bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Association of Prolonged Nocturnal Hypoxemia with Clinical Worsening in Patients with Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension Undergoing Pulmonary Endarterectomy
Authors: Xu Hang , Song Wu , Zheng Shanshan , Huyan Yige , Ma Jiexu , Zhong Zhaoji , Liu Sheng
Published: August 2023

Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is common in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), but the pathological determinants of adverse outcomes remain unknown. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic significance of various sleep parameters in patients with CTEPH undergoing pulmonary endarterectomy. Methods: Consecutive patients diagnosed with CTEPH who underwent overnight cardiorespiratory polygraphy for the assessment of OSA were enrolled. Time-to-event analysis was performed investigating cardiorespiratory indices (e.g., apnea-hypopnea index [AHI], time percentage with oxygen saturation below <90% [T90]) and clinical worsening using the log-rank test, and multivariable Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for multiple confounders. Results: Of the 71 patients with operable CTEPH who underwent overnight cardiorespiratory polygraphy, 36 (50.7%) had OSA (AHI of ≥5) and 32 (45.1%) had nocturnal hypoxemia (T90 of ≥30%). A 10% increase in T90 was associated with a 27% greater risk of worse hemodynamics, as quantified by mean pulmonary artery pressure of ≥46 mmHg (odds ratio: 1.27, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.07–1.50, p = 0.006). Clinical worsening (CW) was experienced by 19 (26.8%) patients over a median follow-up of 26.8 months. AHI did not predict a higher risk of CW (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.00, 95% CI: 0.93–1.06, p = 0.906). A higher cumulative incidence of CW was seen in patients with nocturnal hypoxemia than in those with normoxemia (43.8% vs. 12.8%, log-rank p = 0.017). Cox regression analysis revealed the association between nocturnal hypoxemia and an increased risk of CW (HR: 3.27, 95% CI: 1.17–9.13, p = 0.024), and these associations persisted after covariate adjustment. Conclusions: Nocturnal hypoxemia quantified by T90 was a risk predictor of short- and long-term CW events among patients with operable CTEPH.
“Let’s Take Care of the Caregivers”
Authors: Hatchuel Géraldine
Published: August 2023

In this paper, we present the findings of a project "Let's take care of the caregivers", an initiative carried out during the COVID-19 health crisis. The paper highlights first, the potential of experience design to identify the empathic, emotional challenges and assaults that caregivers have to cope with, and second, its capacity to design new work solutions and strategies that improve the lives of caregivers themselves. Moreover, the project also helped to structure a research program that will be developed through an academic chair devoted to the study of experience design in relation to transdisciplinary research in the fields of ethnography, medicine and management sciences. The ambition of the chair is to change managerial practices in care institutions (hospitals, nursing homes, hospices) and its potential for performance (Borja de Mozota 2001, 2010, 2014).
Assessing self-regulated writing strategies, self-efficacy, task complexity, and performance in English academic writing
Authors: Teng Mark Feng
Published: August 2023

The present study focused on the assessment of how task complexity and learner variables (English proficiency level, self-regulated writing strategies, and writing self-efficacy belief) influenceEnglish academic writing for students in a foreign language context. The participants were 270students from a medium-sized university in China. All participants completed measures on selfregulated writing strategies, self-efficacy, and an academic writing test. Guided research questions aimed to explore the extent to which task complexity and English proficiency level influenced writing performance along with how learners’ self-efficacy and self-regulated writingstrategies mediated the role of task complexity in academic writing performance. Structuralequation modelling results showed that task complexity and English proficiency level influencedlearners’ writing performance. Self-efficacy beliefs and the use of self-regulated writing strategiesmediated the role of task complexity on academic writing performance. Implications related tothe assessment of task complexity, self-regulated writing strategies, self-efficacy, and academicwriting were discussed.
The Mobilizing Potential of Mass Migration: Experimental Evidence from Honduras
Authors: Acevedo Jesse , Castro Francisca
Published: August 2023

Does mass emigration encourage or undermine protests? Emigration, being a personal decision made by households, can potentially aggregate into a collective expression of discontent against the prevailing status quo. In this paper, we focus on whether large-scale emigration influences protest support and participation. Using a survey experiment conducted in Honduras, we assess how emigration’s salience affected public opinion about anti-government demonstrations in 2021. Our findings reveal that respondents primed with information about migration expressed more favorable opinions toward protests, although their participation in demonstrations was unaffected. This study contributes to a better understanding of the link between emigration and public opinion for those who stay in their origin country, and also its limitations to mobilizing for change during periods of political turmoil.
Harnessing Machine Learning for Fluid Mechanics: Unveiling Complex Phenomena and Advancing Predictive Proficiency
Authors: Sidhu Gaikwad
Published: August 2023

Harnessing Machine Learning for Fluid Mechanics: Unveiling Complex Phenomena and Advancing Predictive ProficiencyGaikwad Sidhu, Sushrut Patel
Desnobberizing good eating and drinking: (Re)defining gastronomy and culinary arts
Authors: Lee Kai-Sean , Bucher Shawn
Published: August 2023

