bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Tie that Binds: The Trials of US–Canada Energy Infrastructure
Authors: Makholm Jeff D.
Published: April 2023

The subject of International Energy does not get any bigger than the bilateral energy trade between the United States and Canada. Our two countries share a singular geopolitical endowment: the world's longest and highest value trading border—bounded by two oceans—where not a shot has been fired in anger since the War of 1812. We share unusual natural resources and common institutions: (1) a continent with multiple productive hydrocarbon basins and renewable energy resources, including hydroelectric, solar, and wind; (2) English common law with strong Constitutional and judicial protections for private property; (3) federal governmental systems; and (4) highly competitive energy production and transport infrastructure industries. With such institutional foundations, our two nations exhibit by far the world's oldest and most extensive pipeline infrastructure systems and dozens of international power transmission links. The long‐time lack of military conflict, stability of institutions of governance, and highly competitive business infrastructure generally has always been the source of great industrial productivity in providing low‐cost energy for consumers and businesses in North America.
Riding the Roller Coaster—Today's Natural Gas Market and the Future
Authors: Smead Richard G.
Published: April 2023

The beginning of 2023 has witnessed the biggest decline in natural gas prices in a long time. Production has been at record highs, an exceptionally warm start to January suppressed supply demand, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports have been down since June 2022 when Freeport LNG's export facility went offline due to a fire at its facility. The CME/NYMEX February natural gas futures contract slid to an 18‐month low of $2.94/MMBtu and expired at $3.109/MMBtu, down 54 percent from where the contract closed just two months earlier in December 2022. In other words, market prices plunged, and in the middle of the winter—usually the strongest period for natural gas sales and prices. The March contract extended the slide to a 20‐month low of $2.677/MMBtu. Freeport's eventual return will restore existing LNG export capacity, thus picking up demand levels, and by the time of publication of this column may be back in service. However, there is no new LNG export capacity due online this year—for the first time since 2016. After one of the tightest natural gas markets of the last decade in 2022, which pushed prices much higher than they had been for a long time, other than during the short but fierce Winter Storm Uri experience in 2021, things they are a'changing. The stage is set for one of the most oversupplied markets the industry has seen in years. However, in keeping with the natural gas industry's history of keeping traders on their toes, it looks as if we are reaching the end of the steady oversupply we have experienced since 2009, when the Shale Revolution swarmed in to move the entire industry from shortage to abundance, and enabled U.S. energy independence to take root. How did we get here, and how does the future look for natural gas supply and prices?
The multifaceted ownership change of foreign subsidiaries: The diverse responses to different types of negative performance feedback
Authors: Li Wen Helena , Guo Bin , Kumar Vikas , Gu Jinlong , Hu Wentao
Published: April 2023

Research Summary

By integrating performance feedback theory and ownership management literature, we examine how parent multinational companies (MNCs) evaluate their foreign subsidiaries' poor performance against various aspirations and make multifaceted ownership change decisions. Our results show that social aspirations matter more than historical aspirations in ownership change decisions. When a focal subsidiary is underperforming relative to industry peers or overseas subsidiary peers, its parent MNC tends to change its ownership of foreign subsidiaries and by a high degree. However, regarding the direction of ownership change, a foreign subsidiary with performance below industry peers tends to experience an ownership decrease, whereas the opposite is true when a subsidiary's performance is below overseas subsidiary peers. Overall, we extend existing theories that downplay the role of aspirations in ownership changes.

Managerial Summary

Effective ownership management in foreign subsidiaries is key to sustaining the global operations of MNCs. An important task for parent managers is to make sense of the poor performance of their foreign subsidiaries against various aspirations and respond in terms of ownership change decisions. We find that managers are more sensitive when their foreign subsidiary's performance is below its social peers than below its past performance. Specifically, parent managers tend to change ownership to a large extent when their foreign subsidiary is poorly performed compared with its industry peers as an external benchmark or overseas subsidiary peers as an internal benchmark. Moreover, parent managers tend to reduce ownership when the subsidiary's performance is below industry peers, while are more likely to increase ownership when the performance is below its overseas subsidiary peers.
Stronger neural response to canonical finger‐number configurations in deaf compared to hearing adults revealed by FPVS‐EEG
Authors: Buyle Margot , Lochy Aliette , Vencato Valentina , Crollen Virginie
Published: April 2023

The linguistic counting system of deaf signers consists of a manual counting format that uses specific structures for number words. Interestingly, the number signs from 1 to 4 in the Belgian sign languages correspond to the finger‐montring habits of hearing individuals. These hand configurations could therefore be considered as signs (i.e., part of a language system) for deaf, while they would simply be number gestures (not linguistic) for hearing controls. A Fast Periodic Visual Stimulation design was used with electroencephalography recordings to examine whether these finger‐number configurations are differently processed by the brain when they are signs (in deaf signers) as compared to when they are gestures (in hearing controls). Results showed that deaf signers show stronger discrimination responses to canonical finger‐montring configurations compared to hearing controls. A second control experiment furthermore demonstrated that this finding was not merely due to the experience deaf signers have with the processing of hand configurations, as brain responses did not differ between groups for finger‐counting configurations. Number configurations are therefore processed differently by deaf signers, but only when these configurations are part of their language system.
Impact of tariff refinement on the choice between scheduled C‐section and normal delivery: Evidence from France
Authors: Proshin Alex , Cazenave‐Lacroutz Alexandre , Rochaix Lise
Published: April 2023

