bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Optimisation of ketamine‐xylazine anaesthetic dose and its association with changes in the dendritic spine of CA1 hippocampus in the young and old male and female Wistar rats
Authors: Sotoudeh Narges , Namavar Mohammad Reza
Published: September 2022

Background

A combination of ketamine‐xylazine (K‐X) is frequently used for anaesthesia in rats. Sex and age affect this cocktail dosage. Ketamine causes a hypnotic effect by blocking NMDA receptors located on the dendritic spine of the CA1 region.

Objectives

The present study aimed to find the optimal dosage of K‐X and its association with the changes in dendritic spine number of the CA1 region for aged and young rats of both sexes.

Methods

We injected 150–4 mg/kg of K‐X in young and 100–2 mg/kg in aged Wistar rats intraperitoneally and recorded the onset time and duration of anaesthesia and death percentage. Then, animals were sacrificed, brains removed, cut and after Golgi‐Cox staining, the total number of dendritic spines on CA1 was estimated.

Results

The findings showed that the onset time of anaesthesia lasted longer and its duration lasted shorter, and the number of mature spines decreased with aging, but sex caused no significant effect. The death percentages in young groups comprise 20% and in the aged groups were lower: 5% in males and 0.0% in females.

Conclusions

It seems 100–2 mg/kg of K‐X is an optimal dose in aged rats and retains an association with reduction of the mature dendritic spine of CA1.
COVID-19 and Changing Values
Authors: van de Poel Ibo , de Wildt Tristan , van Kooten Pássaro Dyami
Published: September 2022

We study value change due to the corona pandemic. With the help of topic modelling, we analysed COVID-related news articles for changes in the frequency of how often these news articles address eleven different values. We looked at news articles from six countries (US, UK, South Africa, India, Japan, South Korea) and new articles spanning a longer period (2016–20); the latter also contained non-COVID news. We find that in the first few months of the pandemic, there is a punctuated shock in the frequency in which values are addressed. While we see a sharp increase in the value of health and safety, we see a significant decline in the values of democracy, privacy, and socio-economic equality. However, after the first months, we see a move in the opposite direction, which suggests that the punctuated shock’s effect may be cancelled over time. We also present – and offer possible explanations for – differences between countries and compare our results with the literature. We do not find evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic confronts us with a moral dilemma of health versus economic welfare, or lives versus livelihoods, as has sometimes been suggested. Our study also indicates a degree of moral resilience in the studied countries, in the sense of the ability to pay attention to morally important values, despite being put under pressure during a crisis.
Offsetting Present Risks, Preempting Future Harms, and the Ethics of a ‘New Normal’
Authors: Nyholm Sven , Maheshwari Kritika
Published: September 2022

The ongoing pandemic has led some people to speak about a ‘new normal’, since we have temporarily had to radically change how we live our lives to protect ourselves and others from the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. That expression – ‘a new normal’ – has been also be used in other contexts, such as in relation to societal disruptions brought about by things like new technologies or climate change. What this general idea of a ‘new normal’ means is unclear and hard to characterise, and there are diverging views about how to respond to a new normal, but one feature of a desirable new normal that most people would agree on is that it should be ‘safer’: safer technologies, safer institutions, and so on. But it is also important to consider what other ethical considerations and principles should be part of an ethics of a new normal. And it is also interesting to explore similarities and differences among different types of cases that can be classified as situations where we face a new normal. In this chapter, we will discuss the general idea of an ethics of a new normal, and consider what ethical distinctions, values, and principles are likely to be relevant in most instances where we face a new normal, including ethical considerations related to risk mitigation and ways of offsetting potential harms.
The Miners
Authors: Jinnah Zaheera
Published: September 2022

This chapter has two main objectives: to introduce readers to the main characters of the book, the Zama Zama, or miners, and to outline in detail the process of informal gold mining. The chapter begins with some content on the extent of informal gold mining, followed by a rich ethnographic narrative of Sipho, an informal miner, and his pathway into informal mining. It then explains the process of informal mining in detail, from extraction to when gold enters the formal market. At each point, the story of a key individual involved in mining is discussed. Finally, the chapter concludes by placing informal mining with a decolonial context, showing how the Zama Zama regard mining as a bounty of the land and the Creator. This concept is returned to in subsequent chapters. The overall thesis statement in this chapter is that informal gold mining is a precarious livelihood activity for the poor and marginalised, but is unfused with carefully constructed rules and norms by the Zama Zama.
Setting the Agenda
Authors: Frischhut Markus
Published: September 2022