What does “good eating” mean in the world of gastronomy and culinary arts? In this article, the authors subjected gastronomy’s longstanding definition “the art and science of good eating” to critique. While widely accepted, the standing definition often carries an elitist undertone that reflects Eurocentric ideals. In this conceptual inquiry, the authors examined the problematic connotations of “good eating” and propose the idea of desnobberization, a gastronomic lens that encourages one to rethink what constitutes as “good” in the context of good eating that ultimately advocates for a more inclusive and relativist way of appreciating and thinking about food. Good eating, in short, should lie in the heart of the taster. The authors also offer an original definition for gastronomy and culinary arts.
Social Vulnerability and Climate Risk Assessment for Agricultural Communities in The United States
Authors: Tanir Tugkan , Yildirim Enes , Ferreira Celso , Demir Ibrahim
Published: August 2023

Floods and droughts significantly affect agricultural activities and pose a threat to food security by subsequently reducing agricultural production. The impact of flood events is distributed disproportionately among agricultural communities based on their socio-economic fabric. Understanding climate-related hazards is critical for planning mitigation measures to secure vulnerable communities. This research presents a comprehensive risk evaluation methodology for assessing the combined risk of drought and flood hazards among agricultural communities in the United States. By integrating social vulnerability levels with drought and flood exposure data, the study identifies the most vulnerable agricultural communities individually, aiming to provide significant insights into the vulnerability of the agricultural community in the continental U.S. The research addresses a critical scientific gap through a nationwide social vulnerability assessment, evaluating expected annual losses for flood and drought hazards, and combining social vulnerability with expected annual losses. The analyses were conducted by adapting datasets and methodologies that are developed by federal institutions such as FEMA, USACE, and USDA. The study identified the 30 most socially vulnerable counties and assessed their exposure to drought and flooding, finding that Mendocino, Sonoma, Humboldt, El Dorado, Fresno, and Kern counties in California had the highest drought exposure and expected annual losses, with Humboldt (CA) and Montgomery (TX) having the highest combined risk.
The conceptualisation, experience, and recognition of emotion in autism: Differences in the psychological mechanisms involved in autistic and non-autistic emotion recognition
Authors: Keating Connor Tom , Kraaijkamp Carmen , Cook Jennifer
Published: August 2023

Existing literature suggests that differences between autistic and non-autistic people in emotion recognition might be related to differences in how these groups experience emotions themselves. Specifically, autistic individuals may show differences in the consistency of emotional experiences, the ability to distinguish between emotions, and/or their semantic understanding of emotions. In this study, we empirically tested this claim by (1) investigating whether autistic and non-autistic adults differed in the consistency and/or differentiation of their emotional experiences, and their understanding and differentiation of emotion concepts, after controlling for alexithymia, and (2) assessing the contribution of these emotional abilities to emotion recognition. To this end, a total of 58 autistic and 59 non-autistic individuals, matched on age, sex, and non-verbal reasoning ability, completed a series of validated questionnaires and computer-based emotion tasks. We found no group differences in emotional consistency, emotion differentiation, and understanding or differentiation of emotion concepts after controlling for alexithymia. For non-autistic people, the ability to differentiate one’s own emotions contributed to enhanced emotion recognition. Whilst having more differentiated emotion concepts (indirectly) contributed to elevated emotion recognition for non-autistic people, having a more precise understanding of emotion concepts contributed for autistic people. Our findings demonstrate that there are differences in the psychological mechanisms involved in autistic and non-autistic emotion recognition. The results of the current study pave the way for future systems to help both autistic and non-autistic people to more accurately recognize emotional facial expressions.
The role of prediction and visual tracking strategies during manual interception: An exploration of individual differences
Authors: Arthur Tom , Vine Samuel James , Wilson Mark , Harris David
Published: August 2023

The interception (or avoidance) of moving objects is a common component of various daily living tasks, however, it remains unclear whether precise alignment of foveal vision with a target is important for motor performance. Furthermore, there has also been little examination of individual differences in visual tracking strategy and the use of anticipatory gaze adjustments. We examined the importance of in-flight tracking and predictive visual behaviours using a virtual reality environment that required participants (n = 41) to intercept tennis balls projected from one of two possible locations. Here, we explored whether different tracking strategies spontaneously arose during the task, and which were most effective. While indices of closer in-flight tracking (pursuit gain, tracking coherence, tracking lag, and saccades) were predictive of better interception performance, these relationships were rather weak. Anticipatory gaze shifts towards the correct release location of the ball provided no benefit for subsequent interception. Nonetheless, two interceptive strategies were evident: 1) early anticipation of the ball’s onset location followed by attempts to closely track the ball in flight (i.e., predictive strategy); or 2) positioning gaze between possible onset locations and then using peripheral vision to locate the moving ball (i.e., a visual pivot strategy). Despite showing much poorer in-flight foveal tracking of the ball, participants adopting a visual pivot strategy actually performed slightly better in the task. Overall, these results indicate that precise alignment of the fovea with the target may not be vital for interception tasks, but that observers can adopt quite varied visual guidance approaches.
ChillsDB 2.0: Individual Differences in Aesthetic Chills Among 2,900+ Southern California Participants
Authors: Schoeller Felix , Christov-Moore Leonardo , Lynch Caitlin , Reggente Nicco
Published: August 2023