Studying quasi‐experimental data from French hospitals from 2010 to 2013, we test the effects of a substantial diagnosis‐related group (DRG) tariff refinement that occurred in 2012, designed to reduce financial risks of French maternity wards. To estimate the resulting DRG incentives with regard to the choice between scheduled C‐sections and other modes of child delivery, we predict, based on pre‐admission patient characteristics, the probability of each possible child delivery outcome and calculate expected differences in associated tariffs. Using patient‐level administrative data, we find that introducing additional severity levels and clinical factors into the reimbursement algorithm had no significant effect on the probability of a scheduled C‐section being performed. The results are robust to multiple formulations of DRG financial incentives. Our paper is the first study that focuses on the consequences of a DRG refinement in obstetrics and develops a probabilistic approach suitable for measuring the expected effects of DRG fee incentives in the presence of multiple tariff groups.
Responses of soil water dynamics to precipitation events in an alpine meadow ecosystem of the Qinghai Lake Basin based on high‐precision lysimeter measurements
Authors: Wu Tingyun , Li Xiaoyan , Zuo Fenglin , Deng Yuanhong , Hu Guangrong
Published: April 2023

In high‐altitude cold areas, how precipitation and freeze–thaw processes affect soil water dynamics is not well understood due to a lack of high real‐time resolution measurements. This study measured soil water balance components with a high‐precision lysimeter in an alpine meadow ecosystem in the Qinghai Lake watershed from June 30, 2020, to June 30, 2021. The results showed that the total precipitation (TP), evapotranspiration (ET), soil water storage change (ΔS) and the vertical water flow (WF) of this ecosystem were 705.18, 633.21, 72.58 and −0.60 mm, respectively, during the study period. Continuous wet days with precipitation events larger than 10.00 mm led to percolation, while continuous dry days with strong ET caused an upward WF. Pearson correlation analysis suggests that a larger instantaneous precipitation intensity may be more conducive to an increase in shallow soil moisture (R2 > 0.72, p < 0.05). Furthermore, the TP thresholds in the complete thawing period inducing the soil water response in the mattic epipedon layer (0–20 cm) and organic layer (20–40 cm) were 3.24 mm and 16.61 mm, respectively. The difference in the average response time of soil water to a single precipitation event between the mattic epipedon layer and organic layer was 5.52 ± 3.65 h. These results deepen the understanding of the temporal pattern of water flux in alpine meadow ecosystems on the Tibetan Plateau.
Predicting lung cancer treatment response from CT images using deep learning
Authors: Tyagi Shweta , Talbar Sanjay N.
Published: April 2023

Lung cancer is the deadliest type of cancer and is one of the most frequently occurring cancers. It is primarily diagnosed in later stages when treatment becomes difficult. For better treatment and higher chances of survival, the treatment response of lung cancer patients needs to be analyzed to check whether the patients are responding to the treatment or not. This analysis can be done with the help of follow‐up computed tomography (CT) imaging before and after the treatment. However, manually analyzing the baseline and post‐treatment CT scan images of so many lung cancer patients is a tedious task. This study proposes an intuitive approach based on deep learning to analyze lung cancer through CT scan images before and after the treatment. In this approach, we utilized a segmentation network to segment the lung tumor in the follow‐up CT images. The segmented tumor is then analyzed to check the treatment effect, as suggested by the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) guidelines. The segmentation network combines a vision transformer and a convolutional neural network. The segmentation network is first trained on a public dataset and then fine‐tuned on the local dataset to improve the segmentation performance. For this study, we have collected a lung cancer dataset from an Indian hospital. The dataset is divided into two parts dataset I and dataset II. Dataset I consists of 100 CT scans, which we use to fine‐tune the proposed segmentation network. Dataset II comprises 220 CT scans of 110 patients, consisting of baseline and post‐treatment scans. We use dataset II for testing. We achieved significant performance.
Research and scholarly methods: Creating a research protocol
Authors: Axon David R.
Published: April 2023

Pharmacy students, residents, fellows, faculty, and other early career pharmacists often need support when preparing to engage in research for the first time. The purpose of this article is to describe a template for a pharmacy practice‐based research proposal, that may be used by new researchers to help them plan their research project. The proposal begins with the proposed project title and a list of authors and is followed by the introduction section and methods section. The proposal ends with the budget, timeline, references, and appendices. Each section of the proposal outline is described in detail, and example wording is provided to help guide the proposal development.
Adsorption of Ibuprofen as a pharmaceutical pollutant from aqueous phase using zinc oxide nanoparticles: Green synthesis, batch adsorption, and biological activities
Authors: Alibrahim Khuloud A.
Published: April 2023