This book is based on the open access book entitled ‘The Ethical Spirit of EU law’ (Springer, 2019), which was the outcome of the previous Jean Monnet Chair on ‘European integration & ethics’. The European Commission under Erasmus+ has kindly supported the previous Chair and the current Jean Monnet Chair on ‘EU Values & DIGitalisation for our CommuNITY (DIGNITY)’. In this 2019 book I have argued to fill certain gaps that occur if EU law refers to non-legal concepts such as ‘ethics’, with reference to the EU’s common values, as well as the fundamental rights, especially of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The current book now continues where the previous book has ended and summarises the research output of the current Jean Monnet Chair. This chapter addresses the various objectives of this book. Which values affect which levels, the European Union (EU), the EU Member States, and individuals (objective 1)? What is the temporal, content-related, personal, and territorial scope of these values (objective 2)? What is the relationship of these values to each other, the relationship between values and fundamental rights, as well as the relationship with legal and or ethical principles (objective 3)? Finally, based on the identified status quo, the question of a possible ‘future direction of travel’ will be addressed (objective 4). This first chapter also sheds light on key terminology, such as ethics and morality, values, (general) principles of EU law, (mutual) trust, as well as soft- vs. hard-law.
General Introduction (De Lege Lata)
Authors: Frischhut Markus
Published: September 2022

This chapter provides an overview of the so-called ‘hub’ of Art 2 TEU, covering the general values of the EU. It also covers the different levels affected by these values, the European Union (EU), the EU Member States, and individuals (natural and legal persons). Besides the general values (Art 2 TEU), a selection of specific values, respectively, the application of these general values in specific fields are depicted. These fields comprise healthcare, sports, digitalisation, non-financial reporting, as well as lobbying. This chapter is setting the agenda in terms of both providing a general overview, and addressing some questions to be answered in the rest of this book.
Different Scopes and Implications (De Lege Lata)
Authors: Frischhut Markus
Published: September 2022

This chapter covers the temporal, content-related, personal, and territorial scope of these values. Thetemporalscope (scoperatione temporis) addresses the historic development of EU values and addresses the ‘living instrument’ character of these values and of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Thecontent-relatedscope (scoperatione materiae) provides a detailed overview on the various values of human dignity, democracy, the rule of law, human rights (including those of minorities), solidarity, justice, equality, including equality between women and men, non-discrimination, freedom, pluralism, and tolerance. Within each section, the following questions will be addressed: What is the legal quality of the relevant concept: A value, a (general) principle (of EU law), an objective, and/or a fundamental right? Is the relevant concept defined, or at least to some extent determined (either in the Treaties, in EU Secondary law, or in case-law)? If not determined in law, can we find some clarification in philosophical literature? Where in EU law can we trace this concept? Thepersonalscope (scoperatione personae), addresses the question of who is entitled and who is obliged by the various values. Finally, theterritorialscope (scoperatione limitis), addresses the situation of values both inside and outside the EU27. Finally, the implications, of values in terms of the question of their justiciability and the possibility of restrictions are covered.
Synchronous Tools for Interaction and Collaboration
Authors: Lowenthal Patrick R.
Published: September 2022

The history of distance education in many ways is a history about the evolution of synchronous and asynchronous communication technologies. Distance education, and online learning in particular, has primarily relied on asynchronous communication technologies over the years. However, COVID-19 has sparked a new interest in using synchronous tools for interaction and collaboration in open, distance, and digital education. Given this it is incumbent upon educators and researchers alike to be familiar not only with the current iteration of synchronous communication technologies but also with how they have developed and evolved over time, the affordances and constraints of synchronous communication, interaction, and collaboration, some of the different types, and the overall implications for future research and practice.
Consequences of the Dresden-II reactor data for the weak mixing angle and new physics
Authors: Aristizabal Sierra D. , De Romeri V. , Papoulias D. K.
Published: September 2022

Abstract

The Dresden-II reactor experiment has recently reported a suggestive evidence for the observation of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering, using a germanium detector. Given the low recoil energy threshold, these data are particularly interesting for a low-energy determination of the weak mixing angle and for the study of new physics leading to spectral distortions at low momentum transfer. Using two hypotheses for the quenching factor, we study the impact of the data on: (i) The weak mixing angle at a renormalization scale of ~ 10 MeV, (ii) neutrino generalized interactions with light mediators, (iii) the sterile neutrino dipole portal. The results for the weak mixing angle show a strong dependence on the quenching factor choice. Although still with large uncertainties, the Dresden-II data provide for the first time a determination of sin2θW at such scale using coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering data. Tight upper limits are placed on the light vector, scalar and tensor mediator scenarios. Kinematic constraints implied by the reactor anti-neutrino flux and the ionization energy threshold allow the sterile neutrino dipole portal to produce up-scattering events with sterile neutrino masses up to ~ 8 MeV. In this context, we find that limits are also sensitive to the quenching factor choice, but in both cases competitive with those derived from XENON1T data and more stringent that those derived with COHERENT data, in the same sterile neutrino mass range.
Assessment of the dimension-5 seesaw portal and impact of exotic Higgs decays on non-pointing photon searches
Authors: Delgado F. , Duarte L. , Jones-Pérez J. , Manrique-Chavil C. , Peña S.
Published: September 2022