We significantly enriched ChillsDB, a dataset of audiovisual stimuli validated to elicit aesthetic chills. A total of 2,937 participants from Southern California were exposed to 40 stimuli, consisting of 20 stimuli (10 from ChillsDB and 10 new) presented either in audiovisual or audio-only formats. Questionnaires were administered assessing demographics, personality traits, state affect, and political orientation. Detailed data on chills responses is captured alongside participants' ratings of the stimuli. The dataset combines controlled elicitation of chills using previously validated materials with individual difference measures to enable investigation of predictors and correlates of aesthetic chills phenomena. It aims to support continued research on the mechanisms and therapeutic potential of aesthetic chills responses.
Alfred Wegener's Continental Drift Theory: General Analysis
Authors: Kaswa Mahipal
Published: August 2023

Oceans are distributed over 70.8 percent of the entire earth and continents over 29.2 percent. These continents and oceans are not spread together but in different areas. Was its condition like this in the initial times and will it remain like this in the coming times also? We get answers to these questions from continental drift theory and plate tectonics theory. Looking at the map of the world shows that there is a surprising similarity between the east and west coasts of the Atlantic Ocean. Because of this similarity, many scientists believe that North and South America and Europe and Africa must have been interconnected landmasses and later broke and flowed in different directions, this is called continental displacement or flow.

Abstract in Hindi Language:

सम्पूर्ण पृथ्वी के 70.8 प्रतिशत भाग पर महासागरों और 29.2 प्रतिशत भाग पर महाद्वीपों का वितरण है। ये महाद्वीप तथा महासागर एक साथ नहीं बल्कि अलग-अलग क्षेत्रो में फैले हुए है। क्या आरंभिक समय में इसकी स्थिति ऐसी थी और क्या आने वाले समय में भी ऐसी ही रहेगी? इन्हीं प्रश्नो का उत्तर हमें महाद्वीपीय विस्थानप सिद्धांत एवं प्लेट विवर्तनिकी सिद्धांत से मिलता है। विश्व के मानचित्र को देखने से पता चलता है कि अटलांटिक महासागर के पूर्वी तथा पश्चिमी तटों के बीच आश्चर्यजनक समानता देखने को मिलती है। इसी समानता के कारण बहुत सारे वैज्ञानिको का मानना है कि उत्तरी तथा दक्षिणी अमेरिका और यूरोप तथा अफ्रीका आपस में जुड़े हुए भूखंड रहे होंगे और बाद में टूट कर अलग-अलग दिशा में प्रवाहित हो गए इसी को महाद्वीपीय विस्थापन या प्रवाह कहा जाता है।

Keywords: महाद्वीप, अल्फ्रेड वेगनर, विस्थापन, प्लेट विवर्तनिकी
Terminologia e catalogação vestuário: percursos interdisciplinares
Authors: Pimentel Janine , Volpi Maria Cristina
Published: August 2023

A nomenclatura para a descrição do vestuário, tanto em fichas catalográficas de acervos museológicos quanto em trabalhos científicos, tende a empregar um vocabulário complexo e variável, dificultando a recuperação das informações. O livro Terminologia e catalogação do vestuário: percursos interdisciplinares apresenta a versão em português do Vocabulary of Basic Terms for Cataloguing Costume desenvolvido originalmente pelo ICOM (International Council of Museums). Trata-se de um projeto que envolveu a Faculdade de Letras e a Escola de Belas Artes da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro e o Museu Histórico Nacional.
Probability from Fourth to Sixth Grade
Authors: Zorzos Michail , Avgerinos Evgenios
Published: August 2023

The appeal of probability theory in everyday activities has resulted in its incorporation into the curricula of most countries. However, confusion persists within  the international scientific community regarding the suitable age for introducing students to probability concepts. Several researchers argue that children at a young age are unable understand the concepts of probability, while other researchers believe that with appropriate teaching interventions, children can comprehend probabilistic concepts. This study aims to address the controversial issue  by conducting a study involving two groups of students. In the first group, the researchers provide a short teaching a brief probability teaching session and subsequently ask the children to complete a worksheet related to the topic. In the second group, students complete the worksheet without any prior teaching. The study results show that teaching has a positive effect on the development of students' knowledge and perceptions regarding probabilities. As a consequence, new opportunities and requirements emerge in the field of probability education.
Leaving Care in Österreich: Dimensionen von Agency beim Aufbau einer selbstständigen Lebensführung
Authors: Streißgürtl Gregor
Published: August 2023

