bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Medieval Monastic Ideas of the Compatibility Between the Individual and the Common Good
Authors: Palmén Ritva
Published: April 2024

The discussion about the compatibility of the common good and individual good was a pressing theme in medieval monastic texts and moral philosophy. Monastic authors typically relied on the premises of ethical eudaimonism, which stresses the idea that the virtuous agent’s good is maximized and the individual and common good are in harmony. This chapter argues that rather than constructing a concise theory of the common good and individual good, theologians elaborated on related themes such as the problem of achieving the common good, common utility, self-interest, self-love, or individual needs and their role in communal life. Moreover, the vocabulary was undetermined since the common good and individual good could refer either to metaphysical and theological ideas or to more limited material welfare and utility. By analysing samples from the monastic rules of common living and from the individual authors (Peter Abelard, Hugh of St Victor and Aelred of Rievaulx), the chapter will systematically discuss scattered but original developments that contributed to later theoretical analyses of the common good and individual good.
Common Goods and the Common Good in John Duns Scotus
Authors: Faucher Nicolas
Published: April 2024

John Duns Scotus did not devote a treatise or even a question to the matter of the common good, or the good of the community, as opposed to the good of the individual. Throughout his moral and political writings, he did, however, provide a sketch of his views regarding the general nature of the common good, defined as what is to be preserved by the laws of human communities as well as regarding the way in which this can be applied concretely. Most of the developments that pertain to this topic can be found in Ordinatio 4, distinction 15, question 2, a question devoted to whether a penitent thief ought to make restitution to his victims. In discussing this, Scotus produces a short biblical genealogy of private property as it was known and practiced in the societies of his time: it was instituted in answer to the Fall to ensure that humans interact peacefully and that each of them has what they need to survive. This goal is a general definition of the common good itself, which is obtained by making all goods private and by having a wise ruler to arbitrate all conflicts. This chapter examines what this view entails.
Old Wine in New Wineskins: William Ockham and the Common Good in Context
Authors: Lambertini Roberto
Published: April 2024

The present chapter investigates the use of the expression bonum commune in two political works by William of Ockham: the third part of the Dialogus and the Octo quaestiones de potestate papae. The choice of these works is motivated by the fact that they represent the final – and most mature – phase of the English Franciscan’s political reflection. Relying on the findings of previous scholarship, the author believes it is appropriate to focus on the use of the expression rather than on a determination of its meaning, which seems to be taken for granted by Ockham. The contribution highlights three main uses of the expression: (1) as a criterion for distinguishing, along the lines of Aristotle’s Politics, between upright and deviant constitutional forms; (2) as a limit to the exercise of power by a legitimate power; and (3) as “a conceptual device” that aims to relativise the conclusions of political theory (e.g., the identification of the best constitutional form), motivated by Ockham’s awareness of the intrinsic contingency and mutability of historical events. Indeed, safeguarding the common good in certain situations, according to the English Franciscan, may require a solution that deviates from the ideal paradigm. In the course of the analysis, it appears that Ockham, despite his reputation as an individualist philosopher, consistently applies the principle of the subordination of the individual good to the common good.
Is Socrates Permitted to Kill Plato?
Authors: Toivanen Juhana
Published: April 2024

This chapter analyses how one thirteenth century Parisian philosopher, Nicholas of Vaudémont (fl. 1370s), understood the tension between the common good in the sense of the good of the community as a whole, and individual good in his commentary of Aristotle’s Politics. The analysis proceeds in relation to two of Nicholas’ questions. The first of them concerns the classical problem of whether or not a virtuous person should sacrifice his life for the sake of his community; and the second question is related to the justification of capital punishment for the sake of the common good. It is claimed that Nicholas entertains at least a theoretical possibility that virtuous action may not necessarily entail the common good and that he further distinguishes the concern for the common good from the private sphere by arguing that responsibility of the common good rests solely with the political ruler. As a result, the tension becomes a fracture as the theoretical distance between the good of an individual and the common good widens.
Asynchronous Subtyping by Trace Relaxation
Authors: Bocchi Laura , King Andy , Murgia Maurizio
Published: April 2024

Session subtyping answers the question of whether a program in a communicating system can be safely substituted for another, when their communication behaviours are described by session types. Asynchronous session subtyping is undecidable, hence the interest in devising sound, although incomplete, subtyping algorithms. State-of-the-art algorithms are formulated in terms of a data-structure called input trees. We show how input trees can be replaced by sets of traces, which opens up opportunities for applying techniques abstract interpretation techniques to the problem of asynchronous session subtyping. Sets of traces can be relaxed (enlarged) whilst still allowing subtyping to be observed, and one can choose relaxations that can be finitely represented, even when the input trees are arbitrarily large. We instantiate this strategy using regular expressions and show that it allows subtyping to be mechanically proven for communication patterns that were previously out of reach.
VeSCMul: Verified Implementation of S-C-Rewriting for Multiplier Verification
Authors: Temel Mertcan
Published: April 2024