Abstract

The Dimension-5 Seesaw Portal is a Type-I Seesaw model extended byd= 5 operators involving the sterile neutrino states, leading to new interactions between all neutrinos and the Standard Model neutral bosons. In this work we focus primarily on the implications of these new operators at the GeV-scale. In particular, we recalculate the heavy neutrino full decay width, up to three-body decays. We also review bounds on the dipole operator, and revisit LEP constraints on its coefficient. Finally, we turn to heavy neutrino pair production from Higgs decays, where the former are long-lived and disintegrate into a photon and a light neutrino. We probe this process by recasting two ATLAS searches for non-pointing photons, showing the expected event distribution in terms of arrival timetγand pointing variable|∆zγ|.
Majorana zero mode-soliton duality and in-gap and BIC bound states in modified Toda model coupled to fermion
Authors: Blas H. , Monsalve J. J. , Quicaño R. , Pereira J. R. V.
Published: September 2022

Abstract

A two-dimensional field theory of a fermion chirally coupled to Toda field plus a scalar self-coupling potential is considered. Using techniques of integrable systems we obtain analytical zero modes, in-gap states and bound states in the continuum (BIC) for topological configurations of the scalar field. Fermion-soliton duality mappings are uncovered for the bound state spectrum, which interpolates the weak and strong coupling sectors of the model and give rise to novel Thirring-like and multi-frequency sine-Gordon models, respectively. The non-perturbative effects of the back-reaction of the fermion bound states on the kink are studied and it is shown that the zero mode would catalyze the emergence of a new kink with lower topological charge and greater slope at the center, in the strong coupling limit of the model. For special topological charges and certain relative phases of the fermion components the kinks can host Majorana zero modes. The Noether, topological and a novel nonlocal charge densities satisfy a formula of the Atiyah-Patodi-Singer-type. Our results may find applications in several branches of non-linear physics, such as confinement in QCD2, braneworld models, high Tc superconductivity and topological quantum computation. We back up our results with numerical simulations for continuous families of topological sectors.
Dark matter freeze-in with a heavy mediator: beyond the EFT approach
Authors: Frangipane Evan , Gori Stefania , Shakya Bibhushan
Published: September 2022

Abstract

We study dark matter freeze-in scenarios where the mass of the mediator particle that couples dark matter to the Standard Model is larger than the reheat temperature, TRH, in the early Universe. In such setups, the standard approach is to work with an effective field theory (EFT) where the mediator is integrated out. We examine the validity of this approach in various generic s- and t-channel mediator frameworks. We find that the EFT approach breaks down when the mediator mass is between one to two orders of magnitude larger than TRH due to various effects such as s-channel resonance, a small thermally-suppressed abundance of the mediator, or decays of Standard Model particles through loops induced by the mediator. This highlights the necessity of including these contributions in such dark matter freeze-in studies. We also discuss the collider phenomenology of the heavy mediators, which is qualitatively different from standard freeze-in scenarios. We highlight that, due to the low TRH, the Standard Model-dark matter coupling in these scenarios can be relatively larger than in standard freeze-in scenarios, improving the testability prospects of these setups.
Derivation of the Linear Boltzmann Equation from the Damped Quantum Lorentz Gas with a General Scatterer Configuration
Authors: Griffin Jory
Published: September 2022

It is a fundamental problem in mathematical physics to derive macroscopic transport equations from microscopic models. In this paper, we derive the linear Boltzmann equation in the low-density limit of a damped quantum Lorentz gas for a large class of deterministic and random scatterer configurations. Previously this result was known only for the single-scatterer problem on the flat torus, and for uniformly random scatterer configurations where no damping is required. The damping is critical in establishing convergence—in the absence of damping the limiting behaviour depends on the exact configuration under consideration, and indeed, the linear Boltzmann equation is not expected to appear for periodic and other highly ordered configurations.
Nutzung und Akzeptanz webbasierter Angebote zur Alkoholabstinenz
Authors: Stüben Nathalie , Franke Andreas G. , Soyka Michael
Published: September 2022

Einleitung

Die Prävalenzraten für Alkoholgebrauchsstörungen liegen in Deutschland bei ca. 6 %, alkoholabhängig sind ca. 3 %. Nur ca. 10 % der Patienten befinden sich in suchtmedizinischer Therapie. In der Früherkennung und -intervention besteht zudem eine deutliche Unterversorgung. Eine bislang nicht evaluierte Ergänzung zu bestehenden Interventionsangeboten ist der außerhalb der professionellen Suchthilfe von einer ehemaligen Betroffenen entwickelte Internetauftritt „Ohne Alkohol mit Nathalie“ (OAmN). Die vorliegende Pilotstudie hatte zum Ziel, herauszufinden, ob die Nutzer der OAmN-Angebote zu jenen zählen, die bisher vom Suchthilfesystem nicht erreicht werden konnten.

Methoden

Innerhalb von vier Wochen wurden Nutzer auf vier verschiedenen OAmN-Kanälen dazu aufgerufen, sich an einer anonymen Befragung zu beteiligen. Ein Link führte jeweils zu einem webbasierten Fragebogen. Dieser umfasste offene, geschlossene sowie Multiple-Choice-Fragen zum Konsummuster von Alkohol und bisherigen Therapiebemühungen.