Der Prozess des Übergangs aus der Jugendhilfe ist für die jungen Menschen mit vielen Herausforderungen verbunden. In diesem Zusammenhang wird immer wieder ein Begriff bemüht, der wie selbsterklärend erscheint: nämlich Selbstständigkeit. Doch was ist damit gemeint? Und wie wirken hierbei einseitig orientierte Vorstellungen von Normalität? Möglichen Antworten nähert sich der Autor entlang eines qualitativ-empirischen Vorgehens.
When the East Goes to the Poll: Explaining the Regional Differences in AfD-Voting in the 2021 Federal Election
Authors: Götzel Julia
Published: August 2023

In the 2021 German federal election, the share of East Germans who voted for the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a radical right-wing party, was more than twice as high as the share of AfD voters in West Germany. While most scholars focus on the general determinants of AfD-voting, this paper sheds light on specific variables that could explain these east-west differences. To achieve this, I develop a two-sided argument which considers both the distribution of common AfD-voting determinants and the socialization experiences of East Germans. Multivariate regression with the 2021 GLES data reveals a remaining East bonus in AfD-voting, indicating that the distribution of voting determinants alone cannot explain the regional differences in AfD vote share. Nevertheless, this paper presents a novel structured approach to the issue.
A heterogeneous two-stream network for human action recognition
Authors: Liao Shengbin , Wang Xiaofeng , Yang ZongKai
Published: August 2023

The most widely used two-stream architectures and building blocks for human action recognition in videos generally consist of 2D or 3D convolution neural networks. 3D convolution can abstract motion messages between video frames, which is essential for video classification. 3D convolution neural networks usually obtain good performance compared with 2D cases, however it also increases computational cost. In this paper, we propose a heterogeneous two-stream architecture which incorporates two convolutional networks. One uses a mixed convolution network (MCN), which combines some 3D convolutions in the middle of 2D convolutions to train RGB frames, another one adopts BN-Inception network to train Optical Flow frames. Considering the redundancy of neighborhood video frames, we adopt a sparse sampling strategy to decrease the computational cost. Our architecture is trained and evaluated on the standard video actions benchmarks of HMDB51 and UCF101. Experimental results show our approach obtains the state-of-the-art performance on the datasets of HMDB51 (73.04%) and UCF101 (95.27%).
Building information modeling and affective occupancy evaluation: A scoping review
Authors: Gómez-Sirvent José Luis , Fernández-Sotos Desirée , López de la Rosa Francisco , Fernández-Caballero Antonio
Published: August 2023

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a powerful process for creating and managing data throughout the life cycle of a building. Traditionally, measuring the well-being of building occupants has been addressed solely through objective physical variables such as temperature or relative air humidity. However, recent studies indicate that the built environment influences subjective aspects of human well-being. This article presents a scoping review to find information related to the use of BIM in the assessment of the mental and emotional state of inhabitants. A scoping review has been undertaken following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines by searching in Scopus, ACM, IEEE Xplore and PsycINFO databases. Fourteen articles meeting the inclusion criteria were found after the screening process, all of them published in the last decade, twelve in the last five years. Two ways of using BIM have been identified in relation to the subject matter of this review: (i) for visualization and monitoring of occupant well-being and (ii) for showing building design alternatives to future occupants. The included papers show that BIM has potential for assessing the mental and emotional state of building occupants. However, the results of these studies are still limited and much research in this area remains pending.
The positive effects and mechanisms of honey against breast cancer
Authors: Usman Andi Nilawati , Ahmad Mardiana
Published: August 2023

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is a malignancy that occurs in cells in the breast tissue where cells in the breast divide and grow out of control, invade surrounding tissues, or spread (metastasize) to distant areas of the body. METHOD: This review was systematically carried out through PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar websites in English and Indonesian using the keyword content of the article, obtaining 21 selected articles. This review demonstrates honey’s promising mechanism of combined synergistic effect for breast cancer management. CONCLUSION: Antioxidants in honey intercept free radicals of phenolic compounds which are the main factors responsible for the antioxidant activity of honey. The antimicrobial activity in most honey is due to the enzymatic production of hydrogen peroxide, and its anti-cancer properties are discussed in this section.
Comparison of abductor hallucis muscle activity in subjects with mild hallux valgus during three different foot exercises
Authors: Hwang Byeong-Hun , Jeon In-Cheol
Published: August 2023

