bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Quality assurance of 3D-printed patient specific anatomical models: a systematic review
Authors: Schulze Martin , Juergensen Lukas , Rischen Robert , Toennemann Max , Reischle Gregor , Puetzler Jan , Gosheger Georg , Hasselmann Julian
Published: March 2024

Background

The responsible use of 3D-printing in medicine includes a context-based quality assurance. Considerable literature has been published in this field, yet the quality of assessment varies widely. The limited discriminatory power of some assessment methods challenges the comparison of results. The total error for patient specific anatomical models comprises relevant partial errors of the production process: segmentation error (SegE), digital editing error (DEE), printing error (PrE). The present review provides an overview to improve the general understanding of the process specific errors, quantitative analysis, and standardized terminology.

Methods

This review focuses on literature on quality assurance of patient-specific anatomical models in terms of geometric accuracy published before December 4th, 2022 (n = 139). In an attempt to organize the literature, the publications are assigned to comparable categories and the absolute values of the maximum mean deviation (AMMD) per publication are determined therein.

Results

The three major examined types of original structures are teeth or jaw (n = 52), skull bones without jaw (n = 17) and heart with coronary arteries (n = 16). VPP (vat photopolymerization) is the most frequently employed basic 3D-printing technology (n = 112 experiments). The median values of AMMD (AMMD: The metric AMMD is defined as the largest linear deviation, based on an average value from at least two individual measurements.) are 0.8 mm for the SegE, 0.26 mm for the PrE and 0.825 mm for the total error. No average values are found for the DEE.

Conclusion

The total error is not significantly higher than the partial errors which may compensate each other. Consequently SegE, DEE and PrE should be analyzed individually to describe the result quality as their sum according to rules of error propagation. Current methods for quality assurance of the segmentation are often either realistic and accurate or resource efficient. Future research should focus on implementing models for cost effective evaluations with high accuracy and realism. Our system of categorization may be enhancing the understanding of the overall process and a valuable contribution to the structural design and reporting of future experiments. It can be used to educate specialists for risk assessment and process validation within the additive manufacturing industry.

Graphical Abstract

Context of the figures in this review. Center: Fig. 5+ 7; top (blue): Fig. 8; right (green): Fig. 9; bottom (yellow): Fig. 10; left (red): Fig. 11. A version in high resolution can be found online in the supplementary material.
Effectiveness and safety of medical masks in the prevention of respiratory infections: a review
Authors: Yang Wenhao , Liu Jian
Published: March 2024

Wearing face masks, the critical measure of non-pharmacological intervention (NPI), should not be underestimated in preventing the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The challenge for public health persists with various respiratory pathogens in post-COVID-19. Theoretically, promoting wearing masks will continue to be beneficial for public health. This review summarizes the views of studies on the efficacy and safety of mask-wearing in adults and children to prevent respiratory infections. It aims to provide further information that could benefit government decisions on respiratory infection epidemic control. Adherence is the key factor for the effectiveness of mask-wearing for preventing respiratory infections in adults and children, and it must be given high priority when conducting research to validate the effectiveness of masks or making relevant public decisions. The safety effects of mask-wearing include physiological and psychological. The physiological effects could be moderate during short-term mask-wearing, while the safety problems in long-term mask-wearing are required to be further explored. There is no clear evidence of the adverse physiological effects of mask use in children. However, the disadvantage of mask use in children under 2 years of age warrants vigilance. The psychological repercussions of mask-wearing in adults primarily manifest as emotional discomfort, varying across different cultural contexts. The influence of mask-wearing on children’s psychological and social development requires more research, and it should be paid high attention in government decision-making processes.
Urine Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle Metabolites and Risk of End-stage Kidney Disease in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes
Authors: Liu Jian-Jun , Liu Sylvia , Zheng Huili , Lee Janus , Gurung Resham L , Chan Clara , Lee Lye Siang , Ang Keven , Ching Jianhong , Kovalik Jean-Paul , Tavintharan Subramaniam , Sum Chee Fang , Sharma Kumar , Coffman Thomas M , Lim Su Chi
Published: March 2024

Context

Metabolites in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) pathway have pleiotropic functions.

Objective

To study the association between urine TCA cycle metabolites and the risk for chronic kidney disease progression in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Design, setting and participants

A prospective study in a discovery (n = 1826) and a validation (n = 1235) cohort of people with type 2 diabetes in a regional hospital and a primary care facility

Exposure and Outcome

Urine lactate, pyruvate, citrate, alpha-ketoglutarate, succinate, fumarate, and malate were measured by mass spectrometry. Chronic kidney disease progression was defined as a composite of sustained estimated glomerular filtration rate below 15 mL/min/1.73 m2, dialysis, renal death, or doubling of serum creatinine.

Results

During a median of 9.2 (interquartile range 8.1-9.7) and 4.0 (3.2-5.1) years of follow-up, 213 and 107 renal events were identified. Cox regression suggested that urine lactate, fumarate, and malate were associated with an increased risk (adjusted hazard ratio, [95% CI] 1.63 [1.16-2.28], 1.82 [1.17-2.82], and 1.49 [1.05-2.11], per SD), whereas citrate was associated with a low risk (aHR 0.83 [0.72-0.96] per SD) for the renal outcome after adjustment for cardiorenal risk factors. These findings were reproducible in the validation cohort. Noteworthy, fumarate and citrate were independently associated with the renal outcome after additional adjustment for other metabolites.