Ergebnisse

Von 2022 Teilnehmern gaben 84,3 % (n = 1705) an, ein „Alkoholproblem“ zu haben oder es gehabt zu haben. Davon hatten 17,7 % (n = 302) die Diagnose einer Alkoholabhängigkeit und 21 % (n = 529) Therapieerfahrung. Sistiert hatten ihren Alkoholkonsum zum Zeitpunkt der Befragung 85,5 % (n = 1457) der Betroffenen. Die meisten davon (48,5 %, n = 705) mithilfe von OAmN. 97,5 % (n = 1662) waren während ihrer Konsumzeit berufstätig und haben aus eigener Sicht zu 34,3 % (n = 570) „sehr gut“, zu 43,2 % (n = 718) „gut“ funktioniert.

Diskussion

Die Pilotstudie zeigt, dass webbasierte Angebote wie OAmN Menschen erreichen können, die durch Angebote des etablierten Suchthilfesystems nicht erreicht werden, obwohl eine alkoholbezogene Störung vorliegt und eine Bereitschaft zur Verhaltensänderung im Hinblick auf den Alkoholkonsum besteht.
Influence of sub-surface deformation induced by machining on stress corrosion cracking in lead-free brass
Authors: Johansson Jakob , Bushlya Volodymyr , Obitz Charlotta , M’Saoubi Rachid , Hagström Joacim , Lenrick Filip
Published: September 2022

New stricter regulations on lead (Pb) content in brass for use in certain applications is driving the industry from traditional leaded brass towards Pb-free alloys. However, machining induced surface integrity for such Pb-free alloys and related corrosion resistance are largely unknown. Two Pb-free brass alloys, CuZn38As and CuZn21Si3P, approved for use in drinking water applications, were machined under different cutting conditions, tool geometries and tool wear states. The resulting surface integrity and sub-surface deformation was characterized using nano-indentation, scanning electron (SEM) and ion microscopy, and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The materials resistance to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) was assessed by exposing the machined samples to a corrosive substance in accordance with SIS 117102. The results show that tool wear is the most influencing parameter leading to stronger sub-surface deformation. This was especially pronounced for alloy CuZn38As, where for equivalent depth of deformation, the material exhibited higher degree of work-hardening compared to the other tested alloy. Subsequently, substantial stress corrosion cracking was registered for machined CuZn38As samples.
Principal $$\infty $$-bundles and smooth string group models
Authors: Bunk Severin
Published: September 2022

We provide a general, homotopy-theoretic definition of string group models within an $$\infty $$
∞
-category of smooth spaces and present new smooth models for the string group. Here, a smooth space is a presheaf of $$\infty $$
∞
-groupoids on the category of cartesian spaces. The key to our definition and construction of smooth string group models is a version of the singular complex functor, which assigns to a smooth space an underlying ordinary space. We provide new characterisations of principal $$\infty $$
∞
-bundles and group extensions in $$\infty $$
∞
-topoi, building on work of Nikolaus, Schreiber and Stevenson. These insights allow us to transfer the definition of string group extensions from the $$\infty $$
∞
-category of spaces to the $$\infty $$
∞
-category of smooth spaces. Finally, we consider smooth higher-categorical group extensions that arise as obstructions to the existence of equivariant structures on gerbes. These extensions give rise to new smooth models for the string group, as recently conjectured in joint work with Müller and Szabo.
Mutated Pkhd1 alone is sufficient to cause autoimmune biliary disease on the nonobese diabetic (NOD) genetic background
Authors: Adams David E. , Heuer Luke S. , Rojas Manuel , Zhang Weici , Ridgway William M.
Published: September 2022

We previously reported that nonobese diabetic (NOD) congenic mice (NOD.c3c4 mice) developed an autoimmune biliary disease (ABD) with similarities to human primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), including anti-mitochondrial antibodies and organ-specific biliary lymphocytic infiltrates. We narrowed the possible contributory regions in a novel NOD.Abd3 congenic mouse to a B10 congenic region on chromosome 1 (“Abd3”) and a mutated Pkhd1 gene (Pkhd1del36−67) upstream from Abd3, and we showed via backcrossing studies that the NOD genetic background was necessary for disease. Here, we show that NOD.Abd3 mice develop anti-PDC-E2 autoantibodies at high levels, and that placing the chromosome 1 interval onto a scid background eliminates disease, demonstrating the critical role of the adaptive immune system in pathogenesis. While the NOD genetic background is essential for disease, it was still unclear which of the two regions in the Abd3 locus were necessary and sufficient for disease. Here, using a classic recombinant breeding approach, we prove that the mutated Pkhd1del36−67 alone, on the NOD background, causes ABD. Further characterization of the mutant sequence demonstrated that the Pkhd1 gene is disrupted by an ETnII-beta retrotransposon inserted in intron 35 in an anti-sense orientation. Homozygous Pkhd1 mutations significantly affect viability, with the offspring skewed away from a Mendelian distribution towards NOD Pkhd1 homozygous or heterozygous genotypes. Cell-specific abnormalities, on a susceptible genetic background, can therefore induce an organ-specific autoimmunity directed to the affected cells. Future work will aim to characterize how mutant Pkhd1 can cause such an autoimmune response.
Comorbidity characteristics of multiple myeloma patients diagnosed in Finland 2005–2016
Authors: Toppila Iiro , Kysenius Kai , Miettinen Tatu , Lassenius Mariann Ida , Lievonen Juha , Anttila Pekka
Published: September 2022

