in the body including the lungs. Current standard examinations to determine the pulmonary ventilation status in newborns are the flotation test and histology. The purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy of PMCT with the flotation test for determining the lung ventilation status with histological control as reference standard. A cut-off value as CT number in Hounsfield Units (HU) determining lung ventilation of newborns in PMCT should be established.

Methods

A total of 38 infant lungs were examined of which 21 lungs were from infants deceased shortly after live birth (control group) and 17 lungs belonged to infants where live birth was in question (study group). All lungs were examined using PMCT, flotation test, and histological examination.

Results

The control group showed an overall mean attenuation ± standard deviation of −219 HU ± 135; the study group of 45 ± 15 HU in histologically nonventilated lungs versus −192 ± 207 HU; (p < 0.001) in ventilated lungs. The best cut-off value for optimal discrimination of ventilated and nonventilated lungs in newborns was −35 mean HU.

Conclusion

PMCT is equally well suited to determine lung ventilation as the flotation test. It provides additional information regarding pulmonary infiltration, degree of putrefaction, or signs of trauma (fractures, pneumothorax). Histology remains mandatory in ambiguous cases.
Inhibitors of class I HDACs and of FLT3 combine synergistically against leukemia cells with mutant FLT3
Authors: Wachholz Vanessa , Mustafa Al-Hassan M. , Zeyn Yanira , Henninger Sven J. , Beyer Mandy , Dzulko Melanie , Piée-Staffa Andrea , Brachetti Christina , Haehnel Patricia S. , Sellmer Andreas , Mahboobi Siavosh , Kindler Thomas , Brenner Walburgis , Nikolova Teodora , Krämer Oliver H.
Published: October 2021

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with mutations in the FMS-like tyrosine kinase (FLT3) is a clinically unresolved problem. AML cells frequently have a dysregulated expression and activity of epigenetic modulators of the histone deacetylase (HDAC) family. Therefore, we tested whether a combined inhibition of mutant FLT3 and class I HDACs is effective against AML cells. Low nanomolar doses of the FLT3 inhibitor (FLT3i) AC220 and an inhibition of class I HDACs with nanomolar concentrations of FK228 or micromolar doses of the HDAC3 specific agent RGFP966 synergistically induce apoptosis of AML cells that carry hyperactive FLT3 with an internal tandem duplication (FLT3-ITD). This does not occur in leukemic cells with wild-type FLT3 and without FLT3, suggesting a preferential toxicity of this combination against cells with mutant FLT3. Moreover, nanomolar doses of the new FLT3i marbotinib combine favorably with FK228 against leukemic cells with FLT3-ITD. The combinatorial treatments potentiated their suppressive effects on the tyrosine phosphorylation and stability of FLT3-ITD and its downstream signaling to the kinases ERK1/ERK2 and the inducible transcription factor STAT5. The beneficial pro-apoptotic effects of FLT3i and HDACi against leukemic cells with mutant FLT3 are associated with dose- and drug-dependent alterations of cell cycle distribution and DNA damage. This is linked to a modulation of the tumor-suppressive transcription factor p53 and its target cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21. While HDACi induce p21, AC220 suppresses the expression of p53 and p21. Furthermore, we show that both FLT3-ITD and class I HDAC activity promote the expression of the checkpoint kinases CHK1 and WEE1, thymidylate synthase, and the DNA repair protein RAD51 in leukemic cells. A genetic depletion of HDAC3 attenuates the expression of such proteins. Thus, class I HDACs and hyperactive FLT3 appear to be valid targets in AML cells with mutant FLT3.
Paper and thread as media for the frugal detection of urinary tract infections (UTIs)
Authors: Hasandka Amrutha , Singh Ankita Ramchandran , Prabhu Anusha , Singhal Hardik Ramesh , Nandagopal M. S. Giri , Mani Naresh Kumar
Published: October 2021

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) make up a significant proportion of the global burden of disease in vulnerable groups and tend to substantially impair the quality of life of those affected, making timely detection of UTIs a priority for public health. However, economic and societal barriers drastically reduce accessibility of traditional lab-based testing methods for critical patient groups in low-resource areas, negatively affecting their overall healthcare outcomes. As a result, cellulose-based materials such as paper and thread have garnered significant interest among researchers as substrates for so-called frugal analytical devices which leverage the material’s portability and adaptability for facile and reproducible diagnoses of UTIs. Although the field may be only in its infancy, strategies aimed at commercial penetration can appreciably increase access to more healthcare options for at-risk people. In this review, we catalogue recent advances in devices that use cellulose-based materials as the primary housing or medium for UTI detection and chart out trends in the field. We also explore different modalities employed for detection, with particular emphasis on their ability to be ported onto discreet casings such as sanitary products.