Formal verification of multipliers is difficult. This paper pre-sents a custom tool, VeSCMul, designed to address this problem. VeSCMul can be effectively applied to a wide range of hardware verification challenges, including multipliers with saturation, flags, shifting, truncation, accumulation, dot product, and even floating-point multiplication. The tool is highly automated with a user-friendly interface, and it is very efficient; for instance, verification for designs with 64-bit operands can finish in seconds. Notably, VeSCMul has been successfully utilized for both commercial designs and publicly available benchmarks. Regarding the reliability of its results, VeSCMul itself is fully verified, instilling confidence in its users for soundness. It also has the option to be used with a SAT solver for completeness and counterexample generation. Readers of this paper will gain insights into the capabilities and limitations of VeSCMul, as well as how to employ it for the verification of their own designs.
Z3-Noodler: An Automata-based String Solver
Authors: Chen Yu-Fang , Chocholatý David , Havlena Vojtěch , Holík Lukáš , Lengál Ondřej , Síč Juraj
Published: April 2024

Z3-Noodleris a fork ofZ3that replaces its string theory solver with a custom solver implementing the recently introduced stabilization-based algorithm for solving word equations with regular constraints. An extensive experimental evaluation shows thatZ3-Noodleris a fully-fledged solver that can compete with state-of-the-art solvers, surpassing them by far on many benchmarks. Moreover, it is often complementary to other solvers, making it a suitable choice as a candidate to a solver portfolio.
TaSSAT: Transfer and Share SAT
Authors: Chowdhury Md Solimul , Codel Cayden R. , Heule Marijn J. H.
Published: April 2024

We present , a powerful local search SAT solver that effectively solves hard combinatorial problems. Its unique approach of transferring clause weights in local minima enhances its efficiency in solving problem instances. Since it is implemented on top of , benefits from practical techniques such as restart strategies and thread parallelization. Our implementation includes a parallel version that shares data structures across threads, leading to a significant reduction in memory usage. Our experiments demonstrate that outperforms similar solvers on a vast set of SAT competition benchmarks. Notably, with the parallel configuration of , we improve lower bounds for several van der Waerden numbers.
Fully Generalized Reactivity(1) Synthesis
Authors: Ehlers Rüdiger , Khalimov Ayrat
Published: April 2024

Generalized Reactivity(1) (GR(1)) synthesis is a reactive synthesis approach in which the specification is split into two parts: a symbolic game graph, describing the safe transitions of a system, a liveness specification in a subset of Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) on top of it. Many specifications can naturally be written in this restricted form, and the restriction gives rise to a scalable synthesis procedure – the reasons for the high popularity of the approach. For specifications even slightly beyond GR(1), however, the approach is inapplicable. This necessitates a transition to synthesizers for full LTL specifications, introducing a huge efficiency drop. This paper proposes a synthesis approach that smoothly bridges the efficiency gap from GR(1) to LTL by unifying synthesis for both classes of specifications. The approach leverages a recently introduced canonical representation of omega-regular languages based on a chain of good-for-games co-Büchi automata (COCOA). By constructing COCOA for the liveness part of a specification, we can then build a fixpoint formula that can be efficiently evaluated on the symbolic game graph. The COCOA-based synthesis approach outperforms standard approaches and retains the efficiency of GR(1) synthesis for specifications in GR(1) form and those with few non-GR(1) specification parts.
CESAR: Control Envelope Synthesis via Angelic Refinements
Authors: Kabra Aditi , Laurent Jonathan , Mitsch Stefan , Platzer André
Published: April 2024

This paper presents an approach for synthesizing provably correct control envelopes for hybrid systems. Control envelopes characterize families of safe controllers and are used to monitor untrusted controllers at runtime. Our algorithm fills in the blanks of a hybrid system’s sketch specifying the desired shape of the control envelope, the possible control actions, and the system’s differential equations. In order to maximize the flexibility of the control envelope, the synthesized conditions saying which control action can be chosen when should be as permissive as possible while establishing a desired safety condition from the available assumptions, which are augmented if needed. An implicit, optimal solution to this synthesis problem is characterized using hybrid systems game theory, from which explicit solutions can be derived via symbolic execution and sound, systematic game refinements. Optimality can be recovered in the face of approximation via a dual game characterization. The resulting algorithm, Control Envelope Synthesis via Angelic Refinements (CESAR), is demonstrated in a range of safe control envelope synthesis examples with different control challenges.
Higgs boson pair production and decay at NLO in QCD: the $$ b\overline{b}\gamma \gamma $$ final state
Authors: Li Hai Tao , Si Zong-Guo , Wang Jian , Zhang Xiao , Zhao Dan
Published: April 2024

