bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mongolian philosophical underpinnings of well‐being: Mythology, shamanism and Mongolian Buddhism (before the development of modern nursing)
Authors: Batmunkh Buyandelger , Enkhbat Munguntuul
Published: November 2023

Mongolian philosophical underpinnings of well‐being were expressed in the form of mythology, shamanism and Mongolian Buddhism before the development of modern nursing in Mongolia. Among these forms, the philosophical underpinnings of well‐being, mythology and shamanism were formed as a result of the roots of Mongolian philosophy, whereas Buddhism spread relatively late. As a result of Mongolian mythology, an alternative approach calleddom zasalwas formed, and it remains one of the important foundations of the idea of well‐being among people. Among the various concepts of shamanism, the concept ofsunesubest expresses the underpinning of well‐being, and the idea that healing and nursing care can be provided not only by those living in this world but also by spirit beings. Since Mongolians still use these ideas even in modern times, it should be noted that following them too narrowly may conflict with concepts based on scientific evidence. Along with the development of Buddhist philosophy in Mongolia, the Oriental philosophical underpinnings of well‐being have spread. One of the most important concepts is the five basic elements of life (tavan mahabhutas) and three elements of the body (khii, shar andbadgan). While developing the concepts of life and the body, thearga‐bilegmodel (yin‐yang in Chinese), developed at the theoretical level in Chinese philosophy, has become a popular basis for culture and customs among Mongolians. Therefore, it has been difficult to judge whether the origin of thearga‐bilegmodel is Mongolian or Chinese; however, this is undeniably an important underpinning for well‐being in both countries.
A child play‐and‐learn area contributing to urban regeneration: A case in Christchurch, New Zealand
Authors: Huang Yuying , Chen Ning (Chris) , Hall C. Michael
Published: November 2023

This study regards a Child Play‐and‐Learn Area (CPLA) in a library as a third place and investigates its relationships with visitors through the concept of place attachment. To understand the influence of the CPLA, the study examined the relationships among visitors' place attachment, servicescape and behavioural intentions involving place scales. A survey was conducted in a CPLA in Christchurch, New Zealand (The Imagination Station in the central library) and collected 406 questionnaires. The results indicate that the physical and social servicescape of the CPLA can enhance visitors' place attachment and influence their behavioural intentions in the library and the city. The findings suggest that community‐oriented places like CPLAs and libraries should be used as social infrastructure in urban regeneration strategies.
Survival of a polymorphic species in seasonally snow‐covered forests
Authors: Murphy Penelope W. , Pauli Jonathan N. , Shipley Amy A. , Zuckerberg Benjamin
Published: November 2023

Color polymorphism is an adaptive strategy in which a species exhibits multiple color phenotypes in a population. Often, phenotypes are variably suited to different environmental conditions which may buffer the population against variable conditions. Modern climate change is creating novel selective pressures for many species, especially in winter habitats. Few studies have quantified the benefits of polymorphism for allowing species to cope with climate‐induced environmental change, particularly for species with more cryptic differences between morphs. We investigated how color polymorphism mediates selective pressures in ruffed grouse Bonasa umbellus, a winter‐adapted bird species of North American forests. Ruffed grouse display phenotypic variation in plumage color, ranging from red to gray. Over five winters (2015–2022), we monitored weather conditions, habitat use, and weekly survival for 94 grouse to test whether individuals had lower survival when phenotypically mismatched with snow cover (e.g. a gray bird on a snowless landscape or a red bird in snow). Grouse phenotypically mismatched with snow cover had lower survival, but only when winter survival rates were lowest. During winters of lower overall survival, red grouse exhibited higher survival during snow‐free periods, whereas gray grouse had higher survival when snow was present. We also found that open habitat negatively impacted survival, regardless of color. While the effect of phenotypic mismatch was variable among years, it was a stronger predictor of survival than land cover, suggesting that snow is an important habitat feature mediating overwinter survival. Our work offers an advancement in understanding how environmental variability affects geographic variation in and maintenance of multiple color phenotypes in seasonally‐snow covered environments. Our finding that interactions between color morph and snow cover are important for conferring winter survival provides further evidence that color polymorphism may serve as a buffer against rapidly changing conditions and a pathway for persistence of polymorphic species.

Keywords: Bonasa umbellus, color polymorphism, phenotypic mismatch, ruffed grouse, winter ecology, Wisconsin
Tumor‐induced Osteomalacia: A Case Report and Etiological Analysis with Literature Review
Authors: Zhang Zhenhao , Li Jiaxin , Zhang Zhicai , Shao Zengwu
Published: November 2023

Background

Tumor‐induced osteomalacia (TIO) belongs to a rare disease of the paraneoplastic syndrome. Phosphate uric mesenchymal tumor (PMT) is the most common cause of TIO, while the possibility of other tumors cannot be excluded.