Multiple myeloma (MM) patients are predominantly elderly with comorbidities that have an impact on patient mortality and treatment decisions. We previously reported the patient characteristics and overall survival outcomes of the Finnish MM cohort diagnosed between 2005 and 2016 in a nationwide retrospective registry study comprising 3,851 adults. Here, we report detailed comorbidity characteristics for this real-world Finnish MM population at cohort entry and during follow-up. Data on diagnoses and causes of death were obtained from Finnish healthcare data registries and interrogated using various multistate time-to-event models. In the year preceding MM diagnosis, comorbidities (as per Charlson Comorbidity Index definition) were recorded in 38.0% of the cohort, of which 27.9% presented with pre-existing cardiovascular disease (CVD) and 4.8% had suffered a major adverse cardiac event (MACE). At 2 years post-MM diagnosis, cumulative incidence for CVD and MACE more than doubled to 57.1% and 11.4%, respectively, and only 31.9% of the cohort remained CVD-free. Prevalent secondary malignancies were recorded in 16.8% of the patient population at MM diagnosis, with cumulative incidence increasing steadily to 27.5% at 2 years and 33% at 5 years post-diagnosis. The main cause of mortality attributed to MM, CVD, secondary malignancy, or other causes remained stable throughout the follow-up, at an average of 74.2%, 9.4%, 9.8%, and 6.5%, respectively. Prevalence of CVDs and secondary malignancies is high in Finnish patients at MM diagnosis, with older male patients suffering from higher MACE and mortality risk. Proper recording and management of comorbidities alongside novel treatments remain crucial for optimal MM management.
Working memory dysfunction in fibromyalgia is associated with genotypes of the catechol- O-methyltransferase gene: an event-related potential study
Authors: Ferrera David , Gómez-Esquer Francisco , Peláez Irene , Barjola Paloma , Fernandes-Magalhaes Roberto , Carpio Alberto , De Lahoz María Eugenia , Martín-Buro María Carmen , Mercado Francisco
Published: September 2022

Recent findings have associated different COMT genotypes with working memory capacity in patients with fibromyalgia. Although it is thought that the COMT gene may influence neural correlates (P2 and P3 ERP components) underlying working memory impairment in this chronic-pain syndrome, it has not yet been explored. Therefore, the aim of the present research was to investigate the potential effect of the COMT gene in fibromyalgia patients on ERP working memory indices (P2 and P3 components). For this purpose, 102 participants (51 patients and 51 healthy control participants) took part in the experiment. Event-related potentials and behavioral responses were recorded while participants performed a spatial n-back task. Participants had to decide if the stimulus coincided or not in the same location as the one presented one (1-back condition) or two (2-back condition) trials before. Genotypes of the COMT gene were determined through a saliva sample from all participants. Present results significantly showed lower working memory performance (p < 0.05) in patients with fibromyalgia as compared to control participants (higher rate of errors and slower reaction times). At neural level, we found that patients exhibited enhanced frontocentral and parieto-occipital P2 amplitudes compared to control participants (p < 0.05). Interestingly, we also observed that only fibromyalgia patients carrying the Val/Val genotype of the COMT gene showed higher frontocentral P2 amplitudes than control participants (p < 0.05). Current results (behavioral outcomes and P2 amplitudes) confirmed the presence of an alteration in working memory functioning in fibromyalgia. The enhancement of frontocentral P2 could be reflecting that these patients would manifest an inefficient way of activating executive attention processes, in carriers of the Val/Val genotype of COMT. To our knowledge, the present findings are the first linking neural indices of working memory dysfunctions and COMT genotypes in fibromyalgia. Applying a subgroup of patient’s strategy based on this genetic marker could be useful to establish more tailored therapeutical approaches.
DNA metabarcoding identifies urban foraging patterns of oligolectic and polylectic cavity-nesting bees
Authors: Fernandes Kristen , Prendergast Kit , Bateman Philip W. , Saunders Benjamin J. , Gibberd Mark , Bunce Michael , Nevill Paul
Published: September 2022

Urbanisation modifies natural landscapes resulting in built-up space that is covered by buildings or hard surfaces and managed green spaces that often substitute native plant species with exotics. Some native bee species have been able to adapt to urban environments, foraging and reproducing in these highly modified areas. However, little is known on how the foraging ecology of native bees is affected by urbanised environments, and whether impacts vary among species with different degrees of specialisation for pollen collection. Here, we aim to investigate the responses of native bee foraging behaviour to urbanisation, using DNA metabarcoding to identify the resources within nesting tubes. We targeted oligolectic (specialist) and polylectic (generalist) cavity-nesting bee species in residential gardens and remnant bushland habitats. We were able to identify 40 families, 50 genera, and 23 species of plants, including exotic species, from the contents of nesting tubes. Oligolectic bee species had higher diversity of plant pollen in their nesting tubes in residential gardens compared to bushland habitats, along with significantly different forage composition between the two habitats. This result implies a greater degree of forage flexibility for oligolectic bee species than previously thought. In contrast, the diversity and composition of plant forage in polylectic bee nesting tubes did not vary between the two habitat types. Our results suggest a complex response of cavity-nesting bees to urbanisation and support the need for additional research to understand how the shifts in foraging resources impact overall bee health.
A generalised multi-scale Peridynamics–DEM framework and its application to rigid–soft particle mixtures
Authors: Hartmann Philipp , Thoeni Klaus , Rojek Jerzy
Published: September 2022