Graphical abstract
Rim lesions are demonstrated in early relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis using 3 T-based susceptibility-weighted imaging in a multi-institutional setting
Authors: Ng Kee Kwong Koy Chong , Mollison Daisy , Meijboom Rozanna , York Elizabeth N. , Kampaite Agniete , Martin Sarah-Jane , Hunt David P. J. , Thrippleton Michael J. , Chandran Siddharthan , Waldman Adam D. ,   FutureMS consortium
Published: October 2021

Purpose

Rim lesions, characterised by a paramagnetic rim on susceptibility-based MRI, have been suggested to reflect chronic inflammatory demyelination in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Here, we assess, through susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI), the prevalence, longitudinal volume evolution and clinical associations of rim lesions in subjects with early relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS).

Methods

Subjects (n = 44) with recently diagnosed RRMS underwent 3 T MRI at baseline (M0) and 1 year (M12) as part of a multi-centre study. SWI was acquired at M12 using a 3D segmented gradient-echo echo-planar imaging sequence. Rim lesions identified on SWI were manually segmented on FLAIR images at both time points for volumetric analysis.

Results

Twelve subjects (27%) had at least one rim lesion at M12. A linear mixed-effects model, with ‘subject’ as a random factor, revealed mixed evidence for the difference in longitudinal volume change between rim lesions and non-rim lesions (p = 0.0350 and p = 0.0556 for subjects with and without rim lesions, respectively). All 25 rim lesions identified showed T1-weighted hypointense signal. Subjects with and without rim lesions did not differ significantly with respect to age, disease duration or clinical measures of disability (p > 0.05).

Conclusion

We demonstrate that rim lesions are detectable in early-stage RRMS on 3 T MRI across multiple centres, although their relationship to lesion enlargement is equivocal in this small cohort. Identification of SWI rims was subjective. Agreed criteria for defining rim lesions and their further validation as a biomarker of chronic inflammation are required for translation of SWI into routine MS clinical practice.
Long-lasting severe knee pain in a SLE patient after renal transplantation: what is the reason? A case report and literature review
Authors: Masiak Anna , Kościńska Iga , Rutkowska Beata , Zdrojewski Zbigniew
Published: October 2021

Musculo-skeletal complaints in a patient suffering from systemic lupus, with co-existing chronic renal failure, undergoing immunosuppressive treatment after kidney transplantation, can have a varied etiology. The aim of this work was to present a case based review of differential diagnosis of knee pain in such a patient. A literature search was carried out using MEDLINE/PubMed, Google Scholar and EBSCO, with no time limit. We undertook a systematic review of the literature published in English, limited to full-text publications of original articles, letters to the editor, and case reports in peer-reviewed journals, for a discussion and analysis of studies reporting arthralgia in patients with lupus after kidney transplantation. We present a case report of a 45-year-old woman with lupus nephritis, after kidney transplantation, who started to complain of increasing pain in the knees, most pronounced at night and after physical activity approximately 2 years after transplantation. Extensive causal diagnostics were carried out, which revealed bilateral extensive regions of bone infarction in the femur and tibia, chondropathy, degenerative changes of medial meniscuses in the body and posterior horn as well as chondromalacia of the patella. Establishing the right diagnosis is crucial for implementing appropriate treatment.
Acute effects of two caffeine doses on bar velocity during the bench press exercise among women habituated to caffeine: a randomized, crossover, double-blind study involving control and placebo conditions
Authors: Filip-Stachnik Aleksandra , Krzysztofik Michal , Del Coso Juan , Wilk Michal
Published: October 2021

Purpose

The main goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of two different doses of caffeine (3 and 6 mg/kg) to enhance bar velocity during the bench press in women habituated to caffeine.

Methods

Twelve recreationally trained women (age: 23.3 ± 0.8 years, body mass: 60.7 ± 5.7 kg, bench press one-repetition maximum (1RM): 44.3 ± 7.8 kg, daily caffeine ingestion: 5.7 ± 2.0 mg/kg/day) participated in a randomized double-blind experimental design. Each participant performed four different experimental sessions: after no supplementation (control, CON), after ingesting 3 and 6 mg/kg of caffeine (CAF-3 and CAF-6, respectively), or after ingesting a placebo (PLAC). In each experimental session, the participants performed 3 sets of 3 repetitions of the bench press exercise at 50% 1RM.