Case presentation

We present a case of a 36‐year‐old female patient with systemic skeletal abnormalities. The woman complained of low back pain with mild motor dysfunction for 2 years. Laboratory examination showed abnormalities in markers of bone metabolism, parathyroid hormone (PTH), vitamin D and serum phosphorus. Pooled imaging examination indicated extension abnormalities in the skeletal system and a single lesion in the right femoral head. The lesion of the right femoral was imaging with somatostatin receptor‐positive, which was highly suggestive of a single neuroendocrine tumor. CT guided right femoral tumorectomy and bone grafting were performed when medical treatment failed. Postoperative pathological diagnosis was phosphate urinary mesenchymal tumor secreting fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23), which accorded with pre‐operative expectations. The postoperative symptoms were effectively relieved, and indicators returned to normal.

Conclusion

The tumors causing TIO exhibited significant heterogeneity in terms of tissue origin, pathological characteristics and biological behavior, but the unique common characteristic is the secretion of FGF23. With significant progress in diagnosis and treatment, the clinical follow‐up of most TIO patients shows a good prognosis, but the prognosis of those with malignant tumors is relatively poor.
Discovery of Taurocholic Acid Sodium Hydrate as a Novel Repurposing Drug for Intervertebral Disc Degeneration by Targeting MAPK3
Authors: Li Ping , Chen Zesen , Meng Keyu , Chen Yanlin , Xu Jiajia , Xiang Xin , Wu Xiuhua , Huang Zhiping , Lai Ruijun , Li Peng , Lai Zhongming , Ao Xiang , Liu Zhongyuan , Yang Kaifan , Bai Xiaochun , Zhang Zhongmin
Published: November 2023

Objective

Nowadays, more than 90% of people over 50 years suffer from intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD), but there are exist no ideal drugs. The aim of this study is to identify a new drug for IDD.

Methods

An approved small molecular drug library including 2040 small molecular compounds was used here. We found that taurocholic acid sodium hydrate (NAT) could induce chondrogenesis and osteogenesis in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Then, an in vivo mouse model of IDD was established and the coccygeal discs transcriptome analysis and surface plasmon resonance analysis (SPR) integrated with liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry assay (LC‐MS) were performed in this study to study the therapy effect and target proteins of NAT for IDD. Micro‐CT was used to evaluate the cancellous bone. The expression of osteogenic (OCN, RNX2), chondrogenic (COL2A1, SOX9), and the target related (ERK1/2, p‐ERK1/2) proteins were detected. The alkaline phosphatase staining was performed to estimate osteogenic differentiation. Blood routine and blood biochemistry indexes were analyzed for the safety of NAT.

Results

The results showed that NAT could induce chondrogenesis and osteogenesis in MSCs. Further experiments confirmed NAT could ameliorate the secondary osteoporosis and delay the development of IDD in mice. Transcriptome analysis identified 128 common genes and eight Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways for NAT. SPR‐LC–MS assay detected 57 target proteins for NAT, including MAPK3 (mitogen‐activated protein kinase 3), also known as ERK1 (extracellular regulated protein kinase 1). Further verification experiment confirmed that NAT significantly reduced the expression of ERK1/2 phosphorylation.

Conclusion

NAT would induce chondrogenesis and osteogenesis of MSCs, ameliorate the secondary osteoporosis and delay the progression of IDD in mice by targeting MAPK3.Furthermore, MAPK3, especially the phosphorylation of MAPK3, would be a potential therapeutic target for IDD treatment.
Influence of formalin fixation duration on RNA quality and quantity from formalin‐fixed paraffin‐embedded hepatocellular carcinoma tissues
Authors: Amemiya Kenji , Hirotsu Yosuke , Nagakubo Yuki , Mochizuki Hitoshi , Oyama Toshio , Omata Masao
Published: November 2023

Analyzing RNA samples from formalin‐fixed paraffin‐embedded (FFPE) tissues is essential for precision medicine. We investigated RNA quantity and quality from FFPE tumor tissues fixed in formalin for various times and compared sequencing metrics from next‐generation sequencing (NGS). Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues were fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin (1–240 h) and FFPE blocks were prepared. Total RNA was extracted, and the quantity and quality were assessed using the NanoDrop, Qubit and Bioanalyzer. After preparing sequencing libraries, NGS was performed on the Oncomine Dx Multi‐CDx system. Total RNA yields of all samples met the threshold required for NGS, but longer fixation times resulted in decreased total RNA and long RNA fragment (>200 nt) yields. NGS analysis showed fewer sequencing reads of internal control genes from RNA with longer fixation times. RNA extracted from FFPE blocks stored for 500 days had reduced RNA yield and quality compared with RNA obtained from FFPE blocks prepared immediately. In conclusion, short and over‐fixation should be avoided because of their negative impact on sequencing quality. Fixation process should be finished promptly within recommended guidelines (6–72 h) for cancer patients.
The case for mixed methods research: Embracing qualitative research to understand the (informal) economy
Authors: Cartwright Edward , Igudia Eghosa
Published: November 2023