BACKGROUND: Normal alignment of the foot is important because the feet support the body’s weight. The intrinsic muscles of the foot mainly maintain the alignment and movement of the foot, whereas the abductor hallucis (AbdH) aligns the first metatarsophalangeal joint and maintains the medial longitudinal arch. OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to investigate the muscle activity of the AbdH and hallux valgus (HV) angle during three different foot exercises. METHODS: Participants included 15 subjects aged 20–24 years with mild HV. All subjects performed three different foot exercises in random order: short foot exercise (SF), toe spread out exercise (TSO), and TSO with a pressure bio-feedback unit (TSOP). The muscle activity of the AbdH and the HV angle were measured during each foot exercise using surface electromyography and X-ray and then compared using one-way repeated-measures analysis of variance, followed by Bonferroni adjustment. RESULTS: AbdH muscle activity differed significantly among SF, TSO, and TSOP. AbdH muscle activity was greater in TSOP (89.60%) than in SF (19.99%) and TSO (60.96%) (p= 0.006). The HV angle was significantly smaller in TSOP (15.72∘) than in SF (18.85∘) and TSO (16.81∘) (p= 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: TSOP can be recommended as an effective AbdH strengthening exercise in subjects with mild HV.
Clinically significant effects of gait modification on knee pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Tamura Hiroyuki , Hirohama Kenta , Hamada Kazuaki , Imura Takeshi , Mitsutake Tsubasa , Tanaka Ryo
Published: August 2023

BACKGROUND: Knee pain is the main symptom of knee osteoarthritis. Walking is effective against knee pain, and some studies have shown that gait modification can also relieve this condition. However, the quality of evidence for the clinically significant effects of gait modification on knee pain has not been examined. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the level of evidence for the clinically significant effects of gait modification on knee pain and determine if the effects are greater than the minimal clinically important difference (MCID). METHODS: We comprehensively searched electronic databases such as MEDLINE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Physiotherapy Evidence Database, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature. Intervention studies with experimental groups who received gait modification and control groups who did not were evaluated. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation system was used to assess the level of evidence. RESULTS: Nine studies met the inclusion criteria. All were included in the systematic review and two in the meta-analysis. Results showed that gait modification have significant effects (p= 0.02), and the quality of evidence was very low. However, several studies have revealed that the effects of gait modification, when used as a foot-focused intervention, were greater than the MCID. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that there is a lack of high-quality evidence that supports the general efficacy of gait modification. Although based on low-quality evidence, when applied to the foot, it may have clinically significant effects.
Immediate effects of visuomotor tracking with the head on cervical sensorimotor function and pain in chronic neck pain patients
Authors: Preiss Sandra , Beinert Konstantin , Taube Wolfgang
Published: August 2023

BACKGROUND: Working in awkward and sustained postures is, besides psychosocial risk factors, the most reported physical risk factor for neck pain. Accurate proprioception is fundamental to correcting awkward head-to-trunk positions, but impaired proprioceptive performance has been found in patients with chronic neck pain. OBJECTIVE: The aim was to compare the effectiveness of two different interventions in a workplace set-up on sensorimotor performance and pain sensitivity in people with chronic neck pain. METHODS: A total of 25 patients with chronic neck pain participated in this double-blind study. Patients were randomly allocated to the visuomotor tracking task group or the video group (watching a massage video, imagining themselves being massaged). The primary outcomes were cervical joint position sense acuity and pressure pain threshold of the cervical spine, evaluated by a blinded assessor. RESULTS: There were significant time by group interactions for cervical joint position sense acuity (F1;23: 4.38; p= 0.048) and pressure pain threshold (F1;23: 5.78; p= 0.025), with the tracking task group being more accurate in cervical joint position sense testing and less pain sensitive for pressure pain threshold. CONCLUSIONS: The visuomotor tracking task improves cervical joint position sense acuity and reduces pressure pain threshold immediately after intervention in people with chronic neck pain.
Advances in SEMA3F regulation of clinically high-incidence cancers
Authors: Wang Chaofeng , Song Dezhi , Huang Qian , Liu Qian
Published: August 2023

Cancer has become a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in recent years. Its high prevalence has had a severe impact on society. Researchers have achieved fruitful results in the causative factors, pathogenesis, treatment strategies, and cancer prevention. Semaphorin 3F (SEMA3F), a member of the signaling family, was initially reported in the literature to inhibit the growth, invasion, and metastasis of cancer cells in lung cancer. Later studies showed it has cancer-inhibiting effects in malignant tumors such as breast, colorectal, ovarian, oral squamous cell carcinoma, melanoma, and head and neck squamous carcinoma. In contrast, recent studies have reported that SEMA3F is expressed more in hepatocellular carcinoma than in normal tissue and promotes metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma. We chose lung, breast, colorectal, and hepatocellular carcinomas with high clinical prevalence to review the roles and molecular mechanisms of SEMA3F in these four carcinomas. We concluded with an outlook on clinical interventions for patients targeting SEMA3F.
Application of ultrasound microbubble contrast to evaluate the effect of sitaxentan on renal microvascular perfusion in beagles undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass
Authors: Yang Lu , Mo Liqun , Li Fuyu , Zhu Fuzu , Bai Yiping
Published: August 2023