Abstract

The Higgs boson pair production at the LHC provides a probe to the Higgs boson self-coupling. The higher-order QCD corrections in this process are sizable and must be taken into account in comparison with data. Due to the small cross section, it is necessary to consider at least one of the Higgs bosons decaying to bottom quarks. The QCD corrections to the decay processes would also be important in such cases. We present a full calculation of the total and differential cross sections for the $$ b\overline{b}\gamma \gamma $$
b

b
¯

γγ
final state with next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD corrections. After applying typical kinematic cuts in the final state, we find that QCD NLO corrections in the decay decrease the LO result by 19% and reduce the scale uncertainties by a factor of two. The QCD corrections to the invariant mass mjjγγ distribution, the transverse momentum spectra of the leading bottom quark jet and photon are significant and can not be approximated by a constant factor.
Threshold of hyperglycaemia associated with mortality in critically ill patients: a multicentre, prospective, observational study using continuous glucose monitoring
Authors: Wang Yaxin , Li Siwan , Lu Jingyi , Feng Kaixuan , Huang Xiaoli , Hu Fangbao , Sun Menghan , Zou Yan , Li Yingchuan , Huang Weifeng , Zhou Jian
Published: April 2024

Aims/hypothesis

Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) provides comprehensive information on the exposure to dysglycaemia. This study aimed to investigate the threshold of hyperglycaemia related to mortality risk in critically ill patients using CGM technology.

Methods

A total of 293 adult critically ill patients admitted to intensive care units of five medical centres were prospectively included between May 2020 and November 2021. Participants wore intermittently scanned CGM for a median of 12.0 days. The relationships between different predefined time above ranges (TARs), with the thresholds of hyperglycaemia ranging from 7.8 to 13.9 mmol/l (140–250 mg/dl), and in-hospital mortality risk were assessed by multivariate Cox proportional regression analysis. Time in ranges (TIRs) of 3.9 mmol/l (70 mg/dl) to the predefined hyperglycaemic thresholds were also assessed.

Results

Overall, 66 (22.5%) in-hospital deaths were identified. Only TARs with a threshold of 10.5 mmol/l (190 mg/dl) or above were significantly associated with the risk of in-hospital mortality, after adjustment for covariates. Furthermore, as the thresholds for TAR increased from 10.5 mmol/l to 13.9 mmol/l (190 mg/dl to 250 mg/dl), the hazards of in-hospital mortality increased incrementally with every 10% increase in TARs. Similar results were observed concerning the associations between TIRs with various upper thresholds and in-hospital mortality risk. For per absolute 10% decrease in TIR 3.9–10.5 mmol/l (70–190 mg/dl), the risk of in-hospital mortality was increased by 12.1% (HR 1.121 [95% CI 1.003, 1.253]).

Conclusions/interpretation

A glucose level exceeding 10.5 mmol/l (190 mg/dl) was significantly associated with higher risk of in-hospital mortality in critically ill patients.

Graphical Abstract
Prevalence and risk of sexual violence victimization among mental health service users: a systematic review and meta-analyses
Authors: Kaul Anjuli , Connell-Jones Laura , Paphitis Sharli Anne , Oram Sian
Published: April 2024

Purpose

People with mental disorders are more likely to experience sexual violence than the general population, but little is known about the prevalence of sexual violence in people who use psychiatric services. This paper aims to estimate the prevalence and odds of sexual violence victimisation within mental health services by gender and mental health setting (i.e. inpatient, outpatient and mixed settings).

Methods

This study is a systematic review and meta-analysis (PROSPERO registration number: CRD4201810019). Three databases (Medline, Embase, PsychINFO) were searched and citation tracking, and reference screening of included studies was conducted. Studies were included if the prevalence and/or risk of sexual violence in psychiatric service users were reported or calculable across the past year or adult lifetime. The methodological quality of included studies was assessed. A random effects meta-analyses was conducted to estimate odds ratios and pooled prevalence estimates of sexual violence in different mental health settings.

Results

Twenty-six studies were included encompassing 197,194 participants. The meta-analyses revealed high pooled prevalence estimates and increased odds of sexual violence victimisation in male and female psychiatric service users compared to non-psychiatric service users.

Conclusions

Mental health practitioners should be trained to respond effectively to disclosures of sexual violence, particularly from these vulnerable groups. Future sexual violence interventions should consider mental health as a treatment outcome.
An experimental hybrid customized AI and generative AI chatbot human machine interface to improve a factory troubleshooting downtime in the context of Industry 5.0
Authors: Kiangala Kahiomba Sonia , Wang Zenghui
Published: April 2024

Throughout industrial revolutions, equipment downtime mitigations have been one of the ultimate goals of most factories. Several tools, such as human machine interface (HMI) alarming systems or predictive maintenance schedules, assist in reducing system downtime but still depend on the operators’ ability to swiftly retrieve, understand, and efficiently act upon reported failures. We propose the design of a hybrid experimental artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI chatbot HMI that effectively extracts factory equipment conditions that are useful for troubleshooting and predictive maintenance analysis. We achieve these functions by feeding experimental factory-monitored data to the customized chatbot application tool running in its back-end, a Langchain agent linked to the OpenAI GPT$$-$$
-
3.5 language model (LM) via OpenAI APIs. We design our chatbot front-end with Streamlit, an open-source web app. In the context of I5.0, our chatbot HMI uses personalized natural language, English, to interact with the operator, making the information extraction more understandable. We also integrate the generative AI capability of the GPT 3.5 LM that augments the factory data based on the loaded format to create a larger dataset for additional tasks like machine learning modelling. The experimental results show the accuracy of our customized chatbot HMI when retrieving data based on specific prompts and the advantages of a reduced troubleshooting time compared to operations in traditional factories, which are highly dependent on supervisors’ interventions. Our study provides a valuable example of upgrading standard factory HMIs to I5.0-capable ones by implementing customized AI and generative AI chatbots within operational industrial environments.
Dynamic modelling and energy-efficiency optimization in a 3-DOF parallel robot
Authors: Fabris Giuliano , Scalera Lorenzo , Gasparetto Alessandro
Published: April 2024