Results

A two-way repeated-measures ANOVA with subsequent post hoc analyses indicated significant increases in peak velocity (p < 0.01; ES = 0.91) and mean velocity (p < 0.01; ES = 0.78) after the intake of CAF-6 compared to CON. The study did not show significant differences in bar velocity between CAF-6 and PLAC and between CAF-3 and PLAC. No significant differences in bar velocity were observed between CAF-3 and CAF-6 conditions.

Conclusion

These results suggest that 6 mg/kg of caffeine can be an effective dose to improve power-specific training outcomes in women habituated to caffeine. However, the ergogenic effect of 6 mg/kg of caffeine may be derived from a combination of biological effects and expectancy, as this dose was only superior to the control condition with no differences over the placebo.
An isogeometric scaled boundary plate formulation for the analysis of ionic electroactive paper
Authors: Klassen Markus , Klinkel Sven
Published: October 2021

In recent years, electroactive paper emerged as a new alternative in the field of smart actuators. It is based on a cellulose material which is able to bend under the influence of an external electric field similarly as ionic polymer metal composites. The bending mechanism is mainly attributed to the migration of ionic charges over the thickness of a thin sheet of paper. The present contribution proposes a numerical framework for the simulation of electroactive paper. It is based on a scaled boundary plate formulation for isogeometric analysis. In contrast to the standard scaled boundary plate approach, the scaling direction is solved numerically by a B-Spline approximation. This allows to render nonlinear effects over the plate thickness as well as displacement fields of higher continuity. The model is applicable to very thin structures such as electroactive paper, and it also captures the nonlinear ionic charge distribution which is coupled to the bending mechanism of the actuator.
Moment Estimates of the Cloud of a Planar Measure
Authors: Putinar Mihai
Published: October 2021

With a proper function theoretic definition of the cloud of a positive measure with compact support in the real plane, a computational scheme of transforming the moments of the original measure into the moments of the uniformly distributed mass on the cloud is described. The main limiting operation involves exclusively truncated Christoffel-Darboux kernels, while error bounds depend on the spectral asymptotics of a Hankel kernel belonging to the Hilbert-Schmidt class.
2D morphometric analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana nuclei reveals characteristic profiles of different cell types and accessions
Authors: Pavlova Penka , van Zanten Martijn , Snoek Basten L. , de Jong Hans , Fransz Paul
Published: October 2021

Functional changes of cells upon developmental switches and in response to environmental cues are often reflected in nuclear phenotypes, showing distinctive chromatin states corresponding to transcriptional changes. Such characteristic nuclear shapes have been microscopically monitored and can be quantified after differential staining of euchromatin and heterochromatin domains. Here, we examined several nuclear parameters (size, DNA content, DNA density, chromatin compaction, relative heterochromatin fraction (RHF), and number of chromocenters) in relation to spatial distribution of genes and transposon elements (TEs), using standard 2D fluorescence microscopy. We provide nuclear profiles for different cell types and different accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana. A variable, yet significant, fraction of TEs was found outside chromocenters in all cell types, except for guard cells. The latter cell type features nuclei with the highest level of chromatin compaction, while their chromocenters seem to contain gene-rich regions. The highest number of parameter correlations was found in the accession Cvi, whereas Ler showed only few correlations. This may point at differences in phenotype robustness between accessions. The significantly high association of NOR chromocenters in accessions Ws and Cvi corresponds to their low RHF level.
Recent advances in Apertium, a free/open-source rule-based machine translation platform for low-resource languages
Authors: Khanna Tanmai , Washington Jonathan N. , Tyers Francis M. , Bayatlı Sevilay , Swanson Daniel G. , Pirinen Tommi A. , Tang Irene , Alòs i Font Hèctor
Published: October 2021