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the effect of sitaxentan on renal microvascular perfusion via application of ultrasound microbubble contrast. METHODS: Male beagles were randomly divided into: Sham, cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and sitaxentan-infused (Sit) groups (n = 6). The ascending slope rate (ASR), area under the curve (AUC), derived peak intensity, and time to peak (TTP) were obtained via ultrasound microbubble contrast before CPB (T1), after 1 h CPB (T2), at end of CPB (T3), and 2 h after CPB (T4). RESULTS: Compared with the Sham group, the CPB group had lower ASR of the renal cortex and medulla at T2 - 4, higher AUC and TTP at T3 - 4, and lower derived peak intensity at T4. The ASR at T2 - 4 in the Sit group was lower, TTP was higher at T2 - 4, and AUC was higher at T3 - 4 (P < 0.05). Compared with the CPB group, the Sit group had higher ASR of the renal cortex and medulla at T3 - 4 and AUC and TTP at T3 - 4 (P < 0.05). Compared with that at T1, the ASR of the renal cortex and medulla at T2 - 4 in the CPB group was lower, and AUC and TTP were higher at T3 - 4. The ASR of the renal cortex and medulla at T2 - 4 in the Sit group was lower, TTP was higher at T2 - 4, and AUC was higher at T4 (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasound microbubble contrast could be effectively used to evaluate renal microvascular perfusion peri-CPB in beagles, which was prone to decrease and could be improved via pretreatment with sitaxentan.
A combination of ultrasound and contrast-enhanced ultrasound improves diagnostic accuracy for the differentiation of cervical tuberculous lymphadenitis from primary lymphoma
Authors: Liu Naxiang , Chen Yijie , Wang Yaoqin , Huang Weiqin , Zhan Lili , Du Zhongshi , Zhong Zhaoming , Wu Zhougui , Shen Youhong , Deng Xiaohong , Ni Shixiong , Tang Lina
Published: August 2023

OBJECTIVES: To present a method combining ultrasound (US) and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) features for differential diagnosis of cervical tuberculous lymphadenitis (CTL) and primary lymphoma. METHODS: A total of 155 patients with CTL (n = 49) and lymphoma (n = 106) who underwent US and CEUS were retrospectively included. The features extracted from US and CEUS and the significant clinical data were created three models using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator and logistic regression analysis. The diagnostic performance of the models was assessed using the area under the curve (AUC). RESULTS: The combined model outperformed US model and CEUS model in distinguish CTL from lymphoma achieved favorable performances in training set and validation set with AUCs of 0.958 and 0.946 as well as high accuracies (91.7% and 87.2%), sensitivities (95.9% and 84.4%) and specificities (82.4% and 93.3%). Delong’s test showed that among the three models, combined model was significantly different from the other two models in training set (p = 0.011 and 0.029, respectively) and validation set (p = 0.018 and 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: A combination of US and CEUS achieved good diagnostic performance in differentiating lymphoma and CTL, which might aid in clinical decision-making.
Digital privacy and data protection knowledge and skills of university students in Croatia: Preliminary findings
Authors: Katavić Snježana Stanarević , Ivanović Hajdi , Papić Anita
Published: August 2023

University students as members of Generation Z (late 1990s and early 2000s) have rich experience in living the digital life. Previous studies show that Generation Z cares about their privacy and is more apt than older generations to implement complex privacy and security measures, but they are also more willing to compromise their privacy if they see any benefit. The aim of this research was to examine digital privacy protection attitudes, knowledge and skills of university students in Croatia. Obtained results suggest that respondents appreciate their digital privacy, have a cautious attitude toward protecting their data and are self-initiative regarding learning about digital privacy. However, their knowledge about digital privacy is not comprehensive and uniform, nor are their strategies of digital privacy protection. Privacy protection on social networks gives a better impression, which can be connected with the practice of frequent use of social networks and the need to maintain a certain image online. The above is also supported by data that the majority of respondents consider the publication of content in which they appear without their consent to be a very serious violation of their privacy. Furthermore, 65% of respondents would like to receive additional education on digital privacy.
RETRACTED: Computer-aided cluster formation in wireless sensor networks using machine learning
Authors: Thangaraj K. , Sakthivel M. , Balasamy K. , Suganyadevi S.
Published: August 2023

This article has been retracted. A retraction notice can be found at https://doi.org/10.3233/JIFS-219433.
Application of fuzzy analytic hierarchy process – multi-layer fuzzy inference system in product design evaluation
Authors: Liu Weijun , Qi Jianming , Jin Yu , Zhou Zhiyong , Zhang Xu
Published: August 2023