Economics has long shunned qualitative research methods, such as interviews, focus groups and observational studies, in preference for quantitative methods, such as empirical analysis of secondary data and field experiments. Moreover, recent years, with advances in econometric theory, have seen a notable increase in the size and quality of data sets that are needed to publish quantitative research in leading journals. This has the effect of significantly increasing the ‘entry costs’ for researchers interested in studying economic development. Crucially, it also limits the topics that can be studied. In particular, it focuses attention on issues and countries where large data sets exist or can be collected. In this paper, we argue that by putting too much weight on internal validity, economics has adopted a too narrow definition of ‘rigour’ and would benefit from embracing qualitative and mixed methods research. To illustrate our point, we pay particular attention to the informal economy. The informal economy is understudied by economists because of the lack of available quantitative data. We show that this fundamentally impacts our understanding of the wider economy. Qualitative research can enrich our understanding by providing a more complete and nuanced view of the economy.
Dualities of Place among Rural and Urban Periphery Homegrown Adults in Israel☆
Authors: Grinshtain Yael
Published: November 2023

Following the general idea ofplace mattersand based on the particular features of rural/peripheral settlements, people, and communities, the current study aims at exploring the development and meaning ofperipheral identityand its construction, as perceived by adults who were born and raised in the northern periphery of Israel. Using the phenomenological genre, 40 interviews were conducted with adults aged 26–40 who grew up in the periphery at least until the age of 21. Inductive thematic analysis was conducted, based on the principles of grounded theory. The analysis yielded four main categories that represented four dimensions of a conflict or a paradox that characterizes life in the periphery: (1)Personal chronologyfrom childhood to adulthood; (2)Familyas an anchor vs. an obligation; (3)Settlementas inner vs. the outside environment; (4)Regionas empowerment and powerful vs. deficit and powerless. The findings indicate that the embedded identity of the peripheral homegrown is ambiguous, conflictual, and contradictory. The current study aims to demonstrate how the social constructive approach can challenge the meanings of rurality/peripherally as an experience that is shaped in different ways.
On neutral value and fitting indifference
Authors: Garcia Andrés G.
Published: November 2023

A standard approach to neutral value suggests that it can be understood in comparative terms by reference to value relations. I develop some objections to the standard approach based on assumptions about value facts being closely connected to fittingness facts. I then suggest that these objections give us reasons to amend the standard approach with a noncomparative understanding. The claim is that if an item has neutral value, then it is a fitting target of indifference, where this is understood not as an absence of attitudes but a discrete type of reaction or evaluation. By leaning on some general insights from philosophical psychology about the evaluative role of indifference, I then attempt to give some hints as to how we might understand its nature.
Vascular dysfunction and the age‐related decline in critical power
Authors: Dorff Abigail , Bradford Christy , Hunsaker Ashley , Atkinson Jake , Rhees Joshua , Leach Olivia K. , Gifford Jayson R.
Published: November 2023

Ageing results in lower exercise tolerance, manifested as decreased critical power (CP). We examined whether the age‐related decrease in CP occurs independently of changes in muscle mass and whether it is related to impaired vascular function. Ten older (63.1 ± 2.5 years) and 10 younger (24.4 ± 4.0 years) physically active volunteers participated. Physical activity was measured with accelerometry. Leg muscle mass was quantified with dual X‐ray absorptiometry. The CP and maximum power during a graded exercise test (PGXT) of single‐leg knee‐extension exercise were determined over the course of four visits. During a fifth visit, vascular function of the leg was assessed with passive leg movement (PLM) hyperaemia and leg blood flow and vascular conductance during knee‐extension exercise at 10 W, 20 W, slightly below CP (90% CP) and PGXT. Despite not differing in leg lean mass (P = 0.901) and physical activity (e.g., steps per day, P = 0.735), older subjects had ∼30% lower mass‐specific CP (old = 3.20 ± 0.94 W kg−1 vs. young = 4.60 ± 0.87 W kg−1; P < 0.001). The PLM‐induced hyperaemia and leg blood flow and/or conductance were blunted in the old at 20 W, 90% CP and PGXT (P < 0.05). When normalized for leg muscle mass, CP was strongly correlated with PLM‐induced hyperaemia (R2 = 0.52; P < 0.001) and vascular conductance during knee‐extension exercise at 20 W (R2 = 0.34; P = 0.014) and 90% CP (R2 = 0.39; P = 0.004). In conclusion, the age‐related decline in CP is not only an issue of muscle quantity, but also of impaired muscle quality that corresponds to impaired vascular function.
Effects of Trapped Gas in Fracture-Pore Carbonate Reservoirs
Authors: Guo Chen , Diwu Pengxiang , Zhao Wenqi , Wu Xuelin , Wang Yong , Guan Yuqi , Djamalillail Abal-hassan F. S. A. , Li Junjian
Published: November 2023