This paper presents an overview of Apertium, a free and open-source rule-based machine translation platform. Translation in Apertium happens through a pipeline of modular tools, and the platform continues to be improved as more language pairs are added. Several advances have been implemented since the last publication, including some new optional modules: a module that allows rules to process recursive structures at the structural transfer stage, a module that deals with contiguous and discontiguous multi-word expressions, and a module that resolves anaphora to aid translation. Also highlighted is the hybridisation of Apertium through statistical modules that augment the pipeline, and statistical methods that augment existing modules. This includes morphological disambiguation, weighted structural transfer, and lexical selection modules that learn from limited data. The paper also discusses how a platform like Apertium can be a critical part of access to language technology for so-called low-resource languages, which might be ignored or deemed unapproachable by popular corpus-based translation technologies. Finally, the paper presents some of the released and unreleased language pairs, concluding with a brief look at some supplementary Apertium tools that prove valuable to users as well as language developers. All Apertium-related code, including language data, is free/open-source and available at https://github.com/apertium.
Reviewing the consequences of genetic purging on the success of rescue programs
Authors: Pérez-Pereira Noelia , Caballero Armando , García-Dorado Aurora
Published: October 2021

Genetic rescue is increasingly considered a promising and underused conservation strategy to reduce inbreeding depression and restore genetic diversity in endangered populations, but the empirical evidence supporting its application is limited to a few generations. Here we discuss on the light of theory the role of inbreeding depression arising from partially recessive deleterious mutations and of genetic purging as main determinants of the medium to long-term success of rescue programs. This role depends on two main predictions: (1) The inbreeding load hidden in populations with a long stable demography increases with the effective population size; and (2) After a population shrinks, purging tends to remove its (partially) recessive deleterious alleles, a process that is slower but more efficient for large populations than for small ones. We also carry out computer simulations to investigate the impact of genetic purging on the medium to long term success of genetic rescue programs. For some scenarios, it is found that hybrid vigor followed by purging will lead to sustained successful rescue. However, there may be specific situations where the recipient population is so small that it cannot purge the inbreeding load introduced by migrants, which would lead to increased fitness inbreeding depression and extinction risk in the medium to long term. In such cases, the risk is expected to be higher if migrants came from a large non-purged population with high inbreeding load, particularly after the accumulation of the stochastic effects ascribed to repeated occasional migration events. Therefore, under the specific deleterious recessive mutation model considered, we conclude that additional caution should be taken in rescue programs. Unless the endangered population harbors some distinctive genetic singularity whose conservation is a main concern, restoration by continuous stable gene flow should be considered, whenever feasible, as it reduces the extinction risk compared to repeated occasional migration and can also allow recolonization events.
Dynamics of a flexible body: a two-field formulation
Authors: Géradin Michel
Published: October 2021

A two-field formulation of the nonlinear dynamics of an elastic body is presented in which positions/orientations and the resulting velocity field are treated as independent. Combining a nonclassical description of elastic velocity that includes the convection velocity due to elastic deformation with floating reference axes minimizing the relative kinetic energy due to elastic deformation provides a fully uncoupled expression of kinetic energy. A transformation inspired by the classical Legendre transformation concept is introduced to develop the motion equations in canonical form. Finite element discretization is achieved using the same shape function sets for elastic displacements and velocities. Specific attention is brought to the discretization of the gyroscopic forces induced by elastic deformation. A model reduction strategy to construct superelement models suitable for flexible multibody dynamics applications is proposed, which fulfills the essential condition of orthogonality between a rigid body and elastic motions. The problem of expressing kinematic connections at superelement boundaries is briefly addressed. Two academic examples have been developed to illustrate some of the concepts presented.
Knowledge translation resources to support the use of quality of life assessment tools for the care of older adults living at home and their family caregivers
Authors: Schick-Makaroff Kara , Sawatzky Richard , Cuthbertson Lena , Öhlén Joakim , Beemer Autumn , Duquette Dominique , Karimi-Dehkordi Mehri , Stajduhar Kelli I. , Suryaprakash Nitya , Terblanche Landa , Wolff Angela C. , Cohen S. Robin
Published: October 2021

Purpose

To support the use of quality of life (QOL) assessment tools for older adults, we developed knowledge translation (KT) resources tailored for four audiences: (1) older adults and their family caregivers (micro), (2) healthcare providers (micro), (3) healthcare managers and leaders (meso), and (4) government leaders and decision-makers (macro). Our objectives were to (1) describe knowledge gaps and resources and (2) develop corresponding tailored KT resources to support use of QOL assessment tools by each of the micro-, meso-, and macro-audiences.

Methods

Data were collected in two phases through semi-structured interviews/focus groups with the four audiences in Canada. Data were analyzed using qualitative description analysis. KT resources were iteratively refined through formative evaluation.