To enhance profitability of production cycle, any manufacturer needs effective product design and evaluation procedures. This study proposed a novel approach combining fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and multi-layer fuzzy inference system (MFIS). It is based on consumer online comments to improve product design. This method possesses several advantages over traditional design evaluation methods. It can quickly acquire consumer preferences, effectively handle multi-criteria decision problems and integrate uncertain and fuzzy information. The Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process–Multi-layer Fuzzy Inference System (FAHP-MFIS) involves the following steps: screening of factors, hierarchical modeling, quantification of qualitative factors, and conversion of these factors into quantitative values. It is a knowledge-based system that uses logical rules. The quantity and levels of input variables directly correlates with the quantity of logical rules. However, with multi-factor and multi-level inference, the establishment of a rule base becomes impractical due to the overwhelming number of rules. To address this issue, the Taguchi orthogonal table is applied to reduce the number of logical rules. Taking a household oxygen generator for medical devices as an example, the proposed model is applied in real-time. In the first stage, web crawlers are used to collect user reviews of the household oxygen generators on large e-commerce platforms. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) models are used to screen for principal and sub-factors in the second stage. Then, sub-factors of the FAHP screening are used as inputs, and the principal factors are used as outputs. In the third stage, priority indicators are established based on principal factors such as Appearance, Basic Function, and Advanced Function. Established evaluation models are then used to rank the selected designs. The results show that the higher the priority index value of the product design scheme, the better the scheme, and vice versa. This study holds significant reference value in aiding enterprises to enhance the efficiency of their manufacturing cycle and determining the direction of product design and innovation with improved pace and accuracy. Moreover, it can be applied to other fields such as supply chain management, risk assessment, and investment decisions.
Span prompt dense passage retrieval for Chinese open domain question answering
Authors: Fan Chunxiao , Yan Zhen , Wu Yuexin , Qian Bing
Published: August 2023

Dense passage retrieval is a popular method in information retrieval recently, especially in open domain question answering. It aims to retrieve related articles from massive passages to answer the question. Retriever can increase retrieval speed with less loss of accuracy compared to other methods. However, the pretrained language models used in recent research are often ineffective in semantic embedding, which will reduce accuracy. In addition, we find that contrastive learning will diverge the representation space, and Siamese models with independent parameters on both sides will decrease generalization performance. Therefore, we propose span prompt dense passage retrieval (SPDPR) based on span mask prompt tuning and parameter sharing in Chinese open-domain dense retrieval. This model can generate more efficient representation embeddings and effectively counteract the separation tendency between positive samples. We evaluate the effectiveness of SPDPR in DYKzh, as well as two Chinese datasets. SPDPR surpasses all SOTAs implemented in DYKzh and achieves a competitive result in other datasets.
Integrating data mining and fuzzy decision-making techniques for analyzing the key minimizing factors of carbon emissions
Authors: Dinçer Hasan , Eti Serkan , Yüksel Serhat , Özdemir Sümeyye , Yílmaz Ahmet Enes , Ergün Edanur
Published: August 2023

The purpose of this study is to identify the key factors to minimize carbon emission problem. Within this framework, an examination has been made by considering both data mining and fuzzy decision-making techniques. In the analysis process, N-gram methodology is implemented to the abstracts of 1711 studies in the “Sciencedirect” platform and five different indicators are selected. In the proposed decision-making model, firstly, selected criteria are weighted by Spherical fuzzy CRITIC. Secondly, E7 economies are ranked with RATGOS. Thirdly, a sensitivity analysis is performed, and a comparative evaluation is conducted by MAIRCA technique. The most important originality of this proposed model is generating a new technique named RATGOS. In the literature, there are various decision-making models to rank the alternatives. However, lots of researchers criticized these approaches due to some reasons, such as using Euclidean distance by calculating the distances to the negative ideal solutions. Thus, it is seen that there is a need for a new technique that considers geometric mean in proportional concepts. To reach this objective, the RATGOS technique is introduced so that it can be possible to reach more accurate results. The findings indicate that renewable energy usage is the most critical item to overcome carbon emission problem. Therefore, some measures should be taken to increase renewable energy investments. First, governments can offer incentives for renewable energy investments. These incentives may include various incentives such as tax exemptions and low interest loans. Moreover, more research and development works are required for the development of renewable energy technologies. In this way, it can make renewable energy technologies more effective and efficient. For future research directions, an evaluation can be carried out for developed countries because carbon emissions problem also plays a crucial role for the social and economic improvements of these economies.
Dense fuzzy support vector machine to binary classification for imbalanced data
Authors: Wang Qingling , Zheng Jian , Zhang Wenjing
Published: August 2023

Majority classes are easily to be found in imbalance datasets, instead, minority classes are hard to be paid attention to due to the number of is rare. However, most existing classifiers are better at exploring majority classes, resulting in that classification results are unfair. To address this issue of binary classification for imbalance data, this paper proposes a novel fuzzy support vector machine. The thought is that we trained two support vector machines to learn the majority class and the minority class, respectively. Then, the proposed fuzzy is used to estimate the assistance provided by instance points for the training of the support vector machines. Finally, it can be judged for unknown instance points through evaluating that they provided the assistance to the training of the support vector machines. Results on the ten UCI datasets show that the class accuracy of the proposed method is 0.747 when the imbalanced ratio between the classes reaches 87.8. Compare with the competitors, the proposed method wins over them in classification performance. We find that aiming at the classification of imbalanced data, the complexity of data distribution has negative effects on classification results, while fuzzy can resist these negative effects. Moreover, fuzzy can assist those classifiers to gain superior classification boundaries.
An enhanced multimodal multi-objective genetic algorithm with a novel adaptive crossover mechanism for feature selection
Authors: Ji Mengting , Liu Yongli , Chao Hao
Published: August 2023