Energy efficiency is a challenging and relevant research field in modern manufacturing industries, where robotic systems play an essential role in the automation of several industrial operations. In this paper, we present an approach for the energy-efficiency optimization of a 3-DOF parallel robot. The proposed strategy leverages the task placement, the execution time, and the length of the robot lower arms to minimize the energy consumption for the execution of a predefined high-speed pick-and-place operation. To evaluate the actuators energy consumption, the kinematic, dynamic and electro-mechanic mathematical models, as well as an equivalent multibody model, of the parallel robot are implemented. The results of extensive numerical simulations show that the proposed strategy provides notable improvements in the energy efficiency of the parallel robot, with respect to alternative approaches. Starting from a pick-and-place task with optimal task placement with a consumption of 38.2 J (with a cycle time of 0.4 s), the energy expenditure can be reduced to 3.75 J (with a cycle time of 1.86 s), with a reduction percentage of 90.2%, by additionally optimizing the execution time, and the length of the robot lower arms. These results lead to a reduction from 5733 J/min (for 150 cycles/min) to 121 J/min (for 32 cycles/min), allowing to choose the best trade-off between robot productivity and consumed energy.
Update on Prenatal Detection Rate of Critical Congenital Heart Disease Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Gupta Deepak , Vuong Tiffany , Wang Shuo , Korst Lisa M. , Pruetz Jay D.
Published: April 2024

Prenatal diagnosis of critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) has improved over time, and previous studies have identified CCHD subtype and socioeconomic status as factors influencing rates of prenatal diagnosis. Our objective of this single-center study was to compare prenatal diagnosis rates of newborns with CCHD admitted for cardiac intervention from the COVID-19 pandemic period (March 2020 to March 2021) to the pre-pandemic period and identify factors associated with the lack of CCHD prenatal diagnosis. The overall rate of CCHD and rates of the various CCHD diagnoses were calculated and compared with historical data collection periods (2009–2012 and 2013–2016). Compared with the 2009–2012 pre-pandemic period, patients had 2.17 times higher odds of having a prenatal diagnosis of CCHD during the pandemic period controlling for lesion type (aOR = 2.17, 95% CI 1.36–3.48, p = 0.001). Single ventricle lesions (aOR 6.74 [4.64–9.80], p < 0.001) and outflow tract anomalies (aOR 2.20 [1.56–3.12], p < 0.001) had the highest odds of prenatal diagnosis compared with the remaining lesions. Patients with outflow tract anomalies had higher odds for prenatal detection in the pandemic period compared with during the 2009–2012 pre-pandemic period (aOR 2.01 [1.06–3.78], p = 0.031). In conclusion, prenatal detection of CCHD among newborns presenting for cardiac intervention appeared to have improved during the pandemic period.
Modelling non-local cell-cell adhesion: a multiscale approach
Authors: Zhigun Anna , Rajendran Mabel Lizzy
Published: April 2024

Cell-cell adhesion plays a vital role in the development and maintenance of multicellular organisms. One of its functions is regulation of cell migration, such as occurs, e.g. during embryogenesis or in cancer. In this work, we develop a versatile multiscale approach to modelling a moving self-adhesive cell population that combines a careful microscopic description of a deterministic adhesion-driven motion component with an efficient mesoscopic representation of a stochastic velocity-jump process. This approach gives rise to mesoscopic models in the form of kinetic transport equations featuring multiple non-localities. Subsequent parabolic and hyperbolic scalings produce general classes of equations with non-local adhesion and myopic diffusion, a special case being the classical macroscopic model proposed in Armstrong et al. (J Theoret Biol 243(1): 98–113, 2006). Our simulations show how the combination of the two motion effects can unfold. Cell-cell adhesion relies on the subcellular cell adhesion molecule binding. Our approach lends itself conveniently to capturing this microscopic effect. On the macroscale, this results in an additional non-linear integral equation of a novel type that is coupled to the cell density equation.
The exponentiated exponentially weighted moving average control chart
Authors: Alevizakos Vasileios , Chatterjee Arpita , Chatterjee Kashinath , Koukouvinos Christos
Published: April 2024