Conclusion

Urine fumarate and citrate predict the risk for progression to end-stage kidney disease independent of clinical risk factors and other urine metabolites. These 2 metabolites in TCA cycle pathway may play important roles in the pathophysiological network, underpinning progressive loss of kidney function in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Recalcitrant Lifeworlds
Authors: Majumdar Aparajita
Published: March 2024

This article analyzes how a failed rubber crop from the plantations of British India became indispensable to the shaping of Indigenous ecologies in the India-Bangladesh borderlands. While a growing scholarship focuses on plants that became profitable within plantation histories, this article instead shows that failed commodity crops like Ficus elastica, locally known as Jri Bamon in Meghalaya, India, exhibited recalcitrance to a range of state and scientific regimes. In an argument that disrupts the European-centered narrative about the triumphant expansion of knowledge and territory, the author introduces “recalcitrance” as an interspecies co-laboring between humans and plants, unknowable through botanical and capitalist practices emerging in a colonial context. Drawing on archival and ethnographic research, the article first studies the nineteenth-century colonial frontier in Assam in British India, where Jri Bamon was molded as a rubber crop in the plantation regimes. Second, it studies the present-day Indigenous ecologies of the Khasi Hills in Meghalaya, near India’s international border with Bangladesh, where this tree is historically grown as an infrastructure of mobility, called the living root bridge. The recalcitrant materiality of Jri Bamon surfaces through each of these human-plant encounters, providing pathways for those who would engage with it on its own terms.
An Ecology of Morality
Authors: Vu Yen
Published: March 2024

Exiled writer Dương Thu Hương is one of the most renowned contemporary female writers of Vietnam, famed also for her criticism of the Communist Party. In her works The Zenith (2007) and Paradise of the Blind (1993), translated and published abroad, she uses the recurring themes of excess and deficit to comment on the political deterioration of the state, a tragic reality that began just years after gaining independence from France. The hunger that ravages the villages is countered by the ironic gluttony of ghosts, and the performative asceticism practiced by party members only masks the actual greed underlying their political decisions. On one level, this article examines how the politics of excess, playing with different human virtues and vices, reveals a deep irony in the governing systems of Vietnam and the rhetoric of independence. On another, it also points out how Duong Thu Huong uses karmic energy as a narrative force which mercilessly punishes, humiliates, and educates, ultimately promising a restoration of equilibrium. The article argues that ecocritical engagements with Southeast Asian literature must take into account both a natural and supernatural understanding of the environment. This leads to new understandings of diaspora and spiritual allegiances to the homeland that are especially pertinent for the Vietnamese community abroad.
“Memory Effects” and Dark Histories
Authors: Pritchard Sara B.
Published: March 2024

Ecologists’ concept of “memory effects” considers how past environments shape current and future ones. Drawing on ethnographic research and historical scholarship, this essay uses their concept to ask what scientists remember and what they forget, and to expand ecologists’ definition of the environment. The author argues that contemporary ecological light-pollution research in greater Berlin can take place because of the site’s longer naturalcultural history, which includes the Nazi regime’s role in creating the nature reserve where Lake Stechlin and scientific infrastructure—the “LakeLab”—are located. Reserve status protected the area from suburbanization and artificial light at night. Current light-pollution research there is thus entangled with and indebted to Germany’s dark history—giving the phrase a poignant double meaning. This essay interweaves three parallel but entwined narratives: the author’s ethnographic fieldwork, a history of the site, and the area’s Nazi history. The resulting experimental form uses ideas such as enclosures and sediments to frame these intertwined histories, and juxtaposition and resonances among stories to do analytic work. In the process the essay urges light-pollution scientists to wrestle with a dark, unjust history. Across the globe scientists, scholars, and citizens alike have been increasingly forced to reckon with landscapes and their histories of violence, dispossession, and oppression in diverse contexts.
The Deep Time Trap
Authors: Mize Jane Robbins
Published: March 2024

This article argues that Lorine Niedecker’s 1968 poem “Lake Superior” reveals a limitation of recent scholarly investments in the concept of geological “deep time.” “Lake Superior” is a meditation on deep time; the Europeans who colonized the Great Lakes; and Lake Superior’s assemblage of rocks, bodies, and bodies of water across timescales. In analyzing Niedecker’s poem alongside her research notes, this article claims that, even as the speaker’s invocation of deep time troubles settler-colonialist historical narratives, she nevertheless remains mired in what Mark Rifkin calls “settler time.” The poem’s geological timescale fails to liberate the speaker from a settler-colonialist representation of and relation to the environment. While many scholars contend that deep time offers an alternative to anthropocentrism, this article argues that deep time is also a colonialist construct that can reinforce harmful Western epistemologies and obscure non-white ways of relating to the environment. Indigenous scholarship and activism offer alternative timescales that might allow us to care for the environment without minimizing the interconnectedness of human and nonhuman beings, without relying on settler-colonialist logics, and while centering Indigenous knowledge and sovereignty.
Creating Corridors for Nature Protection
Authors: Ritson Katie , Carruthers-Jones Jonathan , Holmes George , Huggan Graham , Šimková Pavla , de Smalen Eveline
Published: March 2024

This article seeks to provoke by linking two apparently contradictory perspectives on conservation in Europe. On the one hand, in light of the consistent failures of biodiversity protection measures to live up to the ambition of conservation policy, national parks can be seen as historical relics that are no longer fit for purpose. Conservation urgently requires forms of geographical and political connectivity that do not stop at national borders. On the other hand, national understandings of what nature is and how it should be protected continue to be underapplied. Indeed, the national is a key framework within which ideas about nature are presented and its potential can be put to work. In bringing these two perspectives together, the article makes both literal and metaphorical use of a term that is integral to connectivity-based models of conservation: the corridor. Corridors are conduits for the movement of biota in and between ecologically protected areas such as national parks, but are also passages that facilitate the movement of ideas between disciplinary perspectives and between scholarship and policy. Both sets of movements are needed to uphold the new interdisciplinary field of conservation humanities, which can support a more nuanced discussion on the wicked problem of nature conservation.
Experimenting with Water-Focused Participatory Research Methods
Authors: Cohen Joshua B. , Abrams Amber , Høybye Martin
Published: March 2024

Recent decades have seen a transformation in how water and human-water interrelations are conceptualized in the environmental humanities and social sciences. Such adaptation of theory has been tied to an interest in developing transdisciplinary water research methodologies, particularly in projects focused on practical outcomes. Nonetheless, this article’s authors note an incongruence in how such advances in theory are often not actually applied in practice. Going a small way toward addressing this, the authors argue that there is space for experimenting with more-than-human participatory research praxes to intentionally generate previously imponderable questions. This article describes the authors’ experiences in Aarhus, Denmark, of combining “floating seminar” and arts-based methods, including body maps and public engagement. Through these experiences with passersby-who-became-participants, and with the nonhuman world, the authors’ attentions were drawn to unexpected issues and questions centered on human-water relationships. Here, they reflect on emerging methodologies, and invite curious others to join them in developing them further.
DeepLabCut-based daily behavioural and posture analysis in a cricket
Authors: Hayakawa Shota , Kataoka Kosuke , Yamamoto Masanobu , Asahi Toru , Suzuki Takeshi
Published: March 2024

Circadian rhythms are indispensable intrinsic programs that regulate the daily rhythmicity of physiological processes, such as feeding and sleep. The cricket has been employed as a model organism for understanding the neural mechanisms underlying circadian rhythms in insects. However, previous studies measuring rhythm-controlled behaviours only analysed locomotive activity using seesaw-type and infrared sensor-based actometers. Meanwhile, advances in deep learning techniques have made it possible to analyse animal behaviour and posture using software that is devoid of human bias and does not require physical tagging of individual animals. Here, we present a system that can simultaneously quantify multiple behaviours in individual crickets – such as locomotor activity, feeding, and sleep-like states – in the long-term, using DeepLabCut, a supervised machine learning-based software for body keypoints labelling. Our system successfully labelled the six body parts of a single cricket with a high level of confidence and produced reliable data showing the diurnal rhythms of multiple behaviours. Our system also enabled the estimation of sleep-like states by focusing on posture, instead of immobility time, which is a conventional parameter. We anticipate that this system will provide an opportunity for simultaneous and automatic prediction of cricket behaviour and posture, facilitating the study of circadian rhythms.
Are reactive oxygen species always bad? Lessons from hypoxic ectotherms
Authors: Bundgaard Amanda , Borowiec Brittney G. , Lau Gigi Y.
Published: March 2024

Oxygen (O2) is required for aerobic energy metabolism but can produce reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are a wide variety of oxidant molecules with a range of biological functions from causing cell damage (oxidative distress) to cell signalling (oxidative eustress). The balance between the rate and amount of ROS generated and the capacity for scavenging systems to remove them is affected by several biological and environmental factors, including oxygen availability. Ectotherms, and in particular hypoxia-tolerant ectotherms, are hypothesized to avoid oxidative damage caused by hypoxia, although it is unclear whether this translates to an increase in ecological fitness. In this Review, we highlight the differences between oxidative distress and eustress, the current mechanistic understanding of the two and how they may affect ectothermic physiology. We discuss the evidence of occurrence of oxidative damage with hypoxia in ectotherms, and that ectotherms may avoid oxidative damage through (1) high levels of antioxidant and scavenging systems and/or (2) low(ering) levels of ROS generation. We argue that the disagreements in the literature as to how hypoxia affects antioxidant enzyme activity and the variable metabolism of ectotherms makes the latter strategy more amenable to ectotherm physiology. Finally, we argue that observed changes in ROS production and oxidative status with hypoxia may be a signalling mechanism and an adaptive strategy for ectotherms encountering hypoxia.
Five Weeks of Sprint Interval Training Improve Muscle Glycolytic Content and Activity But Not Time to Task Failure in Severe Intensity Exercise
Authors: de Araujo Bonetti de Poli Rodrigo , Murias Juan Manuel , Antunes Barbara Moura , Marinari Gabriele , Dutra Yago Medeiros , Milioni Fabio , Zagatto Alessandro Moura
Published: March 2024

Purpose

This study examined the impact of a 5 weeks sprint interval training (SIT) intervention on time to task failure (TTF) during severe intensity constant work rate (CWR) exercise, as well as in glycolytic enzymatic content and activity, and glycogen content.

Methods

Fourteen active males were randomized into either a SIT group (n = 8) composed of 15 SIT-sessions over 5 weeks, or a control group (n = 6). At pre-training period, participants performed: i) ramp incremental test to measure the cardiorespiratory function; ii) CWR cycling TTF at 150% of the power output (PO) at the respiratory compensation point (RCP-PO) with muscle biopsies at rest and immediately following task failure. After 5 weeks, the same evaluations were repeated (i.e., exercise intensities matched to current training status), and an additional cycling CWR matched to pre-training 150% RCP-PO was performed only for TTF evaluation. The content and enzymatic activity of glycogen phosphorylase (GPhos), hexokinase (HK), phosphofructokinase (PFK), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), as well as the glycogen content, were analyzed. Content of monocarboxylate transporter isoform 4 (MCT4) and muscle buffering capacity were also measured.

Results

Despite improvements in total work performed at CWR post-training, no differences were observed for TTF. The GPhos, HK, PFK, and LDH content and activity, and glycogen content also improved post-training only in the SIT group. Further, the MCT4 concentrations and muscle buffering capacity was also improved only for SIT group. However, no difference in glycogen depletion was observed between groups and time.

Conclusions

Five weeks of SIT improved the glycolytic pathway parameters and total work performed, however, glycogen depletion was not altered during CWR severe intensity exercise, and TTF remained similar.
The Effects of Load, Crank Position, and Sex on the Biomechanics and Performance during an Upper Body Wingate Anaerobic Test
Authors: Antolinez Angie K. , Edwards Philip F. , Holmes Michael W. R. , Beaudette Shawn M. , Button Duane C.
Published: March 2024

Introduction

The upper body Wingate Anaerobic Test (WAnT) is a 30-second maximal effort sprint against a set load (percentage of body mass). However, there is no consensus on the optimal load and no differential values for males and females, even when there are well-studied anatomical and physiological differences in muscle mass for the upper body. Our goal was to describe the effects of load, sex, and crank position on the kinetics, kinematics, and performance of the upper body WAnT.

Methods

Eighteen participants (9 females) performed three WAnTs at 3, 4, and 5% of body mass. Arm crank forces, 2D kinematics, and performance variables were recorded during each WAnT.

Results

Our results showed an increase of ~49% effective force, ~36% peak power, ~5° neck flexion, and ~ 30° shoulder flexion from 3-5% load (p < .05). Mean power and anaerobic capacity decreased by 15%, with no changes in fatigue index (p < .05). The positions of higher force efficiency were at 12 and 6 o’clock. The least force efficiency occurred at 3 o’clock (p < .05). Sex differences showed that males produced 97% more effective force and 109% greater mean power than females, with 11.7% more force efficiency (p < .001). Males had 16° more head/neck flexion than females, and females had greater elbow joint variability with 17° more wrist extension at higher loads. Males cycled ~32% faster at 3 vs 5% load with a 65% higher angular velocity than females. Grip strength, MVIC, mass, and height positively correlated with peak and mean power (p < .001).

Conclusions

In conclusion, load, sex, and crank position have a significant impact on performance of the WAnT. These factors should be considered when developing and implementing an upper body WAnT.
Does Promoting One Healthy Behavior Detract from Others? Evidence from a Field Experiment
Authors: Trachtman Hannah
Published: March 2024

Impact evaluations of behavioral interventions typically focus on target outcomes. Might interventions induce negative spillovers on other behaviors? I run a large field experiment in which individuals receive combinations of messages and incentives promoting two healthy behaviors, meditation and meal logging. I find that the interventions reduce completion rates of the opposite behavior by 19–29 percent. I find that interventions with larger target effects do not necessarily generate larger negative spillovers, and demonstrate implications for cost-effectiveness analysis. I investigate the mechanisms behind the observed spillovers. (JEL C93, D62, D91, I12)
Ανάπτυξη και εφαρμογή μίας αυτοσυνεπούς μεθόδου πεδίου για την υπολογιστική μελέτη των αστέρων νετρονίων στο πλαίσιο τής μετανευτώνειας προσέγγισης τής γενικής θεωρίας τής σχετικότητας
Authors: Φωτόπουλος Αθανάσιος
Published: March 2024

Στην διατριβή αυτή μελετάμε το πρόβλημα των περιστρεφόμενων αστέρων νετρονίωνστο πλαίσιο τής μετανευτώνειας προσέγγισης τής γενικής θεωρίας τής σχετικότητας, όπως αυτή αναπτύχθηκε από τον Chandrasekhar. Κυρίως ενδιαφερόμαστε τόσο για ομοιόμορφα όσο και για διαφορικά περιστρεφόμενους αστέρες νετρονίων σε κρίσιμη περιστροφή. Συγκεκριμένα, στην μελέτη αυτή χρησιμοποιούμε την πολυτροπική καταστατική εξίσωση προκειμένου να διατυπώσουμε τις υδροδυναμικές εξισώσεις σε κατάλληλη μορφή καθώς και έναν νόμο περιστροφής ο οποίος βασίζεται στο γενικευμένο μοντέλο του Clement. Προκειμένου να καταφέρουμε να υπολογίσουμε μοντέλα σε ισορροπία που βρίσκονται στο όριο απώλειας μάζας (διαφορετικά, μοντέλα που περιστρέφονται με την κρίσιμη ταχύτητα περιστροφής ή ισοδύναμα την ταχύτητα Kepler), αναπτύσσουμε μία αριθμητική επαναληπτική μέθοδο, η οποία ανήκει στην κατηγορία των γνωστών “αυτοσυνεπών μεθόδων πεδίου” (self-consistent field methods), με δύο διαταρακτικές παραμέτρους: την “παράμετρο περιστροφής” ¯υ και την “βαρυτική ή σχετικιστική παράμετρο” ¯σ. Οι δύο αυτές παράμετροι αντιπροσωπεύουν αντίστοιχα τα φαινόμενα που προκύπτουν στον σχηματισμό λόγω περιστροφής και τα φαινόμενα που προκύπτουν λόγω του έντονου βαρυτικού πεδίου. Εφαρμόζοντας την μετανευτώνεια προσέγγιση πρώτης τάξης διερευνούμε την αξιοπιστία και τα όρια της μεθόδου συγκρίνοντας τα αποτελέσματά μας με τα αντίστοιχα αποτελέσματα άλλων μεθόδων και κωδίκων δημόσιας χρήσης. Όπως προκύπτει, η μέθοδός μας μπορεί να παράξει αρκετά ικανοποιητικά αποτελέσματα για πολύτροπα σε κρίσιμη περιστροφή. Ωστόσο, η μετανευτώνεια προσέγγιση πρώτης τάξης δεν είναι αρκετή για να περιγράψει μοντέλα με πολύ έντονα σχετικιστικά φαινόμενα. Το γεγονός αυτό μας οδηγεί στην ανάγκη μίας αριθμητικής διατύπωσης της μετανευτώνειας προσέγγισης δεύτερης τάξης. Στην συνέχεια, διατυπώνουμε ένα πλαίσιο μέσω του οποίου θα μπορούσαν να εισαχθούν τεχνητοί όροι δεύτερης τάξης καθώς επίσης και μία προσπάθεια προσδιορισμού της αναλυτικής λύσης σε κάποια μορφή ώστε να μπορεί να χρησιμοποιηθεί από κάποια αριθμητική μέθοδο.
Ανάπτυξη και μελέτη σε πραγματικό χρόνο υμενίων ανόργανων και οργανικών υλικών για χρήση σε οργανικές ηλεκτρονικές διατάξεις
Authors: Ζαχαριάδης Αλέξανδρος
Published: March 2024

Το αντικείμενο της παρούσας διατριβής είναι η μελέτη νανο-υμενίων μεταλοργανικού ημιαγωγού περοβσκίτη (MAPbI3) και μειγμάτος οργανικών ημιαγωγών (P3HT:PCBM) που αναπτύχθηκαν με υγρές τεχνικές και διαδικασίες εκτύπωσης για χρήση σε εύκαμπτες εκτυπωμένες φωτοβολταϊκές διατάξεις (ΦΒ). Η μελέτη πραγματοποιείται κυρίαρχα με την χρήση της τεχνικής της φασματοσκοπικής ελλειψομετρίας (Spectroscopic Ellipsometry, SE), αλλά και άλλων φασματοσκοπικών και μη τεχνικών. Τα πειράματα εστιάζονται σε φασματοσκοπικές μετρήσεις πραγματικού χρόνου (in-situ & real-time, in-line & real-time) κατά την ανάπτυξη ή εκτύπωση υλικών, από εργαστηριακή κλίμακα μέχρι και διαδικασίες εκτύπωσης από ρολό σε ρολό (Roll-to-Roll, R2R). Παράλληλα, αναπτύχθηκαν τα κατάλληλα οπτικά μοντέλα για την φυσική ερμηνεία και ποσοτικοποίηση των μετρούμενων φασμάτων. Με εφαρμογή των παραπάνω μεθοδολογιών, ερμηνευτήκαν οι μηχανισμοί ανάπτυξης περοβσκίτη και βρέθηκαν οι βέλτιστες παράμετροι (θερμοκρασία, χρήση Ν2 κ.α ) για την ανάπτυξη λείων υμενίων χωρίς εκφυλισμένες φάσεις PbI2. Επίσης, μελετήθηκαν και βελτιστοποιήθηκαν πολυστρωματικές δομές υμενίων μεγάλου μήκους για την κατασκευή ΦΒ περοβσκίτη. Οι παράμετροι εκτύπωσης και ιδιότητες των υμενίων (ροή εκτύπωσης, αναλογία αραίωσης διαλύματος, πάχος στρωμάτων, διασπορά πάχους, εκτυπωσιμότητα, επιπεδοποίηση επιφανειών κ.α), συνδέθηκαν με την λειτουργικότητα και απόδοση των ΦΒ. Τα παραπάνω είχαν ως αποτέλεσμα την κατασκευή ευκάμπτων εκτυπωμένων ΦΒ περοβσκίτη με απόδοση μετατροπής ηλιακής ισχύος (PCE) 6.5%. Τέλος, παρουσιάζεται η μελέτη σε πραγματικό χρόνο με ταυτόχρονες μετρήσεις των in-line φασματοσκοπικών τεχνικών SE, Raman και φωτοφωτάυγειας (PL) κατά την R2R εκτύπωση οργανικών υμενίων μείγματος ημιαγωγών. Με εφαρμογή μοντέλων ανάλυσης που αναπτύχθηκαν, βρέθηκαν οι ζητούμενες ιδιότητες των υμενίων όπως το πάχος, η ομοιογένεια, οι κρυσταλλικές φάσεις του οργανικού πολυμερικού ημιαγωγού, η επιφανειακή σύσταση, καθώς αναγνωρίστηκαν και τα σφάλματα και αστοχίες διαδικασιών εκτύπωσης.
Study of DNA damage repair mechanisms and epigenetics in the maintenance of genome integrity
Authors: Φανουγράκη Σμαράγδα
Published: March 2024

Ο μηχανισμός εκτομής νουκλεοτιδίων (NER), και ιδιαίτερα το υπομονοπάτι που συνδέεται με τη μεταγραφή (TC-NER), είναι υπεύθυνο για την επιδιόρθωση βλαβών του DNA που εμποδίζουν την πρόοδο της RNA πολυμεράσης ΙΙ (RNAPII) επιμήκυνσης στη μεταγραφόμενη αλυσίδα των ενεργών γονιδίων, εξασφαλίζοντας με τον τρόπο αυτόν την πιστή μεταγραφή. Η σημασία αυτού του μηχανισμού επιδιόρθωσης αποδεικνύεται από τα σοβαρά συμπτώματα της σπάνιας προγεροειδούς νόσου Σύνδρομο Cockayne, που συνδέεται με ελαττωματικό TC-NER. Πρόσφατα ευρήματα στο εργαστήριό μας δείχνουν ότι η υπεριώδης ακτινοβολία προκαλεί μια σημαντική μεταγραφική απόκριση που συμπεριλαμβάνει μια de novo συγχρονισμένη απελευθέρωση κυμάτων επιμήκυνσης, ενισχύοντας την ανίχνευση και την επιδιόρθωση των βλαβών του DNA σε ολόκληρο το μεταγραφόμενο γονιδίωμα (Lavigne et al., 2017). Ωστόσο, οι αλλαγές στο επίπεδο της χρωματίνης που καθορίζουν ή που προκαλούνται από αυτήν την εκτενή απελευθέρωση RNAPII παραμένουν ασαφείς.Τα δεδομένα της παρούσας διατριβής δείχνουν ότι μια ιστονική τροποποίηση που ενδεχομένως να έχει ρόλο στον μηχανισμό αυτόν είναι η μονο-ουβικουιτινίωση της ιστόνης H2B στην λυσίνη 120 (H2Bub), η οποία ρυθμίζεται από την συνεργατική δράση της ουμπικουτινάσης RNF20/40 και της δράσης από-ουβικουιτινίωσης (DUB) της υπομονάδας DUB του συμπλέγματος SAGA (Spt-ADA-GCN5-Acetyltransferase) κατά τη μεταγραφική επιμήκυνση. Το H2Bub μειώνεται δυναμικά ως απάντηση στην υπεριώδη ακτινοβολία, και η ρύθμιση αυτής της απόκρισης δείχνεται ότι σχετίζεται στενά με τη μεταγραφική αναδιάρθρωση που πραγματοποιείται ταυτόχρονα. Με ανάλυση της κατανομής της H2Bub σε κύτταρα με ανενεργή ATXN7L3 DUB σε συνθήκες έκθεσης σε υπεριώδη ακτινοβολία και αναστολής της μεταγραφής, δείχνεται ότι η κατανομή της H2Bub εξαρτάται από χαρακτηριστικά των γονιδίων, όπως η δομή των ιντρονίων και των εξονίων, και αποκαλύπτεται ότι η ολική μείωση της H2Bub που παρατηρείται, πρόκειται στην πραγματικότητα για μια αναδιανομή η οποία αντανακλά τη δυναμική της RNAPII. Τα παρατηρούμενα αποτελέσματα οφείλονται σε μια άμεση αλληλεξάρτηση του H2Bub στα επίπεδα και την ταχύτητα της RNAPII τοπικά, ενώ η μειωμένη δραστηριότητα της DUB ATXN7L3 οδηγεί σε αυξημένη ταχύτητα επιμήκυνσης υπο κανονικές συνθήκες και συνθήκες ακτινοβόλησης. Αυτά τα δεδομένα αποκαλύπτουν ότι η εικόνα της κατανομής του H2Bub ακολουθεί εκείνη της RNAPII, εξασφαλίζοντας την πιστή ταχύτητα επιμήκυνσης στο πλαίσιο της απόκρισης σε βλάβη του DNA (DNA damage response) που οδηγείται από τη μεταγραφή.
Απορρύθμιση της γονιδιακής λειτουργίας στην ανάπτυξη νεοπλασιών - ο ρόλος μεταλλάξεων του γονιδίου Cyld που σχετίζονται με τον καρκίνο του ενδομητρίου
Authors: Κυριζάκη Παρασκευή
Published: March 2024

Ο καρκίνος του ενδομητρίου περιλαμβάνει ένα ευρύ φάσμα όγκων που προέρχονται από το βλεννογόνο της μήτρας, με διακριτά ιστολογικά και γενετικά χαρακτηριστικά. Σε γενετικό επίπεδο, βασικές μεταβολές σε γονίδια όπως το PTEN, PIK3CA, KRAS, CTNNB1 και η μικροδορυφορική αστάθεια, συμβάλλουν στην ανάπτυξη του καρκίνου του ενδομητρίου. Η ανάλυση του μεταλλακτικού τοπίου του καρκίνου του ενδομητρίου οδήγησε στον εντοπισμό μεταλλάξεων στο ογκοκατασταλτικό γονίδιο Cyld. Το Cyld κωδικοποιεί για ένα ένζυμο αποουβικιτινάσης που διαδραματίζει σημαντικό ρόλο στη ρύθμιση των σηματοδοτικών μονοπατιών ανάπτυξης, επιβίωσης και διαφοροποίησης. Η παρούσα μελέτη επικεντρώνεται στο λειτουργικό χαρακτηρισμό 11 παρανοηματικών μεταλλάξεων του Cyld που εντοπίστηκαν σε όγκους του ενδομητρίου και προκαλούν τις αμινοξικές αλλαγές L186R, A211T, F288C, S415T, N425D, H465P, R554H, R692M, Q713H, F715C και A871D. Τα ευρήματα της μελέτης οδήγησαν στον εντοπισμό μόνο μίας μετάλλαξης, η οποία προκαλεί την αμινοξική αλλαγή Q713H, και φαίνεται να μειώνει σημαντικά την ικανότητα της πρωτεΐνης CYLD να καταστέλλει την ανάπτυξη των καρκινικών κυττάρων και την εξαρτώμενη από την TRAF2 ενεργοποίηση του NF-κΒ. Δύο άλλες μεταλλάξεις, που προκαλούν τις αμινοξικές αλλαγές F715C και η A871D, βρέθηκε πως μειώνουν επίσης την ικανότητα της πρωτεΐνης CYLD να καταστέλλει την εξαρτώμενη από την TRAF2 ενεργοποίηση του NF-κΒ, αλλά δεν διέφεραν σημαντικά από την CYLD αγρίου τύπου ως προς την ικανότητά τους να καταστέλλουν την ανάπτυξη των καρκινικών κυττάρων. Ωστόσο, όλες οι μεταλλάξεις που εξετάστηκαν κατέστειλαν σημαντικά την εξαρτώμενη από την TRAF2 ενεργοποίηση του NF-κΒ. Επίσης όλες οι μεταλλάξεις που εξετάστηκαν μείωσαν την εξαρτώμενη από την TRAF2 ενεργοποίηση της κινάσης JNK. Τα ευρήματα της παρούσας μελέτης υποδεικνύουν ότι, με εξαίρεση τη μετάλλαξη Q713H, οι μεταλλάξεις που δοκιμάστηκαν είναι πιθανότατα μεταλλάξεις συνοδοί. Επιπρόσθετα, αν και η ικανότητα της CYLD να καταστέλλει την ενεργοποίηση του NF-κΒ ή και της JNK μπορεί να είναι απαραίτητη, ωστόσο μπορεί να μην είναι επαρκής για τις ογκοκατασταλτικές της ιδιότητες και η έκταση της καταστολής να μη συσχετίζεται με αυτές. Τα ευρήματα αυτά ενδέχεται να έχουν τη δυνατότητα να αξιοποιηθούν για προγνωστικούς σκοπούς.
Uniqueness of Convex-Ranged Probabilities and Applications to Risk Measures and Games
Authors: Amarante Massimiliano , Liebrich Felix-Benedikt , Munari Cosimo
Published: March 2024

We revisit Marinacci’s uniqueness theorem for convex-ranged probabilities and its applications. Our approach does away with both the countable additivity and the positivity of the charges involved. In the process, we uncover several new equivalent conditions, which lead to a novel set of applications. These include extensions of the classic Fréchet–Hoeffding bounds as well as of the automatic Fatou property of law-invariant functionals. We also generalize existing results of the “collapse to the mean”-type concerning capacities and α-MEU preferences.
Family decision making for Madurese women with pregnancy complications: a qualitative study
Authors: Pradanie Retnayu , Armini Ni Ketut Alit , Nastiti Aria Aulia , Kusumaningrum Tiyas , Triharini Mira , Yunitasari Esti , Graham Kristen
Published: March 2024

Background/Aims

A delay in referring women with pregnancy complications to medical care is a significant contributor to maternal mortality worldwide. In Madura, Indonesia, these delays can be exacerbated by the role of a woman's family in decision making. This study aimed to explore family decision making in seeking healthcare for women with pregnancy complications in Madura.

Methods

Using a descriptive qualitative approach, in-depth interviews were conducted to explore the decision-making experiences of 12 pregnant women, 12 of their family members and 10 midwives.

Results

Three themes were identified: women empowerment issues, cultural factors, and important considerations in seeking healthcare for women with pregnancy complications.

Conclusions

Continuous health education is needed to increase knowledge of appropriate maternal care for pregnant women and their families. The involvement of religious leaders in programmes to enhance referral decision making would be beneficial.
Postpartum haemorrhage: latest developments in prediction, drug treatment and monitoring
Authors: Phan Thuan , Weeks Andrew D
Published: March 2024

With increasing global rates of postpartum haemorrhage, recent developments aim to ensure that birthing women are safe. This focused review will discuss developments in prediction of postpartum haemorrhage, blood loss measurement, uterotonic use and the thromboelastogram, aiming to improve prevention and treatment of postpartum haemorrhage. The unpredictable nature of postpartum haemorrhage is a significant hurdle, as all women must be considered at risk, imposing a heavy burden on healthcare services. Evidence-based tools have shown promise in improving prediction and management strategies. However, the lack of consensus and agreement on risk factors presents obstacles to developing accurate models. Ongoing research is exploring the development of an individual postpartum haemorrhage risk index, providing personalised care to pregnant women. Accurate blood loss quantification is essential for prompt postpartum haemorrhage diagnosis and appropriate interventions, but challenging in busy clinical settings. Recent advancements in prophylaxis and treatment using medication (uterotonics and tranexamic acid), as well as in monitoring using thromboelastograms, emphasise the need for effective prediction and management strategies. This critical review underscores the need for further research to enhance prediction tools, refine management protocols and address existing challenges to improve maternal outcomes.
Psychosocial impacts of coughing in public places during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study in the western region of Saudi Arabia
Authors: Alahmadi Abdulrahman Dakheel , Mandeeli Amjed Yunus , Alshamrani Abdulaziz Mohammed , Alharbi Mohsen Hani , Ahmed Mohamed Eldigire , Kumar Raju Suresh
Published: March 2024

BACKGROUND Dry cough is a prevalent symptom of COVID-19. During the pandemic, people may mistake this cough for symptoms associated with other respiratory diseases. This increases the risk of individuals with a cough being falsely judged as having COVID-19. This study aimed to investigate the impact of coughing in public places on adults’ mental and social well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic and to explore the role of demographic factors in the relationship between coughing and psychosocial life in public places in the western region of Saudi Arabia.
METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted in the western region of Saudi Arabia, targeting healthy adults aged ≥18 years. The participants were randomly selected using a cluster sampling technique. Data were collected through a self-administered validated questionnaire to explore the psychosocial impact of coughing in public places during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the questionnaire collected demographic information, smoking habits, cough frequency, consumption of cough medications, history of mild respiratory diseases, and family history of chronic respiratory illnesses. The mean and standard deviation were used to calculate continuous variables, and frequency and percentages were used to present categorical variables. We analyzed the relationships between study variables using the analysis of variance test.
RESULTS 288 adults participated in the study, with a 67.2% agreement score. 82.0% of the participants avoided people who coughed in public, while 51.8% felt angry and frustrated when someone coughed in public during the pandemic.
CONCLUSIONS COVID-19 has changed how people react to coughing in public. Mild coughs can be mistaken for COVID-19, leading to avoidance.
The Great Outboard Debate: Negotiating Materiality and Dispossession in a Southeast Asian Marine Hunting Community
Authors: Durney Florence
Published: March 2024

ABSTRACT: Lamalera is a small coastal community in the Lesser Sunda region of eastern Indonesia whose cosmology and livelihoods are rooted in hunting large marine prey, including toothed whales and large ocean fishes. In the past decade Lamalera's hunting practices have become embroiled in an international authenticity debate about technology, traditional belief, and conservation, fixating on the incorporation of outboard motors in hunts. Combining theories of material religion and the dispossession of indigenous peoples, this article makes two arguments. First it argues that the movement to outboards should be understood as an adaptation in the materiality of a sacred practice rather than the unraveling of tradition or decline of authenticity as has been proposed. Second, the article argues that the discourse of authenticity itself impacts the community in harmful ways, both by requiring Lamalerans to defend themselves, which has internal social costs, and by detrimentally reframing the important work that the community has done to keep their sacred practices alive in the midst of challenging circumstances.
An Urban Political from the "End of the World": Dock Nine and its Technical Epistles
Authors: Simone AbdouMaliq
Published: March 2024

ABSTRACT: This essay explores some resonances between the measures taken by the intensely subjugated residents of an urban district in Jayapura, West Papua (Indonesia) and notions of the "technical" examined by multiple strands in philosophies of media/computation, as well as Black thought. It explores some of the collective orientations and practices deployed to address a context of intensive subjugation, emphasizing these practices as modes of technicity applied to sustaining ways of acting in concert in a situation that continually undermines social coherence and intimacy. This exploration aims to further an understanding of a Black urban politics; to encompass the orientations and practices of "resistance" as technical operations to mitigate the experiences of capture and foster a sense of indeterminacy in the dispositions of ongoing colonial rule.
Fire to the Grass
Authors: Azaad Amba
Published: March 2024

Abstract: This essay provides an intimate look at abusive relationships and the concept of unforgiveness. The author posits that people in abusive relationships can harness the tool of unforgiveness to process their trauma in a healthy way for themselves and future generations. Using the feminist approach to unforgiveness, the survivor can practice unforgiveness without the need for vengeance or threatening behavior. The author claims that the use of radical unforgiveness, especially when used with an entire culture, can diminish the acceptance of abusive behavior. The concept of unforgiveness is also linked with memory and community. The author uses ecological and historical anecdotes to explain and examine the intricacies of unforgiveness.
Cross-domain colorization of unpaired infrared images through contrastive learning guided by color feature selection attention
Authors: Jiang Tong , Kuang Xiaodong , Wang Sanqian , Liu Tingting , Liu Yuan , Sui Xiubao , Chen Qian
Published: March 2024

In challenging lighting conditions, infrared detectors have become vital tools for enhancing visual perception, overcoming the limitations of visible cameras. However, inherent imaging principles and manufacturing constraints confine infrared imaging systems to grayscale, significantly impacting their utility. In comparison to visible imagery, infrared images lack detailed semantic information, color representation, and suffer from reduced contrast. While existing infrared image colorization techniques have made significant progress in improving color quality, challenges such as erroneous semantic color prediction and blurred depiction of fine details persist. Acquiring paired color images corresponding to real-world infrared scenarios poses substantial difficulties, exacerbating challenges in cross-domain colorization of infrared images. To address these critical issues, this paper introduces an innovative approach utilizing contrastive learning for unsupervised cross-domain mapping between unpaired infrared and visible color images. Additionally, we introduce a color feature selection attention module guiding rational infrared image coloring. The proposed method employs the Residual Fusion Attention Network (RFANet) as a generator, enhancing the encoder’s ability to represent color and structural features. Furthermore, to ensure structural content consistency and enhance overall color style matching accuracy, we design a comprehensive joint global loss function integrating both detailed content and color style. Experimental evaluations on publicly available datasets demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed unsupervised cross-domain colorization method for infrared images compared to previous approaches.
Ultra-high Q resonances based on zero group-velocity modes accompanied by bound states in the continuum in 2D photonic crystal slabs
Authors: Zhang Jun , Dong Beibei , Wang Yajing , Li Mengting , Liu Yufang , Lu Hai , Yu Kun
Published: March 2024

Optical resonators made of 2D photonic crystal (PhC) slabs provide efficient ways to manipulate light at the nanoscale through small group-velocity modes with low radiation losses. The resonant modes in periodic photonic lattices are predominantly limited by nonleaky guided modes at the boundary of the Brillouin zone below the light cone. Here, we propose a mechanism for ultra-high Q resonators based on the bound states in the continuum (BICs) above the light cone that have zero-group velocity (ZGV) at an arbitrary Bloch wavevector. By means of the mode expansion method, the construction and evolution of avoided crossings and Friedrich-Wintgen BICs are theoretically investigated at the same time. By tuning geometric parameters of the PhC slab, the coalescence of eigenfrequencies for a pair of BIC and ZGV modes is achieved, indicating that the waveguide modes are confined longitudinally by small group-velocity propagation and transversely by BICs. Using this mechanism, we engineer ultra-high Q nanoscale resonators that can significantly suppress the radiative losses, despite the operating frequencies above the light cone and the momenta at the generic k point. Our work suggests that the designed devices possess potential applications in low-threshold lasers and enhanced nonlinear effects.
Experimental realization of a transmissive microwave metasurface for dual vector vortex beams generation
Authors: Si Liming , Niu Rong , Cheng Gong , Zhu Weiren
Published: March 2024

This work presents a theoretical design and experimental demonstration of a transmissive microwave metasurface for generating dual-vector vortex beams (VVBs). The proposed metasurface consists of an array of pixelated dartboard discretization meta-atoms. By rotating the meta-atoms from 0° to 180°, a Pancharatnam-Barry (P-B) phase covering the full 360° range is achieved, with a transmittance exceeding 90% over the frequency range from 9.7 to 10.2 GHz. The measured results demonstrate that when a linearly polarized microwave normally impinges on the metasurface, the transmitted beams correspond to the dual VVBs with different directions. A good agreement among Poincaré sphere theory, full-wave simulation, and experimental measurement is observed. This proposed transmissive microwave metasurface for VVBs may offer promising applications in communications and radar detection.
High performance polarizer on thin-film lithium niobate with width-tapered Euler bending
Authors: Liu Weixi , Wen Chengfeng , Lei Chenkun , Song Lijia , Dai Daoxin , Shi Yaocheng
Published: March 2024

In this Letter, we propose and demonstrate an integrated polarizer on thin film lithium niobate (TFLN). The polarizer consists of a width-tapered 180° Euler bending waveguide featuring thin thickness and bilevel mode convertors with silica cladding. Notably, the TE0 mode is efficiently confined in the waveguide, while the TM0 mode confronts significant bending losses. The measurements reveal that the excess loss remains below 1.5 dB, and the extinction ratio surpasses 19 dB within a working bandwidth spanning from 1480 to 1578 nm. The proposed polarizer holds considerable promise for enhancing polarization handling within TFLN photonic circuits.
Spatial resolution limit of single pixel imaging of complex light fields
Authors: Scheidt Dennis , Quinto-Su Pedro A.
Published: March 2024

Complex light fields with arbitrary amplitudes and phases can be measured by sampling them with an orthogonal basis (i.e., canonical, Hadamard) and performing single pixel interferometric measurements of the focused modes. In this work, we show that when the spatial resolution of the sampling basis is coarser than the spatial resolution of the phase in the complex field, the measured reconstructed amplitude exhibits cross talk with the phase, i.e., phase information appears in the amplitude. To demonstrate this phenomenon, we encode an arbitrary amplitude and a phase with a spatial light modulator and compare measurements with simulations.