Nowadays, multimodal multi-objective optimization problems (MMOPs) have received increasing attention from many researchers. In such problems, there are situations where two or more Pareto Sets (PSs) correspond to the same Pareto Front (PF). It is crucial to obtain as many PSs as possible without compromising the performance of the objective space. Therefore, this paper proposes an enhanced multimodal multi-objective genetic algorithm with a novel adaptive crossover mechanism, named AEDN_NSGAII. In the AEDN_NSGAII, the special crowding distance strategy can provide potential development opportunities for individuals with a larger crowding distance. An adaptive crossover mechanism is established by combining the simulated binary crossover (SBX) operator and the Laplace crossover (LP) operator, which adaptively improves the ability to obtain Pareto optimal solutions. Meanwhile, an elite selection mechanism can efficiently get more excellent individuals as parents to enhance the diversity of the decision space. Then, the proposed algorithm is evaluated on the CEC2019 test suite by the Friedman method and discussed for its feasibility through ablation experiments and boxplot analysis of PSP indicators. Experimental results show that AEDN_NSGAII can effectively search for more PSs without weakening the diversity and convergence of objective space. Finally, the performance of AEDN_NSGAII on the multimodal feature selection problem is compared with that of the other four algorithms. The statistical analysis demonstrates that the proposed algorithm has great potential for resolving this issue.
An improved TODIM-TOPSIS method for quality evaluation of college students employment and entrepreneurship education with probabilistic hesitant fuzzy sets
Authors: Zhao Lijuan , Du Shuo
Published: August 2023

In recent years, employers have continuously raised their requirements for college students, not only requiring a solid professional foundation, but also emphasizing personal professional literacy. As the first base for cultivating college students, major universities should not only guide them in their correct employment and entrepreneurship, but also help them find employment and entrepreneurship faster and better. However, in the context of the new era, universities still face some problems in the process of carrying out employment and entrepreneurship education, which hinder the progress of employment and entrepreneurship education. The probabilistic hesitant fuzzy sets (PHFSs), as an extension of hesitant fuzzy sets (HFSs), can more effectively and accurately describe uncertain or inconsistent information during the quality evaluation of college student employment and entrepreneurship education. TODIM and TOPSIS methods are two commonly used multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) methods, each of which has its advantages and disadvantages. The quality evaluation of college student employment and entrepreneurship education is regarded as the defined multiple attribute group decision making (MAGDM). This paper proposes a novel method based on TODIM and TOPSIS to cope with multi-attribute group decision making (MAGDM) problems under PHFSs environment. After introducing the related theory of PHFSs and the traditional TODIM and TOPSIS methods, the novel method based on a combination of TODIM and TOPSIS methods is designed. And then, an illustrative example for quality evaluation of college student employment and entrepreneurship education proved the feasibility and validity of the proposed method. Finally, the result has been compared with some existing methods under the same example and the proposed method’s superiority has been proved.
A collaborative approach to develop indicators for quality of care for ST segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction in networks without coronary intervention: A position paper
Authors: Rodríguez-Ramos Miguel Alejandro , Santos-Medina Maikel , Dueñas-Herrera Alfredo , Prohías Martínez Juan Adolfo , Rivas-Estany Eduardo
Published: August 2023

BACKGROUND: Data about performance measures (PM) in patients with ST segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) in low- and middle-income countries is really scarce. One of the reasons is the lack of appropriate measures for these scenarios where coronary intervention is not the standard treatment. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to develop a set of PM and quality markers for patients with STEMI in these countries. METHODS: Two investigators systematically reviewed existing guidelines and scientific literature to identify potential PM by referring to documents searched through PubMed from 2010 through 2019, using terms “Myocardial Infarction”, “STEMI”, “quality indicator”, and “performance measure”. A modified Delphi technique, involving multidisciplinary panel interview, was used. A 15-member multidisciplinary expert panel individually rated each potential indicator on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) during three rounds. All indicators that received a median score ≥4.5, in final round without significant disagreement were included as PM. RESULTS: Through the consensus-building process, 84 potential indicators were found, of which 10 were proposed as performance measures and 2 as quality metrics, as follows: Pre-Hospital Electrocardiogram; Patients with reperfusion therapy; Pre-hospital Reperfusion; Ischemic time less than 120 minutes; System delay time less than 90 minutes; In-hospital Mortality; Complete in-hospital Treatment; Complete in-hospital Treatment in patients with Heart Failure; 30 day-Re-admissions; 30 day-mortality; Patients with in-hospital stress test performed; and, Patients included in rehabilitation programs. CONCLUSION: This document provides the official set of PM of attention in ST segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction of the Cuban Society of Cardiology and Cuban National Group of Cardiology.