Memory-type control charts are widely used for monitoring small to moderate shifts in the process parameter(s). In the present article, we present an exponentiated exponentially weighted moving average (Exp-EWMA) control chart that weights the past observations of a process using an exponentiated function. We evaluated the run-length characteristics of the Exp-EWMA chart via Monte Carlo simulations. A comparison study versus the CUSUM, EWMA and extended EWMA (EEWMA) charts under similar in-control (IC) run-length properties demonstrates that the Exp-EWMA chart is more effective for detecting small and, under certain circumstances, moderate shifts for both the zero-state and steady-state cases. Moreover, the Exp-EWMA chart has better zero-state out-of-control (OOC) performance than an EWMA chart with smoothing parameter equal to the limit to the infinity of the exponentiated function, while the two charts perform similarly for the steady-state case. Finally, it is shown that the Exp-EWMA chart is more IC robust than its competitors under several non-normal distributions. Two examples are provided to explain the implementation of the proposed chart
Quantifying the dynamical and radiative processes of the drastically weak South Asian summer monsoon circulation in 2015
Authors: Yu Wei , Xu Lianlian , Yang Song , Zhang Tuantuan , Chen Dake , Chen Junwen
Published: April 2024

The South Asian summer monsoon (SASM) circulation in 2015 is the weakest since 2000s, which results in severe drought over broad regions of the Indian peninsula. The 2015 SASM is closely related to the weakened summer meridional thermal contrast between southern Eurasia (SE) and the tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) at the mid–upper troposphere. Based on an updated climate feedback-response analysis method, this study conducts a quantitative attribution analysis of the thermal contrast anomalies associated with the 2015 SASM to multiple dynamical and radiative processes, particular for aerosol process. Result shows that the 2015 weak SASM is mainly attributed to the effect of water vapor (58%), followed by the effects of atmospheric dynamics (18%), clouds (15%), and aerosols (15%), respectively. These positive effects are partially offset by the negative contribution from surface dynamic process (-14%). As the most pronounced factor, the water vapor process weakens the SASM circulation via inducing SE cooling and TIO warming, which is closely linked to the decreased (increased) specific humidity over SE (TIO). Further analysis indicates that the total effect of aerosols is dominated by the changes in black carbon and sea salt. As two important components, the SE cooling and TIO warming separately account for about 51% and 49% to the 2015 SASM. The former is mainly attributed to the cooling effect of clouds, while the latter is mainly induced by the warming effect of atmospheric dynamics. Our result provides a new insight into the 2015 weak SASM from a quantitative perspective.
A new clinical model for predicting lymph node metastasis in T1 colorectal cancer
Authors: Wang Kai , He Hui , Lin Yanyun , Zhang Yanhong , Chen Junguo , Hu Jiancong , He Xiaosheng
Published: April 2024

Purpose

Lymph node metastasis (LNM) is a crucial factor that determines the prognosis of T1 colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. We aimed to develop a practical prediction model for LNM in T1 CRC.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective analysis of data from 825 patients with T1 CRC who underwent radical resection at a single center in China. All enrolled patients were randomly divided into a training set and a validation set at a ratio of 7:3 using R software. Risk factors for LNM were identified through multivariate logistic regression analyses. Subsequently, a prediction model was developed using the selected variables.

Results

The lymph node metastasis (LNM) rate was 10.1% in the training cohort and 9.3% in the validation cohort. In the training set, risk factors for LNM in T1 CRC were identified, including depressed endoscopic gross appearance, sex, submucosal invasion combined with tumor grade (DSI-TG), lymphovascular invasion (LVI), and tumor budding. LVI emerged as the most potent predictor for LNM. The prediction model based on these factors exhibited good discrimination ability in the validation sets (AUC: 79.3%). Compared to current guidelines, the model could potentially reduce over-surgery by 48.9%. Interestingly, we observed that sex had a differential impact on LNM between early-onset and late-onset CRC patients.

Conclusions

We developed a clinical prediction model for LNM in T1 CRC using five factors that are easily accessible in clinical practice. The model has better predictive performance and practicality than the current guidelines and can assist clinicians in making treatment decisions for T1 CRC patients.
Development of a protocol for standardized use of a water-soluble contrast agent with polyethylene glycol in post-mortem CT angiography
Authors: Bruch G. M. , Grabherr S. , Bruguier C. , Fischer F. T. , Soto R. , Magnin V. , Genet P.
Published: April 2024