Recent interest has focused on the biosynthesis of metal nanoparticles (NPs), particularly from plants. The production of precipitate served as an early indicator of the presence in the present study's use of ZnO NPs green synthesis of these particles, which was further validated by; Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, x‐ray diffraction. Additionally, the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller was used to calculate the surface area, which came out to be 119.12 m2/g. Since the true effects of new pollutants, including medicines, on the environment and human health are not well understood, their presence in aquatic systems poses a severe hazard. For this reason, the antibiotic Ibuprofen (IBP) was absorbable to ZnO‐NPs in this search. As opposed to fitting to Langmuir isothermally, the adsorption process was discovered to be pseudo‐second‐order kinetically, and the reaction was determined to be a chemisorption process. The process was endothermic and spontaneous, according to thermodynamic studies. Maximizing IBP removal from aqueous solution required the use of a Box–Behnken surface statistical design with four components, four levels, and response surface modeling. Solution pH, IBP concentration, duration, and dose were the four parameters that were utilized. The regeneration process, which is employed for five cycles with excellent efficiency, is the best benefit of using ZnO‐NPs. Examine the elimination of pollutants from actual samples as well. However, the adsorbent is quite effective at reducing biological activity. At high concentrations of ZnO‐NPs demonstrated notable antioxidant activity and Red Blood Cell (RBC) hemocompatibility and no discernible hemolysis was seen. ZnO‐NPs demonstrated a notable percent suppression of α‐amylase up to 53.6% at 400 μg/mL, and so displayed potential as an antidiabetic. Cyclooxygenase was suppressed by ZnO‐NPs in an anti‐inflammatory test (COX‐1 & COX‐2) up to 56.32% and 52.04% at a concentration of 400 μg/mL, respectively. Significant anti‐Alzheimer potential was demonstrated by ZnO‐NPs at 400 μg/mL by inhibiting Acetyl cholinesterase and Butyl cholinesterase up to 68.98 ± 1.62% and 62.36%, respectively. We concluded that guava extract is helpful for ZnO‐NP reduction and capping. The bioengineered NPs could prevent Alzheimer's, diabetes, and inflammation and were biocompatible.
Clinical Characteristics of Sphenoid Sinus Fungus Ball: A Nine‐year Retrospective Study of 77 Cases
Authors: Jiang Tianjiao , Zhang Qian , Li Chunhao , Li Tong , Sun Shujuan , Chen Aiping , Ji Hongzhi , Wan Yuzhu , Shi Li , Yu Liang
Published: April 2023

Objective

This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics of sphenoid sinus fungus ball (SSFB) to help increase the accuracy of diagnosis and efficiency of treatment.

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed the data of 77 patients who were histopathologically diagnosed with SSFB.

Results

The mean age of SSFB patients was 52.4 years (range 25–84), and 47 patients (61.0%) were female. Compared to age‐matched and sex‐matched chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) patients, headache was more common in SSFB patients (79.2%; p < 0.0001). SSFB patients also had higher prevalence of diabetes than CRS (p = 0.0420). The features of computed tomography (CT) were sphenoid sinus opacification (100%), sclerosis (93.5%), calcification (76.6%), and bone erosion (41.6%). Functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) was the best treatment option, and the trans‐ethmoid (n = 64, 83.1%) was the most commonly used approach. No one experienced a recurrence of SSFB in 44 successfully contacted patients. Six months after FESS, 91.0% of patients (40/44) established proper drainage in the sphenoid sinus. The recovery rates for headache and nasal symptoms were 91.7% (33/36) and 77.8% (7/9) respectively.

Conclusion

SSFB is more prevalent in older women and usually presents as unilateral headache. Diabetes is a potential risk factor for SSFB. CT findings provide evidence for diagnosis and suggestions for surgical approaches. FESS is the optimal treatment for SSFB. After FESS, most patients had good prognosis with no recurrence of SSFB. However, regular endoscopic follow‐up is required due to the possibility of the postoperative closure of sphenoid ostium.

Level of Evidence

3 Laryngoscope, 133:3292–3298, 2023
Volumetric and Energetic Properties of Polystyrene and Polyethylene Oxide Affected by Thermal Cycling
Authors: Minisini Benoit , Soldera Armand
Published: April 2023

Polymers are known to exhibit hysteresis in their thermal and volumetric properties between cooling and heating at the glass transition. A thorough investigation of this hysteresis using atomistic simulation is not proposed until now. In this work, therefore, the glass transition is studied through heating and cooling protocols at constant rate for two polymers, polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene oxide (PEO), with different molecular weights. To achieve this objective, the analysis is carried out by plotting against temperature, specific volume, coefficient of thermal expansion, total energy, and constant volume heat capacity. The calculated properties for PS and PEO are found to be in good agreement with experimental data, confirming the accuracy of the TraPPE force field for these polymers. The glass transition temperature (Tg) range remains the same regardless of the properties. Moreover, the difference in properties between heating and cooling processes systematically leads to a peak at the same temperature, associated with Tg. Finally, starting from a low temperature, the polymer chains remain mainly in a potential well as the temperature rises, while during cooling the exploration of the configuration space continues up to the temperature where no torsional changes are observed.
The interplay of carbon and nitrogen distribution: Prospects for improved crop yields
Authors: Aluko Oluwaseun Olayemi , Liu Zhixin , Sun Xuwu
Published: April 2023