The discrete element method (DEM) is the most dominant method for the numerical prediction of dynamic behaviour at grain or particle scale. Nevertheless, due to its discontinuous nature, the DEM is inherently unable to describe microscopic features of individual bodies which can be considered as continuous bodies. To incorporate microscopic features, efficient numerical coupling of the DEM with a continuous method is generally necessary. Thus, a generalised multi-scale PD–DEM framework is developed in this work. In the developed framework, meshfree discretised Peridynamics (PD) is used to describe intra-particle forces within bodies to capture microscopic features. The inter-particle forces of rigid bodies are defined by the DEM whereas a hybrid approach is applied at the PD–DEM interface. In addition, a staggered multi-scale time integration scheme is formulated to allow for an efficient numerical treatment of both methods. Validation examples are presented and the applicability of the developed framework to capture the characteristics mixtures with rigid and deformable bodies is shown.
Detecting and tracking using 2D laser range finders and deep learning
Authors: Aguirre Eugenio , García-Silvente Miguel
Published: September 2022

Detecting and tracking people using 2D laser rangefinders (LRFs) is challenging due to the features of the human leg motion, high levels of self-occlusion and the existence of objects which are similar to the human legs. Previous approaches use datasets that are manually labelled with support of images of the scenes. We propose a system with a calibrated monocular camera and 2D LRF mounted on a mobile robot in order to generate a dataset of leg patterns through automatic labelling which is valid to achieve a robust and efficient 2D LRF-based people detector and tracker. First, both images and 2D laser data are recorded during the robot navigation in indoor environments. Second, the people detection boxes and keypoints obtained by a deep learning-based object detector are used to locate both people and their legs on the images. The coordinates frame of 2D laser is extrinsically calibrated to the camera coordinates allowing our system to automatically label the leg instances. The automatically labelled dataset is then used to achieve a leg detector by machine learning techniques. To validate the proposal, the leg detector is used to develop a Kalman filter-based people detection and tracking algorithm which is experimentally assessed. The experimentation shows that the proposed system overcomes the Angus Leigh’s detector and tracker which is considered the state of the art on 2D LRF-based people detector and tracker.
Adaptive convexification of microsphere-based incremental damage for stress and strain softening at finite strains
Authors: Köhler Maximilian , Neumeier Timo , Melchior Jan , Peter Malte A. , Peterseim Daniel , Balzani Daniel
Published: September 2022

The brief history of relaxation in continuum mechanics ranges from early application of non-convex plasticity and phase transition formulations to small and large strain continuum damage mechanics. However, relaxed continuum damage mechanics formulations are still limited in the following sense that their material response lack to model strain softening and the convexification of the non-convex incremental stress potential is computationally costly. This paper presents a reduced model for relaxed continuum damage mechanics at finite strains which includes strain softening by a fiber-specific damage in the microsphere approach. Computational efficiency is achieved by novel adaptive algorithms for the fast convexification of the one-dimensional fiber material model. The algorithms are benchmarked against state-of-the-art methods, and the choice of quadrature schemes for the microsphere approach is discussed. This contribution is finalized by a mesh independence test.
Curcumin nanoparticles: the topical antimycotic suspension treating oral candidiasis
Authors: Anwar Souzy Kamal , Elmonaem Sarah Nasser Abd , Moussa Eglal , Aboulela Aliaa Gamaleldin , Essawy Marwa Morsy
Published: September 2022

Phytotherapeutics is widely used nowadays as an alternative to the current antifungal drugs to reduce their side effects. Curcumin, with its wide therapeutic array as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent, is one of the natural compounds that ha..s an antifungal effect, especially when being used at nanoscale to increase its bioavailability. Our research aimed to evaluate clinically and microbiologically the effect of using topical nanocurcumin suspension to treat oral candidiasis. After 4 days from induction of oral candidiasis (baseline), we randomly divided 39 female BALB/c mice into three groups of 13 animals; nanocurcumin, nystatin, and sham groups. All animals in nanocurcumin and nystatin groups received topical treatment twice daily for 10 days. Then, we performed clinical and microbiological evaluations at baseline, day 5, and day 10. By the end of treatment, our results revealed that nanocurcumin promoted a significant reduction in the number of candida colonies. There was no statistically significant difference neither clinically nor microbiologically between nanocurcumin and nystatin groups. In conclusion, nanocurcumin has a good antifungal effect as nystatin, however, its therapeutic efficacy takes a longer time to appear than nystatin. The enhanced bioavailability of curcumin at the nanoscale qualifies this nano-herb as a promising alternative therapy for oral candidiasis, evading nystatin-associated morbidity.
Zukunftsfähige Agrarlandschaften in Deutschland – Ziele und Anforderungen aus ökologischer, ökonomischer und rechtlicher Sicht
Authors: Möckel Stefan , Baake Marieke , Bartkowski Bartosz , Henn Elisabeth Veronika , Strauch Michael , Stubenrauch Jessica
Published: September 2022