Fracture-pore carbonate reservoirs exhibit strong microscopic heterogeneity and complex seepage characteristics, resulting in suboptimal oil-drive efficiency and development outcomes. Moreover, water channeling is often a serious problem in the development of fractured porous carbonate rocks, and the blockage of degassed bubbles in the throat is one of the reasons that cannot be ignored. In order to reveal the degree of influence of bubbles on waterflood sweep, this paper employs microfluidic technology to design three distinct chips, namely fracture-type, composite-type, and cave-type, to visually illustrate the influence of the gas phase on three-phase flow. A quantification method is established to analyze the variation characteristics of pore diameter utilization ratio in different types of carbonate reservoirs. Compared with water flooding experiments without the gas phase, the recovery factor of water flooding with the presence of the gas phase decreases by 0.6%, 3.4%, and 15.3% for three distinct chips, respectively. In fracture-type reservoirs, the main focus is on sealing the primary fracture seepage channel and mitigating the shielding effect of the gas phase on matrix utilization. For composite-type reservoirs, the primary objective is to seal fractures and eliminate the shielding effect of the gas phase. In cave-type reservoirs, the primary goal is to eliminate the sealing effect caused by the discontinuous gas phase within small pore throats.
Significance of Upstream Wall Conditions in Characterizing the Heat Transfer Phenomena of Rarefied Flows
Authors: Jha Ambuj Amitab , Agrawal Amit
Published: November 2023

Slip flows in small-scale flow networks involve simultaneous presence of multiple factors governing the flow field. In addition, conditions of upstream wall need to be clearly defined for quantifying the total heat that fluid receives from the wall. The present work addresses these aspects by analyzing the heat transfer aspects of slip flow of gaseous nitrogen through a circular pipe, undergoing either heating or cooling. The complete form of the governing equations is solved numerically while retaining property variation. The thermal field is found to exhibit two distinct asymptotic regions, with the first one representing fully developed heat transfer and the second one representing isothermal states. The fully developed Nusselt number (Nufd) is found to rise first, before dropping continuously with rise in Knudsen number (Kn). The pair of Kn and maximum Nufd is found to be dependent on Peclet number (Pe) of the system. Local Nu is found to drop to a minimum, lower than Nufd for Kn∼O(10−3) due to a significant radial advection. The presence of an adiabatic upstream wall reveals that heat may propagate up to the inlet for Kn≳0.015. An analytical solution is developed to approximate this limiting value of Kn, and it agrees well with the numerical results. The observed flow behavior leads to the categorization of flow regime into three types: (i) Kn<0.001, possessing dependence on change in Pe only, (ii) 0.001≤Kn<0.01, possessing concurrence of effects due to change in Pe and Kn, and (iii) 0.01≤Kn<0.1, possessing dependence on change in Kn only. Further, Pe is shown to represent Nubulk for the flow, where in the range 0.01≤Kn<0.1, Nutot≈Nubulk as Kn approaches 0.01 and Nutot≈Nuin as Kn approaches 0.1. A convenient approach is proposed to evaluate Nutot for any condition of the upstream wall. These outcomes indicate the necessity to clearly define the condition of the upstream wall and to evaluate the total heat transfer in small-scale heat exchangers, which may be much larger than what fluid carries downstream.
Reactive Gait Composition With Stability: Dynamic Walking Amidst Static and Moving Obstacles
Authors: Narkhede Kunal Sanjay , Motahar Mohamad Shafiee , Veer Sushant , Poulakakis Ioannis
Published: November 2023

This paper presents a modular approach to motion planning with provable stability guarantees for robots that move through changing environments via periodic locomotion behaviors. We focus on dynamic walkers as a paradigm for such systems, although the tools developed in this paper can be used to support general compositional approaches to robot motion planning with dynamic movement primitives (DMPs). By formulating the planning process as a switching system with multiple equilibria (SSME), we prove that the system's evolution remains within explicitly characterized trapping regions in the state space under suitable constraints on the frequency of switching among the DMPs. These conditions encapsulate the low-level stability limitations in a form that can be easily communicated to the planner. Furthermore, we show how the available primitives can be safely composed online in a receding horizon manner to enable the robot to react to moving obstacles. The proposed framework can be applied in a wide class of 3D bipedal walking models, and offers a modular approach for integrating readily available low-level locomotion control and high-level planning methods.
Structure Optimization and Performance Evaluation of Downhole Oil–Water Separation Tools: A Novel Hydrocyclone
Authors: Zhao Xiaojie , Zhao Kai , Zhang Xuan , Gao Yang , Liu He
Published: November 2023

Based on the principle of cyclone separation and 3D printing technology, a novel variable pitch hydrocyclone structure was proposed for the axial flow hydrocyclone separators of oil wells. The structural parameters of this variable pitch hydrocyclone were optimized via a combined approach of the Plackett–Burman design, response surface design, and computational fluid dynamics. A quadratic polynomial mathematical relationship between significant structural parameters and separation efficiency was established. The effects of the inlet flowrate, split ratio, and oil phase volume fraction on oil–water separation performance were systematically analyzed. A laboratory test system for oil–water swirl separation was constructed to verify the accuracy of numerical simulation results and the efficiency of the optimized structure. The optimal overflow split ratio, inlet flowrate, and oil concentration for the hydrocyclone are 30%, 96 m3/day, and 2%, respectively. The combination of these optimal parameters results in an experimental separation efficiency of 99.38%, which is higher than that of the conventional structure (98.8%). The experimental results are in good agreement with the simulation results.
Design and Performance Evaluation of a Novel Solar Dryer for Drying Potatoes in the Eastern Algerian Sahara
Authors: Hadj Ammar Mohammed Ali , Attia Mohammed El Hadi , Laouini Abdeldjalil , Zine Ali , Salhi Khelifa , Hariz Abdelkader , Kumar Anil
Published: November 2023