Growth and productivity of plants primarily depend on the balanced distribution of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) among different organs. Previous studies on crop improvement have focussed on the C or N assimilation and distribution. However, recent findings reveal that C and N form a complex integrated network and are often dependent on each other to affect crop productivity. The underlying physiological and molecular mechanisms involved in the coordinated distribution of C and N among different plant organs are yet to be fully uncovered. Crucial roles in regulating C and N balance are played by transporters that mediate their movement across different organs. In Cotton, which has an indeterminate growth pattern, source–sink assimilate distribution could be a major bottleneck impeding fibre productivity. This review summarises our current understanding of C and N transport mechanisms, explores and compares different physiological and molecular approaches involved in the C–N distribution cascade, including cotton and other plant species. A comprehensive understanding of these integrated regulatory mechanisms is crucial for improving crop yields and fibre productivity.
Polyethylene Slurries: Swelling and Solubility
Authors: Mrad Amel Ben , Sheibat‐Othman Nida , Amorim Ana Paula Alves , do Rosario Roberta Lopes , McKenna Timothy F. L.
Published: April 2023

The solubility of different alkanes in polyethylene (PE) of different densities, as well as the solubility of the polymers in the alkanes, and the degree of swelling of the powders are studied as a function of temperature. It is found that the solubility of linear low‐density polyethylene (LLDPE) is as much as 6 times greater than that of high‐density polyethylene (HDPE) at the same temperature, and that LLDPE swells at least 50% more than HDPE the same diluent at the same temperature. The breakthrough curves also show that lighter alkanes swell the PE more at a given temperature than heavier ones. Also, the breakthrough points (the temperature at which the swelling versus temperature curves change slope) occur at lower temperatures for PE of lower density. Gel formation is observed for medium and low density polyethylenes in pentane and hexane. This quantitative information will be useful in developing process models for different industrial polymerization processes, as particle swelling can have a significant impact on slurry viscosity and the flow stability and solids loading of commercial reactors.
Benzoic Acid Inclusion Effects on Health Status and Growth Performance of Juvenile Pacific White Shrimp Penaeus vannamei
Authors: Loya-Rodríguez Mariany , Palacios-González Daniel Alberto , Lozano-Olvera Rodolfo , Martínez-Rodríguez Irma Eugenia , Puello-Cruz Ana Carmela
Published: April 2023

Organic acids and their salts are used as additives in aquafeeds, as their participation in some metabolic pathways and energy generation in organisms increases the nutritional value. Benzoic acid (BA; C6H5-COOH), a white crystalline substance with a chemical structure that contains carboxylic acid attached to a benzene ring, is naturally found in plant and animal tissues. It is one of the most used organic acids due to its antifungal properties, and it acts as a preservative for a variety of human consumption products. Additionally, it demonstrates health and growth benefits when included in feeds by modifying the energy metabolism, microbiota, and intestinal tract morphology. Information on BA inclusion in aquatic food is rare, and such information for Pacific white shrimp Penaeus vannamei is nonexistent. This study evaluated the effects on growth, survival, feed conversion ratio, energy content, and health status (through lipid quantification in the hepatopancreas, histological examination, and salinity stress tests) of Pacific white shrimp juveniles by including BA at different concentrations (0.0, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 g/kg) in a commercial feed. Diets with BA inclusion produced significant differences in the hepatosomatic index, hepatopancreas lipid content, and histopathological index value (reflecting damage to the hepatopancreas and antennal gland atrophy) at all BA concentrations. The lowest survival obtained was 94.44% at a BA concentration of 1.0 g/kg. The feed conversion ratio was in accordance with the range established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations except for values obtained at 0 g/kg. Calorimetric analysis and BA detection in muscle revealed no significant differences between concentrations. Due to the results obtained in this study, the evaluated inclusions of BA are not recommended for use in juvenile Pacific white shrimp diets.
Analytical model for a circular lined tunnel embedded in the layered soil under seismic waves
Authors: Li Chao‐Long , Lu Jian‐Fei , Shi Meng‐Qin , Shen Rong‐Feng
Published: April 2023