Die global steigenden Treibhausgase verändern in zunehmenden Maße auch in Deutschland die
klimatischen Verhältnisse. Betroffen sind insbesondere hiesige Agrarlandschaften, die weite Teile
Deutschlands umfassen und schon gegenwärtig vielfältige ökologische Probleme aufweisen. Auch
wenn die landwirtschaftlichen Nutzungen prägend für Agrarlandschaften sind, so hängt ihre
Zukunftsfähigkeit nicht allein von einer Veränderung der Bewirtschaftungsmethoden ab. Die Gestaltung
zukunftsfähiger Agrarlandschaften bedarf einer über den einzelnen Schlag hinausgehenden Betrachtung
und ist eine gesamtgesellschaftliche Aufgabe, die deutlich über die Verantwortung und Möglichkeiten
der einzelnen GrundstückseigentümerInnen und -bewirtschafterInnen hinausreicht. Ausgehend von
den bekannten ökologischen Problemen und den im Beitrag ausführlicher dargestellten besonderen
Herausforderungen des Klimawandels untersuchen wir daher, was Zukunftsfähigkeit bedeutet und welche
gesellschaftlichen Ziele und Anforderungen sich hieraus für Agrarlandschaften identifizieren lassen.
Der Beitrag will damit eine Grundlage für die Ausarbeitung praktischer Maßnahmenkonzepte und entsprechender
staatlicher Lenkung und Förderung schaffen.
Linkage to HIV Care and Early Retention in Care Rates in the Universal Test-and-Treat Era: A Population-based Prospective Study in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Authors: Nicol Edward , Basera Wisdom , Mukumbang Ferdinand C , Cheyip Mireille , Mthethwa Simangele , Lombard Carl , Jama Ngcwalisa , Pass Desiree , Laubscher Ria , Bradshaw Debbie
Published: September 2022

HIV linkage, and retention are key weaknesses in South Africa’s national antiretroviral therapy (ART) program, with the greatest loss of patients in the HIV treatment pathway occurring before ART initiation. This study investigated linkage-to and early-retention-in-care (LTRIC) rates among adults newly diagnosed with HIV in a high-HIV prevalent rural district. We conducted an observational prospective cohort study to investigate LTRIC rates for adults with a new HIV diagnosis in South Africa. Patient-level survey and clinical data were collected using a one-stage-cluster design from 18 healthcare facilities and triangulated between HIV and laboratory databases and registered deaths from Department of Home Affairs. We used Chi-square tests to assess associations between categorical variables, and results were stratified by HIV status, sex, and age. Of the 5,637 participants recruited, 21.2% had confirmed HIV, of which 70.9% were women, and 46.5% were aged 25–34 years. Although 82.7% of participants were linked-to-care within 3 months, only 46.1% remained-in-care 12 months after initiating ART and 5.2% were deceased. While a significantly higher proportion of men were linked-to-care at 3 months compared to women, a significant proportion of women (49.5%) remained-in-care at 12 months than men (38.0%). Post-secondary education and child support grants were significantly associated with retention. We found high linkage-to-care rates, but less than 50% of participants remained-in-care at 12 months. Significant effort is required to retain people living with HIV in care, especially during the first year after ART initiation. Our findings suggest that interventions could target men to encourage HIV testing.
Strategy analysis for a digital content platform considering perishability
Authors: Sun Xiaojie
Published: September 2022

With the vigorous development of e-commerce, digital content consumption has prospered in the consumer market. Considering the perishability of digital content products and the negative utility of advertisements on users, the paper develops a dynamic game model for the supply chain with a digital content platform and an upstream advertiser, and obtains the optimal (or equilibrium) resource investing, pricing, and advertising strategies under the centralized and decentralized decision-making cases. The main results show that the marketing strategies of pricing and advertising are constant over the planning horizon, while the operation strategy of resource investing which depends on digital content products’ perishability is decreasing over time. And, the platform may open resource for free to benefit more from advertising. Furthermore, for a certain region with relatively small price sensitivity, a counterintuitive result is obtained that the resource investing level and the profits of both members increase with the price sensitivity under the decentralized case, which is in sharp contrast to the centralized case. Finally, ignoring the product perishability in the decision-making process will cut down the resource investment level and profit, and the profit loss is intensified by a lower price or advertising sensitivity of consumers.
An Empirical Wall Law for the Mean Velocity in an Adverse Pressure Gradient for RANS Turbulence Modelling
Authors: Knopp Tobias
Published: September 2022