Computed tomography angiography (PMCTA) is increasingly used in postmortem cases. Standardized validated protocols permit to compare different PMCTA images and make it more easily to defend a case in court. In addition to the well-known technique by Grabherr et al. (2011) which is using paraffin oil as a carrier substance, water-soluble polyethylene glycol 200 (PEG200) can be used in combination with the contrast agent Accupaque® 300. As to date, there exists no standardized protocol for the use of this contrast agent mixture, the aim of this study was to develop a protocol using it. Between 2012 and 2022, 23 PMCTA with PEG200 and Accupaque®300 were performed at the University Centre of Legal Medicine Lausanne (Switzerland) and the Institute of Forensic Medicine Munich (Germany). The images obtained were evaluated regarding the opacification of the vessels and possible artefacts. The best image quality was obtained with a mixing ratio of 1:15 (Accupaque®300:PEG200) and a perfusion volume of 1000 ml in the arterial, 1400 ml in the venous and 350 ml in the dynamic phase. The infusion rates described by Grabherr et al. were confirmed for the three phases. Overall, the opacification of the vessels was diagnostically sufficient. In 13 cases no opacification of the right coronary artery was observed due to a stratification artefact. By using the PMCTA protocol with PEG200 as a carrier, a good overall image quality can be achieved. This protocol offers the possibility to standardize PMCTA with PEG200.
Acute recanalization therapy for ischemic stroke during pregnancy and puerperium
Authors: Richardt Anna , Aarnio Karoliina , Korhonen Aino , Rantanen Kirsi , Verho Liisa , Curtze Sami , Laivuori Hannele , Gissler Mika , Tikkanen Minna , Ijäs Petra
Published: April 2024

Background

The safety and efficacy of intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) and endovascular thrombectomy for an ischemic stroke (IS) during pregnancy and puerperium are poorly studied. We evaluated the complications and outcome of recanalization therapy in maternal ISs.

Methods

A nationwide cohort of maternal ISs in Finland during 1987–2016 was collected by linking national healthcare registers: Medical Birth Register, Hospital Discharge Register, and Cause-Of-Death Register. The diagnoses were verified retrospectively from patient records. IVT-treated patients were compared to controls, who were young females with non-pregnancy-related IS from the Helsinki Stroke Thrombolysis Registry.

Results

Totally, 12 of 97 (12.4%) maternal ISs were treated with recanalization therapy. Compared to controls, IVT-treated maternal IS patients had more frequently early (age-adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 7.63, 95% CI 1.49–39.04) and major (aOR = 8.59, 95% CI 2.09–35.31) neurological improvements, measured using the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale. Good functional outcomes (modified Rankin Scale 0–2) at three months were equally common in maternal ISs and controls. No other complications were observed in IVT-treated maternal ISs than 1 (9.1%) symptomatic nonfatal intracranial hemorrhage. Among maternal IS patients treated with recanalization or conventional therapy, good functional outcome at the end of the follow-up was less common in recanalization-treated patients (66.7% vs 89.4%, aOR = 0.22, 95% CI 0.052–0.90), but otherwise outcomes were similar.

Conclusions

In this small nationwide cohort of maternal ISs, the complications of recanalization therapy were rare, and the outcomes were similar in IVT-treated maternal IS patients and controls. Maternal ISs should not be excluded from recanalization therapy in otherwise eligible situations.
Cognition and health-related quality of life in long-term survivors of high-grade glioma: an interactive perspective from patient and caregiver
Authors: Spoor Jochem K. H. , Donders-Kamphuis Marike , Veenstra Wencke S. , van Dijk Sarah A. , Dirven Clemens M. F. , Sillevis Smitt Peter A. E. , van den Bent Martin J. , Leenstra Sieger , Satoer Djaina D.
Published: April 2024

Background

The health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and cognition are important indicators for the quality of survival in patients with high-grade glioma (HGG). However, data on long-term survivors and their caregivers are scarce. We aim to investigate the interaction between cognition and HRQoL in long-term survivors, their caregivers’ evaluations, and the effect on caregiver strain and burden.

Methods

21 long-term HGG (8 WHO grade III and 13 WHO grade IV) survivors (survival ≥ 5 years) and 15 caregivers were included. Cognition (verbal memory, attention, executive functioning, and language), HRQoL, anxiety and depression, caregiver strain, and caregiver burden were assessed with standardized measures. Questionnaires were completed by patients and/or their caregivers.

Results

Mean survival was 12 years (grade III) and 8 years (grade IV). Cognition was significantly impaired with a large individual variety. Patients’ general HRQoL was not impaired but all functioning scales were deviant. Patient-proxy agreement was found in most HRQoL subscales. Three patients (14%) showed indications of anxiety or depression. One-third of the caregivers reported a high caregiver strain or a high burden. Test scores for attention, executive functioning, language, and/or verbal memory were correlated with perceived global health status, cognitive functioning, and/or communication deficits. Caregiver burden was not related to cognitive deficits.

Conclusions

In long-term HGG survivors maintained HRQoL seems possible even when cognition is impaired in a large variety at the individual level. A tailored approach is therefore recommended to investigate the cognitive impairments and HRQoL in patients and the need for patient and caregiver support.
Modelling vegetation phenology at six field stations within the U.S. Great Plains: constructing a 38-year timeseries of GCC, VCI, NDVI, and EVI2 using PhenoCam imagery and DAYMET meteorological records
Authors: Burke Morgen W. V. , Rundquist Bradley C. , Caparó Bellido Anaí
Published: April 2024