Results

Older adults and family caregivers (N = 12) wanted basic knowledge about what “QOL assessment” meant and how it could improve their care. Healthcare providers (N = 13) needed practical solutions on how to integrate QOL assessment tools in their practice. Healthcare managers and leaders (N = 14) desired information about using patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) in healthcare programs and quality improvement. Government leaders and decision-makers (N = 11) needed to know how to access, use, and interpret PROM and PREM information for decision-making purposes. Based on these insights and evidence-based sources, we developed KT resources to introduce QOL assessment through 8 infographic brochures, 1 whiteboard animation, 1 live-action video, and a webpage.

Conclusion

Our study affirms the need to tailor KT resources on QOL assessment for different audiences. Our KT resources are available: www.healthyqol.com/older-adults.
Time-dependent reliability analysis of unsaturated slopes under rapid drawdown with intelligent surrogate models
Authors: Guardiani Carlotta , Soranzo Enrico , Wu Wei
Published: October 2021

Slope stability in reservoirs depends on time-dependent triggering factors such as fluctuations of the groundwater level and precipitation. This paper assesses the stability of reservoir slopes over time, accounting for the uncertainty of the shear strength and hydraulic parameters. An intelligent surrogate model has been developed to reduce the computational effort. The capability of two machine learning algorithms, namely Support Vector Regression and Extreme Gradient Boosting, is considered to obtain the relationship between geomechanical parameters and the factor of safety. The probability of failure of a hypothetical reservoir slope is estimated employing Monte Carlo simulations for different scenarios of drawdown velocity. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to investigate the influence of the geomechanical parameters, regarded as random variables, on the probability of failure. The results revealed that the coefficient of variation in the effective friction angle and the correlation between effective cohesion and friction angle have the highest impact on the probability of failure. The intelligent surrogate model can predict the factor of safety of reservoir slopes under rapid drawdown with high accuracy and enhanced computational efficiency.
Das „Reasoning-and-Rehabilitation“-Programm im deutschen Strafvollzug – Einstellungs- und Verhaltensveränderungen im Behandlungsverlauf
Authors: Hosser Daniela , Weber Sophia
Published: October 2021

Das „Reasoning-and-Rehabilitation“-Programm (R&R) wird in zahlreichen Einrichtungen des deutschen Straf- und Maßregelvollzugs angewendet und wurde international bereits eingehend evaluiert. Dennoch fehlten bislang Untersuchungen zur Behandlungseffektivität aus dem deutschen Strafvollzug. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wurde die Effektivität des R&R erstmals in diesem Setting anhand eines Messwiederholungsdesigns (Prä‑, Post-, und Follow-up-Messung) in einer Stichprobe von 134 männlichen Inhaftierten im Alter von 17 bis 58 Jahren untersucht. Erhoben wurden Selbstangaben (u. a. Aggression, Impulsivität, moralische Bewertungen und Empathie) sowie Akteninformationen zu Regelverstößen. Letztere wurden mit den Angaben einer parallelisierten Kontrollgruppe (n = 113) verglichen. Im Haftverlauf konnten positive Veränderungen der erfassten Risiko- und Schutzfaktoren der Delinquenz mit Effektstärken im kleinen bis mittleren Bereich ausgemacht werden, die bis zur Follow-up-Messung stabil blieben. Auf der Verhaltensebene zeigten sich bei den Programmteilnehmern im Vergleich zur Kontrollgruppe weniger neue Regelverstöße im Behandlungsverlauf. Die Ergebnisse werden im Hinblick auf die Behandlungspraxis diskutiert.
High-Throughput Statistical Interrogation of Mechanical Properties with Build Plate Location and Powder Reuse in AlSi10Mg
Authors: Carroll Jay D. , Exil Andrea N. , DeJong Stephanie A. , Valdez Isaac A. , Laursen Christopher M. , Deibler Lisa A. , Finfrock Christopher B. , Boyce Brad L.
Published: October 2021