In this study, based on the wave function expansion method and exact stiffness method (ESM), an analytical model for a circular lined tunnel embedded in the layered soil under seismic waves is established. For convenience, the wave field in the layered‐soil‐tunnel (LST) system is divided into three parts, that is, the free wave field and scattering wave field in the layered soil, as well as the transmitted wave field in the lining. The free wave field in the layered soil is determined by the ESM for the layered soil. The scattering wave field in the layered soil is further decomposed into three parts, namely, the principal and complementary wave fields in the soil layer with the tunnel (the tunnel layer) as well as the modified wave field occurring in the other soil layers. These scattering wave fields are represented by the corresponding principal, complementary, and modified wave functions, respectively. The principal wave functions associated with the direct cylindrical waves emanated from the tunnel are represented by the Hankel functions. The complementary and modified wave functions correspond to the additional responses of the tunnel layer and the other soil layers due to the direct cylindrical waves from the tunnel, and can be obtained by expanding direct cylindrical waves into plane waves together with the application of the ESM. The transmitted wave field in the lining is simply represented by two kinds of Bessel functions. With the aforementioned wave field representations, the boundary value problem for the LST system under seismic waves is formulated. Based on the proposed analytical model, some numerical results and corresponding analyses are presented. Presented numerical results indicate that the dynamic stress concentration factor (DSCF) associated with the stiffer tunnel layer is usually larger than that associated with the softer tunnel layer for the incidence of plane P waves with not very low frequencies, while the circumstance for the incidence of plane SV waves shows an opposite tendency.
What the clinician needs to know about medical nutrition therapy in critically ill patients in 2023: A narrative review
Authors: Dresen Ellen , Notz Quirin , Menger Johannes , Homayr Anna L. , Lindner Matthias , Radke David I. , Stoppe Christian , Elke Gunnar
Published: April 2023

Medical nutrition therapy (MNT) represents an essential element in the medical care of critically ill patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU). Increasing awareness exists that energy and nutrients not only preserve body structures such as lean body/muscle mass but also represent promising therapeutic elements to target the profound metabolic, inflammatory, endocrinologic, and immunologic alterations occurring during critical illness. However, despite intense research activities for years, diverse aspects of MNT such as the optimal timing, dosing, and composition of energy and macronutrient supply, as well as the role of micronutrients, are still an issue of debate resulting from strong heterogeneity in methods and findings of respective studies. These discrepancies are also reflected in diverging recommendations of international clinical nutrition guidelines for specific topics. In addition, implementing targeted, personalized MNT strategies in routine clinical practice underlies difficulties and challenges resulting from disease‐specific issues and/or organizational, structural, and educational aspects. This narrative review aims to summarize the most recent evidence relevant to clinical practice on selected aspects of MNT in adult patients in the ICU and to provide guidance for implementing evidence‐based approaches for adequate energy and nutrient supply in the ICU setting.
On the effectiveness of the Moulinec–Suquet discretization for composite materials
Authors: Schneider Matti
Published: April 2023

Moulinec and Suquet introduced a method for computational homogenization based on the fast Fourier transform which turned out to be rather computationally efficient. The underlying discretization scheme was subsequently identified as an approach based on trigonometric polynomials, coupled to the trapezoidal rule to substitute full integration. For problems with smooth solutions, the power of spectral methods is well‐known. However, for heterogeneous microstructures, there are jumps in the coefficients, and the solution fields are not smooth enough due to discontinuities across material interfaces. Previous convergence results only provided convergence of the discretization per se, that is, without explicit rates, and could not explain the effectiveness of the discretization observed in practice. In this work, we provide such explicit convergence rates for the local strain as well as the stress field and the effective stresses based on more refined techniques. More precisely, we consider a class of industrially relevant, discontinuous elastic moduli separated by sufficiently smooth interfaces and show rates which are known to be sharp from numerical experiments. The applied techniques are of independent interest, that is, we employ a local smoothing strategy, utilize Féjer means as well as Bernstein estimates and rely upon recently established superconvergence results for the effective elastic energy in the Galerkin setting. The presented results shed theoretical light on the effectiveness of the Moulinec–Suquet discretization in practice. Indeed, the obtained convergence rates coincide with those obtained for voxel finite element methods, which typically require higher computational effort.
Investigation of Solid–Solid Transition in Ti and Zr at High Pressure by Electrical Resistivity
Authors: Ezenwa Innocent C. , Yoshino Takashi
Published: April 2023

The group IV metals Ti and Zr are isoelectronic and crystallize in a hexagonal closed packed structure at ambient conditions. Herein, the electrical resistivity of Ti and Zr at room temperature with increasing pressure up to 20 GPa is reported using a 4‐wire resistivity method. The slope of their resistivity against pressure changes value at various pressures. At 10 GPa, resistivity of Ti increases with pressure whereas Zr resistivity decreases with pressure. The opposite behavior is interpreted to be due to incoherent scattering in Ti versus coherent scattering in Zr, as both undergo solid α → ω transition. By comparing the Zr result with a previous study that combined in situ X‐ray synchrotron with compressional and shear wave velocity measurement, the boundaries of the region of α → ω phase coexistence are constrained in Zr to be 4–8 GPa. The Ti result will be valuable for constraining its boundary when such in situ velocity measurement becomes available for Ti as well.
The mean residual life model for the right‐censored data in the presence of covariate measurement errors
Authors: Chen Chyong‐Mei , Weng Shuo‐Chun , Tsai Jia‐Ren , Shen Pao‐sheng
Published: April 2023