Vegetation phenology models still rely on temperature as the primary limiting factor to growth. They generally do not recognize the importance of photoperiod and water availability, which can cause them to under-perform. Moreover, few models have used machine learning algorithms to find relationships in the data. In this paper, four Vegetation Indexes (VIs), namely the green chromatic coordinate (GCC), the vegetation contrast index (VCI), the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the two-band enhanced vegetation index (EVI2), are predicted for the North American Great Plains. This is possible by using six PhenoCams, Daily Surface Weather and Climatological Summaries (DAYMET), processing them with the machine learning algorithm XGBoost (XGB) and comparing them with seven phenophase stages throughout a growth cycle. Examining the results, GCC was the best fitting model with an R2 of 0.946, while EVI2 was the poorest with an R2 of 0.895. Also, the results indicate that changing temperature and precipitation patterns are driving a significant change in phenology of the grasslands. We developed a model capable of explaining 90 to 93% of the variability in four VIs across six grassland PhenoCam sites over the growing season using the XGB regression. Our model demonstrates the importance of including photoperiod, temperature, and precipitation information when modeling vegetation phenology. Finally, we were able to construct a 38-year phenology record at each PhenoCam location.
Will Power and Waste-to-X enable the worldwide energy transition to renewables?
Authors: Geisbauer Andreas , Berchthold Christian
Published: April 2024

Since the industrial revolution the world economy has grown thanks to energy generated by cheap and abundant fossil resources. Today, due to climate change caused by human-induced CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, we are in the midst of a shift away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy. It remains to be seen how fast this shift will happen and whether the correlating economics are feasible. Increasingly, experts are asking: what role will  catalysis play to help drive energy efficiency? With a 60-year history in industrial catalysis, Clariant’s Catalysts business has been a front runner in catalyst and technology development. For more than a decade we have been working in the catalytic Power-to-X segments. This paper presents our understanding on current developments around the important role of Power-to-X and Waste-to-X technologies to enable a worldwide transition of the energy sector to renewables.

Graphical abstract
The success rates and outcomes of mandibular third molar coronectomy: 167 cases
Authors: Nowak Sylwia Maria , Justice Jessie , Aslam Aneesah , Suida Mohamed Imran
Published: April 2024

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to assess success rates and to report complications of coronectomy of mandibular third molars (M3M), including intra-operative failure, pain, infection, dry socket, inferior dental alveolar (IAN) and lingual nerve (LN) injuries and re-operation rates.

Methods

Retrospective analysis of 167 coronectomies completed between January 2017 to December 2022 was undertaken.

Results

The success of coronectomy was 93%. Intra-operative failure was reported to be 3.6% (n = 8). Complications accounted for pain (15%, n = 24), infection (9%, n = 15) and dry socket (3.6%, n = 6). Three patients required removal of M3M root at 3 months (n = 2) and 24 months (n = 1), accounting for 1.8% re-operation rate. A total of number of patients who suffered a nerve injury was 12; three of these were permanent (LN – 1.2%, n = 2; IAN – 0.6%, n = 1), nine were temporary (IAN – 1.2%; n = 2, LN – 2.4%; n = 4; site not specified – 1.8%, n = 3). No patients with intra-operative failure and re-operation suffered IAN or LN injury post-operatively.

Conclusion

Coronectomy offers a successful strategy for management of high risk M3M. The treatment outcomes can be improved with careful case selection and adjusting surgical technique, including assessment of root morphology, incomplete crown sectioning technique and avoidance of lingual retraction. Reporting of coronectomy success as a factor of surgical outcome, presence or absence of permanent IAN injury, persistent symptoms or any other long-standing complications (such as LN injury), and the need for re-operation accounting for root migration status may be a useful tool to measure coronectomy outcomes.
The efficacy and safety of lecanemab 10 mg/kg biweekly compared to a placebo in patients with Alzheimer’s disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Authors: Abdelazim Karim , Allam Ahmed A. , Afifi Badreldin , Abdulazeem Hebatullah , Elbehiry Ahmed I.
Published: April 2024

Alzheimer’s disease, prevalent in individuals aged 60 and above, constitutes most dementia cases and significantly impairs memory and cognitive functions. With global Alzheimer’s cases projected to triple by 2050, there is a pressing need for effective interventions. Lecanemab, a monoclonal antibody targeting amyloid-beta plaques, shows promise in slowing Alzheimer’s progression. Positive clinical trial results have instilled hope in patients, prompting ongoing research to advance understanding and intervention possibilities. To contribute to this knowledge base, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis, focusing on lecanemab’s efficacy and safety at a dosage of 10 mg/kg. This comprehensive approach aimed to address gaps in the current literature, scrutinize research disparities, and guide future investigations. Applying strict inclusion/exclusion criteria, we assessed study details, participant information, and intervention specifics, using the Cochrane risk of bias tool for quality evaluation. Statistical analyses, conducted with R software, included risk ratios and mean differences, assessing heterogeneity and publication bias. The meta-analysis reveals a significant positive effect of lecanemab (10 mg/kg biweekly) on cognitive outcomes in Alzheimer’s disease. Consistent reductions in ADCOMS, CDR-SB, and ADAS-cog14 scores across studies indicate drug efficacy with narrow confidence intervals and no significant heterogeneity. While TEAE shows no significant difference, heightened risks of ARIA-E and ARIA-H associated with lecanemab underscore the need for vigilant safety monitoring in clinical practice. Despite the drug efficacy, the study emphasizes a balanced assessment of benefits and potential risks associated with lecanemab, providing critical insights for clinicians evaluating its use in addressing cognitive impairment in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease.
Short-term clinical and manometric outcomes of percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation for faecal incontinence: a large single-centre series
Authors: O’Connor A. , Molyneux C. , Foster K. , Faulkner G. , Sharma A. , Kiff E. , Vasant D. H. , Telford K.
Published: April 2024