Additive manufacturing (AM) allows agile, rapid manufacturing of geometrically complex components that would otherwise be impossible through traditional manufacturing methods. With this maturing manufacturing technology comes the need to adopt testing methods that are commensurate with the speed of additive manufacturing and take advantage of its geometric flexibility. High-throughput tensile testing (HTT) is a technique that allows a large number of tensile bars to be tested in a short amount of time. In the present study, HTT is used to evaluate AM AlSi10Mg produced using powder bed fusion with a Renishaw AM250 machine. Three parameters were varied in this study: (1) powder reuse history, (2) location on the build plate, and (3) size of the tensile specimen. For all parameter combinations, at least 22 specimens were tested; in several cases, over 40 were tested. This large dataset, consisting of over 500 tensile tests, permits Weibull statistical analysis and provides sufficient fidelity to isolate subtle trends that would have likely been missed in smaller, traditional datasets. The observed trends are rationalized in terms of the role of porosity and surface crust on mechanical response.
Achieving proportional fairness in WiFi networks via bandit convex optimization
Authors: Famitafreshi Golshan , Cano Cristina
Published: October 2021

In this paper, we revisit proportional fair channel allocation in IEEE 802.11 networks. Traditional approaches are either based on the explicit solution of the optimization problem or use iterative solvers to converge to the optimum. Instead, we propose an algorithm able to learn the optimal slot transmission probability only by monitoring the throughput of the network. We have evaluated this algorithm both (i) using the true value of the function to optimize and (ii) considering estimation errors. We provide a comprehensive performance evaluation that includes assessing the sensitivity of the algorithm to different learning and network parameters as well as its reaction to network dynamics. We also evaluate the effect of noisy estimates on the convergence rate and propose a method to alleviate them. We believe our approach is a practical solution to improve the performance of wireless networks as it does not require knowing the network parameters in advance. Yet, we conclude that the setting of the parameters of the algorithm is crucial to guarantee fast convergence.
Atomic layer deposition (ALD) for environmental protection and whisker mitigation of electronic assemblies
Authors: Soldano Caterina , Ashworth Mark A. , Wilcox Geoffrey D. , Kutilainen Terho , Hokka Jussi , Praks Jaan , Pudas Marko
Published: October 2021

In this study, we demonstrate how metal-oxide thin-film conformal coatings grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) can be exploited as an effective approach to mitigate tin whisker growth on printed circuit boards. First, we study the effect of different ALD coatings and process parameters on Sn–Cu-electroplated test coupons, by combining optical imaging and scanning electron microscopy and evaluating whisker distribution on the surface. On these samples, we found that one important parameter in mitigating whisker growth is the time interval between electroplating and the ALD coating process (pre-coat time), which should be kept of the order of few days (2, based on our results). Atomic layer-deposited coatings were also found to be effective toward whisker formation in different storage conditions. Furthermore, we show that ALD coating is also effective in limiting the need for outgassing of electronic assemblies (PCBAs), which is an additional stringent requirement for applications in space industry. Our experimental results thus demonstrated that atomic layer deposition is a suitable technique for aerospace applications, both in terms of degassing and whisker mitigation.
SOURCE: a semi-automatic tool for spring-monitoring data analysis and aquifer characterisation
Authors: Lo Russo Stefano , Suozzi Enrico , Gizzi Martina , Taddia Glenda
Published: October 2021

It has become increasingly necessary to optimise mountain groundwater resource management and comprehend resource-recharging systems from a hydrogeological perspective to formulate adequate resource protection strategies. Analysing mountain spring behaviour and aquifer characteristics can be time-consuming, so new automated techniques and software tools are needed to estimate hydrogeological parameters and understand the exhaustion dynamics of groundwater resources. This paper introduces SOURCE, a new semi-automatic tool that automates the hydrogeological characterisation of water springs and provides proper estimations of the vulnerability index, as well as autocorrelation and cross-correlation statistical coefficients. SOURCE rapidly processed input data from the Mascognaz 1 spring (Aosta Valley) water probes and meteorological station to provide graphical outputs and values for the main hydrodynamic parameters. Having a single software package that contains all the main methods of water spring analysis could potentially reduce analysis times from a few days to a few hours.
Orders and polytropes: matrix algebras from valuations
Authors: El Maazouz Yassine , Hahn Marvin Anas , Nebe Gabriele , Stanojkovski Mima , Sturmfels Bernd
Published: October 2021

We apply tropical geometry to study matrix algebras over a field with valuation. Using the shapes of min-max convexity, known as polytropes, we revisit the graduated orders introduced by Plesken and Zassenhaus. These are classified by the polytrope region. We advance the ideal theory of graduated orders by introducing their ideal class polytropes. This article emphasizes examples and computations. It offers first steps in the geometric combinatorics of endomorphism rings of configurations in affine buildings.