In this article, we consider the mean residual life regression model in the presence of covariate measurement errors. In the whole cohort, the surrogate variable of the error‐prone covariate is available for each subject, while the instrumental variable (IV), which is related to the underlying true covariates, is measured only for some subjects, the calibration sample. Without specifying distributions of measurement errors but assuming that the IV is missing at random, we develop two estimation methods, the IV calibration and cohort estimators, for the regression parameters by solving estimation equations (EEs) based on the calibration sample and cohort sample, respectively. To improve estimation efficiency, a synthetic estimator is derived by applying the generalized method of moment for all EEs. The large sample properties of the proposed estimators are established and their finite sample performance are evaluated via simulation studies. Simulation results show that the cohort and synthetic estimators outperform the IV calibration estimator and the relative efficiency of the cohort and synthetic estimators mainly depends on the missing rate of IV. In the case of low missing rate, the synthetic estimator is more efficient than the cohort estimator, while the result can be reversed when the missing rate is high. We illustrate the proposed method by application to data from the patients with stage 5 chronic kidney disease in Taiwan.
Introduction: The Governance Challenge of Radioactive Waste Management
Authors: van Est Rinie , Arentsen Maarten , Dekker Romy
Published: April 2023

Long-term radioactive waste management (RWM) is a multidimensional and multi-level governance challenge. This chapter introduces and explains a governance ecosystem framework as tool to comparatively analyze how ten European countries covered by the book, deal with the complexities of the governance challenge of RWM.
UK Nuclear Waste Policy: 50 Wasted Years
Authors: Thomas Stephen
Published: April 2023

For the past 50 years, the UK nuclear industry has characterised disposal of radioactive waste as a social problem not a technology problem. Yet nearly 50 years after the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution’s report, the UK is still several decades away from building facilities that will provide a safe, permanent home for all but the lowest-level categories of waste. Attempts to site new facilities have repeatedly failed. In 2007, the approach changed from one driven by identifying an ideal site then implementing it, to one that placed consent from the hosting community at the forefront. The new policy appears risky, with little confidence that it will identify a site for the more dangerous waste that is both technically and politically acceptable. If a suitable site cannot be identified, policymakers will have to face the unpalatable option of long-term surface storage of highly radioactive waste.
Belonging and Unbelonging in Kampong Ayer, Brunei Darussalam
Authors: Hamdi Muhammad Faiz Zul , Abdullah Norhidayah , binti Narudin Hazimatul Diyana , Carnegie Paul J.
Published: April 2023

This chapter examines Kampong Ayer from a human geography perspective and the social construction of space over time. Kampong Ayer was and is a historically and culturally significant place in Brunei Darussalam. However, years of resettlement programmes, episodic fire destruction, and movements of people in and out of the area have resulted in significant reorientations. The chapter pays close attention to the ways in which increased migration over the last 30 years has played a role in reshaping everyday senses of belonging for the residents of Kampong Ayer.
Halal Certification in Brunei Darussalam: Bureaucratisation in Everyday Life
Authors: Kifli Siti Norfadzilah
Published: April 2023

This chapter examines the ways in which halal is regulated and practised in Brunei Darussalam by highlighting the process of halal certification and the recent enforcement of the Halal Certificate and Halal Label (Amendment) Order 2017. The analysis considers the impact this has had on the local food and beverage industry, particularly micro, small and medium enterprises. By comparing halal certification in Brunei with Singapore and Malaysia, the chapter identifies the operational concept used to regulate halal in Brunei, namely permissible, good and hygienic food through halalan thayyiban.
Entanglement entropy of local gravitational quenches
Authors: David Justin R. , Mukherjee Jyotirmoy
Published: April 2023

Abstract

We study the time dependence of Rényi/entanglement entropies of locally excited states created by fields with integer spins s ≤ 2 in 4 dimensions. For spins 0, 1 these states are characterised by localised energy densities of a given width which travel as a spherical wave at the speed of light. For the spin 2 case, in the absence of a local gauge invariant stress tensor, we probe these states with the Kretschmann scalar and show they represent localised curvature densities which travel at the speed of light. We consider the reduced density matrix of the half space with these excitations and develop methods which include a convenient gauge choice to evaluate the time dependence of Rényi/entanglement entropies as these quenches enter the half region. In all cases, the entanglement entropy grows in time and saturates at log 2. In the limit, the width of these excitations tends to zero, the growth is determined by order 2s + 1 polynomials in the ratio of the distance from the co-dimension-2 entangling surface and time. The polynomials corresponding to quenches created by the fields can be organized in terms of their representations under the SO(2)T × SO(2)L symmetry preserved by the presence of the co-dimension 2 entangling surface. For fields transforming as scalars under this symmetry, the order 2s + 1 polynomial is completely determined by the spin.
Micromorphic theory as a model for blood in the microcirculation: correction and analysis
Authors: Massing Florian , Glane Sebastian , Müller Wolfgang H. , Eremeyev Victor A.
Published: April 2023