Background

Faecal incontinence (FI) is common, with a significant impact on quality of life. Percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (PTNS) is a therapy for FI; however, its role has recently been questioned. Here we report the short-term clinical and manometric outcomes in a large tertiary centre.

Methods

A retrospective review of a prospective PTNS database was performed, extracting patient-reported FI outcome measures including bowel diary, the St Marks’s Incontinence Score (SMIS) and Manchester Health Questionnaire (MHQ). Successful treatment was > 50% improvement in symptoms, whilst a partial response was 25–50% improvement. High-resolution anorectal manometry (HRAM) results before and after PTNS were recorded.

Results

Data were available from 135 patients [119 (88%) females; median age: 60 years (range: 27–82years)]. Overall, patients reported a reduction in urge FI (2.5–1) and passive FI episodes (2–1.5; p < 0.05) alongside a reduction in SMIS (16.5–14) and MHQ (517.5–460.0; p < 0.001). Some 76 (56%) patients reported success, whilst a further 20 (15%) reported a partial response. There were statistically significant reductions in rectal balloon thresholds and an increase in incremental squeeze pressure; however, these changes were independent of treatment success.

Conclusion

Patients report PTNS improves FI symptoms in the short term. Despite this improvement, changes in HRAM parameters were independent of this success. HRAM may be unable to measure the clinical effect of PTNS, or there remains the possibility of a placebo effect. Further work is required to define the role of PTNS in the treatment of FI.
Recent chemical methods for metals recovery from printed circuit boards: A review
Authors: Oke Emmanuel A. , Potgieter Herman
Published: April 2024

As the volume of e-waste continues to rise, it is crucial to sustainably manage printed circuit boards (PCBs) and their valuable metal components. PCBs are ubiquitous in modern society, powering a variety of electronic devices. The metal resource crisis and the imperative for a low-carbon circular economy have accelerated the development of e-waste recycling technology. High-value discarded PCBs represent a vital component of e-waste. However, discarded PCBs are deemed hazardous to the ecosystem due to the presence of heavy metals and brominated organic polymers. Thus, recycling metals from discarded PCBs is not only a strategic necessity for fostering a green ecological civilisation but also a crucial guarantee for ensuring a safe supply of mineral resources. This comprehensive review gives the profound details of PCBs, and the performance of and advances in the latest chemical metal recovery methods. Reviewing the latest metal recovery processes, we explored the application of diverse leaching agents, including ionic liquids (ILs), deep eutectic solvents (DESs), organic acids and amino acids. These solvents were assessed in terms of their recovery efficiencies, and most of them demonstrated excellent leaching performance. The role of optimising leaching parameters such as concentration, oxidants, pH, particle size, solid-to-liquid ratios (S/L), temperature, and contact time is underscored, offering insights into achieving sustainable PCB recycling practices. Most of these recent leaching methods successfully extracted base metals (Cu, Fe, Zn, Sn, etc.), as well as precious metals (Au and Ag), achieving leaching efficiencies exceeding 90.0%. Interestingly, their effectiveness can compete with that of traditional hydrometallurgical methods.
The Relationship Between the Extent of Indentation and Impact Damage in Carbon-Fibre Reinforced-Plastic Composites after a Low-Velocity Impact
Authors: Brooks R. A. , Liu J. , Hall Z. E. C. , Joesbury A. M. , Harper L. T. , Liu H. , Kinloch A. J. , Dear J. P.
Published: April 2024

The present paper investigates the low-velocity impact behaviour of carbon-fibre reinforced-plastic (CFRP) composite panels and the damage incurred when they are subjected to a single impact. The relationship between the depth of permanent surface indentation that results and the associated area of interlaminar delamination damage is investigated for two different thicknesses of composite panels. In particular, the delamination damage area increases with impact energy for both thicknesses of composite panel that were studied. Likewise, the indentation depth also increases with increasing impact energy, again for both thicknesses of CFRP panels. It is shown that the indentation depth, at the centre of the indentation, may be used to provide an indication of the extent of delamination damage within the CFRP panel after impact. Indeed, from plotting the indentation depth versus the interlaminar delamination normalised by the thickness of the panel area there is shown to be a unique ‘master’ relationship, with a positive intercept indicating that the indentation damage seems to result before delamination damage initiates. Thus, for both thicknesses of CFRP panels, it is suggested that the indentation process is a precursor to interlaminar delamination damage.