An empirical wall law for the mean velocity in an adverse pressure gradient is presented, with the ultimate goal of aiming at the improvement of RANS turbulence models and wall functions. For this purpose a large database of turbulent boundary-layer flows in adverse pressure gradients from wind tunnel experiments is considered, and the mean velocity in the inner layer is analysed. The log law in the mean velocity is found to be a robust feature. The extent of the log-law region is reduced in ratio to the boundary layer thickness with increasing strength of the pressure gradient. An extended wall law emerges above the log law, extending up to the outer edge of the inner layer. An empirical correlation to describe the reduction of the log-law region is proposed, depending on the pressure-gradient parameter and on the Reynolds number in inner viscous scaling, whose functional form is motivated by similarity and scaling arguments. Finally, there is a discussion of the conjecture of the existence of a wall law for the mean velocity, which is governed mainly by local parameters and whose leading order effects are the pressure gradient and the Reynolds number, but whose details can be perturbed by higher-order local and history effects.
Interaction of the Sea Breeze with the Urban Area of Rome: WRF Mesoscale and WRF Large-Eddy Simulations Compared to Ground-Based Observations
Authors: Di Bernardino Annalisa , Mazzarella Vincenzo , Pecci Mattia , Casasanta Giampietro , Cacciani Marco , Ferretti Rossella
Published: September 2022

The Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model is used to simulate atmospheric circulation during the summer season in a coastal region of central Italy, including the city of Rome. The time series of surface air temperature, wind speed, and direction are compared with in situ observations in urban Rome and its rural surroundings. Moreover, the vertical wind profiles are compared to sodar urban measurements. To improve the WRF model’s ability to reproduce the local circulation, and the onset and propagation of the sea breeze, several simulations are carried out modifying the land use and the thermal and physical properties of the surfaces. Based on the results of the correlation coefficient and the RMSE, the heat capacity and albedo are the parameters mostly influencing the daily temperature cycle. Particularly, the temperature in the urban area is reproduced more realistically when the heat capacity is increased. Hence, the best simulations are used to initialize a large-eddy simulation at high spatial resolution to analyze the interaction between the sea breeze and the urban heat island and to investigate the interaction of the sea breeze front with orography and surface roughness. As confirmed by observations collected by in situ weather stations in the surroundings of Rome, the front, entering the city, splits into three branches: (i) a west component in the western flank of the city, closer to the sea; (ii) a north-west component in the northern, inland side, and (iii) a south-west component in the south area of the city.
Spatiotemporal role of muscarinic signaling in early chick development: exposure to cholinomimetic agents by a mathematical model
Authors: Paladino Ombretta , Moranda Arianna , Falugi Carla
Published: September 2022

Awareness is growing that, besides several neurotoxic effects, cholinomimetic drugs able to interfere the cholinergic neurotransmitter system may exert a teratogen effect in developing embryos of vertebrate and invertebrate organisms. Cholinomimetic substances exert their toxic activity on organisms as they inhibit the functionality of the cholinergic system by completely or partially replacing the ACh molecule both at the level of the AChE active site and at the level of acetylcholine receptors. In this work, we focused the attention on the effects of muscarinic antagonist (atropine) and agonist (carbachol) drugs during the early development and ontogenesis of chick embryos. An unsteady-state mathematical model of the drug release and fate was developed, to synchronize exposure to a gradient of drug concentrations with the different developmental events. Since concentration measures in time and space cannot be taken without damaging the embryo itself, the diffusion model was the only way to establish at each time-step the exact concentration of drug at the different points of the embryo body (considered two-dimensional up to the 50 h stage). This concentration depends on the distance and position of the embryo with respect to the releasing source. The exposure to carbachol generally enhanced dimensions and stages of the embryos, while atropine mainly caused delay in development and small size of the embryos. Both the drugs were able to cause developmental anomalies, depending on the moment of development, in a time- and dose-dependent way, regardless the expression of genes driving each event.

Graphical abstract

Early chick embryos were exposed to muscarinic drugs in a spatial-temporal context.

Effects were stage-(time) dependent, according to distance and position of the source.

Atropine inhibited growth, mainly interfering with the cephalic process formation and heart differentiation; carbachol increased growth reducing differentiation.

Interferences may be exerted by alteration of calcium responses to naturally occurring morphogen-driven mechanisms.
Testing environmental effects on taxonomic composition with canonical correspondence analysis: alternative permutation tests are not equal
Authors: ter Braak Cajo J. F. , te Beest Dennis E.
Published: September 2022

After applying canonical correspondence analysis to metagenomics data with hugely different library sizes (site totals) it became evident that Canoco and the R-packages ade4 and vegan can yield (at least up to 2022) very differentP-values in statistical tests of the relationship between taxonomic composition (species composition) and predictors (environmental variables and/or treatments). The reason is that vegan and Canoco up to version 5.12 apply residualized response permutation (but ignore the model intercept), whereas ade4 applies predictor permutation. Predictor permutation, when extended to residualized predictor permutation, is applicable in partial constrained ordination. This paper shows by simulation that residualized response permutation can yield a very inflated Type I error rate, if the abundance data are both overdispersed and highly variable in site total. In contrast, residualized predictor permutation controlled the type I error rate and had good power, also when the predictors were skewed or binary. After square-root or log transformation of the abundance data, the differences between the permutation methods became small. Residualized predictor permutation is recommended, particularly in testing trait–environment relationships using double constrained correspondence analysis, because this method also critically depends on the species totals, which are generally highly variable. It is implemented in Canoco 5.15 and the R-code of this paper.