This paper analyzes the applicability of Eringen’s Generalized Continuum Theories as a model for human blood in the microcirculation. The applied theory considers a fluid with a fully deformable substructure, namely a micromorphic fluid. This analysis is motivated by the fact that blood itself can be considered a suspension of deformable particles, i.e., red blood cells (RBCs), suspended in a Newtonian fluid, i.e., blood plasma. As a consequence, non-Newtonian phenomena such as shear-thinning are observed in blood. To test the micromorphic fluid as a model for blood, the solution for the velocity and the motion of substructure is determined for a cylindrical pipe flow and compared to experimental results of blood flow through narrow glass capillaries representing idealized blood vessels. A similar analysis was also conducted by Kang and Eringen in 1976, but it contains some misprints and minor errors regarding the mathematical expressions and subsequent discussion which are corrected in this paper. For certain material parameters, the micromorphic fluid models capture high-shear blood flow in narrow glass capillaries very well. This concerns both the velocity profiles and the shear-thinning behavior. Furthermore, a parameter study reveals that the flexibility of substructure governs the micromorphic shear-thinning. In this regard, parallels can be drawn to the shear-thinning of human blood, which is also induced by the deformability of RBCs. This makes the micromorphic fluid a complex but accurate model for human blood, at least for the considered experiments.
Experimental and numerical study on failure mechanisms of the 7.62$$\times $$ 25 mm FMJ projectile and hyperelastic target material during ballistic impact
Authors: Zochowski Pawel , Cegła Marcin , Szczurowski Krzysztof , Mączak Jędrzej , Bajkowski Marcin , Bednarczyk Ewa , Grygoruk Roman , Magier Mariusz , Pyka Dariusz , Bocian Mirosław , Jamroziak Krzysztof , Gieleta Roman , Prasuła Piotr
Published: April 2023

The main aim of the work was the experimental and numerical analysis of the energy absorption/dissipation capabilities and failure mechanisms of novel hyper-elastic target material intended for ballistic applications including layers of composite armors, projectile catching systems and anti-ricochet layers covering walls of shooting ranges, ballistic tunnels, etc. Static and dynamic mechanical properties of the material were analyzed at both room and elevated temperatures ($$40\div 80\,^{\circ }\hbox {C}$$

40
÷
80

∘

C

). Numerical models of the material and $$7.62\times 25$$

7.62
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 mm FMJ projectile were defined. Simulations of the hyper-elastic target penetration with the projectile were carried out. The differences between the results obtained numerically and experimentally were determined (measured as a relative error) and were lower than 15% what testified about proper definition of the numerical models of the analyzed phenomenon components.
A Stationary Black Hole Must be Axisymmetric in Effective Field Theory
Authors: Hollands Stefan , Ishibashi Akihiro , Reall Harvey S.
Published: April 2023

The black hole rigidity theorem asserts that a rotating stationary black hole must be axisymmetric. This theorem holds for General Relativity with suitable matter fields, in four or more dimensions. We show that the theorem can be extended to any diffeomorphism invariant theory of vacuum gravity, assuming that this is interpreted in the sense of effective field theory, with coupling constants determined in terms of a “UV scale”, and that the black hole solution can locally be expanded as a power series in this scale.
Perfluorinated Compounds (PFCs) in River Waters of Central Italy: Monthly Variation and Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA)
Authors: Castellani Federica , Galletti Mara , Charavgis Fedra , Cingolani Alessandra , Renzi Sonia , Nucci Mirko , Protano Carmela , Vitali Matteo
Published: April 2023

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are a wide class of emerging pollutants. In this study, we applied the US EPA method 533 for the determination of 21 PFCs in river water samples. In particular, this method was used to investigate the presence of the target PFCs in six rivers in central Italy during a 4-month-long monitoring campaign. In 73% of the analyzed samples, at least some of the target PFCs were detected at concentrations higher than the limit of detection (LOD). The sum of the 21 target analytes (∑21PFCs) ranged from 4.3 to 68.5 ng L−1, with the highest concentrations measured in the month of June, probably due to a minor river streamflow occurring in the warmer summer months. Considering the individual congeners, PFBA and PFPeA, followed by PFHxA and PFOA, were the predominantly detected compounds. Short- and medium-chain PFCs (C4–C9) prevail over the long-chain PFCs (C10–C18), likely due to the increased industrial use and the higher solubility of short-chain PFCs compared to long-chain PFCs. The ecological risk assessment, conducted by using the risk quotient method, highlighted that the risk for aquatic environments associated with PFBA, PFPeA, PFBS, PFHxA and PFOA was low or negligible. Only for PFOA, there was a medium level of risk in two rivers in the month of June. With regard to PFOS, 54% of the river water samples were classified as “high risk” for the aquatic environment. The remaining 46% of the samples were classified as “medium risk.”
How to conceive the dignity of the dead? A dispositional account
Authors: Münch Nikolai , Müller-Salo Johannes , Schwarz Clara-Sophie
Published: April 2023

In dealing with human corpses, notions of dignity play a decisive role, especially within legal texts that regulate a corpse’s handling. However, it is quite unclear how the claim “Treat human corpses with dignity!” should be understood and justified. Drawing upon examples and problems from forensic medicine, this paper explores three possible lines of interpreting such demands: (a) positions that closely link the dignity of the human corpse to the dignity of the former living persons and (b) accounts that derive the dignity of the dead from consequentialist considerations. We argue that both lines heavily rely on contestable metaphysical claims and therefore propose an alternative account for the dignity of the dead. Our proposal (c) focuses on action-guiding attitudes and the symbolic value of the dead. Such a conception allows for a variety of morally appropriate groundings of individual attitudes. It avoids metaphysically troublesome premises and, at the same time, allows to classify certain actions and manners of acting as clearly inappropriate and blameworthy.
Brainstem–cortex disconnection in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: bulbar impairment, genotype associations, asymptomatic changes and biomarker opportunities
Authors: Tahedl Marlene , Tan Ee Ling , Chipika Rangariroyashe H. , Hengeveld Jennifer C. , Vajda Alice , Doherty Mark A. , McLaughlin Russell L. , Siah We Fong , Hardiman Orla , Bede Peter
Published: April 2023