In this paper, experimental work has been presented to study the novel design of a solar crop dryer that includes an inverted absorber perforate type collector with forced airflow. A novel design configuration was constructed and tested in the eastern Algeria climate (El Oued city) for drying potatoes. We aimed to present a test of the thermal performance of the novel dryer and use only clean energy sources for evaluating the drying efficiency. Under real climatic conditions, the experimental test indicated that the average air temperature of the drying chamber is 50 °C, and the time required for drying potatoes starting at the initial moisture content (MC) of 84.17% until the final MC of 12.5% is 6h. The highest specific moisture extraction rate value was obtained as 1.074 g water/kWh. The drying efficiencies ranged from 20.37% to 34.01%, whereas the exergy efficiency ranged from 58.48% to 93.22%. The payback period was estimated as 1.39 years. The proposed novel dryer will dry potatoes free of cost for almost its entire life period, and about $13.92 can be saved. Compared with electric oven drying, the novel one has the following advantages: the cost of electricity saving and avoiding penalty tax for CO2 emission were $11.69 and $2.235, respectively.
Performance evaluation of an active headrest system using a filtered-x least mean square/fourth algorithm with virtual sensing
Authors: Karthik M. L. N. S. , Pradhan Somanath , George Nithin V.
Published: November 2023

In an active headrest system virtual sensing tends to transfer the spatial zone of quiet from the residual error microphone to the ear canal. An attempt has been made in this paper to develop an auxiliary filter based virtual sensing scheme integrated with the filtered-x least mean square/fourth algorithm for an active headrest. The performance of the proposed method has been evaluated experimentally using periodic and band limited white noise. Improved noise control performance has been observed for both periodic and broadband noise. The effect of causality constraint of the performance of the algorithm has also been tested.
On the limits of distinguishing seabed types via ambient acoustic sound
Authors: Lipor John , Gebbie John , Siderius Martin
Published: November 2023

This article presents a theoretical analysis of optimally distinguishing among environmental parameters from ocean ambient sound. Recent approaches to this problem either focus on parameter estimation or attempt to classify the environment into one of many known types through machine learning. This classification problem is framed as one of hypothesis testing on the received ambient sound snapshots. The resulting test depends on the Kullback-Leibler divergence (KLD) between the distributions corresponding to different environments or sediment types. Analysis of the KLD shows the dependence on the signal-to-noise ratio, the underlying signal subspace, and the distribution of eigenvalues of the respective covariance matrices. This analysis provides insights into both when and why successful hypothesis testing is possible. Experiments demonstrate that our analysis provides insight as to why certain environmental parameters are more difficult to distinguish than others. Experiments on sediment types from the Naval Oceanographic Office Bottom Sediment type database show that certain types are indistinguishable for a given array configuration. Further, the KLD can be used to provide a quantitative alternative to examining bottom loss curves to predict array processing performance.
Axon, “axoff”
Authors: Baek Amy E.
Published: November 2023

Demyelination by microglia reduces the likelihood of axonal degeneration in a model of cytotoxic T cell–driven myelin perturbation.
Refining PRRSV-2 genetic classification based on global ORF5 sequences and investigation of their geographic distributions and temporal changes
Authors: Yim-im Wannarat , Anderson Tavis K. , Paploski Igor A. D. , VanderWaal Kimberly , Gauger Phillip , Krueger Karen , Shi Mang , Main Rodger , Zhang Jianqiang
Published: November 2023

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is an important swine pathogen affecting the global swine industry. The first open reading frame 5 (ORF5)-based genetic lineage classification system describing global PRRSV-2 genetic diversity was introduced over a decade ago. Although refinements have been proposed for the predominant lineage in the USA (lineage 1), PRRSV-2 phylogenetic classification system at international levels has not been thoroughly evaluated and updated since 2010. In this study, based on analysis of 82,237 global ORF5 sequences reported during 1989–2021, we classified PRRSV-2 into 11 genetic lineages (L1‒L11) and 21 sublineages (L1A‒L1F, L1H‒L1J, L5A‒L5B, L8A‒L8E, and L9A‒L9E). The proposed classification system is flexible for growth if additional lineages, sublineages, or more granular classifications are needed. For example, for more fine-scale epidemiological investigation, L1C was further divided into five groups (L1C.1‒L1C.5), with L1C.5 corresponding to the recently emerged L1C variant. Comparison between restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) typing and phylogenetic classification revealed the inaccuracy of using RFLP to determine PRRSV-2 genetic relatedness in most scenarios. Genetic homology of six commercial PRRSV-2 vaccines to each lineage/sublineage and detection frequency of vaccine-like viruses were determined. Global geographic distribution of each lineage/sublineage was presented. Temporal dynamic changes of PRRSV-2 in the USA during 1989–2021 were investigated by analyzing 73,092 ORF5 sequences. In summary, this study refined PRRSV-2 ORF5-based phylogenetic classification and investigated the geographic distribution and temporal changes of PRRSV-2 at the lineage/sublineage levels. The refined classification system and molecular epidemiology data in this study will be invaluable for future characterization of PRRSV-2.

IMPORTANCE

In this study, comprehensive analysis of 82,237 global porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus type 2 (PRRSV-2) open reading frame 5 sequences spanning from 1989 to 2021 refined PRRSV-2 genetic classification system, which defines 11 lineages and 21 sublineages and provides flexibility for growth if additional lineages, sublineages, or more granular classifications are needed in the future. Geographic distribution and temporal changes of PRRSV-2 were investigated in detail. This is a thorough study describing the molecular epidemiology of global PRRSV-2. In addition, the reference sequences based on the refined genetic classification system are made available to the public for future epidemiological and diagnostic applications worldwide. The data from this study will facilitate global standardization and application of PRRSV-2 genetic classification.
Magnetotelluric insights into the formation and reactivation of trans-crustal shear zones in Precambrian basement of the eastern U.S. Midcontinent
Authors: Murphy Benjamin S. , DeLucia Michael S. , Marshak Stephen , Ravat Dhananjay , Bedrosian Paul A.
Published: November 2023

Three-dimensional inversion of regional long-period magnetotelluric (MT) data reveals the presence of two distinct sets of high-conductivity belts in the Precambrian basement of the eastern U.S. Midcontinent. One set, beneath Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and western Ohio, is defined by northwest–southeast-oriented conductivity structures; the other set, beneath Kentucky, West Virginia, western Virginia, and eastern Ohio, includes structures that are generally oriented northeast–southwest. The northwest-trending belts occur mainly in Paleoproterozoic crust, and we suggest that their high conductivity values are due to graphite precipitated within trans-crustal shear zones from intrusion-related CO2-rich fluids. Our MT inversion results indicate that some of these structures dip steeply through the crust and intersect the Moho, which supports an interpretation that the shear zones originated as “leaky” transcurrent faults or transforms during the late Paleoproterozoic or the early Mesoproterozoic. The northeast-trending belts are associated with Grenvillian orogenesis and also potentially with Iapetan rifting, although further work is needed to verify the latter possibility. We interpret the different geographic positions of these two sets of conductivity belts as reflecting differences in origin and/or crustal rheology, with the northwest-trending belts largely confined to older, stable, pre-Grenville cratonic Laurentia, and the northeast-trending belts largely having formed in younger, weaker marginal crust. Notably, these high-conductivity zones spatially correlate with Midcontinent fault-and-fold zones that affect Phanerozoic strata. Stratigraphic evidence indicates that Midcontinent fault-and-fold zones were particularly active during Phanerozoic orogenic events, and some remain seismically active today, so the associated high-conductivity belts likely represent long-lived weaknesses that transect the crust.
Long-term follow-up study of work status among patients with work-related mental disorders referred to departments of occupational medicine in Denmark
Authors: Kyndi Marianne , Willert Morten Vejs , Vestergaard Jesper Medom , Andersen Johan Hviid , Christiansen David Høyrup , Dalgaard Vita Ligaya
Published: November 2023

Objectives

To describe the 5 year work status in patients referred for suspected work-related common mental disorders. To develop a prognostic model.

Design

Register-based nationwide longitudinal follow-up study.

Setting

All departments of occupational medicine in Denmark.

Participants

17 822 patients aged 18–67 years, seen for the first time at a Department of Occupational Medicine in Denmark from 2000 to 2013 and diagnosed with stress, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety or other mental disorders.

Interventions

All patients were seen for diagnostic assessment and causal evaluation of the work-relatedness of their disorders. Some departments offered patients with stress disorders psychological treatment, which, however, was not organised according to patient selection or type of treatment.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

Register data were collected for 5 year periods before and after the patients’ first assessment at a department. Weekly percentages of patients are presented according to work status. The outcome in the prognostic model was a high Work Participation Score (ie, working>75% of potential work weeks/year) at 5 year follow-up.

Results

For all subgroups of patients, a high proportion were working (>75%) 1–5 years before assessment, and all experienced a large reduction in work status at time of assessment. At 1 year follow-up, almost 60% of patients with stress were working, whereas in the other patient subgroups, less than 40% were working. In the following years, practically no increase was observed in the percentage of patients working in any of the subgroups. Based on these 5 year follow-up data, we developed a work participation model with only moderate discrimination and calibration.

Conclusions

In Denmark, not all return to previous work status 5 years after a referral due to a suspected work-related common mental disorder. We developed a prognostic model with only moderate discrimination and calibration for long-term work participation after suggested work-related common mental disorders.
Characteristics associated with high hospital spending over 1 year among patients hospitalised for COVID-19 in the USA: a cohort study
Authors: Nair-Desai Sameer , Chambers Laura C , Soto Mark J , Behr Caroline , Lovgren Leah , Zandstra Tamsin , Rivkees Scott A , Rosenthal Ning , Beaudoin Francesca L , Tsai Thomas C
Published: November 2023

Introduction

Despite complex care needs during critical COVID-19, the associated long-term healthcare spending is poorly understood, limiting the ability of policy-makers to prioritise necessary care and plan for future medical countermeasures.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of adults hospitalised with COVID-19 in the USA (April‒June 2020) using data from the national PINC AI Healthcare Database. Patients were followed for 365 days to measure hospital spending starting on the date of admission. We used a multivariable logistic model to identify characteristics associated with high spending.

Results

Among 73 606 patients hospitalised with COVID-19, 73% were aged ≥50 years, 51% were female, and 37% were non-Hispanic white. Mean hospital spending per patient over 90 days was US$28 712 (SD=US$48 583) and over 365 days was US$31 768 (SD=US$52 811). Patients who received care in the intensive care unit (36% vs 23% no intensive care, p<0.001), received a non-recommended COVID-19 treatment (28% vs 25% no treatment, p<0.001), had a longer length of stay (p<0.001), and had Medicare (27% vs 22% commercial, p<0.001) or Medicaid (25% vs 22% commercial, p<0.001) insurance were associated with a higher predicted probability of high hospital spending over 365 days. Patients who received recommended treatment (21% vs 25% no treatment, p<0.001) and were Hispanic and any race (24% vs 26% non-Hispanic white, p<0.001), non-Hispanic Asian (25% vs 26% non-Hispanic white, p=0.011), ‘other’ or unknown race and ethnicity (24% vs 26% non-Hispanic white, p<0.001), or female (25% vs 26% male, p<0.001) were associated with a lower predicted probability of high hospital spending.

Conclusions

Most hospital spending incurred over 1 year was for care within 90 days of admission. Patients receiving complex care or non-recommended treatments were associated with higher spending, while those receiving recommended treatments were associated with lower spending. These findings can inform pandemic preparedness planning.
Bailey pairs for the q-hypergeometric integral pentagon identity
Authors: Gahramanov Ilmar , Kaluc Osman Erkan
Published: November 2023

In this work, we construct new Bailey pairs for the integral pentagon identity in terms of q-hypergeometric functions. The pentagon identity considered here represents the equality of the partition functions of certain three-dimensional supersymmetric dual theories. It can be also interpreted as the star-triangle relation for the Ising-type integrable lattice model.
Ultra-broadband and wide-angle microwave absorber based on resistive films with a 3D configuration
Authors: Chi Baihong , Li Mengzhu , Wang Pengfei , Li Yuanyuan , Geng Xinyu , Wang Linjie , Deng Guangsheng
Published: November 2023

This paper introduces a broadband electromagnetic wave absorber with characteristics of polarization-independence and wide-angle stability based on resistive films with a three-dimensional (3D) configuration. The absorber consists of a 3D dielectric substrate array covered by a resistive film, which not only broadens the operation frequency band but also improves the absorption with large incidence angles. Simulated results indicate that the absorber achieves wideband absorption with over 90% absorptivity in the frequency range of 5.7–41.8[Formula: see text]GHz, corresponding to a relative absorption bandwidth of 152%. Due to the high symmetry of the structure, the absorber is insensitive to polarization angles. Moreover, the presented design maintains wave absorption greater than 90% when incidence angle reaches 70∘ due to its 3D structure that ensures high absorption for wide incidence angles. The mechanism of this structure is investigated through surface current and power consumption distribution, while optimization parameters are analyzed for achieving the desired bandwidth. This absorber has the advantages of wide-band absorption and excellent stability under oblique incidence angles, making it potentially useful in applications such as electromagnetic shielding and energy harvesting.
Wave Matrix Lindbladization II: General Lindbladians, Linear Combinations, and Polynomials
Authors: Patel Dhrumil , Wilde Mark M.
Published: November 2023

In this paper, we investigate the problem of simulating open system dynamics governed by the well-known Lindblad master equation. In our prequel paper [Patel and Wilde, Open Sys. & Info. Dyn., 30:2350010 (2023)], we introduced an input model in which Lindblad operators are encoded into pure quantum states, called program states, and we also introduced a method, called wave matrix Lindbladization, for simulating Lindbladian evolution by means of interacting the system of interest with these program states. Therein, we focused on a simple case in which the Lindbladian consists of only one Lindblad operator and a Hamiltonian. Here, we extend the method to simulating general Lindbladians and other cases in which a Lindblad operator is expressed as a linear combination or a polynomial of the operators encoded into the program states. We propose quantum algorithms for all these cases and also investigate their sample complexity, i.e., the number of program states needed to simulate a given Lindbladian evolution approximately. Finally, we demonstrate that our quantum algorithms provide an efficient route for simulating Lindbladian evolution relative to full tomography of encoded operators, by proving that the sample complexity for tomography is dependent on the dimension of the system, whereas the sample complexity of wave matrix Lindbladization is dimension independent.
Graph Based Cross-Channel Transform for Color Image Compression
Authors: Wang Lilong , Shi Yunhui , Wang Jin , Chen Shujun , Yin Baocai , Ling Nam
Published: November 2023

Adaptive transform coding is gaining more and more attention for better mining of image content over fixed transforms such as discrete cosine transform (DCT). As a special case, graph transform learning establishes a novel paradigm for the graph-based transforms. However, there still exists a challenge for graph transform learning-based image codecs design on natural image compression, and graph representation cannot describe regular image samples well over graph-structured data. Therefore, in this article, we propose a cross-channel graph-based transform (CCGBT) for natural color image compression. We observe that neighboring pixels having similar intensities should have similar values in the chroma channels, which means that the prominent structure of the luminance channel is related to the contours of the chrominance channels. A collaborative design of the learned graphs and their corresponding distinctive transforms lies in the assumption that a sufficiently small block can be considered smooth, meanwhile, guaranteeing the compression of the luma and chroma signals at the cost of a small overhead for coding the description of the designed luma graph. In addition, a color image compression framework based on the CCGBT is designed for comparing DCT on the classic JPEG codec. The proposed method benefits from its flexible transform block design on arbitrary sizes to exploit image content better than the fixed transform. The experimental results show that the unified graph-based transform outperforms conventional DCT, while close to discrete wavelet transform on JPEG2000 at high bit-rates.
Improving First-stage Retrieval of Point-of-interest Search by Pre-training Models
Authors: Mei Lang , Mao Jiaxin , Hu Juan , Tan Naiqiang , Chai Hua , Wen Ji-Rong
Published: November 2023

Point-of-interest (POI) search is important for location-based services, such as navigation and online ride-hailing service. The goal of POI search is to find the most relevant destinations from a large-scale POI database given a text query. To improve the effectiveness and efficiency of POI search, most existing approaches are based on a multi-stage pipeline that consists of an efficiency-oriented retrieval stage and one or more effectiveness-oriented re-rank stages. In this article, we focus on the first efficiency-oriented retrieval stage of the POI search. We first identify the limitations of existing first-stage POI retrieval models in capturing the semantic-geography relationship and modeling the fine-grained geographical context information. Then, we propose a Geo-Enhanced Dense Retrieval framework for POI search to alleviate the above problems. Specifically, the proposed framework leverages the capacity of pre-trained language models (e.g., BERT) and designs a pre-training approach to better model the semantic match between the query prefix and POIs. With the POI collection, we first perform a token-level pre-training task based on a geographical-sensitive masked language prediction and design two retrieval-oriented pre-training tasks that link the address of each POI to its name and geo-location. With the user behavior logs collected from an online POI search system, we design two additional pre-training tasks based on users’ query reformulation behavior and the transitions between POIs. We also utilize a late-interaction network structure to model the fine-grained interactions between the text and geographical context information within an acceptable query latency. Extensive experiments on the real-world datasets collected from the Didichuxing application demonstrate that the proposed framework can achieve superior retrieval performance over existing first-stage POI retrieval methods.
Spatial Gems 2022 Workshop Report: The 4th ACM SIGSPATIAL International Workshop on Spatial Gems
Authors: Krumm John , Shahabi Cyrus , Züfle Andreas
Published: November 2023

Researchers and practitioners working with spatial data often develop fundamental new techniques they would like to share with their community. These are not necessarily new research results, not yet in any textbook, but they are interesting, self-contained techniques for doing something useful in the domain of spatial data. We call these techniques "spatial gems".
Toxic Absence: Why Leader Presence Matters in Times of Crisis
Authors: McMurray Robert , Credland Nicki , Griffin Martyn , Hamilton Peter , Harness Oonagh
Published: November 2023

Aims. This study examines the importance of senior-leader presence on the “frontline” in times of crisis. Background. The COVID-19 pandemic placed unprecedented demands on nurses charged with delivering critical care. Extant research suggests that the active presence of ward-level leaders has an important role to play in supporting frontline staff and mediating the negative impacts of stress and burnout. There is little evidence on the impact of senior leader presence or absence on the experience of frontline critical care nurses, particularly at times of crisis. Methods. A three-phase qualitative interview study of critical care nurses in the UK and Ireland. A total of 107 semistructured interviews with 54 nurses representing 38 different healthcare units. Results. Senior-leader presence at the time of crisis serves as an important symbol of organisational support. Where senior leaders are not meaningfully present, they risk allowing the necessary pain of difficult work situations to become toxic. Toxicity is manifested with increased staff stress, emotional ills, absence, and turnover. Conclusions. Senior leaders must balance their responsibilities for strategy and structures with the frontline presence required to shape a positive emotional climate. Implications for Nursing Management. Senior managers should consider supplementing their strategic focus with punctuated returns to the floor. Symbolically, leaders who get their hands dirty embody a sense of mutual struggle and practical support. Managerially, time on the floor increases the opportunities for collecting primary data to improve decision-making and support.