Background

Bulbar dysfunction is a cardinal feature of ALS with important quality of life and management implications. The objective of this study is the longitudinal evaluation of a large panel imaging metrics pertaining to bulbar dysfunction, encompassing cortical measures, structural and functional cortico-medullary connectivity indices and brainstem metrics.

Methods

A standardised, multimodal imaging protocol was implemented with clinical and genetic profiling to systematically appraise the biomarker potential of specific metrics. A total of 198 patients with ALS and 108 healthy controls were included.

Results

Longitudinal analyses revealed progressive structural and functional disconnection between the motor cortex and the brainstem over time. Cortical thickness reduction was an early feature on cross-sectional analyses with limited further progression on longitudinal follow-up. Receiver operating characteristic analyses of the panel of MR metrics confirmed the discriminatory potential of bulbar imaging measures between patients and controls and area-under-the-curve values increased significantly on longitudinal follow-up. C9orf72 carriers exhibited lower brainstem volumes, lower cortico-medullary structural connectivity and faster cortical thinning. Sporadic patients without bulbar symptoms, already exhibit significant brainstem and cortico-medullary connectivity alterations.

Discussion

Our results indicate that ALS is associated with multi-level integrity change from cortex to brainstem. The demonstration of significant corticobulbar alterations in patients without bulbar symptoms confirms considerable presymptomatic disease burden in sporadic ALS. The systematic assessment of radiological measures in a single-centre academic study helps to appraise the diagnostic and monitoring utility of specific measures for future clinical and clinical trial applications.
Physics-informed deep learning for three-dimensional transient heat transfer analysis of functionally graded materials
Authors: Guo Hongwei , Zhuang Xiaoying , Fu Xiaolong , Zhu Yunzheng , Rabczuk Timon
Published: April 2023

We present a physics-informed deep learning model for the transient heat transfer analysis of three-dimensional functionally graded materials (FGMs) employing a Runge–Kutta discrete time scheme. Firstly, the governing equation, associated boundary conditions and the initial condition for transient heat transfer analysis of FGMs with exponential material variations are presented. Then, the deep collocation method with the Runge–Kutta integration scheme for transient analysis is introduced. The prior physics that helps to generalize the physics-informed deep learning model is introduced by constraining the temperature variable with discrete time schemes and initial/boundary conditions. Further the fitted activation functions suitable for dynamic analysis are presented. Finally, we validate our approach through several numerical examples on FGMs with irregular shapes and a variety of boundary conditions. From numerical experiments, the predicted results with PIDL demonstrate well agreement with analytical solutions and other numerical methods in predicting of both temperature and flux distributions and can be adaptive to transient analysis of FGMs with different shapes, which can be the promising surrogate model in transient dynamic analysis.
Onset of pattern formation in thin ferromagnetic films with perpendicular anisotropy
Authors: Brietzke Birger , Knüpfer Hans
Published: April 2023

We consider the onset of pattern formation in an ultrathin ferromagnetic film of the form$$\Omega _t:= \Omega \times [0,t]$$Ωt:=Ω×[0,t]for$$\Omega \Subset \mathbb {R}^2$$Ω⋐R2with preferred perpendicular magnetization direction. The relative micromagnetic energy is given by$$\begin{aligned} \mathcal {E}[M]= \int _{\Omega _t} d^2 |\nabla M|^2+ Q \int _{\Omega _t} (M_1^2+M_2^2) + \int _{\mathbb {R}^3} |\mathcal {H}(M)|^2 - \int _{\mathbb {R}^3} |\mathcal {H}(e_3 \chi _{\Omega _t})|^2, \end{aligned}$$E[M]=∫Ωtd2|∇M|2+Q∫Ωt(M12+M22)+∫R3|H(M)|2-∫R3|H(e3χΩt)|2,describing the energy difference for a given magnetization$$M: \mathbb {R}^3 \rightarrow \mathbb {R}^3$$M:R3→R3with$$|M| = \chi _{\Omega _t}$$|M|=χΩtand the uniform magnetization$$e_3 \chi _{\Omega _t}$$e3χΩt. For$$t \ll d$$t≪d, we derive the scaling of the minimal energy and a BV-bound in the critical regime, where the base area of the film has size of order$$|\Omega |^{{\frac{1}{2}}} \sim (Q-1)^{{-\frac{1}{2}}} d e^{\frac{2\pi d}{t} \sqrt{Q-1}}$$|Ω|12∼(Q-1)-12de2πdtQ-1. We furthermore investigate the onset of non-trivial pattern formation in the critical regime depending on the size of the